Friday, July 15, 2022

And another day of House votes, why America is divided on abortion, wondering what qualifies for an abortion, House Rs plotting revenge, Manchin being Manchin, the growing monkeypox outbreak, UK ‘red’ warning for hot weather, unaffordable housing, and a ‘heartbeat’ from space comes to a close:

“Gentle reminder: You may not do politics, But politics does you, every day of your life.” — Sue Stone

“A white man with a gun showed up to Rep. Jayapal’s house and told her to go “back to India” and that he’d kill her. Somehow, Brett Kavanaugh not being able to eat a chocolate cookie at a restaurant got more coverage.” — Santiago Mayer

“Our individualized perspective to public health ruined our ability to control diseases.” — Dr. Theresa Chapple

Deaths

US: 1,048,693

World: 6,385,778

Cases

US: 91,170,571

World: 566,317,183

Deposition of Trump, 2 children delayed after Ivana’s death. The ex-president, son Donald Jr. and daughter Ivanka had been scheduled for depositions — a term for out-of-court questioning under oath — starting as soon as Friday. But New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office said it had agreed to postpone them because of Ivana Trump’s death, announced Thursday.

House votes to restore abortion rights, Senate odds dim. The legislation passed 219-210. The House also passed a second bill to prohibit punishment for a woman or child who decides to travel to another state to get an abortion, 223-205.

Why is America so divided on abortion? Because a key conservative player planned it that way. Professor Balmer said abortion would become the "rallying cry" of the burgeoning religious right. "I've often described abortion as a godsend for the religious right, because it allowed them to divert attention from the real origins of their movement and those origins... lie in a defence of racial segregation," he said…"Abortion becomes a central issue because misogyny is just so deeply entrenched in American political culture as well as in conservative Christianity," she said…Ms Ebin said the right is not trying to move the US back in time, but instead forward into a new era. "It's not just trying to stop or roll back what the left has done, it's actually trying to transform the political institutions and political culture," she said. The religious right was made in the battle over access to abortion rights, but now experts believe there is a much broader war being waged and other personal freedoms, as well as American democracy, are all on the line.

Anti-Choice Lawyer Says Raped 10-Year-Old Should Have Been Forced to Have Baby. — These people are fucking demented.

How Close to Death Does a Person Have to Be to Qualify for An Abortion Ban Exemption? That immense power comes from the constitutional principle of “preemption”: When federal and state laws conflict, federal laws win. Preemption is why no state can allow employers to pay less than $7.25 per hour, the federal minimum wage. And it’s the key to any Biden administration plan to fight state abortion restrictions...Wisconsin’s law, written in 1849, allows abortions to “save the life of the mother.” “Where’s that line?” Cutler asks. “How close does a patient need to be? On the brink of death for me to step in and intervene? What if I wait too long and she dies in front of me? Or what if in the eyes of some prosecutor who’s not a doctor, not at the bedside, not staring at the patient bleeding or infected in front of them—to them, what if I intervene too soon, and I’m charged and risk going to prison?” EMTALA, passed in 1986, offers doctors a clearer-cut answer...Perhaps predictably, Texas has already thrown a wrench in this process. On Thursday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Becerra, alleging that the new EMTALA guidance creates an “abortion mandate” and would “transform every emergency room in the country into a walk-in abortion clinic.” This is obviously hyperbole. “The guidance just reminds hospitals that under EMTALA, they have an obligation to provide life-stabilizing treatment, and in some cases, that may be abortion,” Chernoby argues...In this way, the lawsuit sets up a battle over preemption and the federal power to protect abortion. “The state is claiming that there is no preemption, the feds can’t come in, that the states have the power to make all these laws and regulations and that there is no role for the federal government when it comes to abortion regulations,” Chernoby says. -- And I have no faith that if this goes to the current Supreme Court, that “preemption” will prevail. It’ll be every state for themselves about literally everything. There will be no “United” States of America.

Reps. Ocasio-Cortez and Lieu are calling on the Senate to determine whether Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath about their views on Roe v. Wade. "Multiple Supreme Court Justices misled the American people during their confirmation hearings about their views on Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood," they said in the letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. "At least two of them, Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, directly lied to Senators." "We respect the right of individual Justices to have their own views on various constitutional issues," they added. "But we cannot have a system where Justices lie about their views in order to get confirmed. That makes a mockery of the confirmation power, and of the separation of powers."

Rubio proposes child support regulations beginning at conception. Under the bill, mothers would be able to request child support from the month of conception onward, but would not be required to do so. Mothers would also be able to choose whether to collect child support payments retroactively through the month of conception, including if paternity is only established after the birth of the child.

House Republicans plot investigative revenge on January 6 panel as Trump itches for payback. The former President has been itching for payback and leaning heavily on his Capitol Hill allies to defend him against a recent slew of damaging revelations about his role in the deadly attack on the US Capitol. Now, as Republicans search for ways to undermine those findings, their party has started to lay the groundwork to investigate the select committee itself...Meanwhile, some of Trump’s fiercest acolytes have started to publicly push for hearings and probes into his baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 election – even as the select committee reveals an avalanche of testimony about how those lies incited a violent mob to attack the Capitol. -- We will lose our democracy if the GOP gains control of Congress. 

Manchin rejects climate and tax provisions in Democrats' spending package. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) delivered a serious blow to ongoing Senate negotiations for a Democratic budget package, telling Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday that he will not support a bill that includes climate or tax provisions — leaving slimmed-down legislation focused on healthcare. The West Virginia Democrat favors a bill that would lower prescription drug prices and extend for two years health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which would prevent premium increases that many states are set to announce next month, according to a Democrat briefed on the conversation.

Biden tells Dems to quickly pass pared-down economic package. President Joe Biden seemed to bow Friday to Sen. Joe Manchin’s demand for a slimmed-down economic package, telling Democrats to quickly push the election-year measure through Congress so families could “sleep easier” and enjoy the health care savings it proposes.

CDC expects monkeypox outbreak to grow as total cases surpass 1,400 and vaccine demand outstrips supply. Walensky said the agency expects cases to increase through July and August since symptoms of the virus usually start within three weeks of exposure. People who don’t yet know they’re infected will likely seek medical attention and get tested in the coming weeks.

One in 18 has Covid in the UK. Nearly 3.5 million people, or one in 18, has the virus - that's up from 2.7m, or one in 25, the week before. The rise is being driven by fast-spreading sub-variants of Omicron, called BA.4 and BA.5. People are still able to catch the infection even if they have had Covid before.

Arizona communities would 'collapse' without cheap prison labor, Corrections director says. Sen. David Gowan asked Shinn about the nature of the work the prisoners do at the Florence West prison. In Arizona, all people in state prisons are forced to work 40 hours a week with exceptions for prisoners with health care conditions and other conflicting programming schedules. Some prisoners earn just 10 cents an hour for their work. — Slavery is alive and well in the state of Arizona.

House passes legislation that would create an Amber-alert-like system for active shooter situations. Nearly all votes in opposition were Republicans, with the exception of Democratic Rep. Ron Kind, of Wisconsin, who is not running for reelection. Forty-three Republicans voted in favor of the measure. — 168 Republicans voted against it. That’s 80% of House Republicans voting against it. “Pro-life” party, my ass.

New 988 hotline is the 911 for mental health emergencies. Quick help for suicidal thoughts and other mental health emergencies may soon be as easy as 9-8-8. The United States’ first nationwide three-digit mental health crisis hotline goes live on Saturday. It’s designed to be as easy to remember and use as 911, but instead of a dispatcher sending police, firefighters or paramedics, 988 will connect callers with trained mental health counselors.

Uber sued by more than 500 women over sexual assault claims. The complaint, filed Wednesday, claims that “women passengers in multiple states were kidnapped, sexually assaulted, sexually battered, raped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, harassed, or otherwise attacked” by their Uber drivers.

UK issues 1st-ever 'red' warning for hot weather next week. Britain’s Met Office issued its first ever “red” warning for exceptional heat, saying record temperatures early next week will put even healthy people at risk of serious illness and death. The warning covers Monday and Tuesday, when temperatures in England may reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time, the agency said. The highest temperature ever recorded in the U.K. is 38.7C (101.7F), set in 2019.

New study rates Texas as 2nd worst state to live in the country, 5th best for business. The team behind the study graded Texas an "F" in the life, health and inclusion category. They found that "skilled workers are still flocking to the state despite longstanding quality of life issues…. But when they arrived, they are finding limited childcare options, a stressed health care system with the highest rate of uninsured, new curbs on voting rights, and few protections against discrimination."

Amazon admits to giving Ring videos to police without permission. Amazon has provided footage from Ring video cameras to police without permission from owners or a court warrant 11 times this year, the company acknowledged in a letter to Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). Brian Huseman, Amazon’s vice president of public policy, said in the letter dated July 1 that Ring complied with those requests from law enforcement after making a “good-faith determination” about risk.

Average rent in Manhattan jumps to a record $5,000 a month. The median monthly rent paid by a tenant for a condo or coop in Manhattan climbed to $4,050 in June, up nearly 25% from a year ago and setting a new record high for the fifth month in a row, according to a report from brokerage firm Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers and Consultants. The median rent -- which is the mid-point of all rents -- just rose above $4,000 a month for the first time in May. The average monthly rent -- which is the sum of all rents divided by the number of rents included in the data -- was even higher at $5,058 in June. That's up nearly 30% from a year ago and marked the first time the average has gone above $5,000 a month.

Some schools build affordable housing to retain teachers. Tenants at the school district complex can stay up to five years, hopefully using the time to save up for a down payment on a house. But those too are becoming more difficult to buy. A 2016 study by Redfin found that only 20% of homes for sale across major U.S. metro areas were affordable on an average teacher’s salary of $62,800, down from 34% in 2012.

Co-ed sex ed classes prompt protests in Virginia. Students in Virginia are calling on school administrators to combine genders in their Family Life Education, or sex education, courses. Fairfax County schools currently hold sex education classes that separate students into two genders during the fourth through eighth grades. The Family Life Education Curriculum Advisory Committee issued a number of recommendations in May, including a mix in genders in sex education classes during grades four through eighth.

Any amount of alcohol is unhealthy for people under 40, study finds. “Our message is simple: young people should not drink, but older people may benefit from drinking small amounts,” the study’s senior author said.

Scientists have picked up a radio signal 'heartbeat' billions of light-years away. Scientists have not been able to pinpoint the exact location of the radio waves yet, but suspect the source could be neutron stars, which are made from collapsed cores of giant stars. The signals have been occurring steadily and last up to three seconds, researchers say. Most fast radio bursts, or FRBs, only last a few milliseconds. "Within this window, the team detected bursts of radio waves that repeat every 0.2 seconds in a clear periodic pattern, similar to a beating heart," MIT said in a statement.

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

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