Texas Progressives talk abortion, religion in action, more

The Trib offers a pointed comparison-contrast to Tim Dunn's political-religious quasi theocratic compound just down the road, by profiling Connection Christian Church in Odessa. Here's pastor Dawn Weaks: 

"Christian Nationalism is an example of this kind of arrogance parading as Christianity,” she said. “There is nothing Jesus-like about that."

That's the bottom line. (The church, a member of the Disciples of Christ, has a history far beyond the Dunns' independent church.)

OTOH, the story is loaded with cliches about people asking your religion at H-E-B (I once lived in Hobbs, and this never happened to me when shopping in Odessa), Trump's margin of victory there (about "normal" for one of the few urban areas in West Texas) and more.

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SocraticGadfly offered his latest update in the Southwest Airlines situation, as another shoe at least partially dropped in what seems to be a semi-cave-in by the airline to Elliott Investment Management.

Off the Kuff interviewed Erica Lee Carter and Sylvester Turner for the CD18 special and general elections.

Sorry, but, per the Trib story about the surge in chronic wasting disease at captive deer facilities, they NEED to be driven out of business. If that means some Texan doing his fake hunting of baiting a deer with corn can't shoot a Bambi? Too bad.

Ken Paxton vs Ken Paxton: Eight years ago, he issued an AG's legal opinion that gave nonprofits a green light on gun control at their events. Today, he's suing the State Fair, and has withdrawn that old opinion. And wingnut Rethugs in the Lege, on their "reasons" for that, are lying through their hats.

Jolt vs Ken Paxton: The voter registration and GOTV group has sued Kenny Boy, claiming intimidation.

Bitcoin mining, and now a proposed expansion of the power plant to feed the beast, have Granbury upset.

The Court of Criminal Appeals wants to kill a man over junk science.

The Observer profiles how the fight over a possible abortion aid to travel ban is heating up in Amarillo. It will be on the November ballot after the city council rejected it. And, yes it IS unconstitutional. And, per the story, Amarillo is the target because of I-40 leading to New Mexico.

Related? The Monthly looks at the abortion extremists who want the death penalty for the women patients.

The Metromess will soon become ground zero as test site for a possible new FAA policy on urban commercial drones.

Reform Austin interviewed abortion rights champion Amanda Zurawski.  

Law Dork points out the obvious differences in abortion policy between the Presidential candidates (while ignoring national Democratic political games on the issues since Bill Clinton).

 El Paso Matters looks at what life in that city is like after four years of COVID.  

Deece Eckstein ponders some lessons from the debate.

Why I wouldn't vote for the Socialist Equality Party even if it's on the ballot

I decided to pull this out as a separate piece before running my "Gadfly slate" presidential endorsement.

IF Joseph Kishore, the candidate of the Trots of the Socialist Equality Party, were available by write-in, that's would be an option to whom my choice will be. But it's not, because the SEP, despite some bashing of the PSL, doesn't get on hardly any states' ballots. As of late August, per Wiki, it was only eligible to win 17 electoral votes and has NEVER been on enough ballots to be eligible for more than 73. The PSL has never been eligible to win a majority, but it has never been below 125 EVs. Oh, and Blue Anon snowflakes claiming "below 270" means they're a spoiler? Shut up until you admit being part of the anti-democratic party. (As of earlier this month, the tiny, pseudo-Trot cultists of the Socialist Workers Party were actually on the ballot on more states with more EVs.)

That said, two other things:

First, the WSWS is basically the "house organ" of the SEP. I used to belong to the World Socialist Web Site email group back when Yahoo Groups existed, but let that go. And, the SEP in general, and Kishore in particular, oppose identity politics period, full stop. And, in Kishore's case, virulently. Also, contra Kishore, the Wuhan lab leak theory is NOT a lie. I am guessing he attacks it because he defends the idea that China is actually a Communist state, which, of course, it is not. (Oh, also, Kishore? It's called "Xinjiang." And, no, that's not US-CIA bullshit.)

And, while I think identity politics can be pushed too hard, and, within the duopoly, can be a source of grifting, I don't have blanket opposition to them, either. I certainly don't think that identity politics are per se an instrument of capitalism. As for him co-authoring a set of essays against the  1619 project, I know it has problems, too. Was it totally wrong, though? No.

That said, with the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, the party, with both its 2012 presidential candidate, and Kishore, then as now the national secretary, officially denied his killing was about race.  That link, per the person's Blogger profile, is from some Maoist time, but, it deserves an extensive pull quote.

A subsequent SEP article on its World Socialist Web Site titled “The Killing of Trayvon Martin and Racial Politics in America” (wsws.org, 5 April) by its National Secretary Joseph Kishore allows that “racial prejudice may [!!] have played a role in the killing of Martin.” But he asserts that the eruption of massive protests had nothing to do with race, much less the daily reality of racist terror against black people in this society. That Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, saw a young black man in a hoodie as a dangerous predator also is of no consequence to Kishore. Instead, he presents this cop wannabe as one of many “disturbed individuals” whose “violent actions” are the product of the “tensions building up in American society” as a result of the current economic crisis. This is kind of like describing lynchings in the Jim Crow South as the product of the economic dislocations resulting from the destruction of slavery but…having nothing to do with race.

Kishore presents such arguments as a statement of supposed working-class opposition to the Democratic Party, which he proclaims is using “the killing of Martin to promote the reactionary politics of racial identity.” As evidence, Kishore points to an observation by Jesse Jackson that “racial profiling is all too common in the US, and has led to the killing of a young man.” Who other than an apologist for racism or perhaps an escapee from an asylum for the criminally insane could deny that this is an elementary statement of fact? The problem isn’t that Jackson, Al Sharpton and others of their ilk are fanning the flames of outrage against racist reaction in America. On the contrary, their purpose is precisely to contain such outrage and keep it safely in the channels of pro-Democratic Party electoralism.

Wowsa. 

I found the piece while doing a net search to try to find out Kishore's ethnic background. Of which, I got zero hits. AFAIK, from one video in particular, he's not only not Black, but not Black-White biracial. Maybe partially Indian, as in ancestors from the subcontinent? "Kishore" is, at least in people with that background, a Sanskrit-derived name.

That said, he looks awfully Anglo in a photo near the end of this WSWS piece. And, in that photo at left.

I'll add that it's "interesting" that EVERY one of the SEP presidential candidates has been White since Helen Halyard of its predecessor in 1992.

It's also also interesting that every one of them has been male, other than Halyard of the pre-SEP era. The White male Trots party. You want that on your tombstone? 

I don't know what Halyard thought of any of this; she lived until 2023.

Also interesting? The UK branch of the SEP, though presumably preaching for a classless society, uses "sir" for people like Sir Keir Starmer. Reminds me of Churchill saying that Clement Atlee ran the monarchy up the flagpole and saluted more than he did.

People like Mark Lause and the late Mimi Soltysik have decried Leftist infighting. Within the Communist-rooted portion of the American Left, I think you'll never get rid of it.

Weaponizing anti-Chinese sentiment as hasbara deflection on Motorola and Lenovo

By now, you've probably heard about the weaponized pagers that killed several apparent Hezbollah members, and one child and counting.

You've probably heard the speculation that this was by Mossad, asserted by Hezbollah and not denied.

(Update: "Someone" blew up Hezbollah walkie-talkies Wednesday.)

You've probably heard that these all may have been Motorola pagers.

And, you may have heard that Motorola is owned by Lenovo.

And, you would have heard either ignorance or misinformation — possibly hasbara. Or whatever the Farsi equivalent of hasbara is. Or just laziness by US Twitter. Or some combination of all of the above.

That's because about all you've heard, from a Motorola ⇒  Lenovo connection claim at a lower level, to the idea that Motorola pagers were involved? It's all wrong.

Let's unpack, from lower to higher levels.

Motorola Solutions is one half of what emerged from a 2009 split of Motorola. The OTHER half, Motorola Mobility, which is NOT in the pagers business (AFAIK) was eventually acquired by Lenovo. Motorola Solutions includes the Motorola Solutions Israel Ltd., founded in 1964.

It took me a minute of Googling to find the background info on the Israeli company, confirm it was true, then go to the Wiki page for Motorola and see the split. The Wiki for the parent company adds that Motorola Solutions is the legal successor to the old Motorola, too.

And, a subpage on Motorola Solutions specifically documents their ties to Zionist settlements.

I don't know whether the Motorola ⇒  Lenovo was started purely out of ignorance or not. Even if it was, it soon became weaponized. Knowing Zionists could use it as deflection and knowing US Cold War 2.0 types could use it to bash China.

At the same time, just because wingers and  Nat-Sec Nutsacks™ bash China doesn't mean things like labor camps in Xinjiang aren't true.

And, this is why I identify as a skeptical leftist. And, if other leftists don't like being called out for not connecting the dots correctly here? I'm not sorry.

That said, Motorola almost certainly is involved in NO WAY.

(Update: Fortunately, we now have a detailed AP story with actual facts. The biggies? Hezbollah decided to go away from cellphones in February, giving Mossad [presumably] nearly 8 months of work time. Second? A British expert says explosive as small as a pencil eraser would be enough, and he also details how they were likely triggered.)

Now, if these were Motorola pagers, yes, then why did Hezbollah buy them? Mondoweiss says they were ditching cellphones due to security issues, so pagers, but why Motorola? Were they Motorola? Motorola laundered through another brand name? The Mondoweiss piece doesn't mention Motorola, so this whole issue may be a red herring.

Rolling Stone links to a Tweet and claims that they resemble Motorola pagers, when the Tweet says no such thing and respondents mention Gold Apollo. And, so says Wiki. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Command is claiming Motorola, but it has "good reason" to do so. 

Gold Apollo is also headquartered in Taiwan, not Lenovo's China.

Now, per a Google Images search, Motorola services can be and are provided over Gold Apollo pagers, it appears. But, that's by the US paging service company Metrotel. Somehow, I highly doubt that Motorola Solutions Israel Ltd provides either pagers or paging service in Lebanon. Or other countries in the Middle East, like Iran. 

What that, in turn, means, is that Mossad really did some infiltration work. And, in addition to the actual killings and maimings, the fear of what it could do next is the key. (Update: The "next" has dropped with the walkie-talkie explosions, obviously.)

And, were I Rolling Stone, I'd be editing that page ASAP. Ditto any other major media outlets. And, maybe talking to legal counsel.

As for cutting through rumors and innuendo? ALL of this took just an hour or so of off-and-on checking during what's normally my busiest work day of the week. And, getting more shit right than at least one major media outlet.

Beyond that, per the Mondoweiss link at top, if these were implanted explosives, it would have likely been timer-detonated, not wifi-triggered, I'd think. Getting back to Motorola Solutions, that might imply something in a factory, or at least in a packinghouse area.

"Fun" with Jack in the Box

I need to eat less fast food, even when pressed for time, but that's besides the point.

About a month ago, went to my local Jack in the Crack on a Friday night.

Had coupons. Still in date.

Had used one a week earlier. Manager or asst manager said they weren't sure how to code it in, but eventually did so.

Was back a week later.

Rank and file said I can't code that in, and didn't try. I should have left, but didn't. (I've done that before with walk-in.)

DM'ed Jack's Twitter. Nobody answered as of the following Tuesday. Problem one.

So, DM'ed its Hucksterman.

Got response. Was asked for email and phone.

Gave both.

ELEVEN days later, got an email from Jack in the Crack customer service.

Said, at the appropriate time, I wasn't satisfied and explained why, in addition to telling them NOT to bother contacting me again, and saying, see the explainer box.

I copied that, of course:

Let's see. 

First, nobody ever answered your Twitter messaging.

So, I went to Facebook. Was asked if I would provide both email and phone. I did.

Heard nothing until I got this survey form. That was, per Facebook, 11 days ago.

And, per the check box below this form field, no, I'd rather not you do further contact, as I probably wouldn't expect anything better in terms of service.

But, I am saving this conversation for my records and other use as deemed necessary.

And, this is "other use as deemed necessary."

Once more, John Helmer gets deconstructed

I don't know why so many people call him a leftist. The more I read by him as well as about him, the more and more I know that he's some sort of Australian version of a wingnut. Maybe, to some degree, some Down Under version of Justin Raimondo, or a non-New Agey version of the conspirituality angle, but that's as charitable as I'll be to him.

Take his book on COVID and Australia. It's not good that he and his wife were separated for some time. That said, first, as the only continent-sized nation-state, the Australian government knew that strict controls of sea and air routes were smart. Second, Helmer should have known something like this would be the case given Australia's traditional high level of antipathy in action toward immigrants, using the same tools for the same reasons.

But, claiming nothing like this had happened since the Holocaust? First, laughable, hysterical and over the top. Second, given his past history of playing footsies with antisemitism, bigly hypocritical. (But, not alone in that. Plenty of wingnuts in the world love to say either "We had it worse than Jews" or "We had it worse than Blacks." Wingnut Irish-Americans are great at that second one, claiming they "really were" so-called "white slaves." And, people like so-called "War Nerd" John Dolan abetting that is disgusting.) He's even more laughable when he combines general shit with the antisemitism.

His book on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 isn't even getting a link. The biggie, which he won't tell you, but the Wiki page does, is that Russia's story has changed repeatedly over time. That doesn't mean that the Dutch legal process has been perfect. But, it means that one should have big chunks of skepticism about Helmer's claims.

Helmer otherwise has a good track record of ignoring information inconvenient to his narratives. Or of being worse than the worst of Counterpunch of olden days in his knee-jerk anti-Western nuttery. (Tis this that makes me wonder if the oligarchs he claims backed Putin to replace Yeltsin line his pockets, or if the Russian state does.

Oh, and off that link? Other than being an apparent antisemite, he's also a bigot in other ways.

Welcome back from your August holidays, which in Europe, aren't unique to Russia, John.

Haitian immigrant cat women facts and snark

First, from the real world? Even other Republicans are getting more and more tired of Trump — and Vance — and this is one issue.

In response to the recent influx of around 15,000 Haitians to Springfield, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) plans to send additional law enforcement to the city and $2.5 million in health care aid."If you talk to people, particularly people who are working with the Haitians, what they'll tell you is they're very hard workers," DeWine said. "We had one person the other day saying, I wish I had 100 more working for me … Look, these are good people. The people in Springfield are good people."

You can't put it any more straightforwardly than that.

More from DeWine here:

“Look, there’s a lot of garbage on the internet and, you know, this is a piece of garbage that was simply not true. There’s no evidence of this at all,” DeWine said on “This Week.”

The fallout spread beyond politics over the past week as bomb threats and other threats of violence were reported in Springfield -- prompting a strong rebuke from DeWine.

"There are hate groups coming into Springfield. We don't need these hate groups. I saw a piece of literature yesterday that the mayor told me about from purportedly the KKK. Look, Springfield is a good city. They are good people. They are welcoming people. We have challenges every day. We are working on those challenges," DeWine said.

Remember, Vance is one of Ohio's senators, so we're probably at GOP state blood feud level now. (And, contra ABC, since Jan. 6, 2021, or even Charlottesville, Virginia, 2017, no, bomb threats ARE part of politics now. Look at lies Zionists are telling about campus protests, and even assaulting protestors.)

But, at the end of the piece, DeWine says Ohioans "trust Trump" on the economy? Mike, one of those two chair you're straddling will slip soon. (Besides this issue, DeWine as governor, in his first term supported tougher gun control measures and was also pretty proactive among governors in general and Republicans in particular on COVID issues.

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Why does Vance double down on this? Mr. Yale Law is trying to look like Ohio Bubba, for one thing. Second, motivated reasoning hates admitting being wrong. Third, he really does see this as some form of "get out the vote," even though it almost certainly does NOT help the GOP ticket.

Ohio broke for Trump by 8 points in 2020, so this shouldn't be a deal. But who knows? (Trump won it in 2016, but Obama took it in both 2008 and 2012 by narrow margins.)

As for DeWine? He's 77 and presumably his electoral career is done after his second term as gov ends. If you don't want to endorse Harris, you could at least just say nothing about Trump, couldn't you?

At the same time, he failed to veto the most recent Ohio budget bill, Christmas-treed with, among other things, direct state money to build private schools.

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Snark? I think pants-crapping Trump-supporting draft dodger Ted Nugent wrote "Cat Scratch Fever." So, for Vance in particular, what's up with the weird cat fetish?