Linkee-poo walked up the pier from the coffin ships landing

"It only covers about 178 workers, but it's still a union foothold: Flight-readiness technicians and inspectors at Boeing's factory in North Charleston, S.C., voted to unionize on Thursday, more than a year after a broader union vote failed at the plant that makes Boeing 787 airliners." Boeing intentionally moved production to South Carolina, a "right to work" state, as a big middle-finger to unions (specifically in Washington and Illinois). How shitty of an employer do you have to be to lose like this… in South Carolina? It's a small foothold, but still. (Grokked in a round-about way from Laura J Nixon)

I tried to make a point about the whole Samantha Bee thing the other day. Rebecca Traister makes the point with nothing but net. (Grokked from Chang)

"But the panel recently softened its stance, recommending the PSA screening test for men 55 to 69, adding that taking the test is still the patient’s choice… 'Now the question is why not screen men younger than 55? The panel said they didn’t include that group because they didn’t have the data.'" Science can be a motherfucker sometimes.

"I was wildly impatient for everything to be normal again. I laugh at that now, think: fat chance. Friends already thought I was. It’s so great that you are back to normal, they’d say. But I couldn’t eat and was frightened of recurrence. I know, isn’t it fantastic! I would reply, which made me feel alone with my non-normal, wanting-to-be-back-to-normal self. When I told Dr Suleman, a UCLH Macmillan clinical psychologist, he said: yours is a common response. In other words, quite normal." Fuck cancer.

"Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) isn’t mincing words about his so-called 'right to try' bill, signed into law by President Trump on Wednesday. In a feisty letter to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb Thursday, Johnson put things bluntly: 'this law intends to diminish the FDA’s power.'" We can trust the drug companies to do the right thing, can't we? And I'm sure all the doctors are up to date on all the new drugs out in trials, like where and how they can be use. I'm sure no one will abuse this power to skirt "off label" prescribing. And, man, these leprechauns flying out of my ass sure hurt, I'm assuming there's a drug for that too. (Grokked from John)

"Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, has spent the past several months visiting impoverished communities across the United States. In one visit to Alabama, he met a family struggling to maintain their home on an income of $958 a month… On the day of his visit, he said, sewage was visible inches from the family's house — a reflection of their county's failing infrastructure — and mildew and mold were growing inside. Alston said he had never seen sewage problems like it in the developed world." Well, Trump never said which part would be "great".

"As Facebook sought to become the world’s dominant social media service, it struck agreements allowing phone and other device makers access to vast amounts of its users’ personal information." When at a poker game, if you can't tell who's the mark, you are. You are the product. (Grokked from Katheryn Cramer)

How biased is Fox News? Okay, here's their report on the Portland clash between antifa and the so-called "Patriot Prayer" group. And then here's a Newsweek article on the same event. Note in the Fox News there's no mention of the alt-right connections within the Patriot Prayer Group (also note the photo of supposed black members of the Patriot Prayer group on the Fox News site). Here's a SPLC report on one of their rallies from earlier this year. "Since then, there has been a steady drumbeat of white nationalists from such organizations as Traditionalist Workers Party, Identity Evropa, and True Cascadia showing up at Patriot Prayer events, and often playing leading roles in the ensuing violence at those rallies. At one point, following the events involving an alt-right protest in Charlottesville, VA, Gibson vocally denounced white supremacists from a stage in downtown Seattle." The friends you keep.

"In a draft memo to be circulated on Friday, the Department of Energy (DOE) argues in favor of using a wartime rule called the Defense Production Act to bail out failing coal and nuclear plants, according to Bloomberg, which obtained a copy of the memo." Your electrical bill is about to go up. I don't want to ever hear another conservative talk about the "free market."

"President Donald Trump moved markets and busted norms on Friday morning with a tweet about the May employment report more than an hour before the numbers came out… The post appeared to skirt strict rules on government employees not commenting on the highly sensitive economic data until an hour after its public release at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time." Why? Because Wall Street wasn't taking so kindly to the trade war. So here was a little way to goose the numbers.

"A federal study found signs that surveillance devices for intercepting cellphone calls and texts were operating near the White House and other sensitive locations in the Washington area last year." Quite probably domestic intelligence gathering, but just a reminder that the president is rumored to use an unsecured cell phone. (Grokked from Dan)

"A Texas children's shelter believed to be housing 'hundreds' of undocumented immigrant children separated from their families under a new Trump administration policy called police on a Democratic Senator for simply asking to be let into the facility." Nothing to see here, citizen. Move along. (Grokked from Katheryn Cramer)

"China has warned that all trade talks between Beijing and Washington will be void if the US sets up trade sanctions." Guess what's going to happen. Also, I wonder when news organizations are going to get hip to the fact that China has already signed soybean contracts with Brazil for the next year?

"A new Russian influence operation has surfaced that mirrors some of the activity of an internet firm that the FBI says was deeply involved in efforts to sway the 2016 U.S. elections, a cybersecurity firm says." "USA Really"? Really? "Oh no, comrade, we are only serious USA peoples here." If watching the twitter feed of Jim Wright is any metric, troll and bot accounts are on an upswing. This weekend I saw my first Russian Troll attempt to engage me on twitter from a post I did that wasn't in response to anyone, didn't tag anyone, and didn't use a hash tag. The account had been online for less than a month. Seriously, dudes, fail better. (Grokked from Katheryn Cramer)