;)
The Commentariat -- April 28, 2021
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Three Georgia men were indicted on federal hate crime and attempted kidnapping charges in connection with the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was shot to death while jogging through a South Georgia neighborhood last year, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday. The deadly encounter helped fuel nationwide racial justice demonstrations last year, and the charges are the most significant hate crimes prosecution so far by the Biden administration, which has made civil rights protections a major priority. The suspects -- Travis McMichael, 35; his father, Gregory McMichael, 65; and William 'Roddie' Bryan, 51 -- were each charged with one count of interference with Mr. Arbery's right to use a public street because of his race and with one count of attempted kidnapping.Travis and Gregory McMichael were also charge with one count each of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm. Travis McMichael is accused of shooting Mr. Arbery."
** William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal investigators in Manhattan executed a search warrant on Wednesday at the Upper East Side apartment of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who became ... Donald J. Trump's personal lawyer, stepping up a criminal investigation into Mr. Giuliani's dealings in Ukraine, three people with knowledge of the matter said. One of the people said the investigators had seized Mr. Giuliani's electronic devices. Executing a search warrant is an extraordinary move for prosecutors to take against a lawyer, let alone a lawyer for a former president.... The United States Attorney's office in Manhattan and the F.B.I. had for months sought to secure a search warrant for Mr. Giuliani's phones. Under Mr. Trump, senior political appointees in the Justice Department repeatedly sought to block such a warrant.... After Merrick B. Garland was confirmed as President Biden's attorney general, the Justice Department lifted its objection to the search." The Hill has a summary report here. ~~~
~~~ NYT Report Update: "F.B.I. agents on Wednesday morning also executed a search warrant at the Washington-area home of Victoria Toensing, a lawyer close to Mr. Giuliani who had dealings with several Ukrainians involved in seeking negative information on the Bidens, according to people with knowledge of that warrant, which sought her phone. Ms. Toensing, a former federal prosecutor and senior Justice Department official, has also represented Dmitry Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch under indictment in the United States whose help Mr. Giuliani sought." ~~~
~~~ Marie: It seems quite likely that the request for a warrant went up the DOJ chain to Garland. Garland serviced as chief judge of the D.C. circuit court. He would not have approved the warrant because Borat. There's some there there. ~~~
~~~ Michael Sisak, et al., of the AP have independently confirmed the NYT report: "Federal agents raided Rudy Giuliani's Manhattan home and office on Wednesday, seizing computers and cellphones in a major escalation of the Justice Department's investigation into the business dealings of ... Donald Trump's personal lawyer. Giuliani, the 76-year-old former New York City mayor once celebrated for his leadership in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, has been under federal scrutiny for several years over his ties to Ukraine. The dual searches sent the strongest signal yet that he could eventually face federal charges. Agents searched Giuliani's home on Madison Avenue and his office on Park Avenue, people familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press."
Jim Tankersley & Dana Goldstein of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Wednesday detailed a $1.8 trillion collection of spending increases and tax cuts that seeks to expand access to education, reduce the cost of child care and support women in the work force, financed by additional taxes on high earners. The American Families Plan, as the White House calls it, follows the $2.3 trillion infrastructure package President Biden introduced last month, bringing his two-part package of economic proposals to just over $4 trillion. He will present the details to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday evening. The proposal includes $1 trillion in new spending and $800 billion in tax credits, much of which is aimed at expanding access to education and child care." ~~~
~~~ Tami Luhby, et al., of CNN on what's in the $1.8 trillion plan. A CNBC report is here.
Mitch Teaches Old Chuck a New Trick. Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday to effectively reinstate an Obama-era regulation that sought to clamp down on the release of methane, a powerful, climate-warming pollutant that will have to be controlled to meet President Biden's ambitious climate change promises. Taking a page from congressional Republicans who in 2017 made liberal use of a once-obscure law to roll back Obama-era regulations, Democrats will invoke the law to turn back a Trump methane rule enacted late last summer. That rule had eliminated Obama-era controls on leaks of methane, which seeps from oil and gas wells. The vote will be the first time congressional Democrats have used the law, called the Congressional Review Act, which prohibits Senate filibusters and ensures one administration's last-minute regulations can be swiftly overturned with a simple majority vote in both chambers of Congress."
This Is Rich. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday pronounced President Biden's first 100 days a massive disappointment and accused the president of breaking his campaign promise to bring the nation together in the wake of a tumultuous 2020." Then, of course, Kumbaya Mitch goes on to show his commitment to unity by lambasting the President: "'Behind President Biden's familiar face, it's like the most radical Washington Democrats have been handed the keys, and they're trying to speed as far left as they can possibly go before American voters ask for their car back,' he said. McConnell took aim at Biden's handling of the surge of migrants crossing the southern border...," his coronavirus relief package and even his administration's distribution of vaccines. And other stuff. The only things Mitch missed were Meatless Joe & book-pushing Kamala.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here.
Tim Elfrink of the Washington Post: "In the months since [the Capitol insurrection, police officer Michael] Fanone ... [who] suffering a mild heart attack and a concussion as he was shocked with a stun gun and beaten ... said it has been 'difficult' to listen to politicians like ... Donald Trump, who last month falsely claimed rioters were actually 'hugging and kissing' police, downplay the severity of the insurrection.... In an emotional interview on 'CNN Tonight,' Fanone described in vivid detail the terror he experienced defending the Capitol from a mob intent on stopping certification of the election, and called out elected officials who have tried to obscure that reality -- position that some GOP officials have embraced as they seek to defend Trump.... Fanone, a 40-year-old who joined the force after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, was among the 850 D.C. police officers who responded on Jan. 6 as rioters threatened to overwhelm the Capitol Police. He joined a group of officers at the West Terrace facing what he described to The Washington Post as a 'medieval battle scene.'" CNN's story is here.
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge Tuesday ordered the release from jail pending trial of a man who was photographed with his foot on a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, citing an appeals court decision making it harder to detain riot defendants not accused of violence. Richard Barnett, 60, of Gravette, Ark., had been denied bond and jailed for nearly four months on charges including obstructing Congress, violent entry into the Capitol while armed with a stun gun and stealing a piece of government mail that he later displayed to media outlets."
Florida. Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "After he was charged with lying to a grand jury earlier this month, Robert W. Runcie insisted he would 'be vindicated.' The schools superintendent in Broward County, Fla. had spent years battling accusations tied to his leadership before and after the Parkland school shooting -- and the indictment, he claimed, was simply another politically motivated attack tied to the massacre. Yet, less than 24 hours after saying as much in a video on Tuesday, Runcie appeared to change his tune. 'I will step aside so you can have the peace you are looking for,' he told Broward school board member Lori Alhadeff in a meeting later that night. Her 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was one of 17 people killed in the mass shooting in February 2018."
Georgia. Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: "Last February, two detainees sat side-by-side in a Georgia jail cell, strapped into restraint chairs. As hours passed, the two were not allowed respite, including a chance to use the bathroom. One man ended up urinating on himself and the chair, according to prosecutors. 'I'm a sit your a-- in that chair for 16 hours straight,' Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill allegedly said. 'I need to hear from both of y'all that y'all not gonna show y'all's a-- in my county no more.' Hill, 56, now faces federal civil rights charges in the Northern District of Georgia, according to an indictment unsealed on Monday, for allegedly ordering his deputies to use excessive force against four detainees last year by strapping them into restraint chairs as punishment."
~~~~~~~~~~
** Conservative Max Boot of the Washington Post: "When it comes to evaluating his first 100 days, Joe Biden has an unbeatable advantage: He is not Donald Trump.... Even looking only at Trump's first 100 days ... the comparison is lopsidedly, preposterously tilted in Biden's favor. Biden has been scandal-free. Biden has picked well-qualified appointees who know what they are doing. Trump stocked his administration with relatives..., far-right extremists..., clueless rich people ... and ethical disasters.... Biden is making real progress on the biggest issues facing America -- the unemployment rate is declining while the number of vaccinations is skyrocketing. Oh, and the stock market has gone up more than twice as fast as it did under Trump, despite GOP predictions of doom.... Biden is reasserting America's international leadership.... Biden is turning down the temperature on our politics."
Eli Rosenberg & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "President Biden plans to sign an executive order Tuesday that will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for all federal contractors by 2022, while eliminating a lower minimum wage for tipped contractors. The move will bring the minimum wage for contractors up from the current $10.95, under rules set during the Obama administration. The current minimum wage for federal contractors who are tipped is $7.65 an hour. That will be phased out by 2024 under the new directive. The $15 wage will be mandatory in new contracts by the end of March 2022. Senior administration officials briefed on the plan said they estimated that hundreds of thousands of workers who do contract work for the federal government -- including cleaning staff, maintenance workers, nursing assistants in veteran care facilities, cafeteria and food workers, and laborers -- would see wage increases as a result of the policy change." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Guardian Update: "Joe Biden has signed an executive order that will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal contractors, providing a pay bump to hundreds of thousands of workers. Biden administration officials said that the higher wages would lead to greater worker productivity, offsetting any additional costs to taxpayers."
Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "President Biden has nominated a critic of the Trump administration's immigration policies to run U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one of the federal government's most polarizing agencies. The White House announced that Biden's pick for ICE director is Harris County, Tex., Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, a veteran law enforcement officer who transformed the sheriff's office in the Houston metropolitan area from one of the agency's staunchest allies into a reluctant partner. Gonzalez withdrew his department from a voluntary federal program that for years helped to detain and deport immigrants, and has expressed concern tha involving local law enforcement in civil deportation efforts 'silences witnesses & victims' by making immigrants afraid to report crimes.... The Biden administration has signaled that it wishes to reform ICE, not abolish it, and Gonzalez is an example of how the agency's relationships with local police can change."
Zeke Miller of the AP: "President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit the 39th president, Jimmy Carter, and his wife, Rosalynn, while in Georgia this week, the White House said Tuesday. The White House had previously announced that Biden would attend a drive-in rally in Atlanta on Thursday to mark his 100th day in office, which comes a day after his first address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday evening. The Bidens will now add in a trip to Plains, Georgia, to visit the Carters."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. The Murdoch Empire's Lie of the Day. Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "The conservative mediascape has been in an uproar for days over a New York Post report alleging that undocumented minors are being welcomed to the United States with copies of a children's book authored by Vice President Harris. A slew of prominent Republicans shared their outrage over the supposed giveaway of 'Superheroes Are Everywhere' at migrant shelters after the story appeared on the New York tabloid's front page Saturday. Even the White House press secretary was grilled about it. And then on Tuesday, in a one-sentence note at the bottom of the original online article, the Post acknowledged that almost none of it was true.... Two articles about the books were deleted without explanation Tuesday morning, before reappearing a couple hours later with correction notes." ~~~
~~~ Marie: But the sourcing for the story was impeccable: a single photo of a bed at a Long Beach, Calif., shelter. The Harris book "was one of many items, including toys and clothing, donated by residents in a citywide drive, Long Beach officials said." When you're a Murdoch "journalist," you can just make up stuff based on your impressions or speculation, write it up, and hope you get a raise when Fox "News" & Jim Jordan tout your tall tale. ~~~
~~~ Oops! There's More to the Story. (There Usually Is.) Maxwell Tani of the Daily Beast: "The New York Post reporter whose byline was attached to a false story that kicked off a days-long right-wing media outrage cycle has quit.... Reporter Laura Italiano posted [her resignation announcement] to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon. 'The Kamala Harris story -- an incorrect story I was ordered to write and which I failed to push back hard enough against -- was my breaking point....'" ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "I’m sure that Hunter Biden story no Post reporter was willing to put their byline on will totally hold up, though." ~~~
~~~ Josephine Harvey of the Huffington Post: "Fox News was forced to walk back its false claims about the Biden administration for the second day in a row Tuesday after it pushed the baseless story that Vice President Kamala Harris's book is being given to migrant kids in 'welcome kits.' However, even after 'Fox & Friends' co-host Ainsley Earhardt pointed to a report debunking the story, her colleague Steve Doocy immediately went on to push the narrative anyway, questioning whether the government was paying for the books.... On Monday, Fox News issued an on-air correction over a separate story that was shown to be false. The network promoted a claim that President Joe Biden's climate change plan would cut U.S. red meat consumption by 90%, when in fact Biden's proposal makes no mention of that."
Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The fanatical Donald Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol in January are facing an unexpected obstacle to their freedom: Trump himself. Trump's refusal to accept the reality that he lost the 2020 election --reflected in a torrent of recent statements renewing discredited claims about a 'rigged' vote -- has become a feature of prosecutors' latest attempts to jail Capitol riot defendants they deem too dangerous to release pending trial. Judges have started citing this argument -- as part of broader analysis -- in cases where they've decided to detain defendants for presenting a threat of future violence, and even in some cases where they've agreed to let defendants go free, pending trial. They've agreed that Trump's rhetoric could spur his most radicalized supporters to attack again."
"I Don't Recall." David Corn of Mother Jones: "On February 11, Donald Trump Jr. sat in front of his computer for a video deposition. He swore to tell the truth. But documents and a video obtained by Mother Jones -- and recent legal filings -- indicate that his testimony on key points was not accurate. The matter at hand was a lawsuit filed in 2020 against Donald Trump's inauguration committee and the Trump Organization by Karl Racine, the attorney general of Washington, DC.... In short, the attorney general has accused the Trump clan and its company of major grifting.... In several exchanges, [Junior] made statements that are contradicted by documents or the recollections of others and that appear to be false." For instance, Junior claimed not to know of have any "involvement' with Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who was heavily involved in organizing & funding the inauguration. But video shows Junior profusely praising her & text & phone messages show the two conferred with each other, and Wolkoff wrote that she had dinner with Junior and other family members."
Sonia Mogue of CNN: "A former White House senior adviser for the Obama administration who helped found a network of charter schools is accused of allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the schools and attempting to launder the funds in order to get a lower interest rate on a mortgage for a Manhattan apartment, according to federal prosecutors. Seth Andrew was charged by prosecutors in the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York with wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to a bank.... Andrew was taken into custody Tuesday in Manhattan and released on a personal recognizance bond after an initial appearance...." MB: "... accused of allegedly..." is redundant. We get it. The guy is innocent till proved guilty.
>Alexandra Alter & Jennifer Schuessler of the New York Times: "W.W. Norton said in a memo to its staff on Tuesday that it will permanently take Blake Bailey's biography of Philip Roth out of print, following allegations that Mr. Bailey sexually assaulted multiple women and behaved inappropriately toward his students when he was an eighth grade English teacher. The announcement came after the publisher decided last week that it would stop shipping and promoting the title, which it released earlier in April. It wasn't immediately clear what would happen with existing copies of the book or the digital and audio versions.... Norton's president, Julia A. Reidhead..., also said that Norton would make a donation in the amount of the advance it paid to Mr. Bailey, who received a mid-six-figure book deal, to organizations that support sexual assault survivors and victims of sexual harassment."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "President Biden and federal health officials said Tuesday that Americans who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus no longer need to wear masks outdoors in most situations except for large gatherings -- a step, the president said, toward getting 'life in America closer to normal' by his target date of the Fourth of July."
Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "Federal health officials said Tuesday that fully vaccinated people can go without masks outdoors when walking, jogging or biking, or dining with friends at outdoor restaurants -- a milestone development for tens of millions of pandemic-weary Americans after more than a year of masking up and locking down. President Biden touted the relaxation of restrictions as another reason for people to get vaccinated, urging them to move forward not just to protect themselves and those around them, but so they can live more normally, by 'getting together with friends, going to the park for a picnic without needing a mask.'... The latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention comes as more than 52 percent of eligible people in the United States have gotten at least one shot, but the pace of inoculations appears to be slowing in the face of vaccine hesitancy, especially among rural residents and Republicans who believe the risks from the virus are overblown." The article is free to nonsubscribers. It includes a CDC "mask chart." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times story is here. ~~~
PSA: What to Do if You See a Child Wearing a Mask. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Requiring children to wear masks outside should be illegal, [Tucker Carlson] insisted.... 'Your response when you see children wearing masks as they play should be no different from your response to seeing someone beat a kid in Walmart,' Carlson said on his Monday show. 'Call the police immediately, contact child protective services. Keep calling until someone arrives.... What you're looking at is abuse, it's child abuse and you are morally obligated to attempt to prevent it.' Carlson, who brands himself as someone deeply invested in individual liberties, nonetheless urged his viewers Monday to confront strangers wearing masks outdoors and request they bare their faces by telling them, 'Your mask is making me uncomfortable.'" ~~~
You know, it's either trolling, or it's someone in the midst of a genuine breakdown, or it's evil. Or some combination of all three. We all recognize that's psychotic, right? -- Chris Hayes of MSNBC, Tuesday, on TucKKKer's unmask mandate ~~~
~~~ Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "Reports about the mysterious Covid-related inflammatory syndrome that afflicts some children and teenagers have mostly focused on physical symptoms: rash, abdominal pain, red eyes and, most seriously, heart problems like low blood pressure, shock and difficulty pumping. Now, a new report shows that a significant number of young people with the syndrome also develop neurological symptoms, including hallucinations, confusion, speech impairments and problems with balance and coordination. The study of 46 children treated at one hospital in London found that just over half -- 24 -- experienced such neurological symptoms, which they had never had before."
Florida. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "Last week, leaders at the Centner Academy, a Miami private school, sent teachers an email with a stark warning: Skip the coronavirus vaccines or else you're not welcome in the classroom. 'We cannot allow recently vaccinated people to be near our students until more information is known,' the school's co-founder Leila Centner said in a letter.... Centner cited debunked misinformation to justify the policy, suggesting that 'reports have surfaced recently of non-vaccinated people being negatively impacted by interacting with people who have been vaccinated,' despite medical consensus that the coronavirus vaccines effectively prevent serious infections and carry few risks. The school's decision alarmed public health experts and demonstrated the pervasive reach of misinformation about the vaccines...." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. MB: Dear Parents: You're spending $15K to $30K to give your child a crap education. Congratulations, Suckers.
West Virginia. Under the direction of the state's governor, Jim Justice (R), West Virginia is offering people aged 16-35 a $100 savings bond to get the Covid-19 vaccine. "The $100 proposition announced this week by West Virginia -- which is available retroactively to young people who already got the shot -- is just one of many incentives now being proposed by states, hospitals, schools and private employers to persuade unvaccinated Americans to get inoculated."
Beyond the Beltway
California. When Will They Ever Learn? Will Wright of the New York Times: "Body camera footage was released on Tuesday of a 26-year-old man who died in police custody after officers in Alameda County, Calif., pinned him facedown on the ground for five minutes. The footage from the Alameda Police Department shows the man, Mario Arenales Gonzalez, becoming unresponsive while in handcuffs and police officers quickly beginning chest compressions. Mr. Gonzalez died on April 19, one day before Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was convicted of murdering George Floyd by restraining him for nine minutes and 29 seconds.... An initial police report from Alameda, south of Oakland, said that 'a physical altercation ensued' when officers tried to detain Mr. Gonzalez and that 'at tha time, the man had a medical emergency.' The report said Mr. Gonzalez had died in a hospital later that day." MB: Judging by how much this reads like the Minneapolis police report of Floyd's death, this seems to be a standard police format for reporting death-by-cop.
North Carolina. Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "Lawyers for the family of Andrew Brown Jr., who was shot and killed by sheriff's deputies in coastal North Carolina last week, said on Tuesday that a private autopsy paid for by Mr. Brown's family showed that he was hit by five bullets and killed by a shot to the back of the head. The results of the autopsy, which the lawyers described in a news conference, came as the F.B.I. announced that it was opening a civil rights investigation into the April 21 shooting, and as Gov. Roy Cooper called for a special prosecutor to take over a case that currently rests with the local district attorney.... A hearing on whether to release the body camera footage was scheduled for Wednesday morning."
Oregon. Mike Baker of the New York Times: "After almost a year of near-continuous protests..., Portland's city leaders are signaling that it may be time for a more aggressive crackdown on the most strident street actions. Mayor Ted Wheeler, himself a target of many of the protests as he oversaw a police department that has repeatedly turned to aggressive tactics, last week put into place a state of emergency that lasted six days and vowed to 'unmask' those demonstrators who engaged in repeated acts of vandalism or arson, saying it was time to 'hurt them a little bit.'... Mr. Wheeler's call for crowdsourced surveillance has alarmed civil rights advocates, and critics say the city has failed to bring an end to acts of violence by the Portland Police Bureau, a demand echoed by hundreds of demonstrators who have not destroyed property.... Mike Schmidt, the Multnomah County prosecutor, has taken a forgiving attitude toward protesters who remained peaceful.... His office has been focused on protesters who have committed violent crimes or those involving property...."
News Lede
New York Times: "strong>Michael Collins, who piloted the Apollo 11 spacecraft Columbia in orbit 60 miles above the moon while his crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Col. Buzz Aldrin, became the first men to walk on the lunar surface, died on Wednesday at a hospice facility in Naples, Fla. He was 90."
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Reader Comments (14)
Can’t wait to hear what faux outrage confederates manufacture around the Bidens visiting the Carters.
“Traffic in Plains from an unnecessary visit by the Bidens destroys the lives of poor locals and Joe Biden couldn’t care less! The horror!”
“Biden visits Jimmy Carter to get tips on creating a great national malaise! Aieeee!”
“Joe Biden hopes to hasten the death of former president Jimmy Carter by upsetting him with lies about Republicans. His plan is to murder all former presidents still alive. Except for Obama, who’s in on it with him!”
It’ll be something, you can be sure they’ll invent some reason to keep the haters fired up. Cheeseburgers and the fake book story worked. Might as well keep the streak going.
They got nothin so they make up somethin ––desperate they are to tarnish the Biden brigade any way they can. One of the GOP numskulls tweeted–-"You can't make this stuff up"––a phrase I have always found ridiculous in light of that category of literature called"fiction"––– in this case that's exactly what the Post did– made "this stuff up"-good for the journalist who quit–-was a step too far for her after how many other stories she had to "make up."??
I love metaphors. Here's something you can have a bit of fun with: In due time the Cicada swarms are a-comin. These critters have been nestled underground for 17 years and are about to emerge en masse. Watch this PBS video which is quite wonderful and explanatory.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/cicada-season-what-to-expect-from-the-coming-brood-thats-been-underground-for-17-years?utm_medium=event&utm_source=playlist__link
Junior lies about his involvement in a criminal conspiracy to stiff taxpayers. What a surprise. What kind of upbringing turns the truth into something that is only ever employed if it can benefit you? Otherwise you’re taught to lie, invent “facts”, deny, delay, attack.
The Trump kind, clearly.
Here’s the sort of training Junior and his siblings learned from early on:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pBdGOrcUEg8
Yesterday I was reading an article about "First Ladies" and came across this interesting piece:
On January 18, 1968, Lady Bird welcomed about fifty guests to the White House for a Woman Doers luncheon, a get together to promote and discuss various ways to beautify our environment or discuss ways to promote better education and so forth. This particular luncheon was concerned with juvenile delinquency. One of the guests was Eartha Kitt, the singer who worked with a youth group. At one point Kitt raised her hand and in a free wheeling soliloquy, declared that one couldn't talk about juvenile delinquency without also talking about the war in Vietnam.
"You take the best of the country and send them off to to a war and they get shot." The war meant that "it pays to be a bad guy" since a criminal record could keep young men from being inducted into the military––and an upside-down version of student deferments. Kitt continued:
"They can't come to you and tell you, Mrs. Johnson, they can't get to President Johnson and tell him about it so they rebel in the streets; they will take pot."
Bedlam broke out! Lady Bird flustered after the negative rumblings from some of the women and worried that her luncheons would be pilloried. But of course it was Kitt who was accused of being disruptive, and "ill-bred." Even Lady Bird put out a wren-like screech about Kitt's diatribe being "the shrill voice of anger and discord." even the Secret Service asked the C.I.A. for a dossier on Kitt. She lost work and moved to Europe. One can speculate if Eartha had been white whether her words would have been taken differently. That speculation should last for a nano second.
The one person that stood up for her was MLK.
So let’s see if I get this right. According to TuKKKer KKKarlson, children wearing protective masks in the middle of a pandemic, made far worse by right wing lies, constitutes child abuse. But putting kids in cages and separating them forever from their parents is just what those little brown fuckers and their criminal parents deserve.
Yeah, got it.
@PD Pepe: Thanks for the reminder. At the time, I was young and naive enough to think Kitt should not have been so outspoken. Now I realize she was so right. And the fact that Johnson apparently used the government to blackball her is inexcusable. Gave Nixon some ideas, though, didn't it? Funny how Nixon's enemies list -- almost entirely white guys (one woman: columnist Mary McGrory) -- caused a great uproar, but nobody cared much that Johnson treated Kitt as badly or worse.
@Akhilleus: Thanks for the summary of TucKKKer's childcare tips. He might have a hard time filling available openings in "Tucker's Day Cage Center."
Funny in a terrible sort of way: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wayne-lapierre-botched-elephant-killing_n_60887983e4b0c15313ed0de1. The LaPierre don't even know how to hold a gun!
My mom observed last year that kids, for the most part, like following the rules and have no problem masking up. KKKarlson and his clown crowd clearly can't be bothered. He is the guy with 'clap' not using a condom.
Idiot KKKarlson lemmings and other confederate science and fact haters are lining up outside elementary schools to harass children wearing masks.
This is the same sort of thing they’ve been doing for a generation or more, creating a gauntlet of screaming droolers outside health clinics to hector women they suspect of getting abortions. It made no difference that abortion was (and, at least for a while still is) legal nor that it was and is a personal decision and none of their goddam business. And so it is with masks.
But here’s the thing. Mask wearing is still mandated by many school systems following CDC public health guidelines. And over and above that, it may be the wish of parents that their kids wear something to protect them from infection. Confederates are always whinging about freeedoms and individuality and the primacy of personal decisions, and crying about nanny state liberals trying to insert themselves into others’ lives. And yet they have no problem attacking small children for following the directions of their school and countermanding parental guidance when their sad, fact averse, fantasies aren’t followed religiously.
Instead of saying “You know what? I don’t agree with the whole mask thing but, so what? If these people want to do it, fine”, they line up to scream at children. Like the moronic bullies they are.
Whoa! CNN breaking news that the Feds have raided Rudys house. Get away from that fan, it's about to get hit.
@Akhilleus: I thought you were kidding, but this I found this story on Patch about supposed adults harassing schoolchildren in Beverley Hills because the kids were wearing masks. This protest took place a week ago. Ergo,
... if there's anything funny about this, it's that TucKKKer doesn't even have original crazy ideas. He borrows his "scripts" from nutters roaming the streets & harassing children.
Raiding Rudy’s? Think they’ll find the cheap hair dye to go along with evidence proving his criminal activities?
Beyond Disgusting
Manly Man Wayne ($300 bathing suit boy) LaPierre goes to Africa with his wife, Susan (Let Them Eat Cake) LaPierre, along with professional guides so they can kill then dismember endangered elephants to use as home decorations. (These elephants are currently on the endangered list but may not have been back then).
I am not even kidding, or exaggerating. The New Yorker has published a disgusting video Wayne-O tried to hide showing him to be not only a terrible shot, but a coddled half-wit and his wife to be a better shot, but an awful human being.
It takes LaPierre almost half a dozen shots to kill an elephant, even after the guide shows him where to shoot the wounded, suffering
animal
for the kill shot. He misses. At point blank range. So much for NRA type accuracy.
After killing (murdering is more like it) these noble animals, the party of sycophants congratulate the pair as if they were Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette after a successful ball. "Oh my, you were both SOOOO brave! And such good shots! Those mean old elephants could have charged you and KILLED you, but you stood your ground and gave that nasty thing what for...."
Mrs. NRA, delighted with herself, inspects her freshly murdered elephant's feet, noting that he needed a podiatrist. Instead, he got a taxidermist's gentle treatment. She had the animals feet cut off and turned into stools for their home.
Accompanying this pair of effete douchebags was Tony Makris, an executive with the ad agency that described typical NRA manly men as
including "steelworkers, cowboys,hard-rock miners, swamp folks in Cajun country who can wrestle a full-grown gator out of the water, the mountain men who live off the land, and the brave cops who fight the good fight in the urban war zones." Sound like Wayne-O's type? The kind who strut around in ten thousand dollar suits and bathing suits that would feed a family of four for two weeks? And don't miss that last little racist dog whistle..."brave cops who fight the good fight in URBAN WAR ZONES" aka inner city black neighborhoods. Yeah, guys like Derek Chauvin.
Read the piece but don't watch the video if you've just eaten.
The elephant story was also on Raw Story...
https://www.rawstory.com/nra-wayne-lapierre/
"Shocking new video shows NRA’s Wayne LaPierre repeatedly failing to kill an elephant"
Sample of the comments....."Both of these terrorists should be arrested, tried, and executed for killing those elephants. We cannot have scum bags like this walking around our streets."