Labor and Working – Page 116 – The Tarbabys Blog

Texas is facing a housing crisis, a migrant crisis, a multi-year drought, and an epidemic of mass shootings. Ted Cruz, meanwhile, has opened an investigation into Bud Light.

Insider

Texas is facing a housing crisis, a migrant crisis, a multi-year drought, and an epidemic of mass shootings. Ted Cruz, meanwhile, has opened an investigation into Bud Light.

Katie Balevic – May 20, 2023

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz opened an investigation into Bud Light’s partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

Meanwhile, Texas is grappling with a migration crisis and a severe housing crisis.

And also an epidemic of gun violence, extreme weather, and a multi-year drought.

Texas is facing a laundry list of crises: housing, immigration, and weather, among others.

So, naturally, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is opening an investigation into Bud Light.

Social conservatives across the country continue to clutch their pearls over Bud Light’s partnership with influencer Dylan Mulvaney, a 26-year-old transgender activist who has shaken the far-right’s perception of reality by existing in the open.

The company’s partnership with Mulvaney led to right-wing calls for a boycott of Bud Light, which has impacted sales at its parent company, Anheuser-Busch. The latter reported a 23% drop in sales for the last week of April compared to the previous year, CBS News reported.

Together with Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Cruz sent a letter to the beer industry’s regulatory body, the Beer Institute, inquiring whether Anheuser-Busch’s partnership with Mulvaney “violates the Beer Institute’s guidelines prohibiting marketing to underage individuals.”

“The Beer Institute must examine whether your company violated the Beer Institute’s Advertising/Marketing Code and Buying Guidelines prohibiting marketing to individuals younger than the legal drinking age,” the letter said, claiming that “Mulvaney’s audience skews significantly younger than the legal drinking age.”

To avoid an investigation, Cruz and Blackburn offered Anheuser-Busch the option to “publicly sever its relationship with Dylan Mulvaney, publicly apologize to the American people for marketing alcoholic beverages to minors, and direct Dylan Mulvaney to remove any Anheuser-Busch content” from her social media platforms, they wrote in the letter.

The letter, which misgendered Mulvaney throughout, also seeks documents and information on how “Anheuser-Busch vets its partnerships and how Anheuser-Busch failed in assessing the propriety of a partnership with Dylan Mulvaney.”

Meanwhile, in Cruz’ home state of Texas:

Following the expiration of Title 42, the fates of thousands of immigrants are up in the air as politicians on both sides of the aisle play hot potato by busing them to different cities.

The state faces an urgent housing and affordability crisis. There are just 25 available rental units for every 100 low-income households, according to The Texas Tribune.

Texas is also grappling with a series of deadly extreme weather events. In 2022, at least 279 people in Texas died from extreme heat, and the year before that, 246 Texans died from a brutal winter freeze. And Texas farmers are bracing for another growing season beset by a multi-year drought.

Texas is also the epicenter of gun violence. It is the site of 5 of the 10 deadliest shootings in US history.

Beer marketing, however — thanks to Cruz — has all the attention of the state’s top leaders in Washington.

Texas is facing a housing crisis, a migrant crisis, a multi-year drought, and an epidemic of mass shootings. Ted Cruz, meanwhile, has opened an investigation into Bud Light.

Insider

Texas is facing a housing crisis, a migrant crisis, a multi-year drought, and an epidemic of mass shootings. Ted Cruz, meanwhile, has opened an investigation into Bud Light.

Katie Balevic – May 20, 2023

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz opened an investigation into Bud Light’s partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

Meanwhile, Texas is grappling with a migration crisis and a severe housing crisis.

And also an epidemic of gun violence, extreme weather, and a multi-year drought.

Texas is facing a laundry list of crises: housing, immigration, and weather, among others.

So, naturally, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is opening an investigation into Bud Light.

Meanwhile, in Cruz’ home state of Texas:

Following the expiration of Title 42, the fates of thousands of immigrants are up in the air as politicians on both sides of the aisle play hot potato by busing them to different cities.

The state faces an urgent housing and affordability crisis. There are just 25 available rental units for every 100 low-income households, according to The Texas Tribune.

Texas is also the epicenter of gun violence. It is the site of 5 of the 10 deadliest shootings in US history.

Beer marketing, however — thanks to Cruz — has all the attention of the state’s top leaders in Washington.

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch calls COVID-19 response “the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in peacetime history”

Insider

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch calls COVID-19 response “the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in peacetime history”

Sarah Al-Arshani – May 20, 2023

In a statement, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch made it clear where he stands on the pandemic-era emergency response.

Gorsuch called it “the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country.”

His statement came in response to a Republican-led effort to extend Title 42, a restrictive immigrant policy.

As COVID-19 spread across the United States in 2020, among the wide-ranging efforts to insulate the country from the pandemic was Title 42, a restrictive immigration policy allowing the rapid expulsion of asylum seekers and other migrants.

The measure — initially implemented by the Trump administration and expanded under President Joe Biden — expired this month. The US Supreme Court last week rejected a push by Republican-led states to keep it in place.

In an eight-page statement in response to the case, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch didn’t mince words. He called the country’s response to the COVID-19 emergency “the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country.”

“Executive officials across the country issued emergency decrees on a breathtaking scale. Governors and local leaders imposed lockdown orders forcing people to remain in their homes. They shuttered businesses and schools, public and private, ” Gorsuch wrote in the statement, released Thursday.

Gorsuch has long been critical of restrictive COVID-19 measures, the Associated Press reported. In January 2022, he was the only Justice who refused to wear a mask, forcing Justice Sonia Sotomayor to participate in oral arguments virtually. Sotomayor has diabetes and is at a higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19.

In Thursday’s statement, Gorsuch warned that the “concentration of power in the hands of so few” won’t lead to “sound government.”

“One lesson might be this: Fear and the desire for safety are powerful forces. They can lead to a clamor for action —almost any action — as long as someone does something to address a perceived threat. A leader or an expert who claims he can fix everything, if only we do exactly as he says, can prove an irresistible force,” he wrote.

Texas has the anti-climate Governor: Greg Abbott signs Law Making EV Owners Pay for Their Gas-Free Cars

Gizmodo

Greg Abbott Signs Law Making EV Owners Pay for Their Gas-Free Cars

Lauren Leffer – May 19, 2023

EV drivers in Texas don’t pay at the pump, but will have to start paying a significant annual fee that critics are calling “punitive.”

Driving an electric vehicle in Texas is soon to become more expensive. Governor Greg Abbott signed a law (SB 505) on May 13 instituting new fees for registering and owning EVs in the state. Under the bill, electric car owners will have to pay $400 upon registering their vehicle. Then, every subsequent year, EV drivers will have to shell out an additional $200. Both of those fees are on top of the cost of the standard annual registration renewal fees, which are $50.75 each year for most passenger cars and trucks.

The law exempts mopeds, motorcycles, and other non-car EVs, and goes into effect starting on September 1, 2023.

At least 32 states currently have special electric vehicle registration fees, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. These range from $50 in places like Colorado, Hawaii, and South Dakota to $274 (starting in 2028) in a recently passed piece of Tennessee legislation. Note: Tennessee lawmakers had originally proposed a $300 fee, but lowered it in response to pushback.

Like many other states that have instituted EV fees, the reasoning behind the Lone Star State’s new law is that electric car drivers don’t buy gas. Taxes at the fuel pump are the primary way that most states, Texas included, amass funds for road construction, maintenance, and other driving-related infrastructure.

“Currently, Texas uses the gasoline/diesel fuel tax to fund transportation projects; however, with the growing use of EVs, the revenue from the fuel tax is decreasing, which diminishes our ability to fund road improvements for all drivers,” said the bill’s author, Republican State Senator Robert Nichols, in comments about the legislation, per local NBC News affiliate KXAN.

But, compared with what gas drivers contribute, Texas’s EV fees seem a little out of whack. Charging $200 per year and $400 at the outset of EV ownership places Texas’s fee schedule at the higher price end of the policies out there. In comparison, Texas’s gas tax is among the lowest in the country, at just $0.20 per gallon. Just seven states impose a lower duty on gasoline than TX. Among the 10 most populous states in the country, additional fees levied elsewhere make Texas’s gas the cheapest.

The average Texas driver burned through ~55 million BTUs of motor gasoline in 2018, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That’s equal to about 440 gallons of gas. At $0.20 per gallon, the standard car owner in Texas is paying just $88 per year in gas taxes—far less than the hundreds more EV drivers will now be throwing into the pot. A 2022 Consumer Reports analysis determined that a Texas driver’s gas tax contribution is even lower, at just $71.

The new law says loud and clear that Texas is “fully behind oil and gas,” Kara Kockleman, a transportation engineering professor at the University of Texas, Austin, told local ABC News affiliate KVUE. “Electric vehicles should pay a gas tax – I just think the tax on the conventional cars should be much, much higher than it is. We pay less for gas in this state than almost anyone in the world… Texas is really behind the curve on trying to do the right thing by the environment. And so, that’s embarrassing, I think, for all of us.”

There’s no doubt that roads and other car infrastructure are expensive. Though it can be easy to forget that—every time a driver cruises down the asphalt, complies with a traffic signal, or reads a highway sign—they’re benefiting from a costly system constructed for their particular use and benefit. But compared with other forms of transportation in the U.S., car ownership is already heavily subsidized. So is burning fossil fuels.

According to a 2015 analysis from the nonprofit Canadian media outlet The Discourse, society pays more than $9 for every $1 a driver pays in commuting: Through infrastructure, accident liability, noise and air pollution, and congestion. Buses, biking, and walking all eat up much less public funds for the same amount of miles traveled. EVs presumably also have a slightly lower public cost, as they’re quieter and don’t directly emit air pollution.

Yet in Texas, the tax load for driving an electric car will far exceed that of a gas-powered vehicle. The new law is “punitive” according to Consumer Reports. “Consumers should not be punished for choosing a cleaner, greener car that saves them money on fuel and maintenance,” Dylan Jaff, a policy analyst at CR, wrote in an April statement. “The fees proposed in this bill will establish an inequitable fee scale for EV owners, and will not provide a viable solution to the long-standing issue of road funding revenue.”

Luke Metzger, director of the non-profit advocacy group, Environment Texas, echoed Consumer Reports’ findings in a statement from last month. “The Texas Legislature is pouring sugar in the tank of the electric vehicle revolution. This punitive fee will make it harder for Texans to afford these clean vehicles which are so critical to reducing air pollution in Texas.”

Electric personal vehicles are not a perfect solution to the ongoing problem of petroleum-powered cars. Swapping every gas-guzzler for an EV still would use up an extraordinary amount of resources, that are likely to be ill-gotten. Public investment in mass transit would inarguably be a better environmental strategy. But, as long as the U.S. remains overwhelmingly car dominant and as long as most Americans lack access to adequate public transit, EV uptake remains important for lowering the nation’s carbon emissions.

Already, the upfront costs of purchasing an electric car are significantly higher than buying a gas vehicle. A disproportionate tax system adds to that burden, and it could dissuade people from transitioning to EVs.

Cognitive decline after retirement is a universal trend. Here are 4 ways to reverse it

Fortune

Cognitive decline after retirement is a universal trend. Here are 4 ways to reverse it

Erin Prater – May 19, 2023

Retirement—the word often conjures up thoughts of overseas vacations, bonus time with loved ones, and the discovery of new hobbies.

But the life milestone can be a stressful one—and, thus, “a potential trigger for cognitive aging,” according to a 2021 piece in The Journals of Gerontology, authored by researchers at the University of Cologne in Germany, and the University of California at San Francisco.

Researchers interviewed nearly 9,000 European retirees ages 50 and older, from 17 countries. Each completed six memory assessments over the course of 13 years.

Their findings: Retirement was generally associated with a moderate decrease in word recall, and memory decline “accelerated after retirement.” This was true in all countries involved—even in those with more generous welfare systems and higher pension benefits—like Germany, Austria, France, and Belgium—versus those with low public pensions, like Portugal, Greece, Israel, Estonia, Poland, and Slovenia.

Studies have shown that postponing retirement can protect against cognitive decline, especially among the more highly educated. But let’s face it—life is short. For those who can and wish to retire on time, here are four tips for staying mentally sharp during what should be the most joyous season of life.

Keep (or get) connected.

A quarter of Americans ages 65 and older are socially isolated, according to a 2020 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. While loneliness is miserable, it’s also more: It poses a health risk as deadly as smoking a dozen cigarettes a daily, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy recently told attendees of Fortune’s Brainstorm Health conference. Retirement often means loss of the community you worked in, perhaps for decades. Keep connected to others by taking classes, volunteering, hanging out with friends, or picking up a sport.

Keep active.

It’s never too late to begin an exercise routine—even if you didn’t pre-retirement, or if you fell off the wagon at some point. Having been physically active at any point in adulthood, “to any extent,” is associated with better cognition later in life—though those with a lifelong habit of exercising see optimal results, according to a recent article in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry.

Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity—or 75 minutes of vigorous activity—a week, per the recommendation of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Keep stress to a minimum.

There are myriad ways to keep stress at bay. A few of them:

Sexual activity. Studies show that those who have sex less frequently report higher levels of stress. Of note: masturbation counts as sex; no partner required.
Sleep. It’s well known that quality sleep is protective against cognitive decline—and a host of other health issues like depression and obesity. Aim for seven to nine hours a night, according to the National Institute on Aging. If sleep is a struggle for you, talk to your doctor—a sleep study may be in order to get to the root of the issue.
Budget. Do your best not to introduce any new stressors in your life. For the vast majority, this will require keeping a budget. If you don’t have one, you’re not alone—and it’s never too late. A financial advisor can help you establish one and determine how much money you truly need to live on—not just how much you think you need.

Keep working.

Hear us out: Ideally, you’re in a situation where you don’t have the financial need for a typical 9-to-5. But you have just as much to contribute to society as the day before you retired. If it brings you joy, consider volunteering, contract work, or a part-time job in a field you love—regardless, perhaps, of pay. You’ll reap the benefits of connectedness and cognitive acuity and typically accompany work—hopefully without all the stress.

Psaki on debt ceiling talks: China probably ‘rooting for default’

The Hill

Psaki on debt ceiling talks: China probably ‘rooting for default’

Alex Gangitano – May 19, 2023

Former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that China is probably “rooting for default” while talks in Washington over a debt ceiling compromise have been cut short.

“All of these world leaders and their teams are watching what’s happening in the United States. Is democracy going to last? Are they going to default? All of that makes the United States look weak on the world stage,” Psaki said on MSNBC.

“If you’re China, you’re probably — you’re rooting for default,” she added.

President Biden has also warned it could be a concern internationally if the U.S. were to default on its debt, arguing recently that world leaders have been wondering about the looming risk.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said earlier this month Beijing and Moscow would use a potential default for propaganda purposes through “information operations” as evidence the U.S. political system is chaotic.

Psaki outlined the situation with the president in Japan for the Group of Seven (G-7) summit, relying on Republican negotiators and White House officials to keep working to avoid a default until he returns to Washington on Sunday.

“So for the president, this is about — he’s there to project strength; the United States is back at the table,” she said. “But these negotiations, this being tricky and unresolved at home, is not great. And that’s important for people, Republicans, Democrats to really understand.”

She also warned against being overly concerned by the top Republican lawmakers negotiating a debt ceiling compromise with the White House cutting the talks short. The Republicans left a meeting with White House officials Friday in the Capitol, saying the two sides were too far apart and that the White House is being unreasonable.

“Sometimes, there are pauses where it looks like everything is going to explode and not come back together, and it does,” she said.

The White House had expressed optimism as recently as late Thursday, saying there had been “steady progress” in debt limit talks, and officials said Friday the president’s team is “working hard towards a reasonable bipartisan solution.”

Additionally, Psaki said there “will be no doubt legal challenges if the president were to invoke the 14th Amendment” in response to a letter sent earlier this week from 11 senators to Biden suggesting he prepare to invoke the amendment.

The president said last week there have been discussions about whether the 14th Amendment can be invoked, but he acknowledged it would have to go to the courts.

We Don’t Have to Accept Antisocial Gun Behavior Just Because the Guy Says It’s a Political Protest

Esquire

We Don’t Have to Accept Antisocial Gun Behavior Just Because the Guy Says It’s a Political Protest

Jack Holmes – May 19, 2023

a supporter of us president donald trump keeps a hand on his gun during a — Antisocial Gun Behavior Is Not ProtestKEREM YUCEL – Getty Images

We may have reached the pinnacle of Both Sides journalism with some coverage out of Maryland, where Governor Wes Moore signed a package of new gun control bills into law this week restricting who can carry guns in public and where they can do it. The Supreme Court conservatives created a constitutional right to carry guns outside the home last summer when they struck down a 110-year-old New York gun law, a decision which also functionally threw out parts of Maryland’s legal regime on guns. Moore and his allies in the legislature are presumably trying to prevent their jurisdiction from becoming another gun anarchy state now that the number of residents allowed to carry a concealed firearm in public has tripled.

Gun rights groups don’t like this—they’re also suing to throw out Maryland’s assault weapons ban—and it seems neither did one resident in particular. Tolly Taylor of WBAL in Baltimore reported Thursday that “a man with an AR-15 has been showing up for weeks to a school bus drop off for local elementary school students.” He teased a piece on that night’s local news in which viewers would learn that “parents say their kids are afraid, the man says he’s protesting @GovWesMoore’s new gun control law. You’ll hear from both sides at 5+6pm.”

Taylor may well just be trying to abide by coverage guidelines set by his boss(es), but in the process, this becomes really the apotheosis of the Both Sides affliction in the American press. There is no scenario in which some maladjusted creep who’s frightening children at an elementary school bus stop should be presented as just some guy with political opinions by the local news. This is antisocial behavior that should be ridiculed, including by normal people who own guns.

You wouldn’t ask some guy who menaced people on the subway with a knife for his thoughts on whether knife-menacing is cool and good, and make no mistake: this man is attempting to menace members of the public using a deadly weapon that’s capable of killing way more people in way less time. That this kind of weapon is a favorite of school shooters, and these are schoolchildren, only adds to the disgusting character of the events here. Carrying a gun like this in the public square is a way to constantly communicate the threat of deadly force to those around you. A gun like this exists for two purposes: to maim and kill, and to communicate the threat thereof. This loser could make the case that he has a right to carry a gun around via the standard political speech that normal people make use of on this and every other issue. He’s parading around a gun for a reason, the same reason that courts upheld the prerogative of local jurisdictions to restrict who can carry weapons in the public square for 700 years until the Supreme Court conservatives got involved.

This is a particularly eye-catching example of the wider phenomenon where, out of genuine belief in the principle of “objectivity” or fear they’ll be called “biased,” members of the mainstream press create a false equivalence between arguments and political opinions rooted in reality and those that are complete nonsense. Normally, the Both Sides phenomenon involves reporters—often some of the most well-informed, purportedly savvy people around—pretending to believe that bullshit has merit in order to present it as One Side of the Argument, and Who’s to Say Who’s Right? For about 20 years, Washington political scribes would present the Republican view on climate change—nuh uh, no, hoax—as just the other side of the coin to…the overwhelming scientific consensus on the matter.

people take part in a protest for — These folks could easily have demanded an end to pandemic lockdowns without guns. So why did they bring them to the statehouse steps? To communicate the threat of force if they do not get their way.JEFF KOWALSKY – Getty Images

Sometimes, reporters will lobotomize themselves for the period of time in which they’re working on a story. Anyone paying attention over the last decade has watched Republicans raise the debt ceiling without incident when a Republican is president. (Under the most recent one, they also added trillions to The National Debt to service a tax cut for rich people and corporations, part of a debt orgy under President Trump.) But when Republicans turn around and say the debt is a huge problem and we can’t raise the debt ceiling, Beltway reporters pretend they don’t remember anything that happened before—or even, at times, that raising the debt ceiling does not approve new spending. (It applies to paying off debts already accrued.) This goldfish-brain approach has been necessary for the last few decades because, while the Democratic Party has its manifest failures, the Republican Party no longer resides in reality. To present what they say in the full context of reality would involve losing the mask of Neutrality which is often conflated with Objectivity. The objective truth is that Republicans only care about the debt when they’re out of the White House, and they don’t even really care about it now. If they did, they would consider raising revenues as part of a debt deal. They’ve ruled that out.

What’s so unsettling about this Maryland incident, though, is that the adoption of a neutral stance legitimizes antisocial behavior and presents it as a fair form of “protest.” This guy does not have to point the gun at anyone for it to serve its purpose. This has been a steadily expanding problem throughout the country, as right-wingers show up heavily armed to statehouses in an explicit communication of the threat of deadly force if they do not get their way on matters of public policy. This is not normal political expression, just as breaking windows and vandalizing businesses is not a legitimate form of protest against police violence and racial injustice in our society. The fact is that certain things are out of bounds, and we’re really arguing over where the line should be. This guy’s conduct is on the far side of the line. He is leaving the realm of civil disagreement and discussion and entering a gray area where the potential for deadly violence is implied.

What we’re really reluctant to confront, however, is that there is a sizable faction in America who continually make explicit threats to engage in violence if the government—elected by the people to make public policy—makes public policy that they and their faction do not like. They brandish their weapons during these discussions, physically or rhetorically, and they’re never more aggressive than when anyone suggests that Thomas Jefferson did not envision an inalienable right to carry an AR-15 into Chipotle. It’s not hard to put all this together, particularly if you’re a reporter, but it’s scary to confront the fact that there’s a segment of the American population dedicated to the proliferation of deadly weapons—more guns, everywhere, all the time—and threatening to use the ones they already have if they don’t get their way. Easier, then, to stand to the side and offer the View From Nowhere, where every side has a case worth hearing.

The debt ceiling crisis is intentional | David Moon

Knox NThe debt ceiling crisis is intentional | David Moon

David Moon – May 19, 2023

The U.S. regularly faces a “debt ceiling crisis” because our elected officials would rather make a point than make a difference. Members of both parties relish this regular game of political chicken; otherwise they wouldn’t keep doing it. And the president could likely end it with a directive to the attorney general, just as a president unilaterally started this dangerous charade 43 years ago.

When the federal government threatens a shutdown, there are two issues at play: the debt ceiling and funding gaps. For more than 200 years they were never used to manufacture a “crisis” that politicians could then take credit for solving.

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met May 16, attempting to reach agreement on raising the debt ceiling. The Treasury secretary says the country will run out of cash June 1.

After setting the first debt ceiling in 1936, Congress raised the limit only three years later. Since then, it has raised it another 82 times, just as it will eventually raise it an 83rd time in the next few weeks.

Each time the U.S. approached the statutory debt limit in the 1950s, Congress would simply approve a temporary waiver of the ceiling. That is, it voted to just ignore the law for a little while.

That changed in 1980 when, despite Democrats controlling both the House and Senate, President Jimmy Carter could not persuade Congress to pass an appropriations bill for the Federal Trade Commission. Carter’s attorney general, Benjamin Civiletti, then cited a provision in the 1884 Antideficiency Act as justification to overrule a longstanding opinion that federal agencies could continue operating during gaps in appropriation funding. Carter ordered the FTC shut down, furloughing about 1,600 federal employees, then threatened a complete government shutdown. Congress blinked and funded the FTC.

Politicians had discovered a new way to embarrass their opponents and achieve political goals. Since 1980, every potential funding gap or debt ceiling violation has provided an opportunity for politicians to boldly reveal their immaturity and short-sightedness.

In 1995 there was a debt limit situation that rivaled today’s political theater. The Treasury secretary canceled security auctions and dipped into government retirement funds for cash needs. A similar contrived crisis was miraculously resolved in 2002 using many of the same tactics and gimmicks as in 1995.

The U.S. will pay its bills, and since the federal government spends 30% more than it takes in, that requires borrowing money. (Other solutions theoretically include reducing spending, increasing taxes or selling assets to pay down debt.)

When the other party controls the White House, legislators always argue that the debt ceiling is a necessary tool to prevent out-of-control spending – except that there is no evidence that it does. Borrowing money tops the short list of things at which politicians excel. There is a much simpler way for Congress to prevent out-of-control spending: don’t pass appropriations bills that include out-of-control spending.

Lawrence O’Donnell Left Stunned By Revealing Response To Trump Pardon Allegation

HuffPost

Lawrence O’Donnell Left Stunned By Revealing Response To Trump Pardon Allegation

Ed Mazza – May 18, 2023

New Revolting Rudy Lawsuit

Lawrence O’Donnell took a closer look at one of the many serious allegations in a new lawsuit filed against Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and longtime henchman to Donald Trump.

It’s the claim by Noelle Dunphy, a former aide now suing Giuliani for alleged sexual coercion and other claims, that he told her he could arrange for pardons from Trump for $2 million, with himself and the then-president splitting the money.

O’Donnell noted that Bill Barr, who served as attorney general to Trump, gave a rather lukewarm response when asked if he thought that was possible.

“I’m skeptical about that, I don’t think Rudy Giuliani would do that, I hope he wouldn’t, but I don’t know,” Barr said on Fox News.

O’Donnell was stunned.

“I don’t know?” he said. “William Barr knows Rudolph Giuliani well. William Barr knows Donald Trump well. And when asked if those two could have teamed up to sell $2 million pardons and split the money, William Barr’s answer is, ‘I don’t know.’”

O’Donnell said any attorney general not appointed by Trump or Richard Nixon would’ve given “a very, very strong answer.”

But Barr didn’t ― and O’Donnell found that extremely telling, as he explained on “The Last Word” on Wednesday night:

China overtakes Japan as world’s top car exporter

BBC News

China overtakes Japan as world’s top car exporter

Peter Hoskins – Business reporter – May 19, 2023

Worker on the assembly line of electric vehicles at a factory of Dayun Automobile in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province, China. — China’s car exports were boosted by demand for electric vehicles and sales to Russia

China says it has become the world’s biggest exporter of cars after overtaking Japan in the first three months of the year.

Officials figures released in the last week show China exported 1.07 million vehicles in the period, up 58% compared to the first quarter of 2022.

At the same time Japan’s vehicle exports stood at 954,185, after edging up 6% from a year earlier.

China’s exports were boosted by demand for electric cars and sales to Russia.

Last year, China overtook Germany to become the world’s second largest car exporter.

According to China’s General Administration of Customs, China exported 3.2 million vehicles in 2022, compared to Germany’s 2.6 million vehicle exports.

The shift away from fossil fuels has helped fuel the rise of China’s motor industry.

First quarter exports of new energy vehicles (NEVs), which includes electric cars, rose by more than 90%, compared to a year earlier.

Tesla’s China arm, SAIC – the owner of the MG brand – and BYD, which is backed by veteran US investor Warren Buffett, are among China’s top exporters of NEVs.

Elon Musk’s electric carmaker has a huge manufacturing plant in Shanghai which exports to regions including Japan and Europe.

Tesla’s ‘Gigafactory’ is currently capable of producing 1.25 million vehicles a year, and the company is planning to further increase capacity.

Last month, it started making Model Y sport utility vehicles for export to Canada.

China has also seen exports to Russia surge since the start of the Ukraine war, as Western countries imposed trade sanctions on Moscow.

Last, year, Chinese carmakers – including Geely, Chery and Great Wall – saw their market share in Russia jump after rivals including Volkswagen and Toyota quit the country following the invasion of Ukraine.