"First China was hit by the novel coronavirus. Now it is dealing with the worst flooding in more than 20 years across vast swaths, from its southwestern interior to its east coast."
"Mauritians are making floating booms of human hair and leaves in a round-the-clock scramble to mop up oil leaking from a grounded Japanese ship onto their pristine Indian Ocean beaches."
"When he died in 1917, Rodin left his estate to the museum, including the original plaster molds of more than 100 sculptures. 'Rodin gave the economical system so that the museum could live,' museum communications director Clémence Goldberger explains… The museum still uses these molds to recast new bronze sculptures and sell them — and with a projected loss of 3 million euros this year, the molds have never proved more valuable."
"The U.S. has hit 5 million confirmed coronavirus cases — just 17 days after crossing the 4 million mark — as lawmakers and states continue to grapple with how to chart a path back to normal as the pandmic continues to rage on." Here it comes.
"It's a busy time for the tomato-producing farms in eastern Tennessee. Farms have staffed up with hundreds of workers, most of whom are Latino. Some live locally. Others are migrant workers who travel from farm to farm, chasing the summer growing seasons. Still others come from Mexico or Central America on temporary agricultural visas to work at certain farms."
"More than 97,000 children in the US tested positive for coronavirus in the last two weeks of July, a new report says… The report, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association, said in those two weeks, there was a 40% increase in child cases across the states and cities that were studied." And that was before they opened the schools.
"A Georgia high school that came under scrutiny last week when a student shared a photo of a crowded hallway will temporarily move to virtual learning after it reported nine cases of Covid-19, according to a letter the school district sent to parents Sunday… "'The virus isn't being transmitted by the school, it's being transmitted by the people who attend the school,' (Dr. Jonathan Reiner) said. 'It's in the community. Disinfecting the school isn't going to have a big impact.'" I love how schools are saying that wearing a mask is a personal choice and they can't enforce it, yet they're more than happy to police student's clothing, hair, and even forbid them from wearing pajamas if the schooling is virtual. In other words, it's bullshit that they can't enforce mask wearing. They just don't want to.
"In fact, though many advocates of returning to in-person schooling maintain that it should be done precisely for children’s psychological health, they are failing to appreciate how the significant changes necessitated by the pandemic will render schools nearly unrecognizable. No lesser authority than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging schools to reopen in order to provide 'the development of social and emotional skills' and a 'safe environment for learning.' But schools can’t fill those needs while an epidemic is raging. It is quite possible that reopening schools could actually be worse for children." An opinion piece.
"I keep thinking about Sharpies." McSweenys is usually good for a laugh. This is not one of those articles.
"Police in New York surrounded a Black Lives Matter organizer's apartment Friday morning for an imminent arrest before a protest group showed up in his defense, leading to a standoff and causing law enforcement to leave the scene." Sure you can trust the police. But always ask to see the warrant, no matter what they say.
"Hundreds of people looted high-end shops on Chicago's Magnificent Mile overnight and early Monday morning, with police officers exchanging gunfire with at least one individual, according to Chicago officials."
When I hear police talk about how they've never been disrespected more I just laugh. Dudes, seriously, I remember the late 60s and 70s. "Starting in 1965, summer after summer, America's cities burned. There was civil unrest in more than 150 cities across the country. So in 1967, Lyndon Johnson appointed a commission to diagnose the root causes of the problem and to suggest solutions. What the so called 'Kerner Commission' returned with was hotly anticipated and shocking to many Americans. This week, how that report and the reaction to it continues to shape American life." Here we are, 50 years later, and it's the same damn thing.
"State oil giant Saudi Aramco's profit has plunged 73 percent in the second quarter of the year, as a slump in energy demand and prices due to the coronavirus crisis hit sales at the world's biggest oil exporter." How do you like the IPO now? Although they're still paying the promised dividend.
People are increasingly remodeling and adding on to their homes. "Homeowners are likely getting extra incentive from the record high amount of home equity they now have. Home prices continue to gain, despite the economic downturn, as demand for housing soars." I've seen this movie before.
"McDonald’s is trying to recover millions in compensation it paid out to former CEO Steve Easterbrook by suing him for allegedly lying during the company’s internal probe into his behavior, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission."
"More than 5,800 Americans gave up their citizenship in the first six months of 2020 compared to the 2,072 Americans who renounced their citizenship in all of 2019, according to Bambridge Accountants, a New York-based firm specializing in US expat tax, UK expats, actors and other creatives in the US and the UK." So much winning.
"The BBC initially defended the use of the slur after more than 18,600 complaints were made… Lord Hall said he now accepts the BBC should have taken a different approach."
"Two European aid groups said Monday that seven of the eight people killed by gunmen in a Niger giraffe park were aid workers working for them in the West African country. The six French citizens and one Nigerien killed on Sunday were working for Paris-based NGO ACTED and Geneva-based IMPACT Initiatives, they said in a joint statement on Monday. The other victim was their Nigerien guide."
"A US cabinet member met Taiwan’s president on Monday - a move that has angered China and increased tensions between Washington and Beijing."
"There’s a standard way the conversation on 'cancel culture' goes: on the one side, male comedians and right-wingers saying cancel culture is out of control, you can't say anything anymore without getting dragged. On the other, progressive think piece writers saying cancel culture is blown way out of proportion, and is really just powerful people finally being held accountable for their actions. But according to YouTuber Natalie Wynn, creator of the channel ContraPoints, neither of these argument is quite correct." The On the Media podcast on cancel culture.
"Facebook employees collected evidence showing the company is giving right-wing pages preferential treatment when it comes to misinformation. And they’re worried about how the company will handle the president’s falsehoods in an election year."
"It's not possible to carve a fifth president's face into South Dakota's Mount Rushmore national memorial — there's no secure surface left, according to the National Park Service… But that didn't stop the Trump administration from asking."
"At his Bedminster, N.J., golf resort on Saturday, President Trump signed four executive actions to provide economic relief amid the coronavirus pandemic. The actions amount to a stopgap measure, after failing to secure an agreement with Congress… The three memorandums and one executive order call for extending some enhanced unemployment benefits, taking steps to stop evictions, continuing the suspension of student loan repayments and deferring payroll taxes." On the unemployment benefits, the states (who are cash strapped themselves) need to come up with an extra $100 a week. Anyone placing bets on how many will be able to do that? Plus the money is coming out of FEMA emergency funds… at the beginning of what is predicted to be an intense hurricane season. And for the payroll taxes, they're deferred until the end of the year. Which means you still owe them, they just won't be deducted from your pay. So you'll owe everything all at once. Unless Congress acts to make it permanent (the president can't do that, even though he promised it). These payroll taxes pay for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Those programs don't act as savings plans, they spend all the money they take in every month. So that is a cynical move to end our nations social safety nets.
"Top Democrats on Sunday criticized President Donald Trump's executive actions on coronavirus relief as 'absurdly unconstitutional' and 'way off base.'"
More on those executive orders. "But a close read of the actual text of executive actions he signed Saturday suggests that even if they are deemed constitutional, they will not quickly deliver the aid Trump promised. They may not deliver much at all."
Maybe it's easier to see when it's not us. "As we approach November’s contentious presidential election, what lessons can we learn from divided societies abroad? This week, On the Media travels to Poland, where conspiracy, xenophobia and the rise of illiberalism have the country in an existential fight for its future. On the Media producer Leah Feder reports."
"House GOP leaders raced to disavow a Republican congressional candidate who made racist Facebook videos and embraced the QAnon conspiracy theory. But less than two months later, the party has done little to block Marjorie Taylor Greene from winning a seat in the House… Now, Republicans could be days away from adding their most controversial member yet to the conference in a runoff election in Georgia on Tuesday — a scenario that some lawmakers say should have been entirely avoided." Just like the Social Conservative take over of the Tea Party and their integration into the GOP it's now almost too late for the GOP to avoid QAnon. Good job, GOP.
"Attorney General William Barr has promised the Justice Department will not take any action to influence the upcoming election. But Democrats and department veterans aren't so sure about that."
"Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced a massive reorganization to the US Postal Service's leadership structure on Friday, amid calls from Democrats to investigate recent changes resulting in delayed mail deliveries. A surge of mail-in ballots is expected in the 2020 presidential election." Yes, conservatives are trying to steal the election, again.
"Already under fire for recent policy changes at the USPS that mail carriers from within and outside critics have denounced as a sabotage effort to undermine the Postal Service broadly as well as disrupt efforts to carry out mail-in voting for November’s election amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the moves unveiled late Friday were viewed as an overt assault on democracy and a calculated opportunity to boost Republicans’ long-held dream of undercutting or privatizing the government-run mail service while also boosting their election prospects in the process."
"Last year, President Donald Trump's administration tried to pressure intelligence agencies to delete part of a classified report that found Russia was trying to help him win the 2020 election, according to an investigation by The New York Times Magazine." And then Dan Coats was fired for not changing it, and the report was changed after his departure.
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