"As Ida made its way to the northeast, unprecedented flooding hit New York with photos and videos capturing the affects of the powerful storm… Videos shared on social media showed the Brooklyn Queens Expressway impassible, cars stuck in streets in Elmhurst, Queens, and water racing into subway stations in Manhattan. More than 3 inches of rain fell in Central Park in one hour."
"Photos show what appears to be a miles-long oil slick near an offshore rig in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ida, according to aerial survey imagery released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and reviewed by The Associated Press."
"Scenes From Hurricane Ida's Devastating Path." See if you can spot what's wrong in the photo of the guy with the boat next to the mailbox.
"After two bone-dry years that sank the U.S. Southwest deeper into drought, this summer’s rainy season unleashed with fury."
"Despite threatening to pull Russia out of the International Space Station prematurely, the head of the country's space agency is now promising to remain NASA's partner at least until the orbiting outpost is eventually retired."
And then… "The International Space Station (ISS) could suffer "irreparable" failures due to outdated equipment and hardware, a Russian official has warned… At least 80 percent of in-flight systems on the Russian segment of the ISS had passed their expiry date, Vladimir Solovyov told state media." Just another reminder that Russia has already declared they want to pull out and launch their own space station. Also, yess, the ISS is past its original projected life.
"Dreaming of a future where Luke Skywalker's replacement hand is more than a sci-fi fantasy, scientists have designed a 'bionic arm' that enlists help from tiny robots to re-create the vital sensations forfeited when one loses an upper limb. The bots do that by safely vibrating muscles at the amputation site."
"Members of the Sackler family who are at the center of the nation's deadly opioid crisis have won sweeping immunity from opioid lawsuits linked to their privately owned company Purdue Pharma and its OxyContin medication… Federal Judge Robert Drain approved a bankruptcy settlement on Wednesday that grants the Sacklers 'global peace' from any liability for the opioid epidemic." Fuck.
"Fully vaccinated people that catch COVID-19 are almost twice as likely to get no symptoms than those who haven't had a vaccine, a large UK study suggests… The study from researchers at King's College London was published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases medical journal late Wednesday. It found that fewer than 0.2% of 971,504 fully vaccinated adults studied caught COVID-19 at least a week after their second dose."
"The World Health Organization (WHO) is tracking a new COVID-19 variant that it says could have the ability to evade the immunity people get from vaccines and prior COVID-19 infections… Called Mu, the B.1.621 variant was first detected in Colombia in January this year. It has since been detected in 39 countries and was added to the WHO's watchlist on August 30." Note this was also thought to be the case with Delta and Lamba.
"A New Jersey woman calling herself the AntiVaxMomma on Instagram sold several hundred fake COVID-19 vaccination cards at $200 a pop to New York City-area jab dodgers, including people working in hospitals and nursing homes, prosecutors said Tuesday… For an extra $250, a second scammer would then enter a bogus card buyer's name into a New York state vaccination database, which feeds systems used to verify vaccine status at places they're required, such as concerts and sporting events, prosecutors said." Wow, $450 to avoid getting the actual jabs which could help you and which cost :: checks notes :: nothing.
"As cases ballooned in August, however, the Florida Department of Health changed the way it reported death data to the CDC, giving the appearance of a pandemic in decline, an analysis of Florida data by the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald found… On Monday, Florida death data would have shown an average of 262 daily deaths reported to the CDC over the previous week had the health department used its former reporting system, the Herald analysis showed. Instead, the Monday update from Florida showed just 46 “new deaths” per day over the previous seven days." Neat trick, but easily sussed out.
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tallied over 39 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., but if you want to know more detailed information, such as where patients live, whether patients were hospitalized or died, demographic details like race, gender and age, that information is gathered separately… In that more detailed CDC data set, about 1 in 5 known cases — or 7 million people — are completely missing, an NPR analysis found."
"A third dose of the Moderna vaccine — given six months after the initial two doses — significantly boosts immunity, according to data the company submitted to the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday."
"The Virginia Supreme Court of Virginia ruled Thursday that the state can take down an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that has towered over a traffic island in Richmond for more than a century and has become a symbol of racial injustice."
"Three suburban Denver police officers and two paramedics were indicted on manslaughter and other charges in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man put into a chokehold and injected with a powerful sedative in a fatal encounter that provoked national outcry during racial injustice protests last year."
"Lost Dog is one of a growing number of companies that, in a desperation for hired hands, is loosening restrictions on everything from age to level of experience. Drug store chain CVS announced earlier in August it would no longer require a minimum high school degree to fill entry level spots at its stores. This year, it also plans to end its GPA requirement of 3.0 when it recruits on college campuses. Meanwhile, Amazon has stopped testing job seekers for marijuana."
"Ghost kitchens provide facilities for restaurants, catering services, and other businesses to prepare food for takeout and delivery. Rarely do ghost kitchens feature any sort of seating area for customers."
"The Taliban has surrounded the only remaining province resisting its rule, a senior leader said on Wednesday, calling on rebels to negotiate a settlement with the group… Since the fall of Kabul on Aug. 15, mountainous Panjshir has been the only province to hold out against the Islamist group, although there has also been fighting in neighbouring Baghlan province between Taliban and local militia forces."
"The U.S. ended its massive evacuations out of Kabul, Afghanistan, by President Biden's Aug. 31 deadline, but as many as 27 California public school students remain in Afghanistan… The students, whose grades range from elementary to high school, are from 19 families from the San Juan Unified School District in Sacramento. Most of the students, the school district says, have family members with them."
"Over the past five years, the EPA has not rejected any new chemicals submitted by industry despite agency scientists flagging dozens of compounds for high toxicity. Four EPA whistleblowers and industry watchdogs say a revolving door between the agency and chemical companies is to blame, and that the program’s management has been 'captured by industry'. The charges are supported by emails, documents and additional records that were provided to the Guardian."
"Russia Insider founder Charles Bausman traveled from his home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 and advanced as far as the Capitol’s balustrades after Trump’s speech, he said. Soon after, he left the country for Moscow." Waves at my Russian friends.
"As the United States-backed government in Afghanistan fell to the Taliban and US troops raced to leave the country, White supremacist and anti-government extremists have expressed admiration for what the Taliban accomplished, a worrying development for US officials who have been grappling with the threat of domestic violent extremism." You may remember in the 90s white supremacist and neo-nazi groups formed relationships with other international groups which share their vision of "culturally pure nation states" and have supposedly secretly agreed to divide the world into "homelands."
"Democrats are hustling to finalize their gigantic social spending plan during the dog days of summer recess, wary they will blow their target date to finish as Congress faces a crush of deadlines later this month… Speaker Nancy Pelosi has ordered committee leaders to battle it out with their Senate counterparts to resolve all major disputes this week on what will be included in the up-to-$3.5 trillion bill. But wide gulfs remain between the House and Senate on central pieces of the package, including expanding Medicare, shoring up Obamacare, raising taxes and curbing carbon emissions."
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