Saturday, January 7, 2023
Opinion | Mayor Brandon Scott: Baltimore’s violence-prevention pilot succeeded - The Washington Post
"In January 2022, my administration launched Baltimore's Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS) pilot in the Western Police District. This strategy, known nationally as focused deterrence, facilitates direct, sustained engagement with individuals who are the most likely to be either the victims or perpetrators of violence. Since the start of this pilot, we have seen homicides and nonfatal shootings in the Western District — historically the most violent of Baltimore's police districts — drop by a combined 34 percent as of Dec. 31….
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/06/baltimore-violence-prevention-pilot-success/imrs.php
Why Religion is Not the Answer: The Universal Harm of Prolific Religiosity (Student Essay contest 7th place)
"Repeatedly, those in power have demonstrated their lack of concern with the well-being of their citizens. Their inaction and unwillingness to enact substantial change has occurred at alarming rates and in a multitude of areas as they have watched millions suffer and die from mass shootings, gun violence, poverty, hunger, abuse, toxic pollution, unregulated toxic consumer products, and a general lack of access to health care..."
Friday, January 6, 2023
Florida Gov. DeSantis’s latest oxymoronic school spiel - The Washington Post
When announcing the effort in December, DeSantis said, "We won't allow Florida tax dollars to be spent teaching kids to hate our country or to hate each other." It's okay, though, for Florida tax dollars to go to religious schools that discriminate against LGBTQ students and staff…
DeSantis has been all for "parent involvement" in schools — as long as the parents support his positions. Parents who wanted mask mandates in their schools were out of luck, as were those who wanted their children to learn an honest history of the United States. And if you were a member of a school board DeSantis didn't like, or a superintendent in a school district doing something he didn't like, there wasn't much freedom for you…
House Republicans aim to rein in ethics body as investigations into GOP lawmakers loom
Should the OCE open investigations into the members who defied subpoenas from the January 6 committee last year – including the House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy – or Long Island congressman George Santos, who was caught lying about his resume during his campaign, it would ultimately result in public reports with potentially embarrassing conclusions for Republicans...
Opinion | The Burn-It-All-Down Republican Caucus - The New York Times
"And they are getting precisely what they want: more headlines, more airtime, more spectacle and therefore more power.
They aren't interested in governing, but rather in teasing the growing urge among the Republican base to throw a wrench in the gears…"
Why Religion is Not the Answer: Rejection, Torture, and Eternal Damnation (Student Essay contest 6th place)
"According to the Trevor Project in 2020, LGBTQ+ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide as their non-LGBTQ+ peers. Rates of depression and drug use are also elevated in this population.
These issues become more pronounced in those who are transgender, of color or disabled. Research conducted by the Family Acceptance Project found that among LGBTQ+ youth, one-third experience parental rejection. Highly religious families were the least likely to be accepting. Those whose families reject them are at a higher risk for mental health issues and major health concerns including HIV.
Rejection in these cases often included alienation, preventing access to support, using religious beliefs to remind their children of damnation and hell, and sending children to clergy or other providers to “change” their LGBTQ+ identity."...
Thursday, January 5, 2023
Alarm as US states pass ‘very concerning’ anti-homeless laws
Homelessness charities say wave of new bills unfairly targets people without housing as social-services funding is cut…
Supreme Court gun challenge: A New York case could turbocharge the Second Amendment.
Right now, gun advocates are asking SCOTUS to block most of New York's Concealed Carry Improvement Act—which the state legislature passed in the wake of Bruen—on the court's infamous shadow docket. The New York law repealed the state's now-invalid limits on concealed carry, replacing them with more rigorous screenings for permit applicants plus a list of "sensitive places" where guns remained banned. A conservative judge promptly halted the statute, gutting the screening for permits while legalizing concealed carry in hospitals, parks, zoos, movie theaters, protests, and more. But a federal appeals court reinstated the law, leading its opponents to beg the Supreme Court for emergency relief. And so, in the coming days, we will discover how aggressively the conservative majority wants to dismantle all remnants of the nation's gun safety regime...
House Speaker vote: The Republican incoherence is scary, not funny.
"What they're really interested in is chaos … They want to throw sand in the gears of the hated federal government until it fails and they've finally proved that it is beyond saving. Every time they vote down a bill, they get another invitation to go on Fox News or talk radio. It's a narcissistic – and dangerous – feedback loop.
Governance is not the point, it's the enemy. Government is not the point, it's the enemy…"
What to Know About Cellphone Radiation — ProPublica
ProPublica recently examined how the federal government, based on quarter-century-old standards, denies that cellphones pose any risks. This guide answers some of the most common questions people ask about cellphone radiation...
McCarthy’s political operation spent millions on lawmakers now opposing his speaker dreams - POLITICO
In the 2022 election cycle alone, political groups affiliated with Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) spent over $1 million supporting Republican representatives who have now voted against him for speaker, according to a review of federal campaign finance records...
Andrew Tate’s arrest for alleged rape and human trafficking, explained - Vox
The 36-year-old was recently arrested on charges of rape and human trafficking in Romania...:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71824024/Screen_Shot_2022_08_23_at_4.22.21_PM.0.png)
Opinion | Ukraine Is Already Paying Us Back - POLITICO
Ukraine is doing something no one thought possible: defeating the Russian army and, in doing so, crippling one of America's most dangerous adversaries...
Kevin McCarthy’s speaker election struggles point toward a chaotic House year - Vox
The question is whether the new GOP speaker will be sufficiently politically deft to come up to the brink and actually pull his members back from it in this year's legislative battles — particularly over the debt ceiling, because of the risks of economic crisis there. Will he or she be able to eventually convince enough Republicans that, yes, the government does have to be funded, and the debt ceiling does have to be raised, and the Democratic Senate and President Biden aren't just going to meekly submit to ultimatums?
If the new GOP proves too dysfunctional to accept this, we could be in for a dangerous showdown — one in which Biden may have to explore options for addressing the debt ceiling without congressional support at all...:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71822202/GettyImages_1326482809.0.jpg)
Republicans fight over speaker of the House – but whoever wins, the party loses
The Republican party will continue in some form. It takes more than nihilistic mindlessness to destroy a party in a winner-take-all system such as we have in the United States.
But the Republican party no longer has a legitimate role to play in our system of self-government. It is over...
Friend of Satan: how Lucien Greaves and his Satanic Temple are fighting the religious right
Once someone determines they want to undergo the abortion ritual, the Satanic Temple believes that the state has no right to intervene in what is essentially a religious practice.
"States are passing laws premised on this idea that foetal tissue has personhood, or is a unique and distinct human life. We don't agree with that position. We believe it's a religious position, and we don't believe states have any right to put any impositions on us," Greaves says...
Why Religion is Not the Answer: Imposing a Religion on People (Student Essay contest 5th place)
"Politicians are free to practice any religion in private, but religion should not be political, and certainly should not be used to control the actions of individuals in the United States. Nor should it be weaponized to win over a large proportion of the population, while infringing on the rights of millions."...
Wednesday, January 4, 2023
Updated FDA rule will expand access to abortion pill - POLITICO
The policy, once implemented, will allow chain and independent pharmacies to stock and dispense the drug to pregnant people with a prescription...
"Brazen": David Cay Johnston on How Trump's Tax Returns Show He Defrauded U.S. & Enriched Himself - YouTube
Six years of Donald Trump's tax returns were released by a House committee on Friday after a years-long legal battle by the former president to keep them sealed. Early revelations include the finding that Trump paid just $750 in federal income tax during his first year in office in 2017, and he paid no tax in 2020.
The newly released tax records give a long-overdue glimpse of Trump's personal and business finances, which he refused to disclose during the 2016 presidential election, breaking with decades of precedent. Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnston, who has covered Trump for decades, says the new documents show "absolutely brazen" tax fraud. "Donald Trump has been a criminal his whole life," says Johnston…
Trump’s offensive against Ruby Freeman reaches an ugly new level
Trump, in other words, was told the truth, but he chose to tell lies that put innocent election workers in danger — and last night, the Republican decided to do it again...
John Kerry: rich countries must respond to developing world anger over climate
"How can you look somebody in the eye, with a straight face, and not accept the notion that there are damages, there are losses?" he asked. "We see them all around the world. You see them in heightened sea levels, we see them in fires, we see them in floods, in Pakistan and elsewhere. We see them in the higher intensity of storms."…
Why Religion is Not the Answer: The Perils of Religious Patriotism (Student Essay contest 4th place)
"The Constitution is a miracle not of God, but of compromise and erudition. In preparation for the Constitutional Convention, James Madison ordered books from his close friend, Thomas Jefferson. Through his extensive reading list, we can see the names which inspired the Constitution — Cicero, Herodotus, Montesquieu, Locke, Hume, Aristotle, Voltaire, Plutarch — Madison looked across antiquity and the enlightenment for ideas, but there was not a holy book in sight. Madison and Jefferson recognized God only in the sense of a being who created the universe, then sat back to enjoy its handiwork. (Jefferson also famously owned a copy of the bible in which he had removed all the dogmatic and supernatural passages.)..."
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
The Secret History of Family Separation - The Atlantic
During the year and a half in which the U.S. government separated thousands of children from their parents, the Trump administration's explanations for what was happening were deeply confusing, and on many occasions—it was clear even then—patently untrue. I'm one of the many reporters who covered this story in real time. Despite the flurry of work that we produced to fill the void of information, we knew that the full truth about how our government had reached this point still eluded us.
Trump-administration officials insisted for a whole year that family separations weren't happening.
Finally, in the spring of 2018, they announced the implementation of a separation policy with great fanfare—as if one had not already been under way for months. Then they declared that separating families was not the goal of the policy, but an unfortunate result of prosecuting parents who crossed the border illegally with their children. Yet a mountain of evidence shows that this is explicitly false: Separating children was not just a side effect, but the intent. Instead of working to reunify families after parents were prosecuted, officials worked to keep them apart for longer…
The Internet Is Full of Predators. Omegle Lets You Meet Them. – Mother Jones
"We need to be able to sue tech companies for their negligent, malicious conduct."
How Adrian Fontes plans to protect Arizona’s elections from ‘Maga fascists’
"I use the words 'Maga fascists' because it's the truth," he said. "These people are not Grand Old Party Republicans; they are Maga fascists. There is no reason for me to call them by anything other than what they are. If they feel a little sensitive about that, then maybe they ought to reconsider their position vis-a-vis American democracy and stop acting like fascists."…
Inside the Jan. 6 committee’s massive new evidence trove - POLITICO
The panel's evidence provides the clearest glimpse yet at the well-coordinated effort by some Trump allies to help Trump seize a second term he didn't win…
Proof that Republicans Know Exactly How Racist They Are (The New Abnormal podcast
There are so many examples of revisionist history happening these days, particularly among conservatives, that historian and University of Princeton professor Kevin M. Kruse joins this episode of The New Abnormal politics podcast to set the record straight. He tells co-host Andy Levy about his book Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past, which is a complication of historians crushing those myths, and shares proof that contrary to Republicans’ denials, the party actively engages in the racist “Southern Strategy.” Plus, Nixon’s role in it all. Also in this episode: TNA co-host Danielle Moodie interviews Jim Freeman, a civil rights lawyer and author of the book, Rich Thanks to Racism: How the Ultra-Wealthy Profit from Racial Injustice, to talk about the Defund the Police movement and the role police unions are playing in stopping it from happening.
Interview:
Why Religion is Not the Answer: Resisting Science Causes Real Harm (Student Essay contest 3rd place)
"As a scientist that specializes in biomedical nanotechnology, I have observed a clear and disturbing trend that is mostly concentrated, but not entirely exclusive, to the religious political right wing of the United States. The denial of science through scriptural justification has resulted in over 300,000 excess deaths in the United States alone, solely for SARS-CoV-2 and has allowed for the reemergence and deaths of preventable diseases, such as measles.
This anti-vaccine rhetoric has a history dating back to the 18th century, when religious figureheads referred to vaccines as “the devil’s work,” which is ironic as vaccines have saved countless lives since their inception and mass distribution.
More recently, the infamous congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, known for her delusional commentary and infatuation with conspiracy theories, called the vaccine the “mark of the beast,” alluding to biblical scripture and demonizing one of humanity’s most effective tools in preventing death. She is not alone in this endeavor, as many RNC and GOP officials have followed the flock."...
Monday, January 2, 2023
It’s hard to believe, but things are getting better. They will continue to if we keep up the fight
Here's the thing to keep in mind. Setbacks notwithstanding, we are better today than we were 50 years ago, 20 years ago, even a year ago…https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2023/jan/01/things-are-getting-better-keep-fighting-2023
The Supreme Court is playing partisan games with its “shadow docket” in Arizona v. Mayorkas - Vox
So, to summarize, one judge, a Republican, has determined that the Republican Party's preferred immigration policy must remain in effect. His opinion is poorly reasoned and at odds both with a federal statute and with binding Supreme Court precedents.
Meanwhile, a second judge, a Democratic appointee, has determined that the Republican Party's preferred immigration policy is illegal.
The CDC — the only institution that actually has the statutory authority to determine when the Title 42 program should be terminated — decided that this program must end in May. But CDC's April order has been trapped in limbo for months due to the Republican judge's erroneous decision. And it is now likely to be trapped in limbo for much longer while the Supreme Court ponders a minor procedural question about when parties seeking to intervene in a lawsuit must do so.
All of this is happening, moreover, against the backdrop of a Supreme Court that took only days to determine that a Republican administration's policies must be put into effect right away, but that often sits on cases blocking Democratic policies for months — even when the justices ultimately determine that the lower court's order blocking the Democratic policy was wrong...
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Democrats controlled Congress for two years. What did they achieve?
From same-sex marriage protections to veterans' aid, Joe Biden's party used its thin majority to deliver many campaign promises…
Newly released records show top DeSantis adviser used private email and alias to coordinate migrant flights - POLITICO
"This appears to be a purposeful attempt to evade Florida's public records laws. It's not surprising that the Governor's office wanted to keep these records secret because they suggest that a public official helped draft a bid by a private company for government services," said Ben Wilcox, co-founder of Integrity Florida, a nonprofit government watchdog. "That's bid-rigging and it's potentially illegal."
The Witnesses Against Donald Trump (Opening Arguments podcast OA669)
So much more from the Jan. 6th committee is out, and that means our esteemed Andrew Torrez stole away from holiday cheer to read hundreds and hundreds of pages of documents. What do they reveal? If Trump is indicted, who will actually make a good witness against him? The answers MAY surprise you.
Interview:
Who is Jack Smith? (Allison Gill and Andrew McCabe; Jack podcast #5)
Allison and Andy tell us about Jack Smith. From his time as a high school benchwarmer to his time at the Hague, your hosts take you through the career of the new Special Counsel.
Interview:
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Why Religion is Not the Answer: The Challenges of Religion in Health Care (Student Essay contest 2nd place)
"The Army of God alone has been linked to bombing and arson attacks of over 100 abortion clinics throughout the United States. This movement is not only a national threat, but a universal one, with attacks occurring throughout Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Thus, religious dogma not only affects the health of its believers and their children, but it is perpetually used as justification for unspeakable acts against women, OB-GYNs, and any individual who aids others in getting an abortion.
Lastly, religion has contributed to vaccine hesitancy among various groups, including Catholics, Protestants, Jewish, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. Most of these groups have faith in divine protection and healing..."
Lastly, religion has contributed to vaccine hesitancy among various groups, including Catholics, Protestants, Jewish, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. Most of these groups have faith in divine protection and healing..."
Alex Jones… Declares… (personal) BANKRUPTCYYYYYY (Opening Arguments podcast OA660)
We here at Opening Arguments enjoy documenting just how many different ways Alex Jones is financially f@cked. He added another bankruptcy to his collection, and like the previous ones, this one is likely part of a devious plan to get out of paying people stuff. Will it work?
Derkach Charged with Fraud and Money Laundering.
Derkach Charged with Fraud and Money Laundering.
Interview:
The Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project with Rob Palmer (The Phil Ferguson Show podcast)
Interview with Rob Palmer. He reviews how a team of skeptics collected and scored 3000+ psychic "predictions".
Investing Skeptically: TDA to Schwab Update 2022-11
Interview:
Investing Skeptically: TDA to Schwab Update 2022-11
Interview:
Sunday, January 1, 2023
‘I’ve got to get out and tell people’: Pete Buttigieg on his road ahead
Indeed, Democrats insist that some of the positive effects are being felt already. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia tweeted on 19 December: "Week after week, the infrastructure law is paying dividends. It's expanding highways like I-64, upgrading airports, fixing crumbling bridges and building new bike paths. It's revitalizing our communities and making every travel day better."
The law's provisions to tackle systemic racism have come under attack from Republicans and others on the right. Senator Ted Cruz tweeted with sarcasm: "The roads are racist. We must get rid of roads." …
Biden administration poised to ‘repair’ judiciary after Senate majority
"President Biden has the chance to confirm as many judges as President Trump did," Kang said. "He's certainly well on his way to leaving his mark on the bench."…
Greta Thunberg ends year with one of the greatest tweets in history
There's a direct association between machismo and the refusal to recognize and respond appropriately to the climate catastrophe. It's a result of versions of masculinity in which selfishness and indifference – individualism taken to its extremes – are defining characteristics, and therefore caring and acting for the collective good is their antithesis...
New judge Michele Fiore didn't go to law school. Look out Nevada.
Although in small counties in Nevada there is no requirement that justices of the peace have law degrees, Fiore's dearth of experience will have consequences for her work on the Pahrump Justice Court. She will be charged with deciding whether there is enough evidence for felony and gross misdemeanor cases to proceed to a trial in a state district court. Fiore will also preside over cases that include non-traffic misdemeanors and small claims.
While we don't know all of the reasons that the county commissioners have for supporting Fiore, we know that at least for Donna Cox, the commissioner who made the motion to appoint Fiore, former President Trump's endorsement of Fiore was key. Cox specifically mentioned Trump's endorsement …
John Irving: Forced birth is religious persecution
"In the time of the Puritans, abortion was allowed until the fetus was “quick” — meaning, when the woman could feel the fetus move. Abortion was permissible beyond the first trimester, up to four or five months.
Our Founding Fathers got this right — the choice to have an abortion or a child belonged to the woman who was pregnant. With the help of midwives, women were having babies and abortions at home since colonial times.
Beginning in the 1840s, and continuing over decades, abortion was outlawed state by state, becoming illegal everywhere in the United States by 1900 — until 1973, when the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision held that a woman had a constitutional right to an abortion. For more than two centuries — beginning when the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Mass. — abortion was largely permitted. Please remember, abortion was prohibited for scarcely a century. What’s happened now is religious backwardness..."
Our Founding Fathers got this right — the choice to have an abortion or a child belonged to the woman who was pregnant. With the help of midwives, women were having babies and abortions at home since colonial times.
Beginning in the 1840s, and continuing over decades, abortion was outlawed state by state, becoming illegal everywhere in the United States by 1900 — until 1973, when the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision held that a woman had a constitutional right to an abortion. For more than two centuries — beginning when the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Mass. — abortion was largely permitted. Please remember, abortion was prohibited for scarcely a century. What’s happened now is religious backwardness..."
Why Religion is Not the Answer: The Perpetuation of Rape Culture (Student Essay contest 1st place)
"My family’s religious values did not align with teaching children about bodily autonomy. I had never been taught how to set boundaries or what to do if my boundaries were not respected. I also had no sex education whatsoever. My family’s intention was that keeping me naive would keep me “pure.” In reality, it only made me easy to take advantage of. Unfortunately, my story is neither unique nor uncommon."
How can you be the best possible parent, lover, friend, citizen or tourist? Here’s what the experts think | Health & wellbeing | The Guardian
It's not easy being a 'good' person – what can we learn from the people who have thought about it the most?…
Trump’s Taxes Are the Best Case Yet for Putting Him in Prison
Perhaps most glaring in the tax returns is that they include 26 Trump businesses—or imaginary businesses—with zero revenue and hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax deductions for expenses.
Unless Trump can produce records showing the expenses are real and meet other standards to be deductible, that's fraud…
Does Scripture Speak For Itself? The Museum of the Bible and the Politics of Interpretation (Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, Freethought Radio podcast)
Tidings of great joy: The bipartisan bill to approve a Thomas Paine memorial in D.C. is likely to pass this session. After hearing irreverent holiday music by Roy Zimmerman and Tom Lehrer, we talk with Professor Cavan Concannon, co-author with Jill Hicks-Keeton of the new book Does Scripture Speak For Itself? The Museum of the Bible and the Politics of Interpretation.
Interview:
The Surprising history of the first paramedics: How a Black neighborhood association helped shape emergency medicine (Dave Davies; Fresh Air podcast)
American Sirens author Kevin Hazzard tells the story Freedom House, a neighborhood nonprofit that, with the help of a pioneering physician, trained some of the nation's first paramedics.
Interview:
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