Post by mhbruin on Feb 6, 2022 9:20:03 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 543 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
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California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday Feb 2)
There has been no significant rain since the first week in January. There are no big storms in the 10-day forecast. After a great start, this could still turn out to be a bad season.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
If They Are Waiting for the Liar to Help, He Isn't Coming. He Didn't March to the Capitol With You Either.
Donald Trump's pledge to pardon January 6 rioters may help fire up his supporters, but several defendants facing federal charges say they no longer believe the former President's promises.
Even defendants who are holding out hope for clemency are clinging to a false hope. Most of their cases are likely to be resolved in court long before the 2024 presidential election. This week alone, following Trump's comments, seven people have cut guilty plea deals.
"What we have learned from the year that has gone by, is that my clients, apart from their families and their lawyers who are representing them, is that no help is coming," Joe McBride, a lawyer representing five riot defendants, including ones in jail, told CNN.
"It is us, and we're going to have to make do with what we've got," he added.
Even QOP Members Think It is Shameful
Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, another Republican who voted alongside all 50 Senate Democrats to convict Trump, also denounced the RNC's resolution, calling it shameful.
"Shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol," Romney tweeted Friday. "Honor attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth even when doing so comes at great personal cost."
Following the vote to censure, Republican Maryland Governor Larry Hogan tweeted: "It's a sad day for my party — and the country — when you’re punished just for expressing your beliefs, standing on principle, and refusing to tell blatant lies."
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R- La., questioned the censure, tweeting, "The RNC is censuring Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger because they are trying to find out what happened on January 6th — HUH?"
What Did Jesus Think About Racism? I Don't Recall "Love Your White Neighbor As Thyself".
A couple in Temecula, California, is among those facing consequences and backlash after posting a now-deleted TikTok video in which they made racist comments about Asian Americans. The couple has been identified as Sandra and Roger Miller. (Not the one who sang "King of the Road".)
As a result of the video, Sandra, an employee at Linfield Christian School in Temecula, has reportedly been fired. Her husband, Roger, an employee for the city of Coronado in San Diego County, has been placed on administrative leave.
In the viral video with millions of views, the couple consistently used racial slurs and blamed Asians “for starting COVID."
According to ABC News affiliate KABC, the video was taken at a parking garage at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. Two women were shopping when the couple started making racist remarks and saying things like, "Stop spreading COVID."
They even commented on communism and touched a stair railing to which Sandra said: “I’m gonna die from all the germs.”
The original video has since been deleted, but was re-uploaded to TikTok and other social media platforms by others to spread awareness.
"America is a free country," Sandra is heard saying in the video before getting into a car. "Go back to China!" The couple is then seen showing the videographer the middle finger before driving off.
"We're not even Chinese, by the way," a voice behind the camera is heard saying.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Thinks He is a Hawley Terror
Editorial: Hawley posts a fist-pump to ignorance with his position on Ukraine
Something serious appears to have prompted Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., to label a fellow Republican, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a “con artist” and “one of the worst human beings.” Perhaps it was Hawley’s public questioning of the need to defend Ukraine from a Russian invasion. Maybe it was when Hawley this week urged President Joe Biden to cave to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand that Ukraine be officially denied membership in NATO. Or maybe it was when Hawley falsely asserted that Biden is to blame for Ukraine’s predicament.
There once was a time when Hawley had presidential aspirations, but a badly timed fist-pump on Jan. 6, 2021, along with his appeasing advocacy of Russian supremacy just about closes the lid on his presidential dreams. We thought Hawley should’ve resigned his Senate seat for his role in the Capitol insurrection, but the idea that the United States should kneel down to Russia over Ukraine underscores how grossly unfit Hawley is to continue in office.
The Criminal in Chief
Donald Trump not only tore up records demanded by the House select committee probing the Jan. 6 insurrection, he also ripped up lots of other letters, memos, articles, briefings and schedules — in violation of the Presidential Records Act, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
He kept it up throughout his presidency, despite being warned to preserve all the documents — as required by law — by the White House counsel, two chiefs of staff, and others, according to the Post.
“It is absolutely a violation of the act,” Courtney Chartier, president of the Society of American Archivists, told the Post. “There is no ignorance of these laws. There are White House manuals about the maintenance of these records.”
The law demands that the White House preserve all written communication related to a president’s official duties — including everything from memos to emails — and turn it all over to the National Archives and Records Administration.
Racist Comments? What Racist Comments
On Friday, more than 70 episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience” disappeared from Spotify amid the ongoing controversy over the streamer’s cozy deal with the podcaster.
Some 113 episodes of Rogan’s show have now been removed from Spotify, which is the podcast’s exclusive host, according to data from a website that tracks deleted episodes. (It’s unclear when the approximately 40 other episodes were removed.) That’s just a fraction of the show’s total number of episodes, which stands at around 1,700.
The National Review Doesn't Approve of the QNC
The conservative National Review magazine on Saturday savaged its usual ally the Republican National Committee as “morally repellent” and “politically self-destructive” for how it recently addressed last year’s violent attack on the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters.
The magazine slashed the RNC for censuring Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) on Friday for daring to serve on the House select committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Particularly startling, in censuring the lawmakers, the RNC described the attack on the Capitol as “legitimate political discourse.” Some 140 police officers were injured when the mob stormed the Capitol that day and more than 740 people have been arrested in conjunction with the riot.
“The action of the mob on January 6 was an indefensible disgrace,” the Review flatly declared in its editorial. “It is deserving of both political accountability and criminal prosecution. Aspects of it are also fit subjects for a properly conducted congressional inquiry. It is wrong to minimize or excuse what happened that day.”
The RNC’s massive misstep in labeling the Capitol action “legitimate political discourse” is “political malpractice of the highest order coming from people whose entire job is politics,” the Review noted.
It will be “used against hundreds of elected Republicans who were not consulted” in the drafting of the wording and “do not endorse its sentiment,” the magazine added.
“The RNC bought the entire party a bounty of bad headlines and easy attack ads,” the Review concluded. “It did so for no good purpose, and its action will only encourage those who see riots as legitimate political discourse. A mistake, and worse, a shame.”
If Only His Head Would Really Blow Up
Steve Bannon darkly warned Mike Pence on Friday that the former vice president will take his decision not to overturn the 2020 presidential election “to your grave.”
Bannon’s comments came after Pence publicly defended his refusal to hijack the Electoral College certification process on Jan. 6, 2021, to negate Joe Biden’s victory. Trump was “wrong,” Pence said, to insist that a vice president has the power to single-handedly toss election results.
On his “War Room” podcast, Bannon unloaded on Pence. “You’re going to carry this thing eventually to your grave, OK? Because it is a mark of shame.”
Bannon also called Pence a “stone-cold coward” — twice — for upholding his oath of office and the Constitution in the face of a furious Trump and a mob of rioters at the Capitol.
“My head’s blowing up,” he said, adding, “I can’t take Pence.”
Red State Tax Dollars At "Work"
Anti-abortion centers across the country are receiving tens of millions of tax dollars to talk women out of ending their pregnancies, a nearly fivefold increase from a decade ago that resulted from an often-overlooked effort by mostly Republican-led states.
The nonprofits known as crisis pregnancy centers are typically religiously affiliated and counsel clients against having an abortion as part of their free but limited services. That practice and the fact that they generally are not licensed as medical facilities have raised questions about whether it’s appropriate to funnel so much tax money their way.
An Associated Press tally based on state budget figures reveals that nearly $89 million has been allocated to such centers across about a dozen states this fiscal year. A decade ago, the annual funding for the programs hovered around $17 million in about eight states.
Estimates of how many abortions have been prevented by such programs are unknown because many states only require reports of how many clients were served.
“It’s bad governing. We’re supposed to be monitoring our taxpayer money and we don’t know where the money is going,” said Julie von Haefen, a Democratic state representative in North Carolina, which has sent millions in public money to pregnancy centers. “These clinics don’t provide medical care. They act like they do, but they don’t.”
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Can a Deaf Dog Learn New Tricks?
A deaf rescue dog is learning canine sign language before he heads to a new home.
Rocco found himself in care for a second time in just a few years after one of his new loving owners died and the other had health issues.
When RPSCA staff found the Staffordshire bull terrier had lost his hearing from an infection, they were "incredibly sad" and set about teaching him a new way to understand commands.
So far, he's learning the signs for "good boy", "go for a walk" and "go wee".
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It's Easy to Profit From an NFT. Just Sell It To Yourself.
Some people repeatedly sell themselves their own NFTs in an attempt to artificially inflate their prices, according to a report published Wednesday.
Called “wash trading,” the practice has long been speculated as key to the NFT market’s steep rise to an estimated $44 billion in sales last year, though it is difficult to definitively prove. But some examples are hiding in plain sight, according to a report by Chainalysis, a company that monitors blockchain technology, the digital ledgers that act as the backbone for cryptocurrencies and smart-contract assets such as NFTs.
NFTs, short for nonfungible tokens, are digital contracts that allow people to prove they own specific online assets, like official copies of a given artwork, and are usually bought and sold with cryptocurrencies, especially Ethereum. Enthusiasts bill NFTs as a new way to support art and own collectibles, with celebrities and some artists trying to profit from the technology.
But that market is also rife with problems, like digital pirates downloading and making a profit off of artists’ work without their permission.
In its report, Chainalysis identified and tracked NFTs that were sold back and forth at least 25 times by the same handful of cryptocurrency wallets — what the company’s analysts say are overt examples of wash trading. In the 110 profitable cases, sales from those NFTs made nearly $8.9 million.
Are Those "Profits" Taxable?
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Biden Bucks at Work
With the Biden administration announcing it had recently distributed all $122 billion of the funds under the relief plan, some themes have begun to emerge about how the money will be spent across the nation.
An NBC News analysis of the spending plans of four of the five largest school districts, and interviews with education experts, found that priorities for the federal aid included increasing instructional time through tutoring; summer school and after-school and enrichment programs. Literacy support, and hiring and increasing pay for staff, including teachers and mental health counselors, has also been given precedence, along with improving ventilation systems.
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In the Right-Wing Dictionary, "Freedom" Means "White Supremacy".
Indeed, there is a long history of ugly freedoms in this country. From the start of the American experiment the language of freedom applied only to a privileged few. At the time of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, only 2 percent of the city’s population were qualified to vote. Slave codes allowed white property owners to possess Black humans — creating what the historian Tyler Stovall called “white freedom,” the “belief (and practice) that freedom is central to white racial identity, and that only white people can or should be free.” This freedom for the white master extended to torture, rape and lifelong control over the humans he (or she) owned.
In early American history, claims for men’s freedom permitted domestic violence against women, and a husband’s prerogative and privacy allowed him to beat his wife. In 1827 the jurist and legal scholar James Kent argued on behalf of husbands: “The law has given him a reasonable superiority and control over” the person of his wife, he wrote. “He may even put gentle restraints upon her liberty, if her conduct be such as to require it.” In other words: a woman’s freedom was at the discretion of her husband.
In the 20th century, racial segregation was justified as the freedom of white people to control public space and make their own business choices. In his infamous 1963 inaugural speech on segregation, Gov. George Wallace of Alabama couched his stance against integration as “our fight for freedom,” and justified it as “the ideology of our free fathers.” We can call that ideology white supremacy.
And "Racism" Means "White Supremacy"
After years of being branded a racist for his inflammatory comments and actions, Trump and some of his allies are attempting to turn that label back on their critics. In the process, they have wielded their own definition of racism, one that disregards the country’s history of racial exclusion that gives White people a monopoly on power and wealth. To make America more equitable, they argue, everyone must be treated equally — and, therefore, White men must not in any way be disadvantaged.
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Ukraine Doesn't Have to Join NATO to Join With NATO Nations
The emerging deals were on display this week, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan traveling to the Ukrainian capital to send a sharp message to Moscow: His country would help expand Ukraine’s supply of armed, long-range Bayraktar drones — a powerful weapon the Kremlin has warned Kyiv not to use.
The growing cooperation with Turkey is just one element of a broader Kyiv effort to develop smaller security and political pacts, given that Ukraine is facing a lengthy and uncertain path to NATO membership — if it happens at all. The country is also working to cement a new partnership with the U.K. and Poland, highlighted this week when leaders from the three countries met in Kyiv.
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Conservator Abuse. California's Hidden Scandal
Disability advocates in California have given their blessing to proposed legislation that would curb the power of conservators and promote less restrictive alternatives to conservatorships. Conservatorship abuse gained a national spotlight when singer-songwriter Britney Spears fought to be released from a 13-year conservatorship that allowed her father to have full control over her person and assets. A Los Angeles judge ended the conservatorship in November of last year, and activists have used the momentum from the #FreeBritney campaign to further the organizing work they have done for decades. Disability and elder care activists in California are pushing for legislation that makes it easier for people subject to conservatorships to end them and requires judges to examine less constraining options before granting guardianship.
In many cases, the individuals under guardianship cannot have a say in who serves as their guardian. Guardians often charge hefty fees, draining the assets they are supposed to protect. Most significantly, guardians can have full control over the lives of the individuals under their conservatorship, making decisions for their wards on medical care, family visits, and all other elements of daily living. If someone wants to end their conservatorship through court, conservators often prevent them from hiring a lawyer. Most conservatorships last until death.
Anti-guardianship activist Marian Kornicki, whose mother was subject to a guardianship held by third-party private lawyers, said that her family lost over a million dollars to court-appointed guardians who availed themselves with exorbitant fees.
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Who Won the Week?
The EPA, which will resume enforcing mercury pollution limits that the previous administration gutted
President Biden: nabs ISIS leader; flummoxes Putin via tough pushback and NATO unity; strong Jan. jobs report; announces new 'cancer moonshot' and actions to reduce gun crime
Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, for filing a federal lawsuit accusing Don Trump Jr. and Rudy Giuliani of seeking revenge after he testified at #45's first impeachment hearing
The Irish fishermen who stood up to the Russian Navy…and won
Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, and all the other iconic artists who are ditching Spotify for continuing to shield that podcaster guy and his promotion of deadly Covid disinformation
Judge Rudolph Contreras, for invalidating the largest federal oil & gas lease sale in U.S. history because it didn't take the effect on climate change into account
The North Carolina Supreme Court, for striking down the GOP's gerrymandered election maps and ordering them to try again, but this time without all the racism
Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine, which received final approval from the FDA
CDC doesn't do a good job of reporting around holidays.
Doses Administered 7-Day Average | Number of People Receiving 1 or More Doses | Number of People 2 or More Doses | New Cases 7-Day Average | Deaths 7-Day Average | |
| Feb 6 | 627,161 | 251,070,439 | 212,806,521 | ||
| Feb 5 | 655,591 | 250,915,858 | 212,657,682 | ||
| Feb 4 | 680,135 | 250,731,754 | 212,481,465 | 313,117 | 2,404 |
| Feb 3 | 719,986 | 250,593,665 | 212,336,183 | 343,563 | 2,371 |
| Feb 2 | 494,092 | 250,378,993 | 212,130,684 | 378,015 | 2,403 |
| Feb 1 | 510,477 | 250,184,240 | 211,954,555 | 415,552 | 2,369 |
| Jan 31 | 575,732 | 250,029,773 | 211,818,885 | 446,355 | 2,287 |
| Jan 30 | 603,030 | 249,892,470 | 211,695,131 | 497,296 | 2,234 |
| Jan 29 | 595,871 | 249,695,301 | 211,533,229 | 522,626 | 2,261 |
| Jan 28 | 626,946 | 249,473,925 | 211,343,818 | 543,016 | 2,265 |
| Jan 27 | 643,725 | 249,267,851 (I don't know why) | 211,162,083 | 577,748 | 2,300 |
| Jan 26 | 962,958 | 251,518,114 | 210,850,212 | 596,859 | 2,288 |
| Jan 25 | 1,011,603 | 251,289,667 | 210,682,471 | 627,294 | 2,246 |
| Jan 24 | 1,201,186 | 250,964,433 | 210,459,963 | 692,359 | 2,166 |
| Jan 23 | 1,101,405 | 250,763,600 | 210,358,008 | 663,908 | 1,936 |
| Jan 22 | 1,002,322 | 250,568,431 | 210,229,586 | 686,715 | 1,939 |
| Jan 21 | 1,035,111 | 250,262,153 | 210,021,766 | 716,829 | 1,974 |
| Jan 20 | 1,094,988 | 250,028,635 | 209,842,610 | 726,870 | 1,843 |
| Jan 19 | 1,135,453 | 249,702,939 | 209,509,297 | 744,615 | 1,749 |
| Jan 18 | 1,158,537 | 249,393,487 | 209,312,770 | 755,095 | 1,669 |
| Jan 17 | No Data | 736,350 | 1,746 | ||
| Jan 16 | No Data | 771,131 | 1,851 | ||
| Jan 15 | 1,268,202 | 248,707,432 | 208,995,438 | 788,628 | 1,858 |
| Jan 14 | 1,286,773 | 248,338,448 | 208,791,862 | 798,335 | 1,784 |
| Jan 13 | 1,291,013 | 247,987,225 | 208,564,894 | 794,587 | 1,730 |
| Jan 12 | 1,234,672 | 247,695,845 | 208,182,657 | 782,765 | 1,729 |
| Jan 11 | 1,213,113 | 247,321,023 | 207,954,605 | 761,535 | 1,656 |
| Jan 10 | 1,307,445 | 247,051,363 | 207,796,335 | 750,996 | 1,633 |
| Jan 9 | 1,331,635 | 246,812,939 | 207,662,071 | 674,406 | 1,552 |
| Jan 8 | 1,286,783 | 246,447,823 | 207,452,448 | 680,330 | 1,544 |
| Jan 7 | 1,226,151 | 246,050,320 | 207,229,983 | 668,497 | 1,513 |
| Jan 6 | 1,164,127 | 245,653,518 | 207,016,514 | 614,552 | 1,350 |
| Jan 5 | 1,117,999 | 245,278,020 | 206,797,799 | 586,391 | 1,245 |
| Jan 4 | 1,093,005 | 244,947,293 | 206,581,659 | 554,328 | 1,238 |
| Feb 16, 2021 | 1,716,311 | 39,670,551 | 15,015,434 | 78,292 |
| At Least One Dose | Fully Vaccinated | % of Vaccinated W/ Boosters | |
| % of Total Population | 75.6% | 64.1% | 42.5% |
| % of Population 5+ | 80.4% | 68.1% | |
| % of Population 12+ | 85.4% | 72.7% | 45.5% |
| % of Population 18+ | 87.2% | 74.3% | 56.4% |
| % of Population 65+ | 95.0% | 88.4% | 65.0% |
California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday Feb 2)
There has been no significant rain since the first week in January. There are no big storms in the 10-day forecast. After a great start, this could still turn out to be a bad season.
| Percent of Average for this Date | Last Week | 2 Weeks ago | 3 Weeks ago | 4 Weeks ago | 5 Weeks ago | |
| Northern Sierra Precipitation | 113% | 124% | 134% | 149% | 158% | 170% |
| San Joaquin Precipitation | 99% | 110% | 121% | 138% | 156% | 170% |
| Tulare Basin Precipitation | 91% | 101% | 112% | 127% | 145% | 151% |
| Snow Water Content - North | 89% | 117% | 128% | 135% | 134% | |
| Snow Water Content - Central | 89% | 114% | 129% | 148% | 148% | |
| Snow Water Content - South | 92% | 121% | 135% | 160% | 158% |
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
If They Are Waiting for the Liar to Help, He Isn't Coming. He Didn't March to the Capitol With You Either.
Donald Trump's pledge to pardon January 6 rioters may help fire up his supporters, but several defendants facing federal charges say they no longer believe the former President's promises.
Even defendants who are holding out hope for clemency are clinging to a false hope. Most of their cases are likely to be resolved in court long before the 2024 presidential election. This week alone, following Trump's comments, seven people have cut guilty plea deals.
"What we have learned from the year that has gone by, is that my clients, apart from their families and their lawyers who are representing them, is that no help is coming," Joe McBride, a lawyer representing five riot defendants, including ones in jail, told CNN.
"It is us, and we're going to have to make do with what we've got," he added.
Even QOP Members Think It is Shameful
Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, another Republican who voted alongside all 50 Senate Democrats to convict Trump, also denounced the RNC's resolution, calling it shameful.
"Shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol," Romney tweeted Friday. "Honor attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth even when doing so comes at great personal cost."
Following the vote to censure, Republican Maryland Governor Larry Hogan tweeted: "It's a sad day for my party — and the country — when you’re punished just for expressing your beliefs, standing on principle, and refusing to tell blatant lies."
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R- La., questioned the censure, tweeting, "The RNC is censuring Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger because they are trying to find out what happened on January 6th — HUH?"
What Did Jesus Think About Racism? I Don't Recall "Love Your White Neighbor As Thyself".
A couple in Temecula, California, is among those facing consequences and backlash after posting a now-deleted TikTok video in which they made racist comments about Asian Americans. The couple has been identified as Sandra and Roger Miller. (Not the one who sang "King of the Road".)
As a result of the video, Sandra, an employee at Linfield Christian School in Temecula, has reportedly been fired. Her husband, Roger, an employee for the city of Coronado in San Diego County, has been placed on administrative leave.
In the viral video with millions of views, the couple consistently used racial slurs and blamed Asians “for starting COVID."
According to ABC News affiliate KABC, the video was taken at a parking garage at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. Two women were shopping when the couple started making racist remarks and saying things like, "Stop spreading COVID."
They even commented on communism and touched a stair railing to which Sandra said: “I’m gonna die from all the germs.”
The original video has since been deleted, but was re-uploaded to TikTok and other social media platforms by others to spread awareness.
"America is a free country," Sandra is heard saying in the video before getting into a car. "Go back to China!" The couple is then seen showing the videographer the middle finger before driving off.
"We're not even Chinese, by the way," a voice behind the camera is heard saying.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Thinks He is a Hawley Terror
Editorial: Hawley posts a fist-pump to ignorance with his position on Ukraine
Something serious appears to have prompted Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., to label a fellow Republican, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a “con artist” and “one of the worst human beings.” Perhaps it was Hawley’s public questioning of the need to defend Ukraine from a Russian invasion. Maybe it was when Hawley this week urged President Joe Biden to cave to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand that Ukraine be officially denied membership in NATO. Or maybe it was when Hawley falsely asserted that Biden is to blame for Ukraine’s predicament.
There once was a time when Hawley had presidential aspirations, but a badly timed fist-pump on Jan. 6, 2021, along with his appeasing advocacy of Russian supremacy just about closes the lid on his presidential dreams. We thought Hawley should’ve resigned his Senate seat for his role in the Capitol insurrection, but the idea that the United States should kneel down to Russia over Ukraine underscores how grossly unfit Hawley is to continue in office.
The Criminal in Chief
Donald Trump not only tore up records demanded by the House select committee probing the Jan. 6 insurrection, he also ripped up lots of other letters, memos, articles, briefings and schedules — in violation of the Presidential Records Act, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
He kept it up throughout his presidency, despite being warned to preserve all the documents — as required by law — by the White House counsel, two chiefs of staff, and others, according to the Post.
“It is absolutely a violation of the act,” Courtney Chartier, president of the Society of American Archivists, told the Post. “There is no ignorance of these laws. There are White House manuals about the maintenance of these records.”
The law demands that the White House preserve all written communication related to a president’s official duties — including everything from memos to emails — and turn it all over to the National Archives and Records Administration.
Racist Comments? What Racist Comments
On Friday, more than 70 episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience” disappeared from Spotify amid the ongoing controversy over the streamer’s cozy deal with the podcaster.
Some 113 episodes of Rogan’s show have now been removed from Spotify, which is the podcast’s exclusive host, according to data from a website that tracks deleted episodes. (It’s unclear when the approximately 40 other episodes were removed.) That’s just a fraction of the show’s total number of episodes, which stands at around 1,700.
The National Review Doesn't Approve of the QNC
The conservative National Review magazine on Saturday savaged its usual ally the Republican National Committee as “morally repellent” and “politically self-destructive” for how it recently addressed last year’s violent attack on the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters.
The magazine slashed the RNC for censuring Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) on Friday for daring to serve on the House select committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Particularly startling, in censuring the lawmakers, the RNC described the attack on the Capitol as “legitimate political discourse.” Some 140 police officers were injured when the mob stormed the Capitol that day and more than 740 people have been arrested in conjunction with the riot.
“The action of the mob on January 6 was an indefensible disgrace,” the Review flatly declared in its editorial. “It is deserving of both political accountability and criminal prosecution. Aspects of it are also fit subjects for a properly conducted congressional inquiry. It is wrong to minimize or excuse what happened that day.”
The RNC’s massive misstep in labeling the Capitol action “legitimate political discourse” is “political malpractice of the highest order coming from people whose entire job is politics,” the Review noted.
It will be “used against hundreds of elected Republicans who were not consulted” in the drafting of the wording and “do not endorse its sentiment,” the magazine added.
“The RNC bought the entire party a bounty of bad headlines and easy attack ads,” the Review concluded. “It did so for no good purpose, and its action will only encourage those who see riots as legitimate political discourse. A mistake, and worse, a shame.”
If Only His Head Would Really Blow Up
Steve Bannon darkly warned Mike Pence on Friday that the former vice president will take his decision not to overturn the 2020 presidential election “to your grave.”
Bannon’s comments came after Pence publicly defended his refusal to hijack the Electoral College certification process on Jan. 6, 2021, to negate Joe Biden’s victory. Trump was “wrong,” Pence said, to insist that a vice president has the power to single-handedly toss election results.
On his “War Room” podcast, Bannon unloaded on Pence. “You’re going to carry this thing eventually to your grave, OK? Because it is a mark of shame.”
Bannon also called Pence a “stone-cold coward” — twice — for upholding his oath of office and the Constitution in the face of a furious Trump and a mob of rioters at the Capitol.
“My head’s blowing up,” he said, adding, “I can’t take Pence.”
Red State Tax Dollars At "Work"
Anti-abortion centers across the country are receiving tens of millions of tax dollars to talk women out of ending their pregnancies, a nearly fivefold increase from a decade ago that resulted from an often-overlooked effort by mostly Republican-led states.
The nonprofits known as crisis pregnancy centers are typically religiously affiliated and counsel clients against having an abortion as part of their free but limited services. That practice and the fact that they generally are not licensed as medical facilities have raised questions about whether it’s appropriate to funnel so much tax money their way.
An Associated Press tally based on state budget figures reveals that nearly $89 million has been allocated to such centers across about a dozen states this fiscal year. A decade ago, the annual funding for the programs hovered around $17 million in about eight states.
Estimates of how many abortions have been prevented by such programs are unknown because many states only require reports of how many clients were served.
“It’s bad governing. We’re supposed to be monitoring our taxpayer money and we don’t know where the money is going,” said Julie von Haefen, a Democratic state representative in North Carolina, which has sent millions in public money to pregnancy centers. “These clinics don’t provide medical care. They act like they do, but they don’t.”
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Can a Deaf Dog Learn New Tricks?
A deaf rescue dog is learning canine sign language before he heads to a new home.
Rocco found himself in care for a second time in just a few years after one of his new loving owners died and the other had health issues.
When RPSCA staff found the Staffordshire bull terrier had lost his hearing from an infection, they were "incredibly sad" and set about teaching him a new way to understand commands.
So far, he's learning the signs for "good boy", "go for a walk" and "go wee".
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It's Easy to Profit From an NFT. Just Sell It To Yourself.
Some people repeatedly sell themselves their own NFTs in an attempt to artificially inflate their prices, according to a report published Wednesday.
Called “wash trading,” the practice has long been speculated as key to the NFT market’s steep rise to an estimated $44 billion in sales last year, though it is difficult to definitively prove. But some examples are hiding in plain sight, according to a report by Chainalysis, a company that monitors blockchain technology, the digital ledgers that act as the backbone for cryptocurrencies and smart-contract assets such as NFTs.
NFTs, short for nonfungible tokens, are digital contracts that allow people to prove they own specific online assets, like official copies of a given artwork, and are usually bought and sold with cryptocurrencies, especially Ethereum. Enthusiasts bill NFTs as a new way to support art and own collectibles, with celebrities and some artists trying to profit from the technology.
But that market is also rife with problems, like digital pirates downloading and making a profit off of artists’ work without their permission.
In its report, Chainalysis identified and tracked NFTs that were sold back and forth at least 25 times by the same handful of cryptocurrency wallets — what the company’s analysts say are overt examples of wash trading. In the 110 profitable cases, sales from those NFTs made nearly $8.9 million.
Are Those "Profits" Taxable?
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Biden Bucks at Work
With the Biden administration announcing it had recently distributed all $122 billion of the funds under the relief plan, some themes have begun to emerge about how the money will be spent across the nation.
An NBC News analysis of the spending plans of four of the five largest school districts, and interviews with education experts, found that priorities for the federal aid included increasing instructional time through tutoring; summer school and after-school and enrichment programs. Literacy support, and hiring and increasing pay for staff, including teachers and mental health counselors, has also been given precedence, along with improving ventilation systems.
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In the Right-Wing Dictionary, "Freedom" Means "White Supremacy".
Indeed, there is a long history of ugly freedoms in this country. From the start of the American experiment the language of freedom applied only to a privileged few. At the time of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, only 2 percent of the city’s population were qualified to vote. Slave codes allowed white property owners to possess Black humans — creating what the historian Tyler Stovall called “white freedom,” the “belief (and practice) that freedom is central to white racial identity, and that only white people can or should be free.” This freedom for the white master extended to torture, rape and lifelong control over the humans he (or she) owned.
In early American history, claims for men’s freedom permitted domestic violence against women, and a husband’s prerogative and privacy allowed him to beat his wife. In 1827 the jurist and legal scholar James Kent argued on behalf of husbands: “The law has given him a reasonable superiority and control over” the person of his wife, he wrote. “He may even put gentle restraints upon her liberty, if her conduct be such as to require it.” In other words: a woman’s freedom was at the discretion of her husband.
In the 20th century, racial segregation was justified as the freedom of white people to control public space and make their own business choices. In his infamous 1963 inaugural speech on segregation, Gov. George Wallace of Alabama couched his stance against integration as “our fight for freedom,” and justified it as “the ideology of our free fathers.” We can call that ideology white supremacy.
And "Racism" Means "White Supremacy"
After years of being branded a racist for his inflammatory comments and actions, Trump and some of his allies are attempting to turn that label back on their critics. In the process, they have wielded their own definition of racism, one that disregards the country’s history of racial exclusion that gives White people a monopoly on power and wealth. To make America more equitable, they argue, everyone must be treated equally — and, therefore, White men must not in any way be disadvantaged.
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Ukraine Doesn't Have to Join NATO to Join With NATO Nations
The emerging deals were on display this week, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan traveling to the Ukrainian capital to send a sharp message to Moscow: His country would help expand Ukraine’s supply of armed, long-range Bayraktar drones — a powerful weapon the Kremlin has warned Kyiv not to use.
The growing cooperation with Turkey is just one element of a broader Kyiv effort to develop smaller security and political pacts, given that Ukraine is facing a lengthy and uncertain path to NATO membership — if it happens at all. The country is also working to cement a new partnership with the U.K. and Poland, highlighted this week when leaders from the three countries met in Kyiv.
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Conservator Abuse. California's Hidden Scandal
Disability advocates in California have given their blessing to proposed legislation that would curb the power of conservators and promote less restrictive alternatives to conservatorships. Conservatorship abuse gained a national spotlight when singer-songwriter Britney Spears fought to be released from a 13-year conservatorship that allowed her father to have full control over her person and assets. A Los Angeles judge ended the conservatorship in November of last year, and activists have used the momentum from the #FreeBritney campaign to further the organizing work they have done for decades. Disability and elder care activists in California are pushing for legislation that makes it easier for people subject to conservatorships to end them and requires judges to examine less constraining options before granting guardianship.
In many cases, the individuals under guardianship cannot have a say in who serves as their guardian. Guardians often charge hefty fees, draining the assets they are supposed to protect. Most significantly, guardians can have full control over the lives of the individuals under their conservatorship, making decisions for their wards on medical care, family visits, and all other elements of daily living. If someone wants to end their conservatorship through court, conservators often prevent them from hiring a lawyer. Most conservatorships last until death.
Anti-guardianship activist Marian Kornicki, whose mother was subject to a guardianship held by third-party private lawyers, said that her family lost over a million dollars to court-appointed guardians who availed themselves with exorbitant fees.
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Who Won the Week?
The EPA, which will resume enforcing mercury pollution limits that the previous administration gutted
President Biden: nabs ISIS leader; flummoxes Putin via tough pushback and NATO unity; strong Jan. jobs report; announces new 'cancer moonshot' and actions to reduce gun crime
Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, for filing a federal lawsuit accusing Don Trump Jr. and Rudy Giuliani of seeking revenge after he testified at #45's first impeachment hearing
The Irish fishermen who stood up to the Russian Navy…and won
Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, and all the other iconic artists who are ditching Spotify for continuing to shield that podcaster guy and his promotion of deadly Covid disinformation
Judge Rudolph Contreras, for invalidating the largest federal oil & gas lease sale in U.S. history because it didn't take the effect on climate change into account
The North Carolina Supreme Court, for striking down the GOP's gerrymandered election maps and ordering them to try again, but this time without all the racism
Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine, which received final approval from the FDA