ABOLISH SCOTUS

Right-wing activist boasted of 'praying' with SCOTUS justices after they cited her organization's brief to overturn Roe

Brad Reed
July 06, 2022

The Supreme Court of 2022 (Photo by Erin Schaff for AFP)

A right-wing activist whose organization wrote a brief that was cited by the United States Supreme Court in its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade also posted a video in which she boasted of praying with the justices.

Rolling Stone is reporting that Peggy Nienaber, who serves as the executive director of a ministry that falls under Liberty Counsel's umbrella organization, boasted that she and her associates are "the only people" who get an opportunity to pray with sitting Supreme Court justices.

A video obtained by the publication shows that Nienaber made the admission to a live streamer who was filming outside the court during a celebration of its decision to overturn 50 years of precedent on abortion rights.

"You actually pray with the Supreme Court justices?” the live streamer asked her at one point.

RELATED: Supreme Court poised to allow a 'radically anti-democratic partisan' coup: columnist

“I do,” Nienaber replied. “They will pray with us, those that like us to pray with them.”

Rolling Stone notes that this could be a conflict of interest for the justices who chose to pray with Nienaber.

"Such an arrangement presents a problem for the Orlando-based Liberty Counsel, which not only weighed in on the Dobbs case as a friend of the court, but also litigated and won a 9-0 Supreme Court victory this May in a case centered on the public display of a religious flag," the publication writes.

The Supreme Court did not reply to Rolling Stone's request for comment.

 Republican celebrates after explosion destroys Georgia monument she claimed was 'Satanic'

Brad Reed
July 06, 2022

Anti-Satan candidate Kandiss Taylor (Photo: Twitter)

Kandiss Taylor, a former Republican candidate to be Georgia's governor who has refused to concede despite losing by more than 70 points to incumbent Brian Kemp, is celebrating the destruction of a local monument that she has claimed is "Satanic."

Taylor, who ran on a platform of "Jesus, Guns and Babies," has for months targeted the mysterious Georgia Guidestones that were erected on behalf of an unknown benefactor in the late 1970s and that have been the subject of conspiracy theories thanks to inscriptions that include phrases such as, "Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a one world court."

In fact, Taylor even drafted an executive order to tear down the monuments that she would have enacted should she had been elected governor.

"They erected statues spelling out the exact plans they had for us, and today we the people of Georgia, say no more," she wrote in explaining her executive order. "It's time for us to return the favor. On my first day as Governor of Georgia, I will move to DEMOLISH the Demonic plans of our enemy. The Satanic agenda is NOT welcome in our state."

As local news station WSB-TV reports, part of the monument was destroyed this week and law enforcement officials believe that some individuals planted an explosive device near it in an attempt to wipe it out completely.

Taking to Twitter, Taylor celebrated news of the monument's destruction.

"God is God all by Himself," she wrote. "He can do ANYTHING He wants to do. That includes striking down Satanic Guidestones."

Known as an “American Stonehenge”, the Georgia Guidestones were mysteriously commissioned in June 1979 by a man under the pseudonym R. C. Christian and “a small group of loyal Americans”.

The Georgia Guidestones: Secret Societies, Ted Turner, and the ...

www.curiousarchive.com/georgia-guidestones/





 

Georgia Guidestones: explosion damages 

'America's Stonehenge'

Grey monoliths were erected in 1980 near the town of Elberton

Damage to the Georgia Guidestones monument near Elberton. AP

An explosion has damaged the Georgia Guidestones — a granite monument often referred to as "America's Stonehenge" — investigators say.

Law enforcement agencies were looking for clues into the blast at the rural site east of the US city of Atlanta on Wednesday morning.

A large part of the structure was destroyed when "unknown individuals detonated an explosive device," the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said on its Twitter feed.

What are the Georgia Guidestones?

The grey monoliths were erected in 1980 in the middle of a large field near the town of Elberton, Georgia.

It is listed as a tourist attraction by the state's travel site and the Elbert County Chamber of Commerce.

The GBI said the Elbert County Sheriff's Office, which has joined it and other agencies investigating the incident, discovered the damage when its officers responded to the blast.

It was not known if authorities observed the explosion or whether it was reported to police.

Aerial footage posted online by South Carolina's WHNS-TV show one of the structure's five monoliths crumbled into jagged pieces strewn about the ground, and a chunk of the monument's roof broken off at one corner.

A large number of investigators and their vehicles were visible at the scene, about 160.93km east of Georgia's capital.

The 5.8-metre monument comprised one upright slab at the centre of four larger tablets arranged around it, with a large rectangular capstone lying on top of the others.

The Guidestones serve as an astronomical calendar, arranged to let sunlight shine through a narrow hole in the structure daily at noon to illuminate the date on an engraving, according to ExploreGeorgia.org.

According to a chamber of commerce translation of the inscription, the message calls, in part, for all humanity to limit its numbers to fewer than half a billion people "in perpetual balance with nature" and for all nations to "avoid petty laws and useless officials".

Official descriptions say the origins of the monument are shrouded in mystery. But a 2009 Wired magazine article reported the Guidestones were the brainchild of a man who used the pseudonym Robert C Christian to commission a local granite finishing company to produce the monument on behalf of a "small group of loyal Americans".

The Georgia Guidestones in Elberton, Georgia, in 2017. Reuters

The Elberton Granite Association, which maintains and preserves the stones, has put the cost of replacing them at hundreds of thousands of dollars, WHNS reported.

Both the chamber and ExploreGeorgia.org refers to the monument as America's Stonehenge, although the moniker is also used to describe an archeological site of stone structures in Salem, New Hampshire.

Stonehenge, a prehistoric landmark on the Salisbury Plaine in Wiltshire, England, is believed to date back to 3000BC.

Updated: July 06, 2022

How Drag Queens are Fighting Queer Censorship

After the Proud Boys targeted Drag Queen Story Hours throughout Pride Month, one San Francisco-based drag performer is finding hope in young people and the LGBTQ+ community.


BY ASHA SWANN
JULY 6, 2022

Drag queen Panda Dulce

Asian American drag queen Panda Dulce has been a part of a San Francisco Bay Area library’s Drag Queen Story Hour program since 2015, with the goal of bringing joy to children while reading books highlighting the importance of being yourself.

But Dulce did not expect that one of her story hours would be interrupted by men toting guns.


“It has empowered us to survive state-sanctioned violence, epidemics, and countless hate-fueled atrocities.”

During one of her June readings in celebration of Pride Month, a group that police believe are affiliated with the Proud Boys entered the library while carrying guns and shouting obscenities, accusing her of being a “groomer” and a “pedophile,” leaving children terrified.

Within weeks of this event, Proud Boys were reported at other drag queen storytime events in Michigan and Nevada, highlighting a pattern of anti-LGBTQ+ violence across the United States.

Though the Obama Administration achieved many major legislative victories for LGBTQ+ people, many of these were reversed under President Donald Trump through executive orders signed within the first 100 days of his presidency.

By 2017, several regulations blocking anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination had been rolled back, and by early 2018, seven states had “no promo homo” laws, where schools “explicitly prohibit the positive portrayal of homosexuality” in classrooms. Since then, more than 670 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been filed in state and local governments throughout the country. Between January and March of this year, nearly 240 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in twenty-eight states.

Public libraries, while often a solace for young people and a much-needed community resource, are frequently the target of censorship and book bans. Because public libraries get their funding through municipalities and local districts, a library’s ability to function can be made precarious by supporting books on a banned list.

In Mississippi, a mayor withheld funding for a public library because it held certain novels contained LGBTQ+ content. According to the Office for Intellectual Freedom, a part of the American Library Association that raises awareness around issues of censorship, the books people most frequently request to be banned contain content that falls under one of three categories: “sexually explicit” language, “offensive language,” or content that is “unsuited to any age group.” Similarly, people opposing Drag Queen Story Hours often adopt this framing—one of the men in the group that stormed Dulce’s story hour was wearing a shirt with the phrase “kill your local pedophile.”

The misconception that queer and trans people are indoctrinating children has permeated throughout rightwing groups for decades. In 1977, less than a decade after the Stonewall Riots, anti-LGBTQ+ activist Anita Bryant said that parents need to protect their children from “the evil influence” of queerness. Two years later, Republican televangelist Jerry Falwell formed the Moral Majority, a politically active rightwing anti-LGBTQ+ group. As the HIV/AIDS epidemic began to spread throughout the LGBTQ+ community, media often described a “new homosexual disorder,” furthering the disbelief that queer people would indoctrinate their children into sexually explicit, disease-filled lives.

Dulce reading to children during a Drag Queen Story Hour.

The attack on Dulce mirrors decades of intolerance toward the LGBTQ+ community: discrimination that has been allowed to exist on a national scale under the illusion that queer communities seek to harm children. The backlash toward Drag Queen Story Hour programs directly correlates to the way queer people have been censored throughout U.S. history. From banning LGBTQ+ content to using weapons to silence a queer person attempting to read to children, anti-LGBTQ+ hate has widely become normalized.

But Dulce tells The Progressive that, because “there is a historical precedent for this,” queer people are not allowing themselves to become further victimized by anti-LGBTQ+ cruelty.

“It has empowered us to survive state-sanctioned violence, epidemics, and countless hate-fueled atrocities,” she continues. She explains that people need to face the reality that homophobic violence is never isolated and should not come as a surprise.

“I need LGBTQ+ allies and parents to understand that it is no longer socially acceptable to feign shock that such an event occurred in 2022, in California, in the Bay Area. It doesn’t matter how liberal your city or metropolitan area is,” she says. “The sooner you accept this disquieting truth, the sooner you can meet us in reality.”

Dulce is a strong believer in the power of community and of chosen family, who, she says, can remind queer people that they are loved, supported, and protected when anti-LGBTQ+ violence occurs. Dulce is also impressed by the youth-led movements like March For Our Lives.

“Do not for a second think that you are too young, too inexperienced, too ill-resourced to change our world,” Dulce says. “Do not for a second think that you need permission from anyone.”

Dulce also offers a piece of hope, despite the trauma from just a few weeks ago. Even though what happened at her library comes from an ongoing pattern of bigotry, she explains that she finds power in speaking up and urges queer children to find a community that supports them.

“For every villain out there still reeling from their own childhood trauma, there are countless others who unwaveringly believe in your safety, your humanity, and your right to thrive,” she says. “Our power is in our voices. Keep thinking, keep speaking, and keep showing up. We will beat them.”



Asha Swann is a freelance journalist and university student based in Toronto, Canada. Read more of her work at ashaswann.com

Milwaukee Crime Stoppers offers $28,000 reward for info in killing of transgender woman

Isiah Holmes, Wisconsin Examiner
July 06, 2022

Crime scene tape (Shutterstock.com)

Milwaukee Crime Stoppers is offering a $28,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the killing of Brazil Johnson. The 28-year-old transgender Black woman was shot in Milwaukee near Teutonia and Garfield Avenues. No arrests have been made thus far, and the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) continues to search for suspects.

Johnson was killed on June 15. Milwaukee County Supervisor Peter Burgelis announced that the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, Cream City Foundation, and Milwaukee Crime Stoppers contributed $1,000 each to the reward pot. Attorney Michael Hupy, president of Milwaukee Crime Stoppers, pledged another $25,000.

Burgelis said in a press conference that as a Black transgender woman, Johnson was a member of a community facing “an epidemic of violence.” He added that the reward money “provides an added incentive for anyone who has information about this horrific crime to come forward and help bring about justice for Brazil’s loved ones.” Kevin Turner, executive director of the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, praised the efforts to find Johnson’s killers. “We stand with the family as well,” said Turner. “We’re here to support our transgender community [which] is being attacked on record levels and we want to make sure that their voices are being heard.”

According to the Human Rights Campaign, Johnson is at least the 17th transgender person to be murdered in the U.S. in 2022. Black transgender women comprise 66% of all victims of fatal violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people, according to a Crime Stoppers press release.

Wisconsin Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Wisconsin Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Ruth Conniff for questions: info@wisconsinexaminer.com. Follow Wisconsin Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Global monkeypox cases top 6,000, WHO says

Filed Under: 

Monkeypox

Stephanie Soucheray | News Reporter | CIDRAP News

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Jul 06, 2022

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NIAID

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the global outbreak of monkeypox has grown to more than 6,000 cases, with 80% in European countries.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said today that infections have been detected in 58 countries. Our World in Data lists 7,075 confirmed cases worldwide.

Testing is a challenge

"Testing remains a challenge, and it's highly probable that there are a significant number of cases not being picked up," he warned during a speech. "I plan to reconvene the Emergency Committee so they are updated on the current epidemiology and evolution of the outbreak, and implementation of counter measures."

The committee will reconvene on Jul 18 or sooner. During a meeting last week, the WHO experts decided the outbreak does not yet warrant a public health emergency of international concern.

Yesterday the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the WHO released a new toolkit aimed at event organizers who wish to minimize the spread of monkeypox at large gatherings.

"Mass gatherings do not amplify transmission by themselves—it is the behaviour during events that matters. As events may be a conducive environment for the transmission of monkeypox if they entail close, prolonged, and frequent interactions, especially sexual activity, targeting at-risk behaviour can help reduce the spread of monkeypox," the ECDC said.

The ECDC and the WHO also published risk communications guidance for monkeypox. The document covers trusted communicators, communication channels, community engagement, and priority groups, with a special focus on men who have sex with men, who constitute the vast majority of infected people.

Lapcorb to offer monkeypox testing

Beginning today, Labcorp will be able to test for monkeypox virus, doubling the nationwide capacity for testing, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"The ability of commercial labs to test for monkeypox is a key pillar in our comprehensive strategy to combat this disease," said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, in a media statement. "This will not only increase testing capacity but will make it more convenient for providers and patients to access tests by using existing provider-to-lab relationships."

Labcorp said it will be able to process 10,000 tests weekly.

"Labcorp appreciates the opportunity to support the CDC in its efforts to keep the public safe and manage the monkeypox outbreak," said Brian Caveney, MD, the chief medical officer and president of Labcorp Diagnostics in a press release. "We will initially perform all monkeypox testing in our main North Carolina lab and have the capacity to expand to other locations nationwide should the need arise."

Partnering with commercial laboratories to increase national capacity for monkeypox testing was a key component of the Biden administration's plan to contain the outbreak.

Scandinavian Airlines crippled by summer pilot strike


The Stockholm-based carrier is losing millions of dollars each day after a thousand pilots walked out when labor negotiations broke down.

LASSE SØRENSEN / July 6, 2022

Scandinavian Airlines Systems planes are grounded at Oslo Gardermoen airport during pilots strikes in 2019. (Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB Scanpix via AP, File)


COPENHAGEN, Denmark (CN) — Two hundred flight mechanics working in Denmark for Scandinavian Airline Systems are planning to join a devastating strike in solidarity with airline pilots on Thursday.

“It takes two to tango. Here, SAS did not want to dance at all. They only wanted a conflict. SAS’s management must take 100% of the blame,” said Keld Bækkelund Hansen, negotiator at Dansk Metal, a union representing pilots and mechanics of the airline, according to Danish broadcaster DR1.

Passengers might be at risk for more canceled flights, Hansen said.

But SAS spokesperson Alexandra Lindgren Kaoukji said throwing flight mechanics into the strike will not have such an impact.

“We have found a solution so SAS Connect can continue flying even with the mechanics going on strike,” Kaoukji said. “Of course, it will have an impact on the planes that are grounded [in Denmark] and needs maintenance on a regular basis. When pilots return, we won’t be able to use these flights straight away.”

Airplanes can get their necessary maintenance check in other countries where workers are not striking, she said.

The warning from Dansk Metal comes just three days into a strike by 1,000 SAS pilots who refuse to work after negotiations with the company’s executives broke down on Monday.

SAS is only operating around 50% capacity due to the pilot strike, missing out on crucial revenue during the Scandinavian summer holiday season. Around 30.000 passengers are impacted by the strike daily.

The Scandinavian airline giant, established in 1946 by the governments of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, presented a whopping income deficit of 1.6 billion Swedish krona ($151 million) in the second quarter of this financial year.

International Covid-19 restrictions clearly took a toll on the carrier, which presented a plan called SAS Forward to rescue the company from bankruptcy. One of the main objectives is to cut yearly costs by 7.5 billion Swedish krona ($711 million).

Longtime pilots raised concerns after the airline started employing new pilots with agreements on lower salaries and benefits under its subsidiaries called SAS Link and SAS Connect, which the SAS management deem necessary for survival.

The pilots agreed to take a temporary wage cut, but not to the extent that SAS wished for. On Monday, negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement broke down, resulting in the strike.

“When the clock reached 12, we gave SAS an offer that matched what they asked for. But then they suddenly needed something extra,” said Henrik Thyregod, chairman of the Danish Pilot Union, part of Dansk Metal.

SAS CEO Anko van der Werff was frustrated when he talked with the press on Monday.

“We have just been through a terrible pandemic,” van der Werff said. “We have received a lot of money from taxpayers. It is shameful that this is how pilots are paying back for the generosity and patience everyone had with the company during these times.”

All Danish registered companies had the option to apply for public funding during hard Covid lockdowns to prevent businesses from closing.

The strike costs SAS between $8 to $10 million daily, according to Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

Denmark and Sweden each own 21.8% of SAS. Norway sold all its company shares in 2018.

Nature Isn’t a “Vault” Full of Material Value. It Is a Treasure to Be Valued.

A & G Coal Corporation surface mining operations are seen in the 

Appalachian Mountains on April 16, 2012, in Wise County, Virginia.

MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES

BY Ben G. Price,

Truthout

PUBLISHED July 6, 2022

On June 17, 2022, Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly published the article “Nature’s Vault offers investors a ‘green’ gold option” to little fanfare. Like so much of what passes for news from institutionalized sources reporting breathlessly about opportunities for wealth accumulation, it’s a story ostensibly about a “win-win” scenario for capital investment and environmentalists. The piece dangles the tempting prospect of making money from so-called “natural resources” while leaving them unharvested or unextracted, ensuring that the integrity of the ecosystems in which they are found remain unspoiled. But what’s really going on here?

The article describes Nature’s Vault Ltd. as an “environmental, social and governance finance company” which “aims to keep gold in the ground, thereby avoiding the carbon emissions and environmental impact of mining, while providing investors with stable, tradeable tokens representing what they dubbed ‘nature’s gold’ or environment-friendly gold.” It sounds like a dream come true. What could possibly go wrong?

Phil Rickard, Nature’s Vault’s CEO, says that the corporation buys up mining assets and “tokenizes” some of them, selling the tokens at private sales. The corporation, he claims, “verifiably commits not to exploit” the monetized assets, assigning quantifiable value based on “international mining and geological standards,” according to Mining Weekly. Moreover, “the company guarantees investors that they will retain their assets in perpetuity, based on the ownership of mining rights for the deposit” [emphasis added].

The polished rhetoric of Nature’s Vault suggests a commitment to addressing the climate crisis while expanding opportunities for profit through investment in a fully monetized world of untouched riches. One doesn’t need an advanced education in logic to sense something incoherent and irrational in their message.

The intended implication is that tokenizing gold and other commodities while they’re still in the ground is a “win-win” for environmentalists and investors in natural resources because the investment can still happen, while the continued integrity of nature is respected. But once the investments are made, property interests are created. It cannot be emphasized enough that investors “will retain their assets in perpetuity, based on the ownership of mining rights for the deposit.” The right to mine is a legal right to actually extract, not a virtual right. The law is nothing if not deferential to rights attached to property.

Wherever there are natural resources “in reserve,” whole ecosystems have been privatized — turned into legal property — and the rights to that property are held exclusively by the investors. And although the hype being amplified by Nature’s Vault is that the resources will remain untouched since they’d only be held in reserve and not extracted; the right to extract may, like the gold itself, be held in reserve, while remaining as palpably real as the assets in the ground. A “don’t touch!” sign on the cookie jar is thin reassurance the chocolate chips won’t disappear.

Attorney Terry Lodge, my colleague at the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, pointed out some prosaic advantages to be gained by investors in such a plan to hold natural resources in reserve. He wondered if tokenization isn’t a cynical ploy to devalue mineral-bearing land in order to acquire it more cheaply. “If tokenization became somewhat popular, pushing actual mining possibilities into the future, isn’t that going to cause a downward adjustment in gold futures? So, it might just be a market feint,” he told me.In this scenario, the majority of humanity will be dispossessed and alienated from the natural world and the owners will be legally able to begin extracting whenever it is expedient for their agenda.

He also wondered whether, by deferring the opening of a mine, Nature’s Vault is creating what he called a ploy aimed at state and local government tax agencies that could also have federal capital gains implications. “In other words, is the gold industry just manufacturing golden tax opportunities, even as it holds actual gold extraction (which is far and away the dirtiest form of mining) as a future option?” he said.

More and more of Earth is being transformed into property, with a minority of ultra-wealthy owners having monopolistic control of the world we inhabit. On the slimmest pretense of conservation, environmentalists could be persuaded to buy into this scam. If that happens, the opposite of emancipation of nature will have occurred. Private “management” of nature will be the rule of law, held in the hands of an elite few. Who will stop owners from doing what they will with their property? In this scenario, the majority of humanity will be dispossessed and alienated from the natural world — it having been fully transferred into private hands as property — and the owners will be legally able to begin extracting whenever it is expedient for their agenda.

We are derelict in exercising our vaunted capacity for reasoned thinking if we don’t ask what value monetization and tokenization of nature actually brings to the planet and to humanity. Even if we could believe that the token-valuated gold, timber, water, copper, lithium, and other resources would remain unharvested, and the ecosystems in which they are situated continue unmolested, why do it?

What is the point of monetizing those so-called natural assets, based on the ownership of mining rights, if the right to extract (mine) is never exercised? Is it really innocent, this virtual “mining” — and here I mean making Earth’s resources “Mine,” while not mining them? Never mind the ironic homonyms here. Even without extraction, the creation of property in the abstract form of monetized wealth is the whole and only point of minting and selling the “legacy tokens” by which Nature’s Vault will know its market. But let’s be very clear: There is no value to humanity and the Earth in an exponential increase in concentrated wealth based on the ownership of a privatized planet by an aristocracy of investors.

Even if Nature’s Vault is not a cynical Ponzi scheme for concentrating full ownership of the planet into a small number of bank accounts, or a tax-avoidance ploy for the in-crowd — and even if we can take CEO Rickard’s word that the company really cares about climate catastrophe and environmental decimation — the best we can conclude is that it’s the most naive of solutions, recognizing as we must the infantile instinct of capital investors to “mine” (make mine) the world, even if they don’t grab it in their hands and consume it on the spot.

It is a scheme that suggests we base human participation in the natural world on possession of rights attached to nature’s status as property, and that the advantages over fellow humans that arrangement gives to the owners of the natural world is in the best interests of nature, including the human species. That’s patently absurd.

Progressive Caucus: Congress Is Obligated to Hold Supreme Court’s “Rogue Justices” Accountable

Rep. Pramila Jayapal speaks during a demonstration in front of the 

U.S. Supreme Court on December 1, 2021, in Washington, D.C

.CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY IMAGES

BY Sharon Zhang,

 Truthout

PUBLISHEDJuly 6, 2022

Progressives in the House are calling for Congress to pass significant reforms to the Supreme Court after far right justices handed down a deluge of extremist decisions that threaten a wide range of rights and could jeopardize American democracy itself.

In a statement on Tuesday, Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) said that lawmakers have an “obligation to respond” to right-wing Supreme Court justices in the wake of decisions in cases like Dobbs v. Jackson, which overhauled abortion rights in the country.

The statement raises alarm over a number of decisions that the Supreme Court has made in just the past few months, some of which overturned centuries-old precedents. The Supreme Court ruled last month in Egbert v. Boule, for instance, that federal law enforcement officers essentially have immunity in cases in which they violate constitutional amendments in the 100-mile border zone. In April, the Supreme Court decided in an eight to one decision that Puerto Ricans do not have the right to the same disability benefits that mainland U.S. residents do.

Jayapal criticized the Court over its decisions to protect public school employees’ ability to compel students to join them in prayer on school property and bar people on death row who received ineffectual legal defense from presenting new evidence to show their innocence.

She also listed recent rulings to protect police from being sued if they don’t read a person their Miranda rights, threaten tribal sovereignty by allowing states to prosecute crimes on Native American land, allow the CIA to block information about their torture methods from being released, and much more.

“The list of precedents nullified and democratic institutions and principles this Supreme Court gutted or fully overturned this term is horrifying,” Jayapal said. The lawmaker warned that the Court’s tirade isn’t done; the Supreme Court is set to hear a case that could allow politicians to draw gerrymandered maps, and Justice Clarence Thomas has said that gay marriage and contraception access may be next on the chopping block.

“These extreme decisions are the result of a decades-long project to stack the bench with adherents to a right-wing agenda and overrule precedent and the will of the American people. The majority has made clear it has no concern for ethics,” Jayapal said, pointing out that several Supreme Court justices allegedly lied during their confirmation proceedings about whether or not they’d uphold landmark precedents like Roe v. Wade.

The lawmaker concluded by calling for Congress to pass several bills. First would be the Judiciary Act, which would add four seats to the Supreme Court to combat the GOP’s court packing. Second, she named the Supreme Court Ethics Recusal and Transparency Act, which would bind the Supreme Court to a code of ethics and place transparency standards on dark money and lobbying interests. And finally, she called for the passage of the Judicial Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act in order to force justices to justify decisions on whether or not to recuse themselves from cases and ban justices from trading individual stocks.

“We do not have to simply accept the devastation of these rulings,” Jayapal said. “We must hold these rogue justices to account.”

THE POST'S VIEW

Opinion

Police kill another Black man — and the same old questions arise


By the Editorial Board
July 6, 2022 

Demonstrators gather on July 3 to protest the Akron, Ohio, police shooting death of Jayland Walker. (REUTERS/Gaelen Morse)

Two years ago, the country reacted in disbelief and horror to the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. His murder raised troubling questions about policing in America and the use of deadly force. Did racial bias play a role in his agonizing death? Was training a factor? How could there be such disregard for a human life?

Those same questions are now being asked again following the death of another Black man who police shot more than 60 times after what was supposed to be a routine traffic stop.

Jayland Walker, 25, was killed by police in Akron, Ohio, on June 27 in an incident that sparked days of protests, prompting authorities to impose a curfew and cancel Independence Day celebrations. Police said they had tried to pull Mr. Walker over for unspecified equipment and traffic violations at 12:30 a.m. when he fled and a chase ensued. About 40 seconds after the chase started, police said, a gunshot was fired from Mr. Walker’s car. After several minutes, according to police, Mr. Walker, who had no criminal record, got out of his car and ran away on foot. Police said they deployed Tasers but couldn’t subdue him. Seconds later, after police say Mr. Walker stopped and turned toward the officers, they opened fire.

More than 90 rounds were discharged, and it appears from the police body cam videos of the chase and shooting that shots were fired even after Mr. Walker fell to the ground. “It was absolutely excessive,” said the attorney for Mr. Walker’s family. “The way the law required, indeed, the way we are all required, to look at this is through the eyes of a reasonable police officer as it’s happening. I ask you, as he’s running away, what is reasonable? To gun him down? No, that’s not reasonable.”

Mr. Walker was unarmed when he was shot. Police said they found a handgun in the car, but it’s not clear whether it was loaded. He had no criminal record. Eight officers directly involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave; the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is conducting an inquiry and will turn the case over for review to the state attorney general.

There are many unanswered questions that will determine if these officers should be criminally prosecuted. Foremost: Was a gun discharged during the chase that gives credence to officers’ claims they feared for their lives? While the delay in the release of information has been troubling, it is important not to prejudge the outcome of this case. There must be a thorough investigation and a full airing of the findings. Aside from the specific issue of possible criminal culpability, there should be some renewed soul searching by law enforcement authorities — both in Akron and across the nation — about practices that have resulted in unarmed Black suspects being killed by police more often than Whites.

We hoped that after Floyd’s death, departments would reassess the use of deadly force, improve training and question the wisdom of tactics like giving chase to drivers with broken headlights. That this young man is dead after being stopped for a traffic violation is not only a needless tragedy, but it is just plain wrong.

The Post’s View | About the Editorial Board

Editorials represent the views of The Washington Post as an institution, as determined through debate among members of the Editorial Board, based in the Opinions section and separate from the newsroom.

Members of the Editorial Board and areas of focus: Deputy Editorial Page Editor Karen Tumulty; Deputy Editorial Page Editor Ruth Marcus; Associate Editorial Page Editor Jo-Ann Armao (education, D.C. affairs); Jonathan Capehart (national politics); Lee Hockstader (immigration; issues affecting Virginia and Maryland); David E. Hoffman (global public health); Charles Lane (foreign affairs, national security, international economics); Heather Long (economics); Molly Roberts (technology and society); and Stephen Stromberg (elections, the White House, Congress, legal affairs, energy, the environment, health care).

Great Salt Lake 'In Trouble' After Levels Fall To Historic New Low

The Utah lake dropped to its lowest level ever for the second time in one year. Officials call for "urgent action" to combat the climate change-induced drought.

By Marco Margaritoff
Jul 6, 2022, 

HUFFPOST



The Great Salt Lake in Utah is drying up faster than ever, posing a huge threat to the economy and environment alike.

The Utah Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Geological Survey said in a joint statement Tuesday that this marks the second time in less than one year that the lake plummeted to historic low levels.The data revealed surface water elevation fell to 4,190.1 feet on Sunday. This is the lowest it has ever been since levels were first measured in the mid-1800s, according to CNN. While only slightly lower than the previous record in 2021, this downward trend poses serious ramifications.
An American flag waves over a part of the Great Salt Lake that used to be underwater.
JUSTIN SULLIVAN VIA GETTY IMAGES

“This is not the type of record we like to break,” Joel Ferry, executive director of the Department of Natural Resources, said in the statement. “Urgent action is needed to help protect and preserve this critical resource. It’s clear the lake is in trouble. We recognize more action and resources are needed, and we are actively working with the many stakeholders who value the lake.”

The largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, the Great Salt Lake registered its lowest-ever pre-2021 level at 4,191.4 feet elevation in October 1963. The current drought is rooted in climate change and resulting increases in water usage.

Officials noted that the body of water is evaporating and being used much faster than it’s being replenished. David O’Leary, investigative studies chief at the USGS’s Utah Water Science Center, nonetheless said the lake was in decent condition by fall 2021.

“In any given year, levels will rise and fall,” O’Leary told CNN. “Lake levels rise when inflows exceed evaporation and fall when evaporation exceeds inflows. Last year, when the historic low was previously broken, lake levels declined until mid-October before leveling off.”

This year's record broke last year's, which was the first time the Great Salt Lake's levels were lower than they were in 1963.
JUSTIN SULLIVAN VIA GETTY IMAGES

However, levels only “rose over one foot this past year,” Laura Vernon, the Great Salt Lake coordinator at the Department of Natural Resources, told CNN. She and her colleagues hope for at least 2.5 feet per year to replenish the water being lost.

USGS scientists previously warned low levels could threaten local wildlife, as the lake is a vital food source for an estimated 10 million migratory birds. This drought could also have devastating effects on the regional economy if the drought continues.

From the mineral and harvest industry to the tourism sector, the Great Salt Lake adds an annual $1.3 billion to the economy. If these arid conditions continue, anywhere between $1.7 billion to $2.2 billion could be lost each year — and 6,500 locals could lose their jobs.

“We need to be more aggressive in how we use water and how we manage water in the state,” Vernon told CNN. “We live in one of the driest states in the nation and we need to act like it.”