James.galbraith

It’s tax season (federal taxes are due April 18), and as millions of people crank up their computers and download Intuit’s TurboTax or H&R Block’s software, they are the unwitting victims of a multiyear, multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign by those companies to make you pay them to do your taxes. The dirty little secret is that the IRS already has the tax information they need about your income and how much tax you’ve paid. That’s reported to them with every paystub from your employer.

In fact, for most people the IRS could just send out pre-filled forms that taxpayers would only need to sign off on. The vast majority of people, about 70%, use the standard deduction and don’t bother to itemize, and could thus let the IRS do all the work—since the IRS has already done all the work! But Intuit and H&R Block exist precisely to make money off of you by keeping taxes far more complicated. They’ve even circumvented the one big effort on the part of the federal government to change that.

For about 20 years, the Free File Alliance, a group of private-sector tax preparation companies, have been working in partnership with the IRS to provide free online tax preparation and filing services. An investigation by public interest news organization Propublica in 2019 documented how the companies behind both TurboTax and H&R Block hid the free option for filing on their websites. Intuit actually added code on its webpages to block Google from locating the free file site in searches. Following Propublica’s exposé, Intuit changed the code so that the free version showed up in searches.

TurboTax has not been part of the Free File program since 2020, and has been under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission since Propublica’s investigation in 2019. Last month the investigation has started to show fruit. Intuit was sued by federal regulators last month for continuing deceptive practices in advertising with its “bogus advertisements pitching ‘free’ tax filing that millions of consumers could not use.” It also filed a complaint “asking a court to order Intuit to halt its deceptive advertising immediately” to prevent “ongoing harm to consumers rushing to file their taxes.”

“TurboTax is bombarding consumers with ads for ‘free’ tax filing services, and then hitting them with charges when it’s time to file,” said Samuel Levine, director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. “We are asking a court to immediately halt this bait-and-switch, and to protect taxpayers at the peak of filing season.” Anyone who received a 1099 form for work in the gig economy, or anyone who earned farm income, can’t use TurboTax’s free product. The income limit for using free file this year, by the way, is an adjusted gross income of $73,000.

So if you haven’t already done your taxes, don’t use TurboTax on principle if for no other reason. But also because they’ve been lying to you about their “free” service.

In the meantime, here’s Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) talking about one of her long-term projects, the Tax Filing Simplification Act, and how these companies have been ripping us off for many years, not to mention making this whole process a lot more difficult than it needs to be.

Republican legislatures have ensured that there will be no half-measures from the court. What will Democrats do about it?

Amy Wax, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, took her entitled self to the stage of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Today show Monday and laid her full-Karen a** out for the world to see.

Wax, 69, has a history of sharing her bigoted opinions about Black and brown folks. But her latest screed targeted the alleged "resentment, shame, and envy" harbored by “Black and other “non-Western” people for  Westerners’ "outsized achievements and contributions."

When Wax was done criticizing Black Americans, she moved on to Asian and South Asian Indians, focusing particularly on doctors at Penn and Brahmin women from India.

They “are on the ramparts for the antiracism initiative for ‘dump on America,’” she said, complaining that Brahmins “are taught that they are better than everybody else because they are Brahmin elites and yet, on some level, their country is a s—hole. ... They’ve realized that we’ve outgunned and outclassed them in every way. ... They feel anger. They feel envy. They feel shame. ... It creates ingratitude of the most monstrous kind.”

Again, this is not the first time Wax has laid her racism bare.

On Jan. 24, in an interview with Concordia University professor Gad Saadshe, Wax said, "Given the realities of different rates of crime, different average IQs, people have to accept without apology that Blacks are not going to be evenly distributed throughout all occupations. They're just not, and that’s not a problem. That’s not due to racism.”

And in early January, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported that a petition garnered 800 signatures after Wax claimed that "the United States is better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration."

Penn Law School dean Theodore Ruger said at the time that Wax’s comments were “anti-intellectual,”  “racist” and “diametrically opposed to the policies and ethos of this institution.” He added that “they serve as a persistent and tangible reminder that racism, sexism, and xenophobia are not theoretical abstractions but are real and insidious beliefs in this country and in our building.”

The Philidelphia Inquirer reports that Wax is currently facing a faculty senate review that could result in sanctions against her. Wax has worked at Penn for two decades and is a tenured professor.

In 2018, Ruger barred Wax from teaching mandatory first-year law courses after students became enraged over a video in which she said she’d never seen a Black Penn Law student graduate at the top of their class.

Neil Makhija, a Penn Law lecturer who also serves as executive director of Indian American Impact, a national South Asian civic and political organization tweeted Tuesday:

“Prof Amy Wax resents that she sees all the ‘brown faces’ at Penn Medicine and wants to ask them ‘why did you come here?’ Meanwhile, most were born in the U.S. and Americans all their lives. And are probably going to be the ones to treat her if she’s in the hospital.”

Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

On Sunday, Comedian John Oliver’s HBO news show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver had a fun time with One American News Network’s (OANN) recent lawsuit against DirectTV, AT&T, and AT&T Chairman William Kennard. OANN has been facing an existential business crisis as of late. DirecTV announced that it would no longer carry the ultra-right-wing media outlet Herring Networks’ OANN or A Wealth of Entertainment (AWE) after their contracts ended this month.

OANN contests that their whole operation is dependent on DirectTV—making up around 90% of its generated revenue—and is arguing that the exclusive ad sale deal with DirecTV taking them into 2024 is proof that they are contractually obligated to renew the lapsing carrier deal. At the same time, OANN founder Robert Herring Sr. swore in the deposition of an earlier case that OANN was AT&T’s idea, and that they asked for the network to be created. None of this matters for the moment. What does matter is that Oliver’s satirical news and politics show was named in the lawsuit.

This is going to be good.

Oliver begins by pointing out that AT&T, which did own HBO, ended its direct ownership with the new merger of Discovery and Warner Brothers (Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.). “Let me just say this,” Oliver says, putting up his two middle fingers and saying that as of Friday, AT&T no longer had any control over the channel his show streams on. Referring to his two middle fingers, he said: “Which, frankly, is two more bars than you've ever had."

RELATED STORY: Reuters uncovers deeper connections between deadly hoax network OAN and corporate giant AT&T

Oliver talked about how Last Week Tonight has talked about OANN a lot over the last couple of years because it was Trump’s favorite outlet, because of the wild COVID-19 misinformation they have put out there, and finally because of how appalling their recent coverage of the invasion of Ukraine has been. Referring to OANN host Pearson Sharp (supposedly his real name) as “Fascist Vin Diesel,” Oliver showed a clip of Sharp suggesting the shelling of a maternity hospital in Ukraine by Russia never happened. That it was—like Alex Jones talking about the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school—a hoax, with “crisis actors” making up all of the images shown the world.

Listen and subscribe to Daily Kos' The Brief podcast with Markos Moulitsas and Kerry Eleveld

It is a reminder that while you may have not been paying any attention to OANN recently, they are exactly as venal as you remember. Oliver then explains that among the many claims in OANN’s lawsuit against AT&T is one saying that AT&T “violated a non-disparagement provision.” Their contention is that because shows that existed on AT&T-owned stations were critical of OANN, this constituted a violation of that agreement. Oliver then lists off the court-filed grievances of the things Oliver’s said:

• Comparing OANN to “Fox News with even less shame and even fewer scruples.”
• Calling OANN a “ragtag band of fascists”—Oliver went on to finish this beautiful piece of writing, “that are happy to give a platform to batshit election fraud theories from America's most out of breath pillow fetishist.”

Oliver does lament that the lawsuit doesn’t site the fact that Oliver called Sharp “decaf Pittbull,” saying, “Frankly, I want that entered into the legal record!” Then, in a pretty koan-like bit of writing, Oliver refers back to Sharp’s grotesque handling of the casualties of war, saying: ”I do get that they (OAN) are upset here, just as I get that they are an intellectually bankrupt organization full of opportunistic grifters who've done nothing but make this country a worse place. But perhaps this isn't the time for that and perhaps I am sorry for taking joy in their misfortune and kicking them when they are so clearly down. But on the other hand, perhaps I am not.”

The segment begins at the five-minute mark. Definitely enjoy.

Republicans are feeling emboldened to push the envelope on all kinds of issues, and they've only begun.

This is infuriating, and it shows why Republicans so often act in bad faith—because acting in bad faith works. For them, at least.

While it would be nice if voters acted in their best interests by, say, supporting candidates who might measurably improve their lives, they actually appear to respond a lot more readily to fear. Which is somewhat ironic, since my biggest fear is that Donald Trump will be released on our country again like a sack of diarrhetic feral cats on the International Space Station hot bar. And this kind of shit ain’t helpin’, let me tell ya.

Turns out voters really liked President Biden’s expanded child tax credit, which was part of his economy-boosting American Rescue Plan. But those warm, fuzzy feelings appear to have evaporated since Republicans colluded with Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to kneecap Biden’s Build Back Better plan, which would have taken a permanent bite out of child poverty. 

Voters who received expanded child tax credits payments in 2021 ended the year more likely than not to support Democratic candidates for Congress in this year’s midterm elections. But months after that benefit expired, a new Morning Consult/Politico survey shows Republicans have made up that ground. [...]

• Among parents or guardians with at least one child under 18 in the household who received the expanded child tax credit payments, 46% said they are most likely to vote for a Republican congressional candidate this year while 43% said they’re inclined to back the Democratic candidate.
• The narrow GOP advantage among this group stands in contrast with Democrats’ lead of 12 percentage points in late December, before the benefit expired. It also continues a trend first captured in a survey conducted in February.

Thanks, Joe Manchin! You really did your party a solid. 

Listen and subscribe to Daily Kos Elections’ The Downballot podcast with David Nir and David Beard

Of course, if you liked the child tax credit and want it back, it would only make sense to elect more Democrats so that two selfish, corporate-aligned quislings would no longer be able to scuttle President Biden’s best-laid plans. The alternative is electing candidates from a party that has vowed never to help parents pay for anything, ever.

But, to be brutally honest, most people don’t think things through that much. All they saw was a vital benefit being taken away and Democrats, who technically control two branches of government, failing to deliver on their most aspirational promises.

So by this time next year, we may very well be stuck with a Republican-controlled Congress, which will gut families’ hopes and dreams for another two years at least.

Oddly, among all voters, Democrats are now tied with Republicans on the generic ballot—which suggests pulling the rug out from under voters hurts you more than never lifting a finger for them in the first place. No wonder Republicans are so giddy about their midterm prospects.

Of course, our message on this should be simple: If you want some breathing room for yourself and other families, you’d be mad to vote for a Republican. Democrats are promising to help you, and Republicans are promising not to. But so much gets lost and distorted in the fog of a congressional campaign. Who/what will be the light that breaks through? 

We need better messaging, people. What say you?

It made comedian Sarah Silverman say, “THIS IS FUCKING BRILLIANT,” and prompted author Stephen King to shout “Pulitzer Prize!!!” (on Twitter, that is). What is it? The viral letter that launched four hilarious Trump-trolling books. Get them all, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Or, if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE. 

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
Thank you to patreon typo squad for finding the one typo amongst 8 trillion words.

Today's News:

Remember when people used to read the little blog posts under comics? They don't now, so I can write whole lines of gibberish, squinkle dabyougargh nunglepeep.

"According to a new International Money Fund (IMF) report, cryptocurrency is much more popular in countries with insecure currencies and corrupt governments..." reports The Street, adding that the report concludes "the best way forward is not fight, but to learn how to better regulate cryptocurrency." The IMF surveyed more than 110,000 respondents in over 55 countries, polling between 2,000 and 12,000 people in each country, about their cryptocurrency use.... "Crypto usage is empirically associated with higher perceived corruption and more intensive capital controls," the study's authors write. "[...] This evidence adds to the case for regulating crypto usage — for example, by requiring intermediaries to implement know-your-customer procedures." Bloomberg adds: The report shows why countries might want to require intermediaries, such as digital currency exchanges, to implement know-your-customer procedures — ID verification standards that are designed to prevent fraud, money laundering and terrorism financing, the organization said. Some countries, like the U.S., have already instituted those kinds of controls. Nations around the world are struggling over the best way to regulate the $2 trillion crypto market, with the level of oversight varying greatly from one country to another. The findings suggest that crypto assets "may be used to transfer corruption proceeds or circumvent capital controls," the organization said, without singling out individual countries.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New research suggests that interest in BDSM (bondage, domination, and sadomasochism) is fairly common in Finland. The findings have been published in The Journal of Sex Research. BDSM has been considered deviant and pathological in the past, but attitudes towards the practices have shifted in recent times. Despite this change in attitudes, the prevalence of BDSM is still unknown in several European countries. The authors of the new study sought to explore the prevalence of BDSM interest and BDSM-related activities in a large, population-based sample of Finnish adults. “I had previously done my…

Read More

On Thursday, the Department of Justice announced Ruben Verastigui has been sentenced to 151 months in prison on a federal charge of receipt of child pornography. 

A Washington, D.C., resident, 29-year-old Ruben Verastigui has spent his entire career in conservative circles, including as an aide to the Trump re-election campaign and stints as a digital strategist for the Senate Republican Conference and the Republican National Committee.

Listen and subscribe to Daily Kos' The Brief podcast with Markos Moulitsas and Kerry Eleveld

The Department of Justice detailed the evidence against Ruben Verastigui, and this case is extremely disturbing. 

[Warning: Graphic description of the DOJ’s case is listed below]

According to the government’s evidence, from April 2020 through Feb. 2021, Verastigui was active in an online group devoted to trading child pornography and discussing child sexual abuse. Verastigui shared child pornography videos with another member of the group and made numerous comments about sexually abusing children. Verastigui indicated his preference for babies, saying they were his “absolute favorite,” and solicited another group member for videos of babies being raped. The other group member promptly sent Verastigui a video of a baby being raped, to which Verastigui responded enthusiastically. The other group member then sent Verastigui numerous other videos of child pornography.

Verastigui is just one of numerous Republican staffers to face child pornography charges in recent years. Chase Tristan Epsy, a lawyer for Alabama Gov. Kay Ivy, was arrested in 2021 for soliciting a minor. 

As usual, it seems the howls of Republicans are pure projection.

And last, but not least, Verastigui was a featured speaker at the 2013 anti-choice rally in Washington, D.C. 

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Windows Central: Windows 11 may be the latest operating system from Microsoft, but [Wednesday was] about Windows 3.1. It's the birthday of the classic OS, marking 30 years since its launch on April 6, 1992. Windows 3.1 introduced several key components, many of which have digital descendants on Windows 11 and imitators on other operating systems. Windows 3.1 brought PCs the CTRL+C and CTRL+V shortcuts for copy and paste. It added TrueType fonts and came with screensavers and a media player as well. Gamers had two options for games that preinstalled games: Solitaire and Minesweeper. Selling over 3 million copies in the first three months it was on the market, Windows 3.1 was considered a success. It was more user-friendly than Windows 3.0 and introduced many people to the idea of a personal computer in their home. Sadly for those that miss the days of the MS-DOS and command line being king, Windows 3.1 reached its end of support in 2001. Further reading: Windows 3.1 Turns 30: Here's How It Made Windows Essential (How To Geek)

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A judge has restored a Texas woman’s right to possess firearms just weeks after she was sentenced for illegally entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden issued an order on Thursday granting florist Jenny Cudd’s request to lift a term of her probation that forbade her to own or possess any “firearm, ammunition, destructive device, or dangerous weapon.”

Cudd had asked that the condition be set aside, citing threats she received following publicity about her role in the storming of the Capitol as lawmakers were preparing to certify Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election.

The judge’s ruling was a rebuke to prosecutors, who opposed the change, and it was the latest setback for prosecutors dealt by McFadden, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump. The decision further cements the judge’s reputation as the most skeptical member of the D.C. District Court bench about the stance prosecutors have taken in the wake of the Capitol riot.

In his two-page ruling on Thursday, McFadden noted that Cudd wore a “bulletproof sweatshirt” to the Jan. 6 rally, but he credited her explanation that she wore the defensive garment because she feared violence, not because she was seeking it.

“The Government presented no evidence that Cudd incited anyone to violence,” McFadden wrote. “Nor did it present evidence that she participated in violence. She has no prior criminal history. And Cudd’s bullet proof sweatshirt is consistent with her fear of being attacked at the rally preceding her entry into the Capitol. This says nothing about her danger to others.”

McFadden cited the Supreme Court’s 2008 ruling in D.C. v. Heller that held that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right of self-defense.

“The Court will not limit that right for a nonviolent misdemeanant who credibly fears for her safety,” the judge wrote.

McFadden’s order came one day after he delivered the first outright acquittal of a Jan. 6 defendant, finding a former government contractor from New Mexico, Matthew Martin, not guilty on four misdemeanor charges.

McFadden, who also served as the No. 2 official in the Justice Department under Trump before being confirmed to the bench, has openly questioned the priorities of federal prosecutors. He has suggested that they’re taking a more aggressive stance toward the Jan. 6 defendants, while taking a more lax approach to people accused of violence during racial-justice protests in 2020.

Other judges have expressed disagreement with McFadden about the 2020 protests, saying some participants in violence got stiff sentences. They’ve also said the storming of the Capitol during the election-related proceedings was uniquely dangerous, since it posed a threat to the democratic transfer of power.

Prosecutors had sought a 90-day jail sentence for Cudd, noting that she made a slew of incendiary statements on Jan. 6. In one Facebook video she said she participated in pushing against police and was “proud” of her actions.

“I’m proud of everything that I was a part of today,” she said in the video. “And I’ll be proud of everything that I’m a part of at the next one.”

Typically, judges have imposed harsher sentences for defendants who celebrated their actions on Jan. 6.

While McFadden has offered criticism of prosecutors’ approach, he has uniformly rejected motions from Jan. 6 defendants to have their cases dismissed on grounds of selective, politically motivated prosecution.

McFadden’s latest stances are something of a sharp turn for the judge against the government. Despite his past skepticism, he had largely ruled in accordance with other judges on the court.

He rejected claims by one rioter who is accused of setting off a firework amid the most violent confrontation during the Jan. 6 riot that he was being selectively prosecuted. He also ordered the pretrial detention of Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a former Army reservist who expressed hope for a civil war and was described by former colleagues as openly racist and antisemitic. Hale-Cusanelli, who remains incarcerated, is not charged with violence for his role in the Capitol attack.

McFadden’s handling of Cudd’s case generated headlines last year when he approved her request to take a trip to Mexico that she said was work-related and prepaid.

Prosecutors did not oppose the proposed international trip, but coming just weeks after the riot, McFadden’s decision drew criticism as an indication that the courts were not dealing sternly with those accused of participating in the takeover of the Capitol.

Alabama lawmakers are the first in the nation to back criminal penalties for health care providers who offer gender-affirming care to transgender youth.

The Alabama House on Thursday approved legislation making it a Class C felony — punishable by up to 10 years in prison — to provide transition-related medical care, including puberty-blocking medications and hormone therapy, to minors.

The bill passed the state Senate in February.

Republican Gov. Kay Ivey hasn’t taken a public stance on the bill, and her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether she plans to sign it into law.

Proponents of the bill argued transgender youth might face long-term consequences from the treatment they might later regret.

“Their brains are not developed to make the decisions long term about what these medications and surgeries do to their body,” Rep. Wes Allen, sponsor of the House’s version of the bill, said on Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

The American Academy of Pediatrics considers puberty suppression and hormone therapy among the ways pediatricians can provide “developmentally appropriate” care for transgender youth.

The legislation also bans gender-affirming surgeries on transgender youth, though that is already not standard practice among doctors, and bars teachers and other school officials from shielding a student’s gender identity from their parent or guardian.

If Ivey signs the measure into law, Alabama would become the third state to block access to gender-affirming care for minors, and the first to mandate prison time. Lawmakers could override a veto with a simple majority.

Arkansas approved a ban on gender-affirming care last year after lawmakers overrode a veto from Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson — who referred to the legislation as “vast government overreach” — though a federal court blocked the law from taking effect. Tennessee lawmakers also approved a law last year banning hormone treatments for prepubescent minors, though doctors do not provide such treatments before children begin puberty.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of of Alabama, Lambda Legal and the Transgender Law Center pledged on Thursday to take Alabama’s proposal to court if it is signed into law.

“The Alabama Legislature and Governor Kay Ivey need to consider the time and resources they will invest, not to mention the stain of discrimination that often means lost opportunity and investment, and ask themselves if targeting the health care of children is truly worth it because we are prepared to make that investment in order to protect transgender youth, their families, and their doctors in Alabama,” Carl Charles, senior attorney for Lambda Legal, said.

Lawmakers also passed a separate bill on Thursday preventing transgender students from using bathrooms or locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity. The legislation was amended at the last minute to also include a version of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law and now returns to the House for final approval.

Putting it in context: Passage of the Alabama bill comes amid an escalation of GOP efforts this year to pass measures that restrict access to health care, participation in school sports and bathroom access for transgender youth in statehouses.

The ACLU identified bills in 19 states that proposed restricting health care access for transgender youth, though some of the proposals have since failed.

A bill in Idaho that would have also made providing gender-affirming care to transgender children a felony passed out of the House last month but was blocked by Republican Senate leaders, who said the policy “undermines parental rights.”

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in February ordered the state’s child welfare agency to investigate parents who seek gender-affirming care after Republican lawmakers in that state proposed laws banning puberty blockers and hormone therapy but failed to pass them. A Texas judge last month blocked the state from carrying out that policy, though state Attorney General Ken Paxton indicated he plans to do so anyway, pending an appeal.

What the federal government says: The U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to state attorneys general last week highlighting federal constitutional and statutory protections for transgender youth, including those seeking gender-affirming care.

“Intentionally erecting discriminatory barriers to prevent individuals from receiving gender-affirming care implicates a number of federal legal guarantees,” Kristen Clark, assistant attorney general for civil rights, wrote. “State laws and policies that prevent parents or guardians from following the advice of a healthcare professional regarding what may be medically necessary or otherwise appropriate care for transgender minors may infringe on rights protected by both the Equal Protection and the Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

When Better.com CEO Vishal Garg laid off 900 employees, or about 9% of the company's staff, in early December, the startup world was shocked with his callous delivery. Now a video of Garg and CFO Kevin Ryan addressing the remaining employees right after the chief executive performed those layoffs has emerged, confirming many reports of his brash style and harsh words about those affected. TechCrunch reports: In a video obtained by TechCrunch, Garg is seen addressing the layoffs and in the process, admitting to making a number of mistakes. We chose not to publish the video in an effort to protect the identity of the source, but we've picked out the most relevant bits based on a transcription of the 12-minute meeting. About two minutes into the meeting, Garg says: "Make no mistake we did also eliminate redundant roles -- who might be strong performers but were in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong task, and weren't mission critical." After about four minutes, Garg also acknowledged that the company was continuing to hire, including some interns, in the midst of the layoffs, while at the time making a thinly veiled threat: "...It's because we expect those people to be super productive and add value, and if they don't we will exit them too." He added: "We are going to be leaner, meaner and hungrier going forward. We will not be spending time trying to raise capital. We will not be spending time focused on what investors think. We will be spending time grinding this business forward in what will likely be a bloodbath in the mortgage industry in the next year or two." In the video at around the 8-minute mark, Garg admits to not being disciplined in managing the company's cash and in its hiring strategy, which helps explain the company's second mass layoff of over 3,000 people just three months later. It also helps support multiple sources' claims that the company is currently "losing $50 million per month." "Today we acknowledge that we overhired, and hired the wrong people. And in doing that we failed. I failed. I was not disciplined over the past 18 months. We made $250 million last year, and you know what, we probably pissed away $200 million. We probably could have made more money last year and been leaner, meaner and hungrier." He also explicitly says that the company lost $100 million in the previous quarter, saying it was his "mistake" for not laying off staff earlier.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

The Border Patrol’s union has consistently been up to no good. In just a couple of examples, it records its podcast in a studio owned by white supremacist rag Breitbart. The two actually enjoy quite a cozy relationship, with a local chapter of the union awarding the racist outlet for its “reporting” back in 2015. 

But the union also makes no secrets of its despicable views, after union president Brandon Judd went onto Fox News to openly promote racist “replacement theory.”

RELATED STORY: After Carlson spouts white nationalist ‘replacement theory,’ ADL chief says: ‘Tucker must go’

In the clip, both Fox News host Bill Hemmer and Judd are fuming over the Biden administration’s decision to terminate the Stephen Miller Title 42 order that for more than two years now has effectively stomped on U.S. asylum law. 

"Sir, why do you think this administration has allowed virtually an open border?" Hemmer asks Judd, once again exposing the conundrum Republicans have created for themselves. Literally from the start of the Biden administration, they’ve lied and declared “open borders” as a political attack. But now that the administration is moving to restore asylum access—a just decision that we should celebrate—they’re acknowledging the presence of Title 42 as a border control measure (though the policy has been a failure in multiple ways, see why here).

But I digress. "I believe that they're trying to change the demographics of the electorate, that's what I believe they’re doing" Judd responds to Hemmer. "They want to stay in power and the only way to stay in power is to continue to get elected."

My colleague David Neiwert has previously described this “replacement” talk as “a conspiracy theory claiming that white people are selectively ‘replaced’ by nonwhite immigrants.” It’s white supremacist conspiracy theory, and it’s being promoted by the president of the union for border agents. This is, to say the least, very worrying.

But it’s not like Judd hasn’t already exhibited worrying behavior, earlier this year appearing in an ad where a right-wing candidate from Arizona shot at actors portraying the president, Speaker Pelosi, and Sen. Mark Kelly.

Let’s also not pretend the white supremacist “replacement theory” spouted during this interview was an aberration. Tucker Carlson has been a longtime fan, and has been echoed by top Republicans like Elise Stefanik. National Republican Senatorial Committee chair Rick Scott has gotten very close to it, after claiming that he’s eager to welcome “immigrants who want to be Americans, not change America.”

Nor are they one bit sorry about running on racism. I mean, it’s all they have. “After national press attention condemning Stefanik's use of the white nationalist 'replacement theory' in her Fbook ads warning of an ‘election insurrection’ ... she has doubled down and is STILL running these ads,” America’s Voice Political Director Zachary Mueller noted last fall.

RELATED STORIES: 

Arizona GOP candidate revels in outrage after releasing vile ad depicting political violence

Stefanik pushes racist ad that also claims undocumented immigrants are the real insurrectionists

GOP teeing up racist ads going into midterms. Democrats can fight back by championing immigrants

Read 14 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
I ran out of fairy tales to ruin with economics, so it's on to pleasant sentiments generally.

Today's News:

Starbucks is continuing its union-busting campaign with a vengeance in the wake of a tenth store voting to unionize. Workers at the New York City Roastery—one of just three flagship “Roastery” locations in the country—voted 46-36 in favor of unionizing, with the vote counted on April 1, the same that New York Amazon workers won their union vote.

That was Friday. On Monday, Starbucks fired Phoenix, Arizona, worker-activist Laila Dalton after months of harassment and retaliation for her union leadership. In fact, Starbucks fired Dalton for having recorded the abuse the faced from managers. That’s one of a string of firings of union leaders at Starbucks, but, Noam Scheiber notes, the first to have been fired after the National Labor Relations Board had already issued a complaint against Starbucks for retaliating against her for her protected activism. Pretty damn brazen.

RELATED STORY: Starbucks' union-busting campaign can't slow organizing momentum as Arizona store votes yes

Here’s what that campaign of harassment has looked like:

Also on Monday, Howard Schultz made his triumphant return to public speaking as, once again, the CEO of Starbucks. In that speech, he cast unions as a major threat to Starbucks and other companies. 

“Now here's where it gets a little sensitive—because I've been coached a little bit—but I do want to talk about something pretty serious,” Schultz said. “We can't ignore what is happening in the country as it relates to companies throughout the country being assaulted in many ways, by the threat of unionization.” 

Assaulted by the threat. That threat is the workers of his company. People like Laila Dalton, a teenager repeatedly berated and harassed by managers.

Schultz added, “There's two ways I can approach this. I can say I'm anti-union, and [that] I don't want to see that at Starbucks. But I'm not an anti-union person. I am a pro-Starbucks [person]. Pro-partner, pro-Starbucks culture, pro-heritage, the history of our company. ... We didn't get here by having a union.”

Heritage, huh. Is that like when people say their embrace of the Confederate flag is “heritage, not hate”? 

Schultz’s “I’m not an anti-union person … BUT” schtick is obvious nonsense. If he’s terrified about his company being assaulted by a threat, he can’t plausibly deny being anti-that-threat. 

In the same speech, Schultz announced, “We are going to be in the NFT business,” just to drive home how laser-focused he is on the stuff that matters. He’s pro-Starbucks culture, pro-heritage, all about “the partners” (Starbucksian for “workers”) and the history of the company—oh, and he’s jumping on board with the hot new scam. It seems that, to Schultz, NFTs are more in the Starbucks tradition than listening to workers. What a surprise.

As the latest union win shows, though, the momentum is with the workers despite big-money union-busting campaign and the retaliation and firings and poor-pitiful-me speeches from the CEO. Long may it continue.

RELATED STORIES: 

Clean sweep: Votes counted at three more Starbucks stores lead to three more unionized Starbucks

Starbucks' vicious anti-union campaign isn't stopping workers from organizing at dozens of stores

Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Donald Trump's Truth Social has "been a disaster," says Joshua Tucker, director of NYU's Center for Social Media and Politics. According to the BBC, "The app launched on Presidents' Day, 21 February, but six weeks later is beset by problems. A waiting list of nearly 1.5 million are unable to use it." From the report: Truth Social might look like Twitter, but it isn't available on Android phones, web browsers or, apparently, to most people outside the US. And a Republican ally of Mr Trump's, who did not wish to be identified, said: "Nobody seems to know what's going on." On 21 February, Truth Social was one of the App Store's most downloaded apps -- but many who downloaded it were unable to use it. There was an assumption this problem would soon be resolved and Mr Trump would start posting his "truths" in the coming days -- but neither of those things happened. My attempt to register, this week, was placed at number 1,419,631 on the waiting list. While YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook are among the 10 most downloaded apps, according to Similar Web, Truth Social is outside the top 100. Users who find their way in can find the app a little empty, as many big voices on the American right have so far stayed away. Another study found downloads have fallen by as much as 95%. And many are feeling frustrated. "Signed up for Truth Social a couple weeks ago and still on a waiting list," one Twitter user said, on Tuesday. "By the time I'm off the waiting list and on to Truth Social for real, Trump will be President again," joked another. The report says Mr Trump "has not posted a 'truth' for well over a month." "Maybe they're holding him back," Mr Tucker said. "That's his last chance to launch it - when suddenly Trump comes in and starts being really active on it, that will get a buzz."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Neowin notes growing support for the "very efficient, potent, royalty-free video codec" AV1, including Microsoft's adding of support for hardware acceleration of AV1 on Windows. But AV1 even turned up in Intel's announcement this week of the Arc A-series, a new line of discrete GPUs, Neowin reports: Intel has been quick to respond and the company has become the first such GPU hardware vendor to have full AV1 support on its newly launched Arc GPUs. While AMD and Nvidia both offer AV1 decoding with their newest GPUs, neither have support for AV1 encoding. Intel says that hardware encoding of AV1 on its new Arc GPUs is 50 times faster than those based on software-only solutions. It also adds that the efficiency of AV1 encode with Arc is 20% better compared to HEVC. With this feature, Intel hopes to potentially capture at least some of the streaming and video editing market that's based on users who are looking for a more robust AV1 encoding solution compared to CPU-based software approaches. From Intel's announcement: Intel Arc A-Series GPUs are the first in the industry to offer full AV1 hardware acceleration, including both encode and decode, delivering faster video encode and higher quality streaming while consuming the same internet bandwidth. We've worked with industry partners to ensure that AV1 support is available today in many of the most popular media applications, with broader adoption expected this year. The AV1 codec will be a game changer for the future of video encoding and streaming.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
Later it turns out strychnine is a key input for an exotic form of fusion but the humans are too stupid to catch on.

Today's News:

During the course of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the country’s state-controlled propaganda networks have relied heavily on translated television clips depicting pro-Russia statements by American media personalities such as Tucker Carlson. Another of their sources for such statements is former Hawaii congresswoman and erstwhile presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard.

As explained by Zach Everson writing for Forbes, Gabbard’s past pro-Russian remarks are well-documented. Lately they include propagating Russian propaganda regarding so-called secret “biolabs” in Ukraine, which Forbes writer Derek Saul aptly summarizes as “an unfounded Russian-backed conspiracy theory the U.S. has warned could serve as justification for Russia to use biological and chemical weapons against Ukraine.” This fantasy is now an article of faith among many inhabiting the right-wing “bubble-verse” and has been facilitated and amplified by Fox News, through Carlson (although Sen. Mitt Romney recently called it a “treasonous lie”).

Everson also notes that the largest individual donor to Gabbard’s 2021 PAC was an American activist (and founder of an organization called the Center for Citizen Initiatives) named Sharon Tennison, whom Everson characterizes as a “Putin apologist.” As Everson writes:

While advocating for peace, Tennison has repeatedly championed Russia’s dictator. For example, in 2018, she wrote, “Putin isn’t the problem, friends. The problem is the projection of our own ‘shadow’ on Putin and Russia.” In September 2020, Tennison observed, “Putin seems to ignore detractors and continues efforts to create venues to bring peoples and countries together despite vilifications.” And the day after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Tennison posted, “I am deeply concerned about a NATO country being on Russia’s borders in Ukraine … As for Putin’s current dilemma, I’m sorry he felt he had to intervene in Ukraine!” Ukraine is not and has never been a NATO member.

When former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton characterized Gabbard (along with Jill Stein) as a “Russian asset,” Gabbard filed suit, claiming she was entitled to $50 million in damages. The suit was later dropped. According to Everson, Tennison contributed to Gabbard’s legal fund.

Vladimir Soloviev is regarded as one of the Russian state-controlled media’s most prominent propagandists. He hosts a television show called Soloviev Live in which he often plays pro-Russian clips and interviews of ostensibly pro-Russian American political figures and consultants, in order to inculcate the Russian population with the notion that Americans are conflicted about Putin’s invasion.

As reported by Josephine Harvey for HuffPost, this week Soloviev was hawking clips of Tucker Carlson and Tulsi Gabbard, both of whom were operating seemingly in tandem on Carlson’s show, airing Monday:

[Soloviev] introduced Gabbard, a Democratic primary candidate for the 2020 presidential race, as “our girlfriend Tulsi,” according to a translation by Russian media analyst Julia Davis, a columnist for the Daily Beast.

A clip was then aired of Gabbard’s appearance on Monday’s episode of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in which she suggested President Joe Biden was secretly plotting to remove Putin from power.

After the clip aired, a panelist reportedly asked, “Is she some sort of Russian agent?”

According to Davis’ translation, Soloviev said she was.

Media analyst and reporter Julia Davis, who provided the translation for the clip above, has been doing yeoman’s work these past few weeks for The Daily Beast, observing Russian state television to assess the internal propaganda surrounding Putin’s invasion. But you don’t really need a translation to hear Soloviev respond “Da” at the very end of the clip (1:15 mark), in response to the panelist’s question.

Perhaps Soloviev was joking, perhaps not. (That the panelist—a cog in the propaganda machine himself—would ask such a question, even in jest, is fairly telling.) Whether or not Gabbard is knowingly doing the Kremlin’s work for them is certainly debatable, but the clear use being made of her statements by Russia’s propaganda apparatus is not.

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
If we have to draw a line, this is where the line is.

Today's News:

The American conservative “advocates for parental rights in schools” known as Moms for Liberty have been busy working on making sure your children are protected from things like critical race theory (CRT), and any talk about gender identities (and LGBTQ+ stuff). Florida’s transphobic and homophobic and childhood-phobic conservatives scored a big legislative victory in March when state legislators were able to pass the “Don’t Say Gay” bill through into law. Its official name is the “Parental Rights in Education” bill and while it technically never mentions the word “gay,” the bill is a pretty obvious overreach into the rights of entire swathes of the American public. As such, lawsuits are already being filed against the Sunshine state.

Moms for Liberty’s Twitter account posted what they are calling a letter template for rebellious teachers to send home in regard to the new legal guidelines they are now forced to deal with as a result of the general pig-headed phobias of people like Moms for Liberty. Writing “A teacher in Palm Beach County, FL shared this template with us. It is being shared among teachers to use for grades K-3. How do you feel about this? What will you do when this arrives home in your child’s backpack? Time to take a Stand,” the letter is a little slice of genius, and the responses to this conservative freakout have been [takes a meditative breath] beautiful.

The letter serves to point out how, in its vague language, the bill’s authors have attempted to veil their bigotries and fears under the guise of parental rights. It does this by using the law’s truly banal purposes against the very parents who are pretending that this law isn’t very specifically about being homophobic and transphobic and queerphobic.

First the letter:

Dear Florida parent/caretaker:

The Florida house of Representatives has recently ruled that “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.”

To be in accordance with this policy, I will no longer be referring to your student with gendered pronouns. All students will be referred to as “The” or “them.” I will no longer use a gendered title such as “Mr.” or “Mrs.” or make any references to my husband/wife in the classroom. From now on I will be using the non-gendered title “Mx.”

Furthermore, I will be removing all books or instruction which refer to a person being a “mother,” “Father,” “husband” or “wife” as these are gender identities that also may allude to sexual orientation. Needless to say, all books which refer to a character as “he” or “She” will also be removed from the classroom. If you have any concerns about this policy, please feel free to contact your local congressperson.

Thank you, Mx. XXXXXXXXXX

RELATED STORY: Trans youth fight back in Florida with landmark lawsuit against Don't Say Gay bill

Whether this is a real “template” being handed out to teachers who see the don’t say gay bill for what it really is or if this is just one of those great memes that has truly pressed these “Moms for Liberty’s” buttons does not matter. Bridget Ziegler, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, Fox News talking face, and precinct committeewoman for the Republican Party of Sarasota County retweeted the letter, writing, “Once again, it’s unfortunate our students and their education are being hijacked by the Left’s culture wars.  Thank goodness more educators, many whom are parents of young children, are speaking up and pushing back!”

The responses have been wonderful.

Here’s a set of classics.

Maybe these “Moms for Liberty” misread it?

Maybe not.

And here’s a new one to me—but maybe it’s been around for a while.

And because one always needs a Simpsons reference:

And here’s some fun!

And finally, because we can all learn something:

Listen and subscribe to Daily Kos Elections’ The Downballot podcast with David Nir and David Beard

Listen and subscribe to Daily Kos' The Brief podcast with Markos Moulitsas and Kerry Eleveld