The challenges ahead (Biden's America)

[N.E. Brigand]

Yuck. The head of the U.S. Border Patrol agents' union has been pushing the racist "great replacement" theory:

[N.E. Brigand]

The 5th Circuit just blocked a lower court's stay of this Texas law. If the law remains in effect, residents of Texas won't be able to access Twitter, Facebook, or other large social media platforms, because it's impossible for those platforms to comply with the law without running afoul of the law everywhere else. Although apparently the Texas law also says that the platforms can't refuse to provide service to users in Texas.

[N.E. Brigand]

Today was the final day on the job for White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who had been forthright from the start of Joe Biden administration that she only intended to serve for about a year in that role. She is leaving to take a position at MSNBC.

In sixteen months on the job, Psaki conducted 224 press briefings.

That's more briefings than were conducted by all four of Donald Trump's press secretaries combined -- that would be Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham, and Kayleigh McEnany -- over the course of 48 months.

[N.E. Brigand]

The 5th Circuit just blocked a lower court's stay of this Texas law. If the law remains in effect, residents of Texas won't be able to access Twitter, Facebook, or other large social media platforms, because it's impossible for those platforms to comply with the law without running afoul of the law everywhere else. Although apparently the Texas law also says that the platforms can't refuse to provide service to users in Texas.

Yesterday there was a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. The alleged killer, a white18-year-old man who espouses the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory pushed by some prominent American conservatives, traveled more than three hours from his hometown of rural Conklin, New York to shoot 13 people in a grocery store in a predominantly black neighborhood of Buffalo. Ten people died, including a retired police officer working as a security guard who fired on the killer to no effect because the killer was wearing body armor. (So much for the idea that it just takes a good person with a gun to stop a bad person with a gun.) The killer live-streamed his attack on the social media website Twitch, which has since removed the video.

But by removing that video, Twitch probably violated the Texas law mentioned above. Texas Republicans has explicitly blocked an amendment to the law that would have made an exception for terrorism. I wonder what the 5th Circuit judges would say about that. Someone who lives in Texas should sue Twitch.

[elengil]

Although apparently the Texas law also says that the platforms can't refuse to provide service to users in Texas.

How would they have standing to enforce that if they aren't based in Texas, though?

[N.E. Brigand]

Something good that doesn't seem to have gotten much press coverage: yesterday, President Biden signed a bill that bans the sale of crib bumpers. This is expected to save infant lives (a few babies accidentally strangle on them each year). The bill was introduced almost a year ago, passed the House as part of an omnibus package by a 218-205 vote in June 2021 (with all Republicans opposed), and passed the Senate by an apparently bipartisan voice vote (i.e., there was no vote count) two weeks ago.

[N.E. Brigand]

I have no idea where this belongs, but emails leaked by the not necessarily reliable Trumpist lawyer Lin Wood purport to show that in 2014, Fox News host Tucker Carlson asked Hunter Biden, the son of then-Vice President Joe Biden, to write a letter of recommendation to Georgetown University for Carlson's son Buckley, and Hunter, himself a Georgetown graduate, happily obliged.

It appears that Buckley Carlson ended up attending the University of Virginia rather than Georgetown and that after graduating in 2019, he interned in the White House and now is the communications director for Rep. Jim Banks, a Republican from Indiana.

Why Wood would have an email exchange between Carlson and Biden is not clear.

I had quite forgotten how Tucker Carlson in October 2020 claimed that a trove of "damning" Hunter Biden materials being shipped to him had "vanished" -- before they supposedly turned up again -- and then in July 2021 he claimed the NSA had been spying on him.

The Washington Post reports that these emails have been verified: Tucker Carlson did indeed ask Hunter Biden to write a letter of recommendation for Carlson's son.

Again I wonder: how did Lin Wood have these emails?

[N.E. Brigand]

On his social network today, former president Donald Trump appears to be endorsing the idea that the United States needs a civil war.

[elengil]

Honestly not sure where to even put this question.

I know when the pandemic was first hitting everyone freaked out and over-bought like... toilet paper and tomato sauce. But with the formula shortage (that yes, I understand is largely caused by a manufacturing plant closing down) but does this signal any kind of wave of good shortage again? Or is it almost certainly confined to just the formula?

We had a pretty good stocked pantry for the last two years but we've kind of let that lapse a bit as we eat out of it (at least we *are* eating from it) and not restocking as regularly as we had been.

Just wondering if those with a bit more forward-looking eyes have any thoughts on potential additional shortages to brace or prepare for?

[RoseMorninStar]

On his social network today, former president Donald Trump appears to be endorsing the idea that the United States needs a civil war.

el, to answer your question: what makes the baby formula shortage so serious/disastrous is that babies of a certain age cannot eat anything else. That is not true for many adults. If you (or anyone else) has special needs it wouldn't hurt to stockpile a small supply of medication or special food but the way I look at it is that the US is one of the most food secure nations in the world. If we are in that much trouble, I cannot begin to imagine what it will be like for people around the world. Food will get more expensive due to the shortage of food coming out of Ukraine, 'the bread basket of Europe', but we won't be effected as much as those who usually get grain and food oils (like sunflower oil) from Ukraine.

What caused the baby food shortage is somewhat unique to baby food regulation according to this article from CNET.

In addition to setting health standards, the US government also levies heavy tariffs on imported baby formula -- up to 17.5%, according to the Cato Institute. And as part of a trade agreement negotiated by President Donald Trump in 2020, Canada agreed to impose a $7.26-per-pound surcharge if its global formula exports surpassed 44,620 tons annually.

Additionally, I'd add that because one company has a near monopoly on a vital product -that is the real problem.

[RoseMorninStar]

Honestly not sure where to even put this question.

I know when the pandemic was first hitting everyone freaked out and over-bought like... toilet paper and tomato sauce. But with the formula shortage (that yes, I understand is largely caused by a manufacturing plant closing down) but does this signal any kind of wave of good shortage again? Or is it almost certainly confined to just the formula?

We had a pretty good stocked pantry for the last two years but we've kind of let that lapse a bit as we eat out of it (at least we *are* eating from it) and not restocking as regularly as we had been.

Just wondering if those with a bit more forward-looking eyes have any thoughts on potential additional shortages to brace or prepare for?

So after I wrote my earlier reply I've read that it's an active 'loop year' in the weather stream which indicates it can be a year in which there are often big storms (hurricanes). With supply chains the way they are it might not hurt to stock up on items that may be hard to get (medication, special needs items). I don't recommend stockpiling or hoarding, but it might not hurt to have a little extra on hand.

[elengil]

Honestly not sure where to even put this question.

I know when the pandemic was first hitting everyone freaked out and over-bought like... toilet paper and tomato sauce. But with the formula shortage (that yes, I understand is largely caused by a manufacturing plant closing down) but does this signal any kind of wave of good shortage again? Or is it almost certainly confined to just the formula?

We had a pretty good stocked pantry for the last two years but we've kind of let that lapse a bit as we eat out of it (at least we *are* eating from it) and not restocking as regularly as we had been.

Just wondering if those with a bit more forward-looking eyes have any thoughts on potential additional shortages to brace or prepare for?

So after I wrote my earlier reply I've read that it's an active 'loop year' in the weather stream which indicates it can be a year in which there are often big storms (hurricanes). With supply chains the way they are it might not hurt to stock up on items that may be hard to get (medication, special needs items). I don't recommend stockpiling or hoarding, but it might not hurt to have a little extra on hand.

Oh, no I didn't intend to imply I thought stockpiling might be in order - was more musing about the various shortages we'd experienced and wondering if anyone had some insight on potential future ones. But I realize a lot of times this is simply beyond knowledge until it actually happens.

Thank you for the insights, though.

[RoseMorninStar]

I didn't mean to imply that you (or anyone here) was a hoarder.

Because I like to cook, I am the type of person who tends to have a lot on hand. Not a lot of any one thing, but a little of everything. I did change things up with the pandemic however. I shop less often and buy more shelf stable food. When I do shop, I buy certain things to be eaten fresh that week and other items that keep longer (cabbage, apples, etc..) and then also dried fruit, dried potatoes/hash browns, (which I don't normally buy) and frozen foods. Having a bit extra flour, rice, oil, and other things that keep well isn't a bad idea. If you like sunflower or sunflower oil, that's probably going to go up because a lot of that is produced in Ukraine.

[N.E. Brigand]

A June 2018 article in the Toronto Star had this title:

"How baby formula may end up as collateral damage in Trump’s NAFTA war".

[Sunsilver]

Well, they got that right, didn't they?
Ye gods...

In the days before birth control and infant formula, my great-grandfather lost two of his wives to complications from childbirth. One upside to the lack of birth control was he had no problem finding a wet nurse for the two infants, both of whom survived and lived to a ripe old age.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

A June 2018 article in the Toronto Star had this title:

"How baby formula may end up as collateral damage in Trump’s NAFTA war".

And yet Trump is not the president that will pay the price for the debacle.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I moved the posts in this thread related to the shooting in Uvalde, Texas to our already existing Gun Control Debate thread.

[Sunsilver]

Okay, found them already!

[N.E. Brigand]

Although apparently the Texas law also says that the platforms can't refuse to provide service to users in Texas.

How would they have standing to enforce that if they aren't based in Texas, though?

The Supreme Court today, in a 5-4 decision, let a block on Texas's insane social media law remain in effect until the case is decided.

The majority was Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, Kavanaugh and Barrett.

Dissenting were Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and, separately, Kagan.

Kagan's dissent appears to have been on procedural grounds as part of her general opposition to the so-called "shadow docket."

But it appears that Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch may believe that the First Amendment requires large social media companies to conduct business in Texas.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

More bad economic news to weigh down Biden.

US employers added 390,000 jobs despite fears of slowdown

Oh, wait.