Independent News
Ukraine Update: Russia is stuck, and they can't even blame it on the mud
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For the second straight day, Russia lost more ground than it gained. Ukraine is pushing Russian forces around Kharkiv toward the international border. Mark Sumner made this map for his last update—blue cities taken the last couple of days, yellow ones under current Ukrainian assault.
Mark searched the names of all the villages NE of Kharkiv on Google and social media to get a handle on that Kharkiv front. All the villages. It takes effort to penetrate the fog of war. Otherwise, you get mistakes like this one:
soldiers blew up the Lyman-Rayhorodok railway bridge across the Siverskyy Donets river. At the time of the explosion, Russian freight cars were on the bridge. Lyman is at the epicenter of the fighting in the Donbas,–Hromadske citing
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) April 29, 2022
Turns out that 1) both Lyman and Rayhorodok are in Ukrainian territory, 2) the rail cars were Ukrainian, and 3) it was Russia who blew the bridge. That original story never made sense, but confirmation bias is powerful and people cheered slava Ukraina. Oops. In short, Russia likely assumed Ukraine would blow the bridge if Lyman fell, so by preemptively blowing the bridge themselves, they cut off those Lyman defenders from their supply lines and potentially blocked their retreat. (On the plus side, it means that when and if Lyman falls, Russia will be stuck on the wrong side of the Siverskyy Donets river, further hampering their advance.)
I digress. So Ukraine got some stuff around Kharkiv. What did Russia get? Nothing. While Russia shelled the entire line, as usual, Ukraine General Staff reported only a handful of ground attacks—pushes southwest (toward Barvinkove) and southeast of Izyum (toward Slovyansk), and ongoing fighting in Rubizhne and Popasna. (Mark has written extensively about Popasna, including here.)
If you’re wondering, “what’s going on with that push to the west of Izyum, in the wrong direction of their stated objectives?” Well, the answer is nothing! Did it run out of gas? Was it abandoned? Who knows! What we do know is that after a couple of weeks of increased op tempo, Russia has suddenly gotten really quiet the last couple of days. Not only has it been unable to deliver the promised and feared massive offensive, its current efforts are fizzling out.
The Pentagon says logistics are a big part of the problem, “The Russians have not overcome all their logistics and sustainment challenges, and we assess that they’re only able [to] sustain several kilometers or so progress on any given day.” Thing is, Russia isn’t even moving a couple of kilometers per day. They’re stuck.
This is how much they’ve moved in two weeks:
You might need to open that image in a new browser window, full-size, to see any of the scant changes. Given Ukrainian pickups around Kharkiv and Kherson/Mykolaiv, Russia may be at a net-negative in territory for those two weeks. This thing is a standstill. And what’s worse for Russia, even if they break through at Popasna or Rubizhne, then what? Ukraine just drops back to their next set of prepared defenses a few kilometers back, and we’re back to the daily grind, except now Russia has to run their supply lines a few kilometers further.
Remember, Ukraine’s defenses in Donbas aren’t a single line. They are layered deep.
As of now, Ukraine holds around 5,000 square miles of territory inside the administrative boundaries of the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts (the Donbas region). Vladimir Putin thought that would be fully taken for his May 9 parade. So yeah, let’s have a good laugh. But then let’s remember that the status quo has come at great sacrifice of Ukraine’s brave defenders, holding out under desperate, inhuman conditions, as well as many Russian and proxy forces that don’t want to be there, have no business being there, and are being sacrificed to Putin’s megalomaniacal designs.
Russia’s stalled advance means Ukraine can also wreak havoc on its rear lines, with artillery work that seems to improve by the week.
The general confirmed killed was the guy in charge of Russia’s VDV airborne troops, the same crew up in Bucha and Irpin committing heinous war crimes. He can rot. But this attack tells us a couple of other things:
1) The first hit is the command post, some sort of agricultural structure. It was specifically targeted, scoring a direct hit. We may be seeing the first of the suicide drones in action, or a direct-hit artillery smart round. Ukraine made sure that round hit dead on, and hit first, before the rest of the barrage took out much of the supporting gear and vehicles. They didn’t want anyone getting out alive. Coordinates 49.2902805019397, 37.23174981492426:
2) That command post could’ve been set up in the residential parts of town, instead of that exposed complex. For once, Russia didn’t do a war crime, and it cost them. Then again, someone probably lived there at one point, so let’s not rule out war crimes just yet…
3) In a typical artillery attack, a battery fires a handful of one-off rounds, then spotters (now with drones) call in adjustments. It’s not just GPS coordinates that matter, but atmospheric conditions, earth’s rotation, wind speeds at various altitudes, etc. In this case, there was no spotter rounds. It was fire-for-effect from the start, with the guided round hitting just a split second before the rest of the barrage landed.
4) You can assume that the entire barrage was targeted at that command center, which gives you a good idea of artillery’s margin of error. For the M777s headed from the US and other allies, it’s around 150 feet from the target. Some of these rounds actually miss by more, so perhaps Soviet artillery is less accurate.
5) Not sure about Soviet artillery, but modern NATO artillery can shoot three rounds before the first one hits, and all of them hit at the same time. The guns make automatic adjustments as new rounds are loaded. The first round is shot higher, and the subsequent ones adjust downwards for shorter flight durations. That allows for the quick saturation of a target area, then quick departure before counter-battery radar can pinpoint the location of the guns and retaliate.
6) This command post was in the town of Zabavne, 8 kilometers north of Izyum. Take a look at the map below. This is what happens when Russia can’t protect its main supply line into the Izyum salient from Ukrainian flank attacks, and it’s only going to get worse with the arrival of Western artillery reinforcements.
You know the irony? It’s looking like a pretty dry spring. The mud is drying out, and the skies have been clear—perfect weather for their air power. Doesn’t matter. They’re stuck, mud or not.
The Joy Collective: Marking the end of April with some laughs
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And there goes another month. Goodbye winter, hello spring. Ending April with a smile, we are back with the Joy Collective, a collection of the cutest, funniest clips we can find on the Internet.
Social media is filled with funny moments and stories. Sometimes we just need to step away from the seriousness and take some time to relax; lighter posts allow us to mentally recharge.
As part of a weekly series that aims to make you laugh, Daily Kos will be compiling and sharing viral funny videos from across social media platforms. The news cycle can be a bit much at times. Self-care is needed. We all need balance, so let’s have some joy where we are able.
Share your videos and your favorites with us for the next round-up!
Starting off with some cuteness! A TikTok a video of a cow having a “spa day” has been named one of the most viral videos on the Internet.
In the video, @l.thomas2020—also known on TikTok as LT—goes through several steps of pampering her cow. She scrubs her hooves with a toothbrush before polishing them, gives her coat a deep brushing, and then lays milk-soaked strawberry slices across the blissed-out cow’s head and back.
Her treatment leaves many viewers commenting: “Can I be treated like your cow.”
oh to be this cow getting spa treatments & decorated in strawberries
pic.twitter.com/8MMRNH3UHa
— Vials (@vialsss) April 4, 2021
So you thought polar bears are cute right? Well, they are about to get even cuter. Check out this one special bear who is kindly petting a dog.
According to Mashable, the two were spotted hanging out by the water in Manitoba, Canada.
Polar bears don’t seem to be the only ones who can hang out with dogs. Take a look at this duck’s playtime with this dog.
I don’t know about you but I am definitely ready for the beach. This elephant definitely makes me more excited about it, too.
Honestly, the accuracy in this. Welcome to my mornings.
Clearly, I cannot get enough of these puppy videos.
But I am still a loyal cat mom and lover.
And now for some community favorites!
This adorable parrot from @CrimsonQuillfeather
This prank video from @abluerippleinohio
And a fun music video, too, just for kicks.
This “cheetah brothers” video from @Lefty Coaster.
Cheetah brothers
(sound on for this one!) pic.twitter.com/pk18sTXu9H
— Northern Sparrow (@NorthernSprw) November 26, 2021
And this adorable dog video from @bobdevo:
Have any funny videos you think will bring more joy to Daily Kos readers?
You know the drill! Send them over to me at aysha.qamar@dailykos.com or comment below and I’ll try to feature them in the next roundup!
Two bills could crack down on abuses by New York employers, this week in the war on workers
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Workers in New York could gain new protections through separate bills in New York City and in the state legislature—but the New York City measure was delayed Thursday for five more months, despite having been passed by lawmakers four months ago. That bill would require many job listings to include salary information, a move that could help crack down on pay inequities. It would apply only to employers with four or more employees.
In the state legislature, the newly introduced Warehouse Worker Protection Act “would require employers with at least 50 employees in a single warehouse or 500 workers statewide to share a written description of productivity quotas, how the quotas are developed, and how they can be used for disciplinary purposes with each worker,” Lauren Kaori Gurley reports at Vice. “It would also ensure that production quotas do not interfere with workers’ basic rights such as bathroom breaks and rest periods or health and safety laws.”
● The four most popular anti-union talking points and why they’re wrong.
● This is no way to treat pregnant workers, writes A Better Balance’s Dina Bakst.
● Nurses at two Palo Alto hospitals went on strike Monday:
“We are out here trying to get the hospital to listen to us about getting paid, being willing to make good contract agreements with us that will make nursing more sustainable, and improve our staffing, among other things,” said Kathy Stormberg, a registered nurse at Stanford and Crona Vice President.
● And speaking of nurses, Aparna Gopalan reports on The nurses who wouldn’t come in from the cold:
As 2021’s longest labor action, the St. Vincent nurses’ strike reflects the labor movement’s rapidly expanding horizons. After decades of concessionary bargaining focused on an increasingly narrow set of bread-and-butter issues (such as pay and benefits), more recent labor actions have shifted to “common good” demands that include the broader communities workers are part of, and serve.
● Learn it, do it, teach it: Member organizers turn the moment into a movement.
● One simple trick to protect workers from inflation, via Hamilton Nolan.
● Late disclosures concealed the extent of Amazon’s anti-union campaign, reports Dave Jamieson.
● Noam Scheiber reports on the revolt of the college-educated working class.
● Adjunct professors can work three jobs to make a living wage.
● Workers at Massachusetts hospital vote to unionize despite management’s fierce opposition
●
Connect! Unite! Act! Profiteering is absolutely real
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Imagine being part of an industry bringing in record profits—nearly $174 billion in profits in 2021. You receive incentives to grow through taxes, you have benefits thrown at you through state incentives, you are able to work with people to split their surface and mineral property rights to grow when you need to if you want to find more places that can handle your business. Every indicator is coming up roses for you.
Consumer demand for your product is rising as COVID falls, and you decide now is the time to give back investors $36.5 bilion in compensation and nice bonuses, all while raising the price of your product. Care to take a guess about which industry it is?
Welcome to the oil industry. Over the last few years, we’ve all connected via Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet. With travel resuming, oil and gas demand goes up, and the lack of planning by the industry in face of record profits leads to, well, them making more profits but everyone else feeling the pinch. Cars spin up and so do prices. Conservatives will tell you how much they love Elon Musk this week over his attempt to buy Twitter, while at the same time seemingly hating the sheer concept of electric vehicles. Who knows. The oil industry, though, won’t sweat it, and they aren’t the only ones profiteering right now.
For the American Petroleum Institute, the war in Ukraine has been an absolute gift. They are pushing for greater domestic drilling and more options in the U.S., at one point saying that fracking may be the best weapon the U.S. has against Russia. If you’re curious, you can find out where the oil and gas leases are near you through documents filed with your county, or through a land specialist. It took me minutes to find out that near me, hundreds of wells had been approved for potential drilling and … nothing. There is no movement to drill any of them. In fact, in counties all around me, that number of instilled wells skyrockets.
The United States is full of lease agreements with nothing happening—agreements held and agreed to in states and counties. If you believed the American Petroleum Institute, you would think they have nowhere to go and are all out of options. What may be more desirable is to get similar leases with way, way less oversight. Or maybe no oversight at all while combining it with products that have very little benefit to Americans looking for relief.
Americans will be looking at the ballot boxes this fall and wondering about their pocketbook. That is certainly reasonable. Under Trump, I frequently pointed out the president doesn’t control the price of gas; it is controlled by the industry. The same is certainly true now, and for the oil industry record profits right now are a great way for them to get fat and try to make it harm anyone who sees a more environmentally conscious future. A win-win, if you will.
There is an answer to that, and that is recognizing and talking about it for what it truly is: profiteering.
With that in mind, I hope you join us for our 20th anniversary Cheers & Jeers, 4PM PST on May 20! Just send me a KosMail to attend.
This week, instead of music, let me offer you some trailers for, let’s say, fitting movies:
WTF Roundup: Pay no attention to GOP corruption—stare at this Hunter Biden laptop and buy a pillow
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What is there to say about Fox News and the right-wing-o-sphere that hasn’t been scratched by the nails of demons into the toilet stall walls of hell? Every day, every hour, every minute, Fox News and the propaganda machines it has birthed are either selling their audience lies, misinformation, and disinformation about the world, or selling them pillows, telling them to sell their gold, and saying that the way out of debt is to give Magnum P.I. your home in a reverse mortgage.
The Fox-News-o-sphere has been doing double time sticking its head both up its own behind and also deep into the sand. Impossible to do, you say? You can say a lot of things about Fox News but you can’t say they aren’t willing and able to continue to surprise you when it comes to how low they can go. At this point the fact that a hole hasn’t ripped open in the space-time continuum under the Fox News studios is arguably the most surprising thing.
There has been a lot of news lately about audio of GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy saying all kinds of relatively sober things about how much of a disaster Donald Trump and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol were. He even happened to mention how crappy people like Florida man Matt Gaetz are. The problem is: The GOP is nowhere near sober in their public-facing acceptance of the fascism being called for by the MAGA wing of the party. McCarthy has one thing going for him—being craven and a liar seems to work just fine with the MAGA crowd, regardless of how much evidence is laid before their feet.
RELATED STORY: Kevin McCarthy is in large trouble with his fellow Republicans after more recordings released
Let’s see what Fox News is doing to facilitate the dissemination of news and information to its audience.
Later on, Fox News’ Howard Kurtz had Glenn Greenwald on to talk about Elon Musk and how great his ideas on free speech are. Surprisingly (see: not surprisingly) they didn’t discuss any of Elon’s stated mentions of what he thinks “free speech” is. They didn’t because this …
…doesn’t make much sense.
Any-the-ways! Kurtz brought up and defended Fox News’ lack of coverage, instead opting to continuously discuss the media’s lack of luster over Hunter Biden’s alleged laptop leak in the days leading up to the November 2020 election. Kurtz’s argument, the one he laid out to his interviewee Greenwald, is that the McCarthy story isn’t a “big story.” Greenwald, who has been spending most of his time recently talking about Hunter Biden’s laptop, had to admit that it showed clearly that Kevin McCarthy is lying, but made sure to offer up the defense (while saying he wouldn’t know why one would want to defend McCarthy) that “it’s a very hard job to manage a Republican caucus with 250 very disparate voices with Donald Trump hovering over you. There was a lot of emotions surrounding 1/6, but we should demand from our political leaders the basic obligation not to tell lies to the public, and the fact that he got caught red-handed should be a pretty significant event for him.”
But, was it a big story? Greenwald, who has spent a considerable amount of the past year talking about Hunter Biden’s laptop, said that he thinks what happened was that “emotions were high” after the “Jan. 6, riot,” and it is definitely a “news story,” but guess what he says next? “If we did flood-the-zone coverage every time a politician lied we would never do anything else as journalists.” Greenwald ended by telling the Fox News host—on the network that continues to cover the Hunter Biden laptop and insist that President Joe Biden is maybe lying about something for the last year and a half—that “covering it is reasonable, but excessively covering it is what happened because obviously there’s a partisan agenda involved.”
Wild stuff. You see what Greenwald did there? He conflated a politician lying about wanting to ASK THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO RESIGN FROM OFFICE with “politicians lying.”
That first Fox News story count was from like April 22. I’m sure things picked up a few days later.
Wrong again!
What does Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin have to add?
Gotcha! But Walter, you say, this is Ron Johnson talking out of his ass two weeks ago; surely things are different now?
“Highest level.” In an unrelated story, Sen. Ron Johnson is a corrupt, racist, lying, POS.
Daily Kos Turns 20: We're showcasing the 'best' Community stories over the last two decades
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Around these parts, we’ve been fighting for progress for a long time. Twenty years, to be (almost) exact. Daily Kos might have started with seven sentences from one man, but my goodness, it’s become so much more, and done so much. And each of you have been a part of that, with your action, your donations, and yes, your writing on our open platform.
As our May 26 anniversary looms, we’ve been celebrating the best of the millions upon millions of stories written here, by Staff and Community alike. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been challenging everyone—including you, dear Community—to ponder our writings here on Daily Kos over the last 20 years and pick a personal best.
It’s been a blast collecting submissions from the Community Contributors Team, our Daily Kos staff (part one and part two), Kos himself, and you, dearest Community. And now, it’s time for another installment of This Is My Best (TIMB)—focused again on Community writing.
For those who are new to this series, here’s a quick recap:
Some years ago, I’m told, there was a wonderful series called This Is My Best (TIMB), which encouraged Community members to share their own writing that they were most proud of, rather than the writing of others. One part self-promotion, one part self-confidence, all parts awesome, TIMB encourages writers to press pause on their role as their own worst critics and take some time to toot their own horns.
Let’s dive right in. As noted last week, these stories are intimate and reflective, deeply researched, and political. And they mean a lot to the people who wrote them. So give ‘em a read!
And remember: If you don’t see your story below, we’ll be keeping the party going right up until our joyful 20th anniversary on May 26!
GARY NORTON
Why the debt limit fight will be a political face-off with no gimmicks or constitutional crisis (2013)
The title of this article is certainly long-winded. But it was an attempt to quell some of the hyperbolic and somewhat frantic arguments and concerns surrounding the debt limit face-off between President Obama and the Republicans in Congress.
For people who were not here at the time the Republicans were threatening to have our government default on its obligations by refusing to raise the debt limit. This was a major issue at the time. Raising the debt limit had always been done as a matter of course until the Republicans decided they could weaponize the issue, first with Bill Clinton and later with Barack Obama. By 2013 the Republican threats reach their zenith the president Obama stared them down ending not only that crisis but also republican attempts to use at in later dates.
I am highlighting this article because it attracted many informed comments and seems to have been appreciated by a large number of readers. It gave me an opportunity to talk about a subject that I had some familiarity with from my work in government and that enabled me to weave together politics and the law. Sometimes otherwise dry subjects can really be interesting when they are explained with sufficient detail and are made accessible to people with no background in the subject. I thought this article hit that sweet spot pretty well.
CFK
Resistance and joy: The story of Jacques Lusseyran (2006)
This is the first story I ever wrote for Daily Kos and I still think despite writing 771 stories over the years, it is my most heartfelt one. We are still here and we are still a vital community who gets things done. I celebrate us!
ALGEBRATEACHER
WYFP: Marry me (2013)
This is from a time when I hosted WYFP nine years ago, almost to the day. Mrs. algebrateacher and I are doing fine. I am retired now. We have been fixing up the house in preparation for the next lots-and-lots of years together because that’s what married people do.
PTOLEMY
Saving the republic: The Star Wars prequels finally make sense in the 2016 election (2016)
This piece on the looming authoritarian threat in 2016, as seen through the Star Wars prequels [is my best]. Because I was right. And because the Sith always return.
1BQ
R.I.P., Dad (2008)
[It’s my best] because I cried while writing it.
MAGNIFICO
Hugs (2012)
[It] may not be the best thing I’ve ever written, but I think it really captured the joy we had with Obama’s re-election in 2012.
SOLLACE
The futures of the GOP (2021)
Honestly, I think my first post is my favourite. I like it because 1) it helped me organize my thoughts for the video dialogue on which I was working at the time; and 2) it resulted in some interesting discussion.
My only regret is that I didn’t stick around right after posting so that I could have interacted with the commentariat. I posted it with the expectation that it would sink without trace, and wandered off for the rest of the day, but I woke up the next day to find a good discussion going on, with some thoughtful comments. I had wanted to be more of a participant and less of a lurker, and I’d blown it!
Oh well. Anyway, despite losing that chance for interaction, it remains my favourite. It’s a reminder that I shouldn’t underestimate myself.
APPY
Pow Wow (Commemorative for Matthew Gives Plenty) with my many feathered friends (2021)
Although it did not attract a lot of attention when originally published, I feel Pow Wow is an impactful diary on several counts. There is the obvious significance of the occasion on which it is based. For another, it is a different approach for my cultural activism by encouraging readers to participate in an interactive way and on their own level. It also helps bring focus to the importance of better understanding and protecting Indigenous culture. I defer to Meteor Blades’ comment that it “needs more eyes..
CAMERON PROF (as BKSKINNER)
A white Jewish male: My perspective on why we all need to pay for slavery reparations (2020)
I have been lucky enough for a pretty dumb guy, to have been blessed with people on here that for some reason enjoy my writing. I have written many thousands of diaries on here first under my old handle of BFSkinner and now under my current one. Some diaries get 500 plus comments, I give myself a pat on the back and go on for another day.
The one diary, though, that I am most “proud” of writing reached far fewer eyeballs: 66 diary recs with 27 TJ recs. The diary was written in a topic I no longer broach on here, for multiple reasons: being Jewish. It talked about how I as a Jewish guy could find no other reason to not favor giving reoperations, it is a situation of a no-brainer. For all the work and the vast majority of that forced and undetpaid and underappreciated made by the black community we owe them.
OCEANDIVER
The Daily Bucket: Friendly Seal is a mom!! (2016)
Everything I write is about nature and the environment. To me, humans are just a minor part of the world but the twisted perception we have of our importance is what’s led to pretty much all the problems that have emerged, from environmental to political to pandemic, you name it. My little diaries describe what I pay attention to in the natural world; I post them in the nature community groups Backyard Science (Daily Buckets) and Birds and Birdwatching (Dawn Choruses). We invite readers to join us daily and weekly—the comment threads are a great way to focus attention on Mother Earth and to honor her.
Here’s one diary dear to my heart, about a friend in my local bay. I call her Friendly Seal.
HARICOT BLUE
The Unfathomable Stupidity of Rich White Men (2020)
This was a fun one to write and obviously touched a nerve at the time (in the heat of the BLM protest movement) but I’m afraid my optimism about the BLM protests presaging a genuine revolution against our Pasty Plutocratic Patriarchy has proved unfounded.
P CAREY
Books That Changed My Life: The Brothers Karamazov (2014)
Though published years ago and when I was fairly new at posting on Daily Kos, this is (if not my best) the diary I would single out. And while the writing is rough and I have learned much since, the energy of the piece still moves me. Ostensibly about a book that changed my life, it is more a requiem on the death of my youngest, dearest brother.
NONLINEAR
The handbook for dissenting voices here on Daily Kos (2021)
I think it is my best because I believe it addresses a question that is at the very heart of why Daily Kos is unique. It asks how can we encourage writers to express ideas and feelings outside the Daily Kos mainstream. It doesn’t do it by asking the question directly but rather by providing an answer.
OCCAMS HATCHET
Calling bullshit on the fear mongers (2006)
I really kinda like this one, because it’s timeless: Republicans are still all and only about fear (which begets hatred), so most of this still applies. (Plus ngl, I loved it when we could drop f-bombs around here and nobody said boo, lol.)
CLIO2
LGBTQ Literature: Nonbinary ways of being (2021)
DK writers and commenters greatly aided my own gender exploration. This diary reviews four volumes of personal accounts by a variety of nonbinary individuals, with some reference to my own life. And with a coda in—how DK!—cat pix.
Both a thank you and the piece of writing here I’ve been most proud to own.
GREG DWORKIN
Mr. Roosevelt’s social insurance (2011)
I stumbled on this exhibit and the visuals were just so evocative of a long gone era, while the story still hits home.
That’s it for this week, so get to reading!
It’s not too late to submit your own TIMB story, of course. To make my job easier (and data entry much faster—give some love to Christopher Reeves for his help on that front), please use this format for your submission:
Linked title of story (year published)
A sentence or two in your own words—not an excerpt from the story—about why it’s your “best.”
See you in the comments!
RELATED: Daily Kos Turns 20: Let’s showcase our best work! Up next: The man who started it all—Kos himself
One more thing: If you’ve already submitted, there’s no need to do it again, and we are only accepting one story per person. And if you simply can’t narrow down your choice before comments close, we’ll be back with another installment (and opportunity to submit) next week, when I’ll have even more Community submissions.
Walmart loses court case over an Americans with Disability Act violation, but doesn't want to pay
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Walmart, the original big-box vendor based in Bentonville, Arkansas, has always looked for ways to promote its wholesome family image. Sure, there are plenty of stories about Walmart killing communities and small businesses. Boy, though, one thing they did do was offer people with disabilities an opportunity to work as a greeter, right? It was a job that put Americans with disabilities out front and made them visible. Well, it was until 2019; that’s when Walmart cut the greeter position at over 1,000 stores, leaving many disabled staff members without a job.
Before all of that, though, Walmart was a champion for those with disabilities, right? Not if you ask the jury that heard the case of Marlo Spaeth. Spaeth has Down syndrome. After working for almost 16 years at her Walmart location with high performance evaluations for her work, Spaeth was switched to a new position. Because she had difficulty adjusting to her new schedule, Walmart fired her in July 2015. Spaeth asked for a 60-minute adjustment to her new schedule to match her prior work schedule, but the company refused. She asked to be rehired in a similar role, and the company refused to consider her application. That was the moment that Spaeth decided to fight back.
Then, after nearly 16 years of working there, Walmart abruptly fired her in 2015. Spaeth, who has Down syndrome, was devastated.
Her sister and legal guardian, Amy Jo Stevenson, said that Spaeth quickly “receded into a shell” and lost the sense of purpose she got from the job at the Walmart Supercenter in Manitowoc, where she had thrived on interacting with customers and had received praise from supervisors in performance reviews.
Devastated. Sixteen years of her life seemed to have been snatched away from her. After hearing a four-day court case brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a jury in Green Bay, Wisconsin, came back quickly with a record judgment of $125 million dollars. The verdict was meant to be a symbol of the level of her pain and suffering, as well as a reflection of the deliberate action that Walmart had taken to seemingly move an employee with a disability around internally in a way that set them up to fail so they could be fired.
In 2020, Walmart reported $129 billion in profit, not counting other businesses where Walmart heirs have ownership stakes. The ownership group is reported to be worth roughly $240 billion, with each family member sitting on around $62 billion. For Walmart, though, Spaeth’s case isn’t over.
While the judge reduced the verdict to $300,000, the maximum allowed in the state, according to Spaeth’s sister, she was still excited about the possibility of going back to work at Walmart.
Walmart makes an interesting claim in its appeal, according to Disability Scoop:
“So while Walmart knew that Ms. Spaeth had requested a return to her prior fixed schedule, nothing in Walmart’s knowledge suggested that this request was linked to her Down syndrome,” reads the court filing, which requests a new trial. “Walmart did not act with malice or reckless indifference towards Ms. Spaeth’s rights.”
There is an interesting thing to note here: Walmart is effectively going to contend that it had no way of knowing that Down syndrome impacts a person’s ability to adjust to a schedule and that after a schedule has been the same for almost 16 years, it is not surprising that changes to that schedule would be exceptionally difficult for that person.
Walmart simply wasn’t aware that Spaeth had Down syndrome, it seems, or they never took it into consideration. Walmart just didn’t see her, or her disability. They knew her for 16 years, but never saw Spaeth for this part of who she was. So they must be blameless, right?
Note: this article originally had an incorrect profit margin pulled which has been corrected.
'Because I have COVID,' and other good responses to rude questions about your mask-wearing
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Polling shows a majority still support mask mandates on airplanes and public transit, but as has been the case throughout the pandemic, the intensity is with the opposition. The people who previously were having violent temper tantrums over being required to wear masks now get their way thanks to a decision by a single Trump-appointed judge … and some are shifting quickly to trying to impose their preferences on their mask-wearing neighbors.
Because it’s not just about personal freedom for people who have bought into the Republican culture war on masks. (Never mind that the freedom they’re ostensibly seeking is to dismantle the concept of public health and spread a dangerous virus.) It’s about dividing the nation and defeating opponents. And, as many of the tweets about how this divide has played out in the days that followed the judge striking down the mandate show, it’s about the feelings of anti-maskers taking precedence over the comfort and safety of people who still wear them.
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This one is from Donald Trump’s surgeon general, so, uh, I’d think he’d have had plenty of experience with this phenomenon.
Flying today. A @delta pilot (
) walked by me in the airport and said, take your mask off man- breath free! Why is it those who so strongly felt others were imposing their beliefs (in health, wellness and compassion) on them, feel so free to impose their beliefs on others?! pic.twitter.com/UQDXcLCoWN
— Jerome Adams (@JeromeAdamsMD) April 20, 2022
In response to a taunting reply, Adams added, “My wife is being treated for cancer, and people like you got WAY more upset about being asked to wear a mask than ive gotten about being asked not to wear one to protect my wife’s life.”
Here’s someone who had a great response:
Many people in the replies to that one suggested answering that you have COVID but will take the mask off if your neighbor really wants. Here’s a little twist on that:
Last week a tweet asking what people would say if they got that question drew a lot of good responses:
Get this blank stare down pat and you’ll find it’s all the deterrent you need. Seriously.
https://t.co/vNyvslWzMn pic.twitter.com/qac48pM4Ha
— Angel V. Shannon MS, CRNP, Chief Burnout Buster (@angelvshannon) April 24, 2022
If you plan to fly or ride public transit while masked in the near future, do you have a response planned to rude questions? What is it?
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Ukraine update: 'Filtration camp' may be the most disgusting euphemism since WW II
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Russian media is now bragging about the one aspect of the Ukraine invasion where Russia is actually demonstrating an ability to conduct operations on a frighteningly large scale. That thing doesn’t involve standing up to the Ukrainian military; it involves the wholesale processing of Ukrainian civilians for torture, kidnapping, and enslavement.
Back in early April, Yahoo News took a look at the filtration camps Russia had created at that point, and at the degrading conditions faced by Ukrainians who found themselves placed in one of these camps.
“The filtration camps, described as large plots of military tents with rows of men in uniforms, are where deported Ukrainians are photographed, fingerprinted, forced to turn over their cellphones, passwords and identity documents, and then questioned by officers for hours before being sent to Russia.”
At the time of that report on April 7, the Bezimenne camp in the Russian-occupied area of Donetsk had processed over 40,000 Ukrainians to be “exfiltrated” to Russia. That number can be expected to be much higher now, as Russia continues to send Ukrainians to unknown locations in Russia. On April 11, the Russian military gave an astounding number of 723,000 Ukrainians “evacuated” from Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion. That number could now be much higher.
For those who have any association with the Ukrainian military, the Ukrainian government, as well as foreign journalists, or for anyone so unfortunate as to be suspected of any connection to the Azov Regiment, the situation is much worse than being fingerprinted and robbed before being stuck on a bus for who knows where.
“The filtration camps are like ghettos,” she says. “Russians divide people into groups. Those who were suspected of having connections with the Ukrainian army, territorial defence, journalists, workers from the government – it’s very dangerous for them. They take those people to prisons to Donetsk, torture them.”
How many people have been executed and buried in mass graves outside Mariupol isn’t clear, but based on the size of those graves and the numbers already exhumed in Bucha and other locations around Kyiv, these graves are expected to contain thousands, if not tens of thousands.
Mariupol is far from the only place where people are being rounded up and shipped to these camps. Prisoners have been taken from their homes in other occupied areas like Kherson, and the some of those who have managed to escape have reported Russia is holding civilians from as far north as engineers from Chernobyl.
The term “filtration camp” goes back to World War II, when the USSR held people, including Russians, in these camps to filter out those who didn’t have “appropriate” political beliefs, and to distribute people where the government felt they were needed. The term resurfaced following Russia’s two wars with Chechnya, where at least 200,000 people were held in the first war alone. Human Rights Watch published a report on these camps appropriately titled “Welcome to Hell” in which they recorded accounts of widespread torture, beatings, and executions. Many Chechens were simply “disappeared” from these camps, either to be murdered to shipped to labor camps elsewhere in Russia. Another aspect of these camps that was reported to be common was rape and sexual abuse of women and girls. And reports of rape by Russian soldiers were not restricted to women.
In case there was any doubt, detention and deportation of civilians is a war crime. But, as with the other war crimes Russia has already committed, punishing the guilty, much less any restitution for those individuals and families destroyed by this process, may be difficult to obtain.
Whether camps like Bezimenne will be ultimately remembered with the same kind of enduring disgust as those as Buchenwald or Bergen-Belsen remains to be seen. Right now, the biggest question may be: If Russia says they have exported over 700,000 Ukrainians to Russia, where are they?
What’s the difference between a filtration camp and a place like Sobibor or Treblinka or Auschwitz? Not a damn thing. https://t.co/dxMAUsNF5T
— Allie Powers
(@AllieLPowers) April 28, 2022
There are reports on Saturday of fairly extensive fighting northeast of Kharkiv in what may represent a serious Ukrainian counter offensive.
On this map, the blue markers are villages and towns recently recaptured and secured by Ukrainian forces. The yellow markers are locations where Russian troops are reportedly facing a Ukrainian counter-assault.
Parents are happy with their kids' schools, actually, despite what Fox News tells you
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Republicans are flogging a culture war focused on public schools, but it doesn’t seem to be landing with the parents of actual schoolchildren. A new NPR/Ipsos poll of parents of school-aged children finds people generally happy with their kids’ schools and teachers, and not foaming at the mouth over race and LGBTQ issues.
Education rated as the third-highest concern of parents in the poll, but 88% of respondents agreed with the statement, “my child’s teacher(s) have done the best they could, given the circumstances around the pandemic,” and 82% agreed that “my child’s school has handled the pandemic well.” Republicans have largely moved on from trying to whip up rage about how schools have handled the pandemic, though, focusing more on demonizing marginalized groups and arguing that parents should be allowed to micromanage the curriculum. (Right-wing white parents, anyway.) But that’s not getting a lot of traction, either.
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Three out of four of the parents polled agreed that “my child’s school does a good job keeping me informed about the curriculum, including potentially controversial topics.” Small minorities said the ways their children’s schools taught about the issues being pushed by Republicans actually conflicted with their own family’s values: 18% for gender and sexuality, 19% for race and racism, and 14% for U.S. history.
And those numbers, small as they are, don’t mean that 19% of people think their kid’s school is too liberal on race and racism or 14% on U.S. history—the people who said the schools’ teachings clashed with their family’s values were as likely to be Democrats as Republicans. A Native American parent in Texas, for instance, told NPR, “It’s more of a water-down effect … [the teachers] kind of whitewash the way that history is taught to their kids.” That parent wants his kid taught more about the French and Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, and about slavery during the Revolutionary War, NPR reports. By contrast, a white parent in Wisconsin who thinks the schools are too liberal on these issues cited her son being asked to identify his pronouns and a teacher making “snarky comments about white privilege.” Equally valid and serious concerns about the quality of education, amiright?
If you listen to Christopher Rufo, one of the right wing’s major gurus on waging culture wars in the schools, critical race theory is a “two to one issue,” a surefire winner for Republicans. Go figure, though: The main poll he cites was conducted by the right-wing Manhattan Institute. But what about Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s victory in November after he campaigned against critical race theory? Well, recent data has suggested that Youngkin’s advantage came from senior citizens, not from the parents of school-aged children, and it’s not the first data undermining the narrative that enraged parents turned the election to Youngkin.
Demonizing LGBT people and foaming at the mouth that teaching about racism or the contributions of Black and brown people oppresses white kids by making them feel “humiliated” might energize the Republican base, but it’s not a majority message. Banning books because they have LGBT characters or depict slavery as the brutal system of kidnapping, torture, and rape that it was is not a majority message.
Republicans are attacking teachers. They’re attacking vulnerable kids. They’re trying to micromanage what all kids can learn according to their very specific values, to the active exclusion of all others. These things matter—they are actively harming people—and they’re also not the political winners Republicans are confidently portraying them to be. The media needs to internalize these things in shaping its coverage, rather than allowing the Republican operatives regularly billed as “concerned parents” in their Fox News appearances to define what the parents of schoolchildren look like or think. And equally, Democrats need to fight back, vigorously and boldly, because Republicans really are overstepping on this.
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