A Bird of Passage

When Vultures Don't Circle, Exploding Pagers

It's rarely a good sign when the vultures are circling. But it turns out that it's an even worse sign if the vultures aren't circling. It's all related to the circle of life. A few decades ago, farmers in India started using an inexpensive drug to reduce pain and inflammation in livestock. What they didn't realized at the time was that the drug, passed through the food chain, would have a deadly effect on Vultures for whom the remnants of the drug caused kidney failure. Tens of millions of the birds died. But that's not where the cycle ended. "Quickly, it became obvious that India was dependent on vultures to clean up the millions of carcasses of cows, sheep and other livestock animals that died each year across the country. Without the infrastructure to incinerate and otherwise process carcasses, the shock of the sudden vulture collapse led to animal bodies quickly piling up. A public health emergency followed, the depth of which researchers are just now starting to understand." Ian Rose in WaPo (Gift Article) with a bird's eye view of our interdependence in The hidden value of vultures: How a massive die-off of birds led to massive rise in human deaths.

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Front Pager News

"A Hezbollah official who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press that the new brand of handheld pagers used by the group first heated up, then exploded, killing at least two of its members and wounding others. Lebanon’s health minister, Firas Abiad, said at least eight people were killed and 2,750 wounded." Hezbollah hit by wave of exploding pagers in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least 9. It seems safe to assume that this attack on communications is setting up some other military move. In the meantime, no one is quite sure how the pager plot was carried out. Here's the latest: Pagers explode across Lebanon in attack targeting Hezbollah members.

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Bad Boy For Life Sentence

"For decades, Combs 'abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct,' the indictment stated. The sex trafficking allegations revolve around claims that he 'manipulated women to participate in highly orchestrated performances of sexual activity with male commercial sex workers,' who were often flown in across state lines and internationally." Sean 'Diddy' Combs Charged With Sex Trafficking and Racketeering in Unsealed Indictment. The indictment is labeled as United States of America v SEAN COMBS, a/k/a "Puff Daddy," a/k/a "P. Diddy," a/k/a "Diddy," a/k/a "PD," a/k/a "Love," Defendant.

+ "Hours- and days-long sex acts known as 'freak offs' — allegedly produced, directed and recorded by Combs — are at the core of this federal prosecution against the music mogul ... 'Combs allegedly planned and controlled the sex performances, which he called 'freak offs' and he often electronically recorded them.' ... 'The 'freak offs' sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers, and often involved a variety of narcotics such as ketamine, ecstasy and GHB, which Combs distributed to the victims to keep them obedient and compliant.' Federal prosecutors claimed they seized more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and other lubricants from Combs' homes that were used in these sex acts." Here's the latest from NBC.

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Just Blew It

"As Nike directed customers to its own stores and websites, it halted the flow of sneakers to retailers including Amazon, Zappos, Dillard’s and Urban Outfitters, and even curtailed goods at its closest partner in the US, Foot Locker. Donahoe’s strategy seemed to be working, until it didn’t. That recently abandoned shelf space was quickly filled by all of Nike’s top competitors: Adidas, New Balance, Puma, even Ugg." Bloomberg (Gift Article) with an interesting look at Nike, the shoe business, and how a few missteps can land you in big trouble. The Man Who Made Nike Uncool.

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Extra, Extra

Saving Grace: "Grace Fischer survived the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School by staying quiet and huddled, as her first grade teacher softly read 'The Nutcracker.' Then she spent the rest of her childhood watching mostly from the sidelines as dozens of similar shootings shattered other schools across the country." The first graders who survived Sandy Hook will vote in their first presidential election.

+ Demo-lition: "Last year had the worst decline in credible elections and parliamentary oversight in almost a half-century, driven by government intimidation, foreign interference, disinformation and the misuse of artificial intelligence in campaigns." Democracy declined for 8th straight year around the globe.

+ Playing Through: "Soon after Donald Trump became president, authorities tried to warn him about the risks posed by golfing at his own courses because of their proximity to public roads. Secret Service agents came armed with unusual evidence: not suspect profiles or spent bullet casings, but simple photographs taken by news crews of him golfing at his private club in Sterling, Va. They reasoned that if photographers with long-range lenses could get the president in their sights while he golfed, so, too, could potential gunmen." WaPo (Gift Article): Trump’s golf outings have long concerned Secret Service.

+ Putin's Bodycount: "The number of Ukrainians and Russians killed or wounded in the grinding 2½-year war has reached roughly one million, a staggering toll that two countries struggling with shrinking prewar populations will pay far into the future." WSJ (Gift Article): One Million Are Now Dead or Injured in the Russia-Ukraine War.

+ Shot and Bothered: Drugs like Ozempic that are being used for weight loss are all the rage these days. But a lot of people don't like the idea of giving themselves a shot. Well, GLP-1 pills are coming, and they could revolutionize weight-loss treatment.

+ OK Loomer: "Republican politicians do not like her proximity to the ex-president and have said so. 'Laura Loomer is a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans,' and stands to 'hurt President Trump’s chances of winning re-election. Enough,' Republican Senator Thom Tillis tweeted on Friday. Other Republicans, including Lindsey Graham and even Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has espoused her own racist and conspiratorial ideas, made the rare move of implicitly challenging Trump in public." The Atlantic (Gift Article): Laura Loomer Is Where Republicans Draw the Line. (Maybe they should draw the line with the other person in this duo?)

+ News Quiz: Try to guess which of our presidential candidates made this statement during a high stakes meeting: "I’m confident I’m going to win this ... I want your endorsement, but if I don’t get it, I will treat you exactly as if I had gotten your endorsement." NYT: Tense Teamsters Meeting With Harris Ends With an Endorsement Still Dangling.

+ Bad Chair Day: A Brazilian mayoral candidate attacked his opponent with a chair mid-debate. (He still performed better than Trump in Philly.)

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Bottom of the News

"On Monday morning, San Francisco police Lt. Jonathan Ozol wore a flamboyant, inflatable chicken costume as he attempted to navigate a crosswalk on Alemany Boulevard near the intersection of Rousseau Street." Was he just trying to trigger Fox News hosts? No. "The purpose of the exercise was to issue tickets to drivers who flouted state law by not yielding to a pedestrian like Ozol as he attempted to cross. Quite a few drivers failed that test."