Expert comments on food packaging and how well the sars-cov-2 virus survives on surfaces
AUGUST 14, 2020

There have been suggestions that the new domestic COVID-19 cases in New Zealand were the result of samples of the SARS-CoV-2 virus surviving on food packaging.

Dr Julian Tang, Honorary Associate Professor in Respiratory Sciences, University of Leicester, said:

“Laboratory-based studies on the survival of the SARS-CoV-2 virus certainly show that the virus can survive for hours to days on some packaging materials – mostly cardboard and various forms of plastic:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247%2820%2930003-3/fulltext

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973

https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/S0195-6701(20)30046-3/fulltext

“The transmission risk being based on the usual assumption that workers in the food packaging plants will touch these surfaces then self-inoculate via their nose, mouth, eyes, though this has actually not been shown definitively for SARS-CoV-2 yet.

“The problem with these ‘ideal’ studies is that the environmental conditions will change rapidly in the real-life environments that such food packages pass through, which may reduce the virus survival further compare to these lab-based ‘constant’ exposure conditions.

“This surface packaging transmission source/route is also difficult to be definitive about because there is a need to exclude any recent exposure from any other source (e.g. asymptomatic social contacts or household cases via conversational aerosols) to be sure that any food packaging-related exposure/infection is the true cause of their infections. Nowadays, this will need additional careful viral sequencing and analysis to check this – which may show differences between the imported SARS-CoV-2 on the packaging versus the locally circulating SARS-CoV-2. Such studies may be ongoing in New Zealand and China to determine this – but see the caveat below.

“This transmission route from contaminated surfaces to fingers to mouth/nose/eyes – the fomite/contact transmission route, is not considered the main route of transmission for SARS-CoV-2 now: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-covid-spreads.html

“And any clusters of COVID-19 cases in such food warehouses need to be careful to exclude any transmission between infected individuals via other transmission routes – like person-to-person aerosols, which may also transmit the same imported virus between warehouse workers. This could confound such viral sequencing/analysis studies if the food packaging source is assumed to be the only source that could have given rise to COVID-19 cases amongst these workers.”

All our previous output on this subject can be seen at this weblink:

www.sciencemediacentre.org/tag/covid-19

Mary Trump’s account of president’s response to her father’s death resurfaces amid Robert Trump death

People are criticizing the president for golfing as his brother, Robert, died.
Aug 16, 2020, 
Tech
Mikael Thalen

Allegations from Mary Trump, the niece of President Donald Trump, have begun resurfacing after the death of his brother Robert Trump on Saturday.

The younger brother of the president passed away in a New York hospital after spending several days in the intensive care unit.

Although Trump reportedly visited Robert on Friday, Twitter users decried the president as cold-hearted for reportedly spending Saturday golfing as his brother passed.

The incident is reminiscent of a claim regarding another brother from Mary’s forthcoming book, in which Robert attempted to stop from being published with a lawsuit on behalf of the Trump family.

In the book, Mary alleges that Trump went to see a movie in 1981 as her father, and his older brother, Fred died alone in the hospital following an alcohol-induced heart attack at the age of 42.

The claim went viral online Sunday after countless users flooded social media with Mary’s account.

“REMINDER: As Trump’s older brother Freddy was in hospital dying, he went to the movies,” @DeanObeidallah wrote. “Yesterday with his brother Robert dying, Trump played golf. This selfishness defines Trump-it’s why he truly doesn’t care Americans are dying from Covid.”

REMINDER: As Trump's older brother Freddy was in hospital dying, he went to the movies. Yesterday with his brother Robert dying, Trump played golf. This selfishness defines Trump-it's why he truly doesn't care Americans are dying from Covid https://t.co/ceIj2h9Pzl— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah)August 16, 2020

Mary Trump wrote that the day her father, Donald’s brother, died, Donald went to see a movie. Today, on the day his other brother died — when it was widely reported Robert was close to death — Trump played golf. pic.twitter.com/ea11qMrnrC— Ed Greenberger (@EdGreenberger)August 16, 2020

Mary Trump wrote that on the night her father Fred Jr was dying in the hospital, Trump went to the movies. Yesterday, while Trump's younger brother Robert was dying, Trump golfed with Jay Feely. "Mr. President" Trump is a poor excuse for a president and for a human being.— LaurenBaratzLogsted (@LaurenBaratzL)August 16, 2020

Following Robert’s death, Trump released a statement describing his sibling as his “best friend.”

“He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again,” Trump said. “His memory will live on in my heart forever.”

A report from the New York Times claims that the president’s visit with his brother on Friday lasted less than one hour.

While an official cause of death has not been released, a family friend told the Times that Robert had been suffering brain bleeds after a recent fall.

Rally turns violent as far-right Proud Boys met by counter-protesters in Michigan

Proud Boys rally in Kalamazoo turns violent

y Cole Waterman | Cole_Waterman@mlive.com

KALAMAZOO, MI — A rally by the far-right group Proud Boys turned violent in downtown Kalamazoo the afternoon of Saturday, Aug. 15.

First Congregational Church hosted a vigil of anti-racism counter protesters within Arcadia Creek Festival Place. The group formed a perimeter around the area, according to MLive reporter Samuel J. Robinson who was on the scene.


“The Proud Boys, they not only have hatred for Jewish people and Muslim people, but they’re also very hateful of anybody who doesn’t look like them or act like them,” said The Rev. Nathan Dannison, the church’s pastor.


Addressing the gathered crowd, Dannison urged those present to commit themselves to non-violence and non-aggression.


“Let’s work together to remain peaceful and manifest positive energy with each other, to take care of each other, to take care of our own selves and our own safety, and to defend one another,” Dannison told the crowd.


Proud Boys rally in downtown Kalamazoo

Shortly thereafter, chanting, mostly mask-less Proud Boys marched toward the park’s entrance, waving American, Trump, and Gadsden flags and other symbols. Violence broke out soon after, with Proud Boys attacking counter-protesters with fists, kicks, and shoves.

Proud Boys also pepper-sprayed numerous people, including Robinson.


Kalamazoo, Michigan pic.twitter.com/q2es6wUDqJ— Samuel J. Robinson (@samueljrob) August 15, 2020


As of 1:49 p.m., there were no police present, Robinson tweeted. Kalamazoo Public Safety officers and Portage police officers, many wearing riot gear, showed up shortly thereafter at a parking structure where the protest had advanced to.


Robinson, who was recording a Facebook Live video for MLive, was detained by police despite announcing being a reporter covering the protest. The video ended abruptly with Robinson being seemingly taken to the ground by police as he repeatedly stated he was being arrested.

Hell has broken loose pic.twitter.com/SBj5GqdhFq— Samuel J. Robinson (@samueljrob) August 15, 2020


Proud Boys rally in Kalamazoo turns violent
1 / 6
Samuel J Robinson
Proud Boys rally in Kalamazoo turns violent
Proud Boys march down North Rose Street in downtown Kalamazoo.

2 / 6
Samuel J Robinson
MLive is in a hiring freeze and dropped their fall internships themselves.
Proud Boys march passed the Raddison Hotel in downtown Kalamazoo.

3 / 6
Proud Boys rally in Kalamazoo turns violent
Members of the alt-right group retreat back to their vehicles at a parking garage nearby Raddison Hotel.

4 / 6
Samuel J Robinson
https://advancelocal.arcpublishing.com/photo/gallery/NHV3SHYG5VGUJHAVRXPFK3ZRRI
Members of the alt-right group chanted "Four more years," while marching through downtown Kalamzoo.

5 / 6
Samuel J Robinson
Proud Boys rally in Kalamazoo turns violent
The Proud Boys carried American flags that they used as weapons while fighting with counter protesters.



6 / 6
Samuel J Robinson
Proud Boys rally in Kalamazoo turns violent
A Proud Boy member holding flags.

More:
Rumored Proud Boys event sparks counter vigil in Kalamazoo

Another local event, a counter protest against the Proud Boys, is set up for 2 p.m. the same day and place.

The Southern Poverty Law Center designates Proud Boys a hate group

Trump wants Jewish votes, UAE wants US arms, Israel wants Palestinian lands

BY HAKKI ÖCAL COLUMNS  DAILY SABAH
AUG 17, 2020 

The Kushner Diversified Companies LLC, an American real estate developer in New York City Metropolitan Area and New Jersey, wants a piece of the so-called "deal of the century" in the form of business opportunities in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. Kushner Diversified is owned and operated by U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father, who was convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering. Jared’s wife, Ivanka Trump, touted her father’s announcement of the first step of the deal, the Israeli-UAE embassy accord, with this ingeniously epigrammatic quotation from New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman:

“The UAE and Israel and the U.S. on Thursday showed – at least for one brief shining moment – that the past does not always have to bury the future, that the haters and dividers don’t always have to win.”

Friedman thinks that the Israel-UAE consular agreement is a “geopolitical earthquake that just hit the Mideast” whose effects should be felt throughout the region.

I don’t know if any of these parties were aware of another ingeniously enlightening saying from Winston Churchill:

“A nation that forgets its past has no future.”





We all know that without history there are no memories; and if there is no memory, there is no future. As Churchill said, “If we don't learn from the past, we repeat the same mistakes again.”

Incidentally, this month is a truly historic time not because the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is opening an embassy in occupied Jerusalem – in exchange for Israel not annexing those lands into Israel proper for now – but because it is the 72nd anniversary of the Nakba, the 1948 expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes.

The word “al-Nakbah” literally means "disaster" or "catastrophe" and is the name of the ethnic cleansing, killing and displacement of Palestinians and the Jewish settler colonialism.

By May 1948, right before the Israeli declaration of independence, nearly 175,000 Palestinians (approximately 25%) had already been expelled, the largest single expulsion since the war began. In August, 60,000 inhabitants, or nearly 10% of the whole exodus, were forcibly expelled on the orders of the first prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, and Israeli politician Yitzhak Rabin, who would later become the fifth prime minister of Israel, in the events that came to be known as the “Lydda Death March.”

Palestinians from across the political spectrum last week strongly condemned the normalization agreement between Israel and the UAE, calling it a betrayal of Arabs and Palestinians. Many Palestinians and Arabs expressed outrage on social media about the agreement, with some calling it a “new Nakba.” Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) executive committee, said Israel “got rewarded for not declaring openly what it’s been doing to Palestine illegally and persistently since the beginning of the occupation.” The UAE, she said, “has come out in the open on its secret dealings with Israel.”

The current family running the union of the seven small emirates is actually no stranger to the Israeli occupation of Arab lands. The House of Al Nohayan strongly opposed the Wahhabis in neighboring Saudi Arabia but following a breakdown of authority, the usurpers of power joined Arabs who conspired with the British in defeating the Ottomans in World War I that led to the British occupation of Palestine.

UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ), who signed the consular agreement with Israel, is not only the architect of the "deal of the century" but also the person who conspired to pick Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to lead the richest Arab country. MBZ thinks that MBS should cough up the money to buy Palestinians a deal with Israel. With MBS, he will build a strong joint Muslim army to control the Middle East. They are trying their hand in Yemen but unfortunately, they cannot get all the weapons they need from the United States because of congressional impediments. Now, no sane U.S. lawmaker would withhold arms from the person who normalized his country’s relations with Israel.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu guarantees yet another election (a fourth in the last 12 months), as well as Trump who hopes to get the Jewish votes in November. The Kushner family is inching closer to the "real estate deal of the century" in the new Palestinian areas under Israeli occupation, which is not going to be annexed to Israel proper at least before November.

This is something Islamic nations are surely happy about. Right?

“Absurdly Unconstitutional”: Trump Bypasses Congress From His Private Golf Club

As stimulus talks collapsed, the president signed a series of executive actions that appear untenable and would likely have limited impact on workers struggling during the pandemic-induced recession.

BY CHARLOTTE KLEIN AUGUST 9, 2020

President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020.BY KEVIN DIETSCH/UPI/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

President Donald Trump responded to collapsed stimulus talks with a series of executive actions undermining Congressional power that are unlikely to provide substantial economic relief and may face legal challenges. Trump said he would bypass Congress during a news event held at his private New Jersey golf club, where members cheered him on as he signed orders on unemployment, evictions, students loans, and payroll tax, which he claimed “will take care of pretty much this entire situation,” according to the Washington Post.

It was the second such event in two days, with Trump giving “paying members a front-row seat to a campaign rally, a news conference and the official signing of executive orders all wrapped up into one,” noted the Post. The New York Times’s Maggie Haberman questioned the optics of Trump, who has essentially been a bystander to stimulus discussions happening in Washington, addressing an economic relief plan in such a setting. “Some of [the members looking on] are holding glasses of wine as people are facing the threat of eviction or getting laid off,” she said on CNN, adding that the strategy could backfire if he doesn’t follow through. The actions include an eviction moratorium, additional unemployment benefits, a temporary delay of payroll tax collection for people who earn less than $100,000, and an extension of student loan relief through year’s end.

https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status/1291875753626394627

Yet much of what Trump announced on Saturday appears untenable, legally fraught, or limited in its impact on workers. “Even conservative groups have warned that suspending payroll tax collections is unlikely to translate into more money for workers,” writes the New York Times’ Jim Tankersley. “An executive action seeking to essentially create a new unemployment benefit out of thin air will almost certainly be challenged in court. And as Mr. Trump’s own aides concede, the orders will not provide any aid to small businesses, state and local governments or low- and middle-income workers.”


“If job growth slows further, and millions of unemployed Americans struggle to make ends meet," Tankersley added, “he will need to make the case for why the symbolism of acting alone won out over the farther-reaching effects of cutting a deal.”


Trump said that if reelected in November, he would extend the payroll tax deferral, “make permanent cuts to the payroll tax,” which funds Social Security and Medicare benefits, and find a way to “terminate” what is owed. That probably won’t happen—or shouldn’t, as it would undermine power vested in Congress to make laws about taxes and spending. “Major changes to the tax code fall entirely to Congress, so Trump alone cannot waive Americans’ tax debts or enact permanent changes to tax law,” the Post notes.

In addition to the measures being problematic expansions of executive power, they also “provide little real help to families,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer in a statement. The president’s orders will not provide a second round of stimulus checks—the first of which came as part of a relief bill, signed into law by Trump in March—that the Times notes lawmakers were pushing for. Without more federal funding, state and local governments will likely have to cut their budgets and lay off employees, increasing unemployment among the 30 million or so Americans already out of a job. Trump wants to repurpose federal money “to essentially create a $400-a-week bonus payment,” something that might not even be deemed legal and, even if it is, probably won’t put cash in the pockets of unemployed workers anytime soon.

“My constitutional advisers tell me they’re absurdly unconstitutional,” Pelosi said of Trump’s actions during an appearance Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” though she did not commit to taking legal action. “Right now,” she added, “the focus, the priority has to be on, again, meeting the needs of the American people.” On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” host Chuck Todd asked White House trade adviser Peter Navarro why Trump spent the weekend at his golf club rather than negotiating. “Look, I understand you guys don't like each other, Nancy Pelosi and the president,” Todd said. “Where is he? Why isn't he involved?” Navarro responded that Trump is “the hardest working president in history.”

COVID-19 Has 'Taken A Political Tone Like Nothing I've Ever Seen,' Warns Anthony Fauci

He said Tucker Carlson's treatment of him on Fox News "triggers some of the crazies in society to start threatening me."

By Mary Papenfuss, HuffPost US

The politicization of COVID-19 is the most extreme of any health problem that Dr. Anthony Fauci has experienced in his career, the infectious disease expert revealed in his latest review of the coronavirus pandemic.


The battle against the disease has “taken on a political tone like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Fauci said in an interview Thursday arranged by National Geographic magazine.

And it’s not helping, he noted. “We certainly are not where I hoped we would be,” Fauci said.

In a separate interview with The Washington Post Thursday, when asked about Tucker Carlson’s attacks on him on Fox News, Fauci responded that Carlson “triggers some of the crazies in society to start threatening me ... which actually happens.”

The animosity and pushback he experienced while battling HIV and AIDS were “never anything” as “serious” as it is now, when he and his family have been threatened with death as he works to protect public health, Fauci explained in the National Geographic interview.

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases appeared to still be stunned by the vicious reaction — and at a loss to explain it. Fauci attributed it to an extreme, disturbing divisiveness in the nation.

“It seems inconceivable,” he told interviewer Deborah Roberts of ABC News. “Take a deep breath and think about it: When you’re trying to promote public health principles to save people’s lives ... that there’s such divisiveness in the country that [it’s] interpreted to be so far from your own way of thinking that you actually want to threaten the person.”

He added: “It’s tough for me to figure that out except to say, ’Boy, I hope we get past this divisiveness in our country. ... [There’s] just no way that our society can really function well and go along that way. We’ve got to get past that.”

Fauci said it would be helpful if people would think about health and safety measures not as “blocking” a return to more normal times but as “gateways” to getting there — one thoughtful, careful step at a time.

He also seemed to take subtle shots at Donald Trump, who has refused to recommend or mandate national guidelines, such as wearing a mask, to help stem the spread of COVID-19 — and the president’s dismissive responses to the death toll.

“You can’t run away from the numbers of people who’ve died, the number of people [who] are getting hospitalized, the surges we’re seeing,” Fauci said. Improving the future “is going to depend on us,” he added.

Fauci characterized the U.S. approach to dealing with COVID-19 as scattershot — and disappointing. “Bottom line is, I’m not pleased with how things are going,” he told Roberts.

“We did not have a universal [strategy] in the sense of everybody pulling in the same direction, of the kinds of things that can contain and slow down an outbreak ... distancing, masks, avoiding crowds, outdoors better than indoors, washing hands, doing things like closing bars, where appropriate, because that seems to be a hot spot of transmission,” he explained. Areas began relaunching economic activity too soon when case numbers were still very high — and even surging, he noted.

Leaders need to use their heads about reopening schools, Fauci cautioned. In-person instruction may be possible in “green zone” communities where infection rates are very low. But in “red zones,” where cases are surging, “local leaders and parents should carefully consider whether they want to put kids back in school under those circumstances.”

Fauci also expressed skepticism about a purported COVID-19 vaccine from Russia. “Having a vaccine” and “proving that a vaccine is safe and effective are two different things,” he said.

Once a successful vaccine is proved to be safe for use in the U.S., Fauci said, he would “gladly accept” one that is 50% to 75% effective. But people couldn’t then throw “caution to the wind.” Such a vaccination would be a “very important additional tool” to public health measures.

Check out Fauci’s interview in the video above or in this transcript.

Germany: Outrage over video of officer placing a knee on man's neck
A police officer in the city of Dusseldorf was caught on video restraining a young man by placing his knee on his neck. Authorities are looking into the incident, which has been likened to that of George Floyd.


Authorities in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia said on Sunday that they were investigating an incident of possible police misconduct after a video surfaced on social media showing a police officer placing his knee on a suspect's neck.

During the video, which lasted 15 seconds, people at the scene could be heard shouting at the officers, demanding that they release the suspect.

Police: Suspect attacked officers

According to the Dusseldorf police report, the incident took place on Saturday evening, when officers were called to the city's old town to handle a raucous crowd near a restaurant.

After the group was rounded up, a young man who was not involved in the incident but was at the scene allegedly interrupted the operation.

Dusseldorf police said the suspect then assaulted the officers, had to be restrained and was subsequently sent to the station for identification. He was later released.

Read more: Germany and France: Cities shocked as youths riot and attack police

Outrage on social media

The video caused outrage on social media, with many comparing it to the case of George Floyd, an African-American man who died when a Minneapolis police officer placed his knee on his neck for more than eight minutes.

The incident will be investigated by a different police department to ensure neutrality, officials said. In this case, the responsibility will fall to the police department of the nearby city of Duisburg.

Read more: Police in Germany under the pall of right-wing extremists

"We take this video very seriously," a spokesman for the state's Interior Ministry said. The spokesman added that if misconduct is found, prosecutors will take the necessary measures to address it.

The incident comes in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests in Germany, which sparked discussions about police violence and racial profiling.

In June, police action in the city of Stuttgart sparked a large riot that damaged police cars and nearby stores, showcasing existing tensions between youth and police in major cities.

Pelosi calls US lawmakers back to Washington to 'save' the postal service



Issued on: 17/08/2020 - 03:4
A United States Postal Service (USPS) mail carrier walks through heavy rain as Tropical Storm Fay sweeps across the heavily populated northeastern United States in Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S., July 10, 2020. © REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

25% OF THE POSTAL SERVICE WORKERS ARE AFRO AMERICANS 

THE ASSAULT ON THE USPS BY THE REPUBLICANS IS AN OLD TACTIC

THEY HAVE TRIED CONTRACTING OUT, OUTSOURCING AND SETTING UP PRIVATE COURIERS TO COMPETE WITH THE CONSTITUTIONALLY GUARANTEED POSTAL SERVICE

Text by:NEWS WIRES

U.S. Democrats stepped up pressure on Sunday against a cost-cutting campaign by President Donald Trump's appointed Postal Service chief that they fear will hold up mail-in ballots in November's election, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling lawmakers back and several states considering legal action

Top Democrats in Congress called on Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and another top postal official to testify this month at a hearing on a wave of cuts that has slowed mail delivery across the country, alarming lawmakers ahead of the Nov. 3 election when up to half of U.S. voters could cast ballots by mail.

Democrats have accused Trump, who is trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in opinion polls, of trying to hamstring the cash-strapped Postal Service to suppress mail-in voting.

Trump has repeatedly and without evidence said that a surge in mail-in voting would lead to fraud. Voting by mail is nothing new in the United States, as one in four voters cast ballots that way in 2016.

Several Democratic state attorneys general told Reuters they were in discussions about potential legal action to stop Postal Service changes that could affect the election outcome.

"It is outrageous that Donald Trump would attempt to undermine the U.S. Postal Service for electoral gain," Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy told Reuters in a telephone interview, adding that his actions raised constitutional, regulatory and procedural questions.

"We will take whatever action is necessary to prevent further efforts to undermine or thwart the operation of the Postal Service," she said, adding that counterparts in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, North Carolina, Washington and other states were conferring.

"We will use all our authority to ensure every eligible vote is secure, protected, and counted in November," Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement.

House back to Washington

Pelosi, the country's top elected Democrat, said on Sunday she was calling the Democratic-controlled House back to Washington later this week to vote on legislation to protect the Postal Service from what she called Trump's "campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the Postal Service to disenfranchise voters."

A senior Democratic aide said House lawmakers would likely return on Saturday to vote on the bill, which would prohibit changes to Postal Service levels that were in place on Jan. 1, 2020.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring their Republican-controlled chamber back into session as well, but a spokesman for McConnell said there were no scheduling updates.

Congressional Democrats also called on DeJoy, a Trump donor, and Postal Service Chairman Robert Duncan to testify at an Aug. 24 hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Schumer said the Postal Service's board of governors should remove DeJoy if he "refuses to come before Congress."

DeJoy did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump said on Thursday he had held up talks with Congress over a fresh round of coronavirus stimulus funding to block Democrats from providing more funds for mail-in voting and election infrastructure.

Trump later walked back those comments, saying he would not veto a bill that included funds for the Postal Service.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told CNN on Sunday that he would agree to $10 billion to $25 billion in new Postal funding. The House approved $25 billion in a bill passed in May.

Mark Dimondstein, head of the 200,000-plus-member American Postal Workers Union, said on Sunday the Postal Service's Republican-dominated governing board sought more than $25 billion.

'Time for congress to act'


Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morningSubscribe

Appearing on Fox News, he said the service required emergency funds because of the coronavirus pandemic-driven economic slowdown, pointing out that it received no funds in a stimulus package passed in March.

"The Congress and this administration took care of the private sector to the tune of over $500 billion," said Dimondstein. "The postal office did not get a dime. It's time for Congress to act."

Meadows told CNN's "State of the Union" that the White House feared a surge in mail-in voting could delay election results and leave the naming of the new president to the speaker of the House.

"A number of states are now trying to figure out how they are going to go to universal mail-in ballots," Meadows said. "That's a disaster where we won't know the election results on Nov. 3 and we might not know it for months and for me that's problematic because the Constitution says that then a Nancy Pelosi in the House would actually pick the president on Jan. 20."

(REUTERS)

Thousands In Russia's Far East Continue Anti-Putin Protests, Chant 'Long Live Belarus!'

August 15, 2020
By RFE/RL's Russian Service

People carry a banner reading "Return Furgal to us" during a rally in support of Sergei Furgal in Khabarovsk on August 8.

Thousands of protesters have marched in Russia's Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk, where rallies against President Vladimir Putin's role in a regional political crisis have been held for over a month.

Some of the protesters chanted "Long live Belarus!" as they marched through Khabarovsk on August 15, voicing support for demonstrations against the disputed presidential vote in Belarus.

The disputed August 9 election in Belarus handed strongman President Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth term and sparked nationwide protests that have been brutally put down by security forces.

Demonstrators have attended weeks of the mass demonstrations in Khabarovsk to express anger since central authorities arrested Governor Sergei Furgal and transferred him to custody in the capital Moscow.

There were no immediate reports of detentions at the Khabarovsk event.

Authorities in Khabarovsk said the number of protesters "has dropped significantly" and said that only about 1,500 people attended the August 15 march.

But live footage of the march showed several thousand protesters in attendance.

After the protest, police detained Aleksei Vorsin, the head of the local office of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny. He was being held overnight before facing on judge on administrative charges of participating in an unsanctioned demonstration.

During the August 15 rally, Vorsin gave a speech in which he suggested that workers in Khabarovsk follow the example of Belarus and organize a general strike.

Protesters also demanded the immediate release of Furgal.

A member of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), Furgal was elected by a wide margin in 2018 over the incumbent candidate from Putin's ruling United Russia party.

Furgal was arrested on July 9 and transferred to a jail in Moscow for what authorities said was suspicion of involvement in several murders in 2004 and 2005.

Furgal was then dismissed by Putin, who appointed LDPR member Mikhail Degtyaryov as the Khabarovsk region's acting governor.

Furgal's supporters say the charges against him are politically motivated retribution for his 2018 election defeat of Putin's ally.

The Kremlin says Furgal has serious charges to answer.

The protests highlight growing discontent in the Far East over what demonstrators see as Moscow-dominated policies that often neglect their views and interests.

Putin's popularity has been declining as the Kremlin tries to deal with an economy suffering from the coronavirus pandemic and years of ongoing international sanctions.

The pro-Furgal demonstrations have attracted tens of thousands of protesters on weekends since they started on July 11.

Lukashenka’s Bloody Repression Puts Putin in Difficult Position, Shaburov Says

Window on Eurasia -- New Series

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Lukashenka’s Bloody Repression Puts Putin in Difficult Position, Shaburov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 13 – Aleksandr Lukashenka’s bloody crackdown on post-election protests against him not only are further isolating him internationally but putting Vladimir Putin in an increasingly difficult position in terms of both integration of the two countries and the attitudes of the Russian population, Yekaterinburg commentator Aleksey Shaburov says.

            On the one hand, what Lukashenka is doing will make it ever harder for Putin to push for integration, the editor of Politsovet says. Why should Russians want to integrate with such a country as Belarus has become under Lukashenka? (politsovet.ru/67450-protesty-v-belorussii-kak-problema-dlya-putina.html).

            And on the other, because Lukashenka has extracted an expression of support from Putin, ever more Russians will suspect that the Kremlin leader may very well be preparing to use the same tactics his Minsk counterpart is, using bloody repression in order to suppress any challenge to his rule. That will only further erode support for the Moscow strongman.

            “It is no secret” that relations between Lukashenka and Putin have become increasingly fraught, with the latter pressing for further integration and the former resisting at each step of the way. Shaburov continues. The Belarusian elections and their aftermath have only made this situation worse.

            Lukashenka held these elections not just to get “the necessary result (for him, this was no problem) but also first of all to get Russia to recognize this result and second so that the scenario of ‘deep integration’ Putin is interested in wouldn’t be realized,” the Yekaterinburg commentator suggests.

           

            “And however sad it is to recognize, [Lukashenka] contrived to achieve these goals.” Putin sent him a congratulatory message on the election, not first (China’s Xi had that honor) but second because the Kremlin leader had no choice but to do so: Had he failed to send one, he would have appeared to be behind the protesters, something Putin cannot do.

            Moreover, such a message was needed if Putin was to have any chance to promote the integration of the two countries he seeks. “But the bloody events in Belarus are making this integration extremely difficult for now Lukashenka in the eyes of many on both sides of the border is not simply a weird neighbor but a really harsh dictator.”

            Many Russians have seen the pictures of clashes in Minsk, and few of them remain indifference. Consequently, they are likely to be increasingly skeptical about the value of integrating their country with such a state.  They will now view every Putin call for that through the lens of these pictures of repression.

            “Moreover, calls for integration will give rise to fears within Russia that perhaps the Russian powers that be want to adopt Lukashenka’s approach … And even if they don’t in fact want to, they can hardly afford to openly acknowledge this … [But] if the Belarusian OMON becomes the symbol of integration, it has little chance of gaining support from Russians.”

            Shaburov adds that “it is difficult to say whether Lukashenka is conscious of all this in giving the orders to suppress the protests. In any case, he it appears has passed a certain red line beyond which integration with him will be accompanied by enormous political and image losses for Russia.”

            For Lukashenka, that is a big win, assuming, “of course, that he will be able to suppress the protests and keep power for another few years.”