Coronavirus News (262)

Nepal in a Dangerous COVID-19 Territory With the country now reporting over 105,000 confirmed cases and the latest...

Posted by Madhav Bhatta on Saturday, October 10, 2020

 A Ridiculously Huge New Solar Farm Just Came Online in China Its 2.2 gigawatt capacity makes it second only to India’s Bhadla solar park, which opened late last year and has a capacity of 2.5 gigawatts. ....... the site is connected to an 800 kilovolt power line that will run 1,587 kilometers (986 miles) to the east across Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, and Henan provinces. The ultrahigh-voltage line minimizes the amount of power lost in transit by using a high voltage of direct current, which flows through conductors more uniformly than alternating current. ......... there’s a whopping 113 cities with more than a million people. For comparison’s sake, only 10 cities in the US have more than a million people. ........  The Chinese Communist Party has an ambitious plan to build the world’s largest supergrid, which would connect six different regional grids and carry power from renewable sources from the west to the east. ...........  the country would reach its peak carbon dioxide emissions in just 10 years, by 2030. 

Long stimulus wait causes pain

IBM to split into two companies

IBM to split into two as it reinvents itself  A new company focusing on legacy IT infrastructure will be named and spun off next year. .......... “We divested networking back in the 1990s, we divested PCs back in the 2000s, we divested semiconductors about five years ago because all of them didn’t necessarily play into the integrated value proposition,” Chief Executive Arvind Krishna said. .......... Today, hybrid cloud and AI are swiftly becoming the locus of commerce, transactions, and over time, of computing itself,” Mr Krishna wrote in a blog post. ........ IBM, which currently has more than 352,000 workers, said it expects the separation to cost $5bn. 

SPACEX IS BUILDING A MILITARY ROCKET TO SHIP WEAPONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD The new contract is further evidence that SpaceX is leaning hard into military partnerships. Earlier this week, the private space company won a contract with the military’s Space Development Agency to manufacture four missile-tracking satellites. 

MICROSOFT SAYS ITS EMPLOYEES CAN WORK FROM HOME FOREVER Most significantly, the change allows permanently-remote workers to live anywhere else in the U.S. ...........  Unfortunately, there’s some fine print. Just like with Facebook’s similar announcement in May, Microsoft employees who move to a less-expensive area might lose part of their income or benefits.   

Who’s the Tax Cheat: The Lady in Jail or the Man in the White House? Donald Trump knows that taxes are for the poor. .......... Trump may have illegitimately claimed a $72.9 million refund that the I.R.S. is now trying to recover. ....... hair styling is not a deductible expense and that, in any case, Trump’s hair expenses for his “Apprentice” TV shows should have been reimbursed by NBC — in which case Trump may have committed criminal tax fraud. ........ Sure enough, Trump properties then charged the Secret Service enormous sums for hotel rooms and other fees while agents were protecting Trump. ........... The larger point is not that Trump is a con artist, although he is, but that the entire tax system is a con. ..........  The five counties with the highest audit rates in the United States, according to Tax Notes, are all predominately African-American counties in the South. .......... zillionaires claim enormous tax deductions for donating expensive art to their own private “museums” located on their own property ....... Trump is still holding on to the almost $73 million that he appears to have bilked out of the I.R.S. a decade ago, even though the I.R.S. is contesting his maneuvers. For wealthy people like Trump, taxes become something like a long negotiation. ......... the failure of wealthy Americans to pay their fair share forces everyone else to pay an extra 15 percent in taxes. .......... almost one-fifth of American families with children report that they can’t afford to give their kids enough food ............ 70 percent of tax underpayment is by the top 1 percent and conclude that tougher enforcement by the I.R.S. could raise $1 trillion over a decade. .......... Each additional dollar spent on enforcement brings in about $24. 

Coronavirus News (261)

Hillary Clinton Says She Was Right All Along The biggest factors she blames for her loss—disinformation, Vladimir Putin, and America’s deep political divide—will still be problems even if Trump loses, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee warns.  .........  a woman who has spent the past four years thinking about the final month of the 2016 election ....... and Mark Zuckerberg—whom she compared to the sorcerer’s apprentice, losing control of his creation in a way that has done grave damage around the world—ends up facing new restrictions .......... I don’t really have anything to contribute to the ongoing saga of why he behaves the way he does, and why he treats people the way he does, and why he won’t listen to people who actually know something. ............ algorithms that rewarded disinformation, rewarded the kind of conspiracy-clickbait stuff that addicted people to Facebook and other social-media platforms ......... I can’t even imagine what would have been done to me if I’d never revealed my income-tax returns. I would have been hounded mercilessly. ...........  the real dangerous things [Trump] was doing, starting with alternative facts on Inauguration Day going forward. 

Ted Cruz warns the election ‘could be a bloodbath of Watergate proportions’ for GOP  over 7 million voters have already cast their ballots early or by mail this year.

Jimmy Fallon Riffs on Mike Pence’s Fly and Pink Eye “He’s the head of the coronavirus task force. Not really a great look when you’re covered in bugs and bleeding out of your eye,” Fallon said on Thursday...........  “You know vice-presidential debates are boring when a fly shows up and the entire internet loses its mind” ........... “At that point every American was like, ‘Is that on him or on my TV.?” — JIMMY FALLON .............. “And look, flies land on people all the time. There’s nothing crazy about that. What was crazy is how long it sat there for. Even Trump was watching at home like, ‘Wow, two minutes with Mike Pence. I could never do that.’” — TREVOR NOAH ........... First of all, even a fly knows better than to land on a Black woman’s hair.” — TREVOR NOAH .......... “Mike Pence doesn’t even look live when he’s live. Dude is an in-person Zoom meeting. ............... “Last night’s debate was an epic battle between side eye and red eye.” — JIMMY FALLON ......... “People are worried about Pence ’cause pink eye is a possible symptom of coronavirus. Even scarier, today Pence’s temperature shot all the way up to 84.6.” — JIMMY FALLON ......... “It’s Trump’s fault we all have to do 15 Zoom meetings a day. He should be forced to go to at least one, shouldn’t he?” — JAMES CORDEN  

Coronavirus News (260)

How the Pandemic Is Affecting Working Mothers  Unemployment during the coronavirus pandemic is affecting women so disproportionately that many analysts are referring to the economic crisis as a “she-cession.” .......  30 years of academic research has shown that leaving the labor force to take care of children lowers a women’s career earnings, retirement savings and chances for promotion ......... This period is unlike the 2008 recession, sometimes called a “man-cession” because it heavily affected sectors that traditionally employ more men, including construction and financial services. Women are suffering more in this pandemic because they work in larger numbers than men in hospitality, retail and other types of service jobs that seldom offer health insurance or paid leave, often cannot be done remotely and which have been hard hit by lockdowns. ........... the number of women in the U.S. labor force has actually slipped in the last 15 years, largely because of child care concerns. 

Trump says he feels great. My experience — as a doctor and patient — says that might not last.  I saw a reflection of myself in March, when I was infected with covid-19: short-winded after walking up a flight of steps. Trying to hide the shortness of breath and stifle a cough. Telling myself it was mostly over; that I had been through the worst and was on the mend. ............  This is a menacing virus, with sometimes misleading ups and terrifying downs. Symptoms come and go, only to return again, and again: fever, aches, chills, exhaustion. ............. The natural course of covid-19 in an infected person is summed up in one word: unpredictable. ..........  To his advantage, he’s been treated with a regimen that no one else in the world has received, two antiviral agents (remdesivir and Regeneron’s dual monoclonal antibody cocktail) along with a potent anti-inflammatory steroid, dexamethasone. .............  I suppose the president is thinking this novel approach will stop the virus in its tracks, freeing him from the usual ravages of infection experienced by most everyone else who has suffered through symptoms of this horrific disease. It’s hard to know with a test panel composed of a single person. ........... More likely, the president will have a shortened course of symptoms but, like most covid-19 patients, will experience moments of seemingly good health, followed by stretches where his energy vanishes and he needs to lie down. This is what covid-19 infection does. It’s like a dog with a toy, shaking it vigorously for a few moments, resting for a while, and then shaking vigorously again. The beast — in this case, it’s a beast — doesn’t let go until it’s good and ready. .............  I would expect the president to struggle this week with waxing and waning symptoms of covid-19: paroxysms of coughing, shortness of breath after mild exertion, headaches, moments of “fuzzy thinking,” intermittent fever and profound episodes of fatigue. The fatigue is particularly vexing and is the one symptom that likely will linger for weeks after he has recovered from the others. .............. but for sure, we all need to respect this virus: how it is transmitted, what it does to those people it infects and how it leaves countless family members bereaved after it has taken a loved one to the grave. ........ avoid crowds, keep physical distance and, for goodness’ sake, wear a mask. Even — or perhaps especially — on the South Portico.

White House signals stronger coronavirus precautions, but Trump continues to resist  was defiant — lobbying to return immediately to work in the Oval Office, discussing an address to the nation as early as Tuesday evening and clamoring to get back on the campaign trail in the coming days. ........... the president also falsely claimed that perhaps he was “immune” to the virus, said he felt “better than 20 years ago” and urged the public to “get out there.”  ............  The result is a bifurcated culture in Trump’s White House and broader orbit, with informal and halting steps toward more rigorous health measures often undermined or upended by the president. .......... There has been minimal staffing in the White House since Trump’s diagnosis ......... Advisers are already planning campaign events with large crowds, including bus tours, airport hangar rallies, speeches at local centers and more ........ Trump falling to 16 points behind Biden, who leads 57 to 41 percent. .......... the coronavirus — and not taking it seriously enough — remains the president’s electoral albatross. They believe it has caused the president to lose support among senior citizens and suburban women, both key voting blocs. ........  Trump’s decision to leave the hospital Sunday for a ride in his presidential limo, which required two Secret Service agents to be in the car with him, as “so monstrously wrong.” .. ....... “In my lifetime, it was the most appalling thing I’ve seen a president do for a political stunt,” the former official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share a candid opinion. “It’s genuinely unhinged.” .......... “I supposed the message he was trying to send was that he’s super strong and defeated covid, but it was obvious even to me that he was gasping for breath, and that doesn’t suggest he has, in fact, defeated covid,” Rasmussen said. “It’s really premature to be declaring victory, and it’s also a really bad message to send.” 

Stimulus negotiations: Trump signs off on a $1.8 trillion counter offer to Pelosi 

Trump is getting increasingly desperate, sparking new fears for his health  and suddenly decided to back negotiations over a coronavirus economic rescue package he had killed off earlier in the week ............  While he spoke with Hannity, Trump had to pause his sentences, audibly clear his throat and cough at least twice. ......... Trump plans to do another interview with Fox News -- this time on camera with Dr. Marc Siegel, a medical analyst for the channel -- that will air Friday night. ................ "He is not well. We would not want any other person on the planet to do the things he's doing this soon after knowing they're infected" ........... normally, someone who had undergone Covid-19 experimental therapies would be still be in a hospital bed. ......... "If he's not in the right sound mind to make decisions rationally, then he could be very reckless for the country and the world." .......... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, questioned Thursday whether the President is in an "altered state" during an interview with Bloomberg TV, alluding to his sudden decision to halt stimulus negotiations. She noted that doctors have said that the steroid medication Trump was taking can affect a patient's judgment. ........ he is now at risk of losing one of the last chances to turn his campaign around -- purely because he ignored social distancing measures and got sick. ........... "What happens is, you get better ... you know, you don't really need drugs." ............  Trump's wild behavior is coinciding with signs that the long-feared fall spike in the pandemic is gathering speed. ............. Yet there is no sign of a coordinated government health offensive to prepare Americans for a grim winter before vaccines become widely available. 

Coronavirus News (259)

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The Wrist

Love

Rebuild

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The Journey

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Coronavirus News (258)

Single Parents Finding Love: Over Zoom, of Course Because dating with kids wasn’t tricky enough before the pandemic. ........... There are nearly 19 million single-parent families in the U.S., and some of those parents, naturally, are looking for partners. They want the nervous butterflies you get on the first date and the inside jokes you share by the fifth. They want loyal companionship, deep conversation and someone else to load the dishwasher once in awhile. ..............  It’d be nice to find that person that I want to be quarantined with.” ............. “But the loneliness of single parenting three kids during a pandemic took over, and I was just happy to have another adult to spend time with.” .......... “It would be unreasonable to ask single parents to sit at home and wait for some unknown time when the pandemic is over and they can date again,” she said. “That’s basically solitary confinement.” .............. For parents who share custody, there’s a whole other set (or sometimes several sets) of germs to contend with. Mooradian’s kids go back and forth between her house and her ex-husband’s house, where his girlfriend lives. “Then her kids go back and forth between that house and her ex’s house, and the ex has a girlfriend too,” she said. “It’s a whole chain effect.” .......... On Father’s Day, her brother invited the whole family over — except her. “He said I was too high-risk because I was dating,” she said. ..................  ‘I’m a single parent juggling work and two amazing kiddos.’ Covid-19 has accelerated people self-identifying as single parents in a really big way.” ............. He and Carlson have been texting and plan to take an online workout class together from their respective homes. Afterward, they said, they’ll meet for a drink. Over Zoom, of course. 

Movie theaters are struggling to survive the pandemic. Many won't

The Bicoastal Entrepreneur: Running a Business in Multiple States​  corporations and LLCs are considered domestic only in the state that they are registered 

Bidencare Would Be a Big Deal Don’t dismiss it because it isn’t Medicare for All. .......... substantially expanding coverage and reducing premiums for middle-class families. ......... under Biden’s plan, 15 million to 20 million Americans would gain health insurance. And premiums would fall sharply, especially for middle-class families. Editors’ Picks A Columnist Makes Sense of Wall Street Like None Other (See Footnote) The Army Rolls Out a New Weapon: Strategic Napping Hold Me, Squeeze Me, Bite My Head Continue reading the main story .......... the plan would also provide significant aid for long-term care, rural health, and mental health. ............  True, America would still fall somewhat short of achieving what every other advanced country has — universal health care. But we’d get a lot closer 

Trump Is Killing the Economy Out of Spite So what will he do if he loses the election? ......... Nobody knows what chaos, possibly including violence, he may unleash if the election doesn’t go his way. ......... Trump hasn’t even lost yet, but he abruptly cut off talks on an economic relief package millions of Americans desperately need (although as of Thursday he seemed to be backtracking). And his motivation seems to have been sheer spite. ............. We’ve already lost around 900,000 jobs in state and local education. ........... Unless the federal government steps in, there will be huge unnecessary suffering. There’s also a macroeconomic case: If families are forced to slash consumption, if businesses are forced to close and if state and local governments are forced into extreme spending cuts, the economy’s growth will slow and we might even slide back into recession. ........... warnings about the dangers of failing to provide more relief aren’t just coming from progressive Democrats; they’re coming from Wall Street analysts and Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve. ......... The main stumbling block, I’d argue, has been the adamant refusal of Senate Republicans to consider aid to state and local governments ..........   Why would Trump choose this, of all moments, to torpedo economic policy? ........... What this looks like, instead, is vindictiveness. ..........  he’s already acting like a deeply embittered man, lashing out at people he feels have treated him unfairly, which is basically everyone. And as usual he reserves special rage for smart, tough women; on Thursday he called Kamala Harris a “monster.” ............  getting a relief deal would have required accepting a compromise with that “nasty” woman Nancy Pelosi. And it seems that he would rather let the economy burn. ........... Trump has always been vindictive; what will he do if and when he has nothing left but spite?

Some Republicans Seem to Think This Isn’t Going to Go Their Way Why else would Amy Coney Barrett need to be installed so quickly? .......  She apparently was closely connected to a conservative Christian group called People of Praise that has a history of stressing a husband’s role as head of the household. .............  And hey, have you noticed that Republican senators are starting to come down with the coronavirus? Two Judiciary Committee members, Mike Lee and Thom Tillis, are sick and now presumably infectious. (Earlier, Lee was at Trump’s Judge Amy party, where he seemed to be hugging about half the attendees.) So Mitch wants to let folks do their committee work from home if they prefer, in the basic Zoomish method we have all come to know and hate. ............ “A virtual hearing is virtually no hearing at all” .........  the Senate will have to actually get together in person and vote. McConnell will need almost all of his Republicans to show up, no matter what their viral condition.  ....... Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, one of the ailing, says he’ll “go in a moon suit if necessary.” 

Coronavirus News (257)

House Democrats say Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet, Apple enjoy ‘monopoly power’ and recommend big changes  After a 16-month investigation into competitive practices at Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google, the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust has released its findings and recommendations on how to reform laws to fit the digital age. The report concludes that the four Big Tech companies enjoy monopoly power and suggests Congress take up changes to antitrust laws that could result in parts of their businesses being separated. Republicans have voiced objections to some of the bolder proposals in the report, such as imposing structural separations. ...............  major changes for Big Tech companies, such as spinning off or separating parts of their businesses or making it harder to buy smaller companies. ...........  the 1.3 million documents they scoured throughout the investigation. ........ nearly 450-page report ........  imposing business structures that make different lines of business functionally separate from the parent company. For example, this could include a scenario such as forcing Google to divest and separate from YouTube, or Facebook doing the same with Instagram and WhatsApp ........... a type of “Glass-Steagall” law for the internet, referring to the 1930s law that separated commercial from investment banking. ............ Preventing dominant platforms from preferencing their own services, instead, making them offer “equal terms for equal products and services.” ......... Requiring dominant firms to make their services compatible with competitors and allow users to transfer their data. ...............  Strengthening private enforcement by eliminating forced-arbitration clauses and limits on class-action lawsuits. ............ The Democratic report found that the four tech companies enjoy monopoly power in their respective domains. ........... While there is no way to reverse engineer what would have happened to Instagram were it to remain independent, the question of whether Facebook bought Instagram to squander a growing competitor has been a recurring one for many antitrust observers. ..........  then-Instagram chief Kevin Systrom “wanted Instagram to grow naturally and as widely as possible. But Mark was clearly saying ‘do not compete with us.’ ... It was collusion, but within an internal monopoly.” ............. Amazon has monopoly power over most of its third-party sellers and many of its suppliers .............. “Amazon’s market power is at its height” when it comes to its relationship with third-party sellers on its platform. .......... “Publicly, Amazon describes third-party sellers as ‘partners.’ But internal documents show that, behind closed doors, the company refers to them as ‘internal competitors.’” .............. “Amazon’s dual role as an operator of its marketplace that hosts third-party sellers, and a seller in that same marketplace, creates an inherent conflict of interest. This conflict incentivizes Amazon to exploit its access to competing sellers’ data and information, among other anticompetitive conduct.” ..............  Amazon reached its dominance partly through acquiring competing sites such as Diapers.com and Zappos as well as adjacent businesses to add customer data and “shor[e] up its competitive moats.” ............ Apple’s monopoly power exists in the market for software app distribution on iOS devices ..............  Apple uses its control of its operating system and app store “to create and enforce barriers to competition and discriminate against and exclude rivals while preferencing its own offerings.” ..................  Apple uses its market power “to exploit app developers through misappropriation of competitively sensitive information and to charge app developers supra-competitive prices within the App Store.” ............ Last year in the United States alone, the App Store facilitated $138 billion in commerce with over 85% of that amount accruing solely to third-party developers. .......... Google’s dominance as operating “as an ecosystem of interlocking monopolies.” By linking together various services with extensive user data, Google is able to reinforce its dominance ................  “Google exploits information asymmetries and closely tracks real-time data across markets, which—given Google’s scale—provide it with near-perfect market intelligence. In certain instances, Google has covertly set up programs to more closely track its potential and actual competitors, including through projects like Android Lockbox.” ..........................  Google has been able to maintain its dominance with high barriers to entry, including the default position it’s secured in many browsers and devices ........... Google allegedly boosted its own vertical offerings by misappropriating content from third parties ...........  Google has been “blurring the distinction between paid ads and organic results” since capturing its monopoly in general search while stacking its results page with ads. ..............  “As a result of these tactics, Google appears to be siphoning off traffic from the rest of the web, while entities seeking to reach users must pay Google steadily increasing sums for ads,” according to the report. “Numerous market participants analogized Google to a gatekeeper that is extorting users for access to its critical distribution channel, even as its search page shows users less relevant results.” ..............  data portability and interoperability  

QAnon’s Creator Made the Ultimate Conspiracy Theory There’s no fact the sprawling movement can’t dismiss—and no madness it can’t imagine. ............ Most of those who believe in the convoluted QAnon conspiracy theory hold that the pandemic is fake, and so the move could only indicate that the president was going undercover, and that the final revelation was coming. ..................   It has been called everything from a virulent conspiracy theory to a mass delusion, a cult, and a complete scam, and yet it’s growing daily. It seems set to send some faithful followers to Congress, it has earned the tacit acknowledgement of the president, and it still maintains a core following of about 600,000 people on Facebook alone, despite efforts by the platform to ban QAnon outright. QAnon followers have attempted political violence, and links between apparent acts of domestic terrorism and the movement are increasingly apparent. ............ In February and March, just 3 percent of Americans surveyed by Pew Research said they had heard or read “a lot” about QAnon. By September, more than 30 percent told Civiqs the teachings of the elusive pseudonymous leader Q were partly or mostly true. QAnon is growing, and fast. .............  In many ways, QAnon is the culmination of Trump’s America: paranoid, deeply critical of journalists and experts, obsessive in its defense of the president. Zoom out, though, and QAnon is the amalgam of decades of doomsday cults and new religious movements. It is the ideological successor of the satanic panic of the 1980s, and of older, even darker ideas like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It has more in common with the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo than the Republican Party of Dwight D. Eisenhower. From its modest origins on a far-right message board, it is now a behemoth, absorbing a set of ideas that have long lurked below the surface. ............. It has vacuumed up every paranoid thought and half-baked idea about power, government, and society. While it hasn’t predicted the end of the world, Q warns its followers that a “storm is coming.” The ultimate battle between good and evil is around the corner. Apocalyptic vibes radiate through all of Q’s messages. ................... QAnon traces its lineage back to a single, disproven conspiracy: that, in 2016, a pedophile ring tied to the Democratic Party had been exposed. John Podesta, Anthony Weiner, and Hillary Clinton were all involved, satanism was at play, and Comet Ping Pong, a pizzeria in Washington, D.C., was the headquarters for the whole operation. ..................  Scroll through the thousands of posts from Q and its followers, and you’ll see that there’s no new conspiracy under the sun. Every theory, from John F. Kennedy’s assassination to mind control, can fit neatly into QAnon. In Q’s world, where the deep state knows no bounds and shows few scruples, it seems evident that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 were an inside job. That the few dynasties that secretly run the world’s banking system are real and active. That even the British conspiracy theorist David Icke’s stories of lizard people could be true. ............... In the dark recesses of the 4chan and 8chan message boards, these theories have long been bandied about. The core tenets of QAnon are not so much novel as they are a reflection of what the users of these boards wanted to see. .................  But QAnon doesn’t just repeat 8chan drivel—it borrows from decades of conspiracies and remixes them into something modern and new. Its followers, meanwhile, crowdfund their own additions to the conspiracy, which Q regurgitates back to them. It gives adherents the distinct feeling that they are uncovering some secret, like detectives on a case. ...................... every newspaper headline or oblique tweet is, for QAnon followers, proof positive of their predictions. Every negative story about Q is evidence of the deep state pushing back. Every Trump tweet can be a coded message encouraging QAnon to work harder. ................ theory: that Q is, currently, 8chan owner Jim Watkins. ..............  “He knows Christianity is a way, in the United States, to get something to go big,” Brennan told me. He said that “the time I knew him best, between 2015 and 2018, I never saw him go to church, I never saw him read a hymn.” ............ a favorite expression of conspiracy theorists, borrowed from the Matrix movies, is “take the red pill.” ...........  At their least damaging, these movements are a home for disaffected and frustrated people looking for a comforting alternative to a society in tumult. At their worst, this detachment from reality inspires acts of terrorism. ..........   Those cults needed to build that world from scratch. QAnon, however, has picked up existing movements and communities, like a snowball rolling down a hill and collecting debris. By bringing in existing movements, enveloping them into its mass, QAnon absorbs a quasi-credibility and an existing fan base. ......... The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, one of the world’s most enduring conspiracy theories. Written around the turn of the 20th century, the text contends in its introduction that the “hidden hand” of some 300 Jewish elders control all of Europe. .............. The Protocols was useful propaganda for Adolf Hitler. ........... several modern conspiracy theorists, including Lyndon LaRouche, a perennial candidate for American high office and father of much monetary policy quackery. LaRouche died last year, but the political action committee bearing his name has gone all in on Trump, despite his movement once being notionally left-wing. ....................... Many familiar with David Icke know him for his theory that the ruling class is, in fact, a space-and-time-traveling reptilian super race. ........... it lists the three families: The House of Saud, George Soros himself, and the Rothschilds. .............. LaRouche, Icke, and the Khazar theory may be punchlines to the general public, if they’re recognized at all, but they have found a vehicle to the mainstream in QAnon. .....................  QAnon is different, and it shares a troubling similarity with The Protocols: It is a forgery and a conspiracy designed to protect power, not challenge it. It teaches its masses that the powerful are actually vulnerable and must be defended. .............. The movement has appeared in a perfect storm. It is joined at the hip to the man in the White House, but it is also preying on a generation steeped in moral panics. ................ It’s a story of fear, warning that pipelines of trafficked children run through the United States, and that no child is safe. ........ The 8chan owner’s son tweeted the debunked theory that COVID-19 was a lab-made bioweapon three times between January and February, while Q dropped the theory that the pandemic was preplanned in mid-March. Beyond that, there is something for the anti-vaccine crowd. Lots for the climate change deniers. Even conspiracy theories normally more identified with the left, like 9/11 truthers, have something in QAnon. ............... QAnon is the culmination of more than a century in magical thinking .........  a reality where everyone in power has a dark purpose, but where the final battle of good versus evil is fast approaching. This is the end of history.  We’ve never seen a movement that ties together a constellation of delusions and beliefs like this.

Coronavirus News (256)

China’s new economic ‘dual circulation’ strategy may not just be inward-looking, but also a pivot to Asia Amid a challenging geopolitical environment, it is unsurprising that China is looking to bolster its domestic market, but it is unlikely to completely turn inward While decoupling from the West, it is likely to expand regional cooperation 

Democrats outraged as Trump halts Covid stimulus talks until after election Pelosi: Trump ‘putting himself first at expense of the country’ President later offers to sign off fresh round of stimulus checks

Louise Glück wins the 2020 Nobel prize in literature The Swedish Academy has chosen the American poet, citing her ‘unmistakable poetic voice’  ..... One of America’s leading poets, the 77-year-old writer has won the Pulitzer prize and the National Book Award, tackling themes including childhood and family life, often reworking Greek and Roman myths. ........ comparing her to Emily Dickinson with her “severity and unwillingness to accept simple tenets of faith”. .........  She said the winnings – 10m Swedish kronor (£870,000) – would help her buy a home in Vermont. “But mostly, I am concerned for the preservation of daily life, with people I love … it is disruptive. The phone is ringing now, squeaking into my ear.” ........ “She is a very quotable poet – you can look her up on Instagram,” Clanchy said. “But it’s worth noting that her resonant aphorisms are always spoken by ironised voices – a wild iris, for example. Her poems are austere, difficult, very much alive. I’ve always admired her.” ........... Born in New York City in 1943, Glück grew up on Long Island and attended Columbia University. She has taught poetry in many universities, and is currently an adjunct professor of English at Yale. .......... “you have to live your life if you’re going to do original work”, because “your work will come out of an authentic life, and if you suppress all of your most passionate impulses in the service of an art that has not yet declared itself, you’re making a terrible mistake”. ........ had “no concern with widening audience”, and that she preferred her audience “small, intense, passionate”. ........ “astonished at the justice of the win”. .......... “She’s not a cheerleader. She’s in no way a voice for any cause – she is a human being engaged in the language and in the world. And I think there’s this wonderful sense that she is not polemical, and maybe this is what’s being celebrated. She’s not a person trying to persuade us of anything, but helping us to explore to explore the world we’re living in. She’s a clarifying poet. There doesn’t seem to be much political engagement in her poems. They’re really about the individual human being alive in the world, and in the language.” ......... the prize was moving away from a Eurocentric, male-oriented focus.

Louise Glück: where to start with an extraordinary Nobel winner Poet Fiona Sampson explains why she admires the 2020 Nobel laureate and picks her favourite poems from a long career ......... a quality of lucid, calm attention ......... She has the extraordinary writer’s gift of making clear what is, outside the world of her poem, complex. .......... 

There was 

a peach in a wicker basket. 

There was a bowl of fruit. 

Fifty years. Such a long walk 

from the door to the table.

........ classic Glück, distilling time, beauty, and emotional ambivalence in a single clarifying gesture. ......... Through decades of Anglo-American poetry alternating between over-intellection and misery-memoir confession, Glück has continued to write poetry that is accessible, despite its huge sophistication. ........ She’s neatly shown a path through the canon for everyone who feels themselves excluded by that white male norm we should be past questioning.  ........  

A child draws the outline of a body.
She draws what she can, but it is white all through,
she cannot fill in what she knows is there.
Within the unsupported line, she knows
that life is missing…
........... “Even now this landscape is assembling. /The hills darken. The oxen /sleep” .......... 

and the seeds
distinct, gold, calling
Come here
Come here, little one

.......... “The city rose in a kind of splendour /as all that is wild comes to the surface” .......... “The fundamental experience of the writer is helplessness,” she tells us in th essay Education of a Poet; their life “is dignified, I think, by yearning, not made serene by sensations of achievement. In the actual work, a discipline, a service.”