March 7, 2022

Life in a liberal democracy: Substitute teacher in Virginia reportedly suspended after presenting Russian perspective on Ukraine conflict. “During a Spanish class at Swanson Middle School on February 25, John Stanton, a 65-year-old substitute teacher, told The [Washington] Post that he devoted the first 10 minutes of class discussion around the Ukraine-Russia conflict. ‘I said, ‘Here’s what’s going on,” Stanton told The Post earlier this week. ‘The statement I think that got me was I said, ‘I personally support the logic of Putin,’ and what I meant by that is, he made a rational decision from his perception.'”   https://www.businessinsider.com/virginia-teacher-suspended-after-expressing-approval-of-ukraine-invasion-2022-3

Lucille Ball’s career was threatened because she once registered to vote as a Communist. “Ball had classified herself as a member (sic) of the Communist Party when she registered to vote in 1936. Ball’s brother Fred said in archive footage shown in the documentary that he and his sister ‘did register communist’ in order to ‘pacify’ their grandfather, Fredrick Charles Hunt, who raised them and ‘was always for the working man’. In 1953, Ball was interviewed by both the FBI and The House Committee on Un-American Activities, which was created so that members of Congress could investigate ‘disloyalty to the country by private citizens, public figures and organizations suspected of having fascist or Communist ties,’ according to The Wrap.”   https://www.insider.com/lucy-and-desi-lucille-ball-scared-publicly-associated-communist-party-2022-2   The first time I voted was in 1980 I believe, and I remember there being five or six parties who had presidential candidates on the Kansas ballot, including Gus Hall of the Communist Party. I believe I voted for Libertarian candidate Ed Clark. I had written to several of the minor parties, including the CPUSA and the Socialist Workers Party, to get their platforms, which apparently landed me on an FBI watchlist. My father, who was a federal law enforcement officer, came home from work one day and asked me what I had been up to, as I apparently had an FBI file. He didn’t know why, but I was in the system. I had no idea why. Then I told him I had written to various political parties to request their platforms, and he decided that was likely what had happened, since I wasn’t a 19 year-old spy or gangster and hadn’t been in any trouble. Fast forward to 2020, when there were only three parties with presidential candidates on the Kansas ballot – a Democrat, a Republican and a Libertarian. Lacking the financial resources of the Libertarian Party, the Green Party candidate, Howie Hawkins, was unable to collect the 20,000 or so signatures now required (2% of those who voted in the prior gubernatorial race). Green candidate Jill Stein made it onto the ballot in 2016, when only about 10,000 signatures were required (when it was only 1% of those who voted for governor). It would appear that there has been a long-term effort to keep opposition party candidates off the ballot in Kansas, which is not what democracy looks like.

First vehicle convoys protesting coronavirus restrictions and vaccination mandates arrive in Washington, D.C. “The [People’s Convoy], one of several bound for DC this weekend, is following the lead of the Canadian trucker protests that began in late January and continued for weeks as demonstrators protested Covid-19 mandates, crippling US border crossings and the capital of Ottawa. Organizers of the American convoys, however, have signaled they intend to keep their demonstrations under control. The People’s Convoy organizers previously said the group had no plan to mimic the Canadian protests with blockades or clashes with authorities.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/06/us/trucker-convoy-protest-washington-dc-sunday/index.html   Except maybe the guy who got this movement started in U.S., who claimed their Freedom Convoy was going to ‘squeeze, choke and swallow D.C. like a boa constrictor‘!

Life in a developed market economy: 70 brands of beef jerky recalled over possible listeria contamination. “At least 70 types of meaty snacks made by Boyd Specialties in California and shipped around the country — including Arrow’s Native Foods, Classy Cow Beef Jerky and Old South — were yanked from the shelves after tests found they were likely contaminated, the FDA said. Health officials urged people to toss any dried beef made on Feb. 23 due to the bacteria — which can cause fever, stomach problems and convulsions, and poses an increased threat to pregnant women, unborn children and the elderly. [Other] brands in question include Bacon Mamma Jamma, Durbin Farms Market, Gold Mine Jerky and Jerked Out, and a full list of brands can be viewed on the FDA’s website.”   https://nypost.com/2022/03/06/dozens-of-beef-jerky-brands-recalled-after-listeria-found/

Life in a developed market economy: Family Dollar temporarily closes 400 stores after Food and Drug Administration finds severe rat infestation at Arkansas warehouse. “The FDA’s discovery prompted Family Dollar to voluntarily recall dozens of food items, cosmetics, drugs and other products and temporarily close more than 400 stores in six southern states…. Dollar Tree said the most effective way to conduct a recall of impacted products was to temporarily close stores that received shipments from the distribution center. The distribution center is back open and operating at a limited capacity and the company is reopening Family Dollar stores gradually.”   https://www.ksl.com/article/50361570/400-family-dollar-stores-closed-after-a-rat-infestation-its-part-of-a-troubling-pattern

Third attempt made to establish humanitarian evacuation corridors in Ukraine. “The Russian military will hold fire and open humanitarian corridors in several Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, at 10am Moscow time (07:00 GMT) on Monday, the Interfax news agency reported citing Russia’s defence ministry. The corridors, which will also be facilitated in the cities of Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy, are being set up at the request of French President Emmanuel Macron and in view of the current situation in those cities, it added.”   https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/7/russias-invasion-of-ukraine-list-of-key-events-from-day-twelve

Wildfires destroy thousands of acres of forest in Florida. “‘The Bertha Swamp Fire is now 9,000 acres,’ [Bay County Emergency Services Chief] Brad Monroe said Sunday. ‘It is just hard to believe that something could be that big.’ …. There are currently 168 wildfires burning 15,300 acres throughout Florida as of Sunday, [the Florida Forest Service] said.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/07/us/florida-panhandle-wildfire-monday/index.html

Russia claims Ukrainian government was developing nuclear and biological weapons. “Russia is accusing the U.S. of using Ukraine to carry out illegal biological weapons research on deadly diseases, including the Black Death, in the latest round of misinformation meant to justify the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine…. The Kremlin has separately claimed that Ukraine was building plutonium dirty bombs at Chernobyl – now under Russian military control. Russia is also alleging Ukrainian secret services and the Azov battalion – a unit of the Ukrainian National Guard known for its neo-Nazi sympathies – plan to explode a reactor at the National Research Centre of the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, then blame Moscow for nuclear contamination. Scant evidence has been produced for the claims…”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10584941/Moscow-accuses-helping-Ukraine-biological-weapons-research-latest-false-flag.html

Thousands more Russian anti-war protesters reportedly arrested on Sunday. “On Sunday alone, 5,016 people were detained across the country for attending unsanctioned demonstrations, risking charges of treason. The latest detentions brought the total number of demonstrators held to more than 12,000 since the invasion began.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10585327/5-000-anti-war-demonstrators-arrested-Russias-biggest-day-protest-against-Putins-invasion.html