DML Morning Briefing Thu. Oct. 21

Today is October 21. Below are some of the stories grabbing headlines this morning. I hope you share this briefing as doing so will make you the smartest person in the room.

1. Children’s hospitals, overflowing with respiratory patients, consider calling National Guard
The Hill— HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) – Some children’s hospitals around the country are being overwhelmed with patients suffering from respiratory illnesses.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) in particular is on the rise, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases have spiked, especially in the Northeast and South.

For the last few weeks, Connecticut Children’s Hospital in Hartford has been over capacity as more and more young children have been admitted for RSV. The hospital is now in talks with the National Guard and FEMA about setting up a tent outside to expand capacity.

“We just don’t have as many critical care beds [for children] as we have adult critical care beds simply because we don’t usually need them,” said Dr. Juan Salazar, physician in chief of Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.

NBC News found hospitals in Connecticut, California, D.C. Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Rhode Island were also under strain from an influx in RSV patients.

MY TAKE: Cases are spiking. Hospitals have to tell parents they don’t have a bed. This is very concerning.

2. Oh, Joe! Biden, 79, seems to struggle getting off stage AGAIN at Pittsburgh rally
Daily Mail— President Joe Biden seemed to struggle getting off stage at a rally in Pittsburgh – just a month after a similar gaffe following a United Nations speech.

After finishing his speech, Biden, 79, was seen turning toward his right to exit the stage when he stopped to talk to his team, raising his hands in question.

Shortly after, he spun around and exited the stage on his left side.

MY TAKE: That’s so hard to watch. Get him off the stage, then march him right out of the White House, too.

3. 60K real estate deals called off in September
Fox News— Red-hot mortgage rates are giving home buyers and sellers cold feet. About 17% of homes that went under contract with real estate brokerage Redfin last month were called off.

The technology-powered real estate firm reported that approximately 60,000 deals fell through in September, marking the “highest share on record aside from March 2020,” the same month the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus pandemic.

Redfin Economics Research Lead Chen Zhao said the housing market is at “another standstill” although it’s completely different from the early days of the pandemic.

“Demand is slumping due to surging mortgage rates, but prices are being propped up by inflation and a drop in the number of people putting their homes up for sale,” Zhao said.

MY TAKE: While Biden struggles with his stage dismount, Americans are left out in the cold. Lame prez.

4. Gruesome killing of 12-year-old girl shocks France and sparks immigration backlash
NBC News— PARIS — The killing of a 12-year-old girl whose body was found inside a plastic trunk has left France “profoundly shaken” and led to accusations that far-right lawmakers have politicized her death to attack the government’s immigration policies.

The girl, identified by authorities only as Lola, was last seen alive on surveillance camera footage in her apartment building in northeast Paris at 3:15 p.m. local time (9:15 a.m. ET) on Friday, the Paris state prosecutor said in a statement Monday.

A 24-year-old woman who was arrested Saturday in a northeastern suburb of the capital is in custody on charges of murder and rape of a minor, torture, acts of barbarity and concealment of a corpse, the Paris state prosecutor said Monday.

Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told the National Assembly on Tuesday that the arrested woman was given an order to leave France on Aug. 22.

“Once again, the suspect of this barbaric act should not have been in France. What are you waiting for to act so that this illegal immigration out of control is finally stopped?” Marine Le Pen, who this year ran for president unsuccessfully for a third time, tweeted Tuesday.

MY TAKE: Tragic and preventable. A 43-year-old man was also arrested in connection, but if the illegal immigrant woman from Algeria was not in the country, this may never have happened. Prayers for the victim’s family.

5. AOC blasted on Twitter for dancing at hecklers: ‘She’s mocking her constituents’
Fox News— A now viral clip of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., made the rounds on Twitter as people across the political spectrum criticized the progressive political figure.

On Wednesday, protestors crashed Ocasio-Cortez’s town hall in Queens, shouting at her and holding signs. While protestors began chanting “AOC has got to go,” Ocasio-Cortez sat on the stage and pretended to dance to the beat of the chants.

Social media users shared the clip as an example of Ocasio-Cortez “mocking” her constituents in what they saw as a humiliating display.

MY TAKE: She doesn’t care about anyone who disagrees with her. Trashy, disrespectful, unprofessional, immature.