Stephan: Here is today's Republican Scum Award. Where do they find these people? Do they have to be an ethical monster to be selected for support by the party? And what about the people of Arizona? What is it about Paul Gosar that Republican voters find so attractive? He shares their hate? Their racism? Their fear? When you look at the men and women Republican voters send to Congress, both the Senate and the House, you have to wonder what kind of country has America become.
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) argued that there should not be an ethics investigation into his role in the fatal January 6th insurrection because it wasn’t actually an insurrection.
Gosar’ statement about the 6 Januaryinsurrection
“In the weeks and days leading up to the riot, Representative Gosar urged supporters to take action against election certification, repeatedly insisting that the election had been stolen and participating in rallies alleging voter fraud,” Jayapal charged.
On March 10th, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) sent a letter to the House Ethics Committee calling for an investigation into Gosar.
Among the five bullet points Jayapal used to make the case, one noted conspiracy theorist Ali Alexander said Gosar had helped plan the events and called him “the spirit animal of this movement.” Another noted out Gosar’s speech at the rally preceding the riots, when he said, “You get to go back home once we conquer the Hill [and] Donald Trump is returned to being president.”
JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN, - Punchbowl
Stephan: Because the most extreme members of the Republican Party are proving to be the biggest money raisers the whole party is shifting to openly becoming a christofascist White supremacy grievance cult. What I find so humorously ironic is that the Marjorie Taylor Greenes, Josh Hawleys, Louie Gohmerts, Matt Gaetzs and those who share their views passionately argue that we must protect Anglo Saxon values and architecture even as they stand in a Capitol whose chambers and halls were painted and decorated by a non-Anglo Saxon Greek-Italian immigrant Constantino Brumidi (1805-1880). Do you think they even know that? Probably not.
A nascent “America First Caucus” in Congress linked to Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) has been distributing materialscalling for a “common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions” and a return to architectural style that “befits the progeny of European architecture.”
Reps. Barry Moore (R-Ala.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) have also agreed to join the group, according to an email invitation obtained by Punchbowl News.
We’ve been covering Congress for a long time, and this is some of the most nakedly nativist rhetoric we’ve ever seen.
Here are some eye-popping sections of the literature, which we obtained from a source on Capitol Hill.
→ Under the “Immigration” section: “America is a nation with a border, and a culture, strengthened by a common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions.”
More: “History has shown that societal trust and political unity are threatened when foreign citizens are imported en-masse into a country, particularly without institutional support for assimilation and an expansive welfare state to bail them out should they fail to contribute positively to the country. While certain economic and financial interest groups benefit immensely from mass immigration, legal as well as illegal, and the aggregate output of the country increases, the reality of large segments of our society [,] as well as […]
Stephan: The open upwelling of fascism and White supremacist racism in the United States, I find both disgusting and alarming because, as we become majority-minority nation, fearful hateful Whites are going to be driven to authoritarianism thinking that it will protect their status. It won't but it may destroy our democracy, and you can see this process already underway with the infiltration of the fearful haters into the military and law enforcement organizations.
A U.S. special forces soldier watches Syrian Kurdish soldiers dismantle a fortification in the so-called “safe zone” on the border with Turkey near Tal Abyad, Syria on Sept. 6, 2019.Maya Alleruzzo / AP
WASHINGTON, D.C. — They’re the most elite, lethally trained members of the U.S. military, widely considered the best of the best. And yet in secret Facebook groups exclusively for special operations forces that were accessed by NBC News, they share misinformation about a “stolen” 2020 election, disparaging and racist comments about America’s political leadership and even QAnon conspiracy theories.
Among the hundreds of Facebook posts NBC News reviewed from forums for current and former Rangers, Green Berets and other elite warriors: a member of a special forces group lamenting that several aides to former Vice President Mike Pence were part of a “Concerted effort by the thieves and pedophiles walking the hallowed halls of the peoples government” to undermine former President Donald Trump.
“In a just world, they would have already been taken out behind the court house and shot,” another member commented.
Stephan: The temptation to create chimeras, a new species of human-animal, is I believe, the most important ethical choice humanity will make. How much shared DNA does it take to be a human? If we go down this road it will forever change the arc of humanity's history. It must also be seen in context with the concurrent trend to create Homo Superior. Think about what that world would be like.
Human stem cells were introduced into macaque embryos
Monkey embryos containing human cells have been made in a laboratory, a study has confirmed.
The research, by a US-Chinese team, has sparked fresh debate into the ethics of such experiments. The scientists injected human stem cells – cells that have the ability to develop into many different body tissues – into macaque embryos.
The developing embryos were studied for up to 20 days.
Other so-called mixed-species embryos, or chimeras, have been produced in the past, with human cells implanted into sheep and pig embryos.
The scientists were led by Prof Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte of the Salk Institute in the US, who, in 2017, helped make the first human-pig hybrid.
Their work could pave the way in addressing the severe shortage in transplantable organs as well as help understand more about early human development, disease progression and ageing, he said.
“These chimeric approaches could be really very useful for advancing biomedical research not just at the very earliest stage of life, but also the latest stage of life.”
He maintained that the study, published in the journal Cell, […]
Stephan: Since I was old enough to have a perspective on the issue based on data I have thought that continuity of consciousness was correct. I think the evidence for it is irrefutable at this point. That certainly informs my views on abortion. But it is not the only reason I feel as strongly as I do about this issue. If a woman does not control her own body she controls nothing. Abortion is a right.
What I have particular contempt for is the anti-choice people who after a child is born have no interest in their care, eduction, or health, or the health of the mother. Even a woman raped and impregnated should bear the rapist's child, and raise for the rest of her life. It is preposterous.
But as the technology has evolved, it has become harder and harder for the anti-choice people to make a case. Now we are down to pills.
The Food and Drug Administration recently lifted restrictions on abortion pills to allow patients to get them through telemedicine. Credit: Katharina Staerck/Getty
The Biden Administration is removing restrictions on mailing abortion pills during the COVID-19 pandemic, a reversal from the Trump Administration’s policy that marks a new phase in the national debate over abortion rights.
The move temporarily changes longstanding Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules governing mifepristone—one of two drugs used to terminate early pregnancies—that required patients to pick up the pills in-person from a medical provider. Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock sent a letter to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine on Monday saying that her agency reviewed recent evidence and found that using telemedicine to provide abortion pills would not increase risks and would help patients avoid potential exposure to COVID-19.
The change only lasts through the public health emergency, and the FDA has not said how it will handle the requirement after the pandemic. But abortion pills have become the latest front in the heated battle over reproductive rights […]
