POSSIBLE TOPICS: VOTING FAQ,Trump nomination to be held in private: report, Australia now has a template for forcing Facebook and Google to pay for news, Current Mortgage Refinance Rates, July 31, 2020 | Rates ratchet higher, Sinclair drops segment featuring conspiracy theory about Fauci, Wikipedia administrators caution editors about using Fox News as source on ‘contentious’ claims, Wikipedia administrators caution editors about using Fox News as source on ‘contentious’ claims, Farmworkers at Central California pistachio farm strike after dozens test positive for the coronavirus,  Farmworkers at Central California pistachio farm strike after dozens test positive for the coronavirus, Nuclear Gulf: Is Saudi Arabia pushing itself into a nuclear trap?, MORE.

SHOW AUDIO: Link is usually posted within about 72 hours of show broadcast.

This program was recorded on SUNDAY, JULY 26 at about 4:30 AM.  Due to Covid-19, shows are being prerecorded beginning March 13th and until further notice. We miss our live call-in participants, and look forward to a time we can once again go live.

Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio), a listener call-in show  airing live every Monday night from 3-4 PM (CT) on KPFT-FM 90.1 (Houston). My co-host and Editor is Andrew Ferguson.

Listen live on the radio, or on the internet from anywhere in the world! When the show is live, we take calls at 713-526-5738. (Long distance charges may apply.)

Please take a moment to visit Pledge.KPFT.org and choose THINKWING RADIO from the drop-down list when you donate.

Make sure you are registered to vote! (Voting and election info are items 1 thru 6. Show information begins after Item 4.)

This program was recorded on SUNDAY, JULY 19. If you call in, you will NOT be able to get on the air, so please do not call the call-the show. We love our callers, but unfortunately live call-in is one of the casualties of COVID-19.

1. The next election is the General Election on November 3^rd,
2. VOTING FAQ
   1. VOTETEXAS.GOV – Texas Voter Information
   2. HARRISVOTES.COM­ – Countywide Voting Centers
   3. Make sure you are registered to vote!
   4. On the possibility that the courts make you eligible to vote by mail on Election Day due to the Covid-19 virus, make sure that you are ready with an application to mail in. These are available from HARRISVOTES.COM­.  Follow directions carefully.
   5. For personalized, nonpartisan voter guides and information, consider visiting VOTE411.ORG    Ballotpedia.com and Texas League of Women Voters are also a good place to get election info. (DO NOT!! go to 411Vote!!)
   6. If you are denied your right to vote any place at any time at any polling place for any reason, ask for (or demand) a provisional ballot rather than lose your vote.
   7. HarrisVotes.com (Election Information Line (713) 755-6965), Harris County Clerk
   8. VOTETEXAS.GOV – Texas Voter Information
   9. HARRISVOTES.COM – Countywide Voting Centers
      1. HARRIS CTY – IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED FOR VOTING: Do not possess and cannot reasonably obtain one of these IDs?
         1. Fill out a declaration at the polls describing a reasonable impediment to obtaining it, and show a copy or original of one of the following supporting forms of ID:
         2. A government document that shows your name and an address, including your voter registration certificate
         3. Current utility bill
         4. Bank statement
         5. Government check
         6. Paycheck
         7. A certified domestic (from a U.S. state or territory) birth certificate or (b) a document confirming birth admissible in a court of law which establishes your identity (which may include a foreign birth document)
   10. You may vote early by-mail if
       1.  You are registered to vote and meet one of the following criteria:
       2. Away from the county of residence on Election Day and during the early voting period;
       3. Sick or disabled;
       4. 65 years of age or older on Election Day; or
       5. Confined in jail, but eligible to vote.
       6. Make sure you are registered:
   11. Ann Harris Bennett, Tax Assessor-Collector & Voter Registrar
       1. CHECK REGISTRATION STATUS HERE
          1. CLICK How to register to vote in Texas
       2. Outside Texas, try Vote.org.
3. You will probably have heard this by the time this show airs, but I can’t resist: Trump nomination to be held in private: report, By J. Edward Moreno | THEHILL.COM | 08/01/20 10:00 PM EDT
   1. The vote to nominate President Trump will be held in private later this month, without members of the press present, Republican National Convention officials confirmed to The Associated Press and CNN. 
   2. The Arkansas Democrat Gazette first reported the news. 
   3. On August 24, Republican delegates are scheduled to gather in Charlotte, N.C., to formally vote to make Trump the GOP nominee. The vote itself will reportedly be live-streamed. 
   4. The move was reportedly made to reduce the amount of people present to avoid the spread of coronavirus. The vote was already scaled down from 2,550 to 336 delegates, or one person per every 6 delegates. 
   5. “Given the health restrictions and limitations in place within the state of North Carolina, we are planning for the Charlotte activities to be closed press Friday, August 21 — Monday, August 24,” the RNC convention spokesperson told the outlets in a statement Saturday.
   6. Convention officials did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Hill. …
   7. MIKE: Of course, one of the key phrases in the article is “without members of the press present”. For a publicity whore like Donald Trump to want to have his Republican presidential nomination in private speaks volumes about his current state of mind.
4. Australia now has a template for forcing Facebook and Google to pay for news, byNatasha Lomas@riptari | TECHCRUNCH.COM | 11:17 am CDT•July 31, 2020
   1. Australia is closing in on a legally binding framework to force adtech giants Facebook and Google pay media companies for monetizing their news content when it’s posted to their social media platforms or otherwise aggregated and monetized.
   2. Back in April the country’s government announced it would adopt a mandatory code requiring the tech giants to share ad revenue with media business after an attempt to negotiate a voluntary arrangement with the companies failed to make progress.
   3. Today Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has published details of a first pass at that mandatory code — which it says is intended to address “acute bargaining power imbalances” between local news businesses vs the adtech duopoly, Google and Facebook.
   4. MIKE: This is in the context of the struggling news business. As discussed on this show several times before, news aggregators such as Google and Facebook (among others) draw eyeballs to their sites using news stories developed by other sources. The news aggregators thus develop traffic and ad revenue using this strategy, but that revenue is not shared by the news organizations, many of which are struggling to survive at the best of times. I predict that this will be a precursor of similar arrangements around the world.
5. Are you in a financial position to shop for a home? Current Mortgage Refinance Rates, July 31, 2020 | Rates ratchet higher, By Jeff Ostrowski | BANKRATE.COM | Jul. 31, 2020 (At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here’s an explanation [below] for how we make money.)
   1. 30-year fixed refinance – The average 30-year fixed-refinance rate is 3.19 percent, up 3 basis points over the last week. A month ago, the average rate on a 30-year fixed refinance was higher, at 3.34 percent.
   2. 15-year fixed refinance – The average rate for a 15-year fixed refi is 2.77 percent, up 3 basis points over the last seven days.
   3. MIKE: Note that rates will vary depending, among other things, on individual credit-worthiness. Nonetheless, the rates are all stunningly low.
6. LAST WEEK, WE DISCUSSED THIS ARTICLE: Sinclair says it will postpone and ‘rework’ segment featuring conspiracy theory about Fauci – How a coronavirus ‘infodemic’ is infecting the internet, By Oliver Darcy | CNN Business | Updated 4:39 PM ET, Sat July 25, 2020
   1. The Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI) said Saturday it will postpone and rework a segment it planned to air this weekend that suggested Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, was responsible for the creation of the coronavirus.
   2. The baseless conspiracy theory was set to air on stations across the country in a segment during the program “America This Week” hosted by Eric Bolling. The show, which is posted online before it is broadcast over the weekend, is distributed to Sinclair’s network of local television stations, one of the largest in the country.
   3. THIS WEEK, WE HAVE AN UPDATE: Sinclair drops segment featuring conspiracy theory about Fauci,  By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business | Updated 5:42 PM ET, Mon July 27, 2020
      1. The Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI) said Monday it will not move forward with airing a segment featuring a conspiracy theory that suggested Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, was responsible for the creation of the coronavirus.
      2. Over the weekend, Sinclair announced it would postpone and “rework” the segment featuring discredited “Plandemic” researcher Judy Mikovits which was set to air during the program “America This Week” hosted by Eric Bolling.
      3. But on Monday, the company pulled the plug altogether.
      4. “Upon further review, we have decided not to air the interview with Dr. Mikovits,” a spokesperson for Sinclair told CNN Business in a statement. “Although the segment did include an expert to dispute Dr. Mikovits, given the nature of the theories she presented we believe it is not appropriate to air the interview.”
7. IN ANOTHER REPORT RELATING TO RIGHTWING NEWS BIAS: Wikipedia administrators caution editors about using Fox News as source on ‘contentious’ claims, By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business | Updated 1:19 AM ET, Fri July 24, 2020(A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. You can sign up for free right here.
   1. The Wikipedia community recently engaged in a spirited debate over whether Fox News is a reliable enough source to use as a citation in entries on the encyclopedia. … Some argued in favor of Fox News. Others argued against. Some found themselves on middle ground.
   2. The debate, however, came to an end earlier this week. On Tuesday, a panel of three administrators … issued a ruling … that there was “no consensus regarding the reliability” of Fox news. Because of that, the three administrators said Fox News “should be used with caution” by editors “to verify contentious claims” related to politics and science.
   3. On Wikipedia’s perennial sources page, Fox News — which was previously a green-level source – is now categorized as a yellow-level source … The three administrators [said] in a joint statement that the ruling “will likely have little effect on the majority of articles,” given that Fox News is often used to support entries unrelated to politics or science.
   4. But, the editor’s added, “Use of Fox News in these two areas [politics or science] … will be carefully scrutinized; it can still be used, but likely only when there are additional sources to corroborate or if it is clearly marked as opinion or biased. In other words, prior to this discussion an editor would need to make an argument why not to use a Fox News source, but now the expectation that any disputes will require the person wanting Fox to be the primary source/reference will have to make the argument for inclusion.”
   5. A spokesperson for the WikiMedia Foundation, the charitable organization that hosts Wikipedia, explained in part, “The outcome is a guideline for editors to use caution when citing Fox News on two subjects; for other subjects Fox News is generally considered reliable.”
   6. That these guidelines now exist for Fox News doesn’t reflect particularly well on the network. I reached out to a spokesperson for Fox News, but didn’t hear back.
8. MEANWHILE, IN ‘UNEXPECTED CONSEQUENCES’ NEWS: Schools Want IDEA Liability Protections From Congress, by Michelle Diament | DISABILITYSCOOP.COM | July 20, 2020
   1. Concerned that the pandemic will prompt an onslaught of special education litigation, school leaders want federal lawmakers to grant them liability protections related to their obligations under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA]. …
   2. … [T]hree groups said that surveys of school leaders across the nation show growing concern about “unparalleled rates of litigation” as schools struggle to follow through with students’ individualized education programs during the pandemic.
   3. [In a statement from Daniel Domenech … ,] “Congress must act swiftly to provide liability protection to districts around IDEA. … District leaders need to be focused on addressing learning loss, not preventing litigation. … [T]his is an opportunity to provide reasonable, temporary, litigation protection for the vast majority of districts that are doing everything feasible to meet IDEA during the pandemic, but simply cannot meet every requirement exactly as intended for every single child.”
   4. The request comes as lawmakers are expected to start piecing together another coronavirus relief bill in the coming weeks. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has indicated that he wants liability protections for businesses, schools and others included in the bill, though it’s unclear what that could mean for special education specifically. …
   5. Disability advocacy groups have insisted that no waivers of special education law are warranted despite the extraordinary circumstances presented by COVID-19.
   6. Fears about increased litigation are unfounded, said Denise Stile Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates … , a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of students with disabilities and their families.
   7. “They fail to make the case the COVID-19 (pandemic) has caused or will result in multitude of lawsuits. Anticipating and predicting are hardly conclusive,” Marshall said of the school groups advocating for liability protections, noting that a “very low percentage of families” file for due process.
   8. “There is no acknowledgement at all of the very serious harms some students are suffering or schools that have not even tried to meet their obligations,” she said. “Our position from day one remains the same — no waivers — that includes sweeping liability protections.”
9. More Covid-related news: Farmworkers at Central California pistachio farm strike after dozens test positive for the coronavirus, By ASSOCIATED PRESS via LATIMES.COM| June 25, 2020, 5:29 PM
   1. WASCO, Calif.  — A group of about 50 farmworkers went on strike Thursday at a Central California pistachio farm demanding free face coverings, gloves and information from the farm’s owner after they said they learned from the media that dozens of their co-workers tested positive for the novel coronavirus, a union official said.
   2. Workers picketed outside Primex Farms in Wasco, which grows pistachio nuts, said Armando Elenes, a United Farm Workers official. Their demands also include better sanitation measures and more information from the company, which had not told them about the positive cases, he said.
   3. “They wanted to keep everything confidential, and at the same time, people [are] getting contaminated,” Elenes said.
   4. Workers learned of the cases about two weeks ago when fellow workers started getting sick, but only heard that dozens had tested positive from a report on local television, Elenes said.
   5. Primex, which has 5,000 acres of pistachio orchards in California as well as other nuts and produces dried fruits, confirmed that 31 people at the company were infected. …
   6. Veronica Perez, one of the workers, said the company never held a meeting to tell them what was happening and only began providing free masks a few days ago. Previously, she said they sold cloth masks for $8 each.
   7. The company has since brought on new workers to fill in for those who have gotten ill but hasn’t advised them of the outbreak, she said.
   8. “They continue to hide everything from us,” she said. “All we are asking is that all our rights are fulfilled and they treat us as essential workers and give us a safe place to work.“
   9. MIKE: Companies exist to make money. Unions exist to protect workers while companies make money off their labor. These two entities must exist in a dynamic tension that benefits both business and labor.
10. Tesla Autopilot Accidents: 1 out of 4,530,000 Miles; US Average: 1 out of 479,000 Miles, by Zachary Shahan | CLEANTECHNICA.COM | August 1st, 2020
    1. Tesla has released its quarterly “Tesla Vehicle Safety Report.” …The second quarter of 2020 saw a slightly worse result for Tesla than the first quarter in terms of accidents per million miles driven with Tesla Autopilot engaged (see graph below), but keep in mind that the first quarter had a record result. Additionally, the difference was so small that it was probably not statistically significant. On the other hand, Tesla’s Q2 figure was far better than the US average — about 10 times better with Autopilot engaged. Here are the key statistics:
       1. 1 accident every 4.53 million miles when Autopilot engaged
       2. 1 accident every 2.27 million miles when Autopilot not engaged but active safety features active
       3. 1 accident every 1.56 million miles without Autopilot and without active safety features
       4. 1 accident every 479,000 miles — US average (NHTSA)
    2. MIKE: In other words, even at this stage of driverless tech, the Tesla is almost 10 times safer than a human driver. This should also be seen in the context of an increasingly automated world, and further in the context of changes wrought by Covid-19 in work and social life.
11. Nuclear Gulf: Is Saudi Arabia pushing itself into a nuclear trap? – MBS is prepared to pursue nuclear weapons if Iran gets them. But could he end up making the kingdom a nuclear pawn? by Patricia Sabga | ALJAZEERA.COM | 21 Jul 2020
    1. When countries start dabbling in nuclear energy, eyebrows raise. … So when atom-splitting initiatives surface in a region with a history of nuclear secrecy and where whacking missiles into one’s enemies is relatively common, it is not just eyebrows that are hoisted, but red flags.
    2. Right now, warning banners are waving above the Arabian Peninsula, where the United Arab Emirates has loaded fuel rods into the first of four reactors at Barakah – the Arab world’s first nuclear power plant.
    3. Roughly 620 kilometres (388 miles) west, Saudi Arabia is constructing its first research reactor at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology. …
    4. Like the UAE, Saudi Arabia insists its nuclear ambitions extend no further than civilian energy projects. But unlike its neighbour and regional ally, Riyadh has not officially sworn off developing nuclear weapons.
    5. The kingdom’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), has publicly declared his intention to pursue nuclear weapons if Iran gets them first.
    6. The spectre of the Saudi-Iran Cold War escalating into a nuclear arms race is not beyond the realm of possibility. There are growing concerns over the nuclearisation of the Arabian Peninsula and where it could lead the Gulf and the Middle East – [it’s] a volatile region that experts warn could be opening itself up to superpower proxy fights on a nuclear scale. …
    7. Nuclear energy, the kingdom argues, would allow it to export crude it currently consumes for domestic energy needs, generating more income for state coffers while developing a new high-tech industry to create jobs for its youthful workforce.
    8. But if a bountiful economic harvest is the goal, nuclear energy is a poor industry to seed compared with renewables like solar and wind.
    9. “Every state has the right to determine its energy mix. The problem is this: nuclear costs are enormous,” Paul Dorfman, honorary senior research fellow at the Energy Institute, University College London and founder and chair of the Nuclear Consulting Group, told Al Jazeera. “Renewables are maybe between one-fifth and one-seventh the cost of nuclear.”
    10. Utility-scale, average unsubsidised lifetime costs for solar photovoltaic were about $40 per megawatt-hour (MWh) in 2019, compared with $155 per MWh for nuclear energy, according to an analysis by financial advisory and asset manager Lazard. 
    11. “There are no economic or energy policy or industrial reasons to build a nuclear power plant,” Mycle Schneider, convening lead author and the publisher of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report, told Al Jazeera. “If countries decide to build a nuclear power plant anyway, then we have to discuss other issues that are actually the drivers for those projects.” …

POSSIBLE TOPICS: VOTER INFO, Washington Post Settles Lawsuit With Student in Viral Protest Video – A $250 million defamation suit over coverage of an encounter with a Native American elder came to a confidential end.  Racial disparities seen in how doctors treat pain, even among children, Calls for racial justice gained steam with empathy, Confederate symbols have no place in public spaces. Stone Mountain is no exception. Trump posts misleading ad using Ukraine photo, Sinclair says it will postpone and ‘rework’ segment featuring conspiracy theory about Fauci, Nuclear Gulf: Is Saudi Arabia pushing itself into a nuclear trap?, CORPORATE SOCIOPATHY: Not Just A Catchy Buzz Phrase, MORE.

SHOW AUDIO: Link is usually posted within about 72 hours of show broadcast.

This program was recorded on SUNDAY, JULY 26 at about 4:30 AM.  Due to Covid-19, shows are being prerecorded beginning March 13th and until further notice. We miss our live call-in participants, and look forward to a time we can once again go live.

Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio), a listener call-in show  airing live every Monday night from 3-4 PM (CT) on KPFT-FM 90.1 (Houston). My co-host and Editor is Andrew Ferguson.

Listen live on the radio, or on the internet from anywhere in the world! When the show is live, we take calls at 713-526-5738. (Long distance charges may apply.)

Please take a moment to visit Pledge.KPFT.org and choose THINKWING RADIO from the drop-down list when you donate.

Make sure you are registered to vote! (Voting and election info are items 1 thru 6. Show information begins after Item 4.)

This program was recorded on SUNDAY, JULY 19. If you call in, you will NOT be able to get on the air, so please do not call the call-the show. We love our callers, but unfortunately live call-in is one of the casualties of COVID-19.

1. Next election is he General on November 3rd. Make sure you are registered!
2. VOTING FAQ
   1. Make sure you are registered to vote!
   2. For a personalized, nonpartisan voter guide visit VOTE411.ORG (DO NOT!! go to 411Vote!!)
   3. If you are denied your right to vote any place at any time at any polling place for any reason, ask for (or demand) a provisional ballot rather than lose your vote.
   4. HarrisVotes.com (Election Information Line (713) 755-6965), Harris County Clerk
   5. VOTETEXAS.GOV – Texas Voter Information
   6. HARRISVOTES.COM – Countywide Voting Center
      1. HARRIS CTY – IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED FOR VOTING: Do not possess and cannot reasonably obtain one of these IDs?
         1. Fill out a declaration at the polls describing a reasonable impediment to obtaining it, and show a copy or original of one of the following supporting forms of ID:
         2. A government document that shows your name and an address, including your voter registration certificate
         3. Current utility bill
         4. Bank statement
         5. Current utility bill
         6. Bank statement
         7. Government check
         8. Paycheck
         9. A certified domestic (from a U.S. state or territory) birth certificate or (b) a document confirming birth admissible in a court of law which establishes your identity (which may include a foreign birth document)
   7. You may vote early by-mail if
      1.  You are registered to vote and meet one of the following criteria:
      2. Away from the county of residence on Election Day and during the early voting period;
      3. Sick or disabled;
      4. 65 years of age or older on Election Day; or
      5. Confined in jail, but eligible to vote.
      6. Make sure you are registered:
   8. Ann Harris Bennett, Tax Assessor-Collector & Voter Registrar
      1. CHECK REGISTRATION STATUS HERE
         1. CLICK How to register to vote in Texas
      2. Outside Texas, try Vote.org.
3. Washington Post Settles Lawsuit With Student in Viral Protest Video – A $250 million defamation suit over coverage of an encounter with a Native American elder came to a confidential end.  By Edmund Lee | NYTIMES.COM | July 24, 2020, 8:02 p.m. ET
   1. The Washington Post settled a defamation lawsuit filed by the parents of a Kentucky teenager over the paper’s coverage of his encounter with a Native American protester in Washington last year, an event that set off a national debate.
   2. The newspaper said on Friday that it had reached the settlement, but did not disclose the terms. “We are pleased that we have been able to reach a mutually agreeable resolution of the remaining claims in this lawsuit,” said Kristine Coratti Kelly, a spokeswoman for The Post. …
   3. The Sandmanns settled a separate suit with CNN this year, with neither the family nor the cable network providing any details. The family has active cases against several other media outlets, including The New York Times.
   4. Mike: I HATE NDAs!!
4. Racial disparities seen in how doctors treat pain, even among children, By Haider J. Warraich | WASHINGTONPOST.COM | July 11, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. CDT
   1. As many doctors, nurses and other health workers have joined protests against systemic racism, research has shown that racial bias is pervasive in health care, perhaps most apparent in the assessment and treatment of pain.
   2. The strongest evidence of this comes from a clinical setting commonly requiring surgery — acute appendicitis. Not only are there clear racial disparities in pain relief provided even in this acute condition, but they are found even for treatment of children.
   3. In a national study that included almost a million emergency room visits, black children in severe pain from acute appendicitis had just one-fifth the odds of receiving opioid painkillers compared with white children, even after adjusting for other factors.
   4. The disparity may reflect that doctors were less likely to trust their black patients, particularly because the study also showed no difference in the prescription of non-opioid painkillers by race. Another study confirmed that racial disparities in opioid prescription are greater in conditions with fewer objective findings, such as migraine or back pain, which depend on a patient’s own assessment, as opposed to say a bone fracture, which shows up on an X-ray. …
   5. Because the appraisal of pain remains entirely subjective, confined exclusively to the eye of the beholder, a doctor or nurse’s ability to accurately assess and respond to a patient’s suffering is heavily dependent on empathy, the process that allows us to understand and share another person’s emotional state. Empathy is seen as an evolutionarily promoted phenomenon: Watching someone else wince in pain after, say, they grab a hot pan, may help us not make the same mistake. Being sensitive to others’ feelings allows us to form cohesive societies. In fact, brain imaging studies show that there is considerable overlap in the brain circuits that feel one’s own pain and those that react to the pain of others. …
   6. This racial intergroup bias in empathy is ubiquitous, but researchers have performed small, carefully planned experiments showing that it is not insurmountable. Overcoming racial intergroup bias in empathy could be central not just to achieving equity in pain management, but throughout medical care and society at large.
   7. Simply living together and interacting with people of other races is associated with increases in empathy. …
   8. Calls for racial justice gained steam with empathy,  By Jamil Zaki | WASHINGTONPOST.COM | June 20, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. CDT
      1. Countless people who sat on the sidelines of this struggle have now joined in. We can ask, as many have, why now? But we might also ask, why not earlier? What kept people — especially those with relative privilege — from supporting previous movements, such as the protests in Ferguson, Mo., following the death of Michael Brown?
      2. One key to this comes from research on the perverse relationship between power and empathy. We often think of empathy — people’s ability to share and understand each other’s experiences — as a hard-wired trait, but it’s actually more like a skill. The right experiences, habits and practices can increase our empathic capacity, the same way we can get stronger by going to the gym. There’s a dark side to this idea: Other experiences can cause our empathy to atrophy, like a muscle we don’t use.
      3. Power and privilege, in particular, sap our ability to understand others. In one series of studies, the psychologist Michael Kraus and his colleagues measured people’s socio-economic status, as well as their ability to decipher emotions in pictures and in-person interactions. People higher in status were less accurate about other people’s feelings. More recent work has replicated these results and also found that high-status individuals make more errors when trying to take other people’s perspective.
      4. Kraus and his colleagues have documented other empathic failures that come with privilege. Higher-status individuals display less interest when talking with strangers, and report less concern for the suffering of others. These gaps play out in racial contexts as well. In another study, Kraus found that high-income white Americans overestimate racial economic equality more than black Americans or low-income white Americans.
      5. These findings were bleak enough to make one journalist conclude, “power causes brain damage.” But powerful people are not incapable of empathy and should not be let off the hook from working at it. Like other skills, empathy takes practice, and people practice it when they are motivated to do so. Individuals who are relatively underprivileged realize they need others to succeed, whereas people with power often decide they can go it alone. Consistent with this idea, lower-status individuals pay more attention to faces, people and social cues than those with high status.
      6. People without power often have to understand the perspective of high-power groups, which is the default in media, culture and work. …
      7. In some cases, powerful individuals have incentives not to understand. Genuinely peering into others’ worlds might force them into ugly realizations that they contribute to and benefit from injustice. To avoid that discomfort, they might turn down their empathy even further. In one troubling series of studies, psychologists reminded members of high-power groups — such as white Americans — of their group’s responsibility for past violence — for instance, against Native Americans. Participants responded by dehumanizing victims to avoid guilt.
      8. This is one irony of power: It expands the change a person could make while narrowing the aperture of who they truly see. But this is not inevitable. When powerful people choose to empathize, they become more cooperative and more invested in justice. In one particularly relevant series of studies, Emile Bruneau and his colleagues asked members of low-power groups to “perspective give,” sharing their stories, and high-power individuals to perspective take, paraphrasing what they’d heard. These dialogues increased connection and positive regard between groups — not by ignoring existing power structures, but by reversing them.
      9. In the past few weeks, many people have opened their eyes to suffering they had previously ignored. Much credit for this should go to the activists and organizers who have made it harder to look away. Can an increase in concern about racial injustice last? Empathy is a powerful psychological spark, but it often extinguishes quickly to support long-term change. As emotional stories leave our collective consciousness, people move on. Suffering continues, but those in power no longer see it.
      10. Rather than depending on empathy to last, another strategy would be to leverage the intense care and energy of this moment into structural change — for instance, commitments to diversify leadership in education, business and government. Rather than depending on people in power to listen more intently, change might come when we ensure that people who have previously been kept out of power have more chances to speak and be heard.
   9. MIKE: These kinds of studies continue to be the best argument for early racial integration in schools and communities, and affirmative action programs for racial integration in schools and work places.
5. Weekend Read: Confederate symbols have no place in public spaces. Stone Mountain is no exception. The Southern Poverty Law Center |July 17, 2020
   1. Georgia’s Stone Mountain is marred by a massive carving that sanitizes the dangerous and hateful legacy of the Confederacy.
   2. Stone Mountain is the world’s largest monument to white supremacy. The enormous landform – the centerpiece of a state park that draws more than 4 million visitors a year, some 15 miles northeast of Atlanta – is marred by a massive carving commemorating the hateful legacy of the Confederacy.
   3. The carved surface depicts Confederate leaders Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson in a reverent light across three acres. The men sit on horseback, hats over their hearts, in a tableau that cannot be interpreted as anything other than a celebration of the Confederacy and the values – white supremacy and the enslavement of Black people – for which it stood.
   4. Moreover, the history of the mountain and the Confederate memorial is intimately tied to hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the racist response to desegregation efforts in the 20th century. Work did not begin on the carving until 1923, long after the Civil War ended, and required three attempts and almost 50 years to complete. The final effort was launched in 1964 as a backlash to Brown v. Board of Education and the civil rights movement. The park’s official grand opening was pointedly celebrated on April 14, 1965 – 100 years to the day that President Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theatre – but the carving was not completed until 1972.
   5. There’s no question that Stone Mountain is a relic of an ugly past – a past that very much continues to haunt us to this day, as this year’s mass protests over the murders of Black people by police and vigilantes have made painfully clear. Across the country, statues and other pieces of Confederate iconography are gradually being removed from public display, a long overdue – and still incomplete – step forward after years of inaction. …
   6. Even as support for the removal of the Stone Mountain monument grows, a large hurdle remains: The monument is currently protected by Georgia law. As part of a 2001 compromise that retired a segregation-era state flag that prominently featured the Confederate battle flag, lawmakers adopted a statute that singles out the Stone Mountain carving for preservation:
   7. “Any other provision of law notwithstanding, the memorial to the heroes of the Confederate States of America graven upon the face of Stone Mountain shall never be altered, removed, concealed, or obscured in any fashion and shall be preserved and protected for all time as a tribute to the bravery and heroism of the citizens of this state who suffered and died in their cause.” …
   8. In recent years, legislation has been introduced that would strip Stone Mountain of its special protection, but none of those attempts have yet succeeded. That may change, as public opinion continues to shift on the removal of Confederate monuments.
   9. In the meantime, creative solutions have been proposed to circumvent the state law. The law does not mandate maintenance of the Stone Mountain carving, for example, and if all cleaning work on the monument were to stop, natural vegetation would soon grow over and eventually obscure the relief.
   10. Writing for The Guardian, Atlanta-based urban designer Ryan Gravel endorsed the “let nature take its course” approach …
6. Facebook: Trump posts misleading ad using Ukraine photo, By Christopher Giles | BBC.COM | 22-JULY-2020
   1. A post by Donald Trump’s official Facebook account purports to show violence in the US but is in fact of an event in another country.
   2. The advert shows one image of Mr Trump in a calm setting talking to police officers beside another [image] of a security official being surrounded by protesters, saying: “Public safety vs chaos and violence”.
   3. However, the image is a photo from a pro-democracy protest in Ukraine in 2014.
   4. Facebook have told the BBC they won’t be taking any action against the post but gave no further comment. …
   5. Using a reverse image search shows that the image is actually from Ukraine and was first posted in 2014, during the revolution that overthrew the government.
   6. The security official pictured is in fact not a US police officer. That badge was worn by members of the “Internal Troops of Ukraine”, a now disbanded section of the national military that also assisted with policing.
   7. The image is also on the Wikipedia page about the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution, and says it shows events in February 2014 when security officials clashed with anti-government protesters. …
   8. The imagery appears to have been made by campaign group “Evangelicals for Trump” and has mostly reached users in Florida and Texas who are older than 55, according to Facebook’s estimates. …
   9. Facebook has begun labelling posts on the pages of both the president and Joe Biden – the Democratic Party’s nominee for president in November’s election – with links to official information. …
7. Sinclair says it will postpone and ‘rework’ segment featuring conspiracy theory about Fauci – How a coronavirus ‘infodemic’ is infecting the internet, By Oliver Darcy | CNN Business | Updated 4:39 PM ET, Sat July 25, 2020
   1. The Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI) said Saturday it will postpone and rework a segment it planned to air this weekend that suggested Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, was responsible for the creation of the coronavirus.
   2. The baseless conspiracy theory was set to air on stations across the country in a segment during the program “America This Week” hosted by Eric Bolling. The show, which is posted online before it is broadcast over the weekend, is distributed to Sinclair’s network of local television stations, one of the largest in the country.
   3. In a memo sent to its local television stations on Saturday, Sinclair instructed news directors to avoid airing for now the most recent episode of Bolling’s show, which was supposed to include the conspiracy theory.
   4. “After further review of this week’s originally planned episode, it’s clear that we need to provide additional context to the highly controversial segment regarding the COVID pandemic and Dr. Fauci,” Scott Livingston, Sinclair’s senior vice president of news, wrote in the memo, which was obtained by CNN Business.
   5. “In order to meet our standard of providing an open and honest marketplace of ideas and viewpoints, even if incredibly controversial,” Livingston added, “we will need to rework the segment to ensure viewers get the best information available.” …
   6. [T]he company had defended airing the segment in a series of tweets, saying it did not endorse the conspiracy theory but was committed to providing its audience diverse viewpoints.
   7. Bolling had also previously stood by the segment, telling CNN Business that he also did not endorse the conspiracy theory, but that he was comfortable airing it because in a segment after the interview with Mikovits he spoke to a doctor who dismissed the idea Fauci was responsible for the virus. …
8. Nuclear Gulf: Is Saudi Arabia pushing itself into a nuclear trap? – MBS is prepared to pursue nuclear weapons if Iran gets them. But could he end up making the kingdom a nuclear pawn? by Patricia Sabga | ALJAZEERA.COM | 21 Jul 2020
   1. When countries start dabbling in nuclear energy, eyebrows raise. … So when atom-splitting initiatives surface in a region with a history of nuclear secrecy and where whacking missiles into one’s enemies is relatively common, it is not just eyebrows that are hoisted, but red flags.
   2. Right now, warning banners are waving above the Arabian Peninsula, where the United Arab Emirates has loaded fuel rods into the first of four reactors at Barakah – the Arab world’s first nuclear power plant.
   3. Roughly 620 kilometres (388 miles) west, Saudi Arabia is constructing its first research reactor at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology. …
   4. Like the UAE, Saudi Arabia insists its nuclear ambitions extend no further than civilian energy projects. But unlike its neighbour and regional ally, Riyadh has not officially sworn off developing nuclear weapons.
   5. The kingdom’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), has publicly declared his intention to pursue nuclear weapons if Iran gets them first.
   6. The spectre of the Saudi-Iran Cold War escalating into a nuclear arms race is not beyond the realm of possibility. There are growing concerns over the nuclearisation of the Arabian Peninsula and where it could lead the Gulf and the Middle East – [it’s] a volatile region that experts warn could be opening itself up to superpower proxy fights on a nuclear scale. …
   7. Nuclear energy, the kingdom argues, would allow it to export crude it currently consumes for domestic energy needs, generating more income for state coffers while developing a new high-tech industry to create jobs for its youthful workforce.
   8. But if a bountiful economic harvest is the goal, nuclear energy is a poor industry to seed compared with renewables like solar and wind.
   9. “Every state has the right to determine its energy mix. The problem is this: nuclear costs are enormous,” Paul Dorfman, honorary senior research fellow at the Energy Institute, University College London and founder and chair of the Nuclear Consulting Group, told Al Jazeera. “Renewables are maybe between one-fifth and one-seventh the cost of nuclear.”
   10. Utility-scale, average unsubsidised lifetime costs for solar photovoltaic were about $40 per megawatt-hour (MWh) in 2019, compared with $155 per MWh for nuclear energy, according to an analysis by financial advisory and asset manager Lazard. 
   11. “There are no economic or energy policy or industrial reasons to build a nuclear power plant,” Mycle Schneider, convening lead author and the publisher of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report, told Al Jazeera. “If countries decide to build a nuclear power plant anyway, then we have to discuss other issues that are actually the drivers for those projects.” …
9. CORPORATE SOCIOPATHY: Not Just A Catchy Buzz Phrase, by Michael R. Honig (Originally written as a show commentary, August 9, 2010)

(Update, 4/4/2012: Some links added to article.) I’m actually surprised that I’ve never posted this on my blog before. It’s over a year old, but I still believe it’s true.

_____________________________________________

I’ve never been an extremist. I’ve never been a conspiracy nut. I’ve never been one who has particularly believed in the “evil corporate executive” stereotype that is at the center of so many plots on TV and in film.

 I do think that more often than not, anyone who rises to a position of great power or authority must have a certain element of narcissism and ruthlessness in their nature in order to get there. And yet, I’ve still believed that generally speaking, corporate executives have some degree of moral compass to guide them in what they do.

But the last few years have really strained my basically trusting nature.
Executive over-compensation is not metaphorically a victimless crime. It restrains wages and raises prices. But there’s no visible guilt. Financial industry shenanigans came close to driving us into another Great Depression, and the jury is still out on whether we’re really in any sort of a recovery. Yet the financial gurus who brought us to this point have been and still are extremely well compensated. But there’s no apparent feeling of responsibility.

The health care insurance industry seems totally obsessed with the dollars, with no real thought to the actual health of their customers. It’s all a big game to them, finding which loophole they can create or invoke to increase their bottom line. But they’re only being responsible to their stockholders.

The key trait in all the examples I’ve given is “Remorselessness”.

Remorselessness is the reason that a corporate CEO can collect tens of millions of dollars in compensation while firing thousands or tens of thousands of employees earning a great deal less.

Remorselessness is why a health insurance company can drop a very sick woman from their plan because she underpaid her premium by literally 4/10 of a cent.

And then there’s BP.

If there was a philosophical tipping point for me, it came a few weeks ago with BP and the oil spill in the Gulf.

I don’t think I’ve ever in my life seen a clearer example of corporate lying, disinformation, misinformation, concealment, obfuscation, disingenuousness, outright fictionalization, and endangerment of human health by a single company in such a short period of time.

Remorselessness explains how BP could take safety shortcuts resulting in 360 serious safety violations since 2005, while the total for the whole industry was 361!

I’m certainly no psychologist, so this is only a layman’s opinion. I do believe, though, that there’s actually a psychological term for executives who can do all these things and not feel any qualms or remorse: It’s Corporate Sociopathy.

And this isn’t my term. There’s actually quite of bit of discussion on the internet about corporate sociopaths. You can look for yourself.

Do you think it’s a bit strong to call these kinds of executives sociopaths? So did I, until a few weeks ago. So let’s examine it.

According to the “The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders”, three or more of the following behavior patterns could define a sociopath:

A. Repeated acts that could lead to arrest.
B. Conning people for pleasure or profit, or repeated lying, or the use of aliases.
C. Failure to plan ahead or being impulsive.
D. Repeated assaults on others.
E. Recklessness when it comes to the safety of themselves or others.
F. Poor work behavior or failure to honor financial obligations.
G. Rationalizing the pain they inflict on others.

 So consistently lying, neglecting the safety of others, and rationalizing the pain they cause … All without remorse. (1)

Does any of this sound familiar?

There is something to the idea that giving a corporation ‘personhood’ without any actual human obligations is almost an invitation to sociopathic behavior.

Do I believe that every executive is a closet sociopath? No.

Do I believe that every corporation engages in sociopathic behavior? No. I hope not.

But the BP Disaster and their subsequent behavior has shaken my faith in Big Business more than ever.

As I’ve said in a previous commentary, Businesses have one main purpose: Profit.

Government has one main obligation: Protection of the national welfare.

They must balance each other, or the inmates will literally be running the asylum.

The next time someone tells you to that our government has no business regulating corporate behavior, tell them to look up the term “Corporate Sociopath”. Then have the discussion.

_________________________________________

(1) “Did you know, beginning in the late 19th century, corporations were granted all the rights of the individual, but none of the annoying responsibilities. They lack, almost by design, any kind of moral compass, conscience, or compassion. Basically, corporations are a way to enact sociopathic behavior on a grand scale. In short, they’re what makes this country so damn great.” ~ The Devil (played by Ray Wise), TV Series “REAPER”, Episode 30: “Business Casualty”, Aired May 19, 2009

ARTICLE: “Sometimes, the boss really is a psycho”, 25-JULY-2013

POSSIBLE TOPICS: VOTER INFO, In an upset to Big Pharma, the most promising coronavirus vaccine comes from the public sector; Pentagon bans all Confederate flags from US military installations, housing and more; The Authoritarian Operation in Portland Is Only a Dress Rehearsal; Were the Actions of Federal Agents in Portland Legal?; Joe Biden unveils an ambitious climate plan — and it signals a major global shift;Biden to Call for $2 Trillion in Spending on Clean Energy; Greatest Increase Ever in U.S. Wages Is Actually Horrible News, MORE.

SHOW AUDIO: Link is usually posted within about 72 hours of show broadcast.

This program was recorded on SUNDAY, JULY 19 at about 4:30 AM.  Due to Covid-19, shows are being prerecorded beginning March 13th and until further notice. We miss our live call-in participants, and look forward to a time we can once again go live.

Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio), a listener call-in show  airing live every Monday night from 3-4 PM (CT) on KPFT-FM 90.1 (Houston). My co-host and Editor is Andrew Ferguson.

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This program was recorded on SUNDAY, JULY 19. If you call in, you will NOT be able to get on the air, so please do not call the call-the show. We love our callers, but unfortunately live call-in is one of the casualties of COVID-19.

1. Next election is the General on November 3rd. Make sure you are registered!
2. VOTING FAQ
   1. Make sure you are registered to vote!
   2. For a personalized, nonpartisan voter guide visit VOTE411.ORG (DO NOT!! go to 411Vote!!)
   3. If you are denied your right to vote any place at any time at any polling place for any reason, ask for (or demand) a provisional ballot rather than lose your vote.
   4. HarrisVotes.com (Election Information Line (713) 755-6965), Harris County Clerk
   5. VOTETEXAS.GOV – Texas Voter Information
   6. HARRISVOTES.COM – Countywide Voting Center
      1. HARRIS CTY – IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED FOR VOTING: Do not possess and cannot reasonably obtain one of these IDs?
         1. Fill out a declaration at the polls describing a reasonable impediment to obtaining it, and show a copy or original of one of the following supporting forms of ID:
         2. A government document that shows your name and an address, including your voter registration certificateCurrent utility billBank statement
         3. Current utility bill
         4. Bank statement
         5. Government check
         6. Paycheck
         7. A certified domestic (from a U.S. state or territory) birth certificate or (b) a document confirming birth admissible in a court of law which establishes your identity (which may include a foreign birth document)
   7. You may vote early by-mail if
      1.  You are registered to vote and meet one of the following criteria:
      2. Away from the county of residence on Election Day and during the early voting period;
      3. Sick or disabled;
      4. 65 years of age or older on Election Day; or
      5. Confined in jail, but eligible to vote.
      6. Make sure you are registered:
   8. Ann Harris Bennett, Tax Assessor-Collector & Voter Registrar
      1. CHECK REGISTRATION STATUS HERE
         1. CLICK How to register to vote in Texas
      2. ii)    Outside Texas, try Vote.org.
3. In an upset to Big Pharma, the most promising coronavirus vaccine comes from the public sector – The pharmaceutical industry is salivating over the prospect of a coronavirus vaccine. Oxford may beat them to it. By Matthew Rozsa – Keith A. Spencer | SALON.COM | July 15, 2020 10:54PM (UTC)
   1. Hundreds of pharmaceutical companies have mobilized thousands of workers and millions of dollars to produce a coronavirus vaccine as fast as humanly possible, lured by the promise of tremendous revenues for a vaccine that much of the populace would get. Yet the most promising vaccine candidate — “months ahead” of the competition (as Bloomberg Businessweek’s headline blared) — comes from the public sector: specifically, the lab of researcher Sarah Gilbert of Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Gilbert is a professor of vaccinology at Oxford’s Jenner Institute, and has already administered the vaccine candidate to her adult children (as well as many other human subjects).
   2. The early-stage human trial data on the new vaccine, known as AZD1222, is expected to be published in the medical journal The Lancet on Monday, according to a Wednesday report from Reuters. The vaccine candidate is already in large-scale Phase III trials, meaning mass inoculations of thousands in multiple countries, although researchers have yet to disclose whether the Phase I trials demonstrated that it will be both safe and trigger an immune response. (Many coronavirus vaccine candidates use parallel processing, meaning multiple phases of trials happen simultaneously to speed research.)
   3. Last month the World Health Organization’s chief scientist said that AZD1222 may be the most developed COVID-19 vaccine. Indeed, Gilbert and her Oxford cohort are months ahead of their “competitors” in the private sector; Bloomberg News quoted the chair of the British Vaccine Taskforce as saying, “It’s the most advanced vaccine anywhere.” The university has struck a deal with AstraZeneca Plc, a pharmaceutical company, to potentially produce 2 billion doses — on a not-for-profit basis. 
4. Pentagon bans all Confederate flags from US military installations, housing and more. By Laura Widener | AMERICANMILITARYNEWS.COM | July 17, 2020
   1. The Pentagon has officially banned all displays and depictions of the Confederate flag on U.S. military installations and other U.S. military property on Friday.
   2. In a carefully worded memo dated July 16, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper outlined a specific list of flags authorized for display – which excluded the Confederate flag – and noted that any unauthorized flags are now prohibited for display.
5. The Authoritarian Operation in Portland Is Only a Dress Rehearsal – A major American city is being softly Pinochet’ed in broad daylight. By Charles P. Pierce | ESQUIRE.COM | Jul 17, 2020
   1. Federal law enforcement officers have been using unmarked vehicles to drive around downtown Portland and detain protesters since at least July 14. Personal accounts and multiple videos posted online show the officers driving up to people, detaining individuals with no explanation of why they are being arrested, and driving off. The tactic appears to be another escalation in federal force deployed on Portland city streets, as federal officials and President Donald Trump have said they plan to “quell” nightly protests outside the federal courthouse and Multnomah County Justice Center that have lasted for more than six weeks.
   2. Federal officers have charged at least 13 people with crimes related to the protests so far, while others have been arrested and released, including Pettibone. They also left one demonstrator hospitalized with skull fractures after shooting him in the face with so-called “less lethal” munitions July 11. Officers from the U.S. Marshals Special Operations Group and Customs and Border Protection’s BORTAC, have been sent to Portland to protect federal property during the recent protests against racism and police brutality. But interviews conducted by OPB show officers are also detaining people on Portland streets who aren’t near federal property, nor is it clear that all of the people being arrested have engaged in criminal activity. Demonstrators like O’Shea and Pettibone said they think they were targeted by federal officers for simply wearing black clothing in the area of the demonstration. …
6. Were the Actions of Federal Agents in Portland Legal? The Department of Homeland Security can point to federal statutes protecting property to justify the arrests of protesters in Portland, Ore., but whether they stretched the law would be up to a judge. By Zolan Kanno-Youngs | NYTIMES.COM | July 17, 2020
   1. The Department of Homeland Security’s deployment of federal agents to Portland, Ore., has shown the broad legal authority an agency created to protect the United States from national security threats [can also be used] to crack down on American citizens. …
   2. [O]fficials in Washington said they had clear authority. Customs and Border Protection, which sent tactical border agents to Portland, cited 40 U.S. Code 1315, which under the Homeland Security Act of 2002 gives the department’s secretary the power to deputize other federal agents to assist the Federal Protective Service in protecting federal property, such as the courthouse in Portland.
   3. Those agents can carry firearms, arrest those accused of committing a crime without a warrant and conduct investigations “on and off the property in question.”
   4. “An interpretation of that authority so broadly seems to undermine all the other careful checks and balances on D.H.S.’s power because the officers’ power is effectively limitless and all encompassing,” said Garrett Graff, a historian who studies the Department of Homeland Security’s history and development. …
   5. “What is happening now in Portland should concern everyone in the United States,” said Jann Carson, the interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. “Usually when we see people in unmarked cars forcibly grab someone off the street, we call it kidnapping. The actions of the militarized federal officers are flat-out unconstitutional and will not go unanswered.”
   6. 40 U.S. Code 1315 (from law.cornell.edu):
      1. (c)—
         1. (1) In general.— The Secretary, in consultation with the Administrator of General Services, may prescribe regulations necessary for the protection and administration of property owned or occupied by the Federal Government and persons on the property. The regulations may include reasonable penalties, within the limits prescribed in paragraph (2), for violations of the regulations. The regulations shall be posted and remain posted in a conspicuous place on the property.
      2. (d)— (1) Requests of agencies.— On the request of the head of a Federal agency having charge or control of property owned or occupied by the Federal Government, the Secretary may detail officers and agents designated under this section for the protection of the property and persons on the property.
      3. (2) Applicability of regulations.—The Secretary may—
         1. (A) extend to property referred to in paragraph (1) the applicability of regulations prescribed under this section and enforce the regulations as provided in this section; or
         2. (B) utilize the authority and regulations of the requesting agency if agreed to in writing by the agencies.
         3. (3) Facilities and services of other agencies.— When the Secretary determines it to be economical and in the public interest, the Secretary may utilize the facilities and services of Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies, with the consent of the agencies.
      4. (e) Authority Outside Federal Property.— For the protection of property owned or occupied by the Federal Government and persons on the property, the Secretary may enter into agreements with Federal agencies and with State and local governments to obtain authority for officers and agents designated under this section to enforce Federal laws and State and local laws concurrently with other Federal law enforcement officers and with State and local law enforcement officers.
      5. (g) Limitation on Statutory Construction.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to—
         1. (1) preclude or limit the authority of any Federal law enforcement agency; or
         2. (2) restrict the authority of the Administrator of General Services to promulgate regulations affecting property under the Administrator’s custody and control.
7. Joe Biden unveils an ambitious climate plan — and it signals a major global shift – Biden’s dramatic climate pivot follows an extraordinary six weeks of global decisions: The world is changing fast. By Carl Pope | SALON.COM | July 16, 2020 10:00AM (UTC)
   1. On Tuesday [the 14^th], Joe Biden embraced a 2035 phase out for fossil fuel power generation, committed his first administration to $2 trillion in climate solutions investments — triple the amount he had previously promised — and framed both with his strongest linkage yet of clean energy and a million new jobs: “When I think about climate change, the word I think of is ‘jobs’.”
   2. Biden’s striking expansion of his climate ambition came at the end of a little remarked but extraordinary six weeks signaling a global shift away from fossil fuels — with, admittedly, a few stubborn outliers, including the presidents of Brazil and the United States.
   3. [Looking at] a calendar of some of these events[included in the article itself,] It’s a staggering global shift, in the midst of the worst tragedy of [the writer’s] lifetime, and it’s getting almost no attention, understandably. But the fact that it’s happening in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic is frankly unreal. …
   4. [MIKE: The impetus for this might actually be Covid-19. It has demonstrated just how much carbon human activity emits, and how human activity can drastically and suddenly cut it back.]
   5. Biden also specified that to pay for his [overall] infrastructure commitments, including climate, he would reverse parts of Trump’s corporate tax reductions, raising the rate from 21% to 28%. 
   6. Biden’s announcement is not a stand-alone campaign promise — even though he may have launched it as such. It is the culmination of a series of commitments by every one of the world’s biggest climate polluters to take much more drastic steps than they committed to in Paris in 2015. None of these, it is true, are yet formally embodied as UN “nationally determined contributions,” and Biden has an election to win before his pledges become U.S. policy and something the world can look forward to. 
8. Biden to Call for $2 Trillion in Spending on Clean Energy, By Jennifer Epstein, Ari Natter, and Jennifer A Dlouhy| BLOOMBERG.COM | July 13, 2020, 8:06 PM CDT Updated on July 13, 2020, 10:21 PM CDT
   1. Plan would create 100% clean electricity standard by 2024
      1. Earlier proposal aimed for $1.7 trillion over 10 years
   2. … The $2 trillion in spending across four years is in place of the more modest $1.7 trillion over 10 years plan that Biden proposed last year while fighting for the nomination. Most of that investments in the new proposal would be one-time costs with the goal of spending the money to the maximum extent possible during those four years.
   3. The proposals are another key element of Biden’s broader plan to pull the U.S. out of the recession touched off by the coronavirus pandemic as he builds his argument into the November election against President Donald Trump. With the energy plan, Biden will seek to both revive the economy and address deeper systemic problems that existed before the virus hit.
   4. Yet the challenge for Biden lies in convincing progressive voters that he hasn’t left them short even as he set aside some of the more ambitious moves called for in the Green New Deal championed by left-wing Democrats including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. …
   5. Biden will also call for the creation of a climate conservation corps modeled after the work-relief programs President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created during the Great Depression, according to two more people briefed on the initiative.
   6. The plan also embraces Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s proposal to rapidly turn over of the nation’s automobile fleet, with taxpayers enticed by cash vouchers to trade in their gas-powered cars for plug-in electric, hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell cars, the two people said. The initiative also would steer tens of billions of dollars toward building charging infrastructure including in rural communities.
9. Greatest Increase Ever in U.S. Wages Is Actually Horrible News, By Alexandre Tanzi | bloomberg.com | July 17, 2020, 2:11 PM CDT
   1. The median weekly earnings of full-time workers in America jumped more than 10% in second quarter from a year earlier, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
   2. The data marks the largest increase in the four decades that the agency has tracked it but is skewed by a more sobering reality: massive job losses among lower-wage workers …
   3. MIKE: Hence the old saying: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

• You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts;
• An educated electorate is a prerequisite for a democracy.

“There’s a reason why you separate military and police. One fights the enemy of the State. The other serves and protects the People. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the State tend t become the People.” ~ Commander Adama, “Battlestar Galactica” (“WATER”, Season 1 episode 2, at the 28 minute mark.)

• You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts;
• An educated electorate is a prerequisite for a democracy.

“There’s a reason why you separate military and police. One fights the enemy of the State. The other serves and protects the People. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the State tend t become the People.” ~ Commander Adama, “Battlestar Galactica” (“WATER”, Season 1 episode 2, at the 28 minute mark.)