October 17, 2021
Jonathan Lemire of the AP: "Framed by the Capitol, President Joe Biden paid tribute Saturday to fallen law enforcement officers and honored those who fought off the Jan. 6 insurrection at that very site by declaring 'because of you, democracy survived.' Biden spoke at the 40th Annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service to remember the 491 law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty in 2019 and 2020. Standing where the violent mob tried to block his own ascension to the presidency, Biden singled out the 150 officers who were injured and the five who died in the attack's aftermath.... Biden also underscored the heavy burden placed on law enforcement officers, and rebuked the 'defund the police' political movement, saying that those gathered before him would get 'more resources, not fewer, so you can do your job.'... At the ceremony, Biden expressed concerns for all officers in the line of duty and mentioned the three constable deputies shot in an ambush early Saturday while working at a Houston bar. One deputy was killed." ~~~
~~~ Marie: This might be a good place to mention that "COVID-19 has killed nearly 500 law enforcement officers, between 2020 and 2021, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a database that tracks line of duty officer deaths.... COVID-19 accounts for 65% of law enforcement officer deaths since 2020, data shows." This makes police unions' opposition to vaccine mandates seem all the more stupid. ~~~
~~~ Update. Ryan Young, et al., of CNN: "The coronavirus has become the leading cause of death for officers despite law enforcement being among the first groups eligible to receive the vaccine at the end of 2020.... Five times as many police officers have died from Covid-19 as from gunfire since [the] start of [the] pandemic[.]... Law enforcement officers and their unions across the country have resisted vaccine mandates despite the Delta variant-fueled resurgence of Covid-19 and effectiveness of the shots in preventing severe cases and death."
Julie Turkewitz of the New York Times: "The United States extradited a top ally of Venezuela's authoritarian government on Saturday, his lawyer said, prompting a swift retaliation from Venezuelan officials that immediately threatened a fledgling effort to resolve the country's political turmoil. The extradition of Alex Saab, a Colombian businessman and financial fixer for President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, to face money laundering charges on American soil was supposed to be a victory for the U.S. government, whose efforts to topple Mr. Maduro have faltered in recent years. Mr. Saab was detained more than a year ago by law enforcement officials in the West African island nation of Cape Verde. His extradition makes him one of the highest-ranking supporters of Mr. Maduro to be taken into American custody. But just hours after Mr. Saab was put on a plane to the United States on Saturday, the Venezuelan government re-apprehended six oil executives, including 5 American citizens, who had been under house arrest in Venezuela, according to a lawyer for one of the men."
Adolfo Flores of BuzzFeed News: "Border groups on Saturday 'walked out' of a virtual meeting with the Biden administration over its upcoming plans to restart a Trump-era program that forced thousands of immigrants and asylum-seekers to wait in dangerous Mexican border cities, according to leaked video obtained by BuzzFeed News. In a Thursday night court filing, the Biden administration said it was prepared to restart the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) in mid-November. The relaunch of policy is still contingent on Mexico agreeing to take immigrants sent back under MPP, which the Mexican government has so far not agreed to.... The Republican-led states of Texas and Missouri filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration for stopping MPP [shortly after Joe Biden took office]. In August US District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk sided with the states and ordered the government to reinstate the program. The Biden administration appealed and asked the Supreme Court to stay the order, but was unsuccessful."
Shawna Chen of Axios: "The Pentagon has offered unspecified payments as a condolence to the families of 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children, who were killed in an Aug. 29 U.S. drone strike in Kabul.... The U.S. offered the payments in a virtual meeting on Thursday between Colin Kahl, the under secretary of defense for policy, and Steven Kwon, the founder and president of Nutrition & Education International, a nonprofit focused on women in children in Afghanistan that had employed [Zemari] Ahmadi before he was killed [in the drone strike].
"Forever Chemicals": There's a Toxic Dump Near You. Carey Gillam & Alvin Chang of the Guardian: "The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified more than 120,000 locations around the US where people may be exposed to a class of toxic 'forever chemicals' associated with various cancers and other health problems that is a frightening tally four times larger than previously reported, according to data obtained by the Guardian. The list of facilities makes it clear that virtually no part of America appears free from the potential risk of air and water contamination with the chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).Colorado tops the EPA list with an estimated 21,400 facilities, followed by California's 13,000 sites and Oklahoma with just under 12,000."
Myah Ward of Politico (Oct. 15): "Pete Buttigieg on Friday brushed off Fox News host Tucker Carlson's comments mocking the transportation secretary for taking paternity leave to care for his twin newborns. 'Look, in his case, I guess he just doesn't understand the concept of bottle feeding, let alone the concept of paternity leave. But what's really strange is that, you know, this is from a side of the aisle that used to claim the mantle of being pro-family,' Buttigieg said on MSNBC."
West Virginia Gazette-Mail Editors: "It's time for Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote Act. The legislation, a compromise from Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., of the previous For the People and John Lewis Voting Rights acts, would secure democracy going forward by hindering dark money that plays far too large a role in elections. It also standardizes a federal voter ID law while still making access to the polls easy with several ways to vote, along with same-day registration and a standard 15 days for early voting. The bill also would reasonably tackle the issue of gerrymandering -- a Republican and Democrat problem -- not only with bipartisan line-making for congressional districts, but the use of technology to show where and how those lines should be drawn.... Elected officials should always consider who they're representing first, rather than prioritizing schemes to make sure they stay where they are, which often happens to be insulated from the people while serving the needs of wealthy donors."
Beth Reinhard, et al., of the Washington Post: "A wealthy Trump donor who helped finance the rally in Washington on Jan. 6 also gave $150,000 to the nonprofit arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association, records show, funds that a person familiar with the contribution said were intended in part to promote the rally. The nonprofit organization paid for a robocall touting a march that afternoon to the U.S. Capitol to 'call on Congress to stop the steal.' On Dec. 29, Julie Jenkins Fancelli, daughter of the founder of the Publix grocery store chain, gave the previously undisclosed contribution to RAGA's nonprofit Rule of Law Defense Fund, or RLDF.... Funding for the events in Washington that day is a focus of the House select committee investigating the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol that followed the rally.... The leaders of Women for America First have been subpoenaed by the committee, as has Caroline Wren, a Republican fundraiser who was listed on that group's permit as a 'VIP ADVISOR.' Both of Fancelli's donations were arranged by Wren.... Fancelli ... is not involved in Publix business operations...."
Bryan Pietsch & Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Hollywood producers and labor leaders narrowly averted a strike that would have shuttered production across the country, agreeing on Saturday to a new contract that guarantees production workers meal breaks, weekends and breaks between shifts. IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, a union representing workers such as camera operators, makeup artists and editors, said it had reached an agreement Saturday with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), a group representing major producers including Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Netflix and Amazon. The new agreement, which will need to be ratified by union members, includes mandatory 10-hour break periods between shifts and a 54-hour weekend. Workers had raised issues with work bleeding into evenings and weekends. The agreement covers union members on the West Coast; members in local unions in other parts of the country will need to pursue a separate agreement."
Robert Reich, in a Guardian op-ed (Oct. 13): "... American workers are now flexing their muscles for the first time in decades. You might say workers have declared a national general strike until they get better pay and improved working conditions.... In its own disorganized way it's related to the organized strikes breaking out across the land -- Hollywood TV and film crews, John Deere workers, Alabama coal miners, Nabisco workers, Kellogg workers, nurses in California, healthcare workers in Buffalo. Disorganized or organized, American workers now have bargaining leverage to do better. After a year and a half of the pandemic, consumers have pent-up demand for all sorts of goods and services. But employers are finding it hard to fill positions.... Corporate America wants to frame this as a 'labor shortage.' Wrong. What's really going on is more accurately described as a living-wage shortage, a hazard pay shortage, a childcare shortage, a paid sick leave shortage, and a healthcare shortage."
Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Former president Bill Clinton will remain hospitalized Saturday night as he recovers from an infection and is expected to be discharged Sunday, his spokesman said."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here.
Mandates Work. Meryl Kornfield & Annabelle Timsit of the Washington Post: "About 41 percent of hospitals nationwide -- roughly 2,570 facilities -- have some sort of vaccine mandate, according to data collected by the American Hospital Association.... Others are expected to follow after President Biden announced last month that he would require most health-care facilities that accept Medicaid or Medicare funding ... to vaccinate their employees. Most health-care systems that require vaccination have touted widespread compliance. In interviews, administrators at some of the nation's largest hospital systems said the mandates worked: Officials said that they have very high vaccination rates they attributed to the requirement and that they have seen coronavirus infections -- and sick leaves -- noticeably drop."
** Virginia. Julia Shanahan of the Rappahannock News: "U.S. Rep. Bob Good on Thursday encouraged a group of Rappahannock County High School students to not wear masks in school.... 'If nobody in Rappahannock complies [with the mask mandate], they can't stop everyone,' Good (R-5th District) told the students. 'If I was ya'll, I'd say none of ya'll wear a mask. What are they gonna do? They're still going to have school.' Good, a Republican representing Virginia's 5th Congressional District..., spoke to a Rappahannock County High School government class of about 20 students on Thursday after Tim Stockdale, the class' teacher, invited him to speak. The Virginia Department of Public Health is mandating that all students, teachers, staff and visitors in K-12 schools wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. The event on Thursday was originally supposed to take place in the high school auditorium, but after Good refused to wear a mask, administrators moved it outdoors to the football stadium." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I suppose Representative Bob there was out-of-sorts because some lowly teachers or custodial staff blocked his divine majesty from entering the building. But then, people who attempt mass murder usually are upset. Okay, I guess Bob can't be held for attempted murder, but I do think he should be arrested for something like "contributing to the delinquency of minors" or inciting minors to commit unlawful acts. And, no, Bob, inciting unlawful behavior is not a First Amendment right.
Beyond the Beltway
Alaska. Nathaniel Herz of the Washington Post: At Alaska's Denali National Park, a popular tourist destination, "climate change threatens the only road in and out[.]... Halfway along the route, as the road curls past the steep cliffs and chutes of Polychrome Pass, park scientists have discovered that a rocky glacier lies underneath it. Warming temperatures are accelerating the glacier's movement downhill, carrying 300 feet of road bed with it and jeopardizing continued access to some of the park's key attractions. In August, the slide prompted park managers to close the road just short of the halfway point, forcing lodges on the far side to conduct a costly evacuation and end their summer tourist season early. This week, they announced the closure would continue through the entire summer of 2022.... And as continued warming destabilizes other key planks in Alaska's economy and threatens its infrastructure, the state's elected leaders continue promoting the oil development that is helping to fuel the problem."
Wisconsin. Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "Police deputized a 'band of white nationalist vigilantes' during last year's racial justice protests in Kenosha, Wis., where Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot two people and injured a third, the lone survivor of the incident alleges in a new lawsuit. Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, filed the lawsuit Thursday in federal court in Milwaukee, just weeks before Rittenhouse's murder trial is set to begin. It marks the second major legal action against the city and county of Kenosha since the Aug. 25, 2020, riot where Rittenhouse shot three people: Grosskreutz, who lost a chunk of his biceps but survived; Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, who both died. Rittenhouse, 18, whose trial is set to begin Nov. 1, faces homicide charges in both deaths and an attempted homicide charge for shooting Grosskreutz as well as a charge for being a minor in possession of a firearm.... Grosskreutz's complaint names both the city and county, which oversee their respective law enforcement agencies, as defendants."
Way Beyond
Vatican. Gaia Pianigiani of the New York Times: "The Vatican announced on Wednesday that Pope John Paul I, the Italian pontiff who reigned for only 33 days before his death in 1978, will be beatified after a miracle was attributed to him, bringing him one step closer to sainthood. Pope Francis authorized a decree that recognized a first miracle attributed to John Paul I, the mysterious healing of a sick young girl in Buenos Aires in 2011...."
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"Vatican. Gaia Pianigiani of the New York Times: "The Vatican announced on Wednesday that Pope John Paul I, the Italian pontiff who reigned for only 33 days before his death in 1978, will be beatified after a miracle was attributed to him, bringing him one step closer to sainthood. Pope Francis authorized a decree that recognized a first miracle attributed to John Paul I, the mysterious healing of a sick young girl in Buenos Aires in 2011...."". Proof that the Catholic church is built on the quicksand poppycock of the last millennium. Now, there's the white supremists and anti-women crowds that make the Catholics look positively progressive!
I often compare the Catholic side of the family with the Baptist side.
(I'm on neither side).
The Baptist side has basically told us we're going to burn in hell
because of same sex marriage. The Baptist side has told us to STFU
about vaccination because they don't believe in it. It's the mark of the
beast. It's Satan working thru big Pharma, etc. etc.
The Catholic side still supports our beliefs in same sex marriage, a
woman's right to choose, and that everyone should be vaccinated.
The Baptist side tells us it's not political, because Jesus. (?).
The Catholic side tells us people are dying because it's political.
We're with the Catholic side.
Citizen: I second that! Good call.
Read a piece in the Huff-Post this morning about the Dude of Donald destroying the dunes in Scotland (golf courses) plus a big sniff of money laundering but it's no longer there. We've posted that story some years back when HE swore he would not ruin the dunes––-and if I recall someone said "Don't believe him!" I get the feeling we will never, ever be through with his destruction.
Enjoy your Sunday––I think it's finally Fall.
@Forrest Morris: If I'm anything, it's Episcopalian, and I do support the local Episcopalian church. It's pretty liberal. I'd probably fit in with Unitarians & Quakers even better, but I do like the ritual of the mass, even if I think it's poppycock. I don't ever take communion, because I don't believe in the body and blood thing at all, so it would be hypocritical of me to do so, and I keep my mouth shut during recitation of the Nicene Creed. There are a couple of places where we ask for forgiveness of our sins, and I chime right in there: I'm never at a loss for sins to atone for.
Marie— we Unitarians would love you in our flock—. I thinkyou would be a great Episcotarian! Most of us are hybrids…
Some people just like the smell of incense and beeswax, and the proximity of many people who believe in good things. HMC and those heretic high anglos know the value of good liturgical performances, for those that enjoy them. And if your local church is fortunate enough to have a bell tower with a real carillon, and a good choir and organ, that is icing on the cake.
But if you want REAL endocrine surges, go to an AME "Going Home". After a good one you feel like Jackie Wilson on a good performance!
Religion is many things, but it has always had a "performance art" component. That's not a criticism, just recognizing what makes the endorphins pop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbq0OuJtErs
I once sat next to a Unitarian in a bar watching a baseball game. He was surprised that I knew some UU jokes. And now I get a chance to reprise a few of them (the shorter ones).
Did you hear about the UU who moved down south?
They burned a question mark on his lawn.
When’s the only time a UU bows his head?
When you tell him his zipper’s down.
How does a UU walk on water?
She waits until winter.
You may be a UU if you believe in life before death.
Okay, there’s more, but I couldn’t refrain from the chance to dig these out again.
Patrick,
Years ago, I stepped in on an AME Sunday service in a church a few blocks from where I once lived. Man, it was like liturgical Pop Rocks. Everyone was dressed to the nines and the place was rockin’ and rollin’. I felt like it must have looked like one of those cartoons where the building is swaying and notes are flying out the windows. A far cry from “Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa”.
What makes Manchin think that the climate crisis isn't larger than W. Virginia?
Unwashed: he doesn't think. Or care. He only throws in the thought of W VA in order to make his listeners think he cares. I am struck by people saying that it seem to have escaped people that two people are holding the rest of us hostage, not that WE progressives are dumping on the good people of W VA. He has far too much power and is enjoying it way too much. As for Sinema, she is doing all of it for self- aggrandizement. Nothing more. She is a selfish pig and a prig. She thinks she is a maverick, but I read that by definition, since she thinks she is John McCain, she is a pale imitator, not a maverick. I don't know what they are going to do about any of this. Doesn't sound good.