Mark Z Barabak/LA Times:
He warned democracy was in peril. And that was before the Capitol riot
It’s not as if Tom Mann is happy to say I told you so.
After decades as a leading expert on Congress and our fragile American experiment in democracy, Mann shed his impartiality and scholarly distance and co-wrote a clanging alarm of a book that said government was headed seriously off the rails.
“It’s Even Worse Than It Looks” didn’t steer a middle course by blaming “both sides,” or countenance the “well, what about” school of reductive reasoning — as in, “Well, what about Hillary’s emails?” — which shrinks any difference between Democrat and Republican to the level of a schoolyard taunt.
The problem, Mann and coauthor Norman Ornstein stated, was a Republican Party captive to its most unhinged elements.
WaPo:
‘The war has changed’: Internal CDC document urges new messaging, warns delta infections likely more severe
The internal presentation shows that the agency thinks it is struggling to communicate on vaccine efficacy amid increased breakthrough infections
The delta variant of the coronavirus appears to cause more severe illness than earlier variants and spreads as easily as chickenpox, according to an internal federal health document that argues officials must “acknowledge the war has changed.”
...
The document outlines “communication challenges” fueled by cases in vaccinated people, including concerns from local health departments about whether coronavirus vaccines remain effective and a “public convinced vaccines no longer work/booster doses needed.”
The presentation highlights the daunting task the CDC faces. It must continue to emphasize the proven efficacy of the vaccines at preventing severe illness and death while acknowledging milder breakthrough infections may not be so rare after all, and that vaccinated individuals are transmitting the virus. The agency must move the goal posts of success in full public view.
Michael Saag/WaPo:
In vaccine-resistant Alabama, hospitals face a two-front war
But in many regions of the country, including the Southeast where I live, up to two-thirds of the population chose not to protect themselves. I’ve heard all the reasons: “The vaccines are experimental.” “I am young and healthy; I don’t need the vaccine.” “So what if I get covid?” “The epidemic is over.” “The vaccine will destroy my fertility.” “The vaccine is a government plot.” “I have the freedom to choose.” “Nobody can tell me what to do.” “The doctors are lying to me.”
Like most of my fellow health-care workers, these comments stunned and stung me. We had spent a year fighting a raging pandemic. We suspended activities in our usual disciplines of medical care, rolled up our sleeves and provided care to the more than 30 million people who showed up in our ERs, clinics and hospitals. Covid was more than disruptive; it was exhausting. Most of us survived. But we were also fatigued and battle-worn.
Enter delta. We knew variants had emerged elsewhere in the world. The alpha variant entered the United States as the vaccines were rolling out and, fortunately, was well neutralized by the vaccine’s immune response. Delta, we thought, would be similar. It is not.
Vox:
Medical debt was cut nearly in half in states that expanded Medicaid
Non-expansion states saw a much smaller drop in new medical debt over the same period.
Medicaid expansion doesn’t just provide more people health insurance — it appears to cut medical debt enormously, a new study has found.
The Affordable Care Act offered states a huge infusion of federal money to expand Medicaid eligibility to low-income adults, and about 30 states took that deal right away in 2014. Since then, new medical debt in those states has fallen 44 percent, a dramatically bigger drop than was seen in the states that refused to expand the program over the same period. Those states showed only a 10 percent decline.
The study was published in JAMA by scholars from Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, and the National Bureau of Economic Research. The researchers noted that nonmedical debt had fallen by similar amounts in expansion and non-expansion states over the time period they studied, 2009 to 2020, strengthening the case that Medicaid expansion was the difference with medical debt.
NY Times:
Pandemic Aid Programs Spur a Record Drop in Poverty
The most comprehensive study yet of the federal response to the pandemic shows huge but temporary benefits for the poor — and helps frame a larger debate over the role of government.
The number of poor Americans is expected to fall by nearly 20 million from 2018 levels, a decline of almost 45 percent. The country has never cut poverty so much in such a short period of time, and the development is especially notable since it defies economic headwinds — the economy has nearly seven million fewer jobs than it did before the pandemic.
The extraordinary reduction in poverty has come at extraordinary cost, with annual spending on major programs projected to rise fourfold to more than $1 trillion. Yet without further expensive new measures, millions of families may find the escape from poverty brief. The three programs that cut poverty most — stimulus checks, increased food stamps and expanded unemployment insurance — have ended or are scheduled to soon revert to their prepandemic size.
Neil Irwin/NY Times:
Growth Is Strong, but the Obstacles to Full Recovery Are Big
The new G.D.P. numbers paint a vivid picture of a nation still struggling to complete an economic readjustment.
Most of the time, a 6.5 percent rate of economic growth would warrant celebrations in the streets. Only in the weird economy of 2021 can it be a bit of a disappointment.
It’s not simply that forecasters had expected a G.D.P. growth number that was a couple of percentage points higher, though they did. And it’s not even that America’s output remains below its prepandemic growth path in inflation-adjusted terms, though it is.
What makes the new G.D.P. numbers on Thursday feel less than buoyant is the degree to which they reflect a nation still struggling to complete a huge economic readjustment.
Daily Beast:
This Was the Biggest, Loudest Cop Union in America. Then Came Jan. 6.
The Fraternal Order of Police has denounced the attack on the U.S. Capitol. But that’s not the whole story.
But in an interview on CNN Wednesday, [Officer Michael] Fanone—fresh from testifying to Congress on Tuesday about his experience at the Capitol—said he received no outreach from the union immediately after Jan. 6. Even though the D.C. Metro cop has been a dues-paying member of the FOP since he first became a police officer, he said, it wasn’t until six months after the riot that he spoke with FOP President Patrick Yoes to voice his concerns about a lack of support from the union.
“I’ll be honest with you,” he told CNN, “I wasn’t particularly impressed with that conversation. I was extremely disappointed.”
Among the things Fanone was visibly pissed about was what he described as the FOP’s failure to marshall institutional support on behalf of the officers who defended the Capitol. This is a group that represents over 300,000 officers across the country, and has more than 100,000 followers on social media.
Doug Jones/USA Today:
Pass 'Manchin Plus' voting and election protection with or without Republicans
I implore my former Republican colleagues to step forward. If they don't, Manchin and other Democrats must override the filibuster to save democracy.
Despite what you might hear about “states' rights” and elections, the Constitution clearly gives Congress power to enact national standards for federal elections, and Congress has used this power before. Earlier this year, the House approved pro-voter legislation that would supersede many recently enacted election subversion measures. This bill has been before the Senate for many months now. Meanwhile, public confidence in elections is faltering.
Jonathan V Last/Bulwark:
The Damnation of George P. Bush
It all ends in tears. These things usually do.
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On Monday night, Donald Trump issued his endorsement in next year’s race for Texas attorney general. You’ll never guess who he picked. Let me give you a hint: It was not the guy whose name rhymes with tush.
Thus concludes the single most craven political career in—honestly, I’m not even sure how long. Because no politician in my lifetime has brought more dishonor upon himself than George P. Bush.
On Monday night, Donald Trump issued his endorsement in next year’s race for Texas attorney general. You’ll never guess who he picked. Let me give you a hint: It was not the guy whose name rhymes with tush.