Thursday, November 11, 2021

And another day of Covid hot spots, helping Manchin, censuring Gosar amid nothing but silence, more book bans and wanting them burned, extreme heat, a brothel offering vouchers for vaccinations, and sex in sand dunes comes to a close:

"The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” — George Orwell, 1984

Deaths

US: 780,775 (+673)

World: 5,095,268 (+7272)

Cases

US: 47,693,516 (+45,771)

World: 252,635,821 (+524,600)

COVID-19 hot spots offer sign of what could be ahead for US. The contagious delta variant is driving up COVID-19 hospitalizations in the Mountain West and fueling disruptive outbreaks in the North, a worrisome sign of what could be ahead this winter in the U.S. While trends are improving in Florida, Texas and other Southern states that bore the worst of the summer surge, it’s clear that delta isn’t done with the United States. COVID-19 is moving north and west for the winter as people head indoors, close their windows and breathe stagnant air.

Republican billionaire helping Manchin raise funds. Republican billionaire Ken Langone says he is going to hold “one of the biggest fundraisers” he’s had for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) “I’m going to have one of the biggest fundraisers I’ve ever had for him,” Langone said Wednesday on CNBC’s "Squawk Box." “He’s special. He’s precious. He’s a great American.” Manchin, a moderate Democrat, has become a key vote as Democrats negotiate President Biden’s $1.75 trillion social spending package, which includes universal pre-K, investments in climate change and expansions in Medicare.

Democrats move to censure Paul Gosar over anime fantasy of killing AOC. “For a member of Congress to post a manipulated video on his social media accounts depicting himself killing Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Biden is a clear cut case for censure,” the members said in a statement announcing their intent to introduce a censure resolution. “For that Member to post such a video on his official Instagram account and use his official congressional resources in the House of Representatives to further violence against elected officials goes beyond the pale.”

GOP leaders say little to condemn violent political rhetoric. In the past week, Republican Rep. Paul Gosar tweeted a video showing a character with his face killing a figure with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s face. Several of the 13 House Republicans who backed a bipartisan infrastructure bill said they faced threats after their vote. In one profanity-laced voicemail, a caller labeled Rep. Fred Upton a “traitor” and wished death for the Michigan Republican, his family and staff. The response from Republican leaders? Silence.

Court temporarily delays release of Trump’s Jan. 6 records. A federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily blocked the release of White House records sought by a U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, granting — for now — a request from former President Donald Trump.

Spotsylvania School Board orders libraries to remove 'sexually explicit' books. The board voted 6–0 to order the removal. Berkeley District representative Erin Grampp was not in attendance for the vote on that issue. Two board members, Courtland representative Rabih Abuismail and Livingston representative Kirk Twigg, said they would like to see the removed books burned. “I think we should throw those books in a fire,” Abuismail said, and Twigg said he wants to “see the books before we burn them so we can identify within our community that we are eradicating this bad stuff.” —   The book ”33 Snowfish” by Adam Rapp prompted this round of irrationality. 

With US aid money, schools put bigger focus on mental health. While school districts have broad latitude on how to spend the aid money, the urgency of the problem has been driven home by absenteeism, behavioral issues, and quieter signs of distress as many students have returned to school buildings this fall for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Exposure to extreme heat has tripled since 1983. “As the population increases in these megacities, you have more buildings, more concrete and an increased heat-island effect, making the heat waves worse,” Coumou said. “I think it’s a dangerous combination.”

Decades after an abusive Christian boarding home closed, women are searching for the children they were forced to give up for adoption. In the 1970s and ’80s, Bethesda forced pregnant girls to give up their newborns for adoption to Christian families who paid a $250 “love gift” to the home, according to an NBC News investigation based on court records and interviews. A former judicial officer recently called the facility a “baby selling factory.” -- Most of Christianity is a ruse. It’s sanctioned authoritarianism. 

In Portugal, it's now illegal for your boss to call outside work hours. The country recently introduced a law that bans employers from contacting workers outside of their regular hours by phone, message or email. "The employer must respect the privacy of the worker," including periods of rest and family time, the new law stipulates. Any violation, it continues, constitutes a "serious" offense and could result in a fine. A similar rule gave French workers the right to ignore after-hours business emails in 2017.

Austrian brothel offering vouchers for vaccinations. The initiative comes as Austria’s government announced Monday it would allow brothels to resume operation after the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to close.

Tourists having sex in the dunes is ruining a Spanish beach. Tourists trample over the vegetation, remove plants and sand, make their own "nests" -- even fencing them off -- and dump waste including cigarettes, condoms, toilet paper, wipes and cans. They also use the dunes as a toilet, with researchers finding "urination and defecation locations."

South Korea demonstrated a system for controlling urban air mobility vehicles (UAM) on Thursday, which it hopes will serve as taxis between major airports and downtown Seoul as soon as 2025, cutting travel time by two-thirds.

A hidden black hole has been discovered in our neighboring galaxy. Astronomers found it by using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. It's the first time this way of detecting a black hole has been used.

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

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