Linkee-poo TGIF

"In the claim, H&M said that Williams accused the retailer of copyright infringement, negligence and unfair competition… H&M responded by saying that Williams 'does not own or possess any copyright rights in certain graffiti that was painted on New York City property without the permission of the city of New York'." Assholes. (Grokked from Kelly Link)

There's this joke you might here from those of us who grew up around the "shadier" side of business that something fell off the back of the truck (either owning something ridiculously expensive and outside of your pay range or something of immense worth being sold for peanuts). "A Russian AN-12 transport plane carrying approximately 9 tons of gold blocks, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, lost a third of its cargo as it was taking off from the Yakutsk Airport in eastern Siberia on Thursday." What? This? It fell off the back of a plane. Do ya want it or not?

"Our ancestors in Kenya's Southern Rift Valley made some pretty innovative tools. And they made them far earlier than previously thought — over one million years ago." Our ancestors weren't stupid.

"Stimulant drugs like Adderall and Ritalin are commonly prescribed to kids with what's known as ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. But recently, adults became the biggest users of these drugs." Legal speed. They don't really help with concentration, but they make you feel like they're helping with concentration. It's the same reasons why powdered cocaine was so popular in the 80s.

And you think you're having a bad day. "A Romanian court has rejected a man’s claim that he is alive, after he was officially registered as dead… A court spokeswoman said on Friday that 63-year-old Constantin Reliu lost his case in the north-east city of Vasului because he appealed too late. The ruling is final." Just another reason to call your Mom (or in this case, your spouse). (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)

"Patients should take nothing for granted and ask about the cost of every new prescription. And, because costs can vary depending on coverage, they may need to contact their insurance carrier or the PBM that handles their medicine claims."

"Why are white men stockpiling guns?… Research suggests it's largely because they're anxious about their ability to protect their families, insecure about their place in the job market and beset by racial fears." Note that the first two relate to the last reason. You can also tie this fear to the retreat into a preference for authoritarianism (which has a lot to do with how Trump both got the nomination and won the election). Also note these are some of the very fears our friends in Russia (waves to my Russian friends) exploited in their social media campaigns. "A gun in the home is far more likely to kill or wound the people who live there than is a burglar or serial killer. Most of the time, according to every single study that’s ever been done about interpersonal gun violence, the dead and wounded know the people who shot them. A gun in the home makes it five times more likely that a woman will be killed by her husband. Every week in America, 136 children and teenagers are shot—and more often than not, it’s a sibling, friend, parent, or relative who holds the gun. For every homicide deemed justified by the police, guns are used in 78 suicides. As a new study published this month in JAMA Internal Medicine once again shows us, restrictive gun laws don’t prevent white men from defending themselves and their families. Instead, those laws stop them from shooting themselves and each other." (Grokked from John Scalzi)

"Austin police have received an additional 127 suspicious package reports in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 495 since Monday morning, when two separate blasts left 17-year-old Draylen Mason dead and 75-year-old Esperanza Herrera seriously injured… No other dangerous packages have been found in Austin, police said." The second stage of terrorism.

"The Pennsylvania man who yelled an anti-immigrant slur before he punched a man of Middle Eastern descent last year blamed his actions on alcohol." There's this joke Craig Ferguson does when he's talking about Mel Gibson and people saying that he wasn't really a Nazi but was just drunk. It goes something like this, "I was a blackout drunk for fifteen years and I never turned Nazi." (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)

"Several people died immediately when a pedestrian bridge collapsed over a roadway near Florida International university. Live video footage of the incident shows that 5 or 6 vehicles are crushed beneath." Shit.

Well, more like a slipper than a shoe (we kinda expected this would happen at some point). "The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has subpoenaed the Trump Organization to turn over documents, including some related to Russia, according to two people briefed on the matter. It is the first known instance of the special counsel demanding documents directly related to President Trump’s businesses, bringing the investigation closer to the president." There's a lot of reasons to do it this way (other than through a search warrant), but this also obligates the Trump Organization to "protect and preserve" any material that might be related (and in all reality, that email to "protect and preserve" should have gone out last May). (Grokked from Ken McConnell)

"The emails show that State Department and White House officials repeatedly shared such misleading information about Nowrouzzadeh, deriding her as an Obama cheerleader and strong advocate for the nuclear deal with Iran, which Trump had repeatedly denounced. Later, after Nowrouzzadeh was reassigned to another job, some State Department officials tried to mislead a POLITICO reporter about whether she’d completed her full tenure in Hook’s policy shop." Paranoia strikes deep. The damage these lunatics are doing to our government will last longer than a generation and take a lot of work to fix. (Grokked from Jim Wright)

"A conservative group funded by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch is turning its attention to a new front: promoting federal judges at the grass-roots level. Americans for Prosperity is willing to spend nearly $1 million to confirm judges this year. Those lifetime appointments could reshape the courts for a generation." This is what's called "lasting damage." The right has been preparing and grooming these judges since the 80s when they set up the Federalist Society. The Koches aren't dumb, they feel the change in the wind so they will attempt to ram through everything they can before next year. Expect a busy lame duck session of Congress.

"The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the federal government's first responder to floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters, has eliminated references to climate change from its strategic planning document for the next four years." I'm sure it's just an oversight. But oddly enough they're still planning as if climate change is happening, they just don't call it that.

"Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) is attempting to defend his proof-of-citizenship law in federal court, and it’s not going well. He and his legal team have repeatedly violated basic rules of evidence, causing the judge to raise her voice and reprimand them on multiple occasions. Now, in the past week, two of his prominent expert witnesses admitted there is no evidence to back up Kobach’s notorious claim that voter fraud swung the 2016 popular vote." Funny how in cross-examination their arguments fall apart. It's like they can only make a point when they're in an echo chamber. (Grokked from Joy Reid)

"But what was especially striking in (potential top candidate to lead the next White House Council of Economic Advisers CNBC’s Larry Kudlow's) National Review piece was the assertion that the wealthy are incapable of corruption because they’re wealthy. 'Why shouldn’t the president surround himself with successful people?' he wrote, referring to the rich conservatives Trump has added to his incoming team. 'Wealthy folks have no need to steal or engage in corruption.'" For the blessed, all things are blessed. This is such an obvious lie (with counter examples in the new literally every week) it's astonishing. (Grokked from Chang Terhune)

"Russian hackers are conducting a broad assault on the U.S. electric grid, water processing plants, air transportation facilities and other targets in rolling attacks on some of the country’s most sensitive infrastructure, U.S. government officials said Thursday." I believe the word you're looking for is "emboldened." (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)

I think I've mentioned before that as a child of the Cold War I have a lingering institutional paranoia built in. This is just the darker aspect of my thoughts, the things that keep me awake at night (or would if I wasn't exhausted physically or emotionally). The major question on the table is how suborned is the GOP with Russian sympathizers and is there enough loyal GOP left that will actually hold to their oaths of office. Because this is an escalation that demands a robust response. Or is this purge of the "deep state" also an attempt to eliminate any residual government functionality that could oppose Russian aggression. But I'm sure this is just my own paranoia putting 2 and 2 together to come up with 22. But just a note to my Russian friends, Nazis don't share power. No matter what they might say up front.

Not exactly a tweet of my heart, but it makes sense in light of the "non-contested divorce" filing: @stonecold2050 Vanessa Trump files for divorce today… Is Vanessa filing for the split now to secure a financial settlement before the Mueller probe potentially puts her husband’s assets at risk? (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)