And another day bragging, semi-automatic gun bans, gun manufacturer’s immunity, the omicron vaccine, monkeypox deaths outside Africa, inflation on everything, DeSantis, oil company profits, KY floods, ‘biological sex affidavits,’ and the odds comes to a close:
“It’s important to fight for specific social justice issues but we also need to remember that so many of these problems are caused by Christian Nationalism which is a vehicle that white supremacy uses to try to be untouchable. We can’t forget the role that religion plays in this.” — Rebekah Kohlhepp
Deaths
US: 1,055,020 (+598)
World: 6,417,643 (+3390)
Cases
US: 93,054,184 (+136,526)
World: 580,836,202 (+1,396,516)
A Texas activist argued for 30 years against separation of church and state. Now his ideas are in the conservative mainstream. The growing popularity of these kinds of declarations is striking given the place the separation of church and state has occupied in American politics going back to the Founding Fathers. Though the phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear in the U.S. Constitution, the notion is deeply rooted in American jurisprudence and popular culture. More immediately, the rhetoric has alarmed some Americans who associate the constitutional debate over the church-state split with extreme versions of Christian nationalism. Yet, antipathy toward the separation of church and state among conservatives is not new but, rather, is a decades-old argument popularized primarily by a controversial Texas activist in the early ’90s, when the religious right was ascendant. — History has an abundance of examples of what happens to a nation when religion is the basis for governing.
Of Course Samuel Alito Is Bragging About It. As astounding as it may be to watch a Supreme Court justice give such an overtly political speech, in many ways, this is perfectly fitting for Alito. Alito’s jokes abroad—dripping in condescension and equal parts cruel and awkward—should therefore come as no surprise. Nor should the chilling ease with which he dispenses such public mockery of his critics. It comes as people around the country scramble to access proper health care in the wake of last month’s decision. Pregnancy loss has warped into legitimate medical nightmares. Hospitals, confused amid the chaos and fear of abortion bans, refuse care. And some have altogether stopped trying to conceive anymore. “We don’t feel like it’s safe in Texas to continue to try after what we went through,” one woman recently told the New York Times in a devastating post-Roe account. One has to wonder what she, and the countless others suffering right now, think of Alito’s comedy tour.
House passes semi-automatic gun ban after 18-year lapse. The House passed legislation Friday to revive a ban on semi-automatic guns, the first vote of its kind in years and a direct response to the firearms often used in the crush of mass shootings ripping through communities nationwide. Once banned in the U.S., the high-powered firearms are now widely blamed as the weapon of choice among young men responsible for many of the most devastating mass shootings. But Congress allowed the restrictions first put in place in 1994 on the manufacture and sales of the weapons to expire a decade later, unable to muster the political support to counter the powerful gun lobby and reinstate the weapons ban.
Gun Manufacturers Are Protected From Civil Liability — That Has to Change. The gun industry’s business model is predicated on its ability to sell as many lethal weapons to as many Americans as possible. Yet unlike every other industry, it enjoys immunity from civil liability when it acts negligently or without regard for public safety. Imagine if car companies couldn’t be sued for faulty airbags or tobacco companies for marketing cigarettes to minors. The gun industry’s unique immunity isn’t an accident. It’s the direct result of a little-known law that has a big impact on the way we deal — or don’t deal — with this crisis. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2005. At the time, the National Rifle Association heralded it as its top legislative priority…Let’s not fool ourselves: There is no tragedy big enough to move the manufacturers and dealers who fuel this crisis. The bottom line is they don’t care about anything except their bottom line. That’s why repealing PLCAA would change the game. Right now, the gun industry has no incentive to adopt responsible practices because they’ve faced so little accountability — until recently.
Climate experts experience an odd sensation after the Manchin budget deal: optimism. The nearly $370 billion energy and climate spending deal struck between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and conservative Democrat Joe Manchin would be the single largest federal clean energy investment in U.S. history. While it falls short of the $555 billion package Democrats proposed last year, preliminary assessments of the legislation by climate change modeling experts indicate that it would put the United States in a much stronger position to meet its pledges.
US reaches deal with Moderna for omicron COVID-19 vaccine. The Biden administration said Friday it has reached an agreement with Moderna to buy 66 million doses of the company’s next generation of COVID-19 vaccine that targets the highly transmissible omicron variant, enough supply this winter for all who want the upgraded booster.
US rules out summer COVID boosters to focus on fall campaign. U.S. regulators said Friday they are no longer considering authorizing a second COVID-19 booster shot for all adults under 50 this summer, focusing instead on revamped vaccines for the fall that will target the newest viral subvariants. Pfizer and Moderna expect to have updated versions of their shots available as early as September, the Food and Drug Administration said in a statement. That would set the stage for a fall booster campaign to strengthen protection against the latest versions of omicron.
Spain reports first monkeypox-related death in Europe. Spain reported its first monkeypox-related death on Friday, in what is thought to be Europe's first fatality from the disease and only the second outside Africa in the current outbreak. Brazil reported earlier on Friday the first monkeypox-related death outside the African continent in the current wave of the disease.
Public health is missing the message on monkeypox. The US response to monkeypox is falling down badly on nearly every one of those fronts. First, testing: Too often people showing symptoms of monkeypox are being told by doctors that they shouldn’t get a test, or tests are delayed so long as to be nearly useless by rules that the sample for a test has to be taken from a lesion, which may develop late in the course of illness…Finally, as Jerusalem Demsas wrote for the Atlantic, our public health officials have been replicating the Covid failures in another crucial way: being too concerned with managing public opinion to provide the public with accurate information about the situation.
The Senate passed a bill to help sick veterans. Then 25 Republicans reversed course. Veterans and their loved ones gathered in Washington, D.C., on Thursday for what was supposed to be a long-awaited celebration. The Senate finally was poised to pass a bill that would provide health care and benefits for millions of veterans injured by exposure to toxins, from Agent Orange in Vietnam to burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, in a surprise move, 25 Republican senators blocked the measure on Wednesday — even though they had voted in favor of it just one month earlier.
Johnson County sheriff claimed he got 200 tips of election fraud. A records request yielded only one. The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office has said that since last fall it has received more than 200 tips from people claiming they were victims of or witnesses to fraudulent activity in local elections. Yet the office has produced only one offense report related to any alleged violations of Kansas election laws since 2020. — The Big Lie.
It's not just food and fuel: Inflation is impacting the cost of almost everything. From new tires to a dental visit or a new piece of sports gear, nearly every spending category tracked in the Consumer Price Index shows a price increase from not only last year but also from before the pandemic. The hikes, spurred in part by high crude oil prices, supply chain disruptions and global economic pressures, highlight just how pervasive inflation has become in America. — Inflation is a worldwide problem at the moment. It’s not just happening in America.
Inflation hits record 8.9% in euro area, but economy grows. Inflation in the European countries using the euro currency shot up to another record in July, pushed by higher energy prices fueled by Russia’s war in Ukraine, but the economy managed better-than-expected, if meager, growth in the second quarter. Annual inflation in the eurozone’s 19 countries rose to 8.9% in July, an increase from 8.6% in June, according to numbers published Friday by the European Union statistics agency.
While the rest of us are trying to make ends meet, oil companies are doing just fine. The three largest Western oil companies—Chevron, Exxon, and Shell—made a record $46 billion in total profits last quarter, the Wall Street Journal reports. Exxon alone recorded an all-time high of $17.9 billion in profits during the second quarter, which was more than four times as much as it made during the same period last year.
Republican AGs Sue for Schools' Right to Deny Free Lunches to Gay and Trans Kids. Twenty-two Republican state attorneys general are suing the Biden administration for requiring schools that accept federal funds for free lunch programs to comply with gender and sex non-discrimination rules. To put it plainly: These 22 state attorneys generals seem to think schools should be allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ kids who use the Department of Agriculture’s free lunch programs. — Republicans look for any excuse to discriminate against marginal groups. It’s in their fucking DNA.
Oklahoma schools now require 'biological sex affidavit' for student athletes. "This has nothing to do with encouraging girls to be athletes," Matson wrote. "This is totalitarianism. It is the white nationalist agenda. The anti-LGBTQ agenda. The anti-abortion agenda. It is all the same agenda."...Oklahoma is the only state so far to require an affidavit to prove a student's assigned sex. If a student is under 18, the affidavit can be completed by a legal guardian or parent. Once a student reaches 18, they have to sign the affidavit themselves. The law requires that a new affidavit be completed ahead of every school year.
DeSantis files complaint against Miami restaurant after kids attend drag show, citing 1947 ruling on ‘men impersonating women’. DeSantis in the complaint filed Tuesday against R House, which hosts drag brunch events, alleges the restaurant violated state law and cites a 1947 state Supreme Court ruling that “men impersonating women” in a “suggestive and indecent” fashion constitutes a public nuisance. In hosting drag performances in the presence of young children, the restaurant has also violated a state disorderly conduct statute and a separate statute prohibiting the operation of a business “for the purpose of lewdness,” according to the complaint, a copy of which was obtained by Changing America.
Canada: Supreme Court rules sex without a condom requires separate consent from sex with a condom. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled in a 5–4 decision that condom use is legally a part of sexual activity, and that sex without a condom requires separate consent from sex with a condom. They've unanimously ordered a new trial for the appellant, a B.C. man who did not use a condom during sexual intercourse with a woman who insisted beforehand that he wear one. The case could set an important legal precedent on consent and sexual assault.
At least 16 people are dead after Kentucky's catastrophic flooding and the death toll is expected to rise. At least 16 people are dead, including children, and the toll is "going to get a lot higher" following catastrophic flooding in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said Friday.
Governor: Search for Kentucky flood victims could take weeks. Kentucky’s governor said it could take weeks to find all the victims of flash flooding that killed at least 16 people when heavy rains turned streams into torrents that swamped towns across Appalachia. More rainstorms were forecast to roll through in coming days, keeping the region on edge as rescue crews struggled to get into hard-hit areas that include some of the poorest places in America.
Conspiracy website InfoWars parent files for bankruptcy. The parent of far-right conspiracy website InfoWars filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection on Friday as the company and its founder Alex Jones face up to $150 million in damages in a trial over longstanding falsehoods he perpetuated about the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre.
Mega Millions: Here’s what’s more likely than you winning. While we can all ponder what we would do with that kind of money, we may all be getting a reality check instead of a money check. After all, the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350 or 0.00000033 percent. Here are some things that are more likely to happen:
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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