Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Takeaways from Day 1 of the Trump disqualification trial in Colorado | CNN Politics
The 14th Amendment disqualification trial against Donald Trump began Monday in Colorado with a group of voters tying to use the Civil War-era amendment to remove the former president from the 2024 ballot, citing his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection...
‘This war is prophetically significant’: why US evangelical Christians support Israel
One strand of evangelical theology holds that the return of Jews to the region starts the clock ticking on a seven-year armageddon, after which Jesus Christ will return…
‘Bloodiest prison in the US’: children detained in Louisiana’s Angola prison allege abuses
"It's inhumane for a youngster to be in that type of position," …
Tuberville falsely claims Dems ‘created’ wars in Ukraine, Middle East
As his radical blockade continues, Sen. Tommy Tuberville apparently now believes that Democrats "created" the crises in Ukraine and the Middle East...
A former Republican Congressman reflects on the disarray of his party : NPR
"People are getting elected as a way to become famous. This is the new Hollywood, so to speak. But the problem isn't that they're not there to govern. The problem is the ones that are there to govern are not fighting back.
And a lot of the time they just put their head in the sand and pretend like we can get this fixed by just allowing the far right to have their way on a number of things. And so while most may be there to govern, that doesn't mean that they're going to actually do what they need to do to get to a situation where they can fight back and govern."
US Supreme Court leans toward Alabama in dispute over vehicles seized by police | Reuters
The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority on Monday appeared sympathetic to Alabama officials who defended a law that allowed police to seize and impound cars after drug arrests despite the owners having no direct ties to the alleged crime...
House GOP demands IRS budget cuts along with Israel aid - The Washington Post
House Republicans on Monday unveiled a proposal to pay for emergency aid for Israel's war against Hamas by cutting IRS funds aimed at cracking down on rich tax cheats and improving taxpayer service...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/10/30/house-gop-demands-irs-budget-cuts-pay-israel-aid/
1 in 4 US medical students consider quitting, most don’t plan to treat patients: report | The Hill
"Students are committed to and positive about their education, but with concerns about mental health, study-life balance, combined with external worries such as the rise of misinformation and looming clinician shortages, some are considering quitting their course altogether, while others are thinking about non- patient-facing roles once qualified," the report stated…
Dexter Wade death: Family asks Justice Department for probe after Jackson police kill man, bury him without their knowledge | CNN
The family of a Mississippi man who was fatally struck by a Jackson Police Department cruiser in March – but who only found out about it six months later, after he had been buried – want his body exhumed and independently autopsied, and for the Department of Justice to investigate…
Monday, October 30, 2023
Statement from Christians Against Christian Nationalism — Christians Against Christian Nationalism
"Conflating religious authority with political authority is idolatrous and often leads to oppression of minority and other marginalized groups as well as the spiritual impoverishment of religion."
What we learned from our Florida voting rights investigation
A crackdown by Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans has spent millions pursuing rare voter fraud, hampered voter registration and weakened Black voters' influence…
DeSantis allies earn big paychecks on the front lines of his culture fights | CNN Politics
The day before DeSantis' Iowa appearance, those New College board members pushed through an agreement that could eventually pay Corcoran up to $1.3 million a year to oversee their university — a school of about 700 students...
We can’t fight the Republican party’s ‘big lie’ with facts alone
The competition with the big lie is not just, or even primarily, about fact checking. It's a competition between different models of belonging: can we build alternative communities that are more benign and yet fulfilling than the ones offered by the conspiracy theorists?…
I've Been To Over 20 Homeschool Conferences. The Things I've Witnessed At Them Shocked Me.
"I pass some signs that read "Ron DeSantis World." B says it looks like they're mimicking the Disney font. Several booths are conducting podcast interviews. I look up the podcasts on my phone and see that each one spreads conspiracy theories.
I pass another booth where a man and a woman are talking about gun rights... at a homeschool conference. Then I pass a Moms for Liberty booth…"
Trump’s Festivus (Andrew McCabe and Allison Gill; Jack: A Special Counsel podcast, Episode #48 )
This week, Trump’s team filed several motions in the DC case. Three are motions to dismiss; one is a motion to strike language from the indictment.
Jack Smith brings up Trump’s violations of the New York civil trial gag order.
Federal prosecutors have quietly withdrawn a subpoena seeking records from Trump's 2020 campaign.
A panel of federal judges rejects requests to allow live television coverage of Trump’s federal trials.
More delays in Florida as Judge Cannon to hear arguments about DoJ’s compliance with discovery.
More information comes out about that Australian Billionaire who likes hearing about US nuclear submarine capabilities.
Plus, listener questions and more.
Federal prosecutors have quietly withdrawn a subpoena seeking records from Trump's 2020 campaign.
A panel of federal judges rejects requests to allow live television coverage of Trump’s federal trials.
More delays in Florida as Judge Cannon to hear arguments about DoJ’s compliance with discovery.
More information comes out about that Australian Billionaire who likes hearing about US nuclear submarine capabilities.
Plus, listener questions and more.
Interview:
Democrat Gives New GOP Speaker Mike Johnson Fact-Check On Guns | HuffPost Latest News
Rep. Mike Johnson had made a wild claim about the true cause of mass shootings -- and his critics aren't buying it...
Conservatives are increasingly knives out for the nation’s top cyber agency - POLITICO
The fight over CISA underscores yet another way Trump's election fraud claims are reverberating into 2024. And though the hard right doesn't have enough votes to defund CISA today, the growing backlash against it has supporters worried that a hard-right faction could hobble the agency in the years ahead — undermining its efforts not just to secure future elections, but also protect key U.S. and federal networks from major hacks...
The News Roundup – Domestic and International (The 1A) 2023-10-27
Domestic
After three weeks of a vacancy, and multiple failed candidates, House Republicans finally have their speaker. Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson took the lead in filing a brief in a lawsuit that sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his voting record shows opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion rights.Fallout of the conflict between Israel and Hamas is spilling onto campuses here in the U.S. Students at universities across the country are protesting Israel’s siege of Gaza.
Ford and the United Auto Workers Union have reached a tentative deal that would see an end to the strike end and a pay raise for the union members.
Interview:
International
As Israel prepares for a ground war, the humanitarian situation in Gaza grows worse by the day. Palestinians in Gaza are quickly running out of food and water, and the healthcare system has collapsed.The U.S. is bolstering its military presence in the Middle East. The Pentagon says troops are going to strictly provide medical and tactical support.
And Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu was removed from his position two months after he was last seen in public.
Interview:
Beyond The Bible: Where Else Can Wisdom Be Found?
Today's episode is a look at 10 other works of ancient wisdom literature. The bible has its books, but before, during, and after its creation, cultures worldwide wrote down wisdom that compares or surpasses that of a supposedly all-knowing god. Let's take a look!
Interview:
Sunday, October 29, 2023
WaPo Columnist Dana Milbank on the Super-MAGA House (Al Franken podcast)
How A Far-Right Zealot Got to be 2nd in Line for POTUS...
Interview:
Ukraine Aid in Doubt as Johnson Moves to Drop It From Israel Assistance Bill - The New York Times
The newly elected House speaker, who has opposed continued funding for Kyiv, is now insisting on separating it from aid to Israel, leaving its fate uncertain...
‘These levels are crazy’: Louisiana tap water sees huge spike in toxic chemicals
Since early summer, the combination of drought and rising sea levels has helped drag salty water from the ocean up the Mississippi River. The high levels of saltwater have made much of the region's water undrinkable. But public health experts have also voiced worries that the saltwater intrusion could, over time, corrode the region's ageing water infrastructure, leach heavy metals into the drinking water and create other knock-on problems...
New House speaker Mike Johnson praised ‘18th-century values’ in speech
Louisiana congressman told audience at 2013 anti-abortion event Americans should live by 250-year-old religious and moral values…
Russia raises interest rate to 15% after steep climb in inflation
Consumers have more to spend after an increase by Moscow in welfare benefit payments to families and older people, seen by many analysts as an effort by Vladimir Putin to shore up domestic support for the war.'…
Tennessee Republicans’ federal fund fight hearkens back to Jim Crow
"As a faith leader, I'm appalled by how many of the right-wing state legislators claim to have an allegiance to the Christian faith, but do not consider health care a fundamental right and reject money meant to help their constituents who struggle the most. My Jesus gave sight to the blind, caused the lame to walk and healed the sick. But these legislators have refashioned and repurposed Jesus as a white right-wing evangelical who hates the federal government as much as they do..."
5 things to know about a stunning week for the economy : NPR
The economy got its latest report card this week — and it was very good...
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Mike Johnson points to a Biden impeachment, even if the facts do not - The Washington Post
"I know people are getting anxious and they're getting restless and they just want somebody to be impeached,"…
‘Go pick up a Bible’: Speaker Mike Johnson defends anti-LGBTQ+ views | Mike Johnson | The Guardian
I am a Bible-believing Christian. Someone asked me today in the media, they said, '… People are curious. What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?' I said, well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it – that's my worldview. That's what I believe and so I make no apologies for it."…
Georgia must redraw maps to give Black voters fair shot, federal judge rules
Decision regarding congressional and state legislative maps could result in an additional Democratic seat in Congress…
White House hits Johnson over claiming gun violence was a matter of the ‘heart’ - POLITICO
"Gun crime is uniquely high in the United States because congressional Republicans have spent decades choosing the gun industry's lobbyists over the lives of innocent Americans," Bates added.
…Gun violence is "not the result of an imagined deficiency in the hearts of the American people; nor is it because women have the right to make their own health care decisions, as the Speaker once claimed," Bates said, referring to Johnson's 2016 commentsthat attributed mass shootings to the "age of immortality," including the legalization of abortion rights and teaching evolution in schools.
1 in 8 U.S. households struggle with food insecurity: USDA
Nearly 13% of American households were food insecure in 2022. That means some 17 million families, or 1 in 8 U.S. households, struggled to meet their nutritional needs at some point in the year, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture…
Friday, October 27, 2023
‘Get the right cases to the supreme court’: inside Charles Koch’s network
Billionaire's web of rightwing groups works to bring cases to court that could undermine core functionings of the US government…
I studied 1 million home sales in metro Atlanta and found that Black families are being squeezed out of homeownership by corporate investors
In the years since the Great Recession, when housing prices dramatically fell, Wall Street investors have been buying large numbers of single-family homes to use as rentals. As of 2022, big investment firms owned nearly 600,000 such properties nationwide.
Biological sex is far from binary − this college course examines the science of sex diversity in people, fungi and across the animal kingdom
Biological sex comes in many more forms than just male or female…
For the Osage Nation, the betrayal of the murders depicted in 'Killers of the Flower Moon' still lingers
The film and book trace the true story of greed, brutality and government complicity in the assassination of wealthy Osage citizens…
Patriotic Millionaires on the Elevation of Election Denier Mike Johnson (R-LA) to Speaker of the House
…is among those most responsible for the events leading up to the January 6th insurrection…
https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/patriotic-millionaires-on-the-elevation-of-election-denier-mike-johnson-r-la-to-speaker-of-the-house
Advocates, Technologists to U.S. Secretary of Education: Cell Phones Are a K-12 Crisis
"Phones are polluting our schools. They sabotage the teaching and learning processes," said Lisa Cline of the Screen Time Action Network at Fairplay for Kids, who spear-headed the effort. "We know empirically that they are distracting — by design — so it's not a fair fight. How can we expect kids to learn and teachers to teach when there are concerts, movies, parties, cyberbullies, shopping malls, and drug dealers in their pockets."…
Meet the evangelical activist who’s had a 'profound influence' on Speaker Mike Johnson
"David Barton is a political propagandist, he's a Christian-right activist who cherry picks from the past to promote political agendas in the present, to paint a picture of America's history as evangelicals would like it to be," said Fea, who's also an evangelical. "Mike Johnson comes straight out of that Christian-right world, where Barton's ideas are highly influential. It's the air they breathe."…
The Most Powerful Man in the House Doesn’t Like Divorce – Mother Jones
With a keen ear now heading the chamber, anti-divorce Republicans may be able to enact their vision of marriage—one that returns to a picket-fence-clad reality which harms women and keeps them locked inside their own houses…
These devout young Catholics are embracing the old ways
Traditional Catholicism is still a small segment of the world's largest religion, and its adherents are geographically scattered, so it seemed natural to Brady that they're finding each other through technology. "But some of the traditionalism gets a little poisoned by ideological bents," he says. Social media figures—"tradcath" influencers—use the church as a baroque backdrop for selfies. Right-wing politicians exploit conservative customs. "It doesn't seem to fit with a truly religious, traditional worldview at all," Brady says. "It seems shockingly unreal."…
Republicans say Trump didn’t try to overturn 2020 election - The Washington Post
The poll asked people whether Trump was "involved in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia." He, of course, was. Myriad pieces of evidence make that abundantly clear. We have a literal recording of him asking Georgia's secretary of state to "find" just enough votes to overcome his deficit, and Trump on the call explicitly cited "flipping" the results in the state.
But to most Republicans, this apparently never happened. Just 18 percent in the YouGov poll said Trump was involved in trying to overturn Georgia's results, compared to 59 percent who say he wasn't...
Clarence Thomas Ruled Against Student Debt Relief, Had His Own Loan Forgiven
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas ruled this year that Joe Biden was wrong when he tried to forgive college students' loans, but a Senate panel revealed that Thomas had a substantial loan of his own forgiven by a wealthy friend…
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Obama criticizes Israel’s decision to cut off food and water to Gaza
Ex-president says decision threatens to worsen humanitarian crisis, undermine peace effort and erode global support for Israel…
Abortion is still under threat by dark money groups that helped overturn Roe
Dark money groups help conceal who is behind the influx of cash and the political agendas of a wealthy donor, group, or corporation. For example, without looking into the Concord Fund, a major PWO donor, the average person would not realize its ties to anti-abortion lawyer Leonard Leo – the man who helped pick the supreme court justices who overturned Roe v Wade. In this particular context, such front groups help hide who is trying to influence the political outcome in Ohio's Issue 1…
How Humanism Can Save the World - The Atlantic
In our age of creeping dehumanization, humanism seems like the right banner to raise. It points us to the posture, the skills, the way of life that make us fit servants to the world—caring and effective co-workers, teachers, citizens, lovers, and friends...
Black man says police tased and beat him after mistaking him for domestic violence suspect
Silvester Hayes, a 27-year-old single father of four children, was then wrongly arrested even after police realized their mistake, according to a federal lawsuit he filed last week against the city and multiple police officers...
Alexandria police investigate pig mask, 'I Can't Breathe' shirt left in cruiser : NPR
In a video posted to YouTube on Oct. 21, footage shows a propped-up figure in the passenger seat of an unoccupied police cruiser with the head of a cartoon pig, a black mask and a shirt with the words "I Can't Breathe."…
Election denier, climate skeptic, anti-abortion: seven beliefs of new US House speaker Mike Johnson | Mike Johnson | The Guardian
The relatively little-known Louisiana Republican has been thrust into the spotlight and the attention has fallen on his extreme beliefs…
What's driving more women to quit birth control
"The difference is the rise of health influencers who literally have no idea what they're talking about, no legitimate claim to educate the public," she said. "It's hard for the public to distinguish who's who."…
Vatican summit tackles women’s ordination with a nod from Pope Francis - The Washington Post
Whereas the pope has shut the door to the female priesthood in the past, Francis recently opened an unprecedented opportunity for debate on the topic. Answering a series of questions, or dubia, sent by conservative prelates regarding the synodal discussions, Francis said there is no "clear and authoritative doctrine" on the question of ordination, and it can be "a subject of study."…
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