The Élysée Palace released images of French President Macron after his call with Putin today, regarding the invasion of Ukraine. 🇫🇷🇷🇺🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/I1uOgNMuma
Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, doubled down on his pledge to raise most Americans’ taxes if the GOP retakes the Senate in this year’s midterms.
Scott gleefully justified his proposal to Laura Ingraham on Monday night.
Last month, he unveiled a plan that stipulating that, “All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount. Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax.”
When asked on Fox News if he wanted to raise taxes on most Americans last month, Scott straight up lied by saying his plan would not do that. He received no pushback from host Sean Hannity.
Appearing on The Ingraham Angle on Monday, Scott said that Americans “want free government stuff.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has distanced himself from Scott’s agenda. Last week he said at a press conference that it “will not be a part of the Republican Senate majority agenda” if the GOP retakes the chamber.
But that would depend on whether McConnell is still the leader of Senate Republicans.
Speaking with Scott, Ingraham rather bizarrely called his plan to hike taxes on most Americans “unabashedly populist.”
“Here’s what’s not fair,” he said. “We have hard-working Americans – they’re paying all these taxes, and retirees pay them. Who’s not? We’ve got some billionaires not paying it, and we got people that want free government stuff and they don’t want to have any skin in the game. That’s not fair.”
Ingraham followed up by asking Scott, “What is going on here with Mitch McConnell?” She noted that “he’s not a populist,” but rather “an old-style Bush Republican.”
Scott replied, “I just think there’s a difference of opinion.”
When asked by Ingraham if he was “fine” presenting his plan to voters, Scott responded, “Hell yeah!”
Notie they not only want to block abortion in their own state, but want to prevent the people in their state from using a legal medical service in another state. Think of it. This is the party of Personal responsibility and small government. I guess they want to shrink government small enough to fit in your underwear.
The measure could signal a new strategy by the antiabortion movement to extend its influence beyond the GOP-led states poised to enact tighter restrictions if the Supreme Court weakens its landmark precedent upholding abortion rights.
Missouri state Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman (R) is shown in December in St. Louis. (Neeta Satam for The Washington Post) (Neeta Satam /For The Washington Post)
The pattern emerges whenever a Republican-led state imposes new restrictions on abortion: People seeking the procedure cross state lines to find treatment in places with less-restrictive laws.
Now, a prominent antiabortion lawmaker in Missouri, from where thousands of residents have traveled to next-door Illinois to receive abortions since Missouri passed one of the country’s strictest abortion laws in 2019, believes she has found a solution.
An unusual new provision, introduced by state Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman (R), would allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a Missouri resident obtain an abortion out of state, using the novel legal strategy behind the restrictive law in Texas that since September has banned abortions in that state after six weeks of pregnancy.
Coleman has attached the measure as an amendment to several abortion-related bills that have made it through committee and are waiting to be heard on the floor of the House of Representatives.
Abortion rights advocates say the measure is unconstitutional because it would effectively allow states to enact laws beyond their jurisdictions, but the Republican-led Missouri legislature has been supportive of creative approaches to antiabortion legislation in the past. The measure could signal a new strategy by the antiabortion movement to extend its influence beyond the conservative states poised to tighten restrictions if the Supreme Court moves this summer to overturn its landmark precedent protecting abortion rights.
An abortion doctor from Kansas City, Mo., travels across state lines every month to provide care at clinics in the Midwest. (Whitney Leaming, Alice Li/The Washington Post)
** you may need to go to the link above to see the video, it wont post on here**
“If your neighboring state doesn’t have pro-life protections, it minimizes the ability to protect the unborn in your state,” said Coleman, who said she’s been trying to figure out how to crack down on out-of-state abortions since Planned Parenthood opened an abortion clinic on the Illinois-Missouri border in 2019.
A Supreme Court decision that undercuts Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion across the United States,probably would create a national landscape that encourages patients to cross state lines for abortions, with Democrat-led states moving to protect abortion rights as Republican-led states further limit them.
The trend has been apparent in Texas, where the majority of people seeking abortions since the state’s six-week abortion ban took effect in September have been able to obtain the procedure at clinics in neighboring states, or by ordering abortion pills in the mail, according to a report from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project. Demand for abortions has skyrocketed in Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico and other nearby states. Planned Parenthood clinics in states that border Texas reported that patient traffic increased by nearly 800 percent, and independent providers reported comparable increases.
Since Planned Parenthood opened its clinic on the Missouri-Illinois border in October 2019, 10,644 Missouri residents have received abortion care at the clinic, according to Planned Parenthood. By early 2021, the last remaining clinic in Missouri was typically providing between 10 and 20 abortions per month, according to preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Health.
Coleman said she hopes her amendment will thwart efforts by Missourians to cross state lines for abortions. The measure would target anyone even tangentially involved in an abortion performed on a Missouri resident, including the hotline staffers who make the appointments, the marketing representatives who advertise out-of-state clinics, and the Illinois and Kansas-based doctors who handle the procedure. Her amendment also would make it illegal to manufacture, transport, possess or distribute abortion pills in Missouri.
Olivia Cappello, the press officer for state media campaigns at Planned Parenthood, called the idea “wild” and “bonkers.” She called the proposal “the most extraordinary provision we have ever seen.”
If enacted, the measure almost certainly would face a swift legal challenge.
Elizabeth Myers, an attorney for Texas abortion rights groups in a court challenge to the six-week abortion ban, said states cannot regulate activities beyond their borders. She drew a parallel to marijuana laws, which also vary from state to state: While Texas lawmakers can outlaw marijuana, and punish anyone who uses the drug within Texas borders, she said, they have no jurisdiction over a Texas resident who uses marijuana in a state where its use is legal.
“A state’s power is over its own citizens and its own geographical boundaries,” Myers said. “These are limits imposed by the federal constitution and federal law.”
Coleman’s proposal still may succeed in deterring out-of-state abortions, said Myers. Like the Texas law, the proposal itself could have a chilling effect, where doctors in surrounding states stop performing abortions before courts have an opportunity to intervene, worried that they may face a flurry of lawsuits if they violate the law.
Coleman rejects arguments that her law is unconstitutional.
“That’s what they said about the Texas law, and every bill passed to protect the unborn for the last 49 years,” she said.
Supporters of abortion rights stand on both sides of a street near the Gateway Arch in St. Louis on May 30, 2019, as they denounce the Trump administration’s tightening of rules for federal funding of reproductive services. (Jeff Roberson/AP)
Coleman prayed outside the clinic on the Illinois-Missouri border on the day it opened, she said. Since then, she said, she’s been talking to “anyone who would listen” about legal strategies for decreasing the number of Missouri women who seek abortions in other states.
While Coleman says she has been happy to see the sharp decline in abortions in Missouri, she says she can’t fully celebrate the success when so many women are obtaining the same procedure a few miles away.
“It’s just tragic,” she said of the number of Missouri residents who get abortions in Illinois. “It feels very sad and heavy.”
Abortion clinics in states that support abortion rights are preparing for a surge of new patients if Roe is overturned. They are opening new locations and advocating for legislation that would allow them to accommodate more people. Lawmakers in several states have proposed bills this session that would allow nurse practitioners and nurse midwives to perform abortions, in addition to physicians, while others are planning to create statewide databases that will allow out-of-state patients to more easily plan their abortion care.
“We’ve got already half of states that have passed some kind of law to restrict or eliminate abortion access,” said California state Sen. Nancy Skinner (D), who has introduced legislation to help make California a “sanctuary state” for people seeking abortion access. “We definitely are and intend to be a national beacon for reproductive freedom and reproductive justice.”
NEW
A new Missouri bill would prohibit women leaving the state to get an abortion.
If this style of legislation is somehow found legal, it would have a huge impact in a post-Roe v Wade world. https://t.co/kpPiOzVj3J
So below I put few entries from a router security site. The other day I noticed a weird series of actions, just a couple small things, like one of my securities cameras alerting when nothing was there to trip it. Alone I wouldn’t be bothered by it, the cameras are set very high detection of movement and will alert on moths or spiders. If it moves outside my home I want to know about it and have a video. It could have been anything and the system is linked so if one alarms the rest activate. But it bothered me. So I went into my router and looked over my settings. I noticed right away my UPnp setting was active / on. That was weird because if you know anything about cyber security or home networks you know that is a way hackers get / set up an open door to use your system. The UPNP is universal plug and play. It lets other devices connect to the home network easier. Things like printers, Xboxes, and other non-computer devices. Things can still connect with it on but it takes more work, like my printer I have to hook up through the IP address instead of the computer just finding it.
Now I want to reassure everyone that if you are hacked by the Russian or other nation states they are not after your bank account or credit card number. That is a different level of hacker, a much lower one. And looking at the threat maps so many computers worldwide are being used by attackers without the owners knowing they are being used. Want to blow your mind on just how bad nation state hacking and controlling bot networks is, just google “cyber attack maps” or check out some of these. https://www.secureworld.io/industry-news/6-live-cyber-attack-maps . At this point it is almost a losing game for the average homeowner to play to protect themselves. I run tight security even though my knowledge of computers is getting to be decades out of date, and they still got through to my set up. But then I go to places where there are Russian bots and influencers are. But if you have argued with a rando on Facebook or some other social media or downloaded a picture or other file with a political bent it could have been a bad actor looking for your IPS to get to your system. To nation states like the Russians your internet connection with a decent computer are far more valuable to them. With modern internet speeds (even as slow as the US speeds are compared to the other developed nations) and even the average computer today the damage that can be done when those computers are linked together is immense. If nothing else if they get a large number of computers from an area focused on the same goal they can do everything from massive DDOS attacks to clogging up business internet access. They can simply clog up the local internet to keep a local utility / government agency from accessing the internet. They can direct computers to do brute force attacks against businesses or utilities, or a government agency. Once I was up on all this stuff and what could be done and how. That was years and years ago. Now I only know enough to keep watch and hopefully spot it if it happens to my stuff. This is what the last few days have brought.
I noticed a couple errors and had a disconnection of the computers that could only be cleared by restarting the router. That was enough to clue me in. That shouldn’t have happened. So I went into the router and looked over the settings. I noticed they were not as I normally have them. One in particular caught my attention. The UPnp was active. That lets someone hack into the router pretending to be one of your devices and change any settings they like. Once they are in they change the firmware of the router to block attempts to change what they set up. I tried to set it to off. I was shocked when the router was forced back to the sign on screen. I signed on again and tried again to shut it off. Same result. Damn, then I knew there was a problem. So I checked the firmware. While it said the signature was fine I figured something was wrong. So I tried to update it. Again the machine forced it self back to the sign on page. I tried to manually upload the firmware updates and it again forced it self back to the sign in page. So I went setting by long lists of settings to check the router. I was locked out of any setting that would make it harder to use the router by a remote source. Who ever had hacked the firmware just wanted to use my internet and they did not mess with anything else. I tried to do a normal factory reset, it seemed to work but it failed as I still had no control of those settings. I tried the even deeper factory reset the company claimed would clear any problem but that also failed. There was no way around the firmware lock. I tried different things many times. If it had not been that when they either used it or first set it up that it knocked both my computers offline, and alerted the one security camera, I wouldn’t have suspected. I have no idea how long the hack was there; it could have been there for a month or more since I last checked the router or it could have been done the day I noticed the hiccup. Thing is I never noticed a power drain from either computer, nor a bandwidth loss and I push my computers hard. Ron had complained he was having trouble with his apple box and YouTube with it often not loading or being really slow. I tested it and looked at the bandwidth monitor and did not see a problem, so I assigned it the highest priority. He was still frustrated with it.
So now that I see there is a problem, Ron started reading about modems and he liked a Tp-link modem. I did a quick look and it had the power to broadcast the distance I wanted, could handle the many (seriously seems everything in the house connects to the internet) devices I needed, and it had the bandwidth I had to have to push internet to all these devices. I was stunned at the price. The last router was nearly $400 dollars when I bought it back a decade ago, and this was only $164. I figured the prices had really come down. Good. I double checked the security it claimed to have, remember that because that will come back to bite me. It bragged it had some of the best security in the business. I ordered it for next day delivery and went back to using the hacked old router.
Sunday during the morning news shows I dumped both computers. Simple process, one I used the return to factory condition recover commands, the other doesn’t have a recovery environment so I simply use a Windows 10 install USB to delete all disk partitions wiping out what is there and then installing a new copy of windows. As the bios has the Windows’ license keys it doesn’t cost me anything but time. A bunch of time. The resets only take about 20 minutes, then I have to load all my programs while updating windows. That takes more time every time I do it as I have more programs to install and windows has more updates to do. I had just got a couple more security programs I like but that would cause problems on the second video computer. Long story short the main blogging computer installed great. Then I unpacked the router, and I was so frustrated and angry with it, I made a stupid mistake. One thing I hated was you could connect to the router setup via wireless instead of just hard cable which is a huge security risk, and then a I found out I would have to use my phone to set up an online “in cloud” account with the company to have any control or use of the router. I had to download an app from the company and then make an account with them setting myself up to spam from them to adjust any settings. But the router had little in the way of user control over the security settings. I was able to do some but the intrusion detection and the DDOS protections were an added price and had no user control. To get them you had to accept a content filter that was not adjustable. Think of it as parental controls put on adults. It was $55 a year on discount. I could have spent that on a more expensive router that had that built in security with adjustable controls. So I signed up for it while I set up the user settings as best I could. The plus is the router does have more broadcast power and more bandwidth than the old router but the negative but less control over security. That day we all had issues. The router was fighting me and James. James got blocked from 5 legitimate sites and finally gave up on the router and opened his own hotspot.
Then I went back to setting up the computers. I was happy with the speed of the router as my computers are connected by ethernet cable to the router. But it fought me on somethings it shouldn’t and on the video computer the install of some programs went badly with software seeing the router as a third party control blocking my control of those programs. I dumped the computer again and started over. I finished up the installs on it last night but have yet to move the over 1.5 TB of files over to its hard drives. I started doing that on the primary blogging computer and it is still running. I have about 1.5 Tb of files from my computers and another 600 GB of files for Ron’s computers. After each large Windows updates I have to go back through the settings and stop the default settings from sharing everything a computer does with Microsoft. If you doubt this go through your privacy settings for example. Turn them all off except your camara / microphone permissions for just programs you want to have them. And if your anti-virus / firewall program allows you to do so turn off your camera being accessed by the chrome browser when you open a site with chrome. I use Norton 360 for one of my security programs and it has a setting for blocking programs from accessing your cameras. But all through the settings menus you find share with … default settings turned on. Turn them all off. They do not change the way the computer works for you but does make it a tad bit harder for Microsoft and their types from adding more to the database they have on all of us.
So yesterday was a wash for the roundup. Too much going on to do any big posts, but I did get a few news stories out. Today or tomorrow I have to go to get my new glasses. On Friday I have to get my drivers license, so will have to find time to get it all together. So this week the roundup will be hit and miss and maybe a bit skimpy. Best wishes to all.
Russian state hackers target Dutch routers: Volkskrant
by DutchNews.nl March 3, 2022
The two most interesting aspects of this story to me: (1) The Dutch told victims about their routers having been hacked and (2) they advised that the hacked routers should be thrown away. Well done. A Russian hacking group known as 74455, Sandworm and BlackEnergy, has been targeting Dutch routers belonging to private individuals and small and medium sized businesses. The bad guys are part of the Russian intelligence service. It is not clear if the hacking is linked to the war in Ukraine. The number of hacked routers is not known. All this came to light due to an investigation by the Dutch military intelligence agency MIVD. The malware on the routers communicates with other Russian controlled computers in a network which is used for sabotage, spying and the spread of fake news. And, of course, routers that allow outside access are particularly vulnerable.
FEBRUARY 2022
Wuddya Know? Routers spy on you
Your Router Is Collecting Your Data. Here’s What to Know, and What You Can Do About It
by Ry Crist of CNET February 25, 2022
First of all, my router is not collecting any data about me. CNET lives in the fishbowl of consumer routers. There is a bigger world. Crist reviewed the privacy policies for D-Link, Netgear, Asus, TP-Link, Eero, Google Nest and Arris (really CommScope). Every one confirmed that the company in question collected personal data for the purpose of marketing. All the companies also acknowledged that they share user data with third parties for marketing purposes. Such are consumer routers, one reason to look into secure routers. Crist wasted much of the article looking into whether a router tracks web activity. There is no one answer to that question as parental controls and assorted security features require the inspection of web traffic. Points of note:
–Asus and Google Nest were the only companies that let you opt out of data collection
–D-Link refused to answer questions about privacy
–best for opting out of data collection: The Motosync app for Motorola routers (run by Minim) has a very clear option
–worse: D-Link and TP-Link, which do not offer any direct means of opting out
–worst: Eero. The only way to stop Eero devices from gathering data is to not use them.
The Asus instructions for opting out in the article are wrong. The correct path to the option is Advanced Settings -> Administration -> Privacy tab. This is what it looks like. The defensive steps in the article are incomplete. The most obvious omission is to use a VPN or Tor. Both hide activity from the router, just as they do from the ISP. Another option is to use a router with a web interface rather than a mobile app.
Watch out for WatchGuard routers
New Sandworm malware Cyclops Blink replaces VPNFilter
by UK National Cyber Security Centre February 23, 2022
Once upon a time there was a bug in WatchGuard routers. The company fixed it in May 2021. Still un-patched routers are being infected by bad guys in Russia, specifically part of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency. Not only have the nerds in charge of administering the boxes not installed bug fixes, they also left the buggy routers open to unrestricted remote administration without any of the available security options that WatchGuard provides for restricting remote access to the boxes. You could make a case that the techies doing defense are just as much, if not more, at fault that the Sandworm malware authors. The malware was first seen about three years ago and has been dubbed Cyclops Blink. It abuses the firmware update mechanism to allow it to remain running even if the box is re-booted. Currently only WatchGuard devices have been infected, but the NCSC warns that it could be adapted to other platforms.
UPnProxy: Eternal Silence
by Chad Seaman of Akamai January 27, 2022
Discovered by Akamai, a bug called UPnProxy is still alive and well, six months after they first publicized it. When abused, it attempts to expose TCP ports 139 and 445 on devices connected to the targeted router. Out of 3,500,000 UPnP routers found online, 277,000 are vulnerable to UPnProxy, and 45,113 of them have already been infected by hackers. This is yet another reminder that consumer routers ship with UPnP enabled by default to cut down on tech support requests. Peplink and pcWRT routers ship with UPnP disabled. Many devices were found vulnerable, including some from Asus, D-Link, Belkin, DrayTek, Edimax, HP, Monoprice, Netis, Netgear, Ubiquiti, SMC, ZyXel, ZTE. Also versions of OpenWRT are vulnerable.
Not a single fucking person is sitting at home thinking, “I’m totally not trans, but I’d probably give it a whirl if I could easily and cheaply change my birth certificate to reflect a gender with which I do not identify.”
Stop being fucking stupid, you absolute ballbags.
— Fancy Brenda 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (they/them) (@SpillerOfTea) March 4, 2022
“People who are already trans and have always existed will be much more likely to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate if the process ceases to be so costly, time-consuming and dehumanising.”
— Fancy Brenda 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (they/them) (@SpillerOfTea) March 4, 2022
BREAKING: Florida legislators voted to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy on Thursday, a move that would severely restrict access to the procedure in a state that for decades has been a refuge for women from across the South, with @aglorioshttps://t.co/RUKhWYA45c
At a moment when democracy is under attack from authoritarian regimes around the world, we must address the growing authoritarian factions in our country.
Paul Manafort, who was an advisor to the Pro-Russia/Pro-Putin former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, was Trump’s campaign Chairman. He worked for free. Manafort picked Pence for VP.
Manafort never stopped working and talking with Russia throughout the 2016 election.
Trump bragged about love letters from North Korea. He was Putin’s puppet. Truly vile.
Republicans are soft. Soft-headed. Soft on our enemies. Soft of racism. Soft on sexism.
Having no principles or morals is disqualifying.
Yep, that would be totally believable. Because China has such a large fleet of F-22s. And planes’ affiliations are definitely only identifiable by flags.
I think we’re beyond any viable off-ramps for Putin at this point, but this is certainly one way to make the war less popular in Russia. https://t.co/QvFmwDDU9k
The judge has "has effectively taken a 10,000 ton, $1.8 billion guided-missile destroyer out of commission. As the Navy builds up its naval presence in Europe to guard against further Russian aggression, it is down a ship" https://t.co/acaW41MzvR
As you can see, the right has created another no-win situation for President Biden. If President Biden doesn’t cut the flow of Russian oil, then the right can accuse him of being weak. Even though he has been sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing other sanctions. If President Biden cuts off the flow of Russian oil, then Republicans can blame him for the higher oil prices because there is less oil available. Even though there is very little President Biden can do about the price of oil. It will take two years for Keystone XL pipeline to be completed if President Biden restarted the program. That doesn’t solve the problem right now. That oil would also be sold on the open market, so we possibly wouldn’t get it. The oil is being transported by other ways as well currently. We could make land available for oil drilling, but it would also take time to put the wells in place. Assuming the oil companies want to do it. They might like the way things are because it is more profitable that way.
This situation could have been prevented if Republicans and more Democrats voted for the Green New Deal in order to reduce our dependence on oil.
Plus as I understand it the oil companies are sitting on land leases they already have but have not done anything with. The US is the largest producer of oil, and yet it is sold on the open market you mention instead of being restricted to home use. Also there is the question of refineries. Oil comes in grades, and not all refineries refine the same grades of oils. So there is a mix of sending oils from country to country to where the ability to take that grade of oil and make it into the final product for sale. It really is a complicated mess. The US president has little control over it, if any.
And then the right can blame President Biden for the price of oil being too high. We could put our military in Ukraine and hope Putin doesn’t retaliate with nukes. Even if Putin doesn’t the right will be upset when a soldier gets a paper cut.
Despite the attempts to smear Biden, the Democrats have proposed and are trying to enact boycotts and restrictions on Russian oil. Strangely the Republicans have not supported this effort even as the right wing media is demanding it. It is a double edged sword, if Biden does sanction the Russian oil even though the US part of it has already shrunk to very low levels if the price of oil increases the right can blame Biden. If Biden doesn’t act to sanction the Russian oil then the right can accuse Biden of not supporting Ukraine. The right wing loves this as it lets then do what they do best, talk out both sides of their mouth because for them it is not the policy that counts but how to attack Democrats. They are kids wanting to hurt the other. They don’t care about policy or what is best for people. They want the emotional childish game. So let us see how many of the Republicans in congress support sanctions on Russian oil.
This is done by a right wing media cartoonist to try to force the US into a war because of the fact most people care about the hurt of other people. But it is not that simple. Yes Ukrainians are dying. How many more will die if madman Putin who is repeatedly demonstrated he doesn’t care about human life feels backed into a corner and does launch nuclear weapons? How many more will die then. How long will the destruction last then? There are ways to handle this war that are not flashy and does not beat the breast of the wannabe macho men, but it keeps the death toll down.
The right has deliberately poisoned the well on CRT. ‘Critical race theory’ is the perfect villain,” Rufo wrote. He takes critical-race theory as a concept, strips it of all meaning, and repurposes it as a catchall for white grievances. “The goal,” he tweeted, “is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think ‘critical race theory.’ We have decodified the term and will recodify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans.” As you can see this is a manufactured crisis for political gain by the right and a person very arguably a white supremacist. CRT has become a code for the racist history of the US and some white people don’t want it taught accurately and if taught it must be watered down to seem a beneficial action by white people toward blacks. Not sure why so many white people identify with the slavers rather than the abolitionists. CRT is only a legal theory taught in law schools or advanced degree programs. It is not taught in high schools, and it is not taught in grade schools. That idea is another right wing media misinformation campaign. And Rufo admits it.
The “Biden weak” trope wore out, so let’s try “Harris incompetent.” Biden’s day off, attack Harris. Ho, hum. Perhaps the alleged cartoonist should be worried about the Trump Principle: the ability to spectacularly fail upwards while destroying everything around you. It’s well practiced by most Republicans. She has undertaken several difficult tasks and done — not perfectly: This is politics — but pretty well. However, like the big lie(s) about Hillary promulgated by the reich wingers, I suspect their big lies about Harris will prevail in the end, if only by 55% to 45%.
Viewers watch the speech of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at an event in the Czech Republic on March 4, 2022.Photo/Miroslav Chaloupka (CTK via AP Images)
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with members of the US Congress Saturday morning to plead for more military help—he asked for either a no-fly zone over his country to protect it from Russian air attacks, or shipments of planes. While Congressional leadership praised the meeting, it seems to have had all of the hiccups you might expect from a Zoom call involving dozens of aging, tech-inept, publicity-hungry American politicians.
The event was, of course, an opportunity for members of Congress to brag about their involvement in the crisis: Members of both parties posted pictures of themselves participating in the call and even sending side-messages to Zelenskyy, who appeared unshaven and wearing an army green t-shirt as he spoke about the need for military assistance.
Just got off a call with @ZelenskyyUa. His heroism & the bravery of the Ukrainian people have become an inspiration to the world. The US needs to immediately step up to make sure they have the jets and weapons they need, & to impose an oil & gas embargo to disrupt Putin's war. pic.twitter.com/LQEVSzecQc
But GOP senators Marco Rubio, of Florida, and Steve Daines, of Montana, were blasted by some of their colleagues for doing their bragging in a real-time—something that members of Congress were specifically asked not to do to ensure Zelenskyy’s safety.
The Ukrainian Ambassador very intentionally asked each of us on the zoom to NOT share anything on social media during the meeting to protect the security of President Zelenskyy. Appalling and reckless ignorance by two US Senators. https://t.co/geolhKxbLp
— Rep. Dean Phillips 🇺🇸 (@RepDeanPhillips) March 5, 2022
At one point during his emotional presentation, Zelensky paused to ask one of the American lawmakers to mute themselves. “Senator Rick Scott, please mute your mic,” he said. https://t.co/ElfsEAtQ4y
church ministry has found a new way to indoctrinate public school students, and the Pennridge School District in Pennsylvania is giving them the platform to pull it off.
There’s also a flyer for “RE:VIVALS Outreach Center” which offers free tutoring for students in the district. The flyer even notes that the volunteers who work with them “are educators, administrators, counselors, and aides. All have received full clearance from the State of Pennsylvania to work with children and youth.”
It’s not until you read the fine print at the very bottom that you notice the catch: This is a bait-and-switch attempt to “bring hope and healing to the community through the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
That’s not just some euphemism. This isn’t a church that expresses its faith by helping members of the community. This is a blatant attempt to indoctrinate public school students. And we know that because one mother reached out to them in the hopes they could help her daughter catch up in her AP Biology class after she missed several lessons on evolution… and the response was jaw-dropping:
Laura Foster, a district parent, reached out to the program, Re:vivals Resource Center, to inquire about assistance for her daughter, Camille, with her AP Biology exam.
In an email response to Foster, Donna Tindall of Re:vivals, wrote that a tutor could help Camille understand evolution through a “biblical worldview… meaning that we believe that God created the world in six literal days.”
“Although we accept this through faith, there is evidence pointing in that direction,” said Tindall. “I think our tutor would welcome the opportunity to help [Camille] understand what is being presented and perhaps to examine the presuppositions as well as the supporting facts for both conclusions.”
None of that would help Camille. What it would do it confuse her by injecting mythology into a science class, leaving her worse off as she prepares for an advanced placement exam that could earn her college credit. Spreading misinformation and embracing lies may be acceptable for members of the First Baptist Church of Perkasie, which sponsors the program, but it shouldn’t be an option for people who take education seriously. It’s despicable that the school allows this program to be publicized on its website without any sort of disclaimer that this ministry is mostly interested in winning converts and undoing what students learn in the classroom.
When Emily Rizzo of public radio station WHYY inquired about this with Pennridge Superintendent David Bolton, he initially said any group is allowed to request their flyers listed on the district’s website… before offering his personal stamp of approval for this particular for of misinformation:
In an email to Foster, Superintendent Bolton said he had “spoken directly with Re:Vivals about the tutoring program before it began and [had] personally visited multiple times and [had] received feedback from multiple families who have used the service.”
I’m sure it all seems very nice and the volunteers mean well. That doesn’t erase the fact that this is just an attempt to indoctrinate kids through the public school system or that the “tutoring” involves material that contradicts what kids learn in the classroom.
Parents shouldn’t have to investigate the organization themselves in order to understand the real mission. The school should make that clear up front instead of suggesting they vetted and approved all the groups posting flyers on the website.
Perhaps it’ll take Satanists or atheists demanding their own groups’ flyers get listed on the district’s website before these people take the matter seriously.
WHYY also notes that this particular district has been at the center of a number of recent “culture war” battles that pushed for conservative Christian policies:
The district is effectively functioning as an arm of the local churches. And students are the ones who are ultimately punished for that partnership.
HEMANT MEHTA
Hemant Mehta is the founder of FriendlyAtheist.com, a YouTube creator, podcast co-host, and author of multiple books about atheism. He can be reached at @HemantMehta. More by Hemant Mehta
I have committed heresy in Washington. I’ve been in the Senate for only three years, and I have released an 11-point plan with 128 ideas on what Republicans should do after we win the coming elections and take control of the Senate and House. In the real world beyond the Beltway, Republicans and independents demand bold action and a plan to save our nation.
They see no point in taking control of Congress if we are simply going to return to business as usual. So, I went out and made a statement that got me in trouble. I said that all Americans need to have some skin in the game. Even if it is just a few bucks, everyone needs to know what it is like to pay some taxes. It hit a nerve.
Part of the deception is achieved by disconnecting so many Americans from taxation. It’s a genius political move. And it is bankrupting us. There will be many more attacks on me and this plan from careerists in Washington, who personally profit while ruining this country. Bring it on.
Incredibly, Rick Scott has doubled down in his bid to get the nation to pay attention to his plan to eliminate Social Security & Medicare and raise taxes on half the countryhttps://t.co/wIjqn6asqT
Scott writes WSJ op-ed defending his agenda, including making all pay income tax. He says “free-loaders who abuse the welfare system” should pay something.
Republicans “don’t deserve to govern” unless they want to fix America.https://t.co/HqiphBIemB
Sen. Rick Scott released a television ad promoting an 11-point Republican agenda for the midterms. The chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, he’s pushed the plan on the Rescue America website. “Our borders are being invaded, inflation is raging and our shelves are empty,” Scott says in narration.
“Crime is rampant. Police are being killed, and God-fearing people are being silenced.” The plan stokes culture wars on abortion and anti-LGBTQ stances, quoting the Bible and making a case for a heartbeat bill.
The ad can be watched online now and will begin airing on television airways nationwide on Friday. Paid for by Scott’s own PAC, Scott for Florida, he said the ad is backed by a seven-figure national TV and digital buy.
Rick Scott, the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, put out an agenda for Republicans to run on that includes requiring "all Americans" — including low-income families and the elderly — to pay income taxes.
That means raising taxes on 100+ million Americans.
New on the 11-point plan: Rick Scott's campaign tells me this would also apply to the 2030 census, meaning that there would be no data at all on the racial makeup of the US.https://t.co/vo6NRRVEty
NEW: Rick Scott just went on Fox to defend the new GOP 2022 platform that calls for raising taxes on the middle class and seniors — he claimed that “of course” he didn’t call to raise taxes. His plan specifically calls for raising income taxes on “over half of Americans.”
Let’s remember: Rick Scott refused to expand Medicaid, denying health care to about 800,000 Floridians. Now, he’s promising higher taxes for middle-class and working-class families.
In a private meeting at Mar-a-Lago a few days ago, Donald Trump made a personal pitch to Senate Republican campaign chief Rick Scott. “You should run for Senate majority leader,” he told the NRSC chair. It wasn’t the first time, either: Trump has repeatedly told Scott he’d be great at the job and should challenge Mitch McConnell.
The Florida governor-turned-senator is navigating some treacherous terrain — and we’re not talking about the Senate landscape.
He’s trying to balance working with the GOP’s two most powerful figures in McConnell and Trump, who also happen to despise each other. Scott, 69, made waves — and infuriated some McConnell allies — when he bucked the GOP leader’s decision not to lay out a policy agenda for 2022 and instead released his own.
Sen. Rick Scott continues to project optimism about the electoral climate for Republicans, forecasting an “unbelievable” shift in school boards in 2022. During an interview Wednesday morning on Fox News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade Show, the Senator said there would be an “unbelievable number of school board changes this next year.”
Scott expects cultural backlash to prevail. “Because parents are fed up with these school boards telling them that your kid’s oppressed or your kid’s an oppressor. That is so crazy,” Scott added.
Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, closed out 2021 trumpeting much of the same message he has all year, an expectation that critical race theory can be used to mobilize November voters.
Scottie's Playtime 
