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solarbirdItem four is interesting, just because as much as the older-line Republicans hate Trump, they hate everyone else even more, so are more than ready to burn the Republic.
I'm re-reading Generations, having read it - or, really, skimmed it, I think - many years ago. It's one of Steve Bannon's favourite books, and kind of his bible on what he's been doing in this crisis period. It got that part right - that we'd be in a potentially disastrous crisis period right about now, but it didn't take that book to make that inevitability kind of obvious.
Regardless, I'm reading it again, and I've rediscovered something in it that I discarded at the time as not going to happen this time around. If you've read it, it's the concept of the Grey Champion. I'm thinking he tried to play Trump in that role, which was a huge mistake.
I simply don't think the Boomers have one, or can produce one. I didn't think they could then, either, and I think the situation around us now proves Past Me right. They're just not capable of providing the inspirational leadership in elderhood the book attributes to Idealist-cycle generations typically.
I also don't think the Millennial group can play the anticipated Civic role. So far, they've been acting like Adaptives, not Civics, if you want to use the book's overly-general annoyingly-horoscopesque cycles. Which means that the Zoomers, who are acting like the next Idealist group, will take that role, and we'll skip having a Civic generation altogether.
The last time that happened was the American Civil War, which, again, given where we are today, is maybe a point for the book's approach to future history.
If none of this means anything to you, eh, it's probably for the best. Major crisis/inflection point, Bannon and rest of the fascists want it to be ultranationalist with a big dose of Christianist and, as always, with straight white dudes in charge of women. I've been working for years on the opposite side of all of these things. And here we are, down to it.
I think Bannon's reliance on this book will end up having fucked him if he's actually been depending upon a Grey Champion, or for the Boomers to play the usual Idealest Elders role. Because neither one of those things is happening.
But now, the rest of the news.
----- 1 -----
Teachers face threats, books are banned as China pushes party line in Hong Kong schools
By Timothy McLaughlin
and Shibani Mahtani
7 July 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/teachers-face-threats-books-are-banned-as-china-pushes-party-line-in-hong-kong-schools/
HONG KONG — High schoolteacher Dom Chan had an odd request from two superiors while developing next year’s Chinese history syllabus: remove passages from the philosopher Su Xun, known for 11th-century essays on wars and military reforms.
“They told me, ‘You need to scan the textbook carefully,'” as Su’s writings could “incite violence in students or make them think revolution is good,” said Chan.
Despite his misgivings about erasing a literary luminary of the Song dynasty, the 26-year-old complied.
As China’s Communist Party dismantles Hong Kong’s freedoms, teachers are facing pressure to toe Beijing’s line. Schools are emerging as ideological battlegrounds as officials seek to transform freethinking students into patriots loyal to the motherland through punishment, coercion, surveillance and propaganda-style education.
“I feel like we have suddenly been put on the front line,” said Chan, whose Chinese history syllabus officials have made compulsory for the first time. “The government seems to have found that education is easier to blame for the current situation in Hong Kong, and easier to fix.”
A culture of self-censorship and government control that was already growing in schools intensified recently as Beijing introduced a security law aimed at eliminating dissent, according to nearly a dozen teachers and students who spoke to The Washington Post. The law, published June 30, compels Hong Kong’s government to “promote national security education,” and pinpoints campuses for “supervision and regulation.”
This week, education authorities told schools to review their library collections and remove books that could violate the law. Titles including those by democracy activist Joshua Wong have already disappeared from public libraries.
----- 2 -----
Safronov’s Arrest Is a New Low for Freedom of Speech in Russia
Putin has now entrusted the “journalist question” to his security services. We should be very worried.
By Andrei Soldatov
8 July 2020
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/07/08/safronovs-arrest-is-a-new-low-for-freedom-of-speech-in-russia-a70820
When the Federal Security Service (FSB) requested in September 2012 that the State Duma stiffen the article on high treason in the Russian Criminal Code, everyone understood what the agency was after.
Many in the Kremlin had accused the FSB of falling asleep on its watch and falling to predict the 2011 street protests. Then, with the ruling regime just recovering from that jolt, the FSB did what intelligence agencies usually do in such situations — it requested broader authority.
The FSB wanted greater powers for its counterintelligence activities, a request that was right in line with the paranoid belief held by many in the Kremlin that Moscow’s mass protests could only have arisen at the bidding of foreign states.
The FSB got what it wanted. The revised version of Article 275 of the Criminal Code expanded the range of the usual suspects for high treason from military personnel, scientists and researchers to include experts and journalists.
For many years before that, it had been almost impossible to accuse journalists of treason or revealing state secrets because, by definition, they had no access to such information.
Prior to 2012, the FSB had to contrive all sorts of things in order to charge journalists under this article of the Criminal Code.
The agency resorted to either charging journalists who had previously held access to classified materials — Grigory Pasko being one such example — or dreaming up a truly Kafkaesque scheme — as happened to me.
----- 3 -----
Televangelists, megachurches tied to Trump approved for millions in pandemic aid
Chris Prentice
6 July 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-ppp-religious-idUSKBN2480CB
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Megachurches and other religious organizations with ties to vocal supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump were approved for millions of dollars in forgivable loans from a taxpayer-funded pandemic aid bailout, according to long-awaited government data released this week.
Among those approved for loans through the massive government relief program were a Dallas megachurch whose pastor has been an outspoken ally of the president; a Florida church tied to Trump spiritual adviser and “prosperity gospel” leader Paula White; and a Christian-focused nonprofit where Jay Sekulow, the lawyer who defended the president during his impeachment, is chief counsel.
Evangelical Christians played a key role in Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election and have remained a largely unwavering contingent of his base.
Vice President Mike Pence spoke at a rally last month at the First Baptist Church of Dallas, whose pastor, Robert Jeffress, has been on Trump’s evangelical advisory board. The church was approved for a $2-5 million loan, the data showed.
----- 4 -----
What 9 GOP Campaign Consultants Really Think About Republicans’ Chances in November
by Tim Miller
7 July 2020
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-reelection-chances-2020-house-senate-candidates-biden-1024862/
Shooting rubber bullet grenades at protesting priests. Catastrophically botching the pandemic response, resulting in a public health and economic calamity. Tweeting “white power” memes. Ranting in front of empty arenas about how he navigated a “slippery ramp.” Being MIA while his Russian benefactors put out a hit on American soldiers in Afghanistan.
The last 3 months have been a political dumpster fire for President Trump, and the flames have engulfed Republicans up and down the ballot. But while pockets of Republican resistance have roasted Dear Leader, elected officials in D.C. and their svengalis in the consultant class have remained steadfast.
These swamp creatures were never the biggest Trumpers in the first place — his initial campaign team was an assortment of d-listers and golf course grunts rather than traditional GOP ad men. So why, as Trump’s numbers plummet, are these establishment RINOs continuing to debase themselves to protect someone who is politically faltering and couldn’t care less about them?
I reached out to nine of my former allies and rivals who still consult for Republican candidates at the highest levels of Senate and House races, some who have gone full MAGA and others for whom the president is not their cup of tea. I asked them to speak candidly, without their names attached, to learn about the real behind the scenes conversations about the state of affairs. How is the president’s performance impacting their candidate? Are there discussions about either storming the cockpit or gently trying to #WalkAway from Trump? And finally, why in the hell aren’t they more pissed at this incompetent asshole who is fucking up their life?
What I found in their answers was one part Stockholm Syndrome, one part survival instinct. They all may not love the president, but most share his loathing for his enemies on the left, in the media, and the apostate Never Trump Republicans with a passion that engenders an alliance with the president, if not a kinship. And even among those who don’t share the tribalistic hatreds, they perceive a political reality driven by base voters and the president’s shitposting that simply does not allow for dissent.
As one put it: “There are two options, you can be on this hell ship or you can be in the water drowning.”
So I give you the view from the U.S.S Hellship, first the political state of play, and then the psychological.
...
But what I found was underneath that surface level eye-rolling at Trump and hat-tipping to the record on judges was an emotional alliance with the president that is deeper than they might let on in mixed company. A compartmentalization of the badness of the orange man, set aside in favor of a deep and visceral hatred of the president’s enemies.
That compartmentalization is reflected in the emotional valence that comes when discussing the things about our terrible political moment that really anger them. From my vantage point, the anger should be directed at Trump. After all, in most every way besides financial Trump has tarnished their daily lives. One admitted to not being able to discuss his job with his wife any longer. Another lamented being called “racist” and “evil.” All expressed exasperation that Trump encompasses everything they talk about. Some felt deeply internally conflicted about work that used to make them proud. They all felt Trump had left them with no other options. Only a couple seemed to be having much fun.
So shouldn’t they be pissed at this egomaniacal racist who is making their lives miserable, bringing down their candidates, and affecting their home lives and friendships — simply because he can’t for a single hour control his outbursts? Shouldn’t they be clamoring to tell him to fuck off and act like a damn adult and stop putting them in these terrible situations?
When asked, almost to a person, the answer was no. For some he was simply a frustration, a circumstance to deal with, a challenge, a problem to solve. For one, there was a silver (or just green) lining in a Trump loss.
----- 5 -----
SCOTUS gives Trump victory in landmark reproductive rights cases
The cases addressed Trump's broadening of religious exemptions for providing birth control in the Affordable Care Act
8 July 2020
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/scotus-trump-victory-landmark-reproductive-rights-cases-200708123747738.html
The US Supreme Court on Wednesday endorsed a plan by President Donald Trump's administration to give employers broad religious and moral exemptions from a federal mandate that health insurance they provide employees covers women's birth control.
The court ruled 7-2 against the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which challenged the legality of the administration's 2018 rule weakening the so-called "contraceptive mandate" of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, commonly called "Obamacare", that has drawn the ire of Christian conservatives.
The two consolidated cases were Little Sisters of the Poor v Pennsylvania and Donald J Trump v Pennsylvania.
These cases called into question the legality of the Trump administration's 2019 rule broadening conscientious objection exemptions to the Affordable Care Act regarding abortion, contraception, assisted suicide, advance directives and other types of medical care.
"We hold today that the Departments had the statutory authority to craft that exemption, as well as the contemporaneously issued moral exemption. We further hold that the rules promulgating these exemptions are free from procedural defects," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote.
----- 6 -----
Why Trump's trade war failed
Ryan Cooper
8 July 2020
https://theweek.com/articles/923813/why-trumps-trade-war-failed
Before Donald Trump took office, he promised he was going to stick it to China on trade. When he assumed power, he indeed did so — threatening and then levying tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese imports. China responded in kind, before agreeing to a largely symbolic trade agreement in January only to have it disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The problem the Trump administration was ostensibly trying to solve was America's enormous trade deficit, which Trump has portrayed as the U.S. being ripped off by foreign countries. This was also the motivation behind the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and a threatened trade war on Europe that is also now on hold.
Yet all these actions did not shrink the trade deficit. On the contrary, the deficit widened for the first few years of Trump's presidency, shrank back to about what it was before he took office in late 2019, and now has widened once again. What gives?
The answer can be found in a brilliant new book by journalist Matthew Klein and economist Michael Pettis, Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace. Trump's trade war failed because he did not understand what is actually driving the problems with the world trade system. The United States has a massive and destructive trade deficit because it has become the world's consumer of last resort, which in turn is the product of inequality in foreign countries and the dollar's role in the international financial system. In effect, America has become the victim of its own centrality in the global economy. However, it is a great mistake to think of this as the fault of foreign countries. As the book's title indicates, the real competition is between rich elites and working-class people of all countries. So far elites have been winning, and the result is a dysfunctional trade system that has wreaked social carnage across the world.
----- 7 -----
J.K. Rowling Has Transcended Into A Living Meme
Dani Di Placido
7 July 2020
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2020/07/07/jk-rowling-has-transcended-into-a-living-meme/#433bf9d93e9a
Scrolling through J.K. Rowling’s Twitter page is a surreal experience.
The Harry Potter author is currently celebrating the success of her new children’s book, The Ickabog, engaging her young fans by retweeting and praising their artwork.
In between these adorable, enthusiastic retweets, Rowling will, randomly, offer her opinion about trans people. Much of it can be described as “politely worded bigotry,” rhetoric that recklessly harms the trans community, seemingly innocuous on the surface.
It’s easy to read Rowling’s statements as reasonable - reading what trans people are saying in response highlights the insidious nature of her talking points.
Despite constant, vocal pushback from trans activists and medical experts, Rowling continues to post her strange screeds, nestled right next to the artwork of young children, who will likely be exposed to her opinions while exploring her Twitter page, searching for fan art.
----- 8 -----
Weijia Jiang
twitter.com/weijia
8 July 2020
https://twitter.com/weijia/status/1280818089559539713
Lofthouse also invoked one name during his rant:
“Trump’s going to f--- you.”
The family member who recorded the video wrote on IG: “The fact that Donald Trump is our President (i.e. THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN THE WORLD) gives racists a platform and amplifies voices of hate.”
[QUOTED TWEET]
Yamiche Alcindor
twitter.com/Yamiche
7 July 2020
https://twitter.com/Yamiche/status/1280803428634165252
Michael Lofthouse, CEO of Solid8, LLC, a San Francisco cloud computing services company founded in 2017, can be heard shouting to an Asian family, “You f------ need to leave! You f------ Asian piece of s---!”
[LINKS TO: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/07/07/tech-ceo-michael-lofthouse-video-racist-comments/5394122002/ ]
----- 9 -----
Sanders-Biden climate task force calls for carbon-free power by 2035
By Rachel Frazin - 07/08/20
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/506432-sanders-biden-climate-task-force-calls-for-carbon-free-electricity
A unity task force made up of supporters of both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden has come up with a series of broad environmental recommendations for Biden as he prepares to become the official Democratic presidential nominee.
The task force’s broad plan includes a goal of eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035, achieving net-zero emissions for all new buildings by 2030, and making energy-saving upgrades to as many as 4 million buildings and 2 million households within five years.
Some of the recommendations released Wednesday set more specific targets than the former vice president’s current climate plan, which calls for a shift away from coal-fired electricity, halving the carbon footprint of buildings by 2035 and starting a national program aimed at affordable energy efficiency retrofits in homes.
The group is one of several “unity task forces” made up of supporters of Sanders and Biden that is making platform recommendations as Biden courts favor from the progressive faction of the party.
Sanders, who sought to challenge the former Delaware senator from the left, came in second place in the 2020 Democratic primary, repeating his result from 2016, when he lost the presidential nomination to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
The climate panel is co-chaired by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a leading proponent of the Green New Deal, and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.
----- 10 -----
Joshua Benton
twitter.com/jbenton
8 July 2020
https://twitter.com/jbenton/status/1280950746310160384
.twitter.com/GreenidgeKerri's name was on the Harper's letter. She said she didn't want to be on it and yesterday had it taken off.
For that, she's now faced enough harassment from the "free speech" crowd for it that she's had to turn her Twitter profile private.
[EMBEDDED IMAGE showing Kerri Greenidge's now-private twitter page]
I'm re-reading Generations, having read it - or, really, skimmed it, I think - many years ago. It's one of Steve Bannon's favourite books, and kind of his bible on what he's been doing in this crisis period. It got that part right - that we'd be in a potentially disastrous crisis period right about now, but it didn't take that book to make that inevitability kind of obvious.
Regardless, I'm reading it again, and I've rediscovered something in it that I discarded at the time as not going to happen this time around. If you've read it, it's the concept of the Grey Champion. I'm thinking he tried to play Trump in that role, which was a huge mistake.
I simply don't think the Boomers have one, or can produce one. I didn't think they could then, either, and I think the situation around us now proves Past Me right. They're just not capable of providing the inspirational leadership in elderhood the book attributes to Idealist-cycle generations typically.
I also don't think the Millennial group can play the anticipated Civic role. So far, they've been acting like Adaptives, not Civics, if you want to use the book's overly-general annoyingly-horoscopesque cycles. Which means that the Zoomers, who are acting like the next Idealist group, will take that role, and we'll skip having a Civic generation altogether.
The last time that happened was the American Civil War, which, again, given where we are today, is maybe a point for the book's approach to future history.
If none of this means anything to you, eh, it's probably for the best. Major crisis/inflection point, Bannon and rest of the fascists want it to be ultranationalist with a big dose of Christianist and, as always, with straight white dudes in charge of women. I've been working for years on the opposite side of all of these things. And here we are, down to it.
I think Bannon's reliance on this book will end up having fucked him if he's actually been depending upon a Grey Champion, or for the Boomers to play the usual Idealest Elders role. Because neither one of those things is happening.
But now, the rest of the news.
- Teachers face threats, books are banned as China pushes party line in Hong Kong schools
- Safronov’s Arrest Is a New Low for Freedom of Speech in Russia
- Televangelists, megachurches tied to Trump approved for millions in pandemic aid
- What 9 GOP Campaign Consultants Really Think About Republicans’ Chances in November
- SCOTUS gives Trump victory in landmark reproductive rights cases
- Why Trump's trade war failed
- J.K. Rowling Has Transcended Into A Living Meme
- The fact that Donald Trump is our President (i.e. THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN THE WORLD) gives racists a platform and amplifies voices of hate.
- Sanders-Biden climate task force calls for carbon-free power by 2035
- Kerri Greenidge didn't want to be on the Harpers's column; asked to be removed; harassed as a result into taking her Twitter account private.
----- 1 -----
Teachers face threats, books are banned as China pushes party line in Hong Kong schools
By Timothy McLaughlin
and Shibani Mahtani
7 July 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/teachers-face-threats-books-are-banned-as-china-pushes-party-line-in-hong-kong-schools/
HONG KONG — High schoolteacher Dom Chan had an odd request from two superiors while developing next year’s Chinese history syllabus: remove passages from the philosopher Su Xun, known for 11th-century essays on wars and military reforms.
“They told me, ‘You need to scan the textbook carefully,'” as Su’s writings could “incite violence in students or make them think revolution is good,” said Chan.
Despite his misgivings about erasing a literary luminary of the Song dynasty, the 26-year-old complied.
As China’s Communist Party dismantles Hong Kong’s freedoms, teachers are facing pressure to toe Beijing’s line. Schools are emerging as ideological battlegrounds as officials seek to transform freethinking students into patriots loyal to the motherland through punishment, coercion, surveillance and propaganda-style education.
“I feel like we have suddenly been put on the front line,” said Chan, whose Chinese history syllabus officials have made compulsory for the first time. “The government seems to have found that education is easier to blame for the current situation in Hong Kong, and easier to fix.”
A culture of self-censorship and government control that was already growing in schools intensified recently as Beijing introduced a security law aimed at eliminating dissent, according to nearly a dozen teachers and students who spoke to The Washington Post. The law, published June 30, compels Hong Kong’s government to “promote national security education,” and pinpoints campuses for “supervision and regulation.”
This week, education authorities told schools to review their library collections and remove books that could violate the law. Titles including those by democracy activist Joshua Wong have already disappeared from public libraries.
----- 2 -----
Safronov’s Arrest Is a New Low for Freedom of Speech in Russia
Putin has now entrusted the “journalist question” to his security services. We should be very worried.
By Andrei Soldatov
8 July 2020
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/07/08/safronovs-arrest-is-a-new-low-for-freedom-of-speech-in-russia-a70820
When the Federal Security Service (FSB) requested in September 2012 that the State Duma stiffen the article on high treason in the Russian Criminal Code, everyone understood what the agency was after.
Many in the Kremlin had accused the FSB of falling asleep on its watch and falling to predict the 2011 street protests. Then, with the ruling regime just recovering from that jolt, the FSB did what intelligence agencies usually do in such situations — it requested broader authority.
The FSB wanted greater powers for its counterintelligence activities, a request that was right in line with the paranoid belief held by many in the Kremlin that Moscow’s mass protests could only have arisen at the bidding of foreign states.
The FSB got what it wanted. The revised version of Article 275 of the Criminal Code expanded the range of the usual suspects for high treason from military personnel, scientists and researchers to include experts and journalists.
For many years before that, it had been almost impossible to accuse journalists of treason or revealing state secrets because, by definition, they had no access to such information.
Prior to 2012, the FSB had to contrive all sorts of things in order to charge journalists under this article of the Criminal Code.
The agency resorted to either charging journalists who had previously held access to classified materials — Grigory Pasko being one such example — or dreaming up a truly Kafkaesque scheme — as happened to me.
----- 3 -----
Televangelists, megachurches tied to Trump approved for millions in pandemic aid
Chris Prentice
6 July 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-ppp-religious-idUSKBN2480CB
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Megachurches and other religious organizations with ties to vocal supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump were approved for millions of dollars in forgivable loans from a taxpayer-funded pandemic aid bailout, according to long-awaited government data released this week.
Among those approved for loans through the massive government relief program were a Dallas megachurch whose pastor has been an outspoken ally of the president; a Florida church tied to Trump spiritual adviser and “prosperity gospel” leader Paula White; and a Christian-focused nonprofit where Jay Sekulow, the lawyer who defended the president during his impeachment, is chief counsel.
Evangelical Christians played a key role in Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election and have remained a largely unwavering contingent of his base.
Vice President Mike Pence spoke at a rally last month at the First Baptist Church of Dallas, whose pastor, Robert Jeffress, has been on Trump’s evangelical advisory board. The church was approved for a $2-5 million loan, the data showed.
----- 4 -----
What 9 GOP Campaign Consultants Really Think About Republicans’ Chances in November
by Tim Miller
7 July 2020
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-reelection-chances-2020-house-senate-candidates-biden-1024862/
Shooting rubber bullet grenades at protesting priests. Catastrophically botching the pandemic response, resulting in a public health and economic calamity. Tweeting “white power” memes. Ranting in front of empty arenas about how he navigated a “slippery ramp.” Being MIA while his Russian benefactors put out a hit on American soldiers in Afghanistan.
The last 3 months have been a political dumpster fire for President Trump, and the flames have engulfed Republicans up and down the ballot. But while pockets of Republican resistance have roasted Dear Leader, elected officials in D.C. and their svengalis in the consultant class have remained steadfast.
These swamp creatures were never the biggest Trumpers in the first place — his initial campaign team was an assortment of d-listers and golf course grunts rather than traditional GOP ad men. So why, as Trump’s numbers plummet, are these establishment RINOs continuing to debase themselves to protect someone who is politically faltering and couldn’t care less about them?
I reached out to nine of my former allies and rivals who still consult for Republican candidates at the highest levels of Senate and House races, some who have gone full MAGA and others for whom the president is not their cup of tea. I asked them to speak candidly, without their names attached, to learn about the real behind the scenes conversations about the state of affairs. How is the president’s performance impacting their candidate? Are there discussions about either storming the cockpit or gently trying to #WalkAway from Trump? And finally, why in the hell aren’t they more pissed at this incompetent asshole who is fucking up their life?
What I found in their answers was one part Stockholm Syndrome, one part survival instinct. They all may not love the president, but most share his loathing for his enemies on the left, in the media, and the apostate Never Trump Republicans with a passion that engenders an alliance with the president, if not a kinship. And even among those who don’t share the tribalistic hatreds, they perceive a political reality driven by base voters and the president’s shitposting that simply does not allow for dissent.
As one put it: “There are two options, you can be on this hell ship or you can be in the water drowning.”
So I give you the view from the U.S.S Hellship, first the political state of play, and then the psychological.
...
But what I found was underneath that surface level eye-rolling at Trump and hat-tipping to the record on judges was an emotional alliance with the president that is deeper than they might let on in mixed company. A compartmentalization of the badness of the orange man, set aside in favor of a deep and visceral hatred of the president’s enemies.
That compartmentalization is reflected in the emotional valence that comes when discussing the things about our terrible political moment that really anger them. From my vantage point, the anger should be directed at Trump. After all, in most every way besides financial Trump has tarnished their daily lives. One admitted to not being able to discuss his job with his wife any longer. Another lamented being called “racist” and “evil.” All expressed exasperation that Trump encompasses everything they talk about. Some felt deeply internally conflicted about work that used to make them proud. They all felt Trump had left them with no other options. Only a couple seemed to be having much fun.
So shouldn’t they be pissed at this egomaniacal racist who is making their lives miserable, bringing down their candidates, and affecting their home lives and friendships — simply because he can’t for a single hour control his outbursts? Shouldn’t they be clamoring to tell him to fuck off and act like a damn adult and stop putting them in these terrible situations?
When asked, almost to a person, the answer was no. For some he was simply a frustration, a circumstance to deal with, a challenge, a problem to solve. For one, there was a silver (or just green) lining in a Trump loss.
----- 5 -----
SCOTUS gives Trump victory in landmark reproductive rights cases
The cases addressed Trump's broadening of religious exemptions for providing birth control in the Affordable Care Act
8 July 2020
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/scotus-trump-victory-landmark-reproductive-rights-cases-200708123747738.html
The US Supreme Court on Wednesday endorsed a plan by President Donald Trump's administration to give employers broad religious and moral exemptions from a federal mandate that health insurance they provide employees covers women's birth control.
The court ruled 7-2 against the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which challenged the legality of the administration's 2018 rule weakening the so-called "contraceptive mandate" of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, commonly called "Obamacare", that has drawn the ire of Christian conservatives.
The two consolidated cases were Little Sisters of the Poor v Pennsylvania and Donald J Trump v Pennsylvania.
These cases called into question the legality of the Trump administration's 2019 rule broadening conscientious objection exemptions to the Affordable Care Act regarding abortion, contraception, assisted suicide, advance directives and other types of medical care.
"We hold today that the Departments had the statutory authority to craft that exemption, as well as the contemporaneously issued moral exemption. We further hold that the rules promulgating these exemptions are free from procedural defects," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote.
----- 6 -----
Why Trump's trade war failed
Ryan Cooper
8 July 2020
https://theweek.com/articles/923813/why-trumps-trade-war-failed
Before Donald Trump took office, he promised he was going to stick it to China on trade. When he assumed power, he indeed did so — threatening and then levying tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese imports. China responded in kind, before agreeing to a largely symbolic trade agreement in January only to have it disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The problem the Trump administration was ostensibly trying to solve was America's enormous trade deficit, which Trump has portrayed as the U.S. being ripped off by foreign countries. This was also the motivation behind the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and a threatened trade war on Europe that is also now on hold.
Yet all these actions did not shrink the trade deficit. On the contrary, the deficit widened for the first few years of Trump's presidency, shrank back to about what it was before he took office in late 2019, and now has widened once again. What gives?
The answer can be found in a brilliant new book by journalist Matthew Klein and economist Michael Pettis, Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace. Trump's trade war failed because he did not understand what is actually driving the problems with the world trade system. The United States has a massive and destructive trade deficit because it has become the world's consumer of last resort, which in turn is the product of inequality in foreign countries and the dollar's role in the international financial system. In effect, America has become the victim of its own centrality in the global economy. However, it is a great mistake to think of this as the fault of foreign countries. As the book's title indicates, the real competition is between rich elites and working-class people of all countries. So far elites have been winning, and the result is a dysfunctional trade system that has wreaked social carnage across the world.
----- 7 -----
J.K. Rowling Has Transcended Into A Living Meme
Dani Di Placido
7 July 2020
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2020/07/07/jk-rowling-has-transcended-into-a-living-meme/#433bf9d93e9a
Scrolling through J.K. Rowling’s Twitter page is a surreal experience.
The Harry Potter author is currently celebrating the success of her new children’s book, The Ickabog, engaging her young fans by retweeting and praising their artwork.
In between these adorable, enthusiastic retweets, Rowling will, randomly, offer her opinion about trans people. Much of it can be described as “politely worded bigotry,” rhetoric that recklessly harms the trans community, seemingly innocuous on the surface.
It’s easy to read Rowling’s statements as reasonable - reading what trans people are saying in response highlights the insidious nature of her talking points.
Despite constant, vocal pushback from trans activists and medical experts, Rowling continues to post her strange screeds, nestled right next to the artwork of young children, who will likely be exposed to her opinions while exploring her Twitter page, searching for fan art.
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Weijia Jiang
twitter.com/weijia
8 July 2020
https://twitter.com/weijia/status/1280818089559539713
Lofthouse also invoked one name during his rant:
“Trump’s going to f--- you.”
The family member who recorded the video wrote on IG: “The fact that Donald Trump is our President (i.e. THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN THE WORLD) gives racists a platform and amplifies voices of hate.”
[QUOTED TWEET]
Yamiche Alcindor
twitter.com/Yamiche
7 July 2020
https://twitter.com/Yamiche/status/1280803428634165252
Michael Lofthouse, CEO of Solid8, LLC, a San Francisco cloud computing services company founded in 2017, can be heard shouting to an Asian family, “You f------ need to leave! You f------ Asian piece of s---!”
[LINKS TO: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/07/07/tech-ceo-michael-lofthouse-video-racist-comments/5394122002/ ]
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Sanders-Biden climate task force calls for carbon-free power by 2035
By Rachel Frazin - 07/08/20
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/506432-sanders-biden-climate-task-force-calls-for-carbon-free-electricity
A unity task force made up of supporters of both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden has come up with a series of broad environmental recommendations for Biden as he prepares to become the official Democratic presidential nominee.
The task force’s broad plan includes a goal of eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035, achieving net-zero emissions for all new buildings by 2030, and making energy-saving upgrades to as many as 4 million buildings and 2 million households within five years.
Some of the recommendations released Wednesday set more specific targets than the former vice president’s current climate plan, which calls for a shift away from coal-fired electricity, halving the carbon footprint of buildings by 2035 and starting a national program aimed at affordable energy efficiency retrofits in homes.
The group is one of several “unity task forces” made up of supporters of Sanders and Biden that is making platform recommendations as Biden courts favor from the progressive faction of the party.
Sanders, who sought to challenge the former Delaware senator from the left, came in second place in the 2020 Democratic primary, repeating his result from 2016, when he lost the presidential nomination to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
The climate panel is co-chaired by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a leading proponent of the Green New Deal, and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.
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Joshua Benton
twitter.com/jbenton
8 July 2020
https://twitter.com/jbenton/status/1280950746310160384
.twitter.com/GreenidgeKerri's name was on the Harper's letter. She said she didn't want to be on it and yesterday had it taken off.
For that, she's now faced enough harassment from the "free speech" crowd for it that she's had to turn her Twitter profile private.
[EMBEDDED IMAGE showing Kerri Greenidge's now-private twitter page]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-09 09:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-09 09:58 am (UTC)In the historical patterns the book postulates, GenX ("Gen 13" in the book) is in the reactive slot, which does not mean reactionary in the rightist sense, but instead refers to the reaction to the (typical) extremes of the immediately previous Idealist generation, which in this case means the Boomers. Part of that means "that's all well and good, but we have to deal with the real world now." Pragmatists just trying to make shit work.
Since the reactions - and pragmatism - take a lot of forms, you don't tend to get a whole lot of unity, but you do get, say, a fair amount of art and literature. (The Lost Generation was the previous Reactive group.)
In general character, GenX has fit the generational cycle reasonably well. But there are issues with fulfilling the usual role.
I need to keep re-reading, as it's been a long time. But I can say that being typically at peak political power during this crisis period, the Reactive group would necessarily be the ones actually implementing a lot of the Civic agenda (here, Millennials), and, along the way, curbing Idealist (Boomer) excesses. See, again, pragmatism. What actually works.
However, Generation X has never held power, and in most of the US, never will, thanks to the atypically large size of the Boom, and atypically small size of GenX. Generation X was the majority of the workforce for about a year and a half, and that's already over. There was no Silent Generation president; there may well be no Generation X president. It will depend upon how long the Boomers can hold power.
(Given the current collapse, I'd say the odds of a Generation X president have actually gone up. But that's speculative.)
Now, with all that said...
I will note that the only place in the US that Generation X outnumbers the Boomers is the greater Seattle area. We are unique, in that respect. It's entirely due to the software industry, but it's still true. GenX provided the first "digital natives," who helped build all this stuff [waves at everything] and populated it with content. It may not have been universal, but GenX digital natives exist in nontrivial numbers.
I would further note that this sort of combination of implementation and... forced moderation of self-imposed Boomer cultural isolationism... has already been happening here.
I don't think it's likely to happen anywhere else in the US, because of the distortions (vs. historical) in population size. The Boomers don't share power and never have, unless they have to.
In Greater Seattle, they've had to.
Europeans visit and go "this... is not an American city. Not like we're used to." People in the US think Seattle is bizarre and different and we've literally become the bogeyman city in Trumpist circles, right? Trump's Boomer base hates us.
Well.
There's more than one reason, believe me. 47 States and the Soviet of Washington was a joke in the 1950s. But even with that...
Guess why.
The Grey Champion
Date: 2020-07-09 12:15 pm (UTC)ibiblio.org/eldritch/nh/gray.html
I appreciate your emotional labor in compiling these links and the summaries. I have a hard time wading in some of those sewers without throwing up from the abuse.
So I read to have a basic summary, and I try to amplify your voice when I am struck by something in particular.
Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-09 12:40 pm (UTC)I am fascinated by generations because my family is VERY cross-generational. My Dad's oldest sibling was born in 1925, but he was born in 1943. So he identifies with both generations... slightly too old for Woodstock, but he remembers McCarthy the way I remember Reagan.
Mom-in-law and her twin were born in 1939 and became fierce activists at the time of Black Lives Matter.
In NYC growing up I didn't hear the term "Boomer" very much. I heard "aging hippie" and "yuppie," though. And the fannish crowd I ran with in NYC the 1990s, in my 20s, was definitely early-to-mid GenX.
I've been wanting to learn more about generations because I have a story in my "I would like to write this some day, but it's a novel" files about a silent movie star who can't make it in talkies and goes to teachers' college, being smart enough to keep her movie star money in the bank. She ends up in Watts because that's where mediocre teachers end up, and her horizons get seriously broadened. (This sparked from the Yuletide prompt "what happens to Lina Lamont?")
So, she's somewhere in the late Greatest Generation, teaching the Silent Generation and Boomers. I wish I'd thought of this when my oldest Los Angeles relatives were still alive.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-09 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-09 07:39 pm (UTC)You'll note I only skimmed it, the first time. I think that decision was basically correct.
The only reason I'm properly reading it now is because I found out about Bannon's fascination with it - though to be honest, I heard about that a couple of years ago, it just took a while to get myself to go at it. I'm trying to give it a fair shake, if for no other reason than enemy intel/insight.
Re: The Grey Champion
Date: 2020-07-09 07:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-09 07:57 pm (UTC)