According to iGroove’s recent study (original German version here, English interpretation here), a musician or band can expect to get paid 0.3¢ to 0.5¢ per Spotify stream, which means that they’d need somewhere between 200 to 333 streams of one of their songs to make a single dollar. Music may be what musicians make, but unless you’ve made it big, it doesn’t pay the bills.
DeSantis may have been inspired by a segment on Tucker Carlson’s show
He should just ’fess up and call the show The Tucker Carlson White Power Hour.
A couple of days ago, Media Matters’ Matthew Gertz astutely tweeted that “when GOPers do depraved stuff it’s worth looking for the Fox host who suggested it.”
To no one’s surprise, the Fox host who suggested it was the host of Fox’s own White Power Hour: Swanson frozen foods heir Tucker Carlson, host of an old-timeywhite–fear-and-rage–stoking evening show.
Anyway when GOPers do depraved stuff it’s worth looking for the Fox host who suggested it. Tucker Carlson, July 26: “[Martha’s Vineyard residents] are begging for more diversity. Why not send migrants there, in huge numbers?” pic.twitter.com/R7Gvj9PsBE
Designed (poorly) to look like an official brochure, it says that migrants who arrive in Massachusetts would be eligible for a lot of benefits, including:
8 months’ cash assistance
Housing assistance
Food
Clothing
Transportation to job interviews
Job training
Job placement
Registering children for school
Assistance applying for Social Security cards
Popular Information got the brochure from Lawyers for Civil Rights, a Boston-based law firm representing 30 of the migrants.
The brochure was not produced by the State of Massachusetts, nor is it official. It’s a “homemade” document pieced together from cut-and-pasted text from various Massachusetts government sites.
While the benefits listed exist, the migrants to whom they were given are not eligible for them. While refugees are eligible for such benefits, these migrants are seeking asylum, and refugee benefits don’t apply.
The devil is in the details. In trying to provide DeSantis with a loophole, Fenske insisted “the brochure does not say migrants immediately have access to the benefits.” But it worked — the idea was to convince them that those benefits were forthcoming, and all they had to do was board the plane.
“DeSantis clearly does not know the legal difference between refugees (who are eligible for resettlement benefits) and asylum applicants (who are not).
It’s legally no different than promising someone who you know to have had no military service that they will be eligible for veterans benefits.”
Cameron also said the brochures “are either evidence of criminal intent or criminal stupidity.” My feeling:
FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) paid a secretive Oregon-based company to fly the migrants, and now that company’s website is offline
I’m not sure if anyone sees my tweets but the State has a new payment of $950,000 pending for Vertol Systems! Listed as project #2-3.
A total of $1,565,000 to Vertol for “relocating” immigrants. pic.twitter.com/TJjUA04JKo
Typically, you’d be able to go to Vertol Systems’ site and see that they’re based in Oregon’s Hillsboro rather than Florida’s Hillsborough County and that they’re in the business of “specialized aircraft solutions specific to unique requirements.”
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar confirmed the investigation during a press conference Monday “to clear the air for everyone,” alleging that 48 migrants were “lured under false pretenses” to stay at a hotel for a couple of days, shuttled to a plane, flown to Florida, and eventually transported to Martha’s Vineyard, where they had been promised work and solutions to other problems.
From Sheriff Salazar’s Twitter account:
I have officially opened a criminal investigation against the individual(s) who lured and transported 48 migrants from the Migrant Resource Center in San Antonio, TX to Martha’s Vineyard. If you or someone you know has been impacted, please email bcsotips@bexar.org
And garbage human that she is, Christina Pushaw, Rapid Response Director for DeSantis’ reelection campaign tweeted this:
Martha’s Vineyard residents should be thrilled about this. They vote for sanctuary cities — they get a sanctuary city of their own. And illegal aliens will increase the town’s diversity, which is strength. Right?
Zen Pencils — “Cartoon quotes from inspirational folks” — take some of the best quotes and statements out there and present them in comic form. They just updated their rendition of Sophie Scholl’s “I choose my own way to burn” statement to fit the current times. It’s worth reading:
“The real damage is done by those millions who want to ‘survive.’ The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes.”
“Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small.”
“It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you.”
“But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death…”
“…narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does.”
“I choose my own way to burn.”
Sophie Scholl was a resistance fighter against the Nazis in Germany in the early 1940s. She was a key member of Weiße Rose — German for “White Rose” — a resistance group run by students at the University of Munich. Weiße Rose distributed leaflets, painted graffiti, and took part in actions to call out the Nazis and inspired resistance against fascism.
The Nazis executed her at the age of 21 for treason on February 22, 1943.
When you say you’re not political, you’re telling on yourself. What you’re saying is that you’ve only been on the receiving end of all these invisible perks the government provides, rather than being on the side that suffers from the lack of them or that is even actively harmed by them. For example, it’s only because of active participation in politics that same-sex marriages are legal. That happened less than five years ago, and it would no doubt be the dream of a conservative Supreme Court to overturn it. Try telling your gay friend, whose marriage status could be in real jeopardy based on election outcomes, that you’re not political and see how they react.
My long-time friend Marichka Melnyk (I met her in 1989!) made me aware of this exchange between a Ukrainian woman and a Russian soldier, and her offering to him was so powerful and right-on that I had to share it here.
The video is above, and a translated transcript appears below:
Woman: Who are you?
Soldier: We have exercises here. Please go this way.
Woman: What kind of exercises? Are you Russian?
Soldier: Yes.
Woman: So what the fuck are you doing here?
Soldier: Right now, our discussion will lead to nothing.
Woman: You’re occupants, you’re fascists! What the fuck are you doing on our land with all these guns? Take these seeds [sunflower seeds — the sunflower is Ukraine’s national flower] so at least sunflowers will grow when you all lie down here.
Soldier: Right now, our discussion will lead nowhere [clearly, they’ve been given talking points]. Let’s not escalate this situation. Please.
Woman: What situation? Guys, guys. Put sunflower seeds in your pockets, please. You will lie down here with the seeds. You come to my land. Do you understand? You are occupiers. You are enemies.
Soldier: Yes.
Woman: And from this moment, you are cursed. I’m telling you.
Soldier: Now listen to me —
Woman: I’ve heard you.
Soldier: Let’s not escalate the situation. Please go this way.
Woman: How can it be further escalated? You fucking came here uninvited. Pieces of shit.
According to iGroove’s recent study (original German version here, English interpretation here), a musician or band can expect to get paid 0.3¢ to 0.5¢ per Spotify stream, which means that they’d need somewhere between 200 to 333 streams of one of their songs to make a single dollar. Music may be what musicians make, but unless you’ve made it big, it doesn’t pay the bills.
