Seeing Deforest Through the Trees

Brazil is Burning, The 690 Mile Yard Sale

The weather forecast that scientists have been warning about for decades is here. In some places it's more obvious than others. Which brings us to Brazil, where human-caused climate change exacerbated by human-caused deforestation (sensing a theme?) is cooking the north of the country. "Even in a country that has grown increasingly inured to the damage wrought by drought — which in recent years has dried out swaths of the Amazon forest, killed scores of river dolphins and caused some territory to be reclassified as arid — recent scenes of privation and struggle have been startling." WaPo (Gift Article): More than half of Brazil is racked by drought. "Along the Rio Madeira in Amazonas state, locals are trekking miles on the hot sands of the dried riverbed in search of water. In the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, fires have scorched an estimated 20,000 square kilometers (7,720 square miles). The vast Cerrado region is in the grip of the worst drought in at least 700 years, according to researchers at the University of São Paulo. And the air in São Paulo state has grown so heavy with forest fire smoke that authorities have urged people to avoid physical activity outside."

+ When life gives you extreme heat-ripened bananas, make banana wine.

+ If you missed my coverage of Tuesday's debate, it's right here: The Wrath of Concepts.

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The Doctor Will Not See You Now

"In Texas, a woman whose water broke at 18 weeks—far too early for her baby to survive outside the womb—was unable to get an abortion until she became septic. She spent three days in the ICU, and one of her fallopian tubes permanently closed from scarring. In Tennessee, a woman lost four pints of blood delivering her dead fetus in a hospital’s holding area. In Oklahoma, a bleeding woman with a nonviable pregnancy was turned away from three separate hospitals. One said she could wait in the parking lot until her condition became life-threatening." Sarah Zhang in The Atlantic (Gift Article): ‘That’s Something That You Won’t Recover From as a Doctor.'

+ The broader question on the ballot in November is whether we will recover from the attacks on women's health care as a nation. How is America leaning on this issue? You can determine the answer by seeing which side is urgently trying to get it off the ballots. WaPo: Abortion foes trying to derail or undermine states’ fall ballot measures. "An unprecedented number of abortion initiatives are on state ballots this November, nearly all seeking to protect reproductive rights, but opponents are trying to defeat them even before the start of voting through legal challenges, administrative maneuvers and, critics say, outright intimidation."

+ Judge strikes down North Dakota’s ban on abortion.

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In Cold Bud

"One of the things that a lot of companies are trying to do is not be the next Bud Light." Jessica Guynn in USA Today: This anti-DEI activist is targeting LGBTQ rights. Some major companies are listening.

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Flea the People

"Regret is an inevitable part of the 127. Should’ve bought that T. rex cookie jar, that ironstone pitcher, that surfboard, that sleigh. These laments often surface on the 127’s Facebook page, along with images of prized finds. The other day, one of the group’s eighty thousand members posed a question to a man who’d posted video of freshly acquired Depression-era glassware in a garage that was already full of it: 'What do you do with your newfound loot? Resell it?' The man replied, 'I just collect. My kids are nervous about my dying.' Another shopper’s tableau included retro yard furniture, a metal ice-cream bucket, corroded playground animals, a shamrock sign, a butter roller, a Hoosier cabinet, and, literally, a kitchen sink. She captioned the photo 'Spending my kids’ inheritance one junk sale at a time.'" The World’s Longest Yard Sale runs for six hundred and ninety miles. It gives new meaning to shop til you drop. Paige Williams in The New Yorker: Land of the Flea.

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Extra, Extra

Long Arm of the Lawless: "Iran’s alleged reliance on criminals rather than covert operatives underscored an alarming evolution in tactics by a nation that U.S. and Western security officials consider one of the world’s most determined and dangerous practitioners of 'transnational repression,' a term for governments’ use of violence and intimidation in others’ sovereign territory to silence dissidents, journalists and others deemed disloyal." WaPo (Gift Article): Iran turns to Hells Angels and other criminal gangs to target critics. As we learned a couple weeks ago, the strategy of reaching into Western countries is not limited to Iran. WaPo: How China extended its repression into an American city.

+ Night Night: The FBI has been quite overworked lately. Well, specifically the FBI units focused on NYC Mayor Eric Adams' administration and appointees. NYC police commissioner resigns amid nightclub probe. "Caban's phone was seized last week around the same time that FBI agents raided the homes of top Adams administration officials as part of a separate probe."

+ Stupid Does: Bomb threats reported at multiple buildings in Springfield, Ohio. (The eating dogs nonsense that should have immediately destroyed the Trump/Vance candidacy is not just crazy, it's dangerous.)

+ Floating a Check: "A tech billionaire popped out from a SpaceX capsule hundreds of miles above Earth and performed the first private spacewalk Thursday, a high-risk endeavor once reserved for professional astronauts."

+ Time to De-Deshaun: "His ability to play quarterback in the NFL — or expected ability to play quarterback in the NFL — allowed his professional career to survive lawsuits from, and accusations of sexual misconduct by, nearly two dozen women — mostly massage therapists — in Houston. Despite ugly, troubling details and a looming NFL suspension, Cleveland shipped three first-round draft picks, one third-rounder and two fourth-round picks to the Texans in exchange for Watson. The Browns then signed Watson to a fully guaranteed, five-year, $230 million deal. It was the ultimate sign of talent trumping everything. Even in the NFL, where shame doesn’t exist, it was a breathtaking, bottomline deal." The Browns put all the sexual assaults aside when signing Deshaun Watson. But now he's terrible on the field, too. Will the Browns finally care about what he allegedly does off it? (Deshaun Watson reportedly facing new sexual assault lawsuit.)

+ Smoked Out: The Best, Worst, and Most Surprising Moments of the 2024 MTV VMAs. The smoke machine pumping during the Shawn Mendes performance looked like my apartment in the 90s. In other news, lip synching hasn't improved.

+ Wanted, Dead or Alive: "The 62-year-old singer happened to be filming a music video for his song 'The People’s House' on the bridge ... At one point, he noticed a woman in blue standing nearby on the outside ledge." Jon Bon Jovi helps talk a woman off the ledge of a bridge. Ledge-endary.

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Bottom of the News

The Adorable and the Fierce Star in the 2024 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest.

+ For the second time in three weeks, Blue Jays pitcher Bowden Francis fell painfully short of a no-hitter.