Friday, October 8, 2021

And another day of misinformation, increase in vaccines, blinking, executive privilege, TX moves to reinstate abortion law, Gruden’s racist comments, CA prohibiting “stealthing,” and banning books comes to a close:

“The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.” -- Chief Joseph

Deaths

US: 732,477 (+5203 over two days)

World: 4,856,786 (+17,366 over two days)

Cases

US: 45,135,620 (+296,200 (over two days)

World: 237,972,771 (+923,480 over two days)

Americans agree misinformation is a problem, poll shows. Nearly all Americans agree that the rampant spread of misinformation is a problem. Most also think social media companies, and the people that use them, bear a good deal of blame for the situation. But few are very concerned that they themselves might be responsible…Younger adults tend to be more concerned that they’ve shared falsehoods, with 25% of those ages 18 to 29 very or extremely worried that they have spread misinformation, compared to just 14% of adults ages 60 and older. Sixty-three percent of older adults are not concerned, compared with roughly half of other Americans. Yet it’s older adults who should be more worried about spreading misinformation, given that research shows they’re more likely to share an article from a false news website, Fazio said.

Boosters, employer mandates drive increase in US vaccines. The number of Americans getting COVID-19 vaccines has steadily increased to a three-month high as seniors and people with medical conditions seek boosters, and government and employer mandates push more workers to take their first doses.

More than 120,000 US kids had caregivers die during pandemic. The number of U.S. children orphaned during the COVID-19 pandemic may be larger than previously estimated, and the toll has been far greater among Black and Hispanic Americans, a new study suggests. More than half the children who lost a primary caregiver during the pandemic belonged to those two racial groups, which make up about 40% of the U.S. population. — That’s about 1 in every 500 children in the US. 

Kaiser Permanente suspends 2,200 unvaccinated employees. “We hope none of our employees will choose to leave their jobs rather than be vaccinated, but we won’t know with certainty until then.”

Republicans say McConnell 'blinked' on debt ceiling to save the filibuster. McConnell's decision was, in part, according to his aides, based on a fear that creating a binary choice between saving the filibuster and saving the economy from a meltdown could break Manchin and Sinema as the U.S. barreled toward the Oct. 18 cliff.

Biden won’t invoke executive privilege on Trump Jan. 6 docs. The White House said Friday that President Joe Biden will not block the handover of documents sought by a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, setting up a showdown with former President Donald Trump, who wants to shield those White House records from investigators.

Texas moves to reinstate nation’s toughest abortion law. Texas on Friday asked a federal appeals court to swiftly reinstate the most restrictive abortion law in the U.S., which until this week had banned most abortions in the state since early September. The request puts the Texas law known as Senate Bill 8 back before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which previously allowed the restrictions to move forward.

Reported racist comment from Jon Gruden draws NFL rebuke. A report that Jon Gruden used a racist comment about NFL Players Association leader DeMaurice Smith in an email 10 years ago drew a strong and quick rebuke Friday from the NFL. A Wall Street Journal story noted that Gruden, then working for ESPN and now coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, referred in a racist way to Smith’s facial features.

California becomes the first state to prohibit “stealthing,” or removing a condom without permission during intercourse, after Gov. Newsom signed a bill into law. Newsom also approved a second Garcia bill, this one treating the rape of a spouse the same as the rape of a non-spouse, removing an exemption to the rape law if the victim is married to the perpetrator. “Rape is rape," she said. "And a marriage license is not an excuse for committing one of society’s most violent and sadistic crimes.”

Southlake, Texas, schools restrict classroom libraries after backlash over anti-racist book. Some teachers in the Carroll Independent School District blocked off their bookshelves in response to a new policy regulating "inappropriate" content. The fight in Southlake over which books should be allowed in schools is part of a broader national movement led by parents opposed to lessons on racism, history and LGBTQ discrimination that some conservatives have falsely branded as critical race theory. Across the country in recent months, parents groups have launched campaigns to remove books that focus on racism from schools. — All of this is bad. Read the rest.

We may have spotted a planet orbiting three stars for the first time. And we used to think the double sunsets on the Skywalker homestead on Tatooine were mind-blowing. Truth is always stranger than fiction.

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

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