Michigan Sen. Lana Theis, feeling the heat in a Republican primary race, took multiple shots against Democratic State Sen. Mallory McMorrow in a fundraising email campaign. According to screenshots of the emails shared on Twitter, Theis called Democrats like McMorrow “trolls” and “groomers” and accused them of sexualizing children for supporting education on systemic racism and LGBTQ+ rights. Theis introduced legislation to block transgender athletes from competing with the high school sports teams that correspond with their gender, according to the news nonprofit MichiganAdvance.com.
“These are the people we are up against,” Theis stated in her email. “Progressive social media trolls like Senator Mallory McMorrow [D-Snowflake] who are outraged they can’t teach can’t groom and sexualize kindergarteners or that 8-year olds are responsible for slavery.”
After McMorrow’s response to Theis’ baseless attack, Lauren Sue of DailyKos noted (4/19), “it’s safe to say the Republican senator picked the wrong Democrat to try to make an example out of.”
McMorrow’s response, in a speech to her Senate colleagues and shared on Twitter (4/19), reinforced progressive Democrats’ message that attempting to eliminate the histories of people of color and other marginalized citizens of this country will not be tolerated.
Because it’s worth it, read every word:
“Thank you, Mr. President,
“I didn’t expect to wake up yesterday to the news that the senator from the 22nd district had overnight accused me by name of grooming and sexualizing children in an email fundraising for herself. So I sat on it for a while, wondering why me, and then I realized, because I am the biggest threat to your hollow hateful scheme, because you can’t claim that you are targeting marginalized kids in the name of quote, parental rights if another parent is standing up to say ‘no.’ So then what?
“Then you dehumanize and marginalize me. You say that I’m one of them. You say, ‘she’s a groomer. She supports pedophilia. She wants children to believe that they were responsible for slavery and to feel bad about themselves because they’re white.’
“Well, here’s a little bit of background about who I really am. Growing up, my family was very active in our church. I sang in the choir. My mom taught CCD. One day, our priest called a meeting with my mom and told her that she was not living up to the church’s expectations and that she was disappointing. My mom asked why. Among other reasons, she was told it was because she was divorced and because the priest didn’t see her at mass every Sunday.
“So where was my mom on Sundays? She was at the soup kitchen with me. My mom taught me at a very young age that Christianity and faith was about being part of a community; about recognizing our privilege and blessings; and doing what we can to be of service to others, especially people who are marginalized, targeted, and who had less often unfairly.
“I learned that service was far more important than performative nonsense, like being seen in the same pew every Sunday or writing Christian in your Twitter bio and using that as a shield to target and marginalize already marginalized people. I also stand on the shoulders of people like Father Ted Hesburgh, the longtime president of the University of Notre Dame, who was active in the Civil Rights Movement, who recognized his power and privilege as a white man, a faith leader, and the head of an influential and well-respected institution. And who saw Black people in this country being targeted and discriminated against and beaten and reached out to lock arms with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he was alive, when it was unpopular and risky, and marching, alongside them to say, ‘we’ve got you.’ To offer protection and service and allyship to try to write the wrongs and fix injustice in the world.
“So who am I? I am a straight, White, Christian, married, suburban mom who knows that the very notion that learning about slavery or redlining or systemic racism somehow means that children are being taught to feel bad or hate themselves because they are white is absolute nonsense. No child alive today is responsible for slavery. No one in this room is responsible for slavery, but each and every single one of us bears responsibility for writing the next chapter of history. Each and every single one of us decides what happens next and how we respond to history and the world around us.
“We are not responsible for the past. We all also cannot change the past. We can’t pretend that it didn’t happen or deny people their very right to exist. I am a straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom. I want my daughter to know that she is loved, supported, and seen for whoever she becomes. I want her to be curious, empathetic, and kind.
“People who are different are not the reason that our roads are in bad shape after decades of disinvestment or that healthcare costs are too high or that teachers are leaving the profession. I want every child in this state to feel seen, heard, and supported, not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight white and Christian. We cannot let hateful people tell you otherwise to scapegoat and deflect from the fact that they are not doing anything to fix the real issues that impact people’s lives. And I know that hate will only win, if people like me stand by, let it happen.
“So I want to be very clear right now. Call me whatever you want. I hope you brought in a few dollars. I hope it made you sleep good last night. I know who I am. I know what faith and service means and what it calls for in this moment. We will not let hate win.”
AS PUMP PRICE SOARS, BIG OIL CEOS ENJOY WINDFALL PAYDAYS. CEOs from 28 of the top oil and gas companies enjoyed a combined $394 million in total compensation in 2021, including through “eye-popping” bonuses that together topped $31 million, Andrea Germanos noted at CommonDreams (4/25).
The analysis from Accountable.US, first reported by The Guardian, comes as inflation-hit consumers see gas prices soaring while fossil fuel companies stand accused of making “gobs of money” off the global energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The executives made, on average, $1.6 million more per person in 2021 than in 2020, Accountable.US found.
Among the CEOs singled out in the analysis are Exxon’s Darren Woods and Marathon Oil’s Lee Tillman, whose 2021 compensation included bonuses of $3.1 million and $3.5 million, respectively.
Thirteen CEOs, the report also found, got a combined total of $1,895,092 in raises from 2020 to 2021. That group includes Marathon Petroleum CEO Michael Hennigan, who saw a $114,583 hike in his base salary, as well as Occidental Petroleum’s Vicki Hollub, whose salary surged by $383,034.
“Americans will not soon forget that when they were struggling to fill their tanks, oil and gas companies made billions in record profits and decided to give that money to wealthy industry executives and shareholders rather than help consumers by stabilizing gas prices,” Accountable.US president Kyle Herrig said in a statement.
Herrig added, “It’s time for Big Oil to stop lying about the Biden administration’s energy policies and quit using inflation and the crisis in Ukraine to cash in and line their pockets at our expense.”
The findings followed an analysis released last month and conducted by advocacy groups Oil Change International, Greenpeace USA, and Global Witness that estimated that U.S. oil and gas corporations could collect up to $126 billion in windfall profits this year thanks to continued high global gas prices. ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, and ExxonMobil stand to be the biggest winners of the windfall, the groups found.
TRUMP’S BIG LIE RULES REPUBLICANS, AND TRADITIONAL MEDIA LETS THEM GET AWAY WITH IT. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy reportedly spent the weekend of April 24-25 doing damage control after audio leaked of him telling fellow Republicans he was thinking about telling Donald Trump he should resign after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Because, in retrospect, Republicans have decided that they’re all pretty much okay with the attempted violent overthrow of the government in which they serve and a physical attack on their workplace, Joan McCarter noted at DailyKos (4/25).
Trump already said he’s fine with McCarthy—and McCarthy wants to make sure that all his colleagues know it, since adherence to the Big Lie remains essential for all of them, from Utah Sen. Mike Lee to McCarthy. They’re counting on the traditional media to let them get away with it, and it will probably work. Because it usually does. McCarthy even now is glossing over his part in the insurrection by distracting the traditional media with a tried and true shiny object for a distraction: the border.
McCarthy is at the border April 25, with Marjorie Taylor Greene, no less. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) was another attendee. His texts to Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, trying to gin up false fraud stories to undermine the election were leaked along with Lee’s. Given the attendees (the truly odious Conference Chair Elise Stefanik [NY] is there, too) this is nothing more than a gross stunt, but it will probably work, both to distract the traditional media and to smooth any Republican feathers that his very brief Trump apostasy might have ruffled.
Take Rep. Michael McCaul (TX), the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He was on “Fox News Sunday” and touted the very “strong support” McCarthy is getting from Republicans. Asked if McCarthy will remain leader, McCaul said, “Absolutely. I think Kevin is in very good shape. In fact, [Trump] came out saying that this is not going to endanger his relationship with Kevin, that he’s strongly supportive.”
And then turned to the week’s talking points. “Putin invaded Ukraine,” McCaul said. “We have an invasion in my home state right on the border, every day.” As DailyKos’ Gabe Ortiz writes, ”Because when in doubt, blame immigrants.”
It’s all going back to the Big Lie and we, unfortunately, can’t count on the traditional media to hold any of them accountable for keeping it alive. How ironic is it that they are using Putin’s invasion of Ukraine this way, equating it with the US border situation, where thousands of people displaced by the threat of violence are looking for a safe place to land? When the Big Lie has it roots in Trump extorting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to manufacture lies about Joe Biden for the 2020 election.
The play here is to keep the base riled up on immigration, on all the culture war issues, on White supremacy, and on top of all that the Big Lie. It’s stunningly, horrifyingly ridiculous, and transparent that you can only imagine they’re doing it because they think it will work.
They think it will work because they have very good reason to—it always has. The traditional media is only too happy to follow the Republicans to the extremes and broadcast every bit of it because it’s easy and it’s guaranteed clicks. Trump always has been, and they’ll just keep going back to that well, regardless of the damage being done to the nation.
FULTON COUNTY, GA., GRAND JURY ASSEMBLES IN TRUMP PROBE. Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis was to begin selection of a special grand jury on May 2 to hear testimony about whether former President Donald Trump tried to illegally overturn the election results in Georgia in 2020, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reported.
Willis told the newspaper the special grand jury won’t hear testimony from witnesses until June 1. The reason for the delay, Willis said, was because she wanted to wait until after the May 24 primaries in the state—to avoid the perception that her actions are politically motivated. But Republicans can be expected to allege such motives, whatever Willis does, Charles Jay noted at DailyKos (4/19).
Willis said the nearly month-long gap would give grand jurors a chance to approve subpoenas for reluctant witnesses, and for the Atlanta-area district attorney’s office to serve the subpoena documents.
“I don’t want anyone to say ‘oh, she’s doing this because she wants to influence the outcome of this upcoming election,’” Willis told the newspaper. “The people will decide the outcome of this upcoming election. It will have nothing to do with this district attorney’s office.”
Among potential witnesses are Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Gov. Brian Kemp, and Attorney General Chris Carr, who are all on the May primary ballot. All three are targeted by Donald Trump-endorsed challengers, for their roles in certifying Joe Biden’s narrow victory in the state in the 2020 presidential election.
Raffensperger was the recipient of Trump’s Jan. 2, 2021, phone call requesting that he “find” enough votes to reverse the ex-president’s Georgia defeat. Kemp and Carr also received calls from Trump following the November 2020 election.
Recent polling has shown that Raffensperger, and possibly Kemp, may be forced into primary runoffs on June 21, which might delay their testimony, the AJC reported.
The special grand jury is authorized to meet until spring 2023, unless it wraps up its work earlier. So June could be a pivotal month in efforts to hold Trump accountable for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The House Jan. 6 committee has indicated that it could start its public hearings in May and they would likely continue into June.
Willis launched her probe 14 months ago, putting together a team of 10 prosecutors and investigators. In January 2022, WIllis was granted permission by Fulton County Superior Court judges to seat a special grand jury to assist in her investigation. Willis made the request because a significant number of witnesses had refused to cooperate with her investigation without a subpoena requiring their testimony.
CALIFORNIA BRIEFLY RUNS ON 97% RENEWABLE ENERGY. California’s energy mix was powered 97% by renewable energy on Sunday, April 3 at 3:39 p.m., the highest contribution of renewables to the state’s grid on record, David Knowles reported at Yahoo News.
Based on the performance of these energy sectors in 2019 and 2020, California now gets about 60% of its electricity from low-carbon, non-fossil fuel sources Juan Cole noted at Informed Comment (4/20).
Although the milestone lasted only for a brief time, it points to a future in which California runs on 100% wind, solar, hydro and batteries, a future that will certainly arrive even faster than the state plans. As it is, California is ahead of its green energy goals.
The implication of these plans is that California intends to phase out methane gas as a source of power. The state is also trying to electrify transportation. A world of 100% green energy and electric cars is not only a healthier and more comfortable world, it is a world where oil and gas dictators like Vladimir Putin are defunded.
Based on the performance of these energy sectors in 2019 and 2020, California now gets about 60% of its electricity from low-carbon, non-fossil fuel sources.
Over a third of the state’s electricity is generated by wind and solar, and between 14% and 17% by large hydro, depending on how severe the droughts are. Some 10 percent comes from nuclear plants.
The Golden State has also made enormous progress in garnering more battery power for back-up. By the beginning of this year it had 2.1 gigawatts in battery capacity, an 8-fold increase over the amount available in late 2019. Christian Roselund at PV Magazine points out that if we look at green energy projects in the pipeline, 533 of them are for batteries, aiming for 135 gigawatts. There are 282 projects that involve solar energy, aiming for 76 gigawatts. So battery generation is outstripping solar. Batteries are also key to providing electricity at night or when the wind falls off. Since they can scale up and down quickly, they are highly compatible with renewables.
A bill has been introduced in the California legislature by Henry Stern (D-L.A.) that would require the state to put in 6 new gigawatts of renewable energy annually, beginning in 2025. Sammy Roth reports at the Los Angeles Times that this is the pace necessary if the state is to get to 100% renewables by 2045. The state has only been averaging 1.5 new gigawatts of renewables annually for the past decade, so this measure, if adopted, would up Sacramento’s game substantially.
REPUBLICAN REVENGE ON DISNEY COULD COST SURROUNDING COUNTIES BILLIONS. Republicans who were enraged when Walt Disney World criticized the Florida legislature’s passage of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill passed another bill that dissolves the Reedy Creek Improvement District and five other special districts that gave Disney self-governing powers at Disney’s own expense. But that has local officials concerned that they will have to assume liability for up to $2 billion in debts incurred by the districts.
During a bill-signing ceremony (4/22) in Hialeah Gardens, Fla., Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) acknowledged that the measures were aimed at punishing Disney for defying him on the education bill, which was formally titled the “Parental Rights in Education Act” but was dubbed by opponents as the “don’t say gay” bill, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
The law would dissolve the districts on June 1, 2023, unless the Legislature re-establishes the districts before then.
If it is dissolved, the Reedy Creek district’s debt obligations, revenues and responsibilities would be transferred to Osceola and Orange counties and the small cities of Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake.
The legislative action prompted credit-rating agency Fitch Ratings to place a “rating watch negative” on about $1 billion in outstanding district debt. The district has about $79 million in outstanding utilities revenue and refunding bonds and approximately $766 million in outstanding ad valorem tax bonds, according to an alert issued by Fitch. The district’s various debt ratings range from A to AA-, Fitch said.
DeSantis brushed off financial concerns. “We’re going to take care of all that. Don’t worry. We have everything thought out. Don’t let anyone tell you that somehow Disney is going to get a tax cut out of this. They’re going to pay more taxes as a result of that,” he said.
Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph told News 6 that if the district goes away, the county will potentially take on $1 billion to $2 billion in bond debt, which has to come from somewhere, Orlando Weekly reported.
“If Reedy Creek is dissolved, my guess would be Orange County would have to raise property taxes 15 to 20 percent,” Randolph said. “Now that’s not your whole tax bill, right, because your tax bill involves school and other things, but your Orange County government portion of your tax bill will probably have to go up 15 to 20 percent to take on that cost.”
Former Republican strategist Rick Wilson tweeted: “A powerful politician with a passionate following takes action against corporations that don’t bend the knee to his ideological demands.
“So government is used to intimidate and threaten. Rights are taken. Property seized.
“Sound familiar? His name was Fidel Castro.”
LEGAL CANNABIS REDUCES PRESCRIPTION DRUG DEMAND. Legalizing recreational marijuana lowers demand for prescription drugs through state Medicaid programs, according to a new study by researchers in New York and Indiana, Brett Wilkins reported at CommonDreams (4/19).
“Our results suggest substitution away from prescription drugs and potential cost savings for state Medicaid programs.”
Shyam Raman, a doctoral student at the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, and Indiana University doctoral student Ashley Bradford reviewed quarterly data for all Medicaid prescriptions from 2011 to 2019 to analyze the association between recreational cannabis laws and prescription drug use.
In an article published last week in the journal *Health Economics*, the researchers wrote that “we find significant reductions in the volume of prescriptions within the drug classes that align with the medical indications for pain, depression, anxiety, sleep, psychosis, and seizures.”
“Our results suggest substitution away from prescription drugs and potential cost savings for state Medicaid programs,” they added.
Previous studies have shown reductions in prescription drug use in states with medical marijuana laws. For example, a 2020 paper by researchers at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center revealed a 20% drop in certain opioid prescriptions in states where medical cannabis use was legal compared with states that prohibited it.
However, this is one of the first studies to examine the impact of legal recreational marijuana on a wide range of prescription medications, according to Cornell Chronicle.
“These results have important implications,” Raman told the paper. “The reductions in drug utilization that we find could lead to significant cost savings for state Medicaid programs. The results also indicate an opportunity to reduce the harm that can come with the dangerous side effects associated with some prescription drugs.”
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, marijuana is legal for adult recreational use in 18 states plus the District of Columbia, while 37 states have legalized medical cannabis. On April 1, the US House of Representatives voted to decriminalize the plant nationwide and expunge federal cannabis convictions and arrests. However, the measure faces an uphill battle in the Senate.
From The Progressive Populist, May 15, 2022
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