I have been telling you for years that Republican governance always produces inferior social outcome data which always means that ordinary people are more miserable, sicker, and that children particularly suffer. Here is a rare counter example that shows these Republican policies are not the way it has to be in Red states, and that when enough Republicans do the same things Democrats routinely do, it produces the same benefits. So bravo Indiana Republican Governor Eric Holcomb.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb spent more time talking specifically about public health in his State of the State address this year than any other governor. Credit: Darron Cummings / AP
Covid left many Republicans leery of public health. Not Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb.
This year, Holcomb pushed a 1,500-percent increase in state dollars to local health departments through the GOP-controlled legislature, a significant victory in a state that consistently ranks among the bottom for public health outcomes.
It also marks a notable deviation from the approach the Republican Party — from state lawmakers to presidential candidates — has taken to public health post-pandemic as it leans into the sizable wing of the party skeptical of government and public health ahead of the 2024 election.
Pandemic backlash and anti-vaccine sentiment have coalesced into a growing movement hostile to government involvement in public health, and its enmity stretches beyond Covid vaccines and masks. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has touted his “medical freedom” bona fides as he campaigns for the nation’s top office. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) earlier this year
Dharna Noor, Fossil Fuel and Climate Reporter - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan:
Are you suffering from the heat this summer? If you are you should take it very personally that the Republicans oppose climate research and mitigation. Here is the story.
The expected temperature on the weekend is 120F in Death Valley, California. Credit: Anadolu Agency/Getty
Swaths of the US are baking under record-breaking heat, yet some lawmakers are still attempting to block any spending to fight the climate crisis, advocates say.
Nearly 90 million Americans are facing heat alerts this week, including in Las Vegas, Nevada, which may break its all-time hottest temperature record; Phoenix, Arizona, which will probably break its streak of consecutive days of temperatures over 110F; and parts of Florida, where a marine heatwave has pushed up water temperatures off the coast to levels normally found in hot tubs.
Stifling heat is also blanketing parts of Texas, which for weeks earlier this summer sweltered under a record-shattering heat dome which one analysis found was made five times more likely by the climate crisis. Despite this, the state’s Republican senator Ted Cruz is rallying his fellow GOP members of the Senate commerce committee to circulate a memo attacking climate measures in Biden’s proposed 2024 budget, Fox News reported on Wednesday.
The memo specifically calls on Republican members of the Senate appropriations […]
I am so tired of these stories and these trends. The sheer racist nastiness of the Republican Party, the never ending efforts to keep people of color second class. I wish the United States had more positive trends, but it is up to us, and as a people, at least a large segment of the population just doesn’t seem to be willing to make the effort.
The letter names Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, which is owned by Meta, Netflix, Uber and others
More than a dozen Republican state prosecutors have threatened the top 100 US companies with legal action over workforce diversity programmes.
They warned corporate targets like “race-based quotas” may be unlawful after the Supreme Court banned colleges using affirmative action in admissions.
The Republican attorneys general name firms like Apple, Microsoft and Uber.
They say “treating people differently because of the color of their skin, even for benign purposes, is unlawful”.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach led the effort and signed the letter alongside 11 other attorneys general.
Among the other Fortune 100 companies named in the letter are the likes of Facebook, Airbnb, Paypal, Google, Netflix and Uber.
In a statement shared with the BBC, Mr Skrmetti said “the [Supreme] Court’s reasoning means that companies, no matter their motivation, cannot treat people differently based on the color of their skin.
“Corporate America continues to have many avenues to help disadvantaged people and communities of all races without resorting to crude […]
Alabama, a state that is already little more than a developing nation, with terrible social outcome data thanks to racist Republican governance is still trying to make sure its Black citizens remain second class. It just never ends.
A map of a Republican proposal to redraw Alabama’s congressional districts that the state Senate is expected to approve Wednesday is displayed at the Alabama legislature. The state House approved a different map proposal Wednesday. Credit:Kim Chandler / AP
Alabama Republicans tasked by the U.S. Supreme Court with redrawing the state’s congressional map are so far rejecting the court’s order to create a second majority-Black district in the state.
While Alabama’s population is 27 percent Black, just one of the state’s seven districts is majority-Black.
In a 5-4 decision in June, the Supreme Court affirmed a three-judge panel’s ruling that Alabama’s current map likely violates the Voting Rights Act by taking away from the voice of Black voters.
The group of voters who sued and won before the Supreme Court proposed a second district where Black residents are 50.5 percent of the population, according to The Associated Press.
Facing down a Friday deadline, Republican state lawmakers proposed a congressional map Monday that would increase the percentage of Black voters in the 2nd Congressional District from […]
Finally, someone is doing something about the blatant corruption of the Supreme Court. It is not enough, but at least it is a start. And I think it is very notable that not a single Republican voted to establish a Supreme Court standard for ethics. It’s not surprising, however, since the Republicans have been working since the Reagan administration to rig the American judiciary so it favored the uber-rich who own and fund the Republicans
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) speaks during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on July 20, 2023. Credit: Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call / Getty
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced legislation that would require the U.S. Supreme Court to adopt an enforceable code of ethics and adhere to stronger disclosure rules following a series of revelations about the luxury trips and other gifts justices have received from right-wing billionaires.
In remarks ahead of Thursday’s vote, Whitehouse said he believes “the Supreme Court has been captured by special interests, much like a railroad commission in the 1890s might have been captured by railroad barons to decide things their way,” pointing to recent news that “six—six—politically-active right-wing billionaires have been paying household expenses, engaging in financial transactions, and providing massive secret gifts of travel and hospitality for at least two justices.”
