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Turbo-Charged California Atmospheric River Storm Leaves 6 Dead (Maria)

The author writes, “A powerful atmospheric river weather system has mostly moved through California but not before causing at least six deaths and dousing much of the state. Early Monday lingering thunderstorms pose the risk of mudslides. … The climate crisis warming oceans is supercharging atmospheric river storms, making them deadlier and costlier.”

Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts (Russ)

From ProPublica: “The company is run by the husband of Noem’s chief DHS spokesperson and has personal and business ties to Noem and her aides. DHS invoked the ‘emergency’ at the border to skirt competitive bidding rules for the taxpayer-funded campaign.”

Record 40 Percent of Young Women Want To Flee US: Poll (Reader Jim)

The author writes, “A new survey found that a record number of young women are interested in fleeing the U.S. and moving abroad permanently. Gallup recently found for the second year in a row that approximately one in five Americans say they would like to leave the U.S. and move to another country permanently.  However, a growing number of young women expressed interest in fleeing the country. According to the polling firm, 40% of women ages 15 to 44 said they would move abroad permanently if given the opportunity. Gallup noted that in 2014, only one-quarter as many women of that age bracket expressed a desire to leave the country.”

The Imperial Legislature Loses Again (Al)

From Urban Milwaukee: “In the 2018 Wisconsin election Governor Scott Walker lost to Tony Evers and Attorney General Brad Schimel lost to Josh Kaul. In its subsequent ‘lame duck’ session, after the November election but prior to Evers and Kaul taking office the following January, the state Legislature passed several laws giving legislative committees veto powers over actions by the executive. … The laws giving legislative committees veto power have now been successfully challenged in two cases leading to three decisions by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.”

Inside the World of Leftist Gun Nuts (Laura)

From The Intercept: “When news broke that a Marine veteran running for U.S. Senate as a Democrat had taught military-style firearms courses to left-wing activists, many reacted in disbelief. Reddit posts revealed that Graham Platner — who’s running to try to flip the seat long held by Republican Susan Collins — not only joined the Socialist Rifle Association but even taught a ‘defensive handgun course’ for its members. A socialist-leaning gun club training with AR-15s, and a Democrat involved, might seem downright scandalous. But as an owner of one of America’s big scary black rifles, living in the most armed developed nation in the world, with a track record of targeted right wing domestic violence, I was more surprised that anyone was surprised at all. Why wouldn’t left-leaning Americans arm themselves?” 

Losing the Republican Base, Israel Pours Millions to Target Evangelicals and Churchgoers (Sean)

From Haaretz: “The Israeli government has signed contracts worth millions of dollars in recent months to rehabilitate Israel’s standing in American public opinion, both online and offline. Amid a sharp drop in support from the conservative right, Israel has hired firms to conduct not just ‘hasbara [public diplomacy] campaigns’ but also campaigns targeting millions of Christian churchgoers, bot networks to amplify pro-Israel messages online, and efforts to influence both search results and the responses given by popular AI services like ChatGPT.”

Scientists Are Pretty Sure They Found a Portal to the Fifth Dimension (Dana)

The author writes, “Scientists say they can explain dark matter by positing a particle that links to a fifth dimension. While the ‘warped extra dimension’ (WED) is a trademark of a popular physics model first introduced in 1999, this research, published in The European Physical Journal C, is the first to cohesively use the theory to explain the long-lasting dark matter problem within particle physics.”