Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Celerity
Celerity's Journal
Celerity's Journal
September 23, 2022
https://www.thedailybeast.com/aoc-rival-tina-fortes-family-was-caught-in-2019-drug-and-gun-bust
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s long-shot Republican opponent has labeled the left-wing lawmaker a “crime surge creator”—but in fact, the GOP candidate’s own family have been part of the uptick in illegal activity she has lamented.
A Snopes investigation earlier this year revealed that Tina Forte has a long history of flirting with the political right’s violent fringes: posting photos on social media of herself with the leader of the Proud Boys gang, sharing QAnon-flavored slogans, and even participating in events around Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 rally that culminated in the bloody rampage through the U.S. Capitol. But as a candidate for Congress, Forte has cast herself as a more conventional Republican, playing up her small business-owning background and appealing to fears of increasing crime rates, which she has blamed on bail laws that New York State liberalized after the progressive wave four years ago.
“AOC and her socialist allies have pushed for defunding our police and the disastrous ‘bail reform’ policies which have caused crime to skyrocket in New York,” Forte’s website asserts. “Tina and her husband started with a soda delivery route and went on to build their own beverage distribution company. Now, they’re not only creating jobs but empowering others to create their own businesses.”
Forte revisited these themes in appearances in conservative media shortly after she captured the Republican nomination for the overwhelmingly Democratic seat, which covers sections of Queens and the Bronx. “I grew up here, I own a business here, I raised my family here. I see the difference,” she said in a Fox News interview in August. “We have the criminals that are being released immediately due to the AOC-supported bail reform.”
snip
AOC Rival's Family Caught in Drug and Gun Bust
QAnon-boosting Republican Tina Forte is running against a crime wave her husband, son, and beverage distribution company are part of.https://www.thedailybeast.com/aoc-rival-tina-fortes-family-was-caught-in-2019-drug-and-gun-bust
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s long-shot Republican opponent has labeled the left-wing lawmaker a “crime surge creator”—but in fact, the GOP candidate’s own family have been part of the uptick in illegal activity she has lamented.
A Snopes investigation earlier this year revealed that Tina Forte has a long history of flirting with the political right’s violent fringes: posting photos on social media of herself with the leader of the Proud Boys gang, sharing QAnon-flavored slogans, and even participating in events around Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 rally that culminated in the bloody rampage through the U.S. Capitol. But as a candidate for Congress, Forte has cast herself as a more conventional Republican, playing up her small business-owning background and appealing to fears of increasing crime rates, which she has blamed on bail laws that New York State liberalized after the progressive wave four years ago.
“AOC and her socialist allies have pushed for defunding our police and the disastrous ‘bail reform’ policies which have caused crime to skyrocket in New York,” Forte’s website asserts. “Tina and her husband started with a soda delivery route and went on to build their own beverage distribution company. Now, they’re not only creating jobs but empowering others to create their own businesses.”
Forte revisited these themes in appearances in conservative media shortly after she captured the Republican nomination for the overwhelmingly Democratic seat, which covers sections of Queens and the Bronx. “I grew up here, I own a business here, I raised my family here. I see the difference,” she said in a Fox News interview in August. “We have the criminals that are being released immediately due to the AOC-supported bail reform.”
snip
September 23, 2022
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/09/22/fall-equinox-autumn-first-day/?%20environment_5
https://archive.ph/wip/gnsgK
There are only two times each year when daylight and darkness are in near-perfect harmony everywhere on Earth.
One of them happens Thursday: The autumnal equinox arrives at 9:04 p.m. Eastern time, which marks the astronomical transition from summer to fall in the Northern Hemisphere (and winter to spring south of the equator).
What happens on the equinox?
The autumnal (fall) equinox is the halfway point between our longest and shortest days of the year, and usually falls on Sept. 22 or 23. Technically, an equinox is not a day-long astronomical event. It’s a brief moment in time when the sun appears directly over the Earth’s equator. Like the spring equinox in March, it’s one of only two points in the year when day and night are about 12 hours long everywhere on Earth.
In the Northern Hemisphere, daylight will continue to dwindle until the winter solstice, as the sun traces a shorter and lower path across the sky. The diminishing sunlight is the main reason trees burst into brilliant shades of red, orange and yellow before dropping their leaves for the winter. The location of sunrise and sunset will also edge closer to the southern horizon until December. During the equinox, the sun rises due east and sets due west everywhere on Earth except near the North and South poles.
snip
When summer ends: it's not a day. It's a moment. (10 minutes from now as I post this)
Thursday’s fall equinox is at exactly 9:04 p.m., signaling the start of autumnhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/09/22/fall-equinox-autumn-first-day/?%20environment_5
https://archive.ph/wip/gnsgK
There are only two times each year when daylight and darkness are in near-perfect harmony everywhere on Earth.
One of them happens Thursday: The autumnal equinox arrives at 9:04 p.m. Eastern time, which marks the astronomical transition from summer to fall in the Northern Hemisphere (and winter to spring south of the equator).
What happens on the equinox?
The autumnal (fall) equinox is the halfway point between our longest and shortest days of the year, and usually falls on Sept. 22 or 23. Technically, an equinox is not a day-long astronomical event. It’s a brief moment in time when the sun appears directly over the Earth’s equator. Like the spring equinox in March, it’s one of only two points in the year when day and night are about 12 hours long everywhere on Earth.
In the Northern Hemisphere, daylight will continue to dwindle until the winter solstice, as the sun traces a shorter and lower path across the sky. The diminishing sunlight is the main reason trees burst into brilliant shades of red, orange and yellow before dropping their leaves for the winter. The location of sunrise and sunset will also edge closer to the southern horizon until December. During the equinox, the sun rises due east and sets due west everywhere on Earth except near the North and South poles.
snip
September 23, 2022
https://archive.ph/wip/0VxQa
Have you embraced fall already? Are you drinking coffee flavored with pumpkin spice? Donning scarves and light sweaters? Raking leaves into piles? Wait! I’m not quite done with summer yet! The pool near me is open for another couple of weeks, and there’s still a bit of stone fruit at the market, peeking out from behind barrels of apples and pears. If you see any plums at your market, pick them up! They’re great in this end-of-summer bowl with yellow squash and creamy whipped ricotta — or cottage cheese.
In the process of developing this recipe, it came to my attention that cottage cheese suffers from a bad reputation. Is it its affiliation with low-calorie diets from years past? Is it the texture? Is it the flavor? I was admittedly not a huge fan of the stuff until I tried cultured, whole milk cottage cheese recently. It is remarkably creamy and rich, with a deeper, funkier tang than plain yogurt. I was hooked and started eating it for breakfast and lunch, with jam swirled in or roasted tomatoes piled on top. It’s nice with chunks of melon; it works as a spread for bread. And if you like its flavor, it’s great whipped in a food processor and topped with sauteed late summer vegetables and fruit.
But if you don’t, I think you still should try this simple meal. It is just as good with whipped ricotta, if a little richer. Saute yellow squash or zucchini just until it browns on all sides but stays juicy in the center. Pile this on top of the whipped cheese of your choice. In the same pan, saute sliced plums until they caramelize and get a bit jammy. Let their juices stain the cheese purple before you sprinkle flaky sea salt, chopped pistachios and fresh basil leaves over each bowl. Then, dig in. It’s our last taste of summer, a last gasp of all the flavors we get to enjoy for only a few months each year.
Squash and Plum Bowls With Ricotta
snip
Top creamy ricotta with squash and plums to toast the end of summer
https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/09/22/summer-squash-plum-recipe/https://archive.ph/wip/0VxQa
Have you embraced fall already? Are you drinking coffee flavored with pumpkin spice? Donning scarves and light sweaters? Raking leaves into piles? Wait! I’m not quite done with summer yet! The pool near me is open for another couple of weeks, and there’s still a bit of stone fruit at the market, peeking out from behind barrels of apples and pears. If you see any plums at your market, pick them up! They’re great in this end-of-summer bowl with yellow squash and creamy whipped ricotta — or cottage cheese.
In the process of developing this recipe, it came to my attention that cottage cheese suffers from a bad reputation. Is it its affiliation with low-calorie diets from years past? Is it the texture? Is it the flavor? I was admittedly not a huge fan of the stuff until I tried cultured, whole milk cottage cheese recently. It is remarkably creamy and rich, with a deeper, funkier tang than plain yogurt. I was hooked and started eating it for breakfast and lunch, with jam swirled in or roasted tomatoes piled on top. It’s nice with chunks of melon; it works as a spread for bread. And if you like its flavor, it’s great whipped in a food processor and topped with sauteed late summer vegetables and fruit.
But if you don’t, I think you still should try this simple meal. It is just as good with whipped ricotta, if a little richer. Saute yellow squash or zucchini just until it browns on all sides but stays juicy in the center. Pile this on top of the whipped cheese of your choice. In the same pan, saute sliced plums until they caramelize and get a bit jammy. Let their juices stain the cheese purple before you sprinkle flaky sea salt, chopped pistachios and fresh basil leaves over each bowl. Then, dig in. It’s our last taste of summer, a last gasp of all the flavors we get to enjoy for only a few months each year.
Squash and Plum Bowls With Ricotta
snip
September 22, 2022
One of the internet’s most famous ‘Karens’ has lost a lawsuit against her former employer that claimed she’d been illegally fired and portrayed as racist.
Amy Cooper was dubbed “Central Park Karen” after a video of her accusing a Black bird-watcher of threatening her and calling the police went viral in 2020. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams rejected Cooper’s claims that she’d been defamed by her former employer, Franklin Templeton, when it gave her the boot in the aftermath of the viral incident.
Cooper had tried to argue that the holding company and its chief executive, Jenny Johnson, had perpetuated an image of her as a “privileged white female ‘Karen’” in public statements made about her firing.
She claimed that posts made on social media implied that the company had found details of her alleged racism which weren’t shown in the video, but Abrams disagreed. “The contents of the viral video, as well as the dialogue surrounding it both in the media and on social media, were already matters of public knowledge,” which made the defendants’ statements “inactionable as pure opinion,” Abrams’ decision read.
https://twitter.com/melodyMcooper/status/1264965252866641920
'Central Park Karen' Amy Cooper Loses Case Against Ex-Employer
https://www.thedailybeast.com/central-park-karen-amy-cooper-loses-case-against-ex-employerOne of the internet’s most famous ‘Karens’ has lost a lawsuit against her former employer that claimed she’d been illegally fired and portrayed as racist.
Amy Cooper was dubbed “Central Park Karen” after a video of her accusing a Black bird-watcher of threatening her and calling the police went viral in 2020. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams rejected Cooper’s claims that she’d been defamed by her former employer, Franklin Templeton, when it gave her the boot in the aftermath of the viral incident.
Cooper had tried to argue that the holding company and its chief executive, Jenny Johnson, had perpetuated an image of her as a “privileged white female ‘Karen’” in public statements made about her firing.
She claimed that posts made on social media implied that the company had found details of her alleged racism which weren’t shown in the video, but Abrams disagreed. “The contents of the viral video, as well as the dialogue surrounding it both in the media and on social media, were already matters of public knowledge,” which made the defendants’ statements “inactionable as pure opinion,” Abrams’ decision read.
https://twitter.com/melodyMcooper/status/1264965252866641920
September 22, 2022
MSNBC got a bag of mixed messages from its viewers after it put a disgraced talk show host back in the hot seat. A Thursday episode of Morning Joe had former network talent Chris Matthews on to talk about Donald Trump’s future amid a series of lawsuits and investigations.
“The president’s ice cream cone is melting,” Matthews insisted. But viewers weren’t so happy to see the familiar face, who was let go on account of sexual harassment allegations, with one critic tweeting, “Why the rehabilitation tour for someone aptly let go for their terrible actions?”
Others, meanwhile, were happy that the 76-year-old had returned to their TV sets, with some mentioning that everyone deserves a “second chance.” Matthews retired from the network in 2020 after columnist Laura Bassett wrote a GQ exposé on the 23-year Hardball host, calling him out for making “objectifying and belittling comments” toward her and other female guests.
MSNBC Slammed for Putting Chris Matthews Back On-Air After Sexual Harassment Claims
https://www.thedailybeast.com/msnbc-slammed-for-putting-chris-matthews-back-on-air-after-harassment-claimsMSNBC got a bag of mixed messages from its viewers after it put a disgraced talk show host back in the hot seat. A Thursday episode of Morning Joe had former network talent Chris Matthews on to talk about Donald Trump’s future amid a series of lawsuits and investigations.
“The president’s ice cream cone is melting,” Matthews insisted. But viewers weren’t so happy to see the familiar face, who was let go on account of sexual harassment allegations, with one critic tweeting, “Why the rehabilitation tour for someone aptly let go for their terrible actions?”
Others, meanwhile, were happy that the 76-year-old had returned to their TV sets, with some mentioning that everyone deserves a “second chance.” Matthews retired from the network in 2020 after columnist Laura Bassett wrote a GQ exposé on the 23-year Hardball host, calling him out for making “objectifying and belittling comments” toward her and other female guests.
September 22, 2022
Satirical office comic strip “Dilbert” has been dropped by almost 80 newspapers, its creator said this week. Scott Adams, who has been writing and illustrating the beloved cartoon since 1989, announced the brutal cut on social media. “Dilbert was cancelled in 77 newspapers this week,” Adams tweeted, later adding that “one large chain” was responsible for the move.
It appears that the cartoon has been caught up in wider changes being made by Lee Enterprises, which is said to be scaling back cartoon pages from its publications. Some have suggested that the cuts to the strip could have to do with Adams’ political views—but Adams himself has lampooned the idea. Sharing a link to an article headlined “Was Dilbert ‘Cancelled’ as Comic Creator Scott Adams Suggests?” Adams tweeted Wednesday: “All fake news here but funny.”
https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1572327918344474627
Read it at New York Daily News
'Dilbert' Comic Dropped by Nearly 80 Newspapers
https://www.thedailybeast.com/dilbert-comic-dropped-by-nearly-80-newspapersSatirical office comic strip “Dilbert” has been dropped by almost 80 newspapers, its creator said this week. Scott Adams, who has been writing and illustrating the beloved cartoon since 1989, announced the brutal cut on social media. “Dilbert was cancelled in 77 newspapers this week,” Adams tweeted, later adding that “one large chain” was responsible for the move.
It appears that the cartoon has been caught up in wider changes being made by Lee Enterprises, which is said to be scaling back cartoon pages from its publications. Some have suggested that the cuts to the strip could have to do with Adams’ political views—but Adams himself has lampooned the idea. Sharing a link to an article headlined “Was Dilbert ‘Cancelled’ as Comic Creator Scott Adams Suggests?” Adams tweeted Wednesday: “All fake news here but funny.”
https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1572327918344474627
Read it at New York Daily News
September 22, 2022
STORMZY - MEL MADE ME DO IT 🔥🔥🔥- just dropped (video features Jose Mourinho, Usain Bolt, etc etc)
September 22, 2022
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1572766653091581952
this thing where Trumpers try to convince you that the economy was great in the winter of 2020-21,
when the country was being devastated by Covid, is just completely absurdhttps://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1572766653091581952
September 21, 2022
https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/632b689fda4cea0020f87d5c/republican-midterm-primary-elections-trump-qanon/
https://archive.ph/wip/cv3W6
With the primary season officially over, conventional wisdom suggests that Republican candidates should now be pretending to pivot to the political center to pick up the less-Trumpy conservative voters that they need to win in November, especially in swing states. Some, like GOP Senate hopeful Don Bolduc, of New Hampshire, seem to have fallen in line. “I have come to the conclusion—and I want to be definitive on this—the election was not stolen,” Bolduc told Granite State voters last week, two days after winning his primary.
At first glance, this was a pretty radical shift for Bolduc, who has insisted during the last two years that the 2020 election was stolen, in between accusing Bill Gates of microchipping vaccine recipients and calling New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu a “Chinese Communist sympathizer.” But, just one month before the Fox appearance in which Bolduc appeared to change his tune on the validity of the 2020 election, he stated that he stood by his original position: that “the election had fraud … and I concurred with President [Donald] Trump's assessment of it. And I do not change my mind on that.” It doesn’t add up to a very convincing pivot to mainstream, democratic values—but it does add to mounting evidence that the Republican Party is getting even more extreme.
There are a few reasons why. Trump still looms large in the party and he still demands absolute fealty. Republican governors like Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott in Texas are rewarded with media coverage for their dehumanizing stunts involving immigrants; for better or worse, DeSantis’s expulsion of (mostly) Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard last week has dominated the news cycle since. But Republicans, as a party, aren’t the only ones getting worse. After spending much of his summer neglecting to return classified documents, Truthing (that’s like tweeting on Truth Social) content to and from QAnon accounts, and playing golf, it seems that Trump himself is getting more unhinged—a terrifying statement to have to type.
When Trump held a rally in Ohio last weekend, it was theoretically to support his chosen Senate candidate, J. D. Vance. But Vance presumably didn’t have the chance to decline, because he reportedly didn’t invite Trump. According to The New York Times, “aides to the former president simply informed the Senate [campaign] that he was coming.” And when Trump showed up, he assured the crowd, “J. D. is kissing my ass, he wants my support so bad.” He then added, “The entire MAGA movement is for J. D. Vance.” Trump also appeared to be leaning into his recent persona as a late QAnon adopter. As Tom Nichols wrote in the Daily earlier this week, “Trump recently shared images of himself wearing a Q pin, and the Ohio rally seemed to meld a QAnon event with an evangelical meeting.” During the rally, Trump played a song called “Mirrors” that, as The New York Times pointed out, sounded a whole lot like the QAnon theme song. Some of the crowd seemed to acknowledge the tribute, raising their hands in a one-fingered salute.
snip
Molly Jong-Fast: Republicans Continue to Double Down
Instead of pivoting toward the center to pick up voters before November, Trump’s GOP is digging in its heels.https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/632b689fda4cea0020f87d5c/republican-midterm-primary-elections-trump-qanon/
https://archive.ph/wip/cv3W6
With the primary season officially over, conventional wisdom suggests that Republican candidates should now be pretending to pivot to the political center to pick up the less-Trumpy conservative voters that they need to win in November, especially in swing states. Some, like GOP Senate hopeful Don Bolduc, of New Hampshire, seem to have fallen in line. “I have come to the conclusion—and I want to be definitive on this—the election was not stolen,” Bolduc told Granite State voters last week, two days after winning his primary.
At first glance, this was a pretty radical shift for Bolduc, who has insisted during the last two years that the 2020 election was stolen, in between accusing Bill Gates of microchipping vaccine recipients and calling New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu a “Chinese Communist sympathizer.” But, just one month before the Fox appearance in which Bolduc appeared to change his tune on the validity of the 2020 election, he stated that he stood by his original position: that “the election had fraud … and I concurred with President [Donald] Trump's assessment of it. And I do not change my mind on that.” It doesn’t add up to a very convincing pivot to mainstream, democratic values—but it does add to mounting evidence that the Republican Party is getting even more extreme.
There are a few reasons why. Trump still looms large in the party and he still demands absolute fealty. Republican governors like Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott in Texas are rewarded with media coverage for their dehumanizing stunts involving immigrants; for better or worse, DeSantis’s expulsion of (mostly) Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard last week has dominated the news cycle since. But Republicans, as a party, aren’t the only ones getting worse. After spending much of his summer neglecting to return classified documents, Truthing (that’s like tweeting on Truth Social) content to and from QAnon accounts, and playing golf, it seems that Trump himself is getting more unhinged—a terrifying statement to have to type.
When Trump held a rally in Ohio last weekend, it was theoretically to support his chosen Senate candidate, J. D. Vance. But Vance presumably didn’t have the chance to decline, because he reportedly didn’t invite Trump. According to The New York Times, “aides to the former president simply informed the Senate [campaign] that he was coming.” And when Trump showed up, he assured the crowd, “J. D. is kissing my ass, he wants my support so bad.” He then added, “The entire MAGA movement is for J. D. Vance.” Trump also appeared to be leaning into his recent persona as a late QAnon adopter. As Tom Nichols wrote in the Daily earlier this week, “Trump recently shared images of himself wearing a Q pin, and the Ohio rally seemed to meld a QAnon event with an evangelical meeting.” During the rally, Trump played a song called “Mirrors” that, as The New York Times pointed out, sounded a whole lot like the QAnon theme song. Some of the crowd seemed to acknowledge the tribute, raising their hands in a one-fingered salute.
snip
September 19, 2022
https://www.thedailybeast.com/scientists-warn-of-spike-in-long-covid-cases-across-the-united-states
All over the world, the rates of death and hospitalization from COVID keep dropping. But our successful mitigation of the worst outcomes of the 33-month-old pandemic belie a growing crisis.
More and more people are surviving COVID and staying out of the hospital, but more and more people are also living with long-term symptoms of COVID. Fatigue. Heart problems. Stomach problems. Lung problems. Confusion. Symptoms that can last for months or even a year or more after the infection clears.
As many as 21 percent of Americans who caught the SARS-CoV-2 virus this summer ended up suffering from long COVID starting four weeks after infection, according to a new study from City University of New York. That’s up from 19 percent in figures the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in June.
Compare those numbers to the recent rates of death and hospitalization from COVID in the U.S.—three percent and .3 percent, respectively. Long COVID is by far the likeliest serious outcome from any novel-coronavirus infection. And possibly getting likelier.
snip
Dreaded Side Effect Rears Its Ugly Head in Latest COVID Variant
Scientists agree that we’re not doing enough to address a “silent” COVID crisis that seems to be spiraling out of control.https://www.thedailybeast.com/scientists-warn-of-spike-in-long-covid-cases-across-the-united-states
All over the world, the rates of death and hospitalization from COVID keep dropping. But our successful mitigation of the worst outcomes of the 33-month-old pandemic belie a growing crisis.
More and more people are surviving COVID and staying out of the hospital, but more and more people are also living with long-term symptoms of COVID. Fatigue. Heart problems. Stomach problems. Lung problems. Confusion. Symptoms that can last for months or even a year or more after the infection clears.
As many as 21 percent of Americans who caught the SARS-CoV-2 virus this summer ended up suffering from long COVID starting four weeks after infection, according to a new study from City University of New York. That’s up from 19 percent in figures the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in June.
Compare those numbers to the recent rates of death and hospitalization from COVID in the U.S.—three percent and .3 percent, respectively. Long COVID is by far the likeliest serious outcome from any novel-coronavirus infection. And possibly getting likelier.
snip
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: London
Home country: US/UK/Sweden
Current location: Stockholm, Sweden
Member since: Sun Jul 1, 2018, 07:25 PM
Number of posts: 43,286
