102 days remain until the November midterm elections.
|
Today’s comic by Ruben Bolling is The top-secret, true story of the Trump-Putin meeting:
• Study indicates targeting amyloid plaques in the brain my be key to defeating Alzheimer’s: The study found that BAN2401, an anti-amyloid antibody, slowed the progression of the disease and reduced how much amyloid collected in the brains of 856 patients afflicted with early Alzheimer’s. After 18 month, the patients who had received the highest dosage showed an 81 percent reduction in amyloid buildup—as measured by PET scans—and a 30 percent reduction in clinical indicators of early Alzheimer’s. Nearly 6 million Americans over 65 suffer from Alzheimer’s.
• A $40 million yacht owned Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was set adrift in Ohio: One of 10 boats the DeVos family owns, the 163-foot “Seaquest” yacht was untied at the Huron Boat Basin and cast adrift. A police report stated that the yacht hit a dock and caused $5,000-$10,000 in damage. No suspects have been identified.
MIDDAY TWEET
• FEMA has given people a heads-up that flood insurance rates are going up: Climate change is already having big impacts on coastal cities. One of those is the increase in floods and flood severity. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has sent a letter that could persuade a few climate-science deniers they’re wrong. The letter says premiums for coverage under the subsidized National Flood Insurance Policy could rise by as much as 18 percent a year. In addition, FEMA is considering switching to risk-based premiums in 2020. In places subject to more and more major flooding as global warming raises sea levels, that could mean an increase in premiums of thousands of dollars a year as the federal subsidy is removed.
• A metaphor for something or other.
• With help from European nations, Iran may dodge reimposed sanctions: In less than two weeks, the U.S. will reimpose the first round of economic sanctions on Iran that were removed as part of the 2015 nuclear agreement. On August 6, reimposed sanctions will prohibit: Iran’s government from acquiring U.S. dollar banknotes; trade in gold and other precious metals; sales and transfer of aluminum, steel, coal, and graphite; and trade related to Iran's automotive sector. Come November 4, sanctions on oil and banking will be reimposed. But France, Germany, and the U.K.—all signers of the nuclear agreement—have already told Iran they are considering opening up channels in their central banks so that Iran can do business in sterling and euros, thus bypassing the dollar altogether. China, on the other hand, which is already the biggest importer by far of Iranian oil, could greatly soften the impact of sanctions on the Islamic republic’s oil industry simply by replacing the 400,000 barrels a day of U.S. oil it imports with Iranian supplies. In fact, the U.S.-China trade war has already reduced China’s oil imports from the United States.
• Six species at risk from GOP-led efforts to eviscerate the Endangered Species Act. Who will benefit from this? The oil and gas industry, natch.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Greg Dworkin has a raft of polls to round up, plus the usual: Trump's a traitor & there's a boatload of evidence. Rosenstein impeachment is designed to fail. Engineering a "Dems in disarray" story: Clyburn’s not shooting, and Ocasio-Cortez isn’t cutting.