Monday, August 31, 2020

And another day of the President of the United states actively trying to start a civil war in America comes to a close:

“If you can’t see that your own culture has its own set of interests, emotions, and biases, how can you expect to deal successfully with someone else’s culture?” -- Anne Fadiman

Deaths

US: 187,736 (+512)

World: 854,747 (+4159)

Cases

US: 6,211,796 (+38,560)

World: 25,633,194 (+249,201)

Countdown: 64 days.

A summer of protest, captured by smartphones. “The images produced by ordinary people in 2020 rhyme with those captured by the media in the late 1950s and mid-’60s during the Civil Rights Movement, when police brutalized unarmed Black protesters with dogs, fire hoses, and tear gas. It isn’t hard to see the parallels between what was called unrest then and what is called an uprising now. But for the people shooting these videos of protest and police brutality, using a camera and sharing a video isn’t passive — it is itself an act of protest...The material presented here can feel overwhelming or triggering. Take breaks if you need them.” — Stories and videos from the summer of 2020. Change will happen.

Trump asks federal appeals court to keep eight years of his tax returns away from Manhattan's top prosecutor, saying the handover would cause him irreparable harm. President Donald Trump on Monday urged a federal appeals court not to let Manhattan's top prosecutor have his tax returns, saying "the deck was clearly stacked against" him, and said he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if necessary. — The man is a criminal.

Barr reportedly removes national security official ahead of elections. The move comes after John Ratcliffe, a Trump loyalist, told Congress his office would no longer give verbal briefings on election security. — Our country is being stolen before our eyes.

Out of the 'basement,' Biden pummels Trump. President Donald Trump might want to be careful about challenging Joe Biden to come out and fight...Looking lively and speaking forcefully, he condemned unwarranted police violence, rioting and looting, and militia activity. Then he laid the blame for all of it at Trump's feet.

Fact-checking Biden's speech on Social Security, fracking and crime.

2 shootings, 2 days: In Kenosha, a microcosm of US strife. A Black man, accosted by police on a domestic dispute call, is left with bullet wounds in his back that will likely keep him from ever walking again. A white 17-year-old, rifle in hand, strolls past authorities untouched amid cries that he just gunned down three people protesting the Black man’s shooting. Two moments of bloodshed, two days and 2 miles apart in Kenosha, Wisconsin. And in those two moments, this mid-sized Midwestern city seemed a stark microcosm of a nation wracked by discord over racial inequity, policing and the meaning of public safety. -- Trump’s America.

President Trump declines to denounce suspected vigilante shooter Kyle Rittenhouse.

Americans are turning out more often and more visibly with guns, a sign of the tension engulfing the country.

Trump offered FBI director job to John Kelly, asked for loyalty. “The day after President Trump fired FBI boss James Comey, the president phoned John Kelly, who was then secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, and offered him Comey's job...But the president added something else — if he became FBI director, Trump told him, Kelly needed to be loyal to him, and only him.” — This from the New York Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Michael Schmidt reporting in his forthcoming book, "Donald Trump v. The United States."

Jacob Blake’s father said that the family does not have a pastor after President Trump said during his press briefing that he spoke with the family’s pastor. -- Trump just makes shit up.

Evangelicals are looking for answers online. They’re finding QAnon instead. How the growing pro-Trump movement is preying on churchgoers to spread its conspiracy theories.

Kids with no coronavirus symptoms may shed virus for weeks, study shows.

Twitter removes tweet shared by Trump with false coronavirus statistics.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia imposed travel bans on President Alexander Lukashenko and 29 other Belarusian officials on Monday, jumping into action to impose sanctions before the rest of the EU.

The payroll tax deferral takes effect Sept. 1. What it really means for your paycheck. Keep in mind that this payroll tax holiday is only a deferral. Although the president has promised to do away with the tax if reelected, it would require an act of Congress to wipe out the liability altogether.

Hero statue nominations are in. Americans’ suggestions of suitable statues for President Donald Trump’s planned National Garden of American Heroes are in, and they look considerably different from the predominantly white worthies that the administration has locked in for many of the pedestals. The outside nominations are more activist, browner and far more indigenous. Well, for the most part, anyway. The administration also is leaving open the possibility of a statue of Trump himself in the Trump-created statue park after receiving what it said were “multiple nominations” of the president.

Army investigating officer who reportedly made joke about Jews being killed in the Holocaust in viral video.

Viral manicurist Nen10doe defies gender norms in the cosmetics world. At first glance, Darnell Atkins looks far from your average nail technician. Donning a mosaic of tattoos and rocking jet black nails, this manicurist is shaking up the nail industry one appointment at a time. — There are good stories that happen in the world.

Ron Jeremy's been charged with 20 additional counts of sexual assault. If convicted, he faces 250 years to life in prison.

Atheist free speech suit against Arkansas official proceeds.

‘It destroys lives': why the razor-blade pain of vaginismus is so misunderstood. This common condition can lead to relationship breakdown and unnecessary surgery. So why is treatment still so poor and underfunded? Kate Moyle, a psychotherapist and spokeswoman for College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists (COSRT) says that some GPs don’t even know what vaginismus is. “Lots of patients describe having the word Googled in front of them [by their GP],” she says...“We need to make psychosexual training mandatory,” says Frodsham. “Every single doctor, nurse and physio who does intimate examinations should be able to manage: ‘I’ve got a problem with sex.’”

Valeria has synaesthesia - which means she can see colours and feel textures when music plays.

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

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

Sunday, August 30, 2020

And another  ____________  (adjective) day in America comes to a close:

"The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” — George Orwell, 1984

Deaths

US: 187,224 (+369)

World: 850,588 (+3831)

Cases

US: 6,173,236 (+24,158)

World: 25,383,993 (+219,175)

Countdown: 65 days.

Americans love Social Security but fear 'socialism.' Trump is exploiting that. Those overheated warnings conceal another irony. In recent decades, the free-enterprise system has performed better under Democratic presidents who favor government action to ease struggling Americans' economic burdens than under Republican presidents who oppose it...The economy added more jobs during the 16 years Bill Clinton and Barack Obama served as president than during the more than 23 years of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Trump..."It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats," Trump said in 2004, before he became a Republican politician.

“It wasn't simply that they violated the Hatch Act. It's that they did it so brazenly, in our faces, on TV, in the most arrogant way possible. On purpose. To prove their power is bigger than mere law. A powerful symbol of what is to come.” — Joe Hagan 

‘Fanning the flames’: Dems accuse Trump of stoking violence. Democrats on Sunday accused President Donald Trump of trying to inflame racial tensions and incite violence to benefit his campaign as he praised supporters who clashed with protesters in Portland, Oregon, where one man died overnight, and announced he will travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin, amid anger over the shooting of another Black man by police.

“This is Trump's America. He has to own the incompetence around coronavirus: 180,000 American deaths & almost 38 million jobless claims. He has to own it. How do you break this country & then run for re-election saying I want to fix everything that I destroyed.” — Cedric Richmond

Portland mayor excoriates Trump: "Do you seriously wonder, Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence? It's you who have created the hate and the division. It's you who have not found a way to say the names of Black people killed by police officers even as people in law enforcement have. And it's you who claimed that White supremacists are good people. Your campaign of fear is as anti-democratic as anything you've done to create hate and vitriol in our beautiful country." -- He had more to say.

What is Patriot Prayer? Victim wore hat with group’s insignia. Patriot Prayer is a loosely organized right-wing group that has repeatedly been involved in brawls with left-wing antifascist groups.

Wisconsin governor urges Trump not to visit Kenosha: "I, along with other community leaders who have reached out, are concerned about what your presence will mean for Kenosha and our state. I am concerned your presence will only hinder our healing. I am concerned your presence will only delay our work to overcome division and move forward together.” -- You bring division and destruction wherever you go, Donald. Go home.

‘Small events add up to a lot': Limited gatherings quietly emerge as source of coronavirus infections. There’s no generally accepted definition of what’s a small gathering – it may range from five to 30 people – and the vast majority of these activities are taking place behind closed doors. That makes it difficult to garner hard data about them. — Bottom line: even small get-togethers are dangerous for spreading the virus.

Rosenstein curtailed counterintelligence probe into Trump's Russia ties. Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told special counsel Robert Mueller in May 2017 to only conduct a criminal investigation of possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, secretly curtailing an FBI counterintelligence probe into President Trump's ties to Russia.

Huge crowds of protesters flooded Belarus' capital Minsk again on Sunday calling for President Alexander Lukashenko to step down, defying a heavy deployment of security forces and threats of a crackdown.

Sexual assault victims who publicly discuss their experiences using their real names could face up to four months in prison, under a new law passed in the Australian state of Victoria, sparking outrage among activists. Changes to the state's Judicial Proceedings Reports Act, which were made quietly in February, make it an offense for anyone to publicly disseminate information that leads to the identification of a victim of sexual assault.

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

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

Saturday, August 29, 2020

And another day circling the drain comes to a close:

“There is no longer a Republican Party. There is the Trump Party. No platform, no principles, no ideals, no vision. Just Donald J. Trump. GOP, RIP.” — Robert Reich

Deaths

US: 186,855 (+954)

World: 846,757 (+5465)

Cases

US: 6,139,078 (+42,843)

World: 25,164,818 (+257,567)

Countdown: 66 days.

Top intelligence office informs congressional committees it'll no longer brief on election security. Still, the abrupt announcement is a change that runs counter to the pledge of transparency and regular briefings on election threats by the intelligence community. — We are watching the deterioration of our democracy. 

7 Takeaways From The Republican National Convention.

Fresh off the Republican convention, President Trump launches a baseless attack on Kamala Harris.

Mail delivery suspended at L.A. public housing complex with over 1,800 residents. “This is marked discrimination ... a political attack on the Latino and African American community.”

My officers did nothing wrong in allowing teen gunman to walk away after allegedly killing 2 protesters, Kenosha police chief says. — A prime example of the problem we are speaking out against.

College Republicans at Arizona State raise money for alleged Kenosha shooter. 'He does not deserve to have his entire life destroyed'. — The Republican Party is a lost cause.

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has asked a judge to dismiss murder charges against him in the death of George Floyd.

Arkansas sheriff resigns over racist rant in leaked recording. He also insisted he was not racist. — Such easy words to say. Your actions will always speak much louder, though.

Trump is ignoring right-wing extremists who 'want to start a race war,' former DHS official says.

Children can carry coronavirus in their noses and throats for weeks even if they don't show any symptoms, which might explain how the virus can spread silently, researchers in South Korea reported.

Berlin police break up "anti-coronavirus" protest after 18,000 gather with no masks or social distancing.

Ethics experts say more oversight is needed after a company got federal bailout money and then paid for billboards supporting Trump. — Ethics? The Trump Party has no ethics.

Journalists covering Belarus protests stripped of accreditation. Authorities in Belarus have withdrawn the accreditation of a number of journalists who have been reporting on post-election protests there for foreign media outlets. — A stark warning of what might happen in America?

'Tightening The Screws': Belarus' Lukashenko Shows No Sign Of Bending To Protests.

Google reportedly took five days to decide not to remove misleading ads about voting by mail.

Here's what the payroll tax deferral action means for you. Companies can stop withholding employees' payroll taxes starting September 1, although workers will have to pay the taxes by the end of April 2021.

At least 160 people have been killed by flash floods in Afghanistan. Thirteen provinces, mostly in the country's north, affected by floods following days of torrential rain.

Chadwick Boseman gave 'joy, courage and inspiration' to children battling cancer amid his own fight. — There are good people in the world.

Previously classified film of the detonation of the world's largest ever nuclear explosion has been published online by Russia’s state nuclear agency.

Japan's 'flying car' gets off ground, with a person aboard. The decades-old dream of zipping around in the sky as simply as driving on highways may be becoming less illusory

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

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

Friday, August 28, 2020

And another shitty end to another shitty day comes to a close. And oh yeah: Fuck cancer.

“The more we do to you, the less you seem to believe we are doing it.”~ Dr. Joseph Mengele

“What happens now determines what happens to the rest of the world.” -- T’Challa (Black Panther)

Deaths

US: 185,901 (+1105)

World: 841,292 (+5665)

Cases

US: 6,096,235 (+49,601)

World: 24,907,251 (+282,270)

Countdown: 67 days.

Trump's RNC finale had a clear message: Take it or leave it. — He is who he is.  

"We can never have a situation where things are going on as they are today." — Donald Trump, August 27, 2020, after almost four years of HIS version of America. Even Trump wants you to vote for Biden

CNN reporter does breathtaking fact check of Trump's RNC speech. Trump has never been a stickler for the truth, but CNN reporter and fact-checker Daniel Dale identified more than 20 false or misleading claims in the president's Thursday RNC speech alone. — I’m not sure he took a breath during the whole thing. Watch the video. At a minimum the first three minutes.

The absurdity of Trump’s RNC speech, in one photo. Trump tried to make his Republican convention into a celebration. America’s current reality is much grimmer. It’s a moment that encapsulates what amounted to a week of gaslighting on Covid-19 by Trump and the Republican convention — an attempt to make America think that a president who had so clearly failed was in fact a victory for the US.

“You know what I say? Protest this, your ass. I don’t talk about my ass.” — Donald Trump, August 28, 2020. 

RNC airs video clip of 'Biden's America' — it was actually Barcelona. The video, which appeared during Monday night’s event, shows footage from 2019 protests in Spain.

Thousands gather at March on Washington commemorations.

March on Washington: Civil rights leaders, families of Black victims rally against police violence.

White supremacists and militias have infiltrated police across US, report says.

Over 300 LGBT leaders endorse Biden for president : "The most pro-equality ticket in US history".

Joe Biden’s campaign has purchased the web domain that spells out President Donald Trump’s re-election slogan “Keep America Great” and filled the site with what it says are Trump's broken promises.

Despite DeJoy's vows to halt changes, serious problems persist, postal workers say. “Some stations have so much mail backed up, it’s three times more than the volume you would see at Christmas,” a Chicago postal worker said.

NBA announces plan to convert arenas into polling places as part of agreement to resume play.

Top general says military will play no role in resolving any electoral dispute.

Doctors find possible case of Covid-19 reinfection in US. Genetic tests indicate the patient was infected with two different varieties of the virus, the team at the University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine and the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory reported.

Notre Dame sending students back to class next week — even as new COVID-19 cases reported. The university halted in-person classes on Aug. 19, eight days into the fall semester, after 146 students and a staff member tested positive. -- Here we go ‘round the mulberry bush; the mulberry bush; the mulberry bush.

Hurricanes, fires, floods and locusts: Science says climate change is here but the RNC refuses to believe.

U.S. Marshals say they found 39 missing children in Georgia during two-week operation.

Controversial organization led by Trump allies has tax-exempt status revoked by IRS.

Vancouver's Trump hotel closes doors for good. — It was open for only three and a half years. He’s such the businessman.

Las Vegas-based casino operator MGM Resorts International will layoff 18,000 previously furloughed workers.

Elon Musk shows Neuralink brain link working in a pig.

Scooby-Doo Co-Creator Joe Ruby Dies at 87.

RIP Chadwick Boseman. He was 43. -- Fuck cancer.

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

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

Thursday, August 27, 2020

And another day of Trump destroying America comes to a close:

“The Trump re-election strategy seems to be to argue that only Donald Trump can save America from Donald Trump’s America.” -- Dan Rather

Deaths

US: 184,796 (+1143)

World: 835,627 (+5962)

Cases

US: 6,046,634 (+46,269)

World: 24,624,981 (+292,874)

Countdown: 68 days.

Things to not forget: Russian bounties. Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Report. Covid-19 Deaths.

Editorial: The Trump Party is telling us that if they don’t win in November, then we should be afraid of literally everything that has already happened under their tenure. If a person tells you they’re the only who can save the country, then they are not to be trusted.

Republican convention takeaways: What virus? Fear motivates. Trump demanded a show for the final night of the Republican National Convention, a spectacle never before seen, an American president using the White House as the official backdrop for such overtly political activity. The federal guidelines about keeping distance, avoiding crowds and wearing masks to fight the spread of the coronavirus were emphatically ignored.

Egregious false claims and careless inaccuracies: fact-checking the third night of the RNC. Like nights one and two, Wednesday's proceedings featured false claims related to the coronavirus pandemic, Democrats, the economy, immigration and other important subjects.

Republicans Have Organized a Backlash Convention, and It’s Tearing This Country Apart. There’s a reason for this. President Trump and his partisans are well aware that he cannot win an election based on his record of mismanaging the response to a pandemic and mass unemployment, and of dividing the country against itself with racism and xenophobia. So they are amplifying those divisions in hopes of identifying a narrow, ugly, and exceptionally dangerous path to victory.

The Republican convention is proof that traditional Republicans have given up. In many ways, this convention is a call-back to the old Republican party of dog-whistle politics. The intended audience knows who they won’t be safe from – Black people – and knows that no one is so powerless as a white man. But they don’t explicitly mention race, as their audience still feels a bit awkward when the racism is too overt...And by now, even the Post should know what Trump stands for: authoritarianism, corruption, egocentrism, nativism and populism. As I’ve argued before, US democracy is not dying in darkness. It is dying in plain sight … if it is dying at all, but that is up to the American people and its vote.

During the Republican National Convention, the Trump campaign and GOP have been airing the President Donald Trump-boosting content on Twitch, a popular, Amazon-owned livestreaming website renowned for its massive gaming community...And thanks to the campaign’s apparent choice to leave the comments unmoderated, the site provides an unedited, real-time window into the base instincts of some of Trump’s youngest, most fervent supporters. The remarks range from absurdists tweeting profanity over and over, to overt fetishization of female speakers, QAnon theories and racist tropes; all while battling anti-Trump trolls spamming their comments with cruel jokes about Republicans in wheelchairs.

Trump says election workers, not USPS, could lead to 2020 miscount. President Donald Trump is shifting his focus from the U.S. Postal Service in his concerns about potential fraud in mail-in voting, claiming problems with mailed ballots lie with local elections officials who are "going to count them wrong." — Because if he was the one counting the votes, he would count them wrong. He’s telling us exactly what he would do if he had the opportunity. 

New Hot-Mic Video: What Trump Told His Lawyer When He Didn’t Know a Camera Was Rolling. The revealing footage was shot during a deposition in the Trump University fraud case. On December 10, 2015, Donald Trump took time off from campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination to spend hours sitting for a videotaped deposition in a lawsuit alleging that he and Trump University had defrauded people who had plunked down thousands of dollars to learn the secrets of his financial success as a developer. During a break in the proceedings, the camera continued to roll. And Trump and his attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, apparently unaware they were being recorded, were captured discussing the case.

White House says it is creating a 'very large' dossier on Washington Post journalist and others. -- Trump destroys America.

“All you need to know about Eric Trump is that he stole charity money from kids with cancer.” — Eugene Gu

What Conservatives Really Mean When They Call for Law and Order. Hint, it has nothing to do with white vigilantes.

As Nation Reckons With Race, Poll Finds White Americans Least Engaged. Though advocates believe true equality will not be achieved until all Americans are willing to grapple with racism, the survey showed that just 36% of those polled said they had taken concrete action to better understand racial issues after George Floyd's killing. White people were the least likely to have done so, at just 30%. That compares with 51% of Latinos, 49% of Asians, and 41% of Black people who answered "Yes" when asked: "Since the death of George Floyd in May, have you personally taken any actions to better understand racial issues in America?"

Jacob Blake handcuffed to hospital bed, father says. Blake had another question about his son, as well: What was he arrested for?

Lakers, Clippers vote to boycott season in wake of Jacob Blake shooting.

Vice President Pence's chief of staff calls NBA boycott "absurd" and "silly". “If they want to protest, I don't think we care," he said. — The fight against racial injustice is always “absurd” and “silly” to racists.

Facebook chose not to act on militia complaints before Kenosha shooting. Multiple users reported the account for inciting violence, but were told it did not violate platform policy.

Megyn Kelly was making racist comments long before 'blackface.' NBC hired her anyway. Megyn Kelly is reportedly on her way out of the Today Show and maybe NBC. Her past racial demagoguery should have disqualified her in the first place.

Kamala Harris delivers rebuke of Trump's COVID-19 response. "Donald Trump froze. He was scared. He was petty and vindictive," Harris said of his early response to the outbreak in the US. "Even now, some eight months into this crisis, Donald Trump still won't take responsibility. He still won't act," Harris said. -- And the followers of the Trump cult don’t give a shit.

CDC director walks back testing guidance, but does not alter recommendations on website. Public health experts say that testing anyone who has been exposed to COVID-19 is crucial to controlling the pandemic.

Abbott Laboratories granted authorization for a COVID-19 portable antigen test that can deliver results within 15 minutes and will sell for $5.

TCU asks sorority houses to quarantine as school becomes one of the nation’s COVID-19 collegiate hotbeds.

A far-right terrorist who killed 51 Muslim worshipers in New Zealand's worst mass shooting in modern history will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole, the first time such a sentence has been handed down in the country's courts.

LG unveils a battery-powered air purifying mask. The battery life will range from 8 hours on low settings to 2 hours on high.

Middle school para-educator in Forks arrested for rape of child.

Stressed elephants at Warsaw zoo to be given medical marijuana.

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

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