The news never stops (and neither can we)
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So my week off turned out to be almost two weeks off. Thanks for checking back here and to those who asked how things were going! The good news was seeing family (lots of fun!). The bad news was playing catch-up with work while dealing with my (literal) anxiety recently.
Part of what’s playing into that is the relentless onslaught of major news stories. People used to say they couldn’t wait until Trump was gone so we could take a breather and not have major life-changing news every day. But that simply hasn’t happened.
Here are 5 of the major news stories that have happened in just the past 10 days and a few comments on them. The links are just for reference, not necessarily that I agree with the way the story is presented.
Amazon defeats efforts to unionize in Alabama (NPR). I honestly don’t understand how the union not only lost, but by such a large margin. Was it Amazon’s reported intimidation of its workers (ahem, not-so-subtle persuasion via posters and meetings), different tactics to sabotage the vote (placement and surveillance of vote boxes, even changing the timing of traffic lights)? Workers are forced to pee and crap in plastic bottles, for f*ck’s sake. Workers die because they won’t air condition some of their warehouses. They often have to work when they’re sick, even during a pandemic. Amazon tracks whether or not delivery drivers yawn too much while they’re driving. It has to stop
Daunte Wright is killed by a 26-year-old veteran cop who trains other cops because she “accidentally” pulled out a gun instead of taser. (ABC News) I’ve never held a taser or a gun. They look pretty different to me. There’s no indication that either was needed. Another case of a cop killing someone using the informal “shoot first, don’t answer questions” policy. Stories came out of other cops shooting people when they claim they were trying to reach for their taser. Which is apparently supposed to make us feel like it’s okay that she killed him then?
Nancy Pelosi and others caught in (apparent) insider trading at the very beginning of the covid-19 pandemic. (TYT). In June and July of 2020, Representatives Brooks, Perlmutter, and Conaway bought Pfizer stocks right before the US signed a $1.95 billion contract with Pfizer for vaccines. Congress members Hern and Miller purchased Johnson and Johnson stockes in July before the $1B J&J contract was announced. In 2020 overall, Pelosi purchased over $20 million in stocks, including $10 million in Microsoft shares immediately before a $22 billion military deal was announced (and I’ll add, before Microsoft Teams exploded thanks to people working and studying from home. How is this not a bigger story?
Mass shootings while Tennessee governor signs open carry without a permit into law. (Chicago Tribune, Commercial Appeal). I was out of town when the bill to allow nearly unrestricted use of open carry and concealed weapons in public in the state of Tennessee. You don’t even need a permit. It’s easier to legally carry a gun than it is to vote. I’m legitimately scared for my life now. And yet the mass shootings continue across the country, including a FedEx employee killing eight people with two assault rifles that he legally purchased.
Cops murder 13-year-old boy in Chicago. (CBS News) The police shot Adam Toledo in the chest, killing him even though footage appears to show there was nothing in his hands. The police say there was a gun later found nearby. Not sure how much to believe them after incident after incident of murder and assault by police officers, specifically on black and brown people (but not only). The video shows, to a normal observer at least, that whether or not he had a gun at one point, he doesn’t have one when he is obeying the command to raise his hands. The police are out of control, and there are several other incidents in just the past week (including a military vet getting pepper sprayed and assaulted by cops for a traffic stop for not having a license, even though he clearly had a temporary one on his rear window.
And that was dwindled down from a list of 10 I had. And who knows how many more.
All of these have underlying issues that we can, and should, address as a nation. Democrats are giving little better than lip service about any of these serious, sometimes lethal, situations. That’s why as the news cycle continues to spiral out of control under a Democratic president and Democratic majority in the House and Senate, progressives need to keep fighting and never lose our outrage.
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