Linkee-poo Friday

Diana Rigg, and so it goes. "Little did they know when they arrived that Trumbly and Paulsen's presence would spark national rumors that far-left activists were starting fires across the West Coast." Whackaloon quotient is sky-high. "More than half a million people in the US state of Oregon are fleeing deadly wildfires that are raging across the Pacific Northwest, authorities say… Fanned by unusually hot, dry winds, dozens of fires are sweeping the state, and at least one is being treated as suspected arson."

"Deep channels discovered under the Antarctic's so-called 'Doomsday glacier' may be allowing warm ocean water to melt the underside of ice, according to scientists collecting data from an area crucial to understanding sea-level rise… The findings published in The Cryosphere journal show the ocean floor is deeper than previously thought, with more deep channels leading towards the grounding line, where the ice meets the bed." Summer is coming.

"Past and future trends in global mean temperature spanning the last 67 million years. Oxygen isotope values in deep-sea benthic foraminifera from sediment cores are a measure of global temperature and ice volume. Temperature is relative to the 1961-1990 global mean. Data from ice core records of the last 25,000 years illustrate the transition from the last glacial to the current warmer period, the Holocene. Historic data from 1850 to today show the distinct increase after 1950 marking the onset of the Anthropocene." We're boned.

"Rio Tinto chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques will leave the Anglo-Australian mining giant by March over the destruction of Australian Indigenous sacred sites to access iron ore, the company said on Friday… 'Significant stakeholders have expressed concerns about executive accountability for the failings identified,' Rio Tinto said in a statement." I'm sure his money will keep him company.

"In February, China pulled off an impressive construction feat that caught the world's attention: Amid surging cases of COVID-19, China built two hospitals in the pandemic's epicenter, Wuhan, in under two weeks to isolate and treat COVID-19 patients. Consisting largely of prefabricated rooms and components, the two-story structures were dubbed 'instant hospitals.' NPR reported on the facilities just as the first one opened. But now the virus is under control in Wuhan, and life has more or less returned to normal. So, what happened to these 'instant hospitals?'"

"Nearly 30 US states are reporting downward trends in Covid-19 cases, but the pandemic will likely worsen again, according to the country's leading infectious disease expert… 'We need to hunker down and get through this fall and winter because it's not going to be easy,' Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday." Here we go again.

"Four Houston police officers have been fired for fatally shooting an apparently emotionally disturbed man who was on the ground, wounded and incapacitated, before a final volley of 21 shots, officials said… Police Chief Art Acevedo showed graphic bodycam video, later released publicly, and announced the department's findings into the April 21 shooting of 27-year-old man Nicolas Chavez."

"That's why many tenants and housing advocates welcomed the news of a temporary federal moratorium on evictions, which went into effect last week after an order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention… As with any federal rule, there's lots of fine print. If you're behind on your rent or don't think you'll make it this month, here's what you need to do."

"When the coronavirus closed schools and child care centers and turned American parenthood into a multitasking nightmare, many tech companies rushed to help their employees. They used their comfortable profit margins to extend workers new benefits, including extra time off for parents to help them care for their children… It wasn’t long before employees without children started to ask: What about us?" I'm of two minds about this, but it just shows the dire need for adequate child care in the country. If we're going to build an economy where both parents needs to work (as well as helping single-parents) it is a necessity.

How goes Brexit? "The EU is demanding the UK ditches plans to change Boris Johnson's Brexit deal "by the end of the month" or risk jeopardising trade talks… The UK has published a bill to rewrite parts of the withdrawal agreement it signed in January."

"Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, has warned that Britain will be unable to secure a trade deal with the US if it does anything to undermine the treaty that brought peace to Northern Ireland after decades of violence."

"The U.K. and Japan on Friday agreed in principle to a trade deal, in a move that sees the U.K. strike its first major agreement post-Brexit… The announcement, which the U.K. hailed as a “historic moment,” comes as Britain struggles to secure an agreement with its closest trading partners in the European Union."

How go the Trade Wars? "President Donald Trump has browbeaten his way into yet another expensive and politically loaded standoff with China — this time over an app populated with dancing ferret videos and at-home lip syncs… Trump’s order that TikTok’s parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, sell off its U.S. operations — initially seen as a potential opportunity for an American company — has turned into a quagmire."

"As US-China relations reach a boiling point, Washington has started to screen Chinese students at airports for technology theft… When Boston Logan International Airport's announcement asked Keith Zhang to come to the boarding desk, he thought it was a regular boarding check… But when he saw two armed American officers expecting him there, his heart sank."

"China and India said on Friday they had agreed to de-escalate renewed tensions on their contested Himalayan border and take steps to restore “peace and tranquillity” following a high-level diplomatic meeting in Moscow."

"Much of the country is facing a long, painful recovery from the coronavirus recession. But some communities are getting a head start… Owensboro, Ky., has already recovered most of the jobs it lost this spring, even as the rest of the country is experiencing a painfully slow improvement in employment." Lucky? Yes, but because of hard work and planning.

"The Senate failed Thursday to advance a Republican coronavirus stimulus plan, the latest blow to stalled efforts to pass another package to mitigate the pandemic’s economic damage… The measure fell short of the 60 votes needed on a procedural step to move toward passage. All Democrats present, and one Republican — Rand Paul of Kentucky — opposed it in a 52-47 vote. The nearly unanimous vote for the GOP followed weeks of disagreements within the Republican caucus about whether to pass any more aid at all." And so they'll say they tried to do something, but the Democrats blocked them and then throw up their hands and walk away until after the election. Just as a reminder, the House passed it's version three months ago.

"A panel of three federal judges in New York on Thursday prohibited the Trump administration from moving forward with plans to exclude undocumented immigrants from the count used to determine the number of seats states receive in the House of Representatives. The decision temporarily halts an unprecedented proposal with potentially seismic political ramifications."

"The US Postal Service has played a role throughout American history - from the Declaration of Independence to today's mail-in voting. It was conceived of by the founders as the way to create a united, informed and effective American democracy. But today, the postal service's future is in danger. How the postal service created the United States and the case for this pivotal institution." The Throughline podcast on on the importance of the postal service.

"Faced with undeniable evidence that he purposely downplayed the severity of the coronavirus pandemic this spring to a public desperate for credible information about the threat posed by Covid-19, President Donald Trump has come up with a novel defense that goes something like this: If what I said was so bad, then why didn't Bob Woodward go public with it at the time?!"

"Trump campaign aides are weighing another event on White House grounds around Election Day, despite criticism over the venue's use as a political prop during the Republican convention… There have been serious discussions about the logistics of pulling off an political event there in the closing days or hours of the race, following President Donald Trump's satisfaction with his convention address on the White House South Lawn, according to two people familiar with the planning." The campaign is saying they're paying for the damage to the White House lawn from the convention speech, but given past performance I'll believe that when the check clears.

"White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday defended President Donald Trump's crowded rallies that contradict local COVID-19 rules and his own administration's health guidance -- saying supporters are exercising their First Amendment rights." Yeah, that's stretching there Kayleigh.

"What we have here is simple: The official spokesperson for the President of the Unites States, appearing on the preferred network for a large number of conservatives in the country, suggesting openly that a) Democrats don't want people to know who won on election night and b) if the results aren't known on election night it means that the 'system' has broken down… What McEnany is doing is laying the groundwork for Trump to contest the election -- and for his supporters to back him on it -- if we don't have a declared winner on November 3."