Source: CNN

(CNN)House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday rebuffed a demand from Sen. Joe Manchin to take a "strategic pause" on a $3.5 trillion economic package, making clear that she was moving on an aggressive timeline to push the measure through this month and setting up a clash with moderate Democrats eager to pare back the price tag.

"Obviously, I don't agree," Pelosi told CNN when asked about Manchin's highly publicized demand for Congress to hit the brakes on fulfilling a bulk of President Joe Biden's domestic agenda this month.

In another sign of a looming clash, Pelosi showed little desire to pare back the massive $3.5 trillion price tag, a top-level spending amount that Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have both indicated they do not support.

"The number is the number, $3.5 (trillion), we can't go above that," Pelosi said. Asked about the likelihood she will have to go below that level, Pelosi responded, "Why?"

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/07/politics/pelosi-manchin-reconciliation-bill/index.html

WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin came out against a $3.5 trillion budget bill on Thursday, throwing cold water on one of President Joe Biden's top legislative ambitions.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal opinion section, the West Virginia Democrat called on his party to hit "a strategic pause" on the legislation, rejecting the idea of "artificial political deadlines" to advance it.

"I, for one, won’t support a $3.5 trillion bill, or anywhere near that level of additional spending, without greater clarity about why Congress chooses to ignore the serious effects inflation and debt have on existing government programs," Manchin wrote.

Manchin's piece is a warning to Democrats, who have no path to passing a multitrillion-dollar budget bill without his vote in a Senate that is split 50-50. While the centrist Democrat didn't rule out voting for a bill, his opposition to the $3.5 trillion price tag may force Biden and the party to scale back its ambitions to ink the largest expansion of the U.S. safety net in generations.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/joe-manchin-says-he-will-oppose-3-5-trillion-budget-n1278407

Too late to post in LBN (22 hours old), so I posted it here.

Source: Politico

The Supreme Court early Wednesday let a Texas state law take effect that allows private citizens to sue to uphold a ban on the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy.

The court’s decision to not act on an emergency petition from Texas abortion clinics comes as the justices prepare to more broadly reconsider the right to an abortion it established almost 50 years ago. In May, justices agreed to review Mississippi’s ban on the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy — a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Those arguments are expected later this year, with a ruling in 2022.

Beyond outlawing abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, the Texas law, signed in May, would deputize citizens to file civil suits against abortion providers or anyone who helps facilitate the procedure after six weeks, such as a person who drives a pregnant person to the clinic. Individuals found to have violated the law would have to pay $10,000 to the person who successfully brings such a suit — a bounty abortion rights advocates warn will encourage harassment, intimidation and vigilantism.

The citizen enforcement scheme also made the law more difficult to challenge in court, and the Supreme Court's decision to side, for now, against the clinics is likely to encourage copycat bills in other states.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/01/supreme-court-texas-abortion-ban-508275

WEBSTER GROVES, Mo. (KMOV.com) -- Parents and students are asking Webster Groves School District to let girls wear crop top shirts. The group wants a change and the district says no and are pushing back on claims of sexist rules.

“My daughters' abdomen is not a distraction, you need to look away,” said parent Jennifer Grotpeter.

Grotpeter is the mother of two daughters, a junior and senior in the district. She believes the school’s dress code is biased toward young girls, specially the guidelines for shirts that showcase the stomach aka crop tops.

“For years, we've been fighting an unequitable dress code in Webster Groves,” said Grotpeter.

https://www.kmov.com/news/parents-students-asking-webster-groves-school-district-to-let-girls-wear-crop-tops/article_bdd60fd8-0784-11ec-b90d-8be2e6ad4b4d.html?fbclid=IwAR1gKHpx0RFrhRPiKuK1RHlkrIzOR0KBIC5zBwvFqUN7xuOIFjZ9UorMmqU

My 2 cents: Let them wear it. From the link they barely show the stomach at all.

It didn't have to happen, as it was heavily over-loaded and never should have taken off. Before she had died, she was on the verge of becoming a superstar of epic proportions, and there is zero doubt in my mind that she would have achieved it had she lived. Think of all of the great songs that we didn't get to hear, all of the movies that we didn't get to see, and all of the concerts that we didn't get to attend.

I'll never forget seeing Romeo Must Die in the movies, and the great time I had that day. RIP Aaliyah, the world morns today, and forever misses you. 💔

Source: NBC NY

Video showing a towing company employee using a racial slur during a confrontation with a customer has attracted lots of attention online — and cost that company its contract with a New Jersey town.

The video shows the dispute outside Ajaco Towing in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township, as police are seen holding a man at the top of a set of stairs back, trying to get him inside. The man is irate, screaming at the man who is recording the video. As police finally push him inside the building, the man can be heard shouting the "N" word.

The person recording the altercation posted it on his Instagram account. His car had been towed after getting into an accident, and he was there to get it back, when the argument broke out and things escalated.

Jason Cleffi, the own of Ajaco Towing, saying the man recording the video have been there for an hour, arguing with employees after he was unable to pay the towing bill. The man then left and came back with police, and at some point words were exchanged, which is when Cleffi says the man filming threatened the employee.

Read more: https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/racist-incident-involving-nj-towing-company-employee-caught-on-camera/3232048/

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Video in link.

Source: Politico

Kyrsten Sinema still opposes her party's plans for a $3.5 trillion, party-line spending bill. And she’s not up for a negotiation about it.

As House Democratic leaders hold back Sinema’s own Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill in order to push the Arizona Democrat and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to support a multitrillion-dollar spending bill, Sinema is making it crystal clear that her mind can’t be changed. And that applies even as her own legislation becomes a bargaining chip in House Democrats’ internal discussions.

The $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill “is a historic win for our nation’s everyday families and employers and, like every proposal, should be considered on its own merits,” said Sinema spokesperson John LaBombard. “Proceedings in the U.S. House will have no impact on Kyrsten’s views about what is best for our country - including the fact that she will not support a budget reconciliation bill that costs $3.5 trillion.”

It’s the latest entrenched position from the first-term moderate, whose resistance to changing the Senate’s filibuster rules and to supporting a $3.5 trillion spending bill is enraging progressives. Sinema and Manchin both helped pass Democrats’ budget earlier this month, setting up that gargantuan spending bill, but both are resistant to a social spending package that ultimately meets its $3.5 trillion top line mark.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/23/sinema-35t-spending-bill-506583?nname=playbook-pm&nid=0000015a-dd3e-d536-a37b-dd7fd8af0000&nrid=0000014e-f111-dd93-ad7f-f91591180000&nlid=964328

Source: Rolling Stone

UB40 saxophonist and founding member Brian Travers died Sunday, August 22nd, after a lengthy battle with cancer, according to a statement from the band. He was 62.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our comrade, brother, founding UB40 member and musical legend, Brian David Travers,” the band wrote on social media. “Brian passed away yesterday evening with his family by his side, after a long and heroic battle with cancer. Our thoughts are with Brian’s wife Lesley, his daughter Lisa and son Jamie. We are all devastated by this news and ask that you respect the family’s need for privacy at this time.”

A British reggae/pop band, UB40 formed in 1978 — taking their name from an unemployment form — and had its share of hits over the years, from their take on Neil Diamond’s “Red Red Wine” to a spin on Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling in Love With You.” The band also earned four Grammy nominations, all in the reggae category.

Rolling Stone previously called UB40’s 1983 album Labour of Love one of the best records of the Eighties, writing: “Labour of Love, by Britain’s UB40, was exactly that: an enjoyable way of paying tribute to the reggae tunes that meant the most to the band members when they were growing up.”

Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/ub40-brian-travers-dead-obit-1215560/

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RIP, loved their huge hit in 1993!

Source: CNN

(CNN)Rev. Jesse Jackson and his wife are both hospitalized after testing positive for Covid-19.

"Doctors are currently monitoring the condition of both," the Rainbow PUSH Coalition (RPC) said in a statement Saturday. "Anyone who has been around either of them for the last five or six days should follow the CDC guidelines."

Jackson, 79, and his wife, Jacqueline Jackson, 77, are currently at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, the statement said.

In February, the civil rights leader underwent successful surgery after being hospitalized for abdominal discomfort. In 2017, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder with no cure.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/21/us/rev-jesse-jackson-wife-hospitalized-coronavirus/index.html

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Man, Hillary is a smart woman, the world really needed her in 2016. Best SoS in US history. Video in link from May 2021.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/hillary-clinton-afghanistan-video-kabul-b1903496.html