Nanci Griffith, and so it goes.
"Taliban fighters began entering the Afghan capital of Kabul on Sunday, the last city to have been thus far spared takeover by the militants amid their rapid sweep of the country in the wake of U.S. forces departing… A Taliban spokesperson said the fighters intended to negotiate a 'peaceful surrender' of the city."
"Afghanistan’s embattled president left the country Sunday, joining his fellow citizens and foreigners in a stampede fleeing the advancing Taliban and signaling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan."
"Tropical Storm Grace is expected to bring heavy rainfall and flooding to Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico on Sunday."
"Such a vision may be the stuff of popular entertainment but it comes uncomfortably close to our own uncertain future, as highlighted last week by an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which effectively announced 'a code red' warning for our species. Unequivocal evidence showed greenhouse gas emissions were propelling us towards a calamitous fiery future triggered by extreme climate change, it announced. Only urgent reductions of fossil fuel emissions can hope to save us."
"Sizzling temperatures in the United States and Canada and persistent heat in parts of Europe and northern Africa are creating dangerous health conditions, aggravating droughts and fueling wildfires around the world. And it's this troubling confluence of climate threats that researchers have been warning about for two decades." For right now the rhetoric is "OMG, more and longer heatwaves which are, you know, a real bummer and some people can die and it's really dry around here." Just wait until it dawns on people what other changes those heatwaves and droughts bring, like crop failures, livestock deaths, plant and animal extinction, and the realization that our resources and cities are located in the wrong places, and there's not really suitable substitutes available.
"Among Yazd's ancient technologies is the wind catcher, or bâdgir in Persian. These remarkable structures are a common sight soaring above the rooftops of Yazd. They are often rectangular towers, but they also appear in circular, square, octagonal and other ornate shapes."
"Scientists in China discovered two new dinosaur species when analyzing fossils from the country's northwest regions. Their findings, published in a study in Scientific Reports, conclude that two of the specimens were from previously unknown species… The dinosaurs are some of the first vertebrates to be reported in the region, 'increasing the diversity of the fauna as well as the information on Chinese sauropods,' according to the study."
"Russia's state-owned news service, TASS, has published an extraordinarily defamatory article about NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor. The publication claims that Auñón-Chancellor had an emotional breakdown in space, then damaged a Russian spacecraft in order to return early. This, of course, is a complete fabrication."
"The number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States hit a record high of just over 1,900 on Saturday, as hospitals across the South were stretched to capacity fighting outbreaks caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant."
"For young children, the pandemic comes at a crucial time for developing skills important for empathy, safety and more -- a phase that some parents worry will be impaired by mask-wearing." No, it won't harm them. The increased prevalence of COVID-19 would, though.
"Early versions of COVID-19 largely spared children but the delta variant proved to be much less discriminating, and has led to more child hospitalizations. Now, health care workers on the front lines say there is another frightening prospect looming: a surge in children diagnosed with a combination of COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus." Insert dramatic music here.
"Sars-CoV-2 is becoming endemic, meaning continued recurrent outbreaks, especially in communities with low levels of immunity. We shall all remain at some risk, which is a difficult message for those with extreme anxiety about Covid-19. But while herd immunity may be an unattainable goal, every step towards it helps."
"An anti-vaccine rally in downtown Los Angeles erupted into a streetfight Saturday afternoon, leaving one protester bloodied on the ground with a stab wound and a journalist filing a police report over an alleged assault."
Meanwhile, on Bullshit Mountain… "Antifa thugs clashed with anti-mask protesters outside Los Angeles City Hall on Saturday afternoon resulting in multiple injuries."
"Conflict over mask mandates boiled over in school board meetings across the country in recent days as crowds of parents showed up both supporting and resisting the mandates… The backlash led to a New York school board meeting being canceled, a Tennessee meeting devolving into chaos and name-calling and a Florida student pleading with leaders to protect the health of students. Previously, a North Carolina school board was 'overthrown' in a protest earlier in August."
"Demonstrators opposed to Gov. Janet Mills’ newly announced vaccine mandate for health care workers rallied outside Maine Medical Center in Portland Saturday… Some in attendance argued they’re being deprived their freedom of choice but others in the medical field say the move provides support for health care workers." They say, "we have the right to choose"? Really? Did you make a choice for Hep-B, MMR, or any of the other vaccinations, do you have the choice on the flu vaccination (last year our hospital system made the flu mandatory), do you have the choice of going into that patient's room? It's the fucking job.
"Wall Street has a big problem on its hands. It's experiencing a year of record profits, yet many of the young people it needs to fill its talent pool are having doubts about whether the work involved – upwards of 80 hours per week – is worth it." So Wall Street is playing the one trick they know, offering more money. Not changing the culture, just paying those at the "bottom" (note, they're not the actual bottom of the hierarchy, but the bottom for these people) more.
"A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the coast off of Haiti. The strength of that earthquake compares to the one that devastated the nation in 2010 that killed more than 200,000 people and demolished much of the capital."
Of relevance, a recent On the Media short podcasts… "In the wake of the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse on July 7th, international media rushed to cover Haiti’s latest political crisis—painting a familiar picture of a nation in turmoil, Haitians in need, and an international community offering rescue."
"A federal judge in Texas has ordered the Biden administration to revive a Trump-era border policy that required migrants to stay in Mexico until their US immigration court date… late Friday, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, blocked the administration from implementing that memo (that allowed those denied entry previously to come into the US), though he stayed his order for seven days 'to allow the federal government time to seek emergency relief at the appellate level.'"
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