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Supreme Sleep Sanctions

Supreme Sleep Sanctions

Plus, eye writing.

July 05, 2024

Good morning and Happy Friday! We hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th. Did you see our Instagram post?

Here are the Flag’s Top Five stories that should be on your radar to start the day:

US: Biden Told Ally That He Is Weighing Whether to Continue in the Race (The New York Times) + White House denies NYT report that Biden is weighing whether to stay in race (The Guardian)
World: Strike kills family as Israeli evacuation order sparks panicked flight from southern Gaza city (AP)
Business: Meta ordered to stop training its AI on Brazilian personal data (The Verge)
Technology: Noplace, a mashup of Twitter and MySpace for Gen Z, hits No. 1 on the App Store (TechCrunch)
Sports: LeBron James staying with Lakers on $104M deal (ESPN)

And of course, some good news: A man with rare locked-in syndrome has completed a 50,000-word book - using just his eyes.

POWERED BY GUNDRY MD

The Truth Behind Your Beloved 'Health Foods'

For years, we've been advised to include certain fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in our diets for better health. However, could it be possible that some of these seemingly "health foods" harbor a hidden compound that might be wreaking havoc on our bodies?

Renowned heart surgeon, Dr. Steven Gundry, reveals a shocking discovery - many so-called "health foods" in the American diet contain a hidden substance that could be expanding our waistlines and causing harm to our delicate intestinal walls, allowing harmful bacteria and waste products to enter our bodies.

Thankfully, Dr. Gundry has a surprisingly easy solution. By avoiding these hidden compounds in our diets, we can take charge of our health and experience a remarkable transformation. Thousands of patients have already reaped the benefits of his expertise, shedding excess weight and feeling revitalized.*

Join the growing community of Americans who have witnessed life-changing effects through Dr. Gundry's groundbreaking research. Discover the power of eliminating this harmful substances from your diet and embracing true health today.

Right: Biden team scrambles to get ahead of more bad news with all-hands memo, Jack Birle, Washington Examiner

Right: There’s no way to restore the illusion that Biden is fit for the presidency, Editorial Board, New York Post

Right: The Cheap-Fake Presidency, Stephen L. Miller, The Spectator

Left: Running Biden Against Trump Is Just Irresponsible, Sasha Abramsky, The Nation

Left: Democrats Are Panicking: Why Aren't Leaders Acting?, Walter Shapiro, The New Republic

Left: Don't Forget Donald Trump Is Worse Than Biden, Sara Pequeno, USA Today

SUPREME COURT

Supreme Sleep Sanctions

Today’s Top Story in One Sentence: Last Friday, The Supreme Court ruled that cities may enforce a ban on sleeping in public places. The 6-3 decision does not require cities to enforce the ban, but it allows for legal action to be used on those who violate cities’ individual laws.

Reporting from the Right: Some Democrats call for changes to homeless camping laws as 'uncertainty' follows Supreme Court ruling (FOX News)

Reporting from the Left: Homeless people can be ticketed for sleeping outside, Supreme Court rules (CNN)

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

This Empowers Cities to Deal with Homelessness

The Top Argument From The Right: Supreme Court Rules Bans on Public Camping Do Not Constitute Cruel and Unusual Punishment of the Homeless, Ryan Mills, National Review: “The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that barring people from camping in public parks and imposing fines on those who do does not criminalize the status of homelessness and does not amount to cruel and unusual punishment. …while the ruling affirms that local governments can take action against squalid homeless camps in their communities, it does not say that they must take action. Gorsuch noted that nothing in the ruling prevents cities, counties, and states from ‘declining to criminalize public camping altogether.’ .. Barring people from camping in public parks, and imposing limited fines for first-time offenders with a threat of 30 days in jail for continued offenses does not subject violators to ‘terror, pain, or disgrace,’ the court found. Nor is it unusual, ‘because similarly limited fines and jail terms have been and remain’ common ‘for punishing criminal offenses throughout the country.’ … The ruling also states that public-camping ordinances do not criminalize status. ‘It makes no difference whether the charged defendant is currently a person experiencing homelessness, a backpacker on vacation, or a student who abandons his dorm room to camp out in protest on the lawn of a municipal building,’ the ruling states.”

Honorable Mention #1: SCOTUS Rules Cities Can Enforce Bans On Homeless Encampments, Logan Washburn, The Federalist.

Honorable Mention #2: Supreme Court rightly lets communities choose how to respond to homelessness, Devon Kurtz, Washington Examiner.

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

In Effect, This Criminalizes Homelessness

The Top Argument From The Left: The Supreme Court Ruled That It’s OK to Criminalize Sleeping While Homeless, Shirin Ali, Slate: “Because the Grants Pass ordinance specifically targets those who sleep in public, Gorsuch concluded, it punishes ‘conduct’ rather than ‘status,’ which is acceptable under the Eighth Amendment. To Sotomayor, Gorsuch’s decision plainly ignores or overrides precedent established in 1962’s Robinson v. California, in which the Supreme Court ruled that states can’t punish someone for being addicted to narcotics, since addiction is a disease that constitutes ‘status’ rather than conduct. By this reasoning, Sotomayor argued, it’s unconstitutional to criminalize someone simply because they assume the status of being homeless. But the majority is in fact doing just that by enabling Grants Pass to criminalize the use of bedding and sleeping in public. ‘Under the majority’s logic, cities cannot criminalize the status of being homeless, but they can criminalize the conduct that defines that status,’ wrote Sotomayor. … If someone in Grants Pass were to spread a blanket out to stargaze or picnic, that would not be a violation of the city’s ‘camping ban,’ since, presumably, that person would have a place to go home to. That, Sotomayor wrote, proves that the city’s ordinance is blatantly criminalizing homelessness.”

Honorable Mention #1: ‘Terrifying and dystopian’: the dark realities of the Supreme Court’s homelessness decision, Sam Levin, The Guardian.

Honorable Mention #2: Supreme Court Criminalizes Homelessness in Dark Ruling, Paige Oamek, The New Republic.

FLAG THIS

Growing Concerns

A December 2023 survey highlighted a growing concern among Americans about the homelessness crisis (YouGov):

67% view homelessness as a very serious issue, up from 54% in April 2022.
34% now see homelessness as a very serious problem in their communities, an increase from 27% in 2022.
53% believe the federal government should do much more to tackle homelessness, a 12-point rise from 2022.
48% think state and local governments should significantly increase efforts, up 9 points from 2022.
78% agree that housing is a basic human right, with higher agreement among Democrats (94%) compared to Independents (79%) and Republicans (61%).

Should the government be allocating more resources to confront and solve the homelessness crisis?

WATERCOOLER

Amazon Begins, Microwave Hack, Rare Gray

On This Day in 1994, Princeton graduate and entrepreneur Jeff Bezos founds Cadabra—a twist on the magic word “Abracadabra”—which is initially just an online bookstore run out of his garage in Bellevue, Washington. Bezos later changes the name to Amazon, and his site grows to become a global retail behemoth, an online "everything store."

Better Report: The Most Underrated Button on the Microwave

The Guardian: ‘You can do anything here!’ Why Lithuania is the best place in the world to be young

Nice News: Other People Like Us More Than We Think, Research Finds

Today I learned Gray is the world’s rarest eye color.