Monday, November 30, 2020

And another day of ‘urgent actions’ needed, stay-at-home orders, determining who gets priority, resignations, a ‘firehose of falsehoods,’ another metal monolith appears, and a Sean Hannity quote--no, really--comes to a close:

“I don’t vet the information on this program that I give out.” -- Sean Hannity

“Quit using socialism to frankly cover your racism.” — Rex Chapman

Deaths

US: 274,332 (+1260)

World: 1,473,822 (+8727)

Cases

US: 13,919,870 (+169,466)

World: 63,587,843 (+517,564)

Countdown 1: 36 days.

Countdown 2: 51 days.

U.S. reported more COVID-19 cases in November than most countries had all year. -- That is representative of our federal government.

'Urgent actions' needed in US government response to pandemic, watchdog says. States and US territories are concerned about ongoing shortages of some Covid-19 testing materials and medical supplies, including rapid point-of-care tests and reagents needed for testing and nitrile gloves, an October GAO survey found. About one-third of states that responded said they were "greatly" or "completely" concerned about having enough vaccine-related supplies to administer a potential Covid-19 vaccine, and another 21 states said they were "moderately concerned."

Los Angeles County -- the biggest county in the US -- is now under a stay-at-home order.

Two coronavirus vaccines available in U.S. in coming weeks: U.S. health secretary.

Covid-19: Moderna submits vaccine for FDA regulatory approval. Recent vaccine developments have been met with optimism among scientists and stock markets, but experts also urge caution until more data is released.

Who will get the coronavirus vaccine first? Governors will determine who gets priority, health secretary says.

Covid-19 vaccines face a varied and powerful misinformation movement online. New research shows the bigger threat to public trust in a Covid-19 vaccine comes from smaller, better-connected Facebook groups.

Articles of impeachment filed against GOP Ohio governor over coronavirus orders. The group of state Republican lawmakers argues that DeWine violated Ohioans' civil liberties by issuing a stay-at-home order and requiring them to wear masks. They have argued that the face covering rule "promotes fear, turns neighbors against neighbors, and contracts the economy by making people fearful to leave their homes." 

Covid-19 infections have dropped by "roughly" 30% in England during the second national lockdown, new research suggests.

Scott Atlas resigns as coronavirus adviser to Trump. — Good. He caused a lot of damage during his short tenure.

Pentagon shake-up continues as another top official departs. The top official leading the Pentagon's Defeat-ISIS Task Force resigned Monday, becoming the latest senior official to be fired or asked to resign in recent days, part of a White House-directed post-election purge that saw some of the senior-most Defense Department civilians ousted in a matter of days.

Georgia Republican officials reject Trump's calls to overturn election results.

'Firehose of falsehood:' How Trump is trying to confuse the public about the election outcome. On Sunday's "Reliable Sources," Jonathan Rauch placed Trump's recent statements in the context of information warfare. Trump is running a "classic Russian-style disinfo campaign," known as the "firehose of falsehood," which is when you "push out as many different stories and conspiracy theories and lies and half-truths as you possibly can," Rauch said. "The goal here is to confuse people, and he's doing very well at that. This is a classic propaganda tactic." Craig Mazin, the creator of HBO's "Chernobyl," reacted to my segment with Rauch by reprising one of the most memorable lines from his series: "The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all."

‘Mercenary’ donor sold access for millions in foreign money. As an elite political fundraiser, Imaad Zuberi had the ear of top Democrats and Republicans alike — a reach that included private meetings with then-Vice President Joe Biden and VIP access at Donald Trump’s inauguration...But federal prosecutors say Zuberi’s life was built on a series of lies and the lucrative enterprise of funding American political campaigns and profiting from the resulting influence.

It’s easy to assume pawnshops are doing great in the pandemic. It’s also wrong. It’s not just about the guns and gold: Loans are at the core of the pawn business.

Canada plans digital tax in 2022 on global tech giants such as Facebook, Google.

Alligators can regrow their tails, new study finds. Researchers were surprised to discover that juvenile alligators also have the ability to regrow their tails up to 9 inches, or up to 18% of their total body length, according to a new study in Scientific Reports.

‘Sistine Chapel of the ancients' rock art discovered in remote Amazon forest. Hailed as “the Sistine Chapel of the ancients”, archaeologists have found tens of thousands of paintings of animals and humans created up to 12,500 years ago across cliff faces that stretch across nearly eight miles in Colombia. Their date is based partly on their depictions of now-extinct ice age animals, such as the mastodon, a prehistoric relative of the elephant that hasn’t roamed South America for at least 12,000 years. There are also images of the palaeolama, an extinct camelid, as well as giant sloths and ice age horses.

A metal monolith appeared at a scenic spot in northern Romania over the weekend after a similar structure was discovered – and then disappeared – in the Utah desert.

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

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

Sunday, November 29, 2020

And another day of announcements, a smorgasbord of disinformation, virus deaths, mink farms, hurt fish, and the case of the now missing monolith comes to a close:

"I think that a sitting U.S. senator exploiting his office, exploiting his access to privileged information, exploiting his power to enrich himself while his own constituents are suffering and dying absolutely makes Senator Perdue a crook." -- Jon Ossoff

"If your state isn’t asking you to dine in your bubble, remember the leaders don’t care about you. If you die or get sick, their life will not change. They were not elected because of their skill at comprehending a crisis." — Andy Slavitt

Deaths

US: 273,072 (+818)

World: 1,465,095 (+6983)

Cases

US: 13,750,404 (+140,047)

World: 63,070,279 (+505,830)

Countdown 1: 37 days.

Countdown 2: 52 days.

Biden announces all-female senior White House communications team.

Biden is strongly considering Rahm Emanuel to run the Department of Transportation.

Trump's first interview since losing reelection was a smorgasbord of disinformation. The president spread conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines, mail-in voting, and more.

Graphic: Coronavirus deaths in the U.S., per day.

Virus Deaths Approach Spring Record Amid Changing U.S. Crisis.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis announces he has tested positive for COVID-19.

An Oregon mink farm has reported a coronavirus outbreak among farmworkers and minks. The virus has been detected in mink in seven countries as well as in Utah, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Supreme Court to hear arguments on Trump administration's attempt to exclude undocumented immigrants from census.

Sydney records hottest November night on record.

Canada moves to limit prescription drug exports after Trump order.

Vanderbilt University senior Sarah Fuller makes history as the first woman to play in a Power 5 football game.

Catch and Release Fishing Might Hurt Fish More Than Thought. Fish can’t suck up food as well after having a hole poked in their mouth by a fishing hook.

Mystery metal monolith vanishes from Utah desert.

RIP David Prowse. He was 85. 

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

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

Friday, November 27, 2020

And another day of cases, hospitalizations, stay-home orders, national secrets, women journalists, neanderthals, and an ancient whale comes to a close:

“All the people like us are we, and everyone else is They.” -- Rudyard Kipling

Deaths

US: 271,026 (+1471)

World: 1,449,114 (+11,279)

Cases

US: 13,454,254 (+205,578)

World: 61,988,054 (+679,938)

Countdown 1: 39 days.

Countdown 2: 54 days.

U.S. counts 13M Covid-19 cases, its fourth million-milestone of November. More than 3.8 million people have contracted the disease since the start of the month.

US COVID-19 hospitalizations surpass 90,000 in new record.

Biden admin COVID policy seen as more supportive for state efforts.

To Combat The Pandemic, Biden Will Aim To Depoliticize Mask-Wearing.

A U.S. advisory panel will meet next week to recommend who should be first in line when a COVID-19 vaccine gets a green light.

Los Angeles County issues new stay-at-home order and bans all gatherings as Covid-19 cases surge.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered at least two people executed, banned fishing at sea and locked down the capital as part of frantic efforts to guard against Covid-19 and its economic damage, South Korea’s spy agency says.

Former presidents are entitled to classified briefings. Some ex-intel officials think President Trump shouldn't get access to any national secrets when he leaves office. They argue soon-to-be-former President Trump already poses a danger because of the secrets he currently possesses, and they say it would be foolish to trust him with more sensitive information. With Trump's real estate empire under financial pressure and his brand suffering, they worry he will see American secrets as a profit center. — And they are correct. 

Women journalists are facing a growing threat online and offline.

Neanderthals may have used their hands differently from humans. "If you were to shake a Neanderthal hand you would notice this difference.”

Ancient 40ft-long whale skeleton discovered in Thailand.

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

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

Thursday, November 26, 2020

And another day comes to a close:

“Have a very good reason for everything you do.” -- Laurence Olivier

Deaths

US: 269,555 (+1336)

World: 1,437,835 (+11,012)

Cases

US: 13,248,676 (+110,714)

World: 61,308,116 (+588,180)

Countdown 1: 40 days.

Countdown 2: 55 days.

Supreme Court blocks New York coronavirus limits on houses of worship. As coronavirus cases surge again nationwide the Supreme Court late Wednesday barred New York from enforcing certain limits on attendance at churches and synagogues in areas designated as hard hit by the virus.

Thanksgiving is not the only reason COVID cases are spiking in Canada.

Walt Disney said it would lay off 32,000 workers, primarily at its theme parks, an increase from the 28,000 it announced in September, as the company struggles with limited customers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 3 billion people affected by water shortages, data shows. Water shortages are now affecting more than 3 billion people around the world, as the amount of fresh water available for each person has plunged by a fifth over two decades, data has shown.

Culled minks rise from mass grave in Denmark. A rushed cull of Denmark’s minks over concerns about a coronavirus mutation has left the country facing a new horror, as cadavers of the animals re-emerge from the earth.

Weekend scorcher: Australia braces for first major heat wave of fire season.

A Venezuelan judge has found six American oil executives guilty of corruption and sentenced each to more than eight years in prison. The Citgo employees were lured to Venezuela for a business meeting three years ago and arrested.

Controversial 'virginity tests' sold by UK clinics. The intrusive tests are considered a violation of human rights by the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations, which want to see them banned. Critics say they are unscientific, cannot prove whether someone is a virgin and can be a form of abuse. The tests involve a vaginal examination to check if the hymen is intact. The BBC investigation found a number of private clinics advertising "virginity repair" which, when contacted, then also offered the so-called virginity test for between £150-£300.

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

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

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

And another day of ‘catastrophic loss,’ unemployment, a “full pardon,” escalating executions, last-minute policies, masking up, impeccable timing, strained relationships, looking for intimacy during Covid-19, and the death of a soccer legend comes to a close:

Deaths

US: 268,219 (+2328)

World: 1,426,823 (+12,143)

Cases

US: 13,137,962 (+182,955)

World: 60,719,936 (+617,125)

Countdown 1: 41 days.

Countdown 2: 56 days.

'Catastrophic loss of medical care' possible if Washington's COVID-19 numbers skyrocket. Now doctors are seriously worried they will have to choose which patients receive lifesaving care if Washington state's COVID-19 numbers continue to skyrocket.

Another 778,000 Americans filed unemployment claims last week.

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he has "granted a Full Pardon" to his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, wrapping up the retired general's long legal drama over his communications with a top Russian diplomat that Trump's Justice Department sought to end...Flynn, who was Trump's first national security adviser, pleaded guilty twice to lying to the FBI during its investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign about his conversations with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition -- Trump again, abusing his power.

Trump phones into Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers' baseless voter fraud event after canceling trip. Speaking Wednesday as a witness via speakerphone during the event, Trump once again falsely claimed that he won the 2020 presidential election. He made unproven, unspecified allegations of voter fraud, ballot dumping and voter suppression against his supporters. State and local election officials have said there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud, and both a federal court and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court have dismissed lawsuits seeking to prevent the state from certifying the results of the election. Pennsylvania officially certified the results on Tuesday, sealing Biden's win in the key battleground state.

Trump Is Leaving the White House. Meanwhile, He’s Escalating His Execution Spree. The day after his execution, which was the first carried out by a lame duck president in more than a century, the administration announced that it would be doubling down on its killing spree: Another three inmates would be executed in the weeks leading up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, bringing the total number of inmates scheduled to die during the lame duck session to six. As I have often noted, Trump loves the death penalty.

Trump Races to Weaken Environmental and Worker Protections, and Implement Other Last-Minute Policies, Before Jan. 20. The Trump administration is rushing to approve dozens of eleventh-hour policy changes. Among them: The Justice Department is fast-tracking a rule that could reintroduce firing squads and electrocutions to federal executions. The rule cleared White House review on Nov. 6, meaning it could be finalized any day...Other less dramatic-sounding rules could prove harder to unravel and have broader consequences. In particular, the Environmental Protection Agency is on the cusp of finalizing several rules that would make it harder to justify pollution restrictions or lock in soot levels for at least five years.

Biden urges Americans to recommit to fighting pandemic in Thanksgiving address. "I know the country's grown weary of the fight. But we need to remember, we're at war with the virus, not with one another. Not with each other. This is the moment where we need to steel our spines, redouble our efforts and recommit ourselves to the fight.”

What can states do to save jobs? Order people to mask up. As debates over wearing masks continue to divide Americans, new research shows that covering your face isn't only good for public health — it can also boost the economy. That's according to a working paper by four professors at the University of Utah who analyzed information on people's movements and credit card spending between February and the present. Their findings: When a state required mask-wearing, people moved around more and spent more money. They increased their spending by an average of $24 per month per person, boosting economic growth.

Alabama head football coach Nick Saban tests positive for COVID-19 again.

With US in COVID-19 panic, Sen. Perdue saw stock opportunity. But for Sen. David Perdue, a Georgia Republican, the crisis last March signaled something else: a stock buying opportunity. And for the second time in less than two months, Perdue’s timing was impeccable. He avoided a sharp loss and reaped a stunning gain by selling and then buying the same stock: Cardlytics, an Atlanta-based financial technology company on whose board of directors he once served.

Many people say their closest relationships have either ended or evolved due to the many challenges brought on by the pandemic. With coronavirus cases rising exponentially, people are living at different levels of risk. And it’s causing a strain with some of their closest relationships.

President-elect Joe Biden nominates the first woman to lead intelligence and first Latino to head homeland security.

Indigenous people across the US want their land back -- and the movement is gaining momentum. Around this time every year, Americans come together to share a feast commemorating a myth about its first inhabitants. An indigenous tribe did eat with the Pilgrims in 1621 and sign a treaty with the colonists that had settled on their shores -- an act of survival rather one of goodwill and friendship. But the relationship would eventually break down, decimating the tribe's population and whittling away its land. Nearly 400 years later, the descendants of the very tribe at the heart of the Thanksgiving holiday are still fighting to reclaim their lands -- a fight that ironically hinges on whether or not the tribe meets the federal government's definition of "Indian."

McConnell pushed Trump to nominate Coney Barrett on the night of Ginsburg's death. -- Of course he did. McConnell has caused more damage to this country than anyone else over the past decade or so.

How can you cut back on food waste this Thanksgiving? The billions of pounds in food waste Americans throw away each year amounts to almost 40% of the entire food supply, and emits millions of tons in greenhouse gases in landfills. The most wasteful time of the year are the holidays.

The pandemic is changing Hollywood, maybe forever.

Virtual sex is trending as millennials and Gen Z look for intimacy during COVID-19 pandemic, survey finds. According to a recent survey of 2,000 unmarried millennials and Gen Z folks — all under 35 years old — six in 10 have engaged in virtual sex at some point since the pandemic started. Nearly 75% of that subgroup had virtual sex for the first time, the study found...As for what actually happens during virtual sex, talking and showing skin and body parts was the usual form of play for 51% of those who had virtual sex, the study found. Twenty-six percent said their virtual sex involved one person masturbating, while 23% said both partners masturbated during the session.

Virus-Killing UV Lamps Are Burning People's Eyes, Doctors Warn.

For the first time, scientists detect the ghostly signal that reveals the engine of the universe. Neutrinos from a long-theorized nuclear fusion reaction in the sun have been definitively observed, confirming the process that powers most stars.

RIP Diego Maradona. He was 60. “Pure genius.”

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

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

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

And another day of risk assessment, record highs, YouTube bans, an unequal justice system, food insecurity, Parler, diplomatic immunity, underpaid employees, guilty pleas, unhappy parents, free period products, and a monolith in the desert comes to a close:

“Before Trump, conspiratorial thinking and authoritarianism were already embedded within the Republican Party, but they weren't nearly so prominent nor so mainstream. He has made them defining characteristics of the modern GOP - and that will not end on January 20th, 2021.” —  Brian Klaas

Deaths

US: 265,891 (+2204)

World: 1,414,680 (+12,799)

Cases

US: 12,955,007 (+177,833)

World: 60,102,811 (+589,546)

Countdown 1: 42 days.

Countdown 2: 57 days.

Here is a COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool. This map shows the risk level of attending an event, given the event size and location. — This is pretty cool. It’s free, peer-reviewed, and a scientific way for the public to assess the risk of attending just about any size gathering in every county in the country.

A negative Covid-19 test yesterday doesn’t mean you’re safe tomorrow, US surgeon general says.

The CDC is finalizing plans to shorten the recommended length of quarantine for those exposed to Covid-19, the agency says.

Covid-19 is taking a devastating toll on Filipino American nurses. Nearly a third of the nurses who've died of coronavirus in the US are Filipino, even though Filipino nurses make up just 4% of the nursing population nationwide.

Covid-19 outbreaks in nursing homes hit record high.

Top epidemiologist says Sweden has no signs of herd immunity curbing coronavirus.

Trump tells confidants he plans to pardon Michael Flynn. Trump has told confidants he plans to pardon his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts. -- And Trump fired Flynn.

Dow closes above 30,000 for first time in history on hopes of economic recovery under Biden.

There Is No Democratic Reckoning Coming Over Their Unexpected Election Losses. The resistance from Democratic leaders to engage with some of the conversations about where the party has failed infuriates activists, who want to be a part of open discussions about how to win nationally...“There may be nothing that Democrats can do to hold on to the House, given the weight of history. But they really need to think about what they can do as a majority to hold that majority? And that, to me, requires soul-searching,” Kondik, of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, said. “I don't know what the answers are. There may not be an answer. It may be that they’re screwed.”

47 percent of voters support Donald Trump running for president in 2024.

OANN banned from posting YouTube videos for a week. One America News Network, one of President Trump’s favorite media outlets, has been banned from posting new videos to YouTube for a week for spreading Covid-19 misinformation, YouTube said on Tuesday. -- Remember, OANN does not report the actual news. It’s disinformation. Don’t watch it.

What Kyle Rittenhouse’s $2 Million Fundraiser Reveals About the Unequal System of Justice in America. The same day he walked free, a Black mother struggled to raise money to cover her son’s funeral costs.

More than 50 million Americans facing hunger in 2020, projections show. That translates to 1 in 6 people, including 1 in 4 children, experiencing food insecurity this year.

28 migrant children and their parents face deportation after refusing to be separated. This summer, ICE gave the parents the choice between keeping their children with them in detention or releasing their children from detention without them.

After a summer of protests, Seattle cuts police department budget by nearly 17%.

David Dinkins, who broke barriers as New York City’s first African American mayor, but was doomed to a single term by a soaring murder rate, stubborn unemployment and his mishandling of a riot in Brooklyn, has died. He was 93.

Black Babies In Kansas Are Twice As Likely As White Kids To Die Before Their First Birthday. Medical experts say social inequality and racism in medicine can be deadly for Black infants, mothers and families.

Parler — a "free speech" social media platform that's now No. 4 in the news category on the Apple App Store — has become a way station for hate speech and misinformation that Twitter and Facebook wouldn’t allow. The site is also where many Trump supporters are spreading the false narrative that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. The burgeoning influence of Parler is part of a broader trend of fringe outlets like One America News and Newsmax hoping to reel in an audience of Trump loyalists, especially after he leaves office...”This follows a pattern of what the right wing has done [since] the rise of talk radio in the ’80s, and then through live cable TV, and then the rise of social media,” Lawrence Rosenthal, the chair of the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Right-Wing Studies, told Recode. “In each case, what you found is that the right wing gives up on participating in mainstream media and creates an alternative universe.”

Will Trump’s Accusers Finally Get Their Day in Court? He soon will be unable to hide from the women suing him for defamation.

Parents Of Man Killed In U.K. Crash Lose Their Challenge To U.S. Diplomatic Immunity. — Diplomatic Immunity is bullshit.

A new report shows just how underpaid employees of companies like Walmart and McDonald’s are, by revealing how many of them need to lean on government assistance programs as they eke out a living.

Purdue Pharma is expected to plead guilty to federal conspiracy and kickback charges, and acknowledge its aggressive marketing of opioids helped propel an addiction crisis that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Members of law enforcement sue to halt marijuana legalization in South Dakota. A South Dakota sheriff and a colonel in the state highway patrol on Friday filed a lawsuit challenging a voter referendum legalizing recreational marijuana use in the state.

People of color face significant barriers to mental health services.

Decades of studies have shown parents to be less happy than their childless peers. But are the kids to blame?

With passage of new legislation Tuesday, Scotland will become the world's first country to make period products free for anyone who needs them. The Scottish Parliament unanimously passed the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill — which is designed to create a legal obligation for the government to ensure sanitary products are free and accessible for all who menstruate, including tampons and pads in public facilities nationwide.

Country music singer Hal Ketchum passed away at the age of 67 due to complications from dementia, his wife said.

Mysterious monolith discovered in Utah desert. The sleek metal structure embedded in the ground is at least 10 feet tall, and no one seems to know how it got there.

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

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