Sunday, May 9 2021

And another day of making the GOP’s new voting restrictions possible, securing civil rights protections for LGBTQ, a birthday party shooting, rising prices, ADA compliant websites, a failed drug test, and fossil remains in Italy comes to a close:

“Don’t watch the close; do what it does. Keep going.” -- Sam Levenson

Deaths

US: 595,812 (+224)

World: 3,306,313 (+9722)

Cases

US: 33,476,781 (+22,200)

World: 158,956,182 (+643,314)

The Supreme Court made the GOP’s new voting restrictions possible. All of this is possible because the Supreme Court has spent the past decade and a half dismantling safeguards against these kinds of laws. Not that long ago, these attacks on democracy would have run headlong into a skeptical judiciary. Now they are likely to be upheld...The conservative justices, meanwhile, are pushing a radical doctrine that would give state legislatures an unprecedented new power to enact new election laws — even if those laws are vetoed by the governor or struck down by the state’s courts. As Justice Neil Gorsuch described this doctrine, “the Constitution provides that state legislatures — not federal judges, not state judges, not state governors, not other state officials — bear primary responsibility for setting election rules.”...If taken to its logical extreme, Gorsuch’s proposed rule could skew elections even further toward the Republican Party. It could potentially allow gerrymandered state legislatures in states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to draw congressional maps that will lock Democrats out of power — and then to enact these maps into law even if the states’ Democratic governors attempt to veto the maps. Gorsuch’s approach might also prohibit state supreme courts from enforcing state constitutional provisions that protect voting rights or prohibit gerrymandering.

Democrats were hopeful that this would be the year they finally secured civil rights protections for LGBTQ Americans. Then came a new debate over transgender participation in women’s and girls’ sports. “We are waiting for this avalanche of problems,” said the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, characterizing the Republicans’ argument. “They haven’t really surfaced.” But Republicans are unyielding in their opposition to the legislation, spurred on by conservative groups who are pushing anti-transgender laws nationwide. With no Republicans signed on, for now, Democrats are unlikely to win the 60 votes needed to pass the Equality Act, potentially putting the issue in limbo indefinitely.

Six people were killed in a shooting at a birthday party in Colorado Springs, Colorado, police say. The suspected shooter is also dead.

Prices are rising everywhere you look. This doesn't just matter for Americans guarding their pocketbooks. Price increases are also being closely scrutinized by investors and economists, who are desperate to know: Is this a passing phenomenon as the country emerges from a once-in-a-lifetime economic shock, or a more sustained trend that evokes the 1970s?

Blind people, advocates slam company claiming to make websites ADA compliant.

Poll shows 60% of Japanese want Games cancelled. -- Unfortunately, there’s too much money involved for the wellbeing of the population to matter.

Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit has failed a drugs test.

The fossil remains of nine Neanderthal men have been found in a cave in Italy, the culture ministry announced Saturday, a major discovery in the study of our ancient cousins. Eight of them date to between 50,000 and 68,000 years ago, while the oldest could be 90,000 or 100,000 years old, the ministry said in a statement.

Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.

Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.