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Thursday, April 30, 2020

NIH’s axing of bat coronavirus grant a ‘horrible precedent’ and might break rules, critics say | Science | AAAS

NIH’s axing of bat coronavirus grant a ‘horrible precedent’ and might break rules, critics say | Science | AAAS: Emails show agency reacted to unproven claims that pandemic started at Wuhan lab

NIH’s axing of bat coronavirus grant a ‘horrible precedent’ and might break rules, critics say | Science | AAAS

NIH’s axing of bat coronavirus grant a ‘horrible precedent’ and might break rules, critics say | Science | AAAS: Emails show agency reacted to unproven claims that pandemic started at Wuhan lab

PG&E’s Settlement With Wildfire Victims Faces Crucial Vote - The New York Times

PG&E’s Settlement With Wildfire Victims Faces Crucial Vote - The New York Times: Some victims think the $13.5 billion deal is flawed and are worried that a lawyer who negotiated it has a conflict of interest.

Subscribe to read | Financial Times

Subscribe to read | Financial Times: News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

This grandma volunteers in prison and records goodnight stories from inmates for their kids

This grandma volunteers in prison and records goodnight stories from inmates for their kids: Mary Ann is a 76-year-old grandmother with an unusual and inspiring hobby. Seven years ago, she decided to start volunteering in prisons, and the work she’s doing is having a huge impact on v…

Elderly woman volunteers to care for COVID-19 patients

Elderly woman volunteers to care for COVID-19 patients: Something unusual happened on Monday morning, April 13, at Santa Justa Station in Seville, Spain. It’s one of the best known train stations in Spain because it’s where the high-speed train, t…

Why is the Gates Foundation still in China?

Why is the Gates Foundation still in China?: The China office of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is one of its biggest - second only, in size and staffing, to that of the philanthropy's India

Love Finds a Way, Even if it Takes a Detour | Geauga County Maple Leaf

Love Finds a Way, Even if it Takes a Detour | Geauga County Maple Leaf: Despite being in the midst of a world-altering pandemic, Chardon native Joe Casavecchia and his wife, Emma, managed to tie the knot in a destination wedding out West.

COVID-19 and jobs: Monitoring the US impact on people and places | McKinsey

COVID-19 and jobs: Monitoring the US impact on people and places | McKinsey: As Americans grapple with the mounting death toll, they are also coping with COVID-19's toll on jobs--ermanent layoffs, temporary furloughs, or reductions in hours and pay.

Twitter launches a COVID-19 data set of tweets for approved developers and researchers | TechCrunch

Twitter launches a COVID-19 data set of tweets for approved developers and researchers | TechCrunch: Twitter is making it possible for developers and researchers to study the public conversation around COVID-19 in real time with an update to its API platform. The company is introducing a new COVID-19 stream endpoint to those participating in Twitter Developer Labs — a program that offers acc…

Covid-19 has caused a major spike in anti-Chinese and anti-Semitic hate speech

Covid-19 has caused a major spike in anti-Chinese and anti-Semitic hate speech: Exclusive data given to the New Statesman shows that the pandemic has led to an extraordinary increase in hate speech, racism and incitements of violence online.

The origin of covid-19 - The pieces of the puzzle of covid-19’s origin are coming to light | Science and technology | The Economist

The origin of covid-19 - The pieces of the puzzle of covid-19’s origin are coming to light | Science and technology | The Economist: How they fit together, though, remains mysterious

The Pandemic Doesn’t Have to Be This Confusing - The Atlantic

The Pandemic Doesn’t Have to Be This Confusing - The Atlantic: A guide to making sense of a problem that is now too big for any one person to fully comprehend

Virus Likely to Keep Coming Back Each Year, China Scientists Say - Bloomberg

Virus Likely to Keep Coming Back Each Year, China Scientists Say - Bloomberg: Chinese scientists say the novel coronavirus will not be eradicated, adding to a growing consensus around the world that the pathogen will likely return in waves like the flu.It’s unlikely the new virus will disappear the way its close cousin SARS did 17 years ago, as it infects some people without causing obvious symptoms like fever. This group of so-called asymptomatic carriers makes it hard to fully contain transmission as they can spread the virus undetected, a group of Chinese viral and med

What We Don’t Know About the Coronavirus | The New Yorker

What We Don’t Know About the Coronavirus | The New Yorker: Respiratory symptoms may be the hallmark of COVID-19, but the disease is affecting patients in other ways that we still don’t understand.

Covid hoaxes are using a loophole to stay alive—even after content is deleted

Covid hoaxes are using a loophole to stay alive—even after content is deleted

Pandemic conspiracy theorists are using the Wayback Machine to promote “zombie content” that evades moderators and fact-checkers.


https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/04/30/1000881/covid-hoaxes-zombie-content-wayback-machine-disinformation/?truid=e6a9a97f971519b8818ba7420a6d576d&utm_source=the_download&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the_download.unpaid.engagement&utm_content=04-30-2020

Remdesivir seems to shorten covid hospital stays and may save lives | MIT Technology Review

Remdesivir seems to shorten covid hospital stays and may save lives | MIT Technology Review: The good news started trickling out early this morning, first in a vague company press release and then, by midday, from the White House. A drug called remdesivir appears to actually work against the coronavirus that causes covid-19. The news was delivered to President Donald Trump by Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of…

China on ‘high alert’ as ‘troublemaker’ US patrols South China Sea | South China Morning Post

China on ‘high alert’ as ‘troublemaker’ US patrols South China Sea | South China Morning Post: Chinese military takes aim at operations by American warships near the Spratly and Paracel islands.

Dozens of bodies found stored in U-Haul trucks outside Brooklyn funeral home | Daily Mail Online

Dozens of bodies found stored in U-Haul trucks outside Brooklyn funeral home | Daily Mail Online: Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Home in Brooklyn was cited Wednesday with failing to control the smell after they stored dozens of bodies in the back of unrefrigerated U-Haul trucks.

Nursing home residents and staff could be in great danger if states open too soon - MarketWatch

Nursing home residents and staff could be in great danger if states open too soon - MarketWatch: ‘This virus is so infectious and so insidious — it will make its way into long-term care facilities’

Iranian scientist contracts coronavirus in U.S. jail - Tehran Times

Iranian scientist contracts coronavirus in U.S. jail - Tehran Times: TEHRAN — An Iranian scientist imprisoned in the United States has contracted the novel coronavirus, according to his family and attorneys.

Over 70% of Tested Inmates in Federal Prisons Have COVID-19 | Time

Over 70% of Tested Inmates in Federal Prisons Have COVID-19 | Time: New figures provided by the Bureau of Prisons show that out of 2,700 tests systemwide, nearly 2,000 have come back positive

COVID-19: Stimulating the economy and employment: ILO: As job losses escalate, nearly half of global workforce at risk of losing livelihoods

COVID-19: Stimulating the economy and employment: ILO: As job losses escalate, nearly half of global workforce at risk of losing livelihoods: The latest ILO data on the labour market impact of the COVID-19 pandemic reveals the devastating effect on workers in the informal economy and on hundreds of millions of enterprises worldwide.

Unemployment Effects of Stay-at-Home Orders | naked capitalism

Unemployment Effects of Stay-at-Home Orders | naked capitalism: Why ending the lockdowns won't do all that much to lower unemployment.

Looking at “The Secret Group of Scientists and Billionaires Pushing a Manhattan Project for COVID-19” with a Critical Eye

Looking at “The Secret Group of Scientists and Billionaires Pushing a Manhattan Project for COVID-19” with a Critical Eye



https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/04/looking-at-the-secret-group-of-scientists-and-billionaires-pushing-a-manhattan-project-for-covid-19-with-a-critical-eye.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Finance Capitalism vs Industrial Capitalism: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Are Destroying Us


Finance Capitalism vs Industrial Capitalism: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Are Destroying Us


https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/04/finance-capitalism-vs-industrial-capitalism-how-financial-parasites-and-debt-bondage-are-destroying-us.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Curtain lowers on nuke plant a stone's throw from Manhattan

Curtain lowers on nuke plant a stone's throw from Manhattan: ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — With the push of a red button, one of the two operating reactors at an aging nuclear plant serving millions of people in the New York City area will shut down Thursday night as...

How COVID-19 Is Having A Devastating Impact On Pakistan

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The Luxury Of Soap, Gloves...And Food


The entire world is facing devastating circumstances as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and lock-down. As with most catastrophic events, the world’s poor have been hit the hardest. In Pakistan, the economic crisis has left entire communities without food. These people do not know where their next meal will come from or if they will have anything to eat at all.

Soap, gloves, and disinfecting products are much too expensive for those who have lost their daily wages. Without the tools to fight this virus, it will keep spreading. Whether it will be from getting sick with the virus or starvation, death is imminent for the poor of Pakistan unless their brothers and sisters throughout the world intervene.

Are you able to give a gift of $25 and feed a family of five?

     
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Another Expensive War, Another Intelligence Failure? — Strategic Culture

Another Expensive War, Another Intelligence Failure? — Strategic Culture: The United States has been at war almost continuously since the founding of the nation in 1783. Some of the wars were undeclared like the…

America the Victim: Are Enemies Lining Up for Revenge in the Wake of the Coronavirus? — Strategic Culture

America the Victim: Are Enemies Lining Up for Revenge in the Wake of the Coronavirus? — Strategic Culture: When in trouble politically, governments have traditionally conjured up a foreign enemy to explain why things are going wrong. Whatever one chooses to believe about…

What four coronaviruses from history can tell us about covid-19 | New Scientist

What four coronaviruses from history can tell us about covid-19 | New Scientist: Four coronaviruses cause around a quarter of all common colds, but each was probably deadly when it first made the leap to humans. We can learn a lot from what happened next

N.C.A.A. Outlines Plan to Let Athletes Make Endorsement Deals


N.C.A.A. Outlines Plan to Let Athletes Make Endorsement Deals

The changes, with some big restrictions, would go into effect at the start of the 2021-22 academic year, after consideration and adoption by the three divisions of college sports.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/sports/ncaabasketball/ncaa-athlete-endorsements.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_NN_p_20200430&instance_id=18091&nl=morning-briefing&regi_id=60745655&section=whatElse&segment_id=26273&te=1&user_id=e6a9a97f971519b8818ba7420a6d576d

Trump Officials Are Said to Press Spies to Link Virus and Wuhan Labs


Trump Officials Are Said to Press Spies to Link Virus and Wuhan Labs

Some analysts are worried that the pressure from senior officials could distort assessments about the coronavirus and be used as a weapon in an escalating battle with China.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/us/politics/trump-administration-intelligence-coronavirus-china.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_NN_p_20200430&instance_id=18091&nl=morning-briefing&regi_id=60745655&section=topNews&segment_id=26273&te=1&user_id=e6a9a97f971519b8818ba7420a6d576d

Trump Coronavirus Vaccine: 'Operation Warp Speed' Project News - Bloomberg

Trump Coronavirus Vaccine: 'Operation Warp Speed' Project News - Bloomberg: The Trump administration is organizing a Manhattan Project-style effort to drastically cut the time needed to develop a coronavirus vaccine, with a goal of making enough doses for most Americans by year’s end.

Gospel Reflections Words of Eternal Life Wednesday of theThird Week of Easter

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Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter
John 6:35-40
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen [me], you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it [on] the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him [on] the last day.”
Opening Prayer: All glory to you, Father God! Thank you for sending your Son to rescue me from sin and eternal death! Your words are Truth and Life! Help me to etch them into my heart.
Encountering Christ:
  1. Hungering and Thirsting: Every human heart hungers and thirsts for love, satisfaction, and purpose in life. Yet, the world dupes us and we chase our tails, which can lead us down rabbit holes of materialism, secularism, and falsehoods about our self-worth. In these lines of scripture, Jesus tells us succinctly that he is what we hunger and thirst for! We need only to come to him and believe in him. Jesus pleads with us to come. His compassionate eyes are full of understanding for our messy lives, strained relationships, brokenness, and confusion. At times, our pride, lack of trust, inability to detach from people or things, or worldly attractions divert our attention from the eternal life Jesus longs to give. Jesus chided the people he spoke to, and likewise us, when he said, “…although you have seen [me], you do not believe.” If we were more fervent in our belief in Jesus, how might we demonstrate it? 
  2. “…I Will Not Reject Anyone Who Comes to Me…”: This has to be one of the most profound promises Jesus makes to us! No sin is so big that it will cause Jesus to exclude us if we come to him! Let us savor these words, repeat them often, memorize them, and share them! Rejection is a part of the human experience, causing deep wounds, and perhaps making us fearful about coming to Jesus, but Jesus longs to heal us. Belief implies deep trust and we can trust Jesus will never reject us when we express sorrow for our sins. Meditating on the crucifix, reciting Romans 5:8, “…while we were still sinners Christ died for us,” burns this truth into our hearts. 
  3. The Father’s Will: Doing the Father’s will isn’t just Jesus’s greatest desire; it’s his mission! He spoke of his doing the Father’s will and told us what the Father’s will was three times in five verses! The repetition of his words indicates a high level of importance. “And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it [on] the last day.” The last day will be here before we know it! Jesus has won the battle for our souls, but we know people stuck behind “enemy lines.” We have opportunities daily to rescue them, or at least throw them a lifeline. How often do we engage in conversations of eternal consequence?
Conversing with Christ: Thank you, Lord, for this time of prayer and reflection on your word. I am in awe of you. I hear you say “Come” and I run to your embrace. I hear you say “Believe” and I do believe, and pray to trust you even more. Lord, give me a heart for other souls.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace, I will by words and actions throw a “lifeline” to someone I encounter.
For Further Reflection: Listen to Fr. John Riccardo’s reading of “I Thirst,” https://youtu.be/NRVu1exlui0.
Written by Janice Neyer
The post Words of Eternal Life appeared first on RC Spirituality.

Credit, Where It’s Due - The Catholic Thing

Credit, Where It’s Due - The Catholic Thing: Stephen P. White: On what we’ve learned about sex abuse, who bravely taught us, and the frustration of awaiting a final report on the McCarrick case.

Trump seeks push to speed vaccine, despite safety concerns - The Boston Globe

Trump seeks push to speed vaccine, despite safety concerns - The Boston Globe: President Donald Trump is pressing his health officials to pursue a crash development program for a coronavirus vaccine despite widespread skepticism that such an effort could succeed and considerable concern about the implications for safety.

Coming to a grocery store near you: meat shortages - The Boston Globe

Coming to a grocery store near you: meat shortages - The Boston Globe: The US meat industry is reeling from coronavirus infections in a seemingly unheard of moment in a first-world country: rationing in grocery aisles as some two dozen meatpacking plants have shuttered. Prices have jumped, stores are limiting purchases, and farmers and ranchers are euthanizing livestock because slaughterhouses are closed.

Gospel Reflections Teach Lord! Thursday, of the Third Week of Easter

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Thursday, of the Third Week of Easter
John 6:44-51
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: ‘They shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
Opening Prayer: Lord, thank you for sending Jesus to us! Jesus, I believe you are the living bread come down from heaven! The Eucharist is your most loving, mysterious, and awesome gift. Teach me, Lord, so that I might grow in deeper understanding and love for the Eucharist during this time of prayer.
 Encountering Christ:
  1. Draw Me: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him…” It is not our own will that first prompts us to come to Jesus, but it is God the Father’s love for each of us. He acts first and we in turn respond by accepting Jesus’s invitation to come to him. We are like the tiny shavings of iron that are “drawn” to a magnet; God’s love is irresistible! Well, almost. We do, at times, resist his love. We choose to deny ourselves our greatest good. What an awesomely beautiful, but potentially self-destructive “gift” our free will is. Lord, make us wise and loving!
  2. Ear of the Heart: “They shall be taught by God” is a reference to Old Testament prophecies. Isaiah 54:13 says, “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord.” Jeremiah 31:33 says, “I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts…” Joel 3:1 says, It shall come to pass  I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.” So mysterious is Our Lord’s communication lovingly whispered into the heart; it is certainly beyond the human intellect that often wishes to codify knowledge on charts! Complete trust and total surrender to the Spirit unlocks and softens the heart, enabling a person to hear in external silence the sublime expression, the very breath of God! 
  3. Manna versus Living Bread: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” Manna, the bread of heaven that fed the Israelites in the desert, prefigures the new living bread that is Jesus’s flesh. While the heaven-sent manna provided bodily nourishment, it had no spiritual effect nor prevented them from dying, but Jesus, sent by the Father, promises a new bread that gives spiritual nourishment and fills us with the divine grace necessary for eternal life. How might we share the truth of the Eucharist at a time when so many are walking away?
Conversing with Christ: Praise you, Lord, for this time of prayer! I relish the awesome yet overwhelming gift of the Eucharist! Oh Holy Spirit, bestow on me a docile beatitude that I might discern your tender whispers in the silence of prayer.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will go to Mass and receive the Eucharist with a greater fervency than ever before.
For Further Reflection: See Cornelius a Lapide’s Commentary. Listen to “Spirit of God Rain Down,” written and composed by Joseph Jose Chundayil, also known as Nelson Jose. Nelson published this song under the album name “Spirit of God.”
Written by Janice Neyer
The post Teach Lord! appeared first on RC Spirituality.

Vietnam and modern memory

Vietnam and modern memory: A Vietnam veteran reflects on the war on the 45th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.

Tomgram: Engelhardt, The Assassin-in-Chief Comes Home Murder, He Said The Killer-in-Chief


Tomgram: Engelhardt, The Assassin-in-Chief Comes Home
Murder, He Said
The Killer-in-Chief
By Tom Engelhardt
“Be assured of one thing: whichever candidate you choose at the polls in November, you aren’t just electing a president of the United States; you are also electing an assassin-in-chief.” So I wrote back in June 2012, with a presidential election approaching.
I was referring then to the war on terror’s CIA and military drone assassination programs, which first revved up in parts of the Greater Middle East in the years of George W. Bush’s presidency and only spread thereafter. In the process, such “targeted killings” became, as I wrote at the time, “thoroughly institutionalized, normalized, and bureaucratized around the figure of the president.” In Barack Obama’s years in the Oval Office, they were ramped up further as he joined White House “Terror Tuesday” meetings to choose individual targets for those attacks. They often enough turned out to involve “collateral damage”; that is, the deaths of innocent civilians, including children. In other words, “commander-in-chief” had, by then, gained a deadly new meaning, as the president personally took on the role of a global assassin.
I had little doubt eight years ago that this wouldn't end soon -- and on that I wasn’t wrong. Admittedly, our present commander-in-chief probably doesn’t have the time (given how much of his day he's spent watching Fox News, tweeting his millions of followers, and, until recently, holding two hour press-briefings-cum-election-rallies on the coronavirus pandemic) or the attention span for “Terror Tuesday” meetings. Still, in his own memorable fashion, he’s managed to make himself America’s assassin-in-chief par excellence.
After all, not only have those drone programs continued to target people in distant lands (including innocent civilians), but they have yet again been ramped up in the Trump years. Meanwhile, still in our pre-Covid-19 American world, President Trump embraced the role of assassin-in-chief in a newly public, deeply enthusiastic way. Previously, such drones had killed non-state actors, but he openly ordered the drone assassination of Major General Qassim Suleimani, the top military figure and number-two man in Iran, as he left Baghdad International Airport for a meeting with the prime minister of Iraq.
Of course, for American presidents such a role was not unknown even before the development of Hellfire-missile-armed drones. Think of John F. Kennedy and the CIA’s (failed) attempts on the life of Cuban leader Fidel Castro or the successful killings of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem, and Dominican Republic head Rafael Trujillo. Or, for a change of pace, consider the Vietnam War-era CIA assassination campaign known as the Phoenix Program in which tens of thousands of supposed “Vietcong” supporters (often enough, civilians swept up in the murderous chaos of the moment) were murdered in that country, a program that was no secret to President Lyndon Johnson.
And it’s true as well that, in this century, our commanders-in-chief have overseen endless conflicts in distant lands from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria to Yemen, Somalia, Niger, and beyond, none of them congressionally declared wars. As a result, they had the ultimate responsibility for the deaths of, at a minimum, tens of thousands of civilians, as well as for the uprooting of millions of their compatriots from settled lives and their flight, as desperate refugees, across significant parts of the planet. It’s a grim record of death and destruction. Until recently, however, it remained a matter of distant deaths, not much noted here.
Click here to read more of this dispatch. https://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176695/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_the_assassin-in-chief_comes_home/#more

PG&E ordered by judge to revamp inspections, record-keeping


PG&E ordered by judge to revamp inspections, record-keeping


https://seekingalpha.com/news/3566957-pg-and-e-ordered-judge-to-revamp-inspections-record-keeping?utm_medium=email&utm_source=seeking_alpha&mail_subject=pcg-pg-e-ordered-by-judge-to-revamp-inspections-record-keeping&utm_campaign=rta-stock-news&utm_content=link-3

Coronavirus Australia: Wuhan lab link to COVID-19 pandemic unfounded, says Australian intelligence

Coronavirus Australia: Wuhan lab link to COVID-19 pandemic unfounded, says Australian intelligence

Hopes rise for remdesivir, a covid-19 drug therapy, as U.S. passes 60,000 dead - The Washington Post

Hopes rise for remdesivir, a covid-19 drug therapy, as U.S. passes 60,000 dead - The Washington Post: Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, calls test results an important sign that drugs could change the course of covid-19.

Pension cuts coming? Supreme Court hears California rule case | The Sacramento Bee

Pension cuts coming? Supreme Court hears California rule case | The Sacramento Bee: Former Gov. Jerry Brown predicted two years ago that public pensions would be “on the chopping block” during the next economic downturn.

BBC - Travel - In China, finding hope amid coronavirus

BBC - Travel - In China, finding hope amid coronavirus: As much of the world looks elsewhere, many of China’s 1.4 billion people are turning to an ancient form of humour born from sadness to help lift themselves up.

Here's the NSA's guide for choosing a safe text chat and video conferencing service | ZDNet

Here's the NSA's guide for choosing a safe text chat and video conferencing service | ZDNet: NSA publishes guidance on choosing a secure teleworking service. Assessed tools include Slack, Zoom, Signal, Skype, more.

The Pandemic Will Accelerate History Rather Than Reshape It Not Every Crisis Is a Turning Point


The Pandemic Will Accelerate History Rather Than Reshape It

Not Every Crisis Is a Turning Point


https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-04-07/pandemic-will-accelerate-history-rather-reshape-it?gpp=jFIgTPDqEu6dFF1VwhTALzpKMjgwK1pxLytORThrbTUzODkxRUNWYlBvcllYTStxMDJ6UURtTk04SWR4c3hhMTRBK2RqQTVUZE54bnV1RU9XOjU3ZjBkY2QzOTk4NTQ1YzhlNTU2YTA5YjVhNGVhNjBlYWYxZDAzNzU0ZjliYTYxYzVkN2YzYzNkOWYwZDgwYzU%3D&utm_source=religionbulletin

What Does the World Health Organization Do? | Council on Foreign Relations

What Does the World Health Organization Do? | Council on Foreign Relations: Since its postwar founding, the UN agency has garnered both praise and criticism for its response to international public health crises, including a new coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

How Are Major Religions Responding to the Coronavirus? | Council on Foreign Relations

How Are Major Religions Responding to the Coronavirus? | Council on Foreign Relations: Many of the world’s faithful have altered long-standing religious practices to avoid spreading the new coronavirus.

The Pandemic Is Making Transatlantic Relations More Toxic


The Pandemic Is Making Transatlantic Relations More Toxic


https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/04/29/pandemic-is-making-transatlantic-relations-more-toxic-pub-81675?utm_source=carnegieemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=announcement&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiT1dRd1l6bGhZbUptWmpnNSIsInQiOiJDQjEwMGFXYkNNTFhHcHV5aHlrYWNwR3RNSWkrczF1T1p0WUJnTHNzXC9WODdxcCttelwvalFzQnBOY0luMDNzanpFNWJwSGV1Y1lUQVwvQkFON2JYZ0FURWJLUUFtajRBSjFUclU0Z3JXTCt2cUYxY0tvVVJHWTE4VU85SjBNNFMxdCJ9

US: High Time for a New New Deal - The Globalist

US: High Time for a New New Deal - The Globalist: How to save the U.S. economy from a looming depression.

What Does Putin Have on Trump? - The Globalist

What Does Putin Have on Trump? - The Globalist: A rare moment of bipartisanship of today’s hyper-partisan Washington -- and what it means for Russia, President Trump and holding clean elections on November 3.

Fed: coronavirus could mean 47 million laid off, 32% unemployment rate - Business Insider

Fed: coronavirus could mean 47 million laid off, 32% unemployment rate - Business Insider: "These are very large numbers by historical standards," Miguel Faria e Castro, an economist, wrote in a blog post.

Trump Can Either Leave the Middle East or Have War With Iran | RealClearDefense

Trump Can Either Leave the Middle East or Have War With Iran | RealClearDefense: “Everybody who has touched the Middle East has gotten bogged down.” Candidate Donald Trump rightly pointed this out in October 2015 as he laid out his vision for a foreign policy that would end...

The 2020 Commencement Speech You’ll Never Hear - The Atlantic

The 2020 Commencement Speech You’ll Never Hear - The Atlantic: The 2020 commencement speech you’ll never hear

In Charts: Oil - The Globalist

In Charts: Oil - The Globalist: A collection of charts, graphs and maps exploring the global oil industry.

Trump Loyalist to Move from White House to State Department

Trump Loyalist to Move from White House to State Department: Political appointee Alexander Alden will take over a role in a bureau caught in the middle of Trump’s impeachment and trial.

After aggressive mass testing, Vietnam says it contains coronavirus outbreak - Reuters

After aggressive mass testing, Vietnam says it contains coronavirus outbreak - Reuters: Businessman Phan Quoc Viet was making his usual prayers at a pagoda in Tay Ninh, a province in southern Vietnam, when the government official's call came.

L.A. County coronavirus cases top 22,000 - Los Angeles Times

L.A. County coronavirus cases top 22,000 - Los Angeles Times: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announces that all county residents are eligible for free COVID-19 testing, a first-of-its-kind step for a major jurisdiction.

US G.D.P. Declined in First Quarter, With Worse Economy to Come - The New York Times

US G.D.P. Declined in First Quarter, With Worse Economy to Come - The New York Times: U.S. gross domestic product declined in the first quarter, dragged down by the pandemic’s grip in March. Don’t even ask about this quarter.

The End of the US-China Relationship by Stephen S. Roach - Project Syndicate

The End of the US-China Relationship by Stephen S. Roach - Project Syndicate: From an unnecessary trade war to an increasingly desperate coronavirus war, two angry countries are trapped in a blame game with no easy way out. Now more than ever, both sides need to contemplate the economic and geopolitical consequences of a full rupture.

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

YouTube Censors Video of California Doctors Calling for Reopening of Country

YouTube Censors Video of California Doctors Calling for Reopening of Country: YouTube has taken down a video of two doctors from Bakersfield, California, who held a press conference calling for the reopening of the country. According to the Google-owned video platform, the doctors "violated community guidelines."

New Chinese study indicates novel coronavirus did not originate in Huanan seafood market - Global Times

New Chinese study indicates novel coronavirus did not originate in Huanan seafood market - Global Times

U.S. Ramps Up Bid for Taiwan to Join World Health Organization, Presses for Review of WHO's Coronavirus Pandemic Response

U.S. Ramps Up Bid for Taiwan to Join World Health Organization, Presses for Review of WHO's Coronavirus Pandemic Response: Critics say fighting the coronavirus has become secondary as U.S. seeks to hamstring the World Health Organization, turning it into a 2020 election issue along…

How my kids and I are dealing with grief and mourning in isolation

How my kids and I are dealing with grief and mourning in isolation: My grandmother died recently — not of coronavirus, thankfully, just of old age. She was 95 and had lived a good, full, long life and died at home in her sleep. It was a good death, just in a …

Six-year-old boy praying on his knees in the street for the end of the coronavirus goes viral

Six-year-old boy praying on his knees in the street for the end of the coronavirus goes viral: Child prays in street for end to coronavirus

6-month-old girl who survived heart surgery and now fighting COVID-19 reminds us life is a gift

6-month-old girl who survived heart surgery and now fighting COVID-19 reminds us life is a gift: You might recognize the name “Alder Hey Hospital,” Liverpool’s pediatric hospital, with a heavy heart: It’s where little Alfie Evans died, and many of us still remember the …

Remdesivir seems to shorten covid hospital stays and may save lives


Remdesivir seems to shorten covid hospital stays and may save lives

A government trial showed patients got better 30% faster.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/04/29/1000855/remdesivir-covid-hospital-save-lives/?utm_medium=tr_social&utm_campaign=site_visitor.unpaid.engagement&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1588196513

Trump cuts U.S. research on bat-human virus transmission over China ties - POLITICO

Trump cuts U.S. research on bat-human virus transmission over China ties - POLITICO: The National Institutes of Health on Friday told EcoHealth Alliance, the study’s sponsor for the past five years, that all future funding was cut.

TikTok, Bill Gates donating $20M to help coronavirus fight in Africa | TheHill

TikTok, Bill Gates donating $20M to help coronavirus fight in Africa | TheHill: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and social media platform TikTok have donated a combined $20 million to a global health partnership that will deploy vaccines for the novel coronavirus in Africa after they are developed.

Airborne Coronavirus Detected in Wuhan Hospitals - The New York Times

Airborne Coronavirus Detected in Wuhan Hospitals - The New York Times: While the RNA of the virus was found in tiny droplets in China, scientists don’t know if it was capable of transmitting the virus.

Airborne Coronavirus Detected in Wuhan Hospitals - The New York Times

Airborne Coronavirus Detected in Wuhan Hospitals - The New York Times: While the RNA of the virus was found in tiny droplets in China, scientists don’t know if it was capable of transmitting the virus.

Coronavirus deaths top 60,000 in US | The Sacramento Bee

Coronavirus deaths top 60,000 in US | The Sacramento Bee: The U.S. death toll from the global pandemic has passed 60,000.

Russia–U.S.: No Reset, Just Guardrails

Russia–U.S.: No Reset, Just Guardrails


https://carnegie.ru/commentary/81680

“Nothing But Death”: Inside the Nursing Home Where NYC’s Most Vulnerable Struggle to Survive COVID-19 – Mother Jones

“Nothing But Death”: Inside the Nursing Home Where NYC’s Most Vulnerable Struggle to Survive COVID-19 – Mother Jones: The arrival of the coronavirus was swift and brutal.

Opinion | If Liquor Stores Are Essential During the Coronavirus Pandemic, Why Isn’t Church? - The New York Times

Opinion | If Liquor Stores Are Essential During the Coronavirus Pandemic, Why Isn’t Church? - The New York Times: The new conundrums created by the coronavirus can be addressed by some very old materials: the principles of the First Amendment.

Relying on Foreign Drugs Is Dangerous - WSJ

Relying on Foreign Drugs Is Dangerous - WSJ: Generics are often made in India, with ingredients from China. Time to diversify the supply chain.

Is America's Antibiotic Supply at Risk? - The Wire China

Is America's Antibiotic Supply at Risk? - The Wire China: The United States no longer produces crucial drugs like penicillin. Instead, China, a strategic rival, now dominates the world’s supply chain.

Coronavirus: Oxford vaccine effective in monkeys, heading for mass production in India | South China Morning Post

Coronavirus: Oxford vaccine effective in monkeys, heading for mass production in India | South China Morning Post: Six animals inoculated with vaccine candidate then exposed to virus did not catch Covid-19 after 28 days; up to 60 million doses could be produced this year.

Medication Shortages Are the Next Crisis - The Atlantic

Medication Shortages Are the Next Crisis - The Atlantic: The frequency of alerts and the number of drugs in undersupply are shocking developments in a rich country.

Consumer Beware: Coronavirus Antibody Tests Are Still A Work In Progress | naked capitalism

Consumer Beware: Coronavirus Antibody Tests Are Still A Work In Progress | naked capitalism: How hopes for coronavirus tests are ahead of the state of play.

'No Consequences for Negligence That Kills': McConnell Wants Corporate Immunity From Covid-19 Lawsuits | naked capitalism

'No Consequences for Negligence That Kills': McConnell Wants Corporate Immunity From Covid-19 Lawsuits | naked capitalism: Not content with pursuing pro-business judicial nominations alone, Mitch McConnell seeks to circumscribe corporate COVID-19 legal liability.

Schadenfraude Alert: Airbnb Mini-Moguls in Meltdown as Bookings Collapse | naked capitalism

Schadenfraude Alert: Airbnb Mini-Moguls in Meltdown as Bookings Collapse | naked capitalism: Once fat and happy Airbnb landlords are now in a world of hurt.