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Contents contributed and discussions participated by yehbru

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yehbru

Why Scientists Worry About The CDC's Approach To COVID Breakthrough Infections : Shots ... - 0 views

www.npr.org/...ugh-infections-sparks-concerns

US CDC Covid19 Pandemic Vaccine

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  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stopped tracking every case that occurs when a COVID-19 vaccine fails to protect someone. Instead, the agency is focusing on people who get very sick or die.
  • Critics argue the strategy could miss important information that could leave the U.S. vulnerable, including early signs of new variants that are better at outsmarting the vaccines.
  • But at least 2,298 fully vaccinated people have been hospitalized, and at least 439 people have died from COVID-19, according to the CDC.
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  • More than 10,000 of the 101 million people who were fully vaccinated as of April 30 caught the virus, according to a recent CDC report.
  • If scientists can't sequence genes from the virus, there's not much chance these people are contagious, and there's not much scientists can learn about the virus by studying them, the CDC and other researchers say.
  • Investigating the full spectrum of breakthrough infections could provide crucial information, including clues about whether some vaccines are working better than others and whether breakthroughs are happening more in some people than others, Bright and others say.
  • "These variants are spreading, and if you're just looking at the small percentage, then you're really missing the big picture,"
  • Careful study of breakthrough infections also could provide useful information for improving the vaccines as well as revelations about possible long-term health effects of these infections on people who don't initially develop symptoms or only become mildly ill.
  • At least some of those studies include examining the role of variants, according to Dr. Jennifer Verani, who's helping lead the CDC's vaccine effectiveness team.
yehbru

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Signs Transgender Athlete Bill Into Law : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...ransgender-athlete-bill-into-l

florida transgender Culture

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  • Florida's Republican governor signed a bill Tuesday barring transgender females from playing on public school teams intended for student athletes born as girls, plunging the state into the national culture war over transgender rights.
  • "In Florida, girls are going to play girls sports and boys are going to play boys sports,"
  • The NCAA, which oversees college athletics, has said it has "a long-standing policy that provides a more inclusive path for transgender participation in college sports." The NCAA currently requires transgender women to get treatment to lower their testosterone levels before they can compete in women's sports.
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  • The measure approved by the GOP-led Legislature takes effect July 1. It says a transgender student athlete can't participate without first showing a birth certificate saying she was a girl when she was born
  • The law would not bar female athletes from playing on boys or men's teams.
  • Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said the new law would not only harm transgender girls. "All Floridians will have to face the consequences of this anti-transgender legislation — including economic harm, expensive taxpayer-funded legal battles, and a tarnished reputation."
  • The Florida law mirrors an Idaho law, the first of its kind when enacted last year, that is now mired in legal challenges. GOP governors in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee recently signed similar measures.
  • North Carolina stood to lose $3.8 billion over a dozen years because of a so-called "bathroom bill." Those losses were averted when a 2019 settlement kept the state from barring transgender people from using bathrooms that conformed to their gender identity.
yehbru

Copa America Chaos After Brazilian Officials Say Decision To Host Is Not Final : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...-decision-to-host-is-not-final

Politics Covid19 Pandemic Copa America Brazil Argentina Colombia

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  • South America's greatest soccer contest may be moved to Brazil in a last-minute maneuver to save the troubled tournament less than two weeks before kick-off, but Brazilian officials say there is more to consider.
  • He added that if it goes ahead, teams and their staff will have to follow health guidelines, including being vaccinated. Ramos also said that the competition, which is being called the Cornavirus Cup by critics, would be held in empty stadiums without spectators.
  • The confusion on Monday is just the latest chapter in the chaos leading up to the tournament as much of South America, including Brazil, is in the grips of the global pandemic with some of the world's worst infection and death rates.
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  • Colombia was dropped on May 20 due to anti-government protests sparked by proposed tax raises introduced by President Iván Duque. And on Sunday, the soccer federation, CONMEBOL, removed Argentina as co-host due to the "present circumstances" there.
  • On Sunday, Argentina officials reported more than 39,000 new cases after a week that included a record number of cases in a single day, with more than 77,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the World Health Organization.
  • there have been 16,391,930 confirmed cases with 459,045 deaths — the second highest number of deaths registered, the WHO reported.
  • On Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters across more than 200 towns and cities marched in anger, demanding Bolsonaro be impeached for his catastrophic handling of the health crisis
  • The tournament attracts huge audiences in South America and globally, and it represents a significant financial windfall for CONMEBOL.
yehbru

Op-ed: Biden plan to close tax loopholes for corporations isn't anti-business - 0 views

www.cnbc.com/...tions-isnt-anti-business-.html

US Politics Biden Trump Taxes Corporations

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  • Recent weeks have seen corporate leaders and investors mobilize publicly and privately to oppose President Biden’s proposed overhaul to the tax code
  • But this political calculus belies the truth of Biden’s plan: eliminating tax loopholes for major multinational corporations would actually put corporations that operate in the United States, and American workers, in a more competitive position compared to their international peers. 
  • The current US corporate tax rate is 21 percent, but, as recent headlines of dozens of Fortune 500 companies paying zero dollars in federal income taxes last year attest to, there are many ways for major corporations to avoid paying that much.
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  • Many of the most effective ways corporations avoid taxes involve shifting their profits and operations overseas and leaving companies that operate solely in the US at a massive competitive disadvantage. 
  • they automatically get a 50 percent discount on their taxes on all profits booked overseas. American profits are taxed at the full corporate rate of 21 percent, but profits of foreign subsidiaries are only taxed at 10.5 percent.  
  • These multinationals are then able to subtract the taxes they pay to foreign governments from what they owe the IRS. If that amount is more than the 10.5 percent they would typically have to pay, they owe the US government nothing.  
  • Basically, the more equipment and factories a company has overseas, the more tax-free profit it can earn
  • When you combine these loopholes with a cadre of other tax breaks, it allows many companies to completely avoid paying their federal dues. How are domestic companies and mom and pop operations supposed to compete?
  • Most of these advantages became law thanks to the 2017 Trump tax bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
yehbru

Trump blog page shuts down for good - 0 views

www.cnbc.com/...-page-shuts-down-for-good.html

US Politics Trump Media

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  • Former President Donald Trump’s blog — a webpage where he shared statements after larger social media companies banned him from their platforms — has been permanently shut down
  • “It was just auxiliary to the broader efforts we have and are working on,” Miller said in email correspondence.
  • Facebook and Twitter both banned Trump from posting on their platforms after Jan. 6, when a mob of the then-president’s supporters violently invaded the U.S. Capitol, forcing a joint session of Congress into hiding.
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  • Trump’s blog, in contrast, struggled to amass even a fraction of that engagement, NBC News reported a week after its launch, citing data compiled with BuzzSumo.
  • Since leaving office on Jan. 20, the former president, who has strongly hinted he may run for president again in 2024, has made just a handful of in-person appearances and has participated in interviews with only friendly media outlets.
yehbru

Biden Assigns Kamala Harris Another Difficult Role: Protecting Voting Rights - The New ... - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...kamala-voting-rights.html

US Politics Biden Harris Voting Rights

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  • President Biden said on Tuesday that he had directed Vice President Kamala Harris to lead Democrats in a sweeping legislative effort to protect voting rights
  • Mr. Biden told the crowd that he saw the protection of voting rights as one of the most fundamental — and most endangered — pathways to ensure racial equity.
  • Ms. Harris has already been tasked with leading the administration’s efforts to deter migration to the southwestern border by working to improve conditions in the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
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  • Known as the “For the People Act,” the bill is the professed No. 1 priority of Democrats this year. It would overhaul the nation’s elections system, rein in campaign donations and limit partisan gerrymandering.
  • Her Northern Triangle work comes in addition to a host of other engagements, including but not limited to: selling the “American Rescue Plan,” advocating Mr. Biden’s infrastructure package, representing women in the work force, highlighting the Black maternal mortality rate, assisting small businesses, assessing water policy, promoting racial equity, combating vaccine hesitancy, and fighting for a policing overhaul.
  • One option for Democrats would be to ram the bill through on a partisan vote by further rolling back one of the foundations of Senate tradition: the filibuster
yehbru

For Many Workers, Change in Mask Policy Is a Nightmare - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...rkers-cdc-mask-vaccinated.html

US Politics Covid19 Vaccine Trump Biden

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  • That changed in mid-May after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised vaccinated Americans that they could go maskless in most indoor settings. The next week, the store told employees that they could no longer ask customers to cover their faces. So mask use plummeted, and the anxiety of Ms. Wainwright and other workers shot up.
  • “We just feel like we’re sitting ducks,
  • More than a dozen retail, hospitality and fast-food workers across the country interviewed by The New York Times expressed alarm that their employers had used the C.D.C. guidance to make masks optional for vaccinated customers.
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  • In liberal enclaves, where public support for masking has generally been high, many customers continue to wear masks whether or not they are required.
  • That compared with only 71 percent of Republicans who said they wore a mask outside the home at least most of the time, and just half said they thought masks were effective.
  • Vaccinated guests are allowed to walk around without masks, but there is no way to verify vaccination status and fewer than half of guests are wearing them, according to Mr. Kennon.
  • “Security won’t ask them to show a vaccine card,” he said. “It’s certainly stressful amongst my co-workers.”
  • By contrast, in Bethesda, Md., in a county where the vast majority voted for President Biden, mask-wearing appears to be largely unaffected by the C.D.C. shift.
  • “We had people walking in, not buying anything, just chewing gum with their mouths open — a ‘see if anyone stops me’ kind of dance,’” said Mr. Mason
  • “Many employers are following state guidance, which is throwing public health precautions out the window.”
  • A White House official acknowledged that it was reviewing the proposal but declined to comment further.
yehbru

Fauci's emails during the pandemic's early days were published. Here's what they show a... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

US Politics Covid19 Trump Fauci Biden

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  • BuzzFeed News published more than 3,200 pages of emails from Fauci's inbox after obtaining correspondence spanning from January to June 2020, and The Washington Post published excerpts from more than 860 pages of emails during March and April 2020. CNN also obtained a number of emails from February, but many were heavily redacted.
  • "This is White House in full overdrive and I am in the middle of it,
  • Fauci had worked under six US presidents including then-President Donald Trump before he became the public face of the federal response to Covid-19.
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  • Attacks from Trump's allies led to enhanced security. In August, Fauci told CNN's Sanjay Gupta he had to get security protection after his family received death threats and harassment.
  • To those who reached out fearful of what could be coming, Fauci was honest -- both about what experts knew and didn't know.
  • "I'm chronically fatigued, I don't get a lot of sleep," he said. "I'm constantly briefing, talking, doing things, hopefully getting the right cause out."
  • Their turbulent relationship stands in stark contrast to President Joe Biden's elevation of Fauci to chief medical adviser -- a role where he's been free to promote public health advice without scorn from the Oval Office.
yehbru

Supreme Court ruling in Arizona case will be another front in the voting rights wars - ... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

US Politics Biden Voting Rights Supreme Court

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  • Now, within the next few weeks, the Supreme Court will enter the melee and weigh in on the scope of the Voting Rights Act in a way that could bolster efforts by Republicans in states like Georgia and Texas to limit access to the polls.
  • It's the first time the justices have considered the scope of the Voting Rights Act as it applies to the denial of the vote since Chief Justice John Roberts wrote a 5-4 opinion in 2013 effectively invalidating Section 5 of the law
  • Since the decision in Shelby County v. Holder, states have moved forward with new laws, an effort further fueled by former President Donald Trump's unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
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  • "The wave of restrictive laws being introduced and passed in state legislatures across the country highlights once again how important it is to have a strong Voting Rights Act to protect voters."
  • The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals invalidated both provisions, stressing the state's "long history of race-based discrimination against its American Indian, Hispanic, and African American citizens" and highlighting a "pattern of discrimination."
  • Unlike fights against voting restrictions in Georgia and Texas, however, Democrats are divided on whether the two Arizona laws should be allowed to stand. The Democratic National Committee argues the rules should fall, but the Biden administration told the court that the laws passed legal muster.
  • "If the Supreme Court weakens the Voting Rights Act as they are being asked to do, it will make it much harder to stop the kind of legislation we saw Texan lawmakers try to ram through over the weekend," Morales-Doyle said.
  • Ho and others are worried that the court could issue a ruling, for instance, that required evidence that there is a significant racially disparate impact on voter turnout. Such a standard would be hard for challengers to satisfy because it is difficult to always make a direct connection between fluctuations in voter turnout based on a single law.
yehbru

How Trump's Influence On Republicans May Affect Ohio In 2022 : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...complicates-things-for-the-gop

US Politics Biden Trump Ohio Republicans

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  • Trump won 63% of the vote in Licking County in last year's presidential election, en route to easily carrying the state for the second time
  • As the Republican field to replace him begins to take shape in these very early days, it's clear Trump retains an outsized influence in the state.
  • Polls since Trump left office show an overwhelming number of Republicans still view him as the leader of the party. Those same polls show that a solid majority of Republicans also say — falsely — that Trump won in 2020.
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  • In the Ohio legislature, where the GOP controls the agenda with a super-majority, Republicans are looking to enact new restrictions on voting, following Trump's baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 elections
  • "We had to defend whatever Donald Trump did on a day in and day out basis,"
  • Still, it's hard to get past Trump's dominance, something he'll deploy to influence next year's midterms.
  • "There's no better argument than reality," she says. "I think it's meaningful that not a single Ohio Republican voted to support the American Recovery Plan." Walters describes it as "a clear and simple decision on who's on your side, who cares about you and your family, and who doesn't."
yehbru

Rudy Giuliani probe: Judge approves review of material seized from Trump lawyer - 0 views

www.cnbc.com/...-seized-from-trump-lawyer.html

US Politics Trump Rudy Giuliani Ukraine

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  • A federal judge agreed Friday to appoint a special master to recommend what evidence prosecutors should be able to see from material recently seized via search warrants from Rudy Giuliani, who is under criminal investigation, and another lawyer allied with former President Donald Trump.
  • Giuliani is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, a position he once held, for his activities in Ukraine.
  • “The search warrants at issue here were based on judicial findings of probable cause — supported by detailed affidavits — to believe that evidence of violations of specified federal offenses would be found at the locations to be searched. There is no legal requirement for the Government to proceed by subpoena, nor is there any basis for the subject of an investigation to require it to do so.”
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  • “Guiliani’s and Toensing’s position lacks legal support,”
  • Prosecutors are eyeing whether he violated federal lobbying law by not registering as a lobbyist for entities who were seeking various actions related to Ukraine, including the removal of the American ambassador under Trump.
  • Oetken noted that prosecutors suggested the electronic devices seized from Giuliani and Toensing should be handled the same way as Cohen’s “in light of the parallels to this matter.”
  • Giuliani’s lawyers argue that the search of his iCloud — which was not known to Giuliani for about 18 months — may have violated his attorney-client privilege and the right of Trump as president to have his communications with his lawyer protected.
yehbru

Biden budget would give CDC biggest funding boost in nearly 20 years - 0 views

www.cnbc.com/...-boost-in-nearly-20-years.html

US Politics Biden CDC Funding

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  • The budget blueprint for fiscal 2022 would include $8.7 billion in discretionary funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to budget documents shared by the Office of Management and Budget.
  • The agency said that budget bump would build on the CDC investments doled out in the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan that Biden signed into law in March.
  • The new funding would be used to “support core public health capacity improvements in States and Territories, modernize public health data collection nationwide, train new epidemiologists and other public health experts, and rebuild international capacity to detect, prepare for, and respond to emerging global threats,” the OMB said.
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  • While the CDC funding request is a big increase from recent years, it comprises just a small slice of Biden’s $6 trillion budget proposal for 2022.
  • The budget materials say $153 million would be allocated for the CDC’s Social Determinants of Health program to work on “improving health equity and data collection for racial and ethnic populations.”
  • The government would also provide $100 million for the CDC’s Climate and Health program as part of a $1.2 billion investment in strengthening resilience to wildfires, floods, droughts and other climate-related disasters.
  • Overall, HHS is requesting $133.7 billion in discretionary funding — a $25.3 billion, or 23.4%, bump from the enacted budget of fiscal 2021.
yehbru

Big Pharma launches campaign against Biden over Covid vaccine patent waiver - 0 views

www.cnbc.com/...vid-vaccine-patent-waiver.html

US Politics Biden Covid19 Vaccine Lobbying Patent Waiver

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  • The lobbying group that represents several top pharmaceutical companies last month quietly launched a campaign against President Joe Biden and his decision to back waiving intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines.
  • Late last month it started running a digital ad campaign on Facebook and Google targeting Biden’s decision
  • Proponents of waiving patent protections say it allows poorer nations to ramp up production of the Covid vaccine.
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  • “Biopharmaceutical research companies are committed to achieving equitable access around the world to COVID-19 vaccines, and that is why we’re educating policymakers and the public about our ongoing efforts to increase vaccine supply for global demand, the risks of waiving intellectual property protections, and the need to address the real issues driving vaccine inequity.”
  • Another PhRMA post cites a Hill-HarrisX poll that shows that 57% of registered voters who took the survey are against the waiver.
  • Facebook’s ad library shows that PhRMA spent over $245,000 since late April and throughout May on digital spots
  • PhRMA spent just over $8.5 million on lobbying over the course of the first three months of 2021.
yehbru

Biden administration puts Arctic refuge leases on ice as it asks for new environmental ... - 0 views

www.alaskapublic.org/...-for-new-environmental-reviews

US Politics Biden Trump Arctic Oil

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  • The Biden administration Tuesday took its first steps toward reversing the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain to oil drilling, by suspending leases issued in the final days of the Trump administration.
  • And on his first day in office, on Jan. 20, he directed the Interior Department to put a “temporary mortarium” on all oil and gas leasing activities in the refuge, and to review the environmental impacts of the Trump administration’s oil and gas program for the area. 
  • All activities related to the program — including the current leases — are suspended until the review is complete. The department will then decide whether the leases should be “reaffirmed, voided, or subject to additional mitigation measures,”
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  • Critics said it was rushed, sloppy and a threat to animals and the environment. But supporters said drilling in the refuge is good for jobs and the country’s energy independence.
  • The sale ended up drawing little interest: No major oil companies bid on the leases. Instead, two smaller ones each picked up a single lease, and the state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority picked up seven
yehbru

What's Blocking Bill That Would Reform Military Justice System : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...stice-system-faces-a-new-fight

US Politics Military Justice System Reform

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  • After eight years of trying, the Democrat and longtime member of the Senate Armed Services Committee finally has the votes needed to approve the transformative legislation in the upper chamber. The bill has more than 60 cosponsors.
  • That means leaders who are pilots, infantry officers and hold other positions can be tasked with making weighty legal decisions with little to no experience.
  • They want to see those cases pulled from the chain of command and into the hands of experienced military prosecutors.
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  • They point to Pentagon reports showing cases of sexual assaults remain at record highs, while prosecution and conviction rates are falling.
  • Some skeptics have said other serious crimes such as murder and manslaughter should be kept in the chain of command, but supporters of this legislation say that would be a move to water it down.
  • "I believe that the committee must start from a base that reflects the broadest consensus possible among our members," Reed said.
  • For example, reports of these crimes were 37% higher in 2019, when compared with two years prior. That's while prosecution and conviction rates for related cases were down 7% since Gillibrand's legislation was first introduced.
  • "Whether it's in the military or whether it's outside the military, a crime is a crime, and it should be punished," said Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley
yehbru

Miami Shooting: 3 Masked Suspects Opened Fire At Banquet Hall : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...cts-in-a-banquet-hall-shooting

US Miami Banquet Shooting

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  • A manhunt continued into Memorial Day for three masked suspects who opened fire early Sunday morning outside a Miami banquet hall, killing two men and wounding 21 others
  • The video shows three people getting out of the vehicle, one gripping a handgun, while the other two carried what police described as "assault-style rifles."
  • That's when the gunmen sprayed bullets indiscriminately into the crowd, even though police said the assailants had specific targets in mind.
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  • Police said some in the crowd returned fire
  • In all, 23 people were shot. In addition to the two fatalities, three others were in the hospital in critical condition. Because of privacy laws, police were not releasing the names of any of the victims.
  • Sunday's shooting came a little more than a day after a drive-by shooting claimed the life of one person outside another venue about 13 miles (about 21 kilometers) away in the Wynwood area. Six others were injured. Some witnesses likened the scene to a "war zone" after a barrage of dozens of bullets sent people scurrying in the night.
yehbru

Why Asian-American Health Gets So Little Research Attention : Shots - Health News : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...search-into-its-health-effects

US Politics Asian American Racism Health Affects

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  • Chang and her family, like many other Asian Americans, can see themselves in the thousands of reported hate incidents against Asians over the past year, and it's adding a new layer of stress to their lives.
  • "For many Asian Americans, these acts of harassment and violence are activating old wounds, memories of racial traumas. For others, they may now worry about going out alone to the grocery store, worrying about loved ones," she says.
  • But research into the health effects on Asian Americans of living with such violence is sparse. Health scientists like Chang say that's been damaging to the Asian community, and the research gap needs to close as soon as possible.
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  • Past research on other communities of color finds that repeated exposure to racism and racial violence can grind one's physical and mental health down. Race-related stress has been linked to higher infant mortality rates and cardiovascular disease in African American communities, and researchers continue to find more insidious ways racism harms health.
  • Without the research specific to Asian Americans' experience, it means any problems currently facing the Asian American community will likely continue to fester, unnoticed and unaddressed.
  • One is the model minority myth, which can suggest that Asians don't suffer economic or health disparities compared to whites.
  • From 1992 to 2018, only 0.17% of the National Institutes of Health's budget went to studying Asian, native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Americans.
  • "Aside from the language barrier, immigrants may not understand the justice system and that may be another reason that prevents them from reporting."
  • "If you look at all those cases, you will find that many people had the same or similar experiences before they reported,"
  • From March 19, 2020 to Feb 28, 2021, a period encompassing the ballooning of the country's coronavirus pandemic and some politicians' insistence on linking the virus to China, the Stop AAPI Hate Reporting Center recorded nearly 3,800 separate incidents of hate against Asians in the United States.
  • "White toxicity and racism have put an inordinate amount of pressure on Asians living in diaspora communities to cope with the trauma of being in an environment that does not see them and does not protect them."
yehbru

White House Slaps Sanctions On Belarus Following Brazen Arrest Of Opposition Figure : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...razen-arrest-of-opposition-fig

US Politics Belarus Sanctions

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  • The White House on Friday night announced a series of sanctions against Belarus for its forced landing of a Ryanair commercial flight and the subsequent removal and arrest of opposition journalist Roman Protasevich.
  • The Sunday flight diversion, made under the false pretense of a bomb being onboard the aircraft, comes as the government of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko faces growing outcry from the West for the nation's recent crackdowns on free speech and public dissent.
  • In response to Protasevich's arrest, Psaki said the United States had issued a travel advisory urging U.S. citizens not to travel to Belarus, would reimpose sanctions on nine Belarusian state-owned enterprises, and would develop increased sanctions against the Eastern European nation's government, among other actions.
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  • "We call on Lukashenka to allow a credible international investigation into the events of May 23, immediately release all political prisoners, and enter into a comprehensive and genuine political dialogue with the leaders of the democratic opposition and civil society groups that leads to the conduct of free and fair Presidential elections under [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] auspices and monitoring."
  • Lukashenko, a six-term authoritarian whose most recent election win was marred by accusations of ballot rigging, has fashioned himself as an international strongman and is often referred to as Europe's last dictator.
  • While a number of developed nations have sharply criticized Lukashenko's harsh rejection of fundamental democratic principles like free speech, Lukashenko has found allyship in a fellow authoritarian leader, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
yehbru

Latin American Countries Struggle To Contain COVID-19 : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...19-still-ravages-latin-america

US Politics Latin America South Covid19 Pandemic Vaccine

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  • Government officials in Peru announced on Monday the country's official COVID-19 death toll had been far lower than the real number. Instead of 69,342 Peruvians perishing from COVID-19 as of May 22, as the Peruvian government previously reported, more than 180,000 actually have died from the virus.
  • Officials blamed the undercounting on "a lack of testing that made it difficult to confirm whether a person had died due to the virus or some other cause,"
  • CONMEBOL, the governing body of the tournament, announced on Sunday that they dropped Argentina as the host country with less than two weeks to go until the start of the event.
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  • Argentinian officials reported that the country had seen a total of 3.7 million confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 77,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the World Health Organization
  • But in Brazil, Argentina, Peru and many other countries in Latin America, government and health officials are still struggling to contain the virus.
  • By early Tuesday, there have been more than 16.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 462,791 deaths recorded in Brazil, according to Johns Hopkins.
  • As of May 19, Etienne said only 3% of people in Latin America and the Caribbean have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The U.S. has fully vaccinated more than half of American adults.
  • Peru is set to get 1 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses from COVAX by June 4.
yehbru

Revolt by Texas Democrats heaps pressure on Washington to act on voting reform - CNNPol... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

US Politics Republicans Democrats Voting Rights

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  • their last-ditch effort may only temporarily stall the effort and underscores how the deadlock in Washington is making it easier for Republicans to act on Donald Trump's election fraud lies to stack the deck in future votes.
  • The Lone Star State drama came after the GOP-led Senate in Washington blocked an independent commission into the January 6 insurrection and attack on American democracy last week and after House Republican leaders failed to meaningfully punish Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for comparing mask wearing to the Holocaust.
  • The Texas imbroglio may be the first sign of a more aggressive counterattack against Republican restrictive voting bills that are proliferating from Texas to Florida and Arizona to Georgia as well as many other states.
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  • Democrats effectively succeeded in running out the clock on this year's legislative session by depriving the Republicans of a quorum needed to pass the bill in a late-night session
  • Among other steps, the bill makes mail-in voting more difficult, bans after-hours and drive-through voting that helped Black and Latino voters in the Houston area cast their ballots in 2020. It prohibits early voting on Sundays -- a popular practice for Black churches -- before 1 pm and makes it easier to overturn an election.
  • "When you are pushed to extremes you respond to that with extreme(s)," Moody said on CNN's "New Day" on Monday.
  • Some Democrats may see hope in the fact that Manchin was angry and disappointed that Republicans used the filibuster to kill off the bipartisan January 6 commission. But he has so far given no indication that he will temper his desire for bipartisan action.
  • More evidence of Republican efforts to build on Trump's election fraud lies are causing some Democrats to wonder how much longer it will be politically feasible for Biden to pursue deals with a Republican Party that appears bent on locking them out of power.
  • "Let's be clear. If 10 Republican Senators cannot even vote for a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6th insurrection, 10 Republican Senators will not vote for anything meaningful to improve the lives of the American people. We must abolish the filibuster & act now," Sanders wrote.
  • If the infrastructure deal fails, that event may come to be seen as the moment when a more partisan White House approach became inevitable.
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