Today's News: August 24, 2020

World News

SPAIN: WOMEN BEATEN BY POLICE FOR NOT PROPERLY WEARING FACE MASKS

COVID cop dishes out punishment.
Infowars – A video clip out of Spain shows a police officer beating two woman with a truncheon because they are not properly wearing their face masks.
The footage shows two women involved in a confrontation with the female officer, who beats them across the arms and upper body.
One of the women appears to have suffered a serious injury to her arm as a result of the blows.
Although the women are wearing face masks, they appears to have committed the sin of letting them slip from fully covering their faces.
The police officer does not appear to be wearing a mask at all.
Spain has been one of the most draconian countries in Europe when it comes to the enforcement of coronavirus rules.
Numerous beaches across the country are being patrolled by police surveillance drones to enforce mask wearing and social distancing
During the actual lockdown, Spanish police were handing out €2,000 euro fines for “disrespecting a police officer” and people were also arrested for going “too frequently” to the grocery shop.
However, there still appears to be more resistance to a second lockdown in Spain compared to other European countries, largely because the country’s economy is extremely dependent on tourism.

PARIS: RIOT POLICE STORM BAR OVER NO SOCIAL DISTANCING

While actual riots were taking place across the rest of the city
Infowars – Footage out of Paris, France shows riot police storming a bar and beating people with truncheons because they were not properly ‘social distancing’.
The incident occurred during the Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, which the bar-goers were watching on television.
Around a dozen fully kitted out riot cops raided the bar and violently removed people from the premises.
“According to Paris police officials, the crowd was dispersed because some people were not wearing face coverings or were failing to follow social distancing rules,” reports Sky News.
More than 200 people receive a police caution for not wearing face masks.
The incident is made even more bizarre by the fact that the people inside the bar were behaving peacefully, while actual riots were taking place across the rest of the city.
According to RT, the streets of the French capital “descended into chaos, with multiple incidents of vandalism and looting.”
You’d think maintaining basic law and order while protecting people and property from violent criminals would be a higher priority than ensuring people in a bar are standing far enough away from each other, but in the age of COVID hysteria apparently not.

Hong Kong reports first coronavirus reinfection

The Japan Times – A man was infected with the coronavirus after recovering from an initial bout in April in what scientists said was the first case showing that reinfection may occur within a few months.
The 33-year-old’s second SARS-CoV-2 infection was detected via airport screening on his return to Hong Kong from Europe this month. Researchers at the University of Hong Kong used genomic sequence analysis to prove that he had been infected by two different strains. The information technology worker didn’t develop any symptoms from his second infection, which might indicate any “subsequent infections may be milder,” the researchers said.
“Our findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may persist in humans,” Kwok-Yung Yuen and colleagues said Monday in a paper accepted for publication in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. The findings are reminiscent of the coronaviruses that cause the common cold, and suggest SARS-CoV-2 may continue to circulate “even if patients have acquired immunity via natural infection or via vaccination,” they said.
While some patients have tested positive for the virus over many weeks, even after their symptoms have resolved, scientists haven’t fully understood whether these cases reflect lingering traces of the virus, a re-eruption of an infection, or a new infection.
This is “the world’s first documentation of a patient who recovered from COVID-19, but got another episode of COVID-19 afterwards,” the researchers said in an emailed statement.

Iran, Hamas and Islamic Jihad call for ‘uprising’ after UAE-Israel deal

The Jerusalem Post – A PIJ rep said that the “Zionist regime… will remain an enemy” and that its destiny “is destruction and decay, and whoever has a relationship with it will be transferred to the dustbin of history.”
The Middle East needs an uprising similar to the Islamic Revolution in Iran that will unite the “resistance” of the Islamic community against a “culture of defeat” that has affected Arab regimes, Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s representative to Iran recently said.
Mehr News in Iran reported the discussion with Naser Abu Sharif of Islamic Jihad, which is backed by Tehran. A Hamas representative named Khalid al-Qaddumi was also present, the report said.
The Mehr News discussion attacked the “betrayal of the UAE in the signing of the agreement to normalize relations with the Zionist enemy.” Qaddumi said that the agreement has crossed a redline and that Israel is now more secure than in the past.
The extremists asserted that Israel was like a criminal running free without anyone to put it on trial. He pointed out that when Egypt had signed a peace deal with Israel, the Arab League had suspended Egypt and moved its headquarters temporarily from Cairo. Egypt was readmitted to the Arab league in 1989.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

A CHRISTIAN STATEMENT ON SCIENCE FOR PANDEMIC TIMES

BioLogos – We, the undersigned, join together as Christians who uphold the authority of God’s Word and see science as a tool to understand God’s world. We call on all Christians to follow the advice of public health experts and support scientists doing crucial biomedical research on COVID-19.
We are deeply concerned about the polarization and politicization of science in the public square when so many lives are at stake. The word “science” has become a weapon in the culture wars. Scientists are vilified and their findings ignored, while conspiracy theories go viral. Sadly, Christians seem just as susceptible to these trends. Thoughtful Christians may disagree on public policy in response to the coronavirus, but none of us should ignore clear scientific evidence.
It is appropriate for Christians to be skeptical of claims made by scientists who speak outside their area of expertise. We firmly reject claims that science has somehow shown God does not exist or faith is mere superstition. Such claims go beyond what science is capable of investigating. We lament the times when science and medicine have been misused to perpetrate atrocities like the racist Tuskegee experiments. But Christians should listen to scientists and doctors when they speak in their area of expertise, especially when millions of lives are at stake.
The Bible teaches that our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made by God (Psalm 139:14). Thus, those doing biomedical research—whether they are Christians or not—are studying the very handiwork of God. Scientists are discovering truths about the virus, our bodies, treatments, and vaccines. As Christians, we know that all truth, including scientific truth, is ultimately from God.
God can do miracles of healing, but God also uses doctors and scientists to bring healing. Before Jonas Salk discovered his vaccine, polio killed 350,000 people a year, most of them children. Christians in the biomedical sciences, like Dr. Francis Collins, see their work as continuing the healing ministry of Jesus (Matthew 15:30). Pursuing medical treatment is not a sign of weak faith in God, but a grateful acceptance of God’s gifts.
Scientists of all faiths at many universities and research institutes have been working hard to combat COVID-19, including at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control. Many scientists have dropped their own research programs to devote themselves full time to understanding exactly how this virus works, how it spreads, how the disease can be treated, and which vaccines would be both safe and effective. Experts have been communicating their knowledge in real time as the pandemic progresses, which has led to some confusion. In the early days, they advised the public against masks when supplies were needed for healthcare workers, but later they changed their message in response to more data. A change in expert advice is not a sign of weakness or unreliability, but of good scientific practice and honesty. On the biggest points, scientific predictions have been proven right: scientists said stay-home orders would reduce cases, and thankfully those measures worked. Scientists predicted that ending quarantine too soon would increase cases, and that has been the case.
Scientists are not all-knowing and have biases like the rest of us. That’s why the process of scientific research has built-in steps for testing, vetting, and validation by the whole community. While any individual scientist may be biased, the community actively critiques each other’s work to reduce bias and errors until together they develop a consensus on what the data are saying. It’s not a perfect process and one can always find dissenters, but scientists working together are far more accurate than one person’s theory on YouTube. Scientists are trained to communicate where the consensus is uncertain and to not overstate conclusions. They may speak in sound bites in an interview, but if you listen a bit longer you will hear the caveats. So when Dr. Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, tells us what scientists have learned about this infectious disease, he should be listened to.
We need more than science alone to make good decisions. Invoking “science” is not a one-word rationale for public policy; many factors need to be considered. The economic losses and social hardships of the pandemic are painful, and thoughtful Christians will disagree on how to balance those needs with health needs. Even closer to our hearts is the impact of quarantine on church fellowship. As churches reopen, Christians need to balance God’s call to meet together with God’s call to protect the vulnerable among us. We need more than science to make these decisions; we need biblical faith to be wise and discerning (James 3:13-18). As Christians throughout history have shown during other pandemics, our faith is what moves us to deep compassion for the sick, the young, the old, and the vulnerable, as we follow Jesus’ command to care for the least of these (Matthew 25:31-36). Our faith calls us to sacrifice ourselves for others and accept temporary limitations on our freedoms because we have a permanent and complete freedom in Christ (Hebrews 10:34). Our faith helps us be humble and patient when discussing contentious issues (Ephesians 4:2-3). It is our faith, not science, that overcomes fear and brings hope. God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).
Therefore, because of our faith in Jesus Christ, we will:
WEAR MASKS
Wear masks in indoor public spaces and follow other physical distancing rules given by public health officials (1 Peter 2:13-17), unless there are underlying health conditions. Yes, wearing a mask is uncomfortable and awkward, but the evidence is clear that masks reduce the chance we will transmit the disease to others. Mask rules are not experts taking away our freedom, but an opportunity to follow Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as ourselves (Luke 6:31).
GET VACCINATED
Get vaccinated against COVID-19 when a safe and effective vaccine is available and as directed by a physician. A large fraction of the population needs to be vaccinated to develop the “herd immunity” which protects the immuno-compromised and others who cannot be vaccinated. Vaccination is a provision from God that will prevent disease not only for ourselves but for the most vulnerable among us (Matthew 25:31-36).
CORRECT MISINFORMATION
Correct misinformation and conspiracy theories when we encounter them in our social media and communities. Christians are called to love the truth; we should not be swayed by falsehoods (1 Corinthians 13:6). We will actively promote accurate scientific and public health information from trustworthy, consensus sources, and use this information when making decisions for our families, churches, schools, and workplaces.
WORK FOR JUSTICE
Work for justice for communities who have suffered the most deaths from COVID-19. Christians are called to be courageous in fighting for justice (Micah 6:8). We should be the least indifferent to the disadvantaged and vulnerable. Groups that have been hit hard include the elderly in nursing homes, the Navajo nation where many do not have access to clean water, and people of color who continue to experience discrimination in access to health care.
PRAY
We pray for God to heal the millions of sick, to comfort the thousands of grieving families, and to give wisdom to decision-makers. We pray for God to sustain biomedical and public health researchers as they work to develop treatments and a safe and effective vaccine. We pray for God to protect nurses, doctors, lab techs, and all healthcare workers fighting COVID-19 as they serve patients and our communities. And we pray for God to bless our cities and nation with justice and flourishing for all (Jeremiah 29:7).

Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar: “Child Trafficking And The Deep State Are Real, ‘Systemic Racism’ Is A Hoax”

Information Liberation – I can’t imagine GOP House minority leader Kevin McCarthy being too happy about this!
Gosar on Saturday shared a list of former GOP national security officials (including John Negroponte and former CIA/NSA head Michael Hayden) that journos were fawning over for endorsing Joe Biden in a large ad in the Wall Street Journal.
“A list of people who have been wrong about every national security issue for decades,” Gosar said. “We don’t need these ‘luminaries’ leading us into another needless war.”

Michigan appeals court backs Whitmer’s use of emergency powers amid coronavirus pandemic

Whitmer’s office called it a ‘complete and decisive win.’
Fox – A Michigan appeals court on Friday ruled in favor of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, finding that her emergency declarations and orders in response to the coronavirus were legal.
Whitmer implemented strict lockdown measures during the crisis, and has since extended the state of emergency to keep gyms and movie theaters closed. Masks are required in many parts of the state.
Republicans in the state’s Legislature argued that she had overstepped her authority, and can unilaterally extend emergencies only if they are local, not statewide, under the 1945 Emergency Powers of the Governor Act (EPGA). They said a separate 1976 law means statewide emergencies need the Legislature’s approval after 28 days.
The appeals court, in a 2-1 decision, however, upheld a lower court’s ruling that the moves were within her power.
“A declared statewide emergency only ends upon the governor’s declaration that the emergency no longer exists. That has yet to occur in the instant case,” the ruling said.
A spokesperson for Whitmer called it a “complete and decisive win” for the Democratic governor and her efforts “to protect the people of Michigan from this once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic.”
Republicans in the state’s Legislature argued that she had overstepped her authority, and can unilaterally extend emergencies only if they are local, not statewide, under the 1945 Emergency Powers of the Governor Act (EPGA). They said a separate 1976 law means statewide emergencies need the Legislature’s approval after 28 days.
The appeals court, in a 2-1 decision, however, upheld a lower court’s ruling that the moves were within her power.
“A declared statewide emergency only ends upon the governor’s declaration that the emergency no longer exists. That has yet to occur in the instant case,” the ruling said.
A spokesperson for Whitmer called it a “complete and decisive win” for the Democratic governor and her efforts “to protect the people of Michigan from this once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic.”
Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey also said this week that a group was trying to gather 340,000 signatures to repeal the 1945 law.

Trump announces emergency authorization of ‘breakthrough’ coronavirus treatment

Fox – President Trump on Sunday granted an emergency authorization for the usage of convalescent plasma to treat coronavirus patients, dubbing it a “major breakthrough.”
Speaking to reporters from the White House Sunday, Trump said the FDA has “issued an emergency use authorization… for a treatment known as convalescent plasma.”
“This is a powerful therapy that transfuses very very strong antibodies from the blood of recovered patients to help treat patients battling a current infection,” Trump said, adding that the authorization will “expand access to this treatment.”
“Based on the science and the data, the FDA has made the independent determination that the treatment is safe and very effective,” Trump said, before urging all recovered COVID-19 patients in the USA to donate their blood plasma.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced Trump’s press conference in a Saturday-night tweet, writing it involved “a major therapeutic breakthrough on the China virus.”
Trump’s announcement Sunday follows White House officials suggesting last week that there were politically motivated delays by the Food and Drug Administration in approving a vaccine and therapeutics for the coronavirus.
The treatment takes convalescent plasma from patients who have recovered from the coronavirus and is rich in antibodies. Though it may provide benefits to those fighting the virus, the evidence has been inconclusive as to how it works or how best to administer it.
The White House has been growing agitated with the pace of the plasma approval. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows did not deal in specifics but said “we’ve looked at a number of people that are not being as diligent as they should be in terms of getting to the bottom of it.”
“This president is about cutting red tape,” said Meadows in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.” “He had to make sure that they felt the heat. If they don’t see the light, they need to feel the heat because the American people are suffering.”
Sunday’s push came a day after Trump tweeted sharp criticism on the process to treat the virus, which has killed more than 176,000 Americans and imperiled his reelection chances.
The White House has sunk vast resources into an expedited process to develop a vaccine and Trump aides have been banking on it being an “October surprise” that could help the president make up ground in the polls.
“A bipartisan group secretly gathered to game out a contested Trump-Biden election. It wasn’t pretty”
Boston Globe:
On the second Friday in June, a group of political operatives, former government and military officials, and academics quietly convened online for what became a disturbing exercise in the fragility of American democracy.
The group, which included Democrats and Republicans, gathered to game out possible results of the November election, grappling with questions that seem less far-fetched by the day: What if President Trump refuses to concede a loss, as he publicly hinted recently he might do? How far could he go to preserve his power? And what if Democrats refuse to give in?
“All of our scenarios ended in both street-level violence and political impasse,” said Rosa Brooks, a Georgetown law professor and former Defense Department official who co-organized the group known as the Transition Integrity Project. She described what they found in bleak terms: “The law is essentially … it’s almost helpless against a president who’s willing to ignore it.”

Trump reportedly considers fast-tracking AstraZeneca vaccine before election

NY Post – The Trump administration is weighing a fast-tracked process that would allow AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine to be used in the US before November’s presidential election, a new report says.
One plan under consideration would see the Food and Drug Administration issue an “emergency use authorization” for the British drugmaker’s vaccine candidate in October, the Financial Times reported Sunday, citing three people briefed on the plan.
The authorization, known as an EUA, would be based on forthcoming results from a study involving 10,000 people in the UK — even though federal agencies have said a study of 30,000 people would be needed to win such an approval, according to the paper.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly discussed plans to fast-track a vaccine in a July 30 meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer.
Meadows said then that officials could grant an EUA in September, possibly for AstraZeneca’s vaccine, while Mnuchin said officials expected an emergency authorization to come before full approval of a shot, the Financial Times reported.
But a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the FDA, told the paper that claims about an EUA coming before the election were “absolutely false.” The Trump administration hasn’t changed its goal of having a vaccine developed by the first quarter of next year, he said.
“Talk of an October surprise is a lurid resistance fantasy,” the spokesman, Michael Caputo, told the FT. “Irresponsible talk of an unsafe or ineffective vaccine being approved for public use is designed to undermine the president’s coronavirus response.”
AstraZeneca spokesman Matthew Kent said the company “has not discussed emergency use authorization with the US government and it would be premature to speculate on that possibility.”

Jeff Flake joins over two-dozen former GOP members of Congress to launch ‘Republicans for Biden’

Fox – More than two-dozen former Republican members of Congress threw their support behind a “Republicans for Biden” effort being launched Monday by the Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign to engage potential GOP supporters this November.
The announcement comes on the first day of the Republican National Convention, as delegates prepare to formally re-nominate President Trump on Monday.
In their respective convention agendas, each party has sought to showcase converted supporters. Joe Biden’s list of Republican supporters, shared first with Fox News, includes a number of well-known Trump critics, most notably former GOP Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona.
Last fall, he penned an op-ed urging lawmakers to abandon the president and save their “souls,” as he backed impeachment. He’s since said he won’t vote for Trump, but had held off on a formal Biden endorsement until now.
Some others on the list had already backed the former vice president, including former Republican Sens. Gordon Humphrey of New Hampshire (who is now an independent) and John Warner of Virginia. They’re joined by a number of former Republican House members:
Former Reps. Steve Bartlett of Texas, Bill Clinger of Pennsylvania, Tom Coleman of Missouri, Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, Charles Djou of Hawaii, Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma, Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland, Jim Greenwood of Pennsylvania, Bob Inglis of South Carolina, Jim Kolbe of Arizona, Steve Kuykendall of California, Ray LaHood of Illinois (who served as Transportation secretary in the Obama administration), Jim Leach of Iowa, Connie Morella of Maryland, Mike Parker of Mississippi, Jack Quinn of New York, Claudine Schneider of Rhode Island, Chris Shays of Connecticut, Peter Smith of Vermont, Alan Steelman of Texas, Bill Whitehurst of Virginia, Dick Zimmer of New Jersey, and Jim Walsh of New York.

Kenosha officer reportedly hit with brick during overnight protests

Fox – A police-involved shooting of a Black man in Kenosha, Wis., on Sunday led to hourslong protests that devolved into looting, riots and one officer reportedly being hit in the head with what witnesses described as a brick, according to a video posted on social media.
Graphic video posted by Twitter user @BotchlaUS on Sunday night shows a pair of officers walking around a police car amid a backdrop of fighting and small fires when the officer is seen suddenly collapsing to the ground.
Other police officers can be seen trying to help the injured cop as people in the background are heard yelling, “He just got bricked,” and, “F— the police,” the video shows.

Jacob Blake shooting: NFL players react to police-involved incident in Wisconsin

Fox – Several NFL players on Monday reacted to the police-involved shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.
Blake, who is Black, was shot in the back in broad daylight in Kenosha, prompting widespread protests and unrest throughout the city.
Many details of the shooting were not immediately clear, but the following unrest prompted the city to issue a curfew until 7 a.m. Monday and police asked businesses to consider staying closed “due to numerous arm robberies and shots fired calls.”
NFL players who have taken social justice initiatives to the forefront on the league spoke out on the Blake shooting.
Police had been dispatched on a domestic violence call at about 5:11 p.m. prior to the shooting, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported. The paper added that officers administered aid to Blake, who was airlifted to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee.
Julián Castro, the Democrat and former 2020 presidential hopeful, retweeted a video that appeared to show officers yelling at Blake as he tried to walk around an SUV and get into a driver’s-side seat. One of the officers appeared to hold Blake by his shirt before firing.
“Police in Kenosha, Wisconsin appear to shoot a man seven times in the back at point blank range after he ignores commands,” Castro tweeted. “We’re (sp) no other non-lethal methods considered, @KenoshaPolice?”

Republicans emphasize ‘under God’ in pledge after 2 DNC meetings omitted words

Fox – The official meeting of the Republican National Convention (RNC) delegates Monday morning emphasized the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance after a committee and a caucus meeting omitted the words from the pledge during the Democratic National Convention (DNC).
The omission of “under God” from the two relatively minor events sparked a backlash from Republicans, including President Trump, and a flurry of fact-checks pointing out that in the four major broadcasts each night Democrats did use the words “under God.” But Republicans have still said the omission by the individual speakers — there was no party directive on the words — in the two meetings represents a disrespect Democrats have for people of faith.
“Two Democrat Caucus Meetings removed ‘UNDER GOD’ from the Pledge of Allegiance. It sounded not only strange, but terrible. That’s where they’re coming from!” Trump tweeted Sunday.
“At the Democrat National Convention, we know that at least two caucuses removed two words — “under God” — from the Pledge of Allegiance. We know too that at a previous Democrat convention, a recent one, the word “God” was almost totally removed from their platform. That could not, would not, ever happen here,” Peter Goldberg, a delegate from Alaska, said to applause at Republicans’ Monday morning meeting before leading the pledge.
“We know as Republicans that America must put its full trust and faith in that God, in order to do so so that every American citizen can have the blessings of security, the opportunity for prosperity and the ability to enjoy all of those freedoms that are enshrined in that divinely inspired document the Constitution of the United States of America.”
The meetings in which the words “under God” were left out were one meeting of the Muslim Delegates & Allies Assembly and one LGBTQ Caucus Meeting.

Giuliani: If you want a look at ‘Biden’s America,’ look at Portland riots, NYC crime surge

Fox – “If you want to take a look at Joe Biden’s America, take a look” at the increase in crime and the violence taking place across the country, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told “Fox & Friends” on Monday.
President Trump’s personal attorney made the comment on the day the Republican National Convention will begin. Giuliani is scheduled to speak on Thursday, the day Trump is expected to formally accept his party’s nomination.
“If you want to take a look at Joe Biden’s America, take a look at Portland last night where they had a riot, take a look at the woman who punches the other woman in church yesterday, take a look at the 51 shootings in New York and the four murders,” Giuliani said. “That is all happening under Democrat mayors who actually now do nothing about it. “
Giuliani was referring to another night of violence in Portland, Ore., a city which has experienced more than 80 consecutive nights of protests.
On Sunday, Portland police declared a riot at the city’s North Precinct after officers reported that protesters threw rocks, bottles and shined lasers in their direction.
A fire burned an awning at the city’s north precinct late Sunday, news outlets reported. Tear gas was reportedly deployed after the fire had been set.
The latest unrest follows a violent protest on Saturday that was finally broken up by federal authorities from a plaza near a federal building as dueling demonstrations in Portland by right-wing and left-wing protesters turned violent ,and 14 were arrested.

Top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway to leave White House

AP – Kellyanne Conway, one of President Donald Trump’s most influential and longest serving advisers, announced Sunday that she would be leaving the White House at the end of the month.
Conway, Trump’s campaign manager during the stretch run of the 2016 race, was the first woman to successfully steer a White House bid, then became a senior counselor to the president. She informed Trump of her decision in the Oval Office.
Conway cited a need to spend time with her four children in a resignation letter she posted Sunday night. Her husband, George, had become an outspoken Trump critic and her family a subject of Washington’s rumor mill.

Economy & Business

‘Famine of biblical proportions’ looms over humanity due to Covid-19, UN food chief warns

RT – The Covid-19 pandemic may lead to a calamity of epic scale, with millions facing starvation worldwide, the head of the UN’s hunger-fighting body has warned.
“All the data we have, including WFP forecast that the number of people experiencing malnutrition will grow by 80 percent by the end of the year, … points to a real disaster,” David Beasley, Executive Director of the UN World Food Program (WFP), said.
We are risking a famine of biblical proportions
The rapid increase in the number of people who can’t feed themselves will be just an immediate outcome of the pandemic, which caused a disruption of food growth and logistics worldwide. More long-term damage is bound to materialize in the years to come.
“Obviously social tensions will grow, migration will increase, conflicts will escalate and hunger will likely affect those who didn’t experience it before,” the official told the Russian news agency TASS.
WFP projections say Latin American nations face the most dramatic change in their situation, with the number of malnourished people increasing by as much as 269 percent, Beasley said. The same metric for countries in Eastern and Central Asia stands at 135 percent. Sub-Saharan Africa may see the number of their hungry almost double.
Global hunger is already high, Beasley warned. Unless bold action is taken now, “many will die, children will suffer from the consequences of malnutrition for many years, and the world will lose all the progress made in fighting hunger over the past decade,” he said.
The price of inaction will be incredibly high.
This year some 138 million people in 83 countries rely on WFP for their food supply, the official said. For many of them the UN humanitarian body is the “last hope for survival”. In South Sudan 1.6 million people were added this year to the 5 million already requiring assistance. In Yemen, the WFP feeds 13 million.
The situation in Lebanon became particularly grim after a devastating blast two weeks ago in Beirut. The explosion not only destroyed stockpiles of grain, but also cut supply chains because the damaged port was used to deliver some 85 percent of the food that Lebanon needs.

TikTok suing Trump administration in attempt to stave off ban

TikTok will argue that the Trump administration has not demonstrated “an unusual and extraordinary threat.”
Politico – TikTok is suing the Trump administration Monday for essentially banning its popular video-sharing app in the U.S., arguing that an executive order the president signed earlier this month was put together in haste without regard for the company’s rights.
In the lawsuit, TikTok contends that the administration has not proven the app poses a national security threat because of its parent company’s roots in China. It will also contend that President Donald Trump abused a law that grants him the authority to disrupt global business to address extraordinary threats.

New Orleans Braces for Evictions; Belongings Pile Up on Streets.

WSJ – Hundreds of renters in New Orleans have received eviction notices this summer due to unpaid rent—and local advocates and officials expect the worst has yet to come, right as hurricane season gets under way.
That is because Louisiana’s ban on evictions during the coronavirus pandemic expired in June and the grace period for a separate federal eviction moratorium expires Aug. 24.
Even before the pandemic, 44% of the state’s renter residents were considered housing cost-burdened, according to the Louisiana Housing Corporation, meaning they spent more than a third of their incomes on rent. And at $247 a week, Louisiana has among the lowest maximum unemployment benefits of any state.

Energy & Environment

Wildfires burn 1 million acres in California

AP – Three massive wildfires chewed through parched Northern California landscape Sunday as firefighters raced to dig breaks and make other preparations ahead of a frightening weather system packing high winds and more of the lightning that sparked the huge blazes and scores of other fires around the state, putting nearly a quarter-million people under evacuation orders and warnings.
At the CZU Lightning Complex fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains, south of San Francisco, authorities announced the discovery of the body of a 70-year-old man in a remote area called Last Chance. The man had been reported missing and police had to use a helicopter to reach the area, which is a string of about 40 off-the-grid homes at the end of a windy, steep dirt road north of the city of Santa Cruz.

Science & Technology

Musk to unveil brain chip with real-time demonstration… Human trials?

Teslarati – Elon Musk’s brain-machine interface company, Neuralink, has an event scheduled for later this week to update the public on its progress since last year’s presentation. While the agenda is speculative for the most part, one expectation is a live demonstration of neuron activity.
“Will show neurons firing in real-time on August 28th. The matrix in the matrix,” Musk tweeted at the end of July.
He also revealed a few other clues about the early fall announcement at the beginning of the year. “Wait until you see the next version vs what was presented last year. It’s *awesome*,” he wrote in February. “The profound impact of high bandwidth, high precision neural interfaces is underappreciated. Neuralink may have this in a human as soon as this year. Just needs to be unequivocally better than Utah Array, which is already in some humans & has severe drawbacks.”
As its name implies, the roles of neuron activities are very important to Neuralink’s technology. The venture’s long-term goal of obtaining human symbiosis with artificial intelligence (AI) begins by connecting electrodes throughout the brain and reading its neuron signals en masse. Gathering huge amounts of data from the signals gradually teaches Neuralink’s software how they are used by the brain to communicate with the rest of the body, ultimately leading to a certain amount of replication and direction. The possibilities of such a capability seem endless.
Musk has hinted at some of the health-focused capabilities Neuralink’s technology could develop, specifically in individuals who are neurologically compromised. Installation of a chip replacing a small portion of the human skull, for instance, could restore limb function, improve human movement, resolve issues with eyesight and hearing, and help with diseases like Parkinson’s. There is also the possibility that the implementation of a Neuralink device into a brain could pave the way for hindering brain issues like epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, and strokes.
One of Neuralink’s inventions already revealed is a surgical robot for inserting electrodes into the brain. The devices are connected by flexible “threads” measuring between 4 and 6 μm or, about 1/3 the diameter of human hair, capable of transferring high volumes of data from the brain. The design has been tested on at least 19 different animals with robots with around an 87% success rate, according to the venture’s presentation last year. Human trials are possibly on the schedule for 2020, and this aspect may be part of Friday’s update.
Neuralink released a white paper in 2019 and currently has four published patent applications, all which expand on the particulars of the technology already revealed.
While the medical possibilities of Neuralink’s work are incredible on their own, Musk’s involvement was initiated by a desire to help humans keep up with AI. “I don’t love the idea of being [a computer’s] house cat, but what’s the solution? I think one of the solutions that seems maybe the best is to add an AI layer,” he half-joked at Code Conference 2016. Hopefully, the next presentation will provide some insight about Neuralink’s progress in that direction as well, even if it’s still purely hypothetical.
The Neuralink update event will be held August 28th and is expected to have a live stream.

Health

You Are Likely Deficient in Choline

Mercola – July 15, 2020, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) published its 2020 report, an independent scientific review on the nutrition and health status of Americans, and there was a concerning finding: Most Americans don’t get enough choline, an essential nutrient that’s vitally important, but rarely discussed.
Marie Caudill, Ph.D., a registered dietitian who is internationally recognized for her research on choline and folate, says the most alarming find from the report is that the populations who would benefit the most from extra choline — pregnant and lactating women, infants and children — are falling especially short.
In pregnant women, choline deficiency is associated with an increased risk of neural tube defects. In the general population, getting too little choline can lead to the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and muscle damage.
What Does Choline Do?
Choline is often lumped in with the B vitamins, but it’s not technically a vitamin. It’s more of a vitamin-like nutrient.1 Choline helps support optimal health at all stages of life. It plays a role in healthy fetal development, helps maintain cognition and memory, boosts energy, improves fitness and keeps your liver healthy. Your brain and nervous system need adequate amounts of choline to help regulate muscle control, mood and memory.
Choline is also involved in metabolism. Other roles of choline include: