CNN: Michigan Republican congressman tests positive for Covid-19. “Rep. Bill Huizenga, a Michigan Republican, announced Wednesday that he has tested positive for coronavirus. Huizenga said he took a rapid test before an event he had planned to attend alongside Vice President Mike Pence.”
politics
Fast Company: How many people have voted so far in 2020? This live map and state database will tell you
New-to-me, from Fast Company: How many people have voted so far in 2020? This live map and state database will tell you . “In the interest of cutting to the chase, your suspicions are correct: A record number of people are voting before Election Day this year, and, yes, a lot of them are Democrats. That’s according to the latest data from the U.S. Elections Project, a website and portal that tracks early voting numbers.”
WSAV: How to turn off Facebook voter registration prompts
WSAV: How to turn off Facebook voter registration prompts. “Whether you’re already tired of election season, or you’ve already voted early, you may be sick of seeing the prompts on Facebook to register to vote. Here’s your hack to make them go away.”
With coronavirus concerns a factor, it’s all tied up in North Carolina: Poll (ABC News)
ABC News: With coronavirus concerns a factor, it’s all tied up in North Carolina: Poll. “Coronavirus concerns lift former Vice President Joe Biden in North Carolina while the state’s sizable evangelical and rural populations pull for President Donald Trump, producing a dead-heat contest in a state that’s backed Democratic presidential candidates just twice in the last half century.”
BuzzFeed News: Seniors Who Aren’t Afraid Of The Coronavirus Love What Trump Is Saying About COVID
BuzzFeed News: Seniors Who Aren’t Afraid Of The Coronavirus Love What Trump Is Saying About COVID. “…The Villages, known for its manicured lawns and golf carts and courses, is a Republican haven. If there are older adults anywhere in America who aren’t particularly concerned about a pandemic that is particularly dangerous for older people, it is here. Here, the fear is about supposedly rising socialism and radically changing American culture, not the coronavirus. Frankly, they’re just not that interested.”
ABC News: Trump dismisses pandemic, rips Fauci as ‘disaster’ in campaign all-staff call
ABC News: Trump dismisses pandemic, rips Fauci as ‘disaster’ in campaign all-staff call. “In a remarkable move with 15 days to go until Election Day, President Donald Trump on an all-staff campaign call Monday morning leveled his most aggressive attacks yet on Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert on the president’s own coronavirus task force, calling him a ‘disaster’ while also outright dismissing the pandemic, saying Americans are ‘over COVID’ as deaths near 220,000 in the United States and cases rise around the country.”
Wall Street Journal: Why Social Media Is So Good at Polarizing Us
Wall Street Journal (and not paywalled for me): Why Social Media Is So Good at Polarizing Us. “A growing body of research suggests that social media is accelerating the trend, and many political scientists worry it’s tearing our country apart. It isn’t clear how to solve the problem. And new research suggests that one often-proposed solution—exposing users on the platforms to more content from the other side—might actually be making things worse, because of how social media amplifies extreme opinions.” It was interesting to read this in context with a recent article in Scientific American. I encourage you to read both.
Coronavirus: PLO Erekat’s son says health critical but stable, denies death reports (Al Arabiya)
Al Arabiya: Coronavirus: PLO Erekat’s son says health critical but stable, denies death reports. “Palestinian state television has denied news reports of the death of Saeb Erekat, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Speaking to family members at the Hadassah Medical Center in Israel, Erekat’s health condition is currently critical. Hours earlier, Asharq television channel tweeted a breaking news alert of Erekat dying but had later deleted the tweet from their verified account on Twitter.”
Washington Post: Your guide to following the election on social media
Washington Post: Your guide to following the election on social media. “The best way to accurately track election results, and avoid falling for misinformation between now and Election Day, is to avoid too much social media. Stick with a handful of reputable news sources and check their sites, apps or print versions directly. Or heck, turn off your smartphone and immerse yourself in a book or craft project until after Election Day….The second-best way to follow the election results is to follow these tips and know what every social media site is doing to try to manage the problem.”
“I Can’t Vote For Someone Who I Blame For The Death Of My Husband”: Meet The Coronavirus Widows (BuzzFeed News)
BuzzFeed News: “I Can’t Vote For Someone Who I Blame For The Death Of My Husband”: Meet The Coronavirus Widows. “As the country nears an election set to be in part a referendum on the Trump administration’s handling of a pandemic that has killed over 212,000 Americans, millions of grieving people — the loved ones left behind by the victims — will also be a voting bloc.”
Another casualty of the coronavirus pandemic: Trust in government science (Washington Post)
Washington Post: Another casualty of the coronavirus pandemic: Trust in government science. “Politics has thoroughly contaminated the scientific process. The result has been an epidemic of distrust, which further undermines the nation’s already chaotic and ineffective response to the coronavirus.”
MIT Technology Review: One doctor’s campaign to stop a covid-19 vaccine being rushed through before Election Day
MIT Technology Review: One doctor’s campaign to stop a covid-19 vaccine being rushed through before Election Day. “After being released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on October 5, US President Donald Trump praised the doctors who treated him for covid-19 and promised that the public would soon have a vaccine against the deadly coronavirus. ‘We have the best medicines in the world, and very shortly they are all getting approved, and the vaccines are coming momentarily,’ he said in a video statement shared with millions of Twitter followers. Across the country, in California, a doctor named Eric Topol was responding in real time on social media. He questioned the president’s health, his doctors’ actions, and even his mental status.”
NBC News: Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows refuses to speak to reporters with mask on
NBC News: Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows refuses to speak to reporters with mask on. “White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on [October 12] refused to keep his face mask on when speaking to reporters at the Capitol during the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.”
Daytona Beach News-Journal: Google hack sends Clint Curtis searchers to Viagra ad
Daytona Beach News-Journal: Google hack sends Clint Curtis searchers to Viagra ad. “Clint Curtis, a Democratic candidate for Congress in Florida’s 6th District, is asking Google to fix a problem. On Thursday morning, folks typing his name into the search engine can access what appears to be his website, clintcurtis.com. When the searcher clicks on the link, though, an online pharmacy ad pops up selling Viagra, the erectile dysfunction drug.” I just tried it. I’m not in Florida but it works fine, no Viagra ads.
New York Times: Under Pence, Politics Regularly Seeped Into the Coronavirus Task Force
New York Times: Under Pence, Politics Regularly Seeped Into the Coronavirus Task Force. “At the task force, grim science-based projections were sometimes de-emphasized for rosier predictions, and guidance from public health agencies — about schools and summer camps, for example — was sometimes massaged by the vice president’s staff.”