Today, however, I want to hear from you. What's on your mind? What topics would you like Popular Information to take on next?
You can leave your thoughts in the discussion thread linked below, starting now. I’ll be dropping by later today to answer as many of your questions as I can.
No one takes on this topic: Christian Nationalism is a political movement and reflects bad theology. Why aren’t mainstream Christian churches speaking out?
Thanks for providing a forum for respectful discussion! Whether you take it on or not, we need a forum like this! I’ve learned a lot over the last year or two!
I can give you a hint Judd, Christian votes and Christian fears. It might be worth your while to do a couple of interviews. Christian Nationalism is a shame to all true Christians.
Maybe because mainstream Christian churches are part of the problem. For instance the Catholic hierarchy are busy codifying Catholic theology into our system of laws by way of the Robert's Extreme Court.
Six hardcore, fundamentalist Catholics who were chosen by hardcore Catholic Leo Leonard, who runs the Federalist Society, are working to overturn decades of precedents regarding separation of church/state. The Federalist Society under Leonard is packing our judiciary with religious fundamentalists. What could be more mainstream than the Catholic Church?
The SCOTUS doesn't legislate. Or at least it's not supposed to be a legislative body. What the SCOTUS is doing is overturning precedent after precedent in an attempt to tear down the wall separating religion and state.
Just look at their decisions since taking over the Court. Now public school officials can legally lead students in prayer (KENNEDY v. BREMERTON SCHOOL DISTRICT).
Now taxpayer monies can be spent on private religious schools. Most of those schools are Catholic parochial schools. (Carson v. Makin)
And of course their ruling that overturned Roe v Wade has been a priority of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops since the RvW decision. Moreover, Opus Dei member Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion neatly and openly laid out the future agenda of the 6 Catholics by claiming that contraception and same sex marriage should be reconsidered as well among other Catholic priorities.
As a Catholic, I can’t agree more! Big money from wealthy Catholics going to Alliance Defending Freedom that funds voter suppression. Just check out archives of National Catholic Reporter on ADF! Pro-Life movement is big time fund-raising scheme (a corollary to SW’s ‘The Scheme’) to funnel lots of money through Susan B Anthony List to voter suppression Republican groups across the country and now the “independent state legislature” scheme to totally disembowel our democracy! Tell me these Catholic-controlled groups wouldn’t turn over our democracy if they could steal an election for Trump and continue to corrupt the SCOTUS! There is a treasure trove of information that’s very important to re-reveal and update!
There is a fair amount of anti-Catholicism in the replies to your comment. Which is odd because"Christian Nationalism" in the US is driven by White Evangelical Christianity. The Christians who became Republicans back in the 80's as part of the backlash against Women's Rights, Racial Integration, and Abortion Rights.
All issues that the Catholic Church has been on the side of Liberals on in terms of social policy.
So, when Mr. Rhodes talks about the Court "codifying Catholic Theology" into US law he is being disingenuous. The Justices he singles out as "Catholic" are better described as "Trumpublican Anti-Abortion Extremists". Because ABORTION is the issue that unites them theologically with the Christian Evangelicals.
WHITE CHRISTIAN NATIONALISTS are the largest voting bloc in the Trumpublican party. So, the party caters to their interests. They want the US to be a more "Christian Nation".
Mitch McConnell wants a Court that will allow the amplification of White votes and the suppression of minority votes. One that supports gerrymandering, poll taxes, and all the old "Jim Crow" tricks.
Both groups are getting what they paid for with this Court. It has nothing to do with Catholicism.
Sorry Richard, you obviously are not aware of Alliance Defending Freedom and all the efforts by wealthy Catholics to try to bring down our democracy through voter suppression and now the “independent state legislature” scheme with the SCOTUS! I’m Catholic and one of the 50% that did not vote for Trump! I’m not a hater! Just tune into National Catholic Reporter and their investigative reports over the last several years! Just the culture wars of the US Bishops against vaccines and women’s reproductive rights, or the organized pro-Trump EWTN has everything “to do with Catholicism”! Tell me you are not aware of all that and much more!
You do realize that religion's aren't armies, right?
The Pope cannot command people to do his bidding. There is no Illuminati. There is no "Catholic Conspiracy".
You seem to have this view about Catholics that dates back to the early 20th. People have forgotten how suspicious Protestant America was towards the wave of Catholic "Mediterranean" immigrants. How much it looked down on the Catholic Irish.
We have all forgotten what a BIG deal it was that JFK was Catholic. Because many people predicted that America would never elect a "Papist President".
Anti Catholic prejudice has a long history in White America. Did you know it went back to Colonial America and was part of the incitement to rebellion used by the "Son's of Liberty"?
During the Imperial crisis of 1763-1776, when Britain struggled to pay for the global war it had just won against the French. American Elites resented the taxation necessary for the depleted treasury to be restored.
As part of the "terrorist campaign" waged by these Elites against the existing order and the Loyalists. They started an "information war". Using their access to printing presses to create a narrative that would push people into risking rebellion against the existing social order.
They told a story that identified the monarchy\central government with tyranny and unfair taxation. They preached that liberty could be preserved only in a republic, in which the people were the source of authority.
As the crisis between the mother country and colonies worsened, the Son's of Liberty constantly stirred the pot with conspiracy theories and rumors. Deliberately seeking to create an atmosphere of fear, disorder, anger, distrust, and confusion.
They spread the idea that a conspiracy against liberty was being carried out by a secret cabal of evil ministers in the British government. In the perceived encroachments of the English government, the American revolutionaries again detected the awful twin specters of “Popery” and arbitrary government.
Particularly alarming to American Protestants was the rumor that the British government would create an Anglican bishop for America and the passage in 1765 of the Quebec Act, which granted freedom of worship to Catholics in Canada. Who were now British subjects after the loss of Canada by France as a result of the Seven Years War.
This was believed to be a precursor to a northern attack on America by massed legions of the Pope’s subjects.
In the wake of the enactment of the measure, Samuel Adams warned Americans “that what we have above everything else to fear, is POPERY,” and he exhorted his fellow citizens “as you value your precious civil Liberty, and everything you can call dear to you, to be upon your guard against popery.” (i.e. be on the watch for those "dirty Catholics").
In spite of such bigotry, a majority of the Catholics in the Colonies sided with the Traitors during the Revolution. Anti-Catholicism was toned down during the war, largely because of the alliance with France and the need to consolidate support at home. Which shows you how the Revolutionaries used propaganda to adjust peoples attitudes during the Revolution.
Yesterday it was "the Catholics are coming to rape our women, eat our babies, and make us swear allegiance to the Pope".
During the war, it was "the Catholics are swell, real friends of liberty, some of the best people are Catholic you know".
George Washington forbade his soldiers to celebrate Guy Fawkes’ Day. Not because of it's association with England.
Because the holiday included an assortment of raucous anti-Catholic rituals, such as the burning of an effigy of the pope.
He didn't want to offend the French.
The leading roles taken by Catholics also helped to mute religious bigotry, though it certainly did not disappear. Captain John Barry of the navy and Stephen Moylan of the Continental Army, for example, won distinction on the battlefield, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton signed the Declaration of Independence.
The American victory in 1783 and the state constitutions crafted during the Revolution reflected a somewhat more liberal attitude toward Catholics. As John Carroll, soon to be the first Catholic bishop in the United States, happily observed in 1783, “Free toleration is allowed to Christians of every denominations.
Because that's what the Revolutionaries had promised. During the War, there was grand talk of "tolerance" and "universal brotherhood against tyranny".
After the war a majority of the new state constitutions perpetuated the status of Catholics as second-class citizens.
South Carolina, for example, established Protestantism as the state religion, instituted a religious test for office, and promised full religious and civil liberty only to adherents of the Reformed faith. North Carolina, Georgia, and New Jersey likewise required that officeholders be Protestants.
New York’s 1777 constitution, though it did not expressly forbid Catholics from voting or holding office, declared that it was the duty of its citizens to be on guard against the “bigotry and ambition of weak and wicked priests,” and required that all persons wishing to be naturalized “abjure and renounce all allegiance and subjection to all and every foreign king, prince, potentate, and State in all matters, ecclesiastical as well as civil.”
Massachusetts’ charter authorized taxation of Catholics “for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality.” Vermont guaranteed full religious liberty only to Protestants, and New Hampshire’s constitution similarly contained anti-Catholic clauses.
Anti-Catholic bigotry is very deeply embedded in WHITE Protestant Evangelical America. It was there at the foundation of the country and it's still with us.
There have been some terrible Catholic leaders who perverted their position. Father Coughlin, the founding priest of the National Shrine of the Little Flower comes to mind.Dubbed "The Radio Priest", he was one of the first political leaders to use radio to reach a mass audience. During the 1930s, when the U.S. population was about 120 million, an estimated 30 million listeners tuned to his weekly broadcasts.
He was a virulent antisemite and hated the Jews. He supported some of the fascist policies and ideas of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The broadcasts have been described as "a variation of the Fascist agenda applied to American culture".
I would say that he was a "bad Catholic".
Most of the groups you refer to are either splinter sects, Catholic Cults, Evangelical Catholics (a splinter sect), or Super Orthodox Conservative Catholics (Opus Dei). None of these groups is "the Catholic Church".
In the Church itself, the split in the community is basically the same way WHITE AMERICA is split.
Two out of three WHITE AMERICANS votes Trumpublican.
So, I would expect 2 out of 3 White Catholic Americans to be Trumpublican and doing EVIL SHIT. It's what Trumpublicans do.
That doesn't excuse anti Catholic rhetoric. You should stop.
BTW, I was raised in the South by racists as a Baptist\Lutheran. My parents joined several cults in the 60'/70's including being Mormons for a few years. I have chosen to become a Jewish-Buddhist myself but several of my wives have been Catholic.
I have no Theological axe to grind here. But "anti-Catholic" and "anti-Jewish" talk in America have a way of going together.
Your long essays fail to make distinctions, Mr. Crim. Please note that I referred to the "Catholic Hierarchy" and specifically mention the ultra-conservative United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as the driver of much of what the Church is doing. I make a distinction between the hierarchy and laity. I could expand on such but in the interest of brevity being the soul of wit, I'll resist.
Moreover, your historic references regarding the ill treatment of Catholics ignores the Vatican's meddling in the political affairs of other nations for millennia over which they've had the time to hone their MO. The Vatican's MO in packing our Extreme Court and judiciary as well as other efforts isn't unique to the U.S. It's the same MO used by the Church in France, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Poland, Central America, South America and more. Again, I could expand on such but won't for the sake of brevity.
You can parse it however you like but there's no denying that the Federalist Society under the control of fundamentalist Catholic Leo Leonard has spent a generation in building the framework that has resulted in 6 hard core Catholics being appointed to the SCOTUS. BTW there are actually 7 Catholics on the SCOTUS now including Sotomayor, who isn't intent on furthering the Catholic agenda. And there's no denying that those 6 Catholics have already shown their stripes with recent decisions some of which I listed above with more to come as promised by Thomas. Your mischaracterization that such facts are anti-Catholic rhetoric or equivalent to antisemitism is misplaced at best.
In essence the Catholic hierarchy and the gop work hand in hand with few distinctions between the two. Both are hierarchical, paternalistic, misogynistic, authoritarian, undemocratic and ruled over by white males. It seems that Trump is the gop's Pope with their followers believing both infallible.
BTW I was raised Catholic. I've formally studied Catholic theology for 11 years. I spent 3 yrs in a Benedictine seminary studying to be a priest. I'm well aware of Catholic history from both the inside of the organization as well as the outside.
Well stated Craig! And the way I was brought up in the Catholic Church with the “We-they” dichotomy that branded everyone else as “unsaved that wouldn’t be able to get into heaven”! Imagine that, and you can see how hard it is for many Catholics to look at social-economic-political conditions objectively! Frankly, the US Bishops and SCOTUS are a cult that fits the current Republican Party strategy to a tee, achieve power for the sake of power! To the majority of Catholics out there who saw through all of the propaganda (geofencing, etc.) and voted to preserve our democracy, thank you!
"Christian" Nationalists are not purely "Evangelical" Christians. They are not really any kind of Christian at all. They are cultists with an agenda of their own. They break the laws of God every minute of every day. They exhibit none of the traits and beliefs a Christian is supposed to have, as taught to us by Jesus. Please do not make the mistake of believing that ALL Christians are to be included in the Nationalist Party. Their membership is backed and supported by extremely far right Republicans who have no concern for "religion" of any kind. They are only trying to destroy what we have, but no one can destroy the One True God.
Many if not most of the rabid "Christian Nationalists" I know don't regularly attend church. Jacques Ellul: "Christianity has become an ideology." (Mid 20th Cen)
Example of stealth psycho flying under radar a bit, worth worrying about: Eric Metaxas
I agree with the worry about anti Catholicism in this thread. I oppose people of ALL religions who try to tell others how to live (through laws or otherwise).
They were made arms of the Republican Party in 2004 by Karl Rove in service to the Bush re-election. Then Catholics have become power hungry arses in service to ruling, just wait for the head banging. Belfast writ large???
Why don't churches speak out? MONEY. FEAR. Church is a business, a very profitable and unregulated one. The church has been a huge tool for politicians historically to keep oppressed and marginalized communities in check, teaching God demands slaves to submit to their master and wives to their husband, without question and regardless of abuses. The church doesn't even regulate itself, the Catholic church isn't alone, every denomination has the issue of hiding, enabling pedophiles and those that abuse their authority for sex or money. Pastors don't confront each other or make public statements condemning the abuses of a pastor in their church or other churches. Pastors are increasingly handing over the podium to politicians, to drive visitors and increase donations. Dallas is the buckle of the "Bible Belt" with Megachurches, often with 5 churches on the same block but the community is no better for it. Dallas should be leading the nation on racial reconciliation instead Dallas is the epitome of race based inequality.
So here’s an elephant in the room issue that I rarely ever see politicians or the media discuss: the absolute daily deluge of spam and fraud to which we are all subjected via every medium - email, website, phone, snail mail. Yes, we have all but surrendered to it, but why? Has anyone with power ever made a serious effort to regulate the tech companies, to strengthen and enforce anti-fraud laws and stop this onslaught?
Just think about all the hours we spend not only dealing with and disposing of all of this crap, but the many additional hours juggling endless passwords, two-factor authentication, etc., etc. to try to protect ourselves against the shysters. The resultant productivity loss must be massive - not to mention the psychological burden. And there is a cultural loss too - think about the lack of trust, the feeling of betrayal, the reality that we are abandoning vulnerable people like our elderly to this plague of fraud.
I sometimes wonder if this normalization of everyday exploitation is what made so many people comfortable with the idea of putting an obvious fraudster named donald in the White House. But the key question is: what are the solutions, and who if anyone, is working on them?
Speaking of the elderly, approaching this stage too quickly … and discovering annoying and basically stupid and unnecessary hardship placed on us older folk. Heard about Medicare my whole life seems like. I thought it was affordable medical coverage (it’s not). Thought it would be simple. It’s not. The realities of what people may have to go through EVERY YEAR is daunting! And if you don’t do it exactly how they say you can be severely penalized. We never expected our Medicare and related coverage to be our largest expense second to our mortgage each month in retirement. We didn’t know we’d have to review coverage in detail every year based on our expected prescriptions because many plans don’t cover common Rxs. Life should be SIMPLER when we age, not harder. I’m in isolation in a hospital as I write this with Influenza A complications (yes, I had my vaccines, I STILL wear a mask, and don’t go out yet still got it). I will have to wait and see how this is covered. Fun!
Exactly - I remember seeing my Dad, in his declining years, fall for a few of the most common scams (the fake Microsoft service providers who insist on remoting into your computer and the overpriced magazine subscriptions) and felt so angry and frustrated to see him exploited like that.
This is a serious problem, a sad evolution into a different kind of world, that distracts, that overloads with too much information and creates the need to sort/dispose of, etc. It barely leaves us time to do the things we need to do. I second this comment!!
Yes, everything you say about this is true. The lack of trust, the psychological burden of dealing with all of it. I was recently telling a friend that I felt like my email spam filter was getting worse. There are days that my Inbox looks like my junk mail box, and it feels like the one tool we have to deal with it, the unsubscribe button, rarely works for me. Also, I was reading that early in the pandemic, that one of the reasons other countries had more success with contact tracing is because people will pick up the phone from a number they don't recognize because it is likely to be an actual phone call for them and not a fraudster. I don't that I have ever seen this confirmed, but it does make a lot of sense.
Yes! I agree with Kindler. It is a spam world. I especially wish federal legislators and/or agencies whould put a stop to USPS delivering junk mail, for the environment, climate crisis, and human targets.
Big topic. Really comes down to the internet stealing classified ads and other localized advertising. Local journalism hasn't come up with an alternative model. There are some interesting efforts at local political newsletters.
Actually - it's more than the internet stealing ads - it's sites like Facebook and Google profiting off the work of journalists without compensating them.
Judd, Judd, Judd… nobody is stealing ads. Blame is totally in the hands of who places the ad. THEY’RE choosing. I used to work for the Tampa Tribune years ago. The newspapers had the monopoly at the time and then came the big bad internet and Craig’s List and the evolutionary explosion of everything we know today. In 20 years, something else will rule. Heck, in 2 years maybe. Always something new and better?
Seconded. I think this fits very well with the theme of Popular Info. It would require a look into consolidation and monopolization of the industry as well as the sources of funding for different outlets. I'd be very interested to read more about it.
100%! What kind of progress is it when access to local news was better throughout the country decades ago than it is today? How many people understand how critical local news is to building community and democracy? And just yesterday META succeeded in sabotaging the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act as part of the must-pass defense spending package - and not many will understand (i.e., care) about the implications because they don't know about it.
1. Although I prefer we reduce plastic use, there is no denying that plastic disposal is a stressor on our environments. I see that plastics that are labeled “recyclable” are rarely so (example: the padding in my weekly misfits food box). Why is the actual rate of recycling for plastics misrepresented and what is the most feasible recycling solution?
I’m so glad Barbara raised this topic. I spend my days contacting companies about greenwashing their plastics. Plastics recycling and the waste trade driving it, including companies like Terracycle, are ripe for exploration and Judd is the perfect person to follow the money trail and find out what is actually happening to all of those plastic items embossed with the chasing arrows. Unfortunately, plastics “recycling” is turning out to be a myth. Because of all of the varying chemical additives in the production of plastic, it seems the best that can be hoped for at this point in time is downcycling of certain plastics (#1,#2, and #5) with the rest destined for waste to energy plants (incinerators) that pollute our air and release GHG or so called chemical recycling plants that through an energy intensive process convert the plastics back into the fossil fuels from which they were originally derived. The remainder are dumped, here or in other countries. This is overly simplified, b/c I can only type so much on my phone, but it is a huge problem with significant climate impact. JustZero.org & Beyond Plastics are great sources of info.
I've read recently that the whole "plastic recycling" thing is ineffective, doesn't work, causes harm and damage and that the only solution is to limit the use of plastic - that makes sense. We were persuaded that if we put it in a blue bin, it won't harm anything, but so much of it CAN'T be re-cycled.
What you're reading is unfortunately true, Sally. Big Plastics (the Fossil Fuel and Chemical Industries) stole the playbook from Big Tobacco and have been playing the public like a fiddle for years - recycle, recycle, recycle! - while they continue to increase their plastic output. We have got to turn off the plastics tap. Don't get me wrong, not all plastics are bad, but I heard recently that over 35% of all new plastic production is used to make packaging. Not the product that we use, but just the packaging. If we could turn off that one spigot the world could be in a better place. One of the means we have of doing this is to pull back the curtain on the plastic's recycling industry. Where are plastics going once they leave the MRFs? Who is paying for all of the plastic waste that can't be down-cycled (anything beyond #1, #2 & #5 in the vast majority of the country) and what are they using it for? What percentage of the downcyclable plastics end up landfilled or incinerated? How much of this is being shipped overseas and where is it ending up? There is a money trail and it needs to be followed.
I have always thought that plastics producers should bear more responsibility in dealing with what they produce. Plastic has been found in human blood, fish in the sea, it is everywhere. We are poisoning and altering ourselves and the earth and for what?!
1) Big media ownership beyond Murdoch, who they support politically w dark money and their leadership ties to the far right. I saw Rick Santelli on Squawkbox (fake business news program) ranting about Hunter Binden yet have NEVER heard the same rant about Jared Kushner who actually worked in the White House making policy decisions and has rec'd $3B from Middle East countries. Or how the same program NEVER cover negative news on Elon unless it's streams at bottom of screen yet celebrate and excuse his horrific acts in business as a leader. Now a major NBC / Comcast network is reporting misinformation - is it for ratings or in support of establishing an Plutocracy?
2) Why are other countries (e.g. Peru, Germany) protecting their democratic principles more aggressively than the USA?
3) How are Co's and the wealthy stopping the repeal to protect social media Co's when it's clear Elon and others have detrimental intent?
Anything to help pull back the curtain on finance. The moves made by private equity and hedge funds reverberate through our lives, powerfully yet often invisibly
Florida is not the only state in which Moms for Liberty endorsed candidates, sometimes also associated with Christian nationalism, are infiltrating school and hospital boards. In Sarasota County, Michael Flynn is one of several to have joined the local Republican governing board. The newly elected far right school board began proceedings to terminate a highly respected superintendent within minutes of the official beginning of their term. The local hospital now has a number of vaccine questioning members on their board.
How is the Supreme Ct able to openly support beliefs of mainstream faith in their rulings when I thought the Constitution was clear on separation of church and state?
How to undo all the harm from industry monopolies (e.g. Cable, Cell, Healthcare) and Private Equity ownership that raid companies to the detriment of consumers in ways most don't understand like grocery store prices? Citizens United must be reversed as some of the wealthy who don't believe in our Constitution will destroy our country under the cover of 'capitalism'. I want capitalism but we are evolving to something like the 1920s just before the Great Depression.
I read that unfettered capitalism will kill our country.
I believe it. Just take a look at big oil, and pharmaceuticals, Murdoch and the tech companies. It’s outrageous that they have more power than 330+ million people!
return of the robber barons of the 1890s-- GOP want total deregulations & slave labor & of course-- they pay no taxes & their kids inherit massive wealth tax free.
Sounds like great opportunities to collaborate and cross-promote with Matt Stoller and his Substack about the history and politics of monopoly, https://mattstoller.substack.com
Judd, I feel appreciative, as do others here, of the work you do; seeking out & drilling down to the real stories behind the stories.
Here's one possible topic for you. As a person who's now retired and on the cusp of
"elderly," the overall national disgrace that is what I'd call, the warehousing of many of our elderly citizens, who can no longer either reside on their own or be taken care of by their aging children. There are two factors here in play, I think. There are some federal laws in place regarding the operation of these facilities, but also state laws that govern facilities. Regulations appear to vary by state & depending on what the facilities call themselves. " Assisted living" vs nursing facilities, rehab facilities ( which some appear to provide dual functions as nursing homes as well). Another component of this is educational requirements by state for these various facility types. Some states require next to nothing regards to those providing daily care in certain types of facilities, terms of education. It can be whatever " on the job training " you receive while there, scant as it may be. No special certification required. (And I am aware that if staffing issues ( and poor pay/ conditions & limited staff on the floor) were at risk before covid, it's probably far worse now, albeit pay may have increased slightly.
But then that takes us to ownership of these facilities. It would appear that many of these facilities, where some might have been run by families or companies specializing in elder care, of late, there seems to be more of a trend towards hedge funds & real estate investment companies, picking up these facilities to add to their portfolios. As you can imagine with investment firms, bottom line profitability is their mantra & how their "investments" reach that may be questionable; especially in the care, feeding & staffing for some of our most vulnerable citizens.
This is probably more personal for me & my sister, as recently we lost our mother, who passed away in such a facility after being there about 3 months. She'd been in 2 rehabs prior to that, originally for a mild stroke & after a brief hospital stay, then broke her foot the last day in the 1st rehab, in an attempt to get out of bed at night, because no staff came to assist after calling for over an hour. We moved her from there to another rehab (for the recovery of the foot injury) at a rural hospital 60 miles away, us switching off making the trek every other day. It goes on from there to assisted living. But it's certainly been an eye opener for us & a cautionary tale. I'm certain many others have similar concerns. Just a thought.. Thank you.
I, too, can relate Florida nursing home nightmare stories and grossly understaffed (legally, thanks to Rick Scott) for the number. Never allowed to stand (falling risk!) so they become infirm very quickly. Overmedicated and doctors not on site. No baths or showers. Dining is a nightmare. Being told not to visit. Literally putting patients on the curb if you complain.
I too, am so sorry & just amazed at some of the responses I've received about personal occurrences that have happened to loved ones in senior care facilities. In our mother's case, she was of sound mind but limited mobility due to bad arthritis & began to tell us of two staffers on the 11-7 shift, that started to give her problems ( rude & disrespectful comments) about bothering them so much during their shift ( a male & female that appeared to work together during that shift.) She was on diuretics because she had primary lymphedema; the result of that when she lie down at night, she might need to get up to go to the restroom 3 or 4 times a night. The buildup of fluid would seek release after lying down. They would harass her about her need to go " too much. " Escalated from there. We intervened a few times, but part of the issue becomes about the lack of staff working at some facilities/ areas that leaves management inclined to keep some bad actors employed, until something bad or tragic happens. Just one of many cascading issues.
I have the same issue as I look for a place for my dad. These places know there is a COLA increase for Social Security and already prepared to take that as well. They take every penny. There should be more regulation and classification, more required communication with family, the amount should be based on the level of care needed not the max for everyone.
Please investigate the bipartisan ecological fraud of putting ethanol in gasoline. Currently at 10%, there is a movement to raise it to 15%. The fact is more energy is required to produce a gallon of ethanol than it contains. So every gallon on ethanol requires more hydrocarbons be burned than would other be the case. Ethanol use increases global warming while creating terrible environmental problems of its own like continuing to empty the aquafers underlying the corn belt. Democrats in IL join with Republicans in IO to support this terrible policy at a high cost to the environment and taxpayers.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed increasing the amount of ethanol and other biofuels that must be blended into the nation's fuel supplies over the next three years, a move welcomed by renewable fuel and farm groups but condemned by environmentalists and oil industry groups.
But what about all of those poor poor corn farmers that NEEEEEEED... wait! That ain't the Jones Family Farm. That's Inter-Fraud Industries Inc, LLC playing another rigged game.
The fees that cable companies tack on for universal service that aren't used to supply universal service. More generally, all the fake fees that are nothing more than price gouging.
For enough years to draw a pension, I worked in a state retirement system that is a windfall state. I worked more years paying into Social Security, but still, my benefits are cut in half due to drawing the windfall state's pension. In my opinion, the windfall factor is unfair to retirees who have worked under both systems. Yearly, I write to my elected officials and I see no movement in doing away with this abomination. There are many of us affected by this antiquated law.
I’m all for a windfall profit tax on these large companies, but I darn sure do not want it to impact employees or retirees, how about hitting those shareholders up for a change.
The fact that big food and oil companies are making record profits at a much greater growth rate than wages surely indicates excess profits is a major part of inflation. Investigate?
Thank you, Judd, for also highlighting the Kroger acquisition of Albertsons/Safeway. It's a big deal in the Washington State. Corporate accountability still tops my list because it relates to so many issues. And thank you for the work you do disrupting these narratives -- that to me is most helpful whether it's climate policy manipulation, willful inflation (aka elasticity), corporate dark money, etc.
I know this is probably a hopeless issue, but I go crazy with anger when I hear the dollars spent on politics - on ads, on campaigns, on buying political positions. GETTING MONEY OUT OF POLITICS would be huge!! Think of all the good that could be done in the world with those dollars, especially when we have seen the middle class get smaller, we see poverty increase, homelessness increase...is there some way of slamming the public with these figures till enough people notice that it would spur some changes? Thanks Judd, lfor all you do!
Just keep going Judd. Thank you for a great job exposing corporate corruption. I'm delighted to be a paid subscriber. Hope this inspires others to do that too.
Here's a grim thought. Three powerful addictions pushing us toward climate suicide. Our energy system's addiction to fossil fuels. Our economic system's addiction to Enrichment Extremism. Our political system's addiction to Propaganda (rather than a commitment to evidence-based reasoning.) Addictions require Interventions. But without an appropriate intervention, these three addictions won't let us shake our carbon fuel addiction and we'll end up with an unlivable climate. The corporations Judd covers so well are plainly at the heart of this addiction dynamic. Steve Johnson.
Please write that book. Or even a long rant hitting the highlights.
Ten years ago now I met a guy doing a movie about "four things we are going to have to give up." 3 of them: vacations (maybe he meant distant travel?), wine, golf courses. Wish I could remember the fourth thing.
In my activism to reform and regulate internet platforms, I have come across blatant corruption.
Schumer has one daughter at Meta, another at Amazon. He prevents nearly every tech reform bill from coming to a vote. Coincidence?
Zoe Lofgren, one of Speaker Pelosi’s key lieutenants, has a daughter who works at Google. Lofgren has prevented nearly every tech reform bill from coming to a vote. Coincidence?
The husband of FTC commissioner Rebecca Slaughter is a lobbyist for the crypto industry, so she has to recuse from any crypto related case. Result is there is no majority to act.
Don’t even start me on the revolving door from Silicon Valley to the White House and the way that hamstrings the FTC and DOJ.
I would bet anything that this is kind of corruption is not limited to technology.
After reading many comments written here, all of which I was so glad to hear about all legitimate and welcomed concerns, I would love to have you start from the bottom up on Kindler’s comment about deluge of spam and fraud that we all deal with everyday on all media! That plainly affects every single person daily, tapping into a familiarly and gnawingly irritant for everyone. Then alternate to the very top, ie Supreme Court, Federalist Society, Christian nationalists, etc and their invasive encroachment upon our laws and politicians, closed eyes to separation of church and state. Somehow I would love to show a thread between bottom to top issues and how people are slowly but intentionally being manipulated every day. Preying animals start off slow but with intention! You do such a great job with your investigating and reporting. Thank you, Judd!
Judd you are awesome! How about a look at the Council on National Policy. CNP. Ginni Thomas’s connections there. Also the role of the Flynn brothers in waging a war against democracy. Mike Flynn’s digital soldiers are at the ready. They are unhinged. And unfortunately...we’ll armed. Thank you!!
I want a follow up on those companies that broke their donation pledges before midterms because they expected to have to work with a Republican congress. They compromised their values based on polling and consultants, and they got no political power because it was a bad bet. Will they return to principles or continue to break their pledges now that they already opened the floodgates?
The majority of the Supreme Court are members of a group called Opus Dei which is a cult in the Catholic Church founded in 1933 is Spain.It is a far right group that supported franco, hitler and Mussolini. John Paul II and Benedict w. ere members. John Paul !! bypassed the rules for canonization to sainthood and made the founder, Josemarie Escrive, a saint in 2002. The Court members are also members of the Federalist Society which is headed by Leonard Leo who is also Opus Dei. William Barr was the head of the Opus Dei information office in DC before trump appointed him AG.
There is an organization called the Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD) that is at the heart of a movement to split mainline protestant denominations using the wedge issues of abortion and homosexuality as well as the ordination of women.. They have been successful in splitting the Episcopal, Methodist, United Church of Christ, and Presbyterians. It was founded by former CIA that had been in Central America and found that many of the missionaries had embraced the cause of rebel groups with what was called "liberation theology." Members of Opus Dei are on the Board along with Protestant fundamentalists. The idea is that nothing progressive ever happened in the US without support of the mainline denominations. The idea of the split is to neutralize pastors in the pulpit, control the missions and seize the pension funds. Chip Berlet, of Political Research Associates
and others have researched the topic and produced books and movies. There is a full discussion in the Sara Diamond book,Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States.
There is something called an ordinate created by Benedict IV that creates a special place in the Catholic Church for converts, especially from the Episcopal Church. Many , like Newt Gingrich are associated with this group which has an overlap with the Opus Dei cult. There is also a strong overlap with the National Planning Council which is a right wing version of the Council on Foreign Affairs and is part of a parallel set of organizations that includes groups like the Heritage Foundation, the Philanthropic Round Table which is the conduit for money from right wing foundations that fund this network.
As for the Supreme Court, Sheldon Whitehouse has done in depth analysis of how the Court has been captured and virtually bought by the right.
Judd I appreciate your reporting on corporate contributions to election deniers.
Have you read Wendy Brown on what neoliberalism has done to our souls, our consciousness, undermining real democracy? Or Shoshana Zuboff on surveillance capitalism? Or INFLAMED by Marya and Patel? Daniela Gabor on the Wall Street Consensus? These are the biggest issues of our time, and there's a juicy field of corporate greenwashing that would benefit from your reporting skills.
AT&T Illinois and the Madigan scandal. The contract the state has with FirstNet (First Responders Network managed by AT&T) should be called into question given the history of bribery.
Most Americans probably didn't have Fuentes on their radar. Unless I missed it, I haven't seen any major media dig into his origins. Who are his parents? Where raised? Was he an altar boy? How does he make his money? Is he a paid provocateur? Any threads to NRA and Russian networks? Rising white Catholic/Christian fascism is a global phenomenon. I want to know much more when the media puts up those 5 second clips of Fuentes on TV and the Internet.
I've lately been deeply concerned about the impacts of the pandemic on kids and education. We keep seeing terrible headlines (and stories from teachers) about how kids are behind on learning and social milestones, how test scores are down, etc etc. It seems like we have a lost generation on our hands and NOBODY is stepping up with a plan to manage this or help correct it. Who is dropping this ball and how do we hold them to account? A generation of young people with dramatically reduced educational outcomes and socialization seems like a major problem to me!
Excellent point - and the way trained educators are being attacked, discouraged, told what to teach. So many good teachers have quit. We should double ALL their salaries, entice the good ones back.
Related: organized efforts to drive school boards off track, or pack them with nutjobs. The need to provide free universal childcare. The low priority we (nationally) put on kids' welfare is a disgrace.
Teachers and artists of all kinds should get seats next to the fire and the best food. People who do M&A should have to do it for "fun" only.
The housing rental crisis. It is getting worse, not better. Companies are buying up homes and apt blogs, then raising the rents. They are requiring non-refundable application fees BEFORE you can even see the apt. Or the new gimmick is a "non-refundable bond", instead of a security deposit. Pretending they are doing you a favor by not requiring a security deposit! These companies are literally stealing money. One apt available and 100 or more people pay a fee. It's a cruel, disturbing racket that is creating hardship on people who are already struggling to survive.
Agree! Private Cos are buying up to 25% of the available single fam homes in markets without enough housing and renting back to folks who want to own!!! How can this be?!?! How can the AVG American compete?
Judd, loved your story on the breaks companies are getting in R&D spending. I work for a big company that recently announced an unprecedented increase in research spending for next year. I figured there had to be something to it, since R&D is viewed as a notorious drain on profit. I've shared this story with many colleagues. Keep up the great work!
I'd love some work on corruption/harm to customers in the credit card industry. It seems to be widespread but I can find very little information on it.
DeSantis also seems to always land on his feet after egregious behaviour. After your column on his forcing immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard it seems that concerns went away. Same for Matt Gaetz and his alleged scandal with an underage girl. How are these people all made of Teflon?
He hasn't tried another flight yet so I think there was some impact on his behavior but for many of his voters, poor treatment of migrants is not an issue
He hasn’t cause I keep on top of flight tracker since I sat up that night watching and waiting for that plane that was supposed to go to Delaware. But where did the extra funds go? I suspect to his campaign coffers.
Judd, your work to reveal corporate donations to politicians that are inconsistent with public statements about supporting civil rights for all is the most important work you do. I value it as I make choices about where to spend my money. Thank you for all you do!
Thanks Nancy. They'll be a little less of this for awhile as there are fewer donations in a non-election year. But when the donations resume, so will we.
We will not tolerate a slap on the wrist for all of TFG’s crimes. We hear such things as, The J6 committee will recommend lawsuit but cannot require it! WFT? A deadly coup attempt can take place without punishment. What the hell is really going on with this massive delay in justice?
Why will J6 participants be seated in Congress?! There is an option not to, why are these people accountable for high crimes?
We need to get the message out that Medicare Advantage IS NOT part of medicare. It is insurance that can ruin medicare. I know Ro Kanna is working on something. This is nothing short of a con job.
On the side, I just got a new tv. We have no choice for cable but Xfinity/Comcast fir my building. I do NOT want Fox tv showing on my screen EVER. I want the right to choose and eliminate.
Thank you for this. We do indeed fund far to many reprehensible things through taxes too. Why should our military be so gigantic when people need health care? I will be looking into getting rid of cable but my husband works from home and needs the internet which goes through them. As soon as we remove cable tv, the price goes up. They are such roaches!
Thank you Judd for your work on these topics I just wish there was a site or newsletter that concentrates on any and all good that’s happening in our otherwise awful world that keeps finding all the wrong in the world. I’m so tired of everything being corrupt, complicated to the point of no resolution and the constant regurgitation of negative information. Can’t we find the “right” in this world?
It is more important to hear the truth so we can join together to fight these things. There are truly wonderful people all over the world helping people and trying to find ways to address climate change. The stories are out there, but we need information in order to eliminate the bad.
Sounds like an opportunity if you're up to writing.
Personally, I believe too many are not aware of all the 'wrongdoing' because of incompetent journalists, big media ownership and opinion programs pretending to be news so I appreciate this newsletter.
The nonprofit Yes magazine, https://www.yesmagazine.org, focuses on the solutions journalism you might be seeking. Most of the stories focus on individuals and communities doing good, with some coverage about governments or companies doing good
check out the newsletter, Future Crunch. They report on good news and advancements in science, tech, climate, health, etc while remaining clear-eyed about the state of the world and the work that remains to be done. In a media climate where "if it bleeds, it leads" there are legit positive updates and progress that doesnt get reported. Highly recommend Future Crunch! https://futurecrunch.com/
Investigate the erosion of Medicare by Medicare Advantage (private) plans - which has increased exponentially in the last few years. This seems like an end run around opposition to Rep./industry elimination of the safety net for elders, AND fueled by the health care industry's opposition to Medicare for All. (added as a separate topic, below)
I grew up hearing no explanations, much less critical discussion, of the IMF and World Bank. As an adult it is still hard to find helpful information on how these institutions apply what Naomi Klein describes as economic 'shock therapy' to force democracies to cease public services and infrastructure in exchange for foreign investments (i.e. control of their governments and economies.) The reward for compliance is vast wealth for those in power, sometimes changing former freedom fighters, as in Mozambique, into oppressive billionaire elites. Those democracies which don't comply are gradually overthrown (Honduras 2009, Ukraine in 2014) or subjected to endless wars (Yemen) which then serve as weapons-testing labs for the Big Five (Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman and General Dynamics.) (Mnemonic: B.R.L.N.G., reminds me of here, Burlington, Vermont.)
The other note in my book is the need for a simple concept for climate change: the Earth is positioned between Mars (freezing, farther from the sun) and Venus (boiling hot, closer to the sun.) The effect of fossil fuels is to nudge the earth (figuratively) closer to the sun, beginning to be more like Venus.
I would like investigative reporting into Senior Living Facilities to determine how successful or not at the various levels of care that they offer. Also, how are they regulated to protect seniors and what is their rate of satisfactorily providing the services they offer. What recourse is there to have them investigated by city, county and/or state agencies? Thank you.
Everything that is being done to tamp down inflation is aimed at hurting the American consumer without any consequences for corporations that are raking in their highest profits in 72 years. This deserves a thorough investigation with special attention to the effect of consolidation of specific industries (food/agriculture, energy, media, etc.) on pricing power and the effect of virtually unlimited corporate campaign contributions to election campaigns at every level.
The media has missed the key issue justifying college student loan forgiveness. Students over the last 30 years have paid double of more the share of the cost of their education than older graduates because states withdrew their support and federal aid programs stagnated. By forgiving the massive loans we are simply fulfilling obligations we reneged on: a way for the society to gain forgiveness for past sins. A piece documenting these trends/ facts would be useful. I have that data. ps am giving gift subscriptions for the holidays but holding because I don’t want them to get their notifications until “the day”.
Hi Judd. I would be interested on your take on Fox and carriage fees, specifically why this is allowed as Fox appears to be a specialized entity that some people greatly value and some people do not, much like HBO or any of those other specialty channels that fans of them have to pay for. Thanks and keep up the good work.
As consumers we need regulations, which businesses fight against, to protect us from corporations poisoning us, our environment, selling us dangerous products, and selling us things that don't work properly; Lemon laws. As workers, we need regulations, which businesses also fight against, to protect us from egregious abuse, forcing us to work in unsafe environments, and ensuring fair wages.
Corporations are predators and we're their prey. Why do we continue to allow their existence?
No one takes on this topic: Christian Nationalism is a political movement and reflects bad theology. Why aren’t mainstream Christian churches speaking out?
This is a an interesting topic. Not sure I'm the right person to take it on. But interesting.
Thanks for providing a forum for respectful discussion! Whether you take it on or not, we need a forum like this! I’ve learned a lot over the last year or two!
I can give you a hint Judd, Christian votes and Christian fears. It might be worth your while to do a couple of interviews. Christian Nationalism is a shame to all true Christians.
Maybe because mainstream Christian churches are part of the problem. For instance the Catholic hierarchy are busy codifying Catholic theology into our system of laws by way of the Robert's Extreme Court.
Six hardcore, fundamentalist Catholics who were chosen by hardcore Catholic Leo Leonard, who runs the Federalist Society, are working to overturn decades of precedents regarding separation of church/state. The Federalist Society under Leonard is packing our judiciary with religious fundamentalists. What could be more mainstream than the Catholic Church?
The Catholic Church is fading. Quickly. Are they planning to convert the entire nation via legislation?
The SCOTUS doesn't legislate. Or at least it's not supposed to be a legislative body. What the SCOTUS is doing is overturning precedent after precedent in an attempt to tear down the wall separating religion and state.
Just look at their decisions since taking over the Court. Now public school officials can legally lead students in prayer (KENNEDY v. BREMERTON SCHOOL DISTRICT).
Now taxpayer monies can be spent on private religious schools. Most of those schools are Catholic parochial schools. (Carson v. Makin)
And of course their ruling that overturned Roe v Wade has been a priority of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops since the RvW decision. Moreover, Opus Dei member Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion neatly and openly laid out the future agenda of the 6 Catholics by claiming that contraception and same sex marriage should be reconsidered as well among other Catholic priorities.
Deliberate, who needs voting?
Yep
Opus Dei is the cult name
As well as Knights of Malta which Amy Barrett is a member.
Erik Prince and Betsy Devos too I believe. Bill Barr is Opus Dei too. Lots of crazy rich people.
And Christ is the last thing on the minds of these Pharisees…
Never fear, their time is coming. Jesus did not suffer the pharisees and they will have to face him one day.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on "The Scheme"
https://www.bing.com/videos/searchq=youtube+sheldon+whitehouse+the+scheme&view=detail&mid=5FA308427F7C20584BF05FA308427F7C20584BF0&FORM=VIRE
As a Catholic, I can’t agree more! Big money from wealthy Catholics going to Alliance Defending Freedom that funds voter suppression. Just check out archives of National Catholic Reporter on ADF! Pro-Life movement is big time fund-raising scheme (a corollary to SW’s ‘The Scheme’) to funnel lots of money through Susan B Anthony List to voter suppression Republican groups across the country and now the “independent state legislature” scheme to totally disembowel our democracy! Tell me these Catholic-controlled groups wouldn’t turn over our democracy if they could steal an election for Trump and continue to corrupt the SCOTUS! There is a treasure trove of information that’s very important to re-reveal and update!
I suggest reading the book, Jesus and John Wayne.
There is a fair amount of anti-Catholicism in the replies to your comment. Which is odd because"Christian Nationalism" in the US is driven by White Evangelical Christianity. The Christians who became Republicans back in the 80's as part of the backlash against Women's Rights, Racial Integration, and Abortion Rights.
All issues that the Catholic Church has been on the side of Liberals on in terms of social policy.
So, when Mr. Rhodes talks about the Court "codifying Catholic Theology" into US law he is being disingenuous. The Justices he singles out as "Catholic" are better described as "Trumpublican Anti-Abortion Extremists". Because ABORTION is the issue that unites them theologically with the Christian Evangelicals.
WHITE CHRISTIAN NATIONALISTS are the largest voting bloc in the Trumpublican party. So, the party caters to their interests. They want the US to be a more "Christian Nation".
Mitch McConnell wants a Court that will allow the amplification of White votes and the suppression of minority votes. One that supports gerrymandering, poll taxes, and all the old "Jim Crow" tricks.
Both groups are getting what they paid for with this Court. It has nothing to do with Catholicism.
Sorry Richard, you obviously are not aware of Alliance Defending Freedom and all the efforts by wealthy Catholics to try to bring down our democracy through voter suppression and now the “independent state legislature” scheme with the SCOTUS! I’m Catholic and one of the 50% that did not vote for Trump! I’m not a hater! Just tune into National Catholic Reporter and their investigative reports over the last several years! Just the culture wars of the US Bishops against vaccines and women’s reproductive rights, or the organized pro-Trump EWTN has everything “to do with Catholicism”! Tell me you are not aware of all that and much more!
You do realize that religion's aren't armies, right?
The Pope cannot command people to do his bidding. There is no Illuminati. There is no "Catholic Conspiracy".
You seem to have this view about Catholics that dates back to the early 20th. People have forgotten how suspicious Protestant America was towards the wave of Catholic "Mediterranean" immigrants. How much it looked down on the Catholic Irish.
We have all forgotten what a BIG deal it was that JFK was Catholic. Because many people predicted that America would never elect a "Papist President".
Anti Catholic prejudice has a long history in White America. Did you know it went back to Colonial America and was part of the incitement to rebellion used by the "Son's of Liberty"?
During the Imperial crisis of 1763-1776, when Britain struggled to pay for the global war it had just won against the French. American Elites resented the taxation necessary for the depleted treasury to be restored.
As part of the "terrorist campaign" waged by these Elites against the existing order and the Loyalists. They started an "information war". Using their access to printing presses to create a narrative that would push people into risking rebellion against the existing social order.
They told a story that identified the monarchy\central government with tyranny and unfair taxation. They preached that liberty could be preserved only in a republic, in which the people were the source of authority.
As the crisis between the mother country and colonies worsened, the Son's of Liberty constantly stirred the pot with conspiracy theories and rumors. Deliberately seeking to create an atmosphere of fear, disorder, anger, distrust, and confusion.
They spread the idea that a conspiracy against liberty was being carried out by a secret cabal of evil ministers in the British government. In the perceived encroachments of the English government, the American revolutionaries again detected the awful twin specters of “Popery” and arbitrary government.
Particularly alarming to American Protestants was the rumor that the British government would create an Anglican bishop for America and the passage in 1765 of the Quebec Act, which granted freedom of worship to Catholics in Canada. Who were now British subjects after the loss of Canada by France as a result of the Seven Years War.
This was believed to be a precursor to a northern attack on America by massed legions of the Pope’s subjects.
In the wake of the enactment of the measure, Samuel Adams warned Americans “that what we have above everything else to fear, is POPERY,” and he exhorted his fellow citizens “as you value your precious civil Liberty, and everything you can call dear to you, to be upon your guard against popery.” (i.e. be on the watch for those "dirty Catholics").
In spite of such bigotry, a majority of the Catholics in the Colonies sided with the Traitors during the Revolution. Anti-Catholicism was toned down during the war, largely because of the alliance with France and the need to consolidate support at home. Which shows you how the Revolutionaries used propaganda to adjust peoples attitudes during the Revolution.
Yesterday it was "the Catholics are coming to rape our women, eat our babies, and make us swear allegiance to the Pope".
During the war, it was "the Catholics are swell, real friends of liberty, some of the best people are Catholic you know".
George Washington forbade his soldiers to celebrate Guy Fawkes’ Day. Not because of it's association with England.
Because the holiday included an assortment of raucous anti-Catholic rituals, such as the burning of an effigy of the pope.
He didn't want to offend the French.
The leading roles taken by Catholics also helped to mute religious bigotry, though it certainly did not disappear. Captain John Barry of the navy and Stephen Moylan of the Continental Army, for example, won distinction on the battlefield, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton signed the Declaration of Independence.
The American victory in 1783 and the state constitutions crafted during the Revolution reflected a somewhat more liberal attitude toward Catholics. As John Carroll, soon to be the first Catholic bishop in the United States, happily observed in 1783, “Free toleration is allowed to Christians of every denominations.
Because that's what the Revolutionaries had promised. During the War, there was grand talk of "tolerance" and "universal brotherhood against tyranny".
After the war a majority of the new state constitutions perpetuated the status of Catholics as second-class citizens.
South Carolina, for example, established Protestantism as the state religion, instituted a religious test for office, and promised full religious and civil liberty only to adherents of the Reformed faith. North Carolina, Georgia, and New Jersey likewise required that officeholders be Protestants.
New York’s 1777 constitution, though it did not expressly forbid Catholics from voting or holding office, declared that it was the duty of its citizens to be on guard against the “bigotry and ambition of weak and wicked priests,” and required that all persons wishing to be naturalized “abjure and renounce all allegiance and subjection to all and every foreign king, prince, potentate, and State in all matters, ecclesiastical as well as civil.”
Massachusetts’ charter authorized taxation of Catholics “for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality.” Vermont guaranteed full religious liberty only to Protestants, and New Hampshire’s constitution similarly contained anti-Catholic clauses.
Anti-Catholic bigotry is very deeply embedded in WHITE Protestant Evangelical America. It was there at the foundation of the country and it's still with us.
There have been some terrible Catholic leaders who perverted their position. Father Coughlin, the founding priest of the National Shrine of the Little Flower comes to mind.Dubbed "The Radio Priest", he was one of the first political leaders to use radio to reach a mass audience. During the 1930s, when the U.S. population was about 120 million, an estimated 30 million listeners tuned to his weekly broadcasts.
He was a virulent antisemite and hated the Jews. He supported some of the fascist policies and ideas of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The broadcasts have been described as "a variation of the Fascist agenda applied to American culture".
I would say that he was a "bad Catholic".
Most of the groups you refer to are either splinter sects, Catholic Cults, Evangelical Catholics (a splinter sect), or Super Orthodox Conservative Catholics (Opus Dei). None of these groups is "the Catholic Church".
In the Church itself, the split in the community is basically the same way WHITE AMERICA is split.
Two out of three WHITE AMERICANS votes Trumpublican.
So, I would expect 2 out of 3 White Catholic Americans to be Trumpublican and doing EVIL SHIT. It's what Trumpublicans do.
That doesn't excuse anti Catholic rhetoric. You should stop.
BTW, I was raised in the South by racists as a Baptist\Lutheran. My parents joined several cults in the 60'/70's including being Mormons for a few years. I have chosen to become a Jewish-Buddhist myself but several of my wives have been Catholic.
I have no Theological axe to grind here. But "anti-Catholic" and "anti-Jewish" talk in America have a way of going together.
Your long essays fail to make distinctions, Mr. Crim. Please note that I referred to the "Catholic Hierarchy" and specifically mention the ultra-conservative United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as the driver of much of what the Church is doing. I make a distinction between the hierarchy and laity. I could expand on such but in the interest of brevity being the soul of wit, I'll resist.
Moreover, your historic references regarding the ill treatment of Catholics ignores the Vatican's meddling in the political affairs of other nations for millennia over which they've had the time to hone their MO. The Vatican's MO in packing our Extreme Court and judiciary as well as other efforts isn't unique to the U.S. It's the same MO used by the Church in France, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Poland, Central America, South America and more. Again, I could expand on such but won't for the sake of brevity.
You can parse it however you like but there's no denying that the Federalist Society under the control of fundamentalist Catholic Leo Leonard has spent a generation in building the framework that has resulted in 6 hard core Catholics being appointed to the SCOTUS. BTW there are actually 7 Catholics on the SCOTUS now including Sotomayor, who isn't intent on furthering the Catholic agenda. And there's no denying that those 6 Catholics have already shown their stripes with recent decisions some of which I listed above with more to come as promised by Thomas. Your mischaracterization that such facts are anti-Catholic rhetoric or equivalent to antisemitism is misplaced at best.
In essence the Catholic hierarchy and the gop work hand in hand with few distinctions between the two. Both are hierarchical, paternalistic, misogynistic, authoritarian, undemocratic and ruled over by white males. It seems that Trump is the gop's Pope with their followers believing both infallible.
BTW I was raised Catholic. I've formally studied Catholic theology for 11 years. I spent 3 yrs in a Benedictine seminary studying to be a priest. I'm well aware of Catholic history from both the inside of the organization as well as the outside.
Well stated Craig! And the way I was brought up in the Catholic Church with the “We-they” dichotomy that branded everyone else as “unsaved that wouldn’t be able to get into heaven”! Imagine that, and you can see how hard it is for many Catholics to look at social-economic-political conditions objectively! Frankly, the US Bishops and SCOTUS are a cult that fits the current Republican Party strategy to a tee, achieve power for the sake of power! To the majority of Catholics out there who saw through all of the propaganda (geofencing, etc.) and voted to preserve our democracy, thank you!
Lordy, I am no Catholic hater, but can’t ignore Leo and the SC cronies. “Bad” religious leaders are legion
"Christian" Nationalists are not purely "Evangelical" Christians. They are not really any kind of Christian at all. They are cultists with an agenda of their own. They break the laws of God every minute of every day. They exhibit none of the traits and beliefs a Christian is supposed to have, as taught to us by Jesus. Please do not make the mistake of believing that ALL Christians are to be included in the Nationalist Party. Their membership is backed and supported by extremely far right Republicans who have no concern for "religion" of any kind. They are only trying to destroy what we have, but no one can destroy the One True God.
Sorry but they are often Catholic based and funded
No one? Read Chris Hedges. He’s on substack.
Please share link thx!
Many if not most of the rabid "Christian Nationalists" I know don't regularly attend church. Jacques Ellul: "Christianity has become an ideology." (Mid 20th Cen)
Example of stealth psycho flying under radar a bit, worth worrying about: Eric Metaxas
I agree with the worry about anti Catholicism in this thread. I oppose people of ALL religions who try to tell others how to live (through laws or otherwise).
They were made arms of the Republican Party in 2004 by Karl Rove in service to the Bush re-election. Then Catholics have become power hungry arses in service to ruling, just wait for the head banging. Belfast writ large???
Why don't churches speak out? MONEY. FEAR. Church is a business, a very profitable and unregulated one. The church has been a huge tool for politicians historically to keep oppressed and marginalized communities in check, teaching God demands slaves to submit to their master and wives to their husband, without question and regardless of abuses. The church doesn't even regulate itself, the Catholic church isn't alone, every denomination has the issue of hiding, enabling pedophiles and those that abuse their authority for sex or money. Pastors don't confront each other or make public statements condemning the abuses of a pastor in their church or other churches. Pastors are increasingly handing over the podium to politicians, to drive visitors and increase donations. Dallas is the buckle of the "Bible Belt" with Megachurches, often with 5 churches on the same block but the community is no better for it. Dallas should be leading the nation on racial reconciliation instead Dallas is the epitome of race based inequality.
Read Jim Wallis and efforts from some mainstream Protestant groups to speak out and Christian Nationalism. Wallis is now at Georgetown.
YES!!!!!
So here’s an elephant in the room issue that I rarely ever see politicians or the media discuss: the absolute daily deluge of spam and fraud to which we are all subjected via every medium - email, website, phone, snail mail. Yes, we have all but surrendered to it, but why? Has anyone with power ever made a serious effort to regulate the tech companies, to strengthen and enforce anti-fraud laws and stop this onslaught?
Just think about all the hours we spend not only dealing with and disposing of all of this crap, but the many additional hours juggling endless passwords, two-factor authentication, etc., etc. to try to protect ourselves against the shysters. The resultant productivity loss must be massive - not to mention the psychological burden. And there is a cultural loss too - think about the lack of trust, the feeling of betrayal, the reality that we are abandoning vulnerable people like our elderly to this plague of fraud.
I sometimes wonder if this normalization of everyday exploitation is what made so many people comfortable with the idea of putting an obvious fraudster named donald in the White House. But the key question is: what are the solutions, and who if anyone, is working on them?
What's particularly upsetting to me is how much of these scams are targeted at elderly people who already have enough to worry about.
Speaking of the elderly, approaching this stage too quickly … and discovering annoying and basically stupid and unnecessary hardship placed on us older folk. Heard about Medicare my whole life seems like. I thought it was affordable medical coverage (it’s not). Thought it would be simple. It’s not. The realities of what people may have to go through EVERY YEAR is daunting! And if you don’t do it exactly how they say you can be severely penalized. We never expected our Medicare and related coverage to be our largest expense second to our mortgage each month in retirement. We didn’t know we’d have to review coverage in detail every year based on our expected prescriptions because many plans don’t cover common Rxs. Life should be SIMPLER when we age, not harder. I’m in isolation in a hospital as I write this with Influenza A complications (yes, I had my vaccines, I STILL wear a mask, and don’t go out yet still got it). I will have to wait and see how this is covered. Fun!
Exactly - I remember seeing my Dad, in his declining years, fall for a few of the most common scams (the fake Microsoft service providers who insist on remoting into your computer and the overpriced magazine subscriptions) and felt so angry and frustrated to see him exploited like that.
This is a serious problem, a sad evolution into a different kind of world, that distracts, that overloads with too much information and creates the need to sort/dispose of, etc. It barely leaves us time to do the things we need to do. I second this comment!!
Related to the "shocks" (too many coming at once) that distract us and soften us up fir the fascists.
Yes, everything you say about this is true. The lack of trust, the psychological burden of dealing with all of it. I was recently telling a friend that I felt like my email spam filter was getting worse. There are days that my Inbox looks like my junk mail box, and it feels like the one tool we have to deal with it, the unsubscribe button, rarely works for me. Also, I was reading that early in the pandemic, that one of the reasons other countries had more success with contact tracing is because people will pick up the phone from a number they don't recognize because it is likely to be an actual phone call for them and not a fraudster. I don't that I have ever seen this confirmed, but it does make a lot of sense.
Yes! I agree with Kindler. It is a spam world. I especially wish federal legislators and/or agencies whould put a stop to USPS delivering junk mail, for the environment, climate crisis, and human targets.
ALSO what's with Google allowing political solicitations RIGHT into our primary inboxes all.of a sudden. Started before these most recent midterms.
If you get any answers, please let me know!
The death, more like murder, of local news journalism, and how it increases polarization.
Big topic. Really comes down to the internet stealing classified ads and other localized advertising. Local journalism hasn't come up with an alternative model. There are some interesting efforts at local political newsletters.
Actually - it's more than the internet stealing ads - it's sites like Facebook and Google profiting off the work of journalists without compensating them.
Judd, Judd, Judd… nobody is stealing ads. Blame is totally in the hands of who places the ad. THEY’RE choosing. I used to work for the Tampa Tribune years ago. The newspapers had the monopoly at the time and then came the big bad internet and Craig’s List and the evolutionary explosion of everything we know today. In 20 years, something else will rule. Heck, in 2 years maybe. Always something new and better?
Good summary here: https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/editorial-facebooks-bluff-ends-hopes-for-local-news-support/
Yes!! Democracy 'dies without an informed citizenry'.
Seconded. I think this fits very well with the theme of Popular Info. It would require a look into consolidation and monopolization of the industry as well as the sources of funding for different outlets. I'd be very interested to read more about it.
100%! What kind of progress is it when access to local news was better throughout the country decades ago than it is today? How many people understand how critical local news is to building community and democracy? And just yesterday META succeeded in sabotaging the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act as part of the must-pass defense spending package - and not many will understand (i.e., care) about the implications because they don't know about it.
What!? What kind of f**kery is this? I need links.
1. Although I prefer we reduce plastic use, there is no denying that plastic disposal is a stressor on our environments. I see that plastics that are labeled “recyclable” are rarely so (example: the padding in my weekly misfits food box). Why is the actual rate of recycling for plastics misrepresented and what is the most feasible recycling solution?
I’m so glad Barbara raised this topic. I spend my days contacting companies about greenwashing their plastics. Plastics recycling and the waste trade driving it, including companies like Terracycle, are ripe for exploration and Judd is the perfect person to follow the money trail and find out what is actually happening to all of those plastic items embossed with the chasing arrows. Unfortunately, plastics “recycling” is turning out to be a myth. Because of all of the varying chemical additives in the production of plastic, it seems the best that can be hoped for at this point in time is downcycling of certain plastics (#1,#2, and #5) with the rest destined for waste to energy plants (incinerators) that pollute our air and release GHG or so called chemical recycling plants that through an energy intensive process convert the plastics back into the fossil fuels from which they were originally derived. The remainder are dumped, here or in other countries. This is overly simplified, b/c I can only type so much on my phone, but it is a huge problem with significant climate impact. JustZero.org & Beyond Plastics are great sources of info.
Planet Money did a great episode about the industry lies and lobbying/public opinion work which have led us to this point: https://www.npr.org/2022/04/22/1094267292/planet-money-waste-land
I've read recently that the whole "plastic recycling" thing is ineffective, doesn't work, causes harm and damage and that the only solution is to limit the use of plastic - that makes sense. We were persuaded that if we put it in a blue bin, it won't harm anything, but so much of it CAN'T be re-cycled.
What you're reading is unfortunately true, Sally. Big Plastics (the Fossil Fuel and Chemical Industries) stole the playbook from Big Tobacco and have been playing the public like a fiddle for years - recycle, recycle, recycle! - while they continue to increase their plastic output. We have got to turn off the plastics tap. Don't get me wrong, not all plastics are bad, but I heard recently that over 35% of all new plastic production is used to make packaging. Not the product that we use, but just the packaging. If we could turn off that one spigot the world could be in a better place. One of the means we have of doing this is to pull back the curtain on the plastic's recycling industry. Where are plastics going once they leave the MRFs? Who is paying for all of the plastic waste that can't be down-cycled (anything beyond #1, #2 & #5 in the vast majority of the country) and what are they using it for? What percentage of the downcyclable plastics end up landfilled or incinerated? How much of this is being shipped overseas and where is it ending up? There is a money trail and it needs to be followed.
Kathy, thank you for catching my typo! The correct url is https://just-zero.org/
Big Oil is nefariously involved in majorly misleading the public about recycling. In truth, very very little plastic is recycled, and widespread recycling is a myth perpetuated intentionally by oil companies to make us feel okay about using tons of plastic in our daily lives. NPR has done some great reporting on this. I'd love to see PI make more noise about this! https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled?utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR2pSTzZbumOWYB_Sw6duZ1htlFehkZrIGukoVUfmI46DBIVOfd-IYzKeVI
Building off of this - - it's now popular for consumer products and packaging to be marketed as "compostable" but how true is that claim?
I have always thought that plastics producers should bear more responsibility in dealing with what they produce. Plastic has been found in human blood, fish in the sea, it is everywhere. We are poisoning and altering ourselves and the earth and for what?!
Plasticenta: First evidence of microplastics in human placenta - PubMed
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33395930/
1) Big media ownership beyond Murdoch, who they support politically w dark money and their leadership ties to the far right. I saw Rick Santelli on Squawkbox (fake business news program) ranting about Hunter Binden yet have NEVER heard the same rant about Jared Kushner who actually worked in the White House making policy decisions and has rec'd $3B from Middle East countries. Or how the same program NEVER cover negative news on Elon unless it's streams at bottom of screen yet celebrate and excuse his horrific acts in business as a leader. Now a major NBC / Comcast network is reporting misinformation - is it for ratings or in support of establishing an Plutocracy?
2) Why are other countries (e.g. Peru, Germany) protecting their democratic principles more aggressively than the USA?
3) How are Co's and the wealthy stopping the repeal to protect social media Co's when it's clear Elon and others have detrimental intent?
Anything to help pull back the curtain on finance. The moves made by private equity and hedge funds reverberate through our lives, powerfully yet often invisibly
Excellent summation. The moves you cite do indeed "reverberate through our lives, powerfully yet often invisibly!"
Florida is not the only state in which Moms for Liberty endorsed candidates, sometimes also associated with Christian nationalism, are infiltrating school and hospital boards. In Sarasota County, Michael Flynn is one of several to have joined the local Republican governing board. The newly elected far right school board began proceedings to terminate a highly respected superintendent within minutes of the official beginning of their term. The local hospital now has a number of vaccine questioning members on their board.
It doesn't exactly match up with what you are discussing here but I have some Florida stuff in the works.
Does not bode well for our fellow Americans, does it!
How is the Supreme Ct able to openly support beliefs of mainstream faith in their rulings when I thought the Constitution was clear on separation of church and state?
Just like the State Supreme Courts are doing it. Ignore the Constitution and the laws.
How to undo all the harm from industry monopolies (e.g. Cable, Cell, Healthcare) and Private Equity ownership that raid companies to the detriment of consumers in ways most don't understand like grocery store prices? Citizens United must be reversed as some of the wealthy who don't believe in our Constitution will destroy our country under the cover of 'capitalism'. I want capitalism but we are evolving to something like the 1920s just before the Great Depression.
I read that unfettered capitalism will kill our country.
I believe it. Just take a look at big oil, and pharmaceuticals, Murdoch and the tech companies. It’s outrageous that they have more power than 330+ million people!
return of the robber barons of the 1890s-- GOP want total deregulations & slave labor & of course-- they pay no taxes & their kids inherit massive wealth tax free.
Return? They never left
Sounds like great opportunities to collaborate and cross-promote with Matt Stoller and his Substack about the history and politics of monopoly, https://mattstoller.substack.com
Thank you for the work you do Judd.
All I can think about right now is the Supreme Court. It’s terrifying that I’m counting on Kavenaugh to save our Nation.
We all should be terrified, Kavenaugh lied to get on the court and he will lie to us every chance he gets!
Judd, I feel appreciative, as do others here, of the work you do; seeking out & drilling down to the real stories behind the stories.
Here's one possible topic for you. As a person who's now retired and on the cusp of
"elderly," the overall national disgrace that is what I'd call, the warehousing of many of our elderly citizens, who can no longer either reside on their own or be taken care of by their aging children. There are two factors here in play, I think. There are some federal laws in place regarding the operation of these facilities, but also state laws that govern facilities. Regulations appear to vary by state & depending on what the facilities call themselves. " Assisted living" vs nursing facilities, rehab facilities ( which some appear to provide dual functions as nursing homes as well). Another component of this is educational requirements by state for these various facility types. Some states require next to nothing regards to those providing daily care in certain types of facilities, terms of education. It can be whatever " on the job training " you receive while there, scant as it may be. No special certification required. (And I am aware that if staffing issues ( and poor pay/ conditions & limited staff on the floor) were at risk before covid, it's probably far worse now, albeit pay may have increased slightly.
But then that takes us to ownership of these facilities. It would appear that many of these facilities, where some might have been run by families or companies specializing in elder care, of late, there seems to be more of a trend towards hedge funds & real estate investment companies, picking up these facilities to add to their portfolios. As you can imagine with investment firms, bottom line profitability is their mantra & how their "investments" reach that may be questionable; especially in the care, feeding & staffing for some of our most vulnerable citizens.
This is probably more personal for me & my sister, as recently we lost our mother, who passed away in such a facility after being there about 3 months. She'd been in 2 rehabs prior to that, originally for a mild stroke & after a brief hospital stay, then broke her foot the last day in the 1st rehab, in an attempt to get out of bed at night, because no staff came to assist after calling for over an hour. We moved her from there to another rehab (for the recovery of the foot injury) at a rural hospital 60 miles away, us switching off making the trek every other day. It goes on from there to assisted living. But it's certainly been an eye opener for us & a cautionary tale. I'm certain many others have similar concerns. Just a thought.. Thank you.
Thanks for raising this. There are some similar issues at play here: https://popular.info/p/why-arent-there-enough-hospital-beds
The system is optimized for profits, not people
agree - this is a huge and growing concern, being exploited by venture capitalists.
I, too, can relate Florida nursing home nightmare stories and grossly understaffed (legally, thanks to Rick Scott) for the number. Never allowed to stand (falling risk!) so they become infirm very quickly. Overmedicated and doctors not on site. No baths or showers. Dining is a nightmare. Being told not to visit. Literally putting patients on the curb if you complain.
I am so sorry that happened.
I too, am so sorry & just amazed at some of the responses I've received about personal occurrences that have happened to loved ones in senior care facilities. In our mother's case, she was of sound mind but limited mobility due to bad arthritis & began to tell us of two staffers on the 11-7 shift, that started to give her problems ( rude & disrespectful comments) about bothering them so much during their shift ( a male & female that appeared to work together during that shift.) She was on diuretics because she had primary lymphedema; the result of that when she lie down at night, she might need to get up to go to the restroom 3 or 4 times a night. The buildup of fluid would seek release after lying down. They would harass her about her need to go " too much. " Escalated from there. We intervened a few times, but part of the issue becomes about the lack of staff working at some facilities/ areas that leaves management inclined to keep some bad actors employed, until something bad or tragic happens. Just one of many cascading issues.
I have the same issue as I look for a place for my dad. These places know there is a COLA increase for Social Security and already prepared to take that as well. They take every penny. There should be more regulation and classification, more required communication with family, the amount should be based on the level of care needed not the max for everyone.
Please investigate the bipartisan ecological fraud of putting ethanol in gasoline. Currently at 10%, there is a movement to raise it to 15%. The fact is more energy is required to produce a gallon of ethanol than it contains. So every gallon on ethanol requires more hydrocarbons be burned than would other be the case. Ethanol use increases global warming while creating terrible environmental problems of its own like continuing to empty the aquafers underlying the corn belt. Democrats in IL join with Republicans in IO to support this terrible policy at a high cost to the environment and taxpayers.
Interesting. I thought people had given up arguing that ethanol is environmentally friendly. Will investigate.
Thanks. Ethanol is actually bad for car engines.
Difference Between Ethanol and Ethanol-Free Gas
https://capitalpreownedcenter.com/posts/blog-ethanol-vs-ethanol-free-gas
Minneapolis Star Tribune, Dec 1, 2022:
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed increasing the amount of ethanol and other biofuels that must be blended into the nation's fuel supplies over the next three years, a move welcomed by renewable fuel and farm groups but condemned by environmentalists and oil industry groups.
But what about all of those poor poor corn farmers that NEEEEEEED... wait! That ain't the Jones Family Farm. That's Inter-Fraud Industries Inc, LLC playing another rigged game.
And the ethanol is damaging to fuel lines, from what I understand.
The fees that cable companies tack on for universal service that aren't used to supply universal service. More generally, all the fake fees that are nothing more than price gouging.
For enough years to draw a pension, I worked in a state retirement system that is a windfall state. I worked more years paying into Social Security, but still, my benefits are cut in half due to drawing the windfall state's pension. In my opinion, the windfall factor is unfair to retirees who have worked under both systems. Yearly, I write to my elected officials and I see no movement in doing away with this abomination. There are many of us affected by this antiquated law.
I’m all for a windfall profit tax on these large companies, but I darn sure do not want it to impact employees or retirees, how about hitting those shareholders up for a change.
The fact that big food and oil companies are making record profits at a much greater growth rate than wages surely indicates excess profits is a major part of inflation. Investigate?
I've written a couple of things on this topic but will continue to monitor.
The fact that all the greedy are getting clean away with it
Thank you, Judd, for also highlighting the Kroger acquisition of Albertsons/Safeway. It's a big deal in the Washington State. Corporate accountability still tops my list because it relates to so many issues. And thank you for the work you do disrupting these narratives -- that to me is most helpful whether it's climate policy manipulation, willful inflation (aka elasticity), corporate dark money, etc.
Thanks Tobin!
The ghost candidates in Florida and their connections to the Joel Greenberg, Matt Gaetz and Ron DeSantis axis.
I know this is probably a hopeless issue, but I go crazy with anger when I hear the dollars spent on politics - on ads, on campaigns, on buying political positions. GETTING MONEY OUT OF POLITICS would be huge!! Think of all the good that could be done in the world with those dollars, especially when we have seen the middle class get smaller, we see poverty increase, homelessness increase...is there some way of slamming the public with these figures till enough people notice that it would spur some changes? Thanks Judd, lfor all you do!
Just keep going Judd. Thank you for a great job exposing corporate corruption. I'm delighted to be a paid subscriber. Hope this inspires others to do that too.
Biden needs to get train workers sick days. I understand the need to settle, but it’s not our values.
He was dead wrong and should be ashamed… railroad workers are treated abominably like so many are today and it is 100% GREED BASED.
Here's a grim thought. Three powerful addictions pushing us toward climate suicide. Our energy system's addiction to fossil fuels. Our economic system's addiction to Enrichment Extremism. Our political system's addiction to Propaganda (rather than a commitment to evidence-based reasoning.) Addictions require Interventions. But without an appropriate intervention, these three addictions won't let us shake our carbon fuel addiction and we'll end up with an unlivable climate. The corporations Judd covers so well are plainly at the heart of this addiction dynamic. Steve Johnson.
Please write that book. Or even a long rant hitting the highlights.
Ten years ago now I met a guy doing a movie about "four things we are going to have to give up." 3 of them: vacations (maybe he meant distant travel?), wine, golf courses. Wish I could remember the fourth thing.
In my activism to reform and regulate internet platforms, I have come across blatant corruption.
Schumer has one daughter at Meta, another at Amazon. He prevents nearly every tech reform bill from coming to a vote. Coincidence?
Zoe Lofgren, one of Speaker Pelosi’s key lieutenants, has a daughter who works at Google. Lofgren has prevented nearly every tech reform bill from coming to a vote. Coincidence?
The husband of FTC commissioner Rebecca Slaughter is a lobbyist for the crypto industry, so she has to recuse from any crypto related case. Result is there is no majority to act.
Don’t even start me on the revolving door from Silicon Valley to the White House and the way that hamstrings the FTC and DOJ.
I would bet anything that this is kind of corruption is not limited to technology.
After reading many comments written here, all of which I was so glad to hear about all legitimate and welcomed concerns, I would love to have you start from the bottom up on Kindler’s comment about deluge of spam and fraud that we all deal with everyday on all media! That plainly affects every single person daily, tapping into a familiarly and gnawingly irritant for everyone. Then alternate to the very top, ie Supreme Court, Federalist Society, Christian nationalists, etc and their invasive encroachment upon our laws and politicians, closed eyes to separation of church and state. Somehow I would love to show a thread between bottom to top issues and how people are slowly but intentionally being manipulated every day. Preying animals start off slow but with intention! You do such a great job with your investigating and reporting. Thank you, Judd!
Judd you are awesome! How about a look at the Council on National Policy. CNP. Ginni Thomas’s connections there. Also the role of the Flynn brothers in waging a war against democracy. Mike Flynn’s digital soldiers are at the ready. They are unhinged. And unfortunately...we’ll armed. Thank you!!
I want a follow up on those companies that broke their donation pledges before midterms because they expected to have to work with a Republican congress. They compromised their values based on polling and consultants, and they got no political power because it was a bad bet. Will they return to principles or continue to break their pledges now that they already opened the floodgates?
The majority of the Supreme Court are members of a group called Opus Dei which is a cult in the Catholic Church founded in 1933 is Spain.It is a far right group that supported franco, hitler and Mussolini. John Paul II and Benedict w. ere members. John Paul !! bypassed the rules for canonization to sainthood and made the founder, Josemarie Escrive, a saint in 2002. The Court members are also members of the Federalist Society which is headed by Leonard Leo who is also Opus Dei. William Barr was the head of the Opus Dei information office in DC before trump appointed him AG.
There is an organization called the Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD) that is at the heart of a movement to split mainline protestant denominations using the wedge issues of abortion and homosexuality as well as the ordination of women.. They have been successful in splitting the Episcopal, Methodist, United Church of Christ, and Presbyterians. It was founded by former CIA that had been in Central America and found that many of the missionaries had embraced the cause of rebel groups with what was called "liberation theology." Members of Opus Dei are on the Board along with Protestant fundamentalists. The idea is that nothing progressive ever happened in the US without support of the mainline denominations. The idea of the split is to neutralize pastors in the pulpit, control the missions and seize the pension funds. Chip Berlet, of Political Research Associates
https://politicalresearch.org/bio/chip-berlet
and others have researched the topic and produced books and movies. There is a full discussion in the Sara Diamond book,Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States.
There is something called an ordinate created by Benedict IV that creates a special place in the Catholic Church for converts, especially from the Episcopal Church. Many , like Newt Gingrich are associated with this group which has an overlap with the Opus Dei cult. There is also a strong overlap with the National Planning Council which is a right wing version of the Council on Foreign Affairs and is part of a parallel set of organizations that includes groups like the Heritage Foundation, the Philanthropic Round Table which is the conduit for money from right wing foundations that fund this network.
As for the Supreme Court, Sheldon Whitehouse has done in depth analysis of how the Court has been captured and virtually bought by the right.
https://www.bing.com/videos/searchq=youtube+sheldon+whitehouse+the+scheme&view=detail&mid=5FA308427F7C20584BF05FA308427F7C20584BF0&FORM=VIRE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAdbWgmPEDk
Judd I appreciate your reporting on corporate contributions to election deniers.
Have you read Wendy Brown on what neoliberalism has done to our souls, our consciousness, undermining real democracy? Or Shoshana Zuboff on surveillance capitalism? Or INFLAMED by Marya and Patel? Daniela Gabor on the Wall Street Consensus? These are the biggest issues of our time, and there's a juicy field of corporate greenwashing that would benefit from your reporting skills.
How is it a President can lawfully order a union to accept a contract but can't do the same with industry?
There is a special law in place for the railroad industry that allows him to do so
Don’t forget Reagan and the flight controllers
Railway Labor Act...covers unions involved in interstate commerce, including airlines.
Which begs the question, why doesn't it also cover the industry itself?
All I can think about right now is the Supreme Court. It’s terrifying that I’m hoping that Kavenaugh can save out Nation.
The Supreme Court is a mess. One of our most honorable institutions, down the drain.
Once honorable
maybe Judd can write more about the autocratic capture of the judiciary.....?
I AGREE!!!
AT&T Illinois and the Madigan scandal. The contract the state has with FirstNet (First Responders Network managed by AT&T) should be called into question given the history of bribery.
Most Americans probably didn't have Fuentes on their radar. Unless I missed it, I haven't seen any major media dig into his origins. Who are his parents? Where raised? Was he an altar boy? How does he make his money? Is he a paid provocateur? Any threads to NRA and Russian networks? Rising white Catholic/Christian fascism is a global phenomenon. I want to know much more when the media puts up those 5 second clips of Fuentes on TV and the Internet.
I’ve tried to research and find nothing on parents… but he’s been spouting like this for years and he’s only 24.
Amazing - only 24 too.
I've lately been deeply concerned about the impacts of the pandemic on kids and education. We keep seeing terrible headlines (and stories from teachers) about how kids are behind on learning and social milestones, how test scores are down, etc etc. It seems like we have a lost generation on our hands and NOBODY is stepping up with a plan to manage this or help correct it. Who is dropping this ball and how do we hold them to account? A generation of young people with dramatically reduced educational outcomes and socialization seems like a major problem to me!
Remember the too short period of covid time when parents were all “oh our dearly beloved teachers?! How DO they DO IT?!”
Excellent point - and the way trained educators are being attacked, discouraged, told what to teach. So many good teachers have quit. We should double ALL their salaries, entice the good ones back.
Related: organized efforts to drive school boards off track, or pack them with nutjobs. The need to provide free universal childcare. The low priority we (nationally) put on kids' welfare is a disgrace.
Teachers and artists of all kinds should get seats next to the fire and the best food. People who do M&A should have to do it for "fun" only.
The housing rental crisis. It is getting worse, not better. Companies are buying up homes and apt blogs, then raising the rents. They are requiring non-refundable application fees BEFORE you can even see the apt. Or the new gimmick is a "non-refundable bond", instead of a security deposit. Pretending they are doing you a favor by not requiring a security deposit! These companies are literally stealing money. One apt available and 100 or more people pay a fee. It's a cruel, disturbing racket that is creating hardship on people who are already struggling to survive.
This is a very important topic. Difficult to report on for a variety of reasons but worth the effort.
Agree! Private Cos are buying up to 25% of the available single fam homes in markets without enough housing and renting back to folks who want to own!!! How can this be?!?! How can the AVG American compete?
Yes and even us “regular” investors with IRA’s or other retirement funds end up owning REITs that drive the monetization of the housing market. Sad.
All the houses (kept empty) being bought up by overseas investors. People with way too many AirBnBs.
Judd, loved your story on the breaks companies are getting in R&D spending. I work for a big company that recently announced an unprecedented increase in research spending for next year. I figured there had to be something to it, since R&D is viewed as a notorious drain on profit. I've shared this story with many colleagues. Keep up the great work!
I'd love some work on corruption/harm to customers in the credit card industry. It seems to be widespread but I can find very little information on it.
DeSantis also seems to always land on his feet after egregious behaviour. After your column on his forcing immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard it seems that concerns went away. Same for Matt Gaetz and his alleged scandal with an underage girl. How are these people all made of Teflon?
He hasn't tried another flight yet so I think there was some impact on his behavior but for many of his voters, poor treatment of migrants is not an issue
He hasn’t cause I keep on top of flight tracker since I sat up that night watching and waiting for that plane that was supposed to go to Delaware. But where did the extra funds go? I suspect to his campaign coffers.
Judd, your work to reveal corporate donations to politicians that are inconsistent with public statements about supporting civil rights for all is the most important work you do. I value it as I make choices about where to spend my money. Thank you for all you do!
Thanks Nancy. They'll be a little less of this for awhile as there are fewer donations in a non-election year. But when the donations resume, so will we.
I'm with WM on investigating AT&T. They received a huge grant from the government to bring internet
and WIFI to rural areas. They wanted me to pay $200.00 for a
hard wired hookup in my home
home and $80/ mos for the service,
in addition to what I already pay.
I don't think that's part of the plan
for the underserved. 3 miles down
down the road from me is underground cable for internet and
WIFI, but it's a private business
and you can't use their access.
They also bill for 5G and we only
only have 2G here.
We will not tolerate a slap on the wrist for all of TFG’s crimes. We hear such things as, The J6 committee will recommend lawsuit but cannot require it! WFT? A deadly coup attempt can take place without punishment. What the hell is really going on with this massive delay in justice?
Why will J6 participants be seated in Congress?! There is an option not to, why are these people accountable for high crimes?
We need to get the message out that Medicare Advantage IS NOT part of medicare. It is insurance that can ruin medicare. I know Ro Kanna is working on something. This is nothing short of a con job.
On the side, I just got a new tv. We have no choice for cable but Xfinity/Comcast fir my building. I do NOT want Fox tv showing on my screen EVER. I want the right to choose and eliminate.
carriage fees that you and I pay keep tucker carlson afloat: https://popular.info/p/tucker-lachlan-and-subsidized-speech
Thank you for this. We do indeed fund far to many reprehensible things through taxes too. Why should our military be so gigantic when people need health care? I will be looking into getting rid of cable but my husband works from home and needs the internet which goes through them. As soon as we remove cable tv, the price goes up. They are such roaches!
And to not fund Faux thru fees!
Thank you Judd for your work on these topics I just wish there was a site or newsletter that concentrates on any and all good that’s happening in our otherwise awful world that keeps finding all the wrong in the world. I’m so tired of everything being corrupt, complicated to the point of no resolution and the constant regurgitation of negative information. Can’t we find the “right” in this world?
I keep trying to do this but get sidetracked on more negative stuff. Maybe I'm not the right person or maybe I need to try harder.
Do you as its working for all of us Judd...you uncover so much that I wouldn't learn about but need to know as a voting and conscientious citizen!.
It is more important to hear the truth so we can join together to fight these things. There are truly wonderful people all over the world helping people and trying to find ways to address climate change. The stories are out there, but we need information in order to eliminate the bad.
Sounds like an opportunity if you're up to writing.
Personally, I believe too many are not aware of all the 'wrongdoing' because of incompetent journalists, big media ownership and opinion programs pretending to be news so I appreciate this newsletter.
Agreed. I don't want to be distracted by "feel-good" stories. Give it to me staight and hard! Wait a minute. That didn't sound right.
Also…. Quality takes more than most allow for time/space. Too many lose interest if it takes more than a minute to read.
The nonprofit Yes magazine, https://www.yesmagazine.org, focuses on the solutions journalism you might be seeking. Most of the stories focus on individuals and communities doing good, with some coverage about governments or companies doing good
check out the newsletter, Future Crunch. They report on good news and advancements in science, tech, climate, health, etc while remaining clear-eyed about the state of the world and the work that remains to be done. In a media climate where "if it bleeds, it leads" there are legit positive updates and progress that doesnt get reported. Highly recommend Future Crunch! https://futurecrunch.com/
The Washington Post has a weekly "Optimist" newsletter that pulls together the good news articles.
But you have to subscribe.
Investigate the way CVS has been trying to undermine traditional Medicare, please.
Investigate the erosion of Medicare by Medicare Advantage (private) plans - which has increased exponentially in the last few years. This seems like an end run around opposition to Rep./industry elimination of the safety net for elders, AND fueled by the health care industry's opposition to Medicare for All. (added as a separate topic, below)
I grew up hearing no explanations, much less critical discussion, of the IMF and World Bank. As an adult it is still hard to find helpful information on how these institutions apply what Naomi Klein describes as economic 'shock therapy' to force democracies to cease public services and infrastructure in exchange for foreign investments (i.e. control of their governments and economies.) The reward for compliance is vast wealth for those in power, sometimes changing former freedom fighters, as in Mozambique, into oppressive billionaire elites. Those democracies which don't comply are gradually overthrown (Honduras 2009, Ukraine in 2014) or subjected to endless wars (Yemen) which then serve as weapons-testing labs for the Big Five (Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman and General Dynamics.) (Mnemonic: B.R.L.N.G., reminds me of here, Burlington, Vermont.)
The other note in my book is the need for a simple concept for climate change: the Earth is positioned between Mars (freezing, farther from the sun) and Venus (boiling hot, closer to the sun.) The effect of fossil fuels is to nudge the earth (figuratively) closer to the sun, beginning to be more like Venus.
Thanks for this periodic time to reflect, Judd!
The climate skeptic at the head of the World Bank? I can't even.
I would like investigative reporting into Senior Living Facilities to determine how successful or not at the various levels of care that they offer. Also, how are they regulated to protect seniors and what is their rate of satisfactorily providing the services they offer. What recourse is there to have them investigated by city, county and/or state agencies? Thank you.
Agree! And an overview / dissection pre / post Citizens United.
Everything that is being done to tamp down inflation is aimed at hurting the American consumer without any consequences for corporations that are raking in their highest profits in 72 years. This deserves a thorough investigation with special attention to the effect of consolidation of specific industries (food/agriculture, energy, media, etc.) on pricing power and the effect of virtually unlimited corporate campaign contributions to election campaigns at every level.
The media has missed the key issue justifying college student loan forgiveness. Students over the last 30 years have paid double of more the share of the cost of their education than older graduates because states withdrew their support and federal aid programs stagnated. By forgiving the massive loans we are simply fulfilling obligations we reneged on: a way for the society to gain forgiveness for past sins. A piece documenting these trends/ facts would be useful. I have that data. ps am giving gift subscriptions for the holidays but holding because I don’t want them to get their notifications until “the day”.
Judd you’re a rebel and I love it
Hi Judd. I would be interested on your take on Fox and carriage fees, specifically why this is allowed as Fox appears to be a specialized entity that some people greatly value and some people do not, much like HBO or any of those other specialty channels that fans of them have to pay for. Thanks and keep up the good work.
Talked about that a bit here: https://popular.info/p/tucker-lachlan-and-subsidized-speech
I have verizon FIOS & do not pay for FOX (it's elective) & do not get it!
How did you get out of paying for it and now do not get it??
When I signed up for Fios about 10 yrs ago picked 2 different channel packages I wanted plus some premiums & FOX NEWS wasn’t in my picks …. 😝
However- maybe they changed over the yrs.
How much money did Eiger give the Republican Party to get Disney’s preferred tax status back
Nothing that I've seen so far!
As consumers we need regulations, which businesses fight against, to protect us from corporations poisoning us, our environment, selling us dangerous products, and selling us things that don't work properly; Lemon laws. As workers, we need regulations, which businesses also fight against, to protect us from egregious abuse, forcing us to work in unsafe environments, and ensuring fair wages.
Corporations are predators and we're their prey. Why do we continue to allow their existence?