A QUANTUM SUPER SPREADER EVENT

Annual Sturgis rally expecting 250K, stirring virus concerns

YOU CAN'T GET THESE GUYS TO WEAR HELMETS
LET ALONE MASKS

By STEPHEN GROVES

FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2016 file photo, bikers ride down Main Street in downtown Sturgis, S.D., before the 76th Sturgis motorcycle rally officially begins. South Dakota, which has seen an uptick in coronavirus infections in recent weeks, is bracing to host hundreds of thousands of bikers for the 80th edition of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Over a quarter of a million people are expected to rumble through western South Dakota. (Josh Morgan/Rapid City Journal via AP, File)

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Sturgis is on. The message has been broadcast across social media as South Dakota, which has seen an uptick in coronavirus infections in recent weeks, braces to host hundreds of thousands of bikers for the 80th edition of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

More than 250,000 people are expected to rumble through western South Dakota, seeking the freedom of cruising the boundless landscapes in a state that has skipped lockdowns. The Aug. 7 to 16 event, which could be the biggest anywhere so far during the pandemic, will offer businesses that depend on the rally a chance to make up for losses caused by the coronavirus. But for many in Sturgis, a city of about 7,000, the brimming bars and bacchanalia will not be welcome during a pandemic.

Though only about half the usual number of people are expected at this year’s event, residents were split as the city weighed its options. Many worried that the rally would cause an unmanageable outbreak of COVID-19.

“This is a huge, foolish mistake to make to host the rally this year,” Sturgis resident Lynelle Chapman told city counselors at a June meeting. “The government of Sturgis needs to care most for its citizens.”

In a survey of residents conducted by the city, more than 60% said the rally should be postponed. But businesses pressured the City Council to proceed.

Rallygoers have spent about $800 million in past years, according to the state Department of Tourism. Though the rally has an ignominious history of biker gangs and lawlessness, bikers of a different sort have shown up in recent years — affluent professionals who ride for recreation and come flush with cash. Though the rally still features libertine displays, it also offers charity events and tributes to the military and veterans.

The attorney for a tourism souvenir wholesaler in Rapid City wrote to the City Council reminding that a judge found the city does not solely own rights to the rally and threatening to sue if the city tried to postpone it. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Chip, which is the largest campground and concert venue that lies outside the bounds of the city, made clear that it would hold some version of the rally.

Rod Woodruff, who operates the Buffalo Chip, said he felt he had little choice but to proceed with the rally. He employs hundreds of people in August and a smaller full-time staff.

“We spend money for 355 days of the year without any return on it, hoping people show up for nine days,” he said. “We’re a nine-day business.”

Woodruff felt he could pull off a safe event, allowing people to keep their distance from one another at the outdoor concerts at his campground. He said he was emboldened by the July 3 fireworks celebration at Mount Rushmore, where 7,500 people gathered without any reported outbreaks after the event, according to health officials.

In the end, Sturgis officials realized the rally would happen whether they wanted it or not. They decided to try to scale it back, canceling city-hosted events and slashing advertising for the rally.

Jerry Cole, who directs the rally for the city, said organizers are not sure how many people will show up, but that they’re expecting at least 250,000. Travel restrictions from Canada and other countries have cut out a sizeable portion of potential visitors, he said.

Others think the rally could be the biggest yet.

“It’s the biggest single event that’s going on in the United States that didn’t get canceled,” Woodruff said. “A lot of people think it’s going to be bigger than ever.”

When the rally is over, every year the city weighs all the trash generated to estimate how many people showed up. This year, they will also conduct mass coronavirus testing to see if all those people brought the pandemic to Sturgis.

___

Follow Stephen Groves on Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephengroves

Virgin Galactic shows off passenger spaceship cabin interior
By JOHN ANTCZAK

July 28, 2020

1 of 6
This undated photo released by Virgin Galactic shows the interior of their SpaceshipTwo Cabin during a flight. Highly detailed amenities to enhance the customer experience were shown in an online event Tuesday, July 28, 2020, revealing the cabin of the company's rocket plane, a type called SpaceShipTwo, which is undergoing testing in preparation for commercial service. There are a dozen windows for viewing, seats capable of being customized to each of six passengers and mood lighting. (Virgin Galactic via AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Passengers flying Virgin Galactic on suborbital trips into space will be able to see themselves floating weightless against the backdrop of the Earth below while 16 cameras document the adventures, the company said Tuesday.

Highly detailed amenities to enhance the customer flight experience were shown in an online event revealing the cabin of the company’s rocket plane, a type called SpaceShipTwo, which is undergoing testing in preparation for commercial service.

There are a dozen windows for viewing, seats that will be customized for each flight’s six passengers and capable of adjusting for G forces, and, naturally, mood lighting.


Yet designer Jeremy Brown said the passengers’ most lasting impression may come from a large mirror at the rear of the cabin.

“We think that there’s a real memory burn that customers are going to have when they see that analog reflection of themselves in the back of the cabin, seeing themselves floating freely in space ... that very personal interaction that they’ll have with the experience,” he said.

Virgin Galactic was founded by British billionaire Richard Branson after the prize-winning flights of the experimental SpaceShipOne in 2004. Branson plans to be the first passenger when commercial flights begin.

Like its predecessor, SpaceShipTwo is a rocket plane that is slung beneath a special jet airplane and released at high altitude.

After a moment of free fall, the two pilots ignite the rocket and the craft pitches up and accelerates vertically at supersonic speed.

The rocket shuts down but momentum carries the craft into the lower reaches of space where it flips upside down so that the windows on the roof of the cabin give a view of the Earth far below.

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The passengers, clad in space suits designed by the Under Armour company, will be able to leave their seats and float about the cabin, using handholds tested by chief astronaut trainer Beth Moses during Virgin Galactic’s second flight into space last year.

The test was aimed at helping finalize the design and at learning how to train passenger astronauts for what they will experience as they become weightless and reach the top of the flight profile, known as its apogee, before the descent begins.

Moses said she tested different ways of getting in and out of the seats, moved around the cabin and waved at the mirror, concluding that it was not disorienting.

“I also purposely went to a point in the cabin to most dramatically try to enjoy apogee and a view of Earth from the stillness of space,” she said.

The passengers will need to return to their seats after a few minutes as the craft reorients and begins to interact with the increasing density of the atmosphere and then glides to an unpowered landing.

SpaceShipTwo was developed at Virgin Galactic facilities in Mojave, California, and will operate commercially from Spaceport America in southern New Mexico, where passengers will undergo several days of training before their flights.

George Whitesides, the former longtime company CEO who is now its chief space officer, said upcoming test flights will include four crew members playing the role of passengers.

Whitesides, who will now focus on future technology, recently handed the CEO role to Michael Colglazier, a former president and managing director of Disney Parks International.

The company has yet to set a date for flights with paying passengers.

The company has said more than 600 people have put down deposits. The initial seats were sold at $250,000 apiece. Whitesides said the cost may increase for a while but the long-term goal is to make the adventure more accessible, possibly at a lower cost.

STILL NOT QUITE KUBRICK'S 2001 

France’s global nuclear fusion device a puzzle of huge parts

July 28, 2020

1 of 10 

https://apnews.com/c9e1780864431c3edcd1cc2c17568c54/gallery/a69900ab90384083a3fbc6260ab37a12

Assembly hall at the construction site of the ITER ( the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), where components for the ITER Tokamak will be pre-assembled before integration into the machine in the CEN of Cadarache, in Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, southern France, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. A project of daunting proportions and giant ambitions replicating the energy of the sun is entering a critical phase as scientists and technicians begin piecing together massive parts built around the globe of a nuclear fusion device, an experiment aimed at showing that clean energy, free of carbon emissions, can keep our planet humming. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

PARIS (AP) — A hugely ambitious project to replicate the energy of the sun is entering a critical phase, as scientists and technicians in southern France begin assembling giant parts of a nuclear fusion device, an international experiment aimed to develop the ultimate clean energy source.

World leaders involved in the project, or their representatives, on Tuesday appeared virtually at a ceremony for the start of the new stage of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, noting that work has proceeded despite the COVID-19 pandemic in many of the 35 contributing countries.

“Clearly, the pandemic impacted the initial schedule,” said ITER’s director-general, Bernard Bigot, who led the ceremony at Saint-Paul-les-Durance, northeast of Marseille. He said none of the on-the-ground staff has contracted COVID-19.

The base of the cryostat sits inside the bioshield of the ITER Tokamak in Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, southern France, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. A project of daunting proportions and giant ambitions replicating the energy of the sun is entering a critical phase as scientists and technicians begin piecing together massive parts built around the globe of a nuclear fusion device, an experiment aimed at showing that clean energy, free of carbon emissions, can keep our planet humming. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)


Scientists have long sought to mimic the process of nuclear fusion that occurs inside the sun, arguing that it could provide an almost limitless source of cheap, safe and clean electricity. Unlike in existing fission reactors, which split plutonium or uranium atoms, there’s no risk of an uncontrolled chain reaction with fusion and it doesn’t produce long-lived radioactive waste.

The project “seeks to create an artificial sun,” said South Korean President Moon Jae-in. “An artificial sun is an energy source of dreams.”

Among other elements, Korea is manufacturing four sectors of a vacuum vessel, a hermetically sealed chamber in which plasma particles, derived from heated hydrogen gas, spiral without touching walls. European countries are building five other sectors.

A worker walks by the ITER poloidal field coil #5 designed to shape plasma and meant for the assembly of the ITER Tokamak in Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, southern France,, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. A project of daunting proportions and giant ambitions replicating the energy of the sun is entering a critical phase as scientists and technicians begin piecing together massive parts built around the globe of a nuclear fusion device, an experiment aimed at showing that clean energy, free of carbon emissions, can keep our planet humming. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

French President Emmanuel Macron hailed ITER as a “promise of peace” because it brings together countries that decided to forego differences for the “common good.” China, the U.S., India, Russia, South Korea and nations of the European Union are taking part in the project.

There was no sign of the acute discord currently roiling ties between the U.S. and China, and India and China.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a statement read by the Indian ambassador to France, called international collaboration “a perfect symbol of the age-old Indian belief ... (that) the world is one family.”

Bigot compared the milestone phase getting under way to assembling a giant, three dimensional puzzle that “must (have) the precision of a Swiss watch.”

Billed as the world’s largest science project, ITER is gigantic. The circular device, called a tokamak, has a 30-meter circumference, stands 30 meters (100 feet) high, and is made up of more than a million parts constructed in numerous countries.

Some pieces transported to France weigh several hundred tons. Tools to put the reactor together match that size, with giant lifts that must transfer components over the walls and down into “the pit.” A key component being built by the U.S., the Central Solenoid, is the most powerful of ITER’s numerous magnets. Together, they will be strong enough to lift an aircraft carrier.

A worker walks through large scale assembly tools in the assembly hall of the ITER ( the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), where components for the ITER Tokamak will be pre-assembled before integration into the machine in Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, southern France, T Tuesday, July 28, 2020. A project of daunting proportions and giant ambitions replicating the energy of the sun is entering a critical phase as scientists and technicians begin piecing together massive parts built around the globe of a nuclear fusion device, an experiment aimed at showing that clean energy, free of carbon emissions, can keep our planet humming. (AP Photo/Daniel

The project begun in 2006 is far from over. The experimental reactor is to head for another landmark moment in five years, described as a “trial run” when scientists launch what is called “First Plasma” showing that the machine functions, including magnetic fields and other operations.

Bigot, the ITER’s director-general, called fusion energy a “miracle for our planet.”

He said that smaller experiments are complementary to ITER. Bigot predicts a bright future for his international baby, saying he foresees a scaled-up ITER, perhaps twice as large, to provide power to the grid. But its viability and economic competitiveness must first be demonstrated, he said.


The ITER electrical grid is pictured in front of the assembly hall at the construction site of the ITER (the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), where components for the ITER Tokamak will be pre-assembled before integration into the machine in Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, southern France, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. A project of daunting proportions and giant ambitions replicating the energy of the sun is entering a critical phase as scientists and technicians begin piecing together massive parts built around the globe of a nuclear fusion device, an experiment aimed at showing that clean energy, free of carbon emissions, can keep our planet humming. (AP
The project’s estimated cost just for the EU was about 20 billion euros ($23.5 billion), Bigot told reporters. He said a full price tag was difficult to estimate because participating countries make their own contributions

Members of the media stand in the assembly hall at the ITER (the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), where components for the ITER Tokamak will be pre-assembled before integration into the machine in the CEN of Cadarache, in Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, southern France, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. A project of daunting proportions and giant ambitions replicating the energy of the sun is entering a critical phase as scientists and technicians begin piecing together massive parts built around the globe of a nuclear fusion device, an experiment aimed at showing that clean energy, free of carbon emissions, can keep our planet humming. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

A worker stands in the middle of an ITER poloidal field coil meant for the assembly of the ITER Tokamak in the CEN of Cadarache, in Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, southern France, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. A project of daunting proportions and giant ambitions replicating the energy of the sun is entering a critical phase as scientists and technicians begin piecing together massive parts built around the globe of a nuclear fusion device, an experiment aimed at showing that clean energy, free of carbon emissions, can keep our planet humming. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Cancer researcher creates comics to explain science
By RITA GIORDANO, The Philadelphia Inquirer

July 28, 2020


PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A stalk of celery got Jaye Gardiner into science.

As a precocious first grader in Chicago, she was invited to take part in a second-grade science class, where the students were conducting an experiment. Gardiner, who’d always been intrigued by science, was “super-excited.”

The experiment was simple: Put stalks of celery into cups of colored water, then watch what happens. Over time, as the stalks absorbed the water, their leaves changed color to match the water. It was like magic to Gardiner.

“That was the first thing that had me go, ‘What is this? How does this work?’ ” Gardiner said. “I would say that mystery, and that drive to solve puzzles, is probably what attracts me to science.”

Gardiner is now 31 and a postdoctoral researcher at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. She’s studying pancreatic cancer and the tumor microenvironment. In the past, she’s researched HIV and other viruses. She’s also using her time at Fox Chase to learn the skills she will need to operate her own laboratory one day — a goal of hers.

But the little girl who got so excited about color-changing celery is still alive and well — and very much wants to share that wonder with a wide range of folks, young and old, future scientists and nonscientists. That’s why, these days, she’s not just a scientist, but a science communicator, whose tools are less conventional than the test tubes and microscopes found in a lab.

In 2015, she co-founded JKX Comics — a website that uses comics to explain scientific concepts and diseases — with her friends Kelly Montgomery, now a grad student in at the University of California at San Francisco, and Khoa Tran, who is doing postdoctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania.

The trio’s motto: “Science creates the narrative. We tell the story.”

Their goal: “We simplify STEM concepts from multiple disciplines to create engaging comics to increase students’ scientific literacy.”

JKX Comics’ target audience is middle-school age and up. Topics have ranged from cell division and Alzheimer’s disease to a breakdown of the Epstein-Barr virus and political activism by scientists. The text is simple and straightforward, the illustrations colorful and playful.

Currently, the comics are available free on the JKX website, but the partners plan to put them into print and make them available to schools and libraries. Gardiner said the group has been exploring scholastic options with the Madison Reading Project, a Wisconsin nonprofit literacy program.

But science communication, like science comics, isn’t just kid stuff. Making science accessible is about increasing science literacy at all ages, Gardiner believes.

“That’s terribly important,” she said, “because it helps everyone make more informed decisions about their health — or about different policies that affect their health.”

Last year, Gardiner launched a line of scientist trading cards featuring profiles of scientists of diverse genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds. For now the cards are available online, but she hopes to eventually produce them for home and school use. They’re intended to expand awareness of who scientists actually are.

“If you were to Google scientists, everyone you would get would look more like Albert Einstein, but so many more people do science,” she said. “Literally anyone can be a scientist. You need to apply yourself, and you need to work hard. We’re not all geniuses.”

As a youngster, Gardiner was fortunate to have parents who encouraged her interests.

Gardiner is both the child of immigrants from Belize and a first-generation college graduate. Her mother and father stressed effort more than grades.

“So I would always put in more and more effort,” she said.

She was also lucky to have teachers who knew how to fire up students’ enthusiasm and make material accessible. One of her favorites, Mr. Coy, had his students write science-themed lyrics to the tune of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” which the class then fashioned into a video. It’s a project she still remembers vividly, 15 years later.

“He made science so much fun that I fell completely in love with it,” she said.

Because Gardiner’s teachers made such a difference in her life, she’s become passionate about doing the same for others, via teaching and mentoring. Until the pandemic shut things down, she was involved with Fox Chase’s Teen Research Internship Program.

In addition, last year she was one of 125 women innovators in STEM selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science to mentor girls middle-school age and up. She believes diversity in mentors is important for young people, to let them see the possibilities for themselves. But the diversity may also lead to scientific solutions brought about by new approaches to scientific problems.

“Everyone views the world through their own lens that is developed by the experiences they have had,” she said. “In mentorship, diverse voices will breed diverse strategies to overcoming hardship, maneuvering careers, and acquiring success.”

Gardiner still has a way to go in charting her own career, including two more years in her postdoctoral post at Fox Chase.

“What my actual position in the end will be is kind of unknown,” she said. “I definitely think I’m making it up as I go along, and I’m not opposed to that idea.”

What’s certain is that her plans will include sharing the wonder that got a little girl in Chicago so jazzed about science to begin with.

“Science is a part of all our lives, whether we realize it or not. It can give a deeper appreciation for the things that we just take for granted,” she said. “Just to know how things work — having that knowledge is powerful.”

___

Online:

https://bit.ly/2EiMYLO

___

Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.inquirer.com

USA

Groups push to remove proposed funding for nuclear testing

FILE - In this April 22, 1952 file photo a gigantic pillar of smoke with the familiar mushroom top climbs above Yucca Flat, Nev. during nuclear test detonation. A defense spending bill pending in Congress includes an apology to New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and other states affected by nuclear testing over the decades, but communities downwind from the first atomic test in 1945 are still holding out for compensation amid rumblings about the potential for the U.S. to resume nuclear testing. (AP Photo,File)


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Deep within a multibillion-dollar defense spending measure pending in Congress is an apology to New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and other states affected by radiation from nuclear testing over the decades.

But communities downwind from the first atomic test in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945, are still holding out for compensation for health effects that they say have been ongoing for generations due to fallout from the historic blast.

So far, their pleas for Congress to extend and expand a federal radiation compensation program have gone unanswered. The program currently covers workers who became sick as a result of the radiation hazards of their jobs and those who lived downwind of the Nevada Test Site.

Those excluded from the program include residents downwind of the Trinity Site in New Mexico, additional downwinders in Nevada, veterans who cleaned up radioactive waste in the Marshall Islands and others.

Tina Cordova, a cancer survivor and co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, said the excuse always has been that the federal government doesn’t have enough money to take care of those affected.

She said the need is even greater now since the coronavirus is disproportionately affecting those with underlying health conditions and downwinders fall into the category because of their compromised health.

“When you talk about enhancing plutonium pit production and defense spending in the trillions, you can’t tell us there’s not enough money to do this,” she told The Associated Press. “You can’t expect us to accept that any longer and that adds insult to injury. It’s as if we count for nothing.”

U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, the New Mexico Democrat who advocated for the apology, continues to push for amendments to the radiation compensation program. His office recently convened a meeting among downwinders, uranium miners, tribal members, other advocates and staff in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.

“The congressman believes that the need for medical and monetary compensation has never been more urgent,” said Monica Garcia, a spokeswoman for the congressman.

The concerns of Cordova and other advocates are growing amid rumblings about reported discussions within the Trump administration about whether to conduct live nuclear weapons testing.

The discussions come as the New START treaty between the U.S. and Russia nears expiration in 2021. Russia has offered to extend the nuclear arms control agreement while the Trump administration has pushed for a new pact that would also include China.


FILE - This July 16, 1945 photo, shows an aerial view after the first atomic explosion at Trinity Test Site, N.M. A defense spending bill pending in Congress includes an apology to New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and other states affected by nuclear testing over the decades, but communities downwind from the first atomic test in 1945 are still holding out for compensation amid rumblings about the potential for the U.S. to resume nuclear testing. (AP Photo/File)

While the U.S. House has adopted language that would prohibit spending to conduct or make preparations for any live nuclear weapons tests, a group of senators has included $10 million for such an effort in that chamber’s version of the bill.

The Union of Concerned Scientists, nuclear watchdogs and environmentalists all are pushing for the funding to be eliminated. They sent letters this week in opposition and plan to lobby lawmakers.

“A U.S. resumption of nuclear testing would set off an unpredictable and destabilizing international chain reaction that would undermine U.S. security,” reads one letter.

Kevin Davis with the Union of Concerned Scientists’ global security program said resuming live testing would be unnecessary because the U.S. has been able to do sub-critical experiments and use its super computers along with data from past testing to run simulations on the nation’s nuclear stockpile.

The last full-scale underground test was done Sept. 23, 1992, by scientists with Los Alamos National Laboratory at the Nevada Test Site northwest of Las Vegas. Less than two weeks later, then President George H.W. Bush signed legislation mandating a moratorium on U.S. underground nuclear testing.

Democrat Rep. Ben McAdams of Utah is among those leading the effort to ban spending for testing. He said thousands of residents in his state are still dealing with trauma and illness as a result of previous testing.

Dozens of groups also signed on to a letter sent to congressional leaders in May advocating for the expansion of the radiation compensation program.

“We can’t continue to allow the government to walk away from their responsibility,” Cordova said.

SHE IS RIGHT

BUT THE RIGHT IS SLAGGING HER FOR IT

Bass addresses past remarks praising Scientology

The top-tier contender to be Joe Biden's running mate said in a statement she was trying to find an “area of agreement” with the church.

LIKE ALL AMERICAN RELIGIONS SCIENTOLOGY IS JUST ANOTHER BRAND OF HUCKSTERISM 

Rep. Karen Bass. | Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP


By EVAN SEMONES

08/01/2020 01:22 PM EDT

Rep. Karen Bass, a top-tier contender to be Joe Biden’s running mate, on Saturday sought to clarify remarks she made in 2010 praising the Church of Scientology.

Video emerged on Friday of the California Democrat speaking at a ceremony for a renovated Scientology church in Los Angeles when she served as speaker of the California State Assembly. The Daily Caller first reported the video’s existence.

In her remarks, Bass called on treating humans with respect and fighting oppression, but also spoke highly of the controversial group and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

“The Church of Scientology, I know, has made a difference, because your creed is a universal creed and one that speaks to all people everywhere,” Bass said before an audience of some 6,000 attendees. “That is why the words are exciting of your Founder L. Ron Hubbard, in the creed of the Church of Scientology: That all people of whatever race, color or creed are created with equal rights.”

Bass said in a statement she was trying to find an “area of agreement” with the church, which has faced allegations from former members of abuse, human trafficking and intimidation.

“Back in 2010, I attended the event knowing I was going to address a group of people with beliefs very different than my own, and spoke briefly about things I think most of us agree with, and on those things — respect for different views, equality, and fighting oppression — my views have not changed,” Bass tweeted. “Since then, published first-hand accounts in books, interviews and documentaries have exposed this group.”

While Bass did not say in her statement what she thinks about the church, she mentioned that “everyone is now aware” of the allegations against it. The Congressional Black Caucus chair also stated that she’s not a Scientologist, underscoring that she worships at a Baptist church in Los Angeles.


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Bass’s record has increasingly come under scrutiny as she has moved toward the top of presumptive Democratic nominee Biden's vice presidential short list after lobbying by fellow House Democrats.

She has also come under fire from President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign after The Atlantic reported Friday that Bass worked in Cuba in the 1970s with a group aligned with Fidel Castro’s government.

“She was always pro-Castro & later mourned his death,” Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh tweeted Saturday. “Whether Biden picks her or not, he's written off Cuban-American voters just by considering her.”

On a call organized by the Trump campaign, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) ripped Bass for “showing a stunning amount of interest in the Cuban Revolution," according to the Palm Beach Post.

“She will be the highest ranking Castro sympathizer in the United States government,” Rubio said about Bass if she’s selected to be Biden’s running mate.

Bass has sought to address the Cuban controversy in recent media appearances.

Leading Democratic VP contender Bass defends stance on Cuba


FILE - Dec. 12, 2019, file photo Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., listens during a House Judiciary Committee markup of the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington. California Congresswoman Bass has emerged a leading contender to be Democrats' vice presidential candidate. Allies say her reputation as a bridge-builder would make her a strong partner to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Rep. Karen Bass, one of the top contenders to be Joe Biden’s running mate, on Sunday defended her past travel to Cuba and the sympathetic comments she made after the death of Fidel Castro, the dictator who ruled the communist country for decades.

Bass said she was trying to express her condolences to the Cuban people when she referred to Castro as “Comandante en jefe,” a term that roughly translates as commander in chief but is reviled by some Cuban exiles in Florida. Bass, who represents California in Congress, said she was unaware of the phrase’s political significance in Florida when she issued the 2016 statement, which called Castro’s death a “great loss to the people of Cuba.”

“Wouldn’t do that again,” Bass said during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Talked immediately to my colleagues from Florida and realized that that was something that just shouldn’t have been said.”

Bass is considered one of the leading candidates to become Biden’s vice presidential pick. But recently her decades-long ties to Cuba have drawn scrutiny because of how they could play in Florida, a key swing state in the November contest with President Donald Trump.

Bass said she traveled to Cuba to help construct homes in her late teens and early 20′s. As a member of Congress, she has taken numerous trips to the island country to participate in cultural exchanges and study the Cuban medical system.

“The Cubans also have two medicines, one for diabetes, of which my mother died from, lung cancer, which my father died from, and I would like to have those drugs tested in the United States,” Bass said. “That doesn’t excuse the fact that I know the Castro regime has been a brutal regime to its people. I know that there is not freedom of press, freedom of association.”

Bass said she does not consider herself to be a “Castro sympathizer.” She said her views of Cuba are in line with policy under former President Barack Obama, who sought to thaw U.S. relations with the country.

“I think the best way to bring about change on the island is for us to have closer relations with the country that is 90 miles away,” Bass said. “My position on Cuba is really no different than the position of the Obama administration. As a matter of fact, I was honored to go to Cuba with President Obama. I went to Cuba with Secretary Kerry when we raised the flag. So there really isn’t anything different.”

She also said recent criticism of her by Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was politically motivated.

“I believe the Republicans have decided to brand the entire Democratic Party as socialists and communists. So I’m not surprised by Rubio’s characterization of me or of a role I would play if I were on the ticket,” she said.

PINK FLOYD PULSE 2019 REMASTERED
WAIT FOR THE FLYING PIGS

ALBATROSS

GOP dread over possible Kobach nomination in Kansas

Republicans fear that Democratic meddling has helped to erase Roger Marshall's lead in this week's primary, potentially costing the party another Senate seat and perhaps its majority.

Kris Kobach is vying to succeed retiring Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts. | Mark Reinstein/Corbis via Getty Images


AND KANSAS IS WHERE THE FIRST ARMED
BATTLE FOR ABOLITION BEGAN AGAINST 
THE WEST POINT GRADUATES

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History of "John Brown's Body" | American Experience | Official ...

https://www.pbs.org › wgbh › features › brown-history-john-browns-body

1. Old John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save; But though ...

By JAMES ARKIN
POLITICO
08/02/2020 

On Thursday, the top operative for Senate Republicans' campaign arm appeared on a private Zoom call organized by GOP operatives to discuss the party's efforts to stave off a Democratic takeover.

During the presentation, National Republican Senatorial Committee executive director Kevin McLaughlin warned that if hardline conservative Kris Kobach wins next Tuesday's Kansas Senate primary, it could doom the GOP Senate majority — and perhaps even hurt President Donald Trump in a state that hasn't voted Democratic since 1964.

“The Senate majority runs through Kansas,” McLaughlin warned, according to people familiar with the call.

The new warning came after a flurry of Democratic meddling has scrambled the closing weeks of a primary race that had otherwise gotten back on track. Senate Republicans have opposed Kobach for a year, fretting that he can’t win a Senate contest after losing the 2018 gubernatorial race, and have warned about him consistently in public and in private.

After failing to woo Secretary of State Mike Pompeo into the race, Republicans had mostly rallied behind Rep. Roger Marshall, who was leading Kobach comfortably in internal polling earlier in the summer. But after nearly $5 million was dumped in by a super PAC with ties to Democrats to elevate Kobach and bash Marshall’s image, Republicans acknowledge that the primary is a dead heat.

A Kobach victory would upend the battle for control of the Senate. Democrats haven't won a Senate race in Kansas since the 1930s, but with Kobach on the ballot, Republicans would be forced to sink millions into trying to defend a seat party officials believe should have stayed safely in their column.

Republicans are already stretched thin on a Senate map that features more than a half-dozen GOP incumbents in competitive races. GOP leaders concede the fight to keep the Senate has gotten harder in recent months but believe the party still can maintain control if it isn't dumping money into places like Kansas.

2020 ELECTIONS
Mystery, Democratic-linked super PAC meddles in Kansas GOP primary
BY JAMES ARKIN

Democrat Barbara Bollier, a state senator and former Republican, faces only nominal opposition in her primary and has outraised all of her potential GOP foes.

Trump has remained on the sidelines in the race, frustrating some Republicans who believe a late endorsement could deliver a victory to Marshall, whom they view as much more electable.

Republican officials, including Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), the NRSC chairman, have spoken with the president as recently as last week about making an endorsement in the race, believing that he could single-handedly alter the current trajectory, according to multiple people familiar with the conversations. Internal Republican polling has shown a Trump endorsement would shift potential Kobach supporters towards the president’s pick, according to a Republican familiar with the data.

The president discussed the race with his political advisers on Air Force One last week returning from an event in Texas. Trump indicated he was unlikely to intervene, according to people familiar with the discussion.

During the in-flight conversation, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) pointed out Marshall’s previous support for John Kasich in the 2016 presidential primary, according to two sources briefed on the discussion. CNN first reported on the conversation. A person familiar with the White House’s thinking disputed the idea that Cruz’s comment swayed the president but acknowledged that it made it harder for Marshall to earn the endorsement.

All of the candidates have relied on Trump’s name and his supporters, even without his backing. An ad from Senate Leadership Fund, the GOP super PAC aligned with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, featured a photo of Trump and Marshall, with a narrator saying Trump has called Marshall a “great friend.” A recent Kobach ad featured heavy use of footage from an October 2018 rally Trump held boosting Kobach's gubernatorial campaign, with a small insignia in the corner making the date clear.

Two years ago, Trump endorsed Kobach the day before the 2018 gubernatorial primary, and Kobach defeated then-Gov. Jeff Colyer by 343 votes. Kobach then lost to now-Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, by five percentage points. Trump has expressed frustration with expending political capital for Kobach only to see him lose, according to Republicans familiar with the discussions.

Recent polling has shown this year's primary coming down to the wire. One recent GOP survey showed Marshall with 33 percent support compared to 30 percent for Kobach, with businessman Bob Hamilton and former NFL player Dave Lindstrom trailing, according to multiple officials who described the poll.

Additionally, an internal survey conducted for the NRSC last week showed that in a general election matchup, only 54 percent of Republican primary voters would back Kobach, while 29 percent would instead to vote for Democrat Barbara Bollier, according to three people familiar with the data, which has been presented to the White House. That much potential crossover support for Bollier, who has the backing of major Kansas and national Democrats, could doom Republicans' chances in the race.

In addition to private entreaties, Republicans opposed to Kobach have sounded the alarm consistently and publicly. The NRSC blasted Kobach on the day he announced last year. Sen. Pat Roberts, who is retiring from the seat, endorsed Marshall last month despite previously pledging to stay neutral, and Senate Leadership Fund is spending nearly $2 million on positive ads boosting Marshall, according to recent FEC filings. Additionally, a GOP-linked super PAC that won't have to disclose its funding until after the primary, has spent more than $3 million to run TV ads attacking Kobach.

Republican Senate candidates debate in Kansas May 23 (from left): David Lindstrom, Susan Wagle, Kris Kobach, Bob Hamilton and Roger Marshall. | Orlin Wagner/AP Photo

The president has intervened privately in the race. He called David McIntosh, the head of the conservative Club for Growth, to ask the group to stop running ads attacking Marshall, according to people familiar with the conversation, which was first reported by The New York Times.

Many Kansas Republicans hoped Trump would endorse and boost Marshall to ease their concerns about the fall. One veteran Republican operative in the state, who requested anonymity to speak frankly, said Trump likely knows “if he doesn’t have Kansas, the Senate majority is fried.

“Republicans were hopeful the president would be doing something by now already — and are agitating that if he’s going to do it, he better do it quickly,” the GOP operative said.

Kelly Arnold, a former state GOP chairman, told POLITICO Trump’s endorsement put Kobach over the top in 2018. But while many Republicans would like to see him endorse Marshall, Arnold said Republicans on the ground are unsure where he stands.

“All of our candidates are making a bid to get his support [and to] try to show to the voters that they are the president's closest supporter. It is important,” Arnold said. “They're definitely making that play to try to earn the president's endorsement and the president's supporters here in Kansas.”

While Trump hasn't weighed in, other Republicans are trying to help Marshall close things out. Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, made an appearance on a local radio station last week and hammered Kobach as a threat to the GOP majority. After the radio appearance, Gingrich agreed to sign a fundraising email for Marshall and to record a robocall for him.

In the call, going out to Kansas voters, Gingrich calls Marshall a “committed pro-life conservative, a great supporter of President Trump.” While he doesn’t mention Kobach, he does say, "Too much is at stake to take a chance on anyone else."

“Every poll I’ve seen says that Kobach can't win a general election,” Gingrich said on the radio. “[Kobach] did the worst statewide numbers when he ran for governor of any Republican in the last more than a decade. He's weaker now. Kobach is the Schumer candidate, and people just need to understand that.”

Alex Isenstadt contributed to this report.

Key impeachment witness Vindman rebukes Trump on retirement from military

The former top Ukraine policy officer on the NSC staff compares the administration to an authoritarian regime in new op-ed.
Former National Security Council Director for European Affairs Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

By EVAN SEMONES

08/01/2020

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key witness in the House’s impeachment inquiry, issued a scathing rebuke of President Donald Trump and his administration in an op-ed published Saturday.

“At no point in my career or life have I felt our nation’s values under greater threat and in more peril than at this moment,” Vindman wrote in the Washington Post. “Our national government during the past few years has been more reminiscent of the authoritarian regime my family fled more than 40 years ago than the country I have devoted my life to serving.”

Vindman’s comments come on the first day of his retirement from the military. The Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient, who until February served as the top Ukraine policy officer on the National Security Council staff, cited a lack of career advancement due to “bullying, intimidation and retaliation” by Trump and his allies as reasons for his decision to retire.

“The circumstances of my departure might have been more public, yet they are little different from those of dozens of other lifelong public servants who have left this administration with their integrity intact but their careers irreparably harmed,” Vindman said.

Vindman testified in last year’s impeachment inquiry, telling congressional lawmakers that he raised alarms about Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president in which Trump appeared to make U.S. aid to the country contingent upon an investigation of Democratic political rival Joe Biden and his son’s business dealings.

Trump, who was reported to have privately fumed over Vindman’s testimony, relentlessly attacked the Ukraine expert in tweets before firing him in February, saying he was “insubordinate.”

Reaction to Vindman’s op-ed was swift online, with some of Trump’s ardent supporters, including Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, coming to the president’s defense.

“Vindman is no martyr,” Zeldin tweeted. “He lied under oath about not knowing who the whistleblower was. He falsely claims to be a chain of command guy, but didn’t use his chain of command to speak to Tim Morrison.”

Vindman also chastised Trump’s response to the coronavirus, saying the “mendacious president” downplayed the threat the pandemic posed to the country’s residents.

“Millions are grieving the loss of loved ones and many more have lost their livelihoods while the president publicly bemoans his approval ratings,” Vindman said.

CANNABIS USA

The pandemic is eating away at the illicit marijuana market

Legal sales have boomed since March, though it’s hard to say how many customers previously bought from illegal dealers.


An illegal cannabis cultivation site in San Luis Obispo County, Calif. | Santa Barbara County Sheriff/ AP Photo


By PAUL DEMKO and ALEXANDER NIEVES

08/02/2020 07:00 AM EDT

The legal marijuana industry has spent years battling illegal sellers who have eaten away at its market share and undercut its prices.

But the coronavirus has proven to be a boon for legal pot shops, as customers fear the risks associated with inhaling questionable products and are nervous about letting sellers into their homes.

Legal operations have moved quickly to take advantage of the situation, seizing on relaxed rules to expand shopping options in states across the country, including curbside pickups and deliveries.

Also, pandemic-frazzled Americans are simply getting stoned more often.

“It's understandable that people may be more hesitant to get their products from sources that are unregulated,” said Kris Krane, CEO of 4Front Ventures, which operates dispensaries in multiple states. “They may not want to go to their dealer’s house, or they may not want to have their dealer come into their house, at a time when people are social distancing and not supposed to be interacting with people that they don't know.”

In addition, cities that never allowed pot shops in their towns, even in states where marijuana is legal, are rethinking the local bans in search of fresh tax revenue. And more people than ever are registered as medical marijuana patients: Florida added nearly 5,000 patients a week in June, and more than 50,000 since March.

The data is murky — credible sales figures on illegal marijuana transactions are inherently difficult to come by — and it’s likely that those sales are also booming as anxious Americans smoke more weed while hunkered down. But many close industry watchers believe the current circumstances are pushing more Americans into state-legal markets. Revenues are expected to hit $17 billion this year, according to New Frontier Data — a 25 percent spike over 2019.

Mitch Baruchowitz, managing partner at cannabis investment firm Merida Capital Partners, argued in a paper in May that the pandemic is “cannibalizing” the illegal market. He hasn’t seen anything in the ensuing months to change that assessment.

“The vast majority of the current growth in the cannabis space is being driven by consumers transitioning from the black market to the legal market,” Baruchowitz wrote.

A cannabis dispensary customer smells a marijuana sample from a budtender at CannaDaddy's Wellness Center marijuana dispensary in Portland, Ore. | Don Ryan/AP Photo

The boom in sales is driven in large part by new legal markets, particularly the start of recreational sales in Illinois and Michigan. But even some states with relatively mature markets have seen big spikes in sales. In Oregon, for example, monthly revenues jumped from just below $70 million during the first two months of this year to more than $100 million in May and June.

Trulieve, Florida’s biggest retailer, doubled its fleet of delivery drivers across the state to keep up with demand.

“Obviously we all understand because we're living it, that there is an increased anxiety level, which can trigger increased consumption,” said Kim Rivers, the company’s CEO.

The California problem

Even with this year’s rapid growth, however, the legal marijuana market is still dwarfed by illegal sales, which New Frontier estimates at $63 billion for this year.

Nowhere is the underground weed market a bigger problem than in California, where it’s estimated that 80 percent of marijuana sales are still from illegal sources — and most industry officials are deeply skeptical that the pandemic will significantly alter that reality in the short term.

One of the major challenges state regulators have faced since voters legalized recreational marijuana in 2016 is moving consumers away from the thousands of shops made legal under California’s medical cannabis law. That supply chain has existed since 1996.

According to Josh Drayton, communications director for the California Cannabis Industry Association, growth in the illegal market has likely outpaced that of legal businesses during the pandemic, in part because they offer products for significantly cheaper prices. Legal marijuana products cost an estimated 40 percent to 50 percent more than their unregulated competitors, after expenses related to taxes and testing are tacked on.

“While there may be a short-term uptick in sales coming from consumers concerned about safety, many more consumers will be even more concerned about price now that they are out of work,” said Jackie McGowan, founder of Green Street Consulting.


A Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy keeps watch on a group of people apprehended at an illegal marijuana dispensary in Compton, Calif. | Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

Efforts to step up enforcement actions against illegal businesses and educate consumers about the differences between regulated and unregulated shops have largely been put on hold due to budgetary constraints.

Drayton also pointed to a dearth of cannabis-related legislation being considered in the state capitol as a sign that illegal operations will continue operating unchecked even as the legal market grows.

“Without a strong education campaign, which cannot be afforded during these times, I think we're going to stay in these parallel paths for quite some time,” he said.

One positive the industry has seen in recent weeks is an increase in the number of cities considering cannabis revenues as a tool for plugging coronavirus-related budget gaps. While the proliferation of licensed shops could put a dent in the unregulated market in the future, these jurisdictions are likely years away from seeing cannabis shops open in their borders.

Still, the potential for the legal market to expand in the next few years and put more pressure on unregulated businesses gives industry observers in California a reason for hope.

Michigan faces a similar problem in quashing illegal sales: The vast majority of cities in the state — including Detroit — still don’t allow recreational pot shops to operate. In addition, marijuana cultivation is still ramping up in the state, since full legalization only took effect in December.

“Demand, especially in the adult-use market, is still higher than the supply as the production in the industry continues to grow,” said Andrew Brisbo, executive director of Michigan’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency. “That keeps prices still higher than I think they will be in the long term.”

Cash crunch could drive more legalization

Industry officials are divided on whether the pandemic is eroding the illicit marijuana market, but there’s little doubt that the current economic troubles will push more states to consider legalization.

That’s in large part because states' desperation for cash is only going to grow. Even if marijuana taxes would only make a difference at the margins, it undoubtedly will prove enticing to lawmakers.

Some New York lawmakers are pushing this idea, after legalization efforts failed in each of the last two years. They’ll likely face even greater pressure to enact recreational sales if New Jersey voters pass a recreational legalization referendum in November, as expected.

Even in deep red states, the idea is likely to get a good look. A Republican lawmaker in Oklahoma has argued the state should look at allowing recreational sales, suggesting it could raise $100 million per year.

Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a national advocacy group that opposes legalization, doesn’t believe those arguments will prove decisive.

“This pandemic will give lawmakers who already support legalization another talking point they’ll emphasize,” Sabet said. “I don’t think this is going to change minds.”

But Krane, of 4Front Ventures, points to the end of alcohol prohibition as a historic template for what might happen with marijuana in the coming months.

“Alcohol prohibition was largely ended as a result of the Great Depression, as the country was in desperate need of new sources of revenue,” Krane argued. “It went from something that was seen as politically impossible to a political necessity in a very short amount of time, and I think we're seeing a similar situation here.”