Making it into an art form “When you want to take their books away, they’re children. When you want them to work, they’re adults,” said r/LateStageCapitalism (A One-Stop-Shop for Evidence of our Social, Moral and Ideological Rot) on reddit in reference to a proposed Florida bill. Actually, the two statements dovetail. Royalists want their lessers to serve the economy and not know enough to question it. In the name of freedom, they want to take yours. If you missed my post earlier this week on the nationwide Republican/corporate effort to roll back child labor laws, find it here.
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In case you were wondering if there was anyone whose endorsement Trump would not eagerly embrace, think again
He would say he’s the first I posted that a while back. But apparently it isn’t actually landing well with some evangelicals. Imagine that … Since the video was posted, it has been widely shared, racked up millions of views and drawn a lot of attention. But much of that attention has been negative, particularly among Iowa’s pastors, some of whom said they were shocked and offended by the content. “It was very concerning,” said Pastor Joseph Brown of the Marion Avenue Baptist Church in Washington, Iowa, a town of 7,500 people about 40 minutes south of Iowa City. He took issue, he said, with how it used language plucked from the Bible — such as describing Mr. Trump’s arms as “strong” yet “gentle” — to compare Mr. Trump directly to God, rather than a servant of a higher power. “The original sin of Satan or Lucifer is not that he wanted to take over God’s position but that he wanted to be like God. There is only one god, and it’s not Trump or any other man,” said Mr. Brown, who voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 and 2020 but says he will not this year.
Ashley just had a baby: She’s sitting on the couch in a relative’s apartment in Clarksdale, Miss., wearing camo-print leggings and fiddling with the plastic hospital bracelets still on her wrists. It’s August and pushing 90 degrees, which means the brown patterned curtains are drawn, the air conditioner is on high, and the room feels like a hiding place. Peanut, the baby boy she delivered two days earlier, is asleep in a car seat at her feet, dressed in a little blue outfit. Ashley is surrounded by family, but nobody is smiling. One relative silently eats lunch in the kitchen, her two siblings stare glumly at their phones, and her mother, Regina, watches from across the room. Ashley was discharged from the hospital only hours ago, but there are no baby presents or toys in the room, no visible diapers or ointments or bottles. Almost nobody knows that Peanut exists, because almost nobody knew that Ashley was pregnant. She is 13 years old. Soon she’ll start seventh grade. It’s a nightmare: In the fall of 2022, Ashley was raped by a stranger in the yard outside her home, her mother says.
For-profit means not for you Please indulge this local story. It’s not as local as it first seems. Ever since for-profit HCA Healthcare Inc. bought our local nonprofit hospital system in 2019, patient and staff complaints about understaffing have soared. Hundreds of veteran doctors and nurses have resigned. N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein, Democratic candidate for governor in 2024, has faced repeated questions from locals for approving the deal. Stein had limited authority to halt the $1.5 billion sale, his office says, so long as legal I’s were dotted and T’s were crossed. Stein, however, negotiated additional concessions in the purchase agreement and has has since sued HCA for failing to live up to its standards for patient care. Asheville Watchdog, an online investigative site staffed by “retired” local reporters (some, Pulitzer winners), has leaned into the story: Mission Hospital risks losing Medicare and Medicaid funding because of deficiencies in care that were so severe, state inspectors concluded last month, that they “posed immediate jeopardy to patients’ health and safety,” Asheville Watchdog has learned.
I know everything feels like shit right now. It’s the dead of winter, Trump is still spewing his garbage and millions of people seem to love it, and we’re looking at another nail biter of an election. But don’t despair. There are some things to hang on to. Like that astonishing number. Why anyone would think that’s a problem, I don’t know. He IS going to be the nominee unless he keels over. They will have to make that choice. Again.
That’s a fellow from The God Liars. Lol. “Our little snowflake”
That ad above was from 2020 and the same group is doing ads like this again on a larger scale for 2024. This is a great idea, in my opinion. Everyone says that the only way most people can be persuaded is if the message comes from people with whom they identify or trust. Yes, a lot of them will say this is AI or fake news but the ones who haven’t completely gone down the wingnut rabbit hole might feel the truth in it and respond: Democrats began the search last summer, fanning out through the northern swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to find the nurses, electricians, farmers and floor installers who could best testify to the danger of Donald Trump returning to power. The previously unreported project by the outside group American Bridge 21st Century developed 732 leads, conducted 472 interviews and then filmed about 50 voters who will anchor a $140 million ad campaign starting this spring, aimed at reminding women and working-class voters why they voted against Trump in 2020, according to the group’s leaders.
FFS Please, no. Just no: Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Thursday that he wants former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) to consider a third-party presidential bid with No Labels after Christie ended his GOP campaign. Lieberman, chair of No Labels, brushed off previous comments from Christie denouncing the group’s push for a bipartisan third-party ticket. “Look, earlier in the year when he was asked about No Labels, he basically said it was not an effort that had any chance of succeeding, but maybe the world will look different to him now,” Lieberman said in a SiriusXM interview with Michael Smerconish. “And I’d like to reach out to him and see if he, Gov. Christie, is at all interested in being on a bipartisan No Labels Unity ticket this year. He could be a very strong candidate.” Lieberman said Christie “might well be” No Labels “material,” referring to the anti-Trump former governor as “refreshingly independent.” “That’s the kind of candidate No Labels is looking for,” he said.
Raskin and Markey will need increased security “Democrats Propose Bill to Neuter Militias” is how Vice News described it: Militias who like to spend their weekends training to overthrow the government could find themselves running afoul of federal law, under new legislation being proposed in the House and Senate Thursday that seeks to curtail paramilitary activity. The “Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act” is being introduced by Senator Ed Markey from Massachusetts, and Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, both Democrats. Here’s the bill. Here’s Raskin’s statement: Washington, DC – Following the anniversary of the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol, Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act,legislation that wouldcreate a federal prohibition on paramilitary groups through civil and criminal enforcement.