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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
December 29, 2022
The Far-Right's Romance With Cruelty
by Steven Day | December 29, 2022 - 8:00am
snip//
But the cruelty of the far right is something different. This is cruelty as the defining characteristic of a movement. To the far right, cruelty is more than a means to achieving a policy goal—it is often the goal itself. Cruelty for cruelty's sake—directed against "the other," a variable collection of liberals, immigrants, and minority groups. It has become the substance, even the soul, of today's far right. And it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate the far right from the rest of the political right on this score.
Just look at how much pure cruelty by GOP leaders has been in evidence lately. Ron DeSantis spends public money to transport a handful of undocumented immigrants to politically liberal northern areas of the country. Substantively this accomplishes nothing. The tiny number of people involved doesn't amount to a scratch on a Boeing 747-8, when compared to the number of undocumented immigrants in Florida. But even that understates the absurdity of the stunt. The coup de grâce is the fact the immigrants in question were taken from Texas, not Florida.
snip//
But cruel political stunts are just one example of right-wing cruelty. There is also the cruel way the right attacks transgender students. Unwilling to offer any accommodation, right-wing leaders work to bar them from participating in sports in their affirmed gender and require them to use bathrooms designated for the sex they don't identify with. They go so far as to ban books that touch on transgender issues from school libraries, and prohibit any mention of the subject in class. The view from the right is clearly that no compassion is required. Who cares if they are 7.6 times more likely than other young people to commit suicide?
Then there is the troubling tendency of the political right in general to respond to political violence against liberals with cruel humor. This was recently on view in the right-wing response to the brutal attack against Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul.
snip//
There is no reason to think any of this will change. On an individual basis, some members of far-right organizations will likely be able to evolve over time—to back away from the darkness. But the far-right movement itself won't. Cruelty, hatred for "the other," and a love of violence are all now central to the movement's essence, burned into its DNA.
It won't change. It can only be defeated.
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
The Far-Right's Romance With Cruelty
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/steven-day/104516/the-far-rights-romance-with-crueltyThe Far-Right's Romance With Cruelty
by Steven Day | December 29, 2022 - 8:00am
snip//
But the cruelty of the far right is something different. This is cruelty as the defining characteristic of a movement. To the far right, cruelty is more than a means to achieving a policy goal—it is often the goal itself. Cruelty for cruelty's sake—directed against "the other," a variable collection of liberals, immigrants, and minority groups. It has become the substance, even the soul, of today's far right. And it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate the far right from the rest of the political right on this score.
Just look at how much pure cruelty by GOP leaders has been in evidence lately. Ron DeSantis spends public money to transport a handful of undocumented immigrants to politically liberal northern areas of the country. Substantively this accomplishes nothing. The tiny number of people involved doesn't amount to a scratch on a Boeing 747-8, when compared to the number of undocumented immigrants in Florida. But even that understates the absurdity of the stunt. The coup de grâce is the fact the immigrants in question were taken from Texas, not Florida.
snip//
But cruel political stunts are just one example of right-wing cruelty. There is also the cruel way the right attacks transgender students. Unwilling to offer any accommodation, right-wing leaders work to bar them from participating in sports in their affirmed gender and require them to use bathrooms designated for the sex they don't identify with. They go so far as to ban books that touch on transgender issues from school libraries, and prohibit any mention of the subject in class. The view from the right is clearly that no compassion is required. Who cares if they are 7.6 times more likely than other young people to commit suicide?
Then there is the troubling tendency of the political right in general to respond to political violence against liberals with cruel humor. This was recently on view in the right-wing response to the brutal attack against Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul.
snip//
There is no reason to think any of this will change. On an individual basis, some members of far-right organizations will likely be able to evolve over time—to back away from the darkness. But the far-right movement itself won't. Cruelty, hatred for "the other," and a love of violence are all now central to the movement's essence, burned into its DNA.
It won't change. It can only be defeated.
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
December 28, 2022
Awful.
https://politicalwire.com/2022/12/28/half-of-chinese-passengers-on-flights-to-italy-had-covid/
Half of Chinese Passengers on Flights to Italy Had Covid
December 28, 2022 at 2:14 pm EST By Taegan Goddard
Half of Chinese Passengers on Flights to Italy Had Covid
Awful.
https://politicalwire.com/2022/12/28/half-of-chinese-passengers-on-flights-to-italy-had-covid/
Half of Chinese Passengers on Flights to Italy Had Covid
December 28, 2022 at 2:14 pm EST By Taegan Goddard
“Nearly half of the passengers on two recent flights from China to Milan tested positive for Covid-19,” The Hill reports.
December 27, 2022
Democrats Call on George Santos to Resign
December 27, 2022 at 8:53 am EST By Taegan Goddard
Democrats Call on George Santos to Resign
https://politicalwire.com/2022/12/27/democrats-call-on-george-santos-to-resign/Democrats Call on George Santos to Resign
December 27, 2022 at 8:53 am EST By Taegan Goddard
Democratic lawmakers are calling for Rep.-elect George Santos (R-NY) to resign from the House seat he won in November, after the Long Island Republican admitted to “résumé embellishment” — dialing up the pressure on GOP leadership to respond, the Washington Post reports.
December 23, 2022
28 Republicans Vote Against Bill To Protect Child Sex Abuse Survivors
What is WRONG with these clods? 
28 Republicans Vote Against Bill To Protect Child Sex Abuse Survivors
Many are calling out the hypocrisy of the 28 Republicans who wouldn't support the legislation.
Shruti Rajkumar
Dec 22, 2022, 10:25 PM EST
In the House vote Wednesday on the Respect for Child Survivors Act, 28 Republicans said no to the legislation that aims to address the FBI’s mishandling of child sex abuse cases.
The bipartisan bill was introduced in the House of Representatives in the wake of the investigation of Larry Nassar, the longtime doctor for the U.S. women’s national gymnastics team. Multiple reports of Nassar’s sexual abuse of children and young women on the team were ignored for years. Through this legislation, the FBI would be required to use multidisciplinary teams of trained professionals in investigations of sexual abuse to address the problems of poorly conducted interviews and the re-traumatizing of survivors.
Nassar was convicted in federal and state trials in 2017 and 2018 and is serving 60 years in federal prison before he begins his state prison sentences.
Despite opposition from the GOP lawmakers, the bill passed in the House on a vote of 385 to 28. But many are calling attention to the hypocrisy of the Republicans who voted no.
Among the Republicans who opposed the bill were Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (Colo). Both embrace far-right views and have previously made anti-LGBTQ comments equating queer adults to predators, labeling them as “groomers” — a right-wing rhetorical smear that has been used to discredit the LGBTQIA+ community in discussions about civil rights.
more...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republicans-bill-abuse-lgbtq_n_63a514eee4b0d6724fb54a4f
December 23, 2022
Posted on Wed, Dec 21st, 2022 by Jason Easley
In Moving Press Conference Moment, Ukrainian Journalist Thanks Biden For Keeping His Family Alive
The human realities of the war in Ukraine were brought to the White House as a Ukrainian journalist by thanking Biden for his support and saying that without US support, his family in Ukraine would not be here.
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Video @ link~
When right-wing extremist House Republicans like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene talk about cutting off aid to Ukraine, they are talking about allowing and enabling Putin to slaughter Ukrainians.
As Americans who celebrate are preparing for the holidays, the people of Ukraine are fighting for their lives and sitting in their homes wondering if they are going to be bombed.
Supporting Ukraine is democracy and human freedom. Anyone who wants to cut off aid to Ukraine is signaling their opposition to democracy and freedom.
In Moving Press Conference Moment, Ukrainian Journalist Thanks Biden For Keeping His Family Alive
https://www.politicususa.com/2022/12/21/ukraine-biden-press-conference-zelenskyy.htmlPosted on Wed, Dec 21st, 2022 by Jason Easley
In Moving Press Conference Moment, Ukrainian Journalist Thanks Biden For Keeping His Family Alive
The human realities of the war in Ukraine were brought to the White House as a Ukrainian journalist by thanking Biden for his support and saying that without US support, his family in Ukraine would not be here.
Advertising
Video @ link~
The journalist was called on by President Zelenskyy and said, “Thank you. President Zelenskyy and president Biden. Firstly, Ukraine, and I mean it, I want to thank the United States for supporting my country and, you know, my family is in Ukraine. I definitely understand they’ll not be alive today if America will not support my country both politically and militarily. So thank you for this.”
When right-wing extremist House Republicans like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene talk about cutting off aid to Ukraine, they are talking about allowing and enabling Putin to slaughter Ukrainians.
As Americans who celebrate are preparing for the holidays, the people of Ukraine are fighting for their lives and sitting in their homes wondering if they are going to be bombed.
Supporting Ukraine is democracy and human freedom. Anyone who wants to cut off aid to Ukraine is signaling their opposition to democracy and freedom.
December 23, 2022
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
12/22/2022
Zelensky Challenges Us to Live Up to Our American Hype
snip//
Here's the thing: I've been watching the United States fund bullshit fascists and totalitarians my entire fucking life. In Latin America, in Africa, in the Middle East, this country has provided arms and money to the worst goddamn people and the most worthless causes. We've funded mercenaries and weapons manufacturers. We've funded crazed terrorists by calling them "insurgents" and funded evil militaries crushing freedom-fighting insurgents. God, the madness this nation has helped unleash on other nations. I've watched Democratic and Republican presidents justify all of this under some vague and incoherent notion of "national security" or whatever other serious-sounding nonsense they want to use to coerce us into buying into savagery. And I heard nary a peep from conservatives about virtually any of it. But now with Ukraine they decided to take a stand? Go fuck yourselves bloody.
What Zelensky did was say to us, to we who live in this goddamned ludicrously powerful country in this goddamned ludicrously debased age, that we're supposed to represent some fucking ideals to the rest of the world. "American resolve must guarantee the future of our common freedom, the freedom of people who stand for their values," he said, linking Ukrainian hopes to freedom to our own American belief in that nebulous idea of "freedom." And he invoked the military history of the United States, with his references to the Battle of the Bulge and FDR and the Battle of Saratoga, fer chrissake, demonstrating that he knows American history better than most Americans and that he wants us to believe in the myths we tell ourselves. Look, Zelensky said, your mythology is based on real shit that happened, real battles with real lives and real consequences. Now we have this battle against this enemy. The consequences for failure would be genocide and expanded aggression by the lunatic Putin. For the US to walk away would be shameful. It would make us an accessory to mass murder, even more than we usually are.
That's why the conservatives who dangle from Putin's taint hair went crazy. It's because they say constantly that the United States is the greatest country in the history of everything. They say all the time that we are something special. And we're saying, and Zelensky is imploring, that we fucking well act like it once in a while. Sometimes even a superpower has to put the fuck up or shut the fuck up.
The Rude Pundit: Zelensky Challenges Us to Live Up to Our American Hype
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2022/12/zelensky-challenges-us-to-live-up-to.htmlThe Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
12/22/2022
Zelensky Challenges Us to Live Up to Our American Hype
snip//
Here's the thing: I've been watching the United States fund bullshit fascists and totalitarians my entire fucking life. In Latin America, in Africa, in the Middle East, this country has provided arms and money to the worst goddamn people and the most worthless causes. We've funded mercenaries and weapons manufacturers. We've funded crazed terrorists by calling them "insurgents" and funded evil militaries crushing freedom-fighting insurgents. God, the madness this nation has helped unleash on other nations. I've watched Democratic and Republican presidents justify all of this under some vague and incoherent notion of "national security" or whatever other serious-sounding nonsense they want to use to coerce us into buying into savagery. And I heard nary a peep from conservatives about virtually any of it. But now with Ukraine they decided to take a stand? Go fuck yourselves bloody.
What Zelensky did was say to us, to we who live in this goddamned ludicrously powerful country in this goddamned ludicrously debased age, that we're supposed to represent some fucking ideals to the rest of the world. "American resolve must guarantee the future of our common freedom, the freedom of people who stand for their values," he said, linking Ukrainian hopes to freedom to our own American belief in that nebulous idea of "freedom." And he invoked the military history of the United States, with his references to the Battle of the Bulge and FDR and the Battle of Saratoga, fer chrissake, demonstrating that he knows American history better than most Americans and that he wants us to believe in the myths we tell ourselves. Look, Zelensky said, your mythology is based on real shit that happened, real battles with real lives and real consequences. Now we have this battle against this enemy. The consequences for failure would be genocide and expanded aggression by the lunatic Putin. For the US to walk away would be shameful. It would make us an accessory to mass murder, even more than we usually are.
"Let’s do it. Let the terrorist state be held responsible for its terror and aggression and compensate all losses done by this war," Zelensky said about Russia, and then he pronounced, "Let the world see that the United States are here."
That's why the conservatives who dangle from Putin's taint hair went crazy. It's because they say constantly that the United States is the greatest country in the history of everything. They say all the time that we are something special. And we're saying, and Zelensky is imploring, that we fucking well act like it once in a while. Sometimes even a superpower has to put the fuck up or shut the fuck up.
December 23, 2022
Raskin Will Be Top Democrat on Oversight Committee
December 22, 2022 at 12:54 pm EST By Taegan Goddard
Raskin Will Be Top Democrat on Oversight Committee
https://politicalwire.com/2022/12/22/raskin-will-be-top-democrat-on-oversight-committee/Raskin Will Be Top Democrat on Oversight Committee
December 22, 2022 at 12:54 pm EST By Taegan Goddard
“House Democrats on Thursday elected Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) as ranking member on the House Oversight Committee,” Axios reports.
“The job comes with a hefty mandate: leading the defense against a battery of planned Republican investigations into the Biden administration on everything from the border to Afghanistan to Hunter Biden.”
“The job comes with a hefty mandate: leading the defense against a battery of planned Republican investigations into the Biden administration on everything from the border to Afghanistan to Hunter Biden.”
December 22, 2022
We Haven’t Seen Trump’s Taxes Yet, but It’s Clear the IRS Failed America
DO BETTER
The IRS is required to conduct audits of the president and vice president while they are in office—but Trump apparently got a pass.
Shan Wu
Updated Dec. 22, 2022 6:21AM ET / Published Dec. 21, 2022 11:40PM ET
The quest for Donald Trump’s taxes is finally over and whatever secrets Trump fought for years to conceal will soon be revealed for all to see. But one fact is already clear: The IRS botched its job.
snip//
Perhaps this should not have been surprising given that Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was the first Treasury Secretary to refuse to turn over tax information in response to a congressional request and when Congress sued to obtain compliance a Trump-appointed judge–Trevor McFadden–delayed ruling on the case until after Trump had left office.
But it surely must be stunning to most Americans that among the reasons cited by IRS officials for their failure to follow policy was that they were apparently intimidated by the complexities of Trump’s taxes. In an internal memo, the agency seemed to whine about the return having “about 400 flow-through returns… and since some of these are tiered… a total of 500 flow-through returns”—which meant that to “do a thorough review of these returns we would need a team much larger than the current team.”
A “flow-through” entity is one in which the income that comes into the business passes onto the owner and is commonly used to reduce taxation.
In sum, the IRS rewarded Trump’s complex business structures by throwing their hands up at the prospect of having to dig into all those hundreds of records. Excuse me, but I thought that was what IRS agents liked to do?
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/we-havent-seen-trumps-taxes-yet-but-its-clear-the-irs-failed-america?ref=home
We Haven't Seen Trump's Taxes Yet, but It's Clear the IRS Failed America
We Haven’t Seen Trump’s Taxes Yet, but It’s Clear the IRS Failed America
DO BETTER
The IRS is required to conduct audits of the president and vice president while they are in office—but Trump apparently got a pass.
Shan Wu
Updated Dec. 22, 2022 6:21AM ET / Published Dec. 21, 2022 11:40PM ET
The quest for Donald Trump’s taxes is finally over and whatever secrets Trump fought for years to conceal will soon be revealed for all to see. But one fact is already clear: The IRS botched its job.
snip//
Perhaps this should not have been surprising given that Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was the first Treasury Secretary to refuse to turn over tax information in response to a congressional request and when Congress sued to obtain compliance a Trump-appointed judge–Trevor McFadden–delayed ruling on the case until after Trump had left office.
But it surely must be stunning to most Americans that among the reasons cited by IRS officials for their failure to follow policy was that they were apparently intimidated by the complexities of Trump’s taxes. In an internal memo, the agency seemed to whine about the return having “about 400 flow-through returns… and since some of these are tiered… a total of 500 flow-through returns”—which meant that to “do a thorough review of these returns we would need a team much larger than the current team.”
A “flow-through” entity is one in which the income that comes into the business passes onto the owner and is commonly used to reduce taxation.
In sum, the IRS rewarded Trump’s complex business structures by throwing their hands up at the prospect of having to dig into all those hundreds of records. Excuse me, but I thought that was what IRS agents liked to do?
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/we-havent-seen-trumps-taxes-yet-but-its-clear-the-irs-failed-america?ref=home
December 22, 2022
US man who pleaded guilty to hate crime ordered to write essays on racism
Jarl Rockhill also required to read Ta-Nehisi Coates, as part of plea deal for plastering a racist sticker outside refugee non-profit
Gloria Oladipo
@gaoladipo
Wed 21 Dec 2022 10.43 EST
Last modified on Wed 21 Dec 2022 12.40 EST
snip//
The judge in the case, Christopher Ramras of the Multnomah county circuit, also ordered that Rockhill read Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and watch the documentary Myanmar’s Killing Fields, which concerns the Rohingya genocide in the south-east Asian country.
Rockhill was ordered to write 750- and 500-word essays on what he has learned, to the satisfaction of his probation officer.
The terms of Rockhill’s plea deal also include two years of probation, a written apology to IRCO, 50 hours of community service and a mandate that he stay away from IRCO buildings.
Ramras has issued similar sentences. In 2019, after an Oregon man told a Ukrainian immigrant to go home, Ramras ordered the writing of an essay about issues facing eastern European immigrants, the Oregonian reported.
US man who pleaded guilty to hate crime ordered to write essays on racism
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/21/oregon-hate-crime-racism-essays-plea-dealUS man who pleaded guilty to hate crime ordered to write essays on racism
Jarl Rockhill also required to read Ta-Nehisi Coates, as part of plea deal for plastering a racist sticker outside refugee non-profit
Gloria Oladipo
@gaoladipo
Wed 21 Dec 2022 10.43 EST
Last modified on Wed 21 Dec 2022 12.40 EST
snip//
The judge in the case, Christopher Ramras of the Multnomah county circuit, also ordered that Rockhill read Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and watch the documentary Myanmar’s Killing Fields, which concerns the Rohingya genocide in the south-east Asian country.
Rockhill was ordered to write 750- and 500-word essays on what he has learned, to the satisfaction of his probation officer.
The terms of Rockhill’s plea deal also include two years of probation, a written apology to IRCO, 50 hours of community service and a mandate that he stay away from IRCO buildings.
Ramras has issued similar sentences. In 2019, after an Oregon man told a Ukrainian immigrant to go home, Ramras ordered the writing of an essay about issues facing eastern European immigrants, the Oregonian reported.
December 22, 2022
Here's A Headline You Won't See On Fox Noise
yogibear1963
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Wednesday December 21, 2022 · 10:14 AM EST
Share this article
“Joe Biden made the oil trade of the year”
From Tim Fernholz at Quartz via Yahoo.
Biden sold 180 million barrels of the strategic petroleum reserve at about $96ish per barrel and is now refilling it at about $73ish per barrel.
The US government will realize a $4 billion profit (180,000,000 X $22).
(it’s actually not that simple, but in the ball park)
---------------—
Republicans (derisively) “Let’s Go Brandon”
The World “Holy Crap! Look At Brandon Go”
Competence. We has it. For a while.
Here's A Headline You Won't See On Fox Noise
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/21/2143098/-Here-s-A-Headline-You-Won-t-See-On-Fox-NoiseHere's A Headline You Won't See On Fox Noise
yogibear1963
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Wednesday December 21, 2022 · 10:14 AM EST
Share this article
“Joe Biden made the oil trade of the year”
From Tim Fernholz at Quartz via Yahoo.
Biden sold 180 million barrels of the strategic petroleum reserve at about $96ish per barrel and is now refilling it at about $73ish per barrel.
The US government will realize a $4 billion profit (180,000,000 X $22).
(it’s actually not that simple, but in the ball park)
“Gas prices were a major story in 2022: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine roiled energy markets and some predicted the US dollar might be subsumed by a new, commodity-backed trade currency.
Instead, it appears the US government made the oil trade of the year: Releasing 180 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve between March and the end of this year in an effort to blunt the effect of rising prices, the US government appears to have made about $4 billion, as prices have fallen dramatically over the course of the year.
Selling when crude oil prices were high, the US captured billions in value. By one widely-used measure, the price of crude oil in Texas peaked at about $124 a barrel in March, and the average price during the SPR sales period was about $96; today that oil costs just $73 per barrel. “
Instead, it appears the US government made the oil trade of the year: Releasing 180 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve between March and the end of this year in an effort to blunt the effect of rising prices, the US government appears to have made about $4 billion, as prices have fallen dramatically over the course of the year.
Selling when crude oil prices were high, the US captured billions in value. By one widely-used measure, the price of crude oil in Texas peaked at about $124 a barrel in March, and the average price during the SPR sales period was about $96; today that oil costs just $73 per barrel. “
---------------—
Republicans (derisively) “Let’s Go Brandon”
The World “Holy Crap! Look At Brandon Go”
Competence. We has it. For a while.
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: NY
Home country: US
Current location: Florida
Member since: Mon Sep 6, 2004, 09:54 PM
Number of posts: 171,050
