No more rainbows

What a sad, sad country we have become.

Wisconsin school boards races, including in Waukesha, have become increasingly partisan in recent years. Republicans saw big gains across the state's school board races in 2022 and have used the positions to challenge policies from rules about transgender kids to COVID-19 restrictions.

[...]

Administrators at a Wisconsin elementary school stopped a first-grade class from performing a Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton duet promoting LGBTQ acceptance because the song "could be perceived as controversial."

Students at Heyer Elementary School in Waukesha had prepared a rendition of "Rainbowland" for their spring concert, but school officials struck the song from the lineup last week. Parents in the district say the decision was made because the song encourages LGBTQ acceptance and references rainbows.

[...]

Sebert has previously prohibited rainbows and pride flags from being displayed in Waukesha classrooms and suspended the school district's equity and diversity work in 2021.

  NPR

What could be worse for young children than rainbows and acceptance? 

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Federal judge rules Pence must testify to the Grand Jury

Beryl Howell's replacement, James Boasberg, has continued in her wake to refuse to allow executive privilege be a blanket excuse for not testifying to a Grand Jury. (Recall Howell, on her last day in office, rejected Trump attorney Evan Corcoran's privilege on the grounds of the crime-fraud exception to privilege.)

A federal judge has ordered former Vice President Mike Pence to comply with a grand jury subpoena about former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to a source familiar with the ruling.

[...]

The ruling from Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said Pence does have some limited speech and debate protections.

The immunity, however, would not prevent him from testifying about conversations where there’s alleged “illegality” on Trump's part.

It’s unclear whether Pence plans to appeal Boasberg’s decision. Pence has previously vowed to take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary.

  NBC

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 03/29/2023:

In Georgia: an attempt to get rid of Fani Willis?

On the 39th day of the 40-day legislative session, the GOP-controlled House approved the creation of a prosecuting attorneys oversight commission by a 92-77 vote, largely along party lines. The commission would have a five-member investigative panel and a three-member hearing panel to review complaints lodged against prosecutors and dish out punishment that could include removal from their elected office.

[...]

Democratic lawmakers and other critics argue that the Republicans’ plan removes prosecutorial discretion to deciding how cases should be prioritized in each community.

[...]

According to Lilburn Democratic Rep. Jasmine Clark, the bill gives the commission too much latitude to dismiss a prosecutor from office, including for not pursuing cases at their discretion.

[...]

Gullett and other supporters say the state oversight will provide a better chance of getting rid of bad district attorneys rather than waiting until the next election or clearing a high bar like a criminal indictment of the prosecutor.

  Georgia Recorder

So the people of Georgia can elect their AG, but a 5-member panel can remove their choice from office. Democracy at its finest.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Migrant disaster at the Mexican border

At least 39 people have died and dozens been injured after a fire ripped through an immigration detention centre in Ciudad Juárez, a Mexican city on the US border.

[...]

Reports in the Mexican press suggested a large number of the victims were Venezuelan migrants, millions of whom have abandoned their economically devastated country in recent years in search of a better life.

[...]

The newspaper El Universal said immigration officials had spent the hours before the fire, on Monday afternoon, rounding up Venezuelan migrants who had been begging for money on the streets of Ciudad Juárez, which is just over the US border from El Paso, Texas. Some of those migrants are believed to have been transported to the immigration centre where the fire broke out.

[...]

No explanation has been given for the cause of the fire but in a cryptic statement the INM said it “energetically rejects the acts which resulted in this tragedy”. The agency did not explain the nature of those “acts”.

  Guardian

We await that explanation.

UPDATE 03/30/2023:

Infante Padrón recounted how she saw immigration agents rush out of the building after fire started late Monday.

[...]

The ones they let out were the women, and those (employees) with immigration,” Infante Padrón said. “The men, they never took them out until the firefighters arrived.”

[...]

Why didn’t authorities attempt to release the men — almost all from Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela and El Salvador — before smoke filled the room and killed so many?

[...]

Surveillance video leaked Tuesday shows migrants, reportedly fearing they were about to be moved, placing foam mattresses against the bars of their detention cell and setting them on fire.

In the video, later confirmed by the government, two people dressed as guards rush into the camera frame, and at least one migrant appears by the metal gate on the other side. But the guards don’t appear to make any effort to open the cell doors and instead hurry away as billowing clouds of smoke fill the structure within seconds.

  Politico

The other shoe in David Pecker's Grand Jury testimony

Isn't Pecker the one who reportedly has a locked safe full of incriminating info?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 04/01/2023:

Six former A.M.I. employees told me that Pecker routinely makes catch-and-kill arrangements like the one reached with [Playmate Karen] McDougal. [...] Jerry George, a former A.M.I. senior editor who worked at the company for more than twenty-five years, told me [...] that Pecker protected Trump. “Pecker really considered him a friend,” George told me. “We never printed a word about Trump without his approval.”

[...]

“In theory, you would think that Trump has all the power in that relationship, but in fact Pecker has the power—he has the power to run these stories. He knows where the bodies are buried.” [according to Maxine Page, who worked at A.M.I.]

  New Yorker

Pecker knows where the bodies are buried

Just a couple days ago I was wondering whatever became of David Pecker.

NBC News reported that Manhattan prosecutors called another witness Monday to testify before the hush money grand jury: David Pecker, the former CEO of a company that published the National Enquirer.

[...]

Recall that, back in 2016, Pecker, then a longtime friend of Donald Trump’s, was involved in the scheme to silence Stormy Daniels ahead of the presidential election. The porn star was ready to go public about an affair she alleges to have had with Trump, which Trump has denied. Pecker helped Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen, facilitate the hush payment to Daniels.

[...]

[T]o the extent that the grand jurors are assessing [last week's Trump witness Robert] Costello’s credibility generally, they might want to hear from Pecker about whether he has additional testimony that directly contradicts Costello’s.

[...]

Pecker reportedly testified previously in the matter.

[...]

One would imagine that Pecker’s direct knowledge of Trump’s role would have been brought before the grand jury the first time he testified. But it’s possible that Costello’s testimony raised specific questions that required recalling Pecker.

[...]

[I]t’s also possible that Pecker’s appearance wasn’t directly related to Costello but rather was prompted by a question about how prosecutors seek to prove a certain charge, whether it’s a charge of falsifying business records or something else that required additional testimony from Pecker to understand.

Hopefully we learn more when the grand jury convenes next, which could be Wednesday.

  MSNBC

I don't know why we would learn more at that point about Pecker's testimony. But all we can do at this point is speculate, so that's what people are doing.

What I want to know is why did Pecker buy exclusive rights to Karen McDougal's story about a Trump affair so it could be "killed" (not published) for $150,000, working in tandem with the Trump campaign, but didn't buy out Stormy Daniels the same way.  Maybe she wasn't selling.  Or maybe Pecker didn't want to spend any more of the company's money on Trump's affairs. [T]he FEC did not pursue Trump for the McDougal scheme, but Pecker's company had to pay a fine for its part.  And Michael Cohen did prison time for his part.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 03/28/2023:  Bragg tying it all down.

UPDATE 04/01/2023:

Six former A.M.I. employees told me that Pecker routinely makes catch-and-kill arrangements like the one reached with [Playmate Karen] McDougal. [...] Jerry George, a former A.M.I. senior editor who worked at the company for more than twenty-five years, told me [...] that Pecker protected Trump. “Pecker really considered him a friend,” George told me. “We never printed a word about Trump without his approval.”

[...]

“In theory, you would think that Trump has all the power in that relationship, but in fact Pecker has the power—he has the power to run these stories. He knows where the bodies are buried.” [according to Maxine Page, who worked at A.M.I.]

  New Yorker

Poor business acumen or intention?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Another day, another hazardous substance spill - oops, 2 more

One by train derailment. 

Several cars on a Canadian Pacific freight train derailed in North Dakota late Sunday, spilling hazardous material in the area, the railway said.

Some of 31 rail cars involved were carrying hazardous materials, and an initial assessment found a liquid asphalt leak at the derailment site in rural Richland County, southeast of Wyndmere.

[...]

The railway’s emergency response teams and hazardous materials experts are on site with local first responders to conduct a “full assessment.” No injuries or fire has been reported, and there is no threat from the leak to waterways or public safety, according to Canadian Pacific.

  The Hill

Well, they would say that, wouldn't they?

Philadelphia officials say the city’s water supply is safe after a chemical spill in a tributary of the Delaware River over the weekend.

[...]

More than 8,000 gallons of chemicals used in latex finishing spilled into the tributary Saturday night [believed due to a burst pipe at a plant], prompting officials to warn residents and suggest they use bottled water instead of tap.

[...]

The Philadelphia Water Department announced Sunday that it’s “now confident” tap water from the Baxter Drinking Water Treatment Plant will remain safe to drink at least through 11:59 p.m. Monday.

“This updated time is based on the time it will take river water that entered the Baxter intakes early Sunday morning to move through treatment and water mains before reaching customers,” the department said.

  The Hill

After that, are they on their own?

Officials said the earlier warning was issued “out of an abundance of caution” and that testing has “not shown the presence of water impacted by the spill in the Baxter system at this time.”

Yeah. Would you?

And, yikes. A chocolate factory exploded.

All seven bodies have been recovered from the site of a powerful explosion [that occurred just before 5 p.m. Friday] at a chocolate factory in a small town in eastern Pennsylvania, officials said.

[...]

Rescue crews had been using heat imaging equipment and dogs to search for possible survivors after the blast destroyed one building and damaged a neighboring building.

[...]

Officials said they had no update on the condition of a woman pulled alive from the rubble early Saturday. Kaag said she had apparently been on the second floor and was found in a “hopeful circumstance,” calling out to rescuers despite her injuries after a dog located her.

Officials also reported no updates on the conditions of those taken to hospitals. Reading Hospital said it received 10 patients and transferred two to other facilities.

[...]

[R]rescue crews had been working 12- to 16-hour shifts.

[...]

State and local fire investigators are continuing to examine the scene to try to determine the cause of the blast.

Another day, another US school shooting

The only things unusual is that the suspect was female and this is a private Christian school.  Will either of those facts make a difference in the gun control "debate"?

story

UPDATE 06:42 pm:  Never mind.  The killer was trans.  Marjorie Taylor Greene will be all over that.

UPDATE 03/28/2023:  

So much for the claimed "unlocked side door" excuse of gun apologists.  Soon we'll have to have schools with no glass windows or doors.  Underground bunkers.  How about all schools have to be built as underground bunkers?  We certainly can't do anything about military grade weapons in the hands of civilians.  Underground bunkers.  That's the only way to stop the slaughter.

UPDATE 03/28/2023:  And there it is...

Twitter on Tuesday restricted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) congressional account for seven days after she repeatedly posted an image of a poster about a rally called “Trans Day of Vengeance.”

[...]

Ella Irwin, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, said in a separate tweet that the platform was automatically sweeping to remove images of the poster out of worries it could incite violence.

“We do not support tweets that incite violence irrespective of who posts them. ‘Vengeance’ does not imply peaceful protest,” Irwin said.

  The Hill

I didn't know Twitter still had a trust and safety crew.

The poster highlights an event on Saturday, April 1 that appears to be organized by Our Rights DC. That Twitter account was locked on Tuesday.

“We need more visibility,” it states, calling on people to gather at the Supreme Court to “stop trans genocide.” The main wording on the poster says “Trans Day of Vengeance.”

If it weren't MTG, I'd say trans genocide could mean what MAGA is doing to trans people. Sort of confusing message.

Greene initially deleted her tweet, and then posted it again voicing frustration about the action from Twitter – along with sharing the poster again, calling on the Department of Justice to investigate.

Twitter again deleted the tweet – prompting yet another tweet and re-post from Greene.

[...]

Twitter then sent Greene a notice saying her account functionality would be reduced for seven days.

She'll be on Fox screaming about that.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) also posted an image of the poster earlier on Tuesday, which was still live at the time of Greene’s suspension.

It's not now.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment beyond sending a poop emoji – an automatic response to inquiries sent to its press email address that its new owner Elon Musk recently announced earlier this month.

Real professional.

UPDATE 03/29/2023:  And there it is...

Now that it's affecting the church people, it's time to do something.

It'll be interesting to see who has the bigger lobbying influence: the NRA or the evangelists.

Right on cue and totally despicable...

UPDATE 03:22 pm:

Getting to conspiracy charges for Trump