Important Takeaways:
- Per the NWS:
- An ongoing heat wave will continue today and Tuesday from much of the Great Plains to the lower Mississippi River Valley and into northern Florida. Dangerous heat is also expected in southern California and Puerto Rico. Scattered severe thunderstorms will be possible over parts of the Upper Midwest today with destructive wind gusts possible for parts of Minnesota into Wisconsin.
- Temperatures are expected to soar into the 90s and 100s, and the heat index could reach as high as 110 degrees in some of these areas, including New Orleans.
- As an upper-level trough moves over the northeastern U.S., bringing relief from the heat over the weekend, a broad upper-level ridge will build over the central/western U.S., shifting the focus for the ongoing heat wave to the Southeast, Mid-South, and central/southern Plains early this week. Forecast high temperatures will continue to soar into the upper 90s over the region, with low 100s possible over the central Plains. When combined with the humidity, heat index values may reach as high as 110, prompting widespread Heat Advisories. Meanwhile, low temperatures will mostly remain in the mid- to upper 70s, bringing little relief from the heat overnight. The arrival of this more intense heat early in the Summer season leads to a higher level of heat-related stress, especially for those outdoors and without reliable air conditioning available.
- The New York Times noted that the heat index reached 104 in Philadelphia on Sunday, breaking a record made in 1888. Trenton, New Jersey saw a heat index of 103 that same day. However, the heat index in both areas is expected to remain in the 80s on Monday.
- The heat index in Jacksonville, Florida area is expected to range from 102 to 110 degrees on Monday. As a result of the extreme heat, the City of Jacksonville is giving a tour of its cooling center.
- Further, Salina, Kansas is expected to hit a heat index of 108 degrees, and Missouri will see heat indexes exceed 100 across the entirety of the state
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According to Wikipedia: Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement that advocates the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that can greatly enhance longevity, cognition, and well-being
Important Takeaways:
- Brain power: Swiss startup powers computers with mini human brains
- Swiss tech startup FinalSpark is now selling access to biocomputers that combine up to four tiny lab-grown human brains with silicon chips.
- This new bioprocessing platform, called the Neuroplatform, uses small versions of human brains to do computer work instead of silicon chips. The company says it can fit 16 of these mini-brains onto the Neuroplatform and use a fraction of the energy required to power a traditional set up.
- The platform, currently adopted by nine institutions, integrates hardware, software and biology to construct a processing system that is energy-efficient and high-performing.
- “[The Neuroplatform] enables researchers to test ideas without having to setup a biological lab and hire all the dedicated personnel,” Jordan said.
- The lab is available to researchers 24/7, uses real human neurons and uses the Python programming language, creating a “dream bridge between biology and data scientists,” according to Jordan.
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Important Takeaways:
- His comments come after Seoul said it was considering such a possibility, in response to Russia and North Korea’s new pact to help each other in the event of “aggression” against either country.
- Moscow “will… [make] decisions which are unlikely to please the current leadership of South Korea” if Seoul decides to supply arms to Kyiv
- Mr. Putin also warned that Moscow is willing to arm Pyongyang if the US and its allies continue supplying Ukraine with weapons.
- Following Mr. Putin’s remarks, South Korea’s presidential office said on Friday it would consider “various options” in supplying arms to Ukraine and its stance will “depend on how Russia approaches this issue.”
- The two Koreas are still technically at war and maintain a heavily guarded border, where tensions have worsened in recent weeks.
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Important Takeaways:
- Leading shipping groups have urged governments “with influence” to put a stop to Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea after a second freighter sank this week.
- At least three seafarers have been killed in the attacks so far. The latest sinking is likely to have led to another death
- “It is deplorable that innocent seafarers are being attacked while simply performing their jobs, vital jobs which keep the world warm, fed, and clothed,” the shipping associations said in their statement.
- “This is an unacceptable situation, and these attacks must stop now. We call for states with influence in the region to safeguard our innocent seafarers and for the swift de-escalation of the situation in the Red Sea,” they added.
- The Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels, based in Yemen, started launching drone and missile strikes on vessels in the Red Sea in November in what they say is revenge against Israel’s war in Gaza. They have since also seized one vessel and its crew, who are still being held hostage.
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Important Takeaways:
- It may become the season’s next storm or depression.
- It will likely bring heavy rain to Mexico, but will have less impacts in Texas.
- The National Hurricane Center is tracking a new disturbance over the Yucatan Peninsula that will emerge in the southwest Gulf of Mexico.
- Alberto was a very large system, and that allowed it to dump heavy rainfall and spread storm surge from eastern Mexico to the Upper Texas Coast. Some areas in eastern Mexico saw more than 6 inches of rain, while Rockport, Texas, saw nearly 10 inches.
- The next two names on the list are Beryl and Chris.
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Important Takeaways:
- Biden’s relatively open border makes it difficult to assess, much less avoid the risk of terrorism
- What is the risk of a terrorist attack in the United States perpetrated by foreign nationals released at the border or paroled in by the Biden administration? No one knows.
- Risk is an estimate, like the number of “gotaways” who sneak into the country undetected every year. It’s not a calculation, like the 194 known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) actually caught entering illegally in Fiscal Year 2024 so far, which Customs and Border Protection (CBP) counts.
- We know that many Americans have had their lives ended or blighted by foreign nationals who had no right to be here. Children have been raped, like a 13-year-old girl in New York City last week. Women like Kayla Hamilton, murdered by members of violent gangs. Mothers like Rachel Morin whose death has allegedly been the result of murder by a man from El Salvador. Victims of drunk drivers like Ignacio Cruz-Mendoza, who had already been sent back to Mexico 16 times when he killed Scott Miller.
- Despite the obvious risk, our government seems so oblivious to potential disaster that they are allowing in, with no verification of their identity or criminal history back home – thousands of people every day (many of them young men) at our borders.
- On top of this, they are paroling another 1,400 a day. From all over the world, but particularly Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
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Important Takeaways:
- The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a federal law that prohibits people subjected to domestic violence restraining orders from having firearms
- The ruling indicates that some longstanding gun laws are likely to survive despite the court’s 2022 decision that expanded gun rights by finding for the first time that there is a right to bear arms outside the home under the Constitution’s Second Amendment.
- Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that since the United States was founded “our nation’s firearm laws have included provisions preventing individuals who threaten physical harm to others from misusing firearms.”
- The provision at issue in the case “fits comfortably within this tradition,” he added.
- In reaching its conclusion, the court did not embrace some of the arguments made by the Biden administration in defense of the law, including that the government can disarm people who are not “responsible.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Heat wave scorching eastern states with little relief from sweltering temps
- Record-setting temperatures have already baked much of New England and parts of the Midwest, with little hope of relief into the weekend. Heat indexes — which factor in temperature and humidity — hit between 100 and 110 degrees in some places Thursday.
- The temperature is forecast to rise in the mid-Atlantic, through the mid-90s Friday and perhaps into the 100s Saturday, with 64 million people still under heat alerts in the region and “record-tying or breaking temperatures possible”
- Elsewhere, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 51 Texas counties after the first named storm of the hurricane season, Alberto, made landfall in Mexico bringing heavy rain.
- On the West Coast, some 26 million people were under heat alerts in California. And in New Mexico a pair of wildfires have forced thousands of people to evacuate, destroyed 1,400 structures and led to the deaths of at least two people.
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Important Takeaways:
- Netanyahu says it was ‘absolutely necessary’ to publicly air criticism of White House
- Asked about his controversial video message criticizing the White House over what he said was a holdup in weapons shipments, Netanyahu says that “we began to see that we had some significant problems emerging a few months ago. And in fact, we tried, in many, many quiet conversations between our officials and American officials, and between me and the president to try to iron out this diminution of supply.”
- The prime minister claimed however that he was not “able to solve it” even after raising it with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit to Israel, and therefore “I felt that airing it was absolutely necessary after months of quiet conversation that did not solve the problem.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Putin offered to supply fossil fuels including natural gas to Vietnam for the long term during a state visit that comes as Moscow is seeking to bolster ties in Asia to offset its growing international isolation over its military actions in Ukraine.
- The two countries also agreed to work on a roadmap for a nuclear science and technology center in Vietnam.
- Of the 12 publicly announced agreements, none overtly pertained to defense. But Lam said there were other deals that were not made public.
- Putin’s recent visits to China and now North Korea and Vietnam are attempts to “break the international isolation,”
- Russia is the biggest supplier of military equipment to the Southeast Asian nation, and Russian oil exploration technologies help maintain Vietnam’s sovereignty claims in the contested South China Sea.
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