Today’s comic by Mark Fiore is Buster the little nuke:
:• What’s coming up on Sunday Kos …
Black History Month: Loiza—the African heart of Puerto Rico and the arts that portray it, by Denise Oliver Velez
Donnie, just pop a Viagra. It’s cheaper than a military parade, by Mark E Andersen
Path to resistance may travel through faith, by Sher Watts Spooner
Why companies like Disney are willing to give out temporary bonuses, by David Akadjian
Racism and prejudice: It’s so damn exhausting but can make one stronger, by Egberto Willies
The president’s address to the nation on Russian cyber aggression, by Jon Perr
Budget-busting deal shows that Barack Obama was much better at business than Trump, by Ian Reifowitz
• Following San Francisco’s and San Diego’s lead, Seattle clearing people’s records of marijuana convictions. Only those with misdemeanor convictions for pot possession are included. In some of the eight states that have legalized recreational use of marijuana, lawmakers have made it easier for people to petition to have their records cleared of prior convictions for possession of weed. But advocates seek to have authorities clear people’s records without their having to request it:
“For thousands of people in Washington state, a misdemeanor marijuana conviction had huge implications: It could be a barrier to housing, to getting credit, to getting good jobs and education,” Mayor Jenny Durkan told a news conference. “It is a necessary step to right the wrongs of what was a failed war on drugs.”
• Walgreen’s adopts gender-inclusive restrooms. After an employee barred a customer from using the women’s restroom because she “dressed like a man,” drugstore chain Walgreen’s has adopted a new policy permitting customers to use store bathrooms that align with their gender identity. Jessie Meehan was on her way to a Los Angeles LGBTQ pride festival last year when she stopped at a Walgreens in Hollywood. She spent about $20 in the store, and then asked a sales associate to open the women’s restrooms for her. But she said the employee refused, insisting instead that she use the men’s. The store manager, according to American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, backed up the employee:
“I am a woman. I identify as female,” Meehan said in a video posted to ACLU SoCal’s website and YouTube. “She can’t tell me which one to use. It’s illegal to do that.” In the video, Meehan discloses that she’s been discriminated against her whole life due to her appearance, but this was the first time she decided to do something about it.
•
MIDDAY TWEET
• Pita Taufatofua does it again: Two years ago at the opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, he became an instant Olympic icon when he showed up shiny and shirtless carrying his country’s flag. In Pyeongchang, South Korea, however, the weather was a bit nippy for shirtlessness, 32 degrees Fahrenheit, but he nevertheless showed up again bare-chested and wearing only a traditional Tongan mat. He’s the only Tongan at the games this year and the first Tongan to appear in both the Summer Olympics, competing in taekwondo, and the Winter Olympics, where his sport is cross-country skiing.
• 2017 was a bad year for right-wing violence. The Southern Poverty Law Center says in a new report—“The Alt-Right Is Killing People”—that right-wing racists killed 17 and injured 43 people in the United States last year. Among the victims, worshipers at an Islamic cultural center, a black Army lieutenant, and a couple who tried to end their daughter’s relationship when they discovered her boyfriend was a neo-Nazi. The report said most of the violence was committed by young white men — average age was 26 — who resent a perceived erosion of white male power and have tapped into an online network that reinforces these perverse views:
“Anonymous and disparate interaction with online extremist content, frequently without any real-world connection to hate groups or far-right extremism, is becoming an established pattern for those on the alt-right who have gone on to commit acts violence,” according to the report.
• Oregon is about to get $48 million in solar panels: Under the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), farmers and small businesses are helped to pay for renewable energy projects. On Monday, it was announced that REAP has loaned Oregon the dough to build six new solar developments that will power more than 11,000 homes and businesses. Oregon has a renewable portfolio standard mandating that the state get half its electricity from renewables by 2040. “The more we make these investments, the better our chances in the fight against climate disruption,” Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, said in a statement.
• Borosage says a preemptive war on inflation will tamp down any real wage growth:
In today’s economy, with weak unions and large, multinational corporations, wages begin to stir only when the economy nears full employment. When labor is in demand, workers can push for better wages and benefits. Companies find themselves under pressure to raise pay in order to avoid losing good workers to competitors.
Yet the mere hint of rising wages creates warning flags at the Federal Reserve, America’s central bank. Corporations could pass on rising wages to consumers by raising prices, and rising prices could feed inflation. The Federal Reserve has the dual mandate of fostering the highest levels of employment at stable prices. The Fed governors have decided—arbitrarily—that steady 2 percent inflation is the target that they hope to sustain. They maintain, despite little evidence, that once inflation starts it can spiral out of control, so they assume that they must act preemptively to slow the economy by raising interest rates. In turn, the economy slows, workers lose jobs, their ability to demand wage hikes is reduced, and inflation is slowed.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Gov’t shuts down overnight, then opens again. Trump finds a new all-in-one grift & obstruction tool. But he’s still too dumb to read, or care how being so god-awful dumb endangers us all. Darwin Darko offers a service member’s take on Trump’s parade.
RadioPublic|LibSyn|YouTube|Patreon|Square Cash (Share code: Send $5, get $5!)