DeSantis Wants to ‘Slit Throats’ of ‘Deep State’; Extreme Heat’s Worker Death Toll–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Aug. 3, 2023

Indy Digest: Aug. 3, 2023

The march toward fascism continues …

From The Dallas Morning News:

A child from Honduras was one of two people found dead on or near the buoy barrier Texas installed in the Rio Grande to deter migrants, Mexican officials said Thursday, a growing toll that critics blamed on Gov. Greg Abbott’s “barbaric” border security tactics.

“No good person would do this,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at his daily news conference. “This is inhumane and no person should be treated like this.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety denied that either migrant died by getting entangled in barriers Texas installed in recent weeks. The governor’s office emphasized the child’s death occurred miles upstream.

”The Mexican government is flat-out wrong,” said Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris. “Unfortunately, drownings in the Rio Grande by people attempting to cross illegally are all too common.

In Washington, the Department of Homeland Security called the deaths “heartbreaking” and called for an investigation.

From NBC News:

Florida “effectively banned” Advanced Placement Psychology classes in the state due to the course’s content on sexual orientation and gender identity, the College Board said Thursday.

The state’s Department of Education informed the College Board that its AP Psychology class is in violation of state law, the higher education nonprofit said in a statement. Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, or what critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law, restricts the instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in the state’s classrooms.

“The state’s ban of this content removes choice from parents and students,” the College Board said in a statement. “Coming just days from the start of school, it derails the college readiness and affordability plans of tens of thousands of Florida students currently registered for AP Psychology, one of the most popular AP classes in the state.“

The state’s move to restrict the AP Psychology course comes several months after its decision to block AP African American Studies courses was widely condemned by academics and civil rights activists.

From Fox News:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will combat the “deep state” and “start slitting throats on day one” if he is elected president in 2024, he said Sunday.

DeSantis made the statement during a Q&A session at a campaign barbeque event in New Hampshire, telling the crowd that he intends to take on the entrenched officials in executive branch agencies.

“We’re going to have all of these deep state people, you know, we are going to start slitting throats on day one,” DeSantis said.

The violent terminology echoes DeSantis’ own ruthless campaign against political opponents in Florida, where he advanced conservative policies at a relentless pace.

The complete lack of humanity on display here scares me. It should scare you, too.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• On the theme of “the effects of climate change are here and horrifying” comes this piece from The Los Angeles Times: “A light rain fell on the Mojave National Preserve, where firefighters continued their nearly weeklong battle Wednesday against an unusual desert wildfire that has incinerated countless Joshua trees and threatens to forever alter California’s high desert landscape. Crews were aided by the arrival of monsoonal moisture, which brought some rain and humidity that helped slow the spread of the 82,000-acre York fire, which was about 30% contained Wednesday. But in many ways, the damage has already been done. The fire is the largest to burn through the eastern Mojave in recorded history, surpassing the 71,000-acre Hackberry complex fire of 2005 and searing through a delicate ecosystem already strained by invasive species and the burning of fossil fuels. ‘The reality is that Joshua trees are already in a state of decline because of global warming and increasing frequency of drought,’ said James Cornett, an ecologist who specializes in the species. ‘And then on top of that, you throw on a fire like the York fire, and these trees are not likely to recover in our lifetime.’”

• Next up comes a big Time magazine article headlined “Extreme Heat Is Endangering America’s Workers—and Its Economy.” A snippet: “Likely dozens of workers have already died from heat exposure this year in what is shaping up to be the hottest in American history. The death toll started on an abnormally hot and humid New Year’s day in Florida when a 28-year-old laborer working on a bell-pepper farm died from heat stroke. … According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 40 workers die every year from heat, most in outdoor jobs like farming, construction, and package delivery. But the official statistics don’t tell the real story, says Doug Parker, director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which oversees working conditions in the U.S. ‘We’re confident that’s an undercount. Probably a significant undercount,’ largely because the role of heat is often overlooked when it comes to issuing death certificates for cardiac arrest and respiratory failure. Public Citizen, a Washington, D.C., based consumer rights advocacy group, estimates that extreme heat contributes to between 600 and 2,000 deaths a year, along with 170,000 injuries, making heat one of the three main causes of death and injury in the American workplace.”

• A tip of the hat to an Independent reader named Susan, who gave me a heads-up about this PBS News Hour piece about what happens when local newspapers die. It focuses on the weekly newspaper in Canadian, Texas (population 2,300), and is headlined “How the loss of local newspapers fueled political divisions in the U.S.” Key quote: “Across the country, over the past two decades, more than 2,200 weekly newspapers have closed down. And tens of thousands of reporters have been laid off. And researchers say that not only has profound effects on the practice of journalism, but also on the country’s civic health. Johanna Dunaway is a professor and research director at Syracuse University’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship. She says the broad decline of local newspapers nationally, driven largely by plummeting revenue, as advertising moved online, has contributed to the rising polarization now seen across the country. ‘I mean, national news, for all of its many benefits, it tends to frame politics in America through the lens of the major conflicts between the two parties, right? And for those Americans or those citizens who are only watching the national news, they often only get this sort of game-frame style coverage, that it’s almost like sports reporting with Democrats on one side and Republicans on the other.'”

• The sale of incandescent light bulbs in the U.S. is now (mostly) a thing of the past. CNN explains: “A rule issued in 2007, rolled back by the Trump administration, and updated last year by the Biden administration, effectively bans the sale of common incandescent light bulbs. The rule went fully into effect Tuesday, August 1. The rule passed by President Joe Biden’s Department of Energy in April 2022 states that light bulbs must emit a minimum of 45 lumens per watt. A lumen is a measure of brightness. That effectively outlaws the manufacture and sale of common incandescent bulbs, the kind you screw into the vast majority of light sockets in your home. That’s because traditional incandescent bulbs provide just 15 lumens per watt, according to light bulb manufacturer Philips. By contrast, most LED bulbs will get you 75 lumens per watt, or more. … The Department of Energy estimates the rules will save US consumers close to $3 billion on their utility bills, and project it will also cut planet-warming carbon emissions by 222 million metric tons over the next 30 years.” The story notes that some specialty incandescent bulbs—for appliances, bug lamps, etc.—can still be made and sold in the U.S.

• This NBC News headline made me literally exclaim “REALLY??” That headline: “Leprosy may now be endemic in Florida, report suggests.” Leprosy? In 2023? Yep. Some elaboration: “Leprosy, officially called Hansen’s disease, is a rare type of bacterial infection that attacks the nerves and can cause swelling under the skin. The new research paper, published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, found that reported cases doubled in the Southeast over the last 10 years. Central Florida in particular has seen a disproportionate share of cases, which indicates it might be an endemic location for the disease, meaning leprosy has a consistent presence in the region’s population rather than popping up in the form of one-off outbreaks. … Although leprosy can spread person to person, it’s not known precisely how. The disease does not spread through casual physical contact like shaking hands or sitting next to a person on the bus, according to the CDC. Rather, scientists’ current thinking is that the bacteria gets transmitted via droplets from an infected person’s coughs or sneezes during a prolonged period of close contact. Contact with armadillos, some of which are naturally infected by leprosy-causing bacteria, may be another way people can get sick. Leprosy is treatable—patients typically take a combination of two or three antibiotics for one to two years.”

• And finally … congrats to all of the local Desert Theatre League Award nominees. You can find the expansive list of nominees—which includes Independent contributors Bonnie Gilgallon and Valerie-Jean Hume—here. The winners will be announced at a gala on Oct. 1

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