The Supreme Court on Monday struck down an abortion clinic restriction law out of Louisiana. It was a 5–4 decision, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the liberals in a concurring decision — and saying precedent required him to do so.
Continue reading “Roberts Fights Off Conservatives To Preserve Abortion Rights…For Now”
President Donald Trump retweeted a video on Monday morning showing an unidentified white couple brandishing their firearms at anti-police brutality protesters in St. Louis, Missouri, who were peacefully marching toward city Mayor Lyda Krewson’s home.
Despite fears that it would be latest state to see chaos around its elections, Kentucky managed to avoid the major disaster some were predicting for its June 23 primary and its experience offers lessons for elections going forward. Crucially, Kentucky waived its excuse requirement for early and absentee voting, and the vast majority of primary voters took advantage of the opportunity to cast their ballots by mail. The state’s move to consolidate voting sites so that most counties had only one location drove the most dire predictions about last week’s primaries. But the most populous counties wisely chose for those sites large, open facilities that could safely hold several voters and poll workers at time. Only Fayette County, home to Lexington, saw consistently long lines where wait times were often one to two hours. The lines were caused by a chokepoint in checking in voters —another teachable moment for elections moving forward.
For more than three days, Texas Medical Center hospitals had stopped publishing key data after an earlier update seemed to indicate its hospitals were reaching 100% base intensive care capacity, the Houston Chronicle reported on Sunday.
The Medical Center had posted detailed charts on the capacity of their facilities amid the coronavirus pandemic almost daily before the three-day hiatus, raising concerns about the hospitals’ preparedness to handle the massive spike in cases seen across the state in recent weeks.
The absence of the data threw policymakers off balance and left residents who have relied on the information to gauge the spread of the coronavirus feeling vulnerable.
The move comes after the hospitals announced on Thursday that their base intensive care capacity had hit 100 percent for the first time during the pandemic and was projected to hit an “unsustainable surge capacity” of intensive care beds by July 6, the Chronicle reported.
By Friday morning, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo moved the county to the highest threat level, citing that the hospitalization rate was “on pace to overwhelm the hospitals in the near future.”
According to the Chronicle, the data was finally revised on Sunday to include most of the original information as well as some additional slides.
Houston Methodist CEO Dr. Marc Boom offered reassurance that all the figures and projection models remained the same — but that the data had been reformatted. TMC hospitals have a combined 373 beds that can be made into ICU beds with a “challenging” but “doable” amount of effort, Boom said.
The changes illuminate increasing concerns over hospital capacity as positive cases surge and Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) moved to reissue on Thursday an earlier order to restrict elective procedures at some hospitals to ensure more beds would be vacant to accommodate an influx in COVID-19 patients.
Mississippi’s state legislature approved a bill on Sunday night to redesign the state flag and remove the Confederate battle insignia from it on Sunday night.
Continue reading “Mississippi Legislature Approves Removal Of Confederate Emblem From State Flag”
Matt Gaetz (R-FL) echoed on Sunday what’s become a familiar GOP excuse for the appearance of a large number of positive coronavirus cases in his state: more testing. But now, it’s not just more testing that’s to blame, it’s an uptick in “strategic” testing that targets areas where a high incidence of the virus is expected that has caused record-setting caseloads of the virus in the Southern state.
Matt Gaetz says the Coronavirus positivity rate is partly a consequence of the strategic testing they are doing in Florida pic.twitter.com/MIOss3eHaM
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) June 29, 2020
“I would say the positivity rate is in part a consequence of the strategic work we are doing in Florida to go into areas that are more likely to have high coronavirus,” Gaetz told Fox News’ Steve Hilton in an interview on Sunday. “So if you’re just sitting back and waiting for people to show up you can maintain a low positivity rate, but then you’re not on offense against the disease.”
Making no mention of the state’s overall failure to enforce recommendations of health experts and the CDC, Gaetz instead suggested that rising cases in Florida which soared to 9,500 on Saturday are the unfortunate consequence of going into areas where the virus has rampantly infected large swaths of people. Spikes in cases are emerging from those efforts, he said.
Gaetz’s comments come as COVID-19 cases surge along the Sun Belt. Even Vice President Mike Pence – in a long-awaited reversal – began urging Americans over the weekend to wear face masks to slow the spread of the virus as some hospitals buckle under the pressure of demand for new beds to accommodate the infected.
The Florida Congressman, went on to champion the importance of practicing good hygiene through hand washing.
I think those things are all very helpful,” Gaetz said. “But the absolute radical approach to shutting things down hasn’t worked really anywhere, and I don’t suspect that that will be the plan that we return to in Florida.”
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, however, ordered for the closure of all beaches and parks in the county between Friday, July 3, through Tuesday, July 7 to curb the spread if the virus. He said those shutdowns could continue if conditions don’t improve. Broward County followed with a similar decision to close beaches ahead of the holiday weekend.
The mayors have shifted their response efforts due to evidence which suggests the upward swing in Florida’s COVID-19 cases seems to have followed moves to quickly reopen beaches whose shores are often packed with visitors. The swift reopening of bars restaurants and other spaces that bring people into close proximity, have also likely contributed to a swell of cases.
President Donald Trump further dug into his claim late Sunday night that he had been unaware of the intelligence community’s reports that Russia paid Taliban forces to kill U.S. troops, asserting that intelligence officers had not found the reports to be credible and therefore did not inform him of them.
Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday said that he is now on board with encouraging the public to wear masks after initially punting to local health officials for guidance amid recent spikes in coronavirus cases. Continue reading “Pence Shifts From Trump: ‘Wearing A Mask Is Just A Good Idea’”
HHS Secretary Alex Azar on Sunday wouldn’t answer whether President Trump is undercutting the message of health officials that masks should be worn in public to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Continue reading “Azar Dodges When Grilled On Trump’s Refusal To Wear Mask As Coronavirus Cases Surge”
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) on Sunday said that it would “help” if President Donald Trump wore a mask to stop the political debate surrounding the matter as coronavirus cases surge in several cities. Continue reading “GOP Sen: It’d Help If Trump Would Wear A Mask To ‘Get Rid Of This Political Debate’”
