Ginsburg opposes 2020 Democrats’ proposals to expand Supreme Court

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

“If anything, [it] would make the court look partisan,” she said of the court-packing plans advocated by some Democrats. “It would be that — one side saying, ‘When we’re in power, we’re going to enlarge the number of judges, so we would have more people who would vote the way we want them to.'”

Ginsburg also said she was not concerned by calls for term limits for justices, citing the political difficulty of amending the Constitution, which enshrines lifetime appointments for federal judges.

Ginsburg opposes 2020 Democrats’ proposals to expand Supreme Court – POLITICO

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Trump transition adviser convicted on foreign-agent charges

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Middle East,Leave a comment

A federal jury on Tuesday convicted Bijan Rafiekian, a former business partner of Michael Flynn, on a pair of foreign-agent felony charges stemming from work the two men did for Turkish interests during the final months of the Trump presidential campaign in 2016.

…A belated courtroom victory for special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated the $600,000 lobbying and public relations contract at the heart of the case and then handed the matter off to other federal prosecutors after Flynn’s guilty plea to a false-statement charge in 2017.

…“Today’s verdict should stand as a deterrent to any malign foreign influence that undermines the integrity of our political processes,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said. “Through misrepresentations in his FARA filing, Mr. Rafiekian attempted to deceive the public and influence key leaders on behalf of Turkey. The Department of Justice treats these crimes with the gravity that they deserve.”

The Iranian-American businessman, who was Flynn’s main partner in his short-lived consulting firm, also served as an adviser to the Trump transition team on national security issues. 

…It’s unclear how prosecutors’ decision not to call Flynn will affect his ultimate sentence.

Other disclosures at the Rafiekian trial could also impact Flynn’s sentencing, including a startling but cryptic statement that prosecutors issued just before the trial, indicating that the U.S. government has various kinds of undisclosed, classified evidence that the Turkish government reached out to Flynn through Alptekin “because of Michael Flynn’s relationship with an ongoing presidential campaign.”

…It seems possible the judge sentencing Flynn will view the verdicts as confirming that Flynn was effectively on the payroll of the Turkish government while working on Trump’s presidential bid.

Trump transition adviser convicted on foreign-agent charges – POLITICO

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A woman’s greatest enemy? A lack of time to herself

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

A book about the daily rituals of great artists ….creative geniuses – mostly men – …their schedules and daily routines.

…Their wives protected them from interruptions; their housekeepers and maids brought them breakfast and coffee at odd hours; their nannies kept their children out of their hair. Martha Freud not only laid out Sigmund’s clothes every morning, she even put the toothpaste on his toothbrush. Marcel Proust’s housekeeper, Celeste, not only brought him his daily coffee, croissants, newspapers and mail on a silver tray, but was always on hand whenever he wanted to chat, sometimes for hours.

……Thorstein Veblen wrote that throughout history the people who had the ability to choose and control their time were high-status men. He dismissed women on page two, writing that they, along with the servants and the slaves, have always been responsible for the drudge work that enables those high-status men to think their great thoughts.

…I think of an interview Patti Scialfa gave on how difficult it was for her to write the music for her solo album because her kids kept interrupting her and demanding her time in a way that they never would of their father, Bruce Springsteen.

…Women still spend at least twice as much time as men doing housework and childcare, sometimes much more. 

…The men spent more of their work days in long stretches of uninterrupted time to think, research, write, create and publish to make their names, advance their careers and get their ideas out into the world.

…I remember interviewing psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, famed for identifying the state of flow, the peak human experience when one is so absorbed in a meaningful task that time effectively disappears. It’s the state that artists and thinkers say is a requirement for creating anything of value.

A woman’s greatest enemy? A lack of time to herself | Brigid Schulte | Opinion | The Guardian

What a clear and unconscious cry for respected and distinct boundaries in one’s life.

Quentin Tarantino, exploitation, and Hollywood

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Quentin Tarantino’s exploitation has no place in Hollywood anymore

“Daisy Domergue taking a truly stupendous number of punches in the face”  

We are ignoring the fact Daisy and her gang trying to kill them in cold blood, then?

If public sentiment was personified, that person might overcompensate assuage their guilt over looking the other way for so long.

Funny how one can both #MeToo and categorize women as without agency and strength at the same time.

Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Europe,, Infrastructure and Transportation,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

While changes in the travel industry have tended to pressure night trains off the market, it’s clear that there is still some appetite for them among travelers. When Germany’s Deutsche Bahn halted its night services in 2017, Austrian Federal Railways took over some of the key routes. The takeover has proved to be a success, with passenger numbers on the services …rising from 1.4 million to 1.6 million between 2017 and 2018, a rise in profits, and talk of expansion. Meanwhile, well-established leisure services such as the London-to-Scotland Caledonian Sleeper continue to thrive.

The overnight train services remain popular because many people actually like them. The duration of travel, of course, is usually far longer than by plane, even when layovers and security are factored in, but there are other compensations. Generally scheduled to leave late evening and arrive before the working day begins, night trains offer the possibility of sleep and more leisurely travel compared to an early-morning rush to the airport. They can also be reasonably priced: On the Vienna-to-Berlin night service, for example, a one-way ticket with a reclining sleeper seat starts at €29 ($32.50), a couchette (a four- or six-person compartment whose bunks fold down into comfortable seating during the day) at €49 ($55), and a single-berth sleeper with private toilet and shower at €139 ($159). If the trip saves you the cost of a hotel room, many people seem to be noting, that’s not a bad deal.

So while the outlook seemed bleak just a few years ago, Sweden’s plan arrives at a time when the sector’s fortunes seem to be brightening once more.

…Getting more people on the rails can only have a positive effect in reducing the carbon footprint of international mobility.

Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains – CityLab

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Andrew Yang is out to save the American mall

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Infrastructure and Transportation,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

 At one time the US was home to  …2,000 [malls:] climate-controlled, multi-level, windowless and flanked on each end by well-lit department stores. There are just over 1,000 indoor American malls alive today, with analysts putting the number of mall closures within the next five years at between 20 and 25 percent.

,,,Yang’s policy would fund struggling malls with matching grants and tax incentives to the tune of $6 billion. Investing in and revitalizing dead malls doesn’t just mean bringing retail back; he’s also a big believer in transforming and repurposing malls into “[o]ffices, churches, indoor recreation spaces, anything we can do to keep these spaces vital and positive is an enormous win for the surrounding community,” reads his campaign site. Mall closures, Yang tweeted last month, “have a disastrous effect on local property values.”

…Abandoned malls are what the Congress for the New Urbanism coined “greyfields,” as reported by CityLab, for the seas of parking lots that surround them. Yang’s campaign pledge to transform vacant malls into multi-purpose spaces is right in line with New Urbanism’s architectural and urban planning movement to create mixed-use, “live, work, shop, play” centers, …(ICSC) found that 78 percent of US adults would consider living in such a center.

Democratic debates 2020: Andrew Yang on universal basic income and saving malls – Vox

A more flexible version of this plan, one that doesn’t necessarily envision “high-end” mixed use, would be very interesting.

Irish Teen Wins 2019 Google Science Fair For Removing Microplastics From Water

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

Microplastics are defined as having a diameter of 5nm or less and are too small for filtering or screening during wastewater treatment. Microplastics are often included in soaps, shower gels, and facial scrubs for their ability to exfoliate the skin. Microplastics can also come off clothing during normal washing.

These microplastics then make their way into waterways and are virtually impossible to remove through filtration. Small fish are known to eat microplastics and as larger fish eat smaller fish these microplastics are concentrated into larger fish species that humans consume.

Ferreira used a combination of oil and magnetite powder to create a ferrofluid in the water containing microplastics. The microplastics combined with the ferrofluid which was then extracted.

After the microplastics bound to the ferrofluid, Ferreira used a magnet to remove the solution and leave only water.

After 1,000 tests, the method was 87% effective in removing microplastics of all sorts from water. The most effective microplastic removed was that from a washing machine with the hardest to remove being polypropylene plastics.

Irish Teen Wins 2019 Google Science Fair For Removing Microplastics From Water

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8th Circuit says officer who handcuffed a sobbing 7-year-old can’t be sued.

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

…[Democratic presidential candidate Julián] Castro zeroed in on the doctrine of qualified immunity as a major tool that shields cops from consequences for virtually any behavior, even when they violate constitutional rights. ….Federal courts invoke qualified immunity to toss lawsuits against officers who engage in egregious and often brutal conduct.

…Under this rule, the police cannot be sued unless they infringe upon a constitutional right—and that right is “clearly established.” A constitutional right is only “clearly established” if a reasonable officer would know that it is protected by binding precedent.

…Thursday’s decision, revolves around Kalyb Wiley-Primm. Primm, who is black, was being teased and bullied by a classmate. He stood up, cried, and yelled, prompting a school staff member to tell him, “You better sit down. You are about to get in trouble.” A staff member asked Brandon Craddock, a school patrol officer, to assist with an “out-of-control” student. By the time Craddock arrived, Primm had sat back down in his seat.

Craddock asked Primm to walk with him into the hallway. On the second request, Primm complied. …After telling Primm “several times to stop walking away,” Craddock grabbed his wrist. Primm tried to pull away, and Craddock handcuffed him. …After his father arrived, Craddock removed the handcuffs. Primm had been in the cuffs for a total of 20 minutes; they left his wrists sore and red.

…The case began as a manhunt for Christopher Barnett, a criminal suspect, in Georgia. Barnett “wandered” into someone’s yard, where an adult and six children were playing. Multiple police officers entered the yard and demanded that everyone—including two children under the age of 3—get on the ground. Barnett, too, complied, and was visibly unarmed.

…One officer, Michael Vickers, then saw the family dog, who was not at all aggressive and posed no threat. Vickers nonetheless attempted to shoot the dog. One bullet missed the dog but struck a 10-year-old child in the knee. Vickers’ victim was just 18 inches away from his weapon. The bullet shattered the child’s knee. 

…Qualified immunity encourages this style of reckless policing. 

8th Circuit says officer who handcuffed a sobbing 7-year-old can’t be sued.

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After Cheeto’s ‘send her back’ chants, Pelosi and Omar visit Africa together

On By peanutgallerynhIn Africa,, Chick Stuff,, Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Race,, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Omar is visiting Ghana this week along with Pelosi and the 13 members of the Congressional Black Caucus as they observe the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans in America.

..The group is visiting slave castles and meeting with Ghana’s parliament during the trip.

…Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) Thursday posted a picture of herself alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on their current trip to Africa.

In the tweet, Omar joked about people who have chanted “send her back,” saying Pelosi “didn’t just make arrangements to send me back, she went back with me.”

…Trump singled out “the squad,” a nickname for Omar and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), after Pelosi in an interview cast doubt on the lawmakers’ influence.

Since Trump lashed out at them, though, Pelosi has voiced her support for the women and met with Ocasio-Cortez in private to address the tensions within the Democratic Party.

After ‘send her back’ chants, Pelosi and Omar visit Africa together | TheHill

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Rep. Cheney Accuses Tribes of “Destroying our Western Way of Life” Over Grizzly Protections

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, The Americas,Leave a comment

Removing protections from the bear, revered as sacred to a multitude of tribes, would have left the grizzly vulnerable to high-dollar trophy hunts and lifted leasing restrictions on some 34,375 square miles. Extractive industry, livestock and logging interests are among those desirous of capitalizing on the area, a region comprised of tribal treaty, reserved rights and ceded lands.

…“I would remind the Congresswoman that at the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition an estimated 100,000 grizzly bears roamed from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast. That was all Indian Country. Now there are fewer than 2,000 grizzly bears and our people live in Third World conditions on meager reservations in the poorest counties in the US. Does she really want to talk about ‘destroying’ a ‘way of life’?” asked Rodgers.

…Tribal Nations, including the Oglala Sioux Tribe which petitioned for a Congressional inquiry into the influence of multi-national fossil-fuel corporations on FWS’s grizzly delisting decision, previously exposed the role of extractive industry in the process. USFWS engaged multinational oil and gas services group, Amec Foster Wheeler, for the peer review of its grizzly delisting rule that tribes and environmental groups deconstructed in court. Amec Foster Wheeler appointed Halliburton executive Jonathan Lewis as CEO in the same timeframe as USFWS contracted the company.

“That puts ‘harmful to the ecosystem’ into its true context,” responded Rodgers. “The Cheney family’s connections to Halliburton hardly needs elaborating upon,” added Chief Stan Grier, President of the Blackfoot Confederacy Chiefs. 

…“There’s more chance of her father receiving the Nobel Peace Prize than her “Grizzly Bear State Management Act” reaching the House floor,” said Rodgers of Cheney’s bill.

Rep. Cheney Accuses Tribes of “Destroying our Western Way of Life” Over Sacred Grizzly Protections — Native News Online

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, spokesman leave her office

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Race,Leave a comment

Saikat Chakrabarti, the controversial chief of staff to high-profile freshman Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, will be leaving her office to work for a non-profit focusing on the Green New Deal.

Corbin Trent, Ocasio-Cortez’s communications director, will also be leaving the congressional office. Trent will work on Ocasio-Cortez’s 2020 reelection campaign, according to the New York Democrat.

…Trent also worked on the Sanders campaign, and he was a co-director of the Justice Democrats before joining Ocasio-Cortez’s staff.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, spokesman leave her office – POLITICO

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff is leaving

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Race,Leave a comment

“Saikat has decided to leave the office of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to work with New Consensus to further develop plans for a Green New Deal,” communications director Corbin Trent said in a statement Friday. “We are extraordinarily grateful for his service to advance a bold agenda and improve the lives of the people in NY-14. From his co-founding of Justice Democrats to his work on the Ocasio-Cortez campaign and in the official office, Saikat’s goal has always been to do whatever he can to help the larger progressive movement, and we look forward to continuing working with him to do just that.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff is leaving – CNNPolitics

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Top Navy SEAL warns commanders of ‘order and discipline problem’

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Drugs & Drink,, Military,Leave a comment

“I don’t know yet if we have a culture problem, I do know that we have a good order and discipline problem that must be addressed immediately,” Green wrote, according to CNN.

Green reportedly added in the letter that “some of our subordinate formations have failed to maintain good order and discipline,” an issue which has thrown the culture of Navy special forces into the spotlight “for good reason.”

Top Navy SEAL warns commanders of ‘order and discipline problem’ | TheHill

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Trump’s racist tweet circus & the part the media plays

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Race,Leave a comment

Were Trump’s comments about the Squad newsworthy? I can answer that, I think: Of course they were. But let’s go a level down. Why were they so much more newsworthy than anything else? What made them more newsworthy than, say, the memo revealing that the Trump administration has basically abdicated the job of prosecuting white-collar criminals, or Senate Democrats’ continuing efforts to pass a bill that would address the asylum crisis in a humane way?

Part of the problem here is that the media isn’t a “we.” For all the claims of media bias or conspiracy, we’re actually a collection of outlets in competition with each other for the audience’s attention. When everyone else is covering something, it’s hard not to also cover that thing. Moreover, we’re a collection of outlets navigating a shaky business model: Trump coverage means traffic, and traffic is part of the business. In practice, those incentives do not enter our editorial conversations explicitly, but they are part of the context in which those decisions are made.

…The effort to avoid normalizing Trump has been operationalized by, in effect, lowering the bar to covering Trump. We’re on high alert for his abnormal statements — moments of racism, sexism, or bigotry; outright lies; flirtations with fascist ideas or autocratic leaders — so all he needs to do to refocus the political media and thus the country on the worst possible conversation is to make a comment that falls into one of these buckets.

But what if we reversed that approach? What if instead of lowering the bar to cover Trump, we raised it? Perhaps Trump’s behavior — the lies, the insults, the ignorance, the feuding that happens outside the realm of official administration policymaking — shouldn’t get coverage.

…We have set up a very particular incentive structure for not only [Trump] but everyone else in politics, where the coverage that can be generated by abnormal, offensive behavior far outweighs the coverage on offer for simply trying to do a good job and be a decent person.

Trump’s racist tweets: is the media part of the problem? – Vox

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