Thursday, March 24, 2022

And another day of forcibly taking civilians to Russia, text messages, Covid researchers facing harassment, AZ refusing to be left out of doing horrible things, TX AG Paxton goes after school district, and people are somehow baffled by the Taliban comes to a close:

“‘Critical race theory’ is not what scares the GOP. What scares the GOP is a multi-racial democracy of people unafraid to speak truth to power. This is the real reason they’re banning books.” -- Robert Reich

Deaths

US: 1,002,259 (+1084)

World: 6,133,665 (+5395)

Cases

US: 81,565,957 (+38,628)

World: 475,183,630 (+1,701,696)

Ukraine says Moscow is forcibly taking civilians to Russia. Ukraine accused Moscow on Thursday of forcibly taking hundreds of thousands of civilians from shattered Ukrainian cities to Russia, where some may be used as “hostages” to pressure Kyiv to give up. Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukraine’s ombudsperson, said 402,000 people, including 84,000 children, have been taken against their will.

January 6 committee has text messages between Ginni Thomas and Mark Meadows. These text messages, according to sources, took place between early November 2020 and mid-January 2021. Thomas recently revealed that she attended the pro-Trump rally that preceded the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, but says she "played no role" in planning the events of that day. The text messages, reviewed by CNN, show Thomas pleading with Meadows to continue the fight to overturn the election results. "Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!! ... You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America's constitutional governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History," Thomas wrote on November 10, 2020. -- Clarence Thomas needs to be impeached. And stop spouting shit about ‘Hillary’s emails.’ Jesus Christ, the wife of a Supreme Court Justice was literally trying to help with the overthrow of a U.S. Presidential election.

“Goes without saying that if a liberal justice hadn’t recused themselves from a case that implicates their spouse in an attempted coup, every Republican politician would be publicly calling for their resignation.” -- Jay Willis

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced he'll vote against confirming Ketanji Brown Jackson, saying he “cannot and will not” support the nominee for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court. -- The least shocking headline of the day.

Trump sues Hillary Clinton, DNC and others, alleging conspiracy to link his campaign to Russia. Former President Donald Trump filed a sprawling federal lawsuit on Thursday against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and 26 other people and entities that he claims conspired to undermine his 2016 campaign by falsely tying him to Russia. The lawsuit names a wide cast of characters that Trump has accused for years of orchestrating a "deep state" conspiracy against him -- including former FBI Director James Comey and other FBI officials, the retired British spy Christopher Steele and his associates, and a handful of Clinton campaign advisers. -- The second least shocking headline of the day.

Almost 2 in 5 Covid-19 researchers have faced harassment, survey finds. Researchers reported personal insults and attacks on their professional capabilities as the most common types of harassment. Other types of abuse — such as threats of harm, physical intimidation and doxxing — were reported more rarely. Eighteen scientists — about 3.5 percent of those surveyed — said they received death threats.

Arizona Legislature approves 15-week abortion ban. The Arizona Legislature on Thursday joined the growing list of Republican-led states to pass aggressive anti-abortion legislation as the conservative U.S. Supreme Court is considering ratcheting back abortion rights that have been in place for nearly 50 years.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has accused the Austin school district of breaking state law with Pride Week activities he characterized as attempts to indoctrinate students. -- Fuck Ken Paxton.

Arizona lawmakers vote to restrict trans athletes, surgeries. The Arizona Legislature passed bills Thursday to prohibit gender reassignment surgery for minors and ban transgender athletes from playing on girls sports teams, joining a growing list of Republican-controlled states attempting to restrict transgender rights as they gain more visibility in culture and society.

MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist and novelist, has given Planned Parenthood $275 million, the largest gift the nonprofit has ever received. In an announcement Wednesday in a Medium post, Scott detailed her latest donations to 465 organizations and institutions, including Habitat for Humanity, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Urban Teachers. -- And she’s still loaded beyond comprehension.

Many baffled by Taliban reneging pledge on girls’ education. A news presenter on Afghanistan’s TOLO TV wept as he read the announcement. Images of girls crying after being turned back from school flooded social media. Aid groups and many others remained baffled. The Taliban have so far refused to explain their sudden decision to renege on the pledge to allow girls to go to school beyond sixth grade. Schools were supposed to reopen to older girls on Wednesday, the start of the new school year. The ban caught even the Taliban-appointed Education Ministry unprepared. In many places across Afghanistan, some girls in higher grades returned to schools, only to be told to go home.

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

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