Tuesday,  July 28th, 2020

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell cancels the preseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (NFL)

Trump reportedly sending 100 more federal agents to Portland The Trump administration has begun deploying 100 more federal agents to Portland, Oregon, The Washington Post reports via internal U.S. Marshals Service emails. Militarized agents, some of them unmarked, have patrolled the city for several weeks. Another round of 100 agents began arriving in Portland on Thursday. A final decision on the next deployment hasn’t been made yet, senior administration officials say. Agents have detained protesters seeking to protect federal property, even though several of those arrested said they were nowhere near federal buildings. The mayors of Portland; Seattle; Chicago; Kansas City, Missouri; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Washington D.C. sent a letter to Congress urging it to bar the federal government from deploying more agents. Source: The Washington Post

University of Notre Dame backs out as host of 1st presidential debate The University of Notre Dame on Monday announced it will no longer host the first presidential debate scheduled to take place on Sept. 29. Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins described this as a “difficult decision” that was made “because the necessary health precautions would have greatly diminished the educational value of hosting the debate on our campus.” The first presidential debate is now moving to Cleveland, Ohio, and will be hosted by Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic. Previously, the University of Michigan withdrew from hosting the second debate, with University President Mark Schlissel saying at the time “it is not feasible for us to safely host.” Source:  Axios

National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien tests positive for COVID-19 National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien tested positive for coronavirus, Bloomberg reported and an administration official later confirmed. O’Brien is the highest ranking White House official and the closest to President Trump known to test positive for the virus. He reportedly came down with the virus after a family event and has been working at home since late last week. He had recently been in Europe, meeting with officials in the U.K., France, Germany, and Italy, CNN notes. O’Brien, senior National Security Council staff, and other people close to Trump are tested daily for COVID-19. The U.S. has so far seen a third of the world’s 16 million coronavirus cases and about a quarter of its 650,000 deaths. Source: Politico

Belgium announces the unveiling of drastic social distancing measures aimed at avoiding a new lockdown. These measures include restricting social contact outside every household to five people over the next four weeks and limiting crowds at public events to 100 people indoors and 200 people outdoors. This measure will take effect next Wednesday. (France 24)

Antwerp imposes a curfew from 11.30 p.m. to 6 a.m and the mandatory wearing of face masks in public spaces should a distance of 1.5 meters between individuals not be observed. (The Washington Post)

The price of gold hits a record high of US$1,944 per ounce as uncertainty over the global economy grows due to a resurgence in COVID-19 cases. The previous record was set in 2011 when prices hit US$1,921 per ounce. (CNN)

Hong Kong announces a ban on all dine-in services at restaurants and restricting public gatherings not from the same family to only two people starting 29 July and orders the compulsory wearing of masks in outdoor public areas, with only medical exemptions. Sports venues and swimming pools are also closed. (Bisnis Indonesia)

Musician Drake breaks the record for the most top ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100, surpassing Madonna. (Billboard)

China reports 61 new cases, up from 46 cases a day earlier, with new infections not involving people returning from overseas hitting the highest number since early March of 57. (U.S. News & World Report)

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of the Government of India bans 47 Chinese-origin apps that are clones of the original 59 Chinese apps that were banned in June, including TikTok and Helo. India has also prepared a list of over 250 Chinese apps that it will examine for any user privacy or national security violations including Tencent-backed gaming app PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. (India Today)

French Environment Minister Barbara Pompili announces that France will ban the use of terrace heaters in restaurants and cafes by the end of this winter to cut down on carbon emissions. (Reuters)

The End

 

 

 

 

Monday, July 27th, 2020

 

Da Nang becomes Vietnam’s first province or centrally governed city to reinstate social distancing measures after two new local infection COVID-19 cases with unknown source of transmission. (Reuters)

North Korea declares a state of emergency after its first case of COVID-19 is confirmed. The government claims the patient defected to South Korea then returned to North Korea. (The Daily Beast)

The Supreme Court of New South Wales grants the New South Wales Police permission to block a Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney that is due to be held on July 28. The Supreme Court ruled that the rally is a prohibited public assembly, but police agreed to a stay stopping the order taking effect until 10am on July 27 pending the lodging of any appeal. (The Sydney Morning Herald)

 

Trump officials: New stimulus bill to include another round of $1,200 checks Several top members of the Trump administration hit the morning shows on Sunday to discuss a new stimulus bill being finalized by White House officials and Senate Republicans, due to be unveiled on Monday. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on CNN’s State of the Union that the bill would provide for a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks, retention bonuses, and tax credits for small businesses and restaurants. He also said it will extend the federal eviction moratorium that expired on Friday. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government has been supplementing state unemployment benefits by giving workers $600 per week. This is set to expire, and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said on ABC’s This Week the new bill will not include this benefit. Instead, unemployment insurance will cover 70 percent of a laid-off worker’s pre-pandemic wages. Source: CNN

Forty-five people are arrested after protesters throw explosives and rocks at police in Seattle. Other rioters set fire to a portable trailer and a construction site, police allege in a series of tweets. Twenty-one officers were injured, including one who was hospitalized with a leg injury caused by an explosive. (CNN)

During an evening protest in Austin, Texas, a man is fatally shot as he approached a vehicle and the driver inside opened fire. A police spokesperson says the victim may have been carrying a rifle. She added that the suspect was detained and is cooperating with police. (AP via Dallas Morning News)

A record high temperature of 21.7°C (71.1°F) is recorded on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, according to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. (Global News)

The End

Lately I’ve been reading a lot about the development of the atomic bomb, the Soviet and American bomber and missile programs, and nuclear national security. I’ve also been listening to John Le Carre novels from the 60s and 70s some of which I read over 20 years ago.

Yesterday I say this mention while reviewing this day in history:

1973 – Soviet Mars 5 space probe is launched.

1976 – Viking program: Viking 1 takes the famous Face on Mars photo.

So I looked a little more into it and realized that nowhere in the standard body of Cold War literature is there mention of the 15-year-long near complete run of failure in the Soviet Mars program. We hear a lot of the CIA’s failure to forsee the collapse of the communist system. And it is obvious now that the United States was always miles ahead in weapons and delivery systems research and production. That we knew from U-2 overflights and other means that the Soviets simply did not have the capabilities that the hysterical “bomber-gap” and “missile-gap” Dr. Strangeloves gave as reason for defense expenditures.

The only thing you ever hear about the Soviet Space program was how Sputnik in 1957 scared the hell out of the United States. And yet Sputnik was a joke technologically and we were far ahead before during and after with actual guidance, miniaturization, computer-technology, and production capabilities.

So I am curious how we could have ever thought Russian rocket/missile technology in the form of an ICBM/SLBM threat could have been taken seriously in light of their Mars program record. In many ways it looked similar to what North Korea’s “threat” looks like today. Maybe much less so, sure, but by the time of Reagan’s SDI/”Star Wars” initiative it wasn’t even clear that Russian rockets could hit a barn, so to speak.

List of missions to Mars

Don’t hold your breath for a coronavirus vaccine. Here are the 7 biggest challenges we still need to overcome.

Sunday,  July 26th, 2020 

A record high temperature of 21.7°C (71.1°F) is recorded on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, according to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. (Global News)

The World Health Organization reports a record increase in global COVID-19 cases with 284,196 new cases in last 24 hours. United States and Brazil account for almost half the total. (France 24)

Florida surpasses New York in total confirmed coronavirus cases  Florida on Saturday reported more than 12,000 new coronavirus infections within the previous 24-hour period, bringing the state’s total number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic to 414,511. That figure means Florida has surpassed New York as the state with the second highest number of confirmed infections behind California, which, like Florida, has seen cases surge over the last several weeks. New York, meanwhile, has yet to see another uptick since it mostly contained the virus earlier this year after a significant epidemic in March, April, and May. Florida also reported 124 new resident deaths from COVID-19, bringing the total number of fatalities to 5,777. As of Saturday morning, nearly 9,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 across the state. Source: CNN

Supreme Court rejects Nevada church’s petition against attendance limit  The Supreme Court on Friday denied a petition from Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley in Dayton, Nevada, claiming a state policy limiting in-person church attendance to 50 during the coronavirus violated the Constitution. Chief Justice John Roberts was the swing vote in the 5-4 decision, joining the court’s liberal justices. As is typical in such cases, the majority did not provide a reason for the rejection. The bench’s conservative wing, meanwhile, dissented, emphasizing the church’s argument that houses of worship were treated differently from other places where large gatherings take place, including casinos, gyms, and restaurants. “The world we inhabit today, with a pandemic upon us, poses unusual challenges,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote. “But there is no world in which the Constitution permits Nevada to favor Caesars Palace over Calvary Chapel.” Source: CNN

The headquarters of the Arizona Democratic Party are burnt down in the early hours of 24 July in an apparent arson attack, according to Phoenix Police Department. Nobody was hurt in the attack. The attack comes in the wake of several opinion polls showing Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden as leading against his opponent, Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump in the state. (USA Today)

Eighteen protestors were charged in Portland, Oregon, after the Trump administration sent in federal police forces into the city last week. The protesters were charged with crimes such as assaulting police, arson, and trespassing. (Reuters)

An LGBT group gathers at the Democracy Monument, Bangkok, to call for legalization of same-sex marriage in addition to the three demands stated by Free Youths. (Prachatai)

The End

This Day in History

1703 – During the Bavarian Rummel the rural population of Tyrol drove the Bavarian Prince-Elector Maximilian II Emanuel out of North Tyrol with a victory at the Pontlatzer Bridge and thus prevented the Bavarian Army, which was allied with France, from marching as planned on Vienna during the War of the Spanish Succession.

1758 – French and Indian War: The Siege of Louisbourg ends with British forces defeating the French and taking control of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

1803 – The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world’s first public railway, opens in south London, United Kingdom.

1814 – The Swedish–Norwegian War begins.

1822 – First day of the three-day Battle of Dervenakia, between the Ottoman Empire force led by Mahmud Dramali Pasha and the Greek Revolutionary force led by Theodoros Kolokotronis.

1882 – Premiere of Richard Wagner‘s opera Parsifal at Bayreuth.

1897 – Anglo-Afghan War: The Pashtun fakir Saidullah leads an army of more than 10,000 to begin a siege of the British garrison in the Malakand Agency of the North West Frontier Province of India.

1908 – United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation).

1936 – Spanish Civil War: Germany and Italy decide to intervene in the war in support for Francisco Franco and the Nationalist faction.

1941 – World War II: In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indochina, the United States, Britain and the Netherlands freeze all Japanese assets and cut off oil shipments.

1944 – World War II: The Red Army enters Lviv, a major city in western Ukraine, capturing it from the Nazis. Only 300 Jews survive out of 160,000 living in Lviv prior to occupation.

1945 – The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide, removing Winston Churchill from power.

1947 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Department of Defense, United States Air Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the United States National Security Council.

1948 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981, desegregating the military of the United States.

1956 – Following the World Bank‘s refusal to fund building the Aswan Dam, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal, sparking international condemnation.

1957 – Carlos Castillo Armas, dictator of Guatemala, is assassinated.

1958 – Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched.

1963 – Syncom 2, the world’s first geosynchronous satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta B booster.

1971 – Apollo program: Launch of Apollo 15 on the first Apollo “J-Mission“, and first use of a Lunar Roving Vehicle.

1974 – Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis forms the country’s first civil government after seven years of military rule.

1989 – A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

2016 – Solar Impulse 2 becomes the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the Earth.