“U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona Democrat who single-handedly thwarted her party’s longtime goal of raising taxes on wealthy investors, received nearly $1 million over the past year from private equity professionals, hedge fund managers and venture capitalists whose taxes would have increased under the plan.” 1
“Over a week ago [August 2022] the Legislature cut more than $3.8 million from the tiny $11 million budget Gov. Brad Little had proposed for the state’s smallest agency, the Idaho Commission for Libraries. Why? The library agency was being punished because a private library-lobby group had opposed an anti-education, anti-library bill passed by the House earlier this year.” 2
“Once Republicans started to falsely accuse educators and librarians of “grooming” children for sexual abuse, it was just a matter of time before the talk of imprisoning them began. Sure enough, in a clip collected by Tennessee Holler, a recently-elected district attorney in Hamilton County, Tennessee, did just that during a meet-and-greet between her, the pro-censorship group Moms for Liberty (whose name would do George Orwell proud) and the local sheriff. In the video, recorded in May, you can hear an anti-liberty “Mom” ask, “Do you feel like there should be some kind of prosecution for these librarians?”” 3
📚WATCH: “Do you feel like there should be some kind of prosecution for these librarians?”
In May, Coty Wamp made it clear prosecuting librarians is on the table, and said she brought Moms for Liberty to meet the sheriff.
“Until very recently, “book bans” seemed like a term out of the past, or a phenomenon that erupted sporadically in a small school or library district in the most conservative areas of the country. But over the last several years, parents’ groups aggrieved by the left’s alleged influence in K-12 education have been working tirelessly to bring them back. All kinds of books have been exiled from library shelves or school curricula in the latest book-ban frenzy, although there’s no question that books about slavery, racism and the civil rights movement, along with books about growing up LGBTQ and that community’s struggle for equality, are center stage.” 4
“For those unaware of the historical precedents, book burnings have a long and dark history tied to censorship and oppressive regimes, most famously the one in Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler. In 1933, Nazis burned thousands of books deemed “un-German,” including the works of Jewish authors like Albert Einstein and those of “corrupting foreign influences” like Ernest Hemingway.” 5
As this infographic using Rapid Energy Policy Evaluation and Analysis Toolkit (REPEAT) estimates shows, while annual net greenhouse gas emissions are forecast to be significantly lower by 2030 than they would be if the country’s current policies were maintained, the target is still well out of reach. REPEAT expects emissions to come closer to the desired level by 2035.
“Not a single Republican in Congress stepped up to support my climate plan. Not one,” Biden said, speaking at a coal turned wind power plant in Massachusetts on Wednesday. “So let me be clear: climate change is an emergency.” 6
“Senate Democrats steeled themselves on Saturday night for a long slog of GOP sabotage attempts as they plodded toward passage of their signature health care, climate and tax bill.” 7
We haven’t had any appreciable rain where I live in quite a few months, and it’s been very hot as well. Last night, things finally changed—we got a downpour along with a noticeable drop in the temperature. This morning when I went on my walk, the first thing I noticed is that everyone I met on the sidewalk was smiling—they were so happy for having gotten a cooling rain. The other thing I noticed was that everyone wanted to stop and visit rather than just saying “hi” or “good morning” and then walking on. The out of the ordinary rain that had happened the night before had really perked these people up. My wife, Marcia, observed a similar occurrence when she was at Trader Joe’s recently. The store’s sound system was playing a song from the 1950’s with a very catchy beat. Spontaneously, two of the store’s checkers started dancing to the song. According to Marcia, seeing this made her day and everyone else who saw it started smiling. Several customers even chose to dance along. The lesson here is that if you’re having one of those days where you could use a little perking up, “ordinary” will not make that happen. So, try to find a place where “out of the ordinary” is likely to happen.
One Sentence Wisdom
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” — Robert Frost
“As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.” — Henry Van Dyke
