Links for you. Science:

Everyone in California seems to be sick with respiratory illness. Here’s why
Thanks, Neanderthals: How our ancient relatives could help find new antibiotics
Natural Born Killers: Arson, acid, and the deadly war against abortion rights
New Genomics Databases Could Drive Major Breakthroughs
A new variant of the colistin resistance gene MCR-1 with co-resistance to β-lactam antibiotics reveals a potential novel antimicrobial peptide (lab mutant; I couldn’t find it in GenBank)
Israeli Soldier Dies of Superbug Infection From Contaminated Gaza Soil: The unnamed person was one of several being treated for drug-resistant infections following clashes in Gaza (fungal infection)

Other:

Homicides in U.S. set to drop by record numbers this year
GOP’s Biggest Losers of 2023: Lauren “Short of My Values” Boebert
Bucks County mom behind conservative school movement charged with assault, giving teens alcohol (she’s not just a “mom”, she’s a former Republican lieutenant governor candidate)
Fake Twang: How White Conservatism Stole Country Music
GOP’s Biggest Loser of 2023 Moms for Liberty has us asking: How many sex tapes are there? “You deserve to be fired”: Amid a growing sex scandal, founder Bridget Ziegler was just confronted by a gay student
Mass General Brigham bringing back mask mandate, as Boston-area COVID wastewater surges and infections rise
How Trump Is Laying The Groundwork For A Coopted Military, Now And In 2025
D.C. Crime Lab Regains Partial Accreditation After Nearly Three Years
Who are the Israeli refuseniks picking jail over the Gaza war?
Reports analyzing the police response to a mass shooting can leave unanswered questions
Courts
COVID-19–Related School Closures, United States, July 27, 2020–June 30, 2022
A.I. Came for Our Jobs, Our Art, and Our Souls. Now It’s Coming for Our Birds.
DeSantis’ 2023: More Than $160 Million Spent To Buy A Collapse In The Polls
Maybe The Best Way To Oppose Fascism Is To Fucking Oppose It: Stop with the appeasement, you quisling motherfuckers.
The History of Cartography, the “Most Ambitious Overview of Map Making Ever,” Is Free Online
The Thomas-Trump conflict hiding in plain sight
Caribbean Matters: Democratic Rep. Nydia Velázquez calls for an end to the Monroe Doctrine
Teachers Search for New Strategies and Supports as Migrant Students Are Enrolling in DC Public Schools
The New York Times Has an Edge in Suit Against OpenAI: To offer useful information, ChatGPT and other large language models need humans to report, vet and publish new facts. Who is going to pay for that? (good data are expensive)
Donald Trump removed from Maine primary ballot by secretary of state
“Reality Is Submerged in Fantasy”: The Villages Is a Boomer’s Utopia—And Demographic Time Bomb
Home-schoolers dismantled state oversight. Now they fear pushback.
Next up for Leonard Leo: Making your kid’s public school Christian
Public Christian schools? Leonard Leo’s allies advance a new cause
When Will A.I. Be Smart Enough to Thwart Violence? And do we really want it to?