January 27, 2021

Florida Senate resolution denounces democratic socialism

Democrats saw the resolution as politically motivated.

A Florida Senate committee approved a resolution denouncing democratic socialism Wednesday, a move Democrats see as a political maneuver to attack liberal policies.

The non-binding resolution denounces democratic socialism “in favor of the true American values of individual liberty and democracy.”

The Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee approved it on a 4-2 party line vote.

“This is not meant to offend anybody, but it’s simply stating what we already know, that we support our American ideals, our system of capitalism and the freedom of people to improve their lives without the government engineering society or our economy,” said Republican Sen. Manny Diaz, the resolution’s sponsor.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2021/01/27/florida-senate-resolution-denounces-democratic-socialism/

The obnoxious stupidity of Florida Republicans never ends.

January 27, 2021

Florida Republican lawmakers push to restore Donald Trump's Twitter account

In a state Donald Trump won by a wide margin while losing the White House, Florida Republican lawmakers Tuesday continued to rally to the defense of the former president now banned from social media platforms.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Melbourne, and Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, who doubles as the Republican Party of Florida chair, touted newly filed legislation aimed at punishing China for spreading COVID-19 and media companies for banning Trump.

Florida governments would be barred from buying products at least 25% made in China or any goods or services sold or provided by Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Apple or Alphabet. The bans would take effect in 2023, under the legislation (HB 439, SB 810).

While it may look like the two GOP lawmakers are looking to isolate Florida governments in a no-tech world defying the 21st Century, they acknowledge the legislation is purely about pressure.

The measure is chiefly designed to slap China and put heat on social media companies to reinstate Trump and other conservatives who Gruters and Fine say are being silenced.

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/politics/state/2021/01/26/donald-trump-twitter-ban-florida-republican-lawmakers-push-restore-suspended-account/4258640001/

More useless Republican grandstanding.

January 27, 2021

Yes, ex-presidents can be impeached

HOUSE EMISSARIES delivered to the Senate on Monday an article of impeachment against former president Donald Trump, setting the stage for an unprecedented trial of an ex-chief executive. As they were sworn in as jurors on Tuesday, Republican senators appeared to be splitting into three groups: those arguing Mr. Trump’s actions do not warrant impeachment; those open to convicting him; and those claiming that the former president cannot be tried because he is no longer in office. It is with this last camp that Mr. Trump’s fate likely resides. Most GOP senators voted unsuccessfully on Tuesday to force a debate on the constitutionality of trying Mr. Trump.

Their theory — that impeachment applies only to sitting officials — is not beyond the pale. But it runs against the weight of scholarship, historical practice and common sense. Many Republicans may be embracing the theory nonetheless because it gives them an excuse to avoid any responsibility: They do not have to condone the former president’s incitement of the Jan. 6 Capitol invasion, but they also do not have to anger his supporters. Put briefly: They continue to indulge Mr. Trump’s toxic influence on their party.

There have been so few impeachments over the course of U.S. history that major issues such as this remain unsettled. But the Congressional Research Service notes that the nation’s Founders appeared to accept that former officials could be impeached for their conduct in office, as they could be in the British tradition. Decades later, while sitting in the House, former president John Quincy Adams declared, “I hold myself, so long as I have the breath of life in my body, amenable to impeachment by this House for everything I did during the time I held any public office.” In 1876, the House impeached former secretary of war William Belknap, who had resigned just before impeachment proceedings could begin. Both the House and Senate debated whether Mr. Belknap could be impeached and tried, and both chambers agreed he could be.

The Belknap affair highlights two crucial points. First, it would be illogical if Congress could impeach and punish only sitting officials, because then those officials could simply resign to escape any consequences, such as being barred from serving in federal office again. Officials at the very end of their terms also could engage in flagrant behavior without fear of punishment.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/yes-ex-presidents-can-be-impeached/2021/01/26/1e3f2eda-6010-11eb-9430-e7c77b5b0297_story.html

January 26, 2021

Biden's Coronavirus Plan Calls for Americans to Stay Home and Watch Impeachment

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Unveiling a bold new plan to fight the coronavirus, President Biden called on Americans to stay at home next month and watch the impeachment trial.

“I recognize that I’m asking everyone to make a tremendous sacrifice,” he said. “That’s why I’m issuing a stay-at-home order only for a time when there’s something really good on TV.”

The President denied that asking all Americans to watch the impeachment trial was at odds with his pledge to unify the nation.

“Look—here’s the deal,” he said. “People watch the Super Bowl every year, even when there are two teams nobody cares about. The impeachment has two teams everybody cares about.”

“There’s nothing more unifying than when everybody is watching the same show,” he added. “Look at how ‘Tiger King’ brought us together. Look at ‘Bridgerton.’ Come on, man.”

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/bidens-coronavirus-plan-calls-for-americans-to-stay-home-and-watch-impeachment

January 26, 2021

After Capitol attack, Republicans are again whitewashing Trump's behavior

There have been moments in former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley’s political career when she has taken a bold moral stand on a politically fraught subject.

Monday evening was not such a moment.

“The actions of the president post-Election Day were not great. What happened on January 6 was not great,” Haley said in an interview on Fox News, referring to the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol by a mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters. But, she added, impeaching him for inciting that mob, including in a rally that morning, was a “political game.”

“They beat him up before he got into office. They’re beating him up after he leaves office,” she said. “I mean, at some point — I mean, give the man a break. I mean, move on.”

Over and over for the past four years, this has been the pattern. Trump does something that steps well beyond the bounds of normal political activity or past broadly agreed-upon moral boundaries, and he faces quick, bipartisan blowback. But in short order, facing annoyance from Trump’s base of support and criticism from the conservative media eager to endear itself to that base, Republicans slowly begin stepping back and recontextualizing what happened. Generally, that includes the determination that fault, at least in part, lay elsewhere.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/26/after-capitol-attack-republicans-are-again-whitewashing-trumps-behavior/

January 25, 2021

World's Ice Is Melting Faster Than Ever, Climate Scientists Say

Research shows the Earth lost a sheet of ice 100 meters thick roughly equivalent to the size of the U.K. in recent decades

From Antarctica to the Arctic, the world’s ice is melting faster than ever, according to a new global satellite survey that calculated the amount of ice lost from a generation of rising temperatures.

Between 1994 and 2017, the Earth lost 28 trillion metric tons of ice, the survey showed. That is an amount roughly equivalent to a sheet of ice 100 meters thick covering the state of Michigan or the entire U.K.—and the meltwater from so much ice loss has raised the sea level just over an inch or so world-wide, the scientists said.

“It’s such a huge amount it’s hard to imagine it,” said Thomas Slater, a research fellow at the U.K.’s University of Leeds Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling and the lead author of a paper describing the new research. “Ice plays a crucial role in regulating the global climate, and losses will increase the frequency of extreme weather events such as flooding, fires, storm surges and heat waves.”

The paper was published Monday in the European Geophysical Union’s journal the Cryosphere.

Adding up the loss from glaciers, ice shelves, polar ice caps and sea ice, Dr. Slater and his colleagues determined that the rate of global melting has accelerated 65% since the 1990s.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/worlds-ice-is-melting-faster-than-ever-climate-scientists-say-11611565200

January 25, 2021

Disguised Amazon Drone Sneaks Into Worker Meeting To Disrupt Union Talk

BESSEMER, AL—Quietly gliding into a corner of the room as the rest of the warehouse employees filed in, a disguised Amazon drone reportedly snuck into a worker meeting Monday to disrupt union talks.

“Hey guys, I don’t know about all this union stuff—doesn’t it feel like it could impact Amazon’s competitiveness in the global market?” said the aerial vehicle, which blended imperceptibly into the small crowd of gathered workers with the aid of a fluorescent safety vest draped over its frame.

“I don’t know about you, but I love my job, and think it’s one of the best there is. Our total compensation package rules! I just want to keep hovering, I mean, walking, around the warehouse floor without fear of retaliation from management. Plus, who wants to pay union dues? When my last job at Alabama factory organized, our dues were 70% of our wages! Wouldn’t you rather spend that money on great products from Amazon, or antennas?”

At press time, an Amazon Alexa wearing a pair of safety goggles had spoken up to second everything the drone had just said.

https://www.theonion.com/disguised-amazon-drone-sneaks-into-worker-meeting-to-di-1846126546

January 25, 2021

Giuliani Says He Cannot Pay $1.3 Billion in Damages Because He Does Not Know Any Real Billionaires

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Responding to Dominion Voting Systems’ huge defamation lawsuit against him, Rudy Giuliani said that he would not be able to pay $1.3 billion in damages because he does not know any real billionaires.

“If I knew an actual billionaire, I’d say, ‘Hey, I’m in a tough fix. Can you help me pay off this thing?’ ” Giuliani said. “But I don’t know anyone like that.”

Not only does he not know any actual billionaires, but the people he does know are “just the opposite,” Giuliani said.

“Forget about $1.3 billion,” he scoffed. “They can’t even pay their legal bills.”

The former New York mayor said that, if Dominion wins its case against him, he will have no choice but to declare bankruptcy. “I guess I do know someone who could help me with that,” he said.

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/giuliani-says-he-cannot-pay-dollar13-billion-in-damages-because-he-does-not-know-any-real-billionaires

January 25, 2021

As Florida's coronavirus deaths worsen, our focus needs to sharpen

State Sen. Janet Cruz says it’s time for the governor to govern.

The coronavirus has killed more than 25,000 people in Florida. We have eclipsed 70,000 total hospitalizations and 1.6 million total COVID-19 cases. If you have watched our governor recently, though, the indication is that everything is going exactly how he planned.

The PR dog-and-pony show we have all witnessed paints a picture of progress that is wholly unrealistic. I do not wish to question Gov. Ron DeSantis’ intentions, but at this point, he seems more interested in locking horns with social media companies over what he describes as “Big Tech censorship” than addressing an unprecedented pandemic and what it has done to our state’s workforce, rampant housing insecurity and vaccine distribution.

This month, the governor attended an event in Texas where he lamented the “decapitating” of Parler, an alternative social network popular with conservatives. Too often, DeSantis has been intent on mirroring former President Donald Trump’s behavior, a disappointing metaphor of the imprinting a duckling goes through with its mother. As Trump goes so, does DeSantis, right down to the combative badgering of reporters.

As CNN reporter Rosa Flores questioned him on what has gone wrong with vaccine distribution in our state, the governor flippantly interrupted and spoke over her asking, “are you going to ask a question or give a speech?” as she attempted to give her question context. It was excruciating to watch.

https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2021/01/25/as-floridas-coronavirus-deaths-worsen-our-focus-needs-to-sharpen-column/

January 25, 2021

Jeffrey Clark Was Considered Unassuming. Then He Plotted With Trump.

Justice Department colleagues said they were shocked by Mr. Clark’s embrace of the president’s falsehoods and plan to oust the acting attorney general in an effort to overturn Georgia’s election results.

It was New Year’s Eve, but the Justice Department’s top leaders had little to celebrate as they discussed Jeffrey Clark, the acting head of the civil division, who had repeatedly pushed them to help President Donald J. Trump undo his electoral loss.

Huddled in the department’s headquarters, they noted that they had rebuked him for secretly meeting with Mr. Trump, even as the department had rebuffed the president’s outlandish requests for court filings and special counsels, according to six people with knowledge of the meeting. No official would host a news conference to say that federal fraud investigations cast the results in doubt, they told him. No one would send a letter making such claims to Georgia lawmakers.

When the meeting ended not long before midnight, Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen hoped that the matter was settled, never suspecting that his subordinate would secretly discuss the plan for the letter with Mr. Trump, and very nearly take Mr. Rosen’s job, as part of a plot with the president to wield the department’s power to try to alter the Georgia election outcome.

It was clear that night, though, that Mr. Clark — with his willingness to entertain conspiracy theories about voting booth hacks and election fraud — was not the establishment lawyer they thought him to be. Some senior department leaders had considered him quiet, hard-working and detail-oriented. Others said they knew nothing about him, so low was his profile. He struck neither his fans in the department nor his detractors as being part of the Trumpist faction of the party, according to interviews.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/24/us/politics/jeffrey-clark-trump-election.html

Clark has the look of Himmler about him.