Really? We’re going to make a big deal out of the speaker of the House getting her hair done? This is where we’re at now?
Well, if this is indeed where we are at now, let’s break things down:
1. What Nancy Pelosi did was wrong, and insensitive; she should admit that and apologize. While salons in some parts of the state were indeed open for indoor business on Monday—the day when the Salon Visit That Will Live in Infamy took place—they weren’t open in San Francisco. They still aren’t, in fact. And this is something that a member of Congress should know about her district. For Pelosi to get an indoor salon service, in violation of San Francisco’s rules, is a slap in the face to both her constituents who can’t do so, and business owners who can’t allow in paying customers not named Nancy Pelosi. The fact that she is not recognizing this and apologizing is, well, not cool.
2. Pelosi claims she was set up. Given that the footage of Pelosi’s visit was promptly turned over to Fox News, she may be right.
3. You can pretty much throw Nos. 1 and 2 out the window, because this whole kerfuffle is a nit—a distraction from the real things that matter. Even if you assign the worst possible motives to Pelosi, it pales in comparison to the things the president, the Senate majority leader, the attorney general, etc. have done—and are doing.
Nancy Pelosi’s hair is nothing compared to the epically poor handling of a pandemic that has resulted in 185,000 deaths. Or a president disregarding a Black Lives Matter movement that is FINALLY drawing attention to the systemic racism in law enforcement and other institutions in our country. Or ignoring Russian bounties on American troops, or putting migrant kids in cages, or telling blatant lies about mail-in ballots and voter fraud. Or, as just happened today, the president actually encouraging North Carolina residents to vote twice in the November election.
It’s about where Nancy Pelosi got her damned hair done.
Today’s news links:
• From the Independent: Employees picketed at Tenet’s three local hospitals last week, demanding safer conditions for both themselves and the patients they’re treating. Key quote, from Gisella Thomas, a respiratory therapist at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs: “For 48 years, when I saw a patient where I needed protection—like gowns, gloves and a mask, a hat and shoe covers—I would put that stuff on before I went into the patient’s room. Then, when I finished doing what I had to with that patient, I’d come out of the room and take everything off. Then, for the next patient, I’d put on all fresh, clean, new PPE—gowns, gloves, the whole bit. Today, I’ll use the same N95 mask, with a surgical mask over it, for the 12 hours that I work.”
• Here’s this week’s Riverside County District 4 COVID-19 report. (District 4, I will remind y’all, is basically the Coachella Valley and points eastward.) Same as the last few weeks: Cases are down; hospitalizations are at their lowest point since early in the summer; the positivity rate is still too freaking high.
• The COVID-19 picture from Eisenhower Health is much the same, albeit with a much lower positivity rate. This is encouraging.
• This lede from Politico? “As the presidential election fast approaches, the Department of Health and Human Services is bidding out a more than $250 million contract to a communications firm as it seeks to ‘defeat despair and inspire hope’ about the coronavirus pandemic, according to an internal HHS document.” There (*cough*) couldn’t POSSIBLY BE any political motivation behind this, right? (*Cough*)
• Meanwhile, at Los Angeles International Airport, a pilot on Sunday night reported flying past someone wearing a jet pack. The Los Angeles Times explains how this is even possible.
• This story broke today and has not gotten the attention it potentially deserves: The former boyfriend of Breonna Taylor—the EMT who was shot and killed by Louisville Police as she slept back in March—was offered a plea deal that would have made him say she was part of an “organized crime syndicate,” according to his attorney. NBC News explains: “The news of the plea offer raised the question of whether law enforcement officials were attempting to provide an incentive to (the former boyfriend) to help justify the raid that resulted in Taylor’s death.”
• Related, sort of, alas: While a few notable reforms were passed, most police-reform efforts taken up by the California Legislature this year went nowhere. Our partners at CalMatters explain why.
• Meanwhile, in vaccine news from the hellscape that is 2020: The Trump administration refuses to join a worldwide effort to develop and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine, in part because the World Health Organization is involved.
• The CDC is telling public health officials nationwide to be ready to distribute a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine as early as late October. The potential pre-election timing is raising some eyebrows.
• Related-ish, from MedPage Today: “The first available vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 should be reserved for frontline healthcare workers and first responders, according to draft recommendations from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released Tuesday.”
• The Trump administration announced yesterday that, as CNBC reports, “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will invoke its authority to halt evictions through the end of the year in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.” However, it’s quite unclear how this will work—if it will work at all.
• Three new studies indicate that commonly used steroids can save the lives of a significant number of COVID-19 patients. Key quote, from NPR: “Taken together, the publication of these studies ‘represents an important step forward in the treatment of patients with COVID-19,’ Drs. Hallie Prescott and Todd Rice wrote in a JAMA editorial. The results not only provide further support for the use of dexamethasone, they also back the use of another widely used steroid, hydrocortisone.”
• A University of Maryland professor, writing for The Conversation, breaks down the pros and cons regarding BinaxNOW, the inexpensive and fast COVID-19 test that recently received emergency use authorization. Spoiler alert: The pros far outweigh the cons.
• Yet more encouraging news: A study out of Iceland (because why not Iceland?) indicates COVID-19 antibodies generally last at least four months.
• The New York Times brings us this alarming scenario: “What if early results in swing states on Nov. 3 show President Trump ahead, and he declares victory before heavily Democratic mail-in votes, which he has falsely linked with fraud, are fully counted?” As the story explains, this is looking increasingly likely to happen.
• If you see me shopping at Old Navy, here’s why: I want to support them for paying employees to serve as poll workers on Election Day, which is a very, very cool thing.
• Finally, something charming and interesting: Our friends at Willamette Week bring us the story of the Clinton Street Treater in Portland, Ore., where The Rocky Horror Picture Show has been screened every Saturday night since April 1978. While the pandemic has closed the theater, the screening streak continues.
That’s the news of the day, or at least some of it. Before we go, we 1) ask you to take the time to vote in our Best of Coachella Valley readers’ poll, if you haven’t already; and 2) ask you to please consider becoming a Supporter of the Independent, if you have the means to do so. Advertising revenue is still down around 50 percent due to the pandemic, but reader support has thus far allowed us to keep doing what we do—producing quality local journalism, made available for free to all. Thanks for your consideration—and, as always, thanks for reading.