"The Navy, meanwhile, has quietly charted a new course. A supercarrier now on the drawing boards will be christened the USS Doris Miller." Stands and salutes.
"Three underground lakes have been detected near the south pole of Mars… Scientists also confirmed the existence of a fourth lake - the presence of which was hinted at in 2018… Liquid water is vital for biology, so the finding will be of interest to researchers studying the potential for life elsewhere in the Solar System."
"Computer systems for Universal Health Services, which has more than 400 locations, primarily in the U.S., began to fail over the weekend, and some hospitals have had to resort to filing patient information with pen and paper, according to multiple people familiar with the situation."
"In the past three years , there has been no mass exodus from the (Paris Agreement). But some countries, including American allies such as Japan, have eased up on cutting emissions. The U.S. itself has fallen short of the goals it pledged to reach in order to avert the worst-case scenarios of extreme weather."
People have been asking how will COVID change us… "Boris Johnson has vowed 'radical' changes to the adult education system in England to help boost the post-Covid economy… The prime minister said the pandemic had "massively accelerated" changes to the world of work, and made training gaps 'painfully apparent'." That's a start. In the US we haven't even begun to formulate ideas.
"Over the past several months, there has been controversy over the way SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, travels from an infected person to others. While official guidance has often been unclear, some aerosol scientists and public health experts have maintained that the spread of the virus in aerosols traveling through the air at distances both less than and greater than 6 feet has been playing a more significant role than appreciated."
"New York City public schools opened their doors to 300,000 K-8 students Tuesday, hours after the global death toll from the coronavirus surpassed 1 million… Florida is also loosening restrictions, and students at Florida State University. celebrated. Tallahassee police said they had to break up more than a dozen unruly gatherings over the weekend after Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped the state's COVID-19 restrictions and even encouraged college kids to party. No further urging needed." It's the fucking Mask of the Red Death played out en masse. What we need, I think, is a return to memento mori.
"A Texas sheriff has been indicted on felony charges of tampering with evidence in the case of Javier Ambler, a Black man who was killed by police last year during a traffic stop that escalated into a high-speed chase caught on film by a reality television show… Sheriff Robert Chody, who turned himself in, was arrested and booked on Monday. He was released shortly after posting $10,000 bail… The Williamson County grand jury indictment accuses Chody of intentionally destroying or concealing video and audio recordings of the fatal encounter, which was filmed for the television show Live PD… Jason Nassour, a lawyer with the county attorney's office, was also indicted on the same felony evidence-tampering charge."
"But what if the cop patrolling your neighborhood held bizarre and unsubstantiated views? What if there was a chance that officer in the patrol car idling down the block was watching videos about a conspiracy holding that a satanic cabal of high-profile liberal pedophiles is running the world’s most insidious sex ring. Or was swiping through memes popularizing a made-up plot about kidnapped children kept in underground tunnels so their blood can be harvested to help keep wealthy people alive? And what if they sincerely believed it all?" While it's true you can do whatever you want on your own time and believe whatever you wish, those choices do inform the rest of us on your ability to discern reality from fantasy. And if you follow QAnon, you're over your head in bullshit. And it tells me you don't have the judgment qualities I expect in a police officer.
How goes Brexit? "Britain left the European Union eight months ago. Nothing much changed for most people back then, but Brexit is now back with a vengeance as talks on a deal to keep trade flowing next year enter the final stretch."
"'She deferred lease payments on her Infiniti QX60 for three months and started paying again with unemployment benefits. Her husband traded in his Ford F-150 in August for a lower-cost car and reduced his original monthly payment of $820 by about $100, and his income covers the $2,100 mortgage.'… The Ford F-150 payment stuck out to me for a couple of reasons. Maybe it’s because I live in Michigan, but I see Ford trucks all over the roads. And a monthly outlay of $820 is quite high for a car payment, especially when you consider this family has credit card debt and three other car loans or leases." It's obvious the truck is the problem… if your fucking stoned. The author of this article then goes on to basically make the pickup truck the new avocado toast. And I guessing a way I should be happy that they're not shaming poor people in this article, but upper middle-class people. So at least there's some "fairness". I also personally agree with some of these statements (too many people buy too much car for their budget), but can we just stop this bullshit and instead say, "Hey, maybe paying $4,400 a month on a mortgage is fucking extortion and having 4 cars, including the Infiniti, is a little overkill." Also, a $720 a month payment on a car is still bullshit. How about we break the cycle of rampant consumerism here instead?
"Multiple people died during a hostage situation that unfolded in Salem, Oregon, Monday afternoon, officials said… Deputies from the Marion County Sheriff's Office responded to a call of a possible hostage situation on Juneva Place SE around 12:30 p.m., according to a press release issued by the sheriff's office. Salem is about 45 miles southwest of Portland."
The company you keep… "Brad Parscale, the former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, was detained on Sunday night after his wife reported him threatening suicide, police in Florida said. Authorities said he was detained under the state’s Baker Act, a law that lets authorities take people into custody if they are considered a potential danger to themselves or others… The police report obtained by Local 10 described a contentious situation. Parscale’s wife told cops that he had made statements about shooting himself. She had bruises on her arms and face, scratches on her face, which she said were from a physical altercation with her husband from several days before, according to police." Good thing he's white, or he would probably be dead.
"Strong demand from homebuyers in July, coupled with rock-bottom mortgage interest rates, caused home prices to accelerate in major markets across the nation… Nationally, home values rose 4.8% annually, up from a 4.3% gain in June, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index." Not mentioned until the last sentence is the dearth of existing homes on the market. This is a classic bubble market.
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are set to talk Tuesday morning after Democrats unveiled a coronavirus stimulus plan designed to restart progress toward a relief deal… Democrats released the $2.2 trillion legislation Monday night as they struggle to break a weeks-long impasse with the White House over how to structure a fifth relief bill. While the Democratic-held House passed a $3.4 trillion proposal in May, the Trump administration has offered to inject only $1.3 trillion more into efforts to boost the economy and health-care system during the pandemic."
"Tonight, you will hear about the contractor who built both of those walls, Fisher Sand and Gravel out of North Dakota, and how they leveraged those jobs to earn billions of dollars in government contracts with support from President Trump. Last month, reports surfaced that one of their private walls was falling apart. So, we went to Mission, Texas, to see for ourselves."
"But there's another massive revelation contained in the Times' reporting that isn't getting nearly enough attention: Trump wrote off $26 million in unexplained "consulting fees" between 2010 and 2018, with almost $750,000 apparently going to his daughter, Ivanka, in one disclosure." Or, you know, it's just fraud.
"That has helped make (Trump's) financial records a target for congressional and criminal investigators alike. The president is waging multiple court battles to shield his finances from scrutiny, including two cases involving subpoenas issued to his personal accounting firm, Mazars USA LLP."
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