In the news, Friday, October 23, 2020

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OCT 22      INDEX      OCT 24

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from Church Times

Newspaper in London, United Kingdom

This is turning from a sprint to a marathon

So how do people cope? Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell write that resilience can be found through faith and a bit of self-care.

This week sees the publication of How Clergy Thrive: Insights from living ministry, by Dr Liz Graveling. Wise, well-researched, and full of good advice, it’s a toolkit to help clergy reflect on their own well-being — and support the well-being of others. This would be welcome reading at any time; in the middle of a pandemic, it’s indispensable. We cannot sprint indefinitely, or be like the Duracell bunny, bouncing along with an empty smile on its face while others topple over. That’s not resilience. Resilience is the capacity to go on trusting God in the middle of lament, protest, celebration, joy, and any variety of the above.

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from HumanProgress.org

Education Website

Support Next-Generation Nuclear Power with Better Regulation

Ultimately, innovation comes from the private sector and scientists, but can only thrive when unencumbered by government distortion. While it is of course sensible for politicians to ensure that next-generation nuclear reactors are safe, a more market-based, light-touch regulatory framework is necessary to avoid stifling innovation. A clear pathway that provides regulatory certainty for decades to come is crucial in ensuring that the United States stakes its place as the world-leader on next-generation nuclear technologies.

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from National Review  RIGHT BIAS

No, the WSJ’s News Report Doesn’t ‘Debunk’ the Paper’s Opinion Column on Hunter Biden Corruption

Democratic partisans hoping desperately that the rapidly unfolding story of Biden family corruption will disappear before the election thought they had found their answer in the form of a Wall Street Journal report published late Thursday night. 

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from The North American Anglican

Media/News Company: "A journal of orthodox theology in the Anglican tradition"

THE RELATIVE POSITIONS OF THE PRESIDER, TABLE, AND ASSEMBLY AT COMMUNION PART I

Drew Keane: When, in John’s Gospel, Jesus meets with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, she comments on the disagreement between Samaritans and Jews regarding where God had appointed sacrifices to be offered — Mount Gerizim or Zion. ... Jesus explains that physical location is indifferent to worship as such; God regards the orientation of the heart (in the scriptural sense, the whole inner person). In this paper I consider the question of the relative positions of the presider, table, and assembly in the Communion liturgy. This question sometimes provokes fierce controversy among Christians, and Anglicans in particular, which I do not wish to do here. As I proceed, therefore, I aim to keep Christ’s words to the Samaritan woman foremost in mind.

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from Q13Fox (KCPQ) (Seattle)

First Asian giant hornet nest found in Washington

The Washington State Department of Agriculture has found the first Asian giant hornet nest in the United States. The nest was found in a tree off Burk Road in east Blaine in Whatcom County around 4 p.m. Thursday, according to The Northern Light newspaper. They were able to trap two live hornets and use long-range radio tags to track one of them to the nest. Scientists tracking the hornets believe there's another nest in the area. A total of 18 hornets had been found in the state as of mid-October.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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In the news, Thursday, October 22, 2020

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OCT 21      INDEX      OCT 23

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________

from DW News (Deutsche Welle)

Broadcasting & Media Production Company in Bonn, Germany

Opinion: EU's Sakharov Prize for Belarus dissidents sends a strong signal

Belarus dissidents have defied all odds, bravely standing up to a state armed to the teeth and willing to deploy brute force to crush all opposition. The dissidents have refused to let themselves be intimidated, and the Coordination Council has worked tirelessly to fight for freedom. The country's dissidents have thoroughly earned the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize. It was paramount that it be awarded collectively, not just to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya but to all of Belarus' opposition figures, otherwise, it would have lost all meaning. These individuals have inspired and lent momentum to the tens of thousands who have taken to the streets of Minsk, week after week, following the country's rigged August election. They have rightly demanded their civil rights be honored and respected — this is what the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is all about.

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from Hoover Institution
Nonprofit Organization in Stanford, California

Crisis In The Eastern Mediterranean

The Eastern Mediterranean, like the Middle East, is a tough neighborhood. The current standoff over natural gas rights among Greece, Turkey, and their respective allies is only the latest example. Greece and Turkey are locked in a dispute over fossil-fuel exploration rights in the Eastern Mediterranean, both off the coast of Cyprus and elsewhere. Since the discovery not long ago of undersea gas and oil reserves in the area, the stakes have grown high. Greece and the European Union claim that Turkey is drilling illegally in the region, while Turkey asserts its rights. Each side has claimed an Exclusive Economic Zone.

It’s Not The Energy, Stupid!

In 2020, with the strong presence of American, Russian, French, Greek, Turkish, Egyptian, Italian, and even German warships, the Eastern Mediterranean has become one of the most militarized seas in the world. It’s all about geography. In the Eastern Mediterranean there are two of the three gates to and from the Mediterranean: the Bosphorus and the Suez. It touches the Middle East coast where the interests of many powerful countries are at stake, it has energy resources, and it lies on the New Silk Road. It is important for international navigation, the European Union, and it serves the interests of countries such as the United States, China, Russia, the UK, and France.

Turkey In The Eastern Mediterranean Crisis

Three wars that Turkey is currently involved in, namely in Syria, Libya, and the South Caucasus, suggest that Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s foreign policy has settled into a new phase. Erdoğan is building a “mini Empire” by—often—simultaneously fighting and power-brokering with his Russian homologue, and to this end the Eastern Mediterranean provides ample opportunities for him. In Syria, Turkey supports rebels opposing the Assad regime, itself backed by Russia. In the South Caucasus, Turkey backs Azerbaijan, which is trying to recover its occupied territory from Armenia, a close Russian ally. And in Libya, Ankara backs the internationally-recognized Tripoli government against forces supported by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Putin’s mercenaries, known as Wagner’s Army.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Sue Lani Madsen: The West Side fights for energy efficiency, but what about the home costs?

Affordable home ownership is key to climbing into the middle class, but energy code changes next year won’t help mend the wealth gap. Larry Gropp, a Pullman-based architect designing primarily single-family homes, worries about what the new codes will do to affordability. “I suspect 90% of architects in this state are unaware, and builders are just starting to get a clue,” Gropp said. According to Gropp, the latest residential energy code will add 30% to the price of a new home. Prior to 2015, builders in Pullman could produce a 2,500-square-foot custom home at $130 per square-foot. Prices jumped to $185 per square-foot after the previous code update in 2015, partially driven by additional requirements for insulation and heating systems.

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In the news, Wednesday, October 21, 2020

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OCT 20      INDEX      OCT 22

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from The Federalist

RIGHT BIAS, HIGH, online magazine

Newly Discovered Letter Shows Endocrine Society Urged Experimenting On Trans Children

In his recent townhall, presidential candidate Joe Biden endorsed experimental, irreversible medical interventions for gender-confused eight-year-olds. His reflexive and indeed casual approval of medical child abuse illustrates how successful the transgender industry, including politicized elements of the medical profession, has been in obscuring the issues and normalizing the abnormal. A recently uncovered letter shows how the Endocrine Society (ES) in particular has deftly misrepresented scientific reality to advance the agenda of that lucrative and increasingly powerful industry.

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from HumanProgress.org

Education Website

Centers of Progress, Pt. 14: Benin City (Security)

Our fourteenth Center of Progress is Benin City, whose walls were once arguably the largest manmade structure on the planet. The wall network of Benin City was collectively four times longer than the Great Wall of China and consumed roughly a hundred times more material to build than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, according to some estimates. Benin City was the capital of the Benin Empire (1180–1897 CE), which was among the most highly developed states in sub-Saharan Africa before the European colonial period. Benin City was also known for its bronze artworks and a high degree of public order in its heyday. Prosperity requires physical safety from violence and property protection from theft or conquest, and the unprecedented scale of Benin City’s protective walls represented a significant achievement in security. While the Walls of Benin City eventually fell to a military attack, the record-breaking structure successfully safeguarded the lives and property of those who lived within the city for centuries.

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from NBC News (& affiliates)

LEFT-CENTER BIAS

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma pleads guilty to federal criminal charges
Purdue Pharma, the drugmaker blamed for helping to unleash America's staggering opioid crisis, agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges as part of an $8 billion settlement over its marketing of OxyContin, the Department of Justice revealed Wednesday.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

________

In the news, Tuesday, October 20, 2020

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OCT 19      INDEX      OCT 21

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________

from BizPac Review

Fed-up Trump supporter delivers wake up call to black voters: ‘You can’t do the math?…47 years of BS!’

Tamika Hamilton, the GOP candidate for California’s third congressional district, shared a video of a black woman’s fiery message to Biden supporters as she set the record straight on what President Donald Trump has actually accomplished for the black community in his first term.

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from Hoover Institution
Nonprofit Organization in Stanford, California

Does International Law Promote Peace Or War?
On October 24, 1648, the Holy Roman Empire, Sweden, Spain, France, several German principalities, etc. signed what became known as the Treaty of Westphalia, or the Peace of Westphalia, ending thirty years of war among European sovereigns, ostensibly about whether the Roman Catholic Church or the several reformed churches should be practiced or forbidden, but actually about the prerogatives of political sovereignty. Though the sovereigns continued to disagree about church matters, they agreed completely that their rule would be absolute in the places they controlled. This meant that they recognized neither any temporal power nor any moral or spiritual authority over them. And that in turn meant that, in their relations among themselves, they would respect each other’s sovereignty by not interfering in each other’s internal affairs. That is what made peace more likely than before. But they also promised to be bound—or rather they promised that they would promise to bind themselves—only by such promises as they might make, explicitly, in writing. In short, by treaties. And, secondarily, by custom. The one and only operative principle being that “pacta sunt servanda.” Treaties are to be observed. That was international law. And it so remains, insofar as the principle of sovereignty is invoked and forcibly sustained.

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from National Review  RIGHT BIAS

The Media’s ‘Russian Disinformation’ Canard

Nothing like this has ever happened in modern American journalism. There’s been incessant bias, sure. Events and stories have been ignored, of course. There have been loads of smears. We were just subjected to four years of Russian “collusion” fabulism. But now, most of the institutional media is openly colluding — and pressuring Big Tech — to suppress a story that might damage their chosen presidential candidate. Journalists have become our censors. That’s definitely new. Those working to black out and discredit the New York Post’s scoop regarding emails found on Hunter Biden’s laptop keep asserting that they’re unable to verify the information. Anything that hurts Joe Biden is a “dangerous distraction” foisted on the American people by nefarious Russians. For many in the press, it’s not about investigating the alleged abuses of the powerful. It’s about getting Democrats elected.

________

from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

________

from The Washington Times

News & Media Website in Washington, D.C.

Judicial Watch finds 1.8 million 'ghost voters' in 29 states, warns of 'dirty elections'

Judicial Watch has released a comparison study of Census Bureau population statistics and state voter registration data to reveal a notable disparity. The watch dog group is now warning of potential voter fraud and “dirty” voter rolls. The study found that 352 U.S. counties in 29 states managed to have 1.8 million more registered voters than eligible voting-age citizens. “In other words, the registration rates of those counties exceeded 100% of eligible voters. The study found eight states showing state-wide registration rates exceeding 100%: Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont,” reported Tom Fitton, president of the watchdog group. Some of that excess ran as high as 187% in Texas, 177% in New Mexico and 171% in South Dakota. “The new study of excess — or ghost voters — highlights the recklessness of mailing blindly ballots and ballot applications to voter registration lists. Dirty voting rolls can mean dirty elections,” Mr. Fitton noted.

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In the news, Monday, October 19, 2020

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OCT 18      INDEX      OCT 20

________

________

from Financial Times

LEAST BIASED, HIGH, business and economic newspaper in London, UK

US charges Russians over hackings including French ruling party

The US has charged six Russian military intelligence officers with a hacking spree that included France’s ruling party, the Olympics and the UK government lab that investigated the poisoning of Sergei Skripal.

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from The Living Church
Magazine of The Living Church Foundation (Anglican)

FACING EPISCOPAL CHURCH DECLINE – THE LATEST NUMBERS

The Episcopal Church has published new statistics from the annual parochial reports, covering 2019. They build on what we have hitherto learnt and give us a significant steer as to what is likely to happen in the future. Occurring in the time of COVID-19, they make deeply challenging reading. But, alongside the tough message of the numbers, there are ways to go forward hopefully. With the latest figures, we now have almost two decades-worth of data since serious decline set in around 2000. This means we can make substantive judgments on future trends. What I say builds on Dr. Jeremy Bonner’s important chapter on TEC in the work, Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion, 1980 to the Present (Routledge, 2017), which goes up to 2010-11. There are four key metrics: members, average Sunday attendance, baptisms, and marriages. ... The current period has been likened to wartime. And in the suffering and deep disruption, that analogy makes sense. What is rarely also noted is that the Second World War was a time of significant spiritual renewal for Anglicanism. It was the age of C.S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers and T.S. Eliot. Churchgoing was probably more vigorous in the late 1940s and 50s than for much of the 20th century. The Third Reich and Cold War made talk of sin and death meaningful and made people yearn for redemption. COVID-19 is extremely tough, but out of this death could come new congregational life.

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from Military.com
News & Media Website

Legendary WWII Jungle Fighters Finally Have the Congressional Gold Medal

President Donald Trump has signed into law a bill authorizing the Congressional Gold Medal for the legendary all-volunteer jungle fighters of World War II known as "Merrill's Marauders." In a statement Saturday, Trump said he was approving the award for the soldiers of the Army's 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) in "recognition of their bravery and outstanding service in the jungles of Burma during World War II." The Marauders were formed in 1943 out of the vision of Maj. Gen. Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell, who saw the need for "long-range penetration" units to combat the Japanese in Burma, now Myanmar. He named Merrill, a brigadier general, to lead the missions, code-named "Galahad." Although fully operational for only a few months, the Marauders gained a reputation for fierce fighting and endurance on long-range marches across forbidding terrain. About 3,000 soldiers volunteered for the unit; eight survive today.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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from Washington Policy Center

Educational Research Center in Seattle, Washington

Capital gains income tax background information
As we wait for the Governor’s 2021-23 budget proposal due in December and the 2021 Legislative Session, discussions of imposing a capital gains income tax continue to intensify. Since there appears to be some confusion about what type of tax this is and the motivations for it, here is important background information to consider.

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In the news, Sunday, October 18, 2020

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OCT 17      INDEX      OCT 19

________

________

from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Puerto Rico, unable to vote, becomes crucial to U.S. election

The campaigns of President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are rallying people in a place where U.S. citizens cannot cast ballots but have the ear of hundreds of thousands of potential voters in the battleground state of Florida. The candidates are targeting Puerto Rico in a way never before seen, with the U.S. territory suddenly finding itself in the crosshairs of a high-stakes race even though Puerto Ricans on the island cannot vote in presidential elections despite being U.S. citizens since 1917. Campaigners know this, but they hope those on the island will push relatives and friends on the U.S. mainland to vote for them in a strategy that capitalizes on the close ties they share.

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In the news, Saturday, October 17, 2020

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OCT 16      INDEX      OCT 18

________

________

from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Locally Writ: Former GU professor plans to complete Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’

A dedicated scholar of medieval literature, Michael Herzog taught the works of Geoffrey Chaucer for nearly 30 of his 45 years at Gonzaga University. Today, he continues to dedicate himself to Chaucer’s work in pursuits both scholarly and fictional. ... To aspiring authors, Herzog had the following advice: “Writing is such an individualized process. I do think a writing schedule is crucial. I think it’s very difficult to write anything meaningful, especially fiction, if you don’t have a writing schedule that you can stick to. “And then of course … write. No matter what, write. And if you feel like you can’t write about what you want to write about, write about what you think is preventing you from writing. But, write.”

Lawrence B. Solum: Judge Barrett is an originalist. Should we be afraid?

Originalism, the judicial philosophy of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, and her mentor, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, is once again the subject of intense interest and public debate. Originalists believe that judges are bound by the constitutional text and that its words should be read as the public would have understood them at the time each provision was written. ... Two hundred and forty years ago John Adams wrote of the importance of “a government of laws and not of men.” This ideal is not some musty platitude whose time has passed. If the events of recent years show anything, it is that we should fear the arbitrary rule of individuals, who do what they want and not what the law requires. The core of originalism is the rule of law. And that is not something we should fear.

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In the news, Friday, October 16, 2020

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OCT 15      INDEX      OCT 17

________

________

from The Guardian (UK)

LEFT-CENTER, HIGH, British daily newspaper published in London UK

Twitter softens policy on hacking after row over blocked New York Post story

Twitter has softened its policies against the sharing of hacked material after the backlash over its decision to block a New York Post story about Joe Biden’s son. Republican senators declared their intention to subpoena the Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey next week, forcing him to explain the decision, after he apologised for the lack of communication about the blocking. The story, supposedly based on materials stolen from Hunter Biden’s laptop by a computer repair shop, was blocked by Twitter on two grounds, the company said. First, it contained personal information such as private email addresses; and second, it contained hacked material, violating a policy instituted in 2018 to try to limit “hack-and-leak” information operations of the sort run by the Russian state in 2016. That latter policy had now been weakened, Twitter’s policy chief, Vijaya Gadde, said late on Thursday.

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from Judicial Watch

Nonprofit Organization in Washington, D.C.

New Judicial Watch Study Finds 353 U.S. Counties in 29 States with Voter Registration Rates Exceeding 100%
Judicial Watch announced today that a September 2020 study revealed that 353 U.S. counties had 1.8 million more registered voters than eligible voting-age citizens. In other words, the registration rates of those counties exceeded 100% of eligible voters. The study found eight states showing state-wide registration rates exceeding 100%: Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

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from KAPP-KVEW Local News

TV Channel (ABC Tri-Cities/Yakima, WA) (yaktrinews.com)

A Cold, Wet Winter: NOAA’s Winter Outlook for the PNW

Snow-lovers can rejoice, this forecast is for you! NOAA just released their annual winter outlook on Thursday, and it’s looking pretty likely the Pacific Northwest will see both a cooler and wetter winter ahead. Now, this doesn’t mean that each day will be snowy, but the averages will likely be cooler and wetter than a typical winter.

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from Orthodox Christianity – orthochristian.com

Religious Organization in Moscow, Russia

JOE BIDEN UNWAVERINGLY SUPPORTS CONSTANTINOPLE AS “CENTER OF THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH,” SAYS CAMPAIGN STATEMENT

Biden’s support for Pat. Bartholomew and the Patriarchate also included support for their project of creating the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” in 2018.

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from Reuters

International news agency headquartered in London, UK

Pfizer says earliest U.S. filing for COVID-19 vaccine would be late November

Pfizer Inc PFE.N said on Friday it could file in late November for U.S. authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing, suggesting that a vaccine could potentially be available in the United States by the end of the year. That timeline makes it unlikely, however, that a vaccine will be available before the U.S. election, as President Donald Trump has promised. Pfizer, which is developing the vaccine with German partner BioNTech 22UAy.F, said that it may confirm if the vaccine is effective as soon as this month but that it also needs safety data from a 44,000-person clinical trial that will not be available until next month.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

________

from UPI News Agency (United Press International)

Media/News Company

U.S. approves sale of missile defense system to Romania

The United States cleared Romania to purchase coastal defense missiles in a $300 million deal, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced Friday. The State Department approved the sale of two Naval Strike Missile Coastal Defense Systems and related equipment. The system includes missiles suited for land attack missions because they can climb and descend with the terrain as well as having sea-skimming capabilities.

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In the news, Thursday, October 15, 2020

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OCT 14      INDEX      OCT 16

________

________

from AP (Associated Press)
LEFT-CENTER BIASED, VERY HIGH, News Agency in New York City

White House puts ‘politicals’ at CDC to try to control info

The Trump White House has installed two political operatives at the nation’s top public health agency to try to control the information it releases about the coronavirus pandemic as the administration seeks to paint a positive outlook, sometimes at odds with the scientific evidence. The two appointees assigned to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Atlanta headquarters in June have no public health background. They have instead been tasked with keeping an eye on Dr. Robert Redfield, the agency director, as well as scientists, according to a half-dozen CDC and administration officials who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal government affairs.

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from The Epoch Times

RIGHT BIAS, MIXED, Media/News Company in New York

Giuliani Details Steps Taken to Authenticate Hunter Biden Material

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says he spent three weeks authenticating the materials on a copy of a hard drive that once allegedly belonged to Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. The contents of the drive are the subject of a series of explosive reports by the New York Post that shed further light on Hunter Biden’s dealings with China and Ukraine. ... The Post’s first story on Hunter Biden quickly became the top hit on the newspaper’s website and, after Twitter and Facebook took unprecedented steps to prevent people from sharing the article, rose to the national spotlight as prominent figures expressed outrage over the apparent censorship ahead of the election. The article described alleged Hunter Biden emails suggesting that in late March or April of 2016 he introduced his father, Joe Biden, who was the vice president at the time, to a top executive from Ukrainian gas firm Burisma. At the time, Hunter Biden held a paid position on the board of Burisma.

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from Grunge.com

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MAN WHO SAVED MORE LIVES THAN ANYONE ELSE IN HISTORY

If we're asked to imagine society's biggest saviors, we might imagine firefighters, doctors, or even Superman himself. Society is indeed full of heroic figures like these. But when it comes to the total number of lives saved, there is one man who has all these others beat. That man is the American agricultural expert Norman Borlaug, who, according to the University of Michigan, may have prevented over a billion deaths.

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from HumanProgress.org  Education Website

Revisiting the Simon-Ehrlich Wager 40 Years On

We measure abundance in Time Prices. A Time Price is the length of time that a person is required to work in order to earn enough money to buy something. It is the money price divided by hourly income. Money prices are expressed in dollars and cents, while Time Prices are expressed in hours and minutes. For example, if a barrel of oil costs $75 and you earn $15 an hour, the Time Price will come to five hours. If oil falls to $60 a barrel and your income increases to $20 an hour, the Time Price will decrease to three hours. The money price falls by 20 percent, but because your hourly income rose by 33 percent, the Time Price will fall by 40 percent. ... Our research into Time Prices and resource abundance began when we looked at updating the famous wager between the late University of Maryland economist Julian Simon and the Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich. The wager was based on the inflation-adjusted prices of five metals: chromium, copper, nickel, tin, and tungsten, and lasted from October 1980 to October 1990. Ehrlich predicted that because of population growth, metals would become more expensive. Simon argued that because of population growth, metals would become cheaper. ... Simon, as is well known, won his bet with Ehrlich when the real (which is to say inflation-adjusted) price of the five metals fell by 36 percent between October 1980 and October 1990. Simon’s victory would have been even more impressive had he used, as we do, Time Prices. Those fell by 55 percent between 1980 and 1990.

________

from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

________

In the news, Wednesday, October 14, 2020

________

OCT 13      INDEX      OCT 15

________

________

from New York Post
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, MIXED,  Newspaper in New York

Hunter Biden emails show leveraging connections with his father to boost Burisma pay

Hunter Biden discussed leveraging his connection to his father in a bid to boost his pay from a Ukrainian natural gas company, according to an email he sent around the time he joined the firm’s corporate board. In a lengthy memo to his then-business partner, Devon Archer, who already sat on the Burisma board, Biden repeatedly mentioned “my guy” while apparently referring to then-Vice President Joe Biden. Under President Barack Obama, the elder Biden was the point person for US policy toward Ukraine, and he held a press conference there with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on April 22, 2014. Hunter Biden’s email to Archer is dated a little more than a week earlier.

________

from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Sue Lani Madsen: What really counts as voter fraud, anyway? You might be surprised

Every voter is a first responder in suppressing voter fraud. If you do suspect fraud, if someone boasts of having beat the system, contact your local county elections office. They take voter fraud seriously.

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In the news, Tuesday, October 13, 2020

________

OCT 12      INDEX      OCT 14

________

________

from HumanProgress.org  Education Website

The Future of Hydrogen is Here

For years, the prospect of using hydrogen as a readily available and clean energy source was not much more than a pipe dream. Now, further research and innovation are showing that it might turn into a reality sooner rather than later. Scientists have discovered ways to turn water into usable hydrogen by means of a process called electrolysis, which splits the hydrogen and oxygen elements of water using an electric current. A recent technological breakthrough that would vastly reduce hydrogen costs and improve the efficiency of its use could pave the way for humanity’s clean energy future.

________

from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Washington tribes find new energy to vote in 2020 election, pour campaign cash into races

Tribal leaders see everything at stake, from their way of life to their treaty rights, in the election between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Trump has signed some bills important to Native Americans, including compensation to the Spokane people for loss of their lands in the mid-1900s, and reauthorization of funding Native language programs. And he did not block federal recognition of the Little Shell Tribe of the Chippewa Indians in Montana. But the bigger picture is bleak from a Native perspective.

________

In the news, Monday, October 12, 2020

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OCT 11      INDEX      OCT 13

________

________

from Breitbart

RIGHT BIAS, MIXED, American conservative news and opinion website

READ: Left-wing Radicals Post Online Guide to ‘Disrupting’ the Country if Election is Close

An organization of radical left-wing activists has posted an online guide to “disruption” that outlines a plan to shut down the country and force President Donald Trump from power in the event that the 2020 election is too close to call. The guide, “Stopping the Coup,” available as a Google doc, is being circulated by a group called ShutDownDC. It casts its plan for disruption as a response to an imagined “coup” by the president in the case of a close election.

________

from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

________

In the news, Sunday, October 11, 2020

________

OCT 10      INDEX      OCT 12

________

________

from National Review  RIGHT BIAS

If Biden Were a Republican

Here’s what the press would be asking the former veep.

________

from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

________

from The Washington Examiner

RIGHT BIAS,  MIXED, News & Media Website in Washington, DC

No matter who wins, there is no exit from the roller coaster anytime soon

Trump was never the cause of the conservative populist coalition that put him in office. He was the result of it. After decades of voters' dissatisfaction with both political parties, institutions, government, and culture, they voted for themselves and their communities over both party’s establishments. It wasn't about voting for Trump.  A lot of very smart people keep missing that critical nuance. ... As for Biden, despite his wistful assertion that he is going to bring this country together, anyone with a smidgen of understanding of the Democratic Party knows he will be hard-pressed to bring his own party together, let alone an entire country. ... Biden's team has tried to portray him as the salve that will heal our country. The hard truth is, no matter who wins, our country will still be on a bender, no matter who takes the oath of office on Inauguration Day.

________

In the news, Saturday, October 10, 2020

________

OCT 09      INDEX      OCT 11

________

________

from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Biden hits Trump on economy in critical Pennsylvania county

With the backdrop of a union facility in a key battleground county of Pennsylvania, Joe Biden on Saturday blistered President Donald Trump as only pretending to care about the working-class voters who helped flip the Rust Belt to the Republican column four years ago. “Anyone who actually does an honest day’s work sees him and his promises for what they are,” Biden told a masked, socially distanced crowd at a training facility for plumbers and other tradespeople. The Democratic challenger has hammered Trump on the economy in recent weeks, from sweeping indictments of how the president has downplayed the novel coronavirus and its economic fallout to a withering personal contrast between Biden’s middle-class upbringing with that of the multimillionaire’s son and self-proclaimed billionaire.

A senior warning sign for Trump: ‘Go Biden’ cry at Villages

Older voters helped propel him to the White House – the Pew Research Center estimates Trump led among voters 65 and older by 9 percentage points in 2016 – and his campaign hoped they would be a bulwark to cement a second term. They remain a huge chunk of the electorate. Pew estimates that nationwide, nearly 1 in 4 eligible voters will be 65 and older. It’s the highest level on record, going back to 1970. But there have been warnings that older voters are in play. To be sure, Trump has solid support among older adults, but his campaign has seen a drop-off in its internal research, according to campaign aides, and some public polls suggest Democrat Joe Biden is running ahead or just even with Trump.

Brazil reaches 150,000 deaths from COVID-19 milestone

Brazil’s count of COVID-19 deaths surpassed 150,000 on Saturday night, despite signs the pandemic is slowly retreating in Latin America’s largest nation. The Brazilian Health Ministry reported that the death toll stands at 150,198. The figure is the world’s second highest behind the United States, according to the tally maintained by Johns Hopkins University.

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In the news, Friday, October 9, 2020

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OCT 08      INDEX      OCT 10

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from The Bellingham Herald

4 governors agree to work together as NW salmon may have just 20 to 30 years left

The governors of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana have agreed to work together to rebuild the Columbia River system’s salmon and steelhead stocks. They may not all agree on the adequacy of the recently completed comprehensive environmental study of the Columbia and Snake hydrosystems, which resulted in a decision by federal agencies in late September to maintain the four lower Snake River hydroelectric dams in Eastern Washington state. “However, regardless of those differences and separate from each state’s recourse, we commit to this ongoing collaboration,” said the agreement made public on Friday.

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from Defense News

Find out where Trump and Biden stand on defense and security issues

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from New York Post
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, MIXED,  Newspaper in New York

Brandon Caserta, accused of Gretchen Whitmer kidnap plot: Trump is a ‘tyrant’

One of the militiamen accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer railed that President Trump was a “tyrant” and called all government workers “your enemy.”

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from New York Times
Newspaper in New York

The 1619 Chronicles

By Bret Stephens, Opinion Columnist: If there’s one word admirers and critics alike can agree on when it comes to The New York Times’s award-winning 1619 Project, it’s ambition. ,,, But ambition can be double-edged. Journalists are, most often, in the business of writing the first rough draft of history, not trying to have the last word on it. We are best when we try to tell truths with a lowercase t, following evidence in directions unseen, not the capital-T truth of a pre-established narrative in which inconvenient facts get discarded. And we’re supposed to report and comment on the political and cultural issues of the day, not become the issue itself. As fresh concerns make clear, on these points — and for all of its virtues, buzz, spinoffs and a Pulitzer Prize — the 1619 Project has failed. ... The larger problem is that The Times’s editors, however much background reading they might have done, are not in a position to adjudicate historical disputes. That should have been an additional reason for the 1619 Project to seek input from, and include contributions by, an intellectually diverse range of scholarly voices. Yet not only does the project choose a side, it also brooks no doubt. “It is finally time to tell our story truthfully,” the magazine declares on its 1619 cover page. Finally? Truthfully? Is The Times suggesting that distinguished historians, like the ones who have seriously disputed aspects of the project, had previously been telling half-truths or falsehoods? Almost inevitably, what began as a scholarly quarrel became a political one.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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In the news, Thursday, October 8, 2020

 

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OCT 07      INDEX      OCT 09

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from America Magazine - The Jesuit Review

The American ‘way of life’ is unsustainable for so many. Is it time to build radical forms of community?

This year will be remembered for many things—Covid-19, mass protests, the presidential election. But the theme lingering behind it all will be communal breaking, the further fracturing of an already isolated and angry nation. Community seems like a long-lost indulgence. Any kind of collective gathering feels like a precious treat that might be taken away at any moment. Pain, struggle and anxiety are the language of this year. When I ask my neighbors how they are doing, they mostly say, “Hanging in there.” It is a strange time to be thinking about radical new forms of community, to be questioning our assumptions about how we need to live in order to live well. But maybe that is a small gift in an otherwise lost year. Perhaps pandemic times will give us the freedom to question everything, and to commence new experiments in living.

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from HumanProgress.org  Education Website

Centers of Progress, Pt. 13: Florence (Art)

Perhaps no city so perfectly exemplifies the idea of progress as Florence during the Renaissance. Known as “the Jewel of the Italian Renaissance,” and sometimes, “the birthplace of the Renaissance,” Florence was at the heart of too many groundbreaking developments to mention. The city contributed to significant advances in politics, business, finance, engineering, science, philosophy, architecture, and—above all—artistic achievement. Florence produced historic art projects throughout the Italian Renaissance (1330–1550 CE), particularly during the 15th century CE, the city’s golden age. The Florentines’ wide-ranging contributions to human progress are all the more amazing when one considers that a pandemic killed half of the city’s population in the 14th century CE.

Shellenberger: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All

What are the long-reaching effects of apocalyptic rhetoric on environmental issues?

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from Orthodox Christianity – orthochristian.com

Religious Organization in Moscow, Russia

PATRIARCH KIRILL UNDER QUARANTINE AFTER CONTACT WITH COVID-INFECTED PERSON

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia was unable to celebrate the feast of the repose of St. Sergius of Radonezh at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra today because he is under quarantine, having come into contact with someone who was found to be infected with the coronavirus.

NUNS RETURN TO HOLY ASSUMPTION MONASTERY IN CALISTOGA AFTER EVACUATING DUE TO WILDFIRES

After spending more than a week in evacuation at the Monastery of St. John of Shanghai in Manton, California, Abbess Melania and the sisterhood of Holy Assumption Monastery (OCA) were able to return to their home in Calistoga yesterday. The monastery is situated in the northern part of the Napa Valley. Due to the threat of wildfires, the sisters had to leave their monastery and travel 3 hours northeast to St. John’s Monastery on in the morning of September 29.

ARCHBISHOP DAVID OF ALASKA (OCA) DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER

His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of Washington of the Orthodox Church in America is requesting prayers, as His Eminence Archbishop David of Sitka and Alaska of the Orthodox Church in America has been diagnosed with cancer.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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In the news, Wednesday, October 7, 2020

 

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OCT 06      INDEX      OCT 08

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from Anglican Journal

On the suffering of American neighbours

When we moved from the United States to Canada in 2018, my spouse and I faced two questions from inquisitive Canadians: “Why on earth would a Floridian move to Canada?” and “Is it because of Trump?” Canadians have heard me hesitate before answering such questions, but not from a lack of answers. We relocated to Canada for a variety of reasons: an excellent educational opportunity for Kate, more equitable access to health care and a preference for the Canadian way of doing things. We aren’t refugees; we came by choice, deciding we wanted to become Canadians. We’re like many immigrants who call Canada their new home. We want to be here. I know that many Canadians—including Canadian Anglicans—will be glued to the news on Nov. 3, as the American election draws to a close. I know this in part because they’ve told me, but also because of the revelations of 2020. This is the year in which hundreds of thousands of Americans have suffocated—most in ICUs, but some in forest fires and under boots. I think most Canadians now see leadership in the United States as crueler than they had imagined. To many people in Canada and the world, this election matters deeply.

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from City Journal

A quarterly magazine of urban affairs, published by the Manhattan Institute

A Failed Experiment: The lockdowns must end.

Lockdowns are typically portrayed as prudent precautions against Covid-19, but they are surely the most risky experiment ever conducted on the public. From the start, researchers have warned that lockdowns could prove far deadlier than the coronavirus. People who lose their jobs or businesses are more prone to fatal drug overdoses and suicide, and evidence already exists that many more will die from cancer, heart disease, pneumonia, and tuberculosis and other diseases because the lockdown prevented their ailments from being diagnosed early and treated properly. Yet politicians and public-health officials conducting this unprecedented experiment have paid little attention to these risks. In their initial rush to lock down society, they insisted that there was no time for such analysis—and besides, these were just temporary measures to “flatten the curve” so as not to overwhelm hospitals. But since that danger passed, the lockdown enforcers have found one reason after another to persevere with closures, bans, quarantines, curfews, and other mandates. Anthony Fauci, the White House advisor, recently said that even if a vaccine arrives soon, he does not expect a return to normality before late next year.

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from HumanProgress.org

Education Website

Nothing Is More Responsible for the Good Old Days Than a Bad Memory

The state of humanity has never been better. Yet we tend not to realize how much things have improved. Memory often plays tricks with our understanding of the world. We are absolutely sure that we left the car keys on the counter or that a particularly bad storm happened in the spring of 1983 and not in the autumn the year before. It is a well-established neuroscientific fact that memory is often unreliable and subject to priming, mistakes, and erroneous recall. The saying about “good old days” and imperfect memory has been attributed to many people and the Harvard University psychologist Steven Pinker used it in his 2018 book Enlightenment Now! to explain why we repeatedly underestimate progress in the world.

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from NPR (& affiliates)

Nonprofit Broadcasting & Media Production Company

Getting Health Care Was Already Tough In Rural Areas. The Pandemic Has Made It Worse

Even before the pandemic, the health care systems that serve rural Americans were in decline: rural hospitals were closing their doors, and the medical workforce was shrinking. This year, as the coronavirus outbreak has made its way from major cities to rural America, threats to the rural health care infrastructure have only increased. 

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from Orthodox Christianity – orthochristian.com

Religious Organization in Moscow, Russia

METROPOLITAN AMFILOHIJE OF MONTENEGRO TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID

Yesterday, October 6, during a routine examination, His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro of the Serbian Orthodox Church tested positive for the coronavirus.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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