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Maxine Waters tests positive for coronavirus after Summit of the Americas

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) announced on Tuesday she had tested positive for COVID-19 a second time after attending the Summit of the Americas in her home state.

“Yesterday, after learning of a potential exposure at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, I was notified that I tested positive for COVID. I am currently isolating and have no symptoms,” she said in a statement. 

“I am following all protocols as recommended by the Office of the Attending Physician and CDC guidance. I am grateful to be fully vaccinated and to have received two booster shots. If you haven’t received the vaccine and/or booster, I encourage you to do so. I am feeling fine and resting at home,” she added.

The 83-year-old California Democrat, who also tested positive for the virus in April, noted then that she had already received her initial vaccine regimen in addition to two booster shots, according to CBS News.

She has previously shared that her sister died in 2020 after testing positive for COVID-19. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also attended the summit, which included President Biden and first lady Jill Biden, and announced on Monday he had tested positive for COVID-19 a second time.

However, the White House told The Hill at the time that officials did not consider Trudeau to be a close contact to the president. 

–-Updated at 7:59 a.m.

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Pavlich: Merrick Garland’s dereliction of duty

Last week Attorney General Merrick Garland, prompted by a question from a reporter, pledged to protect Supreme Court justices and their families. 

“This kind of behavior is obviously, we will not tolerate it,” Garland said. “Last month I met with the Marshal of the [Supreme] Court, I convened a meeting with her, as well as the deputy director of the FBI, the director of the [U.S.] Marshals Service and with our own law enforcement, our own prosecutors to ensure every degree of protection available is possible.”  

But with the final Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision looming and increased violence since a draft of the opinion was leaked in May, Garland isn’t enforcing federal law. 

Title 18, Section 1507 of the U.S. Code, on picketing or parading, states: “Whoever, with the intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice, or with the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer, in the discharge of his duty, pickets or parades in or near a building housing a court of the United States, or in or near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge, juror, witness, or court officer, or with such intent uses any sound-truck or similar device or resorts to any other demonstration in or near any such building or residence, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.”  

Despite the likely illegality of protesters picketing the homes of federal judges, Garland allows it to continue. In the aftermath of an alleged plot to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, raucous activists are still descending on homes.  

“Protesters typically appear two evenings a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and come in the evening at around 7 p.m. — when many of the local residents are putting their children to bed, a task made difficult when loud protesters are marching up and down the street,” Fox News Digital reports. 

With tolerance from the Department of Justice (DOJ), pro-abortion rights activists aren’t stopping at the justices. They’re threatening to show up outside their children’s schools and at their churches. Neighbors are being harassed as the Justice Department stands by, complicit in the behavior.  

“The pro-abortion group ‘Ruth Sent Us’ suggested targeting the children of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett with protests against the court’s leaked draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,” a National Review writer states. “The group tweeted an infographic with the name of Barrett’s church. It also identified the school Barrett’s children attend, and encouraged protesters to ‘voice your anger’ by demonstrating there.” 

This is a dereliction of duty, and one Americans should expect Garland would take more seriously given his work as a federal judge. 

Further, Garland is undermining the rule of law by refusing to fully investigate and prosecute several violent attacks against pro-life crisis pregnancy centers over the past five weeks.  

“Attacks against crisis pregnancy centers, some of them faith-based, have risen steadily since the leak of a draft opinion in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,” the Washington Examiner reports. “A Washington Examiner review identified recent incidents of arson, vandalism, or both at at least 13 anti-abortion centers across the country.” 

The reason for Garland’s refusal to enforce the law by prosecuting illegal intimidation of justices and those allegedly attacking pro-life pregnancy centers is simple. By looking the other way, President Biden’s DOJ appears to be fine with terrorizing the court, perhaps in the hope it will push justices to change their minds on the Dobbs case.  

This itself is an attack on the judiciary, but to some progressives, the ends seem to justify the means. To them it’s worth it, even if people get hurt or if institutions such as the Supreme Court are damaged in the process. The White House has not only refused to condemn this kind of behavior thoroughly and forcefully; it has encouraged activists to continue their “protesting.” 

Regardless, Garland has a duty to put an end to the harassment of Supreme Court justices at their homes and attacks on pro-life crisis pregnancy centers before someone gets hurt. Certainly, he should do so before someone gets killed.  

Pavlich is the editor for Townhall.com and a Fox News contributor. 

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More Americans than ever rating moral values as poor: Gallup

Half of Americans in a new Gallup poll say they would rate the overall state of moral values in the U.S. as poor, a record high, according to the survey giant.

The poll released on Wednesday found that 50 percent of respondents rate the state of moral values in the country as being poor while 37 percent rate it as being only fair and 12 percent see it as good. One percent said they rate it as excellent. 

The last time respondents rated the state of moral values in the U.S. similarly was back in 2018, when 49 percent of those polled said it was poor. 

The dismal view of moral values is largely driven by Republicans polled, 72 percent of whom rated moral values’ state in the country as being poor.

Gallup noted that Republicans’ views on the issue grew noticeably more bleak after former President Trump left office: Thirty-nine percent of Republican respondents rated the state of moral values in the country as poor, later increasing to 66 percent in 2021.

Roughly one-third of Democrats – 36 percent – in this latest poll also viewed moral values in the country as poor in addition to 44 percent of independents. 

Democrats’ attitudes have shifted more bleak between 2021 and 2022, with only 30 percent of those in the party reporting the same sentiment a year ago.

When respondents were asked in the new survey if they thought the state of moral values in the country were getting better or worse, more Republicans, Democrats and independents reported it getting worse in 2022, compared to how they responded in 2021.

Ninety-three percent of Republicans said so in this latest poll (compared to 92 percent in 2021) in addition to 68 percent of Democrats (compared to 49 percent in 2021.)

The Gallup poll was conducted between May 2 and May 22 with 1,007 adults surveyed. The margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.

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Lombardo wins Nevada GOP gubernatorial primary

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo is projected to win Nevada’s Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, defeating a crowded field to take on incumbent Gov. Steve Sisolak (D).

Lombardo was seen as the clear frontrunner in a number of polls and had the backing of former President Trump.

He defeated fourteen other Republicans in the primary, including former Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), former boxer Joey Gilbert and North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee (R ).

Both parties face a tough race in November. The non-partisan Cook Political Report rates the gubernatorial contest as a “toss-up,” along with Nevada’s 1st, 3rd and 4th congressional districts, and its Senate race.

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In a digital world, ‘Industry 4.0’ meets ‘Law 4.0’

We are all aware of the tall claims made by artificial intelligence (AI) boosters, investors and technologists and the dystopian warnings of gender, racial and sexual orientation bias that may come with this emerging technology. Lawyers increasingly will be tasked to deal with much of this fallout.   

Lawyers have started taking small steps. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, law schools and the legal practice have had to go digital themselves. Lawyers are not known for their acuity with technology and some still prefer the analog world. Like the rest of the education world, examinations and other forms of evaluation for lawyers have gone online. For many, there was a steep learning curve. The pandemic became a time of much transition to the virtual world for the legal profession, and many judicial institutions went online, too. 

But not all technology adoption is necessarily a good thing. During the COVID years, we also witnessed increasing use of AI technologies in law school and state bar examinations.  The California State Bar, for example, subjected law school graduates to an AI program to scrutinize for academic misconduct. 

Beyond examination proctoring, the use of AI technologies has increased in the practice of law. We have seen AI used in criminal sentencing, bail hearings and probation procedures. In the corporate world, due diligence in corporate transactions uses AI and some civil litigators use AI for discovery and legal research. 

These seismic changes in the legal domain need more scrutiny — including the use of deep learning, machine learning and experimental AI — bringing a need for “Law 4.0.” Lawyers must learn about emerging technologies and their application to legal practice, educate their clients about them, and solve the problems that they create. A more thoughtful, sustainable, ethical and efficiency-driven set of rules and skills for “Industry 4.0” — the brave new world that is fast becoming the data industrial complex — are required today. 

We also must navigate the differing privacy, antitrust, and national security laws around the globe. To meet this challenge, we need to upgrade our legal education, legal infrastructure and administration of justice.  The American Bar Association has recognized the need for technological competence.  

Law is ever-changing and this evolution spans millennia of human history. We conceptualize that “Law 1.0” was the first received laws — the Ten Commandments, the Buddhism tenets, the Confucian texts, the Koran, the Manusmriti, the Papal Encyclicals, and other traditional sources ending with the Magna Carta. “Law 2.0” came about during the Enlightenment period with state rule, a social contract, public security, property rights, enforcement of contracts, and a basket of other public goods in exchange for taxes, conscription for military service, and land use. “Law 3.0” provided at the end of the Cold War the international tools for globalization — i.e., privatization/marketization, other public service provision, financing services/credit, social media, education, health services, commerce (profit extraction), and collection (rule of law).  

Law 4.0 is the inevitable next frontier for law as we navigate digitization, decentralization, the messy transition to clean energy, smart cities, ESG-compliant supply chains, and the coming metaverse. It is the thoughtful use of legal technologies to best help clients and society at large in sustainable development.  

Law 4.0 is about managing the inherent tensions and conflicts in adapting and navigating a more digital and interconnected world. As clients, societies and countries march to the digital drummer, the legal community must keep pace. Law 4.0 encompasses education, work, entertainment, tailored financial and insurance services, privacy-centric health care, intellectual property, digital sovereignty, and more. All the connectivity, digitization of services, and social life conducted online creates opportunities for forward-thinking professionals who wish to better provide access to justice through technology while maintaining ethical standards and professional responsibility.  

Lawyers in this space deftly navigate innovations while anchoring the practice of law to fundamental principles of justice. Law 4.0 mandates legal reform and legal education reform.  This is an amazing opportunity to increase access to justice, not just increase profits for big tech and big law.

Let us also acknowledge the role that technology plays to better make diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging real. With AI, there should be greater access to justice, more efficient provision of legal services to all levels of society, and appropriate and effective legal assistance to all, regardless of income and station in life. A techno-exploitative nightmare does not have to be our future.

The legal profession, globally, is on the cusp of a monumental shift. The change that is being driven by technology is profound and it calls for a different approach to teaching, practice and the administration of justice. Law 4.0 is an idea whose time has come.  

James Cooper is professor of law and director of International Legal Studies at California Western School of Law in San Diego and a research fellow at Singapore University of Social Sciences.

Kashyap Kompella, CFA, a technology industry analyst, is CEO of RPA2AI, a global artificial intelligence advisory firm.

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Top White House officials to meet Dreamers for DACA anniversary

Top administration officials, including Vice President Harris, will host more than 20 Dreamers at the White House Wednesday for discussions on preserving DACA protections.

DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, was started 10 years ago Wednesday by former President Obama, in an effort to kickstart immigration reform negotiations while protecting Dreamers – undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as minors.

“For all they have done for our nation, and all they will continue to do, DACA recipients and their families deserve better. Today, I’m renewing my call for Congress to redouble its efforts to build a smart and compassionate immigration system that offers Dreamers a path to citizenship,” said Obama in a statement.

A White House official said Tuesday that the administration is hosting the Dreamers to celebrate the anniversary of the program, which President Biden “considers one of his proudest accomplishments with President Obama.”

Aside from meeting with Vice President Harris, the Dreamers will meet with First Lady Jill Biden and Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice, a powerful administration official whose portfolio includes immigration policy.

“These discussions will focus on the President’s commitment to preserving this landmark policy, and call on Congress to pass legislation that provides lasting protections for Dreamers and make the economic case for providing Dreamers a pathway to citizenship,” said the official.

Dreamers unable to make the White House meeting will be invited to a virtual conversation with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur Jaddou.

The meetings come as DACA celebrates a somewhat lackluster 10th anniversary, as a federal judge in Texas has ruled the policy to be illegal, preventing the Biden administration from signing up new applicants for its protections.

Under DACA, eligible Dreamers were given a two year work permit with deferral from deportation and allowed to apply for an international travel allowance.

More than 800,000 people have used the program to access work and educational opportunities, as well as basic government services that are otherwise unavailable to undocumented immigrants.

Currently, 611,000 people depend on DACA benefits.

But the program, based on an executive action, was never meant to be permanent.

Its continued application has become a lifeline for Dreamers, but its limitations have been laid bare by continued political and legal wrangling that’s blocked new applications and made renewals uncertain.

“We are a better nation—a stronger nation—because of DACA recipients,” said Obama. 

“It is not lost on them or me that the DACA program was, and is, temporary. It remains vulnerable to politicians who choose to ignore DACA’s remarkable benefits to our country. These Dreamers lived through the cruelty of the previous administration’s attacks and legal challenges to the program, their families, and their communities,” he added, calling on Congress to build a “commonsense immigration system.”

“It’s on all of us to finish this work.”

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Budowsky: Biden, Zelensky, Pope Francis versus inflation, world hunger

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is right. Recently Zelensky, warning of the global food crisis that is dramatically increasing food prices, called for an end to the Russian blockade that prevents Ukrainian grain and other food products from reaching a hungry and hurting world. 

I propose that President Biden contact Pope Francis to seek to mobilize religious leaders and the faithful of all religious denominations to appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin in unison — in the name of humanitarian decency and global economic self-interest — to end the Russian blockade of Ukrainian food products. 

Many countries are grievously harmed by inflation. Central banks across the globe  are increasing interest rates, in many cases dramatically, to reduce inflation by reducing economic growth. Many of those nations are simultaneously challenged by a real danger of recession, which is aggravated by significant interest rate increases. 

These rate hikes are justified by the need to reduce inflation. But the danger of recession and loss of wages, income and jobs, and the resulting increase in poverty, would all be reduced if the destructive inflationary impact of high food prices could be reduced. 

Similarly, inflationary prices increase poverty and hunger in nations around the world. In the case of poor nations, the scarcity and cost of food literally increases starvation and death, which is a moral tragedy and human crisis of the first order. 

Biden, Francis, and other religious and political leaders could employ a strategy of faith-based moral diplomacy to make the worldwide case to Russia to end the food blockade. 

There should be a chorus from around the world that is powerfully united in feeling the pain, and enduring the damage, of this Russian blockade of food, which harms every person and nation on earth, on a matter that unites the great faiths of the world who believe in feeding the hungry and caring for the hurting. 

Biden could appeal to the national faith-based communities of America to support a mission like this. Men and women of faith, from denominations across the spectrum of religious opinion, almost all have programs to feed the hungry, domestically and internationally.  

Across the globe, secular political leaders of all philosophies, and religious leaders across the spectrum of faiths, have an urgent interest in combating inflation. 

There would be bipartisan support for curing this cancer caused by the Russian blockade that hurts every nation. Political leaders can ask in town hall meetings: 

“Who among you eats? Who among you wants to pay more for the food you eat? Who among you wants to reduce inflation and prevent more joblessness, suffering and recession?” 

Almost all people — no matter their race, sex, nationality or socioeconomic status — would give exactly the same answer to these questions. 

If Putin were to hear this clarion call to conscience from every man and woman who is hurt by his deadly and destructive blockade, the result would be powerful—and potentially decisive. 

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was chief deputy majority whip of the House of Representatives.  

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Dems eye marijuana bill as vehicle for justice measures

Senate Democrats are eyeing a cannabis banking bill that has bipartisan support as a potential vehicle for long-sought restorative justice measures.  

Prominent Democrats have been pushing to pass the SAFE Banking Act, which would enable legally operating cannabis firms to use banking services, as part of a larger China competition package being conferenced in both the House and Senate. The bill was included in House Democrats’ competition bill passed earlier this year, but not in the bipartisan Senate-passed version. 

Supporters of the banking bill say it’s urgently needed to stop a surge of violent robberies targeting cash-only pot dispensaries. But the measure, which has passed the House six times in recent years, has had trouble securing passage in the Senate due to resistance from both sides of the aisle, though for different reasons.  

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told The Hill that Democrats are working to add social equity measures to the bill, which is backed by members of both parties. 

“We’re trying to add some of the social justice provisions and see if we can come up with a compromise,” Schumer said.  

A separate bill to legalize marijuana is also backed by Democrats, but it appears unlikely to notch enough support from Senate Republicans to clear a 60-vote procedural hurdle. 

Schumer has held off on bringing the banking bill to the floor amid concerns from some Democrats that its adoption could hurt chances of future passage for a more comprehensive package that offers a pathway for marijuana legalization and social justice reforms. 

And while the banking bill has garnered backing from at least nine GOP members who are co-sponsors, it faces opposition from top leaders such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who previously criticized its inclusion in the House-passed competition bill. 

Reps. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) and David Joyce (R-Ohio), two of the banking bill’s top backers, are pressing senators to include it in the China competition package.  

But in case it does not make it in, they’re talking to Schumer about a bipartisan package that would pair the banking bill with provisions to help speed up the expungement of minor cannabis offenses, expand cannabis research and allow veterans to access medical marijuana.  

“The conversation between Leader Schumer and Congressman Joyce was part of an ongoing, broader discussion between both parties and chambers to determine what reform can pass this Congress,” Joyce’s office said in a statement. “It is evidence of the sincere efforts by both the Leader and the Congressman to find common ground for substantial, bipartisan progress on this issue.” 

Some Democrats have insisted that the banking bill must be coupled with broader social justice reforms such as measures to expunge previous marijuana convictions.  

Among some of the measures lawmakers are eager to add include the Harnessing Opportunities by Pursuing Expungement (HOPE) Act. The bill from Joyce and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) would authorize $20 million to assist states and local governments in expunging minor cannabis convictions that disproportionately bar people of color from housing, jobs and educational opportunities. 

They’re also eyeing the Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act, a bipartisan bill that would allow doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs to recommend medical marijuana to veterans, provide legal protections for veterans who use marijuana and spearhead research into whether marijuana could reduce opioid use among veterans.  

Another measure under consideration from Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) would open up Small Business Administration (SBA) loans to cannabis businesses, though it’s seen as less likely to be included. 

“SBA loan programs would be especially helpful to cannabis small businesses because they would fill gaps left by the private sector and could expand the availability of capital for many entrepreneurs — including for our minority, women and veteran business owners,” Rosen wrote in a recent letter to appropriators.  

But SAFE Banking advocates worry that adding too many new provisions to the bill could hurt chances of garnering enough Republican support. 

Pressed about attaching social justice provisions to the banking bill, Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), a member of GOP leadership and one of the bill’s co-sponsors, expressed hesitancy Tuesday, saying he’s “not interested in making it more difficult to pass.” 

“I’d have to have more information than I have now on what they would mean by social justice, but we’ve had a hard enough time getting that bill passed just to open up the banking system to a group that, in many states now, is pursuing a legal activity,” Blunt told The Hill.  

The senator added that he’s confident such changes “won’t make it easier to pass the bill.” 

The concerns add to the potentially heavy lift Democrats face in trying to pass substantive social justice reform in a 50-50 split Senate, where they are likely to need the buy-in of all of their members and at least 10 Republicans for passage.  

Schumer, along with Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), are also leading a push to legalize marijuana, with sights set on introducing legislation in the coming weeks. But staunch GOP opposition, as well as some resistance from other Democrats in the upper chamber, severely dim its chances of approval. 

Cannabis companies and Democrats in states where cannabis is legal are stressing that the party cannot go into the midterms without having passed any kind of marijuana bill.  

This month, a coalition of cannabis groups, including the Minority Cannabis Business Association, launched a lobbying blitz pitching the banking bill as an important social equity measure in its own right, mirroring talking points from cannabis executives.  

The campaign features testimonials from minority cannabis operators who are struggling without access to banking services.  

“SAFE Banking will not repair all of the harms from the war on drugs, but it is one of the many tools that are essential to supporting individuals from historically disadvantaged communities in becoming successful entrepreneurs in the burgeoning cannabis space,” Courtney Davis, executive director of Marijuana Matters, said in a statement announcing the effort.

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