Covers: Down by the River

“Down by the River” (1969) is a Neil Young song that has been covered by artists like Norah Jones and Buddy Miles.

More bad news for local newspapers

The pandemic has been bad for U.S. local newspapers.

Overall, 2,500 newspapers in the U.S. — a quarter of them — have closed since 2005. The country is set up to lose one-third of its newspapers by 2025. https://t.co/061KNzRUl8 pic.twitter.com/k0XEO9dekh
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 29, 2022

Perspective | Every week, two more newspapers close — and ‘news deserts’ grow larger https://t.co/EkHfnOvIZ5
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKessler__) June 29, 2022

Red states will use the abortion decision to overturn all kinds of rights

And so it begins. The Alabama AG cites the overturning of Roe v. Wade to argue for a ban on trans health care. Alabama says b/c the Supreme Court said abortion is not 'deeply rooted' in the nation's history, the same can be said about access to gender-affirming care.
— Don Lewis (@DonLew87) June 29, 2022

Taken to its logical extreme, this is an argument that each state has the constitutional right to forbid *literally any* specific treatment for damn near any medical condition.

Because there are *no* modern medical treatments that are "deeply rooted." https://t.co/fdcO8zUAlx
— Mike Dunford (@questauthority) June 29, 2022

The Democratic response to the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has been pathetic

There is so much in this column that is outstanding. Democrats had months to prepare for the decision and should have announced a plan the minute the court released it.

Just a few things:

like him, I have been deluged with fundraising requests. Telling us to give money and vote is not enough
I was very offended by Biden’s compliment of Mitch McConnell. Has he forgotten about McConnell’s unwillingness to even have a hearing on Garland? I haven’t. I assume that if Republicans win the Senate majority this year, McConnell will block any Biden Supreme Court nominees and probably others as well.

President Biden and Democratic leaders had months to prepare for the fall of Roe v. Wade. Yet as Republicans celebrated the culmination last week, the initial response from the president and his party struck many Democrats as painfully inadequate. https://t.co/ETtM2KOHyb
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) June 29, 2022

If they don't like this, they should have had other ideas ready. https://t.co/ZVV5VB2Elr
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) June 28, 2022

Democrats have had almost 2 months since the leak to prepare a response. They should have had an immediate response with specific actions ready to go when the decision was released. This is pitiful. https://t.co/3u5La2qUvF
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) June 28, 2022

Last 2022 update on gerrymandering in Louisiana

The Supreme Court (R) gutted the Voting Rights Act and will let racist gerrymanders stand.

The Supreme Court just reinstated the Republican-drawn map of Louisiana's House districts that was blocked by a judge who found it likely discriminates against Black voters. The three liberal justices dissented.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 28, 2022

A year of work proving Louisiana's congressional map discriminates against Black voters. A 152-page district court opinion finding discrimination, upheld in a 33-page opinion by the most conservative federal court in the nation. Taken away by 6 justices in an act of raw power. https://t.co/PhJ9iROha1
— Sam Spital (@SamSpital) June 28, 2022

This afternoon, the Supreme Court reinstated Louisiana's GOP-passed congressional map, halting a lower court's decision that it was a racial gerrymander. https://t.co/yLVYlV4gZd pic.twitter.com/2j2Eqbj7wL
— Nathaniel Rakich (@baseballot) June 28, 2022

the supreme court: “just use the democratic process”

also the supreme court: https://t.co/Lg7YxZkkM3
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) June 28, 2022

Let's be very clear. The 5 radical justices of the Supreme Court are unhinged right now. In multiple cases, they have ignored not just precedent and personal pledges like in Roe, but basic facts in the school prayer and voting rights case, just to get their partisan way. https://t.co/fo2pGlCnG3
— Peter W. Singer (@peterwsinger) June 29, 2022

Republicans will use the terrible abortion decision to deny other rights

Nebraska’s Secretary of State today cited the Supreme Court’s opinion in Dobbs to argue that voters do not have a constitutional right to propose statewide ballot initiatives because it is not mentioned in the Constitution pic.twitter.com/b6KdVyqgVN
— G. Elliott Morris (@gelliottmorris) June 28, 2022

Baltimore Sun article didn’t mention terrible Hogan decision

The article says (with my bolding):

Long-term goals include reforming the structure of the Maryland Transit Administration to include more local oversight, implementing an east-to-west rapid transit plan for Baltimore, adding more railroad stations in the metropolitan region and providing faster and more frequent commuter MARC trains between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

There was a plan called the Red Line – Governor Hogan killed it.

Your article should have included the fact that Governor Hogan killed the Red https://t.co/TYob0GwmVG
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) June 28, 2022

Hogan’s decision was terrible. https://t.co/Vy6bQ3w401
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) June 28, 2022

2022 World’s Ugliest Dog

A Chihuahua mix named Mr. Happy Face won the 2022 World’s Ugliest Dog contest out of a field that included a "hairless mutant," a creature that resembled "a hyena or mandrill baboon" and a dog with a "gorilla-looking head," contest organizers said.https://t.co/JqKX5OdPQT
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 25, 2022

The right-wing Supreme Court could give state legislatures the power to overturn elections

This is very dangerous. There is no bottom for the current Supreme Court. Four justices have indicated interest in hearing a case on the Republican-led idea

The story: https://t.co/nAZhn0VvXC
— Robert Costa (@costareports) June 20, 2022

"Republicans are quietly advancing a theory that — despite running contrary to precedent and history, the Supreme Court appears dangerously close to adopting. The ramifications for democracy could be disastrous." https://t.co/Oehd7sQ82q
— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) June 17, 2022

The rough beast sloughing towards the US Supreme Court to be born is known as the "independent state legislatures doctrine," and it is a golden ticket for R legislatures to monkey with and even overturn election results. https://t.co/uBdLStwjMR
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) June 20, 2022

I expect the right-wing Supreme Court to limit the EPA

This is one of the seven remaining decisions. Since Republicans don’t care about the climate and oppose the government doing things to combat global warming, I expect the court to rule against the EPA.

Make sure you save some outrage for West Virginia v. EPA next week. It's likely to not only prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse emissions, but also prevent the federal government from regulating anything at all.
— Justin Feldman (@jfeldman_epi) June 25, 2022

The Supreme Court is considering West Virginia v. EPA, a case that would gut the EPA’s authority to combat climate chaos—it could let corporations harm our health and the environment without consequences.
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) June 21, 2022

⚖️ Environmental protection

West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency is about the federal government's ability to create environmental regulations.

The challengers are a group of 27 Republican attorneys general. https://t.co/QIVPy3Xr5D
— NPR (@NPR) June 22, 2022

Watch out for this – looks like yet another terrible decision from the right wing extremist court is coming https://t.co/8j48AyAxL1
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) June 26, 2022

Another hammer-blow decision could be coming in the next few days. So far the Court hasn’t opted for the maximalist approach liberals feared when it comes to crippling administrative agencies, but West Virginia vs EPA tees them up well to do so.
— Sam Rosenfeld (@sam_rosenfeld) June 25, 2022

It's concerning that this is the first account I've seen tweet about West Virginia v EPA. So many people are about to get blind sided by this ruling. It will affect every aspect of life and people don't know.https://t.co/YyzbkhEW2B
— Rosalie Kennedy (@Thoureauly) June 25, 2022

The Supreme Court still has yet to issue its ruling on whether or not the federal government can regulate private businesses in West Virginia v the EPA.

That comes out next week, I'd guess.

This would be much worse than overturning Roe V Wade. https://t.co/FTOtF3mtJc
— Scott Carney (@sgcarney) June 25, 2022

One of the craziest things is that it's not over yet. Within a week the Supreme Court is going to declare that the EPA can't regulate carbon emissions, shredding federal efforts to respond to climate change.
— Will Stancil (@whstancil) June 26, 2022

#ReidOutBlog: The Supreme Court’s upcoming decision in a climate-related case will likely threaten the very concept of a federal government. https://t.co/l4vBU84Pm2
— The ReidOut (@thereidout) June 29, 2022