Citizen Cartwright

Note to readers

From one member of our human family to another, I wish you well this holiday season and always. See you on Monday, Jan. 4.

Holiday giving amid a 'tsunami of human need'

For people who want to give back during this “holiday season like no other," here are suggestions from The New York Times.

 

Vox says the most effective charities typically are those targeting the poorest people in developing countries, where a dollar goes much further.

 

And an entire movement has grown around the idea of getting the most bang for the buck by donating to super-effective charities, Vox says.

 

Charity evaluators such as GiveWell specialize in assessing evidence to find out which organizations save or improve the most lives per dollar, Vox says.

 

Giving Multiplier enables people to make some extra free money for their favorite charity and for a super-effective charity at the same time, Vox says.

 

On the Giving Multiplier website, people are invited to select their favorite charity, along with one of nine charities that experts have identified as high-impact and cost-effective (like the Against Malaria Foundation, GiveDirectly, or the Clean Air Task Force). A person says how much money they want to donate and what percentage they want to direct to their favorite charity versus the super-effective charity. Then Giving Multiplier adds money to their donations to both charities.

Also in the news

World’s space achievements a bright spot in otherwise stressful 2020

 

AP: Iran building at Fordo underground nuclear facility amid U.S. tensions

 

NYTimes: Hacking appears to be biggest cybersecurity breach of federal networks in more than 2 decades

 

Supreme Court won’t exempt religious school from Kentucky governor’s coronavirus-closure order

 

Linda Greenhouse in NYTimes: 'Thank the Supreme Court, for now'

 

In House hearing, members of Sackler family acknowledge OxyContin role in opioid epidemic, stop short of apologizing

New Mexico Democratic Rep. Deb Haaland is first Native American pick to lead Interior Department

 

Biden picks top North Carolina environmental official Michael Regan to be first African American male to head EPA

 

Thirty-five states file antitrust suit against Google, the second in 2 days

FDA to authorize use of Moderna coronavirus vaccine after advisory panel endorsement

 

Experts debate who should be next in line to receive vaccine

 

KHN: More Americans, of all political persuasions, are wearing masks

Books to inspire us in difficult times

As I prepare for my annual year-end time off, I’m hoping to read some thought-provoking, attitude-altering, recharging, inspiring books.

 

There are lots of reading lists around, of course. Here is one that’s probably less known but has the approach I’m looking for.

 

It’s put out by the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California at Berkeley. 

 

"Since 2001, the GGSC has been at the fore of a new scientific movement to explore the roots of happy and compassionate individuals, strong social bonds, and altruistic behavior — the science of a meaningful life," its website says.

 

The list focuses on books offering reason for hope and on increasing the personal moral courage needed in difficult times.

Also in the news

Chinese capsule returns to Earth carrying first fresh rock samples from moon in more than 40 years

NYTimes: Billions spent on defenses failed to detect giant Russian hack of U.S. government, private companies

 

Congressional negotiators nearing deal on coronavirus aid with $300 per week jobless checks, $600 stimulus payments

 

AP: Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson's hearing elevates baseless claims of election fraud

 

Bipartisan Senate report: Opioid industry has paid advocacy groups $65 million to help drive up sales, play down risks

 

Fifty years of tax cuts for the rich didn’t trickle down, study finds

Texas leads Republican attorneys general of 9 states in new antitrust lawsuit against Google, targeting its ads

 

KHN: With vaccine delivery imminent, nursing homes grapple with issue of consent for residents with memory impairment

 

Coronavirus more harmful to younger adults than thought; why it’s important to wear a mask, socially distance

‘Underfunded and under threat’: Public health officials during coronavirus pandemic

Across the United States, state and local public health officials have found themselves at the center of a political storm as they combat the worst pandemic in a century, says the latest article in a series by The Associated Press and Kaiser Health News.

 

With the federal response fractured, the usually invisible workers charged with preventing the spread of infectious diseases have become a public punching bag and their expertise often disregarded, AP and KHN say.

 

Some of them have been targeted by far-right activists, conservative groups and anti-vaccination extremists who've coalesced around fighting mask orders, quarantines and contact tracing with protests, threats and personal attacks.

 

And the backlash has moved beyond the angry fringe, AP and KHN say. In the courts, public health authorities are being undermined. Lawmakers in at least 24 states have drafted legislation to weaken public health powers, which could make it harder for communities to respond to health emergencies in the future.

 

“What we’ve taken for granted for 100 years in public health is now very much in doubt,” says Lawrence Gostin, an expert in public health law at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

 

At least 181 state and local public health leaders in 38 states have resigned, retired or been fired since April 1, according to the ongoing AP/KHN investigation. Experts say it's the biggest exodus of public health leaders in American history. An untold number of lower-level staffers also have left their jobs.

 

One in 8 Americans — 40 million people — lives in a community that's lost its local public health department leader during the pandemic. Top public health officials in 20 states have left state-level departments. North Dakota has lost three state health officers, one after another, since May.

 

“I’ve never seen or studied a pandemic that has been as politicized, as vitriolic and as challenged as this one, and I’ve studied a lot of epidemics,” says Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian at the University of Michigan. “All of that has been very demoralizing for the men and women who don’t make a great deal of money, don’t get a lot of fame, but work 24/7.”

Also in the news

Big fines, strict rules unveiled against Big Tech in Europe

 

Federal Reserve joins global network to combat climate change through financial system

 

Trump administration rolls back efficiency standards for showerheads, washers, dryers

 

Pete Buttigieg, Biden pick for Transportation secretary, backs transformative change on way U.S. pays for highways

 

Biden to name former Michigan Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm to head Energy Department

 

Biden to pick former EPA head Gina McCarthy as his domestic climate policy chief

NYTimes: Inside Biden’s struggle to manage Democratic Party's factions

 

AP: Trump voters accepting Biden win ‘with reservations’; Fox poll finds half of Trump voters say they’ll give Biden a chance

 

Politico on recognition of Biden’s win by Mitch McConnell: He and GOP let Trump down gently

 

Politico: Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson gambling his political future on Trump

 

Vox explainer: The many strange long-term coronavirus symptoms

 

First over-the-counter coronavirus test providing results at home gets emergency use authorization from FDA

 

Allergists’ group offers advice on Pfizer coronavirus vaccine

Note to email subscribers

As you know, the Citizen Cartwright morning email, automatically generated by Mailchimp, occasionally and inexplicably doesn’t appear. Monday was another fail, but it appears the reason may have been the global Google outage.

 

As always, if you don’t receive your email, you can find the day’s posting on citizencartwright.com.

Electoral College makes Biden's win official; what's next

"For all Trump’s unsupported claims of fraud, there was little suspense and no change as every one of the electoral votes allocated to Biden and the president in last month’s popular vote went officially to each man,” says The Associated Press.

 

President-elect Biden said in a speech not long after the Electoral College vote ended on Monday, “Once again in America, the rule of law, our Constitution, and the will of the people have prevailed. Our democracy — pushed, tested, threatened — proved to be resilient, true, and strong.” He stressed the size of his win and the record 81 million people who voted for him.

 

Here is the text of Biden’s speech.

 

Meanwhile, the "Hail-Mary bid by House Republicans to flip the election results in favor of President Trump is sowing deep divisions in the GOP ranks,” pitting conservative against conservative, says The Hill.

 

Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., "a five-term Freedom Caucus firebrand, is vowing to launch an improbable effort" to force votes in both chambers designed to block Biden from assuming the White House,” says The Hill.

 

But so far, Brooks’ effort isn’t gaining traction, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy telling the Fox Business Network on Monday that taking election challenges to Congress is “the wrong method.”

 

Rep. Paul Mitchell, R-Mich., who’s retiring at the end of this term, announced on Monday that he's leaving the Republican Party to protest what he characterized as the GOP’s decision “to treat our election system as though we are a third-world nation.”

“If Republican leaders collectively sit back and tolerate unfounded conspiracy theories and ‘stop the steal’ rallies without speaking out for our electoral process … our nation will be damaged,” Mitchell said in a letter to McCarthy and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

Across the capitol, several top Republican senators said on Monday they now consider Biden to be the president-elect after the Electoral College vote, says a separate Hill article.

 

Here is a Washington Post article on the reporting on the Electoral College vote by Newsmax and One America News, which the Post says "have tried to outflank Fox News from the right by embracing President Trump’s strategy of election denialism.”

Also in the news

A decade after the Arab Spring uprisings, a look at what went wrong

 

Poor countries face long wait for coronavirus vaccines despite promises

 

U.S. vaccinations ramp up; Moderna vaccine may be approved soon

 

Attorney General William Barr to depart Trump administration next week

Trump executive order eases rules for religious social service providers

 

Politico: Trump antagonizing Republicans with Georgia fundraising ploy

 

AP explainer: How bad is the hack that targeted multiple U.S. agencies?