The Voter ID Virus Is Spreading To Australia

 

Bells and Whistles

AUSTRALIA

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is coming under fire for proposing a contentious voter identification law, a move many critics said could threaten Australia’s election process, the Washington Post reported.

The new bill would require voters to provide identification before voting in the federal elections, which the government explained would help reduce voter fraud. Morrison said that the bill resembles legislation in other countries, including Canada and the United States.

But opposition politicians and election analysts raised concerns about the draft law, saying that the prime minister and his supporters are fueling panic and misinformation about the integrity of Australia’s electoral system.

Australia’s system is considered one of the best in the world: Eligible citizens are required by law to vote and scofflaws are subjected to a small fine. More than 90 percent of Australians vote in the federal polls, compared with around 60 percent in the US. The Australian Electoral Commission has also said that the evidence of voter fraud is “vanishingly small,” despite the high turnout.

Although the debate about voter ID has been going on for years, analysts noted that the controversial bill was proposed only months before the federal elections next year. Morrison’s conservative Liberal Party has slipped in polls and critics said that the proposed law – as well as a bill on religious discrimination – are aimed at courting far-right voters, who could give him a boost in the upcoming elections.

Even so, a number of senators in Morrison’s conservative coalition said they would block the two bills over their demands for a law against coronavirus vaccine mandates.

But even if the voter ID bill passes, the opposition Labor Party said it would repeal it if it wins the elections.

The Modern History Of Thanksgiving

 

Out of the ordinary

Happy Thanksgiving.

This year’s holiday is more normal than last year’s, before the Covid vaccines had arrived. But it still is unusual for many families, involving some combination of antigen tests, outdoor meals (where the weather allows) and underlying anxiety.

With that mind, my colleagues and I put together a brief history of Thanksgiving celebrations since the 1850s, focusing on unusual years like this one. Farther down in today’s newsletter, you’ll also find last-minute cooking tips, suggestions for holiday television and more.

However you spend the day, we hope it’s a good one. We want to say thanks specifically to two groups of people: first, to everybody who’s working today (including our colleagues putting out The Times and delivering the print edition); and, second, to all of you — the readers of The Morning. We are grateful that you make time in your day for this newsletter.

In the beginning

The first appearance of the word “thanksgiving” in The Times digital archives — which go back to 1851 — did not refer to the holiday. It instead was a reference on Oct. 4, 1851, to “an appropriate prayer and thanksgiving” from a reverend at the opening of the Queens County’s annual agricultural exhibition.

“Thursday was quite a jubilee in the pleasant village of Jamaica, Long Island,” an unnamed reporter for The New York Daily Times wrote. “The ruddy, manly appearance of the farmers, and the freshness, delicacy, and real natural loveliness of their wives and daughters, (for which the county is justly renowned,) were sights to cheer and amaze the citizen, and many were there to witness and enjoy them.”

The first mention of the holiday occurred less than a week later, in a brief news item reporting that the governor of Massachusetts had declared Thursday, Nov. 27, 1851, as “a day of public thanksgiving and praise.” There was no national Thanksgiving holiday at the time.

As other states announced when they would also be observing the holiday that year, The Times printed an infographic — of questionable value — on Oct. 31, 1851:

Local becomes national

The origin story of Thanksgiving that’s often told in school — of a friendly meal between pilgrims and Native Americans — is inaccurate. (As far back as 1974, The Times ran an article describing the holiday as a “national day of mourning” for many Native people.)

The real origin of the national holiday dates to Abraham Lincoln. On Oct. 3, 1863, he called for the country, “in the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity,” to set aside the last Thursday in November as “a day of Thanksgiving.” The Times published his Thanksgiving proclamation on the front page, and several times subsequently.

While reciting the country’s many blessings — a productive economy, bountiful harvests and a growing economy — Lincoln also recommended that Americans give thanks “with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience.”

Lincoln’s proclamation was in part a response to Sarah Josepha Hale, an editor who had spent decades campaigning for a national day of gratitude.

A pandemic, overlooked

Like this year’s version, Thanksgiving in 1918 occurred in the midst of a global pandemic. But the atmosphere was surprisingly joyous. World War I had ended on Nov. 11, and the country was celebrating, despite a horrific number of influenza deaths in October. During the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, Times articles contained relatively few mentions of the so-called Spanish flu.

“Thanksgiving Day this year will evoke a gratitude deeper, a spirit of reverence more devout, than America has felt for many years,” a Times editorial on Nov. 19 said.

One factor may have been that the pandemic briefly receded that November, before surging again at the end of the year. As has happened over the past two years, a virus ebbed and flowed in mysterious ways.

Depression and recovery

By 1930, the country’s mood was much darker. A front-page headline on Thanksgiving Day that year reported: “450 Tons of Food Given to Needy, But Supply Fails.” The police turned away elderly men and women to reserve the food for families with young children.

The Times also reported that the Thanksgiving tradition of ragamuffins — in which children would dress up and go door to door asking for coins or treats — seemed to be fading in Manhattan. “Things ain’t the way they used to be,” a police officer said.

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to spark the economy by moving Thanksgiving one week earlier, to create a longer Christmas shopping season. Critics mocked the policy as “Franksgiving,” and it failed. Roosevelt announced in 1941 that he was abandoning the experiment for the next year.

Roosevelt ultimately settled on the fourth Thursday of the month — a middle ground that made sure the holiday would not occur later than Nov. 28 and that Christmas shopping could always begin in November.

11/22/63

Thanksgiving in 1963 came only six days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and most public celebrations were canceled. The Macy’s parade was an exception, The Times reported, because the organizers felt its cancellation would be “a disappointment to millions of children.”

The Kennedys gathered at the family compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., but they skipped their usual game of touch football. “Like millions of other Americans, they will give the day over to the children and mourn together their loss,” The Times wrote.

The isolation of 2020

The Covid-19 pandemic arguably caused a bigger break in Thanksgiving traditions than anything that came before. Since Lincoln’s proclamation, even during war, depression and tragedy, most Americans still found ways to gather with family and friends for a holiday meal.

But the threat from a pandemic — better understood in 2020 than it had been in 1918 — caused many people to stay home last year.

Cherri Harris and her daughter Reanna Williams on a Zoom Thanksgiving last year.Sylvia Jarrus for The New York Times

Today will be different. The pandemic is not over, but the worst of it almost certainly is. Vaccines have allowed most Americans to gather safely.

The country is hardly in a joyous mood. Even as people are happy to be together again, many are mourning the losses of the past two years and deeply worried about the country’s future. Yet mixed feelings are also part of the Thanksgiving tradition, all the way the back to Lincoln’s proclamation.

More on the holiday: For Rafael Alvarez — a writer for “The Wire” — today is a chance to remember his father’s penknife and his parents’ Baltimore dreams.

THE LATEST NEWS

NATO Expansion – The Budapest Blow Up 1994 | National Security Archive

NATO Expansion – The Budapest Blow Up 1994 | National Security Archive

I Had A Great Laugh At The Expense Of President Putin!!!!!!

        I had a great laugh at the expense of Vladimir Putin in the evening. A few days ago, Russia launched an antisatellite missile. It knocked down a Russian spy satellite that had been in orbit since 1982. The cover story was that the Russians were "getting rid of space junk." When the debris from this explosion spread all over low earth orbit and threatened the international space station, President Putin claimed that it was an honest error.

         Vladimir, give me a break! You are one of the smartest humans on earth. You think through every move very carefully. You knew damn well what was going to happen when that missile hit the dead satellite!

       In the US Navy, when one ship wants to warn another ship, it fires a shot across the bow of the other ship. Putin fired a warning shot. He was saying to those in the West: "Look at what damage I can do without starting a nuclear war. I can put all your satellites out of business."

    Early every morning, my job requires me to absorb a massive amount of data. I came across an obscure item concerning President Putin. He was protesting that a group of US bombers staged a simulated nuclear attack on Russia. I laughed my head off!!! The US got "payback!!!"

Artificial Intelligence Takes The Place Of Drug Sniffing Dogs

The New Sniffer

Sniffer dogs, move over – scientists have developed new artificial intelligence that can quickly identify chemical structures of psychoactive “designer drugs,” New Scientist reported.

The novel DarkNPS tool can help authorities fast-track lab tests of substances such as cocaine and heroin that have been designed to evade detection.

Lead researcher Michael Skinnider and his team explained in their paper that they trained the AI by including the tandem mass spectrometry results of around 1,700 known designer drugs collected from forensic labs across the globe.

Tandem mass spectrometry is a technique that reveals information on the mass of a molecule and the elements found in it.

The team wrote that the machine learning tool can identify patterns between tandem mass spectrometry data and chemical structures. Their findings showed the machine could guess a molecular structure of a substance with a 51 percent accuracy.

That number increased to 86 percent if the AI could narrow down its search to the top ten predictions.

“This could save an enormous amount of time and make it possible to identify new designer drugs much sooner after they’ve hit the market,” said Skinnider.

The authors also noted that the machine could be used to look into drugs that could be developed in the future.

E

 

Only Belatedly Did I Learn That A Dear Friend Had Passed Away

 

Mari Elizabeth Brumm-Merrill

• Feb 23, 2021
 
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Mari loved art, music, theater, wine-tasting, reading mysteries, playing bocce ball, and spending time with family and friends, especially her grandchildren.

She applied her tenacious spirit, positive attitude and strong will to everything she undertook. She passed away surrounded by her loving family on Feb. 12, 2021, after four and a half courageous years of battling colon cancer. Mari grew up in Fresno, lived briefly in Chicago as a young adult, and eventually settled in the Bay Area. A variety of early jobs included modeling, bartending, and painting. She went into restaurant management and eventually found her passion, working for the City of Pacifica as the Senior Food Services Manager in 1989. She held several progressively responsible jobs in the city over 20 years, and concluded her career as the Director of Parks, Beaches and Recreation. After her retirement in 2008, she was able to devote more time to her first passion, art. Mari was a talented watercolor artist and also applied her artistic skills to making jewelry. After moving to Pacifica in 1989, Mari soon became a pillar of the community.

Besides her work at the Community Center with Meals on Wheels, programs for seniors, and providing food for local daycare centers, she was a dedicated volunteer for the Pacifica Democrats and served for many years on the board of Pacificans Care. She generously gave of her time and talents and was well-respected by all. Mari was awarded the Employee of the Year Award in 1995 from the city, and the People Who Care Award in 2018 from Pacificans Care. At her retirement celebration, the room was filled with friends and colleagues who showed up to honor her and show their appreciation for all of her good work in the community. Mari will be fondly remembered for her competence, honesty and generosity, her calm, caring, friendly demeanor, and her deep love for friends, family, and the city of Pacifica.

She was a loyal, supportive friend and will be sorely missed by all who had the privilege of knowing her. Mari is survived by her brother, Jim Brumm, sister Vicki Koester, daughter Celeste Peralta, son-in-law Guillermo Peralta and her four grandchildren, Dominic, Cheyenne, Jayden and Dylan. There will be no formal funeral. Her place of peace was Rockaway Beach. Say goodbye to her there or visit and remember her. You can send donations in her memory to Pacificans Care: P.O. Box 875, Pacifica, CA 94044.

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Mari Elizabeth Brumm-Merrill

• Feb 23, 2021
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Mari loved art, music, theater, wine-tasting, reading mysteries, playing bocce ball, and spending time with family and friends, especially her grandchildren.