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Facebook's relaxed gun policy, shrinkflation, NASA now looking for UFOs...
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Published Thursday, June 09, 2022 @ 4:36 PM EDT
Jun 09 2022

Leadership

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Facebook's ban on gun sales gives sellers ten strikes before booting them. But someone reports your harmless satirical cartoon, and you're off the platform.

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NASA joins the hunt for UFOs. In an interview with The Washington Post last year, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said he had seen the classified UAP report when he was serving in the Senate. "The hair stood up on the back of my neck,"" he said.

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'Shrinkflation' accelerates globally as manufacturers quietly shrink package sizes. A small box of Kleenex now has 60 tissues; a few months ago, it had 65.

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Did the assault weapons ban of 1994 bring down mass shootings? The risk of a person in the U.S. dying in a mass shooting was 70% lower during the period in which the assault weapons ban was active. The proportion of overall gun homicides resulting from mass shootings was also down.

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New York City is a lot safer than small-town America. Rising homicide rates don't tell the whole story. When you dig deeper into data on deaths, you'll find the more urban your surroundings, the less danger you face.

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NASA's James Webb telescope was hit by a micrometeroid. The event was significant enough for NASA to pick up a "marginally detectable effect in the data," but not enough to affect the telescope's performance.

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Oops. Microsoft has accidentally released Windows 11 for unsupported PCs. If you managed to install Windows 11 on an unsupported PC and were expecting only Release Preview updates for Windows 10, you should be able to rollback the unexpected upgrade in the settings section of Windows 11.

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Google Maps now helps you find fresh air. Just as wildfire season begins.

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Michigan GOP candidate Kelley charged for Capitol riot role. Ryan Kelley, one of five Republican candidates for Michigan governor and an ardent defender of former President Donald Trump, was charged with misdemeanors Thursday for his role in the 2021 postelection riot at the U.S. Capitol.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration upgrades Tesla Autopilot safety probe, step before possible recall. The auto safety agency in August opened a preliminary evaluation to assess the performance of the system in 765,000 vehicles after a series of crashes in which Tesla vehicles struck stopped emergency vehicles.

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Vladimir Putin mysteriously postpones marathon TV phone-in for first time in 18 years. Vladimir Putin has postponed his annual TV Q&A session amid rumours over his health and in the wake of his invasion of Ukraine that is widely perceived to have been a military failure.

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Kremlin Receives Almost 42,000 Complaints on Missing Ukraine Soldiers. The Russian government has not released any official figures on its Ukraine death toll since March 25, when it said that 1,351 men had died during the conflict.

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An experimental cancer drug had a 100% success rate. A tiny group of people with rectal cancer just experienced something of a scientific miracle: their cancer simply vanished after an experimental treatment.

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Miscellany:

Birthdays:

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On this date in:

  • 68 - Roman emperor Nero committed suicide, after quoting Vergil's Aeneid, thus ending the Julio-Claudian dynasty and starting the civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors.
  • 1856 - Five hundred Mormons left Iowa City, Iowa for the Mormon Trail.
  • 1934 - first appearance of Donald Duck in the cartoon, "The Wise Little Hen".
  • 1954 - Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashed out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy hearings, giving McCarthy the famous rebuke, "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" (Video)
  • 1958 - "The Purple People Eater" by Sheb Wooley hit #1 in the U.S. (Video)
  • 1959 - The USS George Washington was launched, the first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. (Video)
  • 1973 - Secretariat (March 30, 1970 - October 4, 1989) won the U.S. Triple Crown. He still holds the fastest speed records in all three races.
  • 1980 - Comedian Richard Pryor suffered burns from freebasing cocaine. (NSFW Video)
  • 1989 - "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" premiered in USA. This was the one directed by Shatner. The less said the better.

Today is:

Donald Duck Day, National Earl Day, National Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Day, World APS Day, and Writers' Rights Day.

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Comments and observations:

Ultra-conservative theocratic men running everything is called Sharia Law over there and Scalia Law over here.
-John Fugelsang

I hear people say that Republicans are afraid of Donald Trump - no, they're not. They are him, they are sticking with the guy who gives them permission to be their worst selves.
-Mary Trump

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Friends and patients of the late Lawrence J. Nelson, MD... A memorial will be held Sunday, June 12 at noon at the George Irvin Green Funeral Home, 3511 Main Street, Munhall.


Categories: Crime, Drugs, Economics, Facebook, Google, Guns, James Webb Telescope, Mass shootings, Microsoft, NASA, Ryan Kelley, Shrinkflation, Tesla, UAPs, UFOs, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, Windows


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Past taxes, monkeypox, cat parasites, She-Hulk, meteor storms, Florida, first strikes, egads...
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Published Thursday, May 19, 2022 @ 7:09 PM EDT
May 19 2022

No formula, AR-15s

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We're late today for good reason....

So I get a certified letter from my local township claiming that I and my late first wife owe back wage taxes for several years beginning in the year 2000. 2000!? Even an inveterate packrat like myself doesn't have income tax returns from 22 years ago. For that matter, I don't even remember what I had for breakfast. Suffice it to say this could be painful. Interesting fact you should keep in mind: there's no time limit on collecting past-due taxes if you didn't file a tax return for the year(s) in question. So make certain you always file. I don't ever remember not filing, so it looks like I'm spending the weekend in the garage going through cartons of old files. I've scanned everything from about 2005 onward, and I can find just about any document from that time period in a maximum of an hour. I was going to scan the old stuff, but I thought "seven years is enough," as the experts tell us. Ugh.

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Rare monkeypox outbreak in U.K., Europe and U.S.: What is it and should we worry? Good news: Masking not required.

Speaking of icky things, The parasite that controls cat minds may infect billions of people. The clue is in their eyes. Toxoplasma gondii, is probably the most successful parasite in the world today. This microscopic creature is capable of infecting any mammal or bird, and people across all continents are infected. Once infected, a person carries Toxoplasma for life. So far, we don't have a drug that can eradicate the parasite from the body. And there is no vaccine approved for use in humans. Across the world, it's estimated 30-50% of people are infected with Toxoplasma.

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Disney+ releases new trailer for Marvel's 'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'. Disney says, 'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law' follows the main character as she "navigates the complicated life of a single, 30-something attorney who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch superpowered hulk." And unlike Cartoon Network's 'Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law,' it looks like they're serious, more or less. Disney destroyed Star Wars; looks like their ongoing implosion of Marvel is proceeding on schedule.

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May 31st could be the most powerful meteor storm in generations, or nothing at all. "Welcome to the wonderful world of meteor shower predictions and prognostications."

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Interesting history: George Wallace, the angry White populist who paved the way for Trump.

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Ukrainian medic is captured after documenting war. Harrowing and heartbreaking footage. No one has seen or heard from her since her capture.

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The long-term care dilemma: Who will take care of you? Medicare won't. My 95-year-old mother took out a long-term care policy 30 years ago, only to discover she's to "healthy" to get any benefits from it. I guess the solution is to not get old.

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Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, Yuri Borisov, has said that Russia cannot launch a first nuclear strike. "According to our doctrine, according to our strategy, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation would use a nuclear strike only in retaliation. According to the doctrine, we would not be the first to attack. Now, don't you feel better?

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TOKYO (AP) - The money was supposed to be COVID-19 assistance for low-income households in a small Japanese town, but it was mistakenly wired to a bank account of a resident who refused to return it and spent most of it on online gambling, police said.

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So what else is new? Donald Trump has taken to Truth Social to baselessly suggest mail-in ballots were fraudulent in Pennsylvania, where his chosen Senate candidate Dr Mehmet Oz is locked in a tight battle with former hedge fund executive David McCormick.

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'Stuck with the bill': How Florida insurance companies going under leaves buyers out to dry.

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Egads.

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Tweets, observations, and diversions:

"The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean of Ukraine."
-Former President George W. Bush

Madison Cawthorn has just written that "the time for gentile politics as usual has come to an end."
-Michael Beschloss

The House has passed a bill to crack down on price gouging at gas stations by a vote of 217-207. Every single republican voted NO.
-Brian Tyler Cohen

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In case you didn't notice, KGB Report is now Monday-Thursday. Have a great weekend. See you on the 24th.


Categories: Aging (Ageing), Covid-19, Disney+, Donald Trump, Doug Mastriano, Florida, Gambling, George Wallace, Insurance, Mehmet Oz, Meteors, Monkeypox, Nuclear weapons, She-Hulk, Taxes, Toxoplasma gondii, Ukraine, Yuri Borisov


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Columbo, Cable, Covid, UFOs, Cats, Depp, Demented Ideology
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Published Tuesday, May 17, 2022 @ 5:03 PM EDT
May 17 2022

Frank
Apparently, Columbo's first name was Frank.

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"Basic cable is so important for so many reasons. Without basic cable, there'd be no 24-hour news, no reality television, and there'd be no Shark Week. Where would we be as a culture?"
-Doug Herzog

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US deaths from COVID hit 1 million, less than 2 1/2 years in. The confirmed number of dead is equivalent to a 9/11 attack every day for 336 days. It is roughly equal to how many Americans died in the Civil War and World War II combined. It's as if Boston and Pittsburgh were wiped out.

Also: How often can you be infected with the coronavirus? The spread of the Omicron variant has given scientists an unsettling answer: repeatedly, sometimes within months. A virus that shows no signs of disappearing, variants that are adept at dodging the body's defenses, and waves of infections two, maybe three times a year- this may be the future of Covid-19, some scientists now fear.

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On this day in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, in which the Court ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools were unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools were otherwise equal in quality.

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Verizon wireless plan bills getting more expensive with new 'economic adjustment charge'. The advertised pricing of Verizon's actual plans will stay the same, but it will begin adding a new "economic adjustment charge" to your bill every month. (Why doesn't the FTC go after this as false advertising?)

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From a congressional hearing on unidentified aerial phenomena, watch new videos released by the Department of Defense and highlights from officials' testimony. The truth is out there?

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Did cats really disappear from North America for seven million years? My guess is the little bastards were hiding.

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Three scenarios for how Putin could actually use nukes. Here's how to think about the unthinkable.

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Why we're doomed: America more interested in Depp-Heard trial than abortion. On a per-article basis, the trial has dwarfed all other major topics in the news.

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Craig Ferguson is 60 today.

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The devil they know: Why the Big Four broadcasters are canceling fewer shows. As broadcast nets become starting points in a cross-platform ecosystem, rather than the stand-alone entities they long were, staying with proven (or at least familiar) programming makes sense: Networks can still draw eyeballs to on-air shows that people know so well, and recognizable library titles help bolster affiliated streaming services. Outside of having NFL rights, that's as much of a win-win as the shrinking linear TV world can provide.

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A racist theory may have driven the Buffalo tragedy. The Murdochs thrive on it. The demented ideology flows from many sources. One of them is Fox News.

The Right's embrace of racist replacement theory is both dangerous and dumb:

Tweets, observations, and diversions:

Marjorie Taylor Greene: "The greatest choice a woman can make is becoming a mother."
So... it IS a choice.
-Middle Age Riot

The formula shortage is an example of how free market capitalism does exactly what right wing fear-mongers think socialism will do.
-Bess Kalb

Freedom isn't owning 25 rifles, it's going to the grocery store and not having to worry about being killed by one.
-Kevin Sixx

Dolly Parton honors Dan Rather for fighting 'disinformation'.


Categories: Cable TV, Cats, Columbo, Covid-19, Dan Rather, Dolly Parton, Fox News, Lawrence O'Donnell, Nuclear weapons, Rachel Maddow, Replacement Theory, Rupert Murdoch, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, Supreme Court, Tucker Carlson, TV, UAPs, UFOs, Ukraine, Verizon, Vladimir Putin


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Mass shootings, Medicare, space tourists, Alito, aging as a disease, dumping Depp, MickeyD defects
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Published Monday, May 16, 2022 @ 4:26 PM EDT
May 16 2022

It's 19 weeks into the year and America has already seen 198 mass shootings. "This is planned violence. There is, in every one of these cases, always a trail of ... behavioral warning signs."

A fringe conspiracy theory, fostered online, is refashioned by the G.O.P. (NY Times free story) Replacement theory, espoused by the suspect in the Buffalo massacre, has been embraced by some right-wing politicians and commentators.

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Potentially alive 830-million-year-old organisms found trapped in ancient rock. What could go wrong?

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Americans can expect to pay a lot more for medical care in retirement. No kidding. A 65-year-old couple retiring this year can expect to spend an average of $315,000 in health-care and medical expenses in their retirement, according to a new estimate by Fidelity Investments. That's 5% higher than last year's estimate.

And what do they get for it? One in four Medicare patients harmed in hospitals, nearly half preventable. Among the roughly 1 million Medicare patients who were discharged from hospitals in October 2018, a total of 258,323 experienced an adverse or temporary harm event during their stay. And 12% experienced events that led to longer stays, lifesaving interventions, permanent harm, or death. "This projects to 121,089 Medicare patients having experienced at least one adverse event during the 1-month study period," the report stated.

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Whiny space tourists say they were too busy on the space station. They wanted to look out the window.

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The other scary thing about Alito's draft ruling on abortion... The dissents Alito stakes his argument on don't have to do with only abortion. They suggest threats to other constitutional rights, such as contraception access or LGBTQ protections. (Washington Post free article.)

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"I cannot survive on $260 a week": US retail and fast-food workers strike. Workers who bore the brunt of the Covid pandemic at billion-dollar companies such as Dollar General, McDonald's and Wendy's are leading a surge in action.

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Pennsylvania US Senate candidate Fetterman suffers stroke but says he's 'well on my way to a full recovery'. Don't bet against anybody who looks like Thanos. Election Day is tomorrow. Don't miss it.

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Yale research identifies causes of cancer. TL;DR: Essentially, being a living being on Earth.

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Confirmed: Disney Officially Replaces Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow. Though the Mouse House still uses Johnny Depp's likeness for new Jack Sparrow merchandise, as well as features the man in their famous Pirates of the Caribbean attractions at Disney Parks, Disney has officially dumped Depp forever.

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Pizza has a delivery problem. The difficulty finding and keeping employees has hampered businesses across multiple sectors, but the restaurant industry has been hit particularly hard, leading to shorter operating hours and longer wait times for customers.

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The strange post-Trump politics of the Pennsylvania republican primaries. A few theories for why the former President's endorsement of Mehmet Oz failed to clear the field.

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Before Russia's invasion of the Ukraine, only 20% of Finland's citizens were in favor of joining NATO. Now it's 75%.

And in response...

Russian state TV suggests deploying nuclear weapons against Finland, Sweden. "Their official reason [to join NATO] is fear. But they'll have more fear in NATO. When NATO bases appear in Sweden and Finland, Russia will have no choice but to neutralize the imbalance and new threat by deploying tactical nuclear weapons," presenter Dmitry Kiselyov reportedly said on the channel.

Remember the old truism that the United States was never involved in conflicts with countries that had McDonald's franchises? McDonald's to leave Russia for good after 30 years.

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Aging, and the chronic diseases that come with it, is considered just an inevitable part of life. But what if it wasn't? What if aging itself was a disease- a disease that can be treated? Many scientists are doing just that, and the results are nothing short of shocking. Just how close are we to a cure for aging?

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Tweets, observations, and diversions:

Things you discover looking up other things: Back when rat infestations were commonplace, people found that rats loved chewing on paper. In an effort to save your notes while also offering a bit of papery delicacy to disease-carrying rodents, companies added wide margins to all four sides of notebook paper.

Some clickbait just doesn't work. "Unsettling Don Knotts secrets you never knew." Don't think so.

Trump supporters are white people for whom being born white in America wasn't enough of an advantage.
-Middle Age Riot

Questions for the people who are scared of becoming a minority: Why is that? Are minorities treated differently?
-Padma Lakshmi

You don't really think the party that yawned while its public health policies killed over 1,000,000 Americans with COVID is ever going to care if its ahistorical Second Amendment fetish kills thousands of Americans with gun violence, do you?
-Mrs. Betty Bowers


Categories: Abortion, Aging (Ageing), Cancer, Disney, Elections, Finland, Joe Scott, John Fetterman, Johnny Depp, Mass shootings, McDonald's, Medicare, Medicine, Mehmet Oz, NATO, Pirates of the Carribean, Pizza, Replacement Theory, Republicans, Retirement, Russia, Science, Space, Supreme Court, Sweden, Ukraine, Unions


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SgrA*, George Carlin, VT escape, clean air danger, bread and "real" bread
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Published Thursday, May 12, 2022 @ 9:01 PM EDT
May 12 2022

SagA*

Groundbreaking Discovery: First ever image of the Milky Way’s Supermassive black hole. The image is a long-anticipated look at the massive object that sits at the very centre of our galaxy. Here's an explanatory video.

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Remembering George Carlin

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This is the safest place to live in the US as the climate changes (TL;DR: Vermont)

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Young Americans say abortion access matters for future moves. The majority of young people surveyed in a poll responded that abortion access is at least "somewhat important" in determining where they'll live in the future.

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You just can't win. Study finds cleaner air leads to more Atlantic hurricanes. A 50% decrease in pollution particles and droplets in Europe and the U.S. is linked to a 33% increase in Atlantic storm formation in the past couple decades, while the opposite is happening in the Pacific with more pollution and fewer typhoons, according to the study published in Wednesday's Science Advances.

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US overdose deaths hit record 107,000 last year, CDC says. The provisional 2021 total translates to roughly one U.S. overdose death every five minutes. It marked a 15% increase from the previous record, set the year before.

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The confirmation of a third Democrat to the Federal Trade Commission could pose trouble for Amazon and Elon Musk.

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Russia is resorting to putting computer chips from dishwashers and refrigerators in tanks due to US sanctions, official says.

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Things you should know: Why modern sandwich bread is different from "real" bread.

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Tweets, observations, and diversions:

Starbucks raised prices after reporting a 31% increase in profits. Same with Tyson, who posted $1 billion in profits last quarter — a 48% increase from the first quarter of 2021. Get the picture?
-Robert Reich

When Richard Nixon Wanted to be a Rapper. Yes, that Richard Nixon.

So the same people killing us by denying the fact that masks & vaccines work are ALSO the experts on when human life begins?
-Jon Cooper

KGB is taking the day off tomorrow. The report will return on Monday.


Categories: Abortion, amazon.com, Black Holes, Climate change, Elon Musk, FTC, George Carlin, Opioids, Sagittarius A*, Ukraine, Weather


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Marilyn, Donovan, Bono, Musk, Trump, book bans, iPods, Las Vegas stiffs and climate change
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Published Tuesday, May 10, 2022 @ 5:22 PM EDT
May 10 2022

Marilyn

Warhol's 'Marilyn,' at $195 million, shatters auction record for an American artist. Not bad for a kid from Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. (NY Times free article)

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Elon Musk says he'll reverse Donald Trump's Twitter ban. Swell.

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The next book ban: States aim to limit titles students can search for. Republican lawmakers across the country are proposing legislation that would target online library databases and library management technology- tools built by a half-dozen large companies that catalogue millions of books, journals and articles that students peruse for assignments.

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Baby formula shortage worsens: About 40% of popular brands sold out across US. The ongoing infant formula shortage isn't over yet- and appears to be getting worse.

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Ukraine is rebuilding cities as fast as Russia destroyed them. (Washington Post free article).

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Earth given 50-50 chance of hitting key warming mark by 2026. The odds are inching up along with the thermometer. Last year, the same forecasters put the odds at closer to 40% and a decade ago it was only 10%.

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Oddly-related climate story: Bodies surfacing in Lake Mead recall mob's time in Las Vegas. "There's no telling what we'll find in Lake Mead," former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said Monday. "It's not a bad place to dump a body."

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The end of an era: Apple discontinues iPod touch, ending 20 year run of iconic 'iPod' brand. The number of devices made obsolete in my lifetime is into two figures and growing...

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Speaking of obsolete technology, on this date in 1975, Sony introduced the Betamax videocassette recorder.

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Donovan (Donovan Phillips Leitch ) is 76 today.

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Bono (Paul David Hewson) is 62 today.

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Microsoft to help cover workers' travel costs for abortions. The software maker will "support employees and their enrolled dependents in accessing critical health care- which already includes services like abortion and gender- affirming care- regardless of where they live across the U.S.," according to a statement Monday. "This support is being extended to include travel expense assistance for these and other medical services where access to care is limited in availability in an employee's home geographic region."

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Tweets and observations:

Last week, Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said her confidence in the court had been "had been rocked" because justices lied during their confirmations about their intent to overturn Roe v. Wade. This week, she's voting to block Democrats' effort to codify Roe v. Wade.
-No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen

Good morning to everyone who reported treason through proper channels and not book deals, @MarkTEsper
-Rachel Vindman!

Republicans want to keep women pregnant so their swollen feet hurt too much to stand in line for six hours and vote against them.
-Middle Age Riot

The President, whether Democrat or Republican, is not in charge of baby formula.
-Paula Poundstone

The people protesting outside the homes of the justices are just tourists engaging in legitimate political discourse.
-Covie_93


Categories: Abortion, Andy Warhol, Apple, Betamax, Bono, Book bans, Climate change, Donald Trump, Donovan, Elon Musk, iPod, Lake Mead, Las Vegas, Marilyn Monroe, Microsoft, Republicans, Sony, Ukraine


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