Happy Halloween

How Can Anyone with a Conscience Support These Jerks?

 If you think Donald Trump is a lying, blithering idiot-- then you should remember the old adage about apples not falling far from the tree.

Donald Trump Jr. shockingly said on Fox news (where else, honestly?) that the death rate from COVID was practically nothing.   In an interview with Laura ingraham, dipsy Donny excitedly declared, "I went through the CDC data because I kept hearing about new infections but I was like, 'Why aren't they talking about deaths?'  Oh! Oh! Because the number is almost nothing. Because we've gotten control of this thing. We understand how it works — they have the therapeutics to be able to deal with this. If you look at that, look at my Instagram, it's gone down to almost nothing." 

I have a message to Donny Jr-- tell the daughter of Julie Davis that her death this week was "nothing." Julie DAvis was a 49-year-old third grade teacher at Norwood Elementary in North Carolina.  "Students absolutely loved being taught by Mrs. Davis. Her personality was infectious and she brought joy into the lives of the students, staff, and community," the Stanly County School district said.

Tell the citizens of Manchester, Tennessee that Lonnie Norman was "nothing."  Norman was the city's first black mayor.  The city's board and alderman called Norman a "dedicated servant," and, "above all else, kind, honest, and thoughtful."  "He guided our community with a strong and steady yet gentle hand with empathy and compassion."

Tell the family of 18-year-old Michael Lang that he was "nothing."   The former University of Dayton freshman was known for a quirky sense of humor, and his older brother Matthew said he lived his life being who he wanted to be and cared less about what others thought of him. “That’s something we all loved about Michael, and that’s one of the reasons he was such a unique human being,” Matthew Lang said during a eulogy.

While we're at it-- trying telling Joey Traywick of Billings, Montana that the recent surge of COVID deaths in Montana are nothing-- his interview with  Gabe Gutierrez is absolutely heartbreaking.

And now Trump Sr. is rubbing salt into the wounds of nurses and doctors by accusing them of being greedy, saying that they get extra money for somebody dying of COVID-- that surely must be the reason for the surge in COVID deaths.  What fucking jerks-- both Donny dingbat and his moron father.  

Please vote on Tuesday and run these ignorant assholes out of town once and for all.

Ariana Grande - Positions

You Know It

Reality Show Coming to an End?

Kushner Mocks BLM Protesters and Gets Schooled By Classmate Who Actually Accomplished Something

Jared Kushner, the douche bag slumlord who refused to acknowledge that Obama birtherism was racist,  mocked Black Lives Matter activists, claiming that people who spoke out against George Floyd’s death in May were simply “virtue signaling.”

“So, look, there’s been a lot of discussion about the issues that were needed in the Black community for the last year, but particularly it intensified after the George Floyd situation,” Kushner said in an interview on Fox and Friends. “And, you know, you saw a lot of people that were just virtue signaling.

“They’d go on Instagram and cry or, you know, they’d put a slogan on their jersey or write something on a basketball court,” he continued, appearing to refer to athletes such as those in the NBA and WNBA who made Black Lives Matter activism a centerpiece of their seasons.

Kushner claimed such activism was “doing more to polarize the country than it was to bring people forward.”  He added, “Trump's policies are the policies that can help people break out of the problems that they're complaining about, but he can't want them to be successful more than that they want to be successful.”

Latino and Iraq War veteran Ruben Gallego (who went to Harvard with Kushner) knows what it takes to be successful-- he is a congressman from Arizona's 7th district. He reacted to Kushner's interview and compared his efforts to get into Harvard with those of Kushner:

This how the 1% look at minorities.  I was a classmate of Kushner let me tell you what I did to get into Harvard compared to what he did. Yes a thread.

My freshman year of HS. I realized that the only way college was gonna happen was that first I had to do well on my exams. So I started buying used prep exam books and copying exams from the library. The school librarian is a close friend to this day. (Thanks Mrs. Conley)

I was lucky enough to have a job that let me practice my tests in between flipping burgers. (Thank you Steve and Souzy’s) I used that money to pay for extracurriculars that would look good on a college resume. Even went to Greece on exchange.

Not knowing anyone that went to Harvard let along college, I looked up students in the student directory. I called anyone that had a Latino sounding name and left messages. A few returned my calls and helped guide me to get ready to apply for college. Thank you Gus!

Junior year I intensified my practice exams added more AP exams, became Student Council President, had my after school job as well as other extracurriculars.

Senior year! I am might be the only student to apply to Harvard using money orders but did it. Use a friends computer to apply (thank you Kobelt family) Figure our how to do estimated taxes, to do the FAFSA.

I start the interview process. First interview was on the North side of Chicago at 630pm.  My mom works to 5pM downtown she won’t make it back in time to drive. I leave school early take the bus to the CTA, take blue line out, take another bus than walk the last mile.

My interviewer hadn’t ever had an applicant take public transportation to see her. Was surprised when I told her I was taking it back home. She was kind enough to drop me off at the CTA stop.

Second interviewer wanted to meet in area with no access to public transportation. School gave me permission to meet him downtown in his office.

Accepted!! I also was lucky to have a supportive Mom and sisters that encouraged me the whole way. They did countless things to make it happen.  Thank you familia!

Now let me tell you what Jared did to get in to Harvard. His parents paid millions of dollars to get him there.  So I won’t take lectures about who wants to succeed more from a man who couldn’t do it without $$ from his parents.

 

Double Standards at the New Yorker Magazine

 Frontline workers have been risking their lives for eight solid months now.  Over two hundred twenty thousand Americans are dead, while millions more are facing longterm heart and lung damage as they recover.  Hundreds of thousands of businesses have closed, millions of people are out of work, and whole sectors of our economy may never come back. Kids have been stuck in the house for months on end, trying to cobble together some semblance of a normal adolescence. And the numbers are moving in the wrong direction across this country, even as we see Republicans getting ready to rip the social safety net out from under Americans on January 20.  Add in four years of Trump-branded chaos and a long overdue racial reckoning, and it's no wonder Americans are stressed out.

The very luckiest people are working from home, spending all day on Skype, Slack, Webex and Zoom calls.  If you continue to have a paycheck and job security while the world is falling apart around you, and you don't have to risk your health and safety for it, then you won. Particularly if you don't have young children at home sucking up every waking moment of your time.  Which is a long way of saying, resign already, Jeffrey Toobin.

By now you've already died of cringe reading about the legal commentator accidentally masturbating on camera during a meeting with his New Yorker co-workers.  Except for the fact  the masturbation wasn't accidental. Apparently Toobin took advantage of a breakout session to get in a little "me time." But he failed to turn the camera off, and in fact seems to have inadvertently angled it toward his crotch in an attempt to get a better look at whatever inspired him to take out his penis and rub one out during work hours.

"I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera. I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers," Toobin told Vice, which broke the story.  So it would it have been okay to jerk off during a work meeting if he'd remembered to turn the camera off first?  Would we be having this conversation if Toobin had been in his office at Conde Nast and forgot to shut the door while cranking one out during his morning coffee break?

Toobin is a 60-year-old married man and yet he (apparently) cannot postpone his orgasm for one single minute. Yes, turning off the camera would have made it better-- but essentially he's just a jerk who  deserves to be fired.

So all the dudes tapping out hot takes on not destroying a man's life for one, little innocent mistake can cut that shit out right now. (And, not for nothing, Toobin's been known to be a disgusting perv for quite some time.)

Anti-fascism scholar Talia Lavin was fired from the New Yorker for tweeting (and almost immediately deleting) a mistaken comment about an ICE agent's tattoo, so spare us all the tears for a grown man jerking it on camera. 

 

The Truth Hurts

Boogaloo Bois From Texas Revealed to Be Behind Violence in George Floyd Protests

In the wake of protests following the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a member of the “Boogaloo Bois” opened fire on Minneapolis Police Third Precinct with an AK-47-style gun and screamed “Justice for Floyd” as he ran away, according to a federal complaint made public Friday. Boogaloo Bois is a loose-knit group intent on igniting a second American civil war, and is widely suspected to infiltrate peaceful protests across the country, in an effort to promote violence and sow discord.

Ivan Harrison Hunter, a 26-year-old from Boerne, Texas (the self-admitted leader of the Boogaloo Bois in South Texas)  looted and helped set the building ablaze, according to the complaint.  He is charged with one count of interstate travel to incite a riot for his alleged role in ramping up violence during the protests in Minneapolis on May 27 and 28. According to charges, Hunter (wearing a skull mask and tactical gear) shot 13 rounds at the south Minneapolis police headquarters while people were inside.

Unrest flared throughout Minneapolis following Floyd’s death, which was captured on a bystander’s cellphone video, causing Gov. Tim Walz to activate the Minnesota National Guard. As police clashed with protesters, Hunter and other members of the Boogaloo Bois discussed in private Facebook messages their plans to travel to Minneapolis and rally at the Cub Foods near the Third Precinct building, according to federal court documents. One of the people Hunter coordinated with posted publicly to social media: “Lock and load boys. Boog flags are in the air, and the national network is going off,” the complaint states.

Two hours after the police precinct was set on fire, Hunter texted with another Boogaloo member in California, a man named Steven Carrillo.  “Go for police buildings,” Hunter told Carrillo, according to charging documents.

“I did better lol,” Carrillo replied. A few hours earlier, Carrillo had killed a Federal Protective Services officer in Oakland, California, according to criminal charges filed against him in California.  On June 1, Hunter asked Carrillo for money, explaining he needed to “be in the woods for a bit,” and Carrillo sent him $200 via a cash app.

Five days later, Carrillo shot and killed a sheriff’s deputy in Santa Cruz when authorities tried to arrest him, according to charges filed in California. Authorities say he then stole a car and wrote “Boog” on the hood “in what appeared to be his own blood.”

Hunter is the third member of the Boogaloo Bois,  to be charged in Minneapolis as a result of the unrest that followed Floyd’s death.  Michael Robert Solomon and Benjamin Ryan Teeter were indicted in September with conspiracy to provide material support to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization.

 

Tom Petty - Wildflowers (Newly-Released Original Demo)

Trump Blows Through War Chest, GOP Donors Going Rogue

Major GOP donors must feel like complete suckers now that is becoming known that Trump's campaign is basically dead broke, he's dragging down the entire party, and he's even put Democrats in position to potentially take back the Senate. 

“The Senate majority is the most important objective right now,” said Dan Eberhart, who has given over $190,000 to Trump’s reelection effort, according to the AP.  “It’s the bulwark against so much bad policy that the Democrats want to do if they sweep the elections.”

Eberhart and others feel burned after the state of Trump's campaign war chest has come into clearer view in the final months of the race.   “You could literally have 10 monkeys with flamethrowers go after the money, and they wouldn’t have burned through it as stupidly,” veteran GOP strategist Mike Murphy told the AP of the Trump campaign's spending habits. 

Trump and his campaign aides burned through $1 billion like they were on a drunken Beverly Hills lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous bender.  It's still early days on the effort to figure out how the blew it all-- but here's some early research.

1.  There's the $10 million Super Bowl ad bought by the campaign so Trump could feel powerful before Democrats had even settled on a nominee. 

2.  Then we have more than $310 million in spending that's concealed by a web of limited liability companies, according to the AP.   While that was going on, former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale managed to purchase a Ferrari, a Range Rover, a $400,000 yacht, and several million-dollar-plus condos after siphoning some $40 million from the Trump campaign alone. 

3.  Nearly $100,000 was needed to prop up the release of Donald Trump Jr.’s book, “Triggered,” pushing it to the top of The New York Times’ bestsellers list.

4.  Over $7.4 million was spent at Trump-branded properties since 2017

5.  At least $35.2 million spent on Trump merchandise

6. $38.7 million in legal and “compliance” fees, including the legal costs of his impeachment proceedings

7. At least $14.1 million spent on the Republican National Convention, which was relocated several times and ended up being a mostly virtual event

8. A $250,000 ad run during Game 7 of the 2019 World Series after Trump was booed by spectators for attending Game 5

9. $1.6 million wasted on TV ads so Trump could see himself on TV in the Washington, D.C., media market, where Biden is polling at about 87%

10. Untold amounts of money on repeated visits by Trump and Pence to the state of Minnesota, which also played host to several campaign stops from Trump's children.  The campaign mistakenly viewed the state as a potential lifeline if Trump lost Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.   When it became obvious that Trump was down a solid 10 points to Biden, campaign manager Bill Stepien (according to Axios reporting) maintained a negligible and basically useless ad presence in Minnesota through the first weeks of October because "Trump would inevitably blow up at him if he were to read newspaper stories that he was going off the air in a Rust Belt battleground."

11.  And best of all was the "strategic" decision in May, when Parscale unleashed $176 million in spending to drag down Biden in public polling-- that worked out well, didn't it?

It has been reported that the Biden campaign is spending more than twice as much in the closing days of race—$142 million to the Trump campaign's coordinated buy with the Republican National Committee (RNC) of $55 million.

Pissed off  Republicans donors have responded by setting up a separate pro-Trump super PAC, Preserve America, that is explicitly not being run by Trump's people because he's clearly not sending his finest. Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson recently poured $75 million into that PAC instead of just handing it over to the Trump campaign.  Methinks it is much too late for that. . . but good luck!

Cognitive Campaign

So We're Supposed to Believe That Amy Coney Barrett Can Deliver Justice?

For a devout catholic, Supreme Courth nominee Amy Coney Barrett can be shockingly cruel in her application of justice.  After a 19-year old pregnant prison inmate was repeatedly raped by a prison guard, Barrett ruled that the county responsible for the prison could not be held liable because the sexual assaults fell outside of the guard's official duties. Her judgment demonstrates a level of unconscionable cruelty that has no place on the high court.

The logic behind the decision undermines every Americans ability to seek compensation as a remedy for damages almost across the board.  If a boss repeatedly sexually harasses or rapes an employee the company could be held harmless because it wasn’t part of his official duties.  Is police abuse part of their official duties?  Nope, no remedy for you.  Is sexual abuse of a child by a teacher part of their official duties?  Nope, no remedy for you.

The logic could be use to eliminate any government’s, company’s or organization’s liability for the failure to protect any of us by just saying sorry you were raped, abused, beaten, harassed etc but we are not liable for any damages because your rape was not part of his official duties.  Go sue the offender.  Oh, he’s broke and going to jail so you get nothing.  Sucks for you!   Abused by a boy scout leader or clergy member, sorry it was not part of their official duties so we are not liable maybe try a go fund me campaign.

 While many observers that pointed out that this decision was proper application of the law as dictated by the Respondeat Superior  doctrine, a more enlightened and better-informed Indiana supreme court recently ruled differently in a better-informed decision. 

The case (Cox v. Evansville Police Department) involved sexual assaults and a rape by two police officers while on duty. The officers victimized citizens they were supposed to be assisting. In its decision, the Court sought to clarify the law of vicarious liability in this area, particularly with respect to the twin doctrines of Respondeat Superior and the common carrier/non-delegable duty exception.

The police officers in Cox were eventually convicted of their crimes, and the women sued, seeking to hold the departments liable for the sexual assaults. The departments moved for summary judgment, arguing that the sexual assaults were illegal and thus a matter of law outside the scope employment, which was to enforce the law, not break it. This argument was rejected.

The Court began its discussion by acknowledging prior decisions in cases such as Barnett v. Clark, where it rejected, as a general matter, the idea that illegal sexual misconduct is ever in the course and scope of most types of employment: “Beyond question, cities do not authorize their police officers to sexually assault people. Indeed, sexual assault is directly opposed to police officers’ law-enforcement and community-caretaking functions.” However, the Court went on to note that in certain circumstances “the scope of employment encompasses the activities that the employer delegates to employees or authorizes employees to do, plus employees’ acts that naturally or predictably arise from those activities.”  

Utilizing this proposition, the Court found that the scope of employment—which determines whether the employer is liable—may include acts that the employer expressly forbids; that violate the employer’s rules, orders, or instructions; that the employee commits for self-gratification or self-benefit; that breach a sacred professional duty; or that are egregious, malicious, or criminal. The scope of employment extends beyond authorized acts for two key reasons. First, it is equitable to hold people responsible for some harms arising from activities that benefit them. Second, holding employers liable for those injurious acts helps prevent recurrence.

The Court concluded: “So the scope-of-employment rule, shaped by its underlying policies, allows employer liability for an officer’s sexual assault. We stress that the unique authority that cities vest in police officers drives this conclusion. As other courts have observed, ‘[t]he danger that an officer will commit a sexual assault while on duty arises from the considerable authority and control inherent in the responsibilities of an officer in enforcing the law.’”

While on its face the Cox decision is limited to “the unique authority that cities vest in police officers,” the rationale underlying the decision could easily transfer to other areas where the government vests its employees with great authority and control. Employees such as teachers, physicians, and prosecutors come to mind.

The Cox ruling demonstrates how judges deserving of a Supreme Court position can decide cases.  Barret’s decision shows judgement unbecoming a human being, let alone a supreme court justice.

 

 

Lock Him Up

The week before early voting started in Texas, the Trump campaign erected a humongous bulletin board overlooking a largely Hispanic neighborhood in southwest Houston.   The billboard is estimated to be about 15 stories high (150 feet) and displayed the name "TRUMP" in large letters, accompanied by a photo of the orangeman clapping in approval. 

Within the week,  the billboard appeared to have been vandalized with the words "TAKE ... TO PRISON" painted around the president's name.  "Every day I have to look at it (on my way to work) … and then this past morning I looked at it and I did a double-take," 61-year-old personal injury lawyer  Rogelio Garcia said.

Garcia's photo of the defaced billboard went viral on Twitter, earning nearly 60,000 likes in less than a day. It also sparked similar viral posts on Reddit.  Defacing private property is illegal in the state of Texas, and the responsible party could face a misdemeanor charge with a fine that would cover the cost to repair the damage.  A spokesperson for the Houston Police Department found no reports of vandalism regarding the billboard as of the day it appeared in the Houston Chronicle.

Local Mafias Exploit Proliferation of Pot Clubs in Pandemic-Besieged Barcelona

 In the midst of a pandemic, Barcelona has become famous for its 156 cannabis clubs, known as asociaciónes.  An asociación is a quiet place where you could buy and smoke marijuana, often grown by members, and only on the premises.  But now, many have become high-volume businesses and, police believe, fronts for drug mafias.  

With the collapse of tourism, the cannabis business is one of very few thriving in Catalonia, but beyond the low lights and chilled vibe of the associations, darker forces are in play.  An internal report by the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan police, claims that Catalonia is the epicenter of Europe’s illegal marijuana market and has become a net exporter of cannabis to other European countries.  While clubs are allowed to produce marijuana in proportion to their membership, mafias have used them as front organizations to provide legal cover for extensive networks of urban and rural growing operations.

With high profits and low risk (jail sentences rarely exceed two years) gangs from Europe are fighting one another to control the Catalonia market, says the report.  Over the past year police have broken up 34 criminal organizations connected to cannabis and destroyed 319 plantations.  Social acceptance of cannabis, depopulated rural areas and many empty apartments are facilitating the creation of plantations.  Police have uncovered indoor plantations with automated irrigation, remote-controlled thermostats and even odorless plants to avoid detection.   

According to Ramon Chacon, deputy chief of the crime squad, low prices and an ambiguous legal framework have made Spain the leading marijuana producer in Europe.  For years Spain has been the point of entry for Moroccan hashish, so the distribution network was already in place when the marijuana boom began.  

Police are destroying more than one million plants a year, mostly in Catalonia, but Chacon said this achieves little if they can’t get their hands on the profits.  .Around 70% of all Spain’s associations are in Catalonia, where cannabis consumption is higher than in the rest of the country, according to a National Drug Plan survey. Catalonia also hosts Spannabis, the international cannabis trade fair.  For many, the associations are a refuge and an oasis of calm during the pandemic.  it’s far too  easy, however,  to forget that these peaceful corners  of Barcelona are also part of a mafia-run narco-economy.

Cruzin' For a Bruising?

Stevie Wonder - Can't Put It in the Hands of Fate

Vote Like Your Life Depends On It

Careful Amy-- Your Bigotry is Showing

 At the confirmation hearing for Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Sen. Dianne Feinstein asked Barrett about Scalia’s dissent to the 2013 ruling striking down the Section 3 of DOMA, which barred federal recognition of same-sex marriage.  “Now you said in your acceptance speech for this nomination that Justice Scalia’s philosophy is your philosophy,” Feinstein said. “Do you agree with this particular point of Justice Scalia’s view that the U.S. Constitution does not afford gay people, the fundamental right to marry?”

Barrett dodged the question completely, saying upon her confirmation “you would be getting Justice Barrett, not Justice Scalia.”  Barrett also declined to say that that ruling in that case set a precedent, adding further, “I don’t think that anybody should assume that just because Justice Scalia decided decision, a certain way that I would, too,” Barrett said.

Feinstein, however, wasn’t satisfied with that answer, saying that marriage rights for same-sex couples are a fundamental point for large numbers of people.  “You identify yourself with a justice that you (like him) would be a consistent vote to roll back hard fought freedoms and protections for the LGBT community,” Feinstein said. “And what I was hoping you would say is that this would be a point of difference where those freedoms would be respected and you haven’t said that.”

Barrett responded to Feinstein’s concerns by insisting she “has no agenda,” then went on to disavow discrimination on the basis of “sexual preference.”

“I do want to be clear that I have never discriminated on the basis of sexual preference, and would not ever discriminate on the basis of sexual preference,” Barrett said. “Like racism, I think discrimination is abhorrent.”

The term sexual preference is considered inappropriate — and offensive — to describe whether or not a person identifies as LGBTQ because it implies being LGBTQ is choice. Instead, the standard terms are sexual orientation and gender identity.

Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, criticized Barrett in a statement for using the term “sexual preference,” crediting such terminology with the prevalence of widely discredited conversion therapy.

“When Amy Coney Barrett used the term ’sexual preference’ in her testimony before the Senate today, she perpetuated the dangerous and false stereotype that being LGBTQ is not a fundamental aspect of identity, but a mere ’preference,’” Minter said. “This is why so many people, including many parents who send their children to conversion therapy, think being LGBTQ is a choice. As judges know, language matters.”

The prospect of Barrett’s confirmation leading to the Supreme Court reversing Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 ruling granting full rights marriage rights to same-sex couples, has emerged as a real possibility after an unexpected (and highly unusual) statement from U.S. Associate Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas last week declaring war on the decision.

Sen. Patrick Leahy later brought up the revelation that Barrett accepted speaking fees from the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, which is a project of the anti-LGBTQ Alliance Defending Freedom, a group that performs legal work in support of keeping same-sex relations criminalized in the United States, and re-criminalizing them abroad.

Barrett, however, said her experience with Blackstone “was a wonderful one,” and went on to defend the Blackstone fellowship.  “Nothing about any of my interactions with anyone involved in the Blackstone were ever indicative of any kind of discrimination on the basis of anything,” Barrett said.  Many observers criticized Barrett for refusing to denounce Blackstone fellowship during her confirmation hearing.

 

 

 

Despite What Trump Says, You Can Catch COVID a Second Time

A Nevada man has caught COVID-19 twice, with the second infection becoming far more dangerous than the first, doctors report.  The 25-year-old needed hospital treatment after his lungs could not get enough oxygen into his body.  Many falsely believe that it is impossible to be reinfected by the coronavirus-- but it is possible, although at this point it seems somewhat rare. 

A study in the Lancet Infectious Diseases raises questions about how much immunity can be built up to the virus.  The reinfected patient had no known health problems or immune defects that would make him particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.  He first exhibited symptoms in late March and tested positive three weeks later,  He fully recovered by the end of April, and tested negative on two further occasions in early/mid-May.  However, he began to show symptoms again on May 28, testing positive on June 5.

Scientists say the patient caught the coronavirus twice, rather than the original infection becoming dormant and then bouncing back.  A comparison of the genetic codes of the virus taken during each bout of symptoms showed they were too distinct to be caused by the same infection.

"Our findings signal that a previous infection may not necessarily protect against future infection," said Dr Mark Pandori, from the University of Nevada.  "The possibility of reinfections could have significant implications for our understanding of Covid-19 immunity."  He said even people who have recovered should continue to follow guidelines around social distancing, face masks and hand washing.

Scientists are still grappling with the thorny issue of coronavirus and immunity.   So far, reinfection seems to be rare - there have been only a few examples out of more than 37 million confirmed cases.  Reports in Hong Kong, Belgium and the Netherlands said they were no more serious than the first.  One in Ecuador mirrored the Nevada case in being more severe, but did not need hospital treatment  However, it is still early into the pandemic, and the history of other types of coronavirus means immunity against the virus can expected to eventually wear off.

 

 

Coronavirus Art - Hamm, Germany

Wells Fargo Still the Biggest Jerk on the Block

 At the height of a reckoning over race and police killings in the U.S., Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf tried to blame his bank’s failure to hire and promote African Americans on black people themselves.  “While it might sound like an excuse, the unfortunate reality is that there is a very limited pool of black talent to recruit from,” he said in a memo to employees this summer, uncovered by Reuters.

Observers believe Scharf should have known better, especially at Wells Fargo, where hiring “talent” doesn’t really seem like it was ever a priority. The bank has been poorly run by white people for more than a decade, and it has repeatedly been accused of racial discrimination in hiring and lending, paying out millions in claims.

Statements like Scharf’s aren’t just false ― they’re pernicious. Companies often blame the “pipeline” for their own failures to hire people of color and perpetuate stereotypes about black people, which makes it harder for people of color if they do end up getting hired.  “It’s such a lazy and quite frankly racist justification or excuse,” said Mehrsa Baradaran, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, who specializes in banking law.  

Not only is this so-called “pipeline” excuse a way to lay the blame for the bank’s failures on people of color; it also perpetuates the idea that the bank is some kind of perfect meritocracy in which white people just happen to be the most talented workers.

Wells Fargo has been charged with racial discrimination numerous times.  In August of this year, the bank paid $7.8 million over claims that it had discriminated against 34,193 black applicants in hiring. Last year, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $600,000 over more claims of race and sex discrimination against 2,300 female and minority candidates.  The bank has claimed that it has since changed its hiring practices.

Wells Fargo also has a history of discriminating against Black homebuyers. In 2012, the bank paid $175 million to settle claims that it had discriminated against Black and Latino borrowers during the run-up to the housing crash in 2008. This was the second-largest settlement with the Justice Department of its kind at the time.

The insinuation that Wells Fargo only hires the best is dubious, considering the company’s many missteps. In just the past few years, the bank has admitted to mistakenly foreclosing on hundreds of families, illegally repossessing tens of thousands of cars, and fraudulently opening up accounts for people without asking, Zach Carter noted in HuffPost last year.

“The bank has undertaken at least four separate marketing campaigns aimed at improving its dreadful corporate image, issuing official apology after official apology for its litany of abuses,” he wrote. 

Scharf is the fourth CEO Wells Fargo has hired since 2016 when it got mired in a fraud scandal. The bank has struggled to turn a profit as its competitors have thrived. Wells Fargo’s reputation has been so damaged in recent years that it had a hard time even finding a CEO to run the place. (All the top candidates were white men, by the way.)  

“The idea that Wells Fargo is seeking the best talent and is a meritocracy is a joke,” said Baradaran, who worked with top banks during the financial crisis at a major Wall Street law firm. “Pay attention to this company and their culture for the last decade. There’s a corrupt culture there,” she said.

 

Turnabout is Fair Play

Covita - The LIncoln Project

Harris Slam Dunks Debate; Pence Seen as Shifty

Calling Out Trump in One Sentence

 Anand Giridharadas of the.Ink Newsletter summed up Trump's last two weeks in very succinct fashion:

"He hosted a super-spreader event to honor a justice who would have government control your body but refuse the duty to care for it, and when the virus he helped go around came around, he availed of the healthcare he would deny others, financed by the taxes he refuses to pay."

Mamala Pre-Debate

White House Coronavirus Cluster

The Trump White House is now officially ground zero of a coronavirus cluster, with the case total at 26 and counting:

• Donald Trump
• Melanie Trump, First Lady
• Hope Hicks, Counselor to the President
• Stephen Miller, Senior Advisor to the President
• Utah Senator Mike Lee
• North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis
• Bill Stepien, Trump Campaign Manager
• Notre Dame President Reverend John Jenkins
• RNC Chairman Ronna McDaniel
• Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson
• Former NJ Governor Christ Christie
• White House Aide Nicholas Luna
• Kellyanne Conway, Former Counselor to the President
• Claudia Conway, daughter of Kellyanne Conway
• Kayleigh McEnany, White House Press Secretary
• Chad Gilmartin, Principal Assistant Press Secretary
• Karoline Leavitt, Assistant Press Secretary
• Jalen Drummond, Assistant Press Secretary
• Unnamed White House Press Aide
• Michael Shear, New York Times White House correspondent
• Caitlin Shear, Michael Shear's wife
• Al Drago, photojournalist
• Unnamed White House journalist
• Unnamed Trump Military valet
• Admiral Charles Ray, Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard
• Pastor Greg Laurie

There are no reports that anyone is doing contact tracing on these people.  The CDC has publicly admitted that it offered to assist the White House with contact tracing-- but that the offer was turned down.  Officials with the Washington DC Department of Health have been unsuccessful in trying to get in touch with the White House to assist with contact tracing and other protocols related to the outbreak at the White House.  White House staffers received absolute no guidance from the White House HR officials for three days-- and even then, an email only advised them that if they experience symptoms, they should seek care from their primary care provider.  A White House source told Axios, "It's insane that [Trump] would return to the White House ad jeopardize his staff's health when we are still learning of new cases among the senior staff.  This place is a cesspool."

Modi's Campaign Against Free Speech in India Results in the Closure of Amnesty International

Amnesty International says it has been forced to halt its India operations due to "reprisals" from the government.  The watchdog has also accused Modi's government of indulging in a "witch-hunt of human rights organizations".

Amnesty says its bank accounts have been frozen and it's been forced to lay off staff in the country, and suspend all its campaign and research work.  "We are facing a rather unprecedented situation in India. Amnesty International India has been facing an onslaught of attacks, bullying and harassment by the government in a very systematic manner," Rajat Khosla, the group's senior director of research, advocacy and policy, told the BBC.  "This is all down to the human rights work that we were doing and the government not wanting to answer questions we raised, whether it's in terms of our investigations into the Delhi riots, or the silencing of voices in Jammu and Kashmir."

 

In a report released last month, the group said police in the Indian capital, Delhi, committed human rights violations during deadly religious riots between Hindus and Muslims in February.  Earlier in August, on the first anniversary of the revocation of Indian-administered Kashmir's special status, Amnesty had called for the release of all detained political leaders, activists and journalists, and for the resumption of high-speed internet services in the region.

 

In 2019, the watchdog testified before the U.S. Foreign Affairs Committee during a hearing on human rights in South Asia, where it highlighted its findings on arbitrary detentions, and the use of excessive force and torture in Kashmir.  Amnesty has also repeatedly condemned what it says is a crackdown on dissent in India. 

 

In August 2016, a case of sedition was filed against Amnesty India over allegations that anti-India slogans were raised at one of its events. Three years later, a court ordered the charges to be dropped. 

In October 2018, the group's offices in the southern city of Bangalore were raided by the Enforcement Directorate, which investigates financial crimes. Its accounts were frozen then too, but Amnesty says it was able to access them after seeking a court's intervention.  In early 2019, the group says dozens of its small donors were sent letters by the country's income tax department. And later in the same year, Amnesty's offices were raided again, this time by the Central Bureau of Investigation, based on a case registered by India's home affairs ministry. 

 

The current government has stated that Amnesty was being investigated over suspicions that the group was violating Indian laws surrounding foreign funding.  "That's a blatant lie. Amnesty India is in full compliance of all domestic legal requirements and international legal requirements as well," Mr Khosla said.

 

The group's announcement comes amid growing concern over the state of free speech in India. The development, activists say, could dent India's long-standing reputation of being a thriving democracy.

"India does not stand in good company with these moves it is making. We operate in over 70 countries, and the only other country previously that we had been forced to shut operations in was Russia in 2016," says Mr Khosla. "I hope people around the world sit up and take notice. We are doing this with a very heavy heart, and a deep sense of anguish and grief." 

 

 

Don't Ya Know It

Update on Trump's COVID Diagnosis and Treatment

 There have now been over a dozen people who have tested positive for the COVID during the last three days:

• Donald Trump
• Melanie Trump
• Hope Hicks
• Utah Senator Mike Lee
• North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis
• Kellyanne Conway
• Campaign manager Bill Stepien
• Notre Dame President Reverend John Jenkins
• RNC Chairman Ronna McDaniel
• Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson
• Former NJ Governor Christ Christie
• White House Aide Nicholas Luna
• Three White House journalists
• A White House press staffer
  

The press and the public have received conflicting reports on Trumps' condition and subsequent treatment from his personal physician, the doctors at Walter Reed, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and White House officials.  Based on the most credible of these sources, a picture of the timeline is emerging.

From Dr. Sean Conley's briefing on Saturday morning, we know that Trump was diagnosed with coronavirus on Thursday morning.  He went to a New Jersey fundraiser anyway, recklessly exposing hundreds of additional people.  We don't know if that diagnosis was based on observable symptoms or an actual test.  In fact, we still don't know when Trump last tested negative.   One of the doctors at Walter Reed told reporters that Trump received a dose of experimental antibody therapy on Thursday morning.

Trump developed a fever on Friday morning, and at some point his blood oxygen level began to drop rapidly-- after which he was given supplemental oxygen while at the White House.  White House officials were concerned that Trump would eventually need to go to Walter Reed for treatment-- but to avoid having him transported in a wheelchair or gurney, they decided to call for the Marine One helicopter while Trump could still walk under his own power.    At Walter Reed, Trump was given his first dose of remdesivir, and will continue to be on a five-day course of the experimental antiviral medication.  Trump later had a fever of 103 degrees and experienced heart palpitations on Friday night.

The "Super Spreader event" where Trump is believed to have caught the virus is the Rose Garden ceremony for Judge Amy coney Barrett on Saturday September 26.  A crowd of over 150 Republicans and White House staff were seen without face masks and failing to socially distance themselves-- hugging each other, shaking hands, and sitting shoulder to shoulder for the hour-long ceremony.   Attendees were instructed (after entering) they no longer needed to cover their faces, and the no-mask mantra applied inside the White House as well.  Cabinet members, senators, Barrett family members and others mixed unencumbered at tightly packed, indoor receptions in the White House’s Diplomatic Room and Cabinet Room.

Attorney General William Barr has foolishly chosen not to quarantine despite clear photographic evidence that he was in close and prolonged contact with several people at the White House who later tested positive.  Barr and Kellyanne Conway were seen conversing closely (neither wearing a mask) and Barr was later photographed shaking hands with other guests, touched his face and mingled among the crowd.

Members of the Secret Service (who rarely speak critically of the presidents they serve) expressed “anger and frustration” to colleagues, worried that President Donald Trump’s actions have put them at risk of contracting the coronavirus, too.  “He’s never cared about us,” one agent told a friend, who spoke to The Washington Post.   Another agent reportedly said, “This administration doesn’t care about the Secret Service. It’s so obvious.”  Secret Service agents had complained about not being tested for the virus after returning from multiple rallies with the president in recent weeks.

 

Beware the Increasing Criminality of Q'Anon Supporters

A Q'Anon supporter is believed to have abducted her 6-year-old son in an incident marking the latest connection between pro-Trump conspiracies and quack “sovereign citizen” legal theories-- and even worse, providing further evidence of the increased criminal proclivities of the Q'Anon movement.

According to the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake, Utah resident Emily Jolley is believed to have kidnapped her son Terran. Jolley does not have legal custody of her son, and took him during a once-a-month supervised visitation.  The whereabouts of Jolley and her son are unknown, and an Amber Alert issued for Terran is still active.  But this purpoted kidnapping goes beyond a mere custody dispute.  Instead, it’s the latest in a growing trend of QAnon supporters, who obsessed with child trafficking and fringe legal theories, are kidnapping or planning to kidnap their own children.

In August, The Daily Beast reported on a network of QAnon believers and bogus legal experts who focus on mothers who have lost custody of their children.  Convincing the women that their children have been funneled by Child Protective Services into the kind of sex-trafficking networks envisioned in the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, they then tell the women to use ludicrous legal maneuvers borrowed from the anti-government “sovereign citizen” movement.

Sometimes, these custody fights turn criminal.  In one case, a QAnon believer in Kentucky allegedly kidnapped her twin daughters, and was later found hiding out with a group of anti-government "sovereign citizens".  In another, a Colorado mother whose son had been taken to a foster home allegedly plotted an armed raid on the home with QAnon believers, who then used a nationwide network to hide her when she became a fugitive.

Utah authorities believe Jolley has ties to the sovereign citizen movement, according to Detective Dan Moriarty, who is investigating Terran’s disappearance.  “The mom does really seem like she aligns with the sovereign citizen stuff,” Moriarty said.  Jolley’s Facebook page is filled with references to QAnon, the conspiracy theory that imagines that Donald Trump is in a shadowy war against a nefarious cabal of Satanist pedophile-cannibals in the Democratic Party and Hollywood.

In December, Jolley posted an article claiming that Child Protective Services abducts children and drains them of “adrenochrome”—a blood-like substance QAnon believers claim that “cabal” members drink to stay alive.  In April, she posted a movie poster-style meme that juxtaposed a picture of Donald Trump with the letter “Q,” with text claiming that Trump is poised to arrest members of a sinister cabal.

In May, she re-posted advice for people “in the Q movement” filled with sovereign citizen-style language that claimed Trump would soon lift all credit card and mortgage debt.  Jolley has also posted supposed evidence about “the mass arrests of pedophiles,” claimed there is a “giant human trafficking ring operating in Washington DC,” and posted various QAnon-related articles alleging that various prominent celebrities are sex criminals.

Jolley’s Facebook posts also echo other pro-QAnon parents who have abducted their children, with references to Child Protective Services’ supposed involvement in human trafficking.  LIke many other Q'Anon parents at the center of abduction cases, Jolley is also a member of the Facebook page for E-Clause, a supposed legal services group run by non-lawyers that offers bogus legal tactics similar to those deployed by the sovereign citizen movement.  Women accused of child abduction-related crimes in Kentucky and Colorado have also been connected to E-Clause.

Timothy Butler, Terran’s father, told a Utah TV station that he suspects Jolley is being harbored by a group of sovereign citizens.  In a Facebook livestream, Jolley’s twin sister, Erica Wanner, said Jolley became interested in sovereign citizen legal tactics as a way to regain custody of her son.  “That’s when she sought out that sovereignty group,” Wanner said.

The Utah investigation into the abduction also revealed that fake sovereign citizen legal theories played a role in the abduction. When police asked Jolley’s mother where her daughter had gone, the woman provided them with a bogus document from the “Supreme Court of the Utah Common Law Constitutional Court,” according to a local news report.

There’s no actual legal entity with that name, but sovereign citizens often use the phrase “common law” to prop up their own, fictitious legal systems, suggesting Jolley was trying to deploy “sovereign” legal theories to re-gain custody of her son.   Jolley’s mother was later arrested and charged with second-degree felony obstruction of justice over the kidnapping.

Detective Moriarty said police were still looking for clues about where Jolley and her son could be.  “People just are not talking, and it’s really just gone underground,” Moriarty said.

Child abductions aren’t the only crimes that have been connected to QAnon.  An armed man disappointed that several QAnon predictions failed to come true, shut down a bridge near the Hoover Dam with an armored truck in 2018.   Crimes associated with Q'Anon have now escalated to murder.  A QAnon believer named Anthony Comello believed that Gambino crime family underboos Frank Cali was a member of the "deep state" and attempted to perform a citizen’s arrest and deliver him to a nonexistent QAnon tribunal-- Comelo shot Cali ten times outside his house, killing him.

In April 2020, Q'Anon supporter Jessica Prim was arrested carrying several knives after live-streaming her attempt to "take out" presidential nominee Joe Biden.  Prim was arrested in New York City on a pier where she appeared to have been trying to get to the U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Comfort.

The FBI has now identified QAnon-driven extremists as a domestic terrorism threat.  In a 2019 intelligence bulletin, the FBI stated that Q'Anon conspiracy theories "very likely will emerge, spread, and evolve in the modern information marketplace, occasionally driving both groups and individual extremists to carry out criminal or violent acts."

Despite the crimes connected to QAnon, Donald Trump has praised QAnon believers as recently as August, calling them “people who love our country.”  According to an analysis conducted by Media Matters,  Trump has amplified QAnon messaging at least 216 times by re-tweeting or mentioning 129 QAnon-affiliated Twitter accounts, sometimes multiple times a day.

 

White House Reality Show

Sia - Courage to Change

The Internet in Trump's America