Friday, May 6, 2022

And another day of the GOP pushing to end all exceptions, a quick 114 year history lesson, Ds hope voters are energized, more unintended consequences, long Covid in kids, far-right police trainers, guaranteed income in Austin, disappearing birds, and Justice Thomas tries gaslighting Americans comes to a close:

“So …….   As a 13 year old girl, you’d be expected to carry a baby to term regardless of circumstance, be ok to marry in some states, but certain words and books would be too much to handle?” -- Andy Roddick

“It's a bad sign for a democracy when the story about the leak gets more attention than the justices who perjured themselves so they could rob women of the right to make their own decisions about their bodies.” -- Michael Estrin

Deaths

US: 1,024,386 (+478)

World: 6,274,493 (+2339)

Cases

US: 83,534,060 (+96,902)

World: 516,447,605 (+570,454)

In abortion fight, conservatives push to end all exceptions. Such exceptions were once regularly included in even the most conservative anti-abortion proposals. But as the battle over abortion access heats up, experts on both sides of the issue say the exceptions were a temporary stepping stone intended to make anti-abortion laws more palatable. -- In other words: they played us.

Thomas says government institutions shouldn't be 'bullied' following leak of draft opinion on abortion. Justice Clarence Thomas, following the leak of a draft majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, said Friday that government institutions shouldn't be "bullied" into delivering what some see as the preferred outcome. "The events of earlier this week is one symptom of that," Thomas said. He added that "you cannot have a free society" without stable institutions. -- Says the man overturning something he didn’t agree with. If the institution is corrupt, then it must be called out. The majority of Americans do not want Roe v. Wade overturned, so yeah, SCOTUS is not giving the outcome that the majority of Americans want. Thomas is a liar and a traitor.

Want a quick break to read a 114 year old story that literally would not exist if Alito’s draft were right about the history of abortion law? It’s a tale of scandal, intrigue, and *most of all* what people actually understood about the right to abortion in early America.

Democrats hope that the looming threat to the constitutional right to abortion could provide the strongest opportunity yet to energize their voters heading into an election year in which Republicans have been expected to dominate in Texas and beyond. — If losing the first of many constitutional rights doesn’t energize people to vote, then this country deserves to fall.

If Roe v. Wade is overturned, Texas district attorney offices would become a new battleground. Five Texas district attorneys — from Dallas, Travis, Bexar, Nueces and Fort Bend counties — have publicly promised that they will not pursue abortion-related criminal charges if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

“It’s not just about abortion:” Overturning Roe could affect miscarriage care. Anti-abortion legislation can have unintended medical consequences that extend beyond women seeking to terminate a pregnancy — particularly in the management of a miscarriage, experts say...Up to one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage, according to some estimates, a loss that can be traumatic and dangerous for women. The risk is even higher after age 40. But the medical care a woman needs when she’s had a miscarriage can mirror how an abortion is performed, experts say.

Abortion laws worldwide: In what countries is abortion legal? Here are some key facts on abortion laws in other countries.

US median age for giving birth hits 30. Decisions by college-educated women to invest in their education and careers so they could be better off financially when they had children, as well as the desire by working-class women to wait until they were more financially secure, have contributed to the shift toward older motherhood, said Philip Cohen, a University of Maryland sociologist.

Children get long Covid, too, and it can show up in unexpected ways. Almost 13 million children have tested positive for Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Studies suggest that between 2% and 10% of those children will develop long Covid, but the number may be larger. Many parents may not know their child has long Covid, or the child’s pediatrician hasn’t recognized it as such. In adults, some research puts the number around 30% of cases.

U.S. police trainers with far-right ties are teaching hundreds of cops. On social media, Richard Whitehead is a warrior for the American right. He has praised extremist groups. He has called for public executions of government officials he sees as disloyal to former President Donald Trump. In a post in 2020, he urged law enforcement officers to disobey COVID-19 public-health orders from “tyrannical governors,” adding: “We are on the brink of civil war.” Whitehead also has a day job. He trains police officers around the United States. -- Read all that again. Radicalization from within.

Black Students in Illinois Are Far More Likely to Be Ticketed by Police for School Behavior Than White Students. Federal data has shown Illinois schools suspend and expel Black students at disproportionate rates. Now we know it’s happening with tickets and fines, too.

Judge: Marjorie Taylor Greene is qualified for reelection. A judge in Georgia on Friday found that U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is qualified to run for reelection, concluding that a group of voters who had challenged her eligibility failed to prove she engaged in insurrection after taking office. But the decision will ultimately be up to Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. -- Don’t act like you’re surprised.

Austin becomes first Texas city to test a taxpayer-funded “guaranteed income” program. Austin will be the first major Texas city to use local tax dollars to give cash to low-income families to keep them housed as the cost of living skyrockets in the capital city. Under a yearlong, $1 million pilot program that cleared a key Austin City Council vote Thursday, the city will send monthly checks of $1,000 to 85 needy households at risk of losing their homes — an attempt to insulate low-income residents from Austin’s increasingly expensive housing market and prevent more people from becoming homeless.

'Canaries in the coalmine': loss of birds signals changing planet. The world’s birds, described as the planet’s “canaries in the coalmine”, are disappearing in large numbers as the colossal impact of humanity on the Earth grows, a global review has found.

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

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