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, May 14, 2021

Linkee-poo Friday May 14

"For the past five weeks, Perseverance has been focused primarily on supporting and documenting the pioneering flights of its little cousin, NASA's 4-lb. (1.8 kilograms) Mars helicopter Ingenuity. But the car-sized rover has been doing science work of its own in the background as well." The headline says, "mysterious rocks", but then never gets to why they're "mysterious".

"Elon Musk’s SpaceX on Thursday revealed in filings to the Federal Communications Commission its plan for the next step in testing its massive Starship rocket, in a flight that would splash down off the coast of Hawaii."

"But making it through childbirth alive doesn’t mean a parent is medically out of the woods. The health care system is often unresponsive, too fragmented or ill-prepared to handle women’s postpartum conditions, from physical pain and discomfort to psychological anguish, that can have life-long consequences. Many women surrender, thinking this is just how it goes when you have a baby… But experts say it doesn’t have to be this way. And there’s a growing focus on the need to prioritize a mother’s care as much as the infant’s, especially during that first year after child birth." The stories we tell ourselves. And it's not just birth, but let's keep the focus there for a while.

"Researchers have found just 12 people are responsible for the bulk of the misleading claims and outright lies about COVID-19 vaccines that proliferate on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter."

"Ireland’s state health services provider has shut all its IT systems and cancelled some medical appointments after what it described as a 'significant ransomware attack' overnight caused widespread disruption."

"The owner of the Colonial Pipeline paid hackers about $5 million in bitcoin to regain access to its data and end a standoff that forced one of the country’s largest energy pipelines offline, multiple media outlets reported Thursday."

"The Colonial Pipeline became fully operational at 12 p.m. Thursday, and tuck drivers in North Florida and South Georgia are working with Federal and state agencies to efficiently distribute gas when it arrives from the pipeline… But, the Florida Trucking Association says it could still take a few more days for fuel levels to return to normal."

"Alarming economic numbers and scenes of long lines at gas pumps in the Southeast are causing new political hurdles for President Joe Biden just as he begins negotiations with Republicans over major new spending proposals… Speaking from the White House on Thursday, Biden sought to tamp down on panic-buying and warned gas station owners against price gouging. He listed a series of administration steps meant to alleviate fuel shortages."

"Chemical giants DuPont and Daikin knew the dangers of a PFAS compound widely used in food packaging since 2010, but hid them from the public and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), company studies obtained by the Guardian reveal." Fuckers. Just a reminder that corporations exist at the tolerance of the government. They require a license and a charter.

"McDonald’s (MCD) will raise hourly wages "by an average of 10%" for more than 36,500 employees at more than 660 U.S. restaurants… 'These increases, which have already begun, will be rolled out over the next several months and include shifting the entry level range for crew to at least $11-$17 an hour,' the fast food giant said in a statement, adding that shift managers would be paid at least $15 an hour."

"A growing number of governors are ending the $300 federal unemployment bonus starting in June -- saying the benefit is holding back job growth in their states. In response, President Joe Biden said he will work with states to make sure unemployed workers can find and take jobs: 'The law is clear. If you're receiving unemployment benefits and you're offered a suitable job, you can't refuse that job and just keep getting unemployment benefits.'" Because fuck the poor, that's why. I've been trying to say this for years, and mostly since the "nobody wants to work" whining began last year. Getting unemployment is fucking difficult. And it's always been the law that if you are offered employment and refuse, you will lose your unemployment benefit (and in some states may need to pay back what you got).

"A $26 million lottery ticket was sold in Norwalk, California about six months ago. Regulars and workers at the gas station that sold the ticket believe it was accidentally destroyed in the wash by a woman whose coworker bought it for her… CBS Los Angeles spoke with a regular named Bobby Henley who says he ran into the unidentified woman. She had until Thursday to come forward and claim her prize." The worst part is she knows it. File the investigated claim, at the very least.

So, there's no institutional racism? "Tennessee could owe a historically Black university more than a half-billion dollars after it withheld funding for decades… A bipartisan legislative committee determined last month that the state failed to adequately fund Tennessee State University in matched land grants going all the way back to the 1950s, costing the public university between $150 million and $544 million."

"Israel continued to bombard the Gaza Strip Friday with artillery and airstrikes in response to a new barrage of rocket fire from the Hamas-run enclave. More than 100 people have now been killed in Gaza and eight in Israel as the conflict continues to escalate."

"Violent confrontations erupted in Lod, Acre, Jerusalem, Haifa, Bat Yam, Tiberias and many other locations, with people injured, some of them seriously, leading Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce he was looking at deploying the military inside towns to restore order." It's strange how these things always seem to flare up just as Netanyahu is either facing re-election or being thrown out of the Prime Minister office.

"Two workers were killed in an Oklahoma dam explosion Thursday night, a dam agency official said."

"Thomas Farley has resigned as Philadelphia’s health commissioner due to his involvement in the mishandling of remains of the victims in the 1985 MOVE bombing."

"The battle over Medicaid expansion in Missouri reached a new boiling point Thursday as Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, announced that the state will not implement expansion, in defiance of a ballot measure passed by voters last year." Party of the people my ass. "The same study found the Medicaid expansion was most likely to result in budget savings for the state. That counterintuitive finding, which has been observed in other states, is explained by demand shifting from other public programs that are more expensive for the state, as more people opt for expansion coverage, which is largely funded by the federal government." Party of fiscal responsibility my ass.

"The ex-Florida tax collector with close ties to Rep. Matt Gaetz is planning to plead guilty on Monday in a federal court in Florida, according to a new filing Thursday… As part of the deal, Joel Greenberg will cooperate with investigators in a wide-ranging probe, according to one source familiar with the matter. For months, federal investigators have been examining whether Gaetz broke federal sex trafficking, prostitution and public corruption laws and whether he had sex with a minor."

"And if half (or even a third) of people who identify as Republicans right now left the party if there were a concerted effort on behalf of the establishment -- such as it is -- to rid the party of Trump, then the GOP would have approximately a 0.0% chance of winning a national election… Which Trump knows. And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell knows. And House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy knows." Nice political party you've got there, shame if anything happened to it.

"Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said Thursday he is running to challenge GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York in her bid to become the next Republican conference chair… Roy, whose bid would be considered a long shot given the support Stefanik has amassed, sees it as an opportunity to not only hear from Stefanik, but also voice his concerns about the process."

"Rep. Liz Cheney said some of her Republican colleagues in Congress are opposed to a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 Capitol riot because they helped provoke the attack or are otherwise culpable."

"US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for an ethics inquiry into a Republican for a 'verbal assault' on another lawmaker… In the halls of Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene reportedly accused New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of supporting 'terrorist' groups… Ms Ocasio-Cortez later said her antagonist was the kind of person she used to throw out of bars."

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