Botcheck.me. To check for bots. You know, if it wasn't obvious (the bot's behavior as well as the URL). (Grokked from Jim Hines)
Mars rendezvous window opens. "(NASA)'s InSight Mars lander lifted off today (May 5) atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, rising off a pad here at 7:05 a.m. EDT (1105 GMT, 4:05 a.m. local California time) and disappearing into the thick predawn fog moments later."
"Winter sea ice cover in the Bering Sea did not just hit a record low in 2018; it was half that of the previous lowest winter on record (2001), says John Walsh, chief scientist of the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. 'There’s never ever been anything remotely like this for sea ice' in the Bering Sea going back more than 160 years, says Rick Thoman, an Alaska-based climatologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration." We're boned.
"A high school senior's video on the trend of 'juuling,' a kind of e-cigarette use that is popular among teenagers, has highlighted how appealing and addictive e-cigarettes — specifically the 'JUUL' — can be to teenagers, with kids as young as 14 talking frankly about using the device. In April, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb highlighted what the agency was doing to stop e-cigarette use among teens and what steps it has taken to stop online sales of JUULs to minors." The new nicotine wars. Remember when low-tar cigarettes were supposed to be "safe"?
"Coming into this month, 'wages showed a moderate 2.7 percent annual increase,' NPR's John Ydstie reported. 'Analysts have been expecting wages to rise more rapidly, as the number of available workers shrinks.'" That's because "analysts" don't get modern business practices. Most of those wage gains have been at the top of the scale, and have been so great as to skew the entire dataset.
"Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed one of the country's most restrictive abortion bills into law on Friday… The so-called 'heartbeat' legislation bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat has been detected, at about six weeks of pregnancy. Exceptions are made in cases of rape, incest or medical emergency." And just a point of clarification, in death the heart does not beat, but that's not the definition of death. Therefore the argument about "life begins with a heartbeat" is also not true and just demonstrates the medical (and factual) ignorance of the supposed "right to life"ers.
"A top US navy admiral announces the re-establishment of the US 2nd Fleet -- a Cold War command disbanded in 2011 -- to patrol the North Atlantic and face a resurgent threat from Russia… The 2nd Fleet command was disbanded as a cost-savings measure in 2011, and its assets and personnel dispersed within the navy." So much winning.
"The Washington Post reported Sunday that Haspel was willing to step down Friday rather than go through a grilling by senators that could embarrass her and the agency… But White House officials persuaded her to press ahead, and she remains on track for the Wednesday hearing." And now we'll all find out exactly why undercover agents should remain undercover. She would be, no doubt, a good director. However her lack of judgement with being involved in the Thailand black site, waterboarding, and the destruction of the video of that torture should be instantaneous disqualification. And putting her through the confirmation process could exposure lots of sensitive information, relitigate the whole torture/enhanced interrogation problem, and should (although I doubt it will) bring up the individual officer's duty to the law, integrity, and conscience.
President Trump on the NRA says he'll buck them when it's politically expedient, but then backtracks. I would say he has no spine, but this is the actual NRA playbook. "Oh sure, we're for 'sensible' changes," they'll say as everybody is upset. But then when it comes down to it, they'll say no to anything.
"On Friday, President Donald Trump traveled to Texas to address the annual convention of the National Rifle Association… I watched the speech then combed through the transcript to pull out the 40 most, um, memorable lines." As someone who deals with people having memory issues (both professionally and personally), our president is exhibiting signs of dementia.
"Here is a sampling of Trump’s comments that we’ve fact-checked or for which we’ve provided additional context." They're only winning if they're able to lie and get away with it.
Speaking of lying. "Addressing the National Rifle Association convention in Dallas on Friday, the president cited the rising number of knife attacks in Britain while speaking in support of gun rights in the United States."
"President Trump is throwing doubt on statements made by his new attorney Rudy Giuliani that indicated the president reimbursed attorney Michael Cohen for his payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels." Also, "there was no campaign violation" is the new "no collusion."
"Rudy Giuliani, the latest addition to President Trump's legal team, spent much of the weekend trying to clarify statements he made earlier concerning his client's legal troubles." At this point, I'm torn between the thoughts of "yes, there are just this dumb" and "they're trying to poison the waters, either hoping to dazzle the prosecution with footwork or attempt to say it's impossible for Trump to get a fair trial because of all the hype." I'm still going with the saying, "Never ascribe to genius what can be explained by stupidity." So, yeah, plead the 5th, Mr. President. Let's have another run of your statements about what pleading the 5th means (and who does it). Or, you know, try to refuse the subpoena and create a full-blown Constitutional Crisis.
"Aides to Donald Trump, the US president, hired an Israeli private intelligence agency to orchestrate a 'dirty ops' campaign against key individuals from the Obama administration who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal, the Observer can reveal." (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
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