Stop the Idiocracy

Monday, August 16, 2021

Useless nationalist populists pointing the finger of blame at President Biden on Afghanistan is par for the course; they have nothing else to fall back on

The only modus operandi the nationalist populist right has these days is to blame the president for anything and everything; in the case of Afghanistan, conveniently forgetting it was their orange savior who was president the last four years and who did next-to-nothing to shore up our Afghan allies, and even signed a treaty with the Taliban. Of course, now Republicans are backtracking, deleting a webpage that celebrated Trump’s aforementioned Taliban deal, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claiming they ‘never trusted’ the Taliban. Throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks is all these fire-breathing malcontents have to counter President Biden. Sad to say, by this time next week most everyone will have forgotten Afghanistan - that's just the way our news cycle and our short attention spans work now. But whether it’s Afghanistan, COVID-19, the situation at the southern border, infrastructure, health care, so forth, all the right can do is assign blame. They’re damn good at that, but they’ve proven time and again they are lousy at coming up with their own solutions.

Kabul falls to the Taliban

Jim Huylebroek/NYT

Afghanistan: It is absolutely tragic. And, yet, I don't think we have anything left to give them, and President Biden has made the same calculation. Contrary to the popular narrative, I do believe we could have ‘won’ had we actually fought to win during the window of opportunity we had in the period of 2001-06-ish. For the past fifteen years it has all been futile. Politically correct warfare will never bring about victory or peace, and that is exactly why Afghanistan is right back where it started twenty years ago. End of story.

New York Times - Kabul's sudden fall to the Taliban ends U.S. era in Afghanistan

CNBC - Chaotic scenes at Kabul airport Afghans and foreign nationals flee Taliban

Washington Post - Afghan security forces’ wholesale collapse was years in the making. An except -

'(A)ccording to documents obtained for the forthcoming Washington Post book “The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War,” U.S. military officials privately harbored fundamental doubts for the duration of the war that the Afghan security forces could ever become competent or shed their dependency on U.S. money and firepower. “Thinking we could build the military that fast and that well was insane,” an unnamed former U.S. official told government interviewers in 2016.
Those fears, rarely expressed in public, were ultimately borne out by the sudden collapse this month of the Afghan security forces, whose wholesale and unconditional surrender to the Taliban will go down as perhaps the worst debacle in the history of proxy warfare. (Read more)

IANS - $88 billion spent on Afghan forces which surrendered without a fight to Taliban

Saturday, August 14, 2021

Former Tennessee vaccinations director to leave the state following harassment and threats from residents

Getty Images

It should never be the case, anywhere in America, that a medical professional feels unsafe to practice their profession due to the passions of local zealots rejecting reality and reason. Straight out of the Dark Ages. Via the AP -

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The husband of Tennessee’s former vaccinations director says they are planning to move out of the state this fall amid growing tension over efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
Their move to northern Virginia was in the works before a contentious school board meeting that he took part in Tuesday to discuss mask mandates, Brad Fiscus told WPLN-FM.
Fiscus is a school board member in Williamson County, where protesters held signs with messages saying, “I will not let you muzzle my child,” and “My child, my choice.” Some had to be escorted out by law enforcement. The county is just south of Nashville.
Fiscus said the meeting was another example of why they feel they have to move — that public health has become more political in Tennessee during the pandemic.
His wife, Dr. Michelle Fiscus, was fired this summer amid Republican outrage over her push to inoculate teenagers against Covid-19. (Read more)

NPR: Biden set on Afghanistan withdrawal, even with Taliban gains

Getty Images

Yes, the end result of the occupation of Afghanistan would be the same had America withdrawn ten years ago, or if it were to stay for another ten years. For America and the West, this was never really a war so much as a peacekeeping mission, with predictably futile results. If the missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere in the Middle East had not been focused so much on peacekeeping, but instead on utter destruction of Islamist scum, America could walk away its head held high. Our forces could have scorched the earth over there, if their leaders had let them. Instead, America and NATO walk away in shame, another blemish on this military empire’s reputation. For the Afghani people, their death warrant has been signed. Leaders have to make hard decisions, and the one President Biden had to make on Afghanistan will rank among the most consequential decisions any president has had to make in modern times. I do not envy him for having to do this. Via NPR -

President Biden promised that the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan would not be a hasty rush to the exits.
It would be responsible, deliberate and safe.
But clearly he and his administration misjudged the speed with which the Afghan forces would collapse and the Taliban would take control.
"The jury is still out. But the likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely," Biden said on July 8, but just a month later that appears to be exactly what's happening.
As fears rise of the Kabul government collapsing, Biden now has to send 3,000 troops back to Afghanistan on a temporary mission to help evacuate most of the American embassy in Kabul and Afghan civilians who supported the U.S.
The move has led to more questions about whether the United States was mistaken by withdrawing so quickly, but Biden said this week Afghans "must fight for themselves" as the U.S. military remains on track for a full withdrawal by the end of August. (Read more)

Friday, August 13, 2021

Do Christians need to divorce themselves from politics?

I am a lousy example of a Christian, but a Christian all the same. Without question, politics have corrupted American Christianity. Most loudly and prominently on the right, and their having replaced Jesus with a sleazy New York City real estate developer as their savior. Then there are the churches flocking to the other extreme, and embracing the ‘woke’ agenda. Here in the Boston area, we don’t have very much in the way of the right-wing Christian activity that is so prevalent in much of this country. Well, the Catholic Church, of course, but they’re an entirely different breed than the evangelical Southerners and Midwesterners. And as heavily Catholic as this region is, most lay Catholics are not at all observant, aside from a special occasion, perhaps. There are plenty of Protestant churches, though, and seemingly all of them will have the rainbow flag displayed in front. The church I was born into - the Episcopalians – is exceedingly liberal today. Which is, in of itself, all fine and good; nobody is being forced to attend any of these places, after all, and the LGBTQ community should have a place to belong and practice their faith. But then, there doesn’t seem to be much emphasis on Jesus in these churches, either. In the years I was working the 12-step circuit, I regularly was in a lot of these places, and got something of a feel for what’s going on there. It’s not your grandmother’s old-time religion, that’s for certain. But the bigger question I pose now to anyone reading this: Should the church withdraw from the political scene? Prior to the 1970s, we did not see too much in the way of church involvement in politics. This only really began to change with the rise of the Moral Majority around the time of Reagan’s election. Have things really improved as a result of Christians becoming political creatures? Or just the opposite? Post-Trump, it would very much appear to be the latter, but I digress ...

Thursday, August 12, 2021

Shades of Saigon, 1975: U.S. Marines preparing to evacuate the American embassy in Kabul in anticipation of the Taliban taking the city

Kabul. Photo: AP

American Military News -

The Pentagon is moving thousands of U.S. Marines into position to be ready to evacuate U.S. Embassy staff and Kabul, Afghanistan in anticipation of the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsing within 30 days, the New York Times reported, citing administration and military officials.
The Associated Press also reported, based on comments from a U.S. official, that the U.S. is sending additional troops into the country to help evacuate some embassy personnel.
The New York Times, citing two more U.S. officials, reported the U.S. is trying to get assurances from the Taliban that they will not attack the U.S. Embassy if they overrun the Afghan capital.
Reuters reported, according to three U.S. officials, that the State Department is expected to announce the relocation of a “significant” number of its Kabul embassy employees amid rapid Taliban territorial gains in Afghanistan.
The reports of evacuation plans came on the same day the U.S. Embassy issued an official advisory, telling Americans in Afghanistan to leave the country immediately through a commercial airline flight. (Read more)

Mass. 'sober home' operator charged with sexual harassment of female occupants

Lynn, MA. Photo: Boston Globe

The vast ‘recovery’ industry is almost entirely run by scam artists and criminals. Probably one of the biggest scams going on in this country today, which is really saying something. Just in the Boston area alone, over the last few years there have been several of these ‘sober home’ operators who have run afoul of the law and taken advantage of the alcoholics and junkies in their care. The Lynn Daily Item -

LYNN — The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division filed a lawsuit on Wednesday alleging that Peter McCarthy, of Lynn — who operates residential sober homes through his company, Steps to Solutions Inc. — committed acts of sexual harassment and retaliation toward female tenants, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
The lawsuit alleges that from 2012 through 2019, McCarthy, 49, sexually harassed female residents of his sober homes by offering to reduce or forgive rent, granting extra house privileges or waiving security deposits in exchange for engaging in sexual acts; requesting sexually-explicit photographs and indicating that he would reduce or waive rent in exchange for the images; making unwanted sexual comments; and retaliating and taking adverse housing actions against residents who reported his conduct.
Acting U.S. Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell said it is disappointing that a landlord — who is supposed to be helping vulnerable women beat drug addiction — was allegedly sexually harassing them and offering to reduce their rent in exchange for sex.
“Thankfully, the Fair Housing Act gives us effective tools to stop such despicable conduct and protect those who are being preyed upon,” Mendell said. “People who have experienced this kind of sexual harassment might be reluctant to report it, but we need to hear from them. Reporting sexual harassment is essential to stop and prevent sexual harassment.”
The lawsuit seeks a court order to prevent future discriminatory conduct, as well as monetary damages to compensate the victims. (Read more)

Dr. Fauci: Everybody will need a COVID booster shot eventually, but only the immunocompromised need them right now

Photo: Reuters

Nothing but respect for Dr. Fauci and all the medical officials leading the way, as this is getting frustrating. And I’m sure all of our health officials are very frustrated that people continue to spread this virus even as we’ve known how to mitigate the spread this entire time: Wash one’s hands, keep one’s distance from each other, and wear a mask. It’s really this simple, but Americans prefer to whine about their ‘freedom’ and engage in conspiracy theories instead of just doing what needs to be done. CNBC -

White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday everybody will someday “likely” need a booster shot of the Covid-19 vaccines.
“We’re already starting to see indications of some diminution” in the durability of the vaccines, Fauci told “CBS This Morning.”
However, he said it’s not likely that they will be widely administered any time soon. The priority, Fauci said, is to give boosters to people who have compromised immune systems, including those with cancer and transplanted organs.
“We don’t feel at this particular point that, apart from the immune-compromised, we don’t feel we need to give boosters right now,” he said.
Fauci’s comments come the same day the Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize third Covid shot for people with weakened immune systems, a highly anticipated move intended to shield some of the most vulnerable Americans from the highly contagious delta variant.
Such people, including cancer and HIV patients, represent only about 2.7% of the U.S. adult population but make up about 44% of hospitalized Covid breakthrough cases, which is when a fully vaccinated individual becomes infected, according to recent data from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory group. (Read more)

The inevitable fallout of U.S. and NATO troops withdrawing from Afghanistan

Photo: Getty Images

Jihadis are emboldened and conflagration is about to overtake the region. -

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Taliban’s blitz of Afghan territory expanded on Wednesday, with the insurgents asserting control over nine of the country’s 34 provincial capitals.
Afghan and U.S. officials have warned of catastrophic violence in the war-torn country of 39 million as the deadline approaches for all U.S. troops to withdraw by the end of August.
Nader Nadery, a senior member of the Afghan Peace Negotiation Team, expressed grave concern over the rapidly worsening situation while speaking to CNBC on Wednesday.
“If the Taliban advances militarily, the region will be burned. This war will not be contained within the borders of Afghanistan,” Nadery told CNBC.
Asked what he saw as the most immediate danger to the international community, Nadery, who lived through decades of turmoil in Afghanistan, described a potential swell in terrorist activity far beyond the country fueled by a sense of victory over Western forces. (Read more)

CBS/AP: Man says he killed his kids over QAnon conspiracy theories and ‘serpent DNA,’ fearing they'd become ‘monsters’

Photo: CBS Los Angeles

Words fail me as to how cruel and incomprehensible life can be. A right-wing death cult warps the mind of a seemingly normal family man, and now his two children are dead. -

Los Angeles — A California surfing school owner was charged Wednesday with killing his two young children with a spear gun in Mexico because he believed they would become monsters, authorities said.
Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, of Santa Barbara is facing a federal charge of the foreign murder of U.S. nationals, the U.S. attorney's office said in a statement.
Coleman confessed to the FBI during an interview that he took his 2-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter to Rosarito, Mexico, where shot a "spear fishing gun" into their chests, according to an affidavit filed by an FBI agent with the criminal complaint.
Coleman said "he believed his children were going to grow into monsters so he had to kill them," according to the court document.
A farmworker found the children's bodies on Monday at a ranch near Rosarito in Baja California, authorities there have said. (Read more)

Monday, August 9, 2021

Mandatory vaccinations for all active-duty U.S. troops could begin in September

Photo: Kenny Holston/NYT

The New York Times -

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will seek to make coronavirus vaccinations mandatory for the country’s 1.3 million active-duty troops “no later” than the middle of next month, the Biden administration announced on Monday.

Officials initially said the shots could be required by the end of August to help stop the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. But they decided to wait, bowing to concerns expressed by White House officials about putting a mandate in place for troops before the Food and Drug Administration granted full approval for the vaccine.

The secretary of defense, Lloyd J. Austin III, said in a memo to the staff on Monday that he would seek to speed up a mandate if the F.D.A. approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine before the middle of September, which the agency aims to do. In the meantime, he told the services to begin preparing the force for mandatory vaccinations.

But the middle of September is more than five weeks away, and even then, the administration has not put a deadline in place for when troops must be fully vaccinated. (Read more)

Two Florida school districts defy DeSantis, refuse to allow students to opt out of mask mandate

Photo: Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images

Did any kids and/or their parents demand to opt out of the polio vaccination in the ‘50s? How well would that have gone over with the general public at that time? In 2021, and in a state of emergency, it is absurd any old idiot can just invoke God and be allowed to have their kids spreading a plague. I say that as a (very flawed) Christian. The GOP is a party of mass insanity now, perhaps more so in Florida than anywhere else. Via ABC News -

Risking financial consequences from the state of Florida, two school district superintendents are refusing to allow parents to opt their children out of district-wide mask mandates without a medical reason.
Doing so directly defies an emergency rule issued Friday by the Florida Department of Health, which mandates that parents be allowed to stop their children from wearing masks in the classroom.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, in an executive order issued on July 30, gave the state education commissioner the green light to deny money to districts that don’t comply with rules to protect “parents’ rights ... to make health care decisions for their minor children.”
Some of Florida’s largest school districts, seemingly spooked by the threat of losing money, are allowing parents to opt their children out of mask mandates.
But superintendents Rocky Hanna and Carlee Simon, of Leon and Alachua Counties, are forcing the state’s hand.
In a press conference Monday, Hanna cited the need to keep students safe, as Florida reports increased numbers of infections of COVID-19 and hospital admissions in children.
The state has the highest number of confirmed pediatric hospitalizations from the virus, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services. (Read more)

‘Code Red for humanity’

Photo: EPA

Another piece of good news to brighten your Monday. Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

Human activity is changing the climate in unprecedented and sometimes irreversible ways, a major UN scientific report has said.
The landmark study warns of increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and flooding, and a key temperature limit being broken in just over a decade.
The report "is a code red for humanity", says the UN chief.
But scientists say a catastrophe can be avoided if the world acts fast.
There is hope that deep cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases could stabilise rising temperatures.
Echoing the scientists' findings, UN Secretary General António Guterres said: "If we combine forces now, we can avert climate catastrophe. But, as today's report makes clear, there is no time for delay and no room for excuses. I count on government leaders and all stakeholders to ensure COP26 is a success."
The sober assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) features in a 42-page document known as the Summary for Policymakers.
It leads a series of reports that will be published over coming months and is the first major review of the science of climate change since 2013. Its release comes less than three months before a key climate summit in Glasgow known as COP26.
The IPCC is a UN body set up in 1988 to assess the science around climate change, and provides governments with scientific information.
In strong, confident tones, the IPCC's document says "it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, oceans and land". (Read more)

The White House cracks down on the border as migrant arrests soar to 21-year-high and the Delta variant surges

Photo: Getty Images

The pro-migrant lobby will balk, the other side will only continue to claim that the president is allowing illegal aliens to enter in a conspiracy to destroy America. The opinions of malcontents and ideologues be damned, we’re in a national emergency and have to do what is necessary. CBS News -

The Biden administration is ramping up deportations and prosecutions of migrants crossing the southern border illegally amid a 21-year high in migrant arrests and concerns about the rapid spread of the coronavirus Delta variant.
U.S. authorities are now flying Central American migrants deep into the Mexican interior using a Trump-era public health order that was extended indefinitely last week, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials, who said the expulsions are meant to curb repeat border crossings and the spread of the coronavirus.
The Biden administration has also restarted "expedited removal" flights for some migrant families who can't be expelled to Mexico under the public health authority, known as Title 42. Since the end of July, the U.S. has carried out six expedited removal flights to Central America, deporting 242 migrant parents and children under the procedure, DHS officials said. (Read more)

COVID-19 variants that evade protection could emerge if more people don't get vaccinated

Photo: CNN

For everyone who needs the reminder. Getting the sinking feeling that this will get worse, and the societal rift between those taking precautions and anti-vaxxer crowd will never heal.

COVID-19 vaccines are protecting more than half the U.S. population from current strains, experts say. But if too few people get vaccinated, the virus will be allowed to continue to spread -- and the result could be an even more dangerous variant, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
"Then all of us who are protected against delta may not be protected against zaida (zeta)," the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said in a Q&A with USA Today published Sunday.
If an overwhelming majority of the population is vaccinated, the virus will disappear in the country, Fauci said. But having only a partially vaccinated population means that smoldering levels of infection will carry into the fall, be confused as the flu in the winter and pick back up in the spring, Fauci told USA Today.
And if the rest of the world isn't vaccinated over the next couple of years, more circulation could mean more variants, Fauci warned. (Read more)

Washington Post opinion writer: ‘The U.S. government is designed for failure. And, a new study shows, it’s getting worse’

Photo: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP

The epitome of wasteful red tape and shameless corruption. On both sides, the modern U.S. Senate are grandstanding a**hats preventing anyone - including the president - from getting anything done. Frankly, the system just doesn’t work anymore. Fred Hiatt -

When President John F. Kennedy took office in 1961, he needed Senate approval for 779 of his appointments.
That was a highly irrational way to run a government.
Sixty years later, despite efforts at reform and widespread recognition of the irrationality, President Biden needs Senate approval for 1,237 positions — an increase of 59 percent, as a new report from the Partnership for Public Service discloses.
We’ve gone from irrational to just plain crazy.
How crazy? The Post and the Partnership are tracking 799 of those positions (leaving out some advisory boards and less essential jobs). As of this week, only 112 of them have been filled.
More than six months into his presidency, in other words — more than an eighth of the way through his term — Biden hardly has the beginning of an executive team in place.
Recently, a visiting diplomat told me he was struck by the disconnect between Biden’s ambitious rhetoric — about rebuilding alliances, promoting democracy, standing up to China — and his meager agenda. “Where are the policies?” he asked.
This isn’t entirely fair; there are policies. But it’s difficult to put meat on the bones of any agenda without ambassadors, assistant secretaries of state and defense for different regions in the world, and more.
At about this point of every administration, you start to see stories assigning blame for the empty offices. Republicans will ask why Biden has nominated only 323 of the 799. Administration officials would say there’s not much point in stacking up another few hundred nominees for obstructionists such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who has been holding up State Department nominees to grandstand his opposition to the administration’s stance on a Russia-Germany natural gas pipeline.
But the better question is, why do things this way in the first place? (Read more)

As of today, Canada has begun allowing vaccinated Americans to visit, but the U.S. is not returning the favor for Canadian residents until at least August 21

Photo: AP/Elaine Thompson

With Delta raging across the continent, and the process for verifying vaccination murky and subject to fraud, perhaps Canada would be wise to wait a bit longer before opening the border. The White House is planning a phased reopening of the borders with Canada and Mexico, and incrementally is the only way we’re working our way out of each and every aspect of the pandemic.

AP - Canada begins allowing vaccinated U.S. citizens to visit again

Sunday, August 8, 2021

Legendary college football coach Bobby Bowden dies at 91

Photo: AP

Possibly the greatest college football coach of all-time. The wins record certainly would back that up, but statistics do not speak for the heart, character, intelligence, vision, and determination the man possessed. Rest in Peace, Coach Bowden ...

ESPN - Longtime Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden dies at 91

Thursday, August 5, 2021

Defense Secretary to seek authorization to require active duty troops to be vaccinated

Photo: DoD/U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jack Sanders

Pretty ridiculous that what should be a basic matter of national security and wellness for our soldiers, in the middle of a national emergency, has to be vetted by bureaucrats and politicians, and endlessly argued over by laypeople who have no idea what they’re talking about. CNN -

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is expected to seek authorization to make Covid-19 vaccines mandatory for all active duty troops as soon as this week, following President Joe Biden’s directive that the military examine how and when it could make that happen.
Austin’s “inclination is towards making the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory” for active duty troops, a defense official told CNN.
If the secretary makes that final recommendation, he could seek a presidential waiver to allow the vaccine to be administered to troops before full approval by the Food and Drug Administration. A Pentagon decision and recommendation on how to proceed could come this week, several officials say.
Biden announced on July 29 that he was asking the Defense Department to “look into how and when” it will add the Covid-19 vaccine to the list of mandatory military vaccinations. Biden specifically said he knew that Austin is “open to it.”

Another sobering COVID-19 milestone: 200 million worldwide infected, 4.5 million dead

Photo: World Economic Forum

The Biden administration is set to announce that all foreign visitors will be required to have been vaccinated before entering the country. From Marketwatch -

The global tally for the coronavirus-borne illness headed above 200 million on Thursday, while the death toll climbed above 4.25 million according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. leads the world with a total of 35.3 million cases and in deaths with 614,785 as the highly infectious delta variant continues to spread fast, especially in states with low vaccination rates. New cases are rising sharply and and the U.S. is now averaging more than seven times as many cases a day as it was at the beginning of July, according to a New York Times tracker. The Biden administration is taking the first steps toward requiring nearly all foreign visitors to the U.S. to be vaccinated for the coronavirus, a White House official said Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. The requirement would come as part of the administration's phased approach to easing travel restrictions for foreign citizens to the country. No timeline has yet been determined, as interagency working groups study how and when to safely move toward resuming normal travel. India is second by cases at 31.8 million and third by deaths at 426,290 according to its official numbers, which are expected to be undercounted. Brazil is second in deaths at 559,607, but is third in cases at 20 million. Mexico has fourth-highest death toll at 242,547 but has recorded just 2.9 million cases, according to its official numbers. In Europe, Russia continues to pull ahead of the U.K. by deaths at 159,803, while the U.K. has 130,300, making Russia the country with the fifth-highest death toll in the world and highest in Europe.

Wednesday, August 4, 2021

A Southern Republican governor has second thoughts after appeasing the anti-vaxxer crowd

Photo: CBS News

From CBS News -

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson says he wishes a bill banning state and local mask mandates hadn't become law, months after he signed the bill. Now, he's asking state leaders to reconsider the ban so local school districts have the flexibility to require masks when children return to the classroom.
Hutchinson said he signed the bill in April because cases in his state were at a low point, and because he knew his veto would be overridden by the legislature anyhow. The governor reinstated the state's public health emergency last week, and is calling a special session for the state legislature to change the mask mandate law so schools can impose mask requirements if they choose. According to Arkansas Secretary of Health Jose Romero, almost 19% of COVID-19 cases are currently among children under 18.
"Yes, in hindsight, I wish that it had not become law. But it is the law, and the only chance we have is either to amend it or for the courts to say that it has an unconstitutional foundation," Hutchinson said during a press conference Tuesday.
"Everything has changed now," Hutchinson said.

‘Israelis traveling to the U.S. experiencing “mass hysteria”’

Photo: Reuters

From the Jerusalem Post -

People traveling to the United States have been in a state of “mass hysteria” since the government put the US under a severe travel warning, Ziontours Jerusalem CEO Mark Feldman told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee placed the US, France, Italy, Germany, Greece and several other countries under a severe travel warning that will go into effect next Wednesday, August 11. Starting then, all travelers entering Israel from these countries will be required to isolate for a minimum of seven days – even if they are fully vaccinated or recovered.
In the hours following the announcement, “dozens of my clients called and canceled their flights to the States until the winter,” Feldman said. “The ones who are scheduled to come back at the end of August started panicking because they don’t want to be in quarantine over the Rosh Hashanah holiday, which starts on September 6. And many people got so scared about getting back before the quarantine next week [that] they paid hundreds and hundreds of dollars to land here by next Tuesday, the 10th, before it goes into effect.”
Any clients with reservations for vacations in Greece also canceled their trips immediately, Feldman said.
“Keep in mind that foreign tourists are still not allowed in here, so forget Sukkot visitors, forget about pilgrims for the Feast of Tabernacles,” Feldman added. “That’s all gone. But now, we’ve lost the Israelis that live abroad that would have come here for the holidays as well. I believe this insanity will continue through the High Holy Day season.”

CDC issues new eviction moratorium

Photo: CBS News

Probably the right move from a humanitarian perspective, but costly in the long run. CBS News - CDC issues new eviction moratorium.

‘Trump calls the fight to get tax returns a political attempt to retaliate against him’

Photo: Getty Images

‘Political retaliation?' Motherf**ker, you were President of the United States for four years, and somehow got away without providing documents that every one of your relevant predecessors and your successor have presented. NPR -

Former President Donald Trump is trying to stop his tax returns being released to Democrats in Congress.
In a motion filed in federal court Wednesday, Trump's lawyers claim the Democrat-led House Ways and Means Committee's requests are not "valid oversight requests."
"The primary purpose of the requests is to obtain and expose Intervenors' information for the sake of exposure, to improperly conduct law enforcement, or some other impermissible goal — not to study federal legislation," the motion states as part of a 37-page filing. "The requests are not pertinent to legislation that is within the Committee's jurisdiction and constitutionally valid."
Trump's lawyers say the Democrat-led House committee's efforts are simply political, claiming the goal "is to expose the private tax information of one individual — President Trump — for political gain."
"The requests single out President Trump because he is a Republican and a political opponent. They were made to retaliate against President Trump because of his policy positions, his political beliefs, and his protected speech, including the positions he took during the 2016 and 2020 campaigns," the lawyers said.
The move comes days after the Justice Department said that the Treasury Department "must furnish" Trump's taxes to the committee and that it had "sufficient" legislative reasons for the information. That included "serious concerns" about how the Internal Revenue Service, which is under the Treasury Department, was conducting audits of presidents' taxes.
The Justice Department's decision was a reversal of a 2019 memo issued under the Trump administration, denying the request.
The legal filing is the latest chapter in the fight waged to get Trump to produce his tax returns. It could mean any release, if it happens, could take months, if not years.
Trump is the first major-party presidential candidate in more than 40 years to not release his taxes.
In February, Manhattan's district attorney was granted the filings as part of a criminal investigation into the Trump Organization.

COVID death rate among the vaccinated is less than minuscule

Sure, it’s disturbing and disheartening that even one breakthrough case would result in death, but the odds are far more in one’s favor if they are vaccinated than not. State House News Service -

One hundred of the nearly 4.3 million people fully vaccinated in Massachusetts have died of COVID-19, a rate of 0.002 percent, according to state data on breakthrough cases published Tuesday.
The Department of Public Health tracked a cumulative 7,737 confirmed COVID-19 infections among those fully vaccinated in the Bay State as of Saturday, July 31, representing 0.18 percent of the immunized population.
Saturday’s cumulative count reflects an increase of 1,364 breakthrough cases over July 24.
That accounts for a bit more than 30 percent of all new cases confirmed in the one-week span.