Tuesday, November 30, 2021
Your assumptions are bearing out
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.Hours before the deadly attack on the US Capitol this year, Donald Trump made several calls from the White House to top lieutenants at the Willard hotel in Washington and talked about ways to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election win from taking place on 6 January.
[...]
The former president made several calls to the lieutenants at the Willard the night before 6 January. He phoned the lawyers and the non-lawyers separately, as Giuliani did not want non-lawyers to participate on legal calls and jeopardise attorney-client privilege.
[...]
[A]s Trump relayed to them the situation with Pence, he pressed his lieutenants about how to stop Biden’s certification from taking place on 6 January, and delay the certification process to get alternate slates of electors for Trump sent to Congress.
The former president’s remarks came as part of strategy discussions he had from the White House with the lieutenants at the Willard – a team led by Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn and Trump strategist Steve Bannon – about delaying the certification.
[...]
Trump’s remarks reveal a direct line from the White House and the command center at the Willard. The conversations also show Trump’s thoughts appear to be in line with the motivations of the pro-Trump mob that carried out the Capitol attack and halted Biden’s certification, until it was later ratified by Congress.
The former president’s call to the Willard hotel about stopping Biden’s certification is increasingly a central focus of the House select committee’s investigation into the Capitol attack, as it raises the specter of a possible connection between Trump and the insurrection.
[...]
At [a] meeting, which was held in the Oval Office and attended by Trump, Pence, Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, and his legal counsel, Greg Jacob, Eastman presented a memo that detailed how Pence could insert himself into the certification and delay the process.
The memo outlined several ways for Pence to commandeer his role at the joint session, including throwing the election to the House, or adjourning the session to give states time to send slates of electors for Trump on the basis of election fraud – Eastman’s preference.
[...]
But Pence resisted Trump’s entreaties, and told him in the Oval Office the next day that Trump should count him out of whatever plans he had to subvert the results of the 2020 election at the joint session, because he did not intend to take part.
[...]
The then acting attorney general, Jeff Rosen, and his predecessor, Bill Barr, who had both been appointed by Trump, had already determined there was no evidence of fraud sufficient to change the outcome of the 2020 election.
[...]
On the calls, the former president first recounted what had transpired in the Oval Office meeting with Pence, informing Bannon and the lawyers at the Willard that his vice-president appeared ready to abandon him at the joint session in several hours’ time.
“He’s arrogant,” Trump, for instance, told Bannon of Pence.
[...]
The fallback that Trump and his lieutenants appeared to settle on was to cajole Republican members of Congress to raise enough objections so that even without Pence adjourning the joint session, the certification process would be delayed for states to send Trump slates.
[...]
The lead Trump lawyer at the Willard, Giuliani, appearing to follow that fallback plan, called at least one Republican senator later that same evening, asking him to help keep Congress adjourned and stall the joint session beyond 6 January.
In a voicemail recorded at about 7pm on 6 January, and reported by the Dispatch, Giuliani implored the Republican senator Tommy Tuberville to object to 10 states Biden won once Congress reconvened at 8pm, a process that would have concluded 15 hours later, close to 7 January.
[...]
The White House residence and its Yellow Oval Room – a Trump favorite – is significant since communications there, including from a desk phone, are not automatically memorialized in records sent to the National Archives after the end of an administration.
But even if Trump called his lieutenants from the West Wing, the select committee may not be able to fully uncover the extent of his involvement in the events of 6 January, unless House investigators secure testimony from individuals with knowledge of the calls.
That difficulty arises since calls from the White House are not necessarily recorded, and call detail records that the select committee is suing to pry free from the National Archives over Trump’s objections about executive privilege, only show the destination of the calls.
[...]
The chairman of the select committee, Bennie Thompson, said in a statement that the panel was pursuing the Trump officials at the Willard to uncover “every detail about their efforts to overturn the election, including who they were talking to in the White House and in Congress”.
Guardian
Jan 6 conspiracy charges
What else do we know about Rodriguez?
Daniel “D.J.” Rodriguez, the Donald Trump fanatic who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and was arrested for electroshocking D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Mike Fanone a month after he was identified in a HuffPost story, spilled his guts to the FBI after his arrest, repeatedly crying as he told special agents he was a “fucking piece of shit” and worried that his “mom’s going to find out” what he did.
[...]
Rodriguez, according to a transcript of his FBI interview filed in court by his defense attorney on Friday, said that he became radicalized watching videos on InfoWars and from conservative commentators [...]. Rodriguez repeatedly referred to himself as “stupid” for believing that the pro-Trump mob he was a part of could take over the U.S. Capitol and install Trump as president for a second term.
[...]
Rodriguez told the FBI that he “volunteered for Trump” and “did door-to-door and everything” for Trump’s campaign, and said he wanted to join the Army once Trump became president, and even went to the recruiting office.
“They didn’t take me. And I just thought that I could still contribute by ― you know, I didn’t take an oath, but I could still stand up for those same things on my own, you know?” Rodriguez said.
[...]
“They made sure that the election was lost and there’s no point in voting anymore, so it’s like ― I’m thinking they’re going to come, like, you know ― they’re going to come round us up.”
[...]
In a separate motion, his lawyers said they would argue that Rodriguez was acting “under public authority” at the direction of former President Trump.
[...]
[R]oughly 650 cases [...] have been brought against rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. There are more than 2,500 total potential defendants, including over 250 suspects who assaulted police officers on Jan. 6 but have not yet been arrested.
Huffpo
UPDATE:Trial dates are on the calendar in at least 17 cases related to the attack on the Capitol, including a multi-defendant conspiracy case against members of the Oath Keepers extremist group, according to BuzzFeed News’ review of court records. The latter half of the year was marked by a flurry of guilty pleas — nearly 150 defendants have taken a deal with the government so far — but developments in [some cases] highlight the fact that other defendants have dug in for a fight.
Most defendants are being prosecuted individually instead of en masse. Whichever cases have reached a milestone first — from pretrial detention orders to plea hearings and sentencings — have provided a model for judges, prosecutors, and defense lawyers across these cases to build on, even if the case-specific facts and allegations are different. The same will be true of whichever cases are the first to go to trial.
Yahoo
“They take a Danny Rodriguez interview, and they see that oh, this guy’s a moron. He’s a sad person who’s kind of pathetic in a way, and they think, ‘How bad could Jan. 6 really have been?’” Fanone said. “They’re not looking at the big picture. This was an orchestrated event. Despite the fact that most of the people on the ground are buffoons, so what? There are 15,000 of them.”
Fanone said Rodriguez’s confession video is also an example of how Trump supporters were “manipulated” by the former president’s lies about a stolen election.
“I hold no fucking grudges towards him whatsoever, because in Danny Rodriguez, I see a lot of people that I know,” Fanone told HuffPost. “He’s a moron and a misfit, and he was like many people looking for camaraderie, looking for something to belong to.”
[...]
“I want accountability for Danny Rodriguez. Not just for what he did to Michael Fanone, but for what he did to Officer Michael Fanone,” Fanone said. “He was attacking a police officer who was protecting the Capitol and trying to protect members of Congress and democracy, and he came there to subvert that on behalf of Donald Trump.”
HuffPo
Monday, November 29, 2021
No matter who's in charge
Some things remain the same. Including over-classifying everything.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.Former Pentagon chief Mark Esper has accused the Department of Defense of needlessly censoring his “unvarnished and candid memoir” [titled A Sacred Oath] detailing his time in the administration of former President Donald Trump, according to a new lawsuit.
[...]
In the lawsuit, the period is described as “an unprecedented time of civil unrest, public health crises, growing threats abroad, Pentagon transformation, and a White House seemingly bent on circumventing the Constitution”.
However, the lawsuit alleges, “Significant text is being improperly withheld from publication … under the guise of classification.
[...]
Esper and Trump were sharply divided over the use of the military during civil unrest in June 2020 following the killing of George Floyd.
Other issues, including Esper’s opposition to withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, led the president to believe Esper was not sufficiently loyal.
[...]
Trump fired Esper in a tweet days after he lost the 2020 election, allowing the president to install loyalists in top Pentagon positions as he continued to dispute the results.
[...]
[Esper says] that he had been asked not to quote Trump and others in meetings, not to describe conversations he had with Trump, and not to use certain verbs or nouns when describing historical events. The letter says some 60 pages of the manuscript contained redactions of some kind.
[...]
The lawsuit also notes some stories in the manuscript appear to have been leaked to the press, “possibly to undermine the impact” of the book.
alJazeera
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Monday, November 22, 2021
Not sending their best?
Then again, I wonder if that will discourage Trump voters.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
And good for them
Fox News host Tucker Carlson's special on the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol [that relied on fabrications and conspiracy theories to exonerate the Trump supporters who participated in the attack] was the last straw for two network commentators. Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg have resigned [in protest of what they call a pattern of incendiary and fabricated claims by the network's opinion hosts in support of former President Donald Trump].
[...]
Carlson's series on the Capitol insurrection aired on Fox's paid streaming service "Fox Nation" in early November.
"They've begun to fight a new enemy in a new war on terror," Carlson warned his viewers in the first episode. "Not, you should understand, a metaphorical war, but an actual war, soldiers and paramilitary agencies hunting down American citizens."
[...]
Goldberg says that he had been assured by Fox's news leaders that, as Trump left Washington D.C. following his defeat, the network would tamp down on incendiary commentary and claims.
[...]
"It's basically saying that the Biden regime is coming after half the country and this is the War on Terror 2.0," Goldberg tells NPR. "It traffics in all manner of innuendo and conspiracy theories that I think legitimately could lead to violence. That for me, and for Steve, was the last straw."
[...]
According to five people with direct knowledge, the resignations reflect larger tumult within Fox News over Carlson's series "Patriot Purge" and his increasingly strident stances, and over the network's willingness to let its opinion stars make false, paranoid claims against President Biden, his administration and his supporters.
[...]
Fox News also jettisoned the leaders of its political desk, laid off a bunch of researchers and installed a new opinion hour at 7 p.m., shifting news anchor Martha MacCallum from that time to a less visible mid-afternoon slot. The news anchor at 11 p.m., Shannon Bream, was pushed back to midnight in favor of Greg Gutfeld's opinion-driven comedy show. All these moves tilted the channel to even more Trump-friendly content, even as its news programs gently tried to correct the record on the 2020 elections and the siege.
[...]
Asked for comment for this story, Carlson says the departure of the two "will substantially improve the channel."
NPR
America has its first female president!
And she's black/Asian, to boot.
President for an hour and a half. But it counts. It'll go on her resumé.
Saturday, November 20, 2021
Build Back Better passes House
And this is how you message that:
Friday, November 19, 2021
Kyle Rittenhouse acquitted
I don't even want to talk about this outrage and what it probably will cause.
UPDATE:
Thursday, November 18, 2021
Paul Gosar vying for worst Congressman position
He has some stiff competition, but I think he's knocking it out of the park.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
McConnell under the bus - or more aptly, the Trump tank
Swell guy that orange man.Former President Trump ripped into Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) once again on Wednesday, giving the leader an invective-filled ultimatum to stand firm against raising the debt ceiling and keep his conference unified against President Biden’s spending agenda.
Trump blasted his former Senate ally as “stupid” and a “fool” and accused him of “incompetence” in a long, tangled statement that jumped from expressing displeasure over Republican votes on a procedural motion related to raising the debt limit in October, to Congress’s passage of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill this month, to the ongoing Democratic talks over a social spending bill.
Trump’s scathing statement follows several similar attacks in recent days in which he lashed out at “Old Crow” McConnell.
[...]
“McConnell is a fool and he damn well better stop their ‘Dream of Communism Bill’ and keep his Senators in line, or he should resign now, something he should have done a long time ago. Use the Debt Ceiling like it should have been used, you Old Broken Crow, to do so would hurt our Country far less than this horrible Bill,” Trump declared in a statement released through his Save America PAC.
The Hill
No dout McConnell is fielding his share of death threats these days. It was bound to happen.
Yes, McConnell is still a piece of shit.[McConnell] defended his vote for the infrastructure bill on Tuesday by noting it “did not raise taxes, did not revisit the 2017 tax bill.”
“From the Kentucky point of view, it was extremely good for our state. I’m proud of my vote,” he said.
[...]
“Mitch McConnell couldn’t stop the first Bill so 19 Senators, including himself, joined in. That’s what he does—if you can’t beat them, join them. If he wasn’t so stupid and didn’t give the two-month extension, he could have stopped it all. Now he and his RINO friends will allow a much bigger and far worse Bill to pass, ruining our Country while giving the Democrats a great political lift, all at the same time,” [Trump] said.
McConnell has refused to respond to Trump’s attacks and regularly deflects them by saying he’s more focused on fighting what he sees as the most extreme elements of Biden’s agenda, such as $550 billion in new spending to fight climate change.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
Thanks for nothing
Now take Hannity, Carlson, Ingraham, et al. off the lineup and tell those Fox & Friends hosts to get with the program.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
Stupid headline
They're ALWAYS "markedly bipartisan" on defense spending.
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Gosar censured
Well, good, but I think he should be kicked out of Congress.
Disgraceful.The vote was 223-207, largely along party lines. GOP Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Liz Cheney of Wyoming voted with all Democrats to censure Gosar. Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio, voted "present."
ABC
And that is exactly right. The GOP has become the most despicable body of slimeballs and enablers I have ever seen."This is not about me," Ocasio-Cortez said in an impassioned floor speech. "This is not about representative Gosar. This is about what we're willing to accept. "
Sure. And blame it on the staff.Gosar, speaking publicly about the video for the first time, which he said in an earlier statement was an attempt by his staff to reach a younger audience, said he doesn't condone violence but appeared to accept his fate as Democrats barrel towards the vote.
"I do not espouse violence or harm towards any member of Congress or Mr. Biden," Gosar said, notably not calling Biden "president."
And what is the "younger audience" he's aiming at? Pre-teen boys?
Did no one say, "You, sir, are no Alexander Hamilton" ?"If I must join Alexander Hamilton, the first person attempted to be censored by this House, so be it. It is done," he added.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
Let nothing get in the way of tax cuts for the rich
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.A federal judge in Alabama on Monday blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a provision of the sweeping pandemic relief package passed earlier this year that would have stopped states from using the funds to offset tax cuts.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler handed a win to 13 Republican-led states that sued on the grounds that Congress in March exceeded its constitutional authority by including in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) the restriction on the states’ use of the funds.
“The Tax Mandate’s restriction on direct or indirect state tax cuts pressures States into adopting a particular — and federally preferred — tax policy. The inherent ambiguity in the text of the mandate may disincentive the plaintiff states from considering any tax reductions for fear of forfeiting ARPA funds. This is a federal invasion of State sovereignty,” wrote Coogler, a George W. Bush appointee.
The ruling effectively blocks the U.S. Treasury Department from enforcing a provision that barred states for three years from using ARPA funds to “directly or indirectly” subsidize the cost of lowering state taxes.
The order applies to West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah.
[...]
It’s unclear if the Biden administration would appeal.
[...]
Monday’s decision is one of five rulings by federal courts that have reviewed the tax mandate provision and yielded varied outcomes.
The Hill
Stand by
I hope the authorities picked up on that "stand by" as that's exactly what Trump said to the Proud Boys before the January 6 insurrection. And Steve Bannon is the one who said on January 5 that "all hell is going to break loose tomorrow." He may well be the head of the attempt to overthrow the US government.Steve Bannon said on Monday that he plans to go "on the offense" against the January 6 Committee as his arrangement is expected in the next few days.
While speaking to reporters after his initial court hearing, Bannon said, "this is gonna be the misdemeanor from hell for [Attorney General] Merrick Garland, [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi and [President] Joe Biden...We're going to go on the offense, we're tired of playing defense, we're gonna go on the offense and stand by."
Newsweek
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Liz doesn't give a shit
In its second formal rebuke of Wyoming Republican Liz Cheney, the state party passed a resolution this week to no longer recognize her as a member -- but Cheney, up for reelection in 2022, appears unconcerned.
[...]
The resolution, which is symbolic and doesn't strip Cheney from any tangible power, cleared the Wyoming GOP Central Committee on Saturday by a narrow vote of 31-29.
[...]
The Wyoming Republican Party had already voted in February to formally censure Cheney after she became one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump for "incitement of insurrection." In May she was removed from her post as GOP conference chair, and her subsequent rank as the No. 3 Republican in the House stripped -- backlash encouraged by Trump.
[...]
“Political leaders who sit silent in the face of these false and dangerous claims are aiding a former president who is at war with the rule of law and the Constitution," Cheney said in an impassioned speech in New Hampshire last week. "I love my party and its history and its principles. But I love my country more. And I will do all I can to defend her."
ABC News
A little good news for a change
To the not even 15,000 souls who actually live in the [Pennsylvania's] fourth least-populous county, the Fulton County Library on North First Street, in the county seat of McConnellsburg, is a kind of a metaphorical turnpike to a wider world, offering computer terminals for locals lacking internet access and meeting rooms for an array of community groups, while trying to acquire the latest books on its shoestring budget.
Last week, library leaders — who’d seen a small county subsidy (just under 4% of its budget) slashed in half during the Great Recession — sent the Fulton County commissioners a request for an additional $3,000 in the new year, which would bring its total stipend back up to $15,000, or what it had been in the 2000s.
But the two Republicans who wield majority power on the three-member panel said absolutely not, and — according to the account of the meeting in the local weekly, the Fulton County News — they were blunt in explaining why: The library had over the summer given an OK for a proposed new support group for Fulton County’s small, largely invisible LGBTQ-plus community to hold biweekly meetings in its public space.
[...]
“If we support them, we have to support Proud Boys and Black Lives Matter,” said [GOP commissioner Randy] Bunch, one of the 85.3% of Fulton County residents who voted for Trump in 2020, the highest percentage in Pennsylvania. The other Republican commissioner, Stuart Ulsh, agreed with Bunch and offered a seeming non-sequitur in defense of his position.
“Do we want Muslims moving into our county?” Ulsh asked, before citing an internet conspiracy theory — thoroughly debunked by Snopes.com — that a Muslim man had been arrested on U.S. soil with a 30-year blueprint for taking over America.
[...]
The blowback started with a local activist Emily Best.
[...]
Over the weekend, Best’s plea for support on Twitter circulated among a community of progressive activists, and it gained steam when a social-media heavyweight — Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a 2022 Democratic candidate for the open U.S. Senate seat — adopted the cause. She also learned of a similar campaign that had been launched on Facebook as a response to the commissioners’ comments about the LGBTQ community. By Tuesday morning, Best’s GoFundMe page had raised $14,495 from 382 donors, while the Facebook drive has raised more than $9,000, or more than eight times the additional dollars sought from the county commission. That total is sure to rise as the controversy gets more publicity.
There’s no immediate plan for how that new money will get spent, but Brambley told me the library would love to add to its current collection of 25 almost-always-out internet “hot spots,” expand its on-site community resources such as 3-D printers and sewing machines, and add to its growing collection of expensive but increasingly popular e-books.
[...]
But the real value of the Fulton County library fund drive is both intangible and worth far more than $24,000 — the notion that political hate and ignorant intolerance can be beaten back, even in Pennsylvania’s Trumpiest county.
Philadelphia Inquirer
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
Bannon update
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon appeared before a judge to face criminal contempt charges for defying a subpoena from Congress’ Jan. 6 committee, then declared combatively outside court that he was “taking on the Biden regime” in fighting the charges.
Mr. Bannon did not enter a plea Monday and is due back in court on Thursday for the next phase of what could be the first high-level trial in connection with January’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Combative outside court, he said he was “going on the offense” against the attorney general, the speaker of the House, and President Joe Biden. He declared, “This is going to be a misdemeanor from hell for Merrick Garland, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden.”
Mr. Bannon surrendered earlier in the day to FBI agents. He was indicted on Friday on two federal counts of criminal contempt – one for refusing to appear for a congressional deposition and the other for refusing to provide documents in response to the committee’s subpoena.
Federal Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather released him without bail but required him to check in weekly with court officials and ordered him to surrender his passport. If convicted, Mr. Bannon faces a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of one year behind bars on each count, prosecutors said.
Christian Science Monitor
Absolutely fucking nuts
I think you should just go read this whole thing.In "Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show," scheduled to be released today, [ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan] Karl reports that former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump attorney Sidney Powell tried to enlist a Pentagon official to help overturn the election.
ABC News
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
UPDATE:
I guess it worked
They'll bring it out again next time they need it.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
Monday, November 15, 2021
More on Mike Flynn's desire to have only one religion in America
I did not realize that was a QAnon thing.Flynn’s suggestion that there should only be one religion in the United States drew quick backlash on social media.
[...]
Flynn has recently taken to talking about his Christian faith as a way to refute claims by QAnon followers that he worships Satan.
Slate
How did he get past freedom of religion to get to freedom of speech? It's right there at the beginning.The former national security adviser also characterized the investigation into the riot as “the insurrection crucifixion” and likened House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Pontius Pilate. “This is a crucifixion of our First Amendment freedom to speak, freedom to peacefully assemble. It’s unbelievable,” Flynn said.
If we can afford to wait, these people will eventually eat each other.Prior to the unusual controversy, Flynn had embraced his position as a hero to supporters of QAnon, taking a QAnon oath, raising money from QAnon believers, and selling QAnon T-shirts. In May, Flynn even appeared at a QAnon conference and endorsed the idea of a military coup.
But QAnon fame is a fickle thing. After promoting QAnon for more than a year, Flynn now finds himself on the business end of the conspiracy theory. Like QAnon targets before him, Flynn is now struggling to persuade angry QAnon believers that he isn’t a secret Satan-worshipper.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.Flynn isn’t the first right-wing figure tied to QAnon to see its acolytes turn on him. Oklahoma Senate candidate Jackson Lahmeyer, whose challenge to Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) has been endorsed by Flynn, appeared at an April pro-QAnon conference with Flynn in Tulsa.
A few months later, however, Lahmeyer posted a seemingly innocent picture of his daughter wearing red shoes—apparently unaware that QAnon followers consider red shoes to be yet another sign of their imagined Satanic sex-trafficking cabal. Lahmeyer was soon caught up in a QAnon controversy of his own.
"Unfortunately, I have to say it because people are asking me," Lahmeyer wrote in a Facebook post. "I’m in no way involved in Child Sex Trafficking, pedophilia or devil worship."
[...]
Flynn’s trouble started on Sept. 17, when he led a congregation at Nebraska pastor Hank Kunneman’s Lord of Hosts Church in prayer. Flynn’s prayer included invocations to “sevenfold rays” and “legions,” two phrases that struck some of Flynn’s followers as strange.
“We are your instrument of those sevenfold rays and all your archangels, all of them,” Flynn said, later adding, “We will be the instrument of your will, whatever it is. In your name, and in the name of your legions, we are freeborn, and we shall remain freeborn, and we shall not be enslaved by any foe.”
As video of the prayer circulated in online conspiracy theorist groups, the references to “legions” and “rays” soon sparked speculation among Flynn’s right-wing supporters that their hero had been lured to the dark side. Always on the lookout for the Satanic influence they imagine lurks at the heart of the world, they claimed that Flynn had secretly been worshiping the devil. Worse, since the congregation was repeating the prayer after Flynn, the rumor went, he had duped hundreds of Christians into joining the ritual.
“A lot of people in the Christian world believe that when you pray to rays of light and legions that you’re praying to the devil,” Oebel, the YouTube host, explained in his interview with Flynn.
[...]
Flynn’s prayer bears a striking resemblance to a prayer by Elizabeth Clare Prophet, the now-deceased leader of an anticommunist doomsday cult obsessed with nuclear war. Prophet’s group, the Church Universal and Triumphant, reached its peak in 1990, the year she predicted much of the world would be destroyed in a fiery nuclear exchange between the Soviet Union and the United States. Prophet’s followers flocked to her Montana ranch, building fallout shelters for an apocalypse that never arrived.
[...]
For example, in one address to her congregation, Prophet said, “In the name of Archangel Michael and his legions, I am freeborn, and I shall remain freeborn, and I shall not be enslaved by any foe within or without.”
Daily Beast
Sunday, November 14, 2021
What might actually turn the tide in climate change
As always, follow the money.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.Ten years ago, the “cost of capital” for developing oil and gas as compared to renewable projects was pretty much the same, falling consistently between 8% and 10%. But not anymore.
The threshold of projected return that can financially justify a new oil project is now at 20% for long-cycle developments, while for renewables it’s dropped to somewhere between 3% and 5%.
[...]
“This year will mark the first time in history that renewable power will be the largest area of energy investment.”
[...]
Will Hares, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said pressure from ESG investors is the best explanation for the widening difference between dirty and clean.
“Oil companies are finding it increasingly difficult to raise financing amid rising ESG and sustainability concerns, while banks are under pressure from their own investors to reduce or eliminate fossil-fuel financing,” Hares said.
This is resulting in more expensive debt financing (in some cases double-digit coupons), which, when coupled with depressed equity valuations, leaves most oil companies facing higher costs for capital.
[...]
Spending is expected to peak between 2035 and 2040, driven largely by expenditures on power networks, charging networks, building upgrades and a massive expansion of renewable power sources such as clean hydrogen.
[...]
Mark Carney, the former central banker turned climate envoy, said more than 450 financial firms representing $130 trillion of assets have pledged to bring their lending and investing activities in line with the goals of the 2015 Paris agreement. The announcement, however, didn’t mollify skeptics who are quick to point out that details on how the industry would actually meet this target were lacking—a hallmark of the greenwashing scourge.
Bloomberg
Don't they know how to crowd source?
Check with Marjorie Taylor Greene. She seems to have enough donations that she can afford to flaunt the mask rule in Congress. Maybe she can steer some money to the Oath Keepers.An attorney representing the far-right Oath Keepers in a civil lawsuit over the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is asking to withdraw from the case, saying the group has failed to respond to his messages or pay him.
Kerry Morgan, of counsel with the firm Pentiuk, Couvreur & Kobiljak, filed the motion Thursday. He’s been representing the Oath Keepers in a lawsuit filed by Democratic members of Congress that alleges a conspiracy among that group and others, including former President Donald Trump, to block members of Congress from certifying the Electoral College results.
Law
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
It's Sunday
So much for freedom of religion. MAGA's mullahs go full bore.
I didn't realize Matthew mentioned the United States.
"Under God" was added to the pledge in 1954. Why?
After Flynn's screed, this will be the next thing MAGAheads want removed from history curricula.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
Another opportunity to combat climate change missed
Cop26 mainly failed.
The rich have already decided that we're beyond the point of saving the planet, and they're interested in just one thing: amassing as much wealth as possible in its last days. They figure their money will provide them the best that's available all the way to the end. And they're right. They're not good. But they're right.
...and hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
Pardon me for being skeptical, but I'm betting they don't.While some countries committed to more ambitious cuts to heat-trapping pollution, many nations did not agree to rein in emissions fast enough for the world to avoid the worst damage from climate-driven storms, heat waves and droughts.
Still, the summit's progress means that goal could still be within reach, experts say — if countries follow through on their promises.
NPR
What future?The agreement was built from compromises on many fronts, including a last minute effort by India to weaken efforts to phase-out coal.
[...]
Emissions need to fall around 45% by 2030 to give the world a chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100 (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). Instead, they're expected to rise almost 14% over the next nine years.
[...]
Developing countries, already suffering damage from more intense hurricanes and droughts, made a unified plea for climate justice. Richer countries are responsible for the bulk of climate emissions, they said, but poorer countries are suffering the most. In the end, they were among the most disappointed as COP26 ended, leaving mostly with promises that their pleas would be addressed in the future.
Even if they did, which they won't, that's not soon enough.India, a state heavily reliant on coal power, agreed to reach net-zero emissions by 2070. Saudi Arabia pledged to go net-zero by 2060, and Brazil announced 2050.
So companies are busy trying to make fake meat. Not for the rich, I assure you.[A]dded together, the pledges will not reduce emissions fast enough to keep the world within the crucial limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100, as agreed to in the Paris climate talks. Instead, the world would be on track for 1.8 degrees Celsius of warming, according to an analysis from the International Energy Agency.
1.8 degrees Celsius is an improvement over the previous pledges. But it depends entirely on countries following through on their promises, and many have provided few concrete details. Even with past commitments, many governments haven't backed up words with actions. Based on what countries are currently doing on the ground, the world is headed toward 2.7 degrees Celsius of warming, or almost 5 degrees Fahrenheit.
[...]
More than 100 countries signed a pledge at the summit to cut methane emissions 30% by 2030. The potent greenhouse gas has 80 times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide when first emitted into the atmosphere.
Define "deforestation".Another coalition of countries agreed to halt deforestation by 2030, including the heavily-forested nations of Brazil and Russia.
You hear that, MAGA? We're cooperating WITH CHINA.China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, held firm to its plan allowing emissions to rise until 2030, eventually declining to net-zero by 2060. But in a surprise announcement, the U.S. and China agreed to work together to "strengthen and accelerate climate action and cooperation" in the near-term.
"It's the first time China and the United States have stood up — the two biggest emitters in the world — and said, 'We're going to work together to accelerate the reduction,' " Kerry told NPR.
We'll tell you what to do while we go on doing what we want.In the end, the final agreement held as firmly as a consensus agreement can on speeding up progress, saying it "requests" countries "revisit and strengthen" their plans by 2022.
[...]
As higher temperatures fuel more destructive storms, heatwaves and fires, many poorer countries face disasters that can cost billions of dollars and add up to far more than the size of their economy. Intense droughts are wiping out crops, and rising seas are forcing entire villages to relocate.
[...]
Countries also agreed to provide more "technical assistance" for loss and damage issues by supporting the Santiago Network, a U.N. entity created in 2019 to provide advice and guidance for developing countries to minimize damage from climate change.
Two million. That'll go a long way, won't it? Still, it's better than anyone else did.Developing countries brought a firm message to the Glasgow summit: we're suffering from a problem we've done little to cause. They proposed that wealthier countries compensate them for climate change-related "loss and damage."
At the summit, Scotland offered the first contribution for a loss and damage fund, two million pounds, a sign that many thought could pave the way for more nations to join in.
Well, what a surprise.Developing nations argued, at the very least, a COP26 agreement could establish a fund, or "facility" in United Nations jargon, with details to be worked out in the years to come. But in negotiations, the idea ran into a brick wall. Wealthier countries, including the U.S., didn't support it.
A disappointment.With 2 million people at risk of starvation in Kenya due to an extreme drought this year, Keriako Tobiko of the country's Ministry of Environment and Forestry called the compromise a disappointment.
Might as well have dropped it from the agreement altogether.As early drafts of the COP26 agreement were released, climate activists were thrilled to see that it urged countries to "accelerate the phasing-out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels." In negotiations, the U.S. spoke out about ending subsidies for oil and gas at home.
[...]
In later drafts, the language was tweaked to reference phasing out "unabated" coal power and "inefficient" subsidies.
I get it. I do. It's not fair. But as Rumsfeld might have said, you deal with the climate you have, not with the climate you wish you had. Developing countries won't have to concern themselves with developing and eradicating if they don't have a fucking planet to develop on.Developing countries arrived at the Glasgow summit deeply distrustful of a process that has done little, over the decades, to match the urgency of the climate threat--and the damage they're already enduring.
[...]
"How can anyone expect that developing countries can make promises about phasing out fossil fuel and coal subsidies?" said Bhupender Yadav, India's Cabinet Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change. "Developing countries still have to deal with their development agenda and poverty eradication."
In a last minute move, India sought to further weaken the wording by changing the "phase-out" of coal to "phase-down." Other countries reluctantly conceded in order to prevent the entire agreement from falling apart.
A logical and realistic position."It hurts deeply to see that bright spot dim," said Stege of the Marshall Islands. "We accept this change with the greatest reluctance. We do so only, and I really want to stress only, because there are critical elements of this package that people in my country need as a lifeline for their future."
Surely they didn't really expect anything better.Twelve years ago, wealthier countries like the U.S. promised to provide $100 billion in "climate finance" — funding to help vulnerable nations reduce their emissions with renewable energy, cleaner transportation and other projects. The money is also earmarked for adaptation projects to help communities protect themselves from climate impacts like storms and sea level rise.
By 2020, richer nations pledged to provide that amount annually through both government and the private sector, but so far, have fallen short of that goal. In 2019, countries hit about $80 billion in climate finance. Much of that funding came in the form of loans, instead of grants, which developing countries say further strains their climate efforts as they struggle to repay them.
Not gonna happen.The U.S., Japan, Norway, Sweden and others announced new climate finance pledges this year, but the $100 billion goal is still elusive and likely won't be met until 2022 or 2023. That amount is also far below the need. A U.N. report estimates that funding for climate adaptation should be five to 10 times greater than what's being spent now.
In other words, they agreed to talk about it some more.In the final compromise, countries agreed to begin a two-year work plan ending in 2024 to settle on how climate finance will ramp up to meet the needs of the most vulnerable nations in the future.
The rich have already decided that we're beyond the point of saving the planet, and they're interested in just one thing: amassing as much wealth as possible in its last days. They figure their money will provide them the best that's available all the way to the end. And they're right. They're not good. But they're right.
...and hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
Not good
Now imagine what it would be if it's Kamala Harris the Dems are running. I still think he should have picked Susan Rice.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
Saturday, November 13, 2021
The government giveth and the government taketh away
Old-timers might get hearing coverage, but their premiums will be gouging them. So, IF it passes, some seniors will MAYBE break even by getting hearing aids, but those who don't need aids (or have alzheimer's) will be paying for it.
And of course, it's the pharmaceutical companies who get the benefits.Seniors on Medicare will have to pay more than $20 more per month extra in premiums next year, a large increase that officials in part attributed to possible coverage of a pricey and controversial new Alzheimer's drug.
The Hill
Could it be worse? Yes. And it is.About half of that increase is due to contingency planning to make sure the program has enough money to pay for an expensive new Alzheimer's drug, if Medicare decides to cover it, an official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said.
But wait. Seniors are getting a cost-of-living increase. It just won't be as large as it would have been.That drug, called Aduhelm and made by the company Biogen, has drawn controversy both for its price, at $56,000 per year, and because the Food and Drug Administration approved it despite doubts from experts about its effectiveness.
"Most". "Large".Administration officials emphasized Friday that most people on Medicare will also be getting a large cost of living increase in their Social Security payments next year, which they said would more than offset the rise in Medicare costs for many seniors.
Yeah? Allowing Medicare to negotiate for reasonable prices was taken out, wasn't it?"Skyrocketing drug prices not only make it harder for seniors to afford the lifesaving drugs they need, but also drive up their health care premiums for doctor’s visits and outpatient care," House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) said in response to the announcement.
"This double financial whammy simply cannot continue, and that’s why Congress must pass the bicameral Medicare prescription drug agreement that was included in the Build Back Better Act last week."
So, I wonder which drugs they can negotiate on.In early budget negotiations, it looked as if the Democrats were finally going to take on Big Pharma over spiraling drug prices. Then last week, drug pricing fell out of the bill altogether and it looked as if the drug companies had won again. Now there is a compromise that looks modest but could have real bite.
The drug price regulation Congress is now considering would achieve three main goals. It would limit the amount that Medicare patients can be asked to pay for drugs out-of-pocket. It would restrict how much drugmakers can increase their prices each year. And, for the first time, it would allow Medicare to negotiate directly with drugmakers on prices for their medications.
The provision on price negotiation was the one most substantially changed in the last week: It would apply to fewer drugs, require smaller discounts, and, most critically, shield new drugs from negotiations.
NYT
Great. New drugs only the rich can afford.The policy isn’t simply smaller than the original. If enacted, it will save the federal government less money than the legislation passed by the House two years ago. But it is also less likely to hinder the development of new treatments and cures, the experts said.
The bill text could, of course, change or fail to become law.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
Bannon charged
They want positions in Trump's second term.[Steve] Bannon, a former top adviser to ex-President Donald Trump, was charged [by the US DOJ] with one count of contempt of Congress involving his refusal to appear for a deposition and another involving his refusal to produce documents, the Justice Department said on Friday.
[...]
It was not immediately clear when Bannon would be due in court. Each count carries a minimum of 30 days of jail and a sentence of up to a year behind bars.
[...]
So far, the House panel has interviewed more than 150 people across government, social media and law enforcement as part of its investigation. But some former Trump allies, such as Bannon, have refused to testify.
[...]
Bannon’s indictment was announced just hours after Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows refused to appear for a deposition before the committee, risking being also found in contempt of Congress.
alJazeera
Too bad he didn't also pardon him for crimes related to sedition. Maybe that's in the second term. And, frankly, I don't think a president (or governor) should have pardon power. That's a recipe for criminal acts of high impact on both the government and the economy.It is the second time in two years that Bannon has faced criminal charges. Bannon was charged in 2020 with defrauding donors to We Build the Wall, a private fund-raising effort to boost Trump’s wall project along the US-Mexico border.
Trump subsequently issued a pardon to Bannon before that case could go to trial.
No wonder they don't want him to testify.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
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