We had a semi-lazy day yesterday; went up to Gooseberry Falls State Park for a walk in the woods.

I never tire of being near water.

A DeepDreamGenerator version of the same pic:

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:

Single Buyer Apes Into Mooch’s ETH Fund for $5.7M

Crypto ads no longer allowed on TikTok

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

How We'll Know When The COVID-19 Crisis Is Over

Minnesota to reduce COVID-19 vaccination sites after 70% goal reached

Right-wing anti-vaccine hysteria hits fever pitch as Nazi comparisons grow

Politics:

Stomping on a Pro-Police Sign Is a Hate Crime?

A 19-year-old woman was charged Friday with a hate crime accusing her of stomping on a pro-police sign and throwing it in the trash — all in front of an officer who had just given her friend a speeding ticket.

Trump’s War on Truth Has Been Remarkably Successful

U.S. Stops Jailing Pregnant Migrants

The new directive, announced Friday, does not bar Immigration and Customs Enforcement from initiating proceedings to deport women who are pregnant, nursing or have given birth within the past year. But they generally would no longer be detained pending the outcome of their cases except under ‘exceptional circumstances,’ the agency said. The practice of detaining pregnant migrants has been condemned as a threat to maternal and fetal health by immigrant and women’s advocacy groups critical of medical care at detention centers.

Haitian opposition leader hired DC lobbyist two days before president’s assassination.

Just a coincidence, of course.

Robert E. Lee Statue Removed In Charlottesville

A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was hoisted away from its place of prominence in Charlottesville on Saturday and carted off to storage, years after its threatened removal became a rallying point for white supremacists and inspired their violent 2017 rally that left a woman dead and dozens injured.

Texas man who waited seven hours at polls is charged with voting illegally

The Virginia GOP, Larry Sabato and The Fall of The House of Bothsides

…the two parties are simply not equal. They don’t function in the same way. Despite its history and current branding the modern GOP is not just another center-right party of government, such as exists under different labels in every functioning modern democracy. It’s something different. It now functions like one of the revanchist, rightist sectarian parties which also exist in most multi-party European democracies. Under the most generous read they play different roles. The fact that the GOP is substantively the latter (rightist sectarian party) while structurally occupying the space of the former (center-right party of government) is the essence of the United States’ current crisis of democracy. It is a good and proper thing to have a mode of commentary that is as free as possible not only of partisan commitments but the ideological commitments and opinions which are closely situated to the political contests of the moment. It is useful. But especially in the early 21st century the Republican party has simply given people who want to occupy this ground no place to stand. The culture of lying is simply too deep in the fabric. The rejection of democracy itself, let alone the culture of norms in which it best thrives, is too total.

Serendipity:

Pacific Northwest Heatwave Caused by Climate Change

A consortium of international scientists found that the recent Pacific Northwest heat wave was implausible if not for climate change, but also that temperatures soared so high that they exceeded what scientists thought were statistically likely today. Scientists pegged the heat wave as a 1-in-1,000-year event in today’s climate.

Supermarkets Are Stockpiling Inventory as Food Costs Rise

America’s Forgotten Mass Imprisonment of Women Believed to Be Sexually Immoral

South Dakota AG Claims His Crash Victim Wanted to Die

^{Badge thanks to @arcange}

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