And another day of getting things wrong, planning ahead, fearing physical attack, ‘checked-out’ on Covid though it’s ‘most certainly not over,’ a 100M+ people displaced, stonewalling sex abuse victims, JIF recall, rewatching TV shows, and female masturbation comes to a close:
"Whether Trump runs for POTUS or is in prison, the 2024 GOP nominee will be a full-throated extremist spouting a MAGA message. When we obsess over Trump, we're in danger of deluding ourselves into thinking the threat of Trumpism will go away when he does.” — Dan Pfeiffer
"Those in America who believe that my extreme MAGA colleagues aren't coming for you – they are coming for you. They are coming for your rights [...] and if Samuel Alito tells you they are not coming for you, just remember he lied to Congress." — Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX)
“You wonder whether or not people just decided that the pursuit of a more perfect union has come to an end.” — House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.)
Deaths
US: 1,028,924
World: 6,300,331
Cases
US: 85,004,438
World: 527,683,991
What the Media Keeps Getting Wrong About Trump. Trump didn’t turn the Republicans into a party of ethno-nationalist, conspiracy theory-believing authoritarians. He just figured out the Republicans were a party of ethno-nationalist, conspiracy theory-believing authoritarians before anyone else. Trump’s political strategy is the modern version of the famous (likely apocryphal) adage from French politician Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin: “There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them.”…Some ask, who cares if pundits are getting things wrong? It matters because putting Trump at the center of the Republican narrative, lets the rest of the Party do whatever it wants, and undersells the imminent internal threat to the country…The question to ask is not how someone like Trump took over the GOP, but how someone like Trump could take over the GOP so quickly and with such ease. What changed in the Party? Why are Republican voters so open to explicit White nationalist appeals? The Republican Party was headed in this direction long before Trump showed up. Republican candidates across the country are acting like MAGA sock puppets not because they are afraid of Trump or want his endorsement. They are doing it because it’s what the voters want. — The GOP has fully embraced fascism. Like all fascist regimes, they will only get worse with the more power they attain. The Republican Party must be defeated and destroyed.
Election deniers who say Trump won in 2020 are running to be top cop in 4 battleground states. In four crucial battleground states, Republican candidates who falsely contend that Donald Trump won the 2020 election are running for state attorney general. If they win, they’d serve as their states' top law enforcement officers and would have the power to use their office to tilt the outcome of presidential elections. If Trump should run again in 2024, and the outcome is close in a handful of states, the actions attorneys general are able to take could also give Trump cover to claim falsely claim victory once again. -- The GOP has decided they are no longer for free and fair elections. It’s win at all cost. Then once they do win, make it so they remain in power forever, or until a rise up throws them out of power. Democrats need to take the GOP threat to American democracy more seriously.
75 percent of Black Americans fear physical attack based on their race. Seventy percent of Black Americans polled said they believed half or more white Americans hold white supremacist beliefs compared to 19 percent who believed fewer than half white Americans do. Two-thirds of those polled said white supremacy is a bigger problem today compared to five years ago. In comparison, 28 percent said the size of the problem is the same, while five percent said it was a smaller problem today.
Taliban enforces face-cover order for female TV anchors. Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on Sunday began enforcing an order requiring all female TV news anchors in the country to cover their faces while on-air. The move is part of a hard-line shift drawing condemnation from rights activists. After the order was announced Thursday, only a handful of news outlets complied. But on Sunday, most female anchors were seen with their faces covered after the Taliban’s Vice and Virtue Ministry began enforcing the decree.
“A former friend said ‘Our friendship is worth more than politics.’ I disagree. He's now against vaccines, women's rights, voting rights, immigrants, LGBTQs. I think all those people he is hurting are worth more than our friendship.” — John Pavlovitz
As cases rise, Americans are ‘checked out’ on COVID-19. Even in blue cities, restaurants are packed with people, and many Americans don’t wear masks even on the subway or on airplanes. Amid this national attitude, it may be extremely difficult for local or national leaders to try to reimpose any COVID-19 restrictions. An Axios-Ipsos poll this week found just 36 percent of Americans said there was significant risk in returning to their “normal pre-coronavirus life.” At the same time, cases are rising to over 100,000 per day.
WHO chief: The COVID pandemic is ‘most certainly not over’. The COVID-19 pandemic is “most certainly not over,” the head of the World Health Organization warned Sunday, despite a decline in reported cases since the peak of the omicron wave. He told governments that “we lower our guard at our peril.”
More than 100 million people forcibly displaced in the world, U.N. refugee agency says. More than 100 million people have been driven from their homes around the world, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Monday, citing new data about those escaping violence, conflict, persecution and human rights violations. The war in Ukraine has been one of the factors propelling millions of people to flee, the UNHCR said, adding that protracted conflict in places like Ethiopia and Democratic Republic of Congo were other factors behind the high numbers.
McKinsey & Co. worked with Russian weapons maker even as it advised Pentagon. McKinsey has come under scrutiny in Congress for its work with state-owned companies in China, with lawmakers questioning if the company should be awarded national security-related contracts given its extensive presence in China. McKinsey also faces accusations of ignoring possible conflicts of interest when it advised both opioid manufacturers and officials regulating opioids at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
What to know about the latest controversy at the 5th Circuit. The federal appeals court that has been under fire for its handling of abortion rights, immigration and so-called social media "censorship" handed down on Wednesday a ruling that -- if adopted nationwide -- could upend the way that federal agencies for decades have enforced the law. A split panel of judges from the conservative appeals court deemed unconstitutional the way the US Securities and Exchange Commission was using its in-house administrative process to adjudicate allegations of securities fraud.
Report: Top Southern Baptists stonewalled sex abuse victims. Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination, stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over almost two decades while seeking to protect their own reputations, according to a scathing 288-page investigative report issued Sunday. These survivors, and other concerned Southern Baptists, repeatedly shared allegations with the SBC’s Executive Committee, “only to be met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some within the EC,” said the report.
Students say restrictive new education laws are scary and frustrating. As Republican lawmakers and school boards have proposed or passed education policies to restrict how topics like race and LGBTQ issues can be addressed in schools — removing access to certain books and banning transgender students from sports teams that align with their gender identities — minority and LGBTQ students say they feel they are living through a time when their values, and even their identities, are under attack.
5 dead after severe thunderstorms in Ontario and Quebec; hundreds of thousands without power. The line of thunderstorms developed near Sarnia, a city in Ontario, late Saturday morning and tracked over southern Ontario towards Ottawa Saturday afternoon, according to Environment Canada.
What is monkeypox, what are the symptoms and why are gay and bisexual men at risk? According to the WHO, it is not yet known if monkeypox can be passed on directly through sex – the organisation says more studies are needed to understand the risk – but it’s likely that it’s simply passed on through close contact. Naturally, that means a person could still contract the virus while having sex with somebody who’s carrying it, but that doesn’t make it a sexually transmitted infection.
Some Jif peanut butter products are being recalled for possible salmonella contamination. Jif’s creamy, crunchy, natural and reduced fat peanut butters have been linked to a salmonella outbreak across 12 states that has left 14 ill, with two people being hospitalized. Side effects from salmonella poisoning include fever, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. — The recall wiped out my entire stash of peanut butter. Ugh.
7 fascinating facts about female masturbation. There are certain taboo topics that aren’t openly talked about, and masturbation — particularly, female masturbation — has certainly been one of them. But experts say that’s starting to change…But some women still feel embarrassed, “especially if they were raised in more traditional or conservative homes,” she says. “And some women don’t learn much about their vulva and vagina until adulthood; sexuality in schools rarely addresses masturbation, sexual pleasure, sexual exploration or orgasm.” So here’s what you need to know about female masturbation.
Virtual workouts spiked during the pandemic — and the trend is sticking around. At the height of the pandemic, when going to the gym wasn't an option, millions of people began exploring virtual workouts from home for the first time. And many of them now say they won't go back. While this is clearly a boon for the companies developing these systems, it has also helped people who don't feel comfortable in a gym or don't have time to get there.
Why Rewatching Your Favorite TV Show Is Good for You. When you consider the course of human history—or even television history—rewatching television shows on demand is a relatively new phenomenon. But our instinct to turn to the same stories again and again is part of the human experience, says Shira Gabriel, a professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo who researches how watching TV shows can enhance feelings of belonging. Humans have an innate need to belong to larger groups for our survival, and we are biologically programmed to find solace in stories, she says. This is a primitive drive that happens outside our conscious awareness. “There’s this strong, very old evolutionary system in us that pulls us towards wanting these comforting narratives,” she says…Therefore, Gabriel says, people don’t really differentiate between the two—which means we can fulfill our need to belong by feeling connected to other people through these narratives…Here are some of the benefits you might reap from turning to a beloved TV show again and again.
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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