Sunday, December 5, 2021

And another day of rising cases, Canadian labor shortage, students fed up with racist slurs and bullying, racism in AI, Negro League players finally reach the HOF, Reality Winner, supervised injection sites, and a ‘potentially hazardous’ asteroid comes to a close:

“Even if you wanted to, you can’t stop abortion, you can only make it unsafe. You can’t stop drug use, you can only make it unsafe. You can’t stop asylum seeking, you can only make it unsafe. You can’t stop sex work, you can only make it unsafe. This is like, really basic shit...: -- A Sheep Puppet

“That's going to be the story of these terrible years: not the faceless, insidious public health threat that attacked us—but of the cruelty and selfishness of those we know and love and live with, who said no to compassion when it called.” — John Pavlovitz

“Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene aren't fringe. They're leading indicators of an increasingly violent, paranoid style of right wing politics. They claim to speak for the base. Given that GOP leaders won't censure them, are they wrong?” — Greg Sargent

Deaths

US: 808,763 (+155)

World: 5,270,662 (+6580)

Cases

US: 49,969,856 (+35,065)

World: 266,123,730 (+421,224)

The US is averaging more than 100,000 new Covid-19 cases a day, the highest level in two months. Also on the rise is the number of Covid-19 deaths, with a seven-day average of 1,651 people dying from the virus each day as of Saturday, the JHU data showed. Average daily deaths haven't been this high in more than a month.

While the omicron variant of the coronavirus is rapidly spreading throughout the country, early indications suggest it may be less dangerous than the delta variant, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser.

Canadian employers, facing labor shortage, accommodate the unvaccinated. Canada's tight labor market is forcing many companies to offer regular Covid-19 testing over vaccine mandates, while others are reversing previously announced inoculation requirements even as Omicron variant cases rise.

Violence as French far-right TV pundit holds campaign rally. Anti-racism activists were beaten up Sunday as far-right former French TV pundit Eric Zemmour held his first presidential campaign rally near Paris, a few days after he formally declared his candidacy in a video that highlighted his anti-migrant and anti-Islam views.

Democracy is 'failed' or 'in trouble' among young voters, a new poll shows. The largest segment of this block of Americans is the non-college segment and they're not fans of the Biden White House.

Students are fed up with racist slurs and bullying. Now they're walking out of class. Some Black students are being told they stink while others are being called monkeys by their White peers. The n-word has been written on the walls of school restrooms as other students are the targets of racist rants on social media. Students of color are facing racial slurs and bullying in and outside the classroom, and many who are fed up have been walking out of class, speaking at board meetings and even suing school districts.

Vandals defaced tunnels near Idaho's Anne Frank memorial with anti-Semitic graffiti, including swastikas, police say. As millions of Jewish people across the country celebrate Hanukkah, police say vandals painted anti-Semitic messages and symbols in tunnels near Idaho's Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial on Friday.

We Must Get Racism Out of Automated Decision-Making. Artificial Intelligence systems are developed in ways that don't adequately take into account existing racism, sexism and other inequities. This results in invisible, but very real discrimination.

Negro League baseball players earn spots in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Baseball legends who played in the Negro Leagues are finally getting a chance to take their rightful place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Reality Winner says she leaked classified material to serve American people.

Bob Dole, former Republican senator, presidential candidate and World War II hero, dies at age 98. Dole survived life-threatening wounds in World War II to become a shepherd of the Republican Party.

A San Francisco restaurant was hit with a wave of negative reviews after it made headlines for asking uniformed police officers to leave, saying the presence of guns made staff uncomfortable.

Supervised injection sites have reversed 9 overdoses since opening in NYC. It's been less than a week since New York City opened its first supervised injection sites, and the mayor says many lives have already been saved...The mayor says workers intervened as overdoses were happening. The drug injection centers are the first of their kind in the nation.

NASA says huge, "potentially hazardous" asteroid will break into Earth's orbit next week. On Dec. 11, NASA expects asteroid 4660 Nereus to be at its closest point to Earth over a 20-year period.

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

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