I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Friday, February 19, 2021

Linkee-poo Friday Feb 19

"The NASA Perseverance rover safely landed on Mars after its 292.5 million-mile journey from Earth, the agency confirmed at 3:55 p.m. ET Thursday. The rover landed itself flawlessly, according to the mission's team."

"This new information has led them to link the flipping of the poles to key moments in the prehistoric record, like the sudden appearance of cave art and the mysterious extinction of large mammals and the Neanderthals. They argue that the weakening of the Earth's magnetic field would have briefly transformed the world by altering its climate and allowing far more ultraviolet light to pour in."

"Texas Gov. Greg Abbott continued to slam the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on Thursday for what he says are failures to prepare the state for the winter storm that has left thousands freezing in the dark without running water… But the governor also said he had the responsibility to ensure the nonprofit company functions properly and he vowed reforms." I guess the "blame windmills/blame New Green Deal" strategy didn't work out so well. Don't worry, though, I'm sure we'll get back to that.

"The number of people in Texas without running, drinkable water dwarfed the number of homes and businesses without power Friday morning as the state continued to struggle to recover from the storm that paralyzed it with a blanket of snow, ice and frigid temperatures… Some 12 million people were under boil water notices, the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality said. And while approximately 187,000 utility customers were still suffering from outages, according to poweroutage.us, that was down from a peak of some 4 million." Good luck with that if you don't have power. Also scroll down to read the story about "Some Texans are going to be dealing with surprisingly high electric bills."

"Texas’ power grid was 'seconds and minutes' away from a catastrophic failure that could have left Texans in the dark for months, officials with the entity that operates the grid said Thursday."

"The first dose of the Pfizer vaccination is 85% effective against coronavirus infection between two and four weeks after inoculation, according to a study published in the Lancet medical journal. The pharmaceutical giant and its German partner BioNTech, meanwhile, have told the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that their vaccine can be safely stored at standard freezer temperatures, which, if approved by the FDA, could help facilitate faster distribution by negating the need for expensive deep-freeze storage."

"CVS Health plans to contact Americans living in underserved communities to help them schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments amid signs that white people are getting the free vaccine at higher rates than Black Americans."

"A Manatee County, Florida, commissioner broke protocol for equitable vaccine distribution, which she had previously voted in favor of, when planning a vaccine drive initiated by Gov. Ron DeSantis… Vanessa Baugh admitted on Thursday that she 'wanted to make sure certain people were on the list' for vaccination after emails revealed that she directed county officials to create a list to let her and others jump the line. In response to criticism that county officials had only permitted residents from the two richest zip codes in the county to get vaccinated at the event, Baugh further admitted that she picked the zip codes herself." Making sure the "good people" get their vaccines first.

"Life expectancy in the United States fell by an entire year in the first half of 2020 as Covid-19 swept through the country, health data published Thursday found, a decline not seen since World War II."

"Amid reports of a federal probe into Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's handling of COVID-19 nursing home deaths, Democrats from New York's General Assembly and Senate have begun discussing the possibility of stripping Cuomo of broad executive powers granted to him last March to oversee the state's COVID-19 response efforts."

"According to a new Politico profile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is already positioning himself as one of these post-pandemic White House hopefuls. The basic gist of the story is that while DeSantis, just 42 years old and still in his first term, formerly 'drew national scorn for his stewardship of Florida’s Covid-19 response,' his 'resistance to restrictive measures' like mask mandates and the blowback he got for being 'divorced from science' has now 'strengthened' his standing 'among the GOP grassroots and elites heading into his 2022 reelection' — and even inspired 'conservative chatter nationwide about a presidential bid.'" Of course conservatives love him. See comment about the "good people" getting the vaccines first. But then they say there is no bad press as long as they spell your name correctly.

"Lawmakers grilled Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev for more than five hours Thursday over the online brokerage firm's role in frenzied buying last month of GameStop shares and other beaten down stocks. Although Tenev apologized for his company's decision to restrict trading in the video game retailer and other high-flying shares, he also defended its business model as one that benefits average investors… Tenev was joined by two hedge fund managers, Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin and Melvin Capital CEO Gabriel Plotkin, as well as Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, Reddit investor Keith Gill and the Cato Institute's Jennifer Schulp. Together, the group faced questions about the intersection of social media, hedge funds and small investors that use Robinhood."

"When investigators raided a strip mall store in Garden Grove, California, in December, they found a line of customers snaking around the parking lot and huge stacks of cash inside the store… Orange County prosecutors say Nguyen Social Services was charging up to $700 a pop to file false unemployment claims for people who did not qualify to receive Covid-19 relief money."

"Uber drivers must be treated as workers rather than self-employed, the UK's Supreme Court has ruled… The decision could mean thousands of Uber drivers are set to be entitled to minimum wage and holiday pay… The ruling could leave the ride-hailing app facing a hefty compensation bill, and have wider consequences for the gig economy."

"Facing a rapidly approaching April deadline to act, Democrats are instead coalescing around a targeted effort to pass popular immigration bills that already have bipartisan backing, including legislation to provide a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented group known as Dreamers and immigrants from war-torn areas."

"President Joe Biden’s administration wants to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, but is demanding to see changes from Tehran before it will lift the heavy sanctions imposed on the country by the Trump team… Meanwhile, Iran says it wants Washington to step up its game and make the first move, refusing to budge until those sanctions are lifted."

"Donald Trump’s ambassador to Denmark, Carla Sands, violated federal law when she urged Americans to donate to her boss’s campaign using her official Twitter account… She did it again when she tweeted — once more from her official account — an article questioning whether Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants, was eligible to be vice president." Appoint an independent investigator/prosecutor who can move on these investigations without political interference.

"Democratic leaders are racing to get President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic aid plan through Congress, fulfilling one of his biggest early promises. But even if they hit their ambitious targets, major parts of the bill may already be too slow for many Americans walloped by the virus."

"Sen. Ted Cruz said that flying to Cancun, Mexico, as a winter disaster in his home state left millions without power or water 'was obviously a mistake' and that 'in hindsight I wouldn't have done it.'… Cruz, a Texas Republican, spoke to reporters after returning to his Houston home Thursday evening from a trip that has earned fierce criticism on social media and in his own backyard." And then goes on to blame his daughters (he Ted, you're the adult in that relationship), moves to both siderism (it's because of the "atmosphere of vitriol" that you helped create, Ted), and what's not mentioned is they left their dog at home, alone.

"U.S. Sen. John Thune is criticizing Republican activists and party leaders for engaging in 'cancel culture' by rushing to censure GOP senators who found former President Donald Trump guilty of inciting an insurrection." Conservatives have a long history of "cancel culture." It's just their boycotts tend to fail, but internally they've been doing it for decades.

"Six US Capitol Police officers have been suspended with pay, and 29 others have been placed under investigation, for their actions in the January 6 riot, a department spokesman said Thursday."

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