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Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Chris Hayes - ‘He’s Scared’ - Schiff On McCarthy Reaction To Jan. 6 Panel’s Records Request

'Let's Dream'

trailer - I'm watching this indie movie on Amazon and find it interesting, lots of shades of David Lynch mixed with some raw talent. It's ambient, hypnotic, nicely photographed, slightly twisted, mysterious.

Reality


 

SNL - New Jersey Game Show

Andrea Mitchel - U.S. Wraps Military Operation, Diplomats Depart Afghanistan After War

Baby Elephant Chaba First Time In The BathTub

  I'm a complete sucker for an elephant video.

Responded

 NPR: Here's How Presidents Have Responded To Terrorism by Ron Elving

Defends

Washington Post: Biden defends U.S. departure: ‘It was time to end this war’ By Rachel Pannett, Ellen Francis, Miriam Berger, Paulina Villegas and Sammy Westfall

“I was not going to extend this forever war, and I was not extending a forever exit.”

Leaving Or Escalating

 NY Times: Afghanistan Live Updates: Biden Defends U.S. Withdrawal After Taliban Declare Victory - President Biden called the evacuation efforts from Kabul an “extraordinary success,” praising the U.S. military for its work hours after the Taliban’s top spokesman toured the Kabul airport where thousands had sought to flee. RIGHT NOW Biden defends his decisions in Afghanistan, saying the choice was ‘between leaving or escalating.’

Texas

 The Nation: Starting Tomorrow, Roe v. Wade Will Functionally Cease to Exist in Texas - Unless the Supreme Court steps in, the country’s most dangerous anti-abortion law will go into effect, banning abortions after six weeks and placing a cash bounty on providers. By Elie Mystal

Seth Meyers - FDA Warns People Not To Use Horse De-Wormer Ivermectin To Treat COVID

MSNBC - Rep. Madison Cawthorn Warns Of 'Bloodshed' If Election Fraud Occurs

Obesity

 Washington Post: Obesity in children ages 5 to 11 rises during the pandemic - The scales don’t lie: Many American kids spent the last year of remote learning being more sedentary and eating their feelings. By Laura Reiley

Harden

 NY Times: G.O.P. Governors Fight Mandates as the Party’s Covid Politics Harden - As several Republican-controlled states confront their worst outbreaks yet, their leaders — following the base — have doubled down on resisting vaccine and mask requirements. By Shane Goldmacher

The Onion - Report - Virtual Reality Still No Closer To Allowing Users To Make Out With Abraham Lincoln

 The Onion: Report: Virtual Reality Still No Closer To Allowing Users To Make Out With Abraham Lincoln

Ida

 Axios: Hurricane Ida exposes America's precarious energy infrastructure by Ben Geman and Andrew Freedman

Have An Excellent Tuesday

work by Konstantin Gorbatov 1876 - 1945





 

Chris Hayes - U.S. Troops Are Finally Out Of Afghanistan—And It's Remarkable

Rachel Maddow - Donald Trump's Phone Records Sought By January 6th Committee - CNN

Rachel Maddow - Jordan Reveals Multiple Calls With Trump On January 6 - Investigation Seeks Phone Records

Embarrassing

 The Palmer Report: This is embarrassing for Fox News by Bocha Blue

Correlation

 Guardian UK: Air pollution linked to more severe mental illness – study - Exclusive: research finds small rise in exposure to air pollution leads to higher risk of needing treatment by Damian Carrington Environment editor

Democracy

 Guardian UK: ‘Democracy will be in shambles’: Democrats in last-ditch effort to protect voting rights - Party members say their control of both the House and Senate is at risk if they do not pass new legislation to protect elections by Sam Levine in New York and Ankita Rao in Washington

Levees

Washington Post: In hardest slam since Katrina, New Orleans’s levees stand firm By Marc Fisher and Tik Root

Seize

Washington Post: No, the Taliban did not seize $83 billion of U.S. weapons By Glenn Kessler

Snake Oil

 NY Times: The Snake Oil Theory of the Modern Right by Paul Krugman

We’re seeing a surge in sales of — and poisoning by — ivermectin, which is usually used to deworm livestock but has recently been touted on social media and Fox News as a Covid cure.

Afghanistan

 NY Times: In Afghanistan, an Unceremonious End, and a Shrouded Beginning - The last American flight from Afghanistan left behind a host of unfulfilled promises and anxious questions about the country’s fate. By Thomas Gibbons-Neff

The Market On Tuesday

  Good morning. At 6:05 a.m. ET DOW futures are +86; the market is poised to open significantly higher.

CNBC: The national eviction ban is over. But renters still can’t be forced out in these states by Annie Nova

Monday, August 30, 2021

Records

 MSN: Report: Jan. 6 Committee Eyes Phone Records Of GOPers Involved In Rally Before Attack

RoF - Lawyer For MAGA Rioter Says Trump Is To Blame For Insurrection

MSNBC - Reporter Interrupted During Hurricane Ida Coverage By Heckler

Wildfire

 NPR: Evacuation Orders Expand On Lake Tahoe's California Side As A Huge Wildfire Spreads

Choices

 Washington Post: Surprise, panic and fateful choices: The day America lost its longest war By Susannah George, Missy Ryan, Tyler Pager, Pamela Constable, John Hudson and Griff Witte

That outcome stunned top U.S. officials, several of whom had been on vacation when the weekend began, having expected the pro-Western government to hang on for weeks, if not months or even years longer. Afghans were no less astonished by the speed with which their government crumbled. Even the Taliban was surprised.

Over

 NY Times: Afghanistan Live Updates: The United States Occupation Is Over - Twenty years after the U.S. invaded, the last military flight took off from Kabul airport a day earlier than expected. The withdrawal came after a last spasm of violence. Now the Taliban are in charge again.

Stephanie Ruhle - Afghanistan Veteran - 'The Taliban Taking Over Was Absolutely Inevitable'

Today - Louisiana Residents Trapped By Ida Floods Turn To Social Media For Help

Prevent

 Washington Post: Opinion: How to prevent the next Jan. 6, as revealed in an important new analysis Opinion by Greg Sargent

We’re talking about revising the Electoral Count Act (ECA) of 1887. That may sound dry and unexciting, but it would shore up hidden weaknesses that made the 2020 breakdown possible.

Ida

 NY Times: In Ida’s Grip, Louisiana Struggles to Assess the Damage - About a million customers were without power as a slow-moving storm inundated the region, testing flood control.

The Onion - DeSantis Locks Down Florida After Spread Of Covid Vaccination Gets Out Of Hand

The Onion: DeSantis Locks Down Florida After Spread Of Covid Vaccination Gets Out Of Hand

Evictions

Axios: Goldman Sachs estimates 750K households face eviction after moratorium ends by Ivana Saric

Have An Excellent Monday

Sun Tzu - 'The Art of War Explained In 5 Minutes'

MSNBC - Hurricane Ida - New Orleans Faces Widespread Power Outages

MSG Networks - Kemba Walker Will Help Julius Randle And RJ Barrett Lead Knicks To Their Full Potential

Embarrassing

The Palmer Report: This is just embarrassing for Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves by Justin Hodges

Unusual Event

 Guardian UK: Cape Cod: eight great white sharks seen feeding on humpback whale carcass - Expert marvels at ‘biggest smorgasbord a shark could dream of’ - Researchers monitor unusual humpback mortality event by Richard Luscombe

Reich's Latest

 Guardian UK: Republicans threaten our children’s freedom as well as their basic safety by Robert Reich - Attacks on mask mandates expose children to Covid. Attacks on the teaching of history expose them to dangerous ignorance

Blame

 Washington Post: Opinion: Who’s to blame for the deaths of 13 service members in Kabul? We all are. by Max Boot

Ida

Washington Post: Ida weakens to tropical storm as it moves to Mississippi with destructive winds, heavy flooding

Forecasters warned that flooding from storm surges will continue through Monday morning in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. As Ida’s center moves into southwestern Mississippi, damaging winds could cause more power outages.

War And Global Warming

 NY Times: A New Breed of Crisis: War and Warming Collide in Afghanistan - Unrest and climate change are creating an agonizing feedback loop that punishes some of the world’s most vulnerable people. By Somini Sengupta

Parts of Afghanistan have warmed twice as much as the global average. Spring rains have declined, most worryingly in some of the country’s most important farmland. Droughts are more frequent in vast swaths of the country...

Assess

 NY Times: Louisiana braces for daylight to reveal extent of destruction.

The Market On Monday

  Good morning. At 6:50 a.m. ET DOW futures are +24; the market is poised to open moderately higher.

CNBC: Ida now a tropical storm as more than 1 million Louisiana utility customers are left without power by Emma Newburger

Pancake Mass Production

Korean Street Food

Friday, August 27, 2021

Weekend!

  Have an excellent weekend and see you bright and early Monday morning.

'Finding Peace of Mind'- The Dalai Lama

Aranmula Kannadi

 Get Pocket: See Yourself As You Truly Are in This Mysterious Metal Mirror Made in Kerala, the “Aranmula kannadi” won’t distort your reflection. by Susan Paul and Savera John

How Plywood Is Made In Factories

MSNBC - 'More Of A Lunatic Than Trump' - MAGA Governor DeSantis Touts COVID ‘Success’ As Bodies Pile Up

RoF - New Documents Prove Trump Lied To Investigators About Donation To Florida Attorney General

MSNBC - Bolton - Trump-Pompeo Negotiations ‘Delegitimized Afghan Government’

Likely

NPR:  Another Kabul Attack Is Likely, The U.S. Says. Here's The Latest On Afghanistan by Joe Hernandez

Children

 NY Times: Children’s hospitals around the country are seeing a surge in Covid-19 patients, including this two-month-old baby in New Orleans.

Origin

CNN: US intelligence community review does not determine origin of Covid-19 By Alex Marquardt and Jeremy Herb,

MSNBC - Former CIA Director Brennan - 'An Impossible Task' To Provide Security

RoF - Sidney Powell And Lin Wood Smacked Down By Judge Who Recommends Sanctioning The Duo

Stranded

 Washington Post: ‘So alone’: As NATO countries end their Kabul airlift, many interpreters, embassy staffers and drivers are left behind By Loveday Morris ,Reis Thebault and Karla Adam

Deadliest Attack

 NY Times: Afghanistan Live Updates: Toll in Kabul Airport Bombing Rises to 170 - After a blast that killed 13 U.S. troops, evacuation flights have resumed. With four days remaining until an Aug. 31 deadline for the U.S. withdrawal, the window for airlifts is narrowing. RIGHT NOW After one of the deadliest attacks in 20 years of war, many people are still trying to reach the airport.

The Onion - Humanitarian Organization ‘Doctors Without Dimensions’ Phases Into War-Torn Nonlinear Universe

 The Onion: Humanitarian Organization ‘Doctors Without Dimensions’ Phases Into War-Torn Nonlinear Universe

Ida

Axios: Major hurricane forecast to slam Gulf Coast this weekend by Andrew Freedman

Have An Excellent Friday

work by Philipp Kubarev





 

Joy Reid - Rep. Dean ‘Was Staggered To Learn It Was Lt. Byrd’ Who Defended House Chamber

Chris Hayes - Capitol Police Officers Sue Trump Over Jan. 6 Role, Cite KKK Act Violation

Rachel Maddow - Trump Supporters Make Martyr Of 1/6 Rioter Babbitt Ignoring Previous Law And Order Emphasis

Scared

 The Palmer Report: Donald Trump just gave away how scared he is of what comes next by Bill Palmer

Fresh

 Guardian UK: ‘Activate the block’: turning the unhealthy corner store on its head with fresh food by Patrice Worthy in Washington DC

Passed

  And so the country takes yet another significant step backwards.

 Guardian UK: Texas house passes sweeping voting restrictions bill - Bill comes amid nationwide Republican effort to restrict voting Democrats attempted to block bill by walking out last month by Sam Levine in New York

Restrictions

Washington Post: Texas House advances GOP voting restrictions, which Democrats had blocked for weeks by fleeing the state By Eva Ruth Moravec and Elise Viebeck

ISIS

Washington Post: Twin bombings at Kabul airport kill 13 U.S. service members and dozens of Afghans By John Hudson , Alex Horton , Missy Ryan and Dan Lamothe

Warning

 NY Times: The Fires in Greece Are a Terrifying Warning By Alexander Clapp - Mr. Clapp is a journalist based in Athens who writes widely about Greece and the Mediterranean region.

Disaster

 NY Times: Afghanistan Live Updates: Flights Resume at Kabul Airport After Deadly Attacks - After two blasts left scores dead, including 13 U.S. troops, evacuation flights have resumed. With four days remaining until an Aug. 31 deadline for the U.S. withdrawal, the window for airlifts is narrowing.

The Market On Friday

  Good morning. At 7:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are +85; the market is poised to open significantly higher.

CNBC: Education Department will cancel student debt for 115,000 borrowers by Annie Nova

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Sleep

 Get Pocket: Go to Bed! Brain Researchers Warn That Lack of Sleep is a Public Health Crisis. In the digital age, adults are getting less and less shut-eye. And science says it may be making us sick. by Carolyn Y. Johnson

Tesla Bot Vs Boston Dynamics Atlas

Reporting

 NPR: What It's Like To Be A Woman Reporting On The Taliban: 'They Don't Look At You' by Terry Gross

Condemn

 Washington Post: World leaders and Taliban condemn attack near Kabul airport By Claire Parker

Two Blasts

 NY Times: Live Afghanistan Updates: 12 U.S. Service Members Among Those Killed in Explosions at Kabul Airport - The Pentagon confirmed at least two blasts and said there were a number of casualties. Western governments had warned of an impending attack.

Sue

 Yahoo News: Capitol Police officers sue Trump, extremists, alleging conspiracy, terrorism on Jan. 6 by Will Carless

RoF - Roger Stone Flips Out After Getting Banned From ‘Free Speech’ Conservative Platform

The Guardian - Fighting A Locust Plague Amid Covid-19 In East Africa

  This clip is a year old.

Rachel Maddow - Federal Judge Excoriates Trump Lawyers, Refers Them For Disbarment

Health

Washington Post: Many measures of Earth’s health are at worst levels on record, NOAA finds 2020 saw unprecedented global sea levels and the highest annual increase in concentrations of methane, a potent greenhouse gas By Sarah Kaplan

Average global temperatures rivaled the hottest. Mysterious sources of methane sent atmospheric concentrations of the gas spiking to unprecedented highs. Sea levels were the highest on record; fires ravaged the American West; and locusts swarmed across East Africa.

Kabul

 NY Times: Live Afghanistan Updates: Explosions Outside Kabul Airport After Security Warnings - The Pentagon confirmed at least two blasts outside the Kabul airport and said there were a number of casualties, including U.S. service members, after Western governments warned of a security threat there.

The Onion - Man Mid-Shower Facing Grim Realization He’ll Have To Retrieve Face Wash He Left On Sink

 The Onion: Man Mid-Shower Facing Grim Realization He’ll Have To Retrieve Face Wash He Left On Sink

South

Axios: Coronavirus cases are soaring, especially in the South by Sam Baker

Have An Excellent Thursday

  Philip Glass - Symphony No. 7 "Toltec" Live Performance

Rachel Maddow - January 6 Committee Shows Seriousness About Investigation

Lawrence O'Donnell - Pro-Trump Lawyers ‘Demonstrated They Know Nothing About Election Law'

Ari Melber - Loser - GOP Spends 2021 Recounting Trump's Loss In Several States

Targets

 The Palmer Report: January 6th Committee targets Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and Melania Trump by Bill Palmer

Exoplanets

Guardian UK: ‘Mini-Neptunes’ beyond solar system may soon yield signs of life - Cambridge astronomers identify new hycean class of habitable exoplanets, which could accelerate search for life by Nicola Davis Science correspondent

Seaweed

 Guardian UK: ‘It’s a miracle crop’: the pioneers pushing the powers of seaweed by Alexander Talty in Montauk

Hospitalizations

  This is Trump's lingering insult on America.

 Washington Post: Hospitalizations hit 100,000 in United States for first time since January By Bryan Pietsch, Jacqueline Dupree and Adela Suliman

More than 17,000 people are hospitalized with covid-19 in Florida, which has the most hospitalizations for covid-19 of any state in the country, followed by Texas, which has more than 14,000.

Accelerate

 Washington Post: As Aug. 31 deadline looms, United States, European nations accelerate Afghanistan evacuation effort By Missy Ryan, Karoun Demirjian, John Hudson and Dan Lamothe

Pretend

 NY Times: Let’s Not Pretend That the Way We Withdrew From Afghanistan Was the Problem by Ezra Klein

Covid

 NY Times: Covid Live Updates: Cases and Deaths in Florida Hit Record Highs - The Delta variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in the state. In Japan, the authorities will discard more than 1.6 million Moderna vaccine doses over contamination fears.

The Market On Thursday

  Good morning. At 7:00 a.m. ET DOW futures are +20; the market is poised to open slightly higher.

CNBC: A longevity expert shares the diet, exercise and sleep rules he lives by for a longer, stronger life: These are ‘non-negotiable’ by Sergey Youn

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Four

 Get Pocket: The Four Desires Driving All Human Behavior - Bertrand Russell’s magnificent Nobel prize acceptance speech. by Maria Popova

Magnetic Accelerators - Magnetic Games

MSNBC - ‘We Are Way Behind’ - Mississippi Makes It A Felony To Break Covid Isolation

About Time

 NPR: Jan. 6 Select Committee Probe Expands To Trump And Top Officials In A Wave Of Demands by Claudia Grisales

Fight Back

 Washington Post: Flight attendants are learning to fight back against unruly passengers — just in case Air marshals are teaching flight crews how to deal with violent behavior, training they need now more than ever By Natalie B. Compton

Betrayed

NY Times: I Commanded Afghan Troops This Year. We Were Betrayed. By Sami Sadat General Sadat is a commander in the Afghan National Army.

I’m not here to absolve the Afghan Army of mistakes. But the fact is, many of us fought valiantly and honorably, only to be let down by American and Afghan leadership.

'What It’s Like Being Married To Neil deGrasse Tyson'

Key & Peele

Boston Dynamics - Spot On Site - Construction Solution

Brian Williams - Remembering Rolling Stones Legendary Drummer Charlie Watts

The Onion - CIA Begrudgingly Impressed By How Well They Trained Future Taliban Members In 1980s

The Onion: CIA Begrudgingly Impressed By How Well They Trained Future Taliban Members In 1980s

ICU

 Axios: ICU beds are running out again by Tina Reed

Launched

 Washington Post: Opinion: Democrats just launched a missile at the GOP’s fortress of minority rule Opinion by Greg Sargent

...on Tuesday, they (Congress) also passed the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

Tucked inside that bill are provisions that take direct aim at minority rule, but not in an obvious way.

Resistance

 NY Times: Budding Resistance to the Taliban Faces Long Odds - For now, the fighters have merely two assets: a narrow valley with a history of repelling invaders and the legacy of a storied mujahedeen commander. By Carlotta Gall and Adam Nossiter

Reverse Dance - Medieval Dance - Hurdy-Gurdy Solo

  This is wonderful.

Have An Excellent Wednesday

 work by Andrea Kowch - born 1986






Ari Melber - Judgment Day? GOP On Edge As Congress Will Seize Phone Records From Jan. 6

Rachel Maddow - 'An Incredible Full Circle Event' - CIA Target Taliban Leader Freed By Trump Meets With CIA

Rachel Maddow - FCC Clobbers Trump-Supporting Activists Over Racist Robocalls

Toast

 The Palmer Report: Legal expert: Rudy Giuliani is now toast by Bill Palmer

Present

 Guardian UK: Q&A: did the climate crisis fuel Henri and the Tennessee flooding? by Oliver Milman

...the fingerprints of the climate crisis are undoubtedly present to some degree...

Pathetic

 Guardian UK: Apathetic voters could hand California recall to Republicans: ‘Folks seem unaware’ - Gavin Newsom remains popular but Democrats appear far less likely than Republicans to vote in the election by Maanvi Singh

Cybersecurity

 Washington Post: White House to discuss cybersecurity with top tech, energy and finance executives - Described by the administration as a ‘call to action,’ the summit is an attempt to pressure companies into boosting defenses on cyberattacks By Cat Zakrzewski and Joseph Marks

Echo

 Washington Post: Canceled events, strained hospitals, restrictions echo pre-vaccine pandemic By Bryan Pietsch and Adela Suliman

Plan

 NY Times: House Passes $3.5 Trillion Budget Plan for Vast Expansion of Safety Net - Democratic leaders had to haggle their way to passage, committing to moderates that there would be a vote on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan by Sept. 27. By Emily Cochrane

...including huge investments in education, child care, health care, paid leave, and tax increases on wealthy people and corporations...

Sore Loser

 NY Times: The Trump Clown Car Has a Smashup in Arizona By Michelle Cottle - Ms. Cottle is a member of the editorial board.

...the Arizona recount stands as an object lesson about the embarrassing damage to democracy that one party can inflict when led by a sore loser who still manages to scare people.

The Market On Wednesday

  Good morning. At 6:35 a.m. ET DOW futures are +19; the market is poised to open slightly higher.

CNBC: The economy could be getting help from positive news on the delta variant by Jeff Cox

Big

Harvard Business Review: The Problem with Saying “It’s No Big Deal” by James R. Detert
When you don’t address something early on, there’s a good chance you’ll harbor negative emotional energy and become so upset that you eventually have a hard time being in the same room with person who “wronged” you...

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Cotton Candy Ice Cream Fruit Burrito, Rainbow Cotton Candy - Korean Street Food

  I'm posting this one because I can't believe that human beings actually eat this.

Cripes

NY Post:  Eating 1 hot dog takes 35 minutes off life, study suggests By Kayla Rivas

Native American Proverbs - Life-Changing Wisdom

MSNBC - Engel - U.S. Forced To Leave on 'Taliban's Clock' Is 'Moment Of Humiliation'

Reaching Out

 NPR: More Americans Are Reaching Out For Mental Health Support — But Can't Get It by Rhitu Chatterjee

Decision

 Washington Post: Judge wants Justice Department to detail decision on charging Infowars correspondent accused in Jan. 6 riot By Rachel Weiner

Budget

 NY Times: House narrowly passes $3.5 trillion budget blueprint, paving the way to enact Biden’s expansive agenda. The plan allows Democrats to start work on a wide-ranging reconciliation package. Moderates agreed to support it only after exacting a promise for a vote on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

Morning Joe - Florida Doctor Discusses Battling Coronavirus

RoF - Alex Jones Calls Trump ‘Dumbass’ For Promoting Vaccines

Pot meet kettle...

Top

Washington Post: Pandemic reemerges as Americans’ top concern, poll shows

Updates

 NY Times: House Democrats struggle to round up the votes to pass their $3.5 trillion budget blueprint. Negotiations lasted all night on Monday, with moderate holdouts refusing to fall into line.

The Onion - ‘Let’s Take It To Our Afghanistan Experts,’ Says Anchor Throwing To Panel Of Dick Cheneys

The Onion:  ‘Let’s Take It To Our Afghanistan Experts,’ Says Anchor Throwing To Panel Of Dick Cheneys

New Age

 Axios: We're entering a new age of asteroid science by Miriam Kramer

Charlie Watts

 Rolling Stone: Charlie Watts, the Rolling Stones’ Drummer and Inimitable Backbone, Dead at 80 - Rock & roll legend “passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier [Tuesday] surrounded by his family,” according to publicist By Joe Gross

Have An Excellent Tuesday

 work by Peter Ravn





 

Joy Reid - AZ Sec. Of State - GOP Leaders Suggesting Audit Can Install Trump ‘Fueling Dangerous Behavior'

Ari Melber - Trump Wave Crashing? Dean Hits Hannity, Carlson For COVID Lies As Cases Surge

Rachel Maddow - Giuliani Associate's Guilty Plea Likely Sends Chill Through Parts Of Trumpworld

If Only

 The Palmer Report: The end of the Republican Party by DC Rapier

Failure

 Guardian UK: ‘A combination of failures:’ why 3.6m pounds of nuclear waste is buried under a popular California beach by Kate Mishkin

Sanford

Guardian UK: ‘I’m a citizen with no country:’ Mark Sanford on turning against Trump and his party by David Smith

Moments

 Washington Post: Survivors recount ‘living nightmare’ as Tennessee’s deadly floodwaters swept them up in moments By Abby Lee Hood and Paulina Firozi

Secret

 Washington Post: CIA Director William Burns held secret meeting in Kabul with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar By John Hudson

...the discussions likely involved the impending Aug. 31 deadline for the U.S. military to conclude its airlift of U.S. citizens and Afghan allies.

Governor Kathy Hochul

 NY Times: Kathy Hochul Is Sworn In as New York’s First Female Governor - Ms. Hochul, who succeeds Andrew M. Cuomo after his resignation, has vowed to usher in a new era of civility and consensus in state government. By Luis Ferré-Sadurní

In her 14-year trajectory from county clerk to congresswoman to the upper echelons of state government, Ms. Hochul has stood out for her affable personality, deftness in retail politicking and demanding travel schedule...

Perspective

 NY Times: The Afghanistan War Was Lost Before Biden Ended It By Michelle Goldberg

But for America to remain in Afghanistan, Biden would have had to renege on Trump’s deal with the Taliban. More American troops would be required, and fighting, including American airstrikes, would almost certainly ramp up.

The Market On Tuesday

  Good morning. At 6:00 a.m. ET DOW futures are +39; the market is poised to open moderately higher.

CNBC: House delays vote to advance Biden’s economic agenda as centrist Democrats derail Pelosi’s plans by Jacob Pramuk

Monday, August 23, 2021

Foo Fighters With Dave Grohl - Troll The Westboro Baptist Church

Finance

 Lawfare: The Challenges of Understanding Taliban Finance By Jessica Davis

The opium trade is a particularly lucrative source of funds, and reports suggest that the Taliban’s involvement varies significantly, from one of simple taxation to using fighters to harvest poppies to demanding protection money from opium traffickers.

Comment - Uncle

 Last night I watched footage of a Proud Boys rally and riot in Portland. The group moved through areas of Portland, brutally beating on people, and all this occurred without the slightest concern of the Portland Police. In fact the police let it be known that they were keeping out of it. 

  Meanwhile the Taliban have taken control of Afghanistan, in a brutal way of course, and Biden is being blamed for the chaos even though America had no business being there for the last 20 years. One might think that if the US was nation building, that after 20 years of pumping all kinds of military hardware into a country, that the newly formed Afghanistan military would have at least tried to fight back once. The joke going around is this, there are lots of Afghanistan weapons for sale on Ebay, they're in perfect condition and have only been dropped once.

 Top it off, Covid is still gaining, and then the real deep problem, global warming, is ringing the bell but good this year. We've had fires, droughts, floods, unbelievable heat waves, and profoundly obvious changes to the environment. Even with all this, I'm leaving out the fact that a solid 35% to 40% of Americans would happily, in a heartbeat, rush to Donald Trump, and they believe that a malevolent deep state conspiracy robbed him of the election. Now the GOP is pretending that a record election turnout in urban areas did not happen, and so they need to 'fix' the voting rules in this country, rather than address the fact that GOP policy is extremely unpopular. And by the way, calling conspiracy grade lunacy, a policy, is a wee bit of a stretch.

  I'm pounding on the mat, uncle, I give.


RoF - MyPillow CEO Moves The Goalposts Again On Trump Reinstatement Theory

Morning Joe - Florida Schools Superintendent Defies State Mask Ban

Reality

NPR:  The Floods In Tennessee Aren't Freak Accidents. They're A New Reality by Rebecca Hersher

...hotter air can hold more moisture.

Hotter air also dries out soil, which makes it less absorbent. When a lot of rain falls in a short period of time, it can't soak into the ground, and runoff overwhelms pipes, dams and other drainage infrastructure.

WTF?

 Washington Post: Taliban insists it will not shelter al-Qaeda in Afghanistan this time around By Ellen Francis

Everybody Is At Fault But Me - Pure BS

  Good riddance.

NY Times: Cuomo Blames ‘Political Pressure and Media Frenzy’ in Farewell Speech - Gov. Andrew Cuomo characterized a state attorney general report that found he sexually harassed 11 women as a “political firecracker.” By Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Katie Glueck

Morning Joe - Former U.S. Advisor Details The Level Of Corruption In Afghanistan

RoF - Trump Gets Booed In Alabama For Telling People To Get Vaccinated

Cleared

Washington Post: Internal probe clears Capitol Police officer in shooting of Ashli Babbitt By Justin Jouvenal

Uncertainty

 NY Times: The U.S. Is Getting a Crash Course in Scientific Uncertainty - As the pandemic takes an unexpected direction, Americans again must reckon with twists in scientific understanding of the virus. by By Apoorva Mandavilli

The Onion - George W. Bush Spends Sleepless Night Wondering If He To Blame For Long-Term Collapse Of Texas Rangers

 The Onion: George W. Bush Spends Sleepless Night Wondering If He To Blame For Long-Term Collapse Of Texas Rangers

Full Approval

 Axios: FDA grants full approval to Pfizer's COVID vaccine by Axios

She's Back

Yahoo News: Rachel Maddow Renews MSNBC Deal by Brian Steinberg

Have An Excellent Monday

work by Ellen Weinstein





 

Mehdi - Why New Reporting On The FBI Jan. 6 Probe Undermines Trump Defense

MSNBC - Trump Booed For Telling Alabama Crowd To Get Covid Vaccine

PBS - The Island Of The Last Surviving Mammoths

Flying MAGA

 The Palmer Report: MAGA no-fly list by Bocha Blue

Somalia

 Guardian UK: ‘Nothing to eat’: Somalia hit by triple threat of climate crisis, Covid and conflict - Overlapping crises have pushed the fragile east African country to the ‘cusp of humanitarian catastrophe’, with one in four facing food insecurity by Moulid Hujale and Lizzy Davies

Helping Animals

 Guardian UK: Burned paws, hungry bears: the race to help animals injured in wildfires by Dani Anguiano

Enough

 Washington Post: Opinion: The Afghanistan outcome is ugly. Biden was still right to say: Enough. Opinion by E.J. Dionne Jr.

With al-Qaeda routed and Osama bin Laden killed, Biden reiterated Friday, the original mission was accomplished long ago. Now, he said, there is a greater terrorist threat “in other countries … than there is in Afghanistan,” and that’s where our nation’s attention should turn.

Expand

 Washington Post: Biden says safe zone around Kabul airport to expand, as Pentagon enlists commercial airlines to aid evacuations By Karoun Demirjian, John Hudson, Dan Lamothe and Adela Suliman

Henri

 NY Times: Tropical Storm Henri Brings Power Outages and Record Rain to Northeast By Andy Newman and Ellen Barry

...it weakened quickly as it made its way north.

Passed On A Deal

 NY Times: Did the War in Afghanistan Have to Happen? In 2001, when the Taliban were weak and ready to surrender, the U.S. passed on a deal. Nearly 20 years later, the Taliban hold all the cards. By Alissa J. Rubin

The Market On Monday

  Good morning. At 6:40 a.m. ET DOW futures are +158; the market is poised to open significantly higher.

CNBC: This 35-year-old left the U.S. for Croatia: ‘I live on $47 a day — here’s a look at how I spend my time’ by Steve Tsentserensky

Friday, August 20, 2021

Weekend!

  Have an excellent weekend and see you bright and early Monday morning.

Mozart - Concerto for Piano and Orchestra K.466 - Uchida

Ari Melber - Trump's Own Security Adviser Blames Him For Taliban Surrender

Lawrence O'Donnell - Harvard Professor - Economy ‘Healing More Quickly’ Than In Previous Recessions

Visiting The Most Air Polluted City In The World

Israel

NPR:  Highly Vaccinated Israel Is Seeing A Dramatic Surge In New COVID Cases. Here's Why by Daniel Estrin

Promises

 Washington Post: ‘We will get you home,’ Biden promises Americans, amid effort to speed Afghanistan evacuations By Katerina Ang  Jennifer Hassan, Erin Cunningham, Andrew Jeong and Sammy Westfall

Updates

 NY Times: Covid Live Updates: F.D.A. Expected to Fully Approve Pfizer Vaccine Next Week - The vaccine is now used under an emergency authorization, but the full approval is expected to lead to a wave of inoculation mandates. New York City requires many high school athletes to be vaccinated.

RoF - Capitol Bomb Suspect Was A Huge Trump Supporter

Brian Williams - GOP Rep. Mo Brooks Sympathetic With Capitol Bomb Plot Suspect

MSNBC - Jan. 6 Sentencing Derailed After New Video Surfaces Of Alleged Police Assault

European Forces

 Washington Post: European forces cross Taliban lines for Kabul rescue, pressuring Biden to expand evacuation By Katerina Ang, Jennifer Hassan, Erin Cunningham and Andrew Jeong

Now What

 NY Times: Covid Isn’t Going Away. So What Now? By Spencer Bokat-Lindell

Henri

 Axios: Tropical Storm Henri poses uniquely dangerous threat to New England by Andrew Freedman

Have An Excellent Friday

 work by Kurt Ard






Ari Melber - See Sean Hannity Get Owned On COVID Contradiction

Ari Melber - Nicolle Wallace On What Everyone Got Wrong About Biden

Rachel Maddow - Collapse Of Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theories Raises Domestic Terror Concerns

Ever

 The Palmer Report: The MAGA loons are more out of control than ever by Bocha Blue

Bernie's Latest

 Guardian UK: The planet is in peril. We’re building Congress’s strongest-ever climate bill by Bernie Sanders - More than any other legislation in US history it will transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and into sustainable energy

Extreme Risk

 Guardian UK: A billion children at ‘extreme risk’ from climate impacts – Unicef Report launched with youth activists including Greta Thunberg paints ‘unimaginably dire’ picture by Damian Carrington, Environment editor

...heatwaves, floods, cyclones, disease, drought, and air pollution, the report said. But 1 billion children live in 33 countries facing three or four impacts simultaneously. The countries include India, Nigeria and the Philippines, and much of sub-Saharan Africa.

Scramble

Washington Post: Trump officials scramble for distance from his Taliban deal By Aaron Blake

Betrayal

Washington Post: Opinion: Govs. DeSantis and Abbott, in denial and risking lives, have betrayed the public trust Opinion by Michael Gerson

Their actions will lead, directly and predictably, to deaths in their states. This constitutes a betrayal of public trust so grave — a violation of moral responsibilities so depraved — that I am not sure there is a word for it.

Failing

 NY Times: Three Years After Greta Thunberg’s Strike, Adults Are Failing Children on a Global Scale By Greta Thunberg, Adriana Calderón, Farzana Faruk Jhumu and Eric Njuguna - The authors are youth climate activists from Sweden, Mexico, Bangladesh and Kenya, working with the international youth-led Fridays For Future movement.

Afghanistan

NY Times: Live Updates: Biden to Address Afghan Crisis as Desperation Builds at Kabul Airport - President Biden will speak on Friday amid intense criticism of the evacuation effort. A 17-year-old boy was identified as one of the Afghans who fell from a U.S. military plane as it lifted off. Threats against Afghan journalists are growing.

The Market On Friday

  Good morning. At 6:30 a.m. ET, DOW futures are -118; the market is once again poised to open significantly lower.

CNBC: Education Department will cancel student debt for more than 320,000 borrowers by Annie Nova


Thursday, August 19, 2021

Chuck Close Dies

 NY Post: Chuck Close, artist known for photorealist portraits, dead at 81 By Samantha Ibrahim

MSNBC - Mary Trump Believes Her Uncle Allowed People ‘To Be Their Worst Selves’

MSNBC - Mississippi Sees Uptick In Number Of Kids Hospitalized With Covid

MSNBC - U.S. Officials Negotiate With Taliban While Evacuating Afghanistan

Congress

 NPR: Congress And COVID-19: Members' Cases And Quarantines by Claudia Grisales and Audrey Carlsen

Infrastructure

 Washington Post: Breaking down, building up - Years of neglect and underfunding. Lots of future needs. Ten projects show what’s at stake for the nation’s roads, bridges, ports and rails.

The 55-year-old Clausen, a patrol officer since 2003, drives Vail Pass on his way to work from Breckenridge to Vail. Even on sunny days, he knows he could be pulled away on a moment’s notice to head up to a crash on the pass.

Surrender

 NY Times: Man Surrenders to Capitol Police After ‘Bomb Threat’ Near Library of Congress - The police closed off several streets and sent alerts to congressional staff members, prompting evacuations. By Emily Cochrane and Maria Cramer

RoF - Lauren Boebert Doubles Down On Her Praise For Taliban

MSNBC - Capitol Police Stop Suspicious Vehicle, Library of Congress Evacuated

Mississippi

Washington Post: Pandemic has never been worse in Mississippi, top doctor says as 20,000 students are quarantined By Timothy Bella

Updates

 NY Times: Afghanistan Live Updates: Protests Spread to Kabul as Taliban Struggle to Govern - The day after protests in two cities were met with violence, rallies broke out in Kabul and at least one other city. A troubled evacuation from Kabul slowly gathered pace as Afghans and others arrived in Europe, the Persian Gulf and elsewhere.

The Onion - Disappointed Taliban Realizes Taking Over Afghanistan More Fun Than Running It

 The Onion: Disappointed Taliban Realizes Taking Over Afghanistan More Fun Than Running It

Responds

Axios: Biden responds to Kabul chaos

Hotspot

 Yahoo News: Gulf Coast's beloved 'Redneck Riviera' now a virus hotspot by Jay Reeves

Have An Excellent Thursday

'How to make Pottery out of Concrete' - No special tools needed

Ari Melber - Returning To Lockdowns In 2021? Why COVID Is Worse Than Ever In Some Places

MSNBC - Mike Pence's Hypocrisy On Trump's Taliban Deal Is The Absolute Worst

Criminal

 The Palmer Report: New development in federal criminal case against Rudy Giuliani by Bill Palmer

Why

 Guardian UK: Why is life on Earth still taking second place to fossil fuel companies? by George Monbiot

Almost everyone is now at least vaguely aware that we face the greatest catastrophe our species has ever confronted. Yet scarcely anyone alters their behaviour in response: above all, their driving, flying and consumption of meat and dairy.

Pause

Guardian UK: Multibillion-dollar Louisiana plastics plant put on pause in a win for activists - According to environmentalists, the $9.4bn facility could release up to 13m tonnes of greenhouse gases a year by Oliver Laughland in New Orleans

Rejects

 Washington Post: Federal judge rejects Trump-era permits for major Alaska oil project - Wednesday’s decision is a setback for ConocoPhillips’s Willow project, which aims to produce more than 100,000 barrels a day on the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska By Joshua Partlow

After the Trump administration approved the drilling, Alaska Natives and environmental activists sued to stop it, resulting in a preliminary injunction by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in February.

Chlorpyrifos

 Washington Post: Trump let this pesticide stay on the market. Under Biden, EPA is banning its use on food. Farmers use chlorpyrifos, linked to neurological damage in young children, on crops such as grapes, broccoli and strawberries By Dino Grandoni

Resistance

 NY Times: First Resistance to Taliban Rule Tests Afghanistan’s Uncertain Future - While the militants appear firmly in control, some prominent figures vowed to continue resistance as protests erupted in two cities and millions of Afghans parsed clues about the Taliban’s intentions. By Richard Pérez-Peña

Afghanistan

 NY Times: Afghanistan Live Updates: Protests Spread to Kabul as Taliban Struggle to Govern - The day after protests in two cities were met with violence, rallies broke out in Kabul and at least one other city. A troubled evacuation from Kabul slowly gathered pace as Afghans and others arrived in Europe, the Persian Gulf and elsewhere. RIGHT NOW Some members of Afghanistan’s all-girls robotics team flee the country.

The Market On Thursday

  Good morning. At 7:20 a.m. ET, DOW futures are -302; the market is once again poised to open significantly lower.

CNBC: Unemployment benefits will end soon for 7.5 million Americans. These extended pandemic-aid programs could help by Carmen Reinicke

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

It Could Be Worse

 MIT Technology Review: How the world already prevented far worse warming this century - The Montreal Protocol was designed to heal the ozone layer. It may have also fended off several degrees of warming—and a collapse of forests and croplands. by James Temple

Saturn

 MIT Technology Review: Saturn’s insides are sloshing around - A new paper suggests Saturn’s core is more like a fluid than a solid, and makes up more of the planet’s interior than we thought. by Neel V. Patel

MSNBC - International Aid Organizations Scramble To Help 18.4M Afghan Refugees

RoF - Florida Is Averaging 50 Children Per Day Hospitalized With COVID

I'm Not A Fan Of This At All

 NPR: Researchers Studying Daddy Longlegs' Genes Created A 'Daddy Shortlegs' by Bill Chappell

Suspended

 Washington Post: Jack Morris suspended indefinitely after using accent as Shohei Ohtani came to bat By Cindy Boren

“Be very, very careful,” Morris replied, using pronunciations that many found offensive. In the ninth inning, Morris said on the telecast that he had not intended any offense.

Kurson

NY Times: Kushner Friend Who Was Pardoned by Trump Is Charged With Spying on Wife - Ken Kurson, the former editor of The New York Observer, was charged with two felonies in Manhattan. Prosecutors said he installed spyware on his former wife’s computer in order to surveil her. By Jonah E. Bromwich and Kate Christobek

Doreen Ketchens Performance With The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra

Psaki - Trump Released Thousands Of Taliban

Stephanie Ruhle - Combat Veterans React To Taliban Takeover In Afghanistan

The Lincoln Project - 'Monster Trump Rally'

Resistance

Washington Post: The mujahideen resistance to the Taliban begins now. But we need help. Opinion by Ahmad Massoud

Protection

 NY Times: Vaccines’ protection against virus infection is waning, C.D.C. studies suggest. By Apoorva Mandavilli

The Onion - Art Museum Guard Bravely Throws Body In Front Of Camera Flash

 The Onion: Art Museum Guard Bravely Throws Body In Front Of Camera Flash

Edge

Axios: Afghanistan on edge

CNN - Reporter Previews New Bombshell Trump Book

Have An Excellent Wednesday

work by Gérard Schlosser





 

MSNBC - Why George W. Bush's Role In Afghanistan Is Being Overlooked

Brian Williams - Trump Calls Taliban 'Smart' As They Take Over In Afghanistan

Rachel Maddow - The Awkward Trumpy Truth About Afghanistan's Likely New Taliban Leader

Jordan

 The Palmer Report: Nancy Pelosi hints at bad news for Jim Jordan by Bocha Blue

Pump Ban

  The headline asks the question, is the tide turning. The answer is no.

 Guardian UK: This town is the first in America to ban new gas stations – is the tide turning? A movement in California seeks a moratorium on new pumps – and a transformation of the US transportation system by Dominic Rushe in Petaluma, California

Future Home

Guardian UK: Imagining the climate-proof home in the US: using the least energy possible from the cleanest sources - Solar energy use will become more common as power use becomes smarter and more automated by Oliver Milman, with graphics from Rashida Kamal

Fueling

Washington Post: Rise of delta variant and waning immunity are fueling breakthrough infections, experts say By Joel Achenbach and Ben Guarino

Alabama

Washington Post: Alabama has ‘negative’ ICU beds free as U.S. hospitals struggle with surge of cases By Bryan Pietsch

Hospitals in the South have for weeks been overrun by covid-19 patients as cases surged across the Sun Belt. But now, health-care workers across the country are also struggling to manage the waves of cases brought on by the delta variant.

Grim

NY Times: Intelligence Warned of Afghan Military Collapse, Despite Biden’s Assurances - Even as the president was telling the public that Kabul was unlikely to fall, intelligence assessments painted a grimmer picture. By Mark Mazzetti, Julian E. Barnes and Adam Goldman

Afghanistan

 NY Times: Afghanistan Live Updates: Taliban Violently Crush First Public Protest - The Taliban leadership has signaled that the group will not employ the same brutal rule it did two decades ago. But Taliban fighters in Jalalabad fired into a crowd and beat protesters during an outpouring of public anger at their rule. RIGHT NOW Evacuations from Kabul accelerate, but many thousands are still left behind.

The Market On Wednesday

  Good morning. At 6:35 a.m. ET, DOW futures are -105; the market is poised to open significantly lower.

CNBC: People who are good at small talk always avoid these 7 mistakes, says public speaking expert by John Bowe

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Ari Melber - Capitol Police Officer Widow Sues Alleged MAGA Attacker For His Death

New Drug

The Jerusalem Post: COVID: 90% of patients treated with new Israeli drug discharged in 5 days By ROSSELLA TERCATIN

Boston Dynamics - Atlas - Partners In Parkour

Deal

 The Hill: Trump's deal with the Taliban set the stage for the Afghan collapse By David Schanzer

Zep

 Get Pocket: How Led Zeppelin Came to Be - Jimmy Page recruited “three new men” for his Yardbirds reboot, and in the process made rock history . from Rolling Stone by Corbin Reiff

Abbott

NBC 4: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Tests Positive for COVID-19 - Governor, who was fully vaccinated, has a breakthrough case of coronavirus By Frank Heinz

MSNBC - Hospitals In Alabama Overwhelmed With Covid Patients

The Lincoln Project - 'Last Week In The Republican Party'

Claim

 NPR: The Taliban Claim They'll Respect Women's Rights — With Their Reading Of Islamic Law by the Associated Press

Mask Poll

Washington Post: Nearly two-thirds of Americans support state or local mask mandates, poll shows By Derek Hawkins, Adela Suliman, Bryan Pietsch and Lateshia Beachum

How

NY Times: How Will the Taliban Rule? Here’s the Early Evidence. By Ashley Jackson - Ms. Jackson is the author of “Negotiating Survival: Civilian-Insurgent Relations in Afghanistan.” Currently based in Oslo, she lived in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2012 and from 2017 to 2019.

There is little indication that the Taliban are equipped to govern the cities — or the country as a whole — on their own. Afghanistan’s social complexity is more nuanced than a simple urban-rural divide...

RoF - Stores Selling Out Of Horse Dewormer Because Conservatives Falsely Think It Treats Covid

Morning Joe - Mary Trump - We're Right In The Middle Of Our Nation's Trauma

Vehicle Of Choice

  This is a segment of a picture that appeared in the Washington Post showing the Taliban in a Kabul market. Notice the make of the truck.