It's raining… :: looks at page :: uh, iguanas? "In Florida, it's raining iguanas. And in Cape Cod, sharksicles are washing ashore." Oh my.
The SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. :: Makes grabby hands ::
"A New York Times story in December introduced a new health buzzword to the masses: raw water, or water that hasn’t been treated, filtered or processed in any way." There are people with more money than smarts.
"A new threat to New England's shellfish industry seems to be establishing itself more firmly, and regulators are trying to stay ahead of potentially deadly blooms of toxic algae that may be driven by climate change." It's almost like climate change is a real thing and it's something that will affect how we live.
"Bombogenesis is a popular term that describes a midlatitude cyclone that rapidly intensifies." Okay, who had climate change to force us to learn new terms in the office pool?
"Digital spy tools like that GPS tracker are changing divorce as we know it. Increasingly, couples are turning to the latest technology to spy on each other as their marriages fall apart, according to dozens of divorce lawyers, investigators and even a leading family court judge NPR interviewed." It says the law hasn't kept up, IANAL but I believe restraining orders can be written by the judge to include all kinds of acts. Also, good thing our Congress worked so hard on repealing Obamacare and the tax "reform". You know, and couldn't take any time to actually help people.
"This is consistent with ordinary astrophysical dust, and a major conclusion of our paper: the dips are not caused by opaque macroscopic objects (like megastructures or planets or stars) but by clouds of very small particles of dust (less than 1 micron in typical size). We can also say that these clouds are mostly transparent ('optically thin' in astrophysics parlance)." The universe is a little more boring today.
"As the federal government penalizes 751 hospitals for having too many infections and patient injuries, some states are feeling the cuts in Medicare payments more than others." There's also a new set of penalties starting this year. Including reduced payments for x-ray exams that are not performed on digital imaging systems (last year saw penalties for film x-rays, now it's expanding to CR systems - these systems use a polymer plate instead of film and is different from direct/indirect capture systems which use detectors that capture and process the image in the same device, like a large digital camera - if you want I can explain why this is important and how the specifically differ, but that will take a lot of time). This is a part of the Obamacare law that enforces standards and attempts to modernize our healthcare system. Yes there are flaws in the system of reporting and auditing (mostly because of staffing cuts), but this is designed to protect your health. Obamacare already adjust payments based on how satisfied patients are with their care. Sometimes this is unfairly reported as well, but it's all about improving patient care, saving lives, and doing everything to prevent worse outcomes.
"People should stay away from romaine lettuce until U.S. and Canadian health officials get to the bottom of an outbreak of E. coli infections, Consumer Reports says." Well, technically the CDC and the FDA would be the ones to issue such a warning here in the US. But then the current administration and the GOP is attempting to break government (and reducing business oversight and regulation). So now it's up to the news media and trial lawyers (the first link I found) to inform us.
"In May of 1975, when a shopkeeper at a small Cleveland grocery store was murdered during a robbery, Eddie Vernon, then 12 years old, served as the main witness in the case. Eddie — who in fact, hadn't seen anything — says he was pressured into testifying by police… His testimony led to the convictions of three innocent people… (who) initially received the death sentence, but that was reduced to life in prison in 1977. Shortly thereafter, capital punishment in Ohio was ruled unconstitutional… It wasn't until 2014 that Eddie, at age 52, came forward with the truth. After his release, Rickey reached out to Eddie, and met up. Three years later, at StoryCorps, they sat down together for their first in-depth conversation about what happened." Our criminal justice system, because of coerced testimony of a 12-year old, 3 men innocent of the crime were sentenced to death and the "witness" also suffered from what happened. And justice has not been served.
So, about Roy Moore's "Jew Lawyer"… "But Wishnatsky (the lawyer Kayla Moore, Roy Moore's wife, identified as that person) said he accepted Christ in his thirties. 'I had an experience of the reality of God at 33,' Wishnatsky said. 'I knew God was real but I wasn't sure who he was.'… He became a Mormon first, then later became an evangelical Protestant Christian." And then there's this part, "The man many people thought Kayla was referring to as the 'Jewish attorney,' Jaffe, a member of a Birmingham synagogue, has been a longtime friend and supporter of U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, the Democrat who defeated Moore." He also went to Jones' swearing in.
"The agency also issued revised figures for the two most recent months, dropping the October number from a gain of 244,000 to a gain of 211,000, and raising the November result from 228,000 to 252,000. Together, those months' gains are now 9,000 less than had been previously reported." So much for the Trump's roaring economy.
"Nebraska State Senator Paul Schumacher [R-22]… has proposed an amendment to the state constitution that would create 36-square-mile regions in the state where corporations would enjoy up to 99 years of sovereignty, with 'no city or state taxes and no local or state regulations.'" That'll work well. Um, wait, no it won't. And of course he's a Republican. Dear GOP, please learn what a dystopia is and then try to avoid taking ideas from such literature. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"The Trump administration will allow new offshore oil and gas drilling in nearly all United States waters, it announced Thursday. The plan would give the energy industry broad access to drilling rights in most parts of the outer continental shelf, including Pacific waters near California, Atlantic waters near Maine and the eastern Gulf of Mexico." Because why the fuck not? I'm sure we'll be fine, even though the Trump Administration is also rolling by basic safety regulations (which most other countries have) put in place after the Deepwater Horizon went kablooey. "'These are our lands,' (Thomas J. Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance) said. 'They’re taxpayer-owned and they should be made available.'" Dear Mr. Pyle, yes they are our lands (well, underwater lands, never mind) and we want them kept clean. They are already available to all of us. Please fuck off and die. Also note this same argument goes with drilling and excavating in our National Parks, Wild Lands, and Monuments. You know, except for the West Coast, most of our coastline is dominated by conservative governorships. I say let them fight it out. I know that's a dangerous move, but let Rick Scott spend his own money to protect Florida shoreline. Conservation groups should help those who have helped them.
"After a harshly worded New Year's Day tweet by President Trump accusing Pakistan of 'deceit' and of harboring terrorists, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert confirmed Thursday that the U.S. will suspend most security assistance to Islamabad." I'm sure that will turn out well for us.
"(NY Governor) Cuomo said the $10,000 cap on state and local taxes is illegal 'double taxation' and said the law robs blue states to pay for tax cuts for red states and corporations… 'It is crass, it is ugly, it is divisive, it is partisan legislating, it is an economic civil war,' Cuomo said. 'Make no mistake: they are aiming to hurt us.'" Yeah, pretty much. The party that screams about "double taxation" (mostly around the estate tax but they've used that argument for other things) instituted a tax plan that double taxes income. And it is economic and class warfare. Dear DNC and potential candidates, please learn and please develop a plan (including a communications plan when the poor ol' republicans cry "class warfare" again this Fall and in 2020).
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