"Hurricane Sally made landfall early Wednesday morning near the Alabama and Florida border, with catastrophic flooding rainfall, damaging storm surge and strong winds. Sally will spread the threat of flooding rainfall well inland across the Southeast through early Friday."
"The Trump Team has a plan to not fight climate change… It may take decades to see the worst effects of global warming. Yet Jim Reilly, the director of the US Geological Survey, is committed to short-term thinking."
"Smoke from the wildfires ravaging much of the US West Coast has spread to the east of the country, casting a haze over New York and Washington DC… They have also caused some of the most unhealthy air on the planet in several western states."
"President Donald Trump again contradicted his own health officials' coronavirus statements -- this time on the importance of mask wearing and the timing for a vaccine… And he demeaned Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying the doctor was 'confused' in his congressional testimony." In an autocracy, only the leader's opinion is valid. "'Yesterday he was pointing to a quote, that event Dr. (Anthony) Fauci has noted, which is that masks can have unintended consequences. While we support wearing them, and it's patriotic to do so, the unintended consequence can be inappropriate usage,' (White House Press Secretary) McEnany said." That's not "unintended consequences", that's just poor aseptic technique. The same can be true if servers and wait staff don't wash their hands after using the bathroom. This isn't the mask's fault.
"President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday that a White House staff member tested positive for the coronavirus."
"Preterm deliveries appear to be linked to coronavirus infections, according to a new study on COVID-19 and pregnancy published Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC report also tracked miscarriages and stillbirths in patients with the virus."
"Health systems across the southern hemisphere were bracing a few months ago for their annual surge in influenza cases, which alongside Covid-19 could have overwhelmed hospitals. They never came… Many countries in the southern half of the globe have instead experienced either record low levels of flu or none at all, public health specialists in Australia, New Zealand and South America have said, sparing potentially tens of thousands of lives and offering a glimmer of hope as winter approaches in the northern hemisphere." Whispers, because they're still in lock down and have, mostly, effected precautions like wearing masks and social distancing. They also have been, for the most part, able to control COVID spread.
"In written responses to the House Committee on Natural Resources obtained by NPR, Major Adam DeMarco of the D.C. National Guard said he was copied on an email from the Provost Marshal of Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region. He was looking for two things: a long range acoustic device, a kind of sound cannon known as an LRAD, and a device called the Active Denial System, or ADS… It uses millimeter wave technology to essentially heat the skin of people targeted by its invisible ray." Also, the use of LRAD is not so everyone can hear, it's to create a painful, deafening noise. To inform the crowd they must disperse all you need are regular megaphones.
"The Trump administration’s crackdown has already led to more than 300 arrests on federal crimes in the protests that erupted following the death of George Floyd. An AP analysis of the data shows that while many are accused of violent crimes like arson for hurling Molotov cocktails and burning police cars and assault for injuring law enforcement, others are not — prompting criticism that at least some arrests are a politically motivated effort to stymie demonstrations."
How goes Brexit? "The Bank of England has warned that the rising rate of coronavirus infections and a lack of clarity over the UK's future trade relationship with the EU could threaten the economic recovery… It said much of output lost during lockdown had been recovered but the outlook remained 'unusually uncertain'."
How go the Trade Wars? "We can now say, officially, that Trump's trade war with China is an unmitigated, farcical disaster… The World Trade Orginization — a body the US once helped design —ruled that Trump's initial salvo of tariffs on Chinese goods were in violation of WTO rules. Symbolically this ruling crystalizes the fact that this trade war was a breach of the US's own principles."
"The WTO sided with a complaint from China over tariffs imposed on about $234 billion of goods in 2018. The panel found that the tariffs violated several rules, including one that countries apply equal tariff rates to all member trading partners."
"U.S. calls off tariffs on Canadian aluminum — for now… U.S. hit pause on 10 per cent tariff but could re-impose the levy after the November presidential election." But the tariffs on wood products is still in place.
Good news, everybody… "First-time claims for unemployment insurance beat Wall Street estimates last week as the U.S. economy enters a critical new stage… Filings totaled 860,000 for the week ended Sept. 12, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected 875,000, against the previous week’s upwardly revised 893,000." Or, ya know, the other thing.
"'We thought it was done,' (Comedian Jon) Stewart said, 'but it turns out that the veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering the same illnesses and the same toxic exposures, because of the actions of our own government.'… Hundreds of thousands of troops have signed on the VA's registry for those who believe they were exposed to burn pits. His voice filled with anger, Stewart said lawmakers should try creating burn pits in the towns of their home districts."
"A payroll company owned by Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal attorney, took between $150,000 and $350,000 in taxpayer-backed emergency small business loans this spring. It's unclear what Giuliani did with the money… Giuliani initially told Salon he was ignorant of the purpose of this company, which has handled payroll needs across more than 18 years and lists him as CEO. Financial experts tell Salon that one of two scenarios is likely true: Either Giuliani directly employs a number of people through this unknown company, and pays them substantial salaries, or the company misrepresented its finances to the government when it applied for the loan — which would likely constitute fraud, a felony." It's like they just can't help themselves.
"President Trump took to Twitter Wednesday to call for another round of direct stimulus payments as the country looks to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic… Calling Democrats 'heartless,' the president made his case for Congress coming together to pass a more robust COVID relief package." Dear Mr President, talk to your good friend Mitch McConnell, he's the one holding up the plan the House passed 3 months ago.
"As explosive allegations were coming to light about immigrant women who say they've been subjected to unwanted hysterectomies and other gynecological procedures, one of those detainees was put on a plane back to her home country… Pauline Binam was nearly deported Wednesday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Cameroon, a country she left when she was 2 years old. Binam, now 30, was on the tarmac when members of Congress say they intervened."
"The nerve agent used to poison Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was detected on an empty water bottle from his hotel room in the Siberian city of Tomsk, suggesting he was poisoned there and not at the airport as first thought, his team said on Thursday."
"The White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, on Wednesday refused to say which administration officials were working on a healthcare plan that President Donald Trump has long promised to unveil and recently said was 'all ready'… During the White House press briefing, CNN's Kaitlan Collins pointed out that three top healthcare officials in the Trump administration had said during testimony before a Senate committee that they were unaware of Trump's Obamacare replacement plan… McEnany responded that 'a wide array' of White House officials and 'multiple stakeholders,' including the Domestic Policy Council, were working on the plan." Because there is no plan.
"Michael Caputo, the top spokesman at the Department of Health and Human Services, is taking a two-month leave of absence from his post, the department announced Wednesday, a day after he apologized for a conspiracy theory-laden rant he made against career government scientists in which he accused them of 'sedition' and working to undermine President Donald Trump."
"As Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden continues to maintain his national lead over President Donald Trump, some Senate Republicans have indicated that they're willing to work with Democrats if he wins the election." This should be one of those "not actually a story" story, but for some of these GOP Senators, this could be troublesome. Also note that this is only happening because they feel they're about to be "out of power" and can't stall working with the president because he will be white (unlike McConnell's refusal to work with President Obama). Also, more than likely they will also lose control of the Senate this Fall (or at least it's better than 50/50), so this is the only way they'd be able to get anything done. We aren't at the point of "we will never compromise on our values!" yet. And Graham's statement is aimed at wooing back some less hard core conservatives to his side (as he's neck-and-neck with his challenger), but he's forgotten that his supporters are all still on the "never compromise" tile.
"Attorney General William Barr argued Wednesday that coronavirus-related lockdown orders were surpassed only by slavery as the 'greatest intrusion on civil liberties' in the nation’s history." Just to make the point that Barr is completely unhinged. And about his comment regarding junior prosecutors, it's also true that large corporations that are micromanaged from the top are doomed to fail. This is why you have managers. Also, he's not interfering with low-level prosecutions, he's interfering with prosecutions that take whole offices and include senior prosecutors.
And talking about using the DoJ as a political tool… "Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan on Wednesday said a report that Attorney General William Barr suggested prosecutors consider filing charges against her is 'chilling and the latest abuse of power from the Trump administration.'… Barr, The New York Times reported, asked prosecutors in the Justice Department's civil rights division to investigate if they could charge Durkan as a result of protests this summer, when some protesters established a police-free zone in downtown Seattle."
"A televised town hall in Philadelphia exposed holes in the president’s explanation of basic facts about the coronavirus, health insurance and stock ownership in America. He fielded pointed questions from undecided voters in the swing state of Pennsylvania covering immigration reform, systemic racism, his attitudes toward the military and views on police officers’ treatment and use of unnecessary force. As top Trump aides watched from a control room, with ABC News determining the ground rules and participants, Trump dodged and blustered his way around pointed questions and fact-checks — skipping moment after moment that most politicians would have seized as slam-dunk opportunities to connect with voters’ everyday concerns."
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