CHARLES FRANKLIN, - Marquette University Law school
Stephan: Here is some reliable data about giving us a profile of American society. It is not very pretty. We are in a great schism that is creating two different countries. If the Red states and the Blue states were more closely proximate and distributed I think we would split into two countries.
MILWAUKEE – A new Marquette Law School Poll national survey finds approval of the U.S. Supreme Court has fallen to 38%, while 61% disapprove of how the Court is handling its job. In May, 44% approved and 55% disapproved, and in March, 54% approved and 45% disapproved.
By contrast, approval of the Court stood at 66% in September 2020, with 33% disapproval then. As recently as July 2021, the Court had a 60% approval rating. Table 1 shows the trend in approval since September 2020. (All results in the tables are stated as percentages; the precise wording of the questions can be found in the online link noted above.)
The latest Marquette Law Poll Supreme Court survey was conducted July 5-12, 2022, shortly after the final decisions from the October 2021 Supreme Court term were released. The survey interviewed 1,003 adults nationwide and has a margin of error of +/-4 percentage points.
The sharp decline in approval in July follows the Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, overruling the 1973 Roe v Wade decision, which announced a federal constitutional right to abortion in all 50 states. In March, […]
Stephan: It is hard to believe in the second decade of the 21st century that the Red states are reverting to a 19th century view of women and that large numbers of Republican women are acquiescing to what their party is doing to their status. But they are.
Democratic members of Congress carry a banner during a march for abortion rights outside the Capitol on July 19. Credit: Kevin Wolf / AP
The horror stories from state abortion bans are piling up: Women facing dangerous delays in care for miscarriages. Doctors violating their training and waiting until their patient is at death’s door before performing an abortion. Pharmacists struggling to understand whether filling prescriptions for drugs that are used both for abortions and for post-miscarriage treatment opens them up to criminal charges.
Episodes in which women are needlessly denied treatment will become commonplace. The Advocate reports this disturbing account from Louisiana:
A woman who was 16 weeks pregnant had her water break, and her doctor wanted to perform a dilation and evacuation, a type of abortion procedure, to take out the fetus, which was not viable. But the doctor consulted with an attorney, who advised against it. … [T]he woman preferred the abortion, but instead “was forced to go through a painful, hours-long labor to deliver a nonviable fetus, […]
IGOR DERYSH, Deputy News and Politics Editor - Salon
Stephan: Can you imagine what America would be like if suddenly contraception was illegal? Or that same-sex marriage would suddenly be outlawed? If the Republicans take the Senate and House in November, given the fascist nature of the present Supreme Court, those unimaginable events could well become reality. Is that a country you want to live in?
Rep. Kevin McCarthy Credit: Getty
All but eight House Republicans voted against a bill to codify the right to contraception federally amid concerns that the Supreme Court could overturn a decades-old ruling prohibiting states from banning contraceptives.
The House voted 228 to 195 to pass the Right to Contraception Act, which would make it a federal right for Americans to obtain and use birth control pills, condoms, IUDs and other contraceptives. The legislation would also codify health care providers’ rights to provide contraceptives and allow the Justice Department to take those that infringe the right to court.
Only eight Republicans voted in favor of the bill: Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.; Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.; Nancy Mace, R-S.C.; Fred Upton, R-Mich.; Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.; Anthony Gonzalez, R-Ohio; John Katko, R-N.Y.; and Maria Salazar, R-Fla. Reps. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, and Mike Kelly, R-Pa., both voted “present.”
Republicans spread misinformation about the bill and contraceptives in general, accusing Democrats of seeking “more abortions” with the bill even though contraceptives prevent unwanted pregnancies. Republicans also denied that the right to contraceptives is at risk […]
Stephan: Because of the corruption that plagues the U.S. Congress, particularly the Republican Party, a corruption specifically designed to suck wealth out of the American population to the benefit of the corporations who rent the Congressional whores who pass the carefully crafted laws pharmaceuticals in the U.S. are orders of magnitude more costly than any other developed nation. It is an obscenity that will never get fixed until the Democrats have large enough majorities in the House and Senate to pass bills no matter how Republicans vote.
Demonstrators protest pharmaceutical companies’ lobbying against drug price reforms in Washington, D.C. on September 21, 2021. Credit: Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty
The U.S. pharmaceutical industry exercised its virtually unlimited pricing power to hike costs for patients again this month as Senate Democrats made progress toward a limited deal to regulate out-of-control prescription drug prices, which are forcing millions of people to ration their medication or go without it entirely.
A new analysis released Wednesday by Patients for Affordable Drugs estimates that pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. have raised drug prices 1,186 times so far this year, further padding their bottom lines while intensifying the already overwhelming cost burden for patients.
“Big Pharma continues to raise drug prices with no regard for the health and financial well-being of Americans.”
Patients for Affordable Drugs found that between June 24 and July 5, pharmaceutical companies increased prices for 133 products. Pfizer, for instance, hiked the cost of its leukemia medication Besponsa again this month, bringing its per-vial price tag to $21,056.
“This is Pfizer’s fourth hike on the cancer drug during the Covid-19 pandemic—even as […]
Stephan: If you are a college student old enough to vote, or you have a child in college, and you vote Republican you are voting to harm your life, or your child's life. As this article lays out the Republicans are trying to block the Biden programs to alleviate student debt.
Republicans have been ramping up efforts to rein in the Biden administration’s ability to cancel student loan debt, arguing such plans are “wildly inflationary” and would only contribute to climbing prices.
Since the Biden administration extended a nationwide pause on federal student loan payments and interest accrual in the spring, Republicans in both chambers have been introducing legislation targeting the president’s authority on student loans.
Legislation introduced in recent weeks includes multiple measures seeking to keep Biden from greenlighting mass cancellation of student debt without buy-in from Congress, as well as a bill codifying that the president lacks the authority to “blanket cancel federal student loans.”
The bills face an uphill climb in the Democratic-led Congress, but Republicans behind the effort say it’s necessary to combat what they argue will be an unfair burden on taxpayers.
“My constituents are worried about the fact that the government runs heavy deficits every year and borrows the money to cover it,” Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said. “So, you’re running a deficit when you’re not paying for it, and so it is something that at […]
