Indy Digest: Dec. 11, 2023
Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, horrific news stories have emerged from states where abortion laws are strictest—and one of the most horrifying true stories thus far is currently playing out in Texas.
A Texas woman whose fetus has a fatal diagnosis and who has been awaiting a decision from the Texas Supreme Court about whether she will be allowed to get an abortion said Monday that she has decided to leave Texas to get the procedure.
Kate Cox, a mother of two who is around 20 weeks pregnant, found out just after Thanksgiving that her developing fetus has trisomy 18, a fatal diagnosis. Seeking to terminate the pregnancy to protect Cox’s health and future fertility, she and her husband sought a court order to block Texas’ abortion bans from applying in her case.
A district judge granted the request Thursday, but Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sought an emergency stay from the state Supreme Court, which then paused the lower court’s order Friday evening.
“Due to the ongoing deterioration of Ms. Cox’s health condition … Ms. Cox is now forced to seek medical care outside of Texas,” Molly Duane, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Cox, said in a court filing Monday. …
In a statement Monday, Nancy Northup, president and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said: “This past week of legal limbo has been hellish for Kate. Her health is on the line. She’s been in and out of the emergency room and she couldn’t wait any longer.”
As awful as all of this is … this story doesn’t even come close to adequately describing the sheer cruelty being shown by the state of Texas in this case.
Not only did Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton seek the stay; before the stay was issued, he sent a threatening letter to three hospitals where the procedure could have been done.
“We feel it is important for you to understand the potential long-term implications if you permit such an abortion to occur at your facility,” Paxton wrote. “First, the (temporary restraining order) will not insulate you, nor anyone else, from civil and criminal liability for violating Texas’ abortion laws, including first degree felony prosecutions. … And, while the TRO purports to temporarily enjoin actions brought by the OAG and TMB … it does not enjoin actions brought by private citizens.”
Wow.
What is Paxton doing here? What reason could he possibly have for such cruelty?
I am flabbergasted that such a thing could be happening in the United States, in 2023. Yet here we are.
—Jimmy Boegle
From the Independent
A Director Overindulges: Despite a Great Premise, Solid Performances and a Good Ending, Netflix’s ‘Leave the World Behind’ Is Just OK
By Bob Grimm
December 11th, 2023
Leave the World Behind is 138 minutes long and probably would’ve worked better at a tidy 90 minutes. Some sequences feel like the filmmaker was trying to amaze—but instead was being overindulgent.
Desert Jazz: The Duo Sister John Angela Combines Blues and Experimentation to Take Audiences on a Sonic Journey
By Matt King
December 8th, 2023
Catch Sister John Angela and the duo’s desert-influenced music at the Giant Rock Meeting Room in Yucca Valley every Friday at 8 p.m.
The Indy Endorsement: The Crabcake Burger at Crudo Cervicheria
By Jimmy Boegle
December 9th, 2023
My first few bites struck me as strange, texturally; the middle of a burger or sandwich usually offers some resistance, but with the crabcake, it was all softness. As I continued eating, that strangeness turned to pure enjoyment.
Shake Shake Shake: KC and the Sunshine Band Bring Five Decades of Funk to The Show at Agua Caliente
By Matt King
December 10th, 2023
KC and the Sunshine Band are heading to Agua Caliente Rancho Mirage at 8 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 31, for a special New Year’s Eve performance.
Best of Coachella Valley Winners’ Advertising Spotlight!
More News
• Cantaloupe tainted with salmonella is making a lot of people sick. According to The Associated Press: “A salmonella outbreak tied to tainted cantaloupe has now killed eight people — three in the U.S. and five in Canada, health officials reported Thursday. Dozens more illnesses were reported by both countries. In the U.S., at least 230 people have been ill in 38 states and 96 have been hospitalized since mid-November, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The tainted cantaloupe was also shipped to Canada, where 129 cases have been reported, including 44 hospitalizations, health officials reported. Many of the people who fell ill reported eating pre-cut cantaloupe in clamshell packages and trays sold in stores. Consumers should not buy, eat or serve cantaloupe, if they don’t know the source, the CDC said.” Here’s the up-to-date recall list from the FDA.
• Also making people sick—kids, especially, in this case—is an ongoing issue with tainted applesauce. The Washington Post says: “It started as a routine investigation: Two young siblings in western North Carolina had tested positive for lead poisoning in June. Alan Huneycutt, a longtime environmental health specialist with the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, was doggedly trying to find the source. He had ruled out the usual suspects in and around the children’s home—old paint, contaminated water, tainted soil—yet the children’s lead levels continued to climb. What he eventually found—that the two siblings had eaten contaminated pouches of cinnamon applesauce — sparked an international investigation by the Food and Drug Administration and a massive national recall of cinnamon applesauce pouches manufactured by an Ecuador-based company, Austrofood, and sold under the brand names WanaBana, Schnucks and Weis. Dozens of other children around the country are believed to have been poisoned. A Washington Post investigation has found that the number of children affected is probably higher than official counts. As of Tuesday, the FDA said it has received reports of 64 children under age 6 who have suffered ‘adverse events’ linked to the tainted cinnamon applesauce pouches. But state health and environment officials have told The Post that they are investigating at least 118 confirmed or suspected cases in 31 states believed to be linked to the popular snacks.”
• Amazon plans on going to great lengths to make friends—and influence policy—in Southern California. The Associated Press says: “An internal Amazon memo has provided a stark look at the company’s carefully laid out plans to grow its influence in Southern California through a plethora of efforts that include burnishing its reputation through charity work and pushing back against ‘labor agitation’ from the Teamsters and other groups. The eight-page document—titled ‘community engagement plan’ for 2024—provides a rare glimpse into how one of America’s biggest companies executes on its public relations objectives and attempts to curtail reputational harm stemming from criticisms of its business. It also illustrates how Amazon aims to methodically court local politicians and community groups in order to push its interests in a region where it could be hampered by local moratoriums on warehouse development, and it is facing resistance from environmental and labor activists. The memo was leaked to the nonprofit labor organization Warehouse Worker Resource Center and posted online this week. The Associated Press independently verified its authenticity. When reached for comment, Amazon did not dispute the authenticity of the document. But it said in a prepared statement it was proud of its philanthropic efforts.”
• Our partners at CalMatters report on the continuing—and worsening—problems Californians are dealing with regarding insurance availability: “If you’re having trouble finding affordable car insurance, you’re not alone. Drivers across California say they’re having to wait longer than usual to get coverage—and when they finally find an insurer and a plan, they’re having to pay their premiums up front. ‘Something is definitely not right,’ said Willis Lai, a 36-year-old driver from the Bay Area who said it took him three weeks to find insurance for his new Honda Accord hybrid after he contacted all the major insurance providers whose jingles he could remember. He’s not the only one. For the past year, drivers have been complaining in online forums such as Reddit and Facebook about higher premiums, delayed quotes, questionable insurer behavior and more. The California Department of Insurance is looking into similar complaints. Meanwhile, insurers have complained that their costs are rising, and that the state has been slow to approve their requests to raise their rates partly because of what they say are California’s cumbersome regulations.”
• And here’s yet another Associated Press piece; this one’s about the growing number of teachers who are getting fired because they moonlight on OnlyFans or similar sites: “At a small rural Missouri high school, two English teachers shared a secret: Both were posting adult content on OnlyFans, the subscription-based website known for sexually explicit content. The site and others like it provide an opportunity for those willing to dabble in pornography to earn extra money — sometimes lots of it. The money is handy, especially in relatively low-paying fields like teaching, and many post the content anonymously while trying to maintain their day jobs. But some outed teachers, as well as people in other prominent fields such as law, have lost their jobs, raising questions about personal freedoms and how far employers can go to avoid stigma related to their employees’ after-hour activities. The industry has seen a boom since the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is now believed 2 million to 3 million people produce content for subscriptions sites such as OnlyFans, Just for Fans and Clips4Sale, said Mike Stabile, spokesman for the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult entertainment industry.”
• While there’s a new immunization for babies against RSV, there’s not enough of it to meet demand. CNN says: “As a pulmonary critical care specialist, Dr. Cassondra Cramer-Bour knows intimately what RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, can do to a person’s lungs. So she was thrilled in July when the US Food and Drug Administration approved a new antibody designed to prevent severe disease in babies with RSV, and she wanted to get it to protect her then-6-month-old daughter, Kate. She knew that RSV season was coming up and that babies like Kate can get into trouble quickly if the infection fills their tiny airways with fluid, making it difficult to breathe. But Kate’s pediatrician didn’t have any doses of the new immunization, Beyfortus, which was initially recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for all babies younger than 8 months who were entering their first RSV season. In October, manufacturer Sanofi said demand had outstripped the supply it had planned for and warned that the 100-milligram doses, the ones given to babies Kate’s age, were scarce. The CDC subsequently recommended that doctors prioritize 100mg doses for babies with underlying medical conditions and those under 6 months of age.”
• And finally … we’ll end with some good news: The updated COVID-19 vaccine seems to be pretty effective against the variants that are currently dominant. Time magazine reports: “Even though the latest vaccine targets XBB.1.5, a variant no longer dominant in the U.S., it seems to be doing a decent job at warding off some of the emerging variants. In a study published on the preprint server bioRxiv, scientists led by Dr. David Ho, director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Columbia University, report that the vaccine can generate strong antibodies that can neutralize not just XBB but variants such as HV.1, which now accounts for 31% of U.S. infections, and HK.3, which contributes to half of new infections in Asia (and about 7% in the U.S.).”
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