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Sinclair Pulls the Plug on Fauci Propaganda This Time – Bloomberg

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Photographer: Al Drago - Pool/Getty Images

Photographer: Al Drago - Pool/Getty Images

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. is one of the largest television station operators in the country, with 191 stations in 89 markets broadcasting to 629 channels. For the most part, the company operates in small, conservative metropolitan locations. Most viewers arent likely to be aware of the Sinclair brand, because the thousands of hours of programming it produces each week air on channels affiliated with such household names as ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Telemundo and Univision.

So when Sinclair got set to broadcast a hit piece over the weekend suggesting that Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic, millions of its viewers might have believed they were hearing the truth instead of, say, irresponsible and dangerous propaganda.

Fortunately, Media Matters for America, a nonprofit, progressive center that monitors news organizations for what it describes as conservative misinformation, and CNN, the cable network, late last week published critiques of the upcoming show that sparked a backlash on social media and forced Sinclair to reconsider.

It did so grudgingly. We hear your feedback regarding a segment on this weeks America This Week, Sinclair noted in a tweet Saturday morning. Yet the company still seemed ready to plow ahead. Were a supporter of free speech and a marketplace of ideas and viewpoints, even if incredibly controversial, it added in another tweet. By Saturday afternoon, however, the company pulled back: After further review, we have decided to delay this episodes airing, it announced. We will spend the coming days bringing together other viewpoints and provide additional context. All stations have been notified not to air this and will instead be re-airing last weeks episode in its place.

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The episode reportedly was broadcast on at least one station, in Charleston, West Virginia, and was apparently posted to dozens of other local news sites before being taken down without explanation or correction. The episode featured an interview with Judy Mikovits, a controversial former medical researcher who also played a central role in the discredited video Plandemic. That 26-minute video went to great lengths to promote the idea that Fauci and elite globalists such as Bill Gates had pounced on the coronavirus pandemic to consolidate their power and increase their fortunes. Plandemic caused a sensation among far-right conspiracy theorists before major social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter banned it for promoting misleading medical content and other disinformation.

The host of Sinclairs Fauci smear, Eric Bolling, told CNNs Oliver Darcy that he wasnt aware of Plandemic and that he certainly didnt endorse Mikovitss theory about Fauci. During Bollings segment with Mikovits, an on-screen graphic asks, DID DR. FAUCI CREATE COVID-19?

Sinclair itself followed a similar route as it tried to distance itself from the controversy: At no juncture are we aligning with or endorsing the viewpoints of Dr. Mikovitz or endorsing the Plandemic documentary, the company tweeted.

Theres an easier way for Sinclair to show its sincerity when it says it doesnt endorse the views of reckless fanatics: Dont treat them as if theyre credible. Theres a difference between featuring vigorous, diverse debates over the facts and giving a platform to hysterical and tawdry conspiracy theories. Thats not about left versus right, its about objective reality versus fantasy. And if Sinclair were serious about not peddling misleading information on its airwaves, it would be more responsible about the possible fallout for people like Fauci, who is a lifelong public servant. Fauci recently said that he, his wife and his daughters have received serious threats because of advice hes given for combating the coronavirus.

It will be interesting to see if Sinclair drops the Fauci segment or airs a slightly more palatable version. I suspect Sinclair doesnt actually care very much, given its long history of promoting conservative and libertarian agendas and talking points near and dear to the heart of the companys chairman, David Smith. Smith has been a strong, vocal backer of President Donald Trump. In an interview with the Guardian two years ago, Smith said he once told Trump in a meeting at Trump Tower that Sinclair was here to deliver your message. Period. Trump has reciprocated the affection. So funny to watch Fake News Networks, among the most dishonest groups of people I have ever dealt with, criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased, Trump once tweeted. Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.

Under Trump the Federal Communications Commission has loosened a number of regulationsin a way that made it easier for Sinclair to broaden its empire. (The one exception was the FCCs decision to scrap Sinclairs attempted takeover of the Tribune Media Co.) Jared Kushner, the presidents son-in-law, bragged in 2016 that the Trump campaign agreed to give Sinclair better access in exchange for favorable coverage. (Sinclair has said it never made that deal.)Boris Epshteyn, a Trump spokesman turned Sinclair political commentator, is now back as an operative in Trumps presidential campaign. Members of Trumps administration have publicly disparaged Fauci of late, so perhaps it was only a matter of time before Sinclair jumped on the bandwagon.

Sinclair exercises a heavy hand over the must-run editorial programming it requires its stations to carry a practice memorialized in a devastating 2018 Deadspin video showing Sinclair anchors on various networks all repeating the same talking points from a script. Although Sinclair has insisted during multiple past controversies that its dedicated to promoting a marketplace of ideas (the same language it invoked to defend the Fauci program), time and again it has airedsensationalistic,partisan programming as news or refused to air programs that contradicted the networks political leanings.

Sinclair, which had revenue of $4.2 billion in 2019, certainly has become muscular and influential enough to merit greater scrutiny. The Justice Department last year launched an investigation of the companys operating arrangements in markets where it has a dominant presence. Earlier this year, the FCC fined Sinclair $48 million, the largest penalty it has ever imposed on a company, for a number of problematic practices including Sinclairs attempt to deceive regulators during the Tribune Media talks, andfor airing sponsored content more than 1,400 times as if it were news and failing to properly identify ittoviewers.

Sinclairs influence matters especially now that local TV news is filling the void left by the decimation of traditional local newspaper reporting across the country. The demise of local newspapersis carefully examined in an important new book, Ghosting the News, by the Washington Posts media critic, Margaret Sullivan.

The cost to democracy is great. It takes a toll on civic engagement even on citizens ability to have a common sense of reality and facts, the very basis of self-governance, Sullivan writes. When local news fails, the foundations of democracy weaken. The public, which depends on accurate, factual information in order to make good decisions, suffers. The consequences may not always be obvious, but they are insidious.

Americans still broadly trust local news reporting at a time when other media outlets are suspect. In a recent survey from the Pew Research Center, 61% of respondents said they were paying close attention to coronavirus news, and 46% relied on local news for credible information about the pandemic. While Sullivans book focuses on newspapers, one of the important questions she asks is whether TV operators have the public-mindedness and integrity to carry the mantle of local news journalism forward particularly in an era when facts and objective reality are under assault.

Sinclair hasnt offered much proof that its up to the challenge.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story:Timothy L. O'Brien at tobrien46@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:Mary Duenwald at mduenwald@bloomberg.net

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

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Sinclair Pulls the Plug on Fauci Propaganda This Time - Bloomberg

Editorial: Vote and make your voice heard | Opinion | timesnews.net – Kingsport Times News

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Early voting is underway for Tennessee Republican and Democratic Party members to choose their candidates for the Nov. 3 general election.

We strongly encourage you to vote. Primaries typically have lower turnout, but the ability to cast a secret ballot is our fundamental right, and we applaud those who exercise it. Then too, you help pay for primary elections and should get something for your money. As well, some counties tie their general election to the primary, and if you reside in Sullivan County, there are a number of seats you should help decide.

If youre a dyed-in-the-wool party member, you might ask why your tax dollars are being used for the opposing party to select its candidates for state and federal office. Shouldnt each political party develop and pay for its own process to determine its candidates?

Many states, including Tennessee, have an open primary process, which means that you can vote in the other partys primary which you might do, for instance, to help nominate a weaker candidate to face your partys nominee in the general election. And a system dominated by the two major parties freezes out smaller political parties such as the Libertarian, Green and Constitution parties.

But for now, its what weve got, and in the primary election Aug. 6 voters will determine party candidates for the general election Nov. 3 for such offices as U.S. and Tennessee House and Senate. In Sullivan County, voters will also cast ballots for all 24 county constables, seats on the county school board for Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7, assessor of property, and judicial retention for the Court of Appeals, Western Division. Theres also a vacancy election for a public defender, and for a county commissioner in District 11.

Both parties have crowded ballots.

Democratic voters in Sullivan County have five choices for U.S. Senate to replace the retiring Lamar Alexander and three for the 1st Congressional District seat being vacated by Phil Roe. There are no contested races for the state legislature but many contested seats for the school board and constable races.

Republican voters have a huge ballot with 15 candidates for the U.S. Senate seat and 16 for Rep. Roes seat, along with competing school board and constable races.

The primary for the U.S. House seat is heavily contested because Republicans have held it for 139 years. The last Democrat to hold it was Robert L. Taylor from 1879 to 1881.

Your vote is important, and you should not take any election for granted. Your vote is your voice in the process which governs our country, and you should make yourself heard. Early voting locations for Sullivan County are the Election Commission office at 3258 Highway 126 in Blountville; the Civic Auditorium at 1550 Fort Henry Drive in Kingsport; and Slater Community Center at 325 McDowell St. in Bristol. The hours for early voting at all three locations are 9 a.m to 4 p.m. July 27-31, and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Aug. 1.

Be sure to wear a mask and maintain social distancing.

All poll officials will be wearing face coverings and are trained in social distancing protocols.

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Editorial: Vote and make your voice heard | Opinion | timesnews.net - Kingsport Times News

Bill Straub: Rand Paul objects to Trump’s Gestapo but then wants Dr. Fauci to be more optimistic – User-generated content

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In The Sound of Music, that wholesome hash of low-brow entertainment produced on both stage and screen, a waddle of nuns is heard crooning the tune, How do you solve a problem like Maria?:

In Kentucky, the song might be improved if Oscar Hammersteins lyrics could be edited to ask, How do you solve a problem like Rand Paul?

The Republican senator from Bowling Green often comes across as the political version of the Scarlett Pimpernel they seek him here, they seek him there. Theres never any telling which version, good or bad, is going to appear.

Assessing the Commonwealths junior senator nine years into his job is like trying to nail Jello to the wall. He obviously has proved to be an embarrassment a dangerous one at that when it comes to the federal governments handling of COVID-19. If he were to have his way, its almost sure the plague upon us would prove even worse.

The NKyTribunes Washington columnist Bill Straub served 11 years as the Frankfort Bureau chief for The Kentucky Post. He also is the former White House/political correspondent for Scripps Howard News Service. A member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, he currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, and writes frequently about the federal government and politics. Email him at williamgstraub@gmail.com

At the same time, Paul has displayed a willingness to rush in where angels fear to tread. While most of his Republican colleagues are playing Marcel Marceau when it comes to President Donald J. Trump, aka President Extremely Stable Genius, aka President Great and Unmatched Wisdom, he will occasionally offer an expression of something beyond annoyance.

Most recently Paul weighed in on Trumps decision to deploy brown shirts, Pinochet-style secret police, to Portland, OR, to stymie protesters who have taken to the streets over George Floyd, an African-American killed at the hands of police in Minneapolis, an event that understandably lit a match under the Black Lives Matter movement.

Trumps Gestapo, heavily armed and wearing camouflage outfits to apparently convince one and all that theyre real men, have displayed a propensity for randomly picking individuals up off the street, shoving them into unmarked vans and then holding them in custody for no apparent reason prior to release, all supposedly to protect federal property in the great state of Oregon.

The American Stasi, identified only by the word Police somewhere on their uniforms with no further details, has also seen fit to tear gas a group of mothers, arms linked, voluntarily standing between the secret police and protesters, whose numbers have mounted since the Gestapo was dispatched.

In other words, under Trump, the United States of America is showing signs of devolving into East Germany. And now hes talking about sending his minions into other American cities, like Chicago and Philadelphia. Most Republicans are twiddling their thumbs or changing the subject. Paul, to his credit, is not.

Writing in Reason magazine, the Bible of the Libertarian movement, Paul said, While I respect the determination to preserve law and order, sending in federal forces to quell civil unrest in Portland further distorts the boundaries, results in more aggression (including pepper-spraying and repeatedly striking a Navy veteran whose injured hand will need surgery), and has led to reports we should never hear in a free country: federal officials, dressed in camouflage, snatching protesters away in unmarked vehicles.

Sending the feds into Chicago wont make the situation there any better, either.

In a free society, Paul added, citizens should be able to easily distinguish between civilian law enforcement tasked with keeping the peace in our communities and the armed forces tasked with protecting our country from foreign adversaries.

Trying to find other Republican lawmakers who find Trumps secret police appalling is like trying to find a cold Budweiser in the middle of the Sahara. Do you think Senate Republican Leader Mitch Root-n-Branch McConnell, of Louisville, is going to cross Americas Mussolini on this issue? Oh come now. With re-election staring him in the puss, Mitch will stay mum until he figures out which side is politically advantageous and then act, picking the popular side.

It should be said that is something that Paul rarely does. Some of his decisions are, well, curious, and thats a very kind way to put it. At his worst, and its been on view on occasion, hell make your skin crawl as if youve been doused with hydrochloric acid.

Right now the celebrated libertarian is trying to deep six the next legislative effort to supply additional relief for those suffering from the economic impact of Covid-19.

The measure is still under development and there are plenty of reasons to believe its not going to provide the sort of help the nation needs. McConnell and other Republicans dont like the $600 per week bonus provided to unemployed workers and theyre seeking protections against lawsuits for businesses where workers contract the coronavirus while in the job. But the package will likely result in $1 trillion being circulated during hard times.

Paul wants none of it. He claims were losing the country and that adding trillions of dollars to the nations deficit is absurd, its obscene.

The majority of Republicans are now no different than socialist Democrats when it comes to debt, Paul said on Twitter. They simply dont care about debt and are preparing to add at least another trillion dollars in debt this month, combined with the trillions from earlier this summer.

Paul said it would be a mistake for the federal government to borrow money despite record low interest rates to stimulate the economy.

I dont think we should throw out good sense and believe in something the opposite of what we believe in because of this virus, Paul told Fox News. I think its a foolhardy notion to think you can just create money out of thin air, give it to people and that creates wealth.

The only way to survive and recover, Paul said, is to re-open the economy.

Paul, who hasnt covered himself in glory during the COVID-19 crisis, seems unable to come to grips with just how significant the problem is. Adding $5 trillion in debt during a relatively short period of time isnt particularly desirable. But more than 140,000 Americans have died as a result of the virus. The number of cases nationwide is rising a 30 percent increase over a 14-day period ending on July 21, with 65,274 new cases reported that same day.

Kentucky, in fact, is one of the states where incidence is climbing. As of Wednesday, 24,694 cases have been reported, resulting in 697 deaths. And 660 new cases were reported July 21.

Until a vaccine or some other way to fight the spread appears the only way to address the crisis is to shut things down. States like Florida and Georgia jumped the gun, leading to chaos and a rise in incidence that has overwhelmed the medical establishment. And only the federal government has the wherewithal to make sure those who are no longer getting a steady paycheck for reasons beyond their control make it through to the other side of this mess.

Re-opening things at this juncture will lead to more fatalities. The nation already is on the road to 200,000 deaths. Do you really want more?

To this point, Pauls major contribution to the coronavirus debate besides catching the disease and failing to quarantine himself as he waited for the test results has been to insult Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who has spent the last few months warning about the spread.

Paul told him to display more optimism.

More than 140,000 people in the United States have died from COVID-19.

Hows that for optimism?

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Bill Straub: Rand Paul objects to Trump's Gestapo but then wants Dr. Fauci to be more optimistic - User-generated content

TCR Therapeutics Announces RECIST Responses with First TC-210 Dose Tested in Advanced Mesothelin-Expressing Solid Tumors – BioSpace

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- TC-210 TRuC-T cell monotherapy induced tumor regression in first five patients

- Two RECIST unconfirmed partial responses and two patients with stable disease through six months

- Manageable toxicity profile, with only one patient exhibiting TC-210-related non-hematologic Grade >2 toxicity

- Translational data demonstrated T cell expansion and cytokine production

- TCR2 to host conference call today starting at 8:00am E.T. with live webcast available online

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 26, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TCR2 Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: TCRR), a clinical-stage immunotherapy company with a pipeline of novel T cell therapies for patients suffering from cancer, today announced positive interim data from the first five patients treated in the Phase 1 portion of the TC-210 Phase 1/2 clinical trial for mesothelin-expressing solid tumors. All five patients showed tumor regression including two RECIST unconfirmed partial responses (one of which remains subject to independent central review) and two patients with stable disease through six months. Translational data further demonstrated TRuC-T cell expansion and activation. A manageable toxicity profile was observed with only one patient exhibiting TC-210-related non-hematologic grade >2 toxicity and no evidence of neurotoxicity or on-target, off-tumor toxicity.

We are delighted that our very first dose of TC-210 induced consistent tumor regression and clinical benefit in heavily pre-treated cancer patients, said Garry Menzel, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of TCR2 Therapeutics. There are very few options for patients with solid tumors and those expressing mesothelin represent a significant frontier of unmet medical need. While these are early data requiring further study, we are encouraged by the potential of our TRuC-T cells as we continue to enroll and treat patients with the goal of quickly finding a recommended Phase 2 dose for TC-210.

Based on my prior experience working with both TCR-T and CAR-T cells, including the FDA approval of Kymriah, observing consistent clinical benefit in patients at presumably suboptimal T cell doses is quite meaningful, said Alfonso Quints-Cardama, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of TCR2 Therapeutics. These early TC-210 data suggest our approach may overcome the challenges faced by many T cell therapies in the hostile solid tumor microenvironment. Our enrolled patients have failed multiple lines of therapy, including standard chemotherapy, checkpoint inhibitors and in some cases other mesothelin-directed approaches, in indications where survival has been historically shorter than six months.

The primary objectives of the Phase 1 portion of the study are to define the safety profile of TC-210 in patients whose tumors overexpress mesothelin and to determine the recommended Phase 2 dose (RP2D). Secondary objectives include overall response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR). Exploratory objectives include the assessment of expansion, tumor infiltration, and persistence of TC-210 T cells.

Summary of trial conduct, baseline characteristics and TC-210 dose:

Key clinical findings from the first five patients treated with TRuC-T cells include:

About the Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial in Advanced Mesothelin-Expressing Solid Tumors

The Phase 1/2 clinical trial (NCT03907852) is evaluating the safety and efficacy of TC-210, TCR2s T-cell receptor fusion construct directed against mesothelin. The trial is enrolling patients with mesothelin expressing NSCLC, ovarian cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, and malignant pleural/peritoneal mesothelioma. The Phase 1 dose escalation portion of the clinical trial utilizes a modified 3+3 design with four increasing TC-210 T cell doses. At each dose, TC-210 will be tested in two separate dose levels: first without lymphodepletion and then following lymphodepleting chemotherapy. The Phase 1 portion of the clinical trial is ongoing.

In the Phase 2 portion of the clinical trial, approximately 50 patients are planned to receive TC-210 at the RP2D in four distinct cohorts according to their cancer diagnosis: NSCLC, ovarian cancer, malignant pleural/peritoneal mesothelioma and cholangiocarcinoma. Each cohort will include ten patients, except the NSCLC cohort which will include 20 patients with eight patients to receive TC-210 as single agent and 12 patients to receive TC-210 in combination with a programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) blocking antibody.

About Mesothelin-Expressing Solid Tumors

Mesothelin is a cell-surface glycoprotein highly expressed in a wide range of solid tumors, including malignant pleural/peritoneal mesothelioma, ovarian cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and others. Overexpression of mesothelin is associated with poorer prognosis in some cancers due to its active role in both malignant transformation and tumor aggressiveness by promoting cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and metastasis. Of the wide range of solid tumors expressing mesothelin, non-small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, mesothelioma and cholangiocarcinoma represent a significant patient population up to 80,000 in the United States alone.

TCR2 Therapeutics Conference Call and Webcast

TCR2 Therapeutics will host a conference call and webcast on Monday, July 27th at 8:00am E.T. The webcast and presentation will be made available on the TCR2 Therapeutics website in the Investors section under Eventsat http://investors.tcr2.com/events. Following the live audio webcast, a replay will be available on the Company's website for approximately 30 days.

About TCR2 Therapeutics

TCR2 Therapeutics Inc. is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing a pipeline of novel T cell therapies for patients suffering from solid tumors or hematological malignancies. TCR2s proprietary T cell receptor (TCR) Fusion Construct T cells (TRuC-T cells) specifically recognize and kill cancer cells by harnessing signaling from the entire TCR, independent of human leukocyte antigens (HLA). In preclinical studies, TRuC-T cells have demonstrated superior anti-tumor activity compared to chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T cells), while secreting lower levels of cytokine release. The Companys lead TRuC-T cell product candidate targeting solid tumors, TC-210, is currently being studied in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial to treat patients with mesothelin-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), ovarian cancer, malignant pleural/peritoneal mesothelioma, and cholangiocarcinoma. The Companys lead TRuC-T cell product candidate targeting hematological malignancies, TC-110, is currently being studied in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial to treat patients with CD19-positive adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (aALL) and with aggressive or indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). For more information about TCR2, please visit http://www.tcr2.com.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. The use of words such as "may," "will," "could", "should," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "projects," "seeks," "endeavor," "potential," "continue" or the negative of such words or other similar expressions can be used to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, express or implied statements regarding the therapeutic potential of TC-210, future clinical development plans, the development of the Companys TRuC-T cells, their potential characteristics, applications and clinical utility, and the potential therapeutic applications of the Companys TRuC-T cell platform.

The expressed or implied forward-looking statements included in this press release are only predictions and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, without limitation: uncertainties inherent in clinical studies and in the availability and timing of data from ongoing clinical studies; whether interim results from a clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of the trial; whether results from preclinical studies or earlier clinical studies will be predictive of the results of future trials; the expected timing of submissions for regulatory approval or review by governmental authorities, including review under accelerated approval processes; orphan drug designation eligibility; regulatory approvals to conduct trials or to market products; TCR2s ability to maintain sufficient manufacturing capabilities to support its research, development and commercialization efforts, whether TCR2's cash resources will be sufficient to fund TCR2's foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on TCR2s ongoing operations; and other risks set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in TCR2s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this press release may not occur and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although TCR2 believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance or events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur.

Moreover, except as required by law, neither TCR2 nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements included in this press release. Any forward-looking statement included in this press release speaks only as of the date on which it was made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Investor and Media Contact:

Carl MauchDirector, Investor Relations and Corporate CommunicationsTCR2 Therapeutics Inc.(617) 949-5667carl.mauch@tcr2.com

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TCR Therapeutics Announces RECIST Responses with First TC-210 Dose Tested in Advanced Mesothelin-Expressing Solid Tumors - BioSpace

Understanding Memetics – SCP Foundation

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Summary, for those in a hurry:

Memetics deals with information transfer, specifically cultural information in society. The basic idea is to conflate the exchange of information between people with genetic material, to track the mutation of ideas as they are transmitted from one person to the next in the way you could track viral transmissions and mutations. However, a meme also provides benefits to the carrier if they spread it.

Meme : Memetics :: Gene : Genetics

Memetics does NOT refer to telepathy, ESP or any imaginary psychic mental magic. These words are memetic, and if you understand them then they are having a completely ordinary memetic effect on you.

Memetics in regards to SCP objects tends to focus on the impossible rather than the mundane, regarding effects that are transmitted via information. In general, the effects themselves should remain in the realm of information. A memetic SCP would be more likely to be a phrase that makes you think you have wings as opposed to a phrase that makes you actually grow a pair of wings. If you write up magic words that make people grow wings, it should be described as something other than memetic.

Memetic SCPs do not emanate auras or project beams. They are SCPs which involve ideas and symbols which trigger a response in those who understand them.

Memetic is often incorrectly used by new personnel as the official sounding term for "Weird Mind Shit." However, that is not actually what memetic means. These words are memetic. They are producing a memetic effect in your mind right now, without any magical mind rays lashing out of your computer monitor to grasp your fragile consciousness. Memes are information, more specifically, cultural information.

Outside of the Foundation's walls the concept of memetics is not taken very seriously; it is a theory that conflates the transfer of cultural information with evolutionary biology.

meme : memetic :: gene : genetic

The idea was that certain memes prosper and others wither the same way certain genes produce stronger offspring that out-compete creatures with different genes. Also, it is easy to compare the spread and mutation of information to the spread of a virus. The reason we use the term memetic in our work is largely due to this, as the truly dangerous memes out there can spread like wildfire due to the fact that the very knowledge of them can count as an infection.

Understanding the true nature of memetic threats is critical to surviving them. You cannot wear a special set of magical goggles made of telekill to protect yourself from a meme. THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING. If you just read those words in your head with a bad Teutonic accent, congratulations on being victim to yet another memetic effect. If you did not know that phrase was an oft-repeated quote from the Simpsons then congratulations; you are now infected with that knowledge and are free to participate in its spread.

A meme perpetuates itself by being beneficial to the carrier to spread to new hosts. You now understand that THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING; you're in on the joke. However, you might have friends who aren't, and don't get it. It benefits you to explain them, because then you both have something new to laugh together about when it gets brought up. This is what makes a meme effective - how much incentive a carrier has to spread it. Unless an anomalous meme's effect is the compulsive urge for the carrier to infect others, there needs to be incentive to spread it.

An artifact can no more have a memetic aura or project a memetic beam than a creature could have a genetic aura or genetic beam. Even though you could imagine a creature with genes that allow it to produce some kind of aura or beam like a big doofy X-man, remember that the examples we have of such creatures in containment are not getting their super-powered emanations from anything resembling our scientific understanding of genetics and biology. Neither are the memetic artifacts. We contain these things specifically because we cannot understand or explain them yet. At the end of the day we're still using a clumsy concept to describe things we don't have a full grasp of.

It is very rare that anything with a dangerous memetic component could be described as hostile to begin with. We do not contain memetic threats because they are out to get us. They are threats because it is dangerous for us to merely perceive them. It is exceptionally rare for dangerous memes to even have anything resembling sapience with the exception of certain known entities which exist entirely within the medium of "cultural information" such as SCP-, SCP-732 and SCP-423.

A dangerous meme is basically a trigger that sets off something inside of you that you may or may have not been aware of. What would your knee jerk reaction be to knowing that your rival is sleeping with your one true love? How would you react if you were to unwittingly catch them in the act? That kind of sudden revelation can make a mild mannered citizen into a killer, so don't be surprised that there are other strange bits of information out there that can break the human mind in different yet equally drastic ways.

Protecting yourself from memetic threat is very tricky and can be worse than the threat itself. There are reasons that we behave the way we do, there are reasons our emotions soar when we hear just the right combination of sounds in a piece of music. Do you want to stop thinking about the Simpsons or your obnoxious nerdy friends that quote it every time you hear the phrase THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING? That would require forgetting about the Simpsons and your friends.

Do you want to survive hearing or reading the phrase " ?" Well, sadly we don't quite know what other information you need to forget or know to prevent [DATA EXPUNGED] but we're getting better. Lobotomies and pills help, and are one of the few times that the cure is not worse than the disease. The sum total of our human condition; our cultural knowledge and upbringing and memories and identity; this is what makes us susceptible to the occasional memetic compulsion.

So it's not the basalt monolith or its bizarre carvings that is making you strangle your companions with your own intestines, the problem was within you all along.

Should you ever find yourself under a memetic compulsion and aware of the fact, remember that there are certain mental exercises that you can perform which may save your life or the lives of your companions. Changing the information your mind is being presented with may just change how you react to it, and the more abrupt or absurd the change is the better.

Imagine the fearsome entity is wearing a bright pink nightgown. Draw a mustache on the haunted painting. Pee on the stone altar. Wear the terrible sculpture like a hat.

And if all else fails, bend over and kiss your ass goodbye. I'm not kidding. That could actually help.

- Dr. Johannes Sorts received a special dispensation to use the word "doofy" in this document

But seriously

This was originally intended as a piece of fiction on its own before it got stuck into the information bar with plenty of other plainly out-of-character writing guides. So here's the important things to take away:

1 - "Memetics" is a specific concept regarding information exchange. It has nothing to do with telepathy or ESP or psychic compulsions.

2 - SCP-148 has no effect on anything memetic. Don't screw this up or we will give you an incredibly hard time about it.

3 - Psychic compulsions are lame and you should think twice before using them in your new SCP, even if you avoid misusing the term "memetic" when you do it.

4 - Sorts' Rule for all memetic SCPs is "Memetic effect + crazy to death = failure."

5 - Wear it like a haaaaat!!

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Understanding Memetics - SCP Foundation

Memetics – Dr Susan Blackmore

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Should Blackmores theory turn out to be true, theres little doubt she will be remembered as one of the great thinkers of the 20th century. Barry Lyons reviewing The Meme Machine

Je suis Charlie and why

New

My discussionwith Jordan Peterson on Premier Christian Radio, part of The Big Conversation video series from Unbelievable? Do we need God to make sense of life?. 8 June 2018

Interview with Mel van Dusen at his home in California, onGenes, memes and tremes, 08 August 2017

Dan Dennett has just sent me a link to his latest lecture at the Santa Fe Institute and theres lots about memes. June 2017.

Susan Blackmore talks to a student group at CogNovos summer school ColLaboratoire (University of Plymouth), on Consciousness in treme machines.Inspired by the students question Could the Internet be conscious? 19.08.2016 watch on Vimeo

Panel discussion, Richard Dawkins: The Rational Revolutionary, from Intelligence Squared, London 14 July 2016Podcast

AI is already evolving beyond our control the implications of a third replicator in CommentisFree September 2015

Are we here for a reason? Genes, Memes and Tremes on TV in Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, May 2015 (The whole programme is 43 minutes long, my interview is from20:21 to 26:00)

Twitterbrain how analyses of viral memes is helping track information spreading in the brain.

and a must-watch video This video will make you angry is a brilliant rant about thought germs. What a shame it mentions the word meme only once.

The Eye of the Tremes Watch our New Video. This is based on the idea that the phones, computers and servers we are building are becoming interconnected like neurons in a brain. But this treme machine has no eyes. Or does it? With the advent of drones we may have found the eye of the tremes.

Tremes v temes

I have had such trouble with the term temes that I am trying tremes instead. I am sorry if this is confusing but I hope it might help.

100 walked out of my lecture on memes. On the RDF website with hundreds of comments. Aug 2014

Practical Memetics: A huge new website by Martin Farncombe devoted to understanding memes in business and organisations, includes extracts from my work.

Paper on memes in science Kuhn et al 2014 Inheritance patterns in citation networks reveal scientific memes

A fun article on Internet memes in the Virgin Australia Inflight Mag -refers to the burgeoning field of memetics!

The third replicator

To find out more about temes, watch my TED talknow podcast in English and with a choice of subtitles in 21 other languages! or short lecture at the Hay Festival 2011 Genes, Memes and Temes read a book chaptera blog from Hassners on my lecture or read the Feature article in New Scientist .

Podcast interview with Sue on US Public Radio To the best of our knowledge about memes and temes. 29 July 2012

Jonnie Hughes article in The Independent 14 July 2012 on his new book On the Origin of Tepees.

Alan Winfields 5 minute lecture on dancing robots, from hisArtificial Culture Project at UWE Bristol. Interview on dancing robots in BBC News Technology June 2012

Q&A with Sue for Know Your Meme, April 2012

Art experiments with copying and Chinese Whispers byRachel Cohen

Richard Dawkins on memetically engineering the word bright in Atheist the Dirty Word YouTube

Edge Question 2009 What will change everything?Read my response Artificial, self replicating meme machines.

How to get rid of religion a memetic viewby Floris van den Berg

Imitation makes us human Extract.

The Loo Roll meme !

More criticisms from Mary Midgley

Memetics UK

This site began with the Bristol based memelab. I hope to provide a simple, but useful, resource for finding out what is happening in the world of memes and memetics.

About memes

Links to other memes

People

Publications

Sues publications on memes.

To watch or listen

Interview on memes with Karol Jalochowski, with subtitles in Polish, Jan 2012

Internet memes on The Pod Delusion 2010

C-Realm podcast Sue talks to KMO about memes, drugs and Zen. 28 Jan 2009

Genes, memes and temes. Lecture at TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Monterey, CA, 28 Feb 2008

Is God a dangerous delusion? A debate with Alister McGrath at Bristol University, 13.11.2007

Darwin Day Lecture Darwins Meme: On the origin of culture by means of natural selection , , University of Central Lancashire, 12.02.07 Abstract

The Sci Phi Show Outcast #8, Interview on Memes, 21 August 2006

The Future of Memetics audio of a lecture given at Pop!Tech 2005

To read .

my blog at CiF is about Internet memes April 2011

The Edge Question 2010. How is the Internet changing the way you think? See my response on Self and the Third Replicator as well as previous answers.

Articles in New Humanist Natural selection applies to everything, in Aesthetica Memes, Creativity and Consciousness, and follow up to Massimo Pigliuccis objections to memetics in Skeptical Inquirer 2008.

Art and memes article

Interview for NextModernity Library.

Review of Richerson and Boyds new book Not by Genes Alone.

Interview for GEO magazine (German), December 2003Die Tyrannei der Meme.

Interview with Pascal Jouxtel for the la Socit Francophone de Mmtique, inboth French and English

Memes in Japan

and Old (1997)! Interview with Andrew Brown for Salon Magazine

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Memetics - Dr Susan Blackmore

Genetic basis of bats superpowers revealed – KLBK | KAMC | EverythingLubbock.com

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LUBBOCK, Texas (NEWS RELEASE) The following is a news release from Texas Tech University:

For the first time, the raw genetic material that codes for bats unique adaptations and superpowers such as the ability to fly, use sound to move effortlessly in complete darkness, survive and tolerate deadly diseases and resist aging and cancer has been fully revealed andpublished in Nature.

Bat1K, a global consortium of scientists dedicated to sequencing the genomes of every one of the 1,421 living bat species, has generated and analyzed six highly accurate bat genomes that are 10 times more complete than any bat genome published to date, in order to begin to uncover bats unique traits.

Given these exquisite bat genomes, we can now better understand how bats tolerate viruses, slow down aging and have evolved flight and echolocation, said Emma Teeling of University College Dublin, co-founding director of Bat1K and senior author on the paper. These genomes are the tools needed to identify the genetic solutions evolved in bats that ultimately could be harnessed to alleviate human aging and disease.

As part of the consortium, two researchers inTexas Tech UniversitysDepartment of Biological Sciences, associate professorDavid A. Rayand doctoral candidateKevin Sullivan, played a pivotal role in the genome analysis.

Our lab was tasked with analyzing the portions of each genome that are made up of transposable elements, parts of the genome that can move around and potentially disrupt or alter function, Ray said. We found that, unlike most other groups of mammals, bats have an exceptionally diverse transposable element repertoire. This suggests their genomes may have the ability to change and adapt to novel environments above and beyond what a typical mammal can do. This may explain what appears to be their increased ability to tolerate viruses and live longer, healthier lives than would be expected given their size.

Ray explained that a perfectly assembled genome would have the same number of pieces as there are chromosomes for that species. For example, humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes so a very good assembly would consist of 23 pieces of assembled DNA. In contrast, bad genome assemblies have thousands of pieces, meaning the assembly is very fragmented. Because these bat genomes have very few pieces, the researchers refer to them as exquisite genomes.

To generate these exquisite bat genomes, the Bat1K team used the newest technologies of the DRESDEN-concept Genome Center, a shared technology resource in Dresden, Germany, to sequence the bats DNA, and generated new methods to assemble these pieces into the correct order and to identify the genes present.

Using the latest DNA sequencing technologies and new computing methods for such data, wehave 96-99% of each bat genome in chromosome-level reconstructions an unprecedentedquality akin to, for example, the current human genome reference, which is the result of over adecade of intensive finishing efforts, said senior author Eugene Myers, director of Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, and the Center for Systems Biology in Dresden. As such, these bat genomes provide a superb foundation for experimentation and evolutionary studies of bats fascinating abilities and physiological properties.

The team compared these bat genomes against 42 other mammals to address the unresolved question of where bats are located within the mammalian tree of life. Using novel phylogenetic methods and comprehensive molecular data sets, the team found the strongest support for bats being most closely related to a group called Ferreungulata that consists of carnivores (whichincludes dogs, cats and seals, among other species), pangolins, whales and ungulates (hooved mammals).

To uncover genomic changes that contribute to the unique adaptations found in bats, the team systematically searched for gene differences between bats and other mammals, identifying regions of the genome that have evolved differently in bats and the loss and gain of genes that may drive bats unique traits.

Our genome scans revealed changes in hearing genes that may contribute to echolocation,which bats use to hunt and navigate in complete darkness, said senior author Michael Hiller, research group leader in the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems and the Center for Systems Biology.

Furthermore, we found expansions of anti-viral genes, unique selection on immune genes, and loss of genes involved in inflammation in bats. These changes may contribute to bats exceptional immunity and points to their tolerance of coronaviruses.

The team also found evidence that bats ability to tolerate viruses is reflected in their genomes. The exquisite genomes revealed fossilized viruses, evidence of surviving past viral infections,and showed that bat genomes contained a higher diversity than other species providing agenomic record of historical tolerance to viral infection.

Given the quality of the bat genomes, the team uniquely identified and experimentally validatedseveral non-coding regulatory regions that may govern bats key evolutionary innovations.

Having such complete genomes allowed us to identify regulatory regions that control geneexpression that are unique to bats, said senior author Sonja Vernes of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and co-founding director of Bat 1K. Importantly, we were able to validate unique bat microRNAs in the lab to show their consequences for gene regulation. In the future we can use these genomes to understand how regulatory regions and epigenomics contributed to the extraordinary adaptations we see in bats.

This is just a beginning. The remaining approximately 1,400 living bat species exhibit an incredible diversity in ecology, longevity, sensory perception and immunology, and numerous questions remain regarding the genomic basis of these spectacular features. Bat1K will answer these questions as more and more exquisite bat genomes are sequenced, further uncovering the genetic basis of bats rare and wonderful superpowers.

This study was funded in part by the Max Planck Society, the European Research Council, theIrish Research Council and the Human Frontier Science Program.

In addition to Texas Tech, the institutions contributing to the research are: University College Dublin; Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics; Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems; Center for Systems Biology; Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics; Australian National University; University of Oxford; Stony Brook University; John Jay College of Criminal Justice; University of Bristol; Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior; University of Konstanz; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; University of Montpellier; University of Greifswald; The Rockefeller University; Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour; and Technical University Dresden.

(News release from Texas Tech University)

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Genetic basis of bats superpowers revealed - KLBK | KAMC | EverythingLubbock.com

This is how much Kriti Sanon earned in a year, and how she spends her crores – GQ India

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Kriti Sanon made a splashing Bollywood debut, opposite Tiger Shroff in Heropanti, in 2014. The action-comedy made over fifty crore rupees (all India nett total), according to Box Office India, and firmly cemented Kriti Sanons arrival in Hindi cinema. But this wasnt her first rendezvous with the camera or a feature-length film.

In the same year, the actor starred in 1: Nenokkadine, a Telugu psychological-thriller, opposite Mahesh Babu. This film was also a commercial success. And since then, the actors roaring popularity has bagged her a number of diverse yet commercial flicks and a host of advertising contracts with brands like Vivel and Bata.

Last year, Kriti Sanon also made a comeback on Forbes coveted Celebrity 100 list. This list ranks celebrities based on an aggregate of their estimated earnings and fame quotient, via print and social media reach. Kriti Sanon bagged the 38th spot on it.

The list chalked up her total earnings at Rs 8.09 crore. This fortune was credited to her big 2019 releases: Luka Chuppi, Arjun Patiala and Housefull 4 and numerous brand endorsements, by the magazine. Notably, her endorsements also include a collaboration with Ms Taken, which markets itself as a Styled by Kriti Sanon brand online.

As we track her big earnings, lets also take a quick look at some of her biggest expenses, below.

The actor and her family reside at a sprawling home in Mumbais Juhu, decked with eclectic motifs, prints and furniture. According to Vogue India, the house is also equipped with a walk-in closet.

Kriti Sanon with the Audi Q7

Kriti Sanon is the proud owner of an Audi Q7. The car is capable of going from 0 to 100 kph in 7.1 seconds, and can hit an electronically limited top speed of 234 kph. Read more about it here.

The actor's a traveller at heart and spent a luxurious few days at the Niyama Private Islands in Maldives, last year. And while, we don't know when we'll be able to step foot here, we do know of four destinations that will pay for your travel and stay if you book your next holiday with them. Read all about them here.

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This is how much Kriti Sanon earned in a year, and how she spends her crores - GQ India

The best hotels for all-inclusive holidays to Crete, including family-friendly aqua parks and adults-only overwater villas – The Telegraph

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Please note our writers visited Crete prior to the coronavirus pandemic

For a laidback break without the worry of extra charges, weather, entertainment and excellent dining options, all-inclusive holidays to Crete are ideal. Most packages include premium beverages and la carte dining some even offer spa treatments and sports activities.From lazing on pristine Blue Flag beaches to discovering cultural wonders, theres plenty to see and do on Greeces largest island, but the plethora of food options, family facilities and fun activities offered at these Crete all-inclusive hotels might make it difficult to leave. Here's our pick of the best.

Adults looking for luxury Crete holidays with a 'Love Island' vibe will find this stylish resort, built around one of Europe's largest lagoon pools (inflatable giant flamingos are a nice extra touch), ticks all the boxes. Narrow bridges criss-cross the vast lagoon pool; couples lounge in sunken seating areas, or on islands dotted with beds and hammocks. Style is generally minimalist: all white with lots of blonde wood, canvas and bamboo,with retro touches in the rooms, suites and villas (from the 18 smallish second-floor pool-view rooms to the nine South Pacific-inspired overwater bungalows or 12 Island Villas with private pools).There's also a delightful light-filled spa and several restaurants.

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The best hotels for all-inclusive holidays to Crete, including family-friendly aqua parks and adults-only overwater villas - The Telegraph

Fighting fake news! Actively working on removing misinformation from platform: YouTube – The Financial Express

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YouTube on Friday said consumption of videos recommended by the platform containing misinformation is significantly below one per cent, and it is working on strengthening its systems to further reduce such instances to ensure that creators and users are protected.

YouTube Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan said the company has been actively working on removing misinformation, especially amid COVID-19 pandemic and has seen consumption of videos from authoritative sources grow 110 per cent in India during January-March 2020.

striking that balance between an open platform and our community guidelines, designed to protect everybody, is a point of conversation for us every dayOver the past years, weve been working hard to invest in the policies, resources and products needed to protect the YouTube community, he said.

Mohan added that its work has focused on four pillars removing violative content, raising up authoritative content, reducing the spread of borderline content and rewarding trusted creators the 4Rs of responsibility. consumption of borderline content or harmful misinformation videos that comes from our recommendations is significantly below one per cent and were constantly working to reduce this even further, he said.

Mohan said YouTube updated its Hate and Harassment Policies last year to quickly remove any content that violates its policies. Were also making sure that we limit the spread of Coronavirus related misinformation on our site. These efforts are built upon our work to reduce recommendations of borderline content (content that comes close to, but doesnt cross the line of violating our Community Guidelines, he said.

The company has a 24-hour, follow the sun coverage, and these teams sit across time zones, cover different languages and have different areas of expertise. authoritative source content consumption on our platform, ie videos that are coming from authoritative sources, has grown 110 per cent in India during the first three months of 2020, mainly often times because users are coming to YouTube, looking for the most relevant information that they can find about about the crisis, he said.

Last year, YouTube had launched Fact Check information panels in India, the first country where such a feature was launched. These information panels flag misinformation and offer correct insights with the fact checks being done by fact checking organisations.

Raising authoritative information and giving the proper context to users helps reduce and remove content that is violative of YouTubes policies, Mohan said. Since launch, there have been over 300 billion impressions on its information panels globally.

We also updated our policies to remove egregious medical misinformation about COVID. Were consulting with global and local health authorities as we develop these policies and weve been updating them on an ongoing basis to stay current with the science -10 updates in the past two months alone, he said.

These policies prohibit things like saying the virus is a hoax or promoting medically unsubstantiated cures in place of seeking treatment and YouTube has removed thousands of videos under these policies.

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Fighting fake news! Actively working on removing misinformation from platform: YouTube - The Financial Express

[Webinar] #FreeSpeech: Perspectives from the UK and the US on Social Media Liability for Fake News, Damaging Content and Censorship – July 29th, 9:00…

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July 29th, 2020

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM PDT

Greenberg Glusker and Farrer & Co are delighted to present a joint webinar during which reputation management and media specialists from both firms will discuss:

On both sides of the Atlantic, the role of social media and search engines has been dominating the news agenda.

The debate over the extent to which Big Tech should be policing content on its platforms is one that has been bubbling for some time, but has recently exploded into the open with Donald Trumps decision to sign an executive order aimed at removing protections for social media platforms and the UK governments plans to introduce legislation to address Online Harms.

Set alongside that is the decision of a number of multinational corporations to cease advertising on Facebook and other platforms in protest at the perceived failure to do enough to remove racist, hateful and knowingly false content.

All this takes place in the context of a global pandemic (where conspiracy theories have abounded), the Black Lives Matter movement and, of course, a forthcoming Presidential election in the United States.

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[Webinar] #FreeSpeech: Perspectives from the UK and the US on Social Media Liability for Fake News, Damaging Content and Censorship - July 29th, 9:00...

Governors who took the virus seriously from the start get a boost – NBC News

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WASHINGTON Our new NBC News/Marist polls of Arizona and North Carolina tell a pretty similar story President Trump trails in both battlegrounds, as does the incumbent GOP senator.

But theres a significant difference between the two polls: North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper holds a 59 percent approval rating among voters in his state, while Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has a 39 percent rating in his state.

Whats more, Cooper, whos up for re-election this year in a battleground state, is ahead in his gubernatorial contest by 20 points, according to the NBC/Marist poll.

And the poll shows that North Carolina voters by a 2-to-1 margin say the state was right to prioritize health protocols for the GOP convention that was supposed to occur there, despite Trump calling the protocols too strict. (The poll was conducted before Trump reversed course, canceling the convention speech he had moved from Charlotte to Jacksonville, Fla.)

Its all a reminder that the governors Democratic or Republicans who have taken the coronavirus seriously from the beginning are getting credit from their voters.

And the governors who havent either by originally downplaying it, or reopening their states too early are getting penalized.

See Ducey in our Arizona poll. Or Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in a recent Quinnipiac poll (48 percent approval). Or Gov. Ron DeSantis in another Quinnipiac survey (41 percent approval).

And that reminder of taking the coronavirus seriously from the beginning or not brings us to President Trump, who travels to North Carolina today to participate in a coronavirus briefing at a biotechnology firm.

As we wrote on Friday, he railed at Gov. Cooper for putting restrictions in place to combat the coronavirus.

I love the Great State of North Carolina, so much so that I insisted on having the Republican National Convention in Charlotte at the end of August. Unfortunately, Democrat Governor, @RoyCooperNC is still in Shutdown mood & unable to guarantee that by August we will be allowed...

He ridiculed Democrats who months ago started to plan for a virtual convention.

Joe Biden wanted the date for the Democrat National Convention moved to a later time period. Now he wants a Virtual Convention, one where he doesnt have to show up. Gee, I wonder why? Also, what ever happened to that phone call he told the Fake News he wanted to make to me?

He moved his acceptance speech from North Carolina to Florida.

And then on Thursday, he canceled that in-person event in Jacksonville.

Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.

The results from our NBC/Marist poll of North Carolina (conducted before that cancellation): Trump trails Biden by 7 points, and his approval rating in the state is 41 percent among registered voters, and just 34 percent of voters say hed do a better job than Biden in handling the coronavirus.

4,257,304: The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, per the most recent data from NBC News and health officials. (Thats 207,027 more cases than Friday morning.)

147,821: The number of deaths in the United States from the virus so far. (Thats 2,657 more than Friday morning.)

51.49 million: The number of coronavirus tests that have been administered in the United States so far, according to researchers at The COVID Tracking Project.

11 points: The net drop in Trumps approval rating in North Carolina since March, per our latest NBC/Marist poll.

According to ad spending data from Advertising Analytics, the Trump and Biden campaigns have spent a combined $139 million over the TV and radio airwaves as of last Friday, with the Trump camp spending a total of $95 million throughout the entire campaign and the Biden camp $44 million.

Compare that to 2016, when the combined Trump camp-vs.-Clinton camp ad spending at this same point in the cycle was $94 million $75 million for Clinton and $19 million for Trump.

The Senate Republican/White House coronavirus relief package should be released sometime today, and over the weekend Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and President Trumps chief of staff Mark Meadows met with staff on the Hill to make final changes to the bill.

Heres Mnuchin on Saturday, per our Hill team.

As we said on Friday, we have a fundamental understanding and we just want to make sure all the paperwork is ready and finished so it can be introduced on Monday, Mnuchin said.

On unemployment benefits, Mnuchin said Let me just say weve actually had a fundamental agreement on this. I think the issue has just been more of a mechanical issue of how we institute it, but the fundamental issue we all acknowledged there was a technical problem, where we were in an emergency last time so we instituted this quickly and in certain cases people were paid more to stay home than they were to work.

He added, Were not going to use taxpayer money to pay people more to stay home. So were going to transition to a UI system that is based on wage replacement. Weve talked about approximately 70 percent of wage replacement. And were just going through the mechanics of that.

Dont miss the pod from Friday, when we looked at how it took Pennsylvania four weeks to count all of its ballots from its June 2 primary.

Heres our teams look at John Lewiss last trip across the bridge in Selma.

Pro-Trump super PAC America First Action is getting outspent by its Democratic rivals.

The biggest terror threat in Europe and the U.S. used to be jihadists. Now its the far right.

The president now says he wont throw the first pitch at a Yankees game in August after all.

Republicans are jockeying for power on the Hill as they eye a possible post-Trump world.

The New York Times takes a look at the Montana Senate race.

Dan Balz assesses the state of Americas global standing during the pandemic.

Local leaders in New Jersey say that Trump isnt telling the whole story about a voter fraud case.

And Politico examines the case against Kamala Harris as VP.

Excerpt from:

Governors who took the virus seriously from the start get a boost - NBC News

Why are millennials and Gen Z turning to Instagram as a news source? – The Guardian

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For many young people, clicking on to Instagram to get the latest news is now as second nature as picking up a daily newspaper once was to generations before. For a site that has traditionally been a platform for sharing lifestyle content rather than hard news, this is a shift in millennials and Gen Z, at a time when news updates seem more important than ever.

Recently published data exploring how people accessed news and information about the coronavirus pandemic found, in the US, for 18- to 24-year-olds (the age group most likely to use social media as a source), over a quarter of respondents used Instagram to access news content within the last week, while 19% used Snapchat and 6% turned to TikTok. In comparison, only 17% used newspapers to access information. Globally, figures reached even higher levels in Germany, 38% of 18- to 24-year-olds used Instagram alone to access the news, and in Argentina, this reached as high as 49%.

This trend isnt necessarily harmless. The challenge with Instagram is that its a highly visual space, Jennifer Grygiel, who teaches communications at Syracuse University, tells me, so people share memes that are more about influencing than informing and people need to exercise caution and be aware of who theyre engaging with.

The use of social media as a news source is complicated by the ability for anyone to act as a reporter, sparking concerns about factchecking, and an oft-cited claim that social media tilts influence towards those with the largest followers, regardless of their credentials. Theres also a concern that social media leads to political polarization. A recent poll suggests that just 41% of Americans trust traditional media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly. Gallup, who conducted the study, have pointed to political rhetoric disparaging news organizations as a potential problem, with Republican voters significantly less likely to trust traditional media as a source.

For disenfranchised individuals social media may offer an alternative to media outlets that they have begun to doubt. Yet the very nature of social media leaves users exposed primarily to others with similar views, which research suggests can create vast echo chambers spaces where our own opinions and biases are reinforced by the voices which are filtered into our social media feed.

Amelia Gibson is an assistant professor and director of the Community Equity Data and Information Lab at the University of North Carolina. She sees the events of recent months as highlighting the ways many young people use social media as a news source. The Covid-19 crisis, combined with renewed interest in the Black Lives Matter movement, increased the desire for instant, first-hand information. Mistrust of mainstream media meant that many young people turned to their social media news feeds for information about protests, police actions and stay-at-home orders. But with a web of algorithms serving up content from news organizations, political groups or even influencers aligned to their own political beliefs and social circles, this also provoked a deepening of already-divided views and cultural rifts.

Our social media environments are still so segmented that some people really do live in different information worlds

Social media offers, on the one hand, a medium for filling what feels like a vacuum of trustworthy information sources, Gibson explains. But on the other hand, our social media environments are still so segmented that some people really do live in different information worlds. In one information ecosystem, people might read this moment [and current social justice movements] as a hopeful international awakening related to anti-racism, others read it as a time of deep existential threat. We see these different worlds clashing when people meet in real life.

For Gibson, the solution lies in a convergence of interests as social media brings attention to previously overlooked stories and rebalances the power to share news, traditional media still has a part to play.

People have always shared the news that mattered to them and their communities, she explains. I think that the difference in this moment is that news corporations are paying attention and are amplifying a moment of shared struggle I think that social media has done a lot to push social justice movements forward in the last decade but that traditional media still has a lot of power to command national and international attention.

For Grygiel, who, as a college professor, sees up close how young people are acting as both content creators and consumers, the relationship between traditional media and social sharing has reached a pivotal point. Content-creation-for-all has democratized news, but it remains an imperfect system dogged with accusations of biases, fake news and increasingly polarized viewpoints.

Although sites such as Instagram currently hold significant sway when it comes to distributing content to an internet-savvy youth, Grygiel hopes that this will push news publications to build better websites, attract advertisers and strive for independence rather than relying on social media shares. In the meantime, the need to exercise caution is of utmost importance.

Its hard to fully realize the benefits of social media because theres so much harmful content out there, they explain. Social media platforms have not always acted as good corporate citizens theyve paid a lack of attention to political advertisements that are harmful, and fail to monitor hate speech. Its important to be critical of them, but also aware that without them we wouldnt have seen the kind of documentation that we have of societal harms and transparency around injustices theres still a lot of opportunity to deliver content without social media, and if social media platforms arent acting as good corporate citizens then we need to find new and better ways of distributing news.

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Why are millennials and Gen Z turning to Instagram as a news source? - The Guardian

If censorship were to return, could todays writers learn from their Victorian counterparts? – Scroll.in

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In an open letter published in Harpers Magazine, 152 writers, including JK Rowling and Margaret Atwood, claim that a climate of censoriousness is pervading liberal culture, the latest contribution to an ongoing debate about freedom of speech online.

As we grapple with this issue in a society where social media allows us all to share extreme views, the Victorian writers offer a precedent for thinking differently about language and how we use it to get our point across. How limits of acceptability and literary censorship, for the Victorians, inspired creative ways of writing that foregrounded sensitivity and demanded thoughtfulness.

There are very few cases of books being banned in the Victorian era. But books were censored or refused because of moral prudishness, and publishers often objected to attacks on the upper classes their book-buying audience. Writer and poet Thomas Hardys first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, was never published because the publisher Alexander Macmillan felt that his portrayal of the upper classes was wholly dark not a ray of light visible to relieve the darkness.

However, more common than publishers turning down books was the refusal of circulating libraries to distribute them. These institutions were an integral part of literary consumerism during the Victorian period as the main means of distributing books.

Most influential of these was Charles Mudies Select Library, established in 1842. Mudies library was select because he would only circulate books that were suitable for middle-class parents to read aloud to their daughters without causing embarrassment.

This shaped how publishers commissioned and what writers could get away with. Victorian literary censorship, while limiting, managed to inspire writers to develop more creative and progressive ways to get their points across.

George Eliots publisher, John Blackwood, criticised her work for showing people as they really were rather than giving an idealistic picture. He was particularly uncomfortable when Eliot focused on the difficulties of working-class life.

In Mr Gilfils Love Story (1857), Eliots description of the orphan girl, Caterina, being subjected to soap-and-water raised Blackwoods censorious hackles:

I do not recollect of any passage that moved my critical censorship unless it might be the allusion to dirt in common with your heroine.

As well as dirt, alcohol consumption was also seen as an unwanted reminder of working class problems. Again in Mr Gifils Love Story, Eliot describes how the eponymous clergyman enjoys an occasional sip of gin-and-water.

However, knowing Blackwoods views and anticipating she may cause offence galvanised Eliot to state her case directly to the reader within the text itself. She qualifies her unromantic depiction of Mr Gilfil with an address to her lady readers:

Here I am aware that I have run the risk of alienating all my refined lady readers, and utterly annihilating any curiosity they may have felt to know the details of Mr Gilfils love-story let me assure you that Mr Gilfils potations of gin-and-water were quite moderate. His nose was not rubicund; on the contrary, his white hair hung around a pale and venerable face. He drank it chiefly, I believe, because it was cheap; and here I find myself alighting on another of the Vicars weaknesses, which, if I cared to paint a flattering portrait rather than a faithful one, I might have chosen to suppress.

Here, literary censorship enriches Eliots writing. Eliots refusal to suppress her work becomes part of the story and reinforces her agenda to portray Mr Gilfil as he really is, a vicar who mixes gin with water because he is poor.

As well as inspiring narrative additions, censorship was also powerful because of what was left out of a text. One of Hardys most loved books, Tess of the DUrbervilles, highlights the crimes of sexual harassment in the workplace and of rape. Because Hardy had to be careful about the way that he presented the sexual abuse of Tess, his descriptions were very subtle. This is how he portrays the scene where Tess is sexually assaulted by her employer, Alec DUrberville:

The obscurity was now so great that he could see absolutely nothing but a pale nebulousness at his feet, which represented the white muslin figure he had left upon the dead leaves. Everything else was blackness alike. DUrberville stooped; and heard a gentle regular breathing. He knelt, and bent lower, till her breath warmed his face, and in a moment his cheek was in contact with hers. She was sleeping soundly, and upon her eyelashes there lingered tears.

The influence of censorship meant that Hardy could not describe this scene in graphic detail. Instead, his depiction is more sensitive and thoughtful. Hardy does not dehumanise Tess by depicting her as a sexual object to entertain the reader.

By focusing on Tesss gentle regular breathing and the poignant image of her tear-stained eyelashes, Hardy avoids gratuitous depictions of violence while at the same time making us painfully aware of the injustice she has suffered. This makes his portrayal of Tess more powerful and poignant. It can be argued that this was achieved because of the limits placed on his writing, not in spite of them.

In these instances, we can see how literary censorship influenced writers to tread more carefully upon difficult territory. It made them think about whether including violence or socially controversial depictions were necessary or gratuitous to their narratives.

For Hardy and Eliot, censorship and its limits inspired creativity, sensitivity and thoughtfulness. These examples can provide food for thought in the debate today about free speech and censorship. As Hardy and Eliot wrestled with as they wrote, can things be said differently and, in some cases, do they need to be said at all?

Stephanie Meek, PhD Candidate in English Literature, University of Reading.

This article first appeared on The Conversation.

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If censorship were to return, could todays writers learn from their Victorian counterparts? - Scroll.in

Censorship standoff sparks concerns of Netflixs withdrawal from Turkey – Ahval

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Reports that Netflix is scrapping a Turkish series following a stand-off with the Turkish government over a gay character have sparked a discussion on the streaming platforms complete withdrawal from the country.

On Saturday, several Turkish news outlets reported that Netflix was pulling on the plug on teen comedy drama Ak 101 (Love 101) after Turkeys state broadcasting regulator RTK pressed to censor a leading gay character.

The total financial cost of RTKs condemnation of the series that premiered earlier this yearis a whopping 35 million lira ($5.1 million)for the ten-episode season, each episode amounting to 3.5 million lira, Fatih Altayl wrote in column in HaberTrk on Saturday.

From now on, interest in Turkish series and productions will increasingly decline and one considers the shows that these companies will no longer have produced in Turkey, the loss is great, Altayl said.

Television series have become on ofTurkeys mostprestigious exports since the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2012, with hundreds of series being sold to over 100 countries in Eastern Europe, South America and South Asia and the Middle East. The export of Turkish dramas reached $500 million in 2018, according to A Haber news.

At home, frustration is growing over Ankaras intervention in the entertainment industry. Controlled by allies of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan, RTK has come under fire for turning increasingly conservative under the 18-year rule of his AKP.

Director Ece Yren weighed in on the negotiation breakdown, telling Turkish entertainment website Fasikl on Sunday that it was very scary that the series production was not permitted over a gay character.

The character in question, Osman, engages in no physical acts of intimacy in the show yet the government is still halting production, Yren told Fasikl.

Turkish pop singer Demet Akaln took to Twitter on Sunday to express her dismay at the reports of Netflixs departure from Turkey.

Netflix saved our souls during the quarantine! Whoever doesnt wish to watch it simply wont, Akaln said, referring to the Ak 101. This is no good. Where are we going to watch Netflix now?

Akaln, a pro-government figure, later deleted her tweet saying she was caught up in the moment, and wondered when Netflix would release an official statement on the show to end speculation.

Netflix has yet to release a statement over the series in question.

In 2018, Reed Hastings, the cofounder and CEO of Netflix dismissed concerns of theNetflix being forced out of Turkey over tightening censorship rules at the time.

Were in Saudi Arabia. Were in Pakistan. If there are no problems there, will we have problems in Turkey? I cant imagine that, Hastings told Hrriyet newspaper.

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Censorship standoff sparks concerns of Netflixs withdrawal from Turkey - Ahval

WATCH: Jesse Watters Interviews Eric Trump About Twitter Censorship, Praises QAnon: They Uncovered A Lot of Great Stuff – Mediaite

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Saturday night, Fox News primetime host Jesse Wattersinterviewed President Donald Trumps son, Eric Trump, andhad some noteworthy words of praise for the QAnon conspiracy theory movement.

The interview included a discussion aboutbig tech censoring and news that broke earlier this week about Twitter banning 7,000 QAnon accounts for pushing misinformation and harassing other users.

Watters introduced the topic as censorship and some funny business now regarding Q, I guess this conspiracy deal on the internet.

Twitter has basically cracked down and eliminated about 7,000 accounts, said Watters, and another 100,000 accounts are now in the cross-hairs.

Do you think this is an attempt to interfere in an election? he asked Trump. Because you know, Q can do some crazy stuff with the pizza stuff and the Wayfair stuff but they also uncovered a lot of great stuff when it comes to Epstein and the deep state.

I never saw Q as dangerous as Antifa. But Antifa gets to run wild on the internet, what do you think is going on there? the Fox News host asked.

Guess what, Adam Schiff does a lot of crazy things, Jerry Nadler, and Eric Swalwell, they also do a lot of crazy stuff, Trump fired back.

Heres the fundamental problem, Jesse, that I have with it, Trump continued. You have some little dweeb in Silicon Valley, whos 22 years old, hes a tech savant.Hes running Twitter or one of these companies. And he literally has his finger on the power of a presidential election.

Trump continued, criticizing the radical, radical left Silicon Valley tech executives who wield enormous influence because they curate the information that we get on our mobile phones.

They are literally putting their finger on the scales of a U.S. election, said Trump.

Fox News reported in June thatQAnon is a conspiracy theory centered on the baseless belief that President Trump is waging a secret campaign against enemies in the deep state and a child sex trafficking ring run by satanic pedophiles and cannibals.

The Daily Beasts Will Sommer,who is a leading reporter in covering QAnon, went on in the Fox News article to describe the real-world violence, the online movement has grown to become.

Back in late June of 2020, Eric Trump was caught promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory on his Instagram page ahead of a rally, before pulling the image after public outcry.

Watch above, via Fox News.

UPDATE July 26, 2020: Fox News provided Mediaite with a statement from Watters retracting these comments, calling QAnon a fringe platform that he did not support or believe in.

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WATCH: Jesse Watters Interviews Eric Trump About Twitter Censorship, Praises QAnon: They Uncovered A Lot of Great Stuff - Mediaite

Ellen Pao calls for more Facebook censorship, says its the right thing to do – Reclaim The Net

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Ellen Pao keeps trying to make Ellen Pao happen. But, to paraphrase her own words the world doesnt seem to think shes important.

This former Reddit CEO was forced to quit after a backlash caused by her (early) attempts to muzzle and censor free and unruly-by-nature Reddit communities. And although her legacy in this sense has since been gaining more and more momentum on that fairly unique social platform few credit or still remember Pao as the pioneer of the current woeful policies.

Pao, who has since co-founded a diversity consulting non-profit called Project Include, (which is exactly what it sounds like it is) also in the meanwhile lost a gender discrimination lawsuit against former employers Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

But there are still friendly outlets like The Guardian who will give her space and time, and now, its time for Pao to offer her two cents on free speech moderation on giant social media in the context of their treatment of ills such as racism, and presidents such as Donald Trump.

Double your web browsing speed with today's sponsor. Get Brave.

Under the headline, They dont think its important: Ellen Pao on why Facebook cant beat hate Pao whose approach to Reddit back in the day is described cynically as a more holistic view of protecting free expression shares lessons she thinks she learned while attempting to detoxify Reddit (Guardians choice of words).

The issue is Facebook allowing Trump to have a voice on the platform, even as others like Twitter, Reddit itself, and YouTube went about labeling his posts, banning subreddits, etc., all on hate speech grounds.

So why is Facebook holding out? According to Pao, Facebook has an unintelligible set of rules for moderators, and the higher-ups are simply not paying any attention.

Pao also advises less outsourced mercenary moderator staff and instead incorporates them into the full-time employee collective for better allegiance to the cause and of course, better control.

She even suggests that some Facebook moderators despite insider testimonies showing some of them stringently and openly anti-free expression might be making pro-Trump decisions because they are being bullied, unbeknownst to Facebook.

But why would Facebook disregard these points? The interviewer prods Pao on in a tiringly predictable direction.

Most of the CEOs of social media companies are white, and most of them are men. I believe that youre the only woman of color who has run a major platform. Do you think that that informed the way that you approached the job?

To nobodys surprise, Pao agreed. As for what Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Susan Wojcicki need to do Just do the right thing. Most of them know what the right thing to do is. Just have that conviction and push your way through.

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Ellen Pao calls for more Facebook censorship, says its the right thing to do - Reclaim The Net

Antivirus: A weekly digest of the latest COVID-19 research – The Verge

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On January 8th, I asked The Verges science team to keep an eye on early reports of a new virus that had recently emerged in China. When I dropped an article about that new virus from The Washington Post in Slack, someone joked that 2020 was off to a strong start, clearly jinxing the entire year for the rest of humanity. Whoops.

Jokes aside, this past decade, year, six and a half months has featured a disturbing flood of terrible, horrible, no good, very bad news. More than half a year in and not only do we still not know when this will all end, were also seeing a tsunami of new cases in the US and record-high hospitalizations.

Theres so much we still dont know, but we do know that this is going to keep going for a long, long time. Weve got to pace ourselves if were going to make it. Thats why were starting with a weekly format for this column instead of bombarding you with a daily dose of news. Hopefully we can give you some context for the big headlines and help you keep track of our collective scientific progress as we stumble our way toward the future. Its still an experiment, but these are a few things well keep an eye on:

We might also throw in a bit of non-coronavirus news just to remind you that there are other things going on in the world. Lets get started.

Immunology experts have also been cautious, and so have other pharmaceutical executives. I think when people tell the public that theres going to be a vaccine by the end of 2020, they do a grave disservice to the public, Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier said in an interview published by Harvard Business School last week. I think at the end of the day, we dont want to rush the vaccine before weve done rigorous science.

Want to help researchers find a vaccine? The National Institutes of Health (NIH) created a new network called the COVID-19 Prevention Trials Network (COVPN) that will help connect volunteers with some of the large clinical trials that are needed to test potential coronavirus vaccines.

Each of the Phase 3 clinical trials that the COVPN will conduct will require thousands of volunteers, NIH director Francis Collins said in a statement. Community engagement, particularly with the communities most vulnerable to COVID-19s severe outcomes, will be critical to the success of this research endeavor.

If you want to volunteer, youll be asked to complete a short survey of personal questions, including where you live. If youre a good candidate for one of the many studies going on across the country, a researcher will reach out to you and give you more information on the study. You can then decide whether you want to participate.

Lopez drives to his fourth stop of the day, a body in the back, a cigarette in his hand. Hes reflecting on the virus and how the calls to pick up bodies started coming all of a sudden, one after the other. He takes his job personally. It could be one of my family members, it could be a friend of mine.

Shannon Najmabadi and Miguel Gutierrez Jr. report for The Texas Tribune on what its like to be one of last responders in the Rio Grande Valley, where deaths and case numbers remain high.

To the more than 15,762,392 people worldwide who have tested positive, may your road to recovery be smooth.

To the families and friends of the 640,278 people who have died worldwide 145,556 of those in the US your loved ones are not forgotten.

Stay safe, everyone.

Correction 7/27: After publication, Merck communications reached out to clarify that while the Harvard Business School interview with Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier was published on July 13, the interview took place on June 30. This story has been updated to reflect the new information.

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Antivirus: A weekly digest of the latest COVID-19 research - The Verge

How Long Are You Contagious With Covid-19 Coronavirus? Heres A CDC Update – Forbes

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A health officer in Istanbul, Turkey, wears protective clothing before collecting swab samples from ... [+] confined people who may be infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus and thus may be infected. (Photo by OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images)

You may be able to lose a guy in 10 days, based on the 2003 rom-com movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. That also may be time that it takes for you to lose enough of the Covid-19 coronavirus so that you are no longer contagious, based on updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC is now saying that if you have mild-to-moderate Covid-19, keep yourself isolated from other people for at least 10 days after you first noticed symptoms. You can discontinue this isolation after the 10-day mark if you havent had a fever for at least 24 hours and your other symptoms have improved. Note that not having a fever because you took a fever-reducing medication like Tylenol doesnt count. That would be cheating. The fever has to have naturally disappeared. Still having a fever after 10 days means that you may need not only more cowbell but also more isolation.

This is a bit different from what the CDC was saying back in April, which was about three missed haircuts ago. As I wrote for Forbes at the time, the threshold back then was seven days rather than 10 days for discontinuing isolation. Also, the previous threshold for being fever-free was 72 hours instead of 24 hours. So in the words of Guns N Roses, youll need a have little more patience. Wait three days longer before exposing yourself to others. Actually, that came out wrong. Wait three days longer before interacting in any way with others.

Isolation much more than social distancing. Social distancing should be maintained even after ending ... [+] isolation. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

Keep in mind that isolation is not the same as social distancing. You should still social distance after ending isolation. As Ive indicated previously, social distancing means staying at least one Ryan Gosling away from everyone else. As actor Gosling is approximately six feet tall, this would be keeping at least one lying Gosling apart. A Gosling lying on the floor, that is.

Isolation, instead, entails staying in a room or rooms by yourself away from others. That means no Ryan Goslings, no Ryan Reynolds, no Ryan Chappelles, no Dave Chappelles, no David Crosses, no Marcia Crosses, no Marcia Bradys. Nobody else should be there. No one should enter that room unless they have are wearing a full set of personal protective equipment, known affectionately as PPE. It also involves not sharing any items that you may have contaminated with others, including that mountain of toilet paper that you have amassed around your bed.

Isolation is different from quarantine as well. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) website includes the following easy-to-remember phrases:

As you can see, its all about the might. Isolate yourself when you already know that you are infected. By contrast, quarantine yourself when you think that you may have been exposed to the virus. Another way to remember when to quarantine is the q. Quarantine when theres a question whether you are infected. Isolate when you say I am infected. Quarantine does not become isolation until you have either had a positive test for the RNA of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or developed symptoms that suggest Covid-19.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced that individuals who have traveled ... [+] to New York from higher-risk states should quarantine for 14 days. (Photo by Jeenah Moon/Getty Images)

The recommended quarantine duration is still at least 14 days because thats how long the incubation period may potentially last. The incubation period is the time from when you are exposed to when you first develop symptoms and may last anywhere from two to 14 days, based on studies so far. So if you think you got exposed to the Covid-19 coronavirus during that ill-advised Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in-person watch party, youll have to view the show for the next two weeks by yourself, far away from anyone else, except for perhaps that massive pile of toilet paper next top your bed.

If you have more severe Covid-19 or a weak immune system then you could remain contagious for longer than 10 days. More severe cases may shed more virus for longer periods of time. The CDC is now recommending that those with severe-to-critical illness or a very weak immune system stay isolated for at least 20 days after the onset of symptoms. Of course, if you have severe-to-critical Covid-19, you really should be in the hospital. So this guidance is more for health care workers taking care of patients with Covid-19.

What if you tested positive for the SARS-CoV2 but never developed any symptoms? Well, the threshold is still 10 days. But for asymptomatic infections, staying isolated for 10 days after symptom onset would mean that you would stay isolated forever, which would be a really long time.

Instead, the guidance is to stay isolated for 10 days from the date of your first positive test for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. In this case, RNA stands for ribonucleicacid rather than rations not available or really not avocado. RNA is the viruss genetic material. A SARS-CoV-2 RNA test is when someone sticks that cotton swab way up your nose or to the back of your throat or both to get samples to test for the presence of the virus genetic material. This is probably an experience that you would remember. It is not the blood test that checks for antibodies to the SARS-CoV2.

Covid-19 coornavirus RNA testing typically involves sticking a cotton swab up your nose, although ... [+] alternatives such as spit testing are emerging. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Speaking of testing, heres another change in the CDC guidance. The CDC used to recommend that health care workers with Covid-19 stay isolated until they have a negative test for SARS-CoV2 RNA. However, studies have been showing that you can still have a positive test but no evidence of replication-competent virus in your upper respiratory tract. Replicate means reproduce, just in case you havent seen the word replicate used on someones dating profile. Therefore, a replication-competent virus means a virus that is able to reproduce and thus infect someone.

Finding virus RNA is not necessarily the same as finding whole live versions of the virus. In fact, virus RNA can still be found in specimens from your upper respiratory tract for as long as three months after you first noticed symptoms. This can be a bit like finding someones bling without finding that person himself or herself. Its still not clear what finding such RNA means without detecting replication competent virus, whether it represents fragments of the virus, weakened versions of the virus, inactivated virus, hide-and-go-seek virus, or something else.

These updated guidelines are based on studies showing that the chances of finding replication-competent virus in respiratory tract specimens steadily goes down with passing time after symptom onset. In other words, your infectiousness may go down each day that you have symptoms. In these studies, researchers were not able to find replication-competent virus in patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19 after 10 days had elapsed since their symptoms first manifested.

In a study thats posted on MedRxiv and hasnt yet undergone peer-review, researchers were able to find replication-competent viruses between 10 and 20 days after symptom onset in patients with severe Covid-19. However, 10 and 15 days after symptom onset, already about 88% and 95% of the specimens, respectively, in this study no longer had replication-competent virus. Of course, take any study thats just on MedRxiv with a grain or even a toilet paper roll package of salt until its been published in a reputable peer-reviewed scientific journal.

So 10 and 20 are now the numbers to remember when it comes to contagiousness and isolation. These thresholds are based on studies to date, so they could change as more evidence emerges. The Covid-19 coronavirus is like that person that you just met on Tinder. It still is rather mysterious, may not be completely what it seems, and could make you very sick.

Also, consider these numbers to be rough estimates rather than exact deadlines. Dont set your timer so that you can start panting on other people right after the 10- or 20-day mark has passed. It cant hurt to stay cautious for a little extra time. After all, viruses, like some guys, could end up hanging around a little longer than expected.

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How Long Are You Contagious With Covid-19 Coronavirus? Heres A CDC Update - Forbes

Jury trials were meant to deliver justice. Covid-19 brought them to a halt – CNN

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The UK locked down on March 23 in an attempt to slow the spread of Covid-19, and while most courts in England and Wales have since reopened, many trials are now subject to lengthy delays, leaving victims and their families in limbo and many defendants -- who remain innocent until proven guilty -- in custody.

Kellie Meir said she first heard of the change to her son's case in June, when friends shared local news articles about the decision on social media.

"That's the worst thing -- we had to read it on Facebook," she told CNN. "Nobody told us. We didn't have a letter. [I] just opened up Facebook and saw his picture all over the place."

Meir said her son was a great motorcycle enthusiast. "I know he was [on his motorbike] when he died, but he loved that thing, from such a young age."

Danny's sudden death left his mother, four younger brothers, younger sister, long-term girlfriend and grandparents devastated. "My mum took it particularly hard [because] they were very close," Meir added.

"It's been two years now, and it'll be three by [the time of the trial.] We can't move on with our lives, we haven't got closure," she said.

Trial by jury is a cornerstone of democratic legal systems around the world, especially those based on English common law -- also known as Anglo-American law.

Meanwhile the Crown courts, where more serious cases are heard, face a backlog of 40,526 outstanding cases as of the week ending May 24, according to preliminary data from the British government. That's up from a pre-coronavirus caseload of 39,214, though not as high as a peak of 55,000 cases recorded in 2014.

Lawyers working in the court system in England and Wales criticized the mounting caseload -- which they say is the result of years of underinvestment, cuts and court closures -- long before the pandemic. Coronavirus has only exacerbated the situation.

For victims and their families, the additional delays caused by Covid-19 have made an already stressful situation unbearable.

"It's not just the delay, it's everything around it," said Alex Mayes, external affairs manager at rights group Victim Support. "Before, victims were feeling anxious. Now they have added anxiety around coronavirus itself."

Penelope Gibbs, an ex-magistrate and the founder of NGO Transform Justice, agrees. "It's going to be backlog on backlog, and the problem is in human terms," Gibbs, an advocate for the rights of defendants being held in custody, told CNN.

"The concern is that those on remand are innocent until and if they are proven guilty," she said. "They may well be acquitted and they are losing their liberty when they may well be innocent. For that to go on for months threatens human rights."

"What I fear is that people on remand may change their plea ... from not guilty to guilty. In some cases they may then be released from prison," she added.

And experts say some cases which have been postponed may end up never going to trial because of the lengthy delays.

"The quality of evidence declines over time," veteran British barrister Michael Wolkind told CNN. "There will be certain cases where the victim won't be able to bear the further wait and withdraws. And [there will be] smaller cases where the prosecuting authorities will drop [charges]."

There are 77 crown court centers in England and Wales that can host a trial by jury. Fifty-four have reopened since the UK's lockdown was eased, according to the Ministry of Justice, but distancing measures mean many of the courts that are open still have limited capacity for trials. In some courts, rooms required for the trial are rendered useless because of their size.

CNN spoke to lawyers involved in trials who were concerned about the court estate in England and Wales, and its suitability for social distancing.

Michael Auty is a barrister and Queen's Counsel -- a title awarded by the British monarch to particularly respected advocates. Auty has seen many trials delayed because of the pandemic, including that of his client Magdalena Kissova.

Kissova, 47, is charged with murdering a 67-year-old man in Derby, in England's Midlands, in February. She denies the charge. Kissova has been held in custody since her arrest -- her trial was due to begin later this month, but delays caused by the pandemic mean it has been pushed back until October.

"We didn't know if Derby Crown Court was going to be suitable for dealing with jury trials or not," Auty told CNN. "We couldn't carry out the changes [needed] to spread the jury out physically. And there are a host of other things -- the jury have to walk through lots of narrow passages, and their retiring room can't accommodate social distancing. It was not built for a world where that was necessary."

"You couldn't begin to contemplate socially distanced trials," in Derby's modern court building, Auty said. "We could possibly accommodate social distancing in the courtroom itself, beyond that it would be impossible."

The realities of a return to a full trial schedule are a worry for many lawyers.

"I think it's quite scary," Danielle Manson, a junior barrister based in London, told CNN. "I don't feel confident or comfortable about going back to work. The courts estate is crumbling -- and that was before Covid-19."

The UK's opposition Labour Party believes a long-term lack of investment in the legal system has worsened the current crisis in the courts.

"The justice system has been brought to its knees by a decade of austerity that cut funding to the Ministry of Justice by a quarter in real terms," David Lammy, the shadow justice secretary, told CNN in a statement.

"The result of these cuts is victims of violent crimes who are unable to see their attackers in court, wrongly accused defendants detained indefinitely while waiting for a trial, and a public unable to see justice served in a timely manner."

Lammy says Labour wants the government "to requisition empty public buildings to be used as temporary courts to beat the backlog," and "to provide the funding necessary to keep the justice system functioning in this crisis and make sure it is never left so vulnerable again."

As pressure mounts, the UK's Ministry of Justice is setting up new "Nightingale Courts" to help ease the backlog.

The Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland, announced on July 19 that he had identified 10 sites for such courts, and that the government would increase its investment in the legal system. The first court opened on July 20, and officials hope all 10 sites will be open by August.

"[The Nightingale courts] idea is wise," Auty told CNN. "Places like university lecture theaters could be turned into a makeshift courtroom -- they're big enough. But there's no silver bullet," he said, pointing out the enormous logistical challenge involved in converting regular buildings into temporary courts.

"You have to move people who are in remand into court, so [...] you need a secure building," he said. "You can't take [defendants] past the jury. And how do you manage witnesses? Where do they wait? How do you keep them apart from defendants' families?"

"With a drugs trial you may have 20 or more defendants. With sex [assault] trials you absolutely cannot have a woman walking past a man who is accused of raping her. You have to keep all sorts of people separate, and [need to] have a mechanism to do so," he added.

The administrative tangle caused by Covid-19 has left British officials racing to find alternative solutions.

In March, British lawmakers passed the Coronavirus Act, granting the government emergency powers as the pandemic hit. Among other things, the legislation allows more video and audio link technology to be used in courts.

Since then, new technology has been installed in many Crown Courts across England and Wales, enabling some criminal hearings to be held via video link. Hearings are separate proceedings to jury trials but are often used for sentencing those already convicted.

Last month, Buckland told a parliamentary select committee that another option would be to have certain cases heard by a judge and two magistrates, rather than a 12-person jury. For this to go ahead, it would require lawmakers to pass new legislation.

"We are working closely with the judiciary on a range of measures to keep the justice system running, such as additional venues to allow better social distancing," a Ministry of Justice spokesperson told CNN. "This does not include judge-only trials in the Crown Court."

For victims' rights advocates such as Alex Mayes, the use of video technology in courts is vitally important.

"Business as usual just isn't an option," he said. "There needs to be change -- it could be something like pre-recorded video cross-examination of victims. It's about utilizing technology."

But some lawyers balk at the thought of virtual courtrooms encroaching further on physical ones.

"I don't think we can be parachuted into a digital system when people's life and liberty are at stake and we're asking members of the public to make enormous decisions," said junior barrister Danielle Manson.

"I think the use of video links is something we should be anxious about, because everything ... is about people and human reaction. It's about how witnesses react and how jurors react," she said. "There's something about being in the same room as someone and feeling an atmosphere. Jury trials are incredibly theatrical."

The crisis in England and Wales is replicated in legal systems around the world that use jury trials. The coronavirus pandemic has forced delays to trials in New Zealand, the US, Canada, Australia and Ireland.

"I haven't heard of any system that has [coped]. It's inherently difficult to hold a trial in this situation," Crosby told CNN.

Providing justice in the time of coronavirus may lie in some combination of technology, larger courtrooms and longer hours. But as with many public institutions, the pandemic has exacerbated the existing flaws of the English legal system.

And the longer officials take to work out the logistics of holding trials, the longer families are having to wait for their day in court.

Kellie Meir told CNN the lockdown has made her grief over Danny's death worse. "I couldn't wait to go back to work," she said. "I didn't go out during the full lockdown and [he] was on my mind."

As lockdown conditions are lifted, Meir wants to know why she is still waiting for the trial to begin.

"You need a jury there -- why can't they just spread them out?" Meir asked. "Why can't [jurors] wear masks? I thought masks protected you? I don't know about the virus ... I don't really understand it all."

"It's really hard," she said. "I have got other kids, I have my mum [and] you have [to] get on with it. But my heart's broken. He was 22, you know? He was too young. How can we move on?"

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Jury trials were meant to deliver justice. Covid-19 brought them to a halt - CNN