July 21, 2020

It was a rough primary season. The general election could be worse.

CONGRESS HAS several urgent tasks and little time to complete them. One is to help ensure the legitimacy of the nation’s democracy by giving the states the assistance they need to hold an election during a pandemic.

Certainly the states should not be left to struggle through the November election as they have through primary season, with fiascoes in places as different as D.C., Georgia, New York and Wisconsin. The problems were varied: long lines; no-show election workers; massive polling place closures; confused voters; unclear mail-in voting procedures; failure to count ballots within a reasonable amount of time; election website collapses; unnecessary voting requirements. The common denominator was state leaders who blundered their way through a coronavirus election — and a federal government that has long failed to encourage high standards through funding and guideline-setting.

Elections in the United States were already an international embarrassment, with underfunding and incompetence in too many jurisdictions. Now, in the absence of thoughtful preparation, voters may have to risk their lives to exercise their right to vote. That’s unacceptable. The fear of catching covid-19 will deter voters, unless the government assures people they can vote safely.

Congress has frittered away months instead of helping states buy new machines to process and count mail-in ballots. Those would be helpful in a state such as New York, where primary results took weeks to be reported. Now, states’ options are increasingly limited because time is short, and the challenge will be even larger than the one states faced over the past few months. Even states that managed their primaries relatively well may see their systems overloaded when double the number of people seek to vote in the general election.

Republicans have tended to resist federal involvement in running elections, arguing that this is a state and local responsibility. Underlying that objection may be a fear that higher levels of voting hurts Republicans, a calculation that has led the GOP to erect innumerable barriers to voting over the past decade. But the need is too obvious and the stakes too high for further delay or craven partisanship. It is in fact unclear whether more mail-in voting hurts or helps the GOP. But that should not matter; if Republicans believe in their ideas and candidates, they should seek to put them to a fair democratic test.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/it-was-a-rough-primary-season-the-general-election-could-be-worse/2020/07/20/cd13c34c-cabc-11ea-b0e3-d55bda07d66a_story.html

July 21, 2020

Winn-Dixie announces new mask requirements

Parent company Southeastern Grocers makes the move after previous policy attracted criticism.

Winn-Dixie is joining other retailers, saying it will require face masks in stores after criticism its policy wasn’t strict enough.

Shoppers will be required to wear masks in stores beginning July 27.

The chain is owned by Jacksonville-based Southeastern Grocers, which also operates Fresco y Más stores. Last week, the grocer released a statement that it was following local mask laws and “strongly encouraging those who are medically able to wear a face covering.” Still, the grocer said it didn’t want to put its employees in any conflict by making them enforce mask requirements.

“We do not want to cause undue friction between our customers and associates by regulating mask mandates, and we strongly encourage state officials to lead the way in regulating these type of safety mandates,” the statement said.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/07/20/winn-dixie-announces-new-mask-requirements/

I think they must have got an earful from their customer base...

July 20, 2020

After Trump, we will need a truth commission

Former vice president Joe Biden has said that if elected, he would not pardon President Trump for any alleged crimes. As a political matter, that makes perfect sense; as a legal matter, it smartly leaves options open.

As much as I would love to see the federal government prosecute Trump for potential crimes in office, I fear that criminally prosecuting a predecessor would be so destructive and fraught with peril that it would outweigh any added benefits. (If Trump committed financial crimes unrelated to his official acts in office, that is another matter.)

That still leaves open what Biden, if he becomes president, should do regarding Trump. I would suggest two main goals.

The first goal should be a complete historical accounting of the reams of scandals and abuses of power in the Trump era. We usually leave it “to history” to review a presidency, but here we need a swift and definitive legal accounting on issues such as any secret understandings with Russian President Vladimir Putin; the use of federal forces against peaceful demonstrators; the limitations imposed on the FBI in investigating Brett M. Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing; the firings of inspectors general and more. (I would not recommend redoing the Russia and Ukraine investigations, although coming to a conclusion where then-special counsel Robert S. Mueller III would not — on whether Trump committed crimes — may be required.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/20/after-trump-we-will-need-truth-commission/

I disagree with Rubin's fear of criminally prosecuting Trump. If he is judged to have committed crimes while in office, then he deserves a prison sentence. Otherwise future Presidents will see there is no risk to their lawlessness while in office.

July 20, 2020

GOP coronavirus bill likely to include payroll tax cut and tie school money to reopening plans

Source: Washington Post

Trump said talks are going well as he met down with McConnell, McCarthy at start of three-week legislative sprint

A new coronavirus relief bill being crafted by Senate Republicans and the White House would tie school funding to classrooms reopening and is likely to include a version of the payroll tax cut sought by President Trump, a person briefed on the package said Monday.

As details of the legislation emerged, Trump met in the Oval Office with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). The president said discussions were going well as the administration and congressional Republicans aim to form a unified front before launching contentious talks with Democrats on the last major relief bill before the November election.

The president emphasized his support for a payroll tax cut, a policy that Democrats and a number of Republicans oppose. Trump believes it would help stimulate the economy, but opponents believe it would do little for the millions of Americans who are unemployed.

“It’s been proven to be successful and it’s a big saving for the people. It’s a tremendous saving and an incentive for companies to hire their workers back and to keep their workers,” Trump said.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/07/20/coronavirus-stimulus-bill-july/

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Sounds as if no Democrats have been involved in this discussion.

It's just another ploy for McConnell and the Republicans to blame the Democrats for not accepting their "relief bill".

July 20, 2020

Florida reports 10,000 more coronavirus cases, 92 deaths

Source: Tampa Bay Times

That brings the total number of cases in Florida to 360,394 since the state’s first cases were made public March 1, and the state’s death toll to 5,183.

The Florida Department of Health reported 10,347 coronavirus infections Monday — the sixth consecutive day Florida’s number of known cases has grown by more than 10,000.

The daily update from the state’s health department announced 92 deaths attributed to the highly contagious respiratory virus in the last 24 hours.

That brings the total number of cases in Florida to 360,394 since the state’s first cases were made public March 1. The statewide death toll, including residents and 109 people who died from the virus while visiting, is 5,183.

Twelve of the deaths reported Monday were in Pasco County, which has reported 5,050 total infections and 57 lives lost to the virus since the pandemic began.

Read more: https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/07/20/florida-reports-10000-more-coronavirus-cases-92-deaths/

July 20, 2020

Arizona reopened early to revive its economy. Now, its businesses face even greater devastation

A surge in coronavirus infections threatens residents and businesses at a moment when state and federal relief programs are expiring

Arizona had been one of the last states to close, and first to reopen, when the coronavirus started to sweep the nation this spring. But a brazen gamble to restart its struggling economy has backfired months later, threatening to plunge workers and businesses into a deeper financial hole.

Hundreds of thousands of people are still out of a job, some for the second time this year. Restaurants, gyms and other companies are closing up shop once again — perhaps for good. Even government officials say they are bracing for a crippling blow, with the latest shutdown expected to cleave further into their still-souring finances.

The economic devastation comes as Congress prepares to return Monday and begin debating how to structure another round of federal stimulus. The $2 trillion Cares Act, which lawmakers adopted in March, helped buttress the country during the early days of the pandemic. But many of those benefits are on the verge of expiring, imperiling states that are in worse shape than they were nearly four months ago.

Like Florida, Texas and others that opened early, Arizona now ranks as one of the country’s worst coronavirus hot spots, with more than 143,000 cases and more than 2,700 deaths as of this weekend. Some residents in cities such as Phoenix and Scottsdale say the surge is the result of the state’s return to old routines, after Republican Gov. Doug Ducey lifted his stay-at-home order in May in part to give the local economy a boost — leading people to flock, often without masks, to cramped public places.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/20/arizona-reopen-economy-coronavirus

July 20, 2020

Global Warming Is Driving Polar Bears Toward Extinction, Researchers Say

By century’s end, polar bears worldwide could become nearly extinct as a result of shrinking sea ice in the Arctic if climate change continues unabated, scientists said.

Polar bears could become nearly extinct by the end of the century as a result of shrinking sea ice in the Arctic if global warming continues unabated, scientists said Monday.

Nearly all of the 19 subpopulations of polar bears, from the Beaufort Sea off Alaska to the Siberian Arctic, would face being wiped out because the loss of sea ice would force the animals onto land and away from their food supplies for longer periods, the researchers said. Prolonged fasting, and reduced nursing of cubs by mothers, would lead to rapid declines in reproduction and survival.

“There is very little chance that polar bears would persist anywhere in the world, except perhaps in the very high Arctic in one small subpopulation” if greenhouse-gas emissions continue at so-called business-as-usual levels, said Peter K. Molnar, a researcher at the University of Toronto Scarborough and lead author of the study, which was published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Even if emissions were reduced to more moderate levels, “we still are unfortunately going to lose some, especially some of the southernmost populations, to sea-ice loss,” Dr. Molnar said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/climate/polar-bear-extinction.html

July 20, 2020

Where Is the Outrage?

Americans are getting sick and dying while Trump plays a political game.

It never ceases to amaze me how more people aren’t outraged, shocked and disgusted by Donald Trump’s cruelty and malfeasance.

Nearly 140,000 Americans are now dead because of the Covid-19 pandemic and more than 3,000,000 have contracted the disease. Furthermore, our outlook in this country is dire: Cases are surging and the number of dead continues to climb.

This is still the first wave; a second wave could simply pile on and be catastrophic.

And yet, Trump’s cronies are attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, demanding that all schools reopen in the fall even as the virus rages, and continuing to tell the lie that the reason we have more cases is because we have more tests.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/19/opinion/trump-coronavirus-us.html

July 20, 2020

Petition Urges Trader Joe's to Get Rid of 'Racist Branding'

The supermarket chain said it was in the process of phasing out names, including Trader Ming’s and Trader José, that have appeared on its international food products.

Trader Joe’s is being urged to follow the example of other national food companies and rebrand products that critics say perpetuate racial stereotypes.

An online petition is asking the company to “remove racist branding and packaging from its stores,” including international food items carrying the names Trader Ming’s, Trader José and Trader Giotto’s. Those products and others reflect “a narrative of exoticism that perpetuates harmful stereotypes,” according to the petition, which on Sunday had been signed by more than 1,500 people.

“They’re racist because they exoticize other cultures, present ‘Joe’ as this default normal, and then the other characters — such as Thai Joe, Trader José, Trader Joe San — falling outside of it,” said Briones Bedell, 17, who started the petition.

A Trader Joe’s spokeswoman said in a statement that the company had previously decided to get rid of the names and to rebrand its international foods with the Trader Joe’s name.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/19/business/trader-joes-petition.html

Should we now petition those among us named José and Jesus to also change their names?

July 20, 2020

They depended on their parents for everything. Then the virus took both.

Now the Ismael children — 13, 18 and 20 — are struggling to cope with grief, but also with how to keep a car running, pay bills, be a family

She was tired of wearing black, but the teenager knew she had to, at least for one more day. So after Nadeen Ismael swept the floors and arranged the couch pillows just the way her parents liked them, she returned to their bedroom. Behind the door, Nadeen, 18, reached up for her mother’s favorite sweater, still hanging next to the leather jacket and Levi’s jeans her father left there after his last day at work three months earlier.

Across the hall, her sister, Nanssy, 13, put on the black shirt adorned with a sequined gold star that their mom, Nada Naisan, had been given as a teenager in Iraq. In another bedroom, the girls’ brother, Nash, 20, pulled on black socks, pants, shoes and a button-down, all gifts from his mother, who did so much of his shopping that he wasn’t sure what sizes he wore.

Their house was quiet that morning in mid-June, as it seemed to be almost all the time now. Nada wasn’t frying omelets in the kitchen next to the “BLESS OUR HOME” sign, insisting that her two oldest children sit and eat and talk with her. Their dad, Nameer Ayram, wasn’t crooning the made-up song in Chaldean about Nanssy that always made her laugh. “Bobbit baba,” he most liked to call her — “Daddy’s girl.”

All dressed, Nash walked to the small bedroom his sisters shared.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“Ready,” Nadeen responded.

“Let’s go,” said her brother, who hoped that this day would mark the end of the hardest time in their lives and not the start of something harder.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/local/coronavirus-orphans-kids-lose-parents/