September 29, 2022

Afternoon Update:

It goes without saying that everyone is free to express disagreement with our decisions and to criticize our reasoning as they see fit. But saying or implying that the court is becoming an illegitimate institution or questioning our integrity crosses an important line. -- Justice Samuel Alito, to the Wall Street Journal

Thank you, Sir, for generously allowing us to disagree with your specious, 12th-century arguments depriving women of Constitutional rights. And you can imagine how heartily sorry I am for leaving the impression that I thought you had any integrity to question. Just to be on the safe side, I'll apologize for agreeing with Akhilleus, when he recently accused one of your fellow justices of being corrupt just because said justice's wife accepted bribes in a substantial amount, bribes which went into the family's joint account, bribes upon which the couple did not pay the taxes owing. I suppose we could be accused of questioning the justice's integrity. Oh, for shame. It does look as if we "crossed an important line" here, and I don't know what to do about it. Except maybe dig in and double down, you hateful, cruel, arrogant bastid. -- Marie

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The Senate on Thursday approved a temporary spending package to keep the government funded past a Friday deadline and send another significant round of emergency aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia, punting negotiations on a longer-term funding measure until after the November elections. The legislation, which would extend government funding through Dec. 16, passed 72 to 25. That sent it to the House, which was expected to quickly pass the measure, sending it to President Biden for his signature before funding was scheduled to lapse at midnight Sept. 30."

Holmes Lybrand of CNN: "A wife and husband from Maryland have been charged with conspiring to provide the Russian government with personal medical records from the US government and military, according to a newly unsealed federal indictment. Anna Gabrielian, an anesthesiologist practicing in Baltimore, along with her husband, Jamie Lee Henry, a major and doctor in the US Army, allegedly provided 'individually identifiable health information,' which is protected under federal law, to an FBI undercover agent posing as a Russian government employee."

U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Queen Elizabeth II died of 'old age,' according to her death certificate, which was released on Thursday by the registrar general of Scotland. The certificate, which lists her occupation as Her Majesty the Queen, also notes that the queen died at 3:10 p.m. on Sept. 8 at Balmoral Castle.... The report offers no further details about the cause of her death, which came two days after she was photographed standing and smiling as she greeted Britain's new prime minister, Liz Truss. The time of death, just after 3 p.m., is more revealing, coming more than three hours before Buckingham Palace announced it at 6:30 p.m. That indicates none of her family saw the queen just before her death, aside from King Charles III and his sister, Princess Anne, who were both already in Scotland on official duties."

~~~~~~~~~~

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump's request that a judge intervene in the criminal investigation into his hoarding of government documents by appointing a special master increasingly looks like a significant blunder, legal experts say.... An appeals court ruling last week and a letter the Justice Department filed late Tuesday about subsequent complaints [Mr. Trump's] legal team had filed under seal to [special master Judge Raymond] Dearie suggest that the upsides to obtaining a special master are eroding and the disadvantages swelling.... The appeals court panel, including two Trump appointees, allowed investigators to again scrutinize the material that poses by far the gravest legal threat to Mr. Trump.... Since that review is no longer delaying or diverting the criminal inquiry, it is not clear what benefits remain for Mr. Trump.... Judge Dearie appears to be organizing the document review in ways that threaten to swiftly puncture the former president's defenses.... Mr. Trump, through his lawyers, is chafing at other orders from the special master, their Sept. 25 letter shows.... The Justice Department appeared to relish Mr. Trump's growing discomfort." ~~~

     ~~~ Marcy Wheeler has more on Trump's request under seal, a request which -- as Sanger indicates -- has since been released. Both Sanger & Wheeler make this point: "If Trump complies with [Dearie's] order to confirm or deny the inventory, it will require him to admit there are 103 documents bearing classification marks that he didn't turn over in response to a subpoena, an element of the obstruction and possibly the Espionage Act offense." And both note that Trump "claims the government seized 200,000 pages of documents from his home." MB: That's a lot of stuff to steal: 400 reams (although some of the documents seized may have legitimately belonged to Trump, so we'll make that 399 reams).

How Dumb Is Trump? Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "As president, Donald Trump weighed bombing drug labs in Mexico[, Maggie Haberman writes in a new book,] after one of his leading public health officials came into the Oval Office, wearing a dress uniform, and said such facilities should be handled by putting 'lead to target' to stop the flow of illicit substances.... White House officials said the official, Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir, often wore his dress uniform for meetings with Trump, which confused him. [MB: Giroir is a pediatrician, not a military admiral.] 'The response from White House aides was not to try to change Trump's view, but to consider asking Giroir not to wear his uniform to the Oval Office anymore,' Haberman writes...." This article is full of answers to "How dumb is Trump?" and "How narcissistic is Trump?" ~~~

~~~ AND Martin Pengelly of the Guardian reports on more Haberman scoops revealed in her new book Confidence Man.

Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "A former military police officer from Texas -- who excitedly planned for physical violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, engaged in hand-to-hand battle with police there for nearly 90 minutes, then lied about being in Washington when questioned by the FBI -- was sentenced Wednesday to slightly more than four years in prison. Federal prosecutors sought eight years in prison for Lucas Denney, 45, of Mansfield, Tex., arguing that Denney's helmet, tactical vest and hardened gloves qualified as body armor and therefore should increase his sentencing range by 30 months. But U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss rejected the 30-month enhancement and then issued a sentence of 52 months. That was below the recommended range of 57 to 71 months established by the federal guidelines, which are advisory."

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Wednesday hosted the first White House summit in nearly a half-century dedicated to combating hunger, with administration officials announcing they had secured $8 billion of public and private-sector commitments toward helping provide more food and better nutrition by 2030.... The conference also featured several members of Congress ... and several Cabinet officials. It also included José Andrés, the chef and founder of World Central Kitchen, and New York Mayor Eric Adams (D). Some 500 people, as well as 1,000 others virtually, attended various panels and brainstorming sessions during the day-long conference." ~~~

~~~ Uh-Oh. How Dumb Is Biden? John Wagner of the Washington Post: "In his remarks Wednesday at a White House hunger conference, President Biden searched the audience for former congresswoman Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.).... Walorski died in a car crash in early August. She was one of four lawmakers who sponsored bipartisan legislation to hold the conference.... Asked later about Biden's comments, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Walorski had been 'top of mind' for Biden because he is planning to see her family Friday at a signing ceremony for a bill that renames a veterans clinic after her. In August following Walorski's death, Biden and first lady Jill Biden issued a statement extending their condolences, saying they 'appreciated her partnership' on facilitating the conference on hunger." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The ABC News story is here.

Jeff Stein & Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will approve a legal waiver allowing Puerto Rico to receive a shipment of diesel fuel that has been held off the island's coast, following an uproar among officials in the island. The administration faced intense blowback in recent days from members of Congress and the governor of Puerto Rico, who clamored for an exemption for federal law to allow a BP tanker carrying the fuel to access an island port as the commonwealth reels from Hurricane Fiona. The ship cannot do so because of the Jones Act, a 1920 shipping law that requires goods shipped between points in the United States to be carried on U.S.-flagged ships. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that the administration had approved a 'temporary and targeted' waiver after consultation with the Energy, Transportation and Defense departments." A Politico story is here.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in a Washington Post op-ed: "... over the course of our history, many [public] lands were named using a hateful and derogatory term for Indigenous women. It's a word that carries with it a history of brutality, misogyny and dehumanization. This month, we succeeded in removing it from the names of nearly 650 federal land units. The word is 'squaw' -- a term so offensive that I have never used it except in issuing the order to make the name change, and beyond this sentence I will not repeat it here or anywhere."

Today's Gossip Page

TMZ: Marjorie Taylor Greene's "husband, Perry Greene, beelined it to court Tuesday and filed to divorce the Congresswoman from Georgia after 27 years of marriage ... according to new legal docs obtained by TMZ. Marjorie and Perry tied the knot back in August 1995 when she was still in college at the University of Georgia ... and they had 3 children together, who are now all over the age of 18."

Nicholas Kulish, et al., of the New York Times: "Less than two years after announcing their intention to give away a vast fortune together, the billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott and her husband, Dan Jewett, a former science teacher, are parting ways. Ms. Scott filed a petition for divorce in the King County Superior Court in Washington State on Monday, according to a copy of the filing. The breakup punctuates an eventful period for Ms. Scott, who in less than four years got divorced from her longtime husband, the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, gave away more than $12 billion to nonprofits and married an instructor at the prestigious school attended by her children. Court records show Mr. Jewett did not contest the divorce. The petition says any division of property is laid out in a separation contract, agreed to by the couple, which is not public."

Beyond the Beltway

Mississippi. Brett Favre Is One Corrupt Guy. Katie Strang & Kalyn Kahler of the Athletic: "From 2018-2020, Brett Favre's charitable foundation, Favre 4 Hope, which has a stated mission to support disadvantaged children and cancer patients, donated more than $130,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation during the same years that Favre was working to finance a new volleyball center at the school.... His charitable foundation, which received public donations, significantly increased its contributions to USM's athletic fundraising arm. Tax records show that Favre 4 Hope gave the USM Athletic Foundation $60,000 in 2018, when no other charity received more than $10,000. The next year, it gave [USM Athletic ]$46,817; the next highest gift ... was $11,000. In 2020, Favre 4 Hope sent USM's Athletic Foundation $26,175; no other organization received more than $10,000. Tax records also show that in 2015, when Favre's daughter was a volleyball player at Oak Grove High in Hattiesburg, the Favre 4 Hope foundation donated $60,000 to that school's booster club, the largest grant made by Favre 4 Hope that year. The Oak Grove Booster Club subsequently granted $60,349 to the high school with the stated purpose being: 'assist to build athletic facility.'" Emphasis added. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I read that Favre earned $140MM during his football career, and that amount did not include the millions he earned in commercial endorsements. Yet the "disadvantaged" child he was helping with his "charitable work" was his own child & her volleyball pals -- at the expense of actual needy children & being paid for, in part, by people who thought they were contributing to needy children & cancer patients. Despicable. I hope he ends up in jail, and it does seem likely he broke some fraud laws.

Ohio Congressional Race. Majewski Tells Another Lie about His Military Career. Brian Slodysko & James Laporta of the AP: "Republican J.R. Majewski has centered his campaign for a competitive Ohio congressional seat around his biography as an Air Force veteran. But one of the big questions that has surfaced is why Majewski was told he could not reenlist in the Air Force after his initial four years were up. Majewski's campaign said last week that he was punished and demoted after getting in a 'brawl' in an Air Force dormitory in 2001. Military records obtained since then by The Associated Press, however..., indicate Majewski's punishment and demotion were the result of him being stopped for driving drunk on a U.S. air base in Japan in September 2001. The documents, which were provided to the AP and independently authenticated, present yet another instance where the recorded history of Majewski's service diverges from what he has told voters ... while using his veteran status as a leading credential."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: “The United States is preparing for a protracted conflict in Ukraine, ramping up weapons production and more than doubling its commitment of powerful long-range rocket artillery systems, according to senior U.S. defense officials.... A new U.S. weapons package for Ukraine, worth $1.1 billion, will include 18 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, a 'core component of Ukraine’s fighting force in the future,' a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Wednesday.... As Moscow is set to annex four occupied regions of Ukraine, the White House said Wednesday that it was working with 'allies and partners to impose additional economic costs on Russia' and others that supported the staged referendums in those areas.... Serbia, which has close ties to Moscow, won’t recognize the results of the staged referendums in four regions of Ukraine, President Aleksandar Vucic said Wednesday, Reuters reported.... The damage to the Nord Stream pipelines could result in the largest-ever single release of methane into the atmosphere, experts said.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Unbelievable. Really. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: “... on Tuesday night, [Tucker] Carlson ... strongly suggested the United States is responsible for explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines — and, at times, seemed to more explicitly blame the United States.... Carlson’s supposed evidence for this being a U.S. operation is decidedly weak.” MB: Actually, the source of “the largest-ever single release of methane” is TuKKKer's ass. ~~~

~~~ Katie Lillis, et al., of CNN: "European security officials on Monday and Tuesday observed Russian Navy support ships in the vicinity of leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines likely caused by underwater explosions, according two Western intelligence officials and one other source familiar with the matter.  It’s unclear whether the ships had anything to do with those explosions, these sources and others said – but it’s one of the many factors that investigators will be looking into. Russian submarines were also observed not far from those areas last week, one of the intelligence officials said." ~~~

~~~ Karen McVeigh & Philip Oltermann of the Guardian: "Scientists fear methane erupting from the burst Nord Stream pipelines into the Baltic Sea could be one of the worst natural gas leaks ever and pose significant climate risks. Neither of the two breached Nord Stream pipelines, which run between Russia and Germany, was operational, but both contained natural gas. This mostly consists of methane – a greenhouse gas that is the biggest cause of climate heating after carbon dioxide."

Yousur Al-Hlou, et al., of the New York Times: “In phone calls to friends and relatives at home, Russian soldiers gave damning insider accounts of battlefield failures and civilian executions, excoriating their leaders just weeks into the campaign to take Kyiv.... The Ukrainian capital was supposed to fall in a matter of days. But plagued by tactical errors and fierce Ukrainian resistance, President Vladimir V. Putin’s destructive advance quickly stalled, and his forces became bogged down for most of March on the city’s outskirts. From trenches, dugouts and in occupied homes in the area around Bucha, a western suburb of Kyiv, Russian soldiers disobeyed orders by making unauthorized calls from their cellphones to their wives, girlfriends, friends and pare`````nts hundreds of miles from the front line.”

News Ledes

Washington Post: “Ian is a hurricane once again — a storm system that re-intensified Thursday evening as it churns toward South Carolina with 75 mph winds and what the National Hurricane Center called 'life threatening' flooding and storm surge. It’s set for yet another U.S. landfall, this time near Charleston around midday on Friday.In its wake, Ian left a path of devastation in Florida.... In an evening briefing, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said “we absolutely expect to have mortality from this hurricane,” but stressed such tolls remain unconfirmed and would become 'apparent over the coming days.' There had been more than 700 confirmed rescues thus far, he added.” This is a continuation of updates linked below. Access to is free to nonsubscribers. ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday related to Hurricane Ian are here. Access to the updates is free to nonsubscribers. The New York Times' updates for Thursday are here.

Washington Post: “Bill Plante, who became a fixture of American television sets as a globe-trotting CBS News correspondent, covering the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, four U.S. presidents and more than half a century of national and world affairs, died Sept. 28 at his home in Washington. He was 84.” The CBS News obituary is here.

New York Times: “Six people were shot on Wednesday at a school campus in Oakland, in a burst of gunfire that erupted minutes before hundreds of students were scheduled to be dismissed for the afternoon. The shootings — which left two adult victims hospitalized with life-threatening injuries ... — came amid a rash of gun violence in the Northern California city, where the authorities have recorded at least eight gunshot deaths in the past nine days. Police said all of the victims were over 18 and had 'some affiliation' with Rudsdale Newcomer High School, one of four programs at the East Oakland school complex.”

Comments

[Marie Burns]

Here are three comments from late yesterday:

By Patrick:

Dr. Giroir was a commissioned officer in the US Public Health Service. Their uniforms and ranks are identical to the US Navy. Why, I dunno. But DiJiT confuses easily, and since the guy DRESSED the same as a 4-star admiral, you can understand that he thought Dr. G was one of those rust-pickers, not a sawbones.

There is a large passel of USPHS docs who work and live in and near Bethesda, MD, which used to harbor Bethesda Navy Hospital, now Walter Reed. USPHS docs generally did NOT wear their uniforms except for ceremonial functions. But the ones who made admiral generally couldn't resist dressing up in all that gold, and Giroir seems to have been one of those.

DiJiT is just not too bright, but not because of uniform confusion.

 
By Akhilleus:
 
I read today about a plan Biden is rolling out to help address hunger insecurity and to find better ways to get schoolchildren to eat healthier food from local farms. Sounds like a winner all around.

Another effort by this administration to help Americans in need, unlike the former guy who mostly helped himself.

Then I thought, oh, wait a minute. How long will it be before snakes in the Party of Traitors and their media shills start screaming, attacking this effort as guvmint overreach? Why are we spending money to feed some snotty brats when there must be 50 or 60 billionaires who need additional tax relief? I mean some of those poor people pay over $40 or $50 a year in taxes! Outrageous. Also, doesn’t the Pentagon need more $100 billion weapons systems that never seem to work?

The idea.

I’m betting less than 24 hours, if the attacks haven’t already begun.

By Akhilleus:

Fatty wants to lead negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to end the war.

Yeah, like that will happen. Just like Jared brought peace to the Middle East (when he wasn’t vacationing somewhere or writing a book about how great he is).

That’s rich. The guy who tried to extort Ukraine into inventing dirt on Joe Biden so he could steal an election, and who has said he trusts Putin more than US intelligence experts. I’m sure Ukraine would love having that guy brokering decisions about their future.

First, no one would ever seriously think this was a good idea. So why do it? Why make it a big deal? Is the hurricane getting more attention than Trump? Are more people worried about something besides what Donnie’s most concerned about, himself?

Or is this just another sad attempt to pretend that he’s still the Big Man and not just a regular citizen, albeit an historically terrible one?
Who cares? Just another data point on the Fatty Ledger of Loserdom.

[Akhilleus]

Taking the Ecch out of Economics

A daunting task, but not impossible. What I mean is that far too often when you listen to FAMOUS economists opine on the state of money supply, market capitalization, elasticity, interest rates, or diminishing marginal utility, most often to excoriate the work of other economists and to establish the fact that if only people listened to them, everything would be rosy, I yearn for a translation button that would edit out all the jargon and explain the point in more basic terms.

The other day I heard an interview with Jeremy Siegel, Professor of Finance at the Wharton School, during which he tore into Fed chairman Jerome Powell for his attempts to get inflation under control. So okay, everyone has an opinion, but when you start things off by demanding that Powell apologize to the American people for being an idiot and then claim that Powell’s current plan to address inflation by raising interest rates is the worst mistake in the history of the Fed, my ears perk up and I want to hear some backup for these rather inflammatory accusations. Did I get it? Not on your life.

What I got was Ecchonomic gobbledygook.

Okay, so I’m not an economist. My exposure to the dismal science was Ec 10 in college, a few books by Schumpeter, Heilbroner, and Samuelson, a biography of John Maynard Keynes, and years of Krugman articles.

But Krugman does what guys like Siegel don’t do. He doesn’t talk down to his audience. He leaves the recondite jargon at the door, and if he needs to resort to some obscure term, he explains it. Because although plenty of economics requires an understanding of those terms, the bottom line is, are we well off or not? If not, how do we fix it.

Years ago an NFL coach, after a terrible loss, faced reporters who wanted to know why the strategy he trumpeted the week before as unbeatable, failed so miserably. He went on the attack, calling the reporters idiots who didn’t understand the deep thinking that went into formulating football strategy. You still see this crap. Announcers love to go on and on during games with “Oh, he should have stuck with that Cover 2 defense out of the Nickel Package! Big mistake.” All they had to say was “The defense covered the wrong guys”. It reminds me of a statement once made by Hall of Fame coach, Vince Lombardi, who said “Football is a simple game. You put your head down and push”.

Now there’s more to economics, sure, but it doesn’t help when guys like Siegel come out and attack someone using obscure language that only other economists will understand. It also pisses me off when these guys sit on the sideline and say “Oh, that was a bad move. Should have listened to me!” Siegel, apparently, is pretty much a one note economist. “Buy stocks!” He’s written books on this (and his side job is shilling for a big mutual fund). And any time I hear that one plan fixes everything, I think “This is just like that idiot Larry Kudlow!” “Cut taxes!”

And Kudlow has been pretty much wrong about EVERYTHING. Probably why Trump listens to him.

Now it’s possible that Siegel is correct that Powell’s plan will plunge us into years of recession (his contention). But unless he’s only interested in showing off for other economics professors so he can have his “Toldjaso” moment at the faculty club, he needs a tad more clarity. More “easy” and less “Ecch”.

[Forrest Morris]

Memo to Jeremy Siegel: Remember Occam's Razor?

Keep it simple. The simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

[Akhilleus]

Well, isn’t that special!

Noted antisemite, supporter of treason, misogynist, psycho Christian nationalist, and pal to unhinged militia goons, Doug (Hang them bitches!) Mastriano, has been in the news lately for, um, not being in the news, or at least not being visible on Pennsylvania TVs as a candidate for governor.

Dougie eschews interviews (except with other far-right goons), appearances on mainstream media outlets, debates with the Democratic candidate, and appearing in public wearing anything but military togs, just to remind the droolers that he’s a killer. Oh yeah, he also has no money. What’s a gun-totin’, women hangin’, Christian nationalist to do?

I know! Fast for forty days and forty nights. Like Jesus! (Isn’t he s’posed to do that in the desert? And fight off Satan while he’s at it?) I kid you not.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Mastriano has announced a fast for 40 days, til the election. It’s not clear who, exactly, is supposed to fast (someone on his Facebook page posted “I’d be honored to fast with you!” Yeah, that’s if he himself is actually gonna do it). If I were so inclined, I’d follow the guy around to his campaign stops where there are usually at least 15 or 20 supporters standing around yelling about impeaching Biden and charging women who exercise control over their own bodies as murderers, and if he so much as touched a donut…Ha! Gotcha! Film at 11!

But then again, I’m not a James O’Keefe style “journalist”, so fuck that.

So this fasting thing…pretty clever, right? Think it will catch on? Can you picture Fatty fasting? He couldn’t make 40 minutes.

What was that Obama said about clinging to guns and the Bible?

But know what? As bad as things look for this dangerous douchebag, he could still win. That’s what really worries me.

But this fasting thing? All I can say is…

https://youtu.be/puwoUKhZQbg

[Marie Burns]

What's irritating me today is that rescue workers have to save people who knowingly have put themselves into dangerous situations. I just watched video of the rescue of some dumbcluck who thought it would be a good idea to drive on a street covered with 3-1/2 feet of water. Luckily, it didn't appear the rescuers were in any particular danger, though they could have been if there were downed but still-live power lines in the water.

[NiskyGuy]

Robert Reich recently testified to congress about the Fed's interest rate hikes. His thesis appeared to be that interest rate hikes is the primary tool of the Fed, but that he (RR) believes much of the inflation is really profit-taking by corporations, which should be addressed by congress. I am aware that this is one of his prime talking points:

https://youtu.be/Lkr8aVnXMHo

I listened to the Siegel. I think he is right that month-to-month inflation has slowed, and that the hair on fire numbers of "up 8% from a year ago" are a lagging barometer.

In my work, we are seeing lumber prices start to go down, and we are all seeing gas prices lower than they were two months ago.

Siegel might be right, but he wasn't very nice about it.

I would like to see corporations being less greedy, but I don't know how one would legislate that.

[Bobby Lee]

@MB: As an example of your story about the idiot driver the Tampa Bay Times had a story today titled: "Attention Fools! What not to do in Hurricane Ian."

The number one thing was "DON'T GO IN THE WATER."

I expecting to see numerous videos of idiots over on the east coast surfing on the waves from the storm.

[RAS]

I saw an interview with Elizabeth Warren, with Chris Hayes I think, the other day where she pointed out that the causes of the current inflation are the continued covid-19 pandemic around the world, the supply chain disruptions from covid, and oil and food disruptions from the Russian war in Ukraine. She asked Powell if raising interests rates would help fix any of those ongoing problems which he said "no". She also pointed out that the rate hike could according to analysts cost a million jobs. So a million jobs lost and no relief from any of the underlying factors of inflation. If Warren is correct then it's much pain for little gain.

[RAS]

"But U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss rejected the 30-month enhancement and then issued a sentence of 52 months. That was below the recommended range of 57 to 71 months established by the federal guidelines, which are advisory.”
It's crazy how many judges don't think attacks on police and government officials are that big of a deal. The amount of light sentences handed down to capitol rioters is so frustrating. Especially when you've spent decades reading about how long some nonviolent criminals have spent locked up over the years. Racism and pro-rightwing violence wins out again.

[RAS]

"Iranian women — no Hijab — sing the Farsi version of Bella Ciao, the anti-fascist anthem of the Italian resistance during WW II"

[Akhilleus]

Something that few commentators mention is the Trump Effect on the economy, per the pandemic. An early and serious response to the obviously looming problems could have alleviated or at least softened the economic problems, never mind saved hundreds of thousands of lives, and at least prepared US industries for the issues they were about to face, and come up with some solutions, but his primary goal was to pretend nothing was happening: “Fuck the economy, fuck those dead people! What’s in it for me? How can I benefit?”

[Akhilleus]

RAS,

Black guys in possession of a dime bag of pot have spent double the time white seditionists who have attacked cops are being sentenced to.

[`PD Pepe]

Whenever I hear about the devastation in Ft. Myers I think how lucky Marie flew the coop.

[Marie Burns]

@PD Pepe: Yeah, but I still own a house there. I just got a call & found out my tenant evacuated and is safe and that maybe only one room of the house suffered severe water damage. No power, of course. Since the house is yards from the river and other properties that close to the river floated away, I am -- at least at this point -- considering myself a lucky ducky.