The Shouts from the Sea, 35th Day of Summer, 525 M.E. (Atlas): Let's take a look, shall we?, at what's going on in the world today:

Israeli forces are urging people to evacuate eastern areas of Gaza City before planned military operations  there escalate and intensify, displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians in this one offensive alone. Meanwhile, "post-apocalyptic" violence and anarchy among militants, clans, Hamas, and criminal gangs rise as they vie for power amid Israeli strikes and fights over aid and supplies.

Almost forgotten among all the other news items, Russia is continuing its unprovoked war against Ukraine and last night pounded the country with hundreds of drones and missiles in one of the war’s largest assaults. Strikes on infrastructure were reported across the country, including in western Ukraine, which Russia had until now hit less frequently.

Analysis by the NY Times claims that the Republican budget reconciliation, the Stable Genius' "big beautiful bill," will cause 11.8 million people of lose their health insurance, and separately could cripple wind and solar power.

An "explosive increase’ in the number of unusually aggressive lone-star ticks is due to climate change. The ticks, which can cause meat allergies, were common here in the South, but are new spreading to areas previously too cold for them. Also, the Earth is trapping much more heat than climate models had forecast, and the rate has doubled in the past 20 years. Positive feedback loops are leading to the exponential growth.

The University of Virginia has received explicit warning from the Stable Genius that the school will suffer cuts to jobs, research funding, student aid, and visas unless the university's president resigns over his DEI policies. Also, the Stable Genius is threatening to cut off funds to New York City if the presumptive Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani doesn’t "behave." The Stable Genius has accused Mamdani, a self-described "democratic socialist," of being a communist over his campaign pledge to tax the very wealthy.

May we live in interesting times.