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| Tuesday, October 06, 2020 | |
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| | | | 1. Ailing Trump Returns to White House, Doffs Mask He’s shown the virus who’s boss. At least that’s the image President Donald Trump projected yesterday by ending his hospital stay and returning to the executive mansion. If that wasn’t enough to concern those worried about his health or the example he’s setting by exposing his staff to the deadly coronavirus, he removed his mask after climbing the stairs to the South Portico. Presidential rival Joe Biden’s campaign immediately put out ads contrasting his mask-wearing to Trump’s. “We’re going back to work,” the president said in a video, while many administration officials are either infected or in quarantine. Sources: Politico, CNN, Fox News |
| 2. Pandemic Campaign Turns on President’s Infection When they meet on Thursday, America’s vice presidential candidates will remain behind plexiglass. That’s but one of the effects of President Trump’s illness and accompanying outbreak. Some have called for candidates to quarantine, considering they were all at last Tuesday’s debate. But with a slight lead in key swing states, a mask-wearing Joe Biden campaigned and held a town hall in Miami yesterday. While it’s still uncertain who’ll win the presidency, the big favorite of the Trump COVID-19 crisis is caution: A new poll says 92 percent of Americans wear a mask when leaving home. Sources: Politico, Arizona Republic, NYT, National Geographic |
| 3. Kyrgyz Opposition Claims Successful Revolt They voted with their fists. Opposition groups claim they’re in control of Kyrgyzstan after thousands protesting the results of Sunday’s parliamentary elections stormed government buildings. Election observers said vote-buying called the Central Asian nation’s poll into question. Police fired tear gas and water cannons at demonstrators, who overwhelmed government facilities, setting fire to parts of the White House, where the president and Parliament are based. They also freed imprisoned former President Almazbek Atambayev. Despite the chaos, President Sooronbai Jeenbekov hasn’t relinquished power, but he’s prohibited police from firing on protesters and says he’ll consider annulling the election results. Sources: Reuters, Eurasianet, BBC |
| 4. Experts Dismayed by Loose US Vaccine Approval Plan Don’t worry, be snappy. That’s the message the Trump administration seems to be sending the Food and Drug Administration by blocking its guidelines for approving a COVID-19 vaccine. At issue is an FDA requirement to monitor trial subjects for two months after their vaccinations — which would guarantee an inoculation won’t be approved until after the Nov. 3 election. The administration has reportedly cited drugmakers’ concerns with the FDA’s rules, but a biotech trade association has lobbied Health Secretary Alex Azar to release the guidelines, saying the public needs to have “full faith” in the FDA process. Sources: NYT, The Week |
| 5. Also Important … A police officer in Texas faces a murder charge after the fatal shooting of a Black former university football player. An anonymous buyer has paid the “bargain” price of $15.7 million for a flawless 102-carat white diamond in a virtual Hong Kong auction. And a man who shot and dismembered his business partner in Vancouver received a 10-year sentence from a Canadian court yesterday. Reset America With Style: Show your support for change in style with our Reset America crop top. All profits go to the racial justice organization of your choice: Black Lives Matter, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or the Equal Justice Initiative. Find it and much more at the OZY Store! |
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| | | | 1. After 3,000-Year Exile, Devils Roam AustraliaDid dingoes eat their babies? Predation by Australia’s notorious wild dogs is one of many explanations for Tasmanian devils’ disappearance from the mainland three millennia ago. But yesterday wildlife conservationists revealed that they’ve reintroduced the feisty carnivorous marsupials to the continent in an attempt to save them, since the 25,000 or so inhabiting their eponymous island home are threatened by feral cats. Leading the effort are 26 devils placed by Aussie Ark, with help from Thor actor Chris Hemsworth, in a remote 1,000-acre park in New South Wales. Sources: Gizmodo, NY Post |
| 2. CDC Finally Issues Airborne Virus Warning The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned yesterday that the coronavirus spreads more readily than it had previously stated, after briefly posting and then removing a draft of the same advisory last month. The new guidance warns that in indoor settings with poor ventilation, contagion can spread via microscopic aerosol particles well beyond the 6-foot social distance many Americans have been observing. The shift, based on growing scientific consensus, is likely to haunt an increasingly infected White House as it explains why the president organized such gatherings and ridiculed mask-wearing. Sources: Washington Post, Yahoo |
| 3. How Fish Farming Cuts Sexual Exploitation Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime. But in East Africa, women can do even more with fish farming, OZY reports. Women along the shores of Lake Victoria have traditionally subsisted on selling fish, but to secure a supply from fishermen, they’ve too often been forced to barter sexual favors. But through intensive efforts by aid organizations and the Kenyan government, small fish farms are now common. That’s given female farmers — and the female vendors they supply — safe, reliable incomes, with the additional benefit of reducing the area’s HIV infection rates. Sources: OZY |
| 4. ‘Good Place’ Actor Unsettled by Effect of Sensitivity OrderHe’s in a bad place. William Jackson Harper, who played philosophy professor Chidi on NBC’s The Good Place, says he’s disturbed that some cadets pulled out of his Arts in the Armed Forces screening of Malcolm X. The reason? Discussing the Spike Lee film might violate President Trump’s ban on “anti-American” racial sensitivity training. Harper, the son of a Marine, said that order was “cowardly,” even “dangerous” censorship. A recent guest on OZY’s The Carlos Watson Show, Harper said Americans share a “duty to engage in self-reflection” and said those who don’t vote are “whistling past the graveyard.” Sources: Variety, White House |
| 5. Coronavirus, Chiefs Defeat Patriots New England needed two planes to get to Kansas City. The extra one isolated players who’d been in contact with quarterback Cam Newton, who tested positive for the coronavirus Saturday. Both teams had infected players, so their Sunday game was put off until Monday for further screening. But without Newton, the Pats were no match for the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs. Veteran quarterback Brian Hoyer and 24-year-old Jarrett Stidham both threw pivotal interceptions in New England's 26-10 loss. Some might have preferred a forfeit, which Commissioner Roger Goodell says teams may suffer if they violate pandemic protocols. Sources: Washington Post , ESPN, AP |
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