June 6, 2022

'I see this money as not mine': the people giving away fortunes from slavery and fossil fuels

Morgan Curtis’s life story is the American Dream in reverse. Her, great, great grandfather was a banker in early 1800s New York – he invested in railroads, while his brother invested in Central American mines. The family wealth grew as it passed through the generations, and Curtis’s father added to the pile as a management consultant for “major” firms. Naturally, Curtis had a gilded childhood: educated in west London private schools; going on annual Swiss ski holidays; her own pony. But today, Curtis, now 30, lives on a farm in California with 40 other people. She lives on $25,000 (£20,000) a year.

Curtis did not make bad investments, or lose the family money in Las Vegas. She has chosen to give up 100% of her inheritance and 50% of the income she earns as a coach, “redistributing” it to grassroots social movements, Black liberation organisations, indigenous land projects and climate justice groups. She has even created a publicly accessible, colour-coded spreadsheet listing her annual donations.

This is because Curtis’s banker ancestor didn’t start with nothing – and Curtis is keenly aware that the American Dream for some means an American nightmare for others. Her great, great, great, great (that’s an extra great) grandfather owned a cotton mill in New York that she says “can’t be disconnected from plantation labour”, while her grandmother’s grandfather had an 11,000-acre sugar plantation in Cuba. “My ancestors made harmful and immoral choices, participating in slavery and colonisation,” she says, “And so I see this money as not mine; as belonging to those communities who had their land and labour stolen from them.”

We are at the beginning of a phenomenon nicknamed the Great Wealth Transfer. According to financial services group Sanlam, in the next decade, millennials will inherit £327bn from their parents. The trouble is, not everyone wants this money. A small but seemingly growing subset of young people feel guilt and shame about their inheritances – in response, some seek therapy, some seek drugs and others seek social change. Last year, one man made the mistake of seeking Twitter.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/05/the-guilty-rich-who-are-giving-away-their-money
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Not an uncommon thing. Frequently when you get to the fourth generation of wealthy families, you find that generation going into public service also

June 6, 2022

Legal claims shed light on founder of faith group tied to Amy Coney Barrett

The founder of the People of Praise, a secretive charismatic Christian group that counts supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett as a member, was described in a sworn affidavit filed in the 1990s as exerting almost total control over one of the group’s female members, including making all decisions about her finances and dating relationships.

The court documents also described alleged instances of a sexualized atmosphere in the home of the founder, Kevin Ranaghan, and his wife, Dorothy Ranaghan.

The description of the Ranaghans and accusations involving their intimate behavior were contained in a 1993 proceeding in which a woman, Cynthia Carnick, said that she did not want her five minor children to have visitations with their father, John Roger Carnick, who was then a member of the People of Praise, in the Ranaghan household or in their presence, because she believed it was not in her children’s “best interest”. Cynthia Carnick also described inappropriate incidents involving the couple and the Ranaghan children. The matter was eventually settled between the parties.

Barrett, 50, lived with Dorothy and Kevin Ranaghan in their nine-bedroom South Bend, Indiana, home while she attended law school, according to public records. The justice – who was then known as Amy Coney – graduated from Notre Dame Law School in 1997 and two years later married her husband, Jesse Barrett, who also appears to have lived in the Ranaghan household. There is no indication that Amy Coney Barrett lived in the house at the time when the Carnick children were visiting or witnessed any of the alleged behavior described in the court documents.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/06/people-of-praise-accused-child-abuse-amy-coney-barrett

June 6, 2022

Is It Time for Me to Leave America?

Wajahat Ali

Is it time to leave?

I’ve caught myself asking my wife this question several times over the past year. We were both born and raised in America, a country of opportunity for our immigrant parents who left Pakistan with little more than hope and belief in a dream that anyone, even brown-skinned Muslims, with some luck and hard work, could make it and be accepted. But that dream is becoming a nightmare.

If you’re a person of color, it seems foolish and reckless to not, at least, have an exit plan when looking at the political and cultural landscape.

This is not a flippant or hyperbolic thought exercise, and I’m not the only one to increasingly ponder the question: “Where else can we go when this country turns on us?”

Earlier this week, New York Times journalist Farnaz Fassihi was trolled and harassed on Twitter for simply stating the following: “I’m a child of immigrants. When I was a kid, everyone I knew wished they could raise their children in America, now, everyone I know wishes they could raise their children outside of America.”

If you’ve traveled and talked to people over the past few years, her statement wasn’t extraordinary, it’s a sadly common utterance. Most people around the world aren’t rejoicing at America’s self-inflicted downfall, they’re looking at us with pity, sadness, and a desperate hope that we get our shit together. After all, the United States is still the most powerful and wealthy country in the world, and a doorstop against rising authoritarianism.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/is-it-time-for-me-to-leave-america?ref=home
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Long and thoughtful piece by a journalist I admire. I've asked myself the same question, and I'm white.

June 6, 2022

Exclusive: Nationalist faction within the White House feuded with Mark Meadows amid plot to keep Tru

Exclusive: Nationalist faction within the White House feuded with Mark Meadows amid plot to keep Trump in power

Peter Navarro, President Trump’s former trade advisor was indicted for contempt of Congress on Friday due to his refusal to cooperate with the January 6th Committee, which has signaled interest in his communications with the president.

Less attention has been paid to Garrett Ziegler, a Navarro aide and zealous Trump loyalist who both supported his boss’ efforts and coordinated with a network of outside operatives who were promoting an onslaught of false claims about election fraud and legally dubious schemes to preserve Trump’s hold on power.

Ziegler received an email from the senior investigative counsel for the committee, which is scheduled to begin public hearings on June 9, requesting a meeting to discuss information he might have that is relevant to the congressional investigation.

Among his extensive efforts from his office at the White House, Ziegler facilitated a now-infamous late-night meeting on Dec. 18, 2020 in which attorney Sidney Powell, retired Lt. General Michael Flynn and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne tried to persuade President Trump to order the National Guard to seize voting machines and re-running elections in six battleground states he lost to Joe Biden.

Ziegler used his White House Worker and Visitor Entry System, or WAVES pass to let Powell, Flynn and Byrne into the White House, allowing them to hold an impromptu meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, as he later recounted in an interview with fellow election denier David Clements. Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone were caught by surprise by the meeting, which reportedly descended into a shouting match. Ziegler’s efforts bypassed protocol for White House meetings, and he said when it was discovered that he had let the plotters into the White House, his visitor’s privileges were revoked.

https://www.rawstory.com/garrett-ziegler/
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I tend to take RS with a grain of salt, but this one looks legit, and it's full-length. Go and see.

June 5, 2022

Rep. Liz Cheney calls Jan. 6 Capitol attack a 'conspiracy' and says threat is 'ongoing'

Just days away from the first congressional hearing on the events of Jan. 6, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., called the Capitol attack a "conspiracy" and described its fallout as an "ongoing threat."

"It is extremely broad. It's extremely well-organized. It's really chilling," Cheney said on "CBS Sunday Morning."

The Wyoming lawmaker suggested the willingness of many Republican Party members to turn a blind eye to former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the election in hopes of staying in his favor has, in part, created a "personality cult" around Trump, shielding him from facing consequences.

"We have too many people now in the Republican Party who are not taking their responsibility seriously and who have pledged their allegiance and loyalty to Donald Trump," Cheney said. "It is fundamentally antithetical — it is contrary to everything conservatives believe — to embrace a personality cult. And yet, that is what so many in my party are doing today."

Cheney called out House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, in particular, alleging that the top House Republican has chosen to embrace more hateful sects of his party and has "turned his back on the Constitution" in hopes of becoming the next House speaker.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/06/05/liz-cheney-jan-6-capitol-riot-conspiracy/7521830001/
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Never thought I'd support a Cheney, considering how much I hate their dad, but damn, girl! As my daughter says, Liz plays the long game.

June 4, 2022

More info on man who shot WI judge

A retired Juneau County judge who was gunned down in his home Friday morning had sentenced his alleged killer to six years in prison for armed burglary and other weapons charges in 2005, online court records show.

Douglas K. Uhde, 56, shot and killed John Roemer, 68, after entering the judge's home in the town of Lisbon around 6:30 a.m., the state Department of Justice said in a statement Saturday.

Law enforcement tried to negotiate with Uhde before entering the residence around 10:15 a.m., the DOJ said. In the home, they found Roemer dead and zip-tied to a chair and Uhde in the basement with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Uhde was taken to the hospital and remains in critical condition, the DOJ said.

Investigators have said Uhde planned to target other government officials and found a list in his vehicle that included Roemer, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, said the official who was not authorized to discuss details of the investigation publicly.

https://madison.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/alleged-gunman-in-shooting-of-wisconsin-judge-had-been-sentenced-by-him-in-2005/article_a7ef1d43-66dd-5ddb-9154-6ceb86d206f8.html
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Lots more at link...the guy was a time bomb!

June 4, 2022

Alexander Litvinenko assassination suspect dies of Covid

Dmitry Kovtun, one of the two Russian men accused of assassinating the former spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London, died of Covid in a Moscow hospital on Saturday.

Litvinenko died in 2006, weeks after drinking tea laced with the radioactive isotope polonium 210 at a London hotel, where he met Kovtun and the other suspect, Andrei Lugovoi. The case has since weighed on relations between Britain and Russia.

After Litvinenko’s death detectives found polonium in all the hotel rooms where Kovtun and Lugovoi had stayed in London, as well as on Lugovoi’s plane seat from Moscow and in numerous other locations including at Arsenal’s Emirates stadium.

Kovtun’s death aged 56 was first reported by Lugovoi, a former KGB bodyguard who is now a Russian MP, who wrote on his Telegram page on Saturday: “This is an irreplaceable and difficult loss for us.”

“Sad news came today, as a result of a serious illness associated with a coronavirus infection, my close and faithful friend suddenly died,” Lugovoi added.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/04/alexander-litvinenko-assassination-suspect-dies-of-covid-dmitry-kovtun
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Good morning, Ms. Karma! You're a little late, but isn't it a lovely day?

June 4, 2022

When teens threaten violence, a community responds with compassion

Psychologist John Van Dreal has spent almost 30 years working with troubled kids. Still, it's always unsettling to get the kind of phone call he received one morning eight years ago as he was on his way to a meeting.

"I got a call from the assistant principal at North [Salem] High, reporting that a student had made some threats on the Internet," remembers Van Dreal, the director of safety and risk management for Salem-Keizer Public Schools in Salem, Ore.

"There were a number of statements about hitting people with pipes, breaking knees, bashing heads with pipes and looking for help in doing so," Van Dreal says.

And there was more.

"F*** North Salem High School," the student had written. "Seriously, it's asking for a f***ing shooting or something."

Van Dreal says students who saw the post were frightened. They told their parents, who called the school administration. Faculty and staff were worried, too, he notes. This particular student had been in trouble before, but this time it felt different.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/02/13/693136117/when-teens-threaten-violence-a-community-responds-with-compassion
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This seems like the way to handle it, not the school-to-prison pipeline.

June 4, 2022

Can the SEC stand up to the richest man on the planet?

Elon Musk has hurled insults and belittled the Securities and Exchange Commission and has even expressed complete disdain for Wall Street's top cop.

Musk called the SEC "bastards" at a recent conference. He tweeted a vulgar innuendo in 2020. He said, "I do not respect the SEC," in a 2018 interview. And after he amassed a significant stake in Twitter this year, Musk filed required paperwork 11 days late.

"You know, Elon Musk is basically saying, 'Come at me. I dare you,'" says Christine Chung, a professor at Albany Law School. She used to be a lawyer in the SEC's Division of Enforcement.

Musk continues to goad the SEC even though the agency has taken multiple actions against him, from fining him millions of dollars to accusing him of securities fraud. In a recent letter, the SEC asked Musk to elaborate on public comments he made about Twitter and to also explain why he didn't file a mandatory disclosure on time.

All this is reigniting a debate about whether the SEC has sharp enough teeth to rein in powerful and wealthy executives like Musk.

https://www.npr.org/2022/06/04/1102327987/elon-musk-sec-tweets-lawsuit-power

June 4, 2022

11-year-old who survived Uvalde shooting to testify before House panel

Miah Cerrillo, an 11-year-old who smeared herself with her murdered friend's blood and played dead to survive the mass shooting at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school will testify about gun violence before the House Oversight and Reform Committee next week.

The fourth-grader is likely to recount her harrowing tale which she shared on CNN last week: how she and her classmates were watching the Disney movie "Lilo and Stitch" when the shooter entered the building and ultimately killed 19 students and two adults.

Miah suffered fragment wounds, but she and a friend managed to get a teacher's cellphone and call for help. She cried during the CNN interview, saying that she didn't understand why police didn't go inside and rescue them.

She is one of nine witnesses who will testify before the House Oversight and Reform Committee at 10 a.m. Wednesday about the mass killings last week at Robb Elementary in Uvalde and the May 14 racially motivated massacre of 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket in a Black neighborhood.

The other witnesses include victims' parents, a pediatrician, gun safety advocates, president of a teachers' union and the Buffalo police commissioner. Those scheduled to testify include Zeneta Everhart, mother of Buffalo shooting victim Zaire Goodman, and Felix and Kimberly Rubio whose daughter, Lexi, was killed during the Uvalde slaughter.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/06/03/miah-cerrillo-uvalde-buffalo-survivors-testify-house/7503143001/
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And RepubliKKKans still vote against these bills. God knows what they will ask her, or even if they will show up to this hearing!