The majority of states rely at least in part on coroners to rule on the circumstances surrounding unexpected or suspicious deaths—and contrary to what most of us probably believe, coroners are often laypeople without training in medicine. What is more, they are frequently elected officials, which makes them susceptible to political pressure from people or organizations looking to influence their conclusions. This system needs to be abolished.

There is no federal oversight of death investigation systems and no national standard to uphold.... To make matters worse, nearly 80 percent of the nation's coroners are elected to the office.

This arrangement exposes investigations to corruption and political influence. Elected coroners are beholden to voters, after all....As early as 1857, a committee of the American Medical Association recommended replacing elected coroners with court-appointed medical officials.

Old topic with new insight.

Where Some See Calls for Accountability, Others See Censorship, Punishment

By Emily A. Vogels, Monica Anderson, Margaret Porteus, Chris Baronovski, Sara Atske Colleen McClain, Brooke Auxier, Andrew Perrin & Meera Ramshankar @ PewResarch.org, May 19

How we did this

Pew Research Center has a long history of studying the tone and nature of online discourse as well as emerging internet phenomena. This report focuses on American adults’ perceptions of cancel culture and, more generally, calling out others on social media. For this analysis, we surveyed 10,093 U.S. adults from Sept. 8 to 13, 2020. Everyone who took part is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.

This essay primarily focuses on responses to three different open-ended questions and includes a number of quotations to help illustrate themes and add nuance to the survey findings. Quotations may have been lightly edited for grammar, spelling and clarity. Here are the questions used for this essay, along with responses, and its methodology.

They don't want their youth to be able to succeed in a secular nation, as they would lose control of them. So the leaders of Brooklyn's ultra-orthodox community back the biggest panderer running for mayor, Yang.

".....orthodox children have been sacrificed to religious isolationism and political expediency. Yang's promise to "leave the yeshivas alone" is the worst, the most destructive possible pander, a betrayal of these kids. It means that he is completely unsuited to leadership.".    from comment at link.

Is our Unabombers learning?

By Stephen Gutowski, the founder of The Reload, which focuses on sober, serious firearms reporting and analysis.

That Trump was controlled by Putin and served his agenda was the opposite of reality. First Obama, and now Biden, have accommodated Moscow far more.

The nascent agreement, backed by President Joe Biden, is a bright spot for a chamber that has grown increasingly partisan in recent years. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the bill a “once-in-a-generation investment in American science and American technology.”

By Andrew Desidero @ Politico.com, May 17

The Senate voted on Monday to advance a broad bipartisan effort to counter China’s economic and geopolitical ambitions, though negotiators are still hammering out critical details of the legislation.

Senators voted 86-11 to move forward on the Endless Frontier Act, the base for the larger China bill. Ultimately it's expected to include additional measures boosting technology research and development, revitalizing manufacturing sectors, and outlining a diplomatic and national security strategy for the U.S. in the Indo-Pacific region.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has long pushed for a more hawkish approach to China, is leading the effort alongside Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), a rising voice in his party on foreign affairs.

The final product could pass the Senate before June and would represent the culmination of a two-month effort by Senate committees, at Schumer’s direction, to draw up bipartisan legislation aimed at out-competing China. The nascent agreement is also a bright spot for a chamber that has grown increasingly partisan in recent years [....]

Bribing to get back to work not just a red state thing anymore!

By John Bowden @ TheHill.com, May 17

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) announced Monday that the state will dole out one-time direct payments of $1,000 to 10,000 "long-term unemployed" residents who find work before the end of 2021.

Lamont said in a statement that residents who submitted an unemployment benefits claim for the last full week of May will be eligible to potentially receive the cash bonus if they find employment lasting at least eight weeks before the end of the year.

“This is the latest tool in our toolbox to maximize our state’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic,” Lamont said [....]