Fake COVID cure sellers convicted: https://apnews.com/article/fake-covid-cure-florida-church-4aa8f5e670b954ffff6122c6430f15fc .
Damaged Pfizer plant creates drug shortages: https://apnews.com/article/pfizer-factory-tornado-drugs-north-carolina-3ce4b4ee0be984f751e0173091a3cdd7 . The size of the plant tells you that a lot of manufacturing capacity has been lost.
China’s youth jobless rate may have hit 46.5%: https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2023-07-20/chinese-professor-says-youth-jobless-rate-might-have-hit-46-5 . China apparently immediately suppressed this analysis.
Federal Reserve launches FedNow instant payment system: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-launches-new-payments-system-that-lets-you-send-money-in-seconds-140305052.html . Over time, this is likely to supplant many existing (private) payment systems.
WSJ: TSMC delays start of Arizona chip plant: https://www.wsj.com/articles/tsmc-delays-start-of-first-arizona-chip-factory-citing-worker-shortage-4a9344e5 . Bluntly, the idea is to get this built before China tries to retake Taiwan. So this continues to seem very urgent to me.
Senate Judiciary Committee advances Supreme Court ethics bill: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/key-senate-committee-advances-supreme-court-ethics-bill-rcna95171 . I would agree that the GOP will kill this bill. There is value in putting them on the record, because trust in the Supreme Court is clearly waning. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-has-worked-on-code-of-conduct-but-gotten-nowhere-e7cd486f .
Majority of Americans say Biden, Orange Julius not fit to serve another term: https://news.yahoo.com/poll-most-americans-say-biden-and-trump-are-not-fit-to-serve-as-president-133443536.html . By most people’s standards, both are too old for the office. Biden has accomplished a great deal, including holding the Western world together in support of Ukraine. For most of my adult life, most people have viewed each presidential election as a choice between the lesser of two evils. This time, many would describe the choice as the lesser versus the evil.
Speaker McCarthy defends Orange Julius against criminal charges: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4106696-mccarthy-defends-trump-i-dont-see-how-he-could-be-found-criminally-responsible/ . Here are McCarthy’s comments one week after the insurrection for comparison: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/13/mccarthy-trump-responsibility-capitol-riot-458975 . So, the pathetic incompetent now defends the dangerous incompetent. This can hardly be good for American democracy.
WSJ: Orange Julius and the Israeli antiquities: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-donald-trump-ended-up-with-priceless-israeli-antiquities-74d9e037 . The Journal attempts to sanitize the fallout from Israel’s 3-year quest to get these antiquities returned.
Senator Chuck Grassley releases unverified FBI document: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/rare-move-grassley-releases-unverified-fbi-source-report/story?id=101531599 . About 25 years ago, I attended a private meeting where Senator Grassley spoke. My sense was that his mental acuity, to put it politely, had taken a step backward. But it is apparently now galloping in that direction …
Federal judge hammers Tucker Carlson into a pulp: https://www.mediaite.com/news/judge-shoots-down-tucker-carlsons-cherry-picked-videos-of-january-6-in-scathing-ruling-tossing-qanon-shamans-bid-to-dismiss-conviction/ . Oh wait, Tucker was already a pulp …
Florida middle schoolers to be taught slavery had “personal benefit” to enslaved people: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-florida-standards-teach-black-people-benefited-slavery-taught-usef-rcna95418 . Governor DeMentis apparently believes that the victors get to write history. However, history in the future will teach everyone about that complete loser, Ron DeMentis. That is, until he is deservedly forgotten completely.
The No Labels option: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4108696-poll-shows-biden-beating-trump-even-if-manchin-runs/ . So now Biden beats OJ whether or not Manchin/Huntsman is the third party ticket. But here’s what The Hill said a month ago: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4054317-trump-beats-biden-by-6-points-in-2024-matchup-poll/ . Who wants to bet democracy on polling 16 months before the election?
Note that the lead article says that only 16% would probably vote for the third party ticket, 75% probably would not, leaving only 9% undecided. Again, what is the point of the No Labels ticket? It cannot possibly win. So its only effect will be to cloud the results. No thank you.
WSJ: Is Pope Francis nearing “completion” of his reign?: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ailing-pope-francis-hurries-to-bolster-his-progressive-legacy-f91bde43 .
!970’s time capsule: Behind the scenes at “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” movie: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/peter-frampton-joe-perry-and-alice-cooper-look-back-at-bonkers-sgt-pepper-movie-200101650.html . This is some crazy st*ff … a very strange trip down Memory Lane.
Ultrabright stellar object defies explanation: https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/ultrabright-stellar-object-is-shining-beyond-the-death-line-and-no-one-can-explain-it . So as the Milky Way Galaxy is 100,000 light-years across, this object is relatively close to us at 15,000 light-years.
NFL approves $6.05 billion sale of Washington Commanders, fines prior owner Dan Snyder $60 million: https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-approves-605b-sale-of-commanders-fines-dan-snyder-60m-after-releasing-investigation-report-205326560.html . So this sale breaks all records for a sports franchise transfer. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/commanders-sale-dan-snyder-josh-harris-fine-investigation-17e1a226 .
New Zealand women thrill their entire country by winning World Cup opener: https://sports.yahoo.com/new-zealand-against-all-odds-wins-womens-world-cup-opener-in-every-possible-way-131035044.html . This game will be remembered in women’s soccer for a long time, and advances recognition of the sport globally.