Monday, August 16, 2021

And another day of standing ‘squarely behind,’ Bible Belt preachers, TX requesting mortuary trailers, irreversible ‘tipping points,’ first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River, a new LGBTQ+ flag, Dylan, Bezos, Tesla, and the revival of a slave language comes to a close:

“As an Afghan woman, I would like for President Biden to hear me,” says Afghanistan’s first female air force pilot Niloofar Rahmani. “Please save the families. They need you. The women, the little girls — And please save my family.”

Deaths

US: 638,798 (+1237)

World: 4,383,497 (+8808)

Cases

US: 37,736,986 (+270,268)

World: 208,685,644 (+705,226)

Biden says he stands ‘squarely behind’ Afghanistan decision. Biden said he had to choose between sticking to a previously negotiated agreement to withdraw U.S. troops this year or sending thousands more service members back into Afghanistan to fight a “third decade” of war.

Costs of the Afghanistan war, in lives and dollars. At just short of 20 years, the now-ending U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan was America’s longest war. Ordinary Americans tended to forget about it, and it received measurably less oversight from Congress than the Vietnam War did. But its death toll is in the many tens of thousands. And because the U.S. borrowed most of the money to pay for it, generations of Americans will be burdened by the cost of paying it off.

Many Bible Belt preachers silent on shots as COVID-19 surges. Across the nation’s deeply religious Bible Belt, a region beset by soaring infection rates from the fast-spreading delta variant of the virus, churches and pastors are both helping and hurting in the campaign to get people vaccinated against COVID-19. Some are hosting vaccination clinics and praying for more inoculations, while others are issuing fiery anti-vaccine sermons from their pulpits. Most are staying mum on the issue, something experts see as a missed opportunity in a swath of the country where church is the biggest spiritual and social influence for many communities.

Texas requests five mortuary trailers in anticipation of Covid deaths. The state’s seven-day average of coronavirus deaths is at its highest since March 2020.

Some 73 percent of people now believe that Earth's climate is approaching abrupt and irreversible "tipping points" due to human activity. Scientists are increasingly concerned that some feedback loops in nature -- such as irreversible melting of icesheets or permafrost -- may be close to being triggered as mankind's mind-boggling carbon emissions show no signs of slowing, despite a pandemic.

First-ever water cuts declared for Colorado River in historic drought. The federal government on Monday declared a water shortage on the Colorado River for the first time, triggering mandatory water consumption cuts for states in the Southwest, as climate change-fueled drought pushes the level in Lake Mead to unprecedented lows.

LGBTQ groups across the US consider a new flag meant to be more inclusive of the transgender community and people of color.

Bob Dylan accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old in 1965. A lawsuit, filed Friday, alleges the Nobel laureate plied a girl with drugs and alcohol and abused her over six weeks in 1965.

Bezos sues US government after NASA awards lunar contract to Musk. Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin has sued the US government over NASA's decision to award a $US2.9 billion ($3.95 billion) lunar lander contract to Elon Musk's SpaceX. -- And I see my tax dollars are being used well here.

Tesla is under investigation because its cars can't stop hitting emergency vehicles. Federal safety regulators are investigating at least 11 accidents involving Tesla cars using Autopilot or other self-driving features that crashed into emergency vehicles when coming upon the scene of an earlier crash.

This forgotten slave language is seeing a revival thanks to TikTok. Tut, a centuries-old forgotten language used by enslaved Black people, has found its way to social media.

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

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