The Progressive Wing

Tip Jar for newbies, lurkers, and usual suspects at the Nest.

Tackling climate change seemed expensive. Then COVID happened.

COVID-19 challenged preconceived notions about the limits of government spending. Since August, world governments have pledged more than $12 trillion in stimulus spending to dig their way out of the coronavirus-caused economic downturn — a truly mind-boggling amount of cash that represents three times the public money spent after the Great Recession. How does that compare with the money that would be needed to fight climate change?
That’s the question behind a new paper published last week in the journal Science. According to the analysis, the money countries have put on the table to address COVID-19 far outstrips the low-carbon investments that scientists say are needed in the next five years to avoid climate catastrophe — by about an order of magnitude.
If just 12 percent of currently pledged COVID-19 stimulus funding were spent every year through 2024 on low-carbon energy investments and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, the researchers said, that would be enough to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F), the Paris Agreement’s most ambitious climate target. At present, countries’ voluntary commitments put the world on track to warm 3.2 degrees C (5.8 degrees F) or more by the end of the century.

As Republicans ram through a Supreme Court nominee appointed by a president who lost the popular vote, the anti-democratic rule of the judiciary is on full display. https://t.co/MbXpx53EBM
— Jacobin (@jacobinmag) October 21, 2020

OzoneTom

Congress can seriously diminish the power of the judiciary by passing unambiguous laws that will withstand constitutional tests. Instead they use the courts as an excuse for doing nothing but carry water for the elites.

OzoneTom

Interesting, a down-fist by a “Guests”.

Apparently there is an appetite for un-constitutional laws, or against unambiguously constitutional ones.

Or maybe a fan of the usual ineffectual congressional kabuki act. Who knows, maybe they will clarify.

https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2020/10/19/voting-elections-detroit/3657156001/

Trump won this suburban Houston district by nine points in 2016, so I think this message gives you some idea of how he polls in the suburbs now. https://t.co/2DAEEdtTUR
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) October 20, 2020

la58

I’ve voted in 71 elections. It’s my right — and my duty.In 1948, I voted for the first time, casting my ballot for Harry S. Truman. I was 22.
Since then, I have voted in 71 elections. Having been elected to office as well, I can truthfully say that I have been on both sides of the equation and understand the importance of voting.
My grandparents were slaves, and during that shameful era in our nation’s history, it was illegal for Black men and women to learn to read and write. In much of the country, they could not vote.
Since then, it has been a long, uphill climb.
In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment gaveBlack men the right to vote. Fifty years later, the Nineteenth Amendment gave women the same voting rights as white and Black men.

orlbucfan

T and R, Ms. Benny!!😊☮️👍

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8862947/Democratic-congresswoman-gets-one-largest-Twitch-streams-ever.html

Ive been calling for this for ages

Its dailymail but.. first place I saw it and dont have time to find an alternative!

AOC gets out the vote by racking up nearly half a MILLION viewers – the third highest viewed single stream in history – as she plays Among Us on her new Twitch channel

A live-stream of Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez playing the popular game ‘Among Us’ amassed almost half a million viewers last night.
During the event, which lasted for more than three hours, the politician was one of the designated ‘impostors’ in the hit online game ‘Among Us’.
..
AOC was joined by fellow congresswoman Ilhan Omar during the stream and both politicians took time during the broadcast to encourage viewers to vote

::edit::

This:

My complaint about Bernies use of Twitch was that it was used as just another broadcasting platform instead of an interactive tool.

Years ago in the early early TPW days I contacted multiple candidates about participating in a twitch live-stream (including AOC) and the only response back was from Rosa Calderons campaign and ultimately it didnt end up taking place (obviously)

I tried pinging you last night while it was going on. Looks like it was fun.

Among Us is basically a ‘live’ version of CLUE, great simple concept that has a good deal of depth in regards to detective work, creating alibi’s, etc. I listen to streams as I work since I dont necessarily have to watch what is going on to be entertained .

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/522006-aoc-draws-hundreds-of-thousands-of-viewers-on-twitch-livestream

jcitybone

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) entrance into the Twitch online gaming community became one of the most-watched streams in the platform’s history as more than half a million people tuned in Tuesday evening.
A multihour stream of the New York congresswoman playing “Among Us” alongside popular streamers Hasanabi and Pokimane and others including a colleague and fellow “squad” member, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), drew more than 430,000 viewers on her channel. Other streamers broadcasting while taking part in the event drew tens of thousands of concurrent viewers as well, likely bringing the total past half a million viewers.
The stream is now the third highest watched in Twitch history, according to Gamespot.com, trailing a record set by streamer Ninja in 2018 during a Fortnite session with rapper Travis Scott and hip-hop artist Drake. A Fortnite in-game event streamed earlier this year from Spanish streamer TheGrefg was the second most watched event.
Omar captioned a picture of herself playing on a staffer’s computer Tuesday evening shortly after joining the event, during which she won at least one match while at times playing alongside her oldest daughter, Isra Hirsi.
Other members of Congress appeared to be enjoying the stream from a distance.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), another “squad” member, tweeted a picture of her two sons watching Ocasio-Cortez play, and added: “They think this is the coolest thing ever & are trying to convince me to get with the program.”
At one point in the stream, Ocasio-Cortez also announced that Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) had texted her, telling her that he was greatly enjoying the stream.
“I had no idea how Among Us worked before this Twitch stream, but this is great, and I’ve got my son speed-teaching me,” Amash tweeted minutes later.

My two boys watching @AOC & @IlhanMN on Twitch playing Among Us. They think this is the coolest thing ever & are trying to convince me to get with the program. https://t.co/4MssdBltWg pic.twitter.com/JOgBiur6P3
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) October 21, 2020

When you’re winning: pic.twitter.com/Fu7CMyCQDA
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 21, 2020

t&r benny!

NYCVG

Good morning TPW.

Today’s numbers, the bad and the good. First the Good. It was a few days ago but if you missed it, the Supreme Court stopped a Trump measure to remove 700,000 recipients from the food stamp program.

The New Covid cases yesterday were 60,950 just a bit above our recent average of 59,000 per day. There were 832 Covid deaths in the USA yesterday.

Early voting now counted as 38 million so far by Drudge. Other outlets have caught up to Drudge’s count so I think it is pretty reliable now.

orlbucfan

Early voting already heavy down here in east central FL. 😊👍 I had plenty of important down ballot issues to vote on! Voting matters!!!! End of rant.😊🗽🇺🇸

NYT/Siena likely voter poll on issues
National mask mandate? 59% 👍 39% 👎
$2T stimulus? 72% 👍 21% 👎
Obamacare? 55% 👍 40% 👎
Public insurance option? 67% 👍 25% 👎
Fracking? 44% 👍 42% 👎
$2T renewable energy plan? 66% 👍 26% 👎
28% corporate tax rate? 46% 👍 48% 👎
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) October 20, 2020

The Court of God: How a Catholic secret society took over SCOTUS
Posted Oct 01, 2020 by Raul Diego

Then there is this bit of data:

Biden is propagandizing democratic voters to think that fracking is good. https://t.co/LAUf50LCgm
— Ryan Knight 🌹 (@ProudSocialist) October 21, 2020

NYCVG

Saw this on Caucus 99 and am pretty certain many of us will enjoy it too.

Don midwest

Opus Dei and Amy Coney Barrett

Be sure and watch Zepher Teachout on democracynow.org today. The video and transcript will be on line sometime this morning.

She points out that this supreme court nominee would be a disaster for our country. And the dem politicans are sleep walking. They are NOT using every possible legislative tool to slow it down or to stop it. And it could even lead to another term for Trump

Did you hear about the Russians? They are trying to take over the country… what horseshit

the coup is taking place right out in the open and the dems are sitting on their thumbs

***
I pointed this out a couple of days ago but have not seen the topic made public to a wide audience

Reminder – Leo was head of Federalist Society until recently when WA PO exposed him

The man who is said to vet the president’s list of SCOTUS candidates, Leonard Leo, is the executive vice president of the arch-conservative Federalist Society, which has figured in the appointment of all but one of the conservative justices currently sitting on the Supreme Court, including Trump’s two now-installed nominees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

While the Federalist Society itself has plenty of dubious relationships with individuals like Charles Koch and his network of billionaire oligarchs hell-bent on reshaping American politics to serve their ends, it is Leo’s association to another organization that reveals links to far older and more powerful networks that harken back to the most recondite history of Cold War politics and the CIA in their ostensible fight against communism through an “unholy alliance” between the intelligence agency, the Vatican and the Mob.

I added the bold in the second paragraph. The US has supported fascism so not notice when it happens here. Recall the off quoted meme: war comes home

Sordid connections
Leonard Leo is a board member of the Opus Dei’s Catholic Information Center (CIC), where sitting U.S. Attorney General, Bill Barr, and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, also once served. The Catholic lay group has been described as one of the world’s “most powerful and politically committed” secret societies, with direct ties to the Vatican as a “personal prelature,” an official status awarded by John Paul II that made sure the group only answers to the Pope himself.
Founded in 1928 by a Spanish priest and lawyer, Opus Dei, wouldn’t become the agent of global fascism until later in the twentieth century when the CIA began funneling money to an Opus Dei think tank in Chile called the Chilean Institute for General Studies (IGS) after it drew support for the overthrow of democratically elected president Salvador Allende from Chilean bishops, and was a pivotal cog in the implementation of Operation Condor–a transnational intelligence operation running through Southcom to aid South American right-wing dictatorships in the 1970s. Many of the members of IGS went on to become cabinet officials in Pinochet’s military junta.

**
Here is what I am sending out. Only response is another religious journalist who works with Betty and she has my email address but even Betty has not contacted me. Please feel free to send this out to politicians and journalists and anyone who could do their own research to verity what Betty has written (a couple of decades writing about corruption in the Curia – the administration of the RC church)

Opus Dei’s influence in US politics and legal system

I am sending recent articles by Betty Clermont. As a long term Catholic, she has been an employee of the Catholic Church. She has written extensively on the sexual abuse and other corruption of the Roman Catholic Church administration. Of particular concern is the extensive influence in US politics and government of Opus Dei, the secret society, which operates under the umbrella of the church. Opus Dei has been involved in shaping major changes in the government and the rise of right wing politics.

While I have been following Betty’s extensive work for almost a decade, I had lost track of her for over 2 years and only yesterday I was on the web and found her recent articles which are directly relevant to the confirmation

Here is the email address I last had for her. I wrote her in the last two days but have not had a confirmation that it is still valid. I am sending these links out on my own volition.

bettyclermont@yahoo.com

Sincerely

Don Utter
Worthington, OH
Utter.don@gmaill.com
614 596 9690

http://churchandstate.org.uk/2019/06/opus-deis-influence-is-felt-in-all-of-washingtons-corridors-of-power/

http://churchandstate.org.uk/2019/03/opus-deis-influence-on-the-u-s-judiciary/

https://opentabernacle.wordpress.com/2020/06/19/opus-deis-william-barr-the-trump-whisperer/

https://opentabernacle.wordpress.com/2020/09/25/preparing-for-the-next-conclave/

Don midwest

meanwhile

Democrat support for Barrett jumped 18 points and it should be very clear why https://t.co/rhtz85sBQr
— Eoin Higgins (@EoinHiggins_) October 21, 2020

and Pope came out today for same sex marriage

well, the RC church, the oldest intuition in the world, is moving at the speed of light and the conservatives are going full speed ahead

what if the Pope comes out in favor of birth control and women medical health?

**
reading the articles above about Opus Dei I got the feeling that the Pope was a figure head for corruption. Maybe I was wrong

some Pope’s are bad. Francis seems to be one of the best. I’m sure the Vatican has plenty of dirt, but i really like Pope Francis.

orlbucfan

John XXIII was considered progressive. This was back in the 1960s. Barrett is a stupid dunce on top of being a FRight cultie. 🤮

i hear ya, don. been talking about Opus Dei since Scalia. no one besides us seems to care. bc media doesn’t explain anything. amy like corpses and that’s enough for them.

the best example of Senate Senior Solidarity since Bernie defended Biden from Corey Booker after that debate https://t.co/yU34vHsm70
— tyson brody (@tysonbrody) October 21, 2020

Aiming at Markos, maybe?

No one is defending Feinstein’s behavior. She needs to go. At the very least, take away her gavel if/when Dems win the majority https://t.co/7d2fm1Hmum
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) October 21, 2020

Travis Kalanick Finds New Industry To Put Out Of Business
A global pandemic is a fertile time for disruption, no?

Trump isn’t the only GOP leader with Chinese bank ties. As the @NewYorker reported, Mitch McConnell’s sister-in-law Angela Chao became a non-executive director of the Bank of China in 2016. https://t.co/DeNQMAhS0t
— Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) October 21, 2020

Don midwest

Zepher teachout has a new book out about how monopolies are destroying the country

here is a terrorist who needs to be constrained by law

Having helped rid the world of the scourge of taxis (and a fair number of cab drivers along with them), Uber founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick has been on the lookout for other industries to disrupt into extinction. Luckily for him, the global pandemic has served up the restaurant business right on a plate. Or, rather, a plastic tray.
Entities tied to Travis Kalanick’s CloudKitchens, a startup that rents out space to businesses that prepare food for delivery, have bought more than 40 properties in nearly two dozen cities for more than $130 million…. CloudKitchens and its rivals rent out delivery-only kitchens under flexible terms. Food vendors can save time and money if they pick a prebuilt kitchen over a big restaurant space….

Don midwest

my gut tells me …

The gut microbiome defines social group membership in honey bee colonies

well, maybe it is not my gut, but the microbiome in my gut

from my hero

“we are not connected to nature, we are seized by living beings who allow us to exist for a while”