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Post by mhbruin on Apr 17, 2023 7:38:34 GMT -8
I'm glad I know sign language, it's pretty handy.
It's Like a Heat Wave. Only More Fatal.
If the air becomes too humid and is combined with record-breaking high temperatures causing the body’s sweat to inhibit evaporation from the body, the ability to cool itself is dangerously compromised. The phenomenon is known as the wet-bulb temperature, and the threshold of humidity and heat in Celsius is 35 degrees and Fahrenheit 95 degrees. That threshold will be pushed to the outer limits in India, warn experts.
Historically, India has dealt with significant heat events over the millennia, many of which were catastrophic. In 1768-1771, for example, the British Empire was shaken when over 10 million people died in Bengal due to El Nino.
El Nino has already arrived in Peru, and it is slowly building off the coast of India.
Spring arrives, and the country warms up. The World Bank has warned that the Indian subcontinent is getting too hot, and many swathes will become uninhabitable.
India’s heat action plans (HAPs), designed to tackle economically damaging and life-threatening heat waves, generally focus on dry extreme heat. It does not consider the threats posed by humid heat, according to a report by The Centre for Policy Research (CPR) released on Monday (March 27).
It is unclear if authorities consider risk factors like the duration of continuous heat, hot nights and so on, on a region-wise basis.
India has 37 HAPs across 18 states at the city, district, and state levels. Only two of these, however, have explicitly targeted vulnerable groups. The rest only have broad categories such as the elderly, outdoor workers, and pregnant women. Even the solutions proposed do not necessarily focus on them, the CPR report stated.
Moreover, these HAPs do not have enough funds. Insufficient capacity building and a lack of transparency are also matters of concern.
“There is no national repository of HAPs and very few HAPs are listed online. Further, it is unclear whether these HAPs are being updated periodically and whether this is based on evaluation data,” the report stated, emphasizing investment in areas like local heat research ecosystem.
And So It Begins
Twelve people have died from heatstroke while many others have been admitted to hospital after attending an awards ceremony in India's Maharashtra state.
The government-sponsored event took place in an open ground under a blazing sun and lasted for several hours.
Thousands of people attended Sunday's event, which was held to felicitate a prominent social activist.
Many people complained of dehydration and other heat-related ailments after attending the function.
Navi Mumbai - a city close to financial hub Mumbai - where the event was held, recorded a maximum temperature of 38C (100F) on Sunday. Health experts have advised people to stay out of the sun during the peak heat hours of 11am to 4pm, especially during April, which is considered to be one of the hottest months in India.
Felicitate?
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 17, 2023 7:40:14 GMT -8
ISIS Isn't Gone. They're Just Protecting Truffles
At least 26 people searching for valuable truffles in the Syrian desert have been killed by the Islamic State group, state media and activists say.
Civilians and pro-government fighters were among the victims of the attack on Sunday in Hama province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
IS militants have repeatedly preyed on those searching for the fungus, with more than 150 people killed this year.
A kilogram (2.2lb) can fetch more than the country's average monthly wage.
Searching for the truffles is extremely dangerous as hunters contend with landmines and IS fighters maintain hideouts in the desert where they grow.
But many who face poverty and unemployment exacerbated by Syria's war risk the dangers as the fungus can sell for up to US$25 (£20) per kg depending on size and grade in a country where the average monthly wage is around $18 (£14).
The window of time in which to make money is small as the truffle season only lasts from February to April.
There have been several attacks on foragers in recent months, with women and children among the victims.
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 17, 2023 7:42:51 GMT -8
Smartmatic Is Sueing Fox Noise, Too.
The Fox Corp. can most likely weather even the harshest financial penalty that could come from Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit, analysts say.
The blockbuster trial — originally set to begin in a Delaware court on Monday before being delayed by one day — will determine whether Fox Corp. can be held liable for false claims made on Fox News, the media company’s namesake cable TV property, that Dominion’s voting machines were used to rig the 2020 presidential election.
Dominion’s lawsuit seeks $1.6 billion in compensatory damages, an amount that experts said would likely be whittled down substantially depending on the jury’s judgment or in an out-of-court settlement.
In the event Dominion wins its case, said Lyrissa Lidsky, a constitutional law professor at the University of Florida, the jury is highly unlikely to award Dominion all the money it’s seeking for what it says is the reputational damage exacted by Fox News’ broadcasts.
In theory, Lidsky said, the jurors could also impose punitive damages to punish Fox for “extremely wrongful conduct” and award an even higher financial penalty than Dominion asked for. But she said she had seen no evidence “thus far that suggests there are going to be damages at that magnitude, even though the damages may be very large.”
“There’s a litigation strategy to ask for more than you think you can really get to anchor the number high,” Lidsky explained.
With more than $4 billion in cash on its balance sheet as of the end of 2022, Fox could probably cover even the maximum amount that Dominion is seeking without having to sell any of its existing assets to do so. In its most recent quarterly earnings report, Fox said it did not expect the “ultimate resolution” of any claims from the suit to have a “material adverse effect” on its business.
Wall Street analysts say the publicly traded company’s stock is likely to take a hit as a result of the suit.
Bank of America Securities estimated in a March 28 note that for every $500 million in damages, shares of Fox Corp. would lose about $1 per share. The company’s stock, which was trading at $33.62 late Monday morning, has fallen by more than 10% since Dominion filed its lawsuit in March 2021, a period in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 2%.
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 17, 2023 7:44:04 GMT -8
Apple Want to Help You Take a Bite Out of Inflation.
Apple on Monday launched its Apple Card savings account with a 4.15% annual percentage yield. It requires no minimum deposit or balance, Apple said, and users can set up an account from the Wallet app on their iPhones.
The company said in a blog post that once a user sets up a savings account, all of the Daily Cash that is earned from then on will automatically be deposited there. Daily Cash is the Apple Card reward program that offers up to 3% back on purchases. Users can change where their Daily Cash is deposited at any time, and they can also add additional funds from their bank account to build on their earnings.
Apple is launching the savings account through Goldman Sachs.
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 17, 2023 7:45:07 GMT -8
Something Old, Something New, Something Bankrupt, Something Blue
Two days after it announced it was laying off 9,236 workers, David's Bridal has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is looking for a buyer.
In a Monday press release, the company said its stores would remain open and operations would continue as normal while it looks to sell key assets.
In a statement, CEO James Marcum cited the uncertain economic conditions of the post-COVID environment as a driver of the company's decision to seek "a buyer who can continue to operate our business going forward."
Based in suburban Philadelphia, David's Bridal also filed for bankruptcy in 2018.
Data from S&P Global Market Intelligence data show corporate bankruptcies have begun to climb again; February’s total of 57 filings was the most in a single month since March 2021.
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 17, 2023 7:47:32 GMT -8
The NRCC is Sadder, Budweiser
The National Republican Congressional Committee provided a new example of that on Saturday when they attempted to launch a new fundraising campaign blasting Bud Light, after conservative media sites melted the entire fudge down over a minor Bud Light sponsorship of trans "influencer" Dylan Mulvaney.
"Thanks to Dylan Mulvaney, we can all finally admit that Bud Light tastes like water. With our new koozie’s, you can make sure no one confuses Bud Light with real beer ever again," the NRCC tweeted on Saturday. The tweet linked to a WinRed-based fundraising campaign promising a "Limited Edition Design" beer koozie mimicking Bud Light's branding but with "THIS BEER IDENTIFIES AS WATER" where the logo would be. Take that, Bud Light! That'll teach you to, uh, pay a trans influencer to promote your product in exchange for cash.
Or not. The Daily Beast reports that "shortly" after the tweet was posted, the NRCC deleted it—and that as of Saturday afternoon, the whole fundraising pitch had been yanked from view.
Wondering why that might be? Oh, it's quite possibly because Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch and its employees donated NEARLY HALF A MILLION FLIPPIN' DOLLARS to the NRCC during the 2022 elections. Whoops. Oh, I cannot even imagine the conversation that probably took place when the NRCC's higher-ups learned that their staff had themed a whole fundraising campaign around bashing one of their major donors. But it probably involved throwing things!
Now, this was an inexplicably premised marketing campaign to begin with. It's not clear what sort of anti-trans Republican chud would specifically want a beer koozie mocking, uh, their own beer; was the idea that these Republicans couldn't possibly commit themselves to the Fox News-fueled Bud Light boycott but would show their solidarity by still buying the stuff—and slapping a rude koozie over it? This wasn't destined to be a winning fundraising message from the outset.
What Does Brett Kavannaugh Think About This?
Donald Trump Jr. is calling for the end of a conservative-led boycott against Bud Light, which is owned by Anheuser-Busch, over the parent company's partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
During an April 13 broadcast of his "Triggered" podcast, the eldest son of former President Donald Trump addressed the controversy that has become a new cultural front in the political right's increasingly vocal criticism of transgender issues and the conservative push to pass legislation restricting gender-affirming care.
Trump Jr., who frequently rails against what he deems as "woke" influences in American society, is usually fighting alongside conservatives on many issues, but he broke away from the movement as it related to Anheuser-Busch.
"I'm not for destroying an American, an iconic company, for something like this. The company itself doesn't participate in the same leftist nonsense as the other big conglomerates," he said, arguing that Anheuser-Busch had a conservative lean in their political donations.
If Budweiser is the King of Beers, Does That Make Bud Light the Prince of Beers?
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 17, 2023 7:52:20 GMT -8
Africa Show Putin How Tiny He is
And How Bad Maps Are
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 17, 2023 7:54:17 GMT -8
The Arguement in Favor of Affirmative Action. We Need More Black Doctors.
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 17, 2023 7:56:26 GMT -8
Facists Lose This BattleThe day the book banners lost in Pennsylvania’s culture warsAnd This OneA rural Texas county just blinked on library closures. Pressure worked.But one of the big surprises of these sagas has been outbreaks of resistance to book purges in the reddest places, and here again, some locals dissented. One said: “We have to be a community that values knowledge.” Another fretted: “We are all over the media, and this is making us look pretty bad as a community.” It turns out that even in an overwhelmingly conservative place (Donald Trump won nearly 80 percent of Llano’s votes in 2020), plenty of people value free expression. Many Republicans aren’t on board with the right’s censorship agenda. And these folks can organize.
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 17, 2023 8:00:28 GMT -8
Is the QOP Losing By Winning?
Just Imagine How Much Losing By Winning they Will Do If They Don't Raise the Debt Ceiling. Also Imagine How Much Pain and Death They Will Cause.
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 17, 2023 8:08:19 GMT -8
Jordan Klepper Get Serious About Guns
Selling Fear Sells Guns
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 17, 2023 8:10:35 GMT -8
I Haven't Liked Diane For Years, After She Voted for TARP, the Iraq War, and the Bush Tax Cuts.
Democrats appear divided on whether Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) should resign given her lengthy absence from the Senate that could prove to be a challenge for President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda amid the party’s narrow majority in the chamber.
Feinstein, 89, who is recovering at home in San Francisco after being hospitalized with a case of shingles, last week asked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to appoint a replacement for her on the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee after many of her colleagues voiced concern that her absence could stand in the way of confirming Biden’s judicial nominees.
However, the move would require GOP approval, and it’s still unclear whether Republicans would be prepared to grant the request.
In the meantime, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), one of the first Democrats to ask for Feinstein’s resignation, on Sunday said his calls for her to step aside come out of respect for the American people who expect their officials who seek elected office to be up to the task.
“If you’re gonna sign up to do these jobs, show up,” Khanna told “Fox News Sunday.”
Feinstein has so far missed 60 votes this year.
She Also Opposes Changes to the Fillibuster.
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 17, 2023 8:12:02 GMT -8
How Many Votes Does the NYSE Have?
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy proclaimed on Monday that Republicans would not allow the government to default on its debts, even as he labored to sell Wall Street on a risky fiscal showdown with the White House that could unleash vast economic turmoil.
Speaking at the New York Stock Exchange, McCarthy (R-Calif.) affirmed his party’s plan to seize on a rapidly approaching deadline — an urgent need to raise the debt ceiling, which sets how much Washington can borrow to pay its bills — to extract spending cuts and other policy concessions from President Biden.
“Debt limit negotiations are an opportunity to examine our nation’s finances,” McCarthy said, later adding: “Defaulting on our debt is not an option, but neither is a future of higher taxes, higher interest rates, more dependency on China and an economy that doesn’t work for working Americans.”
But McCarthy’s speech belied the risks in the GOP’s political gambit, which threatens to sink the stock market, thrust millions of Americans from their jobs and jolt the global financial system. The stakes seemed only more glaring given McCarthy’s choice to deliver his remarks in beating heart of Wall Street, where markets tumbled dramatically when Republicans in 2011 last tried to use the debt ceiling as political leverage.
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 17, 2023 8:13:38 GMT -8
It Sounds Cruel to Me. Unfortunately, I Suspect It is Not Unusual
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from a Texas inmate convicted of robbery who argues that the 27 years he was forced by prison officials to spend in solitary confinement violated the constitutional bar against "cruel and unusual."
The justices turned away Dennis Hope's appeal of a lower court's ruling that he had failed to show that his prolonged solitary confinement violated the U.S. Constitution Eighth Amendment prohibition on excessive punishment.
Hope, who is still in prison but as of last year no longer in solitary confinement, filed a civil rights lawsuit against prison officials in 2018.
He was convicted in 1990 of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. Following a 1994 prison escape, Hope was placed by prison officials in solitary confinement. In court papers, Hope described spending between 22 and 24 hours a day in a cell 9 feet long and 6 feet wide (2.7 meters by 1.8 meters) - "no larger than a parking space." Hope said he continued to be held in solitary confinement despite being deemed by Texas security officials in 2005 to no longer pose an escape risk.
He was deprived of nearly all human contact aside from interactions with prison staff, and said he suffered bouts of anxiety, depression, hallucinations and thoughts of suicide while being denied treatment, according to his lawsuit.
The Eighth Amendment states: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 17, 2023 8:15:25 GMT -8
Religious Fanatics Everywhere
Aformer lawmaker in India’s parliament, convicted of kidnapping, was shot dead along with his brother while police were escorting them for a medical check-up in a slaying caught on live television on Saturday.
The dramatic footage of the men being killed was shared across broadcast channels and social media. A gunman is seen reaching over the shoulders of police to point a pistol at the temple of the former lawmaker, Atiq Ahmed, whose turban is blown off as the gun discharges.
His brother, Ashraf Ahmed, was shot and the two victims died within minutes, while police quickly detained three men suspected of carrying out the slaying.
Media reports say the assailants had been posing as journalists. One surrendered immediately after the shooting, while officers subdued the other two suspects.
They had been among a crowd that had gathered as the two brothers, allegedly kingpins in a local criminal organization, were being brought, handcuffed from a hospital Prayagraj city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday evening.
After carrying out the slaying, the suspected gunmen shouted Hindu religious chants.
One policeman was wounded during the attack.
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