Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Wake-Up Call: U-S To Israel..Stop!


U.S. REPORTEDLY ENCOURAGING ISRAEL TO WIND DOWN GAZA OFFENSIVE: The U.S. is privately encouraging Israel to wind down its airstrikes offensive against Gaza, AP reports, citing administration officials. The report said top U.S. officials emphasized to Israel that time isn't on their side in the face of growing international criticism, and that it's in their interest to stop military operations soon. However, new strikes early Wednesday killed at least six people in Gaza, with Israel saying it was acting amid continued rocket fire from Hamas militants that rule the territory. 


Some 47,000 Palestinians have fled their homes in Gaza, where medical supplies, fuel and water are all running low. Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories carried out a general strike yesterday with people not working and shops closed. Although the strike was peaceful in many places, there was violence in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians burned tires and threw stones at an Israeli military checkpoint, clashing with Israeli troops.
 

➤HOUSE TO VOTE ON SETTING UP INDEPENDENT COMMISSION TO PROBE U.S. CAPITOL ATTACK: The House is set to vote today on establishing an independent, 9/11-style commission to investigate the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. It's expected to be approved in the Democratic-led House, but Republicans in the Senate are indicating they will try to block or delay it. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said yesterday he's, quote, "pushing the pause button" on the legislation, which the GOP could seek to block using a filibuster. McConnell said he wanted to make sure both parties would have equal say on the commission, and questioned whether its work would interfere with the hundreds of criminal cases related to the attack. Earlier yesterday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he will oppose the bill, even though a Republican, Rep. John Katko, had negotiated it with House Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called McCarthy's opposition "cowardice."
 

➤NORTH CAROLINA PROSECUTOR SAYS DEPUTIES JUSTIFIED IN FATAL SHOOTING OF BROWN JR.: A North Carolina prosecutor said Tuesday that sheriff’s deputies were justified in fatally shooting Andrew Brown Jr. last month as they were serving drug-related search and arrest warrants at the 42-year-old Black man's Elizabeth City home. District Attorney Andrew Womble said at a news conference that Brown had used his car as a, quote, "deadly weapon," hitting a deputy with his car and nearly running him over, while ignoring commands to show his hands and get out of the car. Womble said the deputies won't face any criminal charges as a result of the April 21st shooting, which sparked weeks of protests. Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten II said the deputies will keep their jobs, but will be "disciplined and retrained." Brown's family, whose attorneys have said he was trying to drive away and wasn't a threat, called the DA's decision "an insult and a slap in the face." The FBI is carrying out a separate investigation.

➤N.Y. ATTORNEY GENERAL SAYS TRUMP ORGANIZATION PROBE NOW CRIMINAL: The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James said yesterday that its civil probe of the Trump Organization is now a criminal investigation. No explanation was given for the change. Spokesperson Fabien Levy said, "We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the company is no longer purely civil in nature. We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA." The Manhattan district attorney's office has been conducting a criminal investigation of former President Donald Trump and his company for two years.

➤TENNESSEE TO REQUIRE SIGNS AOBUT TRANSGENDER BATHROOMS, LOCKER ROOMS: Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee signed legislation Monday (May 17th) requiring businesses and government facilities that are open to the public to post signs if they allow transgender people to use multi-person bathrooms, locker rooms or changing rooms that match their gender identity. The legislation, which will go into effect on July 1st, is the first of its kind by any U.S. state. Lee's action came three days after he signed another bill that requires public schools to try to have a single-occupancy or employee facility available for use, but bans letting transgender people use multi-person bathrooms or locker rooms that don't match their sex at birth. Additionally, Lee signed legislation in March barring transgender athletes from taking part in middle and high school sports that align with their gender identity, saying it was to, quote, "preserve women's athletics and ensure fair competition."
 

➤STUDY..IN GROUPS, WOMEN BOOST COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE MORE THAN MEN: It turns out having ladies in a group boosts the group’s collective intelligence more than having men in the group does. Carnegie Mellon University researchers looked at 22 studies and found that individual skill, group gender composition, and group collaboration were all predictors of collective intelligence, or the ability of a group to work together and solve a range of problems of varying complexity. Specifically, social perceptiveness of individual members, group composition, and group size were impactful. They also found that group collaborations were about twice as important for predicting collective intelligence than individual skill, and that group composition (including the proportion of women in a group and group member social perceptiveness) were strong predictors of collective intelligence. Study co-author Anita Woolley says they continue to find that having more women in the group raises the overall level of collective intelligence, regardless of whether the collaboration was face-to-face or online.

➤GUIDELINES URGE COLON CANCER SCREENING FIVE YEARS EARLIER, AT AGE 45: New guidelines out Tuesday advised that Americans should begin getting screened for colon cancer at age 45, five years earlier than had previously been recommended. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said it updated the guidance to five years earlier than the previously-advised age 50 because colorectal cancer is increasingly been seen in younger adults. At the same time, overall cases and deaths have slowly been falling in recent years, due in part to screening that can find tumors early or prevent them by removing precancerous growths. The American Cancer Society had already lowered its recommended screening age to 45 in 2018.

➤NAVAJOS PASS CHEROKEES TO BECOME LARGEST NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBE IN U.S.: The Navajo Nation has passed the Cherokee Nation to become the largest Native American tribe in the U.S., with the highest enrolled population. The Navajos have nearly 400,000 recorded citizens, up from about 306,000, after they moved to enroll or fix their records as the tribe offered hardship assistance payments from last year’s federal coronavirus relief. The Cherokees have an enrollment of 392,000 people. There are a total of 547 federally-recognized Native American tribes.

➤ANDREW GIULIANI, SON OF EX-NYC MAYOR, ANNOUNCES N.Y. GOVERNOR CANDIDACY: Andrew Giuliani, the 35-year-old son of former New York City Mayor and recent Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, made it official yesterday that he's running for governor of New York in 2022. Giuliani, who's a Republican, launched several attacks on current Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo during his announcement, including over his handling of the pandemic. Giuliani has never run for or held public office. He is personally close to Trump, and worked in the White House Office of Public Liaison during his presidency. Before that, he was a professional golfer for a while and worked as a sales intern at an investment bank. Giuliani faces long odds both in the state's Republican primary, as well as in a potential general election in blue-state New York. Cuomo, who is facing both political and personal scandals, has not yet said if he'll run for a fourth term.  

➤MANY FIND RETURN TO ‘NORMAL’ AFTER COVID-19 UNSETTLING, EXPERTS SAY:  Last week the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks at many indoor and outdoor locations, but not everyone felt only relief about the announcement. Mental Health experts said in a HealthDay Now interview that the COVID-19 pandemic has left a lasting mark on people’s psyches, and people will be struggling with lingering worry for some time to come. Psychotherapist Sherry Amatenstein says, “We lived for over a year with such fear and such uncertainty. Your body doesn’t know what to do. Our cues are all mixed up. Suddenly what was [forbidden] is supposed to be OK again. How do you react?” Dr. Vivian Pender says everyone is dealing with their pandemic year through a process very similar to the stages of grief as they deal with the shock and denial of the pandemic’s many impacts on their lives. The experts say many people will ease back into regular life along with the “pod” of friends and family they’ve limited themselves to seeing during the pandemic. The experts also agree that the pandemic also had a silver lining or two—for example, you likely gained some things in your life you didn’t have before, including some much-needed perspective.

⚾TIGERS' TURNBULL PITCHES NO-HITTER, FIFTH THIS SEASON IN MLB: The Detroit Tigers' Spencer Turnbull pitched a no-hitter last night against the Mariners in a 5-0 win in Seattle. Turnbull struck out nine and walked two. The no-hitter by the 28-year-old was MLB's fifth so far this season -- and the second against the Mariners at home -- equaling the 1917 season for the most by May 18th.
 
🏀CELTICS, PACERS WIN FIRST NBA PLAY-IN GAMES: The Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers won the first two games of the NBA's Play-In Tournament yesterday. The Celtics defeated the Washington Wizards 118-100, powered by 50 points by Jayson Tatum, earning the seventh seed for the Eastern Conference playoffs. Washington will play the Indiana Pacers, who defeated the Charlotte Hornets 144-117 in the day's other play-in game, on Thursday for the eighth seed.

🏒NHL PLAYOFFS: Results from first-round games yesterday:
  • Pittsburgh Penguins 2, New York Islanders 1 - Series tied 1-1
  • Tampa Bay Lightning 3, Florida Panthers 1 - Tampa Bay leads 2 games to 0
  • Vegas Golden Knights 3, Minnesota Wild 1 - Series tied 1-1

⚾ANGELS' TROUT OUT SIX TO EIGHT WEEKS WITH CALF STRAIN: Los Angeles Angels star centerfielder Mike Trout will be six to eight weeks after suffering a right calf strain Monday. The three-time American League MVP said Tuesday, "It is not just a little bump in the road. . . . I’m really crushed about it." The 29-year-old hurt his leg while running toward third base on a popup.

⚾SANO HAS THREE HOMERS IN TWINS 5-4 WIN OVER WHITE SOX: Minnesota first baseman Miguel Sano hit three runs in the Twins' 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox last night. He had home runs in the fourth and sixth innings, and then had a two-rum homer in the eighth inning that tied the game at 4-4.

⚾METS' PILLAR HAS MULTIPLE FACIAL FRACTURES AFTER HIT IN FACE BY PITCH: The New York Mets' Kevin Pillar has multiple nasal fractures after being hit in the face by a pitch from Atlanta Braves' reliever Jacob Webb Monday night. But he was well enough to carry out the lineup card before Tuesday night's game, even though his face was bruised and swollen. He told reporters, "Despite not looking so good, I feel as close to normal as possible. The only tough thing is my right eye is suffering from a little bit of swelling, and I can't really breathe out of my nose." A CT scan Monday showed no serious damage to Pillar, who was put on the 10-day injured list.
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