TAIPEI — The last two days of Chinese aircraft approaching Taiwan demonstrate that Beijing is a threat to the entire region and have shown Taiwanese even more clearly the true nature of China’s government, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Sunday.
Multiple Chinese aircraft flew across the mid line of the Taiwan Strait and into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone on Friday and Saturday, causing Taiwan to scramble jets to intercept. China claims Taiwan as its own territory.
At a news conference in Beijing on Friday about China’s U.N. peacekeeping efforts, China announced combat drills near the Taiwan Strait and denounced what it called collusion between the island and the United States.
The exercises took place as US Undersecretary for Economic Affairs Keith Krach was in Taipei, the most senior State Department office to come in four decades.
Speaking to reporters, President Tsai denounced China’s drills.
“I believe these activities are no help to China’s international image, and what’s more have put Taiwan’s people even more on their guard, understanding even better the true nature of the Chinese Communist regime,” she said.
“Additionally, other countries in the region also have a better understanding of the threat posed by China,” President Tsai added. “The Chinese Communists must restrain themselves, and not provoke.”
China’s air force on Saturday put out a video showing its nuclear capable H-6 bombers, which have been involved in many Chinese fly-bys of Taiwan, exercising.
One montage shows a simulation of an H-6 attack against an air base which appears by its runway layout to be the main US air force base on Guam.
Asked about that footage, and China’s decision to release it while Krach was in Taiwan, President Tsai said China’s recent activities where a threat broader than just to Taiwan.
“China’s existence is indeed aggressive and will bring a definite threat.”
China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Most people in democratic Taiwan have shown no interest in being run by autocratic China. — Reuters
WASHINGTON — Grief-stricken Americans gathered at makeshift memorials around the country on Saturday to mourn the death of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal, feminist icon, as President Donald Trump signaled his intention to fill the vacancy weeks before a heated election.
Mourners heralded Ginsburg’s groundbreaking legal career and expressed dark worries about the country’s direction. Democratic Party vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, joined crowds outside the steps of the US Supreme Court in Washington on Saturday morning.
Ginsburg was “a titan — a relentless defender of justice and a legal mind for the ages,” Ms. Harris wrote in a tweet with a photo of the visit. “The stakes of this election couldn’t be higher,” she added.
Visitors to the Supreme Court left flowers and signs during the day, many with young children in tow. By Saturday evening the crowd swelled to fill the street in front of the courthouse. Mourners listened to an a capella group sing “A Change Is Gonna Come,” the civil rights era anthem, and to speakers including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Amanda Dym, an 18-year old college student, she’d known about the “notorious RBG,” was when she was younger, but didn’t realize how much work she’d done for women’s rights until she saw a documentary about the judge’s life. “I don’t know where the country would be without her,” she said, adding that she was “scared for the future of our democracy.”
Ginsburg, 87, died on Friday night from pancreatic cancer . Trump now has a chance to expand the US top court’s conservative majority as a presidential election looms at a time of deep divisions in America.
Candlelight tributes to Ginsburg started Friday evening and are expected to continue through the weekend. Hundreds also protested outside Republican US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s home in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday.
On Friday, McConnell said the Senate would vote on any replacement nominated by President Trump. The Republican president now has a chance to appoint his third justice and give the court a 6-3 conservative majority.
Protesters noted that in 2016, McConnell refused to act on Democratic President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, after conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died 10 months before a presidential election, saying it was too close to voting day.
“Don’t be a hypocrite,” said protestor Steve Tonnemacher.
Republicans narrowly control the Senate with a 53 of 100 members, and Democrats need a simple majority vote to stop any Supreme Court nominee.
Demonstrators chanted “Ruth sent us,” and “Ditch Mitch.” Protester Carol Edelen blasted McConnell saying “He will not advocate for any of our issues and to use this occasion to push his agenda, his power forward, is just unacceptable, just totally unacceptable.”
GINSBURG’S DEATH AS WAKE UP CALL Sheila Katz, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women in Washington, said she was moved to hear the blowing of many shofars – the traditional ram’s horn used to herald the start of the new year — at a vigil for Ginsburg at the Supreme Court on Friday evening.
“It’s a literal wake-up call to the Jewish people that we need to work together, and better ourselves,” said Katz. “We cannot simply mourn Ruth Bader Ginsburg. We must take action to honor her legacy, to fight for a fair court and to continue to protect women’s rights.”
Feminist activists fear that a third justice picked by Trump would give the court’s conservative majority a better chance of overturning Roe vs. Wade, the landmark decision holding that a woman has a constitutional right to abortion.
Hollywood celebrities paid tribute online. “I am heartbroken,” actor Jennifer Lopez wrote on Instagram. “She was a true champion of gender equality and was a strong woman for me and all the little girls of the world to look up to.”
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cynthia Enloe channeled her grief by making a poster encouraging motorists to honk in honor of the pioneer of women’s rights, and stood at a busy intersection on Saturday morning.
“When I heard the terrible news of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death last night, my first thoughts and all my friends on email and text was, ‘This is horrible, it cannot get worse,’” Ms. Enloe told Reuters. “But then I thought, they want us to get depressed, and I thought I will do the opposite of being depressed. I will go out and make a poster and stand at the intersection and let people honk their support.”
A trailblazing women’s rights lawyer before she joined the court in 1993, Ginsburg — popularly known by her initials RBG — emerged as an unlikely pop icon in recent years, her image emblazoned on coffee mugs, T-shirts and children’s books.
In New York, an image of Ginsburg and the alternating messages “thank you” and “rest in power” were projected on the front of the New York State Civil Supreme Court building in Manhattan. Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled plans Saturday to erect a statue of Ginsburg in New York City’s Brooklyn borough where she was born.
More than 200 mourners held a candlelight vigil in San Francisco on Friday night and marched through the city’s Castro district. They carried a large sign that said “We won’t let you down RBG.” — Reuters
BELIEVING that the league has done a good job covering all the bases, Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) officials said they are ready to resume their currently suspended season when given the go-ahead.
Targeted for Oct. 9, the PBA season restart took further form last Thursday when the league announced that it would be holding a “bubble” at Clark City in Angeles, Pampanga, for the resumption of action.
The decision was arrived after a meeting of the PBA’s Board of Governors aimed at finalizing the details of the restart of the season, which has been shut since March because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Under the bubble setup, which is similar to that employed in the National Basketball Association, players, coaches, and staff of the teams and the league will be holed up in one location for the duration of the tournament and will be shuttled to and from the hotel and the playing venue.
Games will be played at the Angeles University Foundation while the teams will be staying in the nearby Quest Hotel.
It will be a compressed tournament for the PBA, lasting only two months and will feature two games daily. And the league expects to crown a champion by the second week of December.
“We’re ready and we’re excited. The Commissioner’s Office has done a good job with the plans, and they’re ready to execute as soon as we’re given the go-signal,” said PBA board chairman Ricky Vargas at the online press conference following the board meeting.
The PBA is reportedly spending around P65 million for the restart and the league has expressed its commitment to see its success.
“We will push through. It’s a go once we are allowed to,” said PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial.
The league is now awaiting approval to proceed from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
It already wrote to the IATF and Mr. Marcial said they are expecting to get a response later this week.
Once they get the approval, the league will have the teams start doing scrimmages in preparation for the Oct. 9 restart.
Right now, teams are allowed to do modified workouts, with only four players on the court each time as part of measures to guide against the spread of the coronavirus.
Mr. Marcial said they will be strict in implementing measures once at the bubble.
For one, players caught violating league restrictions will be fined heavily and suspended.
“If they go out of the bubble, they will not have a salary for one month, fined P100,000, and suspended for five games in the next season,” said the PBA commissioner.
Players, however, have the option to opt out from participating in the bubble if they choose to do so, but it must be done prior to entry.
To ensure that players are taken care of inside the bubble, Mr. Marcial said they will make sure that proper amenities are available.
He said Quest Hotel is capable of catering to every need of 350 people participating, including 25 from each of the 12 teams. Dedicated buses for the teams will also be on hand.
Recreational amenities for video games, billiards, and table tennis, among others, are set to be provided.
Participants, too, can make use of golf and watersports facilities in Clark.
Coronavirus testing, through antigen tests, will be strictly enforced.
Meanwhile, all games in the bubble will be shown live on One Sports and PBA Rush with livestream on ESPN5.com. Games on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday will be simulcast on TV5.
First game will start at 4 p.m., while the second is at 8:00 p.m.
Tournament format will see a single round-robin elimination, with the top four seeds having twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals. The semifinals will be a best-of-five affair, and the finals best-of-seven.
MIAMI HEAT FORWARD BAM ADEBAYO (13) blocks a shot by Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0). — REUTERS
JAYLEN BROWN scored 26 points, Jayson Tatum had 25 and 14 rebounds, and the Boston Celtics recovered from back-to-back tough losses to beat the Miami Heat 117-106 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals Saturday night near Orlando.
Kemba Walker added 21 points and Marcus Smart 20 as the Celtics avoided falling behind 3-0 in the best-of-seven series. Boston shot 48.2% (41 of 85) as a team, outscoring Miami 60-36 in the paint.
Bam Adebayo had 27 points and 16 rebounds, and Tyler Herro scored 22 to lead six players in double figures for the Heat, who lost for just the second time in their 12th playoff game. Jimmy Butler had 17 points.
“We didn’t play hard enough,” Butler said. “We weren’t playing basketball the way that we have been to win the games that we have been winning.”
Game 4 will take place Wednesday (Thursday, Manila time).
In the wake of falling behind 2-0 in the series after Thursday’s defeat, Celtics players reportedly aired their frustrations in a raucous locker room scene. The team responded, boosted further by the return of Gordon Hayward (six points in 31 minutes) from an ankle injury that sidelined him since Aug. 17.
“I didn’t expect to play him that much,” said Celtics coach Brad Stevens. “I thought he looked pretty good. … He asked to come out a couple times — the wind caught up to him a couple times — but I thought he did what he’s done all year.”
“I’m extremely tired right now. My ankle is pretty sore, but I’m proud of the way we fought and proud of us getting the win,” Hayward said.
Boston never trailed, carrying a 13-point advantage into the second half for the second straight game. But unlike in Game 2, when they were outscored 37-17 in the third quarter, the Celtics maintained control and entered the fourth up 89-74.
Despite Boston leading by as much as 20 in the final period, Miami got within seven, 109-102, after Duncan Robinson nailed a 3-pointer and hit 1 of 2 at the line following a Brown flagrant foul with 1:03 left. Adebayo trimmed the deficit to five with 55.9 seconds to go, but Smart hit eight free throws as the Celtics held on.
“I don’t think we finished today as well as we would have liked, but we played some good basketball all the way through,” said Brown.
Boston was up 31-22 after one and grew its lead to 12, 36-24, on a Walker 3-pointer with 10:14 left in the first half. Miami responded with a 13-4 run to get within three, Herro nailing a trio of treys during the stretch.
The Heat were back within three, 51-48, with 3:22 remaining, but the Celtics ended the quarter on a 12-2 spurt to lead 63-50 at the break.
“They came out with great force in this game, and you do have to credit them for that,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. — Reuters
“WE FINALLY CAME TO SAY GOODBYE to the weird 2020 season. My 2019 self wouldn’t have predicted that 2020 would be so unpredictable. It has been a roller-coaster ride since January and still doesn’t show signs of slowing down,” wrote Filipino pole-vaulter EJ Obiena on his Facebook page.
IT WAS far from an ideal season but Filipino pole-vaulter EJ Obiena is grateful for the year he had competing amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Tokyo Olympics-bound Obiena saw his campaign take unexpected turns, but had it strong once he resumed his season last month.
“We finally came to say goodbye to the weird 2020 season. My 2019 self wouldn’t have predicted that 2020 would be so unpredictable. It has been a roller-coaster ride since January and still doesn’t show signs of slowing down,” Mr. Obiena, 24, wrote on his Facebook page, following his bronze-winning showing at the Rome leg of the Diamond League on Friday.
It turned out to be the last tournament for him for the season as he would not be able to compete in the Doha Diamond League later this week because of visa problems.
But despite that, Mr. Obiena takes pride and delight in having performed well, placing in the top three in six of the eight tournaments he competed in, including winning gold at the 59th Ostrava Golden Spike in the Czech Republic on Sept. 9.
He capped things off with a bronze and season-best performance in Rome where he cleared 5.80 meters, eclipsing his previous best for the year of 5.74 meters in the Ostrava tournament.
Mr. Obiena thanked everyone who was part of his interesting 2020 journey, including his Ukrainian coach Vitaly Petrov who is overseeing his training in Italy, just as he vowed to continue working hard in preparation for the rescheduled Olympics in Japan next year.
“Thank you so much for everyone who has been a part of this weird season. I would like to think we did OK, considering everything. One one’s, two two’s and three three’s with a total of 6 out of 8 decent finishes. Let’s bounce to 2021 with the lessons of 2020 and keep moving forward,” he said.
Mr. Obiena qualified for the Olympics last year and was preparing hard for it before organizers of the Games made the tough decision to push back the quadrennial sporting meet from July this year to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Filipino pole-vaulter is among four to date who have qualified for Tokyo. The others being gymnast Carlos Yulo and boxers Eumir Felix Marcial and Irish Magno.
The Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association have been rallying behind Mr. Obiena in his Olympic push notwithstanding the many challenges posted by the pandemic. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
WORLD titleholders Angela and Christian Lee get to see their family represented further in ONE Championship after the promotion signed up their younger sister, Victoria, last week.
In an announcement, ONE said it is excited to welcome the 16-year-old Victoria to its fold, with Chatri Sityodtong, the promotion’s founder and chairman, describing the former as “arguably the single greatest pound-for-pound female prospect in the world today.”
Despite her young age, Victoria has accomplished a lot in martial arts, making signing her a no-brainer for ONE.
She won in the 2019 IMMAF Junior World Championship, has two Pankration Junior World Championships, and a Hawaii State Wrestling Championship title, among others. She is also a 15-time North American Grappling Association Expert Champion.
“I feel extremely excited and motivated to be part of the world’s largest martial arts organization, ONE Championship. Inspired by watching my older brother and sister compete on the biggest global stage of martial arts competition, I am ready to take my career to the next level and compete with the world’s best martial arts athletes,” said Victoria.
“I want to thank my parents for teaching me and guiding me, and for allowing me to chase my dreams. I promise all the fans that I will continue to train hard and develop my skills, and that I’ll be ready when I get the call to step inside the ONE Circle,” she added.
Interestingly, Victoria is set to compete in the atomweight division in ONE, which her older sister Angela has been dominating.
Older brother Christian, meanwhile, is the ONE lightweight champion.
“I am so happy for Victoria and extremely proud of her. She is a very gifted and driven young woman. She told us that this is her dream – to be a professional fighter – and as a family, we are going to support her fully,” said Angela of her sister turning professional.
No details have been given yet as to when Victoria will make her debut.
Meanwhile, ONE Championship finished the third of its ONE: A New Breed series on Friday in Thailand.
ONE featherweight muay thai world champion Petchmorakot Petchyindee Academy of Thailand retained his title by defeating Magnus Andersson of Sweden by way of a third-round technical knockout.
Next for the promotion is ONE: Reign of Dynasties on Oct. 9. – Michael Angelo S. Murillo
RAFA Nadal refused to make excuses for his shock defeat by Diego Schwartzman in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open, insisting that his focus is now on fine-tuning his game ahead of the French Open which begins Sept. 27.
The nine-time Rome champion looked well off the pace in his 6-2 7-5 loss to the 15th-ranked Argentine, an opponent he had defeated nine straight times heading into Saturday’s encounter in the Italian capital.
“We can find excuses, but I didn’t play well enough. Then we have to think internally, ‘Why? How I can fix it?’” the 34-year-old Spaniard told reporters. “Now is not the moment to find excuses. It’s just to accept that I didn’t play well enough.”
“It was not my night. He played a great match, I think, and I didn’t. These things can happen. After such a long time without competing, I played two good matches, and now I played a bad one against a good opponent. — Reuters
LONDON — Manchester United’s Premier League campaign began in faltering fashion as a double from their former player Wilfried Zaha gave Crystal Palace a 3-1 win at Old Trafford on Saturday, but Arsenal and Everton made it two wins from two.
For only the third time in the Premier League era, United lost their opening game of the season and they could have few complaints even if Palace’s second goal came from a controversially re-taken penalty.
Andros Townsend put Palace ahead early on and Zaha scored from the spot in the 74th minute after Jordan Ayew’s original penalty had been saved by David De Gea, but the Spanish keeper was adjudged to have moved off his line.
The penalty was awarded after referee Martin Atkinson used the pitch-side TV monitor to harshly judge that Victor Lindelof had handled a cross inside his own box.
United debutant Donny van de Beek came off the bench to pull a goal back for United but Zaha got the better of Lindelof to finish United off in the 85th minute.
“Today was a performance you don’t see very often from this group,” United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, whose side did not play on the first weekend, said. “We should look at ourselves in the mirror. Everyone knows we can perform better than this.”
Palace, who have won consecutive league games at United for the first time, followed up an opening day win over Southampton and look rejuvenated after ending last season in dismal fashion.
“When we had the ball, I thought we looked very dangerous and threatening, so I don’t think it was a big surprise that we scored three,” manager Roy Hodgson said.
ARSENAL PREVAIL Arsenal labored to a 2-1 victory over West Ham United at The Emirates but needed a late goal against the run of play by Eddie Nketiah to hand the Hammers a second straight defeat.
Michail Antonio’s first-half strike for the visitors had cancelled out Alexandre Lacazette’s 50th goal for the Gunners.
“I’m thrilled with the three points,” Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said. “I said before the game how difficult it would be with the way they play.”
Everton crushed newly-promoted West Bromwich Albion 5-2 with a hat-trick by Dominic Calvert-Lewin and a first goal in an Everton shirt for new signing James Rodriguez.
West Brom, who had taken an early lead, were not helped by a red card for Kieran Gibbs for pushing Rodriguez shortly after the Colombian put Everton 2-1 in front just before halftime.
Leeds United, back in the top flight after a 16-year absence, claimed their first points of the season as they were involved in a seven-goal thriller for the second week running.
After losing at champions Liverpool 4-3 on the opening day, they beat Fulham by the same scoreline at Elland Road for their first Premier League win since April 2004.
Helder Costa scored either side of goals from Mateusz Klich and Patrick Bamford as Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds side went 4-1 ahead before Fulham rallied to set up a tense finale. — Reuters
MAMARONECK, NY — There were few superlatives left unused on Saturday after Matthew Wolff seized control of the US Open lead by a two-stroke margin, putting up a five-under par 65 in the third round in just his second-ever major appearance.
Asked what went right with his game, it was scarcely an exaggeration when the 21-year-old responded, “everything.”
“My putting was, by far, the best it’s felt in the last two or three months. I feel like I’m really hitting the ball well,” the American said. “My irons were really good, and even though I only hit two fairways, my driver was — it was just barely off, but that’s the US Open.”
On a wicked Winged Foot that has vexed some of the best golfers in the world — including world number one Dustin Johnson (72) — it was Wolff who dazzled on-air commentators and fellow competitors in Round 3.
After shooting five birdies on the front nine, a notoriously tricky stretch in Mamaroneck, Wolff stumbled only once, bogeying on the par-four 16th, before sinking yet another birdie on the final hole.
If he can fend off fellow American Bryson DeChambeau (70) and South African Louis Oosthuizen (68) — who are back two and four strokes, respectively, headed into Sunday’s action — Wolff could become among the youngest players ever to win a major and the first in over a century to triumph in a US Open debut.
“I’m ready to win out here and win a major,” said Wolff, who turned pro last year and won his first PGA Tour event — the 3M Open — in July 2019.
“It is a major. It’s really important, and yes, it is really early in my career,” said Wolff, who tied for fourth at last month’s PGA Championship. “But I mean, I put myself in a really good spot, and obviously I’m feeling really good with my game, so I’m just going to keep on doing what I’m doing and whatever happens, happens.” — Reuters
The Celtics were easy prey in the aftermath of their second straight setback against the Heat late last week, and not just because they faced the prospect of needing to claim four of their next five matches to advance to the National Basketball Association Finals. Talking heads rightly took them to task for failing to adjust to a zone defense that had them cough up yet another double-digit lead in the second half. It likewise didn’t help that their disjointedness on the court carried over to the locker room, with loud voices and overturned fixtures underscoring a level of frustration reflective of their state of mind; all the finger pointing seemed to indicate their predisposition to look back instead of move forward.
If there was any silver lining, though, it was the fact that the Celtics cared. Unlike, say, the Clippers, preseason favorites turned bubble duds following a choke job for the ages, they took the losses hard precisely because they were invested in their work and in themselves. And so they took no time to smooth over ruffles feathers because their frustration was borne of heart; they held a late-night meeting that, if nothing else, proved they were all on the same page and would plod on together. That they went on to do exactly as they planned yesterday showed their capacity to match their talent with resolve.
Make no mistake: The Celtics haven’t yet earned the right to look down on naysayers. They still need to take Game Four merely to even the series, no easy feat given the Heat’s relentlessness. Meanwhile, the alternative would be nothing short of disaster; aiming to upend a one-three deficit versus an irresistible force is akin to needlessly courting failure. Yet, even as they’re in a high-stakes staredown against supremely confident competition, they understand that they need only look in the mirror to see their greatest obstacle to meeting their objectives.
Through all the challenges, the good news: The Celtics aren’t strangers to adversity, and especially of the self-inflicted kind. And because they’re backstopped by an outstanding brain trust led by head coach Brad Stevens, the expectation is that they will, at the very least, be prompted to display their best from here on. They may or may not win in the end, but if they manage to give their all en route, they won’t second-guess themselves the way they did after Game Two. They won’t have to mimic the Clippers and come up with lame excuses. Instead, they’ll be at peace with the outcome; having held true to all that the green and white stand for, they’ll look forward to a bright future with their heads held high.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
If Trump replaces US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a staunch conservative, the conservative wing of the court may be emboldened to make sweeping moves on social issues, which could include curbing abortion rights, expanding gun rights, bolstering individual religious rights and restricting voting rights. Image via Supreme Court of the United States / Public domain.
WASHINGTON — The death of liberal US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has huge implications for the future of law and life in the United States, giving Republican President Donald J. Trump the chance to cement a 6–3 conservative majority on the court.
Here are several ways in which a rightward tilt would be felt if Trump gets to pick Ginsburg’s successor:
ABORTION AND OTHER SOCIAL ISSUES Ever since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, conservative activists have sought to overturn the decision and always fallen just short. If Trump replaces Ginsburg with a staunch conservative, the chances of the court drastically curbing abortion rights becomes ever more likely.
Similarly, the conservative wing of the court may be emboldened to make sweeping moves on other social issues, which could include expanding gun rights, bolstering individual religious rights and curbing voting rights. The court may also have the votes to strike down progressive legislation enacted by Congress in the event Democrats have the votes to pass major bills on issues like climate change.
The court would be even less likely to embrace liberal causes, such as ending the death penalty, although its recent 6–3 ruling in favor of LGBT worker rights suggests that issue could be an exception in certain circumstances.
OBAMACARE HANGS IN THE BALANCE In the short term, Ginsburg’s absence could be felt most keenly when the court hears oral arguments on Nov. 10 on the latest challenge by conservatives to the Obamacare health law, enacted in 2010 and previously upheld by the Supreme Court on a 5–4 vote in 2012. Ginsburg was one of the five justices in the majority then, which means that her replacement could tilt the balance.
Even if no Trump nominee is confirmed by then, the court would go into those arguments with a 5–3 conservative majority.
Other cases the court has taken up for its new term, which officially starts on Oct. 5, could also be affected. On Nov. 4 the justices consider a major legal fight over the scope of religious-rights exemptions to certain federal laws. The dispute concerns Philadelphia’s decision to bar Catholic Social Services from participating in its foster-care program because the organization prohibited same-sex couples from serving as foster parents.
In a politically sensitive case, the court on Dec. 2 weighs a bid by the Democratic-led House of Representatives to obtain material that the Trump administration withheld from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian political meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
PIVOTAL ROLE OF CHIEF JUSTICE For the last two years, following the retirement of conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy in 2018, Chief Justice John G. Roberts has been the pivotal figure on the court, but his position of influence would be weakened if Trump replaces Ginsburg.
At the ideological center of a nine-member court, Roberts had the option of siding with the four liberal justices to his left or four conservatives to his right to secure a majority opinion.
Roberts, known as a defender of the court as an institution and champion of the judiciary as an independent branch of government, sided with Ginsburg and the court’s other three liberals in key cases.
In June, he helped strike down a restrictive Louisiana abortion law and thwarted Trump’s bid to rescind protections for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants dubbed “Dreamers” who entered the United States as children.
Roberts has on occasion sought compromises in big cases, sometimes to the dismay of his more conservative colleagues.
In July, for example, he authored both decisions as the court ruled that a New York prosecutor could try to obtain Trump’s financial records but prevented Democratic-led House of Representatives committees from immediately getting similar documents.
Without Ginsburg, Roberts loses the ability to shift the balance on his own.
WAR ON BUREAUCRACY Conservatives and business interests have long sought to weaken the power of federal agencies and the Supreme Court has already been a willing ally.
That so-called war on the administrative state could expand with a sixth conservative justice on the bench. Most notably, a landmark ruling from 1984 that said courts should defer to federal bureaucrats when interpreting the scope of federal laws could be in danger.
If that ruling was overturned, it could potentially give the conservative court greater power to limit efforts by future Democratic administrations to issue regulations on such issues as the environment and consumer protection. — Reuters
Doctors and experts say that improved medical tactics and earlier treatment are helping improve the outcomes for very sick patients. Image via PhilStar/Michael Varcas.
COVID-19 continues to kill close to 1,000 Americans a day. But for those who develop dangerous cases of the infection, advances in medical care and the growing experience of doctors are improving the chances of survival.
Since the first case arrived in the US at the start of the year, medical professionals have gone from fumbling in the dark to better understanding which drugs work—such as steroids and blood thinners, and the antiviral medicine remdesivir. Allocation of intensive medical resources have improved. And doctors have learned to hold off on the use of ventilators for some patients, unlike with many other severe respiratory illnesses.
Doctors and experts say that improved medical tactics and earlier treatment are helping improve the outcomes for very sick patients, said Andrew Badley, head of Mayo Clinic’s COVID Research Task Force.
“Health-care preparedness today is much better than it was in February and March,” Mr. Badley said in an interview. “We have better and more rapid access to diagnosis. We have more knowledge about what drugs to use and what drugs not to use. We have more experimental treatments available. All of those contribute to possible improvements in the mortality rate.”
One study looked at 4,689 COVID-19 hospitalizations from March to June in New York, adjusting patients’ mortality rate for factors such as age, race, obesity, and any underlying illnesses they might have had. In the first half of March, the mortality rate for hospitalized patients was 23%. By June, it had fallen to 8%. The research hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed, a process through which other experts examine the work.
Despite the gains, the US will soon pass 200,000 deaths, and tens of thousands of Americans are confirmed infected each day. The number killed by the disease is still in large part a factor of how many are infected in the first place—the more people who get sick, the more die. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has emphasized that a mask is still the best available protection from the virus for most people. And experts warn that the virus is still very dangerous and can kill even seemingly healthy individuals.
“Even with these improvements, this is not a benign disease,” said Leora Horwitz, an associate professor of population health and medicine at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine who conducted the New York study of COVID-19 hospitalizations. “This does not mean that coronavirus is now a non-dangerous disease. It remains a very serious threat to public health.”
THE RIGHT NUMBER Public-health officials, epidemiologists, amateur observers, and others have watched as the pandemic has unfolded, looking for how to measure the virus’s deadliness. Tallying deaths as a percentage of the greater population sheds light on the scope of the pandemic. Excess mortality compares fatalities to what the death rate is expected to be. But neither method offers insight into whether the virus is becoming more or less deadly for an individual with a severe case.
Even looking at deaths per the number of confirmed cases can be misleading as the result is largely a function of testing, experts say. If many mild or asymptomatic cases are captured, mortality rates will be skewed lower. In Europe, for example, there are anecdotal signs of a similar trend, though much of the lower death rate may be because of more cases being found in younger, healthier people. More infections in young people are being found in the US, as well.
“You have to understand who you’re testing and then what the real fatality rate is for that demographic,” said Aaron Glatt, chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital.
There is even a hypothesis that public health measures like mask-wearing and distancing can help decrease the amount of virus people are getting infected with, leading to less severe cases because the body isn’t overwhelmed with a large dose of virus at once.
“Even though they’re getting infected with the virus, perhaps they are getting less of a dose of the virus and so they’re just getting less sick from it,” Ms. Horwitz said.
LESSONS LEARNED In New York, the first major US city hit hard by the virus, knowledge among doctors was limited as cases poured into emergency rooms this spring. There have been more than 27,000 confirmed and probable COVID-19 deaths in the city, the bulk of them at the peak of the outbreak there in March and April.
As the outbreak moved on to other parts of the country, such as Texas, health-care workers had more time to prepare and learn what works.
“We kind of had a playbook before we even started seeing any patients in Texas,” said Robert Hancock president of Texas College of Emergency Physicians. “We understand the things that work at this point with COVID much better.”
Since March, doctors have learned valuable lessons, not only about how to ensure hospitals don’t run out of ICU beds and ventilators, but also that flipping a patient onto their stomach, known as prone positioning, can help. Giving patients steroids early on and treating them with blood thinners can also improve someone’s prognosis.
“Now that we know that we might need to start these patients on blood thinners and Heparin pretty quickly, that’s helping,” said Diana L. Fite, president of the Texas Medical Association. “A lot of these deaths from COVID are because of the blood coagulation; the blood clots ruin their organs.”
Though there is still no cure for the coronavirus, all of the improvements in treatment and preventative measures combined contributes toward an improved prognosis for patients, Fite said. In Texas, there have been at least 14,590 deaths from the virus, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
“Even if these things aren’t cures, they help a small percentage do better,” Ms. Fite said. “You add several of those things up and you’ve got a better outcome overall.” — Bloomberg
