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 22, 2020

Linkee-poo Tuesday Dec 22

"While blasting a wall of permafrost with a water cannon to release whatever riches might be found inside, Neil Loveless saw something melting out of the ice. It wasn’t a precious mineral, but the oldest and most complete wolf mummy ever discovered."

"People with private health insurance will see the nasty shock of “surprise” medical bills virtually gone, thanks to the coronavirus compromise passed by Congress." Yeah, I'mma gonna need a ruling on this one because it seems overly complicated with many opportunities to just bill the consumer, because they have no say in the process.

"There is a new strain of coronavirus in the United Kingdom that health experts are saying is more contagious. At least 40 countries are taking drastic action to isolate the U.K., closing borders, cutting off trade routes and restricting travel, resulting in chaotic scenes at airports and on the roads."

"As dozens of countries blocked the flow of people and goods from Britain to avoid a new and more contagious strain of coronavirus, scientists raced to understand how it emerged and the scope of its threat."

"Hundreds of stranded truck drivers hoped to get the green light to leave Britain on Tuesday as the country found itself increasingly isolated and its trade bottled up, cut off by neighbors afraid of a new strain of the coronavirus circulating in England." Welcome to Hard Brexit Lite.

"Pfizer and Moderna are testing their coronavirus vaccines to see if they work against the mutated version of the virus found in the United Kingdom and other countries, the companies said… The variant has not been identified in the United States, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a Tuesday brief, but 'given the small fraction of US infections that have been sequenced, the variant could already be in the United States without having been detected.'" Um…

Even Bullshit Mountain has to acknowledge reality once in a while. "This is the deadliest year in U.S. history, with deaths expected to top 3 million for the first time – due mainly to the coronavirus pandemic… Final mortality data for this year will not be available for months. But preliminary numbers suggest that the United States is on track to see more than 3.2 million deaths this year, or at least 400,000 more than in 2019." But don't worry, they do their best to muddle the waters with comorbidities. But it's basically this AP news story.

Using religion as a shield for their hatred… "When the church doors open, only white people will be allowed inside… That’s the message the Asatru Folk Assembly in Murdock, Minnesota, is sending after being granted a conditional use permit to open a church there and practice its pre-Christian religion that originated in northern Europe… Despite a council vote officially approving the permit this month, residents are pushing back against the decision." They could have denied the permit and invited the church to purchase any of the land zoned to allow churches.But then they would also need to make sure they had a clean record of where they allowed church gatherings.

"Two passengers aboard a Delta flight bound for Atlanta opened a cabin door and activated the slide to exit the plane while it was taxiing to a runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport Monday morning, Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant told CNN… The New York Times reported that a large service dog also deplaned with them."

"A closely-watched gauge of U.S. consumer confidence tumbled in December as rising coronavirus cases dragged American optimism to its lowest level since the summer… However, rising pessimism is now spreading during the crucial holiday season, which could make or break a number of retailers, airlines, restaurants other sector that have been hammered financially during the pandemic."

"Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google agreed to 'cooperate and assist one another' in case of an investigation into their pact to work together in online advertising, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Monday… The Journal report cited an unredacted version of a lawsuit filed by 10 states against Google last week… The states had accused Google of working with Facebook in an unlawful manner that violated antitrust law to boost its already-dominant online advertising business."

"Facebook has already been accused of spreading lies and polarizing society. Now, the federal government says it illegally crushed competition. On this week’s On the Media, how to roll back a global power that has transformed our economy and warped our democracy." A good primer for how Facebook and Google have warped our world and changed our economy. Especially good for the 3rd segment… "Shoshana Zuboff, professor emeritus at Harvard Business School and author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, on the data extraction and human futures markets that comprise much of our economy." Here we are in our cyberpunk future, not like the game, but still one with an economy driven by corporations, where we are the product they're selling.

"Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says he has uncovered details of his own poisoning by duping one of the Kremlin agents involved into revealing how it was done… The research group Bellingcat revealed details Monday of a 45-minute phone call between Navalny, who posed as an agent for Russia's National Security Council, and the alleged Kremlin agent, Konstantin Kudryavtsev. Navalny coaxed details of the attack from Kudryavtsev, who said the nerve agent Novichok was applied to the politician's underwear."

"As part of the deal, Morocco, which is home to a small but centuries-old Jewish community and has long welcomed Israeli tourists, secured U.S. recognition of its 1975 annexation of the disputed region of Western Sahara, which is not recognized by the United Nations."

"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed in a new interview to bring all of President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees to the Senate floor for votes by the full chamber — a pledge that comes ahead of what both Democrats and Republicans are expecting to be a series of bitter confirmation fights early next year." It also comes as he fights to save being majority leader by trying to win both Senate seats in Georgia. Also note he's not saying they'll be confirmed, or that he'll work for their confirmation, just that there will be a vote.

"Televangelist Pat Robertson acknowledged on Monday's 700 Club that President-elect Joe Biden won, predicted 'we'll be seeing a President Kamala Harris not too long after the inauguration of President Biden,' and said it's time for President Trump to concede and retire from politics." Didn't Crazy Uncle Pat say God told him Trump would win?

"Joe Biden will be president in 30 days. Until then, the question is how much damage can be done by a vengeful, delusional soon-to-be ex-President swilling conspiracy theories, whose wild anti-democratic instincts are being encouraged by fringe political opportunists… Donald Trump will retain the awesome powers of the presidency until noon on January 20, and there's never been a time when he has been subject to as few restraining influences or has had a bigger incentive to cause disruption."

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