"A chartered plane carrying American consulate personnel and citizens from an area of China at the center of a coronavirus outbreak has been cleared to proceed to California after making a refueling stop at an airport in Anchorage, Alaska, Tuesday night." I'm sure it's totally safe.
"Students are wearing masks throughout the Miami University Oxford (Ohio) campus today after reports that officials are testing two possible cases of coronavirus." (Insert dramatic music here) Meanwhile, yesterday, on average more people died from the flu than have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus in the US. But even among healthcare providers people how can are not getting the flu vaccine. And so far this is a relatively modest flu season.
"There is a possibility that two inactive satellites currently in low Earth orbit will collide on Wednesday above the US, according to space debris tracking service LeoLabs… 'It isn't as unlikely as it usually is,' McDowell said. 'We start getting worried when it's 1 in 10,000, so 1 in 1,000 is unusual and it might actually be a lot worse than that.'"
"The reason the scientists are so worried about Thwaites is because of that downward sloping submarine bed… It means the glacier gets thicker and thicker as you go inland… As the glacier retreats back, yet more ice is exposed." We are so boned.
"As extreme weather wreaks havoc around the globe we look at a natural disaster more than 200 hundred years ago that had far-reaching effects. This week, how the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Laki awed, terrified and disrupted millions around the world and changed the course of history." The Throughline podcast with how nature does not care for us and will actively try to kill us. Where do you run when there is nowhere to run to?
"Psychologists sometimes refer to such emotional connections as parasocial relationships —one-way relationships. In some ways, they are akin to the imaginary friends that many children have. As we grow up, we're told to set such relationships aside. Clinging to imaginary companions can suggest that you are lonely or maladjusted… But what if there is more to these relationships than we realize?" The Hidden Brain podcast on imagination.
"Nearly five years after a group of cancer patients were given a single dose of a psychedelic drug to ease depression and anxiety, new research finds that many of them are still feeling the positive effects."
How goes Brexit? "The UK will no longer be a member of the European Union (EU) after 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020… For those not following every twist and turn, this is what you need to know."
"Nearly four years after then-presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would eliminate the federal debt in eight years, the deficit has since risen by more than 16 percent under his presidency… On Tuesday, attorney George Conway… pointed out that three years into Trump's first term as president, the national debt increased by $3 trillion, bringing it to over $23 trillion now. Conway cited figures from the National Debt Tweets in his tweet." Where's your Tea Party now?
"Cantley, 37, lived on the streets for 15 years. She was among thousands of Californians without a home, a problem that continues to grow. Last year, homelessness rose 16 percent to 151,000 people… Many blame mental illness and drug addiction for the soaring numbers, but experts say that is only part of the puzzle. The state’s severe housing shortage, which has forced rents to increase at twice the rate of the national average and put the median price of a single family home at $615,000, has also contributed to the crisis."
"Ivanka Trump has waded into a row over a CNN segment in which host Don Lemon laughed as two guests ridiculed supporters of her father… The president’s daughter said: 'The arrogance, mocking accents and smug ridicule of this nation’s ‘real elites’ is disgusting.'" Said the woman who grew up shitting in a literal gold toilet.
"When President Donald Trump signs his revised North American Free Trade Agreement agreement at the White House on Wednesday, congressional Democrats who played a central role in approving the pact won't be there." How petty can you get? Apparently pretty petty.
"Hardly a day goes by without the Trump administration finding a new way to slash the safety net… But its latest proposal — which would cut Social Security disability benefits by $2.6 billion over 10 years — is one of the cruelest. It would require millions of beneficiaries to re-prove their disability — and navigate a complex web of red tape and paperwork — every two years. Hundreds of thousands of people could lose benefits even though their condition has not changed." I've known people who have tried to get disability. It is not easy, or cheap, to "prove" to the Social Security Administration that you are deserving of disability payments. I know all our "Action News" channels are rife with "Disability person dancing the Watusi, video at 11!" But the majority of those are on "short term" or "long term" disability insurance claims, not federal disability payments. "Proving eligibility for benefits is an arduous process that can take months if not years, and numerous pages of medical evidence. America has among the strictest eligibility standards in the world. Over 60% of applications are denied, and tens of thousands of people die each year waiting for benefits." In our richest country in the world with the best healthcare system. Cruelty is the program. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"NPR is asking the State Department to explain its decision to deny an NPR reporter press credentials to travel with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on an upcoming trip to Europe, NPR President and CEO John Lansing announced Tuesday."
"President Donald Trump praised Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for his confrontation with an NPR reporter, saying he 'did a good job with her.'" It's a video segment from CNN, but seriously, who are these people always clapping at the president's internal speeches? Is he that insecure they need to pull staff in to give him ovations? Also, one asshole praying another. And this is what autocrats do, they congratulate each other on how big a dick they can be to others.
"With Trump's legal team resting its defense of the president, the impeachment trial now moves to its next phase: asking written questions."
"Since the Senate impeachment trial began last week, Chief Justice John Roberts has been mainly out of the camera's line of sight. He has, clerk-like, enforced Senate procedures and kept the clock for the lawyers at the lectern. He has tried to maintain the chamber's decorum, as when he admonished the legal teams against nastiness, citing a 1905 Senate trial precedent against use of the word 'pettifogging.'" But now he's the one who will ask the questions (submitted in writing).
Meanwhile, on Bullshit Mountain, "Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Tuesday that many of the issues that Democrats seek to impeach President Trump on have been done 'tenfold worse' by their own party's lawmakers." Ah, both-siderism, you got here a little late. I expected you months ago. I also like how the crimes Trump is actually being called to account for is just a "red herring." Pay no attention to that hand in your pocket taking your money, the real crime are these atrocious drapes.
"Democrats are bracing for the possibility that if President Donald Trump loses the 2020 election, he and his aides will bungle a smooth handover of power – and maybe even try to outright sabotage the transition." It's my impression that the Trump administration could possibly work their hardest and best to create a smooth transition and it would still be a dumpster fire. The only saving grace is a lot of transition work is done by a non-partisan arm of the government that has career professionals. But the Trump administration could bungle the transition by just trying, they could severely sabotage the transition by actively trying to thwart the change.
Tweet of my heart: @anatosaurus The magical immigrant is both taking your job and not working. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
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