MORGAN PHILLIPS, Congressional Reporter - Daily Mail
Stephan:
You’ve probably never heard of Victoria Spartz, MAGAt Republican representing Indiana’s mostly rural 5th District. Like Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Tommy Tubberville, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the list goes on and on these are the kind men and women Americans are choosing as their leaders. And that, I think, is the main problem this country faces. The people of the Red states are so aggrieved, racist, and angry, and feel so victimized, that they are electing people who personify their emotional state and don’t seem to care about preserving democracy. If the people don’t care about democracy, how does a democracy survive. Maybe it doesn’t. We are going to see in November.
The hot-tempered, Ukrainian-born Indiana Republican has been named ‘worst boss’ on Capitol Hill, and her office has been a revolving door of staffers who think they are ‘tough’ enough to handle her berating, only to head for the exits shortly afterCredit: Getty
Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz’s former staffers have made explosive claims she was ‘manic’ and ‘abusive’ and would throw furniture at aides.
The hot-tempered Ukrainian-born Indiana lawmaker has been named the ‘worst boss’ on Capitol Hill and her conduct is now at the center of an ethics complaint.
Her office has been a revolving door of staffers who think they are ‘tough’ enough to handle it, only to head for the exits shortly after.
One source said that Spartz had ‘thrown shoes’ at her district staff, and ‘blew up’ at them in front of constituents on multiple occasions.
Ethics staffers have been in contact with former Spartz aides about the complaint, DailyMail.com has confirmed, but it’s not clear at what stage their probe is. Politico first reported the committee had made ‘preliminary inquiries’ into complaints about her […]
This article makes it very clear why so many Americans are worried and angry over the cost of renting a place to live. What do you know? As this article describes it is largely the result of the actions of real estate owning oligarchs, particularly Harlan Crow.
Two weeks ago, on Wednesday, May 22, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the Atlanta headquarters of Cortland Management. According an MLex article on May 29, the FBI raid was
… part of a criminal antitrust investigation by the US Department of Justice into a conspiracy to artificially inflate rents for apartment units.
The inspection comes as the DOJ’s antitrust division deepens its investigation into the rental housing market and the use of a price-setting software provided by RealPage, whose clients include some of the largest US residential real estate owners and management companies…. Cortland is named among dozens of defendants in a putative class action in Tennessee alleging the use of RealPage’s software platform to coordinate and agree upon rental housing pricing and supply.
As David Cay Johnston points out, such price fixing is […]
Robert Reich, Carmel P. Friesen Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies - Reader Supported News
Stephan:
I have recently had an exchange with someone I don’t know about voting for RFK Jr. He seems to think it is a kind of protest vote. I have tried to explain to him that we have a two-party system, with one winner. A vote for any third-party candidate in this election is basically a vote for criminal Trump. He just doesn’t get it. Maybe this article by Robert Reich will make it clearer. Let me also say to all SR readers, this is an election on whether we continue as a democracy or not. Forget about political partisanship. You must vote for only Democrats. They are far from perfect, but they do support continued democracy, and the Republicans explicitly do not.
Friends,
Today, the 80th anniversary of D-Day, seems an appropriate occasion to reaffirm our commitment to democracy and against fascism — which means doing whatever we can to ensure that Joe Biden wins the 2024 presidential election.
One big threat to a Biden victory comes from third-party candidates Cornel West, Jill Stein, and Robert F. Kennedy Junior.
Over the last few days, I’ve had conversations with a number of friends and former students who tell me they’re considering voting for one of these third-party candidates.
Why? Some say they’re angry with Biden for giving support and weapons to Netanyahu and not doing enough to stop the slaughter in Gaza. Others say they’re upset with Biden for his new border policy, which will make it harder for immigrants to seek asylum in the U.S.
They acknowledge that a second Trump term would be a disaster, but they tell me they’re tired of voting for the “lesser of two evils.”
I tell them that in the upcoming election, the larger of two evils is truly evil.
I also tell them that if this were an ordinary election — pitting a conservative Republican against a liberal Democrat — I wouldn’t be nearly as concerned about their voting for a third-party candidate.
I have not seen this story covered in any newspaper, or mentioned on any network. I had to go to a British paper to get a general article for SR. I see this as a major wakeup call about what climate change is doing. We are simply not taking climate change seriously enough. Only the insurance companies seem to get it, and they show this by no longer insuring properties near the California forests.
A firefighter works to extinguish the Highland Fire near Aguanga, California, on 31 October 2023. Credit: Mike Blake. / Reuters
More than 50,000 people have died prematurely in California over a decade due to exposure to toxic particles in wildfire smoke, according to a new study.
Wildfires create smoke containing PM2.5, tiny particles roughly one-thirtieth of a human hair that can embed themselves deep in the lungs and enter the bloodstream. The particles have been linked to numerous health conditions and premature death. Previous research has found that the wildfire smoke is exposing millions of people in the US to the harmful pollutant.
In a study published in Science Advances this week, researchers used a new epidemiological model to examine the impacts of wildfire PM2.5 exposure between 2008-2018: a period that includes some of the state’s most destructive and deadly fire seasons. There were at least 52,480 premature deaths attributed to exposure to the inhalable particulate matter from wildfires, and at least $432bn in health expenses associated with the exposure, according to the study.
The research is the first to quantify the long-term impacts of chronic […]
I am genuinely concerned that a part of MAGAt world already armed and not very emotionally stable may create serious civil violence, and the criminal Republican Party knows this and is betting on its happening. He is my take on consciousness, authoritarianism, and political violence, which I see as a major threat to our democracy.
White christofascist terrorism Credit: Go Nakamura / Reuters
Day after day as one watches their television or computer screen or reads most fact-based media, one sees an endless series of stories of Trump followers being called to commit acts of political violence, while social media apps fill the minds of Americans with weaponized disinformation specifically designed to enrage them, make them feel victimized and resentful, and encourage them to violence.1 This confluence of modern technology and long-established psychological manipulation techniques has produced something never before seen in the United States, and it has been going on for several years now. Judges are under threat. Their children are under threat; prosecutors have to have security protection. Since Trump began these calls for violence election workers by the score have been quitting their posts making conducting a safe and fair election in some districts increasingly problematic.2
Civil political violence particularly since the January 6th insurrection, has become one of the most notable features of the American political landscape, and two things stand out about […]
