And another day of subpoenas, preparing to obstruct, the Christian Right embracing voter suppression, YT bans content, Long Covid, shortages, LGBTQ+ gamers, TN parents, dinosaurs, firefighters wearing bulletproof vests, and criminal police officers rake in millions comes to a close:
“Welcome to the Monkey House.” -- Kurt Vonnegut
Deaths
US: 713,953 (+2731)
World: 4,788,218 (+9524)
Cases
US: 44,199,496 (+144,671)
World: 234,057,967 (+509,273)
House panel subpoenas organizers of Jan. 6 Trump rally. A House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection has subpoenaed 11 officials who were involved in planning rallies in support of former President Donald Trump ahead of the violent attack, including one the day of the siege at which the president told his supporters to “fight like hell.” The announcement follows a first round of subpoenas last week that targeted former White House and administration officials who were in contact with Trump before and during the insurrection.
Donald Trump is preparing to sue to block the release of White House records from his administration to the House select committee scrutinizing the 6 January attack on the Capitol by claiming executive privilege, potentially touching off an extended legal battle over disclosure. The former president also expects top aides – former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, strategist Steve Bannon and defense department aide Kash Patel – to defy select committee subpoenas for records and testimony. Trump’s moves to try to resist the select committee, informed by a source familiar with his planning, are likely to lead to constitutional clashes in court that would test the power of Congress’s oversight authority over the executive branch.
How the Christian right embraced voter suppression. Abortion isn’t the only victory conservative evangelicals have won in 2021. Trump’s defeat proves that even massive conservative Christian turnout is no longer enough to win. The strategy white evangelical supporters have coalesced around to supplement it: election laws built on the lie that the other side’s ability to turn out voters must be “fraudulent.”
YouTube bans all content containing vaccine misinformation. YouTube has banned all videos containing misinformation about vaccines that are currently administered and have been approved by local health authorities or the World Health Organization. The measure is an expansion of a policy covering COVID-19 vaccines…There are some exceptions. YouTube "will continue to allow content about vaccine policies, new vaccine trials and historical vaccine successes or failures." Users can also share scientific discussions of vaccines and personal testimonials about their experiences, as long as they don't have a history of promoting vaccine misinformation and their video complies with YouTube's other rules. Posting videos that "condemn, dispute or satirize misinformation" that violates YouTube's policies should be okay too.
AP-NORC poll: Virus fears linger for vaccinated older adults. In a sign of the starkly different way Americans view the coronavirus pandemic, vaccinated older adults are far more worried about the virus than the unvaccinated and far likelier to take precautions despite the protection afforded by their shots.
Long Covid is a bigger problem than we thought. A large study has revealed that one in three Covid-19 survivors have suffered symptoms three to six months after getting infected, with breathing problems, abdominal symptoms such as abdominal pain, change of bowel habit and diarrhoea, fatigue, pain, anxiety and depression among the most common issues reported.
CDC issues urgent alert: Pregnant women need the Covid-19 vaccine. Pregnancy is also considered an underlying health condition. (The guidance extends to women trying to become pregnant, as well as those who have recently given birth or who may be breastfeeding.) Pregnant women are at risk for complications of Covid. Overwhelmingly, these complications have occurred in women who were unvaccinated.
Universal Studios Hollywood to Require Proof of Vaccination Beginning in October. Falling in line with the latest Los Angeles County Department of Public Health order, masks will again be required throughout the theme park, both in and outdoors.
Police officers convicted of rape, murder and other serious crimes are collecting tens of millions of dollars during retirement. They have been found guilty of sexual and violent crimes, including murder and rape, or other serious job-related offenses, such as bribery and embezzlement. Some have admitted to molesting young children. Others have used their badges to enrich themselves or wield power over vulnerable members of their communities. Many are still sitting in prison cells. Yet the checks keep coming and will for the rest of their lives — all as taxpayers help foot the bill.
From paints to plastics, a chemical shortage ignites prices. Like other manufacturers, petrochemical companies have been shaken by the pandemic and by how consumers and businesses responded to it. Yet petrochemicals, which are made from oil, have also run into problems all their own, one after another: A freak winter freeze in Texas. A lightning strike in Louisiana. Hurricanes along the Gulf Coast. All have conspired to disrupt production and raise prices.
Mail delivery about to get slower and temporarily more expensive. Beginning on Friday, the Postal Service will “implement new service standards for First Class Mail and Periodicals,” spokeswoman Kim Frum told reporters. Some of the changes will result in increased transit times for cross-country and other long-distance deliveries, although according to Frum, 61 percent of first class mail and 93 percent of periodicals will not be affected by the changes.
Portland firefighters to get bulletproof vests as risks increase. The decision was spurred by a “changing landscape” and more calls that increase the possibility of firefighters being involved with aggressive patients and bystanders.
Petito’s dad: Give same attention to all missing people. The family of slain traveler Gabby Petito on Tuesday implored the public and news media to put the same energy into helping find other missing people as they did Petito, a 22-year-old woman who vanished on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend...“I want to ask everyone to help all the people that are missing and need help. It’s on all of you, everyone that’s in this room to do that,” he said, pointing to reporters and cameras in front of him. “And if you don’t do that for other people that are missing, that’s a shame, because it’s not just Gabby that deserves it.”
It's not all Doom and gloom – heartening study shows almost half of LGBT+ gamers find friends online. A new study suggests 47 per cent of LGBT+ gamers find friendship when playing online multiplayer games like shooters, and even fighting games.
Tennessee parents say some books make students 'feel discomfort' because they're White. They say a new law backs them up. Steenman is counting on a new Tennessee law to force schools to end that curriculum -- and ban at least one book in the elementary school library written from the perspective of Mexican Americans. -- The privilege of being white.
Ivory-billed woodpecker, more than 20 other species declared extinct by U.S. government. Climate change, habitat loss and other human-related factors contributed to the extinction of the 23 species, according to wildlife officials.
Deep brain stimulation may ease opioid addiction when other treatments fail. The tiny electrodes surgeons implanted in the reward center of his brain are designed to carry electrical stimulation that could, in theory, help drown out the constant craving he feels for benzodiazepines, his drug of choice.
New species of dinosaur unearthed by Isle of Wight fossil hunters. The discovery of two new species of dinosaur, which likely roamed the south of England 125 million years ago, has shed new light on the predators. Palaeontologists have described one of the carnivorous reptiles as a "hell heron", comparing its hunting style to a fearsome version of the bird…They belonged to the spinosaurid group and are thought to have been 9m (29ft) in length with 1m-long (3ft) skulls.
Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.
Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.
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