Enslaved African Saved America From Smallpox

Onesimus told Mather that he had been inoculated against smallpox in Africa and explained the process. Pus from an infected patient was rubbed into a cut on a healthy person’s arm. This deliberate infection, now known as variolation, resulted in immunity. Mather researched the therapy and discovered that it had also been used in Turkey and China. With the zeal of an evangelical Christian, he tried to get the medical establishment to test the cure.

Jamaica Woman Tongue

In 1706, the congregation of a Puritan church in Boston bought an African as a present for their pastor, Cotton Mather. You might think that an upstanding man of the cloth would have rejected that inhumane gift. He did not. Christian piety is totally compatible with exploitation of presumably inferior creatures. Mather promptly branded the African with a Biblical name, Onesimus. Perhaps, he was benevolently predicting Onesimus’ destiny. The biblical character ran away from slavery. The real-life Onesimus eventually bought himself out of slavery. True-true redemption!

The city of Boston had suffered from waves of smallpox infection in 1677, 1689-90 and 1702. Ships were quarantined and afflicted citizens were isolated in ‘pesthouses’ or held under guard. Perhaps we should have used these primitive methods on all of those potential spreaders of COVID-19 from abroad who irresponsibly violated quarantine orders. Cell-phone tracking was clearly inadequate. The honour system simply does not…

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‘They don’t want us here’: Native Americans struggle to vote in US election

Many members of the Oglala Lakota tribe on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge reservation live in abject poverty. The system is stacked against them — even when it comes to basic rights like voting in the presidential election.

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Many members of the Oglala Lakota tribe on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge reservation live in abject poverty. The system is stacked against them — even when it comes to basic rights like voting in the presidential election.

COVID Cases Rising 3.3 Times Faster In Hot Spot Areas Than Rest Of NYC – Gothamist

“These areas account for over 23% of new cases citywide over the past two weeks despite representing just under 7% of the City’s overall population,” the DOH said in a statement. “The growth of cases in these ZIP codes is 3.3 times the citywide average over the past 14 days.”

Source: COVID Cases Rising 3.3 Times Faster In Hot Spot Areas Than Rest Of NYC – Gothamist

COVID-19 presser halted after maskless Jewish activists harasses officials – The Jerusalem Post

Source: COVID-19 presser halted after maskless Jewish activists harasses officials – The Jerusalem Post

Former Brooklyn City Council candidate Heshy Tischler forced a press conference covering the recent spike in coronavirus cases to pause after he began verbally harassing the city health officials present, according to The New York Post.

Tischler – who is an observant Jew and wears a kippah – began yelling at Dr. Michael Katz, who heads the city’s public hospitals, with his mask in his hand, repeatedly calling the official a liar – even at one point calling the health department officials “violent Nazi stormtroopers.”

“Your numbers today are lies. Go ahead, continue to lie, you piece of garbage,” he continued. “You do not belong here. Why are you making a press conference here? Why isn’t it at City Hall?”

Katz repeatedly asked Tischler to put back on his mask, to which Tischler told Katz to “get the hell out of my community, you filthy animal.”

“Move away. You are not six feet away. Put on your mask,” Katz said to Tischler.

IDF Chief of Staff orders troops to remain on base for a month – The Jerusalem Post

The IDF announced Sunday that all soldiers due back at their bases on Tuesday following the Yom Kippur holiday must prepare for an extended stay amid efforts to contain the continued spread of the coronavirus.

In a statement, the military said that all combat soldiers as well as those currently in training and those in units where they don’t go home on weekends must prepare to stay for an extended stay for a period of up to one month. Source: IDF Chief of Staff orders troops to remain on base for a month – The Jerusalem Post

Driver arrested at Yorba Linda rally against police brutality – Los Angeles Times

A woman was arrested Saturday on suspicion of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon after driving her car into a crowd during a demonstration in Yorba Linda involving protesters against police brutality and counter-demonstrators, authorities said.

Two people were injured in the incident, according to Sgt. Dennis Breckner of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

One man suffered two broken legs and was hospitalized and one woman suffered major and moderate injuries throughout her body, he said.

Source: Driver arrested at Yorba Linda rally against police brutality – Los Angeles Times

Suisse-EU free movement limit law failed — EUROPE DIPLOMATIC (Thanks for good sense)

The Swiss by a large majority on September 27, Sunday, said ‘NO’ to a right-wing initiative that would have restricted the immigration of European Union nationals, according to projections released shortly after the polls closed. SRG SSR Hochrechnung 13:00 – https://t.co/EyRqW2Uj9N — gfs.bern (@gfsbern) September 27, 2020 According to the polling institute GFS-Bern, voters rejected […]

Suisse-EU free movement limit law failed — EUROPE DIPLOMATIC