A secret library of 600 books

I’ve known of Andrea Chalupa for several years now. She’s a co-host of Gaslit Nation, which I’ve discussed frequently here, though I haven’t listened to or read it in several months. Through the episodes I have read or listened to Chalupa talked about having written and helped produce the movie Mr. Jones. Her ancestors are from Ukraine. She wrote the movie, well before the war there, as a way to feel she was doing something to counter the nasty guy’s regime. I finally watched it as my Sunday movie. A note at the end of the movie says that while the basic outline of the story is true individual scenes were created to dramatize the story and should not be considered as having actually happened. The time is 1933. Mr. Gareth Jones is an analyst for Lloyd George in London. Jones gives a report of Hitler and Lloyd George and his cronies don’t believe it. Though Jones is one of the better analysts he is fired. I later found out this is David Lloyd George, who was Prime Minister of Britain during and just after WWI. Jones has a question he wants to research. Where is Stalin getting his money? Stalin is bragging about industries the Soviets didn’t have and now do. So he’s off to Moscow to try to talk to Stalin. There he meets Walter Duranty of the Hearst newspaper empire. Duranty has a Pulitzer for his reporting and we later realize Duranty is a Stalin propagandist. After hearing the phrase “grain is gold” a couple times Jones is off to Ukraine to understand more. There he encounters and experiences the Holodomor. This is the central truth to the story – Stalin stole so much of Ukraine’s wheat the locals experienced a famine and millions died. Once back in London Jones faces disbelief and pressure by the Soviets on London to not print the story. A frame of the story is George Orwell writing his novel Animal Farm. The story Jones tells influences the novel Orwell writes. Perhaps a few years ago Chalupa wrote about how Orwell fits into the wider story, so this is more than a simple plot device. I found Chalupa’s explanation fascinating but don’t remember any of it. In a pundit roundup for Daily Kos Greg Dworkin quoted a tweet from Mark Elliott:

Almost every journalist covering Trump has gotten this wrong. He owes a total of $542 million and counting: - $355 million in fines for fraud - $99 million in interest on that fraud (increasing by the day) - $83 million to E. Jean Carroll - $5 million to E. Jean Carroll

Aldous Pennyfarthing of Kos poses an important question: How will the nasty guy pay more than a half billion? Yes, it will be appealed, but before it can be the money has to be put in escrow, or he has to provide some sort of proof that if the appeal fails he will pay up (and knowing how much this guy likes to stiff those he owes money to...). There’s cash reserves, but that’s reported to not be enough. Refinance? What bank would give him anything? He could sell assets, but he’s reluctant to sell anything except when he can get a price way above the value. To sell now means at well below value. Pennyfarthing quoted Dan Alexander, senior editor of Forbes:

He can’t even apply for a loan with many of these banks. But there are, for example, plenty of rich guys who might be interested in lending him $100 million, $200 million and may have good interest in wanting to do that for somebody who might become the president of the United States here in about a year.

Pennyfarthing added:

It’s actually rather astounding how matter-of-factly Alexander mentioned the “rich guys” loan option, considering that those rich guys could very well want something in return for their help—like, say, all of Ukraine. But you just know Trump would sell out his country before he’d ever consider selling one of his golf courses, so that’s almost certainly the option he’ll go with.

Then he quoted a tweet by Simon Rosenberg:

Trump is now broke. His party is broke. He has stolen America’s secrets and shared them with others - already. He’s sided w/Russia. The country is now looking at a grave national security risk as Trump will look abroad for financial and political help.

He could raid the Republican National Committee, now that he’s installing his daughter-in-law as co-director. But it doesn’t look like they have a half-billion. He’d be lucky to get a few million. Or he could declare bankruptcy. He’s done that many times for a long list of companies. But never personal bankruptcy, which rather spoils the billionaire vibe. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported the nasty guy has come up with a line of sneakers. If you think that’s weird you’re forgetting nasty guy vodka and nasty guy steaks. Yeah, former president reduced to selling shoes. While the initial run of sneakers sold out he’ll have to sell about 3 million pairs to cover what he owes. Or he could offer to autograph them for $9K each. Then he’d need to sell only 60K pairs. Einenkel lists ten of the nasty guy company bankruptcies. Mark Sumner of Kos linked to the latest ranking of US presidents. After noting the score and ranking for the nasty guy Sumner spent much of his post describing how wife Melania would be similarly ranked, though a First Lady survey hasn’t been done in a few years. Back to the presidents. I downloaded a PDF of the survey. Brandon Rottinghaus of University of Houston and Justin Vaughn of Coastal Carolina University sent a survey to 154 experts in presidential politics. They asked each expert to rate each president on a 0-100 scale for overall greatness. Then the ratings were averaged for a score and the scores ranked. The first few would not be a surprise. 1. Lincoln, 93.9 2. FD Roosevelt, 90.8 3. Washington, 90.3 4. T. Roosevelt, 78.6 5. Jefferson, 77.5 6. Truman, 75.3 7. Obama 73.8, up 9 positions from the 2015 ranking. Biden is at 14 with a score of 62.7, tied with J Adams at 13. Biden, along with Obama, Carter, and a dozen others are included in the “Most Under-Rated Presidents.” And at the bottom: 44. Buchanan, 16.7 45. Trump, 10.9 Yeah, in last place. By a lot. Einenkel reported Fox News is upset with the survey. Neda Ulaby of NPR talked to a teacher and students in a high school in Houston. Their names were not included in the report because this is Texas and the teacher has a secret library of about 600 books. She loans the books to the students she thinks need them – the ones who are both minority and queer. The students are delighted to read books that feature characters like themselves. The teacher got a list of 850 books to be banned. She gave a student the list and said tell me the books you think we should have, and go buy them (and it sounds like the teacher paid for them all). This is in a part of Houston where residents don’t have a lot of money. Many of their parents are immigrants and didn’t have much schooling. The teacher hopes her private library doesn’t have to stay secret.

I do believe that book banning is going to go away. I think it's kind of the last grasp of people trying to maintain control because they know it's slipping. That's what I tell myself anyway.

Orion Rummler, in an article for The 19th posted on Kos, wrote about the internal conflict of black gay Christians. So many black churches stigmatize their gay members, yet the black church is the center of their community and culture.

The Black church is a cultural and social hub that, throughout the country’s past, has been a singular source of protection and dignity for Black Americans. The community within the church isn’t just centered on religion; family life, school life and everyday support are intrinsically tied together.

Yet that center of their community rejects them. A new study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law and Utah State University looked into this. Tyler Lefevor of USU and a lead researcher said religions do a bad job of affirming queer folk. At the Reconciling Ministries Convocation last October I heard a black gay preacher talk about this issue. The black church is so central to black culture that a black gay man won’t go to an LGBTQ affirming white church. Rummler wrote that a black gay man may tough it out, attend even with the ostracization. Or he might leave the church. Or, if he learns about it, he might find a church through the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries. Elisabeth Rosenthal, in an article for KFF Health News posted on Kos, wrote that GoFundMe started for a way for friends to donate for honeymoon trips, church mission trips, or perhaps a fledgling musician wanting to record that first demo. It has become the go-to platform for patients with billing nightmares. The number of GoFundMe campaigns for medical bills is 25 times what it was in 2011.

Perhaps the most damning aspect of this is that paying for expensive care with crowdfunding is no longer seen as unusual; instead, it is being normalized as part of the health system, like getting bloodwork done or waiting on hold for an appointment. Need a heart transplant? Start a GoFundMe to get on the waiting list. Resorting to GoFundMe when faced with bills has become so accepted that, in some cases, patient advocates and hospital financial aid officers recommend crowdfunding as an alternative to being sent to collections. My inbox and the “Bill of the Month” project (a collaboration by KFF Health News and NPR) have become a kind of complaint desk for people who can’t afford their medical bills, and I’m gobsmacked every time a patient tells me they’ve been advised that GoFundMe is their best option. ... In many respects, research shows, GoFundMe tends to perpetuate socioeconomic disparities that already affect medical bills and debt. If you are famous or part of a circle of friends who have money, your crowdfunding campaign is much more likely to succeed than if you are middle-class or poor.

And if you are middle-class or poor you’re much more likely to have medical debt you can’t pay.

Despite the site’s hopeful vibe, most campaigns generate only a small fraction of the money owed. Most medical-expense campaigns in the U.S. fell short of their goal, and some raised little or no money, a 2017 study from the University of Washington found. Campaigns made an average of about 40% of the target amount, and there is evidence that yields — measured as a percentage of their targets — have worsened over time.

Sumner reported:

On Sunday’s edition of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” host John Oliver made a direct offer to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. After showcasing a new, luxury RV valued at $2.4 million, Oliver offered to give the RV to Thomas, along with $1 million a year in cash, if the justice would sign a contract promising “to get the f--- off the Supreme Court.”

Sumner said it isn’t the first such offer. Sam Bankman-Fried, before he was arrested for crimes committed while the head of a crypto corporation, offered the nasty guy $5 billion to keep him from running in 2024.

Both of these offers seem like they should be illegal. Because they should be illegal. But they’re just the flip side of what’s already happening—wealthy patrons buying figureheads who will do exactly what they want in office. ... In the meantime … Dear Clarence, that motorhome looks really sweet. Take it. Please take it.

Bill in Portland, Maine, in a Cheers and Jeers column for Kos, included a short video of three seesaws installed through the border wall.