“When a volcanic eruption buried the ancient city of Pompeii, the last desperate moments of its citizens were preserved in stone for centuries. Observers see stories in the plaster casts later made of their bodies, like a mother holding a child and two women embracing as they die. But new DNA evidence suggests things were not as they seem — and these prevailing interpretations come from looking at the ancient world through modern eyes. ‘We were able to disprove or challenge some of the previous narratives built upon how these individuals were kind of found in relation to each other,’ said Alissa Mittnik of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.” (11/07/24)
“The party that will control the US House of Representatives for the next two years is still in the balance. Republicans were seven seats short of the 218 seats needed to take control on Thursday morning. Democrats need 15 more. The Senate, or upper chamber, and the White House have already flipped to Republicans so President-elect Donald Trump could have total control when he is sworn in on 20 January 2025. Control of the House, the lower chamber, gives a party the power to initiate spending legislation and launch impeachment proceedings against officials. Under Trump, a unified Republican Party could more easily push through tax cuts and introduce border control measures. But Democrats hope the last votes trickling in from a handful of tight races will be enough to give them a majority in the House.” (11/07/24)
“As the world absorbs the shockwave of Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential election, the playbook for his second term, designed by a handful of right-wing extremists, is already underway in Argentina. Project 2025 is set out in a nearly 900-page ‘Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,’ produced by the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing U.S. think tank, as a ready reckoner for the incoming Trump administration. It details authoritarian tactics that exist in various parts of the world, from attacking public education to dismantling policies to tackle climate change to restricting the rights of women, LGBTIQ+ people, migrants, workers and Black people. But if there is one country already trying some of Project 2025’s most extreme policies to weaken the state and render the enjoyment of rights obsolete, it is Argentina.” [editor’s note: Posted for your amusement; one more delulu “progressive” pundit incapable of letting go of the hoaxes – SAT] (11/07/24)
“America’s presidential elections are a great survey of public opinion as well as a call to action. Yet while Donald Trump won both the popular vote and the Electoral College on Nov. 5, it could be that the exit polls will drive the course of his second term. The theme of those polls? Americans seek a restoration of past norms of balance or harmony – balance in the economy for Trump supporters and, for those who voted for Kamala Harris, harmony in democratic norms. Among the third of voters who identified the economy as their primary concern, 79% chose Mr. Trump, according to Edison Research’s exit polls. More specifically, 73% who see inflation as a severe hardship voted for the Republican candidate.” (11/06/24)
“Haitian activists on Thursday demanded that other countries temporarily stop deportations to their country due to a surge in gang violence and deepening poverty. Tens of thousands of people have been deported to Haiti in the past month, mostly from the Dominican Republic, whose president recently pledged to deport some 10,000 migrants a week. The Caribbean country, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, has deported nearly 61,000 migrants to Haiti from Oct. 2 to Nov. 5, according to the latest government figures. In October, the U.S. deported 258 Haitians, while Turks & Caicos, Jamaica and the Bahamas deported a combined total of 231, according to Sam Guillaume, a spokesperson for Haiti’s Support Group for Returnees and Refugees. He noted that many of those deported to Haiti remain homeless. ‘A lot of them can’t make it back home because their neighborhood is controlled by gangs,’ he said. As a result, some deportees are temporarily living along Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic in hopes of crossing again.” (11/07/24)
“In 1937, it was said that a critical shift of one justice in a critical case ended the move to pack the Supreme Court by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was said that it was ‘a shift in time saves nine.’ In 2024, a shift in the Senate may have had the same impact. President-elect Trump’s victory this week means that absent a renewal of the court-packing scheme and other extreme measures of the left [sic], the court will remain unchanged institutionally for at least a decade. The expectation is that Justice Clarence Thomas could use this perfect time to retire and ensure that his seat will be filled with a fellow conservative [sic] jurist. Justice Samuel Alito may also consider this a good time for a safe harbor departure.” (11/07/24)
“One of Russia’s youngest political prisoners has lost an appeal to overturn a five-year jail sentence. Arseny Turbin was only 15 when he was arrested in the summer of 2023. Authorities accused him of joining the Freedom of Russia Legion – a paramilitary unit composed of Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine against the Russian army. The Freedom of Russia Legion is designated as terrorist organisation by Russia, and Arseny was sentenced to five years in a juvenile colony. On Thursday, the court of appeal reduced his five-year term – but only by 24 days. Arseny is one of nine minors who have faced politically motivated criminal charges since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent crackdown on civil liberties, according to Russian human rights organisation OVD-Info.” (11/07/24)
“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday he is re-establishing a special Cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations to address his administration’s concerns about another Donald Trump presidency. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is also the country’s finance minister, will chair the committee, which also will include other top officials including ministers of foreign affairs, public safety and industry. ‘Following the election of President Donald Trump for a second term, the Cabinet Committee will focus on critical Canada-U.S. issues,’ Trudeau’s office said in a statement Thursday. Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world, and 75% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S. During Trump’s first time, his move to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, and reports that he was considering a 25% tariff on the auto sector were considered an existential threat in Canada at the time.” (11/07/24)
“Despite a consistent swing toward Donald Trump across the country on Tuesday, the House of Representatives is still — barely — within the grasp of Democrats. And the reason why is an ancient mystery that every national journalist seems to forget every two years: California is not on your schedule when it comes to counting votes. First, a word on why it would matter whether Democrats take the House. It’s true that Donald Trump has shown every willingness to extend executive power in whatever way he wants, armed now with a literal get-out-of-jail-free card from the Supreme Court. It’s true that a Republican Senate will allow Trump to seed the federal courts and executive agencies with all of his loyalists, who can then carry out his bidding. … And it’s true that the areas where presidents have wide latitude, like foreign policy and immigration and tariffs, are at the president-elect’s whim.” (11/06/24)
“What just happened? Donald Trump ended his first term in disgrace, hit with a second impeachment after his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The 2022 midterm candidates he endorsed — Herschel Walker, Mehmet Oz, Kari Lake — all went down in flames. In 2023, he was declared guilty of sexually assaulting the writer E. Jean Carroll in a civil case. This past May, he was convicted in a Manhattan court on 34 felony counts for improperly reporting hush money payments. Overall, he has faced 116 indictments. Even now, the New York State attorney general is trying to punish the Trump Organization with nearly $500 million in fines, claiming that he unlawfully inflated the value of his properties. And yet here he is: America’s 47th president. How did he do it?” (11/06/24)
