Radical Republican House of Representatives member Glenn Thompson voted last week to prevent same-sex couples from having the right to marriage, then just a few days later, attends his own son’s same sex marriage. Meidas Contributor Texas Paul reacts and shows us a secret recording from the wedding.
Comedian Jon Stewart slammed Republican senators Thursday after they blocked the passage of a bill that would expand health care coverage for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxins during their service. Francis Maxwell reports.
A group of Texas Republican legislators sent a letter to one of the biggest law firms in the U.S. threatening the company and its lawyers with disbarment and prosecution if they facilitate abortions, even outside of Texas, according to a report. The letter says the 11 members of the Texas Freedom Caucus have become aware of Sidley Austin “reimbursing travel costs of employees who leave Texas to murder their unborn children.”
Rep. Mayes Middleton, the Chair of the Caucus who signed the letter, warns Sidley Austin abortion is a felony in Texas unless the mother’s life is in danger. Middleton notes the law covers “drug-induced abortions if any part of the drug regimen is ingested in Texas, even if the drugs were dispensed by an out-of-state abortionist.” Middleton threatens, if Sidley Austin violates the law, the firm and all of the partners will be subject to criminal prosecution and disbarment.
A group of Texas Republican legislators sent a letter to one of the biggest law firms in the U.S. threatening the company and its lawyers with disbarment and prosecution if they facilitate abortions, even outside of Texas.https://t.co/KCKJnwULNj
Given that the vast majority of Americans are in favor of abortion rights, abortion rights need to be a “front and center” issue in Democratic campaign ads leading up to the November elections.
Are you a woman? Are you going to vote for a political party that doesn’t trust you with regard to your personal decisions? A party that doesn’t want you to have freedom to control what you do with your body?
And the anti-Semitic/fascist fringe has gone all in for Mastriano. One of his major consultants is Gab CEO Andrew Torba, who stated that non-Christians are not welcome in their campaign, and even stated that right-wing Jewish commentators like Ben Shapiro and Dave Rubin are not welcome “unless you repent and renounce your Jewish faith”. Gab is a neo-Nazi site which helped inspire the Tree of Life mass shooting in Pittsburgh.
I appreciate your optimism, Ross. Wish I could share in it but I’m not quite there. Perhaps the Roe decision will in fact help the Democrats in November. Perhaps.
I’m pinning my hopes on some sort of mega-bombshell coming out of the 1/6 Committee. Something really really big that totally occupies the airwaves and sends the Rethugs running.
Imo something like that is our best hope of preventing the seditionists from winning back control of the House.
But it may not matter. SCOTUS looks likely to allow states to throw out election results they don’t like without having to prove fraud or whatever BS excuse they are using. Just a vote in the legislature would be enough. That on top of voter suppression efforts (we ain’t seen nothin’ yet!) will mean that the majority’s opinion doesn’t matter.
Its all about creative semantics. Oh, that money is not for an abortion, its for the excellent work that she does for the firm. She has the best penmanship that we have ever seen. In fact, we are sending her to our Chicago office for 3 months to show them how pretty she can write.
They can say “Due to HIPPA laws, we are not allowed to ask why our employees had medication or medial procedures. Also, due to HIPPA laws, you can’t ask a woman or her out-of-state doctor what medical procedures were done [legally] out of state.
I heard someone comment that women at these type of white-collar companies won’t really use this benefit, because they don’t really want to let their employer know they had an abortion. It’s really lower-income people who need the benefit. But is a nice benefit to offer to signal employees that they support their rights.
“We decided she could really use a nice long weekend retreat” – hell, the gop has tons of vague phrases they’ve used for decades to get abortions for mistresses without admitting to it, I’m sure there’s a cheat sheet that can be copied…
What the fuck? Can I get $10,000 for securing my home also? Especially since the republicans are enraging their cult like base to hate the LGBTQ+. Most of them are wealthy, some are very wealthy. Most of them live in gated walled compounds with private security. They have a private police force at work, but the public wonders if they will face a mass shooter at their job. They couldn’t raise minimum wage for the workers, they couldn’t pass bills to lower the public’s costs for medications, they could help the people at all, but they can give themselves more money every time. I am tired of the congress we have where they have disdain for the public they are supposed to be working for and yet think they are above all others. Hugs
House Sergeant at Arms William Walker plans to offer lawmakers thousands of dollars to safeguard their homes at a time when a growing number of members have received threats.
Congressional members and staff were sent a letter announcing the residential security program, an initiative that will pay for up to $10,000 worth of expenses for security equipment such as cameras, video recorders, door locks, and motion sensors at representative’s personal residences.
The program is set to begin on Aug. 15 and will also cover fixed-rate monthly monitoring and maintenance fees up to $150 a month for members.
It’s being reported that the House Sergeant at Arms is creating a new residential security program where Members of Congress will receive $10k to secure their residences.
So, can I buy more AR-15s to secure my residence with this?
Worse, we’re scapegoats. We ARE the target. Trans people and immigrants have had it the worst, but they were never going to stop there, and anyone who thought they would is a delusional assclown. Our rights, and even our very lives, aren’t safe. Already they’re looking for ways to overturn Lawrence and threaten us with jail unless we closet ourselves again.
Man it sure upset someone when people point out that congress is doing little to nothing to protect the average person but spending a great deal of money to protect thesmelves.
Right… Now we have to weat kevlar vests, bullet proof back packs and install safety glass in our windows instead of arresting threat makers or making firearms illegal. It’s our own personal arms race.
What’s amusing is most MAGAt congressmen will use the 10 grand for protection, but they’ll say it’s because of those filthy liberals, but really it’ll be because they didn’t tow the line 100% for trump
Radical Right Republicans held another set of rallies over the weekend, presenting to us all the absolute worst that the Ultra-MAGA movement can provide. Meidas Contributor Texas Paul reacts to the nonsense.
A horse dewormer and treatment for some human parasites, ivermectin was initially promoted, despite the lack of research, as a way to treat or prevent Covid infections. Now it is increasingly being marketed for long Covid, pushed by physicians with ties to political groups spreading anti-vaccine and anti-science messaging.
There’s no credible evidence that supports ivermectin’s use for this purpose, and doctors at long-hauler clinics say they frequently see patients who’ve tried the drug without relief. But anecdotes of ivermectin working as a miracle cure swirl around social media, repeatedly referenced on Facebook groups for people suffering from long Covid.
Two physician-led groups, America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLDS) and Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), have been particularly active in promoting the drug, charging a minimum of $90 — and up to $1,650 to meet with the founder of the alliance — for online appointments to get an ivermectin prescription.
The leaders of groups promoting ivermectin for long Covid have achieved large followings on social media through ties to right-wing political organizations and Trump administration officials. https://t.co/erjXbsJqJE
Kylie Jenner isfar from the only celebrity to make short hops using private jets despite mounting concerns over the climate crisis
Private jets are seen on the tarmac at Friedman Memorial airport in Sun Valley, Idaho. Photograph: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Kylie Jenner has faced a torrent of criticism for her decision to take her private jet on a flight that lasted just 17 minutes. But the practice of taking brief journeys on luxury aircraft appears to be common among the rich and famous despite mounting concerns over the climate crisis.
Jenner, the 24-year-old socialite and businesswoman, has faced online opprobrium after she posted an Instagram picture of herself and her partner, rapper Travis Scott, on the runway of an airport between two private jets with the caption “you wanna take mine or yours?”
According to an automated Twitter account that tracks celebrity flights based on transponders and tail fin marking, Jenner’s flight on 12 July lasted just 17 minutes, taking her from Van Nuys in Los Angeles to the nearby town of Camarillo. The model had earlier taken a 27-minute trip in her jet, a $72m Bombardier BD 700, to Van Nuys from Thermal, California.
She was subsequently attackedby Twitter users for her “absolute disregard for the planet” and for being a “full time climate criminal”.
It’s estimated that her 17-minute jaunt would’ve resulted in a ton of carbon dioxide emissions, which, while in itself not a huge amount, is about a quarter of the total annual carbon footprint of the average person globally. The trip would have taken Jenner about 40 minutes in a car, causing just a fraction of the emissions.
But Jenner – who took an even shorter flight, lasting just nine minutes, between the same two locations in June – is far from the only celebrity to make short hops using private aircraft rather than driving or using public transport.
A review of the Celebrity Jets tracking account shows that just in the past month, the rapper Drake took an 18-minute flight from Hamilton, Ontario to Toronto; Kenny Chesney, the country music singer, was in the air for just 20 minutes between Akron, Ohio and Pittsburgh and the actor Mark Wahlberg took a 23-minute flight from Dublin to County Clare in Ireland, among other short trips.
Many of these brief flights are to “park” an aircraft at a convenient or less expensive location, or are part of a longer, two-part journey, but many appear to have an unclear rationale, such as the decision of Floyd Mayweather, the boxer, to fly 14 minutes from Las Vegas to nearby Henderson, then to fly 10 minutes back on Sunday.
“I’m not surprised people are upset, they are right to be mad at this,” said Jack Sweeney, creator of the Celebrity Jets account, which uses data from a company that tracks aircraft transponders.
Sweeney, a student at the University of Central Florida, has a similar account that just tracks the private jet of Elon Musk, the multi-billionaire head of Tesla. In May, Musk took a 28-minute flight in his jet between Houston and Austin, Texas, but Sweeney believes he should be judged differently for this.
“With Elon he’s just trying to be as quick as possible and efficient for work, but someone like Kim Kardashian (who has taken long and short private jet flights) is posting ‘Kim Air’ and flexing and all that,” he said.
Private jets are responsible for around 4% of all aviation emissions, according to a 2016 study, with the airline industry keen to point out that flying in general comprises just a small fraction of the overall sources of planet-heating gases.
However, private aircraft still emit more than 33m tonnes of greenhouse gases, more than the country of Denmark, and because they carry so few people they are five to 14 times more polluting than commercial planes, per passenger, and 50 times more polluting than trains, researchers have found.
“These startlingly short flights show the immense impact of the wealthy in overall aviation emissions,” said Scott Hochberg, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute.
“The problem starts at the top with Kylie Jenner and other celebrities with private jets, which have a much larger impact than commercial aircraft on a per passenger basis. But it also includes many others, as the US constitutes the bulk of the wealthy elite that have the luxury of flying.”
Emissions from private jets flown in the US have surged since the 1990s and will balloon further as larger and more polluting aircraft come onto the market. Short trips using private jets are not solely an American phenomenon; in 2019, one tenth of all flights departing France were private jets, with half traveling less than 500km. The frequent use of aviation is the domain of the world’s wealthy, with just 1% of the global population responsible for half of the emissions associated with flying.
“There are plenty of alternatives to private jets and wanting to avoid traveling with the hoi polloi isn’t a good enough reason for excessive pollution,” said Nikita Pavlenko, fuels team lead at the International Council on Clean Transportation.
“These short flights have emissions that are small in relative terms but per person they are staggering. Aviation emissions are growing exponentially year over year and private jet pollution is growing more than general aviation.”
Major US airlines have announced climate plans that include commitments to ramp up the use of low-emission sustainable aviation fuels (or SAFs), such as cooking oil or hydrogen, with Joe Biden’s administration last year unveiling a goal of a 20% cut in aviation emissions by 2030. This target, however, is voluntary and there has been no significant shift by the industry towards lessening its climate impact.
“Aviation decarbonization is largely all talk and little substance in the US,” said Pavlenko. “As for celebrities, they need to set a positive example and ditch the planes. At the very least, they should exhibit some leadership and use sustainable fuels or a zero emissions plane when that becomes available.”
Gun owners allowed to carry handguns without permits or training. Parents of transgender children facing investigation by state officials. Women forced to drive hours out-of-state to access abortion.
This is Texas now: While the Lone Star State has long been a bastion of Republican politics, new laws and policies have taken Texas further to the right in recent years than it has been in decades.
Elected officials and political observers in the state say a major factor in the transformation can be traced back to West Texas. Two billionaire oil and fracking magnates from the region, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, have quietly bankrolled some of Texas’ most far-right political candidates — helping reshape the state’s Republican Party in their worldview.
Read the full article. It’s really something and yes, the word “oligarchs” is used.
"In their sermons they paint a picture of a nation under siege from liberal ideas
" 'The cornerstones of our government are crumbling and starting to come apart," Wilks declared in a 2014 sermon. 'It's because of the lack of morality, lack of belief in our heavenly Father' " 2/2
” ‘The cornerstones of our government are crumbling and starting to come apart,”
But he totally misconstrues the reason. It’s because people like him are buying politicians and judges and media and infrastructure and health care and everything needed to sustain life and society.
In other words, more rich people destroying America so they can strip it down and sell it for parts, leaving the rest of us to live in a fascistic, impoverished, environmentally devastated husk of what once was.
In other words, they oppose the will of their own God. Who they ‘believe’ gave everyone free choice. If people are walking away, that’s on them. If you try to force them to stay in the churches, you’re doing something that God is responsible for.
Blasphemers and wannabe gods, that’s what these preachers are. All of them.
Scottie's Playtime 