“Over 30 places in 15 California counties will be getting new names by Jan. 1, 2025, replacing offensive slurs that still mar sites around the state, the California Natural Resources Agency said Friday. The initiative isn’t new, but the deadline is. In 2021, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland created the Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force to help remove the racist slur ‘squaw’ from places names across America. Haaland’s formal declaration addressed the fact that the term ‘squaw’ has ‘historically been used as an offensive ethnic, racial, and sexist slur, particularly for Indigenous women.’ Early uses of the word confirm a longstanding derogatory association, especially during times when the dispossession and enslavement of Native women were common, according to a report published by Palisades Tahoe resort.” (11/17/24)
“With his recent appointment announcements, President Trump has demonstrated how committed he is to shaking things up in D.C. Many on all sides of the political spectrum were surprised when President Trump announced that Rep. Matt Gaetz was his choice for Attorney General. This is the guy who led the opposition to Speaker McCarthy. Remember that the House Armed Services Committee Chairman had to be restrained to prevent fisticuffs on the House Floor. K Street was apoplectic. Sages warned that this would destroy Republican chances to hold the majority. A cardinal rule in Washington etiquette requires members to respect even hyper-partisan adversaries. You say: ‘The gentleman from Illinois misspoke’. Never: ‘The jerk from Illinois just told a bald-faced lie.’ Taking on and toppling a Speaker of your own party is … unthinkable. But Matt Gaetz is a different breed of cat.” (11/18/24)
“Two men were killed and a woman was left clinging to life by a knife-wielding maniac who went on an ‘unprovoked’ random stabbing spree in Manhattan Monday morning, Mayor Eric Adams and cops said. The blood-covered lunatic – a homeless man, 51, with eight past arrests in New York City alone – was identified and cuffed by a hero cop thanks to the help of good Samaritans, including a cab driver and a British tourist, said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny and sources. Police have no other suspect, Adams said during a Monday afternoon briefing. ” (11/18/24)
“A holiday booze cruise event in San Francisco appeared to devolve into chaos this past Saturday when organizers allegedly overbooked the watercraft by dozens of passengers and refused to let many onboard, ticketholders complained. As a result, the party — which was supposed to offer the chance to mingle with beautiful people on a 150-foot luxury yacht — ended with patrons throwing bottles and calling the cops instead. The Friendsgiving event, hosted by Skyline Yacht Cruises near the Embarcadero, was supposed to be smooth sailing: According to the Eventbrite description, patrons would be able to dance, drink and stargaze on a multimillion-dollar yacht while sailing the ‘Insta Worthy San Fran Bay.’ Though it offered ‘a gorgeous fun filled crowd’ on the ship, footage indicates that many were not able to join them.” (11/18/24)
“The $7,500 federal electric-vehicle rebate was always likely to be the most endangered of the Biden administration’s clean-energy investments. Tax breaks for building factories at least creates jobs and, perhaps more important, corporate stakeholders. But the EV rebates benefit consumers whose lifestyle choices are coded as liberal. States that didn’t vote for Trump lead the way on EV adoption. This fits with the ‘punish my enemies’ imperative of the Trump administration. But there was a hitch here: Elon Musk decided to become Donald Trump’s biggest and wealthiest fan. For a moment, you could see the EV rebates sticking around. After all, nobody has thrived more off those rebates, including the ones in place before the Inflation Reduction Act, than Tesla. Unfortunately, that is not the logic of the would-be monopolist.” (11/18/24)
“President-elect Donald J. Trump published his Eleven Point Education Plan through a video on X, on November 10, 2024. … What follows are the 11 points of Trump’s plan. * Respect the right of parents to control the education of their children. * Empower parents and local boards to hire and reward great principals and teachers and fire the bad ones. * Classrooms focused on knowledge and skills, reading, writing, arithmetic, science and other useful skills, not political indoctrination. * Teach students to love their country. * Bring back prayer to schools. … * Give all students access to internships and work experiences to set them on a path to their first job. * All schools provide excellent job and career counseling to match kids to jobs suitable to their talents. * Close the Department of Education and send all education back to the states.” (11/16/24)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Obama continued and expanded Bush’s most evil policies. Trump continued and expanded Obama’s most evil policies. Biden continued and expanded Trump’s most evil policies. Now Trump is preparing to keep the streak going. The face at the front desk changes, but the corporation stays the same. Trump’s insanely pro-Israel cabinet of bloodthirsty Iran hawks suggests that Trump is going to expand the evils of the Biden administration in the middle east. This is a great example of the point I often make that the empire uses Democrats and Republicans the way a boxer uses the jab-cross combo to set up knockout blows. Democrats and Republicans are different from one another, not in the ways they claim to be different, but in the same way the jab and the cross are used differently in boxing.” (11/15/24)
“A South African court has ordered that a police blockade of a disused goldmine, in which hundreds of people are located illegally, be lifted. Emergency services have been at the site, in Stilfontein, around 90 miles south-west of Johannesburg, for several days. Police have blocked food and water entering the mine to, as one government minister put it, ‘smoke them out.’ The miners — who have been underground for a month — have so far refused to exit the mine over fears of being arrested. Among them are undocumented migrants who also fear deportation. Police welcomed the order but said it would not stop them arresting miners who left the mine. On Saturday, a court in Pretoria ordered that the mine ‘may not be blocked by any person or institution whether government or private.'” (11/16/24)
“Donald Trump’s 2025 election victory was resounding and, it appears, realigning. The Democrats, for their part, are engaging in a rather public autopsy of their misfortune. While almost all claims that a party will be in the wilderness for years to come are exaggerations, there are at least three major mountains in the way of any realignment back in the Democrats’ favor. First, it must be said that Trump’s triumph and the Democrats’ loss has much to do with the economy. Yes, there were other factors such as immigration, crime and cultural issues. Even so, it was economy that was at the center of this election.” (11/15/24)
“Venezuela’s government on Saturday released some of the thousands of people who were detained during and after deadly protests that followed the July presidential election. The disputed results have earned officials, including [former] President Nicolas Maduro, international scorn. The individuals left prison a day after the attorney general, who is loyal to the ruling party, announced the review of 225 cases linked to the aftermath of the election, which Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo González both claim to have won. Tearful reunions took place outside prisons in various cities. The Venezuelan-based nongovernmental organizations Penal Forum and Venezuelan Prison Observatory announced the prison releases on X. The former confirmed the release of at least 70 people, while the latter said the government freed the individuals under certain conditions, which it did not explain further.” (11/17/24)
