And another day of possible election ‘chaos,’ a nightmare scenario, FL training for public school teachers embraces religion, myths about abortion and mental health, TX AG would back sodomy law, Covid ‘brain fog,’ and the climate crises comes to a close:
“The way I see it, it’s pretty straightforward:
“1. My former political party no longer believes in and now openly opposes democracy.
“2. Most Americans still believe in & support democracy.
“3. If most Americans vote in November, my former political party will lose.
“Easy, right?”
“America: where middle schoolers are too young to learn about slavery, but old enough to deliver a pregnancy.” — Jess Piper
Deaths
US: 1,043,308
World: 6,360,788
Cases
US: 89,522,328
World: 554,031,239
The Supreme Court case voting rights experts say could bring 'chaos' to elections. That argument is often referred to as the independent state legislature doctrine, a legal theory that says only state legislators have the authority to set rules for federal elections. Some conservatives have advanced that position in recent years, pointing to a provision in the U.S. Constitution that says the manner of federal elections “shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.”...While the Supreme Court could take a wide range of actions in the North Carolina case, experts and voting rights advocates say a full-throated endorsement of the independent state legislature theory by a court that has a 6-3 conservative majority could roll back limits on partisan gerrymandering, unwind voter-implemented changes like ranked-choice voting and gut voter protections against discrimination found in state constitutions and more. Such a ruling would put state election codes and congressional redistricting plans entirely in the hands of partisan state legislatures, many of which have been repeatedly criticized by state courts and others for aggressively gerrymandering and enacting restrictive voting laws.
The Nightmare Scenario SCOTUS is Plotting For the 2024 Election Takeover. Sound far fetched? Six Republicans on the Supreme Court just announced that one of the first cases they’ll decide next year could include whether that very scenario is constitutional or not. And it almost certainly is…While the main issue being debated in Moore v Harper, scheduled for a hearing this October, is a gerrymander that conflicts with North Carolina’s constitution, the issue at the core of the debate is what’s called the “Independent State Legislature Doctrine.” It literally gives state legislatures the power to pre-rig or simply hand elections to the candidate of their choice…That doctrine — the basis of John Eastman and Donald Trump’s effort to get states to submit multiple slates of electors — asserts that a plain reading of Article II and the 12th Amendment of the Constitution says that each state’s legislature has final say in which candidate gets their states’ Electoral College vote, governors and the will of the voters be damned. Fully twenty-one years before Trump tried the same trick, David Barstow and Somini Sengupta wrote for the New York Times on November 28, 2000 that Jeb and George W. Bush were discussing it:…This scenario isn’t just plausible: it’s probable. GOP-controlled states are already changing their state laws to allow for it, and Republican strategists are gaming out which states have Republican legislatures willing to override the votes of their people to win the White House for the Republican candidate…Trump’s January 6th effort failed because every contested state had laws on the books requiring all of their Electoral College votes to go to whichever candidate won the popular vote in the state. That will not be the case in 2024.
“I get the sense that a lot of people, including a lot of elected Democrats, don't understand what the Court is getting ready to do next term. Blessing the independent state legislature doctrine will very quickly lead to full-on autocracy.” — Ned Resnikoff
In trainings, Florida tells teachers that religion belongs in public life. New civics training for Florida public school teachers comes with a dose of Christian dogma, some teachers say, and they worry that it also sanitizes history and promotes inaccuracies. Included in the training is the statement that it is a “misconception” that “the Founders desired strict separation of church and state.” -- Pay fucking attention, people. They are striving for Christian theocracy.
“Yeah, if you think a kid can handle a pregnancy from a rape but not a rainbow sticker, you should stop pretending your concerns are about kids.” — LOLGOP
Myths about abortion and women's mental health are widespread, experts say. A large, long-term study, called The Turnaway Study, followed the mental health of nearly 1,000 women in 21 states who wanted and received an abortion and women who wanted but were denied an abortion between 2008 and 2010. The women were interviewed every six months over the next five years. At the end of that time, 99% of the women who had an abortion believed they had made the right decision -- in fact relief was the prominent emotion, one analysis noted. Women who received an abortion had similar or lower levels of depression and anxiety than women denied an abortion and were no more likely to experience post-traumatic stress than women who carried their baby to term, according to study results...After five years, the study found women denied an abortion were more likely to "live in poverty and much more likely to suffer economic hardship, including more bankruptcies, debt and challenges meeting basic living needs," Briggs said. Women who were turned away were also more likely to be tethered to a violent and abusive partner, and to have chronic health conditions, Briggs said. "They also lowered their aspirations (for the future), and they were less likely to achieve them," she added.
The marshal of the Supreme Court is asking Maryland officials to direct law enforcement to enforce the state's laws prohibiting picketing outside the homes of Supreme Court justices.
Texas AG says he would back law banning sodomy if Supreme Court reconsiders landmark case. Paxton said during a Friday interview with NewsNation he would defend the law banning sodomy because the Supreme Court in the past has “stepped into issues that I don’t think there was any constitutional provision dealing with.”
Texas board of education strikes down proposal to call slavery "involuntary relocation". Throughout the summer, the board will consider several curriculum updates to comply with lawmakers’ requirements to keep subjects that make students uncomfortable out of schools.
For now, wary US treads water with transformed COVID-19. The fast-changing coronavirus has kicked off summer in the U.S. with lots of infections but relatively few deaths compared to its prior incarnations. COVID-19 is still killing hundreds of Americans each day, but is not nearly as dangerous as it was last fall and winter.
The Secrets of Covid ‘Brain Fog’ Are Starting to Lift. Scientists are getting closer to understanding the neurology behind the memory problems and cognitive fuzziness that an infection can trigger.
With hospitalizations up, France weighs return to masks. Tourism is booming again in France — and so is COVID-19. French officials have “invited” or “recommended” people to go back to using face masks but stopped short of renewing restrictions that would scare visitors away or revive antigovernment protests.
How the climate crisis is forever changing our national parks. The consequences of the climate crisis -- more wildfires, devastating drought, sea level rise, flooding, ecological disease -- are plaguing the country's national parks...Scientists and officials say it signals a dramatic change unfolding at the nation’s most prized parks. And unless the planet slashes fossil fuel emissions, scientists believe the climate crisis could drastically alter the landscapes, cultural sites and ecosystems in the parks, potentially making them inaccessible for humans and uninhabitable for other species.
'We are in extreme crisis.' Italian parmesan producers fear for future amid drought. And that is a big problem for the millions of people who rely on the Po for their livelihoods. Salination from the Adriatic Sea has started turning its fresh water into unusable poison for crops. Recent samples show salt water more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) inland, and as the river drops lower, the sea will continue to fill the void.
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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