Monthly Archives: June 2021

Cloned Competent Cells Market Will Generate Record Revenue by 2027 Covid-19 Analysis The Manomet Current – The Manomet Current

Posted: June 24, 2021 at 11:30 pm

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Global Cloned Competent Cells market: Application segmentsSubcloning& Routine Cloning Phage Display Library Construction Toxic/Unstable Dna Cloning High-Throughput Cloning

Cloned Competent Cells Market: Type Outlook20*100?l 50*100?l 100*100?l Other

Table of Content1 Report Overview1.1 Product Definition and Scope1.2 PEST (Political, Economic, Social and Technological) Analysis of Cloned Competent Cells Market2 Market Trends and Competitive Landscape3 Segmentation of Cloned Competent Cells Market by Types4 Segmentation of Cloned Competent Cells Market by End-Users5 Market Analysis by Major Regions6 Product Commodity of Cloned Competent Cells Market in Major Countries7 North America Cloned Competent Cells Landscape Analysis8 Europe Cloned Competent Cells Landscape Analysis9 Asia Pacific Cloned Competent Cells Landscape Analysis10 Latin America, Middle East & Africa Cloned Competent Cells Landscape Analysis 11 Major Players Profile

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Cloned Competent Cells Market Will Generate Record Revenue by 2027 Covid-19 Analysis The Manomet Current - The Manomet Current

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Siddalingaiah (1954-2021): The Dalit poet who broke the rules and challenged the norms – Scroll.in

Posted: at 11:28 pm

In death, as in life, the renowned Kannada poet Siddalingaiah faced travails that we assume are the lot of ordinary folks. He battled the coronavirus for a little over a month, and his fragile health gave way on June 11. He was 67.

The pandemic has been especially devastating in Bengaluru, with rampant black-marketing of everything from beds to oxygen to medicines.

Siddalingaiah, who had served two terms as Member of the Legislative Council, lived without ostentation, and was often mistaken for just another man on the street. On at least two occasions, he was not allowed to enter the Vidhana Soudha, Karnatakas grand secretariat, because he did not look important enough in his faded shirt and worn-out chappals.

This anonymity is something he revelled in: it becomes a recurring theme in his autobiography Ooru Keri (A Word With You), published in three volumes in Kannada. The first volume appeared in 1996, the second in 2006, and the last in 2018. I have translated the first two.

In Volume 3, he wrote about a hospital visit for a knee problem. The staff put him on a bed and kept him waiting for a long time. His friends were livid, and started shouting that he was an MLC, and should be attended to immediately. The staff ignored them, saying they were waiting for the police. It turned out the doctors assumed it was a medico-legal case MLC in hospital lingo and that he had come for treatment after a fight with someone.

Siddalingaiah was the only Kannada writer, and perhaps the only writer in India, to use self-deprecating humour as a vehicle for political activism. He basked in the sunshine generated by his irreverence. D R Nagaraj, the well-known literary critic, sees in his writing the power of poor peoples laughter. Nagaraj wrote an insightful afterword to Ooru Keri and published it in the Akshara Chintane collection of books he was editing in the 1990s.

Their friendship goes back a long way:

Two debaters had to be selected and sent to an inter-collegiate debate. Our college organised a debate to decide who would represent our college. I took part in it. I quoted portions of my own poem and attributed it to our national poet Kuvempu. The lines were: Temples are houses of black magic / Religious leaders are magicians / Pilgrim centres are places of disease / Innocents, idiots, these pilgrims. Impressed, the judges had selected me. The speech of a lean, tall student was wonderful. I had observed him with interest. After the debate, he came over, congratulated me, and introduced himself. Nowhere has Kuvempu written the lines you attributed to him. Tell me the truth, whose lines are they? he said. I was disconcerted. I said so only to fool the judges. Those are my lines, I confessed.

The very first chapter Siddalingaiah wrote for his autobiography convinced Nagaraj it was an important book in the making. That chapter has been anthologised widely, and talks about Siddalingaiahs childhood in Manchanabele, just 40 km from Bengaluru, but a different, non-urban world altogether.

His father Dyavanna was a farm labourer and often in debt, and the family faced humiliation and pain, but Siddalingaiahs narrative focuses on the joys of mimicking his school inspector, watching with hidden glee a teacher-couple squabble, and bunking school to take long swims in the river.

The philosophical implications of this autobiography are profound, says Chandan Gowda, Ramakrishna Hegde Chair professor, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru. In a relation where one does not recognise the other as equal, are the dominated locked in struggle with the dominant? Frantz Fanon, the famous Algerian psychiatrist, thought so and argued that only a violent engagement would set the dominated free. Siddalingaiah offers a powerful, alternative perspective. He affirms his selfhood without a trace of resentment towards vicious social games, while also doubting the value of the very things prized in those games. A philosophy for a liberation of the self without violence is present in the book in unarticulated form; it requires careful excavation.

Gowda sees the autobiography as a tacit consideration of the ethics and aesthetics of memory. In his words: It silently engages with two big questions: Why must we remember painful incidents? How should we remember them? A struggle for social justice is not complete if the hearts of the hardhearted are not changed.

In poetry, Siddalingaiah is regarded as a pioneer, but he underplays his significance, saying his poetic journey gained momentum with a limerick-like poem about the bad food in his college hostel. One of his early published poems Ikrala vadeerala (Sock it to them, kick them) rages against discrimination with a raw power that shocked readers.

The poem wrote itself, he said, after he heard first-hand accounts of the atrocities Dalits in Tamil Nadu had faced in their villages. Siddalingaiahs rousing songs are sung at protests and demonstrations. In later years, at the insistence of his director-friend T N Seetharam, he wrote a couple of film songs for the legendary director Puttanna Kanagal.

Siddalingaiah said he tried to write film songs on the sly, as he feared the wrath of activist-poets who would accuse him of giving in to the lure of commerce. He wrote his film songs under the pseudonym of Aditya. As it turns out, one of the songs became a smash hit and won a state award, and his game was up when he went up to receive it!

With B Krishnappa and Devanur Mahadeva, Siddalingaiah was a founding member of the Dalit Sangharsha Samiti, which mobilised Dalits against caste atrocities, and created awareness about their political rights.

This is how he talked about its early days:

I toured several places in Karnataka, making speeches and reading out my poems. On many occasions, I reached a place in the middle of the night and slept on the street till it was morning. When I got off the bus at Aldur near Chikmagalur, it was midnight. I had to walk a long way to the Dalit Sangharsha Samiti camp. It was cold, and five or six people were sleeping at a bus stop. I went and rested by their side for reassurance. They were beggars. He is a thief. Be careful, one of them whispered. The group started discussing me under its breath, and so I had to introduce myself. They wouldnt admit to being beggars. They claimed they were rich landlords on a pilgrimage to Dharmasthala, disguised as beggars only to test peoples sense of charity. They gave me a friendly farewell in the morning.

Ooru Keri is full of such incidents, and the humour is disarming and delightful. Siddalingiahs book sometimes takes the form of the picaresque novel, with a mischievous hero who valiantly battles enemies way too big for him. At other times, it is Chaplinesque, looking at all the suffering through the lens of comedy.

However, Gowda sees an essential difference between Siddalingaiah and Chaplin: It is possible to watch Chaplin as just fun, the way children usually do, and as a political text, the way critics do, he said. But the dual option isnt available with Siddalingaiah.

The stories Siddalingaiah told from his life are wild, and definitely not the sort you would read in autobiographies whose authors dream of being immortalised in school textbooks:

Some hostel students had managed to win the friendship of a cabaret dancer. She would come to the hostel to look them up. She even gave them money. An army of students would gather to look at this charming girl. They walked behind her to see her off, making up a procession of lovers. This dancer ruled the hearts of hundreds of hostel students.

An oleander tree stood near our hostel. If one climbed on it, one could look into the bedroom of a house nearby. As soon as it was ten in the night, the couple there would take off their clothes and begin making love. Sitting on the tree, we could get a good view. Some would climb the tree as soon as it was ten. Others would hang their towels on the branches to book their places in advance. The couple were oblivious to all this. They were experts and made love in a variety of postures. For the boys on the tree, watching was pleasure enough. Word got around, and more people than the tree could bear started climbing it. One day, as lots of people sat watching the love sport, the tree came crashing down. The spectators fell to the ground. Their wailing reached the couples ears too. With no tree the next day, the students were helpless. The couple got curtains for their windows.

The young Siddalingaiah saw himself as a rationalist and atheist, and at a debate with Does god exist? as the subject, he scandalised a conservative college crowd by blowing out the traditional lamp that other debaters were pointing to as proof of gods existence. In Siddalingaiahs college days in the 1970s, rationalism was a big movement, with Abraham Kovoor writing a book against godmen, and in Bengaluru, H Narasimhaiah challenging Sathya Sai Baba to produce a pumpkin out of thin air instead of the customary watch.

Siddalingaiah was in many ways a product of the Bengaluru of that era, with its love of leftist ideology, rationalism, protest poetry and arthouse cinema. He wrote of an incident from around this time:

I saw an intriguing advertisement in the paper. It said those who did not believe in god could meet a holy man who would show god to them. My friend Devarajappa and I went to the given address. We met the holy man and paid our respects. I appealed to him to show us god. He said all sorts of things. Not satisfied, we rained more questions on him. Shaken, he said, Why are you trying so hard? I am god myself. I then said, Swami, there are millions of gods. Which of them are you? He replied, I am Shiva. With a serious face, I said, Sir, in that case you have committed a murder. He was rattled. What murder? I havent murdered anyone, he shot back. Didnt you burn Manmatha to death with your third eye because he ruined your penance? I asked. The holy man gathered his wits and said, Oh? That fellow was acting smart with me. Thats why I burnt him to ashes. Swami, where do you live? He said, Kailasa. I persisted, Swami, you shot an arrow of flowers and killed Manmatha. But in 1962 the Chinese bombed your Kailasa and entered India. What were you doing then? Not in the least ruffled, he replied, The Indians werent showing enough devotion towards me. That is why I set the Chinese on them. By then, devotees who had gathered around him were planning to beat us up. We escaped.

Vijeta Kumar, who teaches at St Josephs College in Bengaluru, has her students read the autobiography in her undergraduate and postgraduate classes. Many of them are from the northern states, and fluent only in English they are astonished to read about Siddalingaiahs experiences. For one, she says, they discover a totally new way of being political. His writing has a therapeutic effect, she observes, on students from less affluent backgrounds: they are no longer ashamed of their childhood and growing-up experiences. She teaches a paper titled Resisting caste, and Siddalingaiahs writing provides the basis for animated debates.

Siddalingaiah got into the thick of political action when B Basavalingappa, a controversial minister in the Devaraj Urs cabinet, banked on his support in his anti-caste campaigns. He wrote:

He (Basavalingappa) once said Gandhiji didnt know the meaning of truth. On another occasion, he told the Dalits to fling gods pictures into the gutter. This shocked the traditionalists. He said much of Kannada literature was boosa, cattle feed. His remark sparked what came to be known as the boosa agitation, with students demanding his resignation. The protests raged even after he clarified his position... A car arrived at our hostel. Basavalingappa had sent for me. I met him The responsibility of rallying Dalit students and taking out a procession fell mostly on me. After our procession, our opponents were to take out theirs. Twenty thousand had lined up on that side. We had about three thousand on our side. A clash was imminent. Lets see what happens, Basavalingappa had said.

That idea of a street battle did not appeal to me. I quickly ended the public meeting and told the students to leave for their hostels. Ashwathnarayan, a student leader, rescued me from those waiting to assault me. The early ending of our meeting displeased Basavalingappa. He took me to task. I told him in humility that we only wanted to express support for him, and not take part in a street fight.

Basavalingappas aim was to shake up a stagnant society. At times, he would say scalding things in a soft, natural voice. He aspired to become the president of India. He wanted to play the role of Rama, but society pushed him to play Hanuman. He did not like Hanumans role. Being a rebel, he chose the role of Ravana.

Given this background, many of Siddalingaiahs admirers were upset at his latter-day friendship with political leaders from the ruling BJP in Karnataka. Amit Shah visited his house, and Siddalingaiah saw chief minister Yediyurappa as a personal friend. Defending himself, he had said he saw his friendships as lying outside of ideology. Many politicians, from across the spectrum, make cameo appearances in his books, and he counted Ramakrishna Hegde and Siddaramaiah among the leaders he admired.

What is Siddalingaiahs place in the larger scheme of things? Nagaraj put it in context: This age has celebrated, through many ideologies, the rebellious and revolutionary nature of the poor. Socialism and communism are perhaps names given to the aspirations of the poor. But the more this age contemplated the poor, the more it diminished them. The more hunger was made the centre of human life, the more the other dimensions of the poor shrank

Nagaraj believes Siddalingaiah redefined the Dalit experience by changing the tone and tenor of the storytelling: Sidddalingaiahs autobiography contains several elements that we may expect in a Dalit writers work: poverty, rage, and humiliation, he said. But we also find something fresh and unexpected throughout the work: the absence of any fear in relation to poverty and violence. The theme of this work comes naturally and is common to all Dalit works. But the voice that shapes this theme is different and invigorating. A Dalit story without poverty and caste humiliation would be false. But that the writer triumphs over them in his imagination is equally true. By slightly distorting the hunger and humiliation in his life, poet Siddalingaiah points to ways in which they can be overcome.

Transcribed by K V Murugesh.

This series of articles on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on publishing is curated by Kanishka Gupta.

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Siddalingaiah (1954-2021): The Dalit poet who broke the rules and challenged the norms - Scroll.in

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Northern Ireland centenary: James Dingley on how the Northern Irish should have no fears about their identity – Belfast News Letter

Posted: at 11:28 pm

What a milestone, to reach a century, when so many pundits predicted in 1921 that it would not survive as a country for more than a few years.

It is easy, sitting in 2021, to take Northern Ireland for granted, and not to realise how it came into being or why.

At the Francis Hutcheson Institute, we try to use the writings and thinking of the Saintfield-born philosopher Hutcheson to frame events, and to explain the influence of Ulster Protestants in the development of western civilisation, but also closer to home.

Northern Ireland came into existence for good reason, and for much of the last 100 years it was the beacon of science and industry and modern values on this island.

That existence and history of Northern Ireland over its century has been undermined in part because unionists are only perceived as saying no.

Consequently, the defenders of Northern Ireland become the negative ones, the problem, allowingthose who want Northern Ireland to fail to set all the agendas.

They imply that they are the progressive ones, the unifiers,and that Northern Irelands very existence is the problem.

Defenders of the status quorarely offersolutions to Northern Irelandsundoubtedproblems, hence everyone ends up following and responding to an Irish nationalist or republic agenda.

Political unionists, for example, often seem to have nothing else to say than no (even louder).

This is disastrous politics.

There are very good reasons to say no to attempts to dismantle Northern Ireland.

But the defence of NI should not just be left to a narrow unionism, or what is sometimes now seen as a form of Ulster nationalism.

Unionists must seriously grapple with Irish nationalism, and its underpinnings, and why Ireland (and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) was partitioned.

To be fair, this is a problem the UK as a whole has failed to address, as Welsh and Scottish nationalism indicates, and it is an area in which unionists could begin contributing (positively) to UK national debates.

And the aim of this and subsequent articles is to begin this process,explaining why Northern Ireland exists and should be proud on its centenary.

Unionists have a genuinely good, and progressive, case but their terrible anti-intellectualism has caused them not to make it over 100 years.

First, nationalist claims of Irish unity assume Ireland was always a single political unit and that partition was an artificial British imposition.

This is far from the truth.

Before the Norman-Welsh invasions (12thcentury) Ireland was simply a geographic unit with 12-13 petty Kingdoms constantly warring. Meanwhile the Northern Kingdom of Dalriada comprised large parts ofUlster and Scotland.

Dunluce Castle, for example, represents the ancient ties predating the plantation between Ulster and Scotland, where the head of an Highland Clan (MacDonald) also had his castle in Dunluce as part of his Antrim Lands as a McDonnell.

The Norman-Welsh invasion had been blessed by the Pope to impose discipline and order on the Irish Church, it was so undisciplined.

Anything national about Ireland was totally lacking, especially since the idea of nationalism was an 18thcentury political philosophy construction.Previously, the world consisted of states which were polyglots of different ethnic, linguistic, cultural groups sometimes united or divided by religion.

In pre-1870s France less than 50% of the population spoke French (the other languages were Breton, Basque, German, Flemish, Italian and Occident). Meanwhile, pre-unification Italy (1860s) consisted of 12 independent states, frequently warring, and speaking local dialects often incomprehensible to each other.Germany contained over 300 independent states, some not speaking German, who often loathed each other, especially over religion.

They were just like the British Isles, yet became unified nations in the 19thcentury.

Their unity was forged by progressive, modernising elitespursuing enlightened, progressive political philosophies, just like the unionists in Ireland.

They saw the Union of 1801 as a highly progressive moment, and they had good reason to see this.

Unionists saw the past as unenlightened, backward and ignorant, full of superstition and bigotry.

Like America, they wanted to create a new world, liberal and democratic, using science and rationalism to break down old barriers of prejudice.

Unionists advocated equality, freedom of thought, inquiry, civil and religious liberty and pursuit of happiness, whilst not infringing their neighbours rights: the ideals of Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746).

This ideal was of enlightened, United Kingdom, i.e. breaking down the old internal national and religious barriers and divisions, and freeing the individual from old bigotries.

Like the Germans and French they sought a larger united nation speaking a single language, making mobility, freedom and trade easier.

They sought the separation of church and state, making religion a private matter, and replacing it in the public sphere with the universal laws of science, reason and commerce, which brought men together.

Far from being anti Catholic, many of the most influential supporters of the Union saw the removal of the last barriers to Catholic representation as essential (Catholics had already been granted the vote in the late 1700s).

They did not get the right to be Westminster representatives until the 1820s, in part because there was still a lingering fear of Catholic rebellions of the 1600s and mid 1700s.

Such enlightened ideals (also copied by Italy and Germany) were inspired by the Ulster philosopher Hutcheson, were embraced by Irish unionists and help explain why the UK emerged as a major and wealthy state, including Ireland.

These ideals had also been shared by the United Irishmen (1798), but were neglected by more modern Irish nationalists, who had a more dogmatic and clerical outlook.

Rejection of these ideals by nationalists became the major issue behind unionists objections of Home Rule, and the 1912 Ulster Covenant, but such ideals are very much the embodiment of the UK.

The region that became Northern Ireland was part of a broader Enlightenment trend across Europe against the old order of established churches, including Roman Catholicism, autocratic nobility and absolutist monarchs who opposed modernity.

Indeed, even Roman Catholicism was often divided over Romes opposition to modernity and progress (the Pope was both a spiritual and temporal absolute monarch).

However, the forces of reaction (a 19th century movement known as Romanticism, which directly influenced Irish nationalism) praised the old order that enlightened opinion rejected, and praised peasant society.

The traditional peasant worldbecame venerated, whilst science and industry was rejected as artificial and stifling.

Eamon de Valera illustrated this Romantic thinking as late as 1943, in his radio speech (venerating rural life, ascetic living and comely country maidens).

Irish nationalism was thus in fact backward looking in some of its core perspectives, not progressive, opposed modern liberal freedoms and needs to be challenged, but rarely is.

It was British values that ensured liberal freedoms.

Irish independence in its early decades illustrates these points.

It enacted very reactionary social legislation banning divorce, contraception and abortion, introduced some of the most repressive censorship in Europe, whilst replacing technical subjects in schools with Gaelic (that few wanted to learn).

In these essays, we will try to explain the positive reasons for partition and why Ulster, Irelands centre of the Enlightenment, separated from nationalisms reactionary vision of Ireland.

Ulster possessed the most cosmopolitan, industrial, scientific and liberal culture in Ireland both before and after 1921.

Northern Ireland thus rejected an Irish nationalism that,since the Young Ireland Movement (1840s), hadbeen areaction against liberal modernity and progress.

This is reflected in southern Irelandsstillunrealistic andunsuccessfulidea to revive Gaelic, its submission to Roman Catholic theology on social and moral issues and its insistence on sectarian education.

Irish nationalism rejected modern industry and economics, was indifferent to science and hostile to liberal values.

Thus in comparison to Northern Ireland Southern Ireland became reactionary, isolationist and anti-modern in its economic and social policies. This would have been thus harmful to Northern Irelands international industrial needs. This ethos persists today in Sinn Fein, ourselves alone.

Northern Ireland on its centenary has few outside defenders and appears isolated and unfairly maligned. But from the perspective of Ulster Unionism Irish Nationalism still appears regressive when compared to the benefits of being within the UK.

Here the UK dissolves barriers for a genuinely multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society, despite fundamentalist fringe groups. Meanwhile the Republic of Ireland became intensely mono-cultural (although is less so now after modern waves of immigration).

Romantic versions of history rarely observe that itis Irish nationalism thatwasdivisive and reactionary, dividing the people of these islands.

A large section of unionism was also tribal and conservative and reactionary and narrowly religious. In much of the 20th century, this was seized on by critics of Northern Ireland to depict the society overall as bible thumping and repressive.

But defenders of Northern Ireland with a deeper understanding of its origins and history, indeed the Northern Irish, should have no fears about their national identity.

Northern Ireland has a rich, industrial and cultural history within a highly regarded global trading nation and can punch well above its weight as part of the fifth largest economy in the world.

Dr James Dingley is chair of the Francis Hutcheson Institute chairman. The board members are Johnny Andrews; Bryan Johnston; Bill McKendry; Robert Perceval-Price; and Aaron Rankin. There are five other essays by the institute in the coming pages of this supplement [print edition only an essay by Johnny Andrews is also online]

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Northern Ireland centenary: James Dingley on how the Northern Irish should have no fears about their identity - Belfast News Letter

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Of Course Trump Tried to Get the Justice Department to Stop SNL From Making Fun of Him – Vanity Fair

Posted: at 11:28 pm

The push by Republicans to bury the bill in a shallow grave comes as 18 states have enacted more than 30 laws in 2021 alone deemed anti-voter by the nonpartisan Voting Rights Lab, which estimates the restrictions affect approximately 36 million people, the Post notes. The laws impose new voter ID requirements, restrict access to mail-in voting, create new obstacles to register to vote, and expand what constitutes criminal behavior by voters, election officials, and third parties. Before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned the GOP for its refusal to even debate voting rights, saying, They want to deny the right to vote, make it harder to vote for so many Americans, and then they dont want to talk about it. They will sweep it under the rug and hope that Americans dont hear about it, but Americans will hear about it. Were going to make sure of that.

Texas governor Greg Abbott still gunning for that Americas sweetheart award

A colossally mismanaged state of emergency in which more than 150 people froze to death? A threat to slash the pay of lawmakers standing up for voting rights? A near total ban on abortion? And now vetoing an anti-dog-cruelty bill? This guy just doesnt quit! Per The Week:

Abbott...vetoed a bill Friday that would have banned tethering dogs outside with heavy chains, earning him the ire of dog owners and the hashtag #AbbottHatesDogs,theHouston Chroniclereported Monday. The bill, which would have expanded and clarified the states animal cruelty laws, had the support of animal control officers, law enforcement agencies and organizations, county prosecutors, and advocates for animals, and it passed 28-3 in the Senate and 83-32 in the House.

The dog bill wasnt the only one Abbott vetoed in recent days, The Week noted. He also rejected two criminal reform bills as well as one requiring schools to teach middle and high school students about child abuse prevention and domestic violence.

Elsewhere!

Delta Variant Gains Steam in Undervaccinated U.S. Counties (Bloomberg)

Jill Biden Pitches Shots for Reluctant Arms in Trump Country (Bloomberg)

Pressure builds to open U.S.-Canada border as residents, lawmakers, and business owners clamor for a plan (Washington Post)

The winner of Tuesdays Manhattan D.A. primary is poised to take over Trump investigation (CNN)

No one is gonna steal the election from me: Echoes of 2020 in NYC mayors race (Politico)

Housing Market Gone Berserk Stirs Unease Over Investors Clout (Bloomberg)

Federal Reserve Builds Lego Town to Explain Inflation (Bloomberg)

When an Eel Climbs a Ramp toEat Squid From a Clamp, Thats a Moray (NYT)

Pence May Finally Be Ready to Strike Back Against Trump – Business Insider

Posted: at 11:28 pm

UPDATE, 10:15 p.m., June 24:

Former Vice President Mike Pence hit back at former President Donald Trump Thursday night, cautioning that no single person should be given the power to decide the presidency and firmly rebutted the former president's continued attacks on him.

"Now there are those in our party who believe that in my position as presiding officer over the joint session that I possessed the authority to reject or return electoral votes certified by the states. But the Constitution provides the vice president with no such authority before the joint session of Congress," Pence told the crowd assembled at the Reagan Library in California. "And the truth is there is almost no idea more un-American than the idea that one person could choose the president. The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone."

Pence never mentioned Trump by name, but the remarks were clearly directed at Trump and his supporters, who continue to spread an election lie claiming that Pence could have helped them overturn the results of the 2020 election.

"I understand the disappointment many feel about the last election, I can relate, I was on the ballot," Pence said. "But you know there's more at stake than our party and our political fortunes in this moment. If we lose faith in the Constitution, we won't just lose elections, we'll lose our country. So now more than ever America needs the Republcian Party to be the party of the Constitution of the United States.

Original analysis continues below:

Thursday night might finally be the night former Vice President Mike Pence a man with his own 2024 presidential ambitions starts striking back at Donald Trump, who almost got him killed six months ago.

Pence has been Trump's quintessentially loyal lieutenant. He stood by Trump through the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, after Trump directed a riotous mob, shouting "Hang Mike Pence!", to stop the Pence-led certification of the 2020 election. Pence remained quiet when Trump considered dumping Pence from the ticket in 2020. He skillfully defended Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign policy philosophy, and health care record.

But hecklers at a recent Christian conservative conference in Florida may have provided just the impetus for Pence to finally break from Trump, after five years of stunning obedience.

The jeers shook Pence and his team to the core, said one Republican close to Pence. "They got stung last week when the crowd booed him. It showed the difficulty of this path."

As if to hammer that point, Trump himself stoked the fires of MAGA rage and torched Pence earlier this week, as Trump repeated his false claim that Pence could have overturned the election results on January 6.

Pence's speech on Thursday night at the Ronald Reagan Library is about the future of the Republican Party and aptly named, "A Time for Choosing".

And Pence choosing this moment to stand apart from Trump, who faces significant legal peril and a hint of softening popularity among hardcore conservatives, may mark his best shot to unofficially launch his own quest for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Neither Pence nor Trump have formally declared their 2024 presidential ambitions. But Pence is already been playing the part of candidate, with the former vice president reemerging on the national stage with campaign-like speeches, a new podcast, and a regular column published by friends and allies at the Heritage Foundation.

Pence in April picked a Christian Right group in South Carolina an early primary state for his first address since leaving office.

Then, earlier this month in New Hampshire, which traditionally conducts the nation's first presidential primary, Pence toyed with distancing himself from Trump by telling local Republicans that he and Trump may never see "eye-to-eye" about the events of January 6.

It's clear the hardcore Trump loyalists in the Republican base are unlikely to ever support Pence so long as Trump considers running in 2024.

But it's also clear that this group is steadily shrinking. The longer Trump is out of sight deplatformed from Twitter and Facebook, an infrequent presence on cable TV the more he's out of mind. Perhaps sensing this, Trump is scheduled to headline a campaign-style rally Saturday in Ohio.

Pence must eventually end his ride on the Trump train if he ever expects to build a movement of his own.

For now, Pence remains in "purgatory," said longtime Republican strategist Doug Heye.

"If you want to play Trump's game, you've got to back him up. Pence's certifying the electoral college vote the obviously right thing to do is viewed by Trump as an unforgivable sin," Heye said. "So it's not clear that there's any right way to move forward."

Some Republicans familiar with both Trump and Pence are skeptical he will ever fully break from Trump.

"Because of his religious beliefs and his idea of character, he may get angry, but he's the guy who will go pray on it and wake up the next day with a different demeanor," said one former Trump advisor.

Tonight, expect Pence to play some of his greatest hits, touting work on Coronavirus vaccines (despite deep opposition to getting vaccinated from the Republican base), his work moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and curbing protections for the LGBTQ+ community.

Watch to see if he leans into his applause lines, literally, gripping the podium and ducking ever closer to the mic with each new zinger, as he did last week in Florida.

And, most importantly, wait to learn if Pence makes the riskiest but most politically necessary move of all: coming at Trump, the still-reigning king of the Republican Party.

Tom LoBianco is a Washington correspondent for Insider and author of the Mike Pence biography, "Piety & Power: Mike Pence and the Taking of the White House."

Pence May Finally Be Ready to Strike Back Against Trump - Business Insider

Posted in Donald Trump | Comments Off

Inside the extraordinary effort to save Trump from COVID-19 – Anchorage Daily News

Posted: at 11:28 pm

This article is adapted from Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administrations Response to the Pandemic That Changed History, which will be published June 29 by HarperCollins.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azars phone rang with an urgent request: Could he help someone at the White House obtain an experimental coronavirus treatment, known as a monoclonal antibody?

If Azar could get the drug, what would the White House need to do to make that happen? Azar thought for a moment. It was Oct. 1, 2020, and the drug was still in clinical trials. The Food and Drug Administration would have to make a compassionate use exception for its use since it was not yet available to the public. Only about 10 people so far had used it outside of those trials. Azar said of course he would help.

Azar wasnt told who the drug was for but would later connect the dots. The patient was one of President Donald Trumps closest advisers: Hope Hicks.

A short time later, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn received a request from a top White House official for a separate case, this time with even greater urgency: Could he get the FDA to sign off on a compassionate-use authorization for a monoclonal antibody right away? There is a standard process that doctors use to apply to the FDA for unapproved drugs on behalf of patients dealing with life-threatening illnesses who have exhausted all other options, and agency scientists review it. The difference was that most people dont call the commissioner directly.

The White House wanted Hahn to say yes within hours. Hahn, who still did not know who the application was for, consulted career officials. The FDA needs to go by the book, the officials insisted. Hahn relayed the message back to the White House. They kept pressing him to effectively cut corners. No, we cant do that, Hahn told them several times. Were talking about someones life. We have to actually examine the application to make sure were doing it safely.

When Hahn later learned the effort was on behalf of the president, he was stunned. For Gods sake, he thought, its the president whos sick, and you want us to bend the rules? Trump was in the highest-risk category for severe disease from COVID-19 - at 74, he rarely exercised and was considered medically obese. He was the type of patient with whom you would want to take every possible precaution. As it did with all compassionate-use applications, the FDA made a decision within 24 hours. Agency officials scrambled to figure out which companys monoclonal antibody would be most appropriate given the clinical information they had, and selected the one from Regeneron, known simply as Regen-Cov.

A five-day stretch in October 2020 - from the moment White House officials began an extraordinary effort to get Trump lifesaving drugs to the day the president returned to the White House from the hospital - marked a dramatic turning point in the nations flailing coronavirus response. Trumps brush with severe illness and the prospect of death caught the White House so unprepared that they had not even briefed Vice President Mike Pences team on a plan to swear him in if Trump became incapacitated.

For months, the president had taunted and dodged the virus, flouting safety protocols by holding big rallies and packing the White House with maskless guests. But just one month before the election, the virus that had already killed more than 200,000 Americans had sickened the most powerful person on the planet.

Trumps medical advisers hoped his bout with the coronavirus, which was far more serious than acknowledged at the time, would inspire him to take the virus seriously. Perhaps now, they thought, he would encourage Americans to wear masks and put his health and medical officials front and center in the response. Instead, Trump emerged from the experience triumphant and ever more defiant. He urged people not to be afraid of the virus or let it dominate their lives, disregarding that he had had access to health care and treatments unavailable to other Americans.

It was, several advisers said, the last chance to turn the response around. And once the opportunity passed, it was the point of no return.

President Donald Trump and then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett greeted scores of mostly maskless guests Sept. 26 in a White House gathering called a superspreader event by infectious-disease expert Anthony Fauci because so many became infected. (Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford)

The week leading up to Trumps infection was frenzied, even by his standards. On Saturday, Sept. 26, he had hosted a party with scores of maskless attendees to announce Amy Coney Barrett as his pick for Supreme Court justice. The celebrations had continued indoors, where most people remained maskless. By that time, the virus was surging again, but Trumps contempt for face coverings had turned into unofficial White House policy. He actually asked aides who wore them in his presence to take them off. If someone was going to do a news conference with him, he made clear that he or she was not to wear a mask by his side.

The day after the Supreme Court celebration, Trump had also hosted military families at the White House. At Trumps insistence, few were wearing masks, but they were packed in a little too tight for his comfort. He wasnt worried about others getting sick, but he did fret about his own vulnerability and complained to his staff afterward. Why were they letting people get so close to him? Meeting with the Gold Star families was sad and moving, he said, but added, If these guys had COVID, Im going to get it because they were all over me. He told his staff that they needed to do a better job of protecting him.

Two days after that, he flew to Cleveland for the first presidential debate against his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden. Trump was erratic that whole evening, and he seemed to deteriorate as the night went on. The pundits verdicts were brutal.

Almost 48 hours later, Trump became terribly ill. Hours after his tweet announcing he and first lady Melania Trump had coronavirus infections, the president began a rapid spiral downward. His fever spiked, and his blood oxygen level fell below 94 percent, at one point dipping into the 80s. Sean Conley, the White House physician, attended the president at his bedside. Trump was given oxygen in an effort to stabilize him.

The doctors gave Trump an eight-gram dose of two monoclonal antibodies through an intravenous tube. That experimental treatment was what had required the FDAs sign-off. He was also given a first dose of the antiviral drug remdesivir, also by IV. That drug was authorized for use but still hard to get for many patients because it was in short supply.

Typically, doctors space out treatments to measure a patients response. Some drugs, such as monoclonal antibodies, are most effective if theyre administered early in the course of an infection. Others, such as remdesivir, are most effective when theyre given later, after a patient has become critically ill. But Trumps doctors threw everything they could at the virus all at once. His condition appeared to stabilize somewhat as the day wore on, but his doctors, still fearing he might need to go on a ventilator, decided to move him to the hospital. It was too risky at that point to stay at the White House.

Many White House officials and even his closest aides were kept in the dark about his condition. But after they woke up to the news - many of them were asleep when Trump tweeted at nearly 1 a.m. on Friday that he had the virus - Cabinet officials and aides lined up at the White House to get tested. A large number had met with him the previous week to brief him about various issues or had traveled with him to the debate.

It was unclear even to Trumps closest aides just how sick he was. Was he mildly ill, as he and Conley were saying, or was he sicker than they all knew? Trump was supposed to join a call with nursing home representatives later that day as part of his official calendar. Officials had been scheduled to do it in person from the White House, but that morning they were informed the call would be done remotely. Trumps aides insisted that he would still be on it.

As one aide waited in line for a coronavirus test, she saw Conley sprint out of his office with a panicked look. Thats strange, the aide thought. An hour or two later, officials were informed that Pence would be joining the nursing homes call. Trump couldnt make it.

Aides say President Donald Trump was much sicker than they acknowledged when he was transported to Walter Reed Military Medical Center on Oct. 2, 2020. (Photo for The Washington Post by Amanda Voisard)

Trumps condition worsened early Saturday. His blood oxygen level dropped to 93 percent, and he was given the powerful steroid dexamethasone, which is usually administered if someone is extremely ill (the normal blood oxygen level is between 95 and 100 percent). The drug was believed to improve survival in coronavirus patients receiving supplemental oxygen. The president was on a dizzying array of emergency medicines by now - all at once.

Throughout Trumps time in the hospital, his doctors consulted with the medical experts on the White House coronavirus task force whom the president had long ago discarded. They talked to Hahn, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, seeking input about his treatment.

Trump and his aides had ignored numerous warnings from the task force doctors that they were putting themselves and everyone in the West Wing at risk by their cavalier behavior. Over the past eight months, Trump had come dangerously close to the virus a number of times. Those repeated escapes had made the White House more careless, constantly tempting fate. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, and Redfield wrote to top aides after every White House outbreak, warning them that 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was not safe. Birx took her concerns to Pence directly. This is dangerous, she told him. If White House staff cant or wont wear masks, they need to be more than 10 feet away from one another. This is just too risky.

Their warnings had gone unheeded, and now some would pay a price. Trump hadnt wanted to go to the hospital, but his aides had spelled out the choice: He could go to the hospital Friday, while he could still walk on his own, or he could wait until later, when the cameras could capture him in a wheelchair or gurney. There would be no hiding his condition then.

At least two of those who were briefed on Trumps medical condition that weekend said he was gravely ill and feared that he wouldnt make it out of Walter Reed. People close to Trumps chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said he was consumed with fear that Trump might die.

It was unclear if one of the medications, or their combination, helped, but by Saturday afternoon Trumps condition began improving. One of the people familiar with Trumps medical information was convinced the monoclonal antibodies were responsible for the presidents quick recovery.

Throughout the day Saturday, Oct. 3, the restless Trump made a series of phone calls to gauge how his hospitalization was being received by the public. In all likelihood, the steroid he was taking had given him a burst of energy, though no one knew how long it would last. Perhaps buoyed by that, Trump continued to post on Twitter from the hospital, anxious to convey that he was upright and busy. At one point Trump even called Fauci to discuss his condition and share his personal assessment of the monoclonal antibodies he had received. He said it was miraculous how quickly they made him feel much better.

This is like a miracle, Trump told his campaign adviser Jason Miller in another one of his calls from the hospital. Im not going to lie. I wasnt feeling that great.

In this Sept. 29, 2020, photo, President Donald Trump holds up his face mask during the first presidential debate at Case Western University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio.(AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

Redfield spent the weekend Trump was sick praying. He prayed the president would recover. He prayed that he would emerge from the experience with a newfound appreciation for the seriousness of the threat. And he prayed that Trump would tell Americans they should listen to public health advisers before it was too late. The virus had begun a violent resurgence. Redfield, Fauci, Birx and others felt they had limited time to persuade people to behave differently if they were going to avoid a massive wave of death.

There were few signs that weekend that Trump would have a change of heart. It had already been a battle to get him to agree to go to Walter Reed in the first place. Now, he was badgering Conley and others to let him go home early. Redfield heard Trump was insisting on being discharged and called Conley on the phone. The president cant go home this early, Redfield advised the doctor. He was a high-risk patient, and there were no guarantees that he wouldnt backslide or experience some complication. (Many COVID-19 patients seemed to be on an upswing and then quickly deteriorated.) Trump needed to stay in the hospital until that risk had passed. Conley agreed but said the president had made up his mind and couldnt be convinced otherwise.

If they couldnt keep him in the hospital, the advisers hoped that Trump would at least emerge from Walter Reed a changed man. Some even began mentally preparing to finally speak their minds. It would surely be the inflection point, they all thought. Theres nothing like a near-death experience to serve as a wake-up call. It was, at the end of the day, a national security failure. The president had not been protected. If this fiasco wasnt the turning point, what would be?

Just as the country had been watching a few days before, many people tuned in again as Trump took Marine One back to the White Houses South Lawn on Monday night. They saw him step out in a navy suit, white shirt and blue-striped tie, with a medical mask on his face. He walked along the grass before climbing the steps to the Truman Balcony.

But Trump didnt go inside. It was a moment of political theater too good to pass up - as suffused with triumph as his trip Friday had been humbling. He turned from the center of the balcony and looked back toward Marine One and the television cameras. It was clear that he was breathing heavily from the long walk and the climb up the flight of stairs.

Redfield was watching on television from home. He was praying as Trump went up the steps. Praying that he would reach the Truman Balcony and show some humility. That he would remind people that anyone could be susceptible to the coronavirus - even the president, the first lady and their son. That he would tell them how they could protect themselves and their loved ones.

But Trump didnt waver. Facing the cameras from the balcony, he used his right hand to unhook the mask loop from his right ear, then raised his left hand to pull the mask off his face. He was heavily made up, his face more orange tinted than in the photos from the hospital. The helicopters rotors were still spinning. He put the mask into his right pocket, as if he was discarding it once and for all, then raised both hands in a thumbs-up. He was still probably contagious, standing there for all the world to see. He made a military salute as the helicopter departed the South Lawn, and then strode into the White House, passing staffers on his way and failing to protect them from the virus particles emitted from his nose and mouth.

Right then, Redfield knew it was over. Trump showed in that moment that he hadnt changed at all. The pandemic response wasnt going to change, either.

Excerpt from:

Inside the extraordinary effort to save Trump from COVID-19 - Anchorage Daily News

Posted in Donald Trump | Comments Off

Is banning Trump from Facebook a First Amendment issue? Clarence Thomas, other conservatives say it is – USA TODAY

Posted: at 11:28 pm

The Facebookoversight board's decision this month to extend the suspension offormer President Donald Trump's account raised the ire of some on the right. Trump's account has been frozen since Jan. 7, after he praised supporters who launched a deadly attack on the Capitol, but Facebook said it would consult experts to determine when "therisk to public safetyhas receded."

"If Big Tech can ban a former president, whats to stop them from silencing the American people next?" saidRepublican National Committee chairRonna McDaniel.

Conservatives' reactions reflect a new push to expand First Amendment free speech protections to privately ownedforums. Dozens ofstates many of them run by Republicans have proposed legislation targeting private companies' policies. And conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recently questioned the constitutionality of private company control over user content.

Facebook Oversight Board upholds ban on Donald Trump, but opens door to possible return

Former President Donald Trump was banned from Facebook after his comments on the Capitol riots in January.

Staff video, USA TODAY

However, the First Amendment, whichstates that "Congress shall makeno law...abridging the freedom of speech," applies to government entities, not private domains.

"The First Amendment only restrains government;it does not restrain a private company. In fact, those companies have their own First Amendment right to determine, as would a newspaper, for example, what will appear on their sites," saidGene Policinski, senior fellow for the First Amendment at the Freedom Forum.

A discrepancy persists between what some politicians want from big tech and companies' rights under the First Amendment, according to Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University and former editor-in-chief of USA TODAY.

"The bottom line remains that Facebook is a private company, and it has its own First Amendment rights to decide what it wants to put on its service," Paulson said.

Some conservative Republicans have long criticized tech companies'ability to regulate speech on their platforms, claiming infringement offree speechwhen someoneis banned or suspended for violating usage policies.

"There are a host of people who, for example, find that when they make a statement that Facebook or Twitter or someone deems to be threatening...and they're banned or suspended, that it somehow is a violation of free speech rights," said Policinski. "Terms of service are a contract between me and the company, and they lay those out, and they have a right to enforce those. It is not a free speech matter."

Twitter and Snapchat permanentlybanned Trump after the Jan. 6 attackon the Capitol,andYouTube, a Google service, suspended his accounts.

Jennifer Lambe, aUniversity of Delaware communication professor who specializes in First Amendment rights, says an argument that social media platforms have become public forums meritingcongressional oversightis picking up steam.

Trump's allies within the Republican Party blasted Facebook's May 5 decision to maintain the ban on Trump, repeatedly invoking the phrase "free speech."Colin Smith/USA TODAY Network, and AP

The Congressional Research Service states that "state action doctrine provides that constitutional free speech protections generally apply only when a person is harmed by an action of the government, rather than a private party." In other words, government cannot limit free speech, but private industry can.

Lambe said colleagues have presented the idea of expanding the state action doctrine "so that the First Amendment applies to private companies in particular circumstances, like the ones that social media have today."

Some legal experts saythe Supreme Court has expanded the doctrine before. InMarsh v. Alabama(1946) the courtruled that a town privatelyowned by a company was subject to First Amendment principles.

Paul Domer inthe Notre Dame Law Review argued social media companies fall under the special expansion established in the Marsh case.

"Therefore, those companies, though private, could be subject to First and Fourteenth Amendment claims of violating the right of free speech," Domer wrote.

Lambe said a push to expand the doctrine to include big tech companies would come under legal scrutiny. But due to the makeup of the judiciary, which leans conservative,she believes some Republicans might try.

"I suspect that this or something like this will eventually make its way to the Supreme Court in the next few years, and I suspect that the Supreme Court will be amenable to maybe making this extension of the state action doctrine," Lambe said.

Weeks before Facebook's oversight board extended Trump's ban, Thomas advanced arguments for big tech oversightin an opinion when Twitter users blocked by Trump's public account sued the president.

Thomasquestionedthe constitutionality of private firms'control over speech on their platforms, as outlined in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of1996. The actallows social media platforms to regulate their own content and grants legal immunity for removing posts that violatecompany policies.

"Todays digital platforms provide avenues for historically unprecedented amounts of speech, including speech by government actors," Thomas wrote."Also unprecedented, however, is the concentrated control of so much speech in the hands of a few private parties. We will soon have no choice but to address how our legal doctrines apply to highly concentrated, privately owned information infrastructure such as digital platforms."

"Right now there are legislators who are interested in rewriting section 230 so that it gives Facebook and Twitter and other social media less latitude and particularly, less protection from libel suits," Paulson told USA TODAY.

Members of the Florida Legislature explicitly targeted tech companies when Republicans introducedSenate Bill 7072,a punitive billagainst social media platforms, after Trump was banned from Twitter.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump ally, signed S.B. 7072into law last month. Under the newlaw, big tech companies have to establish a method of identifying a person running for office. A platform would alsoface fines of $250,000 a day for suspending politicians' accounts for 60 days or longer. Similar legislation has been proposedin state legislatures around the country, Paulson says.

"There are a disquieting number of pieces of legislation that are being passed around state to state right now that can potentially infringe on First Amendment rights,"Paulson said.

The Florida bill was one of dozens introduced this year, nationwide, centered on how private companies moderate content,according to The New York Times.

Some conservatives claimsocial media giants Facebook, Twitter and Google collude with liberals to censor conservative speech online.

Brent Bozell, thefounder ofthe conservative Media Research Center, said more than2,200 examples of whathe considerscensorship have been compiled onFree Speech America, a branch of the center.

"The problem with Section 230 is that it allows the most powerful companies in human history to censor online speech and interfere in elections without any recourse,"he said.We are coordinating with our allies in Washington, in the states and around the world to come up with legislative, regulatory and, if necessary, legal remedies to the simple fact that Big Tech has too much control over our lives."

Some political conservatives have charged that "social media giants" Facebook, Twitter and Google collude with far-left liberals to censor conservative speech online.Colin Smith/USA TODAY Network, and AP

But ensuring conservative opinion is fairly represented on internet platforms is not the government's responsibility, saidPolicinski.

"If there's an absence of conservative voices on social media, I assume that enough conservatives who feel that way will flock to a site which offers a more conservative viewpoint," he said."That is the marketplace of ideas. There is no guarantee that under the First Amendment after it ensures the government doesn't prevent or punish you for speaking that anyone will listen. That's up to you."

Stephen Puetz, senior vice president of political consulting firm Axiom Strategies, which represents Republican clients,told USA TODAY that Republicansare tryingto expose an inherent bias in social media bans and suspensions.

"There's folks who make the argument that these are private companies and they can do what they want," he said.

Legislation like the recent Florida law, as well as other proposed regulations, are efforts to "encourage more thoughtful review before banning people," according to Puetz.

"Limiting speech too aggressively and unfairly is not good for the public discourse in our country."

ButPaul Barrett, deputy director of the New York University Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, said that complaints of censorship on social media from Republicans and conservativesare unfounded.

There is a broad campaign going on from the right to argue that theyre being silenced or cast aside, and that spirit is what is helping to feed the extremism that we are seeing in our country right now, he said. We cant just allow that to be a debating point. Its not legitimate. Its not supported by the facts.

Paulson said big tech companies reserve the right to remove content they deem harmfulaccording to their policies.

"Clearly there are things that Facebook is taking down that that they view as harmfuland that some conservatives believeis valuable. But that's Facebook's right," he said.

"Facebook can exercise its First Amendment rights and decide what it wants to share with the public. These principles are clear," he said. "Protecting businesses and preventing inappropriate regulation has always been a conservative value, so this is all verysurprising."

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Published11:32 am UTC Jun. 20, 2021Updated9:09 pm UTC Jun. 21, 2021

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Is banning Trump from Facebook a First Amendment issue? Clarence Thomas, other conservatives say it is - USA TODAY

Posted in Donald Trump | Comments Off

Analysis: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott already has the one endorsement he needs – The Texas Tribune

Posted: at 11:28 pm

Editor's note: If you'd like an email notice whenever we publish Ross Ramsey's column, click here.

If you would like to listen to the column, just click on the play button below.

The Republican primary for governor is probably over, before it ever really started.

Greg Abbott already won the supporter who really counts, having converted his current tight focus on conservative populist issues into a Donald Trump endorsement that removes any threat from the likes of Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, Republican Party of Texas Chair Allen West, or former state Sen. Don Huffines of Dallas.

Intentional or not did you really think Abbott was ad-libbing? the governor ended a conservative legislative session by snagging the Trump golden ticket thats preemptive in the Republican primary. Now hes adopted the former presidents pet project of a wall separating the United States and Mexico, and Trump is coming to Texas next week for a border tour with Abbott.

Good news for Greg Abbott. Bummer for everybody else. Hes got the lucky charm that can ward off attacks from the right threats that were accumulating a year ago, when Abbott was issuing unpopular pandemic orders to close certain businesses, wear masks and remain at a distance to flatten COVID-19s curve.

The opponents, none of them especially formidable but most of them worthy of attention, started to line up.

Miller never said in public that he would challenge the governor, though at least one outside group, calling itself the Conservative Republicans of Texas, was encouraging him to jump in and Miller was saying Abbott cannot get reelected in the general election. And he and West were outside the Governors Mansion last October, manning the bullhorns and protesting Abbotts emergency responses to the pandemic. After some thought, and that Trump endorsement, Miller now says he will be running for reelection.

West resigned from his party post and hasnt said whether he plans to run for office or which office he might covet. But with Trump hugging the incumbent, its hard to see where West might be looking for votes; his potential audience is listening to someone else.

Huffines is still in, with some personal money but little in the way of visible political support. He needs Texas voters more than they seem to need him. Hell recognize that line, maybe, after telling WFAA-TV on Sunday that he wants to close the U.S.-Mexico border.

Im going to communicate to Mexico, and they know it, they need us a lot more than we need them, and this is a proven tactic that can work, Huffines said. Hes still pushing Trump themes, especially with his talk of an invasion on the border a word Abbott has also adopted and with his claim that Abbott is stealing some of his ideas.

Maybe, but thats how it goes in politics, and Abbott is no slacker. He wants a wall between here and Mexico. Unlike Huffines, hes got the Trump seal of approval and will, in about a week, have TV footage with the former president on the border.

Its not the only Texas GOP contest where the man from Mar-a-Lago gets to make a decisive call. Look at the race for attorney general.

Ken Paxton, the Republican incumbent, sought favor as one of the pre-insurrection speakers at a Trump event in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6. Hes been under indictment on securities fraud charges for six years through a reelection cycle in 2018 and is under investigation after several top lawyers in his state agency accused him of using that office for the benefit of a political donor. Even so, hes still the one to beat.

But Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, whose father Jeb was emasculated by Trump in the 2016 presidential primary, sought the former presidents blessing for his challenge to Paxton.

Trump hasnt picked a favorite, which is good news for Bush. But when he does, it has a good chance of deciding the race.

Eva Guzman, who quit the Texas Supreme Court to join that race, hasnt yet made a play for Trumps favor, relying so far on the support of Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a Republican-leaning political group that signals a candidates establishment ties. That amounted to more formidable backing in Texas politics 20 years ago, before Republican tastes turned to Trump. If Paxtons troubles catch up with him, she could advance, but thats the funny thing about the 2022 Republican primaries.

They could well be decided by a non-Texan who wont be on the ballot.

Disclosure: Texans for Lawsuit Reform has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

How will South Australia’s new voluntary assisted dying legislation work? And when will it come into force? – ABC News

Posted: at 11:27 pm

Euthanasia is now set to become legal after the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill passed South Australian Parliament.

Here's a look at how it will work.

It has been a long time in the making with 17 attempts over 26 years.

The state is the fourth in Australia to do so, following Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania.

South Australia's Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill is modelled off Victoria's law, which hasbeen in place for two years now.

ABC News: Sarah Mullins

It has been described as among the most conservative in the world and includes some 70 safeguards.

The South Australian government expects it will take about 18 months for the new voluntary assisted dying laws to comeinto force.

Once that happens, eligible South Australians will be allowed to get medical assistance to end their life.

The voluntary assisted dying process starts with a doctor's visit when a patient first asks for medical help to die.

At that point, any doctor or nurse who does not want to be a part of voluntary assisted dying can choose to opt out of the process.

Christian MartA-nez Kempin

If the doctor is on board, he or she will need to check the patient is eligible.

They must be 18 years or over, an Australian citizen and have lived in South Australia for at least a year.

They must not have been coercedand, critically, they must have a medical condition that is incurable andcausing intolerable suffering.

The terminal illness must be likely to cause their death within six months, for some conditions the length of time is12 months.

It's up to the doctor to assess the patient's overall condition and, importantly, their ability to make sound decisions.

When terminally ill teenager Rhys Habermann deliveredhis final message four years ago, hisaimwas to protecthis parents from the risk of prosecution.

The pair must also have a lengthy conversation about the alternatives and risks of carrying out voluntary assisted dying.

If the doctor is satisfied, the patient is then referred to another doctor for a second opinion.

The second doctor repeats all of the questions and assessments, essentially cross-checking the work of the first.

If they agree, this is then ticked off by the Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board, which will oversee all cases throughout the process from start to finish.

The patient then signs a formal declaration in front of the doctor, two witnesses and a contact person.

The final request to die must happen at least ninedays after the patient's first request.

The head of the state health department will ultimately issue the permit, which allows the doctor to write a script for special drugs.

A pharmacist delivers the drugs in a locked box to either the patient or the doctor, depending on who isadministering the medication.

Ultimately, it's left to the patient to make the final decision on when or whether they use it.

The rest is here:

How will South Australia's new voluntary assisted dying legislation work? And when will it come into force? - ABC News

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Injured dog euthanized after possible dumping: ‘This animal needed help’ – wtvr.com

Posted: at 11:27 pm

RICHMOND, Va. -- Richmond Animal Care and Control wasn't able to save an injured dog found on the side of the road Tuesday.

Video of the senior golden retriever mix, affectionately named Susie, sparked outrage on social media after RACC indicated they believed she may have been dumped. They said she was wrapped in a bandage with no chip or collar.

"When they got there, they found that she was down, unable to stand, unable to walk, unable to do anything except lift her head up a little bit," said Animal Control Supervisor, Robert Leinberger.

Leinberger said he believed shed been laying in a hot, damp grassy area near Afton Avenue and Lynhaven Avenue for almost 24 hours before a concerned citizen called animal control.

"Its very sad because this animal needed help, and unfortunately, the help came a little too late," said Leinberger. "Maybe if we had known about it 24 hours prior to, there mightve been a better intervention."

Once officers got her to an emergency vet, Leinberger said they realized she couldn't be saved.

"They removed the bandage and then it was, wow this was really bad," Leinberger said. "Its horrifying because you know that animal needs help, but at the same time, that help is going to come in the form of euthanasia. Its the last means of help we can give, so this animal is no longer suffering."

RACC said in a Facebook post that under the bandage were multiple necrotic wounds -- and that Susie was becoming septic.

"We hugged her close and said goodbye," RACC said in their post.

That post on Richmond Animal Care and Controls Facebook was racking up more than 500 shares and hundreds of comments. People responded with both anger and heartbreak.

"Thank you for making sure she died in a loving environment rather than out there all alone," said Katherine Strassel.

Sarah Carey, who worked for Virginia Veterinary Centers, said she was with Susie in her last moments.

"She was the sweetest and we shared some yummy treats and McDonald's fries before she peacefully went to the long sleep," said Carey. "She was warm, comfy and had a full tummy and love."

Others called for justice.

"Heartbreaking. I hope the owners are found and brought to justice. Unforgivable," said Ginny Reynolds.

While the Facebook post from RACC indicated that abandonment was believed to be the case, Leinberger said it was something they're working to determine and that they understand that accidents do happen.

"We do have, from time to time, older dogs wander away and they dont know how to get back," Leinberger said.

He added that if abandonment should never be an option as there were many things a pet owner could do if they can no longer take care of their animal, such as reaching out to RACC.

"Thats the worst thing you can possibly do is to dump the dog," said Leinberger.

Either way, he said RACC was asking the owner to reach out.

"Because we don't want this to happen again. If this is the method that an individual thinks is the way to get rid of a dog, it's the wrong way. If a pet truly got away, well address that too."

Leinberger said if it was determined the dog was dumped, that owner could face criminal charges.

RACC asked anyone who saw anything or recognized the dog to call them at 804-646-5573.

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Injured dog euthanized after possible dumping: 'This animal needed help' - wtvr.com

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Monthly Archives: June 2021

Cloned Competent Cells Market Will Generate Record Revenue by 2027 Covid-19 Analysis The Manomet Current – The Manomet Current

Siddalingaiah (1954-2021): The Dalit poet who broke the rules and challenged the norms – Scroll.in

Northern Ireland centenary: James Dingley on how the Northern Irish should have no fears about their identity – Belfast News Letter

Of Course Trump Tried to Get the Justice Department to Stop SNL From Making Fun of Him – Vanity Fair

Pence May Finally Be Ready to Strike Back Against Trump – Business Insider

Inside the extraordinary effort to save Trump from COVID-19 – Anchorage Daily News

Is banning Trump from Facebook a First Amendment issue? Clarence Thomas, other conservatives say it is – USA TODAY

Analysis: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott already has the one endorsement he needs – The Texas Tribune

How will South Australia’s new voluntary assisted dying legislation work? And when will it come into force? – ABC News

Injured dog euthanized after possible dumping: ‘This animal needed help’ – wtvr.com

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