Hard-hit Central America in crosshairs of another hurricane

Residents evacuate a flooded area in Baracoa, Honduras on November 8, 2020


NOVEMBER 14, 2020

Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua announced evacuations Friday as a second major hurricane in days closed in on Central America with the region still reeling from deadly storm Eta last week.

Eta killed more than 200 people across Central America, with heavy rain bursting river banks and triggering landslides as far north as Chiapas, Mexico.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami has now confirmed that another major hurricane is approaching Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala, whose populations total more than 30 million.

The NHC forecasts Tropical Storm Iota to become a Category 2 or 3 hurricane as it moves into the same shell-shocked countries, hitting Nicaragua and Honduras by late Sunday or early Monday—less than two weeks after Eta hit.

Authorities in Honduras on Friday ordered the evacuation by police and the army of people in the area of San Pedro Sula—the country's second city and industrial capital, located 180 kilometers (110 miles) north of Tegucigalpa.

"Our red alert (in Honduras) orders mandatory evacuations," Julissa Mercado of Honduras' Emergency Response Agency told AFP.

The San Pedro Sula valley was hit hard by Eta and about 40,000 people are still in shelters across the country.

In Nicaragua relief agencies began to evacuate some indigenous communities from the Coco River, on the border with Honduras, which could be affected by heavy rains and floods due to the storm.

"We are asking you to calmly prepare" for the hurricane that "threatens to cause floods and disasters," Rose Cunnigham, the mayor of Waspam, on the border with Honduras, urged the community over a local radio station.

Waspam authorities on Friday sent boats to evacuate the community in Cabo Gracias a Dios, the cape where the Coco River flows into the Caribbean along the "Mosquito Coast", and buses to transport people from the village of Bihmuna.

The town of Morales in Guatemala's Izabal Department is seen flooded following the passage of storm Eta on November 7, 2020

Guatemala's disaster management agency CONRED meanwhile called on residents in the country's most threatened areas in the north and northeast to voluntarily evacuate to shelters. It also recommended avoiding waterways and other risky areas.


"Our ground is already oversaturated," said Guatemala's President Alejandro Giammattei.

"So it's to be expected that we will have more farming and infrastructure damage," he warned after meeting his Honduran counterpart, Juan Orlando Hernandez, in Guatemala City.

Eta hit the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua as a Category 4 storm and was one of the strongest November storms ever recorded.

Warmer seas caused by climate change are making hurricanes stronger for longer after landfall, increasing the destruction they can wreak, scientists say.

Guatemala's Giammattei on Friday accused industrialized nations of being responsible for the catastrophes caused by climate change that are ravaging the area.

"Central America is one of the regions where climate change is felt the most," he told reporters.

The region is hit by "catastrophic floods, extreme droughts and the greatest poverty" but nonetheless receives "the least help on behalf of these industrialized nations", he said.

This year's hurricane season has seen a record 30 named tropical storms wreak havoc across the southeastern United States, the Caribbean and Central America.

The NHC was even forced to switch to the Greek alphabet after 2020's storms exhausted its list of Latin names.


Explore further Storm Eta leaves 150 dead or missing in Guatemala

© 2020 AFP

Hurricane Iota to deal another catastrophic blow to Central America

By Courtney Spamer, Accuweather.com & UPI Staff


Hurricane Iota strengthened into a Category 4 storm early Monday. Photo courtesy of NOAA

Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Areas of Central America still reeling from a humanitarian crisis caused by the deadly Hurricane Eta are now under threat from an equally powerful tropical system -- Hurricane Iota.

At 1 a.m. EST on Monday, the national Hurricane Center said Iota had strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Iota is the sixth major hurricane, meaning it is a Category 3 or higher, to churn in the Atlantic this season.

Just 40 minutes later, Iota was found to have rapidly strengthened into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane.

As of 1:40 a.m. EST Monday, Iota was packing a serious punch with sustained winds of 140 mph. Iota continued to move westward at 10 mph with its center located about 190 miles east-southeast of Cabo Gracias on the Nicaragua-Honduras border. Hurricane watches and warnings are in effect for much of the coast.

Besides Iota, the most recent major hurricane in the Atlantic was Hurricane Eta. Hurricane Eta made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Nov. 3, in Nicaragua, which was among the top five strongest storms to ever hit the nation. Eta also carved a path of destruction through Honduras and Guatemala, unleashing feet of rain, tremendous flooding and killing more than 100.

Central America is still facing a humanitarian crisis following Eta's deadly blow. Millions are enduring dangerous conditions in the storm's wake -- with concerns over waterborne diseases and COVID-19 complicating recovery. And the situation could become even more dire as Iota creeps toward the coast.

"With Eta having gone through less than 2 weeks ago, Hurricane Iota will place another devastating blow to the region. No amount of words can describe the problems this system will add to the crisis already occurring in the area," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Rinde said.

Iota is forecast to pick up some forward speed and continue to move westward toward the border of Honduras and Nicaragua. Along the way, heavy rainfall will inundate northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela, as well as southern Jamaica.

In addition to widespread rainfall, Iota will be moving through an area of low wind shear and warm water -- around 84 degrees Fahrenheit -- in the western Caribbean Sea, encouraging the hurricane to strengthen into an even more powerful hurricane.

"Exactly how long Iota is able to to hang out in that favorable environment will ultimately determine how long it could be a major [Category 3 or higher] hurricane," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Rob Miller.

RELATED Subtropical Storm Theta makes 2020 a record year for named storms

The exact track it takes, the strength and forward speed as it plows onshore in Central America will determine how grim the situation will become.

"It is possible that Iota could track north of Honduras, allowing the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Eta to be spared. But it is even more likely that Honduras and Nicaragua take a direct hit from Iota," warned Miller.

Should Iota make landfall in Nicaragua as a hurricane, it would be only the second time in history the country would be hit by two hurricanes in one season. The last time it occurred was in 1971, when Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Edith hit Nicaragua.

In Central America, building seas will be the first impact, coming on Sunday. Next would be the outer bands of Iota, that will bring heavy rain to Nicaragua and eastern Honduras as early as Monday morning, then gusty winds.

The exact strength of Iota at landfall will dictate the wind gusts experienced by the storm. If Iota makes landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, with sustained winds of 130 mph or greater, the effects could be devastating.

In addition to the strongest, most distructive winds being found at the coast near landfall, so too will be the most impactful storm surge from Iota.

Storm surge of 1-3 feet will stretch from near Claura in Honduras to Haulover, Nicaragua, with the most severe surge, 10-15 feet (3-5 meters) between Puerto Cabezas and Nina Yari. This same area experienced coastal inundation from Eta earlier this month.

Even still, the most widespread and greatest threat to lives and property from the new cyclone is expected to be dealt by serious flooding caused by feet of rainfall. Major river flooding and flash flooding could occur with a vast area of 12-18 inches across the mountainous terrain of Honduras, the most likely location for the AccuWeather Local StormMax of 30 inches.

Even more widespread amounts of 2-4 inches are forecast from Guatemala to central Nicaragua, worsening ongoing flooding and clean-up efforts.

With all of the mountainous terrain and the very saturated ground following Hurricane Eta, mudslides are a definite concern with the new tropical threat.

Given the threat posed by devastating storm surge, catastrophic flooding inland and devastating winds, Iota will be a 5 on the AccuWeather RealImpact Scale for Hurricanes over Central America. This is based on the life-threatening heavy rainfall that will lead to catastrophic flooding, damaging winds, storm surge and a number of other economic factors.

Tropical Storm Iota developed Friday afternoon in the central Caribbean just hours after the system had become Tropical Depression 31. Iota strengthened into a hurricane early Sunday morning and officially became the 13th hurricane of the season. 2020 is now just two shy of the record number of hurricanes to churn in the Atlantic in one season held by 2005.

In fact, this is the first time the NHC has ever gotten this far into the Greek alphabet during a tropical season.

Iota strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane early Monday morning and officially became the sixth major hurricane of the season. Five other major hurricanes churned in the Atlantic this season: Laura, Teddy, Delta, Epsilon and Eta.

This year set the record for the most tropical storms to be named in one Atlantic hurricane season as Theta became the 29th tropical storm of the season earlier this week.

Theta continued to swirl in the Atlantic Basin on Saturday morning, after spinning between the Azores and Canary Islands into Sunday morni

Belgium announces measures for bird flu outbreak

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

NOVEMBER 14, 2020

Belgium has detected an outbreak of bird flu, leading authorities to order all poultry farmers and individual bird owners to keep the animals confined, the country's food safety agency AFSCA said Saturday.

Avian influenza has recently spread to western Europe after outbreaks in Russia and Kazakhstan this summer.

"Three wild birds that stayed in a bird sanctuary in Ostend tested positive for the H5N8 virus," AFSCA said in a statement on Saturday, adding that the outbreak was confirmed the day before by the Sciensano public health institute.

AFSCA said the new measures would be effective from Sunday and would apply to private poultry houses as well as individuals who keep birds in their homes, in a country where there is a strong tradition of pigeon racing.

"All gatherings of poultry and birds are strictly prohibited," the statement said, adding that preventive measures were imposed on professional pigeon farms on November 1.

France this month ordered measures for poultry farms such as protective netting to prevent contact with wild birds that spread the disease, after the country's ministry of agriculture warned that bird flu infections were on the rise in western Europe.

In addition to cases declared in the Netherlands, the ministry pointed to "13 cases in wild birds in Germany" and an outbreak on November 3 in the northwest of England.


Explore further Bird flu fears: Dutch farms ordered to keep poultry indoors

© 2020 AFP

 Plastic pollution is everywhere.

 Study reveals how it travels

by Princeton University

Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Plastic pollution is ubiquitous today, with microplastic particles from disposable goods found in natural environments throughout the globe, including Antarctica. But how those particles move through and accumulate in the environment is poorly understood. Now a Princeton University study has revealed the mechanism by which microplastics, like Styrofoam, and particulate pollutants are carried long distances through soil and other porous media, with implications for preventing the spread and accumulation of contaminants in food and water sources.


The study, published in Science Advances on November 13, reveals that microplastic particles get stuck when traveling through porous materials such as soil and sediment but later break free and often continue to move substantially further. Identifying this stop-and-restart process and the conditions that control it is new, said Sujit Datta, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering and associated faculty of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, the High Meadows Environmental Institute and the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials. Previously, researchers thought that when microparticles got stuck, they generally stayed there, which limited understanding of particle spread.

Datta led the research team, which found that the microparticles are pushed free when the rate of fluid flowing through the media remains high enough. The Princeton researchers showed that the process of deposition, or the formation of clogs, and erosion, their breakup, is cyclical; clogs form and then are broken up by fluid pressure over time and distance, moving particles further through the pore space until clogs reform.

"Not only did we find these cool dynamics of particles getting stuck, clogged, building up deposits and then getting pushed through, but that process enables particles to get spread out over much larger distances than we would have thought otherwise," said Datta.

The team included Navid Bizmark, a postdoctoral research associate in the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, graduate student Joanna Schneider, and Rodney Priestley, professor of chemical and biological engineering and vice dean for innovation.

They tested two types of particles, "sticky" and "nonsticky," which correspond with actual types of microplastics found in the environment. Surprisingly, they found that there was no difference in the process itself; that is, both still clogged and unclogged themselves at high enough fluid pressures. The only difference was where the clusters formed. The "nonsticky" particles tended to get stuck only at narrow passageways, whereas the sticky ones seemed to be able to get trapped at any surface of the solid medium they encountered. As a result of these dynamics, it is now clear that even "sticky" particles can spread out over large areas and throughout hundreds of pores.


In the paper, the researchers describe pumping fluorescent polystyrene microparticles and fluid through a transparent porous media developed in Datta's lab, and then watching the microparticles move under a microscope. Polystyrene is the plastic microparticle that makes up Styrofoam, which is often littered into soils and waterways through shipping materials and fast food containers. The porous media they created closely mimics the structure of naturally-occurring media, including soils, sediments, and groundwater aquifers.

Typically porous media are opaque, so one cannot see what microparticles are doing or how they flow. Researchers usually measure what goes in and out of the media, and try to infer the processes going on inside. By making transparent porous media, the researchers overcame that limitation.

"Datta and colleagues opened the black box," said Philippe Coussot, a professor at Ecole des Ponts Paris Tech and an expert in rheology who is unaffiliated with the study.

"We figured out tricks to make the media transparent. Then, by using fluorescent microparticles, we can watch their dynamics in real time using a microscope," said Datta. "The nice thing is that we can actually see what individual particles are doing under different experimental conditions."

The study, which Coussot described as a "remarkable experimental approach," showed that although the Styrofoam microparticles did get stuck at points, they ultimately were pushed free, and moved throughout the entire length of the media during the experiment.

The ultimate goal is to use these particle observations to improve parameters for larger scale models to predict the amount and location of contamination. The models would be based on varying types of porous media and varying particle sizes and chemistries, and help to more accurately predict contamination under various irrigation, rainfall, or ambient flow conditions. The research can help inform mathematical models to better understand the likelihood of a particle moving over a certain distance and reaching a vulnerable destination, such as a nearby farmland, river or aquifer. The researchers also studied how the deposition of microplastic particles impacts the permeability of the medium, including how easily water for irrigation can flow through soil when microparticles are present.

Datta said this experiment is the tip of the iceberg in terms of particles and applications that researchers can now study. "Now that we found something so surprising in a system so simple, we're excited to see what the implications are for more complex systems," said Datta.

He said, for example, this principle could yield insight into how clays, minerals, grains, quartz, viruses, microbes and other particles move in media with complex surface chemistries.

The knowledge will also help the researchers understand how to deploy engineered nanoparticles to remediate contaminated groundwater aquifers, perhaps leaked from a manufacturing plant, farm, or urban wastewater stream.

Beyond environmental remediation, the findings are applicable to processes across a spectrum of industries, from drug delivery to filtration mechanisms, effectively any media in which particles flow and accumulate, Datta said.


Explore further 

Hopping bacteria—New look at behavior upends common assumptions about bacteria
More information: Multiscale dynamics of colloidal deposition and erosion in porous media, 

Science Advances (2020). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc2530 , 

advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/46/eabc2530

Journal information: Science Advances 

Provided by Princeton University

Apophis asteroid might be more likely to strike Earth in 2068 than thought

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

DAMIT model of Apophis generated from light curve. This assumes that all areas of the asteroid have a similar albedo and reflectivity. 

Credit: Astronomical Institute of the Charles University: Josef Ďurech, Vojtěch Sidorin,

 CC BY 4.0

David Tholen, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii, recently reported on the status of asteroid Apophis during a virtual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences. During his presentation, he outlined research he and his team conducted regarding the path of the asteroid and the likelihood that it will strike Earth.

The asteroid Apophis was first spotted by astronomers back in 2004. Shortly thereafter, researchers worked out its orbital path and found that the 340-meter-wide asteroid would pass near to the Earth in 2029, 2036 and again in 2068. More study showed that there was little chance of the asteroid striking Earth; thus, it was discounted as a threat. More recently, Tholen and his team noted that earlier researchers had not accounted for the Yarkovsky effect by which rays from the sun strikes one side of an asteroid. As the heat radiates away from the asteroid, a small amount of energy pushes back against the asteroid, forcing it to turn slightly. Tholen and his team calculated that the Yarkovsky effect is pushing Apophis to one side enough to force it to drift by approximately 170 meters a year. They next applied that bit of knowledge to the math describing Apophis's orbit and found that the drift is changing the course of the asteroid in a way that will bring it closer to Earth. He notes that thus far, there is no indication that the asteroid will strike the Earth in 2029 and 2036, but 2068 might be another matter. He suggests that astronomers will have to keep an eye on Apophis as its rendezvous date approaches.

As news of a possible threat from Apophis arises, others have pointed out that the human race has made strides in protecting the planet from asteroid strikes. NASA's DART mission, for example, scheduled for 2022, will involve sending a spacecraft to an asteroid called Didymos and using it to alter the path of Dimorphos, one of its moons. Tholen noted during his talk that study of Apophis when it passes by in 2029 should give scientists a much better idea of whether or not it poses an actual threat in 2068.

Explore further Massive asteroid subject of new findings

© 2020 Science X Network

Solar system formed in less than 200,000 years

by Anne M Stark, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Artist's conception of the dust and gas surrounding a newly formed planetary system. 

Credit: NASA.

A long time ago—roughly 4.5 billion years—our sun and solar system formed over the short time span of 200,000 years. That is the conclusion of a group of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists after looking at isotopes of the element molybdenum found on meteorites.

The material that makes up the sun and the rest of the solar system came from the collapse of a large cloud of gas and dust about 4.5 billion years ago. By observing other stellar systems that formed similarly to ours, astronomers estimate that it probably takes about 1-2 million years for the collapse of a cloud and ignition of a star, but this is the first study that can provide numbers on our own solar system.

"Previously, the timeframe of formation was not really known for our solar system," said LLNL cosmochemist Greg Brennecka, lead author of a paper appearing in Science. "This work shows that this collapse, which led to the formation of the solar system, happened very quickly, in less than 200,000 years. If we scale this all to a human lifespan, formation of the solar system would compare to pregnancy lasting about 12 hours instead of nine months. This was a rapid process."

The oldest dated solids in the solar system are calcium-aluminum–rich inclusions (CAIs), and these samples provide a direct record of solar system formation. These micrometer- to centimeter-sized inclusions in meteorites formed in a high-temperature environment (more than 1,300 Kelvin), probably near the young sun. They were then transported outward to the region where carbonaceous chondrite meteorites (and their parent bodies) formed, where they are found today. The majority of CAIs formed 4.567 billion years ago, over a period of about 40,000 to 200,000 years.

This is where the LLNL team comes in. The international team measured the molybdenum (Mo) isotopic and trace element compositions of a variety of CAIs taken from carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, including Allende, the largest carbonaceous chondrite found on Earth. Because they found that the distinct Mo isotopic compositions of CAIs cover the entire range of material that formed in the protoplanetary disk instead of just a small slice, these inclusions must have formed within the time span of cloud collapse.

Since the observed time span of stellar accretion (1-2 million years) is much longer than CAIs took to form, the team was able to pinpoint which astronomical phase in the solar system's formation was recorded by the formation of CAIs, and ultimately, how quickly the material that makes up the solar system accreted.

Explore further   Ultraviolet shines light on origins of the solar system

More information: Gregory A. Brennecka et al. Astronomical context of Solar System formation from molybdenum isotopes in meteorite inclusions, Science (2020).

DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz8482

Journal information: Science

Provided by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Exploring the reasons behind Kenya's low COVID-19 infection and death rates

by Bob Yirka , Medical Xpress
  

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A team of researchers from institutions in the U.K. and Kenya has been conducting research to explain Kenya's comparatively low COVID-19 infection and death rates. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes analyzing blood from donors in Kenya for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies as a means to estimate infection rates in that country.

As the world continues to grapple with the global pandemic, Africa has begun to stand out from other regions. Infection rates and deaths from COVID-19 have remained much lower across the continent (except South Africa) than in most of the rest of the world. Thus far, little work has addressed why African infection rates have been lower, but some experts in the field suggest it is likely due to demographics—the average age of people across Africa is much lower than in other parts of the world. Others suggest it might simply be a matter of less accurate reporting of infections and deaths. In this new effort, the researchers sought to discover which explanation is more likely. To that end, they conducted a study of donated blood in Kenya—a country in Africa that, like the rest of the continent, has not seen the sky-high infection and deaths rates found in other parts of the world.

The work involved analyzing blood samples collected from donors across the country over the months April to June. Each sample was tested for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies—a sign that the person who had donated the blood had experienced a COVID-19 infection.

The researchers found that approximately 4.3 percent of the donor samples had SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, which, the researchers suggest, indicates that approximately the same percent of the population had been infected—a very high number compared to the number of deaths reported for the same period: roughly 341. They note that during the same time period, Spain had roughly the same percentage of infections but experienced 28,000 deaths.

The researchers were not able to explain why death rates from COVID-19 infections appeared to be lower in Kenya than in other parts of the world, but suggest it might be due to the low average age of people living there. However, they also acknowledge that they might have seen higher-than-average infection rates in their study because people in Kenya who are willing to donate blood might also be more likely to have been infected. They also suggest the possibility that people in Kenya might simply have more natural resistance to such infections.


Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak  

More information: Sophie Uyoga et al. Seroprevalence of anti–SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in Kenyan blood donors, Science (2020). DOI: 10.1126/science.abe1916
Journal information: Science

Where is Megan Rapinoe? How the USWNT star followed 2019 accolades with 2020 crusades

Ameé Ruszkai SPORTING NEWS 

NOV 14, 2020

Outside of women’s soccer, Megan Rapinoe was not the icon she is today before 2019.

After being a leading figure in her sport for years, last summer she exploded into the mainstream media within weeks.

Amid a very public feud with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, the winger helped the U.S. women's national team to a second successive World Cup triumph, her goal in the final one of six across the tournament – a Golden Boot-winning total.

While continuing to divide opinion for her outspoken nature, Rapinoe collected the Ballon d’Or and a whole host of other individual awards to cap a year where the media’s attention on her swelled like never before.

However, as 2020 comes to a close and those individual accolades are ready to be dished out again, she is not in the conversation.

Winner of Goal 50 last year, the 35-year-old doesn’t even make the list this time around.

For an athlete who has long been about more than just the sport she loves though, that in itself is telling of who she is.

It was March 11 when Rapinoe last stepped foot on the pitch. With seven minutes on the clock, she thundered a free-kick from 25 yards into the top corner to put the United States ahead against Japan, and on their way to winning the SheBelieves Cup.

Video player from: YouTube (Privacy Policy, Terms)

Since then, soccer has been put on hold. Rapinoe opted out of playing for her club, OL Reign, when the NWSL organized the Challenge Cup in July, after the regular season was unable to go ahead. She also decided not to play in the Fall Series in September.

Instead, in a year which has seen a number of politicians tell athletes to stick to their sport, Rapinoe has been using her voice to draw attention to issues that have taken huge precedence in 2020.

From stressing the importance of a fair vote in this year’s presidential election, to supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and continuing to fight against all forms of discrimination, she has been pushing a number of significant messages to her millions of followers.

She has had a huge impact while doing so, too.

© Provided by Sporting News Lionel Messi Megan Rapinoe

Fair Count is an organization that fights to achieve a fair and accurate census in Georgia and around the United States.

Their message was especially important in an election year – even more so in hindsight, with Trump calling several times for all counting of votes to stop – and founder Stacey Abrams was just one of many important figures that Rapinoe used her platform to amplify.

“She did an online programme called Ask Stacey, where we talked about the census,” Rebecca DeHart, CEO of Fair Count, tells Goal.

“We were able to use some of those videos for online digital advertising and we got some of the best click throughs, where folks went the next step and learned about the census afterwards, from using her and other people that were part of that programme.

“Also, while we won't get full census numbers yet, we do know that we did better than we did in 2010 in Georgia, and that is really exciting,” she added, speaking just before the recent election.

“In all the seven states in the southeast part of the United States, only three improved their 2010 census counts and it was really great that we were one of them.”

Georgia was one of the crucial swing states in the 2020 U.S. election and, pending a recount, Trump's defeat there has helped to seal his fate as a one-term president.

Patrisse Cullors-Brignac, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, and Joe Biden, the U.S. president-elect, were other guests on the winger’s Instagram, while she also hosted a show on HBO called Seeing America, with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever to serve in the United States Congress, among those involved.

It was not just high-profile names she lifted up on her platform, either. As part of the Movement for Black Lives’ #ShareTheMicNow campaign, Rapinoe was one of many white women with huge followings who leant their social accounts to black women.

Fresco Steez, a cultural curator and creative strategist, took over Rapinoe’s account, sharing imperative messages of anti-racism to over two million people. Steez has 6,000 followers on her own Instagram account. “This is the voice we need to follow,” Rapinoe wrote.

This activism is not anything new. She is not just jumping onto the bandwagon and pretending to care

© Provided by Sporting News Megan Rapinoe USWNT GFX (1:1)

When NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the American national anthem back in 2016 - protesting against racial injustice, police brutality and systematic oppression - Rapinoe was among the first athletes to support him.

As a result, U.S. Soccer created a policy that required all players to stand "respectfully" during the anthem, making it the first league or governing body to do so.

“It was a little nod to Kaepernick and everything that he’s standing for right now,” she said at the time, explaining her decision to kneel.

“I think it’s actually pretty disgusting the way he was treated and the way that a lot of the media has covered it and made it about something that it absolutely isn’t.

“We need to have a more thoughtful, two-sided conversation about racial issues in this country.”

People like Rapinoe pushing these messages, to a different audience than the usual streams, can help change attitudes and open the eyes of those who do not see these issues or believe they do not impact them.

“The census is not the sexiest thing. When we're able to break out of that frame of nerdiness and talk about what it really means and how everyone is equally affected by it, that just really helps bolster our message,” DeHart explained.

“Megan is the true 'see something, say something' type of person and I admire her so much for that. She has a moral compass that points true north.

“When she partnered with us on the census, she understood that if people didn't get counted, if they were either scared of participating or didn't trust participating, she knew what was at stake.

“She knew then that it would be very hard for them to be seen and heard for the next decade.”

© Provided by Sporting News Megan Rapinoe quote GFX (1:1)

The sad thing is that Rapinoe remains in the minority when it comes to elite soccer stars speaking out.

“They could do so much if they decided to use their stupendous level of popularity to fight racism, for example,” she told L’Equipe Mag recently, speaking about stars such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

“I’m not talking about wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt, I’m talking about going deeper.

“Lewis Hamilton's willingness to speak out is incredible, not to mention LeBron James, as they are at the centre of colossal economic powers.

“Naomi Osaka, who at the US Open wore masks with the names of black people killed by U.S. police, like Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. In the middle of the tennis world, which is so white!

“These athletes inspire me. There is like an invisible thread between us. We must not be shy.”

Last year, when Rapinoe took to the stage at the FIFA Best Awards, having been named best women's player for 2019, she said: “Lend your platform to other people, share your success.”

One year on, she is not in contention to retain that award, or any she collected 12 months ago, such has been her lack of impact on the pitch throughout 2020. However, away from soccer, it has been more of the same from the two-time World Cup winner.

While many soccer stars appear afraid of speaking out against what is wrong, Rapinoe’s continued fight against injustice and discrimination is one of the few things that has been normal about 2020.

New Alabama senator struggles with basic WWII history and says US fought ‘socialism and communism’

It’s not his only recent gaffe about history 

Josh Marcus
NOV 14, 2020

Tommy Tuberville, the incoming Republican senator from Alabama, doubled down on his erroneous grasp of World War II history in comments on Thursday, telling a news site his father, a US soldier, fought to “free Europe of socialism.”

“I tell people, my dad fought 76 years ago in Europe to free Europe of Socialism,” he told Alabama Daily News. “Today, you look at this election, we have half this country that made some kind of movement, now they might not believe in it 100 per cent, but they made some kind of movement toward socialism.”

Last week, he made a similar remark in a speech to supporters, recounting that his father was part of “liberating Paris from socialism and communism.” 

Tommy Tuberville, the incoming US senator for Alabama
(Tuberville for Senate, Inc. )

Though the full name of the Nazis was the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, they were fascists, not socialists. And the Soviet Union, a US ally during the war, was communist.

During the campaign, in which Mr Tuberville, the former football coach of Auburn University, defeated Democratic incumbent Doug Jones, the Republican had another factual mix-up, appearing not to understand what the landmark Voting Rights Act is.

Calling Democrats socialists is a longstanding canard that has resurfaced in recent years thanks in part to the growing prominence of progressives like senator Bernie Sanders and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who describe themselves as “democratic socialists.”

But as she told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, despite attacks from the right and the left that Democrats are going socialist and losing voters, she’s not aware of anyone in office who fits the description of a true socialist.

“If you look at some of the arguments that are being advanced, that ‘Defund the Police’ hurt or that arguments about socialism hurt, not a single member of Congress that I’m aware of campaigned on socialism or defunding the police in this general election,” she said.

The arguments over the label reflect a broader discussion going on in the Democratic party about how liberal it should be, following its presidential win and disappointing run in congressional elections.

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Austin-Healey1 day ago

If a 66-year-old Republican senator can believe the second world war was about defeating socialism and Communism then you can bet your life that a good many of the those seventy something million who voted for Trump will believe something similar too.

But that wasn’t his only cock up, he spoke of the three branches of US government being the House, the Senate, and the executive, whereas as any high school graduate will have been taught them to be the legislative, the executive and the judicial.

But these are the same sort of mistakes we've come to expect of Trump, when he came to office his ignorance of world history, the American constitution, foreign affairs, even common everyday world affairs was astoundingly poor and America didnt seem to notice.

RELIGIOUS RITES VS HUMAN RIGHTS

Jehovah’s Witness elders made teen listen to recording of her rape for hours, lawsuit claims

At issue is whether courts can hold churches liable for inflicting emotional distress during religiously motivated processes

Josh Marcus NOV 12, 2020


Dozens of lawsuits across the country have accused the Jehovah’s Witnesses of mishandling abuse allegations inside the church.

Elders at a Utah congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses allegedly forced a 15-year-old to listen to a recording of her rape over and over again for hours as part of a religious inquiry, a lawsuit before the Utah Supreme Court claims.

The case seeks to hold the leaders and the church at large responsible for inflicting emotional distress.

The church claims, and lower courts have ruled, that to hold them liable would violate the religious freedoms of the First Amendment of the US Constitution, since it involves weighing the appropriateness of religious conduct.

In duelling briefs, as well as oral arguments for the case on Monday (recordings of which are not yet available), the two sides wrestled over the meaning of this bedrock of American civil rights law.

Karra Porter, a lawyer representing the church, argued there was a difference between the government regulating physical harm and that of the facts in the case, according to the Desert News.

But at least one justice seems not see it that way.

The suit, originally filed in 2016, argued that the leaders of a congregation in Roy, Utah, made the teen girl sit and listen to the recordings for hours in 2008 as part of a religious inquiry. The woman in question, now an adult in her 20s, said in court documents a fellow Jehovah’s Witness, age 18, bullied her and allegedly raped her three times, including one instance in which the man involved recorded the incident.

This triggered an investigation from the church in early 2008, where the leaders called the girl and her parents into a committee which would decide whether she had engaged in sinful conduct. During the meeting, they played the recording on and off “for hours” in an attempt to extract a confession, according to court documents, as the girl “continued crying and was ‘physically quivering’ from the trauma of having to listen to her assault over and over.”

This led, her lawyers say, to anxiety, nightmares, loss of appetite, and poor performance in school, leading her to seek damages from the church.

But two lower courts found that the church couldn’t be held liable.

As the Utah Court of Appeals held in 2019, doing would require “an inquiry into the appropriateness of the Church’s conduct in applying a religious practice and therefore violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment," which bars the government from instituting particular religious practices.

Dozens of suits nationwide have accused the Jehovah’s Witnesses of mismanaging or covering up abuse inside the church, including one in early 2020, when the Montana Supreme Court reversed a $35 million judgement against the church for not reporting a girl’s abuse to authorities

“The allegation here is a mental a nd emotional equivalent of waterboarding,” Justice Deno Himonas said. “I’ve been a judge for a long time and a lawyer for a long time. I’ve never seen, in court, anything like this that’s alleged.”

The lawyers on the other side have previously argued that neglecting to challenge the church’s alleged actions here would set a precedent that “would give actors free rein to injure others under the guise of religious freedom—a proposition that the US Supreme Court has rejected repeatedly for over a century.” 

Lawyers representing the church and the alleged victim did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read more

Jehovah’s Witnesses deny sexual abuse within church was covered up

Russia’s Jehovah’s Witnesses allege ‘21st-century Inquisition’

Jehovah’s Witnesses targeted under Russia's anti-extremism laws

Meet Rebekah Mercer, the deep-pocketed co-founder of Parler, a controversial conservative social network

Rebekah Mercer, a prominent conservative donor, revealed Saturday that she is helping to bankroll Parler, the rapidly growing but controversial conservative social media platform that was at the top of App Store charts last week.

© Patrick McMullan/Getty Images Rebekah Mercer in 2017

Mercer is the daughter of Robert Mercer, a hedge fund manager and the co-founder of the now-defunct political data-analysis firm Cambridge Analytica. The Mercers have been prominent supporters of President Donald Trump and conservative causes. 

THEY FOUNDED AND FUNDED BREIBART NEWS

"John and I started Parler to provide a neutral platform for free speech, as our founders intended, and also to create a social media environment that would protect data privacy," Mercer said in a statement on the platform. "The ever increasing tyranny and hubris of our tech overlords demands that someone lead the fight against data mining, and for the protection of free speech online. That someone is Parler, a beacon to all who value their liberty, free speech, and personal privacy."

What is Parler?

Parler, founded in 2018 by Mercer, John Matze and Jared Thomson, bills itself as "unbiased social media" and a place where people can "speak freely and express yourself openly without fear of being 'deplatformed' for your views," according to its website and App Store description. It looks like a mashup of Twitter and Instagram, with its main feed, follower counts and ways to share posts and links.

The platform became the most-downloaded free app in the Apple App Store on the weekend of November 8 -- the day major media outlets called the election for Joe Biden.

Parler mostly attracts conservative users. Some of Parler's most-active users include Fox News host Sean Hannity, radio personality Mark Levin, far-right activist Laura Loomer, Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Devin Nunes. Eric Trump and Donald Trump's presidential campaign also have accounts on the platform.

A substantial number of users have followed these voices onto the platform, fueled by complaints over actions major social media platforms have taken against election misinformation and false allegations of voter fraud, such as disputing claims with fact-check labels.

Twitter, more than Facebook, took aggressive action on many of President Trump's tweets during the election. At one point, the social network applied warning labels to more than a third of Trump's tweets after polls closed. Some of Trump's tweets were hidden behind a warning label which users had to click through before being able to read what they said.

With big tech companies flagging false information, Parler has become a free-for-all for conservative voices. According to an ADL report released on Thursday, members of the Proud Boys, adherents of conspiracy theory QAnon, anti-government extremists and white supremacists all openly promote their views on Parler. "Holocaust denial, antisemitism, racism and other forms of bigotry are also easy to find," the ADL said.


Who is Rebekah Mercer?

For years, the Mercers have been key benefactors of conservative groups, ranging from the Heritage Foundation think tank, where Rebekah Mercer serves on the board of trustees, to organizations that have produced anti-Hillary-Clinton books and movies.

But the family emerged in national politics in the 2016 election cycle when Robert Mercer, who helped oversee Renaissance Technologies hedge fund, and his wife Diane, donated more than $23 million to groups that backed conservative candidates, according to a tally by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.

In that election, the Mercers financed a super PAC that initially backed Texas Senator Ted Cruz's bid for the Republican presidential nomination before throwing its support behind Trump.

The media-shy Rebekah Mercer is widely reported to have persuaded then-candidate Trump to reshuffle his campaign organization and hire Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway to help run his presidential bid in the final stretch of the 2016 election. Rebekah Mercer went on to serve on the executive committee of Trump's transition team,

Rebekah Mercer did not respond to a request for comment. Robert Mercer stepped aside from Renaissance in 2017.

-- CNN's Fredreka Schouten and Kaya Yurieff contributed to this re