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

Friday, May 18, 2018

Linkee-poo descend upon your earth from the skies I command your very souls you unbelievers, bring before me what is mine

"As many as eight people have been killed Friday in a shooting at Santa Fe High School, according to a source close to the investigation."

"A gunman ranting about President Donald Trump walked into the lobby of Trump National Doral Miami resort early Friday morning, draped an American flag on the counter and began firing."

"12 Free 'Go Into The Story' eBooks" (basically the blog repackaged as ebooks). (Grokked from Gabriel Novo)

"What the researchers found instead suggests that the ancestors of all of the lizards had red blood, and that green blood then evolved independently four times, in separate lineages." The world is weirder than you think. "'It's rare in the animal kingdom,' says Rodriguez, 'but because it does appear, this suggests there has to be some beneficial properties to green blood.'" That's not really how evolution works and stems from our bias that some animals are better than others. It could just be because the mutation is not harmful and animals that carried the mutation might also have some other mutation that helped them out breed others (or it's recessive and now everyone has it).

"A new case of Ebola has emerged in an urban area of Democratic Republic of the Congo, a troubling development in the country's new outbreak of the contagious and often fatal virus. Until now, the outbreak had affected a rural area." Rhut rho.

"The oceans are getting warmer and fish are noticing. Many that live along U.S. coastlines are moving to cooler water. New research predicts that will continue, with potentially serious consequences for the fishing industry." Oh gods, now the fish are in on the global climate change conspiracy theory. Darn you Al Gore! Actually, the problem is if fish stocks move far enough out of their customary range, fishermen will also have to move or go out of business (and much of our regulation is based on where fish used to be). We're boned.

"The Trump administration is expected to announce that organisations that offer or mention abortion to their patients will lose federal funding." And now you know why White Evangelicals love Trump. But if this is done, we should end a lot of funding for other projects that are a clear violation of the separation of Church and State.

"Bill Gates discloses in newly revealed footage that President Trump twice asked him to clarify the difference between HIV and Human Papilloma Virus (HPV)." Only twice? Geez Trump is getting better.

"A Massachusetts state lawmaker has been accused of choking a political challenger during a chance encounter at a restaurant." I have a feeling there's a lot more to this story, but, yeah, totally not cool no matter who does it.

"A school resource police officer is being lauded as a hero for intervening when a former student at Dixon High School opened fire Wednesday morning near the school gym where students were gathered for a graduation rehearsal, authorities said." Many will say, "the cop is a hero, look at what destruction he prevented," and I will say, "There was an armed officer on duty, and that still didn't prevent a shooter from trying." (Grokked from Kelly Swails)

"On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez shot down the federal government’s efforts to strip Daniel Ramirez Medina of his DACA status. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement had arrested and detained Ramirez last year, then falsely claimed that he was affiliated with a gang and attempted to deport him… The judge did not simply rule against ICE. He accused the agency of lying to a court of law." (Grokked from Gabriel Novo)

"An argument between two Republican Louisiana state lawmakers turned physical Tuesday night, with the men exchanging blows at a Baton Rouge bar… State Rep. Stuart Bishop and state Sen. Norby Chabert became involved in a dispute on the House floor and duked it out later that evening, USA Today reported." Of course they're still the best of friends, because, um, friends? (Grokked from Jim Wright)

"They see the Russia investigation as President Donald Trump does, as a witch hunt that has expanded far beyond its initial mandate with the explicit aim of delegitimizing or perhaps even overturning his 2016 election victory… Yet these most steadfast of Trump supporters who gathered (in San Francisco) Tuesday night as part of a focus group evaluating public opinion said the president ought not fire special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, a view shared by the Trump critics around the table."

Someone has been reading their Archimedes. "Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) on Wednesday claimed that falling 'rock or whatever' is contributing to rising sea-levels and that global warming was actually causing the Antarctic ice sheets to grow, not shrink, trade publication E&E News reported." Dude, seriously, volumetrically it would take a heckofalotta rock or dirt or whatever to raise water levels. You'd notice that kind of land shift. Michael Bay would make movies about it.

"The White House said Thursday that President Trump was 'clearly' referring to members of the MS-13 gang when he called some immigrants 'animals' and argued the controversial label is more than appropriate." Dehumanizing, it's an old tactic of racism.

"U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office on Thursday gave a federal court a classified memo describing the extent of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and other related crimes."

"President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen has reportedly confided in friends that he’s at his wit’s end with federal investigations into his business dealings, Vanity Fair reported Wednesday." Don't do the crime if you can't serve the time. Also, that "selling access to the President" thing. Yeah, that ain't traffic court, Bucko. And, gee, so sorry it's affecting your family. Talk to all the families you've injured through your law practice and by helping Trump become President.

"If Michael Cohen doesn’t want Michael Avenatti to show up at his federal court hearing next week, Cohen’s lawyers are going to have to find a legal basis to block him – and fast." I don't think they judge will buy "we think he's a stinky poopy-head." Even if it is on fancy legal office stationary.

"President Donald Trump’s outspoken lawyer Rudy Giuliani described special counsel Robert Mueller as acting like a mob boss from 'The Godfather' when his team discussed whether Trump could be indicted by the special counsel." These guys are so transparent they could be repackaged as cellophane.

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