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kimyoonmiauthor · 4 years ago

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Myka and James Stauffer rehoming a disabled child--What more can you do?

I wrote this once, but then it wouldn’t post. So this is a second time, excuse it if it’s not as eloquent as it should be. I’m an international adoptee, so we’re more affected by this case than most because according to Reuters 2013 more of us are “rehomed” than others. Because of this, I’ve also been following the case since 2010. So all of the people “shocked” by this terminology needs to listen to adoptees. Over the last 10 years or so, I’ve been collecting resources and things YOU as non-adoptees can do to help. This has included listening to Birth Parents, Adoptees, Adoptive Parents, Former Foster Youth, and basically using my Anthropology training to collect a list. I have to remind you that going after the Stauffers alone isn’t enough. We have to go after the systems that enabled them to do this in the first place so this does not happen to another child. I get it. Vigilante justice feels good. It’s short, sweet and you get results and to see the face of the individual. A system doesn’t have a face you can gloat over. But if you really do care, you’d go after prevention and long term change, otherwise your outrage--and I’m including all of those youtubers I had to sort through (which was painful at best, but so goes advocacy), is empty. You only care about your own self-satisfaction rather than the long term cause or the people involved themselves. (My anti-Cancel Crew objections are along this line of thought.) Since I’ve been asked what this looks like and re-pasting it over and over is a pain, I decided to centralize the post with the levels of justification for the action. I get this post is longish, but take the part you need to make that change you want to advocate for.

If you want to take parts of this post, you can take the links without credit, but not the specific words. And don’t take credit for work you didn’t do.

What is Rehoming?

The often legal, but immoral act of placing a child without oversight of the state or government by placing them on the internet or doing backyard deals. We adoptees have been battling facebook pages for years to shut it down. I am not naming them, because I don’t want to encourage the behavior.

This is separate from dissolution of adoption. This is done with home study and legal oversight.

Why is this a Problem?

Adoptive parents go through a long, long process call home study this can take anywhere from a few months to a year. This has evolved over the years. Since this specific case involves international adoption, I’ll do a run down of the evolution of how home study has evolved in the International adoption community. I know it’s dry and boring, but it’s important to understand why the Stauffer case is egregious and why I am holding Holt responsible.

Home study used to be, “Are you Christian?” as done by the Holts. To be clear, social workers and his translator at the time objected to this. His reasoning? He thought all Christians are good people. (Though if you check the qualifiers for genocide by the UN, this is loosely on the list.) Adoptees were lucky to even get half a page.

This resulted in children being put into sex trafficking rings and child slavery. Social workers and Adoptees legislated against the Holts and the restrictions went up. (The whole list of immoral, yet not illegal crimes the organization has done as a whole, is a whole other story. I know it backwards and forwards as an adoptee with dates and countries since I’ve been in the adoptee community since roughly 1999.) This took 20 years from the first children in 1940′s and 1950′s. The home study in the 1970′s was still thin, but the amount of abuse cases went down. By the 1980′s, there was pressure to actually care about the children, so ESWS (one of the Korean agencies) and the other agencies in Korea started pushing for more extensive home studies (at the behest of Adoptees). The packet and requirements were thin. This included things like checking the financials of the family in question. Giving the parents language lessons, and then a packet usually about an inch thick. They would also get family statements and recommendations. A social worker would come and check the safety of the home. By about the 1990′s the packet has increased, and psychological evaluations started to be put into place. There were lists of books added to the list. (I asked Adoptive Parents to help me with this.) These were “suggestions” but no one tested if the prospective parents read them. So the packets given were about 6 inches deep, with the books about a foot. The in-class studies, several honest Adoptive Parents called “laughable” there was no race training at all and most of it was hanging out.

By the early 2000′s, they started to finally let parents of color adopt in larger numbers. (I know) The rehoming had gotten far more decent. The psych evaluations got deeper. They started to exclude criminal activity, do background checks on the parents, and do deeper psych evaluations, requiring deeper studies. But the Adoptive Parents I talked to said they were not getting the support they needed. The agencies weren’t listening on what they needed to parent their child. This is about the time I started collecting a wishlist and sending it to agencies. As far as I’m connected, nothing has really changed since then. The problem with rehoming is that it sets us back to 1950′s rules. All of this progress that Adoptees, Social workers, and well-meaning Adoptive Parents have fought hard for is done in an instant. There is no home study and the former parents get away with it because Adoptees and Foster Kids are not protected by the same laws that children from birth are.

What does this have to do with the Stauffers?

The Stauffers, a few years ago, decided to adopt a kid from China. They are social influencers. So they asked to fund their child’s adoption. They opted to have a child with special needs and by reports “checked 99% of them.” They paid zero for the adoption, and then used him to boost one of their channels and Instagram follower’s accounts. Their channel boosted by a ton of money, such that they could move into a mansion, their “dream home”, go on several large family vacations, made off of publicizing his story for their own “disability savior” points. Some of the videos, however, were problematic.

He was later said to have autism, and was in speech therapy, by Myka who wanted to “save” money on him by bringing him to a cheaper therapist. Despite this, the channel grew.

Then suddenly the boy disappeared from the channel. After months of pressuring her, they released a video saying they had “rehomed” him. The internet was enraged by this and went after her and James Stauffer. They tried to push Myka to receive all the blame to protect James Stauffer’s channel. All of the videos of this little boy were still up and monetized. They came up with a petition to force all of the videos down. The monetized videos came down and a new petition started: https://www.change.org/p/youtube-shut-down-myka-stauffer-s-youtube-account?signed=true

I also started a letter writing campaign to the governor to make sure it was getting investigated. Everyone else posting about it was trying to go after Myka Stauffer, but I wanted legal change. With me and my network, we worked three days straight to finally get an answer and make sure that the boy they had adopted and “rehomed” was safe.

Is Rehoming New?

Internet Amnesia is real. No. It’s been happening to public knowledge since 2010.

There was the NYC case which got turned into a Law and Order Special Victims Unit episode: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/svu-shines-a-light-on-the_b_4735153

There was the Justin Harris case.

There was the Hart case. (They rehomed once and were able to adopt two more times.)

And if you didn’t think it was covered before then there is also:

https://www.today.com/parents/it-takes-more-love-what-happens-when-adoption-fails-918076

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/11/children-who-have-second-adoptions/575902/

https://mljadoptions.com/blog/adoption-rehoming-disruption-dissolution-20140520

I’ve been riding my own state to institute laws against rehoming, and they finally did it, after the Governor vetoed it once, and I chased him about it. You could be a person that does this too.

So What Can I Do to be a Part of the Change? Here is a PDF of the current anti-rehoming laws. Press for the ones in your state to be cleaned up/invented. https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/custody_transfers.pdf Here's contacts for the city where they live if you want to make sure they get justice for him. http://www.delawareohio.net/agendas-motions-summaries-meeting-recordings/meet-city-council-2/ You can contact Governor Mike DeWine and ask him to do something similar to this law https://www.writing.ucsb.edu/sites/secure.lsit.ucsb.edu.writ.d7/files/sitefiles/publications/2010_Sho.pdf which would give Huxley 90% of the earnings in a trust fund and protect the other Stauffer kids: https://governor.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/governor/contact The petition to take down their videos is here (They shifted their channels, but still have Huxley's content up.): https://www.change.org/p/youtube-demand-the-stauffers-remove-all-monetized-content-ft-huxley-from-their-youtube-channel?recruiter=1095019618

There is a more strict petition here: https://www.change.org/p/youtube-shut-down-myka-stauffer-s-youtube-account?signed=true There is a federal law that's been in the works since about 2015, when the Justin Harris case broke. Langevin has been trying to get it passed. It has bipartisan support. https://langevin.house.gov/press-release/bipartisan-bill-will-protect-adopted-children-rehoming He is the one that said that cats and dogs have more protections than adoptees or foster care youth have.

https://willbrownsberger.com/rehoming-of-adopted-children/

Send them love and support for working on this for so long. I think if people really, really did care, they'd call their Senators and make sure they are supporting this bill (It has bipartisan support): https://www.senate.gov/senators/How_to_correspond_senators.htm

Why and How to Hold Holt Responsible

Holt wasn’t responsible for the placement of this young boy. However, he is still their charge. When they absorbed the other agency, they should have checked on their charges and made sure they were doing well. But they didn’t.

This seems like a mild crime in most people’s eyes, but case after case, their failure to give Adoptive Parents support and check on them has resulted in a huge list of them saying, “This is unfortunate.”, but then not changing their contracts and trying to clean up the system they perpetuate. Since they are the largest of the International Adoption agencies, they also could set an example, by say, not enabling people to adopt on repeat from them if they’ve rehomed a child. (Shouldn’t their records show that?) and creating a network of adoption agencies to prevent abuse and rehoming so the Hart case doesn’t repeat.

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/nyregion/chinas-adoption-scandal-sends-chills-through-families-in-united-states.html https://books.google.com/books?id=ABEoAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA224&lpg=PA224&dq=Holt+International+abuse&source=bl&ots=3tvNla8X2x&sig=ACfU3U00GO4BzWMLUnU9dnI_EYqy1VwilA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi546nirOvpAhV3HzQIHWTwCow4ChDoATAFegQIDBAB#v=onepage&q=Holt%20International%20abuse&f=false And this is the complete list: http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/6194

Their contact:

https://www.holtinternational.org/contactus.php

But what do I ask for?

I compiled this list with the help of Adoptive Parents who have dealt with Holt before.

- Psych evaluations to take out the Narcissistic people (though stop selling it as a Savior Project would also help.) - Check their parenting styles--some styles do and some styles don't work for adoptees because of the initial trauma. - Minimum Foster Care training.

Many adopters go the rehoming route because they believe the Foster Care system is broken and listen to the news. It is, but they should work with Social Workers because Backyard deals are less than that. Obama (no matter how you feel about him) suggested Foster Care training for all Adoptive Parents which is more rigorous than home study for most states (though this also needs revision). - Make them learn the language of the adoptee they are adopting for at least one year (where it applies and they would have to pass with a C or better.) This is mostly so they learn the cultural standards of the country and it helps cement ideas about socialization as well that is hard to describe otherwise. - Holt specifically forbids Adoptive Parents from contacting Foster Parents after placement--reverse that. Adoptive Parents had to work around them and those that did had better outcomes for their child. Often the Foster Parents were eager to help. - Adoption agencies would be required with any international adoption to give a run down from the foster parents of some basics of socialization (for the country), and maybe some basic training. This would be interactive. (as supposed to the next item)

- Give a basic rundown sheet of things to help the child transition from standard socialization practices. How to comfort the child? What specific foods was the child eating? Is there a brand of detergent that was used in their original home? Where does the child sleep? What are their sleeping hours? What type of clothes do they wear? Things people take for granted and think are universal. Anthropologists and Foster Parents could help with this. - For parents taking on disabilities, they should be required prior to encounter the disability and meet more seasoned parents currently dealing with the disability in question--especially adoptive parents. So they can ask questions, network and really, really see if they can handle it. Don't take their word for it. - Adoptees, PoC, etc and any other diversity labels involved with the child should be required to be in close contact with them. i.e. not the internet. Basic race, etc training should apply and they have to pass a test.

-Check on the Adoptee after placement.

After Adoption care. Several APs said they would have really liked this, but then they were left in the dark. In fact their agencies gave them zero support. And the baby would cry and cry and they were totally lost on what to do. They were lost on which experts to ask, and who they could contact. This is unacceptable. Dogs and cats get more checks and aftercare than human children.

On the consequences end,

Child trafficking and Abandonment--Holt should press for those laws. APs that care are for this. They said, why aren’t there these laws?

Also any adopters that rehome would be banned from adopting again, and they would be added to a general blacklist and spread that information to other agencies.

Through this dissolution of adoption should be the key.

If they break the contract, you can sue.

Lastly, don’t believe you are alone. Your anger can make change. At least let your anger last long enough to make this change to the laws so we adoptees don’t have to hear next year how people are shocked yet again by another rehoming case. Be the change the world needs. You aren’t helpless.

#adoption #rehoming #myka stauffer #james stauffer #rehoming should be illegal #international adoption

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patriotsnet · 3 years ago

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Are There Republicans Running For President

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/are-there-republicans-running-for-president/

Are There Republicans Running For President

What Is A Voter

Trump says there is ‘tremendous support’ for him to run for president again

The Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act, which took effect January 1, 2011, created voter-nominated offices. The Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act does not apply to candidates running for U.S. President, county central committees, or local offices.

Most of the offices that were previously known as partisan are now known as voter-nominated offices. Voter-nominated offices are state constitutional offices, state legislative offices, and U.S. congressional offices. The only partisan offices now are the offices of U.S. President and county central committee.

List Of Republicans Who Opposed The Donald Trump 2020 Presidential Campaign

This article is part of a series about

This is a list of Republicans and conservatives who opposed the re-election of incumbent Donald Trump, the 2020 Republican Party nominee for President of the United States. Among them are former Republicans who left the party in 2016 or later due to their opposition to Trump, those who held office as a Republican, Republicans who endorsed a different candidate, and Republican presidential primary election candidates that announced opposition to Trump as the presumptive nominee. Over 70 former senior Republican national security officials and 61 additional senior officials have also signed onto a statement declaring, “We are profoundly concerned about our nation’s security and standing in the world under the leadership of Donald Trump. The President has demonstrated that he is dangerously unfit to serve another term.”

A group of former senior U.S. government officials and conservativesincluding from the Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43, and Trump administrations have formed The Republican Political Alliance for Integrity and Reform to, “focus on a return to principles-based governing in the post-Trump era.”

A third group of Republicans, Republican Voters Against Trump was launched in May 2020 has collected over 500 testimonials opposing Donald Trump.

‘i Made A Decision To Live My Life In Service’

Brock Pierce is a former child actor who appeared in the Mighty Ducks franchise and starred as the president’s son in the 1996 comedy First Kid. But thanks to his second career as a tech entrepreneur, he’s also probably a crypto currency billionaire.

Why is he running for president? Partly because he is deeply concerned by the state of the country.

“I think that we lack a real vision for the future – I mean, what kind of world do we want to live in, in the year 2030? What is the plan? Where are we trying to get to, you know? You have to aim for something. And I see mostly just a lot of mud being thrown around, not a lot of people putting forth game-changing ideas. It’s getting scary. And I have a view of what to do.”

For the last four years, Mr Pierce has focused on philanthropic work in Puerto Rico, where his foundation recently raised a million dollars for PPE to give to first responders.

Asked what America’s priorities should be for the next four years, he suggests the country stops pursuing “growth for growth’s sake”, and measures its success by how well life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are upheld.

“I have many liberal tendencies, just like I have conservative tendencies,” Mr Pierce says. “And I think it’s time we take a collective breath and a brave step into the future, because all of these ideologies have something to teach us.”

‘We don’t like either candidate’

And if he doesn’t pull it off? Mr Pierce says he has offers.

Former Colorado Gov John Hickenlooper

Hickenlooper joined the field in early March, seeking to parlay his success in growing Colorado’s economy while passing environmental regulations and gun control laws into a successful presidential campaign. In a launch video, he spoke further of healing the nation’s political divisions.

“One thing I’ve shown I can do, again and again, is create teams of amazingly talented people and really address these issues that are the critical issues facing this country,” he said on “Good Morning America.”

He also announced he was suspending his campaign with a video.

“While this campaign didn’t have the outcome we were hoping for, every moment has been worthwhile and I’m thankful to everyone who supported this campaign and our entire team,” he said in the video posted to .

Who Wants To Run For Governor As A Republican In 2022

Pennsylvania Republicans have been battling with Gov. Tom Wolf since he unseated incumbent Tom Corbett in 2014. Many of them are eager to take Wolfs place, but there is no clear frontrunner this early in the race. Several Republicans have already announced their bid, and a few others have hinted or shown interest in joining what is expected to be a crowded primary. Thus far, its hard to find a Republican candidate without some sort of ties to former President Donald Trump.

With a heated race to fill U.S. Sen. Pat Toomeys seat next year, the GOP will have to be strategic about what candidates it wants to back for the Senate and for governor. Potential candidates will also have to weigh their options and decide where they fit best and can compete.

There are plenty of names that could be added to this list in the coming months, but here is our second iteration of potential Republican candidates for 2022. A couple of candidates have been added since the last edition.

Running

Former U.S. Rep Lou Barletta

Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale

Gale was the first Republican to formally announce his candidacy for governor back in February. An avid Trump supporter, he has criticized the Pennsylvania GOP and pledged to be a conservative populist. Hes also caught attention for and saying Trumps presidency was sabotaged.

Former Corry Mayor Jason Monn

Pittsburgh attorney Jason Richey

John Ventre

With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibitionthe Run For President

Return to Rise to National Prominence List Previous Section: The New Lincoln |

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was the least known of all of the contenders for the Republican Partyâs nomination for president. Heading the list was former New York Governor William H. Seward, with the politically awkward Governor Salmon P. Chase of Ohio a distant second. Conservative Edward Bates of Missouri was considered too old, and many Republicans seemed uncomfortable with the popular but unpredictable Horace Greeley, founder and editor of the New York Tribune.

To overcome his disadvantage, Lincoln adopted an unobtrusive publicity campaign. The timely release of his published debates with Stephen A. Douglas and brief autobiographies and a carefully orchestrated speaking campaign in New York and parts of New England all worked to Lincolnâs advantage. The nomination and the subsequent campaign were left largely to trusted handlers, but even after his election was secure, Lincoln maintained a dogged silence on national issues prior to his inauguration.

Allegations Of Inciting Violence

Research suggests Trump’s rhetoric caused an increased incidence of hate crimes. During his 2016 campaign, he urged or praised physical attacks against protesters or reporters. Since then, some defendants prosecuted for hate crimes or violent acts cited Trump’s rhetoric in arguing that they were not culpable or should receive a lighter sentence. In May 2020, a nationwide review by ABC News identified at least 54 criminal cases from August 2015 to April 2020 in which Trump was invoked in direct connection with violence or threats of violence by mostly white men against mostly members of minority groups. On January 13, 2021, the House of Representatives impeached Trump for incitement of insurrection for his actions prior to the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob of his supporters who acted in his name.

: James K Polk Vs Henry Clay Vs James Birney

The election of 1844 introduced expansion and slavery as important political issues and contributed to westward and southern growth and sectionalism. Southerners of both parties sought to annex Texas and expand slavery. Martin Van Buren angered southern Democrats by opposing annexation for that reason, and the Democratic convention cast aside the ex-president and front-runner for the first dark horse, Tennessees James K. Polk. After almost silently breaking with Van Buren over Texas, Pennsylvanias George M. Dallas was nominated for vice president to appease Van Burenites, and the party backed annexation and settling the Oregon boundary dispute with England. The abolitionist Liberty Party nominated Michigans James G. Birney. Trying to avoid controversy, the Whigs nominated anti-annexationist Henry Clay of Kentucky and Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey. But, pressured by southerners, Clay endorsed annexation even though he was concerned it might cause war with Mexico and disunion, thereby losing support among antislavery Whigs.

Enough New Yorkers voted for Birney to throw 36 electoral votes and the election to Polk, who won the Electoral College 170-105 and a slim popular victory. John Tyler signed a joint congressional resolution admitting Texas, but Polk pursued Oregon and then northern Mexico in the Mexican-American War, aggravating tension over slavery and sectional balance and leading to the Compromise of 1850.

How Donald Trump Could Steal The Election

Ted Cruz First GOP Candidate Set to Run in 2016 Presidential Race

The president cant simply cancel the fall balloting, but his state-level allies could still deliver him a second term.

About the author: Jeffrey Davis is a professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the author of Seeking Human Rights Justice in Latin America, and the forthcoming book Constitutional Tyranny.

Even under a normal president, the coronavirus pandemic would present real challenges to the 2020 American election. Everything about in-person voting could be dangerous. Waiting in line, touching a voting machine, and working in polling stations all run afoul of social-distancing mandates. Already, Maryland, Kentucky, Georgia, and Louisiana have postponed their presidential primaries, while Wyoming, New York, and Ohio have altered their voting procedures. Of course, other democracies face similar problems; the United Kingdom has postponed local elections for one year.

But under President Donald Trump, the possibilities for how the coronavirus could wreak havoc on the election are all the more concerning. This is not a president who cares about the sanctity of the electoral process. After all, he has never seemed particularly concerned about Russias efforts to manipulate the 2016 outcome , and he was impeached for demanding Ukrainian help in his reelection efforts.

New 2020 Voter Data: How Biden Won How Trump Kept The Race Close And What It Tells Us About The Future

As we saw in 2016 and again in 2020, traditional survey research is finding it harder than it once was to assess presidential elections accurately. Pre-election polls systemically misjudge who is likely to vote, and exit polls conducted as voters leave the voting booths get it wrong as well.

Now, using a massive sample of validated voters whose participation has been independently verified, the Pew Research Center has . It helps us understand how Joe Biden was able to accomplish what Hillary Clinton did notand why President Trump came closer to getting reelected than the pre-election surveys had predicted.

How Joe Biden won

Five main factors account for Bidens success.

The Biden campaign reunited the Democratic Party. Compared to 2016, he raised the share of moderate and conservative Democrats who voted for the Democratic nominee by 6 points, from 85 to 91%, while increasing the Democratic share of liberal Democrats from 94 to 98%. And he received the support of 85% of Democrats who had defected to 3rd party and independent candidates in 2016.

How Trump kept it close

Despite non-stop controversy about his policies and personal conduct, President Trump managed to raise his share of the popular vote from 46% in 2016 to 47% in 2020. His core coalition held together, and he made a few new friends.

Longer-term prospects

Statehood And Indian Removal

Republic of East FloridaSeminole WarsAdamsOnís TreatyFlorida TerritoryAdmission to the UnionList of U.S. states by date of admission to the UnionCracker

Defense of Florida’s northern border with the United States was minor during the second Spanish period. The region became a haven for escaped slaves and a base for Indian attacks against U.S. territories, and the U.S. pressed Spain for reform.

Americans of and began moving into northern Florida from the backwoods of and . Though technically not allowed by the Spanish authorities and the Floridan government, they were never able to effectively police the border region and the backwoods settlers from the United States would continue to immigrate into Florida unchecked. These migrants, mixing with the already present British settlers who had remained in Florida since the British period, would be the progenitors of the population known as .

These American settlers established a permanent foothold in the area and ignored Spanish authorities. The British settlers who had remained also resented Spanish rule, leading to a rebellion in 1810 and the establishment for ninety days of the so-called Free and Independent Republic of on September 23. After meetings beginning in June, rebels overcame the garrison at , and unfurled the flag of the new republic: a single white star on a blue field. This flag would later become known as the “”.

What Is A Typical Presidential Election Cycle

The presidential election process follows a typical cycle:

Spring of the year before an election Candidates announce their intentions to run.

Summer of the year before an election through spring of the election year Primary and caucus Caucus: a statewide meeting held by members of a political party to choose a presidential candidate to support. debates take place.

January to June of election year States and parties hold primaries Primary: an election held to determine which of a party’s candidates will receive that party’s nomination and be their sole candidate later in the general election.and caucuses.

July to early September Parties hold nominating conventions to choose their candidates.

September and October Candidates participate in presidential debates.

Early November Election Day

December Electors Elector: a person who is certified to represent their state’s vote in the Electoral College. cast their votes in the Electoral College.

Early January of the next calendar year Congress counts the electoral votes.

January 20 Inauguration Day

For an in-depth look at the federal election process in the U.S., check out USA In Brief: ELECTIONS.

Contribution Limits For 2021

Additional national party committee accounts Donor $109,500* per account, per year Candidate committee $45,000 per account, per year PAC: nonmulticandidate $109,500* per account, per year Party committee: state/district/local Unlimited transfers

*Indexed for inflation in odd-numbered years.

PAC here refers to a committee that makes contributions to other federal political committees. Independent-expenditure-only political committees may accept unlimited contributions, including from corporations and labor organizations.

The limits in this column apply to a national party committees accounts for: the presidential nominating convention; election recounts and contests and other legal proceedings; and national party headquarters buildings. A partys national committee, Senate campaign committee and House campaign committee are each considered separate national party committees with separate limits. Only a national party committee, not the parties national congressional campaign committees, may have an account for the presidential nominating convention.

**Additionally, a national party committee and its Senatorial campaign committee may contribute up to $51,200 combined per campaign to each Senate candidate.

Nj Primary Elections 2020: The Five Republicans Who Want To Take Over As Us Senator

Colleen ODea, Senior Writer and Projects EditorNJ Decides 2020Politics

Five Republicans are vying for the chance to try to do something no one else has been able to do in almost a half-century: Convince New Jersey voters to elect a Republican to serve in the U.S. Senate, where Democrat Cory Booker now sits.

It has been 48 years since New Jersey voters have sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate, and registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly a million. In 2018, Republican and former pharmaceuticals executive Bob Hugin spent more than $39 million, including $36 million of his own money, and lost by 11 percentage points to incumbent Bob Menendez, who had been considered vulnerable after his trial on political corruption charges ended in a hung jury.

Statewide races are the toughest ones of all for a GOP outnumbered by a million more registered Democrats in the state, said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. But even before party registrations were so lopsided, Republican Senate candidates have fared more poorly here than almost anywhere else in the nation. Since New Jersey last sent a Republican to the Senate in 1972, the GOP has lost a staggering 15 Senate races in a row, he said.

Withdrew Before The Primaries

The following individuals participated in at least one authorized presidential debate but withdrew from the race before the Iowa caucuses on February 1, 2016. They are listed in order of exit, starting with the most recent.

Name

The following notable individuals filed as candidates with FEC by November 2015.

Name

Additionally, Peter Messina was on the ballot in Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Idaho.Tim Cook was on the ballot in Louisiana, New Hampshire and Arizona. Walter Iwachiw was on the ballot in Florida and New Hampshire.

Jerry Moran: Senator Kansas

Senator Jerry Moran arrives for a meeting about the Republican healthcare bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 19, 2017.

Trumps second endorsement of the 2022 campaign season is Jerry Moran, the Republican incumbent senator from Kansas. He was the first member of Congress to receive an endorsement from the former president.

Moran voted with most Republican senators to acquit Trump of his impeachment charge of inciting the pro-Trump storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

Ron Johnson: Senator Wisconsin

Former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh: ‘I’m going to run for president’

WASHINGTON, DC FEBRUARY 25: Senator Ron Johnson speaks during a U.S. Senate Budget Committee hearing regarding wages at large corporations on Capitol Hill, February 25, 2021 in Washington, DC. The committee is looking at why many low-wage workers in America qualify for public benefits even though thousands of them are employees of large corporations.

Trump announced his endorsement for Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson before he has even announced a re-election bid. Johnson, 66, has represented Wisconsin in the Senate since 2011.

Even though he has not yet announced that he is running, and I certainly hope he does, I am giving my Complete and Total Endorsement to Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. He is brave, he is bold, he loves our Country, our Military, and our Vets, Trump wrote in a statement. He will protect our Second Amendment, and everything else we stand for. It is the kind of courage we need in the U.S. Senate. He has no idea how popular he is. Run, Ron, Run!

This list will be updated as Trump announces new endorsements.

: Benjamin Harrison Vs Grover Cleveland

In 1888 the Democratic Party nominated President Grover Cleveland and chose Allen G. Thurman of Ohio as his running mate, replacing Vice President Thomas Hendricks who had died in office.

After eight ballots, the Republican Party chose Benjamin Harrison, former senator from Indiana and the grandson of President William Henry Harrison. Levi P. Morton of New York was the vice-presidential nominee.

In the popular vote for president, Cleveland won with 5,540,050 votes to Harrisons 5,444,337. But Harrison received more votes in the Electoral College, 233 to Clevelands 168, and was therefore elected. The Republicans carried New York, President Clevelands political base.

The campaign of 1888 helped establish the Republicans as the party of high tariffs, which most Democrats, heavily supported by southern farmers, opposed. But memories of the Civil War also figured heavily in the election.

Northern veterans, organized in the Grand Army of the Republic, had been angered by Clevelands veto of pension legislation and his decision to return Confederate battle flags..

Sen Mitt Romney Of Utah

A Gallup poll last March found Romney, 74, has a higher approval rating among Democrats than Republicans, so you might figure he doesnt have a prayer in taking his partys nomination again. A February Morning Consult poll, though, had Romney polling ahead of Republicans like Pompeo, Cotton and Hawley. So, youre telling me theres a chance? Yes, a one-in-a-million chance.

The 2012 GOP presidential nominee and his wife, Ann, have five sons. He graduated from Brigham Young University and Harvard Law. Romney is a former Massachusetts governor, and the first person to be a governor and senator from two different states since Sam Houston, who was governor of Tennessee and a senator from Texas. Romney is this years JFK Profile in Courage Award recipient.

Former Vice President Mike Pence

If youre curious how the former vice president might handle the fact that many of Trumps supporters think hes disloyal for certifying the 2020 election, his speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on June 24 laid out his argument.

Pence opened the speech with one of his favorite lines, in which he calls himself a Christian, conservative and Republican, in that order and then proceeded to spend the next 20 or so minutes praising Trump and the work of the Trump-Pence administration. We made America great again in just four years, he boasted. Then he finally touched on the attack. Jan. 6 was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol, he said.

Pence said he would always be proud that elected officials reconvened to finish certifying the election after the riot, and he said he understood why many were disappointed in his tickets loss last year: I can relate, I was on the ballot. He also positioned his view on the election as one informed by Republican patriotism and love of the Constitution.

The Republican Party will always keep our oath to the Constitution, even when it would be politically expedient to do otherwise, he said. Theres almost no idea more un-American that any one person can choose the American president. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone.

: Andrew Jackson Vs Henry Clay Vs William Wirt

Democratic-Republican Andrew Jackson was reelected in 1832 with 688,242 popular votes to 473,462 for National-Republican Henry Clay and 101,051 for Anti-Masonic candidate William Wirt. Jackson easily carried the Electoral College with 219 votes. Clay received only 49, and Wirt won the seven votes of Vermont. Martin Van Buren won the vice presidency with 189 votes against 97 for various other candidates.

The spoils system of political patronage, the tariff, and federal funding of internal improvements were major issues, but the most important was Jacksons veto of the rechartering of the Bank of the United States. National-Republicans attacked the veto, arguing that the Bank was needed to maintain a stable currency and economy. King Andrews veto, they asserted, was an abuse of executive power. In defense of Jacksons veto, Democratic-Republicans labeled the Bank an aristocratic institutiona monster. Suspicious of banking and of paper money, Jacksonians opposed the Bank for giving special privileges to private investors at government expense and charged that it fostered British control of the American economy.

The Anti-Masons convened the first national presidential nominating convention in Baltimore on September 26, 1831. The other parties soon followed suit, and the convention replaced the discredited caucus system of nomination.

Sen Josh Hawley Of Missouri

Though controversial, Hawley, 41, is a fundraising machine and hes quickly made a name for himself. The blowback Hawley faced for objecting to Bidens Electoral College win included a lost book deal and calls for him to resign from students at the law school where he previously taught. His mentor, former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, said that supporting Hawley was the biggest mistake Ive ever made in my life.

Still, he brought in more than $1.5 million between Jan. 1 and March 5, according to Axios, and fundraising appeals in his name from the National Republican Senatorial Committee brought in more cash than any other Republican except NRSC Chair Sen. Rick Scott of Florida. Just because youre toxic in Washington doesnt mean you cant build a meaningful base of support nationally.

One Republican strategist compared the possibility of Hawley 2024 to Cruz in 2016. Hes not especially well-liked by his colleagues , but hes built a national profile for himself and become a leading Republican voice opposed to big technology companies.

Hawley and his wife, Erin, have three children. He got his start in politics as Missouri attorney general before being elected to the Senate in 2018. Hawley graduated from Stanford and Yale Law.

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cksmart-world · 3 years ago

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SMART BOMB

The completely unnecessary news analysis

by Christopher Smart

September 7, 2021

ROME FELL — THEN THE FOOD GOT BETTER

Nero fiddled while Rome burned. What else could he do? This is not about Afghanistan or Vietnam. It's about a country that some think is starting to look like Rome. A few years ago, Wilson and the Smart Bomb Band made a sojourn to Italy. No, they didn't shoot a man name Gray and take his wife to Italy, a la Bob Dylan's “Idiot Wind.” They got an invite from an group putting on a Funk Festival at the Piazza Campo De' Fiori, but that's not important. Upon return, Wilson reported that when they got to Rome the place was full of — wait for it — Romans. Imagine that. This despite the fact that Rome fell in 476 A.D. Wilson noted that it's almost impossible to find bad food in Italy — unless you go to a place where tourists eat. And the coda alla vaccinara is to die for. Ancient Rome conquered peoples from Judea to Spain — and seems to have been more successful at it than the U.S. Say what you will, but the Vietnamese food in this country got a lot better after our retreat from South East Asia in 1975 when a lot of Vietnamese came here. Smart Bomb's food critic, Maple Bacon, says we can anticipate an invasion of great Afghan food in the near future. Like Rome, the U.S. could fall, but the food isn't going anywhere. Bon appetite.

OH BEAUTIFUL FOR SPACIOUS MINDS: AMERICA THE STUPID

“Oh beautiful for spacious skies and spacious minds of grain, where we don't trust the government and vaccines are a pain. America, America, no brotherhood for thee and no masks or social distancing from sea to shining sea...” And that opens another fantastic football season here in the greatest country in world where we've had enough of the pandemic. So never mind all them people worried about super-spreader events or that kids can get sick and spread Covid. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said it best when it comes to the Delta variant: “Do this or do that or do what the legislature says or not. Real leadership means leave it to someone else, like the school board or the county commission but just don't make a stink or be, like too uppity when you say you're vaccinated and better than people who prefer to get their medical advice from QAnon.” Why should people have to wear masks at the hardware store or a football game. Yes the hospital ICUs are full again and now a lot more young people are dying, but there's really nothing much we can do about it. Everybody has to die someday and when it's your time, well that's the way it goes. Or like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis likes to say: Don't let science and medicine steal your freedom. Screw it, let's party!

THE LONE STAR RAPE

Don't mess with Texas, where every life is sacred until birth. In Texas you're free to carry a firearm without license or training. In 2019, there were 3,683 gun-related deaths in the Lone Star State. In 2018, 73 percent of veteran suicides in Texas were by firearms; that year, 74 women were killed by male partners in Texas— 59 percent by guns; in 2019, 32 children ages 0-17 died from unintentional shootings there. Freedom grows from the barrel of a gun. But in the Lone Star State freedom ends where a woman's uterus begins. The new law says that even in cases of rape or incest, a woman cannot get a safe, legal abortion after six weeks or pregnancy — a time when most women do not know if they're pregnant. According to FBI crime statistics, Texas has a rate of 55.2 rapes and sexual assaults per 100,000 people — 15th in the nation. Although a Texas court has shielded Texas abortion clinics for now, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block it. And the anti-abortion law leaves enforcement up to anyone who wishes to sue a provider or even someone who drives a woman to a clinic. Well, what good are guns if you can't be vigilantes. In Texas, a good Christian place, there is freedom from masks and vaccinations and not least, freedom from empathy.

Post script — OK, that's a wrap for another history-making week here at Smart Bomb, where the staff knows one thing for sure and that's that we don't know nothin' for sure. Here's a New York Times headline to illustrate it: “Rupert Murdoch’s Australia News Outlets to Ease Their Climate Denial.” What? Australia's been burning up for years and now Murdoch senses that maybe the public is catching on? “It could be a breakthrough,” writes Damien Cave, “that provides political cover for Australia’s conservative government to end its refusal to set ambitious emission targets. If sustained, it could also put pressure on Fox News and other Murdoch-owned outlets in the United States and Britain that have been hostile to climate science.” What's really needed is for corporate American to defund Fox News, writes Diane McWhorter in The Daily Beast: “Fox has jacked up partisanship into a primetime dystopia that should give sponsors pause. Do they really want the babies in their disposable-diaper commercials to share airtime with a Texas politician comparing Seattle to a Middle Eastern town taken over by ISIS?” Murdoch and his hate mongers care nothing for this country or the planet, so long as they can profit. Boycott Fox sponsors. Pass it on.

Well Wilson, it's time to welcome our new immigrants, the Afghans, who are fleeing the Taliban after our 20-year war. They need a new home and it won't be easy for them. So warm up the band and let's show them the good side of America:

If you smile at me I will understand 'Cause that is something Everybody everywhere does in the same language I can see by your coat, my friend you're from the other side There's just one thing I got to know Can you tell me please who won?

Wooden ships on the water very free and easy Easy, you know the way it's supposed to be Silver people on the shoreline let us be Talkin' 'bout very free and easy Horror grips us as we watch you die All we can do is echo your anguished cries Stare as all human feelings die We are leaving, you don't need us Go take your sister then by the hand Lead her away from this foreign land Far away where we might laugh again We are leaving, you don't need us And it's a fair wind Blowin' warm out of the south over my shoulder Guess I'll set a course and go

(Wooden Ships — Crosby, Stills & Nash)

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lokbobpop · 3 years ago

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Force

force is a push or pull upon an object resulting from the object's interaction with another object. Whenever there is an interaction between two objects, there is a force upon each of the objects. ... Forces only exist as a result of an interaction

Meaning "body of armed men, a military organization" first recorded late 14c. ... 1300, forcen, also forsen, "exert force upon (an adversary)," from Old French forcer "conquer by violence," from force "strength, power, compulsion" (see force (n.)). From early 14c. as "to violate (a woman), to rape." From c.

Force for ce f orce course

Writing the word force

Lol my the force we with you yes Star Wars im not into Star Wars built its a frase thats always come up as it sounds good.

Reading force

The force of nature like tidal waves typhoons strong winds a force to be reckoned with where you cant stop it nature will do what it will it has its own will and you cant stop it change it is what it is a force of nature and if your in its path then your in for the ride slight fear ei within this force

The police force where i see them as good and bad like you only see the force of someone on the day and its up to them if they give you a ticket for traffic cops and so on i feel the police force help that much when it comes to it they will never find something if stolen or the thief so not much point with them there they will fine the other is wrong in a crash but don’t always catch someone who has wronged you the long arm of the law only reaches for profit i feel like speed cameras i dont see them being functional with robbery crimes or violent crimes they are there to make money and not protect people. Also ego is massive within uniformed people i feel.

To be force to do something like you dont want to do the pr test I did the other day it was mandatory for all people to do one so you are forced to do it which i feel is wrong as its not pleasant and could be taken from the mouth but they dont.

Air Force war drama fear death bombs being dropped the thought of another country wanting you dead and being forced into fearing them because the banks organize war the money says when without seeing what the consequences it brings to the people they just want money.

Life force is this group i dont know much about them but know people who are but when they said they had wiped out the whole Chinese marine fleet just like that i just couldn’t believe it nothing washed up on no sores and if you took them all out someone could of seen or heard and 100% something would of washed up but nothing not a thing its not real it just cant be. So this is not for me its a joke

I feel im going to be forced to have the vaccine and i dont want it at all i feel its experimental well i dont feel it is its wouldn’t even be ready until 2023 2 years from now plus the powers that be have there nano technology going in on top for more manipulation its a plan i realize wont work but do i have to go through this why do i its not far i feel we have been bushed around for so many eons of time its enough we have had enough of it all.

Saying force

To use force like when something is stuck and you have to push hard to force it to open or just move.

To use force you see all these protests all around the world and the police force is use to force these people to disperse with sprays with water anything to break up who they are which makes them want to stand together more of cause the gov force will always be stronger than the public force when will it all be other i feel when will they see they have lost i see thsi is important to me to see the elite have lost all lost control over the people it may not even happen in my life time but i want to see it crumble but what i should be seeing is my own mind crumble and then helping others see there’s crumble and fall so we can all start again.

When the girls where young i used my anger as force to make them do things ive had great guilt within this but i feel ok now it happened i did it but im good now.

Royal forces the queens army or should i say the queens and banks army.

Does this definition support me no it really doesn’t it has fear of the powers that be basically and fear of nature i see i have fear all around of people and nature nature im sure will get worse but man will be as well so i feel im lost in this is of not being able to do anything but these people and force can make me feel something I don’t want to feel hey i am in charge of who i am at all times they cant make me cry they cant make me fear only i can allow this within me so who am i?? I am who i want to be in every given moment i am nt weak i am not what they want me to be we are waking up.

Force course

Force

The inner strength i have in me for change is strong dependable and ever present i am my own god within me i am the most powerful thing about me as i love me i embrace me with confidence courage gratitude im here for me and standing up with me

I will live this with to support me to be my own force and not be forced to feel a way by another i will be my own force and chose when i feel whatever i need to feel i am strong.

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dipulb3 · 4 years ago

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Colorado state Democrats introduce new gun measures in response to Boulder shooting

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/colorado-state-democrats-introduce-new-gun-measures-in-response-to-boulder-shooting/

Colorado state Democrats introduce new gun measures in response to Boulder shooting

“There’s nothing we can do to bring back the lives that were stolen from us. There’s no single policy we can pass that can guarantee no more lives will be taken from us. We also know that we must continue to demand federal action on gun violence prevention. But this cannot be an excuse for inaction,” Colorado Senate Majority Leader Stephen Fenberg said Thursday during a news conference alongside other Democratic sponsors of the bills.

Fenberg’s bill, Senate Bill 256, would repeal a state law prohibiting a local government from imposing bans on the sale, purchase or possession of a firearm. The bill would allow a local government to enact ordinances or regulations banning a firearm so long as it’s “not less restrictive” than state laws.

The 21-year-old suspect in the Boulder massacre allegedly used a Ruger AR-556 pistol — a type of AR-15 rifle but with a shorter barrel. He had purchased the weapon six days before the shooting that killed 10 people, according to his arrest warrant affidavit, and modified the weapon with an arm brace, a law enforcement source had told Appradab.

The March 22 shooting in Boulder drew attention to an ordinance the Boulder City Council had passed in 2018 that banned the sale and possession of assault weapons and large capacity magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. A mere 10 days before the Boulder shooting, a Colorado district judge blocked the city from enforcing its ban, saying the ordinance was invalid because state law preempts it.

“We know that this specific policy wouldn’t have single-handedly prevented this specific shooting in Boulder,” Fenberg said Thursday of his bill. “But this example speaks to a larger conversation about the tools we give local governments to craft community-based solutions to the gun violence that they face.”

He argued that each community has the “unique expertise to know what it takes to make them safe” and “deserves the authority to enact laws that get them there.”

House Bill 1298 would require licensed gun dealers to get approval from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation that a background check is complete before transferring a firearm.

The bill requires the bureau to deny approval of a firearm transfer to a person convicted of certain misdemeanor offenses, including third-degree assault, sexual assault, child abuse or a hate crime, within the last five years.

The measure also extends the 30-day deadline to 60 days for the bureau to review and give a final decision in an appeal from someone who is denied a firearms transfer after a background check.

The suspect in the Boulder shooting had passed a background check to purchase the weapon in Arvada, a suburb of Denver, according to the gun shop that sold the suspect the firearm.

The suspect had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of third-degree assault in 2018 after attacking a high school classmate a year earlier, according to court documents and a police report. He was sentenced to one year of probation, 48 hours of community service and anger response treatment, court documents said.

House Bill 1299 creates an “Office of Gun Violence Prevention” within Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment to “coordinate and promote effective efforts to reduce gun violence and related traumas and promote research regarding causes of, and evidence-based responses to, gun violence.”

“We need to have data to drive informed decisions and strategies moving forward, especially as it relates to communities of color,” Democratic state Sen. Rhonda Fields, one of the bill’s main sponsors, said Thursday. “We need to be able to track what’s going on and use that information to incorporate as many people as we can to address this dilemma we’re facing.”

Another role of the office, Fenberg said, will be to “engage, educate, intervene in communities on the issues and the policies” that Colorado already has passed “to make them more effective.”

Democrats have full control of Colorado’s government, with a 20-15 majority in the Colorado Senate and a 41-24 majority in the state House, making it likely the three pieces of legislation could pass. The two House bills will be considered in committee next week, and the Senate bill will be taken up the following week, according to a General Assembly spokesperson.

Senate Republicans are just now reviewing the legislation and “will keep an open mind when doing so,” spokesman Sage Naumann said in a statement to Appradab.

“With that being said, we urge our colleagues to focus on mental health funding and programs and not the punishing or restricting of law-abiding, gun-owning Coloradans,” he added.

House Minority Leader Hugh McKean said in a statement that the “rhetoric around these most recent bills, as if they represent the preeminent solution, is simply a fallacy.”

The Republican leader argued that “revamping the background check system” would be “arbitrary” and creating an Office of Gun Violence Prevention will “only starve real efforts of scarce resources. He suggested “a good start to finding solutions” to gun violence “would be to increase the reimbursement rate for mental and behavioral health services.”

“Everyone, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, is sick from the recent incidents of violence. The challenge is to affect change at the root cause. It is not a coincidence that the discussion of mental health is paramount. We have to do more and find avenues that destigmatize and make more readily available mental and behavioral health services,” he said.

Republicans offered three amendments to the state budget this year that would cover access to mental health services. The amendments didn’t make it into the final budget.

Fenberg said at Thursday’s news conference that lawmakers are already focused on mental health and will continue to do so in other legislation “that may not have the word ‘gun’ in it.”

“We’re going to take big steps on mental health this year and in the years to come that I think will have a big impact on this and can play a big role in the Office of Gun Violence Prevention,” he said.

He also appeared to suggest that further gun legislation could be introduced.

Fenberg had told Appradab in late March — while lawmakers were in the “early stages” of discussing gun proposals in the wake of the Boulder shooting — that Democrats were weighing a statewide assault weapons ban, among other policy proposals.

Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis last week signed two bills into law tightening gun regulations — one that requires gun owners to report their lost or stolen firearms within five days and another that mandates owners to “responsibly and securely” store their firearms when not in use, to prevent juveniles and other unauthorized users from accessing them. No Republican lawmakers voted for either of those two bills.

“Colorado is a leader in taking common sense actions that prevent gun violence while preserving people’s 2nd amendment rights, and I look forward to working with legislators on these important next steps,” Polis said in a Friday statement. “While we will need to see final details of the legislation, the common sense strategies proposed by the legislature can be important tools for reducing gun violence. I applaud the legislature for proposing bold, courageous actions to keep Coloradans safer and reduce violent crime.”

Colorado has also implemented an “Extreme Risk Protection Order,” also known as a “red flag” law, and prohibits high-capacity magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds.

Appradab’s Ray Sanchez, Travis Caldwell, Samira Said, Mallika Kallingal and Whitney Wild contributed to this report.

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orbemnews · 4 years ago

Link

Inside Corporate America’s Frantic Response to the Georgia Voting Law On March 11, Delta Air Lines dedicated a building at its Atlanta headquarters to Andrew Young, the civil rights leader and former mayor. At the ceremony, Mr. Young spoke of the restrictive voting rights bill that Republicans were rushing through the Georgia state legislature. Then, after the speeches, Mr. Young’s daughter, Andrea, a prominent activist herself, cornered Delta’s chief executive, Ed Bastian. “I told him how important it was to oppose this law,” she said. For Mr. Bastian, it was an early warning that the issue of voting rights might soon ensnare Delta in another national dispute. Over the past five years, corporations have taken political stands like never before, often in response to the extreme policies of former President Donald J. Trump. After Mr. Trump’s equivocating response to the white nationalist violence in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, Ken Frazier, the Black chief executive of Merck, resigned from a presidential advisory group, prompting dozens of other top executives to distance themselves from the president. Last year, after the killing of George Floyd, hundreds of companies expressed solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. But for corporations, the dispute over voting rights is different. An issue that both political parties see as a priority is not easily addressed with statements of solidarity and donations. Taking a stand on voting rights legislation thrusts companies into partisan politics and pits them against Republicans who have proven willing to raise taxes and enact onerous regulations on companies that cross them politically. It is a head-spinning new landscape for big companies, which are trying to appease Democrats focused on social justice, as well as populist Republicans who are suddenly unafraid to break ties with business. Companies like Delta are caught in the middle, and face steep political consequences no matter what they do. “It was very hard under President Trump, and the business community was hoping that with a change of administration it might get a bit easier,” said Rich Lesser, the chief executive of Boston Consulting Group. “But business leaders are still facing challenges on how to navigate a range of issues, and the elections issue is among the most sensitive.” At first, Delta, Georgia’s largest employer, tried to stay out of the fight on voting rights. But after the Georgia law was passed, a group of powerful Black executives publicly called on big companies to oppose the voting legislation. Hours later, Delta and Coca-Cola abruptly reversed course and disavowed the Georgia law. On Friday, Major League Baseball pulled the All-Star game from Atlanta in protest, and more than 100 other companies spoke out in defense of voting rights. The groundswell of support suggests that the Black executives’ clarion call will have an impact in the months ahead, as Republican lawmakers in more than 40 states advance restrictive voting laws. But already, the backlash has been swift, with Mr. Trump calling for boycotts of companies opposing such laws, and Georgia lawmakers voting for new taxes on Delta. “If people feel like it’s a been a week of discomfort and uncertainty, it should be, and it needs to be,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, the president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, who has been pushing companies to get involved. “Corporations have to figure out who they are in this moment.” Throughout it all, Delta was at the center of the storm. Delta has long played an outsize role in Georgia’s business and political life, and since Mr. Bastian became chief executive in 2016, he has engaged with some thorny political and social issues. Delta supports L.G.B.T.Q. rights, and in 2018, after the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., Mr. Bastian ended a partnership with the National Rifle Association. In response, Republican lawmakers in Georgia voted to eliminate a tax break for Delta, costing the company $50 million. Yet as 2021 began and Mr. Bastian focused on his company’s recovery from the pandemic, an even more partisan issue loomed. In February, civil rights activists began reaching out to Delta, flagging what they saw as problematic provisions in early drafts of the bill, including a ban on Sunday voting, and asking the company to use its clout and lobbying muscle to sway the debate. Delta’s government affairs team shared some of those concerns, but decided to work behind the scenes, rather than go public. It was a calculated choice intended to avoid upsetting Republican lawmakers. In early March, Delta lobbyists pushed David Ralston, the Republican head of the Georgia house, and aides to Gov. Brian Kemp to remove some far-reaching provisions in the bill. But even as pressure mounted on Delta to publicly oppose the legislation, Mr. Bastian’s advisers were telling him to remain silent. Instead, the company issued a statement supporting voting rights generally. Other major Atlanta companies, including Coca-Cola, UPS and Home Depot, followed the same script, refraining from criticizing the bill. Updated April 2, 2021, 3:52 p.m. ET That passive approach infuriated activists. In mid-March, protesters staged a “die in” at Coca-Cola’s museum. Bishop Reginald Jackson, an influential Atlanta pastor, took to the streets with a bullhorn and called for a boycott of Coca-Cola. Days later, activists massed at the Delta terminal at the Atlanta airport and called on Mr. Bastian to use his clout to “kill the bill.” Still, Mr. Bastian declined to say anything publicly. Two weeks to the day after Delta dedicated its building to Mr. Young, the law was passed. Some of the most restrictive provisions had been removed, but the law limits ballot access and makes it a crime to give water to people waiting in line to vote. The fight in Georgia appeared to be over. Days after the law was passed though, a group of powerful Black executives frustrated by the results sprang into action. Soon, Atlanta companies were drawn back into the fight, and the controversy had spread to other corporations around the country. Last Sunday, William M. Lewis, Jr., the chairman of investment banking at Lazard, emailed a handful of Georgia academics and executives, asking what he could do. The group had a simple answer: get other Black business leaders to sound the alarm. Minutes after receiving that reply, Mr. Lewis emailed four other senior Black executives, including Ken Chenault, the former chief executive of American Express, and Mr. Frazier, the chief executive of Merck. Ten minutes later, the men were on a Zoom call, and resolved to write a public letter, according to two people familiar with the matter. That Sunday afternoon, Mr. Lewis emailed a list of 150 prominent Black executives that he curates. Before long, the men had collected more than 70 signatures, including Robert F. Smith, chief executive of Vista Equity Partners; Raymond McGuire, a former Citigroup executive who is running for mayor of New York; Ursula Burns, former chief executive of Xerox; and Richard Parsons, former chairman of Citigroup and chief executive of Time Warner. Mr. Chenault said some executives who were asked to sign declined. “Some were concerned about the attention that it would draw to them and their company,” he said. Before the group went public, Mr. Chenault reached out to Mr. Bastian of Delta, according to three people familiar with the matter. The men have known each other for decades, and on Tuesday night they spoke at length about the Georgia law, and what role Delta could play in the debate. The next morning, the letter appeared as a full-page ad in The New York Times, and Mr. Chenault and Mr. Frazier spoke with the media. “There is no middle ground here,” Mr. Chenault told The Times. “You either are for more people voting, or you want to suppress the vote.” “This was unprecedented,” Mr. Lewis said. “The African-American business community has never coalesced around a nonbusiness issue and issued a call to action to the broader corporate community.” Mr. Bastian had been unable to sleep on Tuesday night after his call with Mr. Chenault, according to two people familiar with the matter. He had also been receiving a stream of emails about the law from Black Delta employees, who make up 21 percent of the company’s work force. Eventually, Mr. Bastian came to the conclusion that it was deeply problematic, the two people said. Late that night, he roughed out a fiery memo, which he sent to Delta employees on Wednesday morning. In it, he abandoned all pretense of neutrality and stated his “crystal clear” opposition to the law. “The entire rationale for this bill was based on a lie,” he wrote. Hours later, James Quincey, the chief executive of Coca-Cola, issued a more reserved statement that parroted some of Mr. Bastian’s language, also using the words “crystal clear.” Mr. Quincey, a British national who has managed the crisis from his home in London, then participated in a private 45-minute Zoom meeting with Mr. Jackson and Ms. Ifill, and tried to express his solidarity with their cause. “A lot of C.E.O.s want to do the right thing, they’re just scared of the blowback and they need cover,” said Darren Walker, who signed the letter and is the president of the Ford Foundation and on the boards of three public companies. “What the letter did was provide cover.” But for Delta and Coca-Cola, the repercussions were intense and immediate. Governor Kemp accused Mr. Bastian of spreading “the same false attacks being repeated by partisan activists.” And Republicans in the Georgia house voted to strip Delta of a tax break, just as they did three years ago. “You don’t feed a dog that bites your hand,” said Mr. Ralston, the house speaker. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida posted a video in which he called Delta and Coca-Cola “woke corporate hypocrites” and Mr. Trump joined the calls for a boycott of companies speaking out against the voting laws. Companies that had taken a more cautious approach weren’t targeted the same way. UPS and Home Depot, big Atlanta employers, also faced early calls to oppose the Georgia law, but instead made unspecific commitments to voting rights. In the wake of the Black executives’ letter and the statements by Delta and Coca-Cola, more companies have come forward. On Thursday, American Airlines and Dell, both based in Texas, declared their opposition to proposed voting legislation in that state. And on Friday, more than 170 companies signed a statement calling on elected officials around the country to refrain from enacting legislation that makes it harder for people to vote. It was messy, but to many activists, it was progress. “Companies don’t exist in a vacuum,” said Stacey Abrams, who has worked for years to get out the Black vote in Georgia. “It’s going to take a national response by corporations to stop what happened in Georgia from happening in other states.” Source link Orbem News #Americas #corporate #Frantic #Georgia #Law #response #Voting

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hurricanehenry · 4 years ago

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Yesterday, our gov. announced Canada’s Strengthened Climate Plan that will meet and exceed our 2030 targets. Together, we're taking climate action to create good jobs, reduce emissions, and build cleaner, more inclusive communities for our kids. Did you tell them that they won’t own anything and they will like it? Did you tell them that they will sometimes eat meat as a special treat? Did you tell them that they will forever be slaves to the government? Great discussion about climate change with grade 5 and 6 students at @AgincourtRoadPS . Their message to @justintrudeau : "Please work hard to tackle climate change because there is no Planet B. It's about our future." Did any of the students tell her she's not the Minister of Environment anymore. Did any of them ask her why she approved dumping millions of litres of raw sewage into our fresh water? Did any of them ask if dog tastes like chicken? Most people are not only clueless about the many horrors heading towards humanity, they prefer to stay that way. Politicians pandering to deluded kiddies is bad enough but selling policy untruths to voting-age adults should be a crime - and the mass media choose to be complicit! #CCPTrudeau with complicit #DefundCBC spent last 4yrs sabotaging allied relationships with USA & Israel while #TrudeauTreason looted , abandoned citizens to #CommunistChina & opened back door to #ChinaVirus Decimated economy & near broke the bonds that tie a united .The Liberals were trying to push our military to train Chinese troops on our soil. We need to stand up for our values. truly mind boggling...they also demand to get rid of Keystone XL....cause we dont need O+G to literally not die in the winter months... Canadians are still applauding him. Apparently some Canadians still think handing someone a $100 bill and getting a $20 in return is a heck of a deal! aka The Carbon Tax Rebate that redistributes wealth At that rate, we'll have to import Carbon to grow our food. :( imagine, food shortages, blackouts, no heat for your home, some starvation, door to door crime by the needy, chinese invasion, healthcare soon non-existant.. our society will breakdown, the the UN will play https://www.instagram.com/p/CIuIc6Eg8U1/?igshid=1hp7arda8dx0v

#ccptrudeau #defundcbc #trudeautreason #communistchina #chinavirus

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patriotsnet · 3 years ago

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Are There Republicans Running For President

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/are-there-republicans-running-for-president/

Are There Republicans Running For President

What Is A Voter

Trump says there is ‘tremendous support’ for him to run for president again

List Of Republicans Who Opposed The Donald Trump 2020 Presidential Campaign

This article is part of a series about

A third group of Republicans, Republican Voters Against Trump was launched in May 2020 has collected over 500 testimonials opposing Donald Trump.

‘i Made A Decision To Live My Life In Service’

Why is he running for president? Partly because he is deeply concerned by the state of the country.

For the last four years, Mr Pierce has focused on philanthropic work in Puerto Rico, where his foundation recently raised a million dollars for PPE to give to first responders.

‘We don’t like either candidate’

And if he doesn’t pull it off? Mr Pierce says he has offers.

Former Colorado Gov John Hickenlooper

He also announced he was suspending his campaign with a video.

Who Wants To Run For Governor As A Republican In 2022

Running

Former U.S. Rep Lou Barletta

Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale

Former Corry Mayor Jason Monn

Pittsburgh attorney Jason Richey

John Ventre

With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibitionthe Run For President

Return to Rise to National Prominence List Previous Section: The New Lincoln |

Allegations Of Inciting Violence

: James K Polk Vs Henry Clay Vs James Birney

How Donald Trump Could Steal The Election

Ted Cruz First GOP Candidate Set to Run in 2016 Presidential Race

The president cant simply cancel the fall balloting, but his state-level allies could still deliver him a second term.

New 2020 Voter Data: How Biden Won How Trump Kept The Race Close And What It Tells Us About The Future

How Joe Biden won

Five main factors account for Bidens success.

How Trump kept it close

Longer-term prospects

Statehood And Indian Removal

Republic of East FloridaSeminole WarsAdamsOnís TreatyFlorida TerritoryAdmission to the UnionList of U.S. states by date of admission to the UnionCracker

What Is A Typical Presidential Election Cycle

The presidential election process follows a typical cycle:

Spring of the year before an election Candidates announce their intentions to run.

July to early September Parties hold nominating conventions to choose their candidates.

September and October Candidates participate in presidential debates.

Early November Election Day

December Electors Elector: a person who is certified to represent their state’s vote in the Electoral College. cast their votes in the Electoral College.

Early January of the next calendar year Congress counts the electoral votes.

January 20 Inauguration Day

For an in-depth look at the federal election process in the U.S., check out USA In Brief: ELECTIONS.

Contribution Limits For 2021

*Indexed for inflation in odd-numbered years.

**Additionally, a national party committee and its Senatorial campaign committee may contribute up to $51,200 combined per campaign to each Senate candidate.

Nj Primary Elections 2020: The Five Republicans Who Want To Take Over As Us Senator

Colleen ODea, Senior Writer and Projects EditorNJ Decides 2020Politics

Withdrew Before The Primaries

Name

The following notable individuals filed as candidates with FEC by November 2015.

Name

Jerry Moran: Senator Kansas

Senator Jerry Moran arrives for a meeting about the Republican healthcare bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 19, 2017.

Moran voted with most Republican senators to acquit Trump of his impeachment charge of inciting the pro-Trump storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

Ron Johnson: Senator Wisconsin

Former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh: ‘I’m going to run for president’

Trump announced his endorsement for Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson before he has even announced a re-election bid. Johnson, 66, has represented Wisconsin in the Senate since 2011.

This list will be updated as Trump announces new endorsements.

: Benjamin Harrison Vs Grover Cleveland

In 1888 the Democratic Party nominated President Grover Cleveland and chose Allen G. Thurman of Ohio as his running mate, replacing Vice President Thomas Hendricks who had died in office.

Northern veterans, organized in the Grand Army of the Republic, had been angered by Clevelands veto of pension legislation and his decision to return Confederate battle flags..

Sen Mitt Romney Of Utah

Former Vice President Mike Pence

: Andrew Jackson Vs Henry Clay Vs William Wirt

Sen Josh Hawley Of Missouri

Hawley and his wife, Erin, have three children. He got his start in politics as Missouri attorney general before being elected to the Senate in 2018. Hawley graduated from Stanford and Yale Law.

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techcrunchappcom · 4 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/covid-19-news-live-updates-the-new-york-times-14/

Covid-19 News: Live Updates - The New York Times

Here’s what you need to know:

A man suspected of having contracted Covid-19 being covered with a blanket by healthcare workers in Bergamo, Italy, in March.Credit…Fabio Bucciarelli for The New York Times

In the 10 months since a mysterious pneumonia began striking residents of Wuhan, China, Covid-19 has killed more than one million people worldwide as of Monday — an agonizing toll compiled from official counts, yet one that far understates how many have really died.

The coronavirus may already have overtaken tuberculosis and hepatitis as the world’s deadliest infectious disease. And unlike all the other contenders, it is still growing fast.

Like nothing seen in more than century, the virus has infiltrated every populated patch of the globe, sowing terror and poverty, infecting millions of people in some nations and paralyzing entire economies.

But as attention focuses on the devastation caused by halting a large part of the world’s commercial, educational and social life, it is all too easy to lose sight of the most direct human cost.

More than a million people — parents, children, siblings, friends, neighbors, colleagues, teachers, classmates — all gone, suddenly, prematurely. More than 200,000 in the United States, which has the largest total number of coronavirus deaths in the world, followed by Brazil, with over 140,000.

Those who survive Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, are laid low for weeks or even months before recovering, and many have lingering ill effects of varying severity and duration.

Yet much of the suffering could have been avoided.

“This is a very serious global event, and a lot of people were going to get sick and many of them were going to die, but it did not need to be nearly this bad,” said Tom Inglesby, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

At the height of the first wave, places like China, Germany, South Korea and New Zealand showed that it was possible to slow the pandemic enough to limit infections and deaths while still reopening businesses and schools.

But that requires a combination of elements that may be beyond the reach of poorer countries — and that even ones like the United States have not been able to muster: wide-scale testing, contact tracing, quarantining, social distancing, mask wearing, providing protective gear, developing a clear and consistent strategy, and being willing to shut things down in a hurry when trouble arises.

Time and again, experts say, governments reacted too slowly, waiting until their own countries or regions were under siege, either dismissing the threat or seeing it as China’s problem, or Italy’s, or New York’s.

Thomas R. Frieden, a former head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that a major failing had been in governments’ communication with the public, nowhere more so than in the United States.

“You have standard principles of risk communication: Be first, be right, be credible, be empathetic,” he said. “If you tried to violate those principles more than the Trump administration has, I don’t think you could.”

The world now knows how to bend the curve of the pandemic — not to eliminate risk, but to keep it to a manageable level — and there have been surprises along the way.

Masks turned out to be more helpful than experts initially predicted. Social distancing on an unheard-of scale has been more feasible and effective than anticipated. The difference in danger between an outdoor gathering and an indoor one is greater than expected.

And, crucially, people are most contagious when they first show symptoms or even earlier, not days or weeks later, when they are sickest — a reversal of the usual pattern with infectious diseases. That makes preventive measures like wearing masks and swift responses like isolating and testing people for possible exposure much more important. If you wait until the problem is evident, you’ve waited too long.

Officials are particularly concerned about eight neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens.Credit…Mark Abramson for The New York Times

After months of promising signs in its fight against the coronavirus, New York State on Monday reported a spike in its rate of new cases, including a rise in New York City and in its northern suburbs.

The rate of positive test results in the city reached 1.93 percent, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday, an increase from the 1.5 percent rate reported by the city a week before, as officials continued to warn about dangerous behavior in several communities.

The increase in the city, the one-time center of the pandemic, and some suburbs contributed to the statewide rate of approximately 1.58 percent — a jump from results reported on Sunday and in prior weeks.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, said on Monday that the increase was primarily because of clusters in Brooklyn, as well as in Rockland and Orange Counties, in the Hudson Valley, saying there was “significant action” in those areas.

Officials are particularly concerned about eight neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens, some with large Orthodox Jewish communities, that have accounted for about one-fourth of New York City’s new cases in the past two weeks, despite representing about 7 percent of the city’s population.

On Friday, city health officials began carrying out emergency inspections at private religious schools in some of those neighborhoods, and threatened to limit gatherings or force closings of businesses or schools if there was not better compliance to social distancing requirements. The communities are celebrating Jewish high holidays through mid-October, which are marked by religious and family gatherings.

A continued rise could affect a closely watched plan to reopen the city’s schools: The mayor has said that he will automatically shut down classrooms — which are all slated to be open by Thursday — if the positivity rate exceeds 3 percent over a seven-day rolling average. The mayor has also has twice delayed the start of in-person classes for most students, and on Sunday, the union representing the city’s principals called on the state to take over the reopening effort from Mr. de Blasio.

Mr. Cuomo has previously said that reaching a 2 percent positivity rate would make him “nervous,” and that surpassing a 3 percent rate would cause “the alarm bells to go off.”

On Monday, Mr. Cuomo said that he would make 200 rapid testing machines available to schools and local governments in areas where rates were rising, saying “the key with these clusters is to jump on them quickly.”

All told, the state on Monday reported 834 new cases, out of nearly 53,000 tests, the governor said, adding the spike in the positivity rate was largely confined to 20 ZIP codes, where the rate went as high as 30 percent, in contrast with the rest of the state, where the rate remained around 1 percent.

The statewide positivity rate began to creep up over the weekend, when officials reported rates just slightly above 1 percent; hospitalizations have also risen over the last several days, according to state statistics.

Mr. Cuomo stressed that “mask compliance is important,” and urged local governments to enforce mask rules and prohibitions on large gatherings, even if residents were feeling “compliance fatigue.” On Wednesday, New York City will allow indoor dining to resume at 25 percent.

Over the summer, the state began requiring travelers from states with increasing cases to quarantine for 14 days upon their arrival in New York, though the enforcement has been lax. On Monday, Mr. Cuomo said he would sign a new executive order subjecting most travelers from other countries to the 14-day quarantine.

United States › On Sept. 27 14-day change Trend New cases 37,332 +23% New deaths 267 +2%

Where cases are highest per capita

U.S. Roundup

Police investigating the scene of a shooting in Rochester earlier this month.Credit…Joshua Rashaad Mcfadden/Getty Images

The number of homicides in 27 cities across the United States was 53 percent higher this summer than in the pre-pandemic summer of 2019, according to an updated analysis by the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan research group.

The update, covering the months of June, July and August, found that aggravated assaults also increased from last year, by 14 percent, but that many other types of crime plummeted, including residential burglaries, larcenies and drug offenses. Across the country, overall crime rates remain at or near generational lows, despite striking increases in violence in some cities.

Fluctuations in crime rates are notoriously hard to explain, but 2020 has seen two factors with potentially seismic influence: the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused mass unemployment and made the most proven types of anti-violence measures far more difficult to implement, and the killing of George Floyd in police custody in late May, which sparked nationwide protests.

The new report’s authors, Richard Rosenfeld and Ernesto Lopez, wrote that “subduing the pandemic, pursuing crime control strategies of proven effectiveness, and enacting needed police reforms will be necessary to achieve durable reductions in violent crime in our cities.”

The F.B.I reported on Monday that violent crime continued its downward trend in 2019, but that preliminary figures for 2020 show a 15 percent increase in homicides, the largest single-year increase on record.

A New York Times analysis finds that despite President Trump’s attempts to blame “Democrat cities” for failing to curb violence, homicides have increased regardless of the political party of the mayor. In three cities recently called “anarchist” by the Department of Justice — Portland, Ore., New York and Seattle — the murder rate remains quite low. Those cities were not among the top 40 American cities ranked by their projected 2020 murder rate.

And murder is not the only violent crime on the rise. The Chicago Police Department said that domestic-violence-related calls increased 12 percent during a period from the start of the year through mid-April, compared with the same time period in 2019. In other cities, including Los Angeles and New York, the police have seen a drop in calls, but the authorities have said they believed that victims were in such close quarters with their abusers that they were unable to call the police.

In other U.S. news:

After a six-month closure, the Washington Monument will reopen to the public on Thursday. The monument will be open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a new set of safety and cleaning procedures. Tickets, which must be reserved at recreation.gov, will be available starting on Wednesday.

Officials in Montana reported 412 new cases on Monday, a single-day record for the state. Daily reports of new cases have more than doubled in the last two weeks to an average of 250 a day, according to a New York Times database — shattering records and raising concerns that Montana’s hospitals could become overwhelmed. Almost half the state’s total 174 deaths from Covid-19 have come in the past month, and hospitalizations are up sharply. Some of the surge can be attributed to outbreaks in prisons and nursing homes, but state experts also point tothe recent reopening of schools and universities.

Officials in Idaho reported more than 880 new cases on Monday, a single-day record, with the possibility of more cases as counties continue to report through the evening. The previous record (681 new cases) was set on Friday.

A Maryland man has been sentenced to one year in jail and fined $5,000 for throwing two large parties in violation of the state’s ban on gatherings of more than 10 people.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, a Pennsylvania firm whose chief executive boasted to President Trump in March that it was the world’s leader in coronavirus vaccines, said on Monday that it will delay the next stage of testing for its vaccine until addressing questions from the Food and Drug Administration.

The company said the pause is not related to any serious side effects from the first phase of testing of its vaccine, which uses a DNA technology that stimulates a person’s immune system with some of the coronavirus’s genes. No DNA-based vaccine has ever made it to market for any human disease. The company is not able to start Phase ⅔ testing but its Phase 1 trial will continue, it said.

Inovio’s pitch has long been that this genetic approach would allow for faster design and manufacturing than its competitors. But it’s now far behind the pack. More than two dozen coronavirus vaccines have made it to later testing phases than Inovio’s has.

The F.D.A. had questions about the vaccine’s “Cellectra 2000 delivery device,” which uses an electrical pulse to open skin pores in order to more consistently deliver the vaccine dose. Regulatory questions about a similar device held up clinical trials for an Inovio cancer vaccine in 2016.

The company said it plans to respond to the F.D.A.’s questions in October. After that, the agency will have 30 days to decide whether to allow the trials to proceed.

Most of the coronavirus vaccine trials have not run into safety issues. The exception is AstraZeneca’s, which was recently halted when two volunteers became seriously ill after getting its experimental vaccine. That trial is still on pause in the United States.

Negotiators resumed talks on Monday over a coronavirus relief package in a final bid to revive stalled negotiations as House Democrats unveiled a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill that would provide aid to American families, businesses, schools, restaurants and airline workers.

The release of the legislation came minutes before Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, spoke on the phone Monday evening, as the pair seeks to end the impasse over another round of coronavirus. The two agreed to speak again Tuesday morning, said Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Ms. Pelosi.

The moves appeared to be the most concrete action toward another stimulus bill since negotiations stalled nearly two months ago. But the sides remain far apart on an overall price tag, and with just over a month before Election Day, lawmakers and aides in both chambers warned that the time frame for striking a deal was slim.

Absent an agreement with the administration, the House could vote as early as this week to approve the legislation, responding to growing pressure for Congress to provide additional relief and quelling the concerns of moderate lawmakers unwilling to leave Washington for a final stretch of campaigning without voting on another round of aid. But at roughly $1 trillion more than what Mr. Mnuchin has signaled the White House is willing to consider, the package is likely just a starting point, all but guaranteed to be rejected by the Republican majority in the Senate should the House pass it in its current form.

Democrats maintained a provision that would revive a lapsed $600 enhanced federal unemployment and another provision that would send a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks to Americans. And some measures were either added or expanded: $225 billion for schools and $57 billion for child care, an extension of an expiring program intended to prevent the layoffs of airline workers through March 31 and the creation of a $120 billion program to bolster ailing restaurants.

Students at Hillsborough High School in Tampa, Fla. waited in line to have their temperature checked before entering the building in August. C.D.C. data shows that the virus is more common in teenagers than younger children.Credit…Octavio Jones/Getty Images

The rate of infections with the coronavirus in adolescents aged 12 to 17 years is about twice that in children aged 5 to 11 years, according to an analysis released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The finding is based on a review of 277,285 confirmed cases in children from March to September, when most schools in the nation offered only remote learning or were closed.

Children often have mild symptoms, if any at all, so some researchers have suggested that the low numbers of confirmed cases in children result from a lack of testing.

The number of children tested increased to over 320,000 in mid-July from 100,000 on May 31. By July, the incidence of infected children had risen to 37.9 per 100,000 from 13.8.

Along with other evidence about the incidence of coronavirus infections in those under age 19, the new figures suggest “that young persons might be playing an increasingly important role in community transmission,” the authors wrote.

The number of tests and the incidence of infections decreased after July, but may again be rising, the researchers added.

The number of children infected during the study period varied by age. The weekly incidence among adolescents was 37.4 per 100,000, compared with 19 per 100,000 among younger children.

Children who had underlying conditions were more likely to become severely ill, the analysis also found. Among school-aged children who were hospitalized, admitted to an intensive care unit, or who died, 16 percent, 27 percent and 28 percent, respectively, had at least one underlying medical condition, the researchers reported.

Deaths among children were rare, but Black and Hispanic children were more likely to be hospitalized or admitted to an I.C.U., the C.D.C. reported.

Karla Monterroso, 39, has been debilitated by Covid-19 symptoms since March. Credit…Rozette Rago for The New York Times

They caught the coronavirus months ago and survived it, but they are still stuck at home, gasping for breath. They are no longer contagious, but some still feel so ill that they can barely walk around the block, and others grow dizzy trying to cook dinner. Month after month, they rush to the hospital with new symptoms, pleading with doctors for answers.

As the coronavirus has spread through the United States over the past seven months, infecting at least seven million people, a subset of them are suffering from serious, debilitating and mysterious effects of Covid-19 that last far longer than a few days or weeks.

“Before this, I was a weight lifter, kayaker, hiker, white-water rafter,” said Karla Monterroso, 39, who was living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area when she caught the coronavirus in March. She has been sick for going on 200 days.

“I can’t do anything right now, physically, without harming myself,” she said.

Patients wrestling with alarming symptoms many months after first becoming ill — they have come to call themselves “long-haulers” — are believed to number in the thousands in the United States, including many young people who were healthy before being infected. Their symptoms can span a wide range, including piercing chest pain, deep exhaustion or a racing heart.

The New York Times asked four long-haulers to describe their experiences in their own words.

Suman Das, 13, waited with his father to load bricks this month in the North Parganas district of West Bengal, in eastern India.Credit…Atul Loke for The New York Times

In many parts of the developing world, school closures have put children on the streets. Families are desperate for money. Children are an easy source of cheap labor. While the United States and other developed countries debate the effectiveness of online schooling, hundreds of millions of children in poorer countries lack computers or the internet and have no schooling at all.

United Nations officials estimate that at least 24 million children will drop out and that millions could be sucked into work. Ten-year-olds are now mining sand in Kenya. Children the same age are chopping weeds on cocoa plantations in West Africa. In Indonesia, boys and girls as young as 8 are painted silver and pressed into service as living statues who beg for money.

In southern India, an 11-year-old boy, Rahul, would be a fine addition to any classroom. But with his school closed because of the virus, he currently finds himself part of the swarm of children who pour into the street from his housing project, bound for another day rummaging garbage dumps in search of recyclable plastic. It pays pennies an hour.

“I hate it,” said Rahul.

The surge in child labor could erode the progress achieved in recent years in school enrollment, literacy, social mobility and children’s health.

“All the gains that have been made, all this work we have been doing, will be rolled back, especially in places like India,” said Cornelius Williams, a high-ranking UNICEF official.

A restaurant owner removed chairs and tables on a terrace in Marseille on Sunday. All bars, restaurants and cafes in the city and its neighbor, Aix-en-Provence, were ordered to shut down for 15 days, sparking an outcry.Credit…Daniel Cole/Associated Press

The longstanding antagonism that pits Paris, the occasionally overbearing French capital, against Marseille, its sunnier, more rambunctious rival on the Mediterranean coast, has found a new battleground: the coronavirus.

Politicians and businesses in Marseille and its neighbor, Aix-en-Provence, are furious since the government ordered all bars, cafes and restaurants in those two cities — and nowhere else in mainland France — closed for 15 days starting on Sunday evening, to counter rising Covid-19 hospitalizations in the region.

“It’s a catastrophe, we are all anticipating permanent closures,” said Laurent Ceccarini, the owner of two restaurants, both a short walk from the Old Port in Marseille.

In the center of Marseille, a city of over 800,000 residents, French television on Monday showed some shuttered cafes and others that had briefly flouted the restrictions — until patrolling police officers calmly but sternly asked coffee-sipping customers to leave the sun-drenched terraces.

National authorities and some local health officials say the closures are a painful but necessary brake to prevent hospitals in both cities from being overwhelmed.

But some opponents of the targeted shutdown say it was imposed, with little warning, by vindictive government officials who want to punish Marseille’s rebel streak, which in recent months has coalesced around the figure of Didier Raoult, an eminent microbiologist from the city. His contrarian stance — including a claim, rejected by other scientists, that common drugs can cure Covid-19 — has endeared him to Marseille and its political class.

Officials are mounting protests and legal challenges against the new measures. One even said that the municipal police, ignoring government instructions, would not issue fines for establishments that broke the rules.

People unfold a banner written in Italian and German as protesters from ”No Mask” movements, Covid deniers movements, anti-5G movements and anti-vaccination movements gather for a protest against the government’s health policy in Rome in early September.Credit…Vincenzo Pinto/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Growing numbers of Europeans are dismissing the threat of the coronavirus as media hype and sometimes embracing conspiracy theories, as the virus takes a second spin around the continent.

The sentiment echoed that of thousands of unmasked protesters who packed Trafalgar Square in the center of the city on Saturday, and a week earlier, rallying against Britain’s coronavirus restrictions. Many called the pandemic a hoax — even as the global death toll neared a million.

“Take off your mask” was freshly scrawled across an already-graffitied door alongside a strip of houses on London’s Portobello Road.

In Berlin, Brussels, Dublin and Paris, similar gatherings have gone ahead in recent weeks as coronavirus cases are again rising across much of Europe. But with health experts warning that a second wave has already arrived in some places and with many governments moving to reintroduce restrictions, the ranks of those dismissing the dangers of the virus and others calling it a government-led hoax have swelled.

Science has long shown that wearing a mask can prevent a person from spreading airborne illness, and new research suggests that it also protects the person wearing it. But protesters remain unconvinced.

In France, where infections have skyrocketed with a daily average of 12,000 new cases reported over the past week, critics have questioned the effectiveness of masks and new measures to control the spread, while others have urged people to ignore the government’s guidance entirely.

In Germany, there has been a growing and vocal number of German QAnon supporters, who contend that powerful players behind the scenes are using the virus to control the masses.

And in Slovakia, which on Friday recorded its highest number of new daily cases for a third day in a row, the country’s Ministry of Health this summer appointed a specialist to fight disinformation about the pandemic.

People who do not self-isolate in England will now face fines of up to 10,000 pounds, or almost $13,000, as the nation battles a second coronavirus wave.

As of Monday, it is illegal for those who test positive for the virus or have come into contact with a positive case to not quarantine for 14 days. The fines begin at £1,000 but could increase to £10,000 for especially egregious or repeated offenses. The government said it would begin offering a payment of £500 to lower-income residents who cannot work while isolating.

In addition, about two-thirds of the population in Wales will be under lockdown restrictions as of Monday evening. The rules largely ban nonessential movement outside of local areas.

The new rules come as Britain faces a surge in cases and what Prime Minister Boris Johnson called a “perilous turning point.” Earlier this month, Mr. Johnson announced a raft of new restrictions, including bans on most gatherings over six people and closing times of 10 p.m. for pubs and restaurants.

Britain recorded 5,692 new cases on Sunday, and the seven-day daily average is above 5,800, the highest since the pandemic began. There have been at least 434,900 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Britain, and as of Monday morning, nearly 42,000 people had died.

The government has not ruled out the possibility of a second national lockdown or one for the city of London. Britain has been using local lockdowns to try to control the spread of the virus.

“We must do all we can to avoid going down that road again,” Mr. Johnson said last week of a second national lockdown. “But if people don’t follow the rules we have set out, then we must reserve the right to go further.”

An uproar over precisely who faces restrictions has flared after The Times of London reported Monday morning that Parliament’s bars were exempt from the 10 p.m. curfew because they provide food and drink for a workplace. By late morning, that position seemed to have changed: “Alcohol will not be sold after 10 p.m. anywhere on the parliamentary estate,” a government spokesman said.

A new cloud of uncertainty hangs over the November election in Texas, as legal battles mount over how and when voters will cast their ballots because of the pandemic.

The Texas Supreme Court is weighing whether to delay the start of early voting, which had been scheduled to begin in two weeks, while it deals with questions raised by Republican lawmakers about whether voting could legally start that soon.

And a federal judge has temporarily blocked Texas from getting rid of straight-ticket voting, saying that doing so would lengthen wait times and worsen congestion at the polls. “Forcing Texas voters to stand in longer lines and increasing their exposure to a deadly virus burdens the right to vote,” wrote U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo of Laredo.

The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, said the state would appeal the decision.

In a state known for unusually long ballots, the century-old practice of straight-ticket or one-punch voting has been popular. It allows a voter to select a party’s entire slate with one ballot mark, instead of having to make separate marks for each race. About two-thirds of Texas voters used the straight-ticket option in the 2018 general election.

The Republican-dominated Legislature passed a law eliminating the option for this year, with proponents arguing that doing so would cause voters to become better informed and would bring Texas in line with most other states. Critics of the step, including the Democratic Party’s congressional campaign committees, sued the state, saying that eliminating the practice would have a discriminatory impact on Black and Hispanic Texans, who use it more than other voters do.

A victim of the coronavirus in New Delhi last month.Credit…Adnan Abidi/Reuters

India’s coronavirus caseload has surpassed six million, the country’s health ministry announced Monday, as infections continued to grow across the South Asian country of 1.3 billion people.

India has the world’s second-highest caseload after the United States and has recorded at least 95,540 deaths, including 1,039 deaths in the past 24 hours. The country has recorded an average of 83,000 new cases a day for the past week, down from more than 90,000 cases earlier in the month.

At least 76,000 police and paramilitary forces personnel in India have been infected by the virus, with at least 400 deaths, the local media reported on Monday.

During his monthly radio address over the weekend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi renewed his appeal for people to wear face masks when outside their homes.

Credit…Cornell Watson for The New York Times

Despite years of progress, Black people continue to be underrepresented in science and engineering.

Whereas more than 13 percent of the United States’ population identifies as Black or African-American, Black people make up less than 7 percent of students who earn bachelor’s degrees in science or engineering fields and less than 5 percent of people granted doctorates in microbiology each year, according to the National Science Foundation.

The number of Black scientists has “been largely stagnant over the past decade,” said Johnna Frierson, the assistant dean of graduate and postdoctoral diversity and inclusion at the Duke University School of Medicine. In some fields, representation has even begun to decline — a trend that has worried experts. “There’s something in the system that is not optimized in order for us to continue diversifying in the way we hope to,” Dr. Frierson said.

A former virologist, she will participate in a panel on Monday as part of Black in Microbiology Week, the latest in a series of virtual events highlighting Black scientists in a variety of disciplines.

The event will feature seven days of talks, panels and online discussions under the microbiology umbrella, including the coronavirus, and address disparities in medicine, education and career advancement.

LaNell Williams, a member of Black in Microbiology’s programming team and a Ph.D. student at Harvard University, studies physics and virology, straddling two fields in which Black women are extraordinarily scarce.

During her time at Harvard, she has dealt with colleagues who have touched her hair without permission, dismissed her admission to her graduate program as affirmative action and used racial slurs in her presence. Over the years, she said, “I’ve gotten used to people not expecting much of me when I walk into a room.”

Adm. Brett P. Giroir, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, displaying a rapid antigen test at the White House on Monday.Credit…Tom Brenner for The New York Times

President Trump announced at the White House on Monday a plan to distribute 150 million coronavirus tests — rapid antigen tests that will expand the ability to detect infection, but that also tend to be less accurate — purchased by the federal government to states, tribes and other jurisdictions in the coming months.

The tests, a product called BinaxNOW manufactured by Abbott Laboratories, do not require specialized laboratory equipment and can yield results within 15 minutes, based on a quick and relatively painless swab that shallowly samples the nostrils. Adm. Brett P. Giroir, a member of Mr. Trump’s coronavirus task force, demonstrated the administration of one of the tests from a lectern in the Rose Garden.

Governors of some states, including New Jersey and Connecticut, announced on Twitter just before Mr. Trump’s news conference that they expected to receive thousands of the tests within coming weeks, and millions by year’s end. Some 6.5 million of those tests would ship this week, Admiral Giroir said.

The tests, which were given an emergency greenlight from the Food and Drug Administration in August, are cleared only for use in people with symptoms of Covid-19, and must be administered by, or in the presence of, a trained health care professional. Such tests are intended for use, according to Abbott, within the first seven days of when a person starts to feel ill. Testing in people who don’t have symptoms is thus considered off-label use — something the company was not required to submit data for to get their test approved.

The test is designed to look for antigens, or pieces of coronavirus proteins. Such tests tend to be less accurate than laboratory tests, most of which rely on a time-intensive but very reliable technique called P.C.R. Abbott has said that its test has been able to achieve results that mirror P.C.R. testing more than 97 percent of the time in the lab. But the longer a person waits, the worse the Abbott test performs. And experts have said those numbers will likely fall if the test is used outside of its target population.

“This is, it was said by Republicans and Democrats alike earlier, this is a game changer,” said Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi, a Republican, at the White House news conference, adding that the kits would allow teachers in his state to be tested more frequently.

Some have argued that frequent testing — perhaps on a weekly or even near-daily basis — could help compensate for the higher false negative rates of antigen tests. Such a feat, however, would require an even higher volume of tests than announced by the White House on Monday.

“I’m happy that they are trying to invest in technologies that would expand the number of tests that could be done in the U.S., and in particular, trying to signal demand for these rapid tests is useful,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “That said, 150 million tests is really a very small drop in the bucket considering how these tests are envisioned to be used.”

She added that “these tests haven’t been evaluated in people without symptoms. Certainly some clinicians may be inclined to use things off label. That doesn’t mean we understand how they will perform in people without symptoms.”

A number of experts have criticized the fast and frequent testing approach as logistically impractical, and worry that in certain populations where the virus is scarce, false positives could end up outnumbering true positives, compromising public trust in tests.

More than 100 million coronavirus tests of various approaches have been conducted across the United States, with nearly 850,000 conducted each day. But these numbers still fall short of the millions per day some experts say are needed to adequately assess the virus’s true prevalence in the population, and help keep outbreaks in check.

New cases have been trending steadily upward across the country, to around 43,000 daily over the last week as of Sunday, though they remain far below their peak levels from mid-summer. The Upper Midwest and Mountain West regions have struggled in recent days, with North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Utah reporting the most recent cases per capita.

About 750 deaths were being reported each day over the last week as of Sunday, more than in early summer but far fewer than in the spring. The problems in the Midwest and West have been offset somewhat by relatively few cases in the Northeast, as well as sustained progress in populous states like Florida and California that were hit hard in June and July.

Mr. Trump said the tests will be distributed first to vulnerable populations. Among these groups will be those living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, as well as those at historically Black colleges and universities and tribal nation colleges.

Authorities in North Dakota are trying to ease concerns over hospital capacity as the state grapples with the country’s steepest current surge in coronavirus cases.

Relative to the size of its population, North Dakota has reported more new cases in the last week — 363 per 100,000 — than any other state, according to tracking by The New York Times. (Neighboring South Dakota is second, at 322 per 100,000.) So far, the state has reported 234 coronavirus-related deaths, including four on Sunday.

North Dakota state health officials met in Bismarck with the leaders of two large hospital systems over the weekend, following news reports that hospitals in the state were so crowded with Covid-19 patients that they were deferring some elective procedures and putting Covid-19 patients in emergency-room areas for lack of beds.

Following the meeting, Dr. Michael LeBeau of Sanford Health, which operates hospitals in several states including North Dakota, said in a statement that the hospital system intended to announce plans later this week to increase bed capacity in Bismarck.

The number of active coronavirus hospitalizations in the state has nearly doubled, with 105 as of Sunday, compared with 57 two weeks ago. While North Dakota’s official figures suggest that there is still ample capacity in the state as a whole, some say that the stress on hospitals is growing acute in some areas. The leaders of Essentia Health warned last week in a statement that its hospital in Fargo was “at or near capacity.”

Gov. Doug Burgum, a Republican, is also dealing with criticism of his reluctance to issue a statewide mask mandate and his move to rescind a quarantine order for close contacts of people who test positive for the coronavirus.

The state’s interim health officer, Dr. Paul Mariani, resigned on Friday after Governor Burgum rescinded the quarantine order. Dr. Mariani was the third person to hold the position since the start of the pandemic.

Unemployed workers wait for help to file insurance claims in Oklahoma in July.Credit…Joseph Rushmore for The New York Times

Not only are businesses shedding workers, with America’s unemployed numbering roughly 13.6 million, but employers are also cutting expenses like health coverage, and projections of rising numbers of uninsured have grown bleak.

Tens of millions of people could lose their job-based insurance by the end of the year, said Stan Dorn, the director of the National Center for Coverage Innovation at Families USA, a consumer group in Washington, D.C. “The odds are we are on track to have the largest coverage losses in our history,” he said.

While estimates vary, a recent Urban Institute analysis of census data says at least three million Americans have already lost job-based coverage, and a separate analysis from Avalere Health predicts some 12 million will lose it by the end of this year. Both studies highlight the disproportionate effect on Black and Hispanic workers.

Many businesses have tried to keep their workers insured during the pandemic. Employers relied on government aid, including the Paycheck Protection Program authorized by Congress to ease the economic fallout, to pay for premiums through the spring and summer.

Government funding appears to have “prevented the economic crisis from becoming a coverage crisis right away,” said Leemore S. Dafny, a professor at Harvard Business School and one of the authors of a report last month looking at the pandemic’s effect on small business.

Describing those employers as “the proverbial canary in the coal mine,” the researchers say there could be significant coverage losses if insurers and lawmakers fail to act in the coming months. Nearly a third of small businesses surveyed in late June said they were not sure they could keep paying premiums beyond August, according to the report.

A checkpoint along a residential block advising residents to stay at home in Yangon, Myanmar, on Saturday.Credit…Ye Aung Thu/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The strict stay-at-home order issued by Myanmar last week for its largest city, Yangon, barred residents from traveling from any of its 44 townships to another. There are some exceptions, such as for police officers, emergency workers and doctors.

But one group not given special status to cross township boundaries is the news media. That includes reporters, photojournalists and the drivers of newspaper delivery trucks. The exclusion prompted protests Monday from journalists and news vendors alike.

“How can we stay at home while we need to cover the news as videojournalists?” said U Wai Yan, a correspondent with Xinhua News. “If the people do not get the true news, then there might be lots of rumors, and these are toxic for people.”

With cases of the coronavirus soaring, the government has issued stay-at-home orders for Yangon, a city of seven million people. It issued similar restrictions in Rakhine State, where the first major outbreak occurred, and most recently for three townships in Mandalay, a city of one million.

Myanmar, which was ruled for decades by the military, is one of the poorest nations in Southeast Asia, and doctors say that its underfunded medical system would be quickly overwhelmed if the virus is not contained.

The number of reported cases has skyrocketed over the past month to nearly 11,000, with 226 deaths. But the rate of testing in Myanmar is among the lowest in the world and the number of cases is likely much higher.

On Sunday, the government issued a requirement that anyone seeking an exception to the travel restrictions must register online. But it included no category for members of the media.

“I would say the government does not understand the importance of independent private media,” said U Myint Kyaw, secretary of the Myanmar Press Council.

The council, which seeks to protect the media’s interests, has appealed to the government to provide an exemption so that reporters can cover the news and newspapers can be delivered.

Critics said the restrictions on movement would make it more difficult for news organizations to cover Myanmar’s national election, which is scheduled for Nov. 8.

The main opposition party argues that holding the election in the middle of a pandemic favors the ruling party of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s civilian leader, and has called for it to be postponed. Election officials have rejected a delay.

Sonny Swe, the founder and chief executive of the influential magazine Frontier Myanmar, said journalists must have sufficient freedom of movement so they can cover the election, the health crisis and other significant events.

“I can understand the restrictions and necessary measures for the sake of public health,” he said. “But the media should be considered an essential business.”

A 61-year-old Afghan man died on Sunday in Greece, becoming the first resident of a Greek migrant reception facility to die of the virus. The man, a father of two, died in an Athens hospital. He had been living in the Malakasa camp near the city, a Greek Migration Ministry official said, adding that his two children have been tested and are isolated within the camp. Malakasa is one of nine migrant reception facilities on the mainland that are locked down because of virus outbreaks.

A cruise ship carrying more than 1,500 people was turned back from the Greek island of Milos in the Aegean Sea after 12 crew members tested positive for the virus, a Greek Shipping Ministry official said. The Mein Schiff 6, which sails under the flag of Malta, left Crete on Sunday and was off the coast of Milos early on Monday when the test results were released, the official said.

The municipal government in Beijing announced new procedures to allow medical personnel to bypass their bosses in reporting health emergencies directly to hotlines and government agencies. The rules are supposed to protect whistle-blowers’ identities and shield them from any retaliation. The goal, although not mentioned by the Beijing authorities, appears to be to prevent any repeat of the slow response last winter to the emergence of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China. The ophthalmologist who sounded the alarm there on social media, Dr. Li Wenliang, was called in by medical officials and the police and forced to sign a statement denouncing his warning; he later died of the disease.

The next Group of 20 summit meeting, which was scheduled to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will take place virtually on Nov. 21 and 22, the kingdom said in a statement on Monday. Saudi Arabia, which holds the group’s rotating presidency, also hosted an emergency virtual summit meeting in March in response to the pandemic.

#covid #World

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phaelosopher · 4 years ago

Photo

New Post has been published on http://www.phaelosopher.com/2020/07/08/one-nation-under-the-flaw/

One Nation Under the FLAW

The amount of money being spent for “it (a new vaccine) working” is irrelevant. The money is being spent because the new vaccine will work just the way old ones have, and have always been intended. They disrupt a natural biological process in a self-contained ecosystem, which results in what are called “diseases”. The self-contained ecosystem, which we call an “immune system”, responds to the chemical invasion. Said responses are named new “diseases” for which new vaccines are developed and SOLD. The game has been running for over 200 years.

While the names change, the one constant is the steady decline in overall HEALTH, and a stead rise in new “diseases”.

With the focus on “diseases,” both the “heroes” (doctors) and their “victims” (patients/public) attention is diverted away from the sources and causes of the problem: which are the vaccines themselves, and the disruptive effect they have on the natural, intelligent ecosystem that they are *forced* to invade.

This is a well-oiled and highly profitable machine which is not going to see itself for what it is; which part of an ongoing holocaust, not just against Americans, but against the whole of humanity.

Sure, we’re supposed to look at each other with caution, suspicion and scorn. We’re to keep our distance from each other; steer clear because some potential nastiness that may come our way. We’re to suspect or fear our neighbor, but keep some chemical nearby just to make us “safe” just in case we touch something “nasty”.

Who can argue with that?

We are encouraged to think that we have no defense against the little tiny bastards, fully unaware that our immune system is working, and is always working, even when we’re ignorantly, if not proudly, abusing and further compromising it.

We’re supposed to cover our mouths and noses… “it won’t matter, they tell us.” It means that you’re being NICE! Even if you think it does matter. “WE SAY IT DOESN’T, AND YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO DO WHAT *WE* TELL YOU!!!” (if you know what’s good for you.)

Am I exaggerating?

How’s that attitude working for you?

You’re supposed to submit to these authoritarian edicts on the advice of people who are invested financially in your following their advice, and stand to profit greatly if you are hooked into their scheme. Some are profiting already, selling off their shares of stock in at least one of the companies listed in the article below.

The experts get ample air time on television programs to fan the flames, to give their latest opinion on what is best to do.

Your freedoms and common sense are not important to these people, nor their accomplices in government. These “lawmakers” are, in fact, FLAWMAKERS. They’re making FLAWS all over the place; which will EACH have to be corrected when enough people WAKE UP and call an end to the game.

Ambitious FLAWMAKER Gov. Jay Inslee (D. WA). IMAGE SOURCE: seattlepi.com

Under-Estimated Human Resilience?

The COVID-19 planners couldn’t even *pay* enough medical caregivers (most of which have no clue of the manipulation) to KILL patients (by intubation) who came in during the fear escalation. To compensate, they now justify continued restrictions on the increase in CASES.

IN EITHER EVENT, THE HUMAN IMMUNE SYSTEM APPEARS TO BE MORE RESILIENT THAN THESE ASSHOLES THINK. OR, the coronavirus and COVID-19 aren’t nearly the “threat” that THEY *THINK* IT IS, or what it to be.

I would be concerned for the people who rushed in to be “tested”, having their nasal passages invaded and irritated with who-knows-what. But even then, the immune system is more resilient and capable than we think. Our challenge is to learn how to help it rather than put ourselves in the care and advice of those who would take it down further.

We need to know more about our physiology and how it works; not from “experts” in DISEASE, but experts in HEALING. Ask someone who has dealt with, or experienced the worst that medicine could imagine, and how they recovered from it. What did THEY do?

I’ll tell you this: Your doctor won’t know much, if anything about it, and if he or she did, WOULD BE PROHIBITED FROM “PRACTICING” USING THAT MODALITY.

Dr. Harry Hoxsey: demonized for his herbal cancer treatment in the 1920’s.

Medical history is riddled with doctors who, genuinely caring about helping their patients get well, used “off book” methods, and were turned on by the medical profession. In some cases they left the U.S. in order to continue their work. The suppression of these doctors and their methods aren’t limited to the U.S. The same scenarios have occurred in Germany, France, and other countries around the world.

A Hoxsey patient.

A sense of “entitlement” or “ownership” is at play here, but it’s no game when you are the one being treated like a commodity.

The Black Lives Matter mess shows how NO group’s lives really matter to the people behind the real issue.

Angry, masks, and property damage is “understandable”

While people are locked down and “protest” is forbidden, an from the principal’s office excuse is given if the “protest”, with its constant threat of confrontation or destruction, is “against racism or some other ism.

More hypocrisy.

The BLM people are all mask wearers, modeling the new programmed behavior, but NONE of its members are calling for the end of vaccines, which would HELP ALL PEOPLE.

Not only would their group be included in the vaccine blessing, Melinda Gates suggested that Black Americans should be some of THE FIRST to get the new vaccine strains. Sure, try it out there… NOT.

From USAToday.com

“Melinda went on to say that Black people in the U.S. must be vaccinated after more than 60 million health care workers around the world.”

Donnelle Eller June 16, 2020

Vaccines affect, meaning that they DISTORT and impair, consciousness and perception, in addition to cognitive and motor skills. The lower blood oxygen levels and viscosity, as well as cell hydration. Yet we’ve become blind to the causes of these effects, just as they want.

SOURCE: Amazon.com

When parents could no longer ignore the connection between their child’s vaccination and subsequent impairment, they began seeking recourse. In 1986, the vaccine makers government FLAWMAKERS created a way to shield pharmaceutical companies from financial recourse when they established the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The website begins by saying: “Vaccines save lives by preventing disease.” The evidence and science says otherwise.

Nonetheless, parents have had to “prove” that their children were “vaccine damaged” since this court was established.

And with no more liability for the consequences of their work, other than a few paltry lawsuits that are paid for by tax dollars. the recommended vaccine injection schedule has gone up dramatically since the vaccine court was established.

IMAGE SOURCE

The government now runs interference to protect the criminal from the consequences of the crime against The People.

Even then, a parent’s only recourse is money, NOT the restoration of their children’s HEALTH, NOR ENJOINING the vaccine makers from making any more. In other words, NO consequence whatsoever on their part.

How do you like them apples?

The only way this travesty can continue is if we remain blind to the obvious, and silent to the treasonous.

The “privilege” someone has suggested you had, is a farce. The discrimination you thought was your group’s alone, is being applied virtually to everyone else, and has always been the case.

Even law enforcement, even the military… their minds and perceptions have ALL been under attack for A LONG TIME, because the battleground is NOT in what you see; it’s in what you don’t see, the world of the thoughts and words that guide our attitudes and resultant actions.

We don’t know really how “advanced” or “retarded” humanity is. However, the soulless people who would continue to blanket the human mind with lies, deceit, and tyranny, just to continue to play with their lives like it was a board game, are indeed retarded.

Heaven help them.

#ENDVACCINES #STOPCIRCUMCISIONS #HEALOURSOILS #BALANCEOURENVIRONMENT #RECLAIMOURHEALTH #HEALOURWATERS

Please follow and like us:

#BlackLivesMatter #COVID-19 #Vaccinations

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senakim22-blog · 4 years ago

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covid19updater · 5 years ago

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COVID19 UPDATES 04/15/2020

MORNING:

UK: True UK coronavirus death toll 'far higher' as new figures fuel fear London is being hit even harder. The number of deaths being reported daily from coronavirus significantly undercounted the true toll, new figures suggested today. The Office for National Statistics said there were 6,235 deaths in England and Wales up to April 3 — 2,142 higher than the 4,093 declared at the time by the Government.

Oklahoma: This is about the virus attacking the blood of a 63 year old man with no underlying health issues. He has already completed the hydroxychloroquine treatment, and now the family is hoping someone will donate plasma so they can try antibody treatments on the man. LINK

Germany: Germany: another dangerous outbreak in a hospital in Hamburg, now in a cancer & leukemia ward, 20 patients + 20 doctors/nurses already tested positive...

Brazil: Brazil with new record of deaths in one day. For the first time, Brazil exceeded 200 fatalities with coronavirus in 24 hours. According to the most recent data from the Brazilian Ministry of Health, 204 deaths were recorded, a figure that increases the number of deaths from those infected with coronavirus to 1,532.

India: Coronavirus Mutation Found in India “Raises Alarm”, Could Hinder Development of Vaccine: Study A new mutation in the novel coronavirus, which was found in India back in January 2020, has dealth the first huge blow to humankind’s race towards a COVID-19 vaccine. This mutation has the potential to undo the research done on this subject thus far, hindering the world's chances of successfully developing a vaccine, a new study indicates.

US: Woman sells penis face masks for charity. Kindly [lets] them know this is how I determine they are too close, kindly back the f*** up. LINK

NYC: BREAKING: NYC publishes, for first time, data on fatalities that includes "probable" cases (those without a confirmed test result). It has pushed the death toll in NYC up by 57%. Was 6,589 before this adjustment. Now stands at 10,367. This is a painful but necessary accounting.

US: CDC Director Redfield: "I think we're definitely going to have a second wave. .. we've got an unknown window now to get really prepared.”

US: Coronavirus updates: A second sailor from the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt has been moved to intensive care with shortness of breath, the Navy said Tuesday, a day after a sailor from the coronavirus-stricken ship died from COVID-19 complications.

New York: New York Gov. Cuomo: "The number is down because we brought the number down." "God did not do that, fate did not do that, destiny did not do that, a lot of pain and suffering did that.” (Pride goeth before a fall)

World: POTUS announces he’s halting WHO funding while a review happens. President Trump is accusing World Health Organization of "severely mismanaging and covering up" the coronavirus pandemic. He says the organization chose "political correctness" over supporting travel restrictions and "failed" in its "basic duty." (About time)

US: U.S. PRESIDENT TRUMP SAYS WE ARE GOING TO SUGGEST THAT PEOPLE BE TESTED AT STATE BORDERS FOR CORONAVIRUS

RUMINT (UK): Remember these people who kept adding 'Underlying conditions' as a reason for death on all this? Well, UK best and brightest have crunched the data with an international team from Iceland and EU nations. The 'mutations' - even slightly - are starting to form a startling pattern: The virus is mutating in reaction to MEDICATIONS UTILISED And every medication is, at the moment, having a similar mutagenic reaction occur across the western hemisphere. This is why it may appear so fucking random - Because these people who are dying are all taking the same medications. Why did they start looking at this angle? Because of nicotine. The head shed wanted to know if asthmatics and smokers were at higher risk. *In other words, this thing seemingly appears to have been designed to evade pharmacutical led efforts to kill it whislt targetting those already with vulnerabilities.

World: Comment from editor-in-chief of The Lancet medical journal, Richard Horton: "President Trump’s decision to defund WHO is simply this—a crime against humanity. Every scientist, every health worker, every citizen must resist and rebel against this appalling betrayal of global solidarity." (Globalist much?)

World: 20-year-old first class Anatomy graduate of Delta State University, Ishicheli Grace Kenechi is making face masks with beads after observing that some people find it hard to breathe with the popular face masks. LINK (I think she just won the Darwin award for today)

Indiana: 24 residents of a nursing home in Madison County, Indiana have died in a coronavirus outbreak. 16 tested positive for COVID-19 and 8 had symptoms.

World: Hackers Leak Thousands of Coronavirus Research Papers LINK

Germany: BILD, the largest German newspaper, today presented the first coronavirus bill China owes Germany now. They added: "Only one thing does not fit on any bill, cannot be made good by any money in the world: the thousands of people who have died of the #COVID19 virus."

World: Chinese study on whether air conditioning can spread COVID19. LINK

US: US may have to endure social distancing until 2022 if no vaccine is quickly found, scientists predict. This may be the new normal for quite a while. The US may have to endure social distancing measures - such as stay-at-home orders and school closures - until 2022, researchers projected on Tuesday. That is, unless, a vaccine becomes quickly available. That's according to researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who published their findings in the journal Science on Tuesday. Those findings directly contradict research being touted by the White House that suggests the pandemic may stop this summer. "Intermittent distancing may be required into 2022 unless critical care capacity is increased substantially or a treatment or vaccine becomes available," they wrote in their report. "Even in the event of apparent elimination, SARS-CoV-2 surveillance should be maintained since a resurgence in contagion could be possible as late as 2024." The Harvard team's projections also indicate that the virus would come roaring back fairly quickly once restrictions were lifted."If intermittent distancing is the approach that's chosen, it may be necessary to do it for several years, which is obviously a very long time," Dr. Marc Lipsitch, an author on the study and an epidemiology professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, told reporters. Another important factor: Whether people become immune to the new coronavirus after they have been infected. That's not yet known. The study researchers say they are aware that such prolonged distancing, even if intermittent, would likely have "profoundly negative economic, social, and educational consequences."

US: Record number of 2,200 deaths in past 24 hours in the US In the United States, 2,228 coronavirus deaths have been recorded in the past 24 hours. Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore reports this based on a daily count. Never before have so many deaths been reported in one day.

World: #COVID19 pandemic: 1,000,000 cases -> 124 days 2,000,000 cases -> 12 days

Vietnam: Vietnam, Hue, Da Nang cities set up free ‘rice ATMs’ LINK

Singapore: 334 new cases registered on Tuesday, none of them imported. The Singapore Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday that 334 new cases of infection with the new coronavirus were registered, none of which were imported from another country. The second wave of infections continues to grow in this nation, with several outbreaks of Covid-19 already identified by health authorities. These data, even so, were below the highest number of positives recorded in one day, a level reached on Monday of this week (386 cases). In total, 3 252 positives have already been confirmed in this country.

Maryland: Taneytown (MD) police warn residents to wear pants when checking mail LINK

AFTERNOON:

NYC: NEW YORK MAYOR DE BLASIO SAYS ALL SUPERMARKETS AND GROCERY STORES IN NYC TO REQUIRE CUSTOMERS TO WEAR FACE COVERINGS

Belgium: Belgium has overtaken Italy in deaths per capita in a very short time, and by tomorrow they will likely overtake Spain which is currently in the #1 spot.

US: Over 600 sailors aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt have now tested positive for Coronavirus, Navy says. 615 now infected, over 4,000 sailors have been moved ashore in Guam.

US: There’s Been a Spike in People Dying at Home in Several Cities. That Suggests Coronavirus Deaths Are Higher Than Reported. LINK

Singapore: A new record 447 #coronavirus cases reported in Singapore today as the total soared to 3,699. This story tells how dormitories for poor migrant workers were the blind spot for a rich city-state that had won praise for containing the virus.

South Dakota: South Dakota has become one of the fastest growing hot spots in U.S., even as other parts of nation see their epidemics start to level off or slow. South Dakota has a doubling time now of about 4 days. In the setting of the ongoing national epidemic, every state is vulnerable.

Italy: BREAKING: Italy reports 2,667 new cases of coronavirus and 578 new deaths.

New York: NEW YORK GOV. CUOMO: 752 MORE DEATHS TIED TO PANDEMIC. CUOMO: DEATHS INCLUDE 45 IN NURSING HOMES, 707 IN HOSPITALS (What about people who died at home?)

France: 1438 new deaths in France.

Russia: NEW: For 4th day in a row, Russia reports record number of new coronavirus cases.

World: Not just lung damage. “But clinicians around the world are seeing evidence that suggests the virus also may be causing heart inflammation, acute kidney disease, neurological malfunction, blood clots, intestinal damage and liver problems” #COVID19

EVENING:

France: AMAZON SHUTS DOWN DISTRIBUTION CENTERS IN FRANCE

Delaware: Staffing shortage at Delaware chicken plant forcing growers to 'depopulate,' dispose of millions of birds

California: LOS ANGELES MAYOR GARCETTI SAYS GATHERINGS LIKE CONCERTS AND SPORTING EVENTS NOT LIKELY TO BE ALLOWED IN THE CITY UNTIL 2021 -CNN INTERVIEW

Nigeria: Africans burn down a Chinese factory in Nigeria in retaliation to the mistreatment of Africans in China amid #COVID19. This is spiraling out of control.

UK: China 'concealed' coronavirus from West and is trying to evade blame, says ex-MI6 chief

Connecticut: Connecticut +197 dead today, those numbers rocketed them into the #3 spot for deaths per capita in the US.

US: Trump: "More and more we're hearing the story" that coronavirus began in a research lab in Wuhan. "We're doing a very thorough examination of what happened".(SO NOW THEY ARE STARTING TO SAY WHAT WE HAVE KNOWN FOR MONTHS!!!)

US: The @WHO is "a tool of China," says @POTUS.

US: Another daily high for reported new deaths in the US +2,455 RIP. Day isn't over yet.

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jesbakescookies · 7 years ago

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Sweet Hereafter: Chapter One

This is a Merle/OC story I started in 2015. It has somewhat canon characters and story lines but some things will change as it progresses. I try to stick to Merle's canon but he will soften some.

I don't own the Walking Dead, its character or storylines. This story contains some exact quotes. This story is for fun, not profit. :)

I picture Emily Blunt in Loopers for my OC, Sam.

This is a mature rated story. It contains: LOTS of cursing, gore, violence, references to rape, assault and abuse, SMUT and probably other offensive things. yadayadayada

18+ years only

Please and Thank you.

The Sweet Hereafter by: The White Buffalo was used for the story title. It seemed to fit the story and Merle's Dixon.

"Sweet Hereafter"

Oh, when I left my mamas home Left her for dead when I left her all alone The whores they won't let me be at night They can't replace the warmth I need tonight Because I'm cold, cold as hell

The lord, He don't wait for me at night He knows what I've done is wrong and it ain't right The devil await me with open arms And he sways me with his wiles and with his charms I'm holding on when there's nothing left to hold onto

Hold on to the sweet hereafter

The fountain from where I drank from as a child When I was young I was bored and I was wild Since then I have grown into a man And I know that I can always stand But I'm wrong, I'm still a child

Hold on to the sweet hereafter

Merle stood in the hallway listening to the Governor yell and hit the woman brought in from the nearby camp. Martinez picked her up while she was scavenging a bait location, Governor's nasty little trick of capturing outsiders to gain information of their camps. He wanted to know where the camp was? How many men? How many guns? What supplies they had?

The most common way he acquired this information was by force. Merle couldn't claim innocence of the act. He had beaten information out of prisoners but he didn't work over women, he'd threated but never hit. That was left to others and if Merle was honest, he never really thought much about it.

When Merle came to town things were ideal. The Governor helped him get clean and saved his life by fighting an infection in his amputated limb. He would be dead if he hadn't been found and he owed the sadistic bastard his life.

Now?

Now, Merle felt like a sinister pawn in a sadistic chess game, a deadly tool in the back pocket of a madman. The Governor was playing God. He was wiping out entire camps for supplies. He had several rooms he used for play. The kind of play that made grown men cry for their mamas and women wish they were dead. Merle wasn't innocent by any means. He pulled the trigger on countless men. He had stolen and murdered on the Governor's orders to do so. Many nights when he found himself drinking the looted liquor from the recent raided camp, he'd sit picturing the faces of those he hurt, those he killed. He knew he'd eventually pay for his crimes. Pay for being a hired gun.

Another yelp echoed in the metal structure bringing Merle back to the present. The girl inside the room was being stupid. She wasn't talking. No matter what the sick bastard did, she kept her mouth shut.

'Fuckin' dumb broad.' Merle thought while picking at his nails with his prosthetic knife attachment nervously. Something was keeping him grounded in his spot despite the pain of hearing it.

The sound of her crying out again twisted his gut. It was a strangled sob that tore the old redneck bastard up. He grew up watching his Pa beat on his mom. Abusing women and children was a line Merle never crossed and thought men who did were cowards.

The crack of leather against skin, followed by an animalistic howl, caused a chill to run up his spine. His back burned just hearing the familiar sound, a sound that woke him up from nightmares on most nights. Two more quick cracks and Merle snapped out of the flashbacks of childhood. Throwing the door open, he saw the woman on the ground in a ball at the Governor's feet, his leather belt hanging from his fisted hand, blood dripping to the floor. It was a scene straight out of the Dixon family album. Her back was split open. Three angry welts, oozing blood, marred her once pale soft skin. Her body was trembling and quiet gasps were making their way out from under her cowered frame.

"Why are you interrupting my interrogation Merle?" The sadistic bastard asked calmly, his eyes as black as Appalachian coal.

"Problem with the match tonight. Martinez said he needs ya," he replied evenly hoping his rage wasn't showing. The excuse was real but it wasn't actually an emergency. He just needed to interrupt the bastard from injuring the woman anymore. Merle knew the Governor would check it out even though it wasn't important at the time. Philip was a controlling asshole and he needed to be involved in every happening around town.

"Well then. I guess we'll take a break darlin’. Merle if you'd get her restrained, I'll be back to continue our… conversation. Sweetheart, you're gonna love the next part." He assured in his oily southern gentleman facade. The sound of his voice gave the redneck the creeps.

Merle grunted in response and moved to the broken shape on the floor still curled within herself, her once blonde hair caked with dried blood. Her pale back angry and inflamed. She was nude except for panties, which truthfully shocked Merle. The Governor had a proclivity to rape.

'Guess that was his next play.' He thought angrily.

Merle lifted her up and sat her in the chair at the table. They were alone now but he still spoke quietly.

"Gonna be okay, girl." He spoke gruffly.

Merle was one tough bastard. He had seen a lot of disturbing things before and after the turn, but those pale shoulders with large hand print bruises wrapped around each boney clavicle, turned his gut something awful. He pictured his mama on the kitchen floor, her housedress torn, broken glass and spilled dinner, his Pa's fingerprints wrapping her neck. Shaking his head clear of the haunting images, he got to work. They didn't have much time and he didn't have a real plan to speak of.

Merle took his flannel off leaving him in a wife beater and camo pants. Sliding the fabric over her small frame and buttoning it up, he leaned down to see the damage to her face. Her left eye was black and deep purple. The white of her eye was blood red, the blood vessels all broken. Her bottom lip was spilt in the center and dripping blood down her chin. It needed stitches. Her neck was ringed with bruises. The sadist had strangled her at some point.

"We're leavin'. Ya hear me," he growled fiercely but quietly, his voice hoarse. "Ya do 'exactly what I say, girl."

She nodded and gripped his forearm squeezing it tightly. He could see the fear in her eyes but also gratitude. Merle nodded, then stood, helping her to her feet. She was unsteady for a moment but quickly moved with him. He figured her adrenaline was pumping and numbing the pain. Merle knew the guard was at the door, so he held her wrists behind her and whispered. "Gotta be rough with ya, girl. Just play the part. Follow me."

He opened the door and roughly shoved her forward, while gripping her wrists to keep her from falling. She tripped over her feet and yelped out. The guard laughed at her and nodded his head to Merle.

"Where ya takin' her?" The man asked, while leering at her bare legs and exposed cleavage.

"Gov wants her in his private room." He stated with a fake leer, "Got a keeper."

Merle laughed gruffly while secretly wanting to punch the fuck out of the guy in front of him.

"Awesome. Maybe he'll share this time, huh?" The man laughed again and waved them by.

Merle took her wrists and walked fast, but not unusually so, down the pathway behind the corrugated metal buildings. Once at the end, he had them duck behind a short retaining wall. Running along the side, he got cover besides another building. They only needed to run to the exterior wall that had a loose panel. He was going to sneak them out and book it as fast as he could to somewhere safe. Merle was ruining his ability to return to town but for some reason it felt worth it. There was no real reason behind his choice to run with her, other than his inability to listen to the leather belt crack.

They finally made it outside the walls and he moved them through the trees avoiding the wall sentries eyes. They had no supplies and all he had on him was his prosthetic knife attachment, a hunting knife and a handgun with two clips. The girl was barefoot and barely clothed. It was cold enough that the air chilled Merle's, now sweat covered torso. There was no time to waste though so they ran. The girl was silent, God bless her and held her own while running. Merle kept looking over at her as she ran. Her legs were strong; she was in shape and was agile. Hopping over logs and climbing through thick underbrush seemed second nature to her. However he could see her favoring her right foot and an occasional hand gripping her ribs. She grunted as she landed and there was a groan when meeting an incline.

They moved for hours in the dark by the full moon. It was overcast so the light would fade in and out making the traversal of landscape difficult.

"Almost there. Creek up 'head 'n a spare bag o' mine." He explained as they slowed to move down a short but steep ditch. She nodded but didn't speak, her panting breath was all he could hear. Luckily, neither of them encountered a walker, which was somewhat surprising but much appreciated.

Merle located the creek and they found that it was low and easy to cross. When they stopped the woman splashed water on her face.

"Don' drink it." He warned her hoping she wasn't stupid enough to drink possibly contaminated water.

"I know." She said. "Just sweat in my eyes and blood clogging my nose."

He trudged up to the rock outcropping and dug out the pack he hid in a small opening behind the boulders. It was his bug-out bag, emergency supplies for a speedy exit. He was thankful he'd thought of doing it when he first arrived in camp.

"Ok let's go. We need to move. I know ya tired but we gotta." He told her while handing her water. "Slow," he grunted when she gulped quickly. Coughing a little she handed it back.

They walked fast but didn't run again. Moving through the trees Merle headed in a direction with no real end in sight. He didn't have a goal other than finding shelter and hiding out until he could get a car. Then they'd drive as far away from the hellhole called Woodbury and hopefully escape the Governor's grasp.

After another half hour of hiking they came upon a tiny strip mall of a few businesses. The end one was a discount grocery store of some kind but the others were tiny businesses. Finding one on the opposite end of the store, Merle went in and cleared it of threats. The woman came in and sat down. Her legs were trembling and he could see her hands shaking.

"Ok I'm gonna search the next couple shops. Stay here." He told her moving to the door briskly.

"Wait." She exclaimed in a hushed voice rushing towards him.

"What?" He asked gruffly. He needed to get them supplies and didn't need woman drama.

"Just…. You're coming back right?" She asked, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, girl. Be right back." He replied in his gravelly voice. Merle wasn't a softy. He was a mean old bastard who didn't care about anyone but himself and well his little brother wherever the hell he was. Merle didn't help others or do kind deeds unless they got him money, drugs or laid. Not one to obey the law or feel guilt, he wasn't a good man. He knew that but for some reason beyond him, he was helping a tiny blonde woman and he wasn't even looking to get laid. He shook his head at the absurdity of it.

Searching the next few shops Merle killed several rotting corpses. One shop was a dry cleaners where he found clothing for the woman.

'Fuck what's 'er name?' He thought. 'Fuck it. Who cares? Find 'er a place to stay and ditch 'er. Ain't needin' no ball and chain on the run. Just gonna weigh ya down.'

The discount grocery store had some canned food and a case of water. He hauled everything he found back to the tiny office she was in. The tiny blonde was sitting in the same spot, perched on the edge of the chair, her hands wringing in her lap. When he came in she stood up and grabbed the water off his shoulder he held with his prosthetic limb.

"Got some clothes. Don' know woman sizes, make 'em work." He told her shoving the plastic covered clothing at her.

"Thanks," she replied, her voice hoarse. Clearing her throat she whispered, "Why are you helping me?"

"Fuck if I know." He grumbled. "Ain't never helped no one before. Guess I drank some bad hooch or sumthin'"

She nodded. "Thanks just the same."

Not responding to her gratitude Merle detailed, "Stayin' 'er tonight. Tomorrah I can take ya back to your camp but gotta tell ya... He already knew where it was, they hit it tonight." She looked at him like he was speaking tongues. Her head turned slightly, her eyes unfocused.

Merle wondered if she had family there. If she did they were as good as dead and there was nothing she could do about it.

"My uncle was there." She offered flatly.

"He prolly ain't alive. They took it to the studs. Burned it down." He confessed, looking away from her watery eyes, the sight of it making his skin itch.

"Goin' there outta the question?" She asked her cheeks flushed, her lip gripped between her teeth.

Merle felt uncomfortable looking at her. He wasn't big on feelings. The only one useful to him was anger. It fueled most of his decisions.

"Ain't gonna help none. Nothin' to go back to… Sorry girl." Merle told her feeling anxious under her stare. Cutting his eyes away and then back to her, he saw her scrubbed her face and nod. "Ok. Ok." She mumbled.

"Gotta clean those cuts up. I don' got any bandages. Just water 'n a clean shirt." He told her gesturing for her to take the shirt off.

She looked up at him with wary eyes.

"Ain't gonna hurt ya, girl. Just got my ass on the Gov's shit list for stoppin' it from happenin'." He barked harshly.

Nodding, she sat down on a tiny love seat and turned her back to him, removing his bloody shirt. Merle hissed through his teeth. The wounds were angry and weeping, the skin inflamed and in need of antibiotics. "These are real doozies." He muttered while opening a bottle of water.

"Ya got any other cuts 'sides these 'n your lip?" Merle had no idea what else the sick fuck did to her. They left so quickly he hadn't noticed.

"I... He.." She stammered, her voice cracking.

"Spit it out girl" he growled while he wet a clean t-shirt to use on her back. She yelped at the cloth touching her wounds. "Hush," he grunted, despite tempering his touch to keep from hurting her.

"He bit me." She answered so quickly he almost didn't understand her. Merle stopped, his hand hovering over her back. Clenching his teeth together he felt rage roll through him. It was an old feeling to Merle, he felt it almost daily but it was the reason that caused his rage that was odd. Protective. He felt protective of this stranger.

'What the fuck are ya thinkin ya pussy?' He growled to himself.

"Lemme see." He demanded, his voice low and gravelly.

"It’s on m-my chest." She stammered. Merle took a breath and let it out slowly, trying to extinguish his anger.

After a long moment he rasped, "After the lip."

He cleaned her back and then had her turn toward him. She covered her chest with his shirt while he cleaned her lip. Hissing at the pain of the rough cloth, she squeezed her eyes shut. Tears leaked down her cheeks while he worked. Merle did his best to ignore them, but couldn't stop from wiping them away with the unused part of cloth.

"Hush, gonna be fine," he stated his blue eyes burning into hers. "Lemme see."

Taking a shaky breath she lowered the shirt to show him the bite mark. It was near the center of her chest. The skin was broken and bleeding but there was no tearing, just a deep bite mark that would most likely scar. Merle wiped it with a clean part of the cloth and then grunted at her letting her know he was done.

"Get dressed." He grunted shortly, standing and walking away. His gut was twisting at the sight of her injuries. The idea of going back and gutting the sick fuck crossed his mind.

She started pulling off the plastic to the dry cleaning. Inside was a pair of black pants and sweater. Both fit her ok but the legs and arms where too long for her short frame.

"You're short as fuck, ain't ya?" He chuckled as she rolled the hems up three times.

"Shuddup" she grumbled but smirked. "Nothin wrong with being short."

"Never said there was. What's your name girl?" He asked handing her a can of fruit he scavenged.

"Sam Warren ." She replied, pulling a peach out of the tiny can.

Merle introduced himself and asked through a mouthful of fruit cocktail, "Merle Dixon. Sam short for somethin?"

"Samantha but was always called Sam." She answered, plopping another syrupy fruit in her mouth.

"So why did your group have just you out scavenging?" he asked gruffly. "No men with any balls to do the work?"

"I may not look capable but I can hold my own. Work better by myself so I usually do… did, the supply runs." Sam explained wiping her hands on her pants.

Grunting in response Merle walked to the window to keep watch. "Lay down, get some sleep."

Watching out the window Merle stood guard for the remainder of the night. Occasionally he'd look at Sam and saw her tossing and turning on the tiny sofa, her short frame filling up the small cushions.

Shaking his head, Merle scoffed at the strange situation. He just threw away a cushy life, in a secure town where he had three squares, a bed to sleep in and a few girls he liked to fuck.

Now?

Now he was out in the wild with a short little girl, who probably didn't know her ass from her elbow, even if she did claim to be able to take care of herself.

'Ain't no girl Merle. Ya saw those tits. No girl's got curves like that,' he thought but mentally kicked himself in the balls. He was a sick bastard, but that was over the line even for him. She was hurt and almost raped. Sam didn't need some dirty old man looking at her tits. Instantly Merle felt another emotion he'd never really felt before. Guilt.

"Pffft." He scoffed quietly, "Fuckin' pussy."

In the morning he woke her and made her drink and eat. 'Never had or wanted a pet before.' He grumbled to himself.

He hadn't found shoes for her, so they would have to find a vehicle soon. Her feet were torn up from running in the forest. He hadn't even looked at them the night before.

"Fuck, your feet look like shit." He growled, angry that he hadn't noticed or even thought about it.

'Dumbfuck,' he berated himself.

"Well I ran miles through the forest without shoes on." She snarked, her eyebrow raised.

"Well no need for the sass, Sugar. Jus' sayin…." He was telling her but paused when he heard a car driving over broken glass.

"Get down," he growled unceremoniously pushing her head to the ground. Crawling over to the window, he looked out. An old suburban was parked outside the looted grocery store. He could hear two people talking, a man and a woman. Merle knew it wasn't the Governor's people because he didn't send women out on hunting trips. Thinking it might be his opportunity to get a vehicle and book-it, Merle opened the door slightly. He had no qualms about stealing from people. He wasn't a good guy after all. Even with the little rescue mission he was on, he wouldn't pretend that he had morals. Merle grabbed Sam's arm, dragging her to the door and put his finger to his lips.

"Gonna take this car. Quiet." He explained without letting her answer. Being pretty sure she'd object to the theft, he wasn't going to allow her to voice an opinion on the matter.

Pulling open the door he moved along the storefront with Sam in tow, dragging her by her wrist. They were halfway there when the man and women stepped out through the broken storefront. All four froze instantly, each looking surprised and wide-eyed.

"Merle? " Glenn asked a look of confusion and shock.

Read the rest of Sweet Hereafter here:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11278084/1/Sweet-Hereafter

#The Walking Dead #fanfiction #twd fanfiction #twd #Merle Dixon #merle x OC #daryl dixon #sweet hereafter #jesbakescookies #twd family #Michael Rooker

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