August 8 and 9, 2016


News and Views


DUMP TRUMP 2016

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/maine-gop-senator-i-will-not-be-voting-for-donald-trump/

Maine GOP senator: "I will not be voting for Donald Trump"
By EMILY SCHULTHEIS CBS NEWS
August 8, 2016, 10:38 PM


MAINE -- Maine Sen. Susan Collins announced in an op-ed Monday night that she will not support GOP nominee Donald Trump.

"I will not be voting for Donald Trump for president," Collins wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. "This is not a decision I make lightly, for I am a lifelong Republican. But Donald Trump does not reflect historical Republican values nor the inclusive approach to governing that is critical to healing the divisions in our country."

The Associated Press points out, "The defection from a respected senator adds to a chorus of GOP voices insisting they can't back Trump."

Collins acknowledged Trump appeals to voters "who felt that their voices were not being heard in Washington" during the GOP primary, but said there's a difference between eschewing "political correctness" and being outright "denigrating" toward certain segments of the population.

"With the passage of time, I have become increasingly dismayed by his constant stream of cruel comments and his inability to admit error or apologize," she wrote. "But it was his attacks directed at people who could not respond on an equal footing -- either because they do not share his power or stature or because professional responsibility precluded them from engaging at such a level -- that revealed Mr. Trump as unworthy of being our president."

ap16173674394575.jpg
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, speaks during a news conference to unveil a new gun legislation proposal, on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 21, 2016, in Washington. EVAN VUCCI, AP

She cited his mocking comments about a New York Times reporter with disabilities, his comments about Indiana Judge Gonzalo Curiel's Mexican heritage, and his feud with the family of the late Army Capt. Humayun Khan.

"I had hoped that we would see a 'new' Donald Trump as a general-election candidate -- one who would focus on jobs and the economy, tone down his rhetoric, develop more thoughtful policies and, yes, apologize for ill-tempered rants," she wrote. "But the unpleasant reality that I have had to accept is that there will be no 'new' Donald Trump, just the same candidate who will slash and burn and trample anything and anyone he perceives as being in his way or an easy scapegoat."

Other GOP senators -- especially those who are up for reelection this year -- have faced a delicate balance when it comes to Trump: most have said that they vowed to support the GOP nominee, but criticized Trump for specific comments or policy positions.

"I revere the history of my party, most particularly the value it has always placed on the worth and dignity of the individual, and I will continue to work across the country for Republican candidates," Collins concluded. "It is because of Mr. Trump's inability and unwillingness to honor that legacy that I am unable to support his candidacy."




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/republican-foreign-policy-officials-sign-anti-trump-letter/

Republican foreign policy officials sign anti-Trump letter
By JULIA BOCCAGNO CBS NEWS
August 8, 2016, 5:33 PM

Play VIDEO -- Gen. Hayden: Trump's comments on Putin and Crimea "devoid of facts"


Dozens of former Republican national security officials have signed a letter on Monday saying a Donald Trump presidency would "put at risk our country's national security and well-being."

"None of us will vote for Donald Trump," the letter, which was published Monday by the New York Times, says. The authors then go on to characterize the billionaire as unfit for the Oval Office, saying he lacks the moral authority, judgement and foreign policy expertise.

"Unlike previous Presidents who had limited experience in foreign affairs, Mr. Trump has shown no interest in educating himself," the letter said. "He continues to display an alarming ignorance of basic facts of contemporary international politics."

The letter features the signatures of many former George W. Bush cabinet members and policy advisors, including former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden, former intelligence chief John Negroponte and former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's argument that Trump lacks the stable temperament to control the U.S. nuclear arsenal also made its way into the statement, but several signatories said the Clinton campaign had no role in drafting it, the New York Times reported.

"A President must be disciplined, control emotions, and act only after reflection and careful deliberation," the letter said. "In our judgement, Mr. Trump has none of these critical qualities. He is unable or unwilling to separate truth from falsehood. He does not encourage conflicting views. He lacks self-control and acts impetuously."

The publication of this anti-Trump rhetoric follows a tumultuous week for Trump, and just after the Democratic party had already appeared to shift American sentiment their way with the help of a carefully-executed convention in Philadelphia.

Some Republicans have gone so far as to endorse Clinton. For example, outgoing New York Rep. Richard Hanna, a Republican, said last week that he will be voting for the Democratic nominee in November.



SUPPRESSING THE VOTE

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/despite-recent-rulings-voter-id-laws-could-still-scramble-calculus-in-november/

Despite recent rulings, voter ID laws could still scramble calculus in November
By EMILY SCHULTHEIS CBS NEWS
August 9, 2016, 5:59 AM

Play VIDEO -- N.C. voter ID law tossed by federal appeals court
Play VIDEO -- New poll: Clinton opens double-digit lead over Trump
Play VIDEO -- Full Video: Clinton responds to Trump's economic plan


Last week, Texas agreed to substantially soften its new voter ID law ahead of November's election, allowing voters there to cast ballots this fall even if they do not have one of the required photo IDs.

The Texas agreement was the latest in a string of victories for voting rights groups--but there are still more than a dozen states with new voting restrictions in place since 2012. And what's more, the high level of legal churn with mere months to go until Election Day creates the possibility for confusion at the polls, including in a handful of key battleground states.

"There is a lot that's in flux right now," said Jennifer Clark, counsel for the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. "This is really sort of the high season for litigating these restrictions ... if the election were held today, there would be 15 states where voters will find a more difficult time at the polls than the last time they went to vote for president in 2012."

Among those 15 states cited by the Brennan Center's research are traditional swing states like New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia--as well as some states that could be on the verge of competitive, like Arizona and Georgia.

New Hampshire and Virginia both have new, stricter voter ID laws in place, for example; Ohio has changed its rules for absentee and provisional ballots.

The battle over voting laws

Proponents of voter ID laws, which have largely been spearheaded by Republican-led legislatures around the country, argue that they're a necessary safeguard against the threat of voter fraud. Just last week, GOP nominee Donald Trump suggested in an interview that people could vote "like 10 times" in states without strict voter ID laws.

"The voter ID, they're fighting as hard as you can fight so that they don't have to show voter ID," Trump told The Washington Post in an interview last week. "So, what's the purpose of that? How many times is a person going to vote during the day? ... If you don't have voter ID, you can just keep voting and voting and voting."

Research has pushed back on the idea that voter fraud is widespread, with one report stating one is more likely to be struck by lightning than found to be impersonating someone else at the polls. And a Post investigation found just 31 credible instances of voter fraud from 2000 to 2014, out of an estimated 1 billion ballots cast in the U.S. during that period.

Voting rights groups argue that new restrictions like voter ID laws disproportionately affect certain segments of the population--many of which are key parts of the Democratic coalition. Young people, minorities and lower-income voters, especially in urban areas, can often lack the time or means necessary to obtain a government-issued photo ID.

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has consistently spoken out against what she said is Republican "fear-mongering" about a "phantom epidemic of election fraud." One of her first major policy prescriptions of the campaign was on voting rights; Clinton called for universal, automatic voter registration at a campaign event in Texas in June 2015.

"Republicans are systematically and deliberately trying to stop millions of American citizens from voting," Clinton said at the time. "What part of democracy are they afraid of? I believe every citizen has the right to vote--and I believe we should do everything we can to make it easier for every citizen to vote."

Recent legal action in key states

Based on the flurry of recent legal activity surrounding these laws, judges are increasingly siding more with Clinton's view on the issue. In every recent case where a law has been softened or postponed, judges cited the discriminatory effect the laws have on certain voters.

In Texas, for example, the law as it was passed required voters to show one of seven different photo IDs, including a driver's license and a passport. The lawsuit against the new requirements included evidence that up to 600,000 eligible voters didn't have any of the necessary IDs.

Under Texas' proposed new version, the forms of acceptable IDs have been expanded to include things like a utility bill, bank statement or any other government document that includes a voter's name and address.

In North Carolina, a federal appeals court said the state's 2013 voting law--which introduced new voter ID requirements, eliminated same-day registration and cut down on early voting--targeted minorities "with almost surgical precision."

"We cannot ignore the record evidence that, because of race, the legislature enacted one of the largest restrictions of the franchise in modern North Carolina history," the decision read.

And in mid-July, a judge in Wisconsin ruled against parts of the state's voting laws, denouncing the "preoccupation with mostly phantom election fraud." As a result, the state's strict voter ID law--as well as restrictions on early voting and several other provisions--are not slated to be in place for November.

"To put it bluntly, Wisconsin's strict version of voter ID law is a cure worse than the disease," U.S. District Court Judge James Peterson wrote in his decision.

What's being done to educate voters?

While the rulings are good news for voting rights groups, the down-to-the-wire nature of many of these legal battles create challenges for voters looking to show up to the polls in November--and for campaigns hoping to help encourage them to get there. State officials plan to appeal these rulings, though it's unclear whether any appeals could reinstate new voting restrictions ahead of November.

Virginia's strict photo ID law, for example, has been the subject of several lawsuits; while it's currently in place for November, that could still change.

"That's one of the reasons why this is all happening now in August: so that there's enough time before November for the rules to get in place and be widely publicized," Clark said. "This public education idea is huge."

States typically handle much of the effort to educate voters about the new laws and how they can prepare to comply with them, disseminating information to voters who are registered and providing resources so they can learn more about the process; in hotly contested elections years, campaigns often take similar measures.

The Clinton campaign is working to keep supporters updated about the most recent laws in their respective states: the campaign frequently monitors any changes in voting laws, and both updates its campaign materials and makes sure its organizers know the most recent requirements when they speak to voters.

And back in 2012, the Obama campaign made similar efforts to make sure supporters knew where and how to vote.

The campaign had dozens of staffers in its Chicago headquarters dealing with voting rights protection issues and monitoring the legal developments, and the campaign had a dedicated website providing state-by-state information about up-to-date requirements for voting.



Does every state that has one of these laws have to be sued individually to get them off the books? They probably each make their wording sufficiently different to give them a slightly different meaning which will then have to be adjudicated. I personally think that everything affecting elections -- voter suppression of all kinds, how elections are to be held, how party candidates are to be determined, the elimination of “Superdelegates,” caucuses, local variations on voter eligibility, the inclusion of early voting as a right, the elimination of the Electoral College, gerrymandering, etc. as things which divide the people from their inherent right to choose their leaders -- should be eliminated or strictly defined on a national level by a sweeping new law. State to state variations are the cause of much unfairness, as the particular party makeup of the legislatures causes widely differing rules of operation. Election year high jinks are always in the news, no matter what, but perhaps the Bad Boys will have to come up with some new dirty tricks.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/parents-of-two-americans-killed-in-benghazi-file-suit-against-hillary-clinton/

Parents of two Americans killed in Benghazi file suit against Hillary Clinton
By EMILY SCHULTHEIS CBS NEWS
August 8, 2016, 10:19 PM

Photograph -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton testifies before the House Select Committee on Benghazi, on Capitol Hill in Washington October 22, 2015. © JONATHAN ERNST / REUTERS, REUTERS
Play VIDEO -- Hillary Clinton and her trustworthiness
Play VIDEO -- Mother of Benghazi victim Sean Smith bashes Hillary


The parents of two of the Americans killed in the 2012 Benghazi attacks have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Democratic presidential nominee and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In the U.S. District Court case, Patricia Smith and Charles Woods, the parents of Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods, say the private email server Clinton used during her four years at the State Department was partly responsible for the attacks that killed four Americans.

"The Benghazi attack was directly and proximately caused, at a minimum by defendant Clinton's 'extreme carelessness' in handling confidential and classified information," the suit said, including potentially the location of State Department employees in Libya.

The suit also called it "highly probable" that Clinton had sent or received information about Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was also killed in the attack.

In July, FBI Director James Comey announced that after an investigation into Clinton's email practices the agency was recommending no charges against her, but noted that Clinton and her staff had been "extremely careless" in their handling of classified information.


The lawyer bringing the suit is Larry Klayman, the founder of the conservative watchdog groups Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch.

"Hillary Clinton has been thus far fortunate, throughout her career, to escape the long arm of the law, believing and acting as if she is above the law," Klayman said in a statement. "This time, her 'luck' has run out."

Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said the candidate sympathizes with the "pain" of the families of Smith and Woods, but that no investigations into the Benghazi attacks found Clinton had done anything wrong.

"While no one can imagine the pain of the families of the brave Americans we lost at Benghazi, there have been nine different investigations into this attack and none found any evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing on the part of Hillary Clinton."



Excerpts – “In the U.S. District Court case, Patricia Smith and Charles Woods, the parents of Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods, say the private email server Clinton used during her four years at the State Department was partly responsible for the attacks that killed four Americans. "The Benghazi attack was directly and proximately caused, at a minimum by defendant Clinton's 'extreme carelessness' in handling confidential and classified information," the suit said, including potentially the location of State Department employees in Libya. The suit also called it "highly probable" that Clinton had sent or received information about Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was also killed in the attack.” …. "While no one can imagine the pain of the families of the brave Americans we lost at Benghazi, there have been nine different investigations into this attack and none found any evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing on the part of Hillary Clinton."


This rhetoric gives no proof or even concrete examples of facts which the Republicans will have to defend their position in court. That’s because they don’t want to prove their case. They just want to continue their rants. Keep up the drumbeat and bring out the rabble.

“Partly responsible,” “extreme carelessness,” “potentially,” and “highly probable,” all give lots of wiggle room to the inflammatory statements. Unfortunately, we the PUBLIC will never see these “classified” (after the fact) Emails or the (also classified) studies on what the causes of the attack were determined to be. I doubt that it was because Stevens was on the site, and I doubt that those attackers even had access to her emails, much less found them useful. I don’t believe the emails caused a legitimated “stand down” order to have been made or to prove that any such thing actually did occur.

It obviously was a tactical error for Clinton to have used her personal server, and I personally wouldn’t have done that, but I don’t see it as evidence of her transmitting any illegal statements, commands or pieces of information. She was not the first Secretary of State to do so, including even George W Bush’s. Following suit is often a great mistake, but it is also a very common one and very human.


PSYCHOLOGY

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/science-misrepresents-unmarried-single-adults/

What science gets wrong about single life and marriage
By STEPHANIE PAPPAS LIVESCIENCE.COM
August 9, 2016, 3:20 PM

Photograph -- ELENA_ABRAZHEVICH, GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO


DENVER -- More than 100 million American adults are single, and science knows almost nothing about them, said one psychology researcher.

The science of singles is sorely lacking, said Bella DePaulo, author of "Singled Out: How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After" (St. Martin's Griffin, 2007). All those studies finding that married people are happier and healthier? They suffer from the fatal flaw of comparing two groups that may have been quite different before the decision on whether to tie the knot, he said. And they put singles at an unfair disadvantage by lumping in never-married people with people made single by divorce and widowhood.

"There are so many false beliefs out there about single people and single life," DePaulo told Live Science ahead of a talk Aug. 5 at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Denver. And those false beliefs are "sometimes presented as being based in research." [I Don't: 5 Myths About Marriage]

Singlehood in America

There are around 107 million single people over the age of 18 in the United States, including 93 million who aren't cohabitating, DePaulo said. About 63 percent of those people have never been married before. The never-married group is rising no matter how you slice it: A 2014 Pew Research Center study, for example, found that about 20 percent of adults over the age of 25 had never been married as of 2012, compared with only 9 percent in the same demographic in 1960. With marriage increasingly occurring later in life, people are spending more of their young adulthood single. U.S. Census data shows that the median age of first-time marriage is 29 for men and 27 for women. In 1960, the average woman was hitched by 20 and the average man by 23.

The cultural focus, DePaulo said, is still firmly on getting married. Everything from romantic comedies to government benefits urge walking the aisle. But economic opportunities for women and increased focus on forging individual paths to happiness means that there are more opportunities to stay single as a matter of choice, she said.

"We have to make space for the possibility that for some people, single life is their best life," she said.

The science of being single

This assertion seems to fly in the face of the bulk of the available psychology literature. Marriage, and long-term cohabitation, are associated with health benefits like survival after heart surgery and lower levels of stress and depression.

The problem is that studies that compare married and nonmarried people can't randomly assign people to get hitched or stay single; it's entirely possible that the sort of person who gets married is just different from the sort of person who doesn't. Another problem, DePaulo said, is that studies usually compare currently married people to currently single people. But those currently single people could have been previously married and divorced or widowed. Someone who is widowed might be very different from someone who is divorced, and both might be quite different from those who had never married. Nevertheless, the research lumps all these groups into the umbrella as "single."

A few studies that follow the same people over time find that when people go from unmarried to married or cohabitating, they see a slight uptick in happiness -- but this honeymoon effect soon fades. These people may also get a health boost, possibly linked to marriage benefits like getting on a spouse's health care plan, a 2012 study found. That same study also found, however, that singles who get married lose contact with outside family and friends, an insularity effect seen in multiple studies, DePaulo said. In contrast, single people keep up more diverse social ties, she said. [7 Things That Will Make You Happy]

"It seems to be the single people who, in important ways, are holding us together," she said. Singles also volunteer more, and single children are more likely than married children to take care of their aging parents, she said.

DePaulo is now interested in studying the "single at heart," a group of people who are happily and voluntarily single. She's developing a psychological scale to identify people who feel this way. Preliminary research suggests that there are some serious benefits to singlehood. For example, people who score high on the desire to spend time alone are less likely to be neurotic and more likely to be open-minded than are people who prefer to be surrounded with others. Single people also develop a diverse portfolio of skills -- they can't depend on a partner to do the taxes or cook dinner -- which may give them a sense of mastery over life, DePaulo said.

"What I think we really need to do is find out much more about what's important to single people, what their lives are like, what they value -- and that gives us a much fuller and fairer picture of the different ways of living a life," she said.




Excerpts – “DePaulo is now interested in studying the "single at heart," a group of people who are happily and voluntarily single. She's developing a psychological scale to identify people who feel this way. Preliminary research suggests that there are some serious benefits to singlehood. For example, people who score high on the desire to spend time alone are less likely to be neurotic and more likely to be open-minded than are people who prefer to be surrounded with others. Single people also develop a diverse portfolio of skills -- they can't depend on a partner to do the taxes or cook dinner -- which may give them a sense of mastery over life, DePaulo said. …. "What I think we really need to do is find out much more about what's important to single people, what their lives are like, what they value -- and that gives us a much fuller and fairer picture of the different ways of living a life," she said.”


I think it is definitely true that introverted people are much less likely to feel “lonely” when alone. As singles, they are less likely to be personally harassed or physically assaulted in their homes, less likely to be sexually mismatched than are their married peers, less likely to be in a quandary over how to use their money, less likely to be overwhelmed by the needs of children and husband/wife, and so on. In other words, they are free. For me, that is very important.

I think group oriented people are prone to “need” companionship, higher social status with the society at large, and more or less constant sexual activity, to the point that the sacrifice of their personal freedom seems to be the lesser of the two evils. Most couples, in my personal experience, aren’t actually totally happy with each other, as evidenced by the rate with which they cheat on their partners, but they are “used to each other,” which is a form of love, or in many cases is MORE IMPORTANT than love. I think people who are ROMANTIC in their turn of mind are less likely to be happily married unless their husband/wife really is highly competent in bed, and a caring person in general. There is no loneliness like the loneliness within a frigid and unsatisfying marriage.

Sex and making love are simply not the same thing, so a frequent supply of sex doesn’t satisfy everyone. I think a really good marriage is better and healthier than no marriage at all, certainly, but I can’t turn that concept around and mean it! As one of my maiden school teachers said, “It takes a mighty good man to be better than no man at all.” I understand that statement and agree with it, but many people don’t. If there are children to love and care for as well as a spouse, for me that would change the situation.

For me, who was twice married and in love four times, the bad effects of mismatching are worse than being single. I personally prefer being single to daily stress. I don’t have that same problem with friends. The relationship with a long term friend never makes me feel that I am being strangled, or on the other hand, ignored. To me, a sexual partner is very rarely “my best friend.”

I have met one “soul mate,” but that was far from an unsexual match, and yes it was a man. I prefer “serial monogamy,” with no children unless it’s a great marriage. It’s easier, and it’s usually more pleasant. When the sexual attraction begins to fail, the relationship can become hostile. In my twenties I did want a baby, but later when I was without a really suitable husband, I gave up that goal. I accept a reasonable and comfortable degree of personal happiness living on my own as being preferable to any amount of violence, hostility, venereal disease, a total lack of sympatico or intellectual incompatibility. I ask a lot.

In other words, I’m sure that this psychologist is correct. Those who like being married, over the long haul, are quite different from those who don’t, and I don’t think that society has any right whatsoever to demand of either men or women that they match up with someone of the opposite sex, bring forth offspring, or stick to one mate for the rest of their life. There can be a problem with venereal disease and unwanted pregnancy, but that’s what condoms are for.



ZIKA AND OTHER DISEASES AS OF AUGUST 9, 2016

Exact Zika Locations, including map

http://www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/zika-virus/index.html?utm_source=flhealthIndex

Zika Virus

Zika fever is a mild febrile illness caused by a mosquito-borne virus similar to those that cause dengue and West Nile virus infection. It has been identified in several countries in Central and South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean since 2015. Outbreaks have previously been reported in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Local transmission has also been reported in Puerto Rico. Cases of Zika fever have been reported in travelers returning to the United States.

Florida has confirmed local transmissions of the Zika virus in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. At this time, the department believes active transmissions of the Zika virus are occurring in a one-square mile area in Miami-Dade County, just north of downtown. The exact location is within the boundaries of the following area: NW 5th Avenue to the west, US 1 to the east, NW/NE 38th Street to the north and NW/NE 20th Street to the south. Florida’s small case cluster is not considered widespread transmission.

Update: Aug. 4, 2016 - 16:22 EST
The department has completed testing in a 10 block area of the northwest quadrant (see map below) of the one-square mile area and no people within the 10 block radius tested positive. The department has cleared that area and is continuing to test people within the one-square mile radius.

the department still believes active transmissions of the Zika virus are occurring in one small area in Miami-Dade County, just north of downtown. The exact location is within the boundaries of the following area: NW 5th Avenue to the west, US 1 to the east, NW/NE 38th Street to the north and NW/NE 20thStreet to the south, this area is about one square mile. The department has completed testing in a 10 block area of the northwest quadrant of the one-square mile area.



http://www.sun-sentinel.com/health/fl-zika-palm-beach-local-case-20160808-story.html

Palm Beach County gets first local case; S. Florida gets Zika safe sex billboards
Diane C. LadeContact Reporter
Sun Sentinel
August 9, 2016

Video -- Locally Acquired Zika Cases Rises In South Florida
Video -- Florida Gov: '4 People Likely Have Zika As A Result Of Mosquito Bite'
Related: Wasserman Schultz speaks to senior citizens about Zika virus
Pest companies cash in with Zika
Gov. Scott Tours Wynwood, Discuss Zika Battle
Zika Fight Goes Airborne
Zika Concerns Prompt Street By Street Sweep & Call For More Funding


Governor Scott announced Monday that state health officials are investigating Palm Beach County's first locally transmitted case of the Zika virus.

The infected person recently had been in Miami-Dade County, according to a written statement from the Governor's Office, and investigators are trying to determine the source of the infection.

Florida's 17 locally acquired cases in Miami-Dade and Broward counties are the first in the continental United States. Thirteen of those cases are clustered in a 1-square-mile area centered around Miami's Wynwood Arts District.

At this point, state health officials think active Zika transmission is taking place only in the Miami-Wynwood cluster area. Officials closed investigations into two Broward cases: one involved someone who had traveled to the Miami cluster area; the infection source for the second case could not be determined.

In early August, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its first-ever advisory against travel to a U.S. destination when it advised pregnant women not to visit the Miami-Wynwood area. Zika can cause severe birth defects if a woman is infected during pregnancy.

Zika virus: Latest news and updates

The Florida Department of Health on Monday reported six new travel-related cases statewide, including two in Miami-Dade. One was in Tallahassee's Leon County and the first for that area.

Florida now has a total of 429 cases, including 55 involving pregnant women.

Miami-Dade has 106 travel-related cases, the most of any county. Broward has 55, and Palm Beach County has 20.

Zika investigations include testing the close contacts of positive patients, as well as trapping and screening local mosquitoes to see whether they carry the virus. So far, none of the more than 23,000 insect samples tested by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has been positive. Spokeswoman Jennifer Meale said Palm Beach County was among those that had submitted samples.

Meanwhile, prevention continues to be stressed as Florida enters its typically hottest and rainiest months, which are mosquitoes' peak breeding time. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has unveiled three billboards with an unmistakable message: an image of a condom emblazoned with the words "Prevent Zika transmission."

Two of the signs are near the busy juncture of Interstate 95 and Interstate 595, close to Hollywood-Fort Lauderdale International Airport. The other billboard is in Homestead, along U.S. 1.

Scientific researchers, at first dubious, now agree that Zika can be sexually transmitted, although being bitten by an infected mosquito is the most common way to get the virus. Among the more than 1,800 Zika cases in the U.S. mainland, the CDC lists 16 as sexually transmitted.

The CDC has issued multiple updates on how couples — particularly those where one person is pregnant, or one person has traveled to a Zika hot spot — should protect themselves from sexual transmission. Recommendations are to use a condom or abstain from eight weeks to six months, depending on the situation.

The Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation placed the billboards in areas it previously targeted for safe sex campaigns, said spokesman W. Imara Canady. The media fever around Zika provides a good opportunity to educate everyone about safe sex, he said.

"We want to encourage people to be proactive about having healthy and safe sexual interactions," Canady said.



http://www.ibtimes.com/zika-virus-vaccine-florida-update-hillary-clinton-miami-urge-emergency-funding-2399176

Zika Virus Vaccine Florida Update: Hillary Clinton In Miami To Urge Emergency Funding, Congress To Reconvene
BY SUSMITA BARAL @SUSHBARAL ON 08/09/16 AT 9:19 AM


Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit the Borinquen Medical Center in Miami where, according to her aides, she will call for Congress to come back in session early and pass legislation to provide emergency funding for the Zika virus.

Prior to this month, known Zika cases in the U.S. were found in patients who had recently visited the Caribbean or Latin America. Last week, the Florida Department of Health pinpointed one neighborhood in Miami, Wynwood, where the virus is being transmitted by mosquitos. Gov. Rick Scott announced on Monday that the Florida Department of Health is investigating a potential outbreak in Palm Beach County.

President Barack Obama requested a $1.9 billion emergency spending request in February to tackle the virus. But Congress remained in a stalemate and went on a seven-week recess without coming to an agreement on the funding.

Currently there is no vaccine to prevent Zika — which primarily transmits from mosquitoes but can also spread via sex — or cure for it, but the National Institutes of Health is in its second phase of a clinical trial for a vaccine. Budgetary concerns leaves the future of the phase 2 trial murky, as the secretary of Health and Human Services warned that existing resources will be depleted by the end of the month.

Clinton, who supports the bill, has previously addressed the congressional gridlock in a Sun Sentinel op-ed, where she wrote that Congress “needs to act quickly to provide federal emergency funding.”

Clinton continued: “Zika is real. It’s dangerous. And if we’re serious about stopping this epidemic in its tracks, then there’s no time to waste.”


LATEST INFORMATION ON ZIKA VACCINE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlQHqAMj27Y
Published on Aug 5, 2016

Scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland, have developed a vaccine for the Zika virus. They received a strain of the virus from Puerto Rico in November 2015, and have since created a purified inactivated virus, like the flu shot. The vaccine is called ZPIV, and so far, it looks promising that military medical research will be a key contributor to preventing the continued spread of the Zika virus.

Category
Science & Technology
License
Standard YouTube License


VERY GOOD VIEWING:

EXCELLENT IN DEPTH INFORMATION ON VIRUS AND VACCINE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83-dIXicBjo

A Human Vaccine for the Zika Virus May Be Coming Sooner Than You Think
Zika Virus Vaccine
Vincent Racaniello
Published on Jul 25, 2016

The first experimental Zika virus vaccine has been published, and in this episode of Virus Watch, I explain how it works - it's a DNA vaccine - compared with all the other vaccines out there.

Category -- Science & Technology
License -- Standard YouTube License



ANOTHER SCARY DISEASE:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/seattle-woman-caught-deadly-infection-from-horse/

Doctors: Woman caught deadly infection from horse
By RACHAEL RETTNER LIVESCIENCE.COM
August 8, 2016, 2:33 PM

Photograph -- File photo. In a rare case, doctors say a Seattle woman died after contracting a bacterial infection from contact with a horse. GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO
12 PHOTOS -- 10 scary diseases pets give people
Related: [10 Deadly Diseases That Hopped Across Species]


An elderly woman in Seattle died from an infection that she appears to have contracted from a horse she rode, according to a new report.

The 71-year-old woman had visited her daughter, who operates a horse boarding and riding center in King County, Washington, the report said. During the week of Feb. 21, 2016, one of the horses developed nasal and eye discharge, suggesting the animal had an infection. The daughter treated the horse with antibiotics, and the animal recovered.

But that same week, the daughter developed a mild sore throat and cough, and her mother also showed symptoms of an upper respiratory infection. Both the mother and daughter had been in close contact with the horse, with the mother petting and riding the horse on at least two days, Feb. 25 and 29.

A few weeks later, on March 2, the mother experienced vomiting and diarrhea, and was later found unconscious. She was taken to the hospital, but died on March 3, the report said.

Officials collected a nasal swab from the previously sick horse, along with a swab of the daughter's throat and samples of the mother's blood. All three samples tested positive for the same strain of bacteria, called Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus (or S. zooepidemicus for short.) This type of bacteria is known to infect animals, including horses, pigs and cats.

It's rare that people get sick from S. zooepidemicus, the report said. When infections in people do occur, they can cause a variety of symptoms, including chills, weakness, difficulty breathing, fever, kidney inflammation and arthritis.

People can become infected with S. zooepidemicus by consuming unpasteurized dairy products. But the daughter said that she and her mother hadn't consumed any unpasteurized dairy products, nor did they have contact with other animals, except one healthy cat.

"[The] evidence from this investigation linked a fatal S. zooepidemicus infection to close contact with an ill horse," the report said.

The mother may have been at increased risk for infection because of her age. It also remains unclear if the woman's respiratory symptoms preceded or followed her infection with S. zooepidemicus. (It's possible that the respiratory symptoms were from a separate infection, which in turn could have made the woman more vulnerable to S. zooepidemicus, the report said.)

The researchers recommend that people thoroughly wash their hands after contact with horses or other animals.

More research is needed to better understand factors that put people at risk for catching S. zooepidemicus from animals, as well as the different symptoms people who get infected can experience, the report said.

The report is published in the Aug. 5 issue of the journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.



There is no form of Strep that isn’t a severe, potentially dangerous thing. It is one of the two “flesh-eating” bacteria, causes a severe sore throat with a temperature of well over 101 degrees, and anyone with a lowered immunity system may die from it. I will be more careful from now on about washing my hands after touching a beautiful cat or dog.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-links-rising-temperatures-to-increase-in-waterborne-illnesses/

Study links rising temperatures to increase in waterborne illnesses
AP August 8, 2016, 5:18 PM

Photograph -- In this Monday, Sept. 12, 2013 file photo, an oyster cultivator holds oyster seed before spreading it into the waters of Duxbury Bay in Duxbury, Mass. AP


WASHINGTON D.C. -- A new study clearly connects rising temperatures to increases in waterborne food-poisonings and other infections.

About a dozen species of vibrio bacteria make people sick from eating raw or undercooked seafood, particularly oysters, or drinking or swimming in tainted water. It also causes cholera, although that disease was not included in the research, which focused on Europe and North America.

Study lead author Rita Colwell of the University of Maryland says researchers had indirectly linked climate change to more illnesses from the bacteria. Using DNA, a 50-year database of plankton, water temperatures and disease reports, she shows a more comprehensive connection.

The study is in Monday's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.



“Study lead author Rita Colwell of the University of Maryland says researchers had indirectly linked climate change to more illnesses from the bacteria. Using DNA, a 50-year database of plankton, water temperatures and disease reports, she shows a more comprehensive connection.” I have long known that we should never eat oysters “in a month that doesn’t have an R in it.” All of those months are warm weather months, which creates warm water and more vibrio. I do hope that the emergence of Zika so far north isn’t because of Global Warming. Problems like this may be the things that will make us less able to survive due to all that Koch Brothers influence on our world.