babylonsister

babylonsister's Journal

May 9, 2021

Republicans Are Now Fining Election Officials Who Make It Easier To Vote

https://www.politicususa.com/2021/05/08/republicans-fine-election-officials.html

Posted on Sat, May 8th, 2021 by Jason Easley
Republicans Are Now Fining Election Officials Who Make It Easier To Vote

Republicans in several states have passed legislation that will fine local election officials if they make it easier to vote.

The AP reported:

Republicans are creating a new slate of punishments for the county officials who run elections, arguing they overstepped their authority when they expanded voter access during the coronavirus pandemic.

The new penalties, part of a nationwide Republican campaign to roll back access to the ballot, already have become law in Iowa, Georgia, and Florida, and are making their way through statehouses in Texas and elsewhere. The GOP push comes after a presidential contest that saw record turnout and no widespread problems.

Election officials have responded with warnings of a chilling effect on those responsible for administering the vote and counting ballots, raising fears they could be penalized for minor mistakes, get caught up in partisan fights or even leave their jobs.

Some of these laws fine local officials tens of thousands of dollars for unintentional mistakes. Others, like in Florida, have fines as high as $25,000 for the placement of ballot drop boxes.

These election rigging laws will hopefully be gutted by the courts, but if they aren’t the federal government needs to act both with the Department of Justice and congressional legislation.

Republicans aren’t trying to hide what they are doing. They want to make sure that 2020 never happens again by rigging elections to make it more difficult for voters who lean Democratic to vote.

May 8, 2021

Republican Governors, Again, Turn Down Millions That Would Aid Their Own Constituents

So much for having their constituents' interests at heart.

Republican Governors, Again, Turn Down Millions That Would Aid Their Own Constituents
In a redux of Medicaid expansion, South Carolina will forfeit $600 million to kill a piece of federal unemployment insurance.
Noah Lanard

South Carolina will now pay for the privilege of punishing its people twice over. For the past decade, the state has deprived nearly 200,000 residents of health insurance by refusing to accept federal funds to expand Medicaid. Now, it will also turn down federal unemployment insurance as part of an effort to force people back to work.

On Thursday, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster announced that he’s rejecting hundreds in millions in aid for unemployed South Carolinians. It follows a decision by Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) earlier this week to do the same. Officials in Wyoming and Georgia are reportedly considering rejecting the extra $300 of weekly unemployment insurance that’s available until September as well. The logic is iffy, at best.

Panic has set in on the right that boosted unemployment is preventing people—particularly restaurant workers—from rejoining the workforce. But there’s little solid evidence that is what’s driving people to stay at home. Many people remain fearful of being exposed to COVID-19, some can’t find jobs as good as the ones they lost, while others, particularly women, have to take care of children whose schools or daycares are not yet fully open.

During the pandemic, companies like Amazon that pay at least $15 an hour and offer health insurance have been able to hire hundreds of thousands of workers for often grueling jobs. “I really don’t think the major factor is the extra unemployment,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. Conservatives of course steered away from an indictment of meager wages halting hiring. (The average weekly earnings of nonsupervisory workers in the leisure and hospitality sector work out to making $20,628 per year.)

And despite the restaurant worker shortage narrative, the Labor Department actually announced on Friday that 331,000 jobs were added last month in leisure and hospitality, more than any other sector. Only 266,000 jobs were created overall—far short of the roughly 1 million new jobs economists had expected—because of losses in areas like package delivery. Among women, employment fell by 8,000, another sign that the unequal distribution of domestic labor is keeping women from returning to paid jobs.

more...

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/05/republican-governors-again-turn-down-millions-that-would-aid-their-own-constituents/

May 8, 2021

Trump's Mar-a-Lago Neighbors Can't Get Rid of Him

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-mar-a-lago-neighbors-cant-get-rid-of-him?ref=home

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Neighbors Can’t Get Rid of Him
FLORIDA MAN
Tracy Connor, Executive Editor
Published May. 07, 2021 11:26PM ET

The town attorney of Palm Beach has declared that Donald Trump is officially an “employee” of Mar-a-Lago—so he can legally live there whether his neighbors like it or not. A group of locals had banded together to force the ex-president to pick somewhere else to bed down, citing a 1993 agreement that allowed him to convert the property into a private club. The Palm Beach Daily News reports that the town found that the agreement didn’t directly exclude Trump and that as a “bona fide employee” he has a right to make the club his main address. Mar-a-Lago closes to the public for the summer, and Trump is expected to relocate to his golf club in New Jersey.

May 8, 2021

CDC Warns of Aerosolized COVID-19 Transmission for First Time

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cdc-warns-of-aerosolized-covid-19-transmission-for-first-time?ref=home

CDC Warns of Aerosolized COVID-19 Transmission for First Time
PLEASE MAKE IT STOP
Justin Rohrlich
Published May. 07, 2021 6:14PM ET
Lindsey Wasson/File Photo via Reuters

U.S. public health officials have finally revised existing public guidance about the novel coronavirus, acknowledging for the first time that people can get infected by inhaling aerosolized particles hanging in the air in addition to “direct splashes or sprays” from an infected person directly onto a mucus membrane, The New York Times reported. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now warn that airborne transmission is a vector for contagion, warning for the first time that even staying six feet away from others may not be enough. “C.D.C. has now caught up to the latest scientific evidence, and they’ve gotten rid of some old problematic terms and thinking about how transmission occurs,” Linsey Marr, an aerosol expert at Virginia Tech, told the paper. University of Maryland aerosol scientist Donald Milton said there should be a “better focus on good respirators” for those forced to work in close quarters. “A surgical mask, even if it’s tucked in on the edges, is still not really going to give you enough protection if you’re in a meatpacking plant elbow to elbow all day long with other people,” he said.

May 8, 2021

Biden officials release ambitious plan to conserve 30% of lands and water in the United States

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/5/7/2029435/-Biden-officials-release-ambitious-plan-to-conserve-30-of-lands-and-water-in-the-United-States

Biden officials release ambitious plan to conserve 30% of lands and water in the United States
Marissa Higgins
Daily Kos Staff
Friday May 07, 2021 · 3:41 PM EDT

On Thursday, the Biden administration released an ambitious and sweeping report, “Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful,” breaking down its hopes to conserve 30% of land and water in the United States by 2030, as reported by Reuters. The Department of the Interior, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and the Department of Agriculture and Commerce all contributed to the report.

"The President’s challenge is a call to action to support locally led conservation and restoration efforts of all kinds and all over America, wherever communities wish to safeguard the lands and waters they know and love," officials wrote in the report. Basically, this approach prioritizes local efforts and voluntary participation over a national mandate. With literal decades of work outlined, this isn’t a quick fix or an easy task, but given that the literal planet is at stake every day we don’t act in the face of the climate crisis, conservation is hugely important.

The report identifies six areas the government should focus on in terms of what land should receive federal protection or similar investments. For example, preserving fish and wildlife habitats, supporting Tribal conservation efforts, creating more green spaces and outdoor recreation opportunities, especially in communities that have little nature as it is, creating incentives for fishers, farmers, ranchers, and forest owners to voluntarily conserve lands, and investing in restoration projects. The report also describes a new tool officials hope to develop in order to track conservation progress, called the American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas.

“Where this path leads over the next decade will be determined not by our agencies, but by the ideas and leadership of local communities. It is our job to listen, learn, and provide support along the way to help strengthen economies and pass on healthy lands, waters, and wildlife for generations to come,” officials including Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo wrote in the report.

As you likely recall, this initiative is a direct opposite of what the Trump administration tried to achieve during his years of office, as his administration sought to make more federal land available for drilling and mining.

Now, this isn’t the first time this 30% promise has come up. In fact, President Joe Biden pledged to conserve 30% of land and water in the U.S. months ago, back into 2020. Biden stressed that he wanted to protect biodiversity, work toward climate change solutions on the national level, and slow extinction rates. Biden also directed Cabinet members to come up with recommendations for carrying out this goal after his first 100 days in office.

In terms of cost, White House national climate adviser Gina McCarthy explained, “I don't think that we're prepared at this point to put a total figure on this,” as reported by CNN. The report outlines actions that could span decades, and as we know, the climate change crisis is growing every day, so no matter the price tag, saving the planet—and protecting the people and animals on it—is far from something we should try to cut corners on.

May 7, 2021

Report: Staffers Had to Lure Ron DeSantis to Meetings with Cupcakes

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/05/report-staffers-had-to-lure-ron-desantis-to-meetings-with-cupcakes

Politics
Report: Staffers Had to Lure Ron DeSantis to Meetings with Cupcakes
The Florida governor, who has inspired whispers that he’s angling to take over the Republican party, is terrible to work for, former staffers say.
By Eric Lutz
May 7, 2021

Ron DeSantis has become a rising star in the Republican party, mostly thanks to his forgoing of many of the COVID-19 restrictions other governors imposed. Donald Trump, the man to whom he has hitched his wagon, doesn’t appear ready to vacate the throne yet. But when it does come time to anoint a successor, there may well be chatter around the Florida governor.

But an early obstacle to DeSantis’ ambitions may be coming into view—namely, that he’s kind of a buffoon who is personally disliked by many who know and work for him. On Friday, Politico reported that former staffers have formed a support group of sorts to dish about the various indignities they endured working for DeSantis, most of which seem to involve the former congressman and current governor treating his aides like “garbage,” cycling through staff and advisers, and mostly relying on his own instincts and the advice of his wife, Casey DeSantis. According to the ex-aides, DeSantis can be so distant from his staff that they apparently took to tricking him into attending meetings by telling him it’s someone’s birthday and putting out cupcakes. “Loyalty and trust, that is not a currency he deals in,” one former staffer told the outlet. “It’s him and Casey. But everyone else is like a disposable piece of garbage.” (DeSantis’s office indicated that the Politico story was a “false narrative.”)

Per Politico, other gems include:

DeSantis often blames his staff for his own blunders, we’re told. After DeSantis went on Fox News in 2018 and implored Florida voters not to “monkey this up” by supporting his African American Democratic opponent for governor, he and his wife chewed out his campaign staff for not cleaning up the mess, according to three former staffers. Shortly after, DeSantis brought in a whole new group of advisers.

Another story relayed to us by five former staffers: At the beginning of his administration, DeSantis directed the Florida Republican Party leader to fire a party official who had cancer — on that person’s first week back from surgery.

On the one hand, the lack of loyalty DeSantis inspired would seem to be an impediment to his political rise. Then again, for the last four years Republicans have been led by a guy who couldn’t pay attention to briefings unless his name was sprinkled throughout them and had to be placated with ice cream. Given the Trump base, it’s possible—maybe even likely—that being a swaggering weirdo who follows his instincts and his sweet tooth will be seen as a plus, not a drawback. In any case, DeSantis continued to endear himself to the MAGA faithful, signing a bill to roll back voting rights in his state during a segment on Fox & Friends surrounded by a cheering crowd from a Trump fan club in Palm Beach—a group co-host Steve Doocy observed was “happy to be up and on TV with you.”

May 7, 2021

David Corn: How Liz Cheney and Her Dad Paved the Way for the Big Lie

4 hours ago
How Liz Cheney and Her Dad Paved the Way for the Big Lie
She says Donald Trump crossed a line. But the Bush-Cheney administration didn’t?
David Corn
Washington, DC, Bureau ChiefBio | Follow

snip//

In the 21st century, American presidents have at least twice tried to shape the world with a lie of enormous impact. Trump attempted to demolish the nation’s constitutional order and retain power with his false claim that the 2020 election was rigged and Joe Biden did not truly receive more votes. As Cheney points out, this lie delegitimizes the essence of the American political system. And two decades ago, another Big Lie was concocted and pushed by a Republican president that resulted in profound (and lethal) consequences. Her dad was its main architect.

That was the untrue allegation that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass of destruction and was prepared to use them against the United States. The Bush-Cheney administration used these charges to garner public support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Dick Cheney was the chief pitchman for this flimflam. In an August 2002 speech, he proclaimed, “There is no doubt [Saddam] is amassing [WMDs] to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.” Soon after that, he publicly asserted that Saddam was trying to obtain aluminum tubes that could only be used for enriching uranium for weapons. And he also publicly cited a report that one of the 9/11 ringleaders had met with an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague.

None of this was true. And Dick Cheney’s lies were not the result of intelligence failures. US intelligence over the previous year had assessed that Saddam did not have a worrisome WMD program. Government scientists had concluded that the aluminum tubes in question were not usable for weapon-grade enrichment. And the CIA had discredited that Prague report. Yet none of this inhibited Cheney and President George W. Bush. They spent months dishing out an assortment of false statements—including the untrue claim that Saddam was in league with al-Qaeda—to grease the way to war. They succeeded. Bush won the support of Congress and the American public for his massive blunder in Iraq.

The invasion of Iraq toppled Saddam’s dictatorship but it yielded a geo-strategic and deadly mess in the region. About 200,000 Iraqi civilians died in the ensuing years due to the war. More than 4,000 American soldiers lost their lives in the war.

One lesson of the Iraq war is that a big lie can work. Liz Cheney, who was deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs during this stretch, supported the war—and has defended it ever since. (She co-wrote a 2015 book with her dad on US foreign policy.) She even insisted that one of the main lies of the Bush-Cheney fraudulent case for war—that there had been a significant connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq—was true. (She also hawkishly defended a sordid chapter of that sordid war: torture, saying it was “libelous” to call waterboarding “torture.”)

There was another odious lie that Liz Cheney also defended—or played footsie with: the racist conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya. Asked about birtherism in 2009, she replied, “I think the Democrats have got more crazies than the Republicans do. But setting that aside, one of the reasons you see people so concerned about this, I think this issue is, people are uncomfortable with having for the first time ever, I think, a president who seems so reluctant to defend the nation overseas.” Without endorsing the conspiratorial and disproven details of this nutty notion, Cheney was providing moral support to its adherents. (Trump’s championship of this lie helped turn him into a right-wing hero and set up the foundation for his 2016 presidential bid.)

more...

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/05/how-liz-cheney-and-her-dad-paved-the-way-for-the-big-lie/

May 7, 2021

Nearly 750 COVID Victims Still in NYC Truck Morgues 1 Year Later

I find this shocking.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/remains-of-750-new-york-city-covid-19-victims-still-in-refrigerated-trucks-after-a-year?ref=home

Nearly 750 COVID Victims Still in NYC Truck Morgues 1 Year Later
ON THE WATERFRONT
Justin Rohrlich
Published May. 07, 2021 11:32AM ET

The bodies of hundreds of New York City residents who died from COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic remain in a series of trailers along the Brooklyn waterfront more than a year later, according to the New York Post. Dina Maniotis, executive deputy commissioner of the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, told a City Council health committee on Wednesday that there are about 750 bodies in long-term storage at the “temporary” emergency morgue that opened last April, the paper reported. Early in the pandemic, refrigerated trucks were used in many places across the U.S. to augment capacity at morgues and funeral homes, which were stretched beyond capacity as COVID spiraled out of control.

“In the very near future, we will begin to notify all the families that we’ve been working with that we are now going to ramp our operations down slowly, give them the time that they need, and we’ll keep the operation going as they need it,” Maniotis told the committee. The facility was meant to give families extra time to make their decisions during the days of broad lockdowns and severely decreased mobility. Some have reportedly requested their relatives’ remains be buried in the city’s potter’s field, Hart Island, while city officials have lost touch with others, Maniotis said.

May 7, 2021

MAGA Congressman Mo Brooks Keeps Dodging Capitol Riot Lawsuit, Attorney Says

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mo-brooks-keeps-dodging-capitol-riot-lawsuit-attorney-says?ref=home

MAGA Congressman Mo Brooks Keeps Dodging Capitol Riot Lawsuit, Attorney Says
HIDE AND SEEK
Jamie Ross. News Correspondent
Published May. 07, 2021 7:04AM ET

If you see Rep. Mo Brooks hiding in a bush or a broom closet, maybe this could help explain why. According to a lawyer for Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), the Alabama Republican keeps dodging efforts to serve him with a lawsuit that accuses him of inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. PunchBowl reports that Swalwell’s legal team has successfully managed to serve the complaint to its three other defendants—Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Rudy Giuliani—but Brooks has avoided all attempts so far. PunchBowl reports that Swalwell’s team even hired private investigators to help track down Brooks and serve him the legal papers, but he evaded those efforts too. The congressman appeared at the pro-Trump rally before the Jan. 6 insurrection and ordered the crowd to “start taking down names and kicking ass!” Swalwell’s lawyer, Philip Andonian, accused Brooks of making a “political stunt” out the “formality” of being served. The congressman didn’t comment on the PunchBowl report.

May 6, 2021

League of Women Voters, Black Voters Matter sue all 67 Florida counties over new election restrictio

League of Women Voters, Black Voters Matter sue all 67 Florida counties over new election restrictions
The lawsuit names Florida's secretary of state, its attorney general and every county elections supervisor as defendants. A separate federal suit was also filed.
Author: 10 Tampa Bay
Published: 10:03 AM EDT May 6, 2021
Updated: 12:51 PM EDT May 6, 2021

TAMPA, Fla — The League of Women Voters of Florida, Black Voters Matter and the Florida Alliance For Retired Americans filed a lawsuit challenging Senate Bill 90 just minutes after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the controversial new voting restrictions into law.

snip//

Under the new law, voters who wish to vote by mail must submit their requests each election cycle instead of every two cycles.

The legislation also expands the no-solicitation zone around polling places to 150 feet. In other words, nobody within that distance can try to solicit votes or distribute items like water.

Democratic lawmakers, who have been critical of SB 90, have argued voting changes might make it more difficult for seniors, people of color, and individuals with disabilities to vote.

“SB 90 represents a direct and swift backlash to Black voters’ historic turnout during the 2020 election season,” Zachery Morris, LDF assistant counsel, wrote in an announcement of the separate federal lawsuit against Secretary Lee. “The law’s suppressive and discriminatory provisions make it clear that the Florida Legislature’s goal is to erect additional hurdles to inhibit Florida voters, especially disabled voters, Black voters, and Latino voters, from accessing the ballot box. These efforts are shameful and they are not new. We cannot allow elected officials to suppress votes under the guise of election integrity.”

more...

https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/politics/voter-law-lawsuit-florida-desantis/67-df12a6ed-a0bd-4a21-9b77-fddbbde6a7ca

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