Tuesday, April 13, 2021

And another day of pauses, realities, rejections, official explanations, resignations, bans, threats, withdrawals, shortages, approvals, reductions, and debuts comes to a close:

“Maybe it isn’t that there are a few bad apples, maybe the roots are rotten.” -- John Pavlovitz

Deaths

US: 577,179 (+1350 Since 4-11-2021)

World: 2,971,864 (+22,585 Since 4-11-2021)

Cases

US: 32,070,784 (+152,193 Since 4-11-2021)

World: 138,013,074 (+1,382,722 Since 4-11-2021)

The FDA and CDC are recommending the U.S. pause on using the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after reports of blood clots in individuals who received it. Follow our thread for the latest news.

I got the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Now what? Don’t panic.

Note: There have been about 7 million doses of the J&J vaccine given. Six people have developed blood clots. Thus it is incredibly rare. Please don’t panic, and yes, get vaccinated.

Daunte Wright's family, attorneys reject police explanation of fatal Taser 'mistake': 'Don't tell us it's an accident'. "An accident is knocking over a glass of milk. It's not an accident to take your gun out of the holster," Storms told reporters Tuesday in Minneapolis. "It's not an accident to point your gun. It's not an accident to ignore the fact that what you're holding doesn't weigh the same amount as the Taser you've used in training hundreds of times. So don't tell us it's an accident, because it undermines the tragic loss of life that this family has experienced," Storms continued. “So whenever anyone tells us it's an accident, I hope that we are all very quick to retort that."

“Just so we understand, the official explanation is that the officer who pulled over Daunte Wright for an expired tag only meant to shoot disabling electrical currents through his body.” — Sherrilynn Ifill

Cop, police chief resign 2 days after Black motorist’s death. A white police officer who fatally shot a Black man [Daunte Wright] during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb resigned Tuesday, as did the city’s police chief — moves that the mayor said he hoped would help heal the community and lead to reconciliation after two nights of protests and unrest. -- Except Daunte Wright is still dead.

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican who has been a staunch critic of Big Tech, said on Monday he has introduced a bill that would ban all mergers and acquisitions by any company with a market value greater $100 billion, a category that includes the five biggest U.S. tech companies. — As well as many other non-tech companies.

WA State—Seattle Senator Joins Conservative Democrats in Threat to Gut Clean Fuels Bill. Over the weekend, five Democratic Senators and five unions who almost always oppose major climate legislation signed a hostage letter addressed to Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, demanding he swallow the poison pills the Senate slipped into the low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) bill or else lose their support...Though the Senators' concerns about gas prices seems valid if not overstated, the rest of the provisions are "unworkable" because they would essentially gut the bill or render it vulnerable to a federal court judge's scythe. I'll briefly hit these points in order.

US to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11.

St. Vincent seeks water, funds as volcano keeps erupting. Leaders of volcano-wracked St. Vincent said Tuesday that water is running short as heavy ash contaminates supplies, and they estimated that the eastern Caribbean island will need hundreds of millions of dollars to recover from the eruption of La Soufriere.

Disney will let its workers sport tattoos and gender-neutral hairstyles. Cast members at Disney's theme parks can now show up to work with visible tattoos in whatever gender costume they wish thanks to a major shift in the company's dress code.

Reduce risk of severe Covid with regular activity, study says. Here's how to get in 22 minutes of exercise daily.

Humpback whales are organizing in huge numbers, and no one knows why.

Topps debuts its first NFT baseball card collection. A classic collectible enters the digital era.

Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.

Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.