U.S. prosecutors have filed a superseding indictment against Ghislaine Maxwell, former girlfriend, longtime business associate, and alleged co-perpetrator of crimes with the late serial rapist Jeffrey Epstein. (more…)

• Trump acknowledges for first time that in 2018, he okayed covert cyberattack against Russia’s Internet Research Agency, St. Petersburg-based troll farm that led Russian attacks on 2016 U.S. presidential election, and on 2018 midterms.

Donald Trump, for the first time, confirmed the United States conducted a covert cyberattack in 2018 against Russia's Internet Research Agency, and intelligence experts say — yikes, he probably wasn't supposed to reveal that information. (more…)

On Friday, the confirmed number of new COVID-19 cases rose by nearly 69,000 across the United States on Friday, according to Reuters, which is a new record high — and the third consecutive day of new record highs.

And yet, Disney is barrelling ahead with plans to reopen its theme parks in Orlando, Florida, a COVID-19 hot zone. Workers and public health experts are protesting, but the company's chief medical officer says it'll all be fine.

Sure thing.

From Reuters:

A total of eight U.S. states – Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Ohio, Utah and Wisconsin – also reached records for single-day infections.

In Texas, another hot zone, Governor Greg Abbott warned on Friday he may have to impose new clampdowns if the state cannot stem its record-setting caseloads and hospitalizations through masks and social distancing.

“If we don’t adopt this best practice it could lead to a shutdown of business,” the Republican governor told local KLBK-TV in Lubbock, adding it was the last thing he wanted.

California announced on Friday the state will release up to 8,000 inmates early from prisons to slow the spread of COVID-19 inside the facilities. At San Quentin State Prison, outside San Francisco, half of the facility’s roughly 3,300 prisoners have tested positive for the virus.

The Walt Disney Co. (DIS.N) said the theme parks in Orlando would open on Saturday to a limited number of guests who along with employees would be required to wear masks and undergo temperature checks. The park also cancelled parades, firework displays and events that typically draw crowds.

NASA's AIRS instrument captured this image of Tropical Storm Fay around 2 p.m. local time on July 10, 2020, as the storm swept through New England. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

From NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory:

Tropical Storm Fay is sweeping across New England, with the center of the storm making landfall about 10 miles (15 kilometers) north-northeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey, at around 5 p.m. local time. At that time, Fay had maximum sustained winds of around 50 mph (85 kph). Forecasters predicted the storm will dump up to 7 inches (18 centimeters) of rain along its path from Delaware into New Jersey.

NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) collected this image at around 2 p.m. local time on Friday, July 10. The purple regions indicate very cold clouds lofted high into the atmosphere by the storm and generally linked to heavy rainfall. Warmer clouds closer to the ground show up as green and blue, while the orange areas denote mostly cloud-free parts of the sky.

AIRS, together with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU), measures the infrared and microwave radiation emitted from Earth to study the planet's weather and climate. Both instruments observe Earth from NASA's Aqua satellite, which launched in 2002.

AIRS and AMSU work in tandem to make simultaneous observations down to Earth's surface, even in the presence of heavy clouds. With more than 2,000 channels sensing different regions of the atmosphere, the system creates a global, three-dimensional map of atmospheric temperature and humidity, cloud amounts and heights, greenhouse gas concentrations, and many other atmospheric phenomena. The AIRS and AMSU instruments are managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California under contract with NASA. JPL is a division of Caltech.

More information about AIRS can be found at:
https://airs.jpl.nasa.gov/

More at jpl.nasa.gov.

Late Friday evening, President Donald Trump commuted the prison sentence of his longtime political operative Roger Stone. (more…)

Donald Trump once boasted of being so rich he did not want campaign contributions from wealthy donors. Like everything he says, that was a lie. Here is where Donald Trump is on Friday night, July 10, as COVID-19 ravages America.
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The Supreme Court of the United States ruled Thursday in the Trump financial documents case, and upholds the Manhattan DA's subpoena.
In a 7-2 decision, SCOTUS ruled that Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance is entitled to see President Trump’s taxes.

Justice Roberts: "In our judicial system, 'the public has a right to 'everyman’s evidence.' Since the earliest days of the Republic, 'every man' has included the President of the United States."

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In its first of 3 decisions today, SCOTUS gives a nod to tribal sovereignty. (more…)

Unmute your volume, go into the kitchen, and make yourself some coffee now. (more…)

Longtime Donald Trump consigliere Roger Stone is due in prison next week. Facebook on Wednesday took down 50 personal and professional pages connected to the U.S. President’s former adviser, about 10 years after it would do any good.
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The Joe Biden campaign just got a typeface upgrade.

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This is a lovely little video of cats lounging in a basket from Kagonekoshiro, one of the great cat blogs of Japan, still going after all these fuzzy scratchy years.
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This looks like a fantastic way to have some fun with electronics while safely staying at home during the coronavirus outbreak.

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Unsealed court documents reveal the identity of Fxmsp, a hacker from Kazakhstan who is blamed for information theft from more than 300 companies and governments, in 44 different countries around the world. (more…)

“#BreakingNews an SUV just plowed through protesters on 42nd street in #manhattan Still assessing injuries if any. More on ⁦@NY1⁩ #blacklivesmatter #nycprotest more on ⁦@NY1⁩,” tweeted NY1 news reporter Ruschell Boone [@RuschellBoone] at 10:19pm New York Time. (more…)

The J.M. Smucker Company issued a voluntarily recall for a single lot of the company's 'Natural Balance' canned cat food, citing potentially deadly health side effects for cats. (more…)

The FTC and the Justice Department are investigating claims that TikTok, the popular social media app with close ties to China, violated a 2019 agreement to protect children's privacy. (more…)

The World Health Organization on Tuesday acknowledged 'evidence emerging' of airborne transmission of COVID-19 in indoor spaces. (more…)

My friend Owen Morse is one-half of the juggling duo The Passing Zone, and he's also a serious hang glider pilot who just achieved a world-record-breaking long-distance flight. [ WOW. Congratulations, Owen!]

Owen Morse

Owen just piloted his Wills Wing T3 154 222.22 miles without stopping, high over the Owens Valley in California, setting a new world record in the sport with Federation Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the world governing body for air sports, including hang gliding. (more…)

Vice President Mike Pence's trip this week to Arizona was held off for a day after Secret Service agents who were organizing the VP's junket either tested positive for coronavirus, or displayed obvious symptoms of infection. What a mess this government is. (more…)