And another day of Hurricane Ida, oxygen shortages, GOP governors targeting school systems, more on vaccine mandates, a new CA wildfire, TX bans abortion this week, rape within marriage, and East Asian youth ‘lying flat’ comes to a close:
“It's the sense of having a government that seems to welcome death; a government that has abdicated even the pretense of working for its citizens or caring if they live or die.” — Sarah Kendzior
Deaths
US: 654,689 (+308)
World: 4,514,879 (+7039)
Cases
US: 39,665,515 (+48,098)
World: 217,203,653 (+455,635)
Wind, storm urge from Hurricane Ida lash Louisiana. Hurricane Ida blasted ashore Sunday as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S., blowing off roofs and reversing the flow of the Mississippi River as it rushed from the Louisiana coast toward New Orleans and one of the nation’s most important industrial corridors.
“There are literally people who are saying Ida is a false flag or a punishment from God for ‘removing Trump.’ I want these people to disappear, forever. No exceptions. I want them off the planet. They do not deserve the gift of oxygen.” -- Tim Wise
First, surges in Covid-19 infections led to shortages of hospital beds and staff. Now it's oxygen. Several hospitals in Florida, South Carolina, Texas and Louisiana are struggling with oxygen scarcity. Some are at risk of having to use their reserve supply or risk running out of oxygen imminently, according to state health officials and hospital consultants.
Republican governors target local school systems over mask mandates. The GOP positioning on masks in schools is partly a political consideration. With several governors up for reelection next year -- including a few facing possible primary challenges -- banning mask mandates has been a way for Republicans to signal their populist bona fides. As a group, Republican voters have been among the most resistant to Covid mitigation efforts, from lockdown orders early in the pandemic to mask requirements to vaccinations. Some party leaders, including former President Donald Trump, have at times publicly dismissed masks. As the new school year began, it became clear that masks on students would become the newest front in the Covid culture war.
Fauci: School Covid-19 vaccine mandates are a 'good idea'. Fauci acknowledged that there will be a lot of people pushing back on this idea, but said he believes the US Food and Drug Administration as well as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will establish a strong benefit-risk ratio for this, especially given that the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine now has full FDA approval.
'Hell no': Some police officers and their unions oppose vaccination mandates. According to data compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a nonprofit in Washington that tracks law enforcement deaths, Covid-19 killed more officers in 2020 than gun violence, car accidents and all other causes combined.
New California wildfire forces evacuations and grows to 1,200 acres in less than 6 hours. The Chaparral Fire burning southwest of Murrieta began around midday Saturday and has burned more than 1,400 acres in Riverside and San Diego counties; it's 10% contained as of Sunday.
A Texas law that would ban abortions after as early as six weeks is poised to take effect Wednesday, after a federal appellate court's rulings stymied efforts to block the law...Providers have sued to overturn the law, which they say is the nation's strictest and would create what they call a “bounty hunting scheme” in allowing members of the general public to sue those who might have violated the law. The law, Senate Bill 8, would prohibit abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected without specifying a time frame, before many women know they are pregnant...“If this law is not blocked by September 1, abortion access in Texas will come to an abrupt stop,” Marc Hearron, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents providers, said in a statement. The state's strategy, he said, has been to “circumvent the court system and the constitution itself,” he said, in order to “push abortion out of reach for as many Texans as possible.”
In India, growing clamour to criminalise rape within marriage. In India, a society rooted in patriarchal traditions, marriages are sacrosanct and it is not a crime for a man to rape his wife. But in recent weeks, courts have given conflicting rulings on marital rape, leading to renewed calls from campaigners to criminalise rape within marriage.
Exhausted and without hope, East Asian youth are 'lying flat'. Across the country, young people like Li — who requested to be referred to by that pseudonym because he fears career and political repercussions for his views — are getting tired of the fierce competition for college and jobs, and the relentless rat race once they get hired. They're now embracing a new philosophy they've called "tang ping," or "lying flat." The phrase apparently traces its origins to a post earlier this year in an online forum run by the Chinese search giant Baidu. The author of that now-deleted post suggested that instead of working one's entire life chasing after an apartment and traditional family values, people should pursue a simple life. In other words, just "lie flat."
England's crop circle controversy. Although these mysterious formations have appeared worldwide, south-west England is the unlikely world capital of crop circles, baffling locals and farmers alike. The phenomenon peaked in the 1990s and early 2000s, but continues today; an average of 30 crop circles appear each year in the UK, around 80% of them in Wiltshire.
Nancy Cain, a member of the Videofreex collective that utilized the first portable videotape recorders to capture the social and cultural upheaval of the late 1960s and early ’70s, has died. She was 81.
RIP Ed Asner. He was 91.
“So long, boys! I’ll send you a postcard from Paradise Falls!” — Carl Fredrickson (voiced by Ed Asher), UP
Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.
Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.
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