Good morning.
Liz Cheney has paid the price for her staunch opposition to Donald Trump’s assault on American democracy by losing her seat in Congress to a challenger backed by the former president.
The committee’s vice chairman was beaten Jan. 6 by a conservative attorney, Harriet Hageman, who has echoed Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud in the Republican primary to place Wyoming’s lone member in the House. .
Conceding defeat in a speech in Jackson, Cheney said: “Two years ago, I won this election with 73% of the vote. I could easily have done the same again. The path was clear, but it would require me to continue with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election.
“I would have to enable his continued efforts to dismantle our democratic system and attack the foundations of our republic. This was a path I could not and would not take.”
What did Trump say? He wrote on his social media platform: “Liz Cheney should be ashamed of herself, the way she acted and her disgusting and mean words and actions towards others. Now she can finally disappear into the depths of political oblivion where, I’m sure, she will be much happier than she is now. Thank you WYOMING!”
What else did Cheney say? She issued a call for the defense of democracy and, in remarks that lasted about 15 minutes, made it clear that she does not accept that her political career is over.
In praise of Liz Cheney: let’s have more politicians like her
Sarah Palin advances to the November election for the Alaska House seat
Sarah Palin looks set to be on the ballot in November’s general election after the former Alaska governor and former vice presidential candidate won one of four seats vying for a seat in the US House of Representatives, according to the Associated Press. Press.
Palin, who rose to fame more than a decade ago as John McCain’s running mate, advanced to the general election alongside her two challengers, Nick Begich III, a tech millionaire backed by the Alaska Republican Party, and Mary Peltola, a former state legislator. and democratic. It was too early to call fourth place.
Palin, Peltola and Begich are vying for the lone Alaska House seat previously held by Don Young, who died in March. The trio were also running in a special election to serve out the remainder of Young’s term, which ends early next year.
Special election results could take days to finalize as Alaska voters are using a ranked-choice voting system for the first time.
Did Palin pave the way for Trump? In many ways, Palin’s attacks on the media, her racist rants, and her eschewing of traditional politics or policy in favor of demagoguery paved the way for Trump to be elected president. She was also an early supporter of his candidacy.
‘Biggest step forward on climate ever’: Biden signs landmark Democrats’ bill
Joe Biden signed the Democrats’ package of health care, climate and taxes on Tuesday, putting the final stamp of approval on a landmark bill that party leaders hope will boost their prospects in this November’s midterm elections.
During a signing ceremony at the White House, the president celebrated the bill as a landmark piece of legislation that would reduce health care costs for millions of Americans and help address the climate crisis.
“With this law, the American people won and special interests lost,” Biden said. “Today offers further proof that America’s spirit is alive, America’s future is bright, and America’s promise is real and just beginning.”
The signing came four days after the House approved the bill, officially known as the Inflation Reduction Act, by a party line vote of 220 to 207. The bill had previously passed the Senate on a party-line vote of 51 to 50, with the vice president, Kamala Harris, breaking the tie in the evenly divided chamber.
How important is the bill for the fight against the climate crisis? The law directs $369 billion toward investing in renewable energy and reducing America’s planet-warming emissions, marking the country’s most significant effort yet to combat the climate crisis.
In other news…
A federal judge in Florida will hear arguments tomorrow on whether to release an affidavit used to justify a search of Donald Trump’s Florida estate.as legal disputes on multiple fronts intensify against the former president and his allies.
Tesla billionaire Elon Musk briefly electrified the debate over the future of Manchester United by claiming on Twitter that he was buying the struggling Premier League club. – before I said the post was part of a “long joke”.
A Saudi student at the University of Leeds who is back in the kingdom for a party has been sentenced to 34 years in prison for having a Twitter account and for following and retweeting dissidents and activists. Salma al-Shehab, 34, a mother of two young children, was not a particularly vocal Saudi activist.
About 20 passengers have suffered burns, three of them seriously, after being thrown from a train when it was engulfed in a forest fire near Castellón in north-east Spain. The train, en route from Sagunto to Zaragoza, stopped as the driver, seeing that the fire meant it was too dangerous to continue, prepared to reverse the train and several passengers panicked.
Don’t miss this: A neurologist’s tips for fighting memory loss and Alzheimer’s
In neuroscientist Dr Richard Restak’s latest book, The Complete Guide to Memory: The Science of Powering Your Mind, he addresses the great unspoken fear that whenever you can’t remember where you put your reading glasses, it’s a sign close. punishment. “In America today,” he writes, “everyone over 50 lives in fear of the big A.” He says memory lapses are the single most common complaint over-55s bring up with their doctors, even though many of the complaints they describe turn out to be nothing to worry about.
… or this: How private is your period tracking app? Not much, the study shows
After the collapse of federal abortion protections in the US, pressure has increased on apps that collect pregnancy-related data to protect people’s privacy. A study has revealed that many of them do not stand up to scrutiny. Experts at the nonprofit Internet research organization Mozilla studied more than 20 pregnancy and period tracking apps for privacy and security features and said the results were grim. “Most of these products collect large amounts of personal data and then share it widely,” said Ashley Boyd, Mozilla’s vice president of advocacy.
Climate control: US issues water cuts to West as drought leaves Colorado River near ‘tipping point’
After western US states failed to reach an agreement to reduce water use from the dammed Colorado River, the federal government stepped in yesterday, issuing cuts that will affect two states and Mexico. Bureau of Reclamation officials declared a level two shortage in the river basin as drought continues in the American West, pushing its largest reservoirs to new lows. Decreasing water levels continue to threaten hydroelectric power generation, drinking water supplies, and agricultural production.
Bottom line: Ants may be better than pesticides for growing healthy crops, study finds
Ants may be more effective than pesticides in helping farmers produce food, according to research. They are better at killing pests, reducing plant damage and increasing crop yields, the first systematic review of ants’ contribution to crop production has found. Ants are generalist predators and hunt pests that damage fruits, seeds and leaves, leading to a decline in crop yields. A greater variety of ants generally provides more protection against a wider range of pests, the study found.
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