Surprised? I would hope that this puts him in the category of Alex Jones and normal people stop dealing with him as if he’s a serious person. But I’m not getting my hopes up. This is on par with Donald Trump and the MAGA crazies so I think that’s just the way things are in our political culture: Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dished out wild COVID-19 conspiracy theories this week during a press event at an Upper East Side restaurant, claiming the bug was a genetically engineered bioweapon that may have been “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people. Kennedy floated the idea during a question-and-answer portion of raucous booze and fart-filled dinner at Tony’s Di Napoli on East 63d Street. “COVID-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately,” Kennedy said. “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people.
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Dems are winning swing voters From Nate Cohn at the NY Times on the 2022 election. Yes, the Republicans turned out as they always do. But something else happened: Ultimately, the Democratic performance depended on something that went far beyond turnout: A segment of swing voters decided to back Democratic candidates in many critical races. For all the talk about turnout, this is what distinguished the 2022 midterms from any other in recent memory. Looking back over 15 years, the party out of power has typically won independent voters by an average margin of 14 points, as a crucial segment of voters either has soured on the president or has acted as a check against the excesses of the party in power. This did not happen in 2022. Every major study — the exit polls, the AP/VoteCast study, the recent Pew study — showed Democrats narrowly won self-identified independent voters, despite an unfavorable national political environment and an older, whiter group of independent voters.
They’re beyond being embarassed Shamelessness was just for warm-ups. Sometimes the gibberish is less offensive than what’s behind it: Robinson’s latest comments come as he has been the subject of national attention for his long history of racist, antisemitic, and anti-LGBTQ+ comments. In February 2018, he penned an attack on the film “Black Panther” because the title character was created by Stan Lee, whom he called “an agnostic Jew,” and “put to film by a satanic marxist. How can this trash, that was only created to pull the shekels out of your Schvartze pockets, invoke any pride?” He received bipartisan condemnation in October 2021 for a sermon in which he referred to “transgenderism” and homosexuality as “filth.” I’d like North Carolina to go blue in 2024. Even more, I’d like to keep the governor’s mansion out of Mark Robinson’s hands.
Some good news to report! Doctor Who Showrunner Russell T. Davies took to social media to confirm that Series 14 has wrapped filming.
Also, private equity loses out, schools get some dough, Sonic the Hedgehog gets a union, and more.
Quick dispatch from Netroots-Chicago Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones related his experience with being expelled from the state House, reinstated by constituents, and returning to the state Capitol to encounter the white men who voted to expel him. “I walked in with the energy that they are in the ‘find out’ portion of our movement,” Jones said to applause. Later, the Rev. Jesse Jackson made a surprise appearance with Jones. Jackson announced his retirement from leadership of Rainbow PUSH (NPR): He announced in 2017 that he had begun outpatient care for Parkinson’s disease two years earlier. In early 2021, he had gallbladder surgery and later that year was treated for COVID-19 including a stint at a physical therapy-focused facility. He was hospitalized again in November 2021 for a fall that caused a head injury. Before another tornado blew through town last night, a few notables under 35 found each other at Netroots Nation. Jones, Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida, NC Democrats’ state chair Anderson Clayton, David Hogg (A March For Our Lives) and other young activists shared dinner. Networking is why we come.
No one wants to fall into debt. No one wants a boot in their door. No one likes bailiffs. The use of bailiffs to tackle council tax arrears is a violent, humiliating, and unnecessary practice. That’s why ACORN Haringey is organising to end the council’s use of this cruel and bullying industry. With the support […]
Philosophy professor Kathleen Stock has been actively engaged in ongoing discussions about gender identity and transgender issues for a long time. In these discussions, she has expressed scepticism and concern about certain aspects of transgender ideology, particularly in relation to gender identity and its implications for women’s rights and spaces. Stock has argued that the […]
More AI madness! Couple of months ago there was a weird Daily Beast piece. It’s bad, but in a goofy way, causing me to say at the time ‘not today, Hal!’ But now I’m collecting op-ed-ish short writings about AI for use as models of good and bad and just plain weird writing and thinking, […]
As crews continue to search for an aggressive sea otter that’s been caught on video stealing surfboards, the Monterey Bay Aquarium speaks out on its “interesting history.” “This otter was born in captivity up at UC Santa Cruz. It was not bred in captivity, but its mother was in the wild and had to be re-captured. And when they captured the mother, she was pregnant,” said Kevin Connor with the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Subsequently, the sea otter pup — tagged 841 — and its mother were taken to the aquarium to be examined and cared for. The pup was released in June 2020 after it was found to be healthy and old enough to survive in the wild. “We have certain standards for release. They need to be a certain weight. They need to demonstrate they can feed themselves and that they can survive in the wild. Certainly, if an otter is displaying behavior when it’s with us, that says release may not be the best option that would get evaluated by Department of Fish and Wildlife,” said Connor. The mother was determined to be unfit to stay in the wild and was taken to another aquarium.
Workers at a pharmaceutical warehouse in Melbourne that employs 190 people have been on strike for three weeks fighting for pay rises to match inflation and equal rates for casual workers.
The post API still on strike after three weeks in fight for a cost of living pay rise appeared first on Solidarity Online.
They want to help airlines hide the true cost of their tickets again. This is just stupid: Price transparency on airline tickets could be a thing of the past, as House Republicans push to roll back Obama-era rules that prohibit airlines from advertising anything but their all-in prices, including all required taxes and fees. But Democrats and consumer watchdogs are sounding alarms, saying the change would be a gift to airlines, who could hide the true cost of airfare behind links or fine print — and increase their profits by getting consumers to spend more. “This is a bad idea,” said John Breyault, vice president of public policy, telecommunications and fraud at the National Consumers League. “Price transparency makes it easier for consumers to comparison shop. … We don’t want to have to do algebra and advanced trigonometry to figure out what it costs.” The Republican provision was tucked into a huge Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization package, one of the few bills considered a must-pass this Congress, by members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
SAG-AFTRA and the WGA’s strike is happening in LA and NY and it does my heart good to see that all the showbiz unions are showing solidarity on the picket lines today. And it’s not just IATSE and the others, it’s also the Teamsters and the Teachers unions picketing with them. We need more of this. As we await the impending UPS strike which could happen any time now (and severely impact the economy) maybe the Big Money Boyz on Wall Street and the rest of the 1% should take stock and recognize that the pay structure in America’s business is fucked up. In a time of big profits and full employment, workers are going to flex their muscles and it’s long overdue. If business and industry are smart they’ll recognize that they are going to have to share the wealth — these massive CEO salaries are a disgrace. Everyone knows that the world is changing with new technology and nobody is quite sure where it’s going. But that’s no excuse for these rich assholes to pocket vast sums of money in the meantime while crying poor to the people who produce their product. Workers are getting fed up with that kind of bad faith.
Oh Gov. DeSantis? While you are conducting a “war on woke” your state has a serious problem: In places like California, Louisiana and Florida, insurers are balking at covering problems made worse by the climate crisis. The problem got worse for the Sunshine State this week, as Farmers Insurance Group served notice it would no longer be in the business of home, auto or umbrella coverage there, per the Orlando Sentinel’s Jeffrey Schweers. This affects 100,000 Florida homeowners. Ten other companies had already left “in the midst of the state’s relentless insurance crisis, which has caused premiums to skyrocket by 100% or more in some cases. Property owners are bracing for a 40% increase this year,” Schweers reported. California, at least, is doing everything it can to deal with climate change.
He still had no legal right to overturn the election Raw Story caught legal expert Ryan Goodman on CNN last night making a very important point: One of the most important elements for special counsel Jack Smith to establish in order to charge former President Donald Trump in connection with the plots to overturn the 2020 presidential election, is to establish his intent — something he is attempting to do with his new interviews with Hope Hicks and Jared Kushner. But crucially, New York University law professor and former Pentagon special counsel Ryan Goodman told a CNN panel on Thursday, that does not mean Smith has to prove Trump didn’t truly believe that the election was stolen from him. “The best possible evidence they can get — and we don’t know exactly whether Jared Kushner or Hope Hicks gave them this — is Donald Trump acknowledging that he knows he lost,” said former federal prosecutor Elie Honig. “It’s one thing to be told by certain people that he lost, because there were other people telling him he did not lose.
I have yet to meet an Australian voter willing to go to war over Taiwan. Further, I haven’t heard of any Australian military leader with a clear idea of Australia’s role in a showdown between China and the US. Earlier this year, NASA’s survey satellite discovered an Earth-sized world within the habitable zone of a Continue reading »
In Asian media this week: Junta’s system thwarts Thai election victor. Plus: Modi ignores brutal war in Indian State; North Korea to treat South as a foreign country; Japan embraces NATO but China hits back; China’s unstated economic strategy – muddling through; Indonesia’s EV plans for Australia. Thailand’s progressive Move Forward Party won the national Continue reading »
Around a week ago the Financial Review confirmed what many observers had taken for granted: the US offered nuclear propulsion technology to Australia under the AUKUS arrangements in order to lock it into the anti-China coalition. Reporting on comments made at a public forum by White House strategic adviser Kurt Campbell, the article highlights his Continue reading »