Wednesday, November 3, 2021

And another day of road maps, brutal nights, firsts in history, SCOTUS and guns, hospitals allowed to turn away patients, unvaxxed denied death benefits, life expectancy, carbon emissions back, and aromatherapy sprays comes to a close:

“Republicans won by creating a fake bogeyman and telling suburban voters they will defeat it. Dems didn't come out with a counter message. And there it is. Hats off to the depraved cynicism and villainy and race baiting. It worked in Virginia like we said it would.” — Wajahat Ali

“McAuliffe’s loss in a state Biden just won by over 10% raises an important question: how do we blame progressives?” — Ken Klippenstein

Deaths

US: 770,854 (+2057)

World: 5,036,586 (+8477)

Cases

US: 47,105,468 (+107,369)

World: 248,794,397 (+534,287)

Youngkin's win in blue Virginia offers Republicans a 2022 road map. The Republican took a nationalized issue — critical race theory — and localized it, while neither embracing nor repudiating Trump. -- In other words, they embraced racism.

House GOP campaign arm expands target list after brutal night for Dems. The newest additions to the House Republicans' target list include Reps. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), Frank Mrvan (D-Ind.), David Trone (D-Md.), G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), Annie Kuster (D-N.H.), Teresa Leger-Fernández (D-N.M.), Madeleine Dean (D-Penn.), and Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.).

Asian Americans will serve as mayor in Boston and Cincinnati for the first time in both cities’ histories, signaling political progress for a population that has struggled for almost two years with a rise in anti-Asian hate. Boston voters tapped City Councilor Michelle Wu, 36, on Tuesday to serve in the city’s top political office. In Cincinnati, Aftab Pureval, 39, easily defeated former Democratic Congressman David Mann.

Diversity plan opponents win control of school board in Southlake, Texas. The election made Southlake one of the first places in the country where candidates running on an anti-critical race theory platform have taken a school board majority. In Southlake, Texas, where parents have been feuding for more than a year over a school district’s proposal to address racism, candidates supported by a conservative political action committee won majority control of the school board Tuesday, clearing the way for the board to officially kill the polarizing diversity plan.

“The professors are the enemy.” -- J.D. Vance

(Editorial: They are showing us who they are. Believe them when they say shit like this.)

Supreme Court appears skeptical of New York law limiting handguns in public. A majority of Supreme Court justices seemed inclined Wednesday to rule that the Constitution provides a right to carry a gun outside the home, but willing to allow restrictions on guns in crowded public places. After two hours of oral argument, the court appeared skeptical of a New York law that requires showing a special need to get a permit for carrying a concealed handgun in public. The court's conservatives suggested they believe the law violates the Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms."

Colorado hospitals allowed to turn away patients amid Covid-19 surge. An order signed Sunday by Gov. Jared Polis gives health care professionals the authority to prioritize crisis care under the direction of the state health department.

Families could be denied death benefits if their unvaccinated loved one dies. These days, workers who refuse to get vaccinated against covid-19 may face financial repercussions, from higher health insurance premiums to loss of their jobs. Now, the financial fallout might follow workers beyond the grave. If they die of covid and weren't vaccinated, their families may not get death benefits they would otherwise have received.

Life expectancy fell sharply in the U.S. last year among high-income countries. The study, published Wednesday in The BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal), assessed premature death in 37 countries, comparing observed life expectancy in 2020 with what would have been expected for the year based on historical trends from 2005-2019. Life expectancy dropped in 31 of these countries during the pandemic. The U.S. trend was among the worst. U.S. men saw life expectancy fall by nearly 2.3 years. Women lost more than 1.6 years of life expectancy.

Globe bounces back to nearly 2019 carbon pollution levels. The dramatic drop in carbon dioxide emissions from the pandemic lockdown has pretty much disappeared in a puff of coal-fired smoke, much of it from China, a new scientific study found.

CDC updates health warning for aromatherapy spray. Federal agencies widened recalls and warnings to doctors Wednesday about aromatherapy sprays that have been linked to fatal cases of a rare tropical disease. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said doctors should be on the lookout for symptoms of melioidosis -- a difficult-to-diagnose infection caused by the bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei -- and should ask patients about whether they've used certain sprays.

The mystery of the whale skeletons in the world’s driest desert. A trove of fossils in the Atacama Desert may hold lessons about the plight of modern whales.

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

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