California AG Caves To Megabullies (The Good Fight Continues)

 

<"He Caved (What Else Is New?)"
Take I/The Reckoner>

<i.>

Like most unconditional surrenders, the negative fallout dropped before the ink dried, even as its signers sought to sneak the news through the back door. A 12-state coalition's attempt to derail the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery merger crumpled to an ignominious end on Monday, when the man leading it, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, folded like a wet rag on a park bench, and pulled the plug:

"When we get down to brass tacks, what we heard over and over from people who would be most directly and immediately impacted by the merger is that what matters most is consistent film output, domestic production, and protecting the livelihoods of workers above and below the line.

"As such, our settlement provides court-enforceable commitments for more films, an infusion of an additional $1.5 billion into home-grown film production, and protections for workers who are impacted by the merger. There’s no Hollywood without the people who work on and off screen to make the magic happen, and today’s settlement protects workers, jobs, and Hollywood.”

The view from the cheap seats looks rather different, as some of the comments from this Reddit thread suggest ("California Vowed To Stop Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger; Why Did It Fold?"; see link below):

"Because establishment dems cannot be trusted. They will cater to the money and call it realism."

"Because neoliberal Democrats are just rational Republicans."

"So (California Governor) Gavin Newsom could appease his donors while lying to the people he wants to vote for him in '28 that he did everything he could."

With this last obstacle to their megalomania removed, the oily father-son duo unleashing it, Larry and David Ellison, can now add CBS Entertainment, Comedy Central, HBO and TikTok, among others, to their personal giant Monopoly board of media trophies. 

Apparently, the Ellisons' finger-wagging threat to pull up stakes and leave the Golden State for good proved sufficient to bring Bonta -- and his boss, Newsom -- to heel. Moments like this one demonstrate why oligarchs exude such confident contempt for the rule of law, one they treat as a mere inconvenience to swat aside, with an airy wave of their greasy palms.

Bonta's press release (see link below) touts a number of concessions, all seemingly designed to head off the blowback already raining down on his office. They include a $5 million independent film fund, for each year of the five-year settlement period; a commitment for both parties to release at least 30 films per year, over the next two years, and 32 for the remaining three years; a $1.5 billion stake, to bolster domestic film production; and a a $47.5 million fund to help workers impacted by the merger.

But there's one fly in the ointment, amid all the feelgood prose oozing through the Attorney General's press release about "being in the best interests of those involved," "ongoing discussions," "resolving our concerns," and so on -- and that's the fate of CNN.

Having laid waste to CBS News's independence, its new Trump-friendly overlord, Bari Weiss, will undoubtedly set about the same task with all the thin-skinned, talentless relish that she demonstrated in turning "60 Minutes" into the equivalent of a giant blazing dumpster fire. 

What makes Monday's announcement all the more painful, from our perspective, is how much of a contrast Bonta's abject surrender makes with the solidarity shown by the legacy media, when Trump the (Not So) Magnificent summarily banned them from the White House: "Right, then. No more pooled video coverage to you."

The net results of Trump's amateurish workaround -- trying to shout out over the roars of jets, at the airport he's been designated to give a few canned remarks -- speak for themselves, and are providing endless hours of sadistic online amusement. The moral here? Resistance works best when everyone makes does it. End of story!

But, given how quickly Bonta and his boss folded, we doubt that California's top law enforcer is losing much sleep over the prospect. He's played his part, not having visited the battlefield, and that's all he wrote. Or cared to write, because that's the beauty of capitulation: it doesn't require anything more than saying...

"I give up."

<:What Comes Around Goes Around.../The Reckoner>

<ii.>

Not surprisingly, the greatest fury over the settlement is flying from progressive quarters like the American Spectator, whose commentary (see link below) covers the basic points quite well:

"Behavioral remedies like promises of film releases are simply unenforceable, and editorial panels for CNN and CBS are similarly dubious and have nothing to do with the core of the case, which alleged that a combined company would have too much power over theater owners and cable companies to set contract terms.

"Yet Bonta caved under pressure, after being abandoned by every major politician in California (from current Gov. Gavin Newsom to heir apparent Xavier Becerra to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass), all of whom are worried about jobs in the event of a Paramount exit. But Paramount’s stated plan post-merger includes $8 billion in 'savings,' which translates into the loss of tens of thousands of jobs."

Indeed, one point fast being forgotten -- as the American Prospect's piece notes -- is the so-called "ticking fee," or $7 million daily penalty due to Warner Bros., for not finalizing the deal by its Oct deadline. 1. A federal judge had already issued a temporary injunction against the merger, and set the case for a March 2027 trial date. This small fact explains why the Ellisons suddenly began so much public noise about leaving the state, and wanting to settle the case, or both.

Even for someone like Larry Ellison, with an estimated net worth of $345 billion, it's fair to say he wouldn't want a single day of that $7 million fee, let alone a single dollar of it, slipping under his couch cushions, right?

Now, it's true -- as the Hollywood Reporter article points out -- that the Ellisons had asked the pro-Trump Supreme Court for an expedited hearing, which they might well have gotten. The court had asked Bonta to answer challenges from Iowa and Montana, in seeking to stop the suit, which likely proved one factor in Monday's outcome.

Would an expedited Supreme Court hearing have halted the states' lawsuit? We'll never know, because Bonta and his fellow California neoliberals didn't try. The same holfd for the Ellisons' threats to leave the state. Although Paramount's board had approved moving to Tennessee or Texas as a fallback, it's hard to imagine such an idea working out in practice -- since the major dealmakers and studios aren't based there, and neither state boasts an abundance of soundstages to make it work well.

Such maneuverings are straight out of the Tech Bully 101 Handbook. As we've seen in New York, there hasn't been a major capital exodus after Mamdani's election, because of the logistical realities involved. Megabullies like the Ellisons rely on a lot of fist-clenching, foot-stomping, teeth-gritting voodoo to get their way, and while it's no picnic to face such a display, it goes with the territory of serving as the state's top law enforcer. 

On a more practical level, with the so-called Justice Department so firmly in Trump's pocket, state counterparts like Becerra represented the last major backstop against this latest display of corrupt self-dealing, one expressly designed to appease the Orange Menace, as we'll see.

With so much on the line, shouldn't Californians have expected a stiffer fight from their Attorney General? No show of learned helplessness against an onslaught of corruption ever looks good, no matter how artfully you dress it up.

At the very least, Bonta might have pushed for a greater concession -- spinning off CNN from the deal -- which is the whole reason, other than money, that the Ellisons pursued it so rabidly in the first place. Would they have agreed? Maybe not, but they had floated the possibility publicly, which outlets like the L.A. Business Journal were taking seriously, only a couple weeks ago ("Paramount Weighs Assets Selloff To Save Deal").

Again, we'll never really know, because Bonta, Newsom and their fellow neoliberals gave up without a fight. That's what commentators have already been writing, and that's the sum-up that will follow them to their graves, as simple as that. There can never be a place waiting at the table for those so willing to wave the white flag so easily.

<Sourced from Facenook
(so, no credit, but we'll give it, where it's due):

What we don't want to see happening in 2028!

Let's be honest here -- centrists suck>

<iii.>

If nothing else, the fallout from Monday's announcement should disqualify Newsom from any further 2028 Presidential discussions. Don't forget, even before this particular shoe dropped, this is the same guy who furiously backpedaled from a wealth tax measure that will Californians will vote on this fall. He fought to keep it off the ballot, and is reminding anyone in shouting distance that he won't be voting for it.

Since Newsome can't screw up the courage to oppose his home state's bumper crop of Dr. Evils, edgelords and megabullies now, why would he expect him to find it, if he ever gets nominated, let alone makes it to the White House? As those New Jersey guys might say: "Fuhgeddaboutit."

Or maybe we can recall Mike Ehrmentraut's irritable dismissal of Jesse's earnest query on Breaking Bad, about whether riding shotgun makes him "the guy" now: "You...are not...the guy! You're not capable of BEING the guy!"

The post-Trump era will require serious structural reforms, so that nobody can ever abuse their power to that level again. More than mere triage will be required, simply because so many people are screaming so loudly for it. The last thing we need is a repeat of Obama's infamous 2008 vow to "move on," without punishing any of the bad actors responsible for the nation's economic meltdown -- and, in our humble opinion, the first major tipping point that paved the way for Trump's entrance.

And if we permanently lose our democracy, the imminent defanging of CNN might well represent the first tipping point in that direction. As Robert Reich points out on his Substack site, Trump's ongoing irritation and hostility towards CNN prompted him to egg on the Ellisons' megamania fetish:

“I think any deal, it should be guaranteed and certain that CNN is part of it or sold separately, but I don’t think the people that are running that company right now and running CNN — which is a very dishonest group of people — I don’t think that should be allowed to continue. I think CNN should be sold along with everything else.”

The Ellisons have already promised to make sweeping changes, once they finish counting up all their new play toys. If this feels uncomfortably like the goings-on in some Latin American banana republic, or Orban-era Hungary, that's not a coincidence, as Reich notes:

"It’s the neofascist playbook: Take over the media and silence criticism. Even better (because it’s less out in the open), have your cronies take over the media and have them silence criticism. Better still, make deals with your cronies so when they take over the media, they have ongoing financial incentives to silence criticism. If they’re billionaires, they can keep buying up media and silence criticism as they make even more money."

It doesn't take much imagination to ponder how an Ellison-remade CNN might look. Perhaps they'll opt for a softer voiceover than Sean Hannity's familiar stentorian bellow: "Marco Rubio walks us through the night he almost died for love...again, and again, and again. Join us, for an intimate look at the Marco Rubio no one knows, as he toils mightily to make America great again."

Or how about a MAGA-ified "South Park," which its creators recently announced plans to retitle "South America," in honor of Trump's fetish for renaming anything that moves and breathes (or doesn't)? Cue the appropriate voiceover: 

"And now, tonight, on 'South America': Stan and Kyle come face to face with America's border crisis, as they debate about calling ICE on that suspicious-looking family who've moved in next door, only to find..." 

The camera then cuts to an image of Cartman, his arms pinned by a horde of masked ICE agents, as they drag him away to a waiting black van, while he yells: "I hhhhhate yyyyyou guys -- Seeeeerrrrrioussslllyyy!"

Yes, indeed, the possibilities are endless, and pretty grim, too. And they're made all the grimmer, in view of the fact that California's Democratic political establishment simply walked away, and left the megabullies to it, all without firing a shot. Of all the tragedies associated with the Ellisons' megamerger maneuverings, this one looms largest of all.

<"He Caved (What Else Is New?)"

Take II/The Reckoner>

<iv.>

So what exactly do we make of this latest red flag disaster of the Trump Restoration, one orchestrated by some of his closest allies? We'll get the obvious one out of the way first: for those who believe that Corporate Moderates like Gavin Newsom are the Democratic Party's future? "Fuhgeddaboutit." 

We've been led down that path before, by the Clintons, the Obamas, and the corporate classes who spawned them, and look how well that movie played out. In fairness to Bonta, Newsom and others like them, Democrats have a major credibility problem with media monopolies -- as we saw the Clinton era's driving mantra ("Let big fish grow ever bigger, heftier, and wider"). 

And let's not forget the Bruce Springsteen ticket fiasco, while we're at it. Obama's Justice Department approved the LiveNation-Ticketmaster merger responsible for driving up concert pricing, and that's not the only example. Attorney generals tend to be establishment creatures, not the hard-charging consumer advocates and crime busters that the public typically imagines of them.

But, if nothing else, the Paramount merger should remind us of the importance about tackling media monopoly on that Fix What Trump Broke To-Do List. Revisiting limits on what billionaires and media companies can add to their collection of networks, platforms and related outlets should be a major priority, and we shouldn't support any candidates who won't pursue them.

Similarly, ramping up antitrust enforcement should also become a priority. While the Ellisons have won this round, it's worth remembering... What is done can always be undone. Though the Biden-era Presidency made inroads toward that goal -- notably, appointing Lina Khan, the most aggressive Federal Trade Commission head in decades -- it didn't go far enough.

Taming monopolies only happens in two ways. You either move vigorously to break them up, as President Teddy Roosevelt did with his celebrated "big stick," or add a series of guardrails to prevent them from becoming serious societal problems -- the approach that his distant cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), pursued during the 1930s. It's one or the other, basically, if society is to ever come out ahead on the deal.

Above all else, we should never stop dogging those who dismiss those issues, or fail to take them seriously. We can never regret speaking out about them, since there's nothing to gain from holding our tongue -- it's why we've started this "Time For Action" series, after all -- and we can never forgive, nor forget, those who let us down, as the American Prospect reminds us:

"The lawsuit was exceptionally strong on the merits, a textbook case of why we have antitrust laws. It is monumentally disappointing that Bonta caved, especially because we don’t have any other lines of defense to the Trump administration’s antitrust corruption. Every company looking to merge is getting a signal that they can bully their way through to extreme concentration. That is terrible for the economy." --The Reckoner

Links To Go (A Moment Of SIlence,
As Yet Another Media Monopoly Takes Shape):

The American Prospect:
Bonta Gives Up On The Paramount Case:
https://prospect.org/2026/09/21/bonta-gives-up-on-the-paramount-case/?fbclid=IwY2xjawUgQCdwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMTJJQkZORGdtUzR3aUNjZ0tzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEevsRM6b5caL7OGzxPC6rWt2-fl-tK6tOMRKLoMklenAKBYlSvM1GR9u0SOKI_aem_TqQ2Dtcj5zxhJBE3NzvOlA

California Attorney General: Press Release:
https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-announces-settlement-warner-brosparamount-litigation

Common Dreams: Failing "Moral Compromise,"
Newsome Rejects Compromise 2% Wealth Tax:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/newsom-california-billionaires-tax

Reddit: California Vowed To Stop Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger:
https://www.reddit.com/r/entertainment/comments/1wnnmp2/california_vowed_to_stop_paramountwarner_bros/

Robert Reich Substack: And Now, CNN:
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/now-cnn

The Hollywood Reporter:
California Vowed To Stop Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/california-paramount-warner-bros-settle-why-fold-1236707326/

(Referenced in the Reddit thread, but included separately, for those wanting to skip right to it)

<Secret Affair's lead singer, Ian Page,

 keeps it up close 'n' personal:

  "Time For Action" video (YouTube capture)>

...They can laugh in our face
'Cause we know we're right
Looking good's the answer,
And living by night...

So take me to your leader,

Because it's time you realized...

...That this is the time

This is the time for action (time for action)
This is the time to be seen (time to be seen)...

This is the time for action,

Time to be seen...

To Be Continued...

<YouTube capture>

Mad King Watch (Take XIX): Google Bows Down (Again), And Renames Lake Ontario

 

<Your tax dollars at work?

A visual snapshot of the latest delusion

(Google Maps)>

<"Delusions On Display"/The Reckoner>

<i.>

Why does everybody hate Big Tech so much? Hmm, I've no idea. Couldn't imagine why. Oh, wait. Start with its ravenous appetite for unchecked power without accountability, as the demand for all those data centers symbolizes -- one that despots like Hitler, Stain or Louis XIV, could never have entertained, not in their wildest dreams. 

Continue with the rush to cram its latest technology down our throats, as we've seen from the AI explosion -- which will hopefully burst as the AI bubble sooner than later, and leave them all working for food. What are the odds? I know, I know, time will tell. But we all can dream, right? Especially if we need that image to keep us going through these never-ending darkest of times.

And that's before we get to the Tech Bros' other numerous shortcomings, such as their desire to know everything about you, only to turn radio silent the minute that anyone tries to turn those tables on them. Or maybe it's their brutish insistence on atomizing the common man and woman to the point of absurdity, from the products they buy, to the life choices they make, and the rights they claim.

For further reference, look no further than Microsoft's decision to kill its Publisher program, despite its enormous popularity among the DIY community. Why? Because the Mega-Bullies don't like that. Their goal is to enslave us, at all costs -- something all their garish, gauzy TV Soma (excuse me, "ads") will never change. Allowing us to empower ourselves doesn't square with the infinite nannying that they're planning to impose.

But the biggest and most relevant reason, perhaps, is Big Tech's readiness to kowtow to power, as we see from Google Maps's acceptance of Donald Trump's latest executive order tantrum -- renaming Lake Ontario as "Lake America," since Canadians won't accept his mindless maximalism. So what does the Bully in Chief do? Snaps his fingers, and lives out his latest sundowning fantasy, with the stroke of his EKG-style chicken scratches.

Once again, America The Beautiful presents itself as America The Bully State. Never mind that Trump's so-called executive order has no more impact than declaring the moon is made out of green cheese. Judging from this thread I've found on Reddit, the Bully in Chief's latest delusion is going over like gangbusters:

"Google really has gone to shit."

"Added to the list of reasons Google can fuck all the way off."

"All the world uses correct name, only US uses this new wrong name...will ditch Google Maps from all my projects for forcing (on) the world the will of a few."

"Why doesn't Europe invest in technology to combat the various monopolies the U.S. tech industry has globally? I really hope their leaders finally realized they are exposed to massive risk by allowing people from the U.S. to dictate how things work in their country and do something about it.

"There needs to be global competition for these services rather than one company that does these things for nearly the entire fucking planet."

<ii.>

You can read the rest of these delighted reviews for yourself (see link below). What makes the contrast even more unfavorable for Google is how its brethren have responded. Apple hasn't gone alongl apparently, renaming the Gulf of Mexico into "The Gulf of America," as it did last time, proved an unbreakable red line.

And neither is MapQuest. Better yet, MapQuest has also rolled out a new tool, allowing users to name the lake whatever they want, which squares well with this modest proposal from Robert Reich:

"If you’d like Google to return to naming it Lake Ontario, I urge you to open Google Maps on your computer or mobile app and sign in, then click or tap the menu icon (three lines) or your account profile picture in the top corner, select 'Edit the Map' or 'Your opinions about Maps,' type your feedback explaining that the lake should remain designated Lake Ontario, and click Send. You might do the same for the Gulf of Mexico."

Now that's an idea we can all get behind! Who knows? Maybe if enough of us hit that "Edit the Map" function, Google will realize that the cost of their advance obedience may yet come back to haunt them. But we should couple those impulses with a general exodus away from the Great Google Beast, even if it means buying a swath of USBs to back up whatever email or photo archives we were foolish enough to store there.

I could easily write a separate post on their forced conversions and sudden imposition of storage limits, two reasons I'm thinking of switching to the Netherlands-based Startpage, which offers email and searching, without tracking. For all their own shortcomings, Europeans understand the value of privacy, which is why their protections are so much stronger than in the US, where the virtual tail wags the dog -- no, bounces it up and down -- all day long.

From where I sit, the abovenamed commenter who wished for serious competition, instead of one giant company doing it "for the entire fucking planet," has it right. And if we ever get a Democrat-oriented Project 2029, along with a South African-style Truth and Reconciliation Commission, asking the CEOs of Google, not to mention Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft -- indeed, all those who shoveled so many slippery billions into Trump's 2024 campaign, to grease the skids for his restoration -- to explain themselves sounds like a critical step, if we're ever to get our democracy back.

Such a body would allow for some timely reminders of basic principles, starting with the obvious: Obeying any madman's whims in advance is an inadequate response. Sticking to basic facts beats complying with a wannabe autocrat's latest delusions. Speaking truth to power is better remembered than abject compliance, no matter how elegantly it's dressed up.

There's no place at the table for those who collaborate, no matter how hard they try to "explain" their decisions, or the motives they rationalize for making them. Because those impulses invite the most uncomfortable question of all, the one that's certain to dog so many of them, once the Trump era's madness finally runs its course: "Why didn't you stand up to them? Why didn't you stop them?" Whatever they say, we won't bother trying to count all the crickets that supply the final answer. --The Reckoner

Links To Go (The Hills Are Alive,
With...The Sounds Of Delusions:)

Reddit: Google Says Web Developers
Must Set Their Region For Canada
To "Lake Ontario" To Appear On Map:
https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/comments/1w3d32p/google_says_website_developers_must_set_their/

The Daily Beast: Google Maps
Faces Fury For Caving To Trump:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/google-maps-faces-fury-for-caving-to-trumps-lake-america-demand/

The Hill: Google Maps Changes
Lake Ontario To "Lake America" On US Phones:
https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/6059553-google-maps-renames-lake-america/

Tracking The Data Centers: A Handy Visual Reminder

 <https://brockovichdatacenter.com/>

Want to track the Super Sniffer Dog Surveillance State that all those feral edgelords -- I mean, tech bros, sorry -- are rushing to build, but don't know where to start? If you don't know already, the famed environmental lawyer, Erin Brokovich, offers an interactive map on a website that she's launched to shine a light on this unwholesome phenomenon, which represents that political unicorn -- a development that's aroused enough public antipathy to cross every conceivable party line.

Getting a handle on where they're popping up, however, has been slippery, since data center proponents aren't exactly shouting their arrival from the rooftops. If you look at the maps that some well-intentioned volunteers on the Open Streets public data site, for instance -- there's so few dots, it's enough to make you ask, "What's all the fuss about?"

A quick scan and click across the Brokovich map will part you from those notions pretty fast. As the old saying holds, "knowledge is power," and getting a handle on trends -- since some regions are, shall we say, more overwhelmed by data centers than others -- is the first stop toward stopping them.

And it certainly beats being treated how their proponents envision -- like mushrooms (i.e., fed shit, and kept in the dark), as they swarm our communities, armed with blizzards of non-disclosure agreements, and wild promises dangling from their lips. Which is why it's probably worth filling out the reporting form on Brokovich's website, among many other nifty features, should the need arise.

Another type of map worth checking out is one that shows which states host the most data centers, which you can get from Visual Capitalist (see link below). I was going to include it here, until I saw the "2025" portion of the headline. So, presumably, it's a bit dated, though you can still glean some useful info -- starting with the top data center states.

As you can see, Virginia (665*), Texas (413), California (321), Illinois (244) and Ohio (203) are the top five data hosting states, with others seemingly closing in on a secondary role (such as Oregon and Washington, with 137 and 134 centers, respectively). Even in 2025 terms, they're sobering numbers to view, though necessary, if we want to frame the most relevant lines of protest and resistance.

If nothing else, it's worth having a snappy visual to summarize the problem, which helps in figuring out how to tackle it. After all, what's that equally appropriate old saying? "One picture is worth a thousand words" (or 10,000 words, apparently, because its lineage is somewhat disputed, as the link below will show you), which feels eerily apropos, in this particular context.

Because, as we all know, it's a little bit late when you wake up one day, and find a data center shoehorned onto your doorstep. So let's send the data profiteers packing, wherever they show up, with a different old saying ringing in their tinny, tone deaf ears: "You're bringing coals to Newcastle, and we want it to stop!" Getting the right information, visually speaking, is the first place to start. -- The Reckoner

Links To Go: Hurry, Hurry (Before You Find

A Monster Data Center Squatting In The Backyard)

Brokovich AI Data Center Reporting:
https://brockovichdatacenter.com/

Grammar-Monster.com
A Picture Paints A Thousand Words (Origin):
https://www.grammar-monster.com/sayings_proverbs/a_picture_paints_a_thousand_words.htm

Visual Capitalist: Mapped: States
With The Most Data Centers In 2025:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-u-s-states-with-the-most-data-centers-in-2025/

(*As dated as the map is by now, it's a grimly amusing figure, being only digit one away from that dreaded Biblical number, 666. Go figure, eh?)

What Happened To The American Dream? A Handy Visual Reminder

 

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow,

Modern man's dreams have turned into nightmares..."
"Modern Man," Würm

I just stumbled across this graphic while surfing on Facebook, which inspires me to post it here. If you've seen a better graphic showing just how upside down life has become for most of us, I'd love to see it!

All jokes apart, though, the ability to distill complex issues into a single memorable graphic, or statement, is a quality that often eludes academics and politicians, particularly on the Corporate Moderate side of the coin.

It's important to keep on reminding them, even as we continue pressing them for action, that these issues aren't just some idle policy wonkery, but the results of devilish policy decisions and misplaced priorities that have left millions in the dust. 

The U.S. Census Bureau seems to think so, amid Trump's endless attempts at manipulating it for his own purposes. As its September 2024 press release states: "Over 21 million renter households spent more than 30% of their income on housing costs in 2023, representing nearly half (49.7%) of the 42.5 million renter households in the United States for whom rent burden is calculated."

What does that mean? Cue the Bureau, once more: "Households are considered cost-burdened when they spend more than 30% of their income on rent, mortgage payments, and other housing costs, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Households spending more than 50% of their income on housing costs are considered severely cost-burdened."

There's plenty of other depressing, but relevant statistics, if you want them, so just click here: 

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024/renter-households-cost-burdened-race.html

Got that? This isn't some abstract struggle, but an ongoing emergency for millions of people, one that's made itself felt in some of these recent primary races -- as we saw in Michigan, with El-Sayed winning a brutal two-way primary, and last week, with progressive Angie Nixon doing likewise, in Florida.

For those still wondering why these types of candidates are winning, I'd direct them to Tony Pentimalli's column, "The Primary Heard Around The World," from which I'll lift this paragraph as the most succinct, in terms of summary:

"El-Sayed did not win because Michigan suddenly became a state full of ideological purists. He won by connecting problems the political establishment keeps pretending are unrelated. Healthcare and housing are unaffordable. Billionaires buy politicians. Corporations write the rules. Washington always finds money for war but becomes a collection of fiscal conservatives when Americans need doctors, clean water or a roof over their heads. These are not separate failures. They come from the same government serving the same wealthy interests while ordinary people are told to expect less." I'd post the relevant link, only I can't find the original source. So I'll refer you to a different column, written in the wake of Mamdani's mayoral race victory, which raises many similar points: https://mollystrongheart.blogspot.com/2025/07/excellent-tony-pentimalli-billionaire.html?m=1

In any event, whatever source you want to consult leads to the same conclusion: the hamster wheel that consumes virtually every spare dime we generate for ourselves doesn't need to keep on spinning, without letup. And the sooner we finally get its gut-crunching yoke off our necks, the better off we'll start to become. Food for thought, isn't it?--The Reckoner

Time For Action: Tell Republicans, "Hands Off Heat Standards!"

<i.>

When it comes to mindless cruelty, Republicans never seem to run out of ideas. When it comes to things that folk actually want -- y'know, one job that pays decently, housing that doesn't vaporize your entire check, or groceries you can actually afford -- they hem, haw, and change the subject.

Or else they take a leaf from arch-cruel autocrat wannabes like Texas's imperial-minded Governor, Greg Abbot, who's crusading against foot-washing stations at airports. Yes, you read that right. So long as a single Muslim traveler can take advantage of that religious practice while they're on the go, Abbot won't rest a single minute (see below). 

Still, as bizarre as Abbot's foot-washing jihad sounds, he may feel hard-pressed to match his Congressional counterparts' zeal to prevent the US Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) from setting standards for heat, water and rest breaks in extreme temperatures. (Actually, he's ahead of this cruelty curve, too, but we'll get to that shortly.)

First, though, let's pause for a few words from the AFL-CIO, to set the scene:

"Cities coast to coast are breaking all-time heat records this July, as the extreme heat continues.

 

"But while workers continue to face dangerous and potentially deadly working conditions, anti-worker leaders in Congress are quietly attempting to stop any heat safety protection laws from being passed, now or in the future.

 

"HR 6213, the misnamed Heat Workforce Standards Act, would prohibit the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from creating or enforcing any national heat safety law. 

"Working in extreme heat, both inside and outside, makes workers vulnerable to heat-related illness and even death. It’s difficult to track as heat-related deaths and illnesses are not always recorded as such. As a result, this is a serious problem that is undercounted.

 

"Working in hot environments also impacts a worker’s ability to think clearly, concentrate and react quickly, all of which can lead to further risk and harm.

 

"Please make a call in favor of heat safety standards and to protect workers from heat at work. Call 844-937-2517 now.

 

"In 2024, OSHA proposed the nation’s first heat safety standard. The Trump administration has yet to implement these much-needed protections. But the truth is, leaving heat exposure at work unaddressed doesn’t help big corporations—it costs them $7.8 billion each year and additionally would prevent more than 500 worker fatalities a year. What’s good for workers is what’s good for businesses, and many heat safety measures are common sense, widely accepted and necessary to save lives. 

 

"Workers are facing increasingly hot temperatures across the country, year after year. And all workers are at serious risk of harm from the heat. Thank you for standing with workers this summer and every day."

 

So what's at stake? According to For Construction Pros magazine, OSHA proposed two thresholds in August 2024. If the heat index hits 80 degrees, employers would supply one quart of cool drinking water per worker per hour; air-conditioned or shaded break areas; paid rest breaks, as needed; and an acclimatization plan for new and returning workers. At 90 degrees, employers would add a paid 15-minute break every two hours, a pre-shift hazard alert, and a buddy system, or supervisor observation.

Sounds pretty straightforward, right? As the article notes: "Water, shade, and a break. A few small changes intended to protect our vulnerable workforce in the field. That's it." Who, in their right mind, would oppose measures designed to protect asphalt and construction workers -- or counterparts who work outside, like fruit pickers -- from small things like heat stroke?

Not to worry, as House Republicans are taking up the cudgel against heat protections. They recently advanced -- on a party-line vote, of course -- a bill (HR 6123) that would essentially ban OSHA from ever implementing its proposed standard, or any "substantially similar" rule. 

Equally notable is what the proposed law doesn't do, as the magazine observes: "It carries no sunset date and no mechanism for Congress to revisit the question if heat related injury or death continue to rise. It does not amend the standard or send OSHA back to rewrite it. It functionally closes the door and takes the handle off." 

Which, of course, is the intent. Why go to these lengths, otherwise? It reminds us of the old joke about the scorpion stinging the frog, as they're crossing a river. (If you haven't heard it, no worries -- it's one of the classic moments from the 1992 film, The Crying Game.) 

"Why did you sting me?" the frog plaintively asks, as they start sinking. "You promised me you wouldn't do that."

"I can't help it," the scorpion responds. "it's my nature." We'll revisit that point, too, because it's more pertinent to our discussion than you might think.

<ii.>

As extreme as HR 6123 sounds, its future path remains uncertain. Sixty-three House Republicans have signed onto it, but no Democrat has done so. Nor have any Democrats joined a similar version co-sponsored by US Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and 11 of his cohorts. 

Even if the House passes HR 6123, it faces an uphill future in US Senate, where Mitch McConnell, Kentucky's Decaying Gravedigger of Democracy, long ago cemented 60 votes as the price of doing business there. That means convincing seven Democrats, and all 53 Republicans -- which is hardly a given, with more than a few Elephant Party water carriers (Collins, Husted) facing tough re-election races this fall.

The proposed OSHA rule isn't going anywhere, either. It's sat on the shelf since the original public comment period closed on October 30, 2025. No proposal for a final rule has been announced, again, most likely by design.

But even if Congressional Republicans don't succeed, Abbot -- and his maniacal twin, Governor Ron DeSantis, of Florida -- are way ahead of them, as Construction Pros reported last September (see link below). Both states have passed sweeping measures to prevent local governments from imposing their own restrictions; this, even though Texas leads the nation in heat-related fatalities, at 334, while Florida isn't far behind (84).

Reading the GOP 101 Clichespeak of HR 6123's mastermind, Indiana Congressman Mark Messmer, is an even more surreal experience -- as he rails against "rolling back more of the unnecessary Biden-era regulations," and "reducing trivial red tape." 

Last time we checked, you can get cold water for free, out of the tap -- unless Abbot plans to start charging his subjects for it, once the Islamic foot-washing areas are safely removed. How much more would those 15-minute breaks cost for construction and road workers, who typically earn wages above the local norm?

But there's another irony worth noting. The American Road & Transportation Builders Association opposed OSHA's proposal as burdensome, and expensive -- citing the potential crew costs of mandated rest breaks, among other concerns, Construction Pros reports. "But ARTBA never asked Congress to eliminate federal heat rulemaking entirely," the magazine asserts, in its August update. "HR 6123 forecloses that outcome. The 'substantially similar' language would block a performance-based heat standard as thoroughly as a prescriptive one."

The betrayed tone is impossible to miss, particularly in Construction Pros's September 2025 article, when it reported on the groundswell to get moving on HR 6123. The article focuses on the irony of states like Texas cracking down on heat restrictions, amid their participation in such glitzy, high-profile celebrations, as Work Zone Awareness Week:

"While the focus on work zone safety in this manner is absolutely critical to raising awareness, only focusing on the aspect related to drivers and auto accidents does potentially cast an empty and performative light on all the press releases, Facebook posts, and Instagram reels from various State officials, while they actively pass legislation that increases work zone danger."

If nothing else, these negative passion projects remind us all of the need for unions. What kind of darkness thrives in somebody who'd deny their worker bees a drink of water, and a brief rest break, especially since extreme weather is now the norm?

It's one tendency that unites all these Trump prostrating edgelords -- from Bezos, to Ellison, to Musk, Zuckerberg and back again. They're all virulently anti-union, and they all can't wait to tell us what to do. As long as we don't try to flip the script on them, and tell them what to do -- because that's when the face falls off, with a clang, and a thud. And the ugliness lurking behind it is truly a sight for the sorest of eyeballs!

<iii.>

When you consider the growing unease with immigration policies that have drastically hurt the agricultural and construction industries -- both of whom went all-in for the 2024 Trump Restoration, with campaign contributions, and full-throated support -- the urge to scratch that schadenfreude itch becomes irresistible. 

But for now, let's focus on simpler objectives, starting with calls to the 844-937-2517 number that the AFL-CIO has set up. That line connects you to your Congressional representative, without having to look up the number. If that line's busy, you could try the Congressional switchboard (202-224-3121).

And maybe, just maybe, it's worth dropping a proverbial dime to Congressman Messmer. A quick check at opensecrets.org shows him raising $1.16 million, with half of it ($457,000) coming from PACs. The profile of a typical corporate politician, right? But still, it's worth reminding him that we're aware of what he's doing, and don't support it, so call: (202) 225-4636.

Considering the political headwinds blowing so heavily on Messmer and company, it shouldn't be too hard to get their attention. As for the industries that supported Trump? Maybe you know someone who's a contractor, or a paver, or a roofer. Or a fruit picker, or a landscaper, or anyone who works outside.

Show them the Construction Pros articles, and ask: "What happened here? They thought these guys were their friends, but look at what they're planning. Is that what friends do? Maybe it's time you started looking for some different friends, too."

And then, if all else fails? You can tell the story of the scorpion, and the frog. Because it's one thing to end up drowning, once the stinger does its thing. Especially if you willingly put yourself there, by choice. Remember, they can't help it. It's their nature. --The Reckoner

Guess what? 

Sometimes, it just pays 

to trust your instincts...

<pic: janellehardy.com>

Links To Go, Or... (Do Republicans 
Really Have It Made In The Shade?)

Chron.com: Why A Muslim Airport Amenity
Open Since 2024 Has Drawn The Ire Of Republicans:
Why a Muslim airport amenity open since 2024 has the ire of Texas Republicans

For Construction Pros: House Republicans
Advance Ban On Heat Safety Standard...:
https://www.forconstructionpros.com/asphalt/business/safety/article/22972616/house-republicans-advance-ban-on-heat-standard-workers-to-absorb-the-risk

For Construction Pros: When The Heat Is On:
Safety Rollbacks Endanger Road Crews In The Sunbelt:
https://www.forconstructionpros.com/business/construction-safety/article/22947582/heat-safety-rollbacks-endanger-road-crews-in-the-sunbelt

National Federation of Independent Businesses:
NFIB Supports Committee Passage
Of The Heat Workforce Standards Act:
https://www.nfib.com/news/press-release/nfib-supports-committee-passage-of-the-heat-workforce-standards-act/

(Included for completeness. It's so much blather, because -- hey, that free cup of cold water is just too much to offer during a busy roadwork day -- but it's worth a look, if only to view how the promoters of this notion are going about imposing it on everyone else.)

This is the time for action,

Time to be seen...

To Be Continued...

<YouTube capture> 

A Glimpse Of The Future? Of Smartphones, Social Networks & Reading Rates (Cabbages & Kings Optional)

 

<LA Times, 7/13/26: A glimpse of the future?>

I stumbled across the above clipping on Facebook, which certainly offers plenty of food for thought. Start with the stat on smartphone ownership. I'm not among the two-thirds who owned one by 2015, which makes me an outlier, on some level. The flipside? My longtime associate, The Squawker, does have one, and uses it regularly, for the usual boring reasons (i,.e., it makes certain mindless tasks easier). So if I want to scratch that particular itch, it's not difficult.

That being said, it's hard to argue with the author's assertion that our ongoing decline in literacy picked up steam the moment that smartphones became universal. The five and seven hours per day that adults and young spend, respectively, starting into their gadgets is also time that doesn't go into reading books.

Nor does it seem especially surprising to see the steepest declines logged among the usual suspects -- from men and boys, to rural residents, and those with lower education levels (translated: high school dropouts, presumably, and also those who never finished college). Unsurprisingly, declines in reading rates are less steeper among girls, and women. 

Obviously, this is a complicated subject. If you're using a smartphone to make speech more understandable, then I'll say, "More power to you." I wouldn't tell you to junk it. Even if we somehow gained the capability of instantly vaporizing smartphones tomorrow, it wouldn't necessarily raise our declining literacy rates overnight. But the LA Times columnist, David Shelley, hits on an often-overlooked point in the Great Literacy Debate -- why it's so important, and not for the most commonly cited reason, of sweeping the sclerosis from the veins of our sagging democracy:

"Reading offers unique benefits and pleasure. Sometimes that pleasure can be hard-won -- it's not a simple, instant dopamine hit -- but it's enduring and long-lasting. We remember the books we loved as a child for the rest of our lives. Can we say the same for a meme we enjoyed, or a social media post?"

I know that feeling well. One of my strongest formative childhood experiences came from my mom, who would read to me -- and encourage me to do likewise, for her ( a habit that continued for entertainment, into her twilight years). But we didn't just bond over The Jungle Book.

She would buy me more advanced fare, like every book written by the French explorer, Jacques Cousteau -- who, along with his son, Phillippe, seemed to be everywhere on '70s TV screens -- and then quiz me on the vocabulary. Or it might be key concepts, or key details, whatever she'd pick out. And if I didn't hit the mark, we'd run down those items, again -- and again, and again -- until she felt I had them down.

My dad was a heavyweight reader himself, gliding from all the classics of literature, to more esoteric subject matter, like those classic Ballantine paperbacks on World War II -- which eventually filled an entire bookcase on their own -- and tomes on history, politics, sociology, you name it.

On top of all that, he read several news magazines regularly, week after week -- including Newsweek, TIME, US News & World Report -- which he'd then hand over to me, once he finished. Without TIME, that arch-establishment bastion, I'd never have learned about the Martin Beck mystery series, to which they devoted a two-page spread -- complete with images of the classic Pantheon hardcover editions -- on August 11, 1975.

The publication date is noteworthy, because it happened just over two months after the death of Per Wahloo -- who co-authored the books with his companion, Maj Sjowall, from 1965-75. Thankfully, the first of its major predictions proved wrong ("Unhappily, few of their works are likely to make their way to the screen?"), though not the second: "As time passes, the novels will probably be taken more seriously as literature because of their biting social comment and the shrewdness with which it animates the plots."

My curiosity piqued, I went down to one of our local libraries, which -- lo and behold! -- had practically the entire series, except for a book or two. I started reading them, and have never stopped. And they have aged well, whether you enjoy them purely as police procedurals, or social commentaries. I like both approaches, which suits me fine, if I ever start writing mysteries.

Still, when you consider that Wahloo and his other half remained largely unknown at the time, outside of their native Sweden -- and Europe, perhaps, once their books started getting translated into the relevant homegrown languages -- to see them covered in such depth felt impressive. TIME magazine was "on it!"

You can read the article for yourself (see below) and judge, though completists should track down the original -- because seeing those cover illustrations really grabbed me. And that's just one of many, many examples. I never would have learned about the British punk rock explosion without the August 11, 1977 roundup ("Anthems Of The Blank Generation"), whose leadoff paragraph is a classic blast of incomprehension:

"ITEM: In London, Singer Johnny Rotten spits at the audience and cries out, 'I hate you!' Sizing up Johnny’s four-letter words, tattered clothing and generally repugnant personal deportment, the British Establishment decides that it hates him. Johnny and his band, the Sex Pistols, are regularly banned from British radio, concert halls and clubs. Nonetheless, the Pistols’ latest single, a Jubilee diatribe against royalty called God Save the Queen, is currently a bestselling record in Britain."

Again, if you can track down the original article, it's well worth the effort, for the visuals alone. By the time I read the article -- which included quotes from "Blank Generation" (Richard Hell), and "Venus de Milo" (Television), along with grainy black and white shots of the Clash, the Sex Pistols, and so on -- I wanted to get my hands on this music, and experience it myself.

My dad, God bless him, might finally forgive me for that one. Especially if I told him that these days, the man who was Rotten, who wrote that anti-monarchist classic, "God Save The Queen," -- plain old John Lydon -- loves the Queen. Can't get enough of her, in fact. Or so it seems, judging from whatever mood he's feeling that week. With him, it's hard to tell where the act ends, and the real person takes over again.

My other most important formative experience came from the Great Books Program, which I joined around fifth or sixth grade. An outside person -- or "coordinator," as they called it, I think -- came in two or three times a week, and we'd discuss whatever reading we'd been assigned (usually from  an abridged version, if I recall correctly). The fare ranged from the esoteric likes of Bartleby The Scrivener (Herman Melville), to classics like The Iliad, The Odyssey, and milestone works from Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald -- I could go on forever, but you get the idea. 

Without those experiences, it's hard to imagine what I would have become. I've always had a natural curiosity about the world around me, so the ingraining of reading may well have happened, anyway -- but might have taken a lot longer, without the input from my parents, or Great Books. And maybe I'd have hit a few speed bumps along the way, taste-wise, who knows?

Suffice to say, those experiences offer something tangible and meaningful, which I don't see happening as often in the virtual world. The bloom is well and truly off the rose from the wide-eyed, golly-gee-whiz vision that Rush's drummer/lyricist Neal Peart, expresses in a song like "Virtuality": "Net boy, net girl/Send your signal around the world/Let your fingers walk and talk/And set you free."

Who would write a song like that nowadays, especially after all the negative revelations about the tech bullies, and their nonstop efforts to manipulate, track, and enslave us -- hence, their pell-mell rush to throw up the data centers needed to build their surveillance state? Or the Facebook whistleblower scandal, or the UK tabloid phone hacking scandal, or the tsunami of cyberbullying reports (now gaining additional legs, after the Jason Arday story)?

If there's any justice at all -- and if the long arc truly bends toward it -- then that AI bubble will blow up in the edgelords' faces, with the data centers going bust as fast as they arrived. Because I don't know about you, but I'm way past tired of seeing a bunch of feral overgrown little boys make the world suffer, because they got cut from their dodgeball team. 

Again, I recognize that it's a complicated subject. I know a lot of people with disabilities, and shut-ins, who would disagree with me, and that's fine. If you aren't able to get around easily, or it's too expensive to travel widely, the digital world might offer your only shot at learning about Japanese cooking, or the crown jewel of Uruguayan direct to video filmmaking (profiled in Straight To VHS).

So duly noted, seconded, and all that. But if we really want to push the literacy curve back in our direction, we not only need to take back our tech, but a more robust discussion about what we expect from it -- and what we can do differently, to avoid rehashing the errors of our past.

That call feels even more urgent, when I read the equally wide-eyed, golly-gee-whiz comments of Aaron Sorkin, writer-director of The Social Reckoning -- the sequel to The Social Network (2020), who finds it "dangerous" that a third of US adults now regularly get their news from it:

"And by the way, let me be clear: I don't think Mark Zuckerberg ever intended for it to have a corrosive effect. I think his intentions were good. He was somebody who, like a lot of people, had difficulty fitting into the social structure of college life and probably high school. He invented his own social structure, and he got to be the mayor of it and couldn't be excluded from it. His brilliance is undeniable, and that was a cool thing and it got way out of hand. It's gone completely out of control."

To which I can only respond with New Musical Express's withering summary of the blame it hung on the Clash's late lead singer, Joe Strummer, for producing the Clash's oft-mocked swan song, Cut The Crap: "Perhaps naively, I don't doubt Strummer's sincerity, but a big question mark has got to hang over his marbles, Ron."

And likewise, I'd ask the same question of Sorkin. How can someone who did the deep dive through the darkest corners of Big Tech's origin story ever emerge from it, waxing so naively about it? Is he really that simple-minded? Sadly, and evidently, yes.

Because if you read The Social Network's printed incarnation, before it hit the big screen, you'll find that "Zuck" -- as they called him, then and now -- wasn't trying to find the cure for cancer, or writing fanboy letters to Mother Teresa, or plotting how to grow a super-grain capable of feeding the starving millions for zero dollars. Nope, none of those things.

Instead, he spent much of his time drinking, partying, and chasing women, amid endless hours and hours and hours of coding, all in pursuit of an endless mountain of loot -- all the things that lead to the dreaded malady of "Billionaire Brain," just as his robber baron predecessors have done before him -- the only difference being, at least the Gilded Age bad boys pretended to feel grateful for all their ill-gotten gains.

Whether they pulled it off is an altogether different matter entirely. But, suffice to say, I don't think we can trust the Aaron Sorkins of the world to lead us to the promised land, anymore than the techno-robber barons he's spent his last half-decade or so chronicling.

And, more than ever, I'm convinced that the next counterculture will owe little or nothing to this insufferable Silicon Gulch that we find ourselves stuck inhabiting, if ever so unhappily. And reading, and improved literacy, will have to be part of that recipe, to reclaim ourselves from it. And if it's not?

Then I think the cartoon below tells us everything we need to know. Just imagine a Communist Bloc-style uber-culture, devoid of any spirit or spark, only backed up by a more wide-ranging and malign apparatus than the drearily bland tinhorn likes of Eric Honecker could ever have dreamed up, one that stands ready to snap its digital cage into place over you.

It's the kind of scenario that gives new meaning to the concept of a "captive audience," one that has the likes of David Ellison dreaming about a future with "everyone on their best behavior" -- as if people are merely dogs to train, by snapping the right leash into place, or dangling the biggest biscuit safely out of reach.

Maybe he, and all of his kind, find the only air-conditioned cells in Hell awaiting their arrival, once the local fire department has finally cleared away the vast puffs of sulfur they've left behind, once they've finally shuffled off.

Now, imagine how you might muddle along through a morass -- and you can take it mentally from there. We'll be revisiting this subject plenty more times, before the next turn of the wheel comes along. So let us gear up, and step up, before there is no margin for error anymore. And history will never forgive us, if we don't get the recipe right. Or, at least, a better sense of the balance. --The Reckoner

Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry, Yank The Plug
On The Techlord's Great Anti-Rock 'N' Roll Swindle):

The Hollywood Reporter:
Aaron Sorkin Says "Facebook is Completely Out Of Control":
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/aaron-sorkin-says-facebook-completely-173335255.html

TIME: Martin Beck Passes:
https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,917703-1,00.html

TIME: Music: Anthems From The Blank Generation:
https://time.com/archive/6853029/music-anthems-of-the-blank-generation/