I forgot to mention that WorldCon is attempting a "make good" by bringing in Mary Robinette Kowal to adjust their programming. Good on the Concom for realizing this is an issue, and good on Mary for volunteering.
"Radar observations have revealed what appears to be a buried lake on Mars, the first-ever stable reservoir of liquid water found on the Red Planet."
"And now, a thread on auditory processing disorder, coping mechanisms, loud environments, and how to be accommodating and kind to people who have these issues." It me. (Grokked from someone, sorry, twitter's lousy web application keeps fucking up my timeline).
"There are so many Star Trek jokes you could make about these officially licensed wireless earbuds that are modeled after Vulcan ears. But with that color scheme, honestly they look more like hearing aids to me than the ears of Captain Spock." (Grokked from John)
"This is something we’ve been waiting a very long time for. The Church of Scientology uses devices called E-Meters to measure Thetans in the body… In reality, the E-Meter is simply a device that costs five thousand dollars and only measures the resistance of the human body. It does this by having the subject hold two copper cylinders and a simple Wheatstone bridge. Why does the E-Meter cost five thousand dollars? As [Play With Junk] found out, it’s an exquisitely engineered piece of hardware." (Grokked from Dan)
"In a new book, 'White Fragility,' DiAngelo attempts to explicate the phenomenon of white people’s paper-thin skin. She argues that our largely segregated society is set up to insulate whites from racial discomfort, so that they fall to pieces at the first application of stress—such as, for instance, when someone suggests that 'flesh-toned' may not be an appropriate name for a beige crayon." (Grokked from Rae Carson)
"Voter Purges (pdf), a new report by the Brennan Center, highlights the systematic purging of voters from rolls by state and local officials around the country. These are not random, isolated cases. It is a methodical effort that disproportionately affects minority voters. Even worse, no one seems to care." (Grokked from Fred Clark)
"Nationally, the authors estimate that recent ACA sabotage actions add an additional $970 to the 2019 annual benchmark premium for a 40-year-old. Because premiums increase with age and household size, sabotage of the ACA hits older people and families even harder. A typical family of four will see a premium that is $3,110 higher and a 55-year-old couple will see a premium $3,330 higher on average because of President Trump’s recent efforts to undermine the ACA. While the ACA’s tax credits protect eligible enrollees from premium increases, unsubsidized middle-class consumers are responsible for covering the entire cost of these needless premium hikes." Yes, Virginia, conservative ideology costs more and does less. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"'The View' co-host Meghan McCain exploded in fury as the studio audience cheered a list of Democratic-Socialist campaign promises, and vowed to keep those political ideas from becoming 'normalized.'" Note what this trust-fund baby was upset about, "'She went over her platform: Medicare for all, fully funded public schools and universities, paid family and sick leave, justice reform, immigration justice, infrastructure overhaul, clean campaign finance, economy of peace, housing as a human right.'" What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding. You know what frightens conservatives, programs that actually help people. And they lose their shit when it becomes apparent that a lot of people support those programs. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"First lady Melania Trump will watch 'any channel she wants,' according to her spokeswoman in an apparent rebuke to the report President Donald Trump was upset to find her Air Force One television tuned into CNN." Marriage of convenience at this point. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
Jeff Mason asked, "President Putin, did you want President Trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?" "But the exchange doesn’t appear in full in the White House’s live-stream or transcript of the press conference, and it’s missing entirely from the Kremlin’s transcript of the event. The White House did not immediately provide an explanation for the discrepancy." And, depending on who heard what, it changes the meaning of Putin's answer. (Grokked from Vincent O'Conner)
"A co-host on President Donald Trump’s favorite morning news program said Wednesday the attorney for former Trump 'fixer' Michael Cohen was trying to smear the president as retribution for Trump's defeating Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election." Uh, yeah, Bob. Ow. I think I've got side-eye strain.
With the Cohen tapes, what does Fox News focus on? "Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, secretly recorded a conversation with CNN's Chris Cuomo and admitted in the tape to arranging—on his own—a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday, citing unnamed sources." Which makes a good story until you realize that a conversation with a reporter is not under oath, and the now president (then candidate) is heard on another tape directing Cohen to make a payment (which apparently didn't go through). "Giuliani, meanwhile, said it was “outrageous that an audio conversation between Trump and Cohen was leaked to the media. He also questioned why the recording, as aired on CNN, ended at a key part in the conversation, saying the tape would have been 'exculpatory' from the point of view from the president had it not stopped." Apparently 5 seconds after the recording stopped the now president said, "Ha ha ha, this was a great joke, I'd never authorize such a payment that may violate federal election laws." Too bad that wasn't caught on tape, Giulaiani, so that part is not admissible. Oh, and they support him in the emails.
An apparently there are now over 100 recordings turned over to the prosecution.
"A group of 11 Republican lawmakers are trying to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein because of concerns about his oversight of the justice department and its investigation into suspicions of collusion between the Trump 2016 campaign and Russia." Yeah, that ain't gonna happen, but it could give "cover" for the president to fire him.
"Less than a year into a lifetime appointment, a 45-year-old federal appeals court judge named James Ho may embody President Trump's most enduring legacy… Ho has shaken up the staid world of appellate law by deploying aggressive rhetoric in cases involving guns, abortion rights and campaign finance regulations." Activist judges, mostly they're conservatives. Also, here is the plan outlined at the beginning of the Federalist Society coming to fruition.
"The White House took retaliatory action against Kaitlan Collins, a White House reporter for CNN, after Collins asked President Trump questions at an Oval Office photo op on Wednesday… CNN, rival networks, and the White House Correspondents Association all spoke out against the administration's action." Here we go.
"At the time, Collins was representing five television networks as the pool reporter for the White House press corps. The scene was captured by several cameras and more than a dozen journalists with pencils, cameras and microphones poised, awaiting the president's response."
"President Donald Trump has spent weeks drawing battle lines for a trade war with Europe and courting Vladimir Putin -- causing almost universal angst in Washington. On Wednesday, he blinked on both." Well, one, Putin declined the invite (I keep trying not to make allusions to a handler and his spy, but they don't make it easy). And secondly, the president has no stomach for direct confrontation. He always buckles in person. "'The president believes that the next bilateral meeting with President Putin should take place after the Russia witch hunt is over, so we've agreed that it will be after the first of the year,' national security adviser John Bolton said in a statement released by the administration." Haha, good luck with that, Johnny.
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