Thursday, October 21, 2021

And another day of squandering chances, holding Bannon in contempt, prison time for having a miscarriage, ending race-based testing, the worsening climate, 14-year olds working until 11pm, and elephants evolving to never develop tusks comes to a close:

“One of this nation's biggest problems is its insistence on moving on from anything that makes conservatives sad.” — The Rude Pundit

Deaths

US: 753,747 (+2055)

World: 4,945,205 (+7795)

Cases

US: 46,174,547 (+92,477)

World: 243,262,880 (+476,514)

Republicans Are Planning to Hijack the Next Election. Dems Are Squandering Their Chance to Stop Them. Democrats breathed a sigh of relief when Biden was inaugurated, but Trump and his allies were just getting started with their efforts to undermine democracy. Just because the first coup failed doesn’t mean the next attempt won’t succeed.

House votes to hold Trump ally Steve Bannon in contempt. The House voted Thursday to hold Steve Bannon, a longtime ally and aide to former President Donald Trump, in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the committee investigating the violent Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

Nine US House Republicans broke ranks to join all Democrats in voting to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

Cheney reveals GOP's Banks claimed he was Jan. 6 panel's ranking member. “He noted that the Speaker had determined that he wouldn't be on the committee, so I would like to introduce for the record number of letters the gentleman from Indiana has been sending to federal agencies, dated September 16 2021, for example, signing his name as the ranking member of the committee he's just informed the House that he's not on, and that he in fact is not on,” she said.

On October 6, Oklahoma’s Comanche County Court sentenced the 21-year-old Poolaw, a member of the Comanche Nation, to four years in state prison on a first-degree manslaughter conviction for miscarrying her fetus. The prosecution based its case on the fact that the fetus tested positive for methamphetamine, though even its own expert witness wouldn’t go further than to call drug use a “contributing factor.” In fact, the autopsy indicated a likelihood that Poolaw’s miscarriage was caused by a congenital abnormality and placental abruption (the detaching of the placenta from the uterus)…With respect to the role that conservative Christianity plays in such harsh policing of BIPOC women, Goodwin observes, “There is a long history of legislatures and religious organizations using… religion as a means of justifying harmful conduct toward women generally and women of color particularly.”

NFL to end race-based testing in dementia claims. The NFL has agreed to end race-based testing for compensation claims made by ex-players suffering from dementia, documents filed with a US court show. It follows revelations that the previous testing system was based on a formula that assumed black players have a lower level of cognitive function. — Stop watching football.

US: More threats, more desperate refugees as climate warms. The Earth’s warming and resulting natural disasters are creating a more dangerous world of desperate leaders and peoples, the Biden administration said Thursday in the federal government’s starkest assessments yet of security and migration challenges facing the United States as the climate worsens. The Defense Department for years has called climate change a threat to U.S. national security. But Thursday’s reports by the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, National Security Council and Director of National Intelligence provide one of the government’s deepest looks yet at the vast rippling effects on the world’s stability and resulting heightened threats to U.S. security, as well as its impact on migration.

Climate change: Fossil fuel production set to soar over next decade. Plans by governments to extract fossil fuels up to 2030 are incompatible with keeping global temperatures to safe levels, says the UN. — So many evil, greedy people. So little time remaining.

It will take more than rain to end drought in Western U.S. 

Wisconsin moves to let 14-year-olds work till 11 pm. The proposed bill, SB-22, would allow the group to work between the hours of 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on work days before school and between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. when there is no school the next day…But the measure would only apply to businesses exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The state currently adheres to federal guidelines that stipulate the group can only work between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. from June 1 to Labor Day, and between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. thereafter.

Salmonella outbreak linked to onions: Throw away onions if you don't know where they're from, CDC says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked fresh whole onions to a growing and mysterious salmonella outbreak. In a food safety alert Wednesday, the CDC said 652 people have been infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Oranienburg from 37 states as of Oct. 18. The number of cases is expected to grow as more illnesses are reported.

Why no tusks? Poaching tips scales of elephant evolution. Now researchers have pinpointed how years of civil war and poaching in Mozambique have led to a greater proportion of elephants that will never develop tusks.

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

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