SocraticGadfly: 6/23/24 - 6/30/24

June 29, 2024

I come to bury Biden, not praise him

Boy, what a clusterfuck that was June 27!

That said, NO Dem is "stepping forward," contra Politico, to replace him. Maybe DNC minions will organize something in a vape-filled back room, but NO elected politico is stepping forward and inviting a massive sniper squad as a target.

(And, contra the "just a cold" people, Biden's debate prep reportedly went fine.)

As for the "fun"? Here's just a few of my tweets, from oldest to newest, late Thursday:

And:

And:

And:

And:

And:

And:

And:

And:

And:

But, let's go to one or to others. Like, this massive tool and knob of the Blue MAGA / BlueAnon world:

Finally, I'm not a duopolist, so don't blame me. I'm not a Jill Stein-supporting duopolist, so don't blame me for her hypocrisy. Vote PSL.

Speaking of, I assume Jeet's take at The Nation wasn't bad for the left hand of the duopoly. (Not a paid subscriber.) At least it's not John Nichols.

Left-BlueAnon Jared Yates Sexton says "Joe's gotta go."

A majority of Democratic voters agree. 

That's as Puff Hoes talks about "a newly energized Joe Biden" hitting the stump a day later.

But, the most interesting and most in depth comes for last. Sy Hersh has this Substack free. 

He starts by saying this isn't new, and referencing it to the Ukraine and Gaza situations:

The reality behind all of this, as I’ve been told for months, is that the president is simply no longer there, in terms of understanding the contradictions of the policies he and his foreign policy advisers have been carrying out.

Not buying it. This may be "Irish Alzheimer's Joe," or on Israel, "Leon Uris Exodus Joe," as I've said before. I do NOT think the two wars are #DementiaJoe.

That said, the nut graf is here:

The real disgrace is not only Biden’s, but those of the men and women around him who have kept him more and more under wraps. He is a captive, and as he rapidly diminished over the past six months. I have been hearing for months about the increasing isolation of the president, from his one-time pals in the Senate, who find that he is unable to return their calls. Another old family friend, whose help has been sought by Biden on key issues since his days as vice president, told me of a plaintive call from the president many months ago. Biden said the White House was in chaos and he needed his friend’s help. The friend said he begged off and then told me, with a laugh: “I would rather have a root canal procedure every day than go to work there.” A long retired Senate colleague was invited by Biden to join him on a foreign trip, and the two played cards and shared a drink or two on the Air Force One flight going out. The senator was barred by Biden’s staff from joining the return flight home.

Who's to blame? Sy says it's Tom Donilon, and ties it back to Nat-Sec Nutsacks™ land by saying Donilon wanted to be Biden's CIA head.

That said, as far as booting Biden? Not all of Hersh's sources agree. A few want to ride it out, and a few think it's already too late, so just bite the bullet:

Not everyone I talked to today agreed that it is time to force a Biden resignation and hope for the best at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August—to dump the ticket and seek new candidates. “My humble opinion,” one longtime contributor to the Democratic Party told me, “is to let the dust settle. Must examine the realistic options before some quick reaction creates an internal Democratic Party split with far-reaching consequences beyond 2024. Accept reality . . . 2024 is likely beyond recovery at this point. Too steep a hill to climb. Plan and execute a long-term plan to counter Mr. Orange and build a moderate platform for the recovery . . . and let Biden wander off to the Jersey Pine Barrens.”

Well, that's interesting.

Kuffner, after more than 24 hours? Still silent, still pretending nothing's happening.

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at Saturday, June 29, 2024 0 comments Posted by Gadfly

June 28, 2024

PRO Gainesville appeals to Supreme Court as ACLU TX and ACLU national keep lying

What is up with these stubborn Dum Fuqs, who are clearly in the wrong. (More below.)

ACLU and ACLU of Texas have filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court, as well as asking for a stay for their clients, three members of PRO Gainesville, an anti-Confederate statue and pro-Black Lives Matter organization in Gainesville, Texas ...


Over a MISDEMEANOR conviction.

You heard that right. A CLASS B misdemeanor. 

Where they were in the wrong, per the ACLU's own pamphlet on protests and marches.

They appealed to the state's Seventh Circuit. And lost.

Then to the CCA. And got their hats handed to them.

And now this.

==

They won't get granted cert, and the request for a stay on their whole seven days of jail time will be ignored. SCOTUS just today rejected Steve Bannon's request for a stay and these folks are a flyspeck compared to him.

And, at some point after that, the PRO Gainesville trio MAY (or still may not) realize they've been led down a garden path.

And, if not? They'll probably distill the ACLU Kool-Aid to Everclear strength and chug harder.

==

That said? Really, this isn't even about PRO Gainesville any more.

No, you say?

No, I say.

It's about fundraising for the ACLU of Texas and national.

I've seen this dog and pony before. About 15 years ago, Center for Biological Diversity was sued after claiming a dirt parking area was actually a western rancher's denuded federal grazing allotment. CBD had multiple chances to settle before the suit went to trial. It consistently refused. And got it ass handed back.

Why? That is, why didn't CBD settle?

Because the battle made for great fundraising. 

Just like Alison Grinter, the original lawyer here, talking about the "three kids." Look at the poor kids, being attacked by the big bad (red state wingnut) gummint. (And, ignoring that the city of Gainesville had already moved its Confederate monument.)

With the ACLU, this opens up again the question of whether it is in part making itself into "just another" liberal interest group along with, or partially instead of, being a civil liberties outfit.

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at Friday, June 28, 2024 0 comments Posted by Gadfly

RIP Kinky Friedman

Via Kuff, I saw the Trib story this morning. More at the Chron. As a newspaper editor, remembering the 2006 Texas gov campaign, including being part of a group interview of Kinky after a campaign gig, I knew already then what Kuff learned years later:

Kinky was entertainer first, politician second. 

In fact, I think that, despite admonitions from people like me to "Pivot" to the more serious, like Jesse Ventura, then in the middle of his Minnesota gubernatorial time, he was actually afraid he might win.

At the same time, he had the most confused campaign in the world, on stances. The Venn diagram of people supporting both legalized marijuana and open prayer in public schools ain't big in Texas today and was microscopic in 2006. And, tho he ran as a Democrat later, it was as a ConservaDem of some sort, then, too, a Jim Hightower who couldn't get serious and couldn't get left-populist, trying to get Hightower's Ag Commish seat, and I don't think the punditocracy in 2006 got him. And, on him being a ConservaDem and one other thing, in 2006? Yeah, it was fun joking, spinning off him stressing his Jewish heritage, about how he'd bring kosher government to Austin. Given all his other stances, today? He'd be turning the DPS loose on pro-Palestinian protestors as much as Abbott did. (That's the pro-Palestinian protestors at places like Rice and UT that ConservaDem Kuff still won't mention.)

Contra Kuff, Kinky being in the 2006 gov race didn't cost the Dems the chance to beat Tricky Ricky Perry. Milquetoast Chris Bell wasn't winning, no way, no how. (And, contra Kuff, it was actually a six-person race; the Libertarians were in, as was write-in James Dillon.)

So, since Kinky's been out of the political angles for years, this doesn't warrant the focus of a full takedown obit of Kinky, but it is a mild one, and a bankshot on Kuff, too.

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at Friday, June 28, 2024 0 comments Posted by Gadfly

SCOTUS largely right on TX-NM water rights ruling

Texas and New Mexico ahd for months, nay  years, battled over Rio Grande water issues, having previously faced, then settled, similar mattes over Pecos River water.

This spring, they came to a deal.

But then, the Biden Administration said it needed to row its oar, and until it was satisfied, no deal. At the time, I said "whaaat"?

Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court largely agreed with the feds, and the ruling makes at least partial sense on the big picture, though the details do not.

The deal is that the Pecos is, yes, interstate water, but the Rio Grande, below the New Mexico-Texas state line, is also international water. That's even as the Mexican govenment under AMLO refuses to release its five-year rolling average of water from Chihuahua and Cohuilla states into the Rio Grande, in part over Gov. Strangeabbott's stupidity at Eagle Pass. (Not that Mexico really has water to release. It's called climate change.)

SCOTUS agreed with the feds because it said the TX-NM deal undercut international water issues.

There's also hypocrisy involved. There, first.

Tex-ass sued New Mexico in 2013, alleging that groundwater pumping there was depleting the river. The hypocrisy? Texas hydrology law separates riverine and ground waters.

Anyway, the two states eventually came to a split the difference deal.

And, BuRec bitched.

That said, it had a right to. By water seniority, the feds' 1906 deal with Mexico trumps the 1938 date of the Colorado-New Mexico-Texas deal.

Claims that this turns water law in general on its head, like this?

Gage Zobell, a water law expert and attorney with Dorsey & Whitney said today’s decision will allow for the potential increase of federal involvement in water management. “This has turned that long held principle on its head,” Zobell said.
“What we have here is Supreme Court precedent that states that there are federal interests that can actually be brought forward as claims when two states are fighting over water, and that the federal government has a seat at the table, and that has been unheard of.”

Tosh.

See what I said above about Pecos River water.

The 5-4 ruling crossed ideological lines, with Roberts, Jackson, Kavanaugh, Sotomayor and Kagan making the majority.

The problem I have is that BuRec didn't intervene IN THE PROCESS and instead waited until afterward. Or, is even that correct?

The majority ruling said that six years ago, ie, 2018, well before now, but well after Texas sued New Mexico, SCOTUS granted the feds legal right to intervene. And, per Jackson, who wrote the majority decision, it looks like they were cut out, not so much by the two states per se, but by the special master in the case.

So, Gage Zobell is, pun intended, all wet.

The one issue that I see that appears to be still unresolved, is what happens in an interstate case like this where the two states have different water law between riverine and ground waters? Or, for that matter, on international compacts?

As for what's ahead on the specific issue? I suspect it's in part concrete lining of irrigation ditches in New Mexico, just like what's happened in Southern California in recent years.

Side note: Vladek called this case "low stakes." He's wrong, because of the international water rights issue, and this will affect future "minutes" etc on the Colorado River Compact.

at Friday, June 28, 2024 0 comments Posted by Gadfly

June 27, 2024

Presidential update, June 27

Whether she's formally Mises Mice or just alt-white nutters within the Libertarian Party, Ricki Schlott (no shit Ricki?) opined in the New York Post about why they hated LP nominee Chase Oliver. Good old Kraut last name; the German-Americans who haven't broken hardest for Trump of any White ethnic group are breaking hard for general nuttery.

Non Mice Libertarians should, IMO, applaud the general idea of defund the police. The drag queen stuff is typical alt-right bullshit. And, her Twitter? Her handle "@" when you click to respond? All caps. Shock me.

Worse, per her website? An Eastern elitist prep school attendee. Quillette and Dairy Wire? My guess, whichever side of that exact coin she falls on, is correct.

And, it was seen via IPR, where Nutter Nuña called the Post a "leftist gutter rag." I asked him rhetorically if Der Stürmer would be OK. And, the Nutter went with the Nazis were socialist, cuz national socialism is their name angle. Truly in nutbar territory.

==

"Biden didn't win, Trump lost." That sentiment, by one anonymous Democrat, about the 2020 campaign is why many, mainly anonymous, Democratic operatives are worried about #GenocideJoe's re-election campaign so far. Of course, beyond the basics, Axios doesn't mention why Biden's lost young voters, especially of color. You and I know it's in part due to that hashtag. And, anony-mice in the Dem party don't want to talk about that, either.

==

Democrats are still "at it." Look at this quote:

“The threat is real and growing by the day, and we have to mobilize now before it’s too late,” said MoveOn Political Action Executive Director Rahna Epting in a statement. “Democrats have ignored third-party threats in past presidential elections to their own peril. It is up to us to come together to protect our communities against Donald Trump, RFK Jr., Jill Stein, and the MAGA Republican agenda.”

As an independent leftist, it certainly reads to me like Stein, as well as Brainworm Bobby, are being lumped as MAGAts.

==

Yesterday on Twitter, BlueAnons were butt-hurt by Nate Silver's projections of Trump having a leg up. But why? Why the butt-hurt? Dear Leader has made it ever more clear, including through media leaks, that HE is worried. I seriously see a Hillary Clinton 2.0 going on here.

==

And a few sub-presidential tidbits.

Presumably Victor Miller is seeking the help of artificial intelligence because he has no real intelligence?
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at Thursday, June 27, 2024 0 comments Posted by Gadfly

June 26, 2024

Just Stop Oil — the new Occupy Wall Street?

And no, that's not necessarily good.

Agreed that Just Stop Oil is in performance art before politics. (I draw more serious conclusions than that OP, namely about the issue of this possibly being harmful to serious action against climate change. See Adbusters and the Occupy Wall Street movement on ends and means. Then, see it again and first ask who's behind it, and apply that here. Ask about mythmaking, and apply that here.) While not potentially destructive, unlike Stonehenge, the Travelers' antics were more performance theater.

I haven't done a Whois on their website yet, but I also find it interesting that Just Stop Oil has no "about" page.

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at Wednesday, June 26, 2024 0 comments Posted by Gadfly

Texas Progressives talk power, climate, more

Texas electricity needs could nearly double in six years. Wait for: More attacks on renewables by wingnuts. Blackouts and brownouts. Don't wait for: Texas asking to once again (it did many decades ago) join the national grid.

Don't believe the lies of the farm industry. Global ag, namely, global animal ag, is a BIG part of climate change. Unfortunately, the G7 (like the last global climate summit) refuses to do anything.

Off the Kuff notes Greg Abbott's appointments to a new set of courts intended to avoid Democratic judges for as long as possible.  

SocraticGadfly has an initial look at that new Liberal Party spinning off the fraying Libertarian Party.

Sylvia Gonzales can pursue her retribution lawsuit. Good.

Texas Ethics Commission says influencers have to tell the public when they're being paid for political influencing. Question: How will this toothless group enforce that?

Kerry Max Cook is innocent.

Contra Kos, we here still distinguish between transsexual and transgender.

Neil at the Houston Democracy Project says don’t let the right gaslight you from the clear as day threats they are making. 

The Texas Signal reports on anti-abortion centers, formerly referred to as crisis pregnancy centers.  

Frank Strong is on the scene for the latest book ban shenanigans, this time in Conroe. 

The Fort Worth Report writes about the latest megachurch sex offender, Robert Morris.

A would-be religious public school that tried to sneak in the charter school back door has been ruled unconstitutional at the state level. In Oklahoma, often more wingnut than Tex-ass.

at Wednesday, June 26, 2024 0 comments Posted by Gadfly

June 25, 2024

Does Green Party two-time retread Jill Stein still have a hypocrisy problem? Survey says yes! So does the Office of Govt Ethics!

Two weeks ago (as of the original November 2023 writing of this), I blogged about Stein, the Green Party's 2012 and 2016 candidate, jumping back in the race this year after Cornel West did his Lucy van Pelt and pulled away his football. I did, per a commenter elsewhere, note the angle that not only would this help the Green Party — more than half of whose other filed presidential candidates did not meet GP filing requirements — but it would also help her pay off 2016 campaign debt the Federal Elections Committee said she owed and that courts have agreed. (Option B is that she's using her campaign fundraising to also get money for a Supreme Court appeal on this issue, which looks as stupid as her 2016 recount. And as hypocritical.)

I forgot the biggie, although I did tweet about it after my initial post.

That is, that in 2016, Jill Stein had a hypocrisy problem like Ralph Nader in 2000, and that is, via mutual funds, having investments in oil, tobacco and defense contractor stocks. The last is the biggest this time, given her rightful but presumably hypocritical attacks on Genocide Joe over Israel and Gaza, and her stance on Russia-Ukraine before that.

Eight years ago, Stein did, partially, address Yashar Ali. But, she kind of petard-hoists. (And, it's linked in his piece.)

  • The biggie is, why didn't she divest earlier, before Ali, already divest?
  • Second and related? You're a medical doctor, not a public-school teacher whose investments are made by a state pension fund, not themselves.
  • Third? If there are "green" mutual funds that invest in fracking, they're not so "green," right, but why is that an excuse to stop looking further?
  • Fourth, and relevant to today? You don't mention the defense stocks.
  • Fifth, and even more relevant since Oct. 7, 2023, how many stocks in your mutual funds still trade with Israel?

For updates about Stein’s non-responsiveness and related issues, go here. (NOTE: If you want to skip directly to the ethical investments issues of 2024, which don’t appear to have changed tremendously from 2016, go here.)

TL/DR at that link? "Survey says 'yes,' at least indirectly."

Oh, for Naderites? All of this applies to St. Ralph, too.

It next notes that, contra the "gotcha," even if Clinton's campaign gave this a push, that duopoly candidates have also been questioned for their financial holdings, and links to one about GOP candidates.

There are a few Stein-specific things. She mentions she inherited half a million. Good. The story already mentions that itself.

Re the no "gotcha," it turns out that the bankster-investments include ones with Goddam Sachs, for which she criticized Clinton, and also for which, in the link immediately above, GOP candidates were criticized.

Yes, I know Hillary's oppo research dumped that in Ali's lap, or at least nudged him that way. Ditto with the Gore campaign and Nader in 2000. Doesn't make it any less true, especially with this:

Admittedly I have not spent a lot of time researching elusive ethical investments. I prefer using my time fighting for social, economic and ecological transformation, and recycling capitalist money into the fight to do so.

Gee, you'd run for president in 2012, and I guess were lucky enough not to fall under Dear Leader's re-election spotlight. You therefore were able to waste four more years not researching "elusive" ethical investments, which were advertised in The Nation at the time of Nader's run already.

Anyway, Ali addresses that, too.

While it’s true that Stein would not have control over the investments of the funds she invested in, she did have a choice of whether to invest in these funds to begin with. In the past, political candidates, in an effort to avoid a conflict of interest or have their judgment called into question, have invested their entire portfolios in U.S. Treasuries, cash/cash equivalents, in socially responsible index funds, or clean-energy funds.

Again, hard to argue.

Disclosure: All my money is in either one "National" bank which is, I'll admit, one of lesser ethics, especially post-Great Recession, or a "state" bank which doesn't have problems that I'm aware of.

Until I see an official statement from Stein, pre-empting FEC information, with an independently audited review of her personal investments, I'll assume she has not divested. And, I use the word "divested" deliberately, as I know Stein also supports Boycott, Divest, Sanctions.

And, until I see that, it's a guarantor she's not getting my vote. And, it's an indication that the question in my header is rhetorical and the answer is obvious.

And contra this:

Yes, I think it's an issue. And for details on why? See above. The bits of 401k I have from previous jobs, I have no idea either. BUT? Again, I don't have any control over that, either, other than cashing it out. An individual with an individual mutual fund has the choice of how to invest in the first place.

ALSO? This isn't all 401k. See below. That's a fail there.

Also, again? If you don't see the issue, are you a leftist (Ken said a while back he was a Nader Raider of long ago) who doesn't support BDS? Because, those defense contractors are also arming Israel, let us not forget.

Finally, if these all are protest votes, I can also protest against the protest votes being offered me. No problem doing that.

And, as you see, I've listed as least three different hypocrisy problems, not just one. Well, two of them are tied together. But, if you want a fourth? Per that second link? Why does a medical doctor own tobacco stocks?

Oh, again, and as I told Brains back then, so-called "ethical" mutual funds exist. They did back when St. Ralph of Nader ran in 2000. Yes, they may have a slightly to modestly lower rate of return, but when you're running a third-party presidential campaign, this is not at all an unreasonable purity test. Actually, they may NOT have a lower rate of return; per Nerd Wallet, they may do just fine. And, calling more bullshit on Stein's claim, that piece also notes that things like "robo-advisors" offer at least some degree of simplification on the task, if you're not seeing a financial advisor who touts and advertises responsible investing advice. As for the history? The modern history, per this piece, goes back somewhat to Vietnam, and even more to the first push for divestment, vis-a-vis South Africa. And, per this piece at Mondoweiss, a site called Resource Generation offers assistance in divestment in general.

Besides, both Stein and Nader are multimillionaires. It's not like they can't or couldn't afford to meet this purity test, if it even is an affordability issue.

And, specific to Stein is her owning Big Pharma stocks even while not only criticizing the pharmaceutical industry in general, but being an antivaxxer.

And, having done John Anthony Castrol's filing with the Office of Government Ethics, at some suitable date in the future, I'll do Stein's, then Google for more info on whatever mutual funds she has.

Update: I'm sure I'll wind up doing this myself. If Yashar Ali is interested, he won't do it until the general election, for Democrat-aiding oppo research reasons.

Update 2, Feb. 16, 2024: Per a suggestion from someone from the Green Party, responding to my comment to it on a monthly mass email, with this link included, I emailed Stein's campaign. If I don't hear back in a week, that will also be noted here, and the header will probably be edited.

Update 3, Feb 23: She / her handlers refuse to respond to my webmail, or my responses to campaign mass blast emails. 

Well, I did get a non-response "response" from a Bill Carini:

Hi Steve, I have relayed your concern to the campaign team. Feel free to check back with me in the future for updates.

There we go. That was Feb. 21. I'll check back in another week. Perhaps. Meanwhile, per the old proverb? "Silence gives assent."

I have used her webmail again, and self-identified as media, not individual. Actually, it's a physical email address listed on the webmail page, for press inquiries. And done. We'll see how long this takes for a response; it took Carini five days. As of Feb. 28, nothing.

AND? She appears to have nothing filed with the FEC as of March 1. Using the link above? Here's the pop-out for Castro. (Weirdly, as of early June 2024, that doesn't work, not for Castro, nor in general.) I search for Genocide Joe Biden? I get similar. Stein? Kara Stein at the SEC is NOT Jill Stein.

So, I have emailed the public records email at the FEC with the appropriate 201 form. And, I noted that I couldn't find Stein. If that gets her in FEC trouble? GOOD.

Meanwhile, the likes of Pat the Berner on Twitter (you can delete your old account, but many of us still remember) was attacking Party of Socialism and Liberation presidential candidate Claudia de la Cruz on Twitter for her COVID comments. I thought Pat's interpretation of de la Cruz was overblown, first (but he's a COVID Doomer) and, speaking of hypocrisy, hypocritical second, given Stein was playing footsie with antivaxxers in 2016 — even while having pharma stocks in her mutual funds.

UPDATE, March 1, 2024: GOT her FEC filing. Since Google Photos doesn't support PDFs, I'll convert it to a JPG, or a set of JPGs.

1. The overview.

2 and 3: Some breakouts:


OK, the Part 2 filing? CREF Stock 2 401(k) QCSTPX is currently, per Financial Times, 6.25 percent "consumer defensive" and 4.72 percent "energy." Percentages are slightly different at MutualFunds.com but the basic picture is the same. Consumer defense / defensive, per this and many other sites, can include tobacco, government contractors (which would include defense contractors, of course, with Lockheed Martin mentioned by name in the examples) and more.

Now, that's a 401(k), so we could cut her some slack.

But, the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (VBTLX) is an IRA. Now, it's all bonds, but half are non-governmental, per MutualFunds.com. That includes things like mortgage-backed securities. And, we all remember the housing bubble and the Great Recession, don't we, kiddos?

Then, there's individual stocks, non IRA mutual funds,  etc. (I won't get into her husband's holdings, but ...)

Merck. 3M. Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund, VXUS, which includes Shell. Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Fund, which includes 3 percent Exxon and 15 percent "consumer defense." Vanguard 500 Index Fund, which includes 6.9 percent consumer defense and 4.8 percent energy. eXXXon again mentioned by name. (This is the same Exxon that sues its own shareholders to stop shareholder activism, then continues the suit even after they pull in their horns.)

So, she clearly hasn't divested oil stocks, and presumably hasn't divested tobacco and defense stocks either. In addition, FXI is a Chinese large-cap index type fund. Given that she, Margaret Flowers, Howie Hawkins, et al, continue to spout hasbara about Beijing and the Uyghurs, stuff like this is at least also flirting with no bueno.

UPDATE, June 25, 2024: I did a new Office of Government Ethics ask, and nothing major has changed on her investments.

Per Ken above, and Brains years ago? I'll give her a pass on the 401(k). Little pass if any on the IRA; that's a personal investment, even if done by a financial advisor. She still could have asked. The non-IRA investments? Zero slack there.

And in fact, to punk all three of Ken, Brains and Jill Stein? Vanguard itself touts its "ethical" products. Well, at least in Australia, per that link. That said, here's an investor website piece about ESG funds and investments in general, then review of several Vanguard funds. THAT said, the Aussie equivalent of the SEC accused Vanguard of greenwashing 9 months ago. And, in 2021, Vox had a deep-dive piece on the whole issue in general.

Bottom line? Per the old cliche, Stein doesn't have to be purer than Caesar's wife. But, "as pure as" would be nice. That's because, post Oct. 7, 2023, she keeps calling for more pressure on Israel, but she's not walking the walk!

Second bottom line: Unlike Yashar Ali's possible angle in 2016, this is not oppo research for the left hand of the duopoly, which I think was at least part of his bottom line. So, it's out there early. People can make their judgments now. (Mine is to vote Claudia de la Cruz if she is available by write-in.)

Third bottom line? I hope Brains has gotten more skeptical about Stein — more cynical, like me, would be OK, too — compared to where he was in 2016, specifically, more skeptical or cynical than he was then about her investments. (Brains works for a financial advisor/planner, and knows that "ethical mutual funds" exist, and that they did way back in the time of 2000 hypocrite Ralph Nader.) Ditto for other Greens besides Brains.

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at Tuesday, June 25, 2024 0 comments Posted by Gadfly

Israel and Genocide Joe updates

Genocide Joe has written Israel a new blank check, this one for attacking Hezbullah in Lebanon. And #BlueAnon will still continue to claim it owns my vote.

That said, the Joint Chiefs now say we probably can't help there militarily. Gen. Charles Q. Brown added that Iran would likely more directl8y support Hezbullah than it has indirectly supported Hamas and warned Israel away from going too far. Will this word make Bbie pout more or less than he has recently:

Prime Minister Netanyahu told Channel 14 on Sunday night that Israel is open to a diplomatic resolution to the Hezbollah threat, but he stressed, “It must be on our terms.”

That's Bibi: Hold my breath like a toddler if I don't get my way.

I already know not to trust Hillel beyond its hasbara frontin face. Here's more: It's funding of the org that's the chief agency for spying on pro-Palestinian college students.

Genocide Joe and the Democratic National Committee have made it official on a "virtual" roll-call nomination, in an attempt to avoid Chicago 2024 becoming Chicago 1968. (It also avoids Genocide Joe screwing up an acceptance speech before a live audience.)
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at Tuesday, June 25, 2024 0 comments Posted by Gadfly

June 24, 2024

Julian Assange is still not a journalist, and likely still is a Seth Rich liar, but he is going free

First, the second half of that header.

Per NBC, and many other news outlets, Assange has reached a plea deal with the US government. He is expected to appear in court at Tuesday evening US time, for the court of US territory Northern Marianas Islands, apparently in person. (AP's story notes that he left Britain earlier today.) He is expected to plea to "conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information." He will be sentenced to 62 months in that plea deal, which equates to "time served" at Belmarsh. Per US government court documents linked by NBC, the charges and the deal involve the Chelsea Manning material. (Waiting for whackjobs to snowflake over the government doc calling her "Chelsea.")

Now, per that first half of that header. (NOTE: The big questions to me, are the “WHY” and the related “WHY NOW.” For thoughts on that, go here.)

He's not a journalist. And, that's not the first time I said that. Yes, five years ago, I thought he was. And I was wrong. First, per various journalism societies, as articulated by former ProPublica editorial head Dick Teufel, while journalist may themselves commit crimes to obtain information — and have done so many times — they do NOT suborn other people to commit crimes on their behalf. And, Assange did that.

Update, June 26: Klippenstein has an "interesting" (but wrong, yes, rare for him) take on this. His angle seems to be that if Nat-Sec Nutsacks™ say Assange isn't a journalist, that automatically makes him one. He also seems to think that not being an American citizen immunized Assange from any espionage charges in a just world. It doesn't. He's not a traitor because he's not an American citizen, but it's laughable to think that any non-citizen of any country could not be tried under that country's espionage charges just because they're not an American citizen.  He is right that if Assange hasn't damaged national security (and I don't think he has to a great extent, at least) then there's the lack of probable cause issue, but that's different.

June 27: Chris Hedges is also wrong on the "he's a journo."

For both of these, as I've said before on the "not a journo" focus pieces, Assange deserves the same civil and legal rights anybody else in his situation would have deserved. But, the clause of the First Amendment that covers freedom of the press doesn't apply to him.

Also, neither Klippenstein nor Hedges cover Assange's ugly side. And, speaking of?

Second? He IS (and presumably still is) a Seth Rich conspiracy theorist. And, full of shit on that. Duncan Campbell busted the ass of the so-called Forensicator, Elizabeth Vos of Russia-stanning and more. His odiousness is almost matched by his odious toady, Craig Murray, who has indicated before that, by the end of 2016, Assange knew the theft provenance of those emails. 

And Jeff St. Clair of Counterpunch noted well the lunacy of "some of the more credulous precincts of the left" for believing Assange's claims. That said, more and more, I don't even consider many of those people "more credulous precincts of the left; I call them pseudoleftists. I'm not sure exactly where to put the likes of Mark Ames and Yasha Levine, who eventually proved to be full of shit with their mocking of "Cozy Bear," etc. But, that link, with the information that the Russians hacked into Republican National Committee as well as Democratic National Committee computers in the run-up to the 2016 election, is one of the key points in refuting all the Seth Rich conspiracy theory bullshit —

AND in showing just how odious Assange is.

And, as for "Russiagate" in general?

On approximate percentages? One-third is clearly false. I challenge any #BlueAnon to show me Donald Trump colluded or conspired with Russia, or that a Michael Flynn did so on Trump's behalf. One-third, contra the pseudoleftists, is true. Russia DID hack the DNC emails (and RNC ones, to the degree they got any). Russia DID do the fake Facebook groups for both Trump and Clinton, and other online bots and trolls. And, like Osama bin Laden with 9/11, got a LOT of bang for the buck. Who's running that show after Yevgeny Prigozhin's death, I don't know. The other one-third is a grayzone, but not Max Blumenthal's. As with details of the coronavirus at Wuhan Institute of Virology, we may never get the details. (And, those Julian Assange pleadings documents make no indication that he's supposed to reveal anything the US national security state doesn't already know.) Also don't forget that Sy Hersh's original Substack post about Nord Stream brought out scads of Seth Rich (and other) nutters.

Related, as #BlueAnon on Twitter talk about him as a "Russian asset"? It actually is possible. Note what I said above about Craig Murray. Note that Assange deliberately avoided helping Russia's version of Wikileaks. (He said nothing when Putin banned Proekt in 2021.) Note him and Edward Snowden. It was Assange who enticed him to go there in the first place.

Then, there's the people, both #BlueAnon and #NeverTrumper fellow travelers, who cut to the head of the line:

As I told Kinzinger, as part of calling him an even Dummer Fuq than normal, Assange is not an American citizen and therefore, by definition, cannot be a traitor.

Hey, Snowden, how are you feeling now that cooling your heels in Moscow just got a little bit colder?

Finally, and always important? 

WHY?

Is Genocide Joe now Panderer Joe, hoping for votes? Just two months ago, the USofA looked sure to still want to extradite him, offering weasel words about his security. (NPR's story, along with NBC's, notes that the next hearings in this process were set for next month.)

Or, did Biden fear that a Labour landslide under Der Starmer (aka Keir Starmer and think about it) would finish putting this issue on the back burner again?

Or is this part of some backdoor deal for the release of arrested Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich? If so, you heard it here first.

That said, neither of the non-pander "whys" make much sense.

On the Labour issue, Starmer and most the rest of non-Corbynite Labour (why doesn't he join Galloway's Respect?) probably don't care that much more about Assange that Sunak and the rest of the Tories. (Assange's entire time in Belmarsh has been under Tory governments.) Starmer just cares about beating Sunak by as many seats as possible.

On the Gershkovich angle? Assange is yesterday's news to Vladimir Putin, who is as "transactional" about such things as Donald Trump.

But, off the top of my head, these are the only three "why" reasons that come to mind. 

==

According to the Guardian, the US gummint charged half a million smackers to fly him from London to the Northern Marianas on a military jet. Could be true; could be Assange/Wikileaks bullshit. The story's main source is Kristin Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of Wikileaks, ie, Assange's top in-house flunky.

Speaking of, I recommend Daniel Domscheit-Berg's "Inside WikiLeaks." I recommend it in part because even though it's not that close to perfect, it pisses off cultists.

That said, the Guardian also has the backdrop to why the Northern Marianas:

A sticking point in the deal had been the insistence from Washington that a US court had to hear Assange’s plea in person, and Assange’s aversion to appearing at a hearing in continental America. That was when the idea was raised of holding a hearing in a district court on Saipan, a former Japanese colony that was administered by the Americans after the war and became part of the US in 1986.

Makes sense.


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at Monday, June 24, 2024 0 comments Posted by Gadfly

#AbandonBiden is lying to itself

Or, at a minimum, one of the leaders of the move to vote "Uncommitted" is lying to herself. 

Michael Arria of Mondoweiss, like me, rightly wondered where this movement goes now that the Democratic National Convention is nearly hear and #GenocideJoe has sewn up the nomination. (He forgot to mention Team Biden's push to make much of the convention "virtual" to keep Chicago 2024 from becoming Chicago 1968, but we'll set that aside.)

So, he interviewed Listen to Michigan Co-Director Lexis Zeidan.

Here's his big ask, question No. 3:

I’m wondering how you think this movement can exert pressure on the Biden administration. I’m also wondering how many supporters will never vote for Biden based on what’s happened so far vs. how many might support him if they see some tangible shifts.

And, her schwaffling response:

To go back to your original question around exerting pressure on the Biden administration, and this is a conversation I’ve been having quite often, the Uncommitted Movement didn’t get started to particularly highlight this Trump versus Biden election. I think a lot of the conversation that people are having is around the idea of Trump vs. Biden, but I think really that the pressure is being exerted to shift the Democratic Party in general around its human rights policies when it comes to Palestinians.

Really?

The schwaffling gets better when Zeidan ignores third-party options.

At the end of the day, we’re not here to save Biden and we’re not here to hand this election over to Biden. We’re also most definitely not here to hand this this election over to Trump. This core base is a Democratic base.

If she's an activist, even of kiddie-pool age, she either should know or does know that there are alternatives outside the duopoly. Probably a DSA Rosey.

Finally, the lying to herself/themselves? This:

We really want to ensure that our delegate are uplifting Palestinian human rights and voices at the DNC. I think this presence is vital in both pushing the party towards more human policies, similar to the efforts by civil rights activists of the 1960s, and really trying to continue to exert pressure on Biden, the administration, and the party to really shift course on Gaza as quickly as possible.

Is spoken as if they think it will happen.

It won't, Zeidan, so again, what are you going to do next? Keep lying to yourself? Pull a Jerry Rubin and sell defense stocks on Wall Street?

So, if she's representative of #AbandonBiden in general, that movement can go fuck off. I would give Zeidan a kiddie-pool pass if she didn't explicitly double and triple down on duopoly-only politics.

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at Monday, June 24, 2024 0 comments Posted by Gadfly

Non-twoside Russia-Ukraine 2022 peace talks thoughts

Contra US lies, the US did possibly sabotage Russia-Ukraine peace talks in early 2022. Via Aaron Maté, I note that US officials were "alarmed" at original terms. That said, Poland was perhaps even more alarmed, and I don't think it's clear that the US did sabotage the deal, hence my "possibly." 

That said, Putin was dumb to reject the security guarantees for Ukraine since they were coupled with Ukraine forgoing NATO membership, and his final version the relevant article DID sabotage, which Aaron doesn't mention. On the third hand, Crimea aside, Ukraine wanted at least some of the terms applied to its recognized borders, it seems.

And, on the fourth hand, while Russia wanted sanctions against it ended, unless the treaty had as cosigners the same countries that Ukraine had asked to guarantee its security in exchange for not pursuing NATO membership, that wasn't happening.

In short, if not for some degree of Russian sabotage, combined with some degree of Putin shortsightedness, and possible or probable US sabotage, and Eastern European NATO members concerns, the talks ground to a halt.

But, Aaron Maté, a pseudoleftist and panderer to anybody who reflexively hates the Nat-Sec Nutsacks™, won't give you such nuance.

==

Side note: Per a speech last week, it looks like Putin wants to beef up and expand BRICS into something larger and more formal and broadly parallel to the Shanghai Cooperative. 

Side note 2: That link came from a John Helmer post written AFTER the NYT piece. He's had one more since. He's surely seen it; maybe the fact that Putin's sabotage is so transparent is why he hasn't written about it.

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at Monday, June 24, 2024 0 comments Posted by Gadfly
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