Wednesday, September 7, 2022

And another day of Americans vs. MAGA comes to a close:

“It’s why propaganda is so embraced by so many people… they want to believe that their country is good, not this evil regime that kills people for no reason, because who would want to acknowledge that?” — Matthew Chance

Deaths

US: 1,074,171 (+876)

World: 6,509,276 (+2243)

Cases

US: 96,870,378 (+153,805)

World: 611,946,556 (+613,766)

Flawed special master ruling shows that when you have the courts, you can get away with anything. Lawyerly takedowns of Judge Cannon's opinion overlook that for Trumpers, the law is whatever Trump says it is…However, the focus on good lawyering and technical competence can also be a distraction from the real dangers, and real evil, of the current far right assault on the judiciary. As liberal lawyer Max Kennerly put it on Twitter, “law is fake, it's all just Trumpism now.”…They do not think their movement should be constrained by law…Hitler’s central theory of law was called the Führerprinzip, or leadership principle. Basically it meant that the leader’s word was above the law. The leader shaped the law; the law did not bind the leader, who “was not subject to any constitutional checks and balances.”…The leader’s power in fascism is (like Trump’s mental declassification) virtually mystical. It does not arise from written law or from established institutions. Rather, it comes from the leader’s spiritual connection to the masses…From this perspective, Cannon’s decision is not a failure of reasoning. It’s simply the application of an alternate set of legal principles. Or, as composer Frank Wilhoit put it, “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”…This is only illogical if you think that Trump’s power as president came from the law. If you are operating under Führerprinzip, or something like it, then Trump’s power comes from embodying the spirit of MAGA, and always puts him above the law…This is the actual legal reasoning behind Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election results. From the traditional empirical and legal standards, there was no election fraud, and Biden’s victory was valid. But if you hold to Führerprinzip, as Trump does, then any vote cast against the leader is by nature illegitimate and illegal. The law is there to crush those who defy the leader. Trump, from the view of Trumpism, isn’t lying when he says he was the winner. Or his lying is justified because is serves a greater truth. Either way, Trump remains president no matter the law, because the true purpose of the law is to validate his presidency. The conservative legal movement that Trump advanced has been moving more and more towards Führerprinzip and the law of MAGA. The Supreme Court has mostly abandoned any pretense of ruling by precedent, truth, or reason, and has signaled its willingness to abandon voting altogether and simply allow Republican legislatures to choose the next president (presumably, Trump). The courts will not save us — especially after Trump stuffed them with MAGAs…Cannon’s ruling that Trump retains executive power isn’t (just) confused and poorly reasoned. It’s a warning that she, and her movement, believe they retain rightful power regardless of elections or laws. Katyal and other lawyers see the ruling as a contemptible failure of legal reasoning. They’re not wrong. But it’s also a chilling assertion of power.

Elected officials, police chiefs on leaked Oath Keepers list. The names of hundreds of U.S. law enforcement officers, elected officials and military members appear on the leaked membership rolls of a far-right extremist group that’s accused of playing a key role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to a report released Wednesday. The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism pored over more than 38,000 names on leaked Oath Keepers membership lists and identified more than 370 people it believes currently work in law enforcement agencies — including as police chiefs and sheriffs — and more than 100 people who are currently members of the military. It also identified more than 80 people who were running for or served in public office as of early August…The data raises fresh concerns about the presence of extremists in law enforcement and the military who are tasked with enforcing laws and protecting the U.S. It’s especially problematic for public servants to be associated with extremists at a time when lies about the 2020 election are fueling threats of violence against lawmakers and institutions. “Even for those who claimed to have left the organization when it began to employ more aggressive tactics in 2014, it is important to remember that the Oath Keepers have espoused extremism since their founding, and this fact was not enough to deter these individuals from signing up,” the report says. — Don’t let these people gaslight you. They joined the group and paid membership dues because they believed in the mission, including aggressive tactics.

Pregnant women held for months in one Alabama jail to protect fetuses from drugs. Police arrested Ashley Banks on May 25 with a small amount of marijuana and a pistol without a permit to carry. Under normal circumstances, the 23-year-old from Gadsden would have been able to post bond and leave jail until her criminal trial. But Banks admitted to smoking pot on the same day she found out she was pregnant – two days before her arrest. In Etowah County, that meant she couldn’t leave jail unless she entered drug rehab, leaving her in limbo for three months. She’s not the only one, according to attorneys involved in her case. Several pregnant women and new moms accused of exposing their fetuses to drugs have been held for weeks or months inside the Etowah County Detention Center under special bond conditions that require rehab and $10,000 cash. -- A precursor of things to come. There is no freedom or liberty here.

Michigan GOP leaders encourage rule breaking at poll worker training session. The evening before Michigan’s state primary, Wayne County GOP leaders held a Zoom training session for poll workers and partisan observers – warning them about “bad stuff happening” during the election and encouraging them to ignore local election rules barring cell phones and pens from polling places and vote-counting centers...Some participants raised concerns about being tossed out if they broke the rules. “That’s why you got to do it secretly,” Costantino replied. -- We may be seeing the final free and fair elections over the next few years in this country. No one who votes ever thinks that will be the last time their vote will matter.

Religious employers need not cover PrEP in their health plans, federal judge rules. A federal judge in Fort Worth agreed Wednesday with a group of Christian conservatives that Affordable Care Act requirements to cover HIV prevention drugs violate their religious freedom. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor also agreed that aspects of the federal government’s system for deciding what preventive care is covered by the ACA violates the Constitution. — If your religion requires you to deny healthcare to others, then get a new fucking religion. 

Temperatures smash records in US west as brutal heatwave continues. Records broken in Sacramento and Reno, while California close to ordering rolling blackouts to ease strain on power grid. The extreme temperatures are a result of a “heat dome” bearing over the region – a ridge of high atmospheric pressure that acts as a lid, trapping in heat. Although climate crisis doesn’t cause heat domes, scientists expect it to drive more extreme weather.

Baltimore residents urged to boil water after E. coli bacteria found in samples. Baltimore officials are encouraging residents to boil water used for drinking or cooking after E. coli bacteria was detected in some samples of the water supply in parts of West Baltimore.

Stress, anxiety and depression may increase the risk of long Covid, study finds. People who were experiencing psychological distress before getting Covid were more likely to have long-lasting symptoms than those who were not, according to new research.

Teens were sent to Wyoming ranches for therapy. They say they found a nightmare of hard labor and humiliation. For girls who were depressed, drinking, skipping school or fighting with their families, Trinity Teen Solutions claimed to offer a cure. Desperate parents paid $6,000 a month to send their children to the Christian therapeutic program at a working ranch in a remote area of Wyoming, often without visiting first. What girls encountered once they got there, according to 22 women who spent time at the ranch as teens from 2007 to 2020, was a nightmare of hard labor and humiliating punishments that left some injured and others with post-traumatic stress disorder…If they stepped out of line, girls were forced to run up and down a small mountain, dodging rattlesnakes, or were given only a can of olives and beans for a meal, according to former residents. Three women said that staff members who accused them of being “stubborn” tied them to a goat with a leash for days at a time…Through all of this, Trinity Teen Solutions and Triangle Cross Ranch have remained open for business, taking in children from across the country…The troubled teen industry — a constellation of private boarding schools, boot camps, ranches and wilderness programs — is estimated to serve more than 50,000 children each year. If the programs, like Trinity Teen Solutions and Triangle Cross Ranch, don’t take government funding, they are exempt from federal regulations. While many states, including Wyoming, set their own licensing standards, they vary widely and are not sufficient to protect children, advocates say. — Capitalism is not the answer for everything.

Association of Daily Step Count and Intensity With Incident Dementia. The findings in this study suggest that accumulating more steps per day just under the popular threshold of 10 000 steps per day and performing steps at higher intensity may be associated with lower risk of dementia onset.

Movie chain Cineworld files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Movie theater operator Cineworld Group LLC has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. as it deals with billions of dollars in debt and lower-than-expected attendance at screenings.

RIP Peter Straub. He was 79.

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

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