Stephan: What has become glaringly clear this year is the christofascist cabal the Republicans have spent years under Mitch McConnell, and financed by corporate and oligarch money, getting placed on the court are now distorting the fundamental legal structure of America. The ruling in the New York case about public concealed carry of weapons, with only minimal qualifications to do so will, of course, affect the entire nation. New York Governor Kathy Hochul described the decision as appalling and is calling a special legislative session to respond. "I'm not prepared to surrender to greater loss of life as a result of this decision. What the Republicans have done to the Supreme Court is appalling" she said.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer with President Joe Biden in January 2022 Credit: Wikimedia Commons
On Thursday, June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a 6-3 decision in the case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen — striking down the “proper cause” part of the Sullivan Act of 1911 as unconstitutional. And Justice Stephen Breyer, was especially vehement in his dissent.
The Sullivan Act, passed 111 years ago and named after State Sen. Timothy Sullivan — a Tammany Hall Democrat — has limited licenses for concealed-carry handgun permits to those with specific defense needs. Under the Sullivan Act, a New York State law, anyone applying for a permit to carry a concealed handgun has had to show “proper cause.” And the High Court has ruled that the “proper cause” requirement is a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s 2nd Amendment.
The 83-year-old Breyer, who is retiring from the High Court and will be replaced by President Joe Biden’s nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, later this year, wrote, “In 2020, 45,222 Americans were killed […]
Stephan: Apparently the cowardly incompetence of Pedro Arredondo, the chief of the Uvalde school police that ended with the murder of 17 children and two teachers has become such a seeping wound that even in the anocracy of Texas it has become clear something must be done. So, as this report describes, Arredondo has been put on administrative leave, paid leave I suspect. But will it go any further than that? I am simply amazed at how normalized mass murder has become in the United States, a trend of death and misery, and I don't like it at all. Can anything be done? Once again, it will all depend on how November's election comes out.
Uvalde School Police Chief Pete Arredondo, third from left, stands during a news conference outside of the Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas Thursday, May 26, 2022. Credit: AP Photo / Dario Lopez-Mills
DALLAS — The Uvalde school district’s police chief was put on leave Wednesday following allegations that he erred in his response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School that left 19 students and two teachers dead.
Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Hal Harrell said that he put schools police Chief Pete Arredondo on administrative leave because the facts of what happened remain unclear. In a statement, Harrell did not address Arredondo’s actions as on-site commander during the attack but said he didn’t know when details of multiple investigations into the law enforcement response to the slayings would be revealed.
“From the beginning of this horrible event, I shared that the district would wait until the investigation was complete before making personnel decisions,” Harrell said. “Because of the lack of clarity that remains and the unknown timing of when I […]
Stephan: Here is an interesting development. Mo Brooks, who is up to his neck in the Trump insurrection, and whose political career just ended thanks to Trump who turned on him has provided a key piece of the Trump plan to CBS. I think this is going to be the first of many such acts as the noose closes on the insurrection perpetrators, and they sell each other out. There is no integrity in MAGAt world, only self-interest.
Alabama MAGAt Representative Mo Brooks
On Thursday evening, CBS News Chief Election and Campaign Correspondent Robert Costa posted a January 11th, 2021 email sent by United States Representative Mo Brooks (R-Alabama) to then-Special Assistant to the President and Oval Office Operations Coordinator Molly Michael on behalf of himself and congressional allies with instructions from former President Donald Trump on how they should request pardons for their roles in the January 6th, 2021 attempted coup.
“Dear Mollie [sic]: President Trump told me to send you this letter,” it begins. “This letter is pursuant to a request from [Congressman] Matt Gaetz [R-Florida].”
The extraordinary memo was texted to CBS by Brooks and contains numerous typos as well as references to constitutional clauses that do not exist.
Stephan: Here is good news. A proven economically viable energy business model is emerging because the existing carbon era corporations are dragging their feet in the transition out of carbon.
Credit: Tvn Phph Prung Sakdi | EyeEm/Getty
Summer in Arizona comes with the one-two punch of high heat and high energy bills. The unprecedented heat caused by climate change makes hot weather even more dangerous for our health and leads to even higher air conditioning bills. In a state with so much sunshine, a natural solution to both of these problems is investing in solar power, one of the cheapest and most water efficient sources of energy to slow carbon emissions and lower energy bills for ratepayers.
But Arizona utilities are not doing enough to invest in solar energy. Arizona Public Service, Tucson Electric Power, and the Salt River Project continue to invest in large natural gas plants and run coal-fired generating stations, kicking the can down the road and leaving customers vulnerable when the price of gas spikes. Just this month, the Arizona Corporation Commission rejected the Salt River Project’s second attempt to massively expand its Coolidge gas plant, citing poor planning and a rushed investment at the expense of ratepayers and the surrounding […]
Stephan: Here is some more good news. I don't think they did this out of respect and concern for indigenous peoples. Rather, oil companies are beginning to reassess exploration as the industry is dying.
Caribou in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Credit: Johnny Johnson / The Image Bank / Getty
Three oil companies have canceled their leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Drilling in the refuge has long been a controversial issue, as the 19.5-million-acre wilderness area is home to 45 species of mammals including polar bears, bowhead whales and caribou and considered sacred by the Indigenous Gwich’in people, according to the Gwich’in Steering Committee.
“These exits clearly demonstrate that international companies recognize what we have known all along: drilling in the Arctic Refuge is not worth the economic risk and liability that results from development on sacred lands without the consent of Indigenous Peoples,” the Gwich’in Steering Committee said in a statement.
The Anchorage Daily News first reported Thursday that the oil company Regenerate Alaska, a subsidiary of 88 Energy, had canceled its lease on the refuge’s coastal plain, as confirmed by the Bureau of Land Management.
“The Bureau of Land Management has a well-established procedure to do this, and last month rescinded and canceled the lease, as requested,” the Interior Department said in […]
