Stephan: Ted Cruz is a notably loathsome man, by reputation the most unpopular man in the Senate, and not surprisingly he is doing what he can to destroy democracy in America. But he is far from alone, as this latest report about what the Republican Party is up to.
I think it is very important to note that Trumpism is not conservatism, is not traditional Republicanism. It is not what conservatives and Republicans have traditionally supported. It is Trumpism, which is to say christofascism.
The real question for me is are there going to be any consequences for these people for their anti-democracy activities.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz Credit: Samuel Corum/Getty
On Saturday, 11 current and incoming Republican senators announced in a joint statement that they would object to the congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory next week in a futile effort to hand outgoing President Donald Trump an unelected second term in office.
The statement — led by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz — also calls for the creation of an electoral commission modeled on a similar committee assembled in 1877, saying the commission would conduct “an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states.”
Citing “unprecedented allegations of voter fraud, violations and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities,” the letter also argues that states should be allowed to “evaluate the Commission’s findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if needed.”https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1345419986425307136&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F2021%2F1%2F2%2F22210509%2Fted-cruz-11-gop-senators-electoral-college-votes&siteScreenName=voxdotcom&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px
The days after the 2020 election have indeed seen unprecedented allegations of voter fraud — but all have been found to be without merit by the judicial system, state elected officials, national security officials, and elections officials. Nevertheless, […]
Karen Kaplan, Reporter - Los Angles Times/Yahoo News
Stephan: It may be that we are going to have to see something like a million people die before the stupidity of a large segment of the American public breaks down and those people are frightened into behaving rationally. First, they wouldn't wear masks, and now they won't get the vaccine. At this rate, it will take until the end of 2021, or maybe even longer, before those of us who are being careful are able to come out of isolation. What I am looking at is how many hospitals and hospital staffs just get overwhelmed and collapse; how many small businesses, particularly restaurants close never to reopen; and, how many people 18-24 become so depressed they commit suicide -- the statistics on this are looking very grim.
Anthony Kong of the Los Angeles Fire Department prepares a dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Just as vaccines are becoming available, fewer Americans are willing to take them, according to a new study. Credit: Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times
Health experts agree that the best way to end the COVID-19 pandemic is to vaccinate our way out of it. Unfortunately, Americans’ willingness to get a COVID-19 vaccine is waning, even as a punishing third wave claims well over 1,000 U.S. lives each day.
The latest evidence for this appears this week in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., and it shows that skepticism toward the vaccines is on the rise among Americans of all stripes.
Regardless of age, race or sex, U.S. adults were significantly less likely to say they’d get vaccinated in late November and early December than they were in early April. And though interest in COVID-19 vaccines has waned across the board, some groups of Americans are even less willing to be vaccinated than others.- ADVERTISEMENT –
Stephan: The Founders had very strong feelings about the involvement of religion in governance because they, or their immediate families, had had experiences in Britain where church and state were intertwined and there was a long history of Anglicanism -- the dominant form of Christianity in England -- doing horrible things to non-Anglicans. They built a firewall between church and state. But over the last 50 years the Republican Party seeing the emerging cult of christofascism as their way of staying in power has been doing everything it can to break down the Founders' firewall. Here is the latest.
Sawinder Singh had filed an EEOC complaint alleging he faced harassment for years as a bus operator in Montgomery County, Maryland, because he wears a turban and has a beard that is unshorn, in keeping with his Sikh faith. He reached a settlement with the school system. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty
It was the hectic week before Thanksgiving, and Amrith Kaur — the legal director of an advocacy group called the Sikh Coalition — was not prepared for a surprise update from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that could have dramatic consequences for her clients.
With little warning, the EEOC published a 112-page overhaul of its guidance on religious discrimination in the workplace. The feedback period was proceeding with no time to spare — she would have to file any comments by Dec. 17.
“To my knowledge, that was the first time that pretty much everybody heard about it,” said Kaur, who was busy handling home schooling for her children, ages 8 and 10, when the announcement popped up. “There’s so much happening, and I think it’s very strategic the way […]
Stanley Reed, Environmental Reporter - The New York Times
Stephan: Here is some excellent good news about wind power. In spite of everything the carbon industry is doing to stay alive it is a dying industry. Sadly, the United States will not be leading the way in this transition, which has all manner of economic implications but instead playing catch-up. Still, the carbon energy era is doomed.
Twirling above a strip of land at the mouth of Rotterdam’s harbor is a wind turbine so large it is difficult to photograph. The turning diameter of its rotor is longer than two American football fields end to end. Later models will be taller than any building on the mainland of Western Europe.
Packed with sensors gathering data on wind speeds, electricity output and stresses on its components, the giant whirling machine in the Netherlands is a test model for a new series of giant offshore wind turbines planned by General Electric. When assembled in arrays, the wind machines have the potential to power cities, supplanting the emissions-spewing coal- or natural gas-fired plants that form the backbones of many electric systems today.
G.E. has yet to install one of these machines in ocean water. As a relative newcomer to the offshore wind business, the company faces questions about how quickly and efficiently it can scale up production to build and install hundreds of the turbines.
But already the giant turbines have turned heads in the industry. A top executive at […]
Stephan: Red State is a typical alt-right disinformation operation, note the linkage between Chinese communist demonstrators and Trumpers. Given that approximately 6 percent of the American population now has Covid-19 and the equivalent of a mid-sized city such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, or Wichita have already died from the coronavirus, you have to ask how stupid does a person have to be to not wear a mask? Well, it seems there are a lot of stupid people in this country. Anti-mask "flash mobs" demonstrate this. Look at the headline encouraging this behavior.
There’s been a growing movement that’s just starting to get some attention. But it’s spreading in various areas throughout the country, and it’s not hard to understand why.
That’s the anti-mask flash mob.
As more and more news comes out that asymptomatic spread is basically zero and the science behind the efficacy of masks is questionable, more and more people are saying enough: open everything up and stop with the masks and restrictions.
The flash mobs go on masse to a store, speak against wearing masks and then go out again.
This one involved immigrants from Communist China who have some experience with oppressive government regulations and were urging others not to go along with it.
Here’s another one that’s in Los Angeles in the Erewhon Market, where the 50 mask-less protesters rushed in and chanted to “Open up LA!”
The group hit several other businesses throughout the neighborhood as well.
These folks didn’t riot, they simply made a point about the efficacy of masks. They were then demonized by media like TMZ more so then TMZ ever demonized actual BLM/Antifa rioters who tore things down, hurt people and burned things. According to TMZ, the anti-maskers are a “sick group” of […]
