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welcome to reality trivia
reality is the state of things as they actually exist
dec 4, 2021
Real News Today
*The Conservatives on the Supreme Court Want to Punish Women
BY THE RUDE PUNDIT(Commentary)
(for previous day's articles see "what's inside" below)
TAKING BETS ON STUPIDITY!!!
comment/tweet of the day
No worries, Republicans
NANCEGREGGS @DU
While President Biden and his minions are creating jobs, protecting the environment, refurbishing the infrastructure, lowering taxes on the middle-class, increasing internet access in remote areas, and trying to get more Americans vaccinated against a deadly disease - (those bastards!) - your GOP representatives are keeping you safe from books, people saying "Happy Holidays", Asian muppets and Big Bird.
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U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is criticizing House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy
"Kevin McCarthy is so desperate to be speaker that he is working with his Ku Klux Klan caucus to look aside & allow violent targeting of woc members of Congress. This cannot be ignored," she warns.
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Both Sides Do It - Except When They Don't
NanceGreggs @du
We've all heard about the threats being left on the answering machines of elected Democrats who refuse to kow-tow to Trump-humpers, those who persist in performing their jobs without caving to political pressure.
We've even heard some of those voice-mails - the ones that threaten violence and death not only to those who are following the dictates of their jobs without regard to political biases, but threats towards their family members, including their children.
What we've not heard is similar threats from Democrats, i.e. recorded voicemails promising violence and death to those who continue to promote the Big Lie, those who persist in covering-up Trump's crimes, those who use their positions of power to legislate the suppression of voters' rights.
Come on, oh ye MSM bobble-heads who continually propagate the "both-sides-do-it" meme. Why are you not reporting on the fact that only one side is leaving messages that threaten violence and death to their political opponents?
And if Democrats and other anti-Trumpers ARE threatening their political opponents, why are you not reporting the fact that they're doing so - and backing it up with the recorded messages that prove it?
The facts seem obvious. There are no threats coming from the Democrats - because if there were, you would have revealed them by now to support your claims of bothsiderism.
The fact that ONLY Republicans are threatening violence speaks for itself - and THAT FACT should be the headline of every newscast presented by every honest journalist in the country.
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Will Rogers ring truer than ever. In 1938 he said, “You’ll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.”
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more slavery!!!
‘This has been happening for a long time’: Modern-day slavery uncovered in South Georgia
2021/12/3 19:05 (EST)
© TheAtlantaJournalConstitution
ATLANTA — A yearslong human trafficking operation trapped migrant workers in “modern-day slavery” on South Georgia farms, according to a federal indictment unsealed last week.
Victims include over one hundred laborers smuggled from Mexico and Central America into “brutal” and “inhumane” working conditions. Under the threat of gun violence, some were allegedly forced to dig for onions with their bare hands, earning only 20 cents for each bucket harvested. At least two people died on the job. Another was allegedly repeatedly raped.
When not out in the fields, workers were detained in work camps surrounded by electric fencing, or held in cramped living quarters, including dirty trailers with raw sewage leaks. There was little to no access to food or safe drinking water.
Twenty-four accused members and associates of the criminal enterprise that perpetuated the exploitation now face a slew of felony charges, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia. The multi-agency cooperation that yielded the indictment – dubbed “Operation Blooming Onion” – may be one of the largest-ever human trafficking and visa fraud investigations in the country, VICE News reported.
Only two of the defendants are described as South Georgia business owners in the indictment; most were labor contractors or recruiters. Their alleged criminal mistreatment of workers took many forms.
According to the indictment, laborers were charged unlawful fees for transportation, food and housing. And though they were putatively hired for agricultural work, some migrants were illegally used for lawn care, construction, and repair tasks. To prevent escapes, members of the accused crime ring unlawfully confiscated workers’ passports and documents. Conspirators also sold and traded workers amongst themselves, per the indictment.
“The American dream is a powerful attraction for destitute and desperate people across the globe, and where there is need, there is greed from those who will attempt to exploit these willing workers for their own obscene profits,” David Estes, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, said in a statement.
“Thanks to outstanding work from our law enforcement partners, Operation Blooming Onion frees more than 100 individuals from the shackles of modern-day slavery and will hold accountable those who put them in chains.”
The crimes chronicled in the indictment were alleged to have occurred in the South Georgia counties of Atkinson, Bacon, Coffee, Tattnall, Toombs and Ware, where local farmers paid the defendants to provide contract laborers.
The crime ring that orchestrated the human trafficking operation reaped over $200 million from the illegal scheme. Conspirators are facing charges including mail fraud and mail fraud conspiracy, forced labor and forced labor conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and witness tampering.
Solimar Mercado-Spencer is a senior staff attorney at the Farmworker Rights Division of the Georgia Legal Services Program, a nonprofit law firm that represents low-income farm workers in Georgia with issues related to their wages or working conditions. Among the division’s current set of clients are victims of the criminal enterprise uncovered by Operation Blooming Onion.
Mercado-Spencer said the revelations inside the federal indictment were no surprise.
“This has been happening for a long time in Georgia. … And these people that were arrested are not the only ones doing these things,” she said. “I hope (law enforcement) keeps busting these operations because that’s not the only one going on in Georgia.”
Because it’s happening in rural areas, nobody sees the victims, Mercado-Spencer said.
“All you see is, you know, your onions at Kroger. You can go buy them. You don’t know where they came from. But this is happening and nobody notices it. And these are essential workers that have been keeping us fed through the pandemic.”
Per the indictment, the exploited foreign workers were admitted to the U.S. through fraudulent use of the H-2A guest-worker visa program, which has been booming in Georgia as farmers struggle to find domestic sources of labor. According to the federal Office of Foreign Labor Certification, Georgia had 27,614 H-2A positions certified in fiscal year 2020, up from roughly 5,500 in fiscal year 2010. Georgia is second only to Florida for most H-2A workers in the nation.
Under the H-2A program, worker’s legal status in the U.S. is contingent on remaining under the employment of the party that sponsored their visa. Mercado-Spencer said that structure can put workers at disadvantage, with limited worker protections included in the program being overlooked.[...]
Victims include over one hundred laborers smuggled from Mexico and Central America into “brutal” and “inhumane” working conditions. Under the threat of gun violence, some were allegedly forced to dig for onions with their bare hands, earning only 20 cents for each bucket harvested. At least two people died on the job. Another was allegedly repeatedly raped.
When not out in the fields, workers were detained in work camps surrounded by electric fencing, or held in cramped living quarters, including dirty trailers with raw sewage leaks. There was little to no access to food or safe drinking water.
Twenty-four accused members and associates of the criminal enterprise that perpetuated the exploitation now face a slew of felony charges, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia. The multi-agency cooperation that yielded the indictment – dubbed “Operation Blooming Onion” – may be one of the largest-ever human trafficking and visa fraud investigations in the country, VICE News reported.
Only two of the defendants are described as South Georgia business owners in the indictment; most were labor contractors or recruiters. Their alleged criminal mistreatment of workers took many forms.
According to the indictment, laborers were charged unlawful fees for transportation, food and housing. And though they were putatively hired for agricultural work, some migrants were illegally used for lawn care, construction, and repair tasks. To prevent escapes, members of the accused crime ring unlawfully confiscated workers’ passports and documents. Conspirators also sold and traded workers amongst themselves, per the indictment.
“The American dream is a powerful attraction for destitute and desperate people across the globe, and where there is need, there is greed from those who will attempt to exploit these willing workers for their own obscene profits,” David Estes, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, said in a statement.
“Thanks to outstanding work from our law enforcement partners, Operation Blooming Onion frees more than 100 individuals from the shackles of modern-day slavery and will hold accountable those who put them in chains.”
The crimes chronicled in the indictment were alleged to have occurred in the South Georgia counties of Atkinson, Bacon, Coffee, Tattnall, Toombs and Ware, where local farmers paid the defendants to provide contract laborers.
The crime ring that orchestrated the human trafficking operation reaped over $200 million from the illegal scheme. Conspirators are facing charges including mail fraud and mail fraud conspiracy, forced labor and forced labor conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and witness tampering.
Solimar Mercado-Spencer is a senior staff attorney at the Farmworker Rights Division of the Georgia Legal Services Program, a nonprofit law firm that represents low-income farm workers in Georgia with issues related to their wages or working conditions. Among the division’s current set of clients are victims of the criminal enterprise uncovered by Operation Blooming Onion.
Mercado-Spencer said the revelations inside the federal indictment were no surprise.
“This has been happening for a long time in Georgia. … And these people that were arrested are not the only ones doing these things,” she said. “I hope (law enforcement) keeps busting these operations because that’s not the only one going on in Georgia.”
Because it’s happening in rural areas, nobody sees the victims, Mercado-Spencer said.
“All you see is, you know, your onions at Kroger. You can go buy them. You don’t know where they came from. But this is happening and nobody notices it. And these are essential workers that have been keeping us fed through the pandemic.”
Per the indictment, the exploited foreign workers were admitted to the U.S. through fraudulent use of the H-2A guest-worker visa program, which has been booming in Georgia as farmers struggle to find domestic sources of labor. According to the federal Office of Foreign Labor Certification, Georgia had 27,614 H-2A positions certified in fiscal year 2020, up from roughly 5,500 in fiscal year 2010. Georgia is second only to Florida for most H-2A workers in the nation.
Under the H-2A program, worker’s legal status in the U.S. is contingent on remaining under the employment of the party that sponsored their visa. Mercado-Spencer said that structure can put workers at disadvantage, with limited worker protections included in the program being overlooked.[...]
LOGIC OF THE STUPID!!!
Descendants of Destroyed Black Town Want UGA to Pay
The Linnentown Project says the University of Georgia has to address for erasing their neighborhood
By Keith Reed - THE ROOT
12/2/2021
Former residents and descendants of a Black community that was literally wiped off the map to make way for parking lots at the University of Georgia want their issue to be heard.
The neighborhood was called Linnentown and it was once part of the city of Athens, which is situated just over 70 miles northeast of Atlanta. It was home to more than 50 families, many of whom owned property and businesses despite being in a rural enclave in the segregated South. Then the University of Georgia—like so many other white institutions of the era—decided it wanted the land and worked with local and state officials to push the Black residents out, using so-called urban renewal tools to do it.
Now, those who still remember Linnentown, want redress and they have at least some support from local officials, according to an NBC News report.
From NBC News
The city of Athens used eminent domain to force 50 Black families out of Linnentown on behalf of the university. The documents say the University System of Georgia acquired an urban renewal contract with the city to “clear out the total slum area which now exists off Baxter Street.” On the acquired land, the university built dorms and parking lots. The residents of Linnentown were given as little as $1,450 — about $12,000 today — for their seized properties, according to the county documents.
More than 50 years later, Whitehead and a group of fellow former residents and descendants of residents created the Linnentown Project to memorialize the lost community and urge the city to recognize and provide redress for the loss. The group was formed in 2019; by this year, Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz and the Clarke County Commission had approved a resolution in support of the effort.
However, members of the group have said that while the county is willing to make amends, University of Georgia officials have been dragging their feet.
Maybe that’s because this isn’t even the only issue related to its racist past that the school has had to deal with in the past month. In late November, the school’s board of regents rejected a proposal to change the names of 75 buildings it owns named for former slaveholders.
Go Dawgs, we guess.
The neighborhood was called Linnentown and it was once part of the city of Athens, which is situated just over 70 miles northeast of Atlanta. It was home to more than 50 families, many of whom owned property and businesses despite being in a rural enclave in the segregated South. Then the University of Georgia—like so many other white institutions of the era—decided it wanted the land and worked with local and state officials to push the Black residents out, using so-called urban renewal tools to do it.
Now, those who still remember Linnentown, want redress and they have at least some support from local officials, according to an NBC News report.
From NBC News
The city of Athens used eminent domain to force 50 Black families out of Linnentown on behalf of the university. The documents say the University System of Georgia acquired an urban renewal contract with the city to “clear out the total slum area which now exists off Baxter Street.” On the acquired land, the university built dorms and parking lots. The residents of Linnentown were given as little as $1,450 — about $12,000 today — for their seized properties, according to the county documents.
More than 50 years later, Whitehead and a group of fellow former residents and descendants of residents created the Linnentown Project to memorialize the lost community and urge the city to recognize and provide redress for the loss. The group was formed in 2019; by this year, Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz and the Clarke County Commission had approved a resolution in support of the effort.
However, members of the group have said that while the county is willing to make amends, University of Georgia officials have been dragging their feet.
Maybe that’s because this isn’t even the only issue related to its racist past that the school has had to deal with in the past month. In late November, the school’s board of regents rejected a proposal to change the names of 75 buildings it owns named for former slaveholders.
Go Dawgs, we guess.
EDUCATING A FOOL!!
CIA Report Shows Trump Abandoned His Duty as Commander in Chief
The agency had to trick Trump into paying attention to intelligence.
DAVID CORN -MOTHER JONES
Washington, DC, Bureau Chief
The CIA is too polite to say this directly, but it has issued a report that shows that Donald Trump, while obsessing over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, abandoned one of his primary duties as president: to stay fully informed about potential threats to the nation.
This indictment comes from the agency’s Center for the Study of Intelligence, which produces scholarly papers and histories related to intelligence. Many (but not all) are publicly released, and they can be academic and a bit esoteric. There’s “How We Identified the Technical Problems of Early Soviet Nuclear Submarines,” “Scandinavians as Agents,” or “The Metals Traces Test.” But the CSI also generates work relevant to current intelligence issues—and that includes the question of what happens when a president doesn’t care about intelligence.
Days ago, the CSI released a revised edition of Getting to Know the President: Intelligence Briefings of Presidential Candidates and Presidents-Elect, 1952-2016. And what makes this edition new is that it includes a chapter on the 45th president that is titled, “Donald J. Trump—A Unique Challenge.”
The book is authored by John Helgerson, a veteran CIA intelligence officer who served as the agency’s inspector general in the George W. Bush administration. During those years, he investigated the CIA’s use of torture and wrote a classified report (released years later) criticizing the agency for these interrogation practices and noting the CIA might have violated international law. And now Helgerson, in a gentle way, is warning the public about a man who served in the White House and who might once again try to occupy the Oval Office.
Helgerson, one can tell, bends over backward to be fair to the former guy. He notes that during some intelligence briefings, Trump—as presidential candidate, president-elect, and president—listened attentively and was generally respectful toward the briefers dispatched by the intelligence community. But the bottom line is that Trump didn’t pay close attention to intelligence. This is no newsflash. After all, Trump once said that he was his own best foreign policy adviser “because I have a very good brain.”
In the first paragraph of the 37-page chapter, Helgerson notes that Trump, “by his own account, did not often read.” And that included the President’s Daily Brief, the report drawn up each day—with immense effort from the intelligence community—for the chief executive that summarizes need-to-know national security matters. For some presidents, the PDB is delivered each day with a briefing from an intelligence officer. Trump only wanted briefings about twice a week. It was less during the presidential transition.
Ted Gistaro, a career CIA analyst who was Trump’s primary briefer during the 2016 campaign, the transition, and the first years of the Trump presidency, told Helgerson that Trump did not pay much attention to the PDB: “He touched it. He doesn’t really read anything.” As Helgerson puts it, “Trump’s style was to listen to the key points, discuss them with some care, then lead the discussion to related issues and others further afield.” That sounds like a nice way of saying Trump couldn’t focus on the most important matters. James Clapper, who was director of national intelligence during the Trump transition, is quoted in the chapter recalling that Trump was prone to “fly off on tangents; there might be eight or nine minutes of real intelligence in an hour’s discussion.” He added, Trump “was ‘fact-free’—evidence doesn’t cut it with him.” The best way of reaching Trump was to show him maps, graphics, and satellite imagery—material that he found exciting.
During one briefing, Gistaro recalled, Trump asked him why there was information in the PDB that had not appeared in the media. Gistaro explained an obvious point to Trump: Sometimes obscure international developments that escape notice in the press can have significant implications for US security interests.
---
Helgerson chronicles one of the most sensitive briefings presented to Trump. On January 6, 2017, two weeks before he took office, Trump was briefed by senior intelligence officers on the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia had attacked the 2016 election to help Trump. The intelligence, he writes, “was so solid that no one on the Trump team disputed the findings or conclusions of the report.” Much of the intelligence had come in via technical collection—covert eavesdropping and communications intercepts. Helgerson doesn’t point out that even though Trump seemed to accept the intelligence findings, he would for years afterward claim the Russia scandal was a hoax and even publicly state that he took Vladimir Putin at his word when the Russian leader told him Moscow had not intervened. (It was at the end of this particular briefing that then-FBI director James Comey informed Trump about the existence of the Steele dossier and its unconfirmed allegations that Trump had directly colluded with Russia and that the Kremlin possessed compromising material on him—which enraged Trump and caused him to believe the intelligence community was out to destroy him.)
The chapter says that in his first weeks in office, Trump took the PDB briefings—which he received two or three times a week—”seriously.” They lasted between 40 and 60 minutes. But according to Helgerson, Trump did not look at the PDB each day. He would just ask the briefer to fill him in on what he missed between the briefings. That means Trump would go for days without checking on the PDB material. Yet he monitored cable television news assiduously.
---
There’s nothing shocking in this report about Trump. But it does highlight his failings as president—and his brazen negligence of national security. According to this chapter, Sanner last briefed Trump before he headed to his private club in Palm Beach for the holidays on December 23, 2020. The briefings were to resume on January 6. But no more briefings occurred. Helgerson doesn’t dwell on this, but his book shows that for the last month of his presidency, Trump received no briefing from the intelligence community. That is—or should be—shocking. Presuming Trump stuck to his habit of not reading the PDB, he spent his final weeks in office, while falsely claiming the election had been stolen from him and plotting to thwart the Constitution, ignoring intelligence information and neglecting his obligation as commander in chief to remain up to speed on critical national security matters.
No doubt, Trump and his devotees will dismiss any derogatory information that emerges from the so-called Deep State. But Helgerson’s report is a harsh accusation based on first-hand accounts. It presents yet another example of Trump placing his own interests over those of the nation. And with Trump pondering a 2024 run for the White House, this chapter serves a fundamental purpose of intelligence: it provides a serious threat assessment.
This indictment comes from the agency’s Center for the Study of Intelligence, which produces scholarly papers and histories related to intelligence. Many (but not all) are publicly released, and they can be academic and a bit esoteric. There’s “How We Identified the Technical Problems of Early Soviet Nuclear Submarines,” “Scandinavians as Agents,” or “The Metals Traces Test.” But the CSI also generates work relevant to current intelligence issues—and that includes the question of what happens when a president doesn’t care about intelligence.
Days ago, the CSI released a revised edition of Getting to Know the President: Intelligence Briefings of Presidential Candidates and Presidents-Elect, 1952-2016. And what makes this edition new is that it includes a chapter on the 45th president that is titled, “Donald J. Trump—A Unique Challenge.”
The book is authored by John Helgerson, a veteran CIA intelligence officer who served as the agency’s inspector general in the George W. Bush administration. During those years, he investigated the CIA’s use of torture and wrote a classified report (released years later) criticizing the agency for these interrogation practices and noting the CIA might have violated international law. And now Helgerson, in a gentle way, is warning the public about a man who served in the White House and who might once again try to occupy the Oval Office.
Helgerson, one can tell, bends over backward to be fair to the former guy. He notes that during some intelligence briefings, Trump—as presidential candidate, president-elect, and president—listened attentively and was generally respectful toward the briefers dispatched by the intelligence community. But the bottom line is that Trump didn’t pay close attention to intelligence. This is no newsflash. After all, Trump once said that he was his own best foreign policy adviser “because I have a very good brain.”
In the first paragraph of the 37-page chapter, Helgerson notes that Trump, “by his own account, did not often read.” And that included the President’s Daily Brief, the report drawn up each day—with immense effort from the intelligence community—for the chief executive that summarizes need-to-know national security matters. For some presidents, the PDB is delivered each day with a briefing from an intelligence officer. Trump only wanted briefings about twice a week. It was less during the presidential transition.
Ted Gistaro, a career CIA analyst who was Trump’s primary briefer during the 2016 campaign, the transition, and the first years of the Trump presidency, told Helgerson that Trump did not pay much attention to the PDB: “He touched it. He doesn’t really read anything.” As Helgerson puts it, “Trump’s style was to listen to the key points, discuss them with some care, then lead the discussion to related issues and others further afield.” That sounds like a nice way of saying Trump couldn’t focus on the most important matters. James Clapper, who was director of national intelligence during the Trump transition, is quoted in the chapter recalling that Trump was prone to “fly off on tangents; there might be eight or nine minutes of real intelligence in an hour’s discussion.” He added, Trump “was ‘fact-free’—evidence doesn’t cut it with him.” The best way of reaching Trump was to show him maps, graphics, and satellite imagery—material that he found exciting.
During one briefing, Gistaro recalled, Trump asked him why there was information in the PDB that had not appeared in the media. Gistaro explained an obvious point to Trump: Sometimes obscure international developments that escape notice in the press can have significant implications for US security interests.
---
Helgerson chronicles one of the most sensitive briefings presented to Trump. On January 6, 2017, two weeks before he took office, Trump was briefed by senior intelligence officers on the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia had attacked the 2016 election to help Trump. The intelligence, he writes, “was so solid that no one on the Trump team disputed the findings or conclusions of the report.” Much of the intelligence had come in via technical collection—covert eavesdropping and communications intercepts. Helgerson doesn’t point out that even though Trump seemed to accept the intelligence findings, he would for years afterward claim the Russia scandal was a hoax and even publicly state that he took Vladimir Putin at his word when the Russian leader told him Moscow had not intervened. (It was at the end of this particular briefing that then-FBI director James Comey informed Trump about the existence of the Steele dossier and its unconfirmed allegations that Trump had directly colluded with Russia and that the Kremlin possessed compromising material on him—which enraged Trump and caused him to believe the intelligence community was out to destroy him.)
The chapter says that in his first weeks in office, Trump took the PDB briefings—which he received two or three times a week—”seriously.” They lasted between 40 and 60 minutes. But according to Helgerson, Trump did not look at the PDB each day. He would just ask the briefer to fill him in on what he missed between the briefings. That means Trump would go for days without checking on the PDB material. Yet he monitored cable television news assiduously.
---
There’s nothing shocking in this report about Trump. But it does highlight his failings as president—and his brazen negligence of national security. According to this chapter, Sanner last briefed Trump before he headed to his private club in Palm Beach for the holidays on December 23, 2020. The briefings were to resume on January 6. But no more briefings occurred. Helgerson doesn’t dwell on this, but his book shows that for the last month of his presidency, Trump received no briefing from the intelligence community. That is—or should be—shocking. Presuming Trump stuck to his habit of not reading the PDB, he spent his final weeks in office, while falsely claiming the election had been stolen from him and plotting to thwart the Constitution, ignoring intelligence information and neglecting his obligation as commander in chief to remain up to speed on critical national security matters.
No doubt, Trump and his devotees will dismiss any derogatory information that emerges from the so-called Deep State. But Helgerson’s report is a harsh accusation based on first-hand accounts. It presents yet another example of Trump placing his own interests over those of the nation. And with Trump pondering a 2024 run for the White House, this chapter serves a fundamental purpose of intelligence: it provides a serious threat assessment.
JUST THINK HOW MANY OF THESE DUMBASSES VOTE!!!
'Concerned' Susan Collins has signaled support for codifying Roe v. Wade. Critics say it’s a 'con job'
Alex Henderson - ALTERNET
December 02, 2021
When Sen. Susan Collins of Maine voted in favor of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018, the pro-choice Republican insisted that he considered Roe v. Wade settled law. But with the High Court now hearing oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Kavanaugh appears likely to vote in favor of overturning Roe. Collins has been arguing in favor of codifying the protections of Roe into law, but her critics are pointing out that she helped put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court three years ago.
On Wednesday, December 1 — the day in which the High Court began hearing oral arguments in Dobbs — a Collins spokesperson, Annie Clark, told NBC News, “Sen. Collins supports the right to an abortion and believes that the protections in the Roe and Casey decisions should be passed into law. She has had some conversations with her colleagues about this and is open to further discussions.”
Collins, however, opposes the pro-choice Women's Health Protection Act of 2021, which has passed in the Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives and now goes to the U.S. Senate for consideration. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised that the bill will get a vote in the Senate, although Collins believes it goes too far in its current form and favors a modified version. And even if Collins and Senate Democrats can work out a compromise bill, it would still have to meet the 60-vote demand of the filibuster in order to pass in the Senate.
Clark told NBC News, “Unfortunately, the House Democrats’ bill goes far beyond codifying Roe and Casey. For example, their legislation would severely weaken protections afforded to health care providers who refuse to perform abortions on religious or moral ground.”[...]
On Wednesday, December 1 — the day in which the High Court began hearing oral arguments in Dobbs — a Collins spokesperson, Annie Clark, told NBC News, “Sen. Collins supports the right to an abortion and believes that the protections in the Roe and Casey decisions should be passed into law. She has had some conversations with her colleagues about this and is open to further discussions.”
Collins, however, opposes the pro-choice Women's Health Protection Act of 2021, which has passed in the Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives and now goes to the U.S. Senate for consideration. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised that the bill will get a vote in the Senate, although Collins believes it goes too far in its current form and favors a modified version. And even if Collins and Senate Democrats can work out a compromise bill, it would still have to meet the 60-vote demand of the filibuster in order to pass in the Senate.
Clark told NBC News, “Unfortunately, the House Democrats’ bill goes far beyond codifying Roe and Casey. For example, their legislation would severely weaken protections afforded to health care providers who refuse to perform abortions on religious or moral ground.”[...]
from under a rock
THE DAILY TRASH REPORT featuring today's despicables
WILL ROGERS RING TRUER THAN EVER. IN 1938 HE SAID, “YOU’LL NEVER GO BROKE UNDERESTIMATING THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.”
Republican defends bigoted rants from Boebert and Greene: That’s what their ‘constituents believe’
Republican bill that limits how race, slavery and history are taught in Texas schools becomes law
Two-Faced Tucker Asked Hunter Biden For Help Getting Son Into College
DeSantis Creating His Own Personal Armed Forces
This is in response to a vaccine mandate for all national guards.
John Amato — crooks & liars
December 3, 2021
On Thursday Gov. DeSantis announced he's planning to invest $100 million dollars to create a civilian Florida State Guard.
DeSantis also said this unit, called the Florida State Guard, would be "not encumbered by the federal government." He said this force would give him "the flexibility and the ability needed to respond to events in our state in the most effective way possible."
DeSantis is doing everything he can to undermine health and safety protocols put in place by the CDC and the Biden administration to combat COVID19 and its variants.
But this also gives DeSantis a hand-picked force to do with what he will.
Every authoritarian leader in history has had his own personal shock troop squad that did all the dirty and wet work to keep control of its people, whether it was needed or not.
East Germany had the Stasi, which was an example of their secret police agency in service to their autocratic leaders.
You get the picture.
I can imagine a tip line being created so Floridians can spy on Floridians in service to DeSantis' agenda.[...]
DeSantis also said this unit, called the Florida State Guard, would be "not encumbered by the federal government." He said this force would give him "the flexibility and the ability needed to respond to events in our state in the most effective way possible."
DeSantis is doing everything he can to undermine health and safety protocols put in place by the CDC and the Biden administration to combat COVID19 and its variants.
But this also gives DeSantis a hand-picked force to do with what he will.
Every authoritarian leader in history has had his own personal shock troop squad that did all the dirty and wet work to keep control of its people, whether it was needed or not.
East Germany had the Stasi, which was an example of their secret police agency in service to their autocratic leaders.
You get the picture.
I can imagine a tip line being created so Floridians can spy on Floridians in service to DeSantis' agenda.[...]
Liberty University professor arrested for sexual battery and abduction
Sky Palma - RAW STORY
December 02, 2021
William Atwell, a professor at the evangelical Liberty University, has been arrested on suspicion of sexual battery and abduction, ABC13 reports.
Atwell was released from a Lynchburg jail after posting $3,000 bond.
In a statement, a school spokesperson said that it "takes nothing more seriously than claims that a faculty member has had inappropriate sexual contact with one of our students, something for which there is zero tolerance."
"We are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness, care, and concern," the statement continued. "With the student’s consent, the university turned the matter over to the appropriate legal authorities and the faculty member in question was arrested. The faculty member has also been suspended by the university pending the outcome of this matter. To protect the integrity of investigation and the privacy of the student, we will limit further comment.”
As ABC13 points out, Atwell's case comes as Liberty faces multiple lawsuits alleging that the university punished students who reported sexual assault, including one where 12 anonymous women, most of whom are former Liberty University employees or students, claim Liberty “enabled on-campus rapes” and suppressed complaints of sexual assault and rape.
Last month, Liberty University filed a restraining order to bar a former employee from revealing information related to his claim that he was fired for speaking out on the school's failure to properly address sexual assault allegations.
Read more at ABC13.
Atwell was released from a Lynchburg jail after posting $3,000 bond.
In a statement, a school spokesperson said that it "takes nothing more seriously than claims that a faculty member has had inappropriate sexual contact with one of our students, something for which there is zero tolerance."
"We are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness, care, and concern," the statement continued. "With the student’s consent, the university turned the matter over to the appropriate legal authorities and the faculty member in question was arrested. The faculty member has also been suspended by the university pending the outcome of this matter. To protect the integrity of investigation and the privacy of the student, we will limit further comment.”
As ABC13 points out, Atwell's case comes as Liberty faces multiple lawsuits alleging that the university punished students who reported sexual assault, including one where 12 anonymous women, most of whom are former Liberty University employees or students, claim Liberty “enabled on-campus rapes” and suppressed complaints of sexual assault and rape.
Last month, Liberty University filed a restraining order to bar a former employee from revealing information related to his claim that he was fired for speaking out on the school's failure to properly address sexual assault allegations.
Read more at ABC13.
Bites from Real News
*12/4/2021*
*An Obscure Agency Is Threatening to Hand Medicare Over to Wall Street
30 million seniors who thought they were free of insurance companies may find their health care managed by corporations.
*Utah Makes Welfare So Hard to Get, Some Feel They Must Join the LDS Church to Get Aid
Utah’s safety net for the poor is so intertwined with the LDS Church that individual bishops often decide who receives assistance. Some deny help unless a person goes to services or gets baptized.
*“They Took Us Away From Each Other”: Lost Inside America’s Shadow Foster System Across the country, unregulated “shadow” foster care is severing parents from children — who often wind up abandoned by the system that’s supposed to protect them.
*Revealed: The Racist Plot To Tear America Apart The last thing that should happen in America is that a political party would choose to use racial or religious hatred as a primary tool to win elections, inching America ever closer to more bloodshed
Thom Hartmann
*Dems glide toward electoral Armageddon
Democrats vacation on Nantucket and protect the fortunes of America's dynasties — and wonder why they're losing
*Even on U.S. Campuses, China Cracks Down on Students Who Speak Out
Students and scholars from China who criticize the regime in Beijing can face quick retaliation from fellow students and Chinese officials who harass their families back home. U.S. universities rarely intervene.
*PFIZER IS LOBBYING TO THWART WHISTLEBLOWERS FROM EXPOSING CORPORATE FRAUD
Pfizer is among the Big Pharma companies trying to block legislation strengthening whistleblowers’ ability to report corporate fraud.
*TEXAS TROOPERS OPENED FIRE FROM A HELICOPTER IN 2012. FAMILIES ARE STILL FIGHTING TO HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE. A state police marksman unloaded 19 bullets into a speeding pickup, killing two men. Now, depositions unearth startling new details about what happened.
*They Knew Industrial Pollution Was Ruining the Neighborhood’s Air. If Only Regulators Had Listened.
Barbara Weckesser and her neighbors told regulators that air pollution was making them sick. The law let them ignore her.
Upstate NY Hospitals Are Already Struggling—and Omicron Has Barely Arrived
ONGOING CRISIS
Corbin Bolies
Breaking News Intern
Published Dec. 04, 2021 10:14AM ET
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
Upstate New York hospitals are suffering from a wave of new COVID-19 cases, but they don’t have the staff to handle them all. The New York Times spoke to multiple hospital executives and doctors in the area, many of whom say hospital workers are leaving the field over a mixture of burnout and a refusal to be vaccinated. Meanwhile, Gov. Kathy Hochul said cases are up 150 percent in the region. According to official estimates, about 33,000 hospital workers—or 3 percent of the workforce—left due to a state vaccine mandate, leaving doctors without the support they needed to handle the surge. “It’s so bad in this area,” Dr. Jeremy Di Bari, who sees patients at a hospital and multiple urgent care centers in Warren County, told the Times. “I don’t think it’s going to get better. I hope it won’t get much worse.”
Michigan Teen Charged After Rapping About Shooting Up School ‘Like Oxford’
NOT FUNNY
Zoe Richards
Breaking News Reporter
Published Dec. 03, 2021 11:03AM ET
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
A 17-year-old student at Flint Southwestern Classical Academy in Michigan faces felony charges, including one count of false threat of terrorism and one count of using a computer to commit a crime, after she allegedly threatened to shoot up the school in a video on social media, the Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office said. “I’m not going to try to figure out whether this incident was intended to be a joke or whether it was a credible threat, the bottom line is that it’s a crime,” county prosecutor David Leyton said in a statement announcing the charges on Thursday.
A student resources officer initially made the report to Flint police and further investigation revealed that in a video posted to social media, the student in question rapped about shooting up the school “like Oxford.” When the student was arrested Thursday, Flint police said she did not have weapons in her possession.
A student resources officer initially made the report to Flint police and further investigation revealed that in a video posted to social media, the student in question rapped about shooting up the school “like Oxford.” When the student was arrested Thursday, Flint police said she did not have weapons in her possession.
Man Who Spent Decades in Prison Gets $6 Million After Jury Finds Detective Made Up Evidence
‘JUST IMAGINE’
Zoe Richards
Breaking News Reporter
Published Dec. 03, 2021 1:22PM ET
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
A man who spent more than two decades behind bars after a detective fabricated evidence in the murder case against him was awarded a modicum of relief Wednesday after he was awarded $6 million in damages by a federal jury. The jury found that former Durham police detective Darryl Dowdy faked evidence in the botched investigation that put Darryl Howard behind bars on double murder and arson charges for the 1991 killing of Doris Washington and her teenage daughter.
Howard was exonerated when a judge vacated his convictions in 2016 on the basis of police and prosecutorial misconduct. The $6 million awarded on Wednesday stemmed from a 2017 federal civil rights lawsuit Howard had filed that blamed Dowdy and others for their role in his wrongful conviction.
Responding to the verdict, Howard was disappointed that he was awarded damages that fell so far short of the $48 million requested.“I am happy about the verdict, but I am kind of upset about the damages,” he said. “Just imagine, 23 years I stayed in prison.”
Howard was exonerated when a judge vacated his convictions in 2016 on the basis of police and prosecutorial misconduct. The $6 million awarded on Wednesday stemmed from a 2017 federal civil rights lawsuit Howard had filed that blamed Dowdy and others for their role in his wrongful conviction.
Responding to the verdict, Howard was disappointed that he was awarded damages that fell so far short of the $48 million requested.“I am happy about the verdict, but I am kind of upset about the damages,” he said. “Just imagine, 23 years I stayed in prison.”
*What's Inside*
*KYLE RITTENHOUSE HAS GOTTEN AWAY WITH MURDER—AS PREDICTED
(COMMENTARY)
*ASTEROIDS: NASA'S ASTEROID DEFLECTION SPACECRAFT
(SPACE NEWS)
*THE MOON HAS AN ICY SECRET
(SPACE NEWS)
*HEY, PARENTS, MOST OF YOU ARE TOO FUCKING DUMB TO DECIDE ON YOUR KID'S SCHOOL CURRICULUM BY THE RUDE PUNDIT(COMMENTARY)
*WE COULD VACCINATE THE WORLD 3 TIMES OVER IF THE RICH PAID THE TAXES THEY OWE
(REALITY)
*ROLL THE TAPE(GOP POLITICS)
*NOW EVANGELICALS WANT TO DEPICT 'SOCIAL JUSTICE' AS UN-CHRISTIAN
(CHRISTIANITY)
*GOP BILLIONAIRE KEN LANGONE SAYS HE WILL HOLD A FUNDRAISER FOR DEMOCRAT JOE MANCHIN, WHO HAS WORKED TO SHRINK BIDEN’S AGENDA
(SELLOUTS)
*CHOMSKY: BUILD BACK BETTER FIASCO EXPOSES HOW BOTH PARTIES SERVE CORPORATE POWER
(COMMENTARY)
*HISTORIAN: BLACK DISTRUST OF THE POLICE IS ABOUT MORE THAN ACTS OF VIOLENCE
(GESTAPO USA)
*DEMOCRATS AGAIN LAMENT THEIR WEAKNESS IN RURAL AREAS, BUT THEY DON’T HAVE AN ANSWER TO THE PROBLEM(ELECTIONS)
*SLAVE ROOM DISCOVERED AT POMPEII IN 'RARE' FIND
(ANCIENT TIMES)
*THE FUCK, JOE MANCHIN? BY THE RUDE PUNDIT
(COMMENTARY)
*MAN APOLOGIZES FOR LOSING TRACK OF HIS DICK LONG ENOUGH FOR IT TO BECOME FOX NEWS HOST(FUNNIES)
*THE DARK HISTORY OF AMERICAN ANTISEMITISM
(HISTORY)
*THE SEEDY CRIMES OF THE OBSCENELY RICH ARE ROUTINELY IGNORED
(REALITY)
*BLOODSHED
FOR 187 HARROWING MINUTES, THE PRESIDENT WATCHED HIS
SUPPORTERS ATTACK THE CAPITOL — AND RESISTED PLEAS TO STOP THEM.
(HTTPS://ARCHIVE.PH/9BTTD)
*ALABAMA JUDGE BOOTED FOR RACIST, INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR
(AMERICA)
*DUMBASS NATION: THE WAGES OF IGNORANCE
(COMMENTARY)
*late news of interest*
Let's Cut the Crap
nancegreggs - du
8/8/2021
Republican voters - especially the Trump-humpers among them -- are not where they are because they're poorly-educated, misled, easily-manipulated dupes.
Those excuses for their behaviour - despite all of it being true - is no longer a viable explanation for their actions.
The truth is they're are just downright stupid.
No one with enough common sense to come in out of the rain would ignore the expertise of Dr. Fauci (world renowned physician, scientist, immunologist), and instead take their medical advice from the same lunatic who told them the pandemic was a hoax.
No one with enough functioning brain cells to enable them to tie their own shoelaces would look at the real-time footage of January 6th and ever believe that it was a 'regular tourist event' - or, even more amazingly, buy the line that the events of January 6th actually never happened.
No one with sufficient brain-power to successfully microwave a hotdog would see deaths among the unvaccinated surge - and not understand that the vaccines are working, and being unvaccinated is the problem.
No one with an IQ above that of the average house plant would believe that the 2020 election was 'stolen' when there hasn't been a modicum of proof produced to support that idea, would believe that a man obsessed with keeping his income tax returns hidden has 'nothing to hide', would believe that TFG (the self-proclaimed billionaire) needs their donations to cover his personal expenses.
These people are actually supporting Republican whack-jobs who believe that Jewish Space Lasers cause forest fires, and the so-called 'Christians' among them have no problem taking selfies with a golden Trump statue.
Once upon a time, the Trump-humpers could be excused as ill-informed idiots who bought the snake oil that would, as promised, cure all ills.
We're well past that now. Anyone still supporting TFG - and the party he still holds sway over - is, quite simply, a fucking moron, devoid of the common sense required to distinguish between shit and Shinola.
So let's stop pretending that those still clinging to TFG's blatant bullshit are citizens who simply don't know any better - because if they don't know better by now, they are too stupid to ever know anything.
Those excuses for their behaviour - despite all of it being true - is no longer a viable explanation for their actions.
The truth is they're are just downright stupid.
No one with enough common sense to come in out of the rain would ignore the expertise of Dr. Fauci (world renowned physician, scientist, immunologist), and instead take their medical advice from the same lunatic who told them the pandemic was a hoax.
No one with enough functioning brain cells to enable them to tie their own shoelaces would look at the real-time footage of January 6th and ever believe that it was a 'regular tourist event' - or, even more amazingly, buy the line that the events of January 6th actually never happened.
No one with sufficient brain-power to successfully microwave a hotdog would see deaths among the unvaccinated surge - and not understand that the vaccines are working, and being unvaccinated is the problem.
No one with an IQ above that of the average house plant would believe that the 2020 election was 'stolen' when there hasn't been a modicum of proof produced to support that idea, would believe that a man obsessed with keeping his income tax returns hidden has 'nothing to hide', would believe that TFG (the self-proclaimed billionaire) needs their donations to cover his personal expenses.
These people are actually supporting Republican whack-jobs who believe that Jewish Space Lasers cause forest fires, and the so-called 'Christians' among them have no problem taking selfies with a golden Trump statue.
Once upon a time, the Trump-humpers could be excused as ill-informed idiots who bought the snake oil that would, as promised, cure all ills.
We're well past that now. Anyone still supporting TFG - and the party he still holds sway over - is, quite simply, a fucking moron, devoid of the common sense required to distinguish between shit and Shinola.
So let's stop pretending that those still clinging to TFG's blatant bullshit are citizens who simply don't know any better - because if they don't know better by now, they are too stupid to ever know anything.
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.
