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.
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