There's battle lines being drawn.
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong.
Young people speaking their minds
getting so much resistance from behind

Sunday, December 4, 2022

Linkee-poo, hallelujah, everybody say cheese, Merry Christmas from the family

"Italian archaeologists are hailing a recent discovery as the 'most exceptional' in the last half-century. They believe it could rewrite the history of the relationship between the Etruscan and Roman civilizations."

"The U.S. is enduring an unprecedented poultry health disaster, with a highly contagious bird flu virus triggering the deaths of some 52.7 million animals."

"A measles outbreak in the Columbus, Ohio, area has nearly tripled in the last two weeks as officials say they're struggling to identify the geographic spread of the outbreak and expect it to drag on for months… Confirmed cases have risen from 18 in mid-November to the confirmed case count of 50, as of Friday morning. Twenty of the cases have required hospitalization. No deaths have been reported." Hey, ho, way to go, Ohio. (Grokked from John)

"The November employment report the government issued Friday was no exception. Employers added 263,000 jobs — a substantial gain that was far above economists’ expectations. Wages rose robustly, too, further intensifying the inflationary pressures the Fed has been struggling to contain." There's a lot of hand wrangling these days over why the interest hikes having brought inflation to heel, but all of those are based on the assumption that a "normal" market is driving inflation. However, if corporate greed is driving inflation, using supply constraints as cover, interest rate hikes won't slow it. Most likely it would have the opposite effect.

"The Group of Seven nations and Australia joined the European Union on Friday in adopting a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil, a key step as Western sanctions aim to reorder the global oil market to prevent price spikes and starve President Vladimir Putin of funding for his war in Ukraine."

"FIFA's Stadium Code of Conduct for this year's event, put into effect in July, prohibits fans from bringing in tools or weapons, as well as flags or other materials that are deemed political or discriminatory. It also advises that any helmet or mask that covers the face, besides a medical mask and/or national and religious headwear, is not permitted."

"Iran's morality police, which is tasked with enforcing the country's Islamic dress code, is being disbanded, the country's attorney general says." I'll believe it when it happens.

"America’s newest nuclear stealth bomber made its debut Friday after years of secret development and as part of the Pentagon’s answer to rising concerns over a future conflict with China."

"A county judge ruled Friday that Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita violated state law, breaking confidentiality in his office’s investigation of Dr. Caitlin Bernard… But the judge also denied Bernard’s request to put a halt to Rokita’s investigation."

"An attempt to block a probe by Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office was rejected by Marion County Judge Heather Welch. She also ruled Friday in a separate lawsuit that Indiana’s abortion ban adopted in August violates the state’s religious freedom law signed by then-Gov. Mike Pence in 2015. The Indiana abortion ban, however, has been on hold since mid-September as courts consider a challenge from abortion clinic operators who argue the ban violates the state constitution."

And in a widely expected move… "Infowars host Alex Jones filed for personal bankruptcy protection Friday in Texas, citing debts that include nearly $1.5 billion he has been ordered to pay to families who sued him over his conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school massacre."

"The Pennsylvania state Senate on Wednesday began what could be a long and partisan process of considering whether to force Philadelphia’s Democratic district attorney, Larry Krasner, from office."

"Two far-right operatives who told tens of thousands of people not to vote by mail in a robocall scheme will now have to spend 500 hours registering people to vote thanks to a legal sentence from an Ohio judge."

"A federal appeals court on Thursday ended an independent review of documents seized from former President Donald Trump's Florida estate, removing a hurdle the Justice Department said had delayed its criminal investigation into the retention of top-secret government information."

"In the end, it wasn’t a last-minute smoking gun but a prosecutor insisting that evidence shows Donald Trump was aware of a scheme that his Trump Organization’s executives hatched to avoid paying personal income taxes on millions of dollars worth of company-paid perks."

"Former President Donald Trump called for the termination of the Constitution to overturn the 2020 election and reinstate him to power Saturday in a continuation of his election denialism and pushing of fringe conspiracy theories."

"Republican Rep. Dave Joyce said Sunday that he didn't want to be drawn into commenting on Donald Trump's recent call to suspend the Constitution over baseless claims of 2020 election fraud… Joyce initially declined to do so, saying the public wasn't 'interested in looking backwards.' But Stephanopoulos followed up and Joyce ultimately said that Trump's comment shouldn't be taken seriously but that it wouldn't lead him to pull potential support for Trump's 2024 comeback bid." Fuck you, Joyce. Seriously, this is not a hard decision. But it does show the spinelessness of the Republican party.

"But not anymore. Today, despite midterm elections that failed to see the sweeping Republican victories that many had predicted, they remain a cornerstone of the conservative electoral base. Across the country, victories went to candidates who believe in QAnon and candidates who believe the separation of church and state is a fallacy. In Wisconsin, a U.S. senator who dabbles in conspiracy theories and pseudoscience was reelected - crushing his opponent in St. Croix County." Ah, the narrative of the reluctant extremist.

No comments: