Thursday, June 3, 2021

And another day of marching toward authoritarianism, déjà vu, changing how variants are named, AZ planning executions with gas used by Nazis, unfilled job openings, and a TX high school valedictorian’s speech goes viral comes to a close:

“Be not simply good--be good for something.” -- Henry David Thoreau

Deaths

US: 611,611 (+591)

World: 3,716,615 (+9223)

Cases

US: 34,174,752 (+20,447)

World: 172,893,624 (+478,918)

The GOP's 'Off the Rails' March Toward Authoritarianism Has Historians Worried. As Harvard political scientist Steven Levitsky, co-author of “How Democracies Die,” a study of the collapse of democracies across the world, put it bluntly, “I think we are headed for a crisis.” And, many scholars say, that fracturing is without historical precedent. “A mainstream democratic party, one of the major parties in a country, going fully off the rails . . . it’s hard to find analogues,” said Levitsky’s co-author, Daniel Ziblatt, also at Harvard. But Ziblatt and others were united in where to place the blame: “The radicalization and increasing authoritarianism of the Republican Party.”...”The 2020 election was kind of a dress rehearsal in a way,” said Ziblatt as Republicans discovered that they can violate democratic norms without seeming to suffer any political consequences. “It’s hard to unlearn things.”

Democrats fear health care 2009 déjà vu as Biden-GOP infrastructure talks drag. Democratic veterans of the 2009 fight over the Affordable Care Act say it's déjà vu watching President Joe Biden hold another meeting Wednesday with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, the GOP’s point person on infrastructure. And in their experience, it doesn't end well. Democratic operatives insist that Republicans, led then and now by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, are stringing Biden along as they did then-President Barack Obama.

The stigma of variant names. Coronavirus variants will now be referred to by letters of the Greek alphabet instead of where they were first discovered, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday, in a bid to prevent the stigmatization of entire communities.

Arizona prepares for death row executions with gas once used by Nazis. After nearly seven years, Arizona will begin to execute death row inmates again — and has purchased the ingredients to make hydrogen cyanide, or HCN, a lethal gas once used by Nazis.

A high school valedictorian used her graduation speech to speak out against a newly signed law in her home state of Texas that bans abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy. "I refuse to give up this platform to promote complacency and peace, when there is a war on my body and a war on my rights.”

Record-high number of U.S. small businesses can’t fill job openings. Nearly half of U.S. small business owners reported unfilled job openings in May, marking the fourth consecutive month of record-high readings as finding qualified applicants remains a lingering challenge.

Good internet service is still a luxury in the US. Just over half of Americans making less than $30,000 a year have home broadband, a service that’s increasingly important for numerous aspects of life, from school to work to socializing. A much higher 92 percent of households bringing in $75,000 or more per year have home broadband.

Two French Open players quarantined after positive COVID-19 tests.

Twitter launches its premium subscription, Twitter Blue, initially in Canada and Australia.

A high school senior was accused of violating his graduation's dress code with his shoes -- so a teacher switched with him. Daverius Peters told CNN he showed up to his high school graduation in a pair of black leather Alexander McQueen shoes, ready to walk across the stage to get his diploma when he was stopped, at the door. The faculty member informed him that his footwear violated the dress code, and he would not be permitted into his own graduation. According to Peters, the students were required to wear dark-colored dress shoes and not allowed to wear slippers, athletic shoes, or opened-toed shoes. He thought his shoes matched the requirements. -- Let’s be very clear, that dress code is bullshit. In fact, most dress codes are bullshit.

Shrinking giants: North Atlantic right whales getting tinier. One of the giants of the deep is shrinking before our eyes, a new study says.

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

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