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As much as the National Republican Senatorial Committeewould like Republicans to stay away from the abortion issueexcept to insist they are compassionate and caring about life, it isn't really working. That line is hardly a natural fit for a party that had a collective hysterical tantrum against Barack Obama's Affordable Health Care Act and proposes taxing the poor anyway. They are the"Fuck Your Feelings"party, after all, not the empathy and mercy crowd.

There is little hope of eliding the consequences of their decades-long crusade to send women back to back-alley butchers. Nonetheless, they are haplessly trying to pretend that they are truly committed to helping all the people who will be forced to give birth against their will once the right to abortion is overturned. It's not credible:

According to the National Women's Law Center, Mississippi has the highest poverty rate for women in the nation, one of the highest uninsurance rates for women in the nation and ranks last in the country for women's and children's health outcomes. If they revere life so much, why have they been punishing the poor women and children in their state who chosenotto get abortions for the past 50 years?

And as much as they insist that they aren't coming for contraception they're coming for contraception.

Mississippi's Gov. Tate Reeves wasn't the only Republican governor to make this disingenuous claim. So-called moderate Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas also said he thinks they should increase services for women who are in "difficult circumstances" with their pregnancies.

RELATED:Mitch McConnell warns of federal abortion ban

Hutchinson signed that bill willingly and he's not the only one. In fact, as StephanieKirchgaessner ofthe Guardian reportedlast week, since 2019, when Republican House leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said that removing exemptions for rape and incestsimply went too far, "at least 11 US states including Alabama, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas have passed legislation that bans abortion without any such exceptions." The idea has taken off like wildfire:

Where Republicans once believed that absolute bans were unpalatable and "toxic" with voters, the party's legislators have now adopted the language once promoted by the most extreme anti-abortion activists in the country who say any such exceptions are "prejudice against children conceived in rape and incest".

According to the Guardian, this rapid change in attitude is attributed to the work of an anti-abortion group called Students for Life of America (SFLA), another astroturf production sponsored by big money GOP donors and co-chaired by Leonard Leo,the far right Federalist Society leaderwho shepherded Donald Trump's three arch-conservative, anti-abortion justices on to the Supreme Court. They seem to be very serious about their work and very good at getting it done.

And as much as they insist that they aren't coming for contraception they're coming for contraception.

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SFLA's executive director, Kristan Hawkins,has saidthat in her ideal world the pill and IUDs would be "illegal." She's certainly not the only conservative with those views although according to the official talking points they are supposed to lie about it and insist they have no intention of banning contraception.

Here's Mississippi's Reeves again, clearly uncomfortable with the topic:

Others are not so reticent:

Here'sa somewhat chilling videowith a very calm and almost robotic Idaho State Rep. Brent Crane, a Republican, discussing state interference in women's most intimate decisions and bodily functions as if he's talking about a bond issue for the local water district. He blandly admits that his caucus would certainly consider banning Plan B and IUDs. The good news is that he says the caucus isn't currently talking about prosecuting women for crossing state lines to obtain abortions or trying women who get abortions for murder yet.

These aren't hypothetical ideas anymore.

And for those suggesting that any talk of criminalizing miscarriage is just more left wing hysteria, they would do well to inform themselves of the incidents that have already happened around the country.Mother Jones reported a horrific storyabout one Oklahoma woman who was convicted of manslaughter for having a miscarriage. In fact, there have been more than 70 cases of women being prosecuted for pregnancy related "crimes" in the state since 2007. If various "personhood" laws recognizing equal rights of the fetus are passed, you can expect to see more of this.

They are talking about this stuff and more all over the country.

RELATED:In Georgia, Republicans running for governor are racing to the extreme on abortion

Governors and statehouses are already passing draconian laws, testing novel new legal theories and pushing the boundaries of what was acceptableeven two years ago.Yet Republicans have been all over social media and cable news over the last week insisting that Democrats are being overwrought in their reaction, that they aren't going to see much change in the status quo and everyone just needs to calm down. But as you can see, the status quo is changing very, very quickly.

Even before the leak we knew that anti-abortion activists and members of congress were working together on anationwide ban on abortion. How that would work legally is anyone's guess, but let's just say these anti-abortion crusaders aren't going to rest on their laurels. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,told USA Todaythat it's possible a national ban will be proposed but he insisted that there will be no carve out of the filibuster "on any subject." (That's a joke he carved out the filibusterto put three ultra-orthodox wingnuts on the Supreme Court so his word isn't exactly gold on that subject. If McConnell thinks it will shore up his power he will do it without blinking an eye.) For right now he's having it both ways. As usual.

Senate Majority Leader Schumer, D-N.Y.,will be putting up a showvote this week on the Women's Health Protection Act which would codifyRoe v Wade. It has been passed by the House but was shot down in the Senate last February, 46-48 with six senators not voting. It is unlikely to pass this time and is subject to the filibuster anyway. Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin have already said they would not vote to lift the filibuster to pass it, so that's that.

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

Schumer says this will illustrate for the American people where the Republicans stand. The thing is, everyone already knows where these Republicans stand onRoe.They haven't been keeping that a secret. But do we know where they stand on the prosecution of women for their pregnancy losses? On banning Plan B and IUDs? On exemptions for rape and incest? On spending the kind of money it would take to ensure that poor women and their children have the support some of them are promising? Where are the Republicans on religious exemptions such as those claimed bysome Jewish organizationswho say that banning abortion violates their first amendment rights? How about proposals such as the one by GOP Pennsylvaniacandidate for Governor Doug Mastriano, who would not only deny exemptions for rape and incest but also thehealthof the woman. Are they for that?

If you want show votes to really expose what the right is proposing, then make these members of Congress vote on the specifics of what's at stake. If nothing else it will divide the Republicans, many of whom, even in the Senate, are anti-abortion fanatics who will vote for some of these things and it will tie the others up in knots.

These aren't hypothetical ideas anymore.

They are actually happening all over the country and as soon as Roe is overturned they will expand at a record pace. The problem is, the country doesn't know about it. The Democrats need to tell them and one way to do that is to have a big debate on all these fiendish proposals and phony promises in the House and Senate.

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Republicans aren't even bothering to lie about it anymore. They are now coming for birth control - Salon

CTDOT Press Releases

05/09/2022

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) is developing plans to upgrade existing traffic control signal equipment or install new traffic control signal equipment to meet current standards at 15 locations in the cities and/or towns of Colchester, East Lyme, Groton, Montville, New London, Norwich, Salem, Stonington, Windham, and Woodstock.

At applicable locations, pedestrian control features, such as countdown pedestrian indications, accessible pushbuttons, and sidewalk ramps), will be upgraded to improve accessibility and pedestrian safety.

CTDOT will coordinate with the local municipality during the design phase.

The following intersections are included:

The intersections below consist of new signal equipment being installed at existing signalized locations:

The intersection below consists of new signal equipment being installed at an existing unsignalized location:

It is CTDOT policy to keep the public informed and involved when such projects are undertaken. It is important that the community share its concerns with us to assist in the projects development. At this time, it is anticipated that an informational meeting or formal public hearing will not be necessary.

The design plans for this project are expected to be completed in May 2023 with a tentative advertising date of July 2023.

Anyone interested in requesting information on these projects may do so by contacting Gregory R. Palmer, Project Manager at (860) 594-2748 or via email at Gregory.Palmer@ct.gov. Please refer to Project No. 0172-0501.

FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES:OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS860-594-3062CTDOTMedia@ct.gov

Twitter: @CTDOTOfficialFacebook: Connecticut Department of Transportation

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Installations and Revisions of Traffic Control Signals in various Connecticut Towns - CT.gov

Hilton says she prefers to work with brands she uses in her life: When I got the call about this [she gestures to the set for the Uber Eats commercial she is filming], I was like, yes, I use this. And to be working with the Irwin family [Robert and Bindi Irwin also appear in the ad], I felt really aligned with my own brand.

If you ... do something positive with your brand, then its a good thing, Hilton says.

In her podcast, I Am Paris, she tackles subjects she thinks do not have enough mainstream media attention. In her conversation with actor Amy Schumer, for example, the pair talked about the autism spectrum, therapy and cancel culture.

What I love about the podcast is having my voice, Hilton says. I feel like growing up in the early 2000s, the media treated me and Britney Spears and a lot of those girls really unfairly. I feel like [with the podcast], I can tell the truth and speak about what I want to speak about. Its powerful to have that voice.

Hilton has also taken on a very personal cause: the abuse of students in Americas private behavioural education system. Hilton was a victim of such abuse herself, she says, revealing in the 2020 documentary, This Is Paris, she had been subjected to strip searches, force-fed medication, watched in the shower and confined in isolation as punishment.

Hiltons production company produces a podcast series, Trapped in Treatment, hosted by abuse survivor Caroline Cole and investigator Rebecca Mellinger. And now, Hilton, having successfully campaigned in several US states for new laws protecting teenagers in private schools with behavioural and mental health issues, is taking her crusade to Washington, DC.

Paris Hilton leads a 2020 protest calling for the closure of Provo Canyon School in Utah, where she has testified she was abused as a student.Credit:AP

Everything happens for a reason, and maybe I had to go through that, and maybe I was given this gift so that I could use my voice and make a difference, to stop it from happening to other children, Hilton says. In a way, this is my mission in life now. And its the thing that has the most meaning because I am making an impact.

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My whole life, its been a lot of fun and Ive done a lot of stuff: The Simple Life, all that, and playing a character, she says. But that was just the fun part. This is something thats really serious and making a difference in saving lives. That means everything to me.

Hilton believes the public persona of Paris Hilton the selfie-obsessed airhead is one she created as a coping mechanism for the abuse she went through as a teenager at Provo Canyon School.

It was just such a traumatic and horrible experience that I just didnt ever want to think about it again, she says.

I think I invented this bubbly Barbie-type, perfect life fairytale, so I didnt have to think about what had happened. And then it ended up being this whole brand, and then it became me, but it was never really me.

I am actually a pretty shy person, she says. [This other persona] is a mask I wear ... Im just playing someone else. The real me is a lot more serious. Im not a dumb blonde. Im just very good at pretending to be one.

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.

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The media treated me and Britney unfairly: Paris Hilton takes control of the narrative - Sydney Morning Herald

To Western audiences, Russias invasion of Ukraine has unfolded as a series of brutal attacks punctuated by strategic blunders. But on Russian television, those same events were spun as positive developments, an interpretation aided by a rapid jumble of opinion and falsehoods.

Much of Russian news media is tightly controlled by the Kremlin, with state-run television working as a mouthpiece for the government. Critical reporting about the war has been criminalized.

Russian televisions convoluted and sometimes contradictory narratives about the war are not solely intended to convince viewers that their version of events is true, disinformation experts say. Just as often, the goal is to confuse viewers and sow distrust so audiences are not sure what to believe.

The New York Times reviewed more than 50 hours of television footage to show how the war was being presented to Russians through the countrys news media.

Russia faced a significant loss when its flagship missile cruiser, the Moskva, sank after being damaged in mid-April. Ukrainian officials said the ship was struck with two Neptune anti-ship missiles. The New York Times reported this week that the United States provided intelligence that helped Ukraine locate and strike the ship. Independent Russian news media based outside the country reported that about 40 men died and an additional 100 were injured.

Moskva, a Russian missile cruiser, moored in a Ukrainian port in the Black Sea in 2013. Reuters

On Russian state-controlled media, though, news programs downplayed Ukraines strategic attack with a narrative that has shifted over time.

At first, Russias Defense Ministry said the ship was damaged after a fire on board had detonated ammunition. The ship was being towed back to shore and the crew was safely evacuated, the report continued.

Russian media later reported that the ship had sunk while being towed during a storm. A segment also showed a lineup of healthy Russian sailors, describing them as the Moskvas crew, alive and well.

Ship described as sinking in a storm.

Russian sailors, reportedly from the Moskva.

For the Kremlin, the loss adds to its growing challenges in conveying a positive impression of the war at home. While Russian news media has repeatedly dismissed or downplayed Ukrainian civilian casualties, Russias own casualties and the grieving families left in their wake are harder for the Kremlin to ignore.

Russia acknowledged the overall death toll for the first time in March, making clear to Russian viewers that the war would involve domestic losses as well. But even those reports underestimated the Russian casualties, according to U.S. experts. Though it is difficult to get exact casualty figures during a war, Western intelligence agencies estimate Russian military losses could be as high as 10,000 killed and 30,000 wounded.

As Russian forces retreated from the region surrounding Kyiv, graphic images circulated showing bodies of dead civilians lying in the streets. In Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, some civilians were found with their hands bound or with gunshot wounds to the head. The images prompted renewed calls for war crime charges against Russia.

Tatiana Petrovna, 72, mourned in the garden where three civilian bodies lay. Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

On Russian television, the discovery was cast instead as a hoax, with television presenters analyzing images and video for signs of fakery.

In one clip, Russian journalists noted that clothing on some dead civilians was too clean to have been in the streets for days, implying they could not have been killed during Russias occupation. A statement from the Ministry of Defense, aired on the nightly newscast Vremya, said the bodies lacked signs of decay and that blood in their wounds had not coagulated.

All that is irrefutable evidence that the photos and videos from Bucha are yet another staging by the Kyiv regime for the benefit of Western mass media, the ministrys statement said.

Unblurred photographs run by Western media outlets, however, showed the bodies had clear signs of decay.

Another news report indicated that footage from Bucha showed some of the bodies moving, which was cited as proof the dead bodies were staged. One clip showed a body in a rearview mirror that appeared to move after the car drove by. But several photographs taken on the ground by Western photographers showed bodies in the area had clear signs of decomposition. The impression of movement appeared to be caused by distortion in the mirror, which was also seen affecting the buildings surrounding the body.

A Russian television report claimed the body seen in the rearview mirror on the right-hand side was moving.

The claim that the bodies in the streets were part of a staging collided later with an entirely different narrative pushed on Russian television: that the civilians were indeed killed, but that it was Ukrainian troops who had killed them.

To make that case, the Russian state-run station Channel 1 presented a convoluted alternate timeline, selecting footage to support the claim that no one was killed until days after Russian troops fled the region.

March 30

March 31

April 1

March 31 to April 2

April 2

Disinformation researchers say scattershot narratives like this can overwhelm viewers, sowing doubts even if audiences arent persuaded by any specific claim.

Russia drew international condemnation after a maternity hospital was bombed in the southern port city of Mariupol. Images of injured pregnant women, carried across charred hospital grounds or ushered down battered staircases, made clear to Western audiences the civilian cost of war.

Marianna Vyshemirskaya walked downstairs in a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in Mariupol. Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo

In Russia, though, the attack was dismissed as a hoax.

In a flurry of claims over several days, Russian television dissected footage and raised numerous doubts about the Western account, often using the same imagery seen in the West to advance very different accounts of what happened.

Images of two women in particular were widely circulated in Western media. One, an influencer named Marianna Vyshemirskaya, survived the attack and later gave birth to a girl. Another woman, who has not been identified, was photographed on a stretcher and was later reported by The Associated Press to have died. In one segment, Russian journalists claimed the two were the same woman. Ms. Vyshemirskaya later denied being the woman seen on the stretcher.

In another segment aired on Russian television, victims being carried away from the hospital were described as soldiers from Ukraines far-right Azov Battalion, a unit of the Ukrainian National Guard with ties to the countrys neo-Nazi movement. But images captured by Western journalists showed the victims were women, with some wearing khaki-colored clothing that vaguely resembled troop uniforms.

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Ms. Vyshemirskaya later gave an interview to Denis Seleznev, a Ukrainian blogger who backs the separatist movement in Ukraines eastern Donbas region. The portions that aired on Russian television focused not on her injuries but on the Azov Battalion, with claims that the military group occupied the hospital before the strike took place.

There was no evidence reported by Western journalists on the scene that Azov was using the building as a base, and an April report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe classified the attack on the hospital as a war crime.

In airing Ms. Vyshemirskayas interview, alongside a video she posted to Instagram, Russian news media focused on her description of Azov soldiers, casting them as belligerent occupiers who demanded food.

They said they havent eaten for five days, she said. They took our food away and said, You can cook more.

An interview with Ms. Vyshemirskaya aired on Russian television.

The Kremlin and Russian media have frequently focused on Ukraines neo-Nazi movement as justification for the invasion. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said that one of his central aims was the denazification of Ukraine.

Though the Azov Battalion was founded in 2014 out of Ukraines ultranationalist and neo-Nazi groups, experts say the group has quelled much of its extremist side under pressure from authorities. The neo-Nazi movement is not a significant force in Ukraine, according to experts who track the far right, who point to Ukraines election of President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, as evidence.

Russian forces advanced on Europes largest nuclear power plant in early March. A skirmish with Ukrainian forces ended with a fire on the compound, which Mr. Zelensky warned could result in the end of Europe. The fire was later extinguished, but Ukrainian officials accused Russia of nuclear terrorism.

Surveillance camera footage captured the attack near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Zaporizhzhya Npp/Zaporizhzhya Npp Via Reuters

But Russian audiences were told another story: that Ukrainian soldiers had attacked the facility, setting fire to the building before fleeing. Russian forces were described as defending the facility from Ukrainian saboteurs, according to a government statement repeated in state media.

A Russian television report says that Russian soldiers were defending the power plant from Ukrainian small arms fire.

In footage released weeks later, the power plant was shown functioning normally, with drone shots showing workers arriving at a spotless facility and passing through security checkpoints in an orderly fashion.

While the special military operation is underway, the nuclear power plant hasnt stopped working for a second, said Aleksey Ivanov, a reporter for Vremya, the Channel 1 evening news broadcast. And now it has even grown in strength.

Mr. Ivanov also said that Russian guards do not interfere with the work of the plant.

A soldier interviewed at the facility said that employees of this plant show a certain amount of respect and that workers maintain order and discipline in their work.

The idea that Ukraine is faring better under Russian control continues to be a frequent claim on state television, bolstering the dubious argument advanced by Mr. Putin that Russian troops were sent in to protect Ukrainian citizens.

A Russian state news report describes the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which was recently captured by Russian soldiers, as functioning normally.

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The War in Ukraine, as Seen on Russian TV - The New York Times

By Patrick KurpSpecial to the Rice News

Daniel Preston, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Rice University, is the latest of eight young researchers in the George R. Brown School of Engineering to receive a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, making 2022 a record-setting year for the honor.

In all, 12 Rice faculty members have won the prestigious award so far this calendar year.

The director of the Preston Innovation Laboratory was awarded a five-year, $600,000 grant for his proposal, Textile-Based Wearable Robots with Integrated Fluidic Logic. Some 85 million adults in the United States who live with physical functional limitations could potentially benefit from the proposed work.

When theyre incorporated into wearable robots, Preston said, soft fluidic actuators provide assistive, rehabilitative and even superhuman capabilities while having advantages over hard exoskeletons. They are lightweight and safe, and they feel comfortable when worn in close contact with the body.

Soft fluidic actuators pose problems of their own. They rely on bulky, hard components, such as valves and electronic control systems that increase weight and decrease comfort when integrated into wearable robots. They sometimes require cumbersome tethers to external devices, making people with mobility limitations less likely to adopt the technologies.

To address these problems, Preston proposes the development of a platform for completely textile-based, non-electronic computation that can be integrated directly into the structure of wearable robots. This would eliminate the need for rigid control systems and enable soft wearables that look and feel like everyday clothing.

Our first objective is to develop a fundamental understanding of this approach, starting from the circuit level, by designing textile-based fluidic analogs to resistors, capacitors and relays, he said.

Second, Preston proposes using these circuit elements as building blocks for fluidic digital logic, engineered for high performance in terms of speed and other computational metrics. Finally, he aims to integrate textile-based fluidic computers, along with textile-based input/output devices and actuators, directly into the structures of wearable robots.

Preston earned his master of science degree and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2014 and 2017, respectively, followed by two years of postdoctoral research at Harvard University. He joined the Rice faculty in 2019.

Laura Schaefer, the Burton J. and Ann M. McMurtry Chair in Engineering, professor of mechanical engineering and department chair, noted that every junior faculty member in her department has won an NSF CAREER Award. In addition to Preston, the recipients are Matthew Brake, Pedram Hassanzadeh and Geoff Wehmeyer, all assistant professors of mechanical engineering.

Patrick Kurp is a science writer for the George R. Brown School of Engineering.

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2144809&HistoricalAwards=false

https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2022/05/0509_DOE-1-web.jpg

Daniel Preston. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

Preston Innovation Laboratory: https://pi.rice.edu

Department of Mechanical Engineering: https://mech.rice.edu

George R. Brown School of Engineering: https://engineering.rice.edu

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nations top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 4,052 undergraduates and 3,484 graduate students, Rices undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 1 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplingers Personal Finance.

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Daniel Preston wins NSF CAREER Award | Rice News | News and Media Relations | Rice University - Rice News