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The good ole boys at my Toyota dealership in North Carolina—one of the oldest, I understand, in the nation- will have their jobs cut out trying to sell me a new model. Kudos to those readers who have already raised hell. Thank you, Robert, for refocusing attention on the Texas Democrats who have a rough fight ahead. They are in some ways the bell weather for the rest of the South. I have supported a couple of candidates in the Pennsylvania race in the past and will so in the future. I receive so much good from this daily newsletter, and I know others do, too.

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Jul 9, 2021Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Did I miss something that made a meeting at the WH over voting rights hopeful? Are Manchin or Sinema coming to reason over the filibuster? Did the SCOTUS  not recently support racial restrictions on voting? How is Biden meeting with Civil Rights leaders not preaching to the choir? How is this hopeful? What did I miss?

Janet Sobel

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As I said, "reading tea leaves." Biden and Schumer are talking too positively if there is no "deal" with Manchin and Sinema.

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Jul 9, 2021Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Emailed from Whitehouse Website 07.09.2021

Dear President Biden and Vice-President Harris,

Thank you for meeting with The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and other prominent Civil Rights leaders.

Your demonstration of support during this period, where voters’ rights are being openly threatened, couldn’t be more vital in reassuring people of color that the Biden-Harris administration has their back!

The passage of S1/HR1, the For The People Act, will, once and for all, demonstrate that our democracy stands strong against the most serious & blatant white supremacy authoritarian threats.

Stay strong and know the majority of Americans admire & support you!

Very Sincerely, Susan

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Wonderful! Thanks for doing your part!

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Greetings Robert and fellow readers,

I was happy to see the comments in today's edition regarding discovering a false, in fact opposite, headline describing a scientific finding. As a research scientist and advocte for responsible and accurate information being made available to the public (and certainly to other medical providers and researchers) I have seen instances, time and again of gross distortions of the actual findings of other scientists and in fact, twisting the rules at meetings to suppress voicing or publishing data that reveals important life-saving information needed by professionals to make good decisions regarding patient care. I suspect that often this is due to monied interests surpressing information that would reduce their income or control of some corner of the medical or commercial marketplace. To understand the scope of manipulation of medical and scientific information, read The Cigarette Century https://www.amazon.com/Cigarette-Century-Persistence-Product-Defined-ebook/dp/B001OCEJFK/ which reveals how the tobacco industry wrote the book on disinformation campaigns.

My immediate concern has been persistent disinformation regarding the role of vitamin D in human health. For at least two decades, perhaps longer, physicans and other providers have been bombarded with disinformation regarding the role of vitamin D (it is actually a hormone that controls over 2000 genes, some of which are key to control of the immune system.) Effectively, when the body in Vitamin D deficient, the immune system is running blind. During COVID, this has been noticed by doctors and scientists across the globe who have published more than a hundred peer reviewed articles on the topic of COVID and Vitamin D deficiency.

Vitamin D deficiency among African Americans and other dark skinned populations was acknowledged by NIH to be an epidemic levels well prior to COVID. The disproportionate toll in people of color, those whose skin pigment reduces absortion of sunlight reducing production of vitamin D, is clear. Since many 'underlying conditions', diabetes, heart disease, cancer, hypertension, kidney disease, allergies (to name a few), can be related to vitamin D deficiency, many COVID deaths may be related this larger issue.

Thank you Robert for continuing to remind us to keep active with efforts to protect democracy, including to hone a skeptical eye toward media. Our lab offered up this peer reviewed paper in May of 2020 to bring more detail to the role of vitamin D deficiency and air pollution in exacerbation of of COVID-19. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32671009/ Perhaps the perspective will be useful.

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The sad part of the story is that the newspaper reporter was misled by a university press release that mischaracterized the researcher findings. Unfortunately, labs at universities compete for money and headlines may help. thanks for your links. i will check them out.

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Thank you, Mardi. As a retired Library and Information Sciences professor, I too applaud attention to the corrosive effect of blind adherence to Internet news truth. It is time to return to the rigors and the freedom of liberal arts education. There just has to be more to life than making a buck!

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Jul 9, 2021Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Thank you for providing the link to 31st Street Swing Left. I love the opening photo! We will be 'attending' that PA fundraiser thanks to you.

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Great!

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Corrected reference to Pennsylvania REPUBLICANS asking for an audit of 2020

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Hi Robert and readers,

This Politico opinion piece offers a different take on where we’re at that resonated with me. It ties in with your focus that getting out the vote in 2022 is the most important thing we can do

https://www.politico.com/amp/news/magazine/2021/07/11/democrats-trapped-republicans-bend-rules-498854

Holly

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You and your managing editor sustain me, Mr. Hubbell. Thank you.

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