Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Country Soft and Squishy"

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Isaiah's latest THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Country Soft and Squishy." Racist big boy Jason Aldean declares, "It's me Fat Jason Aldean. I wear rings on my fingers, earrings, chains and necklaces. Quick, what do you think I'm hiding?"  Isaiah archives his comics at THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS.

Iraq: Al-Shorta advances in the King Salman Cup, a bear is sedated for a flight, Cardinal Sako remains persecuted

 Starting with Iraqi sports news,  Khaled Al-Arafah (ARAB NEWS) reports:


The Iraqi Al-Shorta  and the Saudi Al Hilal teams qualified for the semi-finals of the King Salman Cup for Arab Clubs 2023, in the start of the quarter-finals of the tournament, on Saturday evening.

 Al-Shorta beat Qatar's Al-Sadd 4-2 in Abha, while Al-Hilal beat the Saudi Al-Ittihad team 3-1 in Taif.

In the first match, Aso Rostom scored (two goals), Amir Sabah and Ahmed Farhan scored one goal each for Al-Shorta, while Akram Afif scored the double for Al-Sadd.

In the second match, Al-Hilal's goals were scored by Sergey Savic, Salem Al-Dosari and Malcolm Philip, while Al-Ittihad's goal was scored by Romario da Silva.


In other sports news, RUDAW notes:

Erbil Sports Club on Saturday failed to win the Iraqi Cup. It was defeated in a dramatic final game against al-Quwa al Jawiya, one of Iraq’s oldest and most prestigious football teams that took the match 1-0.

The match's sole goal was scored by Jawiya’s Muhannad Abdul Rahim.


In travel news, Ali al-Shouk (THE NATIONAL) reports, "An Iraqi airline has apologised after a bear being transported on a passenger flight from Baghdad to Dubai escaped from its crate in the cargo hold of the plane. Iraqi Airways said on Friday that the animal had to be sedated and taken off the flight on arrival at Dubai International Airport."  Azhi Rasul (RUDAW) adds, "The origins of the bear or where it was being taken were not publicized."







Moving on to a conflict between Christians and the government of Iraq, let's drop back to the July 18th snapshot:


Cardinal Louis Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, announced Saturday that he is withdrawing from his seat in Baghdad after Iraqi President Abdul Rashid revoked a decree recognizing him as head of the Christian Church in Iraq.

Sako said he will be taking up residence in a monastery in Kurdistan, an autonomous region of Iraq, where he will continue to lead the Chaldean Church.  

In a statement issued July 15, Sako called the president’s action — which calls into question his ability to control Church assets in the country — “unprecedented” and “unfair.”

“It is unfortunate that we in Iraq live in the midst of a wide network of self-interest, narrow factionalism, and hypocrisy that has produced an unprecedented political, national, and moral chaos, which is rooted by now more and more,” Sako wrote. “Therefore, I have decided to withdraw from the patriarchal headquarters in Baghdad.”

What's going on?  A number of things, actually.  AFP noted a few days ago a political conflict:

Cardinal Louis Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, announced Saturday that he is withdrawing from his seat in Baghdad after Iraqi President Abdul Rashid revoked a decree recognizing him as head of the Christian Church in Iraq.

Sako said he will be taking up residence in a monastery in Kurdistan, an autonomous region of Iraq, where he will continue to lead the Chaldean Church.  

In a statement issued July 15, Sako called the president’s action — which calls into question his ability to control Church assets in the country — “unprecedented” and “unfair.”

“It is unfortunate that we in Iraq live in the midst of a wide network of self-interest, narrow factionalism, and hypocrisy that has produced an unprecedented political, national, and moral chaos, which is rooted by now more and more,” Sako wrote. “Therefore, I have decided to withdraw from the patriarchal headquarters in Baghdad."

 [. . .]


Now comes Abdul to further disgrace the Talabani family and the PUK.  FARS MEDIA CORPORATION notes:

A source at Asianews points out that the whole affair turns on this point: “Someone wants to take control over the assets and properties held by Christians and the Church.” President Abdul Latif Rashid has intervened in recent days with the intention of “clarifying” his decision.

His office issues a statement saying: “Withdrawing  the republican decree does not prejudice the religious or legal status of Cardinal Louis Sako, as he is appointed by the Apostolic See.” According to the Kurdish Muslim leader, “the abolition of the Presidential Decree is intended to correct the situation,” while the patriarch continues to enjoy “the respect and appreciation of the presidency of the Republic as Patriarch of the Chaldean Church in Iraq and the world.”

“However, the president’s decision strips the Chaldean leader – the Patriarch – of the right to administer church assets, which are the target of Ryan 'the Chaldean' and his Babylonian Brigades. ‘It’s no coincidence that the president’s decision came a few days after he met with Ryan,’” a source told AsiaNews.

“For over 100 years, the patriarch, after his papal appointment, had his office recognized by decree by the king and then the president, upholding his status as head of the Church and custodian of its properties.” With the withdrawal of the decree, the primate “will likely lose control over the [Church’s] assets and properties,” the source concludes, but Cardinal Sako “is determined to fight and is already studying ways to appeal in court so that law prevails and justice is done.”

The controversy surrounding the withdrawal of the presidential decree is the latest chapter in a series of attacks that have affected the most respected figure of the Chaldean Church in Iraq, to the point that in recent weeks there has arisen a backlash among Christians in response to the “lies”: an attack against the patriarch and the leadership of the Church by the leader of the Babylonian Movement, Rayan.


Two days later, Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) updated the story:

The US ambassador to Iraq will be summoned by Baghdad over remarks made by a US official about the removal of the head of the Christian Church in Iraq, the government said on Thursday.

Ambassador Alina Romanowski is to be called in after State Department spokesman Matthew Miller described the treatment of Cardinal Louis Sako as harassment.

He said he was troubled by Iraq’s President Abdul Latif Rashid's decision to revoke a decree recognising the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, as head of the country's Christian Church.

“I will say we are disturbed by the harassment of Cardinal Sako ... and troubled by the news that he has left Baghdad,” Mr Miller said on Tuesday.

“We look forward to his safe return. The Iraqi Christian community is a vital part of Iraq’s identity and a central part of Iraq’s history of diversity and tolerance.”

Mr Rashid's office said the president was "disappointed by accusations levelled against the Iraqi government" by Mr Miller and would summon the ambassador.


The conflict continues.  CHRISTIAN TODAY notes, "The leader of Iraq's largest Christian community has asked the country's supreme court to reverse a presidential order that no longer recognises him as Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church.  Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid revoked a decree issed by his predecessor acknowledging Cardinal Louis Raphael I Sako as Patriarch."  Aid To The Church in Need explains, "The prelate is calling for a new decree to be put in place using slightly different wording, but in effect re-instating the terms of the old one and giving official recognition both to him and other patriarchs. He called on Church leaders, governments, politicians, and other influencers around the world to back calls in favor of a new decree."  Susan Korah (THE CATHOLIC REGISTER) spoke with an Iraqi Christian activist, Rabea Allos, currently living in Canada an Allow stated, "I was personally shocked and saddened.  Things are going deeper into the gutter in Iraq. The patriarch was vocal about encouraging Christians to remain in Iraq, but now they are going after His Beatitude. This sends another message to Christians that they are not wanted in Iraq. [. . .] This revocation undermines not only Patriarch Sako's official position as leader of the Church, but also his authority to administer Church properties and endowments, subject to the approval of the Vatican."  ALETEIA adds:


Cardinal Sako published an open letter to the administration on the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate website, in which he noted that he will remain in Erbil if no decree is issued. He has vowed to remain in the monastery until the end of the presidential term of Dr. Abdul Latif Rashid in late 2026. The prelate also lamented the end of a traditional understanding between the government and the Chaldean Catholic Church that has spanned 14 centuries. 


AP's Abby Sewell and Salar Salim report on Cardinal Sako's political rival  Rayan al-Kildani:


In Baghdad's upscale Mansour neighborhood, al-Kildani was busy building political alliances.

On a recent afternoon, several couches in the palatial lobby of his party headquarters were occupied by well-dressed women wearing hijabs, beneath a painting of the Last Supper and a portrait of al-Kildani.

One by one, the women entered the inner office, each one emerging with a gift bag. One of the visitors explained that they were political candidates interested in running on al-Kildani’s list in Mosul in December’s provincial elections.

After the visitors departed, a smiling and courtly al-Kildani made his entrance.

He insisted that he had no role in the withdrawal of the patriarch's decree and dismissed allegations that he was seeking to seize church lands.


This Cardinal Sako's bio from The Vatican:

His Beatitude Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans was born in Zākhō, Iraq, on 4 July 1948.

He completed his primary studies in Mosul, and then attended the local Saint Jean’s Seminary, held by the Dominican Fathers.

He was ordained a priest on 1 June 1974, and carried out his pastoral service at the Cathedral of Mosul until 1979.

He was sent to Rome, where he attended the Pontifical Oriental Institute, obtaining a doctorate in Eastern patrology. He subsequently obtained a doctorate in history from the Sorbonne in Paris. From 1997 to 2002 he held the office of rector of the Patriarchal Seminary in Baghdad. Upon returning to Mosul he guided the parish of Perpetual Help until his election as archbishop of Kerkūk on 27 September 2003.

He received episcopal ordination the following 14 November.

On 31 January 2013, during the Synod convened in Rome by Pope Benedict XVI after the resignation of the Patriarch His Beatitude Cardinal Delly, he was elected Patriarch, receiving the Ecclesiastical Communio from the same Supreme Pontiff on 1 February; rendered public with the Eucharistic Celebration in the Vatican Basilica on 4 February.

On 14 July 2018, the Holy Father Francis appointed him President Delegate of the XV Ordinary General Assembly on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment (October 2018).

He has published books on the Church Fathers, and numerous articles.

In addition to Arabic and Chaldean, he knows German and speaks French, English and Italian.

Created and proclaimed Cardinal by Pope Francis in the consistory of 28 June 2018.

Member of:

  • Dicasteries: for the Oriental Churches; for Culture and Education; for Inter-religious Dialogue.
  • Council for the Economy.


The US government's position?  Little has been said publicly but the issue did pop up at a July 18th press briefing given by State Dept spokesperson Matthew Miller:


QUESTION: Yeah, on Iraq. Do you have any reaction to the Iraqi president decision to revoke a decree recognizing Cardinal Louis Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, as head of the Christian Church in Iraq?

MR MILLER: Yes. I will say we are disturbed by the harassment of Cardinal Sako, the patriarch of the Chaldean Church, and troubled by the news that he has left Baghdad. We look forward to his safe return. The Iraqi Christian community is a vital part of Iraq’s identity and a central part of Iraq’s history of diversity and tolerance.

I will say we are in continuous contact with Iraqi leaders on this matter. We are concerned that the cardinal’s position as a respected leader of the church is under attack from a number of quarters, in particular a militia leader who is sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act. Excuse me.

QUESTION: And to what extent do you think this decision affects the religious freedom in Iraq?

MR MILLER: I would say certainly it is a blow to religious freedom, and that’s why we are so concerned and why we have engaged directly with the Iraqi Government to make our concerns clear.

QUESTION: And do you expect any change in their decision?

MR MILLER: I will say we have engaged with them. I think I just made our position quite clear. And we certainly hope that they will reverse that decision and the cardinal will be able to safely return to Baghdad.


With each passing day, it's becoming a bigger issue.  Friday, Iraqis held a protest.  Azhi Rasul (RUDAW) reports:


Christians in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh protested on Friday against what they called demographic changes and lack of respect for religious leaders amid a rift with Baghdad.

“Our youth are being disrespected. The region has been divided in terms of security, administration and politically. Today our mouths are being shut,” Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Mosul Benedict Younan said in a protest in Qaraqosh, southeast of Mosul.

He said the Christians of Nineveh are facing a veiled call to emigrate and leave their lands, and called on the Iraqi government to step in. 

“Today the existing checkpoints are preventing journalists from entering this region and seeing our struggles,” the bishop said, accusing security forces of trying to “mislead public opinion and shut their mouths” by barring media from covering the protest. 


Turning to the US, today Jack McCordick (VANITY FAIR) reports:

Ron DeSantis’s largest individual donor, hotelier and real estate tycoon Robert Bigelow, is, at least for the time being, closing his coffers. He announced that he is no longer donating to the Florida governor’s floundering campaign, citing the candidate’s “extremism” on abortion. Bigelow’s about-face, which he revealed in an interview with Reuters Friday, is the latest sign of big-money skittishness around DeSantis, once the darling of conservative donors.

Bigelow, who once said he’d “go without food” to push a DeSantis presidential bid, donated $20 million in March to Never Back Down, a super PAC supporting the Florida governor. That sum is ten times higher than the $2 million donated by the PAC’s second-biggest donor, venture capitalist Douglas Leone.

But Bigelow’s donation was made a month before DeSantis signed a bill banning abortion after six weeks, a move Bigelow cited as his reason for withholding more money. "He does need to shift to get to moderates. He'll lose if he doesn't,” the Las Vegas-based businessman said. “Extremism isn't going to get you elected.”


Isaiah's got a comic that goes up after this  ("Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS comics for the week (so far)" notes his previous four comics this week) and the following sites updated:




Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS comics for the week (so far)

 Isaiah's got another comic going up in about an hour.  It'll be the fifth one for this site this week.

Here are the four that have already gone up this week.

THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Pride of the Boomers, Pride of the Senate"


difimitch


THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Alito Does Not Work For Ma Bell"

lilyalito

THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Junior Topless, Nips To The Wind

junior

 THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Trump Charges Result In A GOP Slap Fight

slapfight



New Episode! Staying Alive: Reconciling Nature, Culture and Gay Rights

 

Staying Alive:
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As a backlash against LGBTQ rights escalates into an authoritarian crusade, acclaimed author and queer activist Taylor Brorby asks how we can still be fighting this battle? As a writer addressing the fossil fuel industry’s acceleration in the midst of climate chaos, Taylor is forced to choose between the existential crises of the assaults on nature and on LGBTQ people. It’s all connected, he says, as he seeks to reconcile nature, culture, diversity and belonging.
 
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Iraq snapshot

Friday, August 4, 2023.  Approximately 300 US service members have returned from Iraq (and many more remain in Iraq), Hunter Biden investigations still lacking any damning information for Joe, Marjorie and the other nutjobs are what's produced when crazy grudge f**ks hate, and much more.



Despite boredom on the part of so much of the US press, all US troops never left Iraq.  Even the drawdown left US troops in Iraq and their number were then increased in 2014.  And they still remain in Iraq.  One group is finally coming home (they've already been replaced in Iraq) and that's a good thing -- but all need to be leaving Iraq and coming home.  Thomas B Langhorne (EVANSVILLE COURIER & PRESS) reports:

It would have been asking the impossible for Lindsey Keene's kids to wait stoically for her to walk into an airport terminal after a year in Iraq. And they didn't.

Oblivious to the hundreds of other people who were at Evansville Regional Airport Thursday to greet returning members of the Indiana Army National Guard, Lindsey and David Keene's three children tapped anxiously on their welcome home signs. Their faces lit up when they thought the 163rd Field Artillery's nearly 100 returnees were about to walk in — and sagged when bemused passengers of an American Airlines flight from Charlotte appeared instead.

Then it happened. Sgt. Lindsey Keene, a combat medic finishing her second deployment, swept in with other soldiers. Son Gerald Oshsner, 11, clapped his hands to his ears and cried out: "Mom!" In an instant the boy and sisters Marley Ochsner, 12 and Kiera Keene, 9, swarmed Keene, pressing their heads into her chest in an embrace charged with a year's worth of longing.


MaCabe Brown has a photo essay for the paper of the returnAdam Knight (WEVV) notes, "Approximately 300 soldiers with the 163rd Field Artillery Regiment were welcomed home from their deployment on Thursday."  14 NEWS has a video report here.


Again, all should be home.  At some point we also need to be asking why the National Guard is being sent overseas -- to Iraq, to Kosovo, everywhere.  We need to ask when the Guard is allowed to return to their role?  

Questions?  Let's grab a few from the e-mails.


Let's start with Joe Biden.  US President Joe Biden has had his share of stumbles and scandals.  I have an e-mail regarding the recognition of Navy Joan.  Why, I'm asked, have I not called this out?

Called out the Bidens recognizing their granddaughter? 

Uh, because it's good news.  I know this is confusing to some people.  Hate Merchant Jonathan Turley, for example, can't seem to stop Tweeting about this.  

It's over.  The issue has been resolved.  Yes, she was not immediately welcomed.  Yes, that was wrong.  We actually called it out here -- more than once.  We stopped because it was being addressed.  I don't feel the need to do an update on this.  The e-mailer says, "You are just trying to protect Biden!"

Really?  Because I will offer a statement right now if it's that all important to you:  Good for Joe and Jill for welcoming their granddaughter Navy Joan into the family.

Disappointed?  Maybe you are.  Maybe you expect me to obsess over it like Jonathan Turley who has turned himself into an even bigger joke.

Families are messy.  Life is hard.  I thought Navy Joan needed to be recognized.  I said so.  She is.  That's a good thing.  Again, Turley's an idiot who comes across as bitter and obsessed.  It actually appears he wishes Navy Joan were being ignored.  I'm happy for her and happy for the family.

On, Joe, I'm also told that I am looking the other way on the Hunter Biden scandal.  Again, I'm told, this is because I'm protecting Joe.  Protecting him from what?

Ruth covers Hunter at her site.  I did cover it originally -- that would be going back to 2019, not waiting until the moment THE NEW YORK POST published their first story on Hunter Biden's laptop in October of 2020.  I've covered it.  I've done that.  I'm not interested in the plea deal -- the deal that is no more.  Nor is it a story that gets no attention.  

When I covered it, it was being ignored but that's no longer the case. 

I defended NY POST's story, defended the publishing of it, called out NYT's attack article -- I believe we're the only ones who remember that article -- where NYT attacked the POST and insisted that the POST staff was ashamed and embarrassed and opposed to the publication of the laptop story.  It was filled with lies.  If you want to go after the media, that's where you start.  But no one wants to go there.  I don't have to, I know what happened with that article.  

So I haven't run from that.

The e-mailer on this says that I'm ignoring the story and ignoring it because I'm voting for Joe Biden in 2024.

I'm voting Democrat in 2024 -- regardless of who the nominee is.  I made that public here and did so in order that people could factor in what goes up here with that.

If you think it's effecting coverage, there's the answer for you.  

No, I don't think that.  We've covered this and we covered it at length.

The e-mailer notes Tara Reade's reTweets.

I'm so very happy she's found something to do in Russia.  I guess she doesn't have any friends still so she needs to obsess over the country she defected from.  Or maybe she and convicted pedophile Scott Ritter aren't talking these days?  You do realize her online embrace of registered sex offender Ritter is what destroyed her.  Most of us, actual survivors, no longer give a s**t about her.  Even her online We Believe Tara group vanished over that.  And should have.  This was not Donald Duck has been accused of assault/rape by Daisy Duck and we used our own common sense to figure out who we believed.  This was Scott Ritter got arrested three times, had to plea agreements, third time went to court and got convicted in a court of law, sent to prison and had to register as a sex offender.  This is not, Do I believe Donald or Daisy?  No, the court verdict ended it.  (And read the testimony from the police -- especially about him peeling out of the parking lot -- if you really want to know what a liar Ritter is.)  

So I don't care about Tara.  I didn't care about the recent court victory either because the woman said -- on CNN -- that rape was "sexy."  

Don't care.  Can't help the entire world.  Can't cover everything.

Due to the e-mail, I've looked at Tara's reTweets.  They are garbage.  "Devon Archer confirmed Joe Biden was THE BRAND, and he brought the most value to THE BRAND."

Huh?


That was confirmed by Devon Archer?  

Maybe to the brain dead.

Of course Joe was "the brand."  The deals with Hunter were due to the fact that Joe Biden was vice president.  That's not news.  Nor is it even new gossip.  Hunter had no cachet on his own and no value if his father was Generic Smith.  

Hunter traded on dad's name.

We covered all of this at length.  Back when it mattered.  We noted -- and applauded -- back when Sarah Chayes wrote "Hunter Biden’s Perfectly Legal, Socially Acceptable Corruption" (THE ATLANTIC).  

Many people were not having the conversation before the election.  We were and we did.  

I don't do greatest hits.  I've sung that song.  Is there a new reason to sing it?

Tara Reade and Jonathan Turley believe so.  They also believe in supporting homophobes and transphobes and racists.  

At this point, there's nothing there.  Could change, so far hasn't. 


I had no reason to comment because there's nothing there.  This is the same issue that so many of us raised in real time.

Where's Joe's criminal activity?

None has been established -- and as many pointed out in real time, it would be hard to establish criminal activity.

We don't know anymore than we knew in real time.  

And what's especially interesting here is that Jonathan Turley was cautioning that back in 2020 -- of course, he was still posing as a leftist back then.  But today?  Today, he's a screeching reactionary who needs no evidence or proof.  It really has been something watching his madness unspool.

Unethical?  Yes.  Illegal?  No proof of that.  

Grounds for impeachment?  Why would Congress impeach Hunter Biden?  Oh, you mean, Joe.  Again, there's no proof of any crime he's committed -- let alone a high crime or misdemeanor.  I also believe we're speaking of his time as vice president.  I'm not hearing of deals from 2021 forward.  Meaning?

If the GOP wants to re-elect Joe, that's the way to do it.  Impeach him.  They control the House so they could get all their ducks in a row and impeach him.  It's not going to result in any action in the US Senate.  Not because Democrats are in control but due to the fact that they are less crazed in the Senate. The idiots in the House don't get the way they are seen around the country.  Impeaching Joe for something that took place before he was president?  

Really? 

We have that kind of time?  

I liked John Conyers a great deal.  But when he started talking about impeaching Bully Boy Bush after BBB was out of the White House?  I didn't promote that here, I called it out here.  That's nonsense and it's stupid and idiotic.  (I also think it was stupid to impeach Donald Trump repeatedly when Dems controlled the House, and I'm on record here stating that.)

The American people will not stand for that sort of overreach.  So let Marjorie and her other crazies do that.  It will please their rabid base while turning off many others -- that's Dems, moderates and, yes, some Republicans.  


Crazy grudge-f**ked hate and left us in the 21st century with a lot of insanity.  Take the fired postal worker who's showing up to scream her hate while wearing Blackface. Jovonne Ledet (BLACK INFORMATION NETWORK) reports:



A woman wearing blackface went on anti-LGBTQ and pro-Trump rants at a Target store and Starbucks in Colorado.

In one video posted on social media, the woman in blackface, identified as Ersilia Campbell, approached employees at a Target in Aurora, Colorado, demanding they direct her to the Pride section of the store, per TMZ.

When an employee informed her that Pride month was over, the woman suggested the LGBTQ community hijacked the American flag with the Pride flag. A worker also called her out for wearing blackface in the middle of the store, but the woman claimed her actions were no different than Lester Holt dressing up as a white woman.


This insane hate has been encouraged by the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Ron DeSantis, John Stauber, Matt Taibbi, and many, many more.  Ronald's built an entire campaign around it.





Florida is one of the top states with the most new leprosy cases in the country, according to a new research letter from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“There definitely is leprosy in the United States,” said Dr. Nicole Iovine, chief hospital epidemiologist and an infectious disease physician at the University of Florida.

For many, leprosy may seem like a problem from biblical times. But Iovine said the disease is very much still around. In fact, the CDC letter said leprosy could now be endemic in Central Florida.

“Endemic means something that is circulating and is present at all times. And it can be at a low level,” said Iovine.




The ancient disease leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, named for the Norwegian physician Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen, who first identified the causative agent in 1873, may be endemic in Florida. A report published in the current (August) edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the journal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), draws this alarming conclusion.

Although many news outlets have stated that the CDC is warning people regarding travel to Southeastern US states, the public health agency released a statement on August 2 saying it had “not issued a travel advisory for Florida, or any other state, due to Hansen’s disease.”

In an email, the CDC wrote, “[We] do not believe there is a great concern to the American public,” noting that the number of cases remain very small.

However, the endemic nature of a disease that usually affects “persons who had immigrated from leprosy-endemic areas” raises significant concerns about the general state of public health in the United States, and the outright dismissal on the part of the CDC is extremely problematic. Moreover, the concerns about leprosy come on the heels of recent reports by the CDC of endemic malaria in Florida and Texas.

[. . .]

Specifically, leprosy cases in Florida account for 20 percent of all national cases, and 81 percent of these have been reported in central Florida. One-third of new cases between 2015 and 2020 were acquired locally. The report notes: “Several cases in central Florida demonstrate no clear evidence of zoonotic exposure or traditionally known risk factors.”

In its report, the CDC highlights the case of a 54-year-old man, landscaper by trade, who sought medical attention at a dermatology clinic with a complaint of a painful and progressive red rash involving his hands, trunk and face.

The patient reported no significant travel history, having resided in Florida his whole life. He was eventually diagnosed with leprosy, though he reported no contact with immigrants from endemic regions nor anyone with leprosy. He had never had exposure to armadillos, which are known as zoonotic sources.

He was referred to an infectious disease clinic, where he began prolonged therapy with a triple regimen of dapsone, rifampin and clofazimine, which has been the mainstay of treatment for more than four decades.

The authors of the article observed: “Our case adds to the growing body of literature suggesting that central Florida represents an endemic location for leprosy... travel to this area, even in the absence of other risk factors, should prompt consideration of leprosy in the appropriate clinical context.”



So instead of dealing with that, Ronald's trotting around the country?  Guess it's no worry for the COVID sneering DeSantis couple but, unlike Casey, not everyone in the country is so 'tough' that they use Naugahyde tampons. 


Tacky Onassis and her husband wanted to lead Florida.  So get your ass back to the state and do so.  And it shows real gall on Ronald's part that he criticizes Vice President Kamala Harris for visiting Florida when he can't seem to find his own way back to the state he's supposed to be governing. 

On the topic of crazy grudge f**king hate, their offspring Marjorie Taylor Green just gets more and more demented.  Alex Bollinger (LGBTQ NATION) reports:


Drawing many conspiracy theories and rightwing myths together into a grand, unified rant, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) claimed that Donald Trump’s third criminal indictment for his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election is something that “they” are using to distract the American people from how kids are being brainwashed into being transgender.

Trump was indicted on four counts related to an alleged plot to overturn the 2020 elections and install himself as president for another term. His actions culminated in the January 6, 2021 Capitol Insurrection, where five people died as a result of a mob of Trump supporters breaking into the Capitol and trying to kill Mike Pence for presiding over the Senate as it ceremonially accepted each state’s electoral votes.

Greene, a loyal Trump Republican, couldn’t handle her golden calf being held accountable for his alleged actions, and she blamed, well, everyone and everything. She ranted on Twitter about a variety of topics that she suspected “they” – used in the way conspiracy theorists use that word – are trying to distract the American people from, claiming that there are “record numbers” of homeless people now (homelessness is down since the mid-2000s, according to the 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report), that 63 million abortions occur in the U.S. (an outlandish rightwing myth), that the U.S. is “number one for child pornography and sex trafficking,” and several other topics.

“They tell women abortion is healthcare & birth control – killing over 63 million, that men can get pregnant, they brainwash children they can change their gender and amputate their growing body parts,” she said. It’s not clear who “they” is in this context and most transgender people’s experience is the opposite – they had to either hide their trans identity from intolerant adults as children or they came out and had to fight for even basic recognition as their gender. No one is brainwashing kids into being transgender and no one can be brainwashed into changing their gender identity. Moreover, trans men can get pregnant.


This week, REBEL HQ noted some of Marjorie's many incoherent ravings.



Let's note Paul Rudnick.  






+ There’s some comfort in seeing how badly DeSantis is getting crushed by Trump (54% to 17%). But it’s pretty cold: “Mr. Trump still received 22% among voters who believe he has committed serious federal crimes — a greater share than the 17% that Mr. DeSantis earned from the entire G.O.P. electorate.”

+ In Iowa, a 15-year-old interested in military service told DeSantis, “I can’t vote, but I struggle with major depressive disorder.” DeSantis interrupted the teenager with a bizarre joke: “It’s never stopped the other party from not letting you vote.”

+ Some New Hampshire residents were stunned to hear DeSantis vow “we are going to start slitting throats [of federal bureaucrats] on Day One.” Throat-slitting seems to be a favorite metaphor (assuming it is a metaphor) for the man who as a JAG at Gitmo mocked detainees as they were being tortured. The Florida governor also claimed that he wanted a Defense Secretary with “a sharp blade” and a “killer instinct” who would have to be willing to “slit some throats.” DeSantis also said that under his administration the Mexican drug cartels would be “shot stone cold dead.”

+ DeSantis reminds me of Phil Gramm, the TX politician who amassed millions from banks and oil companies and seemed to be the prohibitive favorite in ’96 GOP primaries, but was soon exposed as just a mean SOB with no real political skills at all other than shaking down corps for PAC $$$.

+ When DeSantis’ campaign ran low on money and he began firing staffers, he hired them to fill government-funded positions in Florida instead.

+ More than half ($5 million, in fact) of the funds in RFK, Jr’s SuperPAC came from Timothy Mellon, scion of the Mellon banking fortune, who has denounced social spending as “slavery redux,” donated $53 million to state of Texas border wall construction fund, and gifted $1.5 million toward the legal defense of Arizona’s vicious anti-immigration law.

[. . .]

+ DeSantis claims the new history standards for Florida schools, the one’s that proclaim the benefits of slavery, were needed to prevent the indoctrination of school kids. Yet, some of the materials which will now be inflicted on Florida students are produced by Prager U., whose founder, Dennis Prager, openly brags about indoctrinating children:

+ Florida has now effectively banned AP psychology in the state. A lot of students hoping they’ll ban Trigonometry next!


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Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Trump Charges Result In A GOP Slap Fight" went up last night.   The following sites updated: