Stephan: More good news from the Biden administration. It is astonishing the difference between the Biden administration's competence compared with the endless grifting, incompetence, and outright fraud that was the hallmark of the Trump administration.
Biden in office actually governing instead of whining as was the major activity of his predecessor
In another early win for organized labor, President Joe Biden on Tuesday requested that all 10 members of a key federal panel—who were appointed by his predecessor—immediately resign, and then fired the two appointees who refused to do so.
As Government Executivenoted, former President Donald Trump had stacked the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP), which handles disputes between agencies and unions during collective bargaining negotiations, “with anti-labor partisans, most of whom lacked experience in labor-management relations or conflict resolution.”
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees—which represents over 700,000 government workers and had accused the Trump appointees of improperly favoring agencies—told Bloomberg Law that “FSIP is a critical component in the federal negotiating process, and we look forward to President Biden’s future picks issuing just decisions, unencumbered by political interference.”
Although presidents have previously replaced all panel members, Bloomberg Law pointed out that Biden acted more quickly than his predecessors:
Trump dismissed all members of the FSIP in May 2017—about four months after he took office—and then […]
ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE and ACACIA CORONADO, Reporters - Associated Press
Stephan: Almost every day I see attempts by Republican legislators in Red states to impose new voter suppression legislation to keep non-Whites from voting. The Republicans realize they are a shrinking minority party and the only way they are going to be able to hold on to power is by rigging the system. That's a problem but a secondary one. The primary problem is that the voters in Red value states support what they are doing. The percentage of Americans who are White supremacy racists is appalling and perhaps the biggest crisis in the American political system.
Credit: Associated Press
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Republican lawmakers in statehouses across the country are moving swiftly to attack some of the voting methods that fueled the highest turnout for a presidential election in 50 years.
Although most legislative sessions are just getting underway, the Brennan Center for Justice, a public policy institute, has already tallied more than 100 bills in 28 states meant to restrict voting access. More than a third of those proposals are aimed at limiting mail voting, while other bills seek to strengthen voter ID requirements and registration processes, as well as allow for more aggressive means to remove people from voter rolls.
“Unfortunately, we are seeing some politicians who want to manipulate the rules of the game so that some people can participate and some can’t,” said Myrna Pérez, director of the voting rights and elections program at the Brennan Center.
The proposals are advancing not only in Texas and other traditional red states but also in such places as Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania that supported Donald Trump four years ago, only to flip […]
Stephan: This story is straight out of the Nazis past: rich fascists using their wealth to create disinformation and to influence the government. The Mercers are a particularly despicable example of the type, and as you read this story you will be appalled by what they did and how well it worked.
Bob Mercer and Rebekah Mercer Credit: Patrick McMullan/Patrick McMullan/Getty
Four years before Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., pumped his fist to a supportive mob that would soon overrun the Capitol Police and hunt lawmakers through the halls of Congress, the former Missouri attorney general needed a deep-pocketed patron. Naturally, he called on the man who helped bankroll former President Donald Trump’s rise: hedge-fund billionaire Robert Mercer, whom he would soon describe as a friend while name-dropping him to court support from far-right figures like Steve Bannon, a longtime Mercer ally. It’s unclear what came of Hawley’s meeting with Mercer, but the Club for Growth, which has received millions from the Mercer family, and the Senate Conservatives Fund, which also got Mercer donations, quickly became Hawley’s biggest financial backers, by far. Mercer’s daughter Rebekah kicked in a near-maximum donation to his 2018 Senate campaign for good measure.
While Charles Koch and his late brother David have dominated Republican fundraising in recent decades, the Mercers’ recent strategic investments in far-right candidates bought them a disproportionate level of influence in the Republican Party before culminating in an effort to subvert […]
Stephan: The Roman Catholic Church over the past few years has had to pay out billions of dollars to compensate the victims of their clergy's sexual predation. Well, you and I just paid them much of that back as the church siphoned off $3 billion of our tax dollars as pandemic aid.
Quite the Hail Mary. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty
Here’s a maddening pandemic fact: Catholic dioceses in the U.S. and other institutions backed by the Catholic Church took more than $3 billion in taxpayer-funded government aid as part of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), according to an investigation by the Associated Press. That appears to make the Roman Catholic Church the single largest beneficiary of the emergency aid program. While availing upon taxpayer-funded payments, designed to keep small businesses afloat and employees in their jobs during economic shutdowns, the AP reports the Catholic Church was sitting on $10 billion in cash, short-term investment, and other available funds.
The financial statements of 112 dioceses showed that they—along with the churches and schools they operate—collected at least $1.5 billion in PPP funds, even though, the AP reports, most of those dioceses had enough cash reserves to operate for six months with no revenue coming in at all. The fact that the market quickly recovered—and then grew—meant that many of the dioceses relying on investment vehicles likely made money on the pandemic. The Archdiocese of Chicago, for example, had […]
Stephan: Another SR prediction is coming true, as this report spells out. Big Oil is going the way sailmakers, and carriage harness makers. Not disappearing but enormously diminished, although I think Big Oil is going to use its wealth to try to segue into dominating solar and wind generation.
A further confirmation of this transition: President Biden has committed to creating 500,000 EV charging stations and newly confirmed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has said he is going to do everything he can to see that Biden's goal is met or surpassed. The times they are achanging, as Bob Dylan's song had it.
A total refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. Even with a dim view of the future, there are signs of a recovery in the oil industry. Credit: Brandon Thibodeaux /The New York Times
HOUSTON — Big Oil isn’t so big anymore.
Exxon Mobil, BP and other large oil companies collectively lost tens of billions of dollars last year, posting their worst performance in years and, for some companies, in decades.
The pandemic was largely to blame. It sapped demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel as countries and states locked down and people stayed home. But such painful years could become more commonplace as growing concerns about climate change, tighter regulations, and the rise of electric cars and trucks force a reckoning for an industry that has dominated the global economy over much of the last century. General Motors further raised the stakes for the industry last week when it said it aimed to do away with internal combustion engines and sell only electric cars by 2035.
The oil industry is slowly transitioning to a future dominated by cleaner energy. BP, […]
