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Happy Birthday to Ruby Bridges, born Sep 8, 1954.

"The Problem We All Live With" is the title of this iconic painting by Norman Rockwell from 1964. On the wall behind Ruby Bridges are the words "nigger", the letters "KKK" and a smashed and splattered tomato.

It is a terrifying image, yet one that depicts young black Ruby as a pillar of strength, poised, unafraid, unperturbed, books and ruler in hand, walking into the future.

https://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/visualarts/civil-rights-icon-ruby-bridges-hall-discusses-norman-rockwells-famous/2226397/
More info at https://fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/113484464709295036
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The U.S. Starts Buying (Chicken) Eggs From Russia.
And Treasury issues a waiver for some diamonds.

"Little by little, Trump is rolling back sanctions meant to choke off Kremlin revenue, and the U.S. is quietly opening the door to Russian blood money."

But India is not allowed to buy oil from Russia? Or is that just an excuse to extract something of value from India?

https://olgalautman.substack.com/p/the-us-starts-buying-eggs-from-russia
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/us-turns-to-russia-for-chicken-eggs-for-the-first-time-in-32-years-despite-sanctions-to-cripple-its-economy/articleshow/123726523.cms?from=mdr
#Politics
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U.S. Open orders broadcasters to censor reactions to trump, who will be in attendance for the Men's Final on Sunday afternoon, where he will certainly get boo'd and jeered.

They cannot handle the Truth. So they suppress it.

https://www.benrothenberg.com/p/us-open-donald-trump-mens-final-attendance-visit-appearance-censorship-tv-booing-protest-jannik-sinner-carlos-alcaraz
#Politics #USOpen
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To see an Einstein Ring like no other, check out this thread for an amazing image by the venerable NASA Webb Space Telescope.
🤩
https://fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/114237334120362054
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The following diagram is my guess for why the two images for the other distant galaxy appear asymmetrically placed around the main Einstein Ring in post #1.

The other distant galaxy must be located slightly off-center from the line of sight through the intervening massive galaxy.

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The diagram below illustrates the principle of an Einstein ring, formed when light from a distant object en route to an observer is bent by gravitational forces of an intervening object (e.g., a galaxy). This occurs because a massive body bends spacetime, as predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity.

When the observer and objects are aligned, multiple images of the distant object can be seen in the shape of a ring.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_ring
https://galileo-unbound.blog/2021/04/05/the-lens-of-gravity-einsteins-rings/
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Astronomers have discovered a super massive black hole (SMBH) at the center of the well-known Cosmic Horseshoe Einstein Ring system.

Using gravitational lensing effects and stellar kinematics (how an SMBH affects the motion of stars around it) and data on asymmetrically placed lensed images of another distant galaxy, the mass of the SMBH is estimated at 36 billion solar masses, close to a new record. The galaxy itself is estimated at 5.2 trillion solar masses.

https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/541/4/2853/8213862?login=false
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How to move stock prices RFK Jr. style.

Health Secretary RFK Jr. plans to announce that pregnant women’s use of an over-the-counter pain medication (Tylenol) is potentially linked to autism in a report.

It will suggest that a medicine derived from folate can be used to treat symptoms of the developmental disorder in some people.

Kenvue Inc., maker of Tylenol, stock price fell 15% in afternoon trading but has recovered to -10% since then.

https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/rfk-jr-hhs-to-link-autism-to-tylenol-use-in-pregnancy-and-folate-deficiencies-e3acbb4c
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/05/rfk-tylenol-autism-kenvue-stock-for-url.html
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Another win (for now) for the rule of law.

Judge orders Trump administration to unfreeze nearly $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard Univ.

Federal Judge Allison Burroughs wrote -
"Defendants used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities, and did so in a way that runs afoul of the APA, the First Amendment and Title VI."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-orders-trump-administration-unfreeze-nearly-22-billion-federal-g-rcna228926
#Politics #Education
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"Moreover, Defendants violated the Posse Comitatus Act willfully.

Defendants knowingly contradicted their own training materials, which listed 12 functions that the Posse Comitatus Act bars the military from performing.

And they “coach[ed]” federal law enforcement agencies as to what language to use when submitting requests for assistance in an attempt to circumvent the Act.
"

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26080338-breyer-ruling-on-national-guard/
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"Congress spoke clearly in 1878 when it passed the Posse Comitatus Act, prohibiting the use of the U.S. military to execute domestic law.

Defendants deployed the Natl Guard and Marines to LA, ostensibly to quell a rebellion and ensure that federal immigration law was enforced.

There were indeed protests in LA, and some individuals engaged in violence. Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law."
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26080338-breyer-ruling-on-national-guard/
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A federal judge ruled today that trump and War Sec Pete Hegseth violated federal law by using the US military to help carry out law enforcement activities in and around LA this summer.

"Because there is an ongoing risk that Defendants will act unlawfully and thereby injure Plaintiffs, Governor Newsom and the State of California, the Court ENJOINS Defendants from violating the Posse Comitatus Act as detailed below ..."

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/02/politics/national-guard-california-trump-posse-comitatus-act-breyer
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26080338-breyer-ruling-on-national-guard/
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The COVID-19 virus strain that is dominating infections is known as XFG, aka Stratus.

It is a recombinant of two existing SARS-CoV-2 lineages LF.7 and LP.8.1.2.

According to WHO, "the additional public health risk posed by XFG is evaluated as low at the global level. Currently approved COVID-19 vaccines are expected to remain effective to this variant against symptomatic and severe disease."

https://www.cdc.gov/covid/php/variants/variants-and-genomic-surveillance.html
https://nextstrain.org/ncov/gisaid/global/6m
https://www.aussiepharmadirect.com.au/blogs/news/new-covid-variant-xfg-what-makes-stratus-different-and-what-to-expect
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/25062025_xfg_ire.pdf
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The CDC COVID Data Tracker is thankfully still operational.

It shows a concerning surge in COVID cases, especially in the South and West.

Vaccines are recommended by real experts in the field (not the fake ones in the CDC leadership team) to prevent serious infection. Check with your pharmacy for availability of the new vaccine.

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home
#COVID
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There are good chances for observing bright auroras tonight.

The current geomagnetic storm is caused by a long-duration M2.7 flare and coronal mass ejection (CME) belched out by the Sun on Sep 30, 20:02 UTC.

Of course, this is mild compared to the Carrington Event of 1859.

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
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September 1, 1859, the day earth experienced the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history - the Carrington Event .

It created strong auroras around the world and caused sparking and fires in telegraph stations.

Fun fact: Some telegraph stations were able to operate powered by the induced current of the aurora after having disconnected their power supplies!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679510&seq=403
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Map of COVID-19 vaccine availability at CVS pharmacies across states.

https://www.axios.com/2025/08/29/cvs-covid-vaccines-kennedy-rfk
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Walgreens requires a prescription for COVID-19 vaccines in AZ, IN, LA, MI, MO, NM, NY, OR, SC, UT, VA, WA, WV and WI.

CVS in AZ, CO, FL, GA, KY, LA, MA, NY, NC, PA, UT, VA, WV and DC. Not avail in MA, NV and NM.

In some states, the law prohibits pharmacists from administering vaccines not recommended by the CDC ACIP panel. The panel won't meet for another 3 weeks.

The CDC site has no info on the new rules; it is policy announcement by Twitter with this regime.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/well/cvs-pharmacy-covid-vaccine-16-states.html
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Adults under 65 now need to prove (presumably by a doctor's note) that they have one of the following medical conditions to qualify for the updated COVID-19 vaccines.

However, some of the conditions are quite common and one or more may apply to most of us. Such as 'inactivity" 🥱

https://www.cdc.gov/covid/risk-factors/index.html
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The gaslighting continues.

"RFK Jr suggested that antidepressants and other medical drugs were driving transgender people to embark on mass shootings."

Trans are the new scapegoats.

“There was no time in the past when people would walk into a church or a classroom and start shooting people."

Really? Data shows mass shootings in these venues have been taking place for decades.

“And it’s not really happening in other countries.”

Guns?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/rfk-jr-offers-bonkers-explanation-165412881.html
#Politics
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