Welcome to The Now

 Status Coup investigates a doctor whose dual role as slumlord causes him to overlook the well-being of his tenants: UPDATE: The video was taken down (possibly because the landlord got a lawyer) so here's another video Status Coup did on bad housing conditions during their tour:

 Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect. — Frank Wilhoit

 Professor Richard Wolff of Democracy @ Work on the topic:

Woke was/is about being aware of your social, political and economical surroundings and not being gaslighted by those in power who try to argue that what you are noticing isn't true.  What woke is not: Casting a actor who isn't a white male as a fictional character that was originally a white male; Being the first gay/female/transgendered person in a political position; Women being paid more for doing the same work as men. In other words, identity politics is not the same as woke.  For example: being woke is recognizing that AOC put her hands behind her back to appear that she was being arrested at a protest just hour after voting for a pro-NATO piece of legislation. Let's dissect this real quick to clarify why this is woke: AOC attended the protest so that her participation there would be the story (her role as an "activist") instead of her vote (her role as an elected official in Congress), and in comparison to the many, many, people who were beaten, abused, han...

 So here's this first story about how the Democrats are going all-in with a familiar line of attack against the Republican Party : Seized by genuine panic about the prospect of Republicans winning control of Congress and governors’ mansions across the country, multiple Democratic leaders and candidates in some of the tightest races are calling on party leaders – including President Joe Biden – to focus on calling out Republicans as “extremists.” They don’t think Biden’s poll numbers are going to go up much or inflation is going to go down much. But in the continuing wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and with hundreds of election deniers on the ballot across the country, many Democratic leaders are looking to reframe the stakes of the midterms around a GOP they say has become a threat to America – arguing that Republican control in states and in Congress would lead to a federal abortion ban, major rights restrictions, and attacks on democracy which could endanger the...

 It starts out about doorbells, but gets frighteningly more expansive:

 You can't say that Trump and the GOP are trying to undermine democracy, then work to make sure that Trump-like candidates end up winning GOP primaries . 

 As part of his tour of "American Hunger Games" many people are experiencing, Jordan Chariton of Status Coup does a powerful interview:

  Story here . 

 Director Ryan Coogler knows this more than most, especially in the wake of Chadwick Bosesman's death in 2020. Still he and the cast and crew have pressed on and the new trailer for " Black Panther: Wakanda Forever " looks promising.

Have you ever gone to a store like Target or Walmart in person, find an item you want then discover that when you go to have it rung up the price is more? You would find the cashier or manager or someone to get it resolved. Well, thanks to our capitalistic nature, online shopping gives us a similar experience : If you've shopped online recently, you may have had this experience: You find an item, add it to your cart, and then when you get around to paying, the price has increased. You can thank pricing algorithms. These are computer programs that look at factors such as supply, demand and the prices competitors are charging, and then adjust the price in real time. Now, there are calls for greater regulation at a time when these tactics are expected to become more common. "A key thing about the algorithm is that given different inputs, like, say, time of day or weather or how many customers might be showing up, it might decide on a different price," said Harvard economics...

 As in "unlikely to be believed because the source has been labeled evil by the leaders of the American government:"

 Second Thought explains:

  @Jaybefaunt from RBN noticed General  Laura J Richardson talking about Latin America like a hungry person looking at a steak dinner :

 ... that's about to change : New York (CNN Business)Twenty years ago, then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was under pressure to build more public bathrooms. He responded with an answer that represents how most of the United States has handled public bathroom access for decades. "There's enough Starbucks that'll let you use the bathroom," he quipped. And in fact, private companies like Starbucks (SBUX) did step in for years to offer their public toilets as local and state governments essentially outsourced a public service to private companies. Starbucks has at times embraced an open-bathroom policy, and shied away from it at others. Now, the coffee chain is effectively saying it can't be America's public toilet any longer. Last month, Starbucks' interim CEO Howard Schultz said the company might not be able to keep its bathrooms open, blaming a growing mental health problem that poses a threat to its staff and customers. "We have to harden ...

 CIA agents flock to Facebook like the place is a goldmine:

  I wonder if this will impact the hearings in any way : Ahead of a prime-time January 6th Committee hearing Thursday, a majority of Americans are paying attention and blame former President Donald Trump for what happened that day in 2021, but don't think he will be prosecuted, according to the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. A majority of independents (55%) and 4 in 5 Democrats, but less than half of Republicans (44%), said they are paying at least some attention to the hearings. A majority (57%) said Trump is to blame a great deal or a good amount for the Capitol riot, including 92% of Democrats and 57% of independents, but just 18% of Republicans. The 57% overall figure is up slightly — and within the 4.1 percentage-point margin of error — from last December (53%). Half of respondents said they think Trump should be charged with a crime, including 9 in 10 Democrats but only 10% of Republicans. Independents are split, 49% to 46%. Six in 10 respondents said they don't thi...

 This one involves truckers in California: LOS ANGELES, July 20 (Reuters) - Protests against a new California labor law that makes it harder for independent truckers to operate on Wednesday ground operations at the state's third-busiest seaport to a virtual halt, crimping a major artery in the U.S. supply chain. SSA Marine, which manages the largest terminal at the Port of Oakland, in the San Francisco Bay Area, decided to close operations due to the independent trucker protest, port spokesman Robert Bernardo told Reuters. The other marine terminals are effectively shut down for trucks, said Bernardo, adding that some vessel labor operations are under way. SSA and Everport terminal managers sent International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) dock workers home for safety reasons, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. TraPac on its website said its terminal would be closed for the first shift because protests were interfering with the entrance gate. Represe...

 Status Coup was there to cover what's going on (hint: it's about hurting poor and working-class people for profits): Remember when the Squad staged a "protest" to extend the eviction moratorium? Too bad it didn't help these people...

 So they are suing, and the trial starts in October .  Between Twitter and bitcoin, sooner or later people will realize that Musk is basically a tech tease.

 Without the ability to use her identity as a woman and a minority (she's of Greek descent) against a female Latina who is running for the same office in NYC, TYT contributor and journalist Nomiki Konst begins claiming violence and complains about running fair campaigns: Funny how this happens whenever white women encounter someone to their left that they can't dismiss with identity politics. Or, to be honest, how anyone associated with the Democratic Party acts when challenged by someone to their left (they are either unreasonable, radical, or violent).  Keep in mind that the target of Konst's ire (DSA member Kristen Gonzalez) was in the race before Konst, and has a number of endorsements . 

 So much so that they will cut off anyone trying to get to the bottom of their North Carolina shenanigans: 

 Trying to avoid what happened to Erol's and Blockbuster before them, Netflix is looking to capitalize on the success/popularity of programs like of Stranger Things, Cobra Kai and The Umbrella Academy and be home to their own "Star Wars"-like franchise .  I think one key difference is that the companies Netflix is trying to emulate (Disney, Warner Bros, Sony, etc.) are more than just TV and movies and dabble in all different forms of entertainment, both as products and services. Netflix may be better off trying to make/purchase their own phone or internet service first.  

 

 ...and they (in this case Democrats) will do whatever they can to keep a third party/independent candidate off the ballot:

 

 Much like conservatism hasn't. But anyway, Second Thought breaks things down:

 As Sabby mentions, this does have a slightly positive outcome. Nevertheless, the initial "gifts" this employee received highlights that the employer class does not value the worker beyond a means to obtain profits. 

 Of course, after the election both sides show their true colors:

 Via CNN: Iran may be helping out Russia by providing them with drones . Questions! What are the odds that one "enemy" of the US is helping another? If Iran's drone are so dangerous, why hasn't the media been pushing this? Are they only allowed to scaremonger Americas over one country at a time? Given the intelligence community's track record with/utter lack of understanding regarding Middle East culture and politics (**cough-cough** WMDS **cough-cough**)  why should we take anything they say about Iran with more than a grain of salt? Why was this information declassified and not something like, I don't know, anything that has been classified since the 1960's ?

 Reading this article about how "Prime Day" (actually two days) - a day where Amazon tries "to lure people to its Prime membership"- is experiencing a slow down because the pandemic still exists as well as overall economic disparity caused a pause to ponder: why is Prime Day even news? Why is a marketing gimmick being treated like a pseudo-holiday? Why are we showing any kind of reverence to a company that gets more than half of online purchases? Why hasn't Amazon used this day to advance the mental, spiritual, physical and financial well-being of their front-line workers? 

 In trying to downplay the effectiveness of Jan 6th, John Bolton (who has been making foreign policy decisions for America during at least two presidential administrations) let the cat out of the bag . It's not the admittance as much as the fact he was trying to highlight what a "real coup" looks like.  And like clockwork (due to so many people pointing this out on social media) CNN's response is to criticize Bolton's implication that Trump was too lazy and stupid to organize anything instead of expanding on Bolton's overt revelation.  As long as it's wrapped in nationalism, anything goes.

 

 

 If you asked me to name US cities most likely to be connected to the words, "clergy sex abuse," New Orleans would sound a little too on the nose. Nevertheless : More than a dozen alleged abuse victims have been interviewed this year as part of the probe that’s exploring among other charges whether predator priests can be prosecuted under the Mann Act, a more than century-old, anti-sex trafficking law that prohibits taking anyone across state lines for illicit sex. Some of the New Orleans cases under review allege abuse by clergy during trips to Mississippi camps or amusement parks in Texas and Florida. And while some claims are decades old, Mann Act violations notably have no statute of limitations. “It’s been a long road and just the fact that someone this high up believes us means the world to us,” said a former altar boy who alleged his assailant took him on trips to Colorado and Florida and abused him beginning in the 1970s when he was in the fifth grade. The AP generall...