Linkee-poo Monday June 28

"The Pacific Northwest is baking in a record-breaking heat wave, with an all-time high of 108 degrees Fahrenheit reported Saturday in Portland, Oregon… Along the West Coast, more than 20 million people are under a heat warning or advisory, from the Canadian border to the Mexican border."

"The death toll from the collapse rose to nine on Sunday after first responders pulled four more bodies from the site of the Champlain Towers South, a 12-story condo building built in Surfside, Florida, in 1981. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Sunday that additional human remains were also removed from the rubble."

"China's space agency has released video of its Zhurong rover trundling across the surface of Mars… The pictures were acquired by a wireless camera that the robot had placed on the ground… The new media release also includes sequences from Zhurong's landing in May, showing the deployment of its parachute system and the moment of touchdown."

"'It's 24/7. The lights are really bright out here at night. It's just constant sound and presence of people,' says Stephanie Bilodeau, a conservation bird biologist with the non-profit Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program. 'I wouldn't want to be nesting near any of this if I were a bird.'" On SpaceX's Starbase and who they're pissing off some of their neighbors.

"The first two generating units of the world’s second-biggest hydroelectric dam were officially turned on Monday in southwestern China, the government announced… The Baihetan Dam on the Jinsha River, a tributary of the Yangtze, is part of Chinese efforts to curb surging fossil fuel demand by building more hydropower capacity at a time when dams have fallen out of favor in other countries due to environmental complaints."

"Kryger says no couple should feel embarrassed about the practice: "For a lot of couples, sleeping apart can be the best thing for their relationship." However, experts agree sleeping separately impacts the family as a whole, and it's important parents address the sleeping arrangements with their kids."

"Emergency rooms are not typically places you check in for the night. If you break an arm, it gets set, and you leave. If you have a heart attack, you won't wait long for a hospital bed. But sometimes if your brain is not well, and you end up in an ER, there's a good chance you will get stuck there. Parents and advocates for kids' mental health say the ER can't provide appropriate care and that the warehousing of kids in crisis can become an emergency itself."

You have to get to the bottom of the article to get this part… "It should be said that this is not a problem specific to Apple. Many devices, from radios and headphones to Fitbits and vape pens have been known to cause magnetic interference. The Food and Drug Administration also acknowledges this, advising people to keep certain consumer electronic devices, such as certain cell phones and smart watches, at least six inches away from implanted medical devices."

"Under the Affordable Care Act, only routine screening tests are covered, and because Bryant's Cologuard result was positive, her colonoscopy was coded as a 'diagnostic' test, which was not fully covered by her insurance… She would have been fully covered if she had not used Cologuard first… CBS News surveyed 11 of the largest health insurers in the U.S. to see what they would do in situations like Bryant's. Seven did not respond. The four who did said coverage decisions vary, and how much a consumer will pay depends on how doctors code the colonoscopy procedure." And then add in that if she had the colonoscopy first, as a "diagnostic" test, but then did find polyps or cancer, the test would have changed to a treatment and she still would have been on the hook for the expense. Obamacare was a good first step, but it was only the first step. But instead of really blaming the insurance companies and our screwed up healthcare system (also note how the insurance companies state how the same colonoscopy could be coded different ways and might be covered under some of those), they blame ColoGuard.

"Instead, 10 months after Sputnik V’s approval, Russia's vaccination rate is one of the lowest in countries where vaccines are widely available… Just 14 percent of Russia’s 146 million people have been vaccinated with at least one dose, compared to 53.5 percent of Americans, according to Our World in Data, a monitoring project based at the University of Oxford."

"The Delta variant, a strain of Covid-19 believed to be more transmissible and dangerous than others, is likely to break out in some US communities, a health expert told CBS's Face the Nation… Those pockets will be ones with low vaccination rates and low rates of prior infection, Gottlieb said, like in many rural and southern communities."

"With summer in full-swing, businesses that count on that seasonal traffic are finding themselves having to cut back, not because of a lack of customers from the pandemic, but from a lack of workers." Note that Ashtabula County is an economically depressed area, and has been for over a decade. We're still dealing with the fallout of the 2007-2009 recession.

"A new modular home being built at 147 St. Andrews Drive has brought multiple complaints and raised the ire of some neighborhood residents." A little local NIMBYism and I've gotta say, the residents are 1) fucked if their goal is to stop construction and 2) dead wrong about their precious property values and 3) seriously, where have they been the last twenty years. Seriously, we dealt with these issues when I was a councilman. The residents are totally off their base here and mostly dealing with feeling that they paid way to much for construction instead of being fearful about the modular home. Because pre-construction, or factory built, is the future for construction. As it is, even supposedly "stick built" homes now buy prefab roof joists and in some cases, wall sections. The unfortunate part of this is "modular home" covers a wide range of techniques and systems.

"Last Fourth of July some fireworks stores went dark because they ran out of product. The same thing may happen again this year. Demand for consumer fireworks is near all-time highs, but logistics bottlenecks are cutting the supply by about 30%, boosting prices and robbing some retailers of a chance to cash in what might otherwise have been their best year ever, according to Mike Collar, president of Winco Fireworks, one of the largest U.S. importers." But I'm sure we'll still have a lot of fireworks going off in the neighborhoods.

"Marijuana’s popularity boom in red states isn’t breaking through with conservatives on Capitol Hill, pinching an already narrow path to federal legalization… A growing number of Republican senators represent states that have legalized recreational or medical cannabis — six approved or expanded marijuana in some form just since November. But without their support in Congress to make up for likely Democratic defectors, weed falls critically short of the 60 votes needed to advance legislation." Don't expect the federal government to approve marijuana, even medical marijuana, anytime soon. Why? It's part of the Nixon strategy of the War on Drugs. See, hippies use weed, which is why they're Bad™.

"The U.S. military on Sunday conducted airstrikes on facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region, drawing vows of retaliation from the militants and protests of a 'blatant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty' from the country's military. The targets were facilities Iran-backed militias have used in unmanned aerial vehicle or drone attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq, according to a statement from Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby."

"Marine Le Pen’s far-right party has suffered a serious electoral blow when it failed to win a regional election in its stronghold in the south of France… The Rassemblement National (National Rally) had pinned its last chances on taking the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region (PACA) after emerging victorious from last week’s first-round vote, although by a small margin."

"Xavier Bertrand, a politician from the center-right Les Republicans party, won Sunday’s regional vote with around 52% of support in the northern region of Hauts-de-France. He beat the candidate from the far right, who got around 26% of the votes, according to exit polls published by France’s interior ministry."

"Classified Ministry of Defence documents containing details about HMS Defender and the British military have been found at a bus stop in Kent… One set of documents discusses the likely Russian reaction to the ship's passage through Ukrainian waters off the Crimea coast on Wednesday… Another details plans for a possible UK military presence in Afghanistan after the US-led Nato operation there ends." Oopsie… maybe.

"Everyone in North Korea is heartbroken over leader Kim Jong Un's apparent weight loss, said an unidentified resident of Pyongyang quoted on the country's tightly controlled state media, after watching recent video footage of Kim."

"But Tasharn only got to this point through a combination of sheer determination, luck and a great deal of financial aid. Her salary working for the D.C. government wasn't enough to qualify for a mortgage, and her husband is unemployed. So she was able to secure more than $100,000 in down payment assistance — from the D.C. government and a foundation, called birdSEED — which helped whittle her payment down to a manageable $1,900 a month." Even from NPR there's the myth that if you work hard, and make sacrifices, you too can have the American Dream. But notice how much of a social net and assistance they needed to get that home. And I can't even imagine paying that much a month on just a mortgage.

"Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has dismissed comments in which the Georgia Republican extremist Marjorie Taylor Greene called her a 'little communist' and said she should be locked up, tweeting: 'First of all, I’m taller than her.'" "The Trump family has trouble with depositions. In 2007 testimony, Donald Trump was repeatedly shown to be a liar. In February, Donald Trump Jr. was deposed in the Trump inauguration scandal lawsuit, and on several key points, under oath, he provided false testimony. A review of documents filed in that case and other material obtained by Mother Jones shows that Ivanka Trump also testified inaccurately during her deposition in this lawsuit."

"DeSantis is crisscrossing the country to deliver red-meat speeches. Iowa leaders begged him to visit. He just beat Trump in a key straw poll. And now the popular governor is getting close to overshadowing the former president in the 2024 presidential sweepstakes… All of that could be dangerous for DeSantis’ political health, as Trump continues to ponder a new bid for the White House and remains capable of kneecapping any Republican he sees as a threat." Despots don't share the spotlight.

"Democrats have pledged the fight for voting rights is far from over, but activists told the Guardian it did not feel like Biden and Democrats were meeting the moment and treating the fight for voting rights with the urgency it deserved."