A lone geneticist, in a small mid-west town, uncovers a wildfire outbreak of covid-19 at the huge Agri Star meat-packing plant — that the plant & the state of Iowa make every effort to cover up.
2/ So many great moments of reporting & writing in this story of how the genetic code of the coronavirus can be used to track the outbreak.
The virus is so adept that 'in 24 hours it can fill a human's respiratory tract with a trillion copies of itself.'
3/ The state of Iowa waited so long to acknowledge the outbreak at Agri Star — well more than 150 cases in a single factory — that by the time reporters started asking questions, Iowa law said the state could remain silent.
Because the outbreak was no longer 'active.'
4/ The geneticist who uncovered the outbreak, and linked cases across a 6-county region (and then across the country) to the Agri Star plant — he made maps and charts that he hung on the walls of his lab, tracking who had what strain of virus.
5/ This is a new genre of journalism: investigative feature writing.
A story of how a big company in a small town worked with the state government to protect itself, & the government — & not the people of Postville or Iowa.
2/ Pulte's father & stepmother, Mark & Julie Pulte, claimed primary residences on homes in Michigan & Florida, in order to get real-estate tax breaks on each house.
When Reuters called Bloomfield Hills, MI, city officials to ask about the dual 'primary residence' claim, tax officials revoked the tax break that day.
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3/ This @Reuters scoop on Bill Pulte's own family using the same slightly dodgy — but very common — technique to get real estate benefits follows reporting yesterday from ProPublica.
Three Trump Cabinet members claim 2 primary residences as well.
The world has gotten strange, unsettling, really…wrong.
Republican politicians, led by Pres. Trump, have now forced out presidents at 5 leading US universities—top rank scholars resigning under political pressure.
• Harvard
• Penn
• Columbia
• UVA
• Northwestern
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2/ All in the space of 20 months.
If you're curious what creeping Hungary-style authoritarianism looks like...well: This is it.
Really…do we want Donald Trump picking who leads Harvard, Columbia, Northwestern?
Isn't that the job of boards of trustees at those schools?
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3/ Trump is flexing his authority and influence and 'command & control' instincts in an unlimited way during this 2nd term.
What's surprising is how often institutions we thought were granite-solid have crumpled.
Two satellites have changed the game in the last 10 years for farmers, scientists, oil & gas companies, other companies.
They are the OCO satellites—Orbiting Carbon Observatories.
Used daily.
The Trump Administration has ordered one destroyed, the other turned off.
Why?
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2/ The Trump Administration won't say why it ordered NASA to destroy the free-flying OCO-2 (launched 2014), & why it wants the instruments mounted on the space station (in 2019, OCO-3) decommissioned.
They cost minimal money to operate.
Congress has ordered them funded.
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3/ Companies & farmers rely on them all day, every day to make smart business decisions.
They monitor plant growth worldwide & CO2 emissions.
Wait…could that be it?
They are the only dedicated US gov't satellite operations that monitor Earth carbon emissions from space.
Here's how crazy, broken & deceitful our federal budget process is.
Do you like some of the sweet elements of the 'big beautiful bill'...?
>No tax on tips
> No tax on overtime
> Reduced tax on Social Security
>Tax deductible interest on new car loans
Well, not for long —>
2/ Every one of those provisions only lasts until Dec 31, 2028.
Four full tax years—2025, 26, 27, 28.
There's a touch of MAGA politics there: Look what Donald Trump gave you! It ends when he leaves the White House.
But mostly it's completely fanciful, fake 'accounting.'
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3/ Those provisions—no tax on tips & overtime, lower taxes on Social Security, tax deductible interest on auto loans—those changes are so expensive, if the House & Senate were to simply make them law, they raise the deficit so much, that they aren't allowed in this bill.
If you're an especially talented graduate student in STEM, you can get a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help pay for graduate school.
These are competitive, much sought-after awards called NSF GRFPs.
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2/ You apply as you head to grad school. NSF awards about 4,000 a year—but each fellowship is for 3 to 5 years of funding.
The award is tuition + a small stipend to reduce the need to TA.
Students get the grants, but in practice, they go straight to universities from NSF.
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3/ These are prestigious. Yes, you're in to Michigan or Texas or Stanford or MIT—and top of that, you got an NSF GRFP to pay for a couple years.
If you’re curious when fascism arrives in the US, it has. A US President attacking individual companies & institutions by name—and threatening ‘punishment’ if they don’t comply with his whims.
6 days ago: Walmart
Yesterday: Harvard
Today: Apple — *must* make iPhones in US
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2/ That’s not the way American democracy & capitalism work. Trump doesn’t get to decide what Walmart charges for back-to-school supplies.
Trump doesn’t get to decide who enrolls at Harvard.
Trump doesn’t tell Apple where to make products.
This is the test.
Right. Now.
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3/ Trump didn’t pick small, less powerful, less well-known organizations.
Walmart.
Harvard.
Apple.
Everyone in the whole world knows those names. Knows those brands. Knows they are the pinnacle of American achievement.
Those are the places Trump is maliciously attacking.