mark
Common Dreams
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[l] at 7/26/24 2:04pm
Today marks the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which prohibits discrimination against disabled people in employment and public services. In a new analysis, CEPR Research Associate Hayley Brown explains that the pandemic leaves in its wake between 10 and 30 percent of those infected with Long COVID, many of them meeting the definition of disability covered by the ADA. As we celebrate the ADA as a vital resource, it is limited in its ability to direct and foster the kinds of supportive work environments that would help those with Long COVID and other chronic illnesses thrive in their jobs. Although the ADA requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified workers with disabilities, employers and employees may not see eye-to-eye on what is reasonable.Unions offer one possible remedy. Union representation carries a 17.7 percent wage premium for workers with disabilities and is associated with increased access to employer-sponsored health insurance, paid sick leave, and retirement coverage for disabled workers. In other words, unions can empower disabled workers on the job and hold employers accountable for workplace discrimination.“Securing economic justice for workers with disabilities will require more than just the ADA,” says Brown. “Unions have an important role to play in advocating for the growing ranks of workers with disabilities.”
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[l] at 7/26/24 2:03pm
Judge Alan D. Albright of the Western District of Texas sided with Elon Musk’s SpaceX on Tuesday, issuing a preliminary injunction preventing the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from pursuing an unfair labor practice charge against the company. The ruling finds that the structure of the NLRB is unconstitutional. The decision followed the reasoning of the far-right Fifth Circuit’s ruling in SEC v. Jarkesy. The Supreme Court agreed with the Fifth Circuit in its decision this term, but it did not touch the argument directly relevant to this case, leaving the Fifth Circuit’s ruling in place for the time being. Judge Albright’s ruling, ruling against the constitutionality of the 89 year-old agency, may now give the Supreme Court occasion to weigh in. In response to the decision, Revolving Door Project Executive Director Jeff Hauser issued the following statement: “Right-wing judges have made it all too easy for corporate actors to attack workers. Billionaires like Elon Musk don’t care whether administrative law judges’ removal protections are too robust or not. They just hate unions, and are using the courts as a weapon to crush them.”Revolving Door Project Researcher Will Royce added: “Administrative agencies like the NLRB are critical for safeguarding workers’ rights, which is why they have long been in the crosshairs of right-wingers and corporations. So long as corporate-aligned judges sit on the bench, we can expect rulings that erode protections for everyday people.”“This ruling is yet further evidence that the threat posed by corporate influence is not limited to the executive branch. Judicial decisions are increasingly being shaped by the interests of corporations, threatening the well-being of American workers,” concluded Hauser.
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[l] at 7/26/24 2:01pm
The use of anti-personnel landmines, which litter territories in Ukraine formerly and currently occupied by Russian forces, continue to pose a deadly threat to civilians and must be subject to a prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigation, Amnesty International said in a public statement released today.According to Landmine Monitor 2023, Ukraine recorded 608 landmine casualties in 2022, more than any country in the world bar Syria. Data gathered by humanitarian mine clearance organizations working in Ukraine shows most casualties come from anti-personnel mines, which are inherently indiscriminate weapons, and as such prohibited by international humanitarian law.“Mines are scattered across the territory of Ukraine previously and currently occupied by Russian troops. They are a daily, deadly threat to civilians. Some have been deliberately placed in civilian homes where they maim and kill,” said Patrick Thompson, Ukraine Researcher at Amnesty International.“There must be an effective investigation into all such incidents as possible war crimes. In every region in Ukraine that was formerly occupied by Russia, we have seen evidence of civilians killed and injured by anti-personnel mines left behind by Russian forces.”Anti-personnel mines have been used regularly in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, and to a lesser extent since 2014. There was a noticeable spike in civilian casualties following the Russian retreat from Mykolaiv, Kherson and Kharkiv oblasts in late 2022, as civilians returned to their houses, homesteads and farms.In March 2022, Russian forces evicted Oleksandr* (not his real name) and his mother from their flat in Snihurivka, in the region of Mykolaiv. A Russian military unit took over the entire apartment block until it was forced to withdraw following fierce fighting around Snihurivka in November 2022.After the Russian retreat, Oleksandr returned to the apartment block to assess how badly it had been damaged. Upon entering the basement, he stepped on a disguised PFM-1 anti-personnel mine that had been placed under wooden planks. The mine exploded, Oleksandr fell, and landed on other disguised mines that had apparently, had been deliberately placed to injure or kill anyone entering the building. He lost both his left leg and arm in the incident.Despite the horrific episode, his story is not unique. Amnesty International researchers documented other incidents of Russian forces laying anti-personnel mines in residential areas in Kherson and Kharkiv oblasts.“The deminers working to clear Ukraine of this threat are carrying out painstaking, dangerous work every day. While the scale of the problem is undeniably huge, the biggest obstacle to clearing Ukraine of landmines is Russia’s ongoing aggression,” Patrick Thompson said.“The international community must commit to sustained financial and technical assistance to help Ukraine get rid of a danger that continues to wreck lives and livelihoods.”Ukraine has itself pledged to investigate its own forces’ use of anti-personnel mines.Anti-personnel mines deployed today will continue to impact civilians long into the future.“Countries must uphold the ban on the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel mines worldwide. There must be an end to the use of such indiscriminate weapons,” Patrick Thompson said.BACKGROUND Amnesty International wrote to the Government of Ukraine on 12 June 2024 asking for a comment on the progress of the investigation into the Ukrainian forces’ use of anti-personnel mines, and at the time of writing no response has been received.
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[l] at 7/25/24 1:37am
Talk about flipping the script. Within days, in an historic act of grace, old Joe did the "right and honorable thing" and handed the reins to Kamala, "in every possible way (the) anti-Trump," who ran with them. In their glorious wake, they left a blindsided, ill-equipped GOP sputtering about coups and conspiracies, a MAGA base whose hateful idiocy was thrown into sharp ugly relief, and a malignant old man, "only occasionally coherent," dragging his crimes and sordid legacy behind him. Oh sweet karma.Biden's selfless decision to put the country’s interests before his own was widely praised as "one of the most remarkable acts of leadership in our history," or per Jon Stewart, "Legend." After weeks of what must have felt like betrayals - colleagues and donors pushing him from a long-sought job he felt was unfinished - he could have clung on "in his pain and pride and stubborn Irish heart" if time hadn't caught up with him. In truth, he had exceeded many expectations. Until the horrific stain of his complicity with Israeli genocide in what is now Gaza's "hell on Earth" - especially searing with today's visit of its war-criminal-in chief - he was a good, even transformative president, steering America's recovery from the pandemic and Trump horrors, delivering substantive legislative achievements, restoring decency and dignity to the office. But he knew too well what was at stake to become "the man who saved democracy in 2020 only to sacrifice it at the altar of his own ambition in 2024." As a result, Biden "will go down in history as one of the greatest public servants of all time." Filmmaker Ken Burns, "History recognizes actions that are bigger than self."In his bittersweet departure, Biden has been likened to George Washington: "To give, rather than to try to take (is) perhaps the most difficult thing for any human being to do." Others see a Shakespearean end, King Lear leaving the stage, wandering the heath, making peace with "the necessity of accepting the sheer injustice of his predicament. And it is unjust; he did a good job... The reality is that, while Biden is old and frail, his opponent (is) old and nuts." The cherry on top of the recent chaos is that contrast made more daftly, starkly, shriekingly apparent, and "the late, great Hannibal Lecter" is just the start. The more Biden is celebrated for his unselfish, statesmanlike move, the more grotesque is the tinpot tyrant's overweening narcissism, the more glaring his gaffes, goofs and fumble, and you know who else is really old? At 78, he's sooo old, the oldest presidential candidate in history, "the old man in the race by a mile." Cue: "He's so old he was Keith Richards' babysitter," "He's so old he remembers when rocks were soft," "He's so old he was in high school when dirt was new," "He's so old he should drop out." Good one.The week before, nonetheless, God crowned as king the same, old, trashy, vengeful, blathering, twice-impeached, 34-felony-count-rapist who in a normal country should have long been banished from the public stage, who tried to overthrow the government because he has no use for democracy and then ceaselessly lied about it, who surrounded himself with goons and Nazis, let hundreds of thousands of Americans needlessly die on his inept watch, incited hate, swindled millions, maligned migrants, stole his speeches from Legally Blonde, wanted to shoot protesters and jail opponents and try Liz Cheney before a military tribunal on TV for treason - that God not only crowned him King but saved him when he "took a bullet for democracy," or at least a shard of teleprompter plexiglass: "Many people say it was a providential moment. When I rose, the crowd was confused because they thought I was dead. And there was great, great sorrow..." All of which proves that God really does work in mysterious ways, and that getting shot at doesn't magically "transform victims into moral leaders."Unlike 2016's MAGA-galvanized GOP convention, which "had the chaotic, unhinged, angry energy of a can of Mountain Dew vigorously shaken by a malicious six-year-old," Andrew O'Hehir says that 2024's confab in a blockaded Milwaukee felt like a ghost town of "listless (and) mildly delusional" people "fueled by unquenchable, unfocused unhappiness" seeking "victory over whatever forces they believe are oppressing them." In a messy, endless speech, America's Racist Grandpa, shiny with sweat gleaming off his makeup, decried "men playing in women's sports," claimed "illegal aliens" took "107%" of Biden's new jobs, praised North Korea's Kim Jong Un - "I think he misses me" - and kissed the helmet of the guy killed at his rally. Zionist vendors sold red Trump yarmulkes, Hulk Hogan browbeat non-MAGA "criminals, lowlifes, scumbags," Matt Gaetz (R., Botox) picked fights, smug Javanka smiled, two aides came from prison, ineffably stupid Kimberly Guilfoyle rewrote history to shriek the heroes who stormed Normandy were fighting communism not fascism, and newly tolerant MAGA-ites met a Sikh prayer with, "Get deported, you pagan blasphemer" and, "Oh, fuck off. What a joke."On its last day, the GOP's lunatic disarray helped push lawyer George Conway to launch a new “Anti-Psychopath PAC” to highlight Trump’s “mental unfitness for office." "The failure to treat Trump’s behavior as pathological has led the media and the country, perversely, to treat it as normal," writes Conway, who calls Trump "a shit show in a dumpster fire." "Voters have forgotten one important fact: Trump is fucking nuts." Despite the GOP's efforts to project unified power, Trump's rambling, tatty recitation of national carnage "just looks deranged." "This is not a colossus," noted Chris Hayes. "This is an old man in decline who's been doing the same shtick for a very long time." That was made clear at a rally soon after in Grand Rapids, where Trump mangled words - "Prennsylvania," "lakies," baseball "passes," German inflation "centuries ago," Biden "can't find the entrances off the stage"- babbled about sharks, forts, the "plunder, rape and slaughter of American suburbs," claimed to know nothing of "this Project 25 - i dunno what the hell it is" - and menacingly said of the 2020 election's "horrible, horrible result," "We're never gonna let that happen again."Still, he was feeling cocksure enough of victory against a frail and flailing Biden with lousy polls that he pushed his authoritarian luck and chose for his VP a charmless, inexperienced, ideologically extreme anti-abortion zealot, veteran "sucker" and hater of "childless cat ladies" who shamelessly flip-flopped from denouncing "America's Hitler" to grovelling before him, barely won his Senate seat in a solidly red state, became the first VP pick in decades to enter a race with a negative favorable rating (–6), "makes no sense from a statistical polling perspective" and, focus groups find, swing voters "simply do not like.” Analysts add that, for a party offering popular policies, the VP pick doesn't much matter; for a party, or personality cult, offering along with the cult leader only the decimation of women's reproductive rights and the dystopian nightmare of Project 2025 - both widely unpopular - wooden, untested, misogynistic Senator Hillbilly Elegy, who mostly seemed to baffle convention goers even while dutifully decked out in his unctuous, twinsey blue suit and red tie, doesn't help much. But Biden was frail and flailing, and Cult Leader was Cult Leader, and GOP officials thought the race was won. From the start, they'd been laser-focused on Sleepy Old Joe, evil if incongruous mastermind of a Biden Crime Family so vast it netted him a beach house that isn't even on the beach. Also Hunter - his laptop, drugs, loans, dick - Biden's brother, China, Ukraine, impeachment or if stuck maybe Merrick Garland,. But remember: Joe's old. Head clowns Comer and Jordan kept so busy with the Biden circus they didn't even have time to fund the government, giving us the most do-nothing House in history. But Joe was still old. Then, suddenly, he did "the right and honorable thing." And only one old codger was left. "They were so sure," said Rachel Maddow. "Then boom. Trump's remarkable run of political good luck came to an end with a crash. The old man in the race is now Donald Trump, 78 and only occasionally coherent, with a record as president (viewed) as the worst in history." Weirdly, for once Nikki Haley was right. "The first party to retire its 80-year-old candidate," she said months ago, "is going to (win) this election." — (@) Biden's move caught Republicans flat-footed, also stunned, panicked, pissed. To some, their shock at what to many seemed an obvious, possible, if not-yet-arrived-at development suggests a mindset impervious to the notion of anyone with power voluntarily, even gracefully giving it up. Blindsided by an act that instantly gutted most of his "arguments" - Biden is bad and old - Trump asked the manager for a refund after spending time and money "fighting Crooked Joe Biden. Now, we have to start all over again." Then he reached out in gracious commiseration with Biden. Just kidding. He kicked him while down, wildly projecting: "(He) was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve - And never was!...The Worst President, by far, in the History of our Nation" (no you piece-of-shit ghoul, that's you) "just quit the race in COMPLETE DISGRACE!" True to the racist, sexist tenets of his political rise, he mocked Harris' laugh with, "I call her Laffin’ Kamala. She’s crazy"; Hannity called her laugh "just one reason voters seem to detest Kamala Harris." Trump also desperately charged she wants to "reduce the amount of red meat you can eat." Um, ok.MAGA world, spiraling, likewise flung crackpot theories, scattershot charges, rumored coups - "These people are coup-coup" - likening Biden voluntarily stepping aside to "all those people falling out of windows in Russia." Biden suspiciously underlined his signature in his resignation letter; he posted his endorsement of Harris to Twitter but everyone knows he doesn't use social media; he's dying because his brother called him a "hero" who should "enjoy whatever time we have left"; he's dead because he changed his Twitter banner to "Harris For President" and "that's exactly what a dead man would say." Thankfully, Lauren Boebert was on it. "I demand proof of life from Joe Biden today by 5 pm," she proclaimed, like the time she demanded the EPA chief repeal all environmental regulations. "He needs to get in front of a camera and discuss if he's aware he dropped out. Hiding is completely unacceptable." One patriot: "I demand proof of brain by Granny Beetleboob today by 5:00 p.m."Then Vance joined in. "Joe Biden is dead. Or almost dead. Or mostly dead. And has been dead for 3 years, and the Dems lied to us the whole time." Also, "History will remember Joe Biden as not just a quitter, which he is, but as one of the worst presidents in the history of the United States. Kamala Harris is a million times worse and everybody knows it." (Damn, now he's talking like him too). And the uppity black lady never showed any "gratitude" toward America; just like other welfare queens, "All she did was collect a government check" as prosecutor, A.G., senator. (New GOP slogan: "No Dog Whistles, Only Megaphones!") And, in a new (lying) ad, racism is okay by us: "Whatever you call it, we will put America first." And, in his first solo campaign speech - blue suit, red tie, wooden delivery, bad Mountain Dew jokes falling flat into confused silence, "Democrats say it's racist to do anything." Huh. It turns out that Vance isn't just a fascist sycophant; he's also really bad at this. Jeb-Bush bad, notes AOC, and so deadly dull even Fox News cut away from him. Because only the best people, always.Obviously - see woman of color - MAGA was happy to pile on. "(Harris is) a DEI hire," squawked Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett. "When you go down that route, you get mediocrity." "Kamala was in on it. She covered up Joe's obvious mental decline," raved a super-PAC ad. “She knew Joe couldn't do the job, so she did it. A border invasion, runaway inflation, the American Dream dead.” She's "a FRAUD," "a shameless LIAR whose coverup is the scandal of the century," "unoriginal, annoying, and highly incompetent," "not a natural born citizen," being funded by "Ukrainian ghost dollars," not been "properly vetted" though she probably didn't shoot a dog, and, from Kellyanne Conway, "She does not speak well." Her ex: "Not everyone can express themselves (with) such exquisite turns of phrase as Donald J. Trump." Stephen 'Discount Goebbels' Miller had a "hypersonic meltdown" about the Biden/Harris "full-frontal" assault on democracy: "They had ballots! They filled out circles!" So did Don Jr. about Kamala being so radical she once said we should consider giving felons in prison the right to vote, but he thinks his felon should be president. Go figure. MAGA officials aren't just kvetching; they're scrambling to stop progress. They filed an FEC complaint arguing Dems can't rename their campaign from "Biden" to "Harris for President" and access its $91 million. They're reportedly introducing an impeachment resolution against Harris, asking the House to investigate Harris, and demanding Biden be removed under the 25th Amendment; it's unclear if they understand that would make Harris, yes, president. And they're likely trying to figure out what to do with all that merch - Let's Go Brandon flags, Fuck Joe Biden signs, bound-and-gagged Biden truck wraps. By now Harris has her own merch: a President Harris Barbie and a flood of coconut-themed products honoring her story about her mother telling her and her sister, "I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people - you think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live, and what came before you." Meanwhile, much of a newly fired-up America is "hope-scrolling," and the satirical New York Times Pitchbot is posting, "I said Biden should drop out. But now that he has, I think it was a mistake."In a glad show of unity, Dems have raised a record $126 million - with zero going to defense attorneys' fees - for Harris, and about $250 million ballotwide, most in small donations. Almost 30,000 volunteers have signed up to work for the campaign; over 2,200 delegates, more than needed, have already endorsed Harris, and Beyoncé has given permission to use her song “Freedom” in the campaign. In her first appearance at Wilmington headquarters, Harris highlighted her hard-core experience as a prosecutor and attorney general bringing felons to account: "In those roles I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type.” Many are celebrating that singular felicity of her past. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore: Trump "is about to find out being (President) is a Black job." Also, "Trump is probably too stupid to realize this yet, but Kamala and the rest of America's women are going to fuck him up," and, "Nothing says women refuse to accept second-class citizenship like electing one."En route, much ugliness remains. Trump is still raving about "Lyin' Kamala" and her "absolutely terrible pole (sic) numbers against a fine and brilliant young man named DONALD J. TRUMP!" See #cognitivedecline. The far-right has cranked up vitriol that's soared 525% on 4chan: "AIPAC slut Kamala," "how many dicks did she ride?", Doug Emhoff as her "cuckboy" and "Jewish handler," the threat of the "Indian-Jew axis." But hope hovers in the air. Joe called in from COVID quarantine to assure staff "the name changed, the mission hasn't," urging them to "embrace her," telling Harris, "I'm watching you, kid. You're the best." Some speculate canny old Joe - 'the dude knows politics" - planned it all, "playing the GOP and media like a cheap violin: 'I'm not dropping out, I'm not dropping out, oh look they picked a rabid weasel for VP and had their Nazi-fest. Huh. I'm dropping out motherfuckers.'" And when she wins, pack the Supreme Court while Joe eats ice cream after doing one-arm push-ups and donuts in his Corvette. Dark Brandon, Laffin' Kamala and a Black woman president: "This era's last word in poetic justice."
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[l] at 7/24/24 3:37pm
Stefanie Fox, Executive Director, Jewish Voice for Peace: “This will go down in history as a moment of shame for the American people: standing ovations for the genocidal lies of a fascist leader who is using US weapons to commit crimes against humanity against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. Netanyahu’s speech was as racist as it was devoid of fact — filled with anti-Palestinian and islamophobic diatribes, the appalling use of Israeli captives as fodder for his own political survival, and the slander of anti-war Americans. The Prime Minister should be held accountable for war crimes, as should the U.S. government leaders who are paying and cheering for these historic atrocities.”Beth Miller, Political Director, Jewish Voice for Peace: “Netanyahu’s speech was a nauseating display of genocidal racism and lies. But let’s be clear: today revealed the demise of the bipartisan consensus on Israel. Over 130 Democrats boycotted Netanyahu’s speech. In a desperate attempt to make this authoritarian leader appear popular, seats were filled with guests, rather than elected officials. The far-right agenda of groups like AIPAC that seek to back Israel’s crimes against humanity are growing more toxic by the day, and the will of American voters who want a human-rights centered foreign policy is breaking through.”
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[l] at 7/24/24 2:16pm
Connecticut scored a major victory yesterday in its lawsuit seeking to hold ExxonMobil accountable for “an ongoing, systematic campaign of lies and deception” about the role of the company’s fossil fuel products in causing climate change, after a state court judge denied Exxon’s motion to dismiss the case. The lawsuit, filed by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong in 2020 under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, seeks to make Exxon Stop lying in violation of the state’s consumer protection act;Pay $5,000 for each time Exxon violated the act; Disclose climate research and studies in Exxon’s possession;“Fund a corrective education campaign to remedy the harm inflicted by decades of disinformation” — similar to how tobacco companies have been made to fund efforts to educate the public about the harms of smoking;Pay “equitable relief” for “past and ongoing deceptive acts and practices associated with climate change” that will require costs to mitigate, adapt, and make Connecticut more resilient; and Pay restitution and disgorgement to Connecticut “as appropriate to rectify” Exxon’s “unlawful behavior.” Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, released the following statement: “Connecticut is now one major step closer to putting ExxonMobil on trial for lying to consumers about the catastrophic harms caused by their fossil fuel products. It’s time for the people of Connecticut to have their day in court to hold Exxon accountable for its climate lies and make the company pay for the damages its deception has caused.” Connecticut’s victory is the latest defeat for Exxon in climate accountability lawsuits facing the oil giant. Judges have allowed similar lawsuits against Exxon and other Big Oil companies in Massachusetts, Hawai`i, Colorado, and Maryland, to advance toward discovery and trial in state courts. A judge in Delaware also ruled that a limited version of that state’s lawsuit could proceed toward trial in state court, while the City of Baltimore is planning to appeal a ruling in its case that is at odds with the others. Exxon and other fossil fuel companies are separately urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up and overturn a Hawai`i Supreme Court ruling in favor of Honolulu’s climate accountability lawsuit, but the federal preemption issues presented in their petitions were not considered in the recent decision in Connecticut’s lawsuit. Background on State and Local Climate Accountability Lawsuits Against Big Oil Ten attorneys general — in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico — and dozens of municipal or tribal governments in California, Colorado, Hawai`i, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington, and Puerto Rico, have filed lawsuits to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change. Earlier this year, the attorney general of Michigan announced plans to take fossil fuel companies to court.
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[l] at 7/24/24 2:14pm
Stand Up America’s Managing Director of Policy and Political Affairs, Brett Edkins, issued the following statement after the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs advanced the ETHICS Act with bipartisan support. The ETHICS Act bans members of Congress, and their spouses and dependents, from owning or trading stocks. “The bipartisan legislative accomplishments of the Democratically-run Senate continue. Current law does little to actually stop members of Congress from engaging in illegal insider trading, using information they learn as our representatives for personal financial gain. This extraordinary ethical failure erodes the public’s trust in Congress and undermines our democracy.”“We applaud Chair Peters, Senator Merkley, and members of the committee for advancing the ETHICS Act. This bill would prevent corruption and ensure that our elected officials act in the best interest of their constituents. We urge Leader Schumer to bring this critical legislation up for a vote.”
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[l] at 7/23/24 11:32am
A new report from the national advocacy group Food & Water Watch presents a stark picture of the immense amount of climate-killing methane emissions emanating from the top two sources of such pollution: fossil fuel fracking and corporate factory farming. While carbon dioxide still remains a larger source of greenhouse gas emissions, methane has a vastly outsized impact on climate stability in the near term, as it has an 86 times stronger warming effect than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.Among the findings of the report: Fossil fuel extraction, processing and distribution operations in the U.S. released 26.4 million metric tons of methane pollution in 2022.Dairy, beef and hog factory farms in the U.S. released 3.2 million metric tons of methane pollution in 2022. “This report demonstrates the incredibly dangerous impact methane pollution is having on our climate. As global temperature records are being shattered month after month, we clearly see the danger is already manifesting – and it will only worsen in the coming years if something isn’t done immediately to clamp down on these high-polluting industries,” said Food & Water Watch Research Director Amanda Starbuck. “While the right wing and their Project 2025 playbook are calling for more and more destructive oil and gas production, science and reality are screaming that we must move decisively in the opposite direction.”Food & Water Watch (FWW) estimates that in 2022, fracking across the U.S. released lifecycle emissions of over 26.4 million metric tons of methane.This includes emissions from well sites, processing, and distribution, but excludes combustion. This is equivalent to over 500 million cars driven for a year, or 255 billion gallons of gasoline burned. Peer-reviewed research has shown that the EPA consistently underestimates the scale of this pollution.On the industrial agriculture front, FWW estimates that on-farm emissions from hogs, beef cattle and dairy cows living on U.S. factory farms totaled up to 3.2 million metric tons of methane in 2022. This is equivalent to 65.3 million cars being driven for a year, or driving around the Equator over 28 million times. (This does not include emissions from cattle feed production, which makes up the lion’s share of the livestock industry’s greenhouse gas emissions.)Most on-farm livestock emissions come from enteric fermentation, a natural process within the digestive system of ruminants. The report estimates that mega-dairies dominate these emissions, with nearly 7 million cows together producing 1.06 million metric tons of methane every year. The 11 to 12 million beef cattle on factory farms produce 507,000 metric tons of methane annually. The other major source of on-farm emissions is manure management. FWW estimates that emissions from manure management of mega-dairy cows total up to 1.49 million metric tons of methane every single year.
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[l] at 7/23/24 11:31am
Today, the Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into surveillance pricing, ordering information from eight companies on the practice in a 5-0 vote. The orders were sent to Mastercard, Revionics, Bloomreach, JPMorgan Chase, Task Software, PROS, Accenture, and McKinsey & Co. Groundwork’s Executive Director Lindsay Owens applauded the action in the following statement: “Surveillance pricing isn’t new, but new technologies like better data collection and smarter algorithms are turbocharging it and costing Americans a small fortune.“Today’s investigation is an important step in cracking down on the methods big corporations use to spy on consumers to rip them off.”
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[l] at 7/23/24 11:31am
Today, the Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into surveillance pricing, ordering information from eight companies on the practice in a 5-0 vote. The orders were sent to Mastercard, Revionics, Bloomreach, JPMorgan Chase, Task Software, PROS, Accenture, and McKinsey & Co. Groundwork’s Executive Director Lindsay Owens applauded the action in the following statement: “Surveillance pricing isn’t new, but new technologies like better data collection and smarter algorithms are turbocharging it and costing Americans a small fortune.“Today’s investigation is an important step in cracking down on the methods big corporations use to spy on consumers to rip them off.”
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[l] at 7/22/24 11:42am
Today, MoveOn members overwhelmingly and enthusiastically voted to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president. MoveOn Political Action Executive Director Rahna Epting released the following statement: “From being a staunch abortion advocate as vice president to holding the Trump administration accountable as a U.S. senator to combating corruption as the California attorney general, Kamala Harris has proven she is a champion for working people and our democracy. That’s why MoveOn members have overwhelmingly and enthusiastically endorsed Vice President Harris for president and are more fired up than ever to defeat Donald Trump this fall once and for all. “The Biden-Harris administration has delivered real wins for our communities, including passing life-changing investments to protect our climate, making health care more affordable, and taking down wealthy special interests. Under the Harris administration, we know all of this historic progress will continue and we can trust our rights, freedoms, and democracy will remain protected under her people-first agenda. “In 2020, we defeated Donald Trump and MAGA extremists at the ballot box, and now it’s time for us to come together once again to stop Trump and his Project 2025 takeover from throwing America back into four more years of chaos.”
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[l] at 7/19/24 12:09pm
Today, technical problems reportedly related to the interaction between Microsoft’s cloud computing system and cybersecurity provider Crowdstrike caused massive worldwide IT outages, disrupting transportation, healthcare, and businesses. Emily Peterson-Cassin, Demand Progress’s Director of Corporate Power, issued the following statement. "Today’s outage shows how one software issue stemming from only one or two companies can ground flights, take down hospital systems, stop 911 calls, and cut off access to the internet in one fell swoop. Economy-wide reliance on a few giant companies is a serious fundamental risk to Americans. No one regulatory or legislative intervention will prevent this kind of situation, but there are plenty of policies that can reduce the danger. Efforts to empower regulators’ ability to tackle the risks posed by concentrated corporate actors are critical to protecting Americans from these kinds of failures. Cloud systems are critical to our infrastructure, and need to receive legislative and regulatory attention equal to their importance to our economy and the harms they cause when they fail."
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[l] at 7/18/24 12:49pm
Federal banking agencies will hold a virtual public hearing on Friday morning on the proposed acquisition of Discover Financial Services by Capital One Financial Corp. Bartlett Naylor financial policy advocate for Public Citizen, will testify at the hearing and released the following statement: “Regulators should not compound our too-big-to-fail problem by approving this merger. As recently as the spring of 2023, the federal government found itself forced to shore up a set of regional banks through the expansion of deposit insurance and government-subsidized mergers. With $625 billion in assets, Cap One-Discover would be larger than the three regional banks that failed last spring combined. Approving this merger would exacerbate the problems of financial stability, safety, and soundness.”
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[l] at 7/18/24 12:09pm
CODEPINK has officially filed two ethics complaints against Representative Derrick Van Orden, alleging an egregious abuse of power and influence. The complaints follow an incident in which Rep. Van Orden falsely accused Nour Jaghama, CODEPINK’s Palestine campaign organizer, of assault. This accusation led to Jaghama’s unwarranted arrest and 15-hour detainment on charges of battery. CODEPINK has maintained from the start that Nour Jaghama, a Palestinian-American, never made physical contact with Rep. Van Orden. However, law enforcement insisted on taking action based on Van Orden's claims due to his position as a U.S. Congressman.Following a thorough investigation, including the review of body cam footage, the Milwaukee District Attorney concluded that no crime had been committed and dropped the charges. Despite this, Rep. Van Orden continues to spread false claims of being assaulted and injured to his constituents, the media, and on social media.The false accusations have sparked a wave of death threats and hate messages directed at CODEPINK, including one currently under investigation by the FBI. Here is an example of the threats received:"Contact: (815) 284-4661 (m) jeffdkcjka@yahoo.comFuck you CUNT bitches. Hurt another Republican senator and it will be the LAST person you hurt CUNTS. Hamas should die and rot in Hell."This situation underscores the unacceptable nature of a U.S. Congressman using his position to defame a private citizen and incite violence. The public must hold elected officials accountable for such abuses of power.The ethics complaints are attached. For more information or to request further details, please contact Melissa at melissa@codepink.org.
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[l] at 7/18/24 12:03pm
For at least the last 40 years, pay and job quality for workers across the South has been inferior compared with other regions, according to a new Economic Policy Institute report.These are deliberate outcomes of the Southern economic development model, which is characterized by low wages, limited regulations on businesses, a regressive tax system, subsidies that funnel tax dollars to the wealthy and corporations, a weak safety net, and staunchly anti-union policies and practices. Specifically, the report finds: Southern states have consistently had lower median wages than other regions over the past 40 years. In 2021, the median hourly wage was $20.03 in the South, 9.3% lower than wages in the West and 15.9% lower than wages in the Northeast. The share of workers in the South who are paid less than $15 per hour—22% in 2021—is substantially higher than that of any other region (16.6% in the Midwest, 11.5% in the Northeast, and 9.7% in the West). Proponents of the Southern model argue that a lower cost of living in the South means that lower nominal wages still afford a higher quality of life. But adjusting wages for differences in the cost of living still leaves workers across the South with lower earnings. Workers across the South are the least likely to receive employer-provided health insurance or a pension compared with workers in other regions. They are also the least likely to have paid sick leave. The South has by far the lowest rates of union coverage; the states with the lowest rates in 2023 were South Carolina (3%), North Carolina (3.3%), and Louisiana (5.1%)—compared with 11.2% nationally. The report is the latest in a series, “Rooted in racism and economic exploitation,” that takes a deep dive into the failed Southern economic development model. Previous reports have illustrated the South’s economic underperformance and the development of the Southern economic development strategy.“The Southern economic development model does not—and cannot—lift all Southerners to economic security or prosperity. Southerners from all backgrounds—across race, ethnicity, gender, immigrant statuses, and income levels—must come together to demand a new economic model that centers and empowers workers and families,” said report author Chandra Childers, who is a senior policy and economic analyst for EPI’s Economic Analysis and Research Network.
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[l] at 7/18/24 10:36am
In response to the RNC Convention, Sunrise Movement Communications Director, Stevie O’Hanlon, released the following statement: "It's the last day of the Republican National Convention, and national Republicans have made it clear that they have no plans to address climate change, and don’t even want to talk about it. The RNC has released a party platform that promises to “DRILL, BABY, DRILL” and increase the production of oil, gas, and coal. Trump has promised to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency and end decades-old protections for our air and water that save lives and protect our health.However, during the RNC this week, even these plans were missing from prime-time speeches. The absence is glaring. Republicans are dodging talking about the climate because they side with oil and gas billionaires, not the vast majority of Americans who support the U.S. taking steps to reduce climate change.With heat wave after heat wave this summer, climate change is increasingly on people’s minds. Heading into November, voters will be considering if they want to risk another year of climate disasters. Make no mistake. Just because Republicans don't want to talk about their climate plans to voters, doesn’t mean that their radical, anti-climate agenda that empowers oil and gas billionaires to destroy our planet won’t be a top priority for a second Trump administration. Another Trump Presidency would cause catastrophic and irreversible damage to our climate."
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[l] at 7/17/24 2:46pm
National and community-based environmental groups celebrated a legal victory on Tuesday when a federal district court judge overturned an offshore oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet because the federal government violated the law when holding the sale.The Center for Biological Diversity and Natural Resources Defense Council filed the lawsuit together with Earthjustice, on behalf of Cook Inletkeeper, Kachemak Bay Conservation Society, and Alaska Community Action on Toxics.Lease Sale 258, held by the Department of the Interior in December 2022, opened nearly a million acres of federal waters in Southcentral Alaska to the fossil fuel industry, potentially locking in decades of future oil and gas drilling.The Interior Department originally canceled Lease Sale 258 in May 2022, but then announced it would move ahead in August after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. Though that legislation spurred efforts to address climate change, it included a provision reviving the Cook Inlet lease sale (along with two others in the Gulf of Mexico: Lease Sales 259 and 261, which are being litigated).While Lease Sale 258 only resulted in one bid for a relatively small tract, the areas auctioned off to bidder Hilcorp overlapped with critical habitat for federally endangered marine mammals. Cook Inlet is home to beluga whales and sea otters protected under the Endangered Species Act.Tuesday’s ruling noted that, among other things, the Department of the Interior failed to fully consider the lease sale’s cumulative impacts on beluga whales, as well as the issue of blaring vessel noise. Belugas use sound to “see” in a process known as echolocation, which supports behaviors such as hunting, avoiding obstacles, and finding each other, so noise impacts can threaten whales’ survival.Following the ruling, Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management must conduct a supplemental environmental review and determine based on this new review whether or not to add protections or redo the lease sale. The ruling also suspends Hilcorp’s lease while this process is underway. Since the start of 2024 alone, Hilcorp has been the subject of four different enforcement actions from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.In addition to endangered marine life, Cook Inlet also supports thriving subsistence, commercial and recreational fisheries and a multi-faceted tourist industry, fed by visitors from around the world drawn by the region’s unparalleled natural beauty. The Inlet is also essential for Alaska Native communities, who have stewarded these lands and waters for millennia.Alaska is experiencing more extreme consequences of climate change than the continental United States. Coastal erosion, thawing permafrost, melting sea ice, and fishery collapse are all ramifications of the worsening global climate crisis, which will only intensify with new oil and gas drilling operations.Partnering organizations released the following statements in response to this favorable decision:“Today’s legal victory is a win for Alaska communities, threatened beluga whales, and future generations who will face a hotter planet,” said Earthjustice attorney Carole Holley. “We’re celebrating the fact that this destructive lease sale has been sent back to the drawing board, and we will continue to push for a transition away from fossil fuels and toward a brighter and healthier energy future.”“This is a huge victory for Cook Inlet belugas. I hope this decision makes it clear to federal officials that they can’t keep ignoring the ways offshore drilling threatens these critically endangered whales,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s reckless to keep destroying wildlife, ocean habitat and our climate for oil and gas drilling and it needs to stop. Interior must do its job and protect our country’s irreplaceable public lands, waters and wildlife from industrial havoc.”“We are glad that the court recognizes the long-term harm that this lease sale would cause to our precious marine environment, belugas, and coastal communities,” said Pamela Miller, executive director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics. “This is the time for restoration and renewal, and for a swift transition to renewable energy, not more offshore oil and gas lease sales which will only perpetuate harm. Given the history of the oil corporations’ illegal dumping of toxic waste, spills, noise, and chronic damage, we must ensure that Interior fulfills its responsibility to protect our fisheries, wildlife, and health of our communities.”“This ruling helps protect Cook Inlet’s vibrant ecosystem, which is home to endangered beluga whales, and supports productive fishing grounds and culturally important sites for Alaska Natives,” said Irene Gutierrez, senior attorney for NRDC. “The region should not be sacrificed to decades of oil drilling. Interior must fully consider the range of potential harms when it carries out the court’s ruling.”“Today’s victory in Cook Inlet is a triumph of community resilience and environmental stewardship,” said Loren Barrett, co-executive director at Cook Inletkeeper. “Our coastal communities have long resisted oil and gas leasing, understanding the irreversible impacts of industrial disasters and the need to preserve Cook Inlet’s habitat, fisheries, and natural beauty. By overturning Lease Sale 258, the court has recognized the critical importance of safeguarding Cook Inlet's dynamic ecosystem, and an essential piece of habitat required to ensure the continued survival of the iconic Cook Inlet beluga whale.”
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[l] at 7/17/24 2:07pm
On July 16, 2024, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) was convicted of bribery and 15 other charges by a jury of his peers. In the wake of this decision, the Senate Ethics Committee announced that it will investigate Sen. Menendez and “consider the full range of disciplinary actions.” Kedric Payne, vice president, general counsel and senior director for ethics at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center issued the following statement: “We commend the Senate Ethics Committee for announcing its intention to investigate Sen. Menendez in light of his criminal convictions for unethical conduct. For too long, the Senate Ethics Committee has failed to uphold its responsibility to guard the integrity of the Senate by holding senators accountable for unethical and unlawful behavior. "We hope that this investigation does not end like the 97% of the Committee’s investigations over the last 14 years, where it found no evidence of a violation. The relevant facts of this case are now in the public record, so the investigation should move quickly. The American public deserves a Senate Ethics Committee that will prioritize the public’s interests, and anything less than a finding of wrongdoing will send the message that self-interested corrupt behavior by members is acceptable.”
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[l] at 7/17/24 2:04pm
Following reports that President Biden will announce proposals for major reforms of the Supreme Court, including an enforceable code of ethics and term limits, People For the American Way President Svante Myrick released the following statement: “It’s painfully obvious that this scandal-ridden, right-wing-dominated, partisan Supreme Court can’t police itself and is in dire need of reform on multiple levels. We’re thrilled that President Biden plans to step up and propose changes to fix the problem, including an enforceable code of ethics and term limits. People For the American Way has been calling for reform for years and we’re excited to see what the president’s proposals will be. One thing’s for certain: the Court’s downward spiral has to stop before it does more damage not just to our confidence in it, but to all our rights and freedoms.”
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[l] at 7/17/24 1:26pm
At around 2AM this morning, July 17, our Palestine campaign coordinator Nour Jaghama was released from a 15-hour hold in a Milwaukee jail, and has been charged with battery against a sitting member of Congress. The congressman, Rep. Derrick Van Orden, falsely accused Nour of assault after running into her from behind. He then used social media and press remarks to incite vitriol against our organization, CODEPINK, by attempting to link us to terrorism and political violence. This absolutely false arrest and the Congressman’s remarks have put Nour and CODEPINK in danger. Two hours after his post on X, we received a death threat, saying: "The next Palestinian protest in the street. I'm going to get my semi truck and run over you f*****g f*gg*ts and make road pancake out of you you f*****g c**t. I hope you all die b***h."CODEPINK has reported the death threat to the FBI. We have also demanded that the police release the body cam footage of the incident. And we have filed a complaint against the congressman with the Congressional Ethic Committee. (Complaint Attached)CODEPINK’s foundational value is non-violence. Our actions are colorful, often funny, and always educational. We have been bringing our message of peace and non-violence to the events surrounding the Republican National Convention, just as we will be doing at the Democratic National Convention, at a time where that message is needed more than ever. This incident with the Congressman occurred while Nour peacefully stood in line for an event for the Republican Women’s Brunch. A man tried to cut in line by shoving past her. When she didn’t move aside, the man then told one of the Texas police officers that she assaulted him and that he would like her arrested. He announced that he was a member of Congress – Representative Derrick Van Orden, who is known for his inappropriate, angry outbursts in Congress. He used his power to have Nour wrongfully arrested and then went on his X account to stoke hatred against our organization. Representative Van Orden’s tweet referred to the incident as “political violence” against him. Setting aside the fact that he approached Nour from behind and she could not recognize or see him. We interact with Republican Congressmen and Senators every day in Congress and engage them in meaningful dialogue, as we do with all elected officials. This is well documented across our social media. We know there was no violence of any kind, at least on our part. But Van Orden’s language is deliberate: Mere days after a high-profile assassination attempt, he used the same words to describe our peace organization that the nation is using to describe the person who attempted to kill Donald Trump.This is a deliberate attempt to scapegoat and incite hate and retaliatory violence against our organization and views. In a heated political moment where people all over the United States are called to unite, Van Orden used the moment to incite hate against nonviolent activists.In his tweet, the congressman also referred to CODEPINK as a pro-Hamas group. Approaching us from behind, he likely saw Nour’s pink keffiyeh she wore around her shoulders. The representative decided to shove the only Palestinian member of our group and then went on his social media and referred to us as “Pro-Hamas.” This is an obvious example of the racial profiling and anti-Palestinian hatred that has been stoked in this country since October 7th. Hateful messaging and false accusations against Palestinains led to the killing of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a six-year-old boy in Illinois, the shooting of three Palestinian young men in Vermont, and the attempted drowning of a Palestinian child in Texas. This incident is another incitement of violence against Palestinians. The very same rhetoric that leads our elected officials to disregard Palestinian life in Gaza is the rhetoric they use to disregard Palestinian life at home. We condemn the incitement of violence against anti-genocide activists and stand with Nour wholeheartedly.
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[l] at 7/17/24 1:12pm
Whew. In this quicksilver, "terrible moment," be careful what you wish for. Amidst our pious assertions political violence is always wrong, the tinpot candidate of ever-erratic political violence who's celebrated, advocated, excused and craved violence just got it in unexpected ways. Relishing his martyr's moment - and clad in a little "ear diaper" - he shows no sign of slowing his fascist march to power, proclaiming to supporters, fist in air, “I am Donald J. Trump. FEAR NOT!" Actually, we think we'll fear.After Saturday's shooting, Biden echoed other Dems, did the sober, responsible thing and declared, "There is no place in America for this kind of violence or for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions." The founders, he went on, "created a democracy that gave reason and balance a chance to prevail over brute force. That’s the America we must be...Violence in America like this is just unheard of." Sadly, not so, writes David Frum, who notes that "assassinations, lynchings, riots, and pogroms have stained every page of American political history." Now, "Violence stalks the president who has rejoiced in violence to others," entirely, historically apt when "fascism feasts on violence." "Trump and his supporters envision a new place for violence as their defining political message," says Frum. "Fascist movements are secular religions (that) offer martyrs as their proof of truth...The Trump movement now improves on that: The leader himself will be the martyr in chief, his own blood the basis for his bid for power and vengeance."Thus did Trump, with his showman's flair after having possibly, barely been grazed by a random bullet or more ingloriously nicked by flying glass from his teleprompter, respond not with checking on others or seeking to calm them, but with a histrionic fist in the air and clarion call, three times, to "Fight!" - the same word he used on January 6. Similarly, predictably, did inveterate grifters rush to hawk rock-band-like assassination merch - mugs, stickers, sweatshirts, trading cards. Within hours came Amazon's No. 1 best-seller "novelty t-shirts," emblazoned with that instantly iconic image - the flag, the blood, the fist - blaring "Bulletproof," "For God and Country," "Legends Never Die," "You Missed," "Impeached, Arrested, Convicted, Shot, Still Standing." Just as quickly, Trump's campaign set up a shiny new fundraising site featuring the same flashy image shrieking, "I am Donald J. Trump. FEAR NOT!" Also, "I will always love you for supporting me. Unity. Peace. Make America Great Again.”Alas, the plea for "unity" and "peace" was as self-serving as it was short-lived by a party who've embraced anger and violence in their messaging and a leader who blithely, viciously uses threats of and incitement to that violence to quell opposition. The bland calls to lower the rhetorical temperature were met with a sick rush of threats, taunts, and crackpot charges, though the shooter was a Republican fan of Demolition Ranch videos about guns and explosives and his parents were flagged in 2016 by the Trump team as "strong Republicans" likely worried about gun rights. The "rhetoric of the radical left," Republicans raved, "led directly" to the shooting. Georgia Rep. Mike Collins: "Joe Biden sent the orders." Some blamed fake news - Fox chyron: "MEDIA LAYED (sic) GROUNDWORK FOR VIOLENCE AGAINST TRUMP" - or a complicit Secret Service led by a "DEI hire," aka woman. Whatever: Wingnuts on social media declared it their "last damn straw." "Let’s give it to them," one snarled. “CIVIL.FUCKING.WAR."In truth, Aaron Rupar notes, "Multiple things are true about Trump's shooting. Political violence is wrong, and nobody has done more to worsen the climate of political violence in this country." He's spewed ceaseless violent rhetoric, threatening countless "others," aka anyone not a MAGA freak. He urged rally attendees to beat up protesters, Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by,” "2nd Amendment people" to attack Hillary Clinton, police to "don't be too nice" to suspects, fans to "go after" New York A.G. Tish James, the military to "just shoot" BLM protesters and migrants, Gen. Mark Milley be executed for a phone call he didn't like. He belittled an attack on Paul Pelosi and a plot to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer. He vowed "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," "there has to be retribution," "you'll never take back our country with weakness," "big, big trouble" if he's indicted, and "a bloodbath" if he loses the election. He watched Jan. 6 with glee, champions its insurrectionists as "hostages" and promises to pardon them.Cult members, often armed, have followed ugly suit. A Kansas fundraiser offered a Biden effigy to punch, Don Jr. touted an image of Biden bound and gagged, Kari Lake warned millions of NRA members "are going to put on the armor of God, and maybe strap on a Glock," Tom Cotton urged MAGA-ites to "take matters into your own hands" to get "pro-Hamas mobs (out) of the way," Matt Gaetz urged "we hunt down" BLM "terrorists," Ted Cruz said his job is to "grab a battle axe (and) fight the barbarians," Mark Robinson said, "Some folks need killing." House Repubs wore AR-15 lapel pins or sent "kinda murdery" Christmas cards of loved ones cradling assault weapons. GOP candidates ran bonkers, vengeful ads featuring Dems in Klan hoods, armed thugs "hunting RINOs," AR-15 "liberty machines" to stay "safe from looting hordes in Atlanta or a tyrannical government in Washington"; Klan Mom MTG, who once urged Nancy Pelosi be executed, hefted a big-ass gun and "blew away the Democrats' Socialist agenda." They all seem nice. — (@) In MAGA's us-and-them world, they're all good with targeting the “them” - migrants, trans kids, Marxists, people with weird names or skin any shade suspiciously darker than their own. Because Trump has always denied his deadly rhetoric contributes in any way to the country's divisions - "It brings people together" - his acolytes can argue straight-faced his innocent victimhood at the lunatic hands of the latest AR-15-fueled, much-aggrieved white guy. "Almost any criticism of Trump is already being spun by MAGA as an incitement to assassinate him," writes Edward Luce of the Financial Times. "This is an Orwellian attempt to silence what remains of the effort to stop him from regaining power." It's also a good way to distract from his wildly unpopular authoritarian plans and the fact - see wildly unpopular - the only way Republicans can gain power is by lying and cheating while celebrating his Nietzschian powers of shamelessness. "They try to jail him. They try to kill him. It will not work," raved Greg Abbott. "He is indomitable.”He is also, argues The New Yorker's David Remnick and other sane people, "the most violent person in contemporary U.S. politics," a "man who seeks power through the humiliation and subordination of disdained others," a wannabe authoritarian who wants to destroy democracy running on an openly authoritarian platform: "This isn't a smear, it's a fact." A clumsy pot-shot from a sick kid does nothing to change that, Remnick notes, "nor does it absolve him of his past misdeeds." Unlike earlier fringe outliers from Joe McCarthy to Islamic Jihadists posing a "radical challenge" to America, Trump has formed "stable coalitions with accepted stakeholders," from colonizing one of two major parties to transforming SCOTUS into a fiery pit of Christo-fascism; he's also defeated or stalled every legal impediment to his rise and brought his thugs and felons into "the summit of the American elite." Now, a grazed ear "secures his undeserved position as a partner in the protective rituals of the democracy he despises." The shooting has prompted "appropriate expressions of dismay and condemnation from every prominent voice in American life," notes Remnick of "polite hypocrisy" and conventional calls for unity that are socially useful but singularly dangerous by giving Trump an unseemly sheen of legitimacy. "The familiar practice is (to) proclaim Americans have more things in common than (those) that divide them," he writes. "Those soothing words, true in the past, are less true now. Nobody seems to have language to say: We abhor, reject, repudiate, and punish all political violence, even as we maintain that Trump remains himself a promoter of such violence" - and even as he and his right-wing collaborators rush to exploit a gunman's folly "as their path to exonerate past crimes and empower new ones." As a result of rightly denouncing violence, "We are extending an implicit pardon... absolving and inscribing Trump into a place in American life that he should have forfeited beyond redemption on January 6, 2021." — (@) It's easy to see and hear how emboldened Trump et al now feel in their goose-stepping parade to power. After Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed his classified documents case in a ruling "so bereft of legal reasoning as to be utterly absurd" - Lisa Needham: "Special counsels are unconstitutional if they make Trump sad" - he gleefully celebrated the dismissal of a "Lawless Indictment (as) just the first step" and noxiously called for ditching "ALL the Witch Hunts - the January 6th Hoax, Manhattan D.A.’s Zombie Case, New York A.G. Scam, Fake Claims about a woman I never met (and) Georgia “Perfect” Phone Call." Jesus. In what was deemed a "shocking" announcement after coyly pretending he knew nothing of and nobody from the fascist Project 2025, he promised to give an Administration post to career cop, former ICE thug and primary author Tom 'Epic-Flood-of-Illegals' Homan. "I have Tom lined up," he beamed. "We have the greatest people" - the evident descendants of his infamous "best people."Then he tapped "naked authoritarian," spineless opportunist and "alarm bell in the night" J.D. Vance, an anti-abortion and America First zealot with "all the fascist instincts of Trump but a better brain," to be VP and toss out election results they don't like. Despite having called Trump a "cynical asshole," the "fruit of the party's collective neglect," "loathsome," "cultural heroin," and most famously "America's Hitler," Vance stepped boldly up to charge that Biden likening Trump to Hitler "led directly to Trump’s attempted assassination." An authoritarian piece of work, he's raged against the "childless left," called rape "an inconvenience" and universal day care "class war," praised Alex Jones as "a truth-teller," and opined "the devil is real." Tell us about it. Hear a scorching, hilarious Trae Browder, who once hung out with Vance trashing Trump as an "existential threat to America," on "a Machiavellian sycophant with less integrity than a Boeing 737" only good at "when, where and to what precise angle he should bend over. Fuck J.D."Fans (again) claim Trump's magically pivoted into a somber, presidential figure - Tucker Carlson: "Getting shot in the face changes a man" - but he seemed the same arrogant asshole as he lumbered into the first day of the GOP convention "like he just survived the Tet offensive." As Lee Greenwood sang "God Bless the USA," he was met with cheers that lit up his lumpy face like an 8-year-old basking in the love he'd always wanted from his Nazi dad but never got. He wore an oversized bandage on his war wound - "the doctor said he never saw anything like it" - widely mocked as an "ear diaper" and a Mr. Pillow mini-pillow he reportedly didn't wear golfing the next day; still, rabid fans donned their own "Maxi-pad of courage" in solidarity. As the warrior hero entered, many in the crowd chanted, “Fight, fight, fight!" with arms straight up, Nazi-style. Soon he was seen asleep. "Should we be traumatized by his shooting?," a viewer asked "for a nation tired of double standards," "or just pretend it was a school shooting and get over it?"Unsurprisingly for a convention of bigots, yahoos and Putin apologists offering nothing but hate and fear, the lofty "let's lower the temperature and unite" shtick quickly evaporated. Wisconsin's Ron Johnson opened the speeches by blasting a Democratic "radical far-left agenda" that poses "a clear and present danger to America," only to later mumble it was a pre-shooting attack mistakenly loaded into the teleprompter. But he did unapologetically trash "biological males competing against girls," the "sexualization and indoctrination of our children,” and the fact we're "horribly divided and it's all about Critical Race Theory," thought it's unclear how a white Republican man shooting a white Republican man fits that charge. "Democrats wanted this to happen," MTG screeched of the shooting. ”The Democrat (sic) Party is flat out evil (and) they tried to murder President Trump," but God saved him, also "there are only two genders." Tim Scott: "A devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle, but a lion got back on his feet and he roared.”While the event's general refrain was "Fire the Biden/Harris regime," each day had a theme. The first was "Make America Wealthy Again," wherein people raged about "Biden's inflation" and touted Trump's (fictional) "rip-roaring economy," which even before COVID was disastrous: The worst jobs president ever, he oversaw soaring unemployment, cratering GNP and fat-cat tax cuts that caused most of today's inflation. Hate-and-fear-mongering seeped in around the edges. Repulsive Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, born to a rich family in Colombia who immigrated here as a child, said "the American dream I lived is under attack" from Biden's "millions of illegals...They’ll destroy America if we don’t stop them." Improbably, they all just got more loathsome, from vicious and whining Don. Jr to Ted Cruz - "Your family is less safe" - to Kari Lake - "Build the wall!" though it doesn't work - to MTG: "They promised normalcy and gave us Transgender Visibility Day on Easter Sunday!" Cue booing hordes and smirking Marge.In the end, everyone drank the Kool-Aid and kissed the ring, from Rod DeFascist to Nikki Haley: "We have a country to save." Some reality TV person wailed her parents were serving time for millions in fraud because of "rogue prosecutors" and what about Hunter? Mike Johnson lauded his "law and order team" headed by a 34-count felon, and quickly walked off the stage when a teleprompter broke even though he'd just blasted Biden for needing a teleprompter. Keynote speakers included a puppy killer and a model who preaches Satanism, Dems were "far-left lunatics fueling ludicrous hysteria," trans jokes were told, Rudy Giuliani fell drunk to the floor, a bickering Matt Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy almost came to blows after Gaetz kept interrupting and taunting MCarthy, probably because he insisted Gaetz be investigated for sleeping with a minor, until an exasperated bystander repeatedly urged Gaetz, "Don't be an asshole," a big ask. A good, nasty, toxic, other-hating time was had by all.On Tuesday, about a mile from a convention patrolled by about 4,000 law enforcement but within its "operational zone," five police officers from Columbus, Ohio shot and killed an unhoused man fighting with another man in an unrelated encounter. One of them may or may not have pulled a knife; when they began scuffling, witnesses said both men were startled to see over 100 cops quickly appear. The man killed, nicknamed Jehovah, was well-known in a nearby tent encampment where about 70 people live; he had a pit bull later seen being loaded into a police van. A volunteer worker said Jehovah had used an on-site showerthe day before, and when he left he said, "I love you guys." "He was a person. He was human," she said. "This is more trauma on top of trauma." The same day, police arrested a Florida man with mental health issues for making multiple threats against Joe Biden to "slit his throat." Both events took place on the convention's second day; its theme was, "Make America Safe Once Again."On April 5, 1968, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated outside the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, a pained, eloquent Robert Kennedy spoke to the Cleveland City Club about the "mindless menace of violence in America which again stains our land (and) our lives." In a "mournful cadence," writes David Remnick, Kennedy urged we remember that "those who live with us are our brothers....Surely we can learn (to) look at those around us as fellow men and begin to work a little harder (to) bind up the wounds among us." Kennedy decried "a rising level of violence that ignores our common humanity," the access to weapons to "men of all shades of sanity," the urge to find scapegoats or conspiracies, the mob that's "only the voice of madness, not the voice of the people." "Our lives on this planet are too short and the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer," he argued, "Only a cleaning of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul." Two months later, he was shot and killed at 42.

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