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welcome to reality trivia
reality is the state of things as they actually exist
dec 2, 2020
Real News Today
*trump vaccine
(Funnies)
*BLAME FOR DEMOCRATS' DOWN-BALLOT LOSSES LIES WITH THE PARTY, NOT SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
(Demo Politics)
*Microsoft apologises for feature criticised as workplace surveillance
(Slavery 21st Century)
(for previous day's articles see "what's inside" below)
comment/tweet of the day
TRUMP’S PANDEMIC DEATH TRACKER:
dc report.com
Americans Killed by Inaction, Neglect, Incompetence and Corruption
270,642
(out of 13,721,304 current cases)
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The View’s Whoopi Goldberg tells Trump: ‘You’re not going to run in 2024 if you’re in jail, my friend’
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The Lincoln Project- Lawsuits. Debts. Bankruptcies. They're all coming for you,
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With rent due and evictions looming, Elizabeth Warren rips Mitch McConnell for ‘disgraceful’ obstruction
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A Senate insider has a dark warning about Mitch McConnell
When Jacobs asked Jentleson if it is a “given” that “McConnell and Senate Republicans are never negotiating in good faith,” he responded, “Yes…. Even Republicans who demonstrate good faith in private are operating in a system that demands they toe the line of their base. Their base is not going to want to see them cut deals with Biden.”
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reality 101
McConnell: Let them eat a three-martini lunch
thomhartmann - du
Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans are proposing to let employers injure or even kill their workers and bring back the three-martini lunch...in exchange for one measly month of extended unemployment benefits.
Senate Republicans are trying to sabotage both the incoming Biden administration and screw working people by refusing to extend expanded unemployment benefits in Mitch McConnell‘s new “stimulus“; it does, however, make it illegal for workers to sue their employers.
It’s been six months since the House of Representatives passed the $3 trillion Heroes act that gave jobless people $600 a week, and more than two months since they passed a slimmed-down $2.2 trillion version that gave only $300 a week. But the GOP said no to both.
Mitch McConnell today proposed a new “stimulus“ bill that gives workers an extra $0 a week (not a typo), would end working people’s right to sue their employers for Covid-related injury or death, and brings back massive tax breaks for big business under the guise of helping restaurants.
Meanwhile, the day after Christmas 12 million Americans will lose their basic unemployment coverage. McConnell and Senate Republicans say they’ll solve this problem by extending those benefits for one whole month.
Republicans have opposed unemployment benefits ever since such payments were first put into law in the 1930s by Franklin Roosevelt. So this isn’t surprising; it’s what Republicans do. But during a pandemic and the Trump Depression, it’s particularly heartless and evil.
More than 20 million Americans’ protection against eviction runs out at the end of this month; McConnell and Senate Republicans refuse to extend that. They also refuse any money at all for police, fire, hospitals and other state and local government functions.
They refuse to extend SNAP benefits for hungry families and children, but give businesspeople a 100% deduction for the “three martini lunch,” something that was tossed out back in 1987 because it was such an absurd subsidy for American fatcats.
Republicans would toss a small bone of support to education and vaccine distribution, but embed a time bomb that will blow up in the face of Joe Biden: they make it illegal for the Treasury Department to help the Fed sustain the economy the way they have since March.
Using their regular bullshit talking point about “stopping fraud by working people” (fraud by fat-cats and corporations is ignored) GOP senators want to make it harder to file for unemployment benefits in every state, further crippling Biden‘s ability to stimulate the economy.
Mitch McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate and House exist only to serve billionaires and the corporations that made them. And billionaires and corporations return the favor: the GOP is almost entirely funded by them.
So it should be no surprise that Republicans repeatedly rejected legislation passed by the House of Representatives that would help average working people, and instead today proposed legislation that primarily helps big corporations and their billionaire owners.
Republican multimillionaires like Mitch McConnell, Kelly Loeffler and David Purdue laugh at the working class suckers who vote for them, while they fly around in private jets and live safely cocooned in their palatial mansions.
Call your members of Congress at 202-224-3121 or reach out by email and social media. Tell them to put the tens of millions of unemployed and hungry people ahead of three-martini lunches and liability limits for meat-packing plants and giant corporations.
The Lame Duck Senate Sees No Need To Get Much Done
It’s Business as Usual for the McConnell Boys; No Covid Relief, but Gotta Save Those Confederate Military Bases
By Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport Opinion Editor
Senate Republicans have a last chance as lame-duckers to do a few right things in what lines up to be a slapdash race for the holiday door. I don’t have much hope for the ideologues to rise up to put the country over party, but hey, surprises happen.
This Congress started its last 10 days before holiday break yesterday with coronavirus aid hanging, with a federal budget unresolved and a bunch of contentious issues including selling more weapons overseas.
The session gets under way as Donald Trump continues his fantasy about overturning election results. In this same period a transition must move ahead amid a spiraling, out-of-control virus that is killing 2,000 people a day.
Yet, from a policy point of view, it is unclear that Republicans acknowledge that millions are facing dire straits. Evictions loom as the clock has run out of individual aid and blanket rules to postpone rent payments. It is unclear whether both personal piques of particular senators and the overall desire by Trump to ruin the government can and will be set aside for greater societal good.
Senators like James Inhofe of Oklahoma want to hold up the federal budget over whether the Pentagon can change the name of military bases that still carry the name of Confederate generals. Really? This is the most important issue facing us? Trump is reportedly considering a veto if the budget measure doesn’t repeal legal shields for social media companies.
Can we please keep our collective eyes on the ball?
Insisting on Partisan Ways
Republicans are fond of saying that elections have consequences – unless elections do not go their way. Then we are supposed to ignore the results or switch back to defending deficits from getting too large, or, like Trump, simply deny the election took place.
Apparently, a number of Republicans in the Senate are more interested in their hobby-horse issues than in addressing the coronavirus elephant in the room. The Number One issue facing us is getting sufficient monies to individuals displaced by the virus from their jobs, to extend unemployment, to help small businesses survive during this period and to assure that we can adequately distribute emerging vaccines.
Republicans have been sitting on a House-passed package since the summer, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wrongly insisting that an economic recovery is just days away despite the pandemic. Partisan debate has swirled around the size of the package with each side saying it has been more flexible.
Meanwhile, the country is suffering. The issue feels like the embodiment of why increasing numbers of Americans just don’t believe in government.
If you’re looking for a second issue, agreement on a federal budget that just allows us to keep things functioning seems an important goal.
The Other Agendas
But among the things that stand in the way:
In general, expect these days to be a forerunner to judge Senate willingness – or not – to work with the incoming Biden administration. All Senate eyes continue to focus solely on the Jan. 5 twin U.S. Senate races in Georgia, the outcome of which will decide whether we continue to have a Republican majority.
In any case, neither party will have sufficient votes to ignore the other.
The question is whether we have civility and compromise or continue the Trump-inspired divisions of the past several years.
This Congress started its last 10 days before holiday break yesterday with coronavirus aid hanging, with a federal budget unresolved and a bunch of contentious issues including selling more weapons overseas.
The session gets under way as Donald Trump continues his fantasy about overturning election results. In this same period a transition must move ahead amid a spiraling, out-of-control virus that is killing 2,000 people a day.
Yet, from a policy point of view, it is unclear that Republicans acknowledge that millions are facing dire straits. Evictions loom as the clock has run out of individual aid and blanket rules to postpone rent payments. It is unclear whether both personal piques of particular senators and the overall desire by Trump to ruin the government can and will be set aside for greater societal good.
Senators like James Inhofe of Oklahoma want to hold up the federal budget over whether the Pentagon can change the name of military bases that still carry the name of Confederate generals. Really? This is the most important issue facing us? Trump is reportedly considering a veto if the budget measure doesn’t repeal legal shields for social media companies.
Can we please keep our collective eyes on the ball?
Insisting on Partisan Ways
Republicans are fond of saying that elections have consequences – unless elections do not go their way. Then we are supposed to ignore the results or switch back to defending deficits from getting too large, or, like Trump, simply deny the election took place.
Apparently, a number of Republicans in the Senate are more interested in their hobby-horse issues than in addressing the coronavirus elephant in the room. The Number One issue facing us is getting sufficient monies to individuals displaced by the virus from their jobs, to extend unemployment, to help small businesses survive during this period and to assure that we can adequately distribute emerging vaccines.
Republicans have been sitting on a House-passed package since the summer, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wrongly insisting that an economic recovery is just days away despite the pandemic. Partisan debate has swirled around the size of the package with each side saying it has been more flexible.
Meanwhile, the country is suffering. The issue feels like the embodiment of why increasing numbers of Americans just don’t believe in government.
If you’re looking for a second issue, agreement on a federal budget that just allows us to keep things functioning seems an important goal.
The Other Agendas
But among the things that stand in the way:
- A decision on approving the sale to the United Arab Emirates of up to 50 F-35s worth $10.4 billion, up to 18 MQ-9B drones worth $2.97 billion and a package of air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions worth $10 billion. A simple majority vote would start a 30-day review period in which Congress can block the sale.
- Consideration of a late appointment by Trump of Judy Shelton, who has advocated that the United States return its monetary policies to debunked reliance on the value of gold, to the Federal Reserve. An earlier committee vote failed and the expected addition of newly elected Sen. Mark Kelly, the Democrat from Arizona, should make that issue a loser.
In general, expect these days to be a forerunner to judge Senate willingness – or not – to work with the incoming Biden administration. All Senate eyes continue to focus solely on the Jan. 5 twin U.S. Senate races in Georgia, the outcome of which will decide whether we continue to have a Republican majority.
In any case, neither party will have sufficient votes to ignore the other.
The question is whether we have civility and compromise or continue the Trump-inspired divisions of the past several years.
proof of stupidity!!!
where facts don't matter
trump is not only the stupidest person in the headlines!
‘Does not comply’: Federal judge destroys Sidney Powell for accidentally filing a draft motion
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Betsy DeVos Calls Student Debt Forgiveness 'A Truly Insidious Notion' The Education Secretary called the idea of providing free college to lower-income Americans “a socialist takeover of higher education.”
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Federalist Hack Says Reports On Lack Of Election Fraud Is The REAL Conspiracy The 2020 election worked as expected, so Mollie Hemingway blames the media for a "conspiracy" in reporting that fact.
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surprise, surprise: the thieves stole the money!!!
Release of PPP loan recipients' data reveals troubling patterns
The Trump Organization and Kushner Companies are major beneficiaries of PPP loans.
Dec. 1, 2020, 9:38 PM PST
By Ben Popken and Andrew W. Lehren - nbc news
Sweeping data released by the Small Business Administration on who benefited from pandemic relief programs raises questions about the equitability and distribution of loans intended for small businesses, an initial analysis by NBC News shows.
The analysis found that properties owned by the Trump Organization as well as the Kushner Companies, owned by the family of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, profited from the program.
After months of litigation, the SBA released the dataset Tuesday night on every small business that received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or Economic Injury Disaster (EIDL) loan.
The data reveals the most complete accounting to date of the more than $700 billion in forgivable loans Congress and the Trump administration introduced in the spring for allowable expenses, including payroll, rent, utilities and mortgage interest payments.
The analysis by NBC News, one of 11 newsrooms that sued for the release of data, also shows:
The findings immediately raised concerns with government accountability groups.
“Many months and broken promises later, the court-ordered release of this crucial data while the Trump administration is one foot out the door is a shameful dereliction of duty and flagrant mismanagement of a program that millions of workers and small businesses needed to get through this pandemic,” Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, an accountability watchdog, said in a statement.
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Mixed responses
The SBA defended its handling of the program when it released its data on Tuesday evening.
“SBA’s historically successful Covid relief loan programs have helped millions of small businesses and tens of millions of American workers when they needed it most,” an SBA spokesman said in a statement accompanying the release.
But as government accountability groups sifted through the data late into the night and uploaded them to publicly searchable databases like SearchPPP.com, they expressed regret about what has happened to so many small businesses partly from mismanagement of the loan program.
“Only now — after its hand has been forced, hundreds of thousands of small businesses have gone under, and millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted — has this administration pulled back the curtains to reveal the malpractice going on behind the scenes,” Herrig said. “Americans deserved an open, transparent small business aid program when this pandemic started, and any new small business relief program must take a lesson from the abject failures of this one.”
The analysis found that properties owned by the Trump Organization as well as the Kushner Companies, owned by the family of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, profited from the program.
After months of litigation, the SBA released the dataset Tuesday night on every small business that received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or Economic Injury Disaster (EIDL) loan.
The data reveals the most complete accounting to date of the more than $700 billion in forgivable loans Congress and the Trump administration introduced in the spring for allowable expenses, including payroll, rent, utilities and mortgage interest payments.
The analysis by NBC News, one of 11 newsrooms that sued for the release of data, also shows:
- Over 25 PPP loans worth more than $3.65 million were given to businesses with addresses at Trump and Kushner real estate properties, paying rent to those owners. Fifteen of the properties self-reported that they only kept one job, zero jobs or did not report a number at all.
- The loans to Trump and Kushner properties included a $2,164,543 loan to the Triomphe Restaurant Corp., at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in New York City. The company reported the money didn’t go to keeping any jobs. It later closed.
- A company called LB City Inc, which is at Kushner’s Bungalow Hotel in Long Branch, New Jersey, received a loan for $505,552.50 that it used to keep 155 jobs.
- Two tenants at 725 5th Avenue, Trump Tower, received more than $100,000 and kept only three jobs.
- Four tenants at the Kushner-owned 666 5th Avenue combined received more than $204,000, and retained only six jobs.
The findings immediately raised concerns with government accountability groups.
“Many months and broken promises later, the court-ordered release of this crucial data while the Trump administration is one foot out the door is a shameful dereliction of duty and flagrant mismanagement of a program that millions of workers and small businesses needed to get through this pandemic,” Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, an accountability watchdog, said in a statement.
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Mixed responses
The SBA defended its handling of the program when it released its data on Tuesday evening.
“SBA’s historically successful Covid relief loan programs have helped millions of small businesses and tens of millions of American workers when they needed it most,” an SBA spokesman said in a statement accompanying the release.
But as government accountability groups sifted through the data late into the night and uploaded them to publicly searchable databases like SearchPPP.com, they expressed regret about what has happened to so many small businesses partly from mismanagement of the loan program.
“Only now — after its hand has been forced, hundreds of thousands of small businesses have gone under, and millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted — has this administration pulled back the curtains to reveal the malpractice going on behind the scenes,” Herrig said. “Americans deserved an open, transparent small business aid program when this pandemic started, and any new small business relief program must take a lesson from the abject failures of this one.”
where slavery reigns!!!
Walt Disney layoffs leave thousands of workers in 'an awful lot of pain'
Meanwhile Disney reinstates executive pay and salaries in August 2020 to pre-pandemic levels
Michael Sainato - the gurdian
Wed 2 Dec 2020 04.00 EST
For years the magic kingdoms of Walt Disney theme parks have promised an idealized and very American vision of a perfect world – as well as employing many thousands of workers and giving them a chance of stable work.
But in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic those opportunities are collapsing amid mass layoffs and benefit cuts, even as some top executives hike their pay back to pre-coronavirus levels.
Walt Disney recently announced an additional layoff of 4,000 employees by the end of March 2021, in addition to the 28,000 employees who began receiving separation notices in October 2020. The majority of the layoffs will take effect at the end of 2020, as the firm cites limited attendance and continued closure of Disneyland in California per state coronavirus restrictions.
Now thousand of workers who received separation notices are grappling with what to do next, trying to survive on unemployment benefits after expanded federal unemployment benefits expired in July and holding out hope they will be able to return to work at Disney sometime in the future.
Laura Cave Braunston worked as a server at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, for more than 12 years before she received her separation notice which takes effect at the end of this year.
Around 18,000 of Disney’s laid off employees will come from its Florida properties and Disney is ending its free college education program offered to affected employees.
“It’s been absolutely hard to pay bills and put food on the table. We’ve had to go to food drives, and those started out with a few hundred people, now the lines are over a thousand,” said Braunston.
Her union, Unite Here Local 737, fought for her and coworkers to receive recall rights until the end of 2022, but in the meantime Braunston has struggled to find another job and recently started an Etsy shop to try to provide her family with some income. Her husband’s hours were recently reduced, and after they both tested positive for coronavirus in June 2020, which hospitalized her husband, he is suffering from chronic fatigue issues.
Meanwhile, Disney reinstated executive pay and salaries in August 2020 after enacting temporary pay cuts for executive employees on 6 April due to the coronavirus pandemic, ranging from 20% for all vice presidents to Disney CEO Bob Chapek taking a 50% salary cut and Chairman Bob Iger forgoing his salary.
That angers Braunston.
“Now we’re just in pain. An awful lot of pain,” she added. “Disney executives have returned to full pay and we’re struggling to get by on what we make.”
In the three months ending on 27 June, Disney’s quarterly report showed a loss of $4.72bn, its first quarterly loss in two decades.
Madison, a server at Disney World who requested to just use their first name because they hope to return to work for Disney in the future, explained when the resort first shut down nobody assumed it would last so long.
“When I found out I was laid off, I just completely broke down. I was hysterically crying in my car in the parking lot of an Ikea while my boyfriend tried to calm me down,” she said.
It took almost two months from when she was furloughed to start receiving unemployment benefits, and Madison and her boyfriend wound up having to use the savings they had accrued for a place of their own on living expenses.
Another server at Disney World who was laid off explained they spent all their savings while trying to make ends meet on unemployment and are now unable to pay upcoming bills. Her husband is disabled, she’s currently pregnant experiencing issues with unemployment benefits, which ran out as she’s waiting for pandemic unemployment assistance to start.
“My electric will be shut off. I can’t pay the phone bill or car insurance either. Our savings is completely gone,” they said. “If the government cannot get themselves together and figure out a stimulus agreement to help people, I’ll drown.”
For many Disney workers who survived the mass layoffs, some still remain on furlough and are uncertain when they will be able to return to work – or are afraid of the ongoing risk of catching the virus.
Tawana Evans has worked as a server at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, for over seven years.
When she was first furloughed in March 2020, she thought the closure would only last a few weeks, but over seven months later she remains out of work and is struggling to find another job while she waits to be recalled.
“We would love the parks to reopen. We need our income but a lot of us also live in situations where going back to work would put a lot of our family members at greater risk,” she said.
Disney deferred comment to a statement from Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney parks, experiences and products. They declined to provide a breakdown of laid off employees and did not respond to requests for comment on executive pay.
“In light of the prolonged impact of Covid-19 on our business, including limited capacity due to physical distancing requirements and the continued uncertainty regarding the duration of the pandemic – exacerbated in California by the State’s unwillingness to lift restrictions that would allow Disneyland to reopen – we have made the very difficult decision to begin the process of reducing our workforce at our Parks, Experiences and Products segment at all levels, having kept non-working cast members on furlough since April, while paying healthcare benefits,” said D’Amaro in a statement.
But in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic those opportunities are collapsing amid mass layoffs and benefit cuts, even as some top executives hike their pay back to pre-coronavirus levels.
Walt Disney recently announced an additional layoff of 4,000 employees by the end of March 2021, in addition to the 28,000 employees who began receiving separation notices in October 2020. The majority of the layoffs will take effect at the end of 2020, as the firm cites limited attendance and continued closure of Disneyland in California per state coronavirus restrictions.
Now thousand of workers who received separation notices are grappling with what to do next, trying to survive on unemployment benefits after expanded federal unemployment benefits expired in July and holding out hope they will be able to return to work at Disney sometime in the future.
Laura Cave Braunston worked as a server at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, for more than 12 years before she received her separation notice which takes effect at the end of this year.
Around 18,000 of Disney’s laid off employees will come from its Florida properties and Disney is ending its free college education program offered to affected employees.
“It’s been absolutely hard to pay bills and put food on the table. We’ve had to go to food drives, and those started out with a few hundred people, now the lines are over a thousand,” said Braunston.
Her union, Unite Here Local 737, fought for her and coworkers to receive recall rights until the end of 2022, but in the meantime Braunston has struggled to find another job and recently started an Etsy shop to try to provide her family with some income. Her husband’s hours were recently reduced, and after they both tested positive for coronavirus in June 2020, which hospitalized her husband, he is suffering from chronic fatigue issues.
Meanwhile, Disney reinstated executive pay and salaries in August 2020 after enacting temporary pay cuts for executive employees on 6 April due to the coronavirus pandemic, ranging from 20% for all vice presidents to Disney CEO Bob Chapek taking a 50% salary cut and Chairman Bob Iger forgoing his salary.
That angers Braunston.
“Now we’re just in pain. An awful lot of pain,” she added. “Disney executives have returned to full pay and we’re struggling to get by on what we make.”
In the three months ending on 27 June, Disney’s quarterly report showed a loss of $4.72bn, its first quarterly loss in two decades.
Madison, a server at Disney World who requested to just use their first name because they hope to return to work for Disney in the future, explained when the resort first shut down nobody assumed it would last so long.
“When I found out I was laid off, I just completely broke down. I was hysterically crying in my car in the parking lot of an Ikea while my boyfriend tried to calm me down,” she said.
It took almost two months from when she was furloughed to start receiving unemployment benefits, and Madison and her boyfriend wound up having to use the savings they had accrued for a place of their own on living expenses.
Another server at Disney World who was laid off explained they spent all their savings while trying to make ends meet on unemployment and are now unable to pay upcoming bills. Her husband is disabled, she’s currently pregnant experiencing issues with unemployment benefits, which ran out as she’s waiting for pandemic unemployment assistance to start.
“My electric will be shut off. I can’t pay the phone bill or car insurance either. Our savings is completely gone,” they said. “If the government cannot get themselves together and figure out a stimulus agreement to help people, I’ll drown.”
For many Disney workers who survived the mass layoffs, some still remain on furlough and are uncertain when they will be able to return to work – or are afraid of the ongoing risk of catching the virus.
Tawana Evans has worked as a server at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, for over seven years.
When she was first furloughed in March 2020, she thought the closure would only last a few weeks, but over seven months later she remains out of work and is struggling to find another job while she waits to be recalled.
“We would love the parks to reopen. We need our income but a lot of us also live in situations where going back to work would put a lot of our family members at greater risk,” she said.
Disney deferred comment to a statement from Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney parks, experiences and products. They declined to provide a breakdown of laid off employees and did not respond to requests for comment on executive pay.
“In light of the prolonged impact of Covid-19 on our business, including limited capacity due to physical distancing requirements and the continued uncertainty regarding the duration of the pandemic – exacerbated in California by the State’s unwillingness to lift restrictions that would allow Disneyland to reopen – we have made the very difficult decision to begin the process of reducing our workforce at our Parks, Experiences and Products segment at all levels, having kept non-working cast members on furlough since April, while paying healthcare benefits,” said D’Amaro in a statement.
nominating a sellout!!!
TRANSPORT UNIONS SAY RAHM EMANUEL LEADING DOT WOULD BE A “BETRAYAL”
The unions are angry over reports that Biden is considering Emanuel for a cabinet post, pointing to his clashes with workers in Chicago.
Akela Lacy - the intercept
December 1 2020, 9:52 a.m.
UNIONS REPRESENTING TRANSPORTATION workers who helped elect Joe Biden are outraged about reports that the president-elect is considering former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to lead the Department of Transportation, citing his record of clashing with workers while in city government.
“Rahm Emanuel would be a nightmare. And a betrayal,” said John Samuelsen, international president of the Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, which represents 150,000 workers in more than 100 local unions. The union endorsed Biden in May and was one of several major transport unions that backed his campaign. “The trade union movement in transportation worked extremely hard to get Joe Biden elected,” he said, particularly in Pennsylvania, where the union represents Philadelphia’s SEPTA transit, rail, and bus workers.
TWU recruited transit and rail volunteers in Pennsylvania who knocked doors, did phone and text banking, held caravans and virtual rallies with co-workers, and distributed fliers at work sites. “We didn’t work our asses off to have Rahm Emanuel as the secretary of transportation,” Samuelsen said. “He’s anti-trade union, he’s anti-worker.”
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO, said Emanuel’s consideration was a “complete non-starter,” and pointed to President Sara Nelson’s tweets on the news over the weekend. “We do not need a union buster setting the rules for workers in aviation. That just doesn’t reflect @JoeBiden’s deep commitment to workers & our unions,” Nelson tweeted Sunday. The union endorsed Biden in October.
Other major transportation unions that endorsed Biden include the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; the Association of Professional Flight Attendants; the Amalgamated Transit Union; and SMART, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers.
The Teamsters are not commenting publicly on any potential nominees but are sharing thoughts on picks privately with the transition team, said Bret Caldwell, director of communications for the union. The other unions did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Biden outperformed Hillary Clinton among union households but underperformed past Democratic nominees. He won a majority of support from union households in Michigan and Wisconsin, but Donald Trump expanded his support from union households in Pennsylvania and Ohio, winning majorities of union homes in those states. The president-elect’s transition team includes more than 20 union leaders.
As mayor of Chicago from 2011 to 2019, Emanuel faced off with unions representing teachers and city employees. Emanuel pursued legislation making it harder for teachers to strike, laid off hundreds of teachers and school staff, closed some 50 schools, and threatened to lay off hundreds more city employees to cut costs in favor of privatizing city services. Chicago teachers went on their first strike in a quarter of a decade during Emanuel’s first term, setting off a wave of teacher strikes in a handful of states. City workers fought Emanuel’s efforts to require them to pay more to receive their pension benefits. Despite this record, Emanuel had some labor support during his 2015 mayoral reelection campaign, with unions split between him and his opponent, now Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García.
Emanuel’s name has been floating as a potential pick for Biden’s cabinet for several weeks, and he was lobbying for the transportation secretary post, The Intercept reported last month. News that Emanuel was under consideration sparked backlash from progressives, largely in response to Emanuel’s handling of the 2014 Chicago police killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Emanuel was instrumental in helping cover up the killing and went to court to prevent the release of the dashcam video ahead of his 2015 election. He maintains that he did not see the video until it was released to the public and has defended his handling of the case.
After pushback from the left, Emanuel may also now be under consideration for U.S. trade representative, Crain’s Chicago Business reported last week. But this weekend, Axios reported again that Emanuel was being considered for DOT. Biden’s transition team declined to comment on who may or may not be under consideration.
“I have no doubt in my mind that he would do what any good neoliberal would do, and side with the bosses,” Samuelsen said. “No matter where he lands, whether it’s in transportation or elsewhere, it’s gonna be viewed by the workers that supported Joe Biden as a total betrayal. And it’ll be yet another in a long line of Democratic Party betrayals,” he added. “The truth of the matter is that Rahm Emanuel is the type of Democrat that got Trump elected to begin with.”
“Rahm Emanuel would be a nightmare. And a betrayal,” said John Samuelsen, international president of the Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, which represents 150,000 workers in more than 100 local unions. The union endorsed Biden in May and was one of several major transport unions that backed his campaign. “The trade union movement in transportation worked extremely hard to get Joe Biden elected,” he said, particularly in Pennsylvania, where the union represents Philadelphia’s SEPTA transit, rail, and bus workers.
TWU recruited transit and rail volunteers in Pennsylvania who knocked doors, did phone and text banking, held caravans and virtual rallies with co-workers, and distributed fliers at work sites. “We didn’t work our asses off to have Rahm Emanuel as the secretary of transportation,” Samuelsen said. “He’s anti-trade union, he’s anti-worker.”
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO, said Emanuel’s consideration was a “complete non-starter,” and pointed to President Sara Nelson’s tweets on the news over the weekend. “We do not need a union buster setting the rules for workers in aviation. That just doesn’t reflect @JoeBiden’s deep commitment to workers & our unions,” Nelson tweeted Sunday. The union endorsed Biden in October.
Other major transportation unions that endorsed Biden include the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; the Association of Professional Flight Attendants; the Amalgamated Transit Union; and SMART, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers.
The Teamsters are not commenting publicly on any potential nominees but are sharing thoughts on picks privately with the transition team, said Bret Caldwell, director of communications for the union. The other unions did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Biden outperformed Hillary Clinton among union households but underperformed past Democratic nominees. He won a majority of support from union households in Michigan and Wisconsin, but Donald Trump expanded his support from union households in Pennsylvania and Ohio, winning majorities of union homes in those states. The president-elect’s transition team includes more than 20 union leaders.
As mayor of Chicago from 2011 to 2019, Emanuel faced off with unions representing teachers and city employees. Emanuel pursued legislation making it harder for teachers to strike, laid off hundreds of teachers and school staff, closed some 50 schools, and threatened to lay off hundreds more city employees to cut costs in favor of privatizing city services. Chicago teachers went on their first strike in a quarter of a decade during Emanuel’s first term, setting off a wave of teacher strikes in a handful of states. City workers fought Emanuel’s efforts to require them to pay more to receive their pension benefits. Despite this record, Emanuel had some labor support during his 2015 mayoral reelection campaign, with unions split between him and his opponent, now Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García.
Emanuel’s name has been floating as a potential pick for Biden’s cabinet for several weeks, and he was lobbying for the transportation secretary post, The Intercept reported last month. News that Emanuel was under consideration sparked backlash from progressives, largely in response to Emanuel’s handling of the 2014 Chicago police killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Emanuel was instrumental in helping cover up the killing and went to court to prevent the release of the dashcam video ahead of his 2015 election. He maintains that he did not see the video until it was released to the public and has defended his handling of the case.
After pushback from the left, Emanuel may also now be under consideration for U.S. trade representative, Crain’s Chicago Business reported last week. But this weekend, Axios reported again that Emanuel was being considered for DOT. Biden’s transition team declined to comment on who may or may not be under consideration.
“I have no doubt in my mind that he would do what any good neoliberal would do, and side with the bosses,” Samuelsen said. “No matter where he lands, whether it’s in transportation or elsewhere, it’s gonna be viewed by the workers that supported Joe Biden as a total betrayal. And it’ll be yet another in a long line of Democratic Party betrayals,” he added. “The truth of the matter is that Rahm Emanuel is the type of Democrat that got Trump elected to begin with.”
another sellout nominated by biden!!!
LONGTIME BIDEN ADVISER LOBBIED ON BEHALF OF TRUMP’S CORPORATE TAX CUT
Cynthia Hogan worked as a top lobbyist for Apple and led the NFL’s lobbying division during a high-profile domestic violence scandal.
Aída Chávez - the intrcept
December 2 2020, 3:00 a.m.
A TOP ADVISER to President-elect Joe Biden, Cynthia Hogan, worked as a lead lobbyist for Apple as it helped push through President Donald Trump’s corporate tax cut, a giveaway that resulted in a massive windfall for the Cupertino, California-based tech giant.
Biden has resisted calls to bar registered lobbyists from his administration, a looser policy than employed by former President Barack Obama. The policy is a boon to his close adviser and sometimes lobbyist Steve Ricchetti, but also to Hogan, who converted her history of helping Biden write the Violence Against Women Act into a prime lobbying gig for the NFL as it came under fire for its handling of its own domestic violence scandal, when video of Ray Rice’s assault of his wife was published by TMZ.
The 2017 Republican tax law slashed the previous 35 percent corporate tax rate and passed a range of provisions that mostly benefited the wealthiest 1 percent. Apple stock quickly hit record highs and enriched shareholders, including 43 GOP lawmakers who championed the law while holding all sorts of individual stocks, a Center for Public Integrity analysis found. At the time, Apple had stashed at least $250 billion in profits overseas, more than any other American company. The tech giant also spent more than $7.4 million on government lobbying throughout 2017, a significant jump from previous years, disclosures showed.
Lobbying disclosures show that Hogan was one of a team of Apple lobbyists who lobbied the House, Senate, and Treasury Department on “corporate tax reform,” “international tax reform and issues related to foreign regulatory actions,” as well as “issues related to state sales tax, mobile workforce, and taxation of digital goods.” The lobbying came throughout 2017, including during the third and fourth quarter of that year, as Trump’s tax cut was being finalized and passed. For all of 2017, Apple registered spending nearly $7 million lobbying Congress and the administration directly. In 2018, still under Hogan’s guidance, the company continued lobbying on “corporate tax reform” as the law’s regulations were being implemented, increasing their spending in the first quarter of that year to $2.14 million, the documents show.
Hogan has been one of Biden’s most loyal aides, serving as an adviser to the president-elect throughout his career in the Senate and the Obama administration, first joining his Senate Judiciary Committee staff in 1991. She left the public sector at the end of Obama’s first term and went on to spend several years in the corporate world. She’s one of a handful of Silicon Valley insiders, including former Facebook executives, involved in the transition.
Hogan left Apple earlier this year to join Biden’s presidential campaign and helped select his running mate, as a member of the four-person vetting panel that ultimately picked Kamala Harris. Of the vice presidential vetting team — which included former Sen. Chris Dodd, Delaware Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti — Hogan was the only nonpolitician. Biden’s transition hired her to its day-to-day staff in September. According to the Biden transition team, Hogan’s current role deals with “personnel” and has nothing to do with policy.
DURING HER TIME at Apple, Hogan was also involved in defending Apple’s operations in China, claiming in a 2017 letter that the company promotes “fundamental rights” and ethical labor practices by enforcing a “strict supplier code of conduct with standards for safe working conditions, fair treatment of workers, and environmentally responsible practices.” The letter, sent in response to Sens. Ted Cruz and Patrick Leahy’s concerns about Apple removing virtual private network apps — which help protect users from government surveillance — from its app store, argued that the company had actually increased free expression. At the time, there were reports of Apple’s Chinese factories, which have long been criticized for poor working conditions, employing students to illegally work overtime. “We believe that our presence in China helps promote greater openness and facilitates the free flow of ideas and information,” she wrote.
Before Apple, Hogan led the NFL’s lobbying division, where she protected the league during domestic violence and concussion scandals, and helped grow it into a political machine. The NFL hired Hogan as its senior vice president of public policy and government affairs just a few days after TMZ released the Rice assault footage. Hogan’s history with the Violence Against Women Act, and the relationship she developed with the National Domestic Violence Hotline along the way, helped her defuse the situation and rehabilitate the NFL’s image. California Rep. Jackie Speier, who’s known for her work on women’s issues, noted the irony of Hogan’s trajectory in 2015, comparing her to “the mother who founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving going to work for the spirits industry.”
But Hogan wasn’t just instrumental in this public relations victory. She successfully shielded the NFL from congressional action on a number of issues, weakening Congress’s oversight abilities by ending the NFL’s tax-exempt status and fighting calls for a zero-tolerance policy on domestic assault. At a meeting with congressional staffers, Hogan reportedly explained that the league opposed the policy because “victims would be even more reluctant to come forward knowing the accusations would end their husband’s career.” When Congress started thinking about regulating fantasy football sites like FanDuel and DraftKings, Hogan led the aggressive lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill.
AS CHIEF COUNSEL to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hogan helped Biden draft and pass the now-infamous 1994 crime bill, specifically the “three strikes” provision, which devastated low-income communities and communities of color for decades. Biden even thanked her from the Senate floor, praising her dedication to passing the legislation.
“I want to start off and again pay tribute to the chief counsel of the Judiciary Committee, Cynthia Hogan. She is smart. She is tough.” Biden said, according to congressional record. “And you have no idea, Mr. President, how easy my job is when all I have to do is ask Cynthia Hogan. Right now, I bet you there are 25 senators who can tell me Cynthia’s office phone number without having to look it up because they are so accustomed to calling her and asking her her opinion or asking her for information, Republican as well as Democrat.”
“[Mark Gitenstein] put together this original bill with me, and Ron Klain, who is now with the Justice Department,” the Delaware senator continued. “But it was brought home by Cynthia Hogan.” (Gitenstein has also been a primary player in Biden’s transition.)
Notably, Hogan was also involved in one of the most controversial episodes of Biden’s career: The Judiciary Committee’s interrogation of Anita Hill at Justice Clarence Thomas’s 1991 confirmation hearings. She kept Angela Wright, a credible witness who could have corroborated Hill’s account of Thomas’s sexual harassment, from publicly testifying, according to a 1994 Washington Post report. After some back and forth, Hogan eventually urged Biden to enter Wright’s deposition into the written record instead of having her testify publicly — a move Biden later said could have changed history. Last year, Hogan expressed regret over the decision. “I feel I gave Senator Biden bad advice,” she said. “I told him I thought it was better than having her testify live. I have felt bad about this for years.”
Biden has resisted calls to bar registered lobbyists from his administration, a looser policy than employed by former President Barack Obama. The policy is a boon to his close adviser and sometimes lobbyist Steve Ricchetti, but also to Hogan, who converted her history of helping Biden write the Violence Against Women Act into a prime lobbying gig for the NFL as it came under fire for its handling of its own domestic violence scandal, when video of Ray Rice’s assault of his wife was published by TMZ.
The 2017 Republican tax law slashed the previous 35 percent corporate tax rate and passed a range of provisions that mostly benefited the wealthiest 1 percent. Apple stock quickly hit record highs and enriched shareholders, including 43 GOP lawmakers who championed the law while holding all sorts of individual stocks, a Center for Public Integrity analysis found. At the time, Apple had stashed at least $250 billion in profits overseas, more than any other American company. The tech giant also spent more than $7.4 million on government lobbying throughout 2017, a significant jump from previous years, disclosures showed.
Lobbying disclosures show that Hogan was one of a team of Apple lobbyists who lobbied the House, Senate, and Treasury Department on “corporate tax reform,” “international tax reform and issues related to foreign regulatory actions,” as well as “issues related to state sales tax, mobile workforce, and taxation of digital goods.” The lobbying came throughout 2017, including during the third and fourth quarter of that year, as Trump’s tax cut was being finalized and passed. For all of 2017, Apple registered spending nearly $7 million lobbying Congress and the administration directly. In 2018, still under Hogan’s guidance, the company continued lobbying on “corporate tax reform” as the law’s regulations were being implemented, increasing their spending in the first quarter of that year to $2.14 million, the documents show.
Hogan has been one of Biden’s most loyal aides, serving as an adviser to the president-elect throughout his career in the Senate and the Obama administration, first joining his Senate Judiciary Committee staff in 1991. She left the public sector at the end of Obama’s first term and went on to spend several years in the corporate world. She’s one of a handful of Silicon Valley insiders, including former Facebook executives, involved in the transition.
Hogan left Apple earlier this year to join Biden’s presidential campaign and helped select his running mate, as a member of the four-person vetting panel that ultimately picked Kamala Harris. Of the vice presidential vetting team — which included former Sen. Chris Dodd, Delaware Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti — Hogan was the only nonpolitician. Biden’s transition hired her to its day-to-day staff in September. According to the Biden transition team, Hogan’s current role deals with “personnel” and has nothing to do with policy.
DURING HER TIME at Apple, Hogan was also involved in defending Apple’s operations in China, claiming in a 2017 letter that the company promotes “fundamental rights” and ethical labor practices by enforcing a “strict supplier code of conduct with standards for safe working conditions, fair treatment of workers, and environmentally responsible practices.” The letter, sent in response to Sens. Ted Cruz and Patrick Leahy’s concerns about Apple removing virtual private network apps — which help protect users from government surveillance — from its app store, argued that the company had actually increased free expression. At the time, there were reports of Apple’s Chinese factories, which have long been criticized for poor working conditions, employing students to illegally work overtime. “We believe that our presence in China helps promote greater openness and facilitates the free flow of ideas and information,” she wrote.
Before Apple, Hogan led the NFL’s lobbying division, where she protected the league during domestic violence and concussion scandals, and helped grow it into a political machine. The NFL hired Hogan as its senior vice president of public policy and government affairs just a few days after TMZ released the Rice assault footage. Hogan’s history with the Violence Against Women Act, and the relationship she developed with the National Domestic Violence Hotline along the way, helped her defuse the situation and rehabilitate the NFL’s image. California Rep. Jackie Speier, who’s known for her work on women’s issues, noted the irony of Hogan’s trajectory in 2015, comparing her to “the mother who founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving going to work for the spirits industry.”
But Hogan wasn’t just instrumental in this public relations victory. She successfully shielded the NFL from congressional action on a number of issues, weakening Congress’s oversight abilities by ending the NFL’s tax-exempt status and fighting calls for a zero-tolerance policy on domestic assault. At a meeting with congressional staffers, Hogan reportedly explained that the league opposed the policy because “victims would be even more reluctant to come forward knowing the accusations would end their husband’s career.” When Congress started thinking about regulating fantasy football sites like FanDuel and DraftKings, Hogan led the aggressive lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill.
AS CHIEF COUNSEL to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hogan helped Biden draft and pass the now-infamous 1994 crime bill, specifically the “three strikes” provision, which devastated low-income communities and communities of color for decades. Biden even thanked her from the Senate floor, praising her dedication to passing the legislation.
“I want to start off and again pay tribute to the chief counsel of the Judiciary Committee, Cynthia Hogan. She is smart. She is tough.” Biden said, according to congressional record. “And you have no idea, Mr. President, how easy my job is when all I have to do is ask Cynthia Hogan. Right now, I bet you there are 25 senators who can tell me Cynthia’s office phone number without having to look it up because they are so accustomed to calling her and asking her her opinion or asking her for information, Republican as well as Democrat.”
“[Mark Gitenstein] put together this original bill with me, and Ron Klain, who is now with the Justice Department,” the Delaware senator continued. “But it was brought home by Cynthia Hogan.” (Gitenstein has also been a primary player in Biden’s transition.)
Notably, Hogan was also involved in one of the most controversial episodes of Biden’s career: The Judiciary Committee’s interrogation of Anita Hill at Justice Clarence Thomas’s 1991 confirmation hearings. She kept Angela Wright, a credible witness who could have corroborated Hill’s account of Thomas’s sexual harassment, from publicly testifying, according to a 1994 Washington Post report. After some back and forth, Hogan eventually urged Biden to enter Wright’s deposition into the written record instead of having her testify publicly — a move Biden later said could have changed history. Last year, Hogan expressed regret over the decision. “I feel I gave Senator Biden bad advice,” she said. “I told him I thought it was better than having her testify live. I have felt bad about this for years.”
Republican gets busted for igniting ‘panic’ with antifa ad promising chaos and destruction
December 2, 2020
By Sky Palma - raw story
A Craiglist ad posted by someone claiming to be a member of antifa under the heading “Protesters Needed” to “cause as much chaos and destruction as possible” sparked an investigation by Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office. As it turns out, the man who posted the ad is a 33-year-old registered Republican, the Lincoln Journal Star reports.
After it was posted, screenshots of the ad made the rounds on the internet, with people claiming it was proof that left-wing radicals were planning violence just as President Trump had recently warned. According to a report on the story from June, the ad prompted officers to be on the lookout for unrest.
At the time, the Beatrice Area Chamber of Commerce sent out a letter to employees, asking people to use their social media pages to warn others about the alleged protest — a move that caused some in Beatrice to panic.
When the sheriff’s office paid the man a visit, he claimed it wasn’t his intention to cause any trouble but didn’t give a reason for posting the ad.
While the ad offered $25 to any potential protesters, police decided not to ticket him for disturbing the peace since there’s no proof he paid anyone.
After it was posted, screenshots of the ad made the rounds on the internet, with people claiming it was proof that left-wing radicals were planning violence just as President Trump had recently warned. According to a report on the story from June, the ad prompted officers to be on the lookout for unrest.
At the time, the Beatrice Area Chamber of Commerce sent out a letter to employees, asking people to use their social media pages to warn others about the alleged protest — a move that caused some in Beatrice to panic.
When the sheriff’s office paid the man a visit, he claimed it wasn’t his intention to cause any trouble but didn’t give a reason for posting the ad.
While the ad offered $25 to any potential protesters, police decided not to ticket him for disturbing the peace since there’s no proof he paid anyone.
Critics smell ‘economic sabotage’ as Mitch McConnell unveils Covid relief plan
December 2, 2020
By Common Dreams - raw story
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday began circulating a coronavirus relief proposal whose contents offer so little assistance to the tens of millions of jobless, hungry, and eviction-prone Americans that critics warned the Kentucky Republican is actively working to ensure the U.S. economy remains mired in deep recession as Biden administration takes charge next month.
Described as a “targeted” relief proposal, McConnell’s plan is heavily geared toward providing corporations with immunity from coronavirus-related lawsuits; the offer includes a liability shield that Public Citizen’s Remington Gregg described as “breathtakingly broad.” The Kentucky Republican’s plan also contains a 100% tax deduction for business meals.
Meanwhile, McConnell’s proposed relief measure does not include a boost to federal unemployment insurance, instead calling for a mere one-month extension of existing programs and stricter requirements on applicants in the name of preventing “fraud.” The Republican’s proposal also omits another round of direct stimulus payments and aid to cash-strapped state and local governments.
“Leave it to Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump to propose a bill that creates tax write-offs for fancy lunches and gives the middle finger to working families and 20 million unemployed Americans,” said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.). “This is not a serious proposal, it is a slap in the face to people who need help.”
In the months ahead of the November election and in the weeks since, analysts have cautioned that if McConnell maintains his stranglehold on the Senate, the Kentucky Republican could attempt to impose devastating economic austerity with the goal of undermining Biden’s presidency and gaining GOP seats in 2022 and beyond. McConnell’s new relief proposal only bolstered those concerns.
“McConnell is making it pretty clear that if Dems don’t win the Georgia Senate races he will cripple the American economy, hoping it will let the GOP win the midterm,” tweeted journalist Jon Walker.
HuffPost‘s Zach Carter offered a similar assessment:
Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Action said in a statement that McConnell’s latest coronavirus relief offer is “nothing but a cruel joke.”
“Once again, Mitch McConnell shows that he is more interested in protecting corporations that have put workers’ lives at risk than he is in protecting Americans who have lost their water service,” said Hauter. “As the Covid crisis only grows more deadly, this disgraceful proposal puts the lives of everyday Americans at even greater risk.”
Locked in a standstill for months amid rapidly deteriorating economic conditions and a surging pandemic, coronavirus relief negotiations received something of a push Tuesday after a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers outlined a $908 billion stimulus plan that includes a $300-per-week federal boost to unemployment benefits and a more limited corporate liability shield than the one McConnell is pushing.
Ahead of the introduction of the bipartisan proposal, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday sent a relief offer of their own to McConnell but declined to provide specifics.
“I’m not going to get in the details,” Schumer said Tuesday. “It was a private proposal to help us move the ball forward.”
With an estimated 12 million Americans set to lose unemployment benefits on the day after Christmas without action from Congress, a group of five senators—including Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Schumer--introduced legislation that would retroactively extend the lapsed $600-per-week federal boost to unemployment insurance through October 2021.
“With the economy backsliding as Covid-19 cases explode nationwide, Senate Republicans are set to push millions of American families off a cliff,” Wyden warned in a statement. “Whether or not you can pay rent or feed your family should not depend on whether or not Mitch McConnell sees it in his political interest.”
Described as a “targeted” relief proposal, McConnell’s plan is heavily geared toward providing corporations with immunity from coronavirus-related lawsuits; the offer includes a liability shield that Public Citizen’s Remington Gregg described as “breathtakingly broad.” The Kentucky Republican’s plan also contains a 100% tax deduction for business meals.
Meanwhile, McConnell’s proposed relief measure does not include a boost to federal unemployment insurance, instead calling for a mere one-month extension of existing programs and stricter requirements on applicants in the name of preventing “fraud.” The Republican’s proposal also omits another round of direct stimulus payments and aid to cash-strapped state and local governments.
“Leave it to Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump to propose a bill that creates tax write-offs for fancy lunches and gives the middle finger to working families and 20 million unemployed Americans,” said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.). “This is not a serious proposal, it is a slap in the face to people who need help.”
In the months ahead of the November election and in the weeks since, analysts have cautioned that if McConnell maintains his stranglehold on the Senate, the Kentucky Republican could attempt to impose devastating economic austerity with the goal of undermining Biden’s presidency and gaining GOP seats in 2022 and beyond. McConnell’s new relief proposal only bolstered those concerns.
“McConnell is making it pretty clear that if Dems don’t win the Georgia Senate races he will cripple the American economy, hoping it will let the GOP win the midterm,” tweeted journalist Jon Walker.
HuffPost‘s Zach Carter offered a similar assessment:
Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Action said in a statement that McConnell’s latest coronavirus relief offer is “nothing but a cruel joke.”
“Once again, Mitch McConnell shows that he is more interested in protecting corporations that have put workers’ lives at risk than he is in protecting Americans who have lost their water service,” said Hauter. “As the Covid crisis only grows more deadly, this disgraceful proposal puts the lives of everyday Americans at even greater risk.”
Locked in a standstill for months amid rapidly deteriorating economic conditions and a surging pandemic, coronavirus relief negotiations received something of a push Tuesday after a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers outlined a $908 billion stimulus plan that includes a $300-per-week federal boost to unemployment benefits and a more limited corporate liability shield than the one McConnell is pushing.
Ahead of the introduction of the bipartisan proposal, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday sent a relief offer of their own to McConnell but declined to provide specifics.
“I’m not going to get in the details,” Schumer said Tuesday. “It was a private proposal to help us move the ball forward.”
With an estimated 12 million Americans set to lose unemployment benefits on the day after Christmas without action from Congress, a group of five senators—including Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Schumer--introduced legislation that would retroactively extend the lapsed $600-per-week federal boost to unemployment insurance through October 2021.
“With the economy backsliding as Covid-19 cases explode nationwide, Senate Republicans are set to push millions of American families off a cliff,” Wyden warned in a statement. “Whether or not you can pay rent or feed your family should not depend on whether or not Mitch McConnell sees it in his political interest.”
Bites from Real News
*12/2/2020*
*Stephen Miller: Not born that way
Donald Trump's mini-monster: Stephen Miller wasn't born that way
Author Jean Guerrero on Stephen Miller's secrets: He likes to dress up as De Niro — and wants an all-white America
CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
*ONE IN SIX COVID-19 DEATHS IN VERMONT CAME FROM A SINGLE NURSING HOME
THE DEATHS OCCURRED WEEKS AFTER THE STATE SETTLED AN INVESTIGATION INTO ALLEGATIONS OF NEGLECT AT A BURLINGTON HOME OWNED BY GENESIS HEALTHCARE.
*making you proud to be an american: Neal Katyal Argues U.S. Corporations Should Not Be Liable for Using Child Slaves Abroad, But SCOTUS
Neal Katyal Argues U.S. Corporations Should Not Be Liable for Using Child Slaves Abroad, But SCOTUS Appears Unconvinced Barack Obama’s former acting Solicitor General and current litigator Neal Katyal appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court during or ... (Law and Crime)
*training the suckers: Right-Wing Orgs Are Enlisting Students in Their War Against Campus Progressives Well-funded conservative groups are training college students to oppose progressive measures on campus.
by Eleanor J. Bader, Truthout
*Mitch McConnell has a playbook to destroy a Biden presidency — and it is already in the works
McConnell was consistently hostile to former President Barack Obama during his eight years in the White House
ALEX HENDERSON - ALTERNET
*States With Few Coronavirus Restrictions Are Spreading the Virus Beyond Their Borders
Lax states are attracting shoppers and students from stricter neighbors — and sending back COVID-19 cases. The imbalance underscores the lack of a national policy.
*AIPAC DISTORTS U.S. POLICY ON ISRAEL, OBAMA ADMITS IN BOOK
The latest nuclear assassination in Iran could stand as another example of Israel strong-arming its most important patron.
*"We will exterminate you": Proud Boys and Trump diehards confront counter-protesters in Raleigh
A band of COVID deniers, neo-Confederates and pro-Trump diehards protested on Saturday
*“We Don’t Even Know Who Is Dead or Alive”: Trapped Inside an Assisted Living Facility During the Pandemic
What it’s like to stay alive as the virus charts its fatal course through a home for the elderly in one of the worst-hit neighborhoods in the Bronx.
*AUSTIN FUSION CENTER SPIED ON NONPOLITICAL CULTURAL EVENTS
Documents obtained by The Intercept show that law enforcement monitored an online Juneteenth celebration and a meditation event
*Here Are the Various Ways Donald Trump Could Be Prosecuted
Tax fraud and obstruction of justice are just the start.
*America's flawed democracy
The five key areas where it is failing
Trump Whines After Fired Cybersecurity Official Chrisopher Krebs Dismantles His ‘Rigged’ Election Claims
‘WE DID IT RIGHT’
Jamie Ross - Reporter
Published Nov. 30, 2020 5:25AM ET
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
President Donald Trump thought he’d heard the last from Christopher Krebs when he fired the former top cybersecurity official via Twitter for not toeing the line on Trump’s “rigged” election narrative last week. But, in an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes aired Sunday night, Krebs forensically picked apart Trump’s continued attempts to sow doubt about the election—and then Trump flipped out at him on Twitter again. In the interview, Krebs said: “There is no foreign power that is flipping votes. There’s no domestic actor flipping votes. I did it right. We did it right. This was a secure election.” After it aired, the president tweeted that it was a “ridiculous, one sided story,” and baselessly claimed that 2020 “was probably our least secure EVER!” As always, Trump produced no evidence to back up his unproven claims.
New York Road Runners CEO Out Amid Complaints on Diversity
HIT THE ROAD
Pilar Melendez - Reporter
Published Nov. 30, 2020 10:59AM ET
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
The New York Road Runners organization on Monday announced its chief executive officer will be leaving at the end of the year amid complaints from former and current employees questioning the organization’s commitment to diversity. Michael Capiraso, who has led the organization that puts on the New York City Marathon since 2015, will be leaving Dec. 31, NYRR Chairman George Hirsch said in an announcement. The decision, he noted, came after its board spent months listening “to the concerns raised and recommendations offered by the community NYRR serves, including its employees and members of the broader running community.” Those concerns include an anonymous online letter published in August, in which current and former employees accused the New York Road Runners of several wrongdoings—like financial mismanagement and failing to address diversity and social justice. The letter also specifically called out Capiraso for his lack of commitment to social-justice issues.
“In order to achieve our mission to help and inspire people through running, we will recruit new leadership to the organization. The entire Board of Directors and I thank Michael Capiraso for his 10 years of contributions and dedication to this organization,” Hirsch added. Kerin Hempel, a former executive with the New York Road Runners, will now serve as the interim CEO until a permanent replacement is named.
“In order to achieve our mission to help and inspire people through running, we will recruit new leadership to the organization. The entire Board of Directors and I thank Michael Capiraso for his 10 years of contributions and dedication to this organization,” Hirsch added. Kerin Hempel, a former executive with the New York Road Runners, will now serve as the interim CEO until a permanent replacement is named.
Iran: Israel Killed Top Nuclear Scientist With Remote-Control Machine Gun
‘NO INDIVIDUAL WAS PRESENT’
Jamie Ross - Reporter
Published Nov. 30, 2020 5:58AM ET
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
The scientist who masterminded Iran’s nuclear program in the 2000s was machine-gunned to death on Friday—but it seems as if the assassination was much more complex than it first appeared. Authorities initially said a truck exploded and then a group of men opened fire on Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, but a top Iranian security official has now accused Israel of using “electronic devices” to remotely kill the scientist. “Unfortunately, the operation was a very complicated operation and was carried out by using electronic devices,” said Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the country’s Supreme National Security Council. “No individual was present at the site.” Israel, long suspected of carrying out a string of assassinations on Iranian nuclear scientists since 2010, has yet to comment on the attack.
*What's Inside*
NOV 29 - dec 1
✔US SUPREME COURT CONSIDERS FIRMS’ LIABILITY FOR AFRICA CHILD SLAVERY
(SLAVERY 21ST CENTURY)
*WHY SOME LIBERALS AND ARMS-CONTROL EXPERTS ARE BACKING WAR PROFITEERS FOR BIDEN'S CABINET(PROGRESSIVES)
*INTERNATIONAL LAWYERS DRAFTING PLAN TO HOLD GOVERNMENTS, CORPS ACCOUNTABLE FOR 'WIDESPREAD DESTRUCTION' OF ECOSYSTEMS(WORLD)
*SCIENTISTS IDENTIFY DEEP-SEA BLOB AS NEW SPECIES USING ONLY VIDEO
(WEIRD THINGS)
*DEEPMIND AI CRACKS 50-YEAR-OLD PROBLEM OF PROTEIN FOLDING
(CURRENTS)
✔WHY BIDEN SHOULDN'T EXTEND AN OLIVE BRANCH TO REPUBLICANS
(COMMENTARY)
*BIG PHARMA IS THE DISEASE
(CORPORATE CRIMINALS)
✔THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS RESPONDING TO INDIGENOUS PROTEST WITH EXORCISMS
(CHRISTIANITY, FIRST AMERICANS)
*ENOUGH COWARDICE: DEMOCRATS MUST FORGE AHEAD, WITHOUT CARING WHAT THE TRUMPERS SAY(DEMO POLITICS)
*PROGRESSIVES PRAISE EARLY BIDEN PICKS, BUT WORRY HIS TEAM IS STACKED WITH “CORPORATISTS”(PROGRESSIVES)
✔TYSON EXPLOITS CONSUMERS JUST LIKE ITS ANIMALS AND THE WORKERS WHO RAISE THEM
(CORPORATE CRIMINALS)
*TOP HOSPITALS CHARGING PATIENTS UP TO 1,800% MORE FOR SERVICES THAN THEY ACTUALLY COST: STUDY(CORPORATE CRIMINALS)
*HERE’S THE REAL REASON DONALD TRUMP WON’T CONCEDE
(SUCKERS)
✔REGROWING INDIGENOUS AGRICULTURE COULD NOURISH PEOPLE, CULTURES AND THE LAND
(FIRST AMERICANS)
*MILLIONS OF U.S WORKERS FOR WALMART, MCDONALD’S AND OTHER CORPORATE GIANTS RELY ON FOOD STAMPS AND MEDICAID(SLAVERY 21ST CENTURY)
*TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACCUSED OF TRYING TO BULLY BANKS INTO FINANCING ARCTIC FOSSIL FUEL EXTRACTION(OIL)
*late news of interest*
celebrating in the land of ignorance!!!
Independent of everything: Is America too dumb for democracy?
Our nation's massive ignorance and lack of curiosity have led us into crisis. Are we smart enough to survive it?
DAVID MASCIOTRA - Salon
JULY 4, 2019 12:00PM (UTC)
Independence Day presents a good opportunity to consider that many Americans act as if their young country is independent from the rest of the world. The former popularity of the mindless slogan, “My country right or wrong,” offers a perfect summary of America’s suicidal self-absorption. When the fireworks no longer illuminate the sky, the barbecue is down to bones, and the hangovers begin to commence, a genuine act of patriotism would insist on the widespread realization that small-minded chauvinism is not virtuous. One need to look no further than the early stages of the presidential campaign to survey the damage of a country’s inability to look beyond its own borders.
The provincialism of American culture renders its politics both farcical and dangerous. While it is encouraging to see previously “extreme” and “radical” ideas, such as socialized medicine, paid family leave and debt-free higher education, become mainstream in the Democratic Party, it is also amusing to imagine a French or Canadian observer watching American politicians debate a national health care program as if it were a novel concept.
Much credit goes to Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is fond of reminding his interlocutors and audiences, in a wonderful tone of exhaustion, that the United States is the “only country in the developed world” that does not achieve universal health care coverage through public funding. Sanders, and his fellow candidates for the Democratic nomination, have strenuous labor to complete considering that most Americans know and care little about the world beyond its borders.
In 2003, when Americans still had the minimal interest in international affairs necessary to understand who we were bombing, a U.S. strategic task force of Education Abroad concluded that America’s ignorance of the outside world was so great as to constitute a threat to national security.
The specific details only sharpen the image of American obliviousness. A recent National Geographic survey indicates that merely 37 percent of recent college graduates can identify Iraq on a map, most failed to identify North Korea, only one in four could identify Iran or Israel, and among Americans ages 18 to 24, 6 percent could not even point to the United States. If you are among the 6 percent, and you are reading this, that’s where you live.
Derek Alderman, president of the American Association of Geographers, argues for the urgency of a “radical geographic literacy” in the United States, expressing grave concern that President Trump’s denigration of African nations as “shithole countries” will resonate with too many citizens for comfort. He reports that the answers on advanced placement geography exams from high school students are often littered with racist stereotypes regarding Africa and Asia.
The American perspective on history is as sophisticated as one would expect in a country where Donald Trump can even run for president without eliciting of universal laughter and disgust. Three-fourths of the public is unaware why the U.S. fought a cold war with the Soviet Union, and 41 percent are unfamiliar with the term “Auschwitz.”
America’s perverted priorities of giving tax breaks to the wealthy while its public schools decline into states of disrepair, along with a shallow and superficial news media operating under the demands of corporate ownership, are largely to blame for America’s failures, but the general public is not exactly resistant.
Historian Richard Hofstadter analyzed “anti-intellectualism” in American life in his seminal 1963 Pulitzer-winning book. Decades of of compounding fatuity have created a culture where leisure reading, according to several reports, is at an all time low.
It seems unlikely that those Americans who do crack open a book are studying comparative politics or international relations. For the full picture of how pitiful American culture has become, consider that for many recent years the bestselling “historian” in the country was Bill O’Reilly.
To bemoan the spectacular incuriosity of Americans is not an exercise in snobbery, but a red alarm warning of an impending crisis. The consequences of American ignorance are not academic.
A Washington Post survey, two years after American forces invaded Iraq, revealed that 70 percent of respondents believed that Saddam Hussein was personally responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
American provincialism also functions as insulation of the brain, preventing the average citizen from seeing and hearing the warning signs that history offers into the transformation of democracy into despotic rule. Fascism is not an overnight development, and when your country is earnestly debating whether its treatment of immigrant and refugee children qualifies for the term “concentration camp,” you have already taken a few large steps down that deadly road.
The qualities of Donald Trump, and the zealotry of his worshipful supporters, resemble the images of nearly every authoritarian movement in European, Asian and Latin American history. If America’s political culture possessed some semblance of literacy, its voters would collaborate to consign Trump to the political garbage disposal. When it came to providing basic services for its own people, it would not allow intellectual titans like Chuck Todd to ask Democrats, “How are you going to pay for it?” — as if countries with far less wealth have not already managed to do so.
A friend of mine whose father recently died told me that her brother, who lives in London, took one month off with full pay to travel to Texas, make some final memories with his dad, and attend the funeral service. Britain, contrary to popular belief, is not a mythical, far-off universe from a fantasy novel.
If one wants to drift off entirely into dreamland, envision an America where its federal government invites consultants from countries with better performing health care systems, affordable universities and more effective poverty relief policies to assist in the expansion of the social welfare state.
Instead of seeking outside advice, we will continue to display the symptoms of national solipsism, bumbling along as if there is no reality outside what we can see right in front of us.
The United States of America is one year older today. Only time will tell if it is also wiser.
The provincialism of American culture renders its politics both farcical and dangerous. While it is encouraging to see previously “extreme” and “radical” ideas, such as socialized medicine, paid family leave and debt-free higher education, become mainstream in the Democratic Party, it is also amusing to imagine a French or Canadian observer watching American politicians debate a national health care program as if it were a novel concept.
Much credit goes to Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is fond of reminding his interlocutors and audiences, in a wonderful tone of exhaustion, that the United States is the “only country in the developed world” that does not achieve universal health care coverage through public funding. Sanders, and his fellow candidates for the Democratic nomination, have strenuous labor to complete considering that most Americans know and care little about the world beyond its borders.
In 2003, when Americans still had the minimal interest in international affairs necessary to understand who we were bombing, a U.S. strategic task force of Education Abroad concluded that America’s ignorance of the outside world was so great as to constitute a threat to national security.
The specific details only sharpen the image of American obliviousness. A recent National Geographic survey indicates that merely 37 percent of recent college graduates can identify Iraq on a map, most failed to identify North Korea, only one in four could identify Iran or Israel, and among Americans ages 18 to 24, 6 percent could not even point to the United States. If you are among the 6 percent, and you are reading this, that’s where you live.
Derek Alderman, president of the American Association of Geographers, argues for the urgency of a “radical geographic literacy” in the United States, expressing grave concern that President Trump’s denigration of African nations as “shithole countries” will resonate with too many citizens for comfort. He reports that the answers on advanced placement geography exams from high school students are often littered with racist stereotypes regarding Africa and Asia.
The American perspective on history is as sophisticated as one would expect in a country where Donald Trump can even run for president without eliciting of universal laughter and disgust. Three-fourths of the public is unaware why the U.S. fought a cold war with the Soviet Union, and 41 percent are unfamiliar with the term “Auschwitz.”
America’s perverted priorities of giving tax breaks to the wealthy while its public schools decline into states of disrepair, along with a shallow and superficial news media operating under the demands of corporate ownership, are largely to blame for America’s failures, but the general public is not exactly resistant.
Historian Richard Hofstadter analyzed “anti-intellectualism” in American life in his seminal 1963 Pulitzer-winning book. Decades of of compounding fatuity have created a culture where leisure reading, according to several reports, is at an all time low.
It seems unlikely that those Americans who do crack open a book are studying comparative politics or international relations. For the full picture of how pitiful American culture has become, consider that for many recent years the bestselling “historian” in the country was Bill O’Reilly.
To bemoan the spectacular incuriosity of Americans is not an exercise in snobbery, but a red alarm warning of an impending crisis. The consequences of American ignorance are not academic.
A Washington Post survey, two years after American forces invaded Iraq, revealed that 70 percent of respondents believed that Saddam Hussein was personally responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
American provincialism also functions as insulation of the brain, preventing the average citizen from seeing and hearing the warning signs that history offers into the transformation of democracy into despotic rule. Fascism is not an overnight development, and when your country is earnestly debating whether its treatment of immigrant and refugee children qualifies for the term “concentration camp,” you have already taken a few large steps down that deadly road.
The qualities of Donald Trump, and the zealotry of his worshipful supporters, resemble the images of nearly every authoritarian movement in European, Asian and Latin American history. If America’s political culture possessed some semblance of literacy, its voters would collaborate to consign Trump to the political garbage disposal. When it came to providing basic services for its own people, it would not allow intellectual titans like Chuck Todd to ask Democrats, “How are you going to pay for it?” — as if countries with far less wealth have not already managed to do so.
A friend of mine whose father recently died told me that her brother, who lives in London, took one month off with full pay to travel to Texas, make some final memories with his dad, and attend the funeral service. Britain, contrary to popular belief, is not a mythical, far-off universe from a fantasy novel.
If one wants to drift off entirely into dreamland, envision an America where its federal government invites consultants from countries with better performing health care systems, affordable universities and more effective poverty relief policies to assist in the expansion of the social welfare state.
Instead of seeking outside advice, we will continue to display the symptoms of national solipsism, bumbling along as if there is no reality outside what we can see right in front of us.
The United States of America is one year older today. Only time will tell if it is also wiser.
