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In overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court delivered the rights biggest single victory ever, and it may spell the end of the conservative movement as weve known it.

It was Ronald Reagan who popularized the notion that the conservative movement rested on a fusionist three-legged stool. In theory, the three legs were free market economics, national defense, and social conservatism. In practice, free market economics meant low taxes and pro-business policies. National defense meant anti-communism and, briefly, the war on terror. Social conservatism covered a lot of territory but the enduring core was opposition to Roe and abortion.

Like anti-communism, pro-life was a big tent all its own, including constitutionalists, religious activists, advocates of states rights, et al. While nearly everyone invoked the sanctity of life, as a policy matter, many argued merely for overturning Roe either to fix a jurisprudential error or to send the issue back to the states, to let the democratic process find a social compromise on abortion.

For other abortion opponents, however, overturning Roe was a first step on the road to enshrining a culture of life that protected the unborn from conception onward.

Think of it this way: If the court had banned abortion outright based on the right to life found in the 14th Amendment, the once-united opponents of Roe would be divided. Some would cheer a huge win for life, but others would see the same sort of judicial activism they decried in Roe. Well, the fallout from Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization has opened a similar rift between opponents of Roe and opponents of abortion. And its a mystery where these factions will go next, ideologically or politically.

While a lot attention is on states where abortion will be banned, its telling that two of the GOPs most popular governors, Ron DeSantis of Florida and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, have stopped short of outlawing abortion, preferring a ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Georgias Republican Gov. Brian Kemp stands behind a six-week limit, while New Hampshires Chris Sununu says abortion will remain legal in his state.

Meanwhile, some House Republicans have called for a federal abortion ban. The Life at Conception Act has 160 co-sponsors, though one wonders how many it will lose now that it has a chance, however slim, of passage.

All of this political positioning surely has a lot to do with the role the GOP base plays in congressional elections compared with statewide races, where winning the more moderate middle is necessary.

One of the arguments for repealing Roe was that it fueled polarization by removing accountability on abortion policy. Politicians could take base-pleasing absolutist positions knowing that Roe barred any meaningful changes that reflected the more nuanced views of voters. For instance, while its true that large numbers of Americans were against repealing Roe, support for Roes actual guidelines was mixed. As of April, more Americans favored a ban on abortions after 15 weeks than opposed one, though the same survey also found a majority of voters say abortion should be legal in all or most cases (obviously, its complicated). Republicans generally benefited from polarization on abortion both financially and electorally. But they also benefited from the unity of purpose conservatives enjoyed pre-Dobbs. In the post-Roe era that unity is gone, at least for the foreseeable future.

Which brings me back to that three-legged stool.

The end of the Cold War spelled the end of anti-communisms role in galvanizing conservatives around a specific foreign and defense policy. Pat Buchanan, for instance, considered Cold War anti-communism the great exception to conservatisms natural tendency to isolationism, which he returned to in the 1990s. Donald Trumps America First rhetoric was a delayed victory for Buchananism.

As for economics, most on the right still reject tax hikes, but the war on woke capitalism is the hot new thing, and protectionism has lost its bad odor. Indeed, while traditional conservative opposition to a more generous welfare state has been eroding for some time, the Dobbs decision may hasten the process. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, hailed the courts decision. But, he added, we must not only continue to take steps to protect the unborn, we must also do more to support mothers and their babies.

He promised to soon introduce a bill to ensure we do everything we can to give every child the opportunity to fully access the promise of America.

I think the Supreme Court decided Dobbs correctly. But those who insist the majority acted out of partisan loyalty to the GOP or to the broader conservative movement miss the fact that neither may benefit over the long haul. The conservative justices ruled on principle, letting the chips fall where they may. Its going to be raining chips for quite a while.

Read more:
How Dobbs Might Shape the Future of Conservatism in Unexpected Ways - The Dispatch

OAN has long been a hotbed for election related conspiracy theories, extending far beyond recruiting extremist election workers. During the summer of 2021, Bobb used her platform on OAN to promote the sham audit of the 2020 presidential election in Arizona. She founded a non-profit called Voices & Votes that donated over $600,000 to the effort. During that same period, OAN promoted MyPillow CEO Mike Lindells cyber symposium more than 150 times, and aired over 30 hours of the event live. Bannon has also been giving publicity and support to this recruitment plan starting February 2021, when he partnered with Dan Schultz, a former tea party activist, to encourage infiltration of low-level positions in the Republican Party apparatus to take over election administration.

In the immediate aftermath of the January 6 insurrection, Schultz started appearing on Bannons show in February 2021 to promote his precinct plan to take over the Republican Party through grassroots organizing. This plan, galvanized by the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump by Democrat-favoring election workers and machines, quickly spread through far-right and QAnon-supporting online spaces and was hailed as The Best Kept Secret to Taking over the Republican (GOP) Party. And at the end of February, Trump endorsed the plan as a way to take back our great Country from the ground up.

In September 2021, ProPublica showed that the call to action is working, with a team of reporters writing that they contacted GOP leaders in 65 key counties, and 41 reported an unusual increase in signups since Bannons campaign began. At least 8,500 new Republican precinct officers (or equivalent lowest-level officials) joined those county parties. We also looked at equivalent Democratic posts and found no similar surge.

More recently, Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who worked to overturn the 2020 election with unsubstantiated accusations and debunked claims, appeared on War Room in May and June to advocate for the Election Integrity Network, a conservative coalition that hosts training events for those interested in becoming election workers and surveilling for election fraud. She claimed that for more than a decade, the left has been infiltrating our election offices. They have subverted the election process.

Many precinct plan advocates claim that poll watchers are biased toward Democrats and that Republicans must balance that out in order to make sure elections are secure. However, since the overwhelming uptick in election worker signups appears to be a result of election denial on War Room and in other far-right spaces, it is clear that what is presented as a bipartisan effort toward fairness is being advertised on right-wing media as a key method to not lose America.

As The New York Times points out, of concern is the [Election Integrity Networks] intent to research the backgrounds of local and state officials to determine whether each is a friend or foe of the movement. Many officials already feel under attack by those who falsely contend that the 2020 election was stolen. Election workers like Moss and Freeman may continue to suffer conspiracy theory-fueled harassment thanks to the plans proposed methods.

Politico revealed that in a Michigan-based training, grassroots activists and Republican Party operatives called for actions that could quickly become bigoted harassment, telling recruits they could contest voters if they have good reason to believe that an individual is not a citizen, that an individual is not of legal voting age. If an individual does not live at the location that theyre registered at, or if the person is not registered at all. They were also told they should stand behind voter registration tables to oversee the electronic poll book to make sure the person that is coming in to vote is who they say they are.

The danger lies not only in low-level local poll worker roles, but also in state-level political positions. As midterm primaries roll through, the GOP is pushing Trump-backed election deniers such as Arizonas Mark Finchem, Nevadas Jim Marchant, New Mexicos Audrey Trujillo, and Michigans Kristina Karamo for secretary of state, where they could have the power and the support to overturn their states results.

Read more from the original source:
Right-wing media want to replace seasoned election workers with conspiracy theorists and extremists - Media Matters for America

From 2018 through 2026, the great harbinger of change, Uranus, blasts through the sign most resistant to it, Taurus. Though this transit will occupy the better part of a decade, with retrogrades and dips into other signs, 2022 brings us to a precarious cliff on the event horizon of fate, with this years eclipses going down in Taurus. In real time, a volcano of repressed animus erupts, in the Taurean domains of sensuality, embodiment, and autonomy.

On July 31 and August 1, Uranus collides with Mars and the north node, and from September 15October 23, Uranus comes close to a square, or confrontation, with Saturn in Aquarius. Weve arrived at a jagged crossroads in the Taurean epic. Heres how Uranus in Taurus will reshape your world beyond 2022.

For eons, our solar system was thought to be made of seven planets, with Saturn at the very end of the line. That all changed with the discovery of Uranus in 1781, a breakthrough in technology and consciousness that would forever alter our accepted notions of the cosmos. According to astrologer Ruby McCollister, the arrival of Uranus brought the flourishing of science, technology, philosophy, literature, music, social opportunities and, in virtually every aspect of human life, exploded Western civilization toward liberation, freedom, and choice.

Uranus, then, is associated with change, revolution, youth movements, and new technologies. Its domain, of course, could be nowhere else but Aquarius. This all sounds perfectly promising in theory, but, in the words of Magneto, mankind has always feared what it does not understand. And so, as in the myth of Prometheus delivering fire to the people, Uranian progress often catalyzes swift retribution from the old gods and their institutions. Through chaos comes reinvention, but who wouldnt struggle to hold on to the world they knew?

For the sign that declares mi casa es mi casa, Uranus arrives like the big bad wolf to blow the house down. Anyone with prominent planets in Taurus will experience some mythic ego dissolution and surrender over this transit, as the planet of global progress rips off the straightjacket of myopia and willful obtuseness. But Taurus is also the sign of value, worth and money; of fertility and sexual embodiment; and of the healthy (or, as is often the case, megalomaniacal) cultivation of an ego. The body and the land, and their interconnected freedoms, are up for reinvention, revolution, and, of course, backlash.

Uranuss last Taurus transit, from 19351942, coincided with the Great Depression and WWII, an age of dramatic scarcity and unprecedented power which uprooted Taurean themes in science, culture, and diplomacy. By the time Uranus made its mid-century transit, unsustainable farming practices had led to the dust bowl famine, a climate crisis which displaced millions. The Indian Rights Act and Social Security Act were first steps towards restitution and dignity towards all the countrys inhabitants.

The outbreak of WWII delivered a new type of woman, embodied by the brassy, Artemisian Taurus Katherine Hepburn and the scathing Bette Davis, and glamorized through the creation of some of modern cultures most enduring characters: Lois Lane, Catwoman, and Wonder Woman. Unbound and unbossed, this new generation served a higher ethos than domestic bliss, blasting open a new and varied pantheon of archetypes.

Of course, Taurus is the sign of autonomy, explaining its high probability among divas and dictators. The last Uranian tour saw the rise of some of the 20th centurys definitive autocrats, including Mussolini and Hitler. As the Taurus Harry Truman dropped atomic bombs on Japan, so the human race would fail its Taurean calling of regenerating a fertile earth and instead answer to the destroyer, waiting to rise from the Scorpionic underworld. Our gift of choice the bulls crown jewel had been abused. If one man could command nuclear power, then any person could be capable of godhood. Kingdoms fell, states were redrawn, and in the dissociative haze of mass consumption emerged something novel and intractable, craving unprecedented freedom: the individual.

As Uranus approaches the north node, the cycles of expansion and regression, progress and backlash, come into faster revolution. The discourse around the current climate crisis has narrowed in on the bulls trenchant gluttony, entitlement and inability to change. Can we collectively achieve a Taurean impossibility: convincing human beings to compromise their entitlement for the greater good? Of course, for standards of human decency to improve, so that, say, our meat doesnt have to be processed by underpaid, uninsured workers with no rights, Uranus will force Taurus to part with its creature comforts, and to question the consequences of a gentrified standard of living.

No discussion of Taurean themes would be complete without considering cold, hard cash, which, over this transit, undergoes a literal metamorphosis. Even if NFTs and crypto prove to be fads, the value of money will never be the same. Nor will previous assumptions around work and compensation. In the limited support people received from their leaded officials and employers during lockdown; the rise of digital entrepreneurship, self-merchandising, and self-published erotica through sites like OnlyFans; and in the growing public disinterest to return to office culture, Uranus has made individuals question why theyve settled for the abuses of corporate life and capitalist labor, what their talents are worth, and how they believe they should be compensated.

Meanwhile, femininity and womanhood have undergone a rapid metamorphosis through the filters of capitalism and consumption. Posting a pic, finna make me a profit, raps Megan Thee Stallion, one of the breakout stars of the era, in "Thot Sh*t. Megan may be the archangel of Uranus in Taurus, arriving, like Prometheus, to deliver a new fire to the masses: an unrestrained, insatiable embrace of pleasure, power, beauty, and capital. Seduction has always been a cash game; now everyones in on it.

Of course, as it blasts forward to progress, Uranus uncovers buried, atavistic resistance to change. The defamation trial against the Taurus Amber Heard, which raged during a Taurus stellium and the launch of the Taurus-Scorpio eclipse cycle, revealed the threat of a woman who doesnt hew to the dominant standards of clean, uncomplicated morality. For depicting the complex reality of relationships and the ways that love, power, and abuse cannot be easily disentangled, Heard, like so many Taurus women before her, would be locked away in the dungeon of the Minotaur, bound as a bull sacrifice on the altar of virtue. .

The empire has struck back. But Taurus answers to a more ancient authority, unimpressed by the construction of pretty pyramids and systems of rulership. Real power, imbued into all bodies and expressed through the becoming of self and the creation of another, cannot be limited, literalized and compromised. So much for free will, Liz Greene writes, in The Astrology of Fate. It exists, for the Platonist, only in the non-corporeal. The body, brimming with passion and the seeds of mortality, is full of fate. What fate will our bodies lead us to next?

The core tenet of liberalism is that society is moving towards progress, a vision furthered by Aquarius. At stake under the legislation of so many deflated old dudes on the senate floor is the primal power of creation and the divine gift of becoming; what if, after all, the ancient, volcanic ore of the earth, and of its inhabitants, cant be reconciled with a civil society at all? Taurus the avatar of the crescent moon, fallopian tubes and pre-Judeo-Christian pagans holds the fertility traditions of ages past, and as the state falls, so erupts a primeval, Dionysian rebellion of the body.

The Taurean promise of freedom is at stake, and conspiracy theorists, mass shooters and capital rioters have already made their warped case for it. Perhaps the rest of us, bound to the breast of the state, are missing the point. Prometheus delivered the fire of revolution to all humankind. 2021s GameStop coup went down during a Uranus-Saturn square, and the Staten Island unionization against Amazon, however precarious and embattled, marked new possibilities for rebellion in a corpocracy. Previous Uranus in Taurus eras brought on the French Revolution, Boston Tea Party, and Indian revolts against the British. No more hoping for change from inside the system. Its time to build a better one.

And it all begins with the individual. Over the past decade, the body has been exploited in the development of the personal brand, making each of us a unit of trade and consumption, in a rat race for followers and corporate funding. Perhaps that same spirit of self-embodiment, which makes each of us a vessel of the cinematic, erotic and fantastic, which has immortalized legendary Taurus divas like Cher, Grace Jones and Barbra Streisand, can be weaponized, or, at least, fully realized. What if the public personality each of us inhabits begins to live, in the eyes of its followers, not a life of meaningless consumption or even worse virtue signaling, but incandescent creative fulfillment and authentic transgression?

On the eve of the Uranus-Mars-north node collision, Beyonce drops her album Renaissance and the Taurus Lena Dunham releases her new film Sharp Stick. As the centurys most indelible feminist archetypes have demonstrated, every action of creation can shake the world, start a discourse, and make you a god or an antichrist. Your body is a vessel of the rapture, and in the age of surveillance, its always being watched. Show them something they wont forget.

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Original post:
Uranus In Taurus & The Battle For Embodiment - NYLON

Pupils had to investigate the suspicious death of a body as part of their Crime Scene Investigation Day, which was attended by a forensics officer from North Yorkshire Police.

In a day organised by the schools Science department, the investigation included studying hair and blood samples, finger printing, testing fabrics under a microscope, and looking at the science behind gunshot residue.

Sue Ali, Head of Science at Harrogate Ladies' College, said that the day was designed to bring science to life and encourage more girls to think about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects in the future.

She said: It was such an exciting day with a lot of very detailed analysis of tests in a laboratory setting.

"The research was intense and real and an extremely popular day for everyone.

We tried to emulate the process of a crime scene investigation as much as possible and theres a real element of suspense and surprise.

The day was aided by STEM ambassadors who are sixth-form students from the school who are studying Science subjects.

They were also given a talk on careers in forensics and the opportunities in police and detective work.

Mrs Ali added: We set the scene and as the plot unveiled, it became exciting for the different teams to share their research and work out exactly how murders are investigated and ultimately solved.

All the different elements of the investigation were included in the day using the labs and its a great introduction to an exciting array of careers in Science.

Read the original post:
Pupils at Harrogate Ladies' College put their detective skills to the test at CSI Day - Harrogate Advertiser

Linden VFW building destroyed by fire

The Linden VFW building at 20 Pennsylvania Railroad Avenue was destroyed Sunday in a 2-alarm fire. A GoFundMe.com page has been created to help rebuild the city landmark.

~Courtesy of John Roman, MyCentralJersey.com

BOUND BROOK - A state appellate court has ruled that statements made by the parents of a borough man convicted of murdering an Old Bridge man can be admitted as evidence against them on charges they gave false information to police.

In an 18-page ruling Tuesday, the appellate court reversed a Superior Court decision saying that the statements made by David and Cindy Keogh to police on the night that Terrence C. Coulanges was shot by their son Ryan at their home on Farm Lane could not be used against them because they had not been given their Miranda rights against self-incrimination.

Mr. and Mrs, Keogh are facing charges of making false statements to police, hindering apprehension and endangering an injured victim.

In April their son was found guilty of murder in the 2019 incident. He also was found guilty of possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose; hindering apprehension or prosecution;endangering an injured victim;four counts of false swearing;tampering with physical evidenceand unlawful possession of a large capacity ammunition magazine.

The investigation beganat 7:36 p.m.Jan.9, 2019, when the Middlesex Borough Police Department received a 911 call reporting shots firedat aFarm Lane home in Bound Brook.

Bound Brook Police went to the scene and foundCoulanges outside the homewith gunshot wounds to the right thigh and left chest.

Police and medical personnelstartedlifesaving measures.Coulanges wastakento Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswickwhere he was pronounced dead.

An investigation by the Somerset County Prosecutors Office Major Crimes Unit and Crime Scene Investigation Unit and Bound Brook detectives found neighbors who said they heard gunshots about 5:45 p.m. that day.

The investigation found thatKeogh, along with his mother, then left the home and went to his father's office in Green Brook. A911 call was placed at 7:36 p.m., an hour and 51 minutes afterCoulanges was shot.

Keough had maintained that he shotCoulanges in self-defense. His lawyers argued that Coulanges came to the house where he was not wanted,a struggle ensued, and he was shot by Keogh.

As police were securing the house and the crime scene, the Keoghs stayed at the end of the driveway. A Middlesex Borough police officer who had responded to the scene told the Keoghs to refrain from talking to each other, court papers say.

The Keoghs were then taken to Bound Brook Police Headquarters in three separate police vehicles to give statements. A detective from the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office interviewed each Keogh separately in the company of other detectives. The Keoghs were separated from each other with the father and son in interview rooms and the mother in the lobby.

Crime news:South Bound Brook officer sues ex-cop who allegedly pointed loaded gun at him

The parents gave their statements and they waited in the lobby until the interview with their son ended about four hours later. They were then escorted back home to collect some things because they were not allowed to stay because the scene was still being processed.

After more investigation, the son was charged with murder on Feb. 13, 2019, and his parents were charged the following day.

The parents' lawyer filed a motion to suppress the statements they had given to police because they were not administered their Miranda rights. The prosecutor's office argued that they were "treated as witnesses and not suspects," but a Superior Court judge disagreed and said they should have been given their rights because they did not feel "free to leave" police headquarters.

Local news:Man killed by freight train in Bound Brook, police say

The appellate court disagreed with the judge's ruling, saying that the parents were told they could leave police headquarters after giving their statements but chose to remain until after their son gave his statement. The appellate court ruled that the parents were not subjected to "custodial interrogation" so they did not need to have their Miranda warnings given to them.

The prosecutor's office is charging that the parents gave false statements to the police about the night of the killing.

According to the prosecutor's office, video from a neighbor's security camera and tracking of all three Keoghs' cellphones revealed that their statements to police were false.

Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com

Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

See original here:
Court rules Bound Brook parents' statements can be used against them in trial - My Central Jersey