Sunday, February 27, 2022

And another day of aggression, high alerts, anti-war rallies, why the invasion should matter to Americans, in-person learning wasn’t a magic bullet, TX governor Abbott being an asshole to transgender kids and their families, revoking tenure in TX, and a CAT 4 atmospheric river comes to a close:

“When Americans support murderous foreign dictators, they'll gladly welcome murderous domestic ones.” — John Pavlovitz 

Deaths

US: 973,119

World: 5,968,022

Cases

US: 80,567,757

World: 435,985,617

Putin puts nuclear forces on high alert, escalating tensions. Citing “aggressive statements” by NATO and tough financial sanctions, Putin issued a directive to increase the readiness of Russia’s nuclear weapons, raising fears that the invasion of Ukraine could lead to nuclear war, whether by design or mistake.

Russians hold anti-war rallies amid ominous threats by Putin. Demonstrators held pickets and marched in city centers, chanting “No to war!” as President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian nuclear deterrent to be put on high alert, upping the ante in the Kremlin’s standoff with the West and stoking fears of a nuclear war.

Why Russia's Ukraine invasion should matter to Americans. Simply put, the Russian invasion will have a real impact on American national security. And Washington’s support for Ukrainian democracy is our best guarantee against war — and for the continuation of peace. This is an attack on democracy, the rule of law and the values the United States has stood for throughout its history...If the West accepts such Russian claims, it will not only undermine the sovereignty of all countries but also invite other nations to seek territory through military force.

Vaccine requirements are being lifted across America as Covid cases wane. But a public health expert says it is a "move to promote normalcy without there really being normalcy." "Vaccine mandates are safe and effective public health strategies, and backing down on this is likely to worsen spread."

In-person learning wasn’t the magic bullet many hoped for. Teens are still suffering. “Going back to school five days a week with everybody on campus all together, it just wasn’t the answer,” one parent said...While many government officials and parents had predicted that a return to in-person learning would improve young people’s mental health, Slater said it has not been the cure-all many hoped it would be.

Mothers of transgender children in Texas say the fallout has been swift from Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to direct the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate reports of gender-affirming care as child abuse.

Giving professors freedom, so long as they agree with politicians. TX Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants to revoke tenure for professors teaching lessons about race that he disagrees with. It’s a new chapter of an old fight between academics and populist politicians. Tenure is intended to protect academics’ ability to consider, investigate and debate ideas without tiptoeing around popular culture, dogma, ambitious politicians and prim defenders of the status quo.

Thousands of girls as young as 11 are hiding signs of “deep distress” from their parents and teachers, according to an “alarming” report that reveals a “growing gulf” between the mental health of girls and boys.

More than 600 geographic sites across the US will be renamed, replacing a derogatory term for Indigenous women used for decades. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland issued an order declaring "squaw" derogatory in November. The term has historically been used as an offensive ethnic, racial and sexist slur towards Indigenous women, the department said in a news release at the time.

A category 4 atmospheric river is forecast to drench the Pacific Northwest early this week. The heaviest rain is expected on Monday through Tuesday morning, with 24-hour rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches forecast along portions of the Washington and Oregon coasts. Isolated higher rainfall amounts are possible across portions of the Cascades during this same time span.

New map of the night sky reveals 4.4 million galaxies and other space objects. The vast majority of these objects are galaxies that harbor massive black holes or rapidly growing new stars. Other discoveries include colliding groups of distant galaxies and flaring stars, which vary in brightness, within the Milky Way, according to a news statement from Durham University in England.

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

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

Friday, February 4, 2022

And another day of speeches, censures, job markets, death tolls, new blood tests that can predict Covid severity, the 13th amendment, record profit with little taxes, butterfly sanctuaries, and tracking toilet paper electronically comes to a close:

“Welcome to the Monkey House.” -- Kurt Vonnegut

Deaths

US: 924,530

World: 5,743,965

Cases

US: 77,496,860

World: 391,399,550

Pence: Trump is ‘wrong’ to say election could be overturned. In a speech to a gathering of the conservative Federalist Society in Florida, Pence addressed Trump’s intensifying efforts this week to advance the false narrative that, as vice president, he had the unilateral power to prevent President Joe Biden from taking office. “President Trump is wrong,” Pence said. “I had no right to overturn the election.”

GOP censures Cheney, Kinzinger as it assails Jan. 6 probe. The Republican National Committee censured two GOP lawmakers on Friday for participating on the committee investigating the violent Jan. 6 insurrection and assailed the panel for leading a “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”

The job market surged in January, despite omicron cases spiking. U.S. employers added 467,000 jobs. Hiring might have been even stronger last month, were it not for the fresh wave of infections tied to the omicron variant, which dented employers' demand for labor and kept many would-be workers on the sidelines.

US death toll from COVID-19 hits 900,000, sped by omicron. Propelled in part by the wildly contagious omicron variant, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 hit 900,000 on Friday, less than two months after eclipsing 800,000.

New blood test can predict how severe your COVID-19 infection will be. George Washington University researchers have reportedly developed a blood test that can quickly detect if someone has the coronavirus while also predicting how severely that person’s immune system will react to the infection. The innovation could help doctors determine the best course of treatment for people with COVID-19.

Austria became the first country in Europe to introduce a national Covid-19 vaccine mandate for adults on Friday after President Alexander Van der Bellen signed it into law.

Is Slavery Still Legal in the U.S.? Yes, Under the 13th Amendment Exception. Like most Americans, you probably missed the day in U.S. history class when the teacher explained that we abolished slavery — except as punishment for a crime. Or more likely, that lesson never happened. A recent poll commissioned by Worth Rises revealed that 68% of Americans don’t know that there’s an exception in the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — the amendment celebrated for abolishing slavery.

The Black woman sentenced to six years in prison over a voting error. Pamela Moses was sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register despite a felony conviction but officials admitted making a series of mistakes.

South Dakota governor signs 2022’s first trans athlete ban into law. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed a bill Thursday that bans transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams, making the state the first this year — and the 10th nationwide — to enact such a bill into law.

Experts say that by 2050, only 10 of the 19 past Winter Olympic venues will have climates viable for hosting the games based on current emission trends.

Netflix Posts a Record $5.3 Billion in Profits and a Federal Tax Rate of Just 1.1 percent. Its pre-tax U.S. income of $5.3 billion is almost twice the record-breaking $2.7 billion in profits it enjoyed in 2020. The company’s current federal income tax bill is $58 million, which is just 1.1 percent of its $5.3 billion in pre-tax profits for the year and a pittance compared to the $1.1 billion it would have paid at the statutory federal rate of 21 percent. In other words, the company avoided more than $1 billion in taxes in 2021.

Amazon is raising the price of its annual Prime subscriptions from $119 to $139 per year and the price of a monthly subscription from $12.99 to $14.99. The Prime price hike wasn't the only major news in the report. The company's profits also doubled during the December-end quarter, to $14.3 billion, blowing past Wall Street analyst expectations.

‘Use These Dollars to Change Lives’. Community colleges, tribal colleges and minority-serving institutions that benefited from multimillion-dollar gifts from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott share how they plan to put the money to use.

Cancer patients cured a decade after gene therapy, doctors say. Based on the 10-year results, “we can now conclude that CAR-T cells can actually cure patients of leukemia.”

Texas butterfly sanctuary shutting after immigration-linked threats from Trump backers. A butterfly sanctuary caught in the crossfire of polarizing conspiracy theories on illegal immigration to the United States says it's shutting its doors Thursday due to security concerns after threats from supporters of former president Donald Trump...The private sanctuary's gardens are home to more than 200 species of butterfly as well as bobcats, coyotes, peccaries, armadillos and Texas tortoises. But it will now be closed until further notice because "the safety of our staff and visitors is our primary concern," Jeffrey Glassberg, president of the North American Butterfly Association, which runs the organization, said in a statement Wednesday. Conspiracy theories linked by U.S. media to the far-right group QAnon have claimed the sanctuary was helping to bring illegal migrants to the U.S. — There are no “good” Trump supporters.

TP Tracking Toilet Paper Holder Shames Excessive Wipers. The purpose of the device isn’t to encourage frugal wiping; by all means, the number one priority after a pit stop is to use as much TP as needed to get the job done properly. But if someone in your home is regularly reaching for a toilet plunger, there’s a good chance that over-usage is an issue, and no one’s going to volunteer to serve as your family’s toilet paper traffic cop.

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

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

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

And another day of drafts, supporting violence against the government, TX violating voting rights, children living with long Covid, vaccines for kids under 5, tools of white supremacy, suing the NFL, and TX schools banning books in record numbers comes to a close:

"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." — Leonardo da Vinci

Deaths

US: 913,924 (+6734 over two days)

World: 5,705,264 (+23,609 over two days)

Cases

US: 76,516,202 (+938,126 over two days)

World: 381,999,843 (+6,810,858 over two days)

Trump advisers drafted more than one executive order to seize voting machines. Former President Donald Trump's advisers drafted two versions of an executive order to seize voting machines -- one directing the Department of Defense to do so and another the Department of Homeland Security -- as part of a broader effort to undermine the 2020 election results, multiple sources tell CNN.

1 in 4 Americans say violence against the government is sometimes OK. Nearly a quarter of Americans say it's sometimes OK to use violence against the government — and one in 10 Americans say violence is justified "right now." Republicans and ideological conservatives are most likely to say violent protest against the government is justifiable right now, the report found. Among Republican men, the figure rises to nearly 1 in 5.

Texas violated voting rights law during redistricting, retiring state GOP senator says in sworn court statement. A three-judge federal panel is hearing arguments in a lawsuit claiming that Texas Republicans violated the Voting Rights Act when they redrew state Senate District 10 in Tarrant County to lessen Black and Hispanic voting power.

Trump Declares Support for January 6 Insurrectionists. The ex-president said he’d pardon those who attacked the Capitol and called for supporters to help him fight off criminal probes.

Poll: Most Americans aren't 'done with COVID.' But new numbers hint they may be soon. According to the latest Yahoo News/YouGov poll, nearly seven in 10 Americans (69 percent) say the pandemic is not “over in the U.S.,” and just a third (34 percent) say it’s “over as it pertains to [their] own life,” regardless of whether it’s “over for others.” The fast-moving Omicron variant is still causing 500,000 cases and 2,500 deaths a day; more than 140,000 COVID patients are currently hospitalized…The survey of 1,568 U.S. adults, which was conducted from Jan. 20 to Jan. 24, found that a full third of vaccinated Americans (37 percent) now say that COVID is “more of an inconvenience” than a “health concern” for them, while fewer than half (49 percent) say the opposite. Likewise, even though most vaccinated Americans (55 percent) still want to “do more to vaccinate, wear masks and test,” nearly four in 10 (37 percent) now insist “we need to learn to live with COVID-19 and get back to normal.”

‘The scariest thing’: the children living with long Covid. Though long covid diagnosis is considered very rare in children, Haley is not alone. Some children across the US have reported an array of symptoms – ranging from headaches, stomachaches and dizziness, to fatigue, brain fog and mood changes – long after their initial infection. Long Covid can last anywhere from four weeks to months – although definitions vary – and, while it presents differently based on developmental stage, doctors say it can affect virtually any age, even infants.

Pfizer asks FDA to allow COVID-19 vaccine for kids under 5. Pfizer on Tuesday asked the U.S. to authorize extra-low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5, potentially opening the way for the very youngest Americans to start receiving shots as early as March.

Denmark scraps most pandemic restrictions, no longer considers COVID 'a socially critical disease'. While the Omicron variant is surging in Denmark, it's not placing a heavy burden on the health system and the country has a high vaccination rate.

Sex workers are 'dropping like flies' and forced into 'risky work' as COVID runs rampant. Lydia says many sex workers have stopped “screening” – the process by which they assess if a client is safe – because they can no longer afford to turn anyone away.

Banned: Books on race and sexuality are disappearing from Texas schools in record numbers. Facing pressure from parents and threats of criminal charges, some districts have ignored policies meant to prevent censorship. Librarians and students are pushing back. Her safe haven is now a battleground in an unprecedented effort by parents and conservative politicians in Texas to ban books dealing with race, sexuality and gender from schools, an NBC News investigation has found. Hundreds of titles have been pulled from libraries across the state for review, sometimes over the objections of school librarians, several of whom told NBC News they face increasingly hostile work environments and mounting pressure to pre-emptively pull books that might draw complaints…All but a few of the challenges this school year targeted books dealing with racism or sexuality, the majority of them featuring LGBTQ characters and explicit descriptions of sex. Many of the books under fire are newer titles, purchased by school librarians in recent years as part of a nationwide movement to diversify the content available to public school children.

Here are 50 books Texas parents want banned from school libraries. — Wow. People are unfucking believable.

School Boards Have Long Been a Tool of White Supremacy. What animates much of today’s white backlash to critical race theory is the same germ that caused anxiety over Black education in the 1800s. And formal bans on CRT—now law in 8 states—have again created an environment of intimidation.

A Christian school in Brisbane, Australia has sparked outrage for requiring parents to sign an enrollment contract that refers to homosexuality as a sin and includes it in a list of "immoral" behavior alongside bestiality, incest, and pedophilia.

ABC suspends ‘The View’ host Whoopi Goldberg for saying Holocaust ‘not about race’.  Goldberg made the comments Monday during a discussion on "The View" about Tennessee school board’s banning of “Maus,” a graphic novel about the Nazi death camps.

Fired Miami Dolphins coach sues NFL, alleging racist hiring. Fired Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores, suing the NFL and three teams Tuesday over alleged racist hiring practices for aspiring coaches, is alleging the Dolphins offered him $100,000 a game his first season to “tank” so the club could secure the top draft pick...“In certain critical ways, the NFL is racially segregated and is managed much like a plantation,” the lawsuit said.

Next winter storm will stretch over 2,000 miles. As the second winter storm in less than a week sets up across the country, 21 states are gearing up for a blast of winter precipitation and dangerously cold temperatures.

Using melatonin for sleep is on the rise, study says, despite potential health harms. "Taking sleep aids has been linked in prospective studies with the development of dementia and early mortality," she said. Melatonin has been linked to headache, dizziness, nausea, stomach cramps, drowsiness, confusion or disorientation, irritability and mild anxiety, depression and tremors, as well as abnormally low blood pressure. It can also interact with common medications and trigger allergies.

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

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