Standing at the edge of a potential apocalyptic meltdown: Recapping an eventful month of August 2022

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PUTIN’S WAR OF AGGRESSION AGAINST UKRAINE

'Nuclear winter' from a US-Russia conflict would wipe out 63% of the world's population - Any questions as to why the Biden administration and Congress have appropriated billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine? You do not want nuclear warfare, whoever ‘you’ may be. Do not underestimate Vladimir Putin; much of the rhetoric currently coming from Russia - all of it directed by the Kremlin, and Putin basically is the Kremlin - is outright apocalyptic. {Live Science 8/18}

Слава Україні: Ukraine begins counter-offensive to retake Kherson and other southern regions held captive by the Russians. {Reuters 8/29}

Vladimir Putin signs decree increasing the size of the Russian military - Considerably more important news than griping about student loans, gas prices, or what other people are doing with their private parts. Putin has completely gone insane, albeit in a ‘crazy like a fox’ sort of way; he is going for broke in his assault on Ukraine, and there are exactly zero checks on his power within Russia. Knowing there is no one to stop him internally, and knowing that the West - by and large - lacks the willpower or desire to confront him in earnest (this being most especially evident among the citizens of the United States, though thankfully our government under President Biden’s leadership has taken actions to support the Ukrainian people), Putin has taken a huge gamble: He will either succeed in subjugating Ukraine, or he will die trying and bring down his own country and as much of the world as he can take with him. Perhaps you all will start caring when nukes start falling out of the skies over the heartland (even then, I’m not so sure.) {Reuters 8/25}

Russia risks nuclear disaster by shelling Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant; Russians, as is their M.O., claim the Ukrainians are at fault - Welcome to the future, where any anti-Western tyrant can commit atrocities and simply blame the other side, and millions in the west will willfully spread their lies out of spite for their own societies.{AP 8/08}

Ukraine literally averts a global nuclear catastrophe at Zaporizhzhia - All life on human earth would have been endangered had urgent action not been taken. Preventing World War III is a serious matter, but just keep on griping, #Murica, about the government sending billions of dollars in aid and weapons to Ukraine. Yes, by all means, because isolationism and turning a blind eye to imperialist Fascism worked so well in the 1930s. Excerpt: ‘President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the world narrowly avoided a radiation disaster on Thursday as the last regular line supplying electricity to Ukraine's Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was restored hours after being cut. Zelenskiy blamed shelling by Russia's military for fires in the ash pits of a nearby coal power station that disconnected the reactor complex, Europe's largest such facility, from the power grid. He said back-up diesel generators had started to ensure power supply and keep the plant safe. "If our station staff had not reacted after the blackout, then we would have already been forced to overcome the consequences of a radiation accident," he said in an evening address. "Russia has put Ukraine and all Europeans in a situation one step away from a radiation disaster." International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials should be given access to the site within days, he said, "before the occupiers take the situation to the point of no return."’ {Reuters 8/25}

Reuters

Russia railway station strike kills 22, injures dozens - Prayers for Chaplyne. As much an outrage as the attack itself is, just as great an outrage are the millions turning a blind eye, or possessing delusions about the war - informed by Russian propaganda - that lead to victim-blaming and desensitization to this genocide. {BBC 8/24}

The Russian Defense Ministry blames sabotage for Crimea depot blast, ‘a rare admission that armed groups loyal to Ukraine are damaging military logistics and supply lines on territory it controls.’ {Reuters 8/15}

Five key findings on Russia’s massive intelligence failures prior to invading Ukraine. {WaPo 8/19}

U.S. rejects Ukraine’s request for a blanket visa ban on all Russians - The State Department is erring on the side of political correctness. Protecting the lives of innocent Ukrainians, and putting the fear of God into Russians, ought to have highest priority. My suggestion to Russian dissidents - if they are sincere - would be to go to Ukraine, if the Ukrainians will have them, and take up arms. Or stay in Russia, and foment revolution there. I feel for their plight and admire their courage to stand against Vladimir Putin, but America is not where they are needed at this moment. {Reuters 8/22}

Flashback: Alexander Litvinenko may have been assassinated, in part, for alleging Putin is a pedophile. {The Independent 1/21/2016}

Disrupt and kill the enemy by any and all means necessary: Ukrainians embrace guerrilla warfare tactics against the occupying Russians and domestic turncoats. {NYT 8/17}

Dmitry Serebryakov/AP

Hundreds gather in Moscow to pay tribute to Fascist political operative Alexander Dugin’s daugher, herself a Putin propagandist, who was killed in car bombing - The only good Russian nationalist is a dead one. {AP 8/23}

‘The U.S. for the first time Friday said it will give Ukraine Scan Eagle surveillance drones, mine-resistant vehicles, anti-armor rounds and howitzer weapons to help Ukrainian forces regain territory and mount a counteroffensive against Russian invaders.’ {AP 8/19}

Damaged Russian tanks put on display on the streets of Kyiv in advance of Ukraine’s independence day. {DW 8/20}

GEOPOLITICS

Basketball star Brittney Griner sentenced to nine years in Russian prison - A f**king outrage, and anybody making excuses for the Russians - or saying any peaceful, non-violent American civilian deserves this treatment anywhere in the world - can kiss my royal ass. We all know why the Russians are making an example of this individual, and it has nothing to do with a vial of hash oil that wouldn’t harm an earthworm. And we also know why most Americans are not moved by this individual’s plight. Said it before and am going to keep saying it over and over: If I sound as though I’m being unfair to most people, just remember that most people lost the benefit of the doubt after the 2016 presidential election. True colors are coming through like never before in our lifetimes, and the ugliness is astounding. {AP 8/04}

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un pledge a new era of ‘strategic and tactical cooperation, support and solidarity’ between Russia and North Korea. {Reuters 8/15}

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China fires missiles near Taiwan in drills after Nancy Pelosi visits - Good on Speaker Pelosi for going to Taiwan. A strong message must be sent to China that they are not to emulate their friends, the Russians, in invading lands that do not belong to them. Forget all this lamenting I’m seeing all over the place - and from both sides of the spectrum - about ‘provoking’ China, Russia, etc., for the United States and its allies need not be pushed around or allow malevolent players to set the global agenda. Now, if/when Fascism takes complete control and #Murica completely replaces the United States of America, then it’s going to be a very different story. We already got a taste of that during Trump’s term, with his capitulations to Putin, Kim Jong-Un, the Saudis, so forth. But for now, the U.S. officially remains the world’s leading superpower and guardian of global order, its hold on power is tenuous as it is. Far from further weakening us, only bold reassertions of what it is that we are supposed to stand for - global order, human rights, economic liberty, and sanity - will restore worldwide respect for, and fear of, the United States. Standing around fretting that we are ‘provoking’ dictators and demanding that #Murica withdraw from the international scene because we have too many problems at home are getting us nowhere with the likes of Xi and Putin. {Reuters 8/04}

‘Chinese troops will travel to Russia to take part in joint military exercises led by the host and including India, Belarus, Mongolia, Tajikistan and other countries, China's defence ministry said on Wednesday.’ {Reuters 8/17}

How the CIA identified and killed al-Qaeda leader Zawahiri. {Reuters 8/01}

Author Salman Rushdie said to be awake and ‘articulate’ following stabbing attack in western New York state. {CNN 8/16}

Breaking agreement to use a condom is a sex crime, Canada high court rules. {NYT 7/29}

POLITICAL S**TSHOW IN #MURICA

Terry Manna/AP

FBI raids Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, retrieve classified documents held in a safe - The FBI did what is necessary, and in a better country the a**hole would have been in prison long ago (and never would have been elected to begin with.) But I hate false hope more than anything in life. I continue to maintain that this man is never going to prison, and may even be re-elected in 2024. Why do I stress this so hard, so often? Because a large percentage of this country is populated by angry, hateful, violent zealots who are more loyal to their leader than they are to God or sometimes even their own families; they own virtually all the guns and are heavily embedded in the military, law enforcement, state legislatures, the churches, so forth. The FBI, DOJ, the White House, and all relevant agencies know the moment Trump is put in handcuffs is the moment that civil war begins for real.  Underestimate #Cult45 at one’s own peril, one of the largest, deadliest, and most effective cults in human history. They are far more determined to gain control over society than the rest of us have shown willing to preserve and protect those things which once made us a relatively decent and prosperous country. Most do not even have a basic understanding of what is at stake. They do not fully grasp what has happened to our fellow citizens, at least not yet. They will soon enough, when the killings start en masse. Believe me, I wish I could be jumping for joy at this news, but I can't do it: We’ve been burned one time too many. {AP 8/08}

‘The initial batch of documents retrieved by the National Archives from former President Donald J. Trump in January included more than 150 marked as classified, a number that ignited intense concern at the Justice Department and helped trigger the criminal investigation that led F.B.I. agents to swoop into Mar-a-Lago this month seeking to recover more, multiple people briefed on the matter said.’ {NYT 8/22}

Jennifer Rubin: Trump’s risk of indictment for his document snatch just skyrocketed. {WaPo 8/23}

Rudy Giuliani now a ‘target’ in Georgia election interference probe, Fulton County DA’s office announces - Anybody else remember what a universally respected figure this man was in the immediate aftermath of 9/11? May as well have been a thousand years ago now. {AP 8/15}

‘Former President Donald Trump once asked his White House chief of staff Gen. John Kelly why his generals couldn’t be more like Adolf Hitler’s, who were, in Trump’s view, “totally loyal.”’  {Yahoo! News 8/08}

Former CFO of the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg, pleads guilty to his role in long-running tax fraud scheme, agrees to testify against his former company. {AP 8/18}

U.S. faces a new era of political violence as threats against lawmakers rise; ‘Members of the US House of Representatives will now receive up to $10,000 to upgrade security at their homes.’ - Cooler heads are not prevailing. {The Guardian 7/31}

Jonathan Drake/Reuters

An expert on the right urgently warns: Beware of another Oklahoma City - Referring, of course, to the horrors of April 15, 1995. Millions of potential Timothy McVeighs surround us, and they’re being egged on by Trump and the GOP. Excerpt: ‘Threats of political violence appear to be rising. Donald Trump continues to treat his effort to incite the violent overthrow of the government as a righteous cause, and a large swath of his party is embracing him in that project. What’s more, with Trump under investigation for hoarding highly classified documents, escalating threats toward the FBI have done nothing to dissuade Republicans from throwing around virulently hyperbolic rhetoric about alleged federal law enforcement thuggery. And Republicans have launched a new wave of wild-eyed nonsense about the IRS amid still more threats.’

 {Greg Sargent 8/25}

#Cult45 ‘activists,’ such as they are, swarm election officials across the country for ‘public-records requests to seek evidence for the former president’s false stolen-election claims and to gather intelligence on voting machines and voters’ - Information about voters. The local right-wing loons want to know who in their communities didn’t vote the way they wanted, and what are these people going to do with that information? Harassment of Biden voters is already at least a minor problem, and harassment of election officials a big problem, and all will grow worse the more riled-up and wound-up #Cult45 becomes. {Reuters 8/03}

Christian author David Dark calls out churches for staying silent about their abusive MAGA members and their violent antics - Silence is consent. {Raw Story 8/20}

If eliminating fear of the state is a liberal country’s first job, America is in trouble - The cruelty is the point. Very interesting history here about the Jewish, Lativan-born political philosopher of the mid-20th century, Judith Shklar: A brilliant lady who argued that the ultimate goal of liberalism should be the avoidance of deliberate cruelty, who understood that the majority of people in most any given time and place are uncaring and spiteful to one degree or another. Americans in the 21st century are operating on an epic scale, some of the cruelest and more grievance-filled human beings in world history. After 9/11, the people of this nation gradually changed in many respects, none of them for the better. The election of the most obvious conman of all-time to the presidency in 2016 - an individual that nearly all but the very most brain-dead of his supporters knew, deep-down, was a conman and an incompetent - was driven 100% by grievance and hatred, not by logic and reason. At this rate, #Cult45 are ultimately going to win in the end, because most outside their cult - and not all of them being good people themselves, not by any means - either refuse to acknowledge or understand the extent to which the people of this nation want to destroy each other, or just have zero clue as to what is going on. We can get rid of Trump, vote out all of these seditious GOP lawmakers, silence the rhetorical bomb-throwers on the hard-left who are only fanning the flames, and shut down all of the leading far-right propagandists on cable ‘news’ networks tomorrow, but the deadliest threat would remain: American citizens; the lay people enabling these grifters, traitors, and tyrants in the name of oppressing other American citizens. {Shikha Dalmia 8/08}

Paul Miller: Is the Republican Party becoming the Sinn Fein of America? {The Dispatch 8/11}

An extremism glossary: Eleven red flag words and what they mean. {CNET 8/15}

Open Culture

Schools districts across America facing a ‘catastrophic’ teacher shortage - So this is what happens when people demand that school teachers be the first line of defense against literal bullets and killer plagues without complaint or additional compensation; but, at the same time, they also recklessly accuse the same teachers of poisoning kids’ minds with hard-left propaganda, because some right-wing blowhard on TV or the Internet said so and therefore it must be true. Who would have thought? At this rate, the most remote backwaters of the world will soon surpass the United States in metrics such as literacy, infant mortality rates, etc. Name a malady, and angry, ignorant populists of all stripes are busy making it worse. Because, you know, ‘freedom.’ {WaPo 8/03}

The highest-ranking Republican in North Carolina calls for eliminating science and history lessons for fifth-graders and younger. {Raw Story 8/22}

Second ‘swatting’ incident directed at the home of Rep. Marjorie Traitor Greene in two days - ‘Swatting,’ for those who are unaware, is ‘the action or practice of making a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address’ (definition via the Oxford dictionary.)  I understand wanting to give an unholy provocateur like this one a taste of their own medicine - because this is the sort of thing her and her kind stoop to - but it is really immature and will accomplish nothing except draw sympathy for this cretin. {CNBC 8/25}

#Cult45 adherents in Florida charged with stealing the president’s daughter’s diary and selling it to Project Veritas, a seditious propaganda front that bills itself as a ‘conservative,’ ‘anti-corruption’ organization. {NYT 8/25}

President Biden names new Secret Service director. {AP 8/24}

President Biden announces ‘$10,000 in student debt cancellation for millions of Americans, and up to $10,000 more for those with the greatest financial need’ - College tuitions have long been out of control and a criminal scam; most young people are steered toward degrees in often useless fields, just for the sake of having a degree. It doesn't work anymore. Not everyone, or even most, are university material. {AP 8/24}

COVID-19

André Chung/Washington Post

Dr. Anthony Fauci announces his forthcoming retirement after 27 years leading NIAID - Thank you, Dr. Fauci, for your exemplary service to this nation. It is hard to imagine how pissed off this man must be: To have led a nation’s response against a deadly virus - the likes of which hadn’t been seen in a century - only to have been egregiously slandered and accused of crimes against humanity by Republicans, ‘conservative’ media whores, religious zealots, conspiracy theorists, white supremacists, and various others who could not/would not comprehend the reality of COVID-19. If it were me, I would have told Trump and the American people, in no uncertain terms, to ‘kiss my ass’ and ‘good luck, motherf**kers’ right at the very height of this pandemic. Seriously, I would have retired to some peaceful, remote place far away from this s**thole rather than continue to endure such ingratitude. #Murica is going to pay a deadly cost - far more so than it already has - for the disgusting and shameful manner in which it treats its best and brightest minds. {WaPo 8/22}

COVID-19: The CDC drops social distancing and quarantining recommendations - After how this agency has debased itself by caving to pressures from a restless general public, sleazy politicians, and media blowhards, the CDC has little credibility left. It is also amazing - that is, pathetic and enraging - how bad human beings are at such a simple task of giving other human beings a little bit of physical space. Seriously, we do not need to be pack animals and I do not want anybody within six feet of me anymore; keep your f**kig hands and your fu**king germs to yourselves, glorified swine. {AP 8/11}

‘Policies designed only to keep us out of the hospital are not enough to stop the virus from disrupting our lives in other ways.’ CDC promises to end disruption; its new guidance won’t do it. {Anne Sosin and Rene Dhillon 8/17}

‘As the novel virus has evolved to become more transmissible and virulent, it’s also shortened its incubation period, according to a study out of two Beijing universities published Monday by the Journal of the American Medical Association.’ {Fortune 8/23}

COVID-19 ‘evolves fast. It has adapted quickly to us. Now arises the crucial question of whether humans and human ingenuity can adapt faster. Unless the answer is yes, we face a long, doleful future of continued suffering. Some experts reckon the toll of endemic Covid might be somewhere from 100,000 to 250,000 deaths every year, just in the United States. Millions of lives depend on whether human science, human governance and human wisdom can outpace the ingenuity of SARS-CoV-2.’ {NYT 8/10}

‘At the peak of the Omicron wave, Covid killed Black Americans in rural areas at a rate roughly 34 percent higher than it did white people.’ {NYT 7/28}

‘A study published this week in the Lancet Psychiatry showed increased risks of some brain disorders two years after infection with the coronavirus, shedding new light on the long-term neurological and psychiatric aspects of the virus.’ {WaPo 8/19}

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New data shows long COVID is keeping as many as four million people out of work - Likely wouldn’t be happening if everybody had just done as they were told at the start of the pandemic. Which, if we’ve forgotten, was to stop the damn spread! F**king petulant herd animals, can’t stay out of each others’ space or follow basic directions even if to prevent needless death and suffering during a public health emergency. That’s another thing: Most have seemed to have gone terminally stupid when it comes to understanding what a state of emergency is, and why norms do not apply during emergencies. The World War II generation is looking down on us and are completely aghast at the utter senselessness and foolishness of now. {Brookings Institution 8/24}

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai: The majority of those who contracted the omicron variant never realized it. {NPR 8/19}

Ivermectin among generic drugs that failed to help COVID-19 patients avoid hospitalization - Another lesson on never taking medical advice from morons and con-artists. {Jerusalem Post 8/21}

Celebrity doctor and U.S. Senate candidate Mehmet Oz ‘repeatedly emailed top-level Trump administration officials, urging them to push the ineffective malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine’ - Lord help us, this man is going to be a United States Senator, and we already have enough sociopaths on Capitol Hill. {Ars Technica 8/24}

SCIENCE & HEALTH

Christian Chavez/AP

Treating death? Scientists revive cells in dead pigs, raising hopes, and questions - Absolute madness. Creepy, disgusting, and 100% unethical: Death is not some ‘disease’ or malady for science to overcome; since the beginning of time, it has been a natural and necessary stage of life, and it will not be defeated. Why the hell would anyone, in their right mind, actually want to live forever on this rotten planet? Seven billion and more mouths to feed as it is - at least three times or more the number of human beings the world actually needs or should have living on it - what happens when we are no longer allowed to die? {Times of Israel 8/04}

The FDA allows certain hearing aids to be sold over-the-counter for adults with moderate hearing problems. {AP 8/16}

CDC: Romaine lettuce on Wendy’s sandwiches the likely culprit in regional E. coli outbreak. {NYT 8/19}

CLIMATE CHANGE

Almost two-thirds of Europe is affected by drought; ‘may be the worst "for at least 500 years,"’ says European Commission spokesperson. {DW 8/23}

Rhine River water levels reach historic lows. {DW 8/11}

‘An "extreme heat belt" reaching as far north as Chicago is taking shape, a corridor that cuts through the middle of the country and would affect more than 107 million people over the next 30 years.’ {NBC News 8/15}

Fifth set of human remains found in rapidly receding Lake Mead in Nevada. {ABC News 8/18}

OBITUARIES

AP/Mark J. Terrill

Vin Scully has died - Forever the greatest baseball play-by-play man. Thank you, good sir, for everything you gave to us. This feels like losing a grandfather. {LAT 8/03}

Bill Russell. Greatest athlete in Boston sports history - No finer gentleman to ever play that sport, and arguably the most important player in all of NBA history. {AP 8/01}

Olivia Newton-John dies at 73 - What rotten news to randomly come across on a miserably hot Monday afternoon. Just rip my heart and soul away, sure. The kind-hearted, girl next door type we all wanted to marry, but don’t truly exist in any great number in the real world. {AP 8/08}

Judith Durham: Australian folk singer known for the international hit 'Georgy Girl' dies at 79. {BBC 8/06}

Noted Motown songwriter Lamont Dozier dies at 81. {CBC 8/09}

One of the world’s greatest historians, David McCullough, passes away at 89. {NYT 8/08}

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Rest in Peace, Mikhail Gobrachev. 1931-2022 - Very sad news. Mikhail Gorbachev was a great man, and probably the most humane leader Russia has had in its ruthless and inhumane history. {BBC 8/30}

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