Sunday, August 7, 2022

And another day of budget packages, Rs blocking cap on insulin costs, a voting-system breach, the FBI didn’t thoroughly investigate Kavanaugh, TX juvenile prison system on brink of collapse, FL parental ‘advisory notices’ over books, and quiet quitting comes to a close:

“The body inside of the mom’s body is not her body. Not her body, not her choice.” — Rep. John Jacob (R)

“Vote like it’s the last time you can…or it may very well be.” -- MI State Senator Mallory McMorrow

Deaths

US: 1,058,738

World: 6,436,492

Cases

US: 93,910,150

World: 589,384,447

Senate Democrats pass budget package, a victory for Biden. Democrats pushed their election-year economic package to Senate passage Sunday, a hard-fought compromise less ambitious than President Joe Biden’s original domestic vision but one that still meets deep-rooted party goals of slowing global warming, moderating pharmaceutical costs and taxing immense corporations.

What's in the Manchin-Schumer deal on climate, health care and taxes. 

For a president who so many people believe is failing, Joe Biden sure is suddenly notching up an impressive string of victories. And they’re not minor. In fact, Biden is on a roll when it comes to both domestic and foreign policy.

Republicans block cap on insulin costs for many Americans from Democratic deal. Republican senators on Sunday voted down a cap on the price of insulin in the private market, removing it from Democrats’ sweeping climate and economic package. Democrats had tried to preserve the provision to cap insulin costs at $35 for private insurers, but that vote failed 57-43, with seven Republicans voting with them to keep the insulin cost cap in the bill, three short of what was needed. -- Here is the list of Republicans that blocked the $35 cap.

GOP seeking power over elections in Wisconsin, Minnesota. Wisconsin’s secretary of state has no role in elections, but that could change if Republicans are able to flip the seat this year and pass a law that would empower the office with far more responsibilities. All three GOP candidates competing for the nomination in Tuesday’s primary support the shift and echo former President Donald Trump’s false claims that fraud cost him the 2020 election. If successful, the move would be a bold attempt to shift power to an office Republicans hope to control going into the 2024 presidential election and would represent a reversal from just six years ago when Republicans established the Wisconsin Elections Commission with bipartisan support. In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden won Wisconsin by about 21,000 votes in the presidential race.

Trump-backed Michigan attorney general candidate involved in voting-system breach, documents show. The analysis shows that people working with Matthew DePerno - the Trump-endorsed nominee for the state’s top law-enforcement post - examined a vote tabulator from Richfield Township, a conservative stronghold of 3,600 people in northern Michigan’s Roscommon County...Under state law, it is a felony to seek or provide unauthorized access to voting equipment.

Indiana becomes 1st state to approve abortion ban post Roe. Indiana on Friday became the first state in the nation to approve abortion restrictions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, as the Republican governor quickly signed a near-total ban on the procedure shortly after lawmakers approved it. The ban, which takes effect Sept. 15, includes some exceptions. Abortions would be permitted in cases of rape and incest, before 10-weeks post-fertilization; to protect the life and physical health of the mother; and if a fetus is diagnosed with a lethal anomaly. Victims of rape and incest would not be required to sign a notarized affidavit attesting to an attack, as had once been proposed. — Let’s be clear. Indiana voters did not approve this. A few white Republicans (mostly men) approved this. Vote them all out of office.

Biden team, Eli Lilly condemn new Indiana abortion ban. The administration of President Joe Biden and one of Indiana’s largest employers have condemned the state’s new ban on abortions, with the White House calling it another extreme attempt by Republicans to trample women’s rights.

The FBI Confirms Its Brett Kavanaugh Investigation Was A Total Sham. Given these allegations—in addition to Kavanaugh’s temperament, which, to put it in terms he can understand, could be best described as “a hothead who just did a 10 Jägerbombs”—it struck many as outrageous for him to be given a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court. That sense of outrage only deepened last year, when we learned that the FBI had received 4,500—4,500!—tips about Kavanaugh, which were referred to the White House, i.e. the organization trying to get the guy confirmed to the Court. And now, the FBI has confirmed that, yeah, it didn’t really feel the need to look into any of those tips, and when it did follow up on some, the White House was making sure it didn’t dig too far…Regardless of whether or not it’s true that the FBI has a policy of taking direction “from the requesting entity,” it would seem that if an individual is up for a job in which he will have the power to affect millions of people’s lives, and has been accused of engaging in horrible acts, the most powerful investigative body in the country should take a more active role.

How Alex Jones helped mainstream conspiracy theories become part of American life. But even if Jones were to go silent and Infowars went out of business tomorrow, the seeds of doubt he so effectively planted are flourishing. "Conspiracy is a permanent part of our political and cultural discourse now," Ryan said. "I think you can say that Alex Jones was an innovator in that." — Alex Jones is a maggot infested steaming pile of shit on a hot and humid day. 

Almost 600 Texas youths are trapped in a juvenile prison system on the brink of collapse. Its five lockups are dangerously understaffed, an ongoing problem that worsened dramatically last year when its turnover rate for detention officers hit more than 70%. The state has desperately tried to recruit employees, but most new hires are gone within six months. Teachers and caseworkers routinely work in security roles so the prisons’ nearly 600 youth can get out of their cells to go to the bathroom or take showers. Still, children have reported being left to use water bottles as makeshift toilets.

GOP governors sent buses of migrants to D.C. and NYC — with no plan for what's next. For months now, the governors of Texas and Arizona have been sending charter buses full of migrants and refugees to Washington, D.C.'s Union Station, just a few blocks from the Capitol building. When they disembark, they find neither the local nor federal government there to meet them.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, said on Friday he has started to send buses carrying migrants to New York City in an effort to push responsibility for border crossers to Democratic mayors and U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

A Florida school district added a parental 'advisory notice' to over 100 books. The notices were added to LGBTQ books, books about race and several literary classics, including Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.” “This Advisory Notice shall serve to inform you that this book has been identified by some community members as unsuitable for students,” the label states. “This book will also be identified in the Destiny system with the same notation. The decision as to whether this book is suitable or unsuitable shall be the decision of the parent(s) who has the right to oversee his/her child’s education consistent with state law.”

Quiet quitting: why doing the bare minimum at work has gone global. “Since the pandemic, people’s relationship with work has been studied in many ways, and the literature typically, across the professions, would argue that, yes, people’s way of relating to their work has changed.”…Enlightened companies are designing jobs that give employees control, pride in their work and a fair wage, but those efforts are undermined by the cost of living crisis, and workers end up feeling shortchanged. “People talk about money, and that’s important,” Weinberg said, “but beyond that, they want to be respected for what they do, and valued in some way.”

Discoveries in Pompeii reveal lives of lower and middle classes. “In the Roman empire, there was an ample chunk of the population that struggled with their social status and for whom daily bread was anything but a given,’’ Zuchtriegel said. “A vulnerable class during political crises and food shortages, but also ambitious about climbing the social ladder.”

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

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

Friday, August 5, 2022

And another day of lots of jobs, more abortion bans, the Parkland massacre site, AR-15s in schools, $45.2M, China stops contact with US, monkeypox, “beliefs” are not discrimination, and Greg Abbott and Kim Crockett being horrible people comes to a close:

“President Biden just had the best week of his administration. Pass it on!” — Tea Pain

“It’s time for the media to reassess the way they cover the Biden administration. Big things are getting done, and while they may not be as sensational as injecting bleach or nuking hurricanes, they deserve much more attention.” — Andrew Weinstein

Deaths

US: 1,058,637 (+826)

World: 6,433,809 (+3698)

Cases

US: 93,866,641 (+126,975)

World: 587,594,865 (+1,027,181)

US employers add 528,000 jobs; unemployment falls to 3.5%. Defying anxiety about a possible recession and raging inflation, America’s employers added a stunning 528,000 jobs last month, restoring all the jobs lost in the coronavirus recession. Unemployment fell to 3.5%, lowest since the pandemic struck in early 2020.

The Inflation Reduction Act, explained. It contains historic provisions to tackle climate change and takes steps toward fulfilling a longtime Democratic policy goal: letting Medicare negotiate the prices of some prescription drugs. The bill could affect what kind of car you buy and how you heat your home. It will prevent big price increases this year for some people who purchase individual health insurance. And if you aren’t paying your taxes, there’s a better chance that the IRS will find out. Here’s what’s in the bill and what it would mean for American life in the coming years.

Indiana House passes abortion ban, sends to Senate. The Indiana House on Friday voted for a ban on nearly all abortions in the state, sending the legislation back to the state Senate to confer on House changes. House members advanced the near-total abortion ban 62-38 with limited exceptions, including in cases of rape and incest, and to protect the life and physical health of the mother.

Frozen in horror: Notes from inside the Parkland school massacre site. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School's 1200 building has been sealed since the massacre on February 14, 2018. On Thursday, jurors in the sentencing phase of the school shooter's trial walked through the undisturbed scene, where the blood of the victims still stains classroom floors...These are the unsettling notes from a group of reporters allowed to enter the building after jurors completed their walk-through to provide details to media outlets across the country, including CNN.

Some North Carolina schools now have locked-up AR-15s for law enforcement. Gun safety experts are appalled. A North Carolina sheriff's office has placed locked-up AR-15 rifles on a school district's six campuses as an added security measure for the coming school year in response to the Uvalde, Texas, mass school shooting.

Alex Jones ordered to pay $45.2M more over Sandy Hook lies. A Texas jury on Friday ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages to the parents of a child who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, adding to the $4.1 million he has to pay for the suffering he put them through by claiming for years that the nation’s deadliest school shooting was a hoax.

China cuts off vital US contacts over Pelosi Taiwan visit. China cut off contacts with the United States on vital issues Friday — including military matters and crucial climate cooperation — as concerns rose that the Communist government’s hostile reaction to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit could signal a lasting, more aggressive approach toward its U.S. rival and the self-ruled island.

Monkeypox is disproportionately affecting Black, Hispanic people, latest CDC breakdown shows. Among the cases with available data, 94% were in men who reported recent sexual or close intimate contact with another man. More than half (54%) of cases were among Black and Hispanic people, a group that represents about a third (34%) of the general US population. And the share of cases among Black people has grown in recent weeks, according to the CDC analysis.

Spain leads Europe in monkeypox, struggles to check spread. Spanish health authorities and community groups are struggling to check an outbreak that has already claimed the lives of two young men. They reportedly died of encephalitis, or swelling of the brain, that can be caused by some viruses. Most monkeypox cases cause only mild symptoms. Spain has had 4,942 confirmed cases in the three months since the start of the outbreak, which has been linked to two raves in Europe, where experts say the virus was likely spread through sex.

Minnesota pharmacist who refused to fill morning-after pill prescription did not discriminate, jury rules. A Minnesota jury ruled Friday that a pharmacist who refused to fill a prescription for a morning-after pill because of his "beliefs" did not violate a woman's civil rights under state law but inflicted emotional harm and said she should be entitled to $25,000 in damages. But the lawyer for pharmacist George Badeaux said Andrea Anderson is not likely to get a dime because the jury concluded she was not discriminated against because of her sex.

Gov. Greg Abbott appoints officer indicted for misconduct during George Floyd protests to police regulatory agency. Justin Berry was among 19 Austin police officers indicted earlier this year in the protests spurred by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Berry is charged with two counts of aggravated assault by a public servant...Now, at the governor’s hand, Berry will serve on the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which sets minimum licensing and training standards for police. -- Republicans really are some of the worst people on the planet.

GOP candidate for Minnesota secretary of state Kim Crockett, who would be the state’s chief election officer, says that people requiring assistance because they do not speak English or are disabled “raises the question: Should they be voting?” -- As I said: Republicans are some of the worst people on the planet.

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

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

Thursday, August 4, 2022

And another day of autocratic leaders, election deniers, the economic package, Alex Jones, monkeypox health emergency, claiming an ‘unborn child’ on taxes, DeSantis shit, Mormon Church sex abuse, and the gay and trans ‘panic’ defense comes to a close:

“If the GOP prevails in their goals we will one day be telling our children and grandchildren what freedom was like before the GOP took control.” — Dean Obeidallah

“In our nation’s 246 year history there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our Republic than Donald Trump.” — Dick Cheney

“They just let it keep happening.” — MJ

Deaths

US: 1,057,811 (+572)

World: 6,430,111 (+3511)

Cases

US: 93,739,666 (+146,452)

World: 586,567,684 (+1,424,657)

Autocratic Hungarian leader Orban hailed by US conservatives. Hungary’s autocratic Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged cheering American conservatives on Thursday to “take back the institutions,” stick to hardline stances on gay rights and immigration and fight for the next U.S. presidential election as a pivotal moment for their beliefs.

Why conservatives invited Hungary's autocratic PM to headline Dallas event. Yet to many in the right wing of the Republican party, Orbán offers a model for electoral success. His endurance–he won his fourth straight term as prime minister in April–relies on an unrepentant appeal to a white and Christian heritage for Hungary. It has also depended on rounds of crackdowns on civil liberties and dissenting voices inside the country. In the U.S. Orbán has been given intellectual credence by the American Conservative's Rod Dreher and extraordinary exposure by Fox News's Tucker Carlson. The primetime cable star has played an outsized role in presenting Orbán to a broader public in this country with interviews, a documentary series and a recurrent argument that the U.S. would be better off with the Hungarian leader's approach…Many Hungarian policies would rankle the American right. Abortion is legal in Hungary, to a point. The state greatly restricts private gun ownership. And the government offers health care to all. Such distinctions make no difference to fans seeking inspiration from a strong leader…In Orbán, attendees will hear from a European leader who promotes an explicitly Christian and white vision of Hungary, one who built up a hard border and severe policies to keep migrants out. Orbán's ruling party has also ground down political opponents, bought off or starved independent voices in the press and universities and targeted human rights groups…"He's fighting for an old white world or old white Europe where, you know, men were men and women were women," Demeter tells NPR. "And there were no transgender people or gay people. Or if there were gay people they stayed at home." The US-based human rights group Freedom House has called Hungary a hybrid regime - in a transition between democracy and autocracy. "There has been a democratic backsliding in Hungary for looking at press freedom, for looking at LGBTQ rights," says the Hungarian journalist Flora Garamvolgyi, who has written about Orbán's ties to U.S. conservatives. "And I don't think that aligns with American values, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat."

Election deniers are running to control voting. Here's how they've fared so far. Election officials and democracy experts are sounding the alarm, as Republicans who deny the 2020 election results have now moved closer to overseeing the voting process in six different states. — The alarm bells are ringing. Are you listening?

Liz Cheney says DOJ not prosecuting Trump could call into question the US as ‘nation of laws’. Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney said if the Justice Department does not prosecute former President Donald Trump for his role in the insurrection at the US Capitol, the decision could call into question whether the United States can “call ourselves a nation of laws.” In an interview with CNN’s Kasie Hunt, Cheney – the GOP vice chair of the House select committee investigating the events surrounding the January 6, 2021, insurrection – said Trump is “guilty of the most serious dereliction of duty of any president in our nation’s history” and pointed to a judge who’s said he likely committed crimes...“The question for us is, are we a nation of laws? Are we a country where no one is above the law? And what do the facts and the evidence show?” Cheney said.

Democrats say they’ve reached agreement on economic package. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., a centrist who was seen as the pivotal vote, said in a statement that she had agreed to changes in the measure’s tax and energy provisions and was ready to “move forward” on the bill.

House January 6 panel asks lawyer for Alex Jones’s accidentally leaked texts. The House January 6 committee has contacted the attorney for a family suing Alex Jones for defamation in an attempt to obtain the far-right conspiracy theorist’s text messages, which were inadvertently leaked to the plaintiffs. In court in Texas on Thursday, Mark Bankston, the lawyer for the parents of Jesse Lewis, a six-year-old boy who was among 20 children and six adults killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, which Jones falsely said was a hoax, said the January 6 panel had asked him for the messages. Bankston did not say if the request from both the committee and federal law enforcement came in the form of a subpoena, as news outlets reported it would. He said he intends to cooperate with the request unless a court orders him otherwise.

Alex Jones ordered to pay Sandy Hook parents more than $4M. The parents had sought at least $150 million in compensation for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Jones’ attorney asked the jury to limit damages to $8 — one dollar for each of the compensation charges they are considering — and Jones himself said any award over $2 million “would sink us.” It likely won’t be the last judgment against Jones — who was not in the courtroom when the jury announced its decision to award $4.11 million — over his claims that the attack was staged in the interests of increasing gun controls. A Connecticut judge has ruled against him in a similar lawsuit brought by other victims’ families and an FBI agent who worked on the case.

US declares public health emergency over monkeypox outbreak. The federal government declared a public health emergency Thursday to bolster the response to the monkeypox outbreak that has infected more than 6,600 Americans. The announcement will free up money and other resources to fight the virus, which may cause fever, body aches, chills, fatigue and pimple-like bumps on many parts of the body.

Monkeypox infections have nearly doubled in two weeks. Cases had been recorded in all but two states as of Thursday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 44 states and Washington, D.C., at the end of July and from 14 states and Washington, D.C., at the beginning of June. In total, the U.S. has reported more than 6,000 cases since the beginning of May. The total worldwide exceeds 25,000. According to an NBC News analysis of CDC data, the seven-day average of reported new cases increased from an average of 154 on July 20 to an average of 279 on Aug. 3.

Georgia says an "unborn child" can be claimed as a dependent on state taxes. Residents filing their 2022 tax returns who had fetuses with detectable heartbeats at six weeks of pregnancy can claim a dependent personal exemption in the amount of $3,000, the department said on Monday.

DeSantis suspends Florida prosecutor for suggesting he would not enforce restrictions on abortion, gender therapy. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended the top county prosecutor from Tampa on Thursday after the Democrat publicly said he wouldn’t enforce a new state abortion restriction or a potential law banning surgeries for transgender children. -- This is straight up fascism by DeSantis, but more to the point: like this Florida prosecutor (Andrew Warren) we must stand against evil, or evil will prevail.

“Speaking of Ron DeSantis, why are Republicans so fond of having assholes lead them?” -- Steve Redmond

Florida’s Republican governor is attacking trans rights to gain power. Of course, there is nothing inherently ‘sexual’ about being transgender, and there is no evidence of any inherent ‘risk’ in allowing trans students to access the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity…“Florida has grown increasingly more hostile toward our community.” He places much of the blame on DeSantis: “We are being targeted by a governor desperate to be president someday and willing to traffic in all manners of hate and bigotry to get there.” — DeSantis is not only an asshole, he’s an authoritarian who spreads hate and bigotry in his never ending quest for power. He must be stopped. The country will suffer greatly if he is ever President. 

The Associated Press obtained nearly 12,000 pages of records showing that a help line run by the Mormon church is part of a system that can be misused to divert abuse accusations against church members away from law enforcement — and out of the public eye. The help line has been criticized by abuse victims and their attorneys for being inadequate to quickly stop abuse and protect victims. Yet the Utah-based faith has stuck by the system despite the criticism and increasing scrutiny from attorneys and prosecutors, including those in the Adams case. “’I just think that the Mormon church really sucks. Seriously sucks,” said MJ, who is now 16, during an interview with the AP. “They are just the worst type of people, from what I’ve experienced and what other people have also experienced.”…Arizona’s child sex abuse reporting law, and similar laws in more than 20 states that require clergy to report child sex abuse and neglect, says that clergy, physicians, nurses, or anyone caring for a child who “reasonably believes” a child has been abused or neglected has a legal obligation to report the information to police or the state Department of Child Safety. But it also says that clergy who receive information about child neglect or sexual abuse during spiritual confessions “may withhold” that information from authorities if the clergy determine it is “reasonable and necessary” under church doctrine. — Read that last sentence again. — Before establishing the help line in 1995, the Mormon church simply instructed bishops to comply with local child sex abuse reporting laws…That video represented nine minutes and 14 seconds in seven years of continual and unnecessary trauma for MJ — and a lifetime of abuse for her tiny sister — while Bishops Herrod and Mauzy and church representatives in Salt Lake City stood by…Whatever moral or public policy arguments one could make that the church should have told authorities that Paul Adams was raping his daughters are irrelevant, the lawyers argued. “Arizona’s reporting statute broadly exempts confidential communications with clergy, as determined by the clergyman himself,” according to the church motion to dismiss the case. “Reasonable people can debate whether this is the best public policy choice. But that is not an issue for a jury or this court.” Bishop Herrod, in his recorded interview, said church officials told him he had to keep what Adams told him confidential or he could be sued if he went to authorities. — There is so much wrong with all of this.

Russian court gives Brittney Griner nine years on drugs charges. A Russian court has found US basketball star Brittney Griner guilty of drug smuggling, and sentenced her to nine years in prison in a case that has reached the highest levels of United States-Russia diplomacy. The court “found the defendant guilty” of smuggling and possessing “a significant amount of narcotics”, judge Anna Sotnikova told a court in the town of Khimki just outside Moscow. The player was also fined one million rubles ($16,300). -- Never forget that Republicans admire Russian leadership.

Feds charge 4 police officers in fatal Breonna Taylor raid. The U.S. Justice Department announced civil rights charges Thursday against four Louisville police officers over the drug raid that led to the death of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman whose fatal shooting contributed to the racial justice protests that rocked the U.S. in the spring and summer of 2020. The charges are another effort to hold law enforcement accountable for the killing of the 26-year-old medical worker after one of the officers was acquitted of state charges earlier this year.

Yes, the gay and trans ‘panic’ defense is still legal in a majority of states. The gay and trans panic legal defense is a legal strategy that asks a jury to find that a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity/expression is to blame for a defendant’s violent reaction, including murder, according to the LGBTQ+ Bar...No state recognizes the LGBTQ+ panic defense as a free-standing defense, the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute, a research center on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, said in a 2021 report. Instead, the Williams Institute report and the American Bar Association (ABA) say the LGBTQ+ panic defense is used to bolster the defendant's defense claim. There are three defenses the LGBTQ+ panic defense is paired with:...It is not banned in 35 states and five territories, and it isn’t banned at the federal level, either. According to MAP, 57% of the American LGBTQ+ population lives in states where the defense isn’t banned.

'Social contagion' isn’t causing more youths to be transgender, study finds. “Social contagion” is not driving an increasing number of adolescents to come out as transgender, according to a new study published Wednesday in the journal Pediatrics. The study also found that the proportion of adolescents who were assigned female at birth and have come out as transgender also has not increased, which contradicts claims that adolescents whose birth sex is female are more susceptible to this so-called external influence.

Half the country is in drought, and no region has been spared. More than 50% of the country was in some level of drought for the fourth week in a row, the US Drought Monitor reported Thursday, as the combination of warmer-than-normal temperatures and low rainfall is drawing the moisture out of plants and soil. And no region of the country has been spared.

Workers in Iraq given day off as temperatures rise above 50C (122F). A heatwave in the country has been ongoing since mid-July and is forecast to continue. Burning heat is not unusual in Iraq, as one of the hottest places on Earth. But residents say conditions are worsening.

Why Do Orthopedic Surgeons Have Such High Breast Cancer Rates? These findings come with a number of important caveats. The sample sizes are small, and the studies were based on voluntary surveys, which may elicit more responses from people who have had cancer. The breast cancer rates, as high as they may be, may not be caused solely by radiation. Due to the demands of the job, orthopedic surgeons tend to have kids later and to spend less time breast-feeding children, both of which are risk factors for breast cancer. (The studies controlled for age, but not for reproductive status.) Even with the limitations, the breast cancer rates among orthopedic surgeons are “enough of a signal to say we really need to study this further.”

Johnny Depp, Jeff Beck Accused of Stealing Lyrics From Incarcerated Man’s Poem. Depp and Beck’s “Sad Motherfuckin’ Parade” appears to share numerous lines with “Hobo Ben,” a toast performed by Slim Wilson and recorded by esteemed folklorist Bruce Jackson in the mid-Sixties.

Mammoth bones and 'ghost' footprints add to heated debate about first humans in North America. The fossilized bones, in particular, could suggest people lived in North America tens of thousands of years before the generally accepted date for the arrival of the first Native Americans of about 10,000 B.C. BCE.

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

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

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

And another day of executive orders, CBO reports, NATO membership votes, Alex Jones’ brutal cross-examination, AL’s 1906 race massacre, the Dutch declare water shortage, the world’s first ‘synthetic embryos,’ and reanimating dead organs comes to a close:

“I cannot stress enough that a vote for any GOP candidate in 2022 is a vote for a federal ban on abortion. GOP candidates will downplay this-- but extremely recent history shows us they will tell whatever lies they need to tell in order to get power, and then do whatever they want.” -- Erin Ryan

Deaths

US: 1,057,239 (+1264)

World: 6,426,600 (+2968)

Cases

US: 93,593,214 (+273,512)

World: 585,143,027 (+1,014,675)

Kansas voters resoundingly protect their access to abortion. Kansas voters on Tuesday sent a resounding message about their desire to protect abortion rights, rejecting a ballot measure in a conservative state with deep ties to the anti-abortion movement that would have allowed the Republican-controlled Legislature to tighten restrictions or ban the procedure outright. It was the first test of voter sentiment after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June that overturned the constitutional right to abortion, providing an unexpected result with potential implications for the coming midterm elections. — Sometimes things happen that give me hope for America.

Biden signs new executive order on abortion rights. The President said the order helps women travel out of state to receive abortions, ensures health care providers comply with federal law so women aren’t delayed in getting care and advances research and data collection “to evaluate the impact that this reproductive health crisis is having on maternal health and other health conditions and outcomes.”

Democrats’ plan would decrease deficit by more than $100B: CBO. The estimates from the nonpartisan budget scorekeeper come as Democrats are moving quickly to pass the mammoth bill, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act, later this month.

Senate votes to ratify NATO membership for Sweden and Finland. The Senate voted on Wednesday to approve a resolution to ratify membership for Sweden and Finland in NATO, a historic vote aimed at strengthening the defense bloc amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. NATO formalized its invitation to Sweden and Finland to join the alliance at the end of June and the decision must go to the 30 member states’ parliaments and legislatures for final ratification. -- The vote was 95-1. Josh Hawley was the lone “no” vote. Rand Paul voted “present.”

Alex Jones concedes Sandy Hook attack was ’100% real’. Speaking a day after the parents of a 6-year-old boy who was killed in the 2012 attack testified about the suffering, death threats and harassment they’ve endured because of what Jones has trumpeted on his media platforms, the Infowars host told a Texas courtroom that he definitely thinks the attack happened. “Especially since I’ve met the parents. It’s 100% real,” Jones said before the jury began determining how much he and his media company, Free Speech Systems, owe for defaming Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis.

Sandy Hook family attorney exposes Alex Jones' dishonesty during brutal cross-examination. In a remarkable moment, Bankston disclosed to Jones and the court that he had recently acquired evidence proving Jones had lied when he claimed during the discovery process that he had never texted about the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting. Bankston said that Jones' attorney had, in an apparent mishap, sent him two years of cell phone records that included every text message Jones had sent. The cell phone records, Bankston said, showed that Jones had in fact texted about the Sandy Hook shooting. "That is how I note you lied to me when you said you didn't have text messages about Sandy Hook," Bankston said...In another moment, Jones was asked whether he had connected Maya Guerra Gamble, the judge overseeing the trial, to pedophilia and human trafficking. When Jones denied having done so, Bankston played video for the court of an Infowars video which did just that..."The person on the left of this image is our judge, correct?" Bankston asked Jones. Jones replied that it was. -- Alex Jones is such shit. Maggot infested rotting shit on a hot day. He is a mentally sick fucker that preys off the tragedy of others.

Atlanta's image challenged by facts of 1906 race massacre. Everyone who moves through downtown Atlanta today passes places where innocent Black men and women were pulled from trolleys, shot in their workplaces, chased through the streets and beaten to death by a mob of 10,000 white men and boys. But few have been taught about the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre, which shaped the city’s geography, economy, society and power structure in lasting ways. Much like the Red Summer of 1919 in the South and Northeast and the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 in Oklahoma would years later, the white-on-Black violence in Atlanta shattered dreams of racial harmony and forced thousands from their homes.

The Dutch government declared a water shortage, following an unusually dry summer with no rain forecast for the coming two weeks…With two-thirds of the Dutch population living below sea level, droughts can quickly become an acute problem in the Netherlands, leading to rivers silting up and hampering water traffic.

NFL appeals 6-game suspension for Browns’ Deshaun Watson. The NFL is seeking an indefinite suspension of at least one year plus a fine in appealing a disciplinary officer’s decision to suspend Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson for six games for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, a person familiar with the filing told The Associated Press.

HPV vaccine after removal of precancerous cells may cut cervical cancer risk. British researchers believe that administering a dose of it to women around the time they have surgery to remove precancerous cells might stop them coming back.

EPA: Chemical in medical-device cleanser poses cancer risk. The Environmental Protection Agency is warning residents who live near medical sterilizing plants in 13 states and Puerto Rico about potential health risks from emissions of ethylene oxide, a chemical widely used in their operations. Laredo, Texas; Ardmore, Oklahoma; and Lakewood, Colorado, are among the communities facing the highest risk from ethylene oxide emissions, EPA said.

Record amount of seaweed is choking shores in the Caribbean. Near-record amounts of seaweed are smothering Caribbean coasts from Puerto Rico to Barbados, killing fish and other wildlife, choking tourism and releasing stinky, noxious gases. More than 24 million tons of sargassum blanketed the Atlantic in June, shattering the all-time record, set in 2018, by 20%, according to the University of South Florida’s Optical Oceanography Lab. And unusually large amounts of the brown algae have drifted into the Caribbean Sea.

Scientists create world’s first ‘synthetic embryos’. Researchers have created the world’s first “synthetic embryos” in a groundbreaking feat that bypassed the need for sperm, eggs and fertilisation…As far as the scientists could tell, the organs that formed were functional. Hanna said synthetic embryos were not “real” embryos and did not have the potential to develop into live animals, or at least they not when they had been transplanted into the wombs of female mice. He has founded a company called Renewal Bio that aims to grow human synthetic embryos to provide tissues and cells for medical conditions.

Scientists reanimate dead cells in pigs, a potential breakthrough for organ transplants. Researchers at Yale University used a new technology to restore cells in some organs of pigs that had just died, bringing the animals’ cells back to function. The findings, which were published Wednesday in the scientific journal Nature, raise profound ethical questions about how medicine defines death but also teases new possibilities for the collection of human organs for transplant.

Why 99% of sea turtle babies are now born female, according to scientists. Florida’s sea turtles are grappling with a unique problem made worse by climate change: recent heat waves have caused the sand on some beaches to get so hot that nearly every turtle born was female. “The frightening thing is the last four summers in Florida have been the hottest summers on record,” said Bette Zirkelbach, manager of the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, a city in the Florida Keys, which is a string of tropical islands stretching from the southern end of the state. “Scientists that are studying sea turtle hatchlings and eggs have found no boy sea turtles, so only female sea turtles for the past four years,” Zirkelbach said, whose turtle center has operated since 1986. The trend is just one of many signs that the climate crisis is interfering with the Earth’s natural ecosystems, advancing too rapidly for many species to adapt. When a female turtle digs a nest on a beach, the temperature of the sand determines the sex of the hatchlings. Zirkelbach said an Australian study showed similar statistics — “99% of new sea turtle babies are female.”

Earth is spinning faster than usual and had its shortest day ever. "Since 2016 the Earth started to accelerate," said Zotov, who works at works for Lomonosov Moscow State University and recently published a study on what might cause the changes in Earth's rotation. "This year it rotates quicker than in 2021 and 2020."

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

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

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

And another day of wiped text messages, KS voters vote to uphold abortion rights, lowering prices for all Americans, toxic burns, the DOJ suing ID over abortion, Sandy Hook trial, sex trafficking victims, and changing a song lyric comes to a close:

"The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom." -- Isaac Asimov

Deaths

US: 1,055,975

World: 6,423,632

Cases

US: 93,319,702

World: 584,128,352

Jan. 6 text messages wiped from phones of key Trump Pentagon officials. The Defense Department wiped the phones of top departing DOD and Army officials at the end of the Trump administration, deleting any texts from key witnesses to events surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, according to court filings.

Kansans vote to uphold abortion rights in their state. Kansas voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly struck down a proposed constitutional amendment that would remove language enshrining reproductive rights in their state, in a move widely seen as a victory for abortion rights activists. The proposed amendment was the first time anywhere in the U.S. that voters cast ballots on abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

Economists say reconciliation bill will lower prices for all Americans. They added that the legislation will quickly and noticeably lower health care costs by allowing Medicare to directly negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies and capping out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000. And it will lower health insurance prices for 13 million Americans in expanding the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, they said.

Senate approves bill to aid vets exposed to toxic burn pits. A bill enhancing health care and disability benefits for millions of veterans exposed to toxic burn pits won final approval in the Senate on Tuesday, ending a brief stalemate over the measure that had infuriated advocates and inspired some to camp outside the Capitol. The Senate approved the bill by a vote of 86-11. It now goes to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law.

US sues Idaho over abortion law, cites medical treatment. The Justice Department on Tuesday filed a lawsuit that challenges Idaho’s restrictive abortion law, arguing that it conflicts with a federal law requiring doctors to provide pregnant women medically necessary treatment that could include abortion. The federal government brought the lawsuit seeking to invalidate the state’s “criminal prohibition on providing abortions as applied to women suffering medical emergencies,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

California governor declares monkeypox state of emergency. California’s governor on Monday declared a state of emergency to speed efforts to combat the monkeypox outbreak, becoming the second state in three days to take the step. Gov. Gavin Newsom said the declaration will help California coordinate a government-wide response, seek more vaccines and lead outreach and education efforts on where people can get treatment and vaccination.

Apple, GE, other major US companies ask Supreme Court to uphold affirmative action. More than 80 major American companies that employ tens of thousands of U.S. workers are asking the Supreme Court to uphold the use of race as a factor in college admissions, calling affirmative action critical to building diverse workforces and, in turn, growing profits. The businesses -- some of the most high-profile and successful in the U.S. economy -- outlined their position in legal briefs filed Monday ahead of oral arguments this fall in a pair of cases expected to determine the future of the race-based policy.

Psychiatrist says Sandy Hook parents fear for their lives. The parents of a Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim live with a complex form of post-traumatic stress disorder and a constant fear that followers of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones will kill them, a psychiatrist testified Monday at Jones’ defamation trial.

'They kill you, they kidnap you, they rape you': Trafficking victims speak of the dangers they face. More than 60% of human trafficking victims in the last 15 years have been women and girls, and most have been trafficked for sexual exploitation, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). In addition, "it's estimated that at least 25% of the cases are migrants. It is very high, and there are victims who are not being detected,” said Mario Cordero Véjar, head of UNODC's Program on Crime and Drugs.

Ferrari reports record profits as supercar sales boom. Ferrari has reported record quarterly sales and profits as the cost of living crisis and concerns over the global economy fail to dent the enthusiasm for buyers of luxury trophy vehicles. The Italian sports carmaker raised its forecast for full-year revenues and profits after reporting a record second quarter, off the back of the popularity of new models and strong demand in China and the Americas. The company, the latest luxury or supercar manufacturer to post record profits after Lamborghini and Bentley, said shipments rose 29% year on year to 3,455 units in the three months to the end of June. — The haves.

Beyoncé will change a lyric in her latest album after accusations of ableism. On the album's 11th track, "Heated," which features Beyoncé and Drake among its writers, is the word "spaz," a term that disability activists have called an ableist slur. Beyoncé's publicist told NPR over email that the lyric will be changed…While saying it's important that people are held accountable for their actions, some people have noted the higher standard that Black women face compared with other artists. Black disability activist Vilissa Thompson previously told NPR how white artists who use ableist language do not receive the same visceral reaction as Black artists.

Nuclear sky hotel not impossible, video creator says. A fantasy video showing a gigantic flying hotel that can stay in the sky for years on end has caused a sensation online, despite being beyond the realms of current technology and in breach of the laws of physics. Nevertheless, Yemeni engineer Hashem Al-Ghaili, who created the Sky Cruise concept video based on a futuristic design by artist Alexander Tujicov, insists it's only a "matter of time" before aviation engineering catches up to his vision…Just like those ships, Sky Cruise is on an enormous scale, with room for around 5,000 guests, and recreational facilities like cinemas, swimming pools, spas and even shopping malls…"Disruptive concepts like this one inspire change, and help us push humanity forward," he says.

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

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