Month: January 2022

Closing Thought–14Jan22

The problems return.

Have you noticed at your favorite supermarket that there seems to be fewer and fewer items on the shelves?

Well the culprit at least according to the ‘official’ sources are pandemic, weather and the food chain…..

Benjamin Whitely headed to a Safeway supermarket in Washington, DC, on Tuesday to grab some items for dinner. But he was disappointed to find the vegetable bins barren and a sparse selection of turkey, chicken, and milk. “Seems like I missed out on everything,” Whitely, 67, said. “I’m going to have to hunt around for stuff now.” Shortages at US grocery stores have grown more acute in recent weeks as new problems—like the fast-spreading omicron variant and severe weather—have piled on to the supply chain struggles and labor shortages that have plagued retailers since the coronavirus pandemic began, the AP reports. The shortages are widespread, impacting produce and meat as well as packaged goods such as cereal.

And they’re being reported nationwide. US groceries typically have 5% to 10% of their items out of stock at any given time; right now, that unavailability rate is hovering around 15%, according to Consumer Brands Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman. Part of the scarcity consumers are seeing on store shelves is due to pandemic trends that never abated—and are exacerbated by omicron. Americans are eating at home more than they used to, especially since offices and some schools remain closed, and are thus buying more at the grocery store. A historically high deficit of truck drivers that started building before the pandemic also remains a problem. And shipping remains delayed, impacting everything from imported foods to packaging that is printed overseas.

The omicron variant has also taken a toll on food production lines. Sean Connolly, the president and CEO of Conagra Brands, which makes Birds Eye frozen vegetables, Slim Jim meat snacks and other products, told investors last week that supplies from the company’s US plants will be constrained for at least the next month due to omicron-related absences. Worker illness is also impacting grocery stores. Stew Leonard Jr. is president and CEO of Stew Leonard’s, a supermarket chain that operates stores in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Last week, 8% of his workers—around 200 people—were either out sick or in quarantine. Usually, the level of absenteeism is more like 2%. And weather-related events, from snowstorms in the Northeast to wildfires in Colorado, also have impacted product availability and caused some shoppers to stock up more than usual.

I know let’s blame the workers, the drivers, etc…and the weather is a convenient culprit as well…..

Inflation is on the rise for the consumer…..

Prices paid by US consumers jumped 7% in December from a year earlier, the highest inflation rate since 1982 and the latest evidence that rising costs for food, gas, rent, and other necessities are heightening the financial pressures on America’s households, reports the AP. The Wall Street Journal reports this is the third consecutive month where inflation has topped 6%. What’s known as the core price index, which doesn’t take into account food and energy, was up 5.5% in December over the prior year. That tops November’s 4.9% and marks the highest rate since 1991.

Not to worry food costs still soar and no one is DC seems to give a crap….as long as the give some silly boring and totally ineffective speech all is well for them.

Have you had enough of the excuses?

Time for you to show you disapproval.

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“lego ergo scribo”

 

2022–From The ‘Can’t Fix Stupid’ Files

Almost daily I hear something that just keeps reminding me the no matter how we try we just cannot fix stupid…..

A regular culprit from spreading Stupid is Rep. Taylor-Green and her newest rant is just as stupid as one might think…..

Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene expressed support for penalizing those who move from Democratic-controlled states to Republican-controlled states by temporarily stripping their right to vote or imposing an extra tax.

The idea, she said, would be possible in a “National Divorce scenario,” though Greene appeared to be musing about the idea rather than promoting a specific piece of legislation.

“After Democrat voters and big donors ruin a state like California, you would think it wise to stop them from doing it to another great state like Florida,” Greene said.

Pedro Gonzalez, an editor at Chronicles magazine with populist views, proposed a transplant penalty in response to a viral Twitter thread from a man moving from the Bay Area to Miami, Florida, who criticized California’s policies but was “apprehensive” about his destination’s “worse politics.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/national-divorce-scenario-marjorie-taylor-greene-floats-tax-and-voting-penalties-for-those-fleeing-blue-states

She was not finished with her stupidity….another mouth open and stupidity flies out…..

Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on Monday lashed out at “the Democrats” for what she said was a Covid-19 strategy that left white people without proper treatment.

Greene made her remarks on the Joe Pags Show after it was reported that the Biden administration will allow hospitals to use ethnicity when determining who is at “high risk” for severe illness. The “high risk” label allows a patient to more quickly qualify for monoclonal antibodies like sotrovimab.

Conservatives have criticized the policy as “racist.”

https://www.rawstory.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-monoclonal-antibodies/

She opens her mouth and manure flies out.

MT-G is not alone as a batcrap crazy dirt bag….there is a candidate, GOP of course, that demonizes libraries…..

A key component to the rise of authoritarian movements is the hijacking of education, along with the widespread disdain for intellectualism and expertise.

Today’s Republican party has that in spades. Republican elected officials and political candidates have repeatedly demonized educators by painting teachers as radicals and encouraging citizens to intimidate school board officials. One Republican candidate, Steve Lynch, urged his supporters to gather “20 strong men” and forcibly remove school board members. Far-rig

ht Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance says professors are “the enemy,” despite his professor at Yale Law School convincing him to write the book that gave him a modicum of relevance in the first place.

And this week, right-wing congressional candidate Heidi St. John displayed a hatred for libraries that’s only rivaled by the fictional residents of Pawnee, Indiana.

https://secondnexus.com/heidi-john-libraries-evil-organizations

Seriously?

Libraries are evil?

These GOPers keep talking and keep proving just how stupid they are….I guess the statement of “Can’t Fix Stupid” is one of the most prophetic statements uttered.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Mississippi Secedes–1861

This is for all my Civil War history buffs.

My state of Mississippi officially secedes from the Union on 09 January 1861…..I offer up this resolution for their actions on that day….this is the official statement…..

A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union.

In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course.

Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery– the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin. That we do not overstate the dangers to our institution, a reference to a few facts will sufficiently prove.

The hostility to this institution commenced before the adoption of the Constitution, and was manifested in the well-known Ordinance of 1787, in regard to the Northwestern Territory.

The feeling increased, until, in 1819-20, it deprived the South of more than half the vast territory acquired from France.

The same hostility dismembered Texas and seized upon all the territory acquired from Mexico.

It has grown until it denies the right of property in slaves, and refuses protection to that right on the high seas, in the Territories, and wherever the government of the United States had jurisdiction.

It refuses the admission of new slave States into the Union, and seeks to extinguish it by confining it within its present limits, denying the power of expansion.

It tramples the original equality of the South under foot.

It has nullified the Fugitive Slave Law in almost every free State in the Union, and has utterly broken the compact which our fathers pledged their faith to maintain.

It advocates negro equality, socially and politically, and promotes insurrection and incendiarism in our midst.

It has enlisted its press, its pulpit and its schools against us, until the whole popular mind of the North is excited and inflamed with prejudice.

It has made combinations and formed associations to carry out its schemes of emancipation in the States and wherever else slavery exists.

It seeks not to elevate or to support the slave, but to destroy his present condition without providing a better.

It has invaded a State, and invested with the honors of martyrdom the wretch whose purpose was to apply flames to our dwellings, and the weapons of destruction to our lives.

It has broken every compact into which it has entered for our security.

It has given indubitable evidence of its design to ruin our agriculture, to prostrate our industrial pursuits and to destroy our social system.

It knows no relenting or hesitation in its purposes; it stops not in its march of aggression, and leaves us no room to hope for cessation or for pause.

It has recently obtained control of the Government, by the prosecution of its unhallowed schemes, and destroyed the last expectation of living together in friendship and brotherhood.

Utter subjugation awaits us in the Union, if we should consent longer to remain in it. It is not a matter of choice, but of necessity. We must either submit to degradation, and to the loss of property worth four billions of money, or we must secede from the Union framed by our fathers, to secure this as well as every other species of property. For far less cause than this, our fathers separated from the Crown of England.

Our decision is made. We follow their footsteps. We embrace the alternative of separation; and for the reasons here stated, we resolve to maintain our rights with the full consciousness of the justice of our course, and the undoubting belief of our ability to maintain it.

That is word for word the declaration for the cessation of the state of Mississippi from the United States……now you tell me what the reason for this was…..it is clear to me no matter what they narrative has become….there was NO ‘Lost Cause’ it was preserve the institution of slavery…..

I offer this up because the schools in the South are failing to teach what lead to the Civil War that killed so many Americans.

In social studies standards for 45 out of 50 states and the District of Columbia, discussion of Reconstruction is “partial” or “non-existent,” according to historians who reviewed how the period is discussed in K-12 social studies standards for public schools nationwide. In a report produced by the education nonprofit Zinn Education Project, the study’s authors say they are concerned that American children will grow up to be uninformed about a critical period of history that helps explain why full racial equality remains unfulfilled today.

https://time.com/6128421/teaching-reconstruction-study/

The history lesson is done….you may now return to your normal drudgery.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

From The ‘Can’t Fix Stupid’ Files–2022

There are times when people open their mouths and manure falls out…..these are some of the most moronic statements ever uttered and it is getting worse and worse…..

One hot issue is the Covid pandemic we are dealing with as a society…..all the anti-vaxxers have a wealth of faux solutions for preventing contagion……stuff like drinking bleach or taking a horse laxative….but this one pushes the limits of ignorance….

Despite the proven efficacy and safety of the three FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the U.S., one anti-vaccine leader is urging his followers to treat the disease with their own urine.

It’s among the latest in “alternative” treatments touted by anti-vaccine advocates during the pandemic.

Christopher Key, known as the “Vaccine Police,” pitched the unsupported claim over the weekend on his Telegram account, the Daily Beast reported.

Key, who was recently released from jail, told followers of his group, “The antidote that we have seen now, and we have tons and tons of research, is urine therapy. OK, and I know to a lot of you this sounds crazy, but guys, God’s given us everything we need.”

https://www.wjtv.com/health/coronavirus/drink-urine-anti-vaccine-leader-tells-supporters/amp/

Seriously folks……who comes up with this much stupidity?

Please do not listen or take the advice…..talk with a medical professional on your health needs.

Be Smart—–Be Well….Be safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

How Did It Come To This?

I am talking about the US/NATO-Russia confrontation…..Russian troops on the Ukraine border. US/NATO facing off on the border was well…..US Navy gunships crowd into the Black Sea and the hard feelings just keep escalting.

I know Russia is NOT our friend…..after the fall of the Soviet Union the animosities lessened and then something happened for those hard feelings to return….

There are four ‘provocations’ that have brought the world to this point….

Western provocation number 1: NATO’s first eastward expansion. 

In her memoir “Madame Secretary,” former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and secretary of state Madeleine Albright concedes that Clinton administration officials decided already in 1993 to endorse the wishes of Central and East European countries to join NATO. The Alliance proceeded to add Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary in 1998. Albright admitted that Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his associates were extremely unhappy with that development. The Russian reaction was understandable, since the expansion violated informal promises that President George H. W. Bush’s administration had given Moscow when Mikhail Gorbachev had agreed not only to accept a unified Germany but a united Germany in NATO.  The implicit quid pro quo was that NATO would not move beyond the eastern border of a united Germany.  

Four Western provocations that led to U.S.-Russia crisis today

Diplomacy is dead for the idiots on both sides have their fingers on the triggers of disaster….IMO it is time to bring this war machine known as NATO to an end…..

The possibility of further eastward NATO expansion and the reality of NATO military involvement in Ukraine are major causes of the current Ukraine crisis, but there is a stubborn refusal in the West to acknowledge the alliance’s role in creating the standoff with Russia. Not only are Western governments unwilling to take Russian security concerns seriously, but many in the West also seem determined to ratchet up tensions with Moscow no matter the consequences for European security. The Biden Administration has agreed to discuss relevant issues with the Russian government, but US and allied officials have already ruled out several of the most important concessions as impossible. If Western governments don’t change course soon, they will bear a large part of the responsibility for any escalation that follows.

Neutrality for Ukraine remains the obvious way out of the immediate crisis and closing the door on NATO expansion is in the best interests of all concerned, but this is a path that Western governments have already rejected out of hand. It is a measure of how disconnected US and NATO policies have become from real security interests that Western governments are risking peace in Europe in the name of destabilizing alliance expansion. Instead of asking whether the alliance needs new members, the US and its allies are exposing Ukraine to great danger to vindicate their “right” to join.

Closing the Door on NATO Expansion Is Imperative

We need a peaceful world and without some sort of diplomacy, a lost form of statecraft, this will NEVER be an issue that will end.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Your Voting Rights

These duties of a citizen is under constant strain from the GOP….with restrictive voting programs…..now Biden is stepping forward…..with what could be a life changing situation as far as our voting life goes….

Pounding his fist for emphasis, President Biden challenged senators on Tuesday to “stand against voter suppression,” urging them to change Senate rules in order to pass voting rights legislation that Republicans are blocking from debate and votes. Biden told a crowd in Atlanta that he’d been having quiet conversations with senators for months over the two bills—a lack of progress that has brought his criticism from activists in his own party, the AP reports. “I’m tired of being quiet!” he shouted. “I will not yield. I will not flinch.” Biden on Tuesday also paid tribute to civil rights battles past—visiting Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once held forth from the pulpit. He stood quietly as Martin Luther King III placed a wreath outside at the crypt of King and his wife, Coretta Scott King.

With Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer setting next Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a deadline to either pass voting legislation or consider revising the rules around the chamber’s filibuster blocking device, Biden is expected to evoke the memories of the Capitol riot in more forcefully aligning himself with the voting rights effort. Biden told his audience Tuesday: “The next few days, when these bills come to a vote, will mark a turning point in this nation. Will we choose democracy over autocracy, light over shadow, justice over injustice? I know where I stand.”

Biden promised: “I will defend your right to vote and our democracy against all enemies foreign, yes and domestic! And so the question is where will the institution of the United States Senate stand?”Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, known for her untiring voting rights work, was not at the event. Aides said Abrams had a conflict but didn’t explain further, though she tweeted support for the president.

Current rules require 60 votes to advance most legislation—a threshold that Senate Democrats can’t meet alone because they only have a 50-50 majority with Vice President Kamala Harris to break ties. Republicans unanimously oppose the voting rights measures. Not all Democrats are on board with changing the filibuster rules. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin threw cold water on the idea Tuesday, saying he believes any changes should be made with substantial Republican buy-in. And even if Democrats clear the obstacles to passage of the voting rights laws, it could be too late to counter widespread voting restrictions passed in 19 states following former Donald Trump’s 2020 loss and false claims that the election was stolen through voter fraud.

Promises….promises….great thoughts and words….but what is needed is action not idle promises.

I am not holding my breath….are you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Quick Civics Lesson

College Of Political Knowledge

Civics 101

These days few people seem to have no knowledge of how our Congress works (granted the term ‘work’ may be a stretch)….so I thought that a quick short civics lesson is called for…..

The House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress; the other is the Senate. Each state receives representation in the House in proportion to its population (there is a minimum of one Representative per state). Rhode Island currently has 2 representatives, David Cicilline and myself. Below are answers to some common questions about Congress and links to additional information related to the legislative process. Click on the questions to jump to the answers.

How are laws made?
How many members of Congress are there?
How long do members of Congress’s terms last?
What does a member of Congress do?
How can I tell what is currently happening on the House floor?
How can I watch the proceedings on the House floor?
How does a Representative introduce a bill?
How do I find out the status of a particular bill in the House of Representatives or the Senate?
What is the Congressional Record?
What is a roll call vote?
What is a Congressional recess?
What is the 115th Congress?

This is by no means a complete education on the functioning of our Congress but I will give the reader an understanding of the workings (when they actually do some work)….

If you want this country to survive then I suggest you read and re-read this and all others.

Do not let stupidity destroy this country…you can be the solution….now take it!

More civics lessons to come……

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“lego ergo scribo”

Insurrection Update #22

After the 06 January insurrection ‘justice’ is finally being handed down for those that allowed their hatred to prevail…..

A Capitol rioter convicted of assaulting police—using a fire extinguisher on officers and twice throwing the empty container at them—has received the longest sentence so far in the attack, 63 months. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan told Robert Palmer in court Friday in Washington that she’s not making an example of him, she’s sentencing him for his conduct, Axios reports. “It has to be made clear that trying to violently overthrow the government, trying to stop the peaceful transition of power, and assaulting law enforcement officers in that effort is going to be met with absolutely certain punishment,” Chutkan said.

On Jan. 6, Palmer threw a piece of wood at police and sprayed the fire extinguisher at a line of officers, prosecutors said. He then threw the extinguisher, picked it up, and threw it again, NBC reports. He next threw a metal pole at other officers and only stopped his attack when he was shot with a rubber bullet. “Those officers were so brave standing there, just taking all the stuff that people were giving them, all the taunts, all the jeers and everything,” Palmer, 54, of Tampa, told the court.

Palmer was among the first rioters to turn himself in. “I am so ashamed I was part of that. Very, very ashamed,” he said Friday. His lawyer argued the sentence should be reduced because Palmer took responsibility for his role in the attack. But after pleading guilty in October, he had posted a claim online that he’d acted in self-defense. The judge agreed with prosecutors that despite his other statements, that showed a lack of remorse. “He was still denying his culpability for the offense,” Chutkan said.

Then there are those poor souls that have had their little pathetic lives disrupted….like this drooling moron….

Accused Capitol rioter Thomas Sibick would like to be able to use dating apps while he awaits trial. An attorney for Sibick, who is on home incarceration at his parents’ home in Buffalo, NY, made the request via a motion filed Saturday asking the judge in the case to modify Sibick’s release conditions, WUSA9 reports. The 36-year-old was originally being held at a jail in Washington, DC, but in October his lawyer argued the “cult-like” group of fellow January 6 suspects being held there were likely to further radicalize his client, and the judge released him to the custody of his parents.

But she forbade him to watch political television or use social media. In the motion filed Saturday, Sibick’s attorney asks that he be allowed to attend the wake of a friend who recently died, and that he be allowed to access websites for the purposes of finding a job as well as “interact[ing] with members of the opposite gender for the purpose of establishing a friendship.” However, the judge has ordered him to be on 24-hour lockdown, so any dating or working would need to be done remotely. Sibick is accused of beating a police officer, ripping off his badge and radio. His lawyer says Sibick now sees the Capitol breach as “a disgrace to our nation” and holds former President Trump responsible, the Guardian reports.

The best I can say is boo-hoo you little turd.

Some of the insurrectionists were followers of the cult of stupid, QAnon….and since 06 January it has been reorganizing itself into a more effective unit.

It’s been more than a year since QAnon received any direction from Q, the otherwise nameless online account whose conspiracy theories the movement was built on. But QAnon appears undeterred, the New York Times reports, evolving rather than fading away like its leader. It’s so far survived Q’s disappearance, the 2020 presidential election loss, and predictions that didn’t come true. New conspiracies and predictions take hold, as evidenced by the trek hundreds made to Dallas in November to see John F. Kennedy Jr. return to life and declare himself a candidate to be former President Trump’s running mate in 2024. Many waited for weeks.

The movement hasn’t exactly gone underground, but it may have gone deeper into the nation’s political and social systems. Media Matters counts more than 40 candidates for national office in 2022 who have publicly backed QAnon, though they may have toned down the rhetoric. Omar Navarro has endorsed the lie about Hollywood moguls being child traffickers, but the California Republican said he no longer posts about QAnon, partly to avoid being kicked off social media. “I’m running a campaign for Congress,” he said, “so I need to focus on issues that matter more, like the economy or business other than” QAnon.

QAnon could be emerging more pervasive and influential. It’s “leaving behind the iconography of the Trump era and becoming a conspiracy of everything,” a conspiracy researcher said. More than ever, said Mike Rothschild, followers are free to choose their own conspiracy theories to spread. That’s what worries Jitarth Jadej, who used to be a follower. He sees a more decentralized, professionally produced organization growing, albeit largely out of sight. And he doesn’t see it collapsing soon, per Politico. Nor does Logan Strain, another conspiracy researcher. “This is something that we’re just going to have to live with in the general political world in the United States,” Strain said, “for at least a generation.”

Oh great….a generation of stupid….almost makes me glad that I will not see the demise of this country…..but I will suffer through the death throes as it slowly dies.

The parents that brought their 14 year old son to the insurrection have their day in court….

“This isn’t like a school or a tourist trip,” a judge told Virginia Spencer at her sentencing for her role in the Capitol riot. US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly told Spencer she was having a hard time understanding why she took her 14-year-old son with her on Jan. 6, 2021. Police officers and some of the rioters had weapons, the judge pointed out, CNN reports. “It must have been a traumatic experience to witness this kind of violence,” Kollar-Kotelly said. “It’s a complete lack of judgment on your part.” That was reflected in the sentence.

The North Carolina woman, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for illegally parading in the building, as well as three years’ probation, per the AP. That’s on the long end of sentences imposed so far on rioters for nonviolent misdemeanors; few of whom have received probation as well as jail time. The defense requested a year of probation with community service. Prosecutors recommended a three-month sentence plus three years’ probation; the maximum is six months in jail. Their court filings said Spencer entered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s offices and was in the mob that tried to get into the House chamber.

Spencer told the judge Friday that she was “very sorry” for her actions at the Capitol. Christopher Raphael Spencer, Spencer’s husband and the boy’s father, was with them and also was arrested. He hasn’t been tried yet, but he’s pleaded not guilty to several charges connected with the attack. So far, more than 70 people have been sentenced in the insurrection, the FBI reports, with more than 30 of them ordered to serve time.

These ‘parents” and I use the term loosely…..since the boy was a minor there should have been harsher sentences for contributing to his criminality.

I shall continue to watch the proceedings on these insurrectionists and report on as much as I can…..

This breach should NEVER be forgotten and should never happen again.

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

SCOTUS Of Today

I have made my thoughts on the modern SCOTUS….I think they are nothing more than political hacks that are a slave to party politics not the rule of law…..

With said let’s look at the SCOTUS of today…..

The Robert’s court has been concerned about the ethical lapses that the court has been plagued with recently…..

There have been ethical lapses by federal judges, Chief Justice John Roberts has conceded. And as a workplace, the court system has not been free of discrimination and harassment, the Washington Post reports. But he cited the principle of judicial independence in arguing that courts should be left alone to police themselves. “The Judiciary’s power to manage its internal affairs insulates courts from inappropriate political influence and is crucial to preserving public trust in its work as a separate and co-equal branch of government,” Roberts said. The chief justice made the case in his year-end report on the judiciary.

Roberts referred to “topics that have been flagged by Congress and the press over the past year”—not problems the judiciary spotted on its own. Wall Street Journal reports, which he addressed, found judges’ actions “inconsistent” with a statute requiring them to recuse themselves in cases in which they have a financial stake. “Between 2010 and 2018, 131 federal judges participated in a total of 685 matters involving companies in which they or their families owned shares of stock,” Roberts wrote. Although he said that’s a “99.97% compliance rate,” Roberts said that the judiciary takes the issue seriously and that those 131 judges “violated an ethics rule.”

Ethics training for judges will be stepped up, Roberts said, and computer software might be used to spot potential conflicts of interest. He also mentioned steps being taken to protect judiciary employees, per the Post. Legislation has been introduced that would, among other things, set up whistleblower protections for staff members. Again, Roberts said the judiciary has it under control, adding, “I appreciate that Members of Congress have expressed ongoing concerns on this important matter.” Roberts is working from a position of strength: A recent poll found the chief justice has the highest popularity rating of 11 federal officials. On the other hand, per Axios, a September poll found the Supreme Court’s approval rating down to 40%.

Seriously?

“Independent”?

That is about as a stupid statement….they are political hacks…that is how they get nominated.

Nothing about the court smells of independence…..the court no longer works for the country but rather for the political corporate machine….

In 2008, Linda Greenhouse, a New York Times reporter who had covered the Supreme Court for almost 30 years, assessed the court’s place in the nation in an essay. “The court is in Americans’ collective hands,” she wrote. “We shape it; it reflects us. At any given time, we may not have the Supreme Court we want. We may not have the court we need. But we have, most likely, the Supreme Court we deserve.” Greenhouse’s views have changed since then, she writes in a new opinion piece in the Times, as has the court. Now, she writes, the country deserves better.

The justices don’t represent the views of the majority of Americans because they weren’t chosen by a majority of Americans. Six justices were picked by Republican presidents, only three of whom received a majority of the popular vote when they were elected. The GOP leanings of small states and realities of the Electoral College mean that the three justices named by former President Donald Trump were confirmed in close votes by senators representing less than half of the US population, Greenhouse notes.

The result is a court whose majority view isn’t the nation’s. For example, polls regularly show Americans want to leave Roe v. Wade alone, but the court’s illogical handling of the Texas law suggests that’s not the way it’s headed, writes Greenhouse. “We now have justices apparently untroubled by process and precedent, let alone appearances.” With their life tenure, these justices could “capture the court for the next generation and freeze in place a legacy the American people never chose,” she says. That leads Greenhouse to an updated answer on that rhetorical question from 2008: “Is this the Supreme Court we deserve? It is not.” (Read the full piece here.)

The Supreme Court needs reforming….start with banning political think yanks from having any influence in the nomination process (but that is a pipe dream on my part for the corporations own every part of our government and that includes SCOTUS).

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

I Have The News

Well all the recent news you cannot possibly use…..

If it is Sunday then worthless news is all the rage.

Pythagoras it seems may have liberated some of his stuff from ancient Babylon….

Babylon was the city where some of the most influential empires of the ancient world ruled. For a long time, it was the capital of the Babylonian Empire, and was considered to be the global centre of commerce, art and learning, and is even estimated to have been the largest early city in the world — perhaps the first to reach a population of more than 200,000 people. Today, it resembles more of an archaeological excavation site in progress, and has only several thousand residents and a few villages within its boundaries.

…

At the time, researchers did not realise how important the tablet was, and it was not until 1945 that experts realised it contained Pythagorean triples

https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1542785/archaeology-news-babylon-ancient-history-bbc-middle-east-bible-spt

Next we have news from the GMO front…..

Genetically modified foods are still available in grocery stores, but the process of identifying them has changed. Shoppers will no longer see labels marked “genetically engineered” or “genetically modified organisms.” Instead of “GMO” or “GE,” products will be marked “bioengineered” or include a QR code, website, or phone number for shoppers looking for more information, the Washington Post reports. The Department of Agriculture said the change is in the name of consistency, to eliminate “a patchwork of state labeling regulations.” Food safety advocates and others see confusion ahead.

“The worst part of this law is the use of the term ‘bioengineered’ because that’s not a term most consumers are familiar with,” said Gregory Jaffe, director of the biotechnology project for the Center for Science in the Public Interest. He suspects a main driver of the change is the fact that “GMO” has become pejorative to many people. Even supporters are baffled by the timing. Consumer Brands Association asked the agency to delay the new rules until the pandemic and supply chain crises are over. “We believe the government must take a ‘do no harm’ position right now that allows companies to focus on delivering essential products to consumers,” an official said.

The rules burden consumers further at a difficult time, too. The Center for Food Safety points out that more than 100 million Americans don’t have the smartphones or cell service needed to scan QR codes. Bioengineered foods aren’t a health risk, but advocates say that people who want to avoid eating them will have a tougher time deciphering labels and that the rules have loopholes. Markings such as “USDA Organic” and “NON-GMO Project Verified” still will be allowed. The USDA said it won’t conduct spot checks on the labels in stores but will act on written consumer complaints, per WLS. The Post has a primer on the changes here.

No changes to prevent the crap that passes for food thanx to GMOs….but rather just a way to confuse the consumer.

There is an alternative to burial…it is called cremation and now there is an alternative for that as well…..

On Boxing Day 2021, the world lost one of the greatest activists in its history: Desmond Tutu. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning South African theologian earned global attention for his unrivaled role in highlighting the iniquities of apartheid, continuing his work in conflict resolution right up to his 79th birthday. In one final generous gesture to the wellbeing of humanity, Tutu chose aquamation for his funeral: an eco-friendly alternative to cremation that uses liquid instead of fire to dispose of a body.

“The Archbishop was very clear on his wishes for his funeral,” News24 reports the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust and the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation said. “He wanted no ostentatiousness or lavish spending. He asked that the coffin be the cheapest available and that a bouquet of carnations from his family be the only flowers in the cathedral.”

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What is aquamation?

Aquamation – also known as biocremation, resomation, flameless cremation, and water cremation – uses alkaline hydrolysis to dispose of human or animal remains. Touted as an eco-friendly alternative to cremation, it uses a heated alkaline solution to break down the body, leaving behind only the skeleton.

During aquamation, the body is placed inside a pressurized vessel filled with a mixture of water and potassium hydroxide (lye) and heated to around 90 – 150 °C (200 – 300 °F). As the container is pressurized, the solution doesn’t boil and instead gently gets to work breaking down the organic matter over several hours.

Aquamation vs cremation

Cremation is often considered an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional burial practices that involve costly wooden coffins and embalming chemicals. Around 1 million acres (404,685 hectares) of land in the US is dedicated to human burial, with caskets stripping around 4 million acres (1.6 million hectares) of forest each year.

While cremation does away with some of this habitat degradation and destruction, it requires immense energy to fuel the fire and pumps out millions of tons of carbon dioxide annually. Among its emission is the pollutant PM10, which has been linked to depression and suicide; and PM2.5, which is associated with poorer heart and lung health plus chronic illness and birth complications.

Aquamation requires roughly one-seventh of the energy used in cremation, and produces none of the emissions. The liquid left behind after aquamation is a sterile mix of organic compounds including salts and amino acids that can either be used as a fertilizer or neutralized and safely released into waterways.

The color of the ashes also varies between aquamation and cremation, with the former resulting in around 32 percent more remains that are then dried and pulverized into a white powder.

Alternatively, you could always consider becoming compost.