Saturday, August 1, 2020

And another day of contradictions, voter suppression, foreign threats, women leaders, protests, ‘good White people,’ pressure from Pence, GOP convention closes to the press, cheetahs as pets, and British Columbia promotes safer sex all comes to a close:

“We are asking Americans to defy how we’ve been trained. We bestow everyone here with the belief that if we look out for ourselves, capitalism & individualism will somehow benefit society. While that strategy has created great wealth, it has made for a selfish nation.” -- Andy Slavitt

Deaths

US: 157,898 (+1151)

World: 688,683 (+5685)

Cases

US: 4,764,318 (+58,429)

World: 18,011,866 (+254,365)

Countdown: 94 days.

Trump's own intelligence officials contradict his repeated claims of mail-in voting fraud. US intelligence officials on Friday discounted the possibility of foreign countries mass producing fake ballots to interfere in the November elections, contradicting President Donald Trump's continued insistence that mail-in voting poses a significant threat to election security.

Trump campaign fighting to make it harder for Democrats to vote by mail. -- Republicans go out of their way to make it difficult for people to vote. That should say all there is that needs to be said.

Foreign threats loom ahead of US presidential election. Intelligence officials confirmed in recent days that foreign actors are actively seeking to compromise the private communications of “U.S. political campaigns, candidates and other political targets” while working to compromise the nation’s election infrastructure. Foreign entities are also aggressively spreading disinformation intended to sow voter confusion heading into the fall. There is no evidence that America’s enemies have yet succeeded in penetrating campaigns or state election systems, but Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential campaign confirmed this week that it has faced multiple related threats.

Alexander Vindman: Coming forward ended my career. I still believe doing what’s right matters. “Our national government during the past few years has been more reminiscent of the authoritarian regime my family fled more than 40 years ago than the country I have devoted my life to serving.”

“We have little national culture of caring about each other and our society as much as we do ourselves.” -- Andy Slavitt

How women leaders outperform men during pandemic. Previous studies have found that women are more risk averse and favour a style of leadership that is empathetic and science-based.

Democratic Representative Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) says he’s been infected with the coronavirus.

Lockdown has returned to the north of England - and still nobody knows what's going on.

Thousands protest in Berlin against coronavirus restrictions. Unlike the U.S., Brazil and Britain, Germany’s government has been praised worldwide for its management of the pandemic. The country’s death toll — just over 9,150 people out of more than 210,670 confirmed virus cases as of Saturday - is five times less than Britain's, which has a smaller population.

“We’re belittling science just as we expect it to rescue us.” -- Andy Slavitt

Portland protest peaceful after federal presence reduced. -- This should shock no one.

How 'good White people' derail racial progress. Yet any attack against entrenched racism will run into one of the most formidable barriers for true change: Good White people. The media loves to focus on the easy villains who get busted on cell phone videos acting like racists. But some scholars and activists say good White people -- the progressive folks in Blue states, the kind who would have voted for Obama a third time if they could -- are some of the most tenacious supporters of systemic racism. Many are such dangerous opponents of racial progress because their targets can't see their racism coming -- and often, neither can they. Scholars say these people are often motivated by unconscious racism they are loath to admit and disguise their racial hostility with innocuous-sounding terms like "neighborhood schools" and "property values."

Oklahoma State Rep Threatens Thunder's Tax Breaks If Players Kneel for Anthem. -- Again, for the gazillionth time. This is not about the American flag or the National Anthem. And “defunding the police” does not mean “Marxism” with efforts to “destroy nuclear families.” Jesus Christ this guy. Stop trying to change the subject and deflect the issue.

Despite concern, Navy gave Greitens ‘red carpet’ return after pressure from VP Pence. The Navy and the SEALs did just that, and found they didn’t want him...McLane’s conclusion: “If the subsequent investigations confirm what we know now, I cannot see a situation in which I could sign any waivers in good conscience.” As documents show, McLane’s objections would quickly be reversed as political pressure intensified. -- Well this is interesting.

GOP convention in Charlotte closed to press, portions will be livestreamed. -- Wouldn’t that be something if they nominated someone different?

If the GOP decision stands, it will mark the first party nominating convention in modern history to be closed to reporters.

Trump secretly recorded boasting about how many retweets he got for backing Confederate-named base.

While tackling COVID-19 Europe is being stalked by a shadow pandemic: Domestic violence.

Tired of living in fear, some Latinos are buying guns to feel more safe.

Connie Culp, the first person to receive a near-total face transplant in the US, has died.

At least 86 die from liquor poisoning in Indian state of Punjab.

Red onions linked to salmonella outbreak that has sickened people in 31 states.

Resurgence of single-use plastics amid coronavirus crisis has environmentalists worried.

Demand for cheetahs as pets is leading to their extinction. One of the lucky ones, Vickey was rescued from traders in the East African self-declared state of Somaliland. She would otherwise likely have been shipped to the Middle East, where many cheetahs are kept as pets — status symbols for the rich, who flaunt them on social media.

It turns out, butterflies are very cool. They can be trained to detect light of a certain color. Some have "hearts" in their wings. And they have photoreceptors in… their genitals.

Try ‘glory holes’ for safer sex during coronavirus, B.C. CDC says. — I love Canada. 

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

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