And another day of rapid-response units, mask wars, vaccine mandates, SCOTUS rejections, the TX voting bill, deep divisions on Nation’s racist history, heat waves, the Taliban, child care, affording rent, and the sound of the country going mad comes to a close:
“We want liberties and freedoms. But my freedom ends when I'm endangering your health.” — Dr. Aileen Marty
“The nurses, doctors, orderlies, and every other healthcare worker who sacrificed and risked their lives do not deserve this insanity. They held the line until vaccines arrived just to be treated with contempt from people who will demand care when they get sick - which many will.” — Dan Rather
Deaths
US: 636,298 (+662)
World: 4,347,888 (+10,300)
Cases
US: 37,203,649 (+147,733)
World: 206,229,449 (+716,537)
This Is What a Country Going Mad Sounds Like.
Census shows US is diversifying, white population shrinking. The Census Bureau issues a detailed portrait of how the U.S. has changed over the past decade, showing the white population is aging, and falling to its smallest share on record. — And now you know why the country is going mad.
Almost all of the nation's population growth was in its cities, according to new 2020 Census data released on Thursday. More than half of all counties saw their population decline since 2010.
Florida governor deploying rapid-response team to fight Covid-19 surge. As the Delta variant drives a surge of Covid-19 cases in Florida, a rapid-response unit will be deployed to administer monoclonal antibody treatments to residents infected with the virus, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday. "This is the most effective treatment that we've yet encountered for people who are infected with Covid-19," DeSantis said. "This, applied early and properly, has the ability to reduce your likelihood of being hospitalized." -- So we’ll treat the “symptom” instead of trying to prevent it from occurring in the first place? Hmmm. Someone’s going to be making money.
Florida's education commissioner is investigating 3 school districts for not complying with Gov. DeSantis' executive order that gives parents the right to opt out of their child wearing face masks at schools.
Republicans take to mask wars as virus surges in red states. The posture comes with some clear political incentives for Republicans. The party’s base has opposed mask rules for more than a year and long recoiled at the word “mandate.” Still, some within the GOP’s own ranks have begun to warn of the safety and political risks involved in making schools — and children’s health — the chief battleground for an ideological fight.
Kentucky governor to school officials trying to defy state's mask mandate: "Good luck". Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) wished officials who were considering defying a recent statewide mask mandate in schools “good luck,” and vowed that the state would hold them accountable.
New vaccine mandates from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs mean that nearly 300,000 more federal government employees are required to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
The New York State Education Department recommended that sports and other extracurricular activities that pose a high risk for spreading COVID-19 should either be canceled or conducted virtually unless participants are vaccinated.
Russia on Thursday reported its highest daily coronavirus death toll since the start of the pandemic, saying 808 people had died over the past 24 hours, as a third wave persists despite an intensifying vaccination drive.
203 cases of COVID-19 linked to Chicago’s Lollapalooza. “Nothing unexpected here,” Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said at a news conference. “No sign of a ‘superspreader event’. But clearly with hundreds of thousands of people attending Lollapalooza we would expect to see some cases.”
Supreme Court rejects challenge to Indiana University's vaccination requirement. The Supreme Court refused on Thursday to block Indiana University's requirement that students receive a Covid vaccine to attend classes in the fall semester. It was the first legal test of a Covid vaccine mandate to come before the justices. A challenge to the policy was directed to Amy Coney Barrett, the justice in charge of that region of the country, who denied it. There were no noted dissents from other justices.
First major US city announces it will mandate proof of full vaccinations for certain indoor activities. San Francisco residents age 12 and older will have to show proof they've been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to enter indoor restaurants, bars, gyms and theaters, as well as large event spaces with at least 1,000 people, Mayor London Breed announced.
New York Stock Exchange requiring vaccines for access to trading floor.
Doctor: Being called a "traitor" for advocating for masks at school board meeting "mind blowing".
Rand Paul discloses 16 months late that his wife bought stock in company behind coronavirus treatment. The investment, but especially the delayed reporting of it, alarmed experts in corporate and securities law, who said it undermined trust in government and raised questions about whether Paul's family had profited from nonpublic information about the looming health emergency and plans by the U.S. government to combat it. — He got richer by lying to you about COVID safety measures. He should be ousted from Congress and thrown in prison.
2012 Rand Paul pushed to make illegal what 2020 Rand Paul did. During a 2012 floor speech in support of the Stock Act, Paul said, “People should not profit off of their involvement in government. They shouldn’t profit off of special relationships. They shouldn’t profit off of special knowledge they gain in the function of serving the people.”
Democrats Are Running Out of Time to Protect Voting Rights. Republicans are rushing to tilt the country’s voting laws in their favor, and Democrats are running out of time to stop them. Eighteen states have already enacted 30 new laws making it harder to vote, and Texas may soon join them. Republicans could adopt new redistricting maps in a matter of weeks that could freeze Democrats out of power in key states for a decade. The GOP will likely be able to retake the House based on gerrymandering in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas alone.
“Make no mistake: If Dems don’t pass the For the People Act, the GOP is going to gerrymander their way to a House majority – and they may never give it up.” — Robert Reich
Texas Senate passes voting bill after 15-hour filibuster by Democrat. The bill, SB 1, is nearly identical to a voting bill passed by the Texas Senate in July during the legislature's first special session. But the bill's future is once again in doubt for the current special session. There are still not enough House lawmakers present for a quorum because more than 50 Democratic representatives have not been at the Capitol Building since mid-July.
Nearly a dozen new state laws shift power over elections to partisan entities. A number of states have diminished or transferred some power from secretaries of state or local election officials in what one lawyer calls a “worrying trend." — Democracy was good while it lasted.
Deep Divisions in Americans’ Views of Nation’s Racial History – and How To Address It. Just 25% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say greater attention to the history of slavery and racism is a good thing; far more (46%) view it negatively, while 29% see it as neither good nor bad. Democrats and Democratic leaners – across racial and ethnic groups – express overwhelmingly positive views of increased attention to the topic (78% say it is good for society). — The GQP is the party of racists.
Four beats five as pandemic prompts shorter working week trials. From travel to technology, employers across the globe are offering four day weeks as incentives to woo workers after the coronavirus pandemic upended their working patterns. Debate over the so-called 'Scandinavian model', which holds that productivity will rise if working hours are dropped, is not new but it has gained traction during the COVID crisis not only among companies but also the public sector and politicians.
Nearly 200 million people in the U.S. are under some form of heat advisory. Extreme heat continued to grip much of the U.S. on Thursday, with parts of the country facing the prospect of triple-digit temperatures and nearly 200 million people across 34 states under some kind of heat-related advisory.
Italy may have hit Europe's hottest day on record as anticyclone 'Lucifer' sweeps in. Authorities in Italy say the island of Sicily may have set an all-time heat record for Europe, hitting a temperature of 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.8 degrees Fahrenheit).
The Taliban have captured the strategic city of Ghazni, a provincial capital on the road to Kabul, leaving the Afghan capital increasingly beleaguered and cut off from the rest of the country.
US Embassy urges Americans to leave Afghanistan immediately. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul is urging all Americans to leave Afghanistan "immediately" as the security situation in the country continues to deteriorate due to advances made by the Taliban in key provinces amid the U.S.'s troop withdrawal.
US sending 3K troops for partial Afghan embassy evacuation. Just weeks before the U.S. is scheduled to end its war in Afghanistan, the Biden administration is rushing 3,000 fresh troops to the Kabul airport to help with a partial evacuation of the U.S. Embassy. The move highlights the stunning speed of a Taliban takeover of much of the country, including their capture on Thursday of Kandahar, the second-largest city and the birthplace of the Taliban movement.
Afghanistan gov’t offers to share power with Taliban. Kabul makes a power-sharing proposal to the Taliban in exchange for halt in escalating violence.
Tearful teacher dramatically quits job rather than call trans students by their names. Claiming that the trans-inclusive policy goes against her views as “a believer in Christ”, Laura Morris told a meeting of the school board in Loudoun County, Virginia, on 11 August that she had “struggled with the idea of returning to school” before resigning and urging others to do the same. -- Imagine the amount of hate towards another person one must have to do this. She’s going to try to get a job at a private school.
Child Care In The U.S. Is Broken. The White House Has A $225 Billion Plan To Help. Child care workers, almost all women, teach, feed and care for children from infancy up until they're ready to go to school while their parents are at work. It's hard work, Rogers says, and also essential. Now, child care is being held up as critical to the economic recovery. Since last year, Congress has delivered $50 billion of relief funds for the industry, a historic sum. And President Biden wants that level of investment to continue. As part of his American Families Plan, he's asked Congress for $225 billion over 10 years to make child care affordable or even free for working parents. He wants to raise wages for those who work in the industry to at least $15 an hour. — No, the two political parties in the US are not the same.
Nearly half of American workers don’t earn enough to afford a one-bedroom rental. Rents in the US continued to increase through the pandemic, and a worker now needs to earn about $20.40 an hour to afford a modest one-bedroom rental. The median wage in the US is about $21 an hour.
Texas charted new legal territory by becoming the first state to make buying sex a felony, a move signaling a crucial change in how the justice system has long approached prostitution. While some experts say the law reflects a new wave of systemic reform and could help trafficked sex workers by deterring demand, others say it misses the mark and instead will further tie the victims up in the legal system.
Energy to burn: teenage metabolism rate similar to adults’, says study. An international team of researchers has tracked the total daily energy expenditure of more than 6,000 people aged from eight days to 95 years, turning many tropes about metabolism on their heads.
Two new dinosaur species, as big as a blue whale, discovered in China. Scientists have confirmed the discovery of two massive new dinosaur species in northwest China -- some of the first vertebrates uncovered in the region, according to a new study published Thursday.
Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.
Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.
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