Coronavirus News (278)

MUSK: TESLA IS ROLLING OUT A BETA OF “FULL SELF-DRIVING” NEXT WEEK  “I drive the bleeding edge alpha build in my car personally,” he added at the time. “Almost at zero interventions between home and work.” ....... According to Musk, the update will take the feature from 2D to “4D,” meaning that the vehicle will be able to not only sense the three-dimensional world around it, but also predict changes in factors like location, direction, and speed.  

Why The Amy Coney Barrett Hearings Are Verging On The Absurd Modern Supreme Court confirmation hearings are empty theater, and Barrett’s is no exception. ........... She would likely vote to further dismantle Obamacare, uphold abortion limits that would make it impossible to get an abortion in some states, invalidate most regulations on guns and back corporations over individuals in most legal matters. She does not seem inclined to recuse herself from a case involving Trump’s election, even as the president has implied that he wants Barrett confirmed, in part, to rule in his favor if election-related issues reach the Supreme Court. ............. Barrett, if confirmed, would be to the ideological right of both Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh .....  polls show that a clear majority of Americans believe that the winner of the election should choose Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s replacement ...... She didn’t say anything to annoy Republicans or win over Democrats. And, of course, that was the point. 

Trump’s Chances Are Dwindling. That Could Make Him Dangerous.  Every scientific poll we’ve seen had Trump losing the debate, some by narrow margins and some by wide ones.  ........ John McCain, for instance, briefly pulled ahead of Barack Obama following the 2008 Republican convention, and Obama didn’t really solidify his lead until early October. .......... Hillary Clinton led by only 1.4 points in our national polling average heading into the first debate that year. ......... It’s been an exceptionally stable race. ...... In 2016, the polls did show Clinton ahead, but between tight margins in tipping-point states and the large number of undecided voters, there was a fairly high probability — around 30 percent, according to our forecast — that Trump was going to win anyway. ............  nothing intrinsically rules out a larger polling error. We had one in 1948 — when Dewey didn’t defeat Truman, after all — and in 1980, when Ronald Reagan won in an epic landslide instead of the narrow margin that polls predicted. ............. a 7-point Biden lead on Election Day could, indeed, turn into a 2-point Biden popular vote win where Trump narrowly wins the Electoral College. ....... But it’s about equally likely that a 7-point Biden lead could translate into a 12-point Biden win, in which he’d not only carry states like Georgia and Texas, but would also have a shot in South Carolina, Alaska and Montana. ..........  Even a small probability that the U.S. could become a failed or manifestly undemocratic state is worth taking seriously. ........ Consider that Trump’s convention produced, at best, a very meager bounce in his favor. His attempt to pivot the campaign to a “law and order” theme fell completely flat in polls of the upper Midwest. He’s thrown the kitchen sink at Biden and not really been able to pull down Biden’s favorables. His hopes that we’d turn the corner on COVID-19 before the election are diminishing after cases have begun to rise again in many states. His campaign, somehow, is struggling to hold on to enough cash to run ads in the places it most needs to run them. The New York Times and other news organizations are likely to continue publishing damaging stories on his taxes and personal finances from now until the election. And now he’s seemingly lost the first debate. ......... If Trump intuits that he’s unlikely to win legitimately — it’s not hard to imagine him escalating his anti-democratic rhetoric and behavior. It’s also not hard to imagine this rhetoric further eroding his position in polls. ...... So we could be headed for a vicious cycle where Trump increasingly gives up on trying to persuade or turn out voters and voters increasingly give up on him.

How Trump Could Spark A Full-Blown Election Crisis  

An Open Letter to Judge Amy Coney Barrett From Your Notre Dame Colleagues from what we read your confirmation is all but assured. 

White House Embraces Covid-19 ‘Herd Immunity’ Declaration  

White House embraces a declaration from scientists that opposes lockdowns and relies on ‘herd immunity.’   The White House has embraced a declaration by a group of scientists arguing that authorities should allow the coronavirus to spread among young healthy people while protecting the elderly and the vulnerable — an approach that would rely on arriving at “herd immunity” through infections rather than a vaccine. ..........  about 85 to 90 percent of the American population is still susceptible to the coronavirus. ....... The Great Barrington Declaration, which argues against lockdowns and calls for a reopening of businesses and schools. .......... “The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.” ............ The document grew out of a meeting hosted by the American Institute for Economic Research, a libertarian-leaning research organization. ..........   Sunetra Gupta and Gabriela Gomes, two scientists who have proposed that societies may achieve herd immunity when 10 to 20 percent of their populations have been infected with the virus, a position most epidemiologists disagree with. .......... What they found runs strongly counter to the theory being promoted in influential circles that the United States has either already achieved herd immunity or is close to doing so, and that the pandemic is all but over. That conclusion would imply that businesses, schools and restaurants could safely reopen, and that masks and other distancing measures could be abandoned.  

New virus cases are trending upward in a majority of the states.   Uncontrolled coronavirus outbreaks in the U.S. Midwest and Mountain West have strained hospitals, pushed the country’s case curve to its highest level since August and heightened fears about what the winter might bring. ............ the country’s trajectory is worrisome — and worsening. Many experts fear what could happen as cold weather encroaches on more of the country and drives people indoors, where the virus can spread more easily. ............  New cases are trending upward in 36 states, including much of the Northeast ........ Testing remains insufficient in much of the country. 

Coronavirus News (277)

Amy Barrett: A New Conservatism  and her Catholic parish in South Bend, Ind. ......... an outsider of unbending conviction on social issues. .......... “We now affectionately call her Judge Dogma” ........ Mr. Trump, who in 2016 promised to appoint justices who would overturn the federal right to an abortion .............  Judge Barrett is from the South and Midwest. Her career has been largely spent teaching while raising seven children, including two adopted from Haiti and one with Down syndrome, and living according to her faith. She has made no secret of her beliefs on divisive social issues such as abortion. A deeply religious woman, her roots are in a populist movement of charismatic Catholicism. ...........   the ecstatic traditions of charismatic Christianity, like speaking in tongues ......... To Judge Barrett’s critics, she represents the antithesis of the progressive values embodied in Justice Ginsburg, her life spent in a cocoon of like-minded thinking that in many areas runs counter to the views of a majority of Americans. .......... She has made clear she believes that life begins at conception, and has served in leadership roles for People of Praise, and her children’s school has said in its handbook that marriage is between a man and a woman. Her judicial opinions indicate broad support for gun rights and an expanded role for religion in public life. ..........   and if she is confirmed, as seems all but certain, she could have an effect as early as next month, when the court will hear cases on the Affordable Care Act and a clash between claims of religious freedom and gay rights. She will represent a rising conservatism subtly different from what the court’s five other Republican appointees embody. ........   For Judge Barrett, 48, that vision comes from a deep sense of calling, one rooted in family and faith, and one that began before she was born. ........... Seeking to emulate the close-knit community of the Twelve Apostles, Mr. Coney and his wife, who had six girls and a boy after Amy, joined People of Praise, based in South Bend, and were a grounding force for the group’s New Orleans community................    and then, like her grandmother, mother, aunts and sisters, went to high school at St. Mary’s Dominican, an all-girls Catholic school. .......... In a course on social justice her junior year, the girls read papal encyclicals about economic inequality, nuclear disarmament and the rights of workers, even as they learned about the church’s stance against contraception and abortion. Their teacher, Royann Avegno, 70, spoke often of her eight children, seven of whom she had adopted, most with congenital conditions or special needs; three died. She brought one child to visit the class — he could not stand or talk, and she spoke with the students about the dignity of human life, even when it was frail. .......................  When Ms. Barrett applied to law schools, Ms. Brady said faculty members “spent hours” arguing for her to consider Harvard over Notre Dame, which was generally not highly ranked among the nation’s top law schools. Friends said Ms. Barrett later told them that while she had been accepted at the University of Chicago, Notre Dame had offered her a scholarship. ................. “I’m a Catholic, and I always grew up loving Notre Dame,” Judge Barrett said in 2019. “What Catholic doesn’t?” ............ Despite being urged to consider Harvard, Judge Barrett chose to attend law school at Notre Dame. .. .....  the nation’s elite conservative law school ...............  She graduated at the top of her class and received an award for the highest academic achievement. .............. hired her without even an interview, after Mr. Kelley had insisted she would have been the top student at Harvard, too, the judge said. ......... had appreciated Judge Barrett’s analytical skills and clear writing .......... “Amy Coney is the best student I ever had.” ........   respected her ability to simplify some of the court’s more complex cases. ..............  “It was not something I would have thought to do in the middle of my clerkship, to go serve the dying with the nuns.” ............ Returning as a 30-year-old professor, Ms. Barrett was not much older than her students. She deliberately wore glasses, “to try to look very imposing,” she later said. Organized, a good speaker and caring toward her students, she was repeatedly voted teacher of the year. ................  making clear her conviction that life began at conception, according to a campus magazine. But she also said the core right to abortion established in Roe appeared secure ......... “The fundamental element, that the woman has a right to choose abortion, will probably stand,” she said. .......... In a 2006 commencement address, she gave her students three pieces of advice: Pray before accepting a new job. Give away 10 percent of what you earn to church, charity or friends in need. Choose a parish with an active community and commit yourself to cultivating relationships there. .............. “When your life is placed firmly within a web of relationships, it is much easier to keep your career in its proper place.”  .......  she recalled walking to campus and sitting on a cemetery bench contemplating a household with five children younger than 10. “I just thought, OK, well, if life’s really hard, at least it’s short,” she said, laughing. “But I thought, what greater thing can you do than raise children?” ........ When her youngest son was born with Down syndrome, on oxygen in the intensive care unit ............ The family had a significant support system. Mr. Barrett’s aunt helped take care of their children for years, allowing both parents to pursue their professional ambitions. .............  “Between church, God, a supportive community, you end up thinking, why is welfare important, we can have support from our community and God.” ......... She served from 2015 to 2017 on the board of Trinity School, the private school of 250 students in South Bend that some of her children attend and that was started by and remains closely linked to the People of Praise. ............... Mr. Trump gave an early signal of what he had in mind just a few months after she joined the appeals court. “I’m saving her for Ginsburg,” he told people .............   “Her opinions in death penalty-related cases certainly are not in line with church teaching” ............ she understands the oath she gives as a jurist is to apply the law before her whether or not that coincides with her personal moral or other beliefs.” .............. Judge Barrett has acknowledged that judges using Justice Scalia’s methods do not always agree .......   While the Notre Dame law faculty and her former fellow Supreme Court clerks generally supported her for the appeals court, some have said they will not line up behind her this time. ........... Judge Barrett suggested she would try to bridge the bitter divides, invoking the friendship between Justice Ginsburg and Justice Scalia, who had “disagreed fiercely in print without rancor in person”  

Doctors Are Warning That Trump Could Experience The Worst COVID Symptoms In The Next Week “For the next few days, I’d want him 50 feet away from an ICU, not a helicopter ride,” one leading doctor said. ...............  the disease sometimes flares up dangerously in the second week of symptoms, even in patients who had seemed to be doing well. ........... On Sunday, Conley confirmed that Trump has been given a steroid, dexamethasone, that is normally only recommended for patients with severe cases of COVID-19 who are having serious trouble breathing. The drug damps down the body’s immune system, which can jump into overdrive and damage the lungs and other organs. .............  But even after being given dexamethasone, patients who required oxygen still had a mortality rate of about 20%. “These are not miracle drugs” ........... To require oxygen and to be put on remdesivir and dexamethasone so quickly after becoming infected suggests that Trump’s illness was fairly severe, though it is unlikely that a typical COVID-19 patient with the same symptoms would have been given such intensive treatment. ..............  We do know that Trump was given a lung scan, which Conley said delivered “expected findings.” .......... That timeline is important, because the second week of COVID-19 can be the most dangerous. ............. Doctors warned that patients in the second week of the disease can suddenly get much more seriously ill. “Week two is the worst because of the fact that you have the inflammatory response to the virus”  

Kudlow: Stimulus deal is not dead at all

Kudlow: Mnuchin may offer bigger than $2.2T stimulus proposal

Dr. Anthony Fauci hopes worrisome numbers jolt Americans to take steps to stem spread of Covid-19

महामारीविरुद्धको लडाइँमा काठमाडौं पछि पर्‍यो : मन्त्री ज्ञवाली