"So here we are, 20 years later. Has the U.S. passed the test? Is the country safer?… NPR asked several former officials who served in senior positions over the past two decades. Their collective answer could be summarized as, 'Yes, but…'"
"The Texas Gulf Coast and southwestern Louisiana are under threat Monday, with Tropical Storm Nicholas bringing a "life-threatening storm surge, isolated tornadoes, and significant heavy rain up to 20 inches in places," the National Weather Service said."
"Just a month after rainfall was recorded for the first time ever at Greenland's highest point, the island is expecting up to four feet of snow from the remnants of Hurricane Larry — the rare tropical storm to stay intact so far north… Hurricane-force gusts topped 100 miles per hour at Kulusuk Airport near Greenland's southeast coast. At Tasiilaq, the largest town in the region, sustained winds reached 55 miles per hour, with gusts of over 90."
"Fragments of medieval Merlin manuscript found in Bristol library reveal 'chaster' story… Parchment fragments discovered in bindings of much later volumes reveal 'subtle but significant' variations on Arthurian legend".
"Yet another billionaire entrepreneur is set to ride into space this week, strapped inside the capsule of a SpaceX rocketship, as part of an astro-tourist team poised to make history as the first all-civilian crew launched into Earth orbit."
"US space agency scientists were so excited by the Martian rock sampled by their Perseverance rover last week they got the robot to take a second sample… Perseverance drilled its first finger-sized core on 6 September, repeating the procedure a couple of days later."
/"Nonetheless, Nipah remains a concern, not just in India but for the entire planet. The World Health Organization classifies it as a "virus of concern" for future epidemics because "each year it spills over from its animal reservoir into humans," says Dr. Stephen Luby, professor of infectious disease at Stanford University. And when humans are infected it can be transmitted from person-to-person."
Even if the story out of Oklahoma proved not to be true (well, follow up investigations are a mixed bag) that doesn't mean people aren't being affected by wait times… "Earlier this week, state public health officials activated crisis standards of care for at least 10 hospitals across ten Northern Idaho counties because of an unprecedented surge of hospitalizations due to COVID-19… This means health care facilities are overwhelmed and are now rationing care for everyone, regardless of their diagnosis."
"Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb predicted Sunday that the agency he helmed will authorize Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine for emergency use in children ages 5 to 11 by the end of October."
"Twenty-six states in the US have fully vaccinated more than half of their population, federal data shows, but some hospitals are still filling up with Covid-19 patients who did not get their shots."
"A review of coronavirus specimens collected in Los Angeles County shows the mu and lambda variants were circulating earlier this summer, but the delta variant remains dominant, officials said Friday… The highly contagious delta has 'crowded out all of the other previously circulating strains,' now accounting for 100% of all strains sequenced in L.A. County, said Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director."
"Long COVID is a poorly defined, poorly understood condition that occurs when COVID-19 patients' symptoms won't go away for weeks or months, or new ones emerge just when they think they're all better… But breakthrough infections can happen, especially with the delta variant. And it's becoming increasingly clear that unvaccinated people can develop long COVID symptoms, even from mild cases." I think they meant to say "vaccinated people can develop long COVID symptoms…".
"His story is poignant and sad, and his concerns are widely held — but when Tennessee teenager Grady Knox stood up at a county school board meeting to explain why he wants masks in schools, adults at the meeting mocked and heckled the high school student."
"Child mortality from COVID rose 140% from the end of July to early September, Politico first reported… COVID cases are down compared to earlier in the summer, but children make up about a quarter of new weekly cases."
"The lawsuit, which stated that a vaccine mandate infringes on workers’ personal autonomy, has been dropped in light of President Biden’s new sweeping vaccination mandate."
"At one local hospital in upstate New York, dozens of staff members walked away from their jobs after refusing to get vaccinated. The move has seriously disrupted care in the process… Lewis County General Hospital in Lowville, N.Y., announced Friday that it is pausing maternity services later this month because dozens of staff members quit rather than get COVID-19 vaccines."
"President Joe Biden's new vaccine mandates for federal employees don't apply to members of Congress or those who work for Congress or the federal court system." That's because Congress is exempt from workplace condition laws.
"Plans to introduce vaccine passports for access into nightclubs and large events in England will not go ahead, the health secretary has said… Sajid Javid told the BBC: 'We shouldn't be doing things for the sake of it.'"
"The federal minimum wage in the U.S. has remained glued at $7.25 an hour for the last 12 years, the longest stretch without a boost since it was first adopted in 1938… If the minimum wage had kept pace with gains in the economy's productivity over the last 50 years, it would be nearly $26 an hour today, or more than $50,000 a year in annual income, one economist notes." Note, nobody's wages, who aren't executive officers, have kept up with productivity.
How goes Brexit? "This asset protection scheme will be largely funded by steeper taxes on jobs via a 1.25 percentage point hike in the national insurance paid by both employees and employers. That route was chosen on the cynical basis that a lot of the public mistakenly think NI is more just than income tax, when the reverse is true. Care workers, whose median pay is just £8.50 an hour, will be asked to sacrifice some of their very low income so that the property wealth of much richer people is ringfenced for the benefit of their heirs. There are several words you can use to describe this arrangement. Unfair would be one of them. Brave is not." Remember when the Brexitiers said exit would solve most of the NHS's issues because all that money could flood back into it? And then people rightly pointed out that was bullshit.
From last week, but… "Tens of thousands of supporters of embattled right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro heeded his call and turned out at rallies Tuesday as he stepped up his attacks on Brazil’s Supreme Court and threatened to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis."
"A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passenger plane from Islamabad touched down in Kabul on Monday morning, according to an airline spokesman… This marks the first flight to land in Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan since the chaotic final withdrawal of US troops last month."
"North Korea says it successfully test fired what it described as newly developed long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, its first known testing activity in months, underscoring how it continues to expand its military capabilities amid a stalemate in nuclear negotiations with the United States."
"The US Environmental Protection Agency is failing to protect children by ignoring poisons in the environment and focusing on corporate interests, according to a top children’s health official who will testify this week that the agency tried to silence her because of her insistence on stronger preventions against lead poisoning." (Grokked from Kelly Link)
"But an NPR investigation finds that the homes HUD sells are disproportionately located in flood-prone places, compared with Zillow records of all homes sold in the United States. The agency does not fully disclose the potential costs and dangers of living in harm's way, and some of these transactions have happened as local governments are buying out properties in the same areas to mitigate flood risk."
"In 1924, a flourishing beach resort for Black people along the Southern California coast was seized by the local city government through eminent domain… The stated reason was to build a park, but historical records show the resort was shut down because the resort's owners and its patrons were Black… Now, an effort to return what is known as Bruce's Beach to the descendants of its original owners — and make amends for a historical wrong — is poised to become reality."
"Foster is the leader of the Turnaway Study, a nationwide project that examined the long-term effects of either having an abortion or being turned away. The study found that people who were denied an abortion had almost four times greater odds of being below the federal poverty level… When individuals are blocked from obtaining care, she said, they are more likely to struggle to afford basic living expenses like food, housing and transportation."
"Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co on Saturday sharply criticized a proposal by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives to give union-made electric vehicles in the United States an additional $4,500 tax incentive… Toyota said in a statement that the plan unveiled late Friday discriminates 'against American autoworkers based on their choice not to unionize.'"
"U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne of Iowa was slow to get behind a $1 trillion infrastructure bill after the Senate passed it last month. It wasn’t the price tag that tripped up the Democrat from a swing House district. It was that none of the money was targeted for a home state industry — ethanol and biodiesel." So you're saying it's old school politics, then? When representative were concerned about their constituents?
"The FBI released a newly declassified document on the 9/11 attacks Saturday, revealing details on the logistical support given to two of the Saudi hijackers in the lead-up to the terrorist attacks, as the world marked the 20th anniversary of one of America's darkest days."
"Bookmakers Betfair, which operates the world's largest online betting exchange, puts Newsom's odds of remaining in office at 1/8, while the odds that he is removed from office now stand at 4/1 on Sunday, September 12. This was a slight decline on odds offered on Saturday, which were 1/18 for him to remain in office and 6/1 for him to be removed."
"These ongoing calamities – a once-in-a-generation health crisis and unprecedented challenges posed drought and extreme weather – were, largely, what gave rise to the recall effort. Having won his seat by a historic margin in 2018, Newsom has found himself in a peculiar position. Still broadly popular in the state, he’s fending off challenges from Republicans and rightwingers who are more out of touch with most residents than the governor at his worst. Extraordinary crises have given rise to an extraordinary recall – one that could trigger extraordinary political upheaval in one of America’s bluest states." There's some part of me that wonders if the recall wasn't a bid to drain Newsom's coffers before next year's general election.
Meanwhile, on Bullshit Mountain… "But ironically, while Newsom and other Democrats portray Texas as a nightmare, Texans note that more Californians and California businesses have been relocating to the Lone Star State, seeking relief from California’s taxes and regulations, according to the report."
"Salesforce (CRM) announced that it will assist its employees and their families if they want to leave Texas after the state passed the nation's most restrictive abortion law."
"Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said Sunday he will not support the $3.5 trillion price tag for the economic bill that would expand the nation's social safety net and that 'there's no way' Congress can meet the timeline set by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to pass it." Sounds like Manchin is starting to feel some heat.
"The president has proposed more than $3 trillion worth of revenue increases, primarily through higher taxes for corporations and the country’s richest households as well as greater IRS enforcement that would target the wealthy. But key lawmakers voiced doubts this past week about the size and possible impacts on the economy as congressional committees considered the measures and a wide array of business groups sifted through the details to highlight what they oppose." Trickle down does not work. Time to restore fiscal sanity.
"The draft proposal, which could still change before it is expected to be officially released Monday, calls for increasing the top marginal rate on individuals to 39.6%, up from the 37% rate set by the Republicans' 2017 tax cut law… The rate would apply to individuals with taxable income over $400,000 a year and married couples filing jointly earning over $450,000 annually… The top capital gains rate would increase to 25%, from 20%… In addition, lawmakers would slap a 3% surtax on individuals with adjusted gross incomes in excess of $5 million."
And the bullshit just keeps coming… "A report released this week in Arizona’s largest county falsely claims to have uncovered some 173,000 'lost' votes and 96,000 'ghost votes' in a private door-to-door canvassing effort, supposedly rendering the 2020 election in Maricopa County 'uncertifiable.'"
"CNN spoke to about a dozen state and county officials involved in elections for this story; all of them expressed concern that the widespread and unsubstantiated claims of a stolen election could take a lasting toll on American democracy… But while those efforts were stymied by a thin line of civil servants, a concerted push in myriad states to set the stage for a future power grab is finding more success."
"Just two days before armed rioters stormed and ransacked the Capitol, about 300 law enforcement officials got on a conference call to talk about the possibility that Donald Trump’s supporters would turn violent on Jan. 6. They specifically discussed the possibility that the day’s gatherings would turn into a mass-casualty event, and they made plans on how to communicate with each other if that happened."
"Organizers of a Kentucky rally in support of former President Donald Trump featuring several prominent allies and conspiracy theorists expected some 10,000 people to show up this weekend. Instead, less than 300 were in attendance when local journalists attempted to cover the proceedings." Sad trombone sounds.
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