"Almost every structure in the small farming town of Malden in eastern Washington state was destroyed by a fast-moving wildfire Monday as high winds created what officials described as a firestorm."
"Tom Brown, head of the Hubble mission office at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore—and no relation to Mike Brown--says that Hubble does indeed just sometimes aim in the wrong direction… 'It used to happen on the order of about one percent of the time,' he says. 'These days, it happens more like five percent of the time.'"
"In the United States, healthcare providers are typically paid based on services provided. The more tests a patient undergoes, the bigger the bill… Vivian Lee, a radiologist and healthcare executive, says this fee-for-service business model needs to be reconsidered." The Hidden Brain podcast… fuck yes.
"For now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Medical Association explicitly warn that antibody tests should not be used to make decisions about returning workers to the office or students to school, though some labs still promote them for those uses. The CDC recommends everyone — even those who were sick and recovered — take precautions to prevent getting and spreading the virus." Because we just don't know.
"President Trump has been hinting that a vaccine could be ready before the end of October, but Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific adviser to the administration's Operation Warp Speed, downplayed that possibility in an interview on NPR's All Things Considered… 'There is a very, very low chance that the trials that are running as we speak could read before the end of October,' Slaoui said." Jazz hands.
"When Dr. Zachary Sussman went to Physicians Premier ER in Austin for a COVID-19 antibody test, he assumed he would get a freebie because he was a doctor for the chain. Instead, the free-standing emergency room charged his insurance company an astonishing $10,984 for the visit — and got paid every penny, with no pushback."
"The good folks at the Brennan Center tasked one of their own—Michael German, a former FBI special agent—to study exactly how thoroughly white supremacy ideology has filtered into American law enforcement. With impeccable timing, German’s report dropped this week, not long after Kyle Rittenhouse, his Armalite dangling in front of him like a credential on a lanyard, blithely strolled past heavily armed officers of the Kenosha P.D. and went home. Thanks to German, that unforgettable tableau is sadly explicable."
"Pierce said he resigned from the #FightBack Foundation fund, which has raised money to defend Rittenhouse, to avoid any 'appearance of conflict,' USA Today reported. Pierce and his firm, Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht, have been accused of defaulting on millions of dollars owed to investors, according to court documents." The company you keep. With this and the arrest of Bannon for his "fund the wall scheme" it's almost like a trend among conservative fund raisers.
"Right-wing extremists in Oregon accompanying a car caravan of several hundred supporters of President Trump on Monday drove from a Portland suburb to Salem, the capital, where some members of the group brawled with left-wing activists… The clash, which apparently did not result in any serious injuries but led to at least two arrests, was the latest between Trump supporters in Oregon and protesters who oppose police brutality and racially motivated violence."
"At one point Monday afternoon, the right-wing crowd rushed a smaller group of Black Lives Matters counter-demonstrators, firing paint-gun pellets at them. There were skirmishes, and the Black Lives Matter group dispersed shortly after local police arrived on the scene."
"Shares of Nikola surged Tuesday after General Motors announced it’s taking an 11% stake in the electric truck maker and will produce its marquee hydrogen fuel cell electric pickup truck the Badger by the end of 2022."
The K shaped recovery… "It’s a scenario where big-box retail and Wall Street banks benefit and mom-and-pop shops and restaurants and other service profession workers lag. Though not readily visible in GDP numbers for the next several quarters that will look gaudy in historical terms, the uneven benefits of the recovery pose longer-term risks for the national economic health."
"Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the pace of jobs growth is rising faster than many people expected, but it may take years before the economy has fully recovered… Powell spoke in a wide-ranging interview with NPR on Friday, hours after the release of the August jobs report, which said unemployment continued to drift lower, falling to 8.4%."
"As employees of small businesses get their first September paychecks, they’re probably receiving their usual amount — company owners are still withholding money for Social Security despite a presidential order allowing the tax to be deferred." I haven't checked my stubs yet, but I recommend doing so.
In the richest country on Earth (well, not really, but it's our slogan)… "Across the country, people like Lordz have picked up roughly 75 million food boxes this summer through the program overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The effort began in the spring when efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus caused food demand at restaurants and schools to plunge. That left farmers with little choice but to dispose of produce, meat and dairy products even as millions of people desperately turned to help from overwhelmed food banks."
How goes Brexit? "The head of the British government’s legal department has quit over suggestions that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is threatening to override the Brexit divorce deal with the European Union, the Financial Times said on Tuesday."
"All over the world, from the US to Germany to the UK, some people decide to disappear from their own lives without a trace – leaving their homes, jobs and families in the middle of the night to start a second life, often without ever looking back… In Japan, these people are sometimes referred to as 'jouhatsu'. That’s the Japanese word for 'evaporation', but it also refers to people who vanish on purpose into thin air, and continue to conceal their whereabouts – potentially for years, even decades."
"The Trump administration must, for now, stop winding down in-person counting efforts for the 2020 census, a federal judge in California ordered Saturday, while a legal fight over the shortened schedule for the national head count continues."
"The Saudi trial into the killing of critic Jamal Khashoggi has lacked transparency and fallen short on assigning accountability for the crime, the U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday."
"Cheng Lei, a presenter for China Global Television Network (CGTN), is suspected of 'criminal activity endangering China's national security'… She has been detained since 14 August… The announcement comes after the last two journalists working for Australian media in China flew home to Sydney after a five-day diplomatic stand-off."
"Almost 300 Rohingya Muslims were found on a beach in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Monday after months at sea, officials said."
"A Russian national living in California with his American family is now facing deportation from the U.S. due to what experts say is a politically motivated request by Russia for his arrest — one of a number of cases in which U.S. immigration authorities have relied on such a request for prolonged detention and so-called backdoor extraditions." Stay safe, my Russian friends.
"Belarusian protest leader Maria Kolesnikova was detained while trying to enter Ukraine in the early hours of Tuesday morning, a Belarusian border official told Reuters, a day after her allies said she had been grabbed off the street by masked men." Sounds like a forced pretext for an "official" arrest.
"A drone over Tel Aviv's Rabin Square dropped hundreds of bags of weed on Thursday, setting off a mad scramble by onlookers to stock up, the Jerusalem Post reported." What a marketing ploy!
"Russia and Syria plan to sign an economic pact before the end of the year that is partly aimed at circumventing U.S. sanctions, Russia’s deputy prime minister said Monday as he led a high-level delegation on a visit to Damascus."
"President Donald Trump launched an unprecedented public attack against the leadership of the US military on Monday, accusing them of waging wars to boost the profits of defense manufacturing companies."
"Expectations in July and August that a fifth bipartisan pandemic response bill would eventually be birthed despite increased obstacles has been replaced by genuine pessimism. Recent COVID-related conversations among key players have led to nothing." It's September in an election year, except for housekeeping nothing is going to get done. Well, there will be a lot of complaining in front of the press, and a metric shit ton of finger pointing. But not much else.
You might remember the initial story about this… "Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said on WTNH-TV that he would accept (John) Oliver’s challenge to name the city’s sewage plant after him following Oliver’s offer to donate $55,000 to local charities." But John has to come to the opening ceremonies, according to the mayor. Seriously, do you think he won't? And that he won't bring cameras?
"Maricopa, which encompasses Phoenix and it’s predominantly white suburbs, including Scottsdale, Chandler, and Glendale, represents about 60 percent of likely voters. Its changing demographics are the reason Arizona — which hasn’t been won by a Democratic presidential nominee since 1996 — is in play."
No exactly Bullshit Mountain, let's call them Bullshit Molehill… "Democrats’ new strategy for winning the White House: Threaten riots if they lose."
"QAnon, the scarily popular pro-Trump conspiracy theory, explained." Somewhat.
"Long before he came into office, Donald Trump was so preoccupied with then-President Barack Obama that he hired a look-alike actor — a 'faux-Bama' — to castigate and then pretend to fire on video… That's just one of many episodes recounted and accusations levied by Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney, in his new book, Disloyal: A Memoir, which is being published Tuesday and which NPR obtained before its publication."
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