Category Archives: Politically Incorrect

A senior doctor today told of his personal battle with Covid-19 and how the diseaserobbed him of seeing his dying father.

Wrexham Maelor respiratory consultant Dr Stephen Kelly revealed how most of his colleagues became infected with coronavirus and risked respiratory failure and death, simply for doing their job as they battled the pandemic.

And he told how unreliable tests meant in the early weeks we moved many false negative patients to safe areas where they were likely to haveinfected other patients.

The British Medical Association Welsh Consultants Committee member also issued a stark message about funding, saying he didnt know how the public had put up with the level of NHS service over the last 30 years.

Sat in his office Dr Kelly nodded to a window to his left as he explained how his father Gary, 77, had been ill for some time and lay in a ward just a few hundred yards away.

He said his father had not contracted the virus but it stopped Dr Kelly from being able to visit up until his death in May.

He said: I can pretty well see the building he was in from here. Its not a place I normally go to, so literally he spent a month, month and a half just a few hundred yards from my office.

I would literally walk past the ward going to other parts of the hospital. I didnt see him until he passed away I got there too late for him ultimately. Thats sad but its an experience lots of people have had.

I suppose its hard whenyoure walking past the ward but its not easy when youre at home and cant come anywhere near the hospital that experience is very tricky for people.

Dr Kelly told how staff quickly had to learn how to don and doff PPE from colleagues who had worked with Ebola and be fit tested for face masks as they ran up to five wards at the height of the crisis.

He revealed how early swab testing of patients was not as reliable as they would have liked.

We learned as patients came in, so some things we could have done better with hindsight, he said.

We initially did not know how sensitive the swab tests were and in the early weeks we moved many false negative patients to safe areas where cross infection then likely occurred.

Now, if we suspect Covid-19, we swab and swab again.

He said the disease was unlike normal influenza and staff became good at spotting Covid patients.

He said: We could see those at risk of being ventilated on the day they came in, but I was caught out by several patients who had been very ill seeming to get better for a couple of days to then suddenly crash in the now recognised cytokine storm and need ITU.

I learned not to be reassured until seeing 3-4 days of improvement.

Dr Kelly said he had to make difficult calls to people but then felt guilty because people were so nice to him. Two of those calls stood out, he said.

I cant forget telling a soldier just leaving his house to help build a rainbow hospital that his father was not likely to make it to the end of the day, and one to an elderly lady to tell her that her husband was deteriorating when I knew her son was also ventilated on ITU and at serious risk, Dr Kelly said.

Most of his colleagues caught the virus as they treatedpatients with many medical staff feeling there was not enough PPE to go round initially.

Dr Kelly said national PPE guidance matched the stock they had rather than what they needed to be safe.

He added: The false belief of safe patient areas filled with those early false negative patients led to inadequate protections for staff and close working conditions likely spread the virus among us quickly.

Many of us faced the very real risk of respiratory failure and death, simply for doing our job.

Thankfully my wife and I recovered after a few quite unpleasant days and our two children had no symptoms despite high exposure.

However he said the way the service got things done, in a way hed never seen before filled him with hope the NHS can work in a better and faster way, with more funding from those who hold the purse strings.

Dr Kelly, who has been at Wrexham Maelor for 16 years, pulled no punches about lack of NHS funding.

He said: Before Covid-19 we lacked staff, beds, were swamped with patient numbers and my actual take home pay was less per day than 16 years ago when I was still at the bottom of the salary scale.How we will be able to function with Covid-19 still here and needing so much more working space to allow safe practice and let alone catch up with months of inaction will be the real hard work.

So at the next election perhaps clap a door stepping politician in the face to wake them up to provide the funds and allow a service the country can really applaud.

I dont think its terribly politically incorrect for me to say you go to hospitals, were not flush with beds, were not flush with staff.

Being completely apolitical, I dont understand how the British public has put up with the kind of level of service in the NHS that they have for the last 30 years.

By Jez Hemming BBC Local Democracy Reporter (more here on the LDR scheme)

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Wrexham doctor speaks of personal battle with COVID-19 and how the disease robbed him of seeing his dying father - Wrexham.com

Lets get real for a second. Im gonna tell it like it is, and its not politically correct. No filter, no sugar-coating. Im going to be straight with you. If you dont like it, tough.

Im groaning even as I type that mash-up of Michele Fiores go-to phrases. Usually when I hear one of those, I start mentally doing a NASA countdown to when Ill inevitably hear the roaring liftoff of some shudder-inducing racist, sexist, homophobic or otherwise insensitive statement. City Councilwoman Michele Fiore has proudly been waving the being real and politically incorrect flag for years, so I cant say I was surprised when she was accused of making racially charged comments at the June 6 Clark County Republican Convention. But Im not writing this to troll Fiore for her fist-gnawingly crude words Ill leave that to the internets torch-and-pitchfork brigade but instead want to ask: Given her insistent brand of no filter rhetoric, should anyone be surprised?

Maybe on paper. I mean, you might expect that a city councilwomanin the year 2020 who serves an exceptionally diverse working-class city whose economic engine is global hospitality would have the basics of civic politesse locked down. But its safe to say that Fiore isnt living in 2020.

Nope. Shes pure 1990 October 28, 1990 to be exact. Its a good date to push a thumbtack into the timeline of a changing America. Thats the day the New York Times published a story titled, The Rising Hegemony of the Politically Correct, a somewhat fretful dispatch on the culture wars then taking place on the front lines of academia. In this case, the battle was brewing at the Western Humanities Conference in Berkeley, California basically, its where they discuss what books should be taught in college. This conference was no snore. The Future of Western Civilization was at stake! Radical ideas such as gender studies programs, curricula about marginalized communities contributions to American history, and even affirmative action were rebuked by critics, sonorously aghast, as liberal fascism and a kind of fundamentalism and (my favorite) compulsory chapel. The only thing missing was someone squealing about the jack-booted Thought Police. (Can you imagine if someone at the conference had dropped white privilege? *Tea-kettle steam whistling from a thousand ears*) This, if you recall, was the era of histrionic hand-wringing over tenured radicals and the closing of the American mind. This date more or less marks the start of a backlash campaign against political correctness that cast it under a cloud of mocking suspicion and mistrust. Decades later, were still breathing the fumes.

But aligning Fiore with the academic sector of cultural production is not precise. It doesnt account for her populist style. She might be better associated with the phenomenon that also lurched into crackling Frankensteinian life in the late 80s and early 90s: the second-wave tabloid talk shows grandfather of todays reality TV that reified the culture wars into circus spectacle that played out in our living rooms: Geraldo Riveras white supremacists brawling with Black activists, Jerry Springers KKK goons squaring off against the Jewish Defense League, Jenny Jones sad and tragically exploitative same-sex-crush reveal episode that resulted in a gay mans murder. (The episode never aired, but the subsequent media coverage burned it into our minds.) It was all cynical, tawdry, ratings-driven retail crisis and outrage porn, certainly, and easy to write off. But those shows curiously similar structures, that of opposing ideologies presumably meeting to debate, perhaps suggested that racists and homophobes just had different points of view, let's agree to disagree, this is America, get over it. To put it another way, it subtly propagated the insidious idea that political correctness was just another opinion.

Or, worse, a form of deception. Thats the zombie idea lurking behind Fiores politically incorrect rhetoric: that political correctness is a form of lying, and that telling it like it is, by contrast, is a courageous act on behalf of truth in a hypersensitive world of fragile psyches and politicians with forked tongues. Encoded in her proudly Brooklyn language is a distrust of diplomacy as a form of duplicity. Heres an alternate idea: A politician who rejects political correctness and insists on telling it like it is with no filter is admitting that theyre unwilling or unable to speak with prudence and sensitivity to their diverse constituencies. Which, you know, is kind of a politicians job: to be politic.

A filter isnt an act of deception or disingenuous self-censorship. Its a tool in effective diplomacy. Choosing your words carefully is a good-faith deposit in the bank of civil discourse that makes space for the lived reality of others who are having a very different experience than you. Political correctness is just compassion activated in words. Thirty years after the first skirmishes, the culture wars are over, and guess who won? On the other side of a tragic flashpoint that has become a historic tipping point, Michele Fiores unfortunate political style is a relic that somehow survived the comet.

I guess this is the part where Im supposed to draw some solemn moral distinction between Someone Like Me and Someone Like Her, and condemn her from my own perch of privileged white assurance. Is Michele Fiore a racist? I dont know. Ill leave that to her own private 3 a.m. reckoning. But I do know some things that are probably true about her, because we have more in common than Id like to admit. No doubt like her, Im watching history rapidly unfold with a mix of confusion, a little fear, and a lot of hope. And Im considering with increasing dismay my own glitching mental operating system, where ideas about calcified systems of privilege and structural racism are grinding mightily into the old shibboleths of sunny meritocracy. And I'm realizing my thinking also needs to evolve to accommodate a newly emerging definition of racism that doesn't just mean antipathy toward people of a different skin color, but a definition that entails thinking critically about our passive but willing inheritance of the standard American package of ideologies, masquerading as values, thats been handed down for generations. I have to change. She has to change.

And to paraphrase Fiore herself if she doesnt like it, tough. Im just telling it like it is. As she continues to double down on being real, shes starting to look like something else entirely: a museum exhibit.

Read this article:
The Curious Incident of Michele Fiore in the Spotlight - KNPR

Dear Editor:

Long ago, as a young child, I learned a song in Sunday School, which is admittedly insensitive and politically incorrect today. Still, it got the message across to me that there was no difference in skin color or race when it came to people who were all precious in His sight. Even though I did not speak out against racism as a child in segregated Mississippi, I have always valued and viewed all lives as precious and important.

As I grew into an adolescent and young adult, I started to find my voice to take a stand against injustice and racism. Consequently, I can say Black Lives Matter with a conviction from a background of faith and life experiences and a raised consciousness over the years and even more so recently. I think many people share my belief that all peoples lives are valued.

That certainly goes for Marshall. Our university embraces everyone, and everyone is respected here. Marshall University has its flaws and its imperfections, but I am committed to attempting to make Marshall a better place for our Black students, our Black faculty, and our Black staff. By doing so, it will be a better environment for all groups and all people at Marshall.

A sweeping and positive change is occurring in our country, as we have never seen before. As a result of the killing of George Floyd and others, the nations consciousness has been raised. This has bolstered the commitment at Marshall to engage the words of the Marshall Creed: to devote ourselves to defending individual rights and to being a judicious community remaining alert to the threats posed by hatred, intolerance and other injustices

Consequently, we are assembling a university-wide group to brainstorm ideas to identify barriers to equality and promote inclusion at Marshall. Working with Vice President for Student Affairs Maurice Cooley and SGA President Anna Williams, we have reached out to selected student leaders and others in staff and faculty to discuss possible topics of action. We will be bringing in more people as we go forward, and you will learn more about our planning at a later date. All ideas and all possibilities are on the table. Nothing will be excluded.

As the campus employees return this summer and students return to campus this fall, we are anticipating new energy focused on social justice at Marshall. I and many at Marshall will welcome this.

Sincerely,

Jerome A. Gilbert

President

Read more:
Letter to the Editor: Equality and Inclusion at Marshall - MU The Parthenon

By Phil Lawler (bio - articles - email) | Jun 18, 2020

A Kindle, or any comparable e-reader, can be a great convenience. If youre packing for a vacation trip (which you probably arent doing this year, but thats another story), its nice to know that you can bring along all of Shakespeare, all of Trollope, a few dozen mysteries, and the Summa, without making your suitcase any heavier.

But theres a disadvantage to Kindle. And I dont mean only the pleasure of handling a physical book, or the ability to flip back and forth easily through the pages. I mean the fact that you can buy a Kindle book, but you still dont own that book. You cant lend the book to a neighbor, or pass it along to a child. You dont have physical possession. Amazon does.

That distinction becomes more important when you hear suggestions that the works of Flannery OConnor should be censored because of her politically incorrect attitudes. And Mark Twain. And T.S. Eliot. And Kingsley Amis. And David Mamet. And maybe even Ray Bradbury, since censors are not sensitive to irony. Suppose, at some future date, the panjandrums of public opinion decide that these books should no longer be available. With a few keystrokes, Amazon (or its competitors) can make that happen. The next time you log on, you notice that those books the books you paid for no longer exist.

If there is anything about the recent behavior of large tech companies that gives you confidence this could never happen, please let me know.

Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.

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Censorship and the future of e-readers - Catholic Culture

Senate Republicans and House Democrats have been furiously drafting their own versions of police reform bills. On that, they seem to be united. But in a classic case of Washington dysfunction, the partisan divide is barring reasonable compromise from consideration.

Both bills overlap on substantive reforms new training requirements for police, increased accountability, limiting chokeholds but leaders from one party seem wholly unwilling to consider anything from the other. At this rate, election-year politics will keep the country from seeing the changes it needs now.

Republicans argue the Democrats proposal is too overreaching and too reliant on government action. Democrats respond that the Republican bill is too narrow.

The Democrats want to federalize all of these issues, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, by way of typical Democratic overreach to try to control everything in Washington. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi withheld little in her rebuttal: For the leader of the Senate to say, Its going nowhere, we dont want any of that, is really disgraceful and really ignores the concerns of the American people. I feel very, very disappointed by the dangerous statement made by the Republican leader of the Senate.

The White House doesnt seem to be mending the divide, either. Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said earlier this week that including qualified immunity is a nonstarter a legal doctrine that is central to the George Floyd case and prominent in the Democrats bill. Further, President Donald Trumps Tuesday afternoon announcement of his police reform executive order turned into an opportunity to take jabs at the Obama administration and, specifically, his opponent this November.

Despite Washingtons squabbles, the situation on the ground isnt going away. The killing of Rayshard Brooks at the hands of an Atlanta police officer, who on Wednesday was charged with murder, only fan the flames of unrest, and the need for police reform seems more pressing than ever.

During this week 162 years ago, Abraham Lincoln delivered his timeless House Divided speech. At the time of the address, America was splintering over the issue of slavery and the Souths hints at secession. Lincoln then an up-and-coming Illinois politician en route to a failed campaign for a U.S. Senate seat was far from a household name.

The speech was radical and too strong for some, including Lincolns law partner, William H. Herndon, who viewed Lincoln as morally courageous but politically incorrect. Lincoln appeased his questioning companion by saying this: The proposition is indisputably true ... and I will deliver it as written. I want to use some universally known figure, expressed in simple language as universally known, that it may strike home to the minds of men in order to rouse them to the peril of the times.

At a crucial moment in our nations fight for racial equity, its leaders should reflect on Lincolns message. The Senate majoritys partisan jabs at the House and vice versa are largely political hyperbole. The two proposed bills seem to be of the same hue. Talk to each other and get to work.

Go here to see the original:
Opinion: Congress is forgetting the most important part of progress - Deseret News

The research, which tracks the careers of 17 BAME PR professionals, highlights cases of racism, microaggressions and unconscious biases they have regularly faced, while having to work in an inflexible culture that denies them opportunities and fair progression.

An alarming conclusion of the study is that individuals eventually set up their own shop to continue a career in PR or leave the industry altogether.

The research highlights a worrying set of common experiences. These include BAME practitioners being afraid to make mistakes; not being comfortable to act as themselves; having to work harder for fewer opportunities; and everyday casual racism.

Talent is judged to a different standard to that of white colleagues, and there is a lack of support when they speak up.

The study provides a sobering reflection of an industry in which levels of ethnic diversity fell from 11 per cent in 2015 to eight per cent in 2019.

Despite countless industry panel discussions diagnosing the problem and pledging to do better, the industry has gone backwards, argues CIPRs Diversity and Inclusion Forum chair, Avril Lee.

The PR industry agrees that diversity is important for attracting the best talent to bring fresh thinking, creativity and insights into new audiences, but our actions speak louder than our words, she said. And our actions are building a profession of white private-school alumni; we are less diverse than weve been for the past five years.

An often overlooked problem is that practices within the workplace are damaging the industrys ability to retain talent after they rise through junior ranks. Many leave to become independent practitioners, which BAME talent regards as a solution to challenges in the workplace and an opportunity to channel a common entrepreneurial spirit within BAME communities.

This move to independent working may be viewed as a success for some individuals, but represents a loss to the PR industry as it further reduces diversity and role models among senior ranks within existing firms, perpetuating a cycle that reinforces shockingly low BAME representation among leadership of the largest PR consultancies.

Its not that there is a lack of will or love for the profession, as the majority of BAME PR professionals recommend the industry.

Today, BME PR Pros founder Elizabeth Bananuka launched a new Blueprint initiative to provide a kitemark and guidance to agencies to get their houses in order. This report highlights that a lot of work is needed.

PRWeek has summarised some of the key forms of day-to-day discrimination that BAME practitioners reveal in the CIPRs Race in the PR Workplace: BAME lived experiences in the UK PR industry report.

The report found that racism is a significant factor having an impact on the working lives of BAME professionals and these often take the form of microaggressions, which build up over time and negatively affect individuals subjected to them.

Some felt that the quality of their work was under constant scrutiny, and they didnt feel trusted to do the job because they were different from their white, middle-class colleagues and the associated elite culture within the industry.

This treatment reflected the institutional racism BAME practitioners felt as if their work wasnt valued in the same way.

Microaggressions are subtle, indirect and possibly unintentional, which makes them difficult to address through policies and procedures.

In one instance, a BAME practitioner was subject to inappropriate comments about her hair, but felt uncomfortable and unable to address this because she feared falling into the stereotype of Black African people being aggressive.

Here are some lived experiences from BAME practitioners:

I feel there is a real misunderstanding of what racism is. Its politically incorrect now to be overtly racist so it is repressed in people and they divert the conversation. You cant invalidate someones experience just because you cant relate to it. They say: Oh, theyre always playing the race card and victimising themselves, theyre just lazy. Some people say racism doesnt exist. If you cant have a conversation about it, we cant get anywhere. Its important to acknowledge and embrace our differences; do not suppress them. Make people feel welcome.

My life in that organisation would have been so much easier if I had just never said anything about diversity. Just not raised my head above the parapet and made myself stand out. They just think youre trouble. I realised that they thought I was the problem.

When I was at a small PR agency, I directly experienced racism from a client. All my work was signed off by a more senior staff member within the agency and by the client lead. There was never any question that my work was not good quality, but this specific client kept rejecting it. In the end, my boss at the agency called a meeting with me and the Client Director and said that they had reviewed all my work and they could see no other reason for this clients complaints other than he was being racist. My boss then went on to say that whilst they wanted to drop the client, they couldnt afford to and therefore could I continue to work on the account, but that they would attend all the meetings in my place. Ultimately, I didnt feel that they had my back and so I left shortly after this.

BAME professionals do not feel like they can be themselves at work and are under pressure to conform to a certain 'white culture' mould.

The PR industry maintains existing cultural norms and fails to encourage more diverse thinking. BAME professionals said they need to fit into a certain mould to progress, conforming to a monoculture of white, middle-/upper-class privilege.

They are made to feel they dont belong, from having different backgrounds and experiences growing up, to having to say the right things or speak the right way, to their physical appearance.

There is a pressure to act and behave how they thought a white British person would.

There appears to be a correlation between ones socio-economic background and individuals work experiences and career prospects. Some respondents expressed the importance of parents social circles and the favours game that came with it. A successful career in PR is deemed to be about who you know, not what you know.

I was constantly having to prove my commitment and skills above and beyond others, to prove I was good enough. I always took the emergency phone home at Christmas, stayed late at work and was always willing to go the extra mile.

Even when I got headhunted for the next job in a consultancy, I still felt like an imposter, even more so. They were even more prestigious than my previous agency. Everyones parents had such prestigious jobs; it was overwhelming. I think the bigger problem for PR is keeping BAME people in the industry. Even if they get better at attracting BAME people into PR, they will still feel like an outsider, that they are not good enough to be there, then they wont stay there, because theyll find the culture hasnt actually changed at all.

Agencies would never take me on, full stop. I think that is a bias, not just colour but a certain type of person. I didnt fit that type and didnt look like them. At senior levels, its all men, so thats me out too.

Many BAME pracitioners unshackle themselves from an industry that holds them back to set up their own consultancies.

BAME professionals said that their day-to-day experiences are affected by a lack of diversity, being deprived of opportunities for certain tasks and projects, as well as working on more prestigious accounts. At best, progression feels slower. This issue affects BAME professionals at all stages of their careers and has led to many leaving their roles and/or deciding to establish themselves as independent practitioners.

The role had been promised to me, but it never materialised, and I got myself another job instead. As I left, I discovered that the job had been given to a more junior colleague who Id been informally mentoring. The woman who secured this position is white, privately educated, went to a top university and is well-spoken, she fitted the mould. There was no formal interview process as it was an interim position (initially). It felt like they kept me at a certain level but didnt want to promote me into that final leadership position.

There are certain things Ive wanted to work on here and havent got them. I havent got anyone here whos got my back yet. I havent had the opportunities here I thought I would.

I did experience unconscious bias as I became more senior, with senior management recruiting in their own image and me feeling my face didnt fit.

We dont have enough BAME people in senior positions, I think it's unconscious bias. We dont, therefore, have enough senior mentors and role models around to show us how we need to develop to get into senior positions. There are mentors at the junior and mid level but less and less as you progress through the industry.

The issue is not with the marginalised groups, were not the ones who have a problem with working with other people. But it falls to those marginalised groups to do all of the work in an organisation. Its not my unconscious bias, as a Black woman from a council estate, that other people are unable to hang out with people who dont look like them, its their unconscious bias that stops the progression.

It made me so angry and completely dented my confidence. But after a couple of months, it is what turned me around and was the turning point in my career. I now realise that it is not an industry that has allowed me to be myself and this is such a shame. We should be celebrating and embracing the diversity that BAME people could bring, rather than shutting it out. I morphed into what I thought I should be and now, as I launch my own PR brand, being myself sits at the very heart of what I am trying to do.

Download: Race in PR: BAME lived experience in the UK PR industry

Read next:Working in a majority white organisation robbed me of my mental strength I am still recovering

And this: It's the industry stopped telling us we're not the right fit

And this: PRWeek reflects on diversity in the industry

PRWeek UK is committed to having a more diverse selection of commentators in our articles, and is compiling a list of BME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) PR professionals who are willing to be quoted. To be added to the list, please email john.harrington@haymarket.com and include your specialist areas of expertise, and/or preferred subjects for commentary.

Link:
Racism, microagressions, non-inclusive culture, no opportunities, turn independent - BAME pros open up about working in PR - PR Week

When Gov. Andrew Cuomo and company sat down to develop the states Covid-19 reopening plan, we aren't sure into what phase they inserted politicians return to campaign trail.

Were also not sure if state regulations will require pols to wear masks and follow social distance rules, though we are certain the campaigner-in-chief wont abide by any of them.

But it is clear that after almost three months of politicians constrained from all the hand-shaking and baby-kissing requirements of successful campaigning, New Yorks Democrats and Republicans are returning ever so cautiously to the public arena.

Weve been doing road rallies and our parades through towns, said Nate McMurray, the Democratic candidate in the June 23 special election for the 27th Congressional District. I dont want to bring 100 people into a crowded room, but well be doing stuff outside.

Like every other aspect of life in America since mid-March, the business of campaigns and elections has taken a hit. Fundraising was relegated to computer screens instead of the up close and personal affairs you get for $50 (photo op with the candidate for $500, of course).

Many observers believe President Trump would have ventured into the 27th for one of his patented rallies just to prove that Republicans are alive and well in deep blue New York. But the coronavirus nixed that scenario, too.

So for most of 2020, campaigning has been relegated to social media and television, since rallies and personal interaction have become politically incorrect.

Thats not the way our politics works, nor should it. More than anyone, Trump recognizes that gathering about 12,000 people into a hockey arena as he did in Buffalo in April of 2016 works. Such events create an energy a buzz and thats why last week he returned to the rally business, too.

All of this will prove especially interesting in the 27th District, where the campaign is entering its home stretch. Democrat McMurray faces Republican Chris Jacobs in the June 23 special election for the vacancy created by the 2019 resignation of Republican Chris Collins. In a simultaneous GOP primary, Jacobs must run once more against Stefan Mychajliw and Beth Parlato. (Everyone got that straight two elections on the same day?)

During the campaigns last days, the four contenders will at least attempt to personally connect with voters in the time-honored traditions of American politics.

Many of the restaurants arent open, but well go to town parks, Parlato said, adding she will offer coffee and doughnuts to potential voters at one event and hot dogs and ice cream at another.

Its opening up, she said.

Mychajliw has campaigned for the last year, so he is already a familiar face throughout the district. Jacobs, meanwhile, is also tiptoeing back into traditional mode.

I went to Livingston County the other day and talked to about 15 people all while socially distancing, he said. Thats the most people Ive seen in awhile. I would love it to continue.

Still, Covid-19 hovers over this most fascinating pair of elections. Voters remain wary of very public polling places, despite the super-sanitizing procedures planned by county boards of elections. So they have turned to absentee ballots, eschewing another American tradition of greeting their neighbors in the local school gym or fire hall.

More than 100,000 voters in Erie County alone have requested absentee ballots for June 23. Unprecedented.

Another tradition free-wheeling debates in which the candidates show their true colors appears lost this year, too. Though Jacobs and McMurray squared off in a lively session last week over Channel 4s airwaves, the three GOP primary contenders at last report will not debate. WBBZ-TV had hoped to stage what would have been a rip-snorter, but station officials could only get Mychajliw to agree. Cant blame that development on Covid just cold feet.

Read more:
Column: 10 days before the election, politicians tentatively start to campaign (in public) - Buffalo News

On June 16, 2015, the future President and his wife rode down the escalator at Trump Tower in New York City and the political world will never be the same. The occasion was the presidential announcement speech of Donald Trump. Previously, Trump had considered running for President in 1988, 2000 and 2012. Each time, the allure of his real estate and media businesses kept Trump away from the race. This time, he felt it was his last chance to run and he seized the opportunity.

The announcement speech was made before a packed crowd of boisterous supporters. The speech was pure Trump. He railed against bad trade deals and open borders. It was surely politically incorrect, and the media was appalled.

As a television personality and real estate mogul, Trump was not a threat to the media, in fact, he was an amusing curiosity who garnered mostly positive coverage. As a presidential candidate, Trump was a threat to the typical politics as usual system operated by the entrenched political establishment of both parties and supported by the corrupt mainstream media.

As an independently funded businessman turned presidential candidate, Trump was a wild card. He did not need to make deals for donations. He could give voters his unvarnished opinion on the issues and that is what has made him so popular.

His initial speech as a candidate infuriated the media for it was very politically incorrect. Regarding Mexico, Trump said, Theyre bringing drugs, theyre bringing crime, theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

Immediately he was criticized and ostracized by NBC and the Miss Universe pageant. Amazingly, he stood firm and did not apologize, what most Republican candidates do during a controversy. He did not apologize and later did not apologize when he was eviscerated for criticizing the war record of U.S. Senator John McCain. Both controversies would have sunk every other candidate.

Trump faced unrelenting negative media coverage and constant hostility from the establishment of the Republican Party. The party elders were in favor of any of the other 16 candidates that were running against him. They could not defeat him and to their dismay, he won enough delegates for the nomination.

It did not stop party insiders from trying to steal the nomination from him at the convention in Cleveland. Fortunately, he prevailed and rode into the general election against a very unpopular opponent, Hillary Clinton.

During the presidential campaign, the media and the Democrats unveiled their secret weapon that they thought would surely destroy his campaign, the infamousAccess Hollywoodtape. Trumps controversial comments were taped without his knowledge on a bus at a TV production in 2005. It was released at a time to maximize damage to Trump. Surely, his opponents thought this would finally destroy him.

Instead, he fought back at the next presidential debate and brought with him three women who had accused Hillarys scandalous husband of varying degrees of sexual assault, including rape. He defused the scandal but in the final weeks faced a news media arrayed against him and an opponent that outspent him by a 2-1 margin. There was even social media and search engine manipulation engineered to harm his chances of victory.

Not surprisingly, the media never gave Trump any shot of beating Hillary. This surely diminished his turnout, which was the goal. They touted the polls showing Hillary comfortably ahead of Trump. On Election night, their faces of anguish were unmistakable and priceless when he was declared the victor.

Most winning presidential candidates receive a honeymoon, but not Donald Trump. He was harassed from the very beginning. From the efforts to overturn the results of the Electoral College to the boycott of his inauguration to the womens march in Washington D.C. to the phony Steele dossier being revealed by a deceitful media, Trump was under constant attack.

It has never gotten any easier for the President. The Steele dossier, paid for by the Clinton campaign, led to a two-year Mueller investigation to determine whether Russia colluded with the Trump campaign. It found no collusion and no obstruction could be proved.

In the investigation, Trump colleagues were badgered, indicted and imprisoned for activities that had nothing to do with Russian collusion. In contrast, Hillary Clinton was exonerated for sending top secret and confidential emails on an unsecured computer. Members of a biased Department of Justice who attempted the de-facto coup dtat of the President were never penalized with criminal indictments.

While the Mueller probe was ongoing, investigations were launched into his relationship with Stormy Daniels, his tax returns, his businesses, and his private foundation. All were conducted by a partisan House of Representatives.

Eventually, his phone call with the leader of Ukraine was leaked and investigated. This led to hearings and his eventual impeachment by the House of Representatives without a single Republican vote. The Senate trial resulted in a partisan vote to convict the President that generated only one GOP vote, well short of the necessary margin for removal.

Immediately thereafter, the Covid-19 crisis forced the government to shut down and the President has been blamed for everything from the disease deaths to the economic woes of the country.

The George Floyd murder has sparked incredible protests that led to disastrous riots. As the President tried to restore order, he was blasted by critics for threatening to use the U.S. military.

No matter what he does, his many opponents will criticize him. Independent analysts show that the mainstream media coverage of Trump has been 95% negative.

Now the media is hyping a second wave of the virus and criticizing his upcoming rally in Tulsa, even though they commended the Black Lives Matter protesters.

As he faces re-election, the odds are stacked against him and the polls show him losing to the unimpressive and clueless Joe Biden. Make no mistake, there will be a full court press to defeat him in November.

Nonetheless, Americans would be wise not to count out the man who has defied all expectations from the day he came down the escalator.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, Ringside Politics, airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM &www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author ofAmerica's Last Chanceand provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and onwww.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at[emailprotected]

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Who'll pay for America's and Trump's FIVE YEARS OF HELL? - Bayoubuzz

Just because an application or game doesnt make the top 25 list doesnt make it a piece of junk. There are hidden gems all through the lists that are worth checking out. In true mining spirit here are a few uncovered rough stones that will become the prize jewels of any app collection. Being free doesnt hurt one bit either.

Waiting is never fun. Often when people wait for something they read, watch TV or even play a game. But what is to be done when the waiting is done in public with no books, televisions, game systems or casino bonus to be had? The answer lies within the IPhone/IPod Touch.

Wattpad is an amazing little app that allows the user to search through a large database of electronic books. Users can download the books they want to read to the library contained in the application. Then the next time a user has to wait in line, in traffic of even for dinner this nice, little, educational time-waster will be available to pass the hours away.

Probably the biggest time waster on the planet is television. It consumes free minutes like a fire consumes oxygen. Now users can reach that vegetative state in the comfort of, well, anywhere, provided you have an IPhone or an internet connection.

TVUPlayer gives users access to virtually 100s of channels, both foreign and local. Gone are the days of waiting for relax-time. It offers channels in practically every genre including horror, cartoons, nostalgic television and movies.

The only drawback is there isnt any way to find out what is currently playing. There is no channel guide or episode listing to label the program being streamed.

Capcom has made its presence known throughout the gaming community. They have also pushed onto the IPhone and IPod Touch with a classic title and a contemporary hit.

Mega Man II is available in both full version and as a free demo as is Resident Evil: Degeneration. Mega Man II is widely regarded as the best Mega Man title of all-time. Aging gamers and purists alike see the 80s smash hit as a landmark in console gaming. Resident Evil: Degeneration was developed for play in handheld gaming and represents the first RE title to venture onto the IPhone and IPod Touch.

Both are excellent time consuming applications for your pocket.

Whats the sense in trying to download books and stream TV without a strong enough internet connection? There isnt any. Now with Speedtest, a free app, users can test download and upload speeds for WiFi connections. This testing app is very useful when checking on a new WiFi connection you have joined.

Apples past couple of versions of the iPhone features advanced capabilities that are particularly well-suited to the apps now being developed by everyone from professional developers to your next-door neighbor. While many of the apps are usefulthings like restaurant finders, the weather channel and shopping list makerit seems the most popular of them are simply fun time-wasters.

The negative connotation of the word addiction disappears apparently when it comes to computer games and now apps. The more addicting an app is (hence, the more time wasted with it) the more it is downloaded from Apples App Store. Developers tout their own apps addictiveness as a selling point. Theres even a term for the addiction affliction: appiphilia.

The following are seven apps that at least one user finds inordinately habit-forming. Not all of them are gamesthe traditional culpriteither! Whether or not these fuel or quell users appiphilia, or simply fritter away some time on a much-deserved break from real life, is up to themhopefully. Proceed with caution.

A highly addictive musical agility game based somewhat on guitar hero, its free price will no doubt be offset by the tunes one ends up purchasing to keep playing. It has wonderful graphics.

Feeling voyeuristic? This app brings up 100s of live cams from around the world, by category. From landscapes to beaches, the Eiffel Tower to the Egyptian pyramids this app is an armchair international trek, and sneakily addictive.

It is about as politically incorrect as can be, but heck, theyre cartoon pygmiesthat the gamer (as God) gets to strike with lightning, feed to the sharks, and drop kick into the volcano while trying to keep his or her pygmies alive and well. Hmmstrangely amusing.

Remember the classic? Tilting the steel ball around the holes? Mastering your self control? This is it, with astounding movement thanks to iPhone technology and endless mazes to conquer thanks to user-added levels. Several hundred hours of concentrated effort, minimum.

At the more expensive end of the app budget, but worth it for those who watch the TV version (to which this is loyal, down to Merediths Lets play!) and think they know all the answers. Reach 250,000 just once and its impossible to stop til youve won.

Access to thousands of police band radios from around the U.S. may not sound intriguing to everyone, until theyve practically participated (albeit from a distance) in their first live armed robbery arrest.

Proof that the simplest things are often the most enjoyable, Doodle Jump features a goofy little dude jumping up platforms with the users aid. Childish graphics and some shooting round out a game that will astound in its silliness (and yesaddictiveness).

Continued here:
The Best Time-Wasting Applications Around - IMC Grupo

Activist and former model, Bethann Hardison, has been a longtime fighter for diversity in fashion and some have called her the industrys conscience. Shes spent countless hours on panels and doing behind-the-scenes work to improve our industry and country. As the Black Lives Matter Movement has grown in recent weeks, I was curious what Hardison had to say about everything going on so I called her earlier this month and again last week to talk about the issues facing our world today and what the industry can do.

I have such admiration for you as a leader and just wanted to talk to you for a couple of minutes and hear your perspective about everything going on and maybe some words of encouragement, how we can all do better. Im curious what your outlook is. Do you think things will be different after these couple of weeks?Do you want to know if I think this is going to be different? Immediately? I think things are already different. In my entire life, I have been someone who was a bit militant in my early years before you were born. I have gone down roads of demonstrating, rioting and marching and this is the first time, I have never experienced it close up even within the city and the swelling of it. [Hardison is currently residing in Upstate, New York] The rallying environment of it. I have never seen it like this. This is something completely different. This is not the way we the people riot. I believe that strongly and I dont care what anyone thinks. Somebody else came here and got involved and is utilizing it to do whatever their intent is. We dont riot like that, we dont go on tour. At first I was upset because its my city, but in the end it comes with the territory. One may be demonstrating peacefully, one may be destroying stores, one might be burning down buildings, whether its to my liking or not, its all part of the revolution. Its not like a question of What do you think will happen? Well, Im not sure. When everyone can watch and see an officer with his knee on someones neck while someone is asking for a breath to be taken because the oxygen is leaving him. Everyone saw that. So it has had an effect on everyone. With the unrest, that was something that helps to put the mayonnaise on the bread. The truth of it is that everybody is now having to feel the need, they maybe always had solidarity, but now they have to raise their hand and show that they are stepping up. They will now do something different in their company and be more conscious of certain things. Thats what is most important to me.Whats affected you the most?The racism started with COVID-19 when minorities were hit the hardest. Even before racial injustice that everyone is marching for. With COVID-19 making everybody be in place, sit in the seat, be quiet, dont go far, dont go out of the house, but many of us were not able to do that because they couldnt isolate. That gives you an opportunity to be aware. Then this thing happens. Mr. Floyd dying is one thing, the destruction of the stores and the cities is a whole other thing. It has an effect. For me, I am quite annoyed because I am a born and bred New Yorker and I dont like my city being destroyed because I dont blame or imply that, the fact Mr. Floyd lost his life is not greater but this is beyond that, this is some other stuff. We get angry, we stay in the neighborhood and we care for our own. We dont go far. We dont get that kind of energy. So will things be different? Yes in some conscious way it will be, everything maybe wont be so blatant. Maybe we cant make huge changes in everything but there will be people, there will be companies who dont want to be on the wrong side of it. Im saying to everybody that they have a voice to be heard. Be on the right side of history. Dont worry about what people on the Internet are going to say. Show up and do the right thing loud. Let people know that you care. The haters are still going to question you but you dont want that to stop you from actually standing up and saying the right thing. Its very difficult for white people to talk about racial issues and not everyone can do that. I understand that. It is a very difficult subject, you dont want to say the wrong thing, you dont want to be wrong, you dont want to not step up, you dont know what to say, but you just dont want to come off as politically incorrect. You have to have the courage and have people of wisdom around you. It just doesnt necessarily come with the territory. Not every human being is wise, no matter what color we are.What do you think of the recent initiatives from the CFDA to support black talent? Were you content with what they issued?It is a great initiative. Put the key in the car and the motor turns on. Anytime somebody gets that to happen its brilliant. We are seeing a mandate from an organization because sometimes it takes a moment, the right time to happen, for people to be able to find the right way to stand up. I think with these initiatives they stayed in their lane. I tell everybody please just stay in your lane, dont start going outside of trying to solve things that are beyond you. Stay where you can control and actually do it, dont bite off more than you can chew. Run your own race. I think they stayed right in their frame of where they could be effective. I am happy that the CFDA also chose the NAACP because thats old school establishment. The CFDA is not in charge of designers, they cant make designers do anything. All they are is a council, theyre an umbrella. Designers, brands, and retailers still have to do their own thing.What else do you think the fashion community can do right now?That is the kind of stuff I deal with every day. I like what the Gucci Changemakers are doing, of course, because Im a changemaker. They have been doing philanthropic work for some time. Nobody knows it because they just do it. The Gucci Changemakers have sponsored different organizations in the United States to help underserved communities and give 20 scholarships to students who are interested in the business of fashion or fashion design. Thats what brands can do when they can: give scholarships. Now, who does that? It is very important to stand very strong in a point of crisis. You have to be very heels in the sand. Dont waiver. Your language should be if they want to question you, they can. They can always talk back but the point is that you have to stand strong. It is a great moment for any brand to make improvements and do more.

Iman and Bethann Hardison (Getty Images)

Are you feeling optimistic about things?Somebody asked me that yesterday and I said I am feeling hopeful. Hope is not a word that I normally use. Ive never doubted in my mind the reason why I was so devastated in 2016 once I learned the results of the election of the President of the United States, I knew it was for 8 years. May I be wrong. Everyone said it wasnt possible but I never doubted two terms and I have never wavered from this thought. I can only think of plan B. What are you gonna do when this is the way you didnt want it to go down? I dont have the freedom or the good mind to be hopeful because I am just thinking about circumstances. I dont look at that like Oh my god, we are all going to die, Im moving! Im leaving America! I havent gotten that far. At the end of the day, I am a New York City kid who likes my country even though we have a really tough moment right now. Really tough. Everybody in the world can see why its tough. They see who is the lead horse. For me, I just think you have to be very strong, wise and prepared. Some people arent saying the most peaceful things but its not over just because it doesnt look so good for awhile. Its not the end. It might take a moment to get to the next light. We certainly dont want this administration and this gentleman. If its going to change surely we need to see a change in the White House. I would even take the Senate if I can get the Senate!Im hoping for both!I am so proud of my local government, my governor, my mayor, so many people have woken up and smelled the coffee. A lot of things will be done differently and its not just about race. Society is different than what it was a few months ago. I only hope people have taken advantage of the pause. Whether you were solo [during quarantine] or doing schooling with your kids, that has helped make things change. Things arent going to be exactly the same again. I dont know how many people are dying to hug other people and kiss other people, but I think things have changed. We have something to put our minds to with fixing basic education, racial injustice, and police brutality.Lots of work to be done!

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A Conversation with Bethann Hardison - Daily Front Row