Tyre Nichols (photo, left), 29, was beaten to death by 5 police officers (photo at bottom) on January 7, 2023 (details here). All the cops involved, like Nichols, were black; this wasn’t a white-on-black incident, but it is a case of police brutality and misconduct. On October 3, 2024, a jury [...]
Rogue county clerk gets 9 years
Tina Peters (photo, left), a Colorado county clerk who fought the law and lost, has been sentenced to 9 years in prison. Peters, formerly the elected Mesa County clerk, is a vocal Trump supporter and outspoken promoter of false election conspiracy theories. She was indicted for official misconduct a[...]
The short unhappy life and tragic death of Dr. Tammy Towers Parry
Tammy Towers Parry, M.D., 57, was a graduate of the University of Washington Medical School. A comment on HorsesAss.org on October 2, 2024, summarizes her life and death as follows: “Following her job loss she burned through all her savings buying TRUMP cowboy hats, gold hightop sneakers, and [...]
October 2nd, 2024 - 1:23 am § in Politics
J. D. Vance wins debate with dishonesty
According to viewers, J. D. Vance won his debate with Tim Walz, but just barely. In a CBS post-debate poll, 42% said Vance won, 41% said Walz won, and 17% called it a tie. CNN’s poll was equally close: Vance 51%, Walz 49%, with no tie option. (See Vox story here.) In a USA Today […][...]
October 1st, 2024 - 8:40 pm § in Misc.
Would building on federal lands solve the housing crisis?
That’s what J. D. Vance argued in tonight’s debate. It’s silly nonsense. We need housing where people live, and most people live where there are jobs. Most of America’s jobs are in cities where there’s no vacant federal land, and many of those cities are east of the Mis[...]
Dockworkers’ strike shuts down East and Gulf coast ports
West coast ports remain open, because those dockworkers have a different union and negotiated a new contract a couple years ago. What’s behind the strike? Wages are front and center. West coast longshoremen, under their new contract, will make $60 an hour by 2027; the East and Gulf coast longshore[...]
How rightwing tabloid media misleads and misinforms
If a free press is the cornerstone of democracy, you’d never know it from studying American history. The media in this country has always been partisan, often sensationalized, and shapes public opinion in irresponsible ways. It was even worse in the earliest days of the American republic. But [...]
Why Vance is an enemy of people with pre-existing health conditions
With Obamacare, you know what you’re getting. Trump plans to replace it with an ill-defined “concept.” Prior to Obamacare, the attitude of Republicans was that health care was a luxury of the well-off; tens of millions of Americans couldn’t afford, or couldn’t get, heal[...]
October 1st, 2024 - 1:17 am § in Misc.
Can we now forgive Pete Rose?
Pete Rose is dead. Long live “Charlie Hustle.” Rose, 83, died on September 30, 2024. He’s remembered for two things: Baseball’s all-time hit leader, and a lifetime ban from the sport for gambling on games. He also tops the charts in games played, at-bats, singles, and outs. H[...]
October 1st, 2024 - 12:43 am § in Environment, Misc.
Is Mount Everest getting higher?
The 1,500-mile long Himalayan mountain chain is a land mass pushed upward by the collision of two tectonic plates, the Eurasian and Indian. Its highest point, Mount Everest, was once seabed as shown by marine fossils found near its summit. But tectonic forces aren’t the only ones pushing the h[...]