1.
Polina Rayko (1928-2004), a Ukrainian-born artist, started painting her home at the age of 69 after losing her family tragically over time. According to this article, from 1998 to 2004 and using her pension money, Polina bought cheap supplies and without any education began painting. She covered the walls, ceilings, the kitchen stove, all the outbuildings, fences, and gates. To avoid the judgement of her neighbors, she painted with the shutters closed in the evening under the glow of her lamps. She sang and shed tears as she painted, bringing alive scenes from her life, releasing herself from the emotions of pain and loneliness and transforming her grief into joyful expressions.
2.
Oh, man, inflation…goddamn Brandon! Wahhh…it’s the president’s fault. Y’know, what you haven’t been hearing on the network news, or hardly any other news programs, is that one of the main driving factors behind your Cornflakes going up by a buck would be corporate greed and price gouging by the greedy bastards (corporations are people, no?).
I caught a Jon Stewart podcast this week with Lindsay Owens, PhD, a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute whose writing and research is focused on economic inequality, recessions, and the housing market. She has previously served as a senior economic policy advisor to Senator Elizabeth Warren and as Deputy Chief of Staff and legislative director to former Rep. Keith Ellison and Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). In these roles, she was instrumental in crafting and passing legislation to expand the social safety net, increase power for workers, and build a more inclusive economy for all.
Catch the podcast if you can but here is the gist of the interview summed up on her Twitter page:
As you read today's inflation report, pay close attention to what the CEOs who set prices are saying. We got our hands on the latest batch of earnings reports, and it's a doozy. They're literally bragging about hiking prices while hiding behind "inflation."
The receipts CEOs often speak more candidly on earnings calls (held when a new report comes out), in an effort to impress investors, by bragging about their ruthless profit-rigging schemes. It apparently doesn't occur to them that the public might find out about them! For instance the company 3M, which produces N95 masks (and other things) crowed on its earnings call that “the team has done a marvelous job in driving price. Price has gone up from 0.1% to 1.4% to 2.6%." The CFO told investors, "We see that to be a tailwind."
Tyson, one of the big 4 meat monopolies Biden is targeting for price-fixing saw profits nearly DOUBLE after price hikes of 32% on beef and 20% on chicken which the CEO attributed to the "continued resilience of our multi-protein portfolio."
In its 4th quarter report, Johnson & Johnson revealed it raised prices…despite raking in billions from COVID vaccine sales. Its CEO told investors that the need for medical care & to “address suffering and death” is part of J&J's “optimism” & “opportunity” for its future.
Kimberly Clark is a mega-corporation manufacturing everything from paper towels to diapers. On its recent earnings call, CEO Mike Hsu crowed to investors about “multiple rounds” of “significant pricing actions” & admitted he plans to continue doing it throughout the year.
If you want to understand the role of corporate greed in price hikes & inflation in America today, you don't have to take the word of watchdogs or critics of corporations. CEO's are admitting it themselves in plain daylight. And they're betting they can get away with it.
3.
Some countries who are known as Moscow’s allies have reacted with mild tones as they find themselves walking a tightrope between security concerns and economic interests. Aljazeera posted the tepid responses from the leaders of these countries; China, India, Israel, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Myanmar, Venezuela (“From Venezuela, we repudiate the perverse plans that seek to surround Russia militarily and strategically. All support for President Putin and his people. We are sure that Russia will come out of this battle united and victorious, with the admiration of the brave peoples of the world.”), Cuba, and Nicaragua. Follow the money…
In other war news, Magomed Tushayev, who was a military boss under the command of hardman Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, was killed in fighting at the Hostomel Airport, a key Russian target not far northwest of Kyiv. He was known as a despotic general who ruthlessly rounded up and killed LGBT+ people in an act that became known as the “gay purge.” His next to last words were “As of today, as of this minute, we do not have one single casualty, or wounded, not a single man has even had a runny nose. The president (Putin) took the right decision and we will carry out his orders under any circumstances.” Some heard him say lastly, “Hold my beer…” Good riddance, fucker.
In the meantime here at home, Trump is still braying Putin-love while J.D. Vance — the shameless, Yale-Law-educated, faux-populist-turned-nativist GOP senate candidate from Ohio — recently blamed transgender advocacy for being at the root of of America’s anger at Russia. He insisted in an interview that he and his buddies “did not serve in the Marine Corps to go and fight Vladimir Putin because he didn’t believe in transgender rights, which is what the U.S. State Department is saying is a major problem with Russia.” And if anybody in this country is still taking Tulsi Gabbard seriously, her stance is that all Biden had to do to prevent the Ukraine invasion was for the United States to guarantee Russia that Ukraine will never join NATO. Even Fox News Host Sean Hannity felt the need to “interrupt” newly announced CPAC speaker Gabbard’s defense of Russian “security” concerns over Ukraine, telling the former Democratic congresswoman on Monday night that President Vladimir Putin has long harbored “territorial ambitions” in the region. And then there’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying, with just a hint of spittle dripping down the side of his mouth, “He is a very talented statesman. He has lots of gifts, and he was a KGB agent, for goodness sakes. He knows how to use power. We should respect that. I have enormous respect for him – I’ve been criticized for saying that.”
By the way, I am not unaware that this war and the support of Ukraine has racist undertones. Moustafa Bayoumi, writing for the Guardian, asks Are Ukrainians more deserving of sympathy than Afghans and Iraqis? Many seem to think so. If we decide to help Ukrainians in their desperate time of need because they happen to look like “us” or dress like “us” or pray like “us,” or if we reserve our help exclusively for them while denying the same help to others, then we have not only chosen the wrong reasons to support another human being. We have also, and I’m choosing these words carefully, shown ourselves as giving up on civilization and opting for barbarism instead.
4.
2022 Elections are coming up. I’ll be posting more about them later on but for now, in an early primary, Beto O’Rourke will be running against voter suppressor Greg Abbott in the Texas Gubernatorial race. According to Vox, Abbott has sought to make himself synonymous with Trump. He has made multiple campaign appearances with the former president, including at a recent rally in Conroe where he said Trump’s name more than two dozen times over the course of a less than six-minute speech. And he has embraced some of Trump’s key political priorities, including militaristic border policies and restrictions on voting rights in the name of what Republicans call “election integrity.”
Just. Vote. Blue. You can help make a difference, even $5, to support Beto over the Trump lackey. We may not like it but often, in this country, the one with the largest war chest wins the race.
5.
Most disgusting white guy award goes to: Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and, guess the fuck what, he’s a Republican. According to the Washington Post, last December on public land north of Yellowstone National Park, he shot and killed a mountain lion that was being monitored by National Park Service staff, after hunting dogs had chased it up a tree. The 5-year-old mountain lion was wearing a GPS-tracking collar that Yellowstone biologists use to monitor the rare and elusive predators. Park staff knew the animal by its research number: M220.
Runner up is Lindsey Graham who blurted out on Sean Hannity’s show for someone to assassinate Putin. According to Heather Cox Richardson This was an astonishing propaganda coup for Putin, enabling him to argue that he is indeed in a war with America, rather than engaging in an unprovoked attack on neighboring Ukraine. This is exactly what the Biden administration has gone out of its way to avoid.
Also in the running, as always, is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who scolded several students for wearing masks. “Please take them off. Honestly, it’s not doing anything.” He then went on, with a slight woody in his pants, to announce that he would sign into law a 15-week abortion ban that shortens by more than two months the current window available to legally terminate a pregnancy, making it the strictest ban in the state's history. No exceptions for rape, incest, or sex trafficking. Those darn Christians.
6.
The most disgusting white woman award goes to Arizona Senate member Wendy Rogers speaking at the America First Political Action Conference, an annual white nationalist gathering, saying she she “will not apologize for being white. Hit me all you want. I will personally destroy the career of any Republican who partakes in the gaslighting of me simply because of the color of my skin or opinion about a war I don’t want to send our kids to die in.” The Tucson Sentinel went on to report that Rogers also praised event organizer Nick Fuentes, a known Holocaust denier with a history of making racist and anti-Semitic remarks. In a speech to the conference, Fuentes said people are comparing Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolph Hitler, “as if that isn’t a good thing.” Fuentes is a leader of the “groyper” movement that seeks to push the Republican Party further toward white nationalism. Rogers on Friday called him “the most persecuted man in America.”
7.
And not to be outdone from a mere state Senator, these two were in the Capital Bar Tuesday night yelling “Freebird” at the President. As any right-thinking person would do, he ignored the request and did an original.
8.
And the winner of the most praise-worthy white guy award goes to Andy Devine playing a rural gas station attendant, who defeats the alien invasion by whipping out his trusty harmonica. Hmmm, I wonder if this would work on Putin? Thanks to my buddy J.O. Teague for discovering this clip.
And now…
Hey you remember that 60’s show with the snappy little song, “That was the week that was”? Here’s a tasty treat…
https://youtu.be/Ynfu1Qmyluo
Good god, to hell in a hand basket we go