8-7: it is what it is STILL

✅Scores of Orange County Elementary Schools Move to Reopen Classrooms

Voice of OC

     A wave of Orange County elementary schools are trying to reopen classrooms for the upcoming school year during the coronavirus pandemic, after state health officials announced a waiver process earlier this week.  

     Most of the schools looking to reopen are in South County, where the virus hasn’t hit residents as hard, compared to working class neighborhoods in Anaheim and Santa Ana. In addition, an overwhelming percentage of them are private or charter schools. 

     OC schools were thrust into the national spotlight last month, when the OC Board of Education voted to recommend schools reopen without requiring masks or physical distancing. But the board’s vote has no bearing on schools and their respective districts. 

     Bernadette Boden-Albala, founding dean of UC Irvine’s Public Health program, said if the virus trends continue to go down, then schools should start planning for reopening classrooms. She also said schools should give learning options to students and parents, stagger class days and implement a robust testing and contact tracing program.  

     “I think we’re in this place where we probably could start if our case numbers stay where they are or go down. Then we can start talking about what hybrid education really looks like. It does mean lower numbers, trying to do things outside. Staggering schools, giving a choice for some kids that can’t go … but they’re still engaging and having the proper education,” said Bernadette Boden-Albala, founding dean of UC Irvine’s Public Health program. 

     But, Boden-Albala said, the reopens could depend on how severely impacted the surrounding community is, like the hard-hit neighborhoods in Anaheim and Santa Ana. 

     “This is all about density. The densest communities are going to get hit the hardest” like Anaheim and Santa Ana, Boden-Albala said in a Tuesday phone interview. “You just have these populations in these cities like Anaheim and Santa Ana that are living more densely, as opposed to more of a suburban structure where there’s more space between households — where the transmission is less.” 

. . .

     Over 100 elementary schools have already filed paperwork seeking waivers according to a public records request answered by the county Health Care Agency….

 

✅‘Broken’ coronavirus tracking system leaves California in the dark: ‘We have no idea’ -- The breakdown in California’s coronavirus test reporting system is disrupting pandemic response efforts across the state, leaving local officials in the dark about the spread of COVID-19 and blocking the ability of counties to get restrictions lifted until the the system is fixed. Anita Chabria, Maura Dolan in the Los Angeles Times$ Fiona Kelliher in the San Jose Mercury$ Dustin Gardiner and Erin Allday in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/7/20

 

JUST IN:

✅State health department freezes coronavirus watch list, citing faulty data system that threw off crucial case metrics

OC Reg

✅Coronavirus impact: Chasm grows between whites, people of color, California poll finds -- The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its economic toll are hitting people of color in California especially hard, and a new poll illustrates just how alarming the disparity has grown among the state’s families. Emily DeRuy in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/7/20

 

✅California colleges in last-minute scramble to open without state guidance -- Just days before the fall semester is set to begin, California colleges and universities are scrambling to finalize reopening plans that affect thousands of students as top leaders say the state’s lack of guidance for weeks has frustrated efforts to bring back limited in-person learning and dorm living. Teresa Watanabe, Nina Agrawal, Phil Willon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/7/20

Trump’s economic comeback is becoming a slowdown and likely a stall-out -- New jobless claims declined a bit last week after two weeks of increases but remain above 1 million per week.  Ben White Politico -- 8/7/20

 

✅More Than 400,000 Students Leave Their States for College. Here’s How They Could Carry Covid-19 With Them.

CHE

Today's numbers are highly suspect.
"In the dark" indeed

These guys turned out to be such assholes, that they had to break up.

Voice of OC blasts the County for its lack of transparency; 32 new Covid deaths reported

✅ Santana: The County of Orange Isn’t Transparent or Open When it Comes to Coronavirus

Voice of OC

By Norberto Santana Jr. [Editor in chief]

     I like Orange County CEO Frank Kim and respect his work but was floored last week when he insisted the County of Orange has been transparent and open about its handling of the Coronavirus.

     Far from it.

     I would have challenged Kim directly at last Thursday’s press conference on this misstatement but the county media PR-machine he declared as fully dedicated to openness doesn’t allow reporters to ask follow up questions.

     So much for transparency and openness.

. . .

     As this column goes to publication, according to sources close the matter, Kim is reportedly asking county supervisors about their schedule availability to hold a special meeting – potentially on Friday – to allow County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett to schedule a controversial item extending supervisors’ term limits, for the third time this month.

     Keep in mind that under the state’s open meeting laws, the Ralph M. Brown Act, supervisors aren’t supposed to be debating public policy in private.

. . .

     Since we are on the topic of public meetings, which Kim so ardently defended in his speech about the commitment to openness by county supervisors, let’s talk about how unevenly county supervisors enforce their public comment rules.

     We just reported today that an Orange County Superior Court concluded there was little doubt about the uneven way that current chairwoman [Michelle] Steel conducts meetings, creating grave constitutional deficiencies for public participation.

     If Steel likes your point of view or position, you get extended time to speak. If she doesn’t, you get held to the time limit, which is often times shortened from three minutes to two in recent meetings.

     In addition to the uneven handling of public comment, there’s the whole structure that supervisors’ adopted during the outbreak of the pandemic to only encourage in-person commenting – at a time where public health advisories asked people to refrain from being indoors without masks.

     So any member of the public that wanted more mask enforcement or education had to come down to the county board meeting and stand next to activists who don’t wear masks or practice social distancing to make their voices heard.

     The result was an uneven indication of public comment regarding the mask issue, one which ultimately muddied policymaking by supervisors to the point that it led to the resignation of the Public Health Director, Dr. Nicole Quick.

     Was that transparent and open?

. . .

Nicole Quick

     [The Covid-update press] conferences always start with Steel coming out and basically being granted a free campaign stump opportunity.

     In most cases, she leaves immediately and reporters are not allowed to ask any questions of her.

     In recent weeks, Steel’s remarks haven’t even centered on Covid but instead focused on her resolutions regarding public safety appreciation.

     After Steel’s stump speech, technocrats – like Health Care Agency Director Clayton Chau – offer some general announcements on hot topics of the day.

     Complex issues – like Covid testing efforts, contact tracing and sheltering in urban environments, hospitalization numbers – are all covered in just a few minutes.

     Then, reporters – usually numbering about a dozen – get one question each with no follow ups.

     When we ask questions about complexities, we get general answers.

     Even more insulting is when Chau or Kim ask reporters to follow up with county Public Information officers that in many cases don’t return calls for days or in some cases at all.

     Keep in mind that virtually every public health order that the County of Orange has issued – about the March shutdown, about the Memorial Day reopening, about masks – all have been rolled out to huge confusion and in just about every case had to be re-written and re-issued.

     Data reporting on Covid – despite fancy press releases from the county about their new website, months into the crisis – is often times not reliable and again, there’s virtually no public information effort to back it up. State data and county data often tell a totally different story on any given day.

     As reporters, we are constantly getting emails from residents and taxpayers bewildered by the constant problems and inconsistencies in the county published data.

     Reporters also were among the first to publicly call on the county to release infection data by city – a crucial piece of data people wanted to see.

     Until public pressure and media attention mounted, Kim admitted that he kept those numbers from the public after being pressed by city managers to keep it secret.

     Is that transparent and open?

. . .

     Lastly, let’s talk restaurants.

     During Kim’s presentation last week, he told reporters the OC approach to restaurant inspections regarding Covid was focused more on engagement and education rather than hard enforcement.

     Fair enough.

     Yet I keep reading about restaurants having Covid-related closures (kudos to the OC Register’s Anne Valdespino for her solid coverage of the restaurant outbreaks).

     At last week’s press conference, I asked Kim if he could show taxpayers how HCA is doing that kind of vibrant restaurant outreach meant to protect consumers.

     I asked for details like how many pamphlets have been passed out, how many restaurant owners have been contacted, what kinds of resources are most requested by restaurants who need help?

     I was told there would be follow up.

     I am still waiting.

     Based on the agenda circulated yesterday for today’s press conference, the answers will apparently be presented at today’s public press conference, this week scheduled for 1 p.m. on the County Facebook page.

     A week to get basic stats on restaurant inspection outreach – in the midst of Covid outbreaks at restaurants.

     Is that transparent and open?

Trumpians

✅ OC Judge Allows Lawsuit Against Orange County Public Comment Policies to Move Forward

Voice of OC

     A lawsuit alleging Orange County supervisors have unconstitutionally restricted public comments got the green light to move forward Wednesday, after a Superior Court judge rejected a county legal motion that argued there were no legal grounds for the complaint.

     In her new ruling – in an updated case by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) – OC Superior Court Judge Sheila B. Fell found the plaintiffs “alleged sufficient facts” to show that restrictions on speech at supervisors’ meetings must “be reasonable and viewpoint neutral.”

     “The lack of any guidance or standard for the Chair to decide whether to grant permission renders the [speaking] Rule unreasonable and, as such, unconstitutional,” Fell ruled on Wednesday.

     The ruling allows the lawsuit to move closer to an evidence-gathering phase, and a possible trial next year.

     [Click here to read the ruling.]

     The case was brought by the ACLU on behalf of a group of homeless advocates, the People’s Homeless Task Force, who often criticize supervisors during public comments at the supervisors meetings. Among other things, the lawsuit alleges supervisors enforce speaking time limits more strictly against people who criticize them.

     At one meeting in 2017, Supervisor Michelle Steel, in her first meeting as chairwoman of the board, let some corporate executives talk for about twice as long as the time limits she enforced against homeless advocates and county workers.

. . .

     The ACLU’s lead attorney in the case said the ruling clearly bolsters their point that the County of Orange rules for public comment violate free speech rights. 

     “We’re very pleased that the court denied the county’s motion,” said Peter Eliasberg, chief counsel with the ACLU of Southern California.

     “We think that this gives us an opportunity to go forward and further develop the work and further show that a variety of the county’s policies really are not compatible with their obligations with respect to public transparency and public access to government through the Brown Act,” he added, referring to the California law that requires open and equal access to meetings of local elected officials.

     “We’re confident that the court will see it our way and that we’ll get rulings that some, if not all, of the policies that we’re currently challenging violate the law.”….

See County data

In other news: (From Rough&Tumble)

✅Raucous parties, young adults fueling California’s COVID-19 crisis -- Younger adults are fueling California’s coronavirus pandemic like never before, health officials are warning, and massive parties and other large social gatherings are threatening to unravel the progress the state is making. Rong-Gong Lin II in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/6/20

✅A mask in every mailbox? California Democrats up pressure campaign in Congress -- California Democrats in Congress are increasing pressure on their leaders to get all Americans to wear masks to fight the coronavirus pandemic — including by mailing them to every household. Tal Kopan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/6/20

✅Newsom searches for messaging rhythm as coronavirus fatigue sets in -- The state remains in a holding pattern. Indoor restaurant dining, bars and gyms have been closed for weeks. Most schools are planning to start with full distance learning. Debra Kahn and Carla Marinucci Politico -- 8/6/20

✅'Back to feeling blind': What we know about California's missing COVID data -- A major reporting issue with California's coronavirus data means state and county health officials no longer have a clear idea of how the state's cases are trending. For days, California hasn't received full counts on the number of tests conducted nor the number that came back positive for COVID-19, Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said Tuesday. Katie Dowd in the San Francisco Chronicle Colleen Shalby in the Los Angeles Times$ Fiona Kelliher, Evan Webeck in the San Jose Mercury$ Amy Taxin Associated Press -- 8/6/20

✅Politicizing COVID: Poll finds big gaps between Trump and Biden voters in support for reopening schools, masks -- Found 80 percent of Biden voters thought the state moved too quickly to reopen businesses, while 79 percent of Trump supporters thought the opposite. Nico Savidge in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/6/20

✅Another college announces it’s going online this fall: Santa Clara University -- Santa Clara University will go online for the fall quarter, the Jesuit school announced Wednesday, joining a majority of Bay Area campuses that will be mostly virtual the rest of this year. Emily DeRuy in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/6/20

8-5: “our strong mitigation efforts are working very well”

❎Extra Tuition-Free Time on Campus

Two colleges -- St. Norbert College and Pacific Lutheran University -- will offer students an extra term or two without charge. The programs aim to make up for subpar on-campus experiences amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Inside Higher Ed

 

❎House Republicans Examine Foreign Money to Colleges

Representatives wrote Harvard, Yale and four other universities asking for records into any deals they have with foreign countries.

Inside Higher Ed

 

❎Democrats Again Call for Aid to Undocumented Students

Inside Higher Ed

 

❎MeTooSTEM Leader Admits to Faking Identity

Inside Higher Ed (See also The Anonymous Professor Who Wasn’t, NYT)

❎Don’t Blame Colleges for the Coming Fall Debacle

This is just what higher education looks like in a failed state.

CHE

From Rough&Tumble:

❎California’s coronavirus test result data may be flawed, says top health official -- A steep decline in California’s coronavirus infection rate announced this week by Gov. Gavin Newson may not be accurate, according to the state’s top public health official who said Tuesday that the state’s data system used to process COVID-19 test results is marred with technical issues. Colleen Shalby in the Los Angeles Times$  Ana B. Ibarra CalMatters Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Amy Taxin Associated Press -- 8/5/20

 

❎These O.C. parents have a message for Gov. Newsom, teachers’ unions: ‘Open up the schools.’ -- A pro-charter school group brought some 75 parents, teachers and a couple of Orange County Board of Education members together Tuesday evening to rally for the reopening of schools that were closed because of coronavirus concerns. Parents, they said, should be making the choice of whether their children learn on campus or online. Roxana Kopetman in the Orange County Register -- 8/5/20

❎Some California teachers asked to return to empty classrooms during distance learning -- When Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered school districts to remain closed for in-person instruction in counties where coronavirus cases are spiking, some California teachers felt relieved. But now, several school districts are requiring teachers to conduct distance learning from their physical classrooms, sparking new fears as Covid-19 cases continue to climb across the state. Sydney Johnson EdSource-- 8/5/20

 

❎Nurses statewide to protest shifting ratios at medical facilities -- The California Nurses Association plans to stage rallies at nearly 70 hospitals and medical centers Wednesday to protest waivers that allow facilities to staff some units below state-mandated nurse-patient ratios as nurses are shifted to more critical patients. Kevin Smith in the Orange County Register -- 8/5/20

In the future, things will be swell

❎Census facing uncertainty, hostile president -- Every 10 years since the 18th century, the United States has counted noses. A lot is riding on this decennial tally. It affects the way federal funding is distributed and it can have a dramatic impact on the boundaries — and number — of political districts. Lana Schwartz Capitol Weekly -- 8/5/20

 

❎Deputies accused of being in secret societies cost L.A. County taxpayers $55 million, records show -- Los Angeles County has paid out roughly $55 million in settlements in cases in which sheriff’s deputies were alleged to belong to a secret society, records obtained by The Times show, illuminating the entrenched nature of a subculture that has plagued the Sheriff’s Department for years. Alene Tchekmedyianin the Los Angeles Times$  Stefanie Dazio Associated Press -- 8/5/20

 

❎California legislators urge Newsom to sign bill requiring CSU students to take ethnic studies -- Within the next 12 days, Gov. Gavin Newsom will decide which ethnic studies courses California State University students must take to graduate. Ashley A. Smith EdSource -- 8/5/20

 

❎Billions for national parks as historic bill becomes law -- After spending his presidency denying climate change, placing coal and oil industry officials in top environmental jobs, and weakening dozens of public health and wildlife rules, President Donald Trump on Tuesday reversed course and signed a historic law to pump billions of dollars into long-neglected repairs and upgrades at America’s national parks. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/5/20

 

❎Trump Cherry-Picks Coronavirus Data in Briefing Appearance -- President Trump, in a news conference on Tuesday, cited a slew of statistics to argue that “our strong mitigation efforts are working very well.” Here’s a fact-check. Linda Qiu in the New York Times$ -- 8/5/20

8-4: Board of Ed stifles public's input

✅ Orange County Residents Debate Going Back to School

Voice of OC

     Orange County’s Board of Education call for a return to classrooms without masks or social distancing last month drew a host of reactions from across the country.

     Yet panel members never gave Orange County residents their own chance to sound off. 

. . .

     Over 4,000 email comments were submitted for the Board of Education’s July 13 meeting but board members chose not to publicly acknowledge any of the emails before taking a vote. 

     Board members instead chose to hear from 20, in-person commenters who seemed to have been picked at random but were overwhelmingly in favor of the board’s proposal. 

     The board still has not published the emails on their website, which they are required to do under the Brown Act, and has not announced a plan on how to release the emails to the public. The only information published by the board is a list of names from the commenters.

     Voice of OC filed a public records request the night of the July 13 meeting, hoping to see what the public’s opinion of the recommendations were, and has reviewed half the emails. 

. . .

     A vast majority of the public comments reviewed so far were in favor of schools remaining closed until proper safety protocols could be implemented. 

     Of the 2,097 emails reviewed by this publication date, 1,540 commenters said they were against the board’s proposed guidelines for reopening free of restrictions and 345 commenters were clearly in favor of a return to classrooms without masks or social distancing.

. . .

     A number of the commenters vowed to vote against board members who advocate in favor of a reopening with no masks and no social distancing come the next election.

     The last elections for the County’s board of education was in March of this year that saw Republicans hold on to a supermajority of seats. 

     The next election is set for 2022, when trustees Mari Barke and Lisa Sparks will be up for reelection.

✅ UCI creates pharmacy school, will enroll students in fall 2021

OC Reg

From Rough&Tumble:

✅ California’s coronavirus cases are finally dropping. How do we stop another surge? -- The number of reported cases, people hospitalized with COVID-19 and the percent of tests coming back positive are dropping for the first time since a June spike in infections sent shock waves through the state’s recovery plans. Those are “encouraging signs,” Newsom said, but he warned Californians to not forget what happens when we get too comfortable. Marisa Kendall in the San Jose Mercury$ Don Thompson Associated Press -- 8/4/20

 

✅ California’s COVID-19 positive test rate declines. Did closing bars and malls work? -- The governor said it’s possible that “all of the above” contributed to the current decline, while cautioning that the trend is not yet clear. In critiquing his own performance, he has repeatedly said that the state didn’t focus enough in the first round of opening on educating the public about the caution and behavioral changes that would be required. Sophia Bollag in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/4/20

 

✅ Newsom provides path for elementary schools to open, strictly limits youth sports -- California elementary schools that want to open their doors for in-person learning must consult with parents, labor unions and others on campus and demonstrate their plans for contact-tracing and other public health measures that have been widely implemented in summer camps and child care settings, according to new guidelines released Monday night. Katy Murphy and Jeremy B. White Politico Dustin Gardiner in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Robert Jablon Associated Press Anita Chabria, Nina Agrawal in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/4/20

 

✅ Democrats take fundraising lead in Orange County’s State Senate, Assembly battles -- Democrats are raising more money than Republicans in all but one of Orange County’s nine state Senate and Assembly races, according to the latest fundraising reports filed with the state. Brooke Staggs in the Orange County Register -- 8/4/20

✅ UC Regents want to investigate top salary cuts -- Two key members of the UC Board of Regents are in favor of a model that would reduce top salaries to help offset pandemic expenses. Also, next year’s UC budget has more money for policing and the stage has been set for a likely September vote about a telescope in Hawaii. Mikhail Zinshteyn CalMatters -- 8/4/20

 

✅ D.A. Is Investigating Trump and His Company Over Fraud, Filing Suggests -- The office of the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., made the disclosure in a new court filing arguing Mr. Trump’s accountants should turn over his tax returns. William K. Rashbaum and Benjamin Weiser in the New York Times$ -- 8/4/20

✅ Rent is coming due in California: ‘Two weeks to avoid complete catastrophe’ -- The California Legislature has less than a month left in its pandemic-shortened session to deal with one of the state’s worst economic crises in decades, and there’s no greater emergency than what to do about the rent. Alexei Koseff in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/3/20

✅ California undercounting COVID-19 cases due to ‘serious’ technical issue, counties say

The Sacramento Bee

     Health officials in multiple California counties say the electronic system used by most local health departments statewide to report data on infectious diseases is currently experiencing “serious” technical issues, resulting in coronavirus cases being significantly undercounted.

     The technical problems suggest that the apparent statewide decline in COVID-19 activity that had been observed in the past few days, and which Gov. Gavin Newsom touted during a Monday news conference as an indication the state has been “able to get a handle” on the pandemic via social distancing and business closures his administration re-implemented last month, may instead be either partially or entirely attributed to a data glitch….

New case numbers likely under-reported today

In one possible world: March 1930

8-3: Trump is Mussolini, he said (and I thought)

✅Coronavirus hospitalizations drop in L.A., Orange counties -- Coronavirus hospitalizations in Los Angeles and Orange counties have dropped over the last week, which may be evidence that actions taken to limit the virus’ spread are working, public health officials said Sunday. Alex Wigglesworth in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/3/20

✅San Francisco flattened the curve early. Now, coronavirus cases are surging -- The Bay Area was supposed to be exceptional. It was one of the first metro areas in the United States to fully shut down to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Nearly everyone wears masks, in stores and on streets. Its progressive residents generally have been inclined to follow the rules, and there’s a high level of trust in public health officials, local governments and the fast-changing science. Heather Kelly and  Rachel Lerman in the Washington Post$ -- 8/3/20

 

✅Scientists Worry About Political Influence Over Coronavirus Vaccine Project -- Operation Warp Speed has moved along at a rapid clip. But some people involved in the process fear pressure to deliver an October surprise for President Trump. Sharon LaFraniere, Katie Thomas, Noah Weiland, Peter Baker and Annie Karni in the New York Times$ -- 8/3/20

✅Pelosi accuses Trump, Birx of spreading misinformation about coronavirus -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi doubled down Sunday on her claims that President Donald Trump and coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx are spreading misinformation about the pandemic.  Allie Bice Politico -- 8/3/20

 

✅Orange County Public Workers Confront Coronavirus Uncertainty Amidst Outbreaks

Voice of OC

 

✅Coronavirus tracker: California cases surpass 500,000, but hospitalizations are on the decline

OC Register

     For the fifth consecutive day, California reported fewer coronavirus-related hospitalizations. According to state reports, there were 7,754 hospitalizations Saturday, Aug. 1, or 245 fewer hospitalizations.

     The state’s number of total cases topped 500,000 (506,456) since reporting began, and 9,354 people have died as of Saturday. There were 6,896 new cases of the coronavirus and 182 new deaths reported, according to unofficial counts from county websites. California health officials reported the state’s first coronavirus death of a child on Friday, saying the victim in the Central Valley was a teenager who had other health conditions.

 

✅COVID-19 Roundup: Study Recommends Testing Every 2 Days

Experts say study offers "wake-up call" as to whether colleges are planning enough testing. Players push back on planned football season, and another college lays off faculty.

Inside Higher Ed

     A new modeling study published Friday by researchers at Harvard and Yale Universities concluded that a safe way to bring college students back to campus this fall would be to test them for COVID-19 every two days using "a rapid, inexpensive, and even poorly sensitive" test, and to couple this testing with strict behavioral strategies to keep the virus’s rate of transmission (Rt) -- the average number of individuals infected by a single contagious person -- below 2.5.

Such a strategy, the authors wrote, “was estimated to yield a modest number of containable infections and to be cost-effective.”

     They added, “This sets a very high bar -- logistically, financially, and behaviorally -- that may be beyond the reach of many university administrators and the students in their care.”….

 

✅Colleges Seek Waivers From Risk-Taking Students

Inside Higher Ed

     As fall semester approaches, students are increasingly opposing liability waivers and "informed consent" agreements required by colleges as a condition of returning to campus.

✅Covid Tests and Quarantines: Colleges Brace for an Uncertain Fall

Colleges are racing to reconfigure dorms, expand testing programs and establish detailed social distancing rules. And then, what to do about sex?

NYT

     This month, many colleges around the country plan to welcome back thousands of students into something they hope will resemble normal campus life. But they face challenges unlike any other American institution — containing the coronavirus among a young, impulsive population that not only studies together, but lives together, parties together, and, if decades of history are any guide, sleeps together.

     It will be a hugely complex and costly endeavor requiring far more than just the reconfiguring of dorm rooms and cafeterias and the construction of annexes and tent classrooms to increase social distancing. It also crucially involves the creation of testing programs capable of serving communities the size of small cities and the enforcement of codes of conduct among students not eager to be policed….

 

✅Jim Clyburn: Trump is Mussolini

The South Carolina Democrat compares the president to the Italian dictator.

Politico

     House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn on Sunday likened President Donald Trump to Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, warning that Trump would resist leaving office.

     The South Carolina lawmaker and No. 3 House Democrat said on CNN's "State of the Union" that Trump has taken up "strong-arm tactics." Trump ignited an uproar last week after he floated the idea of delaying the November election, which he lacks the authority to do.

     "I don't think he plans to leave the White House," Clyburn said of Trump. "He doesn't plan to have fair and unfettered elections. I believe that he plans to install himself in some kind of emergency way to continue to hold on to office."….

✅Its Plan Is Risky, Its Community Is Vulnerable, and Cases Are Surging. Why Is This University Reopening?

CHE

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, facing a system mandate, financial necessity, and concern for students’ well-being, will reopen even as public-health experts underline extensive risks.

✅Trump calls Birx's dire warning on widespread coronavirus in the US 'pathetic'

Guardian UK

 

8-2: the man who made Stephen Miller

The notorious Stephen Miller

✅Coronavirus deaths rise in L.A., Orange County -- Southern California counties continue to report high death tolls from the coronavirus. Orange County reported 31 new deaths Saturday. Los Angeles County tallied 50, which officials contrasted with last week, when an average of 38 people were dying each day. Alex Wigglesworth in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/20

✅Lopez: In Orange County, heart of the mask resistance, a doctor tries to restore faith in science -- The day was fading fast in Laguna Beach, where people often gather at the water’s edge to celebrate gauzy, pink-toned sunsets. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/20

 

✅Eviction ban to end in California. And a crisis looms if lawmakers don’t act -- The first of the August arrives with a renewed sense of worry for renters in the capital region and California affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Malaika Kanaaneh Tapper in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/1/20

✅'Wrong!': Trump slams Fauci over testimony on Covid-19 surge -- President Donald Trump publicly rebuked Dr. Anthony Fauci on Saturday, forcefully rejecting the nation’s top infectious disease expert's testimony on why the U.S. has experienced a renewed surge in coronavirus cases. Evan Semones Politico -- 8/1/20

 

✅Do We Believe in U.F.O.s? That’s the Wrong Question

Reporting on the Pentagon program that’s investigating unidentified flying objects is not about belief. It’s about a vigilant search for facts.

NYT

 

✅Trump didn’t like rulings on DACA. So he’s defying them.

Editorial Board

Washington Post

 

✅How America votes is inherently unpredictable. So why do polling?

The Post’s polling team, Scott Clement and Emily Guskin, delve into conducting and interpreting polls during an election season. How exactly can polls be representative of the electorate? And are they predictive of how a country will eventually vote?

Washington Post

 

✅Trump gets an education in the art of reversal

The president’s backdown in fighting with schools about their reopening marked the latest in a long line of failed red lines for Trump.

Politico

 

✅The Man Who Made Stephen Miller

Almost 20 years ago, anti-immigration activist David Horowitz cultivated an angry high-school student. Now his ideas are coming to life in the Trump administration.

Politico

…[David] Horowitz wrote that hope and fear are the two strongest weapons in politics. Barack Obama had used hope to become president. “Fear is a much stronger and more compelling emotion,” Horowitz argued, adding that Republicans should appeal to voters’ base instincts…. 
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Horowitz ran, and continues to run, the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, which was later renamed the David Horowitz Freedom Center: A School for Political Warfare. The foundation says it “sees its role as that of a battle tank, geared to fight a war that many still don’t recognize.” The enemy? In the foundation’s words, it’s the “political left,” which “has declared war on America and its constitutional system, and is willing to collaborate with America’s enemies abroad and criminals at home to bring America down.” Horowitz says the political left poses an “existential threat.” Horowitz has been labeled an anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant extremist by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a hate watch group.
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He came to believe liberals had waged a wrongheaded “war against ‘whiteness.’” White European males, primarily English and Protestant Christian, created “America’s unique political culture … [which] led the world in abolishing slavery and establishing the principles of ethnic and racial inclusion,” he wrote in his book Hating Whitey. “We are a nation besieged by peoples ‘of color’ trying to immigrate to our shores to take advantage of the unparalleled opportunities and rights our society offers them.”…. 
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Miller got into Duke University. Horowitz was relieved. His young protégé would go on rising. And he would take Horowitz’s ideas with him; he started with a launch of a Duke University chapter of Horowitz’s Students for Academic Freedom….