I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Friday, November 5, 2021

Linkee-poo Friday Nov 5

"The number of people getting COVID-19 vaccine boosters in the U.S. is now far outpacing the number getting their first shots, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." That's because more people are vaccinated than are not, and those who have already gone through the vaccination two-step more than six months ago are people who know it can protect us.

"British scientists have identified a version of a gene that may be associated with double the risk of lung failure from COVID-19, a finding that provides new insights into why some people are more susceptible than othersto severe illness and which opens possibilities for targeted medicine."

"For many weeks, declining cases and hospitalizations have offered hope ahead of the holiday season, when Americans travel and spend more time indoors, but progress has stalled recently, with cases rising or plateauing in more than 20 states."

"As the Delta variant became the dominant strain of coronavirus across the United States, all three COVID-19 vaccines available to Americans lost some of their protective power, with vaccine efficacy among a large group of veterans dropping between 35% and 85%, according to a new study."

"By combining five different datasets and applying them to the same mathematical model, the researchers observed that the mechanism controlling the rate of progression in Alzheimer’s disease is the replication of aggregates in individual regions of the brain, and not the spread of aggregates from one region to another."

"There are a lot of reasons why we may have to get up early. Maybe it's for work, maybe to get your kids ready for school or take care of a family member. Maybe you just want some time to work on your hobby or take care of errands before a busy day… But if you're not naturally a morning person, how much room do you have to change your wake-up schedule?" This article reads like it was written by a morning person. Also, random quote from the workplace, "Oh honey, melatonin is for beginners."

"A strong rebound in job growth in October is raising hopes that a long-awaited recovery in the labor market is underway. But millions of workers still remain on the sidelines — and the economy needs them back… The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. employers added 531,000 jobs last month. Job gains for August and September were also revised upward. The unemployment rate fell to 4.6%." I wonder when economists and their statisticians will realize that the Boomer generation is retiring and for the first time the "employable age" population is shrinking?

"The U.S. Department of Education says it will reach out to federal student loan borrowers who may have been prematurely denied loan forgiveness under the revamped Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program and will reprocess their applications… The move comes after an NPR review of borrower documents, as well as information provided by people familiar with the rollout, revealed that FedLoan Servicing, which manages PSLF, continued to operate under the loan forgiveness program's old rules for weeks after the overhaul's Oct. 6 rollout. As a result, for at least three weeks, the servicer rejected the applications of some borrowers who appear to qualify for forgiveness under the new terms."

"The Federal Aviation Administration says it has referred 37 cases since August involving unruly airline passengers to the FBI for possible criminal prosecution since the number of disruptions on flights began to spike in January… FAA and Justice Department officials said Thursday that in the last three months they developed a process for the FAA to regularly send cases to the FBI, which forwards those worthy of prosecution to field offices for investigation."

"After summonses went out to 1,000 people and attorneys questioned potential jurors for more than two weeks, a panel has finally been selected in the trial of the three men facing murder charges for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery… But the racial makeup of the jury has been stirring controversy since it was finalized on Wednesday: Only one juror is Black, while the other 11 are white."

"Civil rights groups on Thursday filed a lawsuit against a Tennessee law that restricts transgender students’ participation in sports, arguing that the law is discriminatory and unconstitutional."

"After a North Carolina high school student reported that a classmate had sexually assaulted her, the school suspended her—and is requiring her to attend a class called 'Sexual Harassment is Preventable,' according to a local news report from WBTV." The fuck?

"The Navy said Thursday it fired the two senior officers of a nuclear-powered attack submarine that was damaged in an underwater collision last month in the South China Sea. A sailor who served as a senior enlisted adviser to the commander and the executive officer was also removed from his position."

"Two 16-year-old high school students have been arrested and charged with murdering a Spanish teacher at their school, authorities said Thursday. Nohema Graber had been reported missing several hours before her body was discovered in a nearby park."

"Leaked records purportedly from a far-right organization suggest that its effort to recruit law enforcement officers has found some success in America's largest cities. Investigations by NPR and WNYC/Gothamist show active officers in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago on the Oath Keepers membership roster, with Chicago showing the greatest representation of the three."

It's a cult. "On Tuesday morning, hundreds of QAnon followers gathered on the grassy knoll in Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, believing they were about to see John F. Kennedy reappear… But for many, the cost and effort it took to get to Dallas were not wasted, because even though they didn’t see JFK, many of them did get to meet the man they view as the manifestation of God on earth." But the best line in this story… "When JFK failed to materialize in Dealey Plaza on Tuesday, Protzman and many of his followers went to a Rolling Stones concert, where many claimed they met Michael Jackson in disguise." (Grokked from Xeni)

"The chief law enforcement officials for Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio are challenging the Biden administration's mandate requiring that federal contractors get the COVID-19 vaccine… The Republican attorneys general in these three states said they filed their lawsuit against the federal government Thursday — just hours after the White House rolled out new rules covering more than 100 million workers in the U.S." In the politics section because this is pure politics. These attorneys general are wasting the public's money.

"The Biden administration is suing Texas over the state's restrictive voting law that was signed into law in September and is set to got into effect Dec. 2… The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in a federal court Thursday claiming that the Republican-led law contains several provisions that 'will disenfranchise eligible Texas citizens who seek to exercise their right to vote.'"

"A real estate agent from suburban Dallas who flaunted her participation in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol on social media and later bragged she wasn't going to jail because she is white, has blond hair and a good job was sentenced on Thursday to two months behind bars."

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