India’s bad boy pilgrimage for Hindu god of destruction 

SAFFRON FASCISM


By AFP
August 13, 2024

The Hindu sacred month of Shravan honouring Lord Shiva, god of destruction, has become increasingly associated with mob violence by saffron-clad devotees 

- Copyright AFP Money SHARMA

Arunabh SAIKIA

The Hindu sacred month of Shravan honours the god of destruction Lord Shiva, and in northern India, it has become increasingly associated with mob violence by saffron-clad devotees.

Analysts say the increase in violence, and the muted response to stop it by the authorities, is a reaction to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-first politics.

Millions of people mark the month by trekking — some hundreds of kilometres — to collect holy water from the sacred Ganges river and carry it home to shrines, a celebration of the monsoon rains and new beginnings.

Many are young and poor men, dedicated to their deity — but also partying and taking a break from tough day-wage labour for a rare few weeks of fun, blaring loud music and smoking strong cannabis.

They are known as “Kanwarias”, after the bamboo poles across their shoulders they use to carry the heavy containers of sacred water.

This year, after the month-long pilgrimage started in late July, lawlessness surged.

The pilgrims have been caught multiple times on camera running riot — seen in videos shared widely on social media and verified by AFP.

They include vandalising a fuel station for being asked to stop smoking, violent road rage leaving passers-by grievously injured, and groups of Kanwarias fighting among themselves.

Pilgrims insist that hooliganism is restricted to a few stray incidents, blaming devotees who over-indulge in cannabis.

“There are rotten apples everywhere,” 30-year-old Sachin Chawla told AFP, a Kanwaria puffing out clouds of fragrant smoke from a hand-rolled cigarette.

“Some people tend to get high and create a ruckus.”



– ‘Subordinate to the party’ –



Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has boosted support for the travellers.

In the country’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh — whose chief minister is a hardline Hindu monk and key BJP leader — top government officials showered flower petals on the devotees from a helicopter.

That came days after pilgrims overturned a government security car.

The Modi government has “put across the message that the state is subordinate to the party in power”, said Sanjay Srivastava, an anthropologist teaching at SOAS University of London.

“This messaging seems to be clearly understood on the ground”.

Many devout Hindus are vegetarian during Shravan, and in several BJP-run states, local administrations ban meat on pilgrim routes.

But this year, some went further.

Two state governments ordered restaurants to display the names of their owners, a rule that critics said was intended to divide restaurants by religion and target minority Muslims.

The order was later suspended by the Supreme Court.



– Ancient tradition, new popularity –



Rickshaw-puller Kamal Kumar had spent two weeks walking nearly 200 kilometres (125 miles) carrying 70 litres (15 gallons) of water in containers slung from a bamboo pole across his shoulders.

He had a day to go to his destination, a temple in the capital Delhi.

“I do it for Baba,” said the 20-year-old, using a term of endearment for Shiva. “Whatever I have, it is his doing.”

The number of devotees undertaking this journey is swelling by the year, according to official numbers.

Organisers estimate some 45 million people — more than the population of Canada — assembled in the holy Ganges-side city of Haridwar to collect water this year, a rise of 50 percent from 2017.

Most are poor, male, unemployed, or work precarious menial jobs.

The offer of aid from a god has resounding appeal in “an uncertain economy with large-scale unemployment”, Srivastava said.

“Everyone around me goes, so I also decided to go,” said Siddharth Kumar, a jobless 18-year-old who resides in a slum on the fringes of Delhi.

“I hope god does something for me and my family.”

Srivastava said more men now undertake the pilgrimage because there is a “broader climate of encouragement for participation in public religious activities”.

Popularity has been boosted within the context of “underemployed men’s activities, as well as a source seeking divine intervention for their precarious economic situation,” he added.



– ‘Holiday’ –



The pilgrimage allows the working class to briefly “occupy the centre stage”, said sociologist Ravinder Kaur, from the University of Copenhagen.

“It is as much an expression of vast class and caste inequalities that shape contemporary India,” she said.

For many men, the journey is as much an opportunity to bond with friends.

Less dedicated devotees skip the walk, crowding into open trucks or on motorbikes, playing thumping music.

“I went with my friends from the neighbourhood on our motorbikes,” said 23-year-old electrician Sunny Prajapati.

“Along with the chance to offer our prayers, we also get to go on a joy ride together –- it is like a holiday.”

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/indias-bad-boy-pilgrimage-for-hindu-god-of-destruction/article#ixzz8ircFEGEd

Seoul authorities find toxic substances in Shein and Temu products


By AFP
August 14, 2024


Authorities tested multiple items from firms including Shein, Temu and AliExpress - Copyright AFP Richard A. Brooks

Women’s accessories sold by some of the world’s most popular online shopping firms contained toxic substances sometimes hundreds of times above acceptable levels, authorities in Seoul said Wednesday.

Chinese giants including Shein, Temu and AliExpress have skyrocketed in popularity around the world in recent years, offering a vast selection of trendy clothes and accessories at stunningly low prices.

The explosive growth has led to increased scrutiny of their business practices and safety standards, including in the European Union and South Korea, where Seoul officials have been conducting weekly inspections of items sold by online platforms.

In the most recent inspection, 144 products from Shein, AliExpress and Temu were tested, and multiple products from all companies failed to meet legal standards.

Shoes from Shein were found to contain significantly high levels of phthalates — chemicals used to make plastics more flexible — with one pair 229 times above the legal limit.

“Phthalate-based plasticisers affect reproductive functions such as sperm count reduction, and can cause infertility and even premature birth,” an official from Seoul’s environmental health team told AFP.

One such chemical “is classified as a human carcinogen by the International Cancer Institute, so special care should be taken to avoid long-term contact with the human body”, they added.

Formaldehyde, a chemical commonly used in home building products, was detected in Shein’s caps at double the allowable threshold.

Two bottles of nail polish from Shein were found to have dioxane — a possible human carcinogen that can cause liver poisoning — at levels more than 3.6 times the allowed limit and methanol concentrations 1.4 times above the acceptable level.

Shein told AFP that they “work closely with international third-party testing agencies… to regularly carry out risk-based sampling tests to ensure that products provided by suppliers meet Shein’s product safety standards”.

“Our suppliers are required to comply with the controls and standards we have put in place as well as the product safety laws and regulations in the countries we operate in,” the company added.

Seoul authorities found sandals from Temu contained lead in the insoles at levels more than 11 times the permissible limit.

Temu did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.

Seoul officials have asked for the products to be removed from sale, according to a government statement.

“Products that exceed the legal limit are products that directly contact the body, such as leather sandals and hats, so citizens should pay special attention,” said Kim Tae-hee, an official in the capital.

“The Seoul Metropolitan Government will continue to conduct safety tests periodically and disclose the results.”

In April, the European Union added Shein to its list of digital firms that are big enough to come under stricter safety rules — including measures to protect customers from unsafe products, especially those that could be harmful to minors.

Shein and Temu have followed Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba in challenging Amazon, especially by making inroads in the US market.

Workers strike at world’s biggest copper mine in Chile

By AFP
August 14, 2024

Escondida miners on strike at the world's largest copper mine 

- Copyright AFP/File MARTIN BERNETTI

Workers at the world’s largest copper mine in Chile are striking after pay talks with Australian resources giant BHP fell apart, casting a shadow of uncertainty Wednesday over the market for the commodity.

The Escondida mine in northern Chile yearly digs up around five percent of the world’s copper, a coveted metal used in everything from electrical wiring to rechargeable batteries.

A global glut in copper stockpiles should blunt the immediate impact of the strike, analysts said, although there are fears it could start to bite if production is slowed for more than a week or two.

Australian-based BHP, which owns a majority stake in the vast open-air mine, said scaled-back operations would continue as non-union staff put contingency plans into action.

Production ground to a halt at the Escondida mine when workers downed tools for 44 days in 2017, costing BHP $740 million and wiping 1.3 percent off Chile’s annual economic output.

Encouraged by surging global prices earlier this year, union representatives have sought a bigger slice of profits for the 2,400 workers they reportedly represent at Escondida.

The union said it launched a “legal strike” over unmet demands that included bigger bonuses, shorter work days, and compensation tied to total years worked at the mine.

Media reports in Chile said BHP had offered a one-off bonus of nearly $29,000, lower than the $36,000 demanded.

The buoyant copper prices seen in May this year have sagged in recent months, with significant stockpiles of refined metal building in the depots of China and elsewhere.

“Total stocks at warehouses monitored by the exchanges in London and Shanghai have risen to levels not seen since the depth of the pandemic back in early 2020,” said Saxo Markets commodity analyst Ole Hansen in a recent research note.

“Instead, we have seen inventories monitored by the major futures exchanges continuing to rise at a rapid pace, signalling a period of a major supply/demand mismatch, primarily due to weak demand.”

BHP’s share price in Sydney dropped by around one percent by noon on Wednesday.

Nicknamed the “Big Australian”, BHP has been increasingly eager to snap up new sources of copper.

It was one of the driving factors behind the company’s ultimately failed bid to take over rival Anglo American earlier this year.

– Clean copper –

Copper, an electrical conductor used in wiring, is seen as a bedrock of emerging clean-energy industries.

It is a crucial component in the manufacture of solar panels, electric vehicles, wind turbines and rechargeable batteries.

Copper prices have increased about 400 percent in the past quarter of a century, and broke US$10,000 a tonne in April for the first time in two years.

Global demand is expected to grow by up to 2.5 percent a year.

The Escondida mine, meaning “hidden” in English, was named in reference to the bulging ore deposits obscured deep under the barren surface of Chile’s northern Atacama Desert.

BHP owns just under 60 percent of the mine, alongside minority partners Rio Tinto and Japan’s JECO Corp.

Chile accounts for roughly a quarter of the world’s copper, followed by Peru, China, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

burs-sft/arb

Mercedes-Benz Korea discloses EV battery makers after fire

By AFP
August 13, 2024

A Mercedes electric car charging station at a parking lot in Seoul. Mercedes-Benz Korea has released the names of its electric vehicle battery suppliers, bowing to public outrage after one of its cars burst into flame in a parking lot earlier this month. - Copyright AFP Anthony WALLACE

Mercedes-Benz Korea released the names of its electric vehicle battery suppliers on Tuesday, bowing to public outrage after one of its cars burst into flame in a parking lot earlier this month.

The August 1 fire damaged hundreds of vehicles and created a national panic, with car parks across South Korea imposing a wave of adhoc restrictions amid growing calls for transparency on battery supply chains.

South Korea is a major producer of batteries and electric vehicles, including local carmakers Hyundai and Kia, with EVs making up 9.3 percent of new cars purchased last year — higher than in the US.

“Although the analysis is still in progress, the CCTV footage suggests that this fire exhibits all the signs of being caused by a battery,” a spokesman at the Incheon Fire Department told AFP.

According to experts, battery fires are tougher to extinguish than conventional ones due to the thermal runaway effect — a chain reaction within battery cells.

The Mercedes-Benz model EQE 350 that exploded into flames had a battery from Chinese manufacturer Farasis Energy, Mercedes Korea disclosed on its website Tuesday.

Local media have shown dramatic images of the car catching fire, causing a blaze that destroyed 40 vehicles in the parking lot, with the fire department saying some 23 people were hospitalised for smoke inhalation.

Fire authorities are investigating the deactivation of the car park’s sprinkler system in the fire’s initial minutes, with local media speculating a maintenance worker may have thought it had been activated in error.

South Korea’s Office for Policy Coordination said Tuesday it would recommend automakers voluntarily disclose the battery brand information for all electric vehicles sold in the country.

“To alleviate the concerns of residents in multi-unit housing, it has been decided to conduct urgent inspections of fire safety facilities, such as sprinklers, in underground parking lots,” it added.

The government also plans to offer a “free inspection” of electric vehicles to ease any fire-related concerns among their owners, they said.

The incident has heightened concerns about the safety of electric vehicles, prompting some apartment complexes to ban EVs from underground parking and to shut down charging stations.

Other Mercedes battery suppliers include South Korean companies LG Energy Solution and SK On and China’s CATL, the company revealed Tuesday.

The fire has sparked a public demand for mandatory disclosure of battery suppliers by EV manufacturers.

Bangladesh court opens murder case against ousted leader Sheikh Hasina

Agence France-Presse
August 13, 2024 

Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during a press conference after the national election in Dhaka on Jan. 6, 2014 [AFP]

A court in Bangladesh opened a murder investigation into ousted ex-premier Sheikh Hasina and six top figures in her administration on Tuesday over the police killing of a man during civil unrest last month.

Hasina, 76, fled by helicopter to neighbouring India a week ago, where she remains, as protesters flooded Dhaka's streets in a dramatic end to her iron-fisted tenure.

More than 450 people were killed during the weeks of unrest leading up to her toppling.

"A case has been filed against Sheikh Hasina and six more," said Mamun Mia, a lawyer who brought the case on behalf of a private citizen.

He added that the Dhaka Metropolitan Court had ordered police to accept "the murder case against the accused persons", the first step in a criminal investigation under Bangladeshi law.

Mia's filing with the court also named Hasina's former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan and Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of Hasina's Awami League party.

It also names four top police officers appointed by Hasina's government who have since vacated their posts.

The case accuses the seven of responsibility for the death of a grocery store owner who was shot dead on July 19 by police violently suppressing protests.

The Daily Star newspaper reported that the case was brought on behalf of Amir Hamza Shatil, a resident of the neighbourhood where the shooting happened and a "well-wisher" of the victim.

'We don't deny this'

Hasina's government was accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus returned from Europe three days after Hasina's ouster to head a temporary administration facing the monumental challenge of steering democratic reforms.

The 84-year-old won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance, and is credited with helping millions of Bangladeshis out of grinding poverty.

He took office as "chief adviser" to a caretaker administration – all fellow civilians bar home minister Sakhawat Hossain, a retired brigadier general – and has said he wants to hold elections "within a few months".

Hossain said on Monday that the government had no intention of banning Hasina's Awami League, which played a pivotal role in the country's independence movement.


"The party has made many contributions to Bangladesh – we don't deny this," he told reporters on Monday.

"When the election comes, (they should) contest the elections."

AFP has contacted the caretaker administration for comment

Whitewashing the past: Students give Bangladesh a makeover

By AFP
August 13, 2024

Graffiti denouncing "Killer Hasina" proliferated on walls around Dhaka as the protests against her 15-rule intensified, and it is disappearing just as quickly - Copyright AFP LUIS TATO

Indranil MUKHERJEE and Luis TATO

Gone are the slogans of last week, demanding the “killer dictator” quit: if you ask Bangladesh’s youth whether they’re hopeful about the future, the writing literally is on the wall.

Students who led the weeks of protests that toppled autocratic premier Sheikh Hasina are back on the streets to give the capital Dhaka a makeover.

They are whitewashing walls to clear politically charged graffiti accusing her of murder and demanding her resignation at the height of this month’s unrest.

In their place, they are daubing elaborate and colourful murals hinting at widespread faith among Bangladeshis of a better tomorrow.

“We want to reform our Bangladesh,” Abir Hossain, 21, said as he and half a dozen classmates decorating a kerbside wall with the image of a bird flying out of its cage.

“We’re feeling proud,” he told AFP. “The bird is now free. We’re independent now.”

Students in paint-smeared shirts chatted and laughed with friends as they renovated the visual landscape of Shabagh, a leafy central neighbourhood that hosts the elite Dhaka University.

Colourful murals exhorted the public to “destroy the iron doors of prison” and celebrated Bangladesh’s “rebirth”.

“When the protests started, there were a lot of negative things written here,” Fiyaz Hossain, 21, told AFP.

“We are erasing them… so people younger than us don’t say them,” he added.

“We’re writing other things that they can say in the future.”

– ‘Shoot me in the chest’ –

Graffiti denouncing “Killer Hasina” proliferated on walls around Dhaka as the protests against her 15-rule intensified, and it is disappearing just as quickly.

“We want to deliver a message to the public that we have liberated this country from a dictator, and now we have to work together,” Nafisa Sara, 19, told AFP during a quick break from the paintbrush.

“The people will see that if the students and all of us work together, we can build the country,” she added.

But the impromptu public works project also shows that rancour towards the former leader remains widespread.

More than 450 people were killed in the unrest that ended last week when Hasina abruptly resigned and fled to India.

One of the murals depicts Abu Sayeed, a student shot dead in the northern city of Rangpur, the first student slain in a police crackdown on protests.

Footage of Sayeed’s last moments has been shown repeatedly on Bangladeshi television since Hasina’s departure breathed new life into a repressed media landscape.

The painting shows an image that has now been etched onto the national consciousness: the 25-year-old stretching his arms out wide in a defiant confrontation with riot police.

It is captioned with his reported last words: “Shoot me in the chest”.

A Dhaka court on Tuesday ruled that a criminal investigation for murder could proceed against Hasina, two of her senior lieutenants and four police officers for a separate police killing during the unrest.

The caretaker government that took office after her departure has yet to comment on whether it supports the case, or whether Hasina should return from exile to face some form of justice.

Student groups have in recent days held rallies to demand just that.

“She must be brought back to the country,” said Mohiuddin Rony, 25, “and she must face trial”.

In Colombia, hungry beetle larvae combat trash buildup

Agence France-Presse
August 13, 2024 

Larvae of the Hercules beetle (Dynastes hercules) can grow to nearly the length of a standard brick (Luis ACOSTA/AFP)

In the far-flung Colombian highlands, beetles are the secret weapon in an innovative project to combat the ever-growing problem of trash buildup.

Here, larvae of the enormous rhinoceros beetle eat through piles of organic garbage that would otherwise end up in polluting landfills.

But that's not all. The larvae poop is gathered and sold as fertilizer, and when the beetles reach adulthood, they are sold as pets to clients as far afield as Japan.

"The beetles have the answer" to rubbish disposal, said environmental and health engineer German Viasus, who runs the project in Colombia's central Boyaca region.

The concept is simple, cheap and, Viasus believes, an example that would be easy to replicate elsewhere in the world.

Each week, his facility in the city of Tunja receives about 15 tons of waste generated by some 40,000 inhabitants of neighboring municipalities.

It is piled up as food for the voracious larvae, which can grow to the length of a human hand.

Other larvae are held in tanks where they consume leachate -- a fluid produced by organic waste decomposition that can be damaging to ecosystems.

- 'Cutting edge' -


Official Colombian estimates are that the South American country produces some 32,000 tons of garbage every day -- more than 2,600 school buses -- about half of it organic.

Worldwide, some 11.2 billion tons of trash are generated each year, according to the UN.

With the landfill in Tunja fast approaching its end date, Viasus's larvae offer an alternative solution to a major headache.


The engineer stumbled on the idea by chance when in 2000, after a similar project using earthworms had failed, he found scarab beetle larvae feasting on the contents of a garbage bag.

The ones he has today are all desendents of those first foundlings.

The larvae live for about four months before starting their metamorphosis and acquiring their characteristic hard shells. The beetles have a lifespan ranging from a few months to about three years.


At this point, Viasus sells them to clients in countries including Germany, Canada, France, the United States and Japan -- where they are a popular pet.

Some find homes in Colombia, where many see them as good luck charms.

To avoid the fees associated with payments in yen, euros and dollars, Viasus teamed up with crypto wiz Carmelo Campos to develop a digital currency called Kmushicoin after the Japanese name for a horned beetle.


Today in Tunja, but also cities such as Bogota and Medellin, a handful of businesses accept the currency as payment.

"The world is so polluted, we are suffocating with this junk," electronics vendor Jefferson Bastidas told AFP in Tunja, saying he joined the initiative to aid the environment and place his business at the "cutting edge of technology."

das/lv/nn/mlr/des

Harris campaign hits back at Trump's 'unhinged' plan to empower police for deportations

Daniel Hampton
August 13, 2024

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. (Photos by David Becker/Getty Images, Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Kamala Harris' campaign hit back at her Republican opponent on Tuesday night, slamming his latest "unhinged policy" of seeking to empower local police officers to carry out his plan for mass deportations.

In a statement shared on the social media app X, the Harris-Walz campaign jabbed Donald Trump, noting it's been more than 10 days since he visited a battleground state, "but he finally stepped off the golf course for a series of unhinged interviews with Univision, Spectrum News, and of course, Elon Musk, all from his country club basement — with notes at the ready."

The Democratic campaign attacked Trump, saying even his advisers have noticed him becoming "'increasingly detached from reality,' spewing 'increasingly bizarre claims,' and spiraling into 'truth decay' 'that it's undermining his real-world campaign.'"

The Harris campaign called Trump's agenda "dangerous and bizarre," singling out his plan to use local police forces to "round up millions of immigrants" — and his plan to gut Social Security funding.

Trump told Spectrum News that local police would receive a prominent role in his mass deportation plan, giving them "authority" to enforce immigration policy. Trump also pledged to give officers "immunity."

"Our local police know everything about these criminals that have come into the country. They know their names and their middle name, they know where they live, what country they came from," the former president said.

"We’ll work with the local police and we have to get them out and you’re going to want them out and everybody’s going to want them out and you’re going to see crime numbers that are astronomical, because now they’re settling in and they’re getting comfortable," he said.

The Harris campaign then highlighted several moments — in just the last 24 hours — that it called "disastrous" for the Trump campaign. Among them:

- "Bizarrely" claiming that no one knows Harris' last name ("it's Harris")

- Praising the illegal firing of striking workers

- Repeating that Jewish people who don't support him should have their "head[s] examined."

- Outlining his Project 2025 plan to close the Department of Education.

In a statement, spokesperson Ammar Moussa said that in just two days of interviews, Trump mentioned plans that would "dismantle public education, gut social security and force local police to stop keeping neighborhoods safe so they can be weaponized against their own communities."

Moussa added that Harris and Walz have "a different vision" for the future — one that includes stopping Trump's Project 2025, lifting the middle class, protecting freedoms and growing opportunities.

GOP candidate suggests raising retirement age amid Social Security shortfall in new video

Sarah K. Burris
August 13, 2024 

Maryland Republican, former House of Delegates member Neil Parrott (Photo: Maryland House of Delegates)

Newly obtained video shows a Maryland Republican express support in 2020 for raising the retirement age to address a potential shortfall in Social Security benefits.

Neil Parrott, who is running for Congress in Democratic Rep. David Trone's vacated seat, told the Washington County Chamber of Commerce that the country needs to consider raising the retirement age to address a looming Social Security shortfall.

Speaking to the group in October 2020 in a video obtained by Raw Story, Parrott said, "Do I see a shortfall in the future? I do."

"And what plan of action we need to take, well, I think that we're living much longer — a lot longer than people anticipated when they started Social Security," he said. "And what we'll have to look at is raising the retirement age. It wouldn't affect people who are about to retire. I just turned 50, and I don't know if 65 is a realistic time to collect Social Security; that's drying up."

Read also: How Trump ends Social Security

Parrott has a history of votes that disproportionately impact lower-income seniors, including voting against providing subsidies and food stamps for seniors in need.

A bill he opposed in the Maryland legislature in March 2020 required "the Secretary of Aging to pay to certain low-income seniors up to a $1,500 subsidy from state general funds to help low-income seniors reside in assisted living programs; increasing, except under certain circumstances, a certain subsidy in effect for certain periods of time-based on annual growth in the consumer price index; requiring an applicable area agency to determine the amount of the monthly subsidy for a resident of an assisted living program and, in doing so, to make a certain deduction for personal expenses; etc.”

A second bill in March 2016 required "the State to provide a supplement to increase the total benefit to $30 per month to a household that includes an individual who is at least 62 years old and receives a federally funded benefit in an amount less than $30 per month under the food stamp program.”

He was also the only lawmaker to vote to classify bingo as illegal at senior living facilities in 2019 and again in 2020.

According to the Maryland Department of Aging, the state has about 6 million people living within its borders, about 23 percent of whom are over 60, according to 2020 Census data. It is expected to grow to over 26 percent by 2040.

April McClain-Delaney, his Democratic challenger, has spent the last two years working at the Department of Commerce as deputy assistant secretary for communications and information. She previously served as the director for Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that focused on technology and children.

See the clip below or at the link here.

GOP's attack on Americans' retirement savings just went to the next disgusting level

D. Earl Stephens
August 13, 2024 

U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) (L) celebrates becoming speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol on October 25, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

It will come as no surprise to the regulars around here that I have soured to the point where I can barely pucker up to the work being done by our corporate, national media these days.

My love affair with the profession I gave most of my life to has ended in hurt and disappointment. Our national press too often presents as incompetent fools who are more interested in being led around by the nose than they are sniffing out stories, including the biggest one of our lives.

Our democracy is under attack RIGHT NOW in America, but I bet if you took off and went running to find that reported in any of our newspapers of record in this nation at this very moment, you’d be hard-pressed to locate it in any proper form. There’s a political horse race to run you see, and anything that gets in the way of that, like the biggest story in America since the Civil War, is simply not fit for print.

Imagine my surprise then, while lapping up coffee Sunday morning and poking around all the likely and unlikely places for news, I came across what we used to called a “blockbuster story” in The Washington Post.

I’ll guess they have a paywall on the thing, so I’ll be glad to help you through it here. It’s a damn important story, and one of those you might want to politely shove in the face of that certain Republican in our life, who thinks their party, and the orange huckster who is running it into the ground, gives a single shit about them.

Fact: They don’t.

I was also surprised that when I went looking for the story to share 24 hours later, I had to scroll through several screens to find it. These damn newspapers are so anxious to get back to their horse race, they are putting their own game-changing stories out to pasture.

This one needs some stubborn attention and sharing, though, so let’s begin …

Headline: INSURANCE LOBBYISTS BLOCK FEDERAL CRACKDOWN ON COSTLY RETIREMENT ADVICE

It’s backed with this subhead: The financial services industry has blocked the Biden administration from requiring brokers to put retirees’ needs first — above lucrative commissions.

Here’s the lede. I have highlighted a few passages for emphasis:

"To protect older Americans’ life savings, President Biden pledged in October to crack down on financial advisers who recommend investments just because they pay higher commissions. Then the insurance industry got to work."

Here’s the red meat backing that strong lede:
"Lobbying groups representing New York Life, Lincoln Financial Group, Prudential Financial and other companies first pushed back against the newly proposed regulations before suing to topple them entirely."
"Now the government’s latest attempt to protect retirees is in political and legal limbo, facing the possibility that it may never take effect."
"It is the latest example of a pervasive pattern: As the Biden administration tries to impose new restrictions on powerful industries, those businesses successfully turn to (Republican) Congress and courts for a reprieve. This time, the resulting clash centers on a basic question: Should federal law require more financial professionals to put retirees’ needs above all else — including their own paychecks — when they offer advice about how to invest?"

This is stunning, folks, it really is, and another direct attack on retirees by Republicans and the courts who own them. I say again: Anybody who tells you Republicans care about protecting you from financial predators is just flat lying, and might have some golden sneakers they’d like to sell you.

Further, they have absolutely no problem preying on hardworking people who spent their lives working their fingers to the bone and would like a few years to enjoy the fruits of that labor before limping into the sunset.

That’s a lot of necessary metaphors right there to drive home a point: If you are in, or nearing retirement and are not voting Democratic, you are very much voting AGAINST yer own interests.

Back to the story real quick. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) was asked to comment on these heinous Republican actions, and said this:
“What they’re (GOP and these financial predators) saying is, the only way they can operate is by giving you advice that is not in your best interest. “If they hung that on their shingle … no one would go to that financial adviser.”


Dang, eh? Their success depends on screwing you.

Read that again:

Their success depends on screwing you.


So Republicans are busy little bees making it OK for your financial advisor to look you in the eyes and pick your pocket.

Back to the story:
In April, the Labor Department finalized rules that would subject a wide array of brokers to a higher legal standard, requiring them to act as fiduciaries. The effort primarily aims to protect the millions of Americans who leave their jobs, or otherwise need to roll over their retirement savings, and opt for tax-advantaged accounts such as IRAs — transactions that exceeded $770 billion in 2022 alone, according to federal estimates.
These savers face critical, one-time decisions about what to do with their money, and a miscalculation caused by conflicted investment advice could cut deeply into their retirement funds. But the Biden administration’s attempts to ensure Americans receive the best guidance have sparked immense political backlash, as financial services and insurance professionals try to avert what they see as costly, illegal federal mandates.
In July, the industries scored a string of critical early victories: Republicans in Congress took the first step toward invalidating the new rules, while judges in two federal courts blocked the government from implementing the proposal nationwide in September, as planned, potentially setting the stage for the regulations to be scrapped.


That’s a lot of evil to chew on, so here’s the nut: Republicans are actively working to protect these wolves, so they can eat YOUR savings. If this isn’t an abomination, I’m not sure what is.

Here’s some reaction to that crime:
Micah Hauptman, the director of investor protection at the Consumer Federation of America, predicted additional delays as the fight winds its way to the Supreme Court— adding to the high stakes for Americans who already face confusing choices about what to do with their retirement money.
“Conflicted advice is very costly to retirement savers,” he said. “It can mean the difference between tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost savings over time.”


Again I say: DANG. Because when this all gets to the bought-off, radical-Right Supreme Court, you KNOW which way this is certain to go.

No surprise, the corporate bastards either refused to comment for this story, or churned out fatty propaganda like this:
The American Council of Life Insurers, one of the organizations that sued (the Biden Administration), declined to comment. But it cheered the court ruling in an unsigned statement last month, adding that the new fiduciary requirements threaten to “deprive millions of consumers [of] access to much needed retirement financial guidance and protected lifetime income products.”

Sorry, but this is a projection in the highest order, so a correction: “The fiduciary requirement threatens to deprive these corporate predators of access to the retirement funds of these retirees so they can pad their own fat pockets.”

Again, the Republican Congress and their chummy courts are on the take, and it is all right there for everybody to see.

Here’s something else that everybody needs to see. There has been a lot of talk about the safety of OUR social security and Medicare. Republicans don’t seem to like these programs much because they’d rather feed the thieves I alluded to above more of OUR money.

Don’t believe me? Well, slide this fact in front of that Trump-lover in your family:

In Trump’s final 2020 budget, before he left the White House, he proposed spending $1.5 trillion less on Medicaid, $25 billion less on Social Security, and $845 billion less on Medicare.

Facts are, this convicted felon and fraudster WILL cut retirement programs if God forbid he ever gets the chance. He cares as much about you, as he does the truth, which is to say, not at all.

Look, for a variety of reasons, you have to be nuts to vote for a Republican right now. They probably don't care about you or our country. They probably care only about the filthy-rich bastards who are funding their campaigns and lifestyles and the bought-off courts who are protecting them.

Isn't that right, Clarence?


D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. Follow @EarlofEnough

Virginia Democrats do not support infanticide — but here’s why Trump keeps saying they do

Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury
August 13, 2024

Former president Donald Trump keeps saying that Virginia Democrats support killing babies. Though the false allegation has been fact-checked numerous times, he’s made the claim multiple times this summer.

He said it in the June presidential debate, on a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in July, and more recently during an Aug. 8 press conference at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida.

“Based on the [former] governor of Virginia, they’re allowing the death of the baby after it’s born,” Trump said of Democrat Ralph Northam, who was governor from 2018 to 2022.
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But infanticide is illegal in all U.S. states. Abortion, which terminates a fetus before it is born, is legal for any reason up until around 26 weeks of gestation in Virginia with limited exceptions for later abortions.

The infanticide allegation stems from a WTOP interview with Northam in which he described palliative care for babies born with severe complications and low survival rates — not abortion.

Palliative care is a type of care to keep dying patients comfortable. It’s typically applied to those dying of old age or terminal illness, but can be used for babies born with severe fetal anomalies.

Clips from Northam’s interview fed into the popular “no limits” or “moment of birth” narrative that abortion opponents have pushed over the years in Virginia and beyond.

“Because [Northam] never provided the full context of the issue, his comments were interpreted that way — and one could see why they were interpreted that way,” said political analyst Bob Holsworth.

How the national allegation took hold in Virginia

Flash back to the winter of 2019. Del. Kathy Tran, D-Fairfax had a bill that would have lowered the three-physician threshold of approval for abortions that occur later in pregnancy.

A sign outside a clinic that provides abortions in Richmond, Va. (Sarah Vogelsong / Virginia Mercury)

Abortions at or after 21 weeks of gestation are rare, making up 1% of abortions nationally. These types of abortions tend to happen later in pregnancy because severe fetal anomalies aren’t usually detected earlier through tests or ultrasound. They may also happen because a life-threatening emergency arises later in pregnancy.

Virginia law then and now also allows for instances where continuing a pregnancy would “irremediably impair” a person’s mental health too. During a committee hearing on Tran’s bill, Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, asked if the bill would allow for an abortion to occur if a woman were already in labor. Tran answered “yes,” though she later said that she misspoke.

Tran told The Washington Post “I should have said: ‘Clearly, no, because infanticide is not allowed in Virginia, and what would have happened in that moment would be a live birth.’ ”

Holsworth thinks Tran “botched the answer.”


“When Northam attempted to rectify the situation, he made it worse.”


Status of abortion rights in Virginia

Abortion remains legal in Virginia and next year Democrats will begin a process to enshrine protections in the state’s constitution. The measure will need to pass two years in a row with a House of Delegates election in between before it could appear on statewide ballots in 2026. From there, voters will give final approval or rejection.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that he thinks the matter should be settled on a state by state basis while Vice President Kamala Harris has made restoring federal protections a platform of her campaign.

Democrats are skeptical if Trump is being truthful in his states’ purview stance.

Project 2025, a policy guideline published by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, points to federal mechanisms to further restrict abortion and ban abortion pills nationally. Trump has said he doesn’t know “who is behind” the blueprint, though members of his previous administration authored portions of it. In a recent press conference, he did not rule out having the Food and Drug Administration revoke access to abortion pills.

Northam had explained how later abortions typically occur because of fetal survivability issues. He added that if a person were in active labor, a birth would occur.


“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered,” he said.

Then he added what has since percolated in messaging from abortion opponents in the years since:

“The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”


Though the allegation has been debunked multiple times over the years, it has taken a mythic and persistent root in political arguments.

Democratic Party of Virginia chairwoman Susan Swecker declined to comment when asked about Trump’s rhetoric of Virginia to national audiences and Republican Party of Virginia chairman Rich Anderson did not respond.
Abortions and palliative care needs will continue


Virginia abortion providers have reported a spike in out-of-state patients. And sometimes patients have had to travel up to Maryland.

Diane Horvath, an OB GYN, said her Maryland-based clinic is seeing more patients in need of later abortions. Her clinic provides the procedure regardless of how early or late in gestation patients are.

As surrounding states have near total bans or restrictions as deep as six weeks, patients are sometimes needing to travel to areas that can legally give them abortions. While some people may not know they are pregnant earlier in gestation, for others it may take time to arrange appointments, leave work, or find childcare.


Then in the cases of fetal anomalies that might inspire someone to seek an abortion, patients may not find out until after their state’s abortion limit. Some testing that reveals anomalies doesn’t occur until after 15 weeks of gestation and can take about two weeks to reveal results.

Horvath said that when parents are faced with severe fetal anomalies sometimes aborting the fetus can be the easier choice, while for others that might be birthing, then burying their child, who has died from natural causes after palliative care.

Horvath said to insinuate infanticide is “willfully misrepresenting an incredibly difficult circumstance that happens to some families when their baby has a lethal diagnosis.”

As abortion continues to be a political talking point, it’s the patient experiences she hopes lawmakers can reflect on.

“When you ban abortion at a certain point in pregnancy, it just pushes people further into pregnancy. Some people still need an abortion, they just have to work a lot harder to get it,” Horvath said. “That takes a lot of time and a lot of resources, and it’s just hard on people — nobody would do this unless they absolutely needed it.”


Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and X.

'No way!' Morning Joe hoots with laughter as Trump recounts 'Valley Girl' Putin chat

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Travis Gettys
August 13, 2024 




MSNBC's Joe Scarborough hooted with laughter at Donald Trump's account of a purported conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin that sounded more like the "Saturday Night Live" characters Wayne and Garth.

The former president sat down for a glitch-plagued conversation with X owner Elon Musk Monday night, and Trump claimed that he cautioned Putin against invading Ukraine — which led to an odd rehash of their conversation.

"It's just one of those things, and we would talk a lot about Ukraine," Trump said. "It was the apple of his eye, but I said, 'Don't ever do it, don't ever do — you can't do it, Vladimir. You do it, it's going to be a bad day. You cannot do it.' I told him things what I'd do and he said, 'No way,' and I said, 'Way.'"

Scarborough and "Morning Joe" co-host Willie Geist cracked up, comparing their supposed comments to the 1982 novelty hit "Valley Girl."

"Come on!" Scarborough said.

"A little 'Valley Girl' diplomacy," Geist added. "Wow."

"Who was that, Zappa – which Zappa, Moon Unit Zappa?" Scarborough said. "'Valley Girl'? Channeling Moon Unit there, pretty awesome. 'No way!'"

"He's so proud of his relationship with Vladimir Putin, just won't come off that position," Geist added. ""He loves the guy."

The Trump-Musk conversation was hosted on Spaces, the social network's streaming platform, but technical issues prevented many users from accessing the content at all and limited the live portion to audio only, although video released later revealed Trump sitting at a table at Mar-a-Lago in front of a painting of himself in a tennis sweater.

"How could you imagine that people wouldn't resonate to that picture of that dark room with Trump's hair and that weird portrait in the tennis outfit in the background which is just -- you talk about dystopic, I don't see how that's not turning voters on," said Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson.

"It's driving Trump crazy. He's searching and searching and trying to find a way into the conversation because he's just sort of babbling into the void. In a lot of instances and, you know, we've seen the recent times when he goes out in public and just says nonsensical and ridiculous and worrisome things, worrisome about his own mental health. I guess if you want to look at it, in political terms, maybe he was trying to get back the white dude vote, or to shore it up by doing this thing with Elon Musk, figuring that that was the demographic he was going to reach."

"Boy, you know, if you sort of babble for two hours into the void, you know, does it actually make a sound?" Robinson added. "I'm not convinced that it did."

Watch the video below or at this link.