Wednesday, June 1, 2022

And another day of America going zero days without a mass shooting comes to a close:

"I have no faith we will remain a democracy if Republicans win power." — Max Boot

“Everything, everything, everything, everything, everything is awful.” -- The Decemberists

Deaths

US: 1,032,410 (+797)

World: 6,315,721 (+2027)

Cases

US: 86,146,955 (+45,158)

World: 533,538,507 (+734,136)

Eleven Films releases a new video. Watch and share widely.

4 killed in shooting at Tulsa medical building; shooter dead. Tulsa Police Department Deputy Chief Eric Dalgleish confirmed the number of dead and said the shooter also was dead, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The incident is the latest in a wave of gun violence occurring across the country.

The Supreme Court Is Set to Issue an Insane Ruling That Will Lead to More Dead Americans. In the wake of the second-worst school shooting in U.S. history, the court’s conservatives are poised to flood the country with even more guns.

House Democrats Have a Gun Control Proposal That's Painfully in Touch With Reality. Anything that might really make a dent in this American epidemic isn't on the table. Maybe even this isn't.

‘It’s going to be an army’: Tapes reveal GOP plan to contest elections. Video recordings of Republican Party operatives meeting with grassroots activists provide an inside look at a multi-pronged strategy to target and potentially overturn votes in Democratic precincts: Install trained recruits as regular poll workers and put them in direct contact with party attorneys. The plan, as outlined by a Republican National Committee staffer in Michigan, includes utilizing rules designed to provide political balance among poll workers to install party-trained volunteers prepared to challenge voters at Democratic-majority polling places, developing a website to connect those workers to local lawyers and establishing a network of party-friendly district attorneys who could intervene to block vote counts at certain precincts…“This is completely unprecedented in the history of American elections that a political party would be working at this granular level to put a network together,” said Nick Penniman, founder and CEO of Issue One, an election watchdog group. “It looks like now the Trump forces are going directly after the legal system itself and that should concern everyone.”…The recordings are among the first windows into what former Trump strategist Stephen Bannon, who’s been urging listeners to his podcast to take on election leadership positions, calls “the precinct strategy.” But Penniman, the election watchdog, believes the strategy is designed to create enough disputes to justify intervention by GOP-controlled state legislatures, who declined to take such steps in 2020. “Come election day you create massive failure of certification” in Democratic precincts, Penniman said. “The real hope is that you can throw the choosing of electors to state legislatures.”

January 6 committee asserts Jim Jordan must comply with subpoena but gives him more time. The committee initially set a May 27 deadline for Jordan to comply with the subpoena but is now giving him more time [June 11]. Last week, Jordan responded to the committee's subpoena by contesting its constitutionality and outlining a list of demands the panel must meet in order for him to even consider moving forward. — He’s afraid of something.

Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks straight people are going extinct. Yes, really. During a Facebook live broadcast on 28 May, Greene said: “They just want you to think that all of a sudden the entire population is steadily turning gay or turning trans. “Probably in about four or five generations – no one will be straight anymore,” she said. “Everyone will be either gay or trans or non-conforming. Whatever the list of 50 or 60 different options there are.” -- She is such a hateful person.

Ohio Republicans want to mandate self-defense training for high school students. Called the Student Protection Act, House Bill 639 would require incoming freshmen in public and private schools to complete self-defense training as part of their health education starting in the 2023-2024 academic year. The instructors would have to be school resource officers or certified self-defense instructors.

Biden administration cancels $5.8 billion in student loan debt for former Corinthian students. The Department of Education announced Wednesday that it will cancel $5.8 billion in student loan debt for 560,000 borrowers who attended the now-defunct network of for-profit schools known as Corinthian Colleges.

Novel genetic experiment shrinks tough-to-treat cancer. In a novel experiment, a woman with advanced pancreatic cancer saw her tumors dramatically shrink after researchers in Oregon turbocharged her own immune cells, highlighting a possible new way to someday treat a variety of cancers.

Alopecia affects millions, including kids. Millions of people around the world are affected by alopecia areata, an autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss and was thrown into the spotlight after actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars...Here’s a look at the disorder, and how hair is tied up with beauty and race, culture and self-identity:

“There is so much pain in this world. Cast your empathy as widely as possible and spread love if you can.” -- Walter Shaub

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

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