And another day of more charges, election-meddling, Trump allies, what Trump and all autocrats understand about your brain, housing as a human right, vulnerable teens, and the damaging results of mandated return to the office comes to a close:
“Today’s GOP is what fascism looks like.” -- Dean Obeidallah
Trump charged by Justice Department for efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss. The charges include conspiracy to defraud the United States government and witness tampering.
The election-meddling indictment against Trump is sprawling. Here’s a breakdown of the case. Trump is charged with four counts: obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and conspiracy to prevent others from carrying out their constitutional rights. In the obstruction charge — which carries penalties of up to 20 years in prison — the official proceeding refers to the Jan. 6, 2021 joint session of Congress at which electoral votes were to be counted in order to certify Biden as the official winner. Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding also carries a maximum of 20 years in prison
Trump has now been indicted for a 3rd time. Here’s where all the investigations stand. Special counsel Jack Smith, who indicted Trump in the election case, has also charged Trump in federal court with the illegal retention of top secret documents. In New York, Trump faces criminal charges in a hush money case and a civil trial over his business practices. And in Georgia, a county district attorney is expected to announce charging decisions in August over efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.
Michigan prosecutors charge Trump allies in felonies involving voting machines, illegal ‘testing’. A former Republican attorney general candidate and another supporter of former President Donald Trump have been criminally charged in Michigan in connection with accessing and tampering with voting machines after the 2020 election, according to court records.
What Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orbán Understand About Your Brain. Why do some people who support Trump also wind up believing conspiracy theories? There’s a scientific explanation for that. What makes this kind of speech worrying is that it is not just emotions like aggression they can manipulate; politicians can also use rhetoric to influence the public’s thoughts and beliefs, and spread lies and conspiracy theories. Those lies and conspiracy theories are stubbornly resistant to countervailing facts and can sow divisions that destabilize their own societies...What I have found is that throughout history, speeches by dictators and autocrats have one thing in common: they use dehumanizing metaphors to instill and propagate hatred of others...And it’s effective regardless of whether the people who hear this language are predisposed to jump to extreme conclusions. Once someone is tuned into these metaphors, their brain actually changes in ways that make them more likely to believe bigger lies, even conspiracy theories. These metaphors are part of a cognitive process that entraps some people in this kind of thinking while others are unaffected. Here’s how it works...This pattern becomes more effective the more it is used. According to studies, the more these circuits are activated the more hardwired they become, until it becomes almost impossible to turn them off. What this means is these repetitive uses of dehumanizing metaphors are incredibly powerful to those brains already willing to hear them, because they direct their thoughts, making it easy to focus on certain things and ignore others. The same is true of conspiracy theories. The neuroscientific research shows that people who believe them develop more rigid neural pathways, meaning they find it difficult to rethink situations once this pattern of thinking is established...This is how language that might seem like harmless hyperbole winds up literally changing the way people think. And once they think differently, they can act in ways that they might not have before...The tricky thing about all this is that some people are more susceptible to this type of rhetorical manipulation than others. This comes down to critical thinking and brain training. If one wants to or needs to believe then the language works manipulatively and the neural pathways are built up. If we aren’t fearful or primed to believe, our brain has mechanisms to alert us to the deceit. Simply put — if we are constantly critical of lies, our brains are more trained to notice them. Unfortunately, research into this brain wiring also shows that once people begin to believe lies, they are unlikely to change their minds even when confronted with evidence that contradicts their beliefs. It is a form of brainwashing...Not all hope is lost, however. History has shown that disruptive events — such as the toppling of a regime or the loss of a war — can force a new perspective and the brain is able to recalibrate. So it is at least possible to change this pattern. Once the critical mind is engaged, away from the frenzy of fear and manipulation, the lie can become clear. This is the uplifting moral tale that can be gleaned from history — all the great liars, from dictators to autocrats, were eventually defeated by truth, which eventually will win out.
Other Countries Know Housing Is a Human Right. Why Doesn’t America? Many European countries have systems to help unhoused people that put our society to shame. When will we change? If Athens can embrace the idea of housing as a fundamental human right, why on Earth can’t Los Angeles or San Francisco, Sacramento or San Diego? Or, for that matter, Seattle or Portland up north? It’s hardly as if Athens has more money or political clout than the major cities of the West Coast.
Some Houston school libraries will become disciplinary spaces and leave librarians out of a job. In the upcoming school year, the Houston Independent School District will eliminate librarian positions at more than two dozen schools and use some of the libraries as centers for students who have been removed from their classrooms for disciplinary reasons...“It’s true that we’re not going to have traditional libraries,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we’re doing anything with the books. The books are still there and kids can still read them.”
Texas child welfare agency fails vulnerable teens when they turn 18, whistleblower says. Although Texas and states across the country can serve young adults who’ve grown up in foster care until they turn 21, Magliolo stated that “there are many children aging out of care with serious developmental and/or mental health issues that have not been properly served by this organization.” The development disability specialist said she feels hobbled in her efforts to properly care for these children by her agency’s management staff, whom she described as “extremely abusive.”
FBI finds 200 sex trafficking victims, 59 missing children in two-week sweep. The FBI teamed with state and local agencies to identify or arrest 126 suspects of child sexual exploitation and human trafficking and 68 suspected traffickers.
Lizzo accused of sexual harassment and weight-shaming by former dancers. Three of Lizzo’s tour dancers have accused the singer of sexual harassment, and of creating a hostile work environment through sexual, racial and religious harassment in several incidents between 2021 and 2023, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday. The dancers also alleged that Lizzo, known as an advocate for body positivity and self-love, criticized a dancer’s recent weight gain and later berated, then fired, that dancer for recording a meeting.
We’re now finding out the damaging results of the mandated return to the office–and it’s worse than we thought. Unispace found that nearly half (42%) of companies with return-to-office mandates witnessed a higher level of employee attrition than they had anticipated. And almost a third (29%) of companies enforcing office returns are struggling with recruitment. In other words, employers knew the mandates would cause some attrition, but they weren’t ready for the serious problems that would result. Meanwhile, a staggering 76% of employees stand ready to jump ship if their companies decide to pull the plug on flexible work schedules, according to the Greenhouse report. Moreover, employees from historically underrepresented groups are 22% more likely to consider other options if flexibility comes to an end.
Canada launches warning labels on each cigarette. Canada will be the first nation to start printing warnings directly onto individual cigarettes in a bid to deter young people from starting smoking and encourage others to quit. The warnings, which will be in English and French, will include phrases like "Cigarettes cause cancer" and "Poison in every puff". The new regulations go into effect on Tuesday. Starting next year, Canadians will begin to see the new warning labels...The phrases will appear by the filter, including warnings about harming children, damaging organs and causing impotence and leukaemia.
Amazon adds video telemedicine visits nationwide to its virtual clinic. Amazon is adding video telemedicine visits in all 50 states to a virtual clinic it launched last fall, as the e-commerce giant pushes deeper into care delivery. Amazon said Tuesday that customers can visit its virtual clinic around the clock through Amazon’s website or app. There, they can compare prices and response times before picking a telemedicine provider from several options.
‘Giant’ orange creature found lurking in Amazon rainforest. It’s a new species. The creature, a type of giant crab spider, is a new species and the first of its genus to be found in the country, according to a study published on July 6 in the journal Ecology and Evolution.
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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