The New York Times Reports that “the Republicans’ Senate campaign committee has slashed its television ad reservations in three critical battleground states for the fall, a likely sign of financial troubles headed into the peak of the 2022 midterm election season.” Texas Paul reacts and breaks down what it all means.
Brandon Wolf, a Pulse Night Club survivor, speaks with MeidasTouch about the letters he exchanged with Florida Senator Marco Rubio where Rubio embraces a discriminatory LGBTQ+ agenda. Wolf discusses how Rubio used the Pulse Night Club shooting pretending to support the victims as a poltical tool while actually engaging in heinous policies using the government to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community.
Crops, power plants, barge traffic, industry and fish populations devastated by parched waterways
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Drone footage reveals impact of climate crisis on Europe’s rivers – video
In places, the Loire can now be crossed on foot; France’s longest river has never flowed so slowly. The Rhine is fast becoming impassable to barge traffic. In Italy, the Po is 2 metres lower than normal, crippling crops. Serbia is dredging the Danube.
Across Europe, drought is reducing once-mighty rivers to trickles, with potentially dramatic consequences for industry, freight, energy and food production – just as supply shortages and price rises due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine bite.
Driven by climate breakdown, an unusually dry winter and spring followed by record-breaking summer temperatures and repeated heatwaves have left Europe’s essential waterways under-replenished and, increasingly, overheated.
With no significant rainfall recorded for almost two months across western, central and southern Europe and none forecast in the near future, meteorologists say the drought could become the continent’s worst in more than 500 years.
“We haven’t analysed fully this year’s event because it is still ongoing,” said Andrea Toreti of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. “There were no other events in the past 500 [years] similar to the drought of 2018. But this year, I think, is worse.”
He said there was “a very high risk of dry conditions” continuing over the next three months, adding that without effective mitigation drought intensity and frequency would “increase dramatically over Europe, both in the north and in the south”.
Germany’s Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG) said the level of the Rhine, whose waters are used for freight transport, irrigation, manufacturing, power generation and drinking, will continue dropping until at least the beginning of next week.
On Friday the water at the critical Kaub marker 50km downstream from Mainz – which measures navigability, rather than the water depth – fell below 40cm, the level at which many shipping firms consider it is no longer economical for barges to operate. It could fall to nearer 30cm over the next few days, the BfG has said.
Many barges, which carry coal for power plants and vital raw materials for industrial giants such as steelmaker Thyssen and chemical giant BASF, are already operating at about 25% capacity to reduce their draft, raising shipping costs up to fivefold.
A vital part of northwest Europe’s economy for centuries, the 760 miles (1,233km) of the Rhine flow from Switzerland through Germany’s industrial heartland before reaching the North Sea at the megaport of Rotterdam.
A total halt in Rhine barge traffic would hit Germany’s – and Europe’s – economy hard: experts have calculated that a six-month suspension in 2018 cost around €5bn (£4.2bn), with low water levels forecast to cost Germany 0.2 points of economic growth this year.
While the EU has said boosting waterborne freight by 25% is one of the bloc’s green transition priorities, Germany is now working to divert it to rail and road – although between 40 and 100 trucks are needed to replace a standard barge load.
France’s rivers might not be such key freight arteries, but they do serve to cool the nuclear plants that produce 70% of the country’s electricity. As prices hit all-time highs, power giant EDF has been forced to reduce output because of the drought.
Strict rules regulate how far nuclear plants can raise river temperatures when they discharge cooling water – and if record low water levels and high air temperatures mean the river is already overheated, they have no option but to cut output. With Europe’s looming energy crisis mounting and the Garonne, Rhône and Loire rivers already too warm to allow cooling water to be discharged, the French nuclear regulator last week allowed five plants to temporarily break the rules.
Quiet flows the Po: the life and slow death of Italy’s longest river
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In Italy, the flow of the parched Po, Italy’s longest river, has fallen to one-tenth of its usual rate, and water levels are 2 metres below normal. With no sustained rainfall in the region since November, corn and risotto rice production have been hard hit.
The Po valley accounts for between 30% and 40% of Italy’s agricultural production, but rice growers in particular have warned that up to 60% of their crop may be lost as paddy fields dry out and are spoiled by seawater sucked in by the low river level.
In the protected wetlands of the river’s delta, near Venice, its high temperature and sluggish flow have reduced the water’s oxygen content to the extent that an estimated 30% of clams growing in the lagoon have already been killed off.
Low river levels and high water temperatures can prove fatal to many species. In Bavaria, the Danube reached 25C last week and could hit 26.5C by mid-month, meaning its oxygen content would fall below six parts per million – fatal for trout.
Freight on the 2,850km of the Danube has also been heavily disrupted, prompting authorities in Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria to start dredging deeper channels while barges carrying mainly fuel for the power generators wait to advance.
Even Norway, which relies on hydropower for about 90% of its electricity generation, has said the unusually low levels of its reservoirs may ultimately oblige it to limit power exports.
Republicans have long made being poor a reason to be denied medical care or having any quality of life. Some states make being homeless a crime now. This country has become one of well off upper incomes / the wealthy and the lower incomes / desperate workers / the poor. This is driven by anti-trans hate and bigotry. This goes against the best medical practices accepted by the majority of medical associations. Trans gender affirmative medical care is the treatment backed up by medical science and data. That is a fact. Gender-affirming care, as defined by the World Health Organization, encompasses a range of social, psychological, behavioral, and medical interventions “designed to support and affirm an individual’s gender identity” when it conflicts with the gender they were assigned at birth.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. (Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Florida will ban transgender residents from using Medicaid to obtain gender-affirming healthcare, including hormone medications and surgery.
According to ABC News, the new law will come into effect on Sunday (21 August).
Florida will join several other states – including Arizona, Missouri and Texas – in explicitly banning residents from using the medical expenses assistance programme to cover transgender healthcare, disproportionately affecting lower-income trans people.
The state’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) laid out the legislation in June, recommending limitations on puberty blockers, hormones, gender-affirming surgeries, and “any other procedures that alter primary or secondary sexual characteristics”.
The state’s surgeon general Joseph Ladapo previously said that providing trans healthcare to minors is “about injecting political ideology into the health of our children”.
LGBTQ+ civil rights organisations including Lamda Legal said in a statement they would “fight this rule and defend the rights of transgender people in Florida in whatever forum necessary to protect their rights to access health care coverage”.
Gender-affirming care is healthcare. Providing access to life-saving treatment should be based on facts — not discrimination. https://t.co/lioAAjbm20
Sarah Warbelow, Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) legal director, said it was the “latest example of the DeSantis administration shamefully targeting transgender Floridians”.
“The governor’s administration thinks it knows better than the residents and medical providers of Florida,” Warbelow said.
“The purported rationale behind these latest moves to deny medical care to transgender people has been thoroughly debunked time and time again since this effort first surfaced publicly in April.
“Rather than following the science, the data or the experts, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration instead chose to misinterpret studies, ignore evidence, and lend credence to prejudice – yet again putting the state between patients and doctors for no reason other than political grandstanding.
“This rule will harm thousands of Floridians when it goes into effect, and it should be reevaluated immediately.”
Following the signing of the bill, Amit Paley, CEO and executive director of LGBT+ mental health and suicide prevention charity The Trevor Project, said in a statement: “LGBTQ youth in Florida deserve better. They deserve to see their history, their families, and themselves reflected in the classroom.
“Social support is vital for suicide prevention, and I want to remind LGBTQ youth in Florida and across the country that you are not alone.”
Rather than raising wages, stopping personal attacks on teachers and their families, and feeding hungry kids, or even putting more money into the school systems, instead let’s just removed all teaching standards by hiring any warm body preferably from the most conservative sectors we can find. This follows the attacks on the education curriculums that are created by well trained highly educated people that have now been trashed in red states by maga republican office holders supported by the maga cult base. Sickening. The open destruction of public education and the institution of a Christian maga conservative lie taught to kids so they have no idea of the reality of the country, its history, or of their rights. Remember what DeathSantis and most republicans think schools are, daycare for kids so the parents are free to go earn profit for the employers! That was why DeathSantis insisted that schools stay open so the parents could go back to work, and the state could go back to normal. So they state could get tax dollars and take in tourist revenue. This has nothing about the full education and needs of students, the students are there to be warehoused and indoctrinated while their parents’ slave to make the profit of the business owners. Hugs
Gov. Ron DeSantis is rolling out new proposals intended to bring teachers to Florida, with shortages affecting districts throughout the state. One such proposal may take first responders, including former police officers, firefighters and EMTs, from those high-pressure environments and move them to K-12 classrooms.
DeSantis said his proposed Governor’s Recruitment Program was “focusing on our heroes,” seeking to bring former first responders in in the way that former members of the military are now eligible for hire.
“We will waive the exam fees for the state teachers certification,” DeSantis vowed, floating a $4,000 bonus for all recruits and an additional $1,000 incentive for those teachers who are addressing “acute shortages” in the classroom.
Last week DeSantis declared that he was also seeking to hire enlisted military veterans because, he claims, they’d be better teachers than any of the highly-educated but “woke” teachers now heading for the hills in droves due to his fascist policies.
.@GovRonDeSantis wants former cops and other first responders in classrooms to address Florida teacher shortage
OAN host praising Desantis for hiring military vets and spouses without bachelors degrees as teachers: “I love this. Get rid of all these communist groomers who are responsible for indoctrinating our children. Replace them w/men & women who actually respect and honor our nation.” pic.twitter.com/epyk1UbmFv
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) defends decision to address Florida’s teacher shortage by allowing veterans to teach in classrooms without traditional credentials:
“The people that serve our country are not just some warm body, they’re people that have a lot to offer.” pic.twitter.com/yOBDUsdvpg
I have been a teacher for 22 years, and this is the worst educational idea I’ve ever encountered. During the pandemic, Ron DeSantis has shown absolutely no support at all for Florida teachers. Rather than pay us a fair wage, DeSantis demeans the profession of teaching. https://t.co/M0KL4rrxYW
Destruction of education. Destruction of any standards. Disrespect for professional teachers and their qualifications. Another example of US America’s anti-intellectual bias. And Trump/Desantis are both products to the macho-culture which despises learning. education and real qualifications. Shame on Desantis. Shame on any one who takes a teaching job unqualified to do so.
Oh my dogs that love gravy I should be able to hate and say hateful things about those I hate based on my religion, but damn it no one should be able to say anything harmful or negative about me! These are evil sinner, my religion says my god hates them, so I should get to deny them anything and everything while abusing them. If I get called out for doing it, then I am being persecuted and unfairly treated. I was just being hurtful and cruel while not following the laws everyone else follows that I think should not apply to me because my god is special in the US. Hugs
Dentist John Kelley says contraception and PrEP “encourage homosexual behavior and intravenous drug use.” But he doesn’t want his name on his case anymore.
One of the plaintiffs in what could be a landmark case denying health insurance coverage of PrEP and contraception is complaining he’s being harassed.
John Kelley, an orthodontist in Tarrant County, Texas is among four complainants in a class action lawsuit filed in the state challenging the federal government’s authority to mandate access to free vaccines, birth control, cancer screenings, and other preventative services with the Affordable Care Act (also sometimes called Obamacare).
Attorney for the plaintiffs Jonathan Mitchell claims that the name of the suit,Kelley v. Xavier Becerra et al, has resulted in Kelley being subjected to “threats and cyberbullying.”
Kelley is listed among complainants with Joel Starnes, Kelley’s dental practice Kelley Orthodontics, and consulting firm Braidwood Management Inc.
Mitchell writes in a motion to amend the name, “The plaintiffs are making this request because the media coverage of this case has triggered a wave of threats and cyberbullying directed at the current first-listed plaintiff and his family and business, which would be alleviated if Braidwood were designated as the first-listed plaintiff going forward.”
Attorneys representing the Biden administration didn’t object.
Braidwood Management, doing business in Katy, Texas is owned by Steven F. Hotze.
Mitchell, the former solicitor general of Texas and one of the principal architects of S.B. 8, the law putting a bounty on anyone in Texas believed to have aided in an abortion after six weeks, filed the suit targeting contraception, PrEP and other preventative services in March, 2020.
Access to those services and others could be imperiled following the Supreme Court overturn of Roe v. Wade in June.
Mitchell’s collection of plaintiffs represent objections to a variety of mandates.
Kelley was described in the suit as a Christian who is unwilling to support certain forms of contraception or PrEP on religious grounds because they “encourage homosexual behavior and intravenous drug use.”
Starnes, who represents individuals who object to the mandate on principle, says on Facebook, “As an adopted son of God, a husband, a father, Texas Native, and patriot of the USA, I am fighting for our Natural Rights – Life, Liberty, and Property.”
Braidwood owner Hotze objects to mandatory coverage of STI screenings and counseling for those engaged in non-marital sexual behavior.
In the suit, Mitchell writes, “The government cannot possibly show that forcing private insurers to provide PrEP drugs, the HPV vaccine, and screenings and behavioral counseling for STDs and drug use free of charge is a policy of such overriding importance that it can trump religious-freedom objections.”
During a hearing in late July, Mitchell claimed on behalf of his clients that the mandates make them complicit in “conduct that is contrary to their sincere religious beliefs.”
As Texas becomes a hotbed of anti-LGBTQ laws targeting transgender youth and their families, Bob McCranie, a gay realtor in Dallas, has launched Flee Texas, a website that helps families find homes in more accepting states.
“As LGBTQIA+ citizens of Texas, many of us feel at risk,” the website says. “If you feel the need to leave the jurisdiction of Texas, let us help you sell your property here and connect you with an LGBTQIA or ally agent in a better location of your choice.”
The website helps poeple sell their homes and connects them with LGBTQ and supportive realtors in other states.
McCranie, the founder of Texas Pride Realty, has been a resident of Texas since 1987. Since then, he said he has seen the state “transform into a juggernaut of right-wing conservatism,” particularly noting its recent crusade to prosecute the families of transgender children who get access to gender-affirming medical care for “child abuse.” McCranie said he knows of many queer Texans who have since moved to blue states and even Mexico to escape the state’s ultra-conservative politics.
While some people have accused him of capitalizing on the state’s anti-LGBTQ climate to make money, he said that it’s not about that. He pointed to realtors in other anti-LGBTQ red states who have started offering similar relocation services.
“A lot of people don’t remember what it’s like to be an illegal person,” McCranie said. “Families with trans kids need to get out of this jurisdiction now.”
“Mothers across Texas are so mad at Greg Abbott and the GOP’s policies, that every single time he opens up his mouth, he alienates a new group of parents,” Mothers Against Greg Abbott founder Nancy Thompson told Newsweek.
The state Republican Party’s 2022 platform refers to LGBTQ people as “groomers” (pedophiles) and supports so-called conversion therapy, a discredited form of psychological torture that purports to change the sexual orientations and gender identities of queer people. Some conservative lawyers have also filed lawsuits that would allow government officials to deny same-sex marriage certificates and healthcare insurance providers to stop covering PrEP and contraceptives.
“What is happening right now in Texas isn’t even Republican… it’s the extremes of the party,” Thompson said. “They’re trying to totally gain control over our personal rights and freedoms and the safety that we need in Texas for our families to be able to thrive.”
“More questions are being raised this morning. Did former President Trump try to sell or share the highly classified material to the Russians or to the Saudis or others?
“Or were the documents innocently mishandled and stored because he thought he had a legal right to have them?
“And Russia’s state media already is claiming that Russian officials have seen the material. Empty boasts or has there been a leak that officials fear could pose a grave danger to the United States security?
“How would they get this if it’s under lock and key or was it? Because the Feds apparently told them back in June that you got to put all padlock on that on the storage room.
“We don’t know where this stuff was floating around.” – Fox News host Eric Shawn.
Ask yourself the question: “Can he get any money for the documents ? Then think about what the Orange twat would do — would he care that by selling them he’d be a traitor or would he rather be that much richer ? Evil traitor or Cash in the pocket ???
Fox is cutting TFG loose, they’re going to throw their adulation towards DeathSantis, you watch he’ll start appearing on all their ‘shows’ soon and they’ll start pushing his agendas.
Photo: Shutterstock
Photo: Shutterstock
Scottie's Playtime 