Many of the Loop’s editors are news junkies–and we can’t cover it all for ourselves! We collect here interesting articles which received light coverage in mainstream USA media.
September 2023
Exploding watermelons blamed on climate change https://www.today.com/food/news/watermelons-exploding-foaming-rcna100186 Health impacts of microplastics https://www.sustainableplastics.com/news/microplastics-found-pass-blood-brain-barrier-even-though-ingested-drinking-water Pirates are back! In Oakland, California https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/boats-docked-at-oakland-marina-being-targeted-by-pirates/ Federal deficit balloons again https://www.axios.com/2023/09/04/federal-deficit-double-despite-economic-growth San Francisco so bad, federal workers told to stay away https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/drugs-crime-nancy-pelosi-federal-building-18292237.php Proposed: King County minimum wage of $19/hour https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/king-county-looks-at-19-minimum-wage-in-unincorporated-areas/
August 2023
Notre Dame's golden dome is coming back https://www.nd.edu/stories/golden-hour/ Solid tumor cancer treatment breakthrough AOH1966 patent granted, Phase 1 trial starts https://www.cityofhope.org/city-hope-scientists-develop-targeted-chemotherapy-able-kill-all-solid-tumors-preclinical-research Has The Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor Been Replicated? (With history as a guide, assume this is a material with exotic properties while not actually being a superconductor at room temperatures.) https://thedeepdive.ca/has-the-room-temperature-ambient-pressure-superconductor-been-replicated/ Facial recognition and false arrests https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/06/technology/facial-recognition-false-arrest.html AI Banned from Future Dungeons and Dragons books https://games.slashdot.org/story/23/08/06/197228/ai-generated-art-banned-from-future-dungeons-dragons-books-after-fan-uproar Leprosy in Florda? Yes, but... https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/hansens-psyop-saturday-august-5-2023 A deep dive into antioxidants, and why cows and pigs are immune to SARS-CoV-2 https://jessicar.substack.com/p/the-spike-protein-ace-2-cysteine
July 2023
CDC in 2020, based on evidence of CO2 buildup, recommended workers wear N95 respirators for no longer than 1 hour https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2020/06/10/ppe-burden/ Total aid to Ukraine so far https://minre.gov.ua/en/2023/06/29/170-billion-in-international-aid-to-ukraine/ The largest Lego fan convention in the Pacific NW comes to Bellevue https://www.brickcon.org They are watching and listening--via "your" Device https://www.azernews.az/region/212009.html Worked with US Special Forces in Afghanistan, even survived taking the last flight out. Loses his life to DC criminals. https://thenationalpulse.com/2023/07/08/afghan-interpreter-given-special-visa-after-bidens-withdrawal-shot-dead-by-d-c-thugs/ BRICS trade bloc looking at gold-backed currency https://bigleaguepolitics.com/brics-plans-to-introduce-gold-backed-currency-to-challenge-globalist-financial-system/ Bees are still not doing well at all https://survival.news/2023-06-29-us-beekeepers-lost-48-honey-bee-colonies-last-year.html Nevada license plate telling Californians to "go back" is pulled https://apnews.com/article/nevada-license-plate-recall-california-da72e2eb8a01b883c90e2dadc2d4766f Maine woman punches bear to protect her dog https://apnews.com/article/black-bear-woman-bitten-maine-1ad636d74a117e5db7297e44866a9499
June 2023
Are annual physicals a good idea? https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/9/26/13029358/annual-physical-tv-doctors-america WA's first Director of Equity fired https://www.king5.com/article/news/politics/investigation-inappropriate-workplace-behavior-former-equity-director/281-dc85cb3b-768e-4322-aec1-556e068d1290 Contamination in mRNA production https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/bio-shocks-monday-june-5-2023-c-and A popular sweetener is harmful? https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/researchers-discover-toxic-sweetener-damages-dna_5307637.html It's getting harder and harder to buy home insurance in California https://www.cbsnews.com/news/allstate-insurance-state-farm-california/ (Note that getting a home loan requires getting insurance. This could become a problem.)
May 2023
Military recruiting woes https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/05/02/we-are-going-fall-short-army-will-miss-its-recruiting-goal-year.html Bed Bath & Beyond declares bankruptcy https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/23/business/bed-bath-beyond-bankruptcy/index.html UK trying losing companies from its stock market exchange https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-proposes-simplify-rules-help-encourage-companies-list-uk New York City mayor breaks ranks on border crisis https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/29/eric-adams-new-york-immigration-00094491 Inslee leaving, Ferguson steps up https://www.axios.com/local/seattle/2023/05/02/inslee-replacement-wahington-governor https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-attorney-general-bob-ferguson-announces-campaign-for-governor/ Rivian R1T fender bender--$42k in repair costs https://www.thedrive.com/news/rivian-r1t-fender-bender-turns-into-42000-repair-bill
April 2023
USA cancels hypersonic missile program https://www.defensenews.com/air/2023/03/30/us-air-force-drops-lockheed-hypersonic-missile-after-failed-tests/ A trend to watch: "de-dollarization" https://www.aier.org/article/de-dollarization-has-begun/ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/why-regime-needs-dollar-be-global-reserve-currency Germany slows EV transition https://www.sae.org/news/2023/03/european-ice-ban WHO accuses China of hiding data relevant to Covid origins https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/17/health/covid-origins-who.html RESTRICT act is a lot more than a TikTok ban https://reason.com/2023/03/31/the-restrict-act-would-restrict-a-lot-more-than-tiktok/ Actor with major roles in John Wick, Bosch TV series, The Wire, Lost, Oz dies suddenly https://news.yahoo.com/lance-reddick-cause-death-disclosed-182407141.html
March 2023
The kids are not alright: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/13-numbers-show-how-dramatically-we-have-failed-americas-children Petition calling on DoJ to cease prosecution of Julian Assange https://cpj.org/2022/12/cpj-partners-send-letter-calling-for-us-to-drop-charges-against-julian-assange/ Taylor Swift has a surprising fan https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/attorney-general-merrick-garland-swiftie-1235279303/ California loses both people and tax base https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/02/california-population-exodus-housing/ Religion popping up in surprising places https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/asbury-kentucky-university-christian-revival/673176/ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/education/eric-adams-bemoans-prayers-out-schools-guns-came Viet Nam as a lens for Ukraine https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/does-it-take-a-war Hidden passage in Great Pyramid of Giza https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/most-important-discovery-21st-century-archeologists-find-hidden-corridor-great-pyramid-giza
February 2023
Ichtyiosaur maternity ward? https://apnews.com/article/science-nevada-5d178d49678731ddbee9e0b323c19d8b Critical to solar power and EVs are the many mined materials from Africa. The impact of such mining was the focus of recent meeting https://thegrayzone.com/2023/01/23/us-africa-summit-profits-mining/ UnitedHealthcare and the question of how cost affects their decisions https://www.propublica.org/article/unitedhealth-healthcare-insurance-denial-ulcerative-colitis CNET starts using AI to write their articles, faces a backlash, and "pauses" it https://www.theepochtimes.com/cnets-use-of-ai-to-write-articles-sparks-concern_4992346.html https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/01/20/230209/cnet-pauses-publishing-ai-written-stories-after-disclosure-controversy Big Tech layoffs, and the NSA swoops in https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-layoffs-reach-two-year-high-as-big-tech-cut-thousands-of-jobs-in-january_5029736.html https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/feb/3/nsa-wooing-thousands-laid-big-tech-workers-spy-age/ The UK military is precariously depleted https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/02/04/uk-military-would-run-out-of-ammo-in-just-one-day-of-fighting-russia-warns-general/ https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/british-army-no-longer-able-to-defend-uk-and-its-allies-us-general-warns/ar-AA16WSFW
January 2023
Congress passes bill forcing railroad compromise https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-signs-bill-block-us-railroad-strike-2022-12-02/ Government banning TikTok back in the news https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/29/tech/south-dakota-tiktok/index.html https://justthenews.com/government/security/sun-19-states-have-put-restrictions-or-banned-tiktok-due-national-security Russia launches a variety of new warships https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/missiles-deep-russia-just-launched-new-ballistic-missile-submarine-198661 https://www.thedefensepost.com/2022/12/29/russia-new-warships-submarines/ ...and orders more advanced anti-ship missiles https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2022/11/russia-orders-additional-tsirkon-hypersonic-missiles/ Unintended consequences of bad faith behind Minsk accords https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202212/1281708.shtml President of European Commission cites Ukraine KIA number, this part of her speech is subsequently trimmed from all media. https://news.yahoo.com/von-der-leyen-statement-death-163600213.html Twitter, now owned by Musk, provides new transparency into past decisions via "The Twitter Files" https://www.westernjournal.com/can-read-twitter-files-right/ Did the CIA kill John F. Kennedy? A generation-spanning question receives new life https://theintercept.com/2022/12/22/deconstructed-jfk-files-cia/ DEA announces record Fentanyl seizures in 2022 https://www.dea.gov/press-releases/2022/12/20/drug-enforcement-administration-announces-seizure-over-379-million-deadly Mysterious cell tower-like devices popping up around Salt Lake City https://ksltv.com/516749/why-are-antennas-popping-up-all-over-the-foothills-salt-lake-city-seeks-to-solve-mystery/ Many guesses are that these are nodes in the decentralized Helium network. Progress with the Notre Dame reconstruction https://aleteia.org/2023/01/06/notre-dame-cathedral-on-track-for-2024-reopening-spire-to-rise-in-2023/
December 2022
Who’s buying all this gold? https://www.marketplace.org/2022/11/22/somebodys-been-on-a-gold-buying-bender-its-not-clear-who-or-why/amp/
The tripledemic may not be as dangerous as feared https://www.science.org/content/article/competition-between-respiratory-viruses-may-hold-tripledemic-winter
Stanford president under investigation for academic fraud https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/education/stanford-president-under-investigation-after-school-newspaper-report
GE buys out NY Times’ entire advertising for a day–print, digital, even a custom wrapper for the paper https://www.axios.com/2022/12/06/ge-new-york-times-advertising-entire-paper-edition
TSMC hedging against possible China action? https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/06/tsmc-to-up-arizona-investment-to-40-billion-with-second-semiconductor-chip-plant.html
November 2022
Stripe cutting 14% of its workforce in preparation for “leaner times”. https://slashdot.org/story/22/11/03/1342250/stripe-cutting-headcount-by-14-as-it-readies-for-leaner-times
Egypt is a choke point for Internet cables. https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/11/03/1450215/why-egypt-became-one-of-the-biggest-chokepoints-for-internet-cables
Turkey experiencing hyperinflation. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkeys-inflation-hits-fresh-24-year-high-83-after-rate-cuts-2022-10-03/
USA fading influence over Saudi Arabia. https://news.yahoo.com/saudi-arabia-reiterates-commitment-china-000000903.html
October 2022
Notre Dame’s restoration is drawing on ancient and lost skills. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/20/notre-dame-cathedral-fire-rebuild-medieval-carpenters-guledon?CMP=share_btn_tw&fbclid=IwAR0NnTJ0QYZ5rswboMokhhkp3jmSJGBBFG0c3aEKRMMkKXoGdh_N1vaol2g
China is having their own mini-2008, and their citizens protest when they aren’t allowed to withdraw money from their own bank accounts. The government sends out police and… tanks? https://www.newsweek.com/video-chinese-tanks-protecting-banks-customers-prompts-rumors-1726696
Rural hospitals are doing so badly, some are almost being given away. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/08/some-rural-hospitals-are-in-such-bad-shape-local-governments-are-practically-giving-them-away.html
The UK approval document for Pfizer mRNA does not recommend it for the pregnant and nursing. (Scan down to the Toxicology section.) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulatory-approval-of-pfizer-biontech-vaccine-for-covid-19/summary-public-assessment-report-for-pfizerbiontech-covid-19-vaccine
Researchers are using “AI” to scan and integrate data sets of voter rolls, address changes, and property tax records to detect out of date voter registrations. This is an early article; the technology has evolved considerably. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/technology/unregistered-voter-rolls.html
Key Alzheimers origin of disease theory that has been the center of clinical research and funding for nearly 2 decades is probably a fraud. https://www.science.org/content/article/potential-fabrication-research-images-threatens-key-theory-alzheimers-disease?cookieSet=1