Friday, November 4, 2022

And another day of American politicians living in fear, eroding trust in US elections, the GOP’s investigation plans if they take the House, Musk fires many, embryos outside the uterus, the growing alcohol deaths, and a website that parents should be aware of comes to a close:

"We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship." — George Orwell, 1984

Deaths

US: 1,098,038

World: 6,604,272

Cases

US: 99,602,478

World: 637,283,239

From sleeping in secret locations to wearing bulletproof vests, American politicians are living in fear. A steadily increasing drumbeat of threats against prominent Americans has left senators, members of congress and even local school board officials fearing for their lives. And many are now left to wonder: If the woman who is second in line to the presidency cannot keep intruders out of her home, what hope is there for anyone else?

Eroding trust in US elections taxes state investigators. As complaints about elections, many of them unfounded, pile up around the country, investigators tasked with dealing with them find themselves on the front line of defending the integrity of America’s system for choosing local, state and national leaders. In blue states like Oregon and red states like Idaho, elections officials say investigating the complaints is critical for maintaining voter confidence. Many are dealing with a sharp increase of complaints in the runup to the 2022 midterm election after unfounded claims of rampant voter fraud in 2020. -- MAGA Republicans are destroying America.

Bullish on a House takeover, GOP’s investigative plans on Hunter Biden and others pick up steam. The wide range of possible probes – including over the US-Mexico border, the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, and IRS actions – are just a taste of what Republicans have begun to plot before the votes are even tallied on Tuesday. They are also eyeing major institutional changes, including ditching the House’s remote voting system and the metal detectors placed outside the chamber after January 6, 2021; potentially imposing term limits on Democratic committee leaders; and kicking some Democrats off their committees while restoring controversial GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar to theirs…Republicans have also signaled they want to investigate the FBI search on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence…Other items that key House GOP members have said they plan to probe include the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal, which will be conducted through the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Dr. Anthony Fauci and the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, which will come out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; and how the administration has dealt with parents and school boards, which will go through the House Education and Labor Committee.

Days before the midterms, Twitter lays off employees who fight misinformation. The cuts appeared to affect many people whose jobs were to keep Twitter from being overwhelmed by prohibited content such as hateful conduct and targeted harassment, according to one current and six former Twitter employees familiar with the cuts. — Is Musk’s goal to destroy Twitter? Disabling Twitter is one of the first things autocratic governments do to squelch communication and opposition. Since Musk is admittedly now in with MAGA Republicans, him destroying the Twitter platform seems like a plausible explanation for the shit he’s been doing.

AG: Disposing embryos outside uterus not against Tenn. law. Tennessee’s strict abortion ban does not apply to the disposal of fertilized human embryos that haven’t been transferred to a uterus, according to a recent state attorney general opinion. The determination is among the first issued by an attorney general that provides insight on how laws heavily restricting abortion affect those seeking in vitro fertilization, or IVF, since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion.

Justice Barrett rejects second challenge to Biden's student loan forgiveness program. For now, the Supreme Court is staying out of the legal battle raging in lower courts.

The Internet Is Full of Predators. Omegle Lets You Meet Them. Omegle is a website that pairs users at random for one-on-one video chats. “The internet is full of cool people,” the company boasts, “Omegle lets you meet them.”…But over the years, according to a lawsuit filed against Omegle, the “most regular and popular use” for the “cool people” on Omegle “is for live sexual activity, such as online masturbation.” For some men, semi-public masturbation is as far as it goes. Others use Omegle to persuade children to perform sex acts, expose them to porn, or even meet in real life, according to court documents…Even so, many people over 30 have never heard of it; a lot of teens have, thanks in part to the pandemic.

Alcohol death toll is growing, US government reports say. A report released Friday focused on more than a dozen kinds of “alcohol-induced” deaths that were wholly blamed on drinking. Examples include alcohol-caused liver or pancreas failure, alcohol poisoning, withdrawal and certain other diseases. There were more than 52,000 such deaths last year, up from 39,000 in 2019…Such deaths are 2 1/2 times more common in men than in women, but rose for both in 2020, the study found. The rate continued to be highest for people ages 55 to 64, but rose dramatically for certain other groups, including jumping 42% among women ages 35 to 44.

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

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