There's battle lines being drawn.
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong.
Young people speaking their minds
getting so much resistance from behind

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Linkee-poo got a call from an old friend, we used to be real close

So, SpaceX gets high marks for the balance beam, but fails to stick the landing. Space is hard. Also, RUD, rapid unscheduled disassembly, yeah, that's going in somewhere. (Grokked from Dan)

One day the schools will be fully funded and the Air Force will need to hold a bake sale to buy a new bomber. "So here’s what I’m asking. Will you donate a book (to a school library that hasn't been updated since the 90s)? A real book. Something literary or fun—something that speaks to your truth, their truths. Something that teaches (the students) something about the world. Makes them feel less alone?" (Grokked from Maureen Johnson)

DC comic about to reboot their universe. Again. But this time more "hopey changey" as they say.

Everything old is new again. "Happy Days are here again, and we're not talking about the famous tune. That's right, the classic '70s sitcom, along with its equally popular spinoff Laverne & Shirley, might be headed for a comeback." No, Hollywood. Just no. Although if you're going to do it, make it a gritty, reality based reboot. You know, like the original material. And in another decade would could talk about a reboot of Roseann, which pretty much drove the stake into the heart of the 70s sitcoms. (Grokked from John)

"Since June 1, the first day Louisianans could sign up for the expanded (Medicaid) program, more than 201,000 people have enrolled. The state is well on track to meet its 375,000-enrollee goal, which will save Louisiana an estimated $184 million in the next year… Those numbers are even more remarkable given the obstacles facing the Edwards administration, namely the refusal of the GOP legislature to fund even one new employee to ease the transition to the expanded program." Yes, Virginia, conservatives really don't want to run the government more efficiently and save tax payers money.

"The work confirms with hard data what most doctors and policymakers already know: Hospital deaths are more expensive and intrusive than deaths at home, in hospice care, or even in nursing homes." Make sure the people you love know your wishes, write a living will, have a healthcare power-of-attorney. In a hospital, without any direction, we are obligated to try everything even when we know it's not going to help.

The legacy of colonialism. On how scientific discovery, in this case archeology, isn't "real" until Europeans learn of it. Even then such "discoveries" (often known to the indigenous population) are discounted as not as important as anything in Europe or revered by Europeans. It's the stories we tell ourselves. Don't believe me? Okay, did you know there are Pre-Columbian pyramids in North America? But I'll bet you probably have heard of the Great Snake Mound in Southern Ohio. (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)

"'That kind of intolerance is no doubt why politicians sometimes don’t say what they really think,' (Gretchen) Carlson added." Gretchen gets hate mail after suggesting that, yes, it probably is time to have an assault weapons ban in the US. Welcome to the machine you helped create Mrs. Carlson. Welcome to the machine.

Despite all the sturm und drang about the Orlando shooter's pledge of allegiance to ISIL and the general GOP Chicken Little dance, the CIA hasn't been able to find an actual link between ISIL and the shooter. Pascal's Wager.

Meet the new boss (Paul Ryan). Same as the old boss (John Boehner).

So, during my vacations I met a lot of people who genuinely though our Ohio Gov. John Kasich was a good guy moderate whom they probably could have supported as president, mostly because he wasn't the raging dumpster fire the rest of the GOP candidates were. I tried to disabuse these people by explaining the only reason they thought he was moderate is because the news media hadn't focused on him because he never caught fire in the primary. Here's one more example of the extremist politics being played out in the battleground state of Ohio. "Republican lawmakers in Ohio approved a bill late Wednesday night that would force residents to put up a cash bond when they petition a court extend voting hours during an election day emergency, such as a natural disaster.… Ohio could become the first state in the nation to make voters risk losing tens of thousands of dollars of their own money when making the case for keeping the polls open a few extra hours." This is after the courts have demanded that our Sec. of State Jon Husted restore early voting hours because of how the new hours disadvantaged the poor and minority populations in Ohio. Sound moderate enough for the country? (Grokked from Hannah Bowman)

You know, now that the Trumpster is the presumptive nominee and is being schooled to read speeches from a teleprompter you'd think someone in his campaign would take the reigns of his twitter account to keep him from continually embarrassing himself. You would be wrong. The Trumpster continually falls for conspiracy theories. Really, will his National Security Advisor need a professional subscription to Snoops to do their job?

"But, a new study by Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University… documents not only the outsized coverage Trump received — from TV and digital media — in the early days of his campaign but also how overwhelmingly positive that coverage was." Sure, he's rating gold. Clowns always are. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)

Hugh Hewitt comes to the realization that the Trumpster may one a lizard man, but he's the GOP's lizard man. So, how much is a soul worth these days? Do you get a discount if they're already in the media?

So, what happens when the "irresistible force" meets the "immovable object"? In this case, the Trumpster is to go talk to the NRA about banning people on the no-fly list from buying guns. This should be good (makes popcorn). Also, the NRA, despite their lobbying and campaign activities, are not the ones who actually get to decide or make the law (for various definitions of both of those terms given the spinelessness and incompetence of the current crop of legislators).

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