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French High Court Rules Against Burkini Swimwear
On Tues., France's highest administrative court struck down an ordinance passed by Grenoble city council that would've allowed women to wear head-to-foot swimsuits dubbed "burkinis" in public pools.
The court ruled the city's legislation, which allowed the swimsuit often worn by Muslim women, was initially aimed "only to satisfy a demand of a religious nature," which would violate France's strict laws regarding public sectarianism.
This is the first ruling to cite a law introduced under Macron's 2021 government which tightened rules of sectarianism in public matters.
Progressive narrative
Grenoble's law was intended to offer more opportunities for citizens to access public swimming pools. Women, whether for religious reasons or not, should be able to exercise their right to choose, and be allowed to wear whatever they want in communal spaces. This only serves to make it even more difficult for Muslim women in France to use public services.
Conservative narrative
This ruling is a win for those who wish to uphold France's long-held view that public secularism should be applied equally to all people no matter their religion. It's also an important step in combating Islam's unfair treatment of women, a religious component incompatible with French society.
Nerd narrative
There is a 50% chance that at least 20.3% of the global population will identify as "religiously unaffiliated" by 2050, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Two Jesuit Priests Killed Inside a Church In Northern Mexico
Javier Campos Morales and Joaquín César Mora Salazar, two elderly Jesuit priests, were killed on Mon. inside a church in Chihuahua, northern Mexico as gunmen reportedly hunted a man who sought refuge there.
The man seeking refuge inside the church, later identified as the tour guide Pedro Eliodoro Palma Gutiérrez, was also murdered.
A third priest was left alive but the gunmen refused his request to leave the bodies of the deceased priests.
Establishment-critical narrative
López Obrador has failed to tackle corruption and violence. He has spent all of his time verbally assaulting his political foes and building a new national military police force while violence has been surging across Mexico.
Pro-establishment narrative
López Obrador has taken vital actions to assist the displaced and deploy troops to restore order in towns overtaken by the cartels. He did this while fully recognizing the humanitarian crisis created by drug cartel violence.
Day 120 Roundup: EU Leaders Approve Ukraine Candidate Status, China Hosts BRICS Summit
EU leaders on Thurs. voted to officially grant Ukraine candidate status, a first step on the road to full membership, following a positive recommendation from the European Commission last week. Moldova's bid was also approved.
While this doesn't mean automatic entry into the bloc, the possible entry of the two countries would mean a major redrawing of Russia's sphere of influence among former Soviet republics.
However, despite the breakdown of relations between the Kremlin and the West, Russian Pres. Putin has sought to strengthen relations with other nations. On Thurs., he attended the virtual BRICS summit – the economic forum of Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa – hosted by Beijing.
Anti-Russia narrative
This invasion is an egregious violation of international law. Putin's ultimate aim is to restore the Soviet empire, even if it takes massive bloodshed and false pretexts such as calling the 2014 Ukrainian revolution after a fraudulent election a "coup". This unprovoked attack is the latest chapter in Putin's Orwellian attempt to rewrite history.
Pro-Russia narrative
NATO and the US have ignored Russia's security concerns by breaking its promise not to expand eastward in return for German reunification. These concerns are legitimate and taking them seriously would have avoided the Ukraine tragedy.
Nerd narrative
There is a 1% chance that Ukraine will join the Union State of Russia by 2023, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
FDA Suspends Order Banning Juul Cigarettes
The FDA on Tues. issued an "administrative stay" to its Jun. 23 order for the company Juul to pull its electronic cigarettes from the market.
A day after the initial order banning sales, a federal appeals court temporarily blocked the government ban. The FDA stated on Twitter that the "administrative stay" suspends the marketing denial order while it conducts further review but doesn't rescind it.
This comes after Juul Labs filed an emergency motion asking the ban to be blocked. They argued that the FDA decision was the result of political pressure.
Left narrative
The ban was a step in the right direction, and more needs to be done about the harm being carried out by profiteering companies. Regulation is needed not only in the nicotine sector but also in unethical AI, predictive policing, and environmental issues across the US, which would all benefit from closer government scrutiny.
Libertarian narrative
The attempted prohibition represents the excessive power of the executive branch at the cost of individual liberty. The Founding Fathers did not intend that the president could dictate consumer rights.
Establishment-critical narrative
The FDA's reversal of course is an embarrassing u-turn and has backfired on the federal government. While the FDA is supposed to approve or deny products based on scientific evidence political pressure from both Biden and Congress has been exposed, and efforts to stack the deck with fruitless "regulation" schemes are now out in the open.
$3.25M Settlement Reached in the Killing of Daunte Wright
The City of Brooklyn Center, Minn. has settled a $3.25M wrongful death civil suit with the family of Daunte Wright, who was killed by an MN police officer.
Wright, an unarmed black man, was killed by Officer Kim Potter during a traffic stop in 2021. Potter claimed that she meant to reach for her stun gun instead of her firearm.
Wright, who had an outstanding warrant for an aggravated robbery, was pulled over for having an expired license tag and an illegal air freshener. After learning of the warrant and attempting to arrest Wright, he tried to flee and Potter pulled her gun.
Right narrative
The reason Wright was originally pulled over was due to an outstanding warrant he had for robbing a woman at gunpoint and choking her. While Kim Potter's conviction and sentencing are justified due to her negligence, people should also be talking about how the country has, yet again, been coerced into believing that being killed by a cop makes you a model citizen to be mourned and celebrated.
Left narrative
Hopefully, this settlement will help black families and people of color feel safer in their communities, thanks to its agreement to provide training for law enforcement on how best to prevent senseless killings like what happened to Wright and so many others at the hands of the police. Police departments continue to murder hundreds of people each year, mostly black people - it's no wonder that there is a "defund the police" perspective in the US.
Powell: Raising Interest Rates Could Lead to Recession
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged on Wed. that the Fed's efforts to bring down inflation by raising interest rates could potentially tip the US economy into a recession.
When asked by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) at a Senate Federal Open Market Committee hearing whether increased interest rates could lead to a recession without stopping inflation, he said "it's certainly a possibility."
He said he expects more rate hikes of 0.75% but is unclear how many or when they will occur. He also acknowledged that the Fed should've acted sooner to quell rising inflation.
Republican narrative
First, Powell admitted that inflation was soaring before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and now he's saying that the administration and Fed's attempts to lower prices and stop a recession could very well fall short on both. Americans aren't buying Biden's excuses anymore and Powell's most recent testimony only solidifies this.
Democratic narrative
With the war in Ukraine raising the cost of gas around the world and China's recent lockdown, increased inflation was inevitable. The Fed needs to cool the economy down by raising interest rates, even if it means risking a recession. This is the only way we'll be able to finally get back to a stable and sustainable economic growth.
Nerd narrative
There's a 60% chance that the US will enter a recession by January 1, 2023, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Former Democratic Candidate for Fla. Gov. Indicted
Andrew Gillum, the Democratic nominee for governor of Fla. in 2018, surrendered to federal authorities in Tallahassee on Wed. after he was indicted on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, and making false statements to FBI agents.
The charges of conspiracy and fraud against Gillum and a close associate relate to allegations of improper use of campaign funds during Gillum's tenure as mayor of Tallahassee and as a gubernatorial candidate. Gillum has denied wrongdoing.
The new charges include allegations Gillum accepted tickets to the Broadway show "Hamilton" that were paid for by an undercover FBI agent posing as a Fla. real estate developer seeking approval for building projects.
Democratic narrative
Every day we learn of unpunished malfeasance conducted by Republicans over the past several years, especially related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Yet this case against Gillum is what the DOJ decides to pursue. One would think Trump was still in the White House.
Republican narrative
Democrats who want to prosecute Republicans for imaginary crimes should worry more about crimes being committed by those among their ranks. Florida dodged a bullet when it went for DeSantis over Gillum because it would've had this corrupt official making vital decisions for the state.
National Incident Declared After Traces of Polio Found in London Sewage
A national incident was declared in the UK on Wed. over the discovery of poliovirus in multiple samples of sewage from wastewater in North and East London.
Routine disease surveillance found closely-related traces of the disease in samples between Feb. and May this year, raising concerns that there has been community spread of the virus.
The virus is suspected to have come from someone immunized abroad with the live oral polio vaccine which can, in exceptional cases, mutate into "vaccine-derived" polio.
Pro-establishment narrative
This is nothing to worry about. Relevant agencies are in possession of "world-beating" tools to locate the origin of the virus, the UK has a high vaccination rate against polio, and the NHS will be following up with the parents of children who are not yet fully immunized.
Establishment-critical narrative
The fact that polio can even get a toehold in a country with a healthcare system as advanced as the UK's raises urgent questions about the state of public health in the country. The danger of the sometimes fatal disease has been forgotten, and uptake of the polio vaccine has declined since Britain was declared free of it in 2003.
Nerd narrative
There is a 50% chance that the WHO will certify the worldwide eradication of polio by 2032, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Jan 6 Hearings: Day 5
The Jan. 6 Committee's fifth day of public hearings focused on former Pres. Trump and his allies' alleged pressure campaign against the Justice Dept. (DOJ) to overturn the election results.
Testifying in front of the committee, former Acting Deputy Attorney General (AG), Richard Donoghue, said Trump asked the DOJ to "just say the election was corrupt," despite a lack of evidence of fraud.
Former Acting AG, Jeffrey Rosen, told the committee that "between Dec. 23 and Jan. 3, the president either called me or met with me virtually every day with one or two exceptions like Christmas Day" to talk about election fraud.
Democratic narrative
Donoghue's testimony was nothing short of chilling. It shows Trump orchestrated the false "election fraud" narrative to pave the way for an unprecedented intervention into the workings of the federal government. In other words, Trump's own falsehoods enabled his meddling to advance an anti-democratic plan.
Republican narrative
Democrat members of Congress have privately confided to left-leaning journalists behind closed doors, the Dems confide that "nobody gives a bleep" about Jan 6. in their districts. Democrats are clinging to hopes that these hyped hearings will beat back a Red Wave in November - it's looking like even their hopes are fading.
FDA Planning to Regulate Nicotine Levels
The FDA is planning to establish a maximum nicotine level to make cigarettes and other tobacco products less addictive, according to a notice published on a US govt. website on Tues.
By reducing the amount of nicotine, and in turn the addictiveness of tobacco products, the FDA hopes to make it easier for users to quit and reduce their exposure to toxins.
The attempt to reduce cigarette smoking - which reportedly kills 480k Americans annually - is part of Pres. Biden's "cancer moonshot" initiative, which aims to cut the cancer death rate by 50% over the next 25 yrs.
Right narrative
What are we doing, going back to Prohibition? Consumers should be free to make their own decisions, and this nicotine reduction would amount to a ban on most cigarettes sold in the US. This proposal isn't the answer, a focus on giving consumers the option of reduced-harm, smoke-free products is the way to go.
Left narrative
Anything that gets substantial numbers of people to quit tobacco entirely should be adopted, and this rule could go a long way towards that goal. Opponents are sure to characterize this as a ban, but it's just a way to discourage the use of the deadliest nicotine products – a proposal the White House should stand up for.
Cynical narrative
Committing to all low-nicotine smokes could bring unintended consequences like black market sales of products with higher levels of nicotine, more organized crime, and more policing. The govt.'s research on how much smoking will be reduced by a plan like this is sketchy.