Saturday, September 30, 2023
U.S. preps for government shutdown ‘about nothing’ amid Republican confusion - The Washington Post
"Gaetz is threatening the speaker's job if he works with Democrats, while leaving no choice to but to rely on Democratic votes," said Liam Donovan, who worked for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "The entire exercise is designed to fail. It's all impressively nihilistic."…
On Fox News, GOP impeachment leaders spread false claims with impunity - The Washington Post
The point of failure here isn't really Hannity, though. It's that elected officials can make the same false claims over and over, misrepresent what they know multiple times in the span of hours and face no pushback...
Baltimore Catholic archdiocese files for bankruptcy as clergy abuse victims prepare suits - The Washington Post
The move blocks lawsuits allowed under a new state law that takes effect Sunday. Child sexual abuse survivors seeking damages will now have to file a claim through the bankruptcy case…
Friday, September 29, 2023
Trump to Speak at Nonunion Factory Amid UAW Strike, Skipping the Debate - The New York Times
Jason Walsh, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a group that seeks common ground between unions and environmentalists, said Mr. Trump's claim that the E.V. transition would drive American jobs to China "is almost exactly backwards."
"What the Biden administration is trying to do is actually bring jobs back from China by investing in revitalizing American auto manufacturing," he said...
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/27/us/politics/trump-autoworkers-detroit.html
G.O.P. Eyes Bribery and Abuse of Power Impeachment Charges for Biden - The New York Times
The first hearing in the impeachment inquiry comes as Republicans are grasping for evidence tying President Biden to his son's foreign business dealings...
NBC Reporter Destroys GOP Lawmaker's 'Evidence' Against Joe Biden Without Trying | HuffPost Latest News
"You presented a piece of evidence that you say came on August 6th, 2017, that demonstrates that Joe Biden was using political influence to help his son. But he wasn't a political figure at that time," Nobles said. "The first WhatsApp message you put up — how does that demonstrate that there was some sort of political influence being put over him if, at that time, he is not a political, not an elected official?"
Second Republican debate fact check - The Washington Post
These claims are examined in the order in which they were uttered...
Signs touting ‘auto workers for Trump’ at Michigan rally found to be fake – report | Donald Trump | The Guardian
At least two people holding signs saying 'union members for Trump' and 'auto workers for Trump' turned out to be neither…
Biden administration tightening oversight of career training program that saddles students with debt | The Hill
"Today's final rules answer President Biden's call to hold colleges accountable for rising costs and protect students from unaffordable college debt," said Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. "We are fixing a broken system and making sure that students know, before they take out loans, when college programs have a history of leaving graduates with high debts, low earnings, and poor career prospects. The Biden-Harris administration believes that when students invest in higher education, they should get a solid return on their investment and a greater shot at the American dream."…
Baker College Turnaround Plagued by Federal Scrutiny, Plunging Revenue — ProPublica
Baker College once was Michigan's largest private nonprofit school, built on questionable promises of employment and cost. But a new school year brings a fresh host of financial and reputational problems...
Thursday, September 28, 2023
The abortion myths Republicans are recycling to reframe a losing issue | Abortion | The Guardian
Earlier this summer, DeSantis claimed on CNN that "some liberal states" allow "post-birth abortions". That statement is categorically wrong. Killing an infant is infanticide, a crime that is already illegal in all 50 states...
More Republicans see Trump as ‘person of faith’ than Pence, Romney: poll | The Hill
Among Republicans, Trump earned the top position, with 53 percent of voters thinking he is a person of faith…
Trump’s unfavorability tops 50 percent: poll | The Hill
Former President Trump's unfavorability among registered voters has topped 55 percent, according to a new poll…
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
‘This is not a Trumpy, conservative education’: Florida’s controversial new SAT alternative | US universities | The Guardian
"Their list of authors are all from a Eurocentric context, therefore ignoring that the rest of the world exists."
FTC files a massive antitrust lawsuit against Amazon - The Verge
"Our complaint lays out how Amazon has used a set of punitive and coercive tactics to unlawfully maintain its monopolies," FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement Tuesday. "The complaint sets forth detailed allegations noting how Amazon is now exploiting its monopoly power to enrich itself while raising prices and degrading service for the tens of millions of American families who shop on its platform and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon to reach them."…
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23935558/acastro_STK103__01.jpg)
Saltwater intrusion on Mississippi River heading toward New Orleans: What to know | CNN
The city's water is at risk in mid-to-late October, which is when the Army Corps expects the New Orleans Algiers water treatment facility serving the city's West Bank to be inundated. The New Orleans Carrollton facility, which produces 135 million gallons of water a day and serves the majority of the city, could be at risk in late October...
Trump administration officials ordered to testify about family separations - The Washington Post
The Trump administration separated more than 3,000 children from their parents along the Mexican border in May and June 2018, the official period of the administration's "zero tolerance" policy. More than 5,500 children were separated from their parents during Donald Trump's term as president.
Sessions and Nielsen approved the policy documents that put the separations in motion, records show...
Jan. 6 defendant who wanted to arrest 'the traitors' sentenced to four years
Badalian, Jackson said, "can't let go of the false story of bringing down antifa," referring to a video that shows Badalian grabbing a person breaking a Capitol window who he claims is a member of antifa. Online sleuths have since identified that person, who is a Trump supporter but who has not been arrested by the FBI.
"What you attacked was the Constitution," Jackson said. "You were attacking the very foundation of the nation itself."
"You are a legend in your own mind," she told Badalian. "A hero in your own head."
There had to be consequences for his "misguided, violent vigilantism. You do not think the rules apply to you," Jackson said, before informing him that he would be committed to the custody of the U.S. Marshals immediately...
Trump Fraudulently Inflated Property Values, NY Judge Rules - The New York Times
A New York judge ruled on Tuesday that Donald J. Trump persistently committed fraud by inflating the value of his assets, and stripped the former president of control over some of his signature New York properties.
The decision by Justice Arthur F. Engoron is a major victory for Attorney General Letitia James in her lawsuit against Mr. Trump, effectively deciding that no trial was needed to determine that he had fraudulently secured favorable terms on loans and insurance deals.
Brief: Russell Brand (Conspirituality podcast)
In light of the recent allegations, Matthew offers a backgrounder on what we’ve learned about Brand through conspirituality and cultic studies and from his opportunistic relationships to wellness, self-help, and Kundalini Yoga. Ending with a focus on how his yoga world LARPing became a launch pad for his success as a spirituality-coded conspiracy theorist in the age of COVID.
Interview:
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
‘Full fascist’ Trump condemned after ‘treason’ rant against NBC and MSNBC | Donald Trump | The Guardian
"There you have it, folks," it said. "While Trump and his Republican enablers love to falsely accuse Democrats of 'weaponising' the government against Trump, Trump himself is now openly threaten[ing] to weaponise the presidency to completely remove entire news channels from the airwaves simply because they expose his rampant criminality."…
Trump Suggests That Mark Milley Deserves Execution - The Atlantic
The former president is inciting violence against the nation's top general...
The Republican case against Biden takes a body blow … from Fox News - The Washington Post
Trumpworld's belief that Joe Biden had sought the ouster of Ukraine's prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, to benefit Burisma and Hunter Biden was debunked in 2019. Perhaps in part because Fox News did its best to ignore the evidence in that impeachment inquiry, claims about the now-president trying to get Shokin fired back in 2015 and 2016 have been elevated again as though they retain validity.
They don't — as Fox News unintentionally made clear over the weekend...
Trump breaks with McCarthy, pushing Republicans to shut down the government
Asked about Trump's comments on Monday, McCarthy responded: "I think we're much stronger when we stay open. I don't understand how not paying the troops and not paying our border agents ... what we're trying to do is secure our border. That would be a part of funding the government, would be securing the border."…
Tucker Carlson finds a new booster: Russian TV - The Washington Post
The blustering American TV personality Tucker Carlson has lambasted the United States for sending too much aid to Ukraine, called Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky "sweaty and rat-like" and given credence to Russia's baseless justifications for its invasion...
Fracking For Oil and Gas Is Devouring American Groundwater - The New York Times
Giant new oil and gas wells that require astonishing volumes of water to fracture bedrock are threatening America's fragile aquifers...
Opinion | America’s Increasing Child Poverty Is a Policy Choice - The New York Times
The government has a choice here. It can deliver cash transfers, enact public goods and establish a floor of livelihood where nobody suffers from poverty or want — or it can allow children and families to go hungry, unhoused, indebted and abandoned on the altar of the market. It is time to once again use our immense power and resources to reduce suffering and save lives...
What is Christian Nationalism? (Dr. Andrew Whitehead; American Idols podcast, Episode 1)
In the opening episode, Andrew defines Christian nationalism, and uses his personal journey as a Christian to understand how it works on the ground in the religious lives of Americans, church spaces, and the public square.
Interview:
Harry Litman And George Conway (Al Franken podcast)
The Trump trials and the ug-ug-ugly Garland hearing...
Interview:
One of those Jumpsuits (featuring Brian Greer) (Andrew McCabe and Allison Gill; Jack: A Special Counsel podcast, Episode #43)
This week: 
- Rolling Stone reports that Trump is privately fretting about possibly going to prison;
- DoJ filed their proposed don’t-call-it-a-gag order in the DC case;
- CIPA expert Brian Greer joins Allison to discuss the implications of that and what’s going on with a supplemental briefing Judge Cannon requested;
- plus a couple of very fine questions from some very smart and good-looking listeners.
Interview:
Monday, September 25, 2023
The News Roundup – Domestic and International (The 1A) 2023-09-22
Domestic
House Republicans are struggling to agree on a temporary spending bill which would prevent a government shutdown at the end of the month. Democrats have made no offers to help House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.California politicians are thinking about ways to keep former President Donald Trump off the ballot in the 2024 election. In a letter to the state attorney general, Rob Bonta, nine lawmakers said that he is “uniquely positioned to proactively seek the court’s opinion to confirm Mr. Trump’s inability to hold office” based on the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
The Biden administration announced the creation of the American Climate Corps this week. The organization will train and support young people working to fight climate change, preserve environments, and promote clean energy.
Interview:
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is catching flak this week for scaling back his country’s climate goals in a press conference this Wednesday, angering politicians and business leaders.
Relations between India and Canada are tense this week after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that the Indian government had a hand in the assassination of a Sikh activist on Canadian soil.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich appeared in a Moscow court this week to appeal his imprisonment on espionage charges. The appeal was returned to a lower court to deal with procedural violations.
Interview:
‘Capitalism is dead. Now we have something much worse’: Yanis Varoufakis on extremism, Starmer, and the tyranny of big tech
This is the world grappling with an entirely new economic system and therefore political power.
"Imagine the following scene straight out of the science fiction storybook," he writes. "You are beamed into a town full of people going about their business, trading in gadgets, clothes, shoes, books, songs, games and movies. At first everything looks normal. Until you begin to notice something odd. It turns out all the shops, indeed every building, belongs to a chap called Jeff. What's more, everyone walks down different streets, and sees different stores because everything is intermediated by his algorithm… an algorithm that dances to Jeff's tune."
It might look like a market, but Varoufakis says it's anything but. Jeff (Bezos, the owner of Amazon) doesn't produce capital, he argues. He charges rent. Which isn't capitalism, it's feudalism. And us? We're the serfs. "Cloud serfs", so lacking in class consciousness that we don't even realise that the tweeting and posting that we're doing is actually building value in these companies...
Trump’s Open Plot to Break the Federal Government - The Atlantic
Perhaps the most striking aspect of the right-wing push to dismantle the federal civil service is how open its conservative leaders are about their designs. They are not cloaking their aims in euphemisms about making government more effective and efficient. They are stating unequivocally that federal employees must give their loyalty to the president, and that he or she should be able to remove anyone insufficiently devoted to the cause. The fundamental structure of the executive branch, and the independence with which many of its agencies have operated for decades, these conservatives argue, represents a misreading of the Constitution and a usurping of the president's power…
Anti-vaxxers, flush with cash, now have political power - POLITICO
As the nonprofit's revenue increased, so did Kennedy's compensation. Children's Health Defense paid him roughly $500,000 each year in 2022 and 2021, according to his personal financial disclosure and the group's tax filings, up from $345,000 in 2020 and $131,000 in 2017…
Alternative Catholic synod to push case for ordination of women priests
"Right now we're at a tipping point: it's clear that women are doing the work of priesthood, and they want to be recognised as priests."…
Nazi Germany had admirers among American religious leaders – and white supremacy fueled their support
Instead, what most strongly differentiated Hitler's sympathizers in this era was their belief in white supremacy vis-a-vis African Americans. These groups published literature claiming that African Americans were physically and mentally inferior, and one wrote positively of the Ku Klux Klan. A Southern Baptist bishop wrote, "The Negro is not like the white man … there are striking differences physical and mental," going on to claim, "the white race … assumes its superiority in strength and capacity."…
Biases against Black-sounding first names can lead to discrimination in hiring, especially when employers make decisions in a hurry − new research
We found that the names of workers perceived as Black, such as Shanice or Terell, were more likely to elicit negative presumptions, such as being less educated, productive, trustworthy and reliable, than people with either white-sounding names, such as Melanie or Adam, or racially ambiguous names, such as Krystal or Jackson…
Twenty Satisfying Pages (Allison Gill and Pete Strzok; Cleanup on Aisle 45 podcast episode #139 )
This week: Judge Middlebrooks dismisses another attempt by Trump to resurrect his bogus lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, et al.; in Fulton County, Cheseboro and Powell are going to trial in October, the other 17, including Meadows and Trump, will go later and may be separated into “manageable groups”; FBI agent Thomas Sobocinski undercuts the GOP narrative on Weiss’ ability to charge Hunter Biden; plus Navarro is back in court.
Interview:
Christian White Supremacy (Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, Freethought Radio podcast)
We report four state-church victories this week: Minnesota, Oklahoma and two in California. We also report on the advocacy group FFRF Action Fund, working to keep religion out of politics and law. Then we speak with Robert P. Jones, president and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), about his powerful new book The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: And the Path to a Shared American Future.
Interview:
Weekly Roundup: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller; Straight White American Jesus podcast)
On the first segment Dan and Brad begrudgingly discuss Lauren Boebrert’s Beetlejuice scandal – and what it reveals about the Christian nationalist persona she’s cultivated.
In the second segment, they discuss a myriad of issues – from the firing of a teacher for teaching the Diary of Anne Frank to supposed discrimination against Whites at West Point to the charge that Merrick Garland thinks all Catholics are religious extremists.
In the final segment they discuss the Alabama redistricting case – and what it we now know about the dark money network funding the state’s defiance of the federal government. Spoiler alert: it’s an attempt to once and for all nullify the Voting Rights Act.
Interview:
In the second segment, they discuss a myriad of issues – from the firing of a teacher for teaching the Diary of Anne Frank to supposed discrimination against Whites at West Point to the charge that Merrick Garland thinks all Catholics are religious extremists.
In the final segment they discuss the Alabama redistricting case – and what it we now know about the dark money network funding the state’s defiance of the federal government. Spoiler alert: it’s an attempt to once and for all nullify the Voting Rights Act.
Interview:
Sunday, September 24, 2023
Latest immigration fight unfairly targets religious organizations | The Hill
Earlier this year, a group of House Republicans took aim against Catholic, Lutheran and Jewish groups for supposedly "facilitating the border crisis" by refusing to let migrants suffer once they enter the country. Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) accused these groups of "running the pipeline to our border" and engaging in "human trafficking."
He called for the head of Catholic Charities to "explain what they're doing down on the border." Tiffany's remarks echoed those of Texas Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas), who called Catholic Charities "the biggest villain of them all" and claimed that "the Catholic bishops" are complicit in a "ruse" to spur illegal immigration…
Saturday, September 23, 2023
Body cam video shows aftermath of band leader's arrest after being shocked by Birmingham police - ABC News
"I did not let this escalate," Mims replied, adding that he told police the band was playing their last song of the night and was going to leave as soon as they finished...
“Playing God” author Mary Jo McConahey
"This week on Freethought Matters, we speak with Mary Jo McConahey. McConahey has been a war correspondent and covering the central American insurgencies in the 1980s. Her latest book is called Playing God: American Catholic Bishops and the Far Right, in which she documents how U.S. bishops are using dark money and align with ultra right evangelicals in an attempt to make America a Christian nation, especially a Catholic Christian nation. Learn more about the Freedom From Religion Foundation at ffrf.org."
A President’s Derangement, a General’s Duty - The Atlantic
Milley, unlike so many in Washington, continued to honor his oath to the Constitution. The next time, we will not be so lucky. The next time, Trump will not make the same mistake twice: He will ensure that no one like Mark Milley will be in the National Security Council, or at the Pentagon— or guarding America's nuclear forces at Strategic Command. The next time, when Trump's narcissism and cruelty tell him that he must exact revenge on the country, perhaps even on the world, no one will be there to stop him...
Democrats call for removal of anti-LGBTQ provisions in annual defense bill | The Hill
More than 150 House Democrats are calling for the removal of provisions in the House-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that target LGBTQ rights, arguing in a letter sent Thursday to House and Senate Armed Services Committee leadership that such measures "threaten the recruitment, retention, and readiness of our Armed Forces."…
US prison labor is cruel and pointless legalized slavery. I know first-hand
It costs New York around $70,000 a year in taxpayer money to imprison someone. It costs the BPI about $10,000 a year to educate an incarcerated student. New York's recidivism rate is 40%, while graduates of the BPI and similar programs recidivate at only 4%, a tenfold decrease. Yet, despite its clear positive record, only 300 of New York's 30,000 incarcerated people are enrolled at the BPI in any given semester. I was one of a lucky few.
Prisons are designed to warehouse, traumatize and exploit people, then send them back home in worse shape than when they entered the system. Despite having worked every day, the vast majority of people are released with no job experience, no references and no hope. Some would take this to mean that the system is failing. And it is with regard to public safety, rehabilitation and justice, but it's horrifyingly successful at two things: guaranteeing jobs for some and perpetuating slavery for others…
Ted Cruz claims Democrats could parachute Michelle Obama in as presidential nominee | The Hill
Obama becoming the Democratic nominee for the 2024 election is incredibly unlikely to happen, despite Cruz's comments. She has repeatedly said on the record that she does not want to run for president…
From cage-free chicks to puppy mills and Avian flu: Republicans are trying to roll back animal protections
The Republican-led Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression, or Eats, Act aims to end the authority of states and localities to set animal welfare and food safety standards. If passed, it could also jeopardize more than 1,000 state and local health and safety laws that set food-quality requirements and stop the spread of invasive species and zoonotic diseases like avian flu. Experts say that legislation this extreme would ordinarily be unlikely to pass, but its supporters are pushing the Eats Act as part of this year's critical package of agriculture policies known as the farm bill, so there's a greater possibility of it becoming law...
As UAW workers strike, a look at what has happened to autoworker pay - The Washington Post
We knew autoworkers used to do pretty well. But we didn't understand just how high their pay had been — and how far they'd fallen — until we ran the numbers...
McCarthy says hard-right Republicans ‘want to burn whole place down’
"I don't understand why anybody votes against bringing the idea and having the debate," McCarthy told reporters. "This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down. That doesn't work."…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Click Older Posts above to see more.