Sat - Even I Can Last More Than 3 Seconds

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Today's Worst Joke in the World

Spell correct is making me say things I didn't Nintendo.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees

The QOP Wants to Make You Have Kids, But Doesn't Want to Feed Them.  Extension of this Program was in Build Back Better.

A federal waiver that made school breakfasts and lunches free to students regardless of their family’s income is set to expire June 30, eliminating a benefit that has helped millions of schoolchildren at a time when they need it more than ever, anti-hunger advocates say.

The free school meals program began in March 2020 when Congress authorized the U.S. Department of Agriculture to issue dozens of child nutrition waivers, including ones that expanded summer food programs, to provide a lifeline during the pandemic.

If the waivers end this month as scheduled, experts foresee a crisis as families, already facing soaring prices at supermarkets, gas stations and elsewhere, lose access to meals that their children have counted on for the last two years.

The cafeterias that serve students, meanwhile, are already running into obstacles: Supply chain interruptions have driven up the cost of their foods dramatically and made it difficult for them to comply with the strict meal requirements set forth by the USDA. The waivers gave them flexibility to provide nutritious meals using substitutions without penalties.

Before the child nutrition waivers, children in families whose incomes were at or below 130% of the federal poverty level were eligible for free school meals, while those in families whose incomes were between 130% and 185% of the poverty level were eligible for reduced-price meals through the USDA’s National School Lunch Program.

About 21 million students accessed free or reduced-price lunch each school day prior to the pandemic, said Jillien Meier, director of No Kid Hungry partnerships and campaign strategy. But up until 2020, enrolling students could be burdensome, both for parents who had to show proof that they qualified and for schools that collected the information, something that would be even more difficult now amid staffing shortages.

For the past two years, parents have not had to fill out applications. And because every student at their school was offered free breakfast and lunch, it reduced the stigma that some students had previously associated with receiving meals, Meier said.

The waivers allowed schools to distribute grab-and-go meals when they went remote. They are credited with helping avert what many feared would be a catastrophic spike in child hunger when the pandemic hit.

TucKKKer Is At It Again

The latest conspiracy theory making the rounds among the right-wing Trumpist crowd is a classic combination of fearmongering and scapegoating: A recent rash of fires at food-processing plants across the U.S., the conspiracists claim, signals a concerted attack on the nation’s food supply, abetted by the Biden administration. Unsurprisingly, the torchlight-and-pitchfork brigade is being led by none other than Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.

Carlson has been promoting the theory since late April, but returned to it this week to suggest that the recent deaths of 2,000 cattle in Kansas during a heat wave were part of the pattern. But he’s hardly been alone: The theory is gaining momentum in right-wing social media, thanks to its avid promotion by sites like Gateway Pundit, Infowars, Zero Hedge, and other far-right conspiracy-mongers.

As Mike Rothschild explains at Daily Dot, like many conspiracy theories, this one is a blend of core nuggets of facts woven together with fantastic suppositions. The fires and other incidents (including a couple plane crashes near food facilities that didn’t affect the plants themselves) are all factually real.

In reality, industrial/agricultural fires are quite common in the United States—about 38,000 of them annually, according to the most recent statistics—and the people who monitor them say there has been no noticeable spike. Moreover, there is zero evidence that any one of the incidents was anything other than an ordinary accident.

He Can't Stand Being Challenged By People Who Know What They Are Talking About.  Would He Rather Be Challenged by Ignorant Fools?



JOHNSON: “What drives me nuts is when I’m challenged by medical experts. [Laughs] Okay, show me the data. The one that’s driving me nuts right now is this sudden adult death syndrome.”

BIGTREE: “Oh, my God. Yeah.”

JOHNSON: “I’m reading articles written about that, and the doctors are baffled. The medical experts are baffled. What could possibly be causing the death of adults just dropping dead? What could it be? And I’m going, ‘Isn’t it pretty obvious?’ I mean, you look at the VAERS report, we’re up to 28,714 deaths on the VAERS system. Did anything change in 2021? Did we do something different in medicine that just might be a possible reason for SADS? But again, the COVID cartel is completely oblivious to it.”
.....
First of all, Johnson has been distorting the VAERS data for months, and God only knows how many people have actually died as a result of his and others’ constant drumbeat of disinformation. VAERS—which stands for “Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System”—is a database consisting of raw, unvetted reports of alleged vaccine side effects, and the Department of Health and Human Services, which hosts the database, takes pains to explain that a death reported to VAERS can’t be assumed to have been caused by vaccines.

Anyone, including Healthcare providers, vaccine manufacturers, and the public can submit reports to the system. While very important in monitoring vaccine safety, VAERS reports alone cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness. Vaccine providers are encouraged to report any clinically significant health problem following vaccination to VAERS even if they are not sure if the vaccine was the cause. In some situations, reporting to VAERS is required of healthcare providers and vaccine manufacturers.

VAERS reports may contain information that is incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, or unverifiable. Reports to VAERS can also be biased. As a result, there are limitations on how the data can be used scientifically. Data from VAERS reports should always be interpreted with these limitations in mind.

This disclaimer is printed right on the VAERS website, and so you’d think a U.S. senator who keeps citing these data might have stumbled across it sometime over the past year—but apparently not.

But that’s not all! Johnson, who for some reason still goes out of his way to dissuade people from taking full advantage of lifesaving vaccinations, is also distorting information about SADS.

From a Verify fact check on sudden adult death syndrome:

SADS has existed long before the COVID-19 outbreak, and subsequent vaccines were available.

In an email to VERIFY, the SADS Foundation said the first documented case of SADS was described in Germany in 1856 and had been researched in the U.S. since the early 1970s. The SADS Foundation is an organization that provides services to educate the public about SADS.

“Over two years into the pandemic, there’s been no indication in the largest [vaccine] programs in the world of an increase in death from these conditions,” Michael J. Ackerman, MD, Ph.D., with the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine told VERIFY via the SADS Foundation.

Three Seconds?  Even I Can Last Longer Than That.

Wild rants by Herschel Walker’s son about absentee baby daddies are going viral on Twitter just as his Republican Senate candidate dad is trying to explain how he has a few other children the public didn’t know about.

While Christian Walker, 22, has been angrily preaching to baby daddies to “control your thing” on TikTok videos, his dad has admitted he has two other sons and a daughter with other mothers.

Walker, a Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL star who’s been endorsed by Donald Trump in his campaign against Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), has often spoken out publicly against children being raised in fatherless households, which he has called a “major, major problem.”

“Get home and raise your kids!” says an angry Christian Walker in one of his video messages early this week, targeting “Wild N’ Out” host Nick Cannon. “And take care of the women you’re knocking up! Can you control your thing for three seconds?”

He had a similar eruption weeks ago on the same topic.

“Fathers, it would be great if you stayed home and raised your kids instead of ran off to bang a bunch of women who weren’t your baby mama. Stay home and raise your frickin’ kids!” he said. “Your kids need a father! Get back home!”





What About Duck, Duck, Go?

Agroup of Democratic lawmakers led by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Elissa Slotkin is urging Google to "crack down on manipulative search results" that lead people seeking abortions to anti-abortion clinics. In a letter addressed to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, the lawmakers reference a study conducted by US nonprofit group Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). The organization found that 1 in 10 Google search results for queries such as "abortion clinics near me" and "abortion pill" — specifically in states with trigger laws that would ban the procedure the moment Roe v. Wade is overturned — points to crisis pregnancy centers that oppose abortion instead.

"Directing women towards fake clinics that traffic in misinformation and don't provide comprehensive health services is dangerous to women's health and undermines the integrity of Google's search results," the lawmakers wrote. CCDH also found that 37 percent of results on Google Maps for the same search terms lead people to anti-abortion clinics. The lawmakers argue in the letter that Google should not be displaying those results for users searching for abortion and that if the company's search results must continue showing them, they should at least be properly labeled.

Boston's Finest at Work ... Or At Home.

Several parking ticket officers are under criminal investigation by the city of Boston for allegedly writing fake tickets for shifts they did not work.

Five of the six officers accused have already resigned. The other is suspended without pay.

The city learned about it from a shipping company that received a high number of tickets but could prove its trucks weren't in those spots.

The investigation is expanding, and the ticketing pattern of several other officers is being questioned.
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees

It's Early, But ... 




Democrats are Fetterman, Beasley, Warnock, Bennett, Ryan, Murray, Cortez Masto.

McMullin is an independent, who is basically a sane Republican. 
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Invasions Have Consequences

Day 115

Fighting

Russia heavily shelled the eastern city of Lysychansk, killing several people and making a key highway out of the city impassable, according to Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai.

Russian media broadcast what it said were images of two US citizens captured while fighting for Ukraine. US President Joe Biden said he had been briefed about the missing Americans but was unaware of their whereabouts.

Ukraine said its forces hit a Russian naval tugboat with two Harpoon missiles in the Black Sea, the first time it has claimed to have struck a Russian vessel with Western-supplied anti-ship weapons.
twitter.com/NexusIntel1/status/1537924059492585474?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1537924059492585474%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2022%2F6%2F17%2F2104719%2F-Ukraine-update-Reports-of-further-progress-around-Kherson-with-new-weapons-on-the-scene

Russia has freed a Ukrainian medic whose footage was smuggled out of Mariupol by an Associated Press team, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced.

Diplomacy

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson offered military training for Ukrainian forces as he met Zelenskyy in Kyiv on his second visit to Ukraine since the start of the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of colonial arrogance and trying to crush his country with “stupid” sanctions that amounted to an economic “blitzkrieg”.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the West not to “suggest peace initiatives with unacceptable terms”, apparently referring to remarks by French President Macron that a diplomatic solution requires not humiliating Russia.

A US plan to sell four large, armable drones to Ukraine has been paused for fear its sophisticated surveillance equipment might fall into enemy hands, two sources told Reuters news agency.

Economy

Lithuania has told Russia’s Kaliningrad region it will block the import and export of a large number of goods by rail because of Western sanctions, the regional governor said.

Italy may declare a heightened “state of alert” on gas next week if Russia keeps curbing supplies, two government sources said, after energy company Eni reported a shortfall in flows from Moscow for a third day.

Gas flows from Germany to France have stopped since Wednesday after what German officials called Russia’s politically motivated decision to reduce supplies to the EU.

A top US Treasury official warned bankers of elevated cyber-threats in the wake of Russia’s invasion and underscored the department’s commitment to sharing real-time intelligence.

KHERSON - Where the Action Is



Ukraine is now advancing, placing serious pressure on Russian forces in the city of Kherson. The three main towns captured two days ago were Soldatske, Pravdyne, and Oleksandrivsk. Now Ukrainian forces are reported to be holding the village of Myrne. Fighting still continues at Kyselivka on the north end of this area, and at Stanislav on the south, but in the middle Ukrainian forces have reportedly moved across fields to threaten a critical Russian position at Tomyna Balka.

From the positions they now hold, Ukraine is blasting artillery into Russian positions near Kherson airport. But even more telling, Ukraine is now striking positions all the way across the river (those flame icons on the lower right)—presumably counterbattery fire at Russian positions way over there.

Related to those long-distance shots are reports that the Ukrainian forces fighting at Stanislav include newly trained forces driving freshly donated Polish T72 tanks, U.S. M113 armored carriers, and a variety of new infantry fighting vehicles. These forces are doing well as the facing troops are reported to be conscripts sent from Luhansk. In some reports, Ukraine has now cut off Russian forces at Stanislav and neighboring Shyroka Balka, so look for potential change of control along the coast in the next day.

The three critical points in this area outside of Kherson itself, are Kyselivka, where Ukraine has been fighting for over a day; Tomyna Balka; and the area right around the airport and Chornobaivka, which Russia has reportedly fortified to withstand a Ukrainian assault.

How much has changed here? A week ago, this whole map—with the exception of a small area reaching out toward Oleksandrivsk—would have been red. The gains around Kherson aren’t spectacular … because they’re not Kherson. But they are significant, and all indications are that Ukraine is still moving forward.
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Let Them Drink Beer

Over 160,000 people in the Texas city of Odessa have been without water for two days as temperatures topped 36C (97F). How are they coping?

In the middle of a scorching heat wave, Cheryl Castillo-Moore is thankful for her hot tub.

Along with hundreds of thousands of her neighbours, she and her husband have been out of water for days, after a major water line broke. The line was over 60 years old.

Since her backyard hot tub was full at the time of the outage, she has had enough water to do things like flush her toilet - something many residents have been unable to do.

Ms Castillo-Moore has been more than happy to help others and told neighbours not to knock, "just walk in there, get your water".

The water outage could not come at a worst time, as the city - like many cities across the country - is experiencing a blistering heat wave.

Meteorologists are calling this weather pattern a "ring of fire" phenomenon, which is contributing to the extreme heat Odessa is experiencing.

Areas under this high pressure dome will be hot and muggy while areas near the edge of the dome see more thunderstorms. Large sections of the continental US is affected in some way by this weather pattern - other parts of the south and Midwest are facing dangerous heat, too.

The heat index in St Louis, Missouri, reached 43C (110F) earlier this week. For states in the the upper periphery of this "ring", severe thunderstorms are causing intense winds, hail and flash flooding.

The majority of Odessa now has water, though there is still a water boil notice. City officials said they are confident water has been restored to the whole city, but admitted there were some complaints from individuals who are still without water.
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Keeping the Capital Police Busy

Seven staff members of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” were charged with unlawful entry after being detained by U.S. Capitol Police following interviews with congressional lawmakers for a segment with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.

The interviews were “authorized and pre-arranged” with the lawmakers being interviewed and their congressional aides.

According to the U.S. Capitol Police Public Information Office, the USCP received a “call for a disturbance in the Longworth House Office Building” at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. The seven individuals were “unobserved, unescorted and without Congressional ID” in the hallway.

This smells like a setup to me. The Late Show has few friends among Republicans. Someone knew exactly who they were, and called the cops on them.
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2 Million Lost Their Homes

At least 18 people have died as massive floods ravaged northeastern India and Bangladesh, leaving millions of homes underwater and severing transport links, authorities said Saturday.

In India's Assam state, at least nine people were killed in the floods and 2 million saw their homes submerged, according to the state disaster management agency.

Meanwhile, lightning in parts of neighboring Bangladesh killed nine people on Friday.

Both countries have asked their militaries for help as more flooding looms with rains expected to continue over the weekend.

The Brahmaputra, one of Asia’s largest rivers, breached its mud embankments, inundating 3,000 villages and croplands in 28 of Assam’s 33 districts.
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Yesterday's Story Was About A Bomb at a Mosque

There are fears for the safety of dozens of worshippers in the Afghan capital of Kabul after a Sikh temple was hit in an explosion.

The blast occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning and it is unclear if there are casualties.

One local official at the scene, Gornam Singh, told Reuters news agency there had been up to "30 people inside the temple" at the time of the blast.

"We don't know how many of them are alive or how many dead," he said.

"The Taliban are not allowing us to go inside, we don't know what to do," Mr Singh added.
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To Moderna or  to Pfizer, That is the Question.

Because there are two different brands being offered, with different formulations, dose schedules, and side effects, parents are already weighing which shot is best for them and their children.

"Both are great options," ER doctor Jeremy Faust wrote in his Inside Medicine newsletter, expressing confidence in both Pfizer and Moderna.

However, Faust, along with public health expert Katelyn Jetelina and prominent parenting author Emily Oster have all decided that Moderna is the top pick for their own young kids.

Their reasoning boils down to the fact that, according to early data, Moderna's shot appears to pack a bigger immune punch, and it does the job faster. While short-term side effects are slightly worse with Moderna than with Pfizer, Moderna kids appear to gain protection against COVID in a matter of weeks, not months.


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