Wednesday, July 8, 2020

And another day of religious limits on healthcare, demanding schools be fully open in the fall, people dying at home, stoking the fires of a “culture war,” a couple of nut jobs, axing college sports programs, a retirement, and plenty of malevolence comes to a close: 

“Nothing brings people together more than mutual hatred.” -- Henry Rollins

Deaths

US: 134,862 (+890)

World: 552,023 (+5422)

Countdown: 118 days.

Most Americans believe Russia targeted U.S. soldiers, want sanctions in response. — News of Russia paying bounties for the deaths of American soldiers is only around ten days old. Yeah. But nothing is likely to come of it from Trump or the GOP. Vote all those fuckers out.

In win for Trump, Supreme Court allows plan for religious limits to Obamacare contraceptive coverage. The ruling greatly expands the kinds of employers that can cite religious or moral objections in declining to include birth control in their health care plans. — Religion should not be allowed to “limit” anything. It only leads to oppression and abuse.

The Supreme Court just gave Republicans a powerful new weapon against Obamacare

A decision that was supposed to be limited to birth control threatens one of the core elements of the Affordable Care Act.

Imagine a world with a COVID-19 pandemic and without the Affordable Care Act. Trump does.

Trump forgets recent calamities in his push to open schools. — Or he really doesn’t give a shit about them. I’m thinking that’s closer to the truth.

Every plan to reopen schools safely in the fall costs money, and school districts and local governments don’t have any.

Trump trashes the CDC's school-reopening guidelines as "tough" and "expensive" — then the CDC updates them.

Trump is threatening to withhold federal money if schools don’t reopen in the fall. He says the guidelines his own federal health officials created for schools to reopen are impractical and expensive. Trump didn't say what funds would be cut off. -- Also, state governors get to make funding decisions. Not Trump.

Trump promises to pressure governors to reopen schools in fall despite current surge of coronavirus cases. -- I feel for my friends and family who reside in states with Repbulican governors.

Trump and DeVos Say They’ll Withhold Money From Schools for Not Re-Opening. Can They? They want what they want and don’t really care whether the law stands in their way.

‘Desperation science’ slows the hunt for coronavirus drugs. “Everyone has been kind of grasping for anything that might work. And that’s not how you develop sound medical practice,” said Dr. Steven Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic researcher.

As coronavirus surges, Houston confronts its hidden toll: People dying at home.

Trump declares U.S. in "culture war," calls flying Confederate flag "freedom of speech."

Denver suburb passes resolution shielding officers from personal liability portion of Colorado’s new police reform law. -- Well this is an invitation for abuse.

Trump and Trudeau: How their leadership styles pulled their countries in very different directions amid the pandemic. — One of them is a leader, and the other is Trump.

Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa late last month and the protests that accompanied it "likely contributed" to a dramatic surge in new coronavirus cases, a local health official says. Tulsa County had a one-day record high 261 new cases on Monday.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro vetoes several points of a law aimed at protecting indigenous communities against Covid-19. — Of course he did. 

Trump supporters are already talking about what they might do if he doesn't win — extremism

experts are worried. 'They've already accepted the narrative that it would be a false election,'

one told me. Another warned: 'The country could descend into chaos'.

Former warden at Ghislaine Maxwell's NYC jail says she should be on suicide watch. — Tick tock. 

Trump campaign considers displaying statues at future rallies.

Kanye West Says He’s Done With Trump—Opens Up About White House Bid, Damaging Biden And Everything In Between. — Holy shit those first eight bullet points. You have to read them. He’s a nut job. And there’s more craziness throughout the article.

A GOP state lawmaker in Ohio ― one of several states currently seeing a spike in new coronavirus infections ― urged constituents to “STOP GETTING TESTED” for COVID-19 in a Facebook post on Tuesday. “Are you tired of living in a dictatorship yet?” asked Nino Vitale, who serves in the state’s House of Representatives. Testing for COVID-19 gave “the government an excuse to claim something is happening that is not happening at the magnitude they say it is happening,” he claimed. — This guy, too, is a nut job. He is also literally trying to kill you. 

'Weaponized' Facebook fails to protect civil rights, audit says. Facebook has not done enough to protect users from discrimination, falsehoods and incitement to violence, external audit finds.

Facebook says it has shut down pages and accounts linked to Roger Stone and Proud Boys, a far-right group Facebook has banned under its hate policies.

Native American tribes blocked from receiving data on spread of coronavirus that is freely given to states.

Covid-19 patient who got virus twice shares his story: "It just flat kicked my butt”.

11th case of dengue fever confirmed in Florida Keys. — Because it’s 2020. 

Climate Denial Spreads on Facebook as Scientists Face Restrictions. Now, Facebook appears to be weakening a firewall it has built to fact-check such climate denialism. The company recently overruled a fact-check from a group of climate scientists, in a move that concerns researchers about a potentially new precedent by the platform that permits inaccurate claims to be promoted if they’re labeled as opinions.

Ivy League calls off fall sports due to outbreak.

Stanford cuts 11 varsity sports programs as the pandemic worsens finances

Democratic Leaders Want to Know Why Facebook’s New Oversight Board Won’t Deal With Climate Lies.

Harvard and MIT sue ICE over US visa ruling.

Libyan migrant centres are like concentration camps, pope says.

US anti-abortion groups received millions in federal Covid-19 aid.

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key witness in President Donald Trump's impeachment inquiry, is retiring from the US Army after more than 21 years of military service because he determined that his future in the armed forces "will forever be limited" due to political retaliation by the President and his allies.

Sex educators and sexologists have some advice for people wanting to safely socialize during the pandemic: Establish ground rules, clearly communicate your needs, seek consent, and be informed about methods for protection.

New Clues To ALS And Alzheimer's Disease From Physics.

Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.

Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.