Friday, May 21, 2021

Wake-Up Call: Will Cease-Fire Hold?


CEASE-FIRE AGREED TO IN 11-DAY CONFLICT BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HAMAS: Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire Thursday, ending their 11-day conflict that had Hamas sending rockets into Israel and Israel launching airstrikes in Gaza. The cease-fire went into effect at 2 a.m. Friday morning. Although both sides claimed victory, Palestinians in Gaza made up most of the more than 240 people who were killed, a substantial number of them children, and bore the brunt of the physical destruction. Israel's "Iron Dome" defense system managed to intercept some 90 percent of the rockets considered threats, according to Israel, but at the same time, Israel's offensive was unable to stop the rockets from being launched. President Biden praised the cease-fire, saying, "I believe we have a genuine opportunity to make progress, and I’m committed to working for it." He said the U.S. was committed to helping Israel replenish missiles for the Iron Dome defense system and to working with the Palestinian Authority, but not Hamas, to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza.


The conflict began on May 10th when Hamas fired rockets into Israel from Gaza, after days of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, as well as threatened evictions of dozens of Palestinians by Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem.

➤HOUSE APPROVES $1.9 BILLION FOR U.S. CAPITOL SECURITY BY NARROW MARGIN: The House on Thursday approved $1.9 billion to fortify and improve security at the U.S. Capitol in the wake of the January 6th attack, with passage coming on a narrow 213-212 vote. Republicans opposed the measure that would establish retractable fencing and a quick-response force, as did a handful of Democrats, some of whom voted no and others who voted "present." Those progressive Democrats were opposed over concerns about more funding for Capitol police, while Republicans said it is too expensive and that no fencing is needed. The measure's prospects in the evenly-divided Senate are uncertain.
 

➤NEW YORK, MARYLAND ESTABLISH LOTTERIES FOR THOSE WHO GET COVID VACCINE: New York and Maryland followed Ohio's lead yesterday in announcing lotteries for people who get vaccinated against Covid-19. Ohio saw vaccine rates rise after it announced drawings last week to give away millions of dollars to people who get vaccinated. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that state residents who get vaccinated next week from Monday to Friday will be given a lottery ticket with a chance to win as much as $5 million. Governor Larry Hogan said that starting on Tuesday, the Maryland Lottery will randomly select a vaccinated state resident for a $40,000 prize every day for 40 days through July 3rd, and a winner will get a grand prize of $400,000 on July 4th.

➤BIDEN SIGNS LEGISLATION TO COMBAT RISE IN HATE CRIME AGAINST ASIAN-AMERICANS: President Biden signed legislation yesterday intended to help combat a dramatic rise in hate crimes across the country against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. The legislation had bipartisan support, passing both the House and Senate by wide margins, 94-1 in the Senate and 364-62 in the House. The law will speed up Justice Department reviews of hate crimes by putting an official in charge of the effort. Federal grants will be available for local law enforcement agencies to help improve their investigation, identification and reporting of such crimes.

➤EXPERT..DON'T WORRY ABOUT RESUME GAP DUE TO PANDEMIC:  Unemployment soared to historic levels last year as people lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and many took a long time to get a job again or may still be out of work. But LinkedIn career expert Catherine Fisher told CBS This Morning that people shouldn't worry about pandemic-related gaps on their resume. She said, "[R]ecruiters tell us that they kind of expect that many people were going to have a gap." Fisher offered some advice about getting back to work again, explaining, "What they're looking for is, what did you do during that gap? Did you learn new skills, did you get new certificates? It's how you take that time to be creative and learn new skills, because we know that skills is really what matters these days." She said that if you want to apply for a job that doesn't match your experience, to look at what kind of "transferrable skills" you have." Fisher also named some of the industries that are making a return from the depths of the pandemic, including entertainment, recreation, travel, software and information technologies, saying, "As people get back out, they want to be entertained, they want to travel and then want to go on vacation . . . "

➤TRUMP ADMIN. JUSTICE DEPT. SECRETLY GOT CNN REPORTER'S PHONE RECORDS: The Justice Department during the Trump administration secretly got two months worth of phone records from June and July 2017 of CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, the network said yesterday (May 20th). CNN said the Justice Department informed Starr earlier this month. President Jeff Zucker said in a statement, "CNN strongly condemns the secret collection of any aspect of a journalist’s correspondence, which is clearly protected by the First Amendment." CNN said that during the period of the phone records that were taken, Starr's stories included ones on Syria, Afghanistan, and U.S. military options in North Korea that were being offered to then-President Donald Trump. The disclosure came two weeks after The Washington Post revealed that the Trump Justice Department last year obtained the phone records of three of its journalists who covered the Russia investigation.
 

➤BUSY ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON PREDICTED: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast yesterday (May 20th) that there will be a busier-than-normal Atlantic hurricane season this year, but there won't be as many storm as last year's historic season. The meteorologists predicted that there will be 13 to 20 named storms during the season, which runs from June through November, six to 10 of which will become hurricanes, with three to five of them major hurricanes. Last year, there were 30 named storms, 14 hurricanes and seven major hurricanes.

➤PRINCES WILLIAM AND HARRY CONDEMN BBC AFTER PROBE FINDS 'DECEIT' USED TO LAND PRINCESS DIANA INTERVIEW: Princes William and Harry issued separate statements yesterday (May 20th) condemning the BBC and British media after an investigation found BBC journalist Martin Bashir used, quote, "deceitful behavior" to land a famous 1995 interview with their late mother, Princess Diana. The probe found Bashir mocked up fake bank statements falsely suggesting Diana's former private secretary and another royal household member were being paid to keep her under surveillance, and showed them to Diana's brother to try to get access to her. The report also faulted the BBC for covering up what it knew about Bashir's actions. It was during that interview that Diana said that her husband, Prince Charles, was involved with his now wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles, and admitted her own affair. William said in his statement that the BBC's wrongdoing contributed to the deterioration of his parents’ marriage and worsened Diana’s feelings of paranoia. Harry charged the, quote, "ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took her life," and said those practices continue today.

➤HERE’S THE SCIENCE BEHIND BREAKUP MAKEOVERS:  You’ve heard of “revenge makeovers” or “breakup haircuts,” but why do people change up their appearance after a breakup? Psychologist Theresa DiDonato explains it links back to what’s known as the “self-expansion theory,” he says, “People are motivated to grow in order to achieve goals and one way to do that is through close relationships, where the identities of two people often merge. But evidence shows that during breakups, self-concept shrinks, leading to identity questions.” These questions are often answered through hobbies or haircuts, a physical sign of growth. Senior lecturer of psychology at University of Essex, Veronica Lamarche adds, “When rejected, humans are motivated to fit in with others, such as becoming more attractive—we like positive enforcement. If change makes an ex-partner jealous, that can soften rejection; if it opens sexual opportunity with others, that can validate.” Breakups can also ignite change that was already being considered by someone.
 

➤TOO MUCH TV TIME MAY BE BAD FOR YOUR LONG-TERM BRAIN HEALTH:  People usually worry about whether too much TV time is bad for small kids, but a new study finds it definitely is bad for people in their 40s, 50s and early 60s. Three new studies found that people who reported watching moderate to large amounts of TV in their 40s, 50s, and early 60s experienced greater cognitive declines, and had lower levels of gray matter in their brains in their 70s and 80s, compared with those who reported watching very little TV in the same timeframe. Lead study author of one of the studies, Ryan Dougherty adds, “In our findings, television viewing remained associated with cognitive function and gray matter volume after accounting for physical activity, suggesting that this sedentary behavior may impart a unique risk with respect to brain and cognitive health.” And some studies suggest that TV watching might be a particularly harmful sedentary behavior, as it is a passive behavior that doesn’t involve a lot of cognitive simulation, which is associated with a greater risk of developing cognitive impairment.

🏀WIZARDS DEFEAT PACERS 142-115 TO EARN EASTERN CONF.'S EIGHTH SEED IN PLAYOFFS: The Washington Wizards defeated the Indiana Pacers 142-115 in the NBA's Play-In Tournament last night to earn the Eastern Conference's Number 8 seed in the playoffs. Bradley Beal scored 25 points for Washington and Russell Westbrook came close to a triple-double with 18 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists. The Wizards will play the Number 1 seed Philadelphia 76ers in the first round.

 
🏒NHL PLAYOFFS: Results from first-round games yesterday:
  • Florida Panthers 6, Tampa Bay Lightning 5 (OT) - Tampa Bay leads 2 games to 1
  • Pittsburgh Penguins 5, New York Islanders 4 - Pittsburgh leads 2 games to 1
  • Montreal Canadiens 2, Toronto Maple Leafs 1 - Montreal leads 1 game to 0
  • Vegas Golden Knights 5, Minnesota Wild 2 - Vegas leads 2 games to 1
🏌CONNERS IN LEAD AFTER PGA CHAMPIONSHIP'S FIRST ROUND: Canada's Corey Conners is in the lead after the first round of the PGA Championship yesterday, scoring a 5-under 67 at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island in South Carolina. He has a two-shot lead over six players tied for second place, including Americans Brooks Koepka, Keegan Bradley and Aaron Wise.

🏒TORONTO CAPTAIN TAVAVRES TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER ON-ICE COLLISION: Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares was removed from the ice on a stretcher and taken to the hospital last night after a collision in Game 1 of Toronto's first-round playoffs match-up against the Montreal Canadiens. The collision took place early in the game, when Tavares crashed into Montreal's Ben Chariot and was hit in the head by Corey Perry's knee as he went down. Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game that Tavares was going to spend the night at the hospital for further tests, but that everything had "come back clear" so far. Toronto lost the game to Montreal 2-1.
 

🏀JOKIC, EMBIID, CURRY ARE NBA MVP FINALISTS: The Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry were named last night as the three finalists for the NBA MVP award. Curry has won the MVP twice before, the only one of the three to have ever won it. Among the other award finalists also announced yesterday were those for Rookie of the Year, who are: LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets; the Minnesota Timberwolves' Anthony Edwards; and Tyrese Haliburton of the Sacramento Kings.

🏈TEBOW RETURNS TO NFL, SIGNS WITH JAGUARS: Tim Tebow is returning to the NFL, signing a one-year contract yesterday with the Jacksonville Jaguars after five years in baseball. The former quarterback will be trying for a comeback as a tight end. The 33-year-old Tebow last played in a regular-season NFL game in 2012. He retired from baseball in February after having been in the New York Mets' organization in the minor leagues from 2016 to 2020.
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