Friday, July 23, 2021

And another day of investigations, sports and Covid, the Cleveland Guardians, GOP and ‘preventive’ measures, a turbulent past, extreme weather, U.S. health system, and 28 new viruses found in 15,000 year old ice cores comes to a close:

“The strongest argument against the status quo is the status quo itself.” -- Sarah Kendzior

Deaths

US: 626,658 (+486)

World: 4,159,531 (+8665)

Cases

US: 35,283,050 (+69,456)

World: 194,010,996 (+639,536)

WHO urges collaboration on investigating COVID origin after China rejects plan for probe.

A new model projects that daily U.S. COVID deaths could more than triple by October as the current surge, fueled by the delta variant, accelerates into the fall. "What's going on ... is matching our most pessimistic scenarios," one epidemiologist said.

About 100 of the 613 U.S. athletes descending on Tokyo for the Olympics are unvaccinated, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s medical chief said hours before Friday night’s opening ceremony.

Rick Dennison out as Minnesota Vikings assistant after refusing COVID-19 vaccine, sources say.

Dallas Cowboys' Dak Prescott inspires HIPAA memes on social media after COVID vaccine reply. Asked at a press conference on Friday if he has received a vaccine, Prescott responded, “I don’t necessarily think that’s exactly important,” and then added, “I think that’s HIPAA.” — Um no, it’s not. 

On Abortion, Mississippi Swings For The Fences, Asks The Supreme Court To Reverse Roe. But this week, the state reframed its argument, abandoning its earlier and narrower attack, to take direct aim at Roe and its holding that women have a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy prior to the fetus being able to survive outside the womb…Abortion rights defenders promptly seized on the state's brief, noting that until now Mississippi had portrayed its appeal as far more limited.

64 percent say racism against Blacks is widespread in US: Gallup.

After more than 100 years, Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team is getting a new name — Guardians. The name change, which has its supporters and critics among Cleveland’s fan base, ends months of internal discussions triggered by a national reckoning for institutions and teams to drop logos and names considered racist.

Republicans newly alarmed by critical race theory see bans as 'more of a preventative'. Yet there is scant evidence that CRT itself — an academic area of study that examines the modern-day impact of systemic racism in law and society — is actually being taught in K-12 schools, and six lawmakers who authored or sponsored anti-CRT legislation told NBC News their efforts are mostly pre-emptive. In interviews, they took issue with the idea that racism is embedded in all aspects of American society, in part because they did not see evidence of widespread racial tensions growing up.

As Herschel Walker eyes Senate run, a turbulent past emerges. But an Associated Press review of hundreds of pages of public records tied to Walker’s business ventures and his divorce, including many not previously reported, sheds new light on a turbulent personal history that could dog his Senate bid. The documents detail accusations that Walker repeatedly threatened his ex-wife’s life, exaggerated claims of financial success and alarmed business associates with unpredictable behavior.

Extreme weather hits India, with landslides killing dozens and cutting off hundreds of villages. At least 67 people have been killed in the western Indian state of Maharashtra by torrential monsoon rains that have caused landslides and flooded low-lying areas, cutting off hundreds of villages. Parts of India's west coast received up to 594 millimetres of rain over 24 hours, forcing authorities to evacuate people from vulnerable areas as they released water from dams that were threatening to overflow.

The US health system was already falling short. Then Covid-19 happened. And for those middling outcomes, the US still spends more on health care than other countries: nearly 18 percent of its GDP versus about 11 percent, on average, in comparable nations. Health spending has been rising at the same rate in the US and its peers over the last few decades, and yet those other countries have seen more improvement in their health outcomes. They are, in other words, getting more value out of their health systems than the US…One possible explanation for America’s poor performance: We underinvest in social spending and overspend on medical care compared with other developed countries. If you combine social services spending and health spending, the US and its peers actually spend about the same amount of money, a little more than 30 percent of their GDPs. But spending in those other countries is more slanted toward social services, while America spends more on medical care.

Scientists uncover 28 new viruses frozen in ice for thousands of years. A group of scientists studying glacier ice have discovered 28 new viruses in two ice cores that are nearly 15,000 years old…The study’s senior author Lonnie Thompson said only two previous studies have identified viruses in glacier ice, adding that scientists “know very little about viruses and microbes in extreme environments and what is actually there.”

New study finds drinking too much coffee can shrink your brain and increase dementia risk significantly. Researchers say drinking more than six cups of coffee daily could have adverse effects on the brain.

HBO Max will release 10 Warner Bros. films straight-to-streaming in 2022. It doesn’t plan to return to a movie release model of the past.

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

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