With an estimated one million Israelis protesting the country’s authoritarian escalation, and Israel killing Palestinians at a rate of nearly one consistent with one day so far in 2023, disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced he will launch an organization called “Progressives for Israel. “”
“You cannot denounce anti-Semitism and yet doubt Israel’s right to exist and protect itself,” Cuomo said in his announcement Monday, linking Israel’s grievances to anti-Semitism. monolithic in their positions on Israel as a state.
“I’m starting an organization called Progressives for Israel, and I’m going to call the Democrats,” Cuomo continued. “Are you on Israel’s side or do you oppose Israel?Because silence is not an option.
Cuomo’s challenge coincides with waves of protesters inside and outside Israel denouncing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to weaken the judiciary in the face of power from other branches of government, giving Netanyahu’s far-right coalition a greater ability to oppress Palestinians and help the prime minister. Minister escape his own corruption trials.
Cuomo’s puzzling resolution comes as he reportedly faces Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in the 2024 New York Senate primary, which is all the more confusing given her recent track record.
Cuomo resigned from the governor’s workplace in 2021 while embroiled in a scandal. At least 11 women accused the governor of sexually harassing them during his term. Cuomo and his aides also intentionally underestimated and concealed the number of deaths in Covid-19 nursing homes. tried to protect political donors who were hospital and nursing home executives from Covid-related lawsuits. And it would have granted special access to Covid testing in the early stages of the pandemic to the circle of family members and other well-connected personalities.
Cuomo wrote a memoir in the midst of it all called American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic. Cuomo was subsequently accused of his taxpayer-funded time and his painters painting in the e-book that earned him a $5. 1 million contract. .
In the end, even President Biden called on Cuomo to resign after the reports of the 11 accusers were released. Cuomo’s brother and CNN anchor Chris fired him months later, amid an investigation into his own sexual harassment allegations, and whether he used his TV platform to help. His brother governor avoids his own accusations.
Even after all the pain Governor Cuomo left in his wake, he announced his new organization. It is unclear exactly how progressive it is to link fear for the well-being and safety of other Jews to the unequivocal fear of a state acting as an occupying force, and which even many of its own citizens consider out of control. What is transparent is how cynical this resolution is, if it is a warm-up before a political comeback attempt.
“God is rarely done with me yet,” Cuomo proclaimed last year in his first public appearance after resigning in 2021. “I have many characteristics in life and I am open to all of them,” he said in a speech in which he said. He criticized his opposition to the “cancellation of culture” and the media as the explanation for why he and his brother faced the consequences of their own actions. “We’re going to make trouble. “
It turns out that the annoyance has begun.
The state of Ohio is suing Rail Norfolk Southern after the disastrous derailment of the exercise in eastern Palestine, Ohio, last month.
“The derailment was entirely preventable and the direct result of Norfolk Southern’s practice of putting its own profits above the health, safety and well-being of the communities in which Norfolk Southern operates,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit, which was announced Tuesday, cites Norfolk Southern’s emerging accident rate, which has risen 80 percent over the past 10 years. At least 20 Norfolk Southern derailments since 2015 have been linked to chemical emissions. The industry as a whole is guilty of more than 1,000 derailments. yearly
The lawsuit affects Norfolk Southern for 58 violations of federal and state laws. Ohio claims the costs of damage to natural resources and property, economic harm to the state and residents, and existing and long-term state spending in response to environmental and public health concerns. The state is also seeking a “declaratory judgment that holds Norfolk Southern accountable. “
The lawsuit mentions a variety of expressly violated laws, and adds the Comprehensive Environmental Liability, Compensation, and Response Act (CERCLA, also known as Superfund), which allows the federal government to eliminate harmful errors like derailment while seeking liability charges instead of the actual ones. guilty actors. The lawsuit is acting as a shipment for Ohio to unload guarantees that Norfolk Southern will be found guilty for costs incurred by the state in mitigating the disaster.
Last week, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw promised before a Senate panel that the company was committed to doing “what’s best” for the community.
Meanwhile, others inside and outside eastern Palestine reported a variety of symptoms, from persistent sore throats and migraines to bloody stools and rashes. Animals and pets died. And Norfolk Southern staff were forced to work to clear the site without good enough PPE and reported persistent symptoms.
“Ohio does not have to bear the enormous monetary burden of Norfolk Southern’s gross negligence,” State Attorney General Dave Yost said Tuesday. long-term effects on our air, water and soil. “
This has been updated.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will revoke the Hyatt Regency’s liquor license Tuesday for allegedly allowing minors to attend a costume show at Christmas.
DeSantis, who has cracked down on LGBTQ rights, filed an administrative complaint with the State Department of Business and Professional Regulation accusing the Miami hotel of allowing others under 18 to attend a “sexually explicit” drag show.
Ron DeSantis proposes suspending the Hyatt Regency’s liquor license for a drag queen Christmas in December and allegedly having minors present. They may not even corroborate the allegations. That’s the only evidence they have. It’s patético. pic. twitter. com/d8T7noZyEy
The complaint provided no evidence that the children were more than a blurry photograph of a person’s face.
In the past, DeSantis had warned all the venues hosting the traveling exhibit A Drag Queen Christmas that his management would take legal action against them. He also raised the option of having children’s coverage investigate parents who take their children to drag shows. A Drag Queen Christmas is required for others under the age of 18 to be accompanied by an adult to attend.
In February, DeSantis threatened to revoke the Orlando Philharmonic Plaza Foundation’s liquor license for allegedly allowing young people to attend his production of A Drag Queen Christmas.
DeSantis has gone to all-out war with everything he considers “awake,” and with LGBTQ rights in particular. He signed into law the state’s notorious “Don’t Say Gay” law, banned transgender women from participating in women’s sports, and promised no to fund diversity, equity and inclusion systems on school campuses.
It’s also part of a broader trend among Republicans to demonize drag queens and trans people. Tennessee recently became the first state to ban public drag displays, while more than 20 expenses go through state legislatures across the country.
Republicans accuse drag artists and other trans people of being pedophiles as a way to sow concern about the LGBTQ network. Many on the right say attacking the LGBTQ network is a way to protect children, but their moves spread other people, including children, to violence. .
About 772,000 Florida workers, academics and network members are undocumented. And Gov. Ron DeSantis should make it a crime to have them in his home or even drive them.
Senate Bill 1718, which is part of Desantis’ broad repressive legislative calendar this year, targets not only undocumented immigrants, but anyone connected to them. The bill, which will likely pass the Republican-controlled state legislature, criminalizes anyone who transports an undocumented user “into or within this state. “In other words, anyone (colleague, friend, neighbor, classmate) who simply drives that they know or care about and who is undocumented would be guilty of a third-degree felony. .
The bill also criminalizes anyone who “hides, harbors, or protects” (or “attempts” to do) an undocumented user in “any position in this state. “Nearly 4% of Floridians are undocumented. The text of the bill, which reads like an edict published in Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Shadow Children series, is causing concern among thousands of people. a covert migrant shelter operation.
Under this framework, with a previous conviction, whoever commits the “crime” of harboring an undocumented user would be liable to an even higher second-degree felony.
The bill imposes thousands of dollars in fines on personal employers who deliver paintings to undocumented immigrants; Employers are not allowed to continue employing if they notice they are undocumented. And anyone without papers who works without the correct identity would face a third-degree felony. The bill also prohibits other undocumented people from being admitted to the Florida bar, overturning existing law that currently allows it.
If approved, Florida would also refuse to recognize any out-of-state licenses issued to undocumented individuals. Authorities would be guilty of taking DNA samples from other undocumented people who are detained in prisons or detention centers on the orders of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Finally, the bill instructs hospitals that accept Medicaid to ask patients to hint at their citizenship status. Ostensibly designed as a cost-tracking tool for caring about undocumented patients, the bill states that the consultation will need to be accompanied by a guarantee that the patient’s reaction will not care or result in a report to immigration authorities. However, given the end end of the rest of the bill, even when it comes to criminalizing other people who harbor undocumented immigrants “anywhere,” insurance doesn’t fit all trust.
“Governor Ron DeSantis and his Republican colleagues continue to demonstrate that they are more focused on attacking and vilifying immigrants and Latinos to advance their policy schedule than on solving the real problems that harm Floridians,” said Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Nanette Barragan and Vice President for Policy. Darren. Soto, who represents Florida’s 9th District, in a statement.
Republicans have qualified majorities in the Senate and House and, of course, in the governorship; The repressive law that further criminalizes undocumented immigrants, and colleagues and classmates, neighbors and friends with whom they have developed relationships, is about to pass.
“This will be the style for all 50 states in the future,” boasted state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, sponsor of the draconian bill.
As federal and state regulators rush to implicate the fallout from Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, Rep. Nancy Mace must make sure we don’t politicize the situation.
The South Carolina Republican called Elizabeth Warren Monday night to discuss the inherently political factor of banking regulation. Warren, also known as the user who would know best, criticized Congress and the Federal Reserve in a New York Times op-ed for not interfering and saving your bank failures.
“I don’t know, I shouldn’t politicize such a serious issue. Also, your statements are irresponsible, false and untimely,” Mace tweeted.
Republicans have already been quick to blame literally everything except money sector deregulation for SVB and Signature’s disruptions, especially the (mind-boggling) diversity. The problem.
Naturally, the Internet has had some thoughts.
yes wow, I hate when other people politicize. . . Banking regulation https://t. co/FWyNoSjOLq
As everyone knows, it is left-wing in an educated society to take such a sacrosanct factor as. . . Banking regulation and politicizing it https://t. co/OhLOHqhCQX
I find it hard to think of anything more political than pressuring banks to reduce regulations, temporarily destroying money and then assuming the government will bail them out of its own decisions. Like, come on.
Mace developed a reputation for leaning to the left while voting firmly with the right. He condemned Donald Trump’s role on Jan. 6, but voted to impeach him. He says his party fits too much against the right to decide, but he still votes for anti-abortion measures. .
But what he hopes to achieve with his tweet is crystal clear. It’s not like there’s a “little man” to protect here. If anything, Mace is the one who makes “irresponsible, false and badly synchronized” jokes.
Inflation is falling steadily slowly, according to the Consumer Price Index, according to a report released Tuesday through the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The CPI measures the monthly replenishment of the costs that U. S. consumers pay for certain goods. It is a key indicator of inflation for the government.
Here are 3 things you should know about the inflation report and what it may mean in the future.
1. Il has some of the smallest in more than a year.
Prices increased by 6% in February compared to a year earlier. This is a decent slowdown since January, when costs rose 6. 4% from a year earlier. This is the eighth consecutive month of falling inflation rate and the smallest one-year building since September 2021.
Obviously, 6% is still high, especially given the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target. But the speed of inflation is slowing, slowing to a 0. 4% increase in February from 0. 5% in January.
By cutting food and energy worth accumulating, which are still volatile even before the Covid-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine blocked supply chains, the value of construction increased by 5. 5% compared to last February. This is the smallest year after year. accumulating since December 2021.
Mark Zandi, lead economist at the economic research organization Moody’s Analytics, said inflation is “going in the right direction. “
“Inflation is painfully high, but it’s falling steadily. It is on track to 3% through the end of the year and the Fed’s inflation target through next summer,” he said on Twitter.
2. But inflation in key areas remains high.
Energy costs have fallen in recent months, contributing to slowing inflation. Fuel, fuel and electric power costs fell 0. 6 percent since January.
But food and housing prices have risen. Housing, in particular, was the main contributor to value accumulation in February, as house prices rose 0. 8%. Mortgages increase even when home values fall. People who own assets have to pay more, while other people who can’t buy have to refocus on the rental market. Although rental costs have started to fall, they are rising again due to increased demand.
Grocery costs rose 0. 4% in February and places to eat rose 0. 3%.
3. What does this mean for the future?
The Fed begins its policy-making assembly on Tuesday and is widely expected to raise interest rates as much as 0. 25% for the time being.
The new CPI report is unlikely to make that decision, however, it is possible that the Federal Reserve will be swayed by the recent closures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. your mass budget.
Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius predicted on Sunday that SVB and Signature’s decision would prompt the Fed to suspend interest rate hikes for now.
But Ian Shepherdson, lead economist at consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics, believes the Fed will take the course.
“Assuming markets remain calm and no bank fails, we, the Fed, will rise” as much as 0. 25 percent, he wrote in a research on Tuesday.
“To be clear, we know that new increases are now unnecessary; the lagged effect of increases over the past year is enough to get inflation back on target, but so far Fed officials have declined to settle for that argument.
The central bank of EE. UU. se strives to achieve the so-called comfortable landing, or decrease inflation without leading the economy into recession. The labor market has remained strong overall, raising concerns that the economy may not have slowed enough to reach a slowdown.
Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic Policy and Research, estimated a 0. 25% increase in “50-50. “
“I think we have a great chance [on a comfortable landing] as long as the Fed doesn’t get carried away,” he told The New Republic.
This has been updated.
On Tuesday, President Biden travels to Monterey Park, California, where another 11 people were shot and nine others injured at a Lunar New Year festival. At the site of the deadliest mass shooting in Los Angeles County history, Biden will issue an executive order to build the point of background checks conducted before gun sales.
The order will also ask his cabinet to expand a plan on how the government can expand communities suffering gun violence. It is harmful and merits temporary confiscation of their weapons.
Another detail of the plan calls on Attorney General Merrick Garland to place more emphasis on regulations applicable to federally licensed firearms dealers, making sure traffickers meet background check requirements. Biden also ordered Garland to expand and put in place a program to save traffickers. whose licences had been revoked or renounced to proceed with the sale of arms.
Biden’s order also calls for greater disclosure of ballistic knowledge at the federal, state and local law enforcement levels; Currently, local and state law enforcement agencies are not required to report this knowledge. The goal of the mandate is a federal clearing house to help law enforcement compare shell casings to firearms.
Biden is also asking the Federal Trade Commission for a public report looking at how brands market guns to minors.
The ordinance is not so much an extension of the new regulations as a measure to enforce the permanent regulations more correctly. It follows the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which passed last year after two shootings in May: one at a school in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 youth and two adults dead; the other a racist shooting in Buffalo, New York, that left 10 dead.
The bill, though called “bipartisan,” had the approval of only 15 Republican senators and 14 members of the Republican House, and focused more on intellectual fitness and school protection programs. The gun regulation side of the bill focused primarily on expanding background checks for gun buyers under 21 and trying to close the so-called “groom’s loophole,” disqualifying anyone convicted of a domestic violence rate on a romantic date of buying guns, regardless of marital status.
Biden’s leadership is welcome. But until there is a more significant crackdown on guns themselves, and until Republicans are allowed to continue offering their support for “common sense” gun reforms without voting for the most fundamental policies, other people will continue to die.
In the wake of the collapse of bloated tech lender Silicon Valley Bank, conservatives have been struggling, lazily throwing each and every culprit against the wall with the word that shouldn’t be said: deregulation.
Republican members of Congress blame the “awakening,” critical theory of race and diversity, equity and inclusion, ignoring their own history of pushing a deregulated money industry.
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley complained Monday that SVB was “too awake to fail,” saying that “these SVB guys spend all their time investing in wives (“weather replacement solutions”) instead of real banking and now they need a taxpayer donation to save them. “SVB, of course, lends cash to a number of startups, possibly adding those aimed at fighting climate change (and like any capital-driven monetary institution, that’s not its number one focus). And Hawley, while posing as a pro-worker leader and tough guy—has sought to weaken customer coverage and banking regulation.
After the 2008 currency crisis, Obama-era Dodd-Frank reforms helped create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, the agency’s main task was to monitor banks, lenders, brokerage firms, debt collectors, etc. , in an attempt to protect consumers. The CFPB has exercised oversight, adding $100 million fines to Wells Fargo for moving the budget from legal visitor accounts to illegal accounts secretly opened to collect fees and other secret charges. All this is to say that, for anyone, the CFPB would be an organization that deserves to be strengthened, not weakened.
In 2017, Missouri’s then-attorney general signed an amicus curia brief attacking the CFPB for “uncontrollable deals”; Hawley’s brief is similar to a lawsuit filed through PHH Corporation, a massive loan lender fighting a $109 million fine from CFPB for overcharging customer loans and for an alleged “bribery program. “in exchange for the recommendation, credit insurers purchased “reinsurance” from PHH’s subsidiaries.
With Hawley’s help, the company won, claiming that other agencies refused to sue PHH for the fraudulent scheme in the past; the court ruled that the White House can indict the CFPB director at will. Hawley may have chosen to argue that regulation of the financial sector should be stronger, not weaker; He chose the latter.
Meanwhile, a number of Hawley’s Republican colleagues are peddling farces while getting their hands dirty. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Reps. Virginia Foxx, James Comer and Andy Biggs have made outlandish “wake up” statements, while mocking Biden’s plan to depositors without taxing taxpayers.
In 2018, all 4 Republicans voted to repeal Dodd-Frank rules that would have subjected Silicon Valley Bank to stricter rules and stress tests for its stability and security.
Rep Ronny Jackson also released a full self-parody:
The WOKE schedule coming from SVB is largely to blame for its FAILURE. How much money did you waste on ESG/CRT SHIT investment?The crazy schedule of the left is RUINING our future.
Although new to Congress, Jackson has had plenty of time to focus on the money sector. An invoice he signed would prevent the Treasury Department from requiring a monetary establishment to report incoming and outgoing account transfers. Three others it has subscribed to would block a stock exchange rule that requires corporations to disclose their greenhouse fuel emissions in order to better combat climate-related disasters.
Jackson, like the rest of his group, is so deeply involved in not letting shady business interests pass.
While the EE. UU. no government stepped in to bail out Silicon Valley Bank, many on the right suspected that diversity was to blame for the bank’s downfall.
On Friday, California regulators took over SVB, a major lender of tech startups, after consumers began pulling their cash out of the bank en masse. Just two days earlier, when the budget was reduced due to high interest rates and low investments, SVB had sold securities. with a loss of nearly $2 billion and then failed in its losses.
The reasons for the bank’s collapse are well known and widely acknowledged, but that hasn’t stopped the right from pointing to the spectrum.
“In its proxy statement, SVB notes that in addition to 91% of its board being independent and 45% are women, they also have ‘1 black,’ ‘1 LGBTQ,’ and ‘2 veterans. ‘I’m not saying 12 white men would have walked away from this mess, but the company would possibly have been distracted by diversity demands,” Wall Street Journal opinion editor Andy Kessler said Sunday.
According to the Wall Street Journal of the reasons for the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank: https://t. co/zEImEu6Bmp pic. twitter. com/Xbr86bEepf
Several Fox News anchors blamed the collapse on LGBTQ people. Tucker Carlson said SVB focuses too much on “breaking the glass ceiling,” while Pete Hegseth said the senior vice president of threat control is too “focused” on LGBTQ inclusion programs. .
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has said he intends to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion systems, or DEIs, on state school campuses, accused SVB of being “so involved in DEI and politics” that it “distracted them from focusing on its core. “mission. “
Far-right commentator Charlie Kirk and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy have said DEI’s projects were the collapse of the bank. Ramaswamy also blamed environmental, social and governance factors.
Former Trump administration members Donald Trump Jr. and Stephen Miller accused the SVB of being too “awake. “
The collapse of SVB is the latest example of diversity being used as an irrational scapegoat. Having a more varied board of directors is clearly not to blame. Rather, the blame lies with state and federal regulators who didn’t see what happened and stepped in sooner, Karen Petrou, managing spouse of consulting firm Federal Financial Analytics, told NPR’s Marketplace.
But recently, Republicans have blamed all the crises on diversity as a way to oppose DEI’s initiatives. Last week, Georgia Rep. Mike Collins insisted that focusing too much on DCI was what led to the derailment of the Norfolk Southern exercise in Ohio.
“No more drilling on federal lands. No more drilling, adding offshore. Not for the oil industry to continue drilling. Period. Ends. “
That promise of Joe Biden in 2020. La I repeated two days before the 2022 midterm elections.
And now, on Monday, Biden’s management officially approved Willow, a large allocation of oil drilling in Alaska. The $8 billion allocation led by corporate giant ConocoPhillips is expected to produce more than six hundred million barrels of crude oil over 30 years, producing the equivalent of about two million cars of carbon pollutants a year.
The allocation is expected to infiltrate one of the country’s public land tracts.
Last week, former Vice President Al Gore said it would be “recklessly irresponsible” for Biden to approve the bill. “The pollutants it would generate would not only endanger Alaska Natives and other local communities, but it is incompatible with the ambition that we want a net-zero future. “
And Gore, who warned in his An Inconvenient Truth about how the climate crisis is forcing us to “change the way we live our lives,” is not alone.
“Instead of sticking to his own goals and listening to the millions of young people who have taken the party beyond 3 cycles, President Biden is letting the fossil fuel industry do whatever it wants,” said Varshini Prakash, executive director of the Sunrise Movement. who noted that Willow will emit more pollutants consistent with the year than 99. 7% of all point resources in the country.
Other environmental activists have made comments condemning the project, which is expected to be challenged in court.
“Biden backed Willow knowing full well that it would cause great, irreversible destruction, which is appalling,” said Kristen Monsell, director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “People will suffer, and extracting and burning more fossil fuels will warm the climate even faster. Biden has no excuse for allowing this task to move forward anyway. New drilling in the Arctic makes no sense, and we will fight hard to prevent ConocoPhillips from innovating.
“Today’s resolution absolutely contradicts not only the administration’s meteorological goals, but also its commitment to taking classical ecological wisdom into account in federal policymaking,” said Jade Begay, director of policy and advocacy for the indigenous advocacy organization NDN Collective. The Indigenous People of Nuiqsut have continuously expressed their concerns about the impact of the task on local ecosystems, adding caribou, on which they depend for their livelihoods. This immoral decision will have devastating effects on the livelihoods of others in Nuiqsut and beyond.
Last year, a month-long vegetable fuel leak from Conoco’s oil drilling near Nuiqsut, Alaska, prompted the evacuation of many others. Now, the company is returning to the region for a much larger mission.
Meanwhile, Biden’s management announced Sunday that it would ban drilling or (primarily) restrict drilling elsewhere in Alaska and the Arctic, in an attempt to mitigate the blow of absolutely reversing Biden’s pledge not to allow new drilling on our land.
“It’s insulting that Biden thinks he’s going to change our minds about the Willow Project,” Monsell said. “Protecting one Arctic domain so you can destroy another makes no sense, and probably wouldn’t help other people or wildlife. We will have to protect the entire Arctic and avoid building massive oil and fuel developments that will contribute to greenhouse fuel emissions for years to come.