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JamesBazan

@JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee

I used my real name on the bird site to keep me nice. It didn't work, but cishet male privilege meant I mostly got away with it, so I'm not too optimistic about being "nice" on here.
White supremacy is a terrorist ideology.
The survival of democracy is on the line, so "BothSides" = Instablock
#NCPolitics #NCPol #Charlotte #NCGA
Header is a lip balm. Balm for your soul may not be banana flavored.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

Nonilex , to random
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

Lawmakers millions in 2023

>300 lawmakers were reimbursed ≥$5.2M for & while on official business in Washington last year under a new, prgm that doesn’t require receipts.
The prgm, which kicked off last yr after a -led House panel passed it, was intended to make it easier for lawmakers to maintain separate homes in DC & their home districts.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/04/house-representatives-expenses-receipts-lodging/

JamesBazan ,
@JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

@Nonilex "More self-dealing than Matt Gaetz" makes a heck of a campaign ad.

JamesBazan , to random
@JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

Giving birth in the United States is 110 times deadlier for Black women than having an abortion. Overall, it is 49 times more dangerous.
So, of course, the GOP is investing in preventing abortion rather than in keeping pregnant people alive.

[The Washington Post]

https://wapo.st/4c7MpiL

Nonilex , to random
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

8 senators announced Fri they would boycott priorities & nominations as payback for ’s .
In a joint statement, the senators said they would not “allow any increase to non-security related funding for this administration, or any appropriations bill which funds partisan lawfare.”

JamesBazan ,
@JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

@Nonilex we all know that Mitch McConnell believes that Democratic presidents only get three-year terms.

DemocracyMattersALot , to random

Frankly, isn't every group except Republicans sounding an alarm about the danger of another Trump presidency?

Why health care leaders are sounding an alarm about the danger of a Trump presidency https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/5/26/2242377/-Why-health-care-leaders-are-sounding-an-alarm-about-the-danger-of-a-Trump-presidency

JamesBazan ,
@JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

@DemocracyMattersALot well, every group except those legacy media companies that treat the threat as a normal campaign.

JamesBazan , to random
@JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

On 5/17/1972, On May 16, 1971, my wife's cousin Craig Farlow was shot down after inserting ARVN Marines near Hue in Vietnam. His helicopter exploded on impact.
He was 23.
A year and a day after he was MIA, on May 28, 1972, Craig was declared Killed In Action. The location of his name on the Vietnam Memorial, the final panel, Panel 1W, Row 26, reflects that date.
His remains were never recovered.

wdlindsy , to random
@wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

"Despite pleas from Democrats and gut-wrenching testimony from doctors and rape survivors, a GOP-controlled legislative committee rejected a bill Tuesday that would have added cases of rape and incest as exceptions to Louisiana’s abortion ban."

~ Sarah Cline


/1

https://apnews.com/article/abortion-incest-rape-louisiana-exception-846480b677fbc6fbe60d18ca13572899

JamesBazan ,
@JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

@wdlindsy not at all coincidental:
https://mastodon.social/@gwaldby/112413108409384577

wdlindsy , to random
@wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

Don Harwood responds to New York Times editor Joseph Kahn, who says that the attack on democracy represented by Trump is not the premier campaign issue:

"Donald Trump is the first American presidential candidate to explicitly threaten the democratic system on which a free press depends. He could win. Considering the stakes for the country, that ought to be the campaign issue that dwarfs all others."

#Trump #democracy #NewYorkTimes
/1

https://zeteo.com/p/as-a-veteran-reporter-ive-always

JamesBazan ,
@JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

@wdlindsy For Kahn, however, that threat to democracy is so central to the election that the continuation of democracy is a partisan issue. Therefore, he decreed, any observation of that threat needs to be treated as a partisan attack by Democrats.

davidaugust , to random
@davidaugust@mastodon.online avatar

RFK Jr. brain has a dead worm that ate part of his brain in it, and has been impacted by mercury poisoning.

Well…this seems at once shocking and like it makes absolutely perfect sense.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/us/rfk-jr-brain-health-memory-loss.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qU0.MjjY.L1k3c9ClwkDy&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

JamesBazan ,
@JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

@davidaugust I'm old enough to remember when brain wos would have been disqualifying. But back then, rape and insurrection probably would have derailed campaigns.

marcelias , to random
@marcelias@mas.to avatar

NEW: Pennsylvania Republicans are asking the Supreme Court to revive the discredited independent state legislature theory to challenge pro-voter registration policies enacted by President Joe Biden and Governor Josh Shapiro.

Watch now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mO9qwRRzhg&t

JamesBazan ,
@JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

@marcelias If we vote, they lose. That's why they amplify cynicism couched in anti "establishment" rhetoric. It worked in 2016. It will always be part of their arsenal against democracy.

StillIRise1963 , to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

Fascists are going to get rid of all public education. Have you saved up for your kids yet.🤔

JamesBazan ,
@JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

@philip_cardella @StillIRise1963 in NC, the state constitution requires free & equitable public education. While continuing to defy a 1997 court order requiring them to provide that equitable funding for rural schools, the gerrymandered GOP supermajorities in the General Assembly lifted the income cap for private school subsidies. Now, they want to take an additional $300 million from public education to fund subsidies for families in the top 8% of incomes with kids already in $30k/year schools.

parismarx , to random
@parismarx@mastodon.online avatar

Balaji Srinivasan is calling for a “tech Zionism” that would see “Grays” loyal to the tech industry take over San Francisco by allying with the police to give themselves privileges as they oppress the “Blues” (liberals).

Essential read by @gilduran: https://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat

“What I’m really calling for is something like tech Zionism,” he said, after comparing his movement to those started by the biblical Abraham, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith (founder of Mormonism), Theodor Herzl (“spiritual father” of the state of Israel), and Lee Kuan Yew (former authoritarian ruler of Singapore). Balaji then revealed his shocking ideas for a tech-governed city where citizens loyal to tech companies would form a new political tribe clad in gray t-shirts. “And if you see another Gray on the street … you do the nod,” he said, during a four-hour talk on the Moment of Zen podcast. “You’re a fellow Gray.” The Grays’ shirts would feature “Bitcoin or Elon or other kinds of logos … Y Combinator is a good one for the city of San Francisco in particular.” Grays would also receive special ID cards providing access to exclusive, Gray-controlled sectors of the city. In addition, the Grays would make an alliance with the police department, funding weekly “policeman’s banquets” to win them over.
ALT
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    JamesBazan ,
    @JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

    @parismarx @gilduran
    "Nine men I sent to the chair in my youth;
    Nine pennies on the fusebox of the law.
    One willed me his wooden leg before they sat him down,
    and prayed I would need it before long.
    God save a judge from the makeshift religions of the damned.
    I am weary of curses and excutions." (Daniel Mark Epstein. 1977. The Follies. "Judge Wingate's Lament.")
    The makeshift religions of the damned always echoes in these sorts of techno-eugenicist constraining fantasies.

    wdlindsy , to random
    @wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

    "It’d be nice if folks who support democracy and a free press checked their investment portfolios for Comcast (Nasdaq:CMCSA) including their mutual fund holdings’ portfolios — and then sent letters to Investor Relations asking for accountability at Comcast and NBC for this stupid hiring decision which damaged NBC."

    ~ Rayne

    https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/03/26/three-things-so-much-stupid/

    JamesBazan ,
    @JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

    @wdlindsy these are the geniuses who thought hiring Megyn Kelly was a good idea. Folks don't need to remember much geometry to know two points define a line.

    wdlindsy , to random
    @wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

    I'm not really up to date on cowboy hat styles.

    Is this the kind that's called an asshat?

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2024/03/25/yellowstone-forrie-j-smith-plane-mask-kicked-off/73096785007/

    JamesBazan ,
    @JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

    @wdlindsy any hat he puts in is an ass hat.

    mastodonmigration , to random
    @mastodonmigration@mastodon.online avatar

    "There were problems."

    NBC's newly hired GOP party boss uses flagship Sunday news platform to perpetrate the 'big lie.'

    https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch-ronna-mcdaniel-insists-there-were-problems-with-the-2020-election-in-trainwreck-soft-launch-of-her-nbc-news-gig/

    JamesBazan ,
    @JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

    @mastodonmigration platforming the Big Lie is collaboration. Paying to platform the Big Lie is complicity.

    wdlindsy , (edited ) to random
    @wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

    Timothy Snyder looks at the terrorist attack that has just occurred at Moscow, and notes that on March 7 and 19, the US warned of an impending terrorist attack in Moscow. Putin mocked US intelligence after this warning.

    ISIS has taken responsibility for the attack. Russia is so intent on attacking Ukraine that its security apparatus in Moscow has failed.

    Snyder predicts Russia will now try to divert blame to Ukraine and the US.

    https://snyder.substack.com/p/moscow-terror

    JamesBazan ,
    @JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

    @wdlindsy They have already claimed the terrorists were apprehended while "fleeing towards Ukraine." [(sota voce) Or on the road to Belarus.]

    wdlindsy , to random
    @wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

    "The Republican Party, eyeing control of the Senate next year, is trying to mimic [Trump's] success with a cohort of candidates who in the past might have been attacked as a bunch of rich men but this year will be sold as successful outsiders in the Trump mold."

    ~ Jonathan Weisman


    /1

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/us/politics/republican-gop-senate-wealth.html

    JamesBazan ,
    @JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

    @wdlindsy With Trump funneling RNC money to his legal costs, the only people who can run in the GOP are those who can self finance (really self-finance; not that fraudulent game Trump played in '16).

    Strandjunker , to random
    @Strandjunker@mstdn.social avatar

    Trump is so broke that even his reality check bounced.

    JamesBazan ,
    @JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

    @Strandjunker In fairness, that account was closed decades ago.

    Nonilex , to random
    @Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

    Fmr VP said Fri he will not endorse , the president w/whom he served, just days after TFG secured the ’s 2024 nomination.
    , who served under Trump but has been critical of TFG after the , 2021, insurrection in which Pence was targeted, said Trump’s agenda doesn’t align w/ .


    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/15/pence-trump-no-endorsement-2024/

    JamesBazan ,
    @JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

    @Nonilex His "conservative agenda" over democracy. Cowards gonna cower.

    flexghost , to random
    @flexghost@mastodon.social avatar

    What the hell is this?

    I made it 3 minutes into Katie Britt’s astonishingly bad SotU rebuttal

    Drop on the comments how far you can make it into this clip before turning it off

    Video of Katie Britt turning in her audition for Mr. Johnson’s junior class presentation of Our Town

    JamesBazan ,
    @JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

    @flexghost “Sincerity is essential for a good lawyer. Once a lawyer learns to fake that, [s]he’s got it made." When they can't, everything else is a clown show.

    JamesBazan , to random
    @JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

    Thousands of millionaires haven’t filed tax returns for years, IRS says
    "Werfel said the returns represent hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes, on more than $100 billion of income.

    "Few of the 125,000 missing returns will lead to criminal tax evasion cases."
    [Surprise! /s]

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/02/29/tax-returns-irs-millionaires/

    JamesBazan , to random
    @JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

    From the files of: "both parties are the same."
    The Alabama Chief Justice Who Invoked God in Deciding the Embryo Case
    "“Human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God,' he wrote in a concurring opinion that invoked the Book of Genesis and the prophet Jeremiah and quoted at length from the writings of 16th- and 17th-century theologians." https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/us/alabama-ivf-tom-parker.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

    luckytran , to random
    @luckytran@med-mastodon.com avatar

    Six students have measles in an outbreak at a Florida elementary school.

    How did Florida's health department respond?

    Their Surgeon General sent out a letter that supports parents sending unvaccinated children to school during the outbreak and doesn't recommend vaccination.

    There is a cluster of measles cases that has been identified at Manatee Bay Elementary. The Florida Department of Health (DOH) is continuously working with all partners, including Broward County Public Schools and local hospitals, to identify close contacts. Measles can be transmitted four days prior to the start of symptoms. When measles is detected in a school, it is normally recommended that individuals without history of prior infection or vaccination stay home for up to 21 days. This is the period of time that the virus can be transmitted. However, due to the high immunity rate in the community, as well as the burden on families and educational cost of healthy children missing school, DOH is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance. This recommendation may change as epidemiological investigations continue. Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD State Surgeon General
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    JamesBazan ,
    @JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

    @luckytran How is this not medical malpractice on a global scale?

    tzimmer_history , to random
    @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social avatar

    Florida authorities want to make it sound like this particular school just messed up - but they deliberately created the environment in which this is bound to happen.

    This is the feature, not the bug of the reactionary assault on multiracial pluralism Florida has spearheaded. 1/

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-school-asks-parents-permission-african-american-author-read-st-rcna138685

    JamesBazan ,
    @JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

    @tzimmer_history its not even "malicious" compliance. It's just compliance. Given the litigiousness of the White-wing, every lesson plan should include permission slip guidance.

    wdlindsy , to random
    @wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

    Judd Legum asks why, when Publix was selling just as many opioid prescriptions in Florida as CVS, two successive state attorney generals, both Republicans, went after CVS, Walgreen's, and Walmart for selling opioids, but not Publix.

    Answer: follow the money. Publix is a "money hose" for Republicans. The heiress to Publix's fortune Julia Jenkins Fancelli is a major donor to Trump and donated hundreds of thousands to his insurrection bid.

    https://popular.info/p/publix-versus-the-public

    JamesBazan ,
    @JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

    @wdlindsy It's nice to get the AG to clear the competition off their corners so you have the market to yourself. Usually, it's corrupt beat cops who do that.

    wdlindsy , to random
    @wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

    In one day, two Moms for Liberty, Florida-based stories break. The first was reporting by Judd Legum and Tesnim Zekeria that Jennifer Pippin, chair of Moms for Liberty in Indian River County, Florida, has coerced the local school board to draw clothes on a character in Maurice Sendak's classic book In the Night Kitchen.

    Pippin seeks to convince us that innocent children's books showing a character unclothed are pornography.


    /1

    https://popular.info/p/pressed-by-moms-for-liberty-florida

    JamesBazan ,
    @JamesBazan@mastodon.coffee avatar

    @wdlindsy When I was a carpenter based in Indian River County, FL, we used to say, "Tool thieves have multiple locks on their tool boxes."
    Apparently, that's a broadly applicable truism.

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