;)
October 29, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Friday admitted that his administration was 'clumsy' in its handling of the deal that deprived France of billions in defense contracts. The comment came during of a closely watched meeting with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in Rome, meant to repair fractured ties after a rift over an agreement to provide Australia with submarines[.] 'I was under the impression that France had been informed long before that the deal was not going through, honest to God,' Biden said on Friday, sitting alongside Macron in the French Embassy to the Holy See."
Josh Boak, et al., of the AP: "President Joe Biden said Pope Francis told him he should continue to receive Communion, as the world's two most prominent Roman Catholics ran overtime in highly personal discussions on climate change, poverty and the coronavirus pandemic that also touched on the loss of president's adult son and jokes about aging well.... Video released by the Vatican showed several warm, relaxed moments between Francis and Biden as they repeatedly shook hands and smiled. Francis often sports a dour look, especially in official photos, but he seemed in good spirits Friday. The private meeting lasted about 75 minutes, according to the Vatican, more than double the normal length of an audience with the pontiff[.]'
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Sixty-six former lawmakers, including two dozen Republicans, have signed on to a legal brief urging a federal judge to reject ... Donald Trump's effort to block Jan. 6 investigators from accessing his White House's records. The brief, which is slated to hit the docket in the D.C. federal District Court on Friday, contends that no possible argument about executive privilege could overcome Congress' need for documents to probe the violent attack on the Capitol -- one fueled by Trump's false claim that the 2020 election was stolen.
Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Representative Adam Kinzinger, who emerged this year as one of the pre-eminent Republican critics of ... Donald J. Trump, announced Friday that he would not seek re-election in 2022. Mr. Kinzinger's electoral fate was largely sealed late Thursday when Illinois Democrats, in an 11th-hour vote shortly before midnight, adopted a new congressional map that eliminated the Republican-majority district Mr. Kinzinger represented for the last decade.... He announced his departure from Congress in a five-minute video in which he reiterated his opposition to Mr. Trump's influence on the Republican Party and reflected on his first congressional victory during the 2010 Tea Party wave." The AP's report is here.
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The New York Times is liveblogging (in its slow, methodical way) President Biden's activities in Europe: "With his domestic agenda in limbo and tensions with China and Russia smoldering in the backdrop, President Biden kicked off a whirlwind international tour on Friday in Rome, where he is meeting with Pope Francis to discuss global challenges like the pandemic and climate change. Mr. Biden, who is usually tardy to meetings, pulled up to the Vatican at noon on the dot. A minute after he and Jill Biden, the first lady, arrived in the presidential limousine, the president shook hands with Vatican officials before being taken inside to meet with Francis." ~~~
~~~ Chico Harlan & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "For the first time during his administration, President Biden is meeting with Pope Francis on Friday, bringing together the world';s two most powerful Catholics, who share plenty of common ground and are contending with similar adversaries and polarization within the church.... Later Friday, Biden is scheduled to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron, their first in-person encounter since the U.S. role in a thwarted submarine deal incensed the French government."
Lisa Mascaro, et al., of the AP: "President Joe Biden declared Thursday he has reached a 'historic economic framework' with Democrats in Congress on his sweeping domestic policy package, a hard-fought yet dramatically scaled-back deal announced hours before he departs for overseas summits. Biden's remarks at the White House came after he traveled to Capitol Hill to make the case to House Democrats for the still robust domestic package -- $1.75 trillion of social services and climate change programs the White House believes can pass the 50-50 Senate.... At least one pivotal holdout, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., struck a similar tone: 'I look forward to getting this done.' However, another holdout, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was less committal: 'This is all in the hands of the House right now.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Kate Sullivan of CNN: "The $1.75 trillion proposal focuses on care for families, addressing the climate crisis, expanding access to health care, lowering costs for the middle class and tax reforms.... The new plan makes major concessions and does not have several key planks that Biden had initially proposed, including paid family and medical leave, prescription drug pricing provisions, free community college and vision or dental Medicaid coverage. Here's what is included in the plan[.]"(Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Here's the White House's summary of what's in the Build Back Better framework. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "Climate has emerged as the single largest category in President Biden's new framework for a huge spending bill placing global warming at the center of his party's domestic agenda in a way that was hard to imagine just a few years ago. As the bill was pared down from $3.5 trillion to $1.85 trillion, paid family leave, free community college, lower prescription drugs for seniors and other Democratic priorities were dropped -- casualties of negotiations between progressives and moderates in the party. But $555 billion in climate programs remained.... In remarks Thursday, Mr. Biden called it 'the most significant investment to deal with the climate crisis that ever happened, beyond any other advanced nation in the world.'... The centerpiece of the climate spending is $300 billion in tax incentives for producers and purchasers of wind, solar and nuclear power, inducements intended to speed up a transition away from oil, gas and coal." ~~~
~~~ Michael Shear & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: President Biden told Democratic House members Thursday they "had to rally behind his $1.85 trillion economic and environmental spending bill ... because nothing less than his presidency was at stake. 'I don't think it's hyperbole,' he said as he unveiled a revised proposal and pleaded with Democratic lawmakers to support it during a last-minute morning meeting at the Capitol, hours before he left for a six-day trip to Europe to meet with world leaders. 'The House and Senate majorities and my presidency will be determined by what happens in the next week,' Mr. Biden told the lawmakers during the hourlong session, according to a person who was at the meeting. The president's proposals, while about half as costly as his original plan, still amount to a transformative agenda that would touch the lives of millions of Americans and serve as the core of his party's argument to stay in power through the 2022 midterm elections and the 2024 presidential contest." ~~~
~~~ Sarah Ferris, et al., of Politico: "Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi revved their party toward a House vote as soon as Thursday on a $550 billion Senate-passed infrastructure bill, even as progressives remain undecided about taking what one called 'a leap of faith in the president.' Soon after the White House outlined a framework for a $1.75 trillion deal on social spending, Biden made a high-stakes appearance on Capitol Hill to sell Pelosi's caucus on it. While some liberal priorities were included in the package of climate, health care and other social policy investments, others were left on the cutting-room floor -- and House progressives remain noncommittal about whether to vote yes on infrastructure given their uncertainty about the framework's Senate future. The Congressional Progressive Caucus held its own meeting after Biden left, as its chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) held off on where her group stood after the president's pitch for its votes. Another of her members, Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), said simply 'no' when asked if she would vote for the infrastructure bill after the president's push." (Also linked yesterday.)
Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "Migrant families separated at the border by the Trump administration may be eligible to each receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation for the damage inflicted on them by the policy, according to several people familiar with the matter. Some families could receive as much as $450,000 for each member who was directly affected, the sources said. However, negotiations between the Biden administration and lawyers representing the families are not over, and many might get far less, they said. About 5,500 children were separated from parents at the southern border under ... Donald J. Trump's 'zero-tolerance' policy, mainly in the spring of 2018." MB: Ironically, it seems to me that the windfall could make the families eligible to enter the U.S. under a program that welcomes immigrants of means. So, good work, Trump, JeffBo & Stephen Miller, et al., you nasty bastids.
Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department agreed Thursday to pay $88 million to victims of a racially motivated shooting at a historic Black church in South Carolina -- a substantial but also symbolic figure meant to compensate for a background-check failure that allowed the killer to buy a weapon. A lawyer for the victims, Bakari Sellers, said the figure was particularly meaningful because the number 88 is significant among white supremacists like gunman Dylann Roof, who was convicted on federal hate crimes charges and sentenced to death." An ABC News report is here. MB: According to an on-air report on CNN, the Trump DOJ stonewalled settlement negotiations re: the 2015 mass murder. I don't know if that's true, but it's believable, isn't it? (Also linked yesterday.)
Christopher Flavelle of the New York Times: "Almost a year after being urged to address racial inequity in United States disaster programs, officials are still trying to decide how to deal with the problem, according to a document issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday. The agency was responding to recommendations made in November by its own advisory panel.... A growing body of research shows that FEMA, the government agency responsible for helping Americans recover from disasters, often helps white disaster victims more than people of color, even when the amount of damage is the same.... The agency's programs have favored disaster victims who are wealthy and own property, and who are more likely to be white...."
Christopher Flavelle of the New York Times: "Centuries of land loss and forced relocation have left Native Americans significantly more exposed to the effects of climate change, new data show, adding to the debate over how to address climate change and racial inequity in the United States. The findings, which took seven years to compile and were published Thursday in the journal Science, mark the first time that researchers have been able to quantify on a large scale what Native Americans have long believed to be true: That European settlers, and later the United States government, pushed Indigenous peoples onto marginal lands.... 'This is not just a story of the past harms,' said Justin Farrell, a Yale University professor and another of the study's authors. 'We have to think about ways to recompense for this history.'"
Hiroko Tabuchi & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "At a heated hearing on Thursday, Democrats had some big questions for the chief executives of Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP and Shell: Would they pledge to stop lobbying against efforts to reduce emissions? And were they willing to tell their powerful trade groups to stop working against electric vehicles? None of the executives agreed. Instead, the leaders of the four major oil and gas companies touted their support for a transition to clean energy and said they had never engaged in campaigns to mislead the public on the role of fossil fuel emissions in global warming. All four acknowledged that the burning of their products was driving climate change, but also told lawmakers that fossil fuels are not about to disappear.... Democrats responded with forceful language in the more than six-hour hearing. 'Some of us actually have to live the future that you all are setting on fire for us,' Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York told the executives." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post live-updated the hearing. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday lifted a stay of execution that a federal appeals court had granted to two Oklahoma death row inmates, clearing the way for the men to be put to death by lethal injection. As is the court;s custom, its brief order gave no reasons. The inmates, John Marion Grant and Julius Jones, had argued that the state's lethal injection protocol, which uses three chemicals, could subject them to excruciating pain. They also objected on religious grounds to a requirement imposed by a trial judge that they choose among proposed alternative methods of execution, saying that doing so would amount to suicide. The three more liberal members of the court -- Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan -- dissented, also without providing reasons. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch did not participate in the case, presumably because he had considered an aspect of it when he was a federal appeals court judge." The story has been updated to describe the circumstances surrounding John Grant's execution. ~~~
~~~ ** Cruel & Unusual. Sean Murphy of the AP: "Oklahoma administered the death penalty Thursday on a man who convulsed and vomited as he was executed for the 1998 slaying of a prison cafeteria worker, ending a six-year execution moratorium brought on by concerns over its execution methods[.] John Marion Grant, 60, who was strapped to a gurney inside the execution chamber, began convulsing and vomiting after the first drug, the sedative midazolam, was administered. Several minutes later, two members of the execution team wiped the vomit from his face and neck. Before the curtain was raised to allow witnesses to see into the execution chamber, Grant could be heard yelling, 'Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!' He delivered a stream of profanities before the lethal injection started. He was declared unconscious about 15 minutes after the first of three drugs was administered and declared dead about six minutes after that, at 4:21 p.m. Someone vomiting while being executed is rare, according to observers.... Grant was the first person in Oklahoma to be executed since a series of flawed lethal injections in 2014 and 2015."
Tom Hamburger & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Jeffrey Clark, the Trump-era Justice Department official who sought to support ... Donald Trump's false claims of massive voting fraud in the 2020 election, has received a postponement of the Friday deadline for him to appear before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6. attack on the Capitol. The panel made the decision Thursday after being informed that Clark's lawyer, Robert Driscoll, had dropped his representation of the former Justice Department official. Because of the change, the committee granted Clark a brief postponement.... It was not clear why Driscoll and Clark split, but people familiar with the matter suggested that it had to do with whether Clark would cooperate with the committee's requests."
Zachary Cohen, et al., of CNN: "Members of the House select committee investigating January 6 are losing patience with the pace of talks with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and some are considering whether more aggressive steps are needed to force his compliance in the sweeping probe, multiple sources tell CNN. Meadows was first subpoenaed more than a month ago, and since then the committee has indicated he's been 'engaging' in negotiations over th terms of his turning over documents and appearing for a deposition. But weeks after the committee granted Meadows a 'short' but indefinite postponement of the initial subpoena deadline, members are growing increasingly frustrated and contemplating when and how to ramp up the pressure." MB: Clear out a Capitol basement cell & lock him up, ladies & gentlemen.
** Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "The chief judge presiding over the federal court in Washington on Thursday unleashed a blistering critique of the Justice Department's prosecution of Capitol rioters, saying fiery rhetoric about the event's horror did not match plea offers to minor charges. 'No wonder parts of the public in the U.S. are confused about whether what happened on January 6 at the Capitol was simply a petty offense of trespassing with some disorderliness, or shocking criminal conduct that represented a grave threat to our democratic norms,' Judge Beryl A. Howell said in court Thursday. 'Let me make my view clear: The rioters were not mere protesters.'... Why, she asked, when prosecutors called the riot an 'attack on democracy ... unparalleled in American history,' were ... [January 6] participants facing the same charge as nonviolent protesters who routinely disrupt congressional hearings?" Politico's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Howell is right of course. Those rabid monsters beating up police on their way to overturning an election & hanging the vice president were not Code Pink ladies giggling at Richard Shelby's representation of Jeff Sessions as a defender of equal rights. But Howell says her "hands are tied" by the prosecutors' decisions to undercharge the insurrectionists. I have never been under the impression that a judge must accept a plea deal worked out between prosecutor & defendant. It seems to me Howell could tell prosecutors to come up with more appropriate charges so that not only would the punishment fit the crime but also the crime alleged would fit reality.
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "... nearly 10 months after Jan. 6, suggestions of legitimized violence continue to permeate the GOP and the conservative movement. [Donald] Trump has faded into the background somewhat..., but others have gladly picked up the torch, with almost no pushback from their party leadership. The most recent example involves Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who this week suggested that the attack on the Capitol actually was in line with the Declaration of Independence.... Need for political violence and a 1776-esque revolution are coming up with increasing frequency.... And extreme supporters have a way of taking the hint, which many Capitol rioters say they did from Trump's violent rhetoric." ~~~
~~~ TucKKKer Jumps the Shark. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "Tucker Carlson previewed a trailer on Wednesday for an upcoming three-part series for FOX Nation.... 'The domestic war on terror is here,' alleges a man's voice. 'It's coming after half of the country.' Carlson himself appears and says, 'The helicopters have left Afghanistan, and now they're here at home.' 'The left is hunting the right,' alleges another voice. 'Sticking them in Guantanamo Bay, for American citizens, leaving them there to rot.'... A clip of President Joe Biden denouncing White supremacy and calling it a 'lethal threat' as footage of the 1926 Ku Klux Klan march on Washington rolled. 'False flags have happened in this country,' says another voice. 'One of which may have been January 6th.' The trailer ends with a brief audio of the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic.' The trailer is, in a word, batshit." You can watch the trailer here. His truth is marching on. The trailer is, in a word, batshit." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post has more on TuKKKer's excellent fake "documentary." And according to a Daily Beast blurb (story firewalled), the writer of this fine multi-part screed had a previous gig directing a Pizzagate opus.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. David Moye of the Huffington Post: "On Wednesday, the [Wall Street Journal] printed a letter to the editor from ... Donald Trump where he basically regurgitated all the demonstrably false claims he's already made about the 2020 election. The paper came under fire for letting Trump spread false information without any sort of fact check. On Thursday, the paper's editorial board defended the decision to print Trump's letter without any kind of factual pushback by claiming that it trusts it readers 'to make up their own minds about his statement.' The editorial added, 'And we think it's news when an ex-President who may run in 2024 wrote what he did, even if (or perhaps especially if) his claims are bananas.' The editorial board justified printing Trump's election lies without clarification by claiming that 'Mr. Trump is making these claims elsewhere, so we hardly did him a special favor by letting him respond to our editorial.'' Tweeters respond. This is worse than bad journalism or no journalism. To publish lies, especially when delivered by an influential person, and not provide rebuttals & context, is the height of irresponsibility. The paper's actual journalists should walk out, en masse, for a day, leaving Rupert & Co. with nothing to print but wire service stories.
This Should Fix Everything. Mike Isaac of the New York Times: "Facebook rose to prominence over the past two decades with some of the world's most recognizable branding: a big blue-and-white letter F. No longer. On Thursday, the social networking giant took an unmistakable step toward an overhaul, de-emphasizing Facebook's name and rebranding itself as Meta. The change was accompanied by a new corporate logo designed like an infinity-shaped symbol that was slightly askew. Facebook and its other apps, such as Instagram and WhatsApp, will remain but under the Meta umbrella. The move punctuates how Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive, plans to refocus his Silicon Valley company on what he sees as the next digital frontier, which is the unification of disparate digital worlds into something called the metaverse." MB: Zuck seems to believe he's a deep-thinker; he has no idea how silly, jejune and pretentious he seems to those of us who have been around longer than he. But maybe we don't matter, especially if we don't use his products. ~~~
~~~ Facebook Is Facebook Is Facebook. Samantha Lock of the Guardian: "The announcement by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that the social media giant will change the name of its holding company to Meta in a virtual-reality rebrand has prompted dismay and bemusement.... The Daily Show tweaked Zuckerberg's Meta presentation video by superimposing the tech billionaire onto footage of the January 6 Capitol riots and the 2017 Charlottesville white nationalist march. Both events were organised on Facebook.... 'Meta is such a low effort, first draft name that multiple consulting companies definitely got paid millions of dollars to come up with,' comedian and producer Mike Drucker said. 'And it was on that day that "that's so meta" went from being an interesting observation to a devastating insult, author and science vlogger Hank Green wrote.... Fast food outlet Wendy's tweeted: 'Changing name to Meat.'" ~~~
~~~ Jason Koebler of Vice: "Zuckerberg Announces Fantasy World Where Facebook Is Not a Horrible Company. Moments before announcing Facebook is changing its name to 'Meta' and detailing the company's 'metaverse' plans..., Mark Zuckerberg... pitch[ed] ... a delusional fever dream cribbed most obviously from dystopian science fiction and misleading or outright fabricated virtual reality product pitches from the last decade.... 'We have to fit hologram displays, projectors, batteries, radios, custom silicon chips, cameras, speakers, sensors to map the world around you, and more, into glasses that are five millimeters thick,' Zuckerberg says.... Zuckerberg's pitch of living, working, playing, and generally existing in a utopian, fake, Facebook-developed virtual world loaded with fun and friendly people, concerts where you can always be in the front row, seamless mixed-reality basketball games where you feel like you are actually playing basketball, and kicksass, uhh, NFTs you can use to modify your metaverse avatar, is a far cry from the disinformation, conspiracy theories, genocide-related, self-esteem destroying, spam, and general garbage content that exists on the platforms Facebook has already built." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The boy does seem to have a big problem connecting with, well, reality, and instead imagines an incel-like virtual existence in which you create your own fake perfection. Last night I watched a segment of a show aired on PBS where the actor Robson Green hikes the length of Hadrian's Wall. The hike inspired Green to use his imagination, too, thinking of the Romans who had built and patroled the wall, but the exercise struck me as a much healthier way to travel. Of course for me, as a viewer, I too was taking vicarious pleasure in someone else's experience, and I wished I had taken the same trek. But I was not using the magic of television to pretend to be somewhere I wasn't.
Lori Aratani of the Washington Post: "A flight attendant for American Airlines suffered broken bones in her face and had to be hospitalized after a passenger allegedly attacked her Wednesday in an incident the company's chief executive called 'one of the worst displays of unruly behavior we've ever witnessed.' The incident occurred on a flight from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif. It prompted the pilots to divert the flight to Denver, where the passenger was detained. The flight attendant apparently bumped the passenger while moving through the first-class cabin, according to Julie Hedrick, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents those who fly for American Airlines. The flight attendant apologized, but the passenger left his seat, confronted her as she stood in the aircraft's galley, then punched her in the face, Hedrick said." MB: I hope the assailant is never allowed on any public carrier again, even if it is just as bad to imagine this vicious nutjob behind the wheel of a vehicle. Planes, trains, buses & boats should develop a "No Travel" list.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Friday are here: "The Iowa state legislature passed a bill Thursday that allows residents fired for noncompliance with vaccine mandates to receive unemployment benefits, while also broadening religious and medical exemptions from immunization. The bill was passed with overwhelming support in both chambers, which Republicans control. Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) said she plans to sign the legislation into law, though she added that a vaccine was the 'best defense' against the coronavirus. In a statement, she also vowed to resist President Biden's plan to require businesses with a hundred or more workers to ensure vaccination of their employees or regularly test unimmunized staffers." MB: Well, isn't that special?
Carla Johnson of the AP: "A cheap antidepressant reduced the need for hospitalization among high-risk adults with COVID-19 in a study hunting for existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat coronavirus. Researchers tested the pill used for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder because it was known to reduce inflammation and looked promising in smaller studies. They've shared the results with the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which publishes treatment guidelines, and they hope for a World Health Organization recommendation. 'If WHO recommends this, you will see it widely taken up,' said study co-author Dr. Edward Mills of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, adding that many poor nations have the drug readily available. 'We hope it will lead to a lot of lives saved.' The pill, called fluvoxamine, would cost $4 for a course of COVID-19 treatment. By comparison, antibody IV treatments cost about $2,000 and Merck's experimental antiviral pill for COVID-19 is about $700 per course." ~~~
~~~ Marie: This could be very good news, though I suppose it will lead to anti-vaxxers saying, "See, we told you horse dewormer would cure Covid."
Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "Up to 12,000 Air Force personnel have rejected orders to get fully vaccinated against the coronavirus despite a Pentagon mandate, and officials say it is too late for them to do so by the Tuesday deadline, posing the first major test for military leaders whose August directive has been met with defiance among a segment of the force. The vast majority of active-duty airmen, more than 96 percent, are at least partially vaccinated, according to data from the Air Force. But officials have warned that, barring an approved medical or religious exemption, those who defy lawful orders to be fully immunized are subject to punishment, including possible dismissal from the service, or they could be charged in the military justice system."
Beyond the Beltway
New York. Felicia Sonmez & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Former New York governor Andrew M. Cuomo has been charged with a misdemeanor complaint for a sex-crime-related offense. A spokesman for the New York courts said Thursday that the complaint was filed in Albany City Court." This is a brief, breaking news story. AN NBC-4 New York News story, which was more detailed when I linked the two reports yesterday afternoon, is here. The New York Times story is here.
Way Beyond
France, U.K. Ahoy, Another British/French Battle at Sea. Rick Noack of the Washington Post: "France escalated a fishing rights dispute with Britain on Thursday, announcing that French authorities had seized a British boat that lacked a license to operate in French waters and have issued a warning to another British vessel. France's minister of the sea, Annick Girardin, announced the seizure one day after the French government threatened a number of sanctions against Britain in the lingering dispute that has stirred emotions on both sides of the English Channel for months." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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Reader Comments (14)
On Metadung
I see that Zuckerberg is changing the name of Facebook to “Meta”. Whooooo. I’m sure his extremely lucrative support for murderous right wing liars, conspiracy theorists, and Trumpy traitors will disappear overnight into the “Metaverse” (nice one, Mark…I used to read comic books too—looks like you still do).
And leave us not forget that “meta”, in the original Greek, means “after” or “beyond”. Aristotle coined the term “metaphysics” when writing about what he considered the “first philosophy”, the nature of the world beyond physics. He was attempting to divine the true nature of what’s out there beyond the physical universe. Is this what Marky has in mind?
Yeah…
It all reminds me of a scene in “The Wire”. Co-leader of the Barksdale drug empire, Stringer Bell, who is taking business courses at a Baltimore community college, is trying to figure a way out of the temporary problem of his people having to step on his product to make it go further. He asks his professor what to do when your product has gotten a bad name on the street.
The answer? “Change the name.”
Yup. So the next day Stringer’s street dealers forgo selling “Red Cap” and start hawking “WMD”. Weapons of…oh, you get it.
This is exactly what Zuckerberg is doing.
And here’s what else he’s probably doing in light of whistleblowers outing his enabling of traitors and psychos to make money.
Stringer Bell, taking cues from his business school education, institutes Robert’s Rules for meetings with his street dealers. Pretty hilarious scene. Gun toting whackos have to wait to be recognized by the chair before they can say “Yo, Stringer, man, this shit be fuckin’ crazy”. Although at one point, the “secretary” approaches Stringer to make sure he has properly recorded the group’s plan for upping their street profits. Stringer is not happy. “Nigger, are you taking notes on a motherfucking criminal conspiracy??”
Ol’ Mark is probably not referring to his employees as “nigger”, but the outcome is the same. So is his “motherfucking criminal conspiracy”.
And just like a drug dealer, Zuckerberg continues to find ways to keep his users hooked and delusional, pissing their lives away by living in his “metaverse”.
“Meta” used as a prefix in English, usually indicates a change or evolution of something, something beyond the point of origin: metabolic, metamorphic, metadata, etc. Does Meta-Facebook augur an exciting change in Marky’s zillion dollar baby, or just a name change of same ‘ol designed to let him keep hawking his drug?
You make the call.
12k Air Force personnel not following orders, maybe we've finally found a way to reduce the military budget. And another plus is that a lot of the businesses complaining that they couldn't find anyone to work for minimum wage may finally be in luck.
RAS,
Good plan. Think it good in itself or perhaps because I was thinking along the same lines when I suggested (here?) that culling all those wacko anti-vax police people could only improve the herd.
I remember when the baby faced guy decided that his social media "let's all join hands across the border and get to know one another" wasn't enough and went the way of NEWS you need to know and many of us on this site said––Whoa, Nelly, that can't be good.
And AK, enjoyed so much your parsing that magic word--Meta–- I'm betta my wooden nickel it ain't gonna fly.
On another subject: Have we completely gone off the rails? We not only have fist fights during school board hearings but a guy on a plane punches a stewardess in the face for accidentally bumping into him? Looks to me we are going backwards when you could get shot for serving the wrong drink in one of those old west saloons. Or this––
"Sorry mate, didn't mean to bump into you--awfully crowded in here, ya know." WHAM! dead honky––just like that.
In Andrey Zvyagintsev's film. "Loveless" he seems to for-tell a gradual eating away of our human skills.
"Do you think the world is about to end?" a character asks a colleague, over lunch. The man chews and swallows, then replies "Definitely."
$300 billion in tax incentives for producers and purchasers of wind, solar and nuclear power, inducements intended to speed up a transition away from oil, gas and coal.” Sorry, friends and neighbors but I would rather have coal then more nuclear fission waste. I bet more money was spent cleaning Richland, Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos than developing the nuclear stuff in the first place. "Wind, solar and nuclear"...? Who puts nuclear in with those two? Nuclear is promoted by people who want money now and don't care about the the condition of world they leave behind just as long as they got to eat one more bon-bon.
I’m still hugely concerned that Manchinema can still screw Biden’s bill. I trust those people about as much as I believe Junior is a decent person and Fatty cares about anything other than himself.
It will be interesting to see how the USAF (and the other services) handles the vax non-compliers. It might seem too much to give them dishonorable discharges, and doing that would tie up the JAG for quite a while, during which time there would be lots of the accused in legal limbo and probably not on duty. But giving them "other than dishonorable" discharges leaves them eligible for many benefits, and still takes a lot of legal prepwork.
I still find it difficult to understand how there can be so many uniformed folks who will disobey this vaccine order, who in their service will have received many other vaccines.
The military cannot tolerate the refusal of legitimate orders (they call it mutiny), so these folks have to go. Even though the Air Force is "quasi military" in the eyes of many in the other services.
One answer to your question, Patrick:
Refusing the vaccine is for these folks a political statement, for which (for the reasons you provide) they are unlikely to suffer serious consequence.
It's like giving the finger to a cop from the midst of a large crowd.
Very brave, these soldiers.
What are the chances the infrastructure bill actually passes? We can trust Manchin and Sineman as far as we can throw them, but Moscow Mitch and his insurrection party are on a whole different level of untrustworthy. Most of the media and Democrats talk about it as if it's a done deal, but it should surprise no one if the Republicans pull the rug out from under everyone's feet in the end.
RAS: yes. None of them can be trusted. We are on a plane tomorrow for the first time in two years. Can’t wait…urp. So much for a disjointed comment…sorry! Pouring today and the news just leaves me wanting to watch 12 more editions of Chicago Fire instead…
Looks like the word "Meta" is causing Hebrew speakers to choke on their Matzo balls–-cuz meta sounds like the Hebrew word for DEAD.
Oh my Lord!
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-59090067
@PD: Almost as clever as the Chevrolet people trying to sell the Nova in Mexico!
@NiskyGuy: I had never heard the Nova in Mexico story before. It's a myth, but it's a great story.
Huh! You learn something new every day, if you're lucky!