Tidbits – Apr. 20, 2023 – Reader Comments: Clarence Thomas = Corrupt; Mifepristone Ruling; Supreme Court “Ethics”; Biden’s Right Turn and 2024; Lula’s Plan: Global Battle Against Trumpism; LBJ vs. MLK; Danger of Nuclear War; AI, Labor, and Tech;

Reader Comments: Clarence Thomas = Corrupt; Mifepristone Ruling; Supreme Court "Ethics"; Biden's Right Turn and 2024; Lula’s Plan: A Global Battle Against Trumpism; LBJ vs. MLK; Rising Danger of Nuclear War; AI, Labor, Tech; Cartoons; Announcements;

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Tidbits - Reader Comments, Announcements AND cartoons - Apr. 20, 2023,Portside

Clarence Thomas = Corrupt  -- Cartoon by Gary Huck
The Debt Ceiling  --  Cartoon by Nick Anderson
Re: 54 Years Ago, a Supreme Court Justice Was Forced to Quit for Behavior Arguably Less Egregious Than Thomas’s  (Bruce Dunn; Charles Patrick Lynch; Morton Gage; Angel Castro; Naomi Lockwood; Marley Brown Jr; George Nachtsheim; Brenda Singleton; Rogers Collier; Ellen Myers; Bill Titus)
Clarence Thomas  --  Cartoon by Rob Rogers
Court Jesters  --  Carton by Mike Luckovich
Re: Judge’s Ruling Against Abortion Pill Is Filled With Activists’ Language  (Lexi Jones; Lisa Miller; Johnnie Swim)
Re:: Just Another Week in the Federalist Society Hellscape  (Vladimir Vazquez Claudio; Steven Kloppenburg; Louise Lasance)
Welcome to Florida  -- Meme
Re: AOC: The Biden Administration’s Rightward Turn Is “A Profound Miscalculation”  (Joseph Gatto)
Trump Bandwagon  --  Carton by Adam Zyglis
Re: No Amount of Money Erases What We Already Learned About Fox in the Dominion Case  (Jack)
 

Economics:
 

Re: LBJ vs. MLK  (Christopher Koch; Daniel Millstone; Eugenio Hopgood Davila)
Re: What’s Behind the Revolts in France?  (Bob Tomashevsky)
Re: An American Dilemma: Michael Kazin and the Recycling of Cold War Liberalism  (Spicer Blount)

Announcements:

Clarence Thomas = Corrupt  -- Cartoon by Gary Huck

Gary Huck
April 14, 2023

The Debt Ceiling  --  Cartoon by Nick Anderson

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Nick Anderson
April 19, 2023
Pen Strokes

Re: 54 Years Ago, a Supreme Court Justice Was Forced to Quit for Behavior Arguably Less Egregious Than Thomas’s  

This is a no brainerd. Thomas has to go and Ginny needs jail time. Both charged with treason.

Bruce Dunn
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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That will never happen. If we are lucky, he will be forced to resign. Nothing happens to her. Reps will try to stall hoping they will take back the presidency,

Charles Patrick Lynch
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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"IF" Thomas stays or goes will be decided by the Koch cabal of libertarian billionaires that fund and control the Federalist Society. With him on the SCOTUS they have a 6-3 majority... Thomas is booted... they will still have a 5/4 majority once Biden appoints.

Morton Gage
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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GOPs are corrupted as always. What really anoint me is that republicans senators and representative are acting like he hasn’t done anything wrong Like Trump.
The same goes for republicans supporters that still voting for these trash.

Angel Castro
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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The more you learn about this man - starting back with Anita Hill’s testimony, the more you realize that perhaps he is only qualified to sit on the bench of a traffic court!

Naomi Lockwood
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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He was bought!!!!

Marley Brown Jr
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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He definitely should be removed so that he can sit home with his Trump loving wife!

George Nachtsheim
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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His time is up….just to remember, we were warned of his behaviors more than 30 years ago…

Brenda Singleton
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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Unfortunately nothing will nor can be done. The GOP house isn’t impeaching him so unless that happens forget it. We’re stuck with him.

Rogers Collier
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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The more that comes to light, the more corrupt we find that he is!

Ellen Myers
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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The difference here between Left and Right. Left does the right thing but the Right doesn’t!

Bill Titus
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

Clarence Thomas  --  Cartoon by Rob Rogers

Rob Rogers
April 13, 2023
robrogers.com

Court Jesters  --  Carton by Mike Luckovich

Mike Luckovich
April 19, 2023
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Re: Judge’s Ruling Against Abortion Pill Is Filled With Activists’ Language

Lexi Jones
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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One man should not have the ability to withdraw a drug that has had FDA approval for over 20 years because of his personal beliefs. A total abuse of power.

Lisa Miller
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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And are all those people who don’t want those people to get abortions going to take care of those babies when they’re born ? Are they going to pay for all they’re medical expenses while they’re pregnant ? They don’t know those women’s situations, we’re they raped ? Can’t care for them or can’t afford to raise them or or or !!! No they don’t so get off your high horse and get a life !!! It’s a woman’s choice to choose !!!!

Johnnie Swim
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

Re:: Just Another Week in the Federalist Society Hellscape  

Instead, both Thomas and Crow are part of a supremely well-funded conspiracy operating in broad daylight called the Federalist Society that obtains the appointments of judges who will ignore the particulars of every case in order to accomplish through the judicial system what the revanchist coalition of capital and church cannot hope to accomplish in anything like a democratic fashion.

Vladimir Vazquez Claudio
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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Evil derives from Citizen United.

Steven Kloppenburg
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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“What do last week’s stories about Clarence Thomas, the Tennessee expulsion, and the Wisconsin election have in common that most news reports aren’t covering? 

A: The Federalist Society’s constitutional coup.

It’s obviously corrupt for a Supreme Court justice to be enjoying luxury vacations on a billionaire GOP donor “friend’s” dime, and then not disclosing it. Thomas should be held accountable. Just as it’s wrong for the Republicans in Tennessee to expel two Democratic representatives for speaking out against gun violence. And as great as it is for democracy, abortion rights, and more that Janet Protasiewicz won last week’s Supreme Court judicial election in Wisconsin, it is wrong that an outrageous partisan gerrymander has been guaranteeing Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature a near-supermajority of seats in a state that is split nearly evenly between the parties. Each of these stories is major in its own right, but we cannot risk being so outraged by one justice’s corruption, or so shocked by one theatrical instance of legislative power abuse, or so heartened by one thrilling victory that beats back an anti-democratic tide, that we risk losing sight of the bigger and more consequential context that unites every major political story of the past week: the Federalist Society project to overturn the democratic progress of the 20th Century."

Louise Lasance    
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

Welcome to Florida  -- Meme

Re: AOC: The Biden Administration’s Rightward Turn Is “A Profound Miscalculation”  

Some call her a left wing wacko but if you read the article you’ll find she’s a very smart, very articulate person. Her true concern is what is good for Americans! It wasn’t mentioned but I believe that Joe Biden isn’t electable for a second term and should be challenged in a primary Joseph Gatto

Joseph Gatto
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

Trump Bandwagon  --  Carton by Adam Zyglis

Adam Zyglis
March 22, 2023
The Buffalo News

Re: No Amount of Money Erases What We Already Learned About Fox in the Dominion Case  

We might consider $787,000,000 to be chump change (given the amount of cash that Fox has in the bank) -- but it is not. It is the largest award ever given in a defamation lawsuit. It sends a message to other right-wing organizations and right-wing media that might not have pockets as deep as Fox's that there could be serious financial consequences to their lies and misinformation.

But you wanted more. I get that. I did, too. I would have liked to see the FOX scumbags giving testimony and being incisively cross-examined. But perfect outcomes are rare: we don't always get everything we want.

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that all the jurors would have been liberals or progressives like us. Unfortunately, all it would take is a couple of pro-Trump people on the jury... and Dominion would get zilch, after having spent tens of millions pursuing the case -- and there would be *no precedent set*. And Fox did have to spend many tens of millions of dollars defending themselves ... while suffering significant bashing in all but the right-wing media.

So Dominion might have had to make a rational decision: risk losing *all* and going into the hole with whopping legal fees... or avoid such risk and have a 100% chance of exacting a considerable price from the bad guys ($787 million dollars).

Also, it sounds like Dominion might be pursuing additional legal cases... so Dominion's filings against Fox-related people aren't necessarily over. And Fox is facing another serious lawsuit from Smartmatic (another voting-machine company). Smartmatic is seeking $2.7 billion in damages for allegedly defamatory claims about the 2020 presidential election.

We need to acknowledge hugely significant (even if imperfect) outcomes, even if we have hoped for more... and then keep working hard, in whatever ways each of us can, for additional victories.

Jack

Re: Six Ways Existing Economic Models Are Killing the Economy  

Good article. Economic theory is a pseudo-science. Economics reporting is an opaque porridge designed to, as the article says, make ordinary people feel that they cannot understand how the economy works.

Sonia Cobbins
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

Re: Tax the Patriarchy To Support Women and Families  

So what could we fund by creating a tax system where the wealthy (mostly white men) and corporations (mostly led by white men) pay their fair share? We could start by investing in women and families.

In the spirit of tax season, the National Women’s Law Center created an interactive tax calculator that provides examples of how much revenue could be raised by taxing the patriarchy through different tax policies — and how that money could be used to fund public investments in paid leave, child care, and aging and disability care, which all of us need and deserve.

Donna Fern
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

Re: Ilhan Omar Embarks on New Path No Longer Defined by ‘Firsts’  

"Omar is chairing a newly formed Africa policy working group, where she and more than a dozen House Democrats will focus on issues concerning the continent. “We don’t agree on everything,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs, one of the group’s members. “But we share a similar worldview, especially when it comes to the African continent, where we’re both really focused on U.S. engagement, not leading with our military, but actually leading with diplomacy and centering our values on human rights and promoting good governance.”

Norm Littlejohn
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

Re: Lula’s Plan: A Global Battle Against Trumpism  

The recent posting on Portside, "Lula's Plan: A Global Battle Against Trumpism" by Alexander Burns makes a number of important points on how progressives around the world can work together to blunt the neo-fascist threat.  In his article, Burns focuses on Lula's visit to Washington earlier this year.

What Burns did not mention is that the Brazilian president recently met with Xi Jinping on a state visit to China.  In their meetings the two sides reiterated their deep commitment to strengthen and deepen their relationship.

Among the core principles the two sides agree on are two Chinese proposals:  The Global Security Initiative and the Global Development Initiative.  The first talks about how we can build a world order based on peace, respect, and non-interference in other countries' affairs; the second describes how the major world's major problems stem from a highly distorted model of economic relations that can ameliorated by a worldwide commitment to raising the living standards and modernizing the societies of all people in a fair and equal way.

It is of crucial importance that progressives learn more about these two frameworks.  Both are repudiations of the United States-dominated capitalist world order.

David

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IMO the key question of this century is not survival or fascism or neoliberalism, though these questions will frame our lives - already do. The key question is renewing democracy on the basis of working class interest. But up to now democracy has been framed by the rise of capitalism and capitalist nation-states. That's about played out. The battle over US hegemony is big, but not decisive.  We're stuck fighting for reform, big and small, short of a revolutionary situation which is still not in sight. But the demand that is overshadowing all others, in terms of means, ends and agency, is empowering the vast majority and disempowering the exploiters and swindlers nationally and on a global scale. Out of that fight comes survival, freedom, and whatever the politicized democratic populace calls socialism.

Ethan Young

Re: One camp at a time, a Seattle group is transforming its approach to homelessness  

The circumstances and conditions causing homelessness and addiction must be honestly and completely identified. Those causes must be addressed by community as represented by government.

Gina Klein
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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This strategy that is being tried in Seattle actually makes sense, I've been advocating for something like this for years.  Present the individuals with a range of options, but staying in the "camp" is not among them.   Those who are in serious mental health or drug dependency issues (often it's both together) can't simply be lumped together with other people who are functional but homeless because of personal economics, due to job loss, extreme cost of rent, medical expenses, etc., that would never work.

However, the question I have is, $billions have "disappeared" into various supposed homeless related organizations and projects, but where has that money actually gone?  The term "homeless industrial complex" is becoming evermore reflective of the real circumstances.

Many people, myself included, do want to see reasonable, realistic programs for the homeless, but also want to see some accountability, which seems to be sorely lacking.

I'm open to any thoughts you might want to express . . .

Charles

Re: Rolling Back “Right-To-Work” in States

(posting on Portside Labor)  

Good analysis of the Right to Work movement.

Joseph Gowaskie

Re: LBJ vs. MLK  

We knew most of this after COINTELPRO was revealed. My favorite line, "they knew communists were everywhere."

Christopher Koch

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I missed this important (imo obviously) essay when it appeared in the NYT.  It isn't, as I recall it, news that LBJ and MLK were not allies. But the facts and contexts of FBI briefings of the White House on its MLK investigations and counter operations remind us all that our presidents and their police operatives are not and have not been on our side. Thanks, therefore to Portside for republishing this good reminder of our tough times past.

Daniel Millstone
Posted on Portside's Facebook pager

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LBJ's political trade off was pushing the civil rights bill through Congress on the one hand and escalating the war and approving Vietnam genocide on the other while letting Hoover loose to do his dirty work. He knew very well that the CIA had murdered JFK so this was a president who knew what he had to do in order to avoid getting killed.

Eugenio Hopgood Davila
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

Re: What’s Behind the Revolts in France?  

Same all over!  

Watch here

Bob Tomashevsky
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

Re: An American Dilemma: Michael Kazin and the Recycling of Cold War Liberalism  

"Left cheerleading for militarism is a luxury we cannot afford. The left should use its energies to push the Biden administration (and NATO allies) towards a settlement for Ukraine. Some wonder about the precedent of letting Russian seize Ukrainian territory which makes Europe less secure. I’m far more worried about the precedent of NATO-baiting Russia which allows the U.S. to destabilize Europe, trade and democracy making the globe less secure." 

This!

Spicer Blount
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

The Rising Danger of Nuclear War with Daniel Ellsberg - April 21 (Saving Humanity and Planet Earth (SHAPE)

Apr 21, 2023 05:00 PM (Eastern Time) -- LA 2.00 pm   Mexico City 3.00 pm   New York 5.00 pm   Buenos Aires 6.00 pm    London 10.00 pm

REGISTER HERE  https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RKJiQ5mGSHitnE1ApdMJgg#/registration

Join us for this timely event, remarkable because of the gravity of the situation we are facing. Some would say "alarmist talk". Perhaps. But the warnings issued by UN Secretary-General António Guterres have been consistent and direct. Humanity, he tells us is "just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation".

Remarkable too because DANIEL ELLSBERG, the man who released the Pentagon Papers that exposed the brutal reality of the Vietnam War and set in train the events that led to President Nixon's impeachment, is ready to speak. 

Recently diagnosed with inoperable cancer and given only a few months to live, he will deliver the keynote address on our options as we respond to a world fraught with tension and uncertainty.

He will be joined by eminent scholars Professor Richard Falk and Dr Zia Mian. The closing statement will be delivered by Joseph Camilleri OAM, Professor Emeritus, La Trobe University, Melbourne. The event will be moderated by Dr Chandra Muzaffar, President of JUST.

Speakers:

  • Dan Ellsberg worked on the top-secret McNamara study of U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-68 (the Pentagon Papers). Considered the most promising young nuclear strategist in the US, he achieved fame by releasing the Pentagon Papers, the highly classified story of the Vietnam War. Facing a possible sentence of 115 years, his trial was dismissed in 1973 on grounds of governmental misconduct against him, which led to the convictions of several White House aides, which contributed to the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon. He has since engaged in numerous acts of civil disobedience often resulting in jail terms. Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times, he is the author of two acclaimed books: Secrets: Memoir of the Vietnam War and the Pentagon Papers (2003) and The Doomsday Machine: Confession of a Nuclear War Planner (2017). He has recently been diagnosed with inoperable cancer and given only a few months to live. 
  • Richard Falk is Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, Chair of Global Law, Faculty of Law, at Queen Mary University London, and co-Director of its Centre of Environmental Justice and Crime. He served as UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Occupied Palestine. Author of many influential books, his memoir, Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim was published in 2021. 
  • Zia Mian is a physicist and co-director of Princeton University's Program on Science and Global Security, part of the School of Public and International Affairs, where he has worked since 1997. His research interests include issues of nuclear arms control, nonproliferation and disarmament and international peace and security. Mian is the co-author of Unmaking the Bomb (MIT Press, 2014), editor and co-editor of several books, and author and co-author of academic and policy articles. In addition to his writing, he has made two documentary films on peace and security in South Asia.

Saving Humanity and Planet Earth (SHAPE)  

NYU Festival of Voices, April 22, 2023! // ¡Festival de las Voces de la Universidad de Nueva York, 22 de abril de 2023! (Poor People’s Campaign)

Join the NYS PPC Arts + Culture Committee for a Songs in the Key of Resistance Workshop at NYU on April 22, 4 pm EST!

As part of NYU Tisch School’s 2023 “Festival of Voices”, the New York State Poor People’s Campaign Art & Culture Committee will present a workshop entitled Songs In the Key of Resistance based around a set of movement songs from the PPC’s “Movement Songbook”, led by Art and Culture facilitators. The 90-minute workshop will occur on Saturday April 22, where participants will learn about how songs inform and energize movement work, and how movement songs can help to build an effective organizing campaign.

In addition to learning about the songs of the Poor People’s Campaign past and present, workshop facilitators will also lead a songwriting workshop where participants will have an opportunity to write a new movement song. Musician/emcee Jendog Lonewolf and composer Lindsey Wilson will be on hand to showcase their own new work commissioned for the short film entitled “Face of the State”, which was produced by the Poor People’s Campaign media team. This film, which will be shown at the workshop, is framed around the Poor Peoples State of the State report, featuring testimony of impacted citizens from around New York State.

Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 4:00PM EST in the Abe Burrows Theater

REGISTER HERE! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tisch-drama-stage-festival-of-voices-songs-in-the-key-of-resistance-tickets-570068579467

This event is free, but you must register to attend.

#ForwardTogether

The Rise of Artificial Intelligence: AI, Labor, and the Tech Industry - Olympia, WA - April 27 (Economics for Everyone (E4E) and Union Local 443 of Washington Federation of State Employees -WFSE)

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and software advances, some believe we are headed toward a fourth industrial revolution. Is this accurate and does AI pose an imminent threat to the job security of workers? What are the political and social implications of AI?

We invite you to join us on April 27th for an educational event - Economics for Everyone (E4E) and The Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) Local 443 presents, "The Rise of Artificial Intelligence: AI, Labor, and the Tech Industry" where we will address these questions and more.

This hybrid event will be available in person as well as on ZOOM and is free of charge.

Our presenters include:

  • Michael Albert, founder of ZNET, author of No Bosses, A New Economy for a Better World. He will explain what up to date AI and chatbots are, its future, propose regulations and what we should do about AI's rapid development.
  • Local labor activist Franz O'Carroll who will speak on the ongoing labor struggles in the Tech Industry and more.

This discussion will be followed by a Q & A.

RSVP by 5pm Wednesday, April 26th

Zoom Information:  (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://wfse-org.zoom.us/j/81714111006

Meeting ID: 817 1411 1006