Couple brought 4 month old baby on boat trip in 120 degree heat.

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The Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Reich is also known as the Enabling Act. Passed on March 23, 1933, and proclaimed the next day, it became the cornerstone of Adolf Hitler's dictatorship. The act allowed him to enact laws, including ones that violated the Weimar Constitution, without approval of either parliament or Reich President von Hindenburg.

SS troops enter the Kroll Opera House​

On the day of the vote on the so-called Enabling Act, the Nazi leadership sent SS troops into the makeshift Reichstag building, formerly the Kroll Opera, to intimidate other political parties. Berlin, Germany, March 23, 1933.
The Enabling Act allowed the Reich government to issue laws without the consent of Germany’s parliament, laying the foundation for the complete Nazification of German society. The full name of the law was the “Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Reich.”

• Nederlands Instituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie

Since the passage of this law depended upon a two-thirds majority vote in parliament, Hitler and the Nazi Party used intimidation and persecution to ensure the outcome they desired. They prevented all 81 Communists and 26 of the 120 Social Democrats from taking their seats, detaining them in so-called protective detention in Nazi-controlled camps. In addition, they stationed SA and SS members in the chamber to intimidate the remaining representatives and guarantee their compliance. In the end, the law passed with more than the required two-thirds majority, with only Social Democrats voting against it.


The Supreme Court did nothing to challenge the legitimacy of this measure. Instead, it accepted the majority vote, overlooking the absence of the Communist delegates and the Social Democrats who were under arrest.

In fact, most judges were convinced of the legitimacy of the process and did not understand why the Nazis proclaimed a “Nazi Revolution.” Erich Schultze, one of the first Supreme Court judges to join the Nazi Party, declared that the term “revolution” did not refer to an overthrow of the established order but rather to Hitler's radically different ideas. In the end, German judges—who were among the few who might have challenged Nazi objectives—viewed Hitler's government as legitimate and continued to regard themselves as state servants who owed him their allegiance and support.

TranslationClick here to copy a link to this section​

Translated from Reichsgesetzblatt I, 1933, p. 141.

The Reichstag has enacted the following law, which has the agreement of the Reichsrat and meets the requirements for a constitutional amendment, which is hereby announced:

Article 1
In addition to the procedure prescribed by the Constitution, laws of the Reich may also be enacted by the Reich Government. This includes laws as referred to by Articles 85, Sentence 2, and Article 87 of the Constitution.

Article 2
Laws enacted by the Reich Government may deviate from the Constitution as long as they do not affect the institutions of the Reichstag and the Reichsrat. The rights of the President remain undisturbed.

Article 3
Laws enacted by the Reich Government shall be issued by the Chancellor and announced in the Reichsgesetzblatt. They shall take effect on the day following the announcement, unless they prescribe a different date. Articles 68 to 77 of the Constitution do not apply to laws enacted by the Reich Government.

Article 4
Reich treaties with foreign states that affect matters of Reich legislation shall not require the approval of the bodies concerned with legislation. The Reich Government shall issue the regulations required for the execution of such treaties.

Article 5
This law takes effect with the day of its proclamation. It loses force on April 1, 1937, or if the present Reich Government is replaced by another.

Berlin, March 24, 1933

The Reich President von Hindenburg
Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler
Reich Minister of the Interior Frick
Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs Freiherr von Neurath
Reich Minister of Finance Graf Schwerin von Krosigk
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-enabling-act

We’ve all heard these old adages. “You can’t force a round peg into a square hole.” “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”



But there are a lot of other things we shouldn’t try to force. We can’t force someone to think we’re handsome, beautiful, witty, or charming. We can’t force our kids to date or marry the one we choose, and we can’t force a Sushi hater to love eating Sushi.


In America, we can’t force someone to believe in one brand of religion or any religion at all just because that’s what the majority believes or that’s what politicians think would make them more popular.




But It’s happening.


Louisiana passed a law requiring every public-school kindergarten to university classroom to display the Ten Commandments in large easily readable font.


Oklahoma’s state superintendent, recently ordered the Bible to be taught in every public school saying, “Separating church and state is a myth.”


Project 2025 is a Heritage Foundation blueprint creating an authoritarian theocracy based on Christian values for the second Trump administration.





It’s easy to shrug and say, nothing to see here. After all, there have been groups trying to shatter the wall between church and state since the1962 Supreme Court’s decision in Engle v. Vitale banning organized public prayer in schools.


In 1963, Abington v. Schempp ruled corporate reading of the Bible unconstitutional. The 1980 Supreme Court ruled in Stone v. Graham, that posting the Ten Commandments in public classrooms had “No secular purpose,” and violated the Constitution.


So, why worry?


We don’t have the Supreme Court of the 1960’s or even the 1980’s. We have the Trump Court who overturned 50 years of precedent on abortion and who gave the President immunity from prosecution for official acts something never mentioned in the Constitution.


If recent Iowa legislative history is an indicator, Governor Kim Reynolds won’t resist matching or exceeding the religious extremism of Louisiana and Oklahoma.


But put aside court rulings and legislative pandering. Forcing religion on someone is just a bad idea. We should learn from history. It begins with violence and ends with rebellion. No one wins.


I know diversity has become the Right’s new dirty word. But public schools are meant to be welcoming to all students regardless of if a student has a religion or doesn’t.


I’m not sure why they want public school teachers to be their theologians. After all, they’ve accused them of being “groomers, pornographers and woke.” Wouldn’t they want parents to oversee religious education?


I taught both English and history and referred the Bible when it was relevant to what I was teaching. I also referenced TV shows, movies, and real life. That’s how you teach.


Mandating Bible teaching is force feeding kids one brand of religion. The same thing will happen that occurred when I was in third grade. The teacher on lunch duty thought it was a good idea to force me to eat stewed tomatoes. I warned her I couldn’t, but she forced the issue. Her reward was shoes covered with vomited stewed tomatoes.


I am a Christian, but not one who believes public school is public Sunday school. Those wanting public schools to be Christian better be careful what they wish for. There are a variety of Christian teachings, but denominations approach them differently. So, even if their wish came true, it might be the wrong Christian flavor for them. Also, literature teachers teach students how to critically analyze literature. That’s not what Christian fundamentalists want to have happen to their inerrant Bible.


Religion is a personal decision. It can be beautiful, and comforting, but if forced, the beauty and comfort disappears.


Bruce Lear of Sioux City taught for 11 years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association Regional Director for 27 years until retiring. BruceLear2419@gmail.com

After taking over Iowa City’s 150-year-old Mercy Hospital and its handful of clinics in January with a $28 million bid in a contentious bankruptcy auction, the University of Iowa has sold the former Mercy clinic in Kalona to Washington County Hospital and Clinics for $425,000.



Although the university is keeping most of the properties it acquired from Mercy — and has turned the main Iowa City campus into its new UIHC Medical Center Downtown — the university already operates a clinic in Washington County, within 10 miles of the Kalona clinic.


“This sale will enable the residents of Kalona and adjoining communities to be served by both UI Health Care and Washington County Hospital and Clinics,” according to Board of Regents documents. “UI Health Care intends to transition all staff of the Kalona clinic to other UI Health Care clinics to serve these communities.”




The sale is part of the UIHC-Mercy transition, which has involved transitioning about 1,000 former Mercy employees to the UI payroll and moving the former Mercy operation and its patients onto UIHC’s electronic medical record provider — Epic. A launch onto that system, while patients continued to be treated at the downtown campus, occurred in May “without significant issues,” UIHC Chief Executive Officer Brad Haws said.


“Now that Epic has been launched, it gives us the opportunity to truly begin looking for ways to maximize capacity across both the university campus and downtown campus,” Haws said in a Q&A published June 27 by the university. “A number of services and programs have been identified as areas to be evaluated for relocation to the downtown campus.”

Downtown vision​

Although no final decisions have been made, Haws identified low-risk obstetrics and midwifery as one service line “where we have already had some success transferring patients to the downtown campus from university campus.”


“We are evaluating expanding and formalizing the downtown campus role in those circumstances,” he said. “Family medicine, gastrointestinal endoscopy, operating room utilization, heart and vascular services, and sleep disorders are also on the evaluation list for where we might make more moves to the downtown campus.”





UIHC has committed to invest at least $25 million in facility upgrades across the downtown campus. Haws said the university has completed a facilities assessment and initiated several “repairs and enhancements.”


One is a three-phased project costing more than $1 million to replace “critical sections of roof” at the downtown campus.


“This foundational work must come first before we can invest in other areas, such as upgrading operating rooms,” Haws said.


To the question of UIHC’s long-term vision and strategy for the downtown campus, Haws said, “We want to do things right, and getting it right takes time.”


“Still, as we work on the longer-term planning, we recognize the importance of making faster incremental changes based on needs,” he said. “A specific example of this is UI Health Care Sleep Solutions. With a lease ending soon in Coralville, it makes sense to relocate that retail space to the Medical Office Building on Jefferson Street in Iowa City on our downtown campus.”

Kalona clinic sale​

Like the use of that medical office, UI officials have told The Gazette they don’t plan to sell off all the clinics they obtained through the Mercy bankruptcy. The Kalona clinic was different — in that UIHC already offered services nearby.


The two sides agreed on the $425,000 price based on two appraisals — one for $450,000 and another for $390,000. The $425,000 includes “all existing furnishing, medical equipment, and supplies.”


The Kalona clinic will add to Washington County Hospitals and Clinics’ facility portfolio, which includes a critical access hospital, family medicine clinic, McCreedy Medical Clinic, Beans Pharmacy in Washington and a clinic in Columbus Junction.


UIHC’s Kalona and Washington County service — through its Riverside clinic — includes specialty care like OBGYN, midwifery, urology, electrophysiology, dialysis and emergency care.


In a statement earlier this year, WCHC CEO Todd Patterson said that “Kalona is an important community in our primary service area, and we are excited for the opportunity to expand access to our outpatient services for its residents and a continued collaboration with UI Health Care.”

Took some time yesterday to describe each 2025 commit on the defensive side of the ball in three words. Some added details and personal thoughts on each of the commits. Offense coming tomorrow.

Anything you'd add on these guys?

STORY:

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A civil liberties group has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking to compel a federal agency to release records related to two Nebraska cities’ efforts to ban immigrants not legally in the country from renting in their communities.
The ACLU of Nebraska sought the records more than two and a half years ago.
The group specifically submitted an email request to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency under the Department of Homeland Security, on Nov. 9, 2021, seeking copies of correspondence between officials, agents, contractors or individuals regarding the implementation or enforcement of city ordinances in Fremont and Scribner.

“To date, USCIS has failed to respond to produce the documents sought in the request in any way, let alone process the request ‘promptly,’ as required by FOIA for all requests,” ACLU attorney Dylan Serverino wrote in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court of Nebraska in Lincoln.

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The 21-day statutory period to respond has long since passed.

Serverino said the ACLU is seeking the records in order to “further public understanding of the implementation and enforcement of the ordinances.”

In June 2010, Fremont passed an ordinance requiring prospective renters there to obtain occupancy licenses.
To get one, renters have to complete an application and answer questions about their immigration status. The Fremont Police Department then checks the information with USCIS’ Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program to determine if they are lawfully in the country.

In November 2018, Scribner passed an ordinance that did substantially the same thing.
The ACLU’s request for information followed.

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The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, asks a federal judge to order the federal agencies to conduct a search for the records and produce them promptly.

The ACLU also is seeking attorney fees and other litigation costs.

The ACLU says USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security have the records and the ACLU has a legal right to obtain them. Failure to provide them violates the Freedom of Information Act, Serverino said.
Severino said the years-long wait made it clear that it would take a lawsuit to force a response from federal officials.

“Nebraskans have a right to know if and how federal officials have been involved in any efforts to enforce anti-immigrant ordinances that invite discriminatory questions and racial profiling,” he said Tuesday. “Federal law includes clear guidelines on processing public records requests, and there is no excuse for years of inaction on any request — let alone one that involves something as important as fair access to housing.”

In 2010, the ACLU sued Fremont seeking to overturn the rental ban, saying it conflicts with the federal government’s sole authority to regulate immigration and has a discriminatory effect.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the challenge in a split decision.


Earlier this year, Fremont Mayor Joey Spellerberg gave the welcome address at the Nebraska Immigration & Workforce Summit there, saying things have changed in the town of 27,000 about an hour north of Lincoln.
He told the Nebraska Examiner that to fill its jobs today, the city needs to “embrace the immigrant community.”
While the ordinance remains on Fremont’s books, Spellerberg said it is “impossible to enforce.”

Another GOP solution in search of a problem:

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird led a 14-state coalition in a brief asking an appeals court to uphold a state law in Arkansas that is intended to prevent “indoctrination” in schools.
“As a mom, I know how important it is that we create a healthy culture for our kids to learn and grow,” Bird said in a statement on Wednesday. “And most schools and teachers do an amazing job at that. But when education turns into indoctrination, parents have a right to push back.”
The Arkansas law was passed in 2023 and codifies a previous executive order from Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. It targets teaching “that would indoctrinate students with ideologies … that conflict with the principle of equal protection under the law.” The statute points to critical race theory — an academic concept that argues racism is embedded in legal principles and policies — as an example of such an ideology.

​

The law, as written, does not ban discussion of the described concepts, but rather prohibits schools from compelling students to affirm them as true.
But teachers and students who sued the state argued the law was being interpreted to ban any discussion of critical race theory. For example, the state’s secretary of education removed the AP designation from the AP African-American Studies course after the law went into effect.
A district court in May partially granted a request from a group of teachers and students to temporarily block enforcement of a portion of the law, but only for the specific parties that sued. In his ruling, Judge Lee Rudofsky cited a 1982 Supreme Court case that found governments cannot remove information from a classroom without a “legitimate pedagogical interest.”


Bird and the other Republican attorneys general argue in the brief that court cases since then have invalidated that precedent. The brief points to more recent decisions that say the government has a right to promote a defined message and value system, as well as a right to condemn certain values.


The brief is joined by attorneys general in Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.

We made a third thread to point out it was the third one made so why not make a 4th to do the same thing. I’m guessing we get up to 7 threads for the day.

How many threads will we have about this today? This is 3.

The S&P 500 soared to a record on Wednesday as investors looked ahead to a major U.S. inflation report.

The broad market index traded 0.4% higher, reaching a fresh record high and surpassing the 5,600 level. The index is also on track for its seventh straight day of gains. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.5%, also hitting an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 111 points, or 0.2%.

Artificial intelligence favorite Nvidiaclimbed 2% and helped lift chipmakers like AMD and Broadcom higher. Shares of Apple inched 1% higher after overtaking Microsoft as the most valuable company.

The June consumer price index report is slated for release Thursday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect a 0.1% month-over-month advance and a 3.1% year-on-year gain. Core CPI, which excludes energy and food prices, is forecast to have expanded by 0.2% month over month and 3.4% year on year. The producer price index is set for release Friday.

“So far this week, stock traders have been willing to ignore or dismiss the downside risks related to evidence of a recent slowdown in economic activity indicators in the US and abroad,” Macquarie global FX & rates strategist Thierry Wizman wrote on Wednesday. “Instead, stock indexes have generally risen on the fresh liquidity that’s been driven by the premise that the Fed (and other central banks) will either start or continue to reduce their policy interest rates this year.”

Wall Street is coming off fresh record closing highs for the Nasdaq and S&P 500 after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell cautioned on Tuesday that keeping rates elevated for too long could stunt economic growth.

“Reducing policy restraint too late or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment,” said Powell, speaking to the Senate Banking Committee as part of his semiannual address to Congress on Tuesday. He continues his testimony Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee. “More good data would strengthen our confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%,” Powell added.

Help me understand.

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This is a great way to support Swarm without the recurring donations some are concerned about. It also should be fun for the whole family.

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The 2024 NBA Draft was just a few weeks ago, which means it's time to think about the 2025 NBA Draft.

The Athletic has a mock draft for 2025 here ($):


Payton Sandfort checks in at #38 on Sam Vecenie's mock draft. It will be interesting to see if a strong senior season can push Sandfort into the first round.

In other news, Rutgers has a pair of potential Top 5 picks in Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. Scarlet Knights could be poised to make some noise in the Big Ten next season...

Which would you prefer from hot lady

Sheesh...beginning to look like northern and NE Iowa might get a shitload of rain too.

Beginning sometime later next week, the Mississippi River in Iowa is going to get pretty damn high for this time of the year. Most gauges are already near to at action stage, and it's only going to go higher.

There's goes boating/fishing on the 4th of July (and maybe a whole lot of July)...

Everyone grandstanding and trying to thread the needle for their side.

GOP saying Biden broke the law and should have been charged but Trump somehow still shouldn't have.

Dems saying Hur shouldn't have said he was too old and feeble to be charged but still shouldn't have been charged.

Took these last summer. But haven't posted anywhere.

Sony A7r IV, Nikon 20mm 1.8

This turned into quite a brawl. Top three player-going-into stands moments: 1) Malice at the Palace, 2) Bruins fight Ranger fans in ‘79, and 3) …

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No Ritchie Blackmore and of course Jon Lord is dead.

All on defense, shocker.

2025 center Trevin Jirak was was an integral piece for Valley, who repeated as 4A state champions on Friday. I caught up with the Tigers' coach, BJ Windhorst on Jirak's development, and how he could be a fit with the Hawkeyes.

STORY: https://iowa.rivals.com/news/coach-speak-trevin-jirak-and-valley-repeat-as-4a-champions

Won the North Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary yesterday.

Stay classy Republicans! 🙄

The Trump-endorsed candidate quoted Adolf Hitler in a 2014 Facebook post that normalizes the German dictator’s stance on racial pride.

In other posts, Robinson has minimizedthe horrors of the Holocaust, claimed a “satanic marxist” had made the movie Black Panther to pull “shekels” out of Black audiences, likened women getting abortions to murderers, and derided gay people as “filth” and “maggots.”
He has also expressed archaic views about women’s role in society, telling a Charlotte-area church in 2022 that Christians are “called to be led by men.”

“God sent women out … when they had to do their thing, but when it was time to face down Goliath, [He] sent David. Not Davita, David,” Robinson said at the time.