Extra, Extra
November Choice: “With the Florida Supreme Court’s decision Monday night upholding an existing 15-week ban and allowing a strict new six-week ban to take effect in 30 days, the court has cut off nearly all abortion access across the South, where all other states have either implemented similar bans or outlawed abortion entirely since Roe v. Wade was overturned.” WaPo (Gift Article): Florida abortion ruling leaves women with few options. “Anya Cook, who nearly died after she was denied an abortion under Florida’s existing 15-week ban in 2022, had a message Monday for women in the Sunshine State who now encounter pregnancy complications after the six-week mark. ‘Run, because you have no help here.'” (Run, but come back and vote in November when this issue is on the ballot in Florida.)
+ Do Your Own Research: “The paper has amassed more than 1,000 citations, been mentioned in some 60 policy statements and is widely considered a seminal paper in long COVID research, owing to its in-depth analysis.” But this was no ordinary paper. It was led by long Covid patients running out of patience. Nature: Long COVID still has no cure — so these patients are turning to research.
+ A Peak Eclipse Now: “If you’re in the center of the moon’s shadow, known as the totality, the sky will go dark for a few minutes in the middle of the day. The temperature will drop, stars will appear, and birds will become confused and start chirping their nighttime songs.” The total solar eclipse is returning to the United States — better than before. Some people think the surest bet for a good view is from the sky. Time: Why These Passengers Are Flying up to 30 Hours to See Four Minutes of the Eclipse.
+ Eco Warriors: “The group formed a circle as Finger laid out the day’s targets. On a G.P.S., he pointed to a yellow circle showing where the isolados had been harassed in the TikTok video, and then red dots, representing the miners, in an irregular cluster around them. Miners had been detected roughly eight miles from the isolados—meaning that they had penetrated dangerously far into a protected ecosystem. ‘Wherever they go, the miners destroy everything, entire river systems,’ Finger said indignantly. ‘And they do it at the expense of these highly vulnerable people.'” Jon Lee Anderson in The New Yorker: The Brazilian Special-Forces Unit Fighting to Save the Amazon.
+ Econ 101: “Many prospective students this year are facing significant delays and anxiety in finding out how much aid they will be offered by colleges due to major problems with the rollout of a new U.S. Department of Education online form that was supposed to make applying for federal aid easier.” Financial aid packages decisions have been delayed in a year when tuition is reaching new heights. College will cost up to $95,000 this fall.
+ It’s My Party and I’ll Lie if I Want To: RFK Jr. Lays Out Argument That Biden’s a Bigger Threat to Democracy Than Trump. Self-interested a–holes are really having a moment.
+ Waxing Lyrical: “More than 200 musical artists — including heavy hitters such as Billie Eilish, Katy Perry and Smokey Robinson — have penned an open letter to AI developers, tech firms and digital platforms to ‘cease the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.'” This isn’t a legal action, just a friendly request. So the artists shouldn’t be surprised if the response is a form letter composed by ChatGPT.
