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And this one, with some more examples of "false equivalent" fallacies encouraged and nourished by the political malfeasance. Inflicting death and suffering even upon our children with their positions of influence, all for their own narcissistic power control.
HEALTH
Growing vaccine hesitancy fuels measles, chickenpox resurgence in U.S.
Anti-vaccine sentiment has increased since the pandemic, driven by politicization around the coronavirus vaccine
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By Lena H. Sun
December 26, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EST
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/12/26/vaccine-hesitancy-measles-chickenpox-polio-flu/
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A rapidly growing measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio — largely involving unvaccinated children — is fueling concerns among health officials that more parent resistance to routine childhood immunizations will intensify a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases.
Most of the 81 children infected so far are old enough to get the shots, but their parents chose not to do so, officials said, resulting in the country’s largest outbreak of the highly infectious pathogen this year.
“That is what is causing this outbreak to spread like wildfire,” said Mysheika Roberts, director of the Columbus health department.
The Ohio outbreak, which began in November, comes at a time of heightened worry about the public health consequences of anti-vaccine sentiment, a long-standing problem that has led to drops in child immunization rates in pockets across the United States. The pandemic has magnified those concerns because of controversies and politicization around coronavirus vaccines and school vaccine mandates.
More than a third of parents with children under 18 — and 28 percent of all adults — now say parents should be able to decide not to vaccinate their children for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) to attend public schools, even if remaining unvaccinated may create health risks for others, according to new polling by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health-care research nonprofit.
Public sentiments against vaccine mandates have grown significantly since the pandemic, said Jen Kates, a Kaiser senior vice president. A 2019 poll by the Pew Research Center found that less than a quarter of parents — and 16 percent of all adults — opposed school vaccination requirements.
The growing opposition stems largely from shifts among people who identify as or lean Republican, the Kaiser survey found, with 44 percent saying parents should be able to opt out of those childhood vaccines — more than double the 20 percent who felt that way in 2019.
Adam Moore, a father of three in the Detroit suburbs, said none of his children — 9, 12 and 17 and enrolled in private school — have received routine childhood immunizations, let alone vaccines for the coronavirus or flu. He values personal liberty and says the government has no right telling people what to do with their bodies.
“I find it a hard argument when the government says we’re all for individual liberty on abortion rights and all this other stuff, but when it comes to vaccinations, there’s no such thing as ‘my body, my choice,’” said Moore, 43, an account manager for a marketing company.
Moore, who describes himself as Republican-leaning, said he does not view childhood diseases such as measles and polio, which have resurfaced in recent years, as threats. But if the deadly Ebola virus were circulating, he said, he would want his children to get vaccinated.
Other parents who oppose school immunization mandates echo long-standing misinformation about vaccines that continue to spread via anti-vaccine groups.
Bianca Hernandez, a 37-year-old dog breeder in the Albuquerque metropolitan area, described concerns about the link between vaccine ingredients and autism, a view that has been extensively disproved. She said her two youngest children receive religious exemptions from school vaccination requirements.
CDC expands wastewater surveillance for polio to Michigan, Pennsylvania
Support for immunization mandates has held steady among Democrats, with 88 percent saying that children should be vaccinated to attend public schools because of the potential risk for others when they are not.
Overall, 71 percent of all adults still support school immunization requirements, compared with 82 percent in 2019.
“The situation about increasing negative sentiment about childhood vaccination is concerning, but in absolute terms, vaccines remain the social norm,” said Saad Omer, director of Yale’s Institute for Global Health and an infectious-disease expert who has studied vaccine hesitancy.
Anne Zink, chief medical officer for Alaska’s health department, said that even in a state with historically lower vaccination rates, childhood immunization rates have yet to return to their pre-pandemic levels. In the years before the pandemic, about 65 percent of Alaskan children 19 to 35 months old had completed their routine childhood immunizations. By the end of 2021, 46 percent had.
“I think there is more mistrust of the government, there’s more questioning of vaccines, and we’ve been having a harder time getting people vaccinated,” said Zink, who is also president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
A few weeks ago, Zink, an emergency room doctor, saw her first case of chickenpox when a young woman walked into the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in Palmer covered in large, painful lesions. The woman said she and her family did not believe in vaccinations and told Zink she thought chickenpox no longer existed.
A nurse in Mount Vernon, Ohio, administers the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in 2019. (Paul Vernon/AP)
“I was like, ‘Well, it really doesn’t when all of us choose to get vaccinated, but you aren’t vaccinated, your family’s not vaccinated, and the people you hang out with are not vaccinated. Chickenpox has been spreading in your community, and now you’re really sick,’” Zink recalled.
In the past, Zink said, herd immunity would have protected the woman against such childhood diseases. But that protection has waned as anti-vaccine sentiment grows, she said.
To distance its push for vaccination from the current political narrative, the Alaska health department recently brought back images and language from a 1960s promotion for polio vaccination. The new social media campaign uses the vintage Wellbee cartoon and rocket — “Get a booster!” — to remind people that immunization has always been part of the country’s history.
It is too early to see the effects of eroding public support for school vaccination requirements on childhood immunization rates because federal data typically lag by about two years. During the pandemic, routine vaccination rates slipped because of school closures and because children were not going to the doctor.
The growing negative attitudes about school immunization requirements are troubling for health workers. Kentucky officials are urging that people get flu shots after six children — none of whom were vaccinated — died after contracting influenza. South Carolina officials had also promoted childhood vaccinations after two chickenpox outbreaks in March — the first since 2020 — affected nearly 70 people.
A case of paralytic polio in a New York man this summer prompted worry that low childhood immunization rates and rising vaccine misinformation could result in the disease’s resurgence, decades after vaccination had eliminated it in the United States.
“There is definitely a group of parents who have shifted their attitudes,” said Jennifer Heath, immunizations program coordinator for Minnesota’s health department who works on vaccine hesitancy and outreach. “Part of it is true attitude shift. But part is a disconnection to the primary care provider, the human being who’s telling you that vaccines are important.”
School vaccination requirements are among the most effective tools to keep children healthy. All states and the District of Columbia require children to be vaccinated against certain diseases, such as measles, polio and whooping cough, to attend public school. All states grant exemptions based on medical reasons; a growing number allow religious or philosophical exemptions.
D.C. also requires students 12 and older to be vaccinated against covid-19 but has delayed enforcing the mandate until the 2023-2024 school year. California has a pending statewide student coronavirus vaccine mandate that will not take effect until after July 2023. Nearly two dozen states have some form of ban against student coronavirus vaccine mandates.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends children get two doses of MMR vaccine, with the first dose at 12 to 15 months, and the second dose between 4 and 6 years old. One dose of the vaccine is about 93 percent effective in preventing measles, one of the most infectious pathogens on the planet that can cause serious complications, including death. Two doses are about 97 percent effective at preventing the disease.
In the Ohio measles outbreak, only three of the 81 children had received a single dose of vaccine, according to state data. None were known to be fully vaccinated.
“I think some of these attitudes were here before the pandemic, and then we probably picked up some additional community members who were accepting of vaccines before but now maybe are more critical about vaccines as a result of what transpired with the coronavirus vaccine,” Roberts said.
Some of the cases occurred in Columbus’s large Somali community, the second-largest Somali population in the United States after the Minneapolis area, Roberts said. Parents have said they “intentionally delayed” giving their children the measles vaccine because of their fear of autism, she said, despite considerable research disproving any relationship between vaccines and autism. Those fears echoed similar concerns of parents in Minnesota’s Somali community during a 2017 measles outbreak that infected 75 children, mostly unvaccinated preschool kids.
Minnesota is also battling a new measles outbreak — 22 cases — as vaccine hesitancy around the MMR vaccine continues to be an issue, said Doug Schultz, spokesman for the Minnesota health department.
Officials are bracing for more cases in the coming weeks as families travel and gather indoors for the holidays. At least 29 of the Ohio children have been hospitalized, some so sick they required intensive care.
Most of the sickened children — 78 percent — are Black, 6 percent are Asian, 6 percent are White, and 4 percent are Hispanic, according to Columbus officials.
Because the measles virus is so contagious, an overall community vaccination rate of about 90 to 94 percent is needed to keep the virus from causing large outbreaks, according to infectious-disease experts. In the United States, nearly 91 percent of children have received at least one dose of the MMR vaccine by age 2. In the Columbus area, Roberts said, the measles vaccination rate is estimated at 80 to 90 percent, but health-care providers are not required to report data to Ohio’s vaccine registry.
Even if overall coverage in a community is high, measles can transmit easily in clusters of under-vaccinated or unvaccinated people. The Columbus outbreak began when one or two unvaccinated people traveled to countries where measles is still common between June and October and infected others in the community, Roberts said.
A sign warns people of measles in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in New York's Williamsburg neighborhood in 2019. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
In recent years, many of the measles cases reported to the CDC have occurred in underimmunized, close-knit communities, where anti-vaccine misinformation has gained a foothold. In 2019, the United States reported the highest annual number of measles cases — 1,294 — in more than 25 years; three-fourths of those cases occurred among New York’s Orthodox Jewish communities. Outbreaks have also occurred among the Amish in Ohio and Eastern European groups in the Pacific Northwest.
After consulting with counterparts in Minnesota, health officials in Ohio have been working closely with the Somali community to increase vaccination uptake without stigmatizing them. Columbus public health workers have hosted vaccine clinics at a community center and a mosque and are conducting home visits to provide shots. They have also reached out to schools, day-care centers and grocery stores about the importance of vaccination.
The efforts appear to be making a difference.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus recently saw a 20 percent increase in the number of parents seeking the MMR vaccine, Roberts said. The health department, too, has seen a small uptick in vaccinations.
“They are trickling in,” she said, “slowly but surely.”
A couple more supplemental articles to;
"Can politics kill you? Research says the answer increasingly is yes."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/can-politics-kill-you-research-says-the-answer-increasingly-is-yes/ar-AA15mXKd
It's not only killing, it is mass killing 100's of thousands, and is detrimentally effecting 100's of thousands more (over time, millions) with their political malfeasance.
DeSantis’s request for COVID vaccine probe denounced by health experts
BY JOSEPH CHOI - 12/26/22 6:17 PM ET
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3786927-desantiss-request-for-covid-vaccine-probe-denounced-by-health-experts/
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) petition for a grand jury investigation into COVID-19 vaccines, in which he decries the ongoing vaccine campaign as “propaganda” by the Biden administration, is drawing fierce criticism from health experts.
Physicians and public health experts say his request betrays decades of established procedure designed to ensure the safety and efficacy of the vaccines, and only serves to stoke further immunization fears.
DeSantis’s petition for a grand jury investigation was approved by the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday, clearing the way for what his office described as a probe into “wrongdoing committed against Floridians related to the COVID-19 vaccine.”
The request was first made known during a roundtable discussion the Florida governor held last week, in which he condemned what he viewed as the linking of morality to pandemic mitigation methods such as staying at home in the early parts of the outbreak and getting vaccinated once the shots became available later on, and criticized federal COVID-19 guidance as being a “huge political farce.”
In his petition, DeSantis expressed suspicion over the COVID-19 vaccines’ ability to prevent transmission of the virus, as well as public statements made on the subject by officials like President Biden and outgoing chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci. As has been previously stated by physicians and researchers, no vaccine is 100 percent effective, but studies have consistently shown the coronavirus vaccines offer strong enough protection for recipients to prevent severe disease, hospitalization and death.
“It is impossible to imagine that so many influential individuals came to this view on their own. Rather, it is likely that individuals and companies with an incentive to do so created these perceptions for financial gain,” DeSantis suggested in his petition.
Public health experts and physicians, however, said DeSantis’s approach to scrutinizing the vaccines was flawed and counterproductive to promoting public health.
Brian Castrucci, president and CEO of public health group the de Beaumont Foundation, said DeSantis “appears to be focused on creating fear around vaccines that have been shown to be safe and effective,” rather than protecting the lives of Floridians.
“These vaccines have been tested and scrutinized more than any other vaccine, and they continue to save lives. Vaccine safety is not a partisan issue and attempting to make it one puts lives at risk,” Castrucci added.
Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at Johns Hopkins University and former principal deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said in a statement to The Hill that while there are legitimate avenues for evaluating vaccine recommendations, DeSantis’s investigation request was not an example of one.
“This is turning a matter of health and science into a political wedge issue, with the likely consequence that many people will be misled into placing themselves and their families at risk of serious illness and death,” Sharfstein said.
Other public health experts similarly disagreed with the avenue the governor has chosen for reviewing the COVID-19 vaccine guidance.
“His understanding of the facts or at least his articulation of the facts are just wrong,” Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told The Hill. Commenting shortly before the court’s decision, Benjamin said he hoped the petition was denied, as he considered such an investigation “a waste of taxpayer money and time and effort.”
“No one has either inappropriately or purposely either overstated or understated the vaccine in any way,” said Benjamin. “It’s a brand-new technology. Like any brand-new technology, you make some assumptions about what you think’s going to happen. It actually turned out to be a whole lot better than most people thought it would be.”
William Schaffner, professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University’s department of health policy and its division of infectious diseases, said he was “baffled” by DeSantis’s assertion that influential public health officials could not have come to same conclusion when it came to the vaccines.
As Schaffner noted, there are two independent panels composed of voluntary, external experts who advise federal agencies on vaccine policy. These committees are the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee at the FDA and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for which Schaffner is an ex-officio member, usually a nonvoting position within the group.
“That committee has been working for more than 60 years, and it deals with all vaccines. And it establishes the standards of practice as to who ought to receive the vaccines,” Schaffner said of the ACIP, noting committee meetings are entirely open to the public. “So, this is a rigorous, externally vetted, very critical process and it’s transparent … it is a model of open regulatory and recommending processes.”
In addition to expressing suspicion over the vaccine’s ability to prevent transmission, DeSantis further asserted that the risk of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, could possibly outweigh the benefits conferred by immunization.
Myocarditis is a rare side effect of mRNA vaccination that has been observed to be more common among young male patients. Both the ACIP and the CDC have previously determined that the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis, an inflammation of the muscles surrounding the heart, is outweighed by the benefits of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
Both Benjamin and Schaffner pushed back against DeSantis’s suggestion, stating that the risk of myocarditis was in fact higher in COVID-19 infections than in coronavirus immunizations. Schaffner referred to myocarditis following vaccination as a “transient phenomenon” from which the vast majority of patients fully recovered, which has also been observed by the CDC in surveys.
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“I’ve worked for governors and mayors and there’s clearly a role for elected officials to provide the appropriate moral leadership in our communities and governance leadership,” Benjamin said. “But I think that they get in trouble when they try to practice medicine.”
“They’re smart and, you know, they can certainly give an appropriate message. But the message is not as credible when they get into the weeds and start arguing really technical details without having the background and training,” he said.
When reached for a response to some of the criticisms relayed to The Hill, DeSantis’s office referred back the roundtable discussion the governor held.
Judges are required, amongst many other things, to have a great amount of impartiality and generally speak in those terms. Even though more and more of them don't. But when they judicate, they decide who's guilty or more guilty or preside over the ones who do. And after the decision the judge has the task of determining the solutions restricted by the legal guidelines already decided and determined.
One of the biggest factors of determining the sentencing (or solutions) is in law called, "acceptance of responsibility", and degree or severity of the crimes. In which every judge uses to determine the degree of solutions and reparations that they impose. They (at least the good ones) don't use the "false equivalencies" so regularly thrown at them.
That "acceptance of responsibility" is instilled and adhered to in many other legal and social forms. Parole, probation, drug and alcohol recovery, even divorce and civil debate. No terms of any agreements or restitutions determined can be made without the elimination of false equivalencies and acceptance of responsibility to the severity of the crimes.
The abuse with false equivalencies and non acceptance of that you continue to be inclined to do are only contributing to the decline of realistic solutions, and definitely not dealing with the reality of it all. "Both sides same" ideal is hogwash and only perpetrating the failures of your argument.
The time of debate over "both sides do it" and determining solutions to the "equal" differences are long gone. Any viable "solutions" of the equal sides problem years gone by have also changed with the times. Many of the previous solutions of civility and workability will only fail and have failed.
Ex: Putin says ready to negotiate, West and Ukraine not. Relates to or implies that "they are both responsible for the division [faced] both perpetuate it...".
Solving problems (coming up with solutions) is accepting the cause and determining the equation from the facts.
https://www.developgoodhabits.com/false-equivalence/#:~:text=False%20equivalencies
In general, drawing comparisons between things can be useful. However, comparisons are not always apt and we sometimes end up drawing comparisons between things that are actually not alike.
A false equivalence is a type of logical fallacy in which a person attempts to draw an equivalence between two things based on the presence of a few shared features when those two things are not alike in the relevant respects. False equivalencies are a type of fallacy because they exaggerate the similarities or downplay the differences between two or more things in order to draw some kind of comparison.
False equivalencies are a broad category of fallacies and can be used to draw comparison between many types of things. False equivalencies are especially common in debates on ethics, where they are used to draw moral equivalences between two things.
What You Will Learn [show]
What Makes an Equivalence “False”?
Let’s take a look at a simple example of a false equivalence.
“Dogs have tails and feet, and cats have tails and feet. Therefore, dogs are equivalent to cats.”
It is obvious to see why this argument falls flat. Simply the fact that two things might have similar properties does not mean they are equivalent in all respects. The fact that both dogs and cats have tails and feet in no way guarantees that they are equivalent or even alike in any other way.
The above argument is intentionally absurd to help identify the fallacy. But it can be hard to spot false equivalencies in the wild. Consider this argument:
“Taxation is morally equivalent to theft because they both involve taking property with the threat of violence.”
Bob is drawing a moral equivalence between theft and taxation because they share some similar features; e.g they both involve someone taking something from you with either an implicit or explicit threat of violence.
However, one could argue that this argument commits a false equivalence because theft and taxation are not similar in the relevant respects. Theft involves taking without agreement or without compensation. Taxation is something decided on by a democratic government and you are compensated by the things that the taxes pay for. The two things are different enough that they are not actually morally equivalent.
In general, an equivalence is “false” when:
The argument exaggerates how similar two things are for the purposes of drawing a comparison: The two things being compared might not actually have as much in common as the arguer asserts.
The similar features being focused on are not relevant to the conclusion being drawn: A common variant is to focus on similar elements that are irrelevant to the larger point being drawn.
The argument focuses on similar features of two things while ignoring relevant differences that make them dissimilar: Very often, false equivalence arguments focus heavily on similar features while conveniently ignoring important differences that may invalidate the comparison.
The argument compares two things that are similar but on completely different orders of magnitude: For example, an argument comparing two things that are conceptually similar but vastly different in scope and context might be a false equivalence.
Whether or not the two things being compared are similar enough in the relevant respects depends on the context of the specific debate. For instance, in a discussion about global slavery in general, it may be appropriate to draw some equivalencies between the experiences of white slaves and black slaves. However, in the context of a discussion about US slavery specifically, drawing such an equivalence may not be justified.
The basic idea behind a false equivalence is captured by the common phrase “you can’t compare apples to oranges.”
Logical Form of False Equivalences
Here is the standard logical form of a false equivalence fallacy.
A and B share properties a, b, and, c
Therefore, A and B also share properties d, e, or, f.
Alternatively, in the case of moral equivalencies, the form looks something like this:
Actions/Persons X and Y share some features
Therefore, X and Y are equally good/equally bad
When put into symbolic form, it is easy to see why this argument pattern is invalid. The mere presence of similarities between two things is in no way a justification to assert that those two things are equivalent. Additionally, the fact that two actions might have superficial similarities does not mean they are morally equivalent, as the context and significance of those actions can differ.
Fallacies of equivalence are not so much fallacies of logic as they are rhetorical fallacies. False equivalences are a common rhetorical trick used to present two viewpoints as equally reasonable when one position is clearly deficient. This kind of “both sides-ism” is particularly pernicious because it trains us to ignore relevant differences between things when convenient.
False equivalencies are often combined with other fallacies. For example, they often come with strawman fallacies by distorting an opponent’s position to draw an erroneous comparison.
5 Examples of False Equivalence Fallacies
1. Gun Control
A very common false equivalence in debates about gun control attempts to equate all kinds of objects that can cause violence as fundamentally the same:
“We can’t ban guns just because they can be used to hurt people. After all, cars can be used to hurt people, so if we ban guns then we would have to ban cars too!”
This argument is fallacious because it draws a false equivalence between guns and cars based simply on the fact that they can be used to hurt people. True, both cars and guns can hurt people. The main difference is that guns are designed specifically to kill whereas cars are not.
Moreover, there is a lot of evidence that a high prevalence of guns is associated with a high incidence of violent crime. The same is not true of cars.
2. Discussions About Racism
False equivalencies are often deployed in discussions about racism as a way to minimize and deflect away from the experiences and suffering of oppressed groups, or to deny that systemic racism against minorities in society exists. Here is an example:
“Affirmative action for college admissions is racist. It is racist because it singles people out and makes a decision based on their skin color, which is just as racist as denying minorities based on race.”
This argument draws a false equivalence between affirmative action policies and denying applicants based on race. The idea is that both actions are based on race, so they both must be racist.
The two cases are not equivalent though. Affirmative action programs are meant to address and correct historical racial inequalities. These sorts of race-conscious decisions are not racist because they are not aimed to exclude anyone but make colleges more inclusive. Conversely, denying admissions based on race sustains and furthers racial inequality.
Additionally, affirmative action admissions are not based on race alone, but also other features like academics and socio-economic status.
3. Climate Change
Being a politically charged topic, false equivalencies abound in discussions about climate change. Here is one that you might have heard:
“Many scientists believe that climate change is happening and is caused by humans, but there are those who disagree and think it’s a hoax. So we don’t really know and it’s reasonable to believe either way.”
This is a clear false equivalence because it implies that those who claim that climate change is a hoax have equally compelling evidence as those that think it is real. This is false though; all available evidence points to the reality of anthropogenic climate change and none of it points to it being a hoax. The two positions are in no way equally reasonable and they do not hold equal weight.
4. Veganism/Vegetarianism
Vegans, unfortunately, get a lot of hate online and many false equivalencies get thrown their way on the regular. Here is a very common one:
“Vegans are hypocrites. They claim they love animals but they still kill and eat plants which are living things.”
This is a blatant false equivalence because it draws a moral equivalence between eating animals and eating plants. The two are not similar at all though. True, plants and animals are both living, but plants cannot feel pain and suffering, or at least not nearly to as great a degree as animals.
moral equivalence fallacy examples | false equivalence synonym | dangers of false equivalence
Many false equivalencies get thrown at vegans on the regular.
Moreover, even if plants did feel pain, eating plants and not animals would still minimize total suffering as the majority of plants grown today are used to feed the animals we eventually eat. Vegans care about minimizing suffering and eating a plant-based diet is one way to do that.
5. Politics
False equivalencies, along with slippery slopes and either-or fallacies, are very common in the realm of politics.
“Both candidates A and B did x, y, and z, so they are exactly the same and there is no difference between their actions.”
This argument might initially seem legitimate, but it fails because 2 people could do the same actions but in radically different contexts and scopes. For example, both Joe Biden and Donald Trump threatened to withhold aid from Ukrainian officials. However, Biden did so because Ukraine was not abiding by previously agreed-upon measures to combat corruption. Trump did so to dig up dirt on his political rivals. The context makes the evaluation of the action different.
Responding to False Equivalencies
There are a couple of ways you could go about responding to a false equivalence fallacy. The general strategy is to show why the equivalence is not an apt comparison.
Point out that the identified similarities are exaggerated or oversimplified.
Point out that, while similarities exist, there are important differences that render the comparison moot.
Highlight any relevant difference between the two cases being presented as equivalent.
Present a counterexample that, according to the fallacious argument, is also equivalent but that also contradicts their main point.
Ask your opponent to justify their assertion that the two things are in fact equivalent.
Keep in mind that sometimes, drawing equivalences between things is a perfectly legitimate form of analogical reasoning. You can draw conclusions by comparing two things, as long as those things share features that are relevant to the conclusion you are trying to demonstrate.
For example, drawing an equivalence between animal suffering and human suffering might be acceptable in a debate about the permissibility of animal testing. Whether or not a specific comparison will be legitimate depends on the context.
Final Thoughts on False Equivalencies
Drawing comparisons between things can be a useful form of reasoning but can lead us into fallacious thought. The human brain has a tendency to simplify complex issues, which is why it is so easy to fall into false equivalence fallacies.
However, you can avoid committing a false equivalence by being conscientious with your arguments. You should ask yourself whether you are equating two things with the proper justification. Try to present a counter-example to your own view. That way you will be able to handle false equivalencies when they appear in the wild.
Learn More About Logical Fallacies
5 Appeal to Nature Fallacy Examples in Media and Life
6 Outcome Bias Examples That Can Negatively Impact Your Decisions
7 Self-Serving Bias Examples You See Throughout Life
7 Omission Bias Examples That Negatively Impact Your Life
6 Authority Bias Examples That Might Impact Your Decisions
5 Burden of Proof Fallacy Examples
5 Appeal to Tradition Fallacy Examples in Life
5 Appeal to Authority Logical Fallacy Examples
7 False Cause Fallacy Examples
7 Appeal to Ignorance Fallacy Examples
7 Appeal to Common Sense Logical Fallacy Examples
5 Post Hoc Fallacy Examples (and How to Respond to This Argument)
Gambler’s Fallacy: 5 Examples and How to Avoid It
5 Appeal to Anger Fallacy Examples Throughout Life
7 Halo Effect Bias Examples in Your Daily Life
7 Poisoning the Well Examples Throughout Your Life
7 Survivorship Bias Examples You See in the Real World
7 Dunning Kruger Effect Examples in Your Life
5 Cui Bono Fallacy Examples to Find Out “Who Will Benefit”
6 Anchoring Bias Examples That Impact Your Decisions
7 Virtue Signaling Examples in Everyday Life
7 Cherry Picking Fallacy Examples for When People Ignore Evidence
9 Circular Reasoning Examples (or “Begging the Question”) in Everyday Life
9 Appeal to Emotion Logical Fallacy Examples
9 Appeal to Pity Fallacy (“Ad Misericordiam”) Examples in Everyday Life
9 Loaded Question Fallacy Examples in Life and Media
9 Confirmation Bias Fallacy Examples In Everyday Life
9 Bandwagon Fallacy Examples to Prevent Poor Decisions
5 Red Herring Fallacy Examples to Fight Irrelevant Information
9 Middle Ground Fallacy Examples to Spot During an Argument
7 Hasty Generalization Fallacy Examples & How to Respond to Them
6 False Dichotomy Examples & How to Counter Them
What is the Planning Fallacy?
How to Overcome the “Sunk Cost Fallacy” Mindset
Finally, if you want a simple process to counter the logical fallacies and cognitive biases you encounter in life, then follow this 7-step process to develop the critical thinking skills habit.
Merry holidays to you too. Savor the cooler 80 degrees of Xmas there, middle of summer extremes coming next. For the rest of the US;
3 minute readDecember 23, 20226:13 PM MSTLast Updated a day ago
Storm cuts U.S. oil, gas, power output, sending prices higher
By Erwin Seba and Scott Disavino
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/storm-cuts-us-oil-gas-power-output-sending-prices-higher-2022-12-23/
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Kinder Morgan Inc
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Dec 23 (Reuters) - Frigid cold and blowing winds on Friday knocked out power and cut energy production across the United States, driving up heating and electricity prices as people prepared for holiday celebrations.
Winter Storm Elliott brought sub-freezing temperatures and extreme weather alerts to about two-thirds of the United States, with cold and snow in some areas to linger through the Christmas holiday.
More than 1.5 million homes and businesses lost power, oil refineries in Texas cut gasoline and diesel production on equipment failures, and heating and power prices surged on the losses. Oil and gas output from North Dakota to Texas suffered freeze-ins, cutting supplies.
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Some 1.5 million barrels of daily refining capacity along the U.S. Gulf Coast was shut due to the bitterly cold temperatures. The production losses are not expected to last, but they have lifted fuel prices.
Knocked out were TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), Motiva Enterprises (MOTIV.UL) and Marathon Petroleum (MPC.N) facilities outside Houston. Cold weather also disrupted Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), LyondellBasell (LYB.N) and Valero Energy (VLO.N) plants in Texas that produce gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
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TC Energy to restart Keystone oil pipeline segment after regulator approval
Enel signs state-backed credit line worth 12 bln euros
Sempra Infrastructure's Cameron LNG plant in Louisiana said weather disrupted its production of liquefied natural gas without providing details. Crews at the 12 million tonne-per-year facility were trying to restore output, it said.
Freeze-ins - in which ice crystals halt oil and gas production - this week trimmed production in North Dakota's oilfields by 300,000 to 350,000 barrels per day, or a third of normal. In Texas's Permian oilfield, the freeze led to more gas being withdrawn than was injected, said El Paso Natural Gas operator Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI.N).
U.S. benchmark oil prices on Friday jumped 2.4% to $79.56, and next-day gas in west Texas jumped 22% to around $9 per million British thermal units , the highest since the state's 2021 deep freeze.
Power prices on Texas's grid also spiked to $3,700 per megawatt hour, prompting generators to add more power to the grid before prices fell back as thermal and solar supplies came online.
New England's bulk power supplier said it expected to have enough to supply demand, but elsewhere strong winds led to outages largely in the Southeast and Midwest; North Carolina counted more than 187,000 without power.
"Crews are restoring power but high winds are making repairs challenging at most of the 4,600 outage locations," Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks wrote on Twitter.
Heating oil and natural gas futures rose sharply in response to the cold. U.S. heating oil futures gained 4.3% while natural gas futures rose 2.5%.
In New England, gas for Friday at the Algonquin hub soared 361% to a near 11-month high of $30 mmBtu.
About half of the power generated in New England comes from gas-fired plants, but on the coldest days, power generators shift to burn more oil. According to grid operator New England ISO, power companies' generation mix was at 17% from oil-fired plants as of midday Friday.
Gas output dropped about 6.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) over the past four days to a preliminary nine-month low of 92.4 bcfd on Friday as wells froze in Texas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
That is the biggest drop in output since the February 2021 freeze knocked out power for millions in Texas.
One billion cubic feet is enough gas to supply about 5 million U.S. homes for a day.
Here's and interesting take on the accounting of it.
Only about a third of the FY2023 spending bill is for programs unrelated to military and law enforcement
Speaking Security Newsletter | Note n°190 | 23 December 2022
Stephen Semler
Dec 23
Situation
The House just passed the FY2023 omnibus bill, sending it to Biden’s desk for approval. Here’s a breakdown of the 12 regular appropriations bills and two supplemental measures that make up the omnibus legislation. Outside of Department of Defense (DOD) appropriations, the FY2023 bill primarily fattens up on Military Construction/Veterans Affairs funding.
Analysis
Democratic leadership is claiming victory, citing the omnibus’s inclusion of the “highest level for [sic] non-defense funding ever.” The implication is that non-military spending is the same as social spending. It is not.
Consider the military aid programs sponsored by the State Department (DOS), nuclear weapons programs in the Department of Energy (DOE) budget, and recurring post-war expenses that go to veterans care and benefits. Consider also Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) law enforcement and prison operations and grants to state and local police. Outside of the Department of Defense base budget, I counted almost $300 billion in military- and law enforcement-related spending.
What the following tally amounts to is a more nuanced accounting of “security spending” as defined by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (PL 112-25). That categorization includes the same stuff as I do here—the DOD budget, VA funding, DOE nuclear weapons programs, DOS military aid, DHS law enforcement—however, that definition considers the entire DHS budget, whereas I only count its law enforcement provisions (so, for example, I exclude FEMA from my count, except for its grant programs for state and local police). Another point of departure: I factor in some DOJ activities. (See the itemized list of appropriations I considered in this analysis, below.)
All appropriations considered: Department of Defense and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bills; Department of Homeland Security Title II provisions (Customs and Border Protection; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Transportation Security Administration; Coast Guard provisions in DHS; Secret Service; FEMA police grants); State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance and COPS Program; Bureau of Prisons; Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; Drug Enforcement Administration; Marshals Service; Parole Commission; Federal Bureau of Investigation; DOJ National Security Division; Interagency Crime and Drug Enforcement; the military aid portion of the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023; DOD and BOP facilities in the Disaster Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023; State Department Title IV, International Security Assistance; National Nuclear Security Administration.
-Stephen (@stephensemler; stephen@securityreform.org)
https://stephensemler.substack.com/p/only-about-a-third-of-the-fy2023
Schiff urges Americans not to forget role of GOP members of Congress in efforts to overturn election
BY JARED GANS - 12/24/22 1:28 PM ET
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3787565-schiff-urges-americans-not-to-forget-role-of-gop-members-of-congress-in-efforts-to-overturn-election/
Schiff said in an op-ed published Thursday in The New York Times that only “scant attention” is given to the number of GOP members of the House and Senate who voted to contest the results of multiple states in the election.
“Even after Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police put down the insurrection at great cost to themselves, the majority of Republicans in the House picked up right where they left off, still voting to overturn the results in important states,” he said.
After Congress reconvened to count the votes of the Electoral College following the attack, 147 Republican members of Congress — eight senators and 139 representatives — objected to the results in Arizona or Pennsylvania, both of which were key states that helped seal President Biden’s victory in the election.
“Even the Constitution cannot protect us if the people sworn to uphold it do not give meaning to their oath of office, if that oath is not informed by ideas of right and wrong, and if people are unwilling to accept the basic truth of things,” Schiff said. “None of it will be enough.”
Schiff’s op-ed came on the same day that the committee released its final report on the insurrection. The committee made four criminal referrals for former President Trump to the Justice Department (DOJ) earlier in the week.
The committee also referred multiple Republican representatives who refused to comply with its subpoenas to the House Ethics Committee. They include House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), Scott Perry (Pa.) and Andy Biggs (Ariz.).
Schiff said the country’s elected officials should be chosen based on their allegiance to the law and the Constitution and people should be guided by facts, “not factions.”
“It is our hope that this report will make a small contribution to that effort. Our country has never before faced the kind of threat we documented. May it never again,” he said.
Five signs Biden is definitely running for another term
Judge dismisses remainder of Kari Lake’s election lawsuit following two-day trial
Schiff also outlined the next steps following the committee’s report in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times on Friday. He said the DOJ should hold itself to the standard it established at the start of its investigation into the attack as it determines what charges to pursue — a standard Schiff described simply as “follow the evidence wherever it leads.”
Among other reforms, he also called for Congress to pass legislation to clarify the House’s authority to enforce its subpoenas and that the vice president only has a ceremonial role in counting the votes of the Electoral College. Congress approved the Electoral Count Reform Act, which makes the latter clarification, as part of the omnibus government funding bill this week, sending the bill to Biden’s desk.
Schiff additionally called on the country to confront the “rising tide” of bigotry and racially motivated violent extremism.
Arizona judge rejects Kari Lake’s election challenge and confirms Hobbs’ victory
Marshall Cohen Eric Bradner
By Gregory Clary, Marshall Cohen, Sonnet Swire and Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 3:50 PM EST, Sat December 24, 2022
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/24/politics/kari-lake-arizona-lawsuit-governor-election/index.html
An Arizona judge on Saturday rejected Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s lawsuit attempting to overturn her defeat, concluding that there wasn’t clear or convincing evidence of misconduct, and affirming the victory of Democratic Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs.
Lake, who lost to Hobbs by about 17,000 votes in November, sued in an effort to overturn the election. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson allowed a two-day trial on some of Lake’s claims, which concluded late Thursday afternoon.
The court ruling marks a major defeat for Lake, who built her candidacy on her support for former President Donald Trump’s lies about widespread election fraud in the 2020 presidential election. She has since falsely claimed to have won last month’s election.
Saturday’s ruling is also the latest blow for election deniers nationwide and harks back to the long stream of legal losses Trump suffered in 2020 as he sought to challenge his election loss.
In a tweet after the ruling, Lake, who sat in the courtroom during the trial but did not testify, said she would appeal the decision “for the sake of restoring faith and honesty in our elections.”
Thompson previously dismissed eight other counts alleged in Lake’s lawsuit prior to trial, ruling that they did not constitute proper grounds for an election contest under Arizona law, even if true. But he permitted Lake an attempt to prove at trial the two remaining counts involving printers and the ballot chain of custody in Maricopa County.
The county, which spans the Phoenix area and houses a majority of Arizona’s population, was a hotbed of unfounded allegations of voter disenfranchisement in the midterms and 2020 election.
Technical experts who testified in support of Lake provided analysis that “does not nearly approach the degree of precision” needed to conclude that the election results were tainted,” Thompson said in his ruling.
After the election, Lake falsely claimed that a mishap with some printers in Maricopa County was part of a deliberate effort to rig the vote against her. But the judge’s ruling noted that Lake’s “own witness testified before this Court that … printer failures were largely the result of unforeseen mechanical failure.”
According to Thompson’s ruling, Lake’s team had to show that someone intentionally caused the county’s ballot-on-demand printers to malfunction – and as a result of that, enough “identifiable” votes were lost to change the outcome of the election.
“Every single witness before the Court disclaimed any personal knowledge of such misconduct. The Court cannot accept speculation or conjecture in place of clear and convincing evidence,” Thompson wrote.
‘That’s political malpractice’
During the two-day trial, Lake’s legal team broadly criticized Maricopa County’s management of the election and claimed that long lines led Republican would-be voters to turn away on Election Day.
Tom Liddy, a lawyer for Maricopa County, faulted Lake’s campaign and the Arizona Republican Party for casting doubt on the validity of early and mail-in votes, which left GOP voters bearing the brunt of minor issues on Election Day.
“That’s political malpractice,” said Liddy, a Republican. “You reap what you sow.”
Kari Lake, who lost the Arizona governor's race, on at a Turning Points USA conference on Sunday, December 18, 2022.
Maricopa County elections officials push back on Lake's fraud claims as trial ends
Maricopa County elections co-director Scott Jarrett detailed the causes of printing problems in some polling places on Election Day that resulted in on-site ballot tabulators being unable to read some ballots.
Jarrett said in some printers, toner wasn’t dark enough – a problem that resulted in voters whose ballots couldn’t be read having to place their ballots in “door 3,” a secure box used for ballots that would need to be counted later at a central location. Jarrett said about 17,000 ballots ended up in “door 3” boxes across the county.
He also said that at three of the county’s 223 sites, “shrink to fit” settings were improperly selected on ballot printers by technicians who were attempting to solve those toner problems. That resulted in about 1,300 ballots being printed slightly too small for on-site tabulators to process.
Those ballots were later duplicated by hand and then counted, he said.
He said he had “no reason to believe” any of the problems were the result of intentional misconduct. All of those votes, he said, were ultimately counted after they were transferred to a bipartisan duplication board.
Lake’s team had also claimed at the trial that employees at Runbeck, a Maricopa County ballot processing contractor, had improperly inserted their own ballots and those of family members into batches to be counted on site, rather than returning those ballots through proper channels.
In response, Rey Valenzuela, the Maricopa County co-director of elections in charge of early voting, said that the county had never authorized Runbeck employees to deliver ballots directly to the Runbeck site and that he was not aware of the contractor’s employees ever having done so.
Lake’s legal team has until Monday to respond. Hobbs is slated to be inaugurated as governor on January 2.
This is story has been updated with additional details.
Here's a supplement to that.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/23/health/senior-wave-covid
A Covid-19 ‘senior wave’ is driving up hospitalizations
By Deidre McPhillips, CNN
Updated 6:28 PM EST, Fri December 23, 2022
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/21/omnibus-millions-at-risk-of-losing-medicaid-in-the-spring-under-1point7-trillion-federal-spending-bill.html
Millions at risk of losing Medicaid in the spring under provision tucked inside $1.7 trillion federal spending bill
PUBLISHED WED, DEC 21 20224:32 PM ESTUPDATED WED, DEC 21 20227:08 PM EST
I really focus on not having conspiratorial theories and try to recognize and not fall into confirmation bias. To search for and only extract factual data and information from all the noise. But alas I am only human, and there is a continued biting of thoughts that the GOP side of the isle is adhering to an executed plan of getting rid of financial burdens of society (ie; seniors, the poor and disabled, and other social economic burdens), all for their financial and power control benefit. They are doing this through Covid and Mitigation Wars, culture wars, and anti-science policies, disbanding science groups and hiding from the public factual science and environmental reports. Controlling media disinformation to millions with Fox networks and the like.
Our health systems one of the worst in the advanced and developed nations. Death, sickness, and individual costs worse in the red controlled areas. Heavy costs and collateral damage to even the "working class" seem to be accepted for an evil goal. Whether or not that is their intent and goal, the results and consequences seem to be the same.
They know the statistics or at least they have access to them. They know the proven science, the history of medical acknowledgment of proven solutions and mitigation methods. Vaccines are comparably new in human history, but definitely proven valid for a very long time. Physical distancing has been used successfully against virus and disease in the earliest days of this country, and as far back as the 5th century with the Plague of Justinian (although that included a lot of racism against societies from Jews to homosexuals neutralizing the effects). For the religious crowd in the earliest of biblical writings from the Book of Leviticus 13:46: "And the leper in whom the plague is... he shall dwell alone; outside the camp shall his habitation be". Masks have evolved from old century plagues where early ppe were used with some success, but evolved from that to proven mitigation that fully works, protecting from and immensely limiting death and disease.
Environmental science over the generations has only been continuously proven and is now costing and effecting our lives to much great degree and will continue to exponentially grow in those economical costs and effects as each year passes.
What did the GOP do and continue to do with all that accumulated proven science (other than reap 100's of millions, maybe billions or trillions over time from big oil, medical industry, and the like)? They attacked and inflicted nation destroying political, culture, and misinformation wars. Making one thing for sure, it has made it increasingly difficult to be a centrist or seeing both sides of any equation.
Ok, this might be a little long, but I felt the need to respond and you didn't give me much to work with.
You need to kick up the quality of your argument and answers a few notches. Not trying to disrespect you or your theories, but you didn't address the two questions I asked.
Your quote;
Yep the repubs are dangerous, its dangerous times,,,,,,All the more reason to look at the ridiculousness and denial of the left........
I agree with you. Follow the thread.....Thats ridiculous
To beat tribalism someone or group has to become pragmatic...
You can't change the facts of livelihoods being destroyed for decades....You can't deny dems quit representing the working class Americans.......Telling 1/2 the population to eat cake for so long comes with
consequences.......
Can't change the past, but ask a dem to be pragmatic, Tribalism just steps up a notch.…
Dee Mostofi, a spokesperson for Stanford University, told Newsweek that the university's style guidelines are meant for internal use, often for individual workgroups.
"In this case, the EHLI website was specifically created by and intended for use within the university IT community," Mostofi said. "It will continue to be refined based on ongoing input from the community." [that’s darn pragmatic, if you ask me]
The EHLI website is geared toward helping individuals recognize and address potentially harmful language they may be using. It focuses on terms used in the United States, starting with a list of everyday language and terminology that can be searched for and addressed at the individual level.
What exactly or specifically are the facts or evident truths that the left is ridiculously denying that are the added reasons to combat, change, or protect from all the dangers to our society, false conspiracies and lies, and massive disinformation wars from the right? Also, how will those specific ideals that you talk about looking at, solve any of the dangers and damages being perpetrated from the right? Again be more specific in your causes, solutions and reasons why.
You also can't rely on the tribalism factors as any main causes or solutions. Somewhat like the Venn diagram, tribalism has a much smaller part in this problems circle.
Yep the repubs are dangerous, its dangerous times,,,,,,All the more reason to look at the ridiculousness and denial of the left........
I haven't read the link yet, but I will. I might have already read it, definitely things of that nature.
I don't think things are going to be fine with whoever is doing, quite the opposite, things are not going to be fine if things continue the way they are going.
Trump may be dead or dying, but Trumpism is not. Nor are all the GOP that backed, enabled, joined, and encouraged Trump. The New GOP Trumpism is still there, willing and able.
I'm really not sure what your description is that dems are doing. You'll have to be a lot more specific. That's way too general. What are you looking for the Dems to do or stop doing? Listen to the other side and respect their killing of 100's of thousands of citizens? Listen to their side of anti-science that we have learned over 100s of years. Listen to the big oil's side (paid politicians) to keep costing trillions of dollars in climate, health, and property, costing more to the sick, poor, and elderly, but everyone is paying, and will be paying more. How to see another side when that side is killing, maiming, and destroying lives. Not to mention wanting Marshal Law and taking over the government that controls the whole country. What is the side that rejects, ridicules, and instills hate and abuse to groups that had no choice in how or where they were born.
My comparison to the Ukraine and Russia was serious. The New GOP are using the same tactics as Putin with Putin's help in their massive disinformation campaign. What do you want Ukraine to do, listen to Putin and see "his side" while he's in a rampage killing 100's of thousands of people and full bore on a scorched earth policy?
I'm having to go, so I'll have to pick this up at another time, but I would really like to know what the answer is that dems or the one tribe can do. We've had tribalism since beginning of time. That's not reason to not be able to discuss actual policies and work those kind of things out, but that's not what the problem is here. Again what do you suggest, how does one look at the dems to solve?
I understand where your coming from. A worthy goal if it was attainable and all things equal. If everything was equal I'd be right with you, but things aren't equal.
Everyone and every country does bad things that they need to address or work on or stop doing and make things better.
But what your attempting is like trying to get a peace accord between Russia and Ukraine. Both sides are fighting and shooting other people, and nobody or no country is a perfect saint. One side is the much larger threat, one side started and is continuing it, one side is massively the largest perpetrator of destruction and death, one side is trying to take over and change a decent society to their totalitarianism rule and beliefs, one side is killing way more, maiming, threating the existence and way of life of the other.
Now go and ask the victim side to look at their faults, and stop defending their right to life and democratic society. Spend equal time on criticizing the way Ukraine is defending their children, homes, way of life. Ask them not to worry about the massive abductions of their children to the others school of thought and training. Not to worry about the ridicule and abuse if those children happen to be biologically different. Don't worry about hiding the history of what the abusers have done in the past to a society. No reparations needed or true history told.
We just need to be critical to both evenly, give in to massive disinformation war and lies and just let the bullets and bombs continue. That's not what I hear from the teachers I know. It used to be generally both sides needed to knock it off, but in recent years that has changed dramatically. It is overwhelmingly and so heavy handed to one side now and that is going to be impossible to deal with in any of your prescribed terms.
Maybe when Russia or the New GOP stops firing bullets and bombs, stop murdering and abusing, stop trying to play their phony god or phony patriotism over ones they have no business holding that kind of abusive power over, and just stop the attacks and power struggle, get back to where things are equal wrongs on both sides, then we can start critical discussion on ourselves. The teachers and staff would be happy to be part of that discussion as would I. Don't have much faith in all that though. And so it goes....
Teachers are in a crisis right now. They leaving the profession in droves, many asking to be excused from their contracts mid year even, many retiring early or going into another profession. Extreme shortage on finding replacements. I know many, but anyone can look this up.
Pay now, which many make less now than ten years ago figuring inflation (but there has been many actual wage cuts in the last ten years) isn't the only reason. Although, the red states are worse in pay. They have less bargaining rights in those states since the Republicans in about 11 states back in 2011 passed laws reducing teachers bargaining rights in those states, but that isn't even the main factor in their pay. In more liberal states where the bargaining is better, those states put historically more money into the public schools and pay higher. We know the GOP is always trying to funnel the money towards private schools and starve the funds from public schools.
The guns (the inaction on gun violence), violence or threat of violence from parents and students (students violence against the teachers and staff are reaching epidemic levels), the Covid Mitigation Wars, the Culture Wars about race and sex, book banning, constant harassment to teachers and staff from parents and the New GOP antagonistic behaviors has overwhelmingly been created and nurtured by the New GOP. This has just put fuel to the fires that were already burning before the pandemic. All the hate and New GOP culture are the biggest factors in the fact that they are decimating the teaching profession and causing the mass exits. All of this vitriol has trickled down to our young and stressing our teachers in public schools and is a massive problem. "Being hit by both sides", maybe, but one side has a small rubber mallet, the other, automatic weapons and political culture bombs.
On the note of guns and crime, more specifically violent crime and the fact that it is effecting the culture and way of life of our children (or way of death being #1 killer of our kids now) and reasons they act the way they do in school (along with the irresponsibility of the parents and some elected officials). I recommend anyone that doesn't already know to research the violence and harassment that is being perpetrated upon our children and public schools and where it originates from and the reasons for it. Ask yourself, who, what, and where do we address the most? What is really being taught to our future society?
Example articles, but there are many and many more studies, facts and figures backing this up. It really is a crisis.
The Recent Rise in Violent Crime Is Driven by Gun Violence
Violent crime is driven by gun violence, and elected officials must support gun violence prevention measures.
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-recent-rise-in-violent-crime-is-driven-by-gun-violence/
AUTHOR
Eugenio Weigend Vargas
Gun Violence Prevention
MEDIA CONTACT
Madia Coleman
Associate Director, Media Relations
mcoleman@americanprogress.org
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
Peter Gordon
Director, Federal Affairs
pgordon@americanprogress.org
Jerry Parshall
Senior Director, Safety and Justice Campaign and Director, State and Local Government Affairs
jparshall@americanprogress.org
DOWNLOAD
Fact Sheet
PDF (92 KB)
An AR-15 rifle is displayed during the NRA's annual meeting in Houston.An AR-15 rifle is displayed during the NRA's annual meeting at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on May 28, 2022 — just days after a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. (Getty/AFP/Patrick T. Fallon)
The rising violent crime rates over the past two years is a major issue that elected officials must address immediately. While many have blamed the criminal justice reform movement for the rise in violent crime, the fact is that these increases in violent crime can largely be attributed to an alarming escalation in gun violence. If elected officials are serious about stopping violent crime, they need to prioritize and support stronger gun laws.
This fact sheet provides telling data on the link between gun violence and rising crime rates.
From 2019 to 2020, homicides increased a staggering 28 percent.1 This sharp increase was driven by a dramatic rise in gun-related homicides:
While nonfirearm homicides increased less than 10 percent from 2019 to 2020, gun homicides rose by 35 percent, the largest annual increase ever recorded.2
In 2020, 8 out of every 10 homicides were perpetrated with a gun, the highest proportion in recent years.3
Unfortunately, the rise in gun homicides continued through 2021: Preliminary data suggest an additional 7 percent increase in gun homicides from 2020 to 2021.4
Because of this increase, gun deaths are now the leading cause of death for children and teenagers:
From 2019 to 2020, the rate of gun homicides among children and teenagers ages 1 to 19 rose by 40 percent.5
In 2019, gun deaths surpassed vehicle-related accidents to become the leading cause of death for children and teens.6
While data are limited, evidence suggests a rise in nonfatal shootings in recent years:
A survey conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum indicates that 70 percent of agencies reported an increase in nonfatal shootings from 2019 to 2020.7
From 2019 to 2020, there were more than 820,000 violent crimes involving firearms—primarily robberies and aggravated assaults.8 This means that every day, more than 1,100 people were threatened with a gun.9
Mass shootings increased 46 percent from 2019 to 2020 and another 13 percent from 2020 to 2021.10
Unfortunately, data suggest that the number of mass shootings in 2022 will surpass 500—more than one shooting per day.11
Assault weapons have been found to be used in 16 percent of mass shootings, which has significantly increased the number of victims and fatalities:12
According to Everytown for Gun Safety, when assault weapons were used in a mass shooting from 2009 to 2020, six times more people were shot compared with shootings that involved other weapons.13
Assault weapons have been the common denominator in the deadliest mass shootings in the past 10 years:
Uvalde, Texas (2022): 21 people killed
El Paso, Texas (2019): 23 people killed
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2018): 11 people killed
Parkland, Florida (2018); 17 people killed
Las Vegas, Nevada (2017): 58 people killed
Sutherland Springs, Texas (2017): 26 people killed
San Bernardino, California (2015): 14 people killed
Orlando, Florida (2016): 49 people killed
Aurora, Colorado (2012): 12 people killed
Newtown, Connecticut (2012): 27 people killed
States that received an “F” grade based on the strength of their gun laws—according to the latest scorecard from the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence—saw the highest homicide rates: 14
States with “F” grades saw 25 percent higher homicide rates than states with “C” or “D” grades.15
States with “F” grades saw 61 percent higher homicide rates than states with “A” or “B” grades—states with the strongest gun laws.16
Children and teenagers are most vulnerable in states with weaker gun laws:
In 2020, the 10 states with the highest rates of gun deaths among children and teenagers ages 1 to 19 were Louisiana, Alaska, Mississippi, South Carolina, Arkansas, Kansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Alabama.17 All of these states received an “F” grade for their weak gun laws.
Reports also suggest that rates of nonfatal gunshot injuries sustained during assaults are higher in states with weaker gun laws:
In 2017, the year with available data across states, states that received an “F” grade had a rate of nonfatal gunshot injuries that was 22 percent higher than states with “C” or “D” grades and 59 percent higher than states with “A” or “B” grades.18
Conclusion
Every day, more than 50 people are murdered with a gun and another 1,100 are threatened during a violent crime. As a result, the United States has the highest level of gun violence across developed nations, with mass shootings occurring at a daily rate.19
We cannot continue living like this. Elected officials must stop circumventing gun violence by putting blame on the criminal justice reform movement. If they are serious about stopping crime, gun violence prevention laws must be on the top of their agendas.
https://ussanews.com/2022/12/10/report-50-shell-shocked-teachers-staff-flee-chaotic-florida-school-district/
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/teachers-are-quitting-midyear-its-leaving-some-schools-in-the-lurch/2022/03
TSA intercepted record number of guns at airports in 2022 and 88% were loaded
Agency said it expects to prevent a total of 6,600 from entering secure area of airports by end of year, a nearly 10% jump from 2021
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/19/tsa-intercepted-record-number-of-guns-airports-this-year
Didn't really mean to take you out of context, it is a wedge between parties, but that wedge has been created and formed by the gun lobby and mostly the GOP and right-factions. When I say guns, I include ammo, culture, right-wing extremism, the lies and disinformation, and anything else surrounding them.
What the "criminals are shooting each other over" that you "could care less" about is a very minute part of the problem but a big part of society's misunderstanding of it and only the results of and part of the whole massive misinformation wars that are being waged mainly from one party. Crime and guns go hand in hand and effect not just the criminals, but high costs to more of the innocent and legal.
Also part of those wars is the scam forming many beliefs that each party is at the same level. "They both do it" or similar statements are common. Yes they both lie, manipulate, and politicize. But the degree and magnitude and danger to our democracy (such as it is) and our way of life is where the similarities end. The difference is stark and overwhelming and it shouldn't be ignored. No intelligent or factual debate can elude from it or prove otherwise. Only statements of ignorance and political banter. That was the reason I spoke up I guess, not just from your one post, but overall your succumbing to that reasoning of equal violation of two. It's not, far from it. Just like in drugs, have to admit to the problems in order to just start getting any "house in order".
I should of expanded the description from just fentanyl to all the chemicals and precursors which the bulk of it is made or produced in China. Also included is the environment surrounding it. Yes, there are other overseas areas that it comes from, but even some of those or even most of those areas have the China connection and influence. I agree and know that the cartels make their own product or add to many other drug product out of those chemicals and precursors, I was using one word to include it all. Also, I'm aware that there was, a few years back anyway, a threat to the Cartel's business by those sources of the chemicals bypassing the Mexican cartels and shipping direct into the US (involving other cartels and US players). Maybe more than realized. One of the factors increasing the Cartels own concoctions. Not that it matters whether or not drugs come from China or Africa, but it is where the bulk and beginning of this epidemic originates from.
Not invalidating your experience and perspectives, I've worked with people with similar experience and perspectives and have great amount of respect for those people. Retired from it all with the coming of the Covid and Mitigation Wars which killed 100's of thousands of people needlessly, more than guns or drugs, most all waged from the right-wing party. And it is still killing and effecting 100's every day, more than drugs or guns are doing.
Just letting you know I have some experience in this also, living homeless on the streets in the bowels of societies worst for my entire teen yrs, then a couple degrees later, and over the years working with drug addicts, nonprofit, education and gov institutions, having thousands of tenants in all walks of life and beliefs, all giving not a conflicting story, just giving another unique or different and added perspectives.
The Mexican Cartels have treated everything they do as any big corporation would do for decades now. Suits, ties, and accounting principles. Coyotes are just part of their enterprise. Way back in the day it was weed that was most of their income supplying funds to their other criminal enterprises (some actually legal). Graduating over time to these days of the ease and profits of chemicals.
Having no guns of course is a utopian fantasy. But limit and control is a viable alternative and would go a long way in limiting crime, drugs, human trafficking's, and corruption. Even lessen the amount of deaths and destruction from fentanyl, no matter where it comes from. But it would eliminate some funds from the gun industry and politicians' pockets, mostly the GOP party.
At this point the belief that most gun owners are responsible are another misnomer. Might be how you word it. Most owners or the owners of most guns. Most of guns are held and distributed by criminals and terrorists. This includes the criminal right-wing Proud Boys and the like. Massive quantities are held and illegal gun dealing are common by right-wing terrorist factions (a big part of the GOP base and ones who hold way more quantities than the normal gun owner citizen), then other criminal natures of US gangs and Mexican Cartels and the millions of guns owned by them (legal and illegal).
And even with everyday citizens, too many legal "responsible" gun owners are the cause of an increasingly number of accidental deaths of children. Mostly in states with loose gun laws and without secure storage or child access prevention laws.
At the start of the Pandemic unintentional children's deaths from those "responsible" gun owners rose over 30% in the last half of 2020 over 2019. 2021 beat that. In 2021 the number of children in a home with at least one unlocked and loaded gun increased to over 5 million children. "Responsibility" is not the classification I would use. That's only discussing the "unintentional" accidents, not the culture and intended effects that happen with those millions of the young.
Sorry for rambling on here and going way further and deeper than the original context of your original post. But guns, crime, and drugs, and the havoc they cause on decent society are interconnected as one, debate shouldn't be between counting or recognizing deaths of drugs and deaths of guns. It's one number. And the differences of the damage from the two parties are massive, not the same.
Your disconnecting the two. Fentanyl (along with crime) and guns in the US are closely interconnected. The fentanyl comes from China and trafficked through Mexico with the cartels the middle men over land, sea, and air. A lot of it comes over directly into the US via international mail or shipping into the US ports. Very small amount comparably is through the immigrant problem the New GOP has spent the attention to.
Guns are a main source of cartel power and violence (along with criminal orgs here in the US). It is reported that there are a 100's of thousands deaths in Mexico from that gun violence. 100s of thousands (who knows how many, probably millions) in Mexico has also been terrorized, threatened, and controlled with those same guns. We're not even getting to the terrorizing done here in the US (you can't just count the deaths or the deaths just in the US caused by USA sales of guns). Yeh I hear the "... only criminals will have the guns" spiel, but that just puts the cart before the horse. Doesn't fly, the criminals get the guns from all that legal supply. If supply is limited in any product, it limits that supply all way down the chain. Doesn't matter if your on either side of the subject, those are the numbers of reality.
It has been reported that 150 million guns have been bought by Americans since Sandy Hook. Also reported and estimated that around a half million guns every year gets bought in the US legally by the Cartels network and then go into Mexico. Mexico has maybe one or two places one can buy guns legally for selling to about 150 million Mexican citizens. The US has over 65,000 gun stores. More than supermarkets, McDonalds, and Starbucks put together. 70-80% of all guns confiscated in Mexico has been traced back to the US. A big chunk of that comes from Texas with their loose gun laws.
You can throw in the comparison of fentanyl deaths here and Mexico. You won't get much, the market for those drugs are in the US, not much money in the market in Mexico. But the connection between drugs, crime, the supply of guns, Cartel border violence, and the right wing view of guns and the border, the extreme New GOP's base and party with their connection to crime and terrorism cannot be separated. They are one.
Human trafficking's by the Cartel also needs a market. This market is in the US created over the decades by hiring of those illegal immigrants by large agriculture, construction, casinos, motels, restaurant companies, and the like. A lot of smaller companies also, promising jobs and money to "if you can get here" and working with the Cartels and their subordinates. Making trillions of profit and billions every year of income (net gains) for Texas alone. Large business and corp that plays both sides, but historically been heavy on the GOP side.
This has evolved into too much supply at once now (what does one expect with so many carrots dangling for so many decades), so what better way for the Right-wing to use that for their political purposes, continuing to profit by the dilemma.
Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in the Bahamas as criminal charges loom
Arrest just 24 hours before founder of cryptocurrency exchange was to testify before US Congress
The Bahamas police have arrested former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, the country’s attorney general said in a statement on Monday, adding that the Bahamas has received formal notification from the US of criminal charges against him.
Sam Bankman-Fried
Bankman-Fried ‘would give anything’ to start new business to repay FTX users
Read more
Bankman-Fried is expected to be extradited to the US, the attorney general’s office for the Bahamas told Reuters, but declined to comment on what the charges were.
In a statement released on Twitter, Damian Williams, the US attorney for the southern district of New York, confirmed Bankman-Fried’s arrest and said the related indictment would be unsealed on Tuesday morning. “[We] will have more to say at that time,” he said.
The former CEO had been expected on Tuesday to make his first public appearance since FTX’s collapse before US lawmakers. Bankman-Fried, who has been vocal throughout the collapse of FTX on his Twitter account and in public media appearances, was tweeting just hours before his arrest.
Earlier in the day, he had said he would be “calling in” to the hearing before the House financial services committee from the Bahamas. In a Twitter Spaces event on Monday with Twitter account Unusual Whales, Bankman-Fried said it was difficult for him “to move right now and travel because the paparazzi effect is quite large”.
It is as yet unclear whether his appearance will go ahead following the arrest. The committee will also hear from John Ray III, FTX’s new chief executive.
Ray, a veteran bankruptcy expert who also oversaw the aftermath of the collapsed energy giant Enron, has called FTX an “unprecedented and complete failure of corporate controls” the likes of which he has not witnessed in his 40-year career.
FTX filed for US bankruptcy protection last month and Bankman-Fried resigned as chief executive, triggering a wave of public demands for greater regulation of the cryptocurrency industry.
The distressed crypto trading platform struggled to raise money to stave off collapse as traders rushed to withdraw $6bn from the platform in just 72 hours and rival exchange Binance abandoned a proposed rescue deal.
In recent weeks, US authorities have sought information from investors and potential investors in FTX, two sources with knowledge of the requests told Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission also opened probes.
Shadow banning was allowing certain people get away with way more policy violations than normal individuals that would of been banned outright and kicked off twitter almost immediately with a lot fewer violations. "Corporate propaganda" is what one ex employee called it. Like Traitor Trump “Between Jan. 6 and Jan. 8, Mr. Trump tweeted 140 separate violations of our policies and procedures before we ended up banning him.” Essentially "shadow banning" was many times just giving special privileges and allowances for violations of policy that the normal person would not get.
Ex-Twitter employee calls release of docs ‘corporate propaganda’
https://www.newsnationnow.com/cuomo-show/ex-twitter-employee-calls-release-of-docs-corporate-propaganda/
Today from the Guardian;
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/23/us-corporations-donate-midterm-campaigns-election-deniers
US corporations gave more than $8m to election deniers’ midterm campaigns
Brands such as the Home Depot and Boeing donated to candidates who falsely claimed that Trump won presidency in 2020
Attendees listen to Donald Trump speak at a rally in Warren, Michigan, on 1 October 2022.
Attendees listen to Donald Trump speak at a rally in Warren, Michigan, on 1 October 2022. Photograph: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images
The fight for democracy is supported by
guardian.org
About this content
Ed Pilkington
@edpilkington
Wed 23 Nov 2022 03.00 EST
Some of the best-known corporations in the US, including AT&T, Boeing, Delta Air Lines and the Home Depot, collectively poured more than $8m into supporting election deniers running for US House and Senate seats in this month’s midterm elections.
‘Extremists didn’t make it’: why Republicans flopped in once-red Arizona
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A study by the non-partisan government watchdog organization Accountable.US, based on the latest filings to the Federal Election Commission, reveals the extent to which big corporations were prepared to back Republican nominees despite their open peddling of false claims undermining confidence in democracy. Though many were ultimately unsuccessful in their election bids, the candidates included several prominent advocates of Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from him.
At the top of the list of 20 corporations backing election deniers through their political action committees (Pacs) is a familiar name in the world of rightwing agitating – Koch Industries. According to the Accountable.US review, the Koch energy conglomerate spent $771,000 through its Pac on Republican candidates with a track record of casting doubt on elections.
Koch Industries is the second-largest privately owned company in the US. It is notorious for using its largely oil-related profits to push conservative politics in an anti-government, anti-regulatory direction under its owner brothers, Charles Koch and David Koch, the latter of whom died in 2019.
Close behind Koch is the American Crystal Sugar Company Pac, which spent $630,000 supporting election deniers running for federal office; the AT&T Inc Employee Federal Pac, which contributed $579,000; and the Home Depot Inc Pac, which gave $578,000. Lower down on the list comes the media giant Comcast Corporation & NBC Universal Pac, which contributed $365,000; and the Delta Air Lines Pac, which gave $278,000.
The $8m contributed by the top 20 corporations was just a slice of overall corporate giving to election deniers in the 2022 cycle. An earlier analysis by Accountable.US found that, in total, election deniers benefited to the tune of $65m from corporate interests.
The new study suggests that top corporations that chose to use their financial muscle to enhance the chances of election deniers waged a non-too-successful gamble. The Washington Post has chronicled how 244 Republican election deniers ran for congressional seats in the midterms, and, of those, at least 81 were defeated.
Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, said that the fact that election deniers at both the federal and the state level struggled at the polls should make corporations reconsider their strategies. Backing candidates who advanced conspiracy theories harmful to democracy could damage their public reputations.
“Voters’ rejection of numerous election objectors at the polls should send a clear message to corporations that prioritizing political influence over a healthy democracy could threaten their own bottom line,” Herrig said.
The Guardian reached out to several of the top 20 corporate donors for their response. The Home Depot said that its associate-funded Pac supports candidates “on both sides of the aisle who champion pro-business, pro-retail positions that create jobs and economic growth”.
AT&T and Delta did not immediately reply.
The decision to support election-denier candidates stands in contrast with the strong public stance initially taken by several of the corporations in the wake of the 6 January 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.
Boeing released a statement days after the insurrection in which it said it “strongly condemns the violence, lawlessness and destruction that took place in the US Capitol”. In the 2022 cycle the Boeing Company Pac contributed $418,000 to support Republican candidates who had been vocal in forwarding lies questioning the validity of the 2020 presidential election.
Boeing declined to comment.
Among the individual candidates whose bid for federal office was supported by top corporations was Derrick Van Orden, who won a close race to represent a swing district in Wisconsin with backing from Koch Industries. Van Orden, a former Navy Seal, was inside the Capitol grounds on January 6.
Scott Perry received support from the Kochs, AT&T, Boeing and other corporations in his successful campaign to hold onto his House seat in Pennsylvania. Perry was deeply involved in attempts to block Biden’s victory in 2020, and in the weeks after January 6 sought a presidential pardon from Trump.
An older article out of the Guardian;
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/11/trump-fdr-roosevelt-coup-attempt-1930s
Why is so little known about the 1930s coup attempt against FDR?
This article is more than 10 months old Sally Denton
Business leaders like JP Morgan and Irénée du Pont were accused by a retired major general of plotting to install a fascist dictator
‘The planned coup was thwarted when Butler reported it to J Edgar Hoover at the FBI, who reported it to FDR.’ Photograph: Bettmann Archive
Tue 11 Jan 2022 06.08 EST
Donald Trump’s elaborate plot to overthrow the democratically elected president was neither impulsive nor uncoordinated, but straight out of the playbook of another American coup attempt – the 1933 “Wall Street putsch” against newly elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
America had hit rock bottom, beginning with the stock market crash three years earlier. Unemployment was at 16 million and rising. Farm foreclosures exceeded half a million. More than five thousand banks had failed, and hundreds of thousands of families had lost their homes. Financial capitalists had bilked millions of customers and rigged the market. There were no government safety nets – no unemployment insurance, minimum wage, social security or Medicare.
Many are disillusioned with American democracy. Can Joe Biden win them over?
Francine Prose
Read more
Economic despair gave rise to panic and unrest, and political firebrands and white supremacists eagerly fanned the paranoia of socialism, global conspiracies and threats from within the country. Populists Huey Long and Father Charles Coughlin attacked FDR, spewing vitriolic anti-Jewish, pro-fascist refrains and brandishing the “America first” slogan coined by media magnate William Randolph Hearst.
On 4 March 1933, more than 100,000 people had gathered on the east side of the US Capitol for Roosevelt’s inauguration. The atmosphere was slate gray and ominous, the sky suggesting a calm before the storm. That morning, rioting was expected in cities throughout the nation, prompting predictions of a violent revolution. Army machine guns and sharpshooters were placed at strategic locations along the route. Not since the civil war had Washington been so fortified, with armed police guarding federal buildings.
FDR thought government in a civilized society had an obligation to abolish poverty, reduce unemployment, and redistribute wealth. Roosevelt’s bold New Deal experiments inflamed the upper class, provoking a backlash from the nation’s most powerful bankers, industrialists and Wall Street brokers, who thought the policy was not only radical but revolutionary. Worried about losing their personal fortunes to runaway government spending, this fertile field of loathing led to the “traitor to his class” epithet for FDR. “What that fellow Roosevelt needs is a 38-caliber revolver right at the back of his head,” a respectable citizen said at a Washington dinner party.
In a climate of conspiracies and intrigues, and against the backdrop of charismatic dictators in the world such as Hitler and Mussolini, the sparks of anti-Rooseveltism ignited into full-fledged hatred. Many American intellectuals and business leaders saw nazism and fascism as viable models for the US. The rise of Hitler and the explosion of the Nazi revolution, which frightened many European nations, struck a chord with prominent American elites and antisemites such as Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford. Hitler’s elite Brownshirts – a mass body of party storm troopers separate from the 100,000-man German army – was a stark symbol to the powerless American masses. Mussolini’s Blackshirts – the military arm of his organization made up of 200,000 soldiers – were a potent image of strength to a nation that felt emasculated.
A divided country and FDR’s emboldened powerful enemies made the plot to overthrow him seem plausible. With restless uncertainty, volatile protests and ominous threats, America’s right wing was inspired to form its own paramilitary organizations. Militias sprung up throughout the land, their self-described “patriots” chanting: “This is despotism! This is tyranny!”
Today’s Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have nothing on their extremist forbears. In 1933, a diehard core of conservative veterans formed the Khaki Shirts in Philadelphia and recruited pro-Mussolini immigrants. The Silver Shirts was an apocalyptic Christian militia patterned on the notoriously racist Texas Rangers that operated in 46 states and stockpiled weapons.
A divided country and FDR’s emboldened powerful enemies made a plot to overthrow him seem plausible
The Gray Shirts of New York organized to remove “Communist college professors” from the nation’s education system, and the Tennessee-based White Shirts wore a Crusader cross and agitated for the takeover of Washington. JP Morgan Jr, one of the nation’s richest men, had secured a $100m loan to Mussolini’s government. He defiantly refused to pay income tax and implored his peers to join him in undermining FDR.
So, when retired US Marine Corps Maj Gen Smedley Darlington Butler claimed he was recruited by a group of Wall Street financiers to lead a fascist coup against FDR and the US government in the summer of 1933, Washington took him seriously. Butler, a Quaker, and first world war hero dubbed the Maverick Marine, was a soldier’s soldier who was idolized by veterans – which represented a huge and powerful voting bloc in America. Famous for his daring exploits in China and Central America, Butler’s reputation was impeccable. He got rousing ovations when he claimed that during his 33 years in the marines: “I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for big business, for Wall Street and for bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism.”
Butler later testified before Congress that a bond-broker and American Legion member named Gerald MacGuire approached him with the plan. MacGuire told him the coup was backed by a group called the American Liberty League, a group of business leaders which formed in response to FDR’s victory, and whose mission it was to teach government “the necessity of respect for the rights of persons and property”. Members included JP Morgan, Jr, Irénée du Pont, Robert Sterling Clark of the Singer sewing machine fortune, and the chief executives of General Motors, Birds Eye and General Foods.
The putsch called for him to lead a massive army of veterans – funded by $30m from Wall Street titans and with weapons supplied by Remington Arms – to march on Washington, oust Roosevelt and the entire line of succession, and establish a fascist dictatorship backed by a private army of 500,000 former soldiers.
As MacGuire laid it out to Butler, the coup was instigated after FDR eliminated the gold standard in April 1933, which threatened the country’s wealthiest men who thought if American currency wasn’t backed by gold, rising inflation would diminish their fortunes. He claimed the coup was sponsored by a group who controlled $40bn in assets – about $800bn today – and who had $300m available to support the coup and pay the veterans. The plotters had men, guns and money – the three elements that make for successful wars and revolutions. Butler referred to them as “the royal family of financiers” that had controlled the American Legion since its formation in 1919. He felt the Legion was a militaristic political force, notorious for its antisemitism and reactionary policies against labor unions and civil rights, that manipulated veterans.
The planned coup was thwarted when Butler reported it to J Edgar Hoover at the FBI, who reported it to FDR. How seriously the “Wall Street putsch” endangered the Roosevelt presidency remains unknown, with the national press at the time mocking it as a “gigantic hoax” and historians like Arthur M Schlesinger Jr surmising “the gap between contemplation and execution was considerable” and that democracy was not in real danger. Still, there is much evidence that the nation’s wealthiest men – Republicans and Democrats alike – were so threatened by FDR’s policies that they conspired with antigovernment paramilitarism to stage a coup.
The final report by the congressional committee tasked with investigating the allegations, delivered in February 1935, concluded: “[The committee] received evidence showing that certain persons had made an attempt to establish a fascist organization in this country”, adding “There is no question that these attempts were discussed, were planned, and might have been placed in execution when and if the financial backers deemed it expedient.”
As Congressman John McCormack who headed the congressional investigation put it: “If General Butler had not been the patriot he was, and if they had been able to maintain secrecy, the plot certainly might very well have succeeded … When times are desperate and people are frustrated, anything could happen.”
There is still much that is not known about the coup attempt. Butler demanded to know why the names of the country’s richest men were removed from the final version of the committee’s report. “Like most committees, it has slaughtered the little and allowed the big to escape,” Butler said in a Philadelphia radio interview in 1935. “The big shots weren’t even called to testify. They were all mentioned in the testimony. Why was all mention of these names suppressed from this testimony?”
While details of the conspiracy are still matters of historical debate, journalists and historians, including the BBC’s Mike Thomson and John Buchanan of the US, later concluded that FDR struck a deal with the plotters, allowing them to avoid treason charges – and possible execution – if Wall Street backed off its opposition to the New Deal. The presidential biographer Sidney Blumenthal recently said that Roosevelt should have pushed it all through, then reneged on his agreement and prosecuted them.
What might all of this portend for Americans today, as President Biden follows in FDR’s New Deal footsteps while democratic socialist Bernie Sanders also rises in popularity and influence? In 1933, rather than inflame a quavering nation, FDR calmly urged Americans to unite to overcome fear, banish apathy and restore their confidence in the country’s future. Now, 90 years later, a year on from Trump’s own coup attempt, Biden’s tone was more alarming, sounding a clarion call for Americans to save democracy itself, to make sure such an attack “never, never happens again”.
If the plotters had been held accountable in the 1930s, the forces behind the 6 January coup attempt might never have flourished into the next century.
This article was amended on 12 January 2022 to rewrite a sentence in line with Guardian style guidance.
Sally Denton is the author of The Plots Against the President: FDR, a Nation in Crisis, and the Rise of the American Right. Her forthcoming book is The Colony: Faith and Blood in a Promised Land
I've checked out Mastodon, thought it was a bit awkward and time consuming. Will check out Post, like you I have a lot of people and business that I follow on twitter and hope that a lot of twitters makes a change to others. Twitter going down in the gutter.
I've been checking out Tribel for alternative. Many twitters are going there and growing.
Public
2 hours ago
Crime
Wanted to thank Tribel for swiftly banning QAnon terrorist Marjorie Taylor Greene from this platform due to her needing to be de-platformed over her role in sedition and insurrection. She should be in prison, not in Congress and not on social media.
https://www.tribel.com/therickydavila/wall
Well that's a general market sentiment, but the market has generally been too exuberant for some time now and there is real risk that it's still being in that mode, starving for things the way they were. Resetting has a way to go still, both in evaluations and sentiment or expectations. Given the past, that's a hard struggle to do for the mindset that the market has been conditioned to be in. I think we might be going through the consequences caused by our past longer and deeper than the general sentiment is allowing for.
There's lot of pressure on the Fed from different sources to keep it at those levels you spoke of, but many macro situations that is beyond the control of the Fed are going to rear their ugly head and come into play. The conflict between the two (the pressures vs the macro situations) are going to be interesting to say the least and we're going to need the next few quarters in 23 to see how this all plays out.
Whatever plays out, it's more than likely that it will be harsher than the expectations.
"With Bullard just saying that the Fed Funds may have to rise to 5-7%..."
Some interesting remarks on that;
Did Bullard Undershoot? Stifel Economists Say Fed Funds Rate May Need to Go to 8% or Even 9%.
By Vivien Lou Chen, MarketWatch
Nov. 19, 2022 10:50 am ET
https://www.barrons.com/articles/inflation-fed-funds-rate-51668872977?refsec=economics&mod=topics_economics
....Investors took Bullard’s views with a grain of salt, though. The bond market stabilized, along with the dollar, early Friday until comments by a second Fed official, Susan Collins, triggered an afternoon selloff in government debt. Meanwhile, optimism returned to stocks, with all three major indexes finishing higher on Friday. Behind the scenes, some economists applauded Bullard for his honesty, while other analysts said his estimates weren’t as shocking as investors and traders believed. One of the most underappreciated risks in financial markets is that inflation fails to fall back to 2% fast enough to alleviate the need for more aggressive moves by the Fed, traders, money managers and economists told MarketWatch.
Stifel , Nicolaus & Co. economists Lindsey Piegza and Lauren Henderson said they think that even a 7% federal funds rate may be “understating” how high the Fed’s benchmark interest rate likely needs to go. Calculations show that there’s a possible need “for a federal funds rate potentially 100-200bps higher than [Bullard’s] suggested upper bound,” they wrote in a note. In other words, a federal funds rate that gets to between 8% and 9%, versus its current range of between 3.75% and 4%.
“The recent improvement in inflation pressures turning over from peak levels has seemingly in some ways blinded many investors as to the need for the Fed to aggressively continue along a pathway to higher rates,” they said. “While a 7.7% annual gain in the [consumer price index] is an improvement from the 8.2% annual pace reported prior, it is hardly anything to celebrate or a clear signal for the Fed to move to easier policy with a 2% target range still a distant accomplishment.”.......
.......As of Friday, fed-funds traders mostly expect the Fed’s main policy rate target to get to either between 4.75% and 5%, or between 5% and 5.25%, by the first half of next year. However, standard interpretations of the so-called Taylor Rule estimate suggest that the fed-funds rate should be around 10%, according to the UniCredit researchers. The Taylor Rule refers to the generally accepted rule of thumb used to determine where interest rates ought to be relative to the current state of the economy......
That's traditionally true, and margin on the "coin" trading is very limited. At least that is what I've read and heard, haven't really spent a whole lot of time on research on it. What I've heard and the little I've read about it, the margin is with the futures or options with the underlying being mostly bitcoin.
That's with the actual "coin" and mostly with general retail, but there has been a lot of big money involved with lending in this space, with untraditional (not sure what "traditional" means in crypto though) forms of "margin" or lending of funds based on certain assets that is in risk of being called in. So I've read anyway, I'm definitely not any expert or even an amateur when it comes to this, nor want to be either.
There are many articles such as this one that discusses the risk of margin or lending that has taken place.
.......Earlier on Tuesday, FTX had halted withdrawals from its platform, after spooked investors attempted to pull their funds — in a move that resembled the collapse of other crypto firms this year, including Celsius, Voyager Digital and Three Arrows Capital.
News on FTT sparked concern about Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s trading firm and sister company to FTX. A report last week on the state of Alameda’s finances showed a large portion of its balance sheet is concentrated in FTT and its various activities leveraged the token as collateral. Alameda has disputed that claim, saying FTT represents only part of its total balance sheet.
“If the price of FTT goes way down, then Alameda could face margin calls and all kinds of pressure,” said Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer at digital asset firm Arca. “If FTX is the lender to Alameda then everyone’s going to be in trouble.”
100% with you there. Never even traded any of it, let alone investing. What investment? Sentiment is the only worth, and like I said, that's on a big downtrend. The utility part of it still needs a lot of improvement and regulation.
The margin calls are going to be disaster for many, already is. There are some pretty large players, banks, Black Rock, etc that are going to be taking a loss and getting whatever they can pulling out of their risk exposures in Crypto. We've got more dominoes to fall in this space, narrowing down the survivors.
Wow. Year ago, bitcoin worth about $60k, now whatever it falls to, sentiment on a downtrend.
Binance backs out of FTX rescue, leaving the crypto exchange on the brink of collapse
PUBLISHED WED, NOV 9 20223:55 PM ESTUPDATED 4 MIN AGO
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/09/binance-backs-out-of-ftx-rescue-leaving-the-crypto-exchange-on-the-brink-of-collapse.html
A longtime Pennsylvania state representative was re-elected in a landslide – even though he died last month.
Democrat Anthony “Tony” DeLuca, Pennsylvania’s longest-serving state representative, was the choice in more than 85% of votes cast.
DeLuca, 85, died on 9 October from lymphoma, a disease he had twice previously fended off.
By the time of his death it was too late to change the ballot or put forth another candidate for his seat. While his opponent, Green candidate Queonia “Zarah” Livingston, accounted for more than 14% of the vote, DeLuca’s victory has triggered a special election that will be held on a later date....
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/09/pennsylvania-dead-democrat-tony-deluca-victory
Tropical Storm Nicole
MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Nicole forced people from their homes in the Bahamas and threatened to grow into a rare November hurricane in Florida on Wednesday, shutting down airports and Disney World while prompting evacuation orders that included former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.
https://apnews.com/article/hurricanes-miami-florida-storms-weather-3132c7afa0d80797296f7bc6cd9d3a97?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_07
Minimizing our energy costs that is many times past the price at the pump or the therms or watts on your meter, at an above cost of trillions every year to the American people, and in order for society to just survive to use any energy, completely and fully depends on our abilities to DRAMATICALY reduce the usage and demand side of oil and gas.
The main reliability of o&g is that all the extra costs of its' usage will continue to grow exponentially and further demise the US and world populations. That's the "failure" that is and will happen more in the future with the continued use of o&g that is in the projections.
These theories have been known and expressed for decades by an overwhelming consensus of science and in every passing year gets proven to become facts. Way to many facts proven to list or even go over in any debate.
Some other facts on how that's not being done;
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/mar/09/facebook-posts/oil-production-bidens-first-year-par-trump/
Oil production in Biden’s first year on par with Trump
-Gas prices soared to an average $4.173 per gallon on March 8, according to AAA, breaking a 2008 record.
-Oil production in the U.S. in President Joe Biden’s first year was on par with 2020 and higher than in two of the four years Trump was president.
-Increased consumer demand, inflation and the war in Ukraine are among the factors in the rising price at the pump, experts say.
We've been giving all the "handouts" to China the past few decades with previous administrations which has dug the gigantic "hole" that this administration is finally starting to crawl our way out of it. About time some of that money gets to developing our own resources. China has control over 50% of all the Li mining in the world and 75% of the big battery factories.
It was US companies, RCA, a US co at the time, that started and developed the chip industry in Taiwan then selling to GE which in turn sold to foreign investors. For decades since then it's been US money that has put into other places but here. We've been handing out trillions of our hard earned money into the development elsewhere (in the long run, mostly to China).
So the Biden administration is the one that has done this much into developing this nations resources and starting to dig out of a very deep hole that the previous administrations put us in. All the last one did was give money to China for all the red hats and political flags produced over there and paid more taxes to China than was paid to the US.
China has also done nothing but give handouts constantly to their production and getting control of bulk of Li and batteries (all types) and working on taking over the 1/2 a trillion $ a year of sales to the US from Taiwan.
Yea I think that the some of this big business that has been making big profits from "handing out" all our money developing other countries production to developing the US resources and supplies. But that's not the way the world works and somehow the big boys still got to make their profit, hence our "handouts".
Because if we don't develop here, our "handouts" will continue to going over there. Of course newer forms of energy besides big oil will activate some politicians anger and bs misinformation trying to protect their 100's of millions of money from the big oil lobby which in the end comes out of our pocket one way or another.
So we have to get something done to encourage American companies to develop instead of the previous ways that was being done and stop damaging our environment so much which is costing the American people trillions every year on top of the price at the pump.
If it takes companies like LAC to create a full American company with more jobs and getting a "handout", so be it. Because without incentives, it will never happen and that money will still be being spent, just not on the US. So good to see that this administration is trying to fill the horrific hole the previous one(s) have dug.
On a side note, still making good money with LAC. Got out, back in and trading along the way. All goes in how you play it.
Waterlogged wheat, rotting oranges: five crops devastated by a year of extreme weather
Crops are struggling to grow – and produce the same yields – as they would under normal weather conditions
Processing tomatoes dried up by heat and drought hang on vines, a farmer stands in the background with his hands on hips
California usually produces about 30% of the world’s processing tomatoes Photograph: Nathan Frandino/Reuters
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11th Hour Project
About this content
Cecilia Nowell
Tue 1 Nov 2022 05.00 EDT
From Hurricanes Fiona and Ian, to flooding in eastern Kentucky and a record dry summer as the western US entered its 22nd year of a once-in-a-millennium megadrought, the US has already seen more than two dozen major climate disasters with losses exceeding $1bn (£864m).
Our food system isn’t ready for the climate crisis
Read more
On top of this economic toll, extreme weather is also upending the food system in the US and much of the world. As the climate crisis causes temperatures to rise, precipitation patterns to shift and drought conditions to lengthen, many crops are struggling to grow – and produce the same yields – as they would under normal weather conditions. In some parts of the country, crops that require dry conditions are getting too much rain, while in others, they’re not getting enough.
Changes to growing seasons, limitations on water rights and increasingly powerful storms are all forcing growers to consider whether to shut down, relocate or otherwise alter their operations. Extreme weather events are also disrupting the shipping of food across the country and world.
These five crops tell the story of the havoc the climate crisis is already causing.
Florida’s oranges torn off trees
Browning oranges rot on the ground.
Oranges rot on the ground at Roy Petteway’s citrus and cattle farm after they were knocked off the trees from Hurricane Ian in Zolfo Springs, Florida. Photograph: Chris O’Meara/AP
After Hurricane Ian ripped through Florida’s Gulf coast counties in late September, citrus growers in the state’s main agricultural counties began reporting that 50% to 90% of their fruit had been torn off the trees by high winds and rain.
The hurricane “came right up through the heart of the citrus belt”, said Ray Royce, executive director of the Highlands Citrus Growers Association. Royce reports that in some counties growers have lost as much as 80% of their fruit. Florida orange growers were already facing a challenging year as greening disease, an invasive bacterium that thrives in warm climates and can kill trees and cause fruit to drop early, hit their plants.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) predicted that the state will produce 28m boxes of oranges this season, down 32% from the previous season. This would be the smallest harvest since 1943. And the impact of Hurricane Ian may not yet be over, Royce said. In some areas, the storm didn’t just cause fruit to fall, but entirely uprooted or flooded trees.
Although this storm was particularly devastating, he adds that Florida citrus growers have weathered difficult hurricane seasons before, such as Hurricane Irma in 2017. “We’re an industry that’s at the mercy of the weather.”
Rice left unplanted amid drought
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1b2bf696708cabe3c102dd0321399d5749fc8244/0_0_5489_3296/master/5489.jpg?width=880&quality=45&dpr=2&s=none
Irrigation water runs along a dried-up ditch between rice farms in Richvale, California in 2014. This year, a lack of water in the state meant many farmers opted not to plant.
Irrigation water runs along a dried-up ditch between rice farms in Richvale, California, in 2014. This year, a lack of water in the state meant many farmers opted not to plant. Photograph: Jae C Hong/AP
Just three crops – rice, wheat and corn – provide nearly half of the world’s calories. And this year rice had a particularly tough growing season.
In California, rice farmers sowed the lowest number of seeds since the 1950s. According to the California Rice Commission, only 250,000 acres of rice will be harvested this year, about half of a typical season.
“Reservoirs were so low and the snowpack was so bad that literally half the crop was unplanted,” said Daniel Sumner, professor of agricultural economics at UC Davis. Although rice growers generally have very senior water rights, which means they’re the first ones entitled to any available water, there just wasn’t enough water for growers to make it through a season, he said, so many opted not to plant. This past year marked California’s fourth in a row facing drought.
According to a report published by Sumner and his colleagues at UC Davis, California’s Sacramento River valley – which usually exports about half its rice to China and Japan – is facing a $1.3bn (£1.1bn) economic loss, with 14,300 agricultural jobs lost.
California’s tomato crop dwindles
Tomatoes hang from a vine on a farm in Los Banos, California.
Tomatoes, dried up by the heat, hang from a vine on a farm in Los Banos, California. Photograph: Nathan Frandino/Reuters
In August, the USDA forecasted that California would only grow 10.5m tons of tomatoes, down 10% from its estimates at the beginning of the year, as drought causes them to dry up on the vine.
California usually produces about 30% of the world’s processing tomatoes – the tomatoes used in paste, sauce and ketchup. But researchers predict that the global supply of processing tomatoes could fall by 6% in the next 30 years due to climate change.
Even though tomatoes are “an incredibly efficient user of water”, Sumner said, the drought “was even worse than people could have imagined”.
The high demand and reduced supply are reflected in tomato prices. Going into this growing season, Sumner says tomatoes reached the highest contract prices on record – about $100 (£86) per ton compared with last year’s record $90 (£78) per ton.
As temperatures increase in current tomato-producing regions, like California and Italy, the plants may no longer thrive, and growers could begin shifting their work to cooler climates, like northern California and China.
Wheat scorched by heat, waterlogged by rains
A ruler in the ground measuring wheat plants.
Spring wheat plants stunted by drought stress near Larimore, North Dakota. Photograph: Karl Plume/Reuters
As the war in Ukraine cut off the country’s large wheat exports, wheat growers across the world faced a difficult year due to extreme weather. Heatwaves across France, Spain, and India scorched wheat crops, while US growers struggled to survive a dry winter and then a waterlogged spring.
In the US, growers typically plant hard red winter wheat, used in bread, in the fall and sow spring wheat, for bagels and pizza, in the spring. The winter wheat harvest fell 25% this year as drought hit midwestern states like Kansas. Then, high rainfall and a surprise spring blizzard flooded spring crops.
Researchers at the Environmental Defense Fund predict that Kansas will only continue to see winter wheat yields drop – by 2030, 8% of Kansas counties could see winter wheat yields fall by more than 5%. To get ahead of climate change, scientists around the world have begun breeding new varieties of wheat. But according to a study published in Nature earlier this year, climate change still might outpace any yields from those new crops.
New Mexico’s green chilis flooded by monsoon season
In southern New Mexico, record rainfall disrupted the state’s green chilli harvest. At Cinco Estrella Chile Farms in Lemitar, owner Glen Duggins says a combination of heavy rainfall and a labor shortage flooded his fields and then overtook the green chilli crop with weeds.
“Back in the day we packed 800 sacks [a day] regularly. I didn’t expect to do that now, but we should have been able to do 300 to 400 a day,” said Duggins. But his team didn’t even harvest 1,000 sacks over the whole season, from late July to early October. Green chilli “likes dry weather, this was a little too much”.
Climate crisis made summer drought 20 times more likely, scientists find
Read more
The green chilli plant grown in New Mexico thrives best in temperatures between 70F (21C) and 85F (29C). Too hot and the fruit won’t form. Too much rain and the roots will begin to rot.
Normally, southern New Mexico provides the perfect climate for the chilli harvest. But this year, parts of the state recorded their wettest monsoon seasons since 1893. Although the state struggled with severe drought early in the summer – with 45% of the state rating in “exceptional” drought, according to the US Drought Monitor – only about 1% of the state was still in that high state of drought by the end of monsoon season.
Duggins is optimistic that he’ll still be able to harvest some of his crop going into the red chilli season – when the green chilli plant begins to ripen – but if profits continue to fall, he’s worried he and his neighbors will have to consider shutting down their farms.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/01/climate-crisis-us-food-system-five-crops
Diesel Is Far From the Only Shortage U.S. Is Facing
BY ANNA SKINNER ON 10/31/22 AT 3:35 PM EDT
https://www.newsweek.com/diesel-far-only-shortage-us-facing-1755853
Americans experienced the impact of labor and product shortages in earnest during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than two years later, shortages continue to arise and impact Americans.
Earlier this month, Americans learned there was less than a month of diesel supply left in storage. It is the lowest storage supply since 2008 and has led to skyrocketing prices as U.S. refineries struggle to keep up with demand.
But it doesn't stop there. Dozens of other sectors are struggling to meet demand––and the U.S. has experienced shortages ranging from employees to medications to parts needed for U.S. defense contractors' weapons.
Stacks of Land O Lakes Butter
Butter is displayed on shelves for sale at a grocery store. Lower milk production on U.S. farms and labor shortages at processing plants have helped to push butter prices up nearly 25 percent in the last year, outpacing increases in most other groceries. Americans might soon see a shortage of dairy products.
SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES
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Kaitlin Wowak, an associate professor of operations management at Notre Dame University, said there are reasons why Americans are hurting for certain items. In diesel's case, dwindling U.S. supplies are exacerbated by a ban on Russian imports. Wowak said the Russian-Ukraine war is impeding other sectors, too, as a slowed global supply chain is keeping suppliers from receiving materials in time.
Medication Shortages
Labor economist Oren Levin-Waldman said this could impact other shortages as well, such as medication shortages among Adderall and Amoxicillin.
China still implements a zero-COVID policy, leading to communities being locked down for weeks or months until the virus fades, which can cause a backlog of orders for certain materials and products.
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"Things just don't get shipped over," Levin-Waldman said. "It creates a product shortage."
Food Shortages
Shortages are caused by national issues, too, such as logistics problems and trucking and air transport issues. For example, dairy production is down because of a labor shortage, which leads to a shortage of dairy products like butter just as the American holiday season is beginning to ramp up. Wowak said if products that have a short shelf life––like butter––are caught in transportation delays, suppliers might have to toss the items when they do arrive because of the expiration date.
In other cases, weather and outbreaks of avian flu have impacted the supply of potatoes and turkeys, respectively. Severe drought conditions also have decreased the supply of rice, winter wheat, tomatoes and olive oil, according to a recent report by Money Talks News.
Labor Shortages
Along with product shortages, certain industries have struggled to staff employees after the pandemic. Along with creating a crunch in those positions, workforce shortages can contribute to shortages in other areas.
"Getting people back in the workforce and having them go back to full-time positions is really hard. We have seen labor shortages across the board in a number of industries," Wowak told Newsweek. "When you're low on labor, sometimes production capacity decreases because you don't have people in all the stations, so that can contribute to supply shortage."
The most affected job sectors are those requiring employees to be present in person–– such as police officers, teachers, manufacturers and bus drivers. Labor economist Oren Levin-Waldman said as employees transitioned to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, they might hesitate against returning to the office for jobs that required them to be physically present. The increased ability to work remotely is driving a labor shortage in other sectors.
READ MORE
Butter shortage looms over bakeries as holidays approach: "My nightmare"
U.S. faces inflation timebomb poised to explode just before the holidays
"Those people who discovered they enjoy working remotely, they don't want to go back to an office situation if they can avoid it," Levin-Waldman told Newsweek.
Will the Shortages End Soon?
Supply shortages could have a grim outlook. Levin-Waldman said midterm elections aren't likely to influence most shortages Americans are experiencing, as candidates are debating topics like inflation and economy but not so much the underlying issues contributing to those topics. Levin-Waldman said that one lesson politicians should have learned from the pandemic was sourcing industries in the U.S. to prevent global supply chain issues but that "nobody wants to discuss those issues."
"Nobody in the midterm right now is talking about these transformations [moving more operations to the U.S.] but those transformations are key to understanding some of the larger issues people are talking about with inflation, unemployment and general distrust in government," he said.
Happy Halloween;
All real
That guy's preditor.
Inside the world of real-life vampires in New Orleans and Atlanta
By Scottie Andrew, CNN
Published 8:28 AM EDT, Sat October 29, 2022
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/29/us/real-vampires-new-orleans-atlanta-cec/index.html
Forget the Monster Mash. This Halloween, Everyone’s Trick or Twerking.
The suburbs are spellbound by a jig called the witches’ dance; brooms required
Yes, that was a flash mob of witches twerking with brooms to German dance music you spotted this Halloween season.
https://m.wsj.net/video-atmo/20221027/a05b7a54-6146-4942-9114-84e37e57e7c4/2/witchedit3_1920.mp4
They are taking over some U.S. town squares with what’s known as the witches’ dance, often performed to the upbeat rap tune “Schüttel deinen Speck,” which translates to “Shake Your Bacon,” by German reggae-pop artist Peter Fox......
https://www.wsj.com/articles/halloween-celebrations-witches-dance-trick-or-twerking-11667047485?mod=itp_wsj&mod=djemITP_h
GOP bracing for Trump indictment soon after Election Day
BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 10/31/22 6:00 AM ET
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3710063-gop-bracing-for-trump-indictment-soon-after-election-day/
Republican aides and strategists privately expect Attorney General Merrick Garland to pursue an indictment of former President Trump within 60 to 90 days after Election Day, predicting the window for prosecuting Trump will close once the 2024 presidential campaign gains momentum.
Republican aides on Capitol Hill and veteran party strategists emphasize they don’t have any inside information on what Garland might do, but they say the attorney general is under heavy pressure from Democrats to act and the deadline for pursuing an indictment is fast approaching.
GOP aides also warn that an indictment of Trump by the Biden administration would further polarize the nation and likely strengthen Trump’s support from the Republican Party’s base as the former president and his allies would frame the Department of Justice’s prosecution as a political witch hunt.
“A couple of weeks after the election, I assume that Garland will indict Trump,” said one veteran Republican aide, expressing a sentiment shared by several other GOP aides and strategists.
A second Republican aide warned an indictment “could actually end up helping the [former] president politically.”
“People have been talking about splintering support and dampening enthusiasm among Republican voters for him. An indictment could actually galvanize and reunify Republicans around him,” the aide said, predicting the Republican backlash to an indictment would be stronger if Garland brings an indictment later in the 2024 election cycle.
“There’s a substantial risk in waiting,” the source added.
Republican aides and strategists point out the party base quickly rallied behind Trump after the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago estate in early August.
Before the FBI raid, Trump had mulled announcing his 2024 presidential campaign well before the midterm election as it appeared he was losing support among Republican voters to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
But GOP aides on Capitol Hill believe any anxiety Trump might have felt about losing relevance with the GOP base was ameliorated after it rallied around him in August in response to the FBI’s action.
The backlash will be stronger if Garland brings an indictment once Trump’s expected 2024 presidential campaign is up and running, they warn.
The second Republican aide said “the decision Garland has to make is really tough,” saying that he has a strong potential case to charge Trump with violating Section 793 of the Espionage Act for taking highly classified government documents to Mar-a-Lago. At the same time, the aide warned that any prosecution would “plunge the country which is already so divided … into a potentially precarious situation.”
Garland has played his cards close to the vest, showing little indication of whether he will charge the former president. But the FBI’s raid in August made clear he is willing to investigate him.
There are actually two different investigatory probes that could lead to indictments of Trump.
One is related to the documents taken from the White House and found at Mar-a-Lago, while the other concerns the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capital.
While many Democrats would like to see Justice charge Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 attack, Jeffrey Robbins, a former federal prosecutor, said federal prosecutors’ strongest case would be to indict Trump for violating the Espionage Act in connection to the Mar-a-Lago documents.
“I think that the Espionage Act violations are relatively straightforward, even self-evident, and that the Department likely already has substantial evidence of obstruction of justice,” he said.
GOP aides and strategists warn there’s a risk of political violence in response to any indictment against Trump. The former president warned last month that if the Department of Justice indicts him, “you’d have problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen before.”
“I don’t think the people of the United States would stand for it,” he warned.
The former president hasn’t made a formal announcement of his decision but has given every indication that he will launch another bid for the White House next year.
Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that an indictment wouldn’t stop him from running for president.
“If a thing like that happened, I would have no prohibition against running,” he said.
A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to a request for comment.
Vin Weber, a Republican strategist, said it would be a “bad idea” to indict Trump because it would sow more political discord into a deeply divided nation, and waiting well into the 2024 election cycle would only make it worse.
“I think an indictment is a bad idea, but I think that Garland is under such political pressure by the Democratic left that it may well happen,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea and I don’t want to be misinterpreted as supporting [it.] If it’s going to happen, though, it should happen as soon after the [midterm] election as possible because it complicates everybody’s plans: Biden’s plans, Trump’s plans, every other Republican’s plans,” he said.
“If this is going to happen, it’s not in anyone’s interest to prolong this process until the presidential process for ’24 is underway and drop this like a bomb into the middle of an already established presidential field,” he added.
Some legal experts agree that Garland needs to act soon if he intends to prosecute Trump to minimize the appearance that the Department of Justice is acting from political motivation.
“I think that the department will strive to bring an indictment as soon as it can consistent with other constraints, in order to at least minimize the ‘legs’ on the inevitable barrage of charges it will face that by indicting the former president it is interfering with an upcoming presidential election,” said Robbins.
He said the Justice Department “will face a storm of such criticism whenever it acts, but doing so as soon as possible at least provides some defense, however limited, against that inevitable criticism.”
Robbins said Garland has good reason to postpone the announcement of an indictment until after the 2022 midterm election because otherwise it would immediately become the top political issue in Senate and House races around the country.
“Had he indicted right before the midterms it truly would have rocked the indictment with criticisms that there had been a violation of the de facto policy within the DOJ” not to launch prosecutions of political figures within two or three months of an election and “really would have undercut the credibility of the indictment and in addition could very well have affected the midterms,” he added.
But other prominent legal experts don’t think Garland needs to announce an indictment within the next 60 to 90 days since the first contest of the Republican presidential primary won’t take place until January 2024.
“I doubt the timing of the midterm elections has much to do with the timing of any indictment of Donald Trump,” said Barbara McQuade, a law professor at the University of Michigan and a former federal prosecutor.
“The next time he will appear on the ballot, if ever, will be in the 2024 primary elections, which begin in January of 2024. The DOJ policy would not come into play until 60 days or so before that date,” she said.
The Hill’s Morning Report — Calls for restraint after Paul Pelosi attack
Why the fate of Medicare and Social Security is a midterm issue
She said Garland “has all of 2023 to play with.”
Faced with mounting political pressure on both sides, Garland has stayed tight-lipped about prosecuting Trump. He did reveal in August, however, that he “personally” approved the raid on Mar-a-Lago.
“Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly without fear or favor,” he said in August.
Workers leave iPhone factory in Zhengzhou amid COVID curbs
Workers who assemble Apple Inc.’s new iPhone have walked out of their factory to avoid COVID-19 curbs after some coworkers were quarantined following a virus outbreak
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/workers-leave-iphone-factory-zhengzhou-amid-covid-curbs-92412834
ByZEN SOO Associated Press
October 30, 2022, 11:57 PM
On Location: October 30, 2022
Catch up on the developing stories making headlines.
HONG KONG -- Workers who assemble Apple Inc.’s new iPhone have walked out of their factory in northern China to avoid COVID-19 curbs after some coworkers were quarantined following a virus outbreak.
Videos circulating on Chinese social media platforms showed people said to be Foxconn workers climbing over fences and walking down a road laden with their belongings.
The scenes underscore growing public discontent with China’s “zero-COVID” strategy, where the government seeks to stamp out outbreaks by implementing strict testing, isolation and lockdown measures where infections are detected.
Outbreaks have led to entire cities going into lockdown. In the latest wave of infections, Shanghai Disney Resort said Monday that it would close as of Monday for an indefinite amount of time “to follow the requirement of pandemic prevention and control.”
In an online notice, the park apologized for the inconvenience and said it would provide refunds or exchanges for those affected by its closure.
The Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, Henan province, can accommodate up to 350,000 workers and is one of the largest factories in China assembling products for Apple Inc., including its latest iPhone 14 devices.
Not all the videos that showed workers purportedly leaving the facility could be verified. It was unclear if the workers leaving the facility had escaped or if they were allowed to leave.
Foxconn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Volunteers from nearby villages put out food and drinks for the Foxconn workers. One such volunteer, who asked to be identified only by his surname Zhang out of privacy concerns, was put in charge of distributing supplies that his village in Xingyang county had prepared. He said that the people shown in a video he uploaded to the short-video platform Douyin were Foxconn workers because they would have to take that road if they were leaving the facility.
It was unclear how many people are currently employed at the Zhengzhou factory, how many of them have left and how many were affected by factory's COVID-19 curbs.
Earlier this week, media reports said the factory had implemented a “closed-loop” system largely restricting workers to movements between their residences and the plant.
Local media reports said that Foxconn workers complained of poor food quality and a lack of medical care for those who tested positive amid worries infections could be spreading. The company denied rumors that 20,000 people in the plant had been infected with COVID-19.
Cities near Zhengzhou have urged Foxconn workers to report to local authorities if they plan to return to their hometowns to allow preparation of appropriate isolation measures.
Posts on the Zhengzhou government’s public WeChat account said Foxconn issued notices Sunday to workers at the factory, pledging to ensure the safety, legitimate rights and incomes of those who stayed.
A day after the videos circulated of workers leaving the factory on foot, Foxconn and several local governments arranged transportation for employees choosing to return home. It wasn't clear how much choice they were given in the matter.
Health care workers deserve better than to live in fear
BY DR. SHOSHANA UNGERLEIDER, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 10/29/22 10:00 AM ET
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL
https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/3710221-health-care-workers-deserve-better-than-to-live-in-fear/
Police respond to an active shooter incident at Methodist Dallas Medical Center on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022. Two hospital employees were shot during the incident, according to police. (Liesbeth Powers/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
“I’m an ICU nurse and this is my biggest fear,” read one of the many messages I received on social media last weekend after a gunman opened fire at Methodist Dallas Medical Center, killing two nurses. Reading these messages made my heart sink and my pulse race at the same time.
I’m a practicing general internal medicine physician, and though I’ve met some of the bravest individuals in medicine, we’ve reached a tipping point. People in my profession are scared. With gun violence on the rise alongside dangerous, anti-science misinformation about health care, we’re constantly left worrying about what could happen to us, even when we should be focused on the health of our patients. The Dallas shooting isn’t the first time this has occurred. This past June, four people – including three hospital staff – were killed by a shooter at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Just a couple of weeks ago, a man visiting a Little Rock, Arkansas hospital was killed by an acquaintance, according to police, in a seemingly random act of violence.
This all comes on the heels of a nationwide rise in violence against medical workers. More than 8-in-10 emergency physicians have reported that violence in their workplaces has increased, with 45 percent noting a spike in incidents in the past five years. Nationally, there have been 656 mass shootings this year alone — over 2 a day. In 2020, over 45,000 people died from gun-related injuries, including suicide and murder.
To add further injury to insult, health care workers are increasingly operating under draconian, political restrictions due to the over-politicization of health care. Abortion is now illegal or heavily restricted in at least t12 states, with more attempting to pass bans. As a result, lifesaving drugs are being denied to patients because they could have an abortive effect. These laws have left doctors with a minefield of legal and ethical dilemmas as they attempt to deliver the care patients need, while not risking arrest or other repercussions.
Our nation’s health care workers deserve more than just our words of support. They deserve action, and there’s something we can do.
In March 2018, I was the lead organizer of the March For Our Lives rally in San Francisco which drew an estimated 75,000 people to City Hall. I can tell you that there is certainly power when people come together around a shared vision. Just following the Feb. 14, 2018 shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, I went on social media to see what was planned for our city and found nothing. So, I created an event online and invited friends to join students at San Francisco City Hall to support the national movement. To my surprise, within 48 hours, we had over 25,000 people RSVP to attend. I was shocked when I stood on that stage to introduce the incredible student activists — and took in a sea of people for as far as I could see.
This coming election requires the same level of support and bravery that those 75,000 people showed on the streets of San Francisco. People around the country need it, including your doctors, nurses and other health care workers. This means voting for common sense gun laws reinstituting the assault weapons ban, red flag laws which allows for temporary removal of firearms from a person who is believed to be a danger to others or themselves and universal background checks. But it also means voting for freedom.
As Election Day quickly approaches, make no mistake, freedom is on the ballot. More than just the freedom to choose, a vote for Democrats is a vote for freedom from politicians making your medical decisions for you. A vote for Democrats is a vote for common sense gun laws that keep gun violence out of our communities — whether it’s hospitals, schools or places of worship. Lastly, a vote for Democrats is a vote for governance that respects science, so medical professionals, like me, can feel safe while doing our jobs.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We have the opportunity this November to chart a course that will build safer, stronger communities. We have the ability to secure our freedoms and protect choice, while protecting doctors, nurses and other health care workers from violence.
Vote wisely.
Shoshana Ungerleider, MD, is an internal medicine physician in San Francisco, host of “TED Health” and the founder of endwellproject.org
Sasse was "thrilled" to work with the faculty, but the faculty not so much. The New GOP knows they have to control education, education has been to much knowledge given about them. What else is there to expect from a Fascist state.
University of Florida faculty has ‘no confidence’ in Sasse as potential president
BY ELIZABETH CRISP - 10/28/22 1:11 PM ET
https://thehill.com/homenews/3709312-university-of-florida-faculty-has-no-confidence-in-sasse-as-potential-president/
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) received a vote of “no confidence” from the University of Florida’s faculty over growing controversy that he was chosen to serve as the institution’s next president.
“The next President should come already equipped to lead an institution of this caliber rather than aiming to learn on the job,” the Faculty Senate resolution reads. “Anything less will result in a lack of faith in leadership.”
Sasse, who has been in the U.S. Senate since 2015, emerged as the lone finalist after a secretive search for the university’s next leader. The University of Florida board of trustees is set to take up Sasse’s appointment on Tuesday.
In their resolution, Faculty Senate members argued that the confidential process that left just one candidate for the position was politically motivated, after the state adopted a new law backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and GOP lawmakers that led to more privacy in college and university leadership searches.
“The process of the thirteenth Presidential search, conducted in accordance with the updated Florida State Bill 520, has undermined the trust and confidence of the University of Florida Faculty Senate in the selection of the sole finalist Dr. Ben Sasse,” they wrote in the resolution, which passed in a 67-15 vote.
Sasse, who worked at Midland Lutheran College in Nebraska for four years before running for Senate, has generally received mixed reviews as far as his potential as university president. Students have protested his candidacy largely due to his past remarks opposing same-sex marriage.
Sasse reportedly told attendees of a campus Q&A session earlier this month that he took positions as senator “that represent the views of Nebraskans” and being the university’s president would be a “completely different job.”
In a news release announcing his selection, Sasse called Florida “the most interesting university in America right now.”
“It’s the most important institution in the nation’s most economically dynamic state — and its board, faculty and graduates are uniquely positioned to lead this country through an era of disruption,” Sasse said in the statement.
“The caliber of teaching and research at UF is unmistakable, carried out through the core principles of shared governance and academic freedom. I’m thrilled about the opportunity to work alongside one of the nation’s most outstanding faculties.”