;)
The Commentariat -- July 17, 2021
Tyler Pager & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "President Biden will nominate Jane Hartley, a former ambassador to France, to serve as ambassador to Britain, according to two people with knowledge of the decision. The ambassadorship to the Court of St. James's, along with the one to Paris, is considered among the most prestigious postings for an American president to fill. Of the two plum spots -- each with a lovely mansion in the heart of two of Europe's great cities --, the London position is usually considered the more consequential job because of the close diplomatic, military and historical relationship between the United States and Britain."
Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Texas has largely halted an Obama administration initiative that grants work permits and protection from deportation to undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, though he allowed the more than 600,000 young people already in the program to keep their protected status. But the judge ruled that new applications may not be granted. U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen, a Republican [MB: Dubya] appointee, sided with Texas and other states in his ruling that President Barack Obama (D) overstepped his executive authority when he created the program in 2012. Hanen's ruling called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, an 'illegally implemented program' and said 'the public interest of the nation is always served by the cessation of a program that was created in violation of law and whose existence violates the law.'" The NBC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Congress has an easy fix for this -- pass a law authorizing DACA -- but Republicans + filibuster.
Just What Did You-All Do with that $54BB the Taxpayers Sent You? Ian Duncan & Lori Aratani of the Washington Post: "A key lawmaker..., Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the Commerce Committee..., wrote to the bosses of a half-dozen domestic airlines Friday asking why apparent staffing shortages are causing flight delays and cancellations despite the carriers receiving billions of dollars in pandemic relief designed to keep workers on the payroll.... Cantwell asked each airline 11 questions about its staffing levels, the source of its challenges and how it used the government assistance. She asked that airlines brief her staff by the end of the month. Air passenger numbers dropped precipitously at the start of the pandemic, by as much as 95 percent on some days. Congress responded by approving the multibillion-dollar Payroll Support Program (PSP), designed to keep airline workers on the job. Lawmakers followed up with billions more in subsequent relief bills designed to last through September. Aid to passenger airlines ultimately totaled $54 billion."
Texas Republicans Show Joe Filibuster Manchin Some Love -- and Money. Abby Livingston & Carla Astudillo of the Texas Tribune: "West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin -- a key Democratic holdout over efforts to pass federal voting rights legislation -- is expected to head to Texas on Friday for a fundraiser with a host committee that includes several wealthy Republican donors. The fundraiser comes just a day after Manchin met with Texas House Democrats on Capitol Hill who are desperate for his support of the congressional efforts which could preempt the statewide GOP's push to pass bills that would restrict voting access for Texans. Manchin is also one of two Democratic senators, along with Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who have proven to be obstacles to moving voting rights legislation through the U.S. Senate. At the center of the impasse is their opposition to eliminating or changing the filibuster, which requires 60 senators to put a bill on the floor." MB: If you were wondering why Manchin won't allow for a voting rights filibuster carve-out, you just found out the answer comes with dollar signs, not principles.
Celine Castronuovo of the Hill: "A federal judge on Friday denied a request from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to share grand jury materials from investigations into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot with a contractor who was hired to organize them into a database. The DOJ had revealed in a court filing last week that it had planned on paying Deloitte Financial Advisory Services $6.1 million to create a sweeping database organizing videos, photos, emails and other evidence federal authorities have acquired in their ongoing probe involving more than 500 individuals who have been charged in connection with the mob attack. However, Beryl Howell, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said in a 54-page memorandum opinion that the DOJ was incorrect in arguing that employees of Deloitte contracted to work on the project could be considered 'government personnel,' which would grant them access to the grand jury evidence.... Thus, Howell argued that the secrecy provisions pertaining to grand jury rules do 'not allow disclosure of grand jury matters to Deloitte and its employees.'"
Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Officials in a little-known security unit within the Commerce Department conducted unauthorized surveillance and investigations into the agency's employees that targeted people of Chinese and Middle Eastern descent, Senate investigators said in a new report. The report, informed by more than two dozen whistle-blowers and released this week by Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Commerce Committee, concluded that the Investigations and Threat Management Service functioned for more than a decade as 'a rogue, unaccountable police force,' opening thousands of unauthorized investigations into department employees, often for specious reasons. It found that the work of the office -- consumed by concerns about rampant Chinese espionage in the United States -- sometimes veered into racial profiling, and that its leaders used extreme tactics, such as sending masked agents to break into offices to search for incriminating evidence.... Under the Biden administration, department officials suspended the unit's investigations and began an internal review of the program in April.... The report indicated that the bulk of those efforts were driven over the course of multiple administrations by one official: George Lee, the unit's longtime director, who has since been placed on leave.... Investigators said that the practice dated back 'as early as 2014,' during the Obama administration...." The Hill's story is here.
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A father and son, who are current and former Florida police officers, and a North Carolina man have been charged with joining alleged Proud Boys members in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, according to a new, five co-defendant indictment unsealed in Washington on Friday. Kevin 'Tito' Tuck, 51, and Nathaniel A. Tuck, 29, of central Florida were arrested and released on $25,000 unsecured bond Thursday by a U.S. magistrate judge in Tampa, court records show. Edward George Jr. was also arrested Thursday and was scheduled to appear in federal court Friday in Raleigh, according to court records. The charges bring the number of off-duty law enforcement officers charged in the Capitol mob to at least 20, and the defendants' ties to several central Florida police agencies highlight the continued pressure on sheriffs and police chiefs nationwide to scrub their ranks of members with links to white supremacist and far-right armed groups."
Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "A witness directly implicated Donald Trump in the tax fraud scheme that landed his family business and longtime accountant under indictment. Jennifer Weisselberg, the former daughter in law to indicted Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, told investigators last month in New York that Trump personally guaranteed he would pay school tuition for her two children instead of increasing a salary that could be taxed, reported The Daily Beast.... The Trump Organization was indicted five days after Jennifer Weisselberg's interview on tax fraud charges related to unreported fringe benefits like those she described, and her claims would directly tie the twice-impeached one-term president to the running scheme." The Daily Beast story is firewalled. (Also linked yesterday.)
Did that ever occur to you? That, possibly, [you're] just repeating stuff the president is lying about? -- Federal Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter to two Trumpy lawyers ~~~
~~~ Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Just before Christmas, two Colorado lawyers [-- Gary D. Fielder and Ernest John Walker --] filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of 160 million American voters, alleging a vast conspiracy to steal the 2020 presidential election by the voting equipment manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems, Facebook, its founder Mark Zuckerberg, his wife Priscilla Chan and elected officials in four states -- and asking for $160 billion in damages. The case was dismissed in April, but now a federal judge is considering disciplining the lawyers for filing a frivolous claim -- sharply questioning the duo in a Friday hearing about whether they had allowed themselves to be used as 'a propaganda tool' of ... Donald Trump.... It was the second time this week that a judge dressed down lawyers who filed cases alleging fraud in the 2020 election, as the legal system grapples with how to hold accountable those who used the court system to spread falsehoods about the vote."
The True Cost of a Coca-Cola. Laura Reilly of the Washington Post: "The true cost of food is even higher than you think, a new report out Thursday says. The U.S. spends $1.1 trillion a year on food. But when the impacts of the food system on different parts of our society -- including rising health care costs, climate change and biodiversity loss -- are factored in, the bill is around three times that, according to a report by the Rockefeller Foundation, a private charity that funds medical and agricultural research.... Health impacts are the biggest hidden cost of the food system, with more than $1 trillion per year in health-related costs paid by Americans, with an estimated $604 billion of that attributable to diseases -- such as hypertension, cancer and diabetes -- linked to diet."
Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "Pope Francis took a significant step toward putting the Roman Catholic Church's liturgy solidly on the side of modernization Friday by cracking down on the use of the old Latin Mass, essentially reversing a decision by his conservative predecessor. The move also dealt a blow to church conservatives who have long complained that the pope is diluting the traditions of the church. Francis, in a papal Motu Proprio -- or a document issued under the pope's own legal authority -- placed new restrictions on where the traditional Latin Mass can be celebrated, who can celebrate it and requiring new permissions from local bishops for its use. Those hurdles made it clear that Francis believes that champions of the old Latin Mass are exploiting it to oppose more recent church reforms and to divide the church. Since the 1960s, the church has used a more modern and vernacular liturgical book to make the faith more accessible to the faithful." (Also linked yesterday.)
The Pandemic, Ctd.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: "President Biden unleashed his growing frustration with social media on Friday, saying that platforms like Facebook were 'killing people' by allowing disinformation about the coronavirus vaccine to spread online. Mr. Biden's forceful statement capped weeks of anger in the White House over the dissemination of vaccine disinformation online, even as the pace of inoculations slows and health officials warn of the rising danger of the Delta variant. Just before boarding Marine One for a weekend in Camp David in Maryland, Mr. Biden was asked what his message was to social media platforms when it came to Covid-19 disinformation. 'They're killing people,' he said. 'Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and that -- and they're killing people.'" An NBC News report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I don't think social media are as bad as Fox "News." A normal person (not to suggest that vaccination skeptics mostly fall within the "normal" category) will take health advice from a friend or an unknown source with a grain of salt. But s/he is apt to heed advice she hears on her trusted TV station. So within the bubble of Fox World, it's perfectly reasonable for a viewer to accept as fact the word of "experts" who appear on Fox "News," especially when their favorite "journalists" are nodding in agreement.
Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "The Republican governor of Utah on Thursday decried 'propaganda' spread against coronavirus vaccines, warning that those discouraging immunization are 'killing people.' 'We have these -- these talking heads who have gotten the vaccine and are telling other people not to get the vaccine,' Gov. Spencer Cox said in response to a reporter's question about anti-vaccine rhetoric coming in large part from the political right. 'That kind of stuff is just, it's ridiculous. It's dangerous, it's damaging, and it's killing people. I mean, it's literally killing their supporters. And that makes no sense to me.' Cox's sharp words at a news conference came as some lawmakers and other prominent Republicans fan doubts about the coronavirus vaccines or speak about them with outright hostility, framing efforts to promote the shots as unwelcome incursions from big government."
Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky warned of rising cases on Friday, stating that COVID-19 is 'becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated' and that vaccinated people are protected against severe disease. The highly transmissible delta variant is fueling expanding outbreaks, but they are centered in parts of the country with lower vaccination rates."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Nick Niedzwiadek of Politico: "White House press secretary Jen Psaki forcefully defended the Biden administration's growing offensive on vaccine-related misinformation spreading on Facebook and other social media platforms. 'Our biggest concern, and frankly I think it should be your biggest concern, is the number of people who are dying around the country because they are getting misinformation that is leading them to not take a vaccine,' Psaki said during Friday's daily press briefing.... Psaki's defense was in response to a question from Fox News' Peter Doocy, who framed the Biden administration's concern about bad actors online as 'spying' on Americans' social media usage. 'For how long has the administration been spying on people's Facebook profiles looking for vaccine misinformation?' Doocy asked.... Psaki called the characterization 'a loaded and inaccurate question.' She said the White House flagging concerning posts to platforms like Facebook is similar to outreach to news outlets when they take issue with particular coverage. 'This is publicly open information, people sharing information online, just as you are all reporting information on your news stations,' she said during a testy exchange in which the pair talked over one another at times." ~~~
~~~ A Chip Off the Old Blockhead. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Peter Doocy, who is Fox "News" supposed White House correspondent [and the son of "Fox and Friends' nitwit cohost Steve Doocy], was in high dudgeon at the White House press briefing Friday about all the spying the Biden administration had done on a dozen Facebook users; i.e., supposedly checking out their public profiles. This was stupid enough on the face of it, but the fact that the boy Doocy made up the story rendered it particularly stupid. It took Blake 30 seconds of "research" to disprove Doocy's false premise. The "spying" was done by "the Center for Countering Digital Hate. The[ir] study was picked up by the likes of NPR and others in May."
Natasha Bertrand, et al., of CNN: "Senior Biden administration officials overseeing an intelligence review into the origins of the coronavirus now believe the theory that the virus accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan is at least as credible as the possibility that it emerged naturally in the wild -- a dramatic shift from a year ago, when Democrats publicly downplayed the so-called lab leak theory. Still, more than halfway into President Joe Biden's renewed 90-day push to find answers, the intelligence community remains firmly divided over whether the virus leaked from the Wuhan lab or jumped naturally from animals to humans in the wild, multiple sources familiar with the probe told CNN. Little new evidence has emerged to move the needle in one direction or another, these people said. But the fact that the lab leak theory is being seriously considered by top Biden officials is noteworthy...."
Florida. Nathaniel Weixel of the Hill: "Nearly 20 percent of the nation's new coronavirus infections are now happening in Florida alone, according to a White House official. Cases are rising across the nation as a whole as the more transmissible delta variant spreads but are concentrated in areas with low vaccination rates. 'Just four states accounted for more than 40 percent of all cases in the past week, with 1 in 5 of all cases occurring in Florida alone," White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters during a briefing Friday.... Currently, the state is reporting an average of 29 new infections for every 100,000 people per day -- more than four times the national average.... Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) ... has proudly bucked the advice of federal health officials -- schools remained open, and statewide public health mitigation measures were minimal. The governor has encouraged people to get vaccinated but also banned businesses from requiring proof of vaccination and has banned local governments from enacting mask mandates."~~~
~~~ Marie: The article doesn't ID the other three states. I checked half-a-dozen other stories re: Zients' remarks, & they don't say, either. However, according to this Market Watch report, "Cases are rising fastest in Arkansas, Florida, Missouri and Nevada, which have vaccinated less than half of their residents." It isn't clear if the number here are raw or per-capita. The framing suggests they're per capita.
Nevada. Ken Ritter of the AP: "Masks are back in Las Vegas, after regional health officials on Friday cited a rising number of coronavirus cases and advised everyone -- vaccinated or not -- to wear facial coverings in crowds and indoor places. The recommendation from the Southern Nevada Health District isn't a requirement. But it affects casinos, concerts and clubs where business has boomed since restrictions were lifted and the state fully returned pandemic control measures to counties about seven weeks ago."
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona. Bob Christie & Christina Cassidy of the AP: "Arizona county election officials have identified fewer than 200 cases of potential voter fraud out of more than 3 million ballots cast in last year's presidential election, further discrediting ... Donald Trump's claims of a stolen election as his allies continue a disputed ballot review in the state's most populous county. An Associated Press investigation found 182 cases where problems were clear enough that officials referred them to investigators for further review. So far, only four cases have led to charges, including those identified in a separate state investigation. No one has been convicted. No person's vote was counted twice.... Virtually all the cases ... are in Pima County, home to Tucson, and involved voters who attempted to cast two ballots. The Pima County Recorder's Office has a practice of referring all cases with even a hint of potential fraud to prosecutors for review, something the state's 14 other county recorders do not do."
California. Trump Fans (Allegedly) Planned to Firebomb State DNC HQ. Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Two men have been charged in an alleged plot to firebomb the California Democratic Party's headquarters in Sacramento, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday. Ian Benjamin Rogers and Jarrod Copeland were 'prompted by the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election' and believed their attack would spark a 'movement,' according to federal prosecutors, who said the men were members of a militia group. Law enforcement officers seized five pipe bombs, thousands of rounds of ammunition and 'between 45 and 50 firearms, including at least three fully-automatic weapons' during a January search of Rogers's home and business, according to the indictment." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Cheri Mossberg of CNN: "A California man is in custody after police found a cache of weapons, ammunition, and racist writings in his vehicle saying he wanted to wipe out the Black, Hispanic and Jewish populations, officials said Thursday. Wesley Charles Martines, 32, was stopped by Campbell Police officers on July 9, officials said, after a local business owner alerted police shortly after midnight that someone was prowling in the area, peering into vehicles and a storage shed. Responding officers found assault-style rifles, a handgun, body armor and ammunition, along with what was believed to be an inactive pipe bomb in Martines' truck, according to a statement from the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office. Police seized a journal that included the racist and anti-Semitic writings, along with a plan to 'go to sporting goods store, dress up as an employee and tie everybody up,' the statement said." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Setting aside for a moment the guy's racism & anti-Semitism, I see an insanity defense here. A person has to be stark-staring bonkers to think he can single-handedly murder millions of people.
New Jersey. Municipal Judge Explains First Amendment to Nitwits. Rebecca Panico of NJ.com: "A municipal judge on Thursday ruled that a Roselle Park homeowner's owner's anti- President Biden flags including the F-bomb on her fence were obscene and must be removed because they violated a borough ordinance. Roselle Park Municipal Court Judge Gary Bundy ordered the Willow Avenue homeowner to remove the signs with profanity within a week or face a $250-a-day fine. Patricia Dilascio is the property owner but her daughter, Andrea Dick, had the signs, three of which include the F-word, on display. 'This is not a case about politics. It is a case, pure and simple, about language,' Bundy said. 'This ordinance does not restrict political speech. Neither this town or its laws may abridge or eliminate Ms. Dilascio's freedom of speech. However, freedom of speech is not simply an absolute right. It is clear from state law and statutes that we cannot simply put up the umbrella of the First Amendment and say everything and anything is protected speech.' Roselle Park Mayor Joseph Signorello III, a Democrat who is running for state Senate in Union County, previously said the home is close to a school and angered some residents. But Dick repeatedly said she would not remove the signs since they are political speech protected by the First Amendment."
Virginia. Stephanie Lai of the Washington Post: "Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced a $700 million plan to achieve universal broadband accessibility across Virginia by 2024, a historic investment in broadband for a state long beset by a digital divide. Northam (D) and Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) met in Abingdon with legislative leaders Friday afternoon to unveil their proposal for spending a portion of the state's $4.3 billion in federal coronavirus relief funding under the American Rescue Plan. The General Assembly will meet in a special session on Aug. 2 to decide how to spend the funds, as well as discuss the $353 million plan announced by Northam earlier this week to aid businesses that have been hit hard by the pandemic.... According to Northam, the commonwealth has 233,500 homes, businesses and other locations without access to broadband."
News Ledes
Saturday Night in NRA-USA. Washington Post: “Saturday night's game between the Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres was suspended after multiple gunshots were fired outside Nationals Park. Two people were shot, according to a D.C. police spokesman, in an incident that took place by one of the gates on South Capitol Street. Police said a man was shot in the leg and a woman was shot in the back, with wounds not said to be life-threatening."
New York Times: "Twenty-six people were hospitalized with breathing problems or skin irritation after they were exposed to bleach and sulfuric acid on Saturday afternoon at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Splashtown, a water park in Spring, Texas, the authorities said. One person was in critical condition on Saturday evening, said Rachel Neutzler, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office.... Ms. Neutzler said investigators did not believe the exposure to the chemicals, which are used to maintain pH balance, had been the result of an intentional act. She said it had occurred in a shallow pool intended for children."
Weather Channel: "The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Germany and Belgium rose to 150 Saturday as rescuers continued to search through the rubble of buildings, holding out hope of finding survivors. 'Whole places are scarred by the disaster,' German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a news conference.... Late Friday, a dam broke in the town of Wassenberg near Cologne, forcing 700 residents to evacuate, Reuters reported. The worst of the destruction was in areas near the Germany-Belgium border." ~~~
~~~ Thanks to Victoria for the link.
Washington Post: "Gloria Richardson, a firebrand civil rights activist who drew national attention in the early 1960s in a showdown on Maryland's Eastern Shore that presaged the Black Power movement and led to a year-long imposition of martial law, died July 15 at her home in Manhattan. She was 99.... The uprising in Cambridge[, Maryland,] straddled a fault line between advocates for nonviolence, such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and more-extremist leaders such as Malcolm X, whom Ms. Richardson considered a friend and supporter. Calling herself 'a radical, a revolutionary,' she also was reportedly one of few women leading a local civil rights protest movement at the time."
Also deceased, this guy: ~~~
~~~ Huffington Post: "William H. Regnery II, a racist, reclusive multimillionaire who used his inherited fortune to finance vile white supremacist groups in the hopes of one day forming an American whites-only ethnostate, died earlier this month, his family and associates confirmed. He was 80 years old. Regnery, whose family amassed riches from its right-wing publishing empire, died on July 2 in Florida after a 'long battle with cancer,' his cousin Alfred, the former head of Regnery Publishing, confirmed to HuffPost."
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Should anyone care enough to read the whole thing:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/07/trump-declares-victory-arizona-audit-debunked.html
Thinking about death panels that are.
While not original with me, the references I've heard to the R's having become a death cult seem more true every day.
Besides the obvious link between the Right's politicization of anti-vaxxing, making a prominent Kennedy's loony campaign their own, and the consequent rising Covid death toll, is the equally obvious connection between the proliferation of assault weapons and mass killings.
Then, there is the clear effect of the Right's rejection of any kind of national health insurance program. More piles of dead bodies.
And the thread that holds the entire cult together? Money.
Everything in the above from the Manchin trip to Texas to break bread in the fossil fuel industry's epicenter while climate change is burning half the world and flooding the other, to the account of the true cost of what we eat can be explained by looking at money and the system that generates it that is behind all the short term bottom line decisions that have gotten us into this mess.
A mess littered with windrows of dead bodies laid at the feet of Mammon by the death cult that worships Him and only Him.
I'm sure Republicans support something beneficial to people or the planet, but this morning I can't think of what it might be.
Ken,
Don’t bother spending another millisecond wondering what, if anything, Republicans do to make the nation or the world a better place. Their primary, secondary, tertiary, and all other-ary concerns is what’s best for them. Period. Law, ethics, decency, morality, none of it matters.
As with their dear leader, everything exists for their benefit. If it doesn’t fit that goal they are free to fold, spindle, and mutilate until it does. If what’s good for them turns out to benefit the planet, that’s purely coincidental. The imminent removal from the gene pool of Trump-Foxified anti-vax morons is one example. So there you have it. The only thing R’s do to make the world a better place involves disease, pain, suffering, and death.
QED.
@Ken Winkes: Funny you should mention the confederate death cult, as I was just thinking about that yesterday. Conservatives/Republicans/Southerners seem to be ready to kill everyone who has emerged from the birth canal. They're fond of wars, they think the death penalty is necessary, they think the police should be able to shoot first & ask questions later -- especially if the suspects are people of color, they think the Second Amendment means every white person should be able to have an arsenal of automatic weapons. And, as you say, they're definitely not into life-saving healthcare -- much less vaccinations -- or other programs like food stamps that help the needy. It's depressing.
Marie,
Yeah, it is. Downright depressing.
My challenge for the next week (which I may not trouble myself to rise to):
To turn our mutual death cult rant into a LTTE acceptable to the editor of the local paper's delicate sensibilities.
Marie: just a kernel of good news would be welcome, wouldn't it? I totally buy into the "death cult"-ishness of the other party that deserves no name. It IS completely depressing. The incessant lying is the key to all of it. There is apparently no moral standard to which those "people" can point to as a low bar. No standard is too low but that it is attained the next day. With such "leadership" by a crapweasel the likes of which we have never seen or had, there is no possibility of a positive vibe in life on the ill blue marble...
Little mikey (the half) pence is mad as heck and he ain’t a-goin’ to take it no more. Making a (little) speech thingy in Iowa (oooh…IOWA!) to show all the droolers what a tough, no nonsense, not gonna take any crap he-man he is.
He’s sick and tired of all this Biden nonsense of doing stuff for people who aren’t white, racist, theocrats, dang it. Helping those who lost jobs because Trump and the half-pence and their Liar’s Club pals assisted in the spread of a deadly virus, treating people with decency and respect, helping them get healthcare! The idea! And then trying to fix a crumbling infrastructure that pence and his boss treated like a punchline to a dirty joke! Well, enough is enough!
Funny, I don’t recall little mikey uttering one single goddam syllable about the shit that went on during four years of authoritarian criminality. He was perfectly fine with every crooked, nasty, venal, SINFUL thing that went on while he was in power (if you can call serving as a tyrant’s testicle cozy “in power”).
But now, OMG, he’s gonna fix things, by jiminy!
These cowardly pigs are all the same. Unfortunately, little mikey’s stapled on balls aren’t big enough for him to call out the former guy’s litany of crimes, including fomenting a treasonous insurrection. I guess those tiny ball things lose power when confronted with his own culpability. Mother wouldn’t approve.
"They're fond of wars". Full Stop. In taking a moment with that full, encapsulation one realizes the utter greatness of MLK. And after over half a century the Ignorant R's and Southerners just can't get things back the way they were. Insanity is doing some thing the same way and expecting different outcomes. "They're fond of wars". Literals need to remember that the British had a heck of a time with guerrilla warfare and we with terrorism. The new methods need a basis in association AI: who you hang out with, politically contribute to, what rallies at the Capital you attend, and FICO score. Businesses already do all of this. Libs can catch up to the modern militarists posing as business people. Say, for example, posting the tail fin numbers and locations of all of Cheney/Prince take-offs and landings. Or Moscow Mitch. Or the Kochs. We can take heart from the fact that young R's like some things like MMA - AKA human cock fighting: there is nothing subtle or particularly bright in that arena or anything suggesting the deft, adroit ability to adapt to change.
Thinking of adapting to change: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/16/walmart-loses-eeoc-disability-discrimination-lawsuit.html & https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/william-h-regnery-ii. Can anyone tell me why such a "luminary" as Jack Welch needed a third rate, racist publisher to publish his master of the universe, self-serving bullshit? The others, I understand.
Marie writes: "Conservatives/Republicans/Southerners seem to be ready to kill everyone who has emerged from the birth canal."
But these same blokes are adamant about abortion! Save them fetuses at all costs even in cases of rape and incest. But are they FOR giving children a leg up––preschool funding, money to families with children, etc,––Hell no! These "fine people" who represent all those other "fine people" who look to government as a corrupt Nanny State and are dumb as a brick, continue to prance about promoting unrest, delivering misinformation, and in the process killing those that listen and believe.
Last night listened to a lecture by David Blight, a historian and professor at Yale whose main thrust was the stellar, extraordinary life and letters of Frederick Douglas. I wondered what Douglas would say today about that democracy he fought so hard for while revealing time and again our country's failures. He might just conclude we are "coming around again" in its turmoil and progress.
Joe Manchin's little trip to Texas when Dems from that state are housed in D.C. ( although he did meet with them) and do a fundraiser–-oil and gas blokes with lots of $$$$–––I find despicable. Maybe I'm wrong about old Joe, but the scent of greenbacks gets his motor running and his resistance legislatively smells a lot like cow-towing to thems that give large sums to get what they want.
"liberals" not "literals". Why are we reading nothing about FSB and CIA in Cuba now? Do ya think the CIA is going to hand our neighbor island to a Russian proxy again? To be continued.
"These cowardly pigs are all the same. Unfortunately, little mikey’s stapled on balls aren’t big enough for him to call out the former guy’s litany of crimes, including fomenting a treasonous insurrection. I guess those tiny ball things lose power when confronted with his own culpability. Mother wouldn’t approve." AK
Best ever description I have come across––you had me at those "stapled on balls"–––perfect!
https://youtu.be/_Td7zH8QJKw
Some visuals of the catastrophic flooding in NW Germany and Belgium.
I'm reminded of Heather McGhee talking about racism and her book The Sum of Us. She would usually mentions that in the days of the civil rights fights a lot of cities drained their public pools after they were forced to desegregate. It was a mindset of denying everybody something instead of allowing minorities to also benefit from it. I think Republicans' mindset toward the pandemic is the same. Early on that people most severely hit by covid were minority communities because of their jobs on the front lines. I bet a lot of the losers that are refusing to get their shots think that some white people are dying, but they still think people of color are dying at a higher rate. And that is just fine with them.
People don't seem to realize that although there are vaccines to keep them from contracting C-19, once they've got a case there aren't many good drugs to get them through the disease.
Scary because as an example my county currently has a positive rate of over 25%.