Saturday, November 28, 2020
Friday, November 27, 2020
In the news, Friday, November 20, 2020
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from HumanProgress.org
Education Website
Our sixteenth Center of Progress is Amsterdam between the founding of the Dutch Republic in 1581 and the French military invasion of 1672. During the Dutch Golden Age, Amsterdam was an early center of globalization, exemplifying openness to foreign ideas, people and goods. In the 17th century, the Dutch opened up a global trade network with the Far East and gained an increasing share of world trade. The city was also remarkably tolerant with respect to religious and intellectual freedoms. Controversial philosophers and religious refugees alike found a safe haven in the city. Amsterdam served as the headquarters of the world’s first multinational corporation, the Dutch East India Company, which was founded in 1602. Amsterdam can take credit for housing the first modern stock exchange, which has traded continuously since the early 17th century, and is commonly considered the world’s oldest true securities market. As trade and financial innovations enriched the city, Amsterdam also became a global leader in science and art.
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from Orthodox Christianity – orthochristian.com
Religious Organization in Moscow, Russia
A hierarch of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus and another hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church reposed in the Lord in recent days. Yesterday, November 19, His Grace Bishop Barnabas of Salamis of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus reposed in the Lord following a long illness. His Eminence Metropolitan Theophan of Kazan and Tatarstan of the Russian Church reposed in the Lord today at the age of 74 from complications due to the coronavirus.
His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia reposed in the Lord this morning at 7:07 AM in the Karaburma Military Hospital in Belgrade, reports the official site of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Patriarch was 90 years old. He served as a hierarch of the Serbian Church for 46 years, and nearly 11 years as Patriarch. Though several hierarchs have already succumbed to complications from COVID-19, Pat. Irinej is the first Orthodox primate to depart to the Lord.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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In the news, Thursday, November 19, 2020
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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization
Calls are mounting among Democrats and progressives for a prospective Biden administration to make “canceling” student debt a top priority. The loudest demands have come from progressive legislators such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Ilhan Omar. Meanwhile, prominent senators such as Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer are imploring Biden to “cancel” $50,000 in student debt via executive order.
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from Los Angeles Times
As the first COVID-19 vaccines move toward federal approval, California and other states are racing to finalize plans for who will get the first doses and how they will be distributed — critical decisions that have taken on new urgency as drugmakers prepare to ship vaccines in just a few weeks. State and federal health officials have largely agreed that front-line healthcare workers who have direct contact with COVID-19 patients should be vaccinated first, a vital step as infections soar this fall, filling hospitals across the country. There is also broad consensus that nursing home residents and patients at other long-term care facilities should be targeted in the initial immunization push. The virus has proved to be particularly deadly in these populations.
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from The North American Anglican
Media/News Company: "A journal of orthodox theology in the Anglican tradition"
Drew Keane: Praying ad orientem, facing the east, is a wide-spread, ancient, pre-Christian custom: because the east is the direction of the rising sun, it naturally inspires and expresses hope for the future.[1] For ancient Christians, orientation (in the original sense, “towards the Orient”) also expressed expectation for the second advent of Christ, “the dayspring from on high.” In this arrangement, the priest and people face the same direction when praying.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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Dear Deep Blue Seattle, We noticed your namesake newspaper has an “assistant managing editor for diversity, inclusion and staff development.” This kind of super-woke title makes us chuckle in the reddest county in Washington. At Lincoln County’s three weekly papers, managing “inclusion” means making sure you don’t leave anyone out when publishing the turkey raffle winners. But we know that’s not what you meant. Naomi Ishizaka, the one with the woke title, addressed her recent Seattle Times editorial to the “blue, upper left corner of the U.S.” and asks, “What are we going to do about the other half of the country that does not see the world the way we do?” Before flying over Eastern Washington to tackle the rest of the country, you can practice on us. Lincoln and King are political polar opposites. Whereas 73% of voters in Lincoln County supported President Trump’s re-election; 75% of King County voters went for Biden-Harris. Look at the map by county and Washington is a red state, outside of the crescent touching Puget Sound. Whitman, Walla Walla and Clark counties are light blue anomalies influenced by university towns and refugees from Portlandia.
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In the news, Wednesday, November 18, 2020
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from Asia Times
LEAST BIASED, HIGH; News & Media Website based in Hong Kong
Polls ahead of the US election found most Taiwanese backing Trump, but there is plenty of reason not to fear a Biden presidency
The new US president needs to be firm while also rebuilding mutual respect, and resuming high-level communication with Beijing
US liberal media portray Biden as a multilateralist, but the evidence for this speculation is problematic
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from DW News (Deutsche Welle)
Broadcasting & Media Production Company in Bonn, Germany
No sooner had the news of a vaccine breakthrough made the headlines, misinformation about forced vaccinations, DNA alterations, and fake scientist Twitter accounts made the rounds. DW Fact Check examines the claims.
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from National Review RIGHT BIAS
One must read to the end of the Washington Post’s editorial, “Abolish the electoral college,” before hitting on the real reason the Post’s editors want to upend the long-standing constitutional institution. “Mr. Trump’s election was a sad event for the nation,” notes the Post, “his reelection would have been a calamity.” Maybe, maybe not. That’s a matter of partisan perspective. Those who are genuinely concerned about the future of American governance would be calling to strengthen institutions that provide political stability, not destroy them. But when your concerns about “American democracy” are really just a euphemism for partisan power grabs, you end up making lots of sloppy arguments.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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from Sputnik
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, MIXED, Broadcasting & Media Production Company out of Moscow, Russia
French and German foreign ministers Jean-Yves Le Drian and Heiko Maas urged the United States to return to a common approach towards Iran in order to make sure that the Iranian nuclear program is peaceful.
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In the news, Tuesday, November 17, 2020
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from Asia Times
LEAST BIASED, HIGH; News & Media Website based in Hong Kong
US biotech firm Moderna on Monday announced its experimental vaccine against Covid-19 was almost 95% effective, a result hailed by the country’s top infectious disease scientist as “stunningly impressive.” Moderna plans to submit applications for emergency approval around the world within weeks, and says it expects to have approximately 20 million doses ready to ship in the US by the end of the year. Crucially, Moderna also announced that its vaccine can remain stable at standard refrigerator temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius to 8 degrees Celsius (36 degrees Fahrenheit to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for 30 days.
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from The Hill
LEAST BIASED, MOSTLY FACTUAL, News & Media Website in Washington, D.C.46 percent of voters say Trump should concede immediately: poll
A plurality of voters say President Trump should concede the presidential race to President-elect Joe Biden, according to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll released Tuesday. Forty-six percent of registered voters surveyed said Trump should concede “right away,” while another 32 percent said he should concede if he is “unable to back up his claims of widespread fraud.” Just 12 percent said the president should not concede “no matter what,” and 9 percent didn't know or had no opinion.
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from The North American Anglican
Media/News Company: "A journal of orthodox theology in the Anglican tradition"
It has become commonplace among many North American Anglicans to classify themselves as for or against the language of “Three Streams, One River.” Not long ago in this very journal we read, from Dr. Gillis Harp, a very good critique of the increasingly popular notion that within the Anglican renewal three valid “streams” of Christian practice (catholic, evangelical, and charismatic) are able to flow together in one “river” of unified worship and witness. The metaphor, according to Harp (but in my own less eloquent phrasing): 1) takes a partial description of the 20th-century ecclesial milieu as prescriptive for how we ought to build the Church moving forward, 2) tends to use Scripture out of right context, 3) romanticizes a simplistic view of the Early Church, and 4) follows Robert E. Webber in a bias toward Dix and Aulen and against the English Reformers. I have come largely to agree with such critiques of the Three Streams metaphor, not because I am not a catholic or an evangelical or a charismatic, but because it offers us false choices and a dangerous conclusion.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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from Time Media/News Company
There was no 4G in the Middle Ages. But nor was there in Ancient Egypt or the Age of Enlightenment. Yet when people reach rhetorically back into history to compare some current complaint with a time of barbarism, they always choose the same period: the years 500–1500 in Europe. Those years were dismissed as a “millennium gap … a poignant lost opportunity for the human species” by the astronomer Carl Sagan. They were, it’s universally assumed, the Dark Ages—a time of superstition, when physicians floundered in the face of a pandemic and leaders scorned scientific expertise. Recent research has, however, exploded almost every myth about the scientific stagnation of the Middle Ages. Historians have shown it to be a period of impressive innovation and ingenuity.
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In the news, Monday, November 16, 2020
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from BBC News (UK)
A series of sackings and appointments - with rumours of more to come - has created a sense of deep uncertainty around the US intelligence and national security community. While some outside that world have raised fears that this is part of an attempt by the president to hold on to power, many on the inside see it more as driven by a desire for personal revenge and the latest stage of a conflict that has done much to define Donald Trump's presidency. But there remain fears that the uncertainty of a divisive transition could hold real dangers.
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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization
Median household incomes increased from $64,300 to $68,700 in 2018 alone—an increase of $4,400. To put it another way, US incomes increased more in 2018 than the previous 20 years combined. (Household incomes were $61,100 in 1998 and $64,300 at the end of 2017.) The question, of course, is why did US incomes suddenly explode after decades of tepid growth? The answer is not difficult to find. ... If a Biden administration rolls back Trump’s tariffs while leaving the corporate tax rate in place, the US economy could build on the gains made prior to the arrival of the lockdowns. That would be a winning formula for US workers, businesses, and the US economy.
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from HumanProgress.org
Education Website
It is no simple matter for a diverse democratic community to sustain itself despite inevitable internal conflicts.
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Magazine of The Living Church Foundation (Anglican)
BOOKS: FORGOTTEN FRIENDS
Books are not yet going out of fashion. In fact, more books are published each year than ever before. But, in the face of a very different culture of knowledge, mostly tied to the swarming and evanescent images and accessibility of the internet, books are rapidly losing their profound role in human life, especially in the Western world of the last 1700 years. The main challenge brought by the information culture is to undermine, through the values of speed and consumption, the quite specific virtues that owning and reading books have in fact provided over the centuries. They are virtues that, if they disappear — and they are disappearing even among book owners and readers today — will seriously impoverish us, our culture, and our future.
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from Orthodox Christianity – orthochristian.com
Religious Organization in Moscow, Russia
A great tragedy occurred at St. Stephen of Sourozh Monastery in Crimea over the weekend, as a fire wiped out several buildings, including the brothers’ cells.
Yesterday, Sunday, November 15, Metropolitan Ioannis of Langadas of the Greek Orthodox Church reposed in the Lord at the age of 62 due to complications from the coronavirus. The Metropolitan was hospitalized in Thessaloniki on Friday after testing positive for the virus.
A recent report by Alexander Shchipkov1 on the new encyclical of Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti (“All Brothers”), gives an overview of this Vatican “manifesto” and draws quite unambiguous conclusions that I cannot refrain from sharing with you. This Catholicism is no longer the Catholicism which was criticized by the Holy Fathers and apologists of the past. It is not even the Catholicism that, as Dostoevsky said, had given in to all three temptations the devil used to test the Lord in the wilderness.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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In the news, Sunday, November 15, 2020
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from AP (Associated Press)
LEFT-CENTER BIASED, VERY HIGH, News Agency in New York City
LEFT-CENTER BIASED, VERY HIGH, News Agency in New York City
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has scheduled a news conference for Sunday morning as COVID-19 case numbers soar throughout the Pacific Northwest where he will reportedly detail new restrictions.
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from Asia Times
LEAST BIASED, HIGH; News & Media Website based in Hong Kong
Neither political party has truly addressed the issue of economic security, which is why the US remains a house divided against itself
Abu Muhammad al-Masri probably never saw it coming. According to the New York Times, he is reported to have been driving his white Renault L90 sedan at around 9 pm on August 7 on a quiet Tehran street, when two gunmen pulled up to the car on a motorbike and fired five shots from a pistol fitted with a silencer. Four of the bullets went into the car, killing al-Masri and his daughter Miriam, who was also the widow of Osama Bin Laden’s son Hamza bin Laden. By no coincidence, it was 22 years to the day after al-Qaeda’s second in command masterminded devastating attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people and injured thousands more. It’s believed that Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who went by the name Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was gunned down by Israeli agents who were working on the behest of US officials, the Times reported.
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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization
Let’s hope that Joe Biden’s minimum wage fantasies never become law—or workers will pay the price for his economic naiveté.
Nobel laureate Milton Friedman once said that “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” When it comes to the $15 minimum wage hike supported by Joe Biden and many of his fellow Democrats, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the results will be ugly. New reporting reveals that Chief Financial Officers at top American companies are “considering raising prices, cutting workers’ hours and investing in automation to offset a potential rise in labor costs.” “Companies including Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., Potbelly Corp. and Texas Roadhouse Inc. are already doing the math to assess what a higher federal minimum wage could mean for their operations and cost base,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
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from The Ormsby Review
British Columbia's online book review and journal
"If you live in British Columbia, especially on the coast, there’s a good chance you’ve had what I’m going to call an 'E.J. Hughes Moment.' Mine came eight years ago, when I moved from Victoria to Nanaimo...." Brian Harvey reviews The E.J. Hughes Book of Boats by Robert Amos.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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from The Washington Post
Newspaper in Washington, D.C.
OUR COLUMNIST Marc A. Thiessen noted last week that President Trump had come very close to winning reelection. “A flip of just some 73,700 votes in those three states [Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia] and Trump would be making plans for a second term — and we would all be taking about a ‘red wave,’ ” he wrote. Mr. Thiessen’s point was that Mr. Trump’s near miss makes him a viable candidate in 2024. We draw a different lesson: It is alarming that a candidate came so close to winning while polling more than 5 million fewer votes than his opponent nationwide. The electoral college, whatever virtues it may have had for the Founding Fathers, is no longer tenable for American democracy.
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In the news, Saturday, November 14, 2020
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from Asia Times
LEAST BIASED, HIGH; News & Media Website based in Hong Kong
Last in a four-part exclusive Asia Times interview with physicist and Big Bang theory critic Eric Lerner
Moscow wins by unilaterally brokering an Armenia-Azerbaijan agreement but it could still lose if the peace falls apart
In a significant demographic trend, Trump won the rural vote by a much smaller margin than in 2016
Incoming US president has pledged to promote renewables but may struggle to convince a Republican Senate
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoyed a rare benefit from the Covid-19 pandemic this week. It spared him the embarrassment of eye contact with his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan or Chinese President Xi Jinping at the summit of the SCO Council of Heads of State, which was a “virtual” meeting. An even bigger embarrassment would have been if Modi had to host Khan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Heads of Government Council meeting, which will be India’s turn to host on November 30. In between, comes that other pain in the neck for Modi – the 12th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit on November 17. But again, Covid-19 precludes face-to-face meetings. India has no enthusiasm for regional groupings in which the United States is not a participant. Now, the Quad – that is where the Modi government’s tryst with destiny lies.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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from Sputnik
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, MIXED, Broadcasting & Media Production Company out of Moscow, Russia
Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who was also known as Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was considered first in line to take over al-Qaeda* after its current leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The killing of al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was kept in secret until now. He was accused of helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa and then killed in Iran in August by Israeli agents acting on the orders of the United States, the New York Times reported, citing intelligence officials.
Nancy Pelosi is organising "respective dinners" in the Capitol for new members of Congress, an NBC correspondent shared on Friday. The House Speaker's office defended her "soiree" with Democrats and the GOP, saying that it has been specifically designed to be held in a "socially-distanced manner", so there is no need to cancel the event.
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Saturday, November 21, 2020
In the news, Friday, November 13, 2020
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from Asia Times
LEAST BIASED, HIGH; News & Media Website based in Hong Kong
Twenty-five years ago, America’s tech companies took risks and disrupted established business models. Today they are the new utilities, earning monopoly rents by controlling markets. Microsoft chased its challengers out of personal computer software; Amazon crushed most of its Internet retailing rivals; Apple created a duopoly of hardware and services with its rival Samsung; Google destroyed the commercial prospects of competing search engines; and Facebook, through targeted investments and acquisitions, dominates social media. China wants to avoid the American trap. That’s why Chinese regulators warned the country’s Internet giants that they could not maintain a monopolistic hold on the mass of personal data that drives their businesses, stifling competition from new market entrants.
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from CBS News (& affiliates)
Far more Japanese people are dying of suicide, likely exacerbated by the economic and social repercussions of the pandemic, than of the COVID-19 disease itself. While Japan has managed its coronavirus epidemic far better than many nations, keeping deaths below 2,000 nationwide, provisional statistics from the National Police Agency show suicides surged to 2,153 in October alone, marking the fourth straight month of increase.
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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization
Data show that the policies of Finland and Norway have been even less restrictive than Sweden's for most of the pandemic.
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from Loon Lake Times
As of November 12, there are 19 positive COVID-19 cases in Stevens County, with three COVID-related deaths since November 1 – one in each of Stevens, Pend Oreille, and Ferry counties. As of November 13, 133 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in the Spokane healthcare catchment area (Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Oreille counties, Kootenai medical and Spokane). Several patients in their low 30s are in the ICU due to the seriousness of their COVID-19 condition. The Spokane healthcare catchment is reportedly in the worst position compared to other catchments in state of Washington in their ability to give care. One likely result is that elective procedures will be postponed. Governor Inslee joined Oregon and California in initiating a travel advisory for non-essential travel. Washingtonians are encouraged to stay home or within their region and avoid non-essential travel to other states or countries. Those arriving in Washington (or returning to Washington) from other states or countries should practice self-quarantine for 14 days after arrival and limit their interactions to those in their immediate household.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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from Sputnik
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, MIXED, Broadcasting & Media Production Company out of Moscow, Russia
In late 2018, Donald Trump ordered the immediate withdrawal of almost all US troops from Syria within 90 days. He repeated the order in October 2019. Several hundred US troops remain in Syria to this day, notwithstanding the president’s executive decisions. Jim Jeffrey, outgoing US special representative for Syria and special presidential envoy for the Western coalition against Daesh (ISIS),* has frankly admitted that he and members of his staff deliberately obfuscated and covered up the true size of the US military footprint in Syria from the president.
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In the news, Thursday, November 12, 2020
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from Asia Times
LEAST BIASED, HIGH; News & Media Website based in Hong Kong
As Covid-19 decimates restaurants, an innovative business offers chefs new opportunities and new freedoms
Regulator says internet companies and platforms have shown obvious inclination to abuse their dominance. More regulatory crackdowns are in store for China’s tech leviathans after the last-minute mothballing of Ant Group’s stock market flotation. Beijing is said to favor taking baby steps towards beefing up its scrutiny of the nation’s freewheeling e-commerce, online payment and credit and loan-issuing sectors. Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s of criticism of state watchdogs’ “overregulation” at a recent Shanghai forum on the eve of Ant’s IPO apparently galvanized Beijing into tougher action.
Medical experts say a fourth wave of coronavirus has probably begun with a strain imported from Nepal.
Third in a four-part exclusive Asia Times interview with physicist and Big Bang theory critic Eric Lerner.
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from CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
Media/News Company in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
As the number of daily COVID-19 cases continues to rise in B.C., Island Health's chief medical health officer is urging residents to avoid travel to the Fraser Valley and the Lower Mainland until the new public health orders are lifted or the number of infections decreases. B.C.'s top health officials announced sweeping new COVID-19 restrictions for the Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health regions for a two-week period starting Saturday, as cases in the province continued to surge. Dr. Richard Stanwick, chief medical health officer for Island Health, recommends people on the Island stay away from Vancouver unless it is essential, as contact tracing evidence shows that some people who have travelled to the Lower Mainland have come back exposed to COVID-19.
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from The Federalist
RIGHT BIAS, HIGH, online magazine
The worst thing for our country isn't a Joe Biden presidency. It's giving the leftist toddlers what they want.
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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization
Nearly two years ago, friends purchased me a copy of Jordan Peterson’s best-selling book 12 Rules for Life. I started the book shortly after receiving it, but somewhere along the way I got sidetracked and didn’t finish. (This never used to happen to me, but raising three kids has altered my reading habits.) With Peterson’s recent return to the public scene, I decided to return to the work. I’m currently reading Rule #12 (“Pet a Cat When You Encounter One on the Street”), and plan to review the work eventually. But before tackling the entire book, it seemed appropriate to share the most important rule in Peterson’s seminal work, which has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. Take responsibility for your life.
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from Orthodox Christianity – orthochristian.com
Religious Organization in Moscow, Russia
The general quarantine measures and the increase in infection numbers in Greece have forced the monastic republic to return to the security measures that were in place in March and April. The Sacred Community’s new measures stipulate that only permanent employees working in the monasteries and kellias (engineers, legal advisers, accountants, etc.), self-employed specialists working under contract on the Holy Mountain, and people who own shops on the Mountain are allowed to visit until the quarantine is lifted. The closure is currently in effect until November 30.
The Moscow Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church has 20 specially trained priests who are available around the clock to go visit coronavirus patients in the hospital. This special ministry was recently discussed at the 14th Assembly of the Russian World, which generally discussed online religious social projects in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and self-isolation, reports the Russian Church’s Department for Church Charity and Social Work.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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In the news, Wednesday, November 11, 2020
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from Asia Times
LEAST BIASED, HIGH; News & Media Website based in Hong Kong
Over the past two decades, China has emerged as one of the most important markets for Latin American countries
First in a four-part exclusive Asia Times interview with renowned physicist and Big Bang theory critic Eric Lerner
Second in a four-part exclusive Asia Times interview with physicist and Big Bang theory critic Eric Lerner
Pre-election Pew survey shows developed nation respondents view China more unfavorably than US, though not by much
President Vladimir Putin must know Biden doesn’t like his ways and means but that shouldn’t particularly perturb him
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from The Seattle Times
LEFT-CENTER, HIGH, Newspaper in Seattle, WA
Don’t look now, but Trump did better in blue King County than he did the last time
Here’s an election shocker: Donald Trump did a bit better in King County in 2020 than he did the first time he ran four years ago. They’re still counting votes, but so far, Trump got 50,000 more people to back him in the bluest county in the state than he did in 2016. Trump also is carrying a slightly higher percentage of both the county and the statewide vote, up about 0.5 percent from his share in 2016. It will be a relief to see Trump leave, at least for people like me who feel he’s a toxic con artist who never should have been leading the country. But the conditions of his defeat are not exactly inspiring. Yes it’s the end of an error, a critical righting of a historic wrong, buoyed by gratifyingly strong turnout. But 72 million voters were fine with continuing it. Trump got a quarter-million more votes statewide in Washington than any GOP presidential candidate ever has. Even in deep blue King County, 50,000 more voters said “yeah, sure, put us down for four more years of that.” Already now, the progressives and the mainline Democrats have set aside their Trump truce to start tearing each other apart like it’s 2016.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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When is an emergency over? Firefighters are demobilized when the fire is out. The National Guard is deactivated when order is restored. What’s the end game for the COVID-19 state of emergency? When a state of emergency was declared for a measles outbreak in Clark County in 2019, there was a clear goal. The outbreak would be over and the state of emergency ended when two full incubation periods (42 days) had passed since the date of rash onset in the last known case with no new cases reported. No similarly clear target has been offered for COVID-19, nor is it possible. Zero new cases is clearly unrealistic for a disease rapidly approaching endemic status, according to the WHO. We have to learn to live with it instead of hiding from it. It will take better education, better communication and transparency in decision-making. A society cannot flourish with a population living in a constant state of emergency.
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In the news, Tuesday, November 10, 2020
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from Algemeiner
New York-based Jewish newspaper
Hebron in History and Memory
My first visit to Hebron came nearly half a century ago with a group of “disaffected Jewish academics,” chosen by the American Jewish Committee to experience Israel for the first time and — perhaps — to overcome their indifference to the Jewish state. As our bus passed a massive rectangular stone edifice I asked our guide to identify it. “Machpelah,” he responded. What’s that? I asked. The burial site of the Biblical patriarchs and matriarchs, he replied. It was a transformative moment that is revived annually as Shabbat Chaye Sarah nears.
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Hebron in History and Memory
My first visit to Hebron came nearly half a century ago with a group of “disaffected Jewish academics,” chosen by the American Jewish Committee to experience Israel for the first time and — perhaps — to overcome their indifference to the Jewish state. As our bus passed a massive rectangular stone edifice I asked our guide to identify it. “Machpelah,” he responded. What’s that? I asked. The burial site of the Biblical patriarchs and matriarchs, he replied. It was a transformative moment that is revived annually as Shabbat Chaye Sarah nears.
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from Asia Times
LEAST BIASED, HIGH; News & Media Website based in Hong Kong
Covid-19 may be quietly creeping back into China’s two largest urban centers – Shanghai and Beijing – after outbreaks at a key airport and a frozen food warehouse. Cadres in charge of the megacities, each with a population of more than 20 million, have reputedly been told by the central leadership to nip the flare-ups in the bud, or risk demotion or even negligence charges.
Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD routed all electoral rivals but Myanmar is not necessarily headed in a more democratic direction. Myanmar’s November 8 elections exceeded all expectations with a massive margin of victory for the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi. While final results may not be known for several days, clear patterns of an NLD landslide, perhaps even bigger than the stunning victory of 2015, are apparent. Suu Kyi knows full well that this election landslide delivered one winner and a diverse host of losers. There may well be a significant loss of lives of many voters and Myanmar’s public health care system if November 8 becomes a series of coronavirus super-spreader events.
“When I am president, human rights will be at the core of US foreign policy,” Joe Biden pledged in a New York Times interview earlier this year. Now as US president-elect, Biden will have several weeks to recruit a foreign policy team geared towards that aim before his official inauguration in January. But Biden will quickly face a realpolitik dilemma in strategic Southeast Asia, where the US is pitted in a competition with China for influence among the region’s many less-than-democratic leaders and regimes.
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from Axios
LEFT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, news website
DOJ official steps down over Barr's voter fraud investigation memo
Richard Pilger, a Department of Justice official who oversees investigations of voting crimes, stepped down from his role Monday after Attorney General Bill Barr authorized U.S. attorneys to probe alleged elections fraud, the New York Times first reported. Why it matters: President Trump has refused to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden, alleging a conspiracy of widespread voting fraud, but he has yet to provide relevant evidence.
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from iFIBER One News
Broadcasting & Media Production Company in Ephrata, WAMcKay Healthcare resident dies from COVID-19; more than 30 cases reported at Soap Lake facility
A resident of McKay Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Soap Lake has died from COVID-19 and more than 30 positive cases have been reported in the facility. All COVID-19 positive patients at the long-term care facility have been moved out of the facility. The outbreak is the first COVID-19 cases at the facility since the onset of the pandemic, according to the health district.
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from The North American Anglican
Media/News Company: "A journal of orthodox theology in the Anglican tradition"
It is a commonly told story in Anglicanism. In the century before 1833, Anglican sacramental practice and spirituality was a “drab and spiritually barren environment.” Communion was infrequent; altars (or should that be tables?) were used for storage; a bare memorialism was ascendant; Latitudinarian moralism prevailed, displacing sacramental grace; and parsons were more concerned with foxhunting than Sacraments. This essay aims to show that the story so commonly told is grievously wrong. In the decades before July, 14th of 1833, the dominant theological tradition in the late Georgian Church of England advocated a rich Eucharistic theology which encouraged a warm Sacramental piety. Latitudinarian moralism and Hoadlian memorialism did not hold sway. Instead, a “feast of faith” sat upon the altar, “its benefits” recognized and celebrated as “present and unspeakably great.”
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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In the news, Monday, November 09, 2020
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from Asia Times
LEAST BIASED, HIGH; News & Media Website based in Hong Kong
Should you be adding Anglo Asian Mining to your watch-list today? That was the question posed on Monday by Simply Wall Street, a Sydney-based financial analysis site, as Azerbaijan appeared poised for victory over the Armenian enclave of Nagorno Karabakh and surrounding Azerbaijani districts, held since the Soviet Union’s collapse. By Monday night, a comprehensive truce was announced, which will see Russian peacekeepers police new boundaries, including swathes of mineral-rich territory. On October 27, as Azerbaijan advanced in its offensive, a little-known Azerbaijani company was heralding a victory of its own, the restoration of control over a gold mine. In a press release, the Anglo Asian Mining plc, announced an important update: “The liberation of the Zangilan district of Azerbaijan, which contains the Company’s Vejnaly contract area.” Zangilan is one of seven districts of Azerbaijan which were seized and held by Armenian forces since the Karabakh war of the early 1990s as a buffer against Azerbaijani attacks.
People on bottom economic rung can help China spend its way out of Covid-19 malaise, says agency. Liu Yuanju, a senior research fellow with the Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law, a semiofficial think tank, noted in the policy recommendation report that policymakers should ditch their fascination with the middle class and the rich and instead tap the “tremendous” consumption potential of the nation’s poorest.
US President-elect says he will prioritize rights promotion but he needs the Philippines on-side to press China in South China Sea.
Biden, who already has a fraught relationship with Turkey, is likely to be supportive of sanctions, certainly as a diplomatic tool
Trump re-oriented US-China policy at great cost; Biden will retain the recalibration but improve its implementation.
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from Maclean's
Canada's national current affairs and news magazine
Canada's national current affairs and news magazine
Terry Glavin: Human remains unearthed on Vancouver Island have resurfaced the tragic story of the Pentlatch people.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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