Charles Osgood, and so it goes.
"Given that there was a decided lack of transparency at the previous Worldcon for the disqualification of several potential finalists, which has caused quite the fracas online and in fandom, this is a positive and necessary step on the part of the Glasgow Worldcon in order to restore confidence in the Hugo voting process. I’m very happy they did it. This one sentence does a lot of work, and it’s good work to see." John Scalzi on the coming Worldcon and Hugo fun.
"NASA is retiring Ingenuity, its mini Mars helicopter, a week after it was damaged during its 72nd flight. The spindly overachiever made history as the first aircraft to complete a powered, controlled flight on another planet."
"A Florida woman, unable to get an abortion in her state, carried to term a baby who had no kidneys… She said her pregnancy was proceeding normally until November, when, at 24 weeks, an ultrasound showed that the fetus did not have kidneys and that she had hardly any amniotic fluid. Not only was the baby sure to die, her doctors told her, but the pregnancy put her at especially high risk of preeclampsia, a potentially deadly complication." This is the result of the growing authoritarian theocracy in the US.
"He and a group of colleagues have arrived at an answer. They estimate in a research letter published Wednesday in JAMA Internal Medicine that 64,565 pregnancies have been caused by rape in the 14 states where abortion is banned… The figure, while an estimate that may spark some debate, is an important data point since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Supreme Court decision overturned the federal guarantee of abortion rights. While there once was political consensus that abortion should be permitted in cases of rape, that has changed. Few states with total bans on abortion have exceptions for rape. Those that have exceptions require victims to report the rape to authorities, something that research shows happens only in a small fraction of sexual assaults."
"Panozzo and her husband's experience exposes a loophole in the law meant to guarantee zero-cost preventive services: Health care providers may bill how they choose as long as they abide by their contracts with insurance — including for whatever goods or services they choose to list, and in ways that could leave patients with unexpected bills for 'free' care." When a coding error becomes a business process and the rise of "private equity" in healthcare. "Having lived abroad with her family for almost 10 years, she said, 'I could function in a health care system in German better than I could here in English.'" And if that isn't a call for reform, I don't know what is.
"Drug companies often increase prices at the start of the new year, and 2024 seems to be no exception. There have been about 600 price hikes so far in January, according to the drug price nonprofit 46Brooklyn Research… But the increases haven't been as steep as they were in some previous years. In the 2010s, drug price hikes were typically much bigger — up to 10% on average." PR isn't always just press releases.
"At least eight people have been diagnosed with measles in an outbreak that started last month in the Philadelphia area. The most recent two cases were confirmed on Monday… The outbreak began after a child who'd recently spent time in another country was admitted to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) with an infection, which was subsequently identified as measles. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health considers the case to be 'imported' but did not say from where." Oh fuck.
"A new study has found that no cases of cervical cancer have been detected in young women who have been fully-vaccinated as part of the HPV immunisation programme… The Public Health Scotland (PHS) research said the HPV (human papillomavirus virus) vaccine was 'highly effective' in preventing the development of the cancer." That's a wonderful result, however I will point out that the cohort of women immunized is at the early part of the window (26-27) and "Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women aged 25 to 35 years of age in Scotland." Also, most cervical cancers are found between ages 35-44. But yes, this is a good report and adds credence to increased immunization programs.
"A prominent cancer center affiliated with Harvard said it will ask medical journals to retract six research papers and correct dozens of others after a British scientist and blogger found that work by some of its top executives was rife with duplicated or manipulated data." Oopsie.
"People who took an anti-malaria treatment that Donald Trump touted as a cure for Covid-19 in the early days of the pandemic and waning days of his presidency were 11% more likely to die from the virus, according to a new scientific study."
"The mutation, called JN.1, is a subvariant of Omicron that was first detected by the World Health Organization in late August. At the time it appeared to be spreading slowly but as temperatures have dipped, JN.1 has spiked."
"'Someone was gently running their palm in a circular motion to soothe me the way a mom does with her child,' McMillan recalled. 'Those few minutes of physical contact, at a time when I felt like I had lost all my bodily autonomy, that was what got me through the biopsy.'" As a caregiver, these are the most fraught moments. Reaching out like this could cost us our jobs (unwanted touch, interference with a procedure), but there are times when one human touching another human is the best form of medicine you can provide. And yes, letting a patient know they aren't going through these things alone can mean the difference between a successful outcome and a patient having a panic attack, crashing, or giving up hope. This is also why I stopped trying to minimize the surgery scar on my left forearm. Patients often ask about it, so it gives them something else to focus on while the medic is setting an IV, it offers comfort to those facing a cancer diagnosis, it tells them, "I've been through this, and you can get through this too."
"They are here for a distribution of coupons for the Fruit and Veg Boulder program, run by county health department staff and community groups. These distributions happen every three months – a family of two gets $40 a month in coupons, families of four and up get $80. They can be used pretty much anywhere in town where you can buy fresh produce – from big grocery stores to farm stands."
"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Wednesday that it was proposing a rule to bar banks, credit unions and other institutions from immediately denying a customer's transaction for insufficient funds to cover it and then levying a fee on top of that."
"'The pitch of these containers is, "Well, we're saving them." But it doesn't make any sense,' said San Francisco-based architect Mark Hogan of OpenScope Studio, who has publicly shared his concerns about shipping container housing. 'You'd be much better off recycling the container into steel and then build out of steel studs — like the normal way you'd build a building.'"
"The U.S. economy continues to defy expectations… The nation's gross domestic product — the broadest measure of economic activity — grew at an annual pace of 3.3% in October, November, and December, according to a report Thursday from the Commerce Department… That was substantially faster than forecasters had expected."
"Oxfam spells out just how well billionaires are faring: 'The world's five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes from $405 billion to $869 billion since 2020 —at a rate of $14 million per hour— while nearly five billion people have been made poorer.'"
"The Federal Trade Commission says the company behind the popular tax filing software TurboTax engaged in 'deceptive advertising' when it ran ads for free tax services that many customers were ineligible for."
"As the new year begins, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) announced today its latest tally of municipal broadband networks which shows a dramatic surge in the number of communities building publicly-owned, locally controlled high-speed Internet infrastructure over the last three years… Since January 1, 2021, at least 47 new municipal networks have come online with dozens of other projects still in the planning or pre-construction phase, which includes the possibility of building 40 new municipal networks in California alone." While I've "solved" my broadband issue here, municipal owned broadband providers is one of my pet interests. They work better, provide better service, and do it at a low cost.
"In fact, more such households and many others also now struggle to pay rent, according to a newly released report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. It finds that in 2022, as rents spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, a record half of U.S. renters paid more than 30% of their income for rent and utilities. Nearly half of those people were severely cost-burdened, paying more than 50% of their income." The rent is too damn high.
How "gun control" could help. "A US appeals court has ruled that a $10bn lawsuit filed by Mexico against US gun manufacturers can go ahead, reviving a long-running legal battle… Mexico's government argues that the "flood" of illegal guns across the border is a result of "deliberate" business practices by the US gunmakers."
"It was hardly the last serious accident at SpaceX. Since LeBlanc’s death in June 2014, which hasn’t been previously reported, Musk’s rocket company has disregarded worker-safety regulations and standard practices at its inherently dangerous rocket and satellite facilities nationwide, with workers paying a heavy price, a Reuters investigation found. Through interviews and government records, the news organization documented at least 600 injuries of SpaceX workers since 2014." This isn't the cost of space travel, this is negligence and a sociopathy that translates to not caring about employee health.
"Elon Musk, the electric car company’s chief executive, said he would 'build products outside of Tesla' unless the board raises his stake to 25 percent." Sounds like someone is a little hard up for cash. I hope the board tells him to go pound salt. (Grokked from John)
"A state law banning gender transition treatment for minors and prohibiting trans athletes from competing in girls' sports will go into effect, in spite of a veto from Gov. Mike DeWine. The Ohio Senate voted along party lines to override that veto, putting the law in place starting this spring." Remember when Republicans were about small government and fiscal prudence? Well, I guess I know what will be on the Fall ballot for a Constitution Amendment. Just let me know where I can sign the petition.
"A church in Ohio, whose pastor was criminally charged for allowing unhoused people to sleep at the church, has filed a federal lawsuit on the grounds of religious discrimination… Dad's Place is located in Bryan, Ohio, about an hour outside of Toledo. Last year, the church began to offer temporary housing for people living on the street. The city ordered the church to stop, citing zoning and safety concerns. But the pastor, Chris Avell, refused." These days I rarely side with religious organizations and their political causes, but I agree with the church here. Although I do agree with the city that the church needs to fix their code violations.
"An Ohio toddler was sent to the hospital with burns and was struggling to breathe after police raided what may have been the wrong address and used flash-bang devices, according to the boy's mother who shared doorbell footage that contradicts the police account."
What happens under "strong man rule." "An unlikely charge of intent to commit treason landed Meir Baruchin, a grey-haired, softly spoken history and civics teacher, in the solitary confinement wing of Jerusalem’s notorious 'Russian Compound' prison in early November… The evidence compiled by police who handcuffed him, then drove to his apartment and ransacked it as he watched, was a series of Facebook posts he’d made, mourning the civilians killed in Gaza, criticising the Israeli military, and warning against wars of revenge." There can be no criticism, no matter how small.
"Email sheds new light on Texas House candidate Jared Woodfill’s role in Southern Baptist leader’s sex abuse scandal… Woodfill has been endorsed by Attorney General Ken Paxton despite his connection to Paul Pressler, a prominent religious figure accused of rape."
"The New Hampshire attorney general's office is investigating recorded calls that appear to use a voice crafted to sound like President Biden to tell voters not to cast their ballot in the state's presidential primary on Tuesday." The deep fake attacks have begun.
"The signal feature of the 2016 election is that it settled the question of whether US conservatism — the actual movement, I mean, not the people in Washington think tanks who claim to be its spokespeople — is animated by a set of shared ideals and policies. It is not… For many years, many people have convinced themselves otherwise. A lot of people believe to this day that the Tea Party uprising and the subsequent eight years of hysterical, unremitting, norm-violating opposition to Barack Obama was about small-government philosophy and a devotion to low taxes and less regulation, and had nothing to do with social backlash against a black, cosmopolitan, urban law professor and his diverse, rising coalition… But that kind of credulity can only stretch so far, and Donald Trump has stretched it to the snapping point."
"People identify with provocative, sometimes violent movements and displaying symbols of those movements. And the symbols usually have one thing in common. They reflect anger or distrust towards the government or towards society as a whole." We used to have a word for that, psychopaths.
"A New York jury on Friday ordered former President Donald Trump to pay a total of $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll for ruining her credibility as an advice columnist when he called her a liar after she accused him of sexual assault." It'll certainly be appealed, but to do so, Trump will have to post a bond for the total amount.
"Punchbowl News first reported that McConnell told Republican senators the politics 'have changed' because former President Trump wants to build his reelection campaign around immigration. 'We don't want to do anything to undermine him,' McConnell reportedly said."
"Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro was sentenced Thursday to four months in prison for contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack."
"The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, granted the Biden administration's request to vacate the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals' injunction in a case involving razor wire placed along Texas' border with Mexico… The move paves the way for federal officials to remove the wire." This shouldn't have been a split vote, the Constitution is very clear about the Federal Government being responsible for immigration enforcement. That the dissenters are all "originalists" should be all you need to know about what bullshit that is.
No comments:
Post a Comment