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A Country That Routinely Abuses Children

When officers led them out of a detention facility near the U.S.-Mexico border and onto a bus last month, the 12-year-old from Honduras and his 9-year-old sister believed they were going to a shelter so they could be reunited with their mother in the Midwest.

Instead, the bus drove five hours to an airport where the children were told to board a plane.

No U.S. agents looked at the video the boy had saved on his cellphone showing a hooded man holding a rifle, saying his name, and threatening to kill him and his sister, weeks after the uncle caring for them was shot dead in June. And even though they were expelled under an emergency declaration citing the virus, they were never tested for COVID-19, the boy said.

Associated Press

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People live longer in blue states than in red states; new study points to impact of state policies

Weak environmental protections, safety rules and labor and civil rights protections may be cutting lives short in conservative states and deepening the divide between red and blue states, according to a new study on links between life expectancy and state policy.

Some states, mostly in the Northeast and the West, have seen average life expectancies rise relatively steadily, placing them on par with the wealthiest nations of Western Europe. Those states tend to have more stringent regulations.

By contrast, the life expectancy in states with more conservative health, labor and social policies — concentrated in the South and Appalachia — has stagnated in recent decades, according to the study, which adds to growing research on health and political disparities between states.

Seattle Times

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Landlord Killed by Beheading. Will More of the Same Occur Because of Republicans?

The coronavirus relief bill expired on July 31, 2020. The House (Democrats) passed a coronavirus recovery bill over 2 months ago. The Senate (Republicans) refused to act on it as Republicans fail to address the issue.

Connecticut man who was behind on his rent brutally killed his landlord when confronted over the late payments, according to multiple reports. Jerry David Thompson was arrested last week for the grisly crime that allegedly included decapitating his landlord, Victor King, with a samurai sword in a home in Hartford.

NewsOne
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Yale Study on $600 Unemployment Lifeline Championed by Democrats Destroys Favorite GOP Talking Point

A new study by Yale economists out this week debunks the repeated GOP talking point that the $600 federal expansion of unemployment benefits has disincentivized people from returning to work—findings published the same day Senate Republicans released a coronavirus relief proposal which critics condemned as an “utter disgrace” that will “unleash widespread suffering” on people nationwide.

Common Dreams

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How Crazy are Anti-Maskers? This Crazy:

Customers Who Refused Masks Assault Trader Joe’s Workers, Send One to the Hospital

The men pummeled one employee with a wooden paddle, ripped off another employee’s mask, and pulled the hair of a third worker, according to an NYPD spokesperson.

Vice

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‘Stay away.’ ‘Biggest petri dish in the world.’ The view from Canada, of us, isn’t so nice.

Canadians don’t want Americans to cross the border. What they’re saying:

“Hard pass on opening the border — we’re a healthy nation with big plans, and you’re a failed society,” one Canadian replied to the congressional letter on Twitter.

“That border stays CLOSED,” wrote another. “Canadians may be polite but we aren’t CRAZY!”

And another: “There’s no reason to believe Americans will care about the health of Canadians, given that relatively few seem to care about the health of other Americans.”

The Seattle Times

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Narcissists and Psychopaths Are More Likely to Refuse to Wear Masks

Two recent studies looked at the relationship between personality traits and reactions to restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19. Researchers found that people possessing so-called “Dark Triad” traits—narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism—were less likely to comply with restrictions or engage in preventative measures against the pandemic. However, researchers also emphasized the small role personality traits have in the overall response to pandemic restrictions, like face-mask mandates and social-distancing requirements.

Newsweek

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Overloaded Texas County: Send Sickest COVID-19 Patients Home to Die

The county was doing a great job stifling the spread of coronavirus, with lockdowns and mandatory masks required.

Then the Republican governor overrode and canceled such precautions.

Now the hospital is overwhelmed with coronavirus patients and they’ve formed a “death panel” to decide which sick patients should just be sent home to die.

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram

The moral: Never Vote For A Republican.

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Time to Review the President’s Extraordinary Emergency Powers?

We have recently come to learn of at least a hundred documents authorizing extraordinary presidential powers in the case of a national emergency, virtually dictatorial powers without congressional or judicial checks and balances. President Trump alluded to these authorities in March when he said, “I have the right to do a lot of things that people don’t even know about.” No matter who occupies the office, the American people have a right to know what extraordinary powers presidents believe they have. It is time for a new select committee to study these powers and their potential for abuse, and advise Congress on the ways in which it might, at a minimum, establish stringent oversight.

John Kerry at The New York Times