January 1, Has Biden Picked Kamala Harris?

This Day in History | 1958

The U.S. Congress passes legislation establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a civilian agency responsible for coordinating America’s activities in space, on July 29, 1958. NASA has since sponsored space expeditions, both human and mechanical, that have yielded vital information about the solar system and universe. It has also launched numerous earth-orbiting satellites that have been instrumental in everything from weather forecasting to navigation to global communications.

Good Morning Middle Americans, 

A mistaken report by Politico and a photo of his notes captured by an Associated Press photog has many suspecting his top candidate for the job is Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif. We have a link to the pic below.   Billionaire Bill Gates tells CNBC that misinformation has a tendency to spread faster than the truth on social media services. And, The American Federation of Teachers, which represents 1.7 million school employees, has now issued a resolution saying they will support any local chapter that decides to strike over reopening plans.This while there is not one reported case of a student spreading COVID-19 to a teacher. 

Read all about it. 

-Fraser Dixon

Biden’s Notes Suggest Kamala Harris May Be His Chosen Running Mate

(Fox News) – Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has kept quiet on who he is going to announce to be his running mate next week, but a mistaken report by Politico and a photo of his notes captured by an Associated Press (AP) photographer Tuesday has many suspecting his top candidate for the job is Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.

“Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris to become his running mate for the 2020 election on Aug. 1, two weeks before the Democratic National Convention, after keeping his choice close to the chest for months,” Politico wrote.

Though the publication removed the story and issued an apology, saying to Fox News Tuesday night that they regretted the “error and any confusion that is caused,” an AP story released a story the same evening that told a similar story.

A photographer grabbed a shot of Biden’s handwritten notes with a section titled “Kamala Harris,” which was followed by a list of attributes.

“Do not hold grudges.” “Campaigned with me & Jill.” “Talented.” “Great help to campaign.” “Great respect for her.”

Harris, a presidential candidate before dropping out in 2019, has endorsed and campaigned for Biden since March. But she once was one of his most ardent opponents on the campaign trail, criticizing his stance on busing for school integration in the 1970s.

“Do you agree today that you were wrong to oppose busing in America?” Harris asked Biden on a debate stage in Miami in June 2019.

Read more here

Bill Gates: Lies Spread Faster than Facts on Social Media, Which is Hard to Police

(CNBC) – Billionaire Bill Gates told CNBC that misinformation has a tendency to spread faster than the truth on social media services.

“When you let people communicate, you have to deal with the fact that certain incorrect things that are very titillating can spread very rapidly compared to the truth. And we’ve always seen that with vaccines,” Gates said in an interview with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin that aired Tuesday on “Squawk Box.” 

Facts travel slowly on social media compared with “negative” misinformation, which makes it difficult for companies like Facebook and Twitter to strike a balance, Gates said.

“To the degree to which these media companies can see what’s being said on their platform and take things that are absolutely wrong and get rid of those things or slow those things down, that’s very tough,” the Microsoft co-founder said in Monday’s interview. 

Further complicating the policing of misinformation for Facebook is its 2019 decision to encrypt users’ direct messaging on WhatsApp, Gates said.

“Some of the messages on their platform, they don’t even see because of the encryption on WhatsApp,” Gates said. “In order to not have any responsibility, they’ve made that opaque. You know, so whatever the issues — anti-vaccine, child pornography — they have made sure they can’t intervene on those things.”

Gates also weighed in on Wednesday’s highly anticipated antitrust hearing featuring CEOs from Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.

Find out more here

National Teacher Union Supports Strikes Over Reopening Plans

(San Francisco Chronicle) – One of the nation’s largest teachers unions is authorizing its members to strike if their schools plan to reopen without proper safety measures in the middle of the global pandemic.

The American Federation of Teachers, which represents 1.7 million school employees, issued a resolution on Tuesday saying it will support any local chapter that decides to strike over reopening plans.

In providing its blessing, the union is also offering local chapters access to its financial and legal resources as they navigate a return to the classroom. Union officials said they will provide legal support, communications support and staffing to local chapters that vote to strike.

Learn more here