"NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail… Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time. This slice of the vast universe covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground."
"The LZ detector has been up and running since December 2021, and these first results represent its first 60 days of live operations. 'We're ready and everything's looking good,' Berkeley Lab senior physicist and past LZ spokesperson Kevin Lesko said in a statement. 'It's a complex detector with many parts to it and they are all functioning well within expectations.'"
"At least 10 heat records were broken in cities across the Southwest and central U.S. over the weekend, and more could fall this week amid continued forecasts of searing heat."
"Perrigo Company (PRGO.N) said on Monday its unit HRA Pharma has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve a daily birth control pill for over-the-counter (OTC) sale, the first such request for this type of contraception. The application from the HRA comes on the back of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in June to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide."
"But this store, called Pantera, is different because of who runs it: a collective of street vendors who came together to create safer working conditions for themselvesThe store is celebrating its first anniversary this month."
"Americans are canceling deals to buy homes at the highest rate since the start of the Covid pandemic… The share of sale agreements on existing homes canceled in June was just under 15% of all homes that went under contract, according to a new report from Redfin. That is the highest share since early 2020, when homebuying paused immediately, albeit briefly. Cancelations were at about 11% one year ago."
"Elon Musk wants to break off his agreement to buy Twitter… In a letter to the company, filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk accuses Twitter of making "false and misleading representations" about the prevalence of fake accounts on its platform. He says the company has not complied with its obligations to share data and information that he says he needs to evaluate its business." Or, ya know, must is just a grandstanding asshole.
"As Uber aggressively pushed into markets around the world, the ride-sharing service lobbied political leaders to relax labor and taxi laws, used a 'kill switch' to thwart regulators and law enforcement, channeled money through Bermuda and other tax havens and considered portraying violence against its drivers as a way to gain public sympathy, according to a report released Sunday."
"Politicians have to run on some kind of platform, and Ben Moss—my incoming state House representative here in North Carolina's District 52—decided that his animating principle is Being Mad at Electricity. To prove his animosity toward this invisible menace, he's sponsoring House Bill 1049, which would allocate $50,000 to destroy free public car chargers. It contains some other enlightened ideas, but that's the main theme: We've simply got to do something about these free public chargers, even if it costs us $50,000! Those things cost tens of cents per hour, when they're being used." (Grokked from John)
"The Texas Freedom Caucus, a legislative caucus in the Texas House of Representatives, sent a threatening letter to a law firm with locations in Dallas and Houston that planned to reimburse travel costs for employees wanting an abortion… In the letter, which was addressed to Sidley Austin LLP, the 11 representatives of the caucus wrote that legislation will be introduced to impose civil and criminal sanctions on law firms that pay for abortion or abortion travel." I believe the proper response is, "We'll see you in court." Or maybe, "Thanks, Boston has been looking good for a while now."
"The Biden administration said Monday that federal law allows women access to abortion in emergencies, even in states that banned the procedure after last month's Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade… The Department of Health and Human Services said that in cases of health emergencies, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act — a 1985 law that ensures access to emergency care regardless of a person’s ability to pay — takes priority over state laws banning abortion." Well I'm glad they found something, although this puts healthcare providers and hospitals square in the middle.
"Brandy Bottone was driving in the HOV lane meant for at least two people per vehicle in Dallas, Texas, two weeks ago when she was pulled over by police. The officer noted there didn't seem to be anyone else in the car, but Bottone had a retort -- she was 34 weeks pregnant… Texas, like other states led by conservative officials, has pushed to restrict abortion and has defined a fetus or unborn baby as a 'person' in its penal code."
"The U.S. Army has suspended a former top spokesperson from a consulting position and put him under investigation after he posted a tweet appearing to mock Jill Biden over a recent comment by the first lady on the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade." Oh look, he's a 3 star asshole.
"The Justice Department revealed in an early Monday morning court filing that federal investigators interviewed former President Donald Trump's attorney Justin Clark two weeks ago in connection with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon's criminal contempt case… Prosecutors say that Clark confirmed in the interview that at no point did Trump ever invoke executive privilege over Bannon's testimony -- and directly contradicted other claims made by Bannon's defense team in their case." And so, that would be perjury and another reason why Bannon is suddenly so cooperative. IANAL, but it would seem to me that if Bannon's excuse for defying the subpeona was "executive privildge" (which you still have to show up just like if you "take the fifth," but that's another story), but Trump never extended (or offered to extend, because the executive priviledge can only be claimed by the sitting president), contempt seems like a slam dunk.
"The House January 6 select committee is expected to make the case at its seventh hearing Tuesday that Donald Trump gave the signal to the extremist groups that stormed the Capitol to target and obstruct the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s electoral college win."
"Whether or not Donald Trump ends up facing criminal charges, the House committee probing the US Capitol insurrection has scored a critical win over the ex-President by thwarting his effort to cover up the true horror of that day of infamy… The committee takes center stage in Washington again this week with its Tuesday televised hearing amid indications it will seek to make a direct connection between Trump and the far-right extremists who helped rioters smash their way into the halls of Congress on January 6, 2021."
"The Secret Service confirmed Monday that it is aware of reports that the contents of Hunter Biden’s iCloud account were hacked over the weekend, exposing alleged texts, pictures, and videos of the president’s son doing drugs and engaging in other salacious and likely illegal activities."
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