Plus: Norfolk Southern's toxic cloud spread across the land, Europe kept Sudanese refugees in danger, an Ohio man throws Filth Cans, and the world's gayest animals!
June 21, 2024 ❧ The IRS lets rich people off the hook, Italian Pride reclaims "frociaggine," and Louisiana puts the Ten Commandments in school
Plus: Norfolk Southern's toxic cloud spread across the land, Europe kept Sudanese refugees in danger, an Ohio man throws Filth Cans, and the search for the world's gayest animal!
The IRS basically doesn’t investigate tax crimes by the rich
In a new investigative report—from, fittingly enough, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists—New York reporter Spencer Wooderman has confirmed what a lot of people instinctively understand: that the IRS investigates tax crimes very differently depending on the economic class of the people committing them. Or rather, it doesn’t investigate them.
Wooderman interviewed Michael Welu, a former IRS agent who worked in multiple divisions of the agency, and he says the difference is stark:
During his time at the IRS, he says, upper management in the division tasked with auditing large corporations and ultrawealthy people — the Large Business and International Division — was quick to dismiss any suggestion that a powerful taxpayer may have committed a crime, and commonly discouraged frontline agents from pursuing big cases. This stood in deep contrast to the office that policed small businesses and self-employed people, which was empowered to — as Welu saw it — take an appropriately firm stance toward taxpayers breaking the law, even if they were dealing with far smaller dollar amounts.
“I was putting butchers, bakers and candlestick makers in jail, but the big stuff we really wanted to go after was being ignored,” Welu told the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. “It could be the most egregious, ridiculous scheme and they were just not interested.”
What do they even DO in here? (Image: AlphaPhoto via Flickr)
The numbers bear this out: according to data collected by the ICIJ, the Large Business and International Division has “flagged no more than 22 instances of possible tax crimes” for further investigation over the last five years.
There are a few factors at work here, including the infamous “revolving door” between the IRS and the private sector. As Jared Facundo wrote for the American Prospect last year, this is a recurring pattern in which tax lawyers go to work for the agency, enact “policies ‘frequently favorable’ to their former corporate clients,” and are then “rewarded with more senior titles and greater compensation” when they return to their old firms. It’s one of many forms of blatant corruption that are technically legal. (Isn’t America grand?)
From a revenue perspective, though, it makes zero sense to run things this way. Catching hundreds of everyday citizens cheating on their taxes wouldn’t match the revenue potential of catching one billionaire, and it takes a lot more resources to investigate many small cases than one big one. The priorities should be the exact opposite of what they are now, and an overhaul of the whole system is needed to make that happen.
For reasons only he would know, Pope Francis has decided to mark this Pride Month by repeatedly saying a homophobic slur. The word is “frociaggine,” which translates roughly to “f—tness,” and the Pope first used it publicly back in May, saying there was too much “frociaggine” in Catholic seminaries.
It was a disappointing moment from a pontiff who’s gone back and forth on LGBTQ issues, sometimes moderating the Church’s longstanding bigotry and sometimes reaffirming it. The Vatican issued an apology for the comment, saying that Francis “never intended to offend”—but in early June, he was reportedly talking about an “air of frociaggine” again.
This is, of course, a serious issue. Millions of people around the world look to the Pope for moral guidance, and when he chooses to use bigoted language, it can do real harm. But there’s also something comical about leading a religious micro-state that bans women from its most important roles—just 5.5 percent of the Vatican’s population is female—and then saying to yourself, hey, doesn’t this all seem a bit gay?
Roughly translated, this reads “Bless this”... well, you know.
Seizing on this absurdity, the marchers in Italy’s Pride parades have made Pope Francis something of an unofficial mascot, dressing up in his trademark white robes (with rainbow accessories) and carrying a variety of signs that reclaim the word “frociaggine.” As Emma Bubola writes for the New York Times:
Emiliano Sisolfi, 22, a director, carried a banner with a photograph of Francis with his thumb up and another usage of the slur. Mr. Sisolfi said he printed the insult in rainbow letters to neutralize it.
“If I laugh about the word,” he said, “they have no more words to offend us.”
We can only hope the Pope will learn something from this gentle mockery, and discard the last of his prejudices. But if not, it looks like the people of Italy have the situation well in hand.
Left: “There is NEVER too much gayness.” Right: “Francy, you are welcome in our parish.”
CROOKS vs. SICKOS (Or, “What’s going on with our politicians and oligarchs?”)
⚜ LONG READ: Why are Eric Adams and the NYPD flying so many helicopters? For Hellgate NYC—which is really a fantastic independent news outlet, by the way—Nick Pinto explores the question:
[T]he police spent $12.4 million flying their helicopters around in the 2023 fiscal year, a figure which doesn't include the personnel costs. That's more than double what was spent in 2021, the last fiscal year of the de Blasio mayoralty.
Sometimes, Bloomberg says, the flight records suggest that the helicopters are being used to ferry passengers to and from a location, like a sort of taxpayer-funded Blade service. One flight highlighted in the investigation zipped out to the Hamptons and back on a Friday evening in August. Another went to Philadelphia and then Albany before returning to New York City. Another time, an NYPD helicopter just went to Philly and back so a deputy commissioner could roll up to a gala event in style.
In the grand scheme of the City budget, $12.4 million for police helicopter operations is not a ton of money. But at a time when the mayor is pushing through austerity budgets that slash everything from social safety net programs to library hours, the police department's lavish budget for helicopter jaunts comes at a very clear cost.
Apparently, Mayor Adams watched Predator at an impressionable age and took “Get to the choppa!” a little too literally. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
❧ The Council of Robed Elders (aka the Supreme Court) continues to dispense its holy wisdom. Despite some atrocious rulings on guns, unions, and racial gerrymandering earlier in this session, they made some decent decisions late this week:
All the justices, excluding Thomas, voted to uphold a ban on domestic abusers owning guns. (The Guardian)
By a 7-2 vote (Thomas and Gorsuch dissented) the Court also rejected a conservative-led effort to pre-emptively block Congress from imposing a wealth tax. (Politico) As an added bonus, this ruling infuriated the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board!
Are emergency rooms required to provide life-saving abortions?
Can the homeless be banned from sleeping outside?
Do courts have to listen to regulators?
Can the government regulate “misinformation” on social media?
Should the Sacklers be protected from responsibility for the Opioid crisis?
In other news
Donald Trump’s Super PAC has received a $50 million donation from Timothy Mellon, the scion of Gilded Age robber baron Andrew Mellon. Timothy is a longtime GOP megadonor who has described the existence of social safety net programs as “slavery redux.” He’s one of at least a dozen billionaires who has pledged support for Trump. We love populism, don't we, folks? (Common Dreams)
Who is behind AIPAC’s attempts to primary members of the Squad who have criticized Israel? “Nearly 60% are CEOs and other top executives at the country’s largest corporations,” finds an investigation by Branko Marcetic for In These Times.
In a bizarre act of petty meanness, a Republican representative in Vermont secretly poured water into her Democratic colleague's bag for months. (VT Digger)
Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is being investigated by the House Ethics Committee over allegations of drug use, sexual misconduct, improperly accepting gifts and/or bribes, and obstructing the investigation itself. (Associated Press)
AROUND THE STATES
❧ Last year’s Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio caused toxic chemicals to spread to 16 different U.S. states, as well as Canada, according to a new study of precipitation published in Environmental Research Letters.
The controlled burning of vinyl chloride occurred in the days following the derailment, a move later revealed to have gone against Environmental Protection Agency rules. “In the immediate vicinity and in pockets throughout the city, a potent chemical odor hung in the air for weeks,” the Guardian reports. Residents of the surrounding area also reported experiencing nausea, rashes, and headaches in the weeks following the burn.
Though the greatest amounts of contamination were found near the crash site, in northern Pennsylvania and near the New York-Canada border, researchers found “exceptionally high” pH levels in rain and snow samples as much as 540,000 square miles away, including as far north as Maine and as far East as North Carolina.
David Gay, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin, and one of the study’s lead authors, told the Guardianthat the range was “very surprising.” Gay said that the chloride “wasn’t melting steel or eating paint off buildings,” but that levels were still “very extreme.”
Norfolk Southern has been hit with multiple lawsuits, including one $600 million class-action suit with residents that it agreed to settle in April and another $310 million suit that it settled with the federal government. But, as Edward Carver writes for Common Dreams:
Norfolk Southern makes billions in profits every year, and the company gave its CEO a 37% pay hike last year, drawing widespread criticism. The company also spent $2.3 million on federal lobbying last year, according to OpenSecrets data reportedby Roll Call.
It’s difficult to know exactly what the proper restitution is for the company’s extraordinary negligence. But at the very least, we should not allow a company that displays such a degree of disregard for human safety to have such influence over our leaders.
❧ Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry has signed a law requiring teachers in public schools to display the Ten Commandments in their classrooms. In a recent Current Affairs article, Alex Skopic wrote that Landry has a compelling case to be called the worst governor in America, and things like this are why. Called HB71, the new legislation is oddly specific, saying that the Ten Commandments must be the “central focus” of a “poster or framed document that is at least eleven inches by fourteen inches,” and gives a deadline of January 2025 to put the posters up.
It’s also clearly unconstitutional, since the First Amendment forbids any government action that favors a particular religion over another. Landry and his cronies have tried to get around this, stipulating that the Ten Commandments be accompanied by a four-paragraph “context statement” that calls them “founding documents” for Louisiana and its laws. But there’s no dodging the text of Commandment #1: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” That alone is a ringing endorsement of the Abrahamic God over, say, the Hindu Lord Ganesha.
What’s more, Landry knows this. At a recent GOP fundraiser in Tennessee, he said he “can’t wait to be sued” over the law. That remark raises an interesting question: how much of this whole farce is genuine religious zealotry, and how much is just a way of funneling public money to the various conservative law firms who will doubtless be tapped to fight the case?
In any case, sued Landry certainly has been. As the Louisiana Illuminatorreports, the ACLU, Freedom From Religion Foundation, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State have already teamed up to file a case. The outcome should be open-and-shut, striking down HB71—but there’s still the worrying possibility that the Council of Robed Elders will get involved, and find a way to contort logic and the law to suit their right-wing beliefs.
In the meantime, for any Louisiana teacher struggling with this perverse new law: may we recommend a classroom display of these Ten Bonus Commandments?
The CEO of Boeing, David Calhoun, admitted during Capitol Hill testimony that the company has retaliated against whistleblowers who have revealed that planes were unsafe. “I don't have that number on the tip of my tongue, but I know it. I know it happens,” he said when asked how many employees have been disciplined for bringing up safety issues. (The Independent) Since March, two Boeing whistleblowers have also died under unusual circumstances, leading some to suspect foul play. (Slate)
Abortion referenda could be on the ballot in as many as nine states this election season. According to States’ Newsroom: “Constitutional amendments in Colorado, Florida, and South Dakota already have qualified for the ballot, while coalitions in Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, and Nevada are still collecting signatures or awaiting state approval on their measures.”
More than 3,000 nurses staged a three-day strike at six different Oregon hospitals this week, the largest strike of healthcare workers in state history. (Northwest Labor Press)
The deadly heatwave that has gripped the American Southwest, Mexico, and Central America was made 35 times more likely and 2.5F hotter because of the warming from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, according to a new study from World Weather Attribution. At least 125 people have died so far. (NBC News)
In more positive news, a group of youth climate activists in Hawaii just won a historic settlement that will require the state to speed up the decarbonization of its transit system. Hawaii’s Department of Transportation said it formally “recognizes children's constitutional rights to a life-sustaining climate.” (Common Dreams)
The US has still only tested about 45 people for bird flu, even as the World Health Organization warns it could become a new pandemic. (Kaiser Family Foundation)
❧ The European Union funded a campaign in Egypt that “forcibly returned an estimated 800 Sudanese detainees between January and March 2024, who were all denied the possibility to claim asylum,” according to Amnesty International.
In October of 2022, the EU signed an 80 million-euro agreement to beef up Egypt’s coast and border guards with the goal of preventing migrants from crossing from North Africa into Europe. The UN’s High Commission for Refugees estimates that in September of 2023 alone, an estimated 3,000 people were expelled from Egypt and sent back to Sudan, which Amnesty points out is “an active conflict zone.” More than 8 million people have been displaced, and the country is currently at risk of mass starvation.
A previous Amnesty report found that in carrying out these deportations, “the Egyptian authorities held women, men and children in cruel and inhuman conditions, including in warehouses or horse stables, pending their forced return to Sudan without giving them the opportunity to claim asylum or to challenge their deportation.”
Europe, meanwhile, has taken in a pitifully small number of refugees from Sudan. As of April, just 6,000 of them had been taken in across the entire continent. The vast majority remain in neighboring countries like Chad, the Central African Republic, and Egypt, which are far less equipped to deal with massive influxes of refugees. Meanwhile, global humanitarian efforts have fallen far short of what is needed.
As Lauren Seibert of Human Rights Watch’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Division described back in March:
Europe has proved it can provide humane protection to refugees – as it rightly did for millions of Ukrainians. But when it comes to refugees from other parts of the world, European officials ignore abuses and pursue partnerships with repressive governments – like Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Rwanda – to keep them out of sight. Instead of this morally bankrupt and shortsighted approach, Europe should take the lead on providing safe passage out of Sudan and other conflict areas.
A map of where people displaced by the Sudan war have taken refuge, as of June 16, 2024.
Amazon workers at the UK’s Coventry warehouse will hold a vote in July on whether to unionize. If they vote yes, it’ll be the first time the American-based company will have to negotiate with a union in another country. (Reuters)
The environmental activist group Just Stop Oil has spray-painted several private jets bright orange as a protest against their outsized carbon emissions. (The Guardian) They spray-painted Stonehenge too... But don't worry, the paint is made of corn starch and meant to wash off with water. (ABC News)
In a victory for human rights and dignity, Namibia’s high court has struck down a law that criminalized same-sex relationships in the country. (The Namibian)
The nation of Chad has successfully eliminated human African trypanosomiasis, better known as sleeping sickness. It’s the 51st country to do so, marking halfway on a goal of 100 by 2030. (Africa News)
Ukrainian men are going into hiding as the country expands its military draft. (The New York Times)
More than 1,000 pilgrims to Mecca died of extreme heat during this year’s Hajj, including at least 658 from Egypt alone. (Middle East Eye)
A British billionaire has praised Sir Keith… uh, Keir Starmer for having “taken all the left out of the Labour Party” and being “in complete alignment with my views as a commercial capitalist.” The sad part is, Starmer will probably see this as a good thing. (The National)
Vietnam has a new president, former police general To Lam, who has a history of imprisoning climate activists and performatively eating expensive steaks to show his disdain for climate concerns. (Al Jazeera)
Tokyo's conservative governor of eight years may be defeated by a leftist. (The Japan Times)
Amid the destruction of Gaza, Israel’s Settlements Administration, led by far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich, is quietly taking more control over the occupied West Bank, moving closer to outright annexation. (Al Jazeera)
WHAT IS THE GAYEST ANIMAL?
In an early issue of the Current Affairs news briefing—in our customary animal fact section—we shared evidence suggesting that bats may be the gayest animals in the world. More than 20 bat species, we’d learned, had been recorded engaging in same-sex relations, while another study found that many others were found to be “seasonally bisexual.”
This Pride Month, Discourse Blog’s Jack Mirkinson undertook an even more rigorous inquiry into the world of queer animal relationships. He determined that while bats are indeed “flying the rainbow flag,” other creatures are hoisting it even higher.
For instance, he cites one study of macaques—a kind of monkey—from the Imperial College London which states that “most males were behaviorally bisexual” and found that they were more likely to engage in “same-sex mounting” than to do so with members of the opposite sex.
Swans are also very gay: a quarter of swan partnerships are male-male. Mirkinson also points to a study showing that gay black swan couples were more likely to successfully raise their young than straight ones due to their cooperative parenting style. If you’re wondering how same-sex swan couples obtain eggs to take care of: they will often pair up temporarily with a female to lay their fertilized egg, who will then leave it to them to take care of — Put simply, they use a surrogate. (On other occasions, they will also steal an egg… Nature can still be cruel, even when it’s gay.)
You can tell two swans are truly in love when they make a heart.
Mirkinson does not pretend to know the definitive answer to which animal species is the gayest. After all, he says, “There are literally 1,500 different animals that have been observed being gay, so this list could go on forever.”
But he did identify what he believes to be the gayest individual animal to ever walk this earth: A 191-year-old Seychelles tortoise named Jonathan, who lives on the remote island of St. Helena and is the world’s oldest living animal according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
A photograph of Jonathan, seen on the left, taken in 1882.
According to Reptiles Magazine (The magazine by reptiles, for reptiles!):
Jonathan, a 186-year-old giant tortoise has been trying to mate with another tortoise for the last 26 years until their keepers made the discovery that Frederica, Jonathan’s amor since 1991, is actually a Frederic. Frederica, er Frederic came to St. Helena island as a gift from the French Consul, as a mate to Jonathan, who arrived on St. Helena from the Seychelles in 1882.
The duo have been lovers ever since, with Jonathan visiting Frederica every Sunday morning for the proverbial romp in the hay, but to no avail. No babies were born of the union and it wasn’t until recently that their keepers discovered that Frederica was really Frederic. Frederica went into a treatment for a lesion on her shell and emerged as Frederic, as the veterinarian made a closer inspection and determined that she was indeed a he.
The two chelonians do everything together, such as eating, sleeping, and mating at prearranged times, Catherine Man, the resident veterinarian on the island, told The Sun.
We at Current Affairs would like to wish Jonathan and Frederic a Happy Pride Month. We’d also like to congratulate them in advance for hopefully one day setting the record for leading the world’s slowest Pride parade!
Jonathan and Frederic, a pair of gay icons! (Photo: Reptiles Magazine)
Writing and research by Stephen Prager and Alex Skopic. Editing and additional material by Nathan J. Robinson and Lily Sánchez. Header graphic by Cali Traina Blume. Fact-checking by Justin Ward. This news briefing is a product of Current Affairs Magazine. Subscribe to our gorgeous and informative print edition here, and our delightful podcast here.
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