Claims And Issues

.@AlexandraBerzon #21STCENTURYJOURNALISM TAKE SOME ADVICE, FOLLOW THE MONEY.

Ms. Alexandra Berzon published a story in the paper about one of the Grievance Boy’s lawyers who is travelling across the country about alleged voting fraud solutions.

I figure the piece is about 3,500 words.  That’s pretty prominent.  It's a lot of work.  This is an important piece.  Something important is not in it, though. 

Not one time was anyone asked who is paying the lawyer’s salary to do this.

We do get a few references to far-right groups that are financing the lawyer’s operations, but no identification of people who are paying for that, either.

If the reporter asked but got no answers, it is reasonable to say that:  ‘I asked but did not get an answer.’  There is always the usual statement of reporters when they do not know something:  ‘It is unclear.’

Take some advice from past successes in reporting:  “Follow the money.”

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

#UVALDE RESOLVED: THAT THE TEXAS POLICE ARE BETTER OFF NOT SPEAKING.

Does everyone agree with me that the Texas Department of Public Safety is better off not saying anything?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

#UVALDE #BUFFALO THE McCONNELL GANG VOTES AGAINST MAKING DOMESTIC TERRORISM ILLEGAL.

Less than 2 weeks after a White terrorist murdered 10 people in Buffalo, and within 2 days after another White supremacist gunned down 19 children and 2 of their teachers in Uvalde, Texas, the Republican organization in Washington, D.C. (can't call them a party, can we?) voted in the U.S. Senate against making domestic terrorism illegal.

The only think I can figure is that voting against domestic terrorism might have cut into a big part of the McConnell Gang's base.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

#UVALDE ANOTHER SLAUGHTER BY A DOMESTIC TERRORIST?

The murders of 19 elementary school children and 2 teachers in Uvalde, Texas have made me ask a couple of questions that I have not seen raised even in all the endless media coverage.

Is it a coincidence that most of the students and most if not all of the victims are Hispanic?

Is it a coincidence too that the school year was ending this week?  Once the school year ended, the killer would not have a captive audience, ready-made for slaughter.

When will we be treated to news that the killer's "manifesto" of White Supremacy has been found?

When will this stop?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

DIRECT ACTION #DEMOCRATS, LIKE @BetoORourke CHALLENGING ABBOTT AT HIS PRESS PARTY.

Direct action is a legacy concept, perhaps, and may require explanation.  It comes from the days when the Vietnam War was on and people opposed it.  Some of those people took direct action to register their opposition to the War, such as burning draft cards, pouring fake blood on draft records,  and even things like Country Joe and the Fish singing certain songs.

Yesterday Greg Abbott, current Governor of Texas, held a party for the press.  He invited the most prominent Republicans of Texas to be on the stage with him.  There for example was Rafael "Ted" Cruz, late of Cancun.

Beto O'Rourke, who is running for the Democratic nomination to oppose Mr. Abbott, interrupted Abbott's choreographed party for the press.  That was after Abbott intoned in essence that nothing could be done about the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.  Nothing except talk about the mental health issues of people like the apparent shooter.

Beto O'Rourke interposed reality to say that "Yes, there is something to be done:  Stop selling AR-15's!"  That didn't fit into the choreography of the event, needless to say.  For that, Mr. O'Rourke was escorted out of Mr. Abbott's press party.

Direct action seems to be making something of a comeback.  And it should.  Direct action helped to stop Americans dying in Vietnam.  Direct action can help to stop Americans dying in America too.

Democrats and all people who are fed up with choreographed events that are pre-programmed for friendly venues and obedient audiences, be advised:  Choreography and pre-programming are not normal.  They are not American. 

Direct action!  From now through November and beyond.  Direct action!  Be alive and active.  Like Americans are born to be.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved. 

.@TheDemocrats @democrats Target The Money Against Other Side & For US

Corporate Democrats are clearly concerned about the strength of Progressive Democratic Candidates.  Corporate Democrats are hiring political "hit men" to pay for attack ads against Progressives.

For example, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) reportedly spent $3,300,000.00 against Summer Lee and in favor of her opponent, Steve Irwin, in her primary race for Congress in Pittsburgh, PA.  (She won the nomination anyway.)  Why so much money and why did AIPAC spend so much more money on a primary than it ever has before?

Summer Lee is in favor of Israel and like much of the Democratic Party she is also in favor of Palestinian rights.  It would make sense that being in favor of Palestinian rights may make AIPAC unhappy with Ms. Lee, but not to the tune of $3.3 Million.

In addition, the attack ads against her and in favor of her opponent were all to the effect that Ms. Lee is not a "good" Democrat.  Nothing about her support for Palestinian rights (and certainly nothing about her support for Israel).

So why was it important to AIPAC whether or not Summer Lee was a "good" Democrat?  It wasn't.  It was important to the Corporate Democrats who run the Party.  You see, Summer Lee is also publicly in favor of reforming the Democratic Party to make it more responsive to its constituents.

Looks to me like Ms. Lee was right:  The Democratic Party needs reform.  The Corporate Democrats just proved that in primaries in which they have been attacking and continue to attack Progressive Democrats across the nation.  The Democratic Party and the nation would all be much better off if they spent all that money attacking the other side.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

.@JusticeATR chief Jonathan Kanter LOOKING FORWARD TO UNDERSTANDING ANTITRUST LANGUAGE.

Jonathan Kanter is a chief enforcer of antitrust law at the Justice Department.  He has announced five goals.  One of his goals is that he wants antitrust law to be understandable and so accessible to ordinary people:  Keynote, University of Chicago, Thurs., April 21, 2022.

He gave another speech more recently.  He concentrated on his first announced goal, to recognize that the purpose of antitrust law is to protect competition:  Remarks at NYC Bar Association, Wed., May 18, 2022.

We can hardly wait for Mr. Kanter to continue on to his second goal, to speak antitrust law in a language used by ordinary people.  He has already made a very good start.  That's a big honkin' deal.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

.@Travelers #ArcticDrilling #InsureOurFuture

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY AND ITS SHAREHOLDERS:

The Travelers must consider the risks to its shareholders before agreeing to insure drilling operations for oil and gas in the Arctic.

To begin with, the weather conditions are variable and fickle in the Arctic. The worst can come in an instant. The worst conditions include at one and the same time sudden freezing, gale winds, enormously choppy seas, and rain and snow -- all simultaneously.  This greatly increases the risk not simply of a loss but of a catastrophic loss which would not be in the best interests of your shareholders to insure.

Second, the drilling operations are in places that necessitate long supply lines which are subject to the weather and the geographical conditions as well, such as ice packs in the sea and frozen ground where drilling operations take place on ground.  The geography of Arctic drilling also increases not just the risk of a loss but it increases the risk of a catastrophic loss.

Third, the oil and gas industry collectively is known as a group of companies and individuals which routinely take risks in order to do their work.  In the Arctic, however, the risks of this work are not simply losses in the ordinary course of their business.  In the Arctic, the risks are huge and the likely losses would be catastrophic.  Drilling inherently involves taking a risk; drilling in the Arctic is reckless and involves the kind of risk to which you should not expose your shareholders.

For all these reasons, the risks to The Travelers shareholders outweigh the benefits by huge margins and drilling operations in the Arctic pose too great a risk to the company to insure.

Thank you.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

BEING #DEMOCRAT IS JOYLESS. WHY? THE CORPORATE DEMOCRATS, NOT REPUBLICANS.

The incoming results from the Democratic Congressional primaries are mixed, but they show the reality of the Democratic primaries this year.

Some Progressive candidates won their primaries, while many other candidates represent the mainstream Democratic Party leadership, or what some people call "corporate Democrats."

The Speaker of the House, the House Majority Leader, and the House Majority Whip have all backed many of the same candidates.  In many cases, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Majority Whip James Clyburn have showed up in the Congressional districts of these people to campaign for them.

One example is Representative Henry Cuellar.  He is perhaps the only Democratic Member of Congress who supports abortion.  He is also under investigation by the FBI.  In a year in which the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to gut abortion rights, and in which politicians are notoriously being investigated for their alleged misdeeds, Pelosi, Hoyer, and Clyburn have made it clear that the corporate Democrats support Cuellar over his Progressive opponent in the Democratic primary, Jessica Cisneros.

Mr. Cuellar is hardly the future of the Democratic party for many other reasons besides his tone-deaf approach to how women are treated and being a person of interest at least to the FBI.  Cuellar is 66.  Pelosi and Hoyer are both 82, and Clyburn is 81.  Cisneros, on the other hand, is 28 according to some Internet sources and 29 according to others.  Do you see where I'm going with this?

Cisneros has the backing of, among others, the Sunrise Movement which is composed mostly of enthusiastic young people who are about her age and even younger.  They are the future of the Democratic Party, not 80-year olds.  (Personally, I am closer in age to the corporate Democrats than to Ms. Cisneros.)

Corporate Democrats, use all your power to keep your power if you must.  But do not expect the rest of us to be enthusiastic about it or to applaud it. 

The chances are very good that we won't do either.  If Mr. Cuellar is your kind of candidate, don't expect the rest of us to knock on doors, contribute money, make telephone calls or write letters on behalf of such people.  They may be your kind of candidate, but they are not ours.  So, keep your power while you still can if power is what matters most to you.

But to say again, don't expect the rest of us to be happy about it.  Think we don't have anywhere else to go?  You're wrong about that.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

Godspeed, Anita

Anita P. passed away.  Tonight I attended her wake via Zoom.  My wife and I.  We are both in risk to COVID, so we attended by Zoom.  We are both very grateful that we could attend.

There were slide shows of pictures like you have at lots of wakes these days.  There were stories from people who knew Anita, who loved Anita, and these were special, like her.

Anita made everyone she came in contact with feel special, too.  You did not escape her attention even in a crowded room.  Her concern was that you were enjoying yourself, and it seemed like that was necessary for her to enjoy herself, namely, that you were comfortable and happy.  She made your enjoyment a part of her own ability to enjoy a room, a place, a situation.  She made being sensitive to other people's needs a part of her own needs as well.

She will be missed, but I can honestly say that I do not miss her like you miss someone that you know has left.  To me, Anita is alive.  I hope that to me, Anita will always be alive for as long as I myself am alive.

Godspeed, Anita.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

 

 

#UKRAINE Questions for RAND PAUL, PAUL MANAFORT, PUTIN

In 2018, a Russian aluminum company owned by Oleg Deripaska was sanctioned for interference in the 2016 U.S. election.  In 2019, the Russians opened a multi-million dollar mill in Kentucky.

In 2019, the Grievance Boy held up aid to Ukraine.  His employee, Paul Manafort, was also Deripaska's employee. 

In February 2022, Oleg Deripaska's good friend Putin invaded Ukraine.  

In May 2022, Rand Paul of Kentucky holds up aid to Ukraine.

Has anyone looked into why Rand Paul is holding up aid to Ukraine?  Has anyone looked into why Rand Paul would choose to be pro-Russia and not pro-Ukraine?

Have there been any conversations?  Has anyone asked?

"Inquiring minds want to know," as they say.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

#UKRAINE "Filtration Camps." Call Them By True Names. They're CONCENTRATION CAMPS.

Ukrainian civilians are being apprehended by Russian soldiers in the areas of Ukraine occupied by the Russians.  The civilians are being rounded up and routed into what the Russians call "filtration camps."

That is what the corporate media in the West call these camps as well, "filtration camps."

Men are separated from their families.  Men of military age and men who served in any official capacity at any level of Ukraine government have been taken away, not to be seen since.

Women and children in the camps are reportedly starved, tortured, and beaten.

Call the camps by their true names in the same reporting then.  They are concentration camps.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

THE BILL DIDN'T GET THE VOTES. BUT IT DIDN'T FAIL.

It should not escape attention that every one of the justices of the supreme court who oppose abortion and women's rights call themselves Catholics.  Ratzinger Catholics to be sure, not so much Christian Catholics perhaps, but we'll leave that to another blog article.

The U.S. Senate could not pass a bill which would have codified and apparently expanded Roe v. Wade and a woman's Constitutional right to choose, within limits, whether to come full term and give birth, or have an abortion.   Within limits.  When those limits are exceeded, the state's interest takes over in a balancing test until gradually there is no right to an abortion under certain circumstances.

The U.S. House of Representatives had already passed the bill, which seems to be the usual way of things in Washington, D.C., with the House passing something and the Senate passing nothing.  Or so it would seem.

The bill may not have had the votes but it revealed the votes.  It was not a failure to hold the vote because it showed everyone who voted and how they voted.  Now we know who voted against a Constitutional right.  Now they are on the record in a way that they were not on the record before.  Before, all they did was talk their game.  Now they were forced to play it and cast their votes which were recorded.

Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, I'm looking at you.  But not only you.

In the future we will have more opportunities like this.  The same minority of people in this country who want to overturn Roe v. Wade want to end contraception too.

Some of the minority want to end inter-racial marriage as well.

Still more -- and still a minority -- want to end the equality of gay marriage and generally ban LGBTQ rights of equality completely.

Yes, we will have more opportunities like this one in the future.  Do you think that this is what "American exceptionalism" means to the vocal minority in this country?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE REMIND ME WHY JOE MANCHIN IS ALLOWED ...

TO BE A DEMOCRAT?

Joe Manchin voted again today to uphold a Republican filibuster of a Democratic bill in the U.S. Senate.  Once again, he was the only member of the Democratic Party to do that as he has too many times before.  And he has obstructed more than votes.  He has also obstructed things that did not even come to a vote, like President Biden's Build Back Better program.

So I ask again, please remind me why Joe Manchin is allowed to be a Democrat?  Oh, right, Chuck Schumer.  Chuck likes the perks of being Leader of the Senate, which he could not be once Joe joins the Republicans.  Sorry, Chuck.

That's not good enough.  As a Member of Parliament hollered at Neville Chamberlain in the House of Commons before he resigned as Prime Minister of the U.K., "For God's sake, go!"

Go, Joe.  Go now.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

#AMAZON @kyweise @noamscheiber NO MORE "HE SAID, SHE SAID" DESPITE THE EVIDENCE, PLEASE.

One of the better-organized reports on labor conditions at an Amazon plant on Staten Island, New York comes from Karen Weise and Noam Scheiber.  Their recent report shows the evidence, "Amazon Abruptly Fires Senior Managers Tied to Unionized Warehouse."  But it still chokes on the "he said, she said" narrative that newspapers like @nytimes require so much.

Senior managers at Amazon's Staten Island warehouse were fired.  Many of them were "responsible for carrying out the company's response," unsuccessfully, to workers unionizing there.  They were fired, the company said, because the company is improving "operations and leadership" at the warehouse.

They were fired, the evidence shows, despite the fact that some of the managers had recently received positive employee reviews from Amazon.

They were fired, the evidence also shows, after the union successfully organized and at a time when there were no employee reviews on Amazon's schedule.

Yet, we are told that Amazon's firing these people "were seen by the managers and other people who work at the facility as a response to the victory by the Amazon Labor Union, three of the people said."  Really?  Three people said that the managers and other workers saw the firings as Amazon's response to a union?

That's what really happened, and your evidence shows it.

Continue to show us the evidence.  But spare us the "he said, she said."

BTW:  Noam Scheiber's Times bio shows that he used to work at The New Republic.  He wrote it straight when he worked there.  

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

MOTHERS' DAY MESSAGE To: House leadership @SpeakerPelosi @LeaderHoyer @WhipClyburn

If Democrats intend to lead the fight for reproductive freedom and privacy rights, you can’t continue to support conservative, anti-choice Democrats like Henry Cuellar. Rescind your endorsement today!

Thank you.

Please read the disclaimer.   All rights reserved.

#21STCENTURYJOURNALISM: None dare call the camps "CONCENTRATION CAMPS."

Printing press releases seems to be a rule in J School.  At the least, it seems to be a rule at cable and other media outlets.

Russians take civilians from Ukraine and put them in camps.  The Russians call the camps "filtration camps."  That is what the cable and other media outlets practicing 21st Century Journalism call the camps as well, "filtration camps."

People are starved in these camps. Sanitation is bad to nonexistent.  These things happen in concentration camps.

People are tortured in these camps.  That too is what happens in concentration camps.

People are interrogated for hours and many are taken away, never to be seen or heard from again.  That as well is what happens in concentration camps.

If it smells like a concentration camp, tortures like a concentration camp, and "disappears" people from the face of the earth like a concentration camp, it's safe to call it by its true name:  It's a concentration camp.

If that's too much to say or write, for whatever reason, then call them simply "camps."  Short of interviewing for a job in their propaganda ministry or something like that, though, do not fool yourself that it is in any way accurate to describe these camps the way the people responsible for these camps describe them.

It is easy to do that, but it is not accurate reporting.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

THESE PEOPLE GAVE US GRIEVANCE BOY, THEY'RE STILL AT IT.

In the print edition of The New York Times on Thursday, May 5, 2022, two front-page headlines particularly glare out at the country and the world.

One is "Leak Intensifies View That Court is Too Political."  This headlines an article about the leaked U.S. Supreme Court opinion to overrule Roe v. Wade.  The news to the headline writers is about the leak, not about the overruling of a Constitutional right.

The NYT's second front-page headline that stands out is "U.S. Helped Kyiv in Targeting Russian Generals."  This one requires a bit more explanation.  But not a lot.

Here is what that headline is about.  It is attached to an article in which it is eventually reported that the U.S. is sharing intelligence about Russian troop movements with Ukraine.  (Nothing to get excited about so far.)

And as a part of that intelligence, the U.S. has picked up telephone calls from Russian generals who are using unsecured cellphones to communicate with their troops in the field.  The U.S. passes on all of this intelligence to the Ukrainians.  (Still nothing to get excited about, except shock at general officers using cellphones to communicate with their soldiers, until you find out that this is the Russian army we are talking about and it becomes entirely understandable that they have no secure lines of communication.)

But this is not the same thing as  "helping" Ukraine to "target Russian generals."  It's the Russian generals who have made themselves targets by using unencrypted communications, specifically, unsecured cellphones that almost anyone can hack.

Recall the grievance boy who was the last previous Occupant of the White House, and that he used unsecured cellphones despite being warned about the risk of being overheard by anyone and everyone?

The people that wrote today's headlines in the NYT gave us the grievance boy in New York City in the first place.

They are still at it.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

THE "NEW NORMAL" AFTER COVID WILL NOT BE LIKE BEFORE.

The world after COVID came will not be the same as the "old" one was before COVID came.  The "new normal" will not be the same as the "old normal" either.

We will have to be prepared to rapidly adjust to events that remind us that we may be done with the pandemic, but the pandemic is not done with us:  boosters for those who have not gotten their booster shots, and nonsurgical preventive measures that work like masking and distancing.

If we are prepared to adjust rapidly, we can reopen slowly.  But to say again, we will not be "returning" to the old "normal."  We will be living a new normal, or we will be living -- and getting sick and dying -- with COVID for a long time to come.  Just as we lived, got sick and died in the "old normal" in the first place.

Like most people, I prefer to let data drive the results, rather than have wishful thinking dictate how I and the people around me live, get sick -- and die -- from COVID. 

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.