Link Roundup October + November 2020

[wepon]

Trump COVID-19 live updates: President did not disclose 1st positive test, sources say

Doctors also reported that Trump, over the course of exhibiting coronavirus symptoms, had earlier experienced two episodes of "transient drops" in his oxygen saturation.

Koch network launches campaign to confirm Trump Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett in Senate

Casey Mattox, the Vice President for Legal and Judicial Strategy at Americans for Prosperity, told CNBC that they plan to call on lawmakers to support Barrett’s nomination, with the help of their large scale grassroots operation. They will initiate phone banking, push out direct mail and craft various digital ads that will try to convince senators to vote yes for Trump’s nominee.

Justices Thomas and Alito lash out at the decision that cleared way for same-sex marriage

Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, lashed out on Monday at the religious liberty implications of the Supreme Court's 2015 decision that cleared the way for same-sex marriage nationwide. Thomas wrote that the decision, Obergefell v. Hodges, "enables courts and governments to brand religious adherents who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman as bigots, making their religious liberty concerns that much easier to dismiss."

Schumer, in rare move, takes control of floor to force health care vote

Schumer's surprise steps were extraordinary because such motions are typically offered by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who controls the Senate and dictates what gets considered on the floor. Schumer has never before tried to force such a cloture vote in his time as the top minority leader, aides said. The rules say any senator can do what Schumer did Tuesday but senators typically don't take these extreme steps because doing so regularly would shut down the Senate.

Biden: Protesters shouldn't 'sully' Taylor's legacy with violent demonstrations

Biden told reporters traveling with him in North Carolina that he had not been briefed on the details surrounding the grand jury decision and so he did not want to comment on the particulars of the case just yet. But when told that officials across the country were bracing for protests, Biden said “they should be peaceful.”

These students figured out their tests were graded by AI — and the easy way to cheat

Edgenuity didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment, but the company’s online help center suggests this may be by design. According to the website, answers to certain questions receive 0% if they include no keywords, and 100% if they include at least one. Other questions earn a certain percentage based on the number of keywords included.

Revealed: pro-Trump activists plotted violence ahead of Portland rallies

Leaked chat logs show Portland-area pro-Trump activists planning and training for violence, sourcing arms and ammunition and even suggesting political assassinations ahead of a series of contentious rallies in the Oregon city, including one scheduled for this weekend.

Pelosi endorses Kennedy over Markey in contentious primary

Still, Pelosi’s move shocked many on Capitol Hill and puts her at direct odds with her close ally, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), whose Senate campaign arm is designed to protect vulnerable incumbents like Markey. The speaker rarely weighs in on Democratic primary contests, particularly in favor of the challenger.

Customers Who Refused Masks Assault Trader Joe’s Workers, Send One to the Hospital

Two employees who asked to remain anonymous because they feared retaliation for speaking to the press said they believed Trader Joe’s has not acknowledged the July 14 incident in order not to scare away customers and did not inform all of the store’s employees of the altercation. This story is the first to be published about the event, which occurred two weeks ago.

Visual Novel Writers Win Pay Raise After 21 Day Strike

The victory, declared on Tuesday when Voltage agreed to raise the wages of all 21 striking writers, marks a successful labor action in the game industry, which has long been resistant to collective organizing efforts.

Trump on Covid death toll: 'It is what it is'

When pressed on the US death toll in the Axios interview, Trump repeatedly pointed to the proportion of deaths to confirmed coronavirus cases, rather than the proportion of deaths to the US population, a figure that is arguably more telling of the state of the pandemic in the country given that the US has less than 5% of the world's population but around 25% of global deaths from Covid-19.

'I think I'll be back soon': Trump delivers video address from Walter Reed

Trump’s doctors noted earlier in the day that while the president’s condition had improved since Friday, he may still face a possible downturn. COVID-19 patients often experience the worst of their symptoms between the fifth and seventh days after the illness begins to manifest itself.

Advisers made last-minute push to get reluctant Trump to Walter Reed

At a late morning news conference on Saturday, the President's physician offered a rosy portrait of a man on the mend but repeatedly evaded questions about Trump's condition, including whether he'd been placed on supplemental oxygen over the past days and what his highest recorded temperature has been. He offered a timeline that appeared to place Trump's diagnosis well before it was publicly disclosed only to later say he misspoke.

Man In Militia Plot To Kidnap Michigan Governor Shared Stage With Extremist Sheriff

In a shocking interview with Fox 17 on Thursday, Leaf said he had no regrets for having appeared at the rally with the recently arrested militiaman. He added that he knew Null — as well as his identical twin, Michael, who was also arrested in the terror plot — and called the brothers “nice” and “respectful.” He also appeared to defend the Nulls’ motive for the alleged kidnapping plot, arguing that there’s a legal argument to be made that Whitmer should be arrested for imposing coronavirus restrictions. What Leaf did not address in his Fox 17 interview, however, is his membership in the right-wing extremist “constitutional sheriffs” movement — a close ally of America’s armed militias — that has gained a concerning momentum during the era of President Donald Trump.

Trump asked Walter Reed doctors to sign nondisclosure agreements in 2019

Anyone providing medical services to the president — or any other American — is automatically prohibited by federal law from disclosing the patient's personal health information without consent. The existing legal protection for all patients under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, raises the question of why Trump would insist that staff members at Walter Reed sign NDAs.

Louisville police collected negative info about Breonna Taylor's boyfriend after fatal shooting

The investigation of Walker's phone and suspected drug dealing came only after internal affairs began to uncover serious problems with the warrant for Taylor's home and how it was executed.

Black scientists call out racism in the field and counter it

A National Science Foundation survey found that in 2016, scholars who identified as Black or African American were awarded just 6% of all doctorates in life sciences, and less than 3% of doctorates in physical and Earth sciences. Students who identified as Hispanic or Latino were awarded less than 8% of doctorates in life sciences and about 5% of doctorates in physical and Earth sciences. According to the most recent census, Black people make up 13.4% of the population, and Latinos 18.5%.

A majority of young adults in the U.S. live with their parents for the first time since the Great Depression

The share of young adults living with their parents is higher than in any previous measurement (based on current surveys and decennial censuses). Before 2020, the highest measured value was in the 1940 census at the end of the Great Depression, when 48% of young adults lived with their parents. The peak may have been higher during the worst of the Great Depression in the 1930s, but there is no data for that period.

No, Trump hasn’t been the best president for Black America since Lincoln

Trump has taken credit for the number of people who have stopped receiving food stamps under his presidency — in February, he claimed that 7 million people stopped receiving assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Experts say the decline in food stamp enrollment is due to “improving employment opportunities and pay increases,” with enrollment decreases beginning in 2014 and 2015 under Obama, according to the New York Times. But there could also be another reason for the decline in SNAP assistance: Trump has tightened eligibility requirements. In March, it was estimated that 700,000 people would be kicked off food stamps because of the administration’s new strict work requirement. A federal judge recently struck down that requirement, calling it “arbitrary and capricious.”

'It's going to disappear': A timeline of Trump's claims that Covid-19 will vanish

Since February, the President has declared at least 38 times that Covid-19 is either going to disappear or is currently disappearing.

Analysis: Questionable 'N.Y. Post' Scoop Driven By Ex-Hannity Producer And Giuliani

The laptop had been taken to a repair shop in Delaware; the shop's owner appears to have reviewed its contents and given it to the FBI, after making a copy and delivering that to Giuliani's attorney. The New York Post reported that the computer repair specialist "couldn't positively identify the customer as Hunter Biden, but said the laptop bore a sticker from the Beau Biden Foundation, named after Hunter's late brother." So, it's not clear who brought it in. As it turns out, Bannon told a leading Dutch public broadcaster last month that he had a copy of Hunter Biden's hard drive. "You'll see. Stand by. Stand by," Bannon teased on camera.

A stranded oil tanker at risk of spilling in the Caribbean looks to be safe — for now

The ship has been stranded in the Gulf of Paria between Venezuela and the island of Trinidad since January 2019, when President Donald Trump sanctioned Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). While the measure cut off revenue Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro uses to wield influence and stay in power, it also led PDVSA to abandon operations aboard the ship. That essentially left the tanker to rot, fueling fears the oil on board might eventually spill into the waters below. And if it did, the entire marine environment of the Caribbean and the Trinidad and Tobago fishing industry could be in danger.

Trump administration rejects California's disaster assistance request for wildfires

The Trump administration has rejected California's request for a disaster declaration for six destructive wildfires that burned hundreds of thousands of acres across the state, including a massive central California wildfire that has become the single largest in state history.

UK families bereaved by Covid-19 lose eligibility for welfare benefits

The families of low-paid frontline NHS and social care workers who die from coronavirus will be stripped of eligibility for welfare benefits if they receive a payout under the government’s Covid-19 compensation scheme, it has emerged. Under the NHS and Social Care Coronavirus Life Assurance Scheme, the £60,000 lump sum breaches capital limits rules for most benefits, meaning that the recipient would unable to claim universal credit, housing benefit or pension credit.

Exxon’s Plan for Surging Carbon Emissions Revealed in Leaked Documents

The internal estimates reflect only a small portion of Exxon’s total contribution to climate change. Greenhouse gases from direct operations, such as those measured by Exxon, typically account for a fifth of the total at a large oil company; most emissions come from customers burning fuel in vehicles or other end uses, which the Exxon documents don’t account for.

Investigations launched after Atikamekw woman records Quebec hospital staff uttering slurs before her death

Echaquan's death comes only days before the anniversary of the Viens report, the result of a commission into the mistreatment of Indigenous people in the province. The report found it is "impossible to deny" Indigenous people in Quebec are victims of "systemic discrimination" in accessing public services, including health-care services. Ghislain Picard, head of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, said what unfolded at the hospital is part of "too long of a series of dramas experienced by Indigenous women in public services."

Wilbur Ross defies federal judge — says Census will end early despite court order

On Monday, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross “has announced a target date of October 5, 2020 to conclude 2020 Census self-response and field data collection operations.” This comes despite an order by a federal judge on Friday directing the census to continue through October 31.

California GOP says it won't remove unofficial ballot boxes

To find early voting and vote-by-mail ballot drop off locations, visit https://caearlyvoting.sos.ca.gov/ and to make sure your vote is counted, visit https://wheresmyballot.sos.ca.gov/.

Google is giving data to police based on search keywords, court docs show

"If Google stored data in a way that was truly de-identified, then they also couldn't give it to the government," the Electronic Frontier Foundation's surveillance litigation director Jennifer Lynch said. "Google's not setting up their system or changing their practices in a way that could prevent these kinds of searches."

It sucks that Cyberpunk 2077’s edgelord marketing worked so well

CDPR has a fanbase that would follow them to the ends of the earth, but rather than take those fans somewhere positive and progressive, rather than use their unique position to tackle the rampant discrimination and toxicity in the gaming community, they’ve played to the lowest common denominator every time. Whatever else you think about it, it’s hard to deny it worked, and that means other games are probably going to copy it in the future.

China #MeToo case heads to court after 2-year delay

When Zhou filed suit in 2018, such complaints were treated as labor disputes or under other laws that didn’t relate directly to sexual harassment. Zhou’s was termed a “personality rights dispute.”

DEMOCRACY DARKENS

A year after young activists, veteran democrats, working-class families and middle-class professionals collectively formed the boldest people’s revolt against Beijing in decades, Hong Kong is being “mainlandized” with shocking rapidity, democracy advocates say. The Chinese government, they say, is using the unrest that engulfed the city last year as a pretext for a so-called second handover: the first in the 1997 transfer of power, the second moving it to China’s vision of a police state.

Federal Agencies Tapped Protesters’ Phones in Portland

Members of both the House and Senate intelligence committees promptly demanded to know what kinds of intelligence they had collected on both journalists and protesters. A letter from the Senate contained the suggestive admonition that the division “is obligated by statute to keep the congressional intelligence committees fully and currently informed of its operations.” Yet, at the time of this writing, DHS has failed to respond to Congress’s questions. “Notwithstanding the selective and incomplete document production thus far, the Committee has reason to believe that DHS and I&A are withholding responsive records related to I&A’s activities in Portland and in support of DHS’ response to nationwide protests,” House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff wrote in a letter to the DHS’s intelligence branch.

Doctors say CDC should warn people the side effects from Covid vaccine shots won’t be ‘a walk in the park’

Dr. Sandra Fryhofer of the American Medical Association said both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines require two doses at varying intervals. As a practicing physician, she said she worries whether her patients will come back for a second dose because of the potentially unpleasant side effects they may experience after the first shot.

What Is The Internet Doing To Boomers’ Brains?

On the right, however, the connections between the partisan fringe and the establishment mainstream are much stronger. Watch Fox News and you’ll be introduced to QAnon, briefed on Hunter Biden’s hard drive, and warned about Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris’s anti-white, pro-looter agenda. Republican politicians give platforms to QAnon supporters and spread COVID-19 misinformation. Fringe left-wing figures such as Michael Moore are marginalized, whereas fringe right-wing figures like Ann Coulter, Dinesh D’Souza and Rush Limbaugh are given op-ed space and speaking slots at conservative conventions.