Monday, August 17, 2020
The Former First Lady Michelle Obama was a trailblazer for African American women and girls.
First Lady Michelle Obama huge Former President George W. Bush while President Obama and Former First Lady Laura Bush look on at the opening of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.
Popular commentary surrounding Michelle Obama (click here) focuses on the symbolic importance of her tenure as the nation's first African American first lady. Despite these assertions, relatively few studies have examined public opinion toward Michelle Obama and the extent to which race and gender influenced public evaluations of her. Even fewer studies have examined how the intersection of race and gender influenced political attitudes toward Michelle Obama and her ability to serve as a meaningful political symbol. Using public opinion polls from 2008 to 2017 and data from the Black Women in America survey, we examine public opinion toward Michelle Obama as a function of respondents’ race, gender, and the intersection between the two. We find that African Americans were generally more favorable toward Michelle Obama than white Americans, with minimal differences between men and women. Although white women were no more likely than white men to view Michelle Obama favorably, we find that they were more likely to have information on Michelle Obama's “Let's Move” initiative. Most importantly, we find that Michelle Obama served as a unique political symbol for African American women and that her presence in politics significantly increased black women's evaluation of their race-gender group.
Bernie, do you remember this one? 2016. It still sounds good to all of us. We love you.
Bernie wrote the rules of morality. His voice is the most voice in the decades he served. He never lets us down. If asked he is always by our side. He was the last vote for the "Patient Bill of Rights and Affordable Care Act." As an Independent, he is a vital voice. Never leave us, Bernie.
White Supremacy cannot be tolerated now or ever again.
By Stephanie Guerlis
Rep. Cedric Richmond (click here) took offense to Attorney General William Barr invoking the name of Rep. John Lewis and warned him to keep the late congressman’s name “out of his mouth.”
AG Barr is testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday amid concerns from Democrats about the conduct of the Justice Department. In his opening statement, Barr maintained that
“What I’m trying to do is restore the rule of law,” through recent interventions in the Michael Flynn and Roger Stone cases.
In his testimony, also Barr denied interfering in the upcoming 2020 elections on behalf of President Donald Trump.
Barr called the late Lewis, who died earlier this month, an “indomitable champion of civil rights and rule of law,” and highlighted his “unwavering commitment to nonviolence.”
Richmond, the Louisiana Democrat, criticized Barr for his lack of Black staff. He faulted the nation’s top prosecutor for not having his words match up to his actions.
Alabama is better with Joe Biden and Doug Jones.
By Quinn Scanlan
...Alabama Senator Doug Jones (click here) said that even if Democrats control the White House and both chambers of Congress in the new year, he thinks Joe Biden, whom he has known for 40 years, would first try to "find common ground" rather than push to eliminate the filibuster rule, which effectively makes it so at least 60 senators have to agree on legislation in order for it to pass.
"I think Joe ... is a man of the Senate, and I think what he will want to do initially, is he will want to test both Democrats and Republicans -- not one or the other -- but test both of them to try to find common ground to move things forward," Jones said on a special edition of ABC News' "Powerhouse Politics" podcast Monday, noting he hasn't spoken to Biden about the issue.
There have been growing calls within the Democratic Party to eliminate this rule, most recently and notably by former President Barack Obama, who called the filibuster a "Jim Crow relic" while eulogizing the late Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights legend, during his funeral last month.
Jones, a moderate Democrat facing perhaps the toughest Senate reelection battle this November, said he would encourage Biden to take this path, adding that he would be "very reluctant" to change the filibuster....
It is about the soul of the country.
Thank you Christy Todd Whitman (click here).
Thank you, John Kasich (click here).
Governor Whitmer believes in testing and not just for the people that surround her.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, right, prepares to get her blood drown by phlebotomist Jasmine Robles during a COVID-19 antibodies test at Sparrow Hospital's testing site at the former Sears Auto Center in the Frandor shopping center on Thursday, May 21, 2020, in Lansing. In addition to the antibodies test, Gov. Whitmer also received a nasal swab COVID-19 test.
Lansing – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (click here) signed an executive order Saturday requiring jails and prisons to test inmates for COVID-19 when they enter, transfer from or are released from their facilities.
The order also requires jails to adopt testing protocols comparable to those at the Michigan Department of Corrections before they can transfer prisoners to state facilities.
“By reducing the spread of COVID-19 in prisons and jails, we protect corrections officers and their families, incarcerated people, and the whole community,” Whitmer said.
Jails that have already resumed transfers to state facilities under a prior executive order have until Sept. 8 to comply, Whitmer's office said in a news release. The state will provide support for testing by jails through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, it said.
The order was issued as the Department of Corrections deals with 435 active COVID-19 cases, its largest spike since the spring. Most of those cases are in the Muskegon Correctional Facility, where an outbreak began three weeks ago.
The USA Postal Service is guaranteed to Americans by the USA Constitution. It cannot privatized.
Let's keep it part of our country, keep it safe, and keep it responsible for our vote at a time when it has never been more important.
Stop the homicide. I don't know what else complete negligence and lies are called besides homocide.
The virus was never unidentified. It was never underestimated. The danger was completely evident from the beginning and only became more of a horror as time when on.
Governor Cuomo brings the best of the best to serve at his side when it matters.
By Nick Niedzwiadek, Anna Groneworld and Dana Rubinstein
As Week 4 of the coronavirus crisis (click here) opened on Monday, a troika of familiar figures clad in matching navy windbreakers appeared with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the rest of his top executive staff, just like old times.
Although they haven’t been seen in public advisory roles for quite some time, former top aides Bill Mulrow, Larry Schwartz and Steve Cohen have temporarily re-joined the administration as Cuomo mobilizes resources and his Rolodex against a virus that has claimed 157 lives and sickened nearly 21,000 in New York. All three previously held the title of secretary to the governor, the highest post for an executive staffer....
White Supremacy is void of God.
By Tim Renaud
Charleston – Five years ago, (click here) nine people were killed during Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina.
Five people survived what is now known as the Charleston church shooting.
On June 17, 2015, the victims and survivors who gathered for a Wednesday night Bible study unknowingly welcomed a self-proclaimed white supremacist, later identified as the shooter, for fellowship and prayer before he would pull out a gun and open fire.
Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, who was the church’s pastor and a South Carolina state senator, was among those killed in the massacre....
Hate and death is not the answer. It never was. We need to stop it from creeping back into our country's social fabric.
Zero tolerance to hate.
Peace and justice for all.
Police brutality no more.
It has become unsafe to protest. People are wounded for the rest of their lives because they wanted to bring their voices to the street.
If neighborhoods are safe for citizens then they have to be safe for their protests.
Tears in my eyes.
Absolutely magnificent, DNC.
This election is bigger than any party. It is the soul of the USA.
Let's all, Build Back Better.
January 7, 1789
Congress sets January 7, 1789 (click here) as the date by which states are required to choose electors for the country's first-ever presidential election. A month later, on February 4, George Washington was elected president by state electors and sworn into office on April 30, 1789.
As it did in 1789, the United States still uses the Electoral College system, established by the U.S. Constitution, which today gives all American citizens over the age of 18 the right to vote for electors, who in turn vote for the president. The president and vice president are the only elected federal officials chosen by the Electoral College instead of by direct popular vote....
As it did in 1789, the United States still uses the Electoral College system, established by the U.S. Constitution, which today gives all American citizens over the age of 18 the right to vote for electors, who in turn vote for the president. The president and vice president are the only elected federal officials chosen by the Electoral College instead of by direct popular vote....
The Tea Party finally got their way, the November 3rd election won't be tabulated before December.
File for the $500 per child by September 30, 2020.
August 17, 2020
By Kelly Phillips
By Kelly Phillips
Still missing your $500 per child stimulus check? (click here) You're not the only one. In response to complaints that check recipients are still missing out, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is reopening the registration period for some folks who didn't receive those $500 per child payments earlier this year.
In March of this year, the CARES Act was signed into law. A key feature of the law was individual checks for families of $1,200 per adult - or $2,400 for married couples filing jointly - and an additional $500 per child. Checks were based on 2018 or 2019 tax return filings (whichever you filed last). But that created a problem for those folks who didn't usually file a tax return: how would they get their stimulus checks? In April of 2020, the IRS announced a new web tool to make that happen....
Non-Filers: Enter Payment Info Here (click here)
Page down and this is what a filer will see. Enter the information before September 30, 2020.
Medical experts when asked about what they would prioritize to end the spread of SARS-CoV-2 stated:
August 16, 2020
By Aria Bendix
...We asked six experts (click here) — including scholars from Vanderbilt, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins University — to set an agenda for Biden and Harris' first day in office, should they win. Here's what they came up with.
...We asked six experts (click here) — including scholars from Vanderbilt, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins University — to set an agenda for Biden and Harris' first day in office, should they win. Here's what they came up with.
1. Give the CDC its authority back
Almost every expert mentioned the same priority: restoring the authority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is headquartered in Atlanta.
"Get it the heck out of Washington, for Pete's sake," Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told Business Insider. "Washington is politics. Atlanta CDC is nonpartisan public health."
Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, said the CDC should be able to develop plans of action that aren't clouded by fears of how things will be perceived by the White House.
"The first course of action is to restore the CDC to its place leading this response and to remove politics from the response completely," he told Business Insider. "We have the structure to deal with this. It's just that that structure has been sidelined from the very beginning."...
By permitting the reckless spread and even encouraging the spread of SARS-CoV-2 is affecting every aspect of American life. This could have all been avoided if the national defense of the USA against the potentials of global pandemics were in place rather than dismantled by the Trump White House.
Americans don't want to just survive the virus, they want to scars either external or internal from it either.
August 15, 2020
By Jamal Collier
One factor (click here) behind the Big Ten and Pac-12 decisions to postpone college football this fall was a growing concern about the connection between COVID-19 and myocarditis, a rare inflammation of the heart muscle.
Dr. Brian Hainline, the NCAA’s chief medical officer, said Thursday morning the NCAA is aware of about 12 cases of myocarditis among athletes. Indiana freshman offensive lineman Brady Feeney went to the emergency room with breathing issues and is still struggling with heart complications, according to a Facebook post from his mother....
March 14, 2020
By Rachel Rettner
Anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts (click here) are skyrocketing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study suggests.
The study, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that young adults were particularly prone to these increases.
The study researchers analyzed information from more than 5,400 U.S. adults ages 18 and older who completed an online survey in late June....
Older inmates MUST be provided separate dormitories than the general population or be released to ensure their safety.
August 14, 2020
By Meerah Powell
The Oregon Department of Corrections (click here) Friday confirmed that a second inmate has died from the coronavirus while in the agency’s custody.
Snake River Correctional Institution, a prison in Ontario, reported Wednesday to Oregon DOC that an unnamed man between the ages of 60 and 70 years old had died in the facility’s infirmary.
Oregon DOC said it postponed issuing a press release until receiving COVID-19 test results for the inmate. Those results came back positive Friday.
Like any in-custody death, the Oregon State Police have been notified, DOC said, and the Medical Examiner will determine the man’s cause of death....
This is exactly the same reason DeSantis allows a high infection and death rate in Florida; economic and profit losses. In Florida, money is far more important than human health. It is called homicide.
August 14, 2020
By Jordyn Grzelewski
Detroit - The coronavirus pandemic's toll (click here) on the city's economy will be "deep and long-lasting," with the number of jobs in the city not expected to rebound until 2023, according to a University of Michigan economic forecast released Friday.
One potential bright spot, researchers say, is that the city — due in part to several large-scale real-estate projects that remain underway — is on track for a quicker recovery than the state. Michigan is not slated to rebound to pre-pandemic employment levels until 2024, according to the forecast....
The contraction of the US economy is drastic under the Trump Administration mishandling of the USA national security.
August 13, 2020By Lauren Zumbach
Like many cab companies, (click here) Peace Taxi Association gets most of its business taking travelers to and from Chicago’s airports.
Or at least it used to. Before the coronavirus pandemic decimated air travel, owner Ali Poorian would have about 70 to 80 taxis on the road. Now, he’s down to seven or eight. Sometimes, drivers wait hours for a single passenger, he said....
Here it is again, the "Good Ole Boys" and their election year corruption. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.
Rooster
"Okeydoke"
Every chance the Republicans get they throw a bone to their cronies, in this case, the petroleum industry. The American people and their national security suffer for it. This lands are refuges for the chance the USA needs those resources in defense of this country, yet, Republicans get away with decrease national security for the sack of liquidity and profits. Nothing new in this. It is pure corruption and it is repeated over and over again, election year after election year.
August 17, 2020The Trump administration (click here) plans to approve an oil leasing program for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Monday, opening up the pristine 19-million-acre wilderness to drilling for the first time and making it difficult to unwind the decision should Democrats recapture the White House in November.
Approving the program will clear the way to auction oil leases “right around the end of the year,” Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in an interview. The decision caps more than 30 years of efforts by oil companies and Alaskan leaders to drill in the refuge.
Environmentalists have raised concerns about the impact drilling could have on the polar bears and caribou herds that live in the remote refuge in northeast Alaska. Congress passed a mandate to lease oil from part of the refuge in its tax overhaul in 2017, when both the House and Senate were in Republican control. Mr. Bernhardt said the drilling can be conducted in an environmentally sound manner and that Congress has set details into law that will help the plan withstand challenges from environmentalists.
Environmentalists have raised concerns about the impact drilling could have on the polar bears and caribou herds that live in the remote refuge in northeast Alaska. Congress passed a mandate to lease oil from part of the refuge in its tax overhaul in 2017, when both the House and Senate were in Republican control. Mr. Bernhardt said the drilling can be conducted in an environmentally sound manner and that Congress has set details into law that will help the plan withstand challenges from environmentalists.
“Congress gave us a very clear directive here, and we have to carry out that directive consistent with the directive that they gave, and consistent with the procedural statutes,” Mr. Bernhardt said. “I have a remarkable degree of confidence that this can be done in a way that is responsible, sustainable and environmentally benign.”...
"Good Night, Moon"
27.4 day old moon
5.0 percent lit
Earth is the planet humans live on. Get used to the idea of marrying Earth and living with it rather than pretending this planet is a spouse you can take for granted without ill effects.
Please get over this stuff that science is inconvenient. Science is the reason we all made it this far.
I am not necessarily happy with what is transpiring in science at times, but, I always remain grateful for it. Take the lasers they are shooting between Earth and the moon. Like. Really? What is that doing to feed the hungry in the USA? Is it all that important for me to know the moon is moving a fingernail growth away from Earth every year? I do not like lasers, especially big ones that are in space.
August 10, 2020
Dozens of times over the last decade NASA scientists (click here) have launched laser beams at a reflector the size of a paperback novel about 240,000 miles (385,000 kilometers) away from Earth. They announced today, in collaboration with their French colleagues, that they received signal back for the first time, an encouraging result that could enhance laser experiments used to study the physics of the universe.
The reflector NASA scientists aimed for is mounted on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a spacecraft that has been studying the Moon from its orbit since 2009. One reason engineers placed the reflector on LRO was so it could serve as a pristine target to help test the reflecting power of panels left on the Moon’s surface about 50 years ago. These older reflectors are returning a weak signal, which is making it harder to use them for science.
Scientists have been using reflectors on the Moon since the Apollo era to learn more about our nearest neighbor. It’s a fairly straightforward experiment: Aim a beam of light at the reflector and clock the amount of time it takes for the light to come back. Decades of making this one measurement has led to major discoveries.
One of the biggest revelations is that the Earth and Moon are slowly drifting apart at the rate that fingernails grow, or 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) per year. This widening gap is the result of gravitational interactions between the two bodies...
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