COVID Southern surge continues: https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-health-texas-coronavirus-pandemic-kentucky-9e89fcef6ef184baa4703a47d2aefab6 .
Tennessee now has highest COVID cases per capita: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/tennessee/articles/2021-09-14/tennessee-covid-19-cases-climb-to-top-in-the-country . Note that cases have expanded exponentially among children (school openings). They have now spread the disease back to the adult community. More than 1% of the population has tested positive for COVID in the past week. This is exactly the pattern this newsletter has been predicting. It is so discouraging to see states fail to grasp and protect against the obvious.
DeMentis doubles and triples down betting against vaccine mandates, threatens fines: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/florida-gov-desantis-threatens-heavy-fines-local-governments-impose-vaccine-n1279113 . Why would you stop governments from protecting their employees? Personal political gain is the only rationale, disgusting as that is. A young girl from Florida commented today that the mall has a mask mandate, and she feels safer there than at school. DeMentis’ behavior is child endangerment.
Care rationing under COVID: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ray-demonia-alabama-death-cardiac-event-icu-full/ . We will never know if this man could have survived without the 200-mile transfer. For sure, though, he is not the only person whose access to care has been restricted by COVID.
Alaska’s largest hospital rations care: https://www.yahoo.com/news/alaskas-largest-hospital-implements-crisis-021914480.html .
WSJ: The flu season approaches: https://www.wsj.com/articles/flu-season-2021-2022-what-to-know-11631550099 . Gee, here’s another reason for a mask mandate. Oh wait, reasons are only for rational people.
WSJ: UK tries another one-step approach to controlling COVID: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-bets-on-covid-19-booster-shots-to-avoid-winter-lockdowns-11631640575 . How many times does the world have to make the same mistake? Public health involves multi-pronged strategies.
Supply control of antibody treatment by the feds: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/14/biden-covid-antibody-treatments-511825 . These treatments are expensive. Disproportionate need is being created by southern states that stand in the way of vaccine and mask mandates. Again, the GOP is killing people to score political points with the survivors.
Two judges temporarily block two New York vaccination mandates from taking effect: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ny-vaccine-requirements-for-teachers-health-workers-on-hold/ar-AAOrcgW?li=BBnb7Kz . This article gives further development of the use of cells from aborted fetuses, an issue discussed here yesterday. These plaintiffs argue that some of the cell lines used in testing all of the vaccines are derived from the cells of aborted fetuses. That is a factual issue on which I do not know the answer. If true, there is then the additional issue of whether this connection to the plaintiffs’ opposition to abortion is sufficient to create a religious exemption.
COVID relief staved off poverty for millions of Americans: https://apnews.com/article/business-health-coronavirus-pandemic-poverty-covid-19-pandemic-a1ba01f49c641ce1da8b21cc54d8b1ff . Translation: The Democrats have to pass their reconciliation bill.
DOJ files another federal lawsuit against Texas abortion law: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/15/texas-abortion-law-justice-department/ (link replaced 10/20/21). The lynchpin in this mess is the Texas law’s attempt to avoid government enforcement by authorizing private citizens to sue those facilitating abortions. There are two huge problems here. First, there is nothing about this enforcement mechanism which limits it to abortion. States could use it to pass restrictive gun laws, for example. Second, Roe v. Wade remains the law of the land, and this law denies Texas women their rights under that ruling.
Texas abortion law is just a preliminary to the main event: the Mississippi abortion law: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mississippi-abortion-law-supreme-court-argument/ .
COVID policies may keep Newsom in office: https://news.yahoo.com/with-newsom-poised-to-win-california-recall-another-indication-covid-politics-may-be-starting-to-favor-democrats-over-republicans-163714498.html . In this article, Ashish Jha points out that Florida’s mortality rates are higher than California’s. As Florida’s overall vaccination rates are only slightly lower than California’s, Jha concludes that the DeMentis policies have killed 11,000 more Floridians since this April than Newsom’s approach would have. The article provides detailed polling results showing that Californians place blame for the trajectory of the current pandemic primarily on the unvaccinated and the failure to follow basic public health protocols.
As this newsletter has argued from the beginning, Orange Julius’ anti-science, “inject bleach” lunacy was not governance. The lockstep behavior of GOP governors behind the Orange Furor is also not governance. Donald Trump is a mass murderer. So is Ron DeSantis. And Greg Abbott. So too are Kristi Noem and almost all of the other GOP governors. The GOP policies are literally a dead end. The Orange Julius version of the GOP is unfit to govern. We must do everything possible to remove these losers from power.
UPDATE: The recall has apparently failed, according to multiple network projections: https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2021/09/15/california-gov-gavin-newsom-stays-in-power-as-recall-fails/ (link replaced 10/20/21). FURTHER UPDATE: Early returns have Newsom defeating the recall 68% to 32%, or more than 2 to 1: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/recall-live-updates-newsom-keeps-his-job/ar-AAOqxtb?li=BBnb7Kz . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/california-recall-effort-fails-gavin-newsom-remains-governor-11631678768 . With 2/3 of the vote tabulated, Newsom still leads by more than 2 to 1, 66.8% to 33.2%. So this is for sure over, except for the election fraud claims. Nice move, OJ.
Breaking news today confirms that Orange Julius was widely believed to be mentally unstable within his own administration: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/new-woodward-book-says-top-u-s-officer-feared-trump-could-order-china-strike . Bob Costa stepped away from PBS’ Washington Week and other responsibilities to work on this book with his Washington Post colleague Bob Woodward. We now have a clearer idea why. Meanwhile, Orange Julius remains obsessed with the idea that the election was stolen from him. “Obsessed” here means detached from reality. Of course he is mentally unstable – who doesn’t see that?
Meanwhile, Mike Pence called another sage from Indiana, former VP Dan “Potatoe” Quayle, to see if he could refuse to certify the election. Seriously, who is there at the top of the GOP that anyone would consider as functioning with integrity? Mitch McConnell? Rand Paul? Ted Cruz? This is indeed an ongoing battle for the soul of the nation.
Orange Julius advisers warned of missteps on their handling of COVID through private emails: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/572139-former-trump-advisors-used-private-emails-to-warn-of-critical-mistakes-in . “We know OJ is lying, we can minimize the damage by telling the truth.” But they didn’t.
Georgia billboard hails Orange Julius as the second coming of Jesus Christ: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/billboard-hailing-donald-trump-as-second-coming-of-jesus-appears-in-georgia/ar-AAOqxEH?li=BBnb7Kz . Um, so this time around Jesus is a narcissistic liar? Well, he’s not the only delusional one.
School vaccine campaigns targeting students face objections: https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-health-education-alabama-coronavirus-pandemic-f87785c4bee1a4c6ba841670c2aabb4d . It’s interesting that 8 states allow providers to waive parental consent requirements – 3 in the Pacific Northwest and 5 in the Southeast. Molalla is an exurb of Portland.
WSJ: Asia confirms US COVID strategy is what not to do: https://www.wsj.com/articles/asias-covid-19-success-stories-warily-ponder-post-vaccination-moves-11631611801 . Hmm, my headline seems to be very different from the Journal. Any moron could see that early re-opening leads to disastrous stops and starts. I guess the Journal hasn’t hired that moron because they already have so many on the payroll.
WSJ: The globe tries to organize against coal support: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-europe-seek-to-end-export-financing-for-coal-11631613601 .
Kroger targets half-hour grocery delivery: https://www.wsj.com/articles/kroger-instacart-aim-for-30-minute-grocery-delivery-11631610000 . Right. Look for a rash of accidents between grocery deliverers and pizza deliverers.
Norm Macdonald passes: https://people.com/tv/saturday-night-lives-norm-macdonald-dead-at-61-following-private-cancer-battle/ . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/comedian-norm-macdonald-dies-of-cancer-11631649196 .