On lesbian pulp fiction… "The Lesbian Pulp Fiction That Saved Lives… How potboilers and pin-ups showed gay and bisexual women they were not alone." On the power of seeing oneself in fiction. Also for this… "In the 1950s, Bannon says, homosexuality was often spoken of as a kind of pathogen: You weren’t just sick, you were contaminated and contagious—especially to the young and impressionable. 'You didn’t want to have, or to acknowledge having, gay friends, or to be consorting with gay people, or defending them,' she says. 'And I think at the root of that was a lot of anxiety about converting children to a gay life, because it seemed to be so seductive and fascinating that merely having contact with a gay person or reading a gay book would lead you down the wrong path.'" Seventy some odd years later and there's still a lot of people who believe that.
"An all-civilian crew streaked into space atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday on the first privately funded, non-government trip to orbit, a historic three-day flight devoted to raising $200 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital."
"Brazilian observer José Luis Pereira captured a bright flash on the solar system's largest planet Monday night (Sept. 13), memorializing the fiery death of a space rock high in the Jovian atmosphere."
"The Biden administration said Wednesday that federal protections may need to be restored for gray wolves in the western U.S. after Republican-backed state laws made it much easier to kill the predators… The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initial determination that the region's wolves could again be in peril — after decades spent restoring them — will kick off a year-long biological review."
"The stark situation of COVID's impact on Alaska has affected the ability of the state's largest hospital to provide care for some patients… On Wednesday, the state reported 1,068 new virus infections — a level 13% higher than last week and one shattering the state's daily case rate since the pandemic began. The highest number of cases is in Anchorage, which reported more than 470 new cases."
"It's a bad time to get sick in Oregon. That's what many doctors are telling their patients and the public as hospitals full of COVID-19 patients have been forced to postpone some treatments of other medical conditions."
"The amount of time that passed since vaccination appears to be a 'significant factor' in so-called breakthrough cases of the coronavirus, a finding that supports the important role booster shots can play in helping curb the pandemic, Pfizer's CEO says."
"As of Sept. 9, nearly 5.3 million children had been diagnosed with Covid-19, representing 15.5 percent of all cases, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics… Despite the explosion in cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the pediatric specialists and clinical investigators studying the disease still do not have evidence that delta causes more severe infections in children and adolescents." Basically, they aren't saying kids are getting sicker, they're just saying they don't have enough granular data to figure it out.
"It's not clear if or when boosters doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be OK'd for fully vaccinated people in the United States, but state and local health departments across the United States are moving ahead with plans for a potential rollout next week… Last month, US health officials announced plans for booster doses of Covid-19 vaccine to be offered starting the week of September 20, subject to sign-off from the US Food and Drug Administration and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." Our hospital is preparing for both mandates and for booster shots (as there is now data showing that yes, immune response does weaken after a while, but I haven't seen if the data has controlled for the increased viral load of Delta or not).
"Republican legislators in more than half of U.S. states, spurred on by voters angry about lockdowns and mask mandates, are taking away the powers that state and local officials use to protect the public against infectious diseases."
"From mass furloughs, voluntary job losses and retirements, to understaffing problems and a surge in cases of harassment and assaults by unruly passengers, workers at airports and airlines continue to bear the brunt of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the air travel industry… The sector was among the hardest hit by Covid-19, losing about 100,000 jobs in the first few months of the pandemic. Through three rounds of funding, Congress provided the industry with $54bn in federal assistance to keep workers on payrolls, while surges in the Delta variant have stifled air travel recovery domestically and internationally."
"Retail sales posted a surprise gain in August despite fears that escalating Covid cases and supply chain issues would hold back consumers, the Census Bureau reported Thursday… Sales increased 0.7% for the month against the Dow Jones estimate of a decline of 0.8%… A separate economic report showed that weekly jobless claims increased to 332,000 for the week ended Sept. 11, according to the Labor Department. The Dow Jones estimate was for 320,000."
"President Joe Biden will argue in a speech on Thursday that the US has reached an 'inflection point' as the President pushes for his economic agenda, a White House official told CNN."
"Marks & Spencer has said it is closing 11 of its French stores because of problems supplying them with fresh and chilled foods since Brexit… M&S said supply chain problems since Brexit had made it 'near impossible' to maintain standards of food supply… Nine M&S stores run at French travel hubs will continue to operate."
"The International Criminal Court has authorized a formal investigation into the controversial anti-drug war of the Philippines that has drawn international outrage… By official count, at least 6,000 Filipinos, mostly poor drug peddlers and addicts, have been killed in the anti-drug police operations. But rights groups estimate the number of victims could be four times that."
"France killed the leader of the Islamic State group in the Greater Sahara, French officials said Thursday, calling him 'enemy No. 1' in protracted anti-terrorism efforts in the region… French President Emmanuel Macron announced the death of Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi overnight."
"Most Americans don’t believe their personal information is secure online and aren’t satisfied with the federal government’s efforts to protect it, according to a poll." Duh.
"A new security partnership in the Asia Pacific will see the UK and US provide Australia with the technology and capability to deploy nuclear-powered submarines. American officials have said the move was not aimed at countering Beijing. However experts say the AUKUS agreement signals a paradigm shift in strategy and policy across the region."
"Gen. Mark Milley says he was conducting the duties of his office — not circumventing presidential authority — when he spoke to his Chinese counterpart shortly before last year's election, according to a statement the Pentagon issued Wednesday… Milley's actions in the final months of former President Donald Trump's term made headlines this week after a new book by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was attempting to head off a potential armed conflict when he called Chinese Gen. Li Zuocheng."
When the paranoia wraps around and becomes a mobius strip… "Those posting on these forums say they largely believe the event to be a setup for a 'false flag' event or 'honeypot,' in which they’ll be entrapped and coerced to commit violence by federal agents." And that's why FBI entrapment actions work. Not so much to put individuals in jail, but to instill this deep paranoia. Once it reaches triple recursion, "It wasn't an false flag, those were rumors spread by the FBI agents to get us to think it was and not attend, so we should attend, but then that makes this really a false flag operation…" that's when they win.
"Philadelphia to pay $2M to Black woman beaten by officers, separated from toddler during unrest… Officers smashed Rickia Young's windows with batons when she unknowingly drove into a protest. The union later claimed on social media that officers rescued her 'lost' toddler."
"For now Republicans' 2022 midterm election message could be summed up by an old slogan used in the 1990s by Democrats: 'It's the economy, stupid.'… GOP lawmakers in recent weeks have piled on the Biden administration for the chaotic and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan, and argued it has failed to respond sufficiently to the continuing pandemic the president had vowed to get under control… But with 14 months before the election, Republican lawmakers, campaign operatives and candidates say the leading issue is Biden's economy." "Why hasn't Biden fixed the Trump economy, put us back in power so we can… do the same as we did before"? Not sure that's a winning strategy.
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