December 9, 2021

Donald Trump's new social network has "highly suspect" Brazil ties, claims watchdog group

Donald Trump's new social network has “highly suspect” Brazil ties, claims watchdog group
Watchdog group suggests Trump did favors for Bolsonaro regime in exchange for help launching his media venture

By IGOR DERYSH
PUBLISHED DECEMBER 9, 2021 6:00AM


(Salon) A government watchdog group on Thursday called on Congress to investigate whether former President Donald Trump used the power of his presidency to help lay the groundwork for his planned social network before leaving office.

In October, Trump announced the launch of a social network and media platform through Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that would merge with the newly-formed Trump Media & Technology Group. The SPAC, which has already come under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal regulators amid scrutiny of its fluctuating stock price, was incorporated in December 2020, while Trump was still in office, according to Delaware records. The SPAC's chief financial officer is Brazilian lawmaker Luiz Philippe de Orléans e Braganza, a close ally of right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, sometimes described as the "Trump of the Tropics."

Around the same time as the SPAC was formed, Trump made several moves to benefit the Bolsonaro regime and the Brazilian president returned the favor, endorsing Trump ahead of his failed re-election bid. Trump struck a trade deal with Brazil before the 2020 election and declared Brazil a "major non-NATO ally" while removing COVID-based travel restrictions previously imposed on the South American nation.

The left-leaning government watchdog Accountable.US on Thursday called on the House Oversight and Reform Committee to "investigate potential efforts by President Donald J. Trump to deliver Brazil-friendly policies in the waning days of his presidency in exchange for help from key allies of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in getting his recently announced social media venture off the ground," in a letter shared with Salon. ..............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/12/09/social-network-has-highly-suspect-brazil-ties-claims-watchdog-group/

December 9, 2021

Gunmen on Jet Skis Show Up at Cancun Resort Beach, Fire Shots, Police Say

Gunfire broke out on a beach in Mexico’s Caribbean coast resort of Cancun Tuesday, sending tourists scrambling for cover, but authorities said nobody appeared to be injured.

Lucio Hernández Gutiérrez, the chief of police of the coastal state of Quintana Roo, said the attackers apparently pulled up to the beach on jet skis and opened fire at a beach in Cancun’s hotel zone. Hernández Gutiérrez said the jet skis had been found and seized.

One witness to the attack, Rick Lebassa, a tourist from Maine, said two or three gunmen appeared to be shooting into the air with pistols, not at the beach.

“There were two guys and maybe even a third, who came in on jet skis, and what I saw was them shooting up into the sky,” Lebassa said. “I did not see any shots coming in toward the shoreline.” ...........(more)

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/gunmen-jet-skis-arrive-cancun-resort-beach-fire-shots/2703597/?

December 9, 2021

Why U.S. Infrastructure Costs So Much

(Bloomberg CityLab) The plan started simply, as many plans do: The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority would extend one of its light rail lines from Cambridge to Boston’s northern suburbs. It was estimated to cost less than $500 million when planning began in earnest in 2005. And it would provide transit access to some of the region’s most densely populated neighborhoods that didn’t already have it.

Then things veered off track. By 2015, state lawmakers temporarily canceled the Green Line Extension (GLX) after costs had ballooned to a staggering $3 billion; progress resumed after an internal audit and management overhaul that reduced the price tag by several hundreds of millions.

These escalating costs were not an anomaly. Mile for mile, studies show the U.S. spends more than all but five other countries in the world on public transit, and more on roads than any other country that discloses spending data.

Now, as the U.S. prepares to spend some $1.3 trillion on public works projects under President Joe Biden’s new infrastructure law, the lessons of how a once-modest transit expansion metastasized into one of the most expensive rail projects in the world are worth recounting. Otherwise, if history is a guide, the U.S. may not get much of a return on its investment.

“If we don’t bring costs under control, this generational investment will yield much less than what a generational investment should yield,” said Eric Goldwyn, an assistant professor at New York University’s Marron Institute of Urban Management and co-investigator of the Transit Costs Project. ..............(more)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-08/why-building-roads-and-transit-costs-more-in-the-u-s?srnd=premium

December 8, 2021

Joining Drag Queens On TV Show Costs Indiana Pastor His Job

NEW YORK (AP) — The Rev. Craig Duke has been a Methodist minister for three decades, building a reputation as a staunch advocate of LGBTQ inclusion. His pastoral duties have now been terminated — the result of a bitter rift surfacing in his Indiana church after he sought to demonstrate solidarity by appearing in drag alongside prominent drag queens in the HBO reality series “We’re Here.”

Duke, 62, said he thought most of his 400-member congregation at Newburgh United Methodist Church shared his inclusive views, and he was taken aback when a prominent congregation member, soon backed by other churchgoers, circulated emails attacking him.

“You have thrown NUMC under the bus to elevate a minority of individuals,” said one of the emails. Another, according to Duke, said Satan must be pleased with the discord over LGBTQ rights.

Duke, who declined to identify his chief critics, told The Associated Press that the attacks “felt very personal,” causing him to worry about his mental health. ...........(more)

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joining-drag-queens-on-tv-show-costs-indiana-pastor-his-job_n_61b0bdbfe4b0eb35170b9576?

December 8, 2021

Police seize tablets, phones of Detroit art studio owner in Crumbley case

(Detroit News) Troy — An artist quizzed by detectives about his relationship with an Oxford Township husband and wife found by police in his Detroit art studio had reached out to the woman after hearing about the Nov. 30 Oxford High School shooting, his attorney said Tuesday.

Andrzej Sikora, 65, of Troy was questioned by investigators with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office for two hours Monday in Rochester Hills, said his attorney, Clarence Dass.

Sikora is friends with James and Jennifer Crumbley, the 45- and 43-year-old parents of 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, who is charged as an adult with killing four Oxford High students and wounding six others and a teacher in a shooting rampage.

“He (Sikora) had heard of the school shooting and texted Jennifer Crumbley to ask if they were all right,” Dass told The Detroit News on Tuesday. “On Friday, she contacted him and said they had received death threats and asked to meet with him at his studio. They wanted to put some distance between themselves and Oxford and the media, and wanted to wait to hear from their attorneys on what they should do next.

"He didn't know of any charges, but he was concerned about their safety.” ..........(more)

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/oakland-county/2021/12/08/police-seize-tablets-phones-detroit-art-studio-owner-crumbley-case/6422893001/

December 8, 2021

DC/MD/VA: WMATA to reopen Shady Grove and Rockville stations in January 2022

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) will reopen its Shady Grove and Rockville stations on Jan. 16, 2022, after a four-month shutdown for the Rockville Canopy Replacement Project. During the closures, WMATA demolished the canopy at Rockville Station, erected a new steel canopy structure and completed customer improvements– including installation of new information screens, brighter lighting and modern faregates.

In addition, WMATA teams are using the shutdown to perform track repairs that will improve service reliability and install more than 7.3 miles of fiber optic cable to enhance radio communications. Without the station closures, these upgrades alone would have required nine months of weekend shutdowns and overnight work.

The final stage of the canopy project – installing glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) panels on the canopy’s steel structure – will not be complete when the stations reopen. In January, the canopy will provide cover for customers but will remain temporarily unfinished until WMATA determines the best type of exterior cladding needed to complete the project.

“Shady Grove and Rockville stations will be ready to welcome back Red Line customers for rail service on Jan. 16,” said WMATA General Manager/CEO Paul J. Wiedefeld. “Our project team continues working to ensure the completed canopy meets Metro’s quality standard and provides customers with a safe and comfortable place to wait for the train.” .........(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/technology/facilities/press-release/21249348/wmatawashington-metropolitan-area-transit-authority-wmata-to-reopen-shady-grove-and-rockville-stations-in-january-2022

December 8, 2021

Does this North Carolina candidate's viral video have a winning lesson for Democrats?

Does this North Carolina candidate's viral video have a winning lesson for Democrats?
Charles Graham on his widely-viewed video about standing up to the Klan — and why it's the message Democrats need

By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
PUBLISHED DECEMBER 8, 2021 6:30AM


(Salon) Many of the policies advocated by Joe Biden and the Democrats in Congress are very popular — even among Republicans. Most Americans support the specific proposals on child care, parental leave, education, Medicare expansion, and strengthening the social safety net contained in Biden's Build Back Better package as well as the recently-passed infrastructure bill.

But Democrats are consistently unable to tell a compelling story that engages public emotion or clearly communicates how their policies would directly improve people's lives. Moreover, because the Democratic Party is a coalition rather than a hive mind, its candidates and elected officials lack message discipline and often end up fighting among themselves rather than focusing on their primary goals: advancing progressive policy changes, defending democracy against the current Republican onslaught and, last but not least, winning and holding political power.

....(snip)....

In total and for a variety of reasons, the Democrats have failed to develop a brand they can use to rally their own supporters and win new ones. By comparison, for decades the Republicans have shown themselves to be masters of storytelling and branding. While Republican policies are widely unpopular, generally speaking, this success in creating a brand and narrative around "conservative" ideology has made their party the dominant force in American politics since the 1980s.

Charles Graham is a six-term Democratic state representative who has served since 2011 in the North Carolina General Assembly. He is now challenging Rep. Dan Bishop, the Republican incumbent in North Carolina's 9th congressional district. Graham is a member of the Lumbee tribe, and the only Native American member of the North Carolina legislature.

....(snip)....

Graham's campaign video offers a powerful example of exactly the kind of storytelling Democrats should deploy. It is personality-driven, sincere and emotional. It emphasizes the human struggle for dignity and a better life, the importance of unity to solve shared problems, and offers a straightforward narrative of heroes and villains. Without being overly didactic, it also foregrounds the importance of interracial alliances in the struggle for social justice. .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/12/08/does-this-north-carolina-candidates-viral-video-have-a-winning-lesson-for-democrats/

December 8, 2021

MTG, standing up for the oppressed white seditionist

Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed that the people behind bars for their alleged role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is being abused and mistreated in jail “because of the color of their skin,” implying that the mostly white defendants are being treated worse than other prisoners because of racism.

“They were isolated in a separate wing of the jail, where they are abused, where they are ridiculed, where they are mocked because of their political beliefs and because of Jan. 6, and because of the color of their skin,” she said during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol to protest the treatment of the alleged Jan. 6 rioters who are jailed in D.C. “So there is a two tiered justice system and these are the things that need to end.” .........(more)

https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dg3gq/marjorie-taylor-greene-jan-6-capitol-abuse?

December 7, 2021

Hillary Clinton was right about the "deplorables" -- and about the end of Roe v. Wade

Hillary Clinton was right about the "deplorables" — and about the end of Roe v. Wade
Still hate Hillary's guts? Fine. But let's admit that she saw all this coming — and way before the rise of Trump

By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
PUBLISHED DECEMBER 7, 2021 6:30AM


(Salon) During her 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton warned us that Donald Trump and his "basket of deplorables" were a threat to American democracy. She wasn't a prophet. She was simply offering a reasonable analysis based on the available evidence — and she paid an enormous political price for daring to tell that truth in public.

Two things can be true at the same time. Russian interference may well have played a role in Donald Trump's unlikely electoral victory in 2016. But it is also true that Clinton's truthful but politically unwise comment about the "deplorables" helped to swing the momentum — with the help of an eager and compliant mainstream news media — in Trump's direction.

Clinton's description was in fact about much more than the disreputable people who flocked to Trump's banner. It was also a warning about the regressive politics and antisocial values that Trump's followers represented (and still do), including cruelty, racism and white supremacy, sexism and misogyny, collective narcissism, anti-intellectualism, an infatuation with violence, proud ignorance and support for fascism and authoritarianism.

....(snip)....

Hillary Clinton warned us about this as well, as Colbert King noted several months ago in the Washington Post:



Transforming a democracy into a fascist-authoritarian state is usually a process, not a singular spontaneous event. In the United States in this decade, this has taken the form of one of our two institutional political parties becoming increasingly and openly hostile toward the very idea of multiracial and pluralistic democracy. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/12/07/hillary-clinton-was-right-about-the-deplorables--and-about-reproductive-rights/

December 7, 2021

Florida Man Accused Of Waterboarding, Torturing Woman To Death

A Florida man is facing multiple charges after being accused of brutally torturing a woman to death. Authorities said the suspect, Henry Joseph Lannon II, 37, told a friend that he killed 30-year-old Chelsea Nicole Thompson last month.

Lannon's friend, who was not identified, did not initially believe he was capable of killing the woman, but after a few days, he called the police. He spoke with WJXT and said that Lannon asked him to burn some items in his backyard.

"I said, 'What's up? What's going on with you?' He said he messed up and he needed to burn some stuff,'" the friend told the news station.

He didn't think much of the request at the time and agreed to let Lannon use his backyard. When Lannon first showed up, he didn't mention anything about hurting Thompson but later confided in his friend that he may have killed her. ...........(more)

https://wbznewsradio.iheart.com/content/2021-12-06-florida-man-accused-of-waterboarding-torturing-woman-to-death/