DL Open Thread: Thursday, October 26, 2023
They Still Haven’t Found The Mass Shooter? No mask. Apparently no body armor. Figured when I went to sleep that he wasn’t long for this world. Figured wrong. Reportedly a trained military armed instructor who’s been having mental health issues. Why shouldn’t he have a weapon of mass destruction? Or, more likely, weapons?
The Speaker Nobody Knows. Was kinda hoping for a Putney Swope outcome. Instead, we got the guy with the fewest enemies:
Mr. Johnson, the evangelical Christian who won the speakership on Wednesday with the unanimous support of House Republicans, has also spoken out sharply against homosexuality, calling it “inherently unnatural” and a “dangerous lifestyle” and linking it to bestiality, according to opinion essays unearthed on Wednesday by CNN.
“Experts project that homosexual marriage is the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic,” he wrote in one such article in 2004.
The views are sharply at odds with those of most Americans, according to opinion polls that have found the public is broadly supportive of gay rights. Mr. Johnson’s abrupt rise to the speaker post this week in the depressed and divided House Republican conference underscores the rightward lurch of the G.O.P., which dumped his more mainstream predecessor, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California.
“If you don’t think that moving from Kevin McCarthy to MAGA Mike Johnson shows the ascendance of this movement and where the power in the Republican Party truly lies, then you’re not paying attention,” Representative Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican who engineered Mr. McCarthy’s downfall, said in an interview on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast.
Yep, that’s mainstream in today’s Rethuglican Party.
‘Not Credible’. Judge to Trump:
Donald Trump has been fined $10,000 by a New York judge after appearing to reference a court clerk, in violation of a gag order.
“As the trier of fact, I find that the witness is not credible,” Judge Arthur Engoron said after hearing from the former president under oath.
Engoron held a surprise hearing over comments Trump made outside the courtroom earlier Wednesday that could have been referring to a court clerk and therefore violating a gag order.
Pennsylvania Water Contaminated By Fracking? Looks that way. 80,000 tons of toxic chemicals. None of which had to be reported publicly because–corruption:
Oil and gas producers in Pennsylvania used some 160 million pounds of chemicals that they are not required by law to publicly identify in more than 5,000 gas wells between 2012 and 2022, according to research published on Tuesday.
The chemicals may have included per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a toxic and pervasive class of chemicals, according to the report from Physicians for Social Responsibility, an activist group that last week co-published a new compilation of studies on the harms of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas.
The industry is required to disclose the chemicals to state regulators in the database FracFocus. But operators are allowed by state law to keep from publicly disclosing them if doing so would put their operations at a competitive disadvantage.
Only fair, right?
How Koch Network ‘Gets The Right Cases To The Supreme Court’:
The Koch network, a web of rightwing groups cultivated by billionaire businessman Charles Koch and his late brother David Koch, is spearheading the attack on federal agencies and government regulations that dominates the US supreme court agenda this term.
The network has been working behind the scenes to bring cases before the court that, if successful, could undermine many of the core functionings of the US government. At least two of the biggest cases to be considered by the justices this term have been spurred by groups bankrolled and coordinated within the Koch universe.
Footage of an internal panel discussion between senior operatives from Koch entities held in the summer of 2022 reveals that the network has been quietly planning the current assault on the “administrative state”. The groups are seeking to exploit the supreme court’s new six-to-three rightwing majority secured by Donald Trump to dismantle vital executive powers.
Regulatory controls in their sights include environmental standards to combat pollution and the climate crisis, consumer protections against predatory lenders, and safeguards for workers’ rights. At stake is what the Strict Scrutiny podcast has called “the future of government as we know it”.
ACLU Vs. Mayor Mike. The issue? Harassment of Black citizens:
The federal case was filed on behalf of two people and for the NAACP Delaware State Conference of Branches. The ACLU said the practices in question were carried out by the “Operation Safe Streets” program, a partnership with the Delaware Department of Corrections. The case alleges that the program has not made Wilmington safer, but has largely been used as a tool to “harass and terrorize Black communities in Wilmington” by circumventing people’s rights.
Further, the ACLU alleged that the Wilmington Police Department “failed to monitor these officers and discipline those who engage in unconstitutional conduct. The department has also failed to record and preserve information related to this misconduct.”“The absolute lack of oversight combined with a blatant disregard for the rights and well-being of the public is shameful,” ACLU-DE Legal Director Dwayne Bensing said. “This kind of policing isn’t providing protection or public safety—it’s an abuse of power that needs to be stopped.”Mayor Mike Purzycki’s office issued this statement on his behalf:“The claims made by the ACLU are offensive to me. The Wilmington Police department makes it a practice to treat every person equally and with the utmost respect even under the very difficult circumstances they face each day as they serve and protect the community. The City does not engage in, promote, or tolerate any policies, practices or customs that discriminate against any group or violate anyone’s rights. We will vigorously defend against this suit in court.”
‘Some’, including me, would argue that Purzycki’s reign as Mayor has been offensive as his sole interest has been gentrification at any cost, especially to residents Purzycki deems undesirable. And/or disposable. He and the Chamber now want to turn this project over to John Carney. C’mon, somebody needs to step up.
What do you want to talk about?
Mental health issues is an understatement. He had been previously committed after experience auditory hallucinations. My guess? The faculty couldn’t hold him any longer under our broken mental health laws. They sent him back out into the world doped up Atavan or klonopin hoping he wouldn’t become a liability.
Once again, another mental defective racks up a body count. When will we learn? The ones that aren’t outwardly violent are rotting under the bridge on front street, nodding out on the dart bus or walking the median strip at intersections. Some people are broken beyond repair and as a society we need to keep them safe from hurting themselves or others, until we can find a cure or they reach the end of their natural lives. Community based treatment was an overly optimistic simplification, like trickle down economics and caused more harm than help
The ones with the true “mental health” issues are those small penis, gun fondling assholes who think that they should be allowed to own and carry their AK on their shoulder in public to intimidate anyone they encounter. Eff’ them and their camo pants. Eff’ them and those gun manufacturers who profit in death of innocents. I suggest that they keep a safety off, hair trigger pistol under their pillows at night and hope they are restless sleepers.
John Kowalko
Watch yourself, John. Remember how this type of talk got you in trouble last time. Do you remember?
No I won’t get into trouble. I don’t give a damn what you gun worshipers do to yourselves. What gun access did to those young children in Connecticut years ago that couldn’t spur anyone to gun control action is a prime example of a callous and heartless attitude that persists in all of the gun fondlers lives. I will not mourn any of those second amendment assholes who might perish. Screw all those murder condoning nitwits and the politicians who have no guts and no conscience to turn down those gun manufacturers and their lobbyists money. None of them deserve any sympathy no matter what they do. Don’t try to warn/lecture me about these idiots I’ve had more than enough of that. John Kowalko (former Representative who always believed in gun registration and gun access restrictions)
Had he been born a generation or two earlier, Adam Lanza would have been confined to a secure facility and would not have hurt a soul. The gun lobby didn’t kill those kids, soft legislators who threw open the doors of the back wards and gave each other accolades for being humanitarians did.
Bullshit the gun lobby, gun manufacturers, NRA, and asshats, like you, who think it’s your God-given right to buy as many and whatever kind of gun and brandish them and shoot innocent people dead are to blame. Yeah if LANza was never born?🙀Screw your phony attitude that it’s the mentally unbalanced bwho are solely responsible. How about little Joey or Billy who picks up his dad’s gun and kills his brother or himself accidentally. Look up the statistics moron on those type of deaths. Maybe they had a mental health problem at three years old and should’ve been locked away. What the eff’ are you? An NRA member? A gun worshipping tiny penis guy or maybe a gun shop owner who has an orgasm every time he sells an AK assault rifle and a thousand rounds of ammo? Screw you and your false argument. John Kowalko
Sorry, pal, but the gun lobby killed those kids. And if you keep it up you’ll kill your chances of being allowed to comment here.
You natter on about this as if it would be easier to round up and institutionalize everybody with mental health problems than simply restricting guns.
Actually, yes. It would putt a massive dent in the mass violence problem, as well as homelessness/poverty and the drug crisis. Removing problematic people from society at large is more effective than letting them go free and trying to prevent them from getting their hands on a weapon or substance after the fact. It’s the same ass-backward approach as the terrorist watch list – create a opaque list of known bad actors within the US and then hope that TSA catches them before they go on a plane.
Does everyone with a mental health problem need to be in a facility? Hardly, but anytime psychosis is involved there needs to be isolation. 24/7 mental health courts need to be the norm
Ride that hobby horse. Go, horse, go!
There is no support for this, financial or otherwise. But good luck.
“Removing problematic people from society at large..” has some practicality issues considering 1 in 4 American women take antidepressants.
And a nation that accounts for 25% of the world’s prisoners yet makes up 4% of the world’s population can’t say that what you’re proposing has not been tried.
Dems refusing to hold their nose and vote for McCarthy was a mistake. Traded up from a neutered republican to a full-on Maga Chud, which was a predictable outcome. I hope they are happy
lol, right, because there was so much progressive legislation in the pipeline under Kevin.
It’s “please be nice to me” appeasement happy walnut-brain takes like yours that land us with fascist magat control.
I hope this new magat speaker holds impeachment hearings AND votes every day. Let the government shut down and the US default on our debts to PWN the libs.
shit, let em pass a bill nullifying every marriage that wasnt performed at a klan rally. Americans need to remember what magat governance is. Pathetic Charlie Browns who keep thinking you’ll ever get to kick that ball need to wake the fuck up or fuck the fuck off.
Agree entirely Ben.
John Kowalko
I’m confused – after a mass shooting do republicans pray for shootings to stop or to continue
They pray for gun sales to tick up so they can get bigger donations from the gun lobbyists. John Kowalko
I didn’t realize the 40 or so shootings over a typical weekend in Chicago were connected to gun lobby donations. Good to know.
Last time I checked the gun lobby opposed gun control laws that would make it harder for those 40 people to get weapons.
That would be good for you to know, too.
Let me educate you. guns leak into Chicago from Red Indiana next door where the gun lobby and it’s $$$$$$ make easier to buy an AR in Gary than Sudafed. Good that really don’t wanna know!