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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
December 10, 2021
The Rude Pundit: They Really Thought They Could Overturn the 2020 Election
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
12/09/2021
They Really Thought They Could Overturn the 2020 Election
In the lunatic Powerpoint that Donald Trump's former Chief of Staff and loyal cumrag Mark Meadows turned over to the committee investigating the January 6, 2021 coup attempt, there are two words that completely undo any assertion that there was any real fuckery in the election. Without those two words, these weak-minded, strong-arming fucktoads could have perhaps tried to say that they were more concerned with the integrity of the elections than anything else, that they were standing firm for America's democratic traditions and laws. But there was no way that they were going to be allowed to make the case without them because that's all it really was about and no one was gonna be fuckin' permitted to forget it.
The two words? "Trump wins."
It's not that we all didn't know that the goal was to wipe away the legal election of Joe Biden in favor of another term lurching through shit with Donald fucking Trump. But the Powerpoint file makes clear: they wanted to do anything they could to install Trump, even if it tore the country apart. The short sentence "Trump wins," in all capital letters with two exclamation points after it, appears twice. It's a declaration of purpose and a call to arms against reality.
When I saw that in the goddamned file, I couldn't help but wonder how this could have gone if they hadn't been so stupidly evil, if Trump's morbidly obese ego hadn't put his cheating his way to victory front and center. Would it have given cover to more Republicans to sign up to the Big Lie if they had played it as about election integrity as an end in and of itself? Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and begged for him to conjure out of thin air the exact number of votes for Trump to win the state. Instead, Trump could have merely said he was concerned about the vote there and wanted to assure that Biden's victory was real.
snip//
And that's the thing about the whole coup attempt (and we can stop being coy about this shit. Call a coup a "coup" ): the people behind it weren't fucking around. They just smoked their own stash too much and believed that others in the various levels of government throughout the country would go along with the coup. Or they were riding Trump's mania like a surfboard, hoping they'd catch a sweet wave of Republican officials willing to shitcan democracy for the sake of the ego and potential criminal liability of a fake billionaire and wannabe Mussolini.
more...
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2021/12/they-really-thought-they-could-overturn.html
December 10, 2021
Deadly Nocturnal Tornadoes Threaten 25 Million Friday Night
TAKE COVER
Barbie Latza Nadeau
Correspondent-At-Large
Published Dec. 10, 2021 4:33AM ET
Gene Blevins via Reuters
Deadly Nocturnal Tornadoes Threaten 25 Million Friday Night
https://www.thedailybeast.com/deadly-nocturnal-tornadoes-threaten-25-million-friday-nightDeadly Nocturnal Tornadoes Threaten 25 Million Friday Night
TAKE COVER
Barbie Latza Nadeau
Correspondent-At-Large
Published Dec. 10, 2021 4:33AM ET
Gene Blevins via Reuters
A string of potentially deadly thunderstorms is predicted to barrel through several Southern states overnight Friday, threatening at least 25 million people as they sleep, or attempt to, with terrifying nocturnal tornadoes. People in the greater Memphis area as well as Nashville and into Indiana and Kentucky face the greatest risk, according to the National Weather Service, but those along the Mississippi River and into Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas are also under threat. The National Weather Service says that those in the storm path should take extra precautions to receive weather alerts since night time storms tend to be the deadliest because they catch people off guard. “Friday night is a time window that everyone needs to watch closely, have multiple ways to receive weather alerts, and know exactly what your plan of action is in case severe weather threatens,” the National Weather Service office in Paducah, Kentucky warned.
December 10, 2021
State judge rules citizen enforcement of Texas abortion law unconstitutional
The ruling comes shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue its decision on the Texas law.
Dec. 9, 2021, 10:53 PM EST
By Reuters
A judge in Texas ruled on Thursday that a law prohibiting abortions after about six weeks violated the state's constitution because it allows private citizens to sue abortion providers.
State District Court Judge David Peeples was ruling on a contentious Texas law that bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat has been detected, usually after about six weeks and when many women do not yet realize they are pregnant.
Abortion providers signaled that despite the ruling, they are unlikely to resume the procedure until an expected ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. The law, which went into effect in September, effectively bans nearly all abortions in Texas, America's second most-populous state.
Texas Right to Life, an anti-abortion group that backed the law, immediately filed an appeal against Thursday's ruling.
The law was designed to avoid normal means of legal challenge, because rather than making state officials responsible for enforcement, it instead gave private individuals anywhere the right to sue doctors and others who provide abortions after six weeks in Texas.
more...
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/state-judge-rules-citizen-enforcement-texas-abortion-law-unconstitutional-n1285712
State judge rules citizen enforcement of Texas abortion law unconstitutional
State judge rules citizen enforcement of Texas abortion law unconstitutional
The ruling comes shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue its decision on the Texas law.
Dec. 9, 2021, 10:53 PM EST
By Reuters
A judge in Texas ruled on Thursday that a law prohibiting abortions after about six weeks violated the state's constitution because it allows private citizens to sue abortion providers.
State District Court Judge David Peeples was ruling on a contentious Texas law that bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat has been detected, usually after about six weeks and when many women do not yet realize they are pregnant.
Abortion providers signaled that despite the ruling, they are unlikely to resume the procedure until an expected ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. The law, which went into effect in September, effectively bans nearly all abortions in Texas, America's second most-populous state.
Texas Right to Life, an anti-abortion group that backed the law, immediately filed an appeal against Thursday's ruling.
The law was designed to avoid normal means of legal challenge, because rather than making state officials responsible for enforcement, it instead gave private individuals anywhere the right to sue doctors and others who provide abortions after six weeks in Texas.
more...
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/state-judge-rules-citizen-enforcement-texas-abortion-law-unconstitutional-n1285712
December 9, 2021
Biden is delivering the fastest economic recovery in history. Why hasn't anyone noticed?
By Max Burns, Opinion Contributor — 12/09/21 08:30 AM EST
Democrats are faced with a sticky problem: The economy is nearing full employment after businesses added 210,000 jobs in November, labor force participation climbed to its highest level since the pandemic and wages are rising across many industries. Yet most voters are increasingly pessimistic about President Biden’s economic stewardship.
“I’m not exactly sure why what’s happening isn’t being characterized as a booming recovery from a worldwide shutdown,” Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz (D) mused in a tweet last month. The answer involves a bit of Democratic over-optimism and a whole lot of Republican messaging the Biden administration has been slow to counter.
Schatz is largely right: Under Biden, the American economy has recovered from its Trump-era lows with remarkable speed. Just a year ago, the unemployment rate sat stubbornly at 6.7 percent. Today, only 4.2 percent of Americans are out of work. Similar economic recoveries have normally taken three times as long. The Biden administration is delivering on the fastest sustained economic recovery in American history, yet its messaging struggles to tell that story.
More important for Democrats is that this isn’t a “paper recovery,” where unemployment rates fall because more Americans simply give up looking for work. Much to Democrats’ relief, the opposite is true for the Biden recovery. The labor force participation rate, the percentage of Americans 16 and older who are working or actively looking for work, just hit pre-pandemic levels. That’s a hugely reassuring development for analysts who initially feared the global pandemic would be a drag on the labor force rate for years to come.
more...
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/584905-biden-is-delivering-the-fastest-economic-recovery-in-history-why-hasnt
Biden is delivering the fastest economic recovery in history. Why hasn't anyone noticed?
Biden is delivering the fastest economic recovery in history. Why hasn't anyone noticed?
By Max Burns, Opinion Contributor — 12/09/21 08:30 AM EST
Democrats are faced with a sticky problem: The economy is nearing full employment after businesses added 210,000 jobs in November, labor force participation climbed to its highest level since the pandemic and wages are rising across many industries. Yet most voters are increasingly pessimistic about President Biden’s economic stewardship.
“I’m not exactly sure why what’s happening isn’t being characterized as a booming recovery from a worldwide shutdown,” Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz (D) mused in a tweet last month. The answer involves a bit of Democratic over-optimism and a whole lot of Republican messaging the Biden administration has been slow to counter.
Schatz is largely right: Under Biden, the American economy has recovered from its Trump-era lows with remarkable speed. Just a year ago, the unemployment rate sat stubbornly at 6.7 percent. Today, only 4.2 percent of Americans are out of work. Similar economic recoveries have normally taken three times as long. The Biden administration is delivering on the fastest sustained economic recovery in American history, yet its messaging struggles to tell that story.
More important for Democrats is that this isn’t a “paper recovery,” where unemployment rates fall because more Americans simply give up looking for work. Much to Democrats’ relief, the opposite is true for the Biden recovery. The labor force participation rate, the percentage of Americans 16 and older who are working or actively looking for work, just hit pre-pandemic levels. That’s a hugely reassuring development for analysts who initially feared the global pandemic would be a drag on the labor force rate for years to come.
more...
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/584905-biden-is-delivering-the-fastest-economic-recovery-in-history-why-hasnt
December 9, 2021
GOP fails to dent the popularity of Biden's Build Back Better plan
Republicans tried to make the Democrats' Build Back Better package less popular. New polls make clear that the GOP failed to persuade the public.
Dec. 9, 2021, 9:20 AM EST
By Steve Benen
For the most part, Democrats have reason to be discouraged with the latest national polling. President Joe Biden's approval rating is lagging; the party is trailing on the congressional generic ballot; and surveys show the governing majority getting little credit for the strong economic recovery.
But there is an important ray of sunshine breaking through the Democratic clouds. The new Monmouth poll found that a key part of the White House's legislative agenda is more popular than the president and the party pushing it.
The newest Data for Progress poll, also released yesterday, pointed in a similar direction, with the Build Back Better package enjoying 64 percent support.
snip//
But in theory, the polls should help stiffen Democratic spines. After more than seven months' worth of work, most of the country is still on board with the party's ambitious package.
Democrats will not benefit from abandoning their own popular plans.
GOP fails to dent the popularity of Biden's Build Back Better plan
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-fails-dent-popularity-biden-s-build-back-better-plan-n1285656GOP fails to dent the popularity of Biden's Build Back Better plan
Republicans tried to make the Democrats' Build Back Better package less popular. New polls make clear that the GOP failed to persuade the public.
Dec. 9, 2021, 9:20 AM EST
By Steve Benen
For the most part, Democrats have reason to be discouraged with the latest national polling. President Joe Biden's approval rating is lagging; the party is trailing on the congressional generic ballot; and surveys show the governing majority getting little credit for the strong economic recovery.
But there is an important ray of sunshine breaking through the Democratic clouds. The new Monmouth poll found that a key part of the White House's legislative agenda is more popular than the president and the party pushing it.
Turning to Washington, the president's large spending plans remain broadly popular.... Support for the Build Back Better (BBB) plan to expand access to health care, college, paid leave and other services remains fairly steady at 61%.
The newest Data for Progress poll, also released yesterday, pointed in a similar direction, with the Build Back Better package enjoying 64 percent support.
snip//
But in theory, the polls should help stiffen Democratic spines. After more than seven months' worth of work, most of the country is still on board with the party's ambitious package.
Democrats will not benefit from abandoning their own popular plans.
December 9, 2021
Dozens of camels barred from Saudi beauty contest over Botox, touch-ups
Botox injections, face lifts and other cosmetic alterations to make the camels more attractive are strictly prohibited.
Dec. 8, 2021, 11:36 PM EST
By The Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi authorities have conducted their biggest-ever crackdown on camel beauty contestants that received Botox injections and other artificial touch-ups, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported Wednesday, with over 40 camels disqualified from the annual pageant.
Saudi Arabia’s popular King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, which kicked off earlier this month, invites the breeders of the most beautiful camels to compete for some $66 million in prize money. Botox injections, face lifts and other cosmetic alterations to make the camels more attractive are strictly prohibited. Jurors decide the winner based on the shape of the camels’ heads, necks, humps, dress and postures.
Judges at the monthlong festival in the desert northeast of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, are escalating their clamp down on artificially enhanced camels, the official news agency reported, using “specialized and advanced” technology to detect tampering.
This year, authorities discovered dozens of breeders had stretched out the lips and noses of camels, used hormones to boost the beasts’ muscles, injected camels’ heads and lips with Botox to make them bigger, inflated body parts with rubber bands and used fillers to relax their faces.
more...
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/dozens-camels-barred-saudi-beauty-contest-botox-touch-ups-rcna8149
Dozens of camels barred from Saudi beauty contest over Botox, touch-ups
Dozens of camels barred from Saudi beauty contest over Botox, touch-ups
Botox injections, face lifts and other cosmetic alterations to make the camels more attractive are strictly prohibited.
Dec. 8, 2021, 11:36 PM EST
By The Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi authorities have conducted their biggest-ever crackdown on camel beauty contestants that received Botox injections and other artificial touch-ups, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported Wednesday, with over 40 camels disqualified from the annual pageant.
Saudi Arabia’s popular King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, which kicked off earlier this month, invites the breeders of the most beautiful camels to compete for some $66 million in prize money. Botox injections, face lifts and other cosmetic alterations to make the camels more attractive are strictly prohibited. Jurors decide the winner based on the shape of the camels’ heads, necks, humps, dress and postures.
Judges at the monthlong festival in the desert northeast of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, are escalating their clamp down on artificially enhanced camels, the official news agency reported, using “specialized and advanced” technology to detect tampering.
This year, authorities discovered dozens of breeders had stretched out the lips and noses of camels, used hormones to boost the beasts’ muscles, injected camels’ heads and lips with Botox to make them bigger, inflated body parts with rubber bands and used fillers to relax their faces.
more...
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/dozens-camels-barred-saudi-beauty-contest-botox-touch-ups-rcna8149
December 9, 2021
https://politicalwire.com/2021/12/08/texas-school-district-pulls-400-books/
Texas School District Pulls 400 Books
December 8, 2021 at 2:48 pm EST By Taegan Goddard
Texas School District Pulls 400 Books
https://politicalwire.com/2021/12/08/texas-school-district-pulls-400-books/
Texas School District Pulls 400 Books
December 8, 2021 at 2:48 pm EST By Taegan Goddard
“A Texas school district pre-emptively pulled more than 400 books from its libraries for review following an inquiry from a Republican state lawmaker,” NBC News reports.
The school district said in a statement that it was reviewing the books “out of an abundance of caution” to “ensure they did not have any obscene or vulgar material in them.”
The school district said in a statement that it was reviewing the books “out of an abundance of caution” to “ensure they did not have any obscene or vulgar material in them.”
December 8, 2021
Biden Unveils ‘Building a Better America’ Branding
December 8, 2021 at 7:51 am EST By Taegan Goddard
*********
https://www.whitehouse.gov/build/
snip//
As the Biden-Harris Administration works towards Building a Better America, the President, Vice President, and Cabinet are traveling to red states, blue states, big cities, small towns, rural areas, and tribal lands to meet people where they live and work, hear what communities need firsthand, and showcase what the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law does for them. Whether it’s good jobs, better roads, easier commutes, cleaner water, or more reliable power, Building a Better America means we’ll work together as one team with one mission. We will work with Governors, Mayors, Tribal leaders, businesses owners, union members, and community leaders from across America to get the job done on task, on time, and on budget.
Building a Better America happens from the bottom-up and middle-out with good-paying, union jobs. It puts equity at the center of our work so that infrastructure brings us together and no community is left behind. It helps to tackle climate crisis by building sustainable and resilient infrastructure. And it makes sure that this is truly an investment in the American people with American-made products and manufacturing.
************** This link is terrific; explains BBB easily...what's not to like?
https://www.whitehouse.gov/bipartisan-infrastructure-law/
President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Biden Unveils 'Building a Better America' Branding
https://politicalwire.com/2021/12/08/biden-unveils-building-a-better-america-branding/Biden Unveils ‘Building a Better America’ Branding
December 8, 2021 at 7:51 am EST By Taegan Goddard
President Biden today launched a new website and unveiled bold new branding as part of a nationwide tour to sell the benefits of his infrastructure package, Axios reports.
*********
https://www.whitehouse.gov/build/
snip//
As the Biden-Harris Administration works towards Building a Better America, the President, Vice President, and Cabinet are traveling to red states, blue states, big cities, small towns, rural areas, and tribal lands to meet people where they live and work, hear what communities need firsthand, and showcase what the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law does for them. Whether it’s good jobs, better roads, easier commutes, cleaner water, or more reliable power, Building a Better America means we’ll work together as one team with one mission. We will work with Governors, Mayors, Tribal leaders, businesses owners, union members, and community leaders from across America to get the job done on task, on time, and on budget.
Building a Better America happens from the bottom-up and middle-out with good-paying, union jobs. It puts equity at the center of our work so that infrastructure brings us together and no community is left behind. It helps to tackle climate crisis by building sustainable and resilient infrastructure. And it makes sure that this is truly an investment in the American people with American-made products and manufacturing.
************** This link is terrific; explains BBB easily...what's not to like?
https://www.whitehouse.gov/bipartisan-infrastructure-law/
President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
December 8, 2021
Worse than Trump — press gets called out for rigged Biden coverage
One's an authoritarian
Eric Boehlert
1 hr ago
snip//
Too many news organizations view themselves primarily as witnesses in the unfolding drama today, paid to document the beating that democracy is taking at the hands of extremist Republicans. Journalists don’t see themselves as having a vested interest in America maintaining a functioning democracy.
It all goes back the cherished, safe model the D.C. press has used for at least 50 years in terms of covering politics in this country: Left-leaning Democrats square off against right-leaning Republicans, and all the key players fall within the broad definition of mainstream politics, and they’re all generally honest, decent people.
That blueprint no longer works because the Republican Party, including key leaders, have sprinted away from any traditional sense of fact or honor-based politics and now lie about everything. They lie about the economy, about Covid, about Trump, about the insurrection, about elections, about education, about 9/11. One side has become deeply radicalized while the other side is trying to save America from losing touch with the democratic foundations that have guided this country for more than 250 years.
Yet Biden gets worse coverage than Trump.
Eric Boehlert: Worse than Trump -- press gets called out for rigged Biden coverage
https://pressrun.media/p/worse-than-trump-press-gets-calledWorse than Trump — press gets called out for rigged Biden coverage
One's an authoritarian
Eric Boehlert
1 hr ago
snip//
Too many news organizations view themselves primarily as witnesses in the unfolding drama today, paid to document the beating that democracy is taking at the hands of extremist Republicans. Journalists don’t see themselves as having a vested interest in America maintaining a functioning democracy.
It all goes back the cherished, safe model the D.C. press has used for at least 50 years in terms of covering politics in this country: Left-leaning Democrats square off against right-leaning Republicans, and all the key players fall within the broad definition of mainstream politics, and they’re all generally honest, decent people.
That blueprint no longer works because the Republican Party, including key leaders, have sprinted away from any traditional sense of fact or honor-based politics and now lie about everything. They lie about the economy, about Covid, about Trump, about the insurrection, about elections, about education, about 9/11. One side has become deeply radicalized while the other side is trying to save America from losing touch with the democratic foundations that have guided this country for more than 250 years.
Noted Dan Kennedy at Media Nation, “The media cling to both-sides-ism despite four years of a raging sociopath in the White House, an attempted insurrection by his supporters, and dangerous denialism about COVID-19.”
Yet Biden gets worse coverage than Trump.
December 7, 2021
How the New York Times Enables Right-Wing Spin
Its op-ed editors are played for fools by the right’s propagandists.
by Robert Kuttner
December 7, 2021
The New York Times has a dilemma. It is both our national paper of record and a paper with a basically liberal editorial stance. Unlike the right-wing press, the Times prizes factual accuracy in its news reporting. So, as good liberals who believe in presenting both sides of a controversy, how to offer space on the op-ed page to conservative viewpoints without sacrificing its core commitment to facts?
Given the tendency of an increasing fraction of conservatives to dwell in the realm of delusion, this goal is not easy. But the Times is bungling it by publishing op-eds by writers who are disingenuous about who they are and what they are selling, as well as intellectually dishonest.
The Times needs a better filter to detect factual whoppers and hidden agendas. Otherwise, it just enables right-wing propaganda. And of course, the placement of an op-ed in the Times by a publicist is pure gold.
As the old saying goes, you are entitled to your own opinion; you are not entitled to your own facts. The American Prospect at any given time employs three interns. Their primary assignment is fact-checking. The Times has far more interns than we do. Even opinion pieces need to be checked for basic factual accuracy. Judging by what gets into the paper, the Times doesn’t do that, or doesn’t do it well.
snip//
It’s an old problem. Robert Frost famously said that a liberal is the man who is too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel. It’s not the Times’ fault there are so few intellectually honest conservatives. But the paper needs a better BS detector.
How the New York Times Enables Right-Wing Spin
https://prospect.org/politics/how-the-new-york-times-enables-right-wing-spin/How the New York Times Enables Right-Wing Spin
Its op-ed editors are played for fools by the right’s propagandists.
by Robert Kuttner
December 7, 2021
The New York Times has a dilemma. It is both our national paper of record and a paper with a basically liberal editorial stance. Unlike the right-wing press, the Times prizes factual accuracy in its news reporting. So, as good liberals who believe in presenting both sides of a controversy, how to offer space on the op-ed page to conservative viewpoints without sacrificing its core commitment to facts?
Given the tendency of an increasing fraction of conservatives to dwell in the realm of delusion, this goal is not easy. But the Times is bungling it by publishing op-eds by writers who are disingenuous about who they are and what they are selling, as well as intellectually dishonest.
The Times needs a better filter to detect factual whoppers and hidden agendas. Otherwise, it just enables right-wing propaganda. And of course, the placement of an op-ed in the Times by a publicist is pure gold.
As the old saying goes, you are entitled to your own opinion; you are not entitled to your own facts. The American Prospect at any given time employs three interns. Their primary assignment is fact-checking. The Times has far more interns than we do. Even opinion pieces need to be checked for basic factual accuracy. Judging by what gets into the paper, the Times doesn’t do that, or doesn’t do it well.
snip//
It’s an old problem. Robert Frost famously said that a liberal is the man who is too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel. It’s not the Times’ fault there are so few intellectually honest conservatives. But the paper needs a better BS detector.
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