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Where’s The Beef?

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Spake American Meat Institute, President J. Patrick Boyle: “Lean finely textured beef is blended into foods like ground beef. Producing BLBT ensures that lean, nutritious, safe beef is not wasted in a world where red meat protein supplies are decreasing while global demand is increasing as population and income increases.”

Oh, the economic and income-equality infused altruism.

“Lean finely textured beef” is the euphemistic, Orwellian term for that nasty “pink slime” that even McDonalds stopped serving in their burgers (but that Obama’s U.S. Department of Agriculture serves to kids for school lunch). Following a collective hissy fit by parents in the wake of a spate of pink slime stories, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that starting this fall, schools will be able to choose whether or not they buy hamburger that contains pink slime. That’s great. So now only schools that can’t afford to opt out (it costs more) will serve the economically disadvantaged kids the pink shit.

And brands, like Safeway, that should have known better are dropping it like it’s radioactive. Maybe because that’s how it looks.

Remember Bush’s pollution-regulation-killing Clean Air Act? It’s like calling AMI’s J.Patrick Boyle a slick, trustworthy emissary of unadulterated information to enlighten consumers. Well that’s what the label says – why would one bother with a label that calls him a slimy, fraudulent, bullshit-peddling, asshole spreading confusion to profit the meat industry?

So what if the process uses “food grade” ammonium hydroxide gas to destroy bacteria? Food grade ammonia? Is that like edible crude oil cutlets?

“Whatever process is used, it is all done under the watchful eye of USDA inspectors and according to strict federal rules,” reassured the Boyle. Conveniently using the USDA as an endorsement of sorts. (Just a year ago he excoriated the USDA who he accused of having “gone well beyond congressional intent by proposing restrictive [aka honest] marketing requirements and new enforcement standards [aka compliance].)”

“Pink slime” – the “colloquial” term for “edible beef” according to Boyle — “ensures that our products remain as affordable as we can make them.” Short of packaging ammonia-treated cowshit in “sustainable” styrofoam, slapping on an “Organic” sticker and calling it “natural brown mash.”

Another shill for the meat industry, AMI spokeswoman, Janet Riley got all Donald Rumsfeld about the whole thing. “What are you asking me to put on the label, its beef, it’s on the label, it’s a beef product, it’s says beef so we are declaring … it’s beef,” she said. She also expects to be taken seriously with her Twitter moniker “queenofwien.” Nope, I’m not making this up.

The USDA inspector who deemed “pink slime” beefy enough to be called beef without requiring any labeling of any kind is former undersecretary of agriculture, Joann Smith. After her USDA stint she went on to become a member of the board of directors of a major supplier for BPI, the makers of pink slime, where she made at least $1.2 million over 17 years.

The recent furor over Rush Limbaugh’s misogynistic remarks calling women who use birth control “sluts” and “prostitutes” is only just dying down (although advertisers haven’t returned…yet). But the word “prostitute” is also used metaphorically to describe “debasing oneself or working towards an unworthy cause.” It is not gender specific. One thinks J. Richard Boyle. Or Joanne Smith. Or the Queen of Wien, Janet Riley.

Meanwhile, as pink slime begins sullying brands quicker than an e-coli epidemic, don’t expect the meat industry to just roll over and play dead. Remember Oprah?

Lean finely textured euphemisms aside, if it looks and talks and smells like a gross mash-up of “beef,” ammonia and whatever other “edible” additives make it a revolting slimy pink, guess what?

 

Image via Beef Products Inc.

 

Clinton Fein is an internationally acclaimed author, artist, and First Amendment activist, best-​known for his 1997 First Amendment Supreme Court victory against United States Attorney General Janet Reno. Fein has also gained international recognition for his Annoy​.com site, and for his work as a political artist. Fein is on the Board of Directors of the First Amendment Project, “a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to protecting and promoting freedom of information, expression, and petition.” Fein’s political and privacy activism have been widely covered around the world. His work also led him to be nominated for a 2001 PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award.

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News

‘Start the Kevin McCarthy Death-Clock’ After Biden Wins Debt Ceiling Battle: Rick Wilson

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May 28, 2023

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Appearing late Saturday night on MSNBC after it was announced that President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had reached an agreement “in principle’ on a budget deal, former GOP strategist Rick Wilson claimed this could be the beginning of the end for McCathy’s speakership.

Sitting in on a panel with guest host Michael Steele, Wilson suggested that McCarthy’s decision to compromise with the president to avoid a default that would spin the economy into chaos will not go over well with far-right members of his House caucus who could make a motion to “vacate the chair” to express their displeasure.

Asked by host Steel about what comes next, Wilson stated it was a win for the White House which will not make conservatives happy.

RELATED: ‘Crazy cuckoo MAGA people’ could sink debt ceiling deal: Dem strategist

“Great night for Joe Biden, great night for the White House even though I think their messaging has been kind of tentative the past few weeks” the Lincoln Project founder began. “I think though we are now going to start the Kevin McCarthy death-clock. He has certainly got a very angry part of his caucus tonight who probably burning up his phone no matter how good it is for the country not to default.”

“It’s not going to please the chaos caucus in the GOP,” he added.

Watch below or at the link:

 

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News

Debt Ceiling: McCarthy Faces ‘Lingering Anger’ and a Possible Revolt as Far-Right House Members Start Issuing Threats

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2 days ago

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May 27, 2023

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As House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) continues to negotiate a deal to avoid a debt crisis, members of the far-right Freedom Caucus are growing furious with him over broken promises he made to them.

According to MSNBC political analyst Steve Benen, with a slim GOP majority in the House, McCarthy is walking a tightrope to get a budget deal passed and may need help from House Democrats if members of his caucus refuse to go along with him.

As Benen points out, in order to win the speakership McCarthy agreed to an easier path for a motion to “vacate the chair” which could end his tenure as Speaker. That could come into play if the Freedom Caucus stages a revolt.

“… as the negotiations approach an apparent finish line, the House Republicans’ most radical faction is learning that it isn’t likely to get everything its members demanded — and for the Freedom Caucus, that’s not going to work,” he wrote in his MSNBC column.

ALSO IN THE NEWS: Trump in danger of heightened espionage charges after bombshell report: legal expert

Citing a Washington Times report that stated, “[Freedom Caucus members] want everything from the debt limit bill passed by the House last month plus several new concessions from the White House,” Benen suggested far-right House Republicans are now issuing veiled threats.

In an interview, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) stated, “I am going to have to go have some blunt conversations with my colleagues and the leadership team. I don’t like the direction they are headed.”

With Politico reporting, “The [House Freedom Caucus] was already unlikely to support a final bipartisan deal, but lingering anger with Kevin McCarthy could have lasting implications on his speakership,” Benen added, “If this is simply a matter of lingering ill-will from members who come to believe that GOP leaders ‘caved,’ the practical consequences might be limited. But let’s also not forget that McCarthy, while begging his own members for their support during his protracted fight for the speaker’s gavel, agreed to tweak the motion-to-vacate-the-chair rules, which at least in theory, would make it easier for angry House Republicans to try to oust McCarthy from his leadership position.”

Adding the caveat that he is not predicting an imminent McCarthy ouster he added, “But if the scope of the Freedom Caucus’ discontent reaches a fever pitch, a hypothetical deal clears thanks to significant Democratic support, don’t be surprised if we all start hearing the phrase ‘vacate the chair” a lot more frequently.”

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BREAKING NEWS

Prosecutors Tell Trump They Have a Recording of Him and a Witness: Report

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2 days ago

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May 26, 2023

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Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial have notified the ex-president’s attorneys they have a recording of him and a witness. The notification comes in the form of an automatic discovery form, CBS News reports, which “describes the nature of the charges against a defendant and a broad overview of the evidence that prosecutors will present at Trump’s preliminary hearing or at trial.”

CBS reports prosecutors have handed the recording over to Trump’s legal team.

It’s not known who the witness is, nor are any details known publicly about what the conversation entails, or even if it is just audio or if it includes video.

READ MORE: ‘Likely to Be Indicted Soon’: Trump Might Face Seven Different Felonies, Government Watchdog Says

According to the article’s author, CBS News’ Graham Kates, via Twitter, prosecutors say they also have recordings between two witnesses, a recording between a witness and a third party, and various recordings saved on a witness’s cell phones.

Trump is facing 34 felony counts in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case related to his allegedly unlawful attempt to hide hush money payoffs to a well-known porn star by falsifying business records to protect his 2016 presidential campaign.

See the discovery form above or at this link.

Image via Shutterstock

 

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