Texas Doubles Down on Hate for Trans People

Trans news continues to be overwhelmingly bleak and grim, thanks in no small part to Republicans. Trans folks already face disproportionate levels of violence, live with higher reported rates of depression and suicidal, and are more likely to become homeless and drop out of high school without a diploma. And that’s been the case before the recent onslaught of anti-trans legislation coming out of conservatives. 

Texas SB 1029—filed by Republican state Sen. Bob Hall of Texas, who has a history of outrageous beliefs—there’s a considerable chance almost all forms of safe and age-appropriate gender-affirming health care will be made illegal in the state. And that includes trans adults. In fact, it not only covers both youth and adults but even nonsurgical treatments. The legislation also seeks to allow medical malpractice lawsuits for life against providers and insurers who cover gender-affirming care. This anti-trans health care bill isn't seeking to only bar youth from safe, age-appropriate health care. It’s seeking to stop adults from accessing it, too. 

The bill argues that these procedures are not in the “best interest of the health of the patient” but instead are being offered for the “monetary gain” of “health care facilities.” The bill seeks to ban public funding for any and all gender modifications, including vasectomies, hysterectomies, and castration. 

In terms of possible malpractice claims, the bill seeks to establish providers as liable, including for the patient’s medical, pharmaceutical, and mental health costs post-procedure. This bit isn’t the most eye-catching, admittedly, but it’s deeply concerning because of the possible fallout. It’s hard to find safe and affordable gender-affirming care as it is. If physicians are worried about such a wide-ranging and lifelong liability, it’s entirely possible folks will just ... stop offering it.

It seems that trans issues are also about bodily autonomy and dignity-- and thus the fight for reproductive health is one and the same as the fight for trans rights. 

 

Friday Night Drama

Dolly Parton & Olivia Newton-John - Jolene

Spanish Train Officials Quit Over Massive Blunder

Two top Spanish transport officials have resigned over a botched order for new commuter trains that cost nearly $300M

The trains could not fit into non-standard tunnels in the northern regions of Asturias and Cantabria.  The head of Spain's rail operator Renfe, Isaías Táboas, and the secretary of state for transport, Isabel Pardo de Vera, have resigned from their positions.

The design fuck-up was made public earlier this month. The Spanish government says the mistake was spotted early enough to avoid  greater financial loss. However the region of Cantabria has demanded compensation.  Renfe ordered the trains in 2020 but the following year manufacturer CAF realized that the dimensions it had been given for the trains were inaccurate and stopped further construction.  

The rail network in northern Spain was built in the 19th Century and has tunnels under the mountainous landscape that do not match standard modern tunnel dimensions.  The mistake means the trains will be delivered in 2026, two years late. 

Renfe and infrastructure operator Adif have launched a joint investigation to find out how the error could have happened. Earlier this month, Spain's transport ministry fired a Renfe manager and Adif's head of track technology over the blunder.

 

Dangerous New Drug Hitting the Streets

There’s a new drug in town — and it has deadly consequences.  Xylazine — otherwise known as “tranq,” “tranq dope” and “zombie drug” — is wreaking havoc in major cities across the country with its devastating effects: It can literally rot the user’s skin.  The substance, which seemed to first appear in Philadelphia before migrating west to San Francisco and Los Angeles, was used for cutting heroin, but, most recently, it has been discovered in fentanyl and other illicit drugs.

While approved by the Food and Drug Administration for veterinary use, xylazine, a non-opioid, is not safe for humans, and those who overdose on the drug do not respond to naloxone, or Narcan, the most common overdose reversal treatment.

Xylazine causes sedative-like symptoms, such as excessive sleepiness and respiratory depression, as well as raw wounds that can become severe and spread rapidly with repeated exposure. The crusty ulcerations, which can become dead skin called eschar, can result in amputation if left untreated.    Because it is not listed as a controlled substance for animals or humans, “tranq” lands in a confusing and horrifying gray area — and hospitals rarely test for it with routine toxicology screenings. 

Last month, one Philly user suddenly developed xylazine-specific wounds near her opioid injection sites.  “I’d wake up in the morning crying because my arms were dying,” Tracey McCann, 39, told the New York Times.

The city reported that 90% of lab-tested dope samples from 2021 contained xylazine, which can increase the risk of overdose when combined with other illicit substances.   But the lethal combination of substances is what gives xylazine its appeal — the high of the opioid, such as fentanyl, is extended with the help of “tranq.”

“It’s too late for Philly,” Shawn Westfahl, an outreach worker with Prevention Point Philadelphia, told the Times. “Philly’s supply is saturated. If other places around the country have a choice to avoid it, they need to hear our story.”

“Tranq is basically zombifying people’s bodies,” Sam, 28, told Sky News. “Until nine months ago, I never had wounds. Now, there are holes in my legs and feet.”

The worrying “tranq” trend comes as the New York City Department of Health reported that 2,668 New Yorkers died of overdoses in 2021. Experts warn that xylazine could worsen the ongoing drug epidemic. 

Dr. Gary Tsai, the director of substance abuse prevention and control with the LA County Department of Public Health, believes the drug’s prevalence would increase deaths from overdoses.  “The main concern is we’re already amid the worst overdose crisis in history, nationally and locally,” Tsai told the Los Angeles Times.

According to a 2022 report, xylazine has been discovered in 36 states. In New York City alone, the drug was found in 25% of samples, per the Times.  Earlier this month, the San Francisco Department of Health announced that low levels of xylazine were found in the systems of four people who overdosed, suggesting that the substance can be hidden in drugs unbeknownst to the users.   “It’s possible that [there's] more out there,” warned Tsai.

 

Anti-Government Jerks Demanding Government Bailout

The libertarian paradise of Rio Verde Foothills is nestled out in the desert near Scottsdale, Arizona.  It was formed specifically to avoid the rules and regulations required for civilized society, but it is situated in dry, harsh conditions.  Arizona law requires developers to plan for 100 years of water use, and every new development has to engage in a process for securing water rights in compliance with the law. 

But Rio Verde Foothills avoided that requirement by exploiting a big loophole in the law: It only requires it for subdivisions larger than five homes.  Guess what developers in Rio Verde Foothills did to circumvent that—they built five-home lots. For them, it was an easy payday, and the self-styled “rugged individualists” who chose to live there could brag about keeping government off their backs and paying fewer taxes. The area doesn’t even have a government. 

For a while, all was good; Rio Verde Foothills was supplied by Scottsdale. Water trucks would roll out to a tap at the edge of town, fill up, then truck that water to individual homes, filling a standard 5,000-gallon tank buried in their yards.  But for years, the city warned that the agreement could not continue in perpetuity. It needed the water for its own growth. Rio Verde Foothills ignored the issue—until the day that Scottsdale finally cut them off.  "We've been telling them for five years since this began that we are not their permanent water solution," said Valerie Schneider, Scottsdale Water's Public information officer. "At some point, we have to realize this is our water, we're in a drought, we're in a Colorado River shortage so we have to take a stance."

One resident hilariously told The Guardian that “her community didn’t ‘want a handout’ from Scottsdale. They want time to figure out a plan and, to her, Scottsdale shutting the water off is unneighborly and un-American.” Apparently, five years of warning wasn’t enough.   Nothing says “AMERICA FUCK YEAH” more than putting up a house in the middle of a desert, without any regard to infrastructure, in a place designed to avoid laws, regulations, and government, and then crying when someone else won’t cater to your needs and whims.

Residents have several options: one, have the private water haulers find other sources of water, which they’ve already done. But those sources are further out and are just as subject to being cut off, as Scottsdale did. This increases uncertainty and costs. Libertarian free-market principles can get pricey! 

Another option was, well, government.  Incorporating could give the community more options for water supply in future but forming an official town or city brings requirements, such as paved roads, street lights, more taxation and rules. Horrors!

Another option would be to create a new water district.  When some residents proposed forming their own self-funded water provider, other residents revolted, saying the idea would foist an expensive, freedom-stealing new arm of government on them. The idea collapsed.

Rio Verde residents are now suing the city of Scottsdale to force them to continue providing water, because while they don’t want government on their doorstep, they fully expect some other government to cater to their needs. You know, because they’re such rugged individualists. This story is being repeated all around Arizona, from Kingman in the Mojave desert, to Cochise County near the Mexican border. It always pits deep-red conservative-libertarian regions against a sudden realization that maybe government rules and regulations exist for a reason, that society can’t exist without them. As one Republican quoted in the Kingman article says, “We are very conservative – I think we’re one of the reddest areas of a red state right now. I don’t think securing your water supply is a partisan issue, or it shouldn’t be.” You see, once they are affected, it’s no longer partisan.

Scottsdale is about to agree to a three-year extension of Rio Verde Foothills’ water, assuming it can get  additional water from outside sources.  Ironically, those rugged Rio Verde libertarians will get a temporary reprieve because of—you know it—government.

Another GOP Liar in the House

There appears to be another serial liar to keep George Santos company in the halls of the House of Representatives.  Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles appears to have fabricated large portions of his life, with WTVF's Phil Williams writing that the freshman Republican has claimed to be "an economist, a nationally recognized expert in tax policy and health care, a trained police officer, even an expert in international sex crimes"—none of which appears to be true. Ogles won his first term last year in a newly gerrymandered Middle Tennessee district, and he went on to oppose Kevin McCarthy for speaker on 11 straight ballots before finally falling into line.   During last year's primary, Ogles presented himself "as a former member of law enforcement" in a debate, saying he'd "worked in international sex crimes, specifically child trafficking." He also made similar claims during the campaign and in his first weeks in office.

The only law enforcement background Ogles had was his brief service as a volunteer reserve deputy in the Williamson County Sheriff's Office starting in 2009―a gig that ended just two years later after he failed to meet the minimum requirements for participation or even attend meetings. A spokesperson for the sheriff added, "There is nothing in Mr. Ogles' training or personnel file that indicates he had any involvement in 'international sex trafficking' in his capacity as a reserve deputy."

In late January, the Tennessee Lookout's Sam Stockard reported that Ogles claimed to be a graduate of Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management when records show he only went through the school's executive education program. 

Ogles' campaign finances are also a shambles. The month after his win, the Federal Election Commission threatened to audit the incoming congressman over his fundraising reports; among other things, he failed to properly identify donors and recorded accepting multiple contributions over the legal $2,900 limit. Williams further reported last month that Ogles has also failed to file the personal financial disclosures that all federal candidates are required to submit.

 

 

From the Twitter Hall of Fame

 

Montana Leading the Way in Bullying of Trans Students

Montana schools would not be able to punish students who purposely misgender or deadname their transgender peers under a Republican-backed legislative proposal that opponents argue will increase bullying of children who are already struggling for acceptance.

The proposal, co-sponsored by more than two dozen GOP lawmakers, would declare that it’s not discrimination to use a transgender classmate’s legal name or refer to them by their birth gender. Schools would be prevented from adopting policies to punish students who do so.  It comes amid a wave of legislation this year in Montana and other conservative states seeking to limit or ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. 

The proposal on misgendering and deadnaming is apparently the only existing legislation of its kind in the country this year, said Olivia Hunt, policy director for the National Center for Transgender Equity.   “This would make Montana unique in enshrining the right to be bigoted toward or the right to bully trans children in the state code,” Hunt said.  The proposal would not apply to teachers, but some states are considering bills that would protect teachers’ rights to refer to students by their birth names and gender.

Refusing to acknowledge a transgender student’s preferred name and pronouns amounts to bullying, said SK Rossi, testifying on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign.  "The problem with the bill is that it takes away the ability of schools and teachers and administrators to intervene when something becomes cruel, before it becomes physical,” Rossi said.

Max Finn, a transgender middle schooler from Missoula, said he faces backlash from fellow students, including having crude remarks made about him and being tripped in the hallway, even though his teachers try to stop it from happening.  “If my teachers can’t or won’t intervene, it gets much worse,” Finn said.

People representing educational organizations, pediatricians, parents of transgender children and students testified against the bill, saying it would lead to unchallenged bullying and harassment as well as anxiety and depression among transgender students.

Richard Schade told lawmakers his 9-year-old nonbinary stepchild is bullied on a near daily basis with little to no intervention from school administrators.  “This demonstrates that the stated purpose of (the bill) is to address a problem that doesn’t exist, and that the real intent is to send a message to trans kids that they deserve to be bullied because of who they are,” he said.

 

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Chevrolet

India's Modi Now Using Tax Officials to Harrass Journalists

BBC offices in India were searched as part of an investigation by income tax authorities. The searches come weeks after the broadcaster aired a documentary critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The BBC said that it was "fully co-operating" with authorities. "We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible," a short statement added.  Although the documentary was broadcast on television only in the UK, India's government has attempted to block people sharing India: The Modi Question online, calling it "hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage" with a "colonial mind-set". Last month, police in Delhi detained students as they gathered to watch the film.

The documentary focused on the prime minister's role in anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002, when he was chief minister of the state.  The general secretary of the opposition Congress party, KC Venugopal, said the search "reeks of desperation and shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism".  "We condemn these intimidation tactics in the harshest terms. This undemocratic and dictatorial attitude cannot go on any longer," he tweeted.

The Editors Guild of India - a non-profit group which promotes press freedom - said it was "deeply concerned" about the searches.  They are a "continuation of a trend of using government agencies to intimidate and harass press organizations that are critical of government policies or the ruling establishment", it said.

But Gaurav Bhatia, a spokesman from Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), described the BBC as the "most corrupt organization in the world". 

The documentary tracks Modi's first steps into politics, including his rise through the ranks of the BJP to his appointment as chief minister of the western state of Gujarat.  It highlights a previously unpublished report, obtained by the BBC from the UK Foreign Office, which raises questions about Modi's actions during the religious riots. The rioting began the day after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was set on fire, killing dozens. More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in the subsequent violence.  The Foreign Office report claims that Modi was "directly responsible" for the "climate of impunity" that enabled the violence.  In 2005, the U.S. denied Modi a visa under a law that bars the entry of foreign officials seen to be responsible for "severe violations of religious freedom".  Modi has long rejected accusations against him, and has not apologised for the riots.

The targeting of organizations seen as critical of Modi's Hindu nationalistic government is not uncommon in India.  In 2020, Amnesty International was forced to halt its India operations, with the group accusing the government of pursuing a "witch-hunt" against human rights organizations.   Oxfam was also searched last year along with other local non-government organizations.

In 2020, India's press freedom rank dropped to 142 out of 180 countries in the Press Freedom Index, an annual ranking of countries published by Reporters Without Borders (RWB), an international non-governmental organization dedicated to safeguard the right to freedom of information.  In 2020, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting blocked the MediaOne TV temporarily for covering a news about the "mob attacks on Muslims" in the country's capital New Delhi.  The Jammu and Kashmir police, a law enforcement and counterinsurgency agency, often interrogate (and sometimes arrest) journalists over national security reportage and critical news stories involving the Modi government.

Modi's government has also banned the Times of India, The Hindu and Telegraph India from running government ads on government platforms.  Prominent journalists Sagarika Ghose and Ravish Kumar have publicly said that they have been subjected to harassment, intimidation including death and rape threats when they were skeptical of Modi's Bharativa Janata Party (BJP) government. 

 

Monster Valentines

 

Modern Passion for V-Day

Super Bowl Post-Game Analysis

An Update on Santos the Liar

It's been a few weeks since we last checked in on our prevaricating pal, George Santos.  

There have been additional questions about what he did with the money from the GoFundMe campaign for his mother's funeral:

 

Then came reports of theft from a Brazilian news outlet:

 

 

 

Rachel Maddow also reported that Santos claimed to have been the subject of an assassination plot and the victim of a mugging on Fifth Avenue in New York.   “We have already suffered an attempt on my life, an assassination attempt, a threatening letter, having to have the police, a police escort standing in front of our house,” the then-congressman-elect told the Brazilian podcast “Radio Novelo Apresenta” in December.

Santos alleged his Florida home was vandalized in January 2021 “because we were at a Republican party” to celebrate the new year.  And he said two white men mugged him “in broad daylight” on Fifth Avenue in the summer of 2021, stealing his shoes, watch and briefcase. “That wasn’t the worst of it,” Santos told the podcast host. “Nobody did anything. Nobody did anything. The fear is real. It’s surreal what we live through here.”  “Surreal is one word for it,” Maddow said after showing the footage.

A few weeks later, news outlets disclosed a lot of sketchy details about Santos' pet charity-- including reports that he altered a check to steal charity funds.  It also looks like that the “charity” never really existed outside of GoFundMe pages, and its Facebook group is no longer active.

In an interview with Newsmax this week, Santos raised a new claim that he founded a company when he was only 13 years old.  When pressed on the source of funded he contributed to his house campaign, Santos said that all the funding was "legitimate money obtained through my legal practices with my company, and I distributed my dividends to myself."   When asked for further details, Santos replied, "Devolder Organizations was founded in 2001 when I stepped away from my previous employment and I decided to go on my own to do exactly what I did for other companies for years, which is capital introduction, relationship management of high net-worth individuals.”  The problem with that?  According to his congressional biography, Santos was born on July 22, 1988-- which means that Santos was barely a teenager at the time. 

I have no doubt that this won't be the last we hear about the shady dealings of this guy.

Willie Nelson - Busted

GOP is Outraged at the Truth

Republicans are hopping mad-- saying that Joe Biden LIED in his State of the Union speech, when he said some Republicans want to sunset Social Security and Medicare.  Looks like they are upset at being caught red-handed.

 

 

GOP Senator Rick Scott issued an 11-point plan last year, outlining his goal of sunsetting Social Security and Medicare and forcing a vote to re-establish them every 5 years.  Scott's plan forced Senator Mitch McConnell to say, "We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years.  That will not be part of the Republican Senator majority agenda."  

In a debate last year, GOP Senator Lindsey Graham said that entitlement programs (like Social Security and Medicare) would be on the chopping block if the GOP won a Senate majority in 2022.  "Entitlement reform is a must for us to not become Greece," Graham said in the debate.  By "reform," he means cutting benefits and disqualifying people. 

Australian Town Taking Shit for its Weird Name

A town in Australia with a name that often draws giggles from passers-by has changed its name for a day in a bid to promote gut health.

"Pooright" was until recently known as Poowong. Home to farms and people seeking its divine rolling West Gippsland hills, the town's community is used to taking jokes or handling questions about its name. 

Poowong is a First Nations' people's word, meaning carrion.

Campaign organizers sought permission from Boonwurrung Land and Sea Council to temporarily modify the town name for the launch.

"The council confirms that the name change is not disrespectful to the traditional owners of the land in anyway shape or form nor is it being insensitive to the culture and heritage," a Gut Health Month spokesperson said.

 

Death by Tik Tok

TikTok star Edgar Garay has died aged 27 after falling from a cliff in Puerto Rico. He was reportedly recording a video at the time, according to a family member.   Officials found Garay in the water by the Cabo Rojo lighthouse in Puerto Rico on Monday afternoon (30 January). He was last seen alive at 5:37 pm on Sunday.

A witness at the scene later said she saw Garay stumble towards the edge of the cliff. Coast Guard Sector San Juan commander Capt. José E. Díaz expressed his "heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones" before praying "they find closure and strength during this most difficult time."

Coast Guard Sector San Juan commander Capt. José E. Díaz expressed his "heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones" before praying "they find closure and strength during this most difficult time."  He added: "We appreciate the efforts of all the Coast Guard, Puerto Rico Police and partner agency emergency responders, especially the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Bureau dive unit who was able to locate Mr. Garay's body in such a highly inaccessible and challenging environment."

His brother Carlos later told news outlets his brother was filming a TikTok video at the time of his death, which was something he "loved to do."

"My brother has a TikTok account that he loved to upload videos to," he told WTHR.  "Unfortunately, that was what he was trying to do when he was closer to the edge than he should have been. He was just visiting, so, for him to be laid and his final resting place somewhere miles upon miles away from here is just awful and devastating."

Carlos also shared a link to a GoFundMe to raise funds to bring Garay home "so that he can be laid to rest among friends and family being able to have closer and say their goodbyes in a proper manner."

 

New Currency Notes Trigger Panic in Nigeria

Desperate bank customers stripped naked and fought in mass brawls to get access to their money in chaotic scenes in Nigeria after the government replaced bank notes-- but printed too few of them.  Customers entered banks naked and stripped to their underwear in protest.  Banks were forced to close and locked their doors after angry crowds brawled.  People across the nation began waiting in long ATM queues in attempt to get their cash.  

Frantic Nigerians are expressing their frustration after the Government moved to replace high-denomination notes.  Video shared on Twitter shows how a naked customer demanded to close his bank account - reportedly valued at 520,000 naira - after employees refused to give him more than 20,000N at the counter.  Another man climbed on top of the service counter and stripped after workers apparently fail to provide him with his requested money.

Some firms were forced to close and lock their doors after angry crowds brawled inside. Others even erected tents to protect cash-seeking customers from the sun as they waited in long queues.  The chaos comes as Nigeria battles major cash and fuel shortages just three weeks before the presidential election. Candidates have traded accusations of blame over the shortages with the ruling party hopeful even suggesting his enemies had manufactured the crisis to undermine his election chances.

Nigeria's Central Bank announced last October that it would be taking the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes out of circulation beginning in January.  The Government intended to replace the banknotes with new designs that it claimed would be more secure. However the replacements were not immediately available and the switch deadline was extended.  Citizens are now unable to withdrawal money from their accounts, making it hard for them to participate in the cash-reliant economy. 

Japhet Joshua Babatunde, who is a customer at the FirstBank branch in Ikoyi, said his salary was deposited over a week ago and he still cannot access funds.   "I'm angry — it's my own money I came to collect, not a loan," he said.  Another customer claimed to have visited the bank for five consecutive days but still wasn't able to get any cash.

A security guard at that the Ikoyi FirstBank also revealed that he was ordered to lock customers outside after fights erupted in the bank.   The branch did eventually start dispensing cash from its ATM, but limited customers to 10,000 naira.  

Across the nation, crowds have been seen jostling outside ATM machines and banks to try and access scarce cash supplies.  A leading Nigerian lender told the newspaper that many banks did not receive enough supply of the new banknotes to meet customer demand. The Central Bank has urged citizens to exercise patience as the governmental agency works "assiduously to address the challenge of queues at ATMs."   It also reportedly encouraged customers to use cards and electronic payments, but industry executives say those types of payments are failing because of the "volume increases that no one did anything to prepare for."

One of Africa's top oil producers, Nigeria often struggles with fuel shortages as it imports most of its petrol and diesel because its refineries are not working.  Across the nation, people have been sleeping in cars outside gas stations for a chance to fill their tanks.  Earlier this week, riots broke out in the northern city of Kano, with an angry mob protesting a visit by outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari and blaming the ruling APC for the currency hardship.

Buhari addressed the crisis yesterday, blaming 'inefficient' banks for being 'only concerned about themselves.'   He also asked the nation to 'give him seven days to resolve the cash crunch.' It is unclear what steps he plans to take to ease the shortage.  Both cash and fuel shortages are stirring up public anger and tension as presidential hopefuls near the end of the campaign trail.   Campaign rhetoric has been heating in the run up to the February 25 vote to decide on the successor to Buhari, a former army commander who steps down after two terms in office

 

Pakistan Is Blocking Wikipedia

Wikipedia has been blocked in Pakistan for hosting "blasphemous content". The move was announced on Saturday after the free online encyclopaedia was given a 48-hour deadline to remove some material.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said Wikipedia failed to comply with its ultimatum.  The Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts Wikipedia, said the ban meant Pakistanis would be denied access "to the largest free knowledge repository".  Blasphemy is a highly sensitive and incendiary issue in Pakistan.   Other platforms including Tinder, Facebook and YouTube have been previously blocked in the Muslim-majority country for similar reasons.

PTA spokesperson Malahat Obaid said Wikipedia failed to respond to "repeated correspondence" over the removal of "blasphemous content".  "They did remove some of the material but not all," he added, confirming that the website would remain blocked until "all the objectionable material" was removed.  Details of the material in question have not been revealed.  The Wikimedia Foundation said if the ban continued it would "deprive everyone access to Pakistan's knowledge, history, and culture".

Critics have raised concerns over the move, saying there seemed to be "a concerted effort to exert greater control over content on the internet".  "The main purpose is to silence any dissent," said digital rights activist Usama Khilji. "A lot of times blasphemy is weaponized for that purpose," he added. 

Pakistanis on social media criticized the decision as a “regressive” move and an embarrassment to the country’s global image.  Freedom of speech advocates have long criticized what they say is creeping government censorship and control of Pakistan’s internet and printed and electronic media.

In 2010 Pakistan blocked YouTube because of its "growing sacrilegious content."  The ban was lifted several weeks later, after the website removed the objectionable content from its servers at the request of the government.   Pakistan again placed a ban on YouTube in September 2012, after the site refused to remove the film Innocence of Muslims. The ban was lifted in January 2016 after YouTube launched a Pakistan-specific version.

Facebook was blocked in 2010 following a row over a Facebook page inviting people to draw images of the Prophet Muhammad.  The ban was lifted after the content creator apologized and removed the page.

Dating apps including Tinder and Grindr were also previously banned for disseminating "immoral content".  Those bans have continued.

Shania Twain - Giddy Up!

Yet Another Ethics Complaint Against the Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court’s legitimacy is under the microscope again this week with the publication of a whistleblower’s complaint against Chief Justice John Roberts by the The New York Times. At issue is the work of Roberts’ wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, as a high-powered headhunter for lawyers, and the work she’s done placing lawyers in firms that argue cases before the Supreme Court.

Kendal Price, a 66-year-old Boston lawyer, wrote to the Justice Department and Senate Judiciary Committee arguing that the justices should be held to a higher standard of transparency when it comes to the work of their spouses and their financial stake in the court’s business. “I do believe that litigants in U.S. courts, and especially the Supreme Court, deserve to know if their judges’ households are receiving six-figure payments from the law firms,” Price wrote.

He accuses John Roberts of failing to disclose the full extent of his wife’s work.  Jane Roberts is managing partner at the Washington, D.C., office of Macrae, a firm that charges huge fees for placing high-powered attorneys with high-powered firms. Roberts has publicly admitted that she has helped powerful officials, in agencies with cases in front of the Supreme Court. “A significant portion of my practice on the partner side is with senior government lawyers, ranging from U.S. attorneys, cabinet officials, former senators, chairmen of federal commissions, general counsel of federal commissions, and then senior political appointees within the ranks of various agencies, and I—they come to me looking to transition to the private sector,” she said.   Roberts has boasted, “Successful people have successful friends.”

Pace University law professor Bennett Gershman filed an analysis along with Price’s complaint, writing that “it is plausible that the Chief Justice’s spouse may have leveraged the ‘prestige of judicial office’ to meaningfully raise their household income.” Given her boasting in that testimony, yeah, that’s definitely a possibility.  “That concern, together with the failure of the Chief Justice to recuse himself in cases where his spouse received compensation from law firms arguing cases before the Court, or at least advise the parties of his spouse’s financial arrangements with law firms arguing before the Court, threaten the public’s trust in the federal judiciary, and the Supreme Court itself,” Gershman wrote.

Price filed a sworn affidavit with the letter and complaint, saying that he had been told that “Roberts was the company’s highest-earning recruiter and that significant commissions early in her career, going to someone with so little recruiting experience, represented a ‘stark anomaly’ compared to the rest of the field.”

One of Jane Roberts' clients was former Interior secretary and congressman Kenneth Salazar.  Price calculates that Jane Roberts received about $350,000 for placing Salazar at prominent D.C.-based WilmerHale in 2013. “WilmerHale maintains a significant practice before the Supreme Court,” Politico reports, “and between 2013 and 2017, argued more cases before the court than any other law firm, according to data from SCOTUSBlog cited in the complaint.”

Price’s attorney, Joshua Dratel, cited Price’s frustration that there remains no official mechanism for bringing ethics concerns at the court, and the fact that the court sets its own rules and individual justices can choose to abide by them or not—they are not bound by the code of ethics to which all other federal judges are subject.  “The importance of this issue and the unavailability of any viable means of addressing this is what led to us sending it to the places that we sent it to,” Dratel told Politico. “This is a gap in transparency that’s only become more critical in the past year in terms of the impact that it has on the integrity of our institutions.”

There is no official mechanism for bringing ethics concerns to the Supreme Court.  In addition, the highest court in the land sets its own rules and individual justices can choose to abide by them or not.  Even worse, Supreme Court Justices are not bound by the code of ethics to which all other federal judges are subject.

Gershman argues that John Roberts should recuse himself from all the cases in which the lawyers involved have “made substantial payments to his household or ‘fully disclose’ such payments to counsel and seek a waiver by the litigants.”  Senator Dick Durbin didn’t say whether he is intending to hold hearings to examine the Price’s allegations. He did say that this is further evidence that the court needs to step up its ethics game.   “This complaint raises troubling issues that once again demonstrate the need for a mandatory code of conduct for Supreme Court justices,” Durbin said. “We must work on a bipartisan basis to pass the Supreme Court Ethics Act, which would simply require Supreme Court justices to adhere to the same standard of ethics as other federally appointed judges. Passing this requirement is a common sense step that would help begin the process of restoring faith in the Supreme Court.”

 

Great Salt Lake in Utah Could Disappear in 5 Years

Utah’s Great Salt Lake, the largest saltwater lake in the Western hemisphere, could dry up completely within five years if water consumption is not significantly curbed, researchers warn.  “The lake’s ecosystem is not only on the edge of collapse. It is collapsing,” Benjamin Abbott, a professor of ecology at Brigham Young University and the lead author of a new report on the lake, told CNN. “The choices we make over the next few months will affect our state and ecosystems throughout the West for decades to come.”

The lake’s levels have been at record lows for two years in a row. If the water continues to drop at the same rate that it has since 2020, “the lake as we know it is on track to disappear in five years,” the report states.  

The lake has been steadily shrinking because so much water from the rivers and streams that feed it is being redirected for human use. This is exacerbated by the climate change-fueled megadrought that has been parching the U.S. West for years, with less rain and snow entering the water system.  The Washington Post noted that more than 70 percent of the state’s water use goes towards growing crops to feed livestock.

The Great Salt Lake’s unique ecosystem makes it an important resource for migratory birds. An estimated 10 million birds depend on the lake’s brine shrimp and flies. It’s also an essential breeding ground for pelicans.  The lake disappearing poses hazards to human health as well. When salt lakes dry up, their exposed beds become sources of harmful dust that pollutes the air, and the longer the exposed bed stays dry the more dust escapes.