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Monday, July 20, 2020

Rare Mosquito Disease Confirmed in Michigan, New Hampshire

In a year already overcome by a global pandemic, a rare mosquito-borne disease is popping up in at least two states.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services this week announced a confirmed case of Jamestown Canyon virus, spread by the same kind of mosquitoes that carry other more common diseases like West Nile virus.

The infected person lives in Ottawa County, which is on the shore of Lake Michigan just west of Grand Rapids and includes the city of Holland.

New Hampshire reported a case of the disease earlier this month. The infections are both states' first reports of any mosquito-borne virus so far this year.

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Seattle rioters seen damaging, looting stores; 2 arrests, 12 cops injured

Police were blocking off entrances to Interstate 5 so protesters could not enter, according to local media

At least two people were arrested in Seattle and a dozen police officers were injured – including one who was hospitalized – on Sunday, after a march through downtown devolved into property damage and looting, police say.

Police said the demonstrators had broken out several windows of the East Precinct, then threw a device into the lobby that ignited a small fire.

The fire was later extinguished and it caused no injuries, police said.

The demonstration started between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. near the intersection of 3rd Avenue and Pine Street. A photo posted on Seattle’s DOT traffic channel showed crowds blocking an intersection.

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https://www.foxnews.com/us/seattle-rioters-looting-amazon-store-officers-injured

Rep. Collins: Portland mayor 'probably needs to step down' amid violence in city

The Trump administration has enlisted federal agents to protect federal property

One day after Portland police said protesters broke into the Portland Police Association building, set it on fire and started dumpster fires in the city as demonstrations over the death of George Floyd intensified for another night, a Georgia congressman called out the city's mayor.

“The mayor of Portland probably needs to step down because he is definitely not being a mayor, he’s just being a social commentator,” Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., told “Fox & Friends Weekend” on Sunday, reacting to the violence in the city.

The Trump administration has enlisted federal agents, including the U.S. Marshals Special Operations Group, to protect federal property.

The unrest had frustrated Mayor Ted Wheeler and other local authorities, who had said a small group of violent activists were drowning out the message of peaceful protesters. Wheeler also said the federal presence in Portland is now exacerbating the situation and has said he wants them to leave.

On Friday Wheeler said, “Keep your troops in your own buildings, or have them leave our city."

“The words and actions from President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security have shown that this is an attack on our democracy,” Wheeler added.

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COVID 911

Gunman Kills Son Of Federal Judge Recently Assigned To Epstein Case

When we first spotted headlines about a lone gunman's lethal assault on the home of a federal judge in New Jersey, we feared this was just another example of how criminals have been emboldened by the nationwide backlash against law enforcement embodied by the 'defund the police' movement.

But that was before we learned that the judge targeted in the attack - Newark-based US federal judge Esther Salas - had been assigned to a Deutsche Bank/Epstein lawsuit just four days before the attack.

The shooting occurred Sunday night at around 5pmET. Salas 20-year-old son Daniel Anderl, a student, opened the door at the family home in North Brunswick after hearing the doorbell ring. The man outside appeared to be a FedEx employee, according to media reports.

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20,000 Robinhood Traders Are In For Rude Surprise As CBL Prepares To File Chapter 11

Bloomberg reports mall operator CBL & Associates Properties Inc. is preparing to file for bankruptcy. The headline hit after hours on Friday, sinking shares by at least 20%.

Sources told Bloomberg the company "has been negotiating with its lenders in an effort to enter Chapter 11 with a consensual restructuring agreement in place...the plans aren't final, and elements could change."

CBL's portfolio has 108 properties totaling 68.2 million square feet across 26 states. Many of the properties are classified as "Class B malls," supported by a middle-market customer base that has been crushed by the virus-induced recession.

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Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Suggests Race, Sex Behind GA Governor’s Legal Challenge to City’s Mask Ordinance

Sunday, during an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms offered possible motives to Gov. Brian Kemp’s (R-GA) decision to legally challenge her city’s ordinance mandating masks and other measures implemented in the name of combating COVID-19.

The Atlanta Mayor denied the city’s civil unrest had anything to do with the spikes in cases and argued that instead there she might be singled out for her sex or the “demographic” in Atlanta.

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GOP Wins Court Case, Keeping Florida Ballot Harvesting Ban in Place

The Republican National Committee (RNC), the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), and the Florida GOP won a federal court victory upholding Florida’s ban on ballot harvesting.

Priorities USA, a progressive advocacy group, and other Democrat plaintiffs dismissed their claims in Nielsen v. DeSantis, a lawsuit challenging Florida’s ban on ballot harvesting which also aimed to force the state to count ballots that arrived after Election Day. The plaintiffs also dropped their claim that Florida needed to provide pre-paid postage on vote-by-mail ballots.

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Nearly 14,000 feds face looming pandemic furloughs

Budget shortfalls at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services have caused the agency to issue furlough notices to approximately 75 percent of its staff, a move that could lead to a vicious cycle of increasing financial challenges.

The agency is funded almost entirely by visa and citizenship applications, which have dropped significantly from the pandemic and Trump administration policies that have restricted the number of immigrants arriving to the U.S.

That drop in fee revenue means that a majority of the USCIS workforce will be required to stop work and go without pay for at least 30 days, beginning Aug. 3, unless Congress intervenes.

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said American Federation of Government Employees Local 2660 President Nicole Guess on a July 14 press call about the upcoming furloughs.

The furloughs would last for at least 30 days, but could last as long as 90 days before USCIS would have to make a decision to either bring the employees back or start taking more long-term measures, which could include laying those employees off entirely.

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Mail delays likely as new postal boss pushes cost-cutting

WASHINGTON — Mail deliveries could be delayed by a day or more under cost-cutting efforts being imposed by the new postmaster general. The plan eliminates overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal workers and says employees must adopt a “different mindset” to ensure the Postal Service’s survival during the coronavirus pandemic.

Late trips will no longer be authorized. If postal distribution centers are running late, “they will keep the mail for the next day,‘' Postal Service leaders say in a document obtained by The Associated Press. “One aspect of these changes that may be difficult for employees is that — temporarily — we may see mail left behind or mail on the workroom floor or docks,‘' another document says.

The changes come a month after Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major donor to President Donald Trump, took over the sprawling mail service. In a memo titled “PMG Expectations and Plan,‘' the agency said the changes are aimed at “making the USPS fundamentally solvent which we are not at this time.‘'

The memo cites deep revenue losses from a decadelong decline in mail deliveries that has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and says an overdue “operational pivot” is needed to ensure the agency’s health and stability.

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Illinois political powerhouse implicated in corruption probe

A utility company has already agreed to $200 million fine in connection with the allegations

Longtime Illinois House Speaker and state Democratic Party chairman Michael Madigan is facing calls for his resignation after federal prosecutors implicated him in an alleged bribery scheme, which has resulted in utility company ComEd agreeing to a $200 million fine.

Federal prosecutors said that utility company ComEd admitted to providing jobs or contracts "for various associates of a high-level elected official for the state of Illinois." While Madigan's name was not mentioned, a federal court filing identifies the official as the Illinois House speaker.

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BREAKING: Major Company FIRES Employees for Criticizing BLM

Cisco says it fired a “handful” of workers for “inappropriate conduct” because it won’t tolerate racism

(Infowars) – In early June, dutifully doing its part to virtue signal along with the rest of the world, Cisco Systems hosted an “all hands on deck” meeting on race, hosted via videoconference.

In the comments of the online forum, visible to everyone, some workers questioned the Black Lives Matter movement and were subsequently fired from their jobs, proving once again that you can have an opinion, as long as it’s the right opinion.

Chief Executive Officer Chuck Robbins talked with Ford Foundation President Darren Walker, who is Black, and Bryan Stevenson, a Black lawyer and author who founded the Equal Justice Initiative, during the company’s June 1 meeting in front of 30,000 employees, according to Bloomberg.

Several people spoke out online against Black Lives Matter during these online forums. For example, one employee wrote: “Black lives don’t matter. All lives matter,” while another wrote that BLM “reinforces racism”. A third employee commented: “People who complain about racism probably have been a racist somewhere else to people from another race or part of systematic oppression in their own community!”

Cisco says it fired a “handful” of workers for “inappropriate conduct” because it won’t tolerate racism. It also, apparently, won’t tolerate its employees opinions.

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Gun violence sweeps US cities again as weekend sees seven shot dead and 53 wounded in Chicago, one dead and eight injured in Washington DC, plus one killed and 10 wounded in New York

The US went through another weekend of bloody gun violence, with fatal shootings and people wounded by gunfire across Chicago, Washington DC and New York City, according to police.

In Chicago, seven people were fatally shot and at least another 53 were left wounded by gunfire, police said.

That was up from the same weekend last year, when 43 people were shot, including three who died in gunfire.

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Failed Republican presidential candidate John Kasich is set to endorse Joe Biden at the Democratic convention as Donald Trump rival steps up efforts to eat into the president's base

Former Republican presidential candidate John Kasich is set to endorse DemocratJoe Biden at the Democratic National Convention next month.

The Associated Press reported that Kasich, the former governor of Ohio, is among the high-profile, disaffected Republicans that the Biden campaign is trying to bring in as a way to eat into President Donald Trump's base.

Trump, meanwhile, hasn't done much to expand his appeal, as he's leaned into culture war issues, like support for the Confederate flag, telling 'Fox News Sunday' host Chris Wallace that the symbol isn't racist.

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Congresswoman Maxine Waters stops her SUV to monitor cops detaining a black motorist in LA before deputies threaten to ticket her for blocking traffic

California Congresswoman Maxine Waters appears on video posted on social media jumping out of her SUV to the aid of a black motorist who was pulled over by cops during a traffic stop in Los Angeles this weekend.

The black Democrat told the person filming her that the cops had 'stopped a brother,' and that she was going to check on the situation.

Waters claims that the deputies threatened her with a ticket for pulling over the way she did.

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You're Probably Gonna Get It...

At this site, I’ve never shied away from unpopular truths—in fact, I think that shining light upon them is vital to logical thought and solid investment returns. With that out of the way, I’m going to dive into the klusterfukety global government response to COVID-19. Oddly, despite science being fact-based, each country charted its own path—showing that the pandemic itself is a political adventure and science comes secondarily—if at all.

Let me start with a few disclaimers; I’m not a biologist, I am not a virologist and I don’t intend to dwell on the existing data, as most of what’s out there is buggy at best and often doctored for political reasons. Besides, I don’t think hard-data is important to the rest of this post. You see, I am a common-sense guy. In a world where governments have lost their collective minds, I feel I have something of an edge here.

If you read nothing else, read the following; had they stopped this thing in Wuhan, we would be right to use a containment approach to COVID-19. Instead, it’s everywhere and despite your personal opinions on the issue, it isn’t going away until most of us get it. There, I said it; you can hide in your basement, but you’re still probably going to get COVID-19. You can quarantine a whole nation; they’ll just get it next year. We are a global economy and this is now a global disease.

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WHY WOULD I LISTEN TO THEM?! Adam Carolla Slams 'Cancel Culture', Talks Jimmy Kimmel And More

SHOCKING STATS ABOUT FATHERLESS HOMES

Missouri Gov. Parsons Says He'll Pardon St. Louis Couple Who Defended Home Against BLM Mob

Most folks who live in the great state of Missouri must love liberty, the Constitution, and their GOP governor, Mike Parsons.

He seems to have a firm grasp of what ‘right and wrong’ is, even if some of the prosecuting attorneys in the state don’t.

Readers may recall recently that a St. Louis couple armed themselves after a Black Lives Matter mob smashed through a gate earlier this month leading onto their private property. The couple, lawyer Mark McCloskey and wife Patricia, said they only grabbed firearms after some people in the mob threatened them and one of their pets.

Missouri has a law called ‘Stand Your Ground,’ which is designed to support a resident’s rightnot to have to retreat in the face of threats. The law empowers residents to defend themselves and their property when either is directly threatened, and that’s the way it ought to be.

Parsons knows all about that law; he helped write it as a state legislator.

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Body Parts Are Sexist: Doctors Call For Adam's Apple, Achilles Tendon to be Renamed

Doctors in Australia are calling for the renaming of key body parts including the “Adam’s apple” and “Achilles tendon,” because of their 'misogynistic' names.

Dr. Kristin Small, a obstetrician, gynecologist, and anatomy lecturer, says these terms must go because they too "historical."

“I think we have a personal choice to decolonize our language and these historical terms will fade out,” Small said to the Brisbane Courier-Mail.

Council member for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Dr. Nisha Khot, said these terms won't exist in the future.

“The young trainee doctors are mostly keen to learn the more relevant language and are often shocked when they hear the origins of some medical terms,” she said.

“The push for change may have started in the area of women’s health but the conversation is now in the wider health community. It just makes sense for the medics but also for the patients to use more understandable terms,” Khot added.

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SHA Continues To Seek 589 Intersection Solutions; Developer Thinks OPA Board Responsible For Problems

OCEAN PINES – State Highway Administration officials continue to consider a roundabout at the Ocean Pines north gate as they look for a solution to Route 589 traffic concerns.

The Worcester County Commissioners this week advised the State Highway Administration (SHA) of traffic safety issues at the entrance to the Ocean Pines Health Pavilion on Route 589. SHA District Engineer James Meredith said in a statement Thursday the agency was exploring potential solutions, including a roundabout at the nearby north gate to Ocean Pines.

“Safety is our top priority,” Meredith said. “We’ve been having ongoing discussions with Worcester County and the Peninsula Regional Medical Center about making MD 589 safer.”

At the request of the commissioners, Chief Administrative Officer Harold Higgins advised SHA in a July 14 letter of traffic safety issues related to the Ocean Pines Health Pavilion.

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Candace Owens: ‘I’ve Never Met a Single Black American Who Was a Slave or a Single White American Who Was a Slaveowner’

Blexit Leader Candice Owens says that, in her lifetime, she’s never met a Black American slave or a White American slave owner – but, she has met “lazy people” who want others to support them.

On Wednesday, Owens, whose Blexit movement seeks to introduce conservative principles to urban communities, tweeted that “human parasites…come in every race”:

“Maybe I live in a box, but I’ve never met a single black American who was a slave or a single white American who was a slaveowner.

“I’ve only come across lazy people who believe that those of us who work ought to support them.

“Human parasites. And they come in every race.”

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Seattle City Councilwoman: We Will Not Stop Until We Overthrow Capitalism, Replace It With Socialism

Seattle City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant delivers a message after passing the "Amazon Tax" at a digital city council meeting on Monday.

"I have a message for Jeff Bezos and his class," Sawant warned. "If you attempt again to overturn the Amazon Tax, working people will go all out in the thousands to beat you. And we will not stop there."

Hamptons eatery burns table favored by Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein

Burn, baby, burn.

At the posh 75 Main in Southampton, owner Zach Erdem insists on only good vibes. That’s why he chopped up and torched Table 1 — the favorite of onetime regular Jeffrey Epstein, and occasionally, Harvey Weinstein, Saturday.

“I need to burn this f–king table,” said Erdem of the Hamptons hangout’s VIP six-top located in the center of the action.

“I’m sick of the bad energy of this table,” he said of Epstein’s aura. “Every time I see it I think of that sicko.”

The bustling brunch crowd left their tables to gawk at the bonfire in progress, whooping and chanting, “Burn, Epstein, burn!” as Erdem hacked at the cursed table and burned it into oblivion. Renee Downing, a Miami native who summers in the Hamptons, toasted the roasting. “I think this sends a strong statement.”

The pedophile predator, who died last August inside a Manhattan federal jail a month after being arrested on charges of sex trafficking, was a fixture for three years at the Hamptons hotspot, which routinely attracts boldfacers like Leonardo DiCaprio and Kim Kardashian.

“Every single time, every week or two, he came with three or four girls,” Erdem recalled.

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The Worst Outbreaks in U.S. History

An epidemic is definedTrusted Source by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a sudden increase in the number of cases of an infectious disease within a community or geographic area during a specific time period.

A spike in the number of cases of the same illness in an area beyond what health officials expect to see is an outbreak. The terms may be used interchangeably, though epidemics are often considered more widespread.

Over the years, many outbreaks of infectious diseases have occurred and spread across the United States.

1633-1634: Smallpox from European settlers

Smallpox came to North America in the 1600s. Symptoms included high fever, chills, severe back pain, and rashes. It began in the Northeast and the Native American population was ravaged by it as it spread to the west.

In 1721, more than 6,000 cases were reported out of a Boston population of 11,000. Around 850 people died from the disease.

In 1770, Edward Jenner developed a vaccine from cow pox. It helps the body become immune to smallpox without causing the disease.

Now: After a large vaccination initiative in 1972, smallpox is gone from the United States. In fact, vaccines are no longer necessary.

1793: Yellow fever from the Caribbean

One humid summer, refugees fleeing a yellow fever epidemic in the Caribbean Islands sailed into Philadelphia, carrying the virus with them.

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Here's How COVID-19 Compares to Past Outbreaks

SARS, the 1918 flu pandemic, and Ebola have all helped public health officials prepare for major outbreaks.
Each major outbreak is different though, and experts have a hard time predicting how they will end.
The fallout of each disease largely depends on other circumstances — when we catch it, how contagious and fatal it is, how hygienic people are, and how quickly a vaccine or cure becomes available.

All data and statistics are based on publicly available data at the time of publication. Some information may be out of date. Visit our coronavirus hub and follow our live updates page for the most recent information on the COVID-19 outbreak.

With new cases of the new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, growing day by day, it’s natural to compare the new disease to other outbreaks in recent history.

There was the 1918 influenza, for example, that infected nearly a thirdTrusted Source of the world’s population before it fizzled out.

Then came other threatening viruses that appeared out of nowhere: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the H1N1 influenza in 2009, and Ebola.

Eventually, we got a handle on all of them.

But the fallout of each disease largely depends on other circumstances — when we catch it, how contagious and fatal it is, how hygienic people are, and how quickly a vaccine or cure becomes available.

The death rate isn’t the only determining factor regarding how devastating and deadly a pandemic will be, according to Dr. Christine Kreuder Johnson, a UC Davis professor of epidemiology and ecosystem health and researcher on USAID’s Emerging Pandemic Threats PREDICT project.

Here, we’ll take a look at how COVID-19 stacks up to other major outbreaks so far:

1918 influenza

The 1918 Spanish flu epidemic was the deadliest flu season we know of, infecting about one-third of the world’s population.

“The 1918 pandemic strain of influenza was new and novel for most people under the age of 40 or 50, but that’s where the death rate really was high — that’s different than the usual flu,” saidDr. Mark Schleiss, a pediatric infectious disease specialist with the University of Minnesota.

Back then, scientists didn’t know viruses caused disease, and we didn’t yet have a vaccine or antivirals to help prevent or treat influenza, nor did we have antibiotics to treat secondary bacterial infections.

Life was also very different back then — for one, we were in the middle of a war and soldiers carried the virus with them all over the world. People were also living in very crowded conditions and had extremely poor hygiene — this helped the disease build and build, according to Johnson.

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ONE BIG LIE!

The legendary Thomas Sowell issues a warning as USA nears 'point of no return'

Conservative economist and American treasure Thomas Sowell has a warning for Americans:

The 2020 elections could be a "point of no return" for the United States.

Sowell delivered the grim news Sunday during an appearance on conservative commentator Mark Levin's Fox News Show, "Life, Liberty and Levin" -- and appearance that came against a national backdrop of leftist calls to "defund police" amid rising crime and chaos in the streets of major U.S. cities.

"I must say, even though I was regarded as pessimistic, I was never pessimistic enough to think that things would degenerate to the point where they are now," Sowell told Levin.

"Where adult human beings are talking about getting rid of the police. Where they're talking about reducing the number of police, reducing the resources put in police work, at a time when murder rates have been skyrocketing over what they were just a year ago in 2019.

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Chris Wallace Is Wrong, Joe Biden Does Want to Defund the Police

Social media is abuzz over the release of a clip of President Trump’s interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace, where the Fox News host “fact-checked” Trump’s claim that Joe Biden wants to defund the police.
“It’s gotten totally out of control and it’s really because they want to defund the police, and Biden wants to defund the police,” Trump said in the clip.
“Sir, he does not,” Wallace shot back.
You can watch the exchange below.
I don’t doubt the “unity charter” between Biden and Sanders makes no written statement about defunding the police. But here’s the problem with Chris Wallace’s fact-check: it’s still wrong.
Joe Biden, absolutely, one-hundred percent, no doubt about it, called for the defunding of police. In fact, it happened just over a week ago:
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How many South Korean coronavirus tests have been used in Maryland? No one will say.

Maryland officials continue to provide incomplete information about the much-publicized purchase of coronavirus tests from a South Korean company in April.

Gov. Larry Hogan again touted the deal in an excerpt from his forthcoming political memoir that was published Thursday in The Washington Post. He did a round of national TV interviews to talk about the 500,000 tests bought from the South Korean company, LabGenomics, framing the purchase as a bold decision in the face of lack of help from President Donald Trump.

But the Hogan administration has refused to say exactly how many of those tests have been put into use since the April 20 announcement.

An undisclosed number of tests were used initially for “high-priority clusters and outbreaks” said Mike Ricci, a spokesman for the Republican governor, in response to questions from The Baltimore Sun.

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