So the alligators that were supposed to be here last week have now arrived.
"An Indiana mother who warned authorities that her 14-year-old son was about to shoot up a middle school is now facing six felony charges in connection with the incident." Because her son's mental health treatments weren't covered by their medical insurance, and she couldn't afford self-pay. (Grokked from Vincent O'Connor)
"Thread:… A lot of white people were shocked to learn about the bombing of Tulsa from HBO's "Watchmen" while most black people are familiar with the bombing of Black Wall Street… Even historians mention these events as isolated incidents." A twitter thread about the history of race riots, the persecution of blacks after the Civil War, and a little on how party ideology flipped in the 60s. And just a general note, for the village I live in (and I didn't know this at the time I moved there), the "official, published" history included the date and person who killed the last Native American living in the area (it no longer does after I was asked to design the chamber of commerce brochure in 2001). (Grokked from a lot of people)
"America is wonderful and we're producing so much energy and it's so cheap and wonderful and it will always be like this because America!" say many people who don't dig into the details of just how our energy is produced. "The Houston oil field services company Halliburton is bracing for a prolonged slump in demand for hydraulic fracturing services in the United States and Canada as the latest version of the shale boom loses momentum and the oil and gas industry again faces the prospects of another downturn." Shale Oil boom goes "meh." Boy, I sure hope we used all those Good Times™ to get our renewable energy ducks in a row. And now you know why Saudi Arabia and OPEC have been making sure oil prices are "low" (well, just low enough). Remind me how long it took to ramp up the shale oil production. (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
More guns make us safer! "A 15-year-old Uber passenger was shot in the ankle Sunday when her Florida driver's gun fired as he moved it, police said." Ah, another coin paid in the price for freedom. Safety first, everybody.
"After four days of a strike by more than 32,000 Chicago Public Schools teachers and staff, workers are still picketing, kids are still out of class, and negotiators from the unions and the Chicago mayor's office are still at the bargaining table." The headline states the perception of unions (when will it be over). It'll be over when both sides come to an agreement about what is best for the kids; teachers overworked and underpaid, or a fully staffed school. Note the school staff is also striking as they negotiate their contract as well.
How goes Brexit? "On Tuesday, a majority of MPs (Members of Parliament) signaled their support for the agreement that Johnson reached with the other 27 EU nations last week. However, in a follow up vote just 15 minutes afterwards, they refused to rush through the necessary legislation to leave the EU in three working days… Media reports in Britain suggest that Downing Street will push for an election if Brexit is delayed until January."
"UK police have confirmed 39 people were found in a truck in an industrial estate east of London."
"Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in the southern Russian resort city of Sochi on Tuesday with a shared agenda of shaping the endgame in Syria's eight-year civil war… The two leaders unveiled a 10-point memorandum of understanding with an unstated bottom line: The Americans do not have a place in shaping the future of Syria… The deal also implies that the Kurds have a new guarantor. After President Donald Trump effectively abandoned the Kurds, by ordering the sudden withdrawal of US forces from Syria and leaving the YPG exposed to a Turkish advance, that role now falls to the Russians."
"Russia has warned Kurdish forces to quickly withdraw from the Turkey-Syria border - after a deal between Moscow and Ankara - or be crushed by the Turkish army, adding that they United States had 'betrayed and abandoned' the Syrian fighters." It's almost like Trump's precipitous withdraw and later statements on how the US owes nothing to the Kurds plays right into Putin's hands, like it was planned or something.
"U.S. troops leaving Syria and heading to neighboring Iraq do not have permission to stay in the country, Iraq’s military said Tuesday as American forces continued to pull out of northern Syria after Turkey’s invasion of the border region." I guess someone forgot to phone ahead.
"President Donald Trump has insisted there was no 'quid pro quo' in his dealings with the Ukrainian government, and 'no pressure' on Ukraine's president to open an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son… But in his remarkable 15-page statement delivered to Congress on Tuesday, Trump's top diplomat to Ukraine painted a picture of both." And of course the president would say (and force others to say) there was no quid pro quo when that was exactly what was going on. That is, after all, the standard SCOTUS placed on political corruption cases.
"The top US diplomat in Ukraine notified House investigators that he was told that the release of military aid to Kiev would depend on a pledge to probe the 2016 election and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, leads Trump by 10 points in a hypothetical 2020 general election matchup." So far, everything seems to match up to the whistleblower's account.
No comments:
Post a Comment