Lou Katz @lou@entropyservice.com

Saw a Facebook post, showing the 120F temperature in a desert city in the American west and saying, "All sensible people have already left town."

There are a lot of people who can't afford to leave town, because they are old, or they have to work to feed their children or they are poor, or they have nowhere else to go in any case.

We have a profound deficit of empathy in America.

@katrinakatrinka @jpanzer The birth certificate fiasco was a 100% false, 100% lie situation. Biden's health challenges now are completely real. You wouldn't change Trump voters with physical/mental test results, but you could calm Biden voters and convince crucial independents on the fence that they should go out and vote for Joe rather than sit on their hands. Turnout is everything, and right now I'm hearing from Biden voters saying they may not vote. And that's scary.

The fifth amendment, the concept of innocent until proven guilty, and so on, are powerful and important safeguards in *criminal law*. They do not apply to presidential campaigns.

Electronic Frontier Alliance members in the @TRUSTCoalition fought for an ordinance for public oversight over San Diego police surveillance and won. This year, the San Diego City Council reversed course, without even having implemented the ordinance.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/03/san-diego-city-council-breaks-trust

I just watched the film The Zone of Interest.

Much of my family vanished into those camps during the early 1940s. Over the years I have been contacted by others with my last name who are looking for traces of ones with our name who vanished.

My grandmother always badgered every German with the question "You knew, what did you do about it?"

The film faces that question squarely and answers "yes, they knew, and they did nothing."

The film was subtle - the sounds of background gunfire and screaming were barely noticeable at the start but increased slowly as the film progressed. And I missed the significance of the FLIR reverse video scenes of the girl with the potatoes.

If the trump era has taught us anything it is that here in the USA there are many among us who would readily and happily assume the role of the Hoss family as they live their pleasant lives on the bodies of others of us who they do not consider human.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Zone_of_Interest_(film)

The argument against regulation is always the same: “It stifles growth and jobs.”

But just as tax cuts for corporations have not trickled down, regulatory cuts have not benefited most people.

Big companies enjoy bigger profits. Working people bear the costs.

Trump’s tax law cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.

What did corporations do with the money saved?

They didn’t invest it or raise wages.

They spent a record $1 trillion on stock buybacks the year after the law went into effect.

Nothing trickled down to workers.

I've given up chasing my dreams. I told them to go on ahead without me, and maybe I can try to catch up later.

Women did not gain the right to vote by voting.

By making the Supreme Court's crowning of King President seem like just another step in a long trend, The Times thus normalizes and diminishes the profound insurrection in the decision.
Immunity Ruling Escalates Long Rise of Presidential Power https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/01/us/politics/immunity-president-supreme-court.html?pvid=b0gCGmUGqJpQJHDGakjQ-HfI&smid=tw-share

Mass shooters 'do not just snap': How to spot violent people — according to the FBI https://www.rawstory.com/mass-shooters-do-not-just-snap-how-to-spot-violent-people-according-to-the-fbi/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Corporate sponsors of Pride events also contribute to politicians with anti-LGBTQ leanings https://www.rawstory.com/corporate-sponsors-of-pride-events-also-contribute-to-politicians-with-anti-lgbtq-leanings/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

It occurs to me that the Supreme Idiots have actually created a Presidency more powerful than the British King at the time of the founding.

Charles I got executed for official acts for which the U.S. President is now immune.

That there is a Democrat president, but it is the Republicans who are celebrating this (remarkable) Supreme Court decision, tells you how safe Republicans feel from abuse of this immunity.

And how unsafe others should feel if and when the Republicans get the presidency.

I had some medical tests today, but I hadn't studied for them.