"The war in Ukraine has made getting more fossil fuels to Europe a top priority of the Biden Administration, in order to wean European Union members off Russian energy. But this comes as both Europe and the U.S. are behind on their goals to quickly reduce carbon emissions to avoid the worst consequences of climate change."
"A site in Utah containing dinosaur and other animal tracks dating back more than 100 million years was damaged during a recent construction project, the federal Bureau of Land Management recently acknowledged… A paleontological assessment posted to the bureau's website last week concluded that there had been some minor damage to tracks and trace fossils at the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite in Moab." Oopsie.
"NASA’s dress rehearsal for its mega moon rocket is off until at least this weekend because of a pair of technical problems that kept stalling a fueling test."
"NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has directly photographed evidence of a Jupiter-like protoplanet forming through what researchers describe as an 'intense and violent process.' This discovery supports a long-debated theory for how planets like Jupiter form, called 'disk instability.'"
"Enter the Endpoint Cylinder and Dictabelt Machine, invented by Californian Nicholas Bergh, which recently was acquired by the library. Thanks to the combination of its laser and needle, it can digitize even broken or cracked wax cylinders — and there are a lot of those. But Bergh said, the design of the cylinder, which makes it fragile, is also its strength."
"A set of rare notebooks filled with notes by Charles Darwin have been anonymously returned to the University of Cambridge, over 20 years after they were initially reported missing."
"'It's not worth the possibility or the likelihood that this will happen,' Moore said, 'if I'm in a situation where I'm set up to fail.' In the wake of Vaught's trial ― an extremely rare case of a health care worker being criminally prosecuted for a medical error ― nurses and nursing organizations have condemned the verdict through tens of thousands of social media posts, shares, comments and videos. They warn that the fallout will ripple through their profession, demoralizing and depleting the ranks of nurses already stretched thin by the pandemic. Ultimately, they say, it will worsen health care for all."
"It's also a bad day when he cannot call his 94-year-old mother, because his computer has been pushed out of reach. Or when his roommate is having a crisis of some sort and help does not come immediately. Or when he misses his wheelchair time because there aren't enough staff to lift him out of bed."
"Covid-19 has become a chronic condition for tens of millions of people -- and an expensive one, as well. Long Covid -- a condition marked by lingering symptoms that can involve multiple bodily systems -- has cost a cumulative $386 billion in lost wages, savings and medical expenses in the US alone as of January, according to one estimate… On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced that it was making long Covid a national priority. It unveiled a plan to accelerate efforts to prevent, treat and detect long Covid through a national interagency research action program."
"A fourth dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine seems to offer short-lived protection against infection overall, but protection against severe illness did not wane for at least several weeks, according to a new study… The study, published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at the health records of more than 1.25 million vaccinated people in Israel who were 60 or older from January through March 2022, a time when the Omicron coronavirus variant was the dominant strain."
"There's no national data to indicate how often patients or their families receive medical bills that were previously paid or forgiven, but hospital billing experts say they frequently see it happen. Patients might receive bills for claims their insurers already paid. A reminder statement may arrive even after a patient has submitted payment."
"Six oil company executives are set to testify Wednesday on Capitol Hill about skyrocketing gas prices amid a political messaging battle over pain at the pump… BP America, Chevron and ExxonMobil executives are among the "Big Oil" leaders who will face questions from lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations." Bring a sandwich and stay hydrated as the bloviating continues.
"The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage just crossed 5%, now standing at 5.02%, according to Mortgage News Daily. This is the first time it has crossed that threshold since 2011, save two days in 2018. It stood at 3.38% one year ago today."
"Rising interest rates are crushing the mortgage market, as precious few homeowners can now benefit from a refinance and more potential homebuyers become priced out… Total mortgage application volume fell another 6% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. Volume was down 41% from the same week one year ago."
"To say the relationship between the Tesla CEO and the social network is changing rapidly is an understatement. On Sunday, as far as the world was concerned, Musk was simply one of Twitter’s most famous users. On Monday, it was revealed that over the past month he has become its largest individual shareholder. On Tuesday, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced that Musk now has a seat on the board." Ugh. Musk's actions have also opened him up to several new SEC violations that will surely be investigated. He's the smarted dumb guy people know.
"As the country awaits the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade, Democrat-led states are proposing laws to shore up abortion rights at the local level… The effort is in direct response to the organized campaign to make abortion illegal. Dozens of states have enacted laws, or are considering them, to restrict access to abortion as the country awaits the Supreme Court's decision."
"As the U.S. Supreme Court weighs the fate of Roe v. Wade, advocates on both sides of the fight are already positioning themselves for the next battle, over medication abortions or so-called abortion pills."
"The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is again extending the moratorium on federal student loan payments, interest and collections, this time until summer's end, Aug. 31. The U.S. Department of Education also unveiled a plan to reset the roughly 7 million borrowers who are in default, using the pandemic pause to restore their accounts to good standing."
"Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., on Monday launched an outlandish attack against three Republican senators who support Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, accusing them of somehow being 'pro-pedophile.'"
"That's where it starts." Jim Wright on how fascism is coming back to America.
"President Biden has nominated Adm. Linda Fagan to serve as the next commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, the administration announced Tuesday… If confirmed, Fagan would be the first woman ever to lead a branch of the U.S. military, lawmakers said."
"Animal control has caught what the U.S. Capitol Police says is a fox that may be responsible for biting at least one journalist and a lawmaker recently." Peter Doocy, is that you?
"A review of the channel by VICE News found that the Cyber Front Z army is used to boost pro-Kremlin videos, commentary, and articles on sites like YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. The group has pushed many of the baseless conspiracy theories and narratives that the Kremlin has supported throughout this war, including claims that Ukraine was developing bioweapons in conjunction with the U.S., that the Russian army was ridding Ukraine of Nazis, and that the Ukrainian military was firing on its own citizens." Guess that explains some of the low quality trolling that's been happening recently. Oo, looks like you've got some competition there, my Russian friends. Internal divisions, or an attempt at cost control? Hope you all have been saving.
Trigger warnings… "The Russian forces had not been in town for long before they came to the home of Volodymyr Avramov, a resident of Vokzal'na Street in the quiet Ukrainian suburb of Bucha… Three Russians kicked in the doors and threw in a grenade, the 72-year-old Avramov said. Inside were Avramov, his daughter, and his son-in-law, Oleh." Putin must go.
"More than 300 dogs were discovered dead in a Ukrainian animal shelter after weeks without food or water, an animal charity said on Tuesday… Volunteers with UAnimals, who returned to the Borodyanka shelter outside Kyiv, the capital, said the dogs were forced to starve to death by Russian troops who had left them trapped in cages for nearly a month amid constant bombings."
"Today, the United States, with the G7 and the European Union, will continue to impose severe and immediate economic costs on the Putin regime for its atrocities in Ukraine, including in Bucha."
"The US government sanctioned two of President Vladimir Putin's daughters on Wednesday, adding to measures meant to punish Putin personally for Russia's invasion of Ukraine… The White House announced the measures on Wednesday, saying that it would bar Putin's "adult children" from the US financial system, along with other relatives of senior Russian officials."
"Australia has accelerated plans to buy long-range strike missiles years ahead of schedule because of growing threats posed by Russia and China… Defense Minister Peter Dutton said Tuesday the accelerated rearming of fighter jets and warships would cost 3.5 billion Australian dollars ($2.6 billion) and increase Australia's deterrence to potential adversaries." Well hello, new arms race. I certainly didn't expect you.
"At the start of 2022, France's upcoming presidential election looked set to be one of the country's most watched political races in decades… An incumbent president standing for election for only the second time in his life; a candidate twice convicted of inciting racist and religious hatred polling in second place; another hard-right stalwart in third and the long-dominant left of French politics in disarray… Then Russia invaded Ukraine."
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