Deri: 'It is murder to ignore coronavirus regulations'

 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287289

 A leading haredi lawmaker said that not following the country’s lockdown rules to slow the spread of the coronavirus is comparable to murder.

Aryeh Deri, the head of the Shas Party who also serves as Israel’s interior minister, made his comments Saturday night and posted a clip of the speech on his Facebook page.

He criticized the members of the haredi community who deny that the coronavirus is a threat. Israel is preparing for a lockdown to contain an outsized second wave of COVID-19 cases.

 

 

Revenge of the Never Trumpers: Meet the Republican Dissidents Fighting to Push Donald Trump Out of Office

 https://time.com/5870475/never-trumpers-2020-election/

Jack Spielman has been a Republican his whole life. But over the past four years, he has come to two realizations.

Increasingly upset by President Donald Trump’s “appalling” behavior, his cozy relationships with dictators and the ballooning national debt, Spielman says his first epiphany was that he couldn’t cast a ballot for Trump again. But for the retired Army cybersecurity engineer, the final straw was the President’s retaliation against impeachment witness Lieut. Colonel Alexander Vindman, who retired in July after Trump fired him from the National Security Council in February. Spielman decided he had to do more than just vote for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden; he had to persuade others to do the same. So Spielman filmed a video for a group called Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT), explaining his views. “I want to do some part,” Spielman tells TIME, “to try to correct the wrong that I did in voting for this man.”

Rosh Hashanah in the shadow of coronavirus: Outline for prayer services

 https://www.jpost.com/health-science/rosh-hashanah-in-the-shadow-of-coronavirus-outline-for-prayer-services-642196

 In open spaces, an unlimited number of people can pray in capsules of 20.

In all other zones: Prayer shall be permitted in groups of up to 25 people. The permitted number of groups in a closed space shall be double the number of entrances to the structure, again on condition that the ratio of one person per four sq.m. of space is maintained.

Florida Latinos flooded with anti-Semitic conspiracy messaging ahead of election

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/florida-latinos-flooded-with-anti-semitic-conspiracy-messaging-ahead-of-election/#gs.fmz1p9

 Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories are spreading among Florida’s Latino communities ahead of the presidential election, amplified by social media and messaging apps as well as respected mainstream outlets. According to a report in Politico, much of the anti-Semitism stems from QAnon, the growing, false conspiracy theory that claims Democrats and the “deep state” run a pedophile ring and are working to take down US President Donald Trump. Purveyors of the theory often traffic in classic anti-Semitic tropes, claiming that powerful Jews control the anti-Trump cabal.

‘This is f---ing crazy’: Florida Latinos swamped by wild conspiracy theories

 https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/14/florida-latinos-disinformation-413923

 George Soros directs a “deep state” global conspiracy network. A Joe Biden win would put America in control of “Jews and Blacks.” The Democratic nominee has a pedophilia problem.

Wild disinformation like this is inundating Spanish-speaking residents of South Florida ahead of Election Day, clogging their WhatsApp chats, Facebook feeds and even radio airwaves at a saturation level that threatens to shape the outcome in the nation’s biggest and most closely contested swing state.

HHS Officials Undermining Science To Boost Trump Politically | All In | MSNBC

Cooper: Trump's actions contradict what he says in private about Covid-19

Trump: Exploding Trees, Science Doesn't Know and Wet, Deep Water in the Pacific

Trump Defends Indoor Rally, but Aides Express Concern

 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/us/politics/trump-rally.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

 WASHINGTON — President Trump and his campaign are defending his right to rally indoors, despite the private unease of aides who called it a game of political Russian roulette and growing concern that such gatherings could prolong the coronavirus pandemic.

 “I’m on a stage, and it’s very far away,” Mr. Trump said in an interview with The Las Vegas Review-Journal on Monday, after thousands of his supporters gathered on Sunday night inside a manufacturing plant in a Las Vegas suburb, flouting a state directive limiting indoor gatherings to fewer than 50 people.

 The president did not address health concerns about the rally attendees, a vast majority of whom did not wear masks or practice any social distancing. When it came to his own safety, he said, “I’m not at all concerned.”

‘Irresponsible, Arrogant’: Nevada Gov. Sisolak Rips Trump For Holding Indoor Rally | All In | MSNBC

Top Official At HHS Makes False Claims Of Conspiracies In The Government | Deadline | MSNBC

Another presidential assault on science as fires and pandemic rage

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/15/politics/donald-trump-science-california-wildfires-coronavirus/index.html

 A defining trait of Donald Trump's presidency is his incessant destruction of reason, evidence and science in the service of his personal whims, conspiratorial mindset and political requirements.

On a day when Democratic nominee Joe Biden branded him a "climate arsonist" and global warming burst to the center of the campaign, Trump again ditched research and data for his own wild hunches and odd theories about California's wildfires. And his counter-factual tendencies, which are responsible for widespread harm but are nevertheless embraced by supporters as germane to Trump's political brand, were at work on multiple fronts Monday with America under assault from concurrent crises.

 When another local official told Trump it was time to take "our head out of the sand" by relying on the forest management excuse, the President pounced.

"It'll start getting cooler. You just watch," Trump responded.

"I wish science agreed with you," the official replied.

"I don't think science knows, actually," Trump said, closing the official down.

The exchange was a flagrant example of how the President simply dismisses any information that does not fit his preconceived idea of a problem. While many of Trump's opinions do seem uninformed and not shaped by the almost limitless resources of the federal government, there is also a clear political motivation underscoring his responses.

Trump Tells Woodward "Nothing More Could Have Been Done." Let's See What Other World Leaders Did

Is Cuomo Directive to Blame for Nursing Home COVID Deaths, as US Official Claims?

 https://khn.org/news/is-cuomo-directive-to-blame-for-nursing-home-covid-deaths-as-us-official-claims/

 Cuomo’s criticisms drew a quick reply in a tweet from Michael Caputo, an assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Does the #DemConvention know @NYGovCuomo forced nursing homes across NY to take in COVID positive patients and planted the seeds of infection that killed thousands of grandmothers and grandfathers?” he wrote.

While experts say this policy was flawed, is it fair to say that the governor’s directive “forced” nursing homes to take patients who were sick with COVID-19? And to what extent did that strategy sow the seeds of disease and death? When we examined the evidence, we found it was less clear-cut than the statement makes it seem. The policy likely had an effect, but epidemiologists identified additional factors that fed the problem. What’s more, the policy did not “force” nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients. Nursing homes interpreted it this way.

 Bottom line: State and federal rules didn’t force nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients, but many of them believed they had no other choice.