Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Wake-Up Call: U-S, China End Virtual Summit

President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke in a more than three-hour virtual summit yesterday evening, with both seeking to ease tensions between the two countries and agreeing they need to be careful in the competition between their nations. Biden said at the start of the meeting, "[I]t seems to me our responsibility as leaders . . . is to ensure that the competition between our countries does not veer into conflict, whether intended or unintended. Just simple, straightforward competition." Xi said, "China and the United States need to increase communication and cooperation." There were no major breakthroughs, and the White House had said ahead of time that none were expected. But White House officials still said the two had a substantive exchange, including with Biden again raising concerns about China's human rights practices and making clear he will protect U.S. workers and industries from China's, quote, "unfair trade and economic practices."


➤BIDEN SIGNS INFRASTRUCTURE BILL IN SOUTH LAWN EVENT: President Biden signed the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure legislation in an event on the White House South Lawn yesterday attended by members of Congress, governors and mayor of both parties, administration officials, and labor and business leaders. Biden said at the celebratory signing that the infrastructure funding to pay for things like roads, bridge, ports, public transportation, broadband internet, and more is going to make life "change for the better" for the American people. Biden will be hitting the road in the coming days to help sell the plan, starting with New Hampshire today and Detroit Wednesday.


➤RITTENHOUSE CASE GOES TO JURY TODAY: The jurors in Kyle Rittenhouse's Wisconsin murder trial will begin deliberations today after hearing closing arguments yesterday. Prosectors contended that Rittenhouse provoked the deadly violence by bringing a semi-automatic rifle to Kenosha in August 2020 and menacing others, saying, "You lose the right to self-defense when you’re the one . . . creating the danger, when you’re the one provoking other people." But the defense said Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense when he shot three people, two of them fatally, saying he was ambushed by the first man he killed, Joseph Rosenbaum, who his attorneys described as a "crazy person." The defense said he was then set on by a "mob," and killed Anthony Huber after Huber hit him with a skateboard, and shot and injured Gaige Grosskreutz when he came at him with a gun. The prosecution said Huber, Grosskreutz and others were trying to stop what they thought was an active shooter. Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, has said he went to Kenosha from his home in Illinois to protect property after arson and violence took place during protests after the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake.

➤BANNON APPEARS BEFORE JUDGE AFTER DEFYING CONGRESSIONAL SUBPOENA: Steve Bannon appeared before a judge in Washigton, D.C., yesterday to face criminal contempt charges for defying a subpoena from the congressional committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, after surrendering to FBI agents earlier in the day. The longtime ally of former President Donald Trump didn't enter a plea and was released without bail. Bannon's attorney said his client defied the subpoena because he was told by another attorney not to go after Trump claimed that executive privilege applies. Bannon was combative outside court, saying he was, quote, "taking on the Biden regime."
 
➤RUSSIAN WEAPONS TEST CREATED SPACE DEBRIS THREATENING SPACE STATION: U.S. officials said yesterday that a Russian weapons test created more than 1,500 pieces of space debris now threatening the International Space Station, which currently has seven astronauts on board, calling it reckless and irresponsible. The astronauts were ordered to shelter in their docked capsules for about two hours yesterday after it was realized what had happened. The State Department said the debris came from an old Russian satellite destroyed by missile in the test. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told AP, "Needless to say, I’m outraged. This is unconscionable." Secretary of State Antony Blinken said satellites were also now threatened. There was no immediate comment from Russia by late Monday.

➤DEFENSE COMPLAINS ABOUT JESSE JACKSON IN COURTROOM FOR ARBERY TRIAL: A judge denied requests for a mistrial Monday in the Georgia trial of three white men charged in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, after defense attorneys complained about the presence of civil rights icon Jesse Jackson sitting with Arbery's parents. The attorneys complained jurors were tainted by crying by his mother and seeing Jackson with them. The latest complaints came after one of the defense attorneys last week protested the appearance of civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton in the courtroom, raising objections to "Black pastors" being there. The judge called that "reprehensible." Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan are facing trial after the Travises chased after Arbery in a pickup truck when they saw him running in their neighborhood in Feburary 2020. Their neighbor, Bryant, joined them, and after cornering Arbery, McMichael shot him three times, killing him, with video recorded by Bryant showing the younger McMichael confronting Arbery and shooting him as he threw punches and grappled for the gun. The McMichaels told police they suspected Arbery was a burglar after security cameras record him in a home under construction several times. The defense is claiming Travis fired in self-defense.

➤TEEN SAYS N.H. SCHOOL DISTRICT SUSPENDED HIM FROM SPORTS FOR SAYING ON TWO GENDERS EXIST: A New Hampshire teenager is suing his school district after he says he was given a one-game suspension from playing football for saying in a conversation with another student off school grounds that there are "only two genders." The suit says the Exeter High School freshman has a Catholic-based belief that there are only two genders, male and female, and in addition to challenging the game suspension, it also claims the school's policy requiring students to be addressed by a name and pronoun of their choosing related to their gender identity infringes on his First Amendment rights. According to the suit, the student was having a conversation on the school bus with friends about gender and the perceived difficulty in using plural pronouns for someone in Spanish, because it uses masculine and feminine plurals. A female student heard their discussion and told the student there are more than two genders and he said there isn't. The female student later contacted him via text on the issue and the conversation about gender continued in what was described as a "contentious" text exchange. The female student reportedly gave the text exchange to school administrators, which the student suing was shown printed out when he was suspended from the game.

➤STUDY..IF YOU HAVE IMPOSTER SYNDROME YOU LIKELY HAVE BETTER INTERPERSONAL SKILLS:  Imposter syndrome is the belief that the success in your life isn’t deserved or has been achieved through luck, rather than as a result of one’s own efforts or skills. A new study finds that those with imposter syndrome have better interpersonal skills, which can actually make them a better employee. People with the syndrome tend to think of themselves as a “fraud” and fear that at any moment, everyone else will figure it out. Lead researcher Basima Tewik, a psychologist with MIT says, “People with imposter syndrome were basically the ones you’d want to work with.” In experiments, people with imposter syndrome were found to be unconsciously trying to compensate for their "self-perceived ineptitude" by being personable and easy to get along with.

➤IT'S NOW ILLEGAL IN PORTUGAL FOR BOSSES TO CONTACT EMPLOYEES OUTSIDE OF WORKING HOURS:  Our devices have increasingly made it easier for people to be reachable by their employer when they're not at work, and that ramped up during the pandemic with many people working at home. But Portugal has now passed new labor laws to rein some of that in, with it now illegal for bosses to contact employees outside of working hours. A proposal for the law said workers should have the right to at least 11 consecutive hours of what was called "night rest," during which they shouldn't be contacted for work except for emergencies. Among other new labor laws that passed in Portugal, employers must also now contribute to staff's work-from-home expenses, such as internet and electricity costs. However, not passed by lawmakers was giving workers the "right to disconnect," meaning the right to turn off their work devices at the end of the day.

➤WHY YOUTUBE IS HIDING DISLIKES ON VIDEOS:  YouTube announced last week that it would start making dislike counts on videos private. They said the change was part of an ongoing goal within YouTube to make the platform more inclusive by eliminating harassment and hate. YouTube has also been changing some of its video monetization policies, especially around low quality and overly commercial content targeted to kids. YouTube explained in a blog post, “Earlier this year, we experimented with the dislike button to see whether or not changes could help better protect our creators from harassment, and reduce dislike attacks — where people work to drive up the number of dislikes on a creator’s videos. As part of this experiment, viewers could still see and use the dislike button. But because the count was not visible to them, we found that they were less likely to target a video’s dislike button to drive up the count.” The dislike button itself will remain.

🏈49ERS TOP RAMS 31-10 FOR FIRST HOME WIN IN OVER A YEAR: The San Francisco 49ers topped the Los Angeles Rams 31-10 in Monday Night Football last night for their first home win in over a year, since October 2020. 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 182 yards and two touchdowns. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was intercepted twice by Jimmie Ward in the first quarter, one of them for a touchdown. In his debut after signing with the Rams last week, wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. had only two catches for 18 yards.



⚾RAYS' AROZARENA, REDS' INDIA NAMED MLB ROOKIES OF THE YEAR: Tampa Bay Rays' outfielder Randy Arozarena and the Cincinnati Reds' second baseman Jonathan India were named the MLB Rookies of the Year last night, Arozarena winning in the American League and India in the National League. They were chosen in voting by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. It's the first time since 1953 that the rookie of the year winners were both primarily leadoff hitters.

🏈WASHINGTON'S YOUNG DONE FOR YEAR AFTER INJURING KNEE: The Washington Football Team confirmed yesterday (November 15th) that defensive end Chase Young is done for the year after injuring his knee in Sunday's win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Head coach Ron Rivera said the reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year and Number 2 pick in the 2020 draft will have to undergo surgery, but didn't say what the surgery is for or reveal if Young tore his ACL.

🏒THREE SENATORS' GAMES POSTPONED DUE TO COVID OUTBREAK: The NHL postponed three Ottawa Senators games yesterday (November 15th) due to a Covid-19 outbreak on the team, with 10 players in the Covid protocol. The games are those that were scheduled for tonight at New Jersey, Thursday at home against Nashville, and Saturday against the New York Rangers. This is the first time any North American major pro sports league has had to reschedule games this fall because of Covid, with neither the NFL nor the NBA having to do it so far. MLB had nine postponements during the season.

🏈'NFL HONORS' MOVING TO THURSDAY BEFORE SUPER BOWL, TO AIR ON ABC: NFL Honors, the prime time TV program during which the AP's individual NFL awards are announced, is being moved to the Thursday before the Super Bowl for the first time from its previous spot of the night before the big game, and it will be aired live on ABC. The February 10th show will be broadcast from the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California. In addition to the awards for MVP, Coach of the Year, Comeback Player, Offensive Player and Offensive Rookie, Defensive Player and Defensive Rookie, and Assistant Coach of the Year, and other awards, the 2022 Pro Football Hall of Fame class will also be announced.



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