It annoys me when people "comment" by pasting articles from the media that are unrelated to the original posts they are pasted to. The original post may get 500 or less visits and it is likely the irrelevant article is read by no one -- and certainly not by me. So here is a space for readers to paste articles from the media that they perhaps think no one else has seen. If it is successful in diverting irrelevant pasting, maybe I'll put up an open thread regularly.
39 comments:
??
I think they may be robots/spammer?
‘I feel sorry for Americans’: A baffled world watches the US
NY Times via @BostonGlobe - September 26
BANGKOK — Myanmar is a poor country struggling with open ethnic warfare and a coronavirus outbreak that could overload its broken hospitals. That hasn’t stopped its politicians from commiserating with a country they think has lost its way.
“I feel sorry for Americans,” said Myint Oo, a member of Parliament in Myanmar. “But we can’t help the U.S. because we are a very small country.”
The same sentiment prevails in Canada, one of the most developed countries. Two out of three Canadians live within about 60 miles of the U.S. border.
“Personally, it’s like watching the decline of the Roman Empire,” said Mike Bradley, the mayor of Sarnia, an industrial city on the border with Michigan, where locals used to venture for lunch.
Amid the pandemic and in the run-up to the presidential election, much of the world is watching the United States with a mix of shock, chagrin and, most of all, bafflement.
How did a superpower allow itself to be felled by a virus? And after nearly four years during which President Donald Trump has praised authoritarian leaders and obscenely dismissed some other countries as insignificant and crime-ridden, is the United States in danger of exhibiting some of the same traits he has disparaged?
“The USA is a first-world country, but it is acting like a third-world country,” said Aung Thu Nyein, a political analyst in Myanmar.
Adding to the sense of bewilderment, Trump has refused to embrace an indispensable principle of democracy, dodging questions about whether he will commit to a peaceful transition of power after the November election should he lose.
His demurral, combined with his frequent attacks on the balloting process, earned a rebuke from Republicans, including Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah. “Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power,” Romney wrote on Twitter. “Without that, there is Belarus.” ...
... that the president of the United States, the very country that shepherded the birth of Germany’s own peaceful democracy after the defeat of the Third Reich, was wavering on the sanctity of the electoral process has been met with disbelief and dismay.
The diminution of the United States’ global image began before the pandemic, as Trump administration officials snubbed international accords and embraced an America First policy. Now, though, its reputation seems to be in free fall.
A Pew Research Center poll of 13 countries found that over the past year, nations including Canada, Japan, Australia and Germany have been viewing the United States in its most negative light in years. In every country surveyed, the vast majority of respondents thought the United States was doing a bad job with the pandemic. ...
US Image Plummets Internationally
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/24/us/politics/trump-health-care-plan.html
September 24, 2020
Trump Promises Drug Discount Cards as an Expensive Pre-election Gift
The $200 cards for prescription drugs, intended for 33 million older Americans, are part of a $6.6 billion promise offered to a key constituency.
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Margot Sanger-Katz
WASHINGTON — President Trump vowed on Thursday to send $200 discount cards for prescription drugs to 33 million older Americans, a $6.6 billion election-eve promise with dubious legal authority that he announced as part of a speech billed as presenting a long-awaited health care plan.
Mr. Trump made the announcement before an audience of health professionals in Charlotte, N.C., where he laid out what the White House called the America First health care plan. Though senior administration officials had previewed the speech, they had not mentioned the drug discount cards.
Mr. Trump’s broader plan is short on specifics, and its two core provisions are largely symbolic. The first is an executive order aimed at protecting people with pre-existing conditions — a provision already in the Affordable Care Act, which Mr. Trump is trying to overturn. The second — a push to end surprise medical billing — would require congressional action.
That left the drug discount cards as the major advance in Mr. Trump’s speech. It was not clear where the money for the cards would come from or whether the White House could legally issue them. But they amounted to a gift to a key constituency, offered weeks before Election Day.
A senior administration official said the discount cards would be authorized under a waiver program that allowed Medicare to test certain new policy ideas. The money would come from savings gleaned from the president’s directive this month that required Medicare to pay no more for prescription drugs than in other developed nations, the official said.
But that program has not yet been devised or enacted.
“Is the plan to borrow from potential future savings from a program that does not yet exist?” asked Rachel Sachs, an associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, who studies prescription drug policy.
The announcement came as a surprise because the White House had tried last month to strike a deal with the pharmaceutical industry on a broad effort to lower drug prices. But that deal collapsed after Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, insisted that the industry pay for such cards. The companies balked, fearing that they would be footing the bill for the “Trump cards” aimed at older American voters.
“As we’ve previously said, one-time savings cards will neither provide lasting help, nor advance the fundamental reforms necessary to help seniors better afford their medicines,” Priscilla VanderVeer, the vice president of public affairs for PhRMA, the industry’s largest trade group, said in an email after Mr. Trump’s speech.
But in an appearance on CNN, Mr. Meadows suggested — without offering an explanation — that pharmaceutical manufacturers would still pay for the cards, which he said older Americans would begin receiving in October....
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/25/xi-china-climate-change-saved-the-world%E2%80%A8/
September 25, 2020
Did Xi Just Save the World?
In a little-noticed speech this week, China permanently changed the global fight against climate change.
By ADAM TOOZE
“China will scale up its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions by adopting more vigorous policies and measures. We aim to have [carbon dioxide] emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.”
Xi Jinping’s speech via video link to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 22 was not widely trailed in advance. But with those two short sentences China’s leader may have redefined the future prospects for humanity.
That may sound like hyperbole, but in the world of climate politics it is hard to exaggerate China’s centrality. Thanks to the gigantic surge in economic growth since 2000 and its reliance on coal-fired electricity generation, China is now by far the largest emitter of carbon dioxide. At about 28 percent of the global total, the carbon dioxide produced in China (as opposed to that consumed in the form of Chinese exports) is about as much as that produced by the United States, European Union, and India combined. Per capita, its emissions are now greater than those of the EU if we count carbon dioxide emissions on a production rather than a consumption basis.
Global warming is produced not by the annual flows of carbon but by the stocks that have accumulated over time in the Earth’s atmosphere. Allowing an equal ration for every person on the planet, it remains the case that the historic responsibility for excessive carbon accumulation lies overwhelmingly with the United States and Europe. Still today China’s emissions per capita are less than half those of the United States. But as far as future emissions are concerned, everything hinges on China. As concerned as Europeans and Americans may be with climate policy, they are essentially bystanders in a future determined by the decisions made by the large, rapidly growing Asian economies, with China far in the lead. China’s rapid rebound from the COVID-19 shock only reinforces that point. With his terse remarks, Xi has mapped out a large part of the future path ahead.
As the impact of his remarks sank in, climate modelers crunched the numbers and concluded that, if fully implemented, China’s new commitment will by itself lower the projected temperature increase by 0.2-0.3 degrees Celsius. It is the largest favorable shock that their models have ever produced....
Adam Tooze is a history professor and director of the European Institute at Columbia University.
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-09-23/Full-text-Xi-Jinping-s-speech-at-General-Debate-of-UNGA-U07X2dn8Ag/index.html
September 23, 2020
Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at the General Debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly
There were 88,942 new coronavirus cases recorded in India today. Cases have climbed above 80,000 daily in the last weeks. The distressing point that should be made is just how undeveloped healthcare infrastructure is in India, for all the growth the last couple of decades. Indian infrastructure in general is poorly developed, as Amartya Sen pointed to in the wake of being awarded a Nobel Prize in economics, but there was little response to Sen from development specialists and even express criticism from Indian economists. Now, we find India in any day recording about as many or more coronavirus cases as China has recorded in all.
Undeveloped Indian infrastructure has presented daunting problems in national efforts to limit the coronavirus spread.
India began the year as the third largest economy, and so far has experienced a fierce recession that because of structural dislocations domestically is going to take a considerable time to recover from. This means an important driver of the international economy has been lost already and will continue to be lost for a considerable time, and this will make an international recovery that much slower.
September 26, 2020
Coronavirus
India
Cases ( 5,990,513)
Deaths ( 94,533)
Deaths per million ( 68)
Changes at SCOTUS:
The justice will now conduct oral arguments speaking in tongues.
If a justice becomes pregnant, the fetus will fully participate in the court's work, with an equal vote.
Female justices will be termed Hand-maids and addressed as such. Appropriate headgear will be provided.
The first order of business will be to formally exorcise the Spirit of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Sessions to begin, continue and end with prayer. Prayer-books will be provided.
God Bless America!
In Critical Swing State (PA), Trump Again Stokes Doubt on Election Process
NY Times - September 26
MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — President Trump sought again on Saturday night to cast doubt on the integrity of the presidential election, telling supporters that the only way Democrats can win in Pennsylvania is to “cheat on the ballots” and raising the prospect that a disputed election could be decided by Congress.
Pressing his baseless case that the election in November will be a “disaster,” Mr. Trump said at a rally just outside a hangar at the Harrisburg airport that he would have “an advantage” if Congress were to decide.
The comments, delivered in drizzling rain, were part of the president’s continuing effort to discredit the United States’ election process as he trails former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., his Democratic rival.
“I don’t want to end up in the Supreme Court, and I don’t want to go back to Congress, even though we have an advantage if we go back to Congress. Does everyone understand that?” Mr. Trump told supporters. “I think it’s 26 to 22 or something.” ...
Related:
Voters Believe Winner of Election Should Fill Court Vacancy, Poll Shows
NY Times - September 27
A Times/Siena College poll showed that 56 percent said the next president should nominate a Supreme Court justice. And Joe Biden retained a clear lead over President Trump, 49 to 41 percent.
“I don’t want to end up in the Supreme Court, and I don’t want to go back to Congress, even though we have an advantage if we go back to Congress. Does everyone understand that?” Mr. Trump told supporters. “I think it’s 26 to 22 or something.” ...
Actually, "Republicans control 26 delegations and
Democrats control 23, with one tie (Pennsylvania)."
Mr Trump appears to be alluding to what would happen should there be a tie vote
in the Electoral College. The House of Reps will select the president, with
each state having one vote. GOP representatives are the majority, currently,
in 26 states.
Republican Edge in Electoral College Tie Endures
— The House has not had to pick a president in nearly two centuries. In the event of such a tiebreaking vote, each state’s U.S. House delegation would get to cast a single vote. The eventual president would need to win a majority of the 50 state delegations.
— Republicans control 26 delegations and Democrats control 23, with one tie (Pennsylvania). That is a slight improvement for Democrats from this time last year, although that improvement is based on a fluke and may not endure. ...
A majority of state U.S. House delegations — 26 of 50 — must vote for a candidate in order for that candidate to win the presidency. If no candidate can assemble a majority, the person selected as vice president would serve as president (assuming the Senate could actually produce a majority for vice president — the hypotheticals here are starting to give us a headache).
Despite being in the House minority, Republicans retain a bare majority of delegations: They hold 26 of the 50 delegations. Democrats hold 23, and one state is split: Pennsylvania, at nine seats apiece. ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/27/world/asia/covid-19-india-children-school-education-labor.html
September 27, 2020
As Covid-19 Closes Schools, the World’s Children Go to Work
Former students are taking illegal and often dangerous jobs in India and other developing countries, potentially rolling back years of progress in social mobility and public health.
By Jeffrey Gettleman and Suhasini Raj
TUMAKURU, India — Every morning in front of the Devaraj Urs public housing apartment blocks on the outskirts of the city of Tumakuru, a swarm of children pours into the street.
They are not going to school. Instead of backpacks or books, each child carries a filthy plastic sack.
These children, from 6 to 14 years old, have been sent by their parents to rummage through garbage dumps littered with broken glass and concrete shards in search of recyclable plastic. They earn a few cents per hour and most wear no gloves or masks. Many cannot afford shoes and make their rounds barefoot, with bleeding feet.
“I hate it,” said Rahul, an 11-year-old boy praised by his teacher as bright. But in March, India closed its schools because of the coronavirus pandemic, and Rahul had to go to work.
In many parts of the developing world, school closures put children on the streets. Families are desperate for money. Children are an easy source of cheap labor. While the United States and other developed countries debate the effectiveness of online schooling, hundreds of millions of children in poorer countries lack computers or the internet and have no schooling at all.
United Nations officials estimate that at least 24 million children will drop out and that millions could be sucked into work. Ten-year-olds are now mining sand in Kenya. Children the same age are chopping weeds on cocoa plantations in West Africa. In Indonesia, boys and girls as young as 8 are painted silver and pressed into service as living statues who beg for money....
Trump Promises Drug Discount Cards as an Expensive Pre-election Gift
Trump’s $200 prescription cards won’t hit mailboxes just yet
AP via @BostonGlobe - September 25
WASHINGTON — If you’re on Medicare, don’t run to the mailbox looking for a $200 prescription drug card courtesy of President Donald Trump.
Government officials said Friday that key details of Trump's election-year giveaway still have to be fleshed out, including the exact timing and how Medicare's cost would be covered — a sum that could approach $7 billion.
It's also unclear which Medicare enrollees will get the promised cards. Trump said 33 million beneficiaries would receive cards in the mail, but more than 60 million people are covered by the federal health insurance program for seniors.
Trade groups representing the two industries most affected by the plan — drug companies and insurers — said they have received no specifics from the Trump administration. Public policy experts called it an attention-grabbing move — weeks before the presidential election — that won't change much in the end.
“Providing a coupon does absolutely nothing to address the underlying problem of high and rising drug prices,” said Tricia Neuman, a Medicare expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “The administration has had nearly four years to work with Congress or go through the regulatory process to adopt proposals that could have a real and sustained impact on drug prices.” ...
Trump's tax returns show the extent to which he has repeatedly betrayed the interests of the average Americans who elected him
via @Bloomberg - September 28
In a tour de force of hard won reporting, the New York Times has put numerical clothing on what we’ve known about President Donald Trump for decades — that, at best, he’s a haphazard businessman, human billboard and serial bankruptcy artist who gorges on debt he may have a hard time repaying.
The Times, in a news story published Sunday evening that disclosed years of the president’s tax returns, also put a lot of clothing on things we didn’t know. Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016, the year he was elected president, and the same amount the following year, when he entered the White House. In many years recently he hasn’t paid anything at all. He has played so fast and loose with the taxman that he’s entangled in an audit. He paid his daughter Ivanka lush consulting fees that he deducted as a business expense even though she helped him manage the Trump Organization. And he’s taken questionable tax write-offs on everything from getting his hair coifed to managing his personal residences.
Step away from the tragicomic tawdriness and grift that the tax returns define, however, and focus on what they reveal about Trump as the most powerful man in the world and occupant of the Oval Office.
Due to his indebtedness, his reliance on income from overseas and his refusal to authentically distance himself from his hodgepodge of business, Trump represents a profound national security threat – a threat that will only escalate if he’s re-elected. The tax returns also show the extent to which Trump has repeatedly betrayed the interests of many of the average Americans who elected him and remain his most loyal supporters. ...
According to the Times, Trump has about $421 million in debts which he has personally guaranteed and which are coming due over the next several years. This is consistent with earlier reporting about how much debt he carries, a chunk of which could be gleaned from the personal financial disclosures he is required to file with the federal government. ...
... Trump paid $750 in taxes the year he was elected! That’s way less than the $130,000 in hush money he paid Stormy Daniels. In 2012, Trump criticized Barack Obama for “only” paying $161,950 in taxes. That’s a lot more than $750 too! And it’s a lot more than the $0 in taxes Trump frequently paid.
Trump even paid far less than his really wealthy buddies. As Times reporter David Leonhardt noted, “Over the past two decades, Mr. Trump has paid about $400 million less in combined federal income taxes than a very wealthy person who paid the average for that group each year.” It’s even more troubling when you compare Trump’s tax payments to an American household earning about $75,000 in 2016. Those folks paid about $14,000 in federal income taxes — which is also a lot more than $750.
Anyone buying Trump’s tripe about looking out for the little guy while he occupies the White House, or who takes their lives in their hands attending one of his Covid-19-defying campaign rallies, should bear in mind one of the many things the Times’s reporting substantiates: The president of the United States is in it only for himself, and he’s laughing all the way to the bank. And he’s laughing at you, too.
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump · Sep 27
I will be strongly demanding a Drug Test of Sleepy Joe Biden prior to, or after,
the Debate on Tuesday night. Naturally, I will agree to take one also. ...
----
What will Joe Biden strongly demand of Dodger Don?
https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1310541057030057984
Paul Krugman @paulkrugman
The irresponsible rush to reopen doesn't reflect public demand; it's led by cynical politicians
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/09/28/new-survey-yes-americans-will-give-up-liberties-fight-coronavirus/
New survey: Yes, Americans will give up liberties to fight the coronavirus
The pandemic raises tradeoffs between individual freedom and public safety
7:25 AM · Sep 28, 2020
How the Biden-Trump Debate Will Play on TV
NY Times - September 28
Chris Wallace ... flies to Cleveland to take charge of the opening bout between Joseph R. Biden Jr. and President Trump.
Tuesday’s debate, which airs commercial-free from 9 to 10:30 p.m. Eastern time on every major network, is likely to attract a television and livestreaming audience of close to 100 million for the kind of civic gathering increasingly rare in a polarized, pandemic-stricken age. ...
... The opening round typically attracts the largest audience of the campaign. The Fox News anchor will also face intense scrutiny on how he handles the evening, particularly given Mr. Trump’s tendency to hurl false and baseless claims at his opponents.
“My job is to be as invisible as possible,” Mr. Wallace, who has declined outside interviews ahead of his Tuesday appearance, said during a Fox News segment on Sunday. “I’m trying to get them to engage, to focus on the key issues, to give people at home a sense of, ‘why I want to vote for one versus the other.’” ...
Not yet behind a paywall!
New survey: Yes, Americans will give up liberties to fight the coronavirus
Washington Post - September 28
September 27, 2020
Coronavirus
US
Cases ( 7,321,343)
Deaths ( 209,453)
India
Cases ( 6,073,348)
Deaths ( 95,574)
Mexico
Cases ( 726,431)
Deaths ( 76,243)
France
Cases ( 538,569)
Deaths ( 31,727)
UK
Cases ( 434,969)
Deaths ( 41,988)
Germany
Cases ( 286,338)
Deaths ( 9,534)
Canada
Cases ( 153,125)
Deaths ( 9,268)
China
Cases ( 85,351)
Deaths ( 4,634)
September 27, 2020
Coronavirus (Deaths per million)
US ( 632)
UK ( 618)
Mexico ( 590)
France ( 486)
Canada ( 245)
Germany ( 114)
India ( 69)
China ( 3)
Notice the ratios of deaths to coronavirus cases are 9.7%, 5.9% and 10.5% for the United Kingdom, France and Mexico respectively. These ratios are high, but were significantly higher.
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-09-28/Chinese-mainland-reports-21-new-COVID-19-cases-all-from-overseas-U92gOwkwmc/index.html
September 28, 2020
Chinese mainland reports 21 new COVID-19 cases
The Chinese mainland registered 21 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, all from overseas, the National Health Commission said on Monday.
This is the 43-consecutive-day without domestic transmissions on the Chinese mainland. No deaths were reported Monday while 12 patients were discharged from hospitals.
The total number of confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland stands at 85,372 with a death toll of 4,634, while 367 asymptomatic patients are currently under medical observation.
Chinese mainland new imported cases
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-09-28/Chinese-mainland-reports-21-new-COVID-19-cases-all-from-overseas-U92gOwkwmc/img/10f83d1c01dd4ae893e606483957dfd3/10f83d1c01dd4ae893e606483957dfd3.jpeg
Chinese mainland new asymptomatic cases
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-09-28/Chinese-mainland-reports-21-new-COVID-19-cases-all-from-overseas-U92gOwkwmc/img/a12b4757f86c4a2b941a9880cc693eab/a12b4757f86c4a2b941a9880cc693eab.jpeg
There has been no coronavirus death on the Chinese mainland since May 17. There has been no community or domestic coronavirus case for 43 days. Since June began there have been only 2 limited community clusters of infections, in Beijing and Urumqi in Xinjiang, both of which were contained with mass testing, contact tracing and quarantine, and both outbreaks ended in a few weeks. Imported coronavirus cases are caught at entry points with required testing and immediate quarantine. Asymptomatic cases are all quarantined.
The flow of imported cases to China is low, but has been persistent. There are as a result 185 active imported coronavirus cases on the Chinese mainland, but of which only 3 cases are classed as serious or critical.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Meet Donald Trump
NY Times - September 28
... Bret Stephens: Right. All Biden has to say is, I’m Joe, two plus two is four and 10 times 10 is one hundred, I love my wife, I’m not going to declare war on anyone’s suburb, my economic plan is to cut taxes on the middle class, build a faster Acela and declare the Trump hotel in Washington a toxic-waste dump, I won’t blow up the world and I’m definitely not Donald Trump. Argument over.
Gail Collins: Can I say I’m simultaneously hoping he projects a cheerful, warm personality while beating his opponent to a pulp on issues like health care and the environment?
Bret: It’s very important for Biden to play the Happy Warrior. A few jokes would be great (assuming he doesn’t fumble the punch lines). Above all, he shouldn’t scare away wavering voters, either with a memory lapse or by advocating a far-left position, like free health care for illegal immigrants. He won the Democratic nomination as a moderate and that’s the brand he needs to win the White House.
Gail: What about you? On matters of pure policy — like health care or unions — you may actually agree with Trump more often than Biden, right?
Bret: Well, it isn’t so much that I agree more with Trump — I’m a much more libertarian conservative than this administration when it comes to trade, abortion, legal immigration and international alliances, to mention a few issues. But my disagreements with Biden, as broad as they are, seem fairly trivial given what’s at stake in the election. I’d rather have a president who might sometimes get a bit confused than one who deliberately sows confusion. I’d rather lose more of my paycheck in taxes under Biden than lose more of my democracy in demagogic deceit under Trump. And I’d rather have a president who willingly pays lots of taxes on a relatively low income than one who pays almost no taxes on a high one.
Gail: Ah. That’s why you’re such a great sparring partner. Always with underlying principles.
Bret: Principles is a little too generous, Gail. I just like democracy. ...
September 27, 2020
Coronavirus
India
Cases ( 6,073,348)
Deaths ( 95,574)
Deaths per million ( 69)
There were over 85,000 new coronavirus cases recorded in India on September 27. New cases have climbed and stayed above 80,000 daily for weeks. The distressing point that should be made is just how undeveloped public health or healthcare infrastructure is in India, for all the general growth the last couple of decades. Indian infrastructure in general is poorly developed, as Amartya Sen pointed to in the wake of being awarded a Nobel Prize in economics, but there was little response to Sen from development specialists and even express criticism from Indian economists. Now, we find India in any day recording about as many or more coronavirus cases as China has recorded in all.
Undeveloped Indian infrastructure has presented daunting problems in national efforts to limit the coronavirus spread.
India began the year as the third largest economy, and so far has experienced a fierce recession that because of structural dislocations domestically is going to take a considerable time to recover from. This means an important driver of the international economy has been lost already and will continue to be lost for a considerable time, and this will make an international recovery that much slower.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/27/world/asia/covid-19-india-children-school-education-labor.html
September 27, 2020
As Covid-19 Closes Schools, the World’s Children Go to Work
Former students are taking illegal and often dangerous jobs in India and other developing countries, potentially rolling back years of progress in social mobility and public health.
By Jeffrey Gettleman and Suhasini Raj
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/world/asia/india-coronavirus-farmer-suicides-lockdown.html
September 8, 2020
‘The Lockdown Killed My Father’: Farmer Suicides Add to India’s Virus Misery
Farm bankruptcies and debts have been the source of misery in India for decades. But experts say the suffering has reached new levels in the pandemic.
Photographs and Text by Karan Deep Singh
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/world/asia/india-economy-coronavirus.html
September 5, 2020
Coronavirus Crisis Shatters India’s Big Dreams
The country’s ambitions to become a global power, lift its poor and update its military have been set back by a sharp economic plunge, soaring infections and a widening sense of malaise.
By Jeffrey Gettleman
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/31/world/asia/india-economy-gdp.html
August 31, 2020
India’s Economy Shrank by Nearly 24 Percent Last Quarter
It’s the biggest decline of any major economy. And economists say once the impact on the country’s vast “informal” workforce is taken into account, the damage might be even worse.
By Sameer Yasir and Jeffrey Gettleman
September 28, 2020
Coronavirus
Israel
Cases ( 233,118)
Deaths ( 1,499)
Deaths per million ( 163)
July 4, 2020
Coronavirus
Israel
Cases ( 29,170)
Deaths ( 330)
Deaths per million ( 36)
Having apparently approached a containment of the coronavirus in June, the Israeli government incautiously opened schools and businesses, and the result has been a persistent community infection spread contributing to what are now 233,118 cases in the small country as compared to 85,372 in all through all of mainland China.
Israel has unfortunately doubled and gone far beyond double the number of coronavirus cases in mainland China. The need then is to look beyond the openings and examine what public health structure weaknesses have allowed for such an infection spread after what had appeared to be containment.
There has been no coronavirus death on the Chinese mainland since May 17:
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-05-17/Chinese-mainland-reports-five-new-COVID-19-cases-two-imported-QyHLF17kwU/index.html
May 17, 2020
Chinese mainland reports 5 new COVID-19 cases, 1 new death
The Chinese mainland reported 3 new domestic COVID-19 cases and 2 new imported ones on Saturday, according to China's National Health Commission (NHC). One new death was reported.
The commission also reported 12 new asymptomatic patients.
The total number of confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland stands at 82,947, the cumulative death toll at 4,634, and 515 asymptomatic patients are under medical observation.
The Chinese health authorities said that 8 patients were discharged from hospitals on Saturday, bringing the total number of recovered cases to 78,227.
Notice the Chinese mainland coronavirus death toll was 4,634 on May 17 and was the same 4,634 on September 28:
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-09-28/Chinese-mainland-reports-21-new-COVID-19-cases-all-from-overseas-U92gOwkwmc/index.html
September 28, 2020
Chinese mainland reports 21 new COVID-19 cases
The Chinese mainland registered 21 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, all from overseas, the National Health Commission said on Monday.
This is the 43-consecutive-day without domestic transmissions on the Chinese mainland. No deaths were reported Monday while 12 patients were discharged from hospitals.
The total number of confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland stands at 85,372 with a death toll of 4,634, while 367 asymptomatic patients are currently under medical observation.
Again, there was no coronavirus death on the Chinese mainland on September 29. I can reference and have already referenced the documented coronavirus records for each day for these past months.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/28/opinion/trump-taxes-debt.html
September 28, 2020
Trump’s Debt, His Future and Ours
The president — our chief law enforcement and national security official — could be facing huge liabilities. That’s chilling.
By Paul Krugman
The bombshell New York Times report on Donald Trump’s tax returns is a remarkable feat of journalism. The team deserves special praise for making their findings comprehensible to general readers, and not getting lost in the details.
Yet like many other revelations in the Trump era, the tax news falls into the category of “shocking but not surprising.” Many observers had already surmised that Trump paid little or no taxes, that his claims of brilliant business success were a fiction, and that he is deep in debt. Now all of that is virtually confirmed. But what does it mean for America’s future?
Everyone will come at this question from their own angle. When I read the Times report, I quickly found myself thinking about … the theory of business capital structure. No, really.
For many people, no doubt, the main takeaway from the tax revelations will be “$750? Really?” The fact that Trump paid less in taxes than tens of millions of hard-working Americans struggling to make ends meet is an outrage. It’s also easy to explain in a few seconds, which is why it’s the theme of a quickly released ad from the Biden campaign.
From a substantive point of view, however, Trump’s tax avoidance is less important than the confirmation of what many already suspected: His carefully cultivated image of being a hugely successful businessman is, as he would say, fake news. In fact, he has done a terrible job of running his businesses.
Why does this matter? Voters often seem to believe that effective business leaders have the skills and knowledge to lead the nation as a whole. They’re wrong about that. Even genuinely great businesspeople — people like, say, Herbert Hoover — are often very bad at public policy, including economic policy, because the skills needed to run a business and those required to steer a nation are very different.
In Trump’s case, however, the old joke is true: He isn’t a great businessman, he just played one on TV. It should come as no surprise, then, that he has been consistently hapless at devising policy. On just about every front, from diplomacy to infrastructure to trade wars to fighting a pandemic, he has been Midas in reverse.
How much will the revelation that he has always been a fraud hurt him? Many of his supporters will probably refuse to acknowledge the truth, perhaps because they won’t admit to themselves how completely they were scammed. But assuming that the news will have no effect at all is probably too cynical. And remember, Trump is running behind Biden, so he has to do more than keep his base — and this may not do much to win over undecided voters.
The most important revelation from the Times report, however, is its confirmation of another thing many observers already suspected: Trump has hundreds of millions in personal debt. It’s unclear whether he has the resources to repay it.
Personal financial trouble has always been a red flag when it comes to filling sensitive government positions, because it’s an open invitation to corruption.
So the confirmation that the nation’s chief law enforcement and national security official — whose business empire already offers many opportunities for undue influence — is drowning in debt is chilling....
Choose a day, I have the report. There has been no coronavirus death on the Chinese mainland since May 17. Notice here the same total of deaths on the Chinese mainland on August 31 or 4,634 as the total for September 28 or 4,634:
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-08-31/Chinese-mainland-reports-17-new-COVID-19-cases-all-from-overseas-ToxPyLsSWc/index.html
August 31, 2020
Chinese mainland reports 17 new COVID-19 cases
The Chinese mainland registered 17 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, all from overseas, Chinese health authorities said on Monday. This is the 15th consecutive day that the mainland has reported no domestic transmissions.
No deaths linked to the coronavirus disease were recorded on Sunday, while 24 patients were discharged from hospitals.
The total number of confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland stands at 85,048 and the cumulative death toll at 4,634, with 340 asymptomatic patients under medical observation….
There has been no coronavirus death on the Chinese mainland since May 17. * There has been no community or domestic coronavirus case for 44 days. Since June began there have been only 2 limited community clusters of infections, in Beijing and Urumqi in Xinjiang, both of which were contained with mass testing, contact tracing and quarantine, and both outbreaks ended in a few weeks. Imported coronavirus cases are caught at entry points with required testing and immediate quarantine. Asymptomatic cases are all quarantined.
The flow of imported cases to China is low, but has been persistent. There are as a result 184 active imported coronavirus cases on the Chinese mainland, but of which only 3 cases are classed as serious or critical.
* https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-05-17/Chinese-mainland-reports-five-new-COVID-19-cases-two-imported-QyHLF17kwU/index.html
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-09-29/Chinese-mainland-reports-12-new-COVID-19-cases-all-from-overseas-UaHGEV3u0g/index.html
September 29, 2020
Chinese mainland reports 12 new COVID-19 cases
The Chinese mainland registered 12 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, all from overseas, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday.
This is the 44th consecutive day without domestic transmissions reported on the Chinese mainland. No deaths linked with the coronavirus were reported on Tuesday while 13 patients were discharged from hospitals.
The total number of confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland stands at 85,384 with a death toll of 4,634, while 376 asymptomatic patients are currently under medical observation.
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-09-29/Chinese-mainland-reports-12-new-COVID-19-cases-all-from-overseas-UaHGEV3u0g/img/ac583dc7432a4002abc6ed864011188a/ac583dc7432a4002abc6ed864011188a.jpeg
Chinese mainland new asymptomatic cases
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-09-29/Chinese-mainland-reports-12-new-COVID-19-cases-all-from-overseas-UaHGEV3u0g/img/f7fe0b879e2e41ffb489d8dc32c91cab/f7fe0b879e2e41ffb489d8dc32c91cab.jpeg
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/28/us/coronavirus-long-term-effects.html
September 28, 2020
‘It’s Not in My Head’: They Survived the Coronavirus, but They Never Got Well
With 7 million known cases of the coronavirus across the country, more people are suffering from symptoms that go on and on.
By Sarah Mervosh
They caught the coronavirus months ago and survived it, but they are still stuck at home, gasping for breath. They are no longer contagious, but some feel so ill that they can barely walk around the block, and others grow dizzy trying to cook dinner. Month after month, they rush to the hospital with new symptoms, pleading with doctors for answers.
As the coronavirus has spread through the United States over seven months, infecting at least 7 million people, some subset of them are now suffering from serious, debilitating and mysterious effects of Covid-19 that last far longer than a few days or weeks.
This group of patients wrestling with an array of alarming symptoms many months after first getting ill — they have come to call themselves “long-haulers” — are believed to number in the thousands. Their circumstances, still little understood by the medical community, may play a significant role in shaping the country’s ability to recover from the pandemic.
By some estimates, as many as one in three Covid-19 patients will develop symptoms that linger. The symptoms can span a wide range — piercing chest pain, deep exhaustion, a racing heart. Those affected include young and otherwise healthy people. One theory is that an overzealous immune system plays a role.
Some are unable to work. Many may need long-term medical care.
Still, many say their biggest challenge is getting other people simply to believe them....
(This could be something. A long-sought
goal of the physics community, on the
practical side: endless energy.)
Compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor Is ‘Very Likely to Work,’ Studies Suggest
NY Times - September 29
Scientists developing a compact version of a nuclear fusion reactor have shown in a series of research papers that it should work, renewing hopes that the long-elusive goal of mimicking the way the sun produces energy might be achieved and eventually contribute to the fight against climate change.
Construction of a reactor, called Sparc, which is being developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a spinoff company, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, is expected to begin next spring and take three or four years, the researchers and company officials said.
Although many significant challenges remain, the company said construction would be followed by testing and, if successful, building of a power plant that could use fusion energy to generate electricity, beginning in the next decade.
This ambitious timetable is far faster than that of the world’s largest fusion-power project, a multinational effort in Southern France called ITER, for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. That reactor has been under construction since 2013 and, although it is not designed to generate electricity, is expected to produce a fusion reaction by 2035. ...
Since experiments on fusion began nearly a century ago, the promise of a practical fusion device that can produce more energy than it uses has remained elusive. Fusion power has always seemed to be “just decades” away.
That might turn out to be true in this case as well. But in seven peer-reviewed papers published Tuesday in a special issue of The Journal of Plasma Physics, researchers laid out the evidence that Sparc would succeed and produce as much as 10 times the energy it consumes. ...
Status of the SPARC Physics Basis
This special issue’s seven peer-reviewed articles provide a comprehensive summary of the physics basis for SPARC: a compact, high-field, DT burning tokamak, currently under design by a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Commonwealth Fusion Systems. The SPARC project builds on a remarkable period of progress in the understanding of magnetically confined plasmas achieved collectively by the world’s fusion programs. ...
("DT burning tokamak" means fusion of deuterium, a hydrogen isotope
consisting of a proton and a neutron into helium, as is done in stars.)
September 29, 2020
Coronavirus
Israel
Cases ( 235,465)
Deaths ( 1,523)
Deaths per million ( 166)
July 4, 2020
Coronavirus
Israel
Cases ( 29,170)
Deaths ( 330)
Deaths per million ( 36)
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