Thursday, May 5, 2022

And another day of violating religious freedom, using data to identify abortion seekers, TX Gov. Abbott might challenge public education for all kids, 15M Covid deaths, ‘living in Hell’ in India, LGBTQ suicides, fewer insects, and a LA bill that is so disgusting it changes what it means to live in America comes to a close: 

“If the justices who sit on the highest court in our land are able to lie under oath, what does that say about the viability of our justice system?” — Amy Siskind

“I have no idea who leaked it and don’t care, but it’s an effective way to lock in the 5 justices on the opinion. The minority has nothing to gain by it leaking.” — Claire McCaskill

“Republicans, you are not being attacked. What you are experiencing is the defense posture people continually have to be in as they face your incessant assaults on their efforts to enjoy life/liberty/happiness as promised in the framework of this nation.” — John Pavlovitz 

Deaths

US: 1,023,908 (+395)

World: 6,272,154 (+2647)

Cases

US: 83,437,158 (+80,668)

World: 515,877,151 (+549,311)

Nostalgic for the 1860s? Then You’ll Love Alito’s America. But when it comes to the project of creating an equal society that guarantees first class citizenship to all, seeking moral clarity from an era when only wealthy white men enjoyed the promised freedoms of the Constitution is a rigged game…If the purpose of the historical analysis is to ascertain what was considered a protected right long ago, it will be a recipe for undoing the progress of the 20th century. And that is, clearly, the point…If the founders didn’t explicitly name a right, then there’s no place for it in Alito’s America. In a few months, that may be everyone’s America.

I Counted All the Scholars Cited in the Leaked Roe Opinion. Can You Guess How Many Were Women? The opinion includes more than 75 citations from legal experts, historians, and scholars of philosophy. By my tally, just four are women. I also counted the number of times Alito cited a judge, either on the Supreme Court or lower courts. In all, he cites a judge or justice more than 90 times. Of those, just five were women. I’d also like to point out that Alito cites himself at least six times. I repeat: The man who authored the opinion to effectively end the right to abortion in the United States has cited himself more times than he cited female scholars combined…This is a document that may effectively govern the bodies of millions of uterus-owners. Shouldn’t we have more of a say in it?

“Do the young people here know that a woman could not get a credit card in her own name (etc) until 1974?  I was 12.” — loinsgirded (And I was 6.) 

Video: GOP Handmaid’s Tale. Spread this far and wide.

With Roe likely to fall, Senate Republicans weigh nationwide abortion restrictions. Senate Republicans have fought for decades to end Roe v. Wade. Now, with victory in sight, they are discussing whether to pursue nationwide restrictions on abortion if they gain power. -- Surely you didn’t think they would stop at just letting it be ‘state’s rights’ now did you? The GOP is all about big government; about the federal government controlling who you can marry, who you can have sex with, and who can and can’t have an abortion. Because never forget: rich, white Republicans will always be able to get abortions for their daughters and mistresses, regardless of what they or federal law may say.

Remember when Republicans were pro-choice? Conveniently, neither does Samuel Alito. The Republican thesis on abortion wasn’t ever about being a bastion of morality or saving unborn souls. It wasn’t even about protecting the states’ rights to legislate the issue. It was using the issue as cover as conservatives gripped ever more tightly that which has long mattered most to them: the preservation of white supremacy. -- As I have said before: everything goes back to racism and white supremacy.

“9 people are in charge of our nation’s laws for life with zero checks & balances. At the very least they should be beholden to those laws.” -- PoliticsGirl

Editorial: And that’s a major flaw in our system. 

'We can't wait on the Supreme Court': In Louisiana, abortion could become a crime of murder. A Louisiana legislative committee on Wednesday advanced a bill to make abortion a crime of homicide in which the mother or those assisting her in terminating the pregnancy can be charged. The measure cleared the House Appropriations Committee on a 7-2 vote despite at least one of the representatives voting in favor acknowledging the bill is unconstitutional. -- This LA bill makes abortion a crime of homicide “at the moment of fertilization.” It also covers ectopic pregnancies. So, if a woman has an ectopic pregnancy, then her options are either to die, or go on trial for murder. Think about that. If this bill becomes law, then women in Louisiana become nothing more than disposable hosts for the State.

Jewish Leaders: Banning Abortion is 'Absolutely' a Violation of Religious Freedom. At the end of the day, Black hopes fundamental Christianity won’t always stand in the way of other people’s religious practices. But as one of the few Rabbis of color, Rabbi Lawson knows the “universality of one belief,” or the privilege that allows people to believe that their belief is the norm, and its link to white supremacy will prevent that from happening any time soon. “The normal belief is whatever white people think or whatever men think, and when people talk about religion in our country, they’re talking about a particular lens of one religion,” she says. “Christians do not represent all religions and their perspective is not universal of other religious traditions.” — The GOP and the current SCOTUS have shown they do not believe in religious freedom. It’s their white, oppressive, bullshit Christianity they want to force upon everyone. 

A Canadian official says Americans can get abortions there if Roe is overturned. A spokesperson for Gould later told the network that Americans accessing health care services in Canada — which has a universal, publicly-funded health care system — would continue to have to pay for the service either out-of-pocket or with their own private insurance, if they're not covered by one of Canada's provincial health plans.

Roe draft raises concerns data could be used to identify abortion seekers, providers. Concerns that data gathered from peoples’ interactions with their digital devices could potentially be used to identify individuals seeking or performing abortions have come into the spotlight with the news that pregnancy termination services could soon be severely restricted or banned in much of the United States.

Ben Shapiro: "Obergefell is a bad Supreme Court decision and if we had a Supreme Court worth its salt, they would overturn Obergefell."

“There it is. Wasting no time goading SCOTUS into overturning same-sex marriage. There is more at stake in November than you can imagine.” -- Brian Tyler Cohen

“If the last 6 years have taught us anything it should be to not dismiss worst case scenarios.” — Schooley

Gov. Abbott says Texas could challenge Supreme Court case requiring states to educate all kids. Abbott says Texas may "resurrect" the case of Plyler v. Doe from 1982. The ruling gave all children the right to free public education, including the kids of undocumented immigrants. Critics have already called the idea 'alarming' after the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion on Roe v. Wade. -- And you certainly didn’t think Republicans weren’t going to go after anything else now did you? The GOP is a series of nuclear bombs that are going off in this country. If they are not stopped, we will no longer have a free country. We will be ruled by extreme white Christianity in its purest form.

President Biden has chosen Karine Jean-Pierre as White House press secretary to replace Jen Psaki, who leaves on May 13. Jean-Pierre would be the first Black woman and the first openly LGBTQ+ person in the role.

WHO: Nearly 15 million deaths associated with COVID-19. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 15 million people were killed either by coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems during the first two years of the pandemic, more than double the current official death toll of over 6 million. Most of the deaths occurred in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas, according to a WHO report issued Thursday.

Omicron as severe as previous COVID variants, large study finds. The Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV2 virus is intrinsically as severe as previous variants, according to a preprint version of a large U.S. study that counters assumptions in other studies that it was more transmissible but less severe.

US restricts use of Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine over rare blood clot risk. The Food and Drug Administration said the shot should only be given to adults who cannot receive a different vaccine or specifically request Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine.

Stocks slump 3% as worries grow over higher interest rates. A sharp sell-off left the Dow Jones Industrial Average more than 1,000 points lower Thursday, wiping out the gains from Wall Street’s biggest rally in two years, as worries grow that the higher interest rates the Federal Reserve is using in its fight against inflation will derail the economy.

“They anxiously await any piece of bad news, anywhere in the world, so they can blame it on Biden. They want things to go bad. That’s how they see their path to power. They need to tap into anger and resentment. GOP ‘patriotism’ is wearing a flag while rooting for America to fail.” — Ron Filipkowski

Nude video latest scandal turning Republicans against U.S. Rep. Cawthorn. A grainy 28-second video showing a naked young man gyrating against someone in bed amid squeals and laughter was the latest in a string of episodes that has turned Republicans against one of their own: the brash U.S. Representative Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina. The group that released the video online said it depicted Cawthorn, who did not dispute the claim. The 26-year-old political novice on Thursday slammed the video's release as a "hit" and "blackmail" against him and said it showed him joking with a friend years ago.

Michigan State Police seizes voting machine as it expands investigation into potential breaches tied to 2020 election. The Michigan State Police has expanded its investigation into whether third parties gained unauthorized access to voting machine data after the 2020 election, and is now examining potential breaches in at least one new county.

“Living in Hell” as Heatwaves Cook India and Pakistan. Extreme spring temperatures are driving water and power shortages. Locals have been driven into their homes, unable to work except during the cooler night hours, and are facing critical shortages of water and power.

Nearly half of LGBTQ youths in US considered suicide last year: study. The study found that 45 percent of respondents said they seriously considered suicide last year, and that 14 percent tried to take their life. Among those aged 13 to 17, the share of those who said they seriously considered suicide rose to 50 percent.

Overweight men more likely to die from prostate cancer: Study. Every 10 centimeters (four inches) on a man’s waist increases his risk of dying from prostate cancer by seven percent, according to a new study on Thursday - the largest ever conducted on a possible link between obesity and the disease.

Flying insect numbers have plunged by 60% since 2004, GB survey finds. The number of flying insects in Great Britain has plunged by almost 60% since 2004, according to a survey that counted splats on car registration plates. The scientists behind the survey said the drop was “terrifying”, as life on Earth depends on insects.

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

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

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

And another day of Russian election interference, the 25th Amendment, 1M US Covid deaths, liver damage in kids, Lake Powell, Southern CA not having enough water for summer, a public university makes drastic cuts, Cawthorn, and more on abortion comes to a close:

“This is a very conservative court that is increasingly out of step with mainstream public opinion, and there’s no real mechanism to change that.” — Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux

“Outlawing abortion, criminalizing gender-affirming care, banning books...The GOP is not the party of limited government. It’s not the party of "freedom," either. It's the party of social control.” — Robert Reich

“Never forget: They feign shock to avoid accountability.”— Sarah Kendzior

Deaths

US: 1,023,513 (+1932)

World: 6,269,507 (+3710)

Cases

US: 83,356,490 (+116,389)

World: 515,327,840 (+674,619)

Trump official interfered in report on Russian election meddling. Chad Wolf, Donald Trump’s acting secretary of homeland security, interfered with a report on Russian interference in the 2020 election by demanding changes, delaying its dissemination and creating a risk the report might be seen as politicised, a government watchdog said.

Report: Kevin McCarthy Suggested Invoking the 25th Amendment to Oust Trump. New leaked audio reveals just how close Republican leadership came to supporting the movement to oust former President Donald Trump in the days after the January 6 attack on the Capitol...Publicly, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has toed the party line, but behind closed doors, he brainstormed ways to remove Trump from office. “What the president did is atrocious and totally wrong,” McCarthy said in a call on January 8, 2021.

AP evidence points to 600 dead in Mariupol theater airstrike. Amid all the horrors that have unfolded in the war on Ukraine, the Russian bombing of the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater in Mariupol on March 16 stands out as the single deadliest known attack against civilians to date.

Samuel Alito's Antiabortion Inspiration: A 17th-Century Jurist Who Supported Marital Rape and Had Women Executed. The Supreme Court justice wants to turn the U.S. into a dystopian hellscape where women are property—and he’s not stopping there…Yes, Alito literally quoted this guy, who was born in 1609, as a defense for ending Roe v. Wade in 2022…“You don’t need to read too far between the lines of Alito’s draft to see a rationale for overturning or weakening Griswold (the right to contraception) Obergefell (same-sex marriage) Loving (interracial marriage) Lawrence (consensual sex acts).” Incidentally, it was less than a month ago that GOP senator Mike Braun said that states should be allowed to ban interracial marriage (before claiming he misunderstood the question that led to him saying such a thing multiple times).

It's impossible to wall off reversing Roe from landmark marriage and contraception rulings. Alito himself voted against the right to same-sex marriage when that case was decided in 2015…"Left to his own devices, Justice Alito would happily welcome challenges to many of the Court's foundational fundamental rights decisions," said Leah Litman, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School. "The critiques he levels at Roe -- it's not in the constitutional text; there aren't early state constitutional provisions or early state or federal court decisions recognizing the right -- apply to those other rights, and he'd happily overrule them if he could."…And while Alito and lawyers for Mississippi tread very carefully, one lawyer writing a friend of the court brief on behalf of Texas Right to Life did not. Jonathan F. Mitchell -- the architect of Texas' six-week ban -- did not mince his words in a friend of the court brief filed in the Mississippi case in support of the law…Mitchell allowed that the court could overturn Roe without "cutting the legs from under" Loving v. Virginia, which he said is defensible under the Civil Rights Act of 1866. But he added: "The news is not as good for those who hope to preserve the court-invented rights to homosexual behavior and same-sex marriage." He said the court did not have to overrule those decisions if it decided to overturn Roe. "But neither should the court hesitate to write an opinion that leaves those decisions hanging by a thread," he concluded, calling them "as lawless as Roe." — The Republican Party is a fascist party.

The biggest health risks women would face if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Research suggests the bans and restrictions would have manifold effects on maternal health. For one, if more pregnant people can't get the abortions they seek, they'd shoulder the risk of the U.S.'s relatively high — and rising — rate of death from pregnancy-related causes, which is particularly elevated among people of color. "There are going to be women that will die from pregnancy because of this decision, period.”...In addition, pregnant people would face the risk of prosecution for seeking to end pregnancies in states where abortion is banned, and research has shown that unwanted pregnancies have many harmful long-term consequences for mothers, including a higher chance of financial hardship and a severe toll on mental health. -- None of these deaths will bother Republicans because Republicans are not “pro-life.” They are only “pro-birth.”

What Would Striking Down Roe v. Wade Mean For The Midterms? This is a very conservative court that is increasingly out of step with mainstream public opinion, and there’s no real mechanism to change that.

Democrats, Stop Telling Us to "Just Vote" to Save Abortion Rights. The morning after Americans learned they will likely lose their governmentally-enshrined right to reproductive autonomy, President Joe Biden told them to get out and vote. Even though Supreme Court appointees aren’t democratically elected; even though his party controls the White House and Congress, the other two-thirds of the government’s system of checks and balances; even though some argue that former liberals on the court fumbled the bag by not handing off power; even though there are already plenty of elected abortion rights supporters in Congress who still weren’t able to stop this. No, the Democrats woke up in power and only remembered how to blame the people that got them there, rather than take any responsibility…All this instead of focusing on the real problem, which is that the Democrats remain impotent despite all the power they’ve gained, and unwilling to actually hold their party members to the promises they’ve made.

With abortion in jeopardy, minority women have most to lose. If you are Black or Hispanic in a conservative state that already limits access to abortions, you are far more likely than a white woman to have one. And if the U.S. Supreme Court allows states to further restrict or even ban abortions, minority women who already face limited access to health care will bear the brunt of it, according to statistics analyzed by The Associated Press.

America doesn’t have a real democracy. The Roe v Wade draft opinion proves it. Opinion polls have long shown conclusively that the public supports abortion rights — but Republicans have made sure we have a system that doesn’t reflect what the public wants.

The Far Right Is Already Celebrating the End of Abortion. The far-right is celebrating what it sees as the impending collapse of abortion rights in the U.S., labeling women “witches” and “whores” and declaring “Christ is King” across social media. “Christ is King” is a familiar phrase in Christianity, especially the Catholic Church, but it’s been co-opted recently by “America First” Christian ultra-nationalists, who have chanted it at political rallies and anti-abortion marches and used it as a rallying cry online. Now it’s being used to signify support for the demise of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide, after Politico published a leaked draft opinion by the Supreme Court Monday. The document revealed that a majority of the justices voted to overturn the landmark case…The far-right have been able to make those inroads by riding the wave of Christian nationalist ideology that swelled during Donald Trump’s presidency. Christian nationalists worship Trump as a Christlike figure and believe America is an inherently Christian nation. They’ve framed contentious social and political issues—voting rights, abortion, transgender healthcare, LGBTQ rights, vaccines, and “critical race theory”—as primordial battles between good and evil that threaten not only Christian values but American values…Many of the far-right accounts that have weighed in on Roe v. Wade since Monday night have also not held back from using explicitly misogynistic, violent language that promotes tired tropes about women and sexual purity. — The American Taliban. 

As US poised to restrict abortion, other nations ease access. As women in the United States find themselves on the verge of possibly losing the constitutional right to abortion, courts in many other parts of the world have been moving in the opposite direction. That includes in a number of traditionally conservative societies — such as recently in Colombia, where the Constitutional Court in February legalized the procedure until the 24th week of pregnancy, part of a broader trend seen in parts of heavily Catholic Latin America.

Trump’s Justices Bullshitted Us on Abortion. Is Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision ensuring abortion rights, the “settled law” of the United States? Judging from the draft opinion leaked Monday night, former President Donald Trump’s nominees to the high court sure don’t think so. But that’s not the answer they gave during their confirmation hearings, when all three Trump-appointed justices attempted to reassure Congress and the public that pro-choice advocates had nothing to fear. — Republicans lie. They always lie. They lie more than Democrats. But the worst part is that they fuck the country over with their lies.

LGBTQ people fear abortion rights reversal. Some LGBTQ people fear the reversal of abortion rights protections would have far-reaching impacts — both on their health and other rights such as marriage equality.

Covid's toll in the U.S. reaches a once unfathomable number: 1 million deaths. The U.S. on Wednesday surpassed 1 million Covid-19 deaths, according to data compiled by NBC News — a once unthinkable scale of loss even for the country with the world's highest recorded toll from the virus. The number — equivalent to the population of San Jose, California, the 10th largest city in the U.S. — was reached at stunning speed: 27 months after the country confirmed its first case of the virus..."This is far from over.” -- And so few people still care.

'They're still coming': More cases of unusual liver damage in kids reported. At least 228 such cases have been reported in 20 countries, she said. Ten percent of the children have needed liver transplants. The usual suspects, hepatitis viruses A through E, have been ruled out. Children are not showing up with evidence of Covid-19, and most are too young to have received the Covid vaccines.

Editorial: Look. I don’t care that Madison Cawthorn likes to dress in women’s clothing. I don’t care that Madison Cawthorn likes men. I don’t care that there is video of him and his cousin naked in bed together and Cawthorn shoving his dick in his cousin’s face. I don’t care what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own relationships. I do care, though, that Madison Cawthorn has attacked the entire LGBTQ+ community. I’m sure this is all GOP payback for him outing the GOP cocaine orgies.

Dr. Oz's vote in 2018 Turkish election renews criticism. But a photograph of Oz casting a ballot in Turkey's 2018 presidential election is rankling some national security experts -- particularly after recently saying he has "never been politically involved in Turkey in any capacity."..."Any single one of those would be enough to torpedo a [security] clearance," McClanahan said. "Taken together, I would not put good odds on that person getting a clearance anywhere."

Fed issues biggest rate hike in 22 years. The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it is raising interest rates by a half-percentage point to get a handle on the worst inflation America has seen in 40 years. -- Let’s be clear: inflation is currently a global problem. It is not unique to the US. It is not Biden’s fault. It is also temporary. Losing rights is not temporary. Keep perspective.

U.S. takes unprecedented steps to replenish Colorado River’s Lake Powell. Water levels at Lake Powell are so low as to endanger the production of hydroelectric power for seven Western states.

Officials worry Southern California won’t have enough water to get through summer without unprecedented cuts. As Southern Californians brace for unprecedented water restrictions, officials worry some communities won’t have enough water to get through the summer – at least not without residents and businesses significantly cutting back on their usage. The state’s top natural resources officer told CNN that California’s water emergency clearly shows the climate crisis in action. “Some would consider this a wake-up call. I disagree,” Wade Crowfoot, California’s secretary for natural resources, told CNN. “The alarm’s already gone off.”

University Seeks to Cut 67 Faculty, 44 of Them Tenured. The administration of Henderson State University, [a public university] in Arkansas, on Monday proposed cutting 67 faculty jobs, 44 of them held by tenured professors. The university also seeks to eliminate another 21 positions that are unfilled. In addition, the university would eliminate all part-time and adjunct positions. Twenty-four majors would be eliminated under the plan, including English, history, political science, biology, chemistry and mathematics. New “meta-majors” will be created in health, education and social sustainability, applied professional science and technology, business innovation and entrepreneurship, and arts and humanities.

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

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

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

And another day in the evangelicalpocalypse comes to a close:

“The law of the land in the United States of America depends entirely on exactly when Supreme Court Justices die. Absurd.” -- Lawrence O’Donnell

“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.” — Elie Wiesel

“GOP on guns: No point in gun control because if you want a gun, you’ll find one.

GOP on abortion: Yeah well that’s different.” -- Linwood Barclay

Deaths

US: 1,021,581

World: 6,265,797

Cases

US: 83,240,101

World: 514,653,221

4 things we know, and one big thing we don’t, about the draft opinion overruling Roe v. Wade. The draft opinion also relies heavily on a traditional conservative argument that overruling Roe promotes democracy by allowing each state to decide how it will regulate abortion. He quotes a 30-year-old opinion from the late Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, which stated that “the permissibility of abortion, and the limitations upon it, are to be resolved like most important questions in our democracy: by citizens trying to persuade one another and then voting.” These appeals to democracy would be more persuasive if Alito had shown any concern about democracy in any other context whatsoever. Among other things, Alito is the author of two separate decisions gutting key provisions of the Voting Rights Act. And he joined a 2019 decision that ordered federal courts not to block partisan gerrymanders. So, while Alito’s draft Dobbs opinion would give state legislatures’ broad authority to regulate or ban abortion, Alito’s voting rights opinions make it much harder for voters to actually have a meaningful say in who sits in those legislatures.

Map: 23 states would ban abortion in a post-Roe America. Abortion rights would be up to the states if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Two-dozen states and territories would ban it immediately, and 13 have “trigger laws” waiting for the ruling.

Alito’s draft heavily references English legal precedent, including that of famed jurist Sir Matthew Hale who, it should be noted, had at least two women executed for witchcraft and wrote a treatise supporting marital rape…for those interested in why Sir Matthew Hale’s views on abortion are suddenly relevant.

“Sounds about right for today’s GOP.” — David Corn

“It's Democrats vs. Fascists in 2022. Vote accordingly.” — Mary L Trump

The case against the Supreme Court of the United States. For nearly all of its history, it’s been a reactionary institution, a political one that serves the interests of the already powerful at the expense of the most vulnerable…If Alito truly wants to put the question of whether pregnant individuals have a right to terminate that pregnancy up to a free and fair democratic process, polling indicates that liberals could probably win that fight on a national level…But public opinion may not matter much in the coming political fight over abortion, because Alito and his fellow Republican justices have spent the past decade placing a thumb on the scales of democracy — making our system even less democratic than one that already features the Electoral College and a malapportioned Senate…But really, every issue pales in importance to the right to vote. If this right is not protected, then liberals are truly defenseless — even when they enjoy overwhelming majority support…It’s not surprising that an institution made up entirely of elite lawyers, who are immune from political accountability and cannot be fired, tends to protect people who are already powerful and cast a much more skeptical eye on people who are marginalized because of their race, gender, or class…And, as the Court’s history shows, when conservatives do control the Court, they use their power to devastating effect…This institution has not served the American people well, and it’s time to start treating it that way.

An earth-shattering moment for a Supreme Court already on the brink. The US Supreme Court's legitimacy has been deeply pierced, and it may never recover its stature in the eyes of America. For Chief Justice John Roberts, whose concern for the institution's reputation is manifest in nearly every opinion he writes and every public speech he makes, the developments are a disaster of the highest order. -- SCOTUS is not an impartial body.

Democrats push to codify Roe after leaked opinion. But they don’t have the votes. But even though they control the White House and both chambers of Congress, they don't have the votes — and are unlikely to find them under the current configuration of Capitol Hill, where they hold slim majorities and face fierce Republican opposition. -- The system is rigged in favor of Republicans.

Manchin defends filibuster amid calls to codify abortion rights. But asked about getting rid of the filibuster, Manchin defended it, saying that “the filibuster is the only protection we have in democracy.”

In Roe reversal, Alito writes manual for conservatives to reshape court. But Justice Samuel Alito's argument also creates a manual for high court conservatives to give power back to states to limit many more individual rights. Like abortion, rights involving same-sex intimacy and marriage, interracial marriage, and contraception are ensured by past interpretations of the 14th Amendment — such as the one the new decision would overturn. “I fear that the court is on a course to roll back all kinds of protections to back at the time of the founding, when women and Black people had no rights,” said Kim Wehle, a constitutional law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

Oklahoma governor signs Texas-style ban on most abortions. Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a Texas-style abortion ban on Tuesday that prohibits abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, part of a nationwide push in GOP-led states hopeful that the conservative U.S. Supreme Court will uphold new restrictions. “I want Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state in the country,” Stitt tweeted after signing the bill. -- Let’s be clear: They are not “pro-life.” They are “pro-birth.” They don’t give a shit about you once you’re born.

These companies will help staff in red states bypass abortion bans. Millions of women in more than 25 states face an abortion ban if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized the procedure nationwide. For many of those women, employers’ benefit packages may be the only way they can soon afford a legal abortion...Corporate America is increasingly being drawn from the political sidelines on the abortion issue in response to pressure from investors, customers and employees. Companies are also struggling to attract and retain talent and worry about the impact these states’ anti-abortion laws could have on their workers.

Newer, fitter descendants of Omicron variant begin to drive their own coronavirus waves. There’s no denying the numbers: Even with spotty reporting, Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are rising again in the United States. Cases are trending up in most states and have increased by more than 50% compared with the previous week in Washington, Mississippi, Georgia, Maine, Hawaii, South Dakota, Nevada and Montana. In New York, more than a quarter of the state’s population is in a county with a “high” Covid-19 community level, where the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends indoor masking...The culprit this time appears to be a spinoff of Omicron’s BA.2 subvariant called BA.2.12.1, which was first flagged by New York state health officials in April.

BA.2.12.1, which is growing about 25% faster than its parent virus, BA.2, accounts for nearly 37% all Covid-19 cases across the US, according to new estimates from the CDC.

CDC restates recommendation for masks on planes, trains. U.S. health officials on Tuesday restated their recommendation that Americans wear masks on planes, trains and buses, despite a court ruling last month that struck down a national mask mandate on public transportation.

It’s official: J.D. Vance has won—another indication that Donald Trump’s influence over the GOP remains as strong as ever. J.D. Vance, the Peter Thiel-ally and Hillbilly Elegy author, has won the highly contested Republican Senate primary in Ohio. Vance’s victory over a group of Ohio politicians, including former state treasurer Josh Mandel and state Sen. Matt Dolan, is more evidence that Donald Trump’s towering influence over the Republican Party has yet to abate.

In an omen for other parts of the world, a punishing heat wave in South Asia is putting more than 1 billion people in danger of heat stroke. A punishing heat wave has pushed temperatures past 120F (50C) in some areas. Some schools have closed early for the summer. Dozens of people have died of heatstroke. The region is already hard-hit by climate change. Extreme heat is common in May. But not in April and March, both of which were the hottest across much of India for more than a century.

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

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

Monday, May 2, 2022

And the day in which our rights as Americans start to disappear comes to a close:

“Elections can have such terrible consequences. Let tonight be a wake up call to Democrats around the country. It’s real and we need to fight like never before.” -- Terry McAuliffe

Report: Draft opinion suggests high court will overturn Roe. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It’s unclear if the draft represents the court’s final word on the matter.

Here’s the actual Politico story.

“One might imagine that, if Roe is struck down, other rights that have seemingly been 'set in stone' could now also be reversed.” — Kyle Griffin

10 key passages from Alito's draft opinion, which would overturn Roe v. Wade. “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision....”

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

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

Sunday, May 1, 2022

And another day of mounting evidence, monuments, new text messages, TX leaders misleading the public, biased CA police, soaring profits, free speech is not an excuse, Twitter hiding tweets, and marijuana linked to risk of heart attacks comes to a close:

“Ukraine should shame us all.  They’re fightin’ to cling to what half our country can’t wait to throw away.” — Tea Pain

Deaths

US: 1,020,854

World: 6,261,598

Cases

US: 83,083,425

World: 513,580,931

Evidence mounts of GOP involvement in Trump election schemes. Texting with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, a close ally and friend, at nearly midnight on Jan. 5, Jordan offered a legal rationale for what President Donald Trump was publicly demanding — that Vice President Mike Pence, in his ceremonial role presiding over the electoral count, somehow assert the authority to reject electors from Biden-won states. Pence “should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all,” Jordan wrote. “I have pushed for this,” Meadows replied. “Not sure it is going to happen.” -- Traitors.

Russian occupiers erect a monument to Lenin in Nova Kakhovka. “While Ukraine is the first in the world to launch electronic passports, orcs [Russian soldiers] are restoring a monument to Lenin in temporarily occupied Nova Kakhovka. Just wait, my dears, when these savages leave the territory of our country we’ll see the Fall of Lenin 2.0 ". — And many American conservatives support this Russian regime.

“Last week the GOP…

“1) Claimed the Catholic Church is ‘controlled by Satan.’

“2) Went to war with Disney because they defended LGBTQ kids.

“3) Adopted a billionaire as a “messiah’ because he’s tryin’ to let neo-Nazis back on Twitter.” — Tea Pain

New text messages reveal Fox’s Hannity advising Trump White House and seeking direction. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Fox’s Sean Hannity exchanged more than 80 text messages between Election Day 2020 and Joe Biden’s January 2021 inauguration, communications that show Hannity’s evolution from staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump’s election lies to being “fed up” with the “lunatics” hurting Trump’s cause in the days before January 6.

Reality Check: Seven Times Texas Leaders Misled the Public About Operation Lone Star. As they investigated Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s border initiative, reporters repeatedly found situations where Abbott and DPS officials cited accomplishments that lacked crucial context or did not match reality. Here are a few examples. — The Republican Party has fully embraced fascism.

Republicans have the advantage with voters in 2022 elections, poll finds. It's the first time in eight years that Marist's survey has found Republicans with an advantage on the congressional ballot test. Back then, months before the 2014 midterm elections, Republicans had a 5-point edge in the poll and then won control of both the House and Senate. — Because a large group of Americans have fully embraced fascism. 

Some California police are biased. A report says they have no clear plans to fix that. A scathing new report by California's Auditor of five large police departments across the state found evidence of officer bias against women, people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQ people, as well as woefully inadequate department policies and procedures to stop discrimination or investigate incidents once they come to light.

ExxonMobil took a $3.4 billion hit for exiting Russia. Its profit still soared. Revenue at ExxonMobil soared 53% to $90.5 billion. Even with the charge for exiting Russia, net income doubled to $5.4 billion. And excluding special items, its income more than tripled to $8.8 billion from $2.7 billion a year earlier...Chevron (CVX) revenue jumped 70% to $54.4 billion, while its profit excluding special items more than tripled to $6.5 billion from $1.7 billion a year earlier, slightly topping Wall Street forecasts. -- They’re playing us all for suckers.

Why Twitter Is Unlikely To Become The ‘Digital Town Square’ Elon Musk Envisions. But the digital town square Musk is envisioning might not materialize because Twitter has never lived up to its goal of being a marketplace of ideas. More than that, Americans seem to dislike the social media platforms that forgo content moderation entirely, with anything-goes platforms never being quite as popular as the larger platforms that limit some of what users see. A town square that is a free-speech free-for-all risks becoming the kind of place that few people want to visit, which serves as its own limit on the kind of speech it fosters.

Why Free Speech Isn’t An Excuse. And that’s the biggest problem with this line of thinking: once you allow toxicity and abuse to flourish under the protection of the first amendment, you actually create less free speech overall.

Twitter Admits It Hid Tweets About HBO's QAnon Docuseries. The documentary criticizes Twitter for the role it has played in the spread of QAnon…Believing the response in error, Hoback’s production house, Hyrax Films, reached out to members of the Twitter communications team to request help. A response came three days later. To Hoback’s surprise, Twitter informed him the decision was intentional…“The way to unravel QAnon was to reveal the underlying mechanics and players behind it; not censoring all discussion around the topic.” — Fuck you, Twitter.

Frequent marijuana smoking linked to higher risk of heart attack, study suggests. People who smoked marijuana more than once per month were more likely to have their first heart attack before age 50, new research found.

RIP Naomi Judd. She was 76.

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