As states expand COVID-19 vaccines, prisoners still lack access

WASHINGTON — This week, Florida expanded eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines to all residents 16 and older. But across the state, more than 70,000 people still don’t have access to the vaccine. Those men and women are state prisoners.

More than half the country has opened up vaccine eligibility, vastly expanding the ability for most Americans to get the shots, whatever their age or medical conditions. But inside prisons, it’s a different story: Prisoners, not free to seek out vaccines, still lack access on the whole.

Nationwide, fewer than 20% of state and federal prisoners have been vaccinated, according to data collected by The Marshall Project and The Associated Press. In some states, prisoners and advocates have resorted to lawsuits to get access. And even when they are eligible, they aren’t receiving important education about the vaccine.

And it’s not just the prisoners. Public health experts widely agree that people who live and work in correctional facilities face an increased risk of contracting and dying from the coronavirus. Since the pandemic first reached prisons in March 2020, about 3 in 10 prisoners have tested positive and 2,500 have died. Prisons are often overcrowded, with limited access to health care and protective gear, and populations inside are more likely to have preexisting medical conditions.

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Police chief: Fired cop broke policy in pinning Floyd

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minneapolis police chief who called George Floyd’s death “murder” soon after it happened testified that Officer Derek Chauvin had clearly violated department policy when he pinned Floyd’s neck beneath his knee for more than 9 minutes.

Continuing to kneel on Floyd’sneck once he was handcuffed behind his back and lying on his stomach was “in no way, shape or form” part of department policy or training, “and it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values,” Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said Monday on Day Six of Chauvin’s murder trial.

Arradondo,the city’s first Black chief, fired Chauvin and three other officers the day after Floyd’s death last May, and in June called it “murder.”

While police have long been accused of closing ranks to protect fellow members of the force charged with wrongdoing — the “blue wall of silence,” as it’s known — some of the most experienced officersin the Minneapolis department have taken the stand to openly condemn Chauvin’s treatment of Floyd.

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Forecasting Biden’s Foreign Policy in Southeast Asia

The day before John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961, he met with an outgoing President Eisenhower. According to the Pentagon Papers, “Eisenhower said with considerable emotion that Laos was the key to the entire area of Southeast Asia, that we should make every effort to persuade member nations of SEATO … to defend the freedom of Laos. President-elect Kennedy … asked if the situation seemed to be approaching a climax. Eisenhower stated that the entire proceeding was extremely confused.”

If, two months ago, a similar briefing had been given to a President-elect Biden by an outgoing President Trump, the details 60 years on would have been different, but the tone, tenor, and message strikingly similar. The main difference would have been a shift in focus from Laos—and by extension, Indochina—in 1961 to Thailand on the mainland and to the Philippines in maritime Southeast Asia. 

That is, a shift from countries six decades ago whose governments the U.S. was propping up to those today with which it has increasingly uncertain relations. And, of course, two weeks after that recent imaginary briefing, Myanmar would have been added to the list overnight.

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LG Becomes First Major Smartphone Brand to Withdraw From Market Due to Losses

South Korea's LG Electronics said on Monday it will wind down its loss-making mobile division - a move that is set to make it the first major smartphone brand to completely withdraw from the market.

Its decision to pull out will leave its 10 percent share in North America, where it is the No. 3 brand, to be gobbled up by smartphone titans Apple and Samsung Electronics.

The division has logged nearly six years of losses totalling some $4.5 billion (roughly Rs. 33,010 crore), and dropping out of the fiercely competitive sector would allow LG to focus on growth areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices and smart homes, it said in a statement.

In better times, LG was early to market with a number of cell phone innovations including ultra-wide angle cameras and was once in 2013 the world's third-largest smartphone manufacturer behind Samsung and Apple.

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The Best Top Ten Smart Phone to Buy Right Now

In this year 2021, buying the best smart phone means looking for something special that should last you a few past years. Smart phone's upgrade cycles are slowing down for a some reasons below. 

For example cost of mobile and purchasing power, it’s getting harder and harder to buy an expensive device. In other words, you don’t have to spend a huge amount to get something big or great, as a bunch of great smart phones are available for round about $800. 

It is harder than ever to decide between everything in that range, but for most people, decide to pick for the best phone as the Apple iPhone 11 Pro, 256GB, Space Gray, Fully Unlocked (Renewed).

Luckily, if you are looking for a no-compromise smart phone at any price, the choices over a thousand dollars and More higher are much clearer. If you like Android phone, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G | Factory Unlocked Android Cell Phone Ultra is incredibly good.

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Russia in the Arctic—A Critical Examination

Russia’s Arctic ambitions have attracted increasing attention in the West over the past decade as climate change opens up new opportunities in the region for navigation and exploration of its riches. For its part, Moscow casts a wary eye on what it sees as a challenge from the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to its position and ambitions there. The Kremlin’s rhetoric about Western encroachment has become more strident, in sync with its enhanced military posture and ambitious economic and infrastructure projects.

Russian interest in the Arctic has deep historic roots that extend all the way to the sixteenth century and the conquest of Siberia driven by the never-ending quest for more resources and secure trading routes. Modern-day Russian posture in the Arctic is integral to its overall confrontation with the West, in which Europe is the principal theater. 

The saber-rattling in the Arctic and threatening rhetoric are driven by several factors: preparations for the unlikely, but potentially catastrophic contingency of war in Europe, the need to secure its second-strike nuclear capabilities (the bulk of which is based around the Kola Peninsula), and the quest for resources to pay for the proverbial guns and butter as the competition with the West shows no sign of abating. Great-power ambitions and the interests of powerful bureaucratic elites and business interests also play a role.

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Calgary church pastor’s video confronting police goes viral

The pastor of a church in Calgary uploaded a video of his encounter with police and other officials from the city there to ensure that the church was following COVID-19 guidelines, and the interaction went viral.

CTV News reported that Pastor Artur Pawlowski—the head of Calgary’s Street Church—was holding a service on Saturday at the Fortress (Cave) of Adullam until these officials entered the building.

Pawlowski—who filmed the encounter—addresses the officials in a stairwell outside the sanctuary.

"Get out of this property immediately," he says. "I don’t want to hear anything…out immediately."

Most of the officials don’t engage Pawlowski, but an unidentified woman seems to try and explain their presence. Pawlowski was not having it.

"Out!" he yelled. "Out of this property…immediately until you come back with a warrant." The officials and officers slowly exit the building, and Pawlowski followed them outside

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Child among three dead in NSW South Coast car crash

A young child is among three people dead after a car crashed and hit a tree on the NSWSouth Coast early this morning.

At 4.30am, emergency services were called to the Princes Highway, Lake Tabourie, near Ulladulla, after reports that a crash had taken place.

The driver, a woman, and two of her passengers – a man and a young child – died at the scene.

Police have yet to identify the bodies.

The fourth person inside the car, a male passenger, was airlifted to hospital in a serious condition.

Police have established a crime scene which is continuing to be investigated to determine the cause of the crash.

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