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San Francisco at risk of an 'uncontrolled monkeypox spread,' lawmaker says

California Sen. Scott Wiener (D) said the city of San Francisco is veering toward a public health crisis due to the uncontrolled spread of the monkeypox virus in a statement Thursday. 

The city’s Department of Public Health tweeted Wednesday that its walk-in clinic will close for the remainder of the week due to the vaccine shortage. Other city clinics are working through remaining appointments and joining the DPH center in “urgently asking for more doses.”  

As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 1,700 San Francisco residents have been vaccinated against the virus, according to the San Francisco DPH.

Wiener said the vaccination rate will continue to be slow, which will cause a spread in the city and surrounding communities. He said “failure to control this outbreak” will harm residents, especially the city’s LGBTQ+ community. 

“We need an enormous amount of additional vaccine doses, and we need it immediately. The federal government’s failures are threatening to deeply harm our community,” Wiener added. “Once we move past this emergency, we need accountability for these failures — failures that put people’s lives and health in jeopardy.”

Wiener’s statement comes after former New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio (D) called on the federal government Monday to ramp up its access to monkeypox vaccines as cases of the virus continue to spread in the U.S. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are more than 1,000 monkeypox cases in 41 U.S. states as of Wednesday afternoon.

“Invoke the Defense Production Act to fill the need for vaccines in the US,” De Blasio, who officially announced his run for representative of New York’s 10th District last month, wrote in his thread. “There really is no time to waste in a crisis like this, and there is so much that federal and city officials can do right now to get control of this crisis.”

The Biden administration recently announced plans to distribute up to 144,00 more doses of the Jynneos vaccine in an effort to combat the recent spike in cases.

Source: TEST FEED1

Union efforts, unfair labor charges spike in US

Union representation petitions filed at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have gone up more than 50 percent since last year, the agency announced this week.  

By May, petitions already surpassed the total number of petitions filed last year. So far this year, 1,935 petitions have been submitted — 695 more than 2021, according to a statement from the agency.  

Meanwhile, charges of unfair labor practices have jumped by 14.5 percent from 11,451 last year to 13,106 in the first three quarters of this fiscal year.  

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Employees, unions, or employees with an NLRB Field Office file representation petitions in order to conduct elections and determine if employees want to be represented by a union.  

The new data comes during a year of historic firsts for unionization efforts in the U.S. workforce. In April, Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island became the first employees of the e-commerce giant to vote in favor of unionizing. Starbucks employees in New York stirred a nation-wide unionization effort, and workers at Gawker Media were successful in their push to unionize last month. 

Despite the recent spike in unionization efforts, the overall number of workers who belong to a union has been on a downward trend since the 1980s. In 1983, 20 percent of U.S. workers belonged to a union and in 2021 that number had dropped to 10.3 percent, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  

Fifty-eight percent of Americans believe that the decline in union membership is “somewhat or very bad” for the country, while 61 percent say that it has been bad for working people, according to a Pew Research Center survey.  

The increase in petitions also comes at a time of funding and staffing shortages at the NLRB. The agency’s budget has not been adjusted for inflation for nine years, resulting in an overall decrease of 25 percent since 2010, according to a statement. The agency’s overall staff has also dropped by nearly 40 percent since 2002 and field staff has been cut by 50 percent. 

As a result, the agency is calling for a budget of $319.4 million, or an increase of 16 percent, for next year.  

“The NLRB is processing the most cases it has seen in years with the lowest staffing levels in the past six decades. Our dedicated staff, especially in our 48 field offices, are handling unsustainable caseloads. The Agency urgently needs more resources to process petitions and conduct elections, investigate unfair labor practice charges, and obtain full remedies for workers whose labor rights have been violated,” said NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo.  

“We need Congress to help us restore the capacity that we have lost after years of underfunding.” 

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Last WWII Medal of Honor recipient lies in honor at Capitol

Congressional lawmakers gathered on Thursday for a tribute ceremony as Hershel Woodrow “Woody” Williams, the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipient, lay in honor at the Capitol.

Williams — who died on June 29 at the age of 98 — was presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Truman in October 1945. He served in the Battle of Iwo Jima as a member of the United States Marine Corps with the 21st Marines, 3rd Marine Division.

The accolade is the highest award in the U.S. for “military valor in action,” according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

After World War II, Williams worked as a veterans service representative at the Department of Veterans Affairs for more than 30 years.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle attended the tribute ceremony, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). West Virginia Sens. Joe Manchin (D) and Shelley Moore Capito (R), who represent Williams’s birth state, also attended.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley also paid their respects.

In remarks at the ceremony, Pelosi called Williams a “heroic American” and a “courageous defender of liberty.”

“With Woody’s passing we have lost a deeply selfless American and a vital link to our nation’s greatest generation. History echoes the service of so many Americans who faced the horrors of war, that liberty might triumph over fascism,” she said.

“Let us honor Woody and his compatriots by carrying on their legacy of leadership and service by preserving the just peace for which they fought so freely,” she added.

McConnell said Williams’s service “leaves us a rich legacy.”

“His valor in combat is enshrined aboard the U.S.S. Hershel Williams and at the Hershel Williams Armed Forces Reserve Center. His commitment to his fellow veterans inspires caregivers at the Woody Williams VA Medical Center. And his namesake foundation continues its work to honor the sacrifices of families left behind,” McConnell said.

Source: TEST FEED1

13-year-old not the driver in Texas crash that killed members of university golf team: NTSB

ANDREWS, Texas (KLBK) – The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Thursday that a 13-year-old was not the driver in a deadly March 15 crash that killed nine people, despite statements made by NTSB officials earlier this year.

The day after the deadly crash — which claimed the lives of six college athletes, their coach, the 13-year-old boy and his father — the NTSB vice chairman had indicated that the 13-year-old was driving. However, a crash report released by the Texas Department of Public Safety had cast doubt on that assertion.

DNA testing results confirmed that 38-year-old Henrich Siemens was driving the Dodge 2500 pickup truck that crashed into a transit van carrying nine people with the University of The Southwest golf team, the NTSB said Thursday.

“NTSB postcrash toxicological testing revealed the presence of methamphetamine in the pickup truck driver’s blood,” the board said in a news release.

Additionally, the NTSB said it has found no evidence of “sudden or rapid loss of tire air pressure or any other indicators of catastrophic failure,” in the pickup truck. The NTSB previously reported in March that the left tire of the pickup truck failed prior to impact.

Six of those killed were members of the University of the Southwest’s golf team. The coach, 26-year-old Tyler James, was also killed. Two players, 19-year-old Dayton Price and 20-year-old Hayden Underhill, were taken to University Medical Center in Lubbock with serious injuries.

Siemens, as well as his 13-year-old son, were also killed.

The NTSB’s latest news release, as well as updates to the investigation details, are currently available to view at NTSB.gov. Robert Molloy, the NTSB director of Highway Safety, was also planning to speak to members of the media about the latest findings on Thursday afternoon.

Source: TEST FEED1

Texas sues Biden administration over hospital abortion guidance

Texas is suing the Biden administration over its recent guidance reminding hospitals and physicians that federal law requires them to provide abortions if there is a medical emergency and the health or life of the patient is at risk.

According to the suit, filed in the Northern District of Texas, the Biden administration “seeks to transform every emergency room in the country into a walk-in abortion clinic,” and “flouting the Supreme Court’s ruling before the ink is dry.”

Texas alleged the guidance goes much further than simply reminding hospitals of their obligations under current law, “it includes a number of new requirements related to the provision of abortions that do not exist under federal law.”

The state is asking the court to issue a permanent injunction prohibiting the administration from enforcing the guidance. 

“I will ensure that President Biden will be forced to comply with the Supreme Court’s important decision concerning abortion and I will not allow him to undermine and distort existing laws to fit his administration’s unlawful agenda,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said in a statement.

The lawsuit was filed just days after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a guidance reaffirming that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) protects providers when offering legally-mandated, life- or health-saving abortion services in emergency situations. 

Under the EMTALA law, if an emergency medical condition is found to exist, the hospital must provide available stabilizing treatment or an appropriate transfer to another hospital that has the capabilities to provide stabilizing treatment. HHS said abortion care qualifies as stabilizing care.

The law leaves it up to a physician to determine what qualifies as an emergency medical condition for a pregnant patient, but administration officials said examples such as ectopic pregnancy, complications of miscarriage or severe preeclampsia would apply.

But according to Texas, “EMTALA does not mandate, direct, approve, or even suggest the provision of any specific treatment. It says nothing about abortion”

The HHS guidance followed President Biden’s executive order on reproductive health issued last week, and comes as the White House fends off criticism for its seemingly sluggish response to the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.

Source: TEST FEED1

Is imperialism negotiable?

Despite modest gains in east Ukraine, June was not a good month for Russia. Within a single week, European Union leaders offered Kyiv candidacy for membership, NATO reached an agreement to bring Sweden and Finland into the alliance and Great Britain’s defense secretary, Ben Wallace, called for a 20 percent hike to his budget.

These historic developments are sure to rile Kremlin officials, but the future of Western support to Ukraine’s fight remains uncertain. As public interest in the war continues to dwindle, appeasing Russia’s extortionate demands could become more desirable. Such concessions would do more than disfigure Ukraine and impose devastating new realities on Western security institutions — they would declare to the world that imperialism is negotiable.  

The debate over policy toward Ukraine has split experts into two camps. One side believes this war will end only when Russia is humiliated and exhausted militarily by a stream of Western arms packages. Until now, the Biden administration has pursued a strategy along these lines.

The other camp sees that option as far-fetched and too costly, and instead seeks diplomatic solutions to Russia’s war. Proposed remedies typically include allowing Russia to expand its borders into Ukraine and insisting that Kyiv amend its constitution by swearing never to join NATO. These conditions echo Moscow’s demands to the letter. In exchange, Russia might stop leveling Ukrainian cities. While this bargain is clearly an example of political extortion, it tends to moonlight under the cover of various euphemisms. 

Among them are the terms “diplomacy,” “negotiations” and “realist international relations theory.” Veteran diplomat Henry Kissinger, scholars John Mearsheimer and Barry Posen and the New York Times editorial board have all argued for solutions in line with such euphemisms. Admittedly, as the war wears down the pocketbooks and attention spans of Western governments, even some Russia hawks have crept slowly into the appeasement camp. French President Emmanuel Macron, who only months ago reminded Putin slyly that France too was a nuclear power, has since said that Russia must not be humiliated in Ukraine.

These arguments have merit, but they miss the underlying question that appeasement poses to the world: If Ukraine is not worth saving from an overestimated and supposedly crumbling power, who is? 

Such inquiries give shape to the type of global power competition described in U.S. strategic documents of the last two presidential administrations. The question is essential not only to resolving the war in Ukraine, but also to enabling the Biden administration’s integrated deterrence concept aimed at competing with powers such as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea — each of which jockey for leverage over the West.  

For them, this jockeying process involves convincing observers that the U.S.-led security infrastructure established after the Cold War is in a twilight and can no longer sustain the existing international order. Fear plays a role in driving the point home.

Bringing Finland and Sweden into NATO might strengthen the alliance, but their desire to join after seven decades of neutrality is proof that nations external to NATO feel remarkably vulnerable. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s political party won a super majority in Japan shortly after his July 8 assassination. He was perhaps most famous for his role as architect of the informal Quad alliance, what some consider the early phase of an Indo-Pacific NATO. 

Aside from its paternalistic nature, appeasement fails to see the bigger picture. The idea of the free world as a conglomerate of nations that share liberal democratic values has animated political campaigns and national security policies for generations. This concept is rooted in the assumption that a rules-based international order prevents tyrants from doing exactly what Putin is doing. If the existing order cannot serve this purpose, it will suffer a severe blow to its credibility, especially in places where diplomats and military advisers such as myself work to assure foreign partners of our commitment to those principles.  

Condoning Russia’s extortion further undermines the diplomatic process because it corrodes the legitimacy of existing treaties upon which many countries rely for materiel and political support. Clearly, Moscow has thrown out the Russo-Ukrainian Treaty of 1997. But the 1994 Budapest Memorandum – bearing the signatures of the United States, Russia and United Kingdom – offered Western-backed security guarantees in exchange for Kyiv relinquishing its nuclear arsenal. If that parlay ultimately contributes to Ukraine’s disintegration, the West could face a credibility crisis in future diplomatic exchanges. Putin’s statements amplify this erosion of trust and nest it conveniently within the twilight narrative. 

Realists want the West to shake off the war in Ukraine and focus on China, even as Belarusian president and Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko uses terms like “moral cleansing” to describe his vision of Europe’s future. But if Moscow can leverage its atrocities in Ukraine to bludgeon the free world into conciliation, it will signify a terrifying new beginning, not the end of a war.  

As argued by Lt. Gen. James Dubik in these pages, forcing Ukraine to the negotiating table in a position of weakness is a recipe for disaster. Considering the 2014 annexation of Crimea, the ongoing use of genocidal tactics in Ukraine and the likelihood of a protracted insurgency in Russian-occupied territories, it is folly to assume that a sacrificial land offering will produce anything resembling stability.  

Russia’s incursion presents to the world a troubling question that it must answer collectively: Is imperialism negotiable? Outside Ukraine, appeasement is an easy option because it creates the mirage of reconciliation while demanding nothing from those conjuring the illusion. On the other hand, generating the political will to explore new frameworks of burden sharing in support of Ukraine’s fight is much harder, but it is the only solution that clearly answers the question of how much imperialism Europe will tolerate this century.

If the answer is anything more than zero, then Moscow is at liberty to continue exploiting that ambiguity with its imperial interests. Public officials from Washington to Canberra must consider the long-term effects of Russia experiencing anything less than abject failure in Ukraine.  

One calls to mind the 1805 “Plumb-pudding in danger” cartoon in which Napoleon Bonaparte and British Prime Minister William Pitt are depicted at a dinner table carving up the globe. A rising tide of authoritarianism over the last decade means the situation in Ukraine might determine who now gets a seat at that table. The United States and its allies spend billions each year persuading foreign partners that the West can help deter, and, if need be, stop modern Napoleons. Now is the time to prove it. 

Capt. Michael P. Ferguson is an officer in the U.S. Army with decades of experience working alongside foreign partners throughout Europe, Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan. He contributes defense and national security analysis for various publications. 

The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect policies of the U.S. Army, U.S. Department of Defense, or U.S. government.  

Source: TEST FEED1

Swalwell presses anti-abortion activist on whether 10-year-olds should carry babies

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) pressed an anti-abortion activist during a hearing Thursday on whether a 10-year-old could or should choose to carry a baby. 

The House Judiciary Committee’s hearing came as the case of a 10-year-old rape victim being denied an abortion in Ohio has stoked debate over the consequences the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last month. 

“Do you think a ten-year-old should choose to carry a baby?” Swalwell asked Catherine Glenn Foster, President and CEO of Americans United for Life, an anti-abortion advocacy group. 

“I believe it would probably impact her life, and so therefore it would fall under any exception and would not be an abortion,” Foster responded. 

“Wait,” Swalwell said, “it would not be an abortion if a 10-year-old with her parents made the deicison not to have a baby that was the result of a rape?”

“If a 10-year-old became pregant as the result of rape and it was threateneing her life, that’s not an abortion,” Foster repeated, “so it would not fall under any abortion restriction in our nation.”

Swalwell then turned to Sarah Warbelow, legal director of the Human Rights Campaign, and asked if she believed Foster’s response was “disinformation.”

“I heard some very significant disinformation,” she said. “An abortion is a procedure, it’s a medical procedure that individuals undergo for a wide range of circumstances, including because they have been sexually assaulted — raped in the case of the ten-year-old. It doesn’t matter whether there was a statutory exemption. It’s still a medical procedure that is understood to be an abortion.”

Swalwell said young girls are becoming victims of right-wing propaganda after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, referring to Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) now-deleted tweet that the ten-year-old’s story was made up. 

“They don’t just want to wage a war on women. They’re now expanding it to a war on little girls,” Swalwell said. 

By overturning the federal right to abortion, the Supreme Court has left it up to states to set their own laws on abortion. A number of GOP-led states almost immediately enacted laws banning or severely restricting abortion, though a number of them have been paused by courts amid legal challenged from abortion advocates. 

Experts told the Judiciary committee earlier this week that the Supreme Court’s decision is creating “chaos” in the health care sector as some states see a spike in women seeking abortions and physicians are unsure of their legal rights.

“We are already seeing mass chaos among OBGYNs, emergency room physicians, and quite frankly pharmacists,” Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, told lawmakers on Tuesday. 

“We’re talking about people being denied or delayed care for pregnancy and non-pregnancy related conditions.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Indiana AG threatens license of doctor who provided abortion to 10-year-old rape victim

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) says he will be looking into the licensure of the physician who provided abortion services to a 10-year-old Ohio rape victim who made national headlines after she travelled out-of-state to receive the procedure.

Caitlin Bernard, an Indiana obstetrician-gynecologist, publicly shared earlier this month in an interview published by the The Indianapolis Star that she would assisting the young girl, who was prohibited from getting an abortion under Ohio’s six-week ban.

The case has been the focus of intense scrutiny as it comes just weeks after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, eliminating the federal right to an abortion.

According to Bernard, she was contacted by a colleague who is a child abuse doctor in Ohio.

Rokita appeared on Fox News Wednesday and referred to Bernard as an “abortion activist acting as a doctor.” He said that she had a history of failing to report abortions and that an investigation into the physician and her license is underway.

“We’re gathering the evidence as we speak, and we’re going to fight this to the end, including looking at her licensure if she failed to report. And in Indiana it’s a crime … to intentionally not report,” Rokita said.

Bernard has yet to publicly respond to Rokta’s remarks.

On Wednesday, she had tweeted, “My heart breaks for all survivors of sexual assault and abuse. I am so sad that our country is failing them when they need us most. Doctors must be able to give people the medical care they need, when and where they need it.

The story of the 10-year-old rape victim quickly rose to national attention, with abortion activists denouncing that the child was denied an abortion in her own state after being raped, while anti-abortion figures initially expressed doubt that the story was even true.

It was later confirmed that the incident had occurred when a 27-year-old Columbus man, Gerson Fuentes, was arrested on Tuesday after confessing to raping the child on at least two occasions.

Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost was among those who publicly expressed doubt that the story was factual before the arrest, claiming that there had been no evidence filed to verify the account.

“I’m not saying it could not have happened. What I’m saying to you is there is not a damn scintilla of evidence. And shame on the Indianapolis paper that ran this thing on a single source who has an obvious axe to grind,” Yost told the USA Today network earlier this week.

Following the arrest, Yost issued a one-sentence response stating, “We rejoice anytime a child rapist is taken off the streets.”

Source: TEST FEED1