Category: Politics and American Democracy

Nearly two years after Texas’ six-week abortion ban, more infants are dying

CNN

Nearly two years after Texas’ six-week abortion ban, more infants are dying

Isabelle Chapman – July 20, 2023

Texas’ abortion restrictions – some of the strictest in the country – may be fueling a sudden spike in infant mortality as women are forced to carry nonviable pregnancies to term.

Some 2,200 infants died in Texas in 2022 – an increase of 227 deaths, or 11.5%, over the previous year, according to preliminary infant mortality data from the Texas Department of State Health Services that CNN obtained through a public records request. Infant deaths caused by severe genetic and birth defects rose by 21.6%. That spike reversed a nearly decade-long decline. Between 2014 and 2021, infant deaths had fallen by nearly 15%.

In 2021, Texas banned abortions beyond six weeks of pregnancy. When the Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights the following summer, a trigger law in the state banned all abortions other than those intended to protect the life of the mother.

The increase in deaths could partly be explained by the fact that more babies are being born in Texas. One recent report found that in the final nine months of 2022, the state saw nearly 10,000 more births than expected prior to its abortion ban – an estimated 3% increase.

But multiple obstetrician-gynecologists who focus on high-risk pregnancies told CNN that Texas’ strict abortion laws likely contributed to the uptick in infant deaths.

“We all knew the infant mortality rate would go up, because many of these terminations were for pregnancies that don’t turn into healthy normal kids,” said Dr. Erika Werner, the chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Tufts Medical Center. “It’s exactly what we all were concerned about.”

The issue of forcing women to carry out terminal and often high-risk pregnancies is at the core of a lawsuit filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, with several women – who suffered difficult pregnancies or infant deaths shortly after giving birth – testifying in Travis County court this week.

One witness became so emotional while testifying Wednesday that she began to vomit on the stand.

After the court called a recess she explained that the reaction is a response to the emotional trauma she endured: “I vomit when there’s certain parts that happen that kind of just makes my body remember.”

Another sobbed as she described feeling afraid to visit a Texas doctor after receiving an abortion out of state. A third spoke tearfully about waiting for her baby’s heart to stop beating so her doctors could provide an abortion she desperately needed.

Prior to the recent abortion restrictions, Texas banned the procedure after 20 weeks. This law gave parents more time to learn crucial information about a fetus’s brain formation and organ development, which doctors begin to test for at around 15 weeks.

Samantha Casiano, a plaintiff in the suit filed against Texas, wished she’d had more time to make the decision.

“If I was able to get the abortion with that time, I think it would have meant a lot to me because my daughter wouldn’t have suffered,” Casiano told CNN after testifying Wednesday.

‘You have no options’
Anti-abortion demonstrators gather in the rotunda at the Capitol in Austin, Texas, in March of 2021. - Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/AP
Anti-abortion demonstrators gather in the rotunda at the Capitol in Austin, Texas, in March of 2021. – Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/AP

When Casiano was 20 weeks pregnant, a routine scan came back with devastating news: Her baby would be stillborn or die shortly after birth.

The fetus had anencephaly, a rare birth defect that keeps the brain and skull from developing during pregnancy. Babies with this condition are often stillborn, though they sometimes live a few hours or days. Many women around the country who face the prospect choose abortion, two obstetrician-gynecologists told CNN.

But Casiano lived in Texas, where state legislators had recently banned most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. She couldn’t afford to travel out of the state for the procedure.

“You have no options. You will have to go through with your pregnancy,” Casiano’s doctor told her, she claimed in the lawsuit.

In March, Casiano gave birth to her daughter Halo. After gasping for air for four hours, the baby died, Casiano said during her testimony on Wednesday.

“All she could do was fight to try to get air. I had to watch my daughter go from being pink to red to purple. From being warm to cold,” said Casiano. “I just kept telling myself and my baby that I’m so sorry that this had to happen to you.”

Casiano and 14 others – including two doctors – are plaintiffs in the lawsuit. They allege the abortion ban has denied them or their patients access to necessary obstetrical care. The plaintiffs are asking the courts to clarify when doctors can make medical exceptions to the state’s ban.

Casiano and two other plaintiffs testified Wednesday about hoping to deliver healthy babies but instead learning their lives or pregnancies were in danger.

Plaintiffs Anna Zargarian, Lauren Miller, Lauren Hall, and Amanda Zurawski at the Texas State Capitol after filing a lawsuit on behalf of Texans harmed by the state's abortion ban on March 7 in Austin, Texas. - Rick Kern/Getty Images/FILE
Plaintiffs Anna Zargarian, Lauren Miller, Lauren Hall, and Amanda Zurawski at the Texas State Capitol after filing a lawsuit on behalf of Texans harmed by the state’s abortion ban on March 7 in Austin, Texas. – Rick Kern/Getty Images/FILE

“This was just supposed to be a scan day,” Casiano told the court. “It escalated to me finding out my daughter was going to die.”

Lawyers representing the state argued Wednesday that the plaintiffs’ doctors were to blame, saying they misinterpreted the law and failed to provide adequate care for such high-risk pregnancies.

“Plaintiffs will not and cannot provide any evidence of any medical provider in the state of Texas being prosecuted or otherwise penalized for performance of an abortion using the emergency medical exemption,” a lawyer said during the state’s opening statement.

Kylie Beaton, another plaintiff, also had to watch her baby die. Beaton, who didn’t testify this week, learned during a 20-week scan that something was wrong with her baby’s brain, according to the suit.

The doctor diagnosed the fetus with alobar holoprosencephaly, a condition where the two hemispheres of the brain don’t properly divide. Babies with this condition are often stillborn or die soon after birth.

Beaton’s doctor told her he couldn’t provide an abortion unless she was severely ill, or the fetus’s heart stopped. Beaton and her husband sought to obtain an abortion out of state. However, the fetus’s head was enlarged due to its condition, and the only clinic that would perform an abortion charged up to $15,000. Beaton and her husband couldn’t afford it.

Instead, Beaton gave birth to a son she named Grant. The baby cried constantly, wouldn’t eat, and couldn’t be held upright for fear it would put too much pressure on his head, according to the suit. Four days later, Grant died.

Maternal mortality
Amanda Zurawski of Austin, Texas, center, is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. - Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/AP
Amanda Zurawski of Austin, Texas, center, is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. – Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/AP

Experts say that abortion bans in states like Texas lead to increased risk for both babies and mothers.

Maternal mortality has long been a top concern for doctors and health-rights activists. Even before the Supreme Court decision, the United States had the highest maternal mortality rate among wealthy nations, one study found.

Amanda Zurawski, the lawsuit’s lead plaintiff, testified Wednesday that her water broke 18 weeks into her pregnancy, putting her at high risk for a life-threatening infection. Zurawski’s baby likely wouldn’t survive.

But the fetus still had a heartbeat, and so doctors said they were unable to terminate the pregnancy. She received an emergency abortion only after her condition worsened and she went into septic shock.

Zurawski described during Wednesday’s hearing how her family visited the hospital, fearing it would be the last time they would see her. Zurawski has argued that had she been able to obtain an abortion, her life wouldn’t have been in jeopardy in the same way.

“I blame the people who support these bans,” Zurawski said.

Zurawski previously said the language in Texas’ abortion laws is “incredibly vague, and it leaves doctors grappling with what they can and cannot do, what health care they can and cannot provide.”

Pregnancy is dangerous, and forcing a woman to carry a non-viable pregnancy to term is unnecessarily risky when it’s clear the baby will not survive, argued Dr. Mae-Lan Winchester, an Ohio maternal-fetal medicine specialist.

“Pregnancy is one of the most dangerous things a person will ever go through,” Winchester said. “Putting yourself through that risk without any benefit of taking a baby home at the end, it’s … risking maternal morbidity and mortality for nothing.”

CNN’s Casey Tolan and Daniel A. Medina contributed to this report.

Precious: Biden uses clips of Marjorie Taylor Greene speech for new campaign ad

CNN

Biden uses clips of Marjorie Taylor Greene speech for new campaign ad

Shania Shelton – July 19, 2023

Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg/Getty Images

President Joe Biden on Tuesday posted a campaign ad promoting his legislative wins by using clips from a recent speech GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene gave at the Turning Point Action Conference where she compared Biden to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson.

“Joe Biden had the largest public investment in social infrastructure and environmental programs, that is actually finishing what FDR started, that LBJ expanded on, and Joe Biden is attempting to complete,” Greene said in the video set to cheerful music.

The ad continues with another clip from the speech Greene gave over the weekend in which she explains the Biden administration’s investments. “Programs to address education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, transportation, Medicare, Medicaid labor unions, and he still is working on it,” Greene said.

In response to Greene’s speech, the White House tweeted on Monday: “Caught us. President Biden is working to make life easier for hardworking families.”

The congresswoman from Georgia – who was recently ejected from the House Freedom Caucus – tweeted on Tuesday, “This is really what Joe Biden approves,” in response to the campaign ad alongside a longer clip of her speech. In the new clip, she discusses economics in the country, explaining that “we are now $32 trillion in debt with record high homelessness, 40-year record inflation.”

The Biden administration has been promoting “Bidenomics” over the past few weeks – an economic theory which rejects the idea of “trickle-down” policies in favor of focusing on the middle class. It is expected to be a centerpiece of Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign.

The president first embraced the idea in June at a time when the administration was searching for a solution to Americans’ negative perception of the economy and a vehicle to take credit for an economy that is increasingly trending in the right direction.

In Florida, Swimmers Brave an Ocean That Feels Like Steamy Syrup

The New York Times

In Florida, Swimmers Brave an Ocean That Feels Like Steamy Syrup

Patricia Mazzei – July 19, 2023

Beachgoers at Key Biscayne Beach. (NYT)

The water temperature near Key Biscayne, a barrier island just east of Miami, had already passed 89 degrees Fahrenheit one morning this week. And though the ocean off South Florida was slightly cooler than the recent record highs that had stunned scientists and threatened marine life, it remained phenomenally hot.

But on this serene patch of the Atlantic Coast, it was still a summer day at the beach, when nothing satisfies quite like a dip — even when the ocean feels like a thick, simmering syrup. Almost gooey.

“I like it warm,” shrugged Niki Candela, 20, a Miami native, moments after a powerful siren warned of approaching lightning.

Few of the heat-dazed people on the largely empty beach paid it any mind. The shore, usually clogged this time of year with rotting clusters of seaweed, was pristine, no longer menaced by a huge sargassum blob that unexpectedly shrank last month in the Gulf of Mexico. The shallow water was a crystalline teal, rolling oh so gently, not a cresting wave in sight.

So the undeterred regulars, people who savor being hot and abhor the cold, came out to enjoy themselves.

“This is as close as America gets to paradise,” said Lauren Humphreys, 40, who is originally from England but splits her time between Miami and Los Angeles. There, she prefers hiking to swimming in the Pacific, which Tuesday reached about 72 degrees by the Santa Monica Pier.

Humphreys was making her second visit to Key Biscayne’s beaches that day, having come earlier to meditate. “There’s something quite special here,” she said. “It’s peaceful.”

Off the coast of neighboring Virginia Key, measurements from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed that the water temperature peaked at 90.5 degrees on Monday, and the air temperature at 87.6 degrees. On Saturday, the water temperature at that location reached 92.5 degrees, a record.

The water in South Florida is always warm this time of year, but unusually so this year, with six record-high temperatures measured off Virginia Key this month. The sea surface hit 98 degrees in some areas of Florida Bay last week; the average ocean temperature in Miami in July is around 86.

Miami’s unrelenting heat this summer has meant 16 consecutive days with a heat index at or above 105 degrees, a record, according to Brian McNoldy, a senior research scientist at the University of Miami. The National Weather Service forecast a heat index of 110 degrees Sunday, issuing its first-ever extreme heat advisory for Miami-Dade County.

At the beach the next day, the scorching sand was to be avoided at all costs. “Talk to me here, so I don’t burn my feet,” Eduardo Valades, 51, told a reporter, beckoning toward the lapping water.

The water was “really hot,” he said, “but only as soon as you go in. Once you walk 50 yards out, it feels cooler.”

“I love it,” his wife, Jennifer Valades, 50, said.

The couple moved three years ago to Key Biscayne, an affluent village of about 14,000, from California. “Here, you can literally swim for hours,” she said, though she conceded that the beach was more pleasant — “perfect,” in fact — during the mild South Florida winter, when the water temperature is more likely to be in the mid-70s. Coastal temperatures are also more moderate than those inland.

Valades said she had recently spotted six or seven manatees. Valades showed a cellphone video he recorded last month of a large shark feeding right at the shore.

“We see one every three or four days,” he said, appearing far from worried about the sightings.

This week, toweling off seemed unnecessary: No one felt cold leaving the water.

“It feels like a Jacuzzi!” Sasha Mishenina told her two friends following a brief dip. They had declined to join her.

Yet going for a quick swim still felt refreshing, with the occasional cool current swirling by and little fish darting by people’s feet.

“I’m so happy, because they said we were going to have the sargassum,” Adriana Campuzano said of predictions this year, as she was gathering her stuff to leave before the looming thunderstorm. “It’s clearer than it’s been in years. Maybe in a decade.”

Candela had come to the beach with three friends. The ocean felt fine, she said, though she added that sometimes with such hot water, “you think, ‘What if someone’s peeing here?’”

She and her friends laid out their towels on beach chairs under an umbrella, put music on and waded in.

“It actually feels pretty cold,” said Taylor Dutil, 20, a fellow Floridian.

“It’s a good change,” said Benny Perez, 22, who is from Chicago, where Lake Michigan was far cooler that day.

The siren blared three more times, signaling the end of the lightning threat. Not a raindrop had fallen. The four friends stayed in the water, chatting and laughing.

Kansas Republicans have managed to sink nearly as low as infamous and heartless duke

The Kansas City Star

Kansas Republicans have managed to sink nearly as low as infamous and heartless duke

Charles Hammer – July 19, 2023

I was impelled to write this column by a recent history book: “Samuel Pepys and the Strange Wrecking of the Gloucester,” by Nigel Pickford.

The war frigate Gloucester sank in 1682 during a storm off the British coast, imperiling not just its lowly crew but many nobles and — above all — James, Duke of York, who would soon be King of England. James escaped through the frigate’s big rear windows into his own lifeboat.

The tale reminded me of a column I wrote nearly five years ago. In it, I praised Kansas Republican leaders for being more generous to the poor than were the British grandees who starved millions in the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s, forcing scurvy-ravaged millions more onto “ghost ships” sailing for America. Our Kansas Republicans are better people than Sir Charles Trevelyn, the British official who cheered the Potato Famine on.

“The judgement of God sent the calamity to teach the Irish a lesson,” Sir Charles wrote. “That calamity must not be too much mitigated. …The real evil with which we have to contend is not the physical evil of the Famine, but the moral evil of the selfish, perverse and turbulent character of the people.”

OK, but just how much better are today’s Republican leaders? In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, millionaire President Donald Trump tweeted moral criticism of the suffering Puerto Ricans.

“They want everything done for them,” he groused.

Former Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley once justified cutting estate taxes on the rich as a way to honor “the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”

Every darn penny they have? Precisely because of Kansas Republicans, our poor folks have few pennies to blow on women and booze. We stand as a stingy island in the middle of four surrounding states — three of them Republican — that have raised the minimum wage above the lousy national $7.25 hourly.

Citizens of Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma dodged past their leaders with initiative petitions that permitted a vote on the issue. These same three — against the will of fulminating Republican politicians — also voted to expand Medicaid to help the poor.

But in miserly Republican Kansas, we don’t tolerate voter initiatives. Nor do we suffer throwing more money away on doctors for the poor. Kansas stands rock solid among America’s 10 states that refuse to expand Medicaid. It was killed once by the Kansas senate, a second time when vetoed by then Gov. Sam Brownback. An aide to Brownback, Melika Willoughby, explained:

“This isn’t just bad policy, this is morally reprehensible…”

Morals again. Morals are very important to Republicans.

Here’s one good thing about Kansas legislators: By stiffing our own poor folks, Republicans helped fund care for the needy in the 40 states that did expand Medicaid. Our Kansas legislators thus have nobly given away billions in free federal dollars to lavish on health care for the poor of other states.

Republicans demand poor folks work a job to get care under Medicaid. But if a single mother with two children earns $8,751 a year, we cut her off because she is too rich.

So how moral were those fancy rich Britons in 1682 as the frigate Gloucester battled the raging Atlantic ocean? As I said, the Duke of York escaped through the frigate’s rear windows into his own lifeboat, leading Sir John Berry later to write:

“His highness took as many persons of quality with him in the boat as she could carry.”

Persons of quality. Of course. Nearly all of the “quality” was saved. An estimated 130 to 250 others drowned.

“But here I cannot pass in silence,” one observer later wrote, “that those that could swim made up to the Boat where the Duke was, and grappled on the sides thereof, endeavoring to get into it, but their hands were ordered to be cut off…and thereby they were deprived not only of getting into the Boats that came from other Ships, but also of the ability of swimming.”

Surely, then, our Kansas Republican legislators must be better than that.

Or are they?

‘Life or death’: Arizona heat wave poses lethal threat to homeless

AFP

‘Life or death’: Arizona heat wave poses lethal threat to homeless

Romain Fonsegrives – July 19, 2023

Hundreds of homeless people live in 'The Zone,' an encampment in Phoenix, the capital of the southwestern US state of Arizona (Patrick T. Fallon)
Hundreds of homeless people live in ‘The Zone,’ an encampment in Phoenix, the capital of the southwestern US state of Arizona (Patrick T. Fallon)

On a sidewalk in Arizona’s capital Phoenix, where a record-setting heat wave has prompted warnings for people to limit their time outside, Dana Page struggles to stay hydrated in her tarpaulin shelter.

The 49-year-old, surrounded by bottles of water, knows full well the dangers heat poses to the homeless population.

Days earlier, she watched emergency responders perform CPR on a fellow resident of “The Zone,” an encampment where hundreds live in tents and makeshift shelters, near downtown.

“He died just inches away from water,” she told AFP.

Phoenix, like much of the US southwest, is surrounded by desert, and its 1.6 million residents are used to brutal summer temperatures.

But this year’s heat wave is unprecedented in its length: it has already helped the city break its previous record of 18 straight days at or above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius), with similar highs forecast into next week.

Page, a native of Phoenix, said she has had heatstroke three times in the past five years, describing it as a “secret killer” that sneaks up if not monitoring one’s water intake.

– Jump in heat-related deaths –

The absence of typical monsoon rains has also compounded the problem: no respite from searing heat during the day allows temperatures to remain dangerously elevated overnight.

“If this continues, we will see more heat-related deaths,” said Amy Schwabenlender, head of the Human Services Campus, a large facility near “The Zone” where 16 associations cooperate to provide social services, medical treatment and a shelter for those in need.

“It is a life-and-death situation,” she warned.

With its population growth among the highest in the United States, coupled with a lack of affordable housing, Arizona has seen the number of homeless people go up 23 percent in recent years.

And as global warming fuels more frequent extreme weather events, homeless people are increasingly vulnerable to the elements.

Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and its suburbs, recorded a 25 percent increase last year in heat-related deaths, with 425 fatalities — many among the homeless population.

The National Weather Service warns that extreme heat is the top weather-related killer, and has recommended people in Phoenix “stay indoors and seek air-conditioned buildings” during the heat wave.

– ‘Enough resources to help everybody’ –

To deal with the emergency, the Human Services Campus is running at full speed. Its associations send out early morning patrols to distribute 2,000 bottles of water every day, as well as sunblock and hats.

Like some sixty other sites around the city, the facility also serves as a cooling center, where homeless people can find shade, misters and a vast air-conditioned cafeteria with film showings to pass the time.

Schwabenlender warns that scorching hot surfaces outside also pose a significant danger, especially for those with worn shoes or bare feet, as well as people who fall or lie on the ground.

“I saw a man who laid on something and all the side of his neck was burned,” she said.

Asphalt in the summer sun can climb to temperatures above 160F (71C).

A few days ago, former house painter Jose Itafranco collapsed on the sidewalk after consuming methamphetamine, but the 30-year-old said he was lucky to have his wife Alvira nearby to prop his body up.

“When you do meth… it really just makes you think that you’re tougher than you are… like you’re untouchable,” Itafranco told AFP.

“But what happens, really, is you get dehydrated.”

Schwabenlender argues the hundreds of heat-related deaths in Maricopa County could have been avoided with a more coordinated response, and calls for federal emergency action commensurate with other natural disasters.

The White House, for its part, outlined last week various federal initiatives related to “extreme heat fueled by the climate crisis,” including a forthcoming meeting with local officials to discuss preparedness, as well as the drafting of a “National Heat Strategy.”

“We have enough resources to help everybody, we just have to figure out how to put them all together,” Schwabenlender said.

Opinion: I’m a conservative who’s waiting for Republicans to come to their senses

CNN – Opinion

Opinion: I’m a conservative who’s waiting for Republicans to come to their senses

Yaffa Fredrick – July 19, 2023

Editor’s Note: Adam Kinzinger is a CNN senior political commentator and a former Republican congressman from Illinois. He served 10 years on the House foreign affairs committee. Kinzinger is also a lieutenant colonel and pilot in the Air National Guard. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion at CNN.

Traditionally committed to national security, global stability and law and order, my Republican Party — yes, I am still a Republican — is now weakening on all three fronts. In doing so, it is fulfilling the cliche that extremists on the right and left eventually come together, like a snake eating its tail.

Adam Kinzinger - CNN
Adam Kinzinger – CNN

That’s not only bad for America, but bad for the prospects of the GOP — particularly in light of the fact that the party’s leading 2024 presidential contender is currently under both federal and state indictment and facing further potential charges in Washington, DC, and Georgia (all of which he denies wrongdoing in).

The radical right has embraced positions on these bedrock Republican principles to try to lock in the support of the most fervent members of the base. But these stances will almost certainly doom them with the moderates and swing voters who turned out for President Joe Biden in 2020. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a better way to ensure that the GOP won’t win back the presidency.

Let’s start with the GOP’s decision to insert culture wars into a bill — the National Defense Authorization Act — that funds every function of the Defense Department, in a manner that all but guaranteed alienating a voting majority in America.

Among other maneuvers, the extreme conservatives in the House want to ban a Defense Department policy that covers travel costs for service members who must seek abortions out of state, extending an existing provision that provides funds to those who must get specialized care not available near their posts. The Pentagon put this extension in place when some states limited or banned abortion access after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to an abortion last year.

How do I know this amendment is politically toxic? First, over the last several years, there has been steady public support for abortion rights, which now includes more than one-third of all Republicans, according to Pew Research Center. Second, there’s the unseemly effort to stop funding for the military with an amendment that has nothing to do with defense. Granted, others try to attach similar off-topic amendments to bills. But they are not usually as likely to torpedo getting necessary funds to the Pentagon.

Thanks to overwhelming GOP support, the anti-abortion travel reimbursement amendment made it into the House bill. Republicans also added limits on transgender care and prohibitions on programs related to diversity. All three fit the extreme right movement’s so-called “anti-woke” agenda, which seeks to block the government from supporting various groups of Americans on the basis of race, sexual orientation and gender identity.

GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made anti-wokeness, opposition to abortion and criticism of rights for transgender people central to his appeal to primary voters, but there’s little evidence that his stand will win over people in a general election. And House members who cling to his message in an effort to win primary voters may very well suffer defeat in a general election.

Unfortunately, further extremist (and self-defeating) mischief is taking place in the Senate, where Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama has put a hold on military nominations. Under the Senate’s arcane rules, Tuberville has been blocking consideration of some 265 military officers for several months. His reason? The Defense Department’s travel support for service members seeking out-of-state abortion services.

Tuberville’s grandstanding won’t persuade the Senate to change the Pentagon policy, but as an Air National Guard lieutenant colonel, I can tell you that blocking promotions is bad for the smooth operation of the chain of command at the heart of America’s national security structure. It’s also bad for morale. And it’s personally insulting to the men and women who are willing to sacrifice so much for this country.

But these culture war issues aren’t the only threat this crowd of extremists is posing to global stability. Last week, they tried unsuccessfully to tie up the defense bill by trying to scale back US aid to Ukraine by hundreds of millions of dollars.

As much of the world understands, Ukraine is in a fight for its life against a Russian military that invaded in February 2022. The Russian attack was unprovoked and pitted the much larger country, run by the autocratic leader Vladimir Putin, against a democracy that has thus far been able to defend itself, thanks in large part to US aid.

The defense of democracy has long been a conservative ideal, and that includes standing with our allies under attack. It’s hard to see the opposition to aid as anything other than the betrayal of an ally and friend.

Although the House ultimately voted down the amendment to limit aid to Ukraine, the fact that it was even introduced shows just how out of step much of the Republican Party is with the public on the issue of Ukraine. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll from last month, 65% of Americans support the US arming Ukraine — including 81% of Democrats, 56% of Republicans and 57% of independents. In that same poll, large majorities of Americans said they would support a US presidential candidate who would continue to provide strong military aid to Ukraine.

And then there’s the hostility these GOP extremists are directing at law enforcement, traditionally a wellspring of Republican support. This newfound animosity was on full view last week when FBI Director Christopher Wray appeared before the House Judiciary Committee.

Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio and several equally exercised Republicans members attacked a “weaponized” bureau for serving as an anti-conservative attack dog. Jordan and others have been using this word — “weaponization” — to argue, without solid evidence, that the federal government in general is pursuing an anti-conservative agenda. Echoing leftists who call for defunding the police, the House’s right-wing extremists want to slash the FBI’s budget.

The attacks on Wray revolved around hot-button campaign issues, including the investigations into former President Donald Trump’s handling of top-secret documents, the plea agreement in the case of Hunter Biden’s tax crimes and the FBI’s surveillance efforts. At one point, finger-pointing Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said the FBI “deserves better than you” to Wray.

Following Trump’s example, Wray’s congressional interrogators treated him with the disrespect you might expect from members of the radical left in the 1960s. I’m certain that as they mimicked the former president, they were attempting to court his voters; but I saw House members leading their party into a political wilderness where moderate voices may just join Democrats to end the GOP’s control of the House.

It is a display of sheer political malpractice for any Republican to suggest cutting FBI funding. While the left-wing’s call to “defund” the police has been much derided, a Gallup poll from last October found rising public support for the FBI. The agency is now seen favorably by 79% of Democrats — and 50% of Americans overall.

As appalling and politically misguided as the far-right’s behavior has been, most Republicans in both the House and Senate have not been inclined to oppose it directly. They obviously fear losing the support of Trump and his followers. But I think this choice is short-sighted and may ultimately backfire.

Despite his lead in the polls, Trump does not have a lock on the 2024 presidential nomination. He did not win the presidency the last time he ran, and it’s clear that he has been a drag on GOP senators and representatives who have campaigned in the years since.

On this evidence, I’d say that the extremists are hurting, not helping, the national Republican Party. At some point, more and more normal Republicans will see the damage they are doing. In the meantime, conservatives like me will wait for our party to come to its senses.

Climate change and Florida’s home insurance crisis: Here’s what homeowners should know

Palm Beach Daily News

Climate change and Florida’s home insurance crisis: Here’s what homeowners should know

Lianna Norman, Palm Beach Post – July 19, 2023

There are many contributors to Florida’s insurance crisis. One of the biggest contributors are huge insurance payouts attached to yearly storm damage following hurricane season, exacerbated by climate change.

Over 100,000 Floridians are scrambling for homeowners insurance after a wave of insurers have stopped writing policies in the disaster-prone state.

Last week, Farmers Insurance became the most recent insurer to drop coverage of Florida, announcing that the “decision was necessary to effectively manage risk exposure.”

Here are four reasons why insurance rates are rising in Florida

Florida’s insurance crisis: Farmers Insurance is the 4th major insurer to leave Florida

How has climate change affected the insurance industry?

Hurricane Ian, the last major hurricane to seriously impact Florida homeowners in the fall of 2022, cost the National Flood Insurance Program more than $1.2 billion in payouts to policyholders recovering from damage.

“FEMA estimates Hurricane Ian could potentially result in NFIP claims losses between $3.7-$5.2 billion,” FEMA’s website says. “The losses include flood insurance claims received from five states, with the majority of claims coming from Florida.”

A study led by researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and published in a peer-reviewed journal found that Hurricanes impacting the U.S. could rise by one-third compared to what hurricane season looks like now, at the rate that the climate is currently changing.

Florida isn’t the only state affected. Some insurance policy providers have also hiked prices or dropped out of states like California, Colorado and Louisiana due to rising risk of insuring homes in flooding or wildfire-prone areas.

The cost of the insurance crisis: Homeowners’ insurance costs are going up amid climate change. Here’s how to lower yours.

Which insurance companies are dropping customers in Florida?

This month, Farmers Insurance joined Bankers Insurance and Lexington Insurance, a subsidiary of AIG, in dropping out of Florida’s insurance market.

AAA is still writing policies, but the company said this week they will not renew its package policies that combine home, automobile and optional umbrella coverage. AAA says a “small number” of customers will be affected.

The Florida Department of Financial Services has a list of 14 companies that are in liquidation. This means that the Office of Insurance Regulation determined that there are grounds for the Department of Financial Services to proceed with charging these companies for delinquency.

Here are the insurers from that list that offered property insurance:

  • American Capital Assurance Corp.
  • Avatar Property and Casualty Insurance Co.
  • FedNat Insurance Co.
  • Florida Specialty Insurance Co.
  • Gulfstream Property and Casualty Insurance Co.
  • Southern Fidelity Insurance Co.
  • St. Johns Insurance Co.
  • United Property and Casualty Insurance Co.
  • Weston Property & Casualty Insurance Co.

Insurance costs are rising in Florida: Does your Florida county rank in the state’s most expensive home insurance premiums?

What’s the average cost of homeowners insurance in Florida?

Floridians pay some of the highest prices for home insurance in the nation. Most are paying about $6,000 for their yearly home insurance premium, an increase of 42% compared with last year, a spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute told USA TODAY.

With each year and each hurricane season, the cost for homeowners insurance in Florida increases exponentially faster than the national rate.

Lianna Norman covers trending news in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. 

Texas ranked worst state to live in the US, see where other states stand

USA Today

Texas ranked worst state to live in the US, see where other states stand

Amethyst Martinez and Isabelle Butera – July 19, 2023

How does life in your state compare to the rest of America?

CNBC released its rankings of the best and worst states to live in the United States last week.

Its rankings come from the network’s yearly research on the best states for business in 2023. One of the 10 criteria for the list is Life, Health & Inclusion, from which CNBC determines the best and worst states to live.

CNBC allots 350 possible points to each state, measuring categories such as per capita crime rates, environmental quality, health care and worker protections.

The research also examines anti-discrimination laws, voting rights and access to childcare. Surveys indicate a large percentage of women consider reproductive rights in deciding where they are willing to live and work, so CNBC includes abortion laws in this category.

In an aerial vies, buildings in the Dallas skyline are illuminated in blue Thursday, April 9, 2020. Cities and buildings across the nation were lighted in blue to show support for those fighting COVID-19. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP) ORG XMIT: TXDAM321
In an aerial vies, buildings in the Dallas skyline are illuminated in blue Thursday, April 9, 2020. Cities and buildings across the nation were lighted in blue to show support for those fighting COVID-19. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP) ORG XMIT: TXDAM321
Texas ranked the worst state to live in the US

Texas has received the number one spot on a not-so-pleasant list: The top 10 worst places in America to live and work in 2023.

While Texas landed at number six on CNBC’s yearly America’s Top States for Business study, the state scored significantly low in one category: Life, Health & Inclusion. Factors in this category include:

  • crime rates
  • environmental quality
  • health care
  • quality and availability of childcare
  • inclusiveness in state laws such as reproductive rights, protections against discrimination and voting rights.

Texas received 53 out of 350 points for its 2023 Life, Health & Inclusion score, giving it an F in its Top States grade and the lowest nationwide, securing its number one spot on the list.

CNBC did mention the boom in economic opportunity across the state. In the overall Top States for Business study, Texas received sixth place, with North Carolina taking the number one spot.

Top 10 worst states to live and work

The rest of the states that landed on the top 10 worst states to live and work for 2023 were:

  1. Texas
  2. Oklahoma
  3. Louisiana
  4. South Carolina and Alabama (tie)
  5. —
  6. Missouri
  7. Indiana
  8. Tennessee
  9. Arkansas
  10. Florida
Vermont ranked the best state to live in the US

By contrast, Vermont won the acclaimed spot of the best place to live. Residents are statistically more stress-free and healthy. With the beautiful Green Mountains, Vermont offers the best air quality in the United States. The state provides the most accessible childcare, broad anti-discrimination protections and easy access to voting.

CNBC gave Vermont an A+ in Life, Health and Inclusion. The state’s largest weakness is worker protections, which are less stringent compared to some other states.

Top 10 best states to live and work
  1. Vermont
  2. Maine
  3. New Jersey
  4. Minnesota
  5. Hawaii
  6. Oregon
  7. Washington
  8. Massachusetts and  Colorado (tie)
  9. —
  10. Connecticut
America’s top states for Business

CNBC examines on 86 metrics in 10 broad categories of business competitiveness when assigning its rankings. The research examines the workforce, infrastructure, cost of doing business, state laws and education, among other criteria.

Here is CNBC’s ranking for 2023.

  1. North Carolina
  2. Virginia
  3. Tennessee
  4. Georgia
  5. Minnesota
  6. Texas
  7. Washington
  8. Florida
  9. Utah
  10. Michigan

DeSantis has boasted about people flocking to Florida, but the transplants have helped the state reach inflation levels that are twice as high as the national average

Insider

DeSantis has boasted about people flocking to Florida, but the transplants have helped the state reach inflation levels that are twice as high as the national average

Kelsey Vlamis – July 18, 2023

An aerial view of Coconut Grove, Florida.
Coconut Grove, a neighborhood in Miami, Florida.Demetrius Theune/Getty Images
  • Florida was the fastest-growing state in 2022, but inflation is also booming there.
  • Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-West Palm Beach had the highest inflation of any large metro area in April.
  • High inflation and home insurance prices are among the costs that transplants may not anticipate.

Florida is hot.

It’s currently experiencing the scorching heat impacting many US states and for years it’s been among the hottest places to move.

But it’s also become a hotspot for inflation.

Some areas of the Sunshine State face the highest inflation rates in the US, even more than twice as high as the national average, which hit 3% in June, the lowest since early 2021.

The Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area had a rate of 9% for the year that ended in April, according to the Consumer Price Index. It was the highest rate of any metro area with more than 2.5 million residents. The area’s inflation rate was also high for the year that ended in June, at 6.9%. Another Florida metro area, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, had an inflation rate of 7.3% for the year that ended in May.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has blasted President Joe Biden over inflation.

He has also bragged that leftist ideologies in other states have pushed people away and driven them to Florida, but the state in part has its recent transplants to thank for the rising prices.

Amanda Phalin, an economist at the University of Florida, told CBS Miami that the state’s growing population and increased demand for housing have driven up prices. “A lot of people are still coming to Florida because the economy is really strong, and many like the fact that we don’t have an income tax like in New York, for example,” she said.

Florida was the fastest-growing state in 2022, but residents moving for perceived economic benefits may not realize the impact of higher prices. There’s also another cost of moving to Florida that transplants may not anticipate: steep homeowners insurance.

The Guardian reported the state is facing a crisis thanks to skyrocketing premiums for hurricane coverage. A 68-year-old resident who has lived in Florida for 30 years told the outlet if her homeowner insurance premium rises any more she “may have to sell up and move to another state.”

Another Insurance Company Halts Florida Home Policies Amid Worsening Storms

HuffPost

Another Insurance Company Halts Florida Home Policies Amid Worsening Storms

Nina Golgowski – July 18, 2023

AAA has announced that it’s scaling back some of its homeowner’s insurance coverage in Florida, with the decision aligning with several other major insurance providers amid a rise in natural disasters.

“Unfortunately, Florida’s insurance market has become challenging in recent years,” the company said in a statement Tuesday.

“Last year’s catastrophic hurricane season contributed to an unprecedented rise in reinsurance rates, making it more costly for insurance companies to operate. Prior to that, the market was already strained by increased claims costs due to inflation and excessive litigation,” the statement continued.

Only “a very small percentage” of higher exposure homeowner’s policies are affected by the change, and those policyholders have been notified that their plan will not renew, the company said. A spokesperson declined to specify the number of policies or where in the state they are located.

A collapsed home is seen in Naples, Florida, following Hurricane Ian in 2022. The Category 5 Atlantic hurricane was the third-costliest weather disaster on record.
A collapsed home is seen in Naples, Florida, following Hurricane Ian in 2022. The Category 5 Atlantic hurricane was the third-costliest weather disaster on record.

A collapsed home is seen in Naples, Florida, following Hurricane Ian in 2022. The Category 5 Atlantic hurricane was the third-costliest weather disaster on record.

The announcement came a week after Farmers Insurance Group announced that it would no longer write any new policies or renew existing homeowner, auto and umbrella policies for people in Florida. Last year Bankers Insurance and Lexington Insurance, a subsidiary of AIG, also pulled out of the Florida homeowners market.

“This business decision was necessary to effectively manage risk exposure,” Farmers said in a statement released to the Tampa Bay Times.

Farmers in May similarly said it would no longer offer new home insurance policies in California due to more frequent and intense wildfires. The insurance company blamed its decision, in a previously released statement, on “historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance market.”

A skeleton in sunglasses sits beside a sign reading
A skeleton in sunglasses sits beside a sign reading

A skeleton in sunglasses sits beside a sign reading “Just waiting for the insurance check,” on Florida’s Sanibel Island in May. The area was hit by Hurricane Ian in 2022.

It’s getting harder to live in the Sunshine State, with Floridians paying on average about $6,000 for their yearly home insurance premium, a 42% increase compared to last year, Mark Friedlander, spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute, recently told USA Today. The average annual premium in the U.S., in comparison, costs $1,700.

Floridians have also had to deal with exceptionally high inflation rates and housing costs amid an ongoing flood of new residents from other parts of the country.

Forecasters have meanwhile given mixed predictions on this year’s hurricane season in the Atlantic, which started last month and will last through November.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted a near-normal hurricane activity season with 12 to 17 total named storms — one to four of which it said could become major hurricanes.

Colorado State University has meanwhile predicted that the season will be “above average, with 18 named storms — four of which they predict will become major hurricanes. CSU previously estimated that the season would be “near average” but updated its prediction due to record warm sea surface temperatures in most of the tropical and subtropical Atlantic.