BarryCooke

futurebird , 2 months ago to random

In other "news" Tucker Carlson went on "The Rogan Experience" and denied that evolution by means of natural selection explained the diversity & history of living things on earth.

Said there was "no evidence" humans could have evolved "from a single cell organism"

It's impossible to know if he's just saying this for attention.

I've always said science would be next. Tucker is the vanguard of the far right. Give it five years and you'll have congress members wanting this in your schools.

randahl , 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to random

Mind blowing 🤯

Former tabloid executive Mr. Pecker has testified, that in 2015 he made a secret deal with Trump to catch and kill stories that could hurt then presidential candidate Trump, while at the same time he agreed to write negative stories about Hillary, which were run by Trump’s fixer Michael Cohen for approval before publication.

Trump has been screaming “election interference” for many months, and today we find out, that is the exact term for his own crime.

https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-hush-money-trial-04-23-24/index.html

tzimmer_history , 2 months ago to random

What an absolute disaster that Republicans are still successfully playing their disgustingly cynical game of exploiting fears over antisemitism in order to advance their reactionary crusade – and mainstream institutions keep willfully playing along.

I wrote about this a while ago here:

🧵1/

https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/we-are-falling-apart

GottaLaff , 2 months ago to random

Random #TrumpTrial post via Kyle Griffin:

Pecker testifies that, following his 2015 meeting w #Trump & Cohen, he met w ex-Nat Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard

Pecker outlined the arrangement & described it as "highly private & confidential."

Pecker asked Howard to notify the tabloid's bureau chiefs that any stories that came in about Trump or 2016 election must be vetted & brought to Pecker.

Pecker said it needed to stay a secret bc it was being carried out to help Trump's campaign

rbreich , 2 months ago to random

Four years ago today, Donald Trump suggested Americans could be injected with disinfectant to fight covid.

If anyone asks you: "Are you better off than you were four years ago," the answer is a resounding yes.

GottaLaff , 2 months ago to random

Oh good lord.🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Via Katie Phang;

So at 11:00 a.m. ET, #Trump posts on Truth Social calling Judge Merchan's courtroom a "kangaroo court" and calling on Merchan to recuse himself. Trump also assails the gag order, (falsely) claiming that he cannot defend himself.

This while we await a ruling from Judge Merchan on Trump's 10 violations of the #GagOrder... #TrumpTrial #legal

BarryCooke , 2 months ago to random

So the actual backers of DJT stock were never going to let it go below $17.50. What a fraud.

breadandcircuses , 2 months ago to random

More like Earth Day 2024, am I right?

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #Greenwashing

paninid , 2 months ago to random

Sometimes you think people are stupid, and then you find out that they’re actually much, much stupider than you originally thought.

Like, deeply idiotic.

Multiple Inception-level layers deep.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-steps-on-a-rake-in-defending-confederate-soldiers

pluralistic , 2 months ago to random

Today in "Capitalists Hate Capitalism" news: The Appeal has published the first-ever survey of national prison commissary prices, revealing just how badly the prison profiteer system gouges American's all-time, world-record-beating prison population:

https://theappeal.org/locked-in-priced-out-how-much-prison-commissary-prices/

--

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/20/captive-market/#locked-in

1/

breadandcircuses , 2 months ago to random

What's the cause of 'enshittification'? It's NOT because consumers are lazy, says Cory Doctorow (@pluralistic).

It's because finance capitalism aims to build companies that are too big to fail, too big to jail, and too big to care.

And it's also because politicians allow those companies to openly and repeatedly break the law...

---

The tactics [of] Big Tech are illegal under existing antitrust laws. It’s illegal for large corporations to buy up smaller ones before they can grow to challenge their dominance. It’s illegal for dominant companies to merge with each other. “Predatory pricing” (selling goods or services below cost to prevent competitors from entering the market, or to drive out existing competitors) is also illegal. It’s illegal for a big business to use its power to bargain for preferential discounts from its suppliers. Large companies aren’t allowed to collude to fix prices or payments.

But under successive administrations, from Jimmy Carter through Donald Trump, corporations routinely broke these laws. They explicitly and implicitly colluded to keep those laws from being enforced, driving smaller businesses into the ground.

---

FULL ESSAY -- https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2024-04-12-give-me-convenience-or-give-me-death-d7c248b71504

Strandjunker , 2 months ago to random

Love Hillary, hate Hillary, whatever. But during the 2016 debates, she called Trump Putin’s puppet and said he “encouraged espionage against our country”. She spoke the truth, in public, straight to his orange face.

Lots of people owe Hillary Clinton — and America — an apology.

GottaLaff , 2 months ago to random

lol

#Trump

futurebird , 2 months ago to random

"Chain migration" is the BEST kind of immigration. You want people who move to you country to have a local network and support. You want new immigrants to bring their family, and the economic activity they generate and the value they add to communities to be in YOUR country.

I can't believe we let them use it like a slur. It's good and do it more.

What? They brought their elderly parents? That's good for US and for them (the new American we want to be successful and happy.) RIGHT?

wdlindsy , 2 months ago to random

"On April 8th, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly declared that the Ukrainian government was 'Attacking Christians' and that the Russian government was defending Christianity.

Marjorie, what planet are you on? …

The reality is that Marjorie Taylor Greene already decided long ago that she was going to support Putin."

~ Alexander Vindman

#MarjorieTaylorGreene #Putin #Russia #Ukraine
/1

https://alexandervindman.substack.com/p/marjorie-what-planet-are-you-on

GottaLaff , 2 months ago to random

Via Democracy Docket:

BREAKING: Federal court rules that the city commission districts of Miami, #Florida are racially gerrymandered. The map is struck down and remedial districts will be created.

rbreich , 2 months ago to random

Funny how wealthy Americans will readily accuse Biden of “buying votes” with student debt forgiveness but had no issue with Trump signing massive tax cuts for themselves. Hello?

rbreich , 2 months ago to random

Today’s CPI report shows meat & poultry are among the highest items pushing inflation.

Maybe that's because just 4 companies now control processing of 80% of beef, nearly 70% of pork, and almost 60% of chicken.

Without competition, corporations can get away with price gouging.

marcelias , 2 months ago to random

Trump's campaign knows:

A vote for Robert Kennedy is a vote for Trump.
A vote for Cornel West is a vote for Trump.
A vote for Jill Stein is a vote for Trump.
Not voting is a vote for Trump.

A vote for Biden is a vote for democracy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/us/politics/trump-rfk-jr-biden.html

randahl , 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to random

I kid you not: Marjorie Taylor Greene has released a video on YouTube, where she says, “If I had it my way, we would have been successful in our [sic] objection on January 6, and [Joe Biden] wouldn’t even be president.”

That is the same woman, who claimed the violence on January 6 was started by federal agents disguised as insurrectionists. And now, she says, if “WE would have been successful… on January 6”.

I wonder what the US Justice Department does now.

GottaLaff , 2 months ago to random

#WompWomp

Via Will Sommer:

Bad news for blundering right-wing operative Jacob Wohl — he now has to pay $1.25 mil for a racist robocall voter suppression scheme, as part of an agreement with NY AG Letitia James. #legal

Strandjunker , 2 months ago to random

The Great COVID Cover-up: He fired our pandemic response team, went golfing, called it a hoax, went golfing, bragged 15 cases would soon be down to zero, and went golfing. — Let’s face it: Trump was directly responsible for our skyrocketing death rate. He’s a mass murderer.

rbreich , 2 months ago to random

Corporations say they were forced to raise prices because of higher costs.

But their profits have skyrocketed since 2020.

They hit a record high of $2.8 trillion in Q4 2023.

News flash: They used inflation as cover to get rich.

rbreich , 2 months ago to random

The wealth of the 1% hit a record $44 trillion at the end of last year.

This small group of wealthy individuals now holds 30% of the nation’s wealth.

Don't tell me that they can't afford a wealth tax.

They are literally the richest they have ever been.

friesen5000 , 2 months ago to bookstodon group

Just finished Slaughterhouse Five, my first Vonnegut experience. Wasn't sure what to expect but it wasn't that. Many thoughts and feelings but they're still rather jumbled, not coherent. Worth the read. @bookstodon #bookstodon #KurtVonnegut

futurebird , 2 months ago to random

Papers are like organisms that transmit their DNA as citations, the authors are like mitochondrial DNA or a virus a parallel but distinct network that overlays the lineage of papers.

Sometimes a paper attacks and consumes another paper for fuel. Sometimes a paper is like a cyst, lifeless and encapsulated until conditions favor growth and reproduction.

wdlindsy , 2 months ago to random

Now that Marjorie Taylor Greene has kindly informed us that her god, who's on call 24-7 for Marjorie and talks to Marjorie ALL the time, is out to hurt people (because Marjorie wants to hurt people and has made a god in her own image to justify this), I'm wondering how we're supposed to appease this angry god when the eclipse devastates us.

#MarjorieTaylorGreene #WhiteChristianNationalism #Republicans #eclipse #earthquake

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/marjorie-taylor-greene-nyc-earthquake-sign-god-displeasure-1234999736/
/1

gemelliz , 2 months ago to random

😱 Alex Jones, the repulsive monster who denies the Sandy Hook school massacre, posted a 'love note' to Canada's opposition leader yesterday. Why is a political "nobody" like Pierre even on this MAGA-nutter's radar? 🤔

"Been following this guy for years and he is the real deal! #Canada desperately needs a lot more leaders like him and so does the rest of the world" - Alex Jones

#poilievre #cdnpoli #PuntTheRunt
https://pressprogress.ca/far-right-conspiracy-theorist-alex-jones-praises-conservative-leader-pierre-poilievre/

GottaLaff , 2 months ago to random

“Covert Chinese accts are masquerading online as American supporters of Trump, promoting conspiracy theories, stoking domestic divisions & attacking Pres Biden ahead of election..signal a potential tactical shift in how Beijing aims to influence American politics, w more willingness to target specific candidates & parties, incl Biden.

In echo of #Russia’s influence campaign..#China appears to be trying to harness partisan divisions to undermine Biden admin policies..”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/01/business/media/china-online-disinformation-us-election.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

rbreich , 2 months ago to random

Trump’s 5-Step Fascist Plan https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-5-step-fascist-plan?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

randahl , 2 months ago to random

Oh, that is sweet! Both presidents wishing us a happy Easte… wait… WHAT?!?!

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

mastodonmigration , 2 months ago to random

The story today is "stochastic terrorism." Not "increasingly caustic and personal attacks" as the New York Times frames the issue.

What is stochastic violence?

How Stochastic Terrorism Uses Disgust to Incite Violence >>> https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-stochastic-terrorism-uses-disgust-to-incite-violence/

"Dehumanizing and vilifying a person or group of people can provoke... stochastic terrorism, in which ideologically driven hate speech increases the likelihood that people will violently and unpredictably attack the targets..."

#StochasticViolence

rbreich , 2 months ago to random

The FTC has confirmed what we suspected: During the pandemic supply chain disruptions, big grocery chains pressured food suppliers to favor them over smaller competitors and hiked food prices to rake in record profits.

Those prices have stayed high even as disruptions eased.

rbreich , 3 months ago to random

-Threatening a “blood bath” if not elected
-Saying migrants are “not people”
-Vouching to release violent Jan 6 insurrections

This is a man who is out of his mind and utterly desperate.

All Trump knows is that his freedom and fortune both depend on winning in November.

lowqualityfacts , 3 months ago to random

Trump has less than a week to arrange a $454 million bond. There are 331.9 million US citizens. If each American spends only $1.37, then we can all buy a cheap chocolate bar to enjoy while we watch the State of New York seize Trump's properties.

rbreich , 3 months ago to random

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

rbreich , 3 months ago to random

Wall Street has consolidated into 5 giant banks.

Airlines have merged from 12 major carriers in 1980 to 4 today.

A handful of companies control the pharmaceutical industry.

Four giants control over 80% of meat processing.

The evidence of corporate concentration is everywhere.

luckytran , 3 months ago to random

The hottest city in US saw a record 645 deaths related to high temperatures in 2023.

Climate change is a public health emergency.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/14/arizona-heat-death

GottaLaff , 3 months ago to random

“An American company that paid the now indicted FBI informant Alexander #Smirnov in 2020 is connected to a UK company owned by #Trump business associates in Dubai, according to business filings and court documents.

Smirnov is now accused of lying to the FBI about Hunter Biden & Pres Biden”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/14/company-paying-fbi-informant-trump-connections?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other