Effect of hydroxychloroquine with or without azithromycin on the mortality of COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis – Clinical Microbiology and Infection

Hydroxychloroquine alone was not associated with reduced mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients but the combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin significantly increased mortality.

Source: Effect of hydroxychloroquine with or without azithromycin on the mortality of COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis – Clinical Microbiology and Infection

Macron Warns Lebanon Risks ‘Civil War’ if Not Helped

Does not give France any “right” to interfere – it is not your colony! W140

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday warned that Lebanon risks a return to civil war if it is left alone to deal with the crisis that followed the deadly Beirut port explosion this month.

“If we let Lebanon go in the region and if we somehow leave it in the hands of the depravity of regional powers, it will be civil war” as well as “the defeat of what is the very identity of Lebanon,” he said.

Coronavirus: COVID-19 infections and deaths – latest data | Euronews

  • A table of total cases and COVID-19 deaths in each country, sorted by the worst-hit
  • A summary of worldwide COVID-19 cases, deaths, active cases and recoveries from the disease
  • How coronavirus cases and COVID-19 deaths have progressed over time
  • Who has the most fatalities, relatively speaking? COVID-19 deaths per one million of population
  • World maps showing which countries have been worst hit in terms of deaths and cases
  • New daily cases and fatalities in the US, the country with the highest death toll.

Source: Coronavirus: COVID-19 infections and deaths – latest data | Euronews

Texas tells Harris County to halt plan to send all voters applications for mail-in ballots

heavy handed suppression of the vote in Texas
Mail-in ballot application.

Harris County intends to send applications for mail-in ballots to the more than 2 million registered voters in the county.

Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune

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Until now, the fight over voting by mail in Texas during the coronavirus pandemic has focused on which voters are eligible to cast an absentee ballot. Now, the battle has progressed to an argument between the state and its most populous county over who can even receive the form to apply for a mail-in ballot.

In a letter dated Aug. 27, Keith Ingram, director of elections for the Texas secretary of state, told Harris County to “immediately halt” its plans to send every registered voter in the county an application for a mail-in ballot for the general election. Ingram demanded the county drop its plan by Monday to avoid legal action by the Texas attorney general.

Sending out the applications “would be contrary to our office’s guidance on this issue and an abuse of voters’ rights under Texas Election Code Section 31.005,” Ingram wrote, citing a provision of state law that gives the secretary of state’s office power to take such action to “protect the voting rights” of Texans from “abuse” by local officials responsible for administering elections.

Earlier this week, the Harris County Clerk’s office announced it would be sending every registered voter an application for a mail-in ballot for the general election. With more than 2 million residents on the voter rolls, the move to proactively send out applications that voters must otherwise request or find online put Harris in line with an initiative that several states have carried out for primary elections during the coronavirus pandemic.

The effort expands on the county’s decision ahead of the July primary runoffs when it sent applications to all voters 65 and older — which other counties will be doing for the general election. Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins previously said he was encouraged by the county’s return rate for the runoffs and indicated the county would build on that effort for the general election to encourage as many eligible voters as possible to vote by mail during the pandemic.

Not all Harris County voters would ultimately qualify. Texas is one of just six states that haven’t opened up mail-in voting to any voter concerned about getting COVID-19 at a polling place. The state’s strict eligibility requirements limit mail-in ballots for voters who are 65 or older, those who will be out of the county during the election period, voters who cite a disability or illness, or voters confined in jail but still eligible to vote.

The secretary of state’s office has advised counties seeking to proactively send out applications to limit those mailings to voters who are 65 and older to avoid confusion about eligibility. But there appears to be no state law that specifically prohibits sending out applications to all voters.

In his letter, Ingram raises the prospect that sending applications to all voters, including those who do not qualify, may cause confusion among voters and “impede the ability of persons who need to vote by mail to do so” by “clogging up the vote by mail infrastructure” with applications from voters who do not qualify.

In applying for a mail-in ballot, voters must check off which of the state’s eligibility criteria they meet. (The secretary of state allows any voter to request an application for a mail-in ballot through its online portal without asking whether the voter meets the eligibility requirements.)

Though the state has expanded the early voting period for elections held during the pandemic, the confrontation between the secretary of state’s office and Harris County is the latest in the state’s general opposition to altering voting rules or practices during the pandemic. Most of that fight has played out in court, where Texas’ Republican leadership, citing unsubstantiated concerns about widespread fraud, has successfully blocked efforts by state Democrats, civil rights groups and individual voters to expand vote-by-mail eligibility.

But the letter to Harris County marks the most active involvement in the fight by the secretary of state’s office, which typically limits its footprint to providing guidance to the local election officials responsible for carrying out elections on the ground. A spokesperson for the secretary of state did not immediately return a request for comment on other instances in which the office has used this power to intervene in local election practices.

Disclosure: The Texas secretary of state’s office has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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Engel announces contempt proceedings against Pompeo

The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Friday announced contempt proceedings against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying America’s top diplomat has ignored the committee’s request

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The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Friday announced contempt proceedings against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying America’s top diplomat has ignored the committee’s request to investigate his…

The Purpose of Fear

I guess that’s the purpose of fear. It really makes us feel alive. It injects a sudden thrill which we need from time to time in order to comprehend life in its purest form.
That’s the true message of this pandemic, slow down, amend your ways and feel the precious life which we ignore very often.

The Perceptions Square

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When there is nothing left in the world worth seeing then the man looks towards God!

The making of time cannot be avoided. Only our sense of understanding it can change.

So quickly Year 2020 brought August to us that we hardly prepared ourselves to welcome it. Infact, nobody seems to care about it’s coming. The ravages 2020 brought to us is far from over.

Since we are running slow with all the fears engulfing us amid Covid 19 pandemic, we are hardly noticing the ticking of clock. But the time will not stop even if we cease to exist.

People are fed up now and the virus is peaking. They want to enjoy the freedom though time and again they are jolted by the fear of the virus which brings their sense back.

A certain incident happened which brought a rare smile on many faces. I was…

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