Saturday, December 4, 2021

And another day of trying to survive the GOP’s culture of death, including McCarthy defends Boebert, and Cawthorn’s comments, plus In-N-Out Burger, banning books, maternal death, Michigan parents, “Bounty,” firings, asexuality, and salmon sperm all comes to a close:

“It’s almost as if some politicians have decided it’s in their political self interest for the pandemic to continue to rage.” — Dan Rather

Deaths

US: 808,608 (+492)

World: 5,264,082 (+6123)

Cases

US: 49,934,791 (+56,742)

World: 265,702,506 (+526,541)

Kevin McCarthy defends Rep. Lauren Boebert after anti-Muslim remark, downplays House infighting. — The Republican Party is explicitly telling you who they are. You should listen.

The mother of the Michigan school shooter answered Madison Cawthorn’s call to turn her child into a monster. The GOP has declared a war on our kids and now 4 teens are dead this week because of it. — Watch the 30 second clip. How many more mothers will heed this fucker’s call?

Rep. Madison Cawthorn, in bid to overturn Roe v. Wade, publicly referred to women as “Earthen vessels, sanctified by Almighty God.” — The GOP is the American Taliban.

“Just a friendly reminder that Madison Cawthorn lied about getting into the Naval Academy.  As a veteran who served this nation, stolen valor pisses me off.” — Josh Remillard

Iconic burger chain In-N-Out is reportedly remaining defiant against California mandates requiring restaurants to check the vaccination status of those dining in at their locations.

“Just gotta throw in here that we’ve long known that pregnancy is a deadly time for abuse victims, and forcing women to stay pregnant is effectively forcing them to stay in an extremely volatile, abusive relationship. You hear anti-abortion activists talk about women using abortion as birth control, which isn’t really a thing, but getting multiple abortions (especially w/in a short time period) is often a sign of intimate partner violence (partners limit access to birth control, but force sex).” — Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D

Authors of color speak out against efforts to ban books on race. Authors say that the effort to ban books about race is "censorship." At the American Library Association, annual reports are collected to monitor efforts by parents and political groups to ban books from libraries and schools across the country.

Homicide is a top cause of maternal death in the United States. Evaluation of death certificates from national database paints grim picture for pregnant women. Pregnant women in the United States die by homicide more often than they die of pregnancy-related causes — and they’re frequently killed by a partner.

Michigan parents found in building; bond set at $500K apiece. A judge imposed a combined $1 million bond Saturday for the parents of the Michigan teen charged with killing four students at Oxford High School, hours after police said they were caught hiding in a Detroit commercial building.

Crude reality: One U.S. state consumes half the oil from the Amazon rainforest. As oil companies carve up more of the rainforest, a new study says no place in the world uses more oil from beneath the Amazon than California.

Penobscots don’t want ancestors’ scalping to be whitewashed. Most Americans know about atrocities endured by Native Americans after the arrival of European settlers: wars, disease, stolen land. But they aren’t always taught the extent of the indiscriminate killings. Members of the Penobscot Nation in Maine have produced an educational film addressing how European settlers scalped — killed — Indigenous people during the British colonial era, spurred for decades by cash bounties and with the government’s blessing. “It was genocide,” said Dawn Neptune Adams, one of the three Penobscot Nation members featured in the film, called “Bounty.” She said the point of the effort isn’t to make any Americans feel defensive or blamed. The filmmakers say they simply want to ensure this history isn’t whitewashed by promoting a fuller understanding of the nation’s past.

CNN fires Chris Cuomo, "effective immediately," after a review of how he aided his brother who was accused of sexual misconduct. 

Britney Spears says she was forced to go to therapy for years: "10 hours a day, 7 days a week". 

Asexuality isn't what you think it is.

Scientists Made a Plastic Mug Out of Salmon Sperm. One possible answer to the growing plastic problem could come from a weird place: salmon jizz. In a study published recently in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a team of researchers from China detail how they’ve created what they call “DNA plastics,” a plastic material made from strands of DNA.

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

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