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marmar

marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
March 6, 2021

One U.S. State's Laser Focus on Data Helps Shrink Racial Vaccine Gap



North Carolina is among the best-performing U.S. states when it comes to distributing vaccines evenly among Black and White residents. That’s partly because the state is by far the best at collecting demographic data.

About 11% of North Carolina’s Black population has received at least one shot, compared with 17% of the state’s White residents, the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker shows. That puts Carolina in fourth place for the smallest spread between the two groups among states with the most comprehensive data sets. Other states might be doing as well or better than North Carolina in terms of equality, though huge numbers of incomplete records obscure the national picture.

North Carolina’s success is no accident. The state made equity a priority early on, says Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. To receive shipments, every provider must use the state’s vaccine management system, which requires demographic data to finish registering someone for a shot. That has helped the state track its progress and target certain populations more effectively, Cohen says. ...........(more)

Read more at: https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/one-u-s-state-s-laser-focus-on-data-helps-shrink-racial-vaccine-gap





March 6, 2021

March 4 was a dud -- but QAnon will persist because it is fueled by white entitlement


March 4 was a dud — but QAnon will persist because it is fueled by white entitlement
QAnon is not going away any time soon. The people who believe it simply need it too much

By AMANDA MARCOTTE
MARCH 5, 2021 5:58PM


(Salon) The day of "The Storm" keeps moving for QAnon, the loosely-affiliated cult that sprang up online with Donald Trump as its god-like savior figure. At first, the belief was January 6 was the prophesied day when Trump would supposedly ascend to his true power and have all their political enemies, who QAnon adherents believe are blood-drinking pedophiles, arrested. After all, Trump himself repeatedly signaled that January 6 was "go" time and the faithful did as they were told, storming the Capitol in an effort to turn the prophecy into reality.

That failed and many QAnoners found themselves in handcuffs while their leader, Trump, escaped without consequence. But while some got disillusioned and dropped off, many more just did what cultists do and moved the day of the prophecy down the calendar, to March 4 as the new day for Trump would ride into town and kick Joe Biden out of the White House, kicking off "The Storm" for real.

....(snip)....

The concern is quite clearly that, if another prediction fails to pan out, the QAnon cult will start to grow disillusioned and dissipate, which means that these ringleaders will lose the cash stream they've generated by churning out an endless supply of prophecies and "bread crumbs" to the deeper conspiracies for their followers to gobble up. But, in truth, these grifters shouldn't worry too much. While the prophecies make QAnon exciting, at the end of the day, that's not why people get caught up in the cult.

There's a reason why so few of them left after their failed January 6 coup and why few will leave now that it is clear March 4 was a dud. Much has been written about the phenomenon of people not leaving cults, even after the dates of splashy prophecies come and go without the predicted events happening. A lot of it comes down to rationalization and an unwillingness to admit that they spent so much time and energy on something that turned out to be fake. But a lot of it has to do with the reasons they joined the cult in the first place, whether it's seeking meaning or community or excitement. Those desires don't disappear just because the prophecies failed. And so the believers will continue to find excuses to stick by the cult and continue deriving what they see as a benefit of belonging.

What drives people to the QAnon cult — as well as the other groups, such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, that contributed to the January 6 insurrection — is ultimately a grotesque mix of wish-fulfillment fantasies and an abiding sense of white entitlement. These are folks who are absolutely certain that they deserve to be in charge, no matter what, and that belief feeds their attachment to increasingly complex conspiracy theories that promise that there's a "secret" rule or law that can be activated that will allow them to overcome a democratic election and install their preferred president in his place. They are in a search of a cheat code to defeat the big boss, if you will, and in this case, the big boss is democracy. .........(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/03/05/march-4-was-a-dud--but-qanon-will-persist-because-it-is-fueled-by-white-entitlement/




March 6, 2021

World's Worst Covid Crisis Unfolds In Brazil, Where No Fix Works


(Bloomberg) -- More than a year after a spiked virus launched a murderous campaign across the globe, most countries have put the worst behind them, aided by aggressive government policies and vaccines.

Not Brazil.

The continent-sized nation of 212 million is facing more Covid deaths and cases than ever, its hospitals overflowing, its policy in disarray, its vaccine supply severely limited. In addition to a president who scoffs at the disease, rejects masks and leaves each state on its own, the country plays host to a variant that’s more contagious and possibly deadlier.

Nothing better illustrates the bizarrely fractured nature of Brazil’s Covid policies — and how they’ve sowed confusion and anger and suffering — than three cities along a 140-mile roadway in the state of Sao Paulo, where three distinct approaches to the pandemic coexist. In one, practically anything goes; in another, it’s full lockdown; and in a third, mass vaccination is underway. Each is a mess, overrun by rampant illness and mired in a deep economic funk that shows no signs of ending anytime soon. ............(more)

Read more at: https://www.bloombergquint.com/coronavirus-outbreak/coronavirus-crisis-in-brazil-deepens-as-covid-variant-spreads-and-deaths-spike




March 5, 2021

Challenges to Black voting rights rooted in Reconstruction

Challenges to Black voting rights harks back to Jim Crow era

Javonte Anderson
USA TODAY


After a turbulent election season, fueled by unfounded allegations of voter fraud, Republican lawmakers are laboring to rewrite voting laws in ways that would restrict access to the polls. Though House Democrats pushed through a voting rights bill Wednesday that would make voting more accessible, critics worry about GOP tactics could suppress the vote in ways that hearken back to Reconstruction.

"On one side, you have concerns about fraud prompting restrictions on voting, and on the other side, you have concerns about turnout prompting a focus on greater access to the polls," said Rebecca Green, a law professor and co-director of William and Mary Law School's Election Law Program.

Since the beginning of the year, Republican-controlled legislatures have introduced a cascade of restrictive voting measures:

•An Arizona Republican legislator introduced a bill Feb. 2 that would mandate everyone vote in person who is physically able and severely reduce the number of voting centers in some counties.

•A New Hampshire bill introduced Jan. 18 would permit election officials to remove voters from rolls based on data provided by other states, a practice federal courts ruled violates the National Voter Registration Act.

....(snip)....

"When you have a huge turnout, as we had in this last election, the question becomes how do you suppress that turnout," said Marion Orr, a public policy professor at Brown University.

The language in these new voting laws does not openly target a specific group of people, but the laws' implications disproportionately impact people of color, Orr said. ..........(more)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2021/03/05/black-voting-rights-reconstruction-jim-crow/6919352002/





March 5, 2021

ND expels anti-mask, anti-vax GOP lawmaker for alleged sexual harassment

The Republican-majority North Dakota House on Thursday voted to expel one of its own members accused by multiple women of threatening and sexually harassing behavior.

Luke Simons was voted out by a large margin, 69-25. Republicans hold 80 seats of the body's 94 seats.

"A 14-page document compiled by the nonpartisan Legislative Council includes allegations that Simons made 'advances' toward female staffers and interns, commented on their appearances and tried to give one staffer an unsolicited shoulder massage. One staffer described his behavior as 'really creepy,'" the AP reports. "The Legislative Council this week released two additional documents alleging inappropriate and bizarre behavior by Simons." ........ (More)

https://www.rawstory.com/north-dakota/





March 5, 2021

Ron Johnson at the center of the storm: 'People are out to destroy me'

Sign me up for the destruction committee!


(CNN) Sen. Ron Johnson seems to be relishing his place at the center of the controversies dominating Washington.

For two months, the Wisconsin Republican has taken on everyone who blamed former President Donald Trump for inciting the deadly riot at the Capitol: Democrats, the mainstream media, even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. He's raised questions about whether Trump supporters were in fact culpable for the violence, earning him the scorn of his colleagues for advancing dangerous conspiracies even as he says he's just seeking the truth.

Now, he is leading the Republican effort against President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill, employing extreme tactics by forcing Senate clerks to read its every word and offering a flood of amendments to highlight its astronomical cost.

Johnson's wars to reshape history and policy come at a crucial personal moment, as he chooses whether to run again in 2022, a decision that will alter the fight for the future control of the Senate. .....................(more)

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/04/politics/ron-johnson-wisconsin-republican-stimulus-debate/index.html




March 4, 2021

"Murder Among the Mormons" filmmakers on how forgeries, faith and a salamander led to Utah bombings

"Murder Among the Mormons" filmmakers on how forgeries, faith and a salamander led to Utah bombings
"Napoleon Dynamite" director Jared Hess and filmmaker Tyler Measom spoke with Salon about their 3-part docuseries

By ASHLIE D. STEVENS
MARCH 4, 2021 2:32AM


(Salon) Netflix's "Murder Among the Mormons" co-directors Jared Hess and Tyler Measom were both young — six and 14, respectively — when a series of Salt Lake City bombings killed several high-profile members of the Mormon church in 1985. The murders drew national attention to the church, which, after a century of being viewed as a sort of "outsider religion" plagued by 19th-century extermination orders and persecution campaigns, had become and remains one of the fastest-growing denominations in the United States.

The violent nature of the crimes was a juxtaposition against a religious group that is often caricatured for its unrelenting optimism (as David Foster Wallace once wrote, "There's always a Mormon around when you don't want one, trying your patience with unsolicited kindness" ), and as such, the bombings captured tabloid attention, which quickly gave way to conspiracy theories.

"Nobody knew what was going on," Hess told Salon in an interview. "Because of that, it was a really uncomfortable time for so many people. Everyone was trying to get to the bottom of this tragedy, the likes of which Salt Lake City had never really experienced before."

Speculation continued. Was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints actually behind the bombings? Or was it tied to the impending collapse of an investment business with which two of the bombing victims were involved? ..............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/03/03/murder-among-the-mormons-netflix-jared-hess-tyler-measom/




March 4, 2021

Michigan SOS Jocelyn Benson: November election lies must stop now


Jocelyn Benson


(Detroit Free Press) All of Michigan’s more than 250 election audits are now complete, and each and every one of them affirmed the integrity of the November election and the accuracy of the results.

More than 1,300 Republican, Democratic, and non-partisan election clerks participated in the audits, working across the aisle to review one another’s procedures, ballots and machines in coordination with the state Bureau of Elections.

Their findings eradicate any rationale for continuing to question the validity of the November election.

....(snip)....

No more lies

Like so many of the lies that have been told about the November election, these attacks are dangerous, racist, and undertaken for personal and political gain.

And they must stop now. ...........(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2021/03/04/michigan-election-audit-election-voter-fraud/6918417002/




March 4, 2021

Pete Buttigieg Stresses a 'Fix It First' Infrastructure Policy


(Bloomberg CityLab) U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg is emphasizing a less-than-flashy item as a top priority for his national agenda: Fixing the country’s “maintenance backlog.”

“‘Fix it first,’ I think, is going to be a very important mantra for us,” he said in an interview at CityLab 2021, a virtual summit for urban leaders hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Aspen Institute. “It doesn't always have the same sizzle as adding something new, but the truth is we’ve got to be doing both.”

These comments add nuance to the secretary’s frequent emphasis on improving transportation systems through expanded high-speed rail, electric vehicle expansion and public transit, priorities he reiterated at the conference.

“Look, if there’s a need, we should meet it. And I’m a big believer when appropriate, especially when it comes to transit, but also of passenger rail, of adding resources that could make a difference,” he said, pointing to the lack of dedicated federal funding for railways as a reason that “Americans are being asked to settle for less” compared to other countries. ..........(more)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-02/pete-buttigieg-embraces-a-fix-it-first-approach?srnd=premium




March 4, 2021

Germany Places Far-Right AfD Party Under Surveillance for Extremism


(NYT) BERLIN — For the first time in its postwar history, Germany has placed its main opposition party under surveillance, one of the most dramatic steps yet by a Western democracy to protect itself from the onslaught of far-right forces that have upset politics from Europe to the United States.

The decision by the domestic intelligence agency will now allow it to tap phones and other communications and monitor the movements of members of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which not only sits in the Federal Parliament but has become entrenched at all levels of politics in nearly every part of the nation.

It is among the most sweeping efforts yet to deal with the rise of far-right and neo-Nazi political movements within Western democracies, which are attempting more vigorously to constrain, ostracize or even legally prosecute those elements to prevent them from chipping away at the foundations of democratic institutions.

News of the move came on the same day that France banned Generation Identity, a militant youth movement considered dangerous for its slick rebranding of neo-Nazi concepts, and as lawmakers in the European Parliament in Brussels forced the party of Hungary’s semi-authoritarian leader Viktor Orban out of the mainstream conservative group. ..........(more)

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/03/world/europe/germany-afd-surveillance-extremism.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage



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Hometown: Detroit, MI
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