I don’t think most Americans understand the nasty stupidity of what amounts to book burnings being carried out by MAGAts, mostly MAGAt women. MAGAt Republicans as a group are lower education individuals, and the oligarchs and Republican leaders who support these people are on board with this censorship because every research study shows that the better educated a man or woman becomes the more likely they will vote for Democrats. What the MAGAt Republicans want are badly educated peasants because such people are more likely to have the resentments, hate, racism, and stupidity that make it easy to manipulate them. These are the Trump voters. Here is the list of 10 of the 673 books no longer available in Orange County, Florida. I found the list quite revealing because except for two books written after I was in school — although I have read them — every book on the list was an assigned title which I read and we studied in English class when I was in school as a boy. You probably read most of them yourself. You should be aware of what this book burning is really about. It is designed to dumb down public school students so they can be indoctrinated into MAGAts.
Credit: Shutterstock
A law often touted by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that restricts the kinds of books that can be available in public schools has led teachers in the state’s Orange County to remove hundreds of books from their shelves — including some that are widely considered literary classics.
The Orlando Sentinel has compiled a list of all 673 books pulled from the shelves in the county, and it shows that Florida’s law resulted in the removal of books that go well beyond often-targeted titles such as “Gender Queer” by author Maia Kobabe.
Below are ten pieces of classical literature that you will no longer find in school libraries in Orange County.
1.) Paradise Lost by John Milton.
Although published all the way back in 1667, John Milton’s epic poem about Satan, Adam and Eve is apparently still too risqué for Gov. DeSantis and his allies in the Florida state legislature.
2.) Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.
An epic satire of the American military set during the closing months of World War II.
When you hear this covered in media it is framed as a fight between MAGAt Republicans and Democrats in Congress, and arguments over our southern border. I am sorry to tell that is the least of it. This may cause Ukraine to lose the war. If that happens it is only a matter of time until Putin starts another war somewhere else. He needs a war to justify maintaining his authoritarian rule. But that’s not even the most important part of it. If the MAGAts cause the U.S. not to to honor its commitments to Ukraine, the entire geopolitical world order that has obtained since the end of WWII will change. No country will ever trust America again to keep a commitment. The status of the U.S. will be damaged beyond repair and China, in my opinion, will become the dominant nation in the world because of all the help China is giving developing nations.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby Credit: Andrew Harnik / AP
The U.S. will run out of funding for Ukraine this month if Congress does not act to pass President Joe Biden’s emergency supplemental spending request that has been stalled for weeks on Capitol Hill, a top U.S. official said Monday.
The Biden administration plans to announce one more package of military aid to Ukraine this month, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday. But after that, funding for Ukraine will dry up, he said.
“When that one is done … we will have no more replenishment authority available to us. And we’re going to need Congress to act without delay,” Kirby said.
The Pentagon still has $4.4 billion in presidential drawdown authority to provide weapons to Ukraine directly from Defense Department inventory, according to Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Garron Garn. But the weapons DOD can transfer to Ukraine are limited by the necessary funding to replenish U.S. stockpiles, and that’s what is almost gone.
If you live in a Red state your minimum wage may be less than half of what it is in a Blue state. For example, the minimum wage in Texas on the 1st of January 2024 will be $7.25 per hour; if you live in Washington state it will be $16.28. It amazes me that hourly wage workers continue to vote for Republicans who are responsible for this dramatic differential. Red staters have shorted lives, worse health care, more out-of-wedlock births, higher maternal mortality, higher infant mortality, more obesity, inferior education, and on and on. See my latest Podcast for more factual details on this. The evidence is absolutely clear, Republican governance is always inferior compared with Democratic governance.
The minimum wage is set to increase in 22 states on Jan. 1, 2024.
Why it matters: For Americans making minimum wage, it’s an automatic raise — but it also ripples out. Typically, increasing the wage floor for the lowest earners pushes up pay for those who make a bit more than the minimum, as employers have to adjust pay scales upwards.
The big picture: More states are requiring a $15 an hour minimum wage — including New York, Maryland, and New Mexico — a dozen years after Fight for $15 kicked off its campaign.
Thanks to inflation, the dollar amount doesn’t quite mean what it used to.
Zoom in: In 13 states wages are going up because they’re indexed to inflation, including California, Ohio and South Dakota.
Three more states and Washington, D.C., are set to raise the wage later in the year.
The last time the federal minimum wage ($7.25) was increased was in 2009.
NICOLE WINFIELD and DAVID CRARY, Reporter | News Director of The Associated Press’ Global Religion Team - Associated Press
Stephan:
Pope Francis is doing something yet again of historical importance. It is just another step but slowly the Pope is trying to make the Roman Catholic Church more relevant in the modern world. It is driving conservatives in the church crazy, but Pope Francis, in my opinion, is on the right track and is going to keep the church from becoming irrelevant, which is the direction it has been headed.
Pope Francis Credit: AP
ROME, ITALY — Pope Francis formally approved letting Catholic priests bless same-sex couples, the Vatican announced Monday, a radical shift in policy that aimed at making the church more inclusive while maintaining its strict ban on gay marriage.
But while the Vatican statement was heralded by some as a step toward breaking down discrimination in the Catholic Church, some LGBTQ+ advocates warned it underscored the church’s idea that gay couples remain inferior to heterosexual partnerships.
The document from the Vatican’s doctrine office elaborates on a letter Francis sent to two conservative cardinals that was published in October. In that preliminary response, Francis suggested such blessings could be offered under some circumstances if the blessings weren’t confused with the ritual of marriage.
The new document repeats that condition and elaborates on it, reaffirming that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman. And it stresses that blessings in question must not be tied to any specific Catholic celebration or religious service and should not be conferred at […]
This is yet another example of the overall trend of decline in the United States. If you look at almost any social outcome trend you care to name, America is not only not a leader it is usually at the bottom of the pack, education, healthcare, maternal mortality, infant mortality, literacy, education, ability to solve problems, and on and on. Now, as you can see from this article the U.S. is no longer a leader in basic manufacturing, it isn’t even a major competitor. We are on the wrong track as a nation, except in terms of the amount of money we spend in military entities and the weapons they use to kill people.
US Steel’s Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock, Pennsylvania outside of Pittsburgh. The 122-year-old company, once the backbone of a US economy powered by manufacturing, has agreed to be purchased by Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest steelmaker, for $14.1 billion. The deal faces opposition from politicians and the United Steelworkers union though.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — The days may be numbered for an independent, American-owned, US Steel, a one-time backbone of the nation’s economy.
US Steel was once the most valuable company in the world. Monday, it agreed to be purchased for $14.1 billion, or $55 a share, by Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest steelmaker.
That $14.1 billion sale price, while a 40% premium from where US Steel’s stock closed Friday before the deal was announced, makes it a minor leaguer in today’s economy. The nation’s tech powerhouses – Apple, Google’s parent Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Nvidia – trade at a valuation of more than $1 trillion each. US Steel, even at the sale price, is valued less than 0.5% of the value of Apple, and less […]
