David L. Wilson at TruthOut reminds us (and Vice President Harris!) that one can, actually, stem immigration to America: we can end the "war on drugs," stop letting arms flow to bad actors, and cut back on climate change-causing pollution, because all of these things also make lives miserable in Central America. Fun fact: the Obama Administration fiddled as a coup toppled Honduran President Zelaya in 2009, as right-wingers said they were concerned he was trying to make himself a Forever President -- and now Honduras has an actual Forever President who does nothing but oppress his own people. Heckuva job, America! One day we'll be talking about that in the same breath as the CIA-backed 1954 coup in Guatemala and the Nixon-backed 1973 coup in Argentina.
Jef Rouner at the Houston Press lists "5 Signs You're a Soft White Supremacist," but I bet you don't have to worry about whether you're exhibiting these signs. Do you limit your definition of white supremacy to only the most obvious suspects? Do you reflexively look for "middle grounds" because you're afraid of the truth? Do you habitually use isolated incidents to make broad conclusions? Do you think "diversity" has "gone too far" because it makes some folks ashamed boo-hoo? Do you habitually apologize for your Trumphole uncle more often than you fight his stupidity? No, I didn't think that was you, either. So let someone else sweat it, OK?
Ho hum, three Republican House Reps introduce a resolution to censure Reps. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Tlaib (D-MI), and Omar (D-NY) for "defending terrorist organizations and inciting anti-Semitic attacks across the United States." The first charge is gob-smackingly stupid and the second charge is a bit rich, considering how many anti-Semitic attacks followed in the wake of Donald Trump's 2016 election and how few Republicans are willing to say Donald Trump incited a riot on January 6, though the case for his conviction is considerably stronger. (Also, Rep. Omar didn't say anything wrong, and she shouldn't have walked it back even to the degree she did. And I bet sexism operates here even more than racism does -- if a man had said what she said, he could've doubled down and shouted louder and folks would have said he "shoots from the hip," but too many Americans brandish the b-word when a woman does something even remotely similar.)
Uh oh: at least two dozen corporations waving the Pride flag this month have, guess what, donated to virulently anti-gay politicians in just the last two years. You know, in case you thought corporate hypocrisy had boundaries. Even more telling in the linked article above are all the sentences reading "(such-and-such corporation) did not respond to a request for comment," which means they all know they can't point to a pile of dung and tell everyone it's really meatloaf. I imagine I'll get action alerts about this shortly. And when I get them, you'll get them.
When I hear that Republican candidates are falling all over themselves pretending (and, in some cases, outright lying) that they've received Donald Trump's endorsement, I'm tempted to hope that this really does all play out like a Kids in the Hall skit. "I've got a picture with the big man!" "Oh yeah? Well I've got an endorsement on completely authentic letterhead!" And there's also the ratfucking, as apparently happened to Hirsh Singh in New Jersey. Trouble is, none of this will be funny on Election Day, when Trump votaries all vote in jackboot lockstep for whomever has an "R" after their name. Hate to beat a dead horse, but Democrats could make all this drama beside the point if they would just do something with the power they have over the next two years. That would include not giving up those monthly CTC checks in some "bipartisan" infrastructure bill, an "option" I'm sure they've discussed.
Finally, a New Hampshire man facing criminal charges for his role in the January 6 attempted coup wants to run for Congress, and thinks his role in that shameful act can help him win, because "if you’re running for office, any attention is good attention." Granted, he's threatened to run for office before only to utterly fail to do the work that would take, and he only chose to run for Congress after he realized the woman he wanted to run against is a Congressperson and not a state legislator, but Jesus Mary and Joseph I want this dude to lose in the most humiliating fashion possible, because I don't want to live in an America where "any attention is good attention" -- I want to live in an America where we shame and shun people for seeking bad attention. It's not so damn much to ask, really.
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