And another day of SCOTUS expanding states’ power, new subpoenas, the overlooked ‘wow’ moment, vowing not to prosecute abortions, a found 1955 warrant regarding Emmitt Till, a ‘coin flip’ on solving murder cases, and sleep matters comes to a close:
“I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk — that’s not in the constitution.” — Rep. Lauren Boebert
Deaths
US: 1,042,291 (+937)
World: 6,356,166 (+2486)
Cases
US: 89,236,449 (+205,722)
World: 551,682,658 (+1,039,656
The Supreme Court Just Expanded States’ Power to Prosecute Crimes on Tribal Land. The justices, in a 5-4 decision, said that both the state and federal government have jurisdiction to prosecute these crimes. The case, Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, had been viewed as a pivotal one that cuts right into the heart of the fight over tribal sovereignty.
Jan. 6 committee subpoenas Pat Cipollone, former WH counsel. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection issued a subpoena Wednesday to former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who is said to have stridently warned against former President Donald Trump’s efforts to try to overturn his election loss. It’s the first public step the committee has taken since receiving the public testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, the one-time junior aide who accused Trump of knowing his supporters were armed on Jan. 6 and demanding that he be taken to the U.S. Capitol that day.
An overlooked ‘wow’ moment from the 1/6 committee’s latest hearing. Michael Flynn wasn’t the star of the House January 6 committee’s hearing on Tuesday. In fact, he appeared – via taped video testimony – for less than five minutes. And yet, what Flynn said – or, really, didn’t say – deserves far more attention than it got...So, just to be crystal clear, Flynn cited his right not to incriminate himself when asked directly whether he believes in the peaceful transition of power. He refused to answer whether he believes in a principle that sits, literally, at the heart of American democracy. And, he did this as the former national security adviser to the President of the United States and a longtime member of the US military. -- It truly was a wow moment. Flynn is a traitor.
Ginni Thomas' lawyer wants 'better justification' for her testifying to Jan. 6 panel. Paoletta said emails between Thomas and John Eastman, the former Trump lawyer who wrote memos arguing then-Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the 2020 election, which Eastman shared with the committee, provide “no basis” to interview Thomas.
Judge clears Trump of contempt in New York attorney general's fraud investigation. A New York judge ruled Wednesday that Donald Trump is no longer in contempt for failing to turn over documents demanded in a subpoena by the state's attorney general…Trump was fined $10,000 per day through May 6, when his attorneys first filed explanations of their attempts to search for subpoenaed documents. In the weeks since, the judge and the attorney general have demanded affidavits from two dozen Trump Organization employees and attorneys in an effort to learn how Donald Trump's eponymous company has for a decade apparently kept nearly no records on the personal finances of its namesake.
Former Senate security chief dies; death not considered suspicious. Michael Stenger, the former Senate sergeant-at-arms, resigned after his handling of Jan. 6 was criticized. Stenger’s cause of death is not yet known. U.S. Capitol Police declined to comment. The medical examiner in Virginia did not handle his death, a spokesman said, indicating it was not considered suspicious.
Some big-city district attorneys vow not to prosecute abortion cases, setting up legal clashes in red states. More than a third of the district attorneys representing the 25 most populous counties in states that have banned or are set to ban abortion have publicly vowed not to prosecute abortion cases, according to a CNN review, potentially limiting the impact of the new restrictions. Their declarations could set up legal clashes between more liberal prosecutors in urban centers and red-state attorneys general and legislators, some of whom are already planning to wrest control of abortion cases from local authorities.
Louisiana AG warns doctors against performing abortions. Louisiana’s attorney general on Wednesday issued a warning to doctors against performing abortions, despite a judge’s order blocking the state from enforcing its ban on the procedure.
You shouldn’t have to ask your boss for an abortion. Companies stepping up to say that they will support their workers in accessing abortions after the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade raises questions both logistical and existential. For example, do you really want to ask your boss at Dick’s Sporting Goods for $4,000 and a couple of days off to terminate a pregnancy? If you start to think about the situation beyond the press release, it can get pretty disturbing pretty quickly. It reinforces how supremely screwed up the entire post-Roe situation is, as well as the setup of the United States health care system.
States say abortion bans don't affect IVF. Providers and lawyers are worried anyway. "What happens to IVF pre-implantation embryos in the freezers? Can couples, patients decide to discard them or not?"…"If a law is written to establish personhood of a fertilized egg or an embryo, for example, then discarding an embryo would violate that law. It would be considered homicide.”
Hard-line conservative Reps. Boebert, Miller win primaries. Illinois Republican Rep. Mary Miller won her primary over fellow incumbent Rep. Rodney Davis just days after she called the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade a “historic victory for white life” during a weekend rally with former President Donald Trump. Her spokesperson said she misspoke. Another Trump ally, Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, one of Congress’ most polarizing members, easily beat back a challenge from a more mainstream Republican.
A coach coerced students to pray, and the Supreme Court just said it was OK. Teenagers see coaches as authority figures who determine playing time and influence how well they interact with the rest of their teammates, their friends. When Kennedy met with the entire team on the field immediately following games, with the community watching, it would have been incredibly hard for a teenager, any teenager, to refuse to participate, even if Kennedy’s prayers conflicted with the student’s personal religious beliefs. I feel for any kids, especially religious minorities or nonreligious kids, who participated because they thought it was the only way to be a good teammate, to impress their coach and to be included as part of the team.
1955 warrant in Emmett Till case found, family seeks arrest. A team searching a Mississippi courthouse basement for evidence about the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till has found the unserved warrant charging a white woman in his 1955 kidnapping, and relatives of the victim want authorities to finally arrest her nearly 70 years later. A warrant for the arrest of Carolyn Bryant Donham — identified as “Mrs. Roy Bryant” on the document — was discovered last week by searchers inside a file folder that had been placed in a box, Leflore County Circuit Clerk
California DOJ data breach exposes personal information of all concealed carry permit holders across state. The names, addresses and license types of all concealed carry permit holders in California were exposed after the state Department of Justice suffered a data breach, authorities said Tuesday.
A "coin flip": Nearly half of U.S. murders go unsolved as cases rise. Across a nation that is already in the grips of a rise in violent crime, murders are going unsolved at a historic pace, a CBS News investigation has found. A review of FBI statistics shows that the murder clearance rate — the share of cases each year that are solved, meaning police make an arrest or close the case due to other reasons — has fallen to its lowest point in more than half a century…"It's never been this bad. During the last seven months of 2020, most murders went unsolved. That's never happened before in America."
FBI opens sweeping probe of clergy sex abuse in New Orleans. The FBI has opened a widening investigation into sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans going back decades, a rare federal foray into such cases looking specifically at whether priests took children across state lines to molest them...Some of the New Orleans cases under review allege abuse by clergy during trips to Mississippi camps or amusement parks in Texas and Florida. And while some claims are decades old, Mann Act violations notably have no statute of limitations.
Qatar fails to offer World Cup safety guarantees to LGBTQ+ fans. The Guardian this week presented the Supreme Committee, the body in charge of organising the World Cup, with a series of direct questions related to LGBTQ+ fans and their concerns, but received no specific answers…A general reply said: “Everyone will be welcome to Qatar in 2022, regardless of their race, background, religion, gender, sexual orientation or nationality. We are a relatively conservative society – for example, public displays of affection are not a part of our culture. We believe in mutual respect and so whilst everyone is welcome, what we expect in return is for everyone to respect our culture and traditions.” — Oh that’s reassuring.
The U.S. Is Rolling Out Monkeypox Vaccines to the Public. The vaccines will primarily be given to close contacts of confirmed cases and others with a higher risk of exposure, such as gay and bisexual men who have had multiple recent sex partners in areas where the emerging disease has been spotted.
R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years in sex trafficking case. Disgraced R&B superstar R. Kelly was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison for using his fame to sexually abuse young fans, including some who were just children, in a systematic scheme that went on for decades.
Carson Pickett becomes the first player with a limb difference to play for USWNT. As part of the USWNT, Pickett hopes to use her platform to advocate for limb difference and limb loss awareness. “While I know that I am confident and comfortable with showing my arm, I know there are so many people in the world who aren’t.”
Sleep duration matters for heart health, according to new recommendations. The American Heart Association added sleep duration to its cardiovascular health checklist. It’s a part of “Life’s Essential 8,” a questionnaire that measures eight key areas to determine a person’s cardiovascular health...In addition to sleep, the new list retained the original categories: diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, body mass index, blood lipids, blood glucose and blood pressure.
Early human ancestors one million years older than earlier thought. The fossils of our earliest ancestors found in South Africa are a million years older than previously thought, meaning they walked the Earth around the same time as their east African relatives like the famous “Lucy”, according to new research.
The first full-color photos from the James Webb Space Telescope are coming. NASA and its partners, the European and Canadian space agencies, will unveil the first full-color images from the Webb telescope in a much-anticipated event on July 12.
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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