Just as a general note, here at the day thing I still get email for the previous occupant of this position, and she was bit of arch-conservative. So I can tell you concretely that the forces of Fake News (the real ones, not what the president wants you to believe) are ramping up production ahead of 2020. The scapegoats are the same, their direction of their writing is the same, and while there are some new attempts to sell it to the left, they know their money is dependent on getting clicks from conservatives. And it is all about the ad dollars (with a little from sponsors, waves to the you know whos).
Okay, so you may know I support the Planetary Society. They're the ones who are pursuing the solar sail technology (and space exploration in general). What you may not know is my secret car crush are mid 60s VW Beetle convertibles (yes, yes, I know the genesis of the VW Beetle). But the heart wants what the heart wants. You also may not know that there is a company who takes old VW's and swaps out their power plants for engines from totaled Teslas. And now, the Planetary Society is giving away one. You can enter for free, or you can donate for more entries. For me, it's a win-win-win. I support the Planetary Society, I could win a car I've always wanted, and that car is also a product of up-cycling. Does sharing this with you lower my chances, yes. But in real terms, not by much.
"Astronomers have all but confirmed that the second known interstellar object is currently whizzing through our Solar System – and unlike the first event, we’ll be able to study it in a huge amount of detail." Rama II?
"Astronomers at the Centre for Space Exochemistry Data at the University College London (UCL) detected water vapour in the atmosphere of the K2-18b 'exoplanet,' a planet outside our solar system, between the mass of Earth and Neptune, that also has the right temperatures that could support life." Things are getting interesting.
"But when the child was about two years old, the couple, who are white, began noticing changes in her features. She looked Asian. A DNA test later revealed Wasilewski was not her biological parent, according to a filed lawsuit against the clinic." Oopsie. Also, let me call bullshit on blaming the child for the divorce, and that the child is "not 100% your child." This is an insecure man looking for an excuse to bail on commitment (or at least that's IMHO). Also, this should not excuse him from either child care or support. Welcome to a late 20th Century problem.
"Tobacco stocks surged Wednesday after regulators threatened to pull e-cigarettes from shelves if manufacturers do not control 'widespread' teen use." Guess who forgot to create a lobbyist army to protect their interests, and who else has their lobbyist army already marching. Why it's the same people that just so happen to have a competing product almost ready to market. Remember when Trump promised no new regulations? I wonder which regulations the FDA will roll back to institute this one? (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
"The Environmental Protection Agency is set Thursday to announce the repeal of the Obama-era Waters of the United States rule that extended federal authority and protections to streams and wetlands, according to a source familiar with the details of the announcement."
"For more than 20 years, the eastern Michigan town of Lapeer sent leftover sludge from its sewage treatment plant to area farms, supplying them with high-quality, free fertilizer while avoiding the expense of disposal elsewhere." However, PFAS is now showing up in the sludge (and people's water and bodies). While human waste is great fertilizer (especially concentrated human urine), not everything that makes it to the sewer plants is "human" waste. And all effluent should be tested for a wide variety of chemicals. Better living through chemistry.
"A FRONTLINE documentary, drawing from a two-year investigation, uncovers the extent of a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak during the Flint water crisis — and how officials failed to stop it." And you might remember, "The Michigan Attorney General's Office has dismissed all pending criminal charges arising from the Flint drinking water crisis, saying the initial investigation was bungled and it is opting to launch a new but expanded probe." So far, no new charges. And yes, it did go all the way to the former governor's office.
"For many students, this new school year will mean more reasons to watch what they do or say online. Spurred in part by the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., a year and a half ago, schools nationwide are collaborating with law enforcement in new ways in efforts to avoid the kind of tragedies that, while still rare, are far too familiar. They're investing in new security technologies that scan social media posts, school assignments and even student emails for potential threats." Big Brother loves you. "'There's no proven information showing that social media monitoring is useful," (Amelia Vance, a student privacy advocate with the Future of Privacy Forum) says. 'We have a lot of data showing it overwhelms with false flags.'" But if they didn't, they would be open to criticism (and legal liability) in case something did happen. As Winston Churchill supposedly said, "Why, you may take the most gallant sailor, the most intrepid airman or the most audacious soldier, put them at a table together — what do you get? The sum of their fears."
"The CEOs of more than 100 companies are stepping into the nation’s gun debate, imploring Congress to expand background checks and enact a strong 'red flag' law." The chorus grows louder.
How goes Brexit? "UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has rejected accusations that he lied to the Queen over his controversial suspension of Parliament in the run-up to the Brexit deadline."
Jim Wright on honoring 9-11 (or not as the case may be). I've said this often enough that I'm tired of it; what is the goal of terrorists? It isn't to kill people, it's to provoke the response. The terrorists accept they won't live to see the fall of the governments they target (and even though the kill mostly citizens, at least for those that understand what they're trying to accomplish do, the real target is always the governments of those citizens). But their goal is to destroy those governments and they expect the response to their attacks to achieve that goal eventually. Look around at our political situation. We may have killed those who attacked us any anyone we thought might be connected to them (unless they could offer us something, like the Saudis), but I'm not sure we've defeated them.
"By a vote of 7-2, the justices said the administration can enforce a rule announced in July requiring migrants to first seek asylum in the country through which they traveled to get to the United States, commonly referred by U.S. officials as 'a third country.'"
"'Once again the Executive Branch has issued a rule that seeks to upend longstanding practices regarding refugees who seek shelter from persecution,' Sotomayor wrote in her dissenting opinion. 'Although this Nation has long kept its doors open to refugees — and although the stakes for asylum seekers could not be higher — the Government implemented its rule without first providing the public notice and inviting the public input generally required by law.'" Justice Sotomayor dissents.
Mexico also dissents. "Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Thursday that Mexico’s government doesn’t agree with a U.S. Supreme Court order that would block migrants from countries other than Mexico and Canada from applying for asylum at U.S. borders."
"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that Democrats are engaging in 'theatrics' over gun control legislation, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned that 'people are dying' because the Senate leader refuses to act." So much for anything happening. Thanks, conservatives. We're still at the point in the AIDS crisis that one side just doesn't care because it'll never affect people they know or care about… except it already has and will increase because of the inaction.
"Fights over abortion and President Donald Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall have thrown Senate efforts to advance $1.4 trillion worth of agency spending bills into disarray, threatening one of Washington’s few bipartisan accomplishments this year." Here we are again.
Just how deluded is the radical-right? "'If you are wondering why so many progressives are mourning Bolton’s firing tonight, it's because Bolton himself fundamentally was a man of the left. There was not a human problem John Bolton wasn’t totally convinced could be solved with the brute force of government. That’s an assumption of the left, not the right. Don’t let the mustache fool you,' said (Tucker) Carlson, accusing Bolton of 'promoting Obama loyalists within the National Security Council.'" Clearly whatever Tucker is imbibing is some good shit.
"While there are some elements of where-were-you-when-ism that go around the internet on every anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, it's striking the extent to which the President of the United States -- speaking to a group of victims' families -- looked inward. Yes, he talked about what he was doing that day. What he was watching on TV. What he thought had happened. But then, his latest drama on how he decided to cancel the talks with the Taliban."
"The Chinese woman who was arrested for breaching security at President Trump's private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida earlier this year, has been found guilty on counts of lying to federal officers and illegally entering a restricted area." And now the appeals begin.
"Russian law enforcement authorities on Thursday carried out mass raids on the homes and offices of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s supporters, as part of an investigation into money-laundering." You don't think this might have anything to do with opposition parties winning local elections, do you? Choose carefully, my Russian friends (and you are being asked to make choices).
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