Stop the Idiocracy: May 2023

Monday, May 22, 2023

‘A Massachusetts father and son were sentenced Monday in federal court to prison time after being found guilty of what prosecutors called a "ten-percenting" scheme involving dozens of convenience stores’

Jesse Costa/WBUR

As one who used to sell lottery tickets, the Massachusetts State Lottery is far more trouble than it has ever been worth. Sure, the schools get extra money, yadda yadda yadda, but the Lottery creates enough crime and addiction to offset whatever positive benefits it brings. Gambling ruin lives, and I saw and heard of some horror stories. The same, of course, can be said of alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, television, pornography, and so forth, and we all (should) know that just banning things has never been a feasible solution. Yet while the state government regulates those other vices, the Lottery is unique in that it is a wholly state-run ‘sin stock’ enterprise. State and local governments have no place policing the morals of private individuals and enterprising, but what legitimate place do they have in actively promoting vice and enabling people to recklessly burn money? {WCVB 5/22}

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Fulton County, GA: Inmate digs hole into wall; not to escape but to assault another inmate in a separate cell, using a makeshift weapon ‘from parts of the dilapidated building infrastructure.’ {ABC News 5/22}

Startup venture to give away 500,000 ‘free’ TVs, with a second screen that displays non-stop advertising and cannot be disabled by the user - It has long been a chore in the United States to avoid advertising, and soon it will be rendered unlawful for anyone to opt out of being advertised to. That is where we are heading. {Variety 5/15}

#NeverTrump #NeverDeSantis: Ukrainian-American voters angry at the GOP’s 2024 forerunners for their pro-Putin stances

Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images

Republicans are really shooting themselves in the foot by doing or saying anything that will curry favor with their party’s toxic and compromised leader and his toxic supporters. Or, for that matter, being reflexively against anything President Biden supports. FTA: ‘The votes of Ukrainian-Americans - traditionally a Republican-leaning bloc - could have an outsize impact on the 2024 general election, according to some lawmakers, strategists and advocates, plus a Reuters analysis of U.S. census data.

‘While the number of Americans who identify as being of Ukrainian descent is relatively small at about 1 million, they are densely distributed in a string of unusually competitive areas where their votes could potentially be decisive.’ {Reuters 5/20}

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

School avoidance: Students refusing to go to school a growing crisis post-COVID

AI generated image via Hotpot API

'School avoidant behavior, also called school refusal, is when a school-age child refuses to attend school or has difficulty being in school for the entire day. Several mental health experts told USA TODAY it has become a crisis that has gotten worse since the COVID-19 pandemic.' The only reason I was not one of these kids was out of extreme fear of authority (most of all, my parents), along with outright ignorance that I even had any option of opting out. Back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s - at least in my area - even the most rotten kids still did not dare cut classes on any sort of regular basis. One time, late in senior year, we took off in some kid’s car to eat lunch at a local pizza joint, and were relieved that we didn’t get caught. I may have snuck out of a pep rally or two, but that was about the extent that I would ever dare ‘play hooky.’ In retrospect, I should have just said ‘f**k it’ and not have cared. For all the good earning decent grades, dutifully following the rules, and dealing with my a**hole peers ultimately did me; I may have even turned out a more healthy person than the one I became. Still, I would not want to be a kid today for anything, and I do not blame these ones for pushing back against the hellscape they were born into. {USA Today 5/15}

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Colorado man attempted to evade DUI arrest by switching seats with his dog. {BBC 5/16}

Total jackasses caught on camera riding their bicycles inside Boston’s Tip O’Neill tunnel during Friday rush hour, forcing drivers to slam on their brakes. {WHDH 5/16}

Self-checkout kiosks are now asking customers for tips, prompting some to ask if ‘tipping culture’ has gone too far. {Deseret News 5/16}

Twenty percent of Canadians polled say medically-assisted suicide should be legal to any adult, for any reason. {National Post 5/16}

President Biden, Speaker McCarthy both insist that the U.S. will not default on its debts

Joshua Roberts/Reuters

Neither very convincingly. Anybody on a fixed income, spend as little as possible right now, and prepare to be scapegoated on an epic scale. A projected seven million workers will lose their jobs, and will also be scapegoated. The country is going straight to Hell. {CNBC 5/17}

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

DHS issues memo to government and law enforcement agencies warning that violent threats against gays, lesbians, and transsexuals are on the rise

AI image generated via Hotpot API

America has never really been the ‘live and let live’ country most of us would like to believe that we are. Perhaps some of us are seeing this truism more clearly now, in this post-COVID, post-Trump, and post-truth hellscape we are navigating; where large portions of our fellow Americans are violently rejecting liberal democracy, and liberal democratic values. A renewed moral panic has been whipped up against the LBGTQ community, and I would have to advise that many of us who are not in that community will nonetheless be targeted (or already have been) by extremist homophobes. Think of the witchcraft hysteria that my Puritan ancestors shamefully engaged in during the 17th century (a great-grandmother of mine was actually hung in early Hartford, CT, after accused of being a ‘witch’ because the community did not approve of her remarrying at age 72; her husband was also hung right alongside of her.) #Cult45 is eager to punish anybody not standing with them, and I have a feeling a lot of us are about to be deemed ‘witches’ of sorts (or ‘groomers,’ or any number of aspersions) in our new 1692. {ABC News 5/15}

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‘Russian authorities will launch construction of a village outside Moscow for conservative-minded Americans and Canadians next year, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Thursday.’ {The Moscow Times 5/11}

David Smith: As Trump’s lies and scandals deepen, the GOP responds as usual - with silence. {The Guardian 5/13}

‘OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman delivered a sobering account of ways artificial intelligence could “cause significant harm to the world” during his first congressional testimony, expressing a willingness to work with nervous lawmakers to address the risks presented by his company’s ChatGPT and other AI tools.’ {WP 5/16}

Insane prices for new and used vehicles amid inventory shortages, and in a post-pandemic economy, have Americans driving their older cars for longer periods of time

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‘The average age of a passenger vehicle on the road hit a record 12.5 years this year.’ Even after automakers are able to return production to pre-pandemic levels, all of the other costs that go along with car ownership are only going to continue going up, so I do not foresee this trend ending anytime soon. The basic necessities of modern life are being rendered unaffordable and unattainable for the average person, and America is the most car-dependent nation on earth. Public transportation is virtually non-existent outside of major cities (or even within certain urban areas.) Infrastructure is collapsing all around us. How are people going to get anywhere when owning a car is no longer possible? Horse and buggy? {AP 5/15}

Monday, May 15, 2023

‘Tiredness of life’ has become more common among seniors in Western countries

AI generated image via Hotpot API

As Republicans move to end Social Security, is it any wonder there are not mobs with pitchforks outside out of every local GOP headquarters in this country, when the elderly and disabled are of such an overall low priority? FTA: ‘The fact that this problem is common enough for researchers to debate it may suggest that modern life has shut older people out of western society. Perhaps elders are no longer revered for their wisdom and experience. But it’s not inevitable. In Japan, age is seen as a spring or rebirth after a busy period of working and raising children. One study found older adults in Japan showed higher scores on personal growth compared with midlife adults, whereas the opposite age pattern was found in the US.

'Surgeon and medical professor Atul Gawande argues that in western societies, medicine has created the ideal conditions for transforming ageing into a “long, slow fade”. He believes quality of life has been overlooked as we channel our resources towards biological survival. This is unprecedented in history. Tiredness of life may be evidence of the cost.' {The Conversation 5/03}

Friday, May 12, 2023

‘A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a law banning licensed federal firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults under 21 violates the Second Amendment and is unconstitutional’

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What a country: Those between 18 and 21 cannot legally drink, or buy cigarettes and marijuana, or gamble, or even rent a car. Owning firearms, though? Perfectly fine. Shipping them off to war? No problem there. I am not a gun grabber by any means - nor am I necessarily advocating young people engage in the vices listed above - and the judge probably made the constitutionally-correct legal decision, but those are some glaring and blatant double standards right there. {AP 5/12}

Thursday, May 11, 2023

House Republicans tacitly admit they have no found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing in their witch hunt against President Biden and family

Haiyun Jiang/NYT

Bulls**t artists in the extreme. And they can and will continue to get away with it because their base literally demands to be lied to (as proven by the recent debacle with Tucker Carlson and Fox News, and that is merely one example.) They will continue to spend taxpayers dollars on fruitless investigations and hearings, and their propagandists and the rank-and-file will continue to harp on and on about the stupid laptop. And it is all too possible the American people will reward them for it at the ballot box in 2024, given that the smear campaign being waged against President Biden from many different fronts has been largely effective. Facts just do not matter anymore to all too many Americans, and that is why we are in the sorry state that we are in. {NYT 5/11}

Charlie Sykes on CNN’s ‘town hall’ event featuring Trump: A ‘moment that captured the thorough degradation of both our politics and the media.’ {The Bulwark 5/11}

Justice Clarence Thomas reversed his long-held position on ‘Chevron defense doctrine’ after his wife was bribed by a far-right special interest group

Diego Radzinschi/ALM

Do not let any of this go down the memory hole. Uncle Thomas and his friends on the high court represent at least as serious a threat to liberty as Trump, DeSantis, any Republican congressman, or any of the myriad of assorted nationalist populists compromising #Cult45. {The Lever 5/09}

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Spineless Speaker Kevin McCarthy still will not call on proven fraud George Santos to resign from the House, even after Santos is indicted on federal charges

Andrew Harnik/AP

Republicans appear poised to stop at nothing in their war with President Biden over the debt ceiling limit. Cutting aid to veterans, and Social Security and Medicare recipients, trumps (pun intended) any ethical considerations. FTA: ‘While an association with Mr. Santos may be a political drag on Republicans, the impact of his resignation would pose a challenge for leadership. With a slim majority in the House and a fight over the debt ceiling looming, Mr. McCarthy cannot afford to lose Mr. Santos’s vote. The speaker only narrowly passed a bill last month to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts, with no Republican votes to spare and Mr. Santos in the “yes” column.’ {NYT 5/10}

Florida: ‘Conservation groups across the Southeast United States are urging Gov. DeSantis to veto a bill that would allow the use of radioactive fertilizer waste in road construction across the state.’ {WFTV 5/08}

Louisville, KY: U.S. Labor Department fines three McDonald’s franchises for child labor violations. {AP 5/03}

Liberated from direct Russian occupation, the enemy continues to shell the city of Kherson from just across the river

Finbarr O'Reilly/NYT

‘Death is everywhere’ and most of the city’s population is gone. The remaining populace needs more than just prayers, as many of them are older, disabled, mentally ill, or otherwise unable or unwilling to leave. #StopPutin #StandUpForUkraine {NYT 5/10}

Saturday, May 6, 2023

Another in a long string of mass shootings in America: Gunman kills an ‘unknown number’ at Dallas-area outlet mall

KARE

One way or another, this has to stop. FTA: ‘A gunman stepped out of a silver sedan and began shooting people at an outlet mall in the Dallas suburb of Allen, Texas, on Saturday, killing an unknown number and sending hundreds of shoppers fleeing in panic in the latest gun violence to strike the country.’ {AP 5/06}

Newton Minow, FCC chief during JFK’s administration, dies at age 97

An advocate for quality television programming who famously called the medium ‘a vast wasteland’ in speech to broadcasters in 1961. The world could use a man like Newton Minow right about now. May he rest in peace. {AP 5/06}

Confessions of a former evangelical and die-hard Republican Trump supporter

Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images

Essential reading in trying to understand the brainwashed mind, and how intertwined the Republican Party and radical (re: perverted), fundamentalist Christianity in #Murica are. FTA: ‘I wasn’t looking to destroy the Conservatism that had surrounded my life since birth. I wasn’t looking to blow up the very thing that brought comfort, protection, and insulation from the outer chaos of the world. Conservative fundamentalism does that. It’s (sic) offers safety. It promises to bring law and order to chaos and messy things.’ Many of us - myself included, and I am trying - need to learn to stop seeing the world through a ‘conservative lens,’ and instead through a ‘Jesus-centric’ lens. {Kevin Young 4/27}

American children take a giant leap in the march toward complete and total idiocy

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Doesn't matter what the circumstances are, our children are becoming dumber by the day. The vast majority of people in any given time in history have been of below average intelligence, but how is our society going to function in the future when there are no longer any exceptions to a world of imblices? When literally every last person is an idiot? FTA: '‘Scores in U.S. history and civics for eighth-graders are down across the U.S., according to recent results from the assessment known as the "Nation's Report Card." This year's history scores are the lowest recorded since the assessment began in 1994, and the new data mark the first-ever drop in civics.’ {NPR 5/03}

God Save the King: Charles III and Camilla are officially crowned as King and Queen in a moving coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey

Reuters

Goosebumps the entire time watching this. And a deep longing for my primary ancestral home. {BBC 5/06}

Thursday, May 4, 2023

Cult leader, and master at projection, Trump uses damning footage from his time in office to smear President Biden in campaign ads

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The gaslighting only gets more cruel and absurd, but never less effective: ‘Donald Trump’s 2024 election campaign paid to promote an ad on Facebook last week that used dystopian images to paint a dire picture of a U.S. in “decline” under President Joe Biden. Just one problem, two of the key images used in the ad turned out to be from Trump’s time in office.’ - Not a gaffe, done deliberately. It is what manipulative people do, project their own failings onto others. Scapegoating is at the heart of most everything #Cult45 does and believes, and Trump is their master because nobody (in modern U.S. history) has ever been more masterful in fostering fear, resentment, and outright hatred. Or at projection. And let’s not forget ignorance, for Trump knows his acolytes will not question anything he presents to them. {Mediaite 5/03}

Stop fighting #Cult45 bullies on their terms

Joshua Roberts/Reuters

‘To uncritically repeat the Republican Party's and its forces and allies' lies and other untruths is a choice. The Democrats, the mainstream news media and other opinion leaders and people with a public platform can easily decide to not do so. Unfortunately, most of them will choose to proceed with bad and lazy habits that only empower the Republican Party and its war on democracy, freedom, and a good and humane society - and reality itself.’ {Chauncey DeVega 5/03}

‘Way outside the norm.’ Harlan Crow paid for Justice Clarence Thomas to send grandnephew to an exclusive private school

Jemal Countess/UPI/Shutterstock

‘Way outside the norm,’ says one-time White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter. To that end, there is an interesting tidbit buried deep in this article about the Thomases and Crow taking a lavish yacht trip around the Baltics and renting a helicopter to visit Yusupov Palace in St. Petersburg (the site of Rasputin’s murder.) Nothing about this Justice is of ‘the norm,’ a case study in why Justices should no longer be provided lifetime tenure and ought to be subject to a more robust system of checks and balances. Good luck ever trying to get any constitutional amendment passed in this era of hyper-partisan chaos, though. Clarence Thomas, another fine example of how and why were are f**ked as a nation. {ProPublica 5/04}

Deaths of despair. Nicholas Kristof on ‘why Americans feel more pain’

Hans Thoma, 'Loneliness.' 1880

‘Tens of millions of Americans are suffering pain. But chronic pain is not just a result of car accidents and workplace injuries but is also linked to troubled childhoods, loneliness, job insecurity and a hundred other pressures on working families.’ {NYT 5/03}

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

At least one dead in shooting at downtown Atlanta medical facility

Alex Slitz/AP

Killed while sitting in the waiting room. Nothing changes if nothing changes; but this state of affairs has to change if this country is going to survive. {AP 5/03}

Russia accuses Ukraine of an attempted drone attack on the Kremlin residence of Vladimir Putin; Ukrainian authorities deny any involvement in alleged attack

BBC

Likely a Russian false flag and a ploy to garner more sympathy from those around the world inclined to believe Russian lies. If Ukraine were or is responsible, however, they would be completely justified in taking this action. But it will take more than a drone to usurp this tyrant. {BBC 5/03}