Wednesday, February 21, 2024

News bits: Biden blocks UN ceasefire; God’s law trumps human law; Etc.

NPR reported this morning that today Biden had blocked or will block A UN ceasefire resolution by Israel and Hamas. A spokesman said the ceasefire would complicate ongoing secret negotiations. The spokesman did not explain why or how that is the case, most likely because there is no meaningful ongoing secret negotiations. The NPR also report mentioned 
that although Biden has asked for an Israeli plan to keep civilians safe, Israel has presented no such plan. 

So, the Biden and his US policy of enabling Israel is enabling unchecked genocide once again. 

Q: Is the US an enabler of genocide, or is that a lie, hyperbole, anti-Semitism or something else?
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In other disgusting news NPR reported that in a 7-2 decision, the Alabama Supreme Court, citing not wanting to incur “the wrath of God,” held that a person who dropped frozen human embryos from three different couples could be sued for the wrongful deaths of  human “children.” 

Over the last 3-4 years, I have warned a lot about increasing encroachment of aggressive, authoritarian, radical Christian nationalist theocracy. This is about as clear an example of state-backed Christofascism as there can be. The rule of sacred, infallible Christian fundamentalist God trumps the puny American rule law it and the Constitution it is based on. Now we are getting the rule and wrath of God. The rule of man is coming to and end in America. The New Republic puts it this way: Alabama Supreme Court Cites the Bible in Terrifying Embryo Ruling -- The Alabama Supreme Court’s decision is all but guaranteed to gut IVF in the entire state. The case, known as LePage v. Mobile Infirmary Clinic, Inc, rested upon an argument by several intended parents that their “embryonic children” had been victims of a wrongful death when an intruder broke into the IVF clinic, dropping trays containing some of the embryos and ultimately destroying them.
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From the Well, duh! Files: Two opinionators at the NYT opine (full opinion here not behind a paywall) about what many Americans are thinking about the economy: 
When asked what drives the economy, many Americans have a simple, single answer that comes to mind immediately: “greed.” They believe the rich and powerful have designed the economy to benefit themselves and have left others with too little or with nothing at all.

We know Americans feel this way because we asked them. Over the past two years, as part of a project with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, we and a team of people conducted over 30 small-group conversations with Americans from almost every corner of the country. While national indicators may suggest that the economy is strong, the Americans we listened to are mostly not thriving. They do not see the economy as nourishing or supporting them. Instead, they tend to see it as an obstacle, a set of external forces out of their control that nonetheless seems to hold sway over their lives.  
One does not need to look hard beyond traditional metrics to see the prevalence of insecurity. In June, an industry report found that auto loan delinquencies were higher than they were at the peak of the Great Recession. Credit card use has swelled, and delinquencies are at among their highest rates in a decade. After hitting a historic low in 2021 thanks to the expansion of the child tax credit, child poverty more than doubled in 2022 after the tax credit’s expansion expired. Also in 2022, rates of food insecurity reached their highest levels since 2015.

Such trends do not affect all Americans equally. Most disproportionately affect Black and Hispanic households, which perhaps helps explain Republicans’ gains in these communities, according to recent polls.
Here we have a situation where a lot of people (i) finally understand that the economy is rigged, but (ii)  they blame whoever is in the White House for the rigging, and (iii) support the TTKP (Trump Tyranny & Kleptocracy Party) that rigged the economy against them more than the Dem Party. What a total hoot! 



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The WaPo reports: Trump and allies plotting militarized mass deportations, detention camps -- As president, Trump sought to use military planes and bases for deportation. Now, he and his allies are talking about a new effort that current and former officials warn could be impractical and dangerous.


From the Capitalism Loves Pollution Files: The WaPo reports
How the housing industry is working to stop energy efficient homes

Home builders have used their political muscle to prevent states and cities from adopting the latest code, which would lower the climate impact of new houses

Across the country, the home builder lobby is mobilizing its 140,000 members against state and local efforts to save energy and ease the transition to cleaner technologies, such as wiring homes to support electric car charging. Since poorly designed and insulated buildings tend to leak and waste energy — one reason homes account for nearly one-fifth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions — climate advocates say the home builders’ repeated victories will have a lasting impact, locking in practices that could hurt consumers and the planet for decades.

There’s no debate that boosting the energy efficiency of new homes often increases upfront costs, but the builders appear to be inflating the numbers. A federal study found that North Carolina’s proposed code update would have added at most about $6,500 to the price of a newly built home, not $20,400.

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