And another day of widening the gap, bombing hospitals, welcoming refugees, what the war in Ukraine has taught Palestinians, rising inflation, TX suing Biden admin, LA’s harshest juvenile lockup, ‘just lie back and enjoy’ rape, firing college professors in TX, and censoring same-sex affection in Pixar films comes to a close:
“Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is, and you must bend to its power or live a lie.” — Miyamoto Musashi
Deaths
US: 991,260 (+3645 over two days)
World: 6,051,362 (+15,176 over two days)
Cases
US: 81,108,786 (+95,831 over two days)
World: 453,746,151 (+3,766,052 over two days)
The polarization in today’s Congress has roots that go back decades. Republicans have moved further to the right than Democrats have to the left…Ever since, the gaps between the least conservative Republicans and least liberal Democrats in both the House and Senate have widened – making it ever less likely that there’s any common ground to find. The ideological shifts in the congressional parties have occurred alongside – and, perhaps to some extent, because of – geographic and demographic shifts in their composition.
Only 2% of Americans now live in counties with high Covid-19 levels. Just 2% of the United States population -- about 7 million people -- lives in a county where the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends universal indoor masking, according to the latest Covid-19 community level data, updated by the CDC on Thursday.
Every state has now moved to end universal indoor masking requirements. Over the last month, states from coast to coast have moved to end mask mandates as coronavirus cases have plummeted. By the end of March, there will be no more statewide or school mask mandates in effect.
Russian attack on hospital stirs outrage as talks stall. A Russian airstrike on a Mariupol maternity hospital that killed three people brought condemnation down on Moscow on Thursday…Ukrainian authorities said a child was among the dead in Wednesday’s airstrike in the vital southern port of Mariupol. Seventeen people were also wounded, including women waiting to give birth, doctors, and children buried in the rubble. — Remember, this is a war of aggression. Putin chose this path.
Which countries' refugees will Americans welcome? Americans support the U.S. accepting refugees fleeing violence in Ukraine by a margin of 54% to 25%, with Democrats and Republicans more likely than not to say the U.S. should do this. But for taking in refugees fleeing violent conflicts in Afghanistan, Syria, and Guatemala, there is less overall support and far bigger partisan differences. — To be a Republican is to embrace white nationalism.
What the war in Ukraine taught us, Palestinians. In this past week, we Palestinians have been shocked time and again, realising that the global community has been gaslighting us for years…When Ukrainians do it against the Russian occupier, it is heroism. When Palestinians do it against the Israeli occupier, it is only terror.
US Rep. Madison Cawthorn calls Ukrainian president a 'thug'. "Remember that Zelenskyy is a thug," Cawthorn said in a video obtained by WRAL. "Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies." — I know there are many options for the worst human being in Congress, but Cawthorn has to be near the top. Plus he’s just a shitty human being in general. Here’s the video.
U.S. annual inflation rate rose to 7.9% in February, highest in 40 years. Cost of gas, food and housing spurred much of the increase. Jump does not include recent oil price spike, so figure likely to get even worse.
WA advisory group recommends against adding COVID vaccine to school-required immunizations. A state advisory group has decided against recommending a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for students in K-12 schools, leaving one more step before a final decision is made on the matter next month.
Texas files lawsuit against Biden administration over gender-affirming care. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday said he is suing the Biden administration after it issued federal guidance on gender-affirming care. Paxton, along with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), has previously equated gender-affirming care for transgender and nonbinary youth to “child abuse.” — I know I sound like a broken record, but fuck Paxton and Abbott. And fuck you if you support them.
'No light. No nothing.' Inside Louisiana's harshest juvenile lockup. The 15-year-old was being kept in round-the-clock solitary confinement. He was getting no education, in violation of state and federal law, nor was he getting court-ordered substance abuse counseling, according to two defense attorneys present. And no one in the room that day — not the judge, not the prosecutor, not the defense lawyers — appeared to have heard of the facility where Louisiana’s Office of Juvenile Justice was holding him, the Acadiana Center for Youth at St. Martinville. “It was as if a secret prison had been opened up,” one of the attorneys, Jack Harrison, said. “I could see on the judge’s face both shock and real anger — visceral anger.” They had no idea how bad it was…“It’s like you put all of the things that we talk about that are so wrong with our youth justice system and you put it in one facility,” she said…“These kids were in their cells with no beds on a concrete floor with a state-issued green mattress — flame retardant — a blanket and a sheet and nothing else. No light. No nothing,” the former staffer said. “Feces were being thrown every single day, multiple times a day. Not a surface in those pods has not had feces on it.” — There is so much that’s wrong here.
Michigan state House candidate tries clarify comments on rape, Putin. Regan, a local entrepreneur, also used a rape analogy when discussing his beliefs that the 2020 presidential election should be decertified. Regan, a local entrepreneur, also used a rape analogy when discussing his beliefs that the 2020 presidential election should be decertified. “You know that’s kind of like having three daughters, and I tell my daughters, well, if rape is inevitable, you should just lie back and enjoy it. That’s not how we roll. That’s not how I won this election,” Regan said on the live stream. — He’s the favorite to win Michigan’s District 74 seat. How appalling.
A third Collin College professor is suing the school, claiming that he was fired for publicly advocating for the removal of Confederate statues and criticizing the college’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. As Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s pledge to end both critical race theory teachings and faculty tenure at state public universities threatens to redefine academic freedom in Texas, a community college in North Texas has already become an early battlefield over faculty members’ free speech rights…Community college professors often do not have tenure protections and are usually hired on multiyear contracts, as is the case at Collin College. Phillips’ lawsuit argues that the lack of tenure protections at the school has allowed college administrators to terminate faculty members who say things they disagree with, creating a culture of silence on campus. — Texas is a national embarrassment.
Disney censors same-sex affection in Pixar films, according to letter from employees. The claim is part of a wider reaction to the company-wide memo sent to Disney employees by CEO Bob Chapek on Monday regarding its response to Florida's “Don’t Say Gay” bill. In a statement attributed to “the LGBTQIA+ employees of Pixar, and their allies” obtained by Variety, employees of the animation studio allege that Disney corporate executives have demanded cuts from “nearly every moment of overtly gay affection… regardless of when there is protest from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar.”
Ernest Shackleton's Endurance ship found in Antarctica after 107 years. The ship, which sank in 1915, is 3,008 meters (1.9 miles or 9,842 feet) deep in the Weddell Sea, a pocket in the Southern Ocean along the northern coast of Antarctica, south of the Falkland Islands.
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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