Wicked Blue
Wicked Blue's JournalHunter Biden to publish memoir detailing drug addiction
Agence France-Presse February 04, 2021
President Joe Biden's son Hunter will detail his struggles with alcohol and drug addiction in a memoir scheduled for release in April, publisher Gallery Books announced on Thursday.
Hunter Biden, a frequent target of conservative ire in the United States, also writes about the death of his brother Beau in "Beautiful Things," due out on April 6.
The memoir recalls "Hunter's descent into substance abuse and his tortuous path to sobriety," Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, said in a statement.
Biden, who turned 51 on Thursday, was discharged from the Navy Reserve in 2014 after a positive test for cocaine.
https://www.rawstory.com/hunter-biden-to-publish-memoir-detailing-addiction/
This takes a lot of courage
Militia alliance in Georgia signals new phase for extremist paramilitaries
By Chris Joyner, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The leader of a private paramilitary group that provided security for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said he has formed alliances with other far-right groups to advocate for Georgia’s secession from the union, following the arrests of participants in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
“The way patriots are now being hunted down and arrested by fellow men and women who have taken the same oath has disheartened any faith I had in the redemption or reformation of the USA as one entity,” Justin Thayer, head of the Georgia III% Martyrs, said in a text exchange with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week.
Thayer said the Martyrs have allied themselves with fellow “Three Percenter” militia the American Brotherhood of Patriots and American Patriots USA (APUSA), a north Georgia group headed by Chester Doles, a Dahlonega resident who belonged to various racist and neo-Nazi hate groups before forming the new group in 2019. The combined groups will advocate for Georgia’s secession from the union through an amendment to the U.S. Constitution or through “the collapse of the American experiment,” Thayer said.
“For the last 150 years, the Imperial Yankee culture of the northeast has been molding Georgia — and the South in general — into its ‘perfect’ image,” he said.
https://www.ajc.com/news/militia-alliance-in-georgia-signals-new-phase-for-extremist-paramilitaries/UD2JMQV5A5EABHHAKBQZBK2IVY/
Consulting Giant McKinsey Agrees to Pay Nearly $600M Over Opioid Crisis
Source: NBCWashington
By Geoff Mulvihill
The business consultant McKinsey & Company agreed to pay nearly $600 million for its role in consulting businesses on how to sell more prescription opioid painkillers amid a nationwide overdose crisis.
“We deeply regret that we did not adequately acknowledge the tragic consequences of the epidemic unfolding in our communities," McKinsey Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader said in a statement Thursday, noting the company cooperated with investigations. ”With this agreement, we hope to be part of the solution to the opioid crisis in the U.S.”
The company said it had deals in place with attorneys general for 49 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. Under details provided by states, 47 of the states, the District of Columbia and the territories will share $573 million, which also includes $15 million for the National Association of Attorneys General. Washington announced a separate $13.5 million deal Thursday and West Virginia said it would have a major opioid-related announcement, too.
Most of the payments will come within the next two months under the multistate agreement, and the payments are earmarked for abating the raging overdose and addiction crisis that has deepened during the coronavirus pandemic. Opioids, which include prescription drugs and illegal substances such as heroin and illicit fentanyl, have been linked to more than 470,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000.
Read more: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/ap-source-mckinsey-to-pay-573m-for-role-in-opioid-crisis/2561911/
Biden, at Prayer Breakfast, Calls Out 'Political Extremism'
Source: NBCWashington
By Elana Schor and Will Weissert
President Joe Biden on Thursday called for a confrontation of the “political extremism” that inspired the U.S. Capitol riot and appealed for collective strength during such turbulent times in remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, a Washington tradition that asks political combatants to set aside their differences for one morning.
The breakfast has sparked controversy in the past, particularly when President Donald Trump used last year's installment to slam his political opponents and question their faith. Some liberals have viewed the event warily because of the conservative faith-based group that is behind it.
Still, Biden campaigned for the White House as someone who could unify Americans, and the breakfast gave the nation's second Catholic president a chance to talk about his vision of faith as a force for good.
“For so many in our nation, this is a dark, dark time,” Biden told those watching the event. “So where do we turn? Faith.”
Read more: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/politics/prayer-breakfast-gives-biden-fresh-chance-to-call-for-unity/2562128/
Republicans revealed themselves as the 'lynching caucus' last night: MSNBC's Morning Joe
Raw Story
Travis Gettys
February 04, 2021
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough condemned the Republican "lynching caucus" that backed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) while moving to punish Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY).
The newly elected Georgia Republican got a standing ovation Wednesday evening from some colleagues during a closed-door House GOP conference meeting, while 61 Republicans voted to strip Cheney of her conference chair.
"Of course, that's the lynching caucus," Scarborough said. "This is, of course, a woman who called for the lynching of President Barack Obama, called for the lynching of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, told everybody to be calm, take your time, don't rush this. If we do it right, we can lynch Barack Obama. This is what she said and what your Republican Party gave a standing ovation to last night. She said if you're just patient, we can actually lynch, we can kill Hillary Clinton."
"That's what she said," he added, "and they're giving her a standing ovation. She called for a bullet in the brain of the speaker of the House, assassination for Nancy Pelosi. That's what House Republicans gave a standing ovation to last night. She said Jews -- you can't compare these people to Nazis, that's wrong! Oh, how dare you! She said that Jews, a Jewish cabal was responsible for the wildfires in California because a Jewish laser, it was the Jews' fault. My god, how could anybody draw parallels to Nazis. That woman got a standing ovation."
https://www.rawstory.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-qanon-2650289368/
Israeli hackers breach KKK-affiliated website
BBC
A collective of anti-fascist Israeli hackers have broken into a website of a group allied to the white-supremacist Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
The hackers subsequently published names, photos and other personal information about members of the Patriotic Brigade Knights, which they had scraped, on social media.
They also replaced some of the site's content with their own.
***
The hackers told the Jerusalem Post newspaper they were part of the Antifa movement, operating under the name Hayalim Almonim, Hebrew for Anonymous Soldiers.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55937133
China promotes education drive to make boys more 'manly'
BBC
By Kerry Allen
BBC Monitoring
A notice from China's education ministry has caused a stir after it suggested young Chinese men had become too "feminine". The message has been criticised as sexist by many online users - but some say China's male celebrities are partly to blame.
For a while China's government has signalled concern that the country's most popular male role models are no longer strong, athletic figures like "army heroes". Even President Xi Jinping, a well-known football enthusiast, has long been seeking to cultivate better sports stars.
So last week, the education ministry issued a notice with a title that left no doubt about its ultimate goal.
The Proposal to Prevent the Feminisation of Male Adolescents called on schools to fully reform their offerings on physical education and strengthen their recruitment of teachers.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55926248
'So utterly disingenuous': Republicans file slew of unrelated amendments as Dems push ahead with COV
Jake Johnson, Common Dreams via Raw Story
February 04, 2021
Senate Republicans on Wednesday filed more than 400 amendments to a budget resolution that Democrats must pass in order to move forward with their coronavirus relief package through the reconciliation process, a procedural tool that—while immune to the filibuster—comes with its own hurdles that the GOP is eager to exploit.
Commonly referred to as "vote-a-rama," the marathon amendment process that precedes final approval of a reconciliation resolution—the passage of which will the stage for construction of a coronavirus relief package—has always been used as a messaging vehicle by lawmakers eager to draw out tensions among their rivals on the other side of the aisle.
***
But Democratic lawmakers and watchdog groups characterized the GOP's amendments this time around as particularly ridiculous and indicative of their unwillingness to take seriously the multifaceted crises facing the country.
***
As Politico reported late Wednesday, "Republicans have teed up hundreds of amendments, including to preserve former President Donald Trump's border wall, reverse [President Joe] Biden's action to nix the Keystone XL pipeline, and create 'deficit-neutral reserve funds' on everything from supporting resources for police to prohibiting 'sex-selective abortion.'"
https://www.rawstory.com/relief-bill-2650290045/
Congress wants answers after hundreds of meatpacking workers died from COVID-19
By Pro Publica via Raw Story
February 4, 2021
A key congressional panel launched an investigation this week into the wave of COVID-19 infections that killed hundreds of workers at meatpacking plants nationwide last year and highlighted longstanding hazards in the industry.
Since the start of the pandemic, the meat industry has struggled to contain the virus in its facilities, and plants in Iowa, South Dakota and Kansas have endured some of the biggest workplace outbreaks in the country.
The meat companies' employees, many of them immigrants and refugees, slice pig bellies or cut up chicken carcasses in close quarters. Many of them don't speak English and aren't granted paid sick leave. To date, more than 50,000 meatpacking workers have been infected and at least 250 have died, according to a ProPublica tally.
The congressional investigation, opened by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, will examine the role of JBS, Smithfield Foods and Tyson Foods, three of the nation's largest meat companies, which, the subcommittee said, had "refused to take basic precautions to protect their workers" and had "shown a callous disregard for workers' health."
https://www.rawstory.com/after-hundreds-of-meatpacking-workers-died-from-19-congress-wants-answers/
Cory Booker's 'baby bonds' giving $1,000 per newborn could get a new life in a Democratic Congress
NJ.com
By Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker on Thursday proposed legislation that he prominently featured in his unsuccessful presidential campaign: A $1,000 savings account for every newborn American.
Known as “baby bonds,” the government would add up to $2,000 every year depending on income. Recipients could begin withdrawing money from their accounts at age 18, giving them a nest egg to tap to spend on things like a college education, a downpayment on a home, or start a small business.
The funds would sit in a U.S. government account paying around 3% interest, and Booker, a Democrat, said the money would help narrow the economic gap between rich and poor. During the presidential campaign, he said his proposal could give children as much as $50,000 in the bank by the time they finished high school.
“In a country as wealthy as ours, every person should have access to economic opportunity and the chance to build assets and create wealth,” Booker said.
https://www.nj.com/politics/2021/02/cory-bookers-baby-bonds-giving-1000-per-newborn-could-get-a-new-life-in-a-democratic-congress.html
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: Maryland
Home country: United States
Member since: Tue Aug 11, 2020, 09:58 PM
Number of posts: 5,831
