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Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Wake-Up Call: Guilty Guilty Guilty

Daily Mail website screenshot 4/21/21

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all counts yesterday in the death of George Floyd last May -- second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The jury returned with a verdict late in the afternoon, after about 10 hours of deliberations from when they started a day earlier. Chauvin immediately had his bail revoked and was taken away with his hands cuffed behind his back. He could face up to 40 years in prison when he's sentenced in two months.

At a news conference after the verdict with Floyd's family, his brother, Philonise Floyd, said, "Today, we are able to breathe again," a reference to how his brother repeatedly said he couldn't breathe as he was held down for more than nine minutes with Chauvin's knee on his neck. President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both made remarks after the verdict, welcoming the decision, but saying that more needs to be done. Biden said, "We can and we must do more to reduce the likelihood that tragedies like this will ever happen again."

In August, the three other former Minneapolis officers who were with Chauvin when Floyd died will go on trial on charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.


➤POLICE IN COLUMBUS, OHIO, KILL TEENAGE GIRL WHO SWUNG KNIFE AT TWO OTHERS: Police in Columbus, Ohio, shot and killed a teenage girl who swung a knife at two other people yesterday afternoon, just minutes before the verdict was read in George Floyd's trial in Minnesota. 


Police officials showed bodycam footage last night -- and unusually quick release of it -- that showed an officer responding to a 911 call from someone saying they were being threatened. The officer gets out of his car and walks toward a group of people in a driveway when the girl, who was Black, starts swinging a knife at another girl, who falls backward. As the officer shouts to get down, the girl with the knife then charges at another girl pinned against a car. 


The officer fires four shots, fatally hitting the girl. The age of the girl, Ma’Khia Bryant, is unclear, with AP saying one family member said she was 15 and another said she was 16.

➤ONE KILLED, TWO INJURED IN SHOOTING AT NEW YORK SUPERMARKET: One person was killed and two others injured at a supermarket in West Hempstead, New York, on Long Island late yesterday morning when an employee is alleged to have opened fire on three workers. A 49-year-old store manager was killed, and two other workers were injured. The suspect, 31-year-old Gabriel DeWitt Wilson, was taken into custody several hours later at an apartment building about two miles away after he fled. The shooting happened inside offices at the Stop & Shop supermarket above the shopping floor. Wilson, who corralled shopping carts at the supermarket, has a criminal record and had been taken into custody previously for a mental health evaluation.

➤RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER NAVALNY'S DOCTORS BLOCKED FROM SEEING HIM IN PRISON HOSPITAL: Several doctors for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were blocked from seeing him in a prison hospital yesterday. Navalny's health has reportedly dangerously deteriorated during his three-week hunger strike, and he was transferred to the prison hospital on Sunday. One of his attorneys saw him, and said, "He’s very thin, he must have lost about 20 kilograms (44 pounds). He is very weak and appears to have difficulty speaking and sitting." There has been international concern and criticism over Navalny's condition, with U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price urging Russia to allow him, quote, "access to necessary and independent medical care immediately."

➤WORK STRESS IS CHANGING YOUR PERSONALITY:  If you’re concerned your job might be changing you as a person, you could be right. University of Illinois researchers looked at how chronic workplace stress can fundamentally change people’s personalities in both the short and long term. They assessed this through the Big Five model of personality traits: conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extroversion. Researcher Jarvis Smallfield explains, “Among these, the most notable that is prone to change is neuroticism […] Neuroticism is related to issues such as employee burnout and clinical depression and may downwardly spiral.” In other words, if you’re stressed at work you may become more neurotic, which makes you more sensitive to stress. Smallfield adds that the data shows the personality changes can occur in as little as four weeks, and says that not all workplace stressors have such a damaging effect. A positive stressor, for example, would be when you “believe you can overcome a stressor and overcoming that stressor will get you something you want” such as meeting a difficult deadline that will help you earn a promotion if you hit it. You can help protect yourself from the bad stress by viewing problems as surmountable obstacles that are rewarding to overcome. Smallfield says, “Work is naturally stressful, and there’s really no way to avoid that, nor would we want to. We need those challenges to thrive. The problem comes in when the stresses stop being healthy challenges and become overwhelming, out of our control, or without purpose.”


➤WHERE ARE STIR-CRAZY AMERICANS GOING OVER MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND? Americans who are stir-crazy after more than a year of lockdowns and travel restrictions are looking to go away on vacation over Memorial Day weekend, the first major holiday weekend since vaccinations have really made headway, with it just announced this past weekend that half of all U.S. adults have gotten at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot. The Washington Post reports that the travel industry is expecting it to be a busy three-day weekend, and that people seem to be favoring more open spaces and natural environments over urban trips, as well as more off-the-beaten-path locations. The Post named the most popular destinations Americans are booking for Memorial Day travel:
  • Las Vegas - Priceline found its the most popular city for Memorial Day weekend hotel bookings.
  • Mexico - Popular throughout the pandemic since it doesn't have any entry restrictions.
  • Florida - Draws are the beaches and limited Covid restrictions.
  • Hawaii - Increasingly popular since reopening to tourists last year.
  • National Parks - Interest has exploded in 2021.
➤STUDY..PEOPLE WHO SPEAK IN A LOWER PITCH MORE LIKELY TO BE PROMISCUOUS: It turns out your voice says more about you than you might think. An international team of researchers analyzed voice recordings of more than 2,000 people and looked at their self-reported personality traits. They found lower voice pitch was linked with higher levels of sociosexuality, or openness to engaging in casual sex. People with deep voices were also found to be more extroverted and have greater “dominance,” meaning they have high levels of influence in social situations. Lead study author Julia Stern adds, “One possible explanation for our findings is that higher levels of testosterone are linked to lower voices and more unrestricted sociosexual orientation in both women and men.”

➤STUDY: NEARLY ONE-THIRD OF YOUNG GAY PEOPLE HAVE ATTEMPTED SUICIDE: A new study from researchers at UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute found that 30 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual participants ages 18 to 25 said they'd attempted suicide at least once, compared to 24 percent of those ages 34 to 41 and 21 percent of those 52 to 59. The study also found these young people are experiencing higher levels of victimization, psychological distress and internalized homophobia than gay people in older generations. Young gay people are more likely to have attempted suicide than in previous generations, and lead author Ilan H. Meyer said among the factors are that gay people are coming out at younger ages than ever. He explained, "That can be a positive, of course. But it can also backfire and expose you to a lot of harassment and victimization. You might not be prepared for the consequences."

➤NOT GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP RAISES RISK OF DEMENTIA: Middle-aged people who only sleep six hours or less have an increased risk of developing dementia than those who regularly get seven hours, according to a new study. The French researchers found that persistently getting six hours of sleep or less among adults aged 50, 60, and 70 was linked to a 30 percent greater dementia risk, even after accounting for other factors. The study authors noted that evidence suggests sleep supports cognitive performance and clears toxic beta-amyloid protein plaques from the brain.
➤SCIENTISTS REVEAL HOW AEROSOL DROPLETS FROM FLUSHING HANG IN THE AIR FOR 20 SECONDS:  Go ahead and put the toilet seat down before you flush. Florida Atlantic University researchers found that tens of thousands of particles are spewed into the air by a toilet flush, and they can rise several feet above the ground, to mouth level. The droplets were found to float around five feet in the air for more than 20 seconds, meaning we’re at risk of breathing them in. The experts say the droplets can act as vectors for diseases, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, which has been found alive in human feces. Study co-author Dr. Stella Batalama says, “Aerosolized droplets play a central role in the transmission of various infectious diseases including COVID-19, and this latest research by our team of scientists provides additional evidence to support the risk of infection transmission in confined and poorly ventilated spaces.”

➤SPORTS WORLD REACTS TO CHAUVIN VERDICT: Reactions came from the sports world yesterday to former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin being found guilty of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, with players, coaches, teams and leagues all weighing in. Several players tweeted the words "Accountability" or "Justice," and teams and leagues in particular wrote about continuing to work for things like justice and equality. Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash, for one, said, "It's bittersweet. Obviously, George Floyd lost his life as many others have unjustly, and we can't forget that people are losing their lives. On the other hand, it is a small gesture of justice and possibly hope for the future in that perhaps all the social justice movements, the NBA, the WNBA with the community at large are really making an impact."


🏀HARDEN HAS 'SETBACK' IN HAMSTRING INJURY RECOVERY: The Brooklyn Nets said Tuesday that James Harden has had what they called a "setback" in his rehab from a hamstring injury and is now out indefinitely. Nets head coach Steve Nash said, "Back to square one." The team said Harden had the setback during a rehab session Monday, and underwent an MRI yesterday that confirmed it. Harden has missed six games due to the hamstring strain, last playing on April 5th.

🏈STEELERS HEAD COACH TOMLIN GETS THREE-YEAR EXTENSION: The Pittsburgh Steelers signed head coach Mike Tomlin to a three-year contract extension yesterday that goes through the 2024 season. Tomlin has been with the Steelers for 14 years, winning one Super Bowl in 2009, and going to another in 2011. The 49-year-old is 21st in NFL history in career wins, with a 145-78-1 record.

🏌PGA TOUR STARTS $40 MILLION BONUS PLAN FOR PLAYERS: The PGA Tour has started a $40 million bonus plan that will give money to the top 10 players who boost publicity and engagement. ESPN reports that idea of the Player Impact Program is to reward players who drive engagement with sponsors and fans. The Tour said which players get payouts will be based on their "Impact Score," and that score will come from things including their popularity in a Google search, the Nielsen Brand Exposure rating, their Q rating, the MVP index rating and their Meltwater Mentions, which measures the frequency that a player generates coverage across various media platforms.

⚾MLB INFIELDER NEIL WALKER RETIRES: Infielder Neil Walker retired Tuesday after 12 MLB seasons, ending his career at age 35 and tweeting, "Officially retired." Walker, who was with the Pittsburgh Pirates for more than half of his career, played in 18 games for the Philadelphia Phillies this year. Walker hit .267 with 149 homers and 609 RBIs during his career for Pittsburgh, the New York Mets, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Miami and the New York Yankees.
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