Linkee-poo for a weekend

Well, that was a lovely trip.

"But hospital administrators recognize the indirect consequences of mass shootings — the far-reaching ripple effects on an entire community — like the distress people experience when they're separated from sick loved ones during a lockdown… They're trying to fix it."

"Nearly 63 years after the brutal, racist killing of Emmett Till, a black 14-year-old from Chicago who was visiting family in Mississippi, the Justice Department has reopened the investigation into the killing."

"How much medical marijuana is in the pipeline in Oregon? The managers of the state’s program concede that they simply don’t know because of lax reporting by producers and a lack of site inspectors." Trying really hard to not make a stoner joke here.

"A Houston woman accused of offering to sell her 2-year-old daughter for sex at a cost of $1,200 has been sentenced to 40 years in prison."

"A major change which aims to keep more weapons out of the wrong hands is in the works for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's gun background check process." Yeah, don't think it's going to help. But at least they can say they're trying.

"On Thursday, two days after its original deadline, the Trump administration announced that it has complied with the first part of a court order to return the nearly 3,000 migrant children separated from their parents in recent months." Except they didn't really, but they have reasons. Yeah, we're going to need to see some paperwork.

"The second-quarter earnings season kicked off Friday as expected with big banks JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. beating expectations and Wells Fargo falling short, but all three stocks fizzled in early trade as the numbers failed to inspire investors."

"Papa John's founder John Schnatter will be removed from the pizza chain's branding after his use of the N-word forced his exit from the company."

"Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) is facing scrutiny after he appeared in a promotional video in which he seemed surprised that black schoolchildren play chess." (Grokked from Jim Wright)

"The bond market is sounding an alarm on the economy as 'yield curve' spread hits narrowest in 11 years on Friday." Say, what was 11 years ago? Everybody grab something, it's going to get rough. (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)

"Republican attacks on federal law enforcement have helped the Russian effort to spark chaos within the United States, an embattled top FBI counterintelligence agent told Congress on Thursday… The hearing was often raucous and seemed at times more like a TV comedy about Congress than a real committee hearing."

"Stephen Colbert isn't one for deep dives, but Thursday night on 'The Late Show,' the host ripped into House Republicans over the dysfunctional, combative hearing in which FBI agent Peter Strzok was questioned extensively in front of the House Judiciary Committee, with digs into both his credibility and his judgement. Colbert dedicated his entire opening monologue to the battle in Congress Thursday."

Before Pruitt, there was Price. "The government wasted at least $341,000 on travel by ousted Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, including booking charter flights without considering cheaper scheduled airlines, an agency watchdog said Friday."

"Counter terrorism detectives investigating the contamination of two people by the nerve agent Novichok believe they have found the source of the deadly substance… On Wednesday, 11 July, a small bottle was recovered during searches of Charlie Rowley’s house in Amesbury." (Grokked from Dan)

What happened at NATO? "Donald Trump promised to run the White House like a business, and that business appears to be a reality television production company." "The former White House official said Arangio's just-the-facts approach put her at odds with top Trump aide Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner, and others involved with the Domestic Policy Council, especially on the issue of refugees… 'She has fought to correct misleading information about refugees and migrants provided to the president by Miller and the DPC,' the former White House official said." And for that, apparently, she had to go. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer) "The Justice Department charged 12 Russian intelligence officers on Friday with a litany of alleged offenses related to Russia's hacking of the Democratic National Committee's emails, state election systems and other targets in 2016." Surprise, Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks are both Russian GRU operatives. (Waves to my Russian friends) "The indictment brought by special counsel Robert Mueller alleges that the unidentified candidate made the electronic request on Aug. 15, 2016, and in return received 'stolen documents related to the candidate’s opponent.'" Guccifer 2.0 also related documents to other lobbyists and political actors. (Insert that rubbing chin while thinking emoji here). (Grokked from Dan) "The White House is stressing that the new indictment against 12 Russian military intelligence officers contains no allegations of knowing involvement by anyone on the Trump campaign or that the hacking the Russians are accused of conducting affected the outcome of the 2016 presidential election." Actually, not so much. In other reports right after then candidate Trump said he'd be appreciative is Russia could find the "missing" Clinton emails there was an increase of fishing attempts and hacking attacks on the DNC (which doesn't track, because it's not like they had the emails).