American Politics from 2019 on

[Tero]

Right winger shows up at ICE protest and gets arrested

Police arrest far-right extremist Jake Lang after vehicles drive onto sidewalk in Minneapolis
Minneapolis police arrested far-right extremist Jake Lang and others on probable cause riot after driving onto a sidewalk near City Hall, impacting public safety.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police arrested far-right extremist Jake Lang and several others Tuesday after two vehicles drove onto a sidewalk toward a crowd gathered near Minneapolis City Hall, according to police.

At approximately 11:50 a.m., Lang arrived near City Hall with other people traveling in two vehicles, the Minneapolis Police Department said.

Police said both vehicles drove onto the sidewalk in front of City Hall, where a crowd of people had gathered. Officers moved in and directed the vehicles away from the sidewalk and out of the area.

https://www.kare11.com/article/news/loc ... 367cd5bef7

[Tero]

Chinless 60-year old gets S Carolina nomination. The state has not had a Democrat for decades.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darline_Graham
Sister of dead gay Republican.

[Brian Peacock]

Chins are overrated.

[L'Emmerdeur]

The Trumpist Republican contempt for the population of the US becomes more and more apparent. 'Nobody has a right to clean water, and the government doesn't have to tell the truth about such things.' This is from the Fifth Circuit Court, which has long been infamous as probably the staunchest right-wing circuit court in the country. Also a Trump-appointed judge of course.

'You Don’t Have a Right to Safe Drinking Water, US Court Rules'

On Friday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit against the city of Jackson, Mississippi, which alleged the city knowingly let residents drink lead-contaminated water.

The lawsuit, first filed in 2022, says the contamination violated Jacksonians’ constitutional right to bodily integrity. Donald Trump-appointed judge Kurt Engelhardt disagreed. “The Constitution does not provide redress for every governmental wrongdoing,” Engelhardt said. “Defendants’ actions allegedly deprived Plaintiffs of clean water and guileless information. These deprivations, while grievous, do not infringe upon any deeply rooted constitutional right.”

That may be true in Mississippi—but on the state level in at least nine US states, and in more than a dozen other countries, clean drinking water is in fact a protected right. In countries including Uruguay and South Africa, a right to clean water is enshrined in the constitution. New York’s state constitution, as of a 2021 amendment, states that “each person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.” So too in Massachusetts, where “the right to clean air and water” has been constitutionally protected since 1972.

But according to the Fifth Circuit ruling, the US constitution is too narrow for such a claim. The Jackson plaintiffs alleged that their city government deliberately withheld information about the water’s toxicity, and exacerbated the problem through a series of boil-water notices—a practice that can eliminate some bacterial contamination, but also concentrates lead in water. Engelhardt stated there is no “constitutional right to truthful information from officials during a public health crisis.”

[...]

[Brian Peacock]

Why should I pay taxes just to stop other people's children getting preventable diseases?

[Sean Hayden]

That's right, it's better to pay taxes to give other people's kids preventable diseases.

In "Operation Desert Storm " of 1991, the American military deliberately targeted and destroyed water treatment plants and power plants (as well as other key infrastructural elements). In August 1990, UN sanctions were imposed on Iraq that blocked the importation of specialized equipment and chemicals, including chlorine for water purification. The UN continued imposing sanctions for thirteen years, preventing Iraq from repairing damaged water treatment plants and pipes.

By the early 1990's, Iraq no longer had the capacity to maintain an adequate supply of potable water for agriculture and human consumption. Accordingly, water delivery plummeted significantly, which resulted in serious health epidemics. By 1996, it was estimated that more than 500,000 Iraqi children had died from preventable diseases under the period of sanctions. Children under five were particularly susceptible to water-borne diseases and diarrhea as a result of dehydration and drinking contaminated water. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated that between 1990 and 2000, the average per capital share of potable water decreased from 330 liters to 150 liters in Baghdad and from 180 liters to 65 liters in rural areas.

https://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/ncci- ... ent-rivers

[Brian Peacock]

That make for grim reading. You know, the more I hear about the West's military adventures in the Middle-East the less I like it.

[Sean Hayden]

Yeah, I look at it like being married to the mob: I have good life, a great life, but there’s a real chance I’ll do my time in hell for it.