Linkee-poo closes out an alligator filled week

And next week isn't looking any better.

"Gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.2% in the first quarter, up from 2.2% at the end of last year. That's a significant turnaround from six weeks ago, when many analysts expected a slump in GDP growth to just 2% or less." Well that's good. But it's not all peaches and cream. "A pickup in consumer spending contributed to the improved outlook. Retailers enjoyed strong sales gains in March after a lackluster February." While not said, that indicative of pent-up consumer demand (people held off buying things Dec-Feb and then just couldn't hold off anymore). There are other indicators that spending may be slowing again and those commercial indications of "future spending" may be just "covering the bases" (in case they see an uptick, they don't want their suppliers to have a lag time as they restaff, but would want their materials as the buyer restaffs).

"The giant galaxy around the giant black hole."

"Earlier this month, the Hayabusa2 spacecraft used an explosive device to create an artificial crater on the Ryugu asteroid, but the probe couldn’t stick around to confirm the job for fear of being damaged by debris. The Japanese space agency has now confirmed the artificial crater—but it’s not exactly what they expected."

"Amazon is making one-day shipping the standard for Prime members." Now if only they would fulfill orders in one day, that would be something.

"A highway crash killed "multiple" people and started a large fire on Interstate 70 along the western edge of Denver on Thursday, in a disaster that police say was triggered by a semitruck that slammed into a group of cars that were stopped in traffic. The exact number of fatalities is still unknown."

"A Twitter employee who works on machine learning believes that a proactive, algorithmic solution to white supremacy would also catch Republican politicians." I'm not sure I see the problem here. Ban the fucking Nazis. Actually I do see the problem as those politicians (and their supporters) will scream bloody murder and twitter does want to have (and in fairness shouldn't have to have) a conversation about how white supremacy has infected the right wing of American politics (going back to the John Birch Society). (Grokked from Cherie Priest)

"In this Twitter exchange, jetBlue explains to a passenger how it got a photo of her face -- from the DHS." Wow, that's totally not Big Brother at all. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)

"A federal court in Michigan says that the state's Republican-controlled legislature unfairly drew some of Michigan's state legislative and U.S. House district lines and that a divided government will have to come up with new boundaries."

"Last month, a federal judge in Alaska ruled that President Trump exceeded his authority when he signed an executive order to lift an Obama-era ban on oil and gas drilling in parts of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans."

"A federal judge in Washington state has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's overhaul of the federal reproductive health care program known as Title X… The nationwide preliminary injunction puts a stop — at least for now — to new regulations that were set to take effect on May 3. Among other changes, the rules would prohibit any organization that offers or refers patients for abortion from receiving Title X funds to cover services like contraception and STD screenings for low-income patients."

"Rep. Gerry Connolly threatened jail time for White House officials who are declining to comply with congressional committees' efforts to conduct oversight of President Donald Trump's administration. It's the latest salvo in the escalating battle between the White House and congressional Democrats, who have scaled up their oversight requests following the conclusion of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation." Hope it's not just tough talk. Constitutional Crisis on the horizon.

"A Russian woman who plotted to infiltrate conservative political circles and open backchannel lines of communication as part of an unofficial influence campaign was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Friday."

"'This was a coup,' Trump told host Sean Hannity… in his first interview since the Mueller report's release. 'This was an attempted overthrow of the United States government.'" Words have meaning and weight, Mr. President. You're inciting violence here. This is not how sane people act.

"Trump's efforts to enlist Lewandowski as a back channel to try to curtail the probe, detailed in 10 pages of Mueller's 448-page report, provides a new window into how far the president went in trying to hold back the special counsel."

Well, it seems conservative media believe Uncle Joe has the best shot. At least if headlines like this one at Fox News keep popping up. "Why the media are convinced Joe Biden will implode." This is what we call "a political hit job."