The Evening Blues - 1-25-21



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Howard Tate

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features soul singer Howard Tate. Enjoy!

Howard Tate - Get It While You Can

“If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change.”

-- Ray Bradbury


News and Opinion

State of American Empire

Rights Advocates Alarmed by US Spy Agency's Purchase of Warrantless Phone Location Data

Digital rights advocates reacted with alarm to a report published Friday detailing how Defense Intelligence Agency analysts in recent years bought databases of U.S. smartphone location data without first obtaining warrants.

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is part of the Department of Defense and is tasked with informing military and civilian policymakers about the activities and intentions of foreign governments and nonstate actors.

The new revelation, first reported by the New York Times, initially came in the form of DIA responses to questions from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) regarding the agency's warrantless purchase of commercial location data generated by phones both inside and outside of the United States.

Wyden asked the DIA to clarify its interpretation of Carpenter v. United States, a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision barring law enforcement agencies from requesting personal location information from a cellphone company without first obtaining a search warrant from a judge.

"DIA does not construe the Carpenter decision to require a judicial warrant endorsing purchase or use of commercially-available data for intelligence purposes," the agency replied, implicitly acknowledging its exploitation of an apparent loophole in the case that DIA believes permits its warrantless acquisition of location data from third-party brokers.

Glenn Greenwald meets Owen Jones: on Trump, Biden, US foreign policy and the mainstream media

Facebook purges left-wing pages and individuals

On Friday, Facebook carried out a purge of left-wing, antiwar and progressive pages and accounts, including leading members of the Socialist Equality Party. Facebook gave no explanation why the accounts were disabled or even a public acknowledgement that the deletions had occurred.

At least a half dozen leading members of the Socialist Equality Party had their Facebook accounts permanently disabled. This included the public account of Genevieve Leigh, the national secretary of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, and the personal account of Niles Niemuth, the US managing editor of the World Socialist Web Site. In 2016, Niemuth was the Socialist Equality Party’s candidate for US Vice President. ...

None of the individuals whose accounts were disabled had violated Facebook’s policies. Upon attempting to appeal the deletion of their account, they received an error message stating, “We cannot review the decision to disable your account.” With no explanation or warning, Facebook has effectively seized the intellectual property of those it has targeted, cutting them off from years of their photos, writings and online discussions.

Also targeted was the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the UK. Its main national Facebook account was disabled, with approximately 20,000 followers, together with its student group, the Socialist Workers' Student Society, with approximately 5,000 followers, as well as its annual Marxism festival, with 12,000 followers.

Glenn Greenwald: Liberals CHEER New Domestic War On Terror

Radicalized Michigan Anarchist Seeks Unity With The Left

Trump plots revenge on Republicans who betrayed him as Senate trial looms

Stewing over election defeat by Joe Biden, four days after leaving the White House, Trump continued to drop hints of creating a new party, a threat some saw as a gambit to keep wavering senators in line ahead of the opening of his trial, in the week after 8 February. ... Trump spent the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, splitting rounds of golf with discussions about maintaining relevance and influence and how to unseat Republicans deemed to have crossed him, the Washington Post reported.

Trump, the Post said, had said the threat of starting a Maga (Make America Great Again) or Patriot party, gave him leverage to prevent senators voting to convict, which could lead to him being prevented from seeking office again. Later on Sunday, the New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman cited sources “familiar with his thinking” when she said Trump was backing off his threat to create a new party, after it was “gently pointed out to him” that “threatening a third party while simultaneously threatening primaries makes no sense”.

Nonetheless, those in Trump’s crosshairs include Liz Cheney, the No3 House Republican, Georgia governor Brian Kemp and others who declined to embrace false claims of election fraud or accused him of inciting the Capitol riot.

AOC Says #ForceTheVote For Impeachment.

Heh, now you're talking! Impeach 'em all!

Senate Republican threatens impeachments of past Democratic presidents

The Texas Republican senator John Cornyn warned on Saturday that Donald Trump’s second impeachment could lead to the prosecution of former Democratic presidents if Republicans retake Congress in two years’ time. ...

“If it is a good idea to impeach and try former presidents, what about former Democratic presidents when Republicans get the majority in 2022?” Cornyn, a 19-year veteran of the Senate who last year tried to distance himself from Trump when it seemed his seat was at risk, tweeted at majority leader Chuck Schumer.

Rev. William Barber Says Biden Admin Must Not Sacrifice Racial & Economic Justice for False Unity

Biden claims “there is nothing we can do” to halt mass death from coronavirus

Biden has predicted that the national death toll from COVID-19 will exceed more than a half-million by next month. Refusing to call for a nationwide lockdown to stem the continuing surge in infections and death, he and his administration will bear the responsibility for a significant proportion of this misery. Biden declared yesterday that “there is nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the next several months.” This is a blatant lie and an assertion that would meet with even Donald Trump’s approval.

While his 200-page pandemic response strategy is touted as a roadmap to exiting the crisis, the proposal’s main objective is to deceive the public with the claim that, by employing science and federal initiatives, lives can be saved while at the same time restoring full economic activity. In this regard, the reopening of schools is foremost on the agenda.

The immediate goal is to ensure that most K-8 schools reopen in the next 100 days. Additionally, an executive order issued by Biden seeks to appropriate funding from Congress to assist federal and state institutions with the necessary resources to see the complete reopening of all secondary schools, as well as colleges and universities. Top Biden officials have made clear that their drive to reopen schools is aimed at making it possible for them to force workers back to work. The ruling elites see this as the price of doing business in a pandemic. However, the most recent science demonstrates the critical role children and students have played as vectors for community transmission.

Despite the rosy tone of the proposal, President Biden offered his own sober assessment of the situation. “The brutal truth is it’s going to take months before we can get the majority of Americans vaccinated,” he said, even though he has promised that 100 million vaccines will be administered in his first 100 days in office. According to Bloomberg’s vaccination tracker, the US has been averaging approximately 940,000 doses per day, which means Biden has to do little more than wait to see his promise come true.

Krystal Ball: Bernie's Plan Puts Biden To Shame

'One More Check Is Not Enough': Ilhan Omar Calls on Biden to Back Recurring Direct Payments

Warning that one additional check is nowhere near sufficient to ease the widespread suffering inflicted by the ongoing pandemic and economic collapse, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota is circulating a letter urging fellow lawmakers to join her in pressuring President Joe Biden to include recurring direct payments in any future coronavirus relief package.

"The stunning financial crisis for those at the bottom of the income ladder demands massive relief to those who need it most," reads Omar's letter (pdf), which was obtained by HuffPost. "Recurring direct payments until the economy recovers will help ensure that people can meet their basic needs, provide racially equitable solutions, and shorten the length of the recession."

"As we look at the coming year, another one-time round of checks would provide a temporary lifeline, but when that money runs out, families will once again struggle to pay for basic necessities," the letter continues. "One more check is not enough during this public health and economic crisis. Many families cannot afford to wait for eight months between payments."

Omar, the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) whip, is urging the newly sworn-in president to support passage of direct relief checks that continue flowing to struggling adults and dependents "until the economy recovers." The Minnesota Democrat is also stressing the need to ensure that those who were deemed ineligible for previous stimulus checks—such as many immigrants and their families—are included in the recurring payments.

"As the country begins to look towards building to a better future," the letter states, "we need to provide those struggling and left behind with consistent reliable cash payments during this Covid-19 crisis."

As Economic Suffering Grips Regular Americans, Wall Street Behemoths Ready Feast of Stock Buybacks

For millions of regular Americans, the end of 2020 was marked by economic distress, with millions suffering pandemic-triggered job losses—and thus the loss of their employer-tied health insurance—still waiting on robust economic relief from federal lawmakers, and facing a weak social safety net.

For the nation's biggest banks, however, the year closed out with reason for celebration, and they're looking to take advantage of the banner year with a feast of stock buybacks.

As Axios reported Friday,

Banks cashed in on the white-hot IPO market, record debt issuance, and sky-high trading volume—all of which played out as economic peril softened the consumer side of their businesses.

The big picture: Financial results show that banks, which rake in money as middlemen, made a killing thanks to unprecedented action by the Federal Reserve—which caused a rush of activity in financial markets, pushed a slew of companies to issue debt, and led to a flood of others to go public for the first time.

Earnings were particularly sweet for banking behemoths including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.

Reporting from Bloomberg on Tuesday gave a picture of the final quarter:

As the banner year for markets came to a close, JPMorgan Chase & Co. posted record profit in the fourth quarter, helped by a 20% increase in revenue from trading, a business where it already ranked No. 1 heading into the turmoil. At rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc., second only to JPMorgan in dealmaking, a flurry of transactions helped send its quarterly profit soaring 135%.

The results—from JPMorgan on Friday and Goldman on Tuesday—mirrored trends in many corners of industry and society during the shocks set off by Covid-19: The strong got stronger.

"Big banks' Wall Street business is booming," as the New York Times put it Friday. The banks signaled they may take advantage of that windfall by buying back shares—a practice the Fed last month allowed to resume last month and which critics say simply rewards wealthy shareholders but are essentially "manipulation of the stock market."

What do banks plan to do with all that cash? "We have so much capital, we cannot use it," Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan told investors. The bank's cash pile has doubled over the past year, to more than $500 billion.

It's a similar story at other banks, and now that they've been cleared by regulators to resume share buybacks, "we're going to be aggressively buying back, and consistently," said James Gorman, Morgan Stanley's chief executive.

The reporting came as a new regulatory filing revealed that Dimon, a billionaire, was rewarded in 2020 with the same compensation as in 2019—$31.5 million.

Chicago teachers defy order to return to classrooms under shadow of Covid

The Chicago Teachers Union said on Sunday its members had voted to defy an order to return to the classroom because of concerns about Covid-19, setting up a showdown with district officials who have said that refusing to return when ordered would amount to an illegal strike.

The third-largest US school district wanted around 10,000 teachers and other staff, from kindergarten through eighth grade, to return to schools on Monday, to get ready to welcome back roughly 70,000 students for part-time in-school classes starting from 1 February. No return date has been set for high school students.

The teachers union opposes the plan over concern for the health of its members and called for continued teaching from home. The union said the district’s safety plan fell short, contending that different metrics would be needed to gauge infections at schools and vaccinations would need to be more widespread before teachers can safely return to classrooms. ...

The two sides have been negotiating for months and talks continued on Sunday. Officials have argued that remote learning isn’t working for all, including many low-income and Black and Latino students who make up the majority of the district. The district safety plan includes thousands of air purifiers, more cleaning and a voluntary testing program. ...

The roughly 355,000-student district, which turned to full-time online instruction last March, has gradually welcomed students back. Thousands of pre-kindergarten and special education students resumed in-person learning earlier this month and teachers who did not return to classrooms were punished.

“They Came Away with Their Dignity”: Striking NYC Workers Win Wage Hike After Surge of Solidarity

Forget Biden’s Bust of Cesar Chavez: Hunts Point Strike Is the Bold Labor Action the Country Needs

As the first images of President Joe Biden’s Oval Office began to circulate online, a prominently placed bust of labor and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez drew swift comment. Nestled amid Biden family photos behind the president’s desk, the bronze statuette appeared to signal a commitment to the Latinx and worker struggles for which Chavez, founder of the union that would later become the United Farm Workers of America, fought. Far from the inaugural pomp, meanwhile, hundreds of striking workers at the Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx, New York, were already demonstrating what the fight for workers’ rights looks like on the ground for those forced to work in perilous proximity throughout this pandemic.

Hunts Point is part of New York City’s most important food hub, handling most of the fruit and vegetables that get sold throughout the five boroughs. Its workers earned praise and press coverage for keeping the city fed as the public health crisis threatened supply chains. Having risked their lives throughout the last year, the workers, members of Teamsters Local 202, sought a raise of a mere $1 per hour in their new contract. Negotiations broke down when management refused, offering an hourly boost of only 32 cents. The union members voted to go on strike, starting last Sunday — the first strike at the Hunts Point market in 35 years. ...

After nearly a full week on the picket line, Teamsters leadership announced a tentative agreement had been reached. On Saturday morning, the strikers voted to approve their new contract, which includes a $1.85 wage increase over three years and an end to any out of pocket payments for family healthcare plans. While not the full $1 raise they had demanded and deserve, there can be little doubt that the conditions of the contract were considerably improved through the strike. Concerns among supporters have arisen about whether union leaders were willing to settle too early — a reminder of the importance of rank-and-file decision making — but the workers were nonetheless celebrating the new contract as a victory.

Following decades of anti-worker, anti-union labor laws established in this country, the Hunts Point strike comes at a time of robust and potent labor organizing. Last February, the House passed an omnibus labor reform bill, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would overturn a number of anti-worker Supreme Court decisions.

The strike at the market, aimed at a key chokepoint of commodity circulation, underlines the necessity of collective action, the solidarity it requires, and the critical role of strong unions. This sort of high-stakes, hard-fought labor action — which entails significant sacrifices from workers — is the least that powerful business owners should face when workers are deemed “essential” but treated as disposable.

Excuse Our Coups!



the horse race



Saagar Enjeti: Trump’s Third Party Will DESTROY The GOP, No Matter What Happens



the evening greens


More info at the link:

Toxic Chemicals Threaten Humanity’s Ability to Reproduce

Shanna Swan is the senior author of a 2017 study that documented a dramatic drop in sperm counts in Western countries over the past half-century. That meta-analysis of 185 studies involving 42,935 men found that total sperm count fell 59 percent between 1973 and 2011. Swan, a reproductive epidemiologist, pointed to the role of environmental chemicals in that trend. Now she has written “Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race,” a book that ties industrial chemicals in everyday products to a wide range of changes taking place in recent years, including increasing numbers of babies being born with smaller penises; higher rates of erectile dysfunction; declining fertility; eroding sex differences in some animal species; and potentially even behaviors that are thought of as gender-typical.

[An interview follows. Here are a couple of excerpts. -js]

How did you get into studying chemicals and reproduction?

It started with the phthalate syndrome.

That was the discovery that fetal rats exposed to phthalates 18 to 21 days after mating were more likely to be born with malformed genitals, but the ones that were exposed to those endocrine-disrupting chemicals before or after that window didn’t have the problem, right?

Right. In 2000, a colleague from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told me they were able to measure lots of chemicals, including phthalates, at low doses for little cost in lots of people. This was a breakthrough in the field. And I had just done a study of the mothers of young babies, and I still had the urine from the pregnant women, and the babies were very young. He said I should study phthalates. So I thought, OK, what if I mimic the animal study and look for the same endpoints they found in rats? What if I could see those in humans and link them to phthalates?

And you did it?

I did. We found the syndrome in humans. ...

You’ve also linked phthalate exposure to a lack of interest in sex.

Yes, we found a relationship between women’s phthalate levels and their sexual satisfaction. And researchers in China found that workers with higher levels of bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA, in their blood were more likely to have sexual problems, including decreased desire.


Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

The Moronic Firing of Will Wilkinson Illustrates Why Fear and Bad Faith Mob Demands Reign Supreme

All The Spin That’s Fit To Print

The Echo Chamber Era

Russiagate Ain’t Over

Why Liberal Anti-Fascism Upholds the Status Quo

Media Allow Republicans to Use ‘Unity’ as Tool of Division

Undoing Trump's legacy: Biden wastes no time in first 100 hours as president

Mossad chief to meet Biden to press Israeli demands on Iran nuclear deal

US Convoy Reported Moving Into Syria From Iraq

What Biden’s Warmongering Will Actually Look Like

‘Gondor has no king’: pro-Trump lawsuit cites Lord of the Rings

A Healthy Microbiome Builds a Strong Immune System That Could Help Defeat COVID-19

As birth rates fall, animals prowl in our abandoned 'ghost villages'

End the Filibuster: Calls Grow to Retire Relic of Slavery & Jim Crow to Make Senate More Democratic

Jimmy Dore: Class Solidarity or "Deplorables"? -- The Left's Failed Messaging.

Jimmy Dore: Biden Wants To Overthrow Venezuela.

Krystal and Saagar: Bipartisan Corporatists SABOTAGE $2k Checks, Coronavirus Relief


A Little Night Music

Howard Tate - Ain't Nobody Home

Howard Tate - Stop

Howard Tate - I Learned It All the Hard Way

Howard Tate - Look At Granny Run Run

Howard Tate - She's a Burglar

Howard Tate - Girl From The North Country

Howard Tate - Shoot 'Em All Down

Howard Tate - Glad I Knew Better

Howard Tate - Baby, I Love You

Howard Tate - 8 days on the road

Howard Tate - Everyday I Have The Blues


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lotlizard's picture

https://consentfactory.org/2021/01/24/thats-all-folks/

Looney Tunes That's all Folks

The global capitalist ruling classes have just reminded us who is really in charge, who the US military answers to, and how quickly they can strip away the façade of democracy and the rule of law. They have reminded us of this for the last ten months, by putting us under house arrest, beating and arresting us for not following orders, for not wearing masks, for taking walks without permission, for having the audacity to protest their decrees, for challenging their official propaganda, about the virus, the election results, etc. They are reminding us currently by censoring dissent, and deplatforming anyone they deem a threat to their official narratives and ideology.

In other words, GloboCap is teaching us a lesson. I don’t know how much clearer they could make it. They just installed a new puppet president, who can’t even simulate mental acuity, in a locked-down, military-guarded ceremony which no one was allowed to attend, except for a few members of the ruling classes. They got some epigone of Albert Speer to convert the Mall (where the public normally gathers) into a “field of flags” symbolizing “unity.” They even did the Nazi “Lichtdom” thing. To hammer the point home, they got Lady Gaga to dress up as a Hunger Games character with a “Mockingjay” brooch and sing the National Anthem. They broadcast this spectacle to the entire world.

And the lesson isn’t quite over yet … it won’t be over for a while. The “War on Populism” will simply morph into the “New Normal War on Domestic Terror,” which will become one more theater in the “Global War on Terror,” which has been on hiatus, and which will now resume. As I have pointed out repeatedly over the past four years, we appear to be headed toward a dystopian future in which there will essentially be two classes of people: (a) “normals” (i.e., those who conform to global-capitalist ideology and decrees); and (b) the “extremists” (i.e., those who don’t).

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12 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@lotlizard

This pretty much sums it up.

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5 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

joe shikspack's picture

@lotlizard

that's an excellent piece, it really captures the essence of what's going on. thanks!

have a great evening!

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4 users have voted.

@lotlizard
The Hunger Games brooch had an arrow in the beak of the Jay. Gaga’s brooch depicts an olive branch in the bird’s beak, a well known symbol for a peace offering, not the symbolic Arrow of militant rebellion.

The interesting thing is that the profile of the bird’s wing depicted on Gaga’s brooch is most assuredly NOT that of a Dove, but clearly depicts a wing strikingly similar to that of the Bluejay.

Artistic license or hidden message? You decide. Can you imagine Biden’s Inauguration Committee allowing an arrow in place of an olive branch?

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3 users have voted.

Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

enhydra lutris's picture

will create the perfect moment for the people to create a fourth one, or at least for the left to do so. IF it shatters the GOP wing of the Uniparty the Dems won't have anything to "not-be" and hence become pointless and replaceable.

be well and have a good one

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10 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

joe shikspack's picture

@enhydra lutris

well, there's certainly more ferment going on in the progressive movement than i've seen in a while. ironically, jimmy dore's #forcethevote insurgency seems to have outed a lot of the trolls that will never part from the democrat party no matter how much they shit on the people. this is good because progressives now know which people with platforms to studiously ignore when a serious third party movement gets rolling.

i'm guessing that biden and his henchpersons are going to screw up in a big way, leaving progressives with no real option but to split from the party in the next election cycle.

i just hope that the nascent third party organizations can get their proverbial shit together and develop a resonant platform and a broad outreach.

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14 users have voted.

Now we can blame our (er)lectoral dysfunction on BPA
Dow Chemical gets to share dystopia with Dow Jones
May be an unlawful suit in there somewhere?

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7 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

@QMS

quantities of an enormous number of endocrine disrupters that have found their way into everything. Studies have turned them up in amphibians and lots of "lower animals" for decades now, but nobody wanted to hear about it. Ditto actual mutagens. We've made the whold damn country and maybe the entire world into a superfund site, right under the watchful eye, and with the permission and consent of the EPA.

be well and have a good one

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10 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

i guess our future is fifty lashes with a wet noodle.

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8 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

@joe shikspack

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3 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

ggersh's picture

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12 users have voted.

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

joe shikspack's picture

@ggersh

really puts our "justice" systems into sharp perspective, doesn't it?

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8 users have voted.
lotlizard's picture

@ggersh  
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/excia-engineer-tells-judge-hes-incarc...

Gitmo in Manhattan…

Sentence first, verdict afterwards, like the Yaass Kween of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland.

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5 users have voted.
Lookout's picture

...same as it always was I guess...just on steroids.

A gray foggy day here, but mild. Rain's coming in tonight. Didn't get out much today as a result and have a bit of cabin fever. I'll get out for Trade day tomorrow if it isn't still raining. Just need to keep hunkered down with the pandemic raging as big as ever.

Hope you and yours are weathering the situation as well as possible. Thanks for the news and blues!

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11 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

joe shikspack's picture

@Lookout

we were supposed to get some snow, but it doesn't much look like we are going to get much more than a dusting. there's about a quarter inch of snow on the hood of my car, but nothing is really sticking on the streets so far. i guess we'll see if we get any more overnight.

so far, so good on the pandemic. my area is experiencing an uptick in infections, but fortunately, nobody that i know has been infected. so, still wearing the mask and crossing my frequently-washed fingers.

have a good one and stay safe!

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5 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

Off guardian has been down playing the epidemic since the beginning so take from it what you want. My concern about whether it’s a crisis not going to waste or it’s as bad as they say it is, is because there are things that people can be doing right now to boost their immune system as many here have stated. That they aren’t says a lot to me. The elderly should be taking vitamin D and C at the least. The Trump cure costs $2,400 a dose. Maybe some company could be working on getting the price for that down and we could save even more lives. Nah. The elderly die off is going to well right now...
Biden should be sending out quality masks for every person that wears them. I’m seeing calls for double masking so apparently others think that cloth masks don’t work as well as people think they do.

California has its own virus mutation that might be more deadly as well as the ones from the UK and Spain. Or is that Brazil? Or both? Anyway Newsom is opening the state back up. So is Cuomo. What’s going on? I’m torn on the school issue. I think they are causing the spread and should be closed until the numbers drop, but kid suicide is rising so that brings other problems. Too bad that we didn’t lock down properly and long enough the first time. Now who knows how many years it’s going to take for us to keep people from dying.

On second thought...giving the cure to everyone would cut into hospital’s profits. $2,400 sure would save people a lot of money in hospital bills, long term medical bills and drugs. Ambulance companies would take a cut too as well as all those supply companies. And on down.

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10 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

i guess until there is smoking gun evidence (which would surely be suppressed if it exists) we won't know whether the pandemic was incompetently mishandled or competently prosecuted. i suppose that it doesn't matter. either way, we the people are pretty much on our own. the powers that be are at least indifferent to our suffering and survival. they are clearly willing to go with whatever response puts the most money in their pockets and the pockets of their cronies.

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10 users have voted.
lotlizard's picture

@snoopydawg  
Each coupon entitles me buy 6 FFP2 masks from a pharmacy for a nominal fee of 2 euro / $2.44.

The Leipzig Book Fair, which usually takes place in mid-February, is this year being scheduled for the end of May. Even then, my bet is they’ll end up having to cancel it again.

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7 users have voted.
Pricknick's picture

@lotlizard

Each coupon entitles me buy 6 FFP2 masks from a pharmacy for a nominal fee of 2 euro / $2.44.

They're only getting $3.00 each at my local grocery.
Priorities you know.

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5 users have voted.

Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

snoopydawg's picture

WSWS said that this has been reversed.

On Friday, Facebook carried out a purge of left-wing, antiwar and progressive pages and accounts, including leading members of the Socialist Equality Party. Facebook gave no explanation why the accounts were disabled or even a public acknowledgement that the deletions had occurred.

Huh?

The immediate goal is to ensure that most K-8 schools reopen in the next 100 days. Additionally, an executive order issued by Biden seeks to appropriate funding from Congress to assist federal and state institutions with the necessary resources to see the complete reopening of all secondary schools

Funny kind of executive order. "Hey I want this done! NOW! But only if you want to fund it?"

Officials have argued that remote learning isn’t working for all, including many low-income and Black and Latino students who make up the majority of the district.

Enough. I’m tired of leaders blaming the public for their failures. It’s not the teacher’s fault that low income kids don’t have access to the internet. Nor is it our fault that we are getting infected when government isn’t doing everything in its power to stop it. Yes many people are not taking it as seriously as they can, but many others are and still getting sick. Get teachers vaccinated and go from there. This is the plan in Utah.

Shanna Swan is the senior author of a 2017 study that documented a dramatic drop in sperm counts in Western countries over the past half-century.

Gee no one thought about environmental issues when they wrote that article questioning why the birth rate has gone down? Trump approved a lot of very bad pollutants to be spread over the country again and I’m hoping that Biden will reverse the laws. Or hopefully they are still making their way through the courts.

Twit is having a few flame wars. Bree and Sam Seder are duking it out about the show they did. Jimmy’s getting flamed by just about every blue check Twit out there and two other shows are fighting online between themselves. Ugh. Take it private.

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7 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

i took a peek over at wsws and their comment is:

Due to protests opposing Facebook's purging of the accounts of the University of Michigan chapter of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, the company has backed down. The UM IYSSE’s account has been restored, together with accounts of the administrators. Facebook has provided no explanation for its actions. Remain vigilant. This fight is not over.

i am curious if facebook restored any of the other left pages and individuals that it purged.

heh, i watched a little bit of the bjg/seder dustup on youtube. in my opinion (though i didn't watch much ~10 mins) seder looked bad. i think that he outed himself as a party sheepdogging troll. i hadn't paid any attention to him in quite a while and i'm glad that i haven't wasted my time on his show.

have a great evening!

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snoopydawg's picture

This isn’t such a big problem now though. Not after Covid stopped at most nursing homes around the world. It happened in many countries in Europe too. Weird coincidence I’m sure.

It’s growing ever clearer that we are looking at a future very different from the one we had been expecting – and a crisis of a different kind, as ageing populations place shrinking economies under ever greater strain.

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

Covid-19 Deaths Will Lessen Financial Hit To Social Security From Recession, Says Agency’s Top Actuary

The financial health of Social Security will be helped by deaths from Covid-19, Social Security Administration Chief Actuary Stephen Goss told Congress today.

As in most recessions, Social Security’s finances will be weakened by the increased burden from some people applying for benefits earlier because they have lost their jobs, Goss noted. “However, unlike in most economic recessions, the potential effects from increased Social Security benefit applications will be partially offset by increased deaths among our beneficiaries due to the pandemic,’’ he said. He added that it was too soon to determine how the pandemic will play out and the relative effects on the economy and longevity.

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snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

that social security isn’t going to be as stressed next year and the one after that and....

I took your advice and upped the milkbone quota for Sam. She is going out more on her own and doing business, but the biggest change is her manners. She isn’t jumping on me as much and has sitting down very well. Down is finally getting through if I have something in my hands. She seems much calmer except for when she insists on playing with my hands. If I move them she grabs my shirt. I get it out of her mouth she goes for my hands. Rinse and... but all in all much better.

Thanks!

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

glad to hear that things are working out in training your appetite on four legs. Smile

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Pricknick's picture

@joe shikspack
Love and hunger.
Starve them and they'll still eat you when you die.
But they'll always love you.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

lotlizard's picture

@snoopydawg  
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26242225/

The costs of smoking notwithstanding, it produces some potential economic benefits. The economic activities generated from the production and consumption of tobacco provides economic stimulus. It also produces huge tax revenues for most governments, especially in high-income countries, as well as employment in the tobacco industry. … Smoking also yields cost savings in pension payments from the premature death of smokers.

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snoopydawg's picture

What a shocking turn of events. So the people of Georgia get doubly screwed by democrats. 1st they backed off the $2,000 that might not go out till the end of April and now just gave McConnell his power back that will not only screw Georgians, but lots of other people too. Say goodbye in 22. It’s probably Sinema and Manchin.

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

i concur that those are the two most likely suspects.

welcome to the manchin years.

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snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

the $1,400. It’s going to be means tested even more than it is already. Boy democrats didn’t want to take the senate and now that they have they are trying really hard to lose it in the midterms. I hope people are seeing through this sham.

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lotlizard's picture

@snoopydawg  
shooting holes in the workers’-rights water tank with a .22.

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snoopydawg's picture

@lotlizard

I think someone close to Kamala has ties to the people who wrote prop 22 and he is on board with taking it nationwide. It’s a huge conflict of interest and should be called out. Trump did that type of crap everywhere in his administration. People called it out. Now they’ll just go to brunch.

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on eliminating the filibuster.
I am both shocked and dismayed.
Oh, well, I had just this one good day. Maybe tomorrow will be another good day.
I treasure them until the bad days begin without end.
Stay well! I am sure the pandemic is an uptick presence in your locale, as it is in mine. My building contractor's ex-wife is in her 50's, lying in a hospital bed, where she is expected to die in a day or so. After I represented her hubby in a brutal divorce, my client, the contractor, got custody of his kids...a kid grew up, wanted a divorce, and his Mom sent him to me. She even called me to tell me to do for her son what I did for my client when she was opposing party.
It is so close.
Take care.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981