Spring Sale: Get 1 Year, Save 58%

Red flag laws saved 7,300 Americans from gun deaths in 2020 alone – but could have saved 11,400 more

Lawmakers in Congress are poised to pass the first gun control legislation in three decades. Among the elements in that legislation is support for states to pass what are called “red flag laws.”

These laws, already in place in many states, let police take guns from people deemed a threat to themselves or others. The laws also seek to bar those people from buying guns.

The proposal has emerged again in the wake of the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, as well as others in recent weeks. The current draft of a Senate bill would make $750 million in federal funding available to help states administer a red flag law if they have or pass one – though states without them could also qualify for the money by adopting other policies unrelated to guns.

The contrast between states that have them and states that don’t provides a useful opportunity for a scholar like me, who uses data to help understand politics, to examine whether they may help reduce gun-related deaths.

Red flag laws spread after Parkland shooting

The nation’s first red flag law was passed in Connecticut in 1999, allowing police – but not medical professionals or family members –to ask a judge for permission to seize the guns of a person believed to be imminently dangerous to themselves or others. In the subsequent two decades, a handful of other states passed similar laws.

In 2018, the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, sparked a new crop of them. That year, Florida passed a red flag law, and many other states followed suit. By the end of 2021, 19 states and the District of Columbia had done so. Not every state is on board: In 2020, Oklahoma banned its counties and municipalities from passing red-flag laws.

While differing slightly from state to state where they do exist, these laws generally allow a judge to declare a person legally ineligible to own or purchase guns for a maximum of one year. The request has to come from the police or, in some states, a doctor or relative. The person can usually challenge the ruling in court, and police can seek extensions of the decision, which is often called a “risk protection order,” if they deem it appropriate.

In Florida, where the request must come from police, an average of five of these orders are granted every day.

Do they reduce gun deaths?

Research has shown that Connecticut’s red flag law reduced suicides, which involve firearms more than half the time.

To determine if red flag laws reduce gun deaths overall, I examined states’ firearm death rates, in light of whether they had a red flag law or not, in each of three years – 2018, 2019 and 2020.

The seven states with the lowest firearm death rates for 2020 all had red flag laws. And 14 of the 15 states with the highest firearm death rates that year did not have a red flag law. The exception was New Mexico, where a red flag law took effect halfway through the year.

On average, states with red flag laws in 2019 and 2020 had significantly lower firearm death rates than states without them. In 2018, the average death rates for both groups were closer, but states with red flag laws still had a meaningfully lower rate.

Then I imagined those average firearm death rates applied to the whole country – if the whole nation had a red flag law, or there were none at all. In 2020, if there were no red flag laws, I estimate that 52,530 Americans would have died in gun deaths. The number actually recorded was 45,222, indicating red flag laws saved 7,308 American lives that year.

If red flag laws had existed either state by state or at the federal level, my estimate is that 33,780 people would have died by firearms in 2020 – saving an additional 11,442 lives.

 

John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Jif recall spreads, impacting more than 20 companies that use the peanut butter in their products

Almost five weeks after nearly 50 Jif peanut butter products were recalled over salmonella concerns, the brand is being pulled from the shelf of a West Virginia-based candy maker called Deskins Candies, which sells an assortment of Jif-filled confections.   

Per an announcement posted on Tuesday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the manufacturer is recalling four 16 oz. food items, including its signature fudge, no-bake treats and pinwheel.   

The products in question were also distributed in four distinct locations: Merchants Distributor in Hickory, North Carolina, Kroger in Salem, Virginia, and Grants supermarket in West Virginia and Virginia.

At this time, there are no confirmed cases of salmonella affiliated with Deskins Candies.

RELATED: Jif peanut butter is recalled over salmonella concerns

The recent notice comes a little over a month after the May 20 recall of Jif peanut butter products, like the creamy, crunchy, natural and reduced fat varieties. The particular outbreak strain, called Salmonella Senftenberg, was first found in a J.M. Smucker plant located in Lexington, Kentucky, according to the FDA.

In addition to affecting production nationwide, the recall impacts international markets where Jif peanut butter is sold, including Canada, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan and Thailand.

As of June 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that at least 16 people from 12 different states have been infected, with two hospitalized, after consuming the peanut butter and related products. According to the agency’s review of epidemiological information, “five out of five people reported consuming peanut butter and four of the five people specifically reported consuming different varieties of Jif brand peanut butter prior to becoming ill.”

The widespread recall has since prompted 20 other companies to recall products containing Jif peanut butter. The targeted food items include packaged snacks, baked goods and peanut butter cup ice cream, which are all sold at gas stations and convenience stores.

Here’s a complete list of the recalled Deskins Candies products along with their expiration dates:

1  Deskins Candies Peanut Butter Fudge (expiration date: 6/26)

Trump-backed Michigan Republican proposes Jan. 6 Remembrance Day — to honor Capitol rioters

In Michigan, State Rep. Steve Carra — a far-right MAGA Republican, “Stop the Steal” extremist and anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist — has proposed a resolution calling for a January 6 “Remembrance Day.” However, it isn’t the victims of January 6, 2021 that Carra wants to honor, but rather, the insurrectionists who tried to steal the 2020 election from now-President Joe Biden.

The victims of January 6, 2021 range from the police officers who died because of the attack on the U.S. Capitol Building to then-Vice President Mike Pence — who some of the insurrectionists wanted to lynch — to the millions of Americans who voted for Biden only to see then-President Donald Trump and his supporters try to have their votes undemocratically thrown out. But as Carra sees it, Trump supporters were the victims on that day.

Carra’s resolution reads, “We condemn the tyrannical actions of the government over the past two years.” And the resolution calls for “all elected officials wittingly complicit in the misinformation scheme” to “resign and apologize for the disgrace they have been to our country.”

Carra, endorsed by Trump, is running for reelection to the Michigan House of Representatives. Previously, he planned to run for the U.S. House of Representatives seat presently held by Rep. Fred Upton, a moderate conservative who announced, on April 5, that he isn’t seeking reelection in the 2022 midterms. But Carra dropped out of that U.S. House primary.

Because Upton isn’t an extremist, Carra has attacked him as a RINO: Republican In Name Only. What he neglects to mention, of course, is that Upton was a Republican long before Trump.

Carra’s January 6 resolution also slams the FBI for “improperly” raiding the home of Ryan Kelley, a far-right “Stop the Steal” Republican and Big Lie promoter who was arrested on June 9 for his alleged activities in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021. Kelley, who is seeking the nomination in Michigan’s GOP gubernatorial primary, is facing four charges, including disorderly conduct — and he has been bragging about his arrest on the campaign trial. If Kelley wins the nomination, he will go up against Democratic incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the general election.

In his resolution, Carra blames the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol Building on a “few rogue and malicious agitators.” But as the hearings being presented by the January 6 select committee have demonstrated, it wasn’t just a “few” people who attacked the Capitol that day; it was a large mob who bought into the election lies promoted by Trump and his supporters, including Carra.

If Carra’s resolution is passed in the Michigan State Legislature and makes it Whitmer’s desk, she is certain to veto it.

Epic snickerdoodles in 20 minutes flat

For anyone who wants to go from zero to snickerdoodle in about 20 minutes — for any reason — this recipe is a boon. And it will be no standard snickerdoodle: This is a fancy bakery-style puddle of a cookie, with a rich belly and a sparkly chew at every edge.

But for me and my ilk (aka parents of very small children), this recipe is nothing short of a miracle. Because I’ve learned I can make it with my 3-year-old by my side, from stirring to baking to blowing on cookies warm from the oven, all without ever losing her (or my) attention.

(Notably, this was true even on the video shoot day you see above, after our childcare plan fell through. So this is a cookie that brings joy from start to finish, even with stopping and starting and mom forgetting her lines.)

The force behind this recipe’s ease and charm is Jessie Sheehan, champion of no-fuss baking and author of the new cookbook, “Snackable Bakes.” In the years since Jessie changed careers — from actress to lawyer to joining the crew at Baked — she’s learned to whittle away the steps that recipes don’t need, with a skeptical eye on any secret slow-downs.

There are no lengthy chill times, no excess bowls to wash. “This book is not about resting cookie dough,” Jessie told me over the phone, despite the benefits bakers know hydrating cookie dough can bring. (Jessie’s uncommon additions of brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla to the dough deepen the flavor so we don’t miss the rest.)

She doesn’t even make us wait for butter to cool after melting, a step often casually tucked into ingredient lists that can eat up precious minutes, especially when your free time looks like MacGruber’s.

Jessie loves the speed of baking with melted butter, and when it needs to be cooled before mixing — so the dough isn’t warm enough that the cookies ooze into one another in the oven, for example — she melts and cools the butter at the same time.

That is, she doesn’t completely melt it, and, as she whisks, the lingering clumps of cool butter automatically cool it down — much like tempering chocolate. In this recipe, the butter is further cooled by a few tablespoons of shortening (a high-melting-point ingredient that helps the cookies keep their shape in the oven and resist going stale), and then an egg cold from the fridge. The dough remains chill and needs no long rest in the fridge to behave.

The dough is, however, soft enough that you don’t even need to roll it into balls. More minutes back! You plunk it directly from the cookie scoop, then nudge it through cinnamon sugar, and it yields exactly the same rounded shape a type-A rolled ball does.

Jessie has one final trick to help these cookies look and taste like they’re straight out of a pastry case — a swift, optional smash with a spatula, right after they come out of the oven. The move is much like Sarah Kieffer’s famed pan-banging technique, with more schadenfreude. “I have this crazy aversion to puffy cookies and when I see them I’m not happy,” Jessie told me. Puffy implies cakey, and Jessie doesn’t want cakey.

What she wants is dense, chewy, and rich — and it’s what we all get, in less time than we thought we had to spare.

Recipe: Epic Snickerdoodles from Jessie Sheehan

This post contains products independently chosen (and loved) by our editors and writers. As an Amazon Associate, Food52 earns an affiliate commission on qualifying purchases of the products we link to.

DOJ wants to know if Sidney Powell is funding the Oath Keepers’ defense in Jan. 6 conspiracy case

After Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by more than 7 million votes in the 2020 presidential election, attorney Sidney Powell and the Oath Keepers used different methods in an unsuccessful effort to help Trump steal the election. Powell abused the legal system; members of the Oath Keepers, according to U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors, physically attacked the U.S. Capitol Building. Now, the Washington Post is reporting that the DOJ is “asking a federal judge to probe possible financial relationships between” Oath Keepers members and Powell’s nonprofit Defending the Republic.

The DOJ’s request, according to Washington Post reporters Rachel Weiner and Spencer S. Hsu, “follows media reports that” Defending the Republic “has used some of the millions of dollars it has raised through spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 election to pay legal fees for Oath Keepers members facing trial.” BuzzFeed and Mother Jones have reported that four of the Oath Keepers members facing charges in connection with the January 6, 2021 insurrection, including founder Stewart Rhodes, have taken money from Defending the Republic.

In a filing on Wednesday, June 22, DOJ prosecutors wrote, “The government is…. protecting the record by involving the Court in the process of addressing a potential conflict before it undermines a proceeding and a defendant’s right to competent and conflict-free representation.”

The four Oath Keepers members who reportedly took funds from Defending the Republic are facing federal charges for obstructing a government proceeding — Congress’ counting of electoral votes on January 6, 2021 — and three of them, including Rhodes, are also facing seditious conspiracy charges.

Weiner and Hsu report, “U.S. prosecutors asked the trial judge to ensure, in private if necessary, that counsel is complying with legal ethics that bar outside funding for legal defense unless the client gives informed consent. The rules prohibit attorneys from sharing confidential client information with outsiders except under certain circumstances. The government also is asking the judge to ensure that the involvement of Powell’s group results in ‘no interference with the lawyer’s independence…. or with the client-lawyer relationship.'”

According to the Post reporters, federal DOJ prosecutors “expressed concern that Defending the Republic was discouraging plea deals, saying that could be against the interest of a particular defendant.”

“Before making its filing,” Weiner and Hsu explain, “the Justice Department queried private lawyers representing ten members of the Oath Keepers. According to the court record, attorneys for four of the defendants said they were not taking any money from Defending the Republic. Attorneys for another three said they were in compliance with the rules but would not say whether they took money from Powell’s group. Attorneys for two defendants did not respond; one declined, saying he would answer any questions asked by the judge.”

Powell has had legal problems of her own, although they have been civil rather than criminal. Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit against Powell for making the false claim that its voting machines were used to steal votes from Trump in the 2020 presidential election and give them to Biden; Powell also claimed that Dominion’s equipment was used to help the late Hugo Chavez steal votes in Venezuela — which, Dominion said in response, would have been physically impossible because its equipment was never even used in that South American country.

In a $1.3 billion lawsuit filed against Powell in January 2021 — a lawsuit that named Defending the Republic — Dominion lambasted Powell for waging a “viral disinformation campaign” that included “demonstrably false” claims.

Marjorie Taylor Greene hit with audio of harassment after attempting to dunk on Eric Swalwell

Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., got into a heated Twitter spat on Wednesday after Greene accused Swalwell of lying about a pro-Trump family he witnessed while giving a Capitol tour. 

“Today I gave a tour in the Capitol and was stopped by a father with his young boy,” Swalwell recounted over Twitter. “The father yelled at me ‘Hey Swalwell’ and then told his son, ‘that’s Swalwell. He’s trouble. He doesn’t back Trump.’ I kept walking and felt sad for the boy. He’s being raised in a cult family.”

Hours later, Greene claimed that there was “no way that happened.”

“Because we all know good Trump supporting fathers would say, ‘that’s the Democrat who had sex with a Chinese spy,'” she quipped. 

RELATED: “I’m tired of this sh*t”: Eric Swalwell blasts ‘marauding goon’ Marjorie Taylor Greene

Such allegations first emerged out of right-wing circles in December 2020 after Axios reported that Swalwell had years-long communications with a Chinese spy known as Christine Fang. Fang reportedly took part in fundraising for the California congressman’s 2014 re-election campaign and helped assign an intern to his office. Swalwell reportedly cut ties with Fang in 2015 after U.S. officials notified him that Fang was part of a broader Chinese operation to influence promising politicians. That operation, according to Axios, involved sexual relations with at least two Midwestern mayors. Still, there is no evidence that Fang and Swalwell had any sexual conduct. 

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

After Greene attempted to dredge up this unsubstantiated claim on Thursday, Swalwell shared a threatening voicemail that was sent to his office, claiming that the sender was likely motivated by violent rhetoric Greene has espoused. 

“Marjorie loves to play the victim. But she’s an inciter of violence,” Swalwell tweeted. “Her constant attacks — even after the FBI said I was never suspected of wrongdoing — lead to threatening calls like this. This caller from today threatened to kill my three children.”

In the voicemail, someone’s voice can heard saying, “Hey, you little c**ksucker. You still banging the Chinese spy Fang Fang? … We’re coming to your house this weekend. Gon’ get you and them little mutant bastards, them little mutant offspring of yours. We’re gon’ get ya.”

RELATED: Eric Swalwell shares private conversation with man who threatened his life on Twitter

It isn’t the first time Swalwell has shared such threats. Back in December, the congressman shared a private Twitter exchange of a man telling him he should be hung and shot.

Supreme Court cites Buffalo mass shooting in decision striking down New York’s gun law

In a long-awaited decision, the Supreme Court on Thursday struck down New York state’s restrictions against the concealed carry of firearms in public in a 6-3 vote. 

The majority opinion, written by Clarence Thomas, finds that a New York gun law that lays down a spate of requirements for residents to publicly carry guns with them is in violation of the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment, which says citizens have a right to equal protection under the laws. The majority ruled that New York’s law was unconstitutionally “preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public for self-defense.” To acquire a license to carry, New Yorkers must have no criminal record, be over the age of 21, have “good moral character,” and have “proper cause” for obtaining a gun, according to The Washington Post. 

“In this case, petitioners and respondents agree that ordinary, law-abiding citizens have a similar right to carry handguns publicly for their self-defense. We too agree, and now hold, consistent with Heller and McDonald, that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home,” Thomas wrote. “Because the State of New York issues public-carry licenses only when an applicant demonstrates a special need for self-defense, we conclude that the State’s licensing regime violates the Constitution.”

As Justice Samuel Alito noted in a concurrent opinion, “The New York law at issue in this case obviously did not stop that preparatory,” referring to the 18-year-old who shot and killed ten Black people and injured three others in a racially-motivated rampage at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo last month.

The court’s three liberals voted to uphold the law, with Justice Stephen Breyer writing a dissent on the decision. Breyer warned that because the lines separating “may issue” and “shall issue” systems aren’t always so clear,  some of the “shall issue” regulations could face successful challenges in the future. 

RELATED: After Buffalo and Uvalde, America feels broken: Where do we go from here?

The case, New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, was originally brought by two men from Upstate New York whose license-to-carry applications were rejected by the state because they failed to meet the state’s criteria for “proper cause.” Both men have argued that their Second Amendment rights were violated as a result of the outcome. 

Back in November, the Supreme Court held oral arguments on the case. At the time, the court’s conservative majority appeared skeptical of New York’s restriction. Chief Justice John Roberts expressed that U.S. citizens should not have to demonstrate why they qualify for protection under the Second Amendment, suggesting that New York’s “proper cause” provision might overburden would-be gun owners. 

“You don’t have to say, when you’re looking for a permit to speak on a street corner or whatever, that, you know, your speech is particularly important,” Roberts said. “So why do you have to show in this case, convince somebody, that you’re entitled to exercise your Second Amendment right?”

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

RELATED: A gun and a prayer: How the far right took control of Texas’ response to mass shootings

Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh asked point-blank: “Why isn’t it good enough to say I live in a violent area, and I want to be able to defend myself?”

The decision adds to a precedent established in the 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller, where the Supreme Court struck down a District of Columbia law that banned handguns. However, even with the city’s handgun ban made illegal, the court still left open the question of how handgun ownership and sales might be regulated on a state-by-state basis. As the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that year, the Constitution allows for a “variety of tools for combatting that problem, including some measures regulating handguns.”

The court’s ruling is likely to have significant consequences for states that have public carry restrictions, including California, Hawaii, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.  

It comes as the nation reels from a spate of mass shootings over the past several weeks in states like Texas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and New York. Last month, an 18-year-old gunman, who legally obtained a semi-atomatic rifle, murdered nineteen children and two adults in a school shooting at the Rob Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. 

RELATED: “It was just madness inside”: Mass shooting at Tulsa hospital leaves four people dead

Here’s how to emulsify anything

A creamy hollandaise sauce drizzled over eggs Benedict. A rich, herby bearnaise sauce served on the side of a pan-seared steak. A rich dressing tossed over crunchy lettuce and juicy tomatoes. These silky, luxurious sauces all get their body via a process called emulsification. To understand emulsification — aka the process that happens when oil and water mix to create stable substances like mayonnaise, salad dressing, and even milk — we are going to have to talk science for a minute.

We promise that there will be no atomic diagrams, no Latin, and no, Bill Nye won’t be standing by your side in the kitchen. And if you hang on until the end, you’ll be rewarded with creamy aiolis, mayonnaise that won’t break, and vinaigrettes that hold together for days in the fridge. 

To begin: You know that oil and water do not mix. Shake them together vigorously, and they seem to combine — until you stop. This faux-integration is called a colloidal suspension; in layman’s terms, the oil, broken into smaller bits via your brute force, is suspended briefly in water. Once the force is over, they separate once more. This is not a form of emulsification.

This is where emulsifiers step in: to suspend bits of oil in water — or vice versa — and keep them there. They are your sauces’ peacekeepers.

Emulsifiers are particles that play well with both oil and water; each particle has one hydrophilic (water-friendly) end, and one hydrophobic (oil-friendly) end. The hydrophobic ends attach to the bits of oil, while their hydrophilic end faces out, forming a water-friendly cocoon around each globule (yes, that’s a technical term). The hydrophilic ends repel each other, which helps to keep the oil suspended in water. 

I learned how to make aioli through a series of trials and errors. The first time I ever made it, I dumped all of the oil into the mixture of garlic, eggs, and lemon juice all at once. As you may be able to predict, it totally and completely fell apart into a greasy mess. Here’s what I didn’t understand: to successfully emulsify anything, you need to *slowly* add the oil in a thin, but steady, stream. Don’t rush the process and the result will be shockingly silky sauces and dressings.

To create a successful emulsion, you need two things: an emulsifier, and force. Force — usually in the form of whisking or blending — breaks apart the oil, dispersing it through the surrounding liquid; the emulsifier keeps it from retreating back into itself. 

What are emulsifying ingredients?

Some emulsifiers are more effective than others. Egg yolks do a particularly good job, due to a protein called lecithin, which has held together centuries of hollandaise sauces and countless aiolis. Mustard is a classic choice for vinaigrettes. Mayonnaise is effective as well — not surprisingly, since it is a yolk-stabilized emulsion. Try whisking a little bit into your next salad dressing and see what happens.

Honey and garlic paste are two of the lesser-known emulsifiers in your kitchen. The former can serve as mustard’s sidekick in a dressing, or even do the job on its own; the latter is the brawn behind Catalan’s allioli, a garlic-and-oil mixture that has the consistency of a super-smooth aioli, without the egg.

Getting the hang of homemade aioli can be tricky, though; we’re warned constantly to add the oil only a drop at a time, and whisk feverishly after each miniscule addition. It is a slow-going process, and often results in a sore arm a day later. If we fail, the aioli breaks — why is that?

If you add oil to the vinegar and yolk too quickly, the oil bits will all just join back together, since they haven’t had time to disperse and wrap themselves in the yolk’s protective swaddle. Each little bit of oil needs time to emulsify before you add more. If your aioli does break, however, all is not lost — here’s how to fix it.

How to fix a broken sauce

Temperature is also an important factor in aioli-making and emulsification in general. Extremely high or extremely low temperatures can also break an emulsion, which is why yogurt is so tricky to cook with, and why mayonnaise will break if applied to something that’s extremely hot. Be cautious with your mayo, and temper your yogurt — like in this Genius stew from Heidi Swanson. Once you’ve successfully crossed the finish line with your emulsion and you both feel stable, store it at a reasonable temperature. The refrigerator is just fine for most sauces and dressings.

Want to get started? These are the most common emulsifications you’ll make in your kitchen:

Class is adjourned. Now go grab a few eggs and a bottle of oil. Your fries, salads, and burgers will be all the better for it. 

Lauren Boebert’s Shooters restaurant kicked out after new landlord cites “moral” imperative: report

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., could lose her Hooters-inspired, gun-themed restaurant in a dispute with her new landlord.

The Colorado Republican told The Daily Beast she and her husband were surprised last week to receive notice from their landlord, a cannabis retailer, that their lease for Shooters would not be renewed after the building’s ownership changed hands last month, and the lawmaker said they would have to find another location or close for good.

“She didn’t explain exactly why her business was being kicked out,” the website reported. “A person familiar with the arrangement said the property manager felt he had a ‘moral’ imperative to close the business, and had planned to lease the space to another restaurant.”

Milkin Enterprises, the company that owns the building, was formed days before buying it, according to Colorado business records, and the two men on its incorporation documents run the cannabis dispensary Rifle Remedies, which shared an address with Shooters until 2019, and Boebert said she had previously paid rent checks to the father of one of those men, who owned the building through Meskin Enterprises.

An anti-Boebert political group claimed the day after the notice was served that Shooters would be pushed out just days before Colorado’s June 28 primary, but the lawmaker told The Daily Beast that was inaccurate and scrambled to assure her employees that wasn’t true.

Boebert told the website that she and her husband Jayson Boebert were “at peace” with closing after eight years, but she also said they were considering buying the property from the new owners, who she says appear open to selling.

“He said, ‘If you’re still interested in purchasing, I’m interested in selling,'” she said.

Boebert repeatedly denied there was a political motivation to the sudden threat to her business, but county records show the deed transfer from father to son went through two days after the May 24 massacre at Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, Texas, and the same day the lawmaker made news for remarking that “we didn’t ban planes” after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

DOJ seizes Nevada GOP chairman’s phone, subpoenas Georgia GOP chairman as fake elector probe grows

The Justice Department on Wednesday served numerous subpoenas to Trump supporters involved in the fake elector scheme in a sign that its probe is expanding.

Federal agents served subpoenas to Georgia GOP Chairman David Shafer, who served as a Trump elector, according to The Washington Post. Other subpoenas were served at the homes of Brad Carver, a Georgia lawyer involved in the fake elector scheme, and Thomas Lane, who worked on the Trump campaign’s efforts in Arizona and New Mexico, FBI officials told the outlet. Trump supporters involved in the Michigan fake elector scheme also received subpoenas, though it’s unclear if they were related to the federal investigation or a separate state probe. The New York Times reported that Shawn Flynn, a Trump campaign aide in Michigan, was subpoenaed in the federal probe.

FBI agents also served a search warrant at the home of Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald and seized his phone as part of the fake elector probe, according to local news outlet KLAS. A second warrant was issued to state GOP secretary James DeGraffenreid but FBI agents could not track him down on Wednesday.

Shafer, who has also met with Fulton County prosecutors investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss in the state, played a central role in organizing the slate of fake electors in Georgia and coordinated his efforts with the Trump campaign, according to CNN. The network also reported that the FBI sought phone contents from Carver, who signed on as a fake elector, as it investigates communications by state Republicans in a private Signal chat.

RELATED: Trump campaign implicated in Jan. 6 election scheme

The DOJ previously served subpoenas to 15 other individuals involved in the fake elector scheme. Former President Donald Trump and his allies unsuccessfully plotted to block the certification of President Joe Biden’s Electoral College votes in contested states by offering up so-called alternate slates of electors in hopes of sending the election to the House, where a majority of Republican-majority state delegations could ostensibly re-elect Trump. The National Archives alerted investigators to the scheme after flagging forged documents awarding Trump Electoral College votes in states he lost.

“From Virginia to Nevada today, several coordinated subpoenas and search warrants served and executed by the FBI and DOJ surrounding fake elector scheme. Sure doesn’t feel like a ‘nothingburger,'” tweeted former FBI investigator Peter Strzok.

“Turns out a massive conspiracy to produce false documents to Congress to overturn an election is maybe a bad idea?” quipped Amanda Carpenter, a columnist and former adviser to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

FBI agents served a subpoena to Lane in Virginia, where he worked for the Republican National Committee after leaving the Trump campaign, according to the Post. A 2020 video showed him handing out documents for would-be Trump electors at an Arizona GOP event more than a month after the election.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

The Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday linked Trump directly to the fake elector scheme, playing a clip of RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel’s deposition in which she recalled how Trump put her on the phone with attorney John Eastman “to talk about the importance of the RNC helping the campaign gather these contingent electors in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing changed the result of any of the states.”

The committee also showed a message exchange showing that a top aide to Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., sought to hand fake elector information to then-Vice President Mike Pence during the Jan. 6 certification process but Pence’s aides demurred.

The DOJ previously interviewed other would-be Trump electors. Investigators appear to be interested in communications with about a dozen Trump allies, according to the Post, including Rudy Giuliani, Bernard Kerik, Jenna Ellis and Eastman.

Would-be Trump elector Patrick Gartland, who was appointed to the Cobb County, Ga., Board of Elections, told the Post, “They wanted to know if I had talked to Giuliani.”

Read more:

Mo Brooks, betrayed by Trump in losing election bid, says he’s willing to testify about Jan. 6

Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., the pro-Trump election-denier who lost his election bid for Senate this week, on Wednesday said that he’d be willing to publicly testify about January 6 to the House select committee if subpoenaed. 

“My basic requirement is it be in public so the public can see it — so they don’t get bits and pieces dribbled out,” Brooks told CNN. The lawmaker added that he would want to view any documents that he might be questioned about and that he would speak only about issues related to the events of January 6, 2021.

According to Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Brooks has yet to be officially served by a subpoena. Thompson told CNN that the panel is “in the process of either redoing it or it’s out the door already.” Thompson also told The Hill that the Republican lawmaker had not been subpoenaed earlier because the committee “couldn’t find him,” most likely because Brooks was on the campaign trail. 

Brooks, who was elected in 2011, is a staunch Donald Trump supporter. He was one of the first House Republicans to challenge the results of the 2020 election. During the month of December 2020, shortly after Trump’s election loss, Brooks took part in a spate of meetings with Trump’s inner circle, who sought to strategize how the election could be reversed in Trump’s favor, according to Politico.

RELATED: Republican Rep. Mo Brooks reveals he wore body armor to Trump’s Jan. 6 rally after receiving a tip

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

A month later, on the day of the Capitol riot, Brooks featured as one of the speakers at the “Stop the Steal” rally, where, secretly wearing body armor, he told the crowd, “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.” Since then, Brooks has become a defendant in two lawsuits – respectively filed by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine and Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif. – alleging that he helped a lawmaker incite the ensuing insurrection. Swalwell’s suit has since been dismissed.

Apart from speaking at the event, there is also evidence that Brooks may have helped pull it together. Last October, Rolling Stone spoke with two rally organizers who alleged that they were in direct communication with Brooks’ staff prior to January 6. Shortly after that report, the conservative lawmaker claimed that he “didn’t know” if his staff played any role in organizing the event but added that he would “be proud of them for helping to put together a rally lawful under the First Amendment at the ellipse to protest voter fraud & election theft.”

Up until this week, Brooks has for the most part parried any efforts to uncover his role in January 6. Last month, the Republican lawmaker called the select committee’s investigation a “witch hunt” and denied ever being served a subpoena, even though the panel claimed at the time that they had sent him one. 

“I don’t want this witch hunt committee and [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi [D-Calif.] trying to interfere with a Republican primary election for the United States Senate in Alabama,” he said during a Fox News interview. 

RELATED: GOP congressman says he would be “proud” to learn his staff helped plan “Stop the Steal” rally

On Tuesday, Brooks lost his election bid to GOP challenger Katie Britt in a primary runoff. Brooks’ defeat came after Trump rescinded his endorsement of the incumbent and gave it to Britt instead.

Is American democracy already lost? Half of us think so — but the future remains unwritten

The American people understand that their democracy and their society are in deep trouble. But they do not agree on who or what is the cause of the problem, and do not share a common understanding of basic facts. To make matters worse there is a kind of sinister synergy between America’s democracy crisis and other serious problems facing the country, which risks creating a state of collective paralysis.

During his prepared comments before the House Jan. 6 committee last Thursday, retired judge J. Michael Luttig, a lifelong conservative Republican who advised former Vice President Mike Pence before and during Donald Trump’s coup attempt, issued this dire warning:

A stake was driven through the heart of American democracy on Jan. 6, 2021, and our democracy today is on a knife’s edge.

America was at war on that fateful day, but not against a foreign power. She was at war against herself. We Americans were at war with each other — over our democracy.

Jan. 6 was but the next, foreseeable battle in a war that had been raging in America for years, though that day was the most consequential battle of that war even to date. In fact, Jan. 6 was a separate war unto itself, a war for America’s democracy, a war irresponsibly instigated and prosecuted by the former president, his political party allies, and his supporters. Both wars are raging to this day. … America is now the stake in these unholy wars. … America is adrift. We pray that it is only for this fleeting moment that she has lost her way, until we Americans can once again come to our senses.

In response to a question from committee chairman Bennie Thompson about the danger to the republic still represented by Trump and his supporters, Luttig elaborated further:

Almost two years after that fateful day … Donald Trump and his allies and supporters are a clear and present danger to American democracy.

That’s not because of what happened on Jan. 6. It is because, to this very day, the former president and his allies and supporters pledge that in the presidential election of 2024, if the former president or his anointed successor as the Republican party presidential candidate were to lose that election, they would attempt to overturn that 2024 election in the same way that they attempted to overturn the 2020 election, but succeed in 2024 where they failed in 2020.

If there are any reasonable and intelligent Americans who continue to doubt that this country is in the midst of an existential crisis, facing the dangers of Trumpism and a growing white supremacist authoritarian movement, Luttig’s words should shock them back into reality.

A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll adds even more weight to Luttig’s warnings about American democracy as it teeters on the precipice of irrecoverable disaster. The lead finding is that more than half of those surveyed, across the political spectrum — 55% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans — believe it is “likely” that the United States will “cease to be a democracy in the future.”

RELATED: Global forecaster on “another bad year for democracy”: Is the world near a dire tipping point?

Further findings in that poll are arguably even more troubling given the events of Jan. 6 and the Republican-fascist movement’s increasing embrace of violence and terrorism:

  • Among Republicans, 52% believe it is likely that “there will be a civil war in the United States in [their] lifetime.” The proportion among Democrats is only slightly smaller, at 46%, while 50% of independents share that view
  • While 50% of respondents were willing to rule out using violence or “taking up arms against the government” to protect the country from “radical extremists,” 26% percent of those who participated said that political violence could sometimes be justified.

This new poll also demonstrates that negative partisanship and other forms of extreme political polarization now appear to be permanent features of American political life. Andrew Romano summarizes this at Yahoo News:

When asked to choose the phrase that best “describes most people on the other side of the political aisle from you,” a majority of Republicans pick extreme negatives such as “out of touch with reality” (30%), a “threat to America” (25%), “immoral” (8%) and a “threat to me personally” (4%). A tiny fraction select more sympathetic phrases such as “well-meaning” (4%) or “not that different from me” (6%).

The results among Democrats are nearly identical, with negatives such as “out of touch with reality” (27%), a “threat to America” (23%), “immoral” (7%) and a “threat to me personally” (4%) vastly outnumbering positives such as “well-meaning” (7%) or “not that different from me” (5%).

These findings offer further evidence that the U.S. in the Age of Trump and beyond is what political scientists call an “anocracy,” a system that combines features of dictatorship and democracy. The coup against democracy and the rule of law did not end when Trump’s insurrectionists left the Capitol on Jan. 6. The Republican-fascists and the larger white right continue to advance a strategy whose ultimate goal is a Christian fascist plutocracy, one modeled on a system of competitive authoritarianism in which political parties still exist and elections occur, but where outcomes are manipulated as in Russia, Hungary or Turkey. 

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

This dystopia made real will be a combination of such books and films as “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Atlas Shrugged,” “Brazil,” “Idiocracy,” “Robocop,” “CSA: The Confederate States of America” and “1984.”

Donald Trump and his acolytes continue to threaten political violence against their “enemies,” meaning liberals and progressives, nonwhite people, Muslims, immigrants, LGBTQ people and any other groups or individuals they deem insufficiently “American” and not part of the MAGA faithful.

The Republican Party, its propaganda machine and other opinion leaders continue to amplify Trump’s Big Lie and its inherent conclusion that further violence may be necessary to return Trump (or a successor) to the White House — and, more generally, to prevent Democrats from winning or holding power by any means necessary.

The core tenets of the “great replacement” conspiracy theory — which a white supremacist terrorist recently claimed as the motive for murdering 10 Black people last month at a Buffalo supermarket — have been embraced by a majority of Republicans, and an even larger majority of Trump followers.

National security experts on terrorism and armed conflict have continued to warn that Trump’s coup attempt and the Capitol attack are further evidence that the U.S. may face a period of sustained right-wing violent insurgency. Robert Pape, director of the University of Chicago Project on Security and Threats, has estimated that more than 20 million Americans believe that using political violence to return Trump to power is justified. 

In a widely read December 2021 essay in the Globe and Mail, Canadian political scientist Thomas Homer-Dixon offered a memorably grim prognosis of America’s future. He predicted that “American democracy could collapse” by 2025 — that is, following the next presidential election — and that by 2030, the U.S. “could be governed by a right-wing dictatorship”:

We mustn’t dismiss these possibilities just because they seem ludicrous or too horrible to imagine. In 2014, the suggestion that Donald Trump would become president would also have struck nearly everyone as absurd. But today we live in a world where the absurd regularly becomes real and the horrible commonplace….

Mr. Trump’s electoral loss has energized the Republican base and further radicalized young party members. Even without their concerted efforts to torque the machinery of the electoral system, Republicans will probably take control of both the House of Representatives and Senate this coming November, because the incumbent party generally fares poorly in mid-term elections. Republicans could easily score a massive victory, with voters ground down by the pandemic, angry about inflation, and tired of President Joe Biden bumbling from one crisis to another. Voters who identify as Independents are already migrating toward Republican candidates.

Once Republicans control Congress, Democrats will lose control of the national political agenda, giving Mr. Trump a clear shot at recapturing the presidency in 2024. And once in office, he will have only two objectives: vindication and vengeance.

Homer-Dixon then drew the this parallel between the current state of the U.S. and the collapse of the Weimar Republic in the early 1930s: 

The situation in Germany in the 1920s and early 1930s was of course sui generis; in particular, the country had experienced staggering traumas — defeat in war, internal revolution and hyperinflation — while the country’s commitment to liberal democracy was weakly rooted in its culture. But as I read a history of the doomed republic this past summer, I tallied no fewer than five unnerving parallels with the current U.S. situation.

America’s future stability is so much in doubt that even global rivals or enemies are concerned about the destructive forces unleashed by the Age of Trump. In a series of phone calls before and after the 2020 election, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sought to reassure his Chinese counterpart, saying, “The American government is stable and everything is going to be OK. … Everything’s fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.”

An ambush is always disorienting, and intentionally so, but the best option is always to fight back. That’s where we are right now.

 

This situation is undeniably bewildering, and deliberately so. But for pro-democracy Americans, inaction is not an option. That will inevitably lead to defeat. In military terms, a successful ambush is almost always disorienting, but the best option is always to fight back, not hunker down. The Republican-fascists and their allies want the American people to feel so confused and overwhelmed by their unending attack on democracy, the rule of law, the common good and basic human decency that they essentially turn away, close their eyes and surrender. In essence, the Republican-fascist movement is using their own version of a  political “shock and awe” strategy here at home against the American people.

The Lincoln Project recently offered this evaluation of America’s democracy crisis: 

After three [Jan. 6 committee] hearings we know for certain the nation is at one of the most dangerous moments in its history. These revelations will not change the true MAGA believers mind but will cause them to double and triple down on the “Big Lie” — making them more dangerous and perhaps more violent. Every single American needs to decide if they are the side of the seditionists who tried to tear down a free and fair election, or do they support our Republic and its democratic principles?

In short, the American people must act with deliberate purpose and speed if they hope to save their democracy and society. Voting is of course necessary, but by itself is insufficient. “Hashtag activism,” with its “likes” and “shares” and memes, is for the most part symbolic or performative politics that accomplishes little or nothing in the long run, and may actually be counterproductive if people mistake it for real action. In the long-term struggle, substantive movement-building and organizing will be required to defeat fascism in America and around the world. 

Voting is necessary, but not sufficient. “Hashtag activism” accomplishes little or nothing, and may even be counterproductive. What we need is movement-building.

 

Supporters of democracy must engage in grassroots organizing. They need to join, establish, and grow a range of civil society organizations. They must raise and donate money in effective ways, not by giving it to doomed Democratic candidates in hopeless races. Ultimately, they must be willing to engage in corporeal politics, including general strikes, street protests, civil disobedience and other forms of direct action where they can confront the Republican-fascists and their allies with overwhelming numbers.

Right now, almost all the momentum is with the Republican-fascists and their broad-spectrum attack on American democracy and society. They are in revolutionary mode, and they are are winning. They will press onward to total victory, unless and until they are stopped. This will require people of conscience to take a personal inventory and ask themselves, “How much am I willing to sacrifice to save my country, my family and future generations from this nightmare?” The future of American democracy and society largely hinges on how many of us can answer that question honorably and rise to the challenge.

Read more on America’s crisis of democracy:

Trump and his stooges must be punished: It’s the only way to save America

And so it came to pass that in the Year of Our Lord 2022, logic and facts left the room and the Republican Party replaced them with “We’ve got lots of theories, we just don’t have the evidence.”

This is the postmodern world, devoid of reason and chock-full of stooges like Donald Trump, John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani. It is the world we were warned about by Michael Cohen in a 2020 Rolling Stone article: “I believe that he would even go so far as to start a war in order to prevent himself from being removed from office. My biggest fear is that there will not be a peaceful transition of power in 2020.” 

It is a world where Trump’s allies in the Supreme Court have eroded the separation of church and state so thoroughly that in the near future we could be living in a fascist Christian state. Jack-booted thugs will roam free and anyone who does not present as a God-fearing white Christian heterosexual will have more to fear from the government thugs stomping your neck than from the vengeful God to whom the dimwitted believers pray.

The only thing standing in the way of this dystopian, dyspeptic destruction is the Jan. 6 hearings, and this week we found out in cinematic detail how members of that committee are trying to stave off the end of democracy.

RELATED: Jan. 6 committee makes the case clear for Merrick Garland: Failure to prosecute Trump is political

In the latest installment of this real-world drama, as in pretty much every other episode, a preponderance of the witnesses have been Republicans. It’s as if the few Republicans left with the capability of reason are engaged in an epic struggle to vomit up the Donald Trump poison that has infected the party’s other members. The Democrats, most of whom have never imbibed  the Trump brand of poison, have realized how close we are to the edge and thus are trying to assist their colleagues across the aisle. (For those who need a historical reference, this is called putting your country before your party — a founding principle of our nation.) 

How serious is this move to protect our country? Christian members of the Republican Party have also come forward, confessing their sins and imploring their friends not to follow the false prophecies of Donald Trump. These are some of the very same Christians who supported most of Trump’s policies, of course — and were often denigrated for it in more liberal social circles.

Yet even some of those who supported Trump on nearly every occasion have drawn the line at what he did on Jan. 6, 2021. 

What did those who have testified before the committee hope to gain by their appearance? Merely to belong to a group of citizens of the United States who labored to ensure that our democratic process worked as intended, and to ensure the peaceful transfer of power from one presidential administration to the next. (For those who need a historical reference, that simple act has made us the envy of all other nations for more than 200 years. Yeah: You want to give that up? Seriously? Get real.)

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Among those who stepped up was Arizona House Speaker Russell Bowers, a Republican, who told the committee: “I do not want to win by cheating.” 

Bowers, a lifelong conservative, lost many friends and colleagues simply because he told Donald Trump he wouldn’t break the law for him. Trump tried the soft approach, he tried reasoning and then, in typical Trump fashion, when he couldn’t get his way he threatened Bowers, who still refused. In the end, the Trump loyalists began to eat their own, threatening Bowers, accusing him of being a pedophile and trying to destroy his life — all because he wouldn’t compromise his personal beliefs. (For those in need of a historical perspective, the ability to live peacefully without such reprisal is often cited as a fundamental factor in the founding of this country.)

Wandrea “Shaye” Moss didn’t do any better. She was an election worker in Georgia, where Trump was behind in the count and looking for votes to steal. 

Moss and her mother, “Lady Ruby” Freeman, were threatened by Trump loyalists and accused of voter fraud after Moss was seen in a video passing her mother a ginger mint. Conspiracy theorists, including Rudy Giuliani, later claimed it was a thumb drive containing fraudulent voting data. “The president of the United States is supposed to represent all people, not target one,” Freeman testified. 

RELATED: Shaye Moss’ ordeal and the Texas GOP platform: Trump’s Big Lie was always about white supremacy

“Nowhere do I feel safe,” Moss told us. Along with everyone else she used to work with in Fulton County, Moss left her job to escape the constant threats from Trumpers. That is a horrible testament to the violence and anger Trumpers demonstrate toward their chosen enemies, and it portends horrible problems in the November midterm elections should those jobs be filled by Trump acolytes who will do anything to win.

Trump targeted Shaye Moss. He targeted Rusty Bowers. He targeted Michael Cohen. He will target Rudy Giuliani and he will target John Eastman. Trump will throw absolutely any other human being under the bus, no matter who they are, if they don’t bow to his whim.

As the Jan. 6 committee readied for another hearing, Trump was trying to sell swag. The grift continues, no matter what.

 

As the Jan. 6 committee readies for another episode on Thursday — to be followed by a break of several weeks while members consider “a deluge of new evidence” — Donald Trump was busy sending out fundraising emails, as usual. He reminded his supporters to buy his golf balls, photographs and other swag before coming out to meet him at one of his golf courses, on a trip supposedly paid for by Trump himself. That’s definitely a lie: The Donald never pays for anything.  

The grift continues.

An important question was asked during Tuesday’s hearing: Who among us is safe?

The answer is obvious — no one. Legal scholars who know more than I do believe that Trump must face prosecution. If he does, and if he is convicted, I believe he should be forced to live under the same conditions Michael Cohen did when he was held in isolation. Let Trump contemplate his contributions to this planet, our shared future and his children in an 8×10 cell. Further, let that cell be an unventilated hot box, complete with a broken window, sink and toilet. Let there be a biblical plague of flies — then he’ll know what Cohen went through. Oh yeah, give him a radio — one that only receives NPR.

But if one man is above the law, then we’re done. 

Some of Trump’s supporters venerate him the way our distant ancestors venerated emperors and pharaohs. How far have we fallen if that’s even an option?

 

Trump wants to be just such a man. He encouraged Mike Pence to join him by suggesting “how cool” it would be to have the power the Constitution absolutely never gave him. In so doing, Trump exposed himself as a potential Antichrist, according to evangelical readings of scripture. But don’t worry: Hardly any conservative Christians will see the light, until they perish in Trump’s flame. 

It is the most fervent Trump supporters who present the greatest threat to our mutual survival. While he aspires to be a king, some of his supporters venerate him the way our distant ancestors venerated a Caesar, or an Egyptian pharaoh. Trump loves those guys!

How far have we come, really, if that kind of thing is even an option? We have been warned any number of timess. Anyone who’s ever spent any time around Trump and escaped with their lives semi-intact has warned us. Two impeachments warned us. Numerous scandals warned us. 

On Sept. 23, 2020, Trump made history by refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power after the election.

So to be fair, he warned us. We heard it from his own lips! Still, many of us did nothing, or even aided and abetted those who would destroy the United States.

Did we listen? It will be interesting to see if anyone listens this time.

We’ve had ample warning. The facts are not in dispute.

This isn’t “just politics.” This isn’t business as usual. This isn’t a joke.

According to statements made before the select committee, there is a case to be made for the charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States, not just against Donald Trump, but also against John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani. Let the Three Stooges face the music.

I do not want Trump to go free. I want him to pay for his crimes, but I also don’t want him to get the attention his demented psyche craves. At the end of the day, Donald Trump doesn’t care whether you love him or hate him — only that you pay attention.

The man is more addicted to attention than any human being I’ve ever known. Having had the displeasure of covering his presidency in its entirety, I can honestly say I’ve never met a more loathsome, cancerous pustule of a human being, a man so narcissistic that for him the rest of the universe exists solely to pander to his needs. He’s a senior-citizen man-child who has rarely heard the word “no,” takes pleasure in the suffering of others and causes that suffering, whenever possible, with a sickening and nearly orgasmic delight. He has no redeeming social value whatsoever. He is incapable of any empathy, any fellowship or any love.

In the end the best way to deal with Donald Trump would be to relegate him to obscurity — and to mark him forever as a failure in everything he’s ever done.   

Read more on the Jan. 6 committee hearings:

Hit with a “deluge of new evidence,” House Jan. 6 committee will delay hearings to July

Citing a “mountain of new information” requiring analysis, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol announced Wednesday that it will delay the hearings into the deadly insurrection until next month.

“We’ve taken in some additional information that’s going to require additional work. So rather than present hearings that have not been the quality of the hearings in the past we made a decision to just move into sometime in July,” committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told reporters, according to The Hill.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., explained that “there’s been a deluge of new evidence since we got started. And we just need to catch our breath, go through the new evidence and then incorporate it into the hearings we have planned.”

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., attributed the delay to a “mountain of new information that’s come in and that we have to go through.”

Before pausing, the panel will hold one more hearing on Thursday afternoon, when witnesses will testify about efforts by then-President Donald Trump and his supporters to pressure Justice Department officials to help overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Thompson said the committee needs time to review video footage it received from documentary filmmaker Alex Holder — which reportedly includes previously unseen footage of Trump and his family — new information from the National Archives and tips received via a special hotline.

The chairman assured reporters the select committee would reconvene after the House returns from recess on July 11.

“We will announce dates and times for those hearings soon,” Thompson said.

Read more on the Jan. 6 committee hearings:

Former Bush strategist calls GOP a “toxic waste dump”

On Wednesday’s edition of MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” former George W. Bush campaign strategist Matt Dowd tore into the current state of the Republican Party.

The problem, he argued, is that notwithstanding the recent losses of Trump-endorsed candidates in Georgia, the former president still has a strong command of the party — and even getting rid of him at this point is not going to course-correct the GOP.

“I think we have to stop looking at the environment through the prism of whether or not Donald Trump wins or loses and how that defines the Republican Party,” said Dowd. “Georgia is an outlier in this. 94 percent of people that Donald Trump endorsed have won. That’s a pretty good record for Donald Trump. I think the worst thing is — which I actually think is far more dangerous — nearly every Republican candidate who has won a primary, a Republican whether endorsed by Donald Trump or not, either pushes the Big Lie, is an election denier, or doesn’t have a problem with the move towards autocracy.”

The current state of the Republican Party, continued Dowd, is “a little bit like Chernobyl.”

“What led to Chernobyl was bad design, misinformation and bad decision-making by people there,” continued Dowd. “Just because you remove a person that hit a wrong switch and contributed to the meltdown doesn’t mean you don’t have nuclear disaster that spreads. Even if you take that person out, Donald Trump, the Republican Party has become a toxic waste dump of this Big Lie autocracy and denialism. That’s, I think, the fundamental problem. There is not Republicans winning who don’t buy into a problem that the January 6th Committee is investigating.”

This comes as that committee is revealing new details of Trump allies’ complicity in the illegal plot to overturn the election, including Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).

Watch below:

Fred Goldman says O.J. Simpson owes him $96 million for the murder of his son

Retired football star O.J. Simpson owes Fred Goldman $96 million as interest continues to mount a quarter-century after Simpson lost their lawsuit, according to TMZ.

“Goldman laid it all out in new court documents, in which he’s applying for a renewal of his old judgment against the former NFL star stemming from the death of Fred’s son, Ron Goldman,” TMZ reported. “In 2015, Fred said with interest, O.J. owed him $57 million. But, in the new docs, Fred now says interest has continued to pile up over the last 7 years and has now reached nearly $97 mil.”

The 1997 judgment was $33.5 million. In his criminal case, Simpson was acquitted of murdering Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.

In 2008, Simpson was convicted of kidnapping and armed robbery after an incident at the Palace Station Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas. He was released from prison in 2017.

In 2019, Simpson counseled Roger Stone to “man up, stop crying” after the dirty trickster complained about being arrested.

“The FBI can be wrong, but to try and compare it to el Chapo and bin Laden? Hey man, bin Laden was carried out in a bag, not walked out in handcuffs,” he said.

With Elliot Page’s Viktor, “Umbrella Academy” masterfully presents a hero powered by becoming whole

For the curious folks who wondered how "The Umbrella Academy" would introduce Elliot Page's Viktor Hargreeves into the storyline, the most important exchange of the new season may be the one initiated by his hot-headed brother Diego (David Castañeda) in the second episode.

Viktor joins Diego and his other brothers Klaus (Robert Sheehan) and Five (Aidan Gallagher) at a meeting and announces a bold move he's made.

"Who elected you, Vanya?" Diego barks at his sibling, leading Page's hero to pause for a moment and softly correct him: "It's Viktor."

Then comes the line meant to explain to the folks in the audience what that means. "It's who I've always been."

Multiverses and timeline skips are popular story fuel in 2022 courtesy of films like "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" and "Everything Everywhere All at Once," which places the return of "The Umbrella Academy" in fine thematic company. Each explores forgiveness and the wages of emotional damage, and incorporates those psychological trials into stories fueled in some way by an all-consuming desire to realize one of life's impossibilities: a do-over.

RELATED: Elliot Page reflects how "extremely f***ed up" it was to be forced to wear a dress for "Juno" press

The third season picks up where the second season finale left off, with Viktor and his siblings, including his other brother Luther (Tom Hopper) and sister Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), returning to 2019 after leaping backward to 1963.

Multiverses and timeline skips are popular story fuel in 2022.

Only in this version of 2019, their presumed-dead father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) is alive and has adopted another set of extraordinary children instead of The Umbrellas, naming them The Sparrows. (They also discover their seventh sibling Ben (Justin H. Min) is alive in this timeline and raised as a Sparrow instead of with them.)

Adventuring in 1963 changed each of them as well, most significantly Allison and Viktor, who was known by his previous name at that time. Both found their true loves in that past, with Allison falling for Raymond (Yusuf Gatewood) while contending with violent discrimination in Jim Crow America and Viktor discovering a supportive, equitable romance with a woman named Sissy (Marin Ireland) who was trapped in a loveless marriage.

I've seen enough TV and endured plenty of mindless interpretations of alternate universes to know how miserably Viktor's introduction might have been handled by less capable writers. But "Umbrella Academy" showrunner Steve Blackman and his team – including trans writer Thomas Page McBee – weave Viktor's experience into a plotline that's already running at full speed without a hitch.

They execute this in ways that seem deceptively simple at first.

Diego, Klaus, and Five are the first of his family to whom Viktor comes out, but in the previous scene, we see him getting a haircut, freeing himself of the curtain that partially defined his old mousiness. Then again, even in his earlier presentation, he was growing in courageousness – such as sitting across from an adversary and speaking to him calmly while making the world quake around him. It's as if his full power could no longer be contained by the vessel everyone else knew.

Not every work of fiction featuring a transgender performer is necessarily a story about transness. At the same time, I appreciate what genre fiction like "The Umbrella Academy" strives to do through Viktor's subplot. "The Matrix" films cannot and should not be the foremost metaphorical guides through that journey; plus, Page's status as one of the most famous transgender people on Earth demands his character step into the fullness of his identity with more significance than a visit to the barber.

Season 3 does this on many levels, first by acknowledging the ways Viktor's relationship with Sissy, long dead in 2019, begins the process of unlocking who he really is. "You don't even notice the box that you're in until someone comes along and lets you out," Sissy says in the second season.

Boxes become a recurring symbol this season, whether via dialogue, found schematics, or even in the siblings' new headquarters at an odd hotel called The Obsidian, where sleeping arrangements are split between the boys – Diego, Five, Klaus, and lovable lug Luther – and Allison and Viktor, in his old presentation.

The Umbrella AcademyAidan Gallagher as Five Hargreeves, Emmy Raver-Lampman as Allison Hargreeves and Elliot Page as Viktor Hargreeves in "The Umbrella Academy" (Netflix)

"You're a good sister," she says while embracing Viktor, leaving him in their temporary box to embark on a solo trip. Allison meets Viktor when she returns and, upon beholding his true presentation, chastises herself for not realizing it all along.

"You couldn't have known, because I didn't fully," Viktor explains. "Being with Sissy, I don't know, she opened something in me. Showed me I'd never be free hiding from who I really am. And after losing her, I realized I just can't live in that box anymore. I won't."

None of his family asks him to since, yet again, there's another apocalypse to avert. Only this one differs from the previous, in that it doesn't fundamentally spell simple disaster but a possible reset of life and time as everyone previously knew it.

"You don't even notice the box that you're in until someone comes along and lets you out."

But it also requires each of the siblings to be at full strength – and Viktor only discovers his when Sissy's autistic and mute son Harlan, who has aged into an old man (Callum Keith Rennie) tracks him down. In the past, Viktor had transferred a portion of his power to Harlan while saving his life. Now, in 2019, Harlan helps Viktor to reintegrate it into his body, making him whole. And this fully empowered Viktor wears his skin comfortably and stands up to far more imposing adversaries without much hesitation, which is as far from the kid in the first episode whose father tells them, "I'm afraid there's just nothing special about you."

There's another subplot connected to Viktor's emergence that might simply have been created for the sake of introducing conflict, which is the schism that surfaces between Allison and Viktor. Before Allison leaves for her trip she trusts in the bond she has with her sibling; in her mind they are, after all, the two only girls on a team of six. But on her trip, she discovers her daughter never came to be in this timeline and returns to a confidante who is a man.

"You're family," Allison assures Viktor during her walk. "There's nothing, nothing that would make me love you less."

Of course, this is foreshadowing. Intentionally or otherwise – their walk-and-talk marks the start of a conversation about the difficulty some people have letting go of expectations they have of loved ones, some of which are gendered. Before Viktor's transition, he and Allison had toasted to being sisters among brothers, able to share secrets with each other they couldn't possibly trust with their doltish or heartless siblings. When Viktor realizes he has to risk his safety to regain his power, it's Allison who stays with him to keep him safe. Because ideally . . . that's what sisters do.

What breaks their bond is a secret Viktor holds back – for a noble reason that still isn't enough to satisfy the person to whom he was once closest. The writers could have written any other character into that situation with Viktor, since the secret impacts all of them, but for Allison, the betrayal is doubled since it robs her of her self-identities as a daughter and a mother. And the way she retaliates is particularly cruel.

Then again, it's also typical for a band of adopted siblings raised by a father who cared about them only for their abilities instead of accepting them for who they are. We're reminded of that in the current arc's climax, where the fate of everything comes down to a matter of trusting oneself and each other. Viktor, at long last, is his whole self. Allison, less so.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

This spoils nothing about the last two shock-laden episodes of the season or the fact that the denouement circles back to a conversation Viktor and Allison share during their walk together. To his brothers, Viktor simply reveals his name. But to his sister, he reveals the things that have been weighing on his soul.

"You know, I always hated mirrors," he says while looking at his reflection in a shop's window. "I thought everybody always felt so strange in their skin. I guess that's not true, is it?" In the last scenes of the season that feeling becomes true, only for reasons nobody could have predicted.

One constant is how Viktor sees himself at the end of a throttling journey that has decimated most of humanity. As Viktor looks at that glass, Allison asks him what he sees now.  

"Me," he replies. "Just me." With that, we know he's only begun to tap into his power.

Season 3 of "The Umbrella Academy" is now streaming on Netflix. Watch a trailer for it below, via YouTube.

More stories like this:

 

Is it safe to use homemade tampons?

People who menstruate might not only be struggling to feed their infants due to a national baby formula shortage — but they also can’t get proper period care because of a national tampon shortage.

Despite Marjorie Taylor Greene erroneously blaming the shortage on transgender people, or Tampax linking the shortage to an Amy Schumer commercial, supply chain breakdowns have come for tampons adding yet another challenge for essential female health care in 2022. 

In April, Procter & Gamble, who owns Tampax and Always, revealed in an April earnings call that sourcing and transportation of the materials needed for tampons have been “costly and highly volatile,” according to a Bloomberg report. Procter & Gamble recently told CNET the shortage is a “temporary situation” and that the Tampax team is producing tampons “24/7” to meet demand.

RELATED: Why it’s not safe to make your own baby formula 

“We are working with our retail partners to maximize availability, which has significantly increased over the last several months,” P&G told CNET.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is also partly to blame for the tampon shortage, as reported by CNN. Since both nations are major exporters of fertilizer, which is needed to grow cotton, the availability of absorbency materials for tampons has been in short supply. The shortage first came to light as people started posting photos on social media of bare shelves that used to house tampons and posting on internet forums wondering where all the tampons went.

As people who menstruate come to terms with this shortage and post about it on social media, they might be searching for alternatives online, too. Indeed, YouTube, TikTok and Instagram are rife with instructional videos on how to make homemade tampons. Some suggest any kind of fabric, even ripping up a t-shirt; while other instructional videos promote a method used by female inmates who have been forced to make their own tampons out of pads because of inaccessibility to proper menstrual care. Etsy made headlines in 2020 for retailers selling crocheted tampons. There are still some retailers on the marketplace who provide instructions on how to make DIY tampons.

Want more health and science stories in your inbox? Subscribe to Salon’s weekly newsletter The Vulgar Scientist.

Dr. Jen Villavicencio,  an obstetrician-gynecologist (OBGYN) and lead for equity transformation at The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), told Salon via email that the current tampon shortage is “a reminder that the internet can be a highly unreliable source of medical information.”

“We do not recommend to anyone that they try to make their own tampons as the risk of infection would be grave compared with store-bought tampons,” Dr. Jen Villavicencio,  an obstetrician-gynecologist (OBGYN) and lead for equity transformation at The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), told Salon via email

“The current tampon shortage is unsettling and places people at risk of discomfort and even harm,” Villavicencio said. “We do not recommend to anyone that they try to make their own tampons as the risk of infection would be grave compared with store-bought tampons.”

Dr. Melissa Simon, an obstetrician gynecologist at Northwestern Medicine, explained to Salon via email that making your own tampons isn’t advised because the material used for these makeshift tampons is not tested for vaginas. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates tampons as medical devices. These tampons are made of cotton, rayon, or a blend of both ingredients. According to the FDA, “the absorbent fibers used in FDA-cleared tampons sold today are made with a bleaching process that is free from elemental chlorine, which also prevents products from having dangerous levels of dioxin (a type of pollutant found in the environment).”

In order to evaluate the safety of tampons, manufacturers submit data from testing the safety of the materials. As part of this process, the levels of growth of certain harmful bacteria in the vagina is measured. Without this process, people could be at a higher risk of developing an infection from an unregulated tampon.

Simon said the materials from homemade tampons “may upset the vaginal microbiome and cause damage to the vagina including to the vaginal microbiome which cause infections such as yeast or bacterial vaginosis.” Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS), which is a rare albeit life-threatening type of bacterial infection, is also a concern with homemade tampons.

“As the materials used to make these types of tampons may cause the production of more bacteria (specifically staphylococcus aureus) in the vagina that could lead to TSS,” Simon said. “Also, homemade tampons may not be thoroughly cleaned, which could introduce more bacteria (staph a.) back into the vagina with re-use and thus create the perfect storm for toxic shock syndrome to develop.”

Unfortunately, the tampon shortage is yet another reminder of period poverty in America.

One study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology found that one-third of low-income women who were interviewed for the study— more than half were unemployed — used strips of cloth, rags, tissues, or toilet paper during their periods. Some reported using children’s diapers or paper towels taken from public bathrooms. Sixty-four percent of the women reported having trouble affording menstrual products in their lifetime. In the same study, 21 percent reported they were unable to afford menstrual products every month.

“It is also important to highlight that lack of access to affordable menstrual hygiene products is not a new issue and impacts marginalized populations such as those with housing instability, people who are incarcerated and those without access to clean, safe bathrooms,” Villavicencio from ACOG said.

Jhumka Gupta, an associate professor in global and community health at George Mason University, published a study in 2021 that found that 14% of 471 college women surveyed in 2019 had experienced period poverty within the last year.

“We found that populations that were disproportionately impacted by period poverty were Black and LatinX students, students who were considered first gen, and students who were born outside of the U.S.,” Gupta said. “On one hand, there’s the products themselves, and on the second hand there’s the stigma, and it’s not just a matter of coincidence that the tampon shortage is not really talked about, or period of poverty in general.”

More reproductive health stories: 

5 ways to easily lower your grocery bills right now

It’s no secret that everything feels more expensive right now. I’m in a situation where I’m fortunate on a few counts. I work from home, and I recently gave up my car after moving to a more walkable city. In addition to escaping rising gas costs relatively unscathed, I haven’t had to worry about formula premiums or shortages because I don’t have kids yet. 

I still have to shop for food, however, and I watched the total of my grocery bill grow on recent trips. I love the feeling of going to the market and shopping without plans, simply guided by vibes (i.e. whatever looks the best and most fresh).

But that way of shopping isn’t sustainable right now. So, a few weeks ago, I sat down and meticulously planned out — with old-school pen and paper — five ways to lower my grocery bill.

And it worked: Using a few simple measures, I successfully reduced my bill in the ensuing weeks by between $20 and $35. It’s not a ton, but it definitely adds up!

Without further ado, here are several steps you can take today to cut costs in your home kitchen: 

First, shop your pantry 

Whether I’m trying to cut costs in the face of inflation or trim my kitchen bills while saving up for something special, the first two places I look inside are my own pantry and freezer. Again, this is a process that calls for pen and paper (or the Notes app). 

Take 15 minutes or so before meal planning to make a list of on-hand items that can be used to build meals next week. I noted a couple frozen bananas, a few tablespoons of almond butter and some oat milk creamer accidentally included in an Instacart order. I knew those ingredients could be used to whipped up smoothies for the week, and I wouldn’t have to buy anything else for breakfast. 

Related: Lentils, tinned fish and chickpeas — oh my! Dispatches from my Great Pantry Clean Out

Did you panic-buy shelf-stable items, such as beans, pasta and rice, in the early part of the pandemic? In the ensuing months, some of those ingredients got pushed to the back of my pantry, and I re-bought basics that I didn’t actually need. If, in sorting through items, you come across anything that is expired, spoiled or needs to be tossed, this is a great opportunity for a quick pantry clean-out. It also makes it easier to identify what you have on hand and what you actually need the next time you go shopping. 

Make a list of swaps you can make 

While writing your grocery list, make a mental or physical note about cost-effective swaps you can make. For instance, rice wine vinegar is typically about $1 or $2 cheaper than white wine vinegar. Though it’s definitely a little more sweet and mild, it’s a perfectly good substitute. Chicken thighs cost less than chicken breasts; bagged rice runs less than instant; and minced green olives can step in for capers. Frozen salmon and cod are both cheaper than fresh, and they really shine in the right recipes (i.e. when stewed down with coconut milk, scallion ends and frozen peas and served over rice). 

The trick here is to avoid buying something that requires additional work to the point where you won’t end up using the ingredient. Let’s say dry beans are less expensive than canned — which they typically are — but you know that you won’t have the time to soak them, season them and wait for them to fully cook for dinner. That’s a case where saving a few extra cents isn’t worth it. 

Meal plan, focusing on vegetarian and vegan meals 

One of the quickest ways I trim my grocery budget is by shifting the focus to plant-based meals. Meat is expensive, especially good-quality meat. Plant-based proteins like Impossible products and soyrizo can be pricey, too. 

Thankfully, we’re in a season where there’s an absolute abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables around which to meal plan. The other day, I picked up a full pound of strawberries for $2. Half got turned into jam, while the other half got served with yogurt and homemade granola made out of some more unfinished pantry items, including pepitas, pecans, flax seeds and maple syrup. 

Want more great food writing and recipes? Subscribe to “The Bite,” Salon Food’s newsletter.

Because of its versatility, corn is a staple in my kitchen this time of year. One of my current favorite meals is fresh corn cut off the cob simmered with coconut milk, a little chicken or vegetable stock and a few peppers. I spoon some over rice and top it with scallions and a squeeze of lime. It’s not only delicious but also comes in at less than $1 per serving. 

If you find yourself running low on plant-based meal ideas, visit your local library’s cookbook section. There’s typically a little treasure trove of international cookbooks — some of which achieved widespread popularity and some of which didn’t — featuring plant-based recipes that will get you excited about cooking with produce. 

Try recipes that elevate less expensive cuts of meat

However, I totally understand if you aren’t feeling the idea of going completely vegetarian or vegan overnight. If you want to incorporate meat into your meal plan, one way to save money is by focusing on elevating less-expensive cuts of meat. For instance, top round steak (also sometimes labeled as London broil) is a tough, but versatile, piece of beef. It requires some low-and-slow cooking to unlock its tenderness, so this is where having a Dutch oven, Instant Pot or slow-cooker comes in handy. 

Most people think of turkey as a holiday protein, but frozen turkeys are pretty inexpensive this time of year. You can substitute turkey for chicken in a range of meals, such as curries and soups. 

Have a plan to use up every part of your ingredients 

Who among us has never bought a bunch of specialty ingredients for one particular meal, only to leave the remaining portions of said ingredients languishing unused in their pantry or crisper drawer? While that is sometimes the nature of “project cooking,” it’s ideal to have a plan for using the bibs and bobs leftover from one meal to the next when you’re trying to keep costs low.

Reserve those chicken and turkey bones to make stock. Whip leftover herbs with the dredges of your Greek yogurt to make either a dip or a pasta sauce like Sohla El-Waylly did here. Carrot tops make great pesto, and leftover jam is a killer cocktail starter. 

Budgeting can feel dire if you let it, but it can also be a very satisfying way to flex your creativity in the kitchen. I wish you delicious (cheap!) eating in the weeks ahead. 

Read more great food writing: 

From Cersei to Trump, why it’s unwise and counterproductive to be “braggadocious”

In the cult classic 1999 film “Office Space,” American corporate culture is depicted as a place where everyone is disingenuous to their colleagues and no one accepts blame when things go wrong. Mike Judge’s film is far from the only pop culture property to depict workplaces packed with figurative narcissists (if not literal ones). Similarly, “Dilbert” cartoonist Scott Adams is best known for his comic strip satirizing office culture before he gained notoriety as a Donald Trump hype man. Trump himself has promoted the idea that lacking humility in the workplace is a virtue, from endangering himself and others by working while sick with COVID-19 to supporting credible threats of violence against his own Vice President.

But is being “braggadocious” the secret to success? Not so fast.

Scientifically speaking, it is best to be humble.

 

It turns out that showing respect for others, and being accountable for one’s own mistakes, is far healthier than toxicity for both individuals and businesses. Scientifically speaking, it is best to be humble.

RELATED: How to tell if someone is lying without even hearing them talk

“Humble organizational culture can be seen when a company cultivates six norms,” Tiffany Maldonado, PhD — an assistant professor of management at Sam Houston State University — told Salon by email. According to Maldonado, these norms include:

  • encouraging accurate, non-biased awareness of strengths and weaknesses
  • being tolerant when employees make competent mistakes that are the result of innovative ideas — not flawed execution
  • being transparent and honest with stakeholders
  • being open to new ideas, even those that did not originate with upper management
  • developing employees for continuous learning
  • recognizing the achievements of employees in a meaningful way

Implicit in all of those objectives, of course, is having a work environment in which people respect one another in common sense ways. Not only that, the underlying theme in all of these concepts is a very specific application of humility — namely, a practical one. While one can debate whether it is moral to be humble, it’s vital to any system of honest and effective self-inventory. That applies both for organizations as a whole and for each individual within a given body.

Want more health and science stories in your inbox? Subscribe to Salon’s weekly newsletter The Vulgar Scientist.

“In individuals, humilty is having a realistic assessment about one’s strengths and weaknesses,” Dusya Vera, Ph.D., Professor, Doctoral Coordinator, Department of Management and Leadership, C.T. Bauer College of Business, told Salon by email. “It is about having the self-awareness to know one’s contributions along with the contributions of others, which made one’s success possible.” For an organization to be humble in a productive way, it needs to pay attention to “humility in its recruitment, promotion, and development of individuals.”

These benefits, of course, can be achieved only if the humility demonstrated is genuine, which isn’t always the case.

“Daenerys is willing to accept feedback and surrounds herself with valuable advisors since she’s aware that she lacks certain skills.”

In a 2020 article for the Journal of Applied Psychology, researchers found that employees could discern if their managers were being humble for self-serving reasons or out of genuine empathy. While the latter scenario was obviously beneficial, employees who did not believe there was a sincere sense of companionship with humble leaders exhibited “subordinate psychological entitlement, which in turn increases workplace deviance.” For humility in any organization to be effective, the people at the top must be viewed as acting in good faith when they reward achievement and accept personal blame, not exhibiting weakness or insincerity. The actions from those at the top of the organization create the environment in which everyone else works.

How do different levels of humility play out when it comes to leadership? Maldonado turned to the widely beloved TV show “Game of Thrones” to illustrate how sincere appreciation for and nurturing of others’ strengths can affect the outcome.

Game Of ThronesHannah Waddingham and Lena Headey on “Game Of Thrones” (HBO/Macall B. Polay)“Cersei rarely listens to the advice of others, has high self-focus because everything is all about her, and she very rarely appreciates how others have contributed to her success,” Maldonado pointed out. On the show, this played out with Cersei rising high, but gaining plenty of enemies, including betrayals of those closest to her.

Maldonado added, “Daenerys is willing to accept feedback and surrounds herself with valuable advisors since she’s aware that she lacks certain skills (this willingness to learn has helped her garner entire armies and cities). Jon Snow has a low self-focus and thinks of others, yet he often rejects advice which can lead to risky behavior and the need for someone to save him (note Battle of the Bastards and Battle of Winterfell).”

Vera turned to an observation by business management expert Patrick Lencioni from his popular 2016 book “The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate the Three Essential Virtues.” He proposed that a good team player must be “humble, hungry and smart. Hungry is about drive and courage. Smart is about emotional intelligence (humanity). So, again, the most effective teams have individuals who have a combination of being humble, driven, courageous, and strong in emotional intelligence and humanity.”    

Vera added, “People usually associate humility with weakness, lack of self-esteem, lack of confidence. But humility is about being self-aware and realistic about competences and contributions. You can be humble and ambitious, humble and driven, humble and courargeous, etc.”

For more Salon articles about psychology:

Daily Harvest customers flood social media with food poisoning claims after eating vegan lentil dish

Fruits and vegetables — whether they are eaten raw or cooked — are known for being great sources of vitamins and minerals. But as the old adage goes, sometimes too much of a good thing can also be pretty bad.

Take it from Daily Harvest, the minimalistic vegan meal company that is currently under fire after numerous consumers claimed its now-discontinued French Lentil + Leek Crumbles caused severe gastrointestinal issues, including stomach pain, liver and gallbladder damage, and vomiting.

The complaints made rounds on Reddit, Twitter and Instagram, where individuals who ate the product — made from lentils, quinoa, hemp seeds, butternut squash, and cremini mushrooms — didn’t shy away from detailing their symptoms.

RELATED: Everything you wanted to know about food poisoning but were too busy puking to ask

“What started as extremely intense upper abdominal pain, fever, nausea, and fatigue took a dark turn with the test results for my liver enzymes,” wrote one user on Instagram. “The fatigue persisted for the next couple weeks and after almost a month I’m finally feeling like the energy levels are starting to come back.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CfC4febF8WO/

Another user on Twitter wrote, “My friend was hospitalized with incredibly high liver enzymes. Her wife and children are both sick as well. The only thing they all have in common is that they [ate] the lentil crumbles from Daily Harvest.”

On Reddit, a separate user said their wife was hospitalized after suffering from “extreme fatigue, dark urine, low-grade fever and whole-body itching with no rash.”

Daily Harvest officially recalled its plant-based meat alternative dish on Friday in an email to subscribers instructing them to throw out the lentils. Per NBC News, the company also offered its customers a $10 credit for every bag of crumbles purchased.

“A small number of customers have reported gastrointestinal discomfort after consuming our French Lentil + Leek Crumbles,” the email read. “As included in our cooking instructions, lentils must be thoroughly cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F.”

Then, on Sunday, Daily Harvest released a public statement on its website telling customers “to please dispose of this item and do not eat it.”

“We simultaneously launched an investigation with internal and external experts throughout our supply chain and in accordance with regulatory procedures,” the company added without providing additional specifics.

Want more great food writing and recipes? Subscribe to Salon Food’s newsletter, The Bite.

But the most bizarre moment in this fiasco arrived shortly afterwards, when Daily Harvest took to Instagram to post a promotional image of a bowl of spaghetti generously covered in the brand’s Walnut + Thyme Crumbles. Alongside the visually enticing photo is a brief, vague caption updating followers with a link to an “important message” on the French Lentil + Leek Crumbles. The link, which is found on the company’s bio, leads to a separate web page disclosing the product recall.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CetcAoOFhx1/

At this time, it’s still unclear what has caused the sickness. Maybe it was a specific ingredient within the product or the consumption of raw lentils, which is unsafe and known to cause symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea.

Daily Harvest has said that it will “share more information as soon as it’s available.”

More stories you might like:

Republicans turn on Mitch McConnell after bipartisan gun reform bill clears first hurdle in Senate

Republicans are bashing their own caucus in the Senate as more members of the party sign onto a bipartisan gun reform package in the wake of a devastating school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left nineteen children and two adults dead. 

The right-wing outrage stems largely from a Tuesday Senate vote in which 14 Republicans and 50 Democrats approved modest legislation, dubbed the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,” designed to crack down on America’s epidemic of gun violence.

The 80-page bill would be the first gun legislation of its size in decades. It would, among other provisions, expand mental health support; require broader background checks for buyers under 21; enhance punishments associated with straw purchases; and add incentives for states to enact red flag laws, which allow law enforcement to confiscate firearms from any gun owners who present a danger to themselves or their community. 

RELATED: New “steps in the right direction” with agreement on gun safety legislation

With the support of fourteen senators, the bill is highly likely to overcome a Republican filibuster, allowing the Senate to cast a final vote on the legislation this week. 

But while the measure has significant bipartisan backing, the possibility of its passage has sparked the ire of numerous Republicans in both the House and Senate, leaving the party in a rare state of disunity on an issue that is sacrosanct. 

This week, former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, the U.S. Senate candidate accused of physically abusing his ex-wife and children, called the legislation a “gun confiscation bill.”

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

“They didn’t want anyone to actually review the text because this will be one of the most anti-2A laws ever passed,” he tweeted. “We need new Senate leadership instead of these weak RINOs who cave to liberals every time.”

RELATED: Lead GOP negotiator admits bipartisan gun bill won’t actually include any new gun restrictions

Sen. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., meanwhile tried his hand at media criticism, attacking various outlets for suggesting that the bill was designed to address gun safety.

“Call it what it is,” he wrote over Twitter. “GUN CONTROL, specifically: an infringement on the rights protected by the 2nd and 4th amendments.”

Other Republicans, like Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., claimed that the bill’s backers ran roughshod of Senate conventions by giving the Republican caucus insufficient time to review the bill. “Process matters,” Massie said in a statement. “The American people deserve better from the world’s ‘greatest deliberative body.'”

The House GOP, for its part, is also expected to mount significant opposition to the bill. According to Punchbowl News, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., have already told the party that they will vote against the measure.

Still, as The Washington Post reported, the party does expect to see some defections.

One among them will no doubt be Rep. Tony Gonzalez, R-Tex., a Trump supporter whose district includes Uvalde. On Tuesday, Gonzalez called it his “duty to pass laws that never infringe on the Constitution while protecting the lives of the innocent.”

“In the coming days I look forward to voting YES on the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,” he tweeted.

RELATED: Matthew McConaughey accused of “grandstanding” after emotional White House gun reform speec

Fox News host left shocked by Jan. 6 hearing: “Stunning” lack of evidence for Trump’s fraud claims

Fox News host Martha MacCallum claimed after Tuesday’s hearing of the House select committee on Jan. 6 that there was a “stunning” lack of evidence to back up Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud – a far cry from the channel’s election-denying rhetoric leading up to the Capitol riot. 

“It will be extremely useful in coming campaigns, especially the presidential, when you look back at what we have in terms of the Mike Pence part of all of this,” MacCallum said in a broadcast this week. “So it is a political discussion. It is very compelling and the lack of evidence is the huge, stunning, clear moment here where these people are saying, ‘Look I supported you, please give me something to work with,’ and it simply doesn’t materialize.”

MacCallum also added that she suspects Democrats will attempt to break up GOP allegiances by calling Trump’s bogus election claims into question. 

The host’s comments came after new testimony by Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a longtime state Republican who refused to allow Trump to challenge the 2020 elections results in the Grand Canyon State. 

RELATED: Trump’s unrelenting attacks against dissident Republicans continue with Rusty Bowers

During his testimony, Bowers claimed that ex-Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani repeatedly pressured the lawmaker to do Trump’s bidding and promised to provide evidence of widespread fraud. That evidence, he said, never materialized. “My recollection, [Giuliani] said, ‘We’ve got lots of theories, we just don’t have the evidence,'” Bowers claimed. 

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

MacCallum’s comments are also a significant deviation from the network’s rhetoric in the months leading up to the Capitol riot. After Trump’s loss, Fox News pundits repeatedly sowed doubt over the results of the 2020 election, and in particular, the integrity of Dominion and Smartmatic’s voting machines, which were used to tabulate the votes in dozens of states across the country. Fox News’ effort to delegitimize those machines has since become the subject of several multi-billion-dollar lawsuits by both companies alleging that their products were defamed by Fox News and a number of Trump allies. 

RELATED: Judge rejects Fox News’ bid to dismiss election lawsuit after calling out Rupert Murdoch’s role

Up until now, MacCallum has not directly weighed in on Donald Trump’s failed conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. 

However, just after the January 6 attack, which was largely incited by the former president’s spurious claims of fraud, MacCallum called the riot “a huge victory for these protesters.”

“They have disrupted the system in an enormous way!” she beamed during a broadcast at the time, later comparing the insurrection to a peaceful protest organized outside the residence of Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.

Trump fumes at McCarthy for not appointing any Republicans to Jan. 6 panel: We “don’t have a voice”

It’s no secret that former President Donald Trump is not in favor of the Democratic-backed House Select Committee investigating the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. But beyond his disdain for the panel itself, the former president appears infuriated that House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., refused to appoint any pro-Trump Republican members to the panel.

Behind closed doors, he has reportedly had no reservations about voicing his frustrations — but now he’s sharing his disapproval publicly.

According to multiple reports, the former president has become more vocal about his disapproval in wake of the House Select Committee hearings. On Wednesday, June 22, Punchbowl CEO Anna Palmer took to Twitter to share brief details about her recent discussion with Trump.

Per Palmer, he said, “I think in retrospect, McCarthy should’ve put Republicans on] to just have a voice. The Republicans don’t have a voice. They don’t even have anything to say.”

The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman also tweeted her assessment of Palmer’s claims. Speaking of Palmer’s remarks on Trump, she tweeted, “He’s been complaining about this privately since the hearings began. Other Republicans have been saying it since long before.”

Despite Trump’s arguments about the lack of Republican representation on the panel, there are two Republicans representing the party: Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., But, unfortunately for Trump, these Republican lawmakers are dedicated to holding him accountable for his actions.