So many brave people become the targets of the lowest of the low

On Monday Kos of Daily Kos reported that it looks like the big Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Kherson region has begun. Ukraine has been talking about this since June. That talk was apparently not misdirection. Ukrainian forces are taking towns in villages in days that Russia struggled to take in weeks and months. Monday evening Kos posted an update. Is this really the start of the big counteroffensive or did Ukraine find a few holes in Russia’s line and exploit them? This is very much the fog of war. Even so there seems to be a shift from shelling strategic targets (supply depots and such) to shelling frontline positions. By Tuesday morning Mark Sumner of Kos reported that, yes, this looks like the big counteroffensive. It is forcing Russia to move troops from Donbas. It also means Russian plans for referendums to annex the territory they’ve been holding are less likely. These referendums are to show the citizens of the area want to be a part of Russia instead of Ukraine. And if they happen, they’ll definitely be rigged and phony. Belgorod is a Russian city only 25 miles from Ukraine. It has a military base important to supplying Russian forces in Ukraine. Of course, Ukraine artillery, with an aerial attack or two, has been blowing up things important to that base and doing so through the war. On Monday there was news that Ukraine was going to strike targets in Belgorod. This time the news prompted residents to swarm the train station for any way out. In a Wednesday post Kos wrote that the counteroffensive really is on. But as he and others guessed, the Ukraine army isn’t going straight to Kherson (where the liberation will be destructive). They seem to be heading to disrupt critical supply routes, including all the shells Russia would want to throw at Ukraine. That disruption is leaving a huge Russian contingent trapped with no way to get supplies. Since Ukraine started talking about this big counteroffensive Kos had written that Ukraine’s actions had all the markings of setting that trap. Others had come to the same conclusion and discussed it openly. I mentioned it as well. Kos wrote, “What's amazing is that Russia didn’t see the trap coming.” Allison Donahue of Michigan Advance reported that the proposal to put an amendment to state constitution to guarantee reproductive freedom went before the Board of State Canvassers. Last week the Bureau of Elections recommended the Canvassers certify because they have about 300K more petition signatures than needed. But the Canvassers didn’t certify – the vote was tied and along party lines. Republicans said many of the words on the proposal were spaced too close together so that a section looked like one run-on word. Republicans on the Board bought that reason. Democrats said the law does not allow that as a reason to not certify. So the issue will likely go to the state Supemes. Donahue also reported a second proposal with an amendment to the constitution also produced a deadlock along party lines in the Board of State Canvassers. This one guarantees voting rights to stop the Republican efforts to suppress the vote. Again the Bureau of Elections recommended certification – the campaign had turned in 200K more signatures than needed. I’m not sure of the reasons for the deadlock. Board vice-chair and Democrat Mary Ellen Gurewitz called the reasons “creative.” It will also go to the Supremes. They will have to act fast because the state part of the ballot must be set by September 9. April Siese of Kos reported on the huge floods happening in Pakistan. Over 1100 dead and 100,000 evacuated. The floods are happening because the monsoon season started a month early and the rain has been consistently heavy. Pakistan officials have been furious because their country has emitted a much lower level of greenhouse gases than China and the US, yet they are the ones hit with floods. Damage is estimated to be $10 billion. They demand help from the international community to update their infrastructure to be more resilient. Big polluters being required to pay for the damage and upgrades to smaller countries is likely to be the big topic of the COP27 climate conference to be held soon in Egypt. Sumner reported that flooding in Jackson, Mississippi has taken out the city’s water system. The water pressure has dropped and what water gets through isn’t safe to drink. The low pressure means not enough water to flush toilets or fight fires. Democratic Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba appealed to the state for help (he didn’t need to go far – Jackson is the capital). Republican Gov. Tate Reeves pushed the mayor aside and refused to say the system collapse is due to flooding, then seemed to not do much. So Lumumba appealed to federal officials, who are stepping in. Hopefully the water pressure will be back to normal in days, though the boil orders could be around for weeks. Sumner discussed how Jackson got into this mess. Starting in the 1980s the city experienced a great deal of white flight to the suburbs. Home values plummeted and tax revenues dropped. The city couldn’t afford to repair infrastructure. Attempts to raise property taxes to get enough money prompted more to flee. Attempts to raise income taxes prompted companies to flee. And the Republican majority state legislature isn’t about to make things easier for a black majority city, even if it is the city where they have to come to work. Sumner concluded:

Earlier this year, Reeves celebrated how Mississippi’s abortion legislation had been used as a pretext for overturning Roe v. Wade. Mississippi was, according to Reeves, “creating a culture of life.” As Laura Clawson wrote, Mississippi also has the highest firearm mortality rate, the highest homicide rate, the lowest life expectancy at birth, and the highest infant mortality of all 50 states. Reeves never did say that culture was in favor of life.

I didn’t look at Michigan COVID data while Brother was here last week. So it has been two weeks since I’ve had a look. I get the data here. The news is good – the peaks in new cases per day are trending down. Since a high at the start of August the peaks are 3195, 2940, 2658, 2396, and 2240. Alas, the peak is still above 2000 a day. In that same time the deaths per day has been 22 and below, pretty much where we have been since April. Joan McCarter of Kos reported that Republicans are telling their candidates to focus on defeating Democrats. But the nasty guy keeps stomping on those plans, intruding in the news with whatever his latest petty grievance is. So Democrats are able to run on threats to democracy. Kos reported that most midterms are a referendum on the president. That party usually loses seats because it is very difficult for a president to get much done in two years. But this year is different because the former guy won’t stay off the stage (see stomping above). Because of him Republican candidates are saying as little as possible about that former guy and abortion. Now that most primaries are behind us they are scrubbing their websites of mentions of either. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois is one of two Republicans on the January 6 Committee (the other is Liz Cheney). As happened to Cheney he lost his primary in his attempt to return to Congress in January. But he won’t be quietly disappearing. He’s campaigning for others this fall. And if the Republican doesn’t declare he’s for democracy and voting rights Kinzinger will campaign for the Democrat. Leah McElrath tweeted:

I am being targeted by a Nazi with a history of homicide. He is wanted by police. He has targeted me by name with photos from my Twitter because of my support for transgender people. He says I’m a “child rapist.” This is where the rhetoric of @realchrisrufo and the GOP leads. I’m not going to tweet his identity or give him notoriety he seeks. But you need to understand how serious this moment is. It’s not just online. It’s not just political differences. This man is a murderer. He’s targeting me and others, and he’s inciting others to do so as well. ... The rhetoric developed by @realchrisrufo and used by the GOP and right-wing media constitutes stochastic terrorism.

Elad Nehorai tweeted support for McElrath:

Being a leftist activist on Twitter is fun because just about every week, you hear that one of your friends is being targeted by homicidal Nazis and has to go on private, take a break from the platform, go into hiding, and/or have a chat with the FBI. This has been especially true since the “groomer” moral panic. I’ve already written plenty about it, but either way it’s quite something to experience seeing so many brave and special people become the targets of the lowest of the low. Then have people tell us it isn’t happening.