ECP NetHappenings
https://cyberplayground.org/2023/01/04/ecp-nethappenings-1-4-23-politics-fun-facts-headlines
#Politics
I’m pretty tired of watching the people who tried to overthrow the government still serving as Members of Congress.
McCarthy is REJECTED once again as is right.
Watching Kevin McCarthy fail over and over is so satisfying.
@davetroy
Has anyone tried unplugging the House and plugging it back in again?
Kevin McCarthy retroactively supported the coup and refused to help America hold the plotters accountable all so he could experience… today. Elect clowns expect a circus.
These Republicans aren’t actually going to bring down inflation, solve the border crisis or lower the price of gas.
@HouseDemocrats are united, and ready to get to work #ForThePeople.
@itsJeffTiedrich sure, sex is great and all but have you ever watched Kevin McCarthy be humiliated on live tv
Marjorie Greene: “If Republicans don’t vote for Kevin McCarthy, we could wind up seeing two black people sitting behind Joe Biden during the next State of the Union address.”
Pro-lynching, Freedom Caucus member Chip Roy, nominating Byron Donalds for speaker: “We’re not racist. Look, we know some black people!”
George Santos posts press release on official House website [now gone] citing having taken the oath & being sworn in today. No members were sworn in today. There is no Speaker of the House.
McCarthy Votes By Round.
1-203
2-203
3-202
4-201
Hakeem Jeffries @RepJeffries
House Dems will continue to put people over politics.
Republicans are putting politics over the people.
And so America lacks a fully formed Congress for the first time in 100 years.
Former Speakers of the House
Tip O’Neill – not terrible
Newt Gingrich – terrible
Dennis Hastert – terrible
John Boehner – terrible
Paul Ryan – just bad
Nancy Pelosi – excellent
The Republican Party is showing America why you should NEVER vote for them and it’s only the 3rd day of 2023.
Is the GOP Congress the largest criminal racketeering organization in America, or are they just a cluster-fuck of grifters, misfits, liars, and thieves……or maybe both!
@paulkrugman I’ve seen jokes about Liz Cheney as speaker, but seriously: why can’t this end with 7 sane Republicans joining Democrats to elect someone who isn’t totally despicable?
Liar George Santos’ First Day in Congress Is Off to a Rocky Start
78 members of Congress have violated a law designed to prevent insider trading and stop conflicts-of-interest
Fun Facts
- Who remembers the Republican Governor of Massachusetts hanging the flag at half-mast when Jerry died?
Things have changed. - One single teaspoon of honey represents the life work of 12 bees.
- Pound cake originally included a pound of all the ingredients.
Headlines
NEW: With 54% of Mississippi’s hospitals in danger of closing, medical leaders warned state lawmakers of a “looming disaster” unless they expand Medicaid.
Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Gunn have long opposed what Reeves calls “Obamacare expansion.”
je*******@**ad.social @jennycohn1
The assault on public education is coming from Christian nationalists. Dr. Ben Carson is part of it. So are Moms 4 Liberty. Knowing this may help us push back. #WarOnPublicSchools
U.S. Postal Service can continue to deliver prescription abortion medication, DOJ says
The mailing of mifepristone and misoprostol, commonly used to terminate pregnancies, did not violate an 1873 law known as the Comstock Act. Mifepristone is a prescription drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to induce an abortion up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy. It must be followed by a second drug, misoprostol. USPS said the Justice Department concurred with its “determination that under the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity, any state laws that may apply to the shipment of those prescription drugs cannot be applied to Postal Service employees who are complying with their duties under federal law.”
#SBF 2 Unkown FRPs
Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to all charges in FTX fraud case.
Two people who have agreed, along with his parents, to sign bonds securing Bankman-Fried’s release on $250 million in bail. Fried’s lawyers from Cohen & Gresser filed a letter asking District Judge Lewis Kaplan of Manhattan to order the redaction of names and other identifying information on two bail bonds that are due to be signed on Jan. 5. He can thank Jeffrey Epstein’s enabler, Ghislaine Maxwell, for helping to keep his supporters’ names a secret. “FRPs,” or financially responsible people/
Bankman-Fried relied on Ghislaine Maxwell precedent to shield bail co-signers Bankman-Fried’s counsel Mark Cohen of Cohen & Gresser also represented Ghislaine Maxwell
HLLI Responds to Pennsylvania’s Attempt to Appeal Unconstitutionality of Attorney Speech Regulation
HLLI filed its response brief in Greenberg v. Lehocky, Appellate Case No. 22-1733 (3rd. Cir.), Pennsylvania’s attempt to overrule HLLI’s victory enjoining the state’s unconstitutional regulation of attorney speech, Rule 8.4(g). HLLI challenged Rule 8.4(g) on behalf of attorney Zachary Greenberg, a Pennsylvania-licensed attorney working for a non-profit organization that advocates on behalf of students’ constitutional rights and regularly speaks at legal education and other professional events on a variety of hot-button legal issues. After two HLLI victories in the district court, where the court found both the original and amended rule unconstitutional violations of Pennsylvania attorneys’ First Amendment rights, Pennsylvania appealed.
HLLI Responds to Pennsylvania’s Attempt to Appeal Unconstitutionality of Attorney Speech Regulation
“The First Amendment does not permit state licensing authorities to dictate what viewpoints its members may express on a wide range of academic, social, legal, cultural and political issues,” said HLLI Senior Attorney Adam Schulman. “Pennsylvania may not condition Zach’s right to pursue his professional calling on him sacrificing participation in the free marketplace of ideas.”
Center for Class Action Fairness
Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, a new non-profit public interest law firm.
https://hlli.org/
Union-friendly changes in the works at U.S. labor board
The U.S. National Labor Relations Board’s Democratic majority is poised to make a series of key changes to federal labor law in 2023 that will aid unions amid a surge in organizing that gained momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NLRB and its general counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, have signaled their interest in overturning a number of Trump-era decisions that were favored by business groups.
WORKPLACE RULES
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS
CAPTIVE AUDIENCE MEETINGS
ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE
MSNBC’s Andrew Weissman is reporting that Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign manager 
Former President Trump foreign policy advisor John Bolton said that Donald Trump planned to withdraw the U.S. from NATO and allow Russian expansion in Ukraine and further into Europe.
#Florida tax analysis includes $60 million in sales tax exemptions that “serve an unclear public purpose.” Tax breaks for tix to Super Bowl, car races, gun club memberships, fancy boats.
George Santos: “…It’s not like Ukraine is a great democracy. It’s a totalitarian regime. They’re not a great bastion of freedom.”
We’re getting to the point that it’s so damn inundated in the air that even the slightest of missteps (slightly ill-fitting mask, remove mask for a second to stop water, or many other, “I was good except for”) is catching the last of us that have managed to avoid it for so long.