And another brutal day in America with seditious conspiracy charges, SCOTUS rulings, the coming coup, killing voting rights, skipping election debates, fake electoral college certificates, half-empty classrooms, substitute teacher shortages, a national vaccine card, falling college enrollment, trying to help the blood shortage and more comes to a close:
“I think today is the day Dems realize they are not winning this war.” -- Ellen Barkin
“Another misnomer about critical race theory, or even antiracism, is that it’s anti-white or racist. I don’t think people realize that that is one of the oldest and most vile white supremacist talking points.” — Ibram X. Kendi
Deaths
US: 869,212 (+2330)
World: 5,538,771 (+5419)
Cases
US: 65,236,475 (+891,781)
World: 320,885,933 (+3,330,674)
The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group and 10 others have been charged with seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, has been arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy in the attack on the U.S. Capitol, authorities said Thursday…The arrest of Rhodes and the others is a serious escalation of the accusations against the thousands of rioters who stormed the Capitol. And the charges answer in part a growing chorus of Republicans who have publicly questioned the seriousness of the Jan. 6 insurrection, arguing that since no one had been charged yet with sedition or treason, it could not have been so violent.
The Supreme Court’s Right Turn Goes Way Beyond Guns And Abortion. It seems very likely, for instance, that the justices will continue to erode the barrier between church and state by requiring states to fund religious schools in programs where they already support non-religious private schools. The conservative justices could also impede government agencies’ ability to act independently of Congress by giving more power over their decisions to the conservative-leaning federal judiciary…Depending on how this term’s case turns out, and where the justices turn next, this line of cases on schools could affect even more hotly contested religious liberty disputes, like whether publicly funded charities or business owners who serve the general public can discriminate on the basis of their religious beliefs. “We might end up with a situation where states are required to fund programs that discriminate on the basis of race or sexual orientation.”…The court could start curtailing the power of the executive branch…This term, two of those seemingly sleepy disputes could significantly weaken the power of the federal agencies and give a huge amount of veto power to federal judges, many of whom are highly conservative…“If you look at it skeptically, this would amount to judges giving themselves more power,” Epstein said. Given the conservative lean of the federal judiciary, that would likely lead to a lot of regulations being struck down — which would be a blow to the power of the presidency in general but would probably have the biggest impact on Democratic presidents. None of these cases have gotten a lot of attention so far, which could make it easier for the court to do something fairly dramatic without getting a lot of blowback.
The Coming Coup: How Republicans Are Laying the Groundwork to Steal Future Elections. Moreover, because of the new redistricting maps, Republicans are set to control nine of 14 congressional districts in a state where Democrats won the presidency and two Senate seats in 2020…And make no mistake, if Republicans prevail in rigging the 2022 election, they’ll be even more emboldened in 2024, especially if Trump is on the ballot. The lies of a stolen election propagated by Trump—and exploited by Republican lawmakers who know better—are now being used to lay the groundwork to sabotage elections for real. “Their endgame?” President Joe Biden asked rhetorically during a major speech in Atlanta on January 11. “To turn the will of the voters into a mere suggestion—something states can respect or ignore.” This isn’t just about the normal ebb and flow of partisan politics; it’s a test of whether a party that is deadly serious about ending American democracy as we know it will regain control of ostensibly democratic institutions…At the heart of Trumpism is the fear of a majority-minority future where white power no longer dominates. So it’s no coincidence that this battle is being fought hardest in the state where Black voters who vote overwhelmingly Democratic have the most to gain or lose. Along with McBath, Sen. Raphael Warnock is running for reelection in 2022 and Stacey Abrams is mounting a second bid for governor. But the voters supporting them first need to overcome more than a dozen provisions designed to reduce their access to the ballot, including a reduction in the number of drop boxes in metro Atlanta from 97 to 23, new voter-ID requirements for mail-in ballots, a far lower bar for rejecting ballots cast in the wrong precinct, less time to request and return mail ballots, a prohibition on election officials sending out mail-in ballot applications to all voters, and even a ban on giving voters food or water while they’re waiting in line…That’s right: The newest—and potentially most dangerous—anti-democratic threat are new laws designed to give Trump-backed election deniers unprecedented control over how elections are run and how votes are counted…Based on these challenges, local boards could then decline to certify election results or disqualify enough voters to swing a close election—exactly the gambit Trump tried to pull off in 2020…And Republicans are not coy about their intentions. “We are going to take over the election apparatus,” former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, an architect of this strategy, said on his podcast in late December, calling for the “overthrow” of county election clerks…That means that GOP legislators not only can ignore the views of a majority of voters, but in deep-red districts they’ll be chiefly concerned with primary challenges, accelerating the party’s radicalization against democracy. “They’re going to have more Marjorie Taylor Greenes in their caucus.”…”The people who don’t want to certify free and fair elections,” predicts Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), “will regain control of the federal government. They will make it harder for representative government to ever exist moving forward.”…Indeed, a remarkable asymmetry in tactics has defined this fight. While Republicans have made the hostile takeover of the country’s election system their central organizing principle, the Biden administration prioritized economic legislation over voting rights, going so far as to list the passage of the infrastructure bill as the first item in a fact sheet touting the steps it had taken to “restore and strengthen American democracy” ahead of a global democracy summit in December. Biden believed that passing popular pieces of legislation would “prove democracy works” and restore the public’s faith in the democratic process, but the administration’s focus on economic policy—and its pursuit of bipartisanship—failed to blunt the growing radicalization of the GOP…For months, voting rights advocates and scholars of democracy have issued hair-on-fire warnings about the danger that the GOP’s death-by-a-thousand-cuts strategy poses to the very foundation of representative democracy. “The American experiment is at risk,” Holder says. This is not hyperbole. And by 2024 the damage may have already been done.
Kyrsten Sinema Just Killed the Democrats’ Last, Best Chance to Protect Voting Rights. On the Senate floor on Thursday, just hours before President Joe Biden was set to meet with Senate Democrats, Kyrsten Sinema made clear her opposition to changing the Senate rules to pass voting rights legislation, effectively killing the Democrats last, best chance to protect American democracy. “There’s no need for me to restate my longstanding support for the 60-vote threshold to pass legislation,” Sinema said. “It is the view I continue to hold.” — She’s decided democracy is not worth saving. Know, though that the filibuster “will be eliminated the second it interferes with GOP priorities.”
“Sinema is disappointed that the Republicans responsible for voting restrictions don't support curtailing voting restrictions.” — Aaron Rupar
“Sinema called John Lewis “my hero” but is going to allow Republicans to filibuster the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act on MLK weekend.” -- Ari Berman
Republicans threaten to skip traditional general election debates. The Republican National Committee said it will require presidential nominees to pledge not to participate in debates put on by the Commission on Presidential Debates, potentially upending over three decades of tradition. — When you already don’t have a platform, and you don’t have any ideas to help the country, then there’s nothing to debate anyway, I guess.
“The commission's process favors facts & reality, which are now anathema to the GQP. They're terrified of having to defend their conduct leading up to & since the insurrection, so they'll slink back to their Fox/OANN/Newsmax holes.” — Eric Salwell
Trump allies' fake Electoral College certificates offer fresh insights about plot to overturn Biden's victory. In the weeks after the 2020 election, then-President Donald Trump's allies sent fake certificates to the National Archives declaring that Trump won seven states that he actually lost. The documents had no impact on the outcome of the election, but they are yet another example of how Team Trump tried to subvert the Electoral College -- a key line of inquiry for the January 6 committee. The fake certificates were created by Trump allies in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Mexico, who sought to replace valid presidential electors from their states with a pro-Trump slate. The documents contain the signatures of Trump supporters who claimed to be the rightful electors from seven states that President Joe Biden won. But these rogue slates of electors didn't have the backing of any elected officials in the seven states -- like a governor or secretary of state, who are involved in certifying election results -- and they served no legitimate purpose. — Why aren’t people in prison for this?
January 6 panel targets social media companies with subpoenas after 'inadequate responses' to voluntary request. The subpoenas were sent to Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Alphabet, the parent company to Google and Youtube, Twitter and Reddit.
Supreme Court halts COVID-19 vaccine rule for US businesses. The Supreme Court has stopped a major push by the Biden administration to boost the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination rate, a requirement that employees at large businesses get a vaccine or test regularly and wear a mask on the job.
White House: Onus now on employers "to determine whether their workplace will be safe for employees". — And that makes me feel safe.
“The Supreme Court doesn’t believe Government can dictate what happens to your body.*
*Women in Texas not included.” -- John Pavlovitz
Breakthrough COVID-19 cases are on the rise during the latest surge in Washington state, the Department of Health said Thursday. The DOH says current reporting shows a 43% increase in the number of breakthrough cases. While the majority experienced mild or no symptoms, at least 3% were hospitalized, a press release said.
Gov. Jay Inslee (WA) announced Thursday he is deploying the Washington National Guard and putting a pause on non-urgent medical procedures to help alleviate the strain on hospitals, many of which are at or over their capacity to treat patients.
Teachers confront half-empty classrooms as virus surges. Teachers around the U.S. are confronting classrooms where as many as half of students are absent because they have been exposed to COVID-19 or their families kept them at home out of concern about the surging coronavirus. From New York City to Seattle, the widespread absences have only added to the difficulty of keeping students on track in yet another pandemic-disrupted school year. “This is really taking a toll on the learning. If you have three kids in your class one day and you’re supposed to have 12, you have to reteach everything two weeks later when those kids come back.” — But gosh darn it. We kept kids in school.
Kansas board passes measure to ease COVID-19-related substitute teacher shortages. A Kansas state board is hoping that making it easier to obtain a substitute teaching license will help ease the severe shortage of substitute teachers across the state. The Kansas State Board of Education Wednesday passed a temporary emergency change to the requirements to obtain a Temporary Emergency Authorized License…Typically someone applying for a TEAL would need to have 60 semester credit hours from a regionally accredited college or university to apply for and obtain an emergency substitute license. Wednesday's declaration removes that requirement and will allow such licenses to stand through June 1, 2022. After that date, applicants must again prove the education requirement. — Let’s be clear: They have removed the education requirement to obtain a temporary emergency substitute license because too many teachers are out sick from COVID. But gosh darn it. We kept kids in school!
Quietly and over some objections, a national digital vaccine card has emerged. The digital pass known as the SMART Health Card is voluntary and minimal by design to protect personal information. It has a person’s name, date of birth and the dates and brands of vaccination doses, all contained within a type of scannable bar code known as a QR code. And after a relatively quiet start, it has built momentum in recent months as more states and companies have signed on, making it something of a de facto national digital vaccine card.
Fall’s Final Enrollment Count Is In. Colleges Lost More Than 475,000 Students. As students continue to "sit out in droves," undergraduate enrollment since the fall of 2019 has declined by more than a million.
How Hatred Of Women Is Fueling The Far-Right. This isn’t a coincidence. Members of the far right typically reject liberalism in all its forms, including protections for women and other marginalized groups. Extremism experts call this trend “accelerationism” — affecting people whose beliefs are “hypermasculine, hyper-misogynistic and hyper-racist.”…Everytown’s research, compiled last year, details how male supremacy ideologies pose an increased threat to public safety because certain online communities often promote gun purchases and encourage acts of violence…The report also says that supporters of far-right movements “have both adopted misogynist attitudes and used hatred of women to recruit new supporters,” and that it’s not coincidental that so many public attacks perpetrated by misogynists involve guns…“As long as firearms continue to be easily accessible to people with these views and extremism is tolerated in our country, we will keep seeing similar acts of gun violence.”
Abortion grows as priority issue for Democrats. With Roe v. Wade facing its strongest threat in decades, a new poll finds Democrats increasingly view protecting abortion rights as a high priority for the government. — Should have had this realization before the 2016 election.
The heat stays on: Earth hits 6th warmest year on record. And scientists say the exceptionally hot year is part of a long-term warming trend that shows hints of accelerating.
Parents outraged after school suggests shapewear to handle body image issues for middle school girls. One Mississippi middle school's attempt at addressing girls' body image concerns sparked outrage among parents, forcing the school to backtrack.
Critics call to end three-month celibacy requirement for gay, bisexual men amid blood shortage. To be eligible to donate blood in the United States, men who have sex with men must abstain from same-sex sexual activity for 90 days. The limitations have long been criticized as discriminatory by advocates and seen by many in the medical community as unnecessarily obstructive to the nation’s crucial blood supply. The chorus of criticism intensified this week after the Red Cross declared on Tuesday that the recent surge in Covid-19 cases had fueled the “worst blood shortage in more than a decade.”
US to allow teen semi drivers in test apprenticeship program. The federal government is moving forward with a plan to let teenagers age 18 to 20 drive big rigs in a test program designed to ease driver shortages. Currently, truckers must be at least 21 to cross state lines.
An icefish colony discovered in Antarctica is world's largest fish breeding ground. A breeding colony of 60 million fish has been discovered in Antarctica's ice-covered Weddell Sea -- a unique and previously unknown ecosystem that covers an area the size of Malta. The fascinating find shows how little is known about the ocean depths.
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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