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Article talks about the surge of younger voters in the election not only in Maine, but nationwide.  Reports that traditionally young voters are not active in elections, but that this has changed in the last 4 years.

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Families, day cares feel strain of new COVID-19 health rules

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Families, day cares feel strain of new COVID-19 health rules

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The anecdote at the beginning marks a choice on the part of the reporter.  Though the article does mention the day care side of the dilemma near the end of the article, the fact that it comes later marks another choice on the part of the reporter. The photo also marks a focus on the parents, as the day care provider in the background is not even named.  That may be a choice of the AP--or at least their web design staff.

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SEATTLE (AP) - Joelle Wheatley hit her pandemic-parenting rock bottom after her son was sent home from day care for a second time, with the sniffles, due to stricter health guidelines in a symptom-sensitive COVID-19 world.

It was supposed to be Jacob's first day back after a stressful 10-day home quarantine for another mild symptom that turned out to be harmless. Frustrated, desperate - there were no other care options, and she needed to focus on work - and certain that the 2-year-old's runny nose and cough were also benign, the Seattle mom defied the day care's orders and brought him back the next day anyway.

"I was just so sure he had a cold, and that sounds so irresponsible," said Wheatley, 43, who works at an early education nonprofit. "But I honestly was just in such a low place."

As more families make the jump back to group day care this fall in an attempt to restart lives and careers, many parents, pediatricians and care operators are finding that new, pandemic-driven rules offer a much-needed layer of safety but also seem incompatible with the germy reality of childhood.

They stem largely from coronavirus guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lowering the fever threshold, disqualifying even a single bout of diarrhea or vomiting and making sniffles suspect in group settings.

But the guidelines don't take into account that young children are prone to catching the common viral infections that help build up their immune systems, or that seasonal allergies, crying, even teething and normal playground exertion can prompt a COVID-19-like symptom.

And the price parents and kids pay for such symptoms - which could easily signal either a happy, healthy toddler, or a lurking case of the disease that has now killed more than 230,000 people in the U.S. - is now a dayslong disruption.

That's a reality Wheatley knows all too well: Jacob was turned away again on Day 2 and she then had to scramble to get him a coronavirus test and an appointment with a doctor who wrote a note confirming the boy was virus-free. It took two days to get Jacob back to preschool, causing her anxiety about his health and guilt over neglecting work.

Medical experts acknowledge the lines are blurry for kids with symptoms.

The CDC notes on its website that young children commonly have up to eight respiratory illnesses or colds each year as a matter of course. In its guidelines for K-12 schools, the CDC warns that excluding children for longer than "existing" policies over COVID-19 symptoms alone could cause unnecessary absences.

The American Academy of Pediatrics' latest child care guidelines released in October initially didn't include congestion, runny nose, vomiting or diarrhea on its symptoms checklist. Following questions from The Associated Press, the pediatricians' group updated its recommendations on Friday to include those symptoms in alignment with the CDC, calling it an oversight.

Dr. Elaine Donoghue, who helped write the pediatricians' child care guidelines, said any symptom must be taken seriously if it looks even vaguely like COVID-19. While young children are prone to minor infections, they now in theory face less exposure to those milder illnesses due to pandemic-related social distancing, and that means the calculus behind assessing symptoms changes.

"We should not be expecting certainty during a pandemic," Donoghue said. "This is an uncertain time."

Considered essential in many states, day cares are one of the few services that have remained open through the pandemic that's now stretched nine months and counting in the U.S. Numerous programs have permanently closed, though there are signs families are trickling back to preschool.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of people working in child care has recovered steadily in recent months. But while the 853,000 workers reported in September marks a 28% jump from April, it's still below the more than 1 million in the field a year ago.

Lois Martin, who runs the Community Day Center for Children in Seattle, said the learning curve has been steep for her staff since most of her families returned to the day care. The preschool teachers are now being asked to take on responsibilities requiring medical expertise, such as evaluating runny nose secretions based on thickness and color.

"This is definitely not the world we want our children to be in," Martin said.

In October, the Child Care Aware of America advocacy group released a national survey conducted by Yale researchers in May and June of more than 57,000 child care employees - including those who were and were not actively working at the time - and found no link to known positive coronavirus infections or hospitalizations among the workforce. The study's authors say this suggests that when done under such strict guidelines, child care can be safe from widespread transmission during the pandemic.

Wheatley and her husband have seen firsthand the benefits of having vigilant sanitizing, social distancing and symptom-checking: A teacher at their day care had the coronavirus in August, but it never spread to any other workers, kids or families.

So, the couple, who also have a 10-month-old baby, now figure future day care disruptions will become just another part of the new normal, with the kids inevitably being kicked out again when there's a hint of possible illness.

"It's not sustainable," Wheatley said. "Our solution is going to be suck it up and be unhappy and eventually move" to be near family who can help.

That kind of strain on families has Deeann Puffert, CEO of the Washington branch of Child Care Aware, worrying that parents may start hiding symptoms from caregivers.

"To meet the (health) requirements and maintain the joy of caregiving and early caregiving - it's just challenging," Puffert said. "There are no answers."

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Follow Sally Ho on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_SallyHo

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Families, day cares feel strain of new COVID-19 health rules

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SEATTLE (AP) - Joelle Wheatley hit her pandemic-parenting rock bottom after her son was sent home from day care for a second time, with the sniffles, due to stricter health guidelines in a symptom-sensitive COVID-19 world. It was supposed to be Jacob's first day back after a stressful 10-day home quarantine for another mild symptom that turned out to be harmless.

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Since our culture has recently taken an increased interest in social justice for black Americans, this news story reflects how a longstanding issue was not brought to national attention until now. It makes me wonder whether something like this would have gone viral if it had become known to the public years ago.

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Trump Travel Ban Makes America Less Safe: Ex-Top Security, State Officials

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Trump Travel Ban Makes America Less Safe: Ex-Top Security, State Officials

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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-travel-ban-makes-america-less-safe-ex-top-security-n717206
While just glancing over this article it may seem as though no bias is present because it is all presented as factual claims. But when you take a closer look at the message it creates, it takes one side of the argument and belittles the counterargument. It does not take into view both sides of the issue and just looks at why their claim is correct. It leaves out important facts that may have been in support of the counterargument.

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When looking at this article they honestly try and be unbiased as best they can. When you take a deeper look and read and direct the quotes you will learn it is very much so biased. This makes getting relevant true news so hard these days. When someone wants the truth about a topic they will get someone else's opinion on it instead of the truth so they then belive the persons opinion as the truth.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-tech-hearing-facebook-twitter-google-11603849274

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This story was written in many news articles and quickly became headliners for many news reporters. However, after time many views was raised about what actually happened, but it only came after the harassment. I feel as if the news headline things about race, culture, and religion because they know that they will get a response to it. They also choose to fit in racial stereotypes while trying to stay in the grey zone between ethical and non-ethical values.

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A teenager and Nathan Phillips, a Native American activist, in Washington on Friday. After one video of their interaction went viral, new ones emerged on Sunday. Credit... Social Media/Reuters

A fuller and more complicated picture emerged on Sunday of the videotaped encounter between a Native American man and a throng of high school boys wearing "Make America Great Again" gear outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.

Interviews and additional video footage suggest that an explosive convergence of race, religion and ideological beliefs - against a national backdrop of political tension - set the stage for the viral moment. Early video excerpts from the encounter obscured the larger context, inflaming outrage.

Leading up to the encounter on Friday, a rally for Native Americans and other Indigenous people was wrapping up. Dozens of students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky, who had been in Washington for the anti-abortion March for Life rally, were standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, many of them white and wearing apparel bearing the slogan of President Trump.

There were also black men who identified themselves as Hebrew Israelites, preaching their beliefs and shouting racially combative comments at the Native Americans and the students, according to witnesses and video on social media.

Soon, the Native American man, Nathan Phillips, 64, was encircled by an animated group of high school boys. He beat a ceremonial drum as a boy wearing a red "Make America Great Again" hat stood inches away. The boy identified himself in a statement released on Sunday night as Nick Sandmann, a junior.

It was a provocative image that rocketed across social media, leading many, including the students' own school, to condemn the boys' behavior as disrespectful. But on Sunday, Mr. Phillips clarified that it was he who had approached the crowd and that he had intervened because racial tensions - primarily between the white students and the black men - were "coming to a boiling point."

"I stepped in between to pray," Mr. Phillips said.

In his statement, Mr. Sandmann said he did not antagonize or try to block Mr. Phillips. "I did not speak to him. I did not make any hand gestures or other aggressive moves," he said.

The encounter became the latest touch point for racial and political tensions in America, with diverging views about what really had happened.

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Mr. Phillips and other demonstrators opposing the Dakota Access oil pipeline near Cannon Ball, N.D., in 2017. Credit... Terray Sylvester/Reuters

For some, invoking the name of Mr. Trump - who has made inflammatory comments about Mexicans and Muslims - has become a racially charged taunt, inspiration for hateful graffiti and high school sports cheers alike. Mr. Trump also recently mocked Senator Elizabeth Warren, whom he called "Pocahontas," with a reference to Wounded Knee and Little Bighorn, sacred ground for Native Americans whose ancestors fought and died there.

It did not go unnoticed that Friday's episode took place at the same location where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his most famous address, calling for an end to racism in the United States.

But there was little resolution on Sunday.

By then, thousands of people had signed an online petition started by a graduate of the school to remove its principal, while in some circles Mr. Phillips was cast as a professional activist engaged in a publicity stunt. The principal, Bob Rowe, could not be reached on Sunday.

In a joint statement on Saturday, Covington Catholic High School and the Diocese of Covington apologized to Mr. Phillips and said they were investigating. "We will take appropriate action, up to and including expulsion," the statement said. A spokeswoman for the diocese did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

In Mr. Sandmann's statement, which was released by a public relations firm, he said he remained "motionless and calm" in an effort to defuse the situation.

"I realized everyone had cameras and that perhaps a group of adults was trying to provoke a group of teenagers into a larger conflict," he said.

"I did smile at one point because I wanted him to know that I was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation," he said. "I am a faithful Christian and practicing Catholic, and I always try to live up to the ideals my faith teaches me - to remain respectful of others, and to take no action that would lead to conflict or violence.

"I harbor no ill will for this person," he continued. "I respect this person's right to protest and engage in free speech activities, and I support his chanting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial any day of the week. I believe he should re-think his tactics of invading the personal space of others, but that is his choice to make."

In a lengthy video posted to YouTube, the Hebrew Israelite activists shouted insults at Native Americans and the high school students. One of the activists, Shar Yaqataz Banyamyan, denied in a Facebook video that his group had been instigators.

Students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky were in Washington on a field trip to rally at the March for Life. Credit... Bryan Woolston/Associated Press

On Sunday night, Mr. Banyamyan said that their words had been misconstrued as hateful and that they, in fact, were being mocked by the students.

"I know we seem aggressive reading the Bible, but the Bible states for us to cry aloud and don't spare anybody's feelings," he said. "We're not violent or ignorant."

A parent of a Covington Catholic sophomore, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of safety concerns for his family, said his son, who attended the event, said the students were shouting school chants to drown out harassment from the black men. When it worked, the students were "hyped up and high-fiving each other," he said.

The parent and Mr. Sandmann's statement denied that the students chanted about building a wall at the border with Mexico, as Mr. Phillips had said. But in an interview on Sunday, Chase Iron Eyes, a spokesman for the Indigenous Peoples Movement, which organized the march, said he had also heard chants of "build that wall," a rallying cry of supporters of Mr. Trump.

Marcus Frejo, an Indigenous hip-hop artist who is also known as Quese Imc, said he was standing with a friend near the black men when tensions flickered. He said he was worried "something ugly" was going to happen.

Around that time, he said, Mr. Phillips approached, asking to borrow a drum. Together, they headed into the center of the students, creating a sort of prayer circle. They sang what he said was a well-known spiritual song associated with the American Indian Movement of the 1960s and used for prayer and resistance.

In separate interviews, Mr. Frejo and Mr. Phillips said they heard the students making noises that seemed to mock Native American chanting. (Some students also appear to make the tomahawk chop gesture popularized at certain sporting events.) But Mr. Frejo also said he heard some of the students sing along. "Regardless of their ignorance and bigotry," he said, the "spirits moved through them."

Moments later, the group of students disbanded. But to many, the interaction - and the disparate way it was perceived - reflected the national mood.

Mr. Frejo, who works with youths to prevent suicide and alcohol abuse, saw this as "a teachable moment" to help show what can happen when you push past anger and hatred.

"We chose to go over there," he said, "to sing a song to hopefully change something."

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Fuller Picture Emerges of Viral Video of Native American Man and Catholic Students (Published 2019)

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A fuller and more complicated picture emerged on Sunday of the videotaped encounter between a Native American man and a throng of high school boys wearing "Make America Great Again" gear outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.

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https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/pm-modi-extends-support-to-france-in-fight-against-terrorism-foreign-secretary-reaches-paris-on-scheduled-visit/ar-BB1ax0y2?

This article focuses on India's PM Modi's views on the attacks that have taken place in France, but this is cultural because it only shows one side of the story. Because the majority of people viewing this would be the French and maybe secular people of India, they whole story would not be displayed; the views of one of the targeted groups - Muslims - are not talked about.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended support to France over the recent violence by saying, "India stands with France in the fight against terrorism."

PM Modi's response comes after the second set of attacks in Nice and Jeddah.

Taking it to Twitter, PM Modi said, "I strongly condemn the recent terrorist attacks in France, including today's heinous attack in Nice inside a church. Our deepest and heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and the people of France. India stands with France in the fight against terrorism."

I strongly condemn the recent terrorist attacks in France, including today's heinous attack in Nice inside a church. Our deepest and heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and the people of France. India stands with France in the fight against terrorism.

- Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 29, 2020

As reported by Indian Express, Indian officials were assessing the threat perception with security officials from the French embassy Thursday evening along with the four French consulates in Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Pondicherry.

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has reached Paris on Thursday on a scheduled visit and met Macron's diplomatic advisor Emmanuel Bonne.

Speaking at the Institut Français des Relations Internationales (IFRI) in Paris, Shringla said: "India and France face similar non-traditional security threats in the form of radicalism and terrorism...The fight today is not against specific communities or individuals but against a radical politico-religious ideology that attempts to negate the progress made by secular democracies, particularly when it involves the equality of all citizens, regardless of religion or ethnicity, and the rights of women...Such forces seek to destabilize pluralist societies."

"It was horrifying to hear about the two recent terrorist incidents in France, one of which, as is very often the case, had its origins in our western neighbourhood - Pakistan. The civilised world needs to act together and act with firmness to address this threat to our cherished democratic value systems," he said.

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PM Modi extends support to France in fight against terrorism; Foreign Secretary reaches Paris on scheduled visit

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended support to France over the recent violence by saying, "India stands with France in the fight against terrorism." PM Modi's response comes after the second set of attacks in Nice and Jeddah. Taking it to Twitter, PM Modi said, "I strongly condemn the recent terrorist attacks in France, including today's heinous attack in Nice inside a church.

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This article describes an Islamic terrorist attack that took place in France. This article is cultural. It uses emotional appeals to show the pain suffered by the people of France right now as well the fear these stabbings have caused.

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President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday's stabbings were an "Islamist terrorist attack". Security is being stepped up throughout France.

The 21-year-old Tunisian suspect arrived in the city the night before the attack, his brother told the BBC.

Meanwhile, France's interior minister said more militant attacks were likely.

"We need to understand that there have been and there will be other events such as these terrible attacks," said Gerald Darmanin. "We're at war against an ideology, Islamist ideology."

Security has been increased at places of worship and schools across France following two similar attacks within two weeks. Earlier this month a teacher was beheaded in a Paris suburb after showing controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to some of his pupils.

Mr Macron's subsequent defence of the right to publish the cartoons has stoked anger in several Muslim-majority countries.

Following the latest attack, police shot and wounded the suspected knifeman, who had only recently arrived in Europe. He is said to be in a critical condition in hospital.

President Emmanuel Macron has ordered that the number of soldiers being deployed to protect public places - such as churches and schools - rises from 3,000 to 7,000.

Meanwhile, police investigating the attack have made a second arrest.

The two women and a man were attacked inside the basilica in the morning before the first Mass of the day.

Two died inside the church. One of them, a 60-year-old woman who has not been named, was "virtually beheaded" close to the font, according to the French chief anti-terrorism prosecutor.

French media have named one victim as 55-year-old Vincent Loquès, a devout Catholic who had reportedly worked at the basilica for more than 10 years.

Mr Loquès, a father of two loved by many of the church's regulars, was opening the building when the attacker slit his throat, police say.

The third victim was named by the Brazilian foreign ministry as Simone Barreto Silva, a 44-year-old mother of three born in Salvador on Brazil's north-eastern coast. She had lived in France for 30 years.

She fled to a nearby cafe with multiple stab wounds but died shortly afterwards. "Tell my children that I love them," she told those who tried to help her, according to French media.

On Friday morning, priest Philippe Asso stood on the church steps with other mourners before walking in with a wreath to the victims.

Others gathered outside the church to pay their respects.

Nice resident Frederic Lefèvre, 50, said he knew Mr Loquès.

"This is a tragedy once again," he said. "We're a free country, we have demonstrated freedom to all countries of the world. Today, this freedom is closing in on us. Life needs to be lived for everyone."

Marc Mercier, 71, called the killings a "catastrophe".

"It's appalling. It's been years that we've been saying that fear should shift to the other side [attackers] but it is still the same."

Peace seems far from reach

Outside the doors of Notre-Dame, the bright light of a Nice morning rose on small collections of flowers and candles left by local residents last night. The message on one bouquet reads: "Nice is still standing. Rest in peace."

For the living, though, peace seems far from reach. We met the treasurer of Notre-Dame, Jean-Francois Gourdon, outside the church. He knew Vincent Loquès well. He told me how he'd left Vincent in the church on Thursday morning, just before the attack, and returned to find him dead - a large wound to his throat. Telling his wife was awful, he said. She'd been planning celebrations for his birthday this week.

This is the third terrorist attack France has suffered in just over a month. After a knife attack on staff at a television company in Paris, and the beheading of a history teacher in a nearby suburb, there are now three more victims.

President Macron has said the country "will never give in" to "Islamist terrorist attacks". But this is just one crisis among others. France has seen a sharp surge in coronavirus infections this month and - despite real fears for the economy - is re-entering national lockdown from today.

For the next month at least, the rhythms of life will be disrupted - and in Nice, the mourning will take place behind closed doors.

Police sources named the man as Brahim Aouissaoui. Prosecutors said he had arrived by boat on the Italian island of Lampedusa as a migrant last month and after quarantining had been ordered to travel on.

He arrived in Nice by train and had no papers except for a Red Cross document from Italy, investigators said. A Tunisian official said he had not been listed as a suspected militant.

Speaking to the BBC at the family home near the Tunisian port city of Sfax, Brahim Aouissaoui's older brother, Yasine, said the pair had spoken on Wednesday night.

"He was sleeping the night before [the attack] on the stairs of some building in the area where he had been shot," he said. "He told me that in the morning he would try to find someone he knew to help him."

Yasine also described his brother as "a friendly person" who "never showed extremism". The suspect's mother, Gamra, said: "May God show the truth."

Witnesses said the attacker repeatedly shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) before being shot by police.

A Koran, two telephones and a 30cm (12-inch) knife were found on him, said French chief anti-terrorist prosecutor Jean-François Ricard.

"We also found a bag left by the attacker. Next to this bag were two knives that were not used in the attack," he added.

Two men have now been arrested by police investigating the attacks.

The first, a 47-year-old man believed to have been in contact with the suspect, was detained by police late on Thursday, French media reported.

The second, aged 35, was arrested on Friday evening. He had also had contact with Aouissaoui, police sources told AFP.

France has raised its national security alert to the highest level.

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Nice attack: Grief and anger in France after church stabbings

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President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday's stabbings were an "Islamist terrorist attack". Security is being stepped up throughout France. The 21-year-old Tunisian suspect arrived in the city the night before the attack, his brother told the BBC. Meanwhile, France's interior minister said more militant attacks were likely.

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I couldn't pick an article but I feel like society constructs the news to fit what they want it to be for them. Whether that be sattire, clickbait, problem solving, dishonest, honest, anti gov't, pro-whatever-they-want-to-be, etc. People produce news that benefits their community and people read news that relates to them.

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Millennials, Gen Z increasingly comfortable with socialism, Marxism, activists say

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Millennials, Gen Z increasingly comfortable with socialism, Marxism, activists say

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Millennials and Gen Z are becoming very comfortable with socialism.This can be seen as a cultural. seeing this VOC polls and other national polls shows to a failure of American educational institutions

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Millennials and Gen Z-ers are becoming increasingly comfortable with socialism, according to the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC), which conducts an annual poll assessing Americans' attitudes toward socialism.

VOC Executive Director Marion Smith attributes this trend shown in VOC's poll, as well as in other national polls, to a failure of American educational institutions, definitional misunderstandings and a double standard in media and on social media.

"We are seeing the high watermark, politically, of socialism [and] Marxism in the United States," Smith told Fox News. "Never before in history has the United States seen positive opinions of these ideologies to the extent that we're seeing today. That's just a fact."

Support for progressive, self-identified democratic-socialist politicians including former 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has increased among young voters.

The national Black Lives Matter group, part of a political and social movement against racism and police violence that many American citizens and corporations have endorsed, was co-founded by Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza, who have called themselves "trained Marxists," and Opal Tometi, who observed Venezuela's 2015 election at the invitation of the socialist government.

Tometi was swarmed by government critics during the election on Twitter after posting about the relief she felt being "in a place where there is intelligent political discourse."
CAL THOMAS: SCHOOLS DON'T TEACH STUDENTS ABOUT FAILURES OF SOCIALISM - NEW GROUP TAKES ON TASK
BLM's website previously stated in the "What We Believe" section of its website that the group disrupts "the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and 'villages'..."

The group did not respond to a request for comment.

"We live in a world where, over the last few years, Venezuela has turned from a market economy and a very prosperous country into a humanitarian disaster through, in their words ... democratic socialism, supported by the Cuban Communist Party and supported by loans from the People's Republic of China. That's the world we live in," Smith said.

He continued: "For many years, when self-described socialists or democratic socialists in the United States have been asked, 'What kind of society do you think is headed in the right direction?' -- until it became untenable to say 'Venezuela,' they fully embraced the [Hugo] Chavez and Maduro direction of Venezuela."
'THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO': MARXISM RISES IN THE WEST
More young Americans are unaware that some 100 million people have been killed by communist parties in power over the last century, and many are unaware that the Chinese Communist Party is responsible for more deaths than Nazi Germany, according to the VOC.

There has also been a decrease in the number of young Americans who believe Friedrich Engels' and Karl Marx's "The Communist Manifesto" secures liberty better than the Declaration of Independence, the VOC found.
WHAT IS MILLENNIAL SOCIALISM?
"We've definitely had a double standard, both in scholarship and education, and popular culture -- journalism -- between the crimes of Nazism and the crimes of communist regimes," Smith said. "You combine that lack of a moral reckoning about the legacy of communism with a failure of education to teach basic 20th-century history, and you add on ... a normalization of the term 'socialism' -- of Marxist rhetoric -- and that leads to a dangerous normalization of socialism as a path forward."

As historian Lee Edwards, Ph.D., notes, "What most millennials mean by 'socialism' seems to be a mix of our welfare state and what they perceive to be Swedish democratic socialism. But Sweden and the other Scandinavian countries including Denmark favor the free market and are content with private rather than government ownership of their major industries."

Americans can blame the normalization of socialist rhetoric not only on definitional misunderstandings and the failures of educational institutions and media to give proportional attention to history and today's current events, but on social media, as well. Smith says there is a double standard on social media to suppress fascist rhetoric and promote socialist and Marxist rhetoric.

"The best policy is to embrace free speech. The worst policy is to ban certain things and elevate Marxist rhetoric and allow for the denial of the victims of communism, and that is the policy that Facebook and other social media platforms have embraced as of today," he said.
THE WORLD'S REMAINING COMMUNIST PARTIES COUNTRIES AND HOW THEY'RE FAIRING ECONOMICALLY
Support for a transition away from a capitalist economic system has also increased, in part because of a misunderstanding of the word and the differences between big business and free enterprise, Smith said.

"There certainly is a difference between big business and economic freedom, and I think that a lot of younger people especially view the excesses of mega-corporations as somehow being related to free enterprise," he said. "A more realistic assessment is that corporate boardrooms and the Chinese Communist Party have basically been collaborating to take manufacturing out of the U.S. and rely on coercive labor in China, and ... that hurts the little guy in China and the American worker."

He added that if Americans understood the correlation between free enterprise and the "exercise of liberty in the economic realm, we would understand that we have a joint cause."

There was a positive takeaway from the poll, however, that also appears to be an oxymoron: While there is an increasingly positive attitude toward socialism and an increasingly negative attitude toward capitalism among younger generations, there is also distrust in government to take care of individual interests.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"I think there's also a hopeful set of findings in our poll, which is that when asked basic questions about who do you trust most to look after your own interests, the government, the community of yourself? ... Overwhelmingly, but also the majority of Millennials and Gen-Zers, would trust themselves by far, secondly then their community, and last and by far, the government," Smith said.

He added later that it remains to be seen whether Millenials and Gen Z-ers "will moderate their opinions" of if the positive trend toward socialism will continue as "older generations -- who are much more pro-American, anti-communist, anti-fascist, appreciative of democracy, free speech, free enterprise" die off.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Millennials, Gen Z increasingly comfortable with socialism, Marxism, activists say

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Millennials and Gen Z-ers are becoming increasingly comfortable with socialism, according to the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC), which conducts an annual poll assessing Americans' attitudes toward socialism. VOC Executive Director Marion Smith attributes this trend shown in VOC's poll, as well as in other national polls, to a failure of American educational institutions, definitional misunderstandings and a double standard in media and on social media.

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Nationwide Pet Scams                A Newfoundland and Labrador woman was handed down a federal sentence for her role in a rash of pet scams that affected victims across Canada.Brittany Cora Lynn Osborne, 26, appeared in Harbour Grace provincial court on Thursday by video link from the Clarenville prison.She pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including fraud and identity fraud, for posing as two different dog breeders from Quebec and Ontario, in a series of elaborate schemes.Osborne  was sentenced to 33 months in prison, minus time served. There are 802 days (more than two years) remaining in her sentence.She was arrested on June 26, the day after after CBC Investigates reported on claims from multiple people from across the country who said they paid hundreds of dollars in e-transfers for puppies they never received.

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Nationwide Pet Scams                A Newfoundland and Labrador woman was handed down a federal sentence for her role in a rash of pet scams that affected victims across Canada.Brittany Cora Lynn Osborne, 26, appeared in Harbour Grace provincial court on Thursday by video link from the Clarenville prison.She pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including fraud and identity fraud, for posing as two different dog breeders from Quebec and Ontario, in a series of elaborate schemes.Osborne  was sentenced to 33 months in prison, minus time served. There are 802 days (more than two years) remaining in her sentence.She was arrested on June 26, the day after after CBC Investigates reported on claims from multiple people from across the country who said they paid hundreds of dollars in e-transfers for puppies they never received.

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This story made news I think not just because of the loss to victims of the scam but because of the subject - puppies!

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This is an article about the Black Lives Matter movement. BLM movement has influenced American culture greatly. It has brought people together to talk about racial issues and inequality. There have been many protests to support the movement and Black lives. This is one organization that impacts our culture in a big way.

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📹organizations, or culture construct  affect the point of view (how the story is been told) it mostly become Subjective point of view that capable turn even a murder to a saint  or the  contrary

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📹organizations, or culture construct  affect the point of view (how the story is been told) it mostly become Subjective point of view that capable turn even a murder to a saint  or the  contrary

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This article reflect the law(police)that suppose to protect the citizen in other light  .it become a conflict of the idea of police as organization
that protect and the one that actually serve as the police force with their own objectives and ideas

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Police have arrested the woman they say was seen on camera chucking a bottle at a 37-year-old jogger, yelling a racial slur and telling her to "Go back to Africa" during a confrontation in Queens last month.

Lorena Delaguna was arrested inside her Woodside home Monday morning, according to police. The 53-year-old was charged with second degree assault and attempted aggravated harassment - both as a hate crime.

The NYPD released surveillance video last week in the Aug. 17 attack near 53rd Place and Broadway. It shows a woman walking along a sidewalk around noon, as a Black woman jogs into the frame from the other corner. The other woman appears to yell something at the Black jogger and then throw a glass bottle.

The jogger, Tiffany Johnson, appeared startled for a moment but then continued her run. She wasn't hurt, police said, but Johnson said the woman yelled racial slurs at her.

"I don't like to have that type of energy around me, so I was like OK, I just need to get away from her, and to me walking away was the easiest way of doing that," Johnson told NBC New York, adding that she was concerned for her safety.

However, the video doesn't capture what Johnson said happened next.

"She did follow me, kept pursuing me. People saw it, people were getting upset, somebody even threw a bagel in her direction," Johnson said. "It was scary, I didn't want to see anyone get hurt, I just left."

Prosecutors confirmed Tuesday that the suspect followed Johnson for at least a block while yelling at her and threatening her.

The avid runner said she jogs several times a week, and this incident took place during what was supposed to be a relaxing 5 kilometer run for Johnson.

"At the time, I just wanted to move on with my life and forget it ever happened," Johnson said. "I was glad it got caught (on video) and I could take it to the police."

Neighbors in the area said that they recognized the woman in the video, later identified as Delaguna. Johnson said she has a message for Delaguna if she ever encounters her.

"I would definitely say to her, 'I'm not the n-word. Nobody is the n-word. She needs to do some soul searching as to why she needs somebody to be that because that's not what I am, that's not who we are," Johnson said.

The name of Delaguna's attorney wasn't immediately clear. She faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

"In addition to allegedly yelling the N-word, the defendant in this case is also accused of throwing a bottle in an attempt to strike the victim," Queens District Attorney said in a statement Tuesday. "Crimes like this, which are fueled by hate, are in a special category for a reason. No one should have to endure being called a vile slur or being attacked simply because of the color of their skin, their religion, or who they love."

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'Go Back to Africa:' Woman Faces Up to 7 Years in Bottle Attack on Black NYC Jogger

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Police have arrested the woman they say was seen on camera chucking a bottle at a 37-year-old jogger, yelling a racial slur and telling her to "Go back to Africa" during a confrontation in Queens last month. Lorena Delaguna was arrested inside her Woodside home Monday morning, according to police.

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Mark Zuckerberg on Impacts of Social Media

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Mark Zuckerberg on Impacts of Social Media

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Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, stated that "it would be a mistake to overly emphasize the negative impacts of social media and the internet." I believe this article uses people to construct the news because Zuckerberg isn't going to bash his own company and say that it's bad and people shouldn't use Facebook. This might affect how much people truly know about the negative impacts that come along with using social media.

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Even as Facebook is facing a wave of criticism over issues of manipulation, misinformation, abuse and other social ills, Zuckerberg said on Monday it would be a mistake "to overly emphasize the negative" impacts of social media and the internet.

The Facebook co-founder and chief executive said he sees profound social changes "as networks of people connected via the internet replace traditional hierarchies and reshape institutions from government to business to media."

In a post on his Facebook page, he argued that "while any rapid social change creates uncertainty, I believe what we're seeing is people having more power, and a long term trend reshaping society to be more open and accountable over time."

He said Facebook and other social networks have fundamentally changed how people interact with their communities and institutions.

"I'll never forget how right after we launched News Feed, we saw millions of people organise marches against violence in Colombia. We saw communities come together to do viral fundraiser," he wrote.

Zuckerberg added: "If the last 15 years were about people building these new networks and starting to see their impact, then the next 15 years will be about people using their power to remake society in ways that have the potential to be profoundly positive for decades to come."

Facebook has seen unprecedented success by amassing more than 2.3 billion people worldwide who actively use the social network to share updates, obtain information and connect with new people.

Despite the wave of scandals, Facebook took in a record USD 22 billion profit for 2018 as revenues surged to USD 55 billion.

Zuckerberg has acknowledged that Facebook needs to do more to restore trust, and ferret out misinformation and abuse, and on Monday repeated his pledge to spend more "on safety and security."

His comments come 15 years after he and classmates at Harvard University founded what was known as "the facebook" and began a mission described by Zuckerberg as connecting the world.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
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Mark Zuckerberg sees 'positive' force of Facebook despite firestorm

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Even as Facebook is facing a wave of criticism over issues of manipulation, misinformation, abuse and other social ills, Zuckerberg said on Monday it would be a mistake "to overly emphasize the negative" impacts of social media and the internet.

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Today three people were stabbed at a church in France. This can be seen as a cultural. Using emotional appeal on the church members who lost their lives. One of the ladies were beheaded. This provokes fear to the fellow citizens in Nice, France.

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nice knife attack: french police responding to "terrorist" attack

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Multiple casualties in Nice 'terrorist attack,' local mayor says

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At least two people have been killed in the French coastal city of Nice during a knife attack the local mayor has described as a "terrorist" incident.

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This article is about the effects of isolation on our social skills and our view of ourselves. This is only considered news because so many people have had to isolate and are no longer as social as they once were. This article probably would not have been published or considered news this time last year.

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Neil Ansell became a hermit entirely by accident.

Back in the 1980s, he was living in a squat in London with 20 other people. Then someone made him an offer he couldn't refuse: a cottage in the Welsh mountains, with rent of just £100 ($130) per year. This was a place so wild, the night sky was a continuous carpet of stars - and the neighbours were a pair of ravens, who had lived in the same cedar tree for 20 years.

The catch was that the scenic views came with extreme isolation - by standards achievable in the UK, anyway. He lived on a hill farm inhabited by a single elderly tenant, miles from the nearest village. He didn't have a phone, and in the five years he lived there, not a single person walked by the house.

"I became so used to being on my own that I recall going to the village shop one day and my voice cracking, as I asked for something at the counter," he says. "I realised I hadn't spoken in two weeks, not a single word. And that became quite normal for me."

By the time he returned to civilisation, Ansell had fully adapted to being on his own - and the social world was a bit of a shock. "What I found difficult was the amount of talking. I'm not an antisocial person, but I did struggle with that."

Another thing Ansell noticed was that his identity had gradually started to slip away. "When you're alone, you start to lose your sense of who you are, because you don't have an image of yourself reflected in the way that other people react to you. So I think to some extent, when I returned I had to rediscover who I could be in a social setting," he says.

Fast-forward to 2020 and Ansell's experiences might resonate more widely than they once would have. With lockdowns, shielding and self-isolating, many of us have spent much more time in our own company. How does long-term isolation affect the brain? Do we need social practice? And will we even remember how to socialise when things return to normal?
You may also like:
Human beings are deeply social creatures. This is abundantly obvious from the way we live, but a key line of evidence is hidden inside our skulls.

It turns out there's a link between the size of a primate's brain, and size of the communities it is able to form: the bigger the brain, the greater the extent of its social world. With our generously proportioned organs, humans form the largest groups of any primate, containing an average of 150 individuals. This is "Dunbar's number" and it turns out that it crops up rather a lot, from the optimal upper limit for a church congregation to the average size of social networks on Twitter. ( Read more about how Dunbar's number shapes our social interactions)

One explanation is that socialising is a mental workout. To successfully navigate an interaction with another human being, you need to keep in mind a surprisingly large amount of information - in addition to basic details like where they live and work, it's helpful to recall the more nuanced features of their existence, such as their friends, rivalries, past indiscretions, social standing, and what motivates them. Many faux pas are down to slip-ups with these basic assumptions, like asking a recently-fired friend about their job, or complaining about children to a soon-to-be-parent.

In the end, the number of relationships we can maintain is limited by the amount of processing power we have available - and over millions of years, species with more social contacts tend to evolve larger their brains. It turns out this link works the other way around, too. In the short term, a lack of socialising can make them shrink.

Last year, German scientists discovered that the brains of nine polar explorers, who lived in Antarctica for 14 months at a research station, were smaller by the end of the trip. By looking at MRI scans taken before and afterwards, they found that on average, the "dentate gyrus" - a C-shaped region which is mostly involved in the formation of new memories - was diminished by about 7% over the course of the expedition.

Along with the reductions in brain volume, the explorers also performed worse on two tests of intelligence - one for spatial processing, which is the ability to tell where objects are in space, and one for selective attention, which is broadly how well you can focus on a particular object for a period of time.

The scientists speculated that the prolonged social isolation could be to blame, as well as the general monotony of life when you're confined to a metal box all winter. In this study, they didn't look at the expeditioners' social skills before, during and after their isolation, but other research has found that those overwintering in Antarctica experienced a spike in social dysfunction during midwinter, despite the fact that they were rigorously screened beforehand for their ability to cope.
Loneliness vs solitude
The question of whether social distancing could be affecting our social skills is more tricky to answer, but there are some clues.

First up, psychologists aren't actually concerned with exactly how many people you have access to. Instead, most research focuses on how you view your situation. "Solitude" involves being alone without being lonely - it's a contented state, similar to the one Ansell achieved in the Welsh wilderness. "Loneliness" is a very different beast, in which a person feels isolated and craves more social contact. ( Read more about the difference between loneliness versus solitude).

Research has shown that even when lonely people do have the opportunity to socialise, the feeling warps their perception of what's going on. Ironically, this means that while it increases their yearning for social contact, it also impairs their ability to interact with others normally.

For example, people who feel isolated tend to have a heightened awareness of social threats - such as saying the wrong thing. They can easily fall into the trap of "confirmation bias", in which they actively interpret the actions or words of others in a way that supports their negative outlook of their own status or social ability. By having low expectations of others and viewing themselves unfairly, they effectively invite people to treat them badly.

Lonely people must also run the gauntlet of an impaired ability to regulate their own thoughts, feelings and behaviour. This skill is critical to the ability to comply with social norms, and involves constantly analysing and modifying your behaviour in relation to other people's expectations. Alarmingly, this process is usually automatic - and your capacity for self-regulation can be affected without you even noticing.

In this way, isolation can become a self-fulfilling prophecy known as " the loneliness loop ". It can lead to a toxic combination of low self-esteem, hostility, stress, pessimism and social anxiety - ultimately culminating in the isolated person distancing themselves from others even further. In a worst case scenario, loneliness can make people depressed, and a common symptom of depression is social withdrawal - again, not helpful.

Intriguingly, even rats that live on their own also make less appealing social companions for other rats, to the extent that - rather tragically - they're actively avoided by rats with more contacts. This suggests that there's something "off" about them, and that shared social experiences are important for bonding in other animals too.

For decades, solitude by choice was seen as more benign. Its benefits have been extolled for far longer by philosophers, religious leaders, indigenous peoples and artists. But there's mounting evidence that withdrawing from society might have some unintended consequences, even if it's done on purpose.

Teenagers with a preference for spending time alone tend to be less socially competent, and research has shown that, while some people might think that they prefer solitude, in reality, they enjoy connecting with others, even total strangers. These negative expectations are problematic, because they keep people from learning what actually happens when you interact with people.

So it seems that we do need social practice - but not for the reasons you might think. Regularly interacting with others teaches us to feel valued and helps us to accurately interpret the intentions of others, which helps us to have more positive social experiences.

According to Ty Tashiro, a psychologist and the author of Awkward: The Science of Why We're Socially Awkward and Why That's Awesome, it seems plausible that we are becoming collectively more awkward at the moment. But he's keen to stress that for most people, any resulting slip-ups are likely to be extremely minor.

"These tiny deviations from what's socially expected in these situations can create a tremendous amount of embarrassment - and that just shows you how fine-tuned the human mind is to pick up on social expectations, and then assess whether we're meeting them," says Tashiro.
Socially awkward children
As for those who are still developing their skills, the more exposure you have, the better you'll get.

"Kids and teenagers do need to have face-to-face interactions," says Tashiro. "Because they have to learn about the abundance of social cues and expectations that happen when you're in a real-life situation." He explains that this is even more important for people who are naturally predisposed to be awkward, including himself.

"When I was in middle school, going into high school, I felt kind of bad about my social skills. And one of the realisations I had was that we're just a little slower to pick up these things. I wasn't very intuitive, but that was okay." To compensate, Tashiro made more of a conscious effort to be socially aware, and spent time practising.

This is backed up by an abundance of research, including studies into the effects of extreme isolation in other animals, which suggests that social experience is particularly important when the brain is still developing.

When rats are raised alone, their brains develop to be smaller and their behaviour is so altered that they're often used as an animal model for schizophrenia, in which one of the key symptoms is impaired social functioning. Meanwhile ants which are isolated from birth have smaller brains and behave differently to their peers, while social fish are less cooperative when they are reared in isolation.

When scientists compared the behaviour of ex-laboratory chimpanzees who had been deprived of social contact either early or late in life, they found that those who had been alone from a younger age were less tolerant of invasions of their personal space, less likely to groom other members of the group (an important method of bonding), had less social initiative, and tended to form smaller networks of contacts.

In human children, studies have found a direct link between the amount of social practice they get and their social skills. In one group of Portuguese pre-schoolers, those who increased their social engagement experienced a corresponding boost to their social abilities, while participating in afterschool activities has been repeatedly shown to help - even sport. Meanwhile, children who have more siblings tend to be more adept at navigating the social world, and as with adults, children who spend more time alone are more susceptible to interpreting social situations in self-defeating ways.

And where better for children to find companions to practise on than at school. Even before the pandemic, a surprisingly large number of children around the world were not educated this way; as of 2012, there were 1.8 million home-schooled children in the US. But now some experts have predicted that we're on the cusp of a revolution, with remote learning poised to replace more and more face-to-face interactions with teachers.

There has been concern about the risks of a home-based education for years, and it's been banned in Germany since 1919, on the grounds that school provides a training ground for social tolerance. However, this view is controversial - and while there's some evidence that home-schooled children are less socially competent, as adults they tend to be more civically engaged than those who were not.

But while there are well-documented drawbacks to social isolation, the good news is that it's not all bad.
Positive solitude
For one thing, Tashiro thinks it's important to embrace a bit of social awkwardness - anecdotally, he's heard from the partners of people who are shy or socially anxious that they make excellent companions, because they have to think more carefully about why someone might be feeling a certain way, or the best way to respond in different situations. "That thoughtfulness actually becomes really endearing," he says.

Ansell, on the hand, is keen to stress how positive he found his experiences with solitude, and the importance of adopting the right attitude. "I think that people struggle, very often, because they don't do it for long enough," he says. He saw the opportunity to live alone in the Welsh mountains as a challenge, to see how self-sufficient he could be.

The test wasn't just about being alone. Ansell had no running water, no electricity, no vehicle, no phone, and he grew most of his own food or foraged for it. "But what soon happened was that it no longer felt like a challenge," he says. "It just felt like me living my life, it began to feel like my normal state of being."

Crucially, Ansell had no idea how long his solitude would last. "I think when people go off on retreats and things like that, they've always got their eye on the end - the time that they'll be going back to 'normal'," he says. "But because what I was doing was unplanned, and I had no fixed ending to what I was doing. I just immersed myself in it as fully as I could."

Even today, having written three books - the most recent, The Circling Sky: On Nature and Belonging in an Ancient Forest is out in 2021 - Ansell says he continues to benefit from his five years of solitude. In the end, he knows that if everything goes wrong and he ends up alone, in a crumbling cottage in the middle of nowhere - well, things could be worse.

--
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How solitude and isolation can affect your social skills

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Neil Ansell became a hermit entirely by accident. Back in the 1980s, he was living in a squat in London with 20 other people. Then someone made him an offer he couldn't refuse: a cottage in the Welsh mountains, with rent of just £100 ($130) per year.

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This article, along with hundreds of thousand news articles are covering BLM protests. They are doing this because people are demanding for this subject to be talked about. So the news is giving the people what they want.

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group of maine students protest after the district told teachers and staff not to display support for 'black lives matter' - cnn

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Group of Maine students protest after the district told teachers and staff not to display support for 'Black Lives Matter'

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A superintendent in Maine apologized Tuesday after receiving backlash from students for a memo telling staff to not display any "controversial" phrases including "Black Lives Matter" ahead of the election.

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Philadelphia police discover van loaded with explosives amid unrest over fatal shooting of Black man 

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Philadelphia police discover van loaded with explosives amid unrest over fatal shooting of Black man 

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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/10/29/walter-wallace-protests-philadelphia-police-find-van-explosives/6067175002/

The headline is probably telling the truth, i.e. that there was a van loaded with explosives found among Philadelphia's unrest over the death of mentally-ill Walter Wallace. But, the headline doesn't tell us if the van is connected to the protests. Reading further into the story (reported Thursday, 10-29, I'm behind on my homework!) they say it's not clear if anyone has been arrested, as the Police Department did not respond immediately.
I note one of the authors has a first name that may identify her as an African American woman, which is good. The story seems factual. But that headline could attract the wrong kind of attention.

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People Are Still Having Sex. So Why Are S.T.D. Rates Dropping?

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People Are Still Having Sex. So Why Are S.T.D. Rates Dropping?

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Using title such as "People are still having sex". It's an emotional appeals. This article is about how the agency recommended that priorities for screening and testing should go to patients with symptoms, women who are under 25 or pregnant, and people at high risk for S.T.D.s, including those with H.I.V. Patients with chlamydia or gonorrhea are often asymptomatic; only testing detects infection. In St. Louis area, only about 11 of 128 testing sites remained fully open this spring and summer, and in one health care system, testing dropped by 45 percent. This is an example of how they use emotional appeal to attract people.

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Public health officials believe many cases are going undetected as clinics close during the pandemic and testing supplies are diverted to coronavirus screening.

The number of reported cases of S.T.D.s has dropped but that may not mean fewer people are having unprotected sex during the pandemic. Credit... Karsten Moran for The New York Times

For the first time in years, rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, which had been on track in 2020 to hit record highs in the United States, have taken an abrupt downturn.

This should be good news. The coronavirus pandemic has certainly kept more people away from bars, night clubs and large parties, reducing opportunities for unsafe sex, studies show.

But the drop is more likely a harbinger of bad news, experts in reproductive and sexual health believe. They say the pandemic has seriously hindered efforts to mitigate sexually transmitted infections that can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility and even blindness and death in newborns. Rather than showing sexually transmitted diseases are on the run, the upbeat numbers likely signal instead that they are now going largely undetected.

In communities across the country, contact tracers for gonorrhea and syphilis, which had already been severely understaffed, have been diverted to Covid-19 cases. Eighty percent of sexual health screening clinics reported having to reduce hours or shut down altogether sometime during the pandemic, according to a survey by the National Coalition of STD Directors. In New York City only one of eight facilities was open this spring; now just three are open, which are steadily busy, because they are more of a safety net service than ever, said Dr. Julia A. Schillinger, an assistant commissioner at the New York City health department.

Doctors also believe that many patients who might otherwise seek treatment for S.T.D. symptoms have been avoiding the clinics for fear of being exposed to Covid-19.

And in some regions, essential supplies to test for S.T.D.s are running low because manufacturers of swabs, tubes and reagents are redirecting their products for use in coronavirus tests. As a result, there is a growing shortage of tests for the diseases.

"Our most effective tool for control is timely diagnosis and treatment," said Dr. Gail Bolan, director of the Division of S.T.D. Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 'We're very concerned that we'll have continued, unchecked and sustained increases now if people can't access screening now."

In short, desperate efforts to contain one pandemic could well inflame the spread of another. The C.D.C.'s preliminary 2019 figures, the sixth consecutive record year, indicate 1.76 million cases of chlamydia and 602,000 of gonorrhea. Cases of newborn syphilis alone increased 22 percent from 2018.

Alarmed, officials at the C.D.C. issued alerts throughout the summer to clinicians nationwide. In its latest letter last month, the agency recommended that priorities for screening and testing should go to patients with symptoms, women who are under 25 or pregnant, and people at high risk for S.T.D.s, including those with H.I.V.

Patients with chlamydia or gonorrhea are often asymptomatic; only testing, then, detects infection. But until the pandemic-related restrictions can be relaxed, the letter advised: "Routine screening visits should be deferred."

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Most women with gonorrhea show no symptoms. But with routine screening cut back during the pandemic, many cases are not being detected. Credit... Frederic J. Brown/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

In the greater St. Louis area, only about 11 of 128 testing sites remained fully open this spring and summer, and in one health care system, testing dropped by 45 percent. Although many sites have begun to reopen, during one recent week, the St. Louis County Sexual Health Clinic had no urine test kits for gonorrhea and chlamydia, according to Dr. Hilary Reno, its medical director. Area hospitals had been on the hunt as well.

One reason that public health officials believe that the drop reflects test shortages and limited clinic access rather than less sexual activity is that the rates of decrease are more pronounced in gonorrhea and chlamydia, for which the test supplies have been affected, rather than in syphilis and H.I.V., which are detected through blood tests.

Dr. Bolan is also troubled by the breakdown in reporting of cases. "It's not just data for the purpose of collecting it," she said. "Surveillance is the backbone of public health. It's how we allocate our resources. Without timely and accurate data, we feel like we have blindfolds on, while trying to figure out where our hot spots are."

Doctors and nurses who work in clinics that serve mostly poor and minority patients say that the burden of the extreme service cutbacks and lack of testing falls most heavily on them. Those who work with teenagers said that many clinics that distribute free condoms have closed.

Dr. Joy Friedman directs adolescent medical services at the Einstein Medical Center, in a low-income neighborhood in Philadelphia. Teenagers tell her how difficult it is to discuss condom use with partners. Regular testing is the one way they have to protect themselves. And now, she said, "they need to know that testing won't be available."

Despite considerable efforts to reduce S.T.D.s, reported cases at the beginning of 2020 were higher than those during the same period in 2019, according to the C.D.C. But by early March, as the nation began complying with stay-at-home orders, those levels plummeted. In early April, weekly reports of chlamydia were 53 percent below 2019 numbers, with both gonorrhea and syphilis down 33 percent. Gonorrheahad been expected to hit an April monthly total of 54,127. But only 26,771 cases were reported.

As of mid-June, chlamydia numbers remained depressed but reporting of gonorrhea and syphilis had returned to expected rates. Given the limitations on testing and clinic closures, however, cases may well be higher.

"If sexual behavior rebounds while service interruption persists, we project an excess of hundreds of H.I.V. cases and thousands of S.T.I. cases," researchers from Emory, Harvard and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill wrote in a preprint study of the sexual practices Atlanta men who had sex with men during the pandemic.

Social scientists are exploring how the coronavirus outbreaks have affected sexual behavior. Justin Lehmiller, a social psychologist at the Kinsey Institute, which has been issuing surveys during the pandemic to about 2,000 people, gay, straight and bisexual, said that even those in continuing relationships reported having less sex in the first months. "Higher levels of stress and anxiety are pushing down desire," he said. "Singles have more challenges to hooking up."

But when doctors and nurse practitioners who work with teenagers were asked if the pandemic had slowed down their patients' sexual activity, they replied that, anecdotally speaking, not at all. Dr. Bolan said that one New York pediatrician reported that she'd treated many teenagers for S.T.D.s.

Blood being drawn at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Miami. Because syphilis is detected by blood tests, which are not affected by the pandemic, its rates remain high. Credit... Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Even if sex has declined, researchers question how long it can remain suppressed. Dr. Lehmiller noted that online dating apps report record business. Whether that translates into sexual activity rather than virtual meet-ups is unclear, he said. If people are returning to normal levels of encounters, they may not want to admit it.

"There is shaming about traveling, social events and gatherings during the pandemic, so sex and dating is seen as part of that," he said.

For now, triage at clinics is pervasive. Pre-pandemic, the San Francisco City Clinic would typically send more than a hundred specimens to be processed daily at the health department laboratory. Because those supplies have dwindled, the clinic is resorting to a smaller, more expensive backup system, that can only process several dozen gonorrhea and chlamydia tests a day, said Dr. Ina Park, an associate professor of community and family medicine at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.

Men who take PrEP to prevent H.I.V. transmission should be screened for S.T.D.s every three months, but many clinics have spaced out those screenings to every six months, she said.

A Michigan colleague who had run out of urine testing kits for chlamydia and gonorrhea, she said, was returning to techniques that had been replaced almost 20 years ago: "using older swabs that have to be placed a few centimeters inside the urethra of the penis and twirled around to obtain a specimen. It's highly unpleasant for the patient and doesn't encourage them to return for testing," Dr. Park said.

"I'm concerned that this will worsen mistrust in the medical establishment, which is already an issue with some of the patients we serve," added Dr. Park, the author of "Strange Bedfellows," a book out in February on the history and science of sexually transmitted diseases.

David C. Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, said clinics are trying to come up with creative solutions, such as telemedicine visits. In a few districts where the biggest challenge is reduced clinic access, administrators are trying out test kits that allow patients to collect specimens at home, which they then mail to labs. And some clinics are working with pharmacies that can draw blood and have standing orders for some medications. Public health officials see these innovations as a silver lining that may continue after the pandemic abates.

But for Dr. Friedman in Philadelphia, the current situation presents a social justice issue as well as a medical one. Her young, predominantly African-American and Latino patients, she said, have high rates of STDs because many do not have ready access to health care, and there is pervasive fear and distrust of medical institutions, which the inability to test for S.T.D.s is only exacerbating.

"No one says we should curtail testing for Covid-19," Dr. Friedman said. "I don't understand why it has to be one or the other."

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People Are Still Having Sex. So Why Are S.T.D. Rates Dropping?

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Public health officials believe many cases are going undetected as clinics close during the pandemic and testing supplies are diverted to coronavirus screening. For the first time in years, rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, which had been on track in 2020 to hit record highs in the United States, have taken an abrupt downturn.

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Girl Scouts deletes tweet congratulating ACB but leaves Hillary Clinton post

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Girl Scouts deletes tweet congratulating ACB but leaves Hillary Clinton post

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Fox reported this story with the phrase "...but leaves Hillary Clinton post" in the headline, inferring that the Girl Scouts are biased against conservative women, or that they are an organization that has political leanings. This decision of theirs to include that phrase in the headline and in the story will presumably grab their conservative audience's attention and re-enforce the bias (?) or notion that conservatives are under attack by liberals, maybe (?). I googled news coverage from other outlets, most of which never mentioned Hillary in either the headline or the story itself. (CNBC, Daily Mail (UK), Yahoo News, etc.) In fact, the other news outlets I skimmed in a google search on the same story, elaborated that the Girl Scout tweet congratulating Amy Conen Barrett was in the context of acknowledging & celebrating ALL the women appointed to the supreme court. BTW, The Hillary Clinton tweet by the Girl Scouts was several years old, and did not cause the uproar the recent ACB post did. Why did Fox choose to dig THAT up & mention it? Oh, what you can insinuate without actually lying. (!) My favorite news source (NPR) has not mentioned this story at all (so far, based on my google and npr site searches as of 10/29/20 at 3:46pm) I suppose NPR does not consider this newsworthy with everything else going on. I tend to agree. It is a tempest in a teapot, in my personal opinion. But a great example of bias and HOW you present a story.

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The Girl Scouts of America deleted a social media post on its official Twitter and Facebook pages Wednesday evening congratulating Amy Coney Barrett on her appointment to the Supreme Court.

The original post, shared by FOX 6 Milwaukee political reporter Jason Calvi, included the caption: "Congratulations Amy Coney Barrett on becoming the 5th woman appointed to the Supreme Court since its inception in 1789" ending with an emoji of hands raised up.

The post featured an image of Barrett; her two Supreme Court colleagues, associate justices Elena Kagen and Sonia Sotomayor; former associate justice Sandra Day O'Connor; and the late associate justice and Barrett's predecessor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
SCOTUS WON'T FAST-TRACK APPEAL OVER BLOCKING EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR PA MAIL-IN BALLOTS
The move quickly faced swift backlash from critics and lawmakers, with Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., tweeting, "What kind of patch does one earn for uplifting a woman who is the antithesis of justice?"

Another Twitter user, a "life-time Girl Scout", said she was "ashamed" of the post.

"I already felt uneasy as a trans person in this organization, but now I really understand that with this message that Girl Scouts really does not support me or my trans/LGBTQ siblings," she added.

In a statement released by the Girl Scouts, the organization said the post was "quickly viewed as a political and partisan statement," which was not its original intent.

"Girl Scouts of the USA is a nonpolitical, nonpartisan organization," the statement added. "We are neither red nor blue, but Girl Scout GREEN. We are here to lift up girls and women."

One of the more than 4,000 replies to the post said she would take her business elsewhere, saying, "I'm going to spend my $100 Girl Scout Cookie budget on ingredients to make my own next year."

Noah Michelson, editorial director of HuffPost Personal, argued in a Facebook post that there was "no requirement that we celebrate someone as a hero to women simply because she identifies as a woman, especially when the thing she did was actually done for her by a gang of disgraceful goons and when she is poised to destroy the lives of so many people."
JOY REID POSTS INCORRECT TWEET KNOCKING MCCONNELL'S SCOUT WINS: 'ALL IT TOOK WAS THREE PEOPLE TO DIE'
Some commenters also offered praise for the post, with one woman on Facebook writing, "Girl Scouts, thank you for celebrating ALL women and showing us there is a place at the table for those with ALL different sorts of values. Practicing what you're preaching, right here. It's very nice to see."

Another woman wrote, "I'm glad to see the organization support all women both liberal and conservative!"

One conservative woman pointed out that she didn't "trash the Girl Scouts when I didn't agree with things that were against my beliefs."

"When other conservatives trashed Girl Scouts for leftist ideas, I defended it," she added. "Now I see it being trashed by the so called tolerant left for uplifting a female to the Supreme Court. That is disappointing. Those of you bashing the organization, please remember there are conservatives that support Girl Scouts too. I was grateful to see the post in support of WOMEN, regardless of who they are."

Even one of Barrett's critics saw no issue.

"As much as I dislike this particular woman and deplore the political hypocrisy that allowed her to be in such respected company, GSUSA is completely right to recognize her," the commenter wrote. "Well done. It could not have been easy."

On Tuesday, Barrett was officially sworn in as the 115th Supreme Court justice after being confirmed by the Senate in a 52-48 vote on Monday, just days before the upcoming presidential election.

Barrett is expected to quickly begin, weighing in on significant cases involving voting rights, health care, immigration, religious freedom and LGBTQ rights, among other issues.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The post congratulating Barrett is not the first time the Girl Scouts has shown support for female figures in the political arena.

The Girl Scouts previously shared a Huffington Post article dating back to December 2013 in which former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed the importance of female political leadership as she was mulling a run in the 2016 election.

A spokesperson for the Girl Scouts did not immediately return FOX News' request for comment on that political tweet, which remained on the organization's Twitter feed.

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Girl Scouts delete social media post congratulating Amy Coney Barrett on Supreme Court appointment

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The Girl Scouts of America deleted a social media post on its official Twitter and Facebook pages Wednesday evening congratulating Amy Coney Barrett on her appointment to the Supreme Court.

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The article is about women who do not support Trump but live with husbands who do. The author of this article probably assumed that this would attract readers because there are many women in this situation, or at least there are many people reading CNN articles who don't support Trump.

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'wives of the deplorables' group is for women married to trump supporters - cnnpolitics

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They call themselves 'Wives of the Deplorables' because their husbands support Trump

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Carole Catherine started "Wives of the Deplorables" after finding out her husband supported President Donald Trump. The Facebook group is made up of wives across the United States who are Democrats, whose spouses are Republicans.

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New audio tapes show how trump bet against science

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New audio tapes show how trump bet against science

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https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/29/politics/donald-trump-election-2020-coronavirus/index.html
In this article, trump is being accused of ignoring scientific information to further his own personal political goals. The author is using traditional norms to set the tone for this article. This may affect what gets left out and what doesn't because your possibly only hearing one side of the story.

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Lebanese artist created an inspring statue in Beirut.

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Lebanese artist created an inspring statue in Beirut.

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In a city devastated and a country in chaos an individual can aside fm politics and religious aside be of inspiration to her environment, city and country.

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Written by Alaa Elassar, CNN

Hayat Nazer doesn't remember a time when Lebanon was at peace. But she has learned to channel her grief and pain into beautiful works of art.

She was on her way to Beirut on August 4 when a massive stockpile of ammonium nitrite exploded at the port, killing 190 people, injuring more than 6,000 and leaving more than 300,000 displaced from their homes.

Lebanon had already been reeling from months of political turmoil, economic collapse and a worsening coronavirus outbreak. The weight of it all had nearly paralyzed the small country.

"The explosion broke my heart. I was just devastated. I was traumatized, but honestly, all of us in Lebanon are traumatized," Nazer, 33, told CNN.

Like many residents, she joined efforts to clean debris and restore the city to its former glory. That's when she got the idea to use some of what she found to create a statue that could inspire her people to unite and rebuild.

"When I'm feeling that way I just try to help, and fix and heal through art, so this is my way of accepting reality and trying to build my people back up," she said.

For weeks, Nazer walked the streets of Beirut, collecting twisted metal, broken glass and people's discarded belongings to use in the sculpture.

"I traveled to people's homes after they were destroyed by the explosion and told them, 'I just want you to give me anything I can include to make you a part of my sculpture,'" Nazer said.

"I was shocked. People gave me such valuable things -- things from their childhood, their grandparents who died in the civil war, things they wanted to save for their children. So many emotions went into this."

When Nazer finally had enough items, she put them together -- creating a woman raising Lebanon's flag, her hair and dress flowing in the wind. The sculpture, which still doesn't have a name, even features a damaged clock stuck at 6:08, the moment of the explosion.

For Nazer, the process was cathartic. But it wasn't the first time she had created a work of art inspired by Lebanon's social and political troubles.

Before the explosion, as the country descended into months of protests against the country's ruling elite, Nazer left her job in communications to create art in hopes of inspiring change.

"I suddenly started feeling the need to paint," Nazer said. "It was a need that I couldn't stop. I had to quit my job because I felt like I just couldn't make the change I want to see in the world without focusing on my art."

Her works include other found object sculptures, as well as graffiti and paintings on canvas.

In 2019, she created a sculpture called " The Phoenix," which was made from tents broken by counterprotesters during the country's political upheaval. The work depicts the mythological bird rising from ashes. She also created a giant heart from stones and tear gas canisters left over from riots.

Nazer, who chronicles her projects on Instagram, said most of her work has been destroyed by authorities who don't take kindly to criticism of the government.

She fears the same fate will befall her latest work, the sculpted woman.

"After an explosion, you can build back homes and buildings, but what you can't bring back are memories. And throughout Lebanon's history, our government removes anything that reminds us of what has been done to us," Nazer said.

"That's what makes this project so special. It's fighting. We're raising our voices through art. We're telling our own stories."

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a lebanese artist created an inspiring statue out of glass and rubble from the beirut port explosion - cnn

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A Lebanese artist created an inspiring statue out of glass and rubble from the Beirut port explosion

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Written by Alaa Elassar, CNN Hayat Nazer doesn't remember a time when Lebanon was at peace. But she has learned to channel her grief and pain into beautiful works of art. She was on her way to Beirut on August 4 when a massive stockpile of ammonium nitrite exploded at the port, killing 190 people, injuring more than 6,000 and leaving more than 300,000 displaced from their homes.

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As Washington delays stimulus, the Fed is running out of ways to help the economy

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As Washington delays stimulus, the Fed is running out of ways to help the economy

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https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/28/the-fed-.html

I selected this one as a personal challenge because economic news is not easy for me to understand.

CNBC not only is centered on business news and the current financial market (their about page), but also seems to lean a bit to the left according to sources at a library guide.
(I took the liberty of conflating CNBC with NBC news, rightly or wrongly)(https://library.fvtc.edu/News/BiasCheck)

The sightly left leaning stance does not make this a totally unreliable source. However Republicans find CNBC to be extremely biased while Democrats do not. (Gallup poll at above Web page).

This article does have some mild sensationalism in its title (delays, running out of ways) The selection of interviewees, with good credentials somewhat tone down the sensationalism in the title. They overwhelmingly reiterate, albeit mostly through facts, that the Feds are out of options and that it is up to Congress to act. Only in the closing does one interviewee strongly stress that the Feds and Congress need to and can  work together and that the Feds still has options. While the title might be a little emotional, the article itself is not because of numerous facts which are more opined on than twisted.

CNBC's culture seems to be college educated and well versed in economics. It is focused on how economic news affects those investments, especially those whose politics are slightly left leaning.

I was taken aback, however at the advertisements, thankfully (except  for one in the heading), all at the bottom of the page. These ads seemed more in line with a sensationalist media outlet. Examples include best food for stockpiles, Loose towels? do this everyday, and 5 best Medicare Supplements to buy. This says something about the people CNBC is geared to. People with some insecurities, a mild distrust of authority,  and the need for instant answers.

This story strengthens its appeal to its audience through an emphasis on the fault of Congress (the authority) and focuses on how right individuals with credentials are. This is a good tact because investors I believe, tend to be more rugged individualists than the US population as a whole.

The article's politics seem to summarize that it is up to the government to help the economy, another Democratic ideal. But also that parts of the government must also work together.

Very little space is given to how a worsening economy is affecting noninvestors (basically the poor and the middle class).

So this news article largely serves those Americans who have a large personal stake in monetary policy through investments and/or their roles in middle to upper management in companies and institutions.

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Total deaths recorded during the pandemic far exceed those attributed to COVID-19, new data show”

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Total deaths recorded during the pandemic far exceed those attributed to COVID-19, new data show”

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The reasoning and presentation seemed balanced and thorough even though the page was loaded with many online ads and links to unrelated things. Three references were given that ranged in date from July – October of this year.

Digging deeper shows that the policy of the site is to accept public relations materials from educational facilities, science product companies, though scholarly publications are encouraged.

The most telling statement for me was the note at the end of the article that stated: Materials provided by Virginia Commonwealth University. Original written by Jackie Kruszewski. Note: Content may be edited for style and length. I believe anytime content is edited by someone other than the original author, it loses the exact meaning. You’re reading someone else’s interpretation of the information.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201012115953.htm

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For every two deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the U.S., a third American dies as a result of the pandemic, according to new data publishing Oct. 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study, led by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University, shows that deaths between March 1 and Aug. 1 increased 20% compared to previous years -- maybe not surprising in a pandemic. But deaths attributed to COVID-19 only accounted for 67% of those deaths.

"Contrary to skeptics who claim that COVID-19 deaths are fake or that the numbers are much smaller than we hear on the news, our research and many other studies on the same subject show quite the opposite," said lead author Steven Woolf, M.D., director emeritus of VCU's Center on Society and Health.

The study also contains suggestive evidence that state policies on reopening early in April and May may have fueled the surges experienced in June and July.

"The high death counts in Sun Belt states show us the grave consequences of how some states responded to the pandemic and sound the alarm not to repeat this mistake going forward," said Woolf, a professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Population Health at the VCU School of Medicine.

Total death counts in the U.S. are remarkably consistent from year to year, as the study notes. The study authors pulled data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 2014 to 2020, using regression models to predict expected deaths for 2020.

The gap between reported COVID-19 deaths and all unexpected deaths can be partially explained by delays in reporting COVID-19 deaths, miscoding or other data limitations, Woolf said. But the pandemic's other ripple effects could explain more.

"Some people who never had the virus may have died because of disruptions caused by the pandemic," said Woolf, VCU's C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Distinguished Chair in Population Health and Health Equity. "These include people with acute emergencies, chronic diseases like diabetes that were not properly care for, or emotional crises that led to overdoses or suicides."

For example, the study specifically showed that the entire nation experienced significant increases in deaths from dementia and heart disease. Woolf said deaths from Alzheimer's disease and dementia increased not only in March and April, when the pandemic began, but again in June and July when the COVID-19 surge in the Sun Belt occurred.

This study, with data from March to Aug. 1, builds on a previously published JAMA article by the same authors from VCU and Yale University that focused on data from March to May 1. And it brings in new data about the timing of when states lifted restrictions on social distancing.

States like New York and New Jersey, which were hit hard early, were able to bend the curve and bring death rates down in less than 10 weeks. Meanwhile, states such as Texas, Florida and Arizona that escaped the pandemic at first but reopened early showed a protracted summer surge that lasted 16-17 weeks -- and was still underway when the study ended.

"We can't prove causally that the early reopening of those states led to the summer surges. But it seems quite likely," said Woolf. "And most models predict our country will have more excess deaths if states don't take more assertive approaches in dealing with community spread. The enforcement of mask mandates and social distancing is really important if we are to avoid these surges and major loss of life."

Woolf paints a grim picture, warning that long-term data may show a broader impact of the pandemic on mortality rates. Cancer patients who have had their chemotherapy disrupted, women who have had their mammograms delayed -- preventable, early deaths may increase in the coming years, he said.

"And death is only one measure of health," Woolf said. "Many people who survive this pandemic will live with lifelong chronic disease complications. Imagine someone who developed the warning signs of a stroke but was scared to call 9-1-1 for fear of getting the virus. That person may end up with a stroke that leaves them with permanent neurological deficits for the rest of their life."

Diabetes complications that aren't being managed properly could lead to kidney failure and dialysis. And behavioral health issues, like emotional trauma, are going untreated. Woolf worries most about the lasting effects on children -- long-term, generational outcomes.

"This isn't a pandemic involving a single virus," said Peter Buckley, M.D., dean of the VCU School of Medicine. "This is a public health crisis with broad and lasting ripple effects. VCU researchers have been diligent in their investigations into both treatment of COVID-19 and in understanding the long-term repercussions of the pandemic, so that fellow doctors, policymakers and community members can fight these battles on multiple fronts."

Co-authors on Woolf's paper include: Derek Chapman, Ph.D., Latoya Hill, DaShaunda Taylor and Roy Sabo, Ph.D., of VCU; and Daniel Weinberger, Ph.D., of Yale University.

The study complements another VCU researcher's recent data showing an alarming surge in opioid overdoses at VCU Medical Center during the pandemic. Taylor Ochalek, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow at the Wright Center, found a 123% increase in nonfatal overdoses between March and June this year, as compared to last, in a study also published in JAMA.

Woolf notes that the CDC has released provisional overdose deaths under a broad label called "external causes," which also includes car crashes and homicides, making research like Ochalek's all the more important.

"Car crashes decreased because fewer people were driving during the lockdowns," Woolf said. "We worry that the broad umbrella category of 'external causes' may hide an increase in deaths from overdoses, because the opioid epidemic didn't go away."

The CDC, Woolf added, has rushed out provisional mortality data this year because of the pandemic. More reliable, granular detail will come out later and allow researchers to unpack the detailed contributors to excess deaths and secondary health impacts of the pandemic.

Researchers across multiple disciplines at VCU are studying the secondary health impacts of the pandemic -- from substance use disorders and intimate partner violence to diminished access to regular medical care -- all of which could contribute to loss of life, according to Woolf's study.

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influenza; bird flu; diseases and conditions; alzheimer's; disorders and syndromes; caregiving; public health; disaster plan; bioethics

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Total deaths recorded during the pandemic far exceed those attributed to COVID-19, new data show: States that reopened sooner, such as Texas, Arizona and Florida, experienced summer surges, report says

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For every two deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the U.S., a third American dies as a result of the pandemic, according to new data. The study shows that deaths between March 1 and Aug. 1 increased 20 percent compared to previous years -- maybe not surprising in a pandemic.

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Supreme Court, in Blow to Trump, Allows Absentee Ballot Extensions in North Carolina and Pennsylvania

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Supreme Court, in Blow to Trump, Allows Absentee Ballot Extensions in North Carolina and Pennsylvania

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https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2020-10-28/supreme-court-in-blow-to-trump-allows-absentee-ballot-extensions-in-north-carolina-and-pennsylvania
This article talks about some recent court cases that allow extensions for absentee ballots in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. The author knows that many of her readers are more left-leaning so the article focuses more on the ways in which this decision can hurt Republicans. If the readers were more evenly split, or viewership was less important, I think the article would have simply laid out the facts of the rulings.

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The current culture in America is one of violence, fear, and civil unrest. This article along with majority of articles, videos, newscasts, etc. are shaped by this culture that has been created.

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Caring for your nations people during this Covid pandemic seems to be each nations' goal to be the best. In this organization constructed news the goal is to focus on what the American federal government is doing for its people during our world's global crisis. The news report starts out with indication that the government will be paying for the vaccination 100% but as you continue to read you see that this is not the case. Although, the federal government is not covering the cost of the vaccination 100% it is requiring state and private insurances to pitch in on the cost so that it will be free to individuals.

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federal government to pay for coronavirus vaccine for all americans - cnn

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The government says it will pay for any future coronavirus vaccine for all Americans

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The federal government says it will pay for any Covid-19 vaccine as well as for treatments authorized by the FDA for coronavirus.

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The issue on parties has become an alarming topic in many places including Alabama. Social media influences the stories being told and therefore, teens are being limited to the actualized information on Co-vid and its consequences. In cases like these, teens tend to give a blind eye because there is nothing wrong with partying during a pandemic.

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The dreaded "Covid party" has come to Alabama. Even as the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients in the state reached record highs, news came out this week that college students in Tuscaloosa have been throwing parties with infected guests, then betting on the contagion that ensues. "They put money in a pot and they try to get Covid," said City Council member Sonya McKinstry. "Whoever gets Covid first gets the pot. It makes no sense."

Subscribe to WIRED and stay smart with more of your favorite Ideas writers.

That much, at least, is true: This story makes no sense. Despite its implausibility and utter lack of valid sourcing, the fantasy of Alabama virus gamblers has nonetheless exploded across the internet, with slack-jawed coverage turning up in CNN, the New York Post, and the Associated Press, among many others. A representative headline declares, "Tuscaloosa students held parties, bet on who got coronavirus first."

This is not the first reporting on the spread of Covid parties, which are, in fact, neither happening nor spreading. Back in March, Kentucky governor Andy Beshear announced during a daily public-health update that one case in the state had been tied to a " coronavirus party." "We ought to be much better than that," he said. "We should forgive that person, but no more of these-anywhere, statewide, ever, for any reason." His one-sentence anecdote, presented without any further detail, was dutifully passed along as news by CNN, NPR, The Washington Post, and other outlets.

Then in April, The New York Times ran an op-ed from epidemiologist Greta Bauer, offering " seven reasons your 'coronavirus party' is a bad idea." She'd heard "rumblings" that these events were going on, the piece explains, because some people think they would be better off with antibodies.

Rumblings had developed into rumors by the start of May, when a public health official in Walla Walla, Washington, claimed to have discovered, via careful contact tracing, that at least two patients had indeed attended " Covid parties" so as to "get it over with." The local police chief told reporters that he wouldn't rule out criminal charges for any other such events, but assured them that " we're not going to overreact." Two days later, the same public health official admitted she'd been wrong: "We have discovered that there were not intentional Covid parties," she said. " Just innocent endeavors."

The latest version of the tale, from Alabama, follows the same pattern as the others. It appears to be the product of a weird game of telephone mixed with loose talk from public officials and disgracefully sloppy journalism. On Tuesday, Tuscaloosa fire chief Randy Smith told the city council that his department had heard about parties "where students or kids would come in with known positives." It sounded like just a rumor, Smith said, but "not only did the doctors' offices help confirm it, but the state also confirmed they had the same information."

Even if there really were infected frat boys pounding beers and doing snot-shots, it would hardly matter.

You'll notice immediately that Smith didn't say anything about people trying to get sick, let alone betting on who could do it first. So why is everyone saying that's what happened? The notion seems to have originated with McKinstry, who shared it with ABC News after the meeting. It's not clear whether McKinstry had a source for this idea, and she did not reply to WIRED's request for comment. The Alabama Department of Health responded with a statement that it "has not been able to verify such parties have taken place." It's not even clear that the fire chief had it right about kids going to parties while knowing they were sick. (The Tuscaloosa Fire Department did not reply to a request for comment, either.) But that didn't stop the dogpile of national media outlets repeating and amplifying the Covid betting-pot story as if it were fact.

The press just can't stop pushing the narrative that people are trying to get themselves infected. And they always seem to push it the same way: Local reporters write down what some official said, and then national publications pick up those claims, citing the local reports as evidence. At no point in this chain has anyone bothered to confirm the underlying claim. The whole thing is reminiscent of the supposed scourge, in the mid-2000s, of " pharm parties," at which America's wayward teens were said to put their parents' prescription drugs into a bowl and then consume them at random. This did not really happen.

It is, of course, technically impossible to rule out the existence of Covid parties. Maybe somewhere in this vast and complex nation there are some foolish people getting infected on purpose. It's also possible that the miasma of media coverage will coalesce into a vector of its own, inspiring Covid parties that otherwise would not have happened. But so far there's no hard evidence that even a single one has taken place-just a recurring cycle of breathless, unsubstantiated media coverage.

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The dreaded "Covid party" has come to Alabama. Even as the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients in the state reached record highs, news came out this week that college students in Tuscaloosa have been throwing parties with infected guests, then betting on the contagion that ensues.

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Has Hunger Swelled? (In the U.S. During the Pandemic)

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Has Hunger Swelled? (In the U.S. During the Pandemic)

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This American Enterprise Institute brief article reports on research that suggests reports of "food hardship" during the pandemic are based on faulty, exaggerated data. The AEI has a reputation for being  pro-business and suspicious of reporting that shows the growing gaps between rich and poor. The .pdf file that includes AEI's research is intended to add credibility to their perspective. Their conclusion: "We believe the share of households with insufficient food over a month is closer to 5 or 6 percent than 12 percent. Six percent is higher than at any point in 20 years." As a former educator who continues to see how our local school district scrambles to feed kids during school closures and as a contributor to local food banks, my own experience makes me question the validity of AEI's "research" and "reporting." The fact that they even use the word "believe" suggests that reliable data is really not available. As a result, I "believe" AEI would prefer to underreport food insecurity when decision-makers are considering pandemic relief funds. Judi Moreillon

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Social Media Could Determine The Outcome Of The 2020 Election

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Social Media Could Determine The Outcome Of The 2020 Election

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This talked about how social media can play a big role in the elections. It can helps people learn more information about the candidates. Social media helps candidates too by helping them to share their voice and be more connection with their followers and supporter. The tweets that the candidates post could help them gain or lose supporter.

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Twitter feed of candidate for President of the USA Joe Biden is seen displayed on a phone screen ... [+]
NurPhoto via Getty Images

The importance of social media in this year's Presidential race cannot be overstated. Currently 72% of U.S. citizens of voting age actively use some form of social media, while 69% of Americans in the same group use Facebook alone, according to data from Socialbakers. The social media marketing platform found that while President Donald Trump's use of Twitter has been widely acknowledged, and certainly had a tremendous impact on the outcome of the 2016 elections, former Vice President Joe Biden has actually surpassed the President in many key engagement metrics.

Moreover, while President Trump has some 87 million followers on Twitter to Vice President Biden's 11 million followers, both candidates have seen a massive and continuous increase in engagement during this election cycle.

Additionally, the Socialbakers data found that Biden's three highest performing tweets have nearly double the amount of interactions compared to Trump's respective tweets, despite Biden's drastically lower follower count - another testament to the irrelevance of follower count on a stage this large.

In the lead up to and just following last Thursday's debate between the two candidates, social media users spent a lot of time discussing the candidates. Data from Hootsuite, showed that from Oct. 21 to Oct. 23 there were 6.6 million total mentions of Trump and Biden, with Biden owning 72% of those mentions.

During the actual debate, mentions for Biden spiked up to 511,000 with a sentiment breakdown of 14% positive, 38% neutral, 48% negative - while mentions for Trump spiked up during the debate to 244K with a sentiment breakdown of 10% positive, 41% neutral, and 49% negative.
Reaching The Youth Vote
An extremely important consideration with social media during this election cycle is how it can reach the youth vote, which could certainly determine the outcome of the election like never before, according to additional insight from Study.com experts.

While many students of an age too young to vote - more than a third of those in grades seven to 12 often learn the most about an election from their teachers, followed by 20% whose political views are shaped on social media. That is notable because many voting age young adults today have been using social media most of their lives.

Even before those individuals could cast a vote, their world view of the candidates was already being shaped on Instagram and TikTok.

"Social media's influence on the election is widely known, and Study.com's survey revealed that teachers also have an instrumental role in informing younger generations about the election process," explained Brooke Gabbert, strategist at Study.com.

"The combination of these two influences arm students with the information to learn about democracy and navigate one of our most important civic duties," she added.
The Influencer Perspective: Themed Accounts
Outside of the classroom many students, including those now of voting age, have been among the first generation to largely follow "influencers," who can only not shape views on brands and products but also on political candidates. Viral Nation, an influencer marketing agency that represents a number of major brands, has considered the candidates in terms of social media influencers, and how Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden have connected with users on social media.

"Much like beauty, influence is only skin deep these days and not everything is as it seems in examining the accounts driving the current election," said Jonathan Chanti, executive vice president at Viral Nation.

"Accountability plays a huge role, or should, to content creators but when looking at accounts driving this election, themed accounts - those that don't have a figure behind them but instead focus on content, have played a huge role, especially for Trump," added Chanti.

Trump-branded content has five times the reach of Biden-branded content via social publishers, but in this election cycle that might not be enough for the President to win a second term.

"Themed accounts are great vehicles to raise awareness about issues that are most important to voters, however there's a lack of accountability since there's no face behind the content, eliminating any backlash making them more dangerous in terms of validity," noted Chanti. "With technology like Influsoft (marketing platform), these key findings and other insights allow brands and in this case candidates align with the right influencers which will absolutely become more important as we're seeing their voices being leveraged more and more in politics."
Tip Of The Iceberg
Influencers are not new to this election cycle, but in just the last few years their "influence" has increased considerably and these social media power users could be a true wild card this year.

"We have never seen an election to date that has relied so heavily on influencers to reach audiences and we at Viral Nation believe this is just the tip of the iceberg," said Joe Gagliese, co-founder & CEO of Viral Nation.

"With so much at stake for so many, we're seeing everyone from celebrities to traditional influencers speak out, unsolicited or paid, but we expect to see this trend grow with influencers playing a much more strategic part in elections in the future," Gagliese added. "Generally, influencers are younger and therefore tend to swing left in support of Biden and those who don't, we won't see them speak on it due to the extreme polarizing nature of this election and potential impact on their business and brand deals."

It is also true that former President Barrack Obama may have been the first candidate to truly embrace social media, but Trump quickly adopted it and also used it to his advantage. As noted, no politician has relied so heavily on Twitter to spread a message, and that shouldn't be overlooked running up to next week's Election Day.

Social media could be the way that the candidates connect with those crucial undecided voters - especially since Covid-19 has limited the ability to hold the usual campaign stops.

"There's a lot on the line here," said Gagliese, "but the true impact can be seen in the numbers and smart candidates and their teams will be integrating influencers as a key part of their marketing mix in the future."

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Social Media Could Determine The Outcome Of The 2020 Election

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The importance of social media in this year's Presidential race cannot be overstated. Currently 72% of U.S. citizens of voting age actively use some form of social media, while 69% of Americans in the same group use Facebook alone, according to data from Socialbakers.

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More younger people are becoming more extremists. This news topic is talking about millennials being socialists. This is shaping the news because it's bringing more controversy between political parties with the extreme views. One side side feels very strongly about certain policies while the other side has their own opinions as well. This is making this election very controversial and making each party focus on exposing the other candidate which is also shaping the news with the new controversies found about each candidate.

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I feel as if during this election period both sides are focusing on exposing one another candidates. You can read a story on fox and then turn around and read it on cnn and it will be totally different. It gets exhausting reading all of the stories. You don't know what to believe anymore. Both parties blow up any little thing that each candidate says or does. The media is having a hay day during these last couple months.

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congress wants to reveal donald trump's tax returns  - cnnpolitics

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Congress wants to reveal Trump's biggest secret

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The request by House Democrats for six years of Donald Trump's tax returns opens a serious new political, legal, constitutional and personal front in the party's battle to use its new majority to check a defiant President.

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In this article, it describes how Chrissy Teigen & John Legend recently lost a baby boy during Teigen's pregnancy. This displays exactly how the media makes those in the spotlight feel the need to share everything with the public, including their very personal lives. The media has conditioned people like Teigen & Legend to live this way while flourishing in their success.

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Okay I will admit when I saw the notification on my phone, my first thought was "Oh God, not Beyak again." Second thought was, "Of course, she is a Trump supporter." Senator Lynn Beyak is a highly controversial figure in Canadian politics who was appointed to her position by the former Conservative party in Canada. During her tenure, she denial about residential schools appalled so many people and highlighted how misguided and privileged she is. Basically I am being incredibly diplomatic here because she has displayed many racist tendencies over the years and every attempt to change her opinion or to censure her has ended in failure. She finally booted out of the Conservative caucus in the Senate and for awhile, I had even forgotten she is still sits in the chamber. This news article is interesting for me not because the content is surprising, but rather, who did not report the story. CBC picked it up from Vice News and ran with it. I am not surprised cause CBC often runs stories about the Senate but I am shocked that its rivals, CTV and Global, did not. Beyak does not deserve any more media attention and this is a kinda "kooky" story but having CBC draw attention to it, is a reminder that she stills in the chamber and Canadians are stuck with her for another 4 years when she is forced to retire. By not posting the story, CTV and Global are taking the stance that she is not worth their attention and it is a non-story by not giving any credence to it. But I think that is a disservice because it ignores issues that some Canadians already have about the upper chamber. Granted, COVID 19 and the economy take center stage but this story is a good reminder about the "fragility" of our own democratic institutions and how scrutiny is always needed to hold these senior officials to account. Especially political appointees who cannot be forced out of her position until retirement.

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Trump's unhappy warrior pitch to voters includes insults and highly specific grievances

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Trump's unhappy warrior pitch to voters includes insults and highly specific grievances

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As an organization, CNN is outwardly left-leaning, and as a result usually focuses on portraying liberal politics in a much more favorable light than conservative politics -- the same way that FOX favors conservative politics over liberal politics. As a result of this bias, CNN is fully aware that the majority of people who go to them for news are left-leaning, so they portray conservative politics in a harsh light. In this article, for example, while FOX News may choose to focus on the highlights of Trump's recent events, CNN focuses on the letdowns, because they, as an organization, understand that the majority of their readers dislike Trump.

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trump's unhappy warrior pitch to voters includes insults and highly specific grievances - cnnpolitics

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Trump's unhappy warrior pitch to voters includes insults and highly specific grievances

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President Donald Trump is ending his reelection bid in a frenzied cross-country push for votes in states he won -- some handily -- four years ago. But he is not pretending to be happy about it.

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How the news changes the way we think and behave

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How the news changes the way we think and behave

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Much of the sociological perspective about how news is created comes from researchers with the culturalist theory perspective. Journalists themselves also remain keenly aware of these issues and carefully study them. The central problem comes from the fact that many more events occur than the media can ever report on. Journalists must look at all the information and events before them and make decisions about what they report and what they do not. Because newspapers go to press on strict deadlines to be delivered on time, and because news shows must air live at regular times, deadlines in the news business are absolute. This situation forces reporters and news editors to make difficult decisions under pressure and with limited time.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200512-how-the-news-changes-the-way-we-think-and-behave

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Kim Kardashian and her private party during times of the global pandemic

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Kim Kardashian and her private party during times of the global pandemic

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Kim Kardashian threw a large birthday party during the time of this COVID pandemic. She shared several photos from her party on the the private island and people were not wearing masks in the photos posted. She stated that the guests had to undergo several health screenings and tests before flying to this private island to celebrate her 40th birthday. People said that she was very selfish and dying, and Kim posts things like this not caring about the pandemic. This story can easily be manipulated by the public by not being safe during this global pandemic, but based off reports she took all precautions not to get any sick with COVID.

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Kim Kardashian is taking some heat.

The reality star recently celebrated her 40th birthday in a massive way: A big party on a private island.

Kardashian shared several photos from her party on Instagram on Tuesday, which showed that the party was attended by a large number of people in close proximity to one another without wearing masks as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage across the globe.

In the caption of the post, the star said that she had asked all of her guests to quarantine and undergo several "health screens" before she surprised them by flying them to a private island to celebrate her special day.
KIM KARDASHIAN STUNS IN BIKINI IN HONOR OF 40TH BIRTHDAY
"I realize that for most people, this is something that is so far out of reach right now, so in moments like these, I am humbly reminded of how privileged my life is," she added.

Followers commented on the post to express their frustration with her apparent lack of regard for the ongoing public health crisis and its financial impact.
KIM KARDASHIAN SAYS THE O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL 'TORE MY FAMILY APART'
"Brilliant observation! This kind of vacation is out of reach for most people COVID-19 or no COVID-19," said one user.

"Very selfish when people are dying and loosing [sic.] their jobs," wrote another. "Also doubt it very much that all 20+ people that attended isolated prior."

A third added: "I love how the elite don't have to social distance OR wear masks. called it #hypocrites."

"Did the pandemic go away?!" another said sarcastically. "Omg wish someone would've told me we could have massive parties."
KIM KARDASHIAN GETS EMOTIONAL RECALLING SCARY 2016 GUNPOINT ROBBERY IN PARIS
Twitter was full of criticism as well.

"I haven't seen ma [sic] family in 4 months because I work a public-facing job and I'm absolutely terrified of the possibility of passing Covid on to my vulnerable parents," said a Twitter user. "I hope you had fun pretending things were normal, but spare a thought for those of us staying in the real world."

"Lmao reading this as half of my office got laid off today," said another.

With sarcasm, a third added: "Everyone mad at this tweet is just jealous that they didn't think to fly their jets to their own private islands. it's so obvious yet kim is the only one who thought to do it. that's why she's a visionary and y'all are stuck at work."
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"People had to miss their parents funerals but go off," wrote a four Twitter user.

Reps for Kardashian did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.

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Kim Kardashian slammed for throwing large birthday party amid ongoing coronavirus pandemic: 'Very selfish'

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Kim Kardashian is taking some heat. The reality star recently celebrated her 40th birthday in a massive way: A big party on a private island. Kardashian shared several photos from her party on Instagram on Tuesday, which showed that the party was attended by a large number of people in close proximity to one another without wearing masks as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage across the globe.

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Kim Kardashian threw a private party in a private area where everyone was regularly tested. Things seemed safe enough but the media is all over it since she's supposed to be a role model. This is an easy story to twist, she wasn't being safe and to not do stuff like this, or if this is a step we can take to get back to normal.

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This news article is found on the NextGen America's website. This is an example of how organizations construct the news, because this organization hired someone to write this article according to their beliefs and agenda. It also is an example of how political values drastically shape our news stories today. When they speak of President Trump, they use words such as 'dangerous', but when speaking of candidate Biden, they use words like 'favorable'. This also means that the data represented in the article is going to be swayed towards the democratic party, to prove their points, and against the republican party. Any data that refutes their main point of the article is going to be left out purposely.

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Survey data shows that this isn't 2016 all over again and that messaging on key issues and comparisons with Trump can consolidate young voters regardless of partisanship this November
SAN FRANCISCO - Messages clearly contrasting Joe Biden's policy positions with those of Donald Trump can move young people, including non-Democrats, to cast ballots for Biden, new research published today by NextGen America shows. The nationwide online survey of 3,000 18-34 year-olds conducted from May 21 to June 3 tested persuasion and mobilization approaches for an audience that is largely still on the fence.
State of the Race
Among young people, Biden starts with a 51% to 29% lead (+22pts) on Trump in a four-way poll that includes third parties and undecided voters. He is up 55% to 32% in a head-to-head poll.

Biden's favorability trails Barack and Michelle Obama and Bernie Sanders but bests Hillary Clinton's rating from last cycle.

Notably, young people view the Black Lives Matter movement with very high regard. Favorability for BLM skyrocketed in the final week of polling from May 29 to June 3 that partially overlapped with protests across the country calling for police accountability after the murder of George Floyd.
Movable Audiences
This quantitative research found three movable target groups who can build on Biden's current lead:

HOLD: "Weak Biden" supporters who can be converted to strong supporters. These voters are likely to be 18-24-year-old liberal Democrats or heavily urban/suburban women, who say they need to learn more about Joe Biden.

PERSUADE: "Weak Trump" voters who can be persuaded off voting for Trump and toward voting for Biden after hearing messages. These are overwhelmingly suburban and urban white men age 18-24 who say they need to learn more about Biden.

MOTIVATE: "Potential Biden" voters who start the survey saying they won't vote/will vote third party, but who move to support Biden. These are often independent voters who don't like Biden, Trump, or either of the major parties. But these voters have favorable opinions of both Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama, who can be powerful messengers for Biden.

Survey data shows that learning more about Biden not only brings in skeptics on the left and center (+9 gain in Biden's lead among Democrats and independents) but also flips many Republican-leaning voters from Trump to Biden (+17).
This Ain't 2016
Despite his obstacles, Biden is in a better position with young voters than Clinton was in 2016, with reported third party support at 7% compared to 22% four years ago. In addition to his advantage in the initial horserace and movement after messaging, Biden has a significantly different standing with young voters than Clinton did at the same time last cycle.
How To Move Audiences
After message testing, favorability views for Biden improved from 49% to 63%. A plurality of potential voters entered the survey already believing that Biden would do a better job than Trump across a host of issues. Moving more young voters into the Biden camp requires further messaging that points to Biden's comparatively favorable positions on health care, college debt, climate, the economy, racial justice, and more. Contrasting the competence and values of a Biden-staffed administration versus Trump's administration is also a powerful argument.

"We know that young people want Trump gone," NextGen America Executive Director Ben Wessel said. "But being anti-Trump is not enough. We need to show that Biden can get us much closer to having the country that we want and need."
Further Info
The survey was conducted by Global Strategy Group and follows NextGen America's April qualitative analysis on voters likely to prefer Sanders to Biden. For a complete look at this research project on young voters conducted by NextGen America and Global Strategy Group, visit nextgenamerica.org/research .

NextGen America is a multiracial coalition of young people, organized to take power by winning elections for progressive candidates. NextGen is uniquely suited to help millennials and Gen Z'ers seize power as an experienced yet nimble political organization that leads with authenticity and grit. Since 2013, NextGen America has registered over 1.3 million voters and contacted millions of young people with messages encouraging them to vote.

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NextGen America's Latest Research Illuminates Path for Joe Biden to Capture the Youth Vote - NextGen America

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Survey data shows that this isn't 2016 all over again and that messaging on key issues and comparisons with Trump can consolidate young voters regardless of partisanship this November SAN FRANCISCO - Messages clearly contrasting Joe Biden's policy positions with those of Donald Trump can move young people, including non-Democrats, to cast ballots for Biden, [...]

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COVID-19 Turned Active Retirees into Elderly People Overnight

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COVID-19 Turned Active Retirees into Elderly People Overnight

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This article explains how the media made people who were in their 60s, 70s, 80s, feel so old because they were the most at risk because of their age. The man explains how the young do not have any regard to what partying, and going out with friends can do to their specific age group.  They also explain how being inside all the time causes them to recognize their age, wrinkles, skin spots, etc.
This article highlights on the young not having any regard for the old, but I think it is easy to pin that all on one age group. This news story does share a certain perspective for many people who are older, but leaves out the fact that older people are also not having regard for anyone during this pandemic.

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On March 15, when we began to shelter in place, I was 72 years old and my husband was 77 - not young or middle-aged for sure, but we didn't consider ourselves old, not really, nor did most of our friends. "Old" was people who couldn't walk or ride bikes; old was people who were unable to travel; old was people who needed home health aides; old was people in nursing homes.

In a youth-oriented society like ours, we had shied away from becoming seniors, rejecting that view of ourselves as lesser: less active, less capable, less technologically savvy, less attractive.

In a youth-oriented society like ours, we had shied away from becoming seniors, rejecting that view of ourselves as lesser: less active, less capable, less technologically savvy, less attractive. We had no intention of living out the stereotype of old people as bad drivers with faulty memories. We exercised, took care of our bodies, paid attention to how we looked, stayed well-informed and engaged in current events and our families. We worked or volunteered and took pride in sharing our wisdom and continuing to help improve the world and our communities.

When my son, who lives close by us in Philadelphia, texted at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic to tell us that we wouldn't be able to see our grandchildren for some time, that we were to stay home and not go into stores, that he or someone else would do our shopping for us, we were in shock.

We thought he was overreacting, but more than that, we thought he was presuming a lot. Didn't he understand that we were strong and hearty, young for our years, engaged in the world, perfectly able to take care of ourselves and others? OK, yes, the virus did seem to pose an extra risk to people our age, but maybe those people were not as healthy as we were, not as active and energetic, not as confident as we were that, in spite of some undeniable underlying conditions, we had quite a few productive years ahead of us.

Suddenly, all that changed. From one day to the next, our self-image shifted and we began to feel vulnerable, to realize our lives might truly be at risk. There were stories in the newspapers about all the elderly people who were dying - people who were our age, not just people in their 90s. It turned out that a lot of those people lived in nursing homes, and for a couple of weeks we once again felt more optimistic. But soon there was no denying that the obituaries were full of people our age who had been living independent lives, engaged with their families and communities - people like us.

Living in a city where the disease has not yet overwhelmed the health care system, our worst fear of dying isolated and alone has not been realized. No one has been triaged in favor of a younger person, so far as we know. Yet we read in the spring that doctors and medical personnel across the country with too many sick patients to manage were preparing to ration care, and age is definitely a big factor. Rising numbers suggest that situation could recur.

We get the message that we've had our chance and must now surrender to other social priorities; yet we feel entitled to more than that. Maybe not entitled to preference, but to a fair shot at a longer life, more time to complete unfinished projects, to pass on what we've learned. But it feels like nobody shares our point of view.

The young and fearless give little thought to our fate or our feelings as they party in bars and public places. Their carelessness feels like a slap in the face. We would have sacrificed to keep our elders alive. Today's youth mostly seem content to let us take our chances.

Like wolves picking off the old and sick, the virus strikes vulnerable people, people like us whose only crime was reaching a certain age; people often discounted by the young and strong. Clearly, it seems our lives don't matter much to society as a whole. The species will survive without us.

Looking at ourselves during virtual cocktail hours with friends on Zoom, we now notice our wrinkles, the flesh hanging on our necks and the double chins on display when the camera is pointing up, the gray and even white roots exposed, the shaggy beards and fuzzy eyebrows - and we look someplace else on the screen. That isn't ourselves we are seeing but a version of ourselves the virus has revealed, a version we thought we had rejected but secretly fear is really who we are.

There's no question we've all aged dramatically. Just a few months ago, we were only as old as we felt; now we're just old. It's been obvious to everyone but us. Even my 7-year-old grandson knows he can't hug his grandparents because they're old and he might make them sick. Of course, he knew we were old long before all of this happened. Only we didn't know. Well, maybe some of us did. Like it or not, we all know now.

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Opinion | Aging in place: How the coronavirus made us feel old overnight

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On March 15, when we began to shelter in place, I was 72 years old and my husband was 77 - not young or middle-aged for sure, but we didn't consider ourselves old, not really, nor did most of our friends.

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The Enduring, Pernicious Whiteness Of True Crime

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The Enduring, Pernicious Whiteness Of True Crime

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https://theappeal.org/whiteness-of-true-crime/

The article actually makes some neat connections that made me think of it for this assignment:

“It very much sets up a neat line between us—people who are not incarcerated—and them, people who are incarcerated.”

To this day, reporters enable law enforcement to spread misleading statistics—to suggest, with scant evidence, that major cities, including New York, are suffering through an unprecedented rise in crime. That, too, is false.

“We end up misrepresenting what the world actually looks like,” says Lowery.

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A Black Family battled Covid-19 at the same time Trump did. It devastated them., 

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A Black Family battled Covid-19 at the same time Trump did. It devastated them., 

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In this article, it is told by a family who has been through a lot due to COVID-19. This culture constructed the news in the sense that it was told by a horrified point a view of a family who didn’t agree with how lightly president trump took the virus. This article definitely has an emotional appeal to anyone who struggled with COVID-19. The because of the way the story is being told, the one thing that can get left out is how their story was perceived in the eyes of the president. For example this story does shed light on just having basic ethics when talking about a topic that’s so serious but we don’t get to know if this family was able to receive the response they were hoping for. Evidently, The culture around the article was a family who needed to have their story listened to and can even play a big part in how president trump is now perceived.

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The Washington Post - Breaking news and latest headlines, U.S. news, world news, and video - The Washington Post

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Breaking news, live coverage, investigations, analysis, video, photos and opinions from The Washington Post. Subscribe for the latest on U.S. and international news, politics, business, technology, climate change, health and wellness, sports, science, weather, lifestyle and more.

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It is to construct the news when you are the one writing it. Of course, in the days near voting, we will see this exhibited a lot. Democrats and Republicans will have differing opinions on Donald Trump and differing opinions on Joe Biden. It is hard to tell the truth in these news stories when most news websites lean one way or the other. FOX News is one of the biggest right wing news stations and they definitely construct their stories to fit these views. One of their latest stories discuss Trump and Biden's opinions on a shooting. FOX News gives the portrayal that Trump was sympathetic and all democrats are to blame. They also claim that the shooting was caused by a group Biden supports.

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President Trump called on Democrats in Philadelphia to crack down on recent rioting, and blamed Joe Biden for not condemning the unrest strongly enough.

Rioters and looters have taken to the streets in Philadelphia after the police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr., a Black man who police claim was charging at them with a knife. Two officers fired 14 rounds, killing Wallace.

Trump, speaking to reporters, called the police shooting a "terrible event."

"The mayor or whoever it is that's allowing people to riot and loot and not stop them is also just a horrible thing," Trump said. "I saw the event. Everybody did, it was on television. It was a terrible event. I guess that's being looked at very strongly. We have the federal government looking at it also. But the rioting in Philadelphia has to stop. They have to stop it."
BIDEN SAYS 'NO EXCUSE' FOR LOOTING IN PHILADELPHIA AFTER BLACK MAN KILLED BY POLICE
"They should bring in the National Guard if the police need help and they should do something. You can't let that go again. A Democrat-run state, a Democrat-run city," Trump continued. He said that Republican-run regions didn't have such issues.

The Pennsylvania National Guard was deployed to Philadelphia Tuesday as the city braced for a second night of unrest.

The move by Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, to activate the Guard is a stark difference from other Democratic governors who have been hesitant or slow to mobilize troops in response to unfolding unrest.

Trump also turned his attention to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

"This is a group that he supports. He doesn't want to condemn them," Trump said of the rioters. "I saw that he doesn't want to condemn them. You have to condemn, you have to be strong. You can't have chaos like that. And he'll be very, very weak."

Trump listed his law enforcement endorsements, which he said were far greater than Biden's.

"The problem is Joe's all talk and no action. You got to have some action."

Biden on Wednesday told reporters there is "no excuse" for looting and rioting, citing remarks from Wallace's father, who urged calm Tuesday night.

"I think to be able to protest is totally legitimate, totally reasonable," Biden said. "But there's no excuse for the looting."

Wallace's father added that those who were engaging in violence and property destruction were "showing disrespect" to his late son.
PHILADELPHIA REELS FROM SECOND STRAIGHT NIGHT OF UNREST AFTER FATAL POLICE SHOOTING
Biden also pledged to confront police engagement issues with those struggling from mental illness.

"That's going to be part of the commission I set up to determine how we deal with these changes," Biden said.

Wallace was said to be suffering from a mental health episode at the time of his death.

As Wallace, 27, allegedly charged at two officers with a knife, neither officer had been equipped with a nonlethal weapon such as a taser. He ignored commands to drop the knife and police opened fire.

A relative previously told Fox News that Wallace had struggled with mental health issues and was bipolar. He was previously ordered by a judge to undergo psychiatric evaluation treatment.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Officers had been to Wallace's home twice before on the day he was killed for domestic disturbances, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The family told the newspaper the third call was for an ambulance to help him deal with his mental health crisis, not for police, Wallace family attorney Shaka Johnson told reporters.

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Trump: Philadelphia police shooting a 'terrible event,' but rioting comes from group Joe Biden 'supports'

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President Trump called on Democrats in Philadelphia to crack down on recent rioting, and blamed Joe Biden for not condemning the unrest strongly enough. Rioters and looters have taken to the streets in Philadelphia after the police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr., a Black man who police claim was charging at them with a knife.

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As can be seen from the title of the article it reports about the current situation in Yemen or to be more precise, about the civil war that is lasting for several years. Among all the problems that can be caused by wars like innocent collateral victims, there is always a group of civilians who suffer the most. However, in this war children are dying of starvation because their resources are deprived and they have no source of food.

When it comes to the source of the presented news story it is important to emphasize that the Al Jazeera media organization is specialized in Middle East topics so their reputation is non-questionable. Furthermore, on their official web page, there are no advertisements because it is an organization funded by the Qatar government. Since they are oriented exclusively to foreign policy, entertainment, sports or lifestyle content can't be found on their pages. The news Al Jazeera journalist convey is informative, educational, and is written quite objectively.

In the context of culture, traditional narratives can be recognized in the news in which the difference between us and them is seen. Yemen is facing the deepest crisis in history because they are affected by the war and people are dying of hunger. Since the special review and emphasis in the article is precisely children, an emotional appeal can also be felt, through media forms, ie videos and images showing crying children.

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Malnutrition in Yemen worsened in 2020 due to factors including coronavirus pandemic, global economic downturn.

A girl looks on as a worker gives a food ration to a boy at a charity kitchen in Sanaa, Yemen [File: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters]

Parts of Yemen are seeing their highest levels of acute malnutrition in children, heightening warnings that the country is approaching a dire food security crisis, the United Nations said in a report.

Drivers of malnutrition in Yemen worsened in 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic, economic decline, floods, escalating conflict and significant underfunding of this year's aid response have compounded an already bleak hunger situation after nearly six years of war.

"We've been warning since July that Yemen is on the brink of a catastrophic food security crisis. If the war doesn't end now, we are nearing an irreversible situation and risk losing an entire generation of Yemen's young children," said Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen.

According to a UN Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) malnutrition analysis of south Yemen, acute malnutrition cases in children aged below five have increased about 10 percent in 2020 to more than half a million.

"Acute malnutrition at that age causes irreversible damage to the brain and cognitive capacity of the child. It is absolutely terrible," Philippe Duamelle, the UNICEF representative in Yemen, told Al Jazeera from Yemeni capital Sanaa.

"It not only puts the life of the child at risk, but it also puts their future at tremendous risk," he added.

Cases of children with severe acute malnutrition rose 15.5 percent, and at least a quarter-million pregnant or breastfeeding women also need malnutrition treatment.

About 1.4 million children below five live in south Yemen, which is under the control of the internationally recognised government.

The IPC data for north Yemen, which is controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi fighters, is not yet available.

Famine has never been officially declared in Yemen.

The UN says the country is the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with 80 percent of the population reliant on humanitarian aid.

A Saudi Arabia-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to restore the Yemeni government removed from power in the capital Sanaa by the Houthi movement in late 2014.

Source : Al Jazeera and News agencies

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Child malnutrition reaches new highs in parts of Yemen: UN

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Malnutrition in Yemen worsened in 2020 due to factors including coronavirus pandemic, global economic downturn. Parts of Yemen are seeing their highest levels of acute malnutrition in children, heightening warnings that the country is approaching a dire food security crisis, the United Nations said in a report.

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Today, the CEO of Facebook and the CEO of Twitter were on trial over Online Censorship. I believe this article uses culture to deconstruct the news. They appeal to Us vs. Them. Online censorship is a growing issue around the world. But, in the United States, we have freedom of speech and there are claims that Twitter and Facebook are censoring conservative views with the upcoming election.

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On Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will testify before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee. The hearing - Does Section 230's Sweeping Immunity Enable Big Tech Bad Behavior? - will focus on the platforms' content moderation policies in light of calls for reform of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Social media companies face the task of content moderation originating from billions of users around the globe every day. Facebook sees 1.79 billion daily active users alone. Moderating this content is a continuous process of trial and error.

The recent blocking of the New York Post story on Hunter Biden was an error - Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey acknowledged the mistake, saying the "straight blocking of URLs was wrong." There have been mistakes in the past and there will be more mistakes in the future - but additional government regulation is not the answer.

Some suggest eliminating Section 230 is the remedy - eliminating the law that has enabled our nation to grow the world's leading technology companies. But the 26 words that comprise Section 230 are a foundation for our freedom online, not a foil. Striking this law would not only hamper free online speech but would compromise our competitiveness and ability to maintain our status as home to the world's top innovators.
CONGRESS, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, GOOGLE CEOS NEED TO BE ASKED THESE 5 KEY QUESTIONS
Through a haphazard competitive process - called the free market - winners and losers emerged. Traditionally, conservatives believed the free market worked - it's one of the core principles of conservatism.

Now, there are resounding calls from the right - and left - for government involvement, interference and investigation into American business practices and free speech.

Calls to strangle technology companies in a mire of rules and government red tape are misguided.

Indeed, our free market approach - however flawed - is the envy of the world. In China, free speech isn't a right. Technology platforms must obey the will of the government, censoring its people and whitewashing the truth from the Internet.

In fact, all content generated within China is censored or approved by the government. Throughout the year, the government has arrested hundreds of its own citizens for speaking out on COVID-19. Zhang Xuezhong, a Chinese constitutional scholar, who posted a letter on social media to the Chinese legislature criticizing the government's handling of the virus and its suppression of speech was arrested the following day.
TWITTER'S JACK DORSEY TO WARN 'ERODING' SECTION 230 COULD 'COLLAPSE' INTERNET COMMUNICATION
According to the Consumer Technology Association's (CTA) International Innovation Scorecard - a ranking of 61 countries and the European Union across 28 indicators - China ranks poorly in the category of freedom, receiving negative marks for its lack of political and economic freedom.

If the U.S. government involves itself in telling private companies what fact is or fiction is, how can we embrace our Constitutional right of free speech? At what point does a government-constructed algorithm instruct a social media company to remove a post because it's too liberal or too conservative?

Section 230 is the legal underpinning of our vibrant U.S. online economy and our nation's global digital leadership, which largely protects internet companies from liability for content posted by users on their platforms.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
The law sets out a common-sense principle: responsibility for online speech lies with the speaker - not the platform. More, the law protects the ability of platforms to moderate their sites without being barraged by lawsuits.

The past 25 years of a "hands-off," deregulatory approach has enabled American innovation to flourish. Gutting this safeguard would only hurt American innovation and embolden other countries to take over the technology lead from the U.S.

Protected by Section 230, social media platforms allow non-mainstream views to be heard without being blocked by legacy gatekeepers.

As President Trump stated in his recent "60 Minutes" interview, "I think I wouldn't be here if I didn't have social media...And frankly, if I didn't have social media, I'd have no way of getting out my voice."

Indeed, according to analysis this week from Politico and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based nonpartisan think tank, conservative voices frequently outpace more liberal voices and traditional media in guiding the online conversation.

Americans embrace the free exchange of ideas, the free market and free speech. Only by maintaining these American ideals and resisting overbearing government rules and speech control will the U.S. remain the global tech leader - and the shining example of freedom and innovation for the rest of the world.
Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, the U.S. trade association representing more than 2000 consumer technology companies, and a New York Times best-selling author. His views are his own. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

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Control of Google, Facebook, Twitter's online speech by government must be resisted: CTA CEO Shapiro

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On Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will testify before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee. The hearing - Does Section 230's Sweeping Immunity Enable Big Tech Bad Behavior? - will focus on the platforms' content moderation policies in light of calls for reform of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

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I found a news story constructed by ABC 33/40 that provides an update about Hurricane Zeta. The organization, ABC 33/40, is choosing to provide weather updates to draw viewers and other invested stakeholders to their digital program. The people who assisted in constructing this particular news story did so because they know that there are viewers who are relying on ABC 33/40 to present an accurate story depicting the weather. Hurricanes are extremely dangerous, and are unfortunately a common occurrence near Alabama's coastal waters. It is essential that the people working for ABC are able to provide weather updates that are both informative and accurate so that viewers can get to safety.

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Zeta now a Category 2 Hurricane; Local watches & warnings issued

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From the ABC 33/40 Weather Blog: UPDATE 4:00 P. M. Hurricane Zeta, despite cooler shelf water and strong winds aloft, doesn’t want to weaken this afternoon. The storm made landfall near Cocodrie, LA at 4:01 p. m. with sustained winds of 110 mph. The core remnant circulation will race through Alabama tonight.

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Tech CEOs Square Off with Senators over Online Speech

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Tech CEOs Square Off with Senators over Online Speech

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This WSJ story attempts to be neutral in covering the Social Media Tech Execs  interaction with the Senate Commerce Committee. However, personal bias & political values come through clearly in quotes selected and perspective.
For example, social media is lauded for rewriting policies and taking a more active role in moderating online speech while the Senate Committee hearing is characterized as “reflecting deep discontent with social-media platforms’ power and equally deep divisions about how to address it.”
Authors choose language such as Republicans are “pushing to” update Section 230.
Democrats have issue with social media “leaving too many dangerous posts up.”
Social media execs denied any political bias, which is erroneous, in that their internal decisions on what to post and what not to post, clearly exhibit bias and political leanings.
The New York Post’s Twitter account remains blocked after their attempt to  communicate the Hunter Biden scandal.
Twitter also puts labels on some posts by President Trump, but not others like Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khameni.
There will likely be considerable focus on social media in days leading up to and following the election and their policing of what is false information or harmful.
Section 230 protection from liability was established for social media platforms because of their original, unfiltered, expression of free speech.

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WASHINGTON-Chief executives of the largest social media companies will testify Wednesday before the Senate Commerce Committee in a hearing examining their platforms' role in shaping political discourse.

Less than a week before Election Day, members of the Republican-led panel are expected to question Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter Inc. CEO Jack Dorsey, and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and YouTube owner Alphabet Inc., about their treatment of politically charged content, from advertising to news to candidates' posts.

...

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Social Media CEOs to Come Under Senate Scrutiny

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WASHINGTON-Chief executives of the largest social media companies will testify Wednesday before the Senate Commerce Committee in a hearing examining their platforms' role in shaping political discourse. Less than a week before Election Day, members of the Republican-led panel are expected to question Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter Inc.

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I love analyzing how media is partisan and does not cover certain politicians objectively. I even wrote a paper for a previous class on news coverage and the partisan media, this is why I think the article publised this morning by the New York Times fits very well for this days challenge. Below is the link! Enjoy. If anyone is curious I would love to share the paper.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/podcasts/the-daily/local-news-partisanship-brian-timpone.html

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I listened to this podcast from NYT Today that relates to this assignment. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/podcasts/the-daily/local-news-partisanship-brian-timpone.html

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I don't have a specific story illustrating how entities construct news. Rather I want to talk about a tool they use. Video News Releases (VNRs). These are stories that masquerade as true, impartial news stories. They are really marketing tools allowing entities to get their message out in they way they want. VNRs popped up about 15 to 20 years ago. I even bought a DVD on how to create them! You might have heard about them recently because of the Sinclair Broadcasting Group having their on air people say the same script across the country. Or televise the same editorials across different stations. Also entities present these videos to news organizations who run them as is without vetting them.

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It's our responsibility as journalists to let the public know who is paid by what corporation, or if they're representing the government. Otherwise, it's unforgivable. The media is our lens on the world. And it is absolutely critical we trust the media. Because, ultimately, when people are terrorized, when people are targeted, when people are marginalized, that does not make any of us safer.

- Amy Goodman, interview in "Programming the Nation?" documentary

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It's our responsibility as journalists to let the public know who is paid by what corporation, or if they're representing the government. Otherwise, it's unforgivable. The media is our lens on the world. And it is absolutely critical we trust the media.

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'We're losing the fight': Tulsa COVID doctor

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'We're losing the fight': Tulsa COVID doctor

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This article tells the story of how Coronavirus outbreak is worsening in Oklahoma. It uses a combination of the traditional narratives of Us vs. Them and Humans vs. Nature. COVID-19 is an invisible enemy that we are all trying to defeat. The way the article explains Coronavirus is similar to a literal villain. For example, Dr. Gallup compared the fight against Coronavirus to being on a battlefield. It gives the reader the feeling that we as humans should all band together so that we can win this war over the Coronavirus. The Us vs. Coronavirus is prevalent in this news story. It also states multiple statistics and facts about the rising number of deaths and outbreaks in Oklahoma. This appeals to the emotions of people of fear, sadness, and worry. The necessity of masks is discussed in this article. As a society, not wearing a mask is considered irresponsible and selfish, and this is further expressed in the news and in this story in particular. It warns how some Oklahoma citizens are becoming more relaxed in not wearing masks. To appeal to emotion, the news story states that healthcare workers, after working long hours of fighting the virus, they see people out not wearing protective masks. The article constructs how we as a society feel about Coronavirus and the battle against its spread.

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Physicians plead with Oklahoma to take the worsening outbreak seriously.

Oklahoma reported a record 22 deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday, the highest number of single-day fatalities from the virus in the state since spring.

The state's worsening outbreak prompted an outcry from doctors in Tulsa, who pleaded with local officials and the public to take the pandemic more seriously during a Tuesday news briefing.

"I never thought after the army I'd be on another battlefield," said Dr. Roger Gallup, a critical care physician and retired army doctor, who has been treating COVID-19 patients at Saint Francis Health System since the start of the pandemic.

"Our ICUs, COVID units and community have become home to an enemy that we're losing the fight against," Gallup added. "We are clearly headed in the wrong direction."

Indeed, daily infections, hospitalizations and deaths are all rising in Oklahoma, according to an ABC News analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project. As of Tuesday, Oklahoma had reported 118,409 COVID-19 infections and 1,273 deaths, according to the state health department.

In addition to rising case counts, an average of 34.7% of tests returned positive every day in the past week in Oklahoma as of Tuesday, according to an ABC News analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project, which is nearly seven times higher than the rate that health experts recommend.

A high positivity rate can be a sign that a state is only testing its sickest patients and failing to cast a net wide enough to accurately capture community transmission, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The World Health Organization recommends that governments get their positivity testing threshold below 5%.

"It's worse now than it has ever been in our community, just as it is in our nation," Gallup said, pointing to "casualness" among Oklahoma residents about wearing masks and social distancing as driving forces behind the worsening outbreak.

"We need to get this under control before our region's health care system becomes strained to the point where we are out of options," he cautioned.

Jake Henry Jr., president of the St. Francis Health System, the largest hospital and health care system in Oklahoma, doubled down on the message. Oklahoma had a shortage of doctors and nurses even before the pandemic. Exhausted health care workers, Henry said, many of whom are working 12-hour days with no end to the outbreak in sight, aren't a renewable resource.

After risking their lives on the front lines, health care workers feel defeated when they leave the hospital and see "unmasked apathy in public spaces," he added. That apathy may be translating into an unwillingness to provide information to the health department when residents are exposed to the virus. Contact tracing is going poorly in Oklahoma and many residents decline to provide information about their close contacts or places they'd been after being exposed.
ABC News' Soorin Kim, Brian Hartman, Benjamin Bell and Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
"I fear that we are entering a very, very dark winter," Henry said.

What to know about the coronavirus:

How it started and how to protect yourself: Coronavirus explained

What to do if you have symptoms: Coronavirus symptoms
Tune into ABC at 1 p.m. ET and ABC News Live at 4 p.m. ET every weekday for special coverage of the novel coronavirus with the full ABC News team, including the latest news, context and analysis.
Tracking the spread in the U.S. and worldwide: Coronavirus map

Oklahoma reported a record 22 deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday, the highest number of single-day fatalities from the virus in the state since spring.

The state's worsening outbreak prompted an outcry from doctors in Tulsa, who pleaded with local officials and the public to take the pandemic more seriously during a Tuesday news briefing.

"I never thought after the army I'd be on another battlefield," said Dr. Roger Gallup, a critical care physician and retired army doctor, who has been treating COVID-19 patients at Saint Francis Health System since the start of the pandemic.

"Our ICUs, COVID units and community have become home to an enemy that we're losing the fight against," Gallup added. "We are clearly headed in the wrong direction."

Indeed, daily infections, hospitalizations and deaths are all rising in Oklahoma, according to an ABC News analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project. As of Tuesday, Oklahoma had reported 118,409 COVID-19 infections and 1,273 deaths, according to the state health department.

In addition to rising case counts, an average of 34.7% of tests returned positive every day in the past week in Oklahoma as of Tuesday, according to an ABC News analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project, which is nearly seven times higher than the rate that health experts recommend.

A high positivity rate can be a sign that a state is only testing its sickest patients and failing to cast a net wide enough to accurately capture community transmission, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The World Health Organization recommends that governments get their positivity testing threshold below 5%.

"It's worse now than it has ever been in our community, just as it is in our nation," Gallup said, pointing to "casualness" among Oklahoma residents about wearing masks and social distancing as driving forces behind the worsening outbreak.

"We need to get this under control before our region's health care system becomes strained to the point where we are out of options," he cautioned.

Jake Henry Jr., president of the St. Francis Health System, the largest hospital and health care system in Oklahoma, doubled down on the message. Oklahoma had a shortage of doctors and nurses even before the pandemic. Exhausted health care workers, Henry said, many of whom are working 12-hour days with no end to the outbreak in sight, aren't a renewable resource.

After risking their lives on the front lines, health care workers feel defeated when they leave the hospital and see "unmasked apathy in public spaces," he added. That apathy may be translating into an unwillingness to provide information to the health department when residents are exposed to the virus. Contact tracing is going poorly in Oklahoma and many residents decline to provide information about their close contacts or places they'd been after being exposed.
ABC News' Soorin Kim, Brian Hartman, Benjamin Bell and Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
"I fear that we are entering a very, very dark winter," Henry said.

What to know about the coronavirus:

How it started and how to protect yourself: Coronavirus explained

What to do if you have symptoms: Coronavirus symptoms
Tune into ABC at 1 p.m. ET and ABC News Live at 4 p.m. ET every weekday for special coverage of the novel coronavirus with the full ABC News team, including the latest news, context and analysis.
Tracking the spread in the U.S. and worldwide: Coronavirus map

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'We're losing the fight': Tulsa COVID doctor

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Physicians plead with Oklahoma to take the worsening outbreak seriously. Oklahoma reported a record 22 deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday, the highest number of single-day fatalities from the virus in the state since spring. The state's worsening outbreak prompted an outcry from doctors in Tulsa, who pleaded with local officials and the public to take the pandemic more seriously during a Tuesday news briefing.

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NBC news - Birthday photos of Kim Kardashian.

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NBC news - Birthday photos of Kim Kardashian.

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Kim Kardashian West's birthday photos didn't receive the reaction she likely expected on Tuesday, with Twitter users calling the reality star "cruel" and "insensitive" for posting about her private island bash as people continue to suffer from the coronavirus pandemic.

The reality television star and business mogul turned 40 last week but posted a series of tweets sharing moments from her celebration to Twitter and Instagram on Tuesday. Kardashian acknowledged the coronavirus pandemic and how "privileged" she is when such a vacation is "so far out of reach" for most people.

"After 2 weeks of multiple health screens and asking everyone to quarantine, I surprised my closest inner circle with a trip to a private island where we could pretend things were normal just for a brief moment in time," she wrote in the captions of her photos.

Despite Kardashian's acknowledgement of her privilege, Twitter users were less than impressed at the celebrity's choice to promote her birthday celebration on social media as people face homelessness, unemployment and the death of loved ones as the pandemic continues.

Peter Frampton, the 1970s rock icon, even responded to Kardashian's post on Twitter Tuesday.

"Are you that insensitive you don't realise this is not what the majority of people during the worst covid spike yet want to hear?" Frampton wrote. "People are going to food banks not private islands."

Some users simply used a meme created from the earlier seasons of her family's reality show, "Keeping Up With The Kardashians," where her sister Kourtney reminded her "there's people that are dying" when the reality star lost her earring in the ocean.

In addition to those who sought to remind Kardashian of the state of the world, others took her words and created a meme.

Twitter users quoted her tweet about surprising her "closest inner circle" and added in photos from music videos, television or movies.

A representative for Kardashian declined to comment on the matter to NBC News.

Diana Dasrath contributed.

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'Cruel & clueless': Kim Kardashian private island bash amid pandemic draws fierce backlash

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Kim Kardashian West's birthday photos didn't receive the reaction she likely expected on Tuesday, with Twitter users calling the reality star "cruel" and "insensitive" for posting about her private island bash as people continue to suffer from the coronavirus pandemic.

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This article discusses which candidate has a better chance of restoring lost jobs in America due to Covid-19 and some other stances on different policies such as tax rates and the environment. First, I believe the people that constructed this story made it to help the reader form an opinion on what the candidates are doing related to Covid-19 and maybe even use bias to sway opinions. Second, this article was made by NBC and NBC probably chose the author, Martha C. White, to write this because her opinions are similar to those in charge of NBC. Lastly, the culture associated with this paper uses us vs. them in my opinion and discusses political values.

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With the two presidential candidates preparing to debate Thursday for the final time before Election Day, all eyes are on the economy. Both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will have one last chance to convince Americans that they would do a better job rebuilding America's battered workforce and kick-starting business growth that their opponent would.

Despite the economic improvements gained since spring, the American labor market still faces a deficit of more than 10 million jobs, and more jobs are disappearing permanently. The most recent monthly employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that permanent job losses grew by 345,000 in September to 3.8 million, while the number of temporary layoffs has plunged.

Economists say job creation needs to be a top priority for whoever is in the White House come January, and business owners say they are desperate for clarity.

"Until the election's over, I think we and our customers are hesitant to add to head count. I think everybody is kind of holding their breath for the next few weeks to see which way things are going to turn," said William Burgess, owner of Power Technology Inc., an Arkansas-based manufacturer of laser devices used in military and medical equipment. "We do feel that there's some pent-up demand due to Covid-19 and the election," he said. "I think the business community will at least have a little bit of clarity and I think things will start to shake loose with that."

There are several key topics experts and business owners say could make or break America's economic trajectory in the final weeks of the year and through 2021.

"The combination of being more serious about the virus and more serious about relief and stimulus will be the biggest drivers in the short run," said Harry Holzer, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution and a public policy professor at Georgetown University. "Then you get into job creation proposals not tied to the pandemic like infrastructure and climate-related employment."

The pandemic remains the biggest unknown, and poses the biggest potential risk: Containing the spread and mitigating the public health and economic effects of Covid-19 needs to come first.

"Repeated waves lead to the risk of repeated shutdowns, but also a lot of consumer uncertainty," said Till von Wachter, professor of economics and director of the California Policy Lab at the University of California, Los Angeles. "A national protocol of how to suppress the pandemic would certainly help give people the confidence to return" to their daily lives, including resuming activities like eating out, going to movies and taking vacations.

"The first thing they have to do is get the virus under control. That remains the biggest threat, and it doesn't look like Trump is going to be willing to do anything," Holzer said. "Biden has shown a lot more interest in ... a federal strategy on testing and tracing. I think that's a very big difference."

The silver lining to what would be a huge, expensive undertaking is that this imperative also presents an opportunity for job creation. "We really need WPA-program-type stimulus," said Jeff Strohl, director of research at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. "We clearly have a need for health care technology infrastructure development," he said. A program modeled after the National Guard to develop and train a national corps of hospital and health care workers, he suggested, could kill two birds with one stone.

Burgess said businesses like his would benefit from more readily available testing. "I would like to see free and open testing, and I think that's one place where hourly employees have struggled in the past [because] it's a financial hurdle for them to get tested," he said. "Now the full cost is coming to bear on those who can least afford it, so I would be supportive of a widely available free testing option that anybody could take advantage of." A lack of free, accessible testing means that workers run the risk of coming to work infected and unaware of their contagion, a circumstance that could trigger a superspreading event.

A growing number of both Beltway and Wall Street observers are operating under the assumption that if Biden wins the presidency and the Democrats retain control of the House and retake control of the Senate, a much larger stimulus package will be rolled out early in the new year.

Without this, the economic outlook is bad. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Fed Governor Lael Brainard, who is said to be a top contender for secretary of the Treasury should Biden, have both spoken with increasing urgency in recent weeks about the need for more fiscal stimulus. "Further targeted fiscal support will be needed alongside accommodative monetary policy to turn this K-shaped recovery into a broad-based and inclusive recovery," Brainard told the Society of Professional Economists this week, calling for income support in industries where workers have been hardest-hit.

Help for households is critical, Holzer said. Without income support, particularly in the form of a reinstatement of expanded unemployment insurance benefits, economic momentum will stall, he predicted. "If you don't replace the $600 bump with anything, you'll also have a big drag because people's consumption gets cut way back," Holzer said.

One area of spending that usually garners bipartisan support is infrastructure investment, and both Trump and Biden have referred to the topic in the past in the context of job growth. Infrastructure by itself is no silver bullet, though. "We could have shovel-ready jobs to some degree, but the money won't hit the ground in the first 100 days," Strohl said. "The depth of this crisis is going to demand multi-faceted entry points."

Even a comprehensive program improving roads, bridges, railways and utilities would leave out millions of the workers hardest-hit by the pandemic: women and minorities without college degrees working in service sector jobs like food service and retail. "The people who have been hit hardest have been women and minorities," Holzer said. "Are they the people we're going to train for these heavy construction jobs? I think that's somewhat unlikely."

"Infrastructure needs to move past our old version of shovel-ready, which is really a male-oriented approach to infrastructure, and this recession has hit more women than men. Hopefully we'll find a balance," Strohl said, suggesting that a new model could include jobs in health care and technology along with construction and building trades.

According to data from Glassdoor.com, the three of the five fastest-growing job sectors over the past month are related to technology. "Jobs within these industries are good to keep an eye on in a post-Covid-19 economy," said spokesman Tyler Murphy.

Strohl said getting Americans back to work will depend on what they did beforehand, and for how long they have been sidelined. "There are those workers who could be immediately re-employed if their company opened up again, there are people who could get back into the workforce with short-term training and there are some who are permanently dislocated," he said. "We need to think about the 10 million unemployed and see who can immediately be re-employed and under what conditions."

Reorienting the skill sets of potentially thousands of workers will be a tremendous undertaking. The Biden campaign has proposed providing two years of community college or equivalent training to all Americans, along with a $50 billion investment in workforce training through community college partnerships and free four-year tuition for students with family incomes below $125,000.

"We're in the high-tech field, so I do like the idea of affordable education," Burgess said, although he added that he didn't support free tuition across the board for college because he was worried about the expense to taxpayers. "Typically on the production floor, we're looking for two years of college or work experience in a technical field," he said. Burgess said his employees have to continually keep their skills up to date. "Training is critical to our success. Even in a down year, we have to do some sort of training," he said.

Biden has consistently framed his environmental plan as being a boon for job creation. Kentucky-based HempWood manufactures building materials out of industrial hemp, and founder Greg Wilson is one entrepreneur who is optimistic about the potential for business growth.

"Green building policies would be more beneficial for us in the market," Wilson said, as would incentives for using American-made products in building construction and retrofitting. "We need to make things in America because the American economy is based on services rather than making things. Right now it's turned upside down."

Ensuring America's competitiveness in the midst of widespread economic pain is no small task, but it is necessary in an era of global supply chains. "Trade policy issues are going to potentially have an effect in the medium term," Strohl said.

Relief from Trump's trade wars would be a big help, business owners say. "The idea of the tariffs is not wrong and that's because there are unfair trade practices in China ... but the way it's being applied is a disaster," Wilson said.

HempWood had to buy production equipment from China because no U.S.-based supplier existed for the machines they needed, Wilson said. Although his firm received a tariff exemption, coronavirus-related disruption meant that the equipment arrived on American shores nine days after the exemption expired. "I've laid people off because of that tariff," he said.

"An important distinction between the Republican and Democratic platforms is that Joe Biden puts a lot of weight on spending to stimulate the economy," von Wachter said. "Republicans put more weight on hoping to grow the economy with tax cuts."

As in 2016, Trump has campaigned on the promise of cutting taxes for businesses, but von Wachter cast doubt on the likelihood of success. "Spending stimulates the economy, whereas there's much less evidence on tax cuts having a particularly strong effect on growth," and by extension on job creation.

Trump has pledged to extend the individual tax cuts that expire in 2025, and Biden's tax plan would effectively expand the child tax credit. Either could bolster demand, a key ingredient in an economy driven predominantly by consumer spending. "Any way you increase spending can increase jobs," said Eric Toder, co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Toder added that building a post-Covid economy gives the White House and Congress both an opportunity and a responsibility to ensure that the tax policies they implement incentivize inclusive economic gains.

"The other issue is, what's our standard of living going to be in the future? Are we going to increase our productivity?" he said.

While the number of jobs added is important, he added, so is making sure that those jobs are stable, safe and pay a living wage. "Tax incentives can help these things if they're designed properly," Toder said.

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Trump vs. Biden: Who has a better chance of restoring America's lost jobs?

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With the two presidential candidates preparing to debate Thursday for the final time before Election Day, all eyes are on the economy. Both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will have one last chance to convince Americans that they would do a better job rebuilding America's battered workforce and kick-starting business growth that their opponent would.

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https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/08/media/fox-vs-cnn-viewers-covid-19-precautions-wellness/index.html

Rather than just one of the aspects of people, organizations, and culture, I believe this article relates to all of them. This article highlights how per a study, Fox News viewers are more likely than CNN news to break COVID-19 protocols.

First of all, I believe this story along with the news is affected culturally. These two news outlets are known for having underlying political affiliation. As American society is synonymous with politics and their parties, the news follows its steps. Fox News being shown as more republican favored as CNN is more democratic shows that the news can truly be affected by culture. Likewise, this study being published highlights the cultures view of political affiliation and how it affects something like COVID-19 protocols.

Next, one can see this study also falls on the organizational level. Obviously, two companies are shown and their variation. Organizations affect the news, which affects how people live their lives. Fox News viewers could fear the virus less than CNN, and this could be the cause of breaking more protocols. If this was the case, one could assume that the news outlet and its messages correlate with their actions, showing variations in the same news across a society.

Lastly, this story and news is largely made up of the people. People are what make these organizations and found our culture. People's ideals are what lead them to a particular news outlet, allowing them to shape the news in the way that best suits the viewer and their interest. All in all, people and their thoughts and actions affect everything, including the actions shown in this study.

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The permanent record of the 48-year-old former Notre Dame law school professor is in direct proportion with her resume, which is strikingly thin for someone nominated to a lifetime position on the Supreme Court. By almost any objective measure, Barrett is the most inexperienced person nominated to the Supreme Court since 1991, when President George H.W. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas, then just 43, to replace the legendary Thurgood Marshall. Barrett’s rulings on the seventh circuit court of appeals show her to be someone who cares little about justice, and who doesn’t particularly value the interests of workers, immigrants, and the poor. In case after case, she has found ways to justify depriving people of their basic rights, and it’s clear that on some of the most important issues of our time, causing the supreme court to go in a direction nobody wants to see it go. Barrett’s minuscule professional history raises some pertinent questions about her nomination that go beyond how she might rule on hot-button social issues: How did a professor from a second-tier law school with such a shallow reservoir of experience manage to leapfrog to the top of the list of potential Republican Supreme Court nominees? And why were Republicans, who have spent decades obstructing legislation that would help women advance in the workplace, so eager to promote this particular under-credentialed, female candidate? -Bryce Dorsey

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For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett took some heat from Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) during her confirmation hearing last week, when he pressed her on her failure to turn over additional relevant documents to the committee, including an anti-abortion newspaper ad she'd signed in 2006. Barrett responded that she had submitted 30 years' worth of material to the committee, and that she had simply missed the 15-year-old ad. "I produced 1,800 pages of material," she insisted, implying that this submission was voluminous.

In the world of Supreme Court nominees, however, 1,800 pages of documents barely registers as a footnote. Chief Justice John Roberts rustled up 75,000 pages of records for his 2005 confirmation hearing-just from his time serving in Republican administrations. The Senate reviewed about 170,000 pages of records before confirming Justice Elena Kagan and 180,000 for Justice Neil Gorsuch. No one even comes close to the document dump from Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The Senate Judiciary Committee waded through more than 1 million records during his 2018 confirmation fight, including a supplemental submission of 42,000 the night before his hearing started.

Page counts, of course, are not a perfect proxy for experience, but the relative paucity of Barrett's is an indication of just how circumscribed her legal experience has been compared with virtually all of her predecessors-and even one nominee who was ultimately denied the position. The permanent record of the 48-year-old former Notre Dame law school professor is in direct proportion with her resume, which is strikingly thin for someone nominated to a lifetime position on the Supreme Court. By almost any objective measure, Barrett is the most inexperienced person nominated to the Supreme Court since 1991, when President George H.W. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas, then just 43, to replace the legendary Thurgood Marshall.

Barrett's limited CV did have an upside: It's one reason that Republicans have been able to rush her confirmation hearings and vote on her nomination, which the Judiciary Committee did Thursday without a single Democrat in the room. (The full Senate will vote on it Monday.) There's simply not that much in her record to review.

But Barrett's insular professional history raises some pertinent questions about her nomination that go beyond how she might rule on hot-button social issues: How did a professor from a second-tier law school with such a shallow reservoir of experience manage to leapfrog to the top of the list of potential Republican Supreme Court nominees? And why were Republicans, who have spent decades obstructing legislation that would help women advance in the workplace, so eager to promote this particular under-credentialed, female candidate?

"How did she go from really good law professor to the short list?" asks Angie Maxwell, a political science professor at the University of Arkansas who studies conservative politics and feminism. "That's not from being a law professor. That's from partisan networks and groups she worked with, and that's what's concerning."

Barrett has spent virtually all of her professional life in academia. Until President Trump nominated her to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017, she had never been a judge, never worked in the government as a prosecutor, defense lawyer, solicitor general, or attorney general, or served as counsel to any legislative body-the usual professional channels that Supreme Court nominees tend to hail from. A graduate of Notre Dame law school, Barrett has almost no experience practicing law whatsoever-a hole in her resume so glaring that during her 7th Circuit confirmation hearing in 2017, Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were dismayed that she couldn't recall more than three cases she'd worked on during her brief two years in private practice. Nominees are asked to provide details on 10.

Barrett has never tried a case to verdict or argued an appeal in any court, nor has she ever performed any notable pro bono work, even during law school. The ABA's code of professional responsibility says lawyers should aspire to provide 50 hours a year of free legal services, with an emphasis on serving the poor in recognition of the fact that "only lawyers have the special skills and knowledge needed to secure access to justice for low-income people." Chief Justice John Roberts famously met some of these requirements by representing a mass murderer on Florida's death row.
Barrett has never tried a case to verdict or argued an appeal in any court, nor has she ever performed any notable pro bono work, even during law school.
In response to the Senate Judiciary Committee's questions about her pro bono work, Barrett said she probably helped with such cases during her two years in private practice, but she couldn't recall any details. Instead, she described her family's participation in Angel Tree drives and volunteer work at a local soup kitchen-worthy projects undertaken by families all across America but not even close to the official definition of pro bono work.

Yet Barrett's name was already being bandied about as a Supreme Court candidate almost as soon as Trump took office. She didn't make the list of potential Supreme Court candidates his campaign released during the 2016 campaign, probably because she'd never been a judge. The president fixed that problem in 2017, when he nominated her for a seat on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The American Bar Association deemed her well-qualified for the post, and within three months of her investiture in 2018, White House officials were interviewing her to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.

By comparison, the American Bar Association had reservations about Brett Kavanaugh when George W. Bush nominated him (for the third time) to serve on the DC Circuit in 2006-his inexperience and his "sanctimonious" performance during oral arguments counted against him. But by the time Trump picked him to replace Kennedy, he had spent 12 years on the appellate court and written hundreds of opinions. Trump's other appointee, Justice Neil Gorsuch, had been an appellate court judge for 11 years before Trump nominated him to fill the seat vacated by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Justice Sonia Sotomayor had been an assistant district attorney in New York City, a solo practitioner, and later a corporate litigator and law firm partner. She had been a federal judge, first at the trial court level, and then on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, for 17 years before Obama tapped her for the Supreme Court.

Not all Supreme Court justices have logged decades on the lower courts before moving up the ladder. The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, for instance, had never been a judge when President Richard Nixon appointed him. Barrett's defenders often compare her to Justice Kagan, who also came to the court after working mostly in academia. Kagan had never been a judge, but she had wide-ranging legal experience when President Barack Obama nominated her in 2010, including significant public service experience. In 1993, she took leave for a summer from her teaching position at the University of Chicago law school to serve as special counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Her job there? Working on the Supreme Court nomination of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the legendary feminist Trump chose Barrett to replace.

Kagan later spent four years working in the Clinton White House, first as associate White House counsel and later at the domestic policy counsel. Clinton nominated her to a seat on the DC Circuit in 1999, but the GOP-led Senate never acted on the nomination. When Obama tapped her for the Supreme Court, critics complained that Kagan, like Barrett, had never tried a case. But unlike Barrett, Kagan had no trouble satisfying the Judiciary Committee's questions about the most notable 10 cases she'd worked on in private practice at the Washington, DC, law firm Williams & Connolly before she went into academia. At the time of her nomination, she was the solicitor general, the first woman to hold the post, where she argued frequently before the Supreme Court, wrote briefs, and oversaw the work of nearly two dozen lawyers before the high court.

As for Kagan's 15 years in academia, she wasn't just any law professor, teaching three classes a year as Barrett did during her 15 years as a full-time law professor. In 2003, Kagan became the first female dean of Harvard Law School, where she had also studied. At the nation's largest and most prestigious law school, Kagan oversaw a $400 million capital campaign, an operating budget of $180 million, and 500 employees.

Even Harriet Miers had a more substantial legal background than Barrett. Miers was the last woman a Republican president tried (though failed) to put on the high court. Then more than a decade older than Barrett is now, she was White House counsel for President George W. Bush when he nominated her in 2005 to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court. Conservatives ultimately torpedoed her nomination because they thought she'd go all wobbly on abortion or other conservative litmus-tests issues, much the way they believed George H.W. Bush's nominee Justice David Souter did. Miers had once been a Democrat and conservatives attacked her credentials, suggesting that while she'd litigated and argued a host of cases in federal and state courts, they weren't the right kind of cases. (Flash forward to Barrett, who has never litigated anything in federal court.)

The fight over her failed nomination obscured Miers' rather impressive resume. Though never a judge, she had been a trailblazer in Texas, where she was the first woman hired at the big firm now known as Locke Lorde-and eventually its first female president. She was the first woman to head the State Bar of Texas. At one point, she even served as a witness in a sexual discrimination case against her own firm-the sort of experience Ginsburg might have appreciated in a colleague.

Outside the courtroom, Miers had a rich record of civic involvement and public service reminiscent of O'Connor's, including serving two years on the Dallas City Council. And Miers did a considerable amount of real pro bono work, including representing a poor, single mother of six, with a ninth grade education, appealing all the way to the Supreme Court in a fight over disability benefits. (The court declined to hear the case.) When Bush was elected governor, he tapped her to clean up the troubled Texas Lottery Commission. Miers went to the White House with Bush, where she served as staff secretary, deputy chief of staff, and counsel to the president-the second woman ever to hold that post.

A recurring theme among Republicans is that Barrett is also something of a trailblazer-not because of any of her professional accomplishments or teacher-of-the-year awards, but because she will be the first woman on the court with school-aged children at home. "As a nominee for our nation's highest court, Judge Barrett is an example to girls and young women in Iowa, and across America, that they truly can do it all," Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said after Barrett was nominated.
"As a nominee for our nation's highest court, Judge Barrett is an example to girls and young women in Iowa, and across America, that they truly can do it all."
When President Trump took office, he immediately prioritized the federal judiciary in a way no other president has. To help him fill the bench with religious conservatives, he turned to the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization established in 1982 that over the years has been funded with millions of dollars in dark money donations in an effort to stack the federal courts with conservative and libertarian judges for decades to come.

By July 2020, the group had helped the GOP-controlled Senate ram through a record 218 Trump judicial nominees- 85 percent of them white, and 76 percent male. Its singular focus on youth and ideological purity among the nominees has been instrumental in lowering the standards for judicial office.

Trump has nominated 10 judges that the American Bar Association rated as unqualified to serve on the federal bench; seven of them were confirmed. Among those unqualified nominees was Brett Talley, an amateur ghost-hunter from Alabama who had blogged favorably about the Klan. (He withdrew from consideration.) And then there was Matthew Peterson, an elections lawyer nominated for a seat on the US District Court for the DC Circuit. The ABA rated him as qualified, but he withdrew his nomination shortly after his confirmation hearing, where he couldn't answer questions from Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) about basic legal concepts.

"They certainly value ideology and fidelity over traditional notions of careerism, qualifications and experience," says Amanda Hollis-Brusky, a politics professor at Pomona College and the author of Ideas With Consequences: The Federalist Society and the Conservative Counterrevolution. "Their idea of someone who is a good judge is someone with a particular ideology, not someone who understands the craft."

Lowering the standards for judicial nominations has benefitted a lot of mediocre men, but it has also accrued to the advantage of a few smart conservative women like Barrett, whose family life has put them at a disadvantage in racking up the sorts of legal qualifications normally required of a federal judge. "The pool [of conservative women lawyers] is so small that someone with her relative lack of experience on the bench is on the top of the list," says the University of Arkansas' Maxwell. Indeed, in 2016, when Trump released his original list of 21 conservatives he'd consider for the Supreme Court, only two of them were women currently serving on a federal court.

Barrett first joined the Federalist Society in 2005 and then again in 2014, after which she set off on an extensive speaking tour sponsored by the conservative legal outfit-a tour that bears all the hallmarks of a political campaign, only one targeted at the unelected post of Supreme Court justice. Between 2016 and the time Trump nominated her to the Supreme Court this year, she spoke at nearly two dozen Federalist Society events across the country, with the group picking up $15,000 in travel expenses for her in 2018 and 2019.

Barrett is not the only conservative woman with a shallow CV to benefit from an assist from the Federalist Society. Sarah Pitlyk, a former Kavanaugh clerk who had previously worked at an anti-abortion legal nonprofit, is now a Trump-appointed judge on the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. A unanimous committee of the ABA rated her unqualified for the seat, in part because of "a very substantial gap" in her resume.

During her confirmation hearing, Pitlyk explained that she had never taken a deposition or tried a case because she had arranged her schedule to spend more time with her four children. During her Senate testimony she described herself as "very fortunate" for having had the opportunity to work "at small firms with very accommodating and flexible colleagues who want the best for me and for my family in addition to the best for our clients. I have had the luxury of getting to be as protected as possible and as supported as possible by my colleagues."

Would that all women lawyers were so lucky. The legal profession is tough on women in a way it is not on men, and those who succeed often do so at huge costs to their personal lives. A 2017 McKinsey study found that while women represented almost half of entry-level workforce legal jobs, only 19 percent of equity partners in the nation's biggest law firms were women, and women were nearly 30 percent less likely than men to make the first level of partnership. Children are a major factor in the attrition rate.

It's no coincidence that Sotomayor, Kagan, and Miers had expansive resumes but no spouses or children when they were nominated to the Supreme Court, even though all of the male justices are married with children. The late Justice Antonin Scalia had nine of them; Chief Justice Roberts' 4-year-old son famously upstaged President George W. Bush by tap dancing through the press conference when Bush announced Roberts' nomination. That's one reason Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee couldn't stop marveling about Barrett's seven children during her confirmation hearing. Sen. John Kennedy even asked her who did her family's laundry.

Clearly, one likely reason Barrett's resume is so thin is precisely because she has seven children. Consider this: If she took all the paid family leave available to her while she was a full-time professor, she would have spent nearly two of the 15 years she worked at Notre Dame on leave. That's not the sort of butt-in-the-chair performance expected of lots of lawyers, much less those on track for superstar status. She's pulled off a work-life balance many liberal women lawyers would envy. And she's done it at a conservative Catholic law school, within the confines of a patriarchal conservative religious movement that in many quarters still frowns upon working mothers, paid family leave legislation, contraception, and anti-discrimination laws.

"It's striking because the Federalist Society has so few women, it's not as if they are a pipeline to uplift women in general," says Pomona's Hollis-Brusky. Women like Barrett, she says, have "been granted these opportunities by men who approve of their life choices."

Indeed, Barrett is aligned with a movement in which people like Fox News' Tucker Carlson blame working mothers for the " decline" of men, or conservative Christian commentator and RedState editor Erick Erickson publicly condemns working mothers as bad for kids. Yet these same conservatives give Barrett a pass. Carlson, who once said he felt sorry for Elena Kagan because she was "never going to be an attractive woman" is over the moon about Barrett. "Amy Coney Barrett is a remarkable person, an unusual person, maybe the most impressive person to receive a Supreme Court nomination in memory," Carlson told his 4 million viewers in September. She "represents everything that made this a great country."

Historically, Maxwell says, the conservative movement has made an exception for women like Barrett as long as they are furthering its anti-feminist agenda. She compares her to another Catholic superwoman of the religious right, the late Phyllis Schlafly, mother of six, who worked full time to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment as part of her lifelong campaign to keep mothers out of the workplace.

"She's clearly very intelligent," Maxwell says of Barrett, but her nomination is reminiscent of the time when Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was trying to find a woman to put on the 2012 GOP presidential ticket and emerged with Sarah Palin. The former governor of Alaska had five children, including one with Down syndrome. Barrett also has a child with a disability, as well as two kids she adopted from Haiti. Elevating a woman like Barrett, who's managed to do it all, is one way the conservative movement likes to "thumb its nose at all of the things that women say are still obstacles," Maxwell says. If one woman with many kids succeeds at the highest level of law and politics, she says, "it invalidates [the obstacles] for all the other women."

Barrett also checks another important box for the religious right: Men who would like to see the Supreme Court overturn the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade have long hoped to have a woman cast the deciding vote. "It washes away the stench of it being sexist if it's coming from a woman," Maxwell says. Having not just a woman but one with seven children poised to overturn Roe explains conservatives' outsize enthusiasm for a nominee whose professional record falls short when compared with most Supreme Court justices. "That is really part of the symbolic strategy," Maxwell says. "I can still have it all, adopt the babies, have all of the children, cherish life, and still have all the success that every woman wants."
Images from left: Win McNamee/ZUMA, Michael Reynolds/CNP/ZUMA; Karen Bleier/Getty

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Amy Coney Barrett is the least-experienced Supreme Court nominee in 30 years

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For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett took some heat from Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) during her confirmation hearing last week, when he pressed her on her failure to turn over additional relevant documents to the committee, including an anti-abortion newspaper ad she'd signed in 2006.

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Ex-NYPD cop who terrorized Nashville residents during break-in must pay $1M, judge rules

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Ex-NYPD cop who terrorized Nashville residents during break-in must pay $1M, judge rules

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I choose this article because it comes from a news source that is rated least bias by mediabiasfactcheck.com but comes out of a very red state. With that in mind, I think this exemplifies how people and culture construct the news. The reporter creates an immediate bias against the ex-NYPD officer by using the words "cop" and "terrorized" in the headline, and the story is written with quotes that depict a bias towards the BIPOC victim/plaintiff. Culture also plays a role in how the article is interpreted, as it further supports the BLM movement and widespread support for criminal justice reform.

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A former New York Police Department officer who broke down the door of a Nashville family's home during a drunken night out has been ordered to pay $1 million by a federal judge.

Michael J. Reynolds, who was a patrol officer in Manhattan, was ordered Monday by federal Judge Eli Richardson to pay $1 million to Conese Halliburton, whose home was broken into by Reynolds when he mistook it for his own.

Reynolds and other NYPD officers had traveled to Nashville in July 2018 to celebrate an officer's bachelor party and stayed in an Airbnb next to Halliburton's home.

Halliburton said she was home with her sons when Reynolds kicked in the front door of her 12 South-area residence and barged in. Video surveillance showed Reynolds screaming and threatening the family and using racist slurs.

Reynolds can be heard saying in the video, "Try to shoot me, and I'll break every f---ing bone in your f---ing neck," before calling them "f---ing n------."

The nightmare of the break-in lasted about eight minutes, Halliburton said, and only ended when Reynolds learned Nashville police were on their way.

When confronted by Halliburton and neighbors the next day, Halliburton testified that Reynolds laughed it off and apologized - but with a big smile on his face.

"We are police from New York. You don't need to make a big deal about it. We were just drinking," said Officer Thomas Geberth, according to court testimony, during the confrontation.

Reynolds was sentenced to 15 days in jail and placed on probation for three years. The $1 million he must pay is due to a civil lawsuit filed by Halliburton and is separate from the criminal case. He later resigned from NYPD after facing national backlash.

"Ms. Halliburton promised from the beginning that she would hold ex-Officer Reynolds fully accountable for his criminal misconduct and obtain justice for her family regarding this despicable incident," said Nashville attorney Daniel A. Horwitz, who represented Halliburton. "We are certainly pleased with this development, but we also aren't finished here."

Horwitz said it was unlikely Halliburton would collect the full amount of money owed to her since Reynolds declared bankruptcy. She created a GoFundMe online fundraiser earlier this year to help with legal costs.
Reach Brinley Hineman at bhineman@tennessean.com and on Twitter @brinleyhineman.

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Ex-NYPD cop who terrorized Nashville residents during break-in must pay $1M, judge rules

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A former New York Police Department officer who broke down the door of a Nashville family's home during a drunken night out has been ordered to pay $1 million by a federal judge. Michael J.

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Whitmer on Trump's Response to Kidnapping Plot

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Whitmer on Trump's Response to Kidnapping Plot

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This article draws strong divides between "Us" and "Them." Without saying it directly, the story construes Whitmer supporters as law-abiding, safety-minded,  independent thinkers, while Trump supporters as lawless, callous, and trapped in mob mentality. Regardless of how accurate these descriptions are, the article makes the line between the supporters very clear, while it's unlikely that all of their supporters have the same characteristics.

According to the Ad Fontes media bias chart, MSNBC leans left and is somewhat unreliable.

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Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer slammed President Trump for downplaying the alleged kidnapping plot against her, accusing him of stoking a "mob mentality" toward public officials.

"I don't think it's funny," she said of Mr. Trump's rhetoric during an interview with CBS News on Wednesday. "And anyone who thinks it's funny has a real twisted sense of what humor is." Whitmer spoke with CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett for this week's episode of "The Takeout" podcast, which will air in full on Friday.

During a rally in Lansing, Michigan, on Tuesday, Mr. Trump blasted Whitmer for imposing stay-at-home orders earlier in the year due to the coronavirus pandemic. When the president first mentioned the Michigan governor's name, the crowd began chanting, "lock her up." Mr. Trump responded, "I don't comment on that because every time, if I make just even a little bit of a nod, they say, 'the president led them on.' Now, I don't have to lead you on." Mr. Trump also said of the alleged plot against Whitmer, "Maybe it was a problem, maybe it wasn't."

Whitmer drew a direct link between Mr. Trump's words and the threats she received.

"Every time he sets his sights on me, I get more death threats. The violent rhetoric has an uptick. And there's no question that it's had an impact," Whitmer told Garrett. "I've had to have conversations with my teenage children about why there's people with AR-15s on our front lawn on more than one occasion. People are looking for any hook to legitimize these domestic terrorism tendencies. And I think that Donald Trump knows that, and it's not a coincidence, and he's feeding it."

She also noted that Michigan had not been under stay-at-home orders since June, so the president is "propagating things that are demonstrably false," Whitmer said, for the purpose of "feeding into the anxiety and fear and anger that people have."

"I think that the mob mentality that has been stoked, the fear that has been exploited, the anger that has been incited, is real and it has real impacts," Whitmer said.

She argued that Mr. Trump's response to the plot against her "tells you everything you need to know about the character of this president."

To underplay "what is the most serious plan to hurt a governor in our nation I think shows an incredibly callous approach to looking at everything through a lens of what does it mean for himself, as opposed to what it means for the good of our country, the health of our people and the welfare of our democracy," Whitmer said.

The Michigan governor, who is the co-chair for Joe Biden's presidential campaign, also discussed the upcoming election and Biden's prospects for winning her state. Mr. Trump narrowly won Michigan in 2016.

Whitmer says she believes Biden will win Michigan, but cautioned that "we're not taking anything for granted." She noted that people were voting early in person and by absentee in the state, with 2.2 million ballots already received.

"The historic turnout I think we're going to see is really good news for Joe Biden," Whitmer said.

She also argued that the enthusiasm for Biden matches enthusiasm for the president. Unlike Mr. Trump's large, crowded events, where there is limited social distancing and few people wear facial coverings, she said the Biden campaign is holding events like drive-in rallies that keep attendees safe.

"I see a lot of enthusiasm for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris," Whitmer said. "I do think that the enthusiasm will be revealed in the sheer number of people that are coming out to vote."

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Whitmer on Trump's response to kidnapping plot: "I don't think it's funny"

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Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer slammed President Trump for downplaying the alleged kidnapping plot against her, accusing him of stoking a "mob mentality" toward public officials. "I don't think it's funny," she said of Mr. Trump's rhetoric during an interview with CBS News on Wednesday.

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Kim Kardashian West humbly threw a party on a private island during a pandemic, and the internet isn't letting it go

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Kim Kardashian West humbly threw a party on a private island during a pandemic, and the internet isn't letting it go

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In the midst of a global pandemic, any actions that defy the precautions we should be taking are seriously reprimanded by the public. Due to this, Kim Kardashian West's social media posts describing her personal takeaways from her birthday getaway were met with backlash and exasperation from several news publications. Although this response is warranted, it can lead to news stories glossing over the precautions she could've actually taken in order to portray her actions in as bad of a light as possible. News articles could neglect to reach out to her team to see if her birthday getaway was more safe and responsible that it was made out to be, which is irresponsible and proves a media bias against her.

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Undeterred by an ongoing pandemic, Kim Kardashian West has revealed she threw a party for herself and dozens of friends on a private island that swapped social distancing for dancing, bike-riding and swimming with whales. But at least she did it humbly.

The television personality is facing a backlash and torrent of memes after sharing pictures of her 40th birthday blowout at an undisclosed island -- an experience which, she says, gave her a slice of normality in challenging times.

"After 2 weeks of multiple health screens and asking everyone to quarantine, I surprised my closest inner circle with a trip to a private island where we could pretend things were normal just for a brief moment in time," Kardashian West wrote on Twitter.

"We danced, rode bikes, swam near whales, kayaked, watched a movie on the beach and so much more," she explained, alongside pictures of guests at the bash.

But the event doubled as a grounding experience for Kardashian West, who wrote: "I realize that for most people, this is something that is so far out of reach right now, so in moments like these, I am humbly reminded of how privileged my life is."

Her encounter was nonetheless ruthlessly mocked on social media by commentators, many of whom have been unable to seek normalcy on their own private islands during the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.

Nightmarish scenes from films including "Midsommar," "Parasite" and "The Wicker Man" were substituted into Kardashian West's tweet by a number of creative Twitter users.

Others found parallels with Kardashian West's party in the art world. Journalist Ronan Farrow tweeted a scene from "The Garden of Earthly Delights," a painting by Dutch master Hieronymus Bosch, known for his depictions of hell.

And New York's Museum of Modern Art felt that Matisse's "Dance" best fit the description.

Actor Zach Braff, meanwhile, linked the trip to another ill-fated island excursion by tweeting an image of Ja Rule and Billy MacFarland promoting the infamous Fyre Festival.

And the New Jersey government's official Twitter profile used the saga to point to one of the state's most renowned contributions to popular culture, posting an image of the cast of "The Sopranos" enjoying a day trip.

It is unclear how severely the controversy will damage the political fortunes of Kardashian West's husband and Presidential candidate, Kanye West.

But many questioned the logistics of her event, given that Kardashian West neglected to provide details of what her guests' "multiple health screens" consisted of.

And the star also received a share of more direct criticism for organizing the getaway at a time when many governments are organizing against non-essential travel, and as the economic impact of the pandemic causes millions to be put under financial pressure.

"Happy birthday. I hope someone got you an alphabet book as a gift, so you can learn to read the room," actor and podcaster Kelechi Okafor wrote in a widely shared response to Kardashian West's thread.

Kardashian West turned 40 on October 21. It was announced last month that her longtime reality show, "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," will come to an end in 2021.

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kim kardashian threw a party on a private island during a pandemic

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and the internet isn't letting it go - cnn

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Kim Kardashian West humbly threw a party on a private island during a pandemic, and the internet isn't letting it go

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Undeterred by an ongoing pandemic, Kim Kardashian West has revealed she threw a party for herself and dozens of friends on a private island that swapped social distancing for dancing, bike-riding and swimming with whales. But at least she did it humbly.

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I am seriously bothered by how the profit driven motive of most news media focuses the election coverage on the sexy, scandalous, sensational, controversial, and divisive rather than the substantive. This does not lead to an informed electorate. Also the many news silos that confirm biases (and we all have biases) rather than enlighten.

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Hospitals Are Reeling Under a 46 Percent Spike in Covid-19 Patients

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Hospitals Are Reeling Under a 46 Percent Spike in Covid-19 Patients

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This article demonstrates how reporters for this newspaper chose a very important topic that is crucial for our community. The corona virus is a very serious disease, and the people reporting this chose a very relevant topic to be covered. They chose the focus of how many people have been hospitalized due to the spike in cases. The organization draws in the attention of the readers by using an eye-catching title, images, and interviews with the nurses within the hospital. They used a very informative approach and used stories from inside the hospital about how the doctors, nurses, and patients are still keeping positive attitudes.

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The number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus has climbed significantly from a month ago, straining cities that have fewer resources to weather the surges.

To expand capacity for coronavirus patients, tents were recently added in a parking lot near University Medical Center in El Paso. Credit... Joel Angel Juarez for The New York Times

MILWAUKEE - The patient who died on Tuesday morning at Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center was rolled out of her room under a white sheet. One nurse, fighting back tears, stood silently in the hall as the outline of the body passed by - one more death in an eight-month-old pandemic that has no end in sight.

"Those moments, they hit the soul," said Jodie Gord, a nurse manager who oversees a team of about 120 people at the hospital in Milwaukee.

Aurora St. Luke's is far from alone in coming under strain. Hospitals around the United States are reeling from the rampaging spread of the coronavirus, many of them in parts of the country that initially had been spared the worst.

Approaching the eve of the election, President Trump has downplayed the steep rise in cases, attributing much of it to increased testing. But the number of people hospitalized for the virus tells a different story, climbing an estimated 46 percent from a month ago and raising fears about the capacity of regional health care systems to respond to overwhelming demand.

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A coronavirus testing site at El Paso Community College. Credit... Joel Angel Juarez for The New York Times

The exploding case numbers point to a volatile new phase in the pandemic, coming after earlier waves hit large cities such as New York, then Sun Belt states like Florida and Arizona. While some of those places have begun to bring the virus under control, the surge of hospitalizations is crippling some cities with fewer resources.

In El Paso, where the number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 has more than tripled over the past three weeks, doctors at University Medical Center have started airlifting some patients to hospitals as far away as San Antonio while treating others in a field hospital in a nearby parking lot. Across the border in Mexico, the mayor of Ciudad Juárez, himself hospitalized after testing positive for the virus for the second time, is urging a temporary ban on U.S. citizens crossing into his city.

"We have never seen this in El Paso," said Dr. Joel Hendryx, chief medical officer at University Medical Center, one of the largest hospitals along the border. Citing the need for field hospitals, Dr. Hendryx drew a sharp contrast to the city's earlier surge in July, when mitigation measures drove case numbers down.

Dr. Hendryx's hospital had 195 inpatient coronavirus cases as of Tuesday compared with about 30 a month ago. In addition to the parking lot tents, officials in El Paso are converting the downtown convention center into a 50-bed hospital. Hundreds of health workers from other parts of Texas are deploying to El Paso, including an ambulance strike team with paramedics from the Houston area.

The situation is also becoming critical in states such as Idaho, Missouri, New Mexico and Utah, with frontline workers exhausted and hospitals struggling to find replacements for those testing positive each day.

Medical personnel boarded a private charter bus after their shifts at University Medical Center. Credit... Joel Angel Juarez for The New York Times

At St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center in Twin Falls, Idaho, where more than one-third of patients have Covid-19, administrators are sending children to a hospital in Boise, two hours away. The influx of patients from rural areas with little health infrastructure is similarly straining hospitals in Wisconsin, where cases have increased 53 percent from two weeks ago.

Across the country, case numbers have risen to fearsome new levels in recent days, with the seven-day average for new cases exceeding 70,000 for the first time in the pandemic. Twenty-six states are at or near record numbers for new infections. More than 500,000 cases have been announced in the past week. And exactly zero states are seeing sustained declines in case numbers.

On a per capita basis, smaller cities and rural counties in the Upper Midwest and Mountain West are struggling most acutely. North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Montana lead the country in new infections per capita. Of the 12 metro areas with the highest rates of new cases over the past two weeks, 10 are in North Dakota or Wisconsin.

But the dismal trend lines are not confined to those regions. North Carolina, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia have recently set seven-day records for new cases. And more big cities are starting to spiral, with alarming trends emerging in Chicago, Milwaukee and Newark.

And while the escalating case numbers had not been accompanied by a steep rise in deaths, that trend is starting to change. About 800 deaths are now being recorded across the country each day, far fewer than in the spring but up slightly from earlier this month.

Cities and towns nationwide are rushing to impose new restrictions. In Idaho, Gov. Brad Little backtracked on reopening but stopped short of a statewide mask mandate. Mr. Little limited indoor gatherings to 50 people, required masks at long-term care facilities and placed new restrictions on how bars and restaurants could serve their customers.

In Newark, all nonessential businesses will have to close at 8 p.m. beginning on Tuesday. Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago imposed a curfew under which nonessential businesses must shut down from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and bars without a food license are no longer allowed to serve customers indoors.

In Fargo, N.D., Mayor Tim Mahoney used his emergency powers to pass the first mask mandate in the state. The mayors of Nixa and Ozark in Missouri imposed mask mandates after appeals by nearby hospitals overwhelmed by coronavirus hospitalizations.

The influx of patients from rural areas with little health infrastructure is straining hospitals like Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee. Credit... Lauren Justice for The New York Times

On one of the I.C.U. floors at Aurora St. Luke's in Milwaukee, the mood was somber on Tuesday morning as doctors and nurses made their rounds. Twenty of the 24 beds were filled, and many of the patients were on ventilators.

But the staff put on a brave face. They gave thumbs-up to patients from the hallways, walked into rooms to greet others and assisted one woman as she ate her breakfast.

Before noon, an older woman was transferred to the I.C.U. from the Covid-19 floor. Within 30 minutes of her arrival, loud beeping sent staff members running to her room, frantically grabbing personal protection gear.

The patient's oxygen levels had plummeted to dangerously low levels, and she was going into cardiac arrest. A nurse practitioner called the patient's family, making it clear there was a possibility she would not make it.

A staff member performed compressions on the woman in hopes of keeping her alive. After several minutes, her condition stabilized - for the moment.

She was the second patient who needed such care in just three hours. When the nurses and doctors stepped away for a breath, the woman lay on the bed, now intubated, eyes glazed over and her face pale. It was hard to see any clear signs of breathing.

Some staff members patted each other on the back. Others took deep breaths. A health care worker walked out of the patient's room, holding a small plastic bag in her hand. Inside was jewelry to give to the family, said Ms. Gord, the nurse manager, in case the woman died.

Jodie Gord, a nurse manager who oversees a team of about 120 people at Aurora St. Luke's. Credit... Lauren Justice for The New York Times

Staff members still seemed in shock over the death of the other patient from that morning. She had become dear to the I.C.U. team, said Ms. Gord, who stood quietly and with obvious emotion as the stretcher slipped past. "Bless her soul," she murmured. "Sweet little lady."

Staff members said they were fighting constant exhaustion. "What's going to happen when we cannot take care of these patients?" said Dr. Pedro Salinas, a critical care specialist, who worries about how much longer the staff can endure. "They are emotionally and mentally exhausted."

The prospect of ending up in an overcrowded hospital ward is making some who are sick with the virus hesitant to check in. At the hospital in El Paso, staff members said some Covid-19 patients were arriving in the emergency room so debilitated that they required intubation almost immediately.

Sandra Garcia, 31, an El Paso resident who tested positive for the coronavirus last week, said she had been grappling with fatigue, shortness of breath and a loss of taste and smell, but had refrained from seeking care in the city's crowded hospitals.

In the meantime, she is caring for a 13-year-old who also has Covid-19 and 5-year-old twins, who are all studying online from home. Ms. Garcia said she questioned why Dee Margo, El Paso's mayor, had failed to order a shutdown of the city to curb the spike in cases.

"He's just trying to get re-elected and it's disgusting," Ms. Garcia said.

Last week, Mr. Margo announced new restrictions such as closing parks to league and tournament play, but he said an order for a full city shutdown would need to come from the governor of Texas.

Dr. German Hernandez, a nephrologist who has been caring for patients at several hospitals in El Paso, said the situation was so acute that patients on oxygen were being kept in rooms in the trauma area of University Medical Center. He said that could be devastating in the event of a disaster such as the August 2019 mass shooting at a Walmart in the city that left 23 people dead.

"God forbid we have another Aug. 3 shooting because we can't handle it right now," Dr. Hernandez said. "We have no buffer."

Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio reported from Milwaukee, Simon Romero from El Paso and Mike Baker from Seattle. Erin Coulehan contributed reporting from El Paso, Mitch Smith from Chicago, and Lucy Tompkins from New York.

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Hospitals Are Reeling Under a 46 Percent Spike in Covid-19 Patients

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The number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus has climbed significantly from a month ago, straining cities that have fewer resources to weather the surges. MILWAUKEE - The patient who died on Tuesday morning at Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center was rolled out of her room under a white sheet.

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Tim Allen, Jeff Daniels use voices to back opposing parties in 2020 election

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Tim Allen, Jeff Daniels use voices to back opposing parties in 2020 election

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https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/television/2020/10/28/tim-allen-jeff-daniels-election-ads/6053041002/
Tim Allen and Jeff Daniels are among the currently most famous Michigan natives. For one of them to be backing a Democratic candidate and one to be backing a Republican candidate probably isn't interesting to anyone not from the state of Michigan. This story reflects the Us vs Them approach depending on whether you are a Republican or a Democrat or whether you are more partial to Allen or Daniels.

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This story discusses the fact that Poland’s highest court ruled Thursday that abortions due to fetal defects were unconstitutional. Around 98% of abortions in Poland had been conducted as a result of fetal defects, meaning the ruling bans virtually all terminations taking place in the country.  The country already has some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe and will now only allow a termination in cases of rape, incest or when the mother's life in danger.  This story is from the German site DW (Deustche Welle). DW’s tagline is “Made for Minds”.   The fact that this story comes from a German news organization that conveys Germany as a “liberal democracy” put up a red flag for me as a reader right from the start.  The headline states that this abortion ruling is a “nightmare for Polish women”.  I am a liberal, so I totally agree with the way this news story is presented, but I also realize that it is written for liberals, and characterizes the Catholic Church as backward and archaic.  I am totally against this court ruling, but I can see the agenda that this news organization is pushing. About DW from their website: “Our offerings convey Germany as a liberal democracy rooted in European culture, providing a forum for German (and other) points of view on important topics, with the aim of promoting understanding and the exchange of ideas among different cultures and peoples.    https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-abortion-ruling-is-a-nightmare-for-polish-women/a-55380732

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This story discusses the fact that Poland’s highest court ruled Thursday that abortions due to fetal defects were unconstitutional. Around 98% of abortions in Poland had been conducted as a result of fetal defects, meaning the ruling bans virtually all terminations taking place in the country.  The country already has some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe and will now only allow a termination in cases of rape, incest or when the mother's life in danger.  This story is from the German site DW (Deustche Welle). DW’s tagline is “Made for Minds”.   The fact that this story comes from a German news organization that conveys Germany as a “liberal democracy” put up a red flag for me as a reader right from the start.  The headline states that this abortion ruling is a “nightmare for Polish women”.  I am a liberal, so I totally agree with the way this news story is presented, but I also realize that it is written for liberals, and characterizes the Catholic Church as backward and archaic.  I am totally against this court ruling, but I can see the agenda that this news organization is pushing. About DW from their website: “Our offerings convey Germany as a liberal democracy rooted in European culture, providing a forum for German (and other) points of view on important topics, with the aim of promoting understanding and the exchange of ideas among different cultures and peoples.    https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-abortion-ruling-is-a-nightmare-for-polish-women/a-55380732

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I am a woman. I am Catholic. I am the mother of two children. And I am furious.

Our children are still small, and our memories of the pregnancies are still very much with us. We were fortunate that we did not have to face such an incredibly difficult dilemma. Yet we were still plagued by doubts and fears about whether everything was going to turn out OK. I hardly dare to imagine how it must feel for a woman - for parents - to receive the news that the baby they are carrying has little chance of surviving childbirth, or is likely to be born with severe impairments. To force a woman to carry to term, even when she herself does not feel up to the task, must feel like torture. It is torture!

Magdalena Gwozdz-Pallokat

I remember the worries that accompanied me on the way to the doctor's office before every prenatal test. I remember how grateful I was to medical science for giving me the opportunity to find out whether there were any complications. And, yes, I was grateful that in the end, if the worst came to the worst, I could decide how things should proceed. Regardless of which decision you make in that situation, it must be incredibly difficult.
Read more: As PiS turns topic taboo, feminists get Poland talking sex
Who should have the right to decide?
Read more: How ING bank in Poland helped Russians launder money Read more: Are Poland's plans to phase coal out fact or fiction? Read more: Poland's top court rules against abortions due to fetal defects
I admire anyone who decides to give birth to a very sick child and is prepared to accompany them every little step of the way. I know families who have been brave enough to do that. I struggle for words to express just how much respect that I have for those families. Yes, this step does require courage. But it is unbelievably hurtful to insinuate that someone who decides differently is cowardly or anti-life. That decision also requires courage, and it, too, has lifelong consequences.
Read more: EU slams Hungary and Poland over democratic standards
If a woman herself cannot decide, then who does have the right? I cannot comprehend how anyone would have the audacity to make such a judgment for someone else. Yet Poland's Law and Justice Party (PiS) has reshaped the Supreme Court to serve its own purposes, and it was only to be expected that the judges would make a ruling that would please the bishops and large sections of the governing coalition.
This article was translated from German by JG.
Women are the ones who have been condemned - condemned to the dreadful countdown to the death of the children they are carrying. Many of those that do survive will only survive for a few days or weeks, but that will not interest anyone. The parent and the children born with impairments are the ones who will suffer. Those people who have loudly proclaimed the need for the "full protection of life" will not share this pain.

Not PiS' business

The state will not be there either when it comes to supporting families with seriously sick children. And I am not talking about material support here, but about structures and opportunities for individuals who require support from the very beginning. In Poland, such structures and opportunities are in short supply. There is a lack of rehabilitation services, appropriate schools and wheelchair-accessible infrastructure - and, ultimately, a lack of acceptance.

This is not about being for or against something: This is about the fundamental right of women to decide for themselves. Poland's government continues to stick its nose deeper into spheres of life that are none of its business. Politics now define what a good Polish person, a good Christian, a good wife and mother should be.

Women, in particular, as I know very well, are strong - strong enough to make their own decisions. This fact does not please everyone. But women will make themselves heard more and more. Even in Poland.

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Opinion: Abortion ruling is a nightmare for Polish women | DW | 23.10.2020

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I am a woman. I am Catholic. I am the mother of two children. And I am furious. Our children are still small, and our memories of the pregnancies are still very much with us. We were fortunate that we did not have to face such an incredibly difficult dilemma.

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I wanted to say again about the same news like the last time. Polish government few days ago banned legal abortion in Poland. They have violated the women's right. All of us are very mad and we are protesting all around the Poland! They did it over the pandemic while the medicine staff is rescuing every single life every day. Hospitals fight with corona and government fight with women again. There are so many organization that support each other and they do create posters and gadding together to fight everyone who stand out for this postulate to get accepted.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2020/oct/27/this-is-war-opposition-politicians-take-abortion-protests-to-polish-parliament-video

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Los Angeles could see more than 300 homicides this year, police chief says

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Los Angeles could see more than 300 homicides this year, police chief says

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This newspaper story about rising homicides in Los Angeles quotes two sources: the Police Chief, and the Police Commission President. While the story reflects concern and "alarm," it's notable to me that there is no source from the communities most affected, no criminology experts or sociologists, just police sources. This could have been a deeper story about causes of rising violent crime. It's not trying to be a "just the facts" story either, though, as it expresses the speculation about causes by the sources it does quote.

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Dozens more people have been killed and more have been shot in Los Angeles this year than in the same time the year before, the city's police chief said Tuesday.

Already in 2020, there have been 266 killings, according to Los Angeles Police Department numbers as of Friday. That's 53 more victims killed than over the same period of 2019. The number is also already more than the total number of killings in 2019 and 2018.

And the city is closing in on 1,000 total shooting victims - as of Friday, 975 people had been shot, an increase of 185.

Police Chief Michel Moore said he expected the city to see 300 homicides by the end of the year. The last time Los Angeles saw that many killings was in 2009.

Moore attributed rising violence to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and economic fallout, making residents frustrated and hopeless.

"There are a lack of jobs. There is a lack of hope, in some instances, and a lot of time on people's hands," Moore said.

"Unfortunately people are resorting to using weapons as they get into these disputes, or they try to retaliate, or seek vengeance because of a perceived earlier slight or insult."

He said city workers in gang intervention programs are also struggling to stem the violence, even though they've increased the number of hours spent with affected community members.

City-wide budget cuts have sapped resources for those programs. And because of the coronavirus, in some cases workers are having to resort to meeting shooting victims in video conferences, rather than at their homes or by their hospital beds. Moore said that's less effective.

The chief said there are also more guns on the streets. He said the department has tracked an increase in car burglaries where a gun was stolen. He said some of those weapons have later been found at shooting scenes.

"We see a phenomenon of more guns, more people carrying guns," Moore said.

The chief's prediction alarmed members of the Police Commission.

"This is an enormous tragedy for the city," said commission President Eileen Decker, "given the work that was done, by the community, by the department, and by the entire city to get the number of homicides each year down below 300.

"I do recall in 2009, everyone was ecstatic the number was under 300, but hoping to drop it more," she said.

Moore said the violence was hitting the city's Black and Brown communities hardest: Nearly half of the victims shot, 462, were Black, and increase of 35 percent over 2019. Another 423 were Latino, a 14 percent increase.

The killings primarily occurred in LAPD's South Bureau covering most of South L.A. But killings also jumped in the Central Division. The West Division saw a small increase, too.

The only area of the city with a flat number of killings was the San Fernando Valley, Moore said, though shootings there were on the rise.

The city's violent crime rate was still down more than 3% over the year before. Rapes, robberies and assaults so far in 2020 have fallen by double digits, though officials have publicly worried that the pandemic has led to fewer people reporting crimes.

The numbers this year are also still far below the historic levels of violence Los Angeles has seen in the past.

In some years of the 1990s, killings soared past 1,000. But over the last 30 years, the city's murder rate steadily dropped. In 2018 and 2019, killings in Los Angeles fell to 251 and 253, respectively, numbers not seen since the 1960s.

Moore said other major cities across the U.S. - New York City, Chicago and Houston - have seen similar increases in violence and murders this year.

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Los Angeles could see more than 300 homicides this year, police chief says

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Dozens more people have been killed and more have been shot in Los Angeles this year than in the same time the year before, the city's police chief said Tuesday. Already in 2020, there have been 266 killings, according to Los Angeles Police Department numbers as of Friday.

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Can it be done? Geoengineering and the absence of ethical considerations in the news.

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Can it be done? Geoengineering and the absence of ethical considerations in the news.

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The New York Times published a story on geoengineering recently. The article discusses geoengineering briefly as "radical" but focuses the bulk of the piece on whether we can effectively geoengineer our way out of the climate crisis. There is next to no attention on whether this should be done, and whether doing so is ethical. There are strong arguments about whether it is ethical to experiment on the planet - a shared resource! - without widespread consent - which can never, in effect, be granted. This is an example of how people choose how to tell a story, and how organizations decide which stories to tell. Geoengineering is a hot-button topic, and is likely to draw lots of readers. This story is deeply depressing - it gives weight and momentum to what I think is a deeply problematic "solution" to climate change.

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The idea of modifying Earth's atmosphere to cool the planet, once seen as too risky to seriously consider, is attracting new money and attention.

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland in 2020. Solar geoengineering is meant to mimic the atmospheric cooling that occurs after big volcanic eruptions. Credit... Halldór Kolbeins/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

WASHINGTON - As the effects of climate change become more devastating, prominent research institutions and government agencies are focusing new money and attention on an idea once dismissed as science fiction: Artificially cooling the planet, in the hopes of buying humanity more time to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

That strategy, called solar climate intervention or solar geoengineering, entails reflecting more of the sun's energy back into space - abruptly reducing global temperatures in a way that mimics the effects of ash clouds spewed by volcanic eruptions. The idea has been derided as a dangerous and illusory fix, one that would encourage people to keep burning fossil fuels while exposing the planet to unexpected and potentially menacing side effects.

But as global warming continues, producing more destructive hurricanes, wildfires, floods and other disasters, some researchers and policy experts say that concerns about geoengineering should be outweighed by the imperative to better understand it, in case the consequences of climate change become so dire that the world can't wait for better solutions.

"We're facing an existential threat, and we need to look at all the options," said Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at the Columbia Law School and editor of a book on the technology and its legal implications. "I liken geoengineering to chemotherapy for the planet: If all else is failing, you try it."

On Wednesday, a nonprofit organization called SilverLining announced $3 million in research grants to Cornell University, the University of Washington, Rutgers University, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and others. The work will focus on practical questions, such as how high in the atmosphere to inject sunlight-reflecting aerosols, how to shoot the right size particles into clouds to make them brighter, and the effect on the world's food supply.

Kelly Wanser, SilverLining's executive director, said the world is running out of time, and protecting people requires trying to understand the consequences of climate intervention. She said the goal of the work, called the Safe Climate Research Initiative, was "to try to bring the highest-caliber people to look at these questions."

The research announced Wednesday adds to a growing body of work already underway. In December, Congress gave the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration $4 million to research the technology. NOAA will also start gathering data that will let it detect whether other countries start using geoengineering secretly. And Australia is funding experiments to determine whether and how the technology can save the Great Barrier Reef.

"Decarbonizing is necessary but going to take 20 years or more," Chris Sacca, co-founder of Lowercarbon Capital, an investment group that is one of SilverLining's funders, said in a statement. "If we don't explore climate interventions like sunlight reflection now, we are surrendering countless lives, species, and ecosystems to heat."

One way to cool the earth is by injecting aerosols into the upper layer of the atmosphere, where those particles reflect sunlight away from the earth. That process works, according to Douglas MacMartin, a researcher in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell University whose team received funding. "We know with 100 percent certainty that we can cool the planet," Dr. MacMartin said in an interview.

What's still unclear, he added, is what happens next.

Temperature, Dr. MacMartin said, is a proxy for a lot of climate effects. "What does it do to the strength of hurricanes? What does it do to agriculture yields? What does it do to the risk of forest fires?"

To help answer those questions, Dr. MacMartin will model the specific weather effects of injecting aerosols into the atmosphere above different parts of the globe, and also at different altitudes. "Depending on where you put it, you will have different effects on the monsoon in Asia," he said. "You will have different effects on Arctic sea ice."

Another institution getting money as part of the new initiative is the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., which is funded by the National Science Foundation and has what its researchers call the world's most sophisticated earth system model.

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The sky over the northeast Pacific area streaked with clouds that form around the particles from ship exhaust. Credit... NASA Earth Observatory

The grant from SilverLining will pay for the center to run and analyze hundreds of simulations of aerosol injection, testing the effects on weather extremes around the world. One goal of the research is to look for a sweet spot - the amount of artificial cooling that can reduce extreme weather events, without causing broader changes in regional precipitation patterns or similar impacts.

"Is there a way, in our model world at least, to see if we can achieve one without triggering too much of the other?" said Jean-Francois Lamarque, director of the center's Climate and Global Dynamics laboratory.

NOAA is starting its own research into solar geoengineering. And in August, the agency announced that it would begin measuring aerosol levels in the stratosphere, creating a baseline so the agency can tell if those levels change later.

One of the advantages of having that information, according to Troy Thornberry, a research scientist at NOAA who studies atmospheric composition and chemical processes, is that it would let NOAA determine if aerosol levels increase - a sign that some other country may be intentionally injecting aerosol without announcing it.

Injecting aerosol into the stratosphere isn't the only way to bounce more of the sun's rays back into space. The Australian government is funding research into what's called "marine cloud brightening," which is meant to make clouds more reflective by spraying saltwater into the air. The goal is to get salt particles to act as nuclei in those clouds, encouraging the formation of many small water droplets, which will increase the brightness of the clouds.

Australian researchers say they hope the technique can save the Great Barrier Reef. Rising water temperatures during so-called marine heat waves are accelerating the die-off of the reef, and making marine clouds more reflective may be able to cool water temperatures enough to slow or stop that decline.

In March, Daniel Harrison, a biological oceanographer at Southern Cross University in Australia, tested the technology by using 100 nozzles to spray water into the air.

"The results were quite encouraging," Dr. Harrison said in a phone interview. One of the challenges, he said, will be using the technology on a large enough scale to make a difference. He estimated it would probably take 500 to 1,000 stations such as barges or platforms spraying water, or a smaller number of moving vessels, to cover the entire reef.

The University of Washington is also working on marine cloud brightening and was another recipient of a SilverLining grant. Sarah Doherty, program manager for the university's Marine Cloud Brightening project, said the challenge would be building spray nozzles that consistently produce the right size particles. between 30 and 100 nanometers, and finding ways to prevent them from sticking together.

The project aims to understand how the clouds respond, and also predict the regional and global climate response. Dr. Doherty said her team hoped to field-test the spray system in the next 12 to 18 months.

"The whole idea of the research we're doing," she said, "is to make sure you don't go out and inadvertently change things in a way that's going to cause damage."

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As Climate Disasters Pile Up, a Radical Proposal Gains Traction

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The idea of modifying Earth's atmosphere to cool the planet, once seen as too risky to seriously consider, is attracting new money and attention. WASHINGTON - As the effects of climate change become more devastating, prominent research institutions and government agencies are focusing new money and attention on an idea once dismissed as science fiction: Artificially cooling the planet, in the hopes of buying humanity more time to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

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Ex-U.S. employee at Mexico City embassy was 'experienced' predator with 22 apparent victims, prosecutors say

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Ex-U.S. employee at Mexico City embassy was 'experienced' predator with 22 apparent victims, prosecutors say

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Societal culture helped contstuct this news piece. While not every crime of this nature gets a large story, considering his position and the large amount of victims it was deemed newsworthy because of how much it sticks out.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-u-s-employee-mexico-city-embassy-was-experienced-predator-n1245054

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Most Muslim Voters Don't Like Donald Trump. But Has Joe Biden Done Enough to Earn Their Votes?

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Most Muslim Voters Don't Like Donald Trump. But Has Joe Biden Done Enough to Earn Their Votes?

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This story is about Muslim voters voting for Biden in the upcoming election. This demonstrates how culture can construct the news because it is dealing with politics  and political views of certain groups of people. It talks about how most Muslims will vote for Biden but not necessarily because they completely agree with all of his policies. It’s mainly so Trump doesn’t get re-elected. This is mainly focusing around Muslims voting for Biden. It does mention that a minority of Muslims will vote for Trump but it does not give many specific reasons for this.

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Most Muslim Voters Dislike Trump. But Will They Vote Biden?

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Biden is trying to earn the Muslim vote. If elected, he pledged to revoke the Muslim ban on his first day in office.

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Trump Supporters and BLM Protestors Clash as Election Approaches

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Trump Supporters and BLM Protestors Clash as Election Approaches

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/10/26/gettysburg-trump-black-lives-matter-clashes/

This article is about how Trump Supporters and BLM protestors clash in Gettysburg, PA as the election quickly approaches. BLM is a major organization that has become much more prevalent this past year. Trump supporters, who are believed to be  the opposite of BLM protestors, go head to head as the election quickly approaches. In writing this article, both groups, BLM protestors and Trump supporters are constructing the news since so much of 2020 has been about these two groups going back and forth. I think this article does a good job at communicating both viewpoints; it doesn't only focus on BLM protestors or only on Trump supporters, both groups are discussed and acknowledged.

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I believe this article, which talks about the suburbs and which suburbs are likely to vote democrat and which are likely to vote republican, demonstrates how culture constructs the news. There is a culture around suburbs, that they are quiet, peaceful places and this cultural idea was juxtaposed next to the idea of a roiling battle for votes. I feel that this really hypes up the work people are doing in the suburbs to canvas and try to bring out the votes for their sides. I know this article is specifically about suburbs, but I feel that they left out information about cities. I would have liked to have a comparison between the two to see a further juxtaposition.

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A photographer visited neighborhoods in Midwest battlegrounds to see how politics have intruded on tranquillity.

Children are romping on playgrounds and riding bikes along tree-lined streets.The backyards are big enough for barbecues with the neighbors and the public schools are quality. Life is typically slower and gentler in the suburbs, away from the ruckus of dense urban areas.

In 2020, however, politics have disrupted this sense of calm. The suburbs are shifting in both their racial and political makeup. Lawns are packed with campaign signs, leaving no doubt where residents stand in the presidential contest.

Traveling through hundreds of miles of suburbs in the Midwest battlegrounds of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and western Pennsylvania, I could clearly see this transformation.

Supporters of President Trump have decked out their homes with banners and flags as if decorating for Halloween or Christmas. The smaller signs for Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic nominee, are more a period than an exclamation point on his supporters' determination to turn the tide in November.

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A pop-up shop for Minnesota Democrats in Lakeville.

In Lakeville, about 25 miles south of Minneapolis, local Democrats set up a pop-up shop to distribute campaign signs. Lorraine Rovig, 72, drove an hour round trip from her home in Northfield because she couldn't wait for the roving distribution site to come to her.

Ms. Rovig, a former Republican, had been waking at 5 a.m. every day to get to a busy street corner in time for rush hour to wave her Biden sign. There, Ms. Rovig said, she would withstand an onslaught of insults from passing cars.

"I don't remember this nastiness in any other election," she said. "I thought, What can I do? I can encourage people and let them know they are not alone. The quiet Democratic people are out here, too."

While Mr. Kelly voted for Mr. Trump in 2016, his adult children remained dedicated Democrats. That changed, however, with the unrest over the summer.

"It feels as though we are being forced to choose between the lesser of two evils," Mr. Kelly said. He will be voting again for Mr. Trump and will be joined by his children this year.

Winning Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes has been a priority for Democrats since Mr. Trump's narrow victory there in 2016. Outside the Ozaukee Democrats office, James Quick, 58, said that people who sat out that election were now energized by anti-Trump sentiment. The suburbs of Milwaukee, however, remain split between Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden.

Brad Disbrow, a registered independent who lives in Belgium, about 37 miles north of Milwaukee, said that he was not fond of Mr. Trump, but that he did not see any option but to support the president.

Mr. Disbrow, 53, said opposing abortion was the top priority for him and his wife. "We were unable to have kids so we adopted," he said. "We went to Russia to get them. We have a deep feeling when it comes to unborn babies - it's a very personal issue."

"Enough Covid, enough inaction by our leaders, enough of people not getting their unemployment checks, enough Trump," Mr. Reilly said.

About 50 miles north of Detroit, in White Lake, roughly 30 people gathered at Luanne Stencil's waterfront home for a party organized by Women for Trump, a group that promotes the president's re-election. Most of the women wore patriotic colors. None wore masks.

They drank wine out of plastic cups, nibbled on cheese and crackers, and listened to members' remarks as the sun began to set. The group has held over two dozen luncheons and 32 wine and cheese parties.

When Conor Lamb, a Democrat, won a special election in 2018 to represent a Pittsburgh-area district in Congress, his party saw how crucial suburban support could be.

Rick Saccone, the Republican in that contest, remains a strong supporter of Mr. Trump; his western Pennsylvania home is covered - inside and out - with the evidence.

"In the suburbs, it feels like you know everybody and everybody knows you," she said, "and that's what is important to me."

Ms. Bauer, 72, explained that politics was a taboo topic when she was growing up. She marvels at the number of campaign signs in her neighborhood this year, and even at her own boldness to display her politics in her yard.

On a Wednesday evening, members of the West Hills Women's Democratic Organization, a group of party volunteers based about 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, gathered under a rented park shelter. Michele Knoll, a candidate for state representative, spoke to the group in person while a Biden campaign regional organizer addressed them virtually.

The group worked until the only light left in the area came from the glow of a laptop. "We are trying to move ahead and make sure we don't have a repeat of 2016," Debbie Turici, 66, said. "It's not just an election. It's about your values, your integrity."

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A photographer visited neighborhoods in Midwest battlegrounds to see how politics have intruded on tranquillity. Children are romping on playgrounds and riding bikes along tree-lined streets.The backyards are big enough for barbecues with the neighbors and the public schools are quality. Life is typically slower and gentler in the suburbs, away from the ruckus of dense urban areas.

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Climate literacy is essential for effective change

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Climate literacy is essential for effective change

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this article in YES! magazine discusses how most adults don't know a lot about climate change and and ways that can help remediate the situation. It is directed toward people who believe that climate change is real and bad. They would not quote science deniers.

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Hundreds of Trump Fans Stranded After Rally in Omaha 

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Hundreds of Trump Fans Stranded After Rally in Omaha 

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https://news.yahoo.com/morning-joe-trump-fans-stranded-134150286.html

This article is originally from MSNBC  but posted on 10/28 on Morning Joe. Hosted by Mika  Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, the show is extremely ant-Trump so the fact that this relatively minor but embarrassing incident did not appear on the "breaking news" segment of the NYT, Chicago Tribune or anywhere else I can find. Morning Joe is certainly an organization that loves to do this type of management. Joe said "It could be the Rapture"

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https://www.axios.com/scoop-the-lincoln-project-is-becoming-a-media-business-f366aea2-d730-4ad3-a601-e8380ebf96e8.html

This article, taken from Axios, briefly explains the origins and apparent evolution of The Lincoln Project (TLP), an organization founded by Never-Trump Republicans, that has raised and spent millions in convincing voters to oust Trump in November.  The article itself reports that the scope of TLP may be expanding into unforeseen (and unintended) media, including motion pictures and dedicated television programming.  The Project already produces two highly popular podcasts and maintains a high profile on Facebook and Twitter.
More pertinent to today's challenge, however, is the FACT of TLP and its surprising origins.  The individuals who assembled The Project all are/were professed Republicans who realized how damaging Donald Trump is and has been to America, and who felt driven to speak out against his reelection.  Now, there is a possibility that this fledgling organization will branch out beyond its initial purpose and perhaps compete with both traditional and non-traditional media outlets in ways not yet imagined.

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I will start by saying that Rolling Stone is a left leaning publication. That fact will definitely shape the perspective of the articles they publish.  This article layouts a timeline depicting the relationship between the Trump Presidency and Conspiracy Theory groups, most notably QAnon.  The article touches on how Trump has used groups like QAnon to gain and maintain power.  It shows how social media has been used to feed the conspiracy theories.  The fact that Trump refuses to outright denounce them gives them an air of legitimacy.  By laying out the article in a timeline they are able to effectively depict the evolution of QAnon being a fringe conspiracy group to being more mainstream and making an impact in the government.

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The pandemic has seen a proliferation of conspiracy theories related to Covid-19 vaccines, 5G cellphone towers, and furniture companies promoting human trafficking. But the conspiracy theory that has perhaps gotten the biggest boost from the commander-in-chief is QAnon, the far-right belief that prominent left-wing Democratic politicians and sundry celebrities are involved in a child trafficking ring, and that President Trump is lying in wait to arrest them all. (JFK Jr., who has been dead for more than 20 years, and Beyoncé are also, somehow, involved.) The "Q" in question is an anonymous poster on the fringe message board 8kun who purports to have insider knowledge of the Trump administration - leaving breadcrumbs, or supposed clues, for the benefit of so-called "bakers" who follow the conspiracy theory - even though his "predictions" have continuously failed to come true.

The theory is utterly and completely baseless. But that hasn't stopped it from exploding in popularity during the pandemic and resulted in real-world violence, including a 2018 incident where a man in an armored truck stopped traffic at the Hoover Dam, and the 2019 murder of a Staten Island mob boss. QAnon and QAnon-adjacent theories have promulgated thanks in no small part to Trump, who has retweeted QAnon posts an estimated 216 times as of August 20th, according to an analysis by Media Matters.

Such tacit endorsement has done much to fuel the theory, as one of the primary goals of QAnon supporters is to attract Trump's attention; QAnon's belief is that Trump is regularly dropping "breadcrumbs" acknowledging them and nodding to the theory. But as QAnon has become more and more mainstream, with multiple Congressional candidates in both the house and the Senate espousing QAnon and QAnon-adjacent conspiracy theories, Trump's nods have become a lot more explicit and terrifying. Indeed, in the weeks leading up to the election, he has explicitly refused to disavow them when asked, despite the movement's demonstrated history of inciting violence. Below, a timeline for Trump and the Trump administration's promotion of QAnon.

October 28th, 2017
An anonymous poster claiming to have "Q" clearance, a high level of military clearance, starts posting about "the storm," a "countercoup against members of the deep state" orchestrated by President Trump. The poster claims, among other things, that Robert Mueller is working with Trump to bring down so-called deep state operatives like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Podesta; and that the then-recent Las Vegas mass shooting was an inside job orchestrated by the Clintons. Q's theories quickly spread on platforms like Twitter and YouTube, where Q explainer videos rack up millions of views.

November 25th, 2017
Trump quote-tweets a list of his administration's accomplishments by @MAGAPill, a pro-Trump account that regularly promotes QAnon and uses the vernacular associated with the conspiracy theory, as well as a link to the MAGAPill website. "Wow, even I didn't realize we did so much. Wish the Fake News would report! Thank you," he says in his tweet. He will retweet or quote-tweet QAnon-promoting accounts twice in the following year.

The signs effectively act as free promotion for the movement. "We're no longer talking about an exposure of a million people," Benjamin Decker, a fellow for Harvard's Shorenstein Center, told ABC News. "If a rally is broadcast on a major news network, we're talking tens of millions of people are now exposed to this whole concept of 'Q.'" When asked about the presence of Q supporters at the rally, then-press secretary Sarah Sanders says, "The president condemns and denounces any group that would incite violence against another individual, and certainly doesn't support groups that would promote that type of behavior," but does not directly denounce the group.

Michael LeBron, a.k.a. "Lionel," a self-described "conspiracy analyst" on the far-right website InfoWars who had been regularly promoting QAnon theories, tweets photos of himself in the White House with QAnon hashtags #TrustThePlan and #WWG1WGA. He also posts a photo of himself with a grinning President Trump. Then-press secretary Sarah Sanders dismisses the tweets , saying, ""A large group came through the White House for a brief tour and a photo."

March 28th, 2019
At a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Q supporters show up in full force; QAnon researcher and host of QAnon Anonymous podcast Travis View tweets that the gathering "may have [been] the largest QAnon presence since" the Tampa rally last July. Trump later tweets a photo of the crowd at the rally, where a "Q" sign is highly visible.

August 7th, 2019
The Trump campaign puts out a "Women for Trump" ad on YouTube in which several "Q" signs and slogans are highly visible. It later deletes the ad.

Trump February 22th, 2020
retweets a link to an AP News story about the San Diego police department from Praying Medic, a prominent QAnon influencer with hundreds of thousands of followers.

At a Trump rally, Trump campaign spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany interviews a supporter wearing a QAnon motto T-shirt. "If you could say one thing to the president, what would you say?" she asks. The supporter replies, "Who is Q." "All right, I will pass all of this along [to the president]," McEnany responds. The QAnon community is elated, and the QAnon supporter subsequently becomes a February 24th, 2020
minor celebrity within it.

February 27th, 2020
The Trump campaign releases an ad using footage from a Las Vegas campaign rally featuring a shot of a woman wearing a "Q" T-shirt. Another ad featuring footage from an Arizona rally also features a shot of a man in a "Q" shirt.

April 12th, 2020
Trump retweets a call to fire Anthony Fauci from DeAnna Lorraine, a congressional candidate who has openly espoused QAnon beliefs. He will later retweet three other QAnon-supporting candidates for the House and the Senate.

Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn posts a 53-second clip on Twitter in which he is seen taking an oath. At the end of the clip, he says, "Where we go one, we go all," a QAnon slogan. The tweet is hashtagged #TakeTheOath, also a QAnon reference. (Flynn's bio on Twitter also includes the hashtag #TakeTheOath.) Through his lawyer, Flynn has that the video had any relation to the conspiracy theory.

July 25th, 2020
Trump quote-tweets a glowing endorsement video from Antoine Tucker, a congressional candidate in New York's 14th District and a self-avowed QAnon supporter.

August 6th, 2020
Trump twice retweets Angela Stanton-King, a candidate for Georgia's 5th congressional district and prominent far-right influencer who has confirmed her belief in a debunked conspiracy theory alleging that Wayfair is part of a child sex-trafficking ring. Though she has denied her belief in the QAnon conspiracy theory, following the retweets an elated Stanton-King tweets, "The storm is here," a QAnon catchphrase.

August 12th, 2020
On Twitter, Trump congratulates Marjorie Taylor Greene, a congressional candidate from Georgia who won the GOP primary and has openly espoused QAnon beliefs. At a press conference, a reporter asks Trump if he agrees with her promotion of QAnon. "Well, she did very well in the election. She won by a lot. She was very popular. She comes from a great state and she had a tremendous victory. So, absolutely, I did congratulate her," he says. He does not answer a follow-up question as to whether or not he agrees with her about QAnon.

September 9th, 2020
The Associated Press reports that Mike Pence is set to attend a fundraiser hosted by a prominent QAnon-supporting couple. He later backs out of the event.

October 14th, 2020
Trump retweets a post from a QAnon account propagating the baseless claim that Obama and Joe Biden had SEAL Team 6 killed in an effort to cover up an elaborate plot about Osama bin Laden's staged murder.

October 15th, 2020
In a town hall on NBC News, Savannah Guthrie presses Trump to denounce QAnon. "I know nothing about it. I do know they are very much against pedophilia. They fight it very hard. But I know nothing about it," Trump initially claims before going on to say, "What I do hear about it is that they are very strongly against pedophilia, and I agree with that. I mean, I agree with that. And I do agree with that very strongly." He refuses to denounce the movement.

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The pandemic has seen a proliferation of conspiracy theories related to Covid-19 vaccines, 5G cellphone towers, and furniture companies promoting human trafficking. But the conspiracy theory that has perhaps gotten the biggest boost from the commander-in-chief is QAnon, the far-right belief that prominent left-wing Democratic politicians and sundry celebrities are involved in a child trafficking ring, and that President Trump is lying in wait to arrest them all.

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On national TV news this morning footage of Walter Wallace wandering in a street, holding a knife, and being followed by his mother. Police are also shown surrounding him with guns drawn. This footage was connected in the broad cast to footage of "a second night of" protests and looting on an endless loop. TV reporting seems to consistently link these events (confrontation, killing, protests, looting) visually, on a loop, while the spoken story is told. The visual linking of protests with looting footage leaves the impression of a connection between the individuals in each of what seem like they should be separate parts of a story. There's no context for time passing and locations of these events. I only saw portions of this on the CBS morning news but this page has the clips https://www.cbsnews.com/news/walter-wallace-jr-philadelphia-police-shooting-protest-arrests/

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One common way to get news is by letting your smartphone suggest stories for you. Since there are only a handful suggested at first, this lets Apple (or some other company) dictate what you do and don’t see and think about. What’s more, once you click on some of the headlines, you’ll get more suggestions based on your taste. One click on a Kylie Jenner or a college football story, and soon you’ll see more celebrity gossip or sports suggested for you. This pigeonholes Your interests, and can quickly lead to you not even seeing “hard” news headlines much at all.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/us/covid-election.html
This article is about how the campaign has ran into the virus. How the virus has effected the campaign and how the campaign had effected the virus. This article is driven my people constructing the news. I know this because this article speaks on how we are effected by what is going on.  We also see that this article on pin points certain areas of the campaigning. This states that it’s a person in control because they are controlling our point of view in the article. It can also go in with cultural because we are choosing how we vote now due to the virus. The article speaks on how many citizens are choosing to mail in there ballot when normally they would never do that. Voting has change very much and so has the campaign. It has effected a lot of things but at least we get to vote. I think this is people constructed because it’s insight from how we should do things and pin pointed on a certain topic and view.

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The Maine Monitor: Nonprofit investigative reporting website

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The Maine Monitor: Nonprofit investigative reporting website

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This story from The Maine Monitor is an interesting example of how news gets constructed. For example, the first thing you see after the headline, the reporter's byline, and the photo is a note that says: "This article was produced in partnership with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. The Maine Monitor is a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network." So you know right away that multiple organizations were involved in producing the article. You also know that ProPublica is a nonprofit journalism organization that is concerned with "abuses of power." Similarly, The Maine Monitor uses the slogan, "Reporting in the Public Interest," which indicates how it positions itself. You also see near the top of the story that it is part of a series from the Monitor called "Defenseless," which aims to investigate "how Maine represents its poorest defendants." If this story was produced by a for-profit news organization I wonder if it would be reported as thoroughly. The Monitor obviously dedicated some resources to it. Besides the reporter who wrote the piece, there is a graphic in the middle of the story that shows how the money being appropriated to Maine's public defenders will be allocated. As far as culture, what I find interesting about this story/series is that it focuses on two groups that are generally underrepresented in the news: the poor and (accused) criminals. This could reflect a change in our culture toward more concern about marginalized groups. But again, I suspect it has more to do with the positioning of the Monitor and ProPublica as nonprofit newsrooms who aren't as concerned with producing stories that won't offend readers and advertisers. There's also a strong sense of fairness and justice in this story/series—another example of how our culture, and the culture of these news organizations, shaped this article.

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Members of the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services participate in an unofficial vote to increase the hourly rate from $60 an hour to $100 an hour for court-appointed attorneys at a virtual budget meeting for 2022-23 on Oct. 15. Pictured, from left to right, are: Assistant Attorney General Megan Hudson, commissioner Sarah Churchill, MCILS Executive Director John Pelletier and commissioners Mary Zmigrodski, Bob LeBrasseur and Ron Schneider. Screenshot obtained by The Maine Monitor/ProPublica. This article was produced in partnership with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. The Maine Monitor is a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network.
Officials are proposing to double the size of the budget set aside to provide the legal services needed to adequately defend the state's poor who are accused of crimes.

The $35.4 million proposal put forward by the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services, or MCILS, would establish the state's first two public defender offices and provide a substantial raise to private attorneys paid to represent the poor. Members debated the large price tag before unanimously voting in support of the budget plan on Oct. 15. One commissioner was absent.

If approved by the governor and Legislature, the proposal would be the biggest infusion of money ever into the commission, whose troubled history of oversight of its attorneys' conduct was documented this month by The Maine Monitor and ProPublica .

"Not asking for what is needed to properly fund and run the system has been a common problem for the last decade, and it's part of the reason that we're in the mess we're in right now. I understand and can live with the idea that we're going to ask for everything," said Sarah Churchill, a member of the commission who voted in support of the budget proposal and is a former court-appointed attorney.

The proposal's fate is uncertain, however, since the coronavirus pandemic has left the state in financial difficulties. The latest estimate by the Revenue Forecasting Committee in August 2020 said that general fund revenues will decrease by $883.2 million in fiscal years 2022 and 2023. Highway fund revenues are also estimated to drop $30.5 million in the same period.

Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, appointed eight legal experts, including Churchill, in 2019 to a redesigned commission that oversees the state agency. The commissioners have met for 14 months to review and recommend changes to the state's defense system.

The proposal is the first step in Maine's biennium budget process, which will determine the next two years of state funding. The governor must submit a budget to the Legislature in January. It must be approved by the appropriations and financial affairs committee and then by lawmakers in each chamber. A final decision is not expected until June 2021.

Most of the new spending is earmarked to increase the hourly reimbursement rate from $60 an hour to $100 an hour for private attorneys who are appointed by courts to represent people who cannot afford legal services. A review of Maine's defense system in 2018 found that the current pay was insufficient to cover the overhead costs of running a law practice. The last raise for state lawyers took effect in July 2015, when the rate increased from $55 an hour.

It is expected to cost almost $11.5 million a year to increase the reimbursement for court-appointed attorneys by $40 an hour.

Maine is the only state that does not employ any public defenders. MCILS instead maintains lists of private-practice attorneys whom judges can assign to criminal defendants, parents at risk of losing custody of their children and people in involuntary commitment or emancipation cases - when the person cannot afford to hire their own lawyer. Many states have moved away from the court-appointed system because it can be difficult to control costs.

Four state employees have run Maine's unique defense system for 10 years. Now, the commission is asking lawmakers to add nearly 50 staff positions.

The commission is proposing nearly $4.5 million of new spending to open a trial-level public defender office in Kennebec County and to create a statewide office for appeals and post-conviction review cases.

The public defender office in Kennebec County would employ 17 new staff members, including seven full-time defense attorneys. The public defenders would be supported by a new chief and deputy district defender, three paralegals, two social workers, two investigators and an office manager.

David Carroll, the director of the criminal justice reform organization Sixth Amendment Center, said he was concerned the proposal did not go far enough. The center reviewed Maine's system for indigent legal defense in 2018 and found that it did not meet national standards.

"It is a step in the right direction. It's coming late. It's coming in bad economic times. But at the end of the day, this is a constitutional duty this state has to do," Carroll said. "The state is failing."

Commissioner Bob LeBrasseur, a nonvoting member who works as a court-appointed attorney in Cumberland County, questioned during the budget discussion whether there would be adequate support staff in the new office. He asked if the commission was pushing for a public defender office that would begin underfunded and under-resourced. The consensus among members was that they needed to start somewhere.

The Kennebec County office is expected to cost $2 million to open next fiscal year.

Commissioners also requested $2.5 million to open an appeals office. The 20-person appellate office would have eight public defenders assigned to direct appeals and three attorneys devoted to post-conviction review cases.

The commission is also proposing spending $1.1 million a year to add 10 staff positions to the state office, which would manage training, supervision, mentorship and auditing of court-appointed attorneys.

Half of the new hires would perform financial oversight, including an audit director, an attorney to review internal financial operations and three support staff positions.

The proposal did not include two positions for attorneys specializing in family law and juvenile delinquency recommended by the Sixth Amendment Center.

The final budget proposal was delivered to the Department of Administrative and Financial Services on Oct. 19 and will be considered for Mills' budget recommendations to the Legislature.

The governor and top lawmakers on judicial matters both expressed interest earlier this month in finding bipartisan solutions to problems at MCILS, The Maine Monitor reported .

Zach Heiden, chief counsel of the ACLU of Maine, which has threatened to bring a lawsuit for more than a year over what it says is inadequate representation of the poor, called the proposal "encouraging," but said commissioners should have included all of the Sixth Amendment Center's recommendations.

"The governor is very experienced with Maine's criminal defense system. She knows the Constitution and the constitutional issues that are at stake," said Heiden. "So I fully expect that she is going to treat this with the seriousness this deserves."

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Officials propose doubling budget for agency charged with defending the poor

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Members of the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services participate in an unofficial vote to increase the hourly rate from $60 an hour to $100 an hour for court-appointed attorneys at a virtual budget meeting for 2022-23 on Oct. 15.

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Lawfare is a blog posted by the Brookings Institute, a public policy think tank focusing on solutions for social issues.  As a publication, they focus specifically issues like national security, social media policies, and certain newsworthy legal stories (the Mueller report and impeachment of Donald Trump). I notice they altogether refrained from stories about the Barrett confirmation. Their stories on the election, such as this one, focus on election security and legal challenges, rather than polls and rallies.
Lawfare prints paragraph-long bios of their authors which give insight into areas of expertise.  The authors are typically lawyers, law students, or civil servants. In this story, the author works for the Anti-Defamation League and has former experience at the State Department and Homeland Security.  He chooses to highlight multiple ADL resources that will assist his readers in countering violence at the polls.
This publication's likely audience is policy makers and other civil servants and thus follows legal cultural norms. It includes longer articles with a cautious, moderate tone, in-depth discussion of case law precedent and links to government reports. The publication is not-for-profit and not driven by social media traffic, so the headlines do not aim for sensationalism or appeal to emotion.

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While there is no way to predict what will actually take place over the next few weeks leading up to and directly after the election, the ADL's monitoring of extremist groups suggests that election-motivated violence could yield more domestic terrorism threats, which if fully realized, could pose a threat to ensuring free and fair elections.

There is cause for concern, but there is not yet cause for panic-it is still not clear how much of the internet chatter may be bluster, or if the threat represents a true danger. Moreover, in the remaining weeks before the election-and notably, the critical time the election where -there are simple, turnkey steps state and local policymakers can take now to address these threats in ways that will have a meaningful near-term impact.

Effective Communication

Tools for Law Enforcement

There are a variety of ways state and local law enforcement can mitigate election-motivated violence. To start, they can raise the priority level of the threat. Law enforcement have finite resources and must clearly convey to their teams which issues deserve their top attention. Through at least February 2021, ADL recommends that extremist-motivated violence and activity be a top priority for resourcing and officer awareness. To be clear, police should not proactively patrol polling places , a move which could inadvertently suppress votes. However, law enforcement should address the networks of extremist actors who commit unlawful acts and be on guard to react immediately in the event of emergency.

Existing laws and clear communications from those enforcing them can help reduce the likelihood that inevitable protests remain peaceful. Permitting restrictions, for example, can help counter extremist threats while also empowering political speech.

Resources for Policymakers

Officials can become more familiar with these issues using existing research and expertise. For example, ADL's data on hate and extremism shows where historical threats have taken place. This data can help state and local leaders familiarize themselves with threats and possible hotspots of concern. ADL has shared this data through its online and interactive , where users can drill down on data by state, city and locality. Other experts the domestic extremism threat's rise and experts with a range of backgrounds could spark new violence. In addition to ADL's work, some organizations have cultivated other new resources to prepare for election security, ranging from the

All leaders need to tamp down the provocative rhetoric and fearmongering that incite extremists. Leaders must also clarify that they reject any call for extremist action around the election. And leaders should reassure the public that they are keeping communities safe by taking some basic steps to demonstrate that they both understand these potential threats and are taking actions to address them. A few steps that state and local leaders can implement relatively quickly include: sharing guidance with law enforcement on how to recognize threats, issuing public statements, preparing law enforcement for emergencies and giving them guidance on when they should act. These actions can serve to reduce public fervor, while also diminishing the likelihood of disruption at the polls or violence after the vote.

The Risks of Election-Motivated Violence

These and other actions can be taken immediately. If done thoughtfully, these steps can reassure the public that their state or locality is addressing these threats, and community members should feel safe to vote. If done recklessly, they could inadvertently suppress the vote. If no steps are taken, the risk of election-motivated violence could be higher. Some states are already taking these measures, and they should be lauded. ADL stands by to help those who have not yet put these measures into place that need assistance to do so. ADL anticipates that, overall, the right to vote will be secure and that any unrest that might follow the election will not rise to the level of "a civil war," despite the calls for such by some extremists. However, the right to vote is so foundational to our core values that every precaution must be taken. The American public deserves a fair and safe electoral process, and with proper leadership, it is possible for states to deliver it.

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Preventing and Countering Election-Motivated Violence Without Causing Panic

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While there is no way to predict what will actually take place over the next few weeks leading up to and directly after the election, the ADL's monitoring of extremist groups suggests that election-motivated violence could yield more domestic terrorism threats, which if fully realized, could pose a threat to ensuring free and fair elections.

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This movement was established long before the time of this pandemic. In February 2012, African American Trayvon Martin was shot. About a year afterwards, the hashtag for black lives matter(BLM) became apparent after the observation of this mans death. This movement was first initiated by their own culture and was done to show that from their perspective that white supremacy is still apparent in today's age. In reference to this day in age, we clearly see the police brutality getting out of control with them attacking the public at what are called peaceful protests. At the same time looters also entered the picture, making it seem that the protests were not so peaceful and to give the police force all the more reason to be brutal to the communities. This affects what is told and what is left out of the story since there are multiple perspectives put in place. From the perspective of the police, a good number of them seemed to believe that these protests were done to allow people a way to rob convenient stores and small businesses, causing mayhem in their area. From the perspective of those who supported the BLM movement, they look at it as how the police are brutalizing the people for no real reason. Causing murder and injury to those people is an unholy act. Multiple perspectives can overlap in some ways, but it also produces the idea that some things being spoken can get lost along the way, in a fashion where this becomes a game of telephone where someone heard one thing and believes it, but someone else heard another thing and believes in that statement based on the accredited source.

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Andrew Young says civil rights protesters endured similar attacks.
This report is part of "Turning Point," a groundbreaking series by ABC News examining the racial reckoning sweeping the United States and exploring whether it can lead to lasting reconciliation.
During a Black Lives Matter march in late May, Nia Miranda says she decided to take a stand when she saw something that marred what she described as "a beautiful protest."

Miranda said she spotted two women, both apparently white and dressed in black, tagging the exterior of a Starbucks at The Grove mall in Beverly Hills. The 30-year-old filmmaker and actress said she started recording video on her cell phone and approached the pair, who were spray painting the letters "BLM" on the front of the store.

"I remember looking around and realizing what they were doing and that no one else was saying anything. I had to capture it and confront them at the same time," Miranda told ABC News. "I knew that I had to say something because if the news would have reported the vandalism without seeing who did it, I know who they would have said committed that crime: It would have went on Black people and it would have been told that the protesters became rioters and it became looting, and that wasn't the case at all."

The Los Angeles Police Department said the mostly-peaceful protest on May 30 in Beverly Hills devolved into multiple incidents of vandalism and looting of stores at The Grove, on ritzy Rodeo Drive and elsewhere in the city, leading to 500 arrests. It was unclear if the women Miranda confronted were among those arrested.

Miranda's video instantly went viral and inspired Grammy-winning music producer Skrillex to write a song "Sullen Sunday" featuring the raw words of Miranda: "When they see the vandalism on these places, know that it wasn't us. And when you see stuff like that you're supposed to stand up and say something."

As support across the country has skyrocketed for the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, so too, has a backlash against the group -- fueled by months of protests that have, at times, descended into violence and destruction, often instigated by those unaffiliated with the movement.

Some law enforcement officials said the emergence of an anti-police atmosphere has led to low morale and a drop in enforcement. In addition, BLM's detractors have gone to great lengths to conflate the violence, looting and general rise in crime that have appeared in some cities in recent months with the push for equal rights and police reform.

BLM organizers say they are currently enduring a smear campaign that is being ratcheted up in the waning days of the presidential election, with lawmakers, including President Donald Trump, branding BLM protesters as "terrorists," "Marxists" and "left-wing radicals" bent on destroying the country.

Trump's surrogates such as Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, have all issued statements or Tweets slamming BLM as a radical Marxist movement out to destroy the country. Giuliani told reporters at the White House in August, that "Black Lives Matter has been planning to destroy the police for three years."

In a more measured response, U.S. Attorney General William Barr released a statement on May 30 that attempted to separate the rioters from the peaceful protesters. "With the rioting that is occurring in many of our cities around the country, the voices of peaceful protest are being hijacked by violent radical elements," Barr said, adding that "groups of outside radicals and agitators are exploiting the situation to pursue their own separate and violent agenda.''

Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and part of the movement's global leadership, told ABC News the backlash was expected.

"We understand what they're doing. We understand that they understand that Black Lives Matter has now been recognized as the largest social movement in global history and that scares people," Abdullah said. "That scares folks who are invested in making the world more racist, not less and making the world oppressive not less and folks who are tethered to a system of policing that's oppressive and brutal and violent."

'Radical movement,' critics say

Speaking at the National Archives Museum in Washington on Sept. 17, Trump, who has been portraying himself as a law-and-order candidate in his re-election bid, took aim at what he called the "radical movement" behind nationwide protests over police disproportionately violating the rights of Black people.

"Left-wing mobs have torn down statues of our founders, desecrated our memorials and carried out a campaign of violence and anarchy," Trump said without specifically naming BLM. "Whether it is the mob on the street or the cancel culture in the boardroom, the goal is the same: to silence dissent, to scare you out of speaking the truth, and to bully Americans into abandoning their values, their heritage and their very way of life."

Eight days later at his campaign's Black Economic Empowerment conference in Atlanta, where he presented his so-called "platinum plan" for the Black community, Trump ramped up his attacks, zeroing in on BLM.

"It's really hurting the Black community," Trump said in a speech. "This is an unusual name for an organization whose ideology and tactics are right now destroying many Black lives."

Trump claimed Black Lives Matter wants to "achieve the destruction of the nuclear family."

"This is not the agenda of the Black community. This is the agenda of an extreme socialist or worse, you know what the other word is -- Marxist, communist -- this is the extreme socialist left, but beyond that in my opinion," Trump said.

While organizers of BLM, which is a decentralized movement made up of more than 150 different groups, did not specifically respond, Trump's allegation appear to have been taken out of context from a "what we believe" statement on the Black Lives Matter Global Network's website, which reads, "We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement" by supporting and caring for one another as "extended families." The statement has since been taken down from the website.

In August, the faculty and staff of the Southern Evangelical Seminary and Bible College in Matthews, North Carolina, released a public statement about "current issues related to racism and social justice," echoing Trump's views on BLM. The statement said the school and other evangelical groups "have grave, fundamental disagreements with their (BLM's) moral, cultural, and political agenda."

"Consequently, SES cannot mouth the mantra 'black lives matter' lest we be misinterpreted as supporting their godless agenda," the statement reads.

In a broadcast of "The 700 Club" in September, televangelist Pat Robertson of Christian Broadcasting Network also bashed BLM, saying, "They're talking about destroying essentially Christianity... And all the way through, they want to upend the capitalist structure and destroy America."

BLM Global Network Executive Director Patrisse Cullors responded in a statement, calling Robertson's comments "completely inflammatory and dangerous."

In August, U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., wrote a letter to the Women's National Basketball Association objecting to the league's plans to honor the BLM movement. Loeffler, co-owner of the WNBA franchise the Atlanta Dream, warned that subscribing to a "particular political agenda undermines the potential of the sport and sends a message of exclusion."

Acts of anarchy blamed on BLM

As thousands of mostly-peaceful protests organized by BLM have occurred across the country in recent months over a string of police-involved killings of Black people, the movement has been blamed for vandalism, looting and assaults against police officers during confrontations that have accompanied some of the demonstrations.

Protests in cities including Portland, Oregon; Seattle; Atlanta; New York; Los Angeles; and Chicago have, at times, been declared riots by police as agitators have looted, committed arson and other crimes, reflecting badly on the entire BLM movement and providing critics fodder in their condemnation of the social justice group.

In May, two lawyers, who claim to have no affiliation with BLM, were arrested in Brooklyn, New York, on federal charges after being caught on surveillance video allegedly hurling Molotov cocktails at occupied police vehicles during a protest. They have both pleaded not guilty to federal charges of arson, conspiracy, use of a destructive device and use of explosives during a crime of violence.

In September, police in Santa Monica, California, thwarted what they said appeared to be a coordinated looting spree being perpetrated by non-protesters using a demonstration as cover.

In June, New York City police alleged that gang members and "opportunist action by regular criminals" were responsible for looting stores in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan during a protest. Also in June, Philadelphia police said criminals used BLM protests as camouflage for a crime rampage in which they allegedly blew up and emptied multiple ATMs in a single night.

In St. Louis, a 24-year-old convicted felon was arrested and charged with murder in the June 2 killing of retired St. Louis police Capt. David Dorn, who was gunned down after interrupting a group of people looting his friend's pawn shop during a protest. While police released no evidence tying suspect Stephan Cannon to the protests, Dorn's widow linked her husband's death to the demonstrations in a speech at the Republican National Convention in August.

"Violence and destruction are not legitimate forms of protest," Ann Dorn, a St. Louis police officer, said in her speech. "They do not safeguard Black lives. They only destroy them."

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, a white couple from St. Louis, made national news in June when they were caught on cell-phone video pointing a semiautomatic rifle and a handgun at BLM protesters marching past their mansion in a gated community. The couple, who claimed they feared imminent harm, pleaded not guilty to felony charges of unlawful use of a weapon and tampering with evidence.

The McCloskey's initially released a statement through their attorney saying they supported the BLM movement and touted a "long-standing commitment to protecting the civil rights of clients victimized at the hands of law enforcement." But after President Trump contacted them directly, the McCloskeys seemed to have a change of heart about the movement.

"These radicals are not content with marching in the streets. They want to walk the halls of Congress, they want to take over, they want power," Mark McCloskey said in a joint speech he and his wife gave at the RNC Convention. "This is Joe Biden's party. These are the people who will be in charge of your future and the future of your children."

Patricia McCloskey added, "They're not satisfied with spreading the chaos and violence into our communities. They want to abolish the suburbs altogether by ending single-family home zoning."

Support eroding as BLM's popularity grows

Abdullah, who is also a professor of Pan-African studies at California State University, Los Angeles, suspects it is more than a coincidence that the attacks against BLM have grown as the movement's popularity has widened and its activities have included a massive push to get people to vote in the November Election.

"I think that it would be really naive of us to think that we were going to have a goal of upending an oppressive state without experiencing some of that oppression," Abdullah told ABC News. "You can't say the system of policing is fundamentally unjust, that we want to reimagine and transform public safety without that system of policing kind of doubling down and entrenching itself and doing what it's done since the creation of the system. It targets the people, it targets the groups that attempt to transform the world."

The BLM movement was launched in 2013 following the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the white neighborhood watch member, in the fatal 2012 shooting of Black teenager Trayvon Martin, who Zimmerman mistook for a prowler.

In July, an ABC News/Washington Post poll showed that 63% of Americans supported the BLM movement and 69% agreed that Black people and other minorities are denied equal treatment in the criminal justice system.

Along political party lines, support for BLM varies widely. The poll found that while 92% of Democrats, including 91% of white Democrats, support the movement, 28% of Republicans and 62% of independents feel the same. By ideology, support for BLM ranges from 93% of liberals to 70% of moderates and 34% of conservatives.

But the BLM backlash appears to be eroding the popularity the movement spawned over the spring and early summer.

A poll released by the Pew Research Center in mid-September, showed 55% of U.S. adults express at least some support for BLM, down from 67% in June. The poll showed that 29% strongly support the movement, down from 38% three months earlier.

History repeating itself

Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta and ambassador to the United Nations, told ABC News that similar attacks were waged against the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

"We were always being called communists. There was a serious backlash. Martin Luther King's picture was up on billboards all over the South," said the 88-year-old Young, who was part of King's inner circle and was with the civil rights icon when he was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorrain Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968.

He said that when he first ran for Congress in Atlanta in 1970 and lost, two years after King's death, he was subjected to racist attacks.

"One of the campaigns against me was that if Andrew Young is elected, the Black Panthers are going to get your daughter," Young, who ran again Congress in 1973 and won, told ABC News.

Young said that during the civil rights marches in the South "agent provocateurs" were hired by white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, and sometimes the police, to disrupt the peaceful protests by creating havoc.

"People paid kids to disrupt the marches and to break windows. And once you get a few people starting something it gets out of hand," Young said.

"I'm not saying that the police are responsible for the violence now, but neither was Black Lives Matter," he said.

He said that over the summer he attended a BLM protest in Atlanta and saw for himself how quickly a group of agitators turned a peaceful protest into a violent one.

"There was a massive movement of Black and brown and white people together that were marching peacefully in Atlanta. And then I saw some kids ... some of them were dressed in black. They were on skateboards and they came behind the Black Lives Matter movement, moving in the opposite direction, but they went through a row of police cars and they smashed in all the windows.

"Now those were two distinct groups of people and I think what the president is doing is trying to bring it all together and make it one movement," Young added.

'Backlash is much larger and more dangerous than words'

Abdullah alleges that the words of President Trump and his allies against BLM have prompted violence against her and other organizers of the movement.

In August, Abdullah, a single mother of three, was the target of a "swatting incident," in which a police SWAT team was sent to her home after a 911 dispatcher took a call from a man who claimed he was holding people hostage at her home and demanded $1 million in ransom. She said she obtained a copy of the 911 call and that the caller, who was never identified, made derogatory comments about BLM.

"Police arrived at my house with assault rifles, a helicopter was overhead. They pointed the assault rifles in the window at me," Abdullah said. "It terrorized us and deeply, deeply traumatized my children."

She said that following the swatting incident, death threats against her increased.

"It's important to remember that the backlash is not just about words and narrative, it's about threatening actual lives," Abdullah told ABC News.

Several protesters across the country have been severely injured by people who deliberately drove their vehicles into the middle of demonstrations.

On Aug. 25, Kyle Rittenhouse, a white teenager, allegedly shot and killed two protesters during a demonstration in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse, of Illinois, and other armed men claimed they went to Kenosha to help police keep the peace after an officer shot and paralyzed a Black man named Jacob Blake.

Rittenhouse, who is fighting extradition from Illinois back to Wisconsin to face charges, has yet to enter a plea.

Despite the attacks, protesters like Nia Miranda say they have pledged not to stop fighting for justice. She said she sees the Black Lives Matter movement at a turning point and with help from thousands of white supporters has come within reach of its goal of achieving significant change in policing in America.

"Before this moment happened, I used to think that it was just Black people who were fighting this fight," Miranda told ABC News. "But after this specific moment and being on social media and marching myself, and seeing how many different people of different races, different religions, different tax brackets were out there all for the cause of fighting against injustice, I know this time we're going to have a successful ending. Even if it takes some time, I'm OK with that."
This report is part of "Turning Point," a groundbreaking series by ABC News examining the racial reckoning sweeping the United States and exploring whether it can lead to lasting reconciliation.
During a Black Lives Matter march in late May, Nia Miranda says she decided to take a stand when she saw something that marred what she described as "a beautiful protest."

Miranda said she spotted two women, both apparently white and dressed in black, tagging the exterior of a Starbucks at The Grove mall in Beverly Hills. The 30-year-old filmmaker and actress said she started recording video on her cell phone and approached the pair, who were spray painting the letters "BLM" on the front of the store.

"I remember looking around and realizing what they were doing and that no one else was saying anything. I had to capture it and confront them at the same time," Miranda told ABC News. "I knew that I had to say something because if the news would have reported the vandalism without seeing who did it, I know who they would have said committed that crime: It would have went on Black people and it would have been told that the protesters became rioters and it became looting, and that wasn't the case at all."

The Los Angeles Police Department said the mostly-peaceful protest on May 30 in Beverly Hills devolved into multiple incidents of vandalism and looting of stores at The Grove, on ritzy Rodeo Drive and elsewhere in the city, leading to 500 arrests. It was unclear if the women Miranda confronted were among those arrested.

Miranda's video instantly went viral and inspired Grammy-winning music producer Skrillex to write a song "Sullen Sunday" featuring the raw words of Miranda: "When they see the vandalism on these places, know that it wasn't us. And when you see stuff like that you're supposed to stand up and say something."

As support across the country has skyrocketed for the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, so too, has a backlash against the group -- fueled by months of protests that have, at times, descended into violence and destruction, often instigated by those unaffiliated with the movement.

Some law enforcement officials said the emergence of an anti-police atmosphere has led to low morale and a drop in enforcement. In addition, BLM's detractors have gone to great lengths to conflate the violence, looting and general rise in crime that have appeared in some cities in recent months with the push for equal rights and police reform.

BLM organizers say they are currently enduring a smear campaign that is being ratcheted up in the waning days of the presidential election, with lawmakers, including President Donald Trump, branding BLM protesters as "terrorists," "Marxists" and "left-wing radicals" bent on destroying the country.

Trump's surrogates such as Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, have all issued statements or Tweets slamming BLM as a radical Marxist movement out to destroy the country. Giuliani told reporters at the White House in August, that "Black Lives Matter has been planning to destroy the police for three years."

In a more measured response, U.S. Attorney General William Barr released a statement on May 30 that attempted to separate the rioters from the peaceful protesters. "With the rioting that is occurring in many of our cities around the country, the voices of peaceful protest are being hijacked by violent radical elements," Barr said, adding that "groups of outside radicals and agitators are exploiting the situation to pursue their own separate and violent agenda.''

Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and part of the movement's global leadership, told ABC News the backlash was expected.

"We understand what they're doing. We understand that they understand that Black Lives Matter has now been recognized as the largest social movement in global history and that scares people," Abdullah said. "That scares folks who are invested in making the world more racist, not less and making the world oppressive not less and folks who are tethered to a system of policing that's oppressive and brutal and violent."

'Radical movement,' critics say

Speaking at the National Archives Museum in Washington on Sept. 17, Trump, who has been portraying himself as a law-and-order candidate in his re-election bid, took aim at what he called the "radical movement" behind nationwide protests over police disproportionately violating the rights of Black people.

"Left-wing mobs have torn down statues of our founders, desecrated our memorials and carried out a campaign of violence and anarchy," Trump said without specifically naming BLM. "Whether it is the mob on the street or the cancel culture in the boardroom, the goal is the same: to silence dissent, to scare you out of speaking the truth, and to bully Americans into abandoning their values, their heritage and their very way of life."

Eight days later at his campaign's Black Economic Empowerment conference in Atlanta, where he presented his so-called "platinum plan" for the Black community, Trump ramped up his attacks, zeroing in on BLM.

"It's really hurting the Black community," Trump said in a speech. "This is an unusual name for an organization whose ideology and tactics are right now destroying many Black lives."

Trump claimed Black Lives Matter wants to "achieve the destruction of the nuclear family."

"This is not the agenda of the Black community. This is the agenda of an extreme socialist or worse, you know what the other word is -- Marxist, communist -- this is the extreme socialist left, but beyond that in my opinion," Trump said.

While organizers of BLM, which is a decentralized movement made up of more than 150 different groups, did not specifically respond, Trump's allegation appear to have been taken out of context from a "what we believe" statement on the Black Lives Matter Global Network's website, which reads, "We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement" by supporting and caring for one another as "extended families." The statement has since been taken down from the website.

In August, the faculty and staff of the Southern Evangelical Seminary and Bible College in Matthews, North Carolina, released a public statement about "current issues related to racism and social justice," echoing Trump's views on BLM. The statement said the school and other evangelical groups "have grave, fundamental disagreements with their (BLM's) moral, cultural, and political agenda."

"Consequently, SES cannot mouth the mantra 'black lives matter' lest we be misinterpreted as supporting their godless agenda," the statement reads.

In a broadcast of "The 700 Club" in September, televangelist Pat Robertson of Christian Broadcasting Network also bashed BLM, saying, "They're talking about destroying essentially Christianity... And all the way through, they want to upend the capitalist structure and destroy America."

BLM Global Network Executive Director Patrisse Cullors responded in a statement, calling Robertson's comments "completely inflammatory and dangerous."

In August, U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., wrote a letter to the Women's National Basketball Association objecting to the league's plans to honor the BLM movement. Loeffler, co-owner of the WNBA franchise the Atlanta Dream, warned that subscribing to a "particular political agenda undermines the potential of the sport and sends a message of exclusion."

Acts of anarchy blamed on BLM

As thousands of mostly-peaceful protests organized by BLM have occurred across the country in recent months over a string of police-involved killings of Black people, the movement has been blamed for vandalism, looting and assaults against police officers during confrontations that have accompanied some of the demonstrations.

Protests in cities including Portland, Oregon; Seattle; Atlanta; New York; Los Angeles; and Chicago have, at times, been declared riots by police as agitators have looted, committed arson and other crimes, reflecting badly on the entire BLM movement and providing critics fodder in their condemnation of the social justice group.

In May, two lawyers, who claim to have no affiliation with BLM, were arrested in Brooklyn, New York, on federal charges after being caught on surveillance video allegedly hurling Molotov cocktails at occupied police vehicles during a protest. They have both pleaded not guilty to federal charges of arson, conspiracy, use of a destructive device and use of explosives during a crime of violence.

In September, police in Santa Monica, California, thwarted what they said appeared to be a coordinated looting spree being perpetrated by non-protesters using a demonstration as cover.

In June, New York City police alleged that gang members and "opportunist action by regular criminals" were responsible for looting stores in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan during a protest. Also in June, Philadelphia police said criminals used BLM protests as camouflage for a crime rampage in which they allegedly blew up and emptied multiple ATMs in a single night.

In St. Louis, a 24-year-old convicted felon was arrested and charged with murder in the June 2 killing of retired St. Louis police Capt. David Dorn, who was gunned down after interrupting a group of people looting his friend's pawn shop during a protest. While police released no evidence tying suspect Stephan Cannon to the protests, Dorn's widow linked her husband's death to the demonstrations in a speech at the Republican National Convention in August.

"Violence and destruction are not legitimate forms of protest," Ann Dorn, a St. Louis police officer, said in her speech. "They do not safeguard Black lives. They only destroy them."

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, a white couple from St. Louis, made national news in June when they were caught on cell-phone video pointing a semiautomatic rifle and a handgun at BLM protesters marching past their mansion in a gated community. The couple, who claimed they feared imminent harm, pleaded not guilty to felony charges of unlawful use of a weapon and tampering with evidence.

The McCloskey's initially released a statement through their attorney saying they supported the BLM movement and touted a "long-standing commitment to protecting the civil rights of clients victimized at the hands of law enforcement." But after President Trump contacted them directly, the McCloskeys seemed to have a change of heart about the movement.

"These radicals are not content with marching in the streets. They want to walk the halls of Congress, they want to take over, they want power," Mark McCloskey said in a joint speech he and his wife gave at the RNC Convention. "This is Joe Biden's party. These are the people who will be in charge of your future and the future of your children."

Patricia McCloskey added, "They're not satisfied with spreading the chaos and violence into our communities. They want to abolish the suburbs altogether by ending single-family home zoning."

Support eroding as BLM's popularity grows

Abdullah, who is also a professor of Pan-African studies at California State University, Los Angeles, suspects it is more than a coincidence that the attacks against BLM have grown as the movement's popularity has widened and its activities have included a massive push to get people to vote in the November Election.

"I think that it would be really naive of us to think that we were going to have a goal of upending an oppressive state without experiencing some of that oppression," Abdullah told ABC News. "You can't say the system of policing is fundamentally unjust, that we want to reimagine and transform public safety without that system of policing kind of doubling down and entrenching itself and doing what it's done since the creation of the system. It targets the people, it targets the groups that attempt to transform the world."

The BLM movement was launched in 2013 following the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the white neighborhood watch member, in the fatal 2012 shooting of Black teenager Trayvon Martin, who Zimmerman mistook for a prowler.

In July, an ABC News/Washington Post poll showed that 63% of Americans supported the BLM movement and 69% agreed that Black people and other minorities are denied equal treatment in the criminal justice system.

Along political party lines, support for BLM varies widely. The poll found that while 92% of Democrats, including 91% of white Democrats, support the movement, 28% of Republicans and 62% of independents feel the same. By ideology, support for BLM ranges from 93% of liberals to 70% of moderates and 34% of conservatives.

But the BLM backlash appears to be eroding the popularity the movement spawned over the spring and early summer.

A poll released by the Pew Research Center in mid-September, showed 55% of U.S. adults express at least some support for BLM, down from 67% in June. The poll showed that 29% strongly support the movement, down from 38% three months earlier.

History repeating itself

Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta and ambassador to the United Nations, told ABC News that similar attacks were waged against the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

"We were always being called communists. There was a serious backlash. Martin Luther King's picture was up on billboards all over the South," said the 88-year-old Young, who was part of King's inner circle and was with the civil rights icon when he was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorrain Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968.

He said that when he first ran for Congress in Atlanta in 1970 and lost, two years after King's death, he was subjected to racist attacks.

"One of the campaigns against me was that if Andrew Young is elected, the Black Panthers are going to get your daughter," Young, who ran again Congress in 1973 and won, told ABC News.

Young said that during the civil rights marches in the South "agent provocateurs" were hired by white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, and sometimes the police, to disrupt the peaceful protests by creating havoc.

"People paid kids to disrupt the marches and to break windows. And once you get a few people starting something it gets out of hand," Young said.

"I'm not saying that the police are responsible for the violence now, but neither was Black Lives Matter," he said.

He said that over the summer he attended a BLM protest in Atlanta and saw for himself how quickly a group of agitators turned a peaceful protest into a violent one.

"There was a massive movement of Black and brown and white people together that were marching peacefully in Atlanta. And then I saw some kids ... some of them were dressed in black. They were on skateboards and they came behind the Black Lives Matter movement, moving in the opposite direction, but they went through a row of police cars and they smashed in all the windows.

"Now those were two distinct groups of people and I think what the president is doing is trying to bring it all together and make it one movement," Young added.

'Backlash is much larger and more dangerous than words'

Abdullah alleges that the words of President Trump and his allies against BLM have prompted violence against her and other organizers of the movement.

In August, Abdullah, a single mother of three, was the target of a "swatting incident," in which a police SWAT team was sent to her home after a 911 dispatcher took a call from a man who claimed he was holding people hostage at her home and demanded $1 million in ransom. She said she obtained a copy of the 911 call and that the caller, who was never identified, made derogatory comments about BLM.

"Police arrived at my house with assault rifles, a helicopter was overhead. They pointed the assault rifles in the window at me," Abdullah said. "It terrorized us and deeply, deeply traumatized my children."

She said that following the swatting incident, death threats against her increased.

"It's important to remember that the backlash is not just about words and narrative, it's about threatening actual lives," Abdullah told ABC News.

Several protesters across the country have been severely injured by people who deliberately drove their vehicles into the middle of demonstrations.

On Aug. 25, Kyle Rittenhouse, a white teenager, allegedly shot and killed two protesters during a demonstration in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse, of Illinois, and other armed men claimed they went to Kenosha to help police keep the peace after an officer shot and paralyzed a Black man named Jacob Blake.

Rittenhouse, who is fighting extradition from Illinois back to Wisconsin to face charges, has yet to enter a plea.

Despite the attacks, protesters like Nia Miranda say they have pledged not to stop fighting for justice. She said she sees the Black Lives Matter movement at a turning point and with help from thousands of white supporters has come within reach of its goal of achieving significant change in policing in America.

"Before this moment happened, I used to think that it was just Black people who were fighting this fight," Miranda told ABC News. "But after this specific moment and being on social media and marching myself, and seeing how many different people of different races, different religions, different tax brackets were out there all for the cause of fighting against injustice, I know this time we're going to have a successful ending. Even if it takes some time, I'm OK with that."

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Turning Point: Black Lives Matter organizers say right-wing backlash was expected as movement grew

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This report is part of "Turning Point," a groundbreaking series by ABC News examining the racial reckoning sweeping the United States and exploring whether it can lead to lasting reconciliation. During a Black Lives Matter march in late May, Nia Miranda says she decided to take a stand when she saw something that marred what she described as "a beautiful protest."

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Lots of people get their news from late night comedy, like Trevor Noah, Sam Bee, and Stephen Colbert. All of these shows have staffs (in addition to the titular comedian) who contribute to and shape how stories are told. These include other comedians/writers, editors, photographers, and researchers who help pull together the YouTube-ready digestible segments that we watch online. Not only are many different people involved in the development of these stories and the reporting of current events, but these three in particular are left leaning comedians with appeal to some moderates, who often take Trump and the extreme elements in his administration to task by suggesting what is and isn't normal about his presidency (which refers back to Day 1 and the socializing nature of the news). This approach to the news also presents a cultural dimension of us v. them (Trevor/Stephen/Sam and their audiences v. the administration) and us v. him (Trevor/Stephen/Sam and their audiences v. Trump).

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