John Paul Stevens, and so it goes.
"Dangerously hot weather is hitting most of the U.S. this week, the National Weather Service says. Temperatures are expected to soar across the Central and Eastern United States. The heat wave is covering the Central Plains from Eastern Colorado into Kansas, and extending up to the Great Lakes. By Saturday it will blanket much of the East Coast from Virginia up through New York City, where temperatures are expected to reach or be close to 100 degrees." So where's all those smart asses who like to say, "look, it's snowing, so much for global warming" now?
"Know the signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion as record-breaking temps grip the U.S."
"'Game of Thrones' showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, along with some beloved 'Thrones' actors, have canceled their scheduled appearances at San Diego International Comic-Con." You always show up for the victory lap. Unless you expect criticism. (Grokked from Kim)
A self-solving Rubik's Cube robot. (Grokked from Dan)
"China's second space lab will return to Earth in a controlled demolition Friday, according to the country's space agency… Most of the craft will burn up in the atmosphere, but a small amount of debris is expected to crash into the South Pacific, far from any land, according to state news agency Xinhua."
"Researchers have been cataloging moonlight’s effects on animals for decades and continue to mark new connections. Several recently discovered examples reveal how lunar light influences lion prey behavior, dung beetle navigation, fish growth, mass migrations and even birdsong." But don't forget, kids, the waxing and waning of the Moon doesn't affect human behavior because mumble mumble mumble (insert pleading cry about how humans aren't "animals").
"Good news came out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wednesday: Preliminary data shows reported drug overdoses declined 4.2% in 2018, after rising precipitously for decades… But not everyone was celebrating. Some states actually saw double-digit increases." And here it's good to parse the language. OD "deaths" are down, not actual overdosing incidents.
"There are similarly parched scenes at Chennai's three other main reservoirs. This city of nearly 10 million — India's sixth largest — has almost run out of water. Municipal taps work only a few hours a week. Trains are arriving every few days with emergency water supplies. Residents who can afford it buy truckloads of water from private tankers that carry it from bore wells — deep, narrow wells typically equipped with a pump — drilled farther and farther out into the countryside, way beyond the city limits." The coming water crisis.
"Records kept by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration show that 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pills — the vast majority of them generics, not brand names — were shipped to U.S. pharmacies from 2006 to 2012. The data was reported first by The Washington Post, which had sued along with HD Media to obtain the data. During that time, prescription opioids contributed to more than 100,000 deaths in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." Not stated was the Post (and lawyers) had to construct (I'm not going to say "re-construct") the data to get those numbers. The database used to track these pills was so broken it's doubtful anyone in the government really knew the extent of the problem. In my personal opinion, it was built broken on purpose.
Why does it matter who runs government? "The Environmental Protection Agency has decided against a ban of the widely-used pesticide chlorpyrifos, which critics say is associated with neurological problems in children… The agency concluded there is not sufficient evidence of the chemical's dangers to justify the ban requested by environmental groups and a group of states. Those groups cast the decision as another example of the Trump administration siding with industry." So, it's too poisonous to use in the home, but hey, just spray it all over your fields.
"Starting Wednesday, July 17, 2019, the Kazakhstan government has started intercepting all HTTPS internet traffic inside its borders… The certificate, once installed, will allow local government agencies to decrypt users' HTTPS traffic, look at its content, encrypt it again with their certificate, and send it to its destination." Hey, remember that day when all internet traffic was suddenly routed through one server farm in Fort Meade? Good times. (Grokked from Dan)
How goes Brexit? "Most lawmakers, however, oppose a no-deal Brexit, and want to try to stop it happening. Johnson, who is the strong favorite to win the Conservative leadership race next week, has not ruled out suspending Parliament if it tries to block his plan to leave the EU at Halloween."
"Brandishing a kipper at a packed campaign event, Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to become Britain's next prime minister, railed against EU red tape he said was punishing the producer of the smoked fish. He said the fish was from Isle of Man, which is not a member of the EU but as a British Crown Dependency, has access to the bloc's customs union. Brussels insisted any regulations on processed fishery products are actually British." It always comes back to the kippers.
"The chance that Britain will leave the European Union without a deal is the highest since October 2017, economists polled by Reuters say, as arch-Brexiteer Boris Johnson looks set to take over as prime minister next week."
"U.S. stock index futures gave back much of their gains Friday morning after initially rallying when two influential Fed officials hinted at more aggressive policy easing." They slept off the lunch-time drunk. Tell me again how markets are rational and the economic theory of how crowd can be accurate forecasters (note, traders are not diverse enough for that really to apply to the stock markets).
Post-racial America my Aunt Fanny. "A black family in California said they were racially profiled at a Nike store in Santa Monica when a white manager accused them of stealing a $12 basketball they had bought and then flagged down police officers." (Grokked from Joy Reid)
"A judge denied bail for jailed financier Jeffrey Epstein on sex trafficking charges Thursday, saying the danger to the community that would result if the jet-setting defendant was free formed the 'heart of this decision.'" Good.
"Nearly five years after Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke shot 16 rounds into teenager Laquan McDonald, a city panel voted nearly unanimously Thursday night to fire a sergeant and three other veteran officers, accusing them of betraying their duty by 'outright lying or shading the truth.'" And I'm usually for unions, but these FOP reps need to sit down and shut up. If you defend these people, the ones who blatantly flaunt the rules, who wantonly kill, you'll lose credibility. I'm going to go with the conversation being different in the lodge meetings, but this public face is going to get you in trouble. These officers lied, blatantly and overtly lied as can be shown by the video. There's no, "well, from a certain point of view" here. Officers who lie, and lie to cover up crimes, deserve all the punishment they get.
"A former PhD student has been sentenced to life in prison for the kidnap and murder of a Chinese graduate student at the University of Illinois… Brendt Christensen received the life term after a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether he should be given the death penalty." I would like to say this is pushback against the death penalty, but it smacks more of our acceptance of violence against women.
"The United States said on Thursday that a U.S. Navy ship had 'destroyed' an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz after the aircraft threatened the vessel, but Iran said it had no information about losing a drone." One side could be lying (with this administration it's difficult to rule out our side). Or both could be correct, in that we destroyed a drone, but it wasn't Iranian.
"After Murad explained how her mother and six brothers were killed and that 3,000 Yazidis remained missing, Trump said, 'And you had the Nobel Prize? That's incredible. They gave it to you for what reason?'… With little pause, Murad, who was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year, repeated her story." JFC, he's not even prepared for people he meets in the Oval Office. There are people who do this professionally, that is it is their job to brief the president (or executive, or whatever official) and remind them of the pertinent facts before they embarrass themselves this way. (Grokked from Joy Reid)
"U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents reportedly detained three children, all U.S. citizens, for about 13 hours Thursday morning at Chicago O'Hare International Airport after traveling with a cousin from Mexico… According to the Chicago Tribune, the children were given food and drinks in the meantime before they were released to their mother. They were reportedly released after an official from the Mexican Consulate helped reach an agreement that the girls' mother could pick up the girls without fear of being taken into custody."
"Video footage has emerged showing Donald Trump bragging about kissing a married talk show host on the lips while her husband’s back was turned."
"Donald Trump once saw a country that had lost its greatness — its cities wracked with crime, its borders a pathetic sieve, its leadership corrupt, its standing in the world a joke. 'The American dream,' he said, 'is dead.'" Also in defending the president's racist remarks, Kellyanne Conway said she hated Americans. Love it or leave it. It seems like a lot of conservatives would leave it.
"President Donald Trump says he 'was not happy' when his supporters at a rally Wednesday night in North Carolina chanted 'send her back' in reference to Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar." Waits for his next rally where he leads the chant. The whole thing was scripted. Or, if you want to go this way, the president is a coward who knows he can't stand up to his supporters. The president is only tough when he's not face to face.
"Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the freshman Democratic congresswoman facing attacks from President Trump and his supporters, received a hero's welcome back at her home district in Minnesota on Thursday." However she now has increased security, though.
"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that Donald Trump is "on to something" with his inflammatory attacks against four congresswomen, attempting to frame the president's racist rhetoric as rooted in ideological differences between the Republican and Democratic parties." Of course Senator Droppy-Dog is reframing his arguments to be political instead of just racists attempting to make it about "creating socialism." But this is just a new kind of dog whistle.
"This maneuver doesn’t mean that impeachment gets a final vote, or even debate. What it does get is a 'motion to table,' which means that lawmakers can vote to either keep the resolution as pending business or kill it off. When Green did this in 2017, 58 Democrats voted to keep the impeachment measure alive. In 2018, 66 did so. This time, it was up to 95."
"House Democrats are intensely preparing a pointed line of questioning for Robert Mueller, banking that his testimony will shift public perception about the President's alleged criminal activity outlined in the special counsel's report, according to Democratic committee aides… As part of their strategy, Democrats plan to hone in on five areas of the Mueller report where they think the President clearly obstructed justice, including his efforts to fire the special counsel and to tamper with witnesses like his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, the aides said." They're actually prepping for this. It means they're serious.
"In between calls with Hicks and Trump – one of which was a three-way phone conversation – Cohen communicated by text and phone with two executives at American Media Inc., publisher of The National Enquirer, at times immediately afterwards. In those discussions, Cohen repeatedly invoked the name “Keith,” referring to Keith Davidson, the lawyer representing adult film-star Stormy Daniels… During her testimony before Congress last month, Hicks denied ever being present during conversations between Cohen and Trump about Daniels, or ever having direct knowledge of Cohen's payments to Daniels… Two sources familiar with the probe told ABC News neither Hicks nor anyone else would be charged in the as it relates to the investigation in the Southern District of New York." Bill Barr earning his stripes in hell. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
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