1/ This chilling story is the future for our country and indeed the world - the economic consequences of the extreme
weather will be substantial and growing.
This story is about Canada and the wildfires, but it's flooding, heat, wind and storm damage too.....
Canada’s wildfires have burned 20 million acres, blanketed Canadian and U.S. cities with smoke and raised health concerns on both sides of the border, with no end in sight. The toll on the Canadian economy is only beginning to sink in.
The fires have upended oil and gas operations, reduced available timber harvests, dampened the tourism industry and imposed uncounted costs on the national health system.
Those losses are emblematic of the pressure being felt more widely as countries around the world experience disaster after disaster caused by extreme weather, and they will only increase as the climate warms.
2/ If you think DeSantis is bad, his wife Casey is worse. Look at this video for Mamas for DeSantis....
BTW - Morning Joe calls her "America's Karen".....great name!
3/ Read this horror story about Tennessee, and if you live in Florida, this is what's coming.....
NASHVILLE — Two weeks ago, while the rest of America was absorbed by the hunt for a doomed submersible, people in Tennessee discovered that their attorney general was conducting a witch hunt.
As part of a “run of the mill” inquiry into possible billing fraud — as officials described their investigation — the attorney general’s office demanded that Vanderbilt University Medical Center hand over a vast array of documents from its clinic for gender-affirming care. According to Tennessee Lookout, a nonprofit journalism site, those documents include:
4/ In this toon, the future means 2030....
5/ So what's happening with the Writers strike? Michael Moore and an article [with an excellent summary of the situation] explain.
In many ways this is a fight about corporate power.....
As you may know, I am a member of the Writers Guild of America union. Those of us who write movies and TV shows are now in the third month of our strike.
As the strike continues, many of you are probably wondering what’s going on and when will new episodes of your favorite shows return. I don’t have an answer to that question. But I want to share with you the bigger picture of what’s at stake — that Hollywood may possibly be in collapse, how did this happen and what can be done to save it.
7/ This interactive story from the Times on the toxic slime that is Lake Okeechobee is a story of the deep corruption that runs Florida.
The lake is being destroyed by Big Sugar, who own the Republican politicians who could solve the problem, so nothing is going to change.
Just get ready for stories this summer about how both coasts are being ruined when they let the slime overflow.....
For thousands of years, Lake Okeechobee pumped life into Florida’s swampy interior. Summer rains swelled the shallow inland sea, creating seasonal overflows that sustained the Everglades and its alligators, panthers, spoonbills and snail kites.
But a vast re-engineering over the past century has transformed Okeechobee into something life-threatening as much as life-giving. Toxic algal blooms now regularly infest much of its 730-square-mile surface during the summer, producing fumes and waterborne poisons potent enough to kill pets that splash in the contaminated waters, or send their owners to the doctor from inhaling the toxins.
8/ A really good interview with Jennifer Lawrence, on "First We Feast".
It's a show where celebrities eat hotter and hotter wings....amusing, and in Jennifer's case what a charmer she is....
9/ It just keeps getting worse - now corporations might be mining the deep oceans
with disastrous consequences.....
‘Sediment plumes from deep-sea mining could suffocate coral reefs hundreds of miles away.’Photograph: blue-sea.cz/Shutterstoc Sunday 9 July threatens to be a momentous day for the global economy, one that marks the beginning of the biggest gold rush in history, and one that could lead to unprecedented ecological damage. Yet few people seem to be taking much notice. The British government has been silent.
To understand the impending drama, a little history is required. In 1982, after 25 years of torturous negotiations, the United Nations passed Unclos (the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea). It involved the biggest enclosure in history, turning more than 138m sq km (53m square miles) of seabed into national exclusive economic zones (EEZs) available for exploitation by coastal countries.
10/ And this is how much our overlords care about workers.......
11/ Paul Krugman with a most interesting column, articulating what I have been thinking for a while......
Not all, but definitely most billionaires are assholes......
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a crank. His views are a mishmash of right-wing fantasies mixed with remnants of the progressive he once was: Bitcoin boosterism, anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, assertions that Prozac causes mass shootings, opposition to U.S. support for Ukraine, but also favorable mention for single-payer health care. But for his last name, nobody would be paying him any attention — and despite that last name, he has zero chance of winning the Democratic presidential nomination.
Yet now that Ron DeSantis’s campaign (slogan: “woke woke immigrants woke woke”) seems to be on the skids, Kennedy is suddenly getting support from some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. Jack Dorsey, who founded Twitter, has endorsed him, while some other prominent tech figures have been holding fund-raisers on his behalf. Elon Musk, who is in the process of destroying what Dorsey built, hosted him for a Twitter Spaces event.
12/ Who is Ron DeSantis?
A new ad from DeSantis Watch tells us who this bastard is, and what he's done to us......
Remember the ultra-weird DeSantis ad from last week?
Pete Buttigieg gives a master class on what to say about this kind of Republican strangeness....
Democrats have been faced with a unique conundrum as the Republican Party self-immolates: How can they get headlines about all their government good works while the GOP black hole of degeneracy sucks all the air out of the political universe?
This is how: When Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who is openly gay, was asked for his reaction to a weirdly homoerotic anti-LGBTQ+ adreleased by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign, Buttigieg lampooned it with a straight face, then contrasted the “strangeness” with Democrats' efforts to improve the lives of working Americans across the country.
14/ North Carolina is about to go full Florida-crazy.....
North Carolina’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper—one of Democrats’ few success stories from the 2016 election cycle—will be termed out of his seat next year, and Republicans are itching to replace him. Enter Republican Mark Robinson, the state’s controversial lieutenant governor who has become known for past homophobic and antisemitic remarks, as well as his extreme views around reproductive rights, and who recently endorsed Donald Trump for president. It’s already looking like it will be one of the most expensive state-level races of the 2024 election cycle, and Robinson could very likely be in a head-to-head contest with Democrats’ top pick, state attorney general Josh Stein. Robinson is currently the front-runner in the Republican primary, against state treasurer Dale Folwell and former House lawmaker Mark Walker. Should he be elected, the purple state could quickly spiral into a right-wing laboratory mirroring Ron DeSantis’s Florida.
15/ Bob Lefsetz gives us a cross between a pep talk and life choice advice.....some good stuff here......
Buy a Toyota if you want a gasoline car.
Never buy an American automobile, they are still not built as well as Japanese cars.
If you’re buying an electric car, only buy a Tesla or a Hyundai/Kia, the rest are not up to speed and won’t be until at least the fall of next year. Tesla wins on software, which traditional car manufacturers cannot compete on. Think of your electric car as an appliance, a computer, not an automobile. How it looks is secondary.
If you want a luxury car, buy a Lexus. It will last the longest and be relatively trouble-free.
German cars drive great, but their repair records are not so great.
Never buy an Italian car, only lease it.
Never lease a car unless you’re rich or the manufacturer is subsidizing the lease. You’re burning money. The key is to own a car as long as possible, because if you purchase a brand that’s relatively trouble-free you’ll have years of driving with no payments at all. Only lease a car if you’re rich or it’s tax advantageous. As for needing to impress others…they’re impressed for a moment, and then they go back to thinking about themselves.
16/ It's summer, and Wirecutter gives us the best bug defences out there.....and what NOT to buy....
17/ This is the Times Wirecutter advice on how to survive the horror of air travel.....
Flight cancellations. Traffic jams. Train delays. Is any mode of transportation safe from massively frustrating obstacles? It seems not. Airline and train travelers alike felt the effects of staff shortages last summer, and extreme demand during the holiday season, which culminated in thousands of travelers stranded due to flight cancellations. And with pilots striking ahead of summer holidays, there’s no guarantee that travel this summer will be without interruptions.
If this is the new normal of travel, the only way to make it through endless hours stranded in a terminal is to plan ahead. By packing the perfect carry-on (complete with an extra outfit in the event of lost baggage), you’ll have everything you need to make the delay a little more tolerable. Here’s the gear we’d bring to get through the stress and frustration of a travel delay.
18/ I know we go on about the Mediterranean Diet, but it really is a better way to eat and stay healthy......
In the 1950s, researchers from across the globe embarked on a sweeping and ambitious study.
For decades, they scrutinized the diets and lifestyles of thousands of middle-aged men living in the
United States, Europe and Japan and then examined how those characteristics affected their risks of developing cardiovascular disease.
The Seven Countries Study, as it later became known, famously found associations between saturated fats, cholesterol levels and coronary heart disease. But the researchers also reported another notable result: Those who lived in and around the Mediterranean — in countries like Italy, Greece and Croatia — had lower rates of cardiovascular disease than participants who lived elsewhere. Their diets, rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, lean proteins and healthy fats, seemed to have a protective effect.
19/ The Guardian really likes Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning....
Still hanging in there … Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell. Photograph: FlixPix/Alamy lready, the keynote stunt has become a legend: the one on the poster, the one he reportedly did – for real – six times in one day before he was satisfied. Tom Cruise’s compact body floats free of the motorbike as it drops to earth from between his diamond-hard thighs, having launched him with a throaty roar off an unfeasibly high cliff-edge; he sails through the sky, pulls the ripcord on a nifty little parachute, and swoops down towards … the speeding Orient Express, fully intent on the traditional carriage-top punch-up. We gasped in the audience. Someone behind me went: “Oh shi-i-i …” Carly Simon should have come in with a new song: Fair Enough, Somebody Does It Better
20/ Summer crime books from the Times......
Today's "I wish these were funny" jokes....
1. "OLD" IS WHEN..... Your wife says, "Let's go upstairs and
make love," and you answer, "Honey, I can't do both!"
2. "OLD" IS WHEN..... Your friends compliment you on your new
alligator shoes and you're barefoot.
3. "OLD" IS WHEN..... A sexy babe catches your fancy and your
pacemaker opens the garage door.
4. "OLD" IS WHEN..... Going bra-less pulls all the wrinkles out of
your face.
5. "OLD" IS WHEN..... You don't care where your spouse goes, just as long as you don't have to go along.
6. "OLD" IS WHEN..... You are cautioned to slow down by the doctor instead of by the police.
7. "OLD" IS WHEN..... "Getting a little action" means I don't need
to take any fiber today.
8. "OLD" IS WHEN..... "Getting lucky" means you find your car in
the car park.
9. "OLD" IS WHEN..... An "all nighter" means not getting up to
pee!
Today's penis joke
A man wakes up in the hospital bandaged from head to foot.
The doctor comes in and says, "Ah, I see you've regained consciousness. Now you probably won't remember, but you were in a huge pile-up on the motorway. You're going to be okay, you'll be able to walk again and sustain a reasonably normal life, however your penis was severed in the accident and they couldn't find it."
The man groans, but the doctor goes on, "You have £9000 in insurance compensation coming for the severed member and we now have the technology to build you a new penis. They work great but they don't come cheap. They're roughly £1000 an inch." "So," the doctor says, "You must decide how many inches you want. But I understand that you have been married for over thirty years and this is something you should probably discuss with your wife. If you had a five incher before and get a nine incher now she might be a bit put out. If you had a nine incher before and you decide to only invest in a five incher now, she might be disappointed. It's important that she plays a role in helping you make a decision."
The man agrees to talk it over with his wife.
The doctor comes back the next day, "So, have you spoken with your wife about the penis?"
"Yes I have," says the man.
"And has she helped you make a decision?" asks the doctor.
"What is your decision?" asks the doctor.
"We're getting granite worktops."
When you're 85 guys.....
A man goes to visit his 85-year-old grandpa in the hospital:
"How are you grandpa?" He asks.
"Feeling fine." Says the old man.
"Terrific, wonderful menus."
"Just couldn't be better. These young nurses really take care of you."
"What about sleeping? Do you sleep okay?"
"No problem at all, nine hours solid every night. At 10 o'clock they bring me a cup of hot chocolate and a Viagra tablet and that's it. I go out like a light."
The grandson is puzzled and a little alarmed by this, so he rushes off to question the Nurse in charge.
"What are you people doing?" He asks. "I'm told you're giving an 85-year-old Viagra on a daily basis. Surely that can't be true?"
"Oh, yes." Replies the nurse. "Every night at 10 o'clock we give him a cup of chocolate and a Viagra tablet. It works wonderfully well. The chocolate makes him sleep, and the Viagra stops him from rolling out of bed."
Today's breastfeeding joke
A man was riding a bus, minding his own business, when the gorgeous woman
next to him started to breastfeed her baby.
The baby wouldn't take it, so she said, "Come on, eat it all up or ... I'll
have to give it to this nice man here".
Five minutes later, the baby was still not feeding, so she said, "Come on,
honey. Take it or I'll give it to this nice man here".
A few minutes later, the anxious man blurted out, "Come on, kid. Make up
your mind! I was supposed to get off four stops ago"!!!
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