Just Politics

[BullNBear52]

George Will I believe has owned up to his support of the Republican party and has abandoned them.

[blackhawks]

George Will wakes up to see his monster

20 April 2024
Washington Post

Some gems and dead-on accusations by George Will

Stoking the passion that is their excuse for pandering - the nihilism of a febrile minority in their party - a majority of House Republicans - voted last Saturday to endanger civilization. Hoping to enhance their political security in their mostly safe seats, and for the infantile satisfaction of populist naughtiness (insulting a mostly fictitious “establishment”), they voted to assure Vladimir Putin’s attempt to erase a European nation.

N.B:
A simple majority - 216 of all votes - was needed for passage.
On Ukraine: 311 - 112. All 112 were Republicans.

Voted to endanger civilization. Voted to enhance their political security. Voted to assure the erasure a European nation.

Will then goes on to add:

"Tuesday’s Senate ratification of Ukrainian aid proves that Dwight Eisenhower’s baton of Republican internationalism was passed, via Ronald Reagan, to Mitch McConnell."

Awwww. Give yourself some credit, George! You were there flogging the myth of the purity and sureness of Republican governing along the with the rest of the Reich-wing media, feeding the Reich's army of Armageddon-craving, gullible, imbeciles.

And Reagan. It all points back to Reagan. Nixon being dead. That must have hurt George, because in the 1980's he regularly burnished Reagan's balls to a high sheen.

The wind-up:

"We have defined heroism so far down that it encompasses Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) allowing a House vote on assisting Ukrainians’ resistance to indiscriminate bombardments of population centers, ethnic cleansing, rape, torture and the abduction of children."

And by "We", he means "Republicans." 112 Republicans VOTED to look the other way on bombardments, ethnic cleansing, rape, torture, and the abduction of children.

Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/24/ignoble-house-republicans-against-ukraine-aid/

[janice shell]

Isn't that just too much fun?

[janice shell]

That is scary.

[Vexari]

What is a Semite

~~~ At 47:00 mark ~~~
(2:41:31)

What a soup

- Flame-throwing dog robot. (0:00)

- We have entered the post-ethics era. (19:11)

- Unethical medical professionals and lawyers. (21:52)

- #Corruption and manipulation in various institutions. (27:59)

- Inconsistent application of principles regarding protests and #genocide. (38:41)

- Hypocrisy in political views and media manipulation. (41:28)

- Anti-Semitism and misinformation about stabbing incident at Yale. (47:42)

- Australian leaders' push for more aggressive #censorship. (1:01:44)

- #Insurance and government actions, including Nord Stream pipeline explosions and civil unrest. (1:07:43)

- Wild foods and foraging with Daniel Vitalis. (1:18:35)

- Ecological interconnectedness and #biodiversity loss. (1:31:23)

- The benefits of wild foods and natural connections. (1:49:31)

- Antler science and its potential benefits for #longevity, including increased strength and hormone balance. (2:06:33)

- Foraging wild foods for better health and survival. (2:18:44)

- Preserving wild food knowledge and self-defense skills. (2:22:40)

For more updates, visit: http://www.brighteon.com/channel/hrreport

NaturalNews

[Diogenes of Sinope]

Trump and Pals Named Unindicted Co-Conspirators in Michigan Fake Elector Plot

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-and-pals-named-unindicted-co-conspirators-in-michigan-2020-false-electors-plot

[Diogenes of Sinope]

Arizona AG Kris Mayes announces indictment for 11 fake electors;

https://www.azfamily.com/2024/04/24/arizona-ag-kris-mayes-announces-indictment-11-fake-electors-heres-what-we-know/

[delerious1]

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young "Ohio"

[blackhawks]

Donald Trump has neutered Republicans' power to sabotage Joe Biden
It also doesn't hurt that Democrats in Congress have held unprecedentedly united

By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
Columnist

PUBLISHED APRIL 24, 2024 9:00AM (EDT)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/24/donald-has-neutered-republicans-power-to-sabotage-joe-biden/

While most of the country was riveted by recaps of Donald Trump's sordid hush-money trial on Tuesday, something amazing was happening in Washington: the Senate debated and then passed the national security package that's been consuming the Capitol for the last six months. With a lopsided vote of 79-18, the bills with aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan among some other things will soon be signed by the president and behind us. Notably, there is no increased funding for the border because Donald Trump ordered the Republicans to reject it so that he could keep demagoguing the issue during the campaign. Nevertheless, Tuesday's vote is a big win for President Joe Biden and the Democrats.

The GOP infighting has escalated in the wake of the House's months-long tantrum led by the far-right extremists who seemed to truly believe that they could hold their breath until they turned blue and they would eventually get everything they wanted.

Leading MAGA rebel Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., left town without calling for Speaker Mike Johnson to vacate the chair, demanding instead that he resign, which isn't going to happen. Podcaster Steve Bannon and a couple of fellow right-wing sad sacks — Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Az. — joined the call but it's clear that however frustrated some of them might be there is no appetite in the House GOP for any more internecine fights, at least for the moment. And the rest of the party is obviously sick of the kooks.

GOP Sen. Tom Tillis of North Carolina pulled no punches, talking about Greene's malign influence, calling her "uninformed" and "a terrible leader" and complaining that she's "dragging our brand down."

Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas probably speaks for many in his party who are too cowardly to say it as plainly as he did when he called the wild extremists in the GOP "scumbags."

GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw: Some Republicans "want Russia to win so badly" they may oust Speaker Johnson
They all might want to take a look at the big orange guy who's actually pulling the strings but he's even turning his back on Greene and continuing to support Johnson, recently telling a radio host:

Look, we have a majority of one, OK? It's not like he can go and do whatever he wants to do. I think he's a very good person. You know, he stood very strongly with me on NATO.

It was a bit low energy but it's pretty clear that Trump not going to back any play to oust Speaker Johnson so Greene is sidelined, at least for now.

There's no doubt that it took a very steady hand in the White House to stay the course and keep working the legislative levers to get the job done.

It's been a bad run for Trump and for Greene these past few weeks. But you know who's having a great run? President Joe Biden. His poll numbers are edging up but the general election still looks incomprehensibly tight considering how much policy success the president has had with a Congress that is so dysfunctional. Somehow he and the Democrats have made it work for them.

I think we're all familiar with Biden's big legislative wins in the first two years: the American Rescue Plan, which set the table for a very positive economic recovery, a big infrastructure bill that is just now coming online all over the country, the first major gun safety bill in decades, capping prescription drug costs for seniors and much more. And it was all done with razor-thin majorities in both chambers.

Most pieces of legislation passed with bipartisan votes despite what is arguably the most toxic political environment since the 1850s. It was a remarkable feat but I think most observers assumed that it was going to be the end of it when Republicans managed to eke out a tiny victory and flip control of the House in 2022. How could anything get done with Donald Trump pulling the strings and crazed right-wing extremists dominating the caucus?

House Republicans had their fun with the Hunter Biden farce and the various "investigations" into the so-called Biden Crime family which have gone nowhere. And immigration has been a genuinely vexing problem that the GOP has exploited as they always do. But as it turns out, while the House Republicans ran around in circles causing chaos on a weekly basis, the important sausage kept getting made. And despite all the drama, the Biden White House ended up getting most of what it wanted without having to give up much of anything in return, at least in part because the Republicans wouldn't take yes for an answer when concessions were offered.

The biggest achievement was avoiding a costly debt limit/government shutdown and I wouldn't have bet that would happen. But former speaker Kevin McCarthy and the White House negotiated a spending deal that served as the excuse to take down McCarthy. (As it turns out it was really about McCarthy refusing to stop an ethics investigation into Florida gadfly Matt Gaetz, but that's another story.) McCarthy's successor Mike Johnson kept the spending agreement in place and fought off another attempt to shut down the government. Just this past month, House Republicans passed the FISA extension backed by the White House and now the big national security package: the ugliest sausage-making extravaganza ever.

It's been such pandemonium that it was hard to see exactly what was happening but now that the smoke is clearing it's obvious that the writing was on the wall when McCarthy gave so many concessions to the crazies during that bizarre speakers' race at the beginning of the term. Handing the keys to that faction was a major mistake because those people are maximalists for whom politics is all or nothing and they can't accept that having a tiny majority in one house of Congress makes that impossible.

In the end, it took the House Democrats being unprecedentedly united, despite some very real tensions within their own coalition, and a willingness for some moderate Republicans to finally stand their ground despite dilly-dallying around for months. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., kept his majority together without the centrist divas causing any trouble for once.

Not only that, Senate Republicans who haven't completely gone insane refused to follow the House model and came through on the important issues as well. But there's no doubt that it took a very steady hand in the White House to stay the course and keep working the legislative levers to get the job done. It wasn't pretty but under the circumstances, the achievements are very big wins at little cost. Meanwhile, the Republicans are reeling with internal strife while their leader sits fuming in a courtroom daily.

[jbsliverer]

Trump’s potential Attorney General pick Mike Davis says their Project 2025 agenda will impose “consequences” for Americans who don’t support Trump pic.twitter.com/katBC5651g

— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) April 23, 2024

.

[jbsliverer]

Lara, you know why there was "a moratorium on the RNC for 40 years"? Because the RNC was caught cheating. The RNC was placed under a 1982 Consent decree for voter caging. Voter caging hinders an eligible voter’s ability to vote. The process involves efforts to identify and disenfranchise improperly registered voters solely on the basis of undeliverable mail. It often leads to the unwarranted purging of election rolls of otherwise eligible voters.

So, given the continued lies about the 2020 election and your daddy-in-law claiming if he loses in 2024 it's because the election is rigged, you're planning to have your people "physically handle the ballots"--and we're supposed to think that's a good idea?
Michael Steele@MichaelSteele

Lara Trump: We now have the ability at the RNC not just to have poll watchers… but people who can physically handle the ballots… pic.twitter.com/xd06medJal

— Acyn (@Acyn) April 24, 2024

.

[BullNBear52]

You lack in both.

[BullNBear52]

Jesse Watters has replaced Tucker as the useful idiot at Fox News.

[blackhawks]

Biden mocks Trump on anniversary of COVID bleach controversy

Zachary Basu, author of Axios Sneak Peek

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/23/trump-covid-biden-disinfectant-bleach


Trump at a COVID press briefing with Dr. Deborah Birx on April 18, 2020. Photo: Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

President Biden mocked former President Trump Tuesday over his infamous suggestion — delivered at a White House briefing exactly four years ago — that COVID could be treated with an "injection" of disinfectant.

"Don't inject bleach. And don't vote for the guy who told you to inject bleach," Biden tweeted.

Why it matters: The Biden campaign sees the viral moment as a perfect encapsulation of the chaos and uncertainty that surrounded the Trump presidency in the early days of the pandemic.

The campaign is intent on reminding the American public how Trump handled the historic crisis, especially with polling suggesting views of his presidency have become far more positive since the fall of 2020.

"Are you better off than you were four years ago?" a Democratic National Committee account tweeted in response to a clip of Trump's comments blasted out by the Biden campaign.

Flashback: Trump made the stunning suggestion during one of his signature, free-wheeling COVID press conferences on April 23, 2020.

Discussing the effects of light and humidity on how the virus spreads, Trump claimed that his health advisers were going to "test" whether "very powerful light" could be brought "inside the body" to kill COVID.

He then continued: "And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. ... It would be interesting to check that."
Zoom out: Trump's comments prompted the maker of disinfectants Lysol and Dettol to issue a statement warning that "under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body."

"For me, it was the craziest and most surreal moment I had ever witnessed in a presidential press conference," veteran ABC News journalist Jonathan Karl told Politico a year later.

Dr. Deborah Birx, one of Trump's COVID advisers, said in 2022 that the incident was a "tragedy on many levels" and that she wishes she had spoken out.

What they're saying: "Turns out bringing 'light inside the body' did not kill COVID as Trump suggested – but this campaign will continue shining a light on Donald Trump's chaos, confusion, and division that devastated this country four years ago," Biden deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty told Axios in a statement.

[Vexari]

Being entertained is much different

Then enlightenment

Where attention is payed

[janice shell]

The whole article is howlingly funny!

[blackhawks]

The Absolute Looniest Trump Trial Takes on Fox News So Far

‘HE NEEDS SUNLIGHT’

Just two days into this historic trial, Fox News has managed to compare Trump both to a civil rights era freedom fighter and a *Roman emperor being assassinated.

*Maximus Stupiditus?

Justin Baragona
Senior Media Reporter

Updated Apr. 23, 2024 4:58PM EDT Published Apr. 23, 2024 3:06PM EDT


Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Getty

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-absolute-looniest-trump-trial-takes-on-fox-news-so-far?utm_source=web_push

After a nearly weeklong jury selection process, the criminal hush-money trial of former President Donald Trump kicked off Monday with opening statements and the prosecution’s first witness—former National Enquirer chief David Pecker.

Monday’s proceedings produced several headlines, such as Pecker discussing his habit of “checkbook journalism” that resulted in him helping arrange a $130,000 payment in 2016 to adult film star Stormy Daniels to kill a story about her alleged one-night stand with Trump.

Over on Fox News, however, much of its trial coverage instead revolved around parroting the ex-president’s grievances about the case and how it is akin to “election interference” since he’s required to appear in court.

While the rest of the cable news landscape has devoted round-the-clock coverage to the trial, the conservative cable giant has mostly dipped in and out. Spending the bulk of its time on the pro-Palestinian protests at Ivy League schools, Fox News has centered a large portion of its Trump trial coverage on criticizing the case and the court’s treatment of the former president.

This has resulted in the right-wing network’s pro-Trump personalities and guests taking increasingly goofy and zany positions to defend the twice-impeached ex-president. For instance, amid reports that Trump has repeatedly dozed off in the courtroom, several Fox Newsers have applauded him for this—even as they simultaneously mock President Joe Biden as “Sleepy Joe.”

But praising the MAGA king for catching some shuteye during his criminal trial isn’t even among the looniest reactions that have made its way to the network’s airwaves this week. Instead, we’ve had a former Speaker of the House compare Trump’s plight to slain Civil Rights-era freedom fighters, a primetime host insist the ex-president is being treated worse than terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, and a morning anchor bring up middle-school indiscretions for some reason.

Let’s take a look at the goofiest takes aired by Fox News:

IT’S “CRUEL” TO KEEP TRUMP OFF THE GOLF COURSE

Primetime host Jesse Watters, a former Bill O’Reilly lackey whose stock in trade is delighting Fox News grandpas with his performatively outrageous antics, was beside himself on Monday that golf-loving ex-president was stuck in the courtroom and not getting enough time on the links.

“The guy needs exercise. He’s usually golfing. And so, you’re going to put a man who’s almost 80, sitting in a room like this on his butt for all that time? It's not healthy,” Watters exclaimed on Monday’s broadcast of The Five. “You know how big of a health nut I am. He needs sunlight and he needs activity. He needs to be walking around, he needs action. It’s really cruel and unusual punishment to make a man do that. And any time he moves, they threaten to throw him in prison!”

Hours later on his solo primetime show, Watters doubled down.

“Trump has been on the move his whole life,” he fumed. “Golf, rallies, movement, action, sunlight, fresh air, freedom. This isn’t lawfare. This is torture. They’re making a 77-year-old man sit in a room for eight hours straight, four days a week.”

GITMO PRISONERS HAVE IT BETTER THAN TRUMP!

Watters’ MAGA propaganda didn’t just stop with demanding that Trump get more rounds of golf. He also asserted that detainees in the infamous Guantanamo Bay prison receive more preferential treatment than the ex-president has been afforded throughout his trial. This included Watters namechecking a notorious al-Qaeda terrorist who has been called the “principal architect of the 9/11 attacks.”

“He has to sit there all week for six weeks. If he says anything, they’ll throw him in jail. If he leaves, they throw him in jail. That’s crazy,” he grumbled on The Five. “They had more allowances for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. I think they bought a million-dollar soccer field for the people in Gitmo. I don’t know if [Mohammed] was able to visit his son for his high school graduation, but it’s similar.”

Despite this claim being repeated ad nauseam on Fox, Judge Juan Merchan has not actually ruled yet that the former president cannot attend his son Barron’s high school graduation.

IT’S JUST LIKE THE END OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC!

During Tuesday’s broadcast of midday roundtable show Outnumbered, Ian Prior—a GOP operative and regular Fox News guest who the network once tried to pass off as just a “concerned parent”—warned that the hush-money trial could result in the end of America.

Reacting to the possibility that Trump could be held in contempt for repeatedly violating the judge’s gag order, Prior likened the ex-president being restricted from attacking trial witnesses and court staff to the fall of Rome.

“The very problem that we have here is we are weaponizing the justice system to go after former presidents. You back up 2,000 years and this is the kind of thing they would do in the Roman Republic that led to the end of the Roman Republic,” he dramatically proclaimed. “Caesar is out there and says if you do not come back to Rome… and face prosecution, what did he do? He crossed the Rubicon and there’s the end of the Republic.”

MIDDLE SCHOOLERS SHOULD BE SCARED!

Just ahead of opening statements on Monday, pro-Trump Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt said that the ex-president facing criminal charges for paying off a porn star to help his election chances could result in—actually, we’re not really sure what she was trying to say.

We’re just going to report and let you decide.

“Does this set a precedent for other people who want to run for president?” Earhardt sighed. “What if they've done something like this in the past and they can say, 'Oh, well, they told me in the 8th grade they want to run for president, so since they paid off a girl when they were 30 years old, then that was election interference!'”

“LITERALLY LIKE” CIVIL RIGHTS WORKERS IN THE ’60S

The award for zaniest take, however, goes to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who claimed that the possibility of serving jail time made Trump akin to slain freedom fighters during the civil rights movement or Marlon Brando’s character in a 1950s classic film.

“I am deeply worried that tomorrow, a totally corrupt judge and a totally corrupt district attorney are going to try to put a former president of the United States, candidate of his party, and front-runner in the polls in jail. Now, I think this is so horrendous that there has to be some way to reach out to the Supreme Court,” the Fox News pundit said on Monday night’s Hannity. “This is literally like some of the civil rights workers in Mississippi in the 1960s. The New York system is now so deeply corrupted and it's so bitterly, deeply anti-Trump.”

Raging about the Biden family’s business dealings and Judge Merchan’s daughter, Gingrich then analogized the trial to an Oscar-winning movie about corrupt unions—while getting the director wrong.

“I mean the whole thing frankly resembles On the Waterfront, Stanley Kubrick's brilliant film. This is about corruption. It has nothing to do with honesty, and what worries me is it's a genuine threat to Donald Trump,” Gingrich huffed. “I mean, I think any step that would put him close to a New York prison is an extraordinarily dangerous step and I would hope that there's some legal way to block it and make sure that it never happens, because the thugs he's dealing with are totally out of control, have total contempt for the rule of law, and frankly are unworthy of being in the offices they hold.”

MY DAD IS LOVED BY “HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS”

Appearing on Trump confidant Sean Hannity’s primetime show on Monday, the ex-president’s son Eric Trump bemoaned that his dad was facing 34 criminal charges over allegedly falsifying business records to cover up the hush-money payment made to Daniels before the 2016 election.

According to the younger Trump, however, his father was too busy running the country to keep track of these records, though he added “not that anything was done wrong in the bookkeeping.” Of course, Trump wasn’t actually president when he allegedly arranged to pay Daniels off to keep her quiet in an effort to keep the story from impacting an upcoming election.

Eric Trump also complained to Hannity that it seemed unfair that his dad was facing criminal charges over such a relatively small amount of money since the vast majority of the American public supposedly loves him. “They’re going after the former president of the United States, a person beloved by hundreds of millions of people in this country, over $130,000,” he groused.

[jbsliverer]

BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION FINALIZES RULE TO INCREASE COMPENSATION THRESHOLDS FOR OVERTIME ELIGIBILITY, EXPANDING PROTECTIONS FOR MILLIONS OF WORKERS
Rule ensures salaried workers making less than $58,656 receive fair pay for long hours
https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20240423-0

WASHINGTON – The Biden-Harris administration today announced a final rule that expands overtime protections for millions of the nation’s lower-paid salaried workers by increasing the salary thresholds required to exempt a salaried bona fide executive, administrative or professional employee from federal overtime pay requirements.

Effective July 1, 2024, the salary threshold will increase to the equivalent of an annual salary of $43,888 and increase to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025. The July 1 increase updates the present annual salary threshold of $35,568 based on the methodology used by the prior administration in the 2019 overtime rule update. On Jan. 1, 2025, the rule’s new methodology takes effect, resulting in the additional increase. In addition, the rule will adjust the threshold for highly compensated employees. Starting July 1, 2027, salary thresholds will update every three years, by applying up-to-date wage data to determine new salary levels.

“This rule will restore the promise to workers that if you work more than 40 hours in a week, you should be paid more for that time,” said Acting Secretary Julie Su. “Too often, lower-paid salaried workers are doing the same job as their hourly counterparts but are spending more time away from their families for no additional pay. That is unacceptable. The Biden-Harris administration is following through on our promise to raise the bar for workers who help lay the foundation for our economic prosperity.”

The department conducted extensive engagement with employers, workers, unions and other stakeholders before issuing its proposed rule in September 2023, and considered more than 33,000 comments in developing its final rule. The updated rule defines and delimits who is a bona fide executive, administrative and professional employee exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime protections.

“The Department of Labor is ensuring that lower-paid salaried workers receive their hard-earned pay or get much-deserved time back with their families,” said Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman. “This rule establishes clear, predictable guidance for employers on how to pay employees for overtime hours and provides more economic security to the millions of people working long hours without overtime pay.”

Key provisions of the final rule include the following:

Expanding overtime protections to lower-paid salaried workers.
Giving more workers pay or valuable time back with their family: By better identifying which employees are executive, administrative or professional employees who should be overtime exempt, the final rule ensures that those employees who are not exempt receive time-and-a-half pay when working more than 40 hours in a week or gain more time with their families.
Providing for regular updates to ensure predictability. The rule establishes regular updates to the salary thresholds every three years to reflect changes in earnings. This protects future erosion of overtime protections so that they do not become less effective over time.
The rule’s effective date is July 1, 2024. Learn more about the department’s efforts to restore and extend overtime protections.

Agency Wage and Hour Division
Date April 23, 2024
Release Number 24-717-NAT
Media Contact: Jake Andrejat
Phone Number 202-693-6139
Email [e-mail]

__________________________________________________________________________

The Department of Labor Just Gave Millions of Workers Overtime Pay
If you make under $58,656, you will soon be entitled to overtime.
https://substack.perfectunion.us/p/the-department-of-labor-just-gave
APR 23, 2024
By Paul Blest, More Perfect Union

Millions of U.S. workers are newly eligible to be paid time-and-a-half for working overtime under a rule finalized today by the Biden administration.

The Department of Labor’s new rule expands the threshold for mandatory overtime to all salaried workers making up to $58,656 per year who work more than 40 hours a week. Under the previous rule, employers were only required to pay overtime to certain workers making up to $35,568—well below the median U.S. salary.

The updated threshold, proposed last year, will expand overtime eligibility to more than 3.5 million more workers. Effective July 1, 2024, the salary threshold will increase to $43,888 and again to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025. The rule also requires that salary thresholds be automatically updated every three years based on up-to-date wage data.

The updated rule also eliminates a loophole by covering managers and supervisors. Under the previous standard, employers could avoid paying overtime wages by giving lower-level workers fraudulent supervisorial titles like “carpet shampoo manager” or “lead shower door installer.” A study released by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that companies used this tactic to avoid $4 billion in overtime payments.


The Biden administration is attempting to reverse a decades-long shift away from overtime protections. As recently as 1975, more than 60 percent of the American workforce was eligible for time-and-a-half; as of 2022, that number was down to around 13 percent.

“This rule will restore the promise to workers that if you work more than 40 hours in a week, you should be paid more for that time,” Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su said in a statement. “Too often, lower-paid salaried workers are doing the same job as their hourly counterparts but are spending more time away from their families for no additional pay. That is unacceptable.”

The new regulation is likely to face opposition from Republicans and business groups. In 2014, then-President Barack Obama’s Department of Labor increased the threshold to everyone making under $47,000 per year, but after a lawsuit from 21 state attorneys general and business groups, a federal judge in Texas struck that rule down in 2017.

In August, the Chamber of Commerce called the new Labor Department rule “the wrong rulemaking at the wrong time,” and said it “hopes that DOL heeds the comments and input from employers and makes significant changes to its proposal.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the ranking Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, echoed big business in a statement that called the proposal “the exact wrong time for the administration to implement such a drastic increase.”

But labor advocates have applauded the push to restore overtime protections. The AFL-CIO said in August that “for millions of families across our country, access to overtime wages would make an enormous difference.”


.

[jbsliverer]

Biden moves to shield patients’ abortion records from GOP threats
By Dan Diamond and Rachel Roubein
Updated April 22, 2024 at 3:30 p.m. EDT|Published April 22, 2024 at 11:35 a.m. EDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/04/22/abortion-medical-records-patients-biden-hipaa/?

__________________________________________________________________________________

Biden Title IX rules set to protect trans students, survivors of abuse
The administration’s regulations offer protections for transgender students, but do not address athletics
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/04/19/titleix-biden-transgender-sexual-assault/
By Laura Meckler
Updated April 19, 2024 at 3:12 p.m. EDT|Published April 19, 2024 at 5:00 a.m. EDT

___________________________________________________________________________________

Not sure how many "low-income" people own their own home, or the ones who do would even be able to take advantage of this. I've been able to take advantage of $1,000's of rebates/tax credits for energy updates from the government and utility companies through President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. But I spent $10's of thousands on energy upgrades to get those credits. I'm not sure how this particular policy will work, but hope it helps to improve and lower costs of solar and allow more people to help with the energy transitions.

Today, my Administration is investing $7 billion in a new program called Solar for All that will enable over 900,000 low-income households to have solar on their rooftops for the first time.

Solar for All will give folks more breathing room – and cleaner breathing room at that.

— President Biden (@POTUS) April 23, 2024

Joe Biden and Democrats passed a $369 BILLION package to combat climate change. It will result in a 40% decrease in carbon emissions by 2030 and 9 million new clean energy jobs.

Not a single Republican voted for it.#BidensClimateRevolution pic.twitter.com/A9REAsySFI

— Aaron Black (@ABlackPolitical) April 22, 2024

.

[blackhawks]

Tuesday TOONs

[blackhawks]

Biden's Lead Grows In New Poll

Source: Meidas Touch

A new poll released by Marist has demonstrated that President Biden's momentum is growing in the polls. The new poll, which observed 1,047 registered voters across America found that in a head-to-head with Donald Trump, President Biden leads by a 3% margin, at 51% versus Trump's 48%.

Significantly, when the poll brings in the likely third-parties, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Biden's lead grows to 5%, with him earning 43% of the vote, Trump earning 38% of the vote, and Kennedy earning just 14% of the vote.

#NEW General Election Poll

🔵 Biden 43% (+5)
🔴 Trump 38%
🟡 Kennedy 14%

Biggest lead for Biden in this poll

Marist #6 - 1,047 RV - 4/18

— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) April 22, 2024

This is President Biden's largest lead in the Marist poll to date, and comes at a critical moment in the presidential campaign.

While President Biden is leading the nation, handling America's national security apparatus, Donald Trump is currently spending time inside the courtroom as opening arguments have begun in Trump's criminal trial.

Read more: https://www.meidastouch.com/news/bidens-lead-grows-in-new-poll

[delerious1]

A Good Read



Paulie's Pixel Palace

[BullNBear52]

I see no humor in the ranting of a mad man who was deeply disturbed enough to set him self on fire.

[BullNBear52]

An Ice Box.

[MasterBlastr]

Johnson severs ties to the MAGA clowns, and proves himself worthy. Well done, Johnson. A man worth saving, if we can't get Jefferies, though we might after all.

[Vexari]

Used as a massive psyop

~~~ To getting them ~~~
(1:06:29)

Where they want to go

- Red heifers, potential provocation in Jerusalem. (0:00)

- Christian Zionism and its connections to Babylonian magic and occult rituals. (3:33)

- Manipulation of Christianity for political gain. (11:09)

- Israeli-Palestinian conflict and potential for self-sacrifice. (14:53)

- Israel's expansion plans and their potential consequences. (20:44)

- Israel-Iran tensions, potential war, and US involvement. (25:43)

- Western Empire decline, manipulation, and potential pushback. (32:25)

- AI replacing human labor, depopulation, and surveillance. (35:48)

- Conspiracy theories and the manipulation of society by powerful entities. (41:30)

- Censorship, free speech, and emergency communication. (46:56)

- Decentralization, censorship, and AI. (51:43)

- Principles and health with a focus on mushroom-based products. (56:56)

- Decentralized tech for free speech and emergency communication. (1:00:50)

To learn more, visit: https://www.semperfryllc.com/

For more updates, visit: http://www.brighteon.com/channel/hrreport

NaturalNews

[janice shell]

Will the Patriotic Chicken be tried? I think she's pretty good, despite her political leanings.

[Paulie Cashews]

I would gladly pay $10 a day to watch the trial on cable.



Paulie's Pixel Palace

[blackhawks]

See my reply on the TA board.

[janice shell]

A remarkable chicken:

[blackhawks]

Image Dump 4/20/24

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218878622





















































https://i.imgur.com/MZF6P2Q.png[img]
[/img]









[img]
https://i.imgur.com/eNcgff2.jpeg[/img]

[delerious1]

China writes off interest-free loans given to Zimbabwe
https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/business/china-writes-off-interest-free-loans-given-to-zimbabwe-4594440?view=htmlamp

[jbsliverer]

GOP -- Guardians Of Putin, at least a big chunk of them.

JUST IN: The DC Circuit has upheld the conviction of former Ron/Rand Paul aide Jesse BENTON for orchestrating an illegal payment from a Russian national to the Trump campaign and RNC. https://t.co/wUv1N3TIvN pic.twitter.com/PrSbEQK3um

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) April 19, 2024

Jesse Reeves Benton (born October 4, 1977) is an American political operative, convicted felon, writer, and entrepreneur. Benton is closely associated with the Paul family, having served as a campaign manager for both Ron Paul and Rand Paul. He is married to Valori Pyeatt, Ron Paul's granddaughter.

Benton served as the campaign manager of Republican Mitch McConnell, until resigning on August 29, 2014, amid rumors surrounding campaign finance allegations during the 2012 presidential election. On August 5, 2015, Benton was indicted by a grand jury on charges arising from an alleged coverup to conceal the expenditure of campaign money to hire an Iowa politician. Four of the five charges were initially thrown out because of misconduct by the prosecutor. Benton was found not guilty at trial on charges of making false statements.

Benton was subsequently re-indicted and was found guilty of conspiring to cause false records to the Federal Election Commission. Benton was given two years probation. He was pardoned by President Donald Trump on December 23, 2020.

Benton was indicted in September 2021 for illegally funneling money he received from a Russian national into the 2016 campaign of Donald Trump. Benton was convicted on November 17, 2022, and sentenced to 18 months in prison on February 17, 2023.


.

[janice shell]

Very likely. But I think he'll present some challenges. He's not dead, so...

[Paulie Cashews]

They'll make him a martyr like Ashli Babbitt.



Paulie's Pixel Palace

[janice shell]

If this is the guy... even YOU couldn't make it up:

https://theponzipapers.substack.com/p/i-have-set-myself-on-fire-outside

You see, it all has to do with the Simpsons. No, not O.J.

[janice shell]

Oh yes!! Absolutely!!

[Paulie Cashews]

How much did Trump pay that guy to set himself on fire?



Paulie's Pixel Palace

[delerious1]

Be My Valentine



Paulie's Pixel Palace

[delerious1]

The Stormy Daniels/Trump Video


Paulie's Pixel Palace

[blackhawks]

Image Dump 4/19/24

















AKA invertebrate roll call

The GOP pic.twitter.com/tFK8nm0hi9

— Seven Inches (@Seven__Inches) April 19, 2024

[blackhawks]

You need a smart appliance with an 'informer' setting to fill you in on what the other appliances may be scheming to do to you. Wouldn't you enjoy, be relieved, hearing 'pssst' from your toaster or blender?

[jbsliverer]

Europe is now fighting a coalition of Russia, Iran and China without American help, thanks to the Republican Party. Ask your congressman why they’re standing with America’s enemy. pic.twitter.com/FA041XGJNI

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) April 19, 2024

.

[janice shell]

I'm honestly not sure. What if it were poisoned, and they all just laughed at me as I choked to death?

[blackhawks]

Gotta be a 'toggle mute' setting for all the smart appliances, so you can't HEAR them conspiring among one another.

But wouldn't it be great if on your birthday you entered the kitchen to a baked and frostinged cake, with lit candles?

[janice shell]

That would be AWFUL. And what if you don't LIKE the food they make? Would they retaliate? How?

[blackhawks]

Yeah, there's probably a smart, chatty, insistent Samsung toaster always asking 'toast in the recipe? Gotta be toast. C'mon I'm really good at this shit, lemme me play in your reindeer games.'

[janice shell]

Well done!

"After that, users can send cooking instructions for these recipes to their various [Samsung] kitchen appliances with just a few key presses," Samsung's announcement stated.

So there's a whole kitchen full of them? Collaborating? That sounds scary. I'd like to see some of those "recipes".

And... Good for Hetty!!

[blackhawks]

Yes, the HAL 2024 Bespoke Refrigerator from Samsung proudly nicknamed, 'HAL Yes!'

In the movie '2001: A Space Odyssey' Hal 9000 was a mission-centric computer programmed to deny permission to/actions by humans that would interfere with the mission. A little harsh for a home appliance.

So Samsung created a more empathetic, user friendly, fridge empowered to help rather than deny, as with recipes.

All of the above is my imagination at play, save for the recipe fridge. Below is the present reality.

New AI-powered fridge technology generates recipes based on diet, food on its shelves

Samsung Electronics' 2024 Bespoke 4-Door Flex Refrigerator with AI Family Hub+1 features an AI-powered camera
that detects over 30 fresh food items

https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/new-ai-powered-fridge-technology-generates-recipes-based-diet-food-shelves

Note how as early as 1968 AI was in lexicon, if not in the semiconductor technology of the time.

[janice shell]

Damn! Is there a brand that isn't so judgmental?