News bits: Egad, Canadians are alarmed!; Canada threatens the US; Progress in public unhealth; Etc.

The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) reports:  No longer a joke: Ministers say Trump's threats to absorb Canada need to be taken seriously -- Trump said Tuesday he'd be willing to use 'economic force' to join countries -- Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Wednesday that U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's assertions that Canada should become the 51st state should be taken seriously, after he initially dismissed them as a joke. "The joke is over," LeBlanc told reporters in French. "The president and his allies continue to repeat this — we know it's not going anywhere — but the fact that he's repeating it, it's not very constructive."

Comment: Not very constrictive? Nah, can't be. It came from DJT, so all's well. Darned alarmist Canadians . . . . grumble, grumble . . . . .

Canada Lawmaker Suggests Letting 3 US States Join, Get Free Health Care -- Canadian Green Party leader Elizabeth May suggested that California, Oregon and Washington join Canada as provinces, offering universal health care and stricter gun laws.

Comment: Hm, universal health care and better gun safety laws . . . . . sounds rather appealing.

Hawaii Gov: RFK Jr.'s Anti-Vax Misinformation Left Dozens Of Kids Dead In Samoa -- Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) on Wednesday warned senators not to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the next health and human services secretary, sharing a dark story about Kennedy fueling an anti-vaccine misinformation campaign that Green said led to dozens of children dying in Samoa amid a measles outbreak. “This is an absolute life-or-death decision that the Senate … and frankly the incoming president is poised to make over our future,” Green, who is also a physician, said at a Capitol Hill press conference with other lawmakers who are medical professionals.

Comments from peanuts in the gallery: 

1. Oh, NOW they bring up the dead kids... when it doesn't fucking matter anymore. Jesus fucking Christ, I hate the media. "Oooo he had a brain worm" ... "he ate a dog" ... HE KILLED 83 CHILDREN! This isn't some secret, it's been known forever. 

Hm, that peanut seems to be a bit disgruntled.

2. He’s also an AIDS denialist. The folk who support him aren’t bothered in the slightest. Dead Samoan kids don’t bother MAGA, and neither do people dying needlessly of HIV/AIDS. This is the future they want for America, where the right people are hurt, and their kind of people rise to the top, even if they have to climb a mountain of bodies to do it.

Hm, JFK Jr is an AIDS denialist? Nah, that's nuts. It can't be . . . . . crud, he is. 

Republican asks Supreme Court to condemn & overturn same-sex marriage -- Republicans in Idaho’s House of Representatives are considering making a formal statement imploring the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its famous 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. The measure proposed by Republican state Rep. Heather Scott frames the court decision as an “illegitimate overreach.” Scott’s measure asks the court to bring back the “natural definition of marriage,” even though different forms of marriage (including same-sex unions) have existed throughout human history [apparently that is true].

Comments: The day is coming when the USSC will take up a case that challenges the constitutionality of same-sex marriage. We're not there yet, but within ~3 years, it probably will come up. Then the Christian nationalist Republicans will very likely overturn it. The legal arguments they relied on to get rid of abortion rights directly apply to the 2015 same-sex marriage decision. It is surprising that a lawsuit isn't already pending. Getting rid of same-sex marriage rights by Christian nationalists is taking significantly longer than I anticipated. The legal situation is more complicated than I imagined it would be.