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Is March coming in like a lion? - Wednesday GNR [1]
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Date: 2023-03-01
Good Day, Gnusies! They say March comes in like a lion or a lamb. March is coming in like a lamb here in Chicagoland. What’s it like where you are?
CG and I are pretty tired this morning after yesterday’s election. Mayor Lori Lightfoot did not make it to the runoff in a surprising defeat and I am sorry to say that the “crime all the time” candidates made an impression. We now have elected citizen police councils for every ward and I’m relieved that my top choice seems to have squeezed into the fourth spot (of four seats) on my ward’s council — and the worst “law and order” types were not in the top three. Overall, not the greatest election night from my perspective, but not a complete disaster, either, which is saying something because you would not believe how loud the drumbeat of crime crime crime! has been. I am so sick of the fear-mongering. Yes, we have problems with crime all over the country (including white collar crime) but whipping up a frenzy of fear is not the right approach. To say the least. It just exacerbates the problems. Anyway, that’s what was going on here last night, so the short story is that CG fell asleep and there’s no CGs picks this morning — sorry!
However, there is PLENTY of good news! So, pour your morning beverage and settle in to read!
🚚 💙 Democrats Deliver 💙 🚚
(I just have to steal chloris creators’ delivery truck idea — love it!)
Biden nominates Julie Su for Labor Secretary
Joe Biden To Nominate Julie Su As Next U.S. Labor Secretary, Seung Min Kim and Zeke Miller, AP via HuffPost, February 28, 2023.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is nominating Julie Su, the current deputy and former California official, as his next labor secretary, replacing the departing incumbent, former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. Su, a civil rights attorney and former head of California’s labor department, was central to negotiations between labor and freight rail companies late last year, working to avert an economically debilitating strike. She also has worked to broaden employee training programs and crack down on wage theft. If confirmed by the Senate, Su would also be the first Asian-American in the Biden administration to serve in the Cabinet at the secretary level. Biden, in a statement on Tuesday, called her a “champion for workers.” “Julie is a tested and experienced leader, who will continue to build a stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive economy that provides Americans a fair return for their work and an equal chance to get ahead,” he said. “She helped avert a national rail shutdown, improved access to good jobs free from discrimination through my Good Jobs Initiative, and is ensuring that the jobs we create in critical sectors like semiconductor manufacturing, broadband and healthcare are good-paying, stable and accessible jobs for all.”
The bill Rs rejected is bringing prosperity to their states
Rs don’t deserve it, but the people in those states do:
Biden’s Climate Spending Is a Big Win for Red-State Economies, Oliver Milman, Mother Jones, February 27, 2023.
Georgia, a state once known for its peaches and peanuts, is rapidly becoming a crucible of US clean energy technology, leading a pack of Republican-led states enjoying a boom in renewables investment that has been accelerated by Joe Biden’s climate agenda. Pres. Joe Biden, SOTU 2023 Since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August, billions of dollars of new clean energy investment has been announced for solar, electric vehicle, and battery manufacturing in Georgia, pushing it to the forefront of a swathe of southern states that are becoming a so-called “battery belt” in the economic transition away from fossil fuels. “It seems like all roads are currently leading to Georgia, it’s really benefiting disproportionately from the Inflation Reduction Act right now,” said Aaron Brickman, senior principal at energy research nonprofit RMI. Brickman said the $370 billion in clean energy incentives and tax credits in the bill are a “complete game changer. We’ve just frankly never had that before in this country. The IRA has transformed the landscape in a staggering way.”
Biden slips a little of the BBB+ into the CHIPS Act rules
Pres. Biden is going to require companies to provide affordable daycare if they want to lay their hands on some of that sweet CHIPS and Science Act money:
Socialist Joe Biden Forces Tech Companies To Provide Daycare Options To Get CHIPS Act $$, Doctor Zoom, Wonkette, February 28, 2023.
In a clever bit of regulation, the Biden administration announced this week that if chip manufacturing companies want in on the $39 billion in funding being made available to subsidize new factories through the CHIPS and Science Act, they'll need to provide a plan for making sure their employees have access to affordable, quality childcare — both for the construction workers who build the factories and for the folks who work in them. The Commerce Department will be publishing a new rule today to make that requirement official. The idea is to create a domestic chip manufacturing industry that's not just good for the companies that make chips and need chips for manufacturing cars, appliances, and probably sex toys too, but also to make sure the tech workplace is friendly to women and working families. It's pretty nifty as industrial policy: You want to get some of the government funding, then you'll need to have policies consistent with Biden's goal of expanding the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, instead of just throwing taxpayer funds at billionaires and corporations, then hoping maybe they'll hire people.✂️ This is far from the first set of strings being attached to the CHIPS Act funds, either. The subsidies already require that new facilities be built in the USA and prohibit chip makers who take the funds from doing stock buybacks — which has also been a condition of other Biden administration aid to businesses. Further, as the Times notes, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes labor standards and "Buy American" provisions, as Biden promised from the start. Biden's climate policy, too, seeks to use the spending power of the federal government to boost green manufacturing, as we saw in the decision to procure a mostly electric fleet of new postal delivery trucks — which will not only create jobs all he way along the EV parts supply chain, but will slash fuel costs over the life of the vehicle fleet.
Democrats are good at all of this
Unions for On-Time Construction, Lee Harris, The American Prospect, February 28, 2023.
The administration’s workforce goals are the third major plank of the funding design. The secretary argued that the current labor crunch represents both a bottleneck and an opportunity. “We are in an incredibly tight labor market. Labor is hard to find,” she said. The U.S. needs to triple the number of Ph.D.s and students in semiconductor-related fields, and train 100,000 technicians in the next decade, she said, in addition to training a skilled construction workforce.✂️ Trade unions won language they had sought, encouraging chip-makers to use project labor agreements, a prehire collective-bargaining agreement between building trade unions and contractors. While non-union firms can compete for those jobs, they raise the floor for standards and wages, preventing open shops from undercutting union work. PLAs are also useful to employers, covering employment dispute procedures and banning strikes and work stoppages for the duration of the agreement. Unions are often criticized for being a drag on project completion. But the Commerce Department framed its reliance on organized labor as consistent with its overriding national-security aims.
More:
Biden Is Betting on Government Aid to Change Corporate Behavior, Ana Swanson and Jim Tankersley, New York Times, February 28, 2023.
WASHINGTON — President Biden’s plan to plow billions of dollars into semiconductor manufacturing represents a sharp turn in American economic policy, one aimed at countering China by building up a single, critical industry. But Mr. Biden is going even further. He is using the money to change how corporations behave. If semiconductor manufacturers want a piece of the nearly $40 billion in aid that Mr. Biden’s administration began the process of handing out on Tuesday, they will need to provide child care for employees, run their plants on low-emission sources of energy, pay union wages for construction workers, shun stock buybacks and potentially share certain profits with the government.✂️ The approach could amplify the effects of the CHIPS Act and other economic bills Mr. Biden has signed into law over the past two years, by accomplishing multiple goals at the same time. Administration officials say the money and the guidelines will drive American industry toward Mr. Biden’s vision of an economy with more U.S. production, better conditions for workers and fewer of the fossil fuel emissions driving climate change.
Illinois Democrats, led by Gov. Pritzker, leading the nation on climate/jobs goals
Combining Decarbonization, Good Jobs, and Climate Justice, Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect, February 28, 2023. (Unfortunately I have to limit how much I quote here to respect fair use, but do go read the article — it’s stuffed with great information)
For a model of what should be done, we can look at the most transformative agreement to date combining goals for decarbonization, well-paid union jobs, and climate justice at the state level. This is the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), enacted in Illinois in September 2021, before the major federal climate investments in the Inflation Reduction Act. In fact, it helped influence some details of President Biden’s program.✂️ Illinois joins 22 other states with explicit commitments to get to zero carbon by a date certain, but the Illinois plan is the most far-reaching and specific. It requires Illinois to be carbon-free by 2045. This is not just an aspirational goal. The law establishes specific interim targets along the way and carbon phaseouts. For instance, all coal and oil-fired plants, except for two municipally owned systems, must shut down by 2030.✂️ The law also has the nation’s most stringent requirements to make sure that the new jobs are union. All utility-scale renewable-energy projects must have project labor agreements and pay prevailing wages. This effectively means that all of them will be union from the start. The prevailing-wage requirement extends to all clean-energy projects other than rooftop solar.✂️ Until recently, environmental justice has meant mainly reversing historic harms done to communities of color, like from putting toxic facilities in their neighborhoods, as well as getting the lead out of water pipes and creating housing opportunities that are both affordable and green. The newer climate justice movement is broader. On that front, the Illinois law makes concrete commitments to get people of color into good union jobs in the green economy, through both pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs, backed by $80 million in state spending. This includes a barrier reduction fund, which can be spent on transportation to get workers to the job site and child care assistance.
x House Democrats are expected to introduce a rail safety bill that will address the issues that caused the disaster in East Palestine, OH.
Because that's what grown ups do. — Oren Jacobson 🔯 (@Oren_Jacobson) February 28, 2023
Biden’s Green initiatives are good for the (real) economy
Here Are Major Companies Taking Advantage Of Biden’s Green Tax Initiatives—And Creating More Than 65,000 Jobs, Anthony Tellez, Forbes, February 28, 2023.
Last week, Volkswagen-owned Audi said it is considering building a factory in the U.S., following in the footsteps of other car, battery, solar panel and computer chip manufacturers taking advantage of incentives provided by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), CHIPS and Science Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill to shore up production and create more than 65,000 jobs.✂️ Industrial equipment has seen investment go from $247 billion in 2020 to $319.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, meanwhile manufacturing rose from $71.5 billion in 2020 to $105.9 billion at the end of 2022, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Manufacturers are relying on the incentives the Biden Administration was able to attach to various bills it passed last year. The CHIPS act provided $52.7 billion in subsidies for American semiconductor companies for research and development, manufacturing and workforce development. The IRA bill provides a $7,500 tax credit to consumers who purchase an electric vehicle, and has production tax credits for clean energy such as solar, wind and electric batteries.
x CONFIRMED: Jamal Whitehead to the Western District of Washington.
President Biden’s first judicial nominee identifying as a person with a disability, Judge Whitehead’s experience & commitment to protecting civil rights will help ensure a fair justice system for Washingtonians. pic.twitter.com/drKqAGXvUL — Senate Judiciary Committee (@JudiciaryDems) February 28, 2023
Democratic Attorneys General pushing back against abortion attacks
Abortion medications should be available over the counter (as should oral contraceptives). The gatekeeping around women’s reproductive autonomy is infuriating.
Democratic Attorneys General Sue the FDA to Drop “Onerous” Abortion Pill Restrictions, Madison Pauly, Mother Jones, February 26, 2023.
A dozen Democratic state attorneys general have opened a new front in the legal war over mifepristone, the “gold standard” medication used in the majority of all US abortions. In a federal lawsuit filed Thursday, the AGs—from states including Arizona, Illinois, and Washington—accuse the Food and Drug Administration of imposing unnecessarily “onerous” restrictions on mifepristone, which is used in combination with the anti-ulcer drug misoprostol to end pregnancies in the first 10 weeks. The drug has a sterling safety record and has been used by an estimated 5.6 million people since it was approved by the FDA more than 22 years ago. Nevertheless, the FDA has long subjected mifepristone to a set of unusual restrictions known as a “Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy” (REMS). The agency only applies these extra rules, such as a requirement that prescribers receive a special certification, to a few dozen drugs—typically high-risk medications like opioids, or injectable anti-psychotic sedatives. The inclusion of mifepristone on this list has long been controversial. “Many people believe that the strict restrictions on mifepristone reflect political concerns more so than concerns around the safety of the drug itself,” Temple University law dean Rachel Rebouché told me in June, the day the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.✂️ “The federal government has known for years that mifepristone is safe and effective,” Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson, who is co-leading the newest mifepristone lawsuit, said in a statement. “In the wake of the Supreme Court’s radical decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the FDA is now exposing doctors, pharmacists and patients to unnecessary risk.”
x Real change happens one person, one community, one connection at a time. If you’re an emerging leader in Chicago, Detroit, or Jackson — I hope you’ll check out this new initiative to bring people from different backgrounds together to help solve local problems.
https://t.co/vhLKKxt1UN — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 28, 2023
Health News
Big news about RSV vaccine!
Paving the way for the world's first RSV vaccine, FDA advisers recommend shot from Pfizer, Aria Bendix, NBC, February 28, 2023.
The FDA's independent Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted 7-4 in favor of recommending the vaccine based on its efficacy, with one abstention. The single-dose shot was shown to reduce the risk of illness from respiratory syncytial virus by as much as 86%, according to Pfizer. The next step is for the FDA to approve the vaccine, which could take several months, though the agency usually follows the advisory committee’s recommendations. After FDA approval, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must recommend the shot before it becomes available to the public. If all of that happens, this would be the first RSV vaccine to get approved in the U.S. The second may be close on its heels. The advisory committee will meet again Wednesday to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a similar RSV vaccine for older adults, this one from GlaxoSmithKline. Trial data published earlier this month in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that the shot lowered the risk of symptomatic illness by 83% and of severe illness by 94% in adults ages 60 and up.
In an era in which women's rights are under siege, the PUMP Act is a rare victory, Nicole Karlis, Salon, February 25, 2023.
The past few years brought to the forefront the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace; but one subset of this larger #MeToo-related discussion is the discrimination working mothers face postpartum while pumping breast milk. At the end of 2022, a bill entitled Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act — casually referred to as the PUMP Act — passed Congress as part of the omnibus spending package expanding rights and protections to lactating people. Enter The PUMP Act, which the Biden administration signed into on Dec. 29, 2022. What are the important changes that were made to this legislation? So it expanded eligibility to salaried and exempt workers. And the second thing that changed is that it extended the time from from one to two years postpartum. Before pumping rights were only protected for one year postpartum and now that's been extended to two years. Recently, guidelines came out from the American Academy of Pediatrics providing guidance that generally two years of breastfeeding is recommended. But then when women only have one year of pumping rights, it just was very frustrating to receive that information. Because it's not actually possible to put that in practice when you don't have the ability to pump at work. You're not going to be able to breastfeed for two years because the supply will just not be able to expand such long breaks from expression and expressing breast milk.
Biden commits (again) to protect Medicaid
Biden has said it before, but as we know, repetition is good!
Biden ramps up attacks on GOP spending cuts, Matt Viser, Washington Post, February 28, 2023.
Biden came to the Kempsville Recreation Center to deliver a new line of attack in a battle that has put the White House and congressional Republicans on a collision course. Some top Republicans have threatened to vote against raising the debt ceiling — which would cause the federal government to default on its loans — unless Biden agrees to significant cuts in federal spending. “Make no mistake, if MAGA Republicans try to take away people’s health care by gutting Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, I will stop them,” Biden said. The president’s focus on health-care coverage is the next front in a debate that broke into the open most publicly during his State of the Union address, when he was heckled by some Republicans as he criticized their proposals that he said would mean cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
🌏 International News 🌎
Democracy defenders: Mexican people roar in protest against Obrador’s power grab
An estimated half million people protested the President’s attempt to hobble the National Electoral Institute, which is the authority that tries to ensure free and fair elections in Mexico:
Mexicans turn out in droves to protest electoral overhaul as they see democracy at risk, Reuters via NBC, February 27, 2023.
Huge crowds gathered in Mexico on Sunday to condemn government moves to shrink the electoral authority as a threat to democracy, in what appeared to be the largest protest so far against President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s administration.✂️ U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols pitched in on the protests late on Sunday, saying on Twitter the electoral reforms were “testing the independence of electoral and judicial institutions.” “The United States supports independent, well-resourced electoral institutions that strengthen democratic processes and the rule of law,” he added. The INE and its predecessor played a key role in creating a pluralistic democracy that in 2000 ended decades of one party rule, according to many political analysts.
Ukraine
The Shortest Path to Peace, Eliot A Cohen, the Atlantic, February 28, 2023.
The Russian military in Ukraine is in a parlous state. On a large scale it cannot maneuver, it cannot coordinate, it cannot assault. Its losses have been stunning. The Ukrainians, meanwhile, have suffered as well, but the indications are that General Zaluzhny has been conserving units for a spring offensive once the mud dries. The West needs to do all it can to ensure the success of that effort. Should such an offensive succeed in breaking the land bridge between Russia and Crimea, and possibly even liberating Crimea and large parts of the Donbas region, there will be political repercussions in Russia. In all political systems, including authoritarian ones, dramatic failures on the battlefield in a war of choice reverberate in capitals. Already, Russian oligarchs and bureaucrats whisper criticisms of Putin and his war to Western journalists. He will not falter, but others may decide that he needs to be out of power. It probably will not be pretty when it happens, but Putin’s exit could, like Stalin’s death in 1953, open up the way for something better than war at a fever pitch.
Thanks to Democratic leadership in the US, no more playing footsie with Russia:
Netanyahu bows to U.S. pressure to distance Israel from Putin, Tovah Lavaroff, NBC, February 28, 2023.
Netanyahu returned to power in late December amid expectations that he would pivot Israel in the direction of Russia. He has instead shored up his country’s backing of Kyiv under pressure from Israel’s most significant ally, the United States. Now he has to weigh alienating Putin by providing defensive arms to Ukraine, a move he has yet to agree to, and which Russia has already made clear would be a red line.✂️ Secretary of State Antony Blinken, while in Jerusalem at the end of January, pointed to Russia’s growing dependence on Iran to supply weapons for the war, and explicitly demanded that Israel boost its support for Kyiv. “Tehran’s deepening ties with Moscow and the sophisticated weaponry that they’re exchanging to enable one another’s aggression are among the many reasons that we’ve raised with Israel the importance of providing support for all of Ukraine’s needs — humanitarian, economic, and security — as it defends its people against Russia’s brutal war of aggression,” Blinken told reporters. In a sign of a possible concession to Washington, Netanyahu indicated in an interview to CNN that aired immediately after Blinken’s visit that he was weighing Ukraine’s long-standing request to provide anti-drone and anti-missile technology.
Blinken Finds Receptive Leaders in Central Asia, Where Russia Seeks Aid, Edward Wong and Andrew Higgins, New York Times, February 28, 2023.
ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken came to Central Asia to press his case that the region should hold the line against Russian efforts to seek economic aid as Moscow grapples with Western sanctions. Within hours of landing in Astana, the snow-draped capital of Kazakhstan, he received a sign that the United States had some leverage. The Kazakh president stood next to Mr. Blinken in the blue-doomed presidential palace and thanked the Americans for their support of his nation’s “independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty.”✂️ Mr. Blinken’s meetings in Kazakhstan and a visit to Uzbekistan, which follow recent trips to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, by President Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen, are a critical part of the American diplomatic efforts this winter. Gen. Mark A. Milley, the country’s most senior military adviser, on Tuesday addressed a Rome conference of military chiefs from Africa, where Russia has some allies. General Milley will later head to Germany, where he will meet with Ukrainian troops, Pentagon officials said. The visit to Central Asia is a strike against Moscow in the heart of what it considers its sphere of influence.
Irish deal might ease tensions over Brexit
Brexit is a disaster for the UK and the country will be paying the price for a long time, but for now there is a glimmer of good news:
Sunak Hopes to Move Past Brexit, at Long Last, With E.U. Deal, Mark Landler, New York Times, February 28, 2023.
If Mr. Sunak manages to maneuver the agreement announced on Monday past the resistance of unionist leaders in Northern Ireland and the misgivings of hard-line Brexiteers in his Conservative Party, he will lay to rest one of the most vexing legacies of Britain’s exit from the European Union. And with it, he could remove Brexit as the fulcrum around which Britain’s politics pivot. That’s not to say Brexit has gone away as an issue. Mr. Sunak still needs to formulate an immigration policy that will help ease Britain’s labor shortage, which Brexit worsened. And Britain has yet to articulate a post-Brexit role in the world. Its self-imposed exile has deprived it of a seat at the top table in charting Europe’s response to Russia’s war on Ukraine, even though it is one of Ukraine’s most robust suppliers of weapons. “The ghosts of Brexit will be haunting British politics for decades to come,” said Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. “But it looks, at long last, as if they might have lost at least some of their power to scare politicians into avoiding anything that might be interpreted as compromise with the European Union, even when it’s so obviously in the national interest.”
😫🤬 Republicans in Disarray 😡😩
Leadership concerns? Sad!
As CPAC’s head faces sexual assault claim, other leadership concerns emerge, Beth Reinhard and Issac Arnsdorf, Washington Post, February 28, 2023.
But as Schlapp rebuffs the allegation by a former staffer from Herschel Walker’s Georgia Senate campaign, who says he groped him during an Atlanta trip last fall, dozens of current and former employees and board members interviewed by The Washington Post described a wider range of complaints about the longtime Republican power broker and CPAC’s culture under his leadership. A Post review of the Walker staffer’s claims also corroborated that he shared his story with friends and colleagues in the immediate aftermath. With CPAC readying to welcome Trump back to its flagship annual gathering in D.C. this week, Schlapp is facing multiple challenges, including the exodus of more than half of its staff since 2021, according to the current and former employees and board members. Some expressed concern that Schlapp has given an inexperienced contractor too much influence. One former employee notified the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last month of plans to sue over claims that she was fired in retaliation for complaining about a co-worker’s sexist and racist comments.✂️ The current turmoil comes as CPAC grapples with corporate backlash over its embrace of the far right and concerns about a potentially lackluster turnout this year as Trump’s political future appears uncertain. The Fox Nation streaming service is not returning as a sponsor, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, an ascendant figure in the Republican Party and Trump’s emerging rival in the 2024 campaign, is skipping it.
So sad!
Trump Flips Out At 'Fake' Fox News For 'Promoting' Ron DeSantis, Josephine Harvey, HuffPost, February 27, 2023.
Former President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on Fox News on Monday, accusing the network of downplaying his popularity over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).✂️ Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Fox News in recent months. While many of the network’s hosts continue to support him, some have become noticeably less sycophantic in the wake of the midterm elections. Rupert Murdoch, the network’s owner, has reportedly sought to distance his media empire from Trump and is turning instead to DeSantis, Trump’s potential rival for the 2024 Republican nomination. And according to court documents released Monday, Murdoch admitted under oath during a deposition for Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit against the network last month that several Fox News hosts had endorsed conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was rigged against Trump.
Oh, this should go over well with the thin-skinned one!
Murdoch Said Hannity Was ‘Privately Disgusted’ By Trump But ‘Scared to Lose Viewers,’ According to New Court Filing, Alex Griffling, Mediaite, February 27, 2023.
In one stunning revelation, Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox Corporation, replied in an email to former House Speaker and Fox Corp. board member Paul Ryan that veteran host Sean Hannity “has been privately disgusted by Trump for weeks.” The exchange regarded Trump’s spreading of election lies following his November 2020 defeat to Joe Biden. The voting technology company is suing Fox News, alleging the network knowingly aired election lies and conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election — falsely implicating Dominion.✂️ The filing also noted that Murdoch and Scott, the CEO of Fox News, discussed the day before the Jan. 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, having Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham issuing a joint statement declaring Biden had won and putting an end to the election conspiracy theories, which fueled the attack: ”On January 5, Rupert and Scott discussed whether Hannity, Carlson, and Ingraham should say some version of “The election is over and Joe Biden won.” Ex.277. He hoped those words “would go a long way to stop the Trump myth that the election stolen.” Id; Ex.600, R.Murdoch 258:5-14. Scott told Rupert that “privately they are all there” but “we need to be careful about using the shows and pissing off the viewers.” Ex.277. So nobody made a statement. The next day was January 6”
Opinion Some GOP governors are breaking with MAGA. Biden can help them do it. Greg Sargent, washington Post, February 28, 2023.
As we’ve seen in Florida and Texas, Republican governors get lots of plaudits from the MAGA movement and right-wing media when they engage in performative cruelty toward migrants. But in other red states we’re seeing something different: The governors of Utah and Indiana are calling on the federal government to send them more migrants, to help with their states’ worker shortages. President Biden should give those non-MAGA governors what they want. He could set up a program that uses his parole authority to allow migrants to get work authorization, partly in collaboration with the states where they would reside. Though this would face serious legal challenges, immigration experts believe this is well within the executive branch’s power. The move would be good policy, serving a national need. And it would be good politics: It would split the GOP coalition by highlighting Republican governors who recognize that immigration can be an affirmative good for the country, as opposed to the MAGA governors who foment fear and loathing of migrants.✂️ That would build on Biden’s new initiative extending parole to tens of thousands of migrants each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. In that program, migrants apply from abroad for a U.S. sponsor, rather than journeying to the border. That’s facing legal challenges. But if the initiative survives, Biden could extend parole to migrant workers who would also apply from abroad and get sponsored by employers, in conjunction with input from states.
⚖️ Law and Justice ⚖️
👀 Feds Inadvertently Reveal They’re Looking Into Trump’s Shady ‘Recount’ Campaign, Roger Sollenberger, Daily Beast, February 28, 2023.
According to agency records obtained by The Daily Beast, the FEC rejected a FOIA request—filed Dec. 20 by a nonpartisan research group that shared the documents on condition of anonymity—because those records may involve an active inquiry. “To the extent that the records you requested concern an ongoing FEC enforcement matter, we can neither confirm nor deny that any such records exist,” the agency’s FOIA attorney wrote in the letter, which was shared with The Daily Beast. The request asked the agency for documents and communications related to a major Trump vendor that has received millions in campaign “recount” funds for seemingly unrelated services—including document production for subpoenas from the congressional COVID subcommittee.
Walls closing in on SBF
Sam Bankman-Fried Confidant Cops a Guilty Plea, Emily Shugarman, Daily Beast, February 28, 2023.
Former FTX bigwig Nishad Singh pleaded guilty to fraud Tuesday, the third of fallen wunderkind Sam Bankman Fried’s executives to flip on him as he faces criminal fraud charges. Singh copped to six counts including conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws.✂️ According to Bloomberg, Singh could be a key figure in helping authorities investigate Bankman-Fried’s alleged straw-donor scheme, in which he allegedly made political contributions through other donors. Singh made $9.3 million in contributions to Democratic causes in 2020 and more than $8 million in the last cycle alone, according to campaign finance records. He also received a $543 million loan from Alameda last year, according to bankruptcy filings. In making the plea deal, Singh becomes the third of Bankman-Fried’s confidants to cooperate with the authorities, joining FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former Alameda CEO—and SBF’s one-time girlfriend—Caroline Ellison.
It’s not exactly “justice” but it is more just than before:
Navy to rename USS Chancellorsville after former slave who stole Confederate steamer, Alex Wilson, Stars and Stripes, February 28, 2023.
The USS Chancellorsville, named for an 1863 battle in Virginia remembered as a major victory for Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, will be renamed for Robert Smalls, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced Tuesday in a news release. Smalls, born into slavery in South Carolina in 1839, was conscripted into the Confederate States Navy in 1862 to serve as a pilot for the Planter, an ammunitions transport ship, according to his biography on the U.S. House of Representatives’ website. He rose to fame that year when he hijacked the ship and turned it over to the Union Navy. He went on to pilot the Planter and another ship, the ironclad Keokuk, on behalf of the Union in numerous battles. Later, Smalls accepted a commission as brigadier general of his home state before being elected as a South Carolina state representative from 1870 to 1874. Between 1875 and 1887, Smalls represented South Carolina for five terms in the House of Representatives, then returned to local government in Beaufort, S.C., before dying of natural causes in 1915, according to his biography.
Meanwhile, from the schadenfreude file…
This assh*le
Rapid demise of ‘Dilbert’ is no surprise to those watching, David Bauder, AP. February 27, 2023.
The editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, which dumped “Dilbert” last year, said the comic strip “went from being hilarious to being hurtful and mean.” The Los Angeles Times, which joined dozens of other newspapers in dropping the comic following last week’s remarks, had quietly replaced four of Adams’ strips last year. “He kind of ran out of office jokes and started integrating all this other stuff so after a while, it became hard to distinguish between Scott Adams and ‘Dilbert,’” said Mike Peterson, columnist for the industry blog The Daily Cartoonist. As individual newspapers told readers they were dropping “Dilbert,” the company that distributed the strip, Andrews McMeel Universal, said it was severing ties with Adams. By Monday, “Dilbert” was gone from the GoComics site, which also features many top comics such as “Peanuts” and “Calvin and Hobbes.”
and this assh*le
What a putz 🙄 Matt Gaetz Shut Down By Pentagon Official For Pushing Chinese Propaganda At Hearing, Santana Karanth, HuffPost, February 28, 2023.
The Florida Republican then attempted to create a gotcha moment, entering into the record what he said was an investigative report by the Global Times, an English-language daily tabloid that’s a subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper The People’s Daily. Gaetz, who appeared unaware of the tabloid’s propaganda links, cited the report in claiming that the U.S. had supplied weapons to the Azov Battalion as early as 2018. Asked if he disagreed with the report, Kahl calmly responded: “I’m sorry, is this the Global Times from China?” “No, this is ...” Gaetz said before looking at the report in front of him and conceding. “Yeah, it might be. Yeah.” “As a general matter, I don’t take Beijing’s propaganda at face value,” Kahl said, his right pointer finger pressed against his temple. After Kahl repeated the statement a second time, Gaetz conceded. “Fair enough, I would agree with that assessment,” he said. x Rep. Matt Gaetz asks about Global Times Investigative report.@DOD_Policy Kahl: "Is this the Global Times from China?"@RepMattGaetz: "No, this is well...yeah, it might be. Yeah..."
Kahl: "I don't take Beijing's propaganda at face value."
Gaetz: "Fair enough." pic.twitter.com/9XQewKdZeA — CSPAN (@cspan) February 28, 2023
And this assh*le, too
Watch: Greene gets schooled after her ‘divorced from reality’ rant at House Homeland Security hearing, Travis Gettys, Raw Story, February 28, 2023.
(In this video, you can also watch Rep. Swalwell lead the Sheriff under questioning to agree that a sane immigration policy (ie Obama’s and Biden’s) would be the best thing for the country)
"I too want to share my sympathy for you and your family, as someone who knows people who have also died," Swalwell said. "But I believe that the biggest culprit here, and I think the Republican colleagues of mine agree, is really going after China. I think China has blood on its hands, I don't think President Biden has blood on his hands. "I think China has blood on its hands for the fentanyl crisis because, as a number of people have said overwhelmingly, this fentanyl is coming through points of entry and overwhelmingly it's U.S. citizens and the fentanyl we know is coming over from China, and I think internationally we should all work to apply more pressure on China to account for what it's doing." "Finally, I think Ms. Green is just divorced from reality when she wants to use the fentanyl seizures as a way to beat up on the president," Swalwell added, "because Sheriff [Mark] Lamb, you said earlier today that you are literally saving the country with the number of people that you have saved with those seizures, and where I come from, when my brothers make a big seizure that get guns and off the streets, we don't use that to make a political point." x YouTube Video
⚡️ Lightning RoundUp ⚡️
⚡️ A really thorough discussion, worth reading! (gift article, no paywall): Opinion The House was supposed to grow with population. It didn’t. Let’s fix that. Danielle Allen, Washington Post, February 28, 2023.
⚡️ Fox News texts reveal the truth: The Big Lie was a con — that the viewers were in on, Amanda Marcotte, Salon, February 28, 2023.
⚡️ Republican war on education: It’s Time to Call Out the DeSantis Deflection, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, the Nation, February 27, 2023.
⚡️ Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issues her first majority opinion for the Supreme Court, Lawrence Hurley, NBC, February 28, 2023.
⚡️ How Human Brain Cells Might Someday Power Computers, Tony Ho Tran, Daily Beast, February 28, 2023.
⚡️ How does the brain age across the lifespan? New studies offer clues. Caitlin Gilbert, Washington Post, February 28, 2023.
⚡️ Perspective: Why 'lost their battle' with serious illness is the wrong thing to say, Marc Silver, NPR, February 28, 2023.
⚡️ Ancient texts shed new light on mysterious whale behaviour that ‘captured imagination’, Donna Lu, the Guardian, February 28, 2023.
⚡️ The ‘Dilbert’ Cartoonist and the Durability of White-Flight Thinking, Charles M. Blow, New York Times, February 28, 2023.
⚡️ 20 Biopics That Are Actually Worth Watching, David Sims, the Atlantic, February 2023.
💗 How Can You Help Build Our Democracy Back Better? 💗
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