Prison Acknowledges Security Lapse that led to Ghislain Maxwell Spending Night in Noose Room

Certainly something to be thankful for, this season.

I've just realized why I prefer to get my news through this site.
Other news sites end up giving me feelings of depression and helplessness.
But on DU, I get the news accompanied by comments from (for the most part) thoughtful, caring individuals. Instead of a feeling of helplessness, I feel like I belong to a community that is working to hold back the evils of our society.

If Joe changed his middle name to 'Brandon', those yard signs would become HIS signs

Joe needs to embrace the 'Brandon' thing.
Maybe change his middle name to 'Brandon' (he probably never liked the 'Robinette' thing anyway).
You know, like Obama did when they started calling his American Cares Act 'ObamaCare'. And when he did that great video making fun of the 'Thanks Obama' meme.

A holiday in rural Tennessee in the plague years

On Thursday, my wife and I attended a Veterans Day Program in our town in a rural Tennessee county. It was held indoors in the Community Center/hurricane shelter. I was a bit dismayed right away, when I saw how full the parking lot was - the building would be full capacity.
We were greeted at the door by one of the hosts of the Program, and I said out loud, "Oh, my mask" while fishing in my pocket. "No, you don't need masks", he reassured me. We put our masks on.
We walked into the room, looked around at the sea of faces (maybe 150?), and my wife whispered " Nobody is wearing a mask!" I said "Well, were providing a service. If somebody wanted to wear a mask, but they were shy about, they'll see us and go 'Oh look! They're wearing a mask'."
Anyway, the guy who greeted us at the door started the Program, announcing who was going to give talks, etc. And he mentioned that Reverend so-an-so was supposed to give the Invocation, but he had Covid. He assured us that it was an asymptomatic case.
I'm sitting there, and thinking about that Reverend, about how I'm sure he's a nice friendly guy - no doubt he shakes the hands of all of his parishioners, probably even hugs those who seem downcast. You might even say, he's a very WARM guy (103 degrees?). And of the people who are in attendance today at this Veterans Day Program, maybe half of them are active members of that congregation. So, there's a 50/50 chance that the person sitting next to me was a handshaker; maybe a 10/90 chance that I was sitting next to a hugger (he DID seem a bit downcast).
It was hard to enjoy the rest of the Program. But everyone else seemed to have a nice time.
I'm sure the Reverend will be glad to know that I was thinking about him.

Utah Rep Chris Stewart (R) presented a "socialist laundry list" of Biden's BBB plan on Twitter

Obviously, Stewart was trying to rile up his base.
The only problem was, the items on the list are very popular, even with Republicans; child care and universal pre-k, expanded child and earned income credits, Medicare hearing benefits, in-home care access, affordable housing, worker training and higher education, etc.
I especially liked one Twitter user's comment:
"This list is awesome! These items will help millions of people live better lives. If only the Democrats could message this well!"


https://www.huffpost.com/entry/chris-stewart-build-back-better-tweet_n_618ea215e4b0ab5f28493bed

Either stupidity, or clever comedy writing. Which?

Am I the only one who sees that this article is packed with absurdities? Here's the title;
"Extremism expert warns that unhappy QAnon believers are now being lured into far-right extremist groups"
https://www.rawstory.com/right-wing-extremist-groups/

"Unhappy QAnon Believers" ?? Have you ever met a HAPPY QAnon believer? I mean, 'unhappiness' is kind of a requirement, isn't it?
And, "being lured into far- right extremist groups"?? Like catching a fish by 'luring' it into water?

There's quite an impressive democratic gubernatorial candidate for Tennessee

I'd better let Dr. Jason Martin speak for himself.
https://m.

We weren't taught about the history of segregation, and it shows.

I'm in my late 60's, white, college educated, raised in the Northeast. I discovered in the last few months that I know NOTHING about the history of segregation in the South.

My awakening came about because my wife and I moved to a VERY small town in a rural Tennessee county. One of the first townspeople to befriend us was a black gentleman about the same age I am. I'll call him 'Daniel' for the sake of anonymity. Daniel is proficient in an absurd variety of skills, and will drop anything he's doing for a chance to help a neighbor. Which I am very thankful for, because I'm an inept but determined do-it-yourself'er.

I noticed a poor, decrepit little wooden building next to a small cemetery on the outskirts of the town proper, that looked like an old one-room schoolhouse. There was even a wooden outhouse still standing in the woods behind the school. I assumed that the schoolhouse was a relic from the depression era, that just by chance was still standing. So I asked Daniel about it.

It turns out, it WAS a one-room schoolhouse, built in the 1920's, for the local black children grades 1-8. And, DANIEL WENT TO THAT SCHOOL!

Up until 1965, while the local white children went to a nice, brightly lit school, where there was a lunchroom, a gymnasium, a teacher for each age group, and indoor plumbing, my friend Daniel went to a school just two streets over, that had 30-35 children ages 6-14 taught by ONE teacher, two out-houses (one for girls, one for boys), and books that were hand-me-downs from the white school.

Desegregation came just in time for Daniel to start high school in the white school. But I learned that the black TEACHERS were not integrated; it would have upset the racial hierarchy too much to have white students taught by a black teacher.

God forgive me, I honestly thought that before desegregation, that the schools were somewhat EQUAL! Why wasn't I taught about that?

https://postimg.cc/8J18Z4Zt

The Unvaxxed NEED to face economic consequences

In trying to justify the government's actions to slow the spread of Covid, the comparison of the seatbelt law is often used as an example of a commonsense rule that the government imposed for public safety that we all have agreed to follow.
But we forget that the seatbelt law was hardly eagerly embraced by the public. Of course, we had no Fox News to clamour about tyranny, no Tucker to tell us to call Child Protection Services if we saw a child restrained in a seatbelt. But there definitely was resistance to comply with the law. Many saw it as an intrusive inconvenience into their personal lives (my body, my choice, if you will). So what finally won over those beltless, freedom-loving drivers? Was it data that showed that the belts did indeed save lives? Was it the PSA commercials on our TVs, showing crash-test dummies flying through windshields in slow motion?
No. What finally won them over was the simple slogan "Click It or Ticket!". It was the enforcement in the form of fines, fines that dramatically increased with each infraction, that ultimately made the US population into a nation of seatbelt wearers. Also, the knowledge that their auto insurers may not pay for injuries to an unrestrained client.
So, Joe was right to make Covid vaccinations a condition of employment for many Americans. THE UNVAXXED NEED TO FACE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES!
Raise their health insurance premiums. Make vaccinations a condition for Medicare and Medicaid. Make their children show proof of vaccination to enter public schools.

So.... Does this mean that a state can outlaw the ownership of assault rifles

merely by creating a bounty for neighbors who report their owners?