;)
December 16, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Robert Barnes & Anne Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court returned the lawsuit over Texas's restrictive abortion law to [the (conservative) Fifth Circuit] federal appeals court Thursday, rejecting a request by abortion providers to send the case to a district judge who had previously declared the law unconstitutional. The order came from Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who last week wrote the majority opinion that left in place the law, which bans most abortions after six weeks. The decision granted a narrow path for providers to challenge the law's unique enforcement structure. The Thursday order granted part of the request from abortion providers -- returning the case immediately rather than after the court's standard 25-day delay."
Stephen Collinson of CNN: "If politics still turned on truth and facts, this would be the week when the lie-filled foundations of Donald Trump's movement imploded.... But it is the ex-President's greatest, most subversive victory that his empire of falsehoods will surely survive new disclosures that lay bare his own abuses of power and the voter-mocking deceit of his political and media enablers.... The House select committee probing the January 6 insurrection has released fresh details of the elaborate behind-the-scenes plot to subvert the certification of President Joe Biden's election." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The House committee's revelations are effectively a condemnation of most of the Republican party -- all the way to the top. While House Minority "Leader" Kevin McCarthy may not have known just how deeply enmeshed Jim Jordan was in the plot to overturn the election, which the committee is now exposing, he knew some of it when he decided it would be a good idea to appoint Jordan to the very committee that is investigating Jordan. "Of the [five] Republicans McCarthy has put forth for the committee, [Jim] Banks [Indiana], Jordan and [Troy] Nehls [Texas] were among the 139 House Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential results in Arizona and Pennsylvania."
AND the lovely Mrs. Trump a/k/a Melanie has announced a new grift just in time for Christmas. It's an NFT (David Smith of the Guardian explains) featuring a portrait of Melanie that highlights her "cobalt blue eyes, providing the collector with an amulet to inspire." Not to worry; "a portion" of the proceeds will go to orphans! Please, Ma'am, may we have more? And you wonder why the old families of New York never invited the Trumps to their parties.
Deon Hampton & Corky Siemaszko of NBC News: "Some employees who survived a tornado that leveled their candle factory are considering taking legal action against the company, according to an attorney who is representing some of the workers. The move by several injured Mayfield Consumer Products employees comes after five workers told NBC News that as the twister was bearing down on the city Friday their supervisors warned they could be fired if they tried to flee. At least eight workers died, Kentucky officials have said." See also Akhilleus' comment below. We should hope that if this case goes to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch does not write the majority opinion.
Ryan Young, et al., of CNN: "A judge in Lafayette, Louisiana, is taking a leave of absence and facing calls for her resignation after a video with racist language recorded at her home surfaced.... The video, appearing to show surveillance footage of an outdoor altercation with a burglary suspect being played on a television while people, who are not visible, view and comment on the footage using racist language, was shared with local media in Lafayette and is now being shared widely across social media.... In the video circulating online, a male voice can be heard saying, 'And Mom's yelling n***er, n***er." Then after what appears to be some jovial banter, a female voice is heard saying, 'We have a n ***er, It's a n***er, like a roach,' while laughing." ~~~
~~~ MB: Presumably "Mom" and the "female" are Judge Michelle M. Odinet, who's facing calls for her resignation. Odinet is blaming her racist rant on a sedative she took. There is no sedative or other condition that would cause me to use the language she used because I just don't think that way. Would I use profanity to describe a person who was robbing me? Well, yes I would.
Evens Sanon & Peter Smith of the AP: "The remaining members of a U.S. missionary group who were kidnapped two months ago in Haiti have been freed, Haitian police and the group said Thursday. The spokesman for Haiti's National Police, Gary Desrosiers, confirmed to The Associated Press that the hostages had been released, but did not immediately provide additional details."
~~~~~~~~~~
** Katie Benner, et al., of the New York Times: "... a half-dozen right-wing members of Congress became key foot soldiers in [Donald] Trump's effort to overturn the election, according to dozens of interviews and a review of hundreds of pages of congressional testimony about the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. The lawmakers -- all of them members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus -- worked closely with the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, whose central role in Mr. Trump's efforts to overturn a democratic election is coming into focus as the congressional investigation into Jan. 6 gains traction.... They bombarded the Justice Department with dubious claims of voting irregularities. They pressured members of state legislatures to conduct audits that would cast doubt on the election results. They plotted to disrupt the certification on Jan. 6 of Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory." The men were Jim Jordan (Ohio), Andy Biggs & Paul Gosar (Arizona), Louie Gohmert (Texas), Mo Brooks (Alabama) & Scott Perry (Pennsylvania)." MB: This is a long article worth reading as it puts the actions of these traitors into context. I have a feeling we'll learn more about what they did. Let's hope they all end up in orange jump suits.
~~~ PolitiFact has a print story here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "Members of the Jan. 6 select committee are homing in on a politically explosive question: Did Donald Trump's actions amid the Capitol attack amount to criminal obstruction of Congress? Twice this week, committee vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has raised the possibility that Trump's conduct while a mob of his supporters overtook the Capitol could qualify as an effort to obstruct the certification of Joe Biden's victory.... Cheney's statement includes precise terminology from the criminal obstruction statute.... [Enforcement of this law has also] become the subject of intense debate in the cases of dozens of Jan. 6 rioters whom prosecutors allege obstructed Congress' effort to count electoral votes on Jan. 6.... There are several obstruction statutes in the criminal code, but the one deployed by prosecutors in Jan. 6 cases ... [carries] a whopping 20-year maximum sentence." MB: This makes me wonder if, when Trump gets his daily hour of exercise, he'll be allowed to ride a golf cart around the prison's exercise yard.
Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: Mark Meadows' "proximity as [Donald] Trump's former gatekeeper and top aide has thrust Meadows into legal jeopardy -- even as the revelations in the texts and his new book also threaten his standing with Trump.... Interviews with former Trump aides and allies -- many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity ... -- depict Meadows as unwilling or unable to moderate the president's worst impulses, and as a willing hub for conspiracy theories and false claims about the election.... Meadows also believed there might be credence to the theories that foreign governments had interfered in the counting of ballots, and asked intelligence officials and others to look into the claims, former officials said.... 'It used to be that there were a lot of contenders for worst chief of staff in history,' [Chris] Whipple[, who has written about presidential chiefs-of-staff,] said. 'That's no longer the case. Meadows owns it by a country mile.'"
The Federalist Outs Gym Jordan. Ryan Nobles & Zachary Cohen of CNN: "Rep. Jim Jordan forwarded a text message to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on January 5, outlining a legal theory that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to stand in the way of the certification of the 2020 election. A portion of that message was read by [Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) of] the January 6 select committee during their contempt report presentation against Meadows in a meeting this week.... A spokesperson for Jordan, an Ohio Republican, confirmed to CNN that he forwarded a text to Meadows on January 5 that was sent to him by Joseph Schmitz, a former Department of Defense inspector general. Schmitz's text included a draft presentation arguing that Pence had the constitutional authority to object to the certification of election results from certain states.... The conservative website 'The Federalist' was the first to report that Jordan forwarded the text to Meadows." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Of course the Federalist, being the Federalist, outed Jordan in the sixth graf of a post the gist of which was a complaint that Schiff had doctored Jordan's message. Comically, the Federalist later published a "BREAKING" news story, touting the fact that the committee "confessed" it had doctored the test. Here's the actual "confession": "In the graphic [Schiff presented], the period at the end of that sentence was added inadvertently. The Select Committee is responsible for and regrets the error." I too should confess I sometimes add periods to the ends of sentences where the writer has left out the dot (tho I do usually bracket my addition because God forbid anyone should think a writer put a period at the end of a sentence).
Betsy Klein of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday suggested Mark Meadows was 'worthy' of being in held in contempt of Congress after the Democratic-controlled House referred the ex-White House chief of staff to the Department of Justice for failing to appear for a deposition with the committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol." (Also linked yesterday.)
Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "A team of former military officers organized by retired general Mike Flynn is conducting a large-scale operation to delegitimize the 2020 presidential election. Flynn and his former colleague Phil Waldron, an Army Reserve colonel who says he served under the former general at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, are working with at least two other retired and reserve officers to persuade Americans that last year's election was stolen from Donald Trump, reported Reuters."
Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden flew to Kentucky on Wednesday to survey the damage wrought by a series of deadly tornadoes last weekend, reprising a role comforting disaster victims that has become a staple of his presidency and promising that the federal government would cover the full cost of emergency response efforts for the next month. Mr. Biden walked the storms' paths of destruction in a pair of communities in the southeastern corner of the state, past entire blocks of buildings leveled by the high winds. He hugged survivors and promised that his administration would partner in relief efforts until residents and business owners could fully rebuild.... 'I intend to do whatever it takes,' Mr. Biden said in brief remarks from an intersection in battered Dawson Springs, Ky., 'as long as it takes, to support your state, your local leaders, as you recover and rebuild -- because you will recover and you will rebuild.'"
Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden said on Wednesday that he would nominate two high-profile women who were early supporters of his candidacy, the former ambassador Caroline Kennedy and the decorated figure skater Michelle Kwan, to ambassadorships in his administration. The president tapped Ms. Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and the ambassador to Japan under President Barack Obama, to be ambassador to Australia. He said he would nominate Ms. Kwan, who earned Olympic silver and bronze medals as a skater before pursuing a career in diplomacy and politics, to be ambassador to Belize." The Hill's report is here. MB: I don't think Kwan will be doing all that much ice skating in Belize.
News You Can Use (Sooner or Later). Natalie Compton of the Washington Post: "President Biden signed an executive order Monday to allow Americans to renew their passports online, eliminating the need for physical documents and paper checks to be sent through the mail.... According to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, the order could take between six to 12 months to take effect.... [Currently,] travelers are ... plagued by inconsistent and lengthy wait times to get their passports renewed."
Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "Federal Reserve policymakers moved into inflation-fighting mode on Wednesday, saying they would cut back more quickly on their pandemic-era stimulus at a moment of rising prices and strong economic growth, capping a challenging year with a policy shift that could usher in higher interest rates in 2022. The central bank's policy statement set up a more rapid end to the monthly bond-buying program that the Fed has been using throughout the pandemic to keep money chugging through markets and to bolster growth. A fresh set of economic projections released on Wednesday showed that officials expect to raise interest rates, which are now set near-zero, three times next year."
John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken cut short his trip to Southeast Asia on Wednesday after a member of the press corps accompanying him on his visits tested positive for the coronavirus. Blinken dropped a slate of planned meetings with government officials in Thailand from his swing through the region, which included stops in Indonesia and Malaysia.... The journalist had tested negative in Blinken's previous stop in Jakarta but, after testing positive in Kuala Lumpur, began a quarantine for at least 10 days before returning to the United States.... In a statement, [State Department spokesman Ned] Price said Blinken and his 'senior staff' tested negative, leaving open the possibility that other members of his crew tested positive." (Also linked yesterday.)
GSA Ignored Trump Grift. Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "The federal agency managing the government's lease of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., failed to examine ethical conflicts an constitutional issues posed by ... Donald Trump's refusal to divest from the property, a new congressional report says. The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's report ... found that the General Services Administration did not track foreign government payments to the hotel or identify the origins of more than $75 million in loans made by Trump and his family to shore up its troubled finances. The GSA 'washed its hands of any responsibility' to review whether the emoluments clauses of the Constitution were being followed, the report said.... The agency did not take any steps to identify expenditures by foreign or domestic government officials..., the committee found."
Manchin Defeats America. Tony Romm & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "A push by Senate Democrats to pass a roughly $2 trillion tax-and-spending measure before Christmas appeared in dire political peril Wednesday, as talks soured between President Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) over the size and scope of the economic package. Despite days of negotiations, the gaps between the two sides seemed newly immense. Biden sought to safeguard his economic agenda from significant cuts, while Manchin continued to insist on steep spending reductions.... The impasse left party lawmakers on Capitol Hill impatient and frustrated, after they spent months trying to slim down their original spending ambitions to win Manchin's still-elusive support." The New York Times report is here. An NBC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Burgess Everett, et al., of Politico: "Tensions are boiling over as discussions about finishing Democrats' $1.7 trillion domestic spending bill drag on between President Joe Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin. The legislation looks increasingly likely to stall over the impending holiday break, prompting Biden himself to bemoan the slow pace. And Manchin (D-W.Va.) grew frustrated on Wednesday when questioned about whether he opposes a provision in the bill to extend the expanded child tax credit, deeming those queries 'bullshit' and denying that he wants to end the $300 monthly check many families receive for children.... Manchin has suggested pulling the child tax credit from the bill, according to a source briefed on the conversations [between Biden & Manchin]. 'The talks between [Biden] and Manchin have been going very poorly. They are far apart,' the source said."
Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: ...."Senate Democrats are scrambling to find a way to pass voting rights legislation they have portrayed as necessary to protect democracy in the coming weeks amid increasing pressure to counter Republican changes to election laws in key states and as progress on the domestic policy bill ... has stalled. Several lawmakers said Wednesday they are optimistic the new push could succeed where previous efforts have failed due to growing support for changing the Senate's filibuster rule.... But it remained far from certain that the rules changes under consideration would ultimately go beyond nibbling around the edges of the filibuster's 60-vote supermajority requirement for most legislation. 'If we can get the congressional voting rights done, we should do it. If we can't, we've got to keep going,' President Biden said while visiting storm-ravaged Kentucky on Wednesday. 'There's nothing domestically more important than voting rights.'"
Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The Senate passed a $768 billion defense bill on Wednesday, sending legislation to President Biden that will increase the Pentagon's budget by roughly $24 billion more than he requested. he bill, which angered antiwar progressives who had hoped Democrats' unified control of Washington would lead to significant cuts in military spending, passed overwhelmingly on an 89-to-10 vote. It includes significant increases for initiatives intended to counter China and bolster Ukraine, as well as for more ships, jets and fighter planes than the Pentagon requested. The lopsided votes, both in the Senate and the House, which passed the legislation last week, underscored the bipartisan commitment in Congress to spend huge amounts of federal money on defense initiatives at a time when Republicans have balked at spending even a fraction as much on social programs." ~~~
~~~ Peterson Foundation (July 2021): "The United States spends more on national defense than China, India, Russia, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Australia -- combined." Emphasis added. MB: Sorry to quote a right-wing source, but it appears the authors used reliable sources for their figures. Meanwhile, Joe Manchin & Republicans have put the kibosh on my getting "free stuff" like a tax break on state income taxes (which I got pre-Trump) and a new eyeglasses prescription. As for programs to better prepare children & young people for the future and to reduce the effects of climate change -- which just might be more important than little bits to help me, Marie Burns -- well, forget about all that, too.
There Will Be No Trump Power Shower. Anna Phillips of the Washington Post: "The Energy Department has reversed a Trump-era rule increasing how much water could be used in a shower by allowing multiple nozzles to carry equal amounts of water at once. In closing the loophole Tuesday, Biden officials restored a 2013 standard that most shower heads on the market were already meeting -- or exceeding.... The call for more powerful showers came from [Donald] Trump himself, who complained that the conservation standards led to low water pressure and a dissatisfying shower experience."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
Lena Sun, et al., of the Washington Post: "Top federal health officials warned in a briefing Tuesday morning that the omicron variant is rapidly spreading in the United States and could peak in a massive wave of infections as soon as January, according to new modeling analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The prevalence of omicron jumped sevenfold in a single week, according to the CDC.... The warning of an imminent surge came even as federal officials and some pharmaceutical executives signaled that they don't currently favor creating an omicron-specific vaccine. Based on the data so far, they say that existing vaccines plus a booster shot are an effective weapon against omicron." Access to the article is free to nonsubscribers.
Lena Sun & Laurie McGinley of the Washington Post: "Vaccine advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are meeting Thursday to weigh possible limits on the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because of continued blood clot issues, mostly in young and middle-aged women, according to clinicians familiar with the agenda. The single-dose vaccine has been linked to a rare and severe type of blood clot, which halted its use for 10 days in April as federal health officials looked more closely at six women who experienced the problem -- the only known cases among more than 7 million people who received the vaccine in the United States at that time. One of the women died. The pause was lifted after an extensive safety review that determined the vaccine's benefits outweighed the risks. On Thursday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will be presented with new data that appears to show the rate of the clots in people who received the Johnson & Johnson shot has increased since April, although the problem is still rare."
Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times:"Governors from five states have written a joint letter to Lloyd J. Austin III, the defense secretary, asking that their National Guard troops be exempted from a federal coronavirus vaccine mandate, greatly escalating what had been a single state conflict over inoculations. 'Setting punishment requirements for refusing to be Covid-19 vaccinated, and requiring separation from each state National Guard if unvaccinated are beyond your constitutional and statutory authority,' wrote the governors of Alaska, Wyoming, Iowa, Mississippi and Nebraska, all Republicans, to Mr. Austin, and asked that their states be given an exemption from the requirement. The Pentagon has yet to respond to the letter, which was dated Tuesday." (Also linked yesterday.)
Chris Isidore of CNN: "The CEOs of two of the nation's major airlines say they don't think wearing masks on planes does much to help limit exposure to Covid. The comments from American Airlines (AAL) CEO Doug Parker -- the nation's largest carrier -- and Southwest (LUV) CEO Gary Kelly came during a hearing about the financial support that airlines received from the federal government in 2020 and 2021.... Both Kelly and Parker, who each have announced plans to retire as CEOs in the coming months, mentioned that high-grade HEPA air filters on planes capture virtually all airborne contamination.... After the hearing, American Airlines tried to walk back Parker's remarks.... Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants, testified at the hearing that not all aircraft are equipped with the same quality of air filters. For example, some older planes do not have HEPA filters, she said."
Beyond the Beltway
Minnesota. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a federal charge that he used his position as a Minneapolis police officer to violate George Floyd's constitutional rights, a move expected to extend Mr. Chauvin's time in prison beyond a decades-long sentence for murdering Mr. Floyd. Mr. Chauvin, 45, pleaded guilty in the U.S. courthouse in St. Paul, an appearance that was most likely among the longest periods he has spent outside a prison cell since a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder in April. Since then, he has been held in solitary confinement in Minnesota's only maximum-security prison, where he is allowed out of his 10-foot by 10-foot cell for one hour a day. A federal prosecutor said that as part of a plea agreement reached with Mr. Chauvin, prosecutors would ask a judge to sentence him to 25 years in prison, a term that would be served in federal prison. The sentence would run concurrent to the state sentence of 22 and a half years for murder, meaning the guilty plea on Wednesday would add about two and a half years to his sentence." An AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Texas. KTRK Houston: "A former Houston Police Department captain accused of running a man off the road and pointing a gun at his head in an effort to prove false election claims has been indicted. A Harris County jury indicted Mark Aguirre Tuesday for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.... According to court documents, Aguirre told police that he was part of a group of private citizens called the 'Liberty Center,' who were conducting a civilian investigation into the alleged ballot scheme. Aguirre said he had been conducting surveillance for four days on [air-conditioning] repairman David Lopez Zuniga because Aguirre thought Zuniga was somehow the mastermind of a giant voter fraud scheme. Aguirre told authorities the man was hiding 750,000 fraudulent ballots in a truck he was driving.... No ballots were in Zuniga's truck. According to Tuesday's indictment, Aguirre never told police that he had been paid a total of $266,400 by Liberty Center, $211,400 of which was deposited into his account the day after the alleged incident." (Also linked yesterday.)
** Wisconsin. Scott Bauer of the AP: "Wisconsin's Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul said in an interview Tuesday that he would not investigate or prosecute anyone for having an abortion should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade and a currently unenforceable state ban takes effect. The comments to The Associated Press are Kaul's strongest to date about how he would react to the Supreme Court undoing the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. A Wisconsin ban enacted in 1849 has been unenforceable under Roe v. Wade, but would take effect again if conservative Supreme Court justices decide to overrule Roe, as they suggested during oral arguments this month in a case over Mississippi's 15-week ban on abortions. A decision is expected this summer." MB: If Wisconsin voters decide to elect a Republican attorney general in 2022, they can expect a nostalgic return to the back-alley abortions of the 19th century. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ AND, Bauer reports, "Wisconsin is one of 21 states with laws or constitutional amendments already in place that would make them certain to attempt to ban abortion as quickly as possible, according to an analysis from the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Wisconsin is one of nine states with an abortion ban law that predates Roe v. Wade, according to the analysis."
Way Beyond
Ethiopia. Declan Walsh of the New York Times: "New evidence shows that Ethiopia's prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, had been planning a military campaign in the northern Tigray region for months before war erupted one year ago, setting off a cascade of destruction and ethnic violence that has engulfed Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous country. Mr. Abiy, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate..., insists that war was foisted upon him -- that ethnic Tigrayan fighters fired the first shots in November 2020 when they attacked a federal military base in Tigray, slaughtering soldiers in their beds.... In fact, it was a war of choice for Mr. Abiy -- one with wheels set in motion even before the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 that turned him, for a time, into a global icon of nonviolence.... The Nobel emboldened Mr. Abiy and ... Isaias [Afwerki, the authoritarian leader of Eritrea,] to secretly plot a course for war against their mutual foes in Tigray, according to current and former Ethiopian officials...."
Italy. The Bishop Wore Grinch Vestments. Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "All that separated the giddy Sicilian school children from meeting Old Saint Nick -- arriving on horseback with his long white beard, crimson robe and bag full of gifts -- was a Christmas message from the bishop of Noto. 'Santa Claus,' thundered Bishop Antonio Staglianò, 'is an imaginary character.' Children's jaws dropped ... as, for many long minutes in the Santissimo Salvatore Basilica, the bishop continued to stick it to Santa, who he said had no interest in families strapped for cash. 'The red color of his coat was chosen by Coca-Cola for advertising purposes,' the bishop said. Big soda, he added, 'uses the image to depict itself as an emblem of healthy values.' The bishop's broadside against Babbo Natale, as Father Christmas is called here, constituted only the latest installment in what has become a new Italian holiday tradition. Just about every year, Roman Catholic clerics insist that for Italians to keep Christ in Christmas, Santa must be kept out of it." (Also linked yesterday.)
News Lede
Market Watch: "New applications for U.S. unemployment benefits climbed by 18,000 in mid-December to 206,000, but the increase likely reflected statistical quirks tied to temporary hiring during the holiday shopping season. Even after last week's increase, new jobless claims are still extremely low. Two weeks ago, they fell to the lowest level since 1969. Businesses are trying to avoid layoffs due the a major labor shortage that's made it hard to fill open jobs."
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Reader Comments (13)
bell hooks: never heard of her. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/may/11/capitalism-of-beyonce-lemonade-album. The power of her writing is amazing! I learned something new last night. Yea! me!
And I wonder why many of us white folks weren't familiar with Bell Hooks––not her real name, by the way, she took her grandmother's name and didn't capitalize it. So, yes, good to finally get to know her!
As though we don't have enough to worry about here's Richard Haass, Charles Glasser and Bonnie Glaser–-three experts on U.S. role and response options in Taiwan China conflict. There is disagreement which makes this even more interesting and thought provoking.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/three-experts-on-u-s-role-and-response-options-in-taiwan-china-conflict
A bit of a sliver lining emerged last night learning about the goons in Congress that organized the coup. Jittery, Jack boot Jordan I'd like to see torn and feathered–-he has been a thorn in my side for years. And reading about their BIG PLAN for THE BIG LIE is, besides being beyond the pale, also smacks of a bunch of inferior minds putting together an actual criminal act and dressing it up in festive disguise.
THEY are that desperate.
This company will make Neil Gorsuch’s Best of list for 2021…
The candle factory in western Kentucky flattened by a tornado, killing eight employees and injuring many others, will most definitely make ol’ Neil’s top ten businesses. Why? When the tornado alarms went off, employees who asked to leave were told they’d be fired if they left, even to try to save their lives.
Of course, the bosses of the Mayfield Consumer Products factory say they would never do that, oh no, never! but at least five employees are on record saying it’s true. Now, class, who do you find more believable? Those employees who feared (rightly, as it turned out) for their lives, or the corporate bosses who feared that they might lose a couple of bucks if those scaredy cat slackers left the premises?
Must be a liberal conspiracy against good ol’ American capitalism. Must be a bunch of cowardly pinko bastards trying to make the bosses look bad.
No doubt they’re saying that, hey, those employees on the record are still alive so no harm, no foul. Besides, if it ever makes it to the Supreme Court (employees have filed a suit), they have at least one locked in vote on the side of murderous corporate rules.
Another day in Justice, wingnut style.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna8581
And here’s the most incredible thing…
Those employees weren’t told their pay would be docked, they were threatened with termination! And it wasn’t because they wanted to run home and feed the cat, they were afraid of dying. But even fear of death is no excuse when there’s money to be made. Whip wielding Victorian sweat shop managers have nothing on these guys.
Fuck the environment! I want more water pressure when I take a shower!
Another example of how nothing is more important to Fatty than what he wants for himself, consequences to millions of people be damned.
He would have been one of those assholes on the Titanic who demanded a lifeboat with as few passengers as possible so he could stretch out in comfort as thousands drowned in the freezing ocean.
And that is not hyperbole. We’ve already seen him jeopardize the lives of others (being a covid super spreader) so he could look good. What’s the difference?
The tornado was obviously another of Biden's attacks on the supply chain. One of the articles I read pointed out that the Amazon facilities don't let employees carry their phones on them while they are on the floor so they couldn't check for updates on the weather crisis going on outside.
Ak, the difference is that fewer people would have died if Trump was on the Titanic rather that POTUS. That alternative history is really depressing when you think if all the damage that might not have been done. Either Hillary would be president or one of GOP losers that Trump steam rolled. Even the Cruz's and Rubio's would most likely have been the usual kind of awful. And hundreds of thousands of Americans would still be alive.
AK - glad to see you back and in your usual fine fettle. Hope that your COVID experience was not too hellish and that you have made it through to the other side without any untoward effects.
This may have been linked here on RC, but Jamie Bouie's column the other day on the powerlessness of America's workers says it well enough to be repeated.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/14/opinion/tornadoes-mayfield-amazon.html?
Also worth a look is the embedded reference to Dr. Elizabeth Anderson, whom I interviewed a few years ago for our late, lamented radio show...
Mayfield Consumer Products should also admit that they have an
agreement with the County, using prisoners as workers. Wonder
who gets paid for that arrangement?
And why would they threaten to fire anyone who leaves when they
are trying to find more employees (at $8.00)per hour), including all
the chemicals you can breath for free. Sounds like a cancer factory.
Some good news on the Biden front,
"Just yesterday Biden nominated nine more federal judges, bringing the total to 73, beating Trump's record of 72. The nominees are a diverse group, not just racially but in their professional backgrounds. Yesterday's cohort includes Nina Morris, executive director of the Innocence Project, which supports criminal justice reform and works to exonerate wrongly convicted prisoners. US Magistrate Judge Kenly Kiya Kato, a former federal public defender, will be elevated to a district judgeship in California. And she'll be joined by California Superior Court Judge Sunshine Suzanne Sykes, a member of the Navajo Nation and a descendant of the Coyote Pass-Jemez Clan. Before joining the state judiciary, Judge Sykes worked as a staff attorney for California Indian Legal Services and as an advocate for abused and neglected children."
Rockygirl,
Thanks. I’m through the worst of it but certain effects are lingering on, like a bad dream, or the stench of Trumpish traitors, stinking up the nation. Hopefully these effects will diminish in time. Unfortunately, the baleful effects of right wing hatred and mendacity will be with us for longer than I care to think about. Democrats, and those who care about democracy, humanity, and justice have to soldier on and vote, vote, vote whenever there’s a chance to thump these traitors.
Oh, and one vote to a customer, unlike those on the right who are the true voting frauds.
So glad to read the usual fire-and-brimstone from our great friend Akhilleus. We count on it! We love it! Brains and beauty, for sure! So glad you are on the mend. I had it a year ago and I still think food tastes dull-ish (except daughter's excellent margaritas!) especially chocolate, but at least there is some...That's my only leftover, although husband complains of "brain fog."
I agree with Elie Mystal: none of those hateful people from the other "party" will flip-- they will all go down with the good ship Nincompoop aka trumpidiot. Lying is jes' fine, thanks-- no need to attend to their after-lives by reforming their brutal, evil characters. The more s*** dribbling out of the chamber pots of congress will be dealt with. I am afraid Joe Biden will Obamacize it all, and the sacrifice will be for naught if anyone does call for their heads. Ugh ugh ugh.
Daughter says NYC is filling up with Covid. This is going to be the same ol' fun as last year. Except we are vaccinated and boosted.
Lancaster hospitals are full, no beds, and yet, that mean ol' governor Wolf of PA has been forced to reduce or delete all mask mandates. That headline in the paper made national news... Well, happy pre-Christmas at this point...try to stay well, everyone.