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welcome to reality trivia
reality is the state of things as they actually exist
april 30, 2024
Real News Today
(for previous day's articles see "what's inside" below)
comment/tweet of the day
lex: what part of bibi allowed oct 7 to happen, is determined to enact genocide against the people of gaza, and wants trump to win in 2024 does joe biden not understand???
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thom hartmann
Why Democratic Voters Won’t Accept Republican Defectors
Why are Great Britain Conservative Members of Parliament welcomed into the Labour Party, but here in the US it’s almost impossible for a Republican to successfully become a Democrat?
Revealed: Tyson Foods dumps millions of pounds of toxic pollutants into US rivers and lakes
Nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, oil and cyanide among the 371m lb of pollutants released by just 41 plants in five years
Nina Lakhani in Dakota City and Lexington, Nebraska.
the guardian
Tue 30 Apr 2024 06.00 EDT
Tyson Foods dumped millions of pounds of toxic pollutants directly into American rivers and lakes over the last five years, threatening critical ecosystems, endangering wildlife and human health, a new investigation reveals.
Nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, oil and cyanide were among the 371m lb of pollutants released into waterways by just 41 Tyson slaughterhouses and mega processing plants between 2018 and 2022.
According to research by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the contaminants were dispersed in 87bn gallons of wastewater – which also contains blood, bacteria and animal feces – and released directly into streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands relied on for drinking water, fishing and recreation. The UCS analysis, shared exclusively with the Guardian, is based on the most recent publicly available water pollution data Tyson is required to report under current regulations.
The wastewater was enough to fill about 132,000 Olympic-size pools, according to a Guardian analysis.
---
The water pollution from Tyson, a Fortune 100 company and the world’s second largest meat producer, was spread across 17 states but about half the contaminants were dumped into streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands in Nebraska, Illinois and Missouri.
The midwest is already saturated with nitrogen and phosphorus from industrial agriculture – factory farms and synthetics fertilizers – contributing to algal blooms that clog critical water infrastructure, exacerbate respiratory conditions like asthma, and deplete oxygen levels in the sea causing marine life to suffocate and die.
Yet the UCS research is only the tip of iceberg, including water pollution from only one in three of the corporation’s slaughterhouses and processing plants, and only 2% of the total nationwide.
The current federal regulations set no limit for phosphorus, and the vast majority of meat processing plants in the US are exempt from existing water regulations – with no way of tracking how many toxins are being dumped into waterways.
“There are over 5,000 meat and poultry processing plants in the United States, but only a fraction are required to report pollution and abide by limits. As one of the largest processors in the game, with a near-monopoly in some states, Tyson is in a unique position to treat even hefty fines and penalties for polluting as simply the cost of doing business. This has to change,” said the UCS co-author Omanjana Goswami.
The findings come as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must decide between robust new regulations that experts say would better protect waterways, critical habitat and downstream communities from polluting plants – or opt for weaker standards preferred by the powerful meat-processing industry.
A 2017 lawsuit by environmental groups has forced the EPA to update its two-decade-old pollution standards for slaughterhouses and animal rendering facilities, and the new rule is expected by September 2025. The agency has said that it is leaning towards the weakest option on the table, which critics say will enable huge amounts of nitrates, phosphorus and other contaminants to keep pouring into waterways.
“The current rule is out of date, inadequate and catastrophic for American waterways, and highlights the way American lawmaking is subject to industry capture,” said Dani Replogle, an attorney at Food and Water Watch. “The nutrient problem in the US is at catastrophic levels … it would be such a shame if the EPA caves in to industry influence.”
The meat-processing industry spent $4.3m on lobbying in Washington in 2023, of which Tyson accounted for almost half ($2.1m), according to political finance watchdog Open Secrets. The industry has made $6.6m in campaign donations since 2020, mostly to Republicans, with Tyson the biggest corporate spender.
“We can be sure Tyson and other big ag players will object to efforts to update pollution regulations, but the EPA should listen to communities whose wells, lakes, rivers and streams have been contaminated and put people over corporate profits,” said Goswami.
“Meat and poultry companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars to comply with EPA’s effluent limitations guidelines,” said Sarah Little from the North American Meat Institute, a trade association representing large processors like Tyson. “EPA’s new proposed guidelines will cost over $1bn and will eliminate 100,000 jobs in rural communities.”
Tyson did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The American Association of Meat Processors said the EPA’s one-size-fits-all approach could put its small, family-owned members out of business.
Nebraska is a sparsely populated rural state dominated by agriculture – an increasingly consolidated corporate industry which wields substantial control over the economy and politics, as well as land and water use.
Millions of acres in Nebraska are dedicated to factory farming, with massive methane-emitting concentrated animal feeding operations (Cafos) scattered among fields of monocropped soybean, corn and wheat – grown predominantly for animal feed and ethanol. Only a tiny fraction of arable land is dedicated to sustainable agriculture or used to grow vegetables or fruits.
Tyson’s five largest plants in Nebraska dumped more than 111m lb of pollutants into waterways between 2018 and 2022, accounting for a third of the nationwide total. This included 4m lb of nitrates – a chemical that can contaminate drinking water, cause blood disorders and neurological defects in infants, as well as cancers and thyroid disease in adults.
Tyson’s largest plant is located in Dakota City on the Missouri river – America’s longest waterway which stretches 2,300 miles across eight states before joining the Mississippi. It’s a sprawling beef facility, which generates a nauseating stench that wafts over neighboring South Sioux city, known locally as sewer city, where many plant workers live. (Another beef processing plant is located next to Tyson.)
Earlier this month, the Guardian saw multiple trucks waiting to offload cattle for slaughter – after which the carcasses are rendered, processed and packaged in different parts of the facility. The plant produces vast quantities of wastewater which is stored (and treated) in lagoons on the riverbank, before being released into the Missouri river which provides drinking water for millions of people.
The Dakota City plant is a major local employer and Tyson’s single largest polluter, dumping 60m lb of contaminants into waterways between 2018 and 2022, according to UCS analysis.[...]
read more
Nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, oil and cyanide were among the 371m lb of pollutants released into waterways by just 41 Tyson slaughterhouses and mega processing plants between 2018 and 2022.
According to research by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the contaminants were dispersed in 87bn gallons of wastewater – which also contains blood, bacteria and animal feces – and released directly into streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands relied on for drinking water, fishing and recreation. The UCS analysis, shared exclusively with the Guardian, is based on the most recent publicly available water pollution data Tyson is required to report under current regulations.
The wastewater was enough to fill about 132,000 Olympic-size pools, according to a Guardian analysis.
---
The water pollution from Tyson, a Fortune 100 company and the world’s second largest meat producer, was spread across 17 states but about half the contaminants were dumped into streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands in Nebraska, Illinois and Missouri.
The midwest is already saturated with nitrogen and phosphorus from industrial agriculture – factory farms and synthetics fertilizers – contributing to algal blooms that clog critical water infrastructure, exacerbate respiratory conditions like asthma, and deplete oxygen levels in the sea causing marine life to suffocate and die.
Yet the UCS research is only the tip of iceberg, including water pollution from only one in three of the corporation’s slaughterhouses and processing plants, and only 2% of the total nationwide.
The current federal regulations set no limit for phosphorus, and the vast majority of meat processing plants in the US are exempt from existing water regulations – with no way of tracking how many toxins are being dumped into waterways.
“There are over 5,000 meat and poultry processing plants in the United States, but only a fraction are required to report pollution and abide by limits. As one of the largest processors in the game, with a near-monopoly in some states, Tyson is in a unique position to treat even hefty fines and penalties for polluting as simply the cost of doing business. This has to change,” said the UCS co-author Omanjana Goswami.
The findings come as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must decide between robust new regulations that experts say would better protect waterways, critical habitat and downstream communities from polluting plants – or opt for weaker standards preferred by the powerful meat-processing industry.
A 2017 lawsuit by environmental groups has forced the EPA to update its two-decade-old pollution standards for slaughterhouses and animal rendering facilities, and the new rule is expected by September 2025. The agency has said that it is leaning towards the weakest option on the table, which critics say will enable huge amounts of nitrates, phosphorus and other contaminants to keep pouring into waterways.
“The current rule is out of date, inadequate and catastrophic for American waterways, and highlights the way American lawmaking is subject to industry capture,” said Dani Replogle, an attorney at Food and Water Watch. “The nutrient problem in the US is at catastrophic levels … it would be such a shame if the EPA caves in to industry influence.”
The meat-processing industry spent $4.3m on lobbying in Washington in 2023, of which Tyson accounted for almost half ($2.1m), according to political finance watchdog Open Secrets. The industry has made $6.6m in campaign donations since 2020, mostly to Republicans, with Tyson the biggest corporate spender.
“We can be sure Tyson and other big ag players will object to efforts to update pollution regulations, but the EPA should listen to communities whose wells, lakes, rivers and streams have been contaminated and put people over corporate profits,” said Goswami.
“Meat and poultry companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars to comply with EPA’s effluent limitations guidelines,” said Sarah Little from the North American Meat Institute, a trade association representing large processors like Tyson. “EPA’s new proposed guidelines will cost over $1bn and will eliminate 100,000 jobs in rural communities.”
Tyson did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The American Association of Meat Processors said the EPA’s one-size-fits-all approach could put its small, family-owned members out of business.
Nebraska is a sparsely populated rural state dominated by agriculture – an increasingly consolidated corporate industry which wields substantial control over the economy and politics, as well as land and water use.
Millions of acres in Nebraska are dedicated to factory farming, with massive methane-emitting concentrated animal feeding operations (Cafos) scattered among fields of monocropped soybean, corn and wheat – grown predominantly for animal feed and ethanol. Only a tiny fraction of arable land is dedicated to sustainable agriculture or used to grow vegetables or fruits.
Tyson’s five largest plants in Nebraska dumped more than 111m lb of pollutants into waterways between 2018 and 2022, accounting for a third of the nationwide total. This included 4m lb of nitrates – a chemical that can contaminate drinking water, cause blood disorders and neurological defects in infants, as well as cancers and thyroid disease in adults.
Tyson’s largest plant is located in Dakota City on the Missouri river – America’s longest waterway which stretches 2,300 miles across eight states before joining the Mississippi. It’s a sprawling beef facility, which generates a nauseating stench that wafts over neighboring South Sioux city, known locally as sewer city, where many plant workers live. (Another beef processing plant is located next to Tyson.)
Earlier this month, the Guardian saw multiple trucks waiting to offload cattle for slaughter – after which the carcasses are rendered, processed and packaged in different parts of the facility. The plant produces vast quantities of wastewater which is stored (and treated) in lagoons on the riverbank, before being released into the Missouri river which provides drinking water for millions of people.
The Dakota City plant is a major local employer and Tyson’s single largest polluter, dumping 60m lb of contaminants into waterways between 2018 and 2022, according to UCS analysis.[...]
read more
american values redefined: greed, racism, hypocrisy
racism: The unfair treatment of people who belong to a different race. Violent behavior towards them. Having the belief that some races of people are better than others. General beliefs about other people based only on their race. Showing this through violent or unfair treatment of people of other races.
greed: intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food
hypocrisy: the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.
And the stink just keeps on coming ...
nancegreggs - du
4/30/2024
James Comer is now saying on right-wing media that the reason they haven't initiated impeachment proceedings againt Biden yet is because so much new evidence against him is coming in so fast, they need time to sort through it all.
My guess is that the GOP is trying to distract attention from all the "tRump's putrid farts and BO are stinking up the courtroom" stories by creating an even bigger stench of their own.
Apparently the GOP doesn't realize that flop-sweat-and-desperation has its own unmistakable odour - and you can smell it from the nearest asteroid belt.
My guess is that the GOP is trying to distract attention from all the "tRump's putrid farts and BO are stinking up the courtroom" stories by creating an even bigger stench of their own.
Apparently the GOP doesn't realize that flop-sweat-and-desperation has its own unmistakable odour - and you can smell it from the nearest asteroid belt.
nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people
PFAS increase likelihood of death by cardiovascular disease, study shows
In a first, researchers were able to compare records of people who drank polluted water in Veneto, Italy, with neighbors who did not
Tom Perkins - the guardian
Mon 29 Apr 2024 06.00 EDT
For the first time, researchers have formally shown that exposure to toxic PFAS increases the likelihood of death by cardiovascular disease, adding a new level of concern to the controversial chemicals’ wide use.
The findings are especially significant because proving an association with death by chemical exposure is difficult, but researchers were able to establish it by reviewing death records from northern Italy’s Veneto region, where many residents for decades drank water highly contaminated with PFAS, also called “forever chemicals”.
Records further showed an increased likelihood of death from several cancers, but stopped short of establishing a formal association because of other factors.
“This is the first time that anyone has found strong evidence of an association of PFAS exposure and cardiovascular mortality,” said Annibale Biggeri, the peer-reviewed study’s lead author, and a researcher with the University of Padua.
PFAS are a class of 15,000 chemicals used across dozens of industries to make products resistant to water, stains and heat. Though the compounds are highly effective, previous research has linked them to cancer, kidney disease, birth defects, decreased immunity, liver problems and a range of other serious diseases.
Veneto’s drinking water was widely contaminated by a PFAS-production plant between 1985 and 2018. Researchers first found an excess of about 4,000 deaths during this period, or nearly three every month.
The findings are especially significant because proving an association with death by chemical exposure is difficult, but researchers were able to establish it by reviewing death records from northern Italy’s Veneto region, where many residents for decades drank water highly contaminated with PFAS, also called “forever chemicals”.
Records further showed an increased likelihood of death from several cancers, but stopped short of establishing a formal association because of other factors.
“This is the first time that anyone has found strong evidence of an association of PFAS exposure and cardiovascular mortality,” said Annibale Biggeri, the peer-reviewed study’s lead author, and a researcher with the University of Padua.
PFAS are a class of 15,000 chemicals used across dozens of industries to make products resistant to water, stains and heat. Though the compounds are highly effective, previous research has linked them to cancer, kidney disease, birth defects, decreased immunity, liver problems and a range of other serious diseases.
Veneto’s drinking water was widely contaminated by a PFAS-production plant between 1985 and 2018. Researchers first found an excess of about 4,000 deaths during this period, or nearly three every month.
Czechs expand rights for same-sex couples
Agence France-Presse
April 29, 2024 11:22AM ET
The new legislation grants shared property and inheritance rights to same-sex couples in the EU member of 10.9 million people.
It also allows the partner of a biological parent to adopt their children.
But the bill on "partnership" between same-sex couples still does not introduce fully-fledged adoptions or marriage.
Previously, Czech same-sex couples were allowed to enter into "registered partnerships" with more limited freedoms.
Same-sex couples are allowed to adopt children in 37 countries of the world, mainly in Europe, North and Latin America, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.
It also allows the partner of a biological parent to adopt their children.
But the bill on "partnership" between same-sex couples still does not introduce fully-fledged adoptions or marriage.
Previously, Czech same-sex couples were allowed to enter into "registered partnerships" with more limited freedoms.
Same-sex couples are allowed to adopt children in 37 countries of the world, mainly in Europe, North and Latin America, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.
Bird Flu, Cows and Disease Threats
TERRY H. SCHWADRON - dc report
April 30, 2024
Bird flu, which is blamed for prompting rising chicken prices at the supermarket over shortages, now has begun to spread among cows.
If COVID left you at all suspicious about whether governments are watching for transplantation of communicable disease among species, the cow reports apparently reflect danger ahead for others, including possibly for humans. Indeed, dairy workers in Texas have reportedly caught it.
While I don’t see cows up close these days, the non-ending debates about lab leaks, natural trans-species contact from the wild and the resistance in those early days of COVID to want to reckon with communicable disease that had leapt to human air travelers, started ringing in my head.
The Washington Post reported last week that the federal agencies responsible for tracking and controlling a highly virulent bird flu are lagging in testing and sharing of results, creating delays that could allow the disease to spread. As it does, the issue is that the flu bug could develop the machinery needed to affect others, including humans.
Already, the experts who talked to The Post said not enough livestock herds are being tested and results are not being shared among agencies with competing missions to know how the H5N1 virus moves — and the safety of milk.
Warning signs come from Katelyn Jetelina, who writes an infectious-disease newsletter, who basically said that scientific uncertainty is running into bureaucratic delay. A White House spokesman said its Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy — an office resurrected by the Biden administration after its elimination in the Donald Trump years — is busy coordinating developments among various agencies, adding that so far, commercial milk is considered safe.
Prepping for Trouble
Just last week, though, the Agriculture Department announced that lactating dairy cows must be tested for bird flu before moving across state lines, rather than leaving testing voluntary and limited to animals with designated symptoms.
Three agencies split responsibility for monitoring and containing the outbreak. Agriculture is looking at the virus in cows, the FDA oversees food safety and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring risks to people.
The Post reported that it took the FDA two weeks to acknowledge that the agency was testing milk on grocery store shelves, and only last week confirmed that viral particles had been found “in some of the samples” without providing details — like whether those fragments were dead or alive.
Investigators are trying to determine if the virus is being spread through milking equipment or through the air and contact. They also are studying how long livestock will shed virus in their milk once they have recovered from an infection, as well as risks and protocols for human exposure.
Clearly, the scientists involved say, more routine testing on herds and even other animals would reduce the risk of spreading the virus to other cattle and poultry farms — and the possibility of dairy workers contracting the illness.
In the last month, nearly three dozen livestock herds in eight states have been infected, and the virus was tracked as it spread from dairy farms to poultry farms, affecting barn cats. Most cases were temporary. Epidemiologists fear that cows can pass the virus to birds, and possibly other animals, broadening the potential for spread. It is unclear how long the virus has been around and whether it is found outside those states.
One virologist who studied 239 genetic sequences of the virus said they had come from a single source. Others said there was not enough information available to know about the movement of cows, feed sources or human contact.
Health and Business
Naturally, the Agriculture Department also is working with farmers about new dairy markets at the same time as worrying about illness spread. Identifying farms willing to share samples has been a problem, and the government now is testing unaffected herds as a precaution. It seems to be concentrated among lactating cows, which is prompting a look at milking equipment.
This strain of avian flu has been circulating for more than 20 years and the spread to cows is seen as significant, avian flu has infected humans in Asia, but so far has not spread efficiently in people. As with other communicable disease, that changes with various mutations.
State health official tested 23 people so far. The single positive dairy worker in Texas recovered. Officially, the CDC says the risk to humans is low.
The risk to dairy farm business, however, is not so low, which could be one reason farmers are not eager to volunteer their herds for testing. Milk producers are waiting for detailed guidance to know how many tests may need to be performed on the nation’s eight million milk cows.
Of course, there are preparations for human testing should more tests prove positive. One wrinkle for human testing includes the big number undocumented farm workers who may not choose to have contact with a government increasingly eager to deport them.
Given the range of sensitivities still in place from COVID, it is only surprising that the potential dangers of bird flu hitting dairy farms and beyond is not a part of the daily barrage of political messaging we already are suffering.
If COVID left you at all suspicious about whether governments are watching for transplantation of communicable disease among species, the cow reports apparently reflect danger ahead for others, including possibly for humans. Indeed, dairy workers in Texas have reportedly caught it.
While I don’t see cows up close these days, the non-ending debates about lab leaks, natural trans-species contact from the wild and the resistance in those early days of COVID to want to reckon with communicable disease that had leapt to human air travelers, started ringing in my head.
The Washington Post reported last week that the federal agencies responsible for tracking and controlling a highly virulent bird flu are lagging in testing and sharing of results, creating delays that could allow the disease to spread. As it does, the issue is that the flu bug could develop the machinery needed to affect others, including humans.
Already, the experts who talked to The Post said not enough livestock herds are being tested and results are not being shared among agencies with competing missions to know how the H5N1 virus moves — and the safety of milk.
Warning signs come from Katelyn Jetelina, who writes an infectious-disease newsletter, who basically said that scientific uncertainty is running into bureaucratic delay. A White House spokesman said its Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy — an office resurrected by the Biden administration after its elimination in the Donald Trump years — is busy coordinating developments among various agencies, adding that so far, commercial milk is considered safe.
Prepping for Trouble
Just last week, though, the Agriculture Department announced that lactating dairy cows must be tested for bird flu before moving across state lines, rather than leaving testing voluntary and limited to animals with designated symptoms.
Three agencies split responsibility for monitoring and containing the outbreak. Agriculture is looking at the virus in cows, the FDA oversees food safety and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring risks to people.
The Post reported that it took the FDA two weeks to acknowledge that the agency was testing milk on grocery store shelves, and only last week confirmed that viral particles had been found “in some of the samples” without providing details — like whether those fragments were dead or alive.
Investigators are trying to determine if the virus is being spread through milking equipment or through the air and contact. They also are studying how long livestock will shed virus in their milk once they have recovered from an infection, as well as risks and protocols for human exposure.
Clearly, the scientists involved say, more routine testing on herds and even other animals would reduce the risk of spreading the virus to other cattle and poultry farms — and the possibility of dairy workers contracting the illness.
In the last month, nearly three dozen livestock herds in eight states have been infected, and the virus was tracked as it spread from dairy farms to poultry farms, affecting barn cats. Most cases were temporary. Epidemiologists fear that cows can pass the virus to birds, and possibly other animals, broadening the potential for spread. It is unclear how long the virus has been around and whether it is found outside those states.
One virologist who studied 239 genetic sequences of the virus said they had come from a single source. Others said there was not enough information available to know about the movement of cows, feed sources or human contact.
Health and Business
Naturally, the Agriculture Department also is working with farmers about new dairy markets at the same time as worrying about illness spread. Identifying farms willing to share samples has been a problem, and the government now is testing unaffected herds as a precaution. It seems to be concentrated among lactating cows, which is prompting a look at milking equipment.
This strain of avian flu has been circulating for more than 20 years and the spread to cows is seen as significant, avian flu has infected humans in Asia, but so far has not spread efficiently in people. As with other communicable disease, that changes with various mutations.
State health official tested 23 people so far. The single positive dairy worker in Texas recovered. Officially, the CDC says the risk to humans is low.
The risk to dairy farm business, however, is not so low, which could be one reason farmers are not eager to volunteer their herds for testing. Milk producers are waiting for detailed guidance to know how many tests may need to be performed on the nation’s eight million milk cows.
Of course, there are preparations for human testing should more tests prove positive. One wrinkle for human testing includes the big number undocumented farm workers who may not choose to have contact with a government increasingly eager to deport them.
Given the range of sensitivities still in place from COVID, it is only surprising that the potential dangers of bird flu hitting dairy farms and beyond is not a part of the daily barrage of political messaging we already are suffering.
Welcome to RepublicanDebt.org
This site tracks the current Republican Debt.
The Republican Debt is how much of the national debt of the United States
is attributable to
the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush,
George W. Bush, Donald J. Trump,
and
the Republican fiscal policy of Borrow-And-Spend.
As of Tuesday, April 30, 2024 at 5:10:43PM PT,
The Current Republican Debt is:
$16,688,136,381,292.90
which means that in a total of 24 years,
these four presidents have led to the creation of
94.69%
of the entire national debt
in only 9.6774% of the 248 years of the existence of the United States of America.
The trouble with Trump polls
The problem isn't the pollsters — it's incoherent public opinion, driven by nostalgia, stupidity and memory loss
By LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV - salon
Columnist
PUBLISHED APRIL 30, 2024 12:00PM (EDT)
Up and down and around and around and up and down we go, and where we’ll stop nobody knows! That’s not me talking; it’s not even a carnival barker. It’s the polling this year on the presidential race. Let’s leave aside for the moment that there are six months until Election Day, and as the pundits echo every time a new poll is released, a lot can happen.
For example:
An American military “adviser” to the Ukrainian army — we have an unknown number over there that nobody talks about — could be captured by the Russian army or kidnapped by Russian sympathizers within Ukraine and hauled off to Moscow and slammed into Lubyanka as a spy. I’ll give you three guesses how much of a cluster that would generate.
Russia could make a deep incursion through Ukrainian lines and threaten Kyiv, putting pressure on NATO nations, including the U.S., to get involved to save Ukraine from being overrun by Putin’s army.
In Israel, a deal brokered by Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken could achieve the return of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, an end to hostilities and a massive U.N. aid effort overseen jointly by the U.S. and Israel to feed, house and provide medical care to Gaza refugees, as well as to start negotiations for a Palestinian state.
Biden could shut down the border with Mexico and suspend all applications for amnesty, taking the border issue off the table as a scream-generator for Donald Trump at his rallies.
Trump could be found guilty at the Stormy Daniels payoff trial in New York and be sentenced to a suspended prison term pending appeal.
The Supreme Court, in a narrow 5-4 vote in June, could create a firestorm by declaring Trump has immunity from prosecution for official acts while in office, scrambling his indictments in Washington, D.C., and Florida and delaying both trials until new charges could be sorted out in both cases — but certainly beyond election day in November.
Either Biden or Trump could suffer a campaign-ending health event, throwing the whole election into a spiral of panic and doubt.
If one or more of these scenarios comes to pass, we’ll gaze back on the polling of late April as if it were a rain shower that threatened and then blew over. Take the Times/Siena polls of March and April. You remember the panic of the March 2 poll showing Trump ahead of Biden by 48 to 43 percent among registered voters, don’t you? Then, on April 13, Biden recovered with Times/Siena result that was basically dead even: Trump 46, Biden 45. What happened to improve Biden’s numbers? Who knows? Last Sunday, a CNN poll had Trump leading by 49 to 43 percent, and this time CNN had a theory, finding “most Americans saying that, looking back, Trump’s term as president was a success, while a broad majority says Biden’s has so far been a failure.”
Throw old gravel-guts Robert F. Kennedy Jr. into the mix, and the polling stays just as screwed up. Last week, a Marist College poll showed Biden leading Trump, 51 to 48 in a head-to-head election. But when you add Kennedy, Green Party Putin stand-in Jill Stein, and egomaniacal independent Cornel West into the mix, Biden’s lead over Trump jumps to five points. That was last Monday.
Seven days later, it’s oops: In a Harvard CAPS-Harris three-way-race poll released on Monday, Trump leads Biden by 44 to 38 percent, with 12 percent voting to send their kids to school sick by supporting Kennedy and 5 percent with no clue what they want. The Harvard poll also asked why people want Trump over Biden and found that it's “based on the simplest of reasons — America thinks Donald Trump did a better job as president and so are willing to vote him back into office.” Can’t forget to poll for the “duh” vote, because with the internet, everybody is entitled to their own opinion and their own facts, right?
We could throw some typical punditology in there, that Democrats and the Biden campaign “have to do a better job” reminding voters of Trump’s disastrous handling of COVID — over a million dead, remember, folks? — and his equally disastrous economy. But why bother? Some poll is going to find that RFK Jr. is either surging or falling, Biden is going to bounce up three points, Trump will be caught drooling on his tie in court and he’ll go down a few. Or maybe not. There could be a "nappers' rights" vote out there we haven’t heard from yet.
The trouble with polling in the current political environment is that the pollsters don’t want to admit that the American public has no bottom. There’s no opinion too far out that a significant percentage can’t be found to proudly espouse it. I saw a video of interviews done at a Trump rally recently, and it went downhill from the Comet Pizza joint basement pedophile ring right into the JFK Jr. rapture zone.
Polling outfits aren’t admitting to themselves or to us that their results are permanently skewed by Fox News and what we might call the Bannon Industrial Complex online. What we need — and we need it right now, today — is a poll that explores the edges of the “thinking” of the American electorate. Pew or Marist or one of those outfits should sit down and come up with a list of questions that might reveal the real answer behind the Trump-Biden results they’re getting. How many believe the moon landing was faked? Raise your hands! How about a poll question on the whole pedophiles-are-running-the-world thing, or a question probing the reaches of the American opinion on who controls “international banking.”
I’ll give you two guesses what the numbers would be on that one.
For example:
An American military “adviser” to the Ukrainian army — we have an unknown number over there that nobody talks about — could be captured by the Russian army or kidnapped by Russian sympathizers within Ukraine and hauled off to Moscow and slammed into Lubyanka as a spy. I’ll give you three guesses how much of a cluster that would generate.
Russia could make a deep incursion through Ukrainian lines and threaten Kyiv, putting pressure on NATO nations, including the U.S., to get involved to save Ukraine from being overrun by Putin’s army.
In Israel, a deal brokered by Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken could achieve the return of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, an end to hostilities and a massive U.N. aid effort overseen jointly by the U.S. and Israel to feed, house and provide medical care to Gaza refugees, as well as to start negotiations for a Palestinian state.
Biden could shut down the border with Mexico and suspend all applications for amnesty, taking the border issue off the table as a scream-generator for Donald Trump at his rallies.
Trump could be found guilty at the Stormy Daniels payoff trial in New York and be sentenced to a suspended prison term pending appeal.
The Supreme Court, in a narrow 5-4 vote in June, could create a firestorm by declaring Trump has immunity from prosecution for official acts while in office, scrambling his indictments in Washington, D.C., and Florida and delaying both trials until new charges could be sorted out in both cases — but certainly beyond election day in November.
Either Biden or Trump could suffer a campaign-ending health event, throwing the whole election into a spiral of panic and doubt.
If one or more of these scenarios comes to pass, we’ll gaze back on the polling of late April as if it were a rain shower that threatened and then blew over. Take the Times/Siena polls of March and April. You remember the panic of the March 2 poll showing Trump ahead of Biden by 48 to 43 percent among registered voters, don’t you? Then, on April 13, Biden recovered with Times/Siena result that was basically dead even: Trump 46, Biden 45. What happened to improve Biden’s numbers? Who knows? Last Sunday, a CNN poll had Trump leading by 49 to 43 percent, and this time CNN had a theory, finding “most Americans saying that, looking back, Trump’s term as president was a success, while a broad majority says Biden’s has so far been a failure.”
Throw old gravel-guts Robert F. Kennedy Jr. into the mix, and the polling stays just as screwed up. Last week, a Marist College poll showed Biden leading Trump, 51 to 48 in a head-to-head election. But when you add Kennedy, Green Party Putin stand-in Jill Stein, and egomaniacal independent Cornel West into the mix, Biden’s lead over Trump jumps to five points. That was last Monday.
Seven days later, it’s oops: In a Harvard CAPS-Harris three-way-race poll released on Monday, Trump leads Biden by 44 to 38 percent, with 12 percent voting to send their kids to school sick by supporting Kennedy and 5 percent with no clue what they want. The Harvard poll also asked why people want Trump over Biden and found that it's “based on the simplest of reasons — America thinks Donald Trump did a better job as president and so are willing to vote him back into office.” Can’t forget to poll for the “duh” vote, because with the internet, everybody is entitled to their own opinion and their own facts, right?
We could throw some typical punditology in there, that Democrats and the Biden campaign “have to do a better job” reminding voters of Trump’s disastrous handling of COVID — over a million dead, remember, folks? — and his equally disastrous economy. But why bother? Some poll is going to find that RFK Jr. is either surging or falling, Biden is going to bounce up three points, Trump will be caught drooling on his tie in court and he’ll go down a few. Or maybe not. There could be a "nappers' rights" vote out there we haven’t heard from yet.
The trouble with polling in the current political environment is that the pollsters don’t want to admit that the American public has no bottom. There’s no opinion too far out that a significant percentage can’t be found to proudly espouse it. I saw a video of interviews done at a Trump rally recently, and it went downhill from the Comet Pizza joint basement pedophile ring right into the JFK Jr. rapture zone.
Polling outfits aren’t admitting to themselves or to us that their results are permanently skewed by Fox News and what we might call the Bannon Industrial Complex online. What we need — and we need it right now, today — is a poll that explores the edges of the “thinking” of the American electorate. Pew or Marist or one of those outfits should sit down and come up with a list of questions that might reveal the real answer behind the Trump-Biden results they’re getting. How many believe the moon landing was faked? Raise your hands! How about a poll question on the whole pedophiles-are-running-the-world thing, or a question probing the reaches of the American opinion on who controls “international banking.”
I’ll give you two guesses what the numbers would be on that one.
in the land of stupid!!!
THE DAILY TRASH REPORT FEATURING TODAY'S DESPICABLES
THOMAS JEFFERSON CALLED THEM "WASTE PEOPLE" AND BENJAMIN FRANKLIN CALLED THEM "RUBBISH" WE CALL THEM "MAGA PEOPLE"
Paid Shill Newt Gingrich: 'Obama Lives In A Bubble'
Hey Newt, is that the bubble where a six-year mistress gets to be Ambassador to the VATICAN?
OAN Retracts Lie That Michael Cohen Had Affair With Stormy Daniels
They said it was part of a scheme to extort money from Trump.
Trump scrambles for cash as huge legal fees leave little for battleground campaign: report
Sky Palma - raw story
April 30, 2024 10:32AM ET
If fundraising or other means of getting cash falters, Donald Trump is close to running out of funds to pay his legal bills as his New York hush money criminal trial continues, according to a new report.
Trump is racking up significant legal bills as the trial, where he's accused of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to adult movie star Stormy Daniels, enters into its second week. He's also facing three other indictments that could result in trials beginning this year.
Newsweek reported that Trump has been paying his lawyers using the Save America PAC, which has doled out more than $62 million for legal fees since January 2023. At the end of March, the PAC had around $4 million in cash — after spending $5.4 million on legal bills in the previous month.
Speaking to Newsweek, University of Nottingham political science professor Todd Landman said that while "it is not clear that he will run out of money," Trump will be paying "substantial legal fees" in the coming weeks.
"Trump is managing four legal cases at present, each of which incurs legal fees for preparation of his defense, filing motions, and in the case of the Manhattan trial, representing him at trial four days a week," he said.
"The Manhattan trial is expected to run for five to six weeks in total, which continues this week, where there will be more witnesses for the prosecution and a separate hearing on whether he has violated his gag order," Landman continued. The judge ruled Tuesday that violations had occurred, but has another meeting scheduled to look into extra accusations.
"He has retained multiple lawyers to defend him, which means that he will have to pay substantial legal fees. It is not clear that he will run out of money, as he has been successful in securing a number of large donations from supporters," Landman said.
"However, there are legal constraints on using some of his political organizations and thus [he] needs to keep campaign finance separate from personal legal defense spending. On top of his legal fees, he has outstanding civil judgments against him pending appeal."
Funneling so much cash to legal fees could also drastically effect Trump's campaign, said another University of Nottingham professor, Christopher Phelps.
"The key question is whether he can do so while also running an effective ground operation in the battleground states, which requires a lot of advertising and personnel," he said.
Trump is racking up significant legal bills as the trial, where he's accused of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to adult movie star Stormy Daniels, enters into its second week. He's also facing three other indictments that could result in trials beginning this year.
Newsweek reported that Trump has been paying his lawyers using the Save America PAC, which has doled out more than $62 million for legal fees since January 2023. At the end of March, the PAC had around $4 million in cash — after spending $5.4 million on legal bills in the previous month.
Speaking to Newsweek, University of Nottingham political science professor Todd Landman said that while "it is not clear that he will run out of money," Trump will be paying "substantial legal fees" in the coming weeks.
"Trump is managing four legal cases at present, each of which incurs legal fees for preparation of his defense, filing motions, and in the case of the Manhattan trial, representing him at trial four days a week," he said.
"The Manhattan trial is expected to run for five to six weeks in total, which continues this week, where there will be more witnesses for the prosecution and a separate hearing on whether he has violated his gag order," Landman continued. The judge ruled Tuesday that violations had occurred, but has another meeting scheduled to look into extra accusations.
"He has retained multiple lawyers to defend him, which means that he will have to pay substantial legal fees. It is not clear that he will run out of money, as he has been successful in securing a number of large donations from supporters," Landman said.
"However, there are legal constraints on using some of his political organizations and thus [he] needs to keep campaign finance separate from personal legal defense spending. On top of his legal fees, he has outstanding civil judgments against him pending appeal."
Funneling so much cash to legal fees could also drastically effect Trump's campaign, said another University of Nottingham professor, Christopher Phelps.
"The key question is whether he can do so while also running an effective ground operation in the battleground states, which requires a lot of advertising and personnel," he said.
PUTIN'S BITCHES!!!
Republican Senators Are Delusional, Part Infinity
Delusional Senate Republicans still believe they can control Trump.
Joan McCarter — CROOKS & LIARS
April 27, 2024
Most GOP senators have fallen in line with Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign to return to the White House, starting from the top with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. They’re with him despite everything, including Jan. 6 when he unleashed a mob on the Capitol that threatened their physical safety, if not their lives.
But they are hanging on to the pretense that they’ll be able to constrain him by continuing to refuse to nuke the filibuster for him, something Trump demanded when he was in the White House.
Axios reports that they “are locking arms to defend the filibuster,” pointing out that both senators vying to replace McConnell as leader when he steps down next year—John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota—continue to defend the filibuster as a Senate institution needing to be maintained.
The would-be No. 2 leader, Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, told Axios “the filibuster is the character of the United States Senate. I continue to support the filibuster.”
Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Tom Cotton of Arkansas also robustly defended the filibuster, attacking Democrats who were considering eliminating it in 2022 to restore voting rights. And the current chair of the Senate GOP campaign arm, Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, says he’s “evolved” his position on protecting the filibuster “because we see what the Democrats would do.”
Even candidates who Trump has endorsed for 2024, like Kari Lake in Arizona, David McCormick in Pennsylvania, and Tim Sheehy in Montana, say the filibuster has to be preserved. McCormick told Axios the “filibuster protects America from being subject to the whims of the majority,” and a spokesperson for Sheehy said he "believes in preserving the filibuster."
McConnell and GOP leadership could be trying to keep the team together on Trump, as a few Republicans are on record saying they will not vote for him. Republicans need a united front to win back the majority, and they know that they must find a way to make Trump seem less of a threat. Maintaining that they’ll continue to fight him to keep the filibuster could be GOP leadership’s way of trying to convince waverers—and maybe even themselves—that they’d have any power over Trump.
If they truly think they could constrain Trump, they have very short memories, and they are not paying attention to what Trump and his team are planning for a potential second term. Even in 2019, Trump was threatening to bypass Congress and assert his unitary executive authority to get his border wall. He also issued an executive order in the last days of his term to gut the civil service and replace workers with Trump loyalists.
Since then, the Heritage Foundation and a team of other extremists have been creating the blueprint for Trump to dramatically expand presidential powers and install a fascist theocracy. Under Project 2025, Trump wouldn’t have to bother trying to get legislation through Congress; he could just destroy democracy by executive actions.
But they are hanging on to the pretense that they’ll be able to constrain him by continuing to refuse to nuke the filibuster for him, something Trump demanded when he was in the White House.
Axios reports that they “are locking arms to defend the filibuster,” pointing out that both senators vying to replace McConnell as leader when he steps down next year—John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota—continue to defend the filibuster as a Senate institution needing to be maintained.
The would-be No. 2 leader, Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, told Axios “the filibuster is the character of the United States Senate. I continue to support the filibuster.”
Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Tom Cotton of Arkansas also robustly defended the filibuster, attacking Democrats who were considering eliminating it in 2022 to restore voting rights. And the current chair of the Senate GOP campaign arm, Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, says he’s “evolved” his position on protecting the filibuster “because we see what the Democrats would do.”
Even candidates who Trump has endorsed for 2024, like Kari Lake in Arizona, David McCormick in Pennsylvania, and Tim Sheehy in Montana, say the filibuster has to be preserved. McCormick told Axios the “filibuster protects America from being subject to the whims of the majority,” and a spokesperson for Sheehy said he "believes in preserving the filibuster."
McConnell and GOP leadership could be trying to keep the team together on Trump, as a few Republicans are on record saying they will not vote for him. Republicans need a united front to win back the majority, and they know that they must find a way to make Trump seem less of a threat. Maintaining that they’ll continue to fight him to keep the filibuster could be GOP leadership’s way of trying to convince waverers—and maybe even themselves—that they’d have any power over Trump.
If they truly think they could constrain Trump, they have very short memories, and they are not paying attention to what Trump and his team are planning for a potential second term. Even in 2019, Trump was threatening to bypass Congress and assert his unitary executive authority to get his border wall. He also issued an executive order in the last days of his term to gut the civil service and replace workers with Trump loyalists.
Since then, the Heritage Foundation and a team of other extremists have been creating the blueprint for Trump to dramatically expand presidential powers and install a fascist theocracy. Under Project 2025, Trump wouldn’t have to bother trying to get legislation through Congress; he could just destroy democracy by executive actions.
THE WAR AGAINST stupidity!!!
What to say to a Republican who complains about the federal debt
Robert Reich - alternet
April 30, 2024
Republicans are attacking Biden for expanding the federal debt, and the House “Freedom Caucus” is livid that speaker Mike Johnson has agreed to more funds for Ukraine, claiming it will expand the debt even further.
Can we just have some sanity here?
The federal debt is a problem. This year, the United States will spend about $870 billion, or 3.1 percent of gross domestic product on interest payments on the debt. That’s more than the entire defense budget.
But take a closer look.
The major reason for the huge federal debt is Trump’s and George W. Bush’s tax cuts, which together added $10 trillion to the debt since their enactment. They’re responsible for 57 percent of the increase in the ratio of the national debt to the economy since 2001.
Excluding the one-time costs of responding to Covid-19 and the Great Recession, the Bush and Trump tax cuts account for more than 90% of the increase in the debt ratio.
Most of the benefits of those tax cuts, not incidentally, have gone to the rich. 65 percent of the benefits of the Trump tax cuts have gone to the richest fifth of Americans, 22 percent to the top 1 percent.
And as the federal debt has risen, most of the interest payments on it have gone to the rich, too. Wealthy investors park their savings in treasury bonds directly or indirectly in treasury bonds held by mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds, banks, insurance companies, personal trusts, and estates.
Decades ago, wealthy Americans financed the federal government mainly by paying taxes. In the 1950s, the top marginal tax rate on the wealthy was above 90 percent. Even including all tax credits and deductions, it was higher than 50 percent.
Since the Reagan, Bush, and Trump tax cuts, though, wealthy Americans have financed the federal government mainly by lending it money and collecting interest payments on those loans -- profiting when the rest of us pay them back.
Which means a growing portion of everyone else’s taxes are now paying the rich interest on those loans instead of paying for government services everyone needs.
So the next time you hear Republicans complain about the federal debt and our swelling interest payments on it, remember that: (1) the debt has grown mainly because of Republican tax cuts, (2) those cuts have mostly benefited the rich, (3) the rich are now the major recipients of interest payments on that debt, (4) and those interest payments are crowding out spending on childcare, elder care, affordable housing, better schools, paid family leave, and everything Americans need.
Can we just have some sanity here?
The federal debt is a problem. This year, the United States will spend about $870 billion, or 3.1 percent of gross domestic product on interest payments on the debt. That’s more than the entire defense budget.
But take a closer look.
The major reason for the huge federal debt is Trump’s and George W. Bush’s tax cuts, which together added $10 trillion to the debt since their enactment. They’re responsible for 57 percent of the increase in the ratio of the national debt to the economy since 2001.
Excluding the one-time costs of responding to Covid-19 and the Great Recession, the Bush and Trump tax cuts account for more than 90% of the increase in the debt ratio.
Most of the benefits of those tax cuts, not incidentally, have gone to the rich. 65 percent of the benefits of the Trump tax cuts have gone to the richest fifth of Americans, 22 percent to the top 1 percent.
And as the federal debt has risen, most of the interest payments on it have gone to the rich, too. Wealthy investors park their savings in treasury bonds directly or indirectly in treasury bonds held by mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds, banks, insurance companies, personal trusts, and estates.
Decades ago, wealthy Americans financed the federal government mainly by paying taxes. In the 1950s, the top marginal tax rate on the wealthy was above 90 percent. Even including all tax credits and deductions, it was higher than 50 percent.
Since the Reagan, Bush, and Trump tax cuts, though, wealthy Americans have financed the federal government mainly by lending it money and collecting interest payments on those loans -- profiting when the rest of us pay them back.
Which means a growing portion of everyone else’s taxes are now paying the rich interest on those loans instead of paying for government services everyone needs.
So the next time you hear Republicans complain about the federal debt and our swelling interest payments on it, remember that: (1) the debt has grown mainly because of Republican tax cuts, (2) those cuts have mostly benefited the rich, (3) the rich are now the major recipients of interest payments on that debt, (4) and those interest payments are crowding out spending on childcare, elder care, affordable housing, better schools, paid family leave, and everything Americans need.
STUCK ON STUPID!!!
elected officials who owe their offices to stupid voters
ELISE STEFANIK HITS JACK SMITH WITH ETHICS COMPLAINT FOR 'ILLEGAL ELECTION INTERFERENCE'
'Corrupt Karen' Who Played The Do-You-Know-Who-I-Am? Card Apologizes
Monroe County D.A. Sandra Doorley refused to pull over for speeding last week and now she's begging to keep her job.
The New York Times Is Nothing More Than An Elaborate Burn Book
They admit it!
Susie Madrak — crooks & liars
April 26, 2024
Politico's magazine did a cover story on the New York Times and their feud with the Biden White House, and boy, was it enlightening. Well, maybe not. There wasn't much we didn't already guess, it was just weird to hear them say it out loud.
I find it so puzzling when the people who work there don't understand how much bad faith coverage it took to lose the support of liberal Democrats. After all, the Times was held in high regard for a really long time.
But they've pretty much beaten our expectations out of us. From the piece:
In Sulzberger’s view, according to two people familiar with his private comments on the subject, only an interview with a paper like the Times can verify that the 81-year-old Biden is still fit to hold the presidency. Beyond that, he has voiced concerns that Biden doing so few expansive interviews with experienced reporters could set a dangerous precedent for future administrations, according to a third person familiar with the publisher’s thinking. Sulzberger himself was part of a group from the Times that sat down with Trump, who gave the paper several interviews despite his rantings about its coverage. If Trump could do it, Sulzberger believes, so can Biden.
“All these Biden people think that the problem is Peter Baker or whatever reporter they’re mad at that day,” one Times journalist said. “It’s A.G. He’s the one who is pissed [that] Biden hasn’t done any interviews and quietly encourages all the tough reporting on his age.”
And there we have it. When it comes right down to it, the New York Times is nothing more than a Mean Girls burn book. (Sure, Sulzberger graduated from Brown, but it's forever high school at the Times.)
There was no risk to Trump in sitting down for interviews, because the Times doesn't gun for Republicans with the same delight and enthusiasm they reserve for the Blue team.
I give Biden points for understanding that trying to court the Times is a no-win game and deciding to do an end run. Their last minute exoneration of Trump's ties to Russia, what, the week before the 2016 election? Their breathless coverage of the Clinton Cash book, which turned out to be funded by Steve Bannon's foundation? The constant refrain of "But her emails!" That is the payoff.
There's so much more that I've suppressed for my own sanity.
I find it so puzzling when the people who work there don't understand how much bad faith coverage it took to lose the support of liberal Democrats. After all, the Times was held in high regard for a really long time.
But they've pretty much beaten our expectations out of us. From the piece:
In Sulzberger’s view, according to two people familiar with his private comments on the subject, only an interview with a paper like the Times can verify that the 81-year-old Biden is still fit to hold the presidency. Beyond that, he has voiced concerns that Biden doing so few expansive interviews with experienced reporters could set a dangerous precedent for future administrations, according to a third person familiar with the publisher’s thinking. Sulzberger himself was part of a group from the Times that sat down with Trump, who gave the paper several interviews despite his rantings about its coverage. If Trump could do it, Sulzberger believes, so can Biden.
“All these Biden people think that the problem is Peter Baker or whatever reporter they’re mad at that day,” one Times journalist said. “It’s A.G. He’s the one who is pissed [that] Biden hasn’t done any interviews and quietly encourages all the tough reporting on his age.”
And there we have it. When it comes right down to it, the New York Times is nothing more than a Mean Girls burn book. (Sure, Sulzberger graduated from Brown, but it's forever high school at the Times.)
There was no risk to Trump in sitting down for interviews, because the Times doesn't gun for Republicans with the same delight and enthusiasm they reserve for the Blue team.
I give Biden points for understanding that trying to court the Times is a no-win game and deciding to do an end run. Their last minute exoneration of Trump's ties to Russia, what, the week before the 2016 election? Their breathless coverage of the Clinton Cash book, which turned out to be funded by Steve Bannon's foundation? The constant refrain of "But her emails!" That is the payoff.
There's so much more that I've suppressed for my own sanity.
Bites from Real News
*4/30/2024*
*Paul Krugman: Trump’s 'crank economic doctrines' would make inflation much worse
*4th Circuit Rules Against States Discriminating Against Trans Patients
Arguments about “costs” being too burdensome were soundly rejected by the court.
*Tapping into the heat beneath Nevadans’ feet
With highly fractured, permeable ground, the Great Basin’s geology makes it one of the most geothermally rich areas in the world. Hot fluid rises easily toward the surface, ideal for driving power plants, and present-day Nevada is the second-largest producer of geothermal energy in the nation behind California.
*Companies aim to release more treated oilfield wastewater into rivers and streams
*Netanyahu Reportedly Worried ICC Is Preparing to Issue Arrest Warrant for Him Israel is reportedly working with the US to head off possible international criminal court warrants for its officials.
*A Doctor at Cigna Said Her Bosses Pressured Her to Review Patients’ Cases Too Quickly. Cigna Threatened to Fire Her.
Cigna tracks every minute that its staff doctors spend deciding whether to pay for health care. Dr. Debby Day said her bosses cared more about being fast than being right.
Trump’s Opinion Sours on Potential Loser Kari Lake: WaPo
JUMPING SHIP?
Amanda Yen
Breaking News Intern
Updated Apr. 29, 2024 12:14PM EDT /
Published Apr. 29, 2024 12:13PM EDT
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
Kari Lake, the onetime favorite Arizona firebrand of Donald Trump, is slowly losing his approval, five people close to the former president told the Washington Post. According to the sources, Trump is beginning to doubt that Lake, a failed gubernatorial candidate and current U.S. Senate hopeful, can win her race against Democrat Ruben Gallego this November. He fears her failure may be contagious, dragging him down in the polls in what he believes is a key state to win the presidency. Though Lake is a Trump loyalist who has repeatedly spewed his stolen election lies, she’s lost the support of many center-right and moderate Republicans and keeps flipping stances on important issues like abortion. Her flailing approval in Arizona has only steepened her fall from Trump’s good graces; the former president reportedly cut her from his shortlist of potential VP picks because “she didn’t win” the Arizona governor’s race in 2022. He’s also gotten fed up with her constant presence at Mar-a-Lago. At one point last year, the Post reported, he suggested she leave the golf course and instead spend her time campaigning—far away from him.
Missing Delta Emergency Slide Washes Up in Surprising Spot
WHAT ARE THE ODDS
Amanda Yen
Breaking News Intern
Published Apr. 29, 2024 12:44PM EDT
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
The missing emergency slide that fell off a Delta Airlines flight last week was found by a lawyer whose firm is suing Boeing, the New York Post reported. Jake Bissell-Linsk, whose house faces the Atlantic Ocean on Rockaway Peninsula about six miles southwest of New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, said the yellow slide quite literally washed up on the rocks just beyond his backyard. “We are right on the beach, and I saw it was sitting on the breakers,” he told the Post, adding that it looked undamaged despite getting caught in the rocks. Bissell-Linsk is a partner Labaton Keller Sucharow, the firm that sued Boeing in January after the Alaska Air door blowout incident, a coincidence that didn’t escape his notice. “Our case is all about safety issues at Boeing, and this slide is literally right in front of my house,” he added. The slide was fished out by Delta crew members on Sunday evening, and the FAA is investigating the initial incident.
the key to republican support
*What's Inside*
SHATTERING DECEPTIVE MIRRORS: YOUNGER GENERATIONS HAVE THE CHANCE TO BUCK THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY SCAM(REALITY)
BOTTLED WATER CONTAINS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PLASTIC BITS: STUDY
REALITY
THE GREAT MEDICARE ADVANTAGE MARKETING SCAM
CORPORATE CRIMINALS
2023 SAW RECORD KILLINGS BY US POLICE. WHO IS MOST IMPACTED?
GESTAPO USA
AMERICA HAS NEVER BEEN UNITED. SO HOW DO WE MOVE FORWARD TOGETHER?
COMMENTARY
MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLANS: THE HIDDEN DANGERS AND THREATS TO PATIENT CARE
REALITY
A NEW STUDY DESCRIBES IN GROTESQUE DETAIL THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE ULTRARICH HAVE PERVERTED THE CHARITABLE GIVING INDUSTRY.
REALITY
HOW TRUMP AND BUSH TAX CUTS FOR BILLIONAIRES BROKE AMERICA
REALITY
FROM 1947 TO 2023: RETRACING THE COMPLEX, TRAGIC ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT
REALITY
RED STATE CONSERVATIVES ARE DYING THANKS TO THE PEOPLE THEY VOTE FOR
REALITY
HOW TEXAS BECAME THE NEW "HOMEBASE" FOR WHITE NATIONALIST AND NEO-NAZI GROUPS
AMERICA
HOW THE GOP SUCKERED AMERICA ON TAX CUTS
REALITY
ADVOCATES SUE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOR FAILING TO BAN IMPORTS OF COCOA HARVESTED BY CHILDREN(SLAVERY 21ST CENTURY)
RACISM AT HEART OF US FAILURE TO TACKLE DEADLY HEATWAVES, EXPERT WARNS
WHITE SUPREMACY
'MISLEADING': ALARM RAISED ABOUT MEDICARE ADVANTAGE 'SCAM'
REALITY
SLAVERY ISN’T JUST BLACK HISTORY — IT’S US HISTORY
RACE MATTERS
*late news of interest*
A Meditation On Practical Applications Of Stupidity
The Mystery of Anti-Vax & Anti-Mask
Kat Ignatz - DAILY KOS
Sunday August 01, 2021 · 5:00 AM PDT
...“The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity” seems as good a way as any to explain the insane situation we’re in. It’s speculative, but in my opinion, guessing is all we’ve really got right now.
In his essay, Cipolla divides human beings into four categories and builds his theory on these characteristics.
His categories are:
And he presents his theory as five laws:
Taking Cipolla’s laws and looking for correlations with anti-vax/mask behavior, you can map out anti-vax/mask actions like this:
And you could do the same matching of Cipolla’s laws with anti-vax/mask actions, and together, we could come up with a big, five-part list of parallels between Cipolla’s theory and the anti-vax/mask movement.
And it would prove nothing.
But looking at it might make you wonder, like me, if there’s anything but dangerous, illogical, and incomprehensible behavior there.
Cipolla doesn’t explain stupid people. He simply says that they exist, and they’re irrational, unpredictable, and hazardous. He states that irrational people can’t be understood by rational minds and cautions against getting involved with irrational people because it always comes with a cost that’s often a big cost.
He says the only hope is for rational people to create more gains than the losses that irrational people cause. He was an economist so his theory is all gains and losses, and another way to think about his four human traits is total gain, loss/gain, gain/loss, and total loss.
And maybe that’s the real answer here. Maybe, we shouldn’t concern ourselves with why anti-vax/maskers act like they do. Perhaps, we should simply accept them as an incredible danger to our country, states, cities, friends, families, and selves, and we should just do everything we can to do more good than they do harm.
I like Cipolla’s theory, and I find it to be a compelling model for many of the problems we’re experiencing—like, for instance, Republicans.
In this writings, Cipolla makes a point of dividing bandits into Intelligent Bandits and Stupid Bandits. Intelligent bandits cause an equal amount of loss and gain, and they get everything they take from others. Stupid bandits cause more loss than gain, and they only get part of what they cause others to lose.
When I read that, I think about how Republicans are actively working to crash the US so they can keep their wealth and power. And then I think that they’re going so far with it that they may have moved from being stupid bandits to fully stupid because it’s irrational to think they’ll keep much of anything if the country collapses.
I also start thinking about how prevalent stupid banditry is in the world—as if it’s the only way to do business. The “bigs” are especially dangerous: big agriculture, apparel, chemical, electronics, oil, pharmaceuticals, retail, etc.
We’re all losing our lives in one way or another to these dubious ventures.
But that’s my mind drifting on to a topic for another diary, and I’ll stop this one here.
In his essay, Cipolla divides human beings into four categories and builds his theory on these characteristics.
His categories are:
- Intelligent People whose actions benefit others and themselves
- Helpless People whose actions harm them but benefit others
- Bandits whose actions harm others but benefit them
- Stupid People whose actions harm others but don’t benefit them and may, in fact, harm them, too
And he presents his theory as five laws:
- Everyone always underestimates how many stupid people there are.
- Stupidity is unrelated to any other human trait.
- Stupid people cause losses to others without gain and, possibly, with losses to themselves.
- Non-stupid people always underestimate how harmful stupid people are.
- Stupid people are the most dangerous type of person.
Taking Cipolla’s laws and looking for correlations with anti-vax/mask behavior, you can map out anti-vax/mask actions like this:
- How many: 30% of the US population is hesitating, resisting, or outright refusing to get a coronavirus vaccine.
- Unrelated to other traits: Health care workers are protesting against getting vaccinated.
- No gain and possible losses: Not even the threat of death is changing anti-vax/mask behavior.
- How harmful: Who would have predicted that Missouri would end up in such terrible condition?
- Most dangerous: Anti-vax/maskers are bringing the systems we rely on for our safety and health to the brink of crashing.
And you could do the same matching of Cipolla’s laws with anti-vax/mask actions, and together, we could come up with a big, five-part list of parallels between Cipolla’s theory and the anti-vax/mask movement.
And it would prove nothing.
But looking at it might make you wonder, like me, if there’s anything but dangerous, illogical, and incomprehensible behavior there.
Cipolla doesn’t explain stupid people. He simply says that they exist, and they’re irrational, unpredictable, and hazardous. He states that irrational people can’t be understood by rational minds and cautions against getting involved with irrational people because it always comes with a cost that’s often a big cost.
He says the only hope is for rational people to create more gains than the losses that irrational people cause. He was an economist so his theory is all gains and losses, and another way to think about his four human traits is total gain, loss/gain, gain/loss, and total loss.
And maybe that’s the real answer here. Maybe, we shouldn’t concern ourselves with why anti-vax/maskers act like they do. Perhaps, we should simply accept them as an incredible danger to our country, states, cities, friends, families, and selves, and we should just do everything we can to do more good than they do harm.
I like Cipolla’s theory, and I find it to be a compelling model for many of the problems we’re experiencing—like, for instance, Republicans.
In this writings, Cipolla makes a point of dividing bandits into Intelligent Bandits and Stupid Bandits. Intelligent bandits cause an equal amount of loss and gain, and they get everything they take from others. Stupid bandits cause more loss than gain, and they only get part of what they cause others to lose.
When I read that, I think about how Republicans are actively working to crash the US so they can keep their wealth and power. And then I think that they’re going so far with it that they may have moved from being stupid bandits to fully stupid because it’s irrational to think they’ll keep much of anything if the country collapses.
I also start thinking about how prevalent stupid banditry is in the world—as if it’s the only way to do business. The “bigs” are especially dangerous: big agriculture, apparel, chemical, electronics, oil, pharmaceuticals, retail, etc.
We’re all losing our lives in one way or another to these dubious ventures.
But that’s my mind drifting on to a topic for another diary, and I’ll stop this one here.