Stephan: There just is no integrity in the MAGAt Republican Party. Here is their latest scam.
Republican Congresswoman Ashley HinsonCredit:Wikimedia Commons / Office of Representative Hinson
Republicans have adamantly fought against President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan but now a growing list of them are taking credit for the funding provided by the same plan they opposed.
“Over 60 percent of our nation’s grain exports travel through this lock and dam system, and it is a massive economic engine for the entire state,” Hinson said in a statement.
“That’s why I helped lead a bipartisan group of my colleagues in urging the Administration to prioritize funding for these essential upgrades,” she added, “I’ll always fight to ensure Iowans’ taxpayer dollars are reinvested at home in Iowa.”
Stephan: The Republican Party really should be renamed as the MAGAt Fascist Party. Every day now there are stories like this one that confirm this and make it explicit. All of it makes it clear that the 2022 election is really about one thing: Do Americans want to live in a democratic republic, or a White supremacy fascist autocracy? Personally, I am no longer clear as to the likely answer to that question. I'd say it is about 60-40 in favor of democracy in the country overall. In the Red states I would reverse that to 40-60 in favor of White supremacy fascist autocracy.
Heinrich Himmler with his commanders of the Geheime Staatspolizei, or Gestapo, the Nazis’ political police. Credit: AKG Image
Even as the Senate bitterly, implausibly debates fundamental voting rights that not long ago were almost universally deemed non-negotiable, Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking Orwell’s “1984” and running with it into a despotic dystopia of his own feverish imagining with his hoped-for, first-in-the-nation creation of an Office of Election Crimes and Security to ensure “elections are conducted in accordance with the rule of law,” though, in fact, they already are.
The Himmler-wannabe’s shiny new police force, which would be part of Florida’s Department of State, would hire over 50 investigators to “detect, apprehend, and arrest anyone for an alleged violation” of election laws, with Gestapo snitches posted at unspecified “field offices” through the state to act on dubious tips from “government officials or any other person” to “facilitate the faithful enforcement of election laws,” which, did we mention, already occurs.
Also – see Himmler – they’d report directly to him. Herr DeSantis, who once considered forming his […]
Stephan: Yet more evidence that the MAGAt Party is owned by a small group of corporations and uber-rich individuals who, thanks to Citizens United, bought the party and provide the dark money to accomplish the transformation of the United States from a democratic republic to a White supremacy fascist autocracy that will server the funders' interests, which have nothing to do with promoting societal wellbeing.
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty
It’s usually the images of a violent mob attacking the U.S. Capitol that are associated with the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election. But as more financial records become public, another image is emerging—of billionaires in MAGA gear writing large checks.
And one billionaire in particular.
Among the ranks of “dark money” groups and anonymous megadonors who bankrolled the effort is a familiar name in GOP fundraising circles: Dick Uihlein, founder of the multinational Uline shipping company.
According to tax disclosures first published online by the Center for Media and Democracy, Uihlein’s nonprofit—the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation—poured millions of dollars in 2020 into a sprawling number of groups connected to efforts to challenge Joe Biden’s victory and reimagine election law, as well as other right-wing extremist organizations, including ones designated as hate groups.
And the money is pure Uihlein—the foundation’s $16.8 million in 2020 donations came exclusively from Dick Uihlein himself. And over the course of that pivotal year, the organization gave it all away.
Stephan: Every vegetable and fruit that you put on your table depends on bees. Without bees hundreds of millions of people would face starvation. This report lays out an important truth. Your garden, however big or small, can play an important role in supporting these little creatures.
Here are 15 plants that will do that, and I urge you to plant them in your yard and garden.
1. Lavandula spp. (Lavender)
2. Rosemarinus officinalis (Rosemary)
3. Salvia spp. (Sage)
4. Echinacea spp. (Coneflower)
5. Helianthus spp. (Sunflower)
6. Cercis spp. (Redbud)
7. Nepeta spp. (Catnip)
8. Penstemon spp. (Penstemon)
9. Stachys spp. (Lamb’s ears)
10. Verbena spp. (Verbena)
11. Phacelia spp. (Bells or Phacelia)
12. Aster spp. (Aster)
13. Rudbeckia spp. (Black-eyed Susan)
14. Origanum spp. (Oregano)
15. Achilliea millefolium (Yarrow)
Research shows that the size of a city garden has little relationship to the amount of nectar it can produce. Credit: Nick Upton/Alamy
Small gardens are as important as big gardens for conserving bees and other pollinators in UK cities, a study has found.
Worldwide, bee populations are declining. Habitat destruction, pesticide use, and climate change have led to the disappearance of some pollinators, but researchers found that small urban gardens are some of the most pollinator-friendly places.
“Most of the nectar produced in gardens is by a shrub in the corner or a border around the edge of the garden,” said Nicholas Tew, a PhD student at the University of Bristol. “There are some very flower-rich small gardens and some very flower-poor big gardens.”
Stephan: The game has changed. Except for Clarence Thomas, whose wife is a MAGAt activist, the rest of the Supreme Court denied the nonsense of Trump's attempt to keep his archival records secret. So there will be all kinds of additional criminality coming out from the 6th January committee, over the next several months. That plus the New York Attorney General's work may finally result in Trump and his family being held criminally liable for something. Is it too much to hope they may end up going to prison?
The Supreme Court
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court rejected former President Donald Trump’s attempt to undermine an investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
In a single-paragraph order, the Court effectively ensured that the US House committee investigating the Capitol riot will obtain documents that could reveal the extent of Trump’s role in those events. This is a departure from the conservative Court’s approach to Trump while he was president, when it effectively thwarted a congressional committee’s effort to obtain Trump’s financial records while Trump was still in office.
The Court did not disclose how each justice voted, but Justice Clarence Thomas publicly noted his dissent.
Trump v. Thompson concerns hundreds of pages of records from the Trump White House, which are currently held by the National Archives. The committee seeks a wide range of White House records concerning the attack on the Capitol, Trump’s activities surrounding January 6, 2021, and other documents that could shine a light on Trump’s efforts to thwart the peaceful transfer of power […]
