tomorrowusa - Tumblr blog

[tomorrowusa]

« This is something that I've never seen – not actually made manifest in the courtroom before. Donald Trump's in that courtroom alone.

Jeffrey Dahmer's parents were there every single day.

It is, it is very hard to find a courtroom where the criminal defendant doesn't have a relative sitting there in the front row. »

— Lawrence O’Donnell at MSNBC pointing out the conspicuous absence of any of Trump's relatives in the courtroom at his New York trial. Being compared unfavorably to Jeffrey Dahmer is quite a burn.

Maybe the relatives just don't want to make a big stink about the case.

O'Donnell said this in conversation with psychologist Dr. Mary Trump – Donald's niece. It would have been fun if she then said she would try to fill one of those empty seats when court is back in session.

[tomorrowusa]

The Donald "Dozy Donny" Trump trial has been pushing other items out of the news. But it is not the only news story making history in New York.

Zeita Merchant just became the first woman of color to reach the rank of admiral in the US Coast Guard.

Her promotion ceremony took place at the NYC theater which hosts the play Hamilton. Alexander Hamilton happens to be the father of the Coast Guard.

Adm. Merchant decided to join the Coast Guard at the last minute. It turned out to be a good choice and she became a career officer, rising through the ranks to admiral.

By coincidence, I visited Alexander Hamilton after the solar eclipse earlier this month. He probably would have been pleased by this connection to him in the 21st century.

[tomorrowusa]

^^^ When Donald Trump drifts off to sleep in the Manhattan courtroom of Judge Merchan, this is one of the unsettling dreams which greets him. BUILD THAT WALL! 😆

A big problem for Trump is that he is a weak man who has a compulsion to show everybody that he's really in charge. He does this through bribery, bullying, and hissy fits. In court, he resents that he isn't in charge His unbusinesslike behavior will only get him in more trouble.

[tomorrowusa]

Republicans are soft on disease control. We all remember the MAGA anti-vaccine hysteria when the COVID-19 vaccines became available.

They are now turning their attention to the polio vaccine which was approved for use in the US on 12 April 1955. The number of polio cases in the US dropped from 57,879 in 1952 to 910 in 1962 and became rare by the early 1970s.

Thanks to anti-vaxxing conspiracy crackpots, polio returned to the US for the first time in three decades in 2022.

New Hampshire Republicans want to weaken vaccination requirements to kowtow to anti-science elements in their state.

New Hampshire could soon beat Florida—known for its anti-vaccine Surgeon General—when it comes to loosening vaccine requirements. A first-in-the-nation bill that’s already passed New Hampshire’s state House, sponsored only by Republican legislators, would end the requirement for parents enrolling kids in childcare to provide documentation of polio and measles vaccination. New Hampshire would be the only state in the US to have such a law, although many states allow religious exemptions to vaccine requirements.  Currently, Republicans control New Hampshire’s state House, Senate and governor’s office—but that isn’t a guarantee that the bill will be signed into law, with GOP Gov. Chris Sununu seemingly flip-flopping when it comes to disease control. Sununu did sign a bill in 2021 allowing people to use public places and services even if they did not receive the Covid-19 vaccine. But the next year, the governor vetoed a bill that would bar schools from implementing mask mandates.  The polio vaccine, first offered in 1955, and the MMR shot, which treats the highly infectious measles, mumps, and rubella viruses, are two very crucial vaccines both in the US and internationally. Since the year 2000 alone, vaccines against measles are estimated to have saved over 55 million lives around the world.  [ ... ] Vaccine hesitancy is rising among parents of young children. A 2023 survey from the Pew Research Center found that around half of parents with kids four or younger thought that not all standard childhood vaccines—a list that also includes hepatitis B, rotavirus, DTaP and chickenpox—may be necessary. Anti-vaccine misinformation plays a role in this phenomenon, which began before the Covid-19 pandemic, but has certainly increased since. In a 2019 UK report, about 50 percent of parents of young kids encountered false information about vaccines on social media. 

Gov. Chris Sununu is a spineless putz. In some ways he's like Lindsey Graham who likes to send smoke signals of independent thinking but always comes crawling home to Daddy Donald.

Sununu campaigned for Nikki Haley and blamed Trump for January 6th. But that hasn't stopped him from endorsing Trump anyway. Instigating a coup d'état does not disqualify somebody from the presidency in Sununu's opinion.

GOP's Chris Sununu tries, fails to defend his Trump endorsement

Sununu may do for polio in New Hampshire what Trump did for COVID in the entire US in 2020.

[tomorrowusa]

Ukraine hit yet another ship in Russia's shrinking Black Sea Fleet.

This time it was what the Russian navy calls a "rescue ship" (i.e. a salvage ship) called the Kommuna.

The interesting thing about the Kommuna is that it was originally commissioned on 14 July 1915 – when Tsar Nikolai II was ruling Russia as a near-absolute monarch during World War I. Russia again has a near-absolute leader during another catastrophic war. 🤔

It tells us something about the state of the Russian military that they were still using in active service a ship that is essentially a museum piece. We already have seen them using tanks in Ukraine that date back to the Nikita Khrushchev era. People in the West who run around with their hair on fire worrying about Russia's alleged strength are not looking closely at the reality of this strength.

The Kommuna was damaged at Russian-occupied Sevastopol by a Neptune (Нептун Р-360) missile which was manufactured by Ukraine.

Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Navy, told the Liga media outlet on April 21 that the navy had struck a ship in occupied Sevastopol and confirmed that it was the Kommuna, a salvage ship. The extent of the damage to the ship is unclear at the time of this publication. Earlier in the day, the Russian proxy official Mikhail Razvozhayev claimed an anti-ship missile had been "repelled" in occupied Sevastopol and that "fragments caused a small fire, which was quickly extinguished. Unverified video posted to social media appeared to show a Russian naval vessel on fire and local media reported the Crimea bridge had been closed. The Kommuna was launched in 1915 and is the oldest ship still in service in the Russian Navy. Sevastopol is home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and is frequently targeted by Ukrainian missile and sea drone strikes. Pletenchuk said on March 30 that Russia had withdrawn nearly all its major ships from ports in occupied Crimea following successful Ukrainian strikes. To prevent further Ukrainian drone strikes on the Black Sea fleet, Russian forces in occupied Crimea are constructing barriers at the entrance to Sevastopol Bay, the partisan group Atesh reported on March 27.

[tomorrowusa]

🦉 🌎 🌍 Happy Earth Day 2024! 🌏 🌻 🐝

Earth Day originated in 1970 when pollution was the biggest environmental concern. Air and waterways are undoubtedly cleaner 50+ years later. It demonstrates that progress can be made when there's a concerted effort.

A current problem which gets overlooked is the amount of environmental damage which the Russian invasion has caused in Ukraine. Environmental activist Greta Thunberg has called Putin's environmental destruction "ecocide".

Greta Thunberg denounces 'ecocide' in Ukraine

Just about every aspect of the environment has been worsened by Putin's illegal military action.

After Two Years of War, Ukraine Sees Deepening Environmental Wound

A consortium of agencies called EcoDozor has put together a map graphic showing the environmental consequences of the invasion.

Ecodozor

I feel strongly that Russian state assets should be impounded to pay for the damage. Contact your representative at your national parliament and insist that Russian assets be seized to be used to repair environmental damage done in Ukraine by Putin's Russia.

On a historical note, here's a cartoon done by American-Australian underground artist Ron Cobb. It gave rise to the use of the Greek letter Theta 𝚹 to symbolize environmental protection.

In turn, high school students in Springfield, Illinois were inspired to turn that into into a flag for the first Earth Day.

This Homemade Flag From the ‘70s Signals the Beginning of the Environmental Movement

Being mindful of the power of semiotics, it might be useful to revive Theta as a symbol of environmental action. It already exists as an emoji and most of us have devices which can access a Greek font. And at Tumblr we can make stuff green. 𝚹 Θ

[tomorrowusa]

« Four main factors will influence the course of the war. The first is the level of resistance and national unity shown by Ukrainians, which has until now been extraordinary. The second is international support for Ukraine, which, though recently falling short of the country’s expectations, remains broad. The third factor is the nature of modern warfare, a contest that turns on a combination of industrial might and command, control, communications and intelligence systems. One reason Russia has struggled in this war is that it is yet to recover from the dramatic deindustrialisation it suffered after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The final factor is information. When it comes to decision-making, Vladimir Putin is trapped in an information cocoon, thanks to his having been in power so long. The Russian president and his national-security team lack access to accurate intelligence. The system they operate lacks an efficient mechanism for correcting errors. Their Ukrainian counterparts are more flexible and effective. In combination, these four factors make Russia’s eventual defeat inevitable. In time it will be forced to withdraw from all occupied Ukrainian territories, including Crimea. Its nuclear capability is no guarantee of success. Didn’t a nuclear-armed America withdraw from Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan? »

— Prof. Feng Yujun, Director of the Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies at Fudan University, writing at The Economist (archived).

Prof. Feng is one of China's leading "Russia watchers". His views may not reflect official thinking of the Chinese government though they are probably not distant from it.

China is currently benefiting economically in several ways from the war, but this does not mean Putin is highly regarded among Chinese policy makers.

Putin made a gross miscalculation with his invasion of Ukraine. He has put his military on international display as embarrassingly incompetent. Russian military hardware has been shown to be generally inferior to what Ukraine has gotten from the West and also inferior to various items of Ukrainian manufacture. Russia's few recent successes involve using its own troops as cannon fodder to make slow and costly advances.

With Putin's three-day "special operation" heading into day 789 and with Russian casualties equal to the population of a medium large city, Putin has clearly lost face in China.

[tomorrowusa]

A Conservative politician is making millions off of slavery 190 years after slavery was abolished in Britain and its territories.

Tory Richard Drax comes from a filthy rich family notorious for having established the model for slave-based sugar plantations in the Caribbean in the 1620s. Even by the standards of a slave-based economy, the record of the Drax family was appalling.

The Barbados plantation was worked by up to 327 slaves at a time, with the death rate for both adults and children high. Sir Hilary Beckles, chairman of the 20-state Caribbean Community’s (Caricom) Reparations Commission and vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies, estimates that as many 30,000 slaves died on the Drax plantations in Barbados and Jamaica over 200 years.

Thanks largely to their their ill-gained riches, the Drax family owns a 700 acre walled estate in Dorset which includes a deer park. And apparently they are getting even richer.

Despite threats to make Richard Drax pay reparations and seize his family’s plantation – described by one historian as a “killing field” of enslaved Africans – the government is now planning to pay market value for 21 hectares (about 15 football pitches) of his land for housing. The move has angered many Barbadians, especially those who say the Drax family played a pivotal role in the development of slavery-based sugar production and the Barbados slave code in the 17th century. This denied Black Africans basic human rights, including the right to life. Critics have called the planned deal an “atrocity” and said this is “one plantation that the government should not be paying a cent for”. Trevor Prescod, MP and chair of the Barbados National Taskforce on Reparations, said: “What a bad example this is. Reparations and Drax Hall are now top of the global agenda. How do we explain this to the world? “The government should not be entering into any [commercial] relationship with Richard Drax, especially as we are negotiating with him regarding reparations.”

It's baffling why the Barbadian government would enter into such a deal.

Drax, the MP for South Dorset, travelled to Barbados to meet prime minister Mia Mottley. It is understood he was asked to hand over all or a substantial part of Drax Hall plantation. If he refused, legal action would follow. Mottley’s spokesperson said the current Drax Hall purchase was not linked to reparations and the government “constantly acquires land through this process”. Mottley has pledged to build 10,000 new homes to meet demand on the island, where there are 20,000 applications for housing. A senior valuation surveyor said the market value for agricultural land with an alternative use for housing would be about Bds$150,000 (£60,000) an acre. At this price, the 21 hectares could net Drax Bds$8m (£3.2m). The land would be for 500 low- and middle-income family homes, which would be for sale.

I'd just grab the land and pay Drax a token £1 just so he legally can't claim he wasn't compensated at all for the transfer.

Barbados poet laureate Esther Phillips, who grew up next to Drax Hall, said the planned deal was an “atrocity” and a case of the victims’ descendants now compensating the descendant of the enslaver. “He should be giving us this land as reparations, not further enriching himself … at the expense of Barbadians. As Barbadians, we must speak out against this.”

And with the reported thousands of deaths during the 200+ years of slavery at the Drax plantation, how many people will be comfortable with the idea that their new home is built on what was essentially a forced labor camp which became a model for regional slavery? Isn't the Drax property on Barbados a large cemetery?

[tomorrowusa]

Several months late, the aid package for Ukraine passed in the House of Representatives. All voting Democrats voted YEA while a majority of Republicans voted NAY.

You can see how your Representative voted here.

The most unseemly vote came from Victoria Spartz (R-IN-05). She is the only House member born in Ukraine yet she voted against saving her native land from genocidal Russian invaders. She is trying to out-MAGA a primary opponent by showing GOP voters in Indiana's 5th district how irrationally pro-Trump she is. She's an example of how many Republicans office holders have put pleasing Trump ahead of personal beliefs and morality.

This vote is clearly a loss for Donald Trump and is a bigger loss for his boss Vladimir Putin.

HR 8035 now heads back to the Senate to reconcile minor differences and should be approved Tuesday. President Biden will expeditiously sign it into law and aid can then immediately flow to Ukraine.

US House approves major military aid package for Ukraine

[tomorrowusa]

« There will be no leniency for collaborators of the Russian services. We will burn down every betrayal and attempt at destabilization.

[Dla kolaborantów rosyjskich służb nie będzie żadnej pobłażliwości. Wypalimy żelazem każdą zdradę i próbę destabilizacji.] »

— Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland commenting on the arrests of three residents of Poland taken in custody for actual and attempted terrorist acts instigated by Russia. From the BBC and Polsat News.

Prime Minister Tusk's strong words come after two Polish football hooligans were arrested for assaulting an anti-Putin exile in neighboring Lithuania and a Polish man was arrested for gathering intelligence on behalf of Russia around Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport.

Rzeszów-Jasionka is not far from Poland's border from Ukraine and is used by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy because civilian aviation in Ukrainian airspace has been shut down due to the war. The suspect in that case is alleged to have helped Russia with an attempted assassination of Zelenskyy.

Poland is as deeply divided along partisan lines as the United States. But one thing which unites most Poles is distrust of and opposition to Russia.

Poland disappeared as a national entity for 123 years when its territory was seized by Prussia (later Germany), Austria, and Russia – with Russia taking the bulk of the territory. And from the end of World War II until 1989 Poland was an involuntary satellite of the now defunct Soviet Union. People acting as Russian agents should expect no mercy from the justice system.

The US needs to take a similar hard line with those collaborating with the Putin dictatorship. Putin was a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet secret police (KGB). He famously thinks that the collapse of the USSR was the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century. Such a person should never be trusted; those in the West who admire him are likely either intellectual simpletons or wannabe Russian collaborators.

[tomorrowusa]

Republicans are really a gas.

We've already learned that Donald Trump is apparently farting up a storm during his hush money trial. Perhaps he's hoping that his stench will make the judge declare a mistrial.

The far right House Freedom Caucus is onboard with Trump. They are calling a special unit they've formed the "Floor Action Response Team" or FART for short.

The far-right House Freedom Caucus has formed a crack team of conservative lawmakers to monitor the House floor lest Speaker Mike Johnson or other Republicans try to limit their power. Naturally, the band of rabble-rousers that loves generating headlines for its members has called the group the Floor Action Response Team or FART. Because, why not? According to Politico, this group will make sure that no other Republicans try to rush through changes that would make it harder for lawmakers to oust Johnson from power or that would strip three Freedom Caucus members of a powerful perch they all hold.

The Freedom Caucus intends to make a stink about any attempt to reduce their influence.

To secure the votes for becoming House Speaker in 2023, Kevin McCarthy agreed to a rule that any GOP House member could file a motion to vacate the chair – that is, remove the Speaker. Poor Kevin regretted that concession when that rule was used to get rid of him last autumn.

House members who are extremist even by GOP standards have used that rule to constipate most action in the House. Almost nothing is getting done other than DOA attempts to impeach administration officials.

Votes scheduled on Saturday for foreign military assistance could act as a purgative of sorts. We may finally see MAGA attempts to block aid to Ukraine go down the toilet.

[tomorrowusa]

Again in the courtroom.

‘Sleepy Don’ Dozes Off in Court AGAIN

For Donald, Dopey would also work quite well for him. But perhaps a new 8th dwarf named Stinky should be created in his honor. 💩

Something Stinks About Donald Trump’s Trial. It Might Be Trump. Sources in the courtroom are reporting that Donald Trump is farting during his criminal trial

There may very well be a connection between dictators and farting.

Adolf Hitler had poor table manners and suffered flatulence (archived)

Now we know why Melania had a separate bedroom at the White House. It may also explain why Trump would seldom show up at the Oval Office before 11 AM. 🦨

[tomorrowusa]

Another major victory for the UAW. This time in the union-averse South.

Tennessee's Volkswagen plant is no longer the only VW plant in the world without union representation. A supermajority of workers at the Chattanooga factory voted to unionize.

Workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., have voted overwhelmingly to join the United Auto Workers, setting a new trajectory for labor unions in the American South. With 3,613 ballots counted, the final tally was 2,628 votes in favor of joining the UAW, and 985 votes against. Some 73% of workers voted in favor of unionizing. The UAW pulled off the resounding victory after two prior defeats in a region deeply skeptical of unions and despite repeated warnings from state Republican leaders and the business community that unionizing would be a big mistake.

Republican governors in the region had opposed the unionization of the plant. President Biden, who supported the 2023 UAW strike, told them to fuck off.

In a statement congratulating the Volkswagen workers on their "historic vote," President Biden took aim at the politicians. "Let me be clear to the Republican governors that tried to undermine this vote: there is nothing to fear from American workers using their voice and their legal right to form a union if they so choose," he wrote.

There's more work to be done down South.

The Chattanooga plant produces Volkswagen's Atlas SUV and the ID.4, an electric SUV. Until now, it was the only Volkswagen plant worldwide without worker representation. With the vote at Volkswagen now wrapped up, the union is turning its attention to the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Ala., where a union election will begin May 13 for some 5,200 workers.

Conservatives who get nostalgic about the 1950s fail to recognize that unions were strong and taxes on the filthy rich were high back then.

If you want a prosperous America, support unions and support raising taxes on billionaire oligarchs who make big donations to MAGA Republicans.

Congrats to UAW president Shawn Fain who has helped revitalize unions in the US!

[tomorrowusa]

Reproductive freedom will likely be on the ballot in Nevada this November.

The Nevada Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling and issued a decision saying that such a measure has the right to be voted on as an amendment to the Nevada constitution.

Nevada already protects abortion through the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. Putting that right in the state constitution will further solidify that right.

The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled in favor of granting ballot access to a broad “reproductive freedom” ballot question seeking to enshrine rights to a wide range of birth control, fertility and abortion options into the state Constitution — though the group supporting the initiative is already moving forward with a proposal more narrowly tailored to abortion access. The 16-page decision released Thursday overturned a lower court’s ruling that said inclusion of topics such as prenatal care, abortions, vasectomies and infertility care under the umbrella of “reproductive rights” within a single ballot question was unconstitutional because the framing was too broad. “[A]ll the medical procedures considered in the initiative petition concern reproduction. To assert that they could not all be addressed together because they are separate procedures is improper,” read the opinion, which was signed by six of seven justices on the court. Justice Patricia Lee recused herself from the case because of a professional conflict of interest. But the ruling will likely not affect the petition’s chances of landing on the November ballot, as the group supporting it — Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom — has said it intends to prioritize collecting signatures on a narrower petition that focuses only on abortion rights. The high court will also rule on the constitutionality of that proposal — which received approval from a lower court judge in January — though Thursday’s opinion indicates that it is almost sure to pass legal muster from the state’s high court.

Like Nevada, New York and Maryland already protect the right to abortion. They too will hold referendums this autumn to place that right in their state constitutions.

Florida is poor on reproductive freedom and is set to get worse; but the passage of Florida Amendment 4 in November could fully restore reproductive freedom in the state now under the repressive rule of Ron DeSantis and his gerrymandered legislative supermajority.

Thanks to the Republican US Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, it's now up to the states to protect reproductive freedom. Placing that right in state constitutions is the highest level of legal protection available.

[tomorrowusa]

That Trump fascist meme reminded me of a World War II anti-fascist song featuring Donald (no relation) Duck.

It would be cool if somebody skillfully re-wrote the lyrics for 2024. Of course the song would be called, "In The Donald's Face".

[tomorrowusa]

John Leguizamo did a segment on The Daily Show about the Latino vote. He said that Donald Trump did not deserve the support that was showing up for him in polls of Latino voters.

“And you might be thinking, how is this possible? ‘Build the wall’ Donald Trump? ‘Mass deportations’ Donald Trump? ‘Guy who thinks Daddy Yankee is a baseball player’ Donald Trump?”

Let's temporarily put aside the established fact that Trump is an avowed racist and the only Hispanic voter he hangs around with is the Nazi Nick Fuentes.

For anybody concerned about the inflation spike earlier in this decade, the root cause of most of it was Donald Trump's incompetent response to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the first case of COVID appeared in the US in 2020, Trump claimed it was under control and would disappear on its own.

Trump delayed declaring a national emergency until mid March because he thought it would make him look bad politically. In those seven weeks of inaction COVID spread throughout the US.

And when Trump finally spoke up, it was to encourage the use of quack cures like malaria pills, drinking bleach, and sticking ultraviolet lights up people's butts. He actively tried to undercut legit public health measures and made bizarre tweets like "Liberate Michigan!".

Because of people getting sick from COVID and efforts by employers to stop its spread, transportation of goods to stores and warehouses slowed down. And when supplies go down, prices go up: Supply & Demand 101.

Because Trump's ineptitude triggered a recession, measures were taken to stimulate the economy and prevent a depression or a major recession like the one that started late in the term of Republican George W. Bush.

Among the many stimulus measures, taxpayers got three stimulus payments in less than a year. There was also a temporary increase in EBT and other benefits which lasted longer.

The stimulus succeeded in preventing a depression but inflation was a side effect that resulted from so much money flowing into the economy in a short period.

Inflation was eventually reduced by raising interest rates. But this, ironically, caused housing costs to rise.

Prices of things other than those of volatile commodities (like oil) almost never come down. What's needed is to make things more affordable by raising the pay of workers without those pay raises creating more inflation.

The Biden administration has shown itself to be pro-worker. Support for unions has led to better wages in the auto industry. Joe Biden was the first president to show his support for a strike by walking with workers on a UAW picket line.

More jobs with better pay is what make life more affordable – not empty and ridiculous slogans like "drill baby drill".

Trump's economic policies are reflected in the way he built Trump Tower. He used undocumented workers working 12-hour shifts without adequate safety measures to build it. And when the workers demanded to be treated fairly, he tried to get them deported.

What Donald Trump Knew About Undocumented Workers at His Signature Tower

Trump is no friend of consumers and is no friend of workers – Latino or anybody else. He's a classic nepo baby billionaire whose only reliable economic goal is to get even more tax breaks for the lazy filthy rich like himself.

A clueless ignorant bigot who sells shoddy $400 sneakers and $60 Bibles is not serious about bringing down prices.

[tomorrowusa]

Democrats in the Arizona legislature are trying to get rid of the 1864 state abortion ban but majority Republicans keep blocking them.

AZ House Republicans block Dems from repealing Civil War-era abortion ban The GOP contends any change would be rushed, Dems contend they've been making attempts to repeal for years

This is probably just a coincidence... 😉

At the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia Prof. Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball has changed its ratings for the open Arizona seat in the US Senate seat and for one US House seat in the state.

The easiest way to Restore Roe nationwide is to Vote Democratic.