COVID-19 roundup
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sen. Darren Bailey was interviewed at the recent Illinois Conservative Union conference…
Q: Why do you think the governor is pushing so hard for this vaccination mandate and doing away or at least amending the right of conscience act?
Bailey: I’ve said from day one, follow the money. I think it has a lot to do with the money. Big pharma money. I can’t prove that. But all the actions lead to that when we see each and every day the proof of even of even, you know, vaccinated people still dying from COVID, still catching it again. We’re not seeing the numbers and proof and the data and the facts that they say that they have.
Q: I’m thinking that money is a big part of this, probably the biggest part of this. But isn’t there a sense of we have the power to do this and this is a way we can control you?
Bailey: Again, we said it earlier. Marxism. Just how do you destroy a constitutional republic? This seems to be a pretty plausible roadmap to do that.
Whew. The drama is strong in that one.
* I’m assuming he wants his unvaccinated members to be paid in full by the city if they catch the virus and have to quarantine for 14 days…
Police union President John Catanzara said Tuesday his union members would agree to testing every day, but he’s still encouraging members to defy the city’s vaccine mandate.
“We will be OK with our members getting a rapid test every day they report to work, before they walk into roll call so they know if you’re contagious or not. Your vaccine status shouldn’t matter at that point,” Catanzara said.
Catanzara said officers who test negative would go to work.
“If you’re positive, you go home, go onto medical (leave) and quarantine for 14 days. It’s the simplest solution to stop the spread, if that’s what they really wanted to do,” he said.
Paying the unvaxed to stay home doesn’t seem fiscally prudent. If they take the risk, they should pay for the consequences.
* Tribune…
Fourteen employees of NorthShore University HealthSystem are suing the hospital system, alleging that NorthShore won’t let them keep their jobs because of their religious objections to getting COVID-19 vaccines.
Liberty Counsel, which describes itself as a Christian ministry that advocates for religious freedom, is representing the 14 NorthShore employees in the lawsuit, which it filed on Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The lawsuit seeks class-action status.
Background on Liberty Counsel…
Liberty Counsel—an evangelical nonprofit legal foundation—has been offering pro bono representation for clients in pursuit of religious exemption. The group previously focused on more traditional culture-war issues like anti-abortion suits and cases seeking to deny LGBTQ Americans their rights but Liberty’s founder, Mathew Staver, shares many of his clients conspiratorial views about vaccines and likes to air them in public. In speeches, he’s called COVID-19 shots part of a “depopulation” conspiracy to force the world to “have a tracking mechanism to determine whether or not you’ve had one of these particular injections.”
Just recently, one of Liberty Counsel’s most prominent cases involved health-care workers in Maine with a suit aimed at overturning the state’s vaccine mandate for hospital and nursing home employees. Last week, the Supreme Court declined to grant an emergency injunction as the case plays out in lower courts.
* More…
* COVID-19 update: 2,213 new cases, 34 more deaths, 1,230 hospitalizations: The state’s positivity rate for COVID-19 cases is 1.9% based on a seven-day average.
* Illinois expecting 500,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses initially for kids, with pediatricians expected to play a big role
* Four Measures That Are Helping Germany Beat COVID: Ensure That Mass Events Don’t Facilitate Mass Transmission; Make Testing Cheap and Easy; Throw Out Those Cloth Masks (in favor of KN95 masks); Figure Out Contact Tracing
* Meatpacker Tyson: Mandate led 96% of workers to get vaccine
* Lawsuit by Chicago workers challenging vaccine mandates heads to federal court today
* Effort to Roll Back Vaccine Mandate Blocked as Police Union President Vows Retribution
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PNA repeal bill surfaces in Senate
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sen. Elgie Sims’ Senate Amendment 1 to HB370 will be heard in the Senate Executive Committee.
Aside from brief language at the very bottom repealing the Parental Notification of Abortion law, the amendment creates the Youth Health and Safety Act…
The Youth Health and Safety Act seeks to restate Illinois’ commitment to full and equitable access to reproductive health care for all persons across the State, without barriers based on race or ethnicity, immigration status, age, geographic location, economic means, education level, or other categories of identity. The Act confirms that Illinois will not move backwards and will continue to assure that reproductive rights are protected and recognized.
It also creates the Youth Health and Safety Advisory Working Group and specifies duties and responsibilities, including…
The Youth Health and Safety Advisory Working Group is created for the purpose of identifying and reviewing laws and regulations that impact pregnant and parenting youth and youth that may become pregnant or a parent. The working group shall identify existing and needed resources for pregnant and parenting youth, and youth seeking reproductive healthcare. In this Act, “youth” means an individual under 18 years of age. The working group shall prepare and make public a report that details available information and makes recommendations as necessary.
The act would sunset in 2024.
Discuss.
…Adding… Very small rally today opposing the bill…
Thanks to Mike Miletich for the pic.
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Careful what you wish for
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Lynn Sweet is right. The newly drawn 3rd CD could easily be won by a non-Latino if credible and capable Latino candidates battle it out in the primary…
It’s different for the new 3rd — with only a 43.75% Hispanic voting age population, it is barely a minority district. One estimate from a Democratic political operative — discounting for folks who can’t vote and youths who don’t vote — put the number of Hispanics who will actually vote in the new 3rd at 37%.
A Democratic primary with multiple Hispanics will divide the Hispanic vote, leaving the door wide open for a non-Hispanic candidate to claim the seat.
Three candidates are already mulling bids.
Ald. Gilbert Villegas, (36th) told Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman on Monday he is “seriously considering” a bid.
Sun-Times politics writer Rachel Hinton reports that Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago, said in a statement she’s “carefully” considering a run for Congress. State Sen. Omar Aquino, D-Chicago, the chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee, is also expected to look at a run.
More are expected to jump in once the map is finalized. This could be a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
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Support Regulated Pet Stores And Defeat Puppy Mills
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Illinois families will soon be losing their opportunity to purchase dogs and cats from safe, highly-regulated local pet retailers, such as Petland, who offer their customers the choice of a pet that best fits their needs and provide health warranties. This change is coming because the state’s Animal Welfare Act has been updated through HB 1711 which bans the retail sales of dogs and cats obtained from licensed and regulated professional breeders.
But HB 1711 needs fixing, because while singularly blocking retail pet sales, it fails to strengthen any animal standards or protections at unregulated puppy mills across the state. Consumers looking for particular breeds will have no choice but to purchase dogs from unregulated breeders or dog auctions – thus perpetuating puppy mills. Responsible breeders and retailers will be heavily penalized while HB 1711 does nothing to address the issue of substandard breeders across the state.
Petland is dedicated to improving animal welfare and we have publicly demonstrated this commitment; in fact, we support the Humane Society’s petition effort to improve standards of care. Petland’s breeder pledge is a commitment to provide more space, more exercise, and more socialization for their pets plus numerous other improvements to standards of care.
Home - Protect Our Pets Illinois
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Illinois: Tell Congress To Count All Copays
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Many patients in Illinois rely on copay assistance to access and afford their prescription medications, often in instances when no generic option exists. Recognizing the important role copay assistance plays for patients, Illinois took legislative action to prohibit health plans from instituting “copay accumulator” policies that don’t apply copay assistance towards patient out-of-pocket costs.
Illinois stood with patients then – and must do so again.
Illinois can show leadership by ensuring patients are protected from these policies and have the guarantee that their copay assistance will count. At a time when Illinoisans are struggling financially from COVID-19, the state should protect the broadest set of patients to help them access critical medications for conditions like cancer and HIV.
Patient advocates are calling for our leaders in Springfield to stand with patients. We hope they answer that call. Tell Congress to count all copays. Stand with patients and support HR 516.
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Organizations Call For Repeal of PNA
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Dear members of the Illinois General Assembly:
As organizations, we support the repeal of Illinois’ Parental Notice of Abortion Act, and urge the General Assembly to take up legislation to get rid of this dangerous law during the current veto session.
Decades of research and experience demonstrate that such forced parental involvement laws hurt young people and serve no valid purpose. Most young people will involve a parent or other adult family member in their decision about having an abortion voluntarily regardless of what the law says. The minority of young people who do not talk to their parents in this situation have grave concerns such as: fear of physical or emotional abuse, loss of financial support, or homelessness; fear of being forced to give birth against their will; or serious family problems such as a parent who is sick or imprisoned.
This law has been in effect and putting young people in our state in harm’s way for over eight years, and the time for the General Assembly to protect youth and repeal this law is now. The urgency of eliminating this dangerous barrier to abortion access is all the more apparent with a case to overturn Roe v. Wade pending in the U.S. Supreme Court, and a new radical law in Texas that authorizes individual bounty hunters to enforce a ban on abortion.
Read the full list of organizations here.
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Facebook violence roundup
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Reporter with the Marshall Project…
* CBS 2 recently aired a story about young carjackers. Here’s an excerpt from their talk with “David” who is 14 years old…
He says getting the gun was also simple.
‘David’: “People on Facebook and stuff. They sell guns.”
Sargent: “So you were able to buy a weapon off Facebook?”
‘David’: “Yes.”
Sargent: “And do you find a lot of kids your age do that?”
‘David’: “Yes.”
* Sun-Times…
A St. Louis-to-Chicago gun trafficking network began with a relationship that was kindled on an online sneaker marketplace, federal authorities say.
Two men who met on a Facebook specialty sneaker group started trading guns for marijuana about a year ago, authorities say.
Over the past week, Chicago police and ATF agents arrested those men and their supplier, a 71-year-old Missouri retiree who’d traveled the country to buy weapons at gun shows, according to affidavits filed in federal court by an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
* Washington Post…
Behind the scenes, Facebook programmed the algorithm that decides what people see in their news feeds to use the reaction emoji as signals to push more emotional and provocative content — including content likely to make them angry. Starting in 2017, Facebook’s ranking algorithm treated emoji reactions as five times more valuable than “likes,” internal documents reveal. The theory was simple: Posts that prompted lots of reaction emoji tended to keep users more engaged, and keeping users engaged was the key to Facebook’s business.
Facebook’s own researchers were quick to suspect a critical flaw. Favoring “controversial” posts — including those that make users angry — could open “the door to more spam/abuse/clickbait inadvertently,” a staffer, whose name was redacted, wrote in one of the internal documents. A colleague responded, “It’s possible.”
The warning proved prescient. The company’s data scientists confirmed in 2019 that posts that sparked angry reaction emoji were disproportionately likely to include misinformation, toxicity and low-quality news.
That means Facebook for three years systematically amped up some of the worst of its platform, making it more prominent in users’ feeds and spreading it to a much wider audience. The power of the algorithmic promotion undermined the efforts of Facebook’s content moderators and integrity teams, who were fighting an uphill battle against toxic and harmful content. […]
When Facebook finally set the weight on the angry reaction to zero, users began to get less misinformation, less “disturbing” content and less “graphic violence,” company data scientists found. As it turned out, after years of advocacy and pushback, there wasn’t a trade-off after all. According to one of the documents, users’ level of activity on Facebook was unaffected.
* Related…
* Misinformation, violence and social media: Five things we learned from the Facebook files
* Facebook’s misinformation and violence problems are worse in India
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Tribune can’t confirm Ives’ claim
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
Former state representative and Breakthrough Ideas’ CEO Jeanne Ives presented evidence today that 1,343 DuPage County registered voters no longer lived at their registered DuPage County address when they voted on Nov. 3, 2020.
Watch the full press conference here.
By law, these votes are fraudulent and invalid, as one cannot vote from an address where one does not reside.
Ives said the 1,343 voters were identified by comparing county voter records to the National Change of Address database; they each filled out forms attesting to the federal government that they had moved prior to September 1, 2020, so the Post Office would forward their mail.
Ives was joined by lead analyst John Morrissey of Elmhurst (?), who explained the process by which his team produced the analysis. […]
Here is an example:
State Voter ID 2J7HR72Y changed addresses in March 2020 from Hinsdale to Naples Florida according to the NCOA. We verified through the County Treasurer’s office that property owned by that individual for which the individual was registered to vote from, was sold in March 2020. We have a match with the NCOA that the voter moved and a match from the Treasurer’s office that the voter sold the home. Voter records show that the voter, though, voted by mail using the Hinsdale address in November 2020. This voter remains on the latest voter list.
Morrissey is the Vice-Chair of the York Township Republican Party.
* The Tribune followed up on Ives’ example…
Adam Johnson, spokesman for DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek, said in a statement the office follows federal law in maintaining its voter rolls, using everything from death certificates to undeliverable mail to biannual change of address notifications to keep the list up to date.
He said the one voter Ives highlighted at her news conference — a person who allegedly moved to Florida from Hinsdale but still listed the old address while voting by mail — notified the clerk’s office months before the election that they had moved elsewhere within DuPage County and cast the proper ballot.
Snowbirds often have their mail forwarded.
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In other business before the House and Senate…
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This was a compromise with the mayor’s office that would also allow for an immediate moratorium on school closures…
Another measure that could be considered is a change to a legislation that passed this spring and was subsequently signed into law by Pritzker that would put a fully elected school board in place in Chicago in January 2027.
Under a proposed amendment to the law, Chicago’s mayor would be able to make 10 appointments to the board and choose its president without having to seek City Council approval. Previously, the bill required her appointments to be approved by aldermen, which Lightfoot opposed.
* As subscribers know, this isn’t yet a slam dunk…
The Pritzker administration also is seeking approval of a package of tax credits and incentives to encourage more manufacturing of electric vehicles and their components in the state, following in the wake of the interest in vehicles being produced by Rivian in the former Mitsubishi Motors plant in Normal.
The proposed Reimagining Electric Vehicles in Illinois Act, or the “REV” act, would provide for tax credits for large business development and allow businesses to claim some if not all of income tax withholdings attributable to new employees. It also would provide for construction job credits for building facilities, create a streamlined permitting process and establishes a state government procurement price preference for electric vehicles built in Illinois.
* I don’t think this has progressed very far…
Two years ago, state Rep. Carol Ammons pushed — and came close to passing — legislation opening the way for electing more Democratic judges in downstate counties like Champaign.
Now Ammons’ bill has been re-cast in a plan to create judicial sub-circuits in counties with populations over 150,000. And Champaign County Chief Judge Randy Rosenbaum isn’t happy about it.
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* WBEZ…
Meanwhile, the progress toward getting more of the state workforce vaccinated came as legislation surfaced to tighten a decades-old state law so that it can’t be used to evade state and local vaccination mandates.
The measure sponsored by state Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, would amend the state Health Care Right of Conscience Act, which offers liability protections for medical practitioners unwilling to perform abortions or offer contraception on moral grounds.
The law has been cited increasingly by educators and police officers trying to defend against potential job losses over their philosophical objections to being forced to be vaccinated for COVID-19 by their government employers.
Gabel’s amendment would explicitly note that the law does not offer protections for those wanting to invoke it to sidestep mandated COVID-19 vaccinations and empower governments to terminate workers who don’t comply with vaccination orders.
Despite Pritzker’s backing, its prospects this week are hazy, and Gabel did not immediately respond to WBEZ for comment.
A spokeswoman for House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, stopped short of predicting passage Monday but said he “supports getting it done” and is “ready to listen and compromise.”
* Subscribers know much more about this caucus and what happened afterward, but here’s Politico…
If the fireworks that erupted in yesterday’s House Democratic Caucus meeting are any indication, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s amendment to the Health Care Right of Conscience Act is in trouble. […]
During caucus meeting Monday, Rep. Mary Flowers spoke passionately about how the amendment would target the state’s poorest residents.
Flowers said amending the law would primarily affect working-class residents who have to get up and go out every day to their jobs. Employees working in the corporate world or who have office jobs that allow them to work at home aren’t likely to be affected by Pritzker’s amendment, Flowers told caucus members, according to folks in the room.
Lawmakers are also frustrated that they haven’t heard from Pritzker or his “well-paid deputy governors” to better explain why they should vote for the amendment.
Because the measure would take effect immediately, it needs 71 votes to pass, and the buzz is that those votes just aren’t there.
How we’ll know: The bill will only be called if the numbers add up.
This isn’t really about deputy governors. This is about people believing some very weird stuff or being unclear on what the bill is intended to do.
* The opposition is very small, but very well organized and intense…
*** UPDATE 1 *** Another one…
A suburban judge granted a temporary restraining order to a group of nurses who sued Riverside Healthcare over the hospital system’s vaccine mandate.
Kankakee County Judge Nancy Nicholson granted the temporary restraining order until Nov. 19. She will then hold a hearing on a motion for a preliminary injunction requested by the nurses.
Liberty Justice Center Managing Attorney Daniel Suhr said the ruling was a win.
“Today’s ruling marks an important step toward victory for these nurses – and it sends a signal to all Americans about the importance of fighting for your rights,” he said. “Employers and government officials should take note that forcing people to violate their conscience not only is wrong, it’s illegal. No one should be forced to choose between keeping their job and sacrificing their beliefs.”
The nurses sued Riverside Healthcare on Oct. 13 claiming the state’s Health Care Right of Conscience Act gives them the right to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine. The nurses said their religious beliefs conflict with getting the vaccine.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Greg Hinz made some calls…
The blow-up occurred in a caucus of House Democrats when several Black lawmakers came out against the bill, with Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, alleging at one point that the same “synthetic” ingredients used to produce crack cocaine are used in making COVID vaccinations.
The Black members later met with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who tried to convince them the intent of the freedom of conscious act is being abused. I hear different things about whether Raoul’s pitch worked. We’ll find out when and if the bill is called for a vote before the veto session’s scheduled end on Thursday.
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Um, no
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Fox News…
“When he ran for office, Governor Pritzker pledged to veto any congressional map that wasn’t drawn by a fair and independent commission. But now he’s changed his tune in a desperate ploy to help Nancy Pelosi keep the majority in Congress,” Republican Illinois Rep. Mike Bost told Fox News.
* That’s not right. It was my question and it was very specifically worded to apply only to state legislative maps…
This requires only a simple yes or no response: Will you pledge as governor to veto any state legislative redistricting map proposal that is in any way drafted or created by legislators, political party leaders and/or their staffs or allies? The exception, of course, would be the final official draft by LRB.
Emphasis added.
* I suggested that this FiveThirtyEight writer delete this tweet and hilarity ensued…
* While we’re on the topic, here’s some more remap stuff…
* Democrats propose revised congressional map as last week of veto session approaches: U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood no longer would represent parts of Springfield and Sangamon County under the latest proposal for new congressional district boundaries released over the weekend by General Assembly Democrats who control the map-making process.
* Illinois redistricting proposal creates new Hispanic seat, sets up member-vs.-member races
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* Give him credit, Sen. Bailey is always on-brand…
Though the gubernatorial primary isn’t until June 2022, Republican candidates vying for their party’s nomination are already looking for who will be their lieutenant governor. […]
State Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, said he’s closing in on a selection. His goal, he said, is to return the base of power back to Springfield. To do that, he’s looking for a lieutenant governor to oversee Chicago.
“You know, the ambassador role for the urban areas so they can help hold the Chicago mayor and Chicago politics accountable,” Bailey said.
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