It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, June 10, 2022
Protect schools, home security, hunters: Amend the Second Amendment
Paul F. deLespinasse Thu, June 9, 2022
Recent massacres have again drawn attention to the tragedies enabled by the Second Amendment, as interpreted by the courts.
This amendment is one of the most problematical parts of the Constitution: "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
In 2008, downplaying "well-regulated" and "militia," and reversing precedents, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the amendment protects individuals' right to have guns. Abusing this right, a few people have used military-style "assault" weapons, rapidly firing hundreds of shots, to kill hundreds of people including many young children.
Attempts to prohibit owning these weapons have been stymied by legislators claiming devout allegiance to the Second Amendment.
The Second Amendment diverts attention from the costs and benefits of legislation attempting to make gun ownership "well-regulated." Instead of focusing on proposals' merits, it sidetracks us into arguments about constitutionality.
If there were no Second Amendment, legislators could focus on the benefits and costs of proposed legislation. But repeal is impossible. People wanting guns for self-defense or hunting fear that repeal would "let the camel's nose into the tent" — a "slippery slope" argument. What if legislatures decided to ban all guns?
Some gun owners, however, now believe that we should ban assault weapons. This would become possible if, rather than trying to repeal the Second Amendment, we amend it. A tightly drafted change could protect the right to own hunting rifles and handguns for self-protection, subject to reasonable regulations, but leave regulation or prohibition of more powerful weapons completely up to legislatures.
An amended Second Amendment would guarantee that the whole camel could not get into the tent. It would eliminate the danger that future Supreme Court majorities might uphold legislation banning handguns and hunting rifles. And it would allow proposals to prohibit ownership of assault weapons to be considered on their merits.
Such an amendment — unequivocally protecting the right to own handguns and hunting rifles — could not be dismissed as anti-gun. True, these kill a lot more people than assault weapons, but they do it in many small daily episodes (rather like car accident fatalities) rather than in a small number of mass slaughters (like passenger plane crashes).
They destroy many lives, but do not enable unhappy people to gain attention by committing large-scale atrocities. They don't inflict comparable damage to the national psyche.
Amending the Constitution is usually harder than merely enacting laws. But here the opposite could be true. Meaningful legislation is now impossible. But opposition to amending the amendment should be minimal since the changes would eliminate fears of legislation or court decisions banning handguns and hunting rifles.
Opponents of revising the Second Amendment may argue that banning assault weapons would not reduce the number of mass shootings, but this is refuted by recent experience in Australia, the United Kingdom and other countries.
They might also argue that we need better treatment for mental illness, which is an excellent idea in its own right but a distraction here. There is just as much mental illness in countries with far fewer mass atrocities. The availability of assault weapons in the U.S. is obviously the critical variable here.
A few might argue that privately owned, military-scale weapons are needed so we can overthrow our government if it becomes tyrannical, but this idea is terribly misguided. Regimes resulting from forcefully overthrowing a government are invariably worse than their predecessors.
And for those who are concerned, there are effective ways to protect ourselves from tyranny, at much lower cost, nipping bad tendencies in the bud: civic education and widespread attention to and participation in public affairs.
We shouldn't let a vital part of public policy depend on the whims of future Supreme Court majorities. Amending the Second Amendment could be a win-win, protecting schools, home security and hunters.
Paul F. deLespinasse is professor emeritus of political science and computer science at Adrian College. He can be reached at pdeles@proaxis.com.
Asteroid samples contain 'clues to origin of life': Japan scientists
Kyoko HASEGAWA Thu, June 9, 2022,
Asteroid dust collected by a Japanese space probe contains organic material that shows some of the building blocks of life on Earth may have been formed in space, scientists said Friday.
Pristine material from the asteroid Ryugu was brought back to Earth in 2020 after a six-year mission to the celestial body around 300 million kilometres away.
But scientists are only just beginning to discover its secrets in the first studies on small portions of the 5.4 grams (0.2 ounces) of dust and dark, tiny rocks.
In one paper published Friday, a group of researchers led by Okayama University in western Japan said they had discovered "amino acids and other organic matter that could give clues to the origin of life on Earth"
"The discovery of protein-forming amino acids is important, because Ryugu has not been exposed to the Earth's biosphere, like meteorites, and as such their detection proves that at least some of the building blocks of life on Earth could have been formed in space environments," the study said.
The team said they found 23 different types of amino acid while examining the sample collected by Japan's Hayabusa-2 probe in 2019.
The dust and rocks were stirred up when the fridge-sized spacecraft fired an "impactor" into the asteroid.
"The Ryugu sample has the most primitive characteristics of any natural sample available to mankind, including meteorites," the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in a statement.
It is believed that part of the material was created about five million years after the birth of the solar system and has not been heated above 100 degrees Celsius (210 degrees Fahrenheit).
Another study published in the US-based journal "Science" said the material has "a chemical composition that more closely resembles the Sun's photosphere than other natural samples".
Kensei Kobayashi, an astrobiology expert and professor emeritus at Yokohama National University, hailed the discovery.
"Scientists have been questioning how organic matter -- including amino acids -- was created or where it came from, and the fact that amino acids were discovered in the sample offers a reason to think that amino acids were brought to Earth from outer space," he told AFP.
Another mainstream theory about the origin of amino acids is that they were created in Earth's primitive atmosphere through lightning strikes, for example, after Earth cooled down.
kh/kaf/jta
Taliban arrest Afghan fashion model, say he 'insulted' Islam
FILE - Ajmal Haqiqi, right, watches as Mahal Wak, center, practices modeling, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 3, 2017. The Taliban have detained a famous Afghan fashion model along with three colleagues, including Haqiqi, accusing them of disrespecting Islam and the Holy Quran. Haqiqi — known among Afghans for his fashion shows, You Tube clips, and modeling events — appeared handcuffed in videos posted to Twitter on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence, DCI. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)More RAHIM FAIEZ Wed, June 8, 2022,
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban have arrested a well-known Afghan fashion model and three of his colleagues, accusing them of disrespecting Islam and the Quran, the Muslim holy book, according to videos released by Afghanistan's new rulers.
Ajmal Haqiqi — known for his fashion shows, YouTube clips and modeling events — appeared handcuffed in videos posted on Twitter by the Taliban intelligence agency on Tuesday.
In one widely circulated and contentious video, Haqiqi is seen laughing as his colleague Ghulam Sakhi — who is known to have a speech impediment that he uses for humor — recites verses of the Quran in Arabic, in a comical voice.
After the arrests, the Taliban released a video of Haqiqi and his colleagues, seen standing in light brown jail uniforms and apologizing to the Taliban government and religious scholars.
The video was accompanied by a tweet in the Dari language, saying: “No one is allowed to insult Quranic verses or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad.”
Later Wednesday, Amnesty International released a statement, urging the Taliban to “immediately and unconditionally” release Haqiqi and his colleagues.
Amnesty has documented several arbitrary detentions by the Taliban in Afghanistan, often accompanied by coerced statements in an attempt to stifle dissent in the country and deter others from expressing their views.
Samira Hamidi, Amnesty's South Asia campaigner, denounced the arrests and said that by detaining “Haqiqi and his colleagues and coercing them into apologizing," the Taliban have undertaken “a blatant attack on the right to freedom of expression." Her statement also condemned the Taliban's "continued censorship of those who wish to freely express their ideas.”
In Kabul, Taliban officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment and it was not clear what measures the model and his colleagues face under the Taliban-run judiciary.
The families of the arrested models could also not immediately be reached for comment.
Since they seized power last August in Afghanistan during the final weeks of the U.S. troop pullout from the country, the Taliban have imposed strict measures and edicts according to their harsh interpretation of Islamic law, particularly curbing the rights of women and minorities.
The moves have raised international concerns that the radical Islamic group intends to rule as it did the last time the Taliban held power in Afghanistan, in the late 1990s. The Taliban consider criticism and anything perceived as disrespectful of Islam as a punishable crime.
Amnesty said that since their takeover, the Taliban “have been using intimidation, harassment, and violence on anyone who has expressed support for human rights or modern values, especially human rights defenders, women activists, journalists, and members of academia among others."
The rights group also urged the Taliban as the de facto authority in Afghanistan to “abide by international human rights law and respect everyone’s right to freedom of expression without discrimination.”
Morocco's gender-challenging artists take to the stage
Kaouthar Oudrhiri Thu, June 9, 2022,
Men in make-up and wigs twirl on stage in colourful robes to applause in Morocco, resurrecting the musical art of "Aita" and challenging gender stereotypes in the conservative Muslim-majority kingdom.
Members of the all-male "Kabareh Cheikhats" troupe, including singers, actors and dancers, hope their unique performances of an art once dominated by women can revive the tradition.
"This art, based on oral histories, traces its roots back to the 12th century and draws its poetic strength from daily life," said writer and poet Hassan Najmi.
The group travels across the North African nation mapping out the many varieties of Aita, a genre that has long been popular in the countryside.
Recently back from a tour of the United States, they staged a boisterous performance that brought the audience in a packed theatre in Rabat to their feet, with men and women dancing in the aisles.
The music narrates traditional life and describes Morocco's spectacular nature, as well as talking frankly of love and sex.
When Morocco was under the grip of French rule from 1912 to 1956, Aita became a form of anti-colonial resistance, expressed in dialects the authorities had no chance of understanding.
The songs had gained royal recognition in the late 19th century, under Sultan Hassan I.
"At that time, authorities paid particular attention to this music as they could use it as a vehicle for propaganda," said Najmi.
- 'Strong women' -
Famous female "cheikhate" singers were invited to parties and national ceremonies up until the 1990s.
But social and cultural changes in Morocco -- including a shift among some to more conservative religious values -- knocked them off their pedestal.
"They became symbols of debauchery," said Najmi. "This contempt is the fruit of hypocrisy and double-talk of a segment of society."
Amine Naouni, one of the troupe's actors, said Kabareh Cheikhats unapologetically pays tribute to the "strong women" of the past.
"In the show we haven't invented anything," Naouni said. "All we do is revisit things that already existed in society."
The group's founder, Ghassan El Hakim, said the aim was to promote appreciation for the "precious" heritage.
"That's what motivates our work," the 37-year-old said. "Six years after the troupe was born, we're still learning, we're constantly researching."
The show starts with an "Aita jabalia" from the country's mountainous north, followed by one from the one-time capital Fez, then another from the Doukkala-Abda plains that are the music's heartland.
- 'To live together' -
The idea of men dressing up or impersonating women in theatre is not new to Morocco.
Naouni, 28, said he had worried about being "judged" at first. "With time, that feeling went away," he said.
Najmi said men used to dress up as cheikhates at weddings.
"We used to see men in make-up, dressed in caftans and dancing sensuously at parties, and it wasn't seen as a problem," said Najmi. "It was seen as normal, as public space was closed to women."
But the Kabareh is a new take on old traditions.
Hakim said members of his group were keen to challenge fixed categories.
"At each performance, I see the communion of the spectators," he said.
"Everyone appreciates the moment, despite our differences, so I tell myself that it's possible to live together, not just for the duration of a show."
But the shows have provoked condemnation by some on social media.
Naouni however believes those reactions "are limited" to the internet.
"It's easy to pour out your hate behind a screen, but in real life it's different," he said.
ko/agr/fka/par/pjm/oho
Texas Legislators Propose Law against Drag Shows … And Not Guns Kalyn Womack Wed, June 8, 2022
Texas has been making strides for a while now to “protect” children from anything and everything LGBTQ+ related. But instead of drafting gun laws to protect kids from school shooters like in Uvalde, lawmakers have proposed new legislation to ban drag shows, according to NBC News.
A video went viral of a group of kids attending a drag show in Dallas. Per NBC, the event titled “Drag the Kids to Pride Drag Show” was intended to be family friendly, given most drag shows have age restrictions. During the event, a crowd of protestors gathered outside. After the video circulated, Republican representatives wasted no time responding to it.
In a tweet, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green equated drag shows to strip clubs, claiming it should be illegal to bring children either because it “intentionally confuses children about gender/sexuality.” Texas Rep. Bryan Slaton said the law was necessary to protect children from “perverted adults obsessed with sexualizing young children.”
More on the drag show ban from NBC News:
Podcast host Allie Beth Stuckey, who has over 357,000 followers on Twitter, went as far as suggesting the parents, performers and bar owners “should be charged with sexual abuse of children.”
LGBTQ activists and some Democratic lawmakers slammed the prospective ban.
“First it was CRT. Then it was trans kids playing sports. Now it’s....drag?” Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow said on Twitter, using the acronym for Critical Race Theory. “None of these things fix inflation, bring healthcare costs down, or save kids from gun violence. It’s just the fear tactic of the month for the GOP. And it’s embarrassing.”
Before this, state legislators had banned nearly every book from schools and libraries discussing gender identity and sexuality. Also, Gov. Gregg Abbott issued an order to investigate families who allow their children to undergo gender-affirming medical care, per NBC.
The conspiracy that LGBT individuals are “grooming children” has drawn more action from lawmakers than a literal mass shooting. Just a week ago, 19 students of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas were shot and killed by a gunman. Instead of floating a bill to address the purchase and use of firearms, legislators seem to be distracted by something far less lethal.
Israeli settlers at risk of losing special West Bank status
IsraA section of the West Bank Jewish settlement of Efrat, seen on Thursday, June 9, 2022. Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank may soon have a taste of the military rule that Palestinians have been living under for 55 years. A looming end-of-month deadline to extend legal protections to Jewish settlers has put Israel’s government on the brink of collapse and drawn widespread warnings that the territory could be plunged into chaos. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) JOSEPH KRAUSS Fri, June 10, 2022,
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank may soon get a taste of the military rule that Palestinians have been living under for 55 years.
If Israel’s parliament does not act, a special legal status accorded to the settlers will expire at the end of the month, with wide-ranging consequences. Lawyers who live in the settlements, including two members of Israel’s Supreme Court, will no longer be allowed to practice law. Settlers would be subject to military courts usually reserved for Palestinians and would lose access to some public services.
While few expect things to reach that point, the looming deadline has put Israel’s government on the brink of collapse and drawn dire warnings.
“Without this law, it would be a disaster,” said Israel Ganz, governor of the Benyamin Regional Council, a cluster of settlements just outside Jerusalem. “The Israeli government will lose any control here. No police, no taxes.”
For over half a century, Israel has repeatedly renewed regulations that today extend a legal umbrella to nearly 500,000 settlers — but not to the more than 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank. After failing to pass on Monday, the bill will be brought for another vote in the Knesset next week in a last-ditch effort to save the governing coalition — and the legal arrangement.
The law underpins separate legal systems for Jews and Palestinians in the West Bank, a situation that three major human rights groups say amounts to apartheid. Israel rejects that allegation as an attack on its legitimacy.
“This is the piece of legislation that enables apartheid,” said Jessica Montell, director of the Israeli human rights group HaMoked, which provides legal aid to Palestinians.
“The whole settlement enterprise depends on them enjoying all the rights and benefits of being Israelis even though they are in occupied territory.”
An overwhelming majority in the Knesset support maintaining the separate systems. The main reason the bill didn’t pass was that the nationalist opposition — which strongly supports it — paradoxically refused to vote in favor in an attempt to bring down Israel’s broad-based but fragile coalition government. In a similar vein, anti-settlement lawmakers voted in favor of the legislation to keep the coalition afloat.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and has built more than 130 settlements there, many of which resemble small towns, with apartment blocks, shopping malls and industrial zones. The Palestinians want the West Bank to form the main part of their future state. Most countries view the settlements as a violation of international law.
Israel refers to the West Bank by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria, and considers it the heartland of the Jewish people. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett supports settlement expansion and is opposed to Palestinian statehood. Israel officially views the West Bank as disputed territory whose fate is subject to negotiations, which collapsed more than a decade ago.
The emergency regulations, first enacted in 1967 and regularly renewed, extend much of Israeli law to West Bank settlers — but not to the territory itself.
“Applying the law to the territory could be considered as annexing the territory, with all the political consequences that Israel did not want to have,” said Liron Libman, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute and a former top Israeli military prosecutor.
Failure to renew the bill by the end of this month would have far-reaching consequences.
The Israel Bar Association requires lawyers and judges to reside in the country. Without the law’s carve-out, settlers would not be able to practice law in Israeli courts. That would include two Supreme Court justices, one of whom recently upheld an order to forcibly relocate hundreds of Palestinians.
The bill's lapse could also result in more settlers who run afoul of the law being tried in military courts — something Israel authorities have long tried to reserve for Palestinian suspects.
The settlers could lose their ability to use national health insurance for treatment inside the West Bank, and the ability to update their status in the population registry and get national ID cards — something routinely denied to Palestinians.
The law also provides a legal basis for Israel to jail thousands of Palestinians who have been convicted by military courts in prisons inside Israel, despite international law prohibiting the transfer of prisoners out of occupied territory. The law’s lapse could force Israel to move those prisoners back to the West Bank, where there is currently only one Israeli prison.
The various consequences are seen as so catastrophic that many Israelis expect the bill to pass or the government to be replaced. It’s also possible that Israeli authorities, who often bend to the settlers’ demands, will find workarounds to blunt the worst effects.
“I’m not worried,” said Ganz, the settler leader. “It’s like when you owe the bank 1 million dollars, you are worried about it, but when you owe 1 billion, the bank manager is worried.”
Asked if the separate legal systems amount to apartheid, Ganz said: “I agree with you, 100%.”
His preferred solution is that Israel annex what’s known as Area C, the 60% of the West Bank where, under interim peace accords, Israel already exercises complete control. Area C includes the settlements, as well as rural areas that are home to some 300,000 Palestinians, according to the U.N.
Most Palestinians live in Areas A and B — scattered, disconnected population centers where the Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule.
“It’s strange that different populations in the same area have different laws,” Ganz said. “So we have to bring Israeli law to everyone here in Area C.”
Two years ago, Israel’s then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu flirted with annexation before putting it on hold as part of an agreement with the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations.
The Palestinians, and much of the international community, view annexation as a violation of international law that would deal a fatal blow to any hope for a two-state solution, still widely seen internationally as the only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Netanyahu, now opposition leader, and his allies strongly support the West Bank bill but hope its defeat will speed his return to power. The coalition cannot pass it on its own because a handful of lawmakers — mainly Palestinian citizens of Israel — refuse to vote for it.
The law may have been designed with an eventual partition in mind. But many Palestinians see its longevity as proof that Israel was never serious about a two-state solution.
“They could have easily undone the occupation by just not passing this law, time and again,” said Diana Buttu, a Palestinian lawyer and former adviser to the Palestinian Authority. “It gets passed by the left and it gets passed by the right. That’s why this idea of two states is such a fiction.”
Associated Press reporter Alon Bernstein in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
CUBA CRISIS REDUX
Niacaragua authorizes entry of Russian troops, planes, ships
FILE - In this Sept. 5, 2018 file photo, Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo, lead a rally in Managua, Nicaragua. Nicaragua’s Sandinista-controlled congress has cancelled nearly 200 nongovernmental organizations this last week of May 2022, ranging from a local equestrian center to the 94-year-old Nicaraguan Academy of Letters, in what critics say is President Daniel Ortega’s attempt to eliminate the country’s civil society. (AP Photo/Alfredo Zuniga, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)More
Thu, June 9, 2022
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has authorized Russian troops, planes and ships to deploy to Nicaragua for purposes of training, law enforcement or emergency response.
In a decree published this week, and confirmed by Russia on Thursday, Ortega will allow Russian troops to carry out law enforcement duties, “humanitarian aid, rescue and search missions in emergencies or natural disasters.”
The Nicaraguan government also authorized the presence of small contingents of Russian troops for “exchange of experiences and training.”
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told the Russian news outlet Sputnik that the measure was “routine.”
“We are talking about a routine — twice a year — procedure for the adoption of a Nicaraguan law on the temporary admission of foreign military personnel to its territory in order to develop cooperation in various areas, including humanitarian and emergency responses, combatting organized crime and drug trafficking,” Zakharova said.
She noted the law also authorizes troops from the United States, Mexico and other Central American countries for such purposes.
Ortega has been a staunch ally of Russia since his days in the leadership of the 1979 revolution that ousted dictator Anastasio Somoza. Ortega served as president from 1985 to 1990, before being re-elected to power in 2007.
Ortega’s government arrested dozens of political opposition leaders, including most of the potential presidential candidates, in the months before his re-election to a fourth consecutive term last year. His government has shut down dozens of nongovernmental groups that he accuses of working on behalf of foreign interests to destabilize his government. Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans have been chased into exile.
Mexico president trades barbs with Cuban-American senators
Mexico's president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador attends a book signing session in Los Angeles
Wed, June 8, 2022,
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took swipes at Cuban-American Senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Bob Menendez during a regular press conference Wednesday morning, piling on from criticism lobbed in recent days.
Lopez Obrador has accused the three senators, and other Cubans living in the United States, of wielding power to continue the United States' embargo on Cuba.
The president cited Cuba on Monday as part of his reasons for not attending the U.S.-hosted Summit of the Americas this week, as the nation, along with Venezuela and Nicaragua, were not invited due to concerns over human rights violations. Rubio tweeted about Lopez Obrador in Spanish on Tuesday, saying: "Glad to see that the Mexican president, who has handed over sections of his country to drug cartels and is an apologist for tyranny in Cuba, a murderous dictator in Nicaragua and a drug trafficker in Venezuela, will not be in the U.S. this week."
Lopez Obrador addressed the tweet on Wednesday, denying drug cartel issues in Mexico and, instead, hurling criticism at the three senators.
"I want proof," he said. "Because I have proof that (Ted Cruz) has received money from those in favor of gun manufacturing in the United States (to lobby against) a ban on sales."
Cruz and his campaign have received more than $440,000 from gun lobbies across his political career, according to governmental transparency watchdog OpenSecrets.
Terrified law clerks at the Supreme Court are lawyering up as the investigation into the leaked draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade fuels hostility: report
Kelsey Vlamis
BUSINESS INSIDER Wed, June 8, 2022
ABOLISH THE SUPREME COURT
Seated from left: Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, Standing from left: Brett Kavanaugh, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images
The Supreme Court is investigating a leak of a draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade.
Law clerks, afraid for their professional futures, are seeking legal advice on the probe.
The tensions add to reports of increasing hostility among the high court, including the justices.
Tensions are continuing to rise at the Supreme Court since a draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade leaked last month, breaking longstanding precedent and prompting criticisms from justices.
As an investigation into the leak unfolds, the justices' law clerks are afraid and frantically consulting with lawyers, according to a report from NPR's Nina Totenberg, who has covered legal affairs and the high court for decades.
"I don't know how on earth the court is going to finish up its work this term," one source close to the court told NPR. The source said the clerks in a way act as diplomats between the justices, who at this point in the year would usually be working together to address disagreements on cases.
But, the source said, in addition to growing mistrust among the justices, the clerks are so terrified their professional lives are under threat as the leak investigation unfolds that communication between them is strained.
Chief Justice John Roberts announced an investigation into the leak after Politico published the 98-page draft opinion last month. The draft showed a majority of justices were set to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that enshrined the constitutional right to an abortion.
While the leak itself may not be an actual crime, CNN reported last week clerks have been asked to turn over their cell phone data and sign sworn affidavits, in which lying would be illegal.
Clerks are now "lawyering up" and consulting with law firms as a result, NPR reported Wednesday. The outlet added that clerks seeking legal advice also raises ethical questions, since some of the firms they are consulting have cases before the Supreme Court.
Concerns among the clerks piles on increasing animosity that has been reported amongst the justices.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissenting opinion published Wednesday, went as far as to call out a "restless and newly constituted Court," seemingly a nod to the recent Trump-appointed justices.
Shortly after the leak Justice Clarence Thomas said it was an "unthinkable breach of trust" and suggested he'd lost trust in the court as an institution. And in an appearance following the leak, Justice Samuel Alito declined to say whether he and the other justices were still friendly enough to be able to have a meal together.
Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and other Democrats want to pay retirees an additional $2,400 in their Social Security checks — by raising taxes on the richest Americans
Joseph Zeballos-Roig
INSIDER Thu, June 9, 2022 Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Susan Walsh/AP Photo; Tom Williams/Pool via AP
Sens. Sanders and Warren rolled out a plan to boost Social Security checks.
But Republicans slammed the proposal's tax hikes to finance the larger benefits for retirees.
The GOP generally favors other steps to preserve Social Security, like raising the retirement age.
There's a Social Security benefits cliff looming, with retirees seeing their checks garnished as soon as 2035.
According to the latest federal Social Security report, the program has just enough funding to send out monthly checks to older Americans and those with disabilities for 13 years. Beyond that, a 20% reduction in benefits is needed for the program to be sustainable.
"In the coming decades it will be vital for Congress to take steps to put Social Security and Medicare on solid financial footing for the long term," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement on the Social Security report.
Their proposal: a bill that would increase the benefit by $2,400 a year and fully fund the program through 2096.
To pay for it, the Democrats are proposing a raise to the earnings cap for paying into Social Security. Right now, Americans are taxed only on their first$147,000 in income to pay for Social Security; earnings beyond that are not touched.
Sanders' Social Security Expansion Act "would lift this cap and subject all income above $250,000 to the Social Security payroll tax," according to a fact sheet released by the senator.
Raising the income threshold isn't a new concept, and it's one that Sen. Joe Manchin, a key centrist, has already expressed support for. Earlier this year, the Democrat from West Virginia said the payroll-tax cap should be taken up to $400,000 to put Social Security on a more sustainable fiscal path.
While Sanders' plan is one solution to patching the ailing — and popular — program, Republicans indicated that it wouldn't draw their votes. They tend to resist tax increases to fund more generous safety net benefits, favoring other fixes.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, suggested in a Thursday congressional hearing that the program's retirement age would probably need to be raised, a step that Sen. Mitt Romney expressed support for earlier this year. Romney previously proposed the TRUST Act, a bipartisan bill directed at helping fix Social Security and other ailing programs. Critics said that legislation might end up cutting some benefits.
"Sen. Sanders makes a wonderful plea, which many, many people agree with — the need for helping our seniors and providing better benefits for them and so forth," Romney, a Republican from Utah, said during a Senate Budget Committee hearing. "But recognize this bill has no chance whatsoever of receiving a single Republican vote in either house."
White House climate adviser says misinformation ‘absolutely’ a public health issue
Zack Budryk
THE HILL Thu, June 9, 2022
White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy on Thursday said that the spread of false information about climate change is “absolutely” a threat to public health.
McCarthy made the comments as part of an interview for Axios’ event “The Infodemic Age” on Thursday.
Asked whether climate misinformation disseminated on social media represents a public health threat, McCarthy responded, “Absolutely,” adding “it’s not just an island, there’s also greenwashing,” referencing the practice of companies or institutions misrepresenting their work as environmentally friendly.
“The public health issue [is] one of the big challenges that we face, fossil fuel companies and climate change, posing a significant threat to public health,” McCarthy added. “Fossil fuels have actually created significant health challenges on our country, not just climate change, but we’re talking about pollution that’s impacting people’s lives … we are talking about, really, risks that no longer need to be tolerated in our communities.”
The World Health Organization estimates ambient air pollution is linked to about 4.2 million premature deaths per year, while indoor air pollution is a factor in about 3.8 million deaths. The Air Quality Life Index estimates billions of people lose up to six years of their lives due to air quality issues.
McCarthy, a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator, added that the dissemination of climate misinformation “continues to make my job difficult.”
“What we saw in the 70s and 80s when we were working on these challenges, and in particular in the 80s, we saw that the fossil fuel companies were actually using dark money and playing off the playbook of the tobacco industry to figure out how they could seed denial of the challenge of climate as the tobacco companies did,” she said. Since then, she said, outright denial of climate change has become a far more fringe view, “but the dark money is still there.”
“The fossil fuel companies are still basically trying their best to make sure that people don’t understand the challenge of climate, but now it’s not so much about denying the problem,” she said. “Now the challenge, really, is how do we accelerate the solutions we have available to us, the technology improvements that we’ve seen that are most cost effective?”
Judges on strike in Tunisia, say the justice system is a political tool
Issued on: 10/06/2022
Tunisian lawyers and judges held a small protest outside the capital’s courts Wednesday as part of their weeklong strike following the president’s dismissal of 57 judges. President Kais Saied's removal of the judges was the latest sign of growing interference in the judiciary as he tightens his grip on power.
