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Josh Hawley, of Missouri, has demonstrated that he’s one of the most dangerous men in the United States Senate. He took to the floor Tuesday, the day after a shooting massacre in Nashville that left three 9-year-olds and three adults shot to pieces. He said he would introduce a resolution condemning the massacre as a hate crime.
“I call on every member of this body to condemn, in the clearest of terms, this hate crime against this community in Nashville,” he said. “I will introduce a resolution explicitly condemning this massacre as the hate crime that it is. I’m calling on this body to condemn hateful rhetoric that leads to violence – against hateful rhetoric against religious believers, religious institutions, religious communities that leads to violence. This isn’t speculation. This is a tragic fact.”
Superficially, this seems unexceptional, almost familiar, as Hawley is borrowing from liberal discussions about condemning hate crimes that have been committed in places like Pittsburgh (Jews), Charleston (Black people) and El Paso (Hispanics). Not only that, because this is Hawley speaking, who’s one of the most daring and ambitious voices in right-wing politics, it almost looks like he’s joining the liberals.
READ MORE: All they care about is defending traditional hierarchies
He’s not.
What he’s doing is what merchants of right-wing politics do. They do not want to solve problems. They do not want to help people. The government is for neither. The government is for controlling people, especially outpeople, which is to say, people on the margins of our society. But to do that, the world must be turned upside down, backwards and prolapsed. To some degree, Hawley’s succeeding.
He’s one of the most dangerous men in Washington.
Fact is, the massacre of believers is committed by white men, almost totally, according to a new study of 58 religious massacres over 10 years by the International Commission to Combat Religious Racism. Many “openly declared their intent to protect the white race or to ‘defend’ their country against non-white, non-Christian ‘invaders,’” said Danielle Boaz of the Public Religion Research Institute.
In an opinion piece for the Religion News Service, Boaz said the study found that shooters were hardly “lone wolves.” They were part of a “larger conspiracy.” In half of the cases, Boaz wrote, “the perpetrators attacked or planned to attack more than one site. In total, nearly two-thirds of the cases involved a series of attacks, multiple perpetrators and/or affiliation with an extremist group.”
READ MORE: The GOP is the party of death
But the conspiracy is bigger than that.
The study found that support for the “arguments that are fueling racially motivated attacks on places of worship” are “overwhelming” among so-called Christian nationalists, meaning people who believe God gave them America to dominate everyone else in God’s name.
Boaz said the study found “10 percent of Americans could be classified as adherents of Christian nationalism and that nearly 20 percent are sympathizers.” Of white evangelicals, she said, “almost two-thirds are adherents (29 percent) or sympathizers (35 percent).”
“Large segments of the population refuse to believe white supremacy is an issue in the United States today,” Boaz said, and “many of them appear to share the beliefs of the perpetrators of these attacks.”
That’s a tragic fact.
But for Hawley to succeed, he must turn tragic facts upside down, backwards and prolapse. White Christians, many already believing America is being invaded by nonwhite, non-Christians, are the “real victims” of “hateful rhetoric that leads to violence … against religious believers, religious institutions, religious communities.”
In the dead Nashville shooter, Hawley has found his evidence.
The Nashville police chief said Audrey Hale was transgender. Whether that’s true is still an open question. Whether that matters to the investigation is, too. Nothing I have read about the massacre mentions her identity outside the police chief’s statement.
But that doesn’t matter to the people Hawley’s talking to. Right-wing politics already foams over trans issues. Trans people are already monsters. Audrey Hale adds a new layer. Trans people are now adherents to a radical ideology, akin to jihadism, that turns them into murderous terrorists. “This isn’t speculation. This is a tragic fact.”
Hale does more than that.
In right-wing politics, liberal values and democratic politics are already suspect, if not criminal, because they undermine the status quo or, in the case of gender politics, “the natural order of things” in which men are men and women are women. They change things using rhetoric to persuade a majority, in the case of gender politics, that trans people are real people with equal rights and freedoms.
In right-wing politics, things would be better if they shut up.
What better way to stop people from criticizing “the natural order of things” than by condemning “hateful rhetoric that leads to violence,” as Hawley put it? What better way than by outlawing what people say and how people say it in schools in the name of protecting kids against the brainwashing and indoctrination of “woke” teachers?
The government isn’t for helping people.
It’s for controlling people.
READ MORE: Bethany Mandel and the makebelievers
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There’s a dirty trick many employers use to keep workers from getting a better job.
Some 30 million Americans are trapped by contracts that say if they leave their current job, they can’t work for a rival company or start a new business of their own.
These are called non-compete agreements.
They block workers from seeing higher wages or better working conditions. And they enlarge corporate monopoly power by stifling competition.
But a sweeping new rule from the Federal Trade Commission would put a stop to these non-compete agreements.
The FTC estimates that banning them could increase wages by nearly $300 billion a year overall by allowing workers to pursue better job opportunities.
But non-competes aren’t just bad for workers. They also harm the economy as a whole by depriving growing businesses of the talent and experience they need to build and expand.
Experts argue California’s ban on non-competes was a major reason for Silicon Valley’s boom.
For several decades, non-compete agreements have been cropping up all over the economy — not just in high-paying fields like banking and tech but as standard boilerplate for employment contracts in many lower-wage sectors such as construction, hospitality, and retail.
A recent survey found that non-competes are used for workers in more than a quarter of jobs where the typical employee only has a high school diploma. Another found that they disproportionately impact women and people of color.
Employers say they need noncompete agreements to protect trade secrets and investments they put into growing their businesses, like training workers.
Rubbish. Employers in states that already ban these agreements (such as California) show no sign of being more reluctant to invest in their businesses or train workers.
The real purpose of noncompetes is to make it harder (or impossible) for workers to bargain with rival employers for better pay or working conditions. Workers in states that have banned non-compete agreements have seen larger wage increases and more job mobility than workers in states where they are still legal.
As we learn again and again, the economy needs guardrails — and workers deserve protection. Otherwise, unfettered greed will lead to monopolies that charge high prices and suppress wages.
America once understood the importance of fighting monopolies. Woodrow Wilson created the Federal Trade Commission in 1914 to protect the public against the powerful corporate monopolies that fueled unprecedented inequality and political corruption.
In 1976, when I ran the policy planning staff at the FTC, it began cracking down on corporations under its then assertive chairman, Michael Pertschuk.
Corporate lobbyists and their allies in Congress were so unhappy they tried to choke off the agency’s funding, briefly closing it down. Pertschuk didn’t relent, but eventually he (and I) were replaced by Ronald Reagan’s appointees, who promptly defanged the agency.
Now, under its new Biden-appointed chair, Lina Khan, the FTC is back. Its ban on non-compete agreements nationwide marks the first time since Pertschuk that the agency has flexed its muscle to issue a rule prohibiting an unfair method of competition.
The rule is hardly a sure thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if the radical-right Republicans, now in control of the House, tried to pull off a stunt similar to what the House tried in the late 70s. And corporations are sure to appeal the rule all the way up to the Supreme Court.
In the meantime, kudos to Lina Khan and the FTC for protecting American workers from the unfettered greed of corporate America.
This One Thing Would Increase Wages By $300 Billion | Robert Reich youtu.be
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Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Sen. Bernie Sanders are circulating a letter this week urging the Biden administration to "undertake a shift in U.S. policy in recognition of the worsening violence, further annexation of land, and denial of Palestinian rights" by Israel.
The letter, which was first obtained and published by Alex Kane at Jewish Currents, was written by Bowman (D-N.Y.) and is being circulated by Sanders (I-Vt.) in order to gain support from other senators. So far, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), André Carson (D-Ind.), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) have signed it.
In the letter, the lawmakers expressed their "deep concern" over the "rapidly escalating violence" perpetrated by Israeli occupation forces and settler-colonists against Palestinians. It notes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government includes people like Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Jewish supremacist security minister who "openly encourages and praises violence against Palestinians," and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who "responded to the recent Israeli settler attacks on the Palestinian town of Huwara" by calling for the whole town to be "wiped out."
The letter—which, unlike various human rights groups, does not use the term apartheid—details "shocking violence" that is the "bloody reality" for Palestinians living under illegal occupation in the West Bank.
"On February 22, a daytime raid by the Israeli army into the crowded Palestinian city of Nablus killed 11 Palestinians, among them a 72 year-old-man and a 16-year-old child," the lawmakers wrote. "On February 26, a Palestinian gunman shot dead two Israeli settlers outside of Nablus. Subsequently, hundreds of Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian town of Huwara."
"The settlers, accompanied by the Israeli army, set fire to homes, schools, vehicles, and businesses, killing one Palestinian and injuring over 300 Palestinians," the letter continues. "The local Israeli military commander called the attack a 'pogrom.'"
The letter notes:
This comes amid an already violent year. Israeli forces and settlers have killed over 85 Palestinians in 2023, including 16 children. At least 14 Israelis have been killed, including two children. The previous year was the deadliest for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 2004 and included the Israeli military's killings of two American citizens, Shireen Abu Akleh and Omar Assad...This Israeli government's anti-democratic mission to dismantle the rule of law is a threat to Israelis and Palestinians alike. In addition to explicitly hateful, anti-Palestinian policies, this government is attempting to destroy the independent Israeli judiciary.
The Israeli government's judiciary reforms—which earlier this week were put on hold amid massive protests—"open the path towards further annexation of Palestinian lands," in "violation of international law," the U.S. legislators noted.
The lawmakers urge the Biden administration to:
- Ensure U.S. taxpayer funds do not support projects in illegal settlements;
- Determine whether U.S.-origin defense articles have been used in violation of existing U.S. laws, including for a purpose not authorized by Section 4 of the Arms Export Control Act... or to commit or support gross violations of human rights by the Israeli government; and
- Ensure that all future foreign assistance to Israel, including weapons and equipment, is not used in support of gross violations of human rights.
The lawmakers' push was praised by organizations including the Institute for Policy Studies, Win Without War, and Jewish Voice for Peace, whose political director, Beth Miller, called the letter "an important call to action."
\u201cUSCPR is proud to sign onto this letter led by \n@SenSanders & @RepBowman. \n\nThis letter pushes action & accountability for the U.S.'s ongoing funding of the Israeli regime's human rights abuses against Palestinian people. \n\n#StopArmingIsrael\nhttps://t.co/N4YDS2CSDD\u201d
— #DefendMasaferYatta USCPR (@#DefendMasaferYatta USCPR) 1680112274
"Over 80 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers just since the beginning of 2023, and the Biden administration's statements of 'concern' mean nothing without action and accountability," Miller said in a statement. "Leaders in Congress who join this letter are following the demands of a rapidly growing number of Americans—including American Jews—who want to see the Israeli government held accountable for its decades of oppression of Palestinians."
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