"A series of tornado warnings have been issued for parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware as Tropical Storm Isaias headed toward the region." Stay safe my East Coast friends.
"In most cases, paleontologists are at least 66 million years too late to give dinosaurs medical exams. The living animals perished long, long ago. But every now and then, fossil hunters uncover a bone with signs of injury or disease–what experts call pathologies. And in the case of a particular bone found in the roughly 75 million-year-old rock of Alberta, a medical examination has revealed that dinosaurs suffered from a cancer that afflicts humans today."
"The question of whether ancient life could have existed on Mars centres on the water that once flowed there, but new research published Monday suggests that many of the Red Planet's valleys were gouged by icy glaciers not rivers."
"In the brief clip, we watch as the capsule’s pressure wave ionizes atmospheric particles. As Forbes notes, re-entering space vehicles create a lot of pressure. So much so that they turn the atmosphere around them into 'a superheated shroud of incandescent plasma.'"
"NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley returned from orbit with their senses of humor intact… The duo splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, Florida, Sunday (Aug. 2), wrapping up SpaceX's historic Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station. Behnken and Hurley had a bit of time to kill as they waited for recovery crews to fish out and inspect their Crew Dragon capsule, so they decided to make a few calls." Like you do.
"Do you have an onion in your kitchen? Yep, me too. Pop quiz: What farm or distributor did that onion come from? If you can’t answer that question, you should probably throw it out." Welcome to your industrialized farm system.
On opening up schools amid a pandemic. "The governor has told us we have to open our schools to students on August 17th, or else we miss out on five percent of our funding. I run a high-needs district in middle-of-nowhere Arizona. We’re 90 percent Hispanic and more than 90 percent free-and-reduced lunch. These kids need every dollar we can get. But covid is spreading all over this area and hitting my staff, and now it feels like there’s a gun to my head. I already lost one teacher to this virus. Do I risk opening back up even if it’s going to cost us more lives? Or do we run school remotely and end up depriving these kids?" We've made the schools, police, and emergency rooms pick up the slack for all the social programs we've cut or failed to address.
"U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday that the world faces a 'generational catastrophe' because of school closures amid the coronavirus pandemic and said that getting students safely back to the classroom must be 'a top priority.'" I guess you need to choose which catastrophe you want. But notice the word "safely." That's the key here.
"The last time Washington debated how much stimulus to inject into a moribund economy, the mantra inside the White House was: The more, the better. It was 2009, the nation was reeling from the mortgage meltdown and President Barack Obama’s top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers—a physical as well as intellectual heavyweight—kept telling colleagues that worrying the government would spend too much money was like worrying he would lose too many pounds." "History, what's that?" conservatives, probably.
"However, a report out of Yale University found that the enhanced unemployment did not reduce employment. The report’s abstract states: 'We find that that the workers who experienced larger increases in UI generosity did not experience larger declines in employment when the benefits expansion went into effect. Additionally, we find that workers facing larger expansions in UI benefits have returned to their previous jobs over time at similar rates as others. We find no evidence that more generous benefits disincentivized work either at the onset of the expansion or as firms looked to return to business over time.'" "Reality, what's that?" conservatives, probably.
"The players associations of the major US professional sports leagues are opposed to what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says is a must-have component of any new stimulus legislation… The executive directors of the NFL, NBA, NHL Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer players associations all signed onto a letter raising concerns about the liability protections included in the Senate Republican proposal introduced last week." Well, at least the jocks don't have their heads up their asses.
"As Congress continues to flounder on a path forward for the next phase of coronavirus relief, President Donald Trump said Monday that he was considering executive action if Congress fails to act." Another group of promises that the president is "looking very seriously/strongly at." Call me when ya got something, Sparky.
"A man managed to grab an Ashtabula County deputy’s gun while resisting arrest and shot and killed himself, according to Ashtabula County Sheriff William Johnson." Sounds totally legit.
"The group grew out of a nationwide chat network for soldiers and others with far-right sympathies set up by a member of Germany’s elite special forces, the KSK. Over time, under Mr. Gross’s supervision, they formed a parallel group of their own. Members included a doctor, an engineer, a decorator, a gym owner, even a local fisherman… They called themselves Nordkreuz, or Northern Cross." The ultra-right wing isn't just a US problem. Also a little on the "societal collapse" fantasies they indulge in.
Instead, in the US… "An intelligence report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) states that anti-fascist activists (Antifa) are being investigated as possible terrorists with affiliations to Syria, even though no self-identified members of the loosely-affiliated Antifa protest movement have either been proven to commit any murders or carry out any terrorist attacks… The report details more than half a dozen people identified with various far-left causes who have personally visited Syria to fight alongside Kurdish factions. The factions include the YPG, the People's Defense Unit; the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers' Party; and the Peshmerga, military forces that provide security for Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region." You mean, they're being investigated because they :: checks notes :: may have worked with the forces the US supported in Syria. Uh huh. Say, weren't we stopping everyone who went to Syria? How did these kids slip through? Also, and I can't say this strongly enough, if this is your concern you should investigate almost every veteran of the US military who is involved (on both sides).
Like these people… "The House Intelligence Committee has opened an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence arm, according to a letter its chairman sent to top DHS officials on Monday… The probe will scrutinize how the department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis has responded to protests against racism and police brutality in Portland and around the country. In the letter, the panel’s chairman, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), cited reports that the office had disseminated intelligence about journalists and protesters."
"An 'SOS' message written on the beach of a tiny Pacific island pointed rescuers to three missing mariners, United States and Australian authorities said Tuesday."
"Spain's former King Juan Carlos has left the country for an unknown destination, weeks after he was linked to an inquiry into alleged corruption… Juan Carlos, 82, announced the move on Monday in a letter to his son, Felipe, to whom he handed power six years ago." Man, if you can't trust the king…
"Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has accused Russia of lying about a 'mercenary' group arrested in Belarus last week and says another such group has infiltrated his country."
"Donald Trump says the government should get a cut from the sale of TikTok's US unit if an American firm buys it… The US president said he made a demand for a 'substantial portion' of the purchase price in a phone call at the weekend with Microsoft's boss… He also warned he will ban the app, which is owned by China's ByteDance, on 15 September if there is no deal." This is blatantly illegal, not how government works (except under, wait for it, fascist rule), and really should be a new charge for impeachment.
"Dr. Deborah Birx was stung by President Donald Trump's tweet criticizing her after she offered what she believed was an accurate assessment of the current state of coronavirus outbreaks in the US, a person familiar with her reaction told CNN Tuesday… After Birx warned the pandemic is 'extraordinarily widespread' across the country, Trump, who has otherwise praised the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, publicly attacked Birx for the first time Monday morning." I'm including this in the politics portion because this is an example of what happens in authoritarian countries. No matter how well you kiss ass and lick boots, eventually everyone is on the outs. It's a part of the program. No one is supposed to feel safe. And when you're at the end of your rope (sometimes literally) you have to ask yourself if it was worth your reputation. Waves to my Russian friends.
Meanwhile, on Bullshit Mountain… "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., showed herself to be a 'slimeball politician' by her attacks on White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx’s character, Fox News Radio host Guy Benson said on 'The Guy Benson Show.'" Keep up with the memos, Guy. Because if you forget who has been airbrushed off the platform, no matter how well you attack the opposition you'll also find yourself at the end of the rope (sometimes literally).
"Trump doubles down on well-wishes for alleged sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell." So just like Stone and Flynn you have to ask the question, just what does she have on Trump?
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