"Heat-related howler monkeys deaths have now been reported in two more states in southern Mexico, after two other states reported die-offs earlier this month, environmental authorities said."
"'We are at record levels for 11 consecutive months now – so since last June through April,' she said. 'And we're still counting, of course.'… It's already been so hot that 2024 is guaranteed to be one of the five hottest years ever recorded. As another sweltering summer approaches, the potential for climate-fueled disaster comes with it."
"With this year’s Atlantic hurricane season expected to be yet another stampede, Florida and other states around the Gulf of Mexico should keep an eye out for an underappreciated ingredient in the Gulf that can quickly turn storms into lethal monsters: hot ocean eddies."
"The new initiative between the feds and 21 states aims to make faster fixes and improvements to the grid, committing to build a bigger and more modern grid as part of a larger effort to reduce power outages and increase electrical transmission capacity – a massive hurdle to getting more clean energy on the grid and reducing the planet-warming pollution causing the climate crisis."
"Wind farms have been the primary source of electricity in the United Kingdom for the past two consecutive quarters, marking the longest stretch on record that renewable energy has surpassed fossil fuels in U.K. electricity generation."
"These days, an unknown author’s chances of success hinge on cobbling together an audience through aggregate. Last fall, while reporting Esquire’s “Future of Books” predictions, I asked industry insiders about trends they’d noticed in recent years. Almost everyone mentioned that debut fiction has become harder to launch. For writers, the stakes are do or die: A debut sets the bar for each of their subsequent books, so their debut advance and sales performance can follow them for the rest of their career. For editors, if a writer’s first book doesn’t perform, it’s hard to make a financial case for acquiring that writer’s second book. And for you, a reader interested in great fiction, the fallout from this challenging climate can limit your access to exciting new voices in fiction."
"For decades, the Romance Writers of America (RWA) served as a champion for the mostly female authors of one of the country’s most popular – and denigrated – genres of fiction… But even as sales of romance novels have boomed in recent years, RWA has struggled, reporting that its membership has declined 80% amid bitter internal battles over racism within publishing, and within the group itself."
"Ohio lawmakers are advancing a new bill that would charge teachers and librarians with felonies for handing out books and materials deemed 'obscene.'" But they'll still allow Shakespeare, which just tells me these people have never read Shakespeare.
"South Australian public hospitals are under strain with the health department boss declaring a system-wide internal emergency due to many staff being sick with COVID… SA Health chief executive Robyn Lawrence called a code yellow on Thursday afternoon, opening all available beds and paused almost all elective surgeries in metropolitan and regional public hospitals."
"Antibiotics cannot cure COVID. They don’t help a bit. And yet, new data shows that, during the pandemic, COVID patients were given antibiotics – a lot of antibiotics… That’s bad because the overuse of antibiotics can breed superbugs that are resistant to medications. The impact of this pandemic overuse has lingered even as the pandemic has faded."
"She never expected a diagnosis of babesiosis, a dangerous and potentially deadly disease transmitted by the bite of the Blacklegged tick infected with the Babesia microti parasite. That diagnosis is on the rise in New England, due to climate change and more human interactions with ticks."
"A synthetic rubber manufacturer accused of increasing the cancer risk for the nearby majority-Black community in Louisiana told a federal appeals court it will have to shut down 'likely permanently' if it’s forced to meet the Biden administration’s deadline to reduce emissions." Don't threaten me with a good time.
"A trial to determine how much Ohio’s historical society must pay to restore public access to a set of ancient ceremonial earthworks that has been leased for over a century to a country club has been rescheduled for July 15."
"Erlinger acknowledged that he and many franchisees were frustrated by a post on X last summer about a Big Mac meal in Connecticut that cost $18, calling the price 'an exception.' He noted that franchisees own and operate 95% of U.S. McDonald’s locations and set their own pricing but 'work hard to minimize the impact of price increases.'" And they blame it all on their costs. So let's take a look at the numbers, shall we… "McDonald's gross profit for the twelve months ending March 31, 2024 was $14.688B, a 9.03% increase year-over-year, McDonald's annual gross profit for 2023 was $14.563B, a 10.26% increase from 2022, McDonald's annual gross profit for 2022 was $13.207B, a 4.98% increase from 2021, McDonald's annual gross profit for 2021 was $12.58B, a 29% increase from 2020." And… "According to McDonald's latest financial reports and stock price the company's current Operating Margin is 41.16%. At the end of 2022 the company had an Operating Margin of 33.76%." Razor thin margins my ass. This isn't, "ZOMG, we gotta pay our workers at least $15/hr" this is, "Hey, most low income workers are making $15hr, we can charge them more."
"The state department falsified a report earlier this month to absolve Israel of responsibility for blocking humanitarian aid flows into Gaza, overruling the advice of its own experts, according to a former senior US official who resigned this week." Oh look, an actual scandal. Probably won't hear of it again.
"Critics of a new Louisiana law, which makes it a crime to approach within 25 feet (7.6 meters) of a police officer under certain circumstances, fear that the measure could hinder the public’s ability to film officers — a tool that has increasingly been used to hold police accountable."
"Colorado legal officials on Tuesday approved an agreement with Jenna Ellis, a onetime attorney for former President Donald Trump, barring her from practicing law in the state for three years after she pleaded guilty to helping Trump try to overturn the 2020 election."
"CLAIM: New York Judge Juan M. Merchan told the jury in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial that they don’t need a unanimous verdict to convict Trump… AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Merchan said that to convict Trump the jury will have to find unanimously, on each of 34 felony counts, that he falsified business records and that he did so with the intent of concealing another crime — in this case, violating a state election law during his 2016 campaign. The judge said jurors could consider three different ways the law may have been broken and that they don’t have to be unanimous on this decision."
"Michael Fanone, a former police officer who was nearly killed by a mob during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, spoke outside the courthouse during closing arguments in Donald Trump's hush money trial on Tuesday, calling Trump 'an authoritarian' with 'a violence fetish.'… Hours later, Fanone's mother was 'swatted' at her home in Virginia."
"Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has condemned the removal of Confederate statues, saying he had a 'visceral reaction against' the destruction of monuments honoring southern leaders from the Civil War." Dumpster fire.
"The conservative media company behind the book and film '2,000 Mules,' which alleged a widespread conspiracy by Democrats to steal the 2020 election and was embraced by former president Donald Trump, has issued an apology and said it would halt distribution of the film and remove both the film and book from its platforms." To fucking late.
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