And another day of even more Republican incompetence, Congress not reflecting America religiously, American myths made from white grievance, state-by-state minimum wage, and working on a better way to repair penises comes to a close:
“Kevin McCarthy helped elect these loons. He deserves all of this.” -- Scott Dworkin
Covid Deaths
US: 1,120,040 (+1283)
World: 6,703,798 (+2834)
Covid Cases
US: 102,963,370 (+215,818)
World: 666,602,884 (+601,654)
McCarthy vows to 'work through it' after losing sixth House speaker vote. For a second consecutive day, a band of 20 ultraconservative rebels blocked GOP leader Kevin McCarthy from winning the speaker’s gavel.
What do these hardliners want? Here’s what they’ve said. It’s a very small minority of a slim majority that’s kept the House from moving forward and is on the cusp of derailing Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become speaker.
Survey: Religiously, Congress doesn’t reflect America. Religiously speaking, the incoming 118th Congress looks like America — that is, the America of decades past, rather than today. Congress is far more Christian, and religious overall, than today’s general population. Even though nearly three in 10 Americans claim no religious affiliation — a rate that has steadily risen in recent years — only two of the 534 incoming members of Congress publicly identify as such. -- From religion to wealth, most Americans are not truly represented in Congress.
The 118th Congress is the third oldest since 1789. In fact, of all of the Congresses since 1789, this is the second-oldest Senate and the third-oldest House.
American Myths Are Made of White Grievance—and the Jan. 6 Big Lie Is Just the Latest. That’s true not just of the rioters themselves, but also of people who agree with them. Pape’s team conducted two national surveys, which suggested that 21 million Americans—8 percent of the body politic—believe that Biden stole the election and that violence would be justified to restore Trump to power. They identified two key conspiracies undergirding these dual beliefs: Nearly half the people who hold them are convinced there is a “secret group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles” running the country. And a whopping three-quarters believe in the so-called great replacement, the idea that white Americans are being supplanted by people of color. In other words, even though race was not the only factor driving the insurrection, the data Pape’s team collected shows that white grievance was the primary motivator. -- White grievance is as old as white history. Fucking racists.
A Florida University Is Quickly Assembling a List of Courses on Diversity. Why? DeSantis Asked. At least one Florida university has been asked to report its “expenditure of state resources” on programs and courses related to critical race theory and to diversity, equity, and inclusion, at the behest of Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, according to an email obtained by The Chronicle. The move is likely to heighten fears among advocates of academic freedom in the state who worry that DeSantis is bent on curtailing professors’ speech in the classroom. -- As I said: Fucking racists. And DeSantis is at the top of that shitpile.
WHO says omicron subvariants BA.5.2, BF.7 driving China's recent COVID-19. China’s recent COVID-19 outbreak is predominantly led by the omicron subvariants BA.5.2 and BF.7, which together account for 97.5 percent of all local infections, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.
Twitter says it will relax ban on political advertising. Twitter banned all political advertising in 2019, reacting to growing concern about misinformation spreading on social media.
California storm prompts evacuation orders as state braces for flooding. Another round of heavy rain and snow fueled by atmospheric rivers will pound the drought-stricken state for the next several days.
World’s largest man-made dam has less than 1% of usable water. The world’s largest man-made dam based on water-storage capacity had 0.97% usable storage on Dec. 28, compared with 20% a year earlier, according to data available on the Zambezi River Authority’s website. That’s less than the previous low set almost three decades ago. Normally, water levels start rising in January.
California trying to find, compensate sterilization victims. About 600 people alive today can’t have children because California’s government sterilized them either against their will or without their knowledge, and now the state is trying to find them so it can pay them at least $15,000 each in reparations...Two groups of people are eligible for the money: Those sterilized by the government during the so-called eugenics movement that peaked during the 1930s and a smaller group who were victimized while in state prisons about a decade ago.
What's the Minimum Wage in Your State in 2023? The minimum wage went up in 23 states at the start of 2023, with several more raising their base hourly pay in the months to come...Some increases are the result of automatic adjustments for inflation, while others come by way of new state laws and ballot initiatives...Washington state continues to have the nation's highest base hourly rate, going from $14.49 in 2022 to $15.74 on Jan. 1...The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009. While many states require employers to pay more, $7.25 is the default in the 20 states with a minimum wage that is either equal to or below the federal rate, or that have no minimum. -- Check out the chart. Like abortion care, minimum wage should not be a “state’s rights” issue. That makes all the states unequal. Which then makes all Americans unequal. Which may be the whole fucking point.
Your stuff is actually worse now. All manner of things we wear, plus kitchen appliances, personal tech devices, and construction tools are among the objects that have been stunted by a concerted effort to simultaneously expedite the rate of production while making it more difficult to easily repair what we already own, experts say…We buy buy buy, and we’ve been tricked — for far longer than the last decade — into believing that buying more stuff, new stuff is the way. By swapping out slightly used items so frequently, we’re barely pausing to consider if the replacement items are an upgrade, or if we even have the option to repair what we already have. Worse yet, we’re playing into corporate narratives that undercut the labor that makes our items worth keeping.
Scientists Are Working on a Better Way to Repair Penises. Scientists in China believe they may have found a better way to fix an injured penis. In research published this week, a synthetic material developed by the team was able to restore normal erectile function when implanted in pigs. The material may offer important advantages over existing methods, and it may even have applications for other kinds of tissue repair.
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to $940M after no winner. The next drawing is scheduled to be held Friday night.
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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