And another day of more texts, the virus surging, the FL ‘Stop WOKE Act’, military funding, birth-control pills without a prescription, JFK files released, ditching work, talking to your 9 year old about porn, digital dress codes, and entering the Sun’s atmosphere comes to a close:
“For anyone still Pollyanna enough to think elected Republicans give a damn about our democracy and its longevity - we know after yesterday’s Jan 6, they don’t! A grand total of 2 have any integrity, and they are being chased out of town by their own party!” — Amy Siskind
"These Republicans, who were senior enough to have access to Meadows' phone ... they didn't seem to grasp they were asking the arsonist to put out the fire." — Ari Mebler
"While I deeply believe that both our economy and democracy are important, I believe that it is misplaced to change the Senate rules only for the benefit of the economy when the warning lights of our democracy are flashing at the same time." — Senator Raphael Warnock
Deaths
US: 823,390 (+2055)
World: 5,345,392 (+8589)
Cases
US: 51,290,979 (+154,537)
World: 272,469,679 (+741,834)
Jim Jordan sent one of the texts revealed by January 6 committee. Rep. Jim Jordan forwarded a text message to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on January 5, outlining a legal theory that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to stand in the way of the certification of the 2020 election.
US faces a double coronavirus surge as omicron advances. The new omicron coronavirus mutant speeding around the world may bring another wave of chaos, threatening to further stretch hospital workers already struggling with a surge of delta cases and upend holiday plans for the second year in a row.
Colleges go back to drawing board — again — to fight COVID. Facing rising infections and a new COVID-19 variant, colleges across the U.S. have once again been thwarted in seeking a move to normalcy and are starting to require booster shots, extend mask mandates, limit social gatherings and, in some cases, revert to online classes. The threat of the omicron variant comes as a gut punch to schools that were hoping to relax safety measures this spring. Now, many are telling students to prepare for another term of masking, testing and, if cases get bad, limits around social life.
Navy to Start Separating Unvaccinated Sailors. The Navy will start processing unvaccinated active-duty sailors for separation under a new policy guidance released Wednesday. Thousands of sailors risk ending their career’s early and repaying bonuses and education fees for failing to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by the end of November. “We want every sailor to receive the vaccine and stay Navy. And if a sailor gets their shot, we will honor that and make every effort to retain them,” Rear Adm. James Waters, the Navy’s director of military personnel plans and policy, told reporters. “On the other hand, those who continue to refuse the vaccine will be required to leave the Navy.”
Covid battering NBA, NFL, NHL, sidelining key players and postponing games. New cases this week have battered the leagues and prompted NBA and NHL postponements. The NFL is grappling with the virus’ wrath with the playoffs beginning next month. The NFL reported the number of positive cases Monday and Tuesday ended up at 88, but with players coming and going on the list, about 100 is more accurate, the league's worst two-day stretch during the pandemic.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveils 'Stop WOKE Act' proposal, taking aim at critical race theory. The proposal, which stands for "Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees Act," would statutorily ban the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 schools and prohibit Florida school districts, colleges and universities from hiring CRT consultants. It would also "protect employees against a hostile work environment due to critical race theory training," according to information from the governor's office…"No taxpayer dollars should be used to teach our kids to hate our country or to hate each other," he said to raucous applause. — And once again, Republicans take control of the narrative and make something that can help the country grow and turn it into something that keeps the country stagnant. Not to mention CRT isn’t a thing in K-12 schools, anyway.
Last Child Tax Credit check set to go out. That could push millions of kids into poverty. Experts credit those six months of direct payments with helping millions of low- and middle-income families afford basics like food, rent and car repairs, as well as child expenses like clothing and education. Without that aid, almost 10 million children may slip back into poverty, according to a recent analysis from the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Senate passes annual defense bill authorizing $770 billion in Pentagon funding. The National Defense Authorization Act, the annual defense bill that authorizes $770 billion in funding for the Defense Department, passed the Senate 89-10 on Wednesday with a bipartisan vote. The legislation passed the House earlier this month meaning it now goes to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign it into law. — But we can’t afford $9 billion for free community college, or any amount of money for healthcare.
Nancy Pelosi is part of the problem. — This, as has been so painfully obvious, leads to corruption. Since it benefits those that make the laws, this situation will never be changed. And the country will continue to suffer for it.
State to probe Kentucky candle factory where workers say they were threatened with firing. "Everyone is expected to live up to certain standards of both the law, of safety and of being decent human beings," Kentucky's governor said.
Driver gets 110 years in fiery I-70 crash that killed 4. Both sides agreed that his truck lost brakes at some point, but they disagreed on how or why that happened. — Hmmm. I’m not sure this is justice in this situation. His brakes failed. Colorado’s harsh sentencing requirement for violent crime, which determines sentencing based on the number of victims, seems arbitrary. And a prosecutor, so sure of what he would have done in the same situation, demonizing a young man that was in one of the most stressful situations a person can be in. Oh yeah. And the defendant wasn’t white. Just an observation from here in the peanut gallery.
A Kansas City-area school district must pay a transgender student $4 million after it refused to let him use the boys’ restrooms or locker rooms, a jury decided. The jury on Monday found the Blue Springs school district had discriminated against the student.
Wonder Woman Lynda Carter defends trans rights because not all your childhood heroes are awful. Though she didn’t name her, the timing of Carter’s tweet led many to believe her comments were aimed at JK Rowling, who has been the subject of controversy – again – after tweeting her views on trans people – again.
Tornadoes reported, strong winds whip across central U.S. High winds and blowing dust caused road closures in Kansas, buildings were damaged and semi trucks blew over, officials said.
Firms Push to Make Birth-Control Pills Available Without Prescriptions. The question of whether women can monitor their own health risks in taking birth control pills is at the heart of a debate now playing out in the pharmaceutical industry and at the Food and Drug Administration: Should oral contraceptives be made available over the counter rather than requiring a prescription? Although they are taken by millions of people, birth control pills can interact with certain medical conditions in ways that have always placed them in the prescription category, meaning a doctor’s oversight is required. If the FDA approves an over-the-counter version, it will be effectively saying that women with underlying health risks who choose that option will have to do their own research on how the birth control pill would interact with their condition and any other medications they are taking.
Biden administration releases over 1,000 secret JFK assassination files. The 1,491 documents include filings from the CIA, FBI, State Department and other federal agencies. Among them is a report that Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald visited the Cuban and USSR embassies in Mexico in search of a visa in the months before Kennedy's killing. According to a CIA document, another version of which was previously released, one of the people Oswald spoke to was the Soviet embassy's consul, who had ties to the KGB's "assassination department." The documents say they spoke about Oswald's efforts to get a visa to go to the Soviet Union. Some of the tips investigators chased did not ultimately pan out.
How millions of jobless Americans can afford to ditch work. People have left the workforce for myriad reasons in the past two years — layoffs, health insecurity, child care needs, and any number of personal issues that arose from the disruption caused by the pandemic. But among those who have left and are not able to — or don't want to — return, the vast majority are older Americans who accelerated their retirement.
Parents urged to talk to children as young as nine about online porn. Parents should start to talk to their children about online pornography and sexual harassment when they are as young as nine or 10, ideally before they have a smartphone or social media account, the children’s commissioner for England has said...Concern has been growing about the ease of access to and damaging impact of online pornography on young children who often browse the internet unsupervised and are exposed to material that shows degradation and violence towards women.
Digital dress codes: What will we wear in the metaverse? In the near future, instead of going to your closet to choose something to throw on for your next video call, you might instead turn to your virtual wardrobe to pick out a 3D-rendered digital outfit to "wear." At least, that's what a number of people in the fashion and tech space are banking on as more businesses look to the promise of digital fashion. And they're wagering those virtual outfits won't just be for your Zoom calls, but could eventually be worn all over the "metaverse" -- the concept of an interlinked extended reality world -- in games, across social media, and eventually, perhaps, viewed on your body in the real world through augmented reality (AR) glasses.
NASA Enters the Solar Atmosphere for the First Time, Bringing New Discoveries. For the first time in history, a spacecraft has touched the Sun. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has now flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere – the corona – and sampled particles and magnetic fields there. — Freaking cool!
bell hooks, groundbreaking feminist thinker, dies at 69.
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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