Neal Conan, and so it goes.
"People in the Pacific Northwest braced for another major, multiday heat wave starting Wednesday, just over a month after record-shattering hot weather killed hundreds of the region's most vulnerable people when temperatures soared to 116 degrees Fahrenheit (47 Celsius)."
"Like a car in the garage for repairs, Boeing’s Starliner is back in the hangar as engineering teams scramble to fix a problem related to the spacecraft’s propulsion system."
"A new preprint study that raises concerns about the mRNA vaccines' effectiveness against Delta — particularly Pfizer's — has already grabbed the attention of top Biden administration officials… The study found the Pfizer vaccine was only 42% effective against infection in July, when the Delta variant was dominant. 'If that's not a wakeup call, I don't know what is,' a senior Biden official told Axios." It hasn't gone through peer-review, and the article is a little alarmist, but welcome to evolution, everybody.
"The rapidly escalating surge in COVID-19 infections across the U.S. has caused a shortage of nurses and other front-line staff in virus hot spots that can no longer keep up with the flood of unvaccinated patients and are losing workers to burnout and lucrative out-of-state temporary gigs." Ta-da! Wow, that's a lot of words to say, "hospitals are losing staff because of poor working conditions and over-stretched employees, and it's coming just as this next spike is hitting." And notice how this is being blamed on "well, traveling nurses make so much more that of course nurses are leaving to get that sweet mullah." No. No they're not. Nurses are leaving the profession.
Everything is fine in Florida… "The federal government has sent hundreds of ventilators and other equipment this week to help Florida respond to a record number of Covid hospitalizations… The devices, which came from the federal government's Strategic National Stockpile, included 200 ventilators and 100 smaller breathing devices and related supplies, said an official of the Department of Health and Human Services." Just fine.
Meanwhile, on Bullshit Mountain… "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday updated its COVID-19 tracker for Florida over the past few days after the state’s department of health appealed publically (SIC) for an update… The CDC told Fox News in an email on Tuesday that it was working with the state’s health department to correct the information." Note the people reported with COVID-19 still have COVID-19, it's just the CDC reported several days together (which they probably received the information on the same day). But Fox News spins this to, "You can't trust the CDC to report the correct number."
A local school discussion over masking. Yes, these people will feed their kids to Moloch willingly, in the name of "freedom."
"Chickenpox is one of the most contagious viruses known. Each individual can spread the virus to as many as '90% of the people close to that person,' the CDC reports… Is the delta variant that contagious as well?… The short answer is no, says evolutionary biologist and biostatistician Tom Wenseleers at the University of Leuven in Belgium."
"A lot of workers are getting wage hikes this year as employers compete for scarce labor. But it's not all good news for workers, or for the economy: Some businesses are raising prices to offset the wage hikes, contributing to surging inflation and eroding some of the benefits from that higher pay." Yes, I'm sure that's what's driving inflation and not the world-wide shipping and supply chain problems.
"Prices that Americans pay for everyday goods and services accelerated in July as pent-up demand for travel and restaurants kept inflation hot, but about where economists had expected… So-called core inflation, which excludes energy and food, rose by 0.3% last month, shy of a forecasted 0.4% increase and well below June’s rise of 0.9%. The core figure is up 4.3% over the last year, a slight deceleration from June’s 4.5%."
"Google employees in the US who opt to work from home permanently may get a pay cut… The technology giant has developed a pay calculator that lets employees see the effects of working remotely or moving offices… Some remote employees, especially those with a long commute, could have their pay cut without changing address." Understand that employees were clamoring to get back to the office, companies would be cutting the pay of those coming into the office instead. This isn't an issue of punishment, this is an issue of companies always wanting to cut payroll. Does Google have to do it? Not in the slightest. But if they want to increase profits and pay their top execs more, they most definitely will.
"Southwest Airlines lowered its revenue and profit forecast Wednesday, blaming the delta variant for weaker bookings… The airline is the second carrier in less than a week to warn that the fast-spreading Covid-19 variant will weigh on results. Frontier Airlines on Thursday said it would break even, at best, this quarter because of the variant."
"A Chinese court has sentenced Canadian businessman Michael Spavor to 11 years in prison for espionage, more than two years after he was first detained." Spavor was one of two Canadians arrested in China after Canada detained Huawei's Meng Wanzhou at the behest of the US.
"US President Joe Biden has said he does not regret his move to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, as Taliban militants continue to make rapid advances… Mr Biden urged Afghanistan's leaders to unite and 'fight for their nation'… A US-led military campaign began in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks on American soil - but now most of the foreign troops have pulled out."
"A militant leader in Ethiopia says his group has struck a military alliance with the Tigray forces now pressing toward the country’s capital, as the conflict that erupted in the Tigray region last year spreads into other parts of Africa’s second-most populous country."
"Multiple studies have suggested that digital technology is shortening our attention spans and making us more distracted. What if it’s also making us less empathetic, less prone to ethical action? What if it’s degrading our capacity for moral attention — the capacity to notice the morally salient features of a given situation so that we can respond appropriately?" tl/dr (just kidding)
"Senate Democrats approved a $3.5 trillion budget resolution early Wednesday morning, setting the stage in the weeks and months to come for the party to craft and attempt to pass a sweeping economic package expanding the social safety net that President Joe Biden has made a signature agenda item without the threat of a filibuster from Republicans who oppose it."
"The price tag is currently set at $3.5 trillion. The plan calls for the investments to be offset by a combination of new tax revenues, health care savings and long-term economic growth. It calls for raising money through IRS enforcement and proposes a new fee on carbon pollution. The plan prohibits tax increases on families making under $400,000 a year, small businesses and family farms."
"Senate Republicans blocked an attempt by Democrats to advance their signature voting and elections overhaul bill in the early hours of Wednesday morning… This was an effort by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats in the chamber to put Republicans on the record on the voting rights package and to demonstrate that they are still trying to pass it despite stiff GOP opposition, a priority for the party and the Biden administration."
"An Arizona lawmaker has resigned after he was accused of having sexual contact with a minor in 2019… Republican Senate President Karen Fann and Democratic Leader Rebecca Rios issued a joint statement accepting the resignation of state Sen. Otoniel 'Tony' Navarrete on Tuesday." Doesn't matter which party they belong to, when the accusations are credible (and that line can be debated), this is what should happen.
"For generations, American shoppers have been trained to be nightmares. The pandemic has shown just how desperately the consumer class clings to the feeling of being served."
"New York federal prosecutors came to suspect the Trump Organization's chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, lied in testimony during their investigation of former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen three years ago, according to four people familiar with prosecutors' thinking… Despite their suspicions, federal prosecutors did not pursue perjury charges against Weisselberg, but his past interactions with them could now become relevant to the Manhattan district attorney's office as it seeks his cooperation in a tax fraud case brought against Weisselberg and the company last month."
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