Category Archives: News to use

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

Biden’s champions on foreign policy push for a return of the old guard.

Hope not, we need new thinking for changed world and a world of change.

The NYPD Is Finally Waking Up to Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans

There were reportedly more than 2,300 racist incidents against Asian Americans between the beginning of the pandemic and July 15, according to the Asian Pacific Policy Planning Council. More than 300 of those incidents were reported in New York, including an incident last month where two men slapped an 89-year-old woman and set her shirt on fire.

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The New York Police Department announced the formation of a task force to handle potential hate crimes against Asians and Asian Americans, amid an ongoing spike in violence linked to the coronavirus pandemic.

There were reportedly more than 2,300 racist incidents against Asian Americans between the beginning of the pandemic and July 15, according to the Asian Pacific Policy Planning Council. More than 300 of those incidents were reported in New York, including an incident last month where two men slapped an 89-year-old woman and set her shirt on fire.

The new spike in violence has been linked to the COVID-19 pandemic after the first cases of coronavirus were discovered in China late in 2019. President Donald Trump and other members of the Republican Party have repeatedly blamed China for the spread of the virus to the United States, where authorities have struggled mightily to keep the pandemic under control. 

Though studies have indicated that the first cases of coronavirus in New York City came from Europe and other parts of the United States, the attack has stuck. A July Pew survey found that 78 percent of Americans blame the Chinese government’s initial handling of the Wuhan outbreak either a “great deal” or a “fair amount” for the pandemic’s global spread. 

Trump has even referred to the virus as “kung flu,” and in an incident caught on video earlier this month, a New York City subway passenger used the slur in a confrontation with a Taiwanese-American woman.

For months, Asian American community members have called for more action from authorities. “The sentiment among the Asian Americans is that not enough is being done,” NYPD deputy inspector Stewart Loo said Tuesday. “Everyone’s saying the same thing. ‘The police don’t care, Asian Americans’ voices don’t matter.’ This task force is saying otherwise.”

The team will reportedly include 25 bilingual Asian American officers and will be a permanent fixture in the NYPD. “This task force has been built and will continue to build trust and understanding between the NYPD and with Asian New Yorkers,” NYPD chief of detectives Rodney Harrison said. 

Still, advocates only see this as a first step in combating racism against Asian Americans. 

“We applaud the city’s decision to create an Asian Hate Crimes Task Force, a move that is long overdue,” Thomas Yu, co-director of Asian-Americans for Equality, told CNN in a statement. “At the same time, far more needs to be done. There is a critical need for resources at every level of government to fight hate crimes wherever they occur.”

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Cover: A store clerk wears a face mask and a shield in a tranditional chinese medicine and herbs store in the Chinatown section of lower Manhattan, New York, NY, May 18, 2020. (Anthony Behar/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

Another two years lost to climate inaction, says Greta Thunberg | Environment | The Guardian (pollution fuels Covid-19 vulnerability)

“Even a child can see that the policies of today are incompatible with the current best available science,” they said.

Scientists calculate that global carbon emissions must be cut by half by the end of this decade if humanity is to have a reasonable chance of keeping temperature rises to below 1.5C, the limit set in the Paris climate deal. Drops in emissions during coronavirus lockdowns are only a small blip in a long-term rising trend and will have a “negligible” effect on the climate crisis, researchers say.

“We understand the world is complicated and that what we are asking for may not be easy or seem unrealistic,” said the school strikers. “But it is much more unrealistic to believe that our societies would be able to survive the global heating we’re heading for. We are inevitably going to have to fundamentally change, one way or another. The question is: will the changes be on our terms, or on nature’s terms?”

Source: Another two years lost to climate inaction, says Greta Thunberg | Environment | The Guardian

21 Lebanon students questioned after 1 positive COVID-19 test (and so the retreat begins, after open schools should not have taken place)

“1 student positive today = 21 quarantined students today.”

A day after its first day of school with new virus precautions in place, the Lebanon district emphasized how parents can help prevent the spread of the new virus.

Source: 21 Lebanon students questioned after 1 positive COVID-19 test

Coronavirus outbreak strikes Laniado geriatric wing as testing falters – The Jerusalem Post (Why is testing a problem in so many nations?)

The health director explained to Army Radio that there is a nationwide shortage of testing kits, not just at Laniado. The hospital generally receives 400 kits every week, but the Health Ministry informed them this week that there was a national shortage as the Health Ministry ordered 10,000 kits but only received 4,000. The hospital only received 200 kits this week.

Source: Coronavirus outbreak strikes Laniado geriatric wing as testing falters – The Jerusalem Post

As Georgia Reopened, Officials Knew of Severe Shortage of PPE for Health Workers | Kaiser Health News (Georgia stepped into the void with eyes wide shut to safety)

Georgia on April 19 had 932,620 N95 respirator masks — one of the best protections for health workers against infection — and expected to burn through nearly 7 million within a month. It urgently needed to buy 1.4 million more, according to documents obtained by the Brown Institute for Media Innovation and shared with KHN. For gowns, officials expected to go through 16.1 million in 30 days, a staggering amount compared with the 21,810 the state had at the time.

“Making progress with PPE needs. Biggest challenge now is gowns and we are working it,” Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency Director Homer Bryson wrote on April 19 to two of Gov. Brian Kemp’s senior-most aides.

Even so, one day later, the first-term Republican governor announced he would begin to reopen the state’s economy, including gyms, restaurants, hair salons, theaters and a host of other businesses.

Between March 16 and Aug. 9, 48 COVID-19-related complaints regarding inadequate PPE in Georgia health care facilities were closed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the federal agency responsible for workplace safety. The PPE complaints accounted for the majority — roughly 6 in 10 — of Georgia’s COVID-19 complaints submitted to OSHA during the four-month period.

In April and May, “we received thousands of requests for N95 masks, but we couldn’t get our hands on the right materials to even make an N95 mask,” said Caroline Dunn, Atlanta Beats COVID-19’s communications coordinator.

Source: As Georgia Reopened, Officials Knew of Severe Shortage of PPE for Health Workers | Kaiser Health News