…so…normally I try to give myself time to get these together…admittedly often at the last minute…but…well…let’s just say I usually start a bit sooner than that last minute but things kinda got away from me this time & honestly I don’t know that this won’t be up before I’ve done much more than started?
…also…maybe it’s the fact that some asshole had “a bad day” & figured the thing to do was to go shoot up a massage parlor or three & kill some women
The 21-year-old suspect in shootings at three Atlanta-area spas has been charged with eight counts of murder and homicide and one count of aggravated assault, police said Wednesday.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/17/atlanta-spa-shootings-live-updates/
…& the police are happy to let us know he assured them it wasn’t a racist thing that he just happened to target a bunch of asian women
“He was pretty much fed up and kind of at the end of his rope. Yesterday was a really bad day for him and this is what he did,” Cherokee County sheriff’s office Capt. Jay Baker said Wednesday. He was describing the 21-year-old man accused of killing eight people, mostly Asian and almost all women, in a rampage across three Atlanta-area spas.
Then — as the violence stirred fears in an Asian-American community that already felt under attack — Internet sleuths and journalists found Baker’s Facebook posts promoting shirts that called the novel coronavirus an “IMPORTED VIRUS FROM CHY-NA.”
One person’s reaction on Twitter: “I think Capt Jay Baker is going to have a really bad day.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/17/jay-baker-bad-day/
…last time I checked “I said I wasn’t being racist” didn’t do shit to make a racist asshole less racist…or less of an asshole…& law enforcement has such a stellar record when it comes to doing its due diligence about the shit these poor misunderstood white guys get up to
The FBI is facing new scrutiny for its 2018 background check of Brett Kavanaugh, the supreme court justice, after a lawmaker suggested that the investigation may have been “fake”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/16/fbi-brett-kavanaugh-background-check-fake
…or maybe it’s that I finally hit my limit not choking on the fact that this “I don’t like my life & I’m white & I’m male so it must be someone else’s fault” attitude is just fucking everywhere…how are there so many of these assholes?
One day in late 2018, John William Kirby Kelley didn’t feel like going to class. So he turned to the friends he had made online, suggesting they call in a fake threat to his school, Old Dominion University.
The people who gathered in the online chat room, which Kelley hosted, regularly engaged in “swatting,” or calling police with invented crises that would require a special weapons and tactics, or SWAT, team, prosecutors said. The friends also routinely derided Black and Jewish people and targeted minorities; one was the leader of a neo-Nazi group called the Atomwaffen Division.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/atomwaffen-swatting-virginia-sentence/2021/03/15/story.html
…it’s not like it hasn’t always been obvious
A certain caste of people is talking and talking — unleashing their prejudices and their irrational fears, trafficking in anger and personal pathos. They’re melting down on television. They’re litigating their hurt feelings. They’ve not been canceled by the culture — no matter how much the culture tries — as much as they are talking about being canceled or about being misunderstood.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/16/just-let-them-keep-talking/
…but…I am so goddamn tired of this shit…it’s not even close to being a fucking question…there is no excuse for any of it…that’s what words like unjustifiable or unforgivable mean…or in a sane world…unthinkable…so how come so many people are out there so very clearly thinking it?
A man charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has been jailed pending trial after allegedly recruiting members to the Texas Three Percenters by telling them he had created a new security business to circumvent gun laws and obtain high-grade weapons and ammunition available to law enforcement.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/capitol-riot-guy-reffitt-three-percenter/2021/03/16/story.html
[…]
Reffitt allegedly directed other members to destroy evidence and be ready for future violence, and kept an unregistered silencer in a safe, the prosecutor said. He wrote Jan. 13: “This has only just begun and will not end until we The People of The Republic have won our country back. We had thousands of weapons and fired no rounds yet showed numbers. The next time we will not be so cordial.”
…& sure some of these chucklefucks are laughable
In the latest back-and-forth between an unamused federal judge and the man known as “QAnon Shaman,” the court released two videos Tuesday that the judge says showed that Jacob Anthony Chansley “blatantly lied” in a television interview about the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/qanon-shaman-video-judge/2021/03/16/940ce7ac-8698-11eb-bfdf-4d36dab83a6d_story.html
…but too much of this shit ain’t even a little bit funny
Indianapolis Man Killed 4 After Fight Over Stimulus Check, Police Say [NYT]
A 31-year-old man from Texas was arrested Wednesday outside the vice president’s residence in Northwest Washington after police said they got a tip that he had been “exhibiting concerning behavior,” according to a D.C. police spokesman.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/arrest-gun-vice-president/2021/03/17/story.html
[…]
The suspect was identified as Paul Murray of San Antonio. Police said he was charged with firearms offenses including possessing an unlicensed gun and ammunition. A police report said officers found an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and 113 bullets in his vehicle.
…maybe he’d “had a bad day”…it must be tough to have one of those
…gee…I wonder what it might be like to have enough of them that you just call them “days” so you don’t lose your mind?
‘Survive school or life?’ The US teens who work to keep their families afloat [Guardian]
Five years ago, Amazon was compelled to post a “notice to employees” on the break-room walls of a warehouse in east-central Virginia.
The notice was printed simply, in just two colors, and crammed with words. But for any worker who bothered to look closely, it was a remarkable declaration. Amazon listed 22 forms of behavior it said it would disavow, each beginning in capital letters: “WE WILL NOT.”
“We will not threaten you with the loss of your job” if you are a union supporter, Amazon wrote, according to a photo of the notice reviewed by The New York Times. “We will not interrogate you” about the union or “engage in surveillance of you” while you participate in union activities. “We will not threaten you with unspecified reprisals” because you are a union supporter. We will not threaten to “get” union supporters.
Amazon posted the list after the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers accused it of doing those very things during a two-year-long push to unionize 30 facilities technicians at the warehouse in Chester, just south of Richmond. While Amazon did not admit to violations of labor laws, the company promised in a settlement with federal regulators to tell workers that it would rigorously obey the rules in the future.
[…]
The employee notice was a hollow victory for workers. The National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that negotiated the settlement with Amazon, has no power to impose monetary penalties. Its enforcement remedies are few and weak, which means its ability to restrain anti-union employers from breaking the law is limited. The settlement was not publicized, so there were not even any public relations benefits.Amazon was the real winner. There have been no further attempts at a union in Chester.
How Amazon Crushes Unions [NYT]
…you know…because if businesses are people then it stands to reason they have feelings, too…& we wouldn’t want them to “have a bad day”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/03/16/usps-dejoy-what-you-should-know/
…they might up & kill people or something…I mean it’s only to be expected when you’re dealing with a “person” that lacks a soul & ultimately only think in terms of money
Twenty-one Republican state attorneys general on Tuesday threatened to take action against the Biden administration over its new $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus law, decrying it for imposing “unprecedented and unconstitutional” limits on their states’ ability to lower taxes.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/03/16/republicans-threat-stimulus/
…but sure
A Close-Up Picture of Partisan Segregation, Among 180 Million Voters [NYT]
…let’s let mitch have his way
…because otherwise the senate might “have a bad day”
…it’s not like there’s much at stake, right?
…& that whole “quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” business is nothing to worry about, right?
Facebook’s long-awaited content ‘supreme court’ has arrived. It’s a clever sham [Guardian]
…but who needs an attention span, anyway?
The Financial Crisis the World Forgot [NYT]
…& can you blame it when there are just so many others to choose from?
For around two decades, Roche’s breast cancer drug Herceptin has prolonged the lives of people with breast cancer, and AbbVie’s immunosuppressive drug Humira has eased the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis patients.
Such are the remarkable benefits of biologic drugs — large molecules that are manufactured using living cells. These kinds of drugs are typically received either in doctors’ offices as an infusion, or self-administered by injection.
But for all their benefits, Herceptin, Humira and dozens of other older biologic drugs lie at the heart of the United States’ drug pricing crisis, racking up billions in annual U.S. sales from their persistently high prices.
The Drugs at the Heart of Our Pricing Crisis [NYT]
…not all of them financial, even
…& I know it might seem tempting to just burn it all down…but it turns out even that might be a worse idea than it seems
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/16/wood-smoke-alaska-state-regulators-air-quality
Smoke from wildfires wiped out the U.S. pandemic-related clean air gains in 2020 [WaPo]
…& let’s face it
The findings, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicate that the biggest reservoir of ice in the Northern Hemisphere can collapse due to relatively small increases in temperature over a long period of time. That makes it even more vulnerable to human-caused warming, which is causing the Earth to warm faster now than at any other period in its history.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/03/15/greenland-ice-sheet-more-vulnerable/
…we probably need to be burning less shit, anyway
The findings, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicate that the biggest reservoir of ice in the Northern Hemisphere can collapse due to relatively small increases in temperature over a long period of time. That makes it even more vulnerable to human-caused warming, which is causing the Earth to warm faster now than at any other period in its history.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/03/15/greenland-ice-sheet-more-vulnerable/
…I’d go on…hell, depending on how early you got to this I might still be…but at some point I guess you just have to consider the alternative
…but we’re all friends here, right?
I have nothing to add but !@#$%^&*().
Filed under you can’t even make this shit up: Jay Baker is the director of communications and community relations for the department.
Even I, as a non PR person, know you don’t want someone in that position who posts stuff to FB like the link above.
But then I also know in a situation like this you stick to facts and avoid speculation and baseless pop psychology. It’s ridiculous that the department has this guy in that position, but there is a lot of brainless leadership in a lot of departments.
This Tweet is so spot-on “8 Asian Women Slain In Mass Shooting Hate Crime By A White Terrorist”. I wish the phrase “White Terrorist” was used for every appropriate mass shooting because (pauses to Google) it appears the majority are… Also did you include this link on mass shootings recently, did I miss it? https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/mass-shootings-in-america/ It was updated yesterday. Dear God, we need to, as a country, enact gun acquisition limitations with long wait periods.
Gun control absolutely but you know what would help immediately? I count five or more guys standing there while this Jay Baker spews bullshit, how about saying something? You know it is wrong. Call him the fuck out right there and then. Stop closing ranks and doubling down. You really want to go down with this ship? You can cry and wail ‘not all men’, but if you stand by while this shit goes down aren’t you one of them?
Anyway, thank you @Elliecoo for chiming in, spending alot of time talking to myself lately…
Yes. I just can’t with this “bad day” bullshit. YOU DON’T GET TO MURDER PEOPLE BECAUSE YOU HAVE A BAD DAY. I know it’s fucking Georgia and this “spokesperson” is probably the murderer’s cousin, but that’s still not how it fucking works.
Meg was wondering if the police got him a cheeseburger. Now I’m wondering if they took up a collection for his legal fees. Fuck this shit.
I checked the official “Bad Day” anthem and nowhere does it condone mass murder motivated by racism, sexism, and white male fragility. Fuck that white terrorist and every single person who actively refuse to call it what it is.
@Sedevilc – exactly right – bad day – closing ranks – argghh.
I am feeling terrible because I am partially (like any customer) for Amazon’s growth during the pandemic. Even worse because there are some 600+ cases of COVID over 9 months coming from the local warehouse/distribution center including 11 bus drivers who drive along the special route to and from the location PLUS all the thousands Amazon workers infected to cause my city to be among Canada’s worst COVID hotspots.
Do I blame the workers? No. I blame Amazon’s pisspoor shithead management. Granted, I’m no fan of my management, but Amazon’s management team makes the one I work for look enlightened, noble and wise (and believe me they’re not.)
Amazon is not the only employer here to fail worker safety badly (we have a number of local food processing and autoparts plants that have been shut down because of COVID) because we have a “business” friendly mayor who tried to keep things quiet till he couldn’t.
I get your angst, because I HATE what has happened to bookstores, but the problem is Amazon is rapidly becoming the ONLY source for certain things. My wife’s RAV 4 needed a rear wiper blade (can’t just ignore it). So I made the rounds of local big-box retailers, auto parts stores, etc. I did not go to the Toyota dealership because of the cost for OEM blades. The only place I could find the right size was Amazon. Not one retailer stocked that size any more. A couple of different auto parts workers just told me to get it from Amazon.
Frankly, if I’d ordered from most of those places, including the dealership, they’d have probably gotten it from Amazon and just marked it up. When you compound that with a pandemic, it’s almost impossible to avoid Amazon.
Yep, struggling with this as well. I kept going to local bike shops for parts for my project bike, and they kept saying, “We don’t have that — your best bet is Amazon or Ebay.”
Finally.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/3/17/2021514/-Biden-sends-Postal-Service-nominees-to-Senate-now-the-Senate-needs-to-fast-track-them
I know you’ve got a lot on your plate, Joe, but this is important.
Wait, what?
https://www.rawstory.com/secret-service-testify-against-trump/
The deputy director of the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Donald Sherman, said that while there’s no telling “what kind of illegal or unethical activity the Trump family has engaged in,” forcing agents to testify against a former president is “incredibly risky and shouldn’t be considered or pursued without the utmost caution and consideration of the potential benefits.”
Or, y’know, maybe fucking presidents should not commit crimes in front of their Secret Service detail. Or maybe not commit crimes at all. Is that so goddamn hard?
Right? This isn’t the same conversation as “oh don’t like the government reading your emails? If you’re not doing anything wrong, you don’t have anything to worry about hurr durr.”
The president really literally should not be doing illegal shit? It’s not hard!?!?
I’m even willing to give some illegal things a pass. The president needs some weed to relax after a long week? GO FOR IT.
Oh well yeah. I meant ILLEGAL illegal things!!
For some Asians here in NA, this massacre probably comes as a shock because they still believe “we’re the good ones/we’ve assimilated.” This includes some of my relatives here (cough Trumper Uncle and Aunt.)
I’ve always known that we’re still considered “the other” by many white folks. It doesn’t matter if we’re born here, educated here and lived here all our lives. We’re still viewed as the other. I’ve been called a Banana (yellow on the outside/white on the inside) which to be fair isn’t that far from the truth, but there are a lot of people who only see the yellow. Including at work where I’ve watched guys with less ability, less education and more personal issues get promoted and I got knocked around for minor mistakes/issues. Granted, maybe I’ve got issues and I do, but I also know that management generally doesn’t promote people they view as a threat to their position.
I was recruited by a friend to join the Conservatives because they’re the party of “acceptance” unlike the Liberals (or so he claimed.) They’re not. Not even close. They just want token minority dupes for photo ops. Surprisingly, I declined. In a weird coincidence, I learned a few years ago, his sister had a crush on me but was actively discouraged by the entire family to not pursue. To be blunt, I wouldn’t have done anything because we’re different but I find it both amusing and sad (I was also warned not to do anything to my confusion at the time.)
That’s why I look at the number of visible minorities (including Koreans and Indians) who joined various right wing parties and shake my head.
To all the racists who keep pointing us out as the ‘good’ ones. Stop it.
Conservatives like Asians so long as they’re bringing anti-affirmative action lawsuits against Harvard and Yale. Beyond that, I would note The Onion’s classic headline about the World War II Axis alliance:
Japan Forms Alliance With White Supremacists in Well-Thought-Out Scheme.
A few decades ago, my Trumper aunt went on a long rant to my mom about how her precious son wasn’t getting into Havahad Law because of black kids from the “ghetto.”
Her precious’ legal career matched Lionel Hutz’ career arc and one of those black kids ended up to be preznit of the US Amercia. So who really did deserve to go to Havhahd?
She really should have been ranting about her stupid country club friends because it is rich stupid legacies like W and rich sub part dipshits like Jared Kushner that have been keeping “deserving” brow beaten by Tiger mom Asian kids out of Havahad and other Ivy League skules.
I thought that plot line in “The Man In The High Tower” was fascinating. I really wish they hadn’t gone off the deep end and just focused more on the what if aspect of WWII.
The fix is in! (Maybe):
https://nystateofpolitics.com/state-of-politics/new-york/politics/2021/03/18/law-firm-leading-cuomo-impeachment-investigation-draws-criticism-
This is probably of little interest to those outside the clutches of Mad King Cuomo. I’m really only bringing this up to provide a little political trivia. The Davis in Davis, Polk was the 1924 Democratic nominee for President. Little remembered today, he was one of the most accomplished attorneys of the first half of the 20th century. He was a bit of a piece of work. A native of West Virginia, he went into practice with his father and they founded the firm Davis & Davis. He made his way to New York and ended up representing J. P. Morgan, among many other prominent titans, and found the time to represent a suit which sought to uphold “separate but equal.” Why not, but he lost that, a rare setback for him.
Davis, Polk is still one of the most prominent and prestigious of NY law firms, and they don’t work cheap, so who knows how much this “investigation” will cost beleaguered NY State taxpayers. They’re throwing in everything but the kitchen sink, including a look at the shoddy work done on the
Tappan ZeeMario Cuomo Bridge, but this was probably at Andrew Cuomo’s insistence. This guarantees that the “investigation” will take months and there’s plenty of room for exonerations, some of which surely will come.Naples (Italy), New York, what’s the difference.
More trivia:
Who is America’s youngest governor today? Florida’s own Ron DeSantis, at 42. 42. He’s going to be with us for a while.
I still get the sticker shock when politicians turn up younger than me. He’s 42??
I couldn’t believe it either. If someone had asked me to guess (I’ve never heard of most governors) I would have picked Gavin Newsom, but Newsom, at 53, only looks a decade younger than DeSantis, despite being ~ a decade older. America’s oldest current serving Governor is Alabama’s “Golden Girl” Kay Ivey, who’s 76.
My Alabama friends call her (disparagingly) Mawmaw Ivey
And he’s prepping for a 2024 presidential run. He’s pandering to the Trumpers here in Florida like crazy. First he plans to use the state stimulus money to give tax breaks to businesses instead of using it for the unemployed. Then he is refusing to expand Medicaid with the state stimulus money, denying medical care to 800,000 people. He regularly travels to Mar-a-Lago to kiss Trump’s wide orange ass. It’s loads of fun.
Can I change my username to ExplosiveGoodLookingSalmon?
Taiwan official urges people to stop changing their name to ‘salmon’
Seems fishy to me.
I think you should!
I salute people willing to go to that much trouble for any kind of discount, I can’t even be bothered to use coupons.
They are 200 years too late for this guy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon_P._Chase
I think I might like to change mine to “Salmon Chaos”