COVID and flu cases increasing: https://www.aol.com/cdc-director-says-u-isnt-000149202.html . Flu is seasonal, and this is the season. COVID, however, continues to come in waves. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/health/jn1-covid-variant-symptoms-8b6d3681 .
Pandemic gear stockpile becoming trash: https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-ppe-stockpiles-masks-50bf7739fc9d69f4b991a14daadecaba . This stuff, of course, expires. We should therefore work to design and produce longer lasting materials for stockpile. For example, can’t we design a mask that can be laundered and reused?
Ozempic overdoses explode: https://www.aol.com/news/ozempic-overdose-poison-control-experts-130047041.html . Americans are phenomenal at finding a good thing and overusing it into a disaster.
Home sales rebound in November: https://apnews.com/article/housing-home-sales-real-estate-home-prices-edd304bc268e65652603ab006e759372 .
WSJ: Cracks in Hamas structure begin to show: https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hamas-palestinian-rivals-conduct-talks-about-governing-postwar-gaza-3058fce6 .
Will Gorsuch follow his prior opinion?: https://www.newsweek.com/neil-gorsuch-could-strike-death-knell-donald-trump-1853993 . The Colorado Supremes, likely aided by the plaintiffs, did their homework. I agree that the US Supreme Court is likely to avoid the issue here, which is a real tragedy for American democracy. But it is interesting that Gorsuch’s prior opinion, sitting as a federal judge in Colorado, leaves election regulation to Colorado. That is clearly the position of the US Constitution. Here is the Colorado Supreme Court’s opinion: https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/Court_Probation/Supreme_Court/Opinions/2023/23SA300.pdf . Gorsuch’s opinion is called out on pages 31-32. That opinion, Hassan v Colorado, is here: https://casetext.com/case/hassan-v-colorado . It is an easy case and a short opinion. The key holding is cited in full by the Colorado Supremes.
In short, the Colorado Supremes also recognize that the US Supreme Court will try to evade deciding this case, thereby keeping OJ on the ballot. They are expressly saying to Gorsuch, We did our duty as you stated it, now you do yours.
Neil Katyal predicts Supreme Court will uphold the Colorado opinion: https://www.alternet.org/supreme-court-will-uphold-disqualification/ . Katyal is a former law clerk of Justice Breyer, and highly respected. Here, I think Katyal is making the best argument he can for the result he wants. That’s different than predicting what the Court will do.
I do agree with Katyal that the Court will have to tie itself into knots to overturn the decision. The question is whether there are 5 votes to do that. I suspect there are, and if so Roberts will go along and make it 6-3. Also, Roberts owes his appointment to the Court as Chief Justice to the role he played in helping George W. Bush win Bush v Gore. He has a track record of calling the big ones for the GOP.
However, Justice Kagan, a former US Solicitor General who clerked for Thurgood Marshall, also has considerable persuasive powers. Can she perhaps sway Gorsuch and Kavanaugh to enforce the words of the Fourteenth Amendment? I think to get there, she has to neutralize Roberts, which is a tall order unless he already sees January 6 as an insurrection he cannot look away from.
George Conway agrees with the Colorado Supremes: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/the-colorado-ruling-changed-my-mind/ar-AA1lOtmi?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=fdef0d1f606b45ee88e27ef76481a8db&ei=49 . Like Conway, I find reading the dissents opens a window into the court’s deliberations. Here, the dissents do not raise significant federal issues. So that won’t help OJ at the US Supreme Court.
A bipartisan effort to stop No Labels (and Orange Julius): https://www.alternet.org/dems-republicans-no-labels/ . It is unquestionably true that any No Labels candidate has no chance of winning. As such, the likely outcome is to detract from Biden and throw the election to OJ.
Arlington Confederate Memorial removal proceeds: https://www.aol.com/news/federal-judge-rules-removal-confederate-130946476.html .
Webb Telescope: A new view of Uranus: https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/19/world/webb-uranus-rings-polar-cap-scn/index.html .