Tuesday, September 1, 2020

And another day of “thugs” in the White House and Congress, an updated Dictionary, blocks, losses, threats, resignations, a “jetpack” at 3000 feet, Lewy body dementia, and a sex toy revolution comes to a close:

“Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.” -- Albert Einstein

Deaths

US: 188,900 (+1164)

World: 861,249 (+6502)

Cases

US: 6,257,571 (+45,775)

World: 25,900,699 (+267,505)

Countdown: 63 days.

Trump's 'plane loaded with thugs' conspiracy theory matches months-old rumor. The conspiracy theory that President Donald Trump pushed on Monday that a plane “almost completely loaded with thugs” was set to disrupt the Republican National Convention was almost identical to a rumor that went viral on Facebook three months ago...There is no evidence of any such flight. When Ingraham asked for more information about the flight, the president said, "I'll tell you sometime." He then alleged the people were heading to Washington to disrupt the RNC. Before mentioning the dark uniformed men who allegedly boarded a plane, Trump claimed that there are “people that are in the dark shadows” and “people that you haven’t heard of” controlling Democratic nominee Joe Biden. — What the actual fuck? He is a nut job. 

Dictionary.com announces it will capitalize the word 'Black,' among other updates. As a mark of respect and recognition, Dictionary.com announced in a press release Tuesday that it has updated its language to include capitalizing the word "Black." The word also is now a separate entry, as it refers to a person, breaking with dictionary conventions to group together words that share the same origin. "We broke that rule because it has real world consequences," Kelly told ABC News. "These have real effects on people's social identities, these meanings are personal."...Other words added to Dictionary.com regarding race and ethnicity include Afro-Latina, Afro-Latino, Afro-Latinx, Filipina, Filipinx, Pinay, Pinoy and Pinxy. The racially offensive terms "brownface" and "whitesplain" were also added.

Old Navy to pay store employees to work election polls in November.

Court temporarily blocks New York prosecutor from obtaining Trump tax returns. It was the first courtroom win for the president's lawyers in more than a year of legal wrangling over the tax returns.

Markey defeats Kennedy III in Massachusetts’ Senate primary.

Facebook said it would stop Australians from sharing news content on its platforms if a proposal to make it pay local media outlets for their content becomes law, a sharp ultimatum thrown toward the Australian government.

A different approach toward the coronavirus pandemic is taking hold at the White House, as newcomer adviser Dr. Scott Atlas eclipses Dr. Anthony Fauci in influence and President Donald Trump and aides are resigned to the virus' inevitable spread...The President and his White House chief of staff Mark Meadows have increasingly turned to Atlas, a contrarian doctor whose expertise lies in free-market health care and economic policy rather than epidemiology. Atlas, a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, joined the White House after he caught Trump's eye with appearances on Fox News. -- Welcome to the Monkey House.

Convalescent plasma not recommended to treat COVID-19, government panel says.

Texts books and face masks, Europe's children return to school.

Leonard Cohen’s estate 'exploring our legal options' after Trump plays 'Hallelujah' at RNC. — Republicans don’t play by the rules.

University of California System can't use SAT and ACT tests for admissions, judge rules.

Airline pilots reported seeing 'a guy in a jetpack' flying 3,000 feet over Los Angeles. Federal authorities are investigating after two pilots on two different flights told air-traffic control they saw a man in a jetpack near LAX on Sunday.

Lewy body dementia: The life-changing disease that devastated Robin Williams. Alzheimer's disease and dementia are two diseases that many Americans are all too familiar with, but there is another dementia that plagued the late comedian Robin Williams. It might be "the most common disease you've never heard of.”

We're in a sex toy revolution. Here's how you can join. The world of sex toys has never been more inviting, inclusive, and destigmatized than right now, offering new possibilities for women and other marginalized identities to explore their sexualities...Over the past several years, a wave of feminist sex tech companies has revolutionized the male-dominated industry by redefining toys as part of sexual health rather than an illicit perversity. With groundbreaking products engineered for a wider variety of bodies, shame-free messaging, gorgeously empowering design, and anti-male gaze marketing, companies like Dame, Maude, Crave, and Unbound ushered us into a new era of pleasure tech.

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

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