James Earl Jones, and so it goes.
"The Maori of New Zealand anointed a new monarch on Thursday, officially installing 27-year-old Nga Wai Hono i te Po as their second-ever queen."
"The report, based on an analysis of previously published research, marks the first time a federal agency has determined — 'with moderate confidence' — that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. While the report was not designed to evaluate the health effects of fluoride in drinking water alone, it is a striking acknowledgment of a potential neurological risk from high levels of fluoride." Note that it's at twice the recommended levels, and the IQ lost is between 2 and 5 points.
"National surveys compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already show an unprecedented decline in drug deaths of roughly 10.6 percent. That's a huge reversal from recent years when fatal overdoses regularly increased by double-digit percentages."
"Oklahoma’s education board has revoked the license of a former teacher who drew national attention during surging book-ban efforts across the U.S. in 2022 when she covered part of her classroom bookshelf in red tape with the words 'Books the state didn’t want you to read.'… The decision Thursday went against a judge who had advised the Oklahoma Board of Education not to revoke the license of Summer Boismier, who had also put in her high school classroom a QR code of the Brooklyn Public Library’s catalogue of banned books."
"A fresh wave of explosions in communications devices struck Lebanon on Wednesday, leaving 14 people dead and 450 wounded, according to Lebanese health officials… The new explosions took place barely 24 hours after the near-synchronized pager blasts on Tuesday that left 12 people dead and nearly 3,000 injured in Lebanon and parts of Syria."
"Early in President Trump’s term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump’s cruelties, collusions, and crimes, and it felt urgent then to track them, to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten. This election year, with the very real possibility of Trump returning to office, we know it’s important to be reminded of these horrors and to head to the polls in November to avoid experiencing new cruelties, collusions, corruption, and crimes." As you can imagine, it's a long list.
"The Department of Homeland Security launched a failed operation that ensnared hundreds, if not thousands, of U.S. protesters in what new documents show was as a sweeping, power-hungry effort before the 2020 election to bolster President Donald Trump’s spurious claims about a “terrorist organization” he accused his Democratic rivals of supporting."
"An indictment filed Wednesday alleges a media company linked to six conservative influencers — including well-known personalities Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson — was secretly funded by Russian state media employees to churn out English-language videos that were 'often consistent' with the Kremlin’s “interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition” to Russian interests, like its war in Ukraine." Yeah, they were "duped." Totally didn't know. I mean, getting paid $400,000 a month to blog and release videos is totally normal. Don't ya know we're all rolling in that sweet sweet internets cash? I mean, it's totally why I'm such a consistent blogger (hard side-eye).
"Federal officials have accused Russia of using unwitting right-wing American influencers in its quest to spread Kremlin propaganda ahead of the 2024 presidential election."
"Federal investigators this week seized phones from New York City’s police commissioner and at least four top deputies to New York Mayor Eric Adams, according to people familiar with the matter." I'm sure it's fine.
"Portage County's sheriff appeared to call for the community to record the addresses of residents who publicly display support for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris." Fuck that guy.
Oh look, election hijinkery… "A Republican-controlled county in Pennsylvania violated state law when election workers refused to tell voters that their mail-in ballot had been rejected and wouldn’t be counted in last April’s primary election, a judge ruled." Oh, it's republicans again. Never mind.
The company you keep, "Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, said that professional women 'choose a path to misery' when they prioritize careers over having children in a September 2021 podcast interview in which he also claimed men in America were 'suppressed' in their masculinity."
"Shortly before Wednesday's failed vote on the government spending stopgap, House Speaker Mike Johnson told senior Republicans in a private meeting that he had a Plan B — but wouldn't tell them what it was." Plan B is letting the Democrats pass a clean CR bill, right?
"Of the $202,126 raised by the Minnesota Republican Party online, $103,607 went to WinRed, with most or all of it passed on to IMGE LLC, based in Alexandria, Virginia, even though that company had little to do with much of the money raised, according to an email from Max Rymer, a Republican National Committee member from Minnesota." It's grifts all the way down.
