So, big power outages because of the storms. So nothing fresh today, sorry. But here are some links from over the weekend.
"In the binary times in which we live, it might not surprise anyone that people can't even agree on when one period of time ends and another begins. The question many are now asking is: When we ring in the new year and welcome 2020, should we also celebrate a new decade?" Whispers, "There was no year 0." But then we had this fight in 1999.
"Tour operators of (Upper Antelope Canyon in Arizona), known for its red-orange sandstone walls, on the Navajo Nation announced last week that photo-only tours will cease, The Arizona Republic reported."
"Retailers legally selling marijuana for the past month in Michigan say they have drawn customers from surrounding Midwestern states where the drug remains illegal and, as Illinois prepares to joins the recreational market on Wednesday, officials are renewing warnings to consumers against carrying such products over state lines."
On the Media 2019 wrap-up, "2019 started on a note of fakery, as we made sense of the conspiracies and simulacra that distort our information field. It's ending with a similar air of surreality, with impeachment proceedings bringing the dynamics of the Trump presidency into stark relief. Along the way, we've examined forces, deconstructed narratives, and found the racist core at the heart of so much of the American project. And as we've come to look differently at the world, we've come to look differently at ourselves."
"Law enforcement and fire officials have responded to a shooting in or at a church in White Settlement, Texas, outside Fort Worth." So much for the myth that shooting only occurs in gun free zones.
"A man accused of stabbing and wounding five people at a rabbi's home in an Orthodox Jewish community in Rockland County, New York, just as they were lighting candles for Hanukkah, pleaded not guilty on Sunday to five counts of attempted murder."
"But if 2017 was the wake-up call, 2019 was the year the call was answered… 'We did see movement in public policy and public rhetoric on violence inspired by white supremacy and white nationalism,' said George Selim, who oversees the Anti-Defamation League's Center for Extremism."
"'We find that the 2018 tariffs are associated with relative reductions in manufacturing employment and relative increases in producer prices,' concluded Fed economists Aaron Flaaen and Justin Pierce, in an academic paper." This is my shocked face.m(Grokked from George Takei)
"On Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office said that the federal deficit will reach $960 billion for the 2019 fiscal year, which ends September 30, and breach the $1 trillion mark in 2020. Previously those figures were expected to come in at $896 billion and $892 billion, respectively, but the damage from the president’s tariffs, along with a sharp falloff in revenue thanks to the 2017 tax cuts, have caused deficit projections to rise faster than expected." Longest expansion of the economy EVAR and we're swimming in debt. Hey, remember under Obama when the deficit got over $700B and the rightwing went batshit crazy and launched the Tea Party? So, guess how they're thinking of solving this problem? "Conservative groups—which largely supported Mr. Trump’s tax cuts—have pushed Congress to cut future deficits by reducing benefits for federal health care and retirement programs, like Medicare and Social Security." And the president has signaled that would be a fun second term project. Guess what they're going to run on. (Grokked from Seanan McGuire)
"Two years ago Friday, Republicans in Congress passed a sweeping tax cut. It was supposed to be a gift-wrapped present to taxpayers and the economy. But in hindsight, it looks more like a costly lump of coal… 'It will be rocket fuel for our economy,' Trump promised… 'The tax plan will pay for itself with economic growth,' Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said… It hasn't worked out that way." Funny, that. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Putin thanked Trump “for information transmitted through the special services that helped prevent the completion of terrorist acts in Russia,” the Kremlin said in a brief statement posted on its website." Uh, yeah. I'm gonna need a little more here.
"Trump has long railed against clean-energy-producing wind turbines, but recently he's added light bulbs and other household items to his repertoire. It's an unusual political rallying cry, but one that fits with Trump's deregulatory agenda."
"President Donald Trump retweeted a post that included the alleged name of the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint ultimately led to Trump’s impeachment by the House." Considering that the reposted tweet appears to come from an automated account, that's pretty interesting. Also, the president doing so may have violated the law (again).
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