Politics

PETALING JAYA, July 25: The head of a think tank has questioned the wisdom of using the threat of harsh punishment to ensure compliance with SOPs set by the government in its fight against Covid-19.

Azrul Mohd Khalib, CEO of the Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy, asked whether the government could provide proof that long jail sentences or stiff fines would improve compliance.

“While it is tempting to use instruments of state such as fines and imprisonment to enforce measures such as home quarantines or compliance with SOPs, there is a problem with trying to strike fear or intimidate people into compliance,” he told FMT.

The use of fear could bring about discrimination and the blaming of victims, he said.

He also said the most likely to suffer strict punishments would be the poor.

One day after a report that a respected Chinese virologist fled Hong Kong to accuse Beijing of a COVID cover-up, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon told the Daily Mail that scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other labs have defected to the West and are “turning over evidence” against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for their role in the COVID-19 pandemic which has claimed over 560,000 lives worldwide since last December.

By Mark Muir

I was saddened to see an overall lack of leadership by our Mayor and City Council members last week regarding funding for public safety and marijuana sales in Encinitas.

Selling and cultivating marijuana in Encinitas

As a former City of Encinitas Fire Chief, I spent my entire 35-year career evaluating risks vs. benefits before taking necessary actions.

The use of any drug, be it medical or recreational, involves risk. Marijuana is not automatically safe just because a state declares it to be legal. In California, the line between safety and risk became instantly blurred.

I can unequivocally offer my professional experience in sharing the many personal and community risks of allowing marijuana businesses: impaired driving, fatal crashes, addiction, schizophrenia, psychosis, cognitive impairment, lower IQ, normalization to our youth, and reduced home values.

As coronavirus cases continue to spike, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has tightened restrictions around the state ahead of the July 4 holiday weekend.

The governor announced Wednesday that indoor businesses including restaurants, wineries and theaters in 19 counties –including two in the Bay Area– must immediately close and cease operations for three weeks.

Citing a 32% spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the last seven days, Newsom announced plans to step up enforcement of health rules and use “strike teams” to ensure compliance at workplaces and businesses.

What does this mean for Bay Area counties? We examined their latest public health orders.

After initially planning to enter the next phase of reopening on July 1, Alameda County announced plans to temporarily pause its reopening process on June 30, citing spikes of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

CLOSE

President Trump denies figuring out about an intelligence report that mentioned Russia paid a bounty to the Taliban to kill U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan.

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The White Home briefed a choose group of lawmakers Monday on intelligence reviews that Russia offered bounties to Taliban militants for killing American troops in Afghanistan, amid rising questions in Congress concerning the administration’s obvious inaction on the matter.

by Jake Dima

Four people have been charged following an attempt to dismantle a prominent statue of Andrew Jackson near the White House, the Department of Justice said Saturday.

All four of the men were purportedly caught on video allegedly either attempting to affix straps in order to bring down the monument or actively pulling the statue, according to the DOJ.

Guadalajara, Mexico, Jun 13 (efe-epa).- Amid the spike in infections due to the COVID-19 health emergency in Mexico, thousands of people demonstrated Saturday in at least a dozen states in the country, to demand the resignation of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO).

In the second mobilization of 2020 planned for Saturday and Sunday, the protesters arrived in vehicles or motorcycles and carried banners with the messages “Get out López!,” “#AMLOveteYA”, “Fuchi! Guácala! Get out! AMLO!” and “I don’t know you, but we need each other to change Mexico,” as they honked their horns.

In the state of Jalisco, in the west of the country, ruled by the activist of the Movimiento Ciudadano Enrique Alfaro party, one of the main opponents of the president, the caravan traveled several kilometers from the main avenues of the city, where some 2,000 cars were observed.

A caravan of motorists Tuesday evening cruised throughout Boulder, including just outside City Councilwoman Rachel Friend’s house, spooking her dog during a virtual meeting of elected officials and municipal staffers that was dominated by discussion of proposed local police reform.

The drivers, Friend said, made a bunch of noise and displayed a sign while driving down her street demanding the city overhaul its police department, and the councilwoman made a plea over the meeting’s broadcast for the activists to stop in part for the sake of her dog, saying she heard them and promised to oversee local law enforcement change.

Crooked Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. on Friday announced the DA’s office will not prosecute protest-related arrests “in the interest of justice.”

Cy Vance has been working around the clock to get his hands on President Trump’s tax records, but he will not prosecute violent rioters in his city.

New Yorkers against the lockdown were not extended the same break from the DA’s office.

This is pure Marxism.

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Pat was lifted up into the arms of Jesus on Sunday, Might 31st, 2020, after a full and rewarding life. She was born in Syracuse, New York on December 12, 1942, to Stanley Wojcik and Margaret Jackson Wojcik. She lived within the Syracuse space till 1964 after which moved to California. In 1967, her solely youngster, Douglas, was born. Pat met Keith Moomey in 1975 and so they married in April 1977.