Elon Musk's Sunday Night Bedtime Stories
Elon Musk defends "Dilbert" by calling the media "racist," new evidence COVID did start with a lab leak in China, SCOTUS to hear the student loan forgiveness case and MTG's math just doesn't add up
Good evening in this last hour (EST) of Sunday, February 26, 2023. It was 30 years ago today that terrorists bombed the World Trade Center and killed six people, a story I covered as a young producer at NY1 News. The Twin Towers remained standing despite the giant crater caused by the truck bomb that exploded in an underground parking garage. Little did we know what would come just eight years later, on September 11, 2001. Let us not forget 2/26/93.
And now, some stories you’ll want to know about before bedtime.
Here Now the News
REPORT: U.S. DEPT. OF ENERGY SAYS LAB LEAK LIKELY ORIGIN OF COVID: That’s according to a classified intelligence report given to the White House and key members of Congress.
The DOE now agrees with the FBI, in saying the virus likely spread via a mishap at a Chinese laboratory.
However, four other agencies, along with a national intelligence panel, still believe it was the result of natural transmission from bats in a Wuhan market, and two others are undecided. —The Wall Street Journal
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SNOW AND RAIN, HIGH WINDS IN SOUTHERN PLAINS: NBC News
FIVE DAYS WITHOUT POWER IN MICHIGAN WITH ANOTHER ICE STORM ON THE WAY: The New York Times
STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS HEARING BEFORE SUPREME COURT TUESDAY: Washington Post
WILL EUROPEAN UNION AND U.K. STRIKE A DEAL MONDAY ON NORTHERN IRELAND? — Politico
Politicukoos
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE CAN’T COUNT: “6 Billion people illegally crossed our border since Biden took office,” the congresswoman from Georgia tweeted, then deleted, probably after someone informed her that the world’s total population is eight billion people. — The Independent
REQUIRING GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TO MAKE “LOYALTY PLEDGE” IS A “NO BRAINER:” So says the Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who is pushing for candidates to promise to back the party’s ultimate nominee in order to participate in primary debates. Good luck with that, Ronna. BTW, have you met Donald Trump?— CNN
HealthWatch
CDC WARNS OF SPREAD OF DRUG-RESISTANT BACTERIA AMONG ADULTS: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a health advisory to warn the public of an increase of a drug-resistant bacteria called Shigella.
Infections of this bacteria, known as shigellosis, can cause a fever, abdominal cramping, tenesmus and bloody diarrhea.
The bacteria can be spread by a fecal-oral route, person-to-person contact, and contaminated food and water.
While more commonly seen in children, the CDC is concerned because it has started to see more of the antimicrobial-resistant infections in adult populations — especially in men who have sex with men, people experiencing homelessness, international travelers and people living with HIV. —CNN
RESEARCHERS DETERMINE WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE ARE ANTIVAXXERS: According to the new study, individuals who struggle with problem-solving and demonstrate absolutist thinking, political conservatism, and xenophobia are more likely to refuse to get vaccinated. Also, DUH. —Psypost
OMG News
ELON MUSK: MEDIA IS “RACIST AGAINST WHITES…” The Tesla and Twitter chief blasted media outlets for dropping Scott Adams’s comic strip, “Dilbert,” after the cartoonist’s rant against Black people. In a YouTube video last week, Adams said that white people should “get the hell away from Black people.” Replying to tweets about the controversy, Musk said it is actually the American news media that is “racist against whites & Asians.” Musk offered no criticism of Adams’s comments, in which the cartoonist called Black people a “hate group” and said, “I don’t want to have anything to do with them.”
As the Washington Post reported, the billionaire’s comments continue a pattern of Musk expressing more concern about the “free speech” of people who make racist or antisemitic comments than about the comments themselves. Musk’s views on race have been the subject of scrutiny both at Twitter, where he has reinstated far-right accounts, including those of neo-Nazis and others previously banned for hate speech, and at Tesla, which has been the subject of multiple lawsuits alleging a culture of rampant racism and sexual harassment in the workplace.
NEWSPAPERS DROPPING “DILBERT:” The New York Times
THE MYTH OF REVERSE RACISM: Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre
News from Spaaaaace
LOOK! UP IN THE SKY! SPACE X CREW TO BLAST OFF OVERNIGHT: SpaceFlightNow
RUSSIAN SOYUZ ARRIVES AT INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION TO RESCUE STRANDED CREW: Engadget
Star Trek Corner
EASTER EGG IN PICARD SEASON 3 PART 2: Is it a reference to Star Trek Deep Space Nine’s long lost Captain Sisko, or just a baseball? —ScreenRant
HOW TO WATCH THE FIRST EPISODE OF STAR TREK PICARD SEASON 3 FOR FREE: The Verge
HOW TO VIEW THE ENTIRE SEASON AND PAST STAR TREK EPISODES: Click here to subscribe to Paramount+
That’s all for tonight! Your Monday morning edition of RiseUP will pop into subscribers’ inboxes with much more news to start your day, at 7 a.m. EST. Until then, good night, and good luck!
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