Sunday, June 5, 2022

And another day of mass shootings, tapped out groundwater, rooting out ‘suspected’ trans athletes in Ohio, a looming hunger crisis, and the increasing divide between the haves and tha have-nots comes to a close: 

“I hope you understand by now that this Republican Party cannot change, cannot be reformed, cannot be saved.” — Joe Walsh

“The NRA buys off Congress. No action on guns.

“The oil industry buys off Congress. No action on climate.

”Insurance companies buy off Congress. No action on health care.

“Pharma buys off Congress. No action on drug prices.

“Money in politics is the root of our dysfunction.” — Robert Reich

“Republican and conservative elites seem a lot more upset about the impolite treatment of Mr. Peter Navarro than the killing of nineteen students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas.” — Bill Kristol

“It’s just really wild to be a person that works in a corrupt institution, which is what Congress is, and to try and be a normal person surrounded by so much decay and moral emptiness, that frankly transcends party, is very difficult.” -- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Deaths

US: 82,584,531

World: 6,320,401

Cases

US: 86,522,561

World: 535,431,115

The U.S. has already experienced at least 240 mass shootings in just over 22 weeks. Mass shootings happen in the U.S. with depressing regularity…Sunday is day 156 of the year, and the country has already experienced at least 243 mass shootings so far. At least 243 in just over 22 weeks. This averages out to roughly 11 a week.

4 dead, 28 injured in four mass shootings on Saturday. Mass shootings, defined as an incident in which four or more people are shot, were reported in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas and Arizona on Saturday.

Three people were killed and 13 others injured when gunfire broke out in a popular Philadelphia nightlife area late Saturday, police say. Shortly before midnight officers patrolling a popular nightlife area in the city’s center “observed several active shooters shooting into the crowd,” Inspector D.F. Pace of the Philadelphia Police Department told a news conference early Sunday.

An 8-year-old boy vacationing in South Carolina was fatally shot when a man shooting randomly at passing cars struck his family’s vehicle, authorities say.

Students of color push back on calls for police in schools. But police inside schools can make some students more uneasy, not less. Especially for Black students and other students of color, their personal experiences with policing can leave them feeling unsafe and alienated from school when they see officers on campus.

Russia hits Kyiv with missiles; Putin warns West on arms. Russia took aim Sunday at Western military supplies for Ukraine, launching airstrikes on Kyiv that it claimed destroyed tanks donated from abroad, as Vladimir Putin warned that any Western deliveries of longer-range rocket systems would prompt Moscow to hit “objects that we haven’t yet struck.”

Over 50 feared dead in Nigeria church attack, officials say. Gunmen opened fire on worshippers and detonated explosives at a Catholic church in southwestern Nigeria on Sunday, leaving dozens feared dead, state lawmakers said.

As cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco struggle to cut their water use -- water that overwhelmingly comes from the state's reservoirs -- rural Californians that rely on groundwater are already tapped out. They live with the daily worry that they won't have enough water to bathe with or drink.

Ohio GOP passes bill aiming to root out 'suspected' transgender female athletes through genital inspection. The proposed rules would prohibit any trans athlete from competing with cisgender girls or women. It also has a verification requirement, if someone is "accused" or "suspected" of being trans. If someone is suspected to be transgender, she must go through evaluations of her external and internal genitalia, testosterone levels and genetic makeup. -- “Accused” or “Suspected.” No, this won’t be abused at all.

Free US school lunches were a dream come true. Now, a hunger crisis looms for 10 million children. Congress has failed to extend school meal waivers, expiring on 30 June, and the impact will be felt almost immediately.

Inflation divide: The wealthy splurge, the poorest pull back. A confluence of factors — the expiration of federal stimulus checks and surging inflation on staples like gas and food — are driving an even bigger wedge between the haves and have-nots.

There's a fascinating new clue to the giant megalodon's extinction. In research recently published in the science journal Nature Communications, earth scientists and biologists found preserved chemical evidence (in fossilized teeth) that megalodons and great white sharks coexisted as apex predators near the end of the megalodon's reign, some 5.3 to 3.6 million years ago.

RIP Alec John Such. He was 70.

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

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