Red Wing Daily: June 22, 2024
"the more you know..."
State
“It can’t happen here!” but it did, in Fordyce on Friday, and our prayers are with the families affected. Also for our society that’s so sick and so helpless in many ways to make changes for the better. Why do we hate so much?
Any different? After a somewhat quiet opening on Monday, the Arkansas Legislature’s special session went quickly after the bodies suspended the normal notification rules for putting legislation in front of committee and onto the floor for final votes — not unusual for a special session. As is usual for special sessions, most of the details were largely worked out ahead of time to achieve the desired results of slightly lowering the tax rates by .5%, slightly increasing the homestead tax credit from $425 to $500, and finally approving funding for the Game & Fish Commission.
Lawmakers also approved two resolutions — one that detailed the Republican majority’s opposition to the “abortion as a right” ballot question and one that opposes the anti-LEARNS Act ballot question. Oh yes, about $290 million of the state’s $708.1 million estimated budget surplus this fiscal year will also go into the Arkansas Reserve Fund Set-Aside fund (that already has a balance of over $700 million). What about the rest of it?Everyone’s got a story: ACT committee member Jen Standerfer was handcuffed and removed from the Hot Springs Convention Center under circumstances that change depending on whose narrative you hear. Facts are coming out so we’ll reserve judgment for now. It’s just sad that what began as a noble, true bipartisan effort to protect our gold-standard Freedom of Information Act is getting mucked up again by the non-transparent folks in control at ACT.
Tyson sells employees Juneteenth shirts that strike out ‘July 4’ as Independence Day: First they help illegals get citizenship and then — how does Tyson NOT KNOW? What else could “team members” be doing under management’s oh-so-watchful expertise?
Regnat Populus: The RPA and its messengers continue to pretend the GOP State Convention somehow didn’t have the authority to close the Republican primaries and enact other platform & Rules changes on June 8. On “Capitol View” last Sunday the host didn’t even bother to talk with Convention Chair Jennifer Lancaster but instead invited old guard Rex Nelson and Democrat analyst Michael Cook to smear grassroots Republican voters in Arkansas under the pretense of discussing the Convention. Lancaster set the record straight with Jimmie Cavin on the Dave Elswick Show last Wednesday:
Former Blue Hog Report blogger Matt Campbell is the guy who took down Circuit Judge Mike Maggio over a federal court bribery scam and Lt. Gov. Mark Darr for misusing state credit cards, and of late went after that podium in the Governor’s office. Now Campbell, an attorney now turned muckraker at the Arkansas Times, is being sued for malpractice, “a systemic slipshod practice of law,” after he was also sanctioned for a frivolous lawsuit he filed against a Fayetteville attorney after he lost a suit in Washington County.
No luck: “A Hot Springs medical marijuana dispensary must sell or dispose of its products by July 11 after a judge denied the owner’s request to block the revocation of his license Thursday,” citing “substantial evidence of failure to comply” with state law.
National
Trying to cut funding: The House version of the $883 billion annual NDAA provides a pay raise for the troops but also eliminates DEI positions in the DoD, blocks funding for abortion-related expenses, gender transition surgeries and hormone treatments and bars the DoD’s “education arm from purchasing or displaying material that ‘promotes radical gender ideology or pornographic content’” among other strong provisions. Unfortunately the bill is dead before arrival in the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate due to these very provisions.
You know the Koch brothers, owners of the second largest private company in the U.S. and the ones behind Americans for Prosperity? (Brother David Koch, who died in 2019, founded AfP.) Here’s what Tucker Carlson has to say about their involvement with the GOP:
Can we go any lower? “The Massachusetts House has unanimously passed a bill that would allow women to sell their babies to the highest bidder … under the guise of LGBTQ rights.” The bill also changes the legal description of “parenthood” from being based on biology or adoption to a “person’s intent to be a parent of a child,” while removing the background checks involved in traditional adoption or surrogacy.
Tech
Calling via satellite on your Apple device: “The days of not being able to contact friends, family or even a co-worker when you don't have a cell signal or Wi-Fi are numbered. During the company's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote … Apple showed off the Messages via satellite iOS 18 feature.” After your Apple device updates to iOS 18, you won’t have to do anything special to use this free-for-now calling feature other than “following the onscreen guide on how to connect to a satellite” and having a clear line of sight to the sky. (Remember, when services are “free” your data is likely being captured and sold or otherwise used without your knowledge.)
“Can’t believe you” statements from this week’s news:
Talking about the newest state budget and those tax cuts: “Bottom line is this: we’re not cutting anything we’re not cutting anything in state government,” [State Senator Ben] Gilmore said. “In fact, the budget increased 1.76% that means no program got cut.” (This one’s actually more like a “watch my left hand and don’t look at what the right hand is doing” statement.)
So you’re saying the world’s second largest processor/marketer of chicken, beef, and pork doesn’t know what its “team members” are doing? “Tyson Foods was unaware of the [Juneteenth] t-shirt designs proposed by a team member,” the spokesman said. “Upon review, it was determined that the t-shirts do not meet the company’s dress code policy, and they will not be sold or distributed.”