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reality is the state of things as they actually exist
MAR 18, 2024
Real News Today
(for previous day's articles see "what's inside" below)
comment/tweet of the day
putin's bitch: Trump Refuses To Condemn Putin For Navalny's Death
As usual, Trump will not irk his fanboy crush.
from archives: New research on Trump voters: They're not the sharpest tools in the box
Now there's proof: Trump's voters lack "cognitive sophistication," often believe Bible is literal word of God
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thom hartmann
What Americans and the Media are Missing About the TikTok Crisis
It’s time for “truth in labeling” laws like the processed food industry complies with to apply to social media. The life — and democracy — that gets…
greed, greed, greed!!!
Rent Increases Are Driving Inflation — and Pessimism About Economy Under Biden
Democrats say the economy is great, but millions of tenants are struggling to pay historic rent increases.
By Mike Ludwig , TRUTHOUT
Published March 15, 2024
We’re told that, at least by conventional measures, the U.S. economy is doing great: Inflation is cooling and unemployment remains low. Pundits claim consumers just feel like the economy is troubled because they are still adjusting to higher prices after a global pandemic, and that helps to explain President Joe Biden’s dismal poll numbers as he seeks reelection in November.
However, traditional economic indicators often fail to capture the extreme wealth inequality in the United States. The rich have been getting richer for decades amid stagnating wages for workers. By 2023, nearly 80 percent of people making less than $50,000 a year were living paycheck to paycheck, along with 4 in 10 workers making more than $100,000 a year.
The nation faces a deep crisis of housing and homelessness that gifted inordinate power to landlords, and it’s difficult to put a positive spin on the economy when you’re struggling to pay rent and the landlord ignores your calls to fix the plumbing. Nationally, rent remains a key driver of inflation, with costs rising 0.5 percent since January and 5.8 percent over the past year.
“Tenants are paying more in rent than they have ever before, for the worst conditions that they have ever lived in,” said Grace White, an organizer with the Homes Guarantee campaign, in an interview.
The pandemic caused major disruptions in the housing market. People lost jobs or moved in search of more living space, and construction on new housing came to a halt. Inflation is easing in other parts of the economy, and the Federal Reserve is eager to lower interest rates as post-pandemic housing prices cool in some major cities after a period significant overheating in 2021 and 2022.
However, the nation is still dealing with an affordable housing shortage despite new construction efforts, and landlords have few incentives to refrain from gouging their tenants (or promptly fix the plumbing, for that matter).
A record number of people in the U.S. are houseless after policy makers allowed the pandemic-era safety net for workers and tenants to expire despite soaring housing costs. About 653,100 people reported living without a house in January of 2023, up roughly 12 percent from the same time last year and the largest single-year increase on record, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Overall, homelessness has increased by 48 percent since 2015.
An estimated 37 percent of tenants say they are very or somewhat likely to be evicted in the next two months, according to the Census Bureau’s most recent Pulse Household survey, which tracks real-time data on the pandemic’s impacts on everyday life. While the survey’s sample size is small and the results are a national estimate, a majority of households surveyed reported a rent increase in the past year, and the data clearly suggests that millions of people worry about losing their homes due to rent increases.
As long as landlords have the power to price gouge or inflate rents at whatever rate they so choose, they will,” White said.
White organizes with a national network of tenants’ unions, and she told Truthout that it’s all about power. Landlords leverage access to a basic human need that costs many people a significant chunk of their income. When housing markets are tight and lower-income tenants have few or no options, landlords can continue raising the rent even as inflation cools and simply evict tenants who can’t afford to pay.
If a low-income family’s choice is between an apartment they can’t afford alongside their budget for groceries, or having no apartment at all, then what choice do they really have? White said this is a crucial question for policy makers.
“Time and time again, inflation numbers show that landlords are hiking rents far beyond the rate of inflation, and they are going to continue to do that until the Biden administration steps in and regulates rents and rent gouging,” White said.
President Biden knows that the affordable housing shortage and rent prices are problems for millions of voters — and for him politically. Administration officials met with the Homes Guarantee campaign and housing justice activists from across the country last summer, and Biden pledged to crack down on price-gouging “big landlords” in his State of the Union speech last week.
Biden was referring to the Justice Department throwing its support behind a landmark antitrust lawsuit filed by tenants against RealPage, a real estate website accused to colluding with landlords to inflate rent prices. Biden is also calling on Congress to pass his housing plan, which would expand tax credits for affordable housing construction and incentivize the construction of 2 million housing units with $20 billion in federal grants for cities and tribes.
Building more affordable housing units is a necessary but long-term strategy. White said tenants need relief in the interim, and the most efficient way to help tenants is limiting rent hikes by landlords who finance their properties with federally backed mortgages.
“Currently the federal government, through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are in business with landlords and sometimes the worst rent gougers,” White said, adding that about 12 million units are backed by federal mortgages. “This business should be conditioned on limits to rent hikes and tenant protections.”
After two years of organizing by the Housing Guarantee campaign and its allies, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) agreed to take public comments on proposals for enhancing protections for tenants renting from landlords with federally backed mortgages. White said any new regulations would apply to about 12 million homes nationwide, and the goal is to restore some balance of power between tenants and landlords.
“Time and time again tenants have called for the administration to regulate rent, and the most efficient way for the president to address rent inflation and rent gouging is limiting the power of landlords to hike rents, and the administration has the power to do that by conditioning enterprise-backed mortgages for multifamily homes,” White said.
Comments poured into the FHFA from tenants’ unions, the real estate lobby and renters with lived experience across the country. Unsurprisingly, landlords and real estate lobbyists submitted comments to the FHFA arguing against rent controls, which they say would prevent investment in new units.
Last summer, a group of 32 economists signed off on a letter to the Biden administration pushing back on the industry’s economic arguments and supporting national rent controls for multifamily homes with federally backed mortgages. In order to finance their properties with federal loans, landlords would agree to meet certain housing standards and avoid predatory rent increases.
“Implementing rent regulations as a condition on federally-backed mortgages will protect tenants, stabilize neighborhoods, promote income diversity in regional economies, and improve the long-term outlook for housing affordability,” the economists wrote.
The Biden administration says its currently reviewing the comments to FHFA, and White said activists and tenants eagerly await a proposal from federal regulators.
However, traditional economic indicators often fail to capture the extreme wealth inequality in the United States. The rich have been getting richer for decades amid stagnating wages for workers. By 2023, nearly 80 percent of people making less than $50,000 a year were living paycheck to paycheck, along with 4 in 10 workers making more than $100,000 a year.
The nation faces a deep crisis of housing and homelessness that gifted inordinate power to landlords, and it’s difficult to put a positive spin on the economy when you’re struggling to pay rent and the landlord ignores your calls to fix the plumbing. Nationally, rent remains a key driver of inflation, with costs rising 0.5 percent since January and 5.8 percent over the past year.
“Tenants are paying more in rent than they have ever before, for the worst conditions that they have ever lived in,” said Grace White, an organizer with the Homes Guarantee campaign, in an interview.
The pandemic caused major disruptions in the housing market. People lost jobs or moved in search of more living space, and construction on new housing came to a halt. Inflation is easing in other parts of the economy, and the Federal Reserve is eager to lower interest rates as post-pandemic housing prices cool in some major cities after a period significant overheating in 2021 and 2022.
However, the nation is still dealing with an affordable housing shortage despite new construction efforts, and landlords have few incentives to refrain from gouging their tenants (or promptly fix the plumbing, for that matter).
A record number of people in the U.S. are houseless after policy makers allowed the pandemic-era safety net for workers and tenants to expire despite soaring housing costs. About 653,100 people reported living without a house in January of 2023, up roughly 12 percent from the same time last year and the largest single-year increase on record, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Overall, homelessness has increased by 48 percent since 2015.
An estimated 37 percent of tenants say they are very or somewhat likely to be evicted in the next two months, according to the Census Bureau’s most recent Pulse Household survey, which tracks real-time data on the pandemic’s impacts on everyday life. While the survey’s sample size is small and the results are a national estimate, a majority of households surveyed reported a rent increase in the past year, and the data clearly suggests that millions of people worry about losing their homes due to rent increases.
As long as landlords have the power to price gouge or inflate rents at whatever rate they so choose, they will,” White said.
White organizes with a national network of tenants’ unions, and she told Truthout that it’s all about power. Landlords leverage access to a basic human need that costs many people a significant chunk of their income. When housing markets are tight and lower-income tenants have few or no options, landlords can continue raising the rent even as inflation cools and simply evict tenants who can’t afford to pay.
If a low-income family’s choice is between an apartment they can’t afford alongside their budget for groceries, or having no apartment at all, then what choice do they really have? White said this is a crucial question for policy makers.
“Time and time again, inflation numbers show that landlords are hiking rents far beyond the rate of inflation, and they are going to continue to do that until the Biden administration steps in and regulates rents and rent gouging,” White said.
President Biden knows that the affordable housing shortage and rent prices are problems for millions of voters — and for him politically. Administration officials met with the Homes Guarantee campaign and housing justice activists from across the country last summer, and Biden pledged to crack down on price-gouging “big landlords” in his State of the Union speech last week.
Biden was referring to the Justice Department throwing its support behind a landmark antitrust lawsuit filed by tenants against RealPage, a real estate website accused to colluding with landlords to inflate rent prices. Biden is also calling on Congress to pass his housing plan, which would expand tax credits for affordable housing construction and incentivize the construction of 2 million housing units with $20 billion in federal grants for cities and tribes.
Building more affordable housing units is a necessary but long-term strategy. White said tenants need relief in the interim, and the most efficient way to help tenants is limiting rent hikes by landlords who finance their properties with federally backed mortgages.
“Currently the federal government, through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are in business with landlords and sometimes the worst rent gougers,” White said, adding that about 12 million units are backed by federal mortgages. “This business should be conditioned on limits to rent hikes and tenant protections.”
After two years of organizing by the Housing Guarantee campaign and its allies, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) agreed to take public comments on proposals for enhancing protections for tenants renting from landlords with federally backed mortgages. White said any new regulations would apply to about 12 million homes nationwide, and the goal is to restore some balance of power between tenants and landlords.
“Time and time again tenants have called for the administration to regulate rent, and the most efficient way for the president to address rent inflation and rent gouging is limiting the power of landlords to hike rents, and the administration has the power to do that by conditioning enterprise-backed mortgages for multifamily homes,” White said.
Comments poured into the FHFA from tenants’ unions, the real estate lobby and renters with lived experience across the country. Unsurprisingly, landlords and real estate lobbyists submitted comments to the FHFA arguing against rent controls, which they say would prevent investment in new units.
Last summer, a group of 32 economists signed off on a letter to the Biden administration pushing back on the industry’s economic arguments and supporting national rent controls for multifamily homes with federally backed mortgages. In order to finance their properties with federal loans, landlords would agree to meet certain housing standards and avoid predatory rent increases.
“Implementing rent regulations as a condition on federally-backed mortgages will protect tenants, stabilize neighborhoods, promote income diversity in regional economies, and improve the long-term outlook for housing affordability,” the economists wrote.
The Biden administration says its currently reviewing the comments to FHFA, and White said activists and tenants eagerly await a proposal from federal regulators.
Could decaf coffee be banned? A controversy over chemicals is brewing
Some activists and lawmakers want to ban European Method decaf, the most common form of decaffeinated coffee
By ASHLIE D. STEVENS - salon
Food Editor
PUBLISHED MARCH 16, 2024 12:00PM (EDT)
A significant coffee controversy is brewing as two activist groups and a California lawmaker have petitioned to ban European Method decaf — the most common form of decaffeinated coffee — because it is produced using chemical solvents, including methylene chloride, which bind to the caffeine and extract it from the beans.
The National Coffee Association says the decision would “unjustifiably deny decaffeinated coffee drinkers access to a safe product associated with decreased risk of multiple cancers and other health benefits,” while the petitioning groups have voiced concerns that the federal government is shirking its responsibilities in allowing methylene chloride to be consumed. “FDA has been disregarding the law by permitting these long-established carcinogens to be added to food,” Maria Doa, senior director for chemicals policy at Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement to Quality Assurance.
In January, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) petitioned the FDA to amend their food additive regulations in order to prohibit the use of four chemical solvents, including methylene chloride, from food production. Shortly thereafter, California Assemblymember Eloise Reyes proposed new legislation that would expressly prohibit a “person or entity from using methylene chloride in the process of decaffeinating coffee” starting in 2027.
“The bill would make a violation of these provisions punishable by a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for a first violation and not to exceed $10,000 for each subsequent violation, upon an action brought by the Attorney General, a city attorney, a county counsel, or a district attorney,” the legislative counsel’s digest read.
The nonprofit Clean Label Project has been lobbying the state assembly to support the bill, which was introduced on Feb. 1 and has yet to be heard in counsel.
In the wake of the filing, the National Coffee Association and its president issued a statement via email last week, saying that “European Method decaf is authorized as safe by the rigorous standards of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Food Safety Authority, Food Standards Australia New Zealand, and other food safety authorities around the world.”
According to the FDA’s current food safety regulations, methylene chloride is acceptable in coffee as a residue from its use as a solvent in the extraction of caffeine from green coffee beans “at a level not to exceed 10 parts per million (0.001 percent) in decaffeinated roasted coffee and in decaffeinated soluble coffee extract (instant coffee).”
“Banning European Method decaf would defy science and harm Americans’ health,” said National Coffee Association president and CEO Bill Murray. “The overwhelming weight of independent scientific evidence shows that drinking European Method decaf is safe and furthermore that drinking European Method decaf, like all coffee, is associated with decreased risk of multiple cancers and other significant health benefits.”
He continued: “Neither EDF nor CLP have presented anything resembling compelling evidence to the contrary, so FDA and the California legislature must reject these baseless proposed bans.”
This push to do away with European Method decaf comes amid other efforts to ban certain chemicals from food production in California. In October, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 418 — known as the California Food Safety Act, sometimes referred to colloquially as the "Skittles ban” — into law. The historic legislation bans the “manufacturing, selling, delivering, distributing, holding, or offering for sale” of food products that contain four additives: brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and red dye 3.
Red dye 3 was banned from cosmetic use in the United States in 1990 which helped serve as a precedent for those interested in seeing the substance cut out of food production; similarly, methylene chloride has been banned from cosmetic use since 1989. In a statement at the time, the FDA wrote:
Methylene chloride has been used as an ingredient of aerosol cosmetic products, principally hair sprays, at concentrations generally ranging from 10 to 25 percent. In a 2-year animal inhalation study sponsored by the National Toxicology Program, methylene chloride produced a significant increase in benign and malignant tumors of the lung and liver of male and female mice. Based on these findings and on estimates of human exposure from the customary use of hair sprays, the Food and Drug Administration concludes that the use of methylene chloride in cosmetic products poses a significant cancer risk to consumers, and that the use of this ingredient in cosmetic products may render these products injurious to health.
According to the National Coffee Association, about 10% of American adults — or about 26 million people — drink decaffeinated coffee every day and the majority of decaffeinated coffee has been made using the European Method for more than 50 years.
The National Coffee Association says the decision would “unjustifiably deny decaffeinated coffee drinkers access to a safe product associated with decreased risk of multiple cancers and other health benefits,” while the petitioning groups have voiced concerns that the federal government is shirking its responsibilities in allowing methylene chloride to be consumed. “FDA has been disregarding the law by permitting these long-established carcinogens to be added to food,” Maria Doa, senior director for chemicals policy at Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement to Quality Assurance.
In January, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) petitioned the FDA to amend their food additive regulations in order to prohibit the use of four chemical solvents, including methylene chloride, from food production. Shortly thereafter, California Assemblymember Eloise Reyes proposed new legislation that would expressly prohibit a “person or entity from using methylene chloride in the process of decaffeinating coffee” starting in 2027.
“The bill would make a violation of these provisions punishable by a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for a first violation and not to exceed $10,000 for each subsequent violation, upon an action brought by the Attorney General, a city attorney, a county counsel, or a district attorney,” the legislative counsel’s digest read.
The nonprofit Clean Label Project has been lobbying the state assembly to support the bill, which was introduced on Feb. 1 and has yet to be heard in counsel.
In the wake of the filing, the National Coffee Association and its president issued a statement via email last week, saying that “European Method decaf is authorized as safe by the rigorous standards of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Food Safety Authority, Food Standards Australia New Zealand, and other food safety authorities around the world.”
According to the FDA’s current food safety regulations, methylene chloride is acceptable in coffee as a residue from its use as a solvent in the extraction of caffeine from green coffee beans “at a level not to exceed 10 parts per million (0.001 percent) in decaffeinated roasted coffee and in decaffeinated soluble coffee extract (instant coffee).”
“Banning European Method decaf would defy science and harm Americans’ health,” said National Coffee Association president and CEO Bill Murray. “The overwhelming weight of independent scientific evidence shows that drinking European Method decaf is safe and furthermore that drinking European Method decaf, like all coffee, is associated with decreased risk of multiple cancers and other significant health benefits.”
He continued: “Neither EDF nor CLP have presented anything resembling compelling evidence to the contrary, so FDA and the California legislature must reject these baseless proposed bans.”
This push to do away with European Method decaf comes amid other efforts to ban certain chemicals from food production in California. In October, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 418 — known as the California Food Safety Act, sometimes referred to colloquially as the "Skittles ban” — into law. The historic legislation bans the “manufacturing, selling, delivering, distributing, holding, or offering for sale” of food products that contain four additives: brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and red dye 3.
Red dye 3 was banned from cosmetic use in the United States in 1990 which helped serve as a precedent for those interested in seeing the substance cut out of food production; similarly, methylene chloride has been banned from cosmetic use since 1989. In a statement at the time, the FDA wrote:
Methylene chloride has been used as an ingredient of aerosol cosmetic products, principally hair sprays, at concentrations generally ranging from 10 to 25 percent. In a 2-year animal inhalation study sponsored by the National Toxicology Program, methylene chloride produced a significant increase in benign and malignant tumors of the lung and liver of male and female mice. Based on these findings and on estimates of human exposure from the customary use of hair sprays, the Food and Drug Administration concludes that the use of methylene chloride in cosmetic products poses a significant cancer risk to consumers, and that the use of this ingredient in cosmetic products may render these products injurious to health.
According to the National Coffee Association, about 10% of American adults — or about 26 million people — drink decaffeinated coffee every day and the majority of decaffeinated coffee has been made using the European Method for more than 50 years.
nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people
excerpt
Alabama IVF Ruling Is About Controlling Who Can Reproduce the Citizenry
The GOP is on an earnest quest to create a theocracy in which white patriarchy remains dominant in the US.
By Lauren Rankin , TRUTHOUT
Published March 16, 2024
...The Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling was the natural extension of the post-Roe nightmare in which the U.S. finds itself, one that extends far beyond whether abortion is legal or not. This is a natural extension of what the Supreme Court unleashed in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which laid the groundwork for the Supreme Court to eradicate the right to privacy, establishing in Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965, and therefore undo the decades of civil rights protections for women and LGBTQ folks. Attacking IVF and establishing fetal personhood is fundamental to dismantling the right to privacy and establishing theocratic rule by determining who is and is not allowed to reproduce the nation.
The constitutional right to privacy was established by the Supreme Court in the 1965 case Griswold v. Connecticut, in which the court struck down bans on contraception for married people. Simply put, the right to privacy means the right to individual bodily and personal autonomy. While it isn’t expressly stated in the constitution, its existence is supported in various places in the Constitution, including the First, Third and Fourth Amendments. It’s this fundamental right on which gender equality and LGBTQ freedom — legal abortion, bans on anti-sodomy laws and marriage equality — is predicated. Conservatives have long sought to dismantle this right. The Dobbs ruling laid the very groundwork for this when Samuel Alito wrote that the right to privacy is “not mentioned” in the Constitution, and therefore not “rooted in the Nation’s history and tradition.”
Eroding the right to privacy is about maintaining white, cisgender, heterosexual men in dominant positions of power. These conservative leaders fear that if everyone in the U.S. has the right to control their own fertility, they will have the ability to determine what the U.S.’s future citizens look like. This aligns with the “Great Replacement” theory, a racist conspiracy theory popular with Republicans that claims that liberals are driving demographic changes to ensure that Democrats win elections.
Establishing fetal personhood is a longtime conservative goal, dating back to Roe v. Wade in 1973. In recent years, as IVF has increased in popularity, banning it has gone from a fringe viewpoint to a mainstream one among conservatives — it restricts who gets to reproduce the nation. IVF has actually become fairly common in the U.S. — according to a recent Pew poll, 42 percent of adults say they know someone who has used fertility treatments.
For people with disabilities, IVF can be a meaningful option to have a child in a way that might otherwise not be possible. For queer couples and trans people, IVF is sometimes their only option to have a family, even though many face increased barriers to accessing it since insurance companies often covers IVF for straight couples but not for queer couples.
Right-wing politicians are incensed that queer couples and trans people even have the ability to potentially pursue IVF because this basic reproductive freedom violates the conservative worldview that only white, heterosexual procreation is acceptable. In the world that conservatives are trying to create, none of these people would be able to create the families they want in the way that they want. That sounds eerily like eugenics.
Conservatives’ attempts to shut down IVF may also be related to their panic about the declining birth rate among young, cisgender white women. The average age of birthing parents has continually increased, and white cis women, in particular, are waiting longer and longer to become pregnant. Right-wing leaders are wringing their hands over this because if white, cis women aren’t having children, early and often, it’s difficult to retain a white-dominated population in the future. At first glance, banning IVF might be seen by some as running at cross-purposes to the white nationalist aim of expanding white reproduction, since social and economic barriers to accessing IVF have resulted in a disproportionate percent of IVF recipients being older white women. However, if IVF bans force white women to pursue having children at younger ages — knowing that they will not be able to freeze their eggs or access IVF support later — that fits neatly into the right-wingers’ eugenicist plans.
But this ruling is even more far-reaching than a eugenics dog whistle. Declaring a frozen embryo a person doesn’t just upend who can pursue IVF and who can’t — it fundamentally restructures whose personhood matters in the eyes of the law. If an embryo is a person, then anything that harms that embryo is akin to harming an actual human person. If a pregnant person trips and falls, accidentally terminating their early pregnancy, are they then a murderer? According to this absurd line of legal thinking, the answer is yes. “Fetal personhood” isn’t just about banning abortion; it’s about establishing that the rights of a fetus, or in this case, a literal embryo, supersede the rights of the pregnant person.
In his concurring opinion to the ruling, Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker, an elected Republican, wrote that “human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself.” He claimed that “even before birth, all human beings have the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.”
In Chief Justice Parker’s view, it isn’t the pregnant person or even their partner who is responsible for life, but a narrow, Christian version of a deity. Parker doesn’t acknowledge other faith traditions, like the fact that Judaism expressly states that a fetus is secondary to the pregnant person. But, of course, he doesn’t need to, because his concurrence wasn’t about stating facts, but about establishing his and other conservatives’ brand of Christian theocracy as constitutional. There is no separation of church and state when the church claims that it is the state. Individuals don’t get to decide if, when and how they have children in that kind of theocracy.
Elected Republicans are already trying to avoid talking about this deeply unpopular ruling, afraid of inspiring even further ire from voters amid the new, pro-abortion rights voting wave. But don’t mistake their silence for support. When handed an opportunity to protect IVF, it was a Republican senator who torpedoed the legislation. The end of Roe v. Wade was the beginning of their earnest quest to eradicate the right to privacy and create a theocratic country in which pregnancy is a state of incubation and white, heteronormative supremacy remains the dominant power structure in the U.S.
The constitutional right to privacy was established by the Supreme Court in the 1965 case Griswold v. Connecticut, in which the court struck down bans on contraception for married people. Simply put, the right to privacy means the right to individual bodily and personal autonomy. While it isn’t expressly stated in the constitution, its existence is supported in various places in the Constitution, including the First, Third and Fourth Amendments. It’s this fundamental right on which gender equality and LGBTQ freedom — legal abortion, bans on anti-sodomy laws and marriage equality — is predicated. Conservatives have long sought to dismantle this right. The Dobbs ruling laid the very groundwork for this when Samuel Alito wrote that the right to privacy is “not mentioned” in the Constitution, and therefore not “rooted in the Nation’s history and tradition.”
Eroding the right to privacy is about maintaining white, cisgender, heterosexual men in dominant positions of power. These conservative leaders fear that if everyone in the U.S. has the right to control their own fertility, they will have the ability to determine what the U.S.’s future citizens look like. This aligns with the “Great Replacement” theory, a racist conspiracy theory popular with Republicans that claims that liberals are driving demographic changes to ensure that Democrats win elections.
Establishing fetal personhood is a longtime conservative goal, dating back to Roe v. Wade in 1973. In recent years, as IVF has increased in popularity, banning it has gone from a fringe viewpoint to a mainstream one among conservatives — it restricts who gets to reproduce the nation. IVF has actually become fairly common in the U.S. — according to a recent Pew poll, 42 percent of adults say they know someone who has used fertility treatments.
For people with disabilities, IVF can be a meaningful option to have a child in a way that might otherwise not be possible. For queer couples and trans people, IVF is sometimes their only option to have a family, even though many face increased barriers to accessing it since insurance companies often covers IVF for straight couples but not for queer couples.
Right-wing politicians are incensed that queer couples and trans people even have the ability to potentially pursue IVF because this basic reproductive freedom violates the conservative worldview that only white, heterosexual procreation is acceptable. In the world that conservatives are trying to create, none of these people would be able to create the families they want in the way that they want. That sounds eerily like eugenics.
Conservatives’ attempts to shut down IVF may also be related to their panic about the declining birth rate among young, cisgender white women. The average age of birthing parents has continually increased, and white cis women, in particular, are waiting longer and longer to become pregnant. Right-wing leaders are wringing their hands over this because if white, cis women aren’t having children, early and often, it’s difficult to retain a white-dominated population in the future. At first glance, banning IVF might be seen by some as running at cross-purposes to the white nationalist aim of expanding white reproduction, since social and economic barriers to accessing IVF have resulted in a disproportionate percent of IVF recipients being older white women. However, if IVF bans force white women to pursue having children at younger ages — knowing that they will not be able to freeze their eggs or access IVF support later — that fits neatly into the right-wingers’ eugenicist plans.
But this ruling is even more far-reaching than a eugenics dog whistle. Declaring a frozen embryo a person doesn’t just upend who can pursue IVF and who can’t — it fundamentally restructures whose personhood matters in the eyes of the law. If an embryo is a person, then anything that harms that embryo is akin to harming an actual human person. If a pregnant person trips and falls, accidentally terminating their early pregnancy, are they then a murderer? According to this absurd line of legal thinking, the answer is yes. “Fetal personhood” isn’t just about banning abortion; it’s about establishing that the rights of a fetus, or in this case, a literal embryo, supersede the rights of the pregnant person.
In his concurring opinion to the ruling, Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker, an elected Republican, wrote that “human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself.” He claimed that “even before birth, all human beings have the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.”
In Chief Justice Parker’s view, it isn’t the pregnant person or even their partner who is responsible for life, but a narrow, Christian version of a deity. Parker doesn’t acknowledge other faith traditions, like the fact that Judaism expressly states that a fetus is secondary to the pregnant person. But, of course, he doesn’t need to, because his concurrence wasn’t about stating facts, but about establishing his and other conservatives’ brand of Christian theocracy as constitutional. There is no separation of church and state when the church claims that it is the state. Individuals don’t get to decide if, when and how they have children in that kind of theocracy.
Elected Republicans are already trying to avoid talking about this deeply unpopular ruling, afraid of inspiring even further ire from voters amid the new, pro-abortion rights voting wave. But don’t mistake their silence for support. When handed an opportunity to protect IVF, it was a Republican senator who torpedoed the legislation. The end of Roe v. Wade was the beginning of their earnest quest to eradicate the right to privacy and create a theocratic country in which pregnancy is a state of incubation and white, heteronormative supremacy remains the dominant power structure in the U.S.
banning books due to a big lie!!!
Attempted Book Bans Last Year Targeted More Than 4,240 Titles, an All-Time High
There is “absolute evidence” of an effort “to remove particular books,” an American Library Association official said.
By Chris Walker , TRUTHOUT
Published March 15, 2024
A new report from the American Library Association (ALA) notes that there is “absolute evidence” that book bans have become increasingly organized, with bans skyrocketing in 2023 compared to prior years.
Around 4,240 individual book titles were challenged overall last year by parents, political groups and other individuals across the country — a 65 percent increase from the rate seen in 2022, when 2,571 titles were challenged.
According to the ALA report, public community libraries saw book challenges increase by 92 percent year-to-year, while school libraries saw an 11 percent increase. Books featuring LGBTQ and/or BIPOC characters made up nearly half (47 percent) of all challenges, according to the report.
The ALA did not yet name specific titles, but plans to release a “top ten” list of books that were challenged on April 8, to coincide with Right to Read Day.
The ALA has documented book challenges since 1990. The number of bans sought in 2023 is the highest the organization has ever seen, but it’s also an incomplete number, the report notes, as the data “represents only a snapshot of book censorship” because many book ban attempts are not formally flagged or do not get coverage from media.
Most of the challenges last year were made by far right parents and organizations, including extremist groups like Moms for Liberty, which campaigns against books containing LGBTQ characters or themes on the basis that such content is supposedly “inappropriate” — denying LGBTQ youth the opportunity to read stories that represent their identities and struggles.
“What we’re seeing is absolute evidence that there is actually an organized effort to remove particular books from both school libraries and public libraries,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “They are targeting the same titles with the same tactics, these mass challenges.”
In response, organizations have formed to challenge book bans and other right-wing efforts that target LGBTQ and BIPOC students. One such group, Grandparents for Truth, which launched in June of last year, is a project of the progressive advocacy group People for the American Way (PFAW). Members of Grandparents for Truth counter the attacks against curricula or library content by speaking out at board meetings, supporting progressive candidates for school board and opposing extremist candidates running for those seats.
“Authoritarianism is taking shape now in a way that is really, really, really serious, and we felt that there were organizations out there pretending to be for freedom and liberty, but really what they mean by that is freedom and liberty for only particular people, which was not OK,” said Marge Baker, PFAW executive director, speaking to Nadra Nittle of The 19th in December. “So, we felt like we needed to launch something that very visibly and viscerally confronted that message.”
A lot of the efforts are “based on Christian nationalism,” Baker noted, with advocates of far right book bans and other curricula restrictions wrongly claiming “that this country was founded as a Christian nation.”
“What they really mean is that it was founded as a White Christian nation, so material that is ‘acceptable’ is material that only uplifts those traditions,” Baker added. “So you end up with a whole host of communities that historically have been marginalized and attacked who are ending up being attacked by this latest book banning and censorship … in the name of freedom, but this is not about freedom, and we know it’s not.”
Around 4,240 individual book titles were challenged overall last year by parents, political groups and other individuals across the country — a 65 percent increase from the rate seen in 2022, when 2,571 titles were challenged.
According to the ALA report, public community libraries saw book challenges increase by 92 percent year-to-year, while school libraries saw an 11 percent increase. Books featuring LGBTQ and/or BIPOC characters made up nearly half (47 percent) of all challenges, according to the report.
The ALA did not yet name specific titles, but plans to release a “top ten” list of books that were challenged on April 8, to coincide with Right to Read Day.
The ALA has documented book challenges since 1990. The number of bans sought in 2023 is the highest the organization has ever seen, but it’s also an incomplete number, the report notes, as the data “represents only a snapshot of book censorship” because many book ban attempts are not formally flagged or do not get coverage from media.
Most of the challenges last year were made by far right parents and organizations, including extremist groups like Moms for Liberty, which campaigns against books containing LGBTQ characters or themes on the basis that such content is supposedly “inappropriate” — denying LGBTQ youth the opportunity to read stories that represent their identities and struggles.
“What we’re seeing is absolute evidence that there is actually an organized effort to remove particular books from both school libraries and public libraries,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “They are targeting the same titles with the same tactics, these mass challenges.”
In response, organizations have formed to challenge book bans and other right-wing efforts that target LGBTQ and BIPOC students. One such group, Grandparents for Truth, which launched in June of last year, is a project of the progressive advocacy group People for the American Way (PFAW). Members of Grandparents for Truth counter the attacks against curricula or library content by speaking out at board meetings, supporting progressive candidates for school board and opposing extremist candidates running for those seats.
“Authoritarianism is taking shape now in a way that is really, really, really serious, and we felt that there were organizations out there pretending to be for freedom and liberty, but really what they mean by that is freedom and liberty for only particular people, which was not OK,” said Marge Baker, PFAW executive director, speaking to Nadra Nittle of The 19th in December. “So, we felt like we needed to launch something that very visibly and viscerally confronted that message.”
A lot of the efforts are “based on Christian nationalism,” Baker noted, with advocates of far right book bans and other curricula restrictions wrongly claiming “that this country was founded as a Christian nation.”
“What they really mean is that it was founded as a White Christian nation, so material that is ‘acceptable’ is material that only uplifts those traditions,” Baker added. “So you end up with a whole host of communities that historically have been marginalized and attacked who are ending up being attacked by this latest book banning and censorship … in the name of freedom, but this is not about freedom, and we know it’s not.”
How dollar stores exacerbated American food deserts — and what it means when they leave them
“Dollar stores are now the fastest-growing food retailers in the contiguous United States"
By ASHLIE D. STEVENS - salon
Food Editor
PUBLISHED MARCH 17, 2024 12:00PM (EDT)
The past few years have held a series of difficulties for Family Dollar, which characterizes its brand as a collection of “neighborhood discount stores.”
In 2015, Dollar Tree bought the company in a $8.5 billion deal that the New York Times described as a “a lifeline” for Family Dollar, which had struggled financially for years. However, numerous financial and data analysts — including Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, and Joe Feldman, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group — have characterized the acquisition as a difficult one. “Basically, almost 10 years on, Dollar Tree is still sifting through the mess it inherited and has not been able to completely turn around,” Saunders told The Guardian.
The issues have been apparent on both store-specific and company-wide levels; for instance, last month, the United States Justice Department slapped Family Dollar with a $40 million fine after it was revealed they had been distributing items from a rat-infested warehouse, forcing hundreds of stores to temporarily close. Now, a month later, Family Dollar’s CEO Rick Dreiling has announced that the company plans on closing 1,000 stores permanently, citing several reasons: an increase in shoplifting, stubborn inflation and and the reduction of pandemic-era Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, which has left some families with $250 less to spend on groceries each month.
“Persistent inflation and reduced government benefits continue to pressure the lower-income consumers that comprise a sizable portion of Family Dollar’s” customer base,” Dreiling said Wednesday on a call with analysts.
However, it’s likely those same customers who are going to feel the impact of the closures most. In many rural and urban food deserts, dollar stores have come to double as grocery stores, though critics have pointed out that their existence doesn’t actually solve many food security concerns and, in some cases, only exacerbates them, making this rash of closures a complex loss.
Of course, there’s never a great time for a those living in a food desert — defined by the Food Empowerment Project as a “geographic areas where residents’ access to affordable, healthy food options, especially fresh fruits and vegetables, is restricted or nonexistent due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient traveling distance” — to lose access to a place where they buy groceries, but now is particularly challenging time as food insecurity is on the rise.
As Salon Food reported last year, data from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey showed that nearly 28 million people reported experiencing food scarcity in October, both the highest number of 2023 and the highest number recorded by the survey since December 2020. There are several factors contributing to that number, ranging from the aforementioned changes in SNAP benefits to sustained food inflation.
People living in food deserts are more likely to experience food insecurity as it’s simply more difficult to shop for food. As NPR reported in 2020, about 19 million people, or roughly 6% of the population, lived in a food desert.
In 2012, the USDA’s Economic Research Service examined the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of 6,500 food desert tracts in the United States to” see how they differ[ed] from other census tracts and the extent to which these differences influence food desert status.” The report authors wrote:
Relative to all other census tracts, food desert tracts tend to have smaller populations, higher rates of abandoned or vacant homes, and residents who have lower levels of education, lower incomes, and higher unemployment. Census tracts with higher poverty rates are more likely to be food deserts than otherwise similar low-income census tracts in rural and very dense (highly populated) urban areas. For less dense urban areas, census tracts with higher concentrations of minority populations are more likely to be food deserts.
These also happen to be the same communities where dollar stores tend to reign supreme. To be clear, his is a case of correlation, not causation; as Civil Eats reported in 2022, it’s important to consider that dollar stores satisfied a need as larger grocery stores over the last decade have both exited and avoided opening locations in low-income areas across the country, including many predominantly Black communities, in a move that some experts have referred to as “supermarket redlining.”
“When [grocery stores] started closing, it really left a big gap and dollar stores were very aggressive about filling this void,” said Kevin Kelley, the former president of the Clevelands city council, which, in 2022, unanimously passed a measure that permanently prevents discount stores like Family Dollar, Dollar General and Dollar Tree from opening within two miles of each other.
A 2023 study from experts at Tufts University School of Medicine and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, which was published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that “dollar stores are now the fastest-growing food retailers in the contiguous United States.”
“It’s a notable evolution: Dollar stores once focused primarily on personal care and craft items,” the university wrote in a release. “Now, they’re expanding to offer prepackaged, shelf-stable food items. These items might be convenient, but they often have suboptimal nutritional value.”
It continued: “While dollar stores don’t tend to specialize in fresh foods and produce, they do fill a void that can’t be ignored, especially for people who live in remote areas. In some ways, their rise is actually a positive development, providing consumers with food options in low-access areas. On the other hand, the recent growth in dollar store food expenditures raises concerns that such stores could force out local grocers through competitive pricing, the researchers write — leaving consumers with limited, less healthy options.”
Along those lines, the Center for Science in the Public Interest found that when dollar stores stores saturate a community’s grocery market, full-service food stores are deterred from opening, and existing grocers are pushed out, reporting that “sales in local grocery stores are known to drop by 30% following the opening of a nearby dollar store.”
For these reasons, Cleveland isn’t the only city to take or consider measures to curb the growth of discount stores. In December 2019, DeKalb County, which is included in the Metro Atlanta statistical area, issued a 45-day moratorium on the construction or expansion of “small box discount retailers.”
The measure was then extended 11 times until, three years later, the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners “unanimously passed comprehensive text amendments to the DeKalb Zoning Ordinance to set distance requirements” for small box discount retail stores.
So, what comes next? According to the New York Times, Dollar Tree, which owns Family Dollar, said Wednesday that it would close 600 Family Dollar locations this year and phase out 370 more when their leases expire. Who exactly will take their place remains to be seen, but will be of the utmost importance to food security in those communities.
In 2015, Dollar Tree bought the company in a $8.5 billion deal that the New York Times described as a “a lifeline” for Family Dollar, which had struggled financially for years. However, numerous financial and data analysts — including Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, and Joe Feldman, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group — have characterized the acquisition as a difficult one. “Basically, almost 10 years on, Dollar Tree is still sifting through the mess it inherited and has not been able to completely turn around,” Saunders told The Guardian.
The issues have been apparent on both store-specific and company-wide levels; for instance, last month, the United States Justice Department slapped Family Dollar with a $40 million fine after it was revealed they had been distributing items from a rat-infested warehouse, forcing hundreds of stores to temporarily close. Now, a month later, Family Dollar’s CEO Rick Dreiling has announced that the company plans on closing 1,000 stores permanently, citing several reasons: an increase in shoplifting, stubborn inflation and and the reduction of pandemic-era Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, which has left some families with $250 less to spend on groceries each month.
“Persistent inflation and reduced government benefits continue to pressure the lower-income consumers that comprise a sizable portion of Family Dollar’s” customer base,” Dreiling said Wednesday on a call with analysts.
However, it’s likely those same customers who are going to feel the impact of the closures most. In many rural and urban food deserts, dollar stores have come to double as grocery stores, though critics have pointed out that their existence doesn’t actually solve many food security concerns and, in some cases, only exacerbates them, making this rash of closures a complex loss.
Of course, there’s never a great time for a those living in a food desert — defined by the Food Empowerment Project as a “geographic areas where residents’ access to affordable, healthy food options, especially fresh fruits and vegetables, is restricted or nonexistent due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient traveling distance” — to lose access to a place where they buy groceries, but now is particularly challenging time as food insecurity is on the rise.
As Salon Food reported last year, data from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey showed that nearly 28 million people reported experiencing food scarcity in October, both the highest number of 2023 and the highest number recorded by the survey since December 2020. There are several factors contributing to that number, ranging from the aforementioned changes in SNAP benefits to sustained food inflation.
People living in food deserts are more likely to experience food insecurity as it’s simply more difficult to shop for food. As NPR reported in 2020, about 19 million people, or roughly 6% of the population, lived in a food desert.
In 2012, the USDA’s Economic Research Service examined the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of 6,500 food desert tracts in the United States to” see how they differ[ed] from other census tracts and the extent to which these differences influence food desert status.” The report authors wrote:
Relative to all other census tracts, food desert tracts tend to have smaller populations, higher rates of abandoned or vacant homes, and residents who have lower levels of education, lower incomes, and higher unemployment. Census tracts with higher poverty rates are more likely to be food deserts than otherwise similar low-income census tracts in rural and very dense (highly populated) urban areas. For less dense urban areas, census tracts with higher concentrations of minority populations are more likely to be food deserts.
These also happen to be the same communities where dollar stores tend to reign supreme. To be clear, his is a case of correlation, not causation; as Civil Eats reported in 2022, it’s important to consider that dollar stores satisfied a need as larger grocery stores over the last decade have both exited and avoided opening locations in low-income areas across the country, including many predominantly Black communities, in a move that some experts have referred to as “supermarket redlining.”
“When [grocery stores] started closing, it really left a big gap and dollar stores were very aggressive about filling this void,” said Kevin Kelley, the former president of the Clevelands city council, which, in 2022, unanimously passed a measure that permanently prevents discount stores like Family Dollar, Dollar General and Dollar Tree from opening within two miles of each other.
A 2023 study from experts at Tufts University School of Medicine and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, which was published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that “dollar stores are now the fastest-growing food retailers in the contiguous United States.”
“It’s a notable evolution: Dollar stores once focused primarily on personal care and craft items,” the university wrote in a release. “Now, they’re expanding to offer prepackaged, shelf-stable food items. These items might be convenient, but they often have suboptimal nutritional value.”
It continued: “While dollar stores don’t tend to specialize in fresh foods and produce, they do fill a void that can’t be ignored, especially for people who live in remote areas. In some ways, their rise is actually a positive development, providing consumers with food options in low-access areas. On the other hand, the recent growth in dollar store food expenditures raises concerns that such stores could force out local grocers through competitive pricing, the researchers write — leaving consumers with limited, less healthy options.”
Along those lines, the Center for Science in the Public Interest found that when dollar stores stores saturate a community’s grocery market, full-service food stores are deterred from opening, and existing grocers are pushed out, reporting that “sales in local grocery stores are known to drop by 30% following the opening of a nearby dollar store.”
For these reasons, Cleveland isn’t the only city to take or consider measures to curb the growth of discount stores. In December 2019, DeKalb County, which is included in the Metro Atlanta statistical area, issued a 45-day moratorium on the construction or expansion of “small box discount retailers.”
The measure was then extended 11 times until, three years later, the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners “unanimously passed comprehensive text amendments to the DeKalb Zoning Ordinance to set distance requirements” for small box discount retail stores.
So, what comes next? According to the New York Times, Dollar Tree, which owns Family Dollar, said Wednesday that it would close 600 Family Dollar locations this year and phase out 370 more when their leases expire. Who exactly will take their place remains to be seen, but will be of the utmost importance to food security in those communities.
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 Monday, March 18, 2024 at 4:59:24PM PT,
The Current Republican Debt is:
$16,627,139,604,087.70
which means that in a total of 24 years,
these four presidents have led to the creation of
94.67%
of the entire national debt
in only 9.6774% of the 248 years of the existence of the United States of America.
in the land of stupid!!!
Former Texas GOP official sentenced to 4 centuries in prison for child sex abuse
Brad Reed raw story
March 12, 2024 1:00PM ET
Bo Michael Dresner, a former precinct chairman for the Hays County, Texas Republican Party, was sentenced to more than four centuries in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of child sexual abuse and more than 60 claims related to child pornography with the intention to promote.
Although Dresner had originally pleaded not guilty after first being arrested on the charges five years ago, he changed his plea once his trial started earlier this month, reports MySanAntonion.com.
The trial was to feature testimony both from Dresner's own daughter and from another child who once lived in Dresner's home.
Dresner immediately raised suspicions when police started investigating claims that he abused children when he was pulled over on his way to an airport and found in possession of a one-way ticket to Armenia, which does not extradite alleged criminals back to the United States.
A subsequent search of his electronic devices featured hundreds of thousands of child pornography images and his search history showed he was looking for countries that specifically did not have extradition treaties with the United States.
According to MySanAntonion.com, Dresner "got a stacked sentence that totaled 410 years, according to a news release. Dresner was given 75 years each for four counts of sexual abuse of a child and Judge Gary Steel of the 274th District Court added sentences of 10 to 20 years for each of the 61 counts of child pornography with intent to promote."
Although Dresner had originally pleaded not guilty after first being arrested on the charges five years ago, he changed his plea once his trial started earlier this month, reports MySanAntonion.com.
The trial was to feature testimony both from Dresner's own daughter and from another child who once lived in Dresner's home.
Dresner immediately raised suspicions when police started investigating claims that he abused children when he was pulled over on his way to an airport and found in possession of a one-way ticket to Armenia, which does not extradite alleged criminals back to the United States.
A subsequent search of his electronic devices featured hundreds of thousands of child pornography images and his search history showed he was looking for countries that specifically did not have extradition treaties with the United States.
According to MySanAntonion.com, Dresner "got a stacked sentence that totaled 410 years, according to a news release. Dresner was given 75 years each for four counts of sexual abuse of a child and Judge Gary Steel of the 274th District Court added sentences of 10 to 20 years for each of the 61 counts of child pornography with intent to promote."
in the land of the stupid!!!
stuck on stupid!!!
Cowboys for Trump founder begs to be Trump's VP after 14th Amendment disqualification
Accusations of Satan worship fly in wild California GOP election fight
Brad Reed - raw story
March 18, 2024 12:28PM ET
Shasta County, California has long been a hotbed for far-right Republican politics -- but it seems that even many voters in this deep-red county are getting fed up with local officials who have been running on denying the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Shasta County voters chose to oust gun store owner Patrick Jones from the local Board of Supervisors after he spearheaded a campaign to remove Dominion Voting Systems machines and relentlessly promoted false claims about Trump's loss in the 2020 race.
And Jones wasn't the only hardcore election-denying Republican facing a tough election cycle, as his ally, Supervisor Kevin Crye, is currently winning his race by less than four dozen votes.
Added to this, voting totals show that Allen Long, a retired Redding police lieutenant, with a significant lead over Laura Hobbs, a candidate who describes herself as "100% MAGA and America First."
Long tells the LA Times that he was motivated to run for the board because he thought local officials had become too extreme, particularly in their embrace of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's conspiracy theories about voting machines.
"I was watching the politics here in our county, and I thought, ‘Wow, this has really become extreme,’” he said. “I wanted to guide us back to the middle.”
As if to illustrate Long's point about extremist, the LA Times report notes that Hobbs, his opponent, labeled Shasta County Republican Supervisor Mary Rickert a Satan worshipper because her car's license plate happens to have the number "666" on it.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Shasta County voters chose to oust gun store owner Patrick Jones from the local Board of Supervisors after he spearheaded a campaign to remove Dominion Voting Systems machines and relentlessly promoted false claims about Trump's loss in the 2020 race.
And Jones wasn't the only hardcore election-denying Republican facing a tough election cycle, as his ally, Supervisor Kevin Crye, is currently winning his race by less than four dozen votes.
Added to this, voting totals show that Allen Long, a retired Redding police lieutenant, with a significant lead over Laura Hobbs, a candidate who describes herself as "100% MAGA and America First."
Long tells the LA Times that he was motivated to run for the board because he thought local officials had become too extreme, particularly in their embrace of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's conspiracy theories about voting machines.
"I was watching the politics here in our county, and I thought, ‘Wow, this has really become extreme,’” he said. “I wanted to guide us back to the middle.”
As if to illustrate Long's point about extremist, the LA Times report notes that Hobbs, his opponent, labeled Shasta County Republican Supervisor Mary Rickert a Satan worshipper because her car's license plate happens to have the number "666" on it.
'Next up — property seizures': Experts analyze 'unbankable' Trump’s $464 million bond crisis
David Badash - alternet
March 18, 2024
Donald Trump’s attorneys in court documents say the ex-president has been unable to secure a bond for the full $464 million judgment against him in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil business fraud case against the ex-president, reportedly a billionaire who last year said he has $400 million in cash.
“In an April 2023 deposition for the fraud case, Trump said, ‘We have a lot of cash. I believe we have substantially in excess of $400 million in cash, which is a lot for a developer. Developers usually don’t have cash. They have assets, not cash. We have, I believe, $400-plus and going up very substantially every month,'” The Atlantic reported earlier this month.
But Trump’s attorneys now say securing a bond in the full amount is a “practical impossibility,” as Just Security’s Adam Klasfeld reports:
Trump’s attorneys tell the court they have spent “countless hours negotiating with one of the largest insurance companies in the world,” NBC News reports, and, “obtaining an appeal bond in the full amount” …. ‘is not possible under the circumstances presented.” They also note they approached 30 “surety” companies through four brokers and were unsuccessful.
Attorney General Letitia James says if Trump does not meet the March 25 deadline, she will begin the process of seizing his assets.
“We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers, and, yes, I look at 40 Wall St. each and every day,” James said, MSNBC reported last month.
“In an April 2023 deposition for the fraud case, Trump said, ‘We have a lot of cash. I believe we have substantially in excess of $400 million in cash, which is a lot for a developer. Developers usually don’t have cash. They have assets, not cash. We have, I believe, $400-plus and going up very substantially every month,'” The Atlantic reported earlier this month.
But Trump’s attorneys now say securing a bond in the full amount is a “practical impossibility,” as Just Security’s Adam Klasfeld reports:
Trump’s attorneys tell the court they have spent “countless hours negotiating with one of the largest insurance companies in the world,” NBC News reports, and, “obtaining an appeal bond in the full amount” …. ‘is not possible under the circumstances presented.” They also note they approached 30 “surety” companies through four brokers and were unsuccessful.
Attorney General Letitia James says if Trump does not meet the March 25 deadline, she will begin the process of seizing his assets.
“We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers, and, yes, I look at 40 Wall St. each and every day,” James said, MSNBC reported last month.
What Is the ‘Great Replacement Theory’? A Scholar of Race Relations Explains
Unmasking the Origins, Evolution and Societal Impact of the ‘Great Replacement Theory’
RODNEY COATES, MIAMI UNIVERSITY - dc report
March 16, 2024
The “great replacement theory,” whose origins date back to the late 19th century, argues that Jews and some Western elites are conspiring to replace white Americans and Europeans with people of non-European descent, particularly Asians and Africans.
The conspiracy evolved from a series of false ideas that, over time, stoked the fears of white people: In 1892, British-Australian author and politician Charles Pearson warned that white people would “wake to find ourselves elbowed and hustled, and perhaps even thrust aside by people whom we looked down.” The massive influx of immigrants into Europe at the time fostered some of these fears and resulted in “white extinction anxiety.” In the U.S., it resulted in policies targeting immigration in the late 19th and early 20th century.
In France, journalist Édouard Drumont, leader of an antisemitic movement, wrote articles in the late 19th century imagining how Jews would destroy French culture. In 1909, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, an Italian poet and supporter of Benito Mussolini, argued that war and fascism were the only cure for the world. Fascism, then and now, worked to ensure white dominance.
This was followed by the eugenics movement, an erroneous and racist theory that supported forced sterilization of Black people, the mentally ill and other marginalized groups, who were all deemed “unfit.”
The 1978 book entitled “The Turner Diaries,” a fictional futuristic account of the overthrow of the United States government, further contributed to white nationalist ideas.
Collectively, these gave rise to a global movement that attracted a wide range of white supremacist, xenophobic and anti-immigration conspiracy theories. These theories were formally codified in the work of Frenchman Renaud Camus, first in his 2010 book “L’Abécédaire de l’in-nocence” and elaborated in his 2011 book “Le Grand Remplacement.”
Camus argued that ethnic French and white Europeans were being replaced physically, culturally and politically by nonwhite people. He believed that liberal immigration policies and the dramatic decline in white birth rates were threatening European civilization and traditions.
Why This Conspiracy Theory Matters
These false ideas promulgated the spread of white supremacy, which has contributed to terrorist attacks, state violence and propaganda campaigns in the U.S and parts of Europe.
On Aug. 11, 2017, during a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, white nationalists chanted “You will not replace us” and “Jews will not replace us.” In spring 2019, Belgian politician Dries Van Langenhove repeatedly posted on social media, “We are being replaced.”
In recent years, nonwhite immigrants have been the target of xenophobia. Migrants, especially from Mexico, are accused of bringing criminal activities to American cities. Immigrants have also been falsely accused of smuggling fentanyl into the U.S. The reality is that immigrants commit far fewer crimes than those born in the U.S.
Impact of the Theory and Spread of Hate
In less than two decades, the theory has become a major idea, with as many as 60% of the French population believing some aspects of it. According to that survey, they are worried or at least concerned that they might be replaced. In the U.K. and the U.S., close to one-third of those polled believe that white people are systematically being replaced by nonwhite immigrants. Some in the U.S. fear that America might lose its culture and identity as a result.
Being aware of conspiracy theories and standing up to hatred, I argue, can help societies deal with the continuing fallout of extreme xenophobia, racist rants, the rise of white supremacy and the victimization of innocent people.
The conspiracy evolved from a series of false ideas that, over time, stoked the fears of white people: In 1892, British-Australian author and politician Charles Pearson warned that white people would “wake to find ourselves elbowed and hustled, and perhaps even thrust aside by people whom we looked down.” The massive influx of immigrants into Europe at the time fostered some of these fears and resulted in “white extinction anxiety.” In the U.S., it resulted in policies targeting immigration in the late 19th and early 20th century.
In France, journalist Édouard Drumont, leader of an antisemitic movement, wrote articles in the late 19th century imagining how Jews would destroy French culture. In 1909, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, an Italian poet and supporter of Benito Mussolini, argued that war and fascism were the only cure for the world. Fascism, then and now, worked to ensure white dominance.
This was followed by the eugenics movement, an erroneous and racist theory that supported forced sterilization of Black people, the mentally ill and other marginalized groups, who were all deemed “unfit.”
The 1978 book entitled “The Turner Diaries,” a fictional futuristic account of the overthrow of the United States government, further contributed to white nationalist ideas.
Collectively, these gave rise to a global movement that attracted a wide range of white supremacist, xenophobic and anti-immigration conspiracy theories. These theories were formally codified in the work of Frenchman Renaud Camus, first in his 2010 book “L’Abécédaire de l’in-nocence” and elaborated in his 2011 book “Le Grand Remplacement.”
Camus argued that ethnic French and white Europeans were being replaced physically, culturally and politically by nonwhite people. He believed that liberal immigration policies and the dramatic decline in white birth rates were threatening European civilization and traditions.
Why This Conspiracy Theory Matters
These false ideas promulgated the spread of white supremacy, which has contributed to terrorist attacks, state violence and propaganda campaigns in the U.S and parts of Europe.
On Aug. 11, 2017, during a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, white nationalists chanted “You will not replace us” and “Jews will not replace us.” In spring 2019, Belgian politician Dries Van Langenhove repeatedly posted on social media, “We are being replaced.”
In recent years, nonwhite immigrants have been the target of xenophobia. Migrants, especially from Mexico, are accused of bringing criminal activities to American cities. Immigrants have also been falsely accused of smuggling fentanyl into the U.S. The reality is that immigrants commit far fewer crimes than those born in the U.S.
Impact of the Theory and Spread of Hate
In less than two decades, the theory has become a major idea, with as many as 60% of the French population believing some aspects of it. According to that survey, they are worried or at least concerned that they might be replaced. In the U.K. and the U.S., close to one-third of those polled believe that white people are systematically being replaced by nonwhite immigrants. Some in the U.S. fear that America might lose its culture and identity as a result.
Being aware of conspiracy theories and standing up to hatred, I argue, can help societies deal with the continuing fallout of extreme xenophobia, racist rants, the rise of white supremacy and the victimization of innocent people.
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"
Tulsi Gabbard Goes Full-Cringe, Begs Don Jr. To Be Trump's VP
Girl, just stop.
Trump-backed Senate Candidate Linked To Gay Hook-up Site
The Republican primary in Ohio goes into overdrive ahead of next week's vote.
RNC Hires 2020 Election Denier as Senior Counsel for “Election Integrity” Unit
Team Trump’s takeover of the Republican National Committee appears to be complete
FEC Republicans Are Helping Trump Cheat His Way Back Into WH
The FEC has received dozens of complaints about Trump or his committees. Republicans keep blocking any action.
NewsHound Ellen — crooks & liars
March 17, 2024
The FEC has received 59 complaints that Donald Trump or his committees have violated campaign finance laws, Citizens for Responsibility And Ethics in Washington (CREW) has reported. The nonpartisan Office of the General Counsel recommended that 29 of those complaints be investigated. But Republicans have blocked each attempt.
CREW explains how this happened:
Because at least four of the six FEC Commissioners need to approve any FEC investigation, and because only three of those seats can be filled by Democrats, Republicans hold a veto over the agency’s enforcement and have repeatedly used it to shoot down any recommended enforcement of campaign finance law against Trump—and thus successfully shielded him from accountability over and over. Instead of fostering bipartisanship, the split FEC has often become gridlocked and, in cases involving Trump, its ability to pursue action is constrained by the members of one party.
And look who helped Trump escape accountability via a ruling made one month before he was nominated to the Supreme Court!
The FEC’s enabling statute, the Federal Election Campaign Act, specifically subjects the Commission’s non-enforcement to review to prevent it from blocking meritorious enforcement. In June 2018, however, two Republican-appointed judges of the D.C. Circuit—including now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh—largely gutted that rule, giving commissioners the authority to block enforcement of the law without judicial review if the commissioners claimed that they did so as an exercise of prosecutorial discretion or under Heckler v. Chaney.
According to CREW, Republicans used that ruling to block investigations of 21 of the 29 complaints. They used different excuses to block the other 8.
I recently reported that another Trump plan to cheat his way back into the White House is via an RNC vote-rigging scheme. We’ve also seen how his cronies on the Supreme Court and Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon are helping him evade accountability in our criminal justice system.
In short, we have only ourselves to rely on to make sure this corrupt Hitler-admirer and sexual predator never gets back into the White House.
CREW explains how this happened:
Because at least four of the six FEC Commissioners need to approve any FEC investigation, and because only three of those seats can be filled by Democrats, Republicans hold a veto over the agency’s enforcement and have repeatedly used it to shoot down any recommended enforcement of campaign finance law against Trump—and thus successfully shielded him from accountability over and over. Instead of fostering bipartisanship, the split FEC has often become gridlocked and, in cases involving Trump, its ability to pursue action is constrained by the members of one party.
And look who helped Trump escape accountability via a ruling made one month before he was nominated to the Supreme Court!
The FEC’s enabling statute, the Federal Election Campaign Act, specifically subjects the Commission’s non-enforcement to review to prevent it from blocking meritorious enforcement. In June 2018, however, two Republican-appointed judges of the D.C. Circuit—including now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh—largely gutted that rule, giving commissioners the authority to block enforcement of the law without judicial review if the commissioners claimed that they did so as an exercise of prosecutorial discretion or under Heckler v. Chaney.
According to CREW, Republicans used that ruling to block investigations of 21 of the 29 complaints. They used different excuses to block the other 8.
I recently reported that another Trump plan to cheat his way back into the White House is via an RNC vote-rigging scheme. We’ve also seen how his cronies on the Supreme Court and Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon are helping him evade accountability in our criminal justice system.
In short, we have only ourselves to rely on to make sure this corrupt Hitler-admirer and sexual predator never gets back into the White House.
Bites from Real News
*3/18/2024*
*Israel Has Ruined 76 Percent of Gaza’s Schools in Systematic Attack on Education Denying Palestinians’ right to education has been central to Israel’s settler-colonial project for eight decades.
*Capitalism's long war on education
Ignorance and democracy: Capitalism's long war against higher education
My alma mater, and dozens of other colleges, are ditching the liberal arts. That's a good way to kill off democracy
*This Was the Hottest Winter on Record—but What Does That Mean?
OLIVER MILMAN AND DHAR
Department of Homeland Security Plans to Use AI in Operations: NYT
BRAVE NEW WORLD
Amanda Yen
Breaking News Intern
Published Mar. 18, 2024 12:34PM EDT
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
The Department of Homeland Security will start using generative artificial intelligence across a range of its practices, The New York Times reported Monday. The $5 million plan includes the use of chatbots and other AI tools to assist the DHS in its border control and emergency management operations, and will be supported by partnerships with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta. The tech can help investigators streamline searches for trafficking suspects, comb local data to craft disaster preparedness plans, and simulate interviews with migrants to train immigrations officials, sources from the agency told the Times. DHS secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said speed was of the utmost importance in incorporating AI. “If one isn’t forward-leaning in recognizing and being prepared to address its potential for good and its potential for harm, it will be too late and that’s why we’re moving quickly,” he said. The technology has a reputation for reproducing bias and discriminatory attitudes, which may continue to hinder the DHS’ plans. The agency said it intends to hire 50 AI experts to work on safeguards.
Sports Illustrated Gets Second Life as New Publisher Takes Over
WELCOME BACK
Justin Baragona
Senior Media Reporter
Published Mar. 18, 2024 10:56AM EDT
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
Days after staffers at Sports Illustrated were told its print edition would cease publishing in May, the venerable magazine got a second life on Monday when a new publisher took over, The New York Times first reported. Authentic Brands Group, the celebrity brand licensing company that owns SI, reached a 10-year publishing rights deal with Minute Media, a digital sports media group that also owns The Players’ Tribune and FanSided. Minute Media CEO Asaf Peled told the Times that he plans to keep SI’s print edition. “In the current era of digital, it’s still not trivial and quite difficult to build your own brand and get people to know and admire it. So once you get the opportunity to work with and grow an iconic brand like Sports Illustrated, you take it,” he added. Peled also said wants to expand the magazine’s global publication operations and will be hiring back some of the employees who were let go during the outlet’s mass layoffs in January. Arena Group, the sports mag’s previous publisher, breached its licensing agreement by failing to make its $3.75 million annual payment, sparking massive cuts and uncertainty about Sports Illustrated’s future.
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.