Surprise! Surprise! ‘Progressives’ get rolled yet again

benfell

Climate crisis

George Monbiot notes the discrepancy between the rhetoric at the Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) and governments’ support for fossil fuel extraction.[1] Reading this, I couldn’t help thinking of Joe Manchin’s steadfast support for coal extraction and fossil fuel industries.[2]

George Monbiot, “Groundtruthed,” November 5, 2021, https://www.monbiot.com/2021/11/05/groundtruthed/

Infrastructure

The bipartisan infrastructure framework has now passed the House of Representatives and goes to Joe Biden’s desk for signature.[3] It is not being held to the same standard as the “Build Back Better” reconciliation package,[4] which Joe Manchin and Kyrstin Sinema have promised to support only if it does not add to the budget deficit.[5] I’m pretty sure that Manchin and Sinema are lying,[6] which is to say that so-called “progressives” in the House have gotten rolled yet again.

Tony Romm, Marianna Sotomayor, and Mike DeBonis, “Congress approves $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, sending measure to Biden for enactment,” Washington Post, November 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/11/05/house-infrastructure-reconciliation-vote/

Pandemic

(Inter)national

Brent Kendall and Sabrina Siddiqui, “Federal Appeals Court Temporarily Blocks Biden Administration Vaccine Rules for Private Employers,” Wall Street Journal, November 6, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-appeals-court-temporarily-blocks-biden-administration-vaccine-rules-for-private-employers-11636226904

Pennsylvania region

So, even after losing three white supremacist gangsters to COVID-19,[7] and exposing an unknown number of civilians to the disease,[8] Pittsburgh and Allegheny County gang unions resist a vaccine mandate, challenging it in court,[9] even filing a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board.[10]

That’ll be something to remember the next time you hear somebody call them “Pittsburgh’s finest.” They’re not alone of course; white supremacist gangsters are resisting the mandates across the country,[11] even as the disease claims five times as many gangster lives as gunfire.[12] But of course the “feared for their life” excuse, an excuse utterly belied by their vaccine refusal,[13] is the one they use to justify shooting and killing so many Black people.[14] Which is how you know I’m right to call police ‘white supremacist gangsters’ and their departments ‘white supremacist gangs.’

Megan Guza, “Pittsburgh police union file grievance over covid vaccine mandate,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 5, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-police-union-file-grievance-over-covid-vaccine-mandate/

White supremacist gangs

Odette Yousef et al., “Active-duty police in major U.S. cities appear on purported Oath Keepers rosters,” National Public Radio, November 5, 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/11/05/1052098059/active-duty-police-in-major-u-s-cities-appear-on-purported-oath-keepers-rosters

  1. [1]George Monbiot, “Groundtruthed,” November 5, 2021, https://www.monbiot.com/2021/11/05/groundtruthed/↩
  2. [2]Daniel Boguslaw, “Joe Manchin’s Dirty Empire,” Intercept, September 3, 2021, https://theintercept.com/2021/09/03/joe-manchin-coal-fossil-fuels-pollution/; Geoff Dembicki, “Joe Manchin Makes $500K a Year From One of the Dirtiest Coal Plants in West Virginia,” Vice, July 28, 2021, https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3x8bw/joe-manchin-senator-millions-coal-grant-town-west-virginia; David Moore, “Manchin Bailed Out a Power Plant That Helps His Family Profit From Coal Waste,” Truthout, August 7, 2021, https://truthout.org/articles/manchin-bailed-out-a-power-plant-that-helps-his-family-profit-from-coal-waste/↩
  3. [3]Tony Romm, Marianna Sotomayor, and Mike DeBonis, “Congress approves $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, sending measure to Biden for enactment,” Washington Post, November 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/11/05/house-infrastructure-reconciliation-vote/↩
  4. [4]David Dayen, “Manchin’s Cherry-Picking of Budget Estimates,” American Prospect, November 5, 2021, https://prospect.org/infrastructure/building-back-america/manchins-cherry-picking-of-budget-estimates/; Glenn Kessler, “Why Biden says his plan is ‘fiscally responsible,’ while Manchin decries ‘gimmicks,’” Washington Post, November 2, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/11/02/why-biden-says-his-plan-is-fiscally-responsible-while-manchin-decries-gimmicks/↩
  5. [5]Tony Romm, Marianna Sotomayor, and Mike DeBonis, “Congress approves $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, sending measure to Biden for enactment,” Washington Post, November 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/11/05/house-infrastructure-reconciliation-vote/↩
  6. [6]David Benfell, “If you seek justice, don’t blame the U.S. Senate Parliamentarian,” Not Housebroken, November 5, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/09/20/if-you-seek-justice-dont-blame-the-u-s-senate-parliamentarian/↩
  7. [7]Ryan Deto, “Three Pittsburgh Police officers have died of COVID in just over a month,” Pittsburgh City Paper, November 2, 2021, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/three-pittsburgh-police-officers-have-died-of-covid-in-just-over-a-month/Content?oid=20485841; Megan Guza, “Pittsburgh police lose 2nd officer to covid-19,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 21, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-police-lose-second-office-to-covid/; Megan Guza, “Pittsburgh police sergeant dies after covid complications,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 2, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-police-sergeant-dies-after-covid-complications/↩
  8. [8]Zak Cheney-Rice, “The Police’s Farcical War on Vaccine Mandates,” New York, October 22, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/10/the-polices-farcical-war-on-vaccine-mandates.html↩
  9. [9]Sarah Boden, “Experts question the science of police union’s challenge to Allegheny County’s vaccine mandate,” WESA, October 20, 2021, https://www.wesa.fm/health-science-tech/2021-10-20/experts-question-the-science-of-police-unions-challenge-to-allegheny-countys-vaccine-mandate↩
  10. [10]Megan Guza, “Pittsburgh police union file grievance over covid vaccine mandate,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 5, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-police-union-file-grievance-over-covid-vaccine-mandate/↩
  11. [11]Fola Akinnibi, “NYC, other big cities confront police-union blowback on vaccine mandates,” Sacramento Bee, October 20, 2021, https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article255158627.html; Eric Berger, “Police departments face a shortage as unions enable officers to refuse vaccines,” Guardian, October 18, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/oct/17/police-shortage-vaccine-mandate-unions-seattle-chicago; Mark Berman, “As coronavirus cases mount and vaccine mandates spread, holdouts plague police and fire departments,” Washington Post, October 2, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/10/02/police-firefighters-resist-vaccination/; John Byrne, “Chicago police union official compares vaccine standoff with mayor to ‘Hunger Games,’” Sacramento Bee, October 20, 2021, https://www.sacbee.com/article255157522.html; Zak Cheney-Rice, “The Police’s Farcical War on Vaccine Mandates,” New York, October 22, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/10/the-polices-farcical-war-on-vaccine-mandates.html↩
  12. [12]Ryan Young, Jason Morris, and Ray Sanchez, “Five times as many police officers have died from Covid-19 as from gunfire since start of pandemic,” CNN, October 16, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/16/us/police-vaccine-covid-deaths/index.html↩
  13. [13]Fola Akinnibi, “NYC, other big cities confront police-union blowback on vaccine mandates,” Sacramento Bee, October 20, 2021, https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article255158627.html; Eric Berger, “Police departments face a shortage as unions enable officers to refuse vaccines,” Guardian, October 18, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/oct/17/police-shortage-vaccine-mandate-unions-seattle-chicago; Mark Berman, “As coronavirus cases mount and vaccine mandates spread, holdouts plague police and fire departments,” Washington Post, October 2, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/10/02/police-firefighters-resist-vaccination/; John Byrne, “Chicago police union official compares vaccine standoff with mayor to ‘Hunger Games,’” Sacramento Bee, October 20, 2021, https://www.sacbee.com/article255157522.html; Zak Cheney-Rice, “The Police’s Farcical War on Vaccine Mandates,” New York, October 22, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/10/the-polices-farcical-war-on-vaccine-mandates.html↩
  14. [14]There are so many of these stories that at some point, I stopped keeping track of them. I suspect there are many more in my archive: Ta-Nehisi Coates, “Blue Lives Matter,” Atlantic, December 22, 2014, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/12/blue-lives-matter-nypd-shooting/383977/; Kimberly Kindy and Kimbriell Kelly, “Thousands dead, few prosecuted,” Washington Post, April 11, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2015/04/11/thousands-dead-few-prosecuted/; Trymaine Lee, “Eyewitness to Michael Brown shooting recounts his friend’s death,” MSNBC, August 12, 2014, https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/eyewitness-michael-brown-fatal-shooting-missouri-msna388411; German Lopez, “Cleveland police shooting of Tamir Rice: city to pay $6 million after 12-year-old’s death,” Vox, April 25, 2016, https://www.vox.com/2014/11/24/7275297/tamir-rice-police-shooting; German Lopez, “East Pittsburgh police officer charged for shooting of 17-year-old Antwon Rose,” Vox, June 27, 2018, https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/6/20/17484480/antwon-rose-east-pittsburgh-police-shooting-video; Eliott C. McLaughlin, “Video: Dallas police open fire on schizophrenic man with screwdriver,” CNN, March 19, 2015, https://www.cnn.com/2015/03/18/us/dallas-police-fatal-shooting-mentally-ill-man-video/index.html; Eliott C. McLaughlin, “Woman streams aftermath of fatal officer-involved shooting,” CNN, July 8, 2016, https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/07/us/falcon-heights-shooting-minnesota/index.html; Kyle Paoletta, “Listen up, police officers: Real life isn’t like ‘Breaking Bad,’” Salon, April 13, 2014, https://www.salon.com/2014/04/13/listen_up_police_officers_real_life_isnt_like_breaking_bad/; Rich Phillips, “Florida deputies shoot man they mistook for car thief in his own driveway,” CNN, August 1, 2013, https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/31/us/florida-police-shooting/index.html; Sandhya Somashekhar et al., “Black and Unarmed,” Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2015/08/08/black-and-unarmed/; Tampa Bay Times, “Informer, not neighbor complaints, led up to fatal Tampa pot raid,” July 15, 2014, https://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/informer-not-neighbor-complaints-led-up-to-fatal-tampa-pot-raid/2187316/↩

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