And another day of dangers to American democracy, the continuing coup, the TX GOP going waaaay off the rails, Juneteenth celebrations, GOP hopeful wanting to execute LGBTQ+ allies, banning transgender women, and the global food crisis comes to a close:
“To be undecided as to whether to end this war over our democracy is to have decided how one wants this war to end.” — Former Federal Judge Michael Luttig
“Democrats hope to get elected by promisin’ to do good things for people. Republicans hope to get elected by promisin’ to do bad things to people.” — Tea Pain
Deaths
US: 1,038,323
World: 6,340,727
Cases
US: 88,004,073
World: 544,299,296
6 in 10 Americans say Trump should be charged for Jan. 6 riot. Six in 10 Americans also believe the committee is conducting a fair and impartial investigation, according to the poll. — Will Garland rise to the most important moment in the last 50 years?
Former federal judge warns of danger to American democracy. During Thursday's Jan. 6 committee hearing, retired federal judge J. Michael Luttig issued a dire warning to the country. Luttig, who advised former Vice President Mike Pence, said that 17 months after the riot on the U.S. Capitol, "Donald Trump and his allies and supporters are a clear and present danger to American democracy." Luttig said the United States is at a crossroads similar to the one the country faced during the Civil War, and he said America needs help. Luttig was appointed to the federal bench by George H.W. Bush and worked in both the Bush and Reagan administrations. He said in his written testimony that the U.S. is in a "war" over the nation's democracy and that "only the party that instigated this war can end it," calling on the Republican Party to start a reconciliation process…”We cannot have in America either political party behaving itself like the Republican Party has since the 2020 election. As long as that continues then we will have an unstable democratic order in the United States, and we will forever be fighting over American democracy. As I went on to say in my statement, the war for America's democracy is not a war that America can win.” — We all should be listening to Judge Luttig.
Jan. 6 committee setting its sights on Pence, Ginni Thomas. Members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot said Sunday they may subpoena former Vice President Mike Pence and are waiting to hear from Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, about her role in the illegal plot to overturn the 2020 election.
The Coup Continues. There is nothing past tense about January 6, 2021. But we need to be very clear — this is a cancer that resides firmly within the Republican Party. It has been allowed to linger and grow, and now metastasize. And it is taking root by infecting state and local governance in ways that could very well turn what happened on January 6 into just an opening act.
Meeting at their first in-person convention since 2018, Texas Republicans on Saturday acted on a raft of resolutions and proposed platform changes to move their party even further to the right. They approved measures declaring that President Joe Biden “was not legitimately elected” and rebuking Sen. John Cornyn for taking part in bipartisan gun talks. They also voted on a platform that declares homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice” and calls for Texas schoolchildren should be taught “to learn about the Humanity of the Preborn Child.” -- They also formally recognize Biden as illegitimate, call on repealing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, oppose “all efforts to validate transgender identity,” support “reintegrative therapy” to eliminate “unwanted same-sex attraction,” and seek to hold a referendum on whether the state should secede. The Texas GOP are fukcing crazy. Like, absolutely batshit bonkers.
After Uvalde school shooting, Texas police wonder how much training is enough — and will it matter? Police officials and law enforcement experts say there’s no guarantee that officers will follow their training and confront a shooter — no matter how much training they have.
Juneteenth celebrations emphasize ending racial disparities. A year after President Joe Biden signed legislation making June 19 the nation’s 12th federal holiday, people across the U.S. gathered at events filled with music, food and fireworks. Celebrations also included an emphasis on learning about history and addressing racial disparities. Many Black people celebrated the day just as they did before any formal recognition.
Republican congressional hopeful wants LGBTQ+ allies executed for treason. Pastor and Republican hopeful Mark Burns has claimed that parents and teachers who talk about LGBTQ+ topics with children pose a “national security threat”. Burns said he wants to relaunch the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to hold people “accountable for treason”. The committee was first established in 1938 to locate communist threats. “We need to hold people for treason,” he said. “[And] start having some public hearings and start executing people who are found guilty for their treasonous acts against the Constitution of the United States of America. Just like they did back in 1776.”…He remarked that parents and teachers who are educating children on LGBTQ+ topics such as gender identity should be “immediately terminated” and “held for abusing young children”. He then compared the discussion of LGBTQ+ topics to the “indoctrination of children in Nazi Germany”, saying the “same thing” is happening in America. — As history has shown, people like him are dangerous. Be aware.
World swimming's governing body has effectively banned transgender women from competing in women's events. FINA members widely adopted a new "gender inclusion policy" on Sunday that only permits swimmers who transitioned before age 12 to compete in women's events. The organization also proposed an "open competition category."
Planet Hunger: Inside the Global Food Crisis. This crisis, however, is in some sense artificial, given that it is not driven by any actual shortage of food in the world. Even with the Ukrainian wheat off the market, there is still plenty of grain to go around. The issue is all about how much it costs and how it is distributed. And Putin is not the only one who is exploiting this situation. Commodity traders make money off wild price swings, shippers make money off people desperate for grain, fertilizer manufacturers make money off farmers desperate to maximize their yields, and proto-fascist politicians are happy to exploit rising food prices as evidence of the failure of democracy…The tragedy is, it doesn’t have to be this way. America is the Saudi Arabia of food. We could cure world hunger in six months if we wanted to. But our food system is not engineered for the greatest good. It is engineered for the greatest good of those who control the food supply. Or, as Oxfam’s director in Somalia, Senait Gebregziabher, once put it: “Famines are not natural phenomena, they are catastrophic political failures.”
Giving up insurance, meat-free meals, and skipping breakfast: What Australians are doing to survive the cost of living crisis.
Maryland Apple workers face hurdles after vote to unionize. The historic vote by employees of a Maryland Apple store to unionize — a first for the technology giant — is a significant step in a lengthy process that labor experts say is heavily stacked against workers in favor of their employers.
State by state, some patients are losing telehealth access to doctors. Many states are making it difficult for people to have virtual visits with doctors in other states, partly reversing the explosion in telehealth that occurred during the coronavirus pandemic and calling into question the durability of one of the major technological shifts from the past two years. The rollback in telehealth access has been happening gradually and quietly over the past few months as pandemic-era emergency health orders have lapsed in one state after another, reimposing some of the old rules about when doctors can practice in multiple states...The major barrier is licensing: a requirement rooted in the 19th century that a doctor must have a license from the state where a patient is located, even if the doctor is licensed elsewhere.
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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