December 26, 2020

Tennessee governor requests emergency declaration from President Donald Trump

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced Saturday that he has requested an emergency declaration from President Donald Trump after an explosion ripped through downtown Nashville on Christmas morning.

“The severity and magnitude of the current situation is such that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments,” Lee wrote in a statement.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tennessee-governor-requests-emergency-declaration-president-donald-trump-n1252370

December 26, 2020

Utah Utes RB Ty Jordan, Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year, dies

Utah running back Ty Jordan has died, the school announced Saturday.

The Denton (Texas) Police Department told ESPN that its officers responded to a shooting call at 10:38 p.m. ET Friday. Officers discovered a gunshot victim who had been shot one time. After life-saving measures were applied, the victim was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

"Following a preliminary investigation, we do believe that this was an accidental shooting, where the victim accidentally shot himself," Denton Police Department public information officer Allison Beckwith told ESPN.

Utes coach Kyle Whittingham said the team is devastated.

"Ty's personality and smile were infectious and he made a huge impact on our program in the short time he was with us," Whittingham said in a statement. "He leaves an indelible mark on each of us and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. From the bottom of our hearts, all of us in the Utah Football Family want to say we love you Ty and may you rest in peace."


https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30600621/utah-utes-rb-ty-jordan-pac-12-offensive-freshman-year-dies

This is tragic. Jordon had such a promising future.

December 23, 2020

San Francisco mayor says Harris replacement pick 'a real blow to the African American community'

San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) said Tuesday that California Gov. Gavin Newsom's (D) choice of Secretary of State Alex Padilla (D) to fill Vice President-elect Kamala Harris's (D) vacant Senate seat is "a real blow to the African American community."

"And it's an unfortunate situation as we are trying to move this country forward, and making sure that Black lives truly matter and that African Americans have a seat at the table — especially African American women," she continued, according to the news outlet. "After what was done in this race on a national level, [it] definitely is unfortunate."

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) called for Newsom to appoint a Black woman to fill Harris's seat earlier this month. “We absolutely cannot go backwards. With the election of @KamalaHarris to VP-elect, @CAgovernor must prioritize this leadership, perspective & representation in the vacated U.S. Senate seat & appoint a Black woman," she wrote on Twitter, mentioning both Lee and Bass.


Newsom is set to appoint Padilla to fill Harris's seat. He will be the first Latino to represent California in the Senate.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/531429-san-francisco-mayor-says-harris-replacement-pick-a-real-blow-to-the

December 21, 2020

TRUMP'S TALK OF MARTIAL LAW SENDS WHITE HOUSE STAFFERS RUSHING TO THE PRESS

"In the conspiratorial conservative base of supporting Trump, there are calls for using the Insurrection Act to declare martial law," said Elizabeth Neumann, former assistant secretary of Homeland Security under President Trump and adviser at Defending Democracy Together, on CNN's "Reliable Sources."

"When they hear that the president is actually considering this, there are violent extremist groups that look at this as a dog whistle, an excuse to go out and create ... violence," she said.

It's a concept she calls "acceleration," in which violent extremist groups, especially White supremacists, try to overthrow the United States government. These groups believe that will take place through a civil war and look to "accelerate the chaos, accelerate the coming of the civil war."

"So when they hear that the president is open to this idea of martial law, we may see certain groups mobilizing to commit acts that, in their minds, a justification for the use of the Insurrection Act," Neumann said

https://www.kdrv.com/content/national/573441891.html?ref=891


The protest taking place at the Oregon State Capital by far right extremists is an example of what Neumann is talking about.

December 19, 2020

Estonians erect statue and give home to beloved stray dog

Zorik was never the tail-wagging or hand-licking type. But that didn’t stop the free-spirited vagabond dog from winning many hearts.

When the black-and-white mutt, long a presence in a Tallinn neighborhood, was taken from the Estonian capital to the countryside earlier this year to live out his days in the safe and restful surroundings of a family’s back yard, he was missed so much that the residents immortalized him with a statue.
In a society where the divide between ethnic Estonians and ethnic Russians is acutely felt, Zorik managed to bridge the divide, winning over Russian-speaking old women who fed him, as well as Estonian hipsters, including a group now opening a cafe named “Zorik.”

https://apnews.com/article/animals-dogs-estonia-tallinn-aab800e6c53a56b4ecf6f14d37c7fe5b

Happy Holidays!

December 16, 2020

What could be behind Javanka's move to Billionaire's Bunker?

Florida is a great place to move to if you are a retiree or a criminal. As well as sun, sea and sand, it boasts a number of laws that may appeal to someone desperate to keep their hands on their money. These include something called a “homestead exemption”, which protects a Florida resident’s primary home (of unlimited value) from being seized by creditors.

Back in 2008, for example, Bernie Madoff’s wife suddenly switched her primary residence from New York to Florida and applied for a homestead exemption to protect her $9.4m home. Weirdly, she applied for this exemption just a few months before Madoff pleaded guilty to running a massive Ponzi scheme.

This is just some interesting Florida trivia, by the way. I wouldn’t want you to read too much into it. It’s just a little titbit that came to mind, for no reason whatsoever, when I read the recent speculation that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have decided not to move back to New York and are heading to Florida. According to the New York Post, the pair have spent over $30m on almost a hectare of land near Miami Beach. While that may seem like a wild amount to spend on a relatively small piece of empty land, it is situated on the super-exclusive Indian Creek Island, which has the nickname Billionaire’s Bunker.

There are only 41 residences on the island and it has a 13-strong police force as well as its own round-the-clock armed marine patrol. It’s supposedly one of the most secure places in the world. Although, to be honest, I can think of a few places with even higher security where some of the Trump family may end up next.
Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist




https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/16/what-could-be-behind-javankas-move-to-billionaires-bunker

December 11, 2020

Trump Just Broke Through the Last Level of Neo-Fascism

Never mind his latest Twitter storm of complaints and threats. Or do mind them, because their very desperation proves that it’s dawning on the Undapper Don that his chances of staying in the White House much longer are, as the mayor of Munchkin City put it, morally, ethically, spiritually, physically, positively, absolutely, undeniably, and reliably dead. He’ll see for what will probably be the first time in his life that there’s no judge he can buy (including the one he assumed he was buying, who has at least shown herself to be above mob-style corruption; hey, we’ll take it), no fixer he can bribe, no idiot cousin he can put on the payroll to fix things.

When they start writing histories of the Trump era, I think the one-line summary will be something like this: While some portion of his appeal was based on legitimate grievances of working-class people against elites, he awakened an authoritarian impulse among the citizenry that was far larger and more rabid, and more easily triggered, than most of us ever imagined.

What do I mean by neo-fascism? It’s a fairly obvious set of criteria. Here are five essential ones, though there are others: blind loyalty to a leader who’s really more of a national father figure; belief that the leader is the state; belief that opposition to the leader is opposition to the state, and thus treason; conviction (instilled or ignited by the leader) that the source of the problems facing the good wholesome ethnic majority is some Other or collection of Others who must be ostracized if not banished; agreement that the rules and constraints of democratic order are sometimes useful and should be obeyed as long as one can obey them and win, because doing so confers a certain legitimacy, but if they have to be cast aside to hold power, then cast aside they must be. These principles animate every fascist regime in human history. They are at the heart of Trumpism, and they have drawn many more adherents than I’d have thought possible in this country.

I think the writer makes some other good points in the article'

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-just-broke-last-level-085740834.html

December 2, 2020

'Bye-Bye, Betsy DeVos. You Won't Be Missed,' Says Sanders....

'Bye-Bye, Betsy DeVos. You Won't Be Missed,' Says Sanders as Billionaire Education Secretary Attacks Push for Tuition-Free College

"What do you call a billionaire who registered a $40 million, 164-foot yacht in the Cayman Islands to avoid $2.4 million in U.S. taxes, while undermining public schools? The worst education secretary in the history of America," tweeted the Vermont senator, a leading proponent of student debt cancellation and tuition-free higher education. "Bye-bye, Betsy DeVos. You won't be missed."

In a speech at an Education Department financial aid conference on Tuesday, the outgoing education secretary dismissed as "government gift-giving" proposals to forgive crippling student loan debt and eliminate tuition for public colleges and universities.

In response to DeVos' remarks Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—one of many lawmakers and activists pressuring Biden to use his authority to cancel student loan debt—tweeted sardonically, "Because we were all just dying to know what the unqualified billionaire who made this problem worse thinks about helping people."