Stop the Idiocracy: October 2021

Sunday, October 31, 2021

The stupidest timeline: Nationalist populist America jumps the shark with 'Let's Go Brandon'

NASCAR driver Brandon Brown. AP

#LetsGoBrandonDay is pathetic and a telling sign of our societal decay. Does anybody really need to be recklessly spouting out their feelings on the president – any given president, or any public official or opposing political party – while out in public? This is not normal behavior, and it should not be normalized. How did Brandon nonsense begin in the first place? Where else but a NASCAR race. #Murica -

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Republican Rep. Bill Posey of Florida ended an Oct. 21 House floor speech with a fist pump and the phrase “Let’s go, Brandon!” it may have seemed cryptic and weird to many who were listening. But the phrase was already growing in right-wing circles, and now the seemingly upbeat sentiment -- actually a stand-in for swearing at Joe Biden -- is everywhere.
South Carolina Republican Jeff Duncan wore a “Let’s Go Brandon” face mask at the Capitol last week. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz posed with a “Let’s Go Brandon” sign at the World Series. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s press secretary retweeted a photo of the phrase on a construction sign in Virginia.
The line has become conservative code for something far more vulgar: “F—- Joe Biden.” It’s all the rage among Republicans wanting to prove their conservative credentials, a not-so-secret handshake that signals they’re in sync with the party’s base.
Americans are accustomed to their leaders being publicly jeered, and former President Donald Trump’s often-coarse language seemed to expand the boundaries of what counts as normal political speech.
But how did Republicans settle on the Brandon phrase as a G-rated substitute for its more vulgar three-word cousin?
It started at an Oct. 2 NASCAR race at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Brandon Brown, a 28-year-old driver, had won his first Xfinity Series and was being interviewed by an NBC Sports reporter. The crowd behind him was chanting something at first difficult to make out. The reporter suggested they were chanting “Let’s go, Brandon” to cheer the driver. But it became increasingly clear they were saying: “F—- Joe Biden.”
NASCAR and NBC have since taken steps to limit “ambient crowd noise” during interviews, but it was too late — the phrase already had taken off. (Read more)

Saturday, October 30, 2021

QAnon influencer who spends his days accusing the president and other political figures of pedophilia turns out to be a convicted pedophile

Reuters

Least surprising thing one will hear today. Via Insider -

In several of his videos, Todeschini has said Democrats are pedophiles. In the title of one recent video, Todeschini wrote that President Joe Biden was a "cho-mo," which is prison slang for pedophile.
QAnon followers claim that there is a "deep state" of senior Democratic Party politicos, CEOs, and celebrities that run a sex cult involving children. There is no evidence for this theory.
However, records show that Todeschini is in fact a pedophile. In 1990, he was convicted of coercing an 8-year-old boy into sexual acts in 1987, as noted on the New York state sex offenders register.
The news was first reported by Right Wing Watch.
Todeschini, who is known in QAnon circles as David Trent, is classed as a level three threat by New York state, meaning he has a "high risk of repeat offense and a threat to public safety exists."
He was released from prison in 2006 and said in a recent video that he now lives in North Carolina. (Read more)

Friday, October 29, 2021

Adam Kinzinger to leave Congress, as realization sets it for the scant few true Republicans that the real GOP is not coming back to life

NPR - GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who voted to impeach Trump, won't run for reelection

The scant-few *true* Republican elected officials who remain – Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, a few governors like Charlie Baker and Larry Hogan, the extremely small handful of House members who voted to impeach Trump in January 2021 - are gradually being forced to jump off this sinking ship. They all want to save the GOP, but the realization sinking in on their part is that there is no saving this rotten party. No matter how much nostalgic they are for the days of Ronald Reagan, or even Eisenhower and Lincoln, the Republican Party is dead in all-but-name. This new Republican Party is a political cult now, and a menace to the soul of our nation. Thank you, Rep. Kinzinger, for your service and your conviction. Perhaps we haven’t heard the last of this man, and he will be a voice going forward in the creation of a new alliance that will fight to return to our traditional values and constitutional governance.

The danger a Trump comeback in 2024 would present to American Jews

Eric Yoffie’s piece in Haaretz is vitally important reading. Virtually any time in human history where mob rule and tyranny have been enacted, Jewish people have always suffered as a result. Anti-Semitism was never limited to Nazi Germany or to today radical Islamists, it has been with us for centuries and all over the world. While I don’t know if another Holocaust or the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition would exactly be repeated, American Jews will not be safe should Donald Trump and the GOP succeed in destroying our constitutional republic. I guarantee that most of these evangelical and Republican types who publicly profess love and support for Israel engage in Anti-Semitic rhetoric behind closed doors. In years past, I’ve heard it with my own ears from people I have known. Far too many people when I stop to think about it. Considering there is also considerable Anti-Semitism on the radical left, this should be a scary time to be a Jew in America. Yet, as Yoffie points out, most Jews don’t seem to be alarmed. Well, I implore the Jewish community to be alarmed, and push back before it’s too late. #NeverAgain. Excerpt -

Our liberal democracy is in profound danger, and it is impossible to know if the chaos that a Trump presidential run might bring will lead to an unravelling of the entire system.
Why exactly there is so much indifference to these dangers is not clear either. As noted above, Democrats and liberals are strangely apathetic, despite the warnings of Robert Kagan and others in the mainstream media.
Part of the problem, I believe, is that it may have been a mistake to banish Trump from Facebook and Twitter. His irrational rantings were infuriating, but they reminded most Americans of what a charlatan the man is. Taking away his microphone allowed him to plot his return to power out of the public eye, with the help of political collaborators from his party who seem entirely prepared to risk the enabling of dictatorship.
The second question: What does all this mean for American Jews?
Nothing good, that is for certain. If we learn anything from Jewish history, it is that mayhem and mob rule always — and I do mean always — threaten Jewish welfare and Jewish lives.
Jewish wellbeing in America is directly related to America’s stability, pluralism, and relative tolerance, along with established constitutional guarantees of freedom and equality. No other Diaspora community has come close to offering its Jews the security and peace of mind that they enjoy in America.
But now, imagine a paralyzed, post-election Congress, unable to resolve an election crisis, while mobs rampage in the streets, demanding a Trump restoration. Imagine anti-Trumps mob surging forward to meet them. Imagine the chaos that will ensue, and Donald Trump looking on, a barely suppressed smile on his face.
Jews fear chaos and angry mobs for good reason. They know that if a mob is yelling for blood, it will be yelling for Jewish blood as well. They know that they will never be safe in such an America, and neither will other minorities. (Read more)

The second-winningest coach in NHL history forced to resign position over questions over his role in sexual assault scandal

Joel Quenneville has had a great career, and no matter how one slices it, it is sad that it has to end this way. -

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Joel Quenneville resigned as coach of the Florida Panthers on Thursday, two days after the second-winningest coach in NHL history was among those implicated for not swiftly responding to allegations by a Chicago Blackhawks player of being sexually assaulted by another coach during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.
The announcement was made shortly after Quenneville met with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman in New York to discuss his role in the Blackhawks’ response to claims from Kyle Beach that he was sexually assaulted by then-Blackhawks assistant Brad Aldrich.
“I admire Kyle Beach for his courage in coming forward, am appalled that he was so poorly supported upon making his initial claim and in the 11 years since, and am sorry for all he has endured,” Bettman said.
Andrew Brunette — an assistant coach under Quenneville in Florida — was hired as the team’s interim coach, and is expected to make his debut when the unbeaten Panthers play at Detroit on Friday night. Brunette has never been a head coach.
Quenneville resigned with about three years and $15 million remaining on his contract with the Panthers. In a statement released to TSN, Quenneville said he resigned “with deep regret and contrition.”
“I want to express my sorrow for the pain this young man, Kyle Beach, has suffered. My former team, the Blackhawks, failed Kyle and I own my share of that,” Quenneville said. “I want to reflect on how all of this happened and take the time to educate myself on ensuring hockey spaces are safe for everyone.”
Bettman said he agreed with Quenneville’s decision to resign. If the 63-year-old Quenneville ever wants to return to the NHL, Bettman said the league would need to meet with him first and approve his hiring.
“Joel made the decision to resign and the Florida Panthers accepted that resignation,” Panthers President Matthew Caldwell said.
The fallout likely isn’t over. Bettman will meet Friday with Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, who also worked for the Blackhawks when Beach made his allegations. (Read more)

Ferocious nor'easter slams Massachusetts and surrounding states

Fallen tree in New Bedford, MA. Photo: Peter Pereira

A considerable storm among the many I’ve seen in my days. A lot of people on the South Shore may not have power until after the weekend, and some are in shelters tonight. They’ll pull through, but prayers for them. Via WFXT -

BOSTON — Thousands of Massachusetts residents woke up without power Wednesday morning as a powerful nor’easter thrashes New England with heavy rain and hurricane-force gusts.
Be extra cautious on the roads as driving conditions can be treacherous during these types of storms. Damage is being reported across the state.
The South Shore was crushed leaving many towns with no power at all.
“It’s just howling wind, houses were shaking, my house was shaking,” said Tom Hence of his Cohasset home.
Cohasset Police Chief Bill Quigley said his officers were inundated with calls. “We’ve gotten used to these fizzling out, but this is not the case. I’ve been here for 30 years and this is the worst I’ve seen,” Chief Quigley said.
In Cohassett, police say a Commuter Rail train hit a fallen tree on the Green Bush line. Police cleared the broken tree. The MBTA said they had to clear about 50 trees from several commuter rail lines.
Boats were also a casualty of the nor’easter. The damage was everywhere, making getting around a chore. Even the press building at one of the athletic fields in Cohassett was taken out. (Read more)

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Montana’s Republican AG abuses his authority, sends state troopers to force hospital to give 82 year-old COVID patient horse dewormer

Getty Images

If only this were merely ‘news of the stupid’ - and it is so absurd, but also an extremely vile, tyrannical abuse of power. Who are the ones really imposing ‘medical tyranny’ here? Medical professionals who (for the most part, at least) know what treatment to give and what not to do? Or rouge Republican Party officials trying to score some brownie points with the brainwashed lemmings of #Cult45 (and with Donald Trump himself?) Via Insider -

When a Montana hospital refused to treat an 82-year-old COVID-19 patient with the drug ivermectin earlier this month, a state trooper showed up and doctors got "harassed and threatened" by three different public officials, the hospital told local media outlets.
A county official told Insider that the Montana Highway Patrol trooper had been dispatched by the state's attorney general - who had no authority to do so.
The patient at the center of the dispute had been admitted to St. Peter's Health in Helena in mid-October, and was put on a treatment plan that was "not working," according to a Facebook post from the Montana Federation of Republican Women.
The post added that the patient requested a prescription for ivermectin, but was denied by the hospital. When she obtained a prescription from an outside doctor, the hospital told her she would have to check out if she wanted to take it, the post said.
Both the CDC and the FDA have issued advisories in recent months warning against using ivermectin to treat COVID-19. Though the drug is an FDA-approved prescription medication, it is typically used to treat infections caused by parasitic worms - not viruses.
Insider was unable to reach the patient, or several associates of the patient, for comment.
The hospital told the Montana Billings Gazette in a statement that amid the dispute, three public officials contacted doctors about their treatment. The hospital did not name the officials.
"These conversations were deeply troubling to our physicians and staff because they were threatened and their clinical judgment was called into question by these individuals," a hospital spokesperson said. (Read more)

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Pentagon: Climate change is a threat to national security

Getty Images

Via NPR -

In a report last week, the Pentagon found that "increasing temperatures; changing precipitation patterns; and more frequent, intense, and unpredictable extreme weather conditions caused by climate change are exacerbating existing risks" for the U.S.
For example, recent extreme weather has cost billions in damages to U.S. military installations, including Tyndall Air Force Base and Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Also, the military has bases on Guam and the Marshall Islands that are vulnerable to rising seas. And China may be able to take advantage of U.S. susceptibility, the Pentagon says.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks tells NPR that Congress should be paying attention as the Biden administration tries to put together a clean energy plan that Sen. Joe Manchin will support. The Democrat from West Virginia stymied an earlier effort.
"We need to have the rest of the government with us. We can't do it just here at DOD," she tells Morning Edition. (Read more)

The supreme irony of the mindless, anti-intellectual, nationalist populist movement: Its ideological underpins are being set by academia

John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani. Photo: Reuters

In spite of #Cult45’s endless disdain for academia or anything intellectual in nature, it is the ‘conservative’ think tanks – looking to countries such as Hungary for inspiration - that are putting the final death nails in America’s coffin. Via the New Republic -

Since 2016, an array of little-known conservative intellectuals and think tank sorts have emerged as powerful voices in Trump’s Republican Party. Zealous opposition to immigration and so-called woke culture stoked their political ambition. They lent a veneer of much-needed respectability to the Trump administration. And now, despite some genuine theoretical differences, the group is coalescing around an illiberal political project—not just espousing typical conservative policy preferences, but standing against liberal, constitutional democracy in the traditional, nonpartisan sense. Some of the most prominent intellectual voices on the right are openly consolidating around the notion that America needs a radical political transformation, away from rule by and for “We the People” and toward something more top-down and monolithic. At its essence, NatCon II is an opportunity for the big names in this movement to offer a dressed-up, sublimating version of Trumpism.
Today, the conservative intellectuals who first came together in defense of Trumpism and under the banner of National Conservatism are preparing the ideological terrain for a post-liberal America. Not to take them seriously betrays a historical naïveté and a fetishization of the intellect—as if intelligence has never walked alongside moral and political horror—as well as a dreadful overconfidence in the immediate appeal of the liberal democratic worldview. (Read more)

Sunday, October 24, 2021

Washington Post report details Trump team meeting prior to January 6 to determine how to deny the lawfully elected president from taking office

Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post

Every single one of these people, beginning with Trump, needs to be locked up. America is a joke so long as it doesn’t enforce its own laws and allows sedition to go unpunished -

They called it the “command center,” a set of rooms and suites in the posh Willard hotel a block from the White House where some of President Donald Trump’s most loyal lieutenants were working day and night with one goal in mind: overturning the results of the 2020 election.
The Jan. 6 rally on the Ellipse and the ensuing attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob would draw the world’s attention to the quest to physically block Congress from affirming Joe Biden’s victory. But the activities at the Willard that week add to an emerging picture of a less visible effort, mapped out in memos by a conservative pro-Trump legal scholar and pursued by a team of presidential advisers and lawyers seeking to pull off what they claim was a legal strategy to reinstate Trump for a second term.
They were led by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani. Former chief White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon was an occasional presence as the effort’s senior political adviser. Former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik was there as an investigator. Also present was John Eastman, the scholar, who outlined scenarios for denying Biden the presidency in an Oval Office meeting on Jan. 4 with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
They sought to make the case to Pence and ramp up pressure on him to take actions on Jan. 6 that Eastman suggested were within his powers, three people familiar with the operation said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Their activities included finding and publicizing alleged evidence of fraud, urging members of state legislatures to challenge Biden’s victory and calling on the Trump-supporting public to press Republican officials in key states.
The effort underscores the extent to which Trump and a handful of true believers were working until the last possible moment to subvert the will of the voters, seeking to pressure Pence to delay or even block certification of the election, leveraging any possible constitutional loophole to test the boundaries of American democracy. (Read more)

Saturday, October 23, 2021

The far-left origins of the far-right anti-vaccine movement

The nationalist populists are the loudest and most numerous faction in the anti-vaccine movement and get most of the media attention, but there does exist a contingent on the far-left that is also rejecting vaccines. In fact, most of the silly talking points the right are using now actually originated – long before this pandemic – in leftist circles. Via Jon Entine and Patrick Whittle -

Nowhere is the politicization of science more evident than in the pernicious absurdity of the anti-vaccination movement, which has received fresh impetus during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The internet and social media (not to mention malevolent bots and trolls) have enabled the rapid spread of vaccine misinformation. But what role do broader political beliefs play in fueling anti-vax sentiment and suspicions about science in general?
We know this is happening on the Right, especially in the United States, where resistance to COVID vaccines has become a marker of political and ideological identity among Trump supporters, even though their leader was among the first politicians to avail himself of the shots. Vaccine rejectionism fits comfortably with traditional right-wing opposition to certain types of science (such as evolution and the reality of anthropogenic climate change), but in a fiercely polarized political climate, it has been inflamed by suspicion of liberals who endorse vaccination. For some conservatives, a childishly contrarian resistance to the “progressive establishment” constitutes a kind of principled libertarianism.
But before the Left allows itself to become too smug about this particular right-wing rejection of science, a little history is in order. Seldom discussed, let alone acknowledged, is that right-wing vaccine rejectionism has its roots in mainstream left-wing doctrines. Twenty-five years after Alan Sokal’s celebrated hoax, anti-scientific nonsense from the Left continues to inspire and inform anti-vaxxers’ absurd abuse of science. Consequently, vaccine rejectionism in the US is now endemic. In the decade preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States saw a 10 percent overall decline in the number of parents who believe that it’s extremely or very important to vaccinate their children (from 94 percent in 2001 to 84 percent in 2019). An astonishing 11 percent say that vaccines are more dangerous than the diseases they prevent. In 2015, almost two-in-five respondents to a Canadian survey stated that “the science on vaccinations isn’t quite clear.”
Before the pandemic, resistance to vaccinations in the US was fairly evenly divided between Left and Right, at least according to polling data. But the reasons were different, and telling. Conservatives were more likely to believe that vaccination should be the choice of a patient or parent, while leftists were more likely to embrace conspiracy nonsense. Many of the movement’s most ardent conspiracy-mongers were progressives and the largest pockets of anti-vaccine sentiment were in liberal US counties. The 2015 California measles outbreak, for instance, began in the wealthy, liberal enclave of Marin County, and the progressive San Francisco collar counties were the hotbed of opposition to the California law—passed in 2016 as measles cases soared—banning personal belief exemptions for children entering kindergarten. (Read more)

Covidocy in the UK: America is not the only country where people have lost their bearings

Getty Images

Our inane country is not the only one where belligerence and conspiracism have taken hold of large numbers of people. I would submit, though, that America will always be the loudest and most obnoxious about it. Still, Michael J. Stern visited Great Britain recently, and his findings do not offer much hope for humanity. Willful ignorance is more contagious than even the virus itself -

I thought COVID-19 anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers were a unique phenomenon of American stupidity, but having just returned from a two-week trip to England, I fear that the reckless response to a virus that has killed almost 5 million people worldwide is not an American thing — it’s a human thing.
Many of us who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 and who have committed to the discomfort of wearing masks in indoor public places, have spent the better part of a year fuming at the estimated 93 million Americans who are eligible to receive the vaccine but refuse it — and the people who ignore mask requirements and walk through indoor public spaces with their mask hanging off one ear.
I figured this callous disregard for the safety of others had its genesis in the wave of anti-science paranoia that was stoked by our 45th president, but I witnessed the same wanton negligence an ocean away.
When the United Kingdom finally lifted its quarantine requirements for vaccinated American visitors in August, I quickly planned a trip to visit my partner, a Brit, whom I had not seen for 20 months.
I knew that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had lifted virtually all vaccination and mask requirements to access public places, but I was confident that British common sense and courtesy would prevail. Boy, was I wrong. (Read more)

Friday, October 22, 2021

Twitter algorithms found to promote nationalist populist content over other political posts

Getty Images

Sure, let’s just keep whining that ‘big tech’ is biased against ‘conservatives,’ by all means (and they will.) Washington Post -

An internal evaluation of Twitter’s recommendation algorithms concluded that they amplify right-leaning political content more than left-leaning content, company researchers announced Thursday, undercutting allegations by many conservatives who contend they are being censored on the platform.
Twitter researchers analyzed millions of 2020 tweets by elected officials in seven countries — Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Britain and United States — as well as posts that linked to political content from news outlets. Researchers relied on outside experts to determine what was right- or left-leaning rather than deciding for themselves.
“Our results reveal a remarkably consistent trend: In 6 out of 7 countries studied, the mainstream political right enjoys higher algorithmic amplification than the mainstream political left,” the researchers said in a 27-page report. (Read more)

A new and perhaps more deadly COVID strain emerges in the UK

Getty Images

‘Delta Plus.’ COVID is never going away. Yours truly is not a medical expert, but it is clear that whatever window of opportunity we had to eliminate this pandemic was early on, in the Spring of 2020. People chose to whine and be defiant instead of taking necessary precautions, and therefore the virus still spreads and mutates. From the BBC -

A new mutated form of coronavirus that some are calling "Delta Plus" may spread more easily than regular Delta, UK experts now say.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has moved it up into the "variant under investigation" category, to reflect this possible risk.
There is no evidence yet that it causes worse illness.
And scientists are confident that existing vaccines should still work well to protect people.
Although regular Delta still accounts for most Covid infections in the UK, cases of "Delta Plus" or AY.4.2 have been increasing.
Latest official data suggests 6% of Covid cases are of this type.
Experts say it is unlikely to take off in a big way or escape current vaccines. But officials say there is some early evidence that it may have an increased growth rate in the UK compared to Delta. (Read more)

COVID-19 infections and deaths soaring in Russia, Putin orders citizens to stay away from work

Bear in mind, these numbers are likely a fraction of the true toll the virus has taken on the Russians. -

MOSCOW (AP) — Coronavirus infections and deaths in Russia climbed on Friday to another pandemic record high, putting an additional strain on the country’s health care system.
The government coronavirus task force reported 37,141 new infections and 1,064 deaths in the past 24 hours. That brought Russia’s death toll to 228,453, Europe’s highest by far.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded to the worsening situation by ordering Russians to stay away from work between Oct. 30 and Nov. 7, when the country will be observing an extended holiday.
Russian authorities expect the order to help limit the spread of the virus by keeping them out of offices and off public transportation, where mask mandates have been widely ignored. The government also urged local authorities to tighten their own restrictions during the period. (Read more)

Monday, October 18, 2021

NHL star Evander Kane suspended 21 games for submitting fake COVID-19 vaccination card

Getty Images

In my opinion, anyone using fake vaccination cards ought to be in jail for fraud. And considering this guy already has allegations of domestic abuse against him by his own wife, Evander Kane does not deserve to play in the NHL again. Sportnet.ca -

The NHL has suspended San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane for 21 games for submitting a fake COVID-19 vaccination card.
The NHL also announced Monday that its concurrent investigation into allegations of domestic abuse made against Kane by his estranged wife, Deanna, could not be substantiated.
Kane said he is in counselling in a statement released by the NHLPA. (Read more)

Are American diplomats and intelligence officials being targeted with a mysterious illness by a foreign adversary?

Bianca Bagnarelli

Falls under the category of conspiracy theory, as nothing has been proven outright; but it’s also entirely plausible and the bio-terrorist threat must be taken seriously. The Russians, in particular, are not above this sort of thing. And that is putting it kindly. Jerusalem Post -

A suspected case of "Havana syndrome" was detected in Colombia last week, the most recent in a series of suspicious attacks that appear to target US diplomatic and intelligence personnel. This latest incident appeared to happen just days before the visit of the US secretary of state. What this means is that these attacks may be targeted and timed – that they are not random and that a powerful adversary of the US is using them systematically.
“US embassy staff in Bogota may have been injured by the mysterious illness, which causes a painful sound in the ears, fatigue and dizziness,” the BBC reports. “First reported in Cuba in 2016, US diplomats around the world have since reported cases of the syndrome. Its origins are unknown, with some speculating it is a type of weapon.”
The Wall Street Journal reported the most recent attack, which included “unexplained health incidents,” according to an email sent by US Ambassador to Colombia Philip Goldberg. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was supposed to visit this month.
In August, US officials said “the Vietnam leg of US Vice President Kamala Harris' South Asia trip had to be delayed by a few hours due to reports of two US diplomatic personnel coming down with the mysterious combination of ailments that have come to be known as Havana Syndrome.”
The embassy said that there had been a "possible anomalous health incident in Hanoi," a phrase Washington has used to describe the syndrome. The incidents began in Cuba in 2016 but have also been identified in Germany, Austria, Russia and China, according to reports.
EARLIER THIS year it was reported that the US State Department would gather more information on the health of diplomats after complaints they were not taking this seriously. According to The Independent, “US diplomats who have suffered from the mysterious “Havana Syndrome” tore into Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a recent meeting, arguing that the government hasn’t done enough to help victims and has brushed off their concerns as vague unexplained health incidents (UHIs).”
There is some dispute within the US government and between recent administrations about what is happening. Some 200 diplomats and intelligence members have been affected. Although details are classified, there is a question over whether these are random "incidents" or targeted attacks. According to a New York Times report, more than half the victims of the syndrome are CIA officers. That report on October 1 said there are 100 CIA officer victims. According to another Times report, the CIA even recalled its Vienna station chief over the handling of the incidents. US lawmakers have backed changes to address the syndrome's victims, and the CIA is trying to increase attempts to confront the incidents. (Read more)

'I’m so stupid … we thought that we were going to save America, and we were wrong.’ January 6 insurrectionist’s declaration to FBI agents proves what a sick brainwashing scam Trumpism is

Getty Images

An excerpt from an excellent column by Rex Huppke: 'We can’t let ongoing election lies become political white noise. A Jan. 6 defendant’s words show why' -

Daniel “D.J.” Rodriguez, one of the hundreds charged in the Jan. 6 domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol, broke down in tears while speaking to FBI agents: “I’m so stupid. I thought I was going to be awesome. I thought I was a good guy.”
He was neither awesome nor a good guy. Just a dupe.
Like many who have embraced former President Donald Trump’s ongoing lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, Rodriguez embodied the old saying, “There’s a sucker born every minute, and two to take him.”
Now the California man stands charged with, among other things, tasing U.S. Capitol police Officer Michael Fanone, who was beaten and suffered a heart attack during the insurrection. Rodriguez is facing the possibility of decades in prison and nobody should feel sorry for him.
But it’s worth reading the nearly 200-page transcript of Rodriguez’s March 31 interview with FBI agents to see the shameless mental havoc wreaked by people like Trump and every Republican politician and pundit pimping, or even playing footsie with, a profoundly false election narrative.
It’s a con transparent as a freshly cleaned window. And it’s dangerous.
Most recognize that, but those who continue spreading it are unconcerned with collateral damage to people or democracy, and those rolling their eyes and letting it become political white noise are missing the urgency and tragedy of the matter.
The transcript of Rodriguez’s interview with federal agents was filed Friday by his attorneys as part of a motion to suppress the interview, alleging the man was not properly Mirandized. Rodriguez was arrested earlier this year after he was identified by online sleuths at Huffington Post, an example of the so-called sedition hunters who have scoured photos and videos from the Jan. 6 attack and traced the identities of many insurrectionists.
In the interview, Rodriguez explains why he left his home in California and traveled to Washington for the “Stop the Steal Rally.”
“Trump called us,” he said. “Trump called us to D.C.”
He later said: “My story is just that we thought that we were going to save America, and we were wrong.” (Read more)

An American military icon: Colin Powell dies at age 84

Rest in Peace, General Powell -

Colin L. Powell, who in four decades of public life served as the nation’s top soldier, diplomat and national security adviser, and whose speech at the United Nations in 2003 helped pave the way for the United States to go to war in Iraq, died on Monday. He was 84.
The cause was complications of Covid-19, his family said in a statement, adding that he had been vaccinated and was being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md., when he died there.
A spokeswoman said his immune system had been compromised by multiple myeloma, for which he had been undergoing treatment. He had been due to receive a booster shot for his vaccine last week, she said, but had to postpone it when he fell ill. He had also been treated for early stages of Parkinson’s disease, she said.
Mr. Powell was a pathbreaker, serving as the country’s first Black national security adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state. Beginning with his 35 years in the Army, Mr. Powell was emblematic of the ability of minorities to use the military as a ladder of opportunity.
His was a classic American success story. Born in Harlem of Jamaican parents, he grew up in the South Bronx and graduated from City College of New York, joining the Army through the R.O.T.C. Starting as a young second lieutenant commissioned in the dawn of a newly desegregated Army, Mr. Powell served two decorated combat tours in Vietnam. He was later national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan at the end of the Cold War, helping to negotiate arms treaties and an era of cooperation with the Soviet president, Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
As chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Mr. Powell was the architect of the invasion of Panama in 1989 and of the Persian Gulf war in 1991, which ousted Saddam Hussein from Kuwait but left him in power in Iraq. Along with Dick Cheney, the defense secretary at the time, Mr. Powell reshaped the American Cold War military that had stood ready at the Iron Curtain for half a century. In doing so he stamped the Powell Doctrine on military operations: Identify clear political objectives, gain public support and use decisive and overwhelming force to defeat enemy forces. (Read more)

Saturday, October 16, 2021

Get vaxxed, or get lost: All Mass. state employees must be vaccinated by Sunday

Getty Images

Includes police officers, with Gov. Baker ready to call in the National Guard to fill positions if belligerents continue to defy his order. WHDH -

BOSTON (WHDH) - State employees who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 have until tomorrow, and then they could face being suspended or fired.
The state police union fought against Gov. Charlie Baker’s mandate in court but a judge ruled in favor of the governor, who has said he will call in the National Guard to fill positions if needed.
“Public employees, many of them spend a lot of time with the public and I think it’s important for their safety and for the safety of the people that they deal with every day that they be vaccinated,” Baker said. “The vaccines at this point are clearly effective, they clearly work.”

China tests nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that could potentially ‘negate’ U.S. defense systems in the future

AFP/Getty Images

China attempts to flex its muscles in the face of a new U.S. administration takes a tougher stance toward them. Which somehow, in the strange minds of Donald Trump and his national populist cult, equates to President Biden being compromised by the Chinese (‘China Joe’), but I digress. Financial Times -

China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August that circled the globe before speeding towards its target, demonstrating an advanced space capability that caught US intelligence by surprise.
Five people familiar with the test said the Chinese military launched a rocket that carried a hypersonic glide vehicle which flew through low-orbit space before cruising down towards its target.
The missile missed its target by about two-dozen miles, according to three people briefed on the intelligence. But two said the test showed that China had made astounding progress on hypersonic weapons and was far more advanced than US officials realised.
The test has raised new questions about why the US often underestimated China’s military modernisation.
“We have no idea how they did this,” said a fourth person.
The US, Russia and China are all developing hypersonic weapons, including glide vehicles that are launched into space on a rocket but orbit the earth under their own momentum. They fly at five times the speed of sound, slower than a ballistic missile. But they do not follow the fixed parabolic trajectory of a ballistic missile and are manoeuvrable, making them harder to track.
Taylor Fravel, an expert on Chinese nuclear weapons policy who was unaware of the test, said a hypersonic glide vehicle armed with a nuclear warhead could help China “negate” US missile defence systems which are designed to destroy incoming ballistic missiles.
“Hypersonic glide vehicles . . . fly at lower trajectories and can manoeuvre in flight, which makes them hard to track and destroy,” said Fravel, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Fravel added that it would be “destabilising” if China fully developed and deployed such a weapon, but he cautioned that a test did not necessarily mean that Beijing would deploy the capability.
Mounting concern about China’s nuclear capabilities comes as Beijing continues to build up its conventional military forces and engages in increasingly assertive military activity near Taiwan.
Tensions between the US and China have risen as the Biden administration has taken a tough tack on Beijing, which has accused Washington of being overly hostile. (Read more)

Woman raped in plain sight of bystanders on Philadelphia-area subway train, bystanders do exactly nothing

NBC Philadelphia

Many of us still seem to be under the illusion that Americans, by and large, are good people. The evidence continues to say otherwise. Fear of being sued is the biggest thing that stops anybody from lifting a finger to help anymore, but people everywhere are legitimately apathetic, or outright scornful, toward each other. NBC News -

A 35-year-old man in Pennsylvania is facing rape and assault charges after a woman was sexually assaulted on board a public transit train Wednesday night as riders witnessed the attack but did not intervene, authorities said on Friday.
The woman was assaulted at around 11 p.m. while riding the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) Market-Frankford line towards the town of Upper Darby.
"The assault was observed by a SEPTA employee, who called 911, enabling SEPTA officers to respond immediately and apprehend the suspect in the act," Andrew Busch, a SEPTA spokesperson, said in a statement.
SEPTA officers arrested the man, later identified as 35-year-old Fiston Ngoy, according to Upper Darby Police Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt.
Surveillance video captured the entirety of the assault, giving investigators enough evidence to charge Ngoy with rape and assault, Bernhardt told NBC Philadelphia.
The video also shows how riders, who also witnessed the attack, did nothing to help the woman being assaulted, according to Bernhardt.
"It's disturbing," he said. "I'm shocked, I have no words for it. I just can't imagine seeing what you were seeing through your own eyes and seeing what this woman was going through that no one would step in and help her."
Investigators are also reviewing the videos in an effort to determine who was there and interview possible witnesses, Bernhardt added. (Read more)

President Biden honors police officers, laments that the general public lacks understanding of what is expected of cops, and predicts fewer people will go into law enforcement in the near-future

Frankly, it is hard for a layperson such as myself to imagine why anybody would want to become a cop today. Other than for all the wrong reasons - to hurt others, and we have a problem with that - but if one is seeking to be of service and help others, then what a thankless time in history to do so. Via The Hill -

President Biden on Saturday honored police during a speech outside the Capitol to honor officers who died in the line of duty in 2019 and 2020.
Biden said it had been a historically difficult period for police, arguing that the wider public didn’t understand the difficulties and that the country would have a harder time finding people to be officers as a result.
“I’ve been coming to this memorial for 40 years, missed a couple, and I’ve spoken to too many police memorials around the country, and it always amazes me how the public doesn’t fully understand what we expect of our law enforcement officers,” Biden said at the 40th annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service.
Biden said being a police officer today “is a lot harder than it has ever been.”
“We expect you to be people ready to stand in the way and take a bullet for us. We expect you to be able to track down the bad guys. We expect you to be able to be the psychologist who talks the couple that are having a violent confrontation together to step back,” he said. “We expect you to be everything. We expect everything of you, and it’s beyond the capacity of anyone to meet the tall expectations.”
“We’re waking up to the notion that unless we can change the environment in which the job can be done, we’re going to have trouble having enough women and men come forward who want to do the job,” said Biden, who ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in recognition of Saturday’s event. (Read more)

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports finds police across the U.S. to be covertly involved with white supremacist outlet that participated in the January 6 insurrection

Under no circumstance can police officers or any public officials be allowed to be secretly (or not-so-secretly) involved with groups that are terrorist outlets engaged in sedition. Nor should the very existence of said terrorists be tolerated a day longer; but we all know terrorism in America is tolerated and even embraced by millions, along with one of our major political parties, when it is of the white nationalist populist variety. I’m not holding my breath than any of these police officers are ever going to be held accountable for this, and the closer we come to civil war the worse this ‘problem’ (not strong enough of a word) is going to become. Excerpt from the OPB report -

In early summer 2018, it looked as though Oregon voters might get a chance to ban assault weapons in the state.
It was barely two months since a shooter had killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
The proposed Oregon ballot measure met stiff legal challenges and was kept off the ballot, but not before militia groups like the Oath Keepers used the proposed gun restrictions as a rallying cry to bring hundreds of people out to a gun rights rally in Salem.
And those recruitment efforts by the Oath Keepers appear to have had some effect.
Not long after the pro-gun rally in Salem, Portland police officer Joseph Webber appears to have joined the Oath Keepers militia, an anti-government, anti-immigrant extremist group that was thrust into the national security spotlight for its role in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection.
According to data leaked earlier this month and reviewed by OPB, Webber — who is still a Portland police officer — is among more than two dozen current and former police officers, sheriff’s deputies, corrections officers, and members of the military in Oregon who appear to have joined the Oath Keepers militia since the group was founded in 2009. OPB compared data in the Oath Keepers leak against public records, social media and state law enforcement certification information to verify the information.
Reached by phone on the same number appearing in the leaked database, Webber denied joining the group before hanging up. He didn’t respond to follow-up text messages.
Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said he expects officers to follow the bureau’s conduct and professionalism policies whether on or off duty. Potentially applicable policies include a prohibition against associations with people advocating criminal behavior or actions which might discredit the bureau or city.
Lovell told OPB this case has been referred to internal affairs for investigation.
The hacked Oath Keepers data was sent to the transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets, which provided the information to journalists and researchers. In several cases across the country, journalists and citizen sleuths have been able to confirm law enforcement and military members using the leaked data. New York City police officers and a detective in the Hudson County prosecutor’s office were in the leaked data, prompting investigations from those two agencies.
The data include names, membership join dates and contact information for nearly 40,000 people across the country who at one point paid dues to the organization, including more than 1,000 names in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Except where people paid the approximately $1,000 for a lifetime membership, it’s not clear from the data if people are still members. (Read more)

Friday, October 15, 2021

Classless, tactless 'protesters' in Hartford chant 'f**k you, Biden' as the president meets with educators, parents, and children

WFSB

'Biden protestors (sic) + supporters are gathering to welcome the president in Hartford'

Protesters greet president in Hartford

Sick to death of this horror show. If one cannot respect the president, then at least keep your mouths shut! Especially with kids and families around. Every single one of these protesters should be arrested; this is not legitimate dissent, but it is outright abuse of the First Amendment. No way can society normalize groups of angry people shouting ‘f**k’ the president anywhere and everywhere – in front of children, at sporting events, all over social media - too many political norms have been shattered already. Joe is going to have to explicitly address those opposed to him, and he is going to have to warn the country that civil war is imminent if people don’t get a hold on themselves starting yesterday. And he has to start addressing and firmly rebuke all the conspiracy theories that are out there and severely affecting people’s judgment and decision-making during a pandemic. I know he is loath to be a disciplinarian and authoritarian, but more than a third of this country is giving him little choice now.

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

A record number of Americans quit their jobs in August

Rachael Flores

The Great American Crack-Up: Rightly or wrongly, Americans are angry and are becoming increasingly combative. Whether it’s the resistance to various COVID-19 protocols, or low-wage workers walking off the job, or any other number of indicators, America is collapsing from within. I don’t necessarily blame those performing thankless work for telling their ungrateful employers and thoughtless customers to shove it – I was in retail for a few years, and it is rotten work that takes a toll on one’s psyche – but it’s a symptom of a larger problem: The fact that Americans are miserable, and hate one another and want to rip each other's throats out. Sooner or later, large numbers of people will be turning to violence, and nobody is safe. CNBC -

Workers left their jobs at a record pace in August, with bar and restaurant employees as well as retail staff quitting in droves, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.
Quits hit a new series high going back to December 2000, as 4.3 million workers left their jobs. The quits rate rose to 2.9%, an increase of 242,000 from the previous month, which saw a rate of 2.7%, according to the department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The rate, which is measured against total employment, is the highest in a data series that goes back to December 2000.
Quits have been seen historically as a level of confidence from workers who feel they are secure in finding employment elsewhere, though labor dynamics have changed during Covid-19 crisis. Workers have left their jobs because of health concerns and child care issues unique to the pandemic’s circumstances.
A total of 892,000 workers in the food service and accommodation industries left their jobs, while 721,000 retail workers departed along with 534,000 in health care and social assistance. (Read more)