And another day of watching history repeat comes to a close. Genocide, rape, and torture, plus heart issues from Covid, doctors denying care because of ‘conscience,’ mass shootings, rich companies using bankruptcy, and regulating boarding schools:
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” -- Voltaire
“REMINDER: Ginni Thomas's transgressions are more important than Will Smith's. Stay focused, people.” -- Mrs. Betty Bowers
“When Republicans get back into power, Apple and Disney have to understand one thing: Everything will be on the table, your copyright/trademark protection, your special status in certain states, and even your corporate structure itself…” -- Laura Ingraham (So much for “cancel culture” and “free markets.”)
“Narrator: Once again, Laura Ingraham decides to let the whole world know she’s a fascist bigoted amoral anti-LGBTQ anti-freedom anti-choice anti-free market propaganda-vomiting regressive dumbass bobblehead succubus hellbent on destroying Democracy.” -- The USA Singers
“It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.’ — Voltaire
Deaths
US: 1,008,198
World: 6,176,157
Cases
US: 81,832,612
World: 491,756,539
Hundreds of murdered civilians discovered as Russians withdraw from towns near Kyiv — As towns of Bucha and Irpin were retaken from withdrawing Russian forces, horrific photos and videos began to flow in. Ruined houses, burned-down cars, and bodies of civilians scattered around the streets. The photos appear to prove that the Russian forces carried out targeted, organized killings of civilians in Bucha, particularly of men: They are often found shot dead, with their hands tied behind their backs…Despite the Russian authorities claiming that their forces are not targeting civilians in Ukraine, there is clear evidence of the opposite.
Ukraine documents alleged atrocities by retreating Russians. Ukraine’s troops found brutalized bodies with bound hands, gunshot wounds to the head and signs of torture after Russian soldiers withdrew from the outskirts of Kyiv, authorities said Sunday, sparking new calls for a war crimes investigation and sanctions against Russia. Associated Press journalists in Bucha, a small city northwest of the capital, saw the bodies of at least nine people in civilian clothes who appeared to have been killed at close range. At least two had their hands tied behind their backs. The AP also saw two bodies wrapped in plastic, bound with tape and thrown into a ditch.
‘All wars are like this’: rape used as a weapon of war in Ukraine. Women and girls have recounted the abuse they have suffered at the hands of Russian soldiers. Particularly difficult for many to comprehend is the scale of the sexual violence. As Russian troops have withdrawn from towns and suburbs around the capital in order to refocus the war effort on Ukraine’s east, women and girls have come forward to tell the police, media and human rights organisations of atrocities they have suffered at the hands of Russian soldiers. Gang-rapes, assaults taking place at gunpoint, and rapes committed in front of children are among the grim testimonies collected by investigators.
At least 20 bodies seen in one street in town near Kyiv. The bodies of at least 20 men in civilian clothes were found lying in a single street Saturday after Ukrainian forces retook the town of Bucha near Kyiv from Russian troops, AFP journalists said. One of the bodies of the men had his hands tied, and the corpses were strewn over several hundred meters of the residential road in the suburban town northwest of the capital...An open Ukrainian passport lay on the ground next to the person who had his hands tied behind his back with a piece of white cloth. All were wearing civilian clothes – winter coats, jackets or tracksuit tops, jeans or jogging bottoms, and trainers or boots.
Fifty-seven people have been buried in a mass grave in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv recently retaken by Ukrainian forces from Russian troops, a local official says.
"This is genocide." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Editorial: When you ask yourself what would you have done during the Nazi regime in Germany before and during WWII, know that whatever you’re doing right now is your answer.
“You remember when Trump as President threatened to send the Army into Chicago?
“And Republicans cheered that idea?
“When he paraded tanks through our capitol?
“And Republicans cheered?
“Do you?
“It's all part of the same mindset, one that ends in genocide. Every time.”
Heart issues more common after Covid infection than vaccination, CDC reports. Compared to vaccination, Covid-19 itself is far more likely to lead to heart problems in teenage boys and young men, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday. The study is the first to compare directly the odds of a type of heart inflammation called myocarditis following an infection versus vaccination — providing a clearer understanding of the real risk for heart problems and perhaps offering comfort to parents and young men who have had questions about the risks and benefits of the vaccine.
Covid cases are down. Unfortunately, stomach flu outbreaks are up. As Covid restrictions are lifted, people are gathering more, which could be behind an uptick in stomach bugs.
GOP Makes "Price Gouge Diabetics on Insulin" Part of Its Official Party Platform. While the House of Representatives passed a bill capping the cost of insulin on Thursday night with unanimous Democratic support, a mere 12 Republicans voted for the legislation, with 193 voting against it (five didn‘t vote at all). In other words, the House GOP was offered an opportunity to support making insulin more affordable for millions of Americans, and the response from most was: “Eh, we’d rather they continue paying through the nose.”
South Carolina House passes bill for doctors to deny care that violates "conscience". The bill would excuse medical practitioners, health care institutions and health care payers from providing care that is inconsistent with their personal beliefs. According to the HRC, the bill could enable administrative staff to decline to submit insurance claims or health care providers to override patients’ end of life directives. Receptionists may also be entitled to turn away patients and medical researchers could refuse to publish the results of a state-funded study because the scientific evidence is inconsistent with their personal beliefs. — Our human rights are being taken from us right before our eyes.
“For many years, the Republican Party has been nothing but a ruse concocted by the corporate power structure using their contrived "culture wars" to persuade a disaffected segment of the American electorate to vote against their own economic interests.” — Col. John Pelham
California mass shooting: 6 dead, 10 injured in Sacramento. Six people were killed and 10 injured in a mass shooting early Sunday as bars and nightclubs were closing in downtown Sacramento and police in California’s state capital were searching for at least one suspect.
One in three LGBT+ Brits abused by their family, disturbing report finds. Galop reported that the abuse ranged from verbal harassment to threats of homelessness and physical violence.
GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker has been overstating his academic achievements for years. For years, Herschel Walker has told the same inspiring story: that he graduated in the top 1% of his class at the University of Georgia. He’s told the story, according to a review of his speeches by CNN’s KFile, during motivational speeches over the years and as recently as 2017. The only problem: it’s not true. Walker, who is a candidate in the Republican primary race for US Senate in Georgia, acknowledged in December that he did not graduate from Georgia after the Atlanta-Journal Constitution first reported that the false claim was listed on his campaign website. -- The word “overstating” is doing a lot of work here. He lied. He’s been lying for years.
“Madison Cawthorn: There are Republican cocaine orgies in Congress.
“Sarah Palin: I’d like to announce that I’m running for Congress.”
Churches played an active role in slavery and segregation. Some want to make amends. Some churches across denominations are acknowledging that their wealth was often built off of enslaved labor and are committing parts of their endowments to reparations funds.
Rich companies are using a quiet tactic to block lawsuits: bankruptcy. Johnson & Johnson, which is headquartered in New Jersey, is valued at more than $400 billion. But in October 2021, the company used a controversial legal maneuver in bankruptcy court to freeze Wilt's case along with thousands of others. The company had faced some 38,000 lawsuits claiming that trace amounts of asbestos contamination in Johnson's baby powder caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma...But with most of the cases — including Wilt's — still pending, the company found a way to stop the legal process in civil court, using a complex bankruptcy strategy known in legal circles as the "Texas two-step." Here's how the maneuver worked. First, last October, J&J spun off a subsidiary in Texas called LTL. Then, using a wrinkle in Texas state law, J&J was able to transfer all of the potential liability linked to the tsunami of baby powder asbestos claims into the shell of the new company, while keeping valuable assets separate. LTL then quickly filed for bankruptcy in North Carolina. That move immediately halted the baby powder cases, which could remain on hold for months or years...Legal experts tell NPR that a growing number of wealthy companies, organizations and individuals accused of serious wrongdoing are using similar bankruptcy tactics, hoping to delay or permanently block lawsuits. They've found openings in state and federal law that allow them to leverage the sweeping power wielded by bankruptcy judges when cutting deals. But they're not being forced to endure the financial pain and exposure that comes with actually filing for bankruptcy... These bankruptcy maneuvers have quietly reshaped some of the most important legal cases of recent years. -- They include members of the Sackler family (Purdue Pharma), the Koch brothers, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and the Boy Scouts. We are all pawns in a game that was designed to do nothing but make rich people richer.
Missouri regulates boarding schools after abuse allegations. The schools are unrelated and are not affiliated with any particular Christian denomination. But both opened in southwest Missouri under a 1982 state law that gave religious boarding schools free rein and the state no way to monitor how kids were educated. Even the health department had no oversight, including for schools that claimed to address mental health, behavioral and addiction issues. The new law approved last year followed extensive reporting from The Kansas City Star that found that several faith-based boarding schools, including Agape, relocated to Missouri after being investigated or shut down for abuse or neglect elsewhere...Missouri’s new law sets minimum health and safety requirements for boarding schools, which still don’t have to be licensed. The law mandates background checks for employees; requires adequate food, clothing and medical care for students; and says parents must be allowed access to their children at any time without prior notice.
States look for solutions as US fentanyl deaths keep rising. As the addiction and overdose crisis that has gripped the U.S. for two decades turns even deadlier, state governments are scrambling for ways to stem the destruction wrought by fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.
Oregon decriminalized drugs in 2020: How’s it going? With Oregon being the first state in America to decriminalize possession of personal-use amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone and other drugs, its program is being watched as a potential model for other states. - It was a beginning, but more needs to be done.
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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