Monday, May 17, 2021

And another day of staying masked, vaccine sharing, Roe v. Wade, fixing broken bridges, AZ Republicans fight back against election fraud claims, police officers banned, long working hours, and testing a new jet suit comes to a close:

“Interesting that DeSantis won by a razor thin margin, governs from the far-right with zero input from the other side and is crowned a hero by GOP leaders. Yet Biden won by a landslide and they shriek about compromise. Almost like it’s phony outrage drummed up to cling to power.” — Brandon Wolf

“George W. Bush and Donald Trump both lost the popular vote and governed like they had an unquestionable mandate to do what they wanted. Joe Biden won more votes than any candidate in U.S. history, and they act like he’s illegitimate unless he bends to the will of Republicans.” — Keith Boykin

Deaths

US: 600,533 (+386)

World: 3,404,279 (+10,976)

Cases

US: 33,747,439 (+31,488)

World: 164,272,595 (+556,456)

“Stat of the day: In the last 40 years, Democrats have controlled the White House and the US House for only 4 years. If folks want to better understand how our system has become so skewed to wealthy interests, this might be a clue.” — Simon Rosenberg

Some people still need to mask up even if vaccinated. Are you one of them? Then there is this warning: "If you have a condition or are taking medications that weaken your immune system, you may NOT be fully protected even if you are fully vaccinated. Talk to your healthcare provider," the CDC said in the new guidance. "Even after vaccination, you may need to continue taking all precautions."

Biden boosting world vaccine sharing commitment to 80M doses. President Joe Biden said Monday that the U.S. will share an additional 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines with the world in the coming six weeks as domestic demand for shots drops and global disparities in distribution have grown more evident.

Supreme Court takes up major abortion case next term that could limit Roe v. Wade. It will be a blockbuster case, with the justices revisiting an issue that still deeply divides the country some fifty years after the landmark opinion, and with a ruling potentially coming in the middle of the 2022 midterm elections. The case will thrust the court -- with a 6-3 conservative majority -- directly into the culture wars at a time when states across the country are attempting to pass more restrictive measures.

Most Americans want to see the Supreme Court uphold Roe v. Wade, polling shows. What has changed is the size of the partisan divide on the issue. Abortion has become increasingly polarized over the past 15 years, in large part because of growing support for legalized abortion among Democrats. Between 2007 and 2021, according to Pew, the share of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents supporting broadly legalized abortion rose 17 percentage points, to 80%, while the share of Republicans and Republican-leaners saying the same dipped by 4 points, falling to 35%.

Biden has a plan to fix America's broken bridges. It may not be big enough. More than 35,000 of the nation’s smallest bridges need repairs, three times the number the Biden administration has pledged to repair.

Manchin, Murkowski call on Congress to reauthorize Voting Rights Act. The letter is designed to show bipartisan support for bolstering voting access legislation. But it's not clear enough Republicans will get behind the bill.

“Don’t get the talk about GOP being divided. They are more United today than anytime since Lincoln. They are United around racism, suppressing the vote, abusing power, disinformation and the destruction of democracy.” -- Joe Lockhart

Arizona Republicans fight back against election fraud claims. The top Republicans in Arizona’s largest county gave an impassioned defense of their handling of the 2020 election Monday, calling on fellow members of the GOP and business leaders to speak out against an unprecedented partisan election audit. The GOP-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors cast the audit as a sham that’s spun out of the control of the state Senate leader who’s ostensibly overseeing it. Board Chairman Jack Sellers said Senate President Karen Fann is making an “attempt at legitimatizing a grift disguised as an audit.”

NYC Pride parade bans police; gay officers 'disheartened'. Police will be banned from marching in the huge annual parade until at least June 2025.

Biden just dethroned the Welfare Queen. But Biden is now boldly going where no contemporary Democratic president has gone before, and he's destroying one of the GOP's most effective political attacks in the process.

Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has signed into law a bill allowing death row inmates to elect execution by electric chair or firing squad if lethal injection drugs are not available.

Long working hours killing hundreds of thousands of people a year, WHO says. Working long hours is killing hundreds of thousands of people a year through stroke and heart disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The British Royal Navy and Royal Marines have tested out a jet suit developed by the company Gravity Industries. Gravity says its suit can fly up to 80 mph and climb to 12,000 feet in the air.

UFOs are very real, 60 Minutes reports, they're still unidentified, and they aren't American. Everyone Whitaker spoke with underscored that unidentified means just that, not yet identified, there's no evidence these phenomena are extraterrestrial, and they are a potential national security risk no matter who created them because the technology seems far beyond what the U.S. can currently produce.

Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.

Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.