The whole "retail theft" wave is a moral panic anyway. It's not backed up by numbers. NYC and LA saw some elevation because of a small number of actual criminal organization that largely got rounded up and prosecuted. Most other "organized retail crime" stories are utter nonsense.
Most of the rise in theft that people cited was based on a completely bullshit statistic which came from the NRF citing one of its own members testimonies in which that member cited an incorrect number. It was actual dogfooding being passed as statistical analysis and even they have backed down on it.
Also the DoL is perpetually under-resourced and short staffed. They aren't one of the "good" law enforcement agencies that get bipartisan support -- only the ones who beat up protestors get that kind of universal appeal, somehow. Even though funding to places like the IRS and DoL have insanely good return on investment.
The future of the Royals and Chiefs in Kansas City was thrown into question Tuesday when residents of Jackson County voted down a sales tax measure that would have helped to fund a new downtown ballpark along with major renovations to Arrowhead Stadium.
This one is kind of a shame. The current stadium is an edge-of-town monster in a sea of parking lots. And so it shall now continue to be for the indefinite future.
The new one was going to be a downtown fixture that would've been a huge boon for public transit, downtown activities, and neighborhood businesses in an area that, frankly, should be doing way better.
No one likes stadium projects, but this is a rare opportunity to show people a better future through practical urbanism. This move helps hold the city hostage by car dependency that much more.
The wide public has accepted calling all LLMs as "AI". LLMs are probably the best tool to create quality, native-sounding translators. Since LLMs are called "AI", modern translation engines which are made using LLMs will be called AI.
The other guy is just being a prescriptivist with language. It's a sentiment I sympathize with and which others have made very coherently, but at some point we have to just accept that the "buzzword" is the way it is going to get used and stop getting bent out of shape about it.
Also he's gotten too old. He's literally becoming dysfunctional at the role and I am sure knows it.
There's also no particular consequences for the party of him stepping down from leadership at this point -- it's not like he's going to lose a bunch of senior committee assignments for the GOP, for example. It isn't like with, say, Feinstein, where even though everyone thought she needed to go, they also knew that having her leave would be a disaster because the psychopaths across the aisle would refuse to let anyone else take her seats.
He might be less enthusiastic than the others, but any leader who is not clearly and directly rejecting Trump as a treasonous criminal is under his thumb. SNL had the right take.
And by retiring from leadership before doing it, he's now lost his chance to do it. He supported the man until the end of his career and now his career ends. Same as Romney, it's now too late to make amends.
Under legal pressure to address Wisconsin’s “Swiss cheese” and oddly shaped districts, the Legislature approved redrawn maps that promise to create a new dynamic in a state known for its pivotal role in national politics.
I would say they ameliorated it. They definitely did not end it. The maps still likely advantageous overall to the GOP, and even if they weren't... partisan gerrymandering will ALWAYS be a part of the system there until they modify the laws around it to, at minimum, establish an independent nonpartisan commission to handle future maps.
There is no such thing as an objectively fair election map. Everything is a tradeoff. If you could truly design a flawlessly optimal map, then the technique you used to do so almost by definition replaces the need to even bother with having the election -- just use your algorithm to pick the representatives.
And no, there's no future technology that will fix this issue. When you chose one place and not another to draw a line, either way it influences results. It is a value judgement which outcome is preferable -- one the computer is simply not capable of making.
You can only try to be reasonable and fair. So long as the process is fundamentally political, it cant be. Dems might be way better than the GOP when it comes to supporting fair democracy, but the Dems also have a long history of partisan gerrymandering when they have power. And even when the gerrymandering isn't to achieve political goals, it will still do other unfair things like entrenching incumbency in a partisan system.
Press the advantage and enshrine into law an independent and nonpartisan districting organization. Even this cannot possibly fix all issues with districting, but at least it can disincentivize the worst behavior.
He's still probably going to be president again in 18 months. None of this stuff is hurting his polling, and more and more people are evangelizing being never-Bideners, especially in places like this.
It's not a win yet. And there never will be a win. The enemies of democracy only need to succeed once.
Hello, I’m back with another question. Everything a read is telling me yes I can, but it really does not feel right so I’m gonna ask here for good measure. Can I run electrical wire through fiberglass insulation?...
#14 Romex on a 15A breaker is simply not going to get meaningfully hot, even under worst-case scenario loads and even fully insulated in something entirely flammable. If you're very nervous, size it up to #12 -- it will cost slightly more but be even more totally safe. Overbuilding is (should be) the DIYer's creed.
A right-wing Tennessee school board member backed by the Moms for Liberty group has been arrested on shoplifting charges.Keri Blair, who was elected in November 2022 following a campaign against tolerant "social agendas," is accused of stealing items from Target seven times between Nov. 25 and Dec. ...
I'm about 6 episodes in and so far it is enjoyable, though I doubt it'll go down in my heart as a one of the very special shows. It's pretty heavy-handed with its kids writing, which is still TBD if it will wear me out before I get to the end. And at about 6 episodes in, it is not at all episodic. I'm hoping that eventually changes. All the best of Star Trek is mostly episodic.
Extreme disappointment that the hologram did not introduce itself with "Please state the nature of your ___ emergency."
A Florida Republican lawmaker's bill declares showing support for LGBTQ people is a "political viewpoint," despite the existence of LGBTQ Democrats, Republicans, independents, and entirely unaffiliated and non-political LGBTQ people.The goal of GOP State Rep. David Borrero's legislation is to ban al...
Civil rights ARE political. Anything that relates to governance is political.
The issue isn't that it is political. The issue is that there's a 'side' on this political issue that is wrong. It's not a gotcha to say it is or is not political. The gotcha is "the right wants the violent and total destruction of queer people."
I mean, you know they aren't going to have adequate content moderation because they ALREADY don't. Lack of moderation is the #1, #2, and #3 best reasons to defederate.
Wanting to see proof before taking positive action is valid and sensible. But you can't pretend it isn't something you can already make reasonable inferences about. This is not a new unknown and pretending it is is ridiculous.
Email servers do not automatically feed content into and pull content out of your system. They only send and deliver to specific people at specific addresses. Federation is a firehose. You can close the hydrant before or after it gets hooked up to city water, but at the end of the day only people that chose to do things the sensible way will have dry socks and no water damage.
The unfortunate reality is that LA is a city with such insanely bad urban design that it's unlikely the corridor is going to be of huge benefit to someone making the trip, at least in the near term. Their city transportation options need wholesale revision to give intercity transportation a fighting chance; as it is now, you'll just be in gridlock congestion or hours of awful public transportation to get to the departure station, for most people.
LA, like so many postwar-design-pattern cities, have sabotaged themselves terribly. Which to me, weirdly, is all the more reason to just barge on ahead with projects like this. They cannot afford to NOT start fixing their brutally inefficient, totally car-oriented infrastructure. The existing system doesn't work. Can't work. Only de-emphasizing car trips can work.
The 42-year-old son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer crashed into a North Dakota sheriff's vehicle during a police chase, pushing it into a deputy and killing him, according to authorities and the ...
Their options were basically to either call the police or just do nothing and hope it all worked out fine. The former puts lives at risk because of how negligent the police are, but the latter is also negligent and potentially puts lives at risk.
There wasn't some other party they could call to try and intervene. It was cops or bust.
Cops shouldn't be the only solution, but the reality is that they are. The choice to call them was the more responsible one even if the police themselves make little effort to behave responsibly.
Trump insiders are working behind the scenes on detailed plans to amass his power so that he can carry out an unprecedented restructuring of the U.S. government and expand executive authority.
Imagine being proud of "day 1" oil drilling expansions. "I promise to deliver to the US expensive, polluting energy sources that are destroying the planet even though non-polluting sources already exist, are far, far, far cheaper, and are actively dropping in price even still."
Make America Great Again = return us to the good old days of leaded gasoline and oil crisis.
"We don’t want them to be retaliated against and to be charged by the DOJ,” the House speaker said. His office later noted that DOJ already has the raw footage.
I'm against doxxing in all of its forms. Privacy's a right and we should protect it, even when it makes it harder to punish the bad guys. So I'm not really mad about the outcome here. Not that I'd feel particularly bent out of shape about it if their images WERE revealed because it was pretty fucking easy to not be in that crowd inadvertently.
But we all know that's not why he's doing this. Mike Johnson doesn't believe in privacy or any other rights. He's a true conservative harnessing the apparatus of state to give comfort to his tribe and punish outsiders. He's using power to enforce his preferences and values on others. He's giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States because he approves of the attempt to undermine democracy and execute a fascists takeover of the nation. Because he's a traitor.
The main objective of releasing unblurred images publicly would be to assist with identification and investigation, right? To recruit the larger American audience to help the cops identify people.
Progressives are suddenly VERY enthusiastic to be deputized as cops when it comes to Jan 6.
That's a cop brain argument. Just because you're out "in public" does not give anyone permission to freely do with your personal information, such as images of you, however they so please. Utter horseshit. Your right to privacy in your affairs travels with you, and having a major political official post images of you which people may use to figuratively and literally attack you for political reasons without due process is about as major a violation as I can imagine, ignoring any other factors or details around that release.
You can make an argument that, this being an honest-to-god protest, maybe these people were conducting them in a fully-public way. I'd maybe buy that. But the burden needs to be pretty damn high on that, and so it's not a stupid little fucker like Mike Johnson's authority to make that decision.
Just because (US) law says that it is OK doesn't mean it is OK. Rights have supremacy over law and when the law stands in the way of rights, the law must change, not the rights. I'll remind you that in other places (e.g., Germany), this "out in public" distinction essentially does not exist.
Removing your rights requires due process, period. The (theoretically) proper agencies to follow that due process have the unredacted footage and so they can go through the procedures to release it justly if they feel it is necessary. Mike Johnson does not get to act as the judge, jury, and executioner in a case like this, no matter how much I expect anyone harmed by that act would be human shit.
We'll have no privacy rights at all in the near future if people keep uncritically accepting the arguments the cops make for when and where privacy exists.
We don't leave it up to a religious fascist like Mike Johnson to chose who does or doesn't have rights. If a proper investigative body wants help identifying individuals, they can go through the proper procedures to release those images to ask the public for help identifying them. Which includes facing proper costs and consequences if any individuals are inappropriately identified by those efforts.
You're doing what the conservative SCOTUS justices always do when deleting our civil rights -- presuming the crime happened exactly as you believe it did then listing how bad it is in order to justify your conclusion that everyone involved should be drawn and quartered. It's an inversion of due process. Due process happens first, removal of rights second. If you have to remove rights first in order to have due process, there was no due process.
If you think it's a good point in general but don't agree in this case, I think you need to think about it a lot longer. Protecting rights is hard and sometimes requires letting some bad guys enjoy undue freedom. Privacy rights are under all-out assault right now and won't exist soon enough unless we follow rigorous, real principles around them.
If I go to a concert and they record footage and later release it with my face in it, has my privacy been violated?
Yes, they need to get you to sign a release. Disseminating your images, ESPECIALLY for commercial purposes, without your express consent violates your rights.
Let’s say the FBI released the uncensored footage asking for the public’s help in identifying potential criminals – is that different because it’s done attempting to solve a crime?
It would be different if they followed due process -- that is, they followed relevant protocols (such as getting a warrant). Whether the current state of law adequately requires law enforcement agencies to go through this process is a separate but also very important discussion.
Or she could just caucus with the Dems. Have exactly the same official platform, a lot of influence, and show the courage of her convictions by truly rejecting fascism.
She doesn't do so because she does not fully reject fascism.
Explain to me what policies McCain advocates for that are so incompatible with the Dem party platform that it can come even close to being a "diametrical" opposition?
Is it her desire to police uteruses? That's not an issue the dems have historically cared to do anything about in spite of myriad opportunities to protect the right to control your own body. She'd hardly be the only anti-choice democrat.
She changed her mind on opposition to same-sex marriage. She's helped pass gun control packages. The only thing she's been vocal about is being anti-Trump, and the best way to defeat Trump is not as Republican and is CERTAINLY not as an independent actor. Hell, running third party will probably increase Trump's odds.
Sorry, Cheney. Same fucking difference, those two. They're both snakes that don't have the courage to do what really needs to be done to put an end to the rise of fascism -- abandon the party and ideology of fascism.
A conservative's loyalty to America comes from a desire to maintain traditional values, social orders, and hierarchies of people.
They don't deserve respect. The ones who deserve respect are the ones trying to protect the rights of individuals, maximize the social good of all people, and foster an environment of progress for the future -- the liberals, socialists, and the progressives, that is. People who declare themselves conservative stand in opposition to these things by definition. They do not want things to change for the better because they do not want things to change at all unless it is going backwards.
I'll take the allies I can in this existential fight, but I have zero respect for anyone who's proud to be a conservative.
Though no-fault divorce was first legalized more than 50 years ago, it has long been sneered at in conservative circles, who see it as a danger to the sanctity of marriage and the concept of the American family.
It's also classic "XYZ behavior that most people agree is not a preferable outcome is against our preferences, but instead of creating a safe and protective society that prevents people from ending up in bad situations in the first place we'll instead legislate the preference directly."
See: abortion, war on drugs, the entire carceral system, etc.
I'm confident that a lot of them -- probably most of them -- do indeed work very hard, in every sense. Whether effective at their tasks or just fucking lucky (hint: it's the latter) the ones we know about do put in the hours. Hording wealth is their profession, hobby, and entire life all wrapped up in one.
But if the average lifetime earnings of the typical American is around $1 mil you would need to work 1,000 times harder than them, saving and investing every bit you earn and not spending it on anything including necessities, to just barely qualify as a billionaire in America by the time you retire. The average American works somewhere around 35 hours a week, so was the minimum billionaire working 3,500 hours a week? I suspect not.
There's no point or value in calling a billionaire lazy. It may or may not be true, but it ignores the point. It does not matter how hard anyone works. You don't get to a billion ethically.
Absent the coercion brought on by the threat of starvation, illness, and homelessness, most people wouldn't be able to handle a lot of minimum wage jobs. They wear down your body and soul. But having a gun pointed at you and your family is a hell of a motivator.
Who cares, though? Laziness is not the problem with billionaires. I wish for everyone to live in a world where they can get away with being "lazy". Where they can pursue their passions and refuse to do the tasks that make life a drudge. Not wanting to do thankless and brutal tasks for low pay is normal and healthy and refusing that bargain is what we ALL ought to be able to do.
The wealth hoarding is the problem. Even if every single billionaire was provably the hardest worker in their company, even if we KNEW that being a top 1%er in wealth absolutely mapped to you being a top 1%er in grit, it doesn't change how I feel about the injustice of the vast inequality.
Is this a common white nationalist conspiracy theory, that a black man designed the flag? First I ever heard of it, and I'll feel very differently about her if this was simple bullshit or if it's her buying into some kind of Nazi propaganda. I have different contempt organs for liars and cultists.
It's... hard to really interpret what the intent is of it. Are they trying to "trick" progressives into thinking the flag isn't a celebration of a bygone rebellion-with-intent-to-keep-black-people-as-property? Even if a black person had made it, it would not change the need to abolish it and cast out all who love it from civil society It has deep, unquestionable symbolic meaning as an celebration of unjust rebellion and racism.
And ALSO, she's wiping out a piece of "white history" in the process. Very weird thing for a white supremacist to be doing.
I have to just assume that Kathy Chism's really, really gullible and parrots random factoids she hears credulously and without critical thinking. Which is definitely closest to the truth, but man. It's just so much dumber than I expect even from a Nazi.
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had a fiery exchange with reporters Friday about the House’s ongoing dilemma, blaming Democratic members for bringing “chaos to Congress.”...
He wouldn't even give the Democrats what he had already agreed to give them.
Matt Gaetz is the one who brought chaos. The "Freedom Caucus" that wants nothing other than cruelty and authoritarianism. And Kevin McCarthy himself, for letting himself be taken advantage of by them.
If you're a Republican who wants to see an end to chaos, it's trivially easy to vote for Hakeem Jeffries.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been voted out of the job in an extraordinary showdown, a first in U.S. history. The 216-210 vote was forced by a contingent of hard-right conservatives and throws the House and its Republican leadership into chaos.
The far right and the entire Democratic party dislike him for the same reason, which I find kind of telling about the state of the GOP and conservative politics at large.
WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Hardline Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday rejected a bill proposed by their leader to temporarily fund the government, making it all but certain that federal agencies will partially shut down beginning on Sunday....
Standing up to them would've also sunk his career because the freedom caucus was too powerful in a divided house regardless. He either could've failed to get the nomination for speaker on their terms or he could be speaker on their terms -- either way, a dead end. It would've been more ethical to stand up to them but was a bad political move either way.
Would he be sent to a “club fed” style prison — or a “bad” one? Would he have Secret Service protection? And what would they make him wear? Those are some of the questions Donald Trump is asking hi…
It's always been that way. This isn't new even if the public consciousness about it was new. Being a conservative literally means caring more about preserving social hierarchies and power structures than any other kind of governance.
Justice Clarence Thomas disclosed Thursday that Republican megadonor Harlan Crow paid for private jet trips for Thomas in 2022 to attend a speech in Texas and a vacation at Crow’s luxurious New York estate, as ethics questions continue to rock the Supreme Court....
Our parents and teachers grew up under the Warren and Marshall courts.
These were hardly all good, but they were a rare time of stability, sanity, and defense of civil rights out of the courts. Which is a blip in the history.
On the whole, the SCOTUS has always been a force for evil. It has always leaned against civil rights and towards statism and fascism. Towards maintaining and enforcing the police state. The current state is returning to the norm, not an anomaly. But with so many of society's elders being raised on a reasonable court, they forget.
It is a 100% politically-appointed institution with zero oversight and lifetime terms. It's obviously a bad idea. Just another of myriad compromises in the founding of our nation to cater to regressive-thinking, anti-civil rights right wingers that have always been a major part of the American experiment.
I found this after reading and responding to this post here about early Trek fans’ prejudicial negative reaction to TNG. One of my responses (see here) was to point out that any fans of the progressiveness of Trek ought to have been mindful of the room for improvement over TOS, with female representation being an obvious...
While some on the right portray accountability for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot as just another partisan dispute, two prominent conservative legal scholars have made the case that the Constitution disqualifies former President Trump from public office....
The "other side" here, aside from the fascists who just want to shout 'nu-uh!':
No enforcement mechanism is present in the amendment. The op-ed writer declares this means the amendment is self-enforcing, but self-enforcing is just not a thing. Enforcement would require state action -- either the individual states refusing to count his votes or send forward his electors or an act of Congress to disqualify him (for example, the Senate declaring they will not accept votes for him). Neither of those scenarios is going to happen in such a way as to sway the election. Alternately, a lawsuit that would end up at the SCOTUS who would certainly defer to Congress on the issue. Assuming you could even find someone willing to raise that lawsuit who had standing (and who even would? Joe Biden isn't going to do it).
Either way, nothing will happen. This disqualification is moot.
At the end of the day, someone needs to take action with the blessing of their state to execute the disqualification. You say a "GA election official" could just unilaterally disqualify him -- but that isn't true. A GA election official would need to go through proper channels in their own state to remove someone from the election, or else face immediate removal and replacement. They would need to go through the Sec State office channels. No one can individually snap their fingers and make it happen logistically. If that were possible, some MAGA type would've done it in 2020 or 2022 just to sow confusion. Lord knows they try to steal elections through every other immoral method available to them.
In short: 14th amendment disqualification is (properly) extremely rare and has no process. Congress or the many states would need to pass laws to outline a process to create a mechanism of enforcement for your vision of an individual election official throwing the switch to work. Otherwise you are relying on lawsuits or malfeasance so heinous that it defies politics to make it happen (and there is clearly no amount of malfeasance from Trump that the current GOP couldn't stomach).
The state will need to take action. All three branches of the state government would need to work together to make it happen. Any one of them could pooh it away. And THEN you would also go on to have a federal lawsuit, where again, the SCOTUS would certainly enjoin the move pending a case, and in that case anyone who knows anything about the court could predict the outcome would be a deferral to Congress to clarify the amendment. Assuming they don't just outright ignore parts of the amendment as they have many times done elsewhere for politically inconvenient or unclear language.
Maybe this would happen somewhere progressive enough. Maybe Massachusetts will disqualify him, but that won't impact the election results. (PS: if National Popular Vote were a thing, this would be WAY more compelling). But MA refusing to cast electoral votes for Trump is not going to affect any election.
Which is why I described the point as moot. It's not wrong. What you are saying is almost certainly technically correct, on the whole. It just doesn't matter. Whether you are right or wrong will not impact any outcomes.
From 2017 to 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor recovered $3 billion in stolen wages from employers ( medium.com )
[Article] Voters reject stadium tax for Royals and Chiefs ( www.espn.com )
The future of the Royals and Chiefs in Kansas City was thrown into question Tuesday when residents of Jackson County voted down a sales tax measure that would have helped to fund a new downtown ballpark along with major renovations to Arrowhead Stadium.
Firefox 124.0, See All New Features, Updates and Fixes ( www.mozilla.org )
McConnell will step down as the Senate Republican leader in November after a record run in the job ( apnews.com )
Mitch McConnell says he'll step down as Senate Republican leader in November.
Wisconsin Picks New Legislative Maps That Would End Years of GOP Gerrymandering ( www.propublica.org )
Under legal pressure to address Wisconsin’s “Swiss cheese” and oddly shaped districts, the Legislature approved redrawn maps that promise to create a new dynamic in a state known for its pivotal role in national politics.
Opinion | As New York’s mayor, I watched Trump evade consequences for years — until now ( www.msnbc.com )
Judge Engoron just handed Trump 355 million reminders that he is not, in fact, above our great city's laws.
Running Electrical Wire through insulation ( kbin.social )
Hello, I’m back with another question. Everything a read is telling me yes I can, but it really does not feel right so I’m gonna ask here for good measure. Can I run electrical wire through fiberglass insulation?...
Moms for Liberty school board member busted for shoplifting from Target ( www.rawstory.com )
A right-wing Tennessee school board member backed by the Moms for Liberty group has been arrested on shoplifting charges.Keri Blair, who was elected in November 2022 following a campaign against tolerant "social agendas," is accused of stealing items from Target seven times between Nov. 25 and Dec. ...
Aaron J. Waltke: "Prodigy has cracked Netflix Top 10 lists in six different countries and counting." ( mastodon.social )
Bill banning Pride flag would make showing support for LGBTQ a ‘political viewpoint' ( www.rawstory.com )
A Florida Republican lawmaker's bill declares showing support for LGBTQ people is a "political viewpoint," despite the existence of LGBTQ Democrats, Republicans, independents, and entirely unaffiliated and non-political LGBTQ people.The goal of GOP State Rep. David Borrero's legislation is to ban al...
For the "Why are you so hostile to Threads federating?" people.. ( kbin.social )
Check this out. Remember that Facebook isn't just the place where moms and aunts swap recipes:...
President Biden Announces Billions to Deliver High-Speed Rail and Launch New Passenger Rail Corridors ( www.whitehouse.gov )
$8.2 Billion from the President’s Investing in America Agenda to Deliver Transformative Passenger Rail in America...
Son of US Sen. Kevin Cramer crashes during police chase, killing North Dakota sheriff's deputy ( www.dailykos.com )
The 42-year-old son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer crashed into a North Dakota sheriff's vehicle during a police chase, pushing it into a deputy and killing him, according to authorities and the ...
Trump allies craft plans to give him unprecedented power if he wins the White House ( www.npr.org )
Trump insiders are working behind the scenes on detailed plans to amass his power so that he can carry out an unprecedented restructuring of the U.S. government and expand executive authority.
Speaker Mike Johnson says he's blurring Jan. 6 footage so rioters don't get charged ( www.nbcnews.com )
"We don’t want them to be retaliated against and to be charged by the DOJ,” the House speaker said. His office later noted that DOJ already has the raw footage.
Liz Cheney weighs third-party US presidential run, says Trump threatens democracy ( www.reuters.com )
U.S. Representative Liz Cheney, an outspoken critic of ex-President Donald Trump, said she is weighing a third-party bid for the White House in 2024.
[Analysis] What is no-fault divorce, and why do some conservatives want to get rid of it? | CNN ( www.cnn.com )
Though no-fault divorce was first legalized more than 50 years ago, it has long been sneered at in conservative circles, who see it as a danger to the sanctity of marriage and the concept of the American family.
The hardest workers get the smallest pay. ( lemmy.world )
I Didn’t Have L’Rell’s Klingon Boobs Going On Sale On My Bingo Card Ahead Of Star Trek: Discovery’s Final Season ( www.cinemablend.com )
[News] Senator Calls For Return of Old Mississippi Flag: ‘Our People Died Under That Flag’ ( www.mississippifreepress.org )
Mississippi Sen. Kathy Chism, R-New Albany, said the Legislature should not have retired the Confederate-themed state flag.
[News] McCarthy in fiery exchange with reporter blames Dems for bringing ‘chaos’ with ouster ( thehill.com )
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had a fiery exchange with reporters Friday about the House’s ongoing dilemma, blaming Democratic members for bringing “chaos to Congress.”...
Ken Paxton plans to file criminal complaints against lawmakers who impeached him ( www.nbcnews.com )
McCarthy ousted as House speaker in dramatic vote as Democrats join with GOP critics to topple him ( apnews.com )
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been voted out of the job in an extraordinary showdown, a first in U.S. history. The 216-210 vote was forced by a contingent of hard-right conservatives and throws the House and its Republican leadership into chaos.
[News] Republicans reject own funding bill, US government shutdown imminent ( www.reuters.com )
WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Hardline Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday rejected a bill proposed by their leader to temporarily fund the government, making it all but certain that federal agencies will partially shut down beginning on Sunday....
Google Flat-Out Refuses to Bargain With Workers, Prompting YouTube Music Strike ( www.vice.com )
In an email obtained by Motherboard, Google tells YouTube Music workers it will "not be participating in collective bargaining."
Trump Privately Frets He Could Be Headed to Prison ( www.rollingstone.com )
Would he be sent to a “club fed” style prison — or a “bad” one? Would he have Secret Service protection? And what would they make him wear? Those are some of the questions Donald Trump is asking hi…
[Opinion] An out-of-control GOP is the party of nonstop national crisis - ( thehill.com )
Stop me if you’ve heard this one, but congressional Republicans are once again careening toward internal crisis and a damaging government shutdown....
Clarence Thomas officially discloses private trips on GOP donor Harlan Crow's plane | CNN Politics ( www.cnn.com )
Justice Clarence Thomas disclosed Thursday that Republican megadonor Harlan Crow paid for private jet trips for Thomas in 2022 to attend a speech in Texas and a vacation at Crow’s luxurious New York estate, as ethics questions continue to rock the Supreme Court....
How Many Star Trek Episodes Pass the Bechdel Test? (TOS to ENT) | The Mary Sue ( www.themarysue.com )
I found this after reading and responding to this post here about early Trek fans’ prejudicial negative reaction to TNG. One of my responses (see here) was to point out that any fans of the progressiveness of Trek ought to have been mindful of the room for improvement over TOS, with female representation being an obvious...
[Opinion - Legal Analysis] The Constitution bars Trump from holding public office ever again - Donald K. Sherman ( thehill.com )
While some on the right portray accountability for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot as just another partisan dispute, two prominent conservative legal scholars have made the case that the Constitution disqualifies former President Trump from public office....