Wednesday, September 28, 2022

And another day of the ‘MAGA’ label, Ian makes landfall, minors seeking abortions, churches defending loophole in reporting child sex abuse, the dangers of male influencers, an Alzheimer’s drug, and ‘Let’s do the time warp again’ comes to a close:

"I don't want to pretend that I'm interested in what you're interested in, because I'm not." — Ed Bain

Deaths

US: 1,083,227

World: 6,544,351

Cases

US: 98,039,655

World: 621,525,192

Poll: Most U.S. Republicans reject ‘MAGA’ label. A total of 42% of Republicans in the U.S. identify as “MAGA” Republicans, while 58% disavow the term, according to a new national poll by J. Ann Selzer and Grinnell College. Overall, 17% of respondents said they identify as MAGA Republican when told the phrase and asked if it describes them, the poll found. -- If you don’t identify as MAGA, then you are not Republican. So don’t vote for Republicans.

Ian makes landfall in southwest Florida as Category 4 storm. Hurricane Ian made landfall Wednesday in southwest Florida as one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the U.S., swamping streets with water and smashing trees along the coast while moving at a crawl that threatened catastrophic flooding across a wide area.

Some don't evacuate, despite repeated hurricane warnings, because they can't. Whether it's first responders, people working in animal shelters, those with disabilities or people with a language barrier, the reality is often far more complicated for those who can't easily get up and evacuate to safety.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer recommends universal masking in health care settings, unless the facilities are in areas of high COVID-19 transmission. The agency quietly issued the updates as part of an overhaul to its infection control guidance for health workers published late Friday afternoon. It marks a major departure from the agency’s previous recommendation for universal masking.

Ohio minors sought abortions out of state after being sexually assaulted, affidavits say. “This patient experienced immense trauma from the assault itself and then endured further trauma from a forensic interview alongside a physical exam to collect evidence for the ongoing police investigation,” Krishen said in the affidavit. “This trauma was further exacerbated by needing to wait over 3 weeks for her appointment. In each step of this process she felt the complete denial of bodily autonomy and safety, something that all people, especially children, should unequivocally have at all times.”

Churches defend clergy loophole in child sex abuse reporting. In 33 states, clergy are exempt from any laws requiring professionals such as teachers, physicians and psychotherapists to report information about alleged child sexual abuse to police or child welfare officials if the church deems the information privileged. This loophole has resulted in an unknown number of predators being allowed to continue abusing children for years despite having confessed the behavior to religious officials. In many of these cases, the privilege has been invoked to shield religious groups from civil and criminal liability after the abuse became known to civil authorities. Over the past two decades state lawmakers like Romero have proposed more than 130 bills seeking to create or amend child sex abuse reporting laws, an Associated Press review found. All either targeted the loophole and failed to close it, or amended the mandatory reporting statute without touching the clergy privilege amid intense opposition from religious groups. The AP found that the Roman Catholic Church has used its well-funded lobbying infrastructure and deep influence among lawmakers in some states to protect the privilege, and that influential members of the Mormon church and Jehovah’s Witnesses have also worked in statehouses and courts to preserve it in areas where their membership is high. -- So many evil people who hide behind religion. Leave the pews.

Stranger Things star Caleb McLaughlin speaks about racism from fans. The 20-year-old, who plays Lucas Sinclair in the Netflix hit, said the experience "took a toll" on him.

“My Brother Is So Far Gone”: How Male Influencers Turned The Men In These People’s Lives Toxic. A beloved brother who suddenly supports violence against women, a dad who minored in women’s studies and now wants to murder “effeminate” men, a boyfriend who starts making misogynistic jokes. We asked our readers how toxic male influences have changed the men in their lives, and they responded with disturbing stories…What makes this particular strain of content creation so insidious is how it’s packaged: most often as self-help for men who are struggling with real issues.

Success of experimental Alzheimer’s drug hailed as ‘historic moment’. An experimental drug has slowed the rate of decline in memory and thinking in people with early Alzheimer’s disease in what is being described as a “historic moment” for dementia treatment.

Alice, the first all-electric passenger airplane, takes flight. Israeli company Eviation Aircraft successfully launched the Alice on Tuesday morning from Washington’s Grant County International Airport. The zero-emission plane traveled at an altitude of 3,500 feet for its eight-minute inaugural flight.

Do the ‘Time Warp’ again — ‘Rocky Horror’ show will travel. Grab your toilet paper. Bring a flashlight. Don’t forget a newspaper — or your fishnets. A touring, interactive version of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is hitting the road to celebrate the cult film’s birthday with screenings, live shadow casts, the invitation to be inappropriate and one of its original stars — Barry Bostwick.

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

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

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

And another day of saving on fees, the Russian exodus, bipartisan bills, Canada dropping Covid border restrictions, charged with a crime for promoting abortion or contraception, Russian propaganda, student protests in VA, streaming music, and ‘gooning’ comes to a close:

“There are two types of Republicans cheering Meloni’s ascent in Italy: morons too dumb to realize she’s literally a fascist and those smart enough to know she is.” — Jeff Timmer

Deaths

US: 1,082,286

World: 6,542,860

Cases

US: 97,991,494

World: 621,216,675

Millions of Americans will save on Medicare fees next year. For the first time in a decade, Americans will pay less next year on monthly premiums for Medicare’s Part B plan, which covers routine doctors’ visits and other outpatient care. The rare 3% decrease in monthly premiums is likely to be coupled with a historically high cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits — perhaps 9% or 10% — putting hundreds of dollars directly into the pockets of millions of people.

Kremlin announces vote, paves way to annex part of Ukraine. The Kremlin paved the way Tuesday to annex more of Ukraine and escalate the war by claiming that residents of a large swath overwhelmingly supported joining with Russia in stage-managed referendums the U.S. and its Western allies have dismissed as illegitimate.

Russian exodus shows no signs of easing as Ukraine war looms over recruits. The flow of Russian men of fighting age looking to leave the country persisted Tuesday amid fears the government would soon close its borders to stop those trying to evade President Vladimir Putin’s draft.

McConnell endorses bipartisan bill to prevent another Jan. 6. The resulting bill, the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, was approved in the Rules Committee by a vote of 14-1, with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the lone opponent. The committee, which adopted minor revisions to the underlying bill, sent it to the full Senate for a floor vote. The bill would clarify the 1887 Electoral Count Act to limit the vice president’s role to counting votes, raise the threshold to object to certain electors to one-fifth of each chamber, bolster laws around certifying elections for the rightful winner and seek to facilitate an orderly presidential transition amid contested results.

Canada dropping COVID border restrictions Saturday. Canada will end all COVID-19 border requirements for travelers entering the country on Oct. 1. Masks will also no longer be required on planes.

Study links Covid-19 vaccination to small, temporary change in menstrual cycle. People who got the Covid-19 vaccine reported slightly longer menstrual cycles, but the change was temporary, according to a new study published Tuesday in the journal BMJ Medicine.

Yes, the University of Idaho warned staff that they could be fired and charged with a crime for promoting abortion or contraception. In a memo sent from the university’s legal counsel on Sept. 23, staff were told that state law “prohibits them from taking any action, and from using or providing institution funds or facilities” to promote or counsel in favor of abortion or refer students for abortions. Staff are also barred under state law from “advertising or promoting services for abortion or for the prevention of conception,” and dispensing FDA-approved emergency contraceptives such as Plan B, the memo says. Staff who violate state laws pertaining to abortion and contraception could face misdemeanor or felony convictions, mandatory loss of state employment, and/or a permanent ban from working for the state, the university said.

In 2019, Doug Mastriano said women who violated proposed abortion ban should be charged with murder. State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, said in 2019 that women should be charged with murder if they violated his proposed abortion ban. In an interview with Pennsylvania radio station WITF, Mastriano was pressed about a bill he sponsored that would generally bar abortions when a fetal heartbeat could first be detected, usually around six weeks. Mastriano’s remarks in that interview were previously unreported.

Blasts precede Baltic pipeline leaks, sabotage seen likely. Denmark said Tuesday it believed “deliberate actions” by unknown perpetrators were behind big leaks, which seismologists said followed powerful explosions, in two natural gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.

Meta disables Russian propaganda network targeting Europe. A sprawling disinformation network originating in Russia sought to use hundreds of fake social media accounts and dozens of sham news websites to spread Kremlin talking points about the invasion of Ukraine, Meta revealed Tuesday. The company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said it identified and disabled the operation before it was able to gain a large audience. Nonetheless, Facebook said it was the largest and most complex Russian propaganda effort that it has found since the invasion began.

Black man shocked with stun gun while restrained in jail files federal lawsuit. A Black man who was fully restrained in a chair when a white sheriff’s sergeant in Boulder County, Colorado, used a Taser on him alleges race was a “motivating factor” in the decision to use excessive force, according to a newly filed federal lawsuit. The plaintiff, Travis Cole, says the incident on the night of Sept. 21, 2020, at the Boulder County Jail has left him traumatized and distrustful of law enforcement...The sergeant who deployed the stun gun, Christopher Mecca, resigned in the wake of the incident in lieu of termination and was arrested on misdemeanor counts of third-degree assault and official misconduct. A jury convicted him in December 2021 and he was sentenced to probation...Mecca “made a conscious decision to use force in a way that he thought he could get away with,” Newman said. “He took Travis’ race into account when deciding what kind of excessive force to use against him.”

Virginia students protest Gov. Glenn Youngkin's proposed transgender policies. Student activists held school walkouts across Virginia on Tuesday to protest Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's proposed changes to the state's guidance on district policies for transgender students that would roll back some accommodations. Beginning Tuesday morning, students streamed out of their classrooms to decry the model policies unveiled earlier this month. If adopted by school districts, the policies would require parental sign-off on the use of any name or pronoun other than what's in a student's official record. They say participation in certain school programming and use of school facilities should be based on a student's biological sex, with modifications offered only to the extent required under federal law.

Cuba without electricity after hurricane hammers power grid. Hurricane Ian knocked out power across all of Cuba and devastated some of the country’s most important tobacco farms when it slammed into the island’s western tip as a major hurricane Tuesday.

Rules sought for ‘gooning,’ taking troubled kids to care. Within what’s known as the secure transport industry, it’s called “gooning.” Brawny men show up under the cover of darkness and force a teenager into a vehicle, taking them against their will to a boarding school, foster home or treatment center. The process is typically initiated by parents at wit’s end over what to do with a child they perceive as troubled. For the kids, it’s the traumatic first leg of a journey to an unheard-of place, perhaps hundreds of miles away from home. Teens who resist are often told, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” They might be restrained with handcuffs or zip ties. They could be blindfolded or hooded. Though a secure transport company operator was indicted last month, criminal charges are rare because the little-known industry is virtually unregulated. In fact, the indictment was for violating a restraining order, not for the transport itself. -- WTF?

Feeling lonely, unhappy can accelerate aging more than smoking. Poor mental health can speed up a person’s aging process more than smoking or certain diseases, according to a new study. Humans have two different ages. There is chronological age, which measures how much time a person has spent on Earth, and then there is biological age, referring to how old a person seems. Many lifestyle factors like diet, exercise and psychological state can impact someone’s biological age.

‘I’ve always wanted to be a tree’: Human composting starts to catch on. The process, which is essentially the controlled decomposition of a human body by a funeral service provider, takes about two months. Processing a person’s remains creates 1-2 cubic yards of compost — enough to nearly fill the bed of a pickup truck, which can then be used in gardens or conservation projects.

Has streaming made it harder to discover new music? Music stripped of its cultural context, artists’ histories rewritten, a previously unimaginable abundance of choice that’s apparently limiting horizons, artists who rocket to vast success without becoming remotely famous: music discovery and consumption in 2022 is a weird, confounding, counterintuitive and strangely fascinating place, where the traditional ways of doing things have been completely overturned, but it isn’t entirely clear what’s replaced them. -- I recommend listening to 99.9 Waiting for the Comet.

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

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

Monday, September 26, 2022

And another day of anger, shootings, fascists, avoidance, birth control, STIs, hurricanes, asteroids, and "Fuck the voting, let’s get right to the violence" comes to a close:

“The MAGA Republicans spit the word 'woke' at Democrats as an insult, as if being aware, educated, informed & caring is somehow bad. They are proud of the fact that they go through life in a narrow minded, shuttered, faux religious bubble of false moral superiority.” — Robin

Deaths

US: 1,082,303 (+315)

World: 6,541,519 (+1180)

Cases

US: 97,959,573 (+53,658)

World: 620,540,348 (+386,510)

Putin’s call-up fuels Russians’ anger, protests and violence. Five days after President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization to call up hundreds of thousands of reservists to fight in Ukraine, the move has triggered outraged protests, a fearful exodus and acts of violence across the vast country. “Panic. All the people I know are in panic,” said David, a Russian who gave only his first name out of fear of reprisals, in an interview with The Associated Press at a border crossing with Georgia. “We are running from the regime that kills people.”

17 dead, 24 wounded in school shooting in Russia. Russia’s Investigative Committee identified the gunman as 34-year-old Artyom Kazantsev, a graduate of the same school, and said he was wearing a black t-shirt bearing “Nazi symbols.” No details about his motives have been released.

The day before the 2020 election, Roger Stone, the long-time Republican operative and ally of former President Donald Trump, said in front of a documentary film crew that he had no interest in waiting to tally actual votes before contesting the election results. “F**k the voting, let’s get right to the violence,” Stone can be heard saying, according to footage provided by a Danish documentary film crew and obtained by CNN. -- MAGAs have wanted the violence all along. They are doing everything they can to instigate it.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fled his home to avoid being served with subpoena, court record says. Ernesto Martin Herrera, a process server, was attempting to serve the state’s top attorney with a subpoena for a federal court hearing Tuesday in a lawsuit from nonprofits that want to help Texans pay for abortions out of state.

First female premier poised to take helm of Italy government. A party with neo-fascist roots won the most votes in Italy’s national election, setting the stage Monday for talks to form the country’s first far right-led government since World War II, with Giorgia Meloni at the helm as Italy’s first female premier. Italy’s lurch to the far right immediately shifted Europe’s geopolitics, placing Meloni’s euroskeptic Brothers of Italy in a position to lead a founding member of the European Union and its third-largest economy. Italy’s left warned of “dark days” ahead and vowed to keep Italy in the heart of Europe.

Hurricane Ian nears Cuba on path to strike Florida as Cat 4. Hurricane Ian was growing stronger as it barreled toward Cuba on a track to hit Florida’s west coast as a major hurricane as early as Wednesday.

Australian police probe purported hacker’s ransom demand. Australian police were investigating a report that a purported hacker had already released the stolen personal data of 10,000 Optus customers and was demanding a $1 million ransom in cryptocurrency, the telecommunications company’s chief executive said on Tuesday.

Young people overwhelmingly struggle to access birth control: study. Young people are particularly struggling to access birth control pills, a critically important medication that can help prevent unplanned pregnancies, ease symptoms of Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, and regulate periods, among other benefits. That’s according to a new survey from Advocates for Youth, which found that an overwhelming majority of young people, 88 percent, in most states struggled to access birth control. Fifty-five percent experienced so many barriers they were unable to start taking the drug on their preferred timeline. The results also revealed that young people—especially low-income, people of color, trans, queer and other marginalized youth—found accessing birth control to be unnecessarily difficult, with challenges to filling prescriptions and picking up the medication far from school campuses.

Doctors urge more research into little-known STI linked to infertility in men and women. Doctors are urging more research into a little-known sexually transmitted infection that may be more common than thought. Scientists have known for decades about mycoplasma genitalium, or M. genitalium or M. gen., a sexually-transmitted infection that may cause genital pain, bleeding and swelling, and has been linked to infertility and miscarriage. However, it wasn't until 2019 that the first Food and Drug Administration-approved test for M. gen. became commercially available. Many cases may be going undiagnosed and untreated, doctors warn.

Bam! NASA spacecraft crashes into asteroid in defense test. A NASA spacecraft rammed an asteroid at blistering speed Monday in an unprecedented dress rehearsal for the day a killer rock menaces Earth. The galactic grand slam occurred at a harmless asteroid 7 million miles (9.6 million kilometers) away, with the spacecraft named Dart plowing into the small space rock at 14,000 mph (22,500 kph). Scientists expected the impact to carve out a crater, hurl streams of rocks and dirt into space and, most importantly, alter the asteroid’s orbit. Telescopes around the world and in space aimed at the same point in the sky to capture the spectacle. Though the impact was immediately obvious — Dart’s radio signal abruptly ceased — it will be days or even weeks to determine how much the asteroid’s path was changed.

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

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

Sunday, September 25, 2022

And another day of Republicans ready to declare the US a Christian Nation, how religious fundamentalism hijacks the brain, Italy embraces the far-right, Iranian women risk everything, still no power in Puerto Rico, higher ed, and tropical storm Ian comes to a close:

“They killed Eric Garner for allegedly selling loose cigarettes. They killed George Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20. But Brett Favre conspired w/people to steal $5M in welfare funds—people who have pled guilty to that theft—and yet he walks free w/o a charge or complaint.” — Quasim Rashid, Esq.

Deaths

US: 1,081,715

World: 6,540,339

Cases

US: 97,905,915

World: 620,253,838

Republicans Are Ready to Declare the United States a Christian Nation. Eisenhower and Reagan were Republicans, but on this issue there was a unity of understanding with Democrats such as John Kennedy and Jimmy Carter. Separation of church and state was sacrosanct. Both parties could agree on that. Until now…Sixty-one percent of the Republican respondents expressed support for the declaration, while just 39 percent said they were opposed. In other words, the party’s base voters are not divided on the question of whether to toss aside the Constitution and declare the United States a Christian nation. They overwhelmingly support the concept…What this means is that, in a party where leaders have bent again and again toward the most extremist positions of their electoral base, there is a growing movement that is prepared to tear down the wall of separation between church and state and declare the United States to be a nation in which one religion—their own—reigns supreme…Christian nationalism has been mainstreamed to such an extent that it is now the accepted faith of the party faithful. And Greene is not the only elected Republican promoting the ideas associated with a movement that Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) decries as “the American Taliban.”…Boebert’s wrong, as is Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano when he dismisses the separation of church and state as “a myth.” And so is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is promoting a Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative that wants high school students to be taught that the founders of the American experiment didn’t really believe in maintaining the “wall of separation” that Jefferson described…The good news is that the vast majority of Americans respect religious pluralism every bit as much as the founders did. By a solid 62-38 margin, respondents to the Critical Issues Poll said they opposed officially declaring the United States to be a Christian nation. That means that if the overall electorate recognizes what’s at stake in the Republican turn toward Christian nationalism, they will reject it. But for that to happen, Democrats need to start making an issue of the fact that the Party of Lincoln, Eisenhower, and Reagan is rapidly becoming the party of Lauren Boebert, Doug Mastriano, and the deconstruction of the wall of separation between church and state.

How Religious Fundamentalism Hijacks the Brain. In moderation, religious and spiritual practices can be great for a person’s life and mental well-being. But religious fundamentalism—which refers to the belief in the absolute authority of a religious text or leaders—is almost never good for an individual. This is primarily because fundamentalism discourages any logical reasoning or scientific evidence that challenges its scripture, making it inherently maladaptive. It is not accurate to call religious fundamentalism a disease, because that term refers to a pathology that physically attacks the biology of a system. But fundamentalist ideologies can be thought of as mental parasites. A parasite does not usually kill the host it inhabits, as it is critically dependent on it for survival. Instead, it feeds off it and changes its behavior in ways that benefit its own existence. By understanding how fundamentalist ideologies function and are represented in the brain using this analogy, we can begin to understand how to inoculate against them, and potentially, how to rehabilitate someone who has undergone ideological brainwashing—in other words, a reduction in one’s ability to think critically or independently.

Abortion is a matter of ‘freedom’ for Biden and Democrats. White House aides think the message is a particularly potent one, especially when combined with repeated reminders about the GOP’s proposals on abortion, which often do not include exceptions for rape or the mother’s health that are popular with voters. The freedom message also resonates, officials say, as access to contraception and abortion medication is under threat in Republican-controlled states.

Italy voters shift sharply, reward Meloni’s far-right party. Italian voters shifted sharply, rewarding a party with neo-fascist roots and bolstering prospects the country could have its first far-right-led government since World War II, partial results Monday from the election for Parliament indicated. In a victory speech, far-right Italian leader Giorgia Meloni struck a moderate tone after preliminary results in Sunday’s national election showed her Brothers of Italy party leading contenders.

Why Iranian women are risking everything by burning their hijabs. In response to Amini’s death, Iranians are demanding an end to mandatory hijab laws and burning the scarves in powerful displays of refusal. In Tehran, they have been chanting, “We don’t want forced hijab.” That’s connected to the police’s purported reason for detaining Amini, but the act of protest carries multiple meanings. Negar Mottahedeh, a professor of gender and feminist studies at Duke University, likened the images of Iranian women burning their headscarves to the bra-burning of the 1960s. Bra-burning meant many things at once: an expression of feminism and liberation, but also a broader rejection of the Vietnam War and of capitalism. Similarly, the images from demonstrations across Iran over the last week object to compulsory veiling and the morality police, but also against a paranoid, controlling state that has sought to police women’s bodies.

A week without power after Fiona, Puerto Ricans experience echoes of Hurricane Maria. For Puerto Ricans, the uncertainty of when electricity will be fully restored is a haunting echo of the catastrophic situation following Hurricane Maria five years ago, where it took some areas months and others up to a year to regain power. About half of the nearly 1.5 million power customers are still without electricity on Sunday, a week after Fiona made landfall near Cabo Rojo, leaving the entire island in the dark.

One of Higher Ed’s Worst-Kept Secrets Is Out. It’s Even Grimmer Than We Knew. Out-of-state students are funding flagship universities—and piling up debt in the process. As to why this is happening on a national scale, the reason is indeed that sweet, sweet tuition revenue. As current University of California chancellor Carol Christ said in a 2016 interview (when she was interim executive vice chancellor and provost), “Colleges and universities are fundamentally in the business of enrolling students for tuition dollars.”…If the goal of a public system of higher education is to provide access to opportunity and advancement to qualified students in an efficient and cost-effective way, we almost could not do worse than the current status quo…The only long-term solution is to fund these public institutions with public money from the federal government, combined with contributions from the state, and tie that money to requirements to admit all qualified residential applicants.

Texts: Favre also sought welfare money for football facility. After Mississippi spent millions of dollars in welfare money on Brett Favre’s pet project, a university volleyball arena, the retired NFL quarterback tried two years later to get additional cash from the state’s welfare agency for another sports facility, new court documents show. The governor at the time, Republican Phil Bryant, texted in 2019 with Favre, who wanted to build an indoor practice facility for the University of Southern Mississippi’s football team. Bryant told him federal money for children and low-income adults is “tightly controlled” and “improper use could result in violation of Federal Law.” -- Favre is a shitty human.

Tropical Storm Ian strengthens as it heads to Cuba, Florida. Authorities and residents in Florida were keeping a cautious eye on Tropical Storm Ian as it rumbled ominously through the Caribbean on Sunday, likely to become a major hurricane on its path toward the state. Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency throughout Florida and urged residents to prepare for the storm to lash large swaths of the state with heavy rains, high winds and rising seas.

James Earl Jones is Retiring from Darth Vader, But an AI Firm Owns His Voice. We'll likely be hearing Jones as Vader even after he's passed on.

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

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

Friday, September 23, 2022

And another day of the right’s ‘religious battle’ against the left, AZ bans abortion, Rep. Gaetz goes untouched, an exodus in Russia, a nuclear calamity, protests in Iran, and standardized test and students with disabilities comes to a close:

“Apathy, like inaction, is a choice. This November, what choice will you make - the one that saves democracy or destroys it?” — The Lincoln Project

“Those still hoping to win must remember that there is no winning a nuclear war.” — Marwan Bishara

Deaths

US: 1,081,566

World: 6,538,804

Cases

US: 97,880,451

World: 619,609,628

The American right’s future involves waging a 'religious battle' against the left, leaders say at a conservative conference. Repeatedly, speakers here framed the ongoing fight against the American left in biblical terms — a “religious battle” in which Republicans must be unafraid to use state power to thwart progressive goals not just in government, but the private sphere, too. Those at the gathering often argued both the culture wars and a changing economy are a battle of Christian ideals vs. a new age secularism. Again and again throughout the three-day National Conservatism Conference, or NatCon, these right-wing thinkers argued for putting an end to the era of small-government conservatism while promoting religion at the center of public life. -- Fuck that. And fuck the conservatives that want to go in this direction. Vote Democrat up and down the ballot or risk the nation becoming a theocracy.

In-person voting starts in Minnesota, 3 other early states. In-person voting for the midterm elections opened Friday in Minnesota, South Dakota, Virginia and Wyoming, kicking off a six-week sprint to Election Day in a landscape that has changed much since the pandemic drove a shift to mail balloting in the 2020 presidential contest.

Trump’s secret court fight to stop grand jury from getting information from his inner circle. The high-stakes legal dispute – which included the appearance of three attorneys representing Trump at the Washington, DC, federal courthouse on Thursday afternoon – is the most aggressive step taken by the former President to assert executive and attorney-client privileges in order to prevent some witnesses from sharing information in the criminal investigation events surrounding January 6, 2021. -- The actions of a guilty man. Lock that fucker up.

These male politicians are pushing for women who receive abortions to be punished with prison time. Under a bill they promoted, pregnant people could face murder charges even if they were raped or doctors determined the procedure was needed to save their own life. Doctors who attempted to help patients conceive through in-vitro fertilization, a fertility treatment used by millions of Americans, could also be locked up for destroying embryos, and certain contraception such as Plan B would be banned. -- Republicans have told you what they want to do. Believe them. Then make sure they never again gain power.

Arizona judge: State can enforce near-total abortion ban. Arizona can enforce a near-total ban on abortions that has been blocked for nearly 50 years, a judge ruled Friday, meaning clinics across the state will have to stop providing the procedures to avoid the filing of criminal charges against doctors and other medical workers.

Trump claims presidents can declassify documents ‘by thinking about it’. “Because you’re sending it to Mar-a-Lago or wherever you’re sending it. There doesn’t have to be a process. There can be a process, but there doesn’t have to be. You’re the president – you make that decision.”

DOJ prosecutors recommend against charging Rep. Gaetz in sex-trafficking probe. The recommendation comes in part because prosecutors have questions over whether the central witnesses in the long-running investigation would be perceived as credible before a jury, the source said. -- And once again, the powerful get away.

“US law is so perverted that it is impossible to convict influential white people of anything.” -- Scott Burton

Russian men join exodus, fearing call-up to fight in Ukraine. Military-aged men fled Russia in droves Friday, filling planes and causing traffic jams at border crossings to avoid being rounded up to fight in Ukraine following the Kremlin’s partial military mobilization.

Beware the prospect of a nuclear calamity. The world’s indifference to the prospect of a nuclear disaster, today, is frankly insane…However, as past Russian and American wars have shown – whether in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq or elsewhere – a troops surge may win him time but won’t necessarily win him the war. That’s why he coupled his decision for a military surge with a nuclear warning, putting the West on notice: back off or face the consequences. Hence the seriousness of Putin’s threat to use weapons of mass destruction. The threat is “not a bluff” as he put it, nor a bluster; it rather sounds desperate and deliberate. It is also the biggest escalation since the invasion began seven months ago and the biggest troop mobilisation since the end of the Cold War.

Russian troops raped and tortured children in Ukraine, U.N. panel says. “Based on the evidence gathered by the commission, it has concluded that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine.”...“There are examples of cases where relatives were forced to witness the crimes," he added. "In the cases we have investigated, the age of victims of sexual and gendered-based violence ranged from 4 to 82 years."

Iranians are risking it all to protest. Their families say some of them aren't coming home. The anger in Kerman is reflective of scenes playing out across Iran – as people take to the streets amid chants of “death to the dictator,” in a dramatic show of defiance against the regime following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died last week in the custody of Iran’s so-called ‘morality police,’ a notorious unit which enforces compulsory head scarf laws.

Pro-government rallies held in Iran amid mass protests. Iranian counterprotesters gathered across the country on Friday in a show of support for authorities after nearly a week of anti-government protests and unrest over the death of a young woman who was being held by the morality police. -- Because every country has crazy people who love authoritarianism.

Dow sinks to 2022 low as recession fears roil world markets. Stocks fell sharply worldwide Friday on worries an already slowing global economy could fall into recession as central banks raise the pressure with additional interest rate hikes.

Church of England bars Desmond Tutu’s daughter from leading funeral because of same-sex marriage. The Church of England has banned Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s daughter from conducting her godfather’s funeral because she is married to a woman. Martin Kenyon, who died earlier this month at age 92, left explicit wishes for his goddaughter, Reverend Mpho Tutu van Furth, who is an Anglican priest, to conduct his funeral. But the request from his family to hold the ceremony at his local church in Shropshire, England was turned down by the Diocese of Hereford because the daughter of the Nobel Peace Prize winner is in a same-sex marriage.

Standardized Tests and Students With Disabilities: How the SAT, LSAT, and Bar Discriminate. When looking at structural ableism in standardized tests, I believe it’s helpful to take a sweeping, justice-centered approach. A narrower, rights-based approach to ableism does consider prejudice, stereotypes, and stigmas against people with disabilities, but activist and attorney TL Lewis’s working definition of ableism goes further, arguing that ableism is: “a system of assigning value to people's bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, productivity, desirability, intelligence, excellence, and fitness. These constructed ideas are deeply rooted in eugenics, anti-Blackness, misogyny, colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism.” Standardized tests may be framed as a way to determine a person’s intelligence, fitness, and excellence to decide who is worthy of higher education. But in reality, they just measure a person's ability to pass a standardized test and score better than their peers.

When Texas students campaigned for a more diverse history course, they got a lesson in politics. Students had been pushing for the State Board of Education to adopt a new, more inclusive social studies curriculum this year. Instead, the board delayed their scheduled update until at least 2025.

Hurricane Fiona likely to be ‘extreme weather event’ as it barrels toward eastern Canada, forecasters warn. Deadly Hurricane Fiona has weakened slightly to a Category 3 storm but is still packing forceful winds of 125 mph as it barrels toward Canada’s Atlantic coast.

Dramatic' rise in wildfire smoke triggers decline in US air quality for millions. Wildfires cause soot and ash to be thrown off into the air, which then carries the minuscule particles that can be inhaled by people many miles away, aggravating a variety of health conditions. The number of people in the US exposed to unhealthy levels of these particulates from wildfires at least one day a year has increased 27-fold over the last decade, a new study found, with 25 million people in 2020 alone breathing in potentially toxic air from fires.

RIP Louise Fletcher. She was 88.

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

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