Month: April 2021

Closing Thought–23Apr21

Another post for the “Can’t Fix Stupid” Files…….

You know what they say….”stupid is as stupid does”…..and this guy the very essence of stupid.

“Using cooking utensils when dealing with dangerous reptiles” is a bad idea, Riverside County Animal Services said in a Facebook post after a southern California man was bitten by a rattlesnake he had tried to pick up with barbecue tongs. County officials say the man, who was bitten on his left hand, was hospitalized and animal control officer Mike McGee captured the snake with a bucket and a 5-foot pair of tongs, CBS 2 reports. McGee says rattlesnakes are usually released within a mile of where they were captured, but this one was euthanized because it “was highly likely this snake might end up in one of the adjacent homes again.”

“A coiled rattlesnake can strike the length of its body and the bites are painful and, in some rare cases, fatal,” warns Animal Services Commander Chris Mayer. The bitten man, a Corona-area resident who asked to be identified only as Steve, says he was worried about children encountering the snake after he spotted it near his home Saturday evening, but he soon realized that trying to pick it up with 14-inch tongs was a big mistake, NBC Los Angeles reports. Steve says he was part of a team that cleared rattlesnakes in the military and he thought he would be able to safely “assess the situation.” He says antivenom prevented him from becoming seriously ill, but the bite was “extremely painful.”

The American gene pool gets more shallow as the years go by. (more on this situation this coming weekend)

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

GOP Has A Plan!

Now there is a headline that we have not seen in over 4 years…..and it is a good sign for the future?

I would not go that far but it is a small bit of good news…

Infrastructure is the new buzzword…..ours is in need of immediate addressing……Biden has offered his vision for our infrastructure…..https://lobotero.com/2021/03/05/our-failing-infrastructure/

And now the GOP has offered their compromise on the subject…..

Senate Republicans rolled out an $568 billion infrastructure plan on Thursday, kicking off Congressional negotiations on one of President Joe Biden’s biggest legislative priorities.

It was introduced by Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia; Roger Wicker of Mississippi; Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania; John Barrasso of Wyoming; and Mike Crapo of Idaho. The amount is lower than the $600 billion range that Capito suggested last week.

“This is the serious, most robust plan we’ve put forward as Republicans,” Capitol said at a press conference on Thursday. “We see this as an offer that’s on the table.”

https://www.businessinsider.com/senate-republican-infrastructure-plan-breakdown-biden-2021-4

CNN offered a more concise look at this proposal.

Page 2 of GOP Infrastructure Plan

I am amazed that the GOP grew a set and has offered up this proposal…..personally I do not think that little amount will do much to solve too many of our infrastructure problems.

But at least they formulated a plan….nice to see they are attempting to re-join the governing process….but I think there will be push back within the party.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Asian Hate

A new day dawning?

By now we all are well aware of the hatred and the violence committed against the Asia-American community….a growing problem since the emergence of the Covid-19 virus and it being blamed on the Chinese.

The Congress has promised to do something….most time this is an idle promise but not so this time around….the Senate did something…well all but one that is….

The Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation Thursday intended to counter violence against Asian Americans, which has increased during the pandemic. Majority Leader Charles Schumer said passage sends a message to Asian Americans that the government is listening and reassures them that “hate crimes will not be tolerated.” The bill passed 94-1, with Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri the only senator opposed; it goes to the House now. Hawley previously complained the bill was “hugely over broad,” per the Hill. One university study found hate crimes against Asian Americans rose 149% last year in 16 cities. Republicans’ objections had included calling the legislation unnecessary because of existing hate crime laws. Democrats agreed to allow votes on three GOP amendments, all of which were rejected, and the bill passed.

Advocacy groups praised the legislation, including the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, though it also called for approaches outside of law enforcement, per Politico. The legislation would require a Justice Department official to review hate crimes tied to the coronavirus and help strengthen local hate crime reporting. The Biden administration has announced its own initiative at the Justice Department and devoted $50 million to helping Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who are victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. The legislative effort was led by Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono, one of two Asian-American senators. The other, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, talked about her elderly mother being harassed while trying to buy grapes. “This bill will allow me to go home to my mom and say we did something,” she said.

A very rare bit of bi-partisanship that will probably go no further than this one bill.

Do not hold your breath that this will be the dawn of a new day in the US Congress….because you will turn blue and die.

Will this curtail the violence directed toward our Asia-American community….sorry but I am not too optimistic.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

From The ‘Can’t Fix Stupid’ Files

Closing Thought–22Apr21

This sector of IST keeps expanding…..for there is a wealth of stupid out there I intend to shine a lot on as much as possible.

Meanwhile back in the Red States of the New South….where the important issues are abortion and bathrooms….not the solutions to the problems of the residents.

This is yet another stupid law that would invade the lives of people…..

Arkansas GOP Governor Asa Hutchinson did a good thing and vetoed a bill that would criminalize healthcare for transgender kids. Naturally, the Republican-majority legislature in the state was less than pleased, but determined to make their their state even more inhospitable to transgender people than it already is just by virtue of being Arkansas. So they overrode the veto. The Arkansas House passed a bill allowing teachers to misgender their students and call them by the wrong names, and now they want to pass another, equally terrible bill meant to facilitate discrimination against trans people.

The “Arkansas Privacy Accommodations Act,” (HB 1882), sponsored by Rep. Cindy Crawford (not that Cindy Crawford), would allow people who happen to encounter a trans person in the bathroom of a public agency or entity to sue for “monetary damages for all psychological, emotional, and physical harm suffered.” How one would even begin to quantify something so ridiculous is unclear.

The bill is set to go before the State Agencies and Government Affairs committee today, and will likely be passed, given that the Arkansas legislature seems to really hate trans people.

Co-sponsoring the bill is none other than Mary Bentley, the Arkansas Republican who was the primary sponsor of both the bill that would allow teachers to bully trans students and the bill to teach creationism in schools. She’s a real peach.

The bill defines “sex” as “a person’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth” — a definition clearly meant to appeal to transphobes who don’t even know intersex people exist. However, it also says that “evidence of a person’s biological sex includes without limitation any government-issued identification document that accurately reflects a person’s sex.”

Surprisingly, it is actually fairly easy to change one’s gender on an Arkansas driver’s license — all one needs to do is to ask the clerk at the DMV office to change the gender to M, F or X. Because guess what? As super backwards as Arkansas is, they have a nonbinary gender option on their driver’s licenses, and they were the first state to do so, back in 2010. Go figure.

Now, sure. They expressly say “that accurately reflects a person’s sex,” but how the hell are they going to know? Are they going to actually inspect people’s genitals? Ask to see their birth certificates to see what gender they were assigned when they were born? How far are they planning to take this? And boy, won’t things get awkward in these bathrooms when these transphobes think they see someone who is of the “opposite sex” in their bathrooms but isn’t? Will they still be entitled to damages for the “psychological, emotional and physical harm” suffered if they’re wrong? Because there are many, many ways this could go wrong, especially if Arkansas expects transgender men to use the women’s room and expects transgender women to use the men’s room.

(wonkette.com)

Once again the Red States find a solution that there is no problem….instead of trying to end hunger or homelessness or education they prefer to worry about bathrooms and the sensibilities of morons.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Trump’s Trail Of Breadcrumbs

Ever since he was soundly defeated in 2020 Trump has been leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for the devout……the trail leads to the 2024 election in which he keeps leaving those crumbs to keep the worshipers in-line….

He has done it again in a FOX News interview…..

Former President Trump is keeping his name alive as a potential 2024 candidate. “I am looking at it very seriously,” he told Sean Hannity in an interview on Fox News on Monday night. “Beyond seriously. From a legal standpoint, I don’t want to really talk about it yet. It’s a little too soon.” Trump didn’t elaborate on what he meant with his reference to the “legal standpoint,” though USA Today notes he is under investigation in New York over his financial dealings and in Georgia over allegations of interference in the 2020 vote count. “Look, I’ve got tremendous numbers,” Trump said when Hannity pressed him on a possible run. “There is more popularity [for me] now than there was the day before the election,” he added, citing concern about migrants at the border, taxes, and gun control.

 

Even if he doesn’t run, however, Trump made clear he intends to play a role in shaping the GOP agenda by supporting candidates on the state and national level. “If they need a rally, we’ll do a rally,” he said. “We’ll do calls. We’ll do all sorts of things.” He also made a point to single out for criticism Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski, two Republican senators who have sometimes opposed his agenda, and he complained that Democrats are more unified in Congress. The solution is to run more candidates who back his “America First” movement, says Trump. “If you want to win and win big, you have to do that,” he says. “You have to do it.”

He will not commit…..it is more profitable to keep the worshipers on the hook until the last minute.

Will he or won’t he?

If the cash dries up he won’t but as long as morons keep send cash he will in 2024.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Police Reform?

Chauvin is guilty….guilty…..guilty…..

And now the call arises yet again for police reform…..

There has been a couple of years that the call has gone out for more police reform to try and curtail the rising incidents of killings by the police…..a subject I have given my thoughts….

Is It Police Reform….Or Defund….Or Abolition?

Biden And Police Reform

Both parties have jumped on the bandwagon on the recent verdict….

Lawmakers from both parties are expressing satisfaction with Tuesday’s guilty verdict of former police officer Derek Chauvin for murder and manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd, the AP reports. Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters says: “I’m not celebrating, I’m relieved.” Sen. Tim Scott, the chamber’s only Black Republican, says he is thankful for a verdict that shows “our justice system continues to become more just.” Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock says he hopes the verdict will let “people who have seen this trauma over and over again” know the nation’s laws can give them equal protection.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expressing thanks to Floyd “for sacrificing your life for justice.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says Congress must keep working on legislation “to bring meaningful change” to police departments. Former President Barack Obama says the conviction was correct but only one step in the fight for justice. In a statement, Obama said true justice requires Americans to understand that “Black Americans are being treated differently every day” and that millions live in fear that their next encounter with law enforcement could be their last. “Today, a jury did the right thing,” he tweeted. “But true justice requires much more.”

This spin will do little to change the climate in this country.

The Dems have tried (I will give them their props for that) with the George Floyd bill…..in case you have not heard of read about this attempt at police reform then I have link for you…..https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/hr7120/BILLS-116hr7120pcs.pdf

For god sake read it before you form some ill-advised opinion!

But for lazy fools here is the short version…..

George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a reform bill that would ban chokeholds and alter so-called qualified immunity for law enforcement, which would make it easier to pursue claims of police misconduct.

The 220-212 vote, mostly along party lines, came nine months after Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed by Minneapolis police officers last spring.

The wide-ranging legislation would also ban no-knock warrants in certain cases, mandate data collection on police encounters, prohibit racial and religious profiling and redirect funding to community-based policing programs.

This is an excellent bill and an excellent attempt but sadly it will go nowhere in the US Senate….the domain of of cowards and worthless leaders…..

We need to be realistic….nothing will change….and here is why…..

How Views On Black Lives Matter Have Changed — And Why That Makes Police Reform So Hard

While the country watched and waited for the verdict in the Chauvin murder trial…..the police commit murder yet again…..

Minutes before the guilty verdicts were announced in Derek Chauvin’s trial Tuesday, a Black teen girl was shot dead by a police officer in Columbus, Ohio. Bodycam video was released within hours of the death of Ma’Khia Bryant, 16, Heavy reports, but it is very difficult to watch. Police responded after someone called 911 to report they were being threatened, the AP reports. The video shows a physical altercation involving a number of people; Bryant is shown swinging a knife at one person, then after that person falls to the ground, she charges another person and pins them against a car while apparently still holding the knife, though some say she dropped it before the officer shot. Bystanders in the video can be heard reacting to the shooting, with one man telling the officer, “She’s just a kid.” A steak knife or kitchen knife fell to the ground next to her body. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.

As I said NOTHING has changed!

We desperately need police reform….sadly I just do not see that happening any time soon.

The one caveat is the trial of the 3 officers that stood by….their conviction could start the process of reform.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

From The “Can’t Fix Stupid” Files

Closing thought–21Apr21

The GOP and NRA’s favorite pedophile has opened his worthless mouth and inserted foot.

Ted Nugent rambled on about Covid-19……..of which I wrote……https://lobotero.com/2021/04/11/from-the-cant-fix-stupid-files-3/

Now that mouth has opened again……

Months after claiming there was “not a real pandemic,” Ted Nugent found himself sicker than he’d ever been in his life. “I have had flu symptoms for the last 10 days. … I thought I was dying,” the rocker said Monday on a Facebook Live stream, noting he’d tested positive for COVID-19 that same day, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. However, the right-wing musician echoed former President Trump in calling it “the Chinese virus.” “I’ve got a stuffed-up head, body aches. My God, what a pain in the ass,” he went on. “I literally could hardly crawl out of bed the last few days. But I did, I crawled.” The 72-year-old Nugent had prefaced the announcement by saying, “Everybody told me I should not announce this.” He has called the pandemic a scam, spread misinformation about the vaccine, and doubted the US death toll in recent months.

n August, he claimed the pandemic was a “leftist scam to destroy [Trump],” per the Star-Telegram. In December, he said it was “not a real pandemic and that’s not a real vaccine.” Then last month, he claimed the US death toll was false. “They claim 500,000 people have died from COVID-19. Bulls—,” he said on a Facebook stream, per NME. “‘Well, this guy was stabbed to death, but they made me put down COVID,'” he added, impersonating a medical examiner. Nugent again touched upon the vaccine during Monday’s stream, which found him breathing heavily and coughing occasionally. “Nobody knows what’s in it. Actually, some people do know what’s in it,” he said, claiming doctors were “forcing it upon people.” He suggested he’d be fine. “I’m notorious for plowing through any obstacles, including a positive test for Chinese-19,” he said.

Another prime example of “Can’t Fix Stupid”.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Anti-Protest Law

Once again the state’s GOP is showing that they have NO concern for the US Constitution……almost every state with a GOP leadership in government is trying to take away the right to vote for many Americans…..and now another state is attempting to ban protests for social injustices….this time it is Florida (go figure)……

Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed into law a bill that civil rights groups warn is designed to crack down on peaceful demonstrations and criminalize dissent by redefining “rioting” in an overbroad way and creating draconian new felonies for protest-related offenses.

While DeSantis and the bill’s Republican sponsors in the Florida legislature presented HB1 as a response to the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters earlier this year, critics say the measure—crafted well before the January 6 attack—is in fact a reaction against the racial justice protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd last May.

“Let’s be clear: this is not an anti-riot bill, regardless of what supporters claim,” Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, said in a statement Monday. “It is a bill that criminalizes peaceful protest, and the impact HB1 will have on Floridians cannot be disputed. Each and every provision harkens back to Jim Crow.”

Kubic went on to warn that under the new law—which is part of a wave of similar Republican measures under consideration nationwide—protesters could be arrested and charged with a felony if others at a protest or gathering became violent or disorderly, even if they themselves didn’t.” According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, HB1 defines rioting as a public disturbance by at least three people with “common intent to mutually assist each other in disorderly and violent conduct.”

“The goal of this law is to silence dissent and create fear among Floridians who want to take to the streets to march for justice,” said Kubic. “Every single Floridian should be outraged by this blatant attempt to erode our First Amendment right to peacefully assemble. It is outrageous and blatantly unconstitutional. Gov. DeSantis’ championing of and signature on this law degrades, debases, and disgraces Florida and our democracy.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/19/desantis-signs-outrageous-and-blatantly-unconstitutional-anti-protest-bill-law

Just how selective will this law be?

I will watch to see where this law goes.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Stop Showing Those Videos

I am writing this in opposition to an op-ed…..

Allissa Richardson writing for Vox stating that we need to stop showing the videos of killings of black/brown people by the police……

Allissa Richardson once thought videos showing police brutality would bring justice. Proving to everyone what people of color encounter with police would bring change. Richardson has changed her mind, she writes in an essay on Vox, after repeatedly seeing George Floyd die on television. The practice invites a victim’s last moments to be broken down by the public and a jury, then preserved online for viewing anytime, often without the family’s consent. Now she wonders why it ever seemed necessary to document the killings. “Why were Black and brown people forced to pre-litigate their own murder trials in this way?” she writes. “Why was it necessary to form a counternarrative to the old stereotype of Black and brown folks’ criminality? Why did we ever need to produce a parallel storyline to an official police report?”

The practice only reinforces white supremacy, Richardson writes, reminding everyone of the protections police officers are afforded and the fate of people of color who object to this social order. She calls for suspending the airing of the videos online and on TV unless the family agrees they can be shown. That could prompt journalists to look into the systemic issues leading to the deaths instead of the exact second when a 13-year-old about to be killed dropped a gun. If we believe people of color, we can eliminate the “need to play this game of video empathy before justice,” says Richardson, who teaches journalism at USC. “We have enough proof,” she writes. “We have enough pain. What we don’t have is reform.” You can read the full piece here.

As I stated in the beginning…..I disagree with the premise…..

I do not think that the outcome would have been the same without the video.

I will agree that the MSM does have a tendency to beat the viewer about the head with them…..and until there is more accountability for the violence and death committed by the police the videos are needed.

I would love your thoughts.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!

The post is for all those that live under a rock.

The jury is in and the fate of Officer Chauvin is in!

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin learned his fate as a tense nation watched Tuesday. The jury found Chauvin guilty on all three counts he was charged with in the May 25 death of George Floyd—second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. The most serious charge, second-degree murder, carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, NBC reports. The judge ordered Chauvin remanded to custody until a sentencing hearing in approximately eight weeks. The 45-year-old’s bail was immediately revoked and he was taken away in handcuffs, reports the AP.

Outside the heavily guarded court building in Minneapolis, there were cheers and chants of “All three counts” from the crowd as the verdicts were read, the New York Times reports. CNN reports that jurors deliberated for four hours after closing arguments were delivered Monday and resumed deliberations at 9am ET today. The court was notified Tuesday afternoon that they had reached a verdict.

Reactions of relief…..

Derek Chauvin showed little emotion as the three guilty verdicts against him in the death of George Floyd were read out Tuesday, but there was jubilation outside the Minneapolis court building. The AP reports that there were cheers among hundreds of people gathered in a nearby park and people flooded downtown streets, some waving banners as drivers honked their horns. Philonise Floyd, one of Floyd’s brothers, was in the courtroom and hugged prosecutor Jerry Blackwell, the Star Tribune reports. More:

  • “Painfully earned justice.” “Painfully earned justice has arrived for George Floyd’s family and the community here in Minneapolis, but today’s verdict goes far beyond this city and has significant implications for the country and even the world. Justice for Black America is justice for all of America,” Floyd family attorney Ben Crump said in a prepared statement after Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter. Crump said the verdict is “a turning point in American history for accountability of law enforcement and sends a clear message we hope is heard clearly in every city and every state.”
  • AG praises community members. CNN reports that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison praised the “simple yet profound acts of courage” of those who recorded Chauvin putting his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. “What happened on that street was wrong,” Ellison said. “We owe them our gratitude for fulfilling their civic duty and for their courage in telling the truth.”
  • “One important step.” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz were among numerous leaders who welcomed the verdict but said much work remains to be done, the Washington Post reports. The verdict “won’t change the fact that George Floyd’s family has been rendered incomplete,” Walz said, but it “marks an important step in our pursuit of racial justice in Minneapolis—one important step on a much longer journey.”
  • Floyd’s girlfriend: “Thank God for this moment.” George Floyd’s girlfriend, Courteney Ross, called the decision a “moment to celebrate” before the fight for racial justice resumes, the Guardian reports. “Floyd was one man,” she said. “George Floyd is a movement.”
  • Police federation speaks out. “There are no winners in this case, and we respect the jury’s decision,” the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis said in a statement after the former officer was found guilty, per the Star Tribune. “We need the political pandering to stop and the race-baiting of elected officials to stop.”

Even Pres. Biden has stepped up with a speech…..

The verdict against Derek Chauvin “can be a moment of significant change,” President Biden said in a White House speech Tuesday, hours after a jury found the former Minneapolis police officer guilty of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. The Black man’s death “was a murder in the full light of day and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see” systemic racism and “the knee on the neck of justice for Black Americans,” Biden said, per CNN. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and first lady Jill Biden called Floyd’s family moments after the verdict, reports the AP. “Nothing is going to make it all better, but at least now there is some justice,” he said in video of the call tweeted by attorney Ben Crump. “We’re all so relieved.”

Biden and Harris both urged Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, Politico reports. Biden described the decision in the Chauvin case as “much too rare” and said “it took a unique and extraordinary convergence of factors”—including bystander video of the killing and police willing to testify against a former officer—”for the judicial system to deliver a just, just basic accountability.” Chauvin will be sentenced at a hearing in around eight weeks. He faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison on the most serious charge and federal charges are still possible, the Washington Post reports. In a statement Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the jury had “fulfilled its civic duty” after the trial on state charges. He said the federal civil rights investigation is “ongoing.”

So said them all!

Yes it is good news….but sadly this will probably change nothing.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”