I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Linkee-poo Tuesdays

Still lotsa alligators.

"Dr. Hall’s research, recently published in JAMA Surgery, has found that frail, older adults are more likely than other patients to die after even supposedly minor procedures — and even when the surgery goes well, without complications."

"But investigations by The Washington Post and BuzzFeed have described networks of fake reviewers paid to inflate ratings for lesser-known sellers on Amazon. Merchants might also have their own employees write favorable reviews, or trash competitors." Just like you shouldn't read the comments, don't just rely on the reviews.

"Experts at the University of Oklahoma believe they have found a possible mass grave site from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre at a city cemetery, although they are unsure how many bodies are underneath."

"After more than eight hours of pounding drums, invocations of a holy power and unrelenting screams from outside the New Jersey state Senate chamber, lawmakers in the upper house on Monday declined to take up legislation that would eliminate the religious exemption for mandatory childhood vaccinations." Get the goddamn vaccinations.

"Boeing will temporarily halt production of its troubled 737 Max airliner in January, the manufacturer said."

"Apple, Google, Tesla and Microsoft are among firms named in a lawsuit seeking damages over deaths and injuries of child miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo." The human cost of our high-tech. Also, "artisanally mined ore"? That's a fucking bad euphemism.

Burning Chrome, "Two computer programmers in Las Vegas pleaded guilty last Friday to criminal copyright charges after an FBI investigation revealed they had been working on two massive, illegal online streaming sites, iStreamItAll and Jetflicks, according to plea agreements."

How goes Brexit? "The government is to add a new clause to the Brexit bill to rule out any extension to the transition period beyond the end of next year."

How go the Trade Wars? "Mexico’s lead negotiator for the accord that will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement was in Washington Monday to reaffirm that Mexico would not accept a proposal for U.S. representatives who would inspect labor conditions in Mexican plants." You mean those provisions that got US labor on board?

"Former Pakistan President and military ruler Pervez Musharraf has been sentenced to death in absentia for high treason following a six-year legal case." You may remember Musharraf as "our man in Pakistan" for the War on Terror.

"The aides in Van Drew’s Washington office wrote in a joint letter to his chief of staff that Van Drew’s decision to become a Republican after winning his seat last year as a Democrat 'does not align with the values we brought to this job.'" (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)

"The roster of add-ons (to the spending appropriations bills) grew over the weekend to include permanent repeal of a tax on high-cost 'Cadillac' health insurance benefits and finance health care and pension benefits for 92,000 retired union coal miners threatened by the insolvency of their pension fund. A tax on medical devices and health insurance plans would also be repealed permanently… The deficit tab for the package grew as well — almost $400 billion over 10 years to repeal the three so-called “Obamacare” taxes alone — with a companion package to extend several business-friendly tax breaks still under negotiation. The Obama-era taxes have previously been suspended on a piecemeal basis."

"The House Judiciary Committee released a sweeping report Monday bolstering the case for impeaching President Donald Trump, laying out the rationale and charges that accuse him of betraying the nation for his own political gain."

Fact checking the president (and others) on his statements surrounding impeachment.

"President Donald Trump wrongly claimed the Commission on Presidential Debates was 'forced to publicly apologize for modulating' his microphone in the first 2016 general election debate. The bipartisan commission did not apologize for any willful tampering, but acknowledged 'there were issues regarding Donald Trump’s audio that affected the sound level in the debate hall.'"

"In particular, the decision by virtually all House Republicans to view their role as defending Trump, rather than pursuing a genuine assessment of the underlying facts, underscores how partisan imperatives have almost completely eclipsed any commitment to Congress' independent authority to check and balance the executive branch." This is almost as bad as the Trump presidency. And you may remember that a conservative Congress did the same thing with GW Bush. That is a big threat to democracy.

Meanwhile, on Bullshit Mountain… "Giuliani, one of Trump's most loyal defenders, told Laura Ingraham on 'The Ingraham Angle' that he helped forced out Yovanovitch because she was corrupt and obstructing the investigation into Ukraine and the Bidens."

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