Microsoft Edge is malware, says angry Windows 7 user

Microsoft has shown old-fashioned aggression in trying to get Windows 10 users to adopt its new browser. Now, even Windows 7 users are finding it a little much.


By Chris Matyszczyk for Technically Incorrect | August 2, 2020 -- 12:00 GMT (05:00 PDT) | Topic: Microsoft


Why not rely on word of mouth, rather than ramming it down throats?

When Microsoft shows enthusiasm for something, it can occasionally come across as a touch gauche.


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Such has been the case with its enthusiasm -- nay, insistence -- that Windows users should try its new Edge browser.

Some Windows 10 users have complained that Microsoft is stealing their Chrome data in order to entice them to live in the Edge.

But then there are those Windows users who are thoroughly annoyed by how Edge is attaching itself to their everyday lives and refusing to leave.

One ZDNet reader is clearly miffed. So much so that I relayed his story to Microsoft.


I'll leave the company's response for an exciting ending.

I'll begin with the tale itself.


Began the reader: "Further to your article about Edge browser I just wanted to share my experience on Windows 7 which is also getting spammed with this and it does steal data."

Goodness, this is quite an accusation. But wait, we're merely at the beginning: "My wife's computer, which is running Windows 7, got a Windows update this morning, which then gave the full-screen welcome page for Edge Chromium. She was terrified as this looked exactly as if malware had taken over the machine."

Malware is one of technology's greatest scourges. Look how it terrifies people.

The reader continued: "How could any application be running that she hadn't started? How is it that Microsoft can't manage to provide security updates for Windows 7, as it is end of life, but still manage to force a new web browser that isn't wanted on Windows 7 users?"

An existential question, for sure. But one best left for a smooth tincture at the end of the day.

Meanwhile, back to Edge: "So the full-screen welcome page for Chomium Edge did have a faint 'close' gadget in the top right, which was the very first thing we clicked, instead of clicking the administrator button to continue with the getting started process or the sinister 'learn more' button."

Education does have its sinister aspects, to be sure. Especially on the web. You click "learn more" and you suddenly discover that learning more means being more trapped in a vortex of commitment. Or, even worse, expenditure.

Our reader, however, was still learning that technology's depths can appear infinite.

"This still left Edge pinned on the taskbar and when I hovered over it, it showed all the recent sites she had visited on Chrome. So it must have stolen that data from Chrome which is the only browser she ever uses. I unpinned it from the taskbar but it has already taken all the data, including passwords and presumably sent any useful data up to the cloud."

One should always presume one's data has drifted to a place one will never be able to visit.

Yet this experience made our reader reach a painful conclusion: "This is malware, I don't see any other way to interpret it. No application should be importing data from another application without asking, especially when the user hasn't even tried to install it. On Windows 7 this is indefensible."

When I originally asked Microsoft about Edge and its proactive attitude toward innocent Windows users, the company offered its belief that "browser data belongs to the customer and they have the right to decide what they should do with it."

Microsoft also explained that there's a way to discard the personal browser data Edge might pick up. And a way not to do it. Terminating the browser prematurely means that some residual data might be left behind.

But what about this Windows 7 example? Well, Microsoft promised me it would look at our reader's feedback.

And, well, that's it. I've heard no more.

Here's the part I still don't get and, if I'm frank, it makes my eyebrows twitch like nervous crickets. Edge is a fine browser. It's quick, effective, and has superior privacy instincts than does Chrome. I have begun to use it and I like it.

When you launch a new product, however, you have two choices: You can announce it, make people feel good about it, and then rely on word of mouth. Or you can try ramming it down people's throats.

The former is often more effective.

Microsoft has chosen the latter.



WINDOWS 10
Microsoft plans for single-screen Windows 10X rollout in spring 2021; dual-screen in spring 2022
The ultimate Windows 10 information hub: Everything you need in one place
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Windows 10 is still free to download. Here's how to get it (CNET)
Microsoft Teams: A cheat sheet (TechRepublic Premium)

Rare disease causing paralysis in children likely to return in US: experts


Issued on: 04/08/2020 -

The US CDC said that it "anticipates that 2020 will be another peak year for cases of acute flaccid myelitis," which mostly affects children Olivier DOULIERY AFP/Fil


Washington (AFP)

A rare neurological condition that mostly affects children and mysteriously returns every two years is likely to flare up in the coming weeks and months, US health authorities warned Tuesday.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that it "anticipates that 2020 will be another peak year for cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM)."

The disease, which is likely caused by a virus, can lead to permanent paralysis and life-threatening complications from respiratory failure, the CDC said.

"AFM is a medical emergency that requires immediate medical care and monitoring, as this condition can progress rapidly to respiratory failure," CDC Director Robert Redfield said Tuesday in a call with journalists.

He warned parents not to hesitate to hospitalize their child despite the COVID-19 pandemic if they show symptoms.

Most patients develop sudden arm or leg weakness, with the disease affecting the nervous system, specifically the area of the spinal cord called the gray matter, he said.

AFM has peaked every two years from August to November since 2014. In 2018, 238 cases were identified in the United States, with patients having an average age of five.

Doctors remain fairly helpless to treat the disease, which can cause paralysis within hours or days and has no known treatment.

"Unfortunately, many kids with AFM will have permanent disability," said Thomas Clark, pediatrician and CDC deputy director of viral diseases.

"It's really important that kids get into rehabilitation" such as aggressive physical therapy and occupational therapy, he added.

Authorities are recontacting the families of children who contracted AFM in 2018 to find out how the disease has progressed as well as details on their current state of paralysis.

Early AFM warning signs include fever and respiratory symptoms, and after six days, weakness of arms and legs sometimes accompanied by gait difficulty, neck or back pain, and limb pain, according to a study of 2018 cases.

In addition to permanent paralysis, AFM can also cause serious respiratory complications, with nearly a quarter of patients needing mechanical ventilation for help breathing.

Enteroviruses are the main suspect for the cause of AFM, particularly enterovirus-D68, which was found in about 30 patients.

CDC experts however said they could not rule out the involvement of other viruses in the disease.

© 2020 AFP

France could lose control of virus spread: science council

Issued on: 04/08/2020

The scientific council warned French people were paying less attention to infection control measures since emerging from lockdown in May. 

Martin BUREAU AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

France could "at any moment" lose control over the spread of the coronavirus, the government's COVID-19 scientific council warned Tuesday as official data showed the first rise in intensive care patients since April.

In an opinion prepared for policy-makers, the council warned "the virus has recently been circulating more actively, with an increased loss of distancing and barrier measures" since France emerged from a strict two-month lockdown in May.

"The balance is fragile and we can change course at any time to a less controlled scenario like in Spain, for example," it said.

And the council warned of a possible "resumption of circulation of the virus at a high level" by autumn 2020, after the August summer holidays.

In the short term, retaining control is largely in the hands of citizens, it said.

The message was underscored by President Emmanuel Macron who urged the French public on Tuesday to remain "vigilant" and continue applying anti-infection measures such as keeping a safe distance from others, regular hand-washing, and wearing masks in public spaces.

Data released by the health department on Monday showed the number of people in intensive care had risen by 13 over the weekend, breaking a downward trend observed since April, when the country was under strict stay-at-home orders to curb the spread of the virus.

Twenty-nine new deaths were reported over the same period, bringing the country's toll to 30,294.

At the height of the outbreak in April, more than 7,100 people were at one point receiving intensive care in French hospitals, which had 5,000 intensive care beds available when the crisis hit.

The country registered thousands of confirmed new infections last week, prompting some cities and regions to impose local restrictions amid reports of people ignoring social distancing and public mask-wearing guidelines.

- 'Probable second wave' -

The rate of confirmed infections has exceeded 1,000 per day since late July.

Prime Minister Jean Castex on Monday urged France "not to let down its guard" in order to prevent a new national lockdown.

"We are seeing an increase in the figures for the epidemic which should make us more attentive than ever," Castex said.

"I call on every French person to remain very vigilant. The fight against the virus depends of course on the state, local communities, institutions, but also on each of us," he added.

The southern city of Toulouse joined the ranks of local authorities Tuesday taking steps to oblige people to wear masks outdoors in certain situations, on top of the national requirement to cover up in shops and other shared spaces indoors.

The science council said the government's response to a "probable second wave" of coronavirus infections will have to be different to the first.

It urged the authorities to put in place "prevention plans" for the France's largest and most densely-populated metropolitan areas, with localised home-confinement strategies to be tightened or loosened in step with epidemic development.

Yonathan Freund, an emergency doctor at Paris's Pitie-Salpetriere hospital, is among experts to caution against over-reacting.

"The situation in France today does not justify saying there has been a worsening," he told AFP.

"If there are 1,000 cases per day, it is because the virus is still in circulation, and it is normal," he said.

And epidemiologist Antoine Flahault said the focus of authorities seems to have shifted from preventing another run on hospital beds -- an acceptable risk approach -- to suppressing virus circulation to the lowest possible level, or a doctrine of "zero risk".

© 2020 AFP

Cancer diagnoses rates fell by half during US lockdown

Issued on: 04/08/2020 - 

Washington (AFP)

The number of cancers diagnosed weekly in the United States fell by almost fifty percent during March and April compared to the recent average, a study said Tuesday, the latest to examine the impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns.

Emergency room visits additionally appear to have dropped for heart attacks, strokes and even appendicitis -- trends that are being confirmed through ongoing studies.

Child vaccinations have also stalled globally, according to the UN, and world health bodies are alarmed by the impact on the fight against HIV, malaria and tuberculosis as screening campaigns, logistics and access to health care have been disrupted.

The new analysis, published in JAMA Network Open, established a baseline period from January 2019 to February 2020 to determine the average weekly number of cancers diagnosed by six types: breast, colorectal, lung, pancreatic, gastric and esophageal.

"During the pandemic, the weekly number fell 46.4% (from 4,310 to 2,310) for the 6 cancers combined, with significant declines in all cancer types," the authors found.

The drop was particularly stark for breast cancer, with diagnoses rates falling 51.8 percent.

"While residents have taken to social distancing, cancer does not pause," wrote the authors, from Quest Diagnostics, a laboratory company.

"The delay in diagnosis will likely lead to presentation at more advanced stages and poorer clinical outcomes."

They also cited a new estimate from another study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, that estimates that the delays will cause some 34,000 excess cancer deaths in the United States.

The Netherlands has seen as much as a 40 percent decline in weekly cancer incidence, and the United Kingdom has experienced a 75 percent decline in referrals for suspected cancer since restrictions were put in place.

"More recently, we are seeing some signs that screening rates are recovering some," added Laura Makaroff of the American Cancer Society, who was not involved in the study.

"The local impact of COVID is still highly variable across the country so it is important to talk with your health care provider about which screening tests are right for you and how to re-engage in screening in a safe way."

© 2020 AFP

The only Texas prison reporting zero coronavirus cases is where inmates make soap. But that’s not what’s credited with protecting it.
 August 7, 2020 By Jolie McCullough, The Texas Tribune

Of more than 100 Texas prison units, the Roach Unit’s apparent ability to avoid the virus has been attributed to a remote location and a warden who strictly enforces precautionary measures.

The only Texas prison that hasn’t had any staff or inmates test positive for the new coronavirus is the same one where inmates make soap and package hand sanitizer for the state’s lockups. Prisoners aren’t allowed to use the latter.

How this one unit seemingly remains untouched by a virus that has ravaged the state’s prison system, however, has been credited not to its soap factory, but to the prison’s location and the warden’s strict enforcement of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s coronavirus policy. Meanwhile, those inside prisons with hundreds of infected inmates have long reported dangerous practices. In lawsuits and letters, they have described officers without face masks, forced intermingling between infected and healthy prisoners, and limits to soap and cleaning supplies.

Texas leads the nation in prison deaths connected to the coronavirus, with a higher death toll than the federal lockups or any other state prison system. At least 112 Texas prisoners and 16 people who worked in prison units have died with the virus.

The Roach Unit is one of Texas’ more than 100 state-run prisons and jails, housing about 1,300 incarcerated men in the rural town of Childress in the Texas Panhandle. But none of the more than 17,700 state inmates who have tested positive for the virus were housed at Roach, according to a prison spokesperson. Nor have any of the nearly 3,700 infected prison employees worked at the unit.

“We’ve been lucky so far that here in the community of Childress there hasn’t been a big number of coronavirus cases,” said Ricardo Gutierrez, a 36-year-old inmate at the Roach Unit, in response to questions sent by The Texas Tribune. “I think that helps out a lot to not get the staff infected.”

After inmate visitation was canceled statewide, and most prison system transfers and all intake from county jails were temporarily halted in March and April, epidemiologists said most new prison infections were likely coming in through prison employees who contracted the virus in their communities. Childress County, with a population of about 7,000, has had only 37 people test positive for the coronavirus, according to data from the state health department.

TDCJ spokesperson Jeremy Desel said being geographically isolated helps protect the unit from the virus, but he added there is still “significant traffic there for distribution of materials they produce.”

PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX 

FREE LABOUR IS WHAT ATTRACTS PRIVATE PRISON COMPANIES

In a March promotional video, TDCJ highlighted the Roach Unit’s soap and detergent factory as an essential tool to protect against the coronavirus, showing factory machines and some of the 84 inmates who work without pay to produce things like bar soap, laundry detergent, dish soap and bleach to distribute throughout the Texas prison system and sell. “Soap? We have plenty!” the video title boasted
The next month, inmates in the factory also began repackaging hand sanitizer for prison employees to use, Desel said. TDCJ has steadfastly refused to allow inmates access to hand sanitizer, part of what prompted a federal lawsuit and four-week trial scrutinizing TDCJ’s handling of the pandemic. Prison attorneys have argued inmates could get drunk from the hand sanitizer or use it as an accelerant to set fires. Inmates’ attorneys have rejected those premises, saying such abuses are rare in lockups that allow it.

Aside from its location, though, Desel said “Roach is doing the same things that all units are doing to stop COVID.” But prisoners tell a different story.

Since March, inmates at numerous other prisons have told their loved ones and the Tribune that staff members have only partially enforced the policies put in place by prison officials to wear masks, regularly sanitize, and stay a safe distance apart in places like dorms, showers and hallways. Many inmates have reported that officers wore masks pulled down to their chins, prisoners were taken to the showers in large groups, and inmates who tested positive for the virus were sometimes housed with those who tested negative.

But at Roach, Gutierrez said the staff “are not messing around.” He said in a few instances where coronavirus was suspected, the sick inmate would be promptly removed and tested, and the men on the wing the inmate lived in would be quarantined for a few days until the tests came back negative, with nurses in protective gear regularly checking them for symptoms.

“They’re doing everything that the government has mandated: social distancing, the masks, sanitizing everything,” he said. “This warden has gone above and beyond to make sure that everything is being done right.”

Gutierrez said he gets the typical weekly amount of soap — five small bars stuffed into a toilet paper roll on Friday. But since the pandemic hit the state, he said Roach inmates also get more soap and a surface cleaner every Tuesday, and more is available at lunch in the dining hall. He said inmates also were still able to go to recreation and go to common rooms, but in much smaller groups.
Michele Deitch, a senior lecturer and prison conditions expert at the University of Texas’ LBJ School of Public Affairs and law school, said Gutierrez’s description could make the Roach Unit a powerful example of the ways in which following TDCJ policies can help prevent an outbreak. On Thursday, 20 TDCJ lockups each had more than 300 inmates who had tested positive for the virus, with active infections often reported in large clusters of hundreds of people at once. Three units housed more than 700 inmates who had tested positive.

“The official protocols may be the same throughout the system, but ultimately there are huge differences in the degree to which particular facilities are following those protocols,” she said. “If they are taking the steps that they should be taking, they can reduce the spread of it within the facility if it does come in … it doesn’t have to become like a spread of wildfire.”

The University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

THE HEADLINE WRITES ITSELF 
Millions of Americans ‘will soon be in dire financial straits’ — and Republicans don’t care: Paul Krugman

 August 4, 2020By Alex Henderson, AlterNet


The coronvirus pandemic has been both a health crisis and an economic crisis in the United States, causing millions of Americans to lose their jobs through no fault of their own. And the Republican response to the economic pain, liberal economist Paul Krugman argues in his August 3 column for the New York Times, is one of indifference.

“Around 1000 Americans are dying from COVID-19 each day — ten times the rate in the European Union,” Krugman laments. “Thanks to our failure to control the pandemic, we’re still suffering from Great Depression levels of unemployment…. Yet enhanced unemployment benefits, a crucial lifeline for tens of millions of Americans, have expired. And negotiations over how — or even whether — to restore aid appear to be stalled.”

Millions of unemployed Americans are not facing severe hardship because of “congressional dysfunction,” Krugman argues, but because Republicans are indifferent to their suffering.

 

“House Democrats passed a bill specifically designed to deal with this mess two and a half months ago,” Krugman notes. “The Trump Administration and Senate Republicans had plenty of time to propose an alternative. Instead, they didn’t even focus on the issue until days before the benefits ended. And even now, they’re refusing to offer anything that might significantly alleviate workers’ plight. This is an astonishing failure of governance — right up there with the mishandling of the pandemic itself.”

According to Krugman, “The policy proposals being floated by White House aides and advisers are almost surreal in their disconnect from reality. Cutting payroll taxes on workers who can’t work? Letting businesspeople deduct the full cost of three-martini lunches they can’t eat?…. Above all, Republicans seem obsessed with the idea that unemployment benefits are making workers lazy and unwilling to accept jobs.”

Krugman vehemently disagrees with the Republican claim that unemployment benefits are “reducing the incentive to seek work,” noting that “there are more than 30 million workers receiving benefits, but only 5 million job openings. No matter how harshly you treat the unemployed, they can’t take jobs that don’t exist.

So, there are 30 million Americans on unemployment benefits and only 5 million job offers; so Rs think we should slash benefits by 2/3 to force workers to take the jobs that don’t exist
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) July 27, 2020
Another thing Republicans fail to understand, Krugman stresses, is that unemployment benefits help the economy.

“A great majority of economists believe that unemployment benefits have helped sustain the economy as a whole by supporting consumer spending,” Krugman explains. “So, the attack on unemployment aid is rooted in deep ignorance, but there’s also a strong element of malice. Republicans have a long history of suggesting that the jobless are moral failures — that they’d rather sit home watching TV than work. And the Trump years have been marked by a relentless assault on programs that help the less fortunate, from Obamacare to food stamps…. The fecklessness of the Trump Administration and its allies means that millions of Americans will soon be in dire financial straits.”

IT ‘Would be comical if it didn’t involve real lives’: Trump interview spotlights deadly failure of his COVID-19 response

August 4, 2020 By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams

“If you wrote this as grotesque farce” for a movie script, wrote actor and progressive activist John Cusack, “no one would believe it.”

In an interview with Jonathan Swan of Axios that aired late Monday, President Donald Trump sputtered, declared “You can’t do that,” and continued trying to downplay the massive and rising coronavirus death toll when confronted with the fact the U.S. has a higher mortality rate by percentage of population than major countries like South Korea and Germany.

“It’s crushing to watch the president sift through printed out graphs that somehow spin the U.S. response he has presided over as anything other than a national humiliation.”
—Elliot Hannon, Slate

While many observers ridiculed Trump’s unhinged performance and likened the Axios interview to an episode of the HBO comedy show “Veep,” Slate‘s Elliot Hannon wrote Tuesday morning that the president’s back-and-forth with Swan “would be comical, if it didn’t involve real lives.”

“Instead, it’s crushing,” Hannon added. “It’s crushing to watch the president sift through printed out graphs that somehow spin the U.S. response he has presided over as anything other than a national humiliation.”

After Swan noted that U.S. coronavirus deaths are on the rise, Trump brandished several colorful print-out charts purporting to show that the U.S. death rate as a percentage of cases is lower than that of other nations.

“You’re doing deaths as a proportion of cases,” Swan said after examining the charts. “I’m talking about death as a proportion of population.”

“You can’t, you can’t do that,” Trump responded. “You have to go by, you have to go by where, look… You have to go by the cases.”

Swan insisted that it’s “surely a relevant statistic say if the U.S. has X population and X percentage of death of that population vs. South Korea.”

“Look at South Korea, for example,” Swan said as Trump continued to protest. “Fifty one million population, 300 deaths.”
In response, Trump suggested that South Korea may be distorting its coronavirus statistics and falsely claimed that the U.S. only has more Covid-19 cases because it tests more than other countries.


Watch:
@jonathanvswan: “Oh, you’re doing death as a proportion of cases. I’m talking about death as a proportion of population. That’s where the U.S. is really bad. Much worse than South Korea, Germany, etc.”@realdonaldtrump: “You can’t do that.”
Swan: “Why can’t I do that?” pic.twitter.com/MStySfkV39
— Axios (@axios) August 4, 2020


The clip of the exchange, which was filmed on July 28, quickly went viral on social media, with critics voicing alarm and disgust at Trump’s ignorance and politically motivated efforts to downplay the severity of a pandemic that has killed more than 155,000 people in the U.S.

“If you wrote this as grotesque farce” for a movie script, wrote actor and progressive activist John Cusack, “no one would believe it.”

Rob Flaherty, digital director for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, tweeted that “you really gotta step back realize that as one thousand Americans die per day, the White House is printing out kindergarten charts for the president to prove that things are actually great.”

Watch the full interview:

Internet explodes watching Trump reduced to ‘global laughingstock’ in ‘soul-crushing’ interview

on August 4, 2020 By David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement- Commentary



Axios reporter Jonathan Swan interviewed President Donald Trump and it did not go well for the president. The internet is ablaze with astonishment over how the Australian journalist decimated Trump, as the clip below demonstrates.

“We’re going to look at some of these charts,” Trump, who is sitting in a very low chair, says to Swan.

“I’d like to,” Swan replies.

Trump is fumbling with color printouts of charts that look like they were made for an elementary school class.


Rather than admit Americans are dying at a rate of one every minute, Trump tries to convince Swan to “go by the cases,” meaning, to look at how many people are dying as a percentage of how many people are infected.

Swan, without hesitation, says, “I’m talking about death as a percentage of population – that’s where the U.S. is really bad.”

Trump is reduced to babbling.

Republican turned Libertarian Congressman Justin Amash weighed in, calling it, “like an episode of Veep but real.”

Watch the clip, which has been viewed nearly 14 million times in 8 and a half hours.

.@jonathanvswan: “Oh, you’re doing death as a proportion of cases. I’m talking about death as a proportion of population. That’s where the U.S. is really bad. Much worse than South Korea, Germany, etc.”@realdonaldtrump: “You can’t do that.”
Swan: “Why can’t I do that?” pic.twitter.com/MStySfkV39
— Axios (@axios) August 4, 2020

Here’s what some are saying:

I need everyone to watch this. pic.twitter.com/eRPk7Dr1q5
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) August 4, 2020

Frankly, there should be several TV news anchors/broadcasters out there who have interviewed Trump who should be rather embarrassed watching Swan school them on how to properly do their jobs.
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) August 4, 2020

.@jonathanvswan’s interview of @realDonaldTrump nicely illustrates why Trump is a global laughingstock.
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) August 4, 2020

It’s honestly hilarious that this is the guy who supposedly wants MORE debates https://t.co/uB0rsZVPFr
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) August 4, 2020



This is utterly devastating. Soul-crushing devastating.
A President, ignoring reality and responsibility, trying to find a way that pandemic numbers can look good for him. https://t.co/HSiHQHO4CH
— Brian Nosek (@BrianNosek) August 4, 2020

OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S S
— MEMORYY (@MemoryyMusic) August 4, 2020

Is it scarier that he doesn’t understand or that they are clearly gaming the info so that he’s happy?
— Clint Sears (@clintisawesome) August 4, 2020

I see a president who doesn’t get the gravity of the crisis but also a staff willing to supply him with numbers and graphs that he believes support his view. https://t.co/Zt4TdhSLBl
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) August 4, 2020

Trump is so fucking stupid, it’s painful.
— Pé (@4everNeverTrump) August 4, 2020

Laughable and funny on the face of it.
Going further, it’s absolutely embarrassing to the entire rest of the world and horrific that this person is the head of the United States.
— Ignoble Savage (@drayzze) August 4, 2020

the president of the United States is not in touch with reality https://t.co/aTgio8yt6M
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) August 4, 2020

Trump is a profound idiot.
That has only been masked by journalists inability to press him on topics.
If the WH press pool teamed up to follow up on each other’s questions, every press appearance would be like this. https://t.co/INPgI7Blpv
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) August 4, 2020

This @jonathanvswan interview left Trump in tatters.
If you still support him, just listen to the interview and ask yourself:
Is this a guy I’d trust with, say, my child’s future?
Heck, is he someone I’d trust to pick up my laundry? https://t.co/KCPRQ19ULC
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) August 4, 2020


Trump is responsible for many of these deaths. As are his enablers: Republicans in Congress, the people who work for him, Fox News, conservative media, evangelical supporters, and Trump voters. They are all putting the nation at the mercy of an ignorant egotist. https://t.co/dLDMqj9Q9j
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) August 4, 2020


truly as bonkers as everyone is making it out to be. remarkable to watch someone clueless stall and flail in real time. but then also terrifying to think thousands more will die because of it https://t.co/tRMyIhJSjJ
— David Mack (@davidmackau) August 4, 2020

‘That’s not true’: CNN host disputes ex-Trump adviser who says ‘typical’ family won’t work because of $600 checks

August 4, 2020 By David Edwards


Former White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett claimed on Tuesday that a “typical median family” is being paid $90,000 to stay home during the pandemic if they are receiving the $600 weekly federal unemployment benefits.

In an interview on CNN, host Poppy Harlow challenged the former Trump adviser when he downplayed the urgency of extending the unemployment benefits.

“You and I don’t rely on $600 a week to pay our rent or feed our family,” Harlow explained. “That’s not our situation. But for millions of Americans, it is. And they stopped getting those checks on Friday and that’s why I don’t think it’s too far to say that it’s a failure [of government].

Harlow pointed to a recent analysis by Moody’s that concluded nearly 1 million jobs could be lost by the end of the year if the $600 benefit is slashed to $200.

“If you pay people a lot more to stay home than to go to work, then the idea that there are going to be more people going to work, it just doesn’t add up,” Hassett insisted.

“But that’s not true,” Harlow interrupted, pointing to a Yale study which found “no evidence” for Hassett’s claim.

“It is wrong,” Hassett replied. “Just think about the logic of it. If you take a typical median family, say in Tennessee, that if they don’t go to work under the $600 plan then they get about $90,000 a year. And if they do go to work, they get about $50,000 a year.”

“And so the assertion that staying home and getting $90,000 and going to work and getting $50,000 that that’s not going to have an effect on your decisions, it just doesn’t add up,” he continued. “It’s not economics.”

“That’s not true,” Harlow observed. “I believe and have heard from so many Americans that they want to go back to work and they want to feel safe.”

The maximum weekly unemployment benefit in Tennessee is $275.

Expert on authoritarian regimes explains how Trump is creating a crisis to ‘cling to power’

August 3, 2020 By Sarah K. Burris

ALSO SEE 
https://flipboard.com/@rawstory/america-s-road-to-fascism-under-trump-3qvupkde749fcvbv?from=share

This week, as the economy revealed that the U.S. GDP cratered, President Donald Trump teased putting a hold on the November election. While it is unclear if the president was attempting to distract from the economy in freefall or his falling poll numbers.

Historian and expert on authoritarian regimes, Professor Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, describing the key ways to spot authoritarianism


“Do we have any reason to believe that Mr. Trump would accept the outcome of the election?” asked the Yale professor. “The tweet of July 30th was a very clear statement, but he has literally, dozens of times before said he wouldn’t. There is nothing in his career that indicates he actually likes democracy. In this particular tweet, we have a dangerous mixture, where he’s talking about a problem he created himself, insofar as we do have problems with voting in the U.S. They have to do with things like African-Americans not being enfranchised, they have to do with the things of foreign intervention. And even the problems he mentioned, which is postal voting, which is good and of itself, that might be slowed down because of his own postmaster general. So, he’s talking about problems he caused himself, then claiming they’re an emergency, and using that as a reason to claim power himself. That’s a manufactured emergency and that is, in fact, a prime historical fascist tactic.”

He went on to explain that a fascist is someone who will often manufacture a crisis, blame it on the other side, and then use the crisis to his own benefit. In Trump’s case, vote-by-mail has become the enemy as Republicans continue to defund the post office and Republicans in several states were caught in absentee-voter crimes.

Snyder said that Trump has already manufactured his crisis and is now trying to create the solution that would best protect him and his power.

“Another element of this, which is worth paying attention to, is the way the tweet ends,” he continued. “People can console themselves by saying Mr. Trump can’t himself cancel the election. That’s true, but what he is doing, as of July 30th, is calling upon others to create a mess, so that the election won’t go through smoothly. That’s what the three question marks at the end mean. He can’t do it himself.”

As of the time Trump sent that tweet, Snyder said that anyone who continues to support Trump knows they are doing so in defiance of democratic values of America.

“As of July 30th, if you support Mr. Trump, if you’re planning on voting for Mr. Trump, if you contribute to the campaign, if you’re a delegate, you know perfectly well, this is a man who doesn’t believe he can win by the normal vote count,” said Snyder. “You know you are taking part now in a campaign which is no longer a democratic campaign, but which is something else. You know that his main task for you now is not to win an election. He’s basically conceded defeat already. His main task for you now is to find someone who can mess up the election so we can cling to power. I think that’s a big moral question where a lot of Americans should be thinking about the choices they’re about to make.”

See the full video below:

A giant dead thing just washed up on a UK beach and nobody knows what it is

#CRYPTOZOOLOGY  #COVID #BASKINGSHARK

Mysterious sea creature washed up on beach.

 Image source: Ainsdale / Facebook

By Mike Wehner @MikeWehner

August 3rd, 2020 at 8:06 PM

A giant dead thing washed up on a UK beach and nobody can pinpoint exactly what kind of animal it was.

Theories ranged from a cow to a whale to a mysterious “sea monster,” but researchers are still studying it.

The best guess right now is that it was indeed some species of whale, but scientists can’t say exactly what kind.
The sea is full of wondrous and unique creatures that come in all shapes and sizes. At some point, the mound of decaying body parts you see above was one of those creatures… but what exactly what is? Nobody seems to know, but there are plenty of theories floating around.

Images of the so-called “sea monster” have flooded social media after they were snapped by a beachgoer in the UK. In the original post by Ainsdale, the location where the creature was discovered, it’s described as having four flippers and measuring approximately 15 feet long. So… what is it?

Due to the animal’s advanced state of decomposition, it’s very difficult to determine exactly what it is. Early guesses ranged from a cow (?) to a whale, to a “sea monster,” but that was before the experts got a chance to take a look at it. As you can see in the images, there are very few identifiable body parts left. Large bones stick out in every direction and the creature has clearly been rotting away for some time.

Speaking with the Echo, Stephen Ayliffe, Senior Advisor at Natural England explained that while they can’t determine the species, experts believe that they know what type of animal it was:

“We can confirm that an animal in a poorly decomposed state has washed up on Ainsdale beach and whilst the identification of the animal is unconfirmed it appears to be a species of whale,” he told the Echo. “We are working with an animal removal company to have the animal’s remains removed from the beach as soon as possible.”

Okay, so it’s probably not a “sea monster” and was simply an unfortunate or ill whale that met its end and washed ashore. That’s a bummer for the poor whale but at least we don’t have to worry about monsters, right?

This is hardly the first time a sea creature has washed ashore, leaving passersby to guess what it was before it died and decomposed. The “sea monster” theory tends to be a popular one. When you see a massive blob of body parts on the beach it’s easy to let your mind wander, I suppose.

In any case, it would appear that the experts have a pretty good handle on what they’re looking at, even if they can’t say for certain what family of whales this unfortunate specimen came from. Or maybe it’s a monster. Maybe.

Tags: sea monster, UK

Mike Wehner has reported on technology and video games for the past decade, covering breaking news and trends in VR, wearables, smartphones, and future tech. Most recently, Mike served as Tech Editor at The Daily Dot, and has been featured in USA Today, Time.com, and countless other web and print outlets. His love of reporting is second only to his gaming addiction.