Month: July 2022

Blinken and Russian foreign minister discussed proposal for Griner, Whelan + More

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Blinken and Russian foreign minister discussed proposal for Griner, Whelan

On the call, Blinken also urged Russia to act on its commitments to end a blockade on Ukrainian ports, in order to allow grain exports. He reiterated his concern about Russia potentially annexing additional parts of Ukraine — or, as he put it, Putin “gobbling up as much Ukrainian territory as he can.”

Related:

Lavrov is on Blinken’s list of people to call

Ukraine says 1st ship being loaded with grain since beginning of war

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Manchin’s Climate Reversal Comes With Major Caveat: Expanding Oil and Gas

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Conservative coal baron Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) announced on Wednesday that he has come to an agreement with Democratic leaders for a reconciliation bill with key climate, prescription drug price and tax reforms — with a major caveat to expand oil and gas exploration.

Manchin’s Climate Reversal Comes With Major Caveat: Expanding Oil and Gas

Related:

Senate Dems reach draft deal to extend ACA premiums, lower drug costs

Also included in the Inflation Reduction Act — a bid to lower drug prices. Medicare will be allowed to negotiate the prices of some 10 pharmaceutical drugs in 2026, 15 more drugs in 2027 and 2028 and 20 more in 2029. In addition to price negotiation, the bill also imposes penalizing rebates on pharmaceutical manufacturers who hike drug costs above the rate of inflation starting next year.

Roberts’s Attempt to Keep “Roe” Intact Fell Apart After Alito’s Draft Leaked

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

When a draft of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked to the public this spring, Chief Justice John Roberts was in the process of privately trying to dissuade conservative bloc justices from voting in favor of upending abortion rights — but the leak brought all potential compromises to a halt.

Roberts’s Attempt to Keep “Roe” Intact Fell Apart After Alito’s Draft Leaked

Previously:

Sam Alito leaked his own Dobbs draft

Alito himself leaked the draft, to lock in Kavanaugh. It’s unlikely it was necessary to do that (Kavanaugh’s vote was locked in as soon as he was totally falsely accused of sexual assault by those liberal women) but I’m betting Sammy the Papal Bull thought, “why take a chance?”

The value of the federal minimum wage is at its lowest point in 66 years

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

The value of the federal minimum wage has reached its lowest point in 66 years, according to an EPI analysis of recently released Consumer Price Index (CPI) data. Accounting for price increases in June, the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is now worth less than at any point since February 1956. At that time, the federal minimum wage was 75 cents per hour, or $7.19 in June 2022 dollars.

The value of the federal minimum wage is at its lowest point in 66 years

NATO, the Left, and the Path to Peace

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Posted on the United National Antiwar Coalition July 13, 2022 by Alan Freeman, published on The Valdai Discussion Club, July 4, 2022

If anyone tries to justify a monstrous and unnecessary human sacrifice on the grounds that it’s for the best, then they are measuring ‘good’ in dollars instead of bodies, and they’re not part of the left, because the left stands for humans, not property, Valdai Club expert Alan Freeman writes.

NATO, the Left, and the Path to Peace

The Destroyed Ukraine Bioagents: Dangerous or Benign?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

by Jeffrey Kaye | March 25, 2022

Russia’s announcement that it had documentation that Ukrainian biological laboratories, largely funded by the U.S. Defense Department, had harbored “components of biological weapons” and “stockpiles of dangerous pathogens” created a propaganda circus in the press. The United States and Ukraine vigorously denied there were any such pathogens, even though public source documentation argued otherwise.

The Destroyed Ukraine Bioagents: Dangerous or Benign? (Archived)