Tired of ads? Want to support our progressive journalism? Click to learn more.LEARN MORE
Enjoy good journalism?
… then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and legal efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. And unlike other news outlets, we’ve decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.
Raw Story is independent. Unhinged from corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.
We need your support in this difficult time. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click to donate by check.
Value Raw Story?
… then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we believe in the power of progressive journalism — and we’re investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We need your support to do what we do.
Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us in the future. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you.
  |  |
Report typos and corrections to: corrections@rawstory.com.
New White House sign language interpreter linked to the far right – and appeared in video attacking Biden
January 27, 2021
Heather Mewshaw, an ASL interpreter chosen by the White House to be present at all news briefings, appears to manage a group of ASL interpreters who provide sign language accompaniments to right-wing videos, TIME reports.
The videos promote vaccine misinformation, conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the riot at the U.S. Capitol, and false claims about Michelle Obama being transgender. Mewshaw recently appeared in a video attacking President Joe Biden:
<p><br/></p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><script>!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src="https://rumble.com/embedJS/u4"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+"/?url="+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+"&args="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, "script", "Rumble");</script><div id="rumble_vak6rh"></div><script>Rumble("play", {"video":"vak6rh","div":"rumble_vak6rh"});</script></div><p><br/></p><p>Mewshaw's group was originally titled "Right Side ASL" but later changed its name to "Hands of Liberty" after its previous Facebook page was deleted in November for violating the community standards of the platform. When TIME reached out to Mewshaw for comment, the Hands of Liberty Facebook page was deleted. </p><p>While the group claims to offer its service to the general public, the vast majority of videos it has chosen to interpret are right-wing and pro-Trump in nature. </p><p>"For me, it would be problematic for someone who has aligned herself with alt-right discourses to be the public face of the White House for the deaf communities and people who are curious about ASL," Jon Henner, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Greensboro who studies ASL and is deaf, told TIME.</p>
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Trump impeachment after leaving office is nothing – in 9th-century Rome they put a pope's corpse on trial
January 27, 2021
Having been impeached for the second time, former US president Donald Trump will be tried by the Senate in February 2021, the first time a US president has been impeached twice for “high crimes and misdemeanours”. A single article of impeachment will be passed to the Senate on January 25, accusing Trump of “inciting insurrection” before his supporters attacked the US Capitol building on January 6. Formal arguments will begin in the Senate in the second week of February.
But a media campaign is already well underway, as supporters of the former president – and his political enemies – take to the airwaves to put their case. Prominent among Trump’s defenders has been senior Republican senator, Lindsey Graham, who told Fox News host Sean Hannity that if Trump were to be convicted by the Senate after he leaves office, it would open the door for past presidents to be impeached.
<p>“If you can impeach a president after they’re out of office, why don’t we impeach George Washington?” Graham told Hannity. “He owned slaves. Where does this stop?”</p>
<p>There is of course an obvious flaw in Graham’s comment: being dead, Washington cannot appear to defend himself. </p>
<p>But the history of the early medieval papacy teaches us that even death may not be a bar to prosecution for misconduct in public office. More than 1,000 years ago, the western church was in crisis. There was a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1404567">bitter dispute between Rome and Constantinople</a> over which was the head of the Christian church. Waves of immigrants had settled in Hungary and Bulgaria, which increased tensions between Constantinople and Rome as they vied for sovereignty over a changing population with shifting allegiances.</p>
<p>These conflicts raised important questions about the qualities that were required of the leaders of Christendom. During this period there was a fairly frequent use of the early medieval equivalent of impeachment. This was a <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100547669">church synod</a> held in Rome, at which the holder of the highest office in Christendom could be tried for transgressions against the traditions and customs of their office. One such synod <a href="https://wsmonroe.com/2014/06/02/137/">took place in January 897</a> and heard charges against the most recent former pontiff, Formosus (pope from 891 to 896).</p>
<p>The only problem was that Formosus had been dead for seven months by the time the trial started. But the new pope, Stephen VI, was of the firm opinion that even when a leader had left office they could still be punished for their transgressions.</p>
<p>The synod thus went ahead under somewhat ghoulish circumstances. Pope Stephen had Formosus’ corpse withdrawn from its sarcophagus and brought to the Basilica of St John Lateran in Rome to be put on trial. The corpse was clad in papal vestments and seated on a throne to face charges that Formosus had broken the rules of the church. Close by stood a deacon to answer in Formosus’ name. Stephen VI charged the cadaver with having broken an oath not to return to Rome and of having illegally obtained the title of pope because he was already a bishop at the time of his election.</p>
<p>The alleged crimes took place long before the trial. In July 876, Formosus had been excommunicated for meddling in European power politics and prohibited from celebrating mass by Pope John VIII. But, after his death, the sentence of excommunication was withdrawn by John’s successor Marinus I in 878 and Formosus returned to his job as bishop of Porto. </p>
<p>Despite having blotted his copybook, Formosus was elected pope on October 1 891 and immediately involved himself in politics again. </p>
<p>In Italy, Formosus encouraged insurrection, persuading Arnulf of Carinthia <a href="https://wsmonroe.com/2014/06/02/137/">to advance to Rome</a> to drive out the reigning emperor. Arnulf seized Rome by force on February 21 896 but his success was shortlived – before he had the chance to move against the opposition’s stronghold in Spoleto, he was struck with paralysis and was unable to continue the campaign. Paralysis, incidentally, was widely regarded as a divine punishment in the Middle Ages.</p>
<p>It’s important to remember that this was an era in which the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2016/01-02/vatican-dead-pope-on-trial/">papacy changed hands at an alarming rate</a> – almost every year between 896 and 904 saw a new pope pope, sometimes even two. Formosus was succeeded by Pope Boniface VI, who himself died two weeks later. Stephen VI, who was next to sit on the papal throne, had been a supporter of Formosus, but had changed camps and was now aligned with the Spoleto family, at that time all-powerful in Rome. </p>
<p>Stephen VI predictably pronounced Formosus guilty on the grounds that he could not legally have received the papal title since he was the bishop of another see and he had gone back on his oath not to celebrate mass. All his measures, acts and legal decisions were annulled, and all the priestly orders conferred by him were declared invalid. His papal vestments were torn from his body. The three fingers which the dead pope had used in consecrations were cut off his right hand and the corpse was buried in a grave in the cemetery for strangers, only to be removed after a few days and thrown into the river Tiber.</p>
<p>Donald Trump, at present hunkered down at his Mar a Lago resort in Florida, will not suffer the indignities of the corpse of Pope Formosus. But, like Formosus, he will see many (if not all) of his decisions and appointments reversed in these first days of Joe Biden’s presidency. Interestingly, after the death of Stephen VI, Formosus was rehabilitated and his papacy reinstated by the church. </p>
<p>Trump, meanwhile, is rumoured to still be considering a return to US politics. Having lost access to the modern equivalent of Formosus’ three fingers – his social media platforms – he can no longer easily convey favours or inspire his followers. But, as we now know, stranger things have happened.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img alt="The Conversation" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153339/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" width="1"/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p>
<p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/frederik-pedersen-149876">Frederik Pedersen</a>, Senior Lecturer in History, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-aberdeen-962">University of Aberdeen</a></em></span></p>
<p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-impeachment-after-leaving-office-is-nothing-in-9th-century-rome-they-put-a-popes-corpse-on-trial-153339">original article</a>.</p>
CONTINUE READING
Show less
A controversial Polish court ruling that imposes a near-total ban on abortion will come into force on Wednesday, the country's right-wing government said, in an announcement that triggered protests.
The move means that all abortions in Poland will now be banned except in cases of rape and incest and when the mother's life or health are considered to be at risk.
<p>The ruling is in line with the policies of the governing right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS).</p><p>"The ruling will be published today in the Journal of Laws," the government information centre said on Twitter.</p><p>Poland was rocked by massive demonstrations when the Constitutional Court verdict was first issued in October.</p><p>The ruling said abortions in cases of foetal abnormalities were "incompatible" with the constitution.</p><p>The government said the reasoning behind the October 22 ruling would also be published.</p><p>Women's Strike, the organisation behind a string of mass demonstrations against the ruling, called for a protest later Wednesday outside the Constitutional Court in Warsaw.</p><p>Demonstrations were also announced in other cities.</p><p>"Express your anger today as you see fit," Marta Lempart, a leading protest organiser, told a press conference.</p><p>"We are calling on everyone to go into the streets," she said, adding that publication of the ruling constituted "a crime".</p><p>Klementyna Suchanow, another organiser from Women's Strike, said: "The whole of Poland is mobilising, not just in Warsaw. We are ready!</p><p>"When we speak of hell for women, we can also speak of hell for the government. We are going to make this hell for you," she said.</p><p>- 'You will not win' -</p><p>Predominantly Catholic Poland already has one of Europe's most restrictive laws on abortion.</p><p>There are fewer than 2,000 legal abortions every year and women's groups estimate that an additional 200,000 women abort either illegally or abroad.</p><p>Borys Budka, head of the opposition Civic Platform, said the publication of the ruling was a "provocation".</p><p>Wanda Nowicka of the Left party tweeted: "You have not yet won this war against women and you will not win."</p><p>The government had delayed publishing the ruling after nationwide demonstrations held in defiance of coronavirus restrictions banning rallies.</p><p>The protests sparked by the abortion ruling soon became an expression of wider anti-government sentiment.</p><p>The biggest protests brought together tens of thousands of people in what organisers said was a generational "revolution" against the status quo, including against Poland's Catholic hierarchy.</p><p>But polling experts say that a "silent majority" of Poles support the existing abortion legislation and only a small number want wider abortion rights.</p><p>The government has defended the verdict, saying it will halt "eugenic abortions", referring to the termination of foetuses diagnosed with Down's Syndrome, but human rights groups have said it would force women to carry non-viable pregnancies.</p><p>© 2021 AFP</p>
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Trending
Latest
Videos
Copyright © 2021 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 | Masthead | Privacy Policy | For corrections or concerns, please email corrections@rawstory.com.