Hal Holbrook and Capt. Sir Tom Moore,and so it goes.
Life Kit on impostor syndrome/phnemonenon.
"Federal scientists have confirmed that 2020 basically tied with 2016 for the hottest year recorded since 1880. The Earth is about 2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer today than it was in the mid-20th century. Scientists warn that humans must keep global temperatures from rising more than about 3 degrees Fahrenheit in order to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change." We're boned.
"Scientists warn that the coming decade will be critical for slowing heat-trapping emissions, potentially keeping average annual global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the mid-19th century. Right now, the world is on track for an increase of 3 degrees Celsius, a level that ensures more destructive wildfires and hurricanes, devastation for coral reefs and rising seas flooding the coastlines." Also, notice the difference between C and F in these two stories.
"Earth spiked a bit of a fever in 2020, partly because of cleaner air from the pandemic lockdown, a new study found." Uh, no. This is another "pollution is good for you" story. It's bullshit propaganda.
"Although both companies will need to significantly increase the number of weekly doses they release to the government to reach those goals, Moderna has made significant progress in the last week."
"The Biden administration has made a $231.8 million deal with an Australian company to boost availability of the first at-home rapid test for the coronavirus which causes COVID-19 that is available without a prescription. The test, made by Ellume, can send results to a smartphone within 15 minutes of receiving a sample." You know, there's a lot of infrastructure being built out for something that most people think we will be over with within a year. Looks knowingly into the camera.
"Turns out, for the variants from South Africa and Brazil, the mutations change the shape of the virus's spike in a way that's double trouble for the cell. The new shape that helps the virus bind more tightly to ACE2 also prevents some of the antibodies from sticking to the spike. Some antibodies no longer fit well to the end of the spike, so they can't form the little caps that block viral infection. The virus is free to bind to ACE2." A visual guide (well, a visual representation) to what is happening. BTW, this is the "oh fuck" moment. Why? Because the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are based on the spike protein.
"Public Health England is investigating cases of coronavirus with 'worrying' new genetic changes that have been found in some regions of the UK… Tests show they have a mutation, called E484K, that is already seen in the South Africa variant… Although this change may reduce vaccine effectiveness, the current ones in use should still work, say experts."
"Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will step down as the company's chief executive officer this summer, after more than a quarter-century at the helm of the retail, logistics and tech powerhouse." Don't worry, he'll still be chairman of the board, so his 100+ billion dollars is safe.
"American factories continued to expand in January, but at slower pace than December."
"As Washington debates sending checks to Americans and increasing the minimum wage, a new study offers evidence for how such policies could help eliminate poverty. Obviously, giving more money to people without much money helps them with money problems. But the study adds to a growing body of research that says that money really does help workers earn more money." More evidence on how being poor drains more than pocketbooks. As anyone who has been poor can tell you.
"President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers are making a push to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour from the current $7.25. Some lawmakers and business owners who are against the idea say it would create harmful effects, including business closures, job loss and an acceleration of the shift toward automation… But those effects didn’t materialize in a five-year analysis of the impacts of minimum-wage increases at state and local levels as evidenced at more than 10,000 McDonald’s locations in the U.S." And then there's this, "Indeed, the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan federal agency, estimated that raising the wage to $15 an hour by 2025 would result in a median of 1.3 million job losses…" Sounds dire, right? Um, that's basically been the weekly job loss for the past year.
"Grocery giant Kroger Co. will close two of its stores in Long Beach, Calif., after the city council passed an ordinance last month requiring some supermarkets to pay employees an additional $4 an hour."
"The Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to delay consideration of two major cases that are scheduled for oral argument in the coming weeks. One involves funding for former President Trump's border wall construction, and the other, the so-called "remain in Mexico" policy… If the Supreme Court agrees to postpone consideration of the cases, as expected, at some later date they very likely will be pronounced dead as a legal matter."
"Two FBI agents are dead and at least three others are wounded after a raid on a home in Sunrise, Fla., turned violent early Tuesday. The suspect reportedly barricaded himself in his home, where agents were serving a search warrant as part of a "violent crimes against children case," the FBI said in a statement. The suspect is also dead."
"President Joe Biden is continuing to unravel the Trump administration's hard-line immigration policies but has been unable to stop the deportation of hundreds, including a woman who witnessed the 2019 anti-Latino mass shooting at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart store."
"During one of the most politically divisive years in recent memory, the number of active hate groups in the U.S. actually declined as far-right extremists migrated further to online networks, a move that has made it harder to track adherents of white nationalist and neo-Nazi ideologies."
"Instead the law center, which is based in Montgomery, Ala., said that new white nationalist and neo-Nazi organizations have become more diffuse in their membership."
"Brian Sicknick, the slain U.S. Capitol Police officer whose was given the rare distinction of laying in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, is receiving a final tribute by lawmakers Wednesday."
"A deal has been reached in the Senate in principle on a power-sharing agreement that had precluded Democrats from taking control of the committees, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Wednesday morning."
"The House Republican Conference will meet in person on Wednesday and is expected to discuss the fates of Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, two Republicans with drastically different loyalties to former President Donald Trump."
Meanwhile, on Bullshit Mountain… "Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, accused Democrats of a double standard as they seek to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments… He also said that he thinks the public is growing tired of a double standard where Democrats try to paint Republicans as instigators. He pointed to how Democrats did little to speak out against the riots last summer. He did not mention anyone by name, but Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said in August that there should be 'unrest in the streets.'" Yes, because you know, :: checks notes :: mostly peaceful protests by BLM is exactly the same as attempted violent overthrow of a duly elected government.
"The FBI recently raided the homes of two men who sponsored an invective-laced rally near the US Capitol a day before the deadly insurrection, the first known search warrants involving people who organized and spoke at rallies preceding the attack… CNN learned of the raids through an eyewitness account, public records, a lawyer representing one of the rally organizers and an FBI spokeswoman who confirmed details of the searches."
"Hundreds of Democratic staffers from both chambers of Congress are pleading with senators to convict former President Donald Trump in his upcoming impeachment trial for his part in the events leading up to the deadly riot at the Capitol last month."
"The Georgia secretary of state's office is investigating allegations that Lin Wood, a high-profile pro-Trump attorney who launched fruitless challenges to election results and pushed baseless conspiracies of fraud, may have illegally voted in the November general election. Wood played a crucial role in former President Donald Trump's efforts to undermine the election." The company you keep.
"Brian Sicknick, the slain U.S. Capitol Police officer whose was given the rare distinction of laying in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, is receiving a final tribute by lawmakers Wednesday."
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