Friday Stuff

Brittany Page discusses reporting from the independent publication Western Edge (here) about an Amazon employee who died on the job while the assembly line boss told employees who tried to help to get back to work...that’s what happened to someone at a warehouse on April 6th; someone got badly hurt and the manager at the “fulfillment center” told everyone to turn around and make sure the packages kept getting put together and loaded for delivery...sounds like somebody is looking at a criminal prosecution...we knew about the Kimberly-Clark warehouse fire of course, but I didn’t know about what looks like an attempt at the life of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (allegedly of course)...oh, but “look over there” while “The Old Gray Lady” runs some groveling puff piece on Jeff Bezos’s new wife...and oh yeah, as Page says, apparently these Amazon employees weren’t even paid for a full shift when they were so traumatized by what happened that they had to be sent home – but let’s focus instead on the newest pleasure palace for the Bezoses on some trendy island retreat (“billionaire bunker” indeed)...”this is theft” for sure...mildly NSFW/H...



...and on the topic of exploitation, this CBS local news report informs us of the Tangerine Toddler’s decision to cut $11 million from Catholic Charities in Miami because of his snit with Pope Leo (here)...oh, but between #47 and the last “prez” who actually was a practicing Catholic, which one gets the support of the fundie nut jobs? And yes, I know I’ve beaten that talking point to death by now...



...but boy, if there’s something the “party of Lincoln” IS gung ho about, it’s that they sure want more pregnant white teenagers, though OF COURSE they’re not going to spend an extra dime for services to support them such as for expanded maternal health care, early and pre-K development and nutritional funding, etc...leave it to Fix Noise and Dr. Mark Siegel to give their demented spin on this topic...yeah, “Dr. Mark,” kids are in part waiting until they’re financially secure before they have kids, which in this wretched economy likely will NEVER HAPPEN because EVERYONE is dealing with staggering debt of one type or another (or more than one type – John of The Damage Report discusses this with Loren Piretra, who I think also cuts through the BS on this pretty well)...



...and Robert Reich and former Biden CFPB head Rohit Chopra discuss the “buy now, pay later” trend...90 million of us made this type of a purchase last year (mainly during the holidays on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to the tune of about $2 billion, and supported by all kinds of payment providers, and companies like the previously-mentioned Amazon of course), and it can indeed put you on a treadmill of unsustainable debt...having to do this for gas, groceries, and healthcare, among other vital needs, is a sign of an economy doing the “big swirl in the hopper” as far as yours truly is concerned (with consumers getting socked by late fees that, in some cases, are as high as 25 percent, as we learn from Chopra)...we also need regulation on all of the “geo targeting” from these lenders who use our devices to target us for advertising purposes...as noted in the clip, the Biden Administration made “buy now, pay later” lenders comply with the same requirements as loan issuers, but along came Dementia J. Trump and his gang to overturn all of those needed protections...some states are stepping up to fill the void created by our ruling regime on this, it should be noted...

...and by the way, I know about the accusations against this guy...”innocent and proven guilty” and all that, but these charges are truly monstrous...I honestly try to avoid “police blotter” stuff because I don’t want to say anything that could somehow be even remotely prejudicial in a trial, but he should be charged and prosecuted as much as the law allows, and he should serve whatever sentence may be meted out...shocking to think about what people we support can be truly capable of, but it just goes to show how much people in Swalwell’s orbit are removed from the rest of us, and how risky it can be to put our trust in their hands (and this also includes all the sympathy I can muster for the victims in these allegations of course).

...and Ronny Chieng of The Daily Show gives us the latest...yeah, I know “No Malarkey Joe” didn’t exactly have a shining moment at that address, apparently thinking that gentleman was “President Hopey Changey,” but at least he isn’t tweeting or whatever in the middle of the night trying to be “Doctor Jesus,” and #46 is a private citizen now, so as far as I’m concerned, he has “carte blanche”...oh, and here’s “Dr. Crudité” thinking that Bronzer Beelzebub drinks diet soda because it kills cancer cells; about what you can expect from a guy who won’t exercise because he says it runs down his battery, or something (Pumpkin Pol Pot I mean)...and oh yeah, it also looks like Diaper Donnie is going to try a new scam to get Gen Z voters to swing his way (with Couch Boy taking the lead on that)...yeah, “take our country back”...from your own regime? Sounds like a plan to me!...also, is it just me, or did it sound like Vance cranked up the volume on that mic of his to try and drown out hecklers at TPUSA?...I honestly didn’t know about Bronzer Beelzebub’s latest Jesus pic – the guttural trash from that asshat truly never ends (with Grace Kuhlenschmidt and Jordan Klepper)...



...and I think the title of this newer tune is pretty emblematic for our current times (I almost always feel like I’m staggering to the end of a week any more from dealing with this political pestilence, and I don’t think I’m alone on that).