An Ignoble Experiment: Supreme Court allows extreme Texas abortion ban to go into effect

By Liza Hearon

TOP STORIES

Wednesday, Sept. 1

NIGHTMARE TEXAS ABORTION BAN TAKES EFFECT The U.S. Supreme Court allowed a restrictive Texas law to go into effect that criminalizes abortion at six weeks and deputizes citizens to enforce the ban. The Supreme Court took no action on an emergency request to stop the law by pro-choice groups. The ban offers private citizens a $10,000 bounty if they successfully sue someone "aiding or abetting" abortion-seeking patients in Texas. [HuffPost]

BIDEN: 'I WAS NOT GOING TO EXTEND THIS FOREVER WAR' President Joe Biden defended his decision to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by Aug. 31, saying that doing so saved lives and ended America's longest war. "Leaving on Aug. 31 is not due to an arbitrary deadline. It was designed to save American lives," he said. The war's end came days after a terrorist attack near the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. service members and about 180 Afghans trying to leave the country. [HuffPost]

LOUISIANANS SWELTER IN AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE IDA Hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana are dealing with the possibility of weeks without power in the scorching summer heat after Hurricane Ida slammed the state's electric grid on Sunday with 150 mph winds. "We have a lot of work ahead of us and no one is under the illusion that this is going to be a short process," Gov. John Bel Edwards said. [AP]

MCCARTHY WARNS TECH GIANTS AGAINST COMPLYING WITH JAN. 6 INVESTIGATION House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Republicans would "not forget" if tech companies turn over phone records to lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Democrat-led House select committee has requested that 35 phone and social media companies preserve the records of an unknown group of people related to the deadly insurrection. [HuffPost]

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WHAT'S BREWING

TEXAS GOP GETS ITS WAY AS VOTER SUPPRESSION BILL PASSES Despite Democratic lawmakers' repeated efforts to block the legislation, the Texas Senate passed a sweeping bill restricting access to the vote. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign it into law. Texas Democrats have called the bill "anti-voter" and an "assault on our democracy." [HuffPost]

MAJOR PANDEMIC RELIEF ENDS IN SEPTEMBER By the end of this month, millions of Americans relying on coronavirus emergency aid programs to make ends meet will have to do without, as funding for major programs runs dry. On Sept. 6, federal unemployment benefits expire, ending an additional $300 per week and benefits for gig workers. Some 7.5 million will see their weekly incomes take a serious hit. [HuffPost]

WHY PEOPLE ARE EATING HORSE DEWORMER TO FIGHT COVID-19 In recent months, untold numbers of Americans have ingested the horse dewormer ivermectin with the false hope it would treat or prevent COVID-19. This didn't happen overnight: A HuffPost review of social media channels and YouTube reveals that a group of doctors called the Front Line Covid Critical Care Alliance played a central role in this infodemic. [HuffPost]

BRITNEY SPEARS' LAWYER ACCUSES DAD OF EXTORTING MONEY Britney Spears and her new attorney say her father is trying to get about $2 million in payments before stepping down from the conservatorship that controls her life and money, a move they liken to extortion in a court filing. "Britney Spears will not be extorted," the filing says. [AP]

DEATH HAS A CLIMATE CHANGE PROBLEM As bodies of COVID-19 victims piled up in Los Angeles County, local air quality regulators repeatedly lifted cremation limits to help cope with the backlog of corpses. The lifting of these pollution restriction raises the question: What are the environmental impacts of our deaths — and how can we reduce them? [HuffPost]