Saturday, May 28, 2022

And another day where “America is killing itself and the Republican Party is looking the other way” comes to a close:

“You’ll never hear the Democrats brand the Republicans as the party of school massacres, Great Replacement theory, and Covid mass death. They could do that. But they won’t. Meanwhile the GOP smear Democrats communists, traitors, and pedophiles. It’s asymmetric warfare.” -- Mehdi Hasan

“Modern conservatives believe in forced births, unbridled inequality, restricted voting rights and  guns for all. It’s a toxic combination that threatens to undermine our democracy.” — Robert Reich

Deaths

US: 1,031,259

World: 6,310,323

Cases

US: 85,711,442

World: 531,352,910

French Newspaper Names What America Truly Excels At In Damning Editorial. Then, Le Monde turned the concept of “American exceptionalism” ― the notion that there is something special and unique about the United States ― upside down. “If there is any American exceptionalism, it is to tolerate the fact that schools in the United States are regularly transformed into bloody shooting ranges,” the newspaper wrote. Le Monde placed the blame on the GOP: “Indeed, America is killing itself and the Republican Party is looking the other way, ideologically complicit in one tragedy after another.”

The U.S. is uniquely terrible at protecting children from gun violence. Across the 29 countries in the study, the U.S. accounted for almost 97% of the firearm deaths among children 4 years old or younger, and 92% of firearm deaths for those between the ages of 5 and 14.

Mass shootings are difficult to prevent with mental health resources alone, experts say. Blaming mass shootings on mental illness is a deflection of the fact that there can be no effective solution to curb such atrocities without gun control, experts said.

Uvalde gunman threatened rapes and school shootings on social media app Yubo in weeks leading up to the massacre, users say. Salvador Ramos told girls he would rape them, showed off a rifle he bought, and threatened to shoot up schools in livestreams on the social media app Yubo, according to several users who witnessed the threats in recent weeks. But those users – all teens – told CNN that they didn’t take him seriously until they saw the news that Ramos had gunned down 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, this week. Three users said they witnessed Ramos threaten to commit sexual violence or carry out school shootings on Yubo, an app that is used by tens of millions of young people around the world...Robbins and other users said they didn’t take Ramos’ comments seriously because troll-like behavior was commonplace on Yubo.

Trump Jr. allies issue warning to Stefanik camp: Don’t go after Tucker’s kid. Those Trump Jr. allies were recently told that Stefanik’s camp was behind an effort to plant negative stories about Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), a potential Stefanik competitor in House GOP leadership. It was also relayed to them that part of the effort involved bringing up Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s son, Buckley — an aide to Banks — according to three Republicans familiar with the conversations.

Scientists warned us about monkeypox in 1988. Here's why they were right. So how did the scientists in London know, way back in 1988, that monkeypox was going to eventually surge?...But as Rimoin explains, the end of smallpox had a repercussion: It opened the door for monkeypox to emerge, possibly worldwide.

Children among 31 killed at church fair stampede in Nigeria. A stampede Saturday at a church charity event in southern Nigeria left 31 people dead and seven injured, police told The Associated Press, a shocking development at a program that aimed to offer hope to the needy. One witness said the dead included a pregnant woman and many children.

Family violence lawyers say Amber Heard's treatment could discourage victims from coming forward out of fear 'he'll do a Depp on me'.

Southern Baptists release list of alleged sex abusers. The investigation found that multiple leaders and pastors affiliated with the SBC had been credibly accused of sexual abuse and that others had covered up or failed to properly address the allegations.

Wimbledon accused of erasing women, masculinity and tennis for calling women by their names. Currently on the men’s honours board, male winners are referred to with their initial and last name, for example “N Djokovic”. Women, however, are forced to have a title ahead of their name to signal their marital status – unmarried women will have a “miss” in front of their name, and married women have their own names erased altogether. For example Chris Evert, who won Wimbledon in 1981, is listed on the board as “Mrs J M Lloyd”, after her husband. If you thought that the change was decades, if not centuries, overdue, you would not be alone – lesbian tennis icon Billie Jean King tweeted that it was “terrific to see Wimbledon making this important change”...Twitter users variously described the decision as “erasing masculinity”, “erasing women”, “erasing marriage”, “erasing tennis balls” and “killing tennis”...Luckily, one Twitter user pointed out the one thing that really mattered: “Cool, now pay them the same.”

Canada supreme court rules life without chance of parole is 'cruel' and illegal. Canada’s supreme court has ruled that life sentences without the chance of parole are both “cruel” and unconstitutional, in a landmark decision that could give more than dozen mass killers who committed “inherently despicable acts” the faint hope of release in the future. The court unanimously determined on Friday that sentencing killers to lengthy prison terms with little hope of freedom risked bringing the “administration of justice into disrepute”.

Here’s How To Protect Yourself (And Your Pets) From Blue-Green Algae Poisoning This Summer. “Blue-green algae looks like foamy scum on the water’s surface and has the potential to cause great harm, and even death, to you and your pets.”

A drug for HIV appears to reverse a type of memory loss in mice. An HIV drug appears to restore a type of memory that allows us to link an event, say a wedding, with the people we saw there, a team of researchers reports.

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

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