Archive for the ‘Mike Pence’ Category

Indiana Needle Exchange That Helped Contain An HIV Outbreak May Be Forced To Close – NPR

Kelly Hans holds a box of Narcan nasal spray at the county's One-Stop Shop in Austin. Mitch Legan/WTIU/WFIU News hide caption

Kelly Hans holds a box of Narcan nasal spray at the county's One-Stop Shop in Austin.

In 2015, rural Scott County, Indiana, found itself in the national spotlight when intravenous drug use and sharing needles led to an outbreak of HIV.

Mike Pence, who was Indiana's governor at the time, approved the state's first syringe exchange program in the small manufacturing community 30 minutes north of Louisville, as part of an emergency measure.

"I will tell you that I do not support needle exchange as anti-drug policy," he said during a 2015 visit to the county. "But this is a public health emergency."

In all, 235 people became infected with HIV over the course of the outbreak, most of them within the first year. In all of last year, there was one new case. Health officials credit the needle exchange for the dramatic drop-off in cases.

But with cases the lowest in years, Scott County's commissioners are considering shutting the program down. Two of three commissioners have said they plan to vote to end the program during their meeting June 2, arguing it enables drug use. (Neither would grant interviews to NPR.)

Needle exchanges provide intravenous drug users with clean syringes and a place to dispose of used ones. Research shows they help reduce the spread of infectious diseases like HIV and can help people overcome substance abuse by acting as an access point to health services for those who are unlikely to seek them out.

Michelle Matern, Scott County's health administrator, doesn't want to see the syringe program end.

"I think a lot of people forgot kind of what 2015 was like, and what we went through as a community," says Matern.

Hans goes through the contents of one of the kits the exchange provides intravenous drug users. Mitch Legan/WTIU/WFIU News hide caption

Hans goes through the contents of one of the kits the exchange provides intravenous drug users.

Residents have testified to the effectiveness of the exchange during recent meetings. Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams attended a commissioners' meeting in early May and praised Scott County's exchange as the gold standard.

"I've seen syringe service programs all over the nation; I've been to Canada and seen how they do it over there," Adams said. "And the way you're doing it here is the way it's supposed to be done."

The county's One-Stop Shop in Austin, Ind., provides testing for HIV, hepatitis C or sexually transmitted infections. There's food and the people who work there can connect users with health insurance, housing and recovery opportunities. It serves around 170 people a month.

"We don't call it a needle exchange anymore," Matern says. "We call it a 'syringe service program,' because we realize that it's a lot more than just exchanging used syringes for new ones."

The two commissioners who are against the program say it enables drug users by providing supplies needed to inject drugs and is leading to overdoses.

"It's aggravating for a first responder to Narcan somebody, and this is one of the things I really struggle with is that there's no accountability," commissioner Mike Jones said during a recent meeting. "They walk out of the ER, there's no nothing happens. I mean, nothing happens."

In a since-deleted Facebook post, commissioner Randy Julian referred to the program as "a welfare program for addicts."

Carrie Lawrence, associate director of the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention at Indiana University says eliminating the supply of clean syringes is not going to help people who are struggling with addiction stop injecting drugs. They're likely to continue even with dirty needles. "That's how Indiana got known for our HIV outbreak," she says.

Closing the syringe exchange she says, "is putting more people at risk."

Kelly Hans was struggling with addiction before the outbreak and now works at the needle exchange as its HIV prevention outreach coordinator. She says getting rid of the program would be a huge blow to the county's recovery system.

"I wish there would have been some place like this prior to the outbreak in 2015, when I was using and when I was a mess," she says. "There was nowhere for me to go to ask for help. Recovery wasn't very loud here in Scott County. So, I didn't even know who to go to."

At THRIVE Recovery Community Organization in Scottsburg, 1,885 people from around the area reached out for help last year. Over a quarter of them were referred there by the county's needle exchange.

The exchange provides Narcan and information to help people use drugs safely, both to prevent disease and avoid overdoses.

Lawrence began researching the situation in Scott County from the start. She says the trust that has been built between the exchange and IV drug using community is what has made it effective.

"You can't just throw up a tent in the middle of the parking lot to do this," she says.

But the commissioners say there are treatments for HIV and are frustrated they don't see more people in recovery from drug use.

"I don't know how you get to someone to say, 'Enough's enough,'" Mike Jones said at a recent meeting.

Health officials have warned of what's happening in West Virginia, where cases of HIV and hepatitis C are spiking as elected officials crack down on needle exchanges.

In Scott County, Matern says they could transition to a harm reduction program without needles sharing addiction resources and STD and HIV testing services. But she doubts it will be as effective, because what gets people in the door is the needles. If the needle exchange is halted, she expects a rise in HIV cases to follow.

Carrie Lawrence agrees. "Given the history of the Scott County outbreak, another one could happen," she says.

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Indiana Needle Exchange That Helped Contain An HIV Outbreak May Be Forced To Close - NPR

I saw what happened on Jan. 6 and will testify to the truth – Chicago Sun-Times

I watched as the president of the United States urged a mob to march on the U.S. Capitol and overthrow the American government.

On Jan. 6, 2021, I saw Donald Trump tell thousands of his most enthusiastic followers that the result of the November 2020 presidential election could not be accepted.

We will never give up, he told them. We will never concede. It doesnt happen. You dont concede when theres theft involved. Our country has had enough.

Watching on television, I turned to my wife and said, My God, hes urging them to overthrow the government.

I didnt need a congressional investigation. I had spent decades covering news events, political leaders at rallies and protest marches. I had sometimes seen peaceful gatherings transformed into a violent rabble. But nothing came close to this.

To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal, the president said.

Just down the road, at the U.S. Capitol Building, congressmen and senators were gathering to ratify the electoral college vote that would eventually install Joe Biden into office, replacing Trump.

You will have an illegitimate president, Trump said. That is what you will have, and we cant let that happen. These are the facts that you wont hear from the fake news media. Its all part of the suppression effort. They dont want you to talk about it.

Trump was clearly urging supporters to overthrow the result of a legal election.

We will fight like hell, and if you dont fight like hell, youre not going to have a country anymore, Trump said.

Then Trump implied he was going to step down from the platform where he was giving his speech and march along with the crowd to the Capitol Building.

Were going to walk down, and Ill be there with you. We are going to the Capitol and we are going to try and give (the Republican lawmakers) the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.

And the mob began to march and chant and wave its Trump banners and Dont Tread on Me flags crashing through the barricades surrounding the Capitol Building,

Assaulting the Capitol police with pipes, breaking through locked doors, and smashing glass windows.

The insurrectionists were swarming through the corridors hunting for congressmen as if they were animals.

They were chanting Hang Mike Pence, Hang Mike Pence, because the Republican Vice President of the United States had refused to use his power as Senate President to try and negate the electoral college vote and keep Trump in power. There was a scaffold awaiting him outside.

Members of the mob mockingly chanted the name of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, daring her to show her face.

Inside the House floor, makeshift barricades were created to hold back the mob and cell phone calls were made to family members who elected officials thought they might never see again.

In other locations, offices were broken into and ransacked.

Fascism was in full bloom as thugs in military gear threatened to brutalize and replace the civilian authority.

Today there are people who say I did not see what I saw. There are Republican congressmen who claim it was just a typical visit by Washington tourists.

Senate Republicans have refused to approve a commission to investigate exactly what happened. They dont want an official record. They prefer to rewrite history.

I know what I saw. But the fact is that the truth is already being altered; twisted into some sort of patriotic display of free speech. A legitimate protest inspired by election fraud by the Democrats.

We must bear witness to the truth and repeat it as often as the falsehoods are shouted and tweeted on the Internet.

Only a handful of months have passed. But already, you can feel history shifting beneath your feet.

Send letters to letters@suntimes.com

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I saw what happened on Jan. 6 and will testify to the truth - Chicago Sun-Times

The path back to sanity is not so clear: Hate, venom and a former president who seems to think he’s still president – ncpolicywatch.com

A Stop The Steal is posted inside of the U.S. Capitol Building after a pro-Trump mob broke into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Photo by Jon Cherry | Getty Images

There is way too much hate and way too much misinformation spreading across our political landscape.

Ive watched and written about politics for more than 55 years and have never seen anything that approaches this mess.At the top of the dreadful heap: a former president who seems to think he is still president and spends most of every day trashing everyone who disagrees.

It is like watching a comedy of errors. Each day dawns with a new series of attacks from Trump land. Seven months after voters elected Joe Biden president, Trump is still trying to count and recount votes in various places, despite rulings from many courts that have confirmed that Biden won the election.

In the beginning, I thought Trump was merely a buffoon who liked to grab unsuspecting women in sensitive places, a practice he boasted about that was captured on tape and broadcast for all to hear.

I thought Trump was just plain wrong when he said he could shoot someone in the middle of Manhattan and get away with it. Now Im not quite so sure.

In daily statements from his Save America operation and We Love Trump newsletter published several times a day, Trump spreads rumors denigrating COVID-19 vaccines, promoting visions from ministers saying he will regain the presidency any day now, and calling all efforts to investigate his conduct and connections to the Jan. 6 raid on the U.S. Capitol just part of another witch hunt.

Banned from Facebook and Twitter for spreading misinformation, Trump now uses various other ways to spread even more misinformation.

In one publication of the Daily Truth Report called We Love Trump, he even accused former Vice President Mike Pence of having a gay lover. There is just no limit to what he and his followers have been willing to do: Witness the noose at the Capitol to hang U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Witness those who were chasing Pence to keep him from certifying the results of the 2020 election.

It would be laughable if it werent so damaging to our country. Its clear that some people believe him and continue to support him. Its also clear that other many of the Republicans in Congress are so afraid of him they are voting against their own interests to avoid his wrath.

From the Senate floor, then-Senate President Mitch McConnell denounced Trumps role in the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol after his fellow senators failed to remove the president from office for sparking the raid. But McConnell, now the U.S. Senate minority leader, wouldnt cast a vote against Trump. Instead, he has fought efforts to authorize a formal investigation of the raid.

McConnell and many other members of Congress line up and kiss the ring, flying down to Mar-a-Lago to get their pictures taken with him playing a round of golf or greeting a crowd.

One of the prizes for idiocy in Congress should go to U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Georgia. He compared the raid which killed five people and injured many others to a normal tourist visit to the Capitol. A day later someone produced pictures of Clyde helping barricade the doors of the House as the invasion was under way.

Many Republicans in Congress have completely ostracized U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, for speaking out against Trump. She has pledged to do everything she can to ensure that the former president never gets anywhere near the Oval Office again, a quote Trump and his minions have widely circulated in an effort to damage her future political possibilities.

Supporters responding to one of the Daily Truth Reports, recently suggested Pelosi should face a firing squad. And Trumps daily newsletter refers to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as Joe and the Ho and asked supporters to recommend punishment if they are found guilty of rigging and stealing the election.

His supporters took the bait, with hundreds responding: hang them, firing squad, life in prison, guillotine, death by fire ants, Castration, Electrocution, a life sentence at Guantanamo Bay and 60 days of a continuous loop of Trump rallies.

The suggestions went on for more than 50 pages of venom, which Trump emailed in his daily report.

The newsletters are sprinkled with ads from financial companies being touted by former U.S. Rep Ron Paul: CBD painkillers, portable air conditioners, Ben Carsons over the counter smart pills that allegedly will triple your memory and retention in 21 days; a potent CBD line being promoted by Tucker Carlson of Fox News as well as cures for all sorts of problems.

Serious people in the world of politics would ordinarily ignore all this blathering, but the path back to sanity is not so clear.

We have many miles to go before our world can be repaired.

Pulitzer Prize-winner Lucy Morgan was chief of the St. Petersburg (Tampa Bay) Times capital bureau in Tallahassee for 20 years, retiring in 2006 and serving as senior correspondent until 2013. She is a contributor to the Florida Phoenix, which first published this essay.

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The path back to sanity is not so clear: Hate, venom and a former president who seems to think he's still president - ncpolicywatch.com

Blame it on the filibuster | Lyons – Chicago Sun-Times

Have Americans still got the guts for democracy? In light of recent events in Washington, youd have to say its doubtful.

Last week, the Senate voted 54-35 to establish an independent commission to investigate the seditious Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol the most violent attack there since the War of 1812. The House had previously approved the measure 252-175.

If the Senate vote were a football score, youd call a 19-point win decisive. And yet, the measure failed to survive a Republican filibuster, a quaint Senate rule requiring a supermajority of 60 votes to become law.

Created during racial segregation and used for decades to block civil rights reforms, the filibuster is found nowhere in the U.S. Constitution. Its neither a law nor a Supreme Court ruling. Its merely a Senate custom and an openly undemocratic one which could be eliminated tomorrow by a simple majority vote.

The Senate is a conservative institution by definition. It gives far more power and influence to small rural states than to large, metropolitan ones where most people live. Citizens of Wyoming, population 579,000, for example, have about 70 times the influence in the U.S. Senate as citizens of California, population 39.5 million.

Only major constitutional surgery can change that, so its never going to happen. No point even talking about it.

Add the filibuster, however, and its a recipe for legislative paralysis: to wit, a government that refuses to defend itself against violent insurrection because it might hurt Citizen Trumps feelings.

Or might put Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in a tight spot. Not to mention Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. These two heroes spoke out decisively in the immediate aftermath of the January coup attempt, but now the wind has changed and theyre busily hunting cover.

If you cant get a Republican to support a nonpartisan analysis of why the Capitol was attacked the first time since the War of 1812, then what are you holding out hope for? asks Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.

What, indeed?

Former Obama White House aide David Plouffe put it even more bluntly on Twitter: Democracy dying so the filibuster can live would seem a terrible way for this experiment to end.

Polls have shown that Americans support the establishment of a Jan. 6 commission by 56% to 30% a clear majority. Even 28% of Republicans would be interested in finding out, for example, how many of those tours given by right-wing members of Congress on Jan. 5 comprised pre-riot reconnaissance. Or who gave the stand down order preventing the National Guard from arriving on time, and why.

Just how organized was the conspiracy that resulted in uniformed Proud Boys running through the halls of Congress chanting Hang Mike Pence! while the vice presidents security team hustled him into hiding?

Did the Proud Boys keep it a secret from their pal Roger Stone? Did he neglect to tell his pal Donald J. Trump?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Senate Republicans, not so much.

Look, under current circumstances, 54-35 equates to a thunderous majority. The filibuster, however, equates with doing nothing, and with political cowardice.

Indeed, the filibuster is arguably more responsible than anything else for the disdain with which most Americans view Congress congenital inability to act. Thats certainly how Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., sees it.

If they block the Jan. 6 commission, we will have to abolish the filibuster, Markey told The Washington Post. If the Republicans block climate action, we will have to abolish the filibuster. If Republicans block voting rights, well have to abolish the filibuster. If Republicans block gun control legislation, we will have to abolish the filibuster. So I think that its just continuing to move towards the inevitability of the unavoidable necessity of repealing the filibuster.

And yet, preserving the filibuster is seemingly more important to certain moderate Democrats specifically Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. than all of those things. See, something else the filibuster does is enhance the power and visibility of individual senators one reason President Joe Biden, a 30-year Senate veteran, is himself iffy about abolition.

The argument is that the 60-vote Senate requirement somehow fosters bipartisanship, although nobody ever says how. Mostly it now fosters Manchins televised imitations of Maines GOP Sen. Susan Collins routinely regretting this and deploring that, before falling quietly in line. (In fairness, Manchin and Collins both voted for the Jan. 6 commission.)

On the day after voting to drop the filibuster, Manchin would return to being just another of 50 Democratic senators. So theres that.

Others argue that should Republicans retake the Senate come 2022, Democrats could come to regret it. Could be, although does anybody think the GOP wont ditch the rule whenever its convenient?

In the foreseeable future, theres no chance of either party securing a 60-vote majority. The choice is between majority rule and paralysis.

Gene Lyons is a columnist for the Arkansas Times.

Send letters to letters@suntimes.com.

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Blame it on the filibuster | Lyons - Chicago Sun-Times

Man arrested in Arizona accused of striking 2 officers in U.S. Capitol riot; identified by his ‘King James’ belly tattoo – The Arizona Republic

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A man was arrested in Arizona on suspicion of entering the U.S. Capitol during theJan. 6 riot and yelling and striking two officers.

James Burton McGrew faces multiple federal charges in a complaint made public this week, including engaging inphysical violence in a restricted building and assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer.

A federal complaint with arrest warrant was issued May 27 fromWashington, D.C. McGrew was taken into custodyin Glendale on Friday, according to the FBI.

It was unclear whether McGrew is also an Arizona resident; his hometown was not available from the FBI.

The list: These are the Arizonans arrested so far after rampage at U.S. Capitol

The federal complaint said video footage from a body camera worn by police officers shows McGrew inside the U.S. Capitol shortly before 3 p.m. on Jan. 6 and captures him lifting his white T-shirt to display a large tattoo across his stomach that says"King James."

The FBI says a 2012 booking photo shows that James Burton McGrew has a tattoo across his stomach that says, "King James."(Photo: FBI)

The complaint saidMcGrew aggressively approached law enforcement officers, yelling Were coming in here, whether you like it or not and Fight with us, not against us. Body cameras reportedly show McGrew inside the Capitol Rotunda at 3:05 p.m. whilelaw enforcement tried to push the rioters back.

The federal complaint alleges McGrew was pushed back with the crowd and lungedforward to strike a law enforcement officer. He retreated as officers yelled at the crowd to move back.But within seconds, the complaint alleged, McGrew disobeyed thecommands and moved forward.

The FBI says police officer body camera footage showed a tattoo on James Burton McGrew's stomach when he raised his shirt while inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.(Photo: FBI)

He screamed at officers, according to the federal complaint. When one officertold him toJust leave, just leave man," McGrew screamed back,You leave. You leave. This is our house."

The federal complaint says law enforcement tried to move people toward the door, using batons and telling them to "move back." McGrew allegedly struck another officer and lunged for his baton.

McGrew could not be reached for comment by The Arizona Republic, and court records do not yet list his attorney's name.

Federal prosecutors continue to charge participants in the Jan. 6 riot, adding to dozens of arrests that took place in Washington, D.C., that day. More than 400 people face charges. Five people died. About140 police officers were injured.

Inside: QAnon,Patriot groups that stormed US Capitol have deep roots in Arizona

Many of the rioters came from PresidentDonald Trumps Save America Rally that began hours earlier ata park near the White House. Trump spoke to them for more than an hour, insistingthe presidential election had been stolen.

As Congress started to count Electoral College votes, thousandsof supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building, sending lawmakers scrambling for safety and prompting evacuations.Vice President Mike Pence had to be moved to a secure location.

The FBI said a tipster contacted federal authorities on Jan. 7 with information that McGrew had traveled to Washington to protest what he called the "stolen vote." The tipster claimed McGrew showed a video of himself inside the U.S. Capitol on the day of the riot.Another tipster provided the FBI with photos in February that purportedly show McGrew inside the Capitol.

The FBI said it matched photos of McGrew's tattoo across his stomach with a photo from a 2012 booking photo. It was unclear from the federal complaintwhere the booking photo was taken.

Reach the reporter atanne.ryman@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8072. Follow her on Twitter @anneryman.

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Man arrested in Arizona accused of striking 2 officers in U.S. Capitol riot; identified by his 'King James' belly tattoo - The Arizona Republic