Brutal Takedown of the Catholic Cabal

Warren Buffett Affiliated Bank Settles Lending Discrimination Case

A U.S. lender will pay $20m to settle claims of discrimination against minority home buyers, the Department of Justice says.  Trident Mortgage Company, owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, is accused of discriminatory lending in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

The funds will be used to increase credit opportunities in under-served neighborhoods, prosecutors said.  It is the second-largest lending discrimination settlement in history.

The practice - known as "red lining" - was a common feature of the 20th Century, but is illegal under U.S. law.  Banks and other lenders would draw on maps in red marker, singling out neighborhoods where they wanted to avoid making loans. These were disproportionately areas in which racial minorities lived.  To date, black and Latino households are much less likely to own their home compared to white households.  

According to a complaint filed in federal court, Trident used the practice from at least 2015-19.  It claims that Trident's offices were concentrated in majority-white neighborhoods, and that its loan officers did not serve the credit needs of prospective minority home buyers in the cities of Philadelphia, Camden and Wilmington.

The complaint further alleges that loan officers and other employees sent and received work emails containing racial slurs and referring to minority communities as "ghetto".

As part of its settlement with the federal government, Trident - which no longer writes mortgages - will contract another lender to provide $20m in loan subsidies and other services to the communities it red lined.  It is also required to maintain at least four office locations in those neighbourhoods, as well as employ loan officers and a full-time community lending manager dedicated to serving minority home buyers.

"Redlining is not a problem from a bygone era," said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke. "Trident's unlawful redlining activity denied communities of color equal access to residential mortgages, stripped them of the opportunity to build wealth, and devalued properties in their neighborhoods."

HomeServices of America, a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate of which Trident is a division, said they "strongly disagree" with the justice department's findings in the settlement.  "Trident and any affiliated companies have never denied or discouraged access to mortgage loans or other services based on race," HomeServices said in a statement, noting that Trident did not have to admit to wrongdoing as part of the case.  Buffett himself has not yet commented.

 

Beyonce - Renaissance

The Circle of Deceit is Tightening

The New York Times has reported that previously undisclosed communications among Trump campaign aides and outside advisers provide new insight into their efforts to overturn the election in the weeks leading to Jan. 6.  In emails reviewed by The New York Times and authenticated by people who had worked with the Trump campaign at the time, one lawyer involved in the detailed discussions repeatedly used the word “fake” to refer to the so-called electors, who were intended to provide Vice President Mike Pence and Mr. Trump’s allies in Congress a rationale for derailing the congressional process of certifying the outcome. And lawyers working on the proposal made clear they knew that the pro-Trump electors they were putting forward might not hold up to legal scrutiny.

The Washington Post also reported that people familiar with the probe said investigators are examining the former president’s conversations and have seized phone records of top aides.  The Justice Department is investigating President Donald Trump’s actions as part of its criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to four people familiar with the matter.

Prosecutors who are questioning witnesses before a grand jury — including two top aides to Vice President Mike Pence — have asked in recent days about conversations with Trump, his lawyers, and others in his inner circle who sought to substitute Trump allies for certified electors from some states Joe Biden won, according to two people familiar with the matter. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

This all seems to confirm what we’ve seen so far during the January 6th Committee hearings—the dishonest lawyers advising Trump (Clark, Eastman, Giuliani, etc) have significant liability and could be charged with straightforward crimes by DOJ.

Just Sayin'

Courtesy of the Supreme Court, the Horror Stories are Rolling In

 This story from NPR contains a genuine horror story, one that is full of tragedy, loss, and a sickening suppression of individual human dignity. A woman who suffered a medical disaster 18 weeks into a wanted pregnancy was refused the procedure that would remove an unviable fetus and forced to live through a series of nightmares, day by day, because doctors feared taking action due to state laws in Texas. Where a procedure might have been preformed safely and quickly, allowing this couple who wanted to become parents to grieve this loss, the woman was instead forced to suffer endless pains and humiliations, and to demonstrate she was on the brink of death before doctors would act.

As one doctor put it, what she suffered was nothing short of “torture.” But as every doctor involved knew, under Texas law anyone—anyone—could sue them for any role they played in an abortion, even if that abortion was performed under the most terrible and dire circumstances. That fear caused them to actively participate in the torture of a patient they were sworn to protect.

This dreadful story is only one example of how, even before Roe v. Wade was destroyed by a radical Supreme Court, Republicans were carving out a “country within a country,” one based on fear and oppression. One where the powerful reign with impunity. A nation where teachers are censored and accurate education is outlawed. A nation where racism and all forms of sexism aren’t just legal, but required. One where the power of the state is used to interfere in the most intimate and personal decisions.

CBP Whitewashes Criminal Behavior of its Agents

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) this month finally released the long-awaited report on the mistreatment of Haitian migrants at Del Rio last fall, but the demand for justice is nowhere near over. While the report said border agents used “unnecessary” force and derogatory language against migrants, investigators claimed they found “no evidence” that agents “struck, intentionally or otherwise, any migrant with their reins.” 

Even more astoundingly, they neglected to interview one, single Haitian migrant as part of the 500-page document. During a press call this week, leaders and experts slammed what immigrant rights advocacy group America’s Voice called a “whitewashed” report. “The actual people that endured this abuse have not been interviewed,” said UndocuBlack Network Executive Director Patrice Lawrence. “Instead, these individuals, in mass, were deported.”

“The self-serving investigation from CBP illustrates white supremacy, centuries of exploitation, and multiple failures of the U.S. immigration system,” said Guerline Jozef, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance. She noted that numerous witnesses were made available to be interviewed, including Mirard Joseph, the migrant from the infamous photograph. “The agency chose not to interview any Haitians who witnessed abuse from CBP officers,” she continued. “This investigation was not about truth or justice.”

“The report was woefully inadequate, failed to interview any Haitian witnesses, and has so far failed to yield any concrete changes to policy or practices,” America’s Voice said. “The incident is the subject of continued litigation, which hopefully will bring accountability and justice to the matter.” While CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus admitted in a statement that there “were failures to make good decisions at multiple levels of the organization,” and that agents “engaged in unprofessional or dangerous behavior,” just four agents were referred for possible discipline at the time of the report’s publishing. Possible is the key word here, because abusive agents have been referred for discipline in the past, only to have their punishment reduced by the department.

 

 

The Analog Life

 

Shocking Secret: Kenya is Quietly Sliding Under Water

Kenya’s great lakes are flooding, in a devastating and long-ignored environmental disaster that is displacing hundreds of thousands of people.  One of the first scientists to realize that something was wrong with the lakes was a geologist named Simon Onywere. Between 2010 and 2013 he had been studying Lake Baringo, Kenya’s fourth-largest lake by volume. The bones of residents of the area around the lake weaken uncommonly fast, and Onywere was investigating whether this may be linked to high fluoride levels in the water. Then, in early 2013, while he was meeting with residents of Marigat, a town near the lake, one old man stood up, saying, “We don’t care about the fluoride. What we want to know is how the water has entered our schools.”

Curious to know what the man was talking about, Onywere visited the local Salabani primary school. There, he found the lake lapping through the grounds of the school. He looked at the location of the lake and the location of the school, and wondered how the lake had moved 2km without it becoming news.

Onywere rushed back to Nairobi, where he and his colleagues at several Kenyan universities studied recent satellite images of the lake. The images showed that the lake had, in the past year, flooded the area around it. Then Onywere searched for images of some of the lakes nearby: Lakes Bogoria, Naivasha and Nakuru. All of these had flooded. As he extended his search, he saw that Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake, had flooded, too. So had Lake Turkana, the largest desert lake in the world.  By September 2013, it was clear to Onywere and his colleagues how extreme the damage was. In Baringo, schools had been flooded and people had been displaced. Lake Nakuru, which was previously enclosed by a national park, now extended beyond it. It had increased in size by 50%.  Throughout the 2010s, the lakes rose slowly, and tens of thousands of people were forced to move from their homes. Then, at the start of 2020, after a particularly vicious period of rain in Kenya’s highlands, the lakes’ expansion accelerated.

Onywere found it extraordinary how little attention was being paid to the problem. Once the pandemic took hold in March 2020, the government seemed to take even less interest. Onywere went to see the Benjamin Cheboi (the governor of Baringo County), but claims the governor showed little interest.  Cheboi now disputes this, saying that he and Onywere never met. 

Over the past decade, as these lakes have risen, they have become a source of alarm rather than pride. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes. And this seems to be just the start of the disaster . . . 

Calvin Harris, Justin Timberlake, Halsey & Pharrell - Stay With Me

Russian Gamblers Swindled by Fake Cricket League

There were floodlights, HD cameras and umpires with walkie-talkies pinned to their shoulders. The cricket players wore colorful uniforms. The broadcast had the voices of recognized commentators, and the logo of the globally recognized television channel: the BBC.

But this was not the Indian Premier League (IPL), the lucrative cricket tournament enjoyed by millions of fans each year. It was an elaborate fraud, turning a large farm in a small village in the western Indian state of Gujarat into an arena of sporting excitement.  The target? Russians betting on the winning odds of an unfamiliar sport far from home.

Police officials in Gujarat said that they had broken up the scheme, which was run by four local men who had swindled thousands of dollars from Russian bettors for two weeks. The fake league was given a name close enough to the real one: The Indian Cricket Premier League.  “It was all a hoax,” said Achal Tyagi, a top police official overseeing the investigation. “We have arrested four people and also are investigating some Indians living in Russia, who are involved in the scam.”

News of the audacious scheme ricocheted around social media in India and the wider cricket world, shocking fans of a sport that is known as a “gentleman’s game” and that has created fierce international rivalry, huge cricket stars and lucrative profits.  About 24 “players” were involved in the swindle. The men on the field were, in fact, unemployed village boys and construction workers. The “broadcast” was streamed on YouTube, and the winners of the match decided in advance. The fake matches were played in the village of Molipur.

Videos of the purported matches showed players wearing jerseys of the same colors worn by IPL teams like the Chennai Super Kings and the Mumbai Indians. The cricket counterfeiters downloaded crowd-noise sound effects to enhance the online spectators’ experience.  Investigators said the players told them that the men acting as umpires took instructions on walkie-talkies from organizers sitting at the edge of the ground with their laptops. In turn, they discreetly instructed players when to bowl a slow ball to a batsman or get out to help members of the gang earn more money from bets.

Though the players realized the matches were fixed, investigators said, they continued the ruse for the equivalent of about $5 — an amount of money that, for jobless young men in rural India, was pretty good. They have not been charged.  “They were given a uniform and promised 400 rupees for each match,” said Tinku Rathod, a farmhand in Molipur. “They were all happy.”

Police officers said that through the messaging app Telegram, the organizers of the scheme accepted bets from various cities in Russia. An Indian man hundreds of miles away was hired to mimic the voice of a famous Indian cricket commentator, Harsha Bhogle, who often does commentary for the real premier league. The fake Bhogle was released.

The Indian Premier League, created in 2007, is among the world’s most valuable sports properties. In India, it has turned the once-staid game into a commercial juggernaut, luring the world’s best players with million-dollar contracts.  India’s governing body for cricket sold the television and digital broadcasting rights for a record $6.2 billion. But the league has also been embroiled in controversies with betting scandals, leading to the suspension of two teams for two years in 2013.

The fake league began the hoax games about three weeks after the real league wrapped up its games in May, the authorities said. Investigators were alerted to the scam by a local police officer, who had noticed suspicious matches being played during mornings and evenings with floodlights on.  When officers from a special investigation team of the Gujarat police arrived on the fake grounds, they checked the phones of players and laptops of the organizers and found multiple Telegram channels. The officers soon realized that there an elaborate betting scam run by four men sitting near the ground was unfolding, and that they were being handled by another Indian man working in Russia.

The investigation revealed that one of the organizers, a native of Molipur, had recently returned to the village after working in a Moscow pub famous for betting.  A friend of his in Russia had suggested that they work together to start a fake league in his village to make money.  “He was in constant touch with his partner in Russia,” police said. “These are new criminals with a technological bent of mind.”  Eventually, four men were charged with criminal conspiracy and gambling, officials told reporters.

When the suspects were caught, the fake league matches were in the semifinals, with just one more to go before the finals. Then, after the ruse was revealed, the YouTube channel went dark.

 

The Supreme Court's America

Chinese Authorities Using Mandatory Health App to Manipulate Citizens

Angry bank customers who traveled to a city in central China to retrieve their savings from troubled rural banks were blocked by Chinese authorities through the covert use of a health app on their cellphone.

The Chinese government requires all residents to have the health app, which displays a code indicating their health status, including possible exposure to COVID-19. A green code is required to use public transportation and to enter locations such as offices, restaurants and malls.  Depositors at the banks in central Henan province had their health codes mysteriously flipped to red in order to stop them.

The incident has started a national debate on how a tool designed for public health was appropriated by political forces to tamp down controversy.

The issue started in April, when customers of six rural banks in Henan and Anhui provinces found they could not access online banking services. They tried to contact the banks and access their funds, but didn’t get replies.

Thousands of people then began trying to withdraw their savings after media reports that the head of the banks’ parent company was on the run. The majority shareholder of several of the banks, Sun Zhenfu, was wanted by authorities for “serious financial crimes,” according to the official media outlet The Paper.  Authorities likely feared a bank run, which is not uncommon with smaller banks in China that tend to be less stable than their larger, institutional counterparts.

Unable to resolve the issue online, customers traveled to the provincial capital of Zhengzhou in order to demand government action at the Henan province office of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. But after arriving in the city, they found they couldn’t go very far.

In a since-deleted account on the social media app WeChat, a woman surnamed Ai said shortly after she checked into a hotel in Zhengzhou, she was questioned by a group of police who asked her why she was there. She replied that she wished to withdraw money from the bank. Shortly after, she found her health code had turned red even though she had a negative COVID-19 test result in the previous 48 hours.  She was immediately taken to a quarantine hotel by a pandemic prevention worker.

Sixth Tone interviewed over a dozen people who said their health codes unexpectedly turned red after they scanned a QR code upon arrival in the city.  In China, places like train stations and grocery stores have QR codes to scan at their entrances, logging people’s presence for contact tracing during the pandemic. When people are deemed to be at risk for COVID-19, their codes are turned different colors that indicate restrictions such as mandatory quarantines.  With a red health code, it’s impossible to go to any public venues, or even to board a train.

One bank customer, who gave her last name as Liu, said she saw that many people were reporting their health codes had turned red immediately after arriving in Zhengzhou.  Liu, who did not go to Zhengzhou herself, said she tested the code change after others reported it in their shared group chat. While at home far away from the capital, Liu scanned the QR code from a photo someone had shared on social media, Liu's health code also turned red (despite never having left her home).

Another bank customer said that he got a red code after scanning in at the train station in Zhengzhou and was taken into police custody. A few hours after police officers made him leave Zhengzhou, his health code turned green.

Jiakedao, a social media account run by the main Communist Party newspaper, criticized the Henan authorities, saying  “Let’s be frank, no matter which department or individual instigated it, arbitrarily using the epidemic prevention and control measures for ‘social governance’ or ‘stability maintenance’ should be strictly held accountable."

 

India's State of Rajasthan on Edge After Beheading

India's Rajasthan state has been on alert following the beheading of a Hindu man by two Muslim men.  Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has appealed for calm and promised to take strict action against the attackers.  The victim, a tailor named Kanhaiya Lal, was killed in Udaipur district in north India on Tuesday by the men, who filmed the act and posted it online.

They said the act was in response to his support for a politician's dividing remarks about the Prophet Muhammad.  The National Investigative Agency - India's top anti-terrorism agency - is carrying out a probe. A senior police officer told reporters that the police had found early evidence that one of the accused men had links with a group in Pakistan.  Islamabad, however, has denied such reports, calling them "mischievous".

The BBC's Nitin Srivastava, who's in Udaipur, said the streets were empty and communities were living in fear of religious violence.  He added that there was heavy deployment of police forces across the city and senior officers were constantly appealing for peace.

Most people were unprepared for a curfew, with many now struggling to get hold of even basic rations.  "Daily [workers] are worst affected," said Mukesh Gardiya, a local man. "All that's happened is a big shock."  The government has suspended internet services and banned large gatherings. Police have arrested the two men, who had identified themselves in the video.

In another video, the accused boasted about the murder and also issued threats to Prime Minister Narendra Modi while brandishing cleavers. A top Rajasthan police official asked media outlets not to broadcast the video of the murder as it was "too grisly to watch".

The victim had allegedly put up a social media post supporting former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma, who made controversial comments about the Prophet Muhammad last month.  Her comments sparked a diplomatic row with several Islamic countries registering strong protests with India. The BJP subsequently suspended Sharma from the party.  The controversy also led to religious protests in India which turned violent after demonstrators threw stones and damaged public property.

Some prominent Muslim organizations have also condemned the murder. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board called the incident "highly condemnable", adding that it was against both Indian law as well as Islamic strictures.  "Nobody can be allowed to take the law into their hands and declaring someone a criminal and then murdering them is a highly condemnable act," the board said in a statement.

 

 

You Know It

It's Getting Worse For Women

A Louisiana woman who says she was impregnated during a sexual assault as a teenager lost custody of her daughter to her alleged abuser, ABC affiliate WBRZ reported. A judge has also ordered her to pay child support.

A 16-year-old Crysta Abelseth met John Barnes, then 30, in 2005 at a bar in the City of Hammond. He offered to give her a ride home.  “Instead of bringing me home, he brought me to his house,” Abelseth told WBRZ. “Once inside, he raped me on his living room couch.”  Abelseth, now 32, said she became pregnant after the attack. She said most people assumed that the child belonged to her boyfriend at the time.  

She went on to give birth to a baby girl and started to rebuild her life. But in 2011, when Abelseth’s daughter was 5 years old, Barnes found out he might have a child and pursued custody. Abelseth said Barnes received 50/50 custody at the time. WBRZ reported that court records show that a DNA test was performed that proved Barnes was the father. But, even if the sexual encounter that occurred between the two had been consensual — and Abelseth maintains it was not — it would have been illegal in Louisiana, because the age of consent in the state is 17.

In 2015, Abelseth learned that she was still able to report the rape. “I thought if I didn’t [report Barnes] the next day, there was nothing I could do about it,” she told the local news outlet. “I went to a trauma counselor, and he said, ‘No, you have 30 years after you turn 18.’”   That same year, Abelseth pressed criminal charges against Barnes for rape with the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, and the case is still open. Abelseth said since filing the report nearly a decade ago, nothing has happened. “It was never assigned to a detective, and nothing was ever investigated,” Abelseth told WBRZ.

This unfortunately is not rare. Three out of four sexual assaults are not reported to police. According to RAINN, for every 1,000 instances of rape, only 13 are referred to prosecutors. And only seven cases lead to a felony conviction.  A judge granted Barnes full custody of their daughter this year after he alleged Abelseth gave the teenager a cellphone, according to WBRZ. Court records in connection with the case were inexplicably sealed, the outlet reported.

“He’s threatened me multiple times, saying he has connections in the justice system, so I better be careful and he can take her away anytime he wants to,” she recalled. “I didn’t believe him until it happened.”

WBRZ also reported that Barnes’ business Gumbeaux Digital Branding lists the Ponchatoula Police Department, which is located in Tangipahoa Parish, as a client. As of Wednesday, the department’s name is not featured on the business’s site. The site also seems to be under construction, according to a default page that appears when one clicks on the option for a free quote.

 

Paul McCartney & John Lennon - I've Got a Feeling

You Know It's True

GOP's Herschel Walker is a Lying Moron

The depth of Georgia Republican Senate candidate and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker’s ignorance never ceases to amaze. On Sunday, Walker spoke in front of the Hall County Republican Party. The group was small and the speech revolved mainly around the enemy: China. 

Walker started his explanation of climate change and the “Green New Deal” by saying that “We, in America, have some of the cleanest air and cleanest water of anybody in the world.”  

However, Walker pivoted to describe how the U.S. is going to “pull from the ‘Green New Deal’… millions or billions of dollars cleaning our good air up,” and added that, “China and India aren’t putting anything into cleaning that situation up.”

“So all that bad air is still there. But, since we don’t control the air, our good air decide to float over to China bad air. So when China get our good air, their bad air gotta move. So, it moves over to our good air space. And now, we gotta clean that back up. While they’re messing ours up. So, what we’re doing is just spending money. But we’re not just spending money, we’re spending your money,” Walker says. And that is why Biden is raising taxes, he reasons. 

Last week, Walker was caught lying to his own campaign aides about three children he’d apparently been keeping a secret. CNN also reported  that Walker was at one time a “partner” and “spokesman” for a subsidiary of Just Energy, a company that’s been investigated by states’ attorneys general and utility agencies amid years of deceptive practices.

The list of Walker’s deceptions is long and varied. It includes lying about graduating from the University of Georgia, as The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, to mammoth exaggerations about his business acumen, to the tall tale about the time he founded (or co-founded) the organization Patriot Support—which he did not. He even recently tried to deny that former President Donald Trump ever said that the 2020 election was stolen. 

 

Kavanaugh's Constitutional Right to Enjoy a Steak

Jezebel serves up sizzling sarcasm like no other.  One of its latest gems:

In an injustice so grave it makes my stomach ache, Justice Brett Kavanaugh was not able to order the seasonal cheesecake at a Washington, D.C., Morton’s steakhouse last night.

Protesters learned of the Supreme Court justice’s dinner plans and gathered outside the downtown restaurant to heckle him in response to his part in overturning Roe v. Wade last month—as well as expanding gun rights and allowing more greenhouse gases to destroy the planet. According to Politico, protesters called the Morton’s manager asking that the justice be kicked out—a relatively good use of the “let me speak to the manager” card, if it ever must be employed. Kavanaugh was able to finish his filet mignon or whatever the fuck and snuck out the back before dessert.

A rep for the steakhouse (cool job, dude) told Politico’s Daniel Lippman: "Politics, regardless of your side or views, should not trample the freedom at play of the right to congregate and eat dinner. There is a time and place for everything. Disturbing the dinner of all of our customers was an act of selfishness and void of decency."

Fuck off. These sort of statements make me want to bonk people on the head with the transvaginal ultrasound wands they’re forcing up people’s vaginas. I’ll tell you what’s “void of decency”: wrapping bacon around a scallop. Show me a pig and a mollusk that God has intended to be neighbors. I’ll wait.

Every government official who was pivotal in overturning Roe, and frankly every government official who isn’t passionately working to restore abortion rights, should be heckled at every public restaurant they step into. The fancier the restaurant, the better. They should be forced to eat poorly microwaved mac and cheese over their sink while staring out at their lawn full of protesters. The shrine of their digestive systems ought to not receive one more ounce of respect than what they’ve shown our reproductive systems.

If we want to talk about shit that is definitely not in the Constitution, it’s the right to peacefully eat Chicken Christopher from a sleazy steakhouse chain that’s just Applebees for people who tuck their shirts in. Actually, I take that back: The institution that brought us $1 Long Island iced teas and chicken wonton tacos doesn’t need to be dragged into this.

These assholes deserve not one second of peace for their part in robbing American people’s bodily autonomy. You’re going to force a child to carry a pregnancy to term and expect people to let you enjoy an iceberg wedge salad? You’re going to say the Environmental Protection Agency can’t do something to give our planet a few extra centuries of being inhabitable and New York can’t regulate guns, but you have the fundamental right to sip your dirty martini in peace? Get a fucking grip.

Any establishment that lets people like Kavanaugh through their doors ought to expect outrage like this. Protesting is as American as a Morton’s Steakhouse. 

Well done, Jezebel!

 

Conservatives' War Against Gay and Black Kids Gets Personal

The wave of book-banning initiated by Republicans eager to gain electoral advantage by creating a culture war is going to have effects for years to come, because not only are they yanking books off of library shelves, they’re driving experienced librarians out of the profession. 

The American Library Association has been tracking book-banning for two decades, and 2021 set a record for the number of books challenged. The censorship efforts of the past year focused largely on eradicating books with LGBTQ content or content about people of color, the damage to kids is concrete: Only straight white kids are to see themselves reflected on library bookshelves, and other kids are not only being deprived of representation, their identities are being explicitly attacked as dirty and inappropriate.

These attacks on books increasingly come with direct attacks on librarians.  In Annandale, New Jersey, a parent calling for the removal of two books from a high school library attacked librarian Martha Hickson by name, saying that allowing a 16-year-old to check out the books “amounts to an effort to groom our kids to make them more willing to participate in the heinous acts described in these books. It grooms them to accept the inappropriate advances of an adult.”

The two books, Jonathan Evison’s Lawn Boy and Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer, were both well-reviewed and both received Alex Awards from the ALA. But to a parent upset that her teenager has access to LGBTQ content no matter how glowing the reviews have been, they can be nothing but manuals for perversion.

Tim Anderson, a Virginia state representative, filed a Freedom of Information Act request to learn the names of librarians at a library where some parents had complained about books. “The question is, how are pervasively vulgar books getting into the schools?” he said. “Is it the librarians that are doing this?”

It is, in fact, a librarian’s job to read book reviews and procure well-reviewed books. It’s not like they’re out there combing through porn shops for books—just about every time I’ve seen the name of a book that was being challenged and looked up information about it, its pedigree has included multiple positive reviews in trade journals.  But the people calling for books to be banned do not care about the quality of those books, or what kids might learn from them, or how kids might find solace and support in them. They want books that reflect LGBTQ experiences and Black experiences gone. They want books that oppose racism gone.

In Llano County, Texas, a librarian was fired for refusing to remove Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me from library shelves. The latter is a National Book Award winner that was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize.

The New York Times talked to multiple librarians who quit their jobs after 18 or 19 years because of the attacks not just on books but on themselves.  “It was so horrific to see that my words were being used as a rallying cry for the book censors, and to see that my conversation had been misrepresented,” said Debbie Chavez, a Texas librarian who resigned after a parent recorded her without her knowledge and posted excerpts of their conversation about Lawn Boy on Facebook. “And I was supposed to still get dressed and go to school and do my job.”

“There were comments about library staff, calling us groomers and pedophiles and saying we needed to be fired, we need to be jailed, we needed to be locked up, that all the books needed to be burned,” an Arkansas librarian said of her decision to quit. “It got to a certain point where I thought, do I want to live here? Is this something I can subject myself to?”

Then there’s the trend of Proud Boys physically intimidating staff and attendees at library events. It’s happened in Indiana. And North Carolina. And California.

It’s not enough for the censors to attack books. They’re going after the professional ethics and expertise of librarians. They're turning disagreements over content into a vicious personal battle against public servants for doing their jobs. But that makes sense, because the disagreements over content come from the bigoted desire to ensure that kids only see one way of existing reflected as appropriate and acceptable. Once you’re committed to isolating and stigmatizing huge numbers of kids, why wouldn't you do the same to librarians? You’ve already decided that anyone who gets in your way, even by merely existing, is disposable.

Vaccine Denier and His Enabler on Display at Wimbledon

Vaccine-denier Novak Djokovic won his seventh Wimbledon title today, defeating Australian hothead Nick Kyrgios in four sets.  Kyrgios, who swore twice in front of a Royal Box containing eight-year-old Prince George during the final, received another $4,000 fine at the end of the match - his third of the tournament - to take his overall tally to $18,000.

Djokovic, who has refused to get the COVID vaccine, was not allowed into Australia to vie for the Australian Open title and is facing a ban on entering the U.S. to compete in the final grand slam tournament of the year.  After winning at Wimbledon, the stubborn Serb continued to play the victim, when asked about how was able to get through a difficult year.  Djokovic made absolutely no mention that the difficulties he faced were of his own making-- at any time he could choose to take the vaccine and resolve the issue.

But he wasn't the only tennis player exhibiting a degree of ignorance regarding the issue of vaccines. During the broadcast, John McEnroe commented on Djokovic's current prohibition against entering the U.S., saying "Politicians are getting in the way too much-- they did it in Australia.  Let's let the guy come in and play in the U.S.   I mean, come on-- this is ridiculous. I don't make those decisions-- I hope that someone makes the right one and allows him to play."  He later added, "Weird times, obviously-- it's been crazy the last couple of years.  And then he made a stand and you know a lot of people don't agree with that and it got to the point then he was thrown out of a country for that . . . so this has been getting crazy."  

Again-- for the record-- COVID vaccines have been proven to reduce transmission, substantially slash the likelihood of serious illness and decrease the burden on healthcare systems.  These vaccines  have been ethically developed, are fully tested and officially approved as safe by government health authorities.   Djokovic should take the vaccine for the benefit of his family (he has a five-year-old) and allow him to enter the U.S. to compete in the U.S. Open.  His stubborn refusal to do so and play the "victim" is plain ignorance pure and simple-- and McEnroe should be ashamed to make excuses for him or enable his "victimhood."

Sri Lankan President Flees as Protesters Storm Palace-- Naturally, Cricket Matches Continue

Sri Lanka has been circling the proverbial drain for months.  When it was announced in May that Ranil Wickremesinghe would become prime minister for a sixth time, it was met with dismay and disbelief in Sri Lanka.  Wickremesinghe is seen as being close to the Rajapaksa family, and many thought he was chosen because he will be likely to guarantee their security.  Now he has made another premature exit, soon after protesters entered his official residence.

But things got even worse. Angry and frustrated over a months-long shortage of fuel, medicines and even food-- thousands of protesters then began marching to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's official residence.  Police used tear gas against the crowd to try to disperse them when they got close to the president's residence - but they were unable to stop many of them from entering.

Soon footage emerged on social media of protesters inside the house - filling up corridors, taking a dip in the pool, checking out the bedrooms while taking selfies or live streaming what they were seeing.  Scenes of protesters filling the grand official residence have gone viral. 

 

 

The Rajapaksa brothers, Mahinda and Gotabaya, were hailed by many as heroes for winning the civil war but are now reviled as villains.  It's a dramatic fall from grace for a family that has dominated Sri Lankan politics for more than a decade.  It was Mahinda Sr., the family patriarch, who was instrumental in establishing the Rajapaksa empire.

But the younger Mahinda Rajapaksa was once celebrated by the majority Sinhalese as a hero for bringing an end to nearly three decades of civil war when the Tamil Tiger rebels were crushed in 2009 during his first term as president.  As president, Mahinda made his brother Gotabaya the defense secretary.  It was a big career jump for the younger brother who was living a quiet life in the U.S. after retiring from the Sri Lankan military. Gotabaya rose to prominence, earning a reputation for ruthlessness.  Mahinda lost the presidency in 2015, but Gotabaya won the office in 2019 and appointed his brother as Prime Minister.

Earlier this year, a political crisis started due to the power struggle between Gotabaya and the Parliament.  The crisis was fueled by anti-government protests and the continue worsening of the economy that began in 2019.  The anti-government sentiment across various parts of Sri Lanka has triggered an unprecedented political instability creating shock waves in the political arena.

It's unlikely Rajapaksa was in the building at the time as he was reported to have been staying elsewhere in recent months.  But security officials said he had been taken to a safe location. Where that is remains a secret.  Of course, even as political unrest unfolds in the capital, international cricket matches continue just 75 miles away in Galle.  Sri Lankan cricket officials say there are no plans to change schedules, stating that the sport is unaffected by the political turmoil.  "The Australian Test is coming to an end and we are due to start the Pakistan series," a cricket board official said.  "There is no opposition to having the games. In fact, fans are supportive and we have no reason to reschedule."

 

Sheryl Crow - Forever

Right Wing Extremist Provokes Extreme Reaction

An explosion rocked a Georgia tourist attraction that had become a campaign focus of a far-right GOP candidate for governor, who described it as Satanic and vowed to demolish it.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said that unknown individuals detonated an explosive device at around 4 a.m. at the Georgia Guidestones, destroying a large portion of the granite structure. The investigation is active and ongoing, and Elbert County Sheriff's Office and the GBI are examining the site.

Kandiss Taylor, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for governor on the platform of "Jesus, guns, and babies," had promised during her campaign to sign an executive order dismantling the monument if elected and produced a campaign video vowing to "demolish the Satanic Georgia Guidestones."

The Georgia Guidestones, sometimes referred to as "American Stonehenge," have regularly been the focus of conspiracy theories. The 16-foot-tall stones are inscribed with ten guidelines in eight modern languages and four ancient scripts, and they can be seen as a compass, calendar, survival guide for catastrophic events — or, particularly the message about keeping the global population to 500 million, as something more sinister.

The monument has been the center of much speculation since 1979, when a man named Robert C. Christian who said he represented "a small group of loyal Americans" commissioned Elberton Granite Finishing to install it; it's unclear why. Yoko Ono has praised the monument, while others have said it belongs to the Antichrist.

The GBI did not respond to questions about whether they believe Taylor had any connection to the explosion, and Taylor did not respond to requests for comment.  After news broke about the explosion, Taylor tweeted, "God is God all by Himself. He can do anything He wants."

The monument has been vandalized before, and others have also called for it to be removed.  During a June meeting of the county's board meeting of commissioners, a pastor asked the board to remove the Guidestones, saying it's a religious monument and its inscriptions support genocide, advocates the killing of 6.5 billion people, and supports abortion and Planned Parenthood, the Elberton Star & Examiner reported.

"I've never known anyone other than Kandiss Taylor to consider this a statement of faith," county attorney Bill Daughtry said.  "It's simply a tourist attraction," he continued. "We don't have to disagree with it or understand it. You looked at it and saw abortion in big letters, which I've looked at it and I did not see that. It's been there for years. People pull off the interstate and come and spend their money at local businesses after they look at a funny monument."

 

Forecasting the Future

Mob Justice Getting Out of Control in Mexico

A mob in Mexico recently attacked a young political adviser and then set him on fire over child trafficking accusations shared on chat groups.

31-year-old Daniel Picazo, a former advisor in the legislative Chamber of Deputies, was lynched by a crowd of 200 people in the central state of Puebla after accusations that a suspected child kidnapper had entered the town were widely shared on telephone messaging groups, municipal authorities said.  Police attempted to rescue Picazo and placed him inside a patrol car but the mob forced him out and into a sports field where he was beaten, doused with gasoline, and set on fire while still alive.  Picazo's body was recovered after the mob left the area.

"This is not justice, but barbarism," the municipality of Huachinango, which administers the town of Papatlazolco where the lynching took place, said in a statement. "The competent authorities are already investigating what happened to determine responsibility."  The municipality posted on Facebook:  "Don't fall for the #FakeInformation! Be sure to verify all types of information being spread through any media."

Mob justice is not uncommon in parts of Mexico, particularly in more remote areas where police are slow to arrive.  One of the most dramatic cases occurred in 2019, also in Puebla, when seven men were beaten and burned alive.  In 2018, two men were burned to death in Puebla after rumors spread on WhatsApp that they were child abductors. The rumors turned out to be untrue.

Jose Gil, the deputy minister for Information and Cyber Intelligence in Mexico City, told the BBC that social media plays a role in many crimes.  "Social media can really alter a community through the spread of false information that many of us perceive as truthful, because it's being sent by people we trust," he said. "Society really needs to evaluate what is true and what is false, and decide what is trustworthy and what is not."

 

Celebrate Your Independence Folks!

 

Sad But True

Israeli Source of Hacking Software Finally Out in the Opeb

A single activist helped turn the tide against NSO Group, one of the world’s most sophisticated spyware companies now facing a cascade of legal action and scrutiny in Washington over damaging new allegations that its software was used to hack government officials and dissidents around the world.  It all started with a software glitch on her iPhone.

An unusual error in NSO’s spyware allowed Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul and privacy researchers to discover a trove of evidence suggesting the Israeli spyware maker had helped hack her iPhone, according to six people involved in the incident. A mysterious fake image file within her phone, mistakenly left behind by the spyware, tipped off security researchers. The discovery on al-Hathloul's phone last year ignited a storm of legal and government action that has put NSO on the defensive. How the hack was initially uncovered is reported here for the first time.  

Al-Hathloul, one of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent activists, is known for helping lead a campaign to end the ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia. She was released from jail in February 2021 on charges of harming national security.  Soon after her release from jail, the activist received an email from Google warning her that state-backed hackers had tried to penetrate her Gmail account. Fearful that her iPhone had been hacked as well, al-Hathloul contacted the Canadian privacy rights group Citizen Lab and asked them to probe her device for evidence, three people close to al-Hathloul told Reuters.

After six months of digging through her iPhone records, Citizen Lab researcher Bill Marczak made what he described as an unprecedented discovery: a malfunction in the surveillance software implanted on her phone had left a copy of the malicious image file, rather than deleting itself, after stealing the messages of its target.  He said the finding, computer code left by the attack, provided direct evidence NSO built the espionage tool.  “It was a game changer,” said Marczak “We caught something that the company thought was uncatchable.”

The discovery amounted to a hacking blueprint and led Apple to notify thousands of other state-backed hacking victims around the world, according to four people with direct knowledge of the incident.  Citizen Lab and al-Hathloul’s find provided the basis for Apple’s November 2021 lawsuit against NSO and it also reverberated in Washington, where U.S. officials learned that NSO’s cyberweapon was used to spy on American diplomats.

Over the past year, a series of revelations from journalists and activists, including the international journalism collaboration Pegasus Project, has tied the spyware industry to human rights violations, fueling greater scrutiny of NSO and its peers. But security researchers say the al-Hathloul discovery was the first to provide a blueprint of a powerful new form of cyberespionage, a hacking tool that penetrates devices without any interaction from the user, providing the most concrete evidence to date of the scope of the weapon.

In a statement, an NSO spokesperson said the company does not operate the hacking tools it sells – “government, law enforcement and intelligence agencies do.” The spokesperson did not answer questions on whether its software was used to target al-Hathloul or other activists, citing client confidentiality agreements.  The company said it had an established procedure to investigate alleged misuse of its products and had cut off clients over human rights issues.

 

Olivia Rodrigo & Lily Allen - Fuck You