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

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Linkee-poo has a bad case of loving you

"All career advice for women is a form of gaslighting." Pretty much, but now there's studies to prove it. There's a constant double-standard, even in companies who have women in leadership positions. (Grokked from Shiela)

Racists never miss an opportunity. "The global response to COVID-19—better known as coronavirus—has made clear that the fear of contracting disease has an ugly cousin: xenophobia. As the virus has spread from China to other countries, anti-Asian discrimination has followed closely behind, manifesting in plummeting sales at Chinese restaurants, near-deserted Chinatown districts and racist bullying against people perceived to be Chinese."

John Oliver's Last Week Tonight on the Coronavirus.

So how's that self-isolation idea working? "New Hampshire’s first coronavirus patient shrugged off his quarantine and went to an event in a different state — potentially exposing almost 200 people to the deadly illness, officials revealed." Fortunately it wasn't to go serve food to the poor, but to an invite only event "organized by Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business." Fuckin' MBAs, am I right?

"A cruise ship passenger died from the coronavirus less than two weeks after he returned home, marking California's first death as the disease sickens people in 15 states… The death reported Wednesday was linked to the Grand Princess cruise ship, and was the first coronavirus fatality outside Washington state, where 10 people have died." Also pointed out because, yes, Virginia, there are people who go from cruise to cruise to cruise.

"Amazon and Facebook are encouraging their employees in Seattle to stay home after workers for each company tested positive for the novel coronavirus." I wonder if they'll also have their warehouse pickers work from home (stares in MBA stupidity).

"'We're not walking around with respirators in a hazmat suit.' Wealthy New York neighborhood where coronavirus lawyer lives has quarantined itself, as residents say they aren't panicking but are stocking up on Lysol." From the time you're exposed until you are "cured" you could be infectious. So that they people "stocked up" after they were asked to self-isolate means they spread the virus around while stocking up. And, the rich are just like you and me, "Next door to the sick lawyer's home, a priest and his assistant pulled up in an SUV, opened the trunk and carried cases of Pellegrino and coke along with a few bags of groceries to the door of a neighbor who was also sick and self quarantined." Pellegrino. JFC!

Shit gets real. "On Wednesday, MGM and Universal Pictures announced that they will postpone the release of the next Bond film, No Time to Die, in response to public-health concerns about the recent COVID-19 outbreak. The film—which will serve as 52-year-old Daniel Craig’s swan song as 007—was slated to premiere March 31 in London, with a U.S. release date of April 10. It will now be released on Nov. 25." Burn. It. All. Down.

"The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is ordering health inspectors to focus on infection-control practices at nursing homes and hospitals, particularly those where coronavirus infections have been identified among patients or in the community, CMS Administrator Seema Verma announced Wednesday." But the Trump administration is still going to roll back that rule on mandating infection control officers.

Edit because I forgot when I posted this a few minutes again, it appears as if yesterday's rally was just so much wishful thinking. The Dow is down over 680 points and struggling to go back up. Welcome to the Bear market, which pundits will realize sometime two-weeks from now. Bulls make money, Bears make money, rabbits get skinned.

"As the federal government takes a back seat in promoting electric vehicles some states, such as New Jersey, are taking the wheel." Whereas here in Ohio we're adding taxes to those who own EVs and Hybrids. You know, to "help pay" for the roads. Totally not because our elected officials aren't cretins totally in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry who are trying to kill anything "green" or "environmental". Like removing mandates for renewables and setting windmill and solar setbacks high enough that you can't really develop new sites.

"I’m 59, and my husband and I earn $500,000 a year — but have credit card debt and nothing saved for retirement. What should we do?" Fuck off, Karen. Okay, sure, medical expenses for a child that ended in killing themselves, so some empathy there. But seriously, you paid for 3 kids' college educations. Your home is $1.4M of which $1M is paid off. Her part-time work is "play money." No, seriously, fuck off. Wealth is wasted on the rich.

"For nearly a half century, Freedom House — the avowedly non-partisan democracy advocacy organization whose founders include Eleanor Roosevelt and Wendell Wilkie — has published an annual report on the state of freedom in the world. This year's edition, titled 'A Leaderless Struggle for Democracy,' is just out, and it is decidedly downbeat in its assessment of where worldwide freedom stands today."

"Twitter is deploying new features on Thursday that it says will keep pace with disinformation and influence operations targeting the 2020 election… A new policy on 'synthetic and manipulated media,' attempts to flag and provide greater context for content that the platform believes to have been 'significantly and deceptively altered or fabricated.'" Uh, sure, Bob.

"With more than 90% of votes counted, the Likud party appears to have won as many as four more parliamentary seats than the centrist Blue and White coalition, led by his main rival, retired army Gen. Benny Gantz. Likud together with its right-wing and religious partners are projected to win a combined 59 seats, which is just short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, Israel's parliament." The elections will continue until you put us in power.

"Fighting broke out in Turkey's parliament after an MP criticised President Erdogan over the country's military intervention in Syria."

"Russia is racing to reinforce its troops in Syria by sea and air before talks between the Russian and Turkish leaders in Moscow on Thursday, flight data and shipping movements show." Peace through strength.

"An investigation of alleged war crimes by the US and others in the Afghan conflict can go ahead, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has ruled… The actions of the Taliban, the Afghan government and US troops since May 2003 are expected to be examined."

"There are a lot of basics to understand about the census. As the count ramps up, you'll likely see and hear misinformation — and some disinformation — swirling around on social media and in conversations, and NPR is here to set the record straight." Jesus peoples, we do this every ten-years. Okay, yes, there is a heckalotta disinformation swirling around (just like last time). But most of all, conservative candidates and campaigns are mailing "census like" forms to both fund-raise and to confuse the general public. Frankly, that should be (and I really think it already is) criminal with actual fines and jail time.

"Twitter Inc said on Wednesday it was testing in Brazil a new type of tweet that disappears after 24 hours, similar to the stories feature popular on Snapchat and Facebook’s photo-sharing app Instagram." Severe eye roll. Hey Jack, instead of beating off to Tibetan chants and singing bowls, maybe do something about the fucking Nazis and abuse on your platform. What did I do with those "fleeting thoughts" I can't tweet? I stuff them down deep into this bottle I keep inside. They'll totally be safe there. (Wait for it.)

"As coronavirus spreads, the Center for Disease Control is warning Americans to take urgent precautions. Meanwhile, the White House says tune out and calm down. On this week’s On the Media, what to expect as COVID-19 threatens to make its way through a ruptured body politic. Plus, amid so much focus on electability, a look at the millions of voters who swing from voting 'blue' to simply not voting at all."

"There were fierce clashes at the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday and a fierce critique from Chief Justice John Roberts afterward upon learning about statements made by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer outside while the arguments were taking place inside." See, conservatives don't think liberals will push back. And when we do, they give us schoolmarm looks and tisk-tisk us like we were children. Sorry, CJ Roberts, you don't understand that if you do push back Roe, all those people who are nominally "pro-life" because (clutches pearls and affects southern accent) "'won't anyone think of the po' babies', but my abortion was totally fine because it was for 'reasons'" will suddenly figure out that the end goal is no abortions ever for any reason, including the life of the mother, and we're taking your birth control away, including condoms. Which people actually don't support.

"Even so, Americans appear to have been able to cast a ballot as they wished without major cyberattacks, information dumps or other mischief like that seen in the wave of active measures launched by Russia in 2016. So far." So far. Again, because we're not employing "active measures" (because there's to much to be gained by those in power for only seeming concerned but not actually doing anything) this is still a "win/win/win" prospect for Putin (and most other major powers now getting into the game). Even if the news came out showing direct ties back to Putin and that a candidate only won because of those things he did, Putin still wins (lost of confidence in elections and in our government's ability to keep us safe, the basic social contract - sub note, this is exactly where terrorism is intended to strike). What could be done to counter this? Education, mostly (which won't happen, because one major party has been attacking even critical thinking in education for 4 decades now). I don't know… maybe the IRA building suffers a gas leak, along with 2 buildings in Italy… (waves to my Russian friends and their Italian supporters). Maybe a little extraordinary rendition and getting back to using those black sites that have been "idle". Not that I'm saying that should happen (Deadpool breaking the forth-wall, "I'm saying that should happen"). Something to induce "cost" (ie. pain, maybe physical, possibly lover-like) into their equations. But that would take someone with balls and unfortunately I don't think Warren will actually win the nomination now.

Hi, guys. Miss me?

"Voters from predominantly black and Latino neighbourhoods were forced to wait for hours to cast their ballot in Texas on Super Tuesday after long lines were reported at some polling stations… Election officials in the Houston area were forced to send in additional voting machines as thousands of people reportedly waited for up to five hours to vote at one station… The long waits came after the closure of hundreds of polling stations across Texas by the Republican-led state government since 2012." This is my shocked face. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)

The lying liars and the lies they lie. "Shaun King has faced a backlash from Twitter users after claiming Rachel Maddow reported the Democratic Party was interfering in the primaries to stop Bernie Sanders." I am so over the "but they love me in the emails" ("I know you all hate me here, but in these private conversations that I can't show you or quote or really substantiate in anyway it's all totally the other way", uh, yeah, Bob, this is the same as the president talking about people asking him, "with tears in their eyes" and "sir") bullcrap. Photos or it didn't happen.

"Sen. Bernie Sanders admitted today that his campaign has not so far been able to drive youth turnout in the way he and his advisers had hoped… But he said he’s confident the numbers would be there in November." Only, and I can't emphasize this enough (HINT to the DNC, HELLO! is this thing on?), if you actually build the infrastructure and drive the GOTV (get out the vote) activities. Not just think you're going to "inspire" them. And that takes money, time, and fucking doing the hard work.

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