{"id":13990,"date":"2021-09-09T18:36:46","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T01:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=13990"},"modified":"2021-09-09T18:59:32","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T01:59:32","slug":"thanks-for-the-death-panels-anti-vaxxers-bradcast-992021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=13990","title":{"rendered":"Thanks for the Death Panels, Anti-Vaxxers!: &#8216;BradCast&#8217; 9\/9\/2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/Images\/BradCast_ObamaLiesGrandDies-DeathPanelProtest2009_090921.jpg\" hspace=\"6\" vspace=\"3\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">The news, as you may have noticed, continued to be somewhat grim. But we do manage to find a bit of encouraging news here and there on today&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><i>BradCast<\/i><\/a>. [<i>Audio link to full show follows this summary below.<\/i>]\n<p>Among the stories covered on today&#8217;s program&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Good news in the long (very long!) battle to protect Alaska&#8217;s nearly-pristine Bristol Bay and its native run, $2 billion a year salmon fishery industry from the ecological devastation of a huge, open pit gold and copper extraction operation known as <b>Pebble Mine<\/b>.  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/climate-environment\/2021\/09\/09\/biden-bristol-bay-gold-mine\/\">Biden&#8217;s EPA is invoking<\/a> a section of the Clean Water Act to block the project. Hopefully it will stay blocked for good this time, but we&#8217;ll see.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><b>New jobs numbers<\/b> from the Department of Labor are encouraging today, with unemployment rates <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/business-health-pandemics-coronavirus-pandemic-economy-7df212b86c19811dff9d2f0a0f7b6ab2\">now at a pandemic low<\/a> and reaching pre-pandemic levels. That&#8217;s cautiously good news, given the effect that the Delta variant is now beginning to have on the economy. But, because it&#8217;s largely encouraging news which works against Republican hopes for a disastrous economy, you probably didn&#8217;t hear too much about today&#8217;s numbers. We also explain why this largely good, if under-reported, news also undercuts Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV)&#8217;s argument for undercutting Joe Biden&#8217;s proposed, landmark $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>More encouraging news (before we get to the less encouraging news today): It turns out we <i>do<\/i> have an Attorney General and he <i>is<\/i> capable of acting quickly and decisively&#8230;at least when he&#8217;s pushed to do so. The Dept. of Justice today <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2021\/09\/09\/doj-announces-lawsuit-over-texas-abortion-law-510921\">announced<\/a> a federal lawsuit to enjoin the state of <b>Texas&#8217;<\/b> new law undercutting the Constitutional right for women to have an abortion, as per the previously-settled, nearly 50-year old precedent established by <i>Roe v. Wade<\/i>. Whether the DOJ&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2021\/09\/justice-department-texas-abortion-ban.html\">&#8220;relatively novel theories developed in reaction to a novel law&#8221;<\/a> will be successful, given the GOP&#8217;s stolen and packed U.S. Supreme Court,  remains to be seen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Remember back during the summer of 2009, when rightwingers were instructed by Fox &#8220;News&#8221; and the Republican Party to be outraged about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/article\/2009\/dec\/18\/politifact-lie-year-death-panels\/\">&#8220;death panels&#8221;<\/a> in President Obama&#8217;s then-proposed Affordable Care Act that would lead to the rationing of health care and decisions by government bureaucrats about who should live or die? The argument was all nonsense at the time, as there were no such &#8220;death panels&#8221; in ObamaCare that would kill granny. But, guess what? States around the country <i>are<\/i> now beginning to ration healthcare and are deciding who gets to live or die. That is thanks to the very same Republicans who were told to be outraged about phony &#8220;death panels&#8221; in 2009, now being told to be outraged about life-saving vaccines and mask mandates. Thanks to those idiots, COVID infections, hospitalizations and death rates are skyrocketing, particularly in GOP-run states with low vaccination rates. And, because of it, and the lack of ability to handle the surge, the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/business-health-public-health-coronavirus-pandemic-idaho-db21f9a14254996144e78aafb1518259\">state of Idaho has announced<\/a> new &#8220;crisis standards of care.&#8221; That means they are now <i>literally<\/i> <b>forced to ration health care<\/b>, as they try to save those with the highest chances of survival, while wishing the best of luck and &#8220;comfort care&#8221; to everyone else. Kentucky and other states are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/us\/live-news\/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-09-08-21\/h_47d4b7560e00f1c9767742075090c239\">now on the brink<\/a> of doing the same, as hospitals continue to be overwhelmed in states with low vaccination rates.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><b>COVID infection, hospitalization and death rates<\/b> were, incredibly &#8212; and completely unnecessarily &#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/us\/live-news\/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-09-08-21\/h_d8f2391309cb1cf5ec0ffbb1599ff3e8\">2 to 3.5 times higher<\/a> <i>this<\/i> Labor Day, then they were over Labor Day <i>last year<\/i>, in 2020.\u00a0 Moreover, infection, hospitalization and death rates are also skyrocketing among children right now, with kids now comprising <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/09\/07\/health\/us-coronavirus-tuesday\/index.html\">more than a quarter<\/a> of all new cases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Despite the alarming rates of sickness among children, <b>twisted GOP Governors<\/b> in states like Texas and Florida are still fighting tooth and nail to block local school districts from determining what is best for their students and staff alike. Florida&#8217;s largest school district, Miami-Dade, announced this week that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/09\/07\/us\/miami-school-employees-covid\/index.html\">13 staffers have died since mid-August<\/a>. All of them were unvaccinated. But, in brighter news, a state judge has &#8212; for now &#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wptv.com\/rebound\/state-of-education\/legal-battles-resume-regarding-masks-in-florida-schools\">blocked<\/a> Gov. Ron DeSantis&#8217; appalling authoritarian attempt to ban mask mandates and punish school districts who defy him.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Amid all of this today, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/joe-biden-business-health-coronavirus-pandemic-executive-branch-18fb12993f05be13bf760946a6fb89be\">President Biden announced<\/a> <b>new federal directives<\/b> to try and curb the deadly pandemic by mandating vaccination or regular testing for as many as 100 million workers nationally. In remarks sharply critical of those who have chosen to remain unvaccinated, Biden also announced that Executive Branch employees and contractors who do business with the federal government will now have to be vaccinated, with no option to test out of it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Late today, <b>Los Angeles School District<\/b>, the second largest in the country, voted to implement <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2021-09-09\/los-angeles-school-officials-approve-vaccine-mandate\">a mandatory vaccination regime<\/a> for those older than 12. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>And here&#8217;s just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/coronavirus-live-updates\/2021\/09\/09\/1035489298\/tiktok-covid-vaccination-megan-blankenbiller-hospital\">one more (heartbreaking) reminder<\/a> of how idiotic it is to remain <b>unvaccinated at this late date<\/b>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=13989\">our latest <i>Green News Report<\/i><\/a>, as Biden pushes for <b>infrastructure resiliency<\/b> and &#8220;building back better&#8221; after the deadly devastation of Hurricane Ida, and much more&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\".\/Images\/Speaker_Icon_24.png\" style=\"width: 24px; float: none; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px; line-height: 18px;\"> <b><i><a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/audio\/BradCast_BradFriedman-COVIDDeathPanels-PebbleMineBlocked-DoJAbortionSuitTX_090921.mp3\">CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!&#8230;<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><center><b>* * *<\/b><\/center><i>While we post <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><\/i>The BradCast<i><\/a> here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they&#8217;re available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-bradcast-w-brad-friedman\/id803467610\">iTunes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pandora.com\/podcast\/the-bradcast-w-brad-friedman\/PC:1000025838\">Pandora<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/radio\/The-BradCast-with-Brad-Friedman-p477565\/\">TuneIn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9icmFkYmxvZy5jb20vcG9kY2FzdGdlbi9icmFkY2FzdC9mZWVkLnhtbA\">Google<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-BradCast-w-Brad-Friedman\/dp\/B08JJRN86R\/ref=sr_1_1\">Amazon<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/podcastgen\/bradcast\/feed.xml\">our native RSS feed<\/a>!<\/i><\/p>\n<p><!--BB-DONATEPITCH-START--><\/p>\n<div style=\"background:#f5f0e0; border:2px solid #6b5a2e; border-radius:6px; padding:10px 14px; text-align:center; font-family:Georgia,serif;\"><span style=\"display:block; margin:0 0 8px 0; color:#3a2e0e; font-size:0.95em; line-height:1.5;\"><strong>The BRAD BLOG<\/strong>, <em>The BradCast<\/em> and <em>Green News Report<\/em> are all 100% independent and 100% listener and reader supported!<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/Donate\" style=\"display:inline-block; background:#6b5a2e; color:#ffffff; padding:6px 18px; border-radius:4px; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:none; font-family:Georgia,serif; font-size:0.9em;\">Please CLICK HERE to help support our work today!<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!--BB-DONATEPITCH-END--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The news, as you may have noticed, continued to be somewhat grim. But we do manage to find a bit of encouraging news here and there on today&#8217;s BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows this summary below.] Among the stories covered on today&#8217;s program&#8230; Good news in the long (very long!) battle to protect [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,89,675,1456,223,1111,390,220,200,451,548,16,14,650,288,571,1112,320,934,247,477,337,821,822,1052,540,1055,300,126,1238,47],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-13990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alaska","category-media-appearance","category-bradcast","category-coronavirus","category-dept-of-justice","category-dept-of-labor","category-economy","category-education","category-environment","category-epa","category-extreme-weather","category-florida","category-fox-news","category-greg-abbott","category-health-care","category-idaho","category-infrastructure","category-joe-biden","category-joe-manchin","category-kentucky","category-kpfk","category-los-angeles","category-merrick-garland","category-native-americans","category-new-orleans","category-oil","category-pebble-mine","category-republicans","category-rights-and-freedoms","category-ron-desantis","category-texas","bb-type-bradcast"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13990\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13990"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=13990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}