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

Sunday, July 25, 2021

Linkee-poo Sunday Just 25

Jackie Mason, and do it goes.

"The nation's largest wildfire raged through southern Oregon on Friday, but crews were scaling back some night operations as hard work and weaker winds helped reduce the spread of flames even as wildfires continued to threaten homes in neighboring California."

"Dozens of wildfires currently blazing across the West have been exhibiting extreme fire behavior: demonstrating alarming rotational patterns and wafting smoke across the country while also creating their own weather."

"Officials believe a tornado might have touched down Saturday evening in Armada, one of the areas hit hard by storms that moved through Southeast Michigan."

"Facing an ongoing drought that is squeezing surface water supplies, farmers are extracting groundwater at higher rates to continue growing food as usual… California's farmers probably will pump an additional six to seven million acre-feet of water from their wells this year, above what they normally use… and far exceeds the amount that naturally replenishes the aquifer, even during a year with normal rainfall."

Of interest to the current WIP… "The winding streets of old Istanbul are an overlapping cacophony of seagulls, ship horns and vendors of colorful fresh fruit. Shady fig trees cluster near crumbling Byzantine walls and sweeping Ottoman palaces, remnants of the empires that conquered and lost this strategic point on the Bosporus Strait, which formed the seat of the Eastern Roman Empire… Underneath it all is an ancient world that's almost invisible, unless you know where to look."

"The current COVID-19 surge in the U.S. — fueled by the highly contagious delta variant — will steadily accelerate through the summer and fall, peaking in mid-October, with daily deaths more than triple what they are now." Ta-da!

"Thousands of people took to the streets of Sydney and other Australian cities on Saturday to protest lockdown restrictions amid another surge in cases, and police made several arrests after crowds broke through barriers and threw plastic bottles and plants."

"'Every single day... you're getting ready to intubate the patient in ICU, which means putting them on a ventilator, and they say, "If I get the vaccine now, can I not go on the ventilator?"' the nurse told CNN's Randi Kaye." At the point you're having sever symptoms, the vaccine is not going to help you. In fact, because of the extra load on your immune system, it would probably make things worse.

"Health Secretary Sajid Javid has apologised after saying people should no longer 'cower' from coronavirus… He made the comments in a tweet announcing he had made a 'full recovery' from Covid, a week after testing positive… Labour accused him of denigrating those who followed the rules, while the founder of a victims' group said his comments were "deeply insensitive"." It how these stupid bravado comments help expose the mindset of conservatives who have bought wholesale the false narrative of the alpha male.

"The week began with Florida’s high-flying governor, Ron DeSantis, in Texas, bashing Joe Biden over immigration at the southern border. But with the highly contagious Delta variant pushing new cases of Covid-19 in his home state to their highest level since January, DeSantis’s road trip was looking increasingly deaf in tone and timing."

"That one-two punch — a new wave of cases followed by the looming expiration of enhanced jobless benefits, a ban on evictions and other rescue programs — is sparking concern among lawmakers and economists who say that while widespread business shutdowns are unlikely, renewed fears of the virus alone can slow the economy just as it's getting back on track."

"China said on Friday that it has imposed counter-sanctions on U.S. individuals including former U.S. commerce secretary Wilbur Ross in response to recent U.S. sanctions on Chinese officials in Hong Kong."

"Now, like the Cuc Cac sisters, thousands of rural Guatemalans — as well as Salvadorans and Hondurans in agrarian areas — increasingly are leaving their communities. These days, migration — including the record number of unaccompanied children — is on the rise in rural areas, as an increasing portion of the country’s land and population faces the fallout from climate change… And it’s not just climate change acting alone. It’s food insecurity. Malnutrition. Poverty. It all ties together."

"But today, instead of carrying soybeans and other American products back across the Pacific as usual, many of the containers are going back empty as shippers rush to bring in even more imports."

"States have also enacted the most restrictions in any single year since 1973, when Roe v. Wade was decided, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-rights research organization. This year, many of the laws ban abortion at a certain point in pregnancy, for a specific reason, or altogether."

"In a Facebook post, the sheriff’s office said the unneighborly neighbors yelled at 'Tony' to 'get off our lawn' and 'get the man out of here, have him die somewhere else.' At the time, Tony was trying to assist a man who was having convulsions inside his vehicle, deputies said."

"It's 2021, but the policing of female athletes' bodies is a practice that continues to thrive… The Norwegian women's beach handball team is in a battle with the sport's governing bodies to wear less-revealing uniforms. After the team's repeated complaints about the required bikini bottoms were reportedly ignored, they wore shorts during a recent game… Welsh Paralympian Olivia Breen recently recounted a competition official remarking that her briefs were 'too short and inappropriate.'"

"Dobbs, which the Court will hear this fall, concerns a Mississippi law that prohibits nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. It’s the first major abortion case to receive a full briefing and oral argument since Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation gave the Court a 6-3 conservative majority. And abortion opponents have every reason to be optimistic that the Court’s new majority will use Dobbs to undo the right to an abortion."

"A New York City pilot program that dispatches mental health specialists and paramedics instead of police for certain nonviolent emergency calls has resulted in more people accepting assistance and fewer people sent to the hospital, early data shows."

"'This is not a Trump rally. Let 'em holler. No one's paying attention,' Biden shot back."

"The Republican overseeing the controversial GOP-backed election audit in Arizona has reportedly been banned from entering the building where the recount process is ongoing, after he shared some data with experts that showed the results match the officially certified numbers in Maricopa County."

"Just two months later, Cheney’s stature is rising again, this time as the lone Republican on the House select committee charged with investigating that Jan. 6 attack. While her participation has triggered more attacks from Trump and others within her own party, she’s drawing strong reviews from Democrats who praise her work ethic and contributions to the committee thus far."

The Freedom Phone… "The fact the phone is already available to order -- and that there are more buy buttons on the website than phone hardware specs describing the phone's capabilities -- are all red flags. The phone is marketed entirely on its politically conservative branding and seems like nothing more than a savvy entrepreneur looking to make money from conservatives frustrated with Facebook and Twitter banning former President Donald Trump."

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