Jessye Norman, and so it goes.
"The BBC dropped the first trailer for its upcoming adaptation of the classic H.G. Wells science fiction novel The War of the Worlds. The three-part miniseries is set in Edwardian England—just a few years after Wells published his novel—and it looks like it will be a fairly faithful treatment of the source material, as the people of Earth fight to survive in the face of a Martian invasion." Finally it looks like the period piece will be handled well (that is the Martians don't reflect the technological state of Edwardian England). (Grokked from John)
"The Amery Ice Shelf in Antarctica has just produced its biggest iceberg in more than 50 years." The loss of the berg itself isn't that noteworthy (as it's been expected), but what such a large loss might mean to an otherwise "stable" Antarctic glacier.
"The journal Nature retracted a study published last year that found oceans were warming at an alarming rate due to climate change." That's a little misleading. Nature retracted one paper which supported the conclusion that the oceans are warming at an alarming rate because of a new statistical modeling based on off-gassing of aquatic plants (as I understand it) which had mathematical errors. The other papers published which show the oceans are warming at an alarming rate still stand.
"Our diets, however, are not like drugs. The impact of eating a meat-centric diet is tricky to measure. Unlike a pill, which can be measured against a placebo in a short-term trial, our diets are much more complicated. What we eat today may influence our health over decades. And teasing out an independent effect is tougher because our diets are varied and complex." Science denialism comes to nutrition (actually it's been there for a long time). About the new paper (note, it's not a new study) saying the evidence against red and processed meats isn't conclusive. Hate to tell you all this, but neither are the minimum recommended amounts, the food pyramids, diets in general, basically anything ingested over the long term has difficulties being studied. However there is a huge demand from industry to tell you, "everything is fine." Just like lead in paint and gasoline.
So there are some news stories going around about how this year's flu shot may be a "mismatch" with flu strains this season because (wait for it), the WHO is recommending different virus strains for the Southern Hemisphere 2020 season. No I'm not going to point to them, but understand this is a propaganda campaign. The flu strains are constantly mutating and which strains are more important in a season also constantly change. It's completely normal for different strains to be predicted. Why? Well let's say H3N1 hits the northern hemisphere hard (as predicted, it's one of the 3 viruses the flu shot is supposed to protect you from), because of immunity and the natural course of the disease, it shouldn't be in heavy transmission by March/April as the seasons change and the flu outbreaks change hemispheres. But other strains should be. The strains that go into the flu shot are predicted 8 months in advance to give manufacturers time enough to create the vaccines (could be done faster if we moved away from the egg model). Most often they get it right, or close enough. The flu vaccine, even if the prediction of the strains to hit the Northern Hemisphere are way off, will still give you limited immunity to other flu viruses. Those news outlets trying to scare you are actively working against your interests (either by complicity or sheer ignorance). Get the goddamn shot (if you can). This year will be a bad one. We're seeing it already (but we're not testing for influenza yet, because it's "not the season").
"Patricia Powers went a few years without health insurance and was unable to afford regular doctor visits. So the Missouri resident, who lives near St. Louis, had no idea cancerous tumors were silently growing in both of her breasts… If Powers lived just across the Mississippi River in neighboring Illinois, she would have qualified for Medicaid…" Just a reminder, access to healthcare is costing people's lives and their quality of life. and in this case, the delayed care for Mrs Powers ended up costing Missouri much more than covering her and finding the cancer earlier.
"The new law allows student athletes to make money from advertising that uses their name and image. The measure won't just benefit star athletes at elite universities." No transcript yet.
You know that urban myth about the big-oil companies suppressing patents of engines that can get 100 miles per gallon (or even better, run on water)? "Half a century ago — before climate change was a topic of much discussion and before Exxon was accused of deceiving shareholders and the public by downplaying the risks of climate change, prompting investigations and lawsuits — the company then known as Jersey Standard funded groundbreaking research into solar photovoltaic technology, which converts sunlight into electricity… Other oil companies would follow. While the amounts spent by these big firms were tiny compared with their vast resources, these early, critical investments in solar technology laid a foundation for what is now a growing, multibillion-dollar industry." Yes, big-oil was crucial at the start of the solar-cell technology.
"A natural disaster like a flood or a hurricane can destroy and severely damage property — something we’ve seen happen in coastal regions during every hurricane season. This has, among other things, a big impact on the value of those homes and the mortgages their owners take on. There’s a new paper out today from the National Bureau of Economic Research that says banks have been offloading more of those risky mortgages to the federal government, leaving taxpayers on the hook if homeowners default." A Marketplace audio report. Marketplace is just a frustrating outlet as most of their stories are audio, the do excellent content, but the infuriating thing is I hear stories on-air and then go to get them (to listen closer, or for here) and I can't find them.
Such as on the radio program of the Marketplace Morning Report they started off with several economic indicators pointing to as slowing global economy. But I can't find the actual story (and the posted morning report isn't the same as what I heard).
"A pro-democracy protester in Hong Kong was shot by police Tuesday — a sign of an escalating official response to months of mass demonstrations. The shooting took place as Beijing marks the 70th anniversary of modern China." First use of live rounds.
"A shadowy group that supports Syrian dictator Bashar-al Assad is giving thousands of dollars to far-right activists, conspiracy websites, YouTube personalities, and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange — all under the guise of an award for 'uncompromised integrity in journalism.'" This is how influence works, as well as how it brings down those who have been compromised. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"New York Republican Rep. Chris Collins is resigning, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office… Collins is expected to appear in court tomorrow and multiple news organizations have reported he is expected to plead guilty to charges involving insider trading." Sure, it's 3 people removed, but it's still insider trading. Collins shouldn't have shared the information with anyone.
"Brown, like many white liberal voters, appreciates that some Democratic presidential candidates have begun explicitly referring to Trump as a white supremacist. His top choice, Warren, told The NPR Politics Podcast in August that 'when the white supremacists call Donald Trump one of their own, I tend to believe them.'" This is what happens when you speak the truth. And that's the only way Democrats are going to take back this country and save it from the morass of fascism. "One possible explanation for the dramatic shift in racial attitudes in the last decade is that white Democrats who disagreed with the party's embrace of diversity have just abandoned the party all together." Yes, that's a part of it too.
JFC, the news surrounding Trump's corruption and the Impeachment Investigation (it's not "hearings" yet) is coming so fast and thick it's hard to keep ahead of it all. And it's now making me categorize the types and areas of the news.
"From Donald Trump on down, prominent Republicans used part of their weekend to falsely accuse Trump’s hand-picked intelligence community inspector general (IC IG) of secretly changing the requirements for intelligence workers to submit whistleblower tips as part of a “deep state” plot to clear the way for the Aug. 12 complaint about Trump’s phone call to the president of Ukraine." Bullshit Mountain has engulfed the Oval Office. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)
"House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) says he’s looking into making public a complaint by another whistleblower who claims to have evidence of misconduct regarding the Internal revenue Service’s auditing of President Trump, Bloomberg reports… The allegations, made by a federal employee, says there were 'inappropriate efforts to influence' the audit process."
"President Trump on Monday suggested House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) be arrested for treason, a crime punishable by death or prison time, for exaggerating parts of the president's call with Ukraine's leader." The was nothing illegal or treasonous in Adam Schiff's statement, it was just embarrassing to the president.
"Attorney Joe diGenova blasted Fox News on Monday after host Chris Wallace exposed his alleged work with Rudy Giuliani in Ukraine… 'According to a top U.S. official, all three were working off the books apart from the administration,' Wallace said. 'The only person in government who knows what they were doing is President Trump.'" The language is a little inflammatory ("exposed"), but what else would you expect from Raw Story? (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"Democrats subpoenaed documents from presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani, citing statements from a CNN interview. We explore how TV appearances are driving events in the Ukraine whistleblower probe."
"Majority Democrats in the House subpoenaed President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on Monday for documents related to his communications with Ukraine."
"President Donald Trump's recent tweet quoting a longtime evangelical pastor who warned of a 'Civil War' if Democrats seriously pursue removing him from office could actually be grounds for impeachment, one Harvard Law professor said."
"President Donald Trump and his allies advanced a conspiracy theory about the Ukraine whistleblower over the last few days alleging that the intelligence community had recently changed the rules requiring whistleblowers to base their claims on first-hand information." A form was changed to clarify and categorize the information, no law or rule was changed. This is a misinformation campaign designed to throw sand into the eyes of the charging bull.
"A former member of the Ukrainian parliament and adviser to Ukraine's president told CBS News it was a 'well-known fact' there that President Donald Trump wanted 'compromising' information on former Vice President Joe Biden. Serhiy Leshchenko added that Ukraine's president knew that U.S. aid to his country was at stake." What was the phrase I heard, "Like Tony Soprano, but without the therapy."
"A series of rapid-fire developments brought the House impeachment inquiry into clearer focus Monday afternoon, with Democrats issuing new demands for evidence and new revelations about the circumstances of the president's call with Ukraine coming to light." A slightly confusing article that doesn't carefully delineate between the president's call to Ukraine asking them to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden, and the newly revealed call to Australia in AG Barr's investigation into the start of the FBI's probe into connections between the Trump campaign and the Russians.
"Americans are about evenly split over impeaching President Donald Trump and removing him from office, as support for that move has risen among independents and Republicans, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS after the announcement of a formal impeachment inquiry by House Democrats last week." We're crossing into the territory of the margin of error in sample polling, but the numbers are moving.
"The Post goes on to note that 'it is not clear whether a memo documenting the May 10, 2017, meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak (and the president) was placed into that system, but the three former officials said it was restricted to a very small number of people.' Here’s the problem: That May 10 White House meeting was the subject of intense scrutiny by the Mueller probe because it went directly to the question of why Comey was fired." But there's no indication that Mueller had that memo or readout of the meeting.
"Lawyers for the House of Representatives revealed on Monday that they have reason to believe that the grand-jury redactions in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report show that President Donald Trump lied about his knowledge of his campaign’s contacts with WikiLeaks." Well, someone finally found their big-boy pants.
Sure, it's a partisan outlet, but… "Last week, Pompeo sought to deflect questions about the issue, saying he hadn't read the whistleblower's complaint in its entirety. That deflection might be more credible if Pompeo hadn't been in the same room… It's also worth noting that Pompeo initially opposed releasing the record of the call. That opposition takes on new import after learning Pompeo was opposing efforts that might expose his role." To be fair, there now appears to be so many instances that could have been a part of the whistleblower complaint that it would be hard to figure out which one it was until you had the complaint in front of you. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
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