Lots of older articles. Sorry, but the distractions continue unabated. I'm working on it.
Older, but I don't think I've posted this yet… "Like many people I've long been a big fan of Neil Gaiman's stories, starting with The Sandman and going onward through Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and other works. And like many Gaiman fans, I've been horrified by the recent revelations from five women that he allegedly sexually assaulted or abused them."
"Well, Cairns absolutely kept the receipts, which she has now released in a detailed report that reveals the previously unnamed author to be Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki… Most people in the genre know Ekpeki, who is the first African-born Black author to win a Nebula Award and who has also won a number of other awards along with being a finalist multiple times for the Hugo Award. The first nine pages of Cairns’ report offers a summary of what happened between the two of them, followed by 68 more pages containing all the screenshotted evidence from their conversations."
"'We’re seeing cracks in the resilience of the Earth’s systems. We’re seeing massive cracks on land – terrestrial ecosystems are losing their carbon store and carbon uptake capacity, but the oceans are also showing signs of instability,' Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told an event at New York Climate Week in September." The thing about buffers is they work great, right up until they're saturated. And to reiterate the article, nobody factored in a net zero absorption from the planet's surface (land and sea).
"Shares of 23andMe are now worth pennies. The company’s valuation has plummeted 99% from its $6 billion peak shortly after the company went public in 2021… As 23andMe struggles for survival, customers like Wiles have one pressing question: What is the company’s plan for all the data it has collected since it was founded in 2006?"
"The Pentagon has announced that more than 800 veterans who were thrown out of the US military over their sexual orientation will receive honourable discharges… Under a policy known as 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' that was in effect from 1994 to 2011, thousands of openly gay, lesbian and bisexual service members were separated from the military… Many were given less-than-honourable discharges, which blocked them from receiving veteran benefits such as healthcare, student loans and tuition assistance."
"California’s $20-an-hour minimum wage for larger fast food chains has not led to overall job losses… The new wage floor, the highest in the U.S., went into effect on April 1… The study found that hundreds of thousands of fast-food workers saw their hourly pay rise by an average of 18%, yet the wage hike did not reduce employment, as industry groups had warned. Menu prices grew by about 15 cents on a $4 hamburger." You mean business leaders lied to us? Shocked, shocked I am…
"At a rally here this month, machinists union vice president Gary Allen addressed a hall full of striking Boeing workers… 'When I'm out on the picket line, I ask everybody, what is the strike about to you?,' he said… Allen didn’t even have a chance to answer his own question before the machinists in the room interrupted… 'Pension! Pension! Pension!,' they chanted."
"Private equity firms are using US public sector workers’ retirement savings to fund fossil fuel projects pumping more than a billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere every year, according to an analysis." Well, yes. For a long time these were considered "solid" investments with good returns. But to continue to do so is a flaw of investment analysis and just blind ignorance of markets.
"This is one of several disturbing accounts that came to light in previously-redacted portions of a lawsuit reviewed last week by NPR and Kentucky Public Radio. Even more troubling was that TikTok executives were acutely aware of the potential harm the app can cause teens, but appeared unconcerned… The information came after a more than two-year investigation into TikTok by 14 attorneys general that led to state officials suing the company on Tuesday… Here are a few more of the most serious, and previously unreported, allegations against TikTok, the wildly popular app that is used by around 170 million people in the U.S."
"Standing in front of the classroom at Espoo Adult Education Centre, Jussi Toivanen worked his way through his PowerPoint presentation. A slide titled “Have you been hit by the Russian troll army?” included a checklist of methods used to deceive readers on social media: image and video manipulations, half-truths, intimidation and false profiles… The course is part of an anti-fake news initiative launched by Finland’s government in 2014 – two years before Russia meddled in the US elections – aimed at teaching residents, students, journalists and politicians how to counter false information designed to sow division."
"Bids opened (earlier this month) for a contract to supply the state (Oklahoma) Department of Education with 55,000 Bibles. According to the bid documents, vendors must meet certain specifications… A salesperson at Mardel Christian & Education searched, and though they carry 2,900 Bibles, none fit the parameters… But one Bible fits perfectly: Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the U.S.A. Bible, endorsed by former President Donald Trump and commonly referred to as the Trump Bible. They cost $60 each online, with Trump receiving fees for his endorsement." I know, weird isn't it.
"A local elections official who became a hero to election deniers was sentenced to nine years in prison on Thursday for leading a voting system data-breach scheme inspired by the rampant false claims that fraud altered the 2020 presidential outcome."
"In a newly unsealed court filing, special counsel Jack Smith provides the most detailed picture yet of his criminal case against Donald Trump for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election and why the former president isn't immune from prosecution."
"A 64-year-old white man in Springfield, Ohio, was accused of illegally hunting geese at a golf course pond as former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, were spreading racist lies that Haitian immigrants in the area were eating geese and people’s pets."
"We know that many in our communities are resistant to vote for Kamala Harris because of the Biden administration’s complicity in the genocide. We understand this sentiment. Many of us have felt that way ourselves, even until very recently… As we consider the full situation carefully, however, we conclude that voting for Kamala Harris is the best option for the Palestinian cause and all of our communities. We know that some will strongly disagree. We only ask that you consider our case with an open mind and heart, respecting that we are doing what we believe is right in an awful situation where only flawed choices are available."
"Donald Trump put on a rally in New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday to kick off the final full week of campaigning for president, complete with celebrity guests and a new economic proposal. But repeated insults and at times racist and misogynistic remarks from guest speakers threatened to grab the most attention."
"One thing I hadn’t fully grasped or perhaps had forgotten is that Turning Point USA and its chieftain Charlie Kirk had a big role in pushing for the ouster of Ronna McDaniel at the RNC. And the push seems to have been in significant measure about wanting to take over or play a bigger role in GOP field operations. So a substantial amount of the impetus for all of this appears to have originated with Turning Point and its campaign arm, Turning Point Action." It's grifts all the way down.
"An arrest has reportedly been made after a Phoenix United States Postal Service mailbox was believed to have been set on fire overnight, damaging a number of mailed-in ballots."
"KATU was on the scene at Fisher's Landing Transit Center in Vancouver early Monday morning, where heavy smoke was seen coming from inside a dropoff ballot box."
"Colorado officials say at least 12 mailed ballots were stolen in a rural county and then sent in with fraudulent votes. The secretary of state says the issue was discovered during the signature verification process, and eight ballots were stopped at that point. Three slipped past county election officials and were counted in next month's general election. A fourth ballot that passed signature verification was caught because someone who had not voted received a notification that their ballot had been accepted. The fraudulent voting occurred in the same county where former elections clerk Tina Peters was recently sentenced to prison for a data breach scheme spawned from false claims about voter machine fraud in the 2020 election."
"Russian actors were behind a widely circulated video falsely depicting mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in Pennsylvania, U.S. officials confirmed on Friday."
"A criminal investigation is underway in the crucial presidential battleground of Pennsylvania after election workers in one county flagged about 2,500 voter registration forms for potential fraud. Two other counties were alerted to look for similar problems… The forms arrived at the Lancaster County elections office shortly before the state’s deadline to register this past Monday and were apparently part of a larger effort to sign people up, officials said Friday. Some had false names, suspicious handwriting, questionable signatures, incorrect addresses or other problematic details." While all the news stories refrain from mentioning any political bent to this, there is one well known voter registration initiative in Lancaster County, "Elon Musk held a town hall in Lancaster Saturday evening, awarding another petition signer with a million-dollar check."
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