Health – Happiness – Page 259

Rudy Giuliani Is My Father. Please, Everyone, Vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Vanity Fair

Rudy Giuliani Is My Father. Please, Everyone, Vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

I may not be able to change my father’s mind, but together, we can vote this toxic administration out of office.

By Caroline Rose Giuliani October 15, 2020

COURTESY OF CAROLINE ROSE GIULIANI.

I have a difficult confession—something I usually save for at least the second date. My father is Rudy Giuliani. We are multiverses apart, politically and otherwise. I’ve spent a lifetime forging an identity in the arts separate from my last name, so publicly declaring myself as a “Giuliani” feels counter-intuitive, but I’ve come to realize that none of us can afford to be silent right now. The stakes are too high. I accept that most people will start reading this piece because you saw the headline with my father’s name. But now that you’re here, I’d like to tell you how urgent I think this moment is.

To anyone who feels overwhelmed or apathetic about this election, there is nothing I relate to more than desperation to escape corrosive political discourse. As a child, I saw firsthand the kind of cruel, selfish politics that Donald Trump has now inflicted on our country. It made me want to run as far away from them as possible. But trust me when I tell you: Running away does not solve the problem. We have to stand and fight. The only way to end this nightmare is to vote. There is hope on the horizon, but we’ll only grasp it if we elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Around the age of 12, I would occasionally get into debates with my father, probably before I was emotionally equipped to handle such carnage. It was disheartening to feel how little power I had to change his mind, no matter how logical and above-my-pay-grade my arguments were. He always found a way to justify his party line, whatever it was at the time. Even though he was considered socially moderate for a Republican back in the day, we still often butted heads. When I tried to explain my belief that you don’t get to be considered benevolent on LGBTQ+ rights just because you have gay friends but don’t support gay marriage, I distinctly remember him firing back with an intensity fit for an opposing politician rather than one’s child. To be clear, I’m not sharing this anecdote to complain or criticize. I had an extremely privileged childhood and am grateful for everything I was given, including real-world lessons and complicated experiences like these. The point is to illustrate one of the many reasons I have a fraught relationship with politics, like so many of us do.

Image may contain Rudy Giuliani Tie Accessories Accessory Human Person Suit Coat Clothing Overcoat and Apparel — Rudy Giuliani with Caroline. BY CARMEN VALDES/GETTY IMAGES.

Even when there was an occasional flash of connection in these disagreements with my dad, it felt like nothing changed for the better, so I would retreat again until another issue I couldn’t stay silent on surfaced. Over the years other subjects like racial sensitivity (or lack thereof), sexism, policing, and the social safety net have all risen to this boiling point in me. It felt important to speak my mind, and I’m glad we at least managed to communicate at all. But the chasm was painful nonetheless, and has gotten exponentially more so in Trump’s era of chest-thumping partisan tribalism. I imagine many Americans can relate to the helpless feeling this confrontation cycle created in me, but we are not helpless. I may not be able to change my father’s mind, but together, we can vote this toxic administration out of office.

Trump and his enablers have used his presidency to stoke the injustice that already permeated our society, taking it to dramatically new, Bond-villain heights. I am a filmmaker in the LGBTQ+ community who tells stories about mental health, sexuality, and other stigmatized issues, and my goal is to humanize people and foster empathy. So I hope you’ll believe me when I say that another Trump term (a term, itself, that makes me cringe) will irrevocably harm the LGBTQ+ community, among many others. His administration asked the Supreme Court to let businesses fire people for being gay or trans, pushed a regulation to let health care providers refuse services to people who are LGTBQ+, and banned trans people from serving their country in the military.

Women, immigrants, people with disabilities, and people of color are all also under attack by Trump’s inhumane policies—and by his judicial appointments, including, probably, Amy Coney Barrett. Trump’s administration has torn families apart in more ways than I even imagined were possible, from ripping children from their parents at the border to mishandling the coronavirus, which has resulted in over 215,000 in the U.S. dying, many thousands of them without their loved ones near. Faced with preventable deaths during a pandemic that Trump downplayed and ignored, rhetoric that has fed deep-seated, systemic racism, and chaos in the White House, it’s no surprise that so many Americans feel as hopeless and overwhelmed as I did growing up. But if we refuse to face our political reality, we don’t stand a chance of changing it.

In 2016, I realized I needed to speak out in a more substantial way than just debating my dad in private (especially since I wasn’t getting anywhere with that), so I publicly supported Hillary Clinton and began canvassing for congressional candidates. If the unrelenting deluge of devastating news makes you think I’m crazy for having hope, please remember that making us feel powerless is a tactic politicians use to make us think our voices and votes don’t matter. But they do. It’s taken persistence and nerve to find my voice in politics, and I’m using it now to ask you to stand with me in the fight to end Donald Trump’s reign of terror.

If being the daughter of a polarizing mayor who became the president’s personal bulldog has taught me anything, it is that corruption starts with “yes-men” and women, the cronies who create an echo chamber of lies and subservience to maintain their proximity to power. We’ve seen this ad-nauseam with Trump and his cadre of high-level sycophants (the ones who weren’t convicted, anyway).

What inspires me most about Vice President Biden is that he is not afraid to surround himself with people who disagree with him. Choosing Senator Harris, who challenged him in the primary, speaks volumes about what an inclusive president he will be. Biden is willing to incorporate the views of progressive-movement leaders like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on issues like universal health care, student debt relief, prison reform, and police reform. And he is capable of reaching across the aisle to find moments of bipartisanship. The very notion of “bipartisanship” may seem painfully ludicrous right now, but we need a path out of impenetrable gridlock and vicious sniping. In Joe Biden, we’ll have a leader who prioritizes common ground and civility over alienation, bullying, and scorched-earth tactics.

Speaking of scorched earth, I know many people feel paralyzed by climate despair. I do too, but something still can and must be done. As climate change begins to encroach on our everyday lives, it is clear that our planet cannot survive four more years of this administration’s environmental assault. This monumental challenge requires scientifically literate leadership and immediate action. Joe Biden has laid out an aggressive series of plans to restore the environmental regulations that Trump gutted on behalf of his corporate polluting friends. Biden has a trans-formational clean-energy policy that he will bring to Congress within his first 100 days in office, and perhaps most crucially, he brings a desire and capability to reunite the major nations of the world in forging a path toward a global green future.

I fully understand that some of you want a nominee who is more progressive. For others the idea of voting for a Democrat of any kind may be a hurdle. Now I have another confession to make. Biden wasn’t my first choice when the primaries started. But I know what is at stake, and Joe Biden will be everyone’s president if elected. If you are planning to cast a symbolic vote or abstain from voting altogether, please reconsider. It is more important than ever to avoid complacency. This election is far from over, and if 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that anything can happen.

We are hanging by a single, slipping finger on a cliff’s edge, and the fall will be fatal. If we remove ourselves from the fight, our country will be in free-fall. Alternatively, we can hang on, elect a compassionate and decent president, and claw our way back onto the ledge. If I, after decades of despair over politics, can engage in our democracy to meet this critical moment, I know you can too.

Miami grapples with how to save treasured bay from rising seas and pollution

Good Morning America

Miami grapples with how to save treasured bay from rising seas and pollution

Stephanie Ebbs, Jon Schlosberg, Ginger Lee, Lindsey Griswold

October 16, 2020

An unprecedented fish kill in Miami’s Biscayne Bay this summer has brought a new push to address issues caused by sea level rise and pollution.

Sea-level rise in Miami and southeast Florida is not a new problem. The water in the area has risen 5 inches since 1993, and a new $400 million pump system is what is keeping a large part of the city dry.

The Miami-Dade County Water and Sewer Department is already planning for a worst-case scenario when it comes to sea-level rise.

“If you look from now till 2040 — so 20-year horizon — we’re planning on worst case about 11 inches of sea level rise, which if you live in South Florida that’s a very frightening thing in your coastal community,” Kevin Lynskey, the department’s director, told ABC News.

PHOTO: 'It's not too late' climate segment with Ginger Zee (ABC News) — ‘It’s not too late’ climate segment with Ginger Zee (ABC News)

Biscayne Bay is described as a turquoise paradise that laps at the coast of southeast Florida and kisses the barrier island of Miami Beach. It includes a national park and aquatic preserve to protect wildlife in the area.

Rachel Silverstein, executive director of the advocacy group Miami Waterkeeper, called it one of the jewels of the state.

“Biscayne Bay generates billions of dollars annually for our regional economy,” she said.

But the bay is dying.

PHOTO: In this Aug. 12, 2020, file photo, a dead fish floats on the surface of the water in Downtown Miami on Biscayne Bay. (Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald via AP, FILE) — In this Aug. 12, 2020, file photo, a dead fish floats on the surface of the water in Downtown Miami on Biscayne Bay. (Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald via AP, FILE)

Canals are carrying trash, fertilizer runoff and contamination from failing septic tanks into the bay.

Over the summer, all the chemicals running into the bay — combined with record heat levels — starved the oxygen out of the water, killing thousands of fish.

“These suffocation events, and this is something that just happened recently in Biscayne Bay, just in early August … is a well-documented pattern of how water bodies essentially die, all around Florida and all around the world, so there’s a very tight connection between nutrient pollution and bacteria levels and these kinds of fish kills,” Silverstein said.

Louis Aguirre, a reporter from Miami ABC affiliate WPLG, recently produced a special about the challenges facing Biscayne Bay.

“We have over 100,000 septic tanks in Miami-Dade County — still to this day. And we need to transition those septic tanks and connectors to our sewer system, which is also aging, ASAP because those septics are just spewing wastewater into our groundwater. You know Miami-Dade only stays 6 feet above sea level, so whatever goes through our groundwater goes into our bay, and that’s pretty disgusting,” he told ABC News.

In a typical septic system, waste from the house enters the tank, the solid waste settles to the bottom and the water goes to the drain field to be clarified. But when sea levels rise it interferes with that process, and the drain field mixes with groundwater and the septic tank fails.

That means waste from a toilet can go directly into the groundwater.

The Miami Dade Water and Sewer Department tells ABC News they have identified 10,000 tanks today that are not high enough anymore, and in 20 years, that number will reach 50,000.

Lynskey explained they are not just focused on septic, they’re also concerned about the canal systems keeping South Florida from turning back into a swamp. As sea levels rise, the canals pick up more trash, nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizer used on farms and lawns and carries it right into Biscayne Bay.

PHOTO: In this Aug. 12, 2020, file photo, trash and dead fish float on the surface of the water in Downtown Miami, on Biscayne Bay. (Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald via AP, FILE)

But there is cause for hope.

Tampa Bay faced a similar challenge in the 1970s when the water was so covered in algae the seagrass died and fish and wildlife was driven out. After decades of effort to prevent polluted water from entering the bay, the seagrass has returned to nearly the same level as 1950, an area the size of Manhattan.

But Miami Waterkeeper said the city needs big changes in its sewage infrastructure to prevent more fish kills and preserve the bay.

“So we urgently need to be doing these investments and taking these opportunities we have to retrofit how our city is built and how it functions to be ready for sea-level rise,” Silverstein told ABC News.

The city of Miami agrees the problem is serious, but Lynskey said local leaders haven’t agreed on a path forward. The department is in the process of raising key infrastructure as high as 20 feet above sea level to reduce risk.

“Nobody’s come up with a magic bullet, we’ve already built billions of dollars of buildings and infrastructure. How do we make those survive? We’re still very much grappling with all that,” Lynskey said.

He said that as the sea level continues to rise tough decisions may have to be made from expensive septic tank replacements to decisions on whether to relocate.

“I think over the next 15 years, people are going to have to make some fundamental decisions on whether we’re going to try to keep every inch of land that humans live on, or are there some properties east of the ridge, where ultimately we retreat from and politically, I don’t think we’re there yet, but behind the scenes you can hear the conversations,” Lynskey told ABC News.

Largest wildfire Colorado has ever seen burning now near Fort Collins

Phil Helsel, NBC News October 15, 2020

A Colorado wildfire, fueled by high winds, grew by more than 22,000 acres Wednesday to become the largest in state history.

The Cameron Peak Fire burning in the mountains west of Fort Collins had grown to 158,300 acres by Wednesday evening, making it the largest wildfire in state history, according to The Denver Post newspaper, which has compiled wildfire information.

No injuries or deaths have been linked to the record-setting blaze, which is 56 percent contained.

The fire was fueled by high winds that began Tuesday night and into Wednesday, with sustained winds of around 30 mph and gusts of around 60 mph, incident meteorologist Aviva Braun said. While it will be breezy the rest of the week, high gusts are not expected.

“The conditions will remain challenging, just not nearly as serious as they were today,” she said in a community meeting update that was broadcast online.

Some mandatory evacuations have been ordered, and mandatory evacuation zones for the first time extended to the foothills just west of Fort Collins, but the city was not considered at-risk, The Associated Press reported.

Image: (Bethany Baker / Fort Collins Coloradoan via AP)

Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith said that he understands the difficulties of people being forced to leave their homes.

“We hate to do that to you, however, there’s nothing worse than the concern of losing life,” Smith said. “And the way these winds were changing today — the ability of this thing to go any direction — that’s what was tough.”

Smith said some structures were destroyed by fire Wednesday, but officials won’t know what those were for some time because the area remains dangerous with downed power lines and trees. Officials will be working to assess and count the number of lost structures as soon as they are able.

The new size of the fire puts it ahead of the second-largest wildfire in state history, which also broke out this year, the Pine Gulch Fire. That fire burned 139,007 acres and was 100 percent contained in September.

The Pine Gulch Fire, sparked by a lightning strike around 18 miles north of Grand Junction in July, became what was then the largest fire in state history when in August it surpassed the 2002 Hayman Fire, fire officials said.

The Cameron Peak Fire started Aug. 13 in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, according to fire officials. A cause is under investigation.

It has been an explosive wildfire season in the western U.S.

California has seen more than 4.1 million acres burned — with 13 major wildfires across the state still burning Wednesday — and more than 9,000 homes and other structures destroyed, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

Thirty-one people in California have died.

Oregon also experienced a wildfire crisis that forced thousands to flee their homes.

Nine people have died in the fires in that state, more than 4,000 homes have been destroyed, and around 1.2 million acres had burned as of Wednesday, according to the state office of emergency management. Seven active fires were still burning in Oregon.

Miami grapples with how to save treasured bay from rising seas and pollution

GMA

Miami grapples with how to save treasured bay from rising seas and pollution

STEPHANIE EBBS, JON SCHLOSBERG, GINGER ZEE and LINDSEY GRISWOLD October 16, 2020

An unprecedented fish kill in Miami’s Biscayne Bay this summer has brought a new push to address issues caused by sea level rise and pollution.

The Miami-Dade County Water and Sewer Department is already planning for a worst-case scenario when it comes to sea-level rise.

Rachel Silverstein, executive director of the advocacy group Miami Waterkeeper, called it one of the jewels of the state.

“Biscayne Bay generates billions of dollars annually for our regional economy,” she said.

But the bay is dying.

Canals are carrying trash, fertilizer runoff and contamination from failing septic tanks into the bay.

Over the summer, all the chemicals running into the bay — combined with record heat levels — starved the oxygen out of the water, killing thousands of fish.

Louis Aguirre, a reporter from Miami ABC affiliate WPLG, recently produced a special about the challenges facing Biscayne Bay.

That means waste from a toilet can go directly into the groundwater.

The Miami Dade Water and Sewer Department tells ABC News they have identified 10,000 tanks today that are not high enough anymore, and in 20 years, that number will reach 50,000.

But there is cause for hope.

But Miami Waterkeeper said the city needs big changes in its sewage infrastructure to prevent more fish kills and preserve the bay.

He said that as the sea level continues to rise tough decisions may have to be made from expensive septic tank replacements to decisions on whether to relocate.

Wisconsin is battling America’s worst coronavirus outbreak, and the state’s broken politics are partly to blame

Yahoo – News

Wisconsin is battling America’s worst coronavirus outbreak, and the state’s broken politics are partly to blame

Andrew Romano, West Coast Correspondent October 10, 2020

Coronavirus By The Numbers

Look at a map of daily Covid – 19 cases in the U.S. Most of the Northeast and West Coast is yellow, indicating limited spread. The numbers across the Southeast tend to be moderate, or orange. Move into the Upper Midwest and more red hot spots start to appear.

And then there’s one state that’s covered in crimson: Wisconsin.

Right now Wisconsin is battling the worst coronavirus outbreak in America. The question is why. What about Wisconsin is different from, say, the neighboring states of Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois, where the virus isn’t spreading nearly as fast?

The answer, at least in part, is politics: specifically, the brand of cavalier, it-will-go-away politics propagated by President Trump and parroted by lower-level Republicans who seem hell-bent on resisting efforts to sustain social distancing and mask wearing when the spread is still low enough to contain — and in Wisconsin’s case, who continue to resist even after infections spiral out of control.

As Trump resumes in-person campaigning with a White House event Saturday and a rally Monday in Florida — and with cases rising nationally to their highest level since August — Wisconsin has emerged as a cautionary tale for the rest of the country about what could be coming this fall and winter to places that let politics get in the way of commonsense precautions. Last month Trump held an outdoor rally in Mosinee that attracted thousands of people, most of whom were not wearing masks. Even as case counts soared, he planned to return for back-to-back rallies in Janesville and Green Bay earlier this month — plans that were scrapped only after the president himself tested positive for the virus.

Wisconsin’s numbers are sobering. On Thursday the state’s new daily case count cleared 3,000 for the first time. Its seven-day average (2,491) has more than tripled since the start of September. Daily hospitalizations have also tripled over the same period. Nearly 20 percent of Wisconsin’s COVID-19 tests are coming back positive.

Overall, the Badger State has logged 17,437 new cases over the last seven days — more than any other state except the far more populous Texas and California. On a per capita basis, that’s more new cases (299 per 100,000 residents) than any other state except the far less populous Dakotas, and several times more than Michigan (75), Illinois (123) or Minnesota (137).

Meanwhile, on a list of the 100 counties nationwide with the highest number of recent cases per resident, all but two counties with more than 300 cases in the last seven days are located in Wisconsin: Oconto (365), Winnebago (1,439), Shawano (337), Calumet (395), Waupaca (307), Outagamie (1,023) and Brown (1,409). In total, there are 16 Wisconsin counties on that list — the most of any state. And unlike other hard-hit states such as Idaho, Montana and the Dakotas, Wisconsin’s hot spots aren’t dispersed across vast distances; they’re contiguous and concentrated around cities such as Green Bay in the state’s northeast corner, making the spread harder to contain.

Next week Wisconsin officials plan to open a 530-bed field hospital at the state fairgrounds to keep COVID-19 patients from flooding heath care facilities, which Democratic Gov. Tony Evers recently characterized as being “on the brink” of collapse.

“We hoped this day wouldn’t come,” Evers lamented. “But unfortunately, Wisconsin is in a much different, more dire place today. … There’s no other way to put it: We are overwhelmed.”

As Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told NBC News earlier this week, “Wisconsin has become the poster child for how things can go wrong.”

Nursing assistant Monica Brodsky, left, and nurse Taylor Mathisen work at a drive-thru testing site for COVID-19 in the parking lot at UW Health Administrative Office Building in Middleton, Wis., Monday, Oct. 5, 2020. (Amber Arnold/Wisconsin State Journal via AP) — Nursing assistant Monica Brodsky, left, and nurse Taylor Mathisen at a drive-through COVID-19 testing site in Middleton, Wis., on Monday. (Amber Arnold/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

So what went wrong?

The most disturbing thing about Wisconsin’s outbreak is that it didn’t have to be this bad. NBC described the problem as “political trench warfare between the Democratic governor and the Republicans who control the state Legislature.” That’s technically accurate, but it also makes it sound like both sides are defending equally sensible positions aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19.

They’re not. On the one hand, Evers has repeatedly tried to do everything in his power to contain the pandemic. On the other, Republicans have repeatedly challenged Evers’s authority and thwarted his efforts, blocking the sort of basic public-health measures other states have enacted while touting themselves as champions of “individual liberty.”

The first and perhaps most consequential of these skirmishes came in the spring, when the Legislature’s Republican leaders filed a lawsuit arguing that Evers’s “safer at home” order would leave the state’s economy “in shambles” — even though it was no stricter than dozens of other shelter-in-place orders in effect across the country. On May 13 the state’s Supreme Court, which was also controlled by conservatives, sided with the GOP and overturned the order. Evers was not pleased, telling CNN that the court’s ruling “puts our state into chaos.”

“Now we have no plan and no protections for the people of Wisconsin,” the governor said. “When you have more people in a small space — I don’t care if it’s bars, restaurants or your home — you’re going to be able to spread the virus. And so now, today, thanks to the Republican legislators who convinced four Supreme Court justices to not look at the law but [to] look at their political careers, I guess, it’s a bad day for Wisconsin.”

“It’s the Wild West,” he added.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers speaks during a news conference in Kenosha, Wis. in late August. (Morry Gash/AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers speaks at a news conference in Kenosha, Wis., in late August. (Morry Gash/AP)

Bars and restaurants immediately reopened for business. Patrons crowded in. For a while, the state’s case count stayed relatively low, even as the virus surged to record levels in the South and West. But that only bred complacency, and by the time college students started returning for the fall semester, public health efforts had become so politicized that Evers had less power to slow the spread than governors in neighboring states.

In July, for instance, Evers issued a statewide order mandating masks in enclosed spaces, which he extended last month to Nov. 21. Yet even though nearly three-quarters of Wisconsinites favor Ever’s mandate, Republican lawmakers are backing another suit against it. A judge is expected to rule any day now.

Same goes for Evers’s latest order limiting indoor capacity at bars, restaurants and stores to 25 percent as the virus surges. “Do I expect there to be litigation on this?” Ryan Nilsestuen, Evers’s top attorney, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this week. “Absolutely.”

This relentless campaign to delegitimize pandemic precautions as partisan overreach comes with a cost. It discourages compliance. It disincentivizes enforcement. And it preemptively restricts the government’s ability to address a worsening crisis.

Consider the fact that in California and New York, two of the hardest-hit states, indoor dining has only recently resumed at 25 percent capacity despite months of low or declining case counts.

Yet in Wisconsin, people have been drinking and dining indoors since the spring, and it took a full month of exponential spread before Evers felt like he could attempt to limit capacity statewide. (Local jurisdictions such as Madison and Milwaukee put limits in place earlier; today they have lower case counts.) Even now, in the midst of America’s worst outbreak, Wisconsinites can still drink and dine indoors. Partly as a result, infections have been radiating outward from college campuses and blanketing the state.

To be sure, Republicans elsewhere have resisted efforts to combat the virus, including in Michigan, where the state Supreme Court ruled last week that Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer lacks the authority to extend or declare states of emergency in relation to the pandemic. And of course there’s a reasonable debate to be had over the proper balance between business needs and pandemic precautions.

But Wisconsin isn’t having that debate. Instead, it has been fulfilling its role as America’s truest bellwether: a state that parallels our divided national politics both in the tightness of its elections and the conflicts that define them. Over the last decade, Republican activism funded by the Koch brothers has clashed with the state’s deep progressive tradition, tipping the scales in the GOP’s favor and exacerbating polarization between left and right, white and black, urban and rural. After Republicans took control of the governor’s mansion, the U.S. House delegation, one U.S. Senate seat and both chambers of the state Legislature in the 2010 tea party wave, they gerrymandered the state so aggressively that even when Democrats won 53 percent of assembly votes in 2018, Republicans still wound up with 64 percent of the seats.

Evers took office the following year, and Republicans immediately sought to render him powerless for partisan advantage. That was long before the pandemic. Now, with coronavirus cases skyrocketing, the life-or-death consequences of such polarization are becoming harder to ignore. With fall in full swing and winter looming, here’s hoping the rest of America doesn’t go the way of Wisconsin.

“Don’t cry for my White House staffers.”

Ego maniac trump’s disregard for anyone and anything except his narcissistic self interest. “Don’t Cry for Me Secret Service”

Lincoln Project Trolls Trump’s Balcony Stunt With Singalong ‘Evita’ Parody

Ed Mazza, Overnight Editor, HuffPost October 7, 2020

President Donald Trump marked his return to the White House on Monday from hospitalization for the coronovirus with a photo-op at the Truman Balcony ― a scene his critics likened to the iconic moment from the musical “Evita.”

Now his critics on the right turned that comparison into a song parody.

The Lincoln Project ― a group of never-Trump Republicans ― released “Covita,” a parody based on the musical’s showstopper:

The Lincoln Project did not say who sang the track. Asked on Twitter, co-founder Rick Wilson responded: “I’ll never tell.”

Patti LuPone, who originated the role on Broadway and won a Tony as Eva Peron, weighed in on Trump’s balcony appearance a day earlier on social media.

“I still have the lung power and I wore less makeup,” she wrote on Twitter. “This revival is closing November 3rd.”

The “Covita” video was one of several released by The Lincoln Project on Tuesday. The group also dropped a much more somber video on the toll of the infection amid Trump’s continuing efforts to downplay it:

Want to Live Longer? Get Out Of These 30 Most Polluted Cities in the US

Insider Monkey

Want to Live Longer? Get Out Of These 30 Most Polluted Cities in the US

Soma Dutta October 5, 2020

In this article we take a look at the 30 most polluted cities in the United States. Click to skip ahead and jump to the 10 most polluted cities in the U.S.

When comparing cities or regions on their pollution levels, there are several things that need to be considered. First off, cities can be considered polluted from several different angles and aspects. While water bodies surrounding urban cities can get polluted due to discharges or waste disposal, the major factor that affects the daily life of citizens is air pollution. The denser the population of the cities, the higher the level of air pollution tends to rise due to the large amounts of emissions constantly being released into the air, making it unbreathable and detrimental to health and life expectancy.

The absolute pollution figures might point at the US being one of the top polluters in the world, with over 5,145.2 million tons of carbon emissions according to the 2019 BP Statistical Review of World Energy. However, if we look at the air quality of the cities it might seem cleaner than most cities in other parts of the world. This is so because when we compare the livability of cities, it is largely also dependent on the density of population and also the concentration levels of pollutants. While most cities in the US might be emitting greater amounts of air pollutants, owing to the heavy industrialized economy, the concentration levels might be lower compared to its counterparts owing to the large area that the country is spread across.

Air quality also, does not just include CO2 emissions, but largely consists of particulate matter, which is what majorly causes health implications like respiratory diseases, or weakened heart or lung functioning due to prolonged exposure. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) specified AQI (Air Quality Index) is the best yardstick to measure the level of pollution in the air of a certain region. The major pollutants that are considered in the AQI are Ground level ozone, Carbon monoxide, Sulfur dioxide, Nitrogen dioxide and airborne particles. The higher the AQI figures the greater is the air pollution while anything over 200 AQI is considered to be unhealthy air as stated by EPA.

Air pollution is largely attributable to particulate matter which includes a mix of dust, soot, smoke and liquid particles or aerosols. It is a major determinant of air quality and a major irritant present in the air. Fine particulate matter is what causes major health hazards to citizens , while reducing visibility when in high concentration in the air. According to WHO, prolonged exposure to PM2.5 can increase long-term risk of cardiopulmonary mortality by 6–13% per 10 µg/m3 of PM2.5 (8–10).

The Improving Knowledge and Communication for Decision-making on Air Pollution and Health (Aphekom) in Europe was conducted to understand the implications on average life expectancy if PM 2.5 in polluted cities could be brought down as per WHO recommendations. Among the 25 participating European countries, it was observed that they averaged at 10µg/m3 and residents could live 20 months longer on an average if PM 2.5 levels were perfect. Los Angeles has a PM 2.5 level of 11. Los Angeles residents could live an average of approximately 1 month longer, if their PM 2.5 is reduced to 10 and also could live nearly a year longer if the air quality were perfect.

Given this, a measure of Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) present in the air is a good focus to determine the level of pollution in a certain region.

As EPA produces a comprehensive track record of different air pollutants that affect individual cities, we have based our rankings on this Air Quality Trends Data and have ranked cities according to the level of PM 2.5 level measured in Wtd AM (µg/m3) for each of these cities.

Other coarse particles or PM10 can also be a cause of irritations and health complications and are majorly released from activities on construction sites, or mining. We have therefore reported PM10 for each of the cities that appear on our rankings as well.

25 Most Polluted Cities in the US in 2017

Kekyalyaynen / Shutterstock.com

Population can be a major contributor too, and cities with greater population can often be greater emitters. We can therefore see some of the cities in our rankings also featuring in the 50 Most Populated Cities in the US.

Air pollution has been a major cause of concern for most big cities with unexpected increases in fine dust situations and smog in the recent past. And, even though 2020 has seen a sudden drop in air pollution levels owing to the pandemic, it might be just a temporary respite and chances are that the levels might shoot right up as soon as economic activities get ready to bounce back in action.

Pollutants in the air can also be a major contributor to climate change. But also, in the recent California wildfires we have witnessed how climate change and environmental factors can in fact lead to sudden increase in air pollution levels as well. It can be easily inferred that air pollution and climate change are quite closely related.

With the talks increasing around Climate Change and the clocks ticking for major nations to get to net zero emissions , let’s take a look at the problem areas and pinpoint the focus on the cities that need attention for their less than favorable air quality conditions.

30. Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO

PM 2.5 – 10

PM 10 – 111

While Denver average yearly AQI is at 34 and meets “healthy” air standards, it fails to meet the thresholds for PM2.5. Particularly in winter months, the city experiences pollution swings that makes it one of the most polluted cities in the US.

Pixabay/Public Domain

29. Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR

PM 2.5 – 10.3

PM 10 – 38

Little Rock area has a moderate level of air pollution with major pollutants being PM2.5 at 10.3 and Ozone that averages at 68 µg/m³.

28.Birmingham-Hoover, AL

PM 2.5 – 10.4

PM 10 – 106

The city has often experienced high levels of Ozone pollution and has therefore had unhealthy air conditions. The PM.25 and PM 10 level have been over threshold as well.

Pixabay / Public Domain

27. St. Louis, MO-IL

PM 2.5 – 10.5

PM 10 – 99

St. Louis’ pollution levels are slightly higher than the limits specified by WHO and therefore poses risks in the long-term. PM 2.5 and PM 10 are the main pollutants.

www.schmanke.com

26. Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN

PM 2.5 – 10.5

PM 10 – 40

While Jefferson County had been one of 50 counties across the country that failed to meet federal health standards for fine particle pollution from 2011 to 2013, EPA has recently noted a significant improvement in air quality in the area. The area now meets the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for sulfur dioxide set to protect public health.

25. Klamath Falls, OR

PM 2.5 – 10.5

PM 10 – 58

Klamath Falls has had a prolonged problem with particulate pollution owing to its topography. Air quality can be largely affected during fire season and impacted greatly by fire smoke.

24. Modesto, CA

PM 2.5 – 10.6

PM 10 – 104

The pollution levels in Modesto are often concerning and touch the “unhealthy” level. While PM 2.5 hovers around 10.6 , it can reach a 114 µg/m³ especially towards the end of the year.

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jejim / Shutterstock.com

23. Shreveport-Bossier City, LA

PM 2.5 – 10.7

PM 10 – 44

While particle pollution is still a concern in the area, Shreveport fares nicely in the ozone pollution category and also experiences clean air and a favorable AQI.

Most Polluted Cities in the United States

22. McAllen-Mission, TX

PM 2.5 – 10.7

PM 10 – 50

While pollutants level remain low to moderate throughout the year in the area, the PM2.5 level still poses a concern at 10.7 and hence finds a rank among the most polluted cities in the US.

Pixabay/Public Domain

21. Laredo, TX

PM 2.5 – 10.7

PM 10 – 48

Laredo, TX experience average to low AQI conditions across the year. Ozone andPM 2.5 comprise of the main pollutants.

20.Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX

PM 2.5 – 10.7

PM 10 – 63

Even though Houston’s pollution conditions have been on the improving trends, there is still way to go to attain EPA’s standards. Despite a population rise in the recent past, the area has majorly been able to tackle its pollution levels.

Most Ethnically Diverse Cities in America

19. El Centro, CA

PM 2.5 – 10.7

PM 10 – 162

The area experiences high ozone days and high levels of particle pollution with AQI often dipping below favorable.

David Brimm/Shutterstock.com

18.Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC

PM 2.5 – 10.7

PM 10 – 25

While the area ranks higher in 24 hour particle pollution, initiatives have been working in its favor. Augusta has also had no high ozone days in the recent past.

Sean Pavone/Shutterstock.com

17. Cleveland-Elyria, OH

PM 2.5 – 10.8

PM 10 – 79

Cleveland ranks highly on the pollution levels, and soot and smoke particles in the air are a major cause of concern.

Henryk Sadura/Shutterstock.com

16. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI

PM 2.5 – 10.8

PM 10 – 73

The region has reported over 100 days of moderate pollution levels and poor air quality in 2018. Higher levels of ground level ozone and particle pollution has been concerning.

Pixabay/Public Domain

15.Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA

PM 2.5 – 10.8

PM 10 – 40

The region experiences favorable days, however, the pollution levels remain moderately high on an average through the year.

Pixabay/Public Domain

14. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ

PM 2.5 – 10.9

PM 10 – 990

Air quality is often poor in the region, with high levels of pollutants. The PM10 levels are high and the region experienced 110 days of poor air quality in 2016.

airport, phoenix, arizona, traffic, air, control, view, aerial, sky, dawn, harbor, tower, usa, travel, built, night, skyline, southwest, sonoran, runway, building, architecture, city,

Anton Foltin/Shutterstock.com

13. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA

PM 2.5 – 11

PM 10 – 34

The overall area has experienced over 96 days of poor air quality in 2016, however, recent trends have shown significant decrease in pollutants in New York during the COVID 19 pandemic.

Pixabay/Public Domain

12. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

PM 2.5 – 11

PM 10 – 159

Los Angeles has average pollution levels , while maximum pollution levels over a year are greater than the maximum limit specified by WHO. Smog is a major issue that the region faces.

11. Fresno, CA

PM 2.5 – 11.2

PM 10 – 234

Air Quality touches very low levels in Fresno, and respiratory issues like asthma is common in the region.

Click to continue reading and see the 10 most polluted cities in America. Disclosure: 30 Most Polluted Cities in the US is originally published at Insider Monkey.

Difference in class and empathy between President’s Obama and Clinton, Joe Biden and trump

Former President Barack Obama wished President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump good care and “a speedy recovery” on Friday after they were diagnosed with Covid – 19.

“Michelle and I are hopeful that they and others that have been affected by COVID 19 around the country are getting the care that they need, that they are going to be on the path to a speedy recovery, and it’s important I think for all of us to remember that even when we’re in the midst of big political battles with issues that have a lot at stake, that we’re all Americans and we’re all human beings, and we want to make sure everybody is healthy, Obama added in words echoing what Joe Biden said earlier today online and at a campaign speech in Michigan. “Michelle and I want to make sure we acknowledge the president and the first lady at this difficult time.”

Bill Clinton @BillClinton

We wish the President and First Lady a speedy recovery, and hope for the safety of the White House staff, the Secret Service, and others putting their lives on the line. This pandemic has affected so many. We must continue to protect ourselves, our families, and communities.

Image may contain: 1 person, text that says 'Joe Biden has pulled all negative ads out of respect for Trump. Joe Joe Biden is taking down his negative ads, going all-positive, the New York Times reports. That is what class and leadership looks like. like. Do you agree? CALL TO ACTIVISM'

Michael Moore floats conspiracy theory that Trump may be faking Covid diagnosis

Independent

Michael Moore floats conspiracy theory that Trump may be faking Covid diagnosis

Graig Graziosi October 2, 2020

Documentarian Michael Moore suggests Donald Trump may be faking his coronavirus diagnosis to garner sympathy before the election. Trump political advisor Hope Hicks, as well as another White House staffer and two reporters working in the White House also have tested positive since Mr Trump was diagnosed. (Getty Images North America)

Documentarian and left-wing activist Michael Moore has floated a conspiracy theory on his Facebook page that suggested Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis was faked.

Mr Moore justified his skepticism of Mr Trump’s diagnosis by citing the president’s many lies and incorrect statements.

“There is one absolute truth about Trump: He is a consistent, absolute, unrelenting, fearless, and professional liar. A serial liar. A factually proven liar. How many lies now has the Washington Post proven in these four years? 25,000? A lie at least twice during every waking hour? Think of all the bad people you’ve known in your life. Even the worst ones you couldn’t say that about.,” he wrote.

Mr Moore then asked “so why on earth would we believe him today? Has he earned your trust now?”

He pondered why Mr Trump would “all of a sudden just start telling the truth.”

“Why would you believe him now?” he asked. “…Trump has a history of lying about his health. His longtime New York doctor, Dr Bornstein, admitted a few years ago that Trump dictated his perfect ‘doctor’s letter’ during the 2016 campaign. Then there was the White House doctor who said Trump could live “200 years!” What about his lying about that emergency trip to Walter Reed “to complete his physical?”

Mr Moore said that Mr Trump may have the virus, but said the president lying about the virus had to be considered.

He went on to speculate as to why Mr Trump would fake having the virus after spending months downplaying its danger and publicly undermining guidelines meant to mitigate its spread.

Mr Moore believes the president is responding to polling data that suggests he is falling behind his campaign rival in the 2020 US election, Democrat Joe Biden. Under Mr Moore’s theory, Mr Trump hopes to change the media narrative and garner sympathy amoung the public by pretending to have the virus.

“Democrats, liberals, the media and others have always been wrong to simply treat him as a buffoon and a dummy and a jackass. Yes, he is all those things. But he’s also canny. He’s clever. He outfoxed Comey. He outfoxed Mueller. He outfoxed 20 Republicans in the GOP primary and then did the same to the Democrats, winning the White House despite receiving fewer votes than his opponent,” Mr Moore wrote. “He’s an evil genius and I raise the possibility of him lying about having Covid -19 to prepare us and counteract his game. He knows being sick tends to gain one sympathy. He’s not above weaponizing this.”

He then went on to claim that Mr Trump may use his potentially phony diagnosis to attempt to delay or otherwise postpone the election. Mr Moore notes that the US Constitution does not grant the president the power to move the election, but says Mr Trump and his administration will simply ignore it.

“He and his thug Attorney General Barr have no shame and will stop at nothing to stay in power. He may even use this as an excuse for losing,” Mr Moore wrote.

He concluded by admitting that Mr Trump “probably does” have Covid-19, and calling on voters to stick to their plans to vote and to be sceptical about what they read and hear. He then offered his well-wishes – mixed with a sizeable amount of indignation – to Mr Trump.

“Finally, on a personal note: Stay alive Mr. President. Your exit from public life must happen in the right and decent way. You have many years to live. You have a child to raise. Grandchildren who need you. A base that loves you,” Mr Moore wrote. “And the families of nearly the quarter-million dead who might be alive today had you done your job, had you cared, had you not played politics with people’s lives. Over 200,000 lost souls — and YOU KNEW! You told Woodward in February it was a plague. 200,000 dead because of decisions you made, because you denigrated science and ignored the doctors.”

Just before Mr Trump and First Lady Melania Trump announced their diagnosis, White House staffer Hope Hicks tested positive for Covid-19. Since their diagnosis, several other individuals in Mr Trump’s orbit over the past few days have tested positive as well, including the president of Notre Dame, a White House staffer, and two reporters who work in the White House.

Trump coronavirus news – live: Doctors reveal Trump on cocktail of drugs with ‘cough, fever’ and fatigue

Cleveland reports at least 11 cases of coronavirus linked to presidential debate

What’s at stake in the SCOTUS : White House struggles to understand the ACA case it supports

MSNBC – MaddowBlog

White House struggles to understand the ACA case it supports

If the White House is going to fight to take health care benefits from millions of families, it should at least try to get the details right.

By Steve Benen, Repeated from June 30, 2020

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks during a press briefing at the White House on May 1, 2020.Evan Vucci / AP

Last week, Donald Trump and his team asked the Supreme Court to tear down the Affordable Care Act in its entirety, despite the ongoing pandemic. If the president succeeds in getting what he wants, his own country’s health care system would be left in shambles, and tens of millions of families would lose benefits they’ve come to rely on.

It was against this backdrop that White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany appeared on Fox News yesterday morning, and one of the co-hosts asked about the potential political fallout of destroying the existing system without having a replacement ready. The president’s chief spokesperson made the case that it’s actually Democrats who’ll have a political problem.

“Look, the American public looks at this and what they say is this: If Democrats passed an unconstitutional law several years ago, then it’s on Democrats to come forward with a solution.”

McEnany went on to argue that the Affordable Care Act represents a “government takeover of health care” (that’s not true), that the White House has “put forward solutions” (that’s not true), and that Democrats are moving toward “eliminating Medicare” (that’s not true).

There was, in other words, quite a bit wrong with the press secretary’s pitch. But let’s focus on two key elements.

First, to hear McEnany tell it, if Supreme Court conservatives agree to destroy the existing health care system, it will be because Democrats “passed an unconstitutional law several years ago.” She’s confused: the pending ACA case is not a test of the original law’s constitutionality. That case has already come and gone.

Rather, the current case relates to the Republicans’ 2017 tax plan and the GOP’s apparent belief that it altered the ACA in such a way as to render it unconstitutional. It’s the sort of detail the White House really ought to know while it tries to take health care coverage from millions of families.

Second, it’s almost amusing to hear McEnany insist that it’s “on Democrats to come forward with a solution.” In other words, if Republicans make a mess, the White House expects Democrats to clean it up.

In reality, however, it’s Democrats who’ve already “come forward with a solution” — it’s the ACA, and it’s working — which they continue to take steps to improve. Meanwhile, it’s Republicans who’ve spent more than a decade promising to craft an alternative to “Obamacare” that does more and costs less.

At least so far, McEnany’s party has failed to keep that promise.