All posts by TC Tunstall

BIPOC, National

Merrick Garland: Nominee for U.S. Attorney General

During the Judicial Committee hearing yesterday, Merrick Garland told Senators that he was shocked by videos of Black Americans being killed, but also pointed out that the eye-opening coverage and resulting protests could serve as a catalyst for finding remedies.

Biden’s nomination for US attorney general weathered questions from the Judicial Committee on Monday, including pointed, leading, and barbed questions from some of the hyperpartisan members. Merrick Garland is currently the chief judge of the D.C. Circuit and was famously nominated by President Obama to the Supreme Court, although Senator Mitch McConnell refused to allow that nomination a vote in the Senate—blocking the nomination. He has also previously worked within the Department of Justice, including a role as deputy assistant attorney general in the Criminal Division. In that role, he oversaw the high-profile domestic terrorism cases including the Oklahoma City bombing, Ted Kaczynski, and the bombing at the Centennial Park during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta

Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) questioned Judge Garland on racial issues from several directions during the hearing. Throughout, Garland maintained a firm stance, stating that he believes “discrimination is morally wrong. Absolutely.” Cotton continually returned to questions about racial issues. “Are you aware President Biden has signed an executive order stating his administration will affirmatively advance racial equity,” Cotton asked. “Not racial equality, but racial equity?”

Garland’s reply: “Yes. And I read the opening of that executive order, which defines equity as the fair and impartial treatment of every person, without regard to their status, and including individuals who are in underserved communities where they were not afforded that before.”

Cotton appeared preoccupied with a Trump-era case against Yale University, alleging admissions discrimination against white and Asian American students, which was dropped earlier this month by the current Department of Justice. Garland replied by stating, several times, that the statistics Cotton repeated could not be interpreted without the context and facts of the case.

Ted Cruz (R-TX), possibly seeking to find a positive sound bite for conservative audiences criticizing his ill-timed Cancun vacation, asked Garland about keeping the Department of Justice, something that the nominee has prioritized since being nominated. Cruz used his time to raise debunked conspiracy theories related to Eric Holder and already disproven allegations of the Department of Justice being used for political purposes under the Obama administration. Cruz did set aside some time to praise previous attorney general, William Barr while ignoring the fact that under Barr’s direction the Department of Justice was found to be directly used by the previous administration as a weapon against political opponents and to insulate Donald Trump and his allies.

In an exchange that Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) likely didn’t expect, Garland responded to the question of defunding the police. “As you, no doubt know,” the nominee said, “President Biden has said he doesn’t support defunding the police, and neither do I.” The nominee went on to cite the horrors of the January 6 insurrection attempt and the attacks on officers during the violence as a reason to support law enforcement. More than 140 Capitol Police officers were injured during the assault on Congress that Hawley helped to incite.

“I do believe,” Garland continued, “that we do need to put resources into alternative ways of confronting some actors, particularly those who are mentally ill and those who are suicidal.”

Not all of the hearing was spent on partisan attacks, however, and some highlights did appear. Judge Garland:

  • Pledged to protect the Justice Department from political pressure
  • Vows the DOJ will pursue all leads in the investigation of the Capitol attack
  • Has reservations about the death penalty
  • Sees no reason to discontinue the Durham probe at this time
  • Highlights the mission of the Division of Civil Rights to protect the rights of the “most vulnerable members of our society.”

In an emotional moment during the hearing, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) asked the nominee to share a private conversation they had about his family history involving hate and discrimination. Garland, clearly emotional and fighting back tears, related a brief anecdote. “I come from a family where my grandparents fled anti-Semitism and persecution. The country took us in and protected us. I feel an obligation to pay the country back.”

Garland stated in his remarks prior to the hearing, that equity and fairness are important to him. He went on to say, “that mission remains urgent because we do not yet have equal justice. Communities of color and other minorities still face discrimination in housing, education, employment, and the criminal justice system; and bear the brunt of the harm caused by the pandemic, pollution, and climate change.”

Health and Lifestyle, National

Total visits to the ER dropped during COVID but increased for drug overdoses and mental health

[KIRKLAND] – (MTN) The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a study investigating the potential changes in the number of ER visits for mental health, suicide attempts, overdose, and violence outcomes change during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Authored by Kristin M. Holland, PhD, MPH, Division of Overdose Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the study compared date from December 2018 to October 2020.

During lockdowns and social distancing mandates, ER visits changed in a telling way.

  • After the “15 days to slow the spread” COVID-19 mitigation program rolled out on March 16, 2020, ER visits for all reasons decreased, but a surveillance program for certain conditions noticed that that not all conditions saw the same changes.
  • Mental health conditions, drug overdoses in general, opioid overdoses specifically, suicide attempts, suspected child abuse and neglect, and intimate partner violence were all tracked in the surveillance beginning at the end of December, 2018.
  • Visits for mental health conditions and overdoses had significantly increasing trends prior to the pandemic and, despite mild decreases with the initial mitigation efforts, continued these trends into the pandemic.
  • Despite a falloff of all ER visits, the conditions studied only had much smaller decreases and rebounded to trends faster than other causes of ER visits.
  • The results are not conclusive, but they do suggest that there is a greater burden of overdose occurring. The researchers point out that not all patients experiencing the conditions studied present to the ER for care even without a pandemic and the study underestimates the real number of Americans who experience these conditions.

The study looking at ER visits for specific conditions as compared to total ER visits on a week by week basis began on December 30, 2018 and concluded on October 10, 2020. It drives home the point that the coronavirus pandemic combined with the mitigation strategies and resultant social isolation and economic stress has a cumulative impact on mental health conditions, suicide attempts, drug overdoses and violence events. Even though there is a correlation between the pandemic and increased presentation of the studied group compared to other diagnoses, mental health conditions, suicide attempts, and overdoses were all trending upward throughout 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conditions that likely contributed to the fall in overall ER visits during the pandemic are certain to include stay-at-home orders and apprehension about exposure to COVID-19 in health care settings. The studied conditions may not have seen the more dramatic decrease in ER presentation initially because patients’ regular care providers would have been closed while they implemented strategies to decrease transmission risks and focused mainly on COVID-19 specifically. Further into the pandemic, many may have lost their employer-provided health insurance limiting their options for treatment to emergency rooms.

Regardless of the cause for relative increases in mental health, suicide attempts, overdoses, and violence, the fact is that many patients suffering with these conditions do not present for professional health care even outside of the pandemic conditions. This study does not pretend to illuminate the number of patients who did not seek such care, but it does highlight the need for heightened attention to prevention and treatment of these conditions; for individuals presenting to the ER, introducing appropriate measures (e.g., counseling on safe storage of lethal means of suicide, making sure that naloxone is available, starting buprenorphine therapy, and screening for intimate partner violence), directly involving patients with in-person or virtual behavioral health and social support services, and providing effective treatment for opioid use disorders can provide immediate assistance for those in crisis. The authors also identify the need for broader societal- and community-level prevention efforts in addressing the growing instances of mental health conditions, suicide attempts, drug overdose, opioid overdose, and domestic violence.

Five Facts, National

Conservative radio icon, Rush Limbaugh, has died

Five Fast Facts

  • Rush Limbaugh had his first national broadcast in 1988 on WABC in New York
  • His emergence on the airwaves heralded an age of hyperpartisan, insulting rhetoric divorced from balance becoming accepted in the mainstream
  • He revealed his lung cancer diagnosis in February 2020
  • Limbaugh struggled with opioid addiction and was arrested on drug charges before reaching a deal with prosecutors involving his continued rehab and $30,000 in payments to reimburse the costs of investigation
  • Racially charged commentary brought him much criticism over the course of his career, costing him jobs and prevented him from becoming a partial owner of the NFL franchise the St. Louis Rams

Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk radio host known for his pomposity and hubris-filled rants, has died at the age of 70, reportedly from lung cancer. The radio host dropped out of college to pursue his radio career, eventually leading him to his national show on WABC in 1988.

His emergence in radio popularized hyperpartisanship, disrespect, personal insults, and general attacks as political discourse. During the course of his career, Limbaugh became well-known for using slurs against the LGBTQIA+ community, women, and BIPOC, often using incendiary phrases such as “feminazis.” Limbaugh was one of the original pundits who referred to democrats and others on the left as communists, wackos, liberal extremists, and radicals. His voiced opinions on race did cost him a short-lived role as an NFL commentator and derailed his bid to become an owner of the NFL’s St. Louis Rams.

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Rush Limbaugh, the talk radio host who ripped into liberals and laid waste to political correctness with a captivating brand of malice that made him one of the most powerful voices in politics, influencing the rightward push of American conservatism and the rise of Donald Trump, died Wednesday. He was 70.

Limbaugh said a year ago that he had lung cancer. His death was announced on his show by his wife, Kathryn.

Read more at ABC News