Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Hogan rebukes Trump over election remarks | TheHill

“Regardless of where you stand on this race and what party you are, and who you voted for, most Americans really want a free and fair election process and they want us to count the votes,” Hogan continued. “I think they are doing that in every state, that they’re being very cautious to make sure we count all the absentee ballots and provisional ballots, there’s Republicans and Democrats overseeing the process.” Source: Hogan rebukes Trump over election remarks | TheHill

Portland votes to create community-run police oversight board | TheHill

It will be able to take stricter measures against police, including the ability to investigate complaints made against the Portland Police Bureau and officers’ use of deadly force, among other things. To assist with its investigations, the board can subpoena documents and witnesses and access police records. In the event that wrongdoing by police is shown, the board can impose disciplinary actions, including the firing of officers. Source: Portland votes to create community-run police oversight board | TheHill

Denmark announces cull of 15 million mink over Covid mutation fears | Denmark | The Guardian

Employees from the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration at a Covid outbreak

The world’s largest mink producer, Denmark, says it plans to cull more than 15 million of the animals, due to fears that a Covid-19 mutation moving from mink to humans could jeopardise future vaccines. At a press conference on Wednesday, the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said 12 people are already infected with the mutated virus and that the mink are now considered a public health risk. “The mutated virus in mink may pose a risk to the effectiveness of a future vaccine,” Frederiksen said.

Reuters reported that Denmark’s health minister said about half of 783 infected people in northern Denmark, home to a large number of mink breeders, had been found to have infections stemming from the farms.

Denmark is the world’s largest producer of mink fur and has 15 to 17 million animals on about 1,100 farms. According to reports, the latest figures from the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, say Covid-19 infections have been found on more than 200 mink farms. The figures were confirmed by a Danish police press officer.

Source: Denmark announces cull of 15 million mink over Covid mutation fears | Denmark | The Guardian

Denmark announces cull of 15 million mink over Covid mutation fears | Denmark | The Guardian

The world’s largest mink producer, Denmark, says it plans to cull more than 15 million of the animals, due to fears that a Covid-19 mutation moving from mink to humans could jeopardise future vaccines.

At a press conference on Wednesday, the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said 12 people are already infected with the mutated virus and that the mink are now considered a public health risk.

“The mutated virus in mink may pose a risk to the effectiveness of a future vaccine,” Frederiksen said.

Source: Denmark announces cull of 15 million mink over Covid mutation fears | Denmark | The Guardian

Donald Trump falsely asserts ‘surprise ballot dumps’ behind shifting projections – National | Globalnews.ca

The outstanding swing states are grappling with record numbers of mail-in and advance ballots cast, with several still working to tally those votes because of logistical challenges like in Georgia where a burst pipe forced a pause to counting late Tuesday night. As well, the key swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania could not legally begin counting those early ballots until Election Day, so that work continues

Source: Donald Trump falsely asserts ‘surprise ballot dumps’ behind shifting projections – National | Globalnews.ca

Black progressive Cori Bush is officially going to Congress

Rep.-elect Cori Bush celebrates with supporters during her election night watch party on November 3, 2020, in St. Louis, Missouri. | Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images

Bush defeated a 10-term Democratic incumbent in a primary earlier this year.

Cori Bush, a rising progressive star in the Democratic Party, handily won a first term in the US House of Representatives on Election Day.

The Black progressive previously defeated a 10-term incumbent Democrat, Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr., in this year’s primary for Missouri’s First District, which covers the Democratic stronghold of St. Louis. Insofar as Bush won an election as a Democrat in St. Louis, that’s not too surprising. But as Aaron Ross Coleman wrote for Vox at the time, Bush’s victory in the primary was a surprising upset — one spurred by her strong support for the Black Lives Matter movement:

Bush, a 44-year-old single mother, nurse, and leader in the 2014 Ferguson uprising, ousted 64-year-old, 10-term incumbent Clay in the St. Louis-area district. The bout was a rematch of the 2018 race, which Clay won by a 20-point margin. Both candidates are Black. However, Bush’s candidacy this time spoke to the moment, with her connections to a movement sweeping the nation following the killing of George Floyd and the sustained protests since the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, a city in the district.

Clay, on the other hand, was criticized by activists who claimed he hadn’t heavily participated in Black Lives Matter protests, and that he’d rejected calls to “defund the police.”

But, Coleman added, Bush made gains in other areas too — representing “an anti-corporate insurgency that has been brewing in the Democratic Party more broadly.” Clay could argue he’s a progressive given his support of Medicare-for-all and a Green New Deal, but he also took campaign donations from some controversial sources, including big banks.

Bush’s victory falls within the broader context of Black progressives winning big races in the House. As Ella Nilsen wrote for Vox:

A new group of Black progressives has officially been elected to Congress.

It’s been a year defined in part by nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Meanwhile, unabashedly progressive Black candidates ran in — and won — races around the country. It’s another step toward meaningful representation for Black and brown constituents.

“We need more people in Congress for whom policy is personal. I was the only candidate talking about racial justice before the events of the past several weeks,” presumptive member of Congress Mondaire Jones (D-NY) told Vox this summer. “I’m grateful more people now are seeing it.”

This kind of broad representation matters. Bush, as a single member of the House, may not be able to do much on her own. But with these crucial progressive allies backing her in the legislature, perhaps her vision for America will have a better chance of being reflected in bills next year.

We are all one

Saania's diary - reflections, learnings, sparkles

I love love. I love everything about it. Just saying the word fills my heart with comfy warmth and happiness. I love life, I love people and just every living thing that exists. (I say living thing because everything has life, yes, even my stuffed little teddy bear).

I didn’t always have so much love in my heart. There were times when I spewed hate and said hurtful things to people. There have also been times when I wasn’t a very nice person. But as I am waking up each day, I can’t help but realise that we are all one.

If aliens were to invade our Earth one day, I wonder what we would do. If we think about it, I suppose countries who are now having feuds would start to support each other, people who hate each other now would start to love each other, we would almost be compelled to do so. Why? Because we are humans and they are aliens. Because at the end of the day, we are all fragmented energy from the same source. Because…

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