;)
February 4, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: "Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday offered his most forceful rebuke of Donald Trump, saying that Mr. Trump is 'wrong' that Mr. Pence had the legal authority to change the results of the 2020 election and that the Republican Party must accept the outcome and look toward the future.... 'The truth is there's more at stake than our party or our political fortunes,' he said. 'If we lose faith in the Constitution, we won't just lose elections -- we'll lose our country.'" ~~~
~~~ Mariana Alfaro & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Pence said the presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone, and appeared to suggest that calls for him to overturn the results of the election were 'un-American.' 'Frankly there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American President,' Pence said."
Kate Sullivan of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Friday touted the January jobs report that was significantly better than what most economists had predicted, given the rapid surge of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. 'Our country is taking everything that Covid has to throw at us and we've come back stronger,' Biden said, speaking from the White House." See related story linked under today's Ledes. ~~~
Sarakshi Rai of the Hill: "Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Friday criticized the Republican National Committee's (RNC) effort to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), saying he considered the move by their fellow Republicans shameful. Romney ... said in a tweet that 'shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol.' He praised them for seeking answers despite the professional and personal consequences.... 'Honor attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth even when doing so comes at great personal cost,' he [said]. Romney's statements stand in stark contrast to those of his niece, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who spoke in favor of the resolution that was passed by the resolutions committee on Thursday. McDaniel has previously condemned her uncle for criticizing Trump." A Washington Post report is here. ~~~
~~~ Update. Josh Dawsey & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "In an extraordinary rebuke, the Republican National Committee on Friday voted Friday to condemn Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), the two Republican members of a House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. The censure resolution passed overwhelmingly on a voice vote with no debate or discussion. It said the behavior of Cheney and Kinzinger 'has been destructive to the institution of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican Party and our republic.'" This also is an update to a story by Josh Dawsey, linked earlier today. ~~~
The Party of Violent Insurrection
WHEREAS, Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaging in legitimate political discourse ... -- from the RNC's censure resolution
~~~ ** Jonathan Weisman & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "The Republican Party on Friday officially declared the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and events that led to it 'legitimate political discourse,' and rebuked two lawmakers in the party who have been most outspoken in condemning the deadly riot and the role of Donald J. Trump in spreading the election lies that fueled it." ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is extraordinary. We have not seen anything like it since the Civil War. What remains a national political party has embraced violent revolution against the federal government, murder of top officials -- "Hang mike pence" "Oh, Naaaaaaancy." -- battering of tens of police officers, destruction of federal property, all with the goal to overturn the results of a presidential election and keep the loser in power. Republicans describe all this as "legitimate political discourse."
Calling Bill Barr. Mike Lillis & Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "Democrats are amping up the pressure on William Barr to testify before the panel investigating the Capitol attack of Jan. 6, 2021, saying the former attorney general has a unique window into the thoughts and actions of former President Trump leading up to the violent siege. Barr has been in informal talks with the special investigative committee, according to the chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). But recent news reports have added layers of detail to Barr's one-on-one interactions with Trump in late 2020, as the former president sought ways to use the powers of the administration to overturn his election defeat. Those revelations have sparked new interest on Capitol Hill for Barr to brief the committee again -- this time in a more formal setting."
Pick a White Man! Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post: "People keep saying that the point of a pledge of the kind President Biden made [-- to choose a Black woman for the Supreme Court --] is not to treat people differently because of the group they belong to but to stop treating people differently because of the group they belong to.... I'm disgusted that we would settle for anything less than picking the most qualified candidate for the job! And that's what I fear we're doing, because we aren't picking a White man. Astonishingly, every other possible selection is just there for reasons of enforced diversity, whereas White men are there because they deserve it!... We must pick the most qualified person, and the only way we can be sure we aren't influenced by traits is if this person is a formless mind floating in a void. Or the next best thing, a White man." ~~~
~~~ Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Justice Neil M. Gorsuch is speaking to the conservative Federalist Society as part of a political lineup of former vice president Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Donald Trump's onetime press secretary [Kayleigh McEnany], an appearance that comes as his fellow justices repeatedly dismiss criticism that the Supreme Court is partisan.... While Gorsuch will not ... share a stage with the GOP leaders, his attendance with major figures close to Trump has stirred questions about the court's impartiality and the insistence of the justices that it remains nonpartisan." MB: Gorsuch cannot be doing anything wrong. He is not just a Supreme Court justice. He is a White Man.
The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here.
~~~~~~~~~~
Katie Glueck, et al., of the New York Times: "Amid a rise in murders in cities across the nation, and intense Republican efforts to paint Democrats as hostile to law enforcement, President Biden on Thursday traveled to New York City to assert his party's public safety credentials, affirming his support for law enforcement and detailing his administration's plans to work with the city to confront gun violence. Flanked by elected officials including Mayor Eric Adams -- a former police captain whose messaging around crime and justice has been embraced by some national Democrats -- Mr. Biden highlighted his calls to increase federal investments in policing and pledged that the Justice Department would focus on so-called ghost guns, firearms that are easily assembled from kits but are not regulated by federal gun laws." A related story by Matt Viser of the Washington Post is here.
~~~ Eric Schmitt & Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "A risky predawn raid by U.S. Special Operations forces that resulted in the death of the Islamic State's leader on Thursday was set in motion months ago with a tip that the top terrorist was hiding out on the top floor of a house in northwest Syria. In brief remarks at the White House, President Biden said the decision to send about two doze helicopter-borne commandos to capture or kill the leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, was made to minimize the risk of civilian harm. Military officials said attacking with a bomb or a missile would have been safer for the troops but could have endangered more than a dozen civilians in the house, including several children."
** When the President gave a briefing & the President* gave a "briefing" on military takedowns of ISIS leaders. MB: I doubt anyone has forgotten what an ignorant dolt Trump is, but this juxtaposition of briefings on similar operations is stunning:
Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "The United States has acquired intelligence about a Russian plan to fabricate a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine using a faked video that would build on recent disinformation campaigns, according to senior administration officials and others briefed on the material. The plan -- which the United States hopes to spoil by making public -- involves staging and filming a fabricated attack by the Ukrainian military either on Russian territory or against Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine." (Also linked yesterday.)
Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "The National Archives decided on Tuesday that it will turn over former Vice President Mike Pence's records to the House Select Committee early next month, after ... Donald Trump said he wanted to keep secret more than 100 documents. This is the first set of records related to Pence's office that the Archives has cleared for release after House investigators sought them and comes as top officials around Pence on January 6 testify to the panel." (Also linked yesterday.)
Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "In a body full of MAGA sycophants and Ivy League-educated senators spewing anti-elite rhetoric, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) manages to stand out. From his fist-pumping approval of the Jan. 6 mob to his whining that his canceled book deal amounts to censorship, Hawley has specialized in inflammatory stunts and victimhood to shove himself to the front of the line of wannabe MAGA cult leaders who seek to follow defeated ... Donald Trump. So no one can be surprised when Hawley adopts the talking points of Trump's favorite dictator, Russian President Vladimir Putin. As President Biden draws a tough stance against Putin's designs on Ukraine and deploys troops to our NATO allies, Hawley has taken Putin's side in the central dispute. Does Ukraine have a right to determine its alliance? Hawley's answer: Nyet!" (Also linked yesterday.)
S. V. Date of the Huffington Post: "Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday is expected to rebut, again, claims by Donald Trump that Pence 'could have overturned the election' to let Trump remain in power despite having lost in 2020 by more than 7 million votes. Pence had already been scheduled to speak at the conservative Federalist Society's conference in Florida, and advisers have indicated in recent days that he is likely to respond there to Trump's latest attacks." MB: Gosh, will pence say Trump is a lying, whining loser or that uninformed sources misled the Greatest President* Ever?
Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Republican leaders forged an agreement this week to potentially fund a challenger to Rep. Liz Cheney in Wyoming, and party members are expected to formally condemn her for her work on the Jan. 6 committee Friday, an unprecedented rebuke of an incumbent member of Congress. As the party met in Salt Lake City this week, the leaders of the Wyoming GOP privately signed a special letter that would allow the national party to financially support Harriet Hageman, Cheney's primary challenger. The letter officially recognizes Hageman as the presumptive nominee for the seat."
Old Generals Never Die; They Just Fade Away Waging Fake Wars. Robert Draper in the New York Times Magazine: When Donald Trump granted Michael Flynn a full pardon, Flynn was already deep into pushing military-backed plans to overturn the 2020 presidential election. "One year since Trump's departure from office, his Make America Great Again movement has reconstituted itself as a kind of shape-shifting but increasingly robust parallel political universe, one that holds significant sway over the Republican Party but is also beyond its control. It includes MAGA-centric media outlets...; well-attended events...; its own personalities and merchandise; and above all, its shared catechism -- central to which is the false claim that Trump was the legitimate victor in 2020. In this world, Flynn is probably the single greatest draw besides Trump himself.... In the year since Flynn sought to enlist the military in overturning the election, he has continued to fight the same battle by other means. He has been a key figure in spreading the gospel of the stolen election."
Coral Marcos of the New York Times: "Stocks on Wall Street tumbled on Thursday, with Meta, the parent company of Facebook, leading the way with a drop of 26.4 percent, its worst one-day loss ever and one that erased more than $230 billion off its market value."
Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "... the trial that opened on Thursday morning, pitting the [New York] Times against former Alaska governor Sarah Palin in a high-stakes showdown over First Amendment principles, could put [media legal] protections to the test.... In his opening statements to the jury, an attorney for the New York Times tried to turn down the temperature of the debate, casting the matter as a simple error in presentation that the paper's editors moved 'as quickly as possible' to correct."
Michael Grynbaum & John Koblin of the New York Times: CNN on-air personalities met Wednesday with Warner Media CEO Jason Kilar after Kilar fired CNN CEO Jeff Zucker. The stars were not aligned with Kilar. "It was as if a year's worth of frustrations and pressures had came pouring out: unease over CNN's corporate ownership; the firing of the anchor Chris Cuomo in an embarrassing ethics scandal; a looming merger with Discovery Inc.; and now the sudden exit of a leader who had remade the network, to some praise and some criticism, over his nine-year tenure.... [Jake] Tapper asked about the perception that Mr. Cuomo had successfully used Mr. Zucker's relationship to force him to resign. 'Jeff said we don't negotiate with terrorists, and Chris blew the place up,' Mr. Tapper said.... 'For a lot of us,' [Dana Bash] said, 'the feeling is that, for Jeff, the punishment didn't fit the crime.'" MB: This is just big boys with marbles and no morals playing keepsies. When all the players are bully boys, some will be losers. ~~~
~~~ ** Remembering Zucker. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: Jeff "Zucker's relationship with Donald Trump will define his legacy. Zucker, as much as any other person in the world, created and burnished the Trump persona -- first as a reality-TV star who morphed into a worldwide celebrity, then as a candidate for president who was given large amounts of free publicity.... Zucker created Trump the TV sensation, which was the necessary foundation for Trump the candidate.... CNN infamously took his campaign speeches live, sometimes going so far as to broadcast images of an empty lectern with embarrassing chyrons such as 'Breaking News: Standing By for Trump to Speak.'... Zucker also brought on the air Trump surrogates who should have had no place on a national news network: ... Corey Lewandowski..., Jeffrey Lord and Kayleigh McEnany...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: "Margaret Sullivan points out that Jeff Zucker played a crucial role ... in transforming Donald Trump from a washed up bit of cultural detritus from the least appetizing parts of 1980s celebrity culture into an utterly fake tycoon, who was given a media launching pad he would use to eventually destroy democracy in America[.]... The most perverse aspect of the infotainment world that [Paddy Chayefsky's film] Network foresaw and that we're living through now is that it destroys any sense in the public that running a government actually requires some real expertise...." Campos goes on to look at why people would vote for a complete incompetent like Trump, and Campos' take is interesting. Also, a short read.
News You Can Use. Maybe. Rachel Lerman of the Washington Post: "Amazon is raising the price of its Prime membership in the U.S. from $119 to $139 annually, the first time the company has boosted the price of its popular subscription service since 2018. The new prices will go into effect Feb. 18 for new members, and beginning after March 25 for people who already have a membership. The monthly cost will also jump, from $12.99 to $14.99."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here.
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "A broad and bipartisan group of senators is coalescing around legislation to create a high-level independent commission, modeled after the one that examined the Sept. 11 attacks, with broad powers to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic and the response across the Trump and Biden administrations. Under a plan proposed by the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Health Committee -- Senators Patty Murray of Washington and Richard M. Burr of North Carolina -- a 12-member panel would have subpoena power to 'get a full accounting of what went wrong during this pandemic,' Ms. Murray said in an interview, and make recommendations for the future." MB: Let's have Sens. Ron Johnson & Rand Paul co-chair the commission.
Beyond the Beltway
Courts Likely to Undo Some GOP Gerrymandering. Ally Mutnick of Politico: "The redistricting wars are shifting into a new arena: the courtroom. Most states have finished their maps already, but state and federal courts will direct the drawing of some 75 congressional districts in at least seven states in the coming months, marking a new phase in the process before the first 2022 primaries begin. In the next few weeks alone, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania courts are likely to impose new maps blocking Republican legislators' attempts to relegate Democrats to small slivers of those congressional delegations.... So far, the decisions have validated the [Democratic] party's state-by-state legal strategy and, critically, offered a surprising reprieve from several Republican gerrymandering attempts before a single election could be held under the new lines."
Alabama. Noam Scheiber & Karen Weise of the New York Times: "On Friday, the National Labor Relations Board will mail out ballots to workers at [Amazon's Bessemer, Ala.,] warehouse in a so-called re-run election, which the agency ordered after finding that Amazon behaved improperly during the last campaign.... For this election, which runs through March 25, the labor movement is pulling few punches. Several national unions have collectively sent dozens of organizers to Bessemer to help rally workers. And organizers and workers have spent the past several months going door-to-door to build support for the union.... Turnover at Amazon is high -- over 150 percent a year even before a recent surge of quitting nationwide -- and could introduce uncertainty because it';s unclear how new workers will respond to arguments on either side."
Arizona. Andy Rose and Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "A Republican bill that would have overhauled elections in Arizona -- including giving the state legislature the power to reject election results -- proved to be too much even for state GOP leaders this week. Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican, quietly doomed House Bill 2596 on Tuesday with an unusual parliamentary maneuver. The speaker assigns all new bills to a committee for consideration before they can have full House votes, a choice that often has a great effect on a measure's chance of success. But on Tuesday, Bowers took the unprecedented step of ordering all 12 House committees to consider the elections bill, virtually ensuring it will never reach the floor. The bill's lead sponsor, Republican state Rep. John Fillmore, referred to the move as a '12-committee lynching' in an interview with CNN affiliate KPHO/KTVK." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Charming the way the sponsor of a bill designed to deprive minority voters of their rights describes the bill's defeat as a "lynching." Co-opting words designed to describe real atrocities is a GOP specialty.
Florida. Madison Czopek of Politifact: "After the Biden administration announced that the new bipartisan infrastructure law would provide $1.1 billion to protect and restore the Everglades in South Florida, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., visited the region to celebrate the investment. '... [I] am proud that Senator Rubio and I were able to help secure an unprecedented $1 billion for Everglades restoration, the largest single amount ever allocated by the federal government.' But Scott didn't vote for the law that's funding the Everglades project. Neither did Sen. Marco Rubio, the Florida colleague he shared the credit with.... That makes Scott part of [a] growing political tradition: lawmakers claiming credit for things made possible by legislation they opposed." Thanks to Forrest M. for the lead.
Maryland AG Race. Ovetta Wiggins of the Washington Post: "A former Anne Arundel County Council member who once had ties to the League of the South, an Alabama-based organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified as a hate group, is running to become Maryland's next attorney general. Michael Anthony Peroutka, an attorney, served on the council from 2014 to 2018 and was elected chairman in his final year on the board. During his 2014 run, Peroutka said he opposed same-sex marriage, believes in creationism and favors the dismantling of public education, which he has called 'a plank in the Communist Manifesto.' At a League of the South conference in 2012, he sang 'Dixie,' calling it 'the national anthem.'" MB: Look for a Trump endorsement any day now.
New Jersey. Matt Friedman of Politico: "A Republican challenge to the new congressional district map has failed. The New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday voted 5-0 to side with Democrats and dismiss a GOP lawsuit that asked the court to remand the map to the redistricting commission for further consideration and require the tie-breaker commissioner, former Supreme Court Justice John Wallace, to recuse himself. The state's highest court ruled that for all the Republicans' complaints about the process, the lawsuit did not challenge the map itself as unlawful or unconstitutional."
Texas Voting Restrictions Law Is "Already a Clusterfuck." Sam Levine of the Guardian: "Officials in Texas are rejecting thousands of mail-in ballots ahead of the first 2022 midterm primary votes next month, raising serious alarm that a new Republican law is going to disenfranchise droves of eligible voters. The state's 1 March primary is being closely watched as the first important test of one of the dozens of voting restrictions GOP-controlled state legislatures enacted in 2021. Last August, Texas Republicans passed a sweeping new voting law, SB 1, that imposes new identification requirements in the mail-in voting process, prohibits election officials from soliciting mail-in ballots, provides partisan poll watchers with more autonomy at the polls and outlaws 24-hour and curbside voting.... 'It's already a clusterfuck,' said Charlie Bonner, a spokesperson for Move Texas, a group that works on voter mobilization in Texas."
Way Beyond
China/Russia, etc.. Andrew Jeong & Emily Rauhala of the Washington Post: "Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met Friday on the sidelines of the Beijing Winter Olympics in a show of solidarity amid a spiraling crisis over the Kremlin's military buildup around Ukraine that could further complicate the diplomatic standoff. In a rambling joint statement to mark the occasion, Moscow and Beijing espoused shared views on a range of geopolitical issues but avoided mentioning the crisis by name. Instead they expressed opposition to NATO enlargement and called out 'forces representing a minority on the world stage' who 'continue to advocate unilateral approaches to solving international problems.' Xi, who has not met another foreign leader in person in almost two years, said the two sides 'firmly support each other in safeguarding their core interests,' according to a summary of the meeting by the state news agency Xinhua." ~~~
~~~ An AP story is here. The New York Times has a liveblog of the meeting, & presumably, of reactions to it.
U.K. Bye-Bye Boris. Mark Landler & Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "An exodus of senior officials from 10 Downing Street on Thursday deepened the crisis engulfing Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as he fought to hold on to power in the wake of a scandal over get-togethers that breached lockdown restrictions. Mr. Johnson's chief of staff, private secretary, communications chief, and head of policy all resigned, leaving the top of British government rudderless at a time when Mr. Johnson is struggling to avert a mutiny in the ranks of his Conservative Party. About a dozen party lawmakers have called publicly for a no-confidence vote in the prime minister. Some of the departures fulfilled Mr. Johnson's promise to overhaul the Downing Street operation, following the release of a government report on Monday that criticized the office for 'excessive' workplace drinking, citing 16 social gatherings.... But ... his policy chief, Munira Mirza..., sent the prime minister a sharply critical letter...." A related AP story is here; the headline describes Johnson as being in "a weakened position."
U.K. Danica Kirka of the AP: "The woman who became Queen Elizabeth II will mark 70 years on the throne Sunday, an unprecedented reign that has made her a symbol of stability as the United Kingdom navigated an age of uncertainty. From her early days as a glamorous young royal in glittering tiaras to her more recent incarnation as the nation's grandmother, the queen has witnessed the end of the British Empire, the advent of multiculturalism, the rise of international terrorism, and the challenges posed by Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. In a world of relentless change, she has been a constant -- representing the U.K.'s interests abroad, applauding the nation's successes and commiserating in its failures, and always remaining above the fray of politics." Includes a short history of her reign, with photos.
News Ledes
CNBC: "Payrolls rose far more than expected in January despite surging omicron cases that seemingly sent millions of workers to the sidelines, the Labor Department reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls surged by 467,000 for the month, while the unemployment rate edged higher to 4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Dow Jones estimate was for payroll growth of 150,000 and a 3.9% unemployment rate. The stunning gain came a week after the White House warned that the numbers could be low due to the pandemic."
New York Times: "A tenacious winter storm that has already canceled flights, closed schools and created slick roadways across the South and the Midwest was expected on Friday to dump snow, sleet and ice upon the Northeast. Heavy snow is projected in northern parts of New York and New England, with ice the primary concern farther south, said Rich Otto, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's prediction center." ~~~
~~~ Washington Post: "More than 300,000 customers from Texas to Pennsylvania were without power Thursday night as a major winter storm continued moving east across the United States, bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain to Midwest and eastern U.S. The National Weather Service warned of 'impossible' travel conditions, and local authorities urged drivers to stay off the roads."
The New York Times has live updates of the Winter Olympics here: "With seamless footwork and high-flying quadruple jumps, Nathan Chen, the gold medal favorite in figure skating's men's singles event, easily finished first on Friday in the men's short program of the team event, giving the U.S. team an edge to win an early medal at the Beijing Games." The Washington Post's liveblog is here. ~~~
~~~ The New York Times also is liveblogging the Olympics opening ceremonies.
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Reader Comments (13)
A view from afar:
I know only what I read in the newspapers and I certainly don't read all of them, but as Boris struggles, I think back to his path to the premiership and the parallels drawn by pundits between him and our own Pretender.
Manufactured or innate, there was something eye-catching about both of them apparently, the kind of cinematic appeal that makes one a recognizable "character," and they seemed to share the nationalist urges increasingly popular among the Right.
The Brexit withdrawal that Boris championed had more than mere metaphor in common with our own national debate about the utility of a Wall to keep "those people" out and all we hold dear in.
But from the beginning, I detected happy go lucky smarts in Boris entirely lacking in the Pretender. He possessed a goofiness that made him somehow more likable than a Pretender who took himself so seriously that any slight he encountered prompted revenge.
Sure, there is a lot of show to Boris, and sure, he is no deep political thinker; like many successful politicians, he's an opportunist, perfectly willing to abandon principle as he climbs the rungs of success to the top.
But I'm guessing that unlike the Pretender he's genuinely smart, has a real sense of humor, is as nice as he is nasty and will be unwilling to tear down an entire country in order to save his sorry ass.
After all, which is the greater sin? Partying hearty? Or disemboweling a democracy?
I almost wish Boris well.
@Ken Winkes: An interesting perspective and difficult to disagree with. I still won't be sorry when MOPs show Boris the door & a boring, humorless hack is placed in his stead.
From LGBTQ Nation: An Oklahoma bill would fire teachers for
offending Christian morals (?) by teaching Biology.
Iowa Republicans have introduced a bill that would put government
installed cameras in every classroom to livestream school activities
for parents to spy on teachers and children at all times.
From Politifact.com:
"I am proud that Senator Rubio and I were able to help secure an
unprecedented $1 billion for Everglades restoration."--Rick Scott
Per Politifact, "But Scott and Rubio didn't vote for the law that's
funding the Everglades restoration project."
You mean to say that politicians would lie to their constituents?
Ken: I, too, was going to write about Boris and the Big Bore –- the similarity and difference between them but you have done it beautifully.. I was always taken with the disshelved appearance of Boris compared with the carefully put=together pretender. The fact that both are liars, one does it for political purposes while the other is his modus operandi. If asked which one would you like to have a beer with, I'd pick Boris any day of the week––plus Donny doesn't drink––a pity that–-if he did perhaps....well, who knows.
Here's something I was not aware of: Lawmakers are pressing Amazon on sales of a chemical (used for preserving meat) that has been used in suicides, especially in young people.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/04/technology/amazon-suicide-poison-preservative.html
The Special Forces raid that resulted in the death of the Islamic State's leader was executed in the best way possible––but wait for the GOP to find fault.
I found Margaret Sullivan's (the reporter not the film star) description of DJT as "a washed up bit of cultural detritus" loverly.
Interesting data here on Covid deaths.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/900-000-dead-covid-deaths-are-surging-low-vaccination-states-n1288586
Would have thought the current "winners" would have all been more southerly, and would have been wrong. Seems there's a lot about some states I don't know.
On Wednesday night Chris Hayes spent much of his program interviewing Brian Flores along with his two attorneys. Not being into the weeds of sport's world I knew nothing about this situation. I found the story compelling and infuriating and was stunned not to find one mention of it in the news the next day–––but today we got it. Here's an excellent run-down on the situation on former Miami Dolphin's head coach, Flores, and it's called "The Invisible Man"––a reference to Ralph Ellison's classic that I happened to read while in high school borrowed from our next door neighbor, Henry Smith, the superintendent of schools who gave me full reign of his vast library; I owe him an enormous debt.
"Flores isn't just fighting for the NFL for a position––he's trying to precent the sofy cloak of darkness that will inevitably swallow him whole until he's just not visible anymore."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nfl-coach-brian-flores-invisible-man_n_61fc5346e4b0725faac74df8
@PD Pepe: There has been quite a lot of MSM coverage of Flores' firing & ensuing lawsuit (and I assume it's all over sports media). I've just failed to link stories here because I have such a hard time feeling sorry for pro football management; I do feel bad for the guys who get kicked in the head every week, then suffer permanent brain damage.
Besides, didn't we already know pro owners were racists, even to the point of officially assuming (until last year) that Black players were dumber than white players. I hate football.
@Forrest Morris: If legislatures would pass laws that fined legislators for introducing stupid bills, there would be a lot of bankruptcies among state legislators.
Marie Burns: That sounds like a ballot initiative that all voters from all 50 states would get behind. $10,000 a pop for every stupid bill and if they don't pay it out of their own pocket they get banned from serving in government for 5 years, give the Oklahoma guy some of his own medicine.
The food preservative is sodium nitrite. It is in many main-stream ready to eat meats. If you outlaw all food preservatives, only big business will be able to process foods for longer term storage. They did this with lye, caustic soda, NaOH because some fools think if you smoke it you get high. I am far more concerned about sodium nitrate fueling dementia from overuse in processed foods and contaminated ground water. My question coming after studying in Wisconsin: has fouled ground water messed with the minds of many residents of the upper midwest. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090705215239.htm.
"I think there is a “gay agenda” after all!"
"The word “arsenokoitai” shows up in two different verses in the bible, but it was not translated to mean “homosexual” until 1946.
In the English where it says “Man shall not lie with man, for it is an abomination,” the [1800s] German version says “Man shall not lie with young boys as he does with a woman, for it is an abomination."
A mistranslation from the 1940s from "child molester" to "homosexual" has helped fuel and justify hatred towards the LGBTQ community. We are currently seeing that in the many book bans that target this marginalize community. So much self-righteousness hatred based on a mistranslation. All those families torn apart over a misinterpretation of the Bible.
Also it conveniently painted a target on the gay community instead of the pedophiles by the church community.
The RNC resolution censuring Cheney and Kinzinger is in one part breathtakingly honest from the get-go ...
The RNC's purpose, it says is to elect Republicans who share its values. There's no doubt of that.
(Those here could easily list those values, and it would not be a pretty list.)
Aside from the obligatory vague noise about supporting the Constitution (genuflect, genuflect, genuflect), most of those values are understandably unstated in the document, but of those mentioned, casting the insurrection as "legitimate political discourse" comes first, followed its SOP of blaming Biden for everything imperfect about the present state of the nation.
This from the party that has done nothing but lower taxes, made it harder for people to vote, turned a blind eye to the epic corruption of the Pretender administration, and tried to build a silly wall, all emblematic of the Republican values the resolution failed to enumerate.
@RAS: I think the translation of the double word “arsenokoitai” is more complicated -- and more contentious -- than you suggest. And of course the Old Testament includes passages in ancient Hebrew that are also variously interpreted. Then there is the passage in Matthew (19:12) where Matthew has Jesus say what many interpret to mean that homosexuality is natural or God-given; that is, he says, "some are born that way."
However scholars may translate & interpret the various passages that refer to male sexuality (nothing about female sexuality because those Bible-writing fellas didn't seem to know or want to acknowledge that women were sexual beings, too), my go-to position is, "Who cares what some guys might have thought in the first century C.E. & before?" While their views on sexuality may be of historical interest, so are their views on slavery (fine, if the slaves aren't Jews!) and criminal trials (two people claiming to be witnesses are all that are needed to condemn a person to death).