Wisconsin Supreme Court Restores Democracy, Overturns Blatantly-Gerrymandered Legislative Maps:
MADISON – The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Republican-controlled state Legislature to draw new legislative boundaries ahead of the 2024 election, arguing their GOP advantage is unconstitutional — delivering a long-sought win for Democrats who have stayed deep in the Legislature’s minority for more than a decade.
The court in a 4-3 decision said the court is also prepared to replace the state’s heavily gerrymandered maps if the Legislature and Democratic governor cannot agree on a new plan.
“Wisconsin is a purple state, and I look forward to submitting maps to the Court to consider and review that reflect and represent the makeup of our state,” Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement.Law Forward, a Madison-based liberal-leaning law firm focused on voting issues, brought the legal challenge straight to the Supreme Court in August — bypassing lower courts in an expedited effort to put new maps in place before the fall.
US Supreme Court Does Trump A Solid. Just when you think they won’t go any lower:
The Supreme Court has denied special counsel Jack Smith’s bid to fast-track a dispute about whether former President Donald Trump should enjoy absolute immunity from prosecution for misconduct during his time in the White House.
The court did not offer a reason for its decision. The action now turns to the federal appeals court in Washington, which is set to hear argument in the matter on Jan. 9.
The question of immunity is still expected to reach the court, just on a longer timeline.
In other words, regardless of how the Court of Appeals rules, it is inevitable that the case winds up in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has effectively enabled Trump’s delaydelaydelay plan.
Cops Knew Maine Man Was A Threat, Were Too A-Scared To Confront Him. Until after he went out and killed 18 people:
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Police who declined to confront an Army reservist in the weeks before he killed 18 people in Maine’s deadliest mass shooting feared that doing so would “throw a stick of dynamite on a pool of gas,” according to video released Friday by law enforcement.
Military officials alerted police in September that Card had been hospitalized in July after exhibiting erratic behavior while training, that he still had access to weapons and that he had threatened to “shoot up” an Army reserve center in Saco, a city in southern Maine. The sheriff’s department responded by briefly staking out the Saco facility and going to Card’s home in Bowdoin for what Reamer described as a “welfare check.”
Auburn City Councilor Leroy Walker, Sr., whose son Joseph Walker was killed in the shootings expressed frustration with police after seeing the video. Joseph Walker was the manager of Schemengees Bar & Grill, where part of the attack took place.
“I would like to know what we train these people to do. Is it just to deliver mail? Or stop innocent people that may be driving 11 miles (per hour) over the speed limit?” Walker said in a text message, noting that watching the video made him “sick.”
Flowers Are Smart. They are self-pollinating due to fewer insects being around to do the job for them:
Flowers are “giving up on” pollinators and evolving to be less attractive to them as insect numbers decline, researchers have said.
A study has found the flowers of field pansies growing near Paris are 10 percent smaller and produce 20 percent less nectar than flowers growing in the same fields 20 to 30 years ago. They are also less frequently visited by insects.
“Our study shows that pansies are evolving to give up on their pollinators,” said Pierre-Olivier Cheptou, one of the study’s authors and a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. “They are evolving towards self-pollination, where each plant reproduces with itself, which works in the short term but may well limit their capacity to adapt to future environmental changes.”
How US Residents Are Funding Illegal Settlements In The West Bank:
An Israeli crowdfunding platform, IsraelGives, has allowed US residents to donate millions of dollars since 7 October to causes including illegal West Bank settlements, paramilitary groups, and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) units currently operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Legal experts say that some of these campaigns may be illegal under US tax law, but that this is rarely enforced on donors to Israeli causes.
While contributions from wealthy US nonprofits or individuals to illegal settlements have been previously reported, IsraelGives’s established crowdfunding platform, attached to an international network of linked non-profits, may allow smaller donors in the US and beyond to claim tax deductions on funds sustaining war and settlement in the occupied territories.
What do you want to talk about?