https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fauci-delta-variant-covid-america-b1875572.html

Fauci warns Delta variant will produce ‘two Americas’ for vaccinated and unvaccinated

‘If you are not vaccinated, you are at considerable risk’

Speaking with CNN’s Don Lemon on Tuesday evening, Dr Fauci warned that he is “very concerned” about the risk that areas with low vaccination rates face – and pose to the rest of society.

He said he is particularly worried now that the highly contagious Delta variant, which originated in India, accounts for more than a quarter of all Covid-19 cases in the US.

“When you have such a low level of vaccination superimposed upon a variant that has a high degree of efficiency of spread, what you are going to see among under-vaccinated regions, be that states, cities or counties, you're going to see these individual types of blips,” he said. “It's almost like it's going to be two Americas.”

The good news, Dr Fauci, who leads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said, is that the worst impacts could be avoided by boosting vaccinations.

https://www.metro.us/microsoft-executive-says-u-s/

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States government is overusing its secret subpoena power to routinely gather vast amounts of data on American internet users, a senior Microsoft executive said in prepared testimony to Congress released on Wednesday.

In remarks for a U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee hearing, the executive said that in the last five years Microsoft had received 2,400 to 3,500 secrecy orders a year and that U.S. courts provided little by way of meaningful oversight.

Tom Burt, a vice president for customer security and trust, said that American law enforcement was ordering Microsoft to stay quiet about between one third to one quarter of the requests for data that it received, “developing a practice of reflexively asking to keep even routine investigations secret.”

Burt said that while the effort to target lawmakers and reporters disturb many Americans, “what may be most shocking is just how routine court-mandated secrecy has become when law enforcement targets Americans’ emails, text messages, and other sensitive data stored in the cloud.”

https://www.state.gov/proposing-changes-to-the-departments-policies-on-gender-on-u-s-passports-and-consular-reports-of-birth-abroad/

Most immediately, we will be updating our procedures to allow applicants to self-select their gender as “M” or “F” and will no longer require medical certification if an applicant’s self-selected gender does not match the gender on their other citizenship or identity documents. The Department has begun moving towards adding a gender marker for non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming persons applying for a passport or CRBA. We are evaluating the best approach to achieve this goal. The process of adding a gender marker for non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming persons to these documents is technologically complex and will take time for extensive systems updates. The Department will also be working closely with its interagency partners to ensure as smooth a travel experience as possible for the passport holder. As we work towards this longer-term goal of making available a gender marker for non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming persons seeking a passport or CRBA, the Department will provide updates on the process and any interim solutions via our website: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-passport/selecting-your-gender-marker.html.