;)
The Commentariat -- May 17, 2021
Today is the deadline for filing federal tax returns. Here's a New York Times story on what you need to know.
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Zeke Miller of the AP: "President Joe Biden said Monday that the U.S. will share an additional 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines with the world in the coming six weeks as domestic demand for shots drops and global disparities in distribution have grown more evident. The doses will come from existing production of Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine stocks, marking the first time that U.S.-controlled doses of vaccines authorized for use in the country will be shared overseas. It will boost the global vaccine sharing commitment from the U.S. to 80 million. 'We know America will never be fully safe until the pandemic that's raging globally is under control,' Biden said at the White House. The announcement comes on top of the Biden's administration's prior commitment to share about 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is not yet authorized for use in the U.S., by the end of June. The AstraZeneca doses will be available to ship once they clear a safety review by the Food and Drug Administration."
Check out the front page of the New York Times this afternoon; it appears to have an IP-address-specific indicator of the Covid risk in your county. Mine is "very high." The blurb links to a page that provides particulars. Great! I don't know if this works for everyone, but it worked for me.
Chuck Does Some Journalism. Tim Elfrink of the Washington Post: "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd took on guest Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), "noting that Trump continues to make baseless claims that the election was stolen -- a view that many GOP leaders have declined to challenge or openly embraced. 'Why should anybody believe a word you say if the Republican Party itself doesn't have credibility?' Todd asked. The fiery exchange, which went viral on Twitter with one clip racking up more than 1 million views, offers vivid evidence of the challenge Republicans face in shifting the conversation from Trump's election lies months after his loss and the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by his followers." Includes clip.
News for Racist Parler Users. Kevin Randall of the Washington Post: "When social media network Parler came back to life on Apple's App Store Monday, it was designed to be a less offensive version than what users are able to see elsewhere. Posts that are labeled 'hate' by Parler's new artificial intelligence moderation system won't be visible on iPhones or iPads. There's a different standard for people who look at Parler on other smartphones or on the Web: They will be able to see posts marked as 'hate,' which includes racial slurs, by clicking through to see them. Parler has resisted placing limits on what appears on its social network, and its leaders have equated blocking hate speech to totalitarian censorship, according to Amy Peikoff, chief policy officer. But Peikoff, who leads Parler's content moderation, says she recognizes the importance of the Apple relationship to Parler's future and seeks to find common ground between them."
Alice Ollstein of Politico: "The Supreme Court on Monday said it will review Mississippi's ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, taking up a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade just a few months after its newest conservative justice joined the bench. The Mississippi ban, which has been blocked by lower courts since it was enacted in 2018, will be one of the first reproductive rights cases argued before the Supreme Court since Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed in October, giving conservatives a 6-3 majority that is widely expected to curtail abortion access." The Washington Post's story is here.
Marie: So I put up a nice story in the PSA section (right column) about how the federal government was accepting applications to reduce your Internet bill. Now this: ~~~
~~~ Geoffrey Fowler of the Washington Post: "The government has a new program [called the Emergency Broadband Benefit] to help Americans pay their Internet bills. Unfortunately, companies like Verizon are twisting it into an opportunity for an upsell.... Verizon elicited the most ire from readers. It requires customers to call a phone line to register for the EBB, rather than just signing up online. And when you do, Verizon tells some customers the EBB can't be used on 'old' data plans, so they'll have to switch. That might be allowed by the letter of the law but certainly isn't the spirit of the program." So you might save money in the short term (Marie: and you might get faster service), but when the EBB program expires, your bill will be higher.
Florida Man Pleads Guilty. Lori Rozsa & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "A Florida politician considered key to the investigation of Rep. Matt Gaetz formally pleaded guilty Monday to sex trafficking of a minor and a host of other crimes, agreeing to cooperate fully with prosecutors and testify in court in hopes of leniency for himself. Appearing in court Monday, Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector for Seminole County, Fla., repeatedly said, 'I do' in response to questions from the judge, affirming what he had already admitted in a written plea agreement made public last week. His plea and deal to cooperate is a potentially ominous sign for Gaetz, as it signals prosecutors have lined up a critical witness as they continue to investigate the congressman." ~~~
~~~ Dareh Gregorian & Natalie Obregon of NBC News: "Wearing a jail jumpsuit and a blue surgical mask and in shackles, Greenberg admitted his guilt to six of the 33 charges initially filed against him -- identity theft, stalking, wire fraud, conspiracy to bribe a public official and sex trafficking of a minor." MB: Please, Florida, that's how we want to see two other Florida men -- Matt & Donald -- in days to come. ~~~
~~~ Michael Balsamo & Mike Schneider of the AP: "Outside the courthouse, a plane flew over during the hearing pulling a banner that read: 'TICK TOCK MATT GAETZ.'"
~~~~~~~~~~
Henry Gomez of NBC News: "Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican mired in controversy, told a crowd of Republican activists Saturday that sexual misconduct allegations involving him are as benign as legislative earmarks. 'I'm being falsely accused of exchanging money for naughty favors,' Gaetz said at the Ohio Political Summit, a gathering sponsored by the Strongsville GOP in suburban Cleveland. 'Yet, Congress has reinstituted a process that legalizes the corrupt act of exchanging money for favors, through earmarks, and everybody knows that that's the corruption.'" MB: Earmarks are sometimes useful in obtaining the votes of reluctant MOCs, yet Congress, in its wisdom, is unlikely to approve legislation providing MOCs with hookups with underaged prostitutes and rentboys in exchange for their votes on an infrastructure bill. As far as I know. But nice try, Matt. Maybe you could introduce a sex-for-votes bill? (Also linked yesterday.)
News Flash! The Former Guy Is an Imbecile. Jonathan Swan & Zachary Basu of Axios: On "Nov. 9, 2020 -- days after Trump lost his re-election bid -- John McEntee, one of Donald Trump's most-favored aides, handed retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor a piece of paper with a few notes scribbled on it. He explained: 'This is what the president wants you to do.' '1. Get us out of Afghanistan. 2. Get us out of Iraq and Syria. 3. Complete the withdrawal from Germany. 4. Get us out of Africa.' [This] was ... just moments after Macgregor was offered a post as senior adviser to acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller.... The order arrived seemingly out of nowhere, and its instructions, signed by Trump, were stunning.... Top military brass, including Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, were appalled. This was not the way to conduct policy -- with no consultation, no input, no process for gaming out consequences or offering alternatives." This is a much longer-than-usual Axios story and traces the Pentagon's reactions. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Even in the waning days of his failed fake presidency*, Trump did not understand the first thing about the job. He thought presidenting was barking whimsical orders and watching functionaries scramble to fulfill said whims. For him, moving thousands of troops was no more consequential than ordering a Diet Coke. No one over the age of nine should take this view of the American presidency. ~~~
~~~ AND YET. Anthony Salvanto, et al., of CBS News: "... self-identified Republicans ... still very much want their party to show loyalty to Mr. Trump and adhere to the idea that President Biden didn't legitimately win.... Eighty percent of Republicans who'd heard about the vote [to oust Liz Cheney from her House leadership position] agree with Cheney's removal -- they feel she was off-message, unsupportive of Mr. Trump, and that she's wrong about the 2020 presidential election. To a third of them, and most particularly for those who place the highest importance on loyalty, Cheney's removal also shows 'disloyalty will be punished.'" Your neighbors are very stupid. I suppose they think that blithely ordering troop withdrawals all over the world demonstrates Trump is "bold" and "decisive."
Marie: I'm getting a bit weary of these stories about the search for the "soul of the Republican party." The GOP has no soul.
Strange Phenomena
Katie Williams, et al., of CNN: "Two White House officials were struck by a mysterious illness late last year -- including one who was passing through a gate onto the property -- newly revealed details that come as investigators are still struggling to determine who or what is behind these strange incidents. Multiple sources tell CNN that the episodes affected two officials on the National Security Council in November 2020, one the day after the presidential election and one several weeks later. The cases are consistent with an inexplicable constellation of sensory experiences and physical symptoms that have sickened more than 100 US diplomats, spies and troops around the globe and have come to be known as 'Havana Syndrome.' The intelligence community still isn't sure who is causing the strange array of nervous system symptoms, or if they can be definitively termed 'attacks.' Even the technology that might cause such an inconsistent set of symptoms is a matter of debate."
Bill Whitaker of CBS News' "60 Minutes" interviews Lue Elizondo, formerly of the Pentagon's the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, as well as former Assistant Secretary of Defense Christopher Mellon & Navy pilots who have seen UFOs. Oh, and Marco Rubio. "... the U.S. government [has] grudging[ly] acknowledg[ed the existence] of unidentified aerial phenomena -- UAP -- more commonly known as UFOs. After decades of public denial the Pentagon now admits there's something out there, and the U.S. Senate wants to know what it is. The intelligence committee has ordered the director of national intelligence and the secretary of defense to deliver a report on the mysterious sightings by next month." A transcript & video of the segment are at the linked page.
Familiar Phenomenon
Emily Flitter & Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "By the time Melinda French Gates decided to end her 27-year marriage, her husband was known globally as a software pioneer, a billionaire and a leading philanthropist. But in some circles, Bill Gates had also developed a reputation for questionable conduct in work-related settings. That is attracting new scrutiny amid the breakup of one of the world's richest, most powerful couples." The report details some of Bill's "questionable conduct." MB: I'm not surprises. Not long after his marriage, my daughter told me she observed Bill "behaving inappropriately" at an industry party. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Bobby Allyn of NPR: "Microsoft's board of directors hired a private law firm to investigate a decades-old 'intimate relationship' Bill Gates had with a company employee. The investigation, according to a company spokesman, took place in the months before the billionaire resigned from the board last year.... A story on Sunday in The Wall Street Journal reported Microsoft's board decided that Gates should step down while the prior romantic relationship, that was deemed to be 'inappropriate,' was still being reviewed. A spokeswoman for Gates, however, denied any connection between his departure and the board's investigation." ~~~
~~~ Jay Greene of Politico: "Bill Gates acknowledged through a spokeswoman that he had an extramarital affair with a Microsoft employee, which Microsoft said led its board to investigate the 'intimate relationship' shortly before he resigned from the board last year. It is not clear what role the investigation or the affair, which took place two decades ago, played in the decision the Microsoft co-founder and his wife, Melinda French Gates, made to divorce after 27 years of marriage." ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux, in LG&$, who republishes portions of the WSJ & NYT stories linked above, is concerned that our plutocrats are not okay.
Edmund Lee & John Koblin of the New York Times: "AT&T, the wireless carrier that thundered its way into the media business three years ago with grand visions of streaming video on millions of its customers' cellphones, has agreed to spin off its WarnerMedia group and merge it with its rival programmer Discovery Inc., the companies announced Monday. The transaction will combine HBO, Warner Bros. studios, CNN and several other cable networks with a host of reality-based cable channels from Discovery, including Oprah Winfrey's OWN, HGTV, The Food Network and Animal Planet.... In addition to Discovery's strong lineup of reality-based cable channels, the company has a large international sports business.... Industry experts questioned AT&T's [Time Warner foray], and now the spinoff indicates a failed acquisition strategy." CNN's story is here. MB: Other than "It's the Republicans, Stupid," I don't understand why the feds allow these huge monopolies.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.
Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "... the Biden administration has [begun] a new phase of its vaccination campaign. The federal government has set up mass vaccination sites at stadiums, sent doses to pharmacies and clinics serving lower-income Americans, and, on Friday, enticed the unvaccinated with the prospect of finally being able to shed their masks. But with the ranks of the willing and able dwindling, the campaign has in many places already morphed into a door-to-door and person-by-person effort. The Black Doctors Covid-19 Consortium..., led by Dr. Asa Stanford of Philadelphia], is one of about 11,000 members of what the Department of Health and Human Services is calling its Covid-19 community corps, a loose constellation of volunteers, corporations, advocacy groups and local organizations working to vaccinate Americans often left behind by the nation's health care system.... Andy Slavitt, a White House pandemic adviser, described in an interview last week three categories to organize the unvaccinated: those making a choice at their own pace, those who need easier access to a vaccine and those under 30 who are open to getting a shot but not rushing to."
Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "The nation's top public health official on Sunday defended her agency's abrupt reversal on wide-ranging mask recommendations, saying that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had weighed new data before announcing that Americans who had been vaccinated could go without masks.'We now have science that has really just evolved, even in the last two weeks,' CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on ABC News's 'This Week,' citing new data that coronavirus vaccines are curbing the spread of the disease covid-19 and offering protection against virus variants. Walensky, who appeared on four separate Sunday morning news shows to explain her agency's new guidelines, also touted widespread access to those vaccines and called on tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans to go get shots."
AP: Dr. Anthony Fauci "said Sunday that 'the undeniable effects of racism' have led to unacceptable health disparities that especially hurt African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans during the pandemic. 'COVID-19 has shone a bright light on our own society's failings,' Dr. ... Fauci said during a graduation ceremony for Emory University. Speaking by webcast from Washington, Fauci told the graduates in Atlanta that many members of minority groups work in essential jobs where they might be exposed to the coronavirus. He also said they are more likely to become infected if exposed because of medical conditions such as hypertension, chronic lung disease, diabetes or obesity. 'Now, very few of these comorbidities have racial determinants,' Fauci said. 'Almost all relate to the social determinants of health dating back to disadvantageous conditions that some people of color find themselves in from birth regarding the availability of an adequate diet, access to health care and the undeniable effects of racism in our society.'"
David Holtgrave & Eli Rosenberg, public health experts, in a CNN opinion piece: "Unfortunately, we are still not across the finish line in the US pandemic. There is still a Covid-19 death about every 2.5 minutes in the nation, and serious racial and ethnic disparities exists (e.g., in disproportionate access to vaccination services). There are six major concerns about the decision to roll back some key safety measures when in fact we need all of the tools we have in the Covid-19 prevention toolbox for perhaps just a short time longer.... We are going to keep wearing our masks." MB: Me, too, although I've liberalized that a lot. For instance, a friend -- who like me is fully vaccinated -- stopped by yesterday. We chatted outside, and neither of us wore masks. I have a couple of nearly immovable iron benches that are, by happenstance, set about six feet apart, so they provide just the right "social distancing." A couple of weeks ago, we both would have masked up.
Beyond the Beltway
North Carolina. Lateshia Beachum of the Washington Post: "Two half-brothers with intellectual disabilities who were wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in 1983 were awarded $75 million by a jury in Raleigh, N.C., as part of a federal civil rights case. After nearly five hours of deliberation Friday, a jury found that Henry McCollum and Leon Brown should each receive $31 million, representing the 31 years they spent in prison, the Raleigh News & Observer reported. The brothers, who are both Black, were also awarded $13 million in punitive damages.
Way Beyond
Israel. The New York Times' liveblog of developments Monday in Israel's armed conflict are here.
~~~ Fares Akram & Ravi Nessman of the AP: "Israeli warplanes unleashed a new series of heavy airstrikes at several locations in Gaza City early Monday, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled the fourth war with Gaza's Hamas rulers would rage on. Explosions rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes in an attack that was heavier, on a wider area and lasted longer than a series of air raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed -- the deadliest single attack in the latest round of violence between Israel and the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza. The earlier Israeli airstrikes flattened three buildings. The Israeli military said it attacked the homes of nine Hamas commanders across Gaza. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and in the predawn darkness there was little information on the extent of damage inflicted early Monday." The Guardian has a story here. ~~~
~~~The New York Times' liveblog of developments in the armed Israel conflict Sunday are here. ~~~
~~~ Julian Borger of the Guardian: "In his staunch defence of Israel, Joe Biden is sticking to a course set decades ago as a young senator, and so far he has not given ground on the issue to the progressive wing of his party or many Jewish Democrats urging a tougher line towards Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden has even been prepared to face isolation at the UN security council, at the potential cost of his own credibility on multilateralism and human rights. But analysts say that as the death toll rises with no sign of a ceasefire, the domestic and international pressures on the president could become impossible to ignore. American Jews have grown increasingly sceptical of Netanyahu and his policies. A Pew Research Center survey published last week found that only 40% thought the prime minister was providing good leadership, falling to 32% among younger Jews. Strikingly, only 34% strongly opposed sanctions or other punitive measures against Israel. The liberal Jewish American lobby, J Street, has growing influence in the Democratic party and has urged Biden to do more to stop the bloodshed and the Israeli policies that have helped drive the conflict." ~~~
~~~ Aubree Weaver of Politico: "While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hopes that the escalating violence between Israeli and Palestinian forces doesn't continue for very long, he acknowledged Sunday morning that he doesn't foresee an 'immediate' end to the conflict. [Speaking on CBS' 'Face the Nation,'] Netanyahu also denied reports that he had rejected a truce offered by Egypt, which also borders on Gaza, and accepted by Hamas. 'That's not what I know,' he said of the suggested truce." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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Reader Comments (15)
Of the scribbled list, # 2 and 3 look primarily like gifts to Russia, but #4 looks like a gift to China. During the campaign, Jared was caught working on creating a back channel to Russia. Who knows what back channels were set up once T**** was in office? Probably the NSA, if they exist, though the Russia one was right out in the open, with private meetings and "destroy your notes" orders to the translators.
The “Search for the Soul of the GQP” is another bullshit trope used by lazy, brain dead media types who have been beaten senseless by years of confederate attacks and believe they have to treat these people like serious adults. It’s no different than the tsunami of puff pieces about how we all have understand and sympathize with the “Trump Voters”. Racism, white supremacy, hatred, fear, loathing, Jesus, what’s in it for me, and owning the libs. There. I took care of the second one.
Marie took care of the first. Ain’t got no soul. Any party that reveres a lying traitor, a lying scumbag who pays underage girls for sex, and a gun toting, lying whack job who runs around screeching through mail slots has no soul. Nor much of a brain.
BURNOUT: Modern affliction or Human condition?
Jill Lepore begins her essay by reminding us that the term "Burnout" is generally said to have been coined around 1973; by the 1980's everyone was burned out. In 1990 Robert Fagles published a new English translation of the Iliad in which he had Achilles tell Agamemnon that he doesn't want people to think he's "a worthless, burnt- out coward."
Lepore cites other references, even delving into the Old Testament's Moses who is complaining to God:
"I am not able to bear all this [these?] I would think! people alone, because it is too heavy for me."
This is, as always, because Jill Lepore is such an extraordinary writer, something to read and relish when you feel as though your batteries have been depleted.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/24/burnout-modern-affliction-or-human-condition
And speaking of running on empty: Looks like Melinda Gates finally called it quits on her husband with the far away fingers in places he shouldn't have been fingering or even have been having business with--looking at you Jeffrey E. I'm thinking of that letter I posted here from Bill's mother who was wishing her prospective daughter-in-law the kind of marriage she hoped they might experience. How sad that letter now seems–-as though this couple would be able to attain that kind of marriage given their power and their influence and given, as it appears, Bill corresponding to his physicality: boyish to a fault.
Power tends to corrupt-- especially those who never grow up.
Once again we are being taken advantage of by a war mongering Israeli government who, for decades, have been taking our money, relying on our support, spying on us, then giving us the finger while they indulge in their long term project of ethnic cleansing.
Bibi visited the White House as part of a kabuki show last year to do a little dance about Peace in the Middle East. Fatty and Young Jared loved it. But as soon as he got the chance Bibi started back in with settlement creep and bombing the civilian Palestinian population. Peace, the Bibi Way.
Does Israel have a right to defend itself? Absolutely. But here’s how that’s been going for about the last 50 years or so. The PLO or Hamas shoot off a rocket. A dozen Israelis are killed. Israel responds. Three hundred Palestinians are killed. There simply has to be a better way. The two state solution is the only workable way out, but Bibi will never agree to that.
In the meantime he takes advantage of US support and patience, knowing that he can pretty much do whatever the hell he wants without worrying about us. Obama tried do press the issue but he was viciously attacked by Republicans, who will now, after four years of ass kissing by Fatty, try to hang this latest conflict around Biden’s neck.
For a guy who has only been in office a couple of months, they’re coming up with a long laundry list of the things he hasn’t fixed yet: the border, COVID, bipartisanship, and now peace in the Middle East.
As long as Netanyahu is in power, that will never happen. Never. He needs chaos and bloodshed to survive.
Foreign policy on a scrap of paper? Sure. Why not? After all, the apex of confederate economic planning was scribbled out on a cocktail napkin. And that’s working fabulously.
Isn’t it?
I don't know if PD is right, and the men who wander in the wilderness of other women are simply un-grown-up boys, or whether it is still another symptom of misogyny: I can do what I want, I have no need to stick with a marriage I contracted with cuz ME, and I vote for the lesser reason. We women have been cheated upon since forever, although we women are not immune, and I don't think maturity classes and understanding for unrepentant cheaters is an answer. Apparently one of the world's smartest, richest men just has the same disease of ego-driven must-have sex as well as brains and money. An old story, for sure. I don't really care, but I hope Melinda is taking him to the cleaners. I would imagine she is fueling a whole industry of financial advisors in the northwest.
Good morning and it's another day of bombs for Gaza. Jared, please come and save the day and lives. Haha-- that twerp is probably looking for a way to tilt the story in his favor now he's jobless.
PD,
I’ll have to go back and look for that reference to being “burnt-out” in the Fagles translation. I’m thinking it would have struck me as too obviously modern when I first read it, but the whole thing was so much fun to read I may have slid over that one. I’ve read the Pope translation (zzzzzz), and even the Chapman. Keats was way more impressed than I was with that one. In high school I read the EV Rieu prose translation. For all the brickbats tossed at prose versions of the Iliad, that one was pretty good. In college, the Richmond Lattimore was the favorite of my classics professor, and it was appropriately classical in its turn, and still a fine read. I’ve got the newer Caroline Alexander translation but have yet to read it straight through.
But I’m getting off the track here. Homer is still the great touchstone. Literary scholars love to trace the origins of tragedy and comedy to the Iliad and the Odyssey. I’ve never seen the humor in Odysseus’ slaughter of the suitors, however. I must have missed the punchline. But that bit about him telling Polyphemus, the cyclops, that his name was “No Man” was pretty good. Hearing him scream after Odysseus and his men put out his one good eye, his cyclops neighbors ask Polyphemus what’s wrong. “No Man is hurting me!” He responds. Okay, then. Have a good night.
Ba dum bum.
Oh, but I digress yet again.
You mentioned the Human Condition, which reminded me of Hannah Arendt’s book. That in turn reminded me of her reportage on the Eichmann trial in 1962. Adolf Eichmann’s defense was that he was just being loyal to the party.
Same as all the Trumpbots. Just being loyal...
Oh yeah. Eichmann was hanged.
@Jeanne: Not all wanderers of the flesh are immature–- I didn't mean to imply that–- there are many scenarios in the infidelity field and since women fit into that drama, it's certainly a mixed bag. But from the plethora of sexual shenanigans we've been hit with these past years it does appear that these powerful men who have powerful influence just can't keep their hands off the "weaker sex" plus recall the Great One who told us exactly why it's so darn easy:
"When you're a star they let you do it"
And you are probably correct in your "misogyny" assessment for many of these "they let you do it"guys. The "fuck you" they take literally.
I once had the experience of having to fend off the head honcho of a center for disturbed kids–-he'd come round, sniffing like I was some dog in heat. I always managed to manage him otherwise but that feeling of being in his cross hairs was stomach churning.
PD— probably a bit of both...Ugh! Your story of the toxic sniffer is indeed stomach-turning, and I join you in recalling the Orange Ghoul talking with Billy Bush and how he (OG) STILL has followers claiming a “faith” that excused him wholesale-y. Those moral midgets got us where we are today. All unforgivable—
The report on the UFOs is probably going to be pretty short: Unidenified. The End.
Observation from my wife: When men accumulate great wealth, it tends to settle in their male member.
Anat Shenker-Osorio: "We must face up to the fact that poverty is the product of bad choices by individuals.
The handful of individuals who rig the rules to take and hoard the wealth that working people create."
Mohamad Safa: "People aren’t going hungry because we cannot feed the poor. People are going hungry because we cannot satisfy the rich."
Republicans
Reproduction rights ending soon. Fuck off, sluts.
Love,
Medieval Amy, Pubic Hair Clarence, Hit Man Sammy, Rape-boy Bart, Die for your company Neil, and Little Johnny (look! Now, even more dwarfs!)
The realization that Pubic Hair Clarence & Rape Boy Bart get to rob American women & their doctors & family members of intimate medical and life decisions is stomach-churning. Sotomayor should ask the men on the Court to recuse themselves on account of they don't know squat about the topic. That would leave the decision at 2-1, Sotomayor or Kagan writing the majority opinion.
Re: Bill Gates and his peckerdillo(s). It may be the usual case where it's man, money, power, authority, domination over "lesser" beings. Maybe a quid pro quo for naughty favors. Could also be another case of the desires of his little head superseding the rational algorithms of his big head. As I've heard other people say, "A stiff dick has no conscience."