Cranky Old Man #79

Major good news, for a few:

Navient lawsuit settled; $1.7 billion in student loan debt cancelled

The loan servicing giant Navient [formerly Sallie Mae] has agreed to cancel $1.7 billion in student loan debts owed by roughly 66,000 borrowers, as part of a settlement announced Thursday with 39 state attorneys general.

I can't quickly find the details I'm curious about, but my assumption is that your debt will be wiped away only if you have a very specific loan situation, and live in one of the 39 states that sued Navient. Another 350,000 people will receive "restitution payments of about $260 each."

Still, kicking the bastards in the ankle is a good thing.

Navient, of course, admits no wrongdoing, but in any legal settlement with any corporation, "admits no wrongdoing" means they're Al Capone.

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"The United States is the only major economy in the world where the economy as a whole is stronger now than before the pandemic," says Marcia Fudge, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Even if that's 'true', it's bullshit, probably based on one of the leading lying indicators, like the stock market, or the steady supply of caviar on yachts.

I can see the US economy from my house, and it's not a pretty view.

Also gotta ask — why is the Secretary of HUD bragging about the economy? She's not the Secretary of Commerce. "HUD's mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all."

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Maine's Governor, Janet Mills, is a Democrat who just vetoed legislation that would've allowed farm workers to unionize.

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"Forever prisoner" Abu Zubaydah, held without charges and without trial for almost twenty years — so far — at America's ghastly extralegal Guantanamo prison, has been paid €100,000 by Lithuania.

It's compensation he can't spend except maybe on lawyers, ordered by the European Court of Human Rights, and why? Because Lithuania cooperated with the CIA's torture of Zubaydah in 2002.

Kafka much?

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Over the past 20 years, the US has averaged 46 bomb and missile attacks on foreign countries, daily.

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The Amish are not living entirely without modern conveniences. It's complicated.

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Legislation in California would empower the state to bargain as if it's the union rep for non-unionized fast-food workers.

Pinch me, I'm dreaming. This is a great idea, and in California — where Democrats have huge majorities in both houses and the Governor is nominally blue — it might be more than a Puff the Magic Dragon hallucination.

In Sacramento, a union-backed Democratic proposal called the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, or FAST Recovery Act, would establish a state-appointed council to enact industry-wide minimum standards for wages, working hours and work conditions. If passed by state lawmakers and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the proposal would also hold corporate franchisors responsible for compliance, not just the local franchise owners.

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Animals laugh: UCLA study finds laughter in 65 species, from rats to cows

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Me,

Richard Nixon,

and the War on Drugs

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Four inmates at a northwest Arkansas jail sued the facility and its doctor Thursday after they said were unknowingly prescribed ivermectin to treat COVID-19 despite health officials’ warnings that the anti-parasitic drug shouldn’t be used for that purpose.

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Good news from an unlikely source! The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority regularly tracks COVID by testing the sewage at a major treatment facility. Latest results are showing a sharp decline for indicators of COVID-19 infection.

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COVID: Quebec to impose health tax on unvaccinated Canadians

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Why didn’t the FBI see the Capitol siege coming?

Grid reviewed every public statement FBI officials made about the bureau’s intelligence leading up to the siege to understand how the FBI explained its posture on Jan. 6. We read hundreds of pages of FBI briefings and press statements, FBI officials’ testimony before Congress and public comments in news reports.
We found that the FBI has given at least five different explanations for why it failed to heed these warnings and take steps to foil the Capitol attack or help other agencies prepare a sufficient response. Some of them support arguments the FBI should get more money and legal authorities. But given what we now know, none of them holds up.

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Pentagon launches new UFO office

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Many parents see schools as free daycare for the kiddies, and admittedly, some schools aren't much more than that.

Teachers and students are generally people, though, so close the schools already, and keep them closed until it's safe to re-open them.

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Sister Vish-Knew gets an alley in San Francisco

Sister Vish-Knew was a co-founder of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and I love this info tidbit:

He bought the first five nun's habits that would become the signature of the Sisters from a convent in Iowa City — lying and telling the nuns that they needed the habits for a production of The Sound of Music, when they were really for a drag show.

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Once upon a time, and only once, I bought Collectivo coffee. Collectivo is Spanish for Collective, so my instant guess was that even if Collectivo is shitty coffee, at least it's not made by corporate bastards.

My mistake. It's ordinary coffee, made by ordinary corporate bastards. They call the company Collectivo, while crapping on their employees. I want my $3 back.

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Is Steph Curry’s memoir worth $10 million?

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So many people have been charged with trespassing or disorderly conduct for the 1/6/2020 insurrection, it's a pleasant surprise to see charges of genuine sedition.

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The Supreme Court has decided, on a predictably thin, fictional pretext, that OSHA can't compel businesses to require that employees get a vaccine or test regularly and wear a mask on the job.

I read the dissent, and this jumped out at me:

OSHA estimates — and there is no ground for disputing — that the Standard will save over 6,500 lives and prevent over 250,000 hospitalizations in six months’ time.

So Friday's ruling will kill about 13,000 people and make another half-million miserable, every year until COVID is over, and COVID will never be over.

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"Moron" proposes legislation to make Fauci's already public financial records even more public

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Cranky Ord man is sued by town for writing too many cranky letters... and he wins

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One-word newscast:

• COVID

• ethics

• rat bastard

Dead:

• Jean-Jacques Beineix

• Ron Goulart

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Mystery links — Like life itself, there’s no knowing where you’re going:

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Sing along with Doug:
"I Will Always Remember You Young"
by Chris Haa
Tip 'o the hat:
All Hat No Cattle • Linden Arden
BoingBoing • Captain Hampockets
Follow Me Here • John the Basket
LiarTownUSA • Messy Nessy Chick
National Zero • Ran Prieur
Vintage Everyday • Voenix Rising
Extra special thanks:
Becky Jo • Name Withheld • Dave S.
and always, Stephanie
1/15/2022
Cranky Old Man