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MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
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and Update: Reddit Intervenes. By Ethan Gatch @ Kotaku.com, Feb. 4
A couple weeks ago, most people hadn’t ever heard of WallStreetBets, the edgelord Reddit hangout for renegade investors and amatuer traders. Now it’s blown up to over 8.5 million users, and a war has broken out between the old mods and the new for control over the community and its future.
“Big drama going down in WallStreetBets right now,” The New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz tweeted out earlier today. “Retired old mods have come out of inactivity and kicked the current mods out now that there’s movie deals/media attn. Everyone is rallying in the test subreddit that the “active” mods still control.”
Overnight, WallStreetBets moderator zjz, one of most active mods in recent weeks as it exploded in popularity, posted a now deleted thread on the subreddit titled “wallstreetbets will die soon unless the admins save us.” It went on to charge earlier mods who had previously laid dormant of coming back to try and usurp control of the community to profit off the attention but did not call anyone out by name [....]
just noticed while over at WaPo that this is the # 1 most read op-ed there right now as of 7 pm EST; was published yesterday morning, Feb. 5 at 8:00 a.m. EST
The worst-governed state — Illinois had triple the population loss of the state with the second-highest out-migration between 2010 and 2020 — is contemplating another incentive for flight. On Feb. 16, a joint committee of the state legislature will decide whether to turn into a legal requirement the State Board of Education’s recommendation that — until a slight rewording — would mandate that all public-school teachers “embrace and encourage progressive viewpoints and perspectives.” If the board’s policy is ratified, Illinois will become a place congenial only for parents who are comfortable consigning their children to “education” that is political indoctrination, audaciously announced and comprehensively enforced.
Imposing uniformity of thought is the board of education’s agenda for “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading” (CRTL). This builds upon Illinois’ 2015 law requiring teachers to implement “action civics,” which means leading their pupils in activism on behalf of various causes. CRTL would make explicit that only woke causes are worthy causes.
Fortunately, a member of the state legislature’s joint committee, Rep. Steve Reick (R), is resisting CRTL. He notes that it will further burden teachers with mandates, and diminish teachers’ autonomy and hence job satisfaction, during the state’s teacher shortage: [....]
In recent days, hundreds of migrant families have been released into the United States by Border Patrol agents. Thousands more are hoping for a chance to enter under looser policies.
By Miriam Jordan and Max Rivlin-Nadler @ NYTimes.com, Feb. 6, 1:36 p.m. ET
LOS ANGELES — President Biden’s first immigration crisis has already begun as thousands of families have surged toward the southwestern border in recent weeks, propelled by expectations of a friendlier reception and by a change in Mexican policy that makes it harder for the United States to expel some of the migrants.
More than 1,000 people who had been detained after crossing have been released into the country in recent days in a swift reversal from the Trump administration’s near shutdown of the border. Many more people are gathering on the Mexican side, aggravating conditions there and testing America’s ability and willingness to admit migrants during a pandemic.
New families every day have been collecting in Mexican border towns, sleeping in the streets, under bridges and in dry ditches, according to lawyers and aid groups working along the border. On Thursday in Mexicali, across from Calexico, Calif., desperate migrants could be seen trying to scale a border fence. A migrant camp in Matamoros, Mexico, just across a bridge from Texas, has boomed to 1,000 people over the past few weeks.
To guard against the coronavirus, health authorities in San Diego have arranged housing for hundreds of arriving migrants in a downtown high-rise hotel, where they are being quarantined before being allowed to join family or friends in the interior of the United States [....]
If you’re a leftie who is snorting right now, ask yourself whether you’d be happy living in a world where people saw you as nothing more than the sum of your political views.
...USTR also noted that South Korea's trade minister -- whom the Trump administration supported -- had abandoned her bid to head the WTO earlier Friday. Yoo Myung-hee consulted with the United States -- her primary backer -- and other major countries and "decided to renounce her candidacy", South Korea's trade ministry said in a statement. The process to name a successor for Roberto Azevedo, who stepped down last August, had been deadlocked for months...
Jeffrey Spaide shot and killed his neighbors in Plains Township, Pennsylvania, over a snow removal dispute, prosecutors said.
By Wilson Wong @ NBCNews.com, Feb. 3
[....] The video shows that the Goys shoveled snow from their parking spots, pushed it across the street and threw it onto Spaide’s property. After Spaide asked the couple to stop throwing snow onto his property, the neighbors got into an argument where they appear to have exchanged obscene gestures and expletives.
Prosecutors said James Goy threatened Spaide and cocked his fist, prompting Spaide to retreat into his home and return outside with a pistol.
While the Goys acknowledged he had a gun, prosecutors said they continued to shout names at him from the middle of the street. Spaide opened fire and shot the Goys before returning to his home to get another gun to deal the killing blow, according to prosecutors.
After killing his neighbors, Spaide went back inside his home where he shot himself as police pulled up to the scene, prosecutors said [....]
....The concept is also starting to percolate with politicians, with New York City mayoral hopeful — and techie — Andrew Yang making it part of his platform....
Our review of federal cases suggests that many of those in the mob were not organized, but some groups, like the Proud Boys, came prepared for battle.
By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Grace Ashford, Denise Lu, Eleanor Lutz, Alex Leeds Matthews and Karen Yourish @ NYTimes.com, Feb. 4, has pictures of each when available with names and charges
26 are charged with conspiracy crimes or assault
43 are charged with interference with law enforcement, weapons crimes, threats or property crimes but not conspiracy or assault
107 are charged with trespassing or disrupting Congress only
In the weeks since the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, federal prosecutors have announced criminal charges against more than 175 people — less than a quarter of those involved in the melee, but enough to provide a rough portrait of the mob and the sprawling investigation into its actions.
At least 21 of those charged so far had ties to militant groups and militias, according to court documents and other records. At least 22 said they were current or former members of the military. More than a dozen were clear supporters of the conspiracy theory QAnon. But a majority expressed few organizing principles, outside a fervent belief in the false assertion that President Donald J. Trump had won re-election.
The accused came from at least 39 states, as far away as Hawaii. At least three were state or local officials, and three were police officers. Some were business owners; others were unemployed or made their living as conservative social media personalities. Many made comments alluding to revolution and violence, while others said the protests had been largely peaceful.
A New York Times review of federal cases through the end of January suggests that many of those in the horde were likely disorganized, but some groups and individuals came to the events of Jan. 6 trained and prepared for battle. The early charges set the stage for those to come as the Justice Department promises to prosecute even those accused of misdemeanor trespass and also devotes resources to more serious crimes, like conspiracy and homicide [.....]
Remember reading up on the madrassa problem back in the Bush years? The world hasn't seen anything yet on the tribalism front if we go much longer without public schools:
By Noelle Crombie @ The Oregonian/Oregon Live, Feb. 1
A 19-year-old man, accused of tossing an explosive through a broken window of the downtown Portland federal courthouse in July and injuring a deputy U.S. marshal, was killed Sunday in Portland, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
Isaiah Jason Maza Jr. was fatally stabbed in the 100 block of Northeast 120th Avenue, according to the source [....] Officers were called to the scene about 5:30 p.m. and found Maza dead.
In August, Maza appeared in the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse on allegations of assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon and depredation of federal government property.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Sussman described Maza as a “very dangerous man” who was caught on video tearing plywood off the window. He is then seen lighting the fuse, dropping the hand-sized explosive device inside the lobby of the courthouse “then watching with his cellphone for the explosion.”
At the time of the July 22 incident, Maza was on pretrial release from a state first-degree criminal mischief charge. That charge was still pending at the time of his death.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Susan Russell at the time said Maza was working on credits to complete his high school diploma after having previously attended Rosemary Anderson High School. He was living with his mother, had a 2-year-old child and worked at Home Depot. She told the court he was undergoing counseling for post traumatic stress and anxiety [....]
By Caroline Kelly & Jason Hoffman @ CNN.com, Feb. 2
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived at the US Capitol late Tuesday night to pay their respects to fallen US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, whose remains are lying in honor in the building's famous Rotunda, less than four weeks after he died after responding to the riot that erupted in the building.
In an appearance lasting a few minutes, the President and first lady entered the Rotunda, where several US Capitol police officers were stationed including two officers flanking Sicknick's remains.
Biden placed his hand on the table displaying Sicknick's remains before he and the first lady each placed their hands over their hearts and Biden crossed himself. The Bidens then stood in front of memorial wreaths before again placing their hands over their hearts and exiting the Rotunda.
The somber ceremonial arrival began at 9:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday at the East Front of the Capitol with Sicknick's remains arriving in a hearse. A Capitol Police officer carried the box containing his remains up the steps as police officers stood at attention outside the building that had been ransacked by insurrectionists almost a month before.
The viewing for Sicknick began at 10 p.m. and was set to last overnight. A ceremony is set to take place on Wednesday [....].
...as part of a violent crimes against children case, according to a statement from FBI Miami Special Agent...