"As New York’s Rockland County grapples with a large and lengthy outbreak of measles, a group of anti-vaccine parents sued officials for temporarily barring their unvaccinated children from school—and the county is not having it." (Grokked from John)
The Planet Money podcast on the cat scam. Arbitrage, price inflation, drop shipping, and why the internet isn't lowering prices, and why late-stage capitalism sucks (although the podcast doesn't frame it that way). And yes, look around for better prices, check out the manufacturer's website to see prices. Even on Amazon.
"By the larger-than-life standards of Elon Musk, the story was far from a blockbuster. On June 4, 2018, Business Insider reported that Tesla Inc. was scrapping or reworking 40 percent of the raw materials at the Gigafactory, its huge battery plant in the Nevada desert. The article cited a source who figured the inefficiency had cost Musk’s electric car company $150 million, describing giant piles of scrap materials in the factory. Tesla denied the report, and a few hours later, the world moved on… The world, that is, except Elon Musk." Maybe someone should check and see if Musk is keeping his fingernail clippings and urine in jars at his home. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"'There can be no separate college admissions system for the wealthy,' Andrew Lelling, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, said at Tuesday's press conference announcing charges against dozens of parents for paying bribes to get their children into some of the nation's elite universities…Some would argue there already is." Too late. College is not a meritocracy. And if you think parents sacrifice a lot to get their kids into top high schools (buying houses, or renting, way above their economic capabilities) you haven't seen anything when it comes to college. So first of all, college is not for everyone (not even all of the "smart kids"). College choice is more often made for cost than it is for educational outcomes. And people who go to "top schools" don't get a better education or are smarter than kids who go to community college. These things are all cultural brainwashing that has continued to enforce the "unspoken" class divides. Sure, occasionally a poor kids will "make it big" by doing all the things. Understand that those kids would shine anywhere they went (but now they have an Ivy League sheepskin that will open more doors for them). The education you get at these tops schools is not better, it only provides access to better networking opportunities. "Harvard is being sued by a group of Asian-American applicants who say they were shut out by this informal system of preferences, including affirmative action… In the 1980s, Asian-American groups also challenged Harvard's legacy preferences. The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights in 1990 found that these preferences were legal even if they favor white applicants over others." See, it's only possibly illegal if it helps people who don't have privileges by evening out the playing field (note, playing field still heavily tilted against them).
"Some of the most selective schools, like Harvard, can get upwards of 40,000. So how do officials know if the information in all of that paperwork is truthful?… Terry Cowdrey, a former acting dean of admissions at Vanderbilt University, says the key is in consistency." Full disclosure, I worked in my college admissions office (University of Akron, not Lakeland). Yes it was easy to spot the fakes. However I can tell you I graduated high school with a C+ average, but scored in the top 1% on the SAT and ACT. So that didn't look "consistent". And I can tell you we couldn't afford test prep, books, consultants, etc. Why? It's a long story, but a lot of it was high school didn't challenge me a lot. And while I took advanced coursework for my school, I didn't qualify for Advanced Placement classes or the Honor Society. There were opportunities to take college level coursework back then (it was a much smaller program than now), I was never given that opportunity.
"But to many students, the underlying reality that some rich kids are buying their way into school comes as no shock." The kids are alright.
Want another example? Okay, there was this viral video about kids in Orange County drinking and Nazi and white nationalist themes at the party. Notice how nobody, nobody, is bringing up the fact that these kids were underage drinking. That's still a fucking crime, including for the parents or other adults who provided the alcohol/premises. But rich kids, whatchagonnado? Betcha if those kids were in Oakland somebody would be in jail.
"A man said by federal prosecutors to have been a top leader of New York’s notorious Gambino crime family was shot and killed Wednesday on Staten Island." Shot several times and run over, on the same day members of the Bonanno family walked. And because we're talking about the mafia, the Gambinos threatened Michael Cohen, the president's former "fixer", to "keep his mouth shut" when he testified to Congress. Because, you know, the mob is so sensitive about sedition and would totally involve themselves in politics for absolutely no reason at all.
"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is using mass location surveillance to target immigrants. And local governments like Merced and Union City, California, are helping — feeding their residents’ personal information to ICE, even when it violates local privacy laws or sanctuary policies. Today, the ACLU is urging an immediate end to this information sharing." Welcome to the mass surveillance state. (Grokked from Steven Brust)
"Did House passage of H.R. 1 allow noncitizens to vote?" No. Because if you can't make a reasonable argument against something, you can always make people afraid of it by telling lies. Also see "Green New Deal."
"New suspicions about dangled pardons, conflicting congressional testimony, implicit pleas for clemency and fresh suggestions of inappropriate presidential behavior delivered a new twist to the drama with Washington already on edge in anticipation of special counsel Robert Mueller's final report."
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Linkee-poo, lonely is the night when you find yourself alone, your demons come to light and your mind is not your own
Man these alligators. I tell ya what.
Man that Rotten Tomatoes campaign to tank Captain Marvel certainly worked wonders. It went about as well as comicgaters and MRAs previous attempts. Who's the soy boys now, motherfuckers?
"Evidence of an unusually strong solar storm that hit Earth in 660 BCE has been detected in Greenland ice cores—a finding which shows we still have lots to learn about these disruptive events." The universe wants us dead.
"Lelling said 33 parents 'paid enormous sums' to ensure their children got into schools such as Stanford and Yale, sending money to entities controlled by a California man named William Rick Singer in return for falsifying records and obtaining false scores on important tests such as the SAT and ACT." Only 33? I'ma thinkin' you're low-balling here. Getting kids into certain colleges are how college endowment funds make bank. And while there's a lot of "it doesn't really matter where these kids actually went, because they have so much privilege that it doesn't matter" let me call bullshit on that too. That piece of paper from one of those ivy league schools is a ticket to an easy and wealthy life. Without any experience, that sheepskin will not only open doors, it'll get you a window office. But yeah, meritocracy my ass.
For example this story about Match Day where newbie doctors find out where they get (or if they get) residencies. "Baker says 'doctors are seriously overpaid' and a big reason is rules that restrict the number of people who can get residencies. He calls these rules the work of 'a cartel,' and in economics, those are fighting words."
"Australian Cardinal George Pell, 77, a former leading Vatican official who last month was convicted of sexually abusing two boys, has been sentenced to six years in prison. He will be eligible for parole after three years and eight months."
"Gov. Gavin Newsom is putting a moratorium on the death penalty in California, sparing the lives of more than 700 death-row inmates… His action comes three years after California voters rejected an initiative to end the death penalty, instead passing a measure to speed up executions." Let the lawsuits begin. But basically this is only on hold while he's governor.
"Airline regulators across the globe are grounding Boeing 737 Max 8 planes, joining an ever expanding list of countries banning the plane from their airspace. This comes in the wake of Sunday's deadly plane crash in Ethiopia that killed all 157 people on board. The cause of the crash is still under investigation." Strike 2, Boeing. You think you've made how to work the new systems clear. The aviation world is attempting to tell you that you're wrong.
"The Trump administration is seeking to close nearly two dozen U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field offices around the world in a move it estimates would save millions per year. But critics argue the closures will further slow refugee processing, family reunification petitions and military citizenship applications." Yeah, sure this isn't about wanting to cut off all immigration to the US. Let's roll up the sidewalks and put out the "Closed" signs as well.
"Back in 2016, The Intercept ran a blockbuster series revealing how foreign businesspeople were illegally laundering massive campaign contributions to Jeb Bush and other GOP presidential hopefuls." (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"Adult performer and director Stormy Daniels said during a Q&A session at a women's co-working space in Washington on Tuesday that she may be ready for more legal fights… 'I have a new attorney,' she said, referring to Clark Brewster. 'The details will be coming out very soon. And ... my new attorney, you know, said today, "Things about to get real interesting."'"
"President Trump's onetime campaign chairman Paul Manafort is due back in federal court on Wednesday for sentencing in his criminal case in Washington, D.C."
"Authorities at the Port of New York and New Jersey seized approximately 3,200 pounds of cocaine from a shipping container on Feb. 28." Man, the wall certainly will help stem the tide of drugs coming into our country. I mean ships heading up the East Coast will see that wall all the way over across the Gulf of Mexico and they'll know the jig is up and either dump the drugs or turn around.
Man that Rotten Tomatoes campaign to tank Captain Marvel certainly worked wonders. It went about as well as comicgaters and MRAs previous attempts. Who's the soy boys now, motherfuckers?
"Evidence of an unusually strong solar storm that hit Earth in 660 BCE has been detected in Greenland ice cores—a finding which shows we still have lots to learn about these disruptive events." The universe wants us dead.
"Lelling said 33 parents 'paid enormous sums' to ensure their children got into schools such as Stanford and Yale, sending money to entities controlled by a California man named William Rick Singer in return for falsifying records and obtaining false scores on important tests such as the SAT and ACT." Only 33? I'ma thinkin' you're low-balling here. Getting kids into certain colleges are how college endowment funds make bank. And while there's a lot of "it doesn't really matter where these kids actually went, because they have so much privilege that it doesn't matter" let me call bullshit on that too. That piece of paper from one of those ivy league schools is a ticket to an easy and wealthy life. Without any experience, that sheepskin will not only open doors, it'll get you a window office. But yeah, meritocracy my ass.
For example this story about Match Day where newbie doctors find out where they get (or if they get) residencies. "Baker says 'doctors are seriously overpaid' and a big reason is rules that restrict the number of people who can get residencies. He calls these rules the work of 'a cartel,' and in economics, those are fighting words."
"Australian Cardinal George Pell, 77, a former leading Vatican official who last month was convicted of sexually abusing two boys, has been sentenced to six years in prison. He will be eligible for parole after three years and eight months."
"Gov. Gavin Newsom is putting a moratorium on the death penalty in California, sparing the lives of more than 700 death-row inmates… His action comes three years after California voters rejected an initiative to end the death penalty, instead passing a measure to speed up executions." Let the lawsuits begin. But basically this is only on hold while he's governor.
"Airline regulators across the globe are grounding Boeing 737 Max 8 planes, joining an ever expanding list of countries banning the plane from their airspace. This comes in the wake of Sunday's deadly plane crash in Ethiopia that killed all 157 people on board. The cause of the crash is still under investigation." Strike 2, Boeing. You think you've made how to work the new systems clear. The aviation world is attempting to tell you that you're wrong.
"The Trump administration is seeking to close nearly two dozen U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field offices around the world in a move it estimates would save millions per year. But critics argue the closures will further slow refugee processing, family reunification petitions and military citizenship applications." Yeah, sure this isn't about wanting to cut off all immigration to the US. Let's roll up the sidewalks and put out the "Closed" signs as well.
"Back in 2016, The Intercept ran a blockbuster series revealing how foreign businesspeople were illegally laundering massive campaign contributions to Jeb Bush and other GOP presidential hopefuls." (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"Adult performer and director Stormy Daniels said during a Q&A session at a women's co-working space in Washington on Tuesday that she may be ready for more legal fights… 'I have a new attorney,' she said, referring to Clark Brewster. 'The details will be coming out very soon. And ... my new attorney, you know, said today, "Things about to get real interesting."'"
"President Trump's onetime campaign chairman Paul Manafort is due back in federal court on Wednesday for sentencing in his criminal case in Washington, D.C."
"Authorities at the Port of New York and New Jersey seized approximately 3,200 pounds of cocaine from a shipping container on Feb. 28." Man, the wall certainly will help stem the tide of drugs coming into our country. I mean ships heading up the East Coast will see that wall all the way over across the Gulf of Mexico and they'll know the jig is up and either dump the drugs or turn around.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Linkee-poo Tuesday
"A doctor in California appeared via video link to tell a patient he was going to die." Welcome to modern medicine. Was it necessary to be handled this way? No. And I'm not entirely sure they're upset about the robot part, but about sending the wife and mother home before bringing that news. While the hospital can't keep a full staff of specialists on 24/7 (they could, but then expect to have to pay for that, even if you're not the one using the specialists), they should have hospitalists (generalists) who are there all the time. While it sucks to be tapped to give that news, that's part of the job.
"Since the start of 2019, influenza has been steadily on the rise in the U.S., with the number of new cases currently above the national baseline. And while this flu season has not been quite as severe as seasons past, there has been a recent uptick in a less common flu strain, the H3N2 virus, now accounting for over 50 percent of new cases, according to recent data from the CDC."
"The Trump Administration is weighing whether to require hospitals to publicly reveal the prices they charge insurance companies for medical procedures and services — prices that are currently negotiated in private and kept confidential." Right now hospitals are required to publish their price lists. Mostly they're on obscure webs pages. Releasing the negotiated prices would be a great step, but only as the beginning of the discussion about the absurdity of most hospital/healthcare provider pricing. One thing would be to eliminate out-of-network doctors working in in-network facilities by requiring doctors to accept negotiated prices for facilities (making them all in-network).
"Critics warn that artificially reflecting sunlight to cool the planet could unleash drastic, unintended consequences – but a Harvard-led team of scientists insists that such fears are overblown… In a new study, researchers say spraying chemicals into the atmosphere to 'dim the Sun' has never been a magical fix-all to cure humanity's dangerous addiction to burning fossil fuels, but if used carefully – with a goal of only halving global temperature increases – it could safely work after all." Okay, let me call bullshit right here. The "safely work" part is all about equalizing the effects and not causing more heating and weather problems in areas to lessen the effects in others. Sounds good, right. Okay, so how does this reflecting solar energy in the upper atmosphere affect plant development, life cycles, solar energy production… basically the Sun is the main energy source of the planet, it's the driver. If you reduce it's radiation to the planet there's a whole shitload of consequences that they haven't even begun to consider. Want a more concrete example? Okay, so I had to sign some forms electronically the other day and the industrial designers/engineers but the cancel button exactly where a left-handed person would place their hand to sign on the screen. Most facial recognition tech in the US has had problems with recognizing minorities. Engineers are fucking notorious for their blind spots. Halving the warming effect is fantastic, but not at the cost of crashing the food web (and here I'm not just talking about reducing our meat consumption, I'm talking about the base plants and animals that convert sunlight to energy that other plants and animals use and that also, in turn, produce the oxygen we breath). They say the reduced heat stress cancels out the effects of less sun, but that just means we're getting the same crop production that we would have had if the temperature had increased fully. Also, sulfur-dioxide mixed with water makes what? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
"China and Indonesia grounded their fleets of Boeing’s 737 MAX 8 aircraft on Monday as witnesses recalled the terrifying spectacle of smoke and debris trailing from an Ethiopian Airlines plane before it crashed killing 157 people."
"And that is clearly the headline here. With $739 million up for grabs, SpaceX and ULA are being given basically the same work to do -- but ULA will be paid 49% more to do it." Not all space launches are the same. And the financial analyst does obliquely say that, but then insists that a space launch is a space launch and they should cost the same. The headline here is the commodification of space travel (or at least the cluelessness of business analysts covering their topic while not understanding what it is they're covering).
"Now, President Trump is following through on his promise by speeding up a key decision about (California's) water supply. Critics say that acceleration threatens the integrity of the science behind the decision, and cuts the public out of the process. At stake is irrigation for millions of acres of farmland, drinking water for two-thirds of Californians from Silicon Valley to San Diego, and the fate of endangered salmon and other fish." Who needs science?
Sure you can trust the police. "A longtime police officer forced women to have sex with him under threat of an arrest, pressured others to help cover up crimes, and lied to federal investigators when he said he'd never had sex with prostitutes, according to charges unveiled Monday."
How goes Brexit? "If Prime Minister Theresa May is unable to win the backing of Parliament for a revised withdrawal agreement, MPs will be asked to vote on whether the UK should leave the EU without a deal instead… So if we end up with no deal, how could it affect you (if you live in the UK)?"
After weeks of saying, "We won't leave Venezuela," there's this. "Amid continuing unrest in Venezuela, the United States plans to remove all diplomatic personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Twitter late Monday."
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is drawing criticism for saying that Israel is 'the national state, not of all its citizens, but only of the Jewish people.'… Palestinian Arab citizens are about a fifth of Israel's population and often face discrimination and accusations of disloyalty." Boom, there it is. This is the dream of conservatives, that their polyglot societies are only for the benefit of the in-group and they can safely ignore the rights of minority populations. But understand that this is a position he must take, because it's even worse than that. See, if the Palestinians living within the borders of Israel were to be recognized as citizens of Israel, the Jewish citizens would be the minority population. It also exposes the racism of the ruling conservative party.
"After Virtue won the championship, Trump ran into him at the club, according to multiple sources who recounted the story. Having some fun with him, Trump said something like, “The only reason you won is because I couldn’t play.” The president cited the demands of his job, although he was able to make 20 visits to the club in 2018, according to trumpgolfcount.com. Trump then proposed a nine-hole challenge match to Virtue, winner-takes-the-title." The character names are getting out of hand. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"Facebook has restored Senator Elizabeth Warren's ads calling for people's support in her mission to break up tech giants after facing backlash for pulling them down." Ah social media, always saying they can't do something until it actually affect them and then suddenly they're all over it.
"Russians, fearing digital isolation and more censorship on the horizon, gathered in the streets of Moscow and other cities on Sunday to protest a new bill calling for Russia to be cut off from the global Internet." Whispers to our Russian friends, you're helping him bring about that future. And if you think you'll be excluded and somehow privileged, you're misreading history.
"'This is an area of where we’re tired of being right,' (Russell Vought, acting White House budget director) said on CNBC’s 'Squawk Box,' referring to a government report of a record number of migrant families crossing the U.S.-Mexico border." Ah, yeah, Bob. This humanitarian crisis is entirely the making of the Trump administration and conservative ideology and racism.
"The only thing worse than the near extinction of press briefings in the Trump White House might be actually having a briefing… In her first appearance behind her iconic podium in 42 days, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders on Monday did nothing to answer questions boiling up about President Donald Trump, the administration and associated scandals during her long absence."
"Dick Cheney lit into Vice President Mike Pence behind closed doors over the direction of the Trump administration’s foreign policy, flouting a set of agreed-upon subjects and forcing Pence on the defensive over President Donald Trump’s foreign policy… (Cheney) suggested that Trump foreign policy has at times looked more like President Barack Obama’s — which Cheney has repeatedly lambasted — than that of a Republican standard-bearer." Hahahahahaha. Wow, didn't think Cheney was that addled. Well, to be truthful, what Dicky is saying here is more, "It's not the way I would do it, and therefore is somewhat inscrutable, so it's the same as everyone else who doesn't do it my way."
"The New York attorney general’s office is looking into ties between Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank and several Trump Organization projects, the New York Times reported late Monday." Remember the president said this was a red line for him.
"Since the start of 2019, influenza has been steadily on the rise in the U.S., with the number of new cases currently above the national baseline. And while this flu season has not been quite as severe as seasons past, there has been a recent uptick in a less common flu strain, the H3N2 virus, now accounting for over 50 percent of new cases, according to recent data from the CDC."
"The Trump Administration is weighing whether to require hospitals to publicly reveal the prices they charge insurance companies for medical procedures and services — prices that are currently negotiated in private and kept confidential." Right now hospitals are required to publish their price lists. Mostly they're on obscure webs pages. Releasing the negotiated prices would be a great step, but only as the beginning of the discussion about the absurdity of most hospital/healthcare provider pricing. One thing would be to eliminate out-of-network doctors working in in-network facilities by requiring doctors to accept negotiated prices for facilities (making them all in-network).
"Critics warn that artificially reflecting sunlight to cool the planet could unleash drastic, unintended consequences – but a Harvard-led team of scientists insists that such fears are overblown… In a new study, researchers say spraying chemicals into the atmosphere to 'dim the Sun' has never been a magical fix-all to cure humanity's dangerous addiction to burning fossil fuels, but if used carefully – with a goal of only halving global temperature increases – it could safely work after all." Okay, let me call bullshit right here. The "safely work" part is all about equalizing the effects and not causing more heating and weather problems in areas to lessen the effects in others. Sounds good, right. Okay, so how does this reflecting solar energy in the upper atmosphere affect plant development, life cycles, solar energy production… basically the Sun is the main energy source of the planet, it's the driver. If you reduce it's radiation to the planet there's a whole shitload of consequences that they haven't even begun to consider. Want a more concrete example? Okay, so I had to sign some forms electronically the other day and the industrial designers/engineers but the cancel button exactly where a left-handed person would place their hand to sign on the screen. Most facial recognition tech in the US has had problems with recognizing minorities. Engineers are fucking notorious for their blind spots. Halving the warming effect is fantastic, but not at the cost of crashing the food web (and here I'm not just talking about reducing our meat consumption, I'm talking about the base plants and animals that convert sunlight to energy that other plants and animals use and that also, in turn, produce the oxygen we breath). They say the reduced heat stress cancels out the effects of less sun, but that just means we're getting the same crop production that we would have had if the temperature had increased fully. Also, sulfur-dioxide mixed with water makes what? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
"China and Indonesia grounded their fleets of Boeing’s 737 MAX 8 aircraft on Monday as witnesses recalled the terrifying spectacle of smoke and debris trailing from an Ethiopian Airlines plane before it crashed killing 157 people."
"And that is clearly the headline here. With $739 million up for grabs, SpaceX and ULA are being given basically the same work to do -- but ULA will be paid 49% more to do it." Not all space launches are the same. And the financial analyst does obliquely say that, but then insists that a space launch is a space launch and they should cost the same. The headline here is the commodification of space travel (or at least the cluelessness of business analysts covering their topic while not understanding what it is they're covering).
"Now, President Trump is following through on his promise by speeding up a key decision about (California's) water supply. Critics say that acceleration threatens the integrity of the science behind the decision, and cuts the public out of the process. At stake is irrigation for millions of acres of farmland, drinking water for two-thirds of Californians from Silicon Valley to San Diego, and the fate of endangered salmon and other fish." Who needs science?
Sure you can trust the police. "A longtime police officer forced women to have sex with him under threat of an arrest, pressured others to help cover up crimes, and lied to federal investigators when he said he'd never had sex with prostitutes, according to charges unveiled Monday."
How goes Brexit? "If Prime Minister Theresa May is unable to win the backing of Parliament for a revised withdrawal agreement, MPs will be asked to vote on whether the UK should leave the EU without a deal instead… So if we end up with no deal, how could it affect you (if you live in the UK)?"
After weeks of saying, "We won't leave Venezuela," there's this. "Amid continuing unrest in Venezuela, the United States plans to remove all diplomatic personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Twitter late Monday."
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is drawing criticism for saying that Israel is 'the national state, not of all its citizens, but only of the Jewish people.'… Palestinian Arab citizens are about a fifth of Israel's population and often face discrimination and accusations of disloyalty." Boom, there it is. This is the dream of conservatives, that their polyglot societies are only for the benefit of the in-group and they can safely ignore the rights of minority populations. But understand that this is a position he must take, because it's even worse than that. See, if the Palestinians living within the borders of Israel were to be recognized as citizens of Israel, the Jewish citizens would be the minority population. It also exposes the racism of the ruling conservative party.
"After Virtue won the championship, Trump ran into him at the club, according to multiple sources who recounted the story. Having some fun with him, Trump said something like, “The only reason you won is because I couldn’t play.” The president cited the demands of his job, although he was able to make 20 visits to the club in 2018, according to trumpgolfcount.com. Trump then proposed a nine-hole challenge match to Virtue, winner-takes-the-title." The character names are getting out of hand. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"Facebook has restored Senator Elizabeth Warren's ads calling for people's support in her mission to break up tech giants after facing backlash for pulling them down." Ah social media, always saying they can't do something until it actually affect them and then suddenly they're all over it.
"Russians, fearing digital isolation and more censorship on the horizon, gathered in the streets of Moscow and other cities on Sunday to protest a new bill calling for Russia to be cut off from the global Internet." Whispers to our Russian friends, you're helping him bring about that future. And if you think you'll be excluded and somehow privileged, you're misreading history.
"'This is an area of where we’re tired of being right,' (Russell Vought, acting White House budget director) said on CNBC’s 'Squawk Box,' referring to a government report of a record number of migrant families crossing the U.S.-Mexico border." Ah, yeah, Bob. This humanitarian crisis is entirely the making of the Trump administration and conservative ideology and racism.
"The only thing worse than the near extinction of press briefings in the Trump White House might be actually having a briefing… In her first appearance behind her iconic podium in 42 days, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders on Monday did nothing to answer questions boiling up about President Donald Trump, the administration and associated scandals during her long absence."
"Dick Cheney lit into Vice President Mike Pence behind closed doors over the direction of the Trump administration’s foreign policy, flouting a set of agreed-upon subjects and forcing Pence on the defensive over President Donald Trump’s foreign policy… (Cheney) suggested that Trump foreign policy has at times looked more like President Barack Obama’s — which Cheney has repeatedly lambasted — than that of a Republican standard-bearer." Hahahahahaha. Wow, didn't think Cheney was that addled. Well, to be truthful, what Dicky is saying here is more, "It's not the way I would do it, and therefore is somewhat inscrutable, so it's the same as everyone else who doesn't do it my way."
"The New York attorney general’s office is looking into ties between Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank and several Trump Organization projects, the New York Times reported late Monday." Remember the president said this was a red line for him.
Monday, March 11, 2019
Linkee-poo late small post
Sorry, different alligators, same overload.
"Fox News issued a statement Sunday saying the network strongly condemns Jeanine Pirro’s attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)… On Saturday, the Fox News host said Omar wears a hijab because the Koran 'tells women to cover so they won’t get molested.' She also said the congresswoman’s religious dress may be 'antithetical to the Constitution.'" Apparently one can go too far on Fox News. Who knew? (Grokked from Dan)
This story just keeps getting weirder. "Li Yang, the Florida massage parlor entrepreneur who created and operated a business that sold Chinese business executives access to President Donald Trump and his family at Mar-a-Lago, has yet another intriguing line of work. She is an officer of two groups with ties to China’s Communist government." (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Fox News issued a statement Sunday saying the network strongly condemns Jeanine Pirro’s attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)… On Saturday, the Fox News host said Omar wears a hijab because the Koran 'tells women to cover so they won’t get molested.' She also said the congresswoman’s religious dress may be 'antithetical to the Constitution.'" Apparently one can go too far on Fox News. Who knew? (Grokked from Dan)
This story just keeps getting weirder. "Li Yang, the Florida massage parlor entrepreneur who created and operated a business that sold Chinese business executives access to President Donald Trump and his family at Mar-a-Lago, has yet another intriguing line of work. She is an officer of two groups with ties to China’s Communist government." (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Linkee-poo Sunday
"'A 10% increase in state gun ownership [in a state] was associated with a significant 35.1% higher rate of mass shootings,' the study said." Shocked, shocked I am… I'm sure we'll hear how the methodology was wrong, or they used the wrong statistics or something by the end of the weekend. (Grokked from Michele)
"Trump cheered Patriots to Super Bowl victory with founder of spa where Kraft was busted." Oopsie. Just a reminder that Trump has also been implicated in the sex parties Epstein threw. (Grokked from Joy Reid)
"In response, the U.S. Army added a disclaimer to the call for white papers in a move first spotted by news website Defense One. Without modifying any of the original wording, the Army simply added a note that explains Defense Department policy hasn’t changed. Fully autonomous American killing machines still aren’t allowed to go around murdering people willy nilly. There are rules—or policies, at least. And their robots will follow those policies." (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
What could be the problem is the president goes to his club and hobnobs with his rich friends? Eventually someone will take advantage of that. Like selling access to the president and his family. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"Erik Prince, the former head of Blackwater and brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, has acknowledged that he was present at a key 2016 Trump Tower meeting… Prince previously testified under oath to the House Intelligence Committee on Nov. 30, 2017, saying at the time that he had 'no official' or 'really unofficial role' in the Trump campaign and his only involvement in helping was attending fundraisers and placing yard signs." (Grokked from Jim Wright)
Well, that didn't last long. "White House communications director Bill Shine is resigning his position, the Trump administration announced Friday."
"Trump cheered Patriots to Super Bowl victory with founder of spa where Kraft was busted." Oopsie. Just a reminder that Trump has also been implicated in the sex parties Epstein threw. (Grokked from Joy Reid)
"In response, the U.S. Army added a disclaimer to the call for white papers in a move first spotted by news website Defense One. Without modifying any of the original wording, the Army simply added a note that explains Defense Department policy hasn’t changed. Fully autonomous American killing machines still aren’t allowed to go around murdering people willy nilly. There are rules—or policies, at least. And their robots will follow those policies." (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
What could be the problem is the president goes to his club and hobnobs with his rich friends? Eventually someone will take advantage of that. Like selling access to the president and his family. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"Erik Prince, the former head of Blackwater and brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, has acknowledged that he was present at a key 2016 Trump Tower meeting… Prince previously testified under oath to the House Intelligence Committee on Nov. 30, 2017, saying at the time that he had 'no official' or 'really unofficial role' in the Trump campaign and his only involvement in helping was attending fundraisers and placing yard signs." (Grokked from Jim Wright)
Well, that didn't last long. "White House communications director Bill Shine is resigning his position, the Trump administration announced Friday."
Friday, March 8, 2019
Linkee-poo another week
"Alex Trebek, who has hosted the Jeopardy! game show since 1984, announced Wednesday that he has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer." Fuck cancer.
Something new has been added. "Scientists say they've found a mysterious type of killer whale that they've been searching for for years. It lives in parts of the ocean near Antarctica — and it could be the largest animal to have remained unidentified by biologists."
"SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft cast off from the International Space Station for the return to Earth Friday (March 8) as it wrapped up a historic test flight for NASA."
"At six p.m., Denver’s air quality index measured 162, an unhealthy level more than three times worse than the moderate rating of 51 now in Beijing. The pollution triggered health warnings across the northern Front Range." I'm old enough to remember when this was kinda normal for a city. I'm really glad we don't live like that anymore. Oh, wait. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
Oh look, crappy insurance again. "One health plan from a well-known insurer promises lower premiums — but warns that consumers may need to file their own claims and negotiate over charges from hospitals and doctors. Another does away with annual deductibles — but requires policyholders to pay extra if they need certain surgeries and procedures… Both are among the latest efforts in a seemingly endless quest by employers, consumers and insurers for an elusive goal: less expensive coverage." Single-payer.
"Measles cases are on the rise globally, including in wealthy nations such as the United States and Germany, where some parents shun life-saving vaccines due to false theories suggesting links between childhood immunizations and autism… In Madagascar, one of the world’s poorest countries, parents are desperate to vaccinate their children, many trudging for miles to get to clinics for shots. But there are not enough vaccines, the health ministry says, and many people are too poor to afford them."
"Scientists hope to genetically modify microbes from the human microbiome to treat a range of diseases, including digestive disorders like ulcerative colitis and inflammatory bowel disease." There's a less sexy way to help treat some of those (*cough*fecal transplant*cough*), but you can't charge a lot of markup for it, and then there's the squeamish factor. Although, "One company, Actobio Therapeutics, Inc., of Ghent, Belgium, has just started using genetically engineered microbes to try to treat Type 1 diabetes. Another one, Oragenics, Inc. of Tampa, Fla., Inc., is testing a modified bacterium to treat mouth sores caused by cancer chemotherapy. And Osel, Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., hopes engineered microbes could prevent HIV infections."
"Nobody reads the fine print. But maybe they should."
Why we shouldn't have a surveillance state. "A local NBC affiliate in San Diego reported on Wednesday that the U.S. government secretly tracked journalists and activists covering and assisting the migrant caravan that traveled from Central America to the U.S. in 2018… Journalists and activists were placed on a secret tracking list, which not only flagged them for extra screenings at the border but also allowed the government to collect information on them, according to the report." (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"A federal court made it harder Thursday for the U.S. government to quickly deport asylum-seekers if they fail an initial screening at the border."
Whistling past the graveyard. "Americans' net worth fell at the highest level since the financial crisis in the fourth quarter of 2018 as sliding stock market prices ate into the household balance sheet… Net worth dropped to $104.3 trillion as the year came to an end, a slide of $3.73 trillion, according to figures released Thursday by the Federal Reserve. The decline amounted to a drop of 3.4 percent." (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"The U.S. economy added only 20,000 jobs — far fewer than expected — last month, the Labor Department said Friday. But the unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent from January's 4 percent, and earnings growth picked up." Rhut rho.
"U.S. stocks posted a fourth consecutive day of losses as the European Central Bank hinted at worsening economic conditions in the eurozone."
"Finland's entire government has resigned over its failure to achieve a key policy goal on social welfare and healthcare reform… Finland's extensive welfare systems are under financial pressure as the nation's population ages, yet reform plans remain politically controversial."
"Much of Venezuela remained engulfed by darkness early Friday amid one of the largest power outages in years, a problem President Nicolas Maduro's government quickly blamed on 'sabotage' at a hydroelectric dam."
"An 'artificial' earthquake has reportedly been detected in North Korea… The 2.1-magnitude seismic activity is thought to have been caused by an explosion in a mine, according to the Korean Meteorological Adminstration." I wonder what's in the air?
"Facing accusations in an election year that he pressured his former attorney general on a prominent criminal case, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted Thursday that the debacle stemmed from a breakdown in trust and communication." America's platonic boy-crush is in a bit of trouble.
"It hasn’t always been this way. 'Twenty years ago, and even as recently as 2014, the top priorities of Democrats and Republicans were much more aligned than they are today,' writes the Pew Research Center. 'In 1999, improving the educational system topped the list of priorities for both Republicans and Democrats, and four of the top five issues for Republicans were listed among the Democrats’ top five issues as well… Today, there is not one overlapping priority between the top five priorities for Democrats and those of Republicans." Why we can't have nice things. Amy Walter concludes with, "The only thing that can change this dynamic is an existential threat to the country that almost all of us can agree upon. Sadly, that usually means something has gone very, very, wrong." Which is exactly what we don't need. When such happens, the majority of Americans dive toward authoritarianism. Well, one party is already fully entrenched there (note the top priorities of Republicans and think of which are responses to external pressures), the other party isn't. An external threat is to the benefit of conservatives.
"Omar was destined to stand out: After Congress changed its 181-year-old rule prohibiting headwear to accommodate her, she became the first person to wear a hijab on the House floor. But it wasn’t her wardrobe, or her religion, or her gripping biography as the congresswoman who came of age in a refugee camp, that distinguished Omar in her early days on Capitol Hill. Rather, it was her usage of social media and the uproar that ensued." There's a lot of "inter-party struggles" in the article. While it is crippling on the right, even though the GOP says they're a big tent they do have ideology litmus tests, on the left we have always been fractious. The party is used to this.
"Under White House direction, the administration is drawing up demands that Germany, Japan and eventually any other country hosting U.S. troops pay the full price of American soldiers deployed on their soil -- plus 50 percent or more for the privilege of hosting them, according to a dozen administration officials and people briefed on the matter." Nice country you've got here. It'd be a shame if anything happened to it. Well, this is one way to reduce our footprint on the world stage. I guess people don't remember the 80s when there were active protest movements against US military bases. It's also one way to assure that the US won't stage troops in the Baltic NATO member states. "As evidence, they say officials at the Pentagon have been asked to calculate two formulas: One would determine how much money countries such as Germany ought to be asked to pay. The second would determine the discount those countries would get if their policies align closely with the U.S." That's not a dangerous policy at all. Our president is a moron. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"When Paul Manafort was sentenced to about four years in federal prison, the backlash was fast and furious on social media." What's not really stated in a lot of these articles is that this judge has been dismissive of this whole trial. The only good thing is that this isn't his only trial and his only sentencing hearing.
"Michael D. Cohen, the former personal lawyer and fixer for President Trump, sued the Trump Organization on Thursday. He accused the company of breaking a contract when it refused to pay about $1.9 million in legal costs after he began cooperating with federal prosecutors." The president it a petty man.
Something new has been added. "Scientists say they've found a mysterious type of killer whale that they've been searching for for years. It lives in parts of the ocean near Antarctica — and it could be the largest animal to have remained unidentified by biologists."
"SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft cast off from the International Space Station for the return to Earth Friday (March 8) as it wrapped up a historic test flight for NASA."
"At six p.m., Denver’s air quality index measured 162, an unhealthy level more than three times worse than the moderate rating of 51 now in Beijing. The pollution triggered health warnings across the northern Front Range." I'm old enough to remember when this was kinda normal for a city. I'm really glad we don't live like that anymore. Oh, wait. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
Oh look, crappy insurance again. "One health plan from a well-known insurer promises lower premiums — but warns that consumers may need to file their own claims and negotiate over charges from hospitals and doctors. Another does away with annual deductibles — but requires policyholders to pay extra if they need certain surgeries and procedures… Both are among the latest efforts in a seemingly endless quest by employers, consumers and insurers for an elusive goal: less expensive coverage." Single-payer.
"Measles cases are on the rise globally, including in wealthy nations such as the United States and Germany, where some parents shun life-saving vaccines due to false theories suggesting links between childhood immunizations and autism… In Madagascar, one of the world’s poorest countries, parents are desperate to vaccinate their children, many trudging for miles to get to clinics for shots. But there are not enough vaccines, the health ministry says, and many people are too poor to afford them."
"Scientists hope to genetically modify microbes from the human microbiome to treat a range of diseases, including digestive disorders like ulcerative colitis and inflammatory bowel disease." There's a less sexy way to help treat some of those (*cough*fecal transplant*cough*), but you can't charge a lot of markup for it, and then there's the squeamish factor. Although, "One company, Actobio Therapeutics, Inc., of Ghent, Belgium, has just started using genetically engineered microbes to try to treat Type 1 diabetes. Another one, Oragenics, Inc. of Tampa, Fla., Inc., is testing a modified bacterium to treat mouth sores caused by cancer chemotherapy. And Osel, Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., hopes engineered microbes could prevent HIV infections."
"Nobody reads the fine print. But maybe they should."
Why we shouldn't have a surveillance state. "A local NBC affiliate in San Diego reported on Wednesday that the U.S. government secretly tracked journalists and activists covering and assisting the migrant caravan that traveled from Central America to the U.S. in 2018… Journalists and activists were placed on a secret tracking list, which not only flagged them for extra screenings at the border but also allowed the government to collect information on them, according to the report." (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"A federal court made it harder Thursday for the U.S. government to quickly deport asylum-seekers if they fail an initial screening at the border."
Whistling past the graveyard. "Americans' net worth fell at the highest level since the financial crisis in the fourth quarter of 2018 as sliding stock market prices ate into the household balance sheet… Net worth dropped to $104.3 trillion as the year came to an end, a slide of $3.73 trillion, according to figures released Thursday by the Federal Reserve. The decline amounted to a drop of 3.4 percent." (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"The U.S. economy added only 20,000 jobs — far fewer than expected — last month, the Labor Department said Friday. But the unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent from January's 4 percent, and earnings growth picked up." Rhut rho.
"U.S. stocks posted a fourth consecutive day of losses as the European Central Bank hinted at worsening economic conditions in the eurozone."
"Finland's entire government has resigned over its failure to achieve a key policy goal on social welfare and healthcare reform… Finland's extensive welfare systems are under financial pressure as the nation's population ages, yet reform plans remain politically controversial."
"Much of Venezuela remained engulfed by darkness early Friday amid one of the largest power outages in years, a problem President Nicolas Maduro's government quickly blamed on 'sabotage' at a hydroelectric dam."
"An 'artificial' earthquake has reportedly been detected in North Korea… The 2.1-magnitude seismic activity is thought to have been caused by an explosion in a mine, according to the Korean Meteorological Adminstration." I wonder what's in the air?
"Facing accusations in an election year that he pressured his former attorney general on a prominent criminal case, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted Thursday that the debacle stemmed from a breakdown in trust and communication." America's platonic boy-crush is in a bit of trouble.
"It hasn’t always been this way. 'Twenty years ago, and even as recently as 2014, the top priorities of Democrats and Republicans were much more aligned than they are today,' writes the Pew Research Center. 'In 1999, improving the educational system topped the list of priorities for both Republicans and Democrats, and four of the top five issues for Republicans were listed among the Democrats’ top five issues as well… Today, there is not one overlapping priority between the top five priorities for Democrats and those of Republicans." Why we can't have nice things. Amy Walter concludes with, "The only thing that can change this dynamic is an existential threat to the country that almost all of us can agree upon. Sadly, that usually means something has gone very, very, wrong." Which is exactly what we don't need. When such happens, the majority of Americans dive toward authoritarianism. Well, one party is already fully entrenched there (note the top priorities of Republicans and think of which are responses to external pressures), the other party isn't. An external threat is to the benefit of conservatives.
"Omar was destined to stand out: After Congress changed its 181-year-old rule prohibiting headwear to accommodate her, she became the first person to wear a hijab on the House floor. But it wasn’t her wardrobe, or her religion, or her gripping biography as the congresswoman who came of age in a refugee camp, that distinguished Omar in her early days on Capitol Hill. Rather, it was her usage of social media and the uproar that ensued." There's a lot of "inter-party struggles" in the article. While it is crippling on the right, even though the GOP says they're a big tent they do have ideology litmus tests, on the left we have always been fractious. The party is used to this.
"Under White House direction, the administration is drawing up demands that Germany, Japan and eventually any other country hosting U.S. troops pay the full price of American soldiers deployed on their soil -- plus 50 percent or more for the privilege of hosting them, according to a dozen administration officials and people briefed on the matter." Nice country you've got here. It'd be a shame if anything happened to it. Well, this is one way to reduce our footprint on the world stage. I guess people don't remember the 80s when there were active protest movements against US military bases. It's also one way to assure that the US won't stage troops in the Baltic NATO member states. "As evidence, they say officials at the Pentagon have been asked to calculate two formulas: One would determine how much money countries such as Germany ought to be asked to pay. The second would determine the discount those countries would get if their policies align closely with the U.S." That's not a dangerous policy at all. Our president is a moron. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"When Paul Manafort was sentenced to about four years in federal prison, the backlash was fast and furious on social media." What's not really stated in a lot of these articles is that this judge has been dismissive of this whole trial. The only good thing is that this isn't his only trial and his only sentencing hearing.
"Michael D. Cohen, the former personal lawyer and fixer for President Trump, sued the Trump Organization on Thursday. He accused the company of breaking a contract when it refused to pay about $1.9 million in legal costs after he began cooperating with federal prosecutors." The president it a petty man.
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Linkee-poo where'd all the pączki go?
Howard Tayler's lecture on humor. (Grokked from Cat Rambo)
"For the very first time, NASA has captured the shockwaves of two supersonic jets interacting in mid-flight, and the result is so brilliant, even the researchers are amazed."
"One of the big questions surrounding the first launch of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft was how the Russians would react. They have held considerable sway in the International Space Station partnership by controlling access to the orbiting laboratory since the 2011 retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle. So far, the Russian response has been one of throwing small bits of shade here and there but trying not to be too obvious about it." Waves to our Russian friends. (Grokked from John)
"For more than a month, oil has been pouring out of a large ship that ran aground in the Solomon Islands next to a fragile UNESCO World Heritage site, and there's growing outrage that the companies responsible have not taken action to stop the environmental destruction."
How go the Trade Wars? "The US trade gap with the rest of the world jumped to a 10-year high of $621bn (£472.5bn) last year, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump's deficit reduction plan." (Grokked from Dan)
How goes Brexit? "Britain’s government should urgently unveil its plans for tariffs in the case of a no-deal Brexit, MPs said on Wednesday after media reports that levies could be slashed for up to 90 percent of imports." Someone is late with their homework.
(This is an opinion article, but has some good research) "Major defeats for center-left political candidates are partly the reason for the decline in top marginal tax rates, but now the topic is back on the table. This extraordinary chart from Saravelos could perhaps be of use to progressive Democrats. In terms of post-tax income, the 34 years to 1980 (when Ronald Reagan and the low-tax agenda arrived) saw virtually everybody in the U.S. double their income, apart from the very wealthy. The years since have seen almost half the population fail to register any growth in their income at all, while the very wealthiest have enjoyed extraordinary growth." Almost forty-years of "trickle-down" philosophy, and they still expect us to believe in it. It's time to recategorize streams of revenue as income again, and increase the marginal rates. It's time to end the charade of conservative economic theory. (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
"A petition signed by more than 1,000 Catholics asks church officials to reconsider a decision banning a child of a same-sex couple from attending a local Catholic grade school, reports CBS Kansas City, Missouri affiliate KCTV. The petition is signed by parishioners of the St. Ann Catholic Church in Prairie Village, Kansas and more than 20 other parishes in the metropolitan area." So what does the marriage status of the parents have to do with the education of the child? The Church also teaches against divorce. Are children whose parents are divorced also excluded from the school?
"A bill to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour has cleared a legislative hurdle that sets it up for a vote by the House of Representatives in the coming weeks." Hurrah! It doesn't have a chance in the Senate. You know what would be nice along with this bill, a mechanism for increases. Say something tied to inflation so it's not another decade before minimum wage workers see a raise.
"A new study suggests the reforms contributed to a rise in problematic teen behaviors, such as skipping school, getting in fights and using drugs. These problems were especially pronounced in boys, researchers report in a paper posted online February 11 on the National Bureau of Economic Research website." You say that like it wasn't the intended effect. The research here is a little murky, and will probably be mostly used for the "Families Should Stay Together" crowd (to which I retort, "domestic violence, fuck you").
"Income inequality and disparities in access to resources are factors that pose serious threats to human rights across the globe and have already sparked violent protests in some countries, a top United Nations official said Wednesday."
"A rule drawn up by the CFPB under then President Barack Obama would make it harder for Angela to get her payday loan. Under the proposed rule, which did not take effect, lenders would have to determine that borrowers could afford to repay their loans. Now the bureau has proposed rescinding the rule. It is the first high-profile move by Kathy Kraninger, who was confirmed as the CFPB's director in late 2018." So instead of fixing the economy, we'll make sure companies have unfettered rights to rip off the poor. That'll work.
"Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told a House committee Wednesday that she was 'not familiar' with the idea of toxic stress, which can be the result of intense, repetitive or prolonged adversity, particularly in children." If we cataloged all of the things this cabinet didn't actually know about real life, we're gonna be here all month. (Grokked from Liz Winstead)
"Democrats in the House and Senate introduced companions bills aimed at reinstating the Obama-era net neutrality rules that prohibited broadband providers from blocking or throttling websites or offering preferred businesses higher-quality service for additional fees." I doubt it'll get anywhere, but it's good to see Democrats fighting.
"What began as a fresh effort to condemn anti-Semitism in the wake of Rep. Ilhan Omar's latest controversial comments on Israel policy has evolved into a sprawling debate and expanding resolution exposing deep fault lines in the Democratic caucus." But here's the difference between the parties is the Democrats will learn from this and change.
"US intelligence officials will no longer be required to publicly disclose the number of civilians killed in airstrikes against terrorist targets 'outside areas of active hostilities' due to a new executive order issued by President Donald Trump on Wednesday." Not that it'll really change much in the real world, but before this they should have. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"'(MSB has) gone full gangster,' said Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, 'and it's difficult to work with a guy like that.'" Oh Sen. Rubio, allow me to introduce you to the 70s,. Also you may be familiar with Fulgencio Batista.
"North Korea’s state TV has aired a documentary glorifying leader Kim Jong Un’s recent visit to Vietnam that omitted the failed nuclear negotiations with President Donald Trump." Because for the North Koreans it was still a success.
Strike two! "A second federal judge has issued a court order to block the Trump administration's plans to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census."
"The Democratic National Committee will not allow Fox News to broadcast any of its 2020 presidential primary debates, citing a recent report about the close relationship between the Trump administration and the conservative cable network." Queue the right-wing outrage machine!
"For as much information as Trump's former lawyer has given Congress — and prosecutors — about his previous life, there are as many questions raised by his testimony that don't yet have clear answers."
"The Conservative Political Action Conference… It’s like Burning Man for Republicans, only instead of inclusion, self-expression, and cheerful nudity, there was conservative rage, xenophobia, and howling conspiracy." Jim Wright on the president's asteroid strike of a speech.
"For the very first time, NASA has captured the shockwaves of two supersonic jets interacting in mid-flight, and the result is so brilliant, even the researchers are amazed."
"One of the big questions surrounding the first launch of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft was how the Russians would react. They have held considerable sway in the International Space Station partnership by controlling access to the orbiting laboratory since the 2011 retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle. So far, the Russian response has been one of throwing small bits of shade here and there but trying not to be too obvious about it." Waves to our Russian friends. (Grokked from John)
"For more than a month, oil has been pouring out of a large ship that ran aground in the Solomon Islands next to a fragile UNESCO World Heritage site, and there's growing outrage that the companies responsible have not taken action to stop the environmental destruction."
How go the Trade Wars? "The US trade gap with the rest of the world jumped to a 10-year high of $621bn (£472.5bn) last year, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump's deficit reduction plan." (Grokked from Dan)
How goes Brexit? "Britain’s government should urgently unveil its plans for tariffs in the case of a no-deal Brexit, MPs said on Wednesday after media reports that levies could be slashed for up to 90 percent of imports." Someone is late with their homework.
(This is an opinion article, but has some good research) "Major defeats for center-left political candidates are partly the reason for the decline in top marginal tax rates, but now the topic is back on the table. This extraordinary chart from Saravelos could perhaps be of use to progressive Democrats. In terms of post-tax income, the 34 years to 1980 (when Ronald Reagan and the low-tax agenda arrived) saw virtually everybody in the U.S. double their income, apart from the very wealthy. The years since have seen almost half the population fail to register any growth in their income at all, while the very wealthiest have enjoyed extraordinary growth." Almost forty-years of "trickle-down" philosophy, and they still expect us to believe in it. It's time to recategorize streams of revenue as income again, and increase the marginal rates. It's time to end the charade of conservative economic theory. (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
"A petition signed by more than 1,000 Catholics asks church officials to reconsider a decision banning a child of a same-sex couple from attending a local Catholic grade school, reports CBS Kansas City, Missouri affiliate KCTV. The petition is signed by parishioners of the St. Ann Catholic Church in Prairie Village, Kansas and more than 20 other parishes in the metropolitan area." So what does the marriage status of the parents have to do with the education of the child? The Church also teaches against divorce. Are children whose parents are divorced also excluded from the school?
"A bill to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour has cleared a legislative hurdle that sets it up for a vote by the House of Representatives in the coming weeks." Hurrah! It doesn't have a chance in the Senate. You know what would be nice along with this bill, a mechanism for increases. Say something tied to inflation so it's not another decade before minimum wage workers see a raise.
"A new study suggests the reforms contributed to a rise in problematic teen behaviors, such as skipping school, getting in fights and using drugs. These problems were especially pronounced in boys, researchers report in a paper posted online February 11 on the National Bureau of Economic Research website." You say that like it wasn't the intended effect. The research here is a little murky, and will probably be mostly used for the "Families Should Stay Together" crowd (to which I retort, "domestic violence, fuck you").
"Income inequality and disparities in access to resources are factors that pose serious threats to human rights across the globe and have already sparked violent protests in some countries, a top United Nations official said Wednesday."
"A rule drawn up by the CFPB under then President Barack Obama would make it harder for Angela to get her payday loan. Under the proposed rule, which did not take effect, lenders would have to determine that borrowers could afford to repay their loans. Now the bureau has proposed rescinding the rule. It is the first high-profile move by Kathy Kraninger, who was confirmed as the CFPB's director in late 2018." So instead of fixing the economy, we'll make sure companies have unfettered rights to rip off the poor. That'll work.
"Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told a House committee Wednesday that she was 'not familiar' with the idea of toxic stress, which can be the result of intense, repetitive or prolonged adversity, particularly in children." If we cataloged all of the things this cabinet didn't actually know about real life, we're gonna be here all month. (Grokked from Liz Winstead)
"Democrats in the House and Senate introduced companions bills aimed at reinstating the Obama-era net neutrality rules that prohibited broadband providers from blocking or throttling websites or offering preferred businesses higher-quality service for additional fees." I doubt it'll get anywhere, but it's good to see Democrats fighting.
"What began as a fresh effort to condemn anti-Semitism in the wake of Rep. Ilhan Omar's latest controversial comments on Israel policy has evolved into a sprawling debate and expanding resolution exposing deep fault lines in the Democratic caucus." But here's the difference between the parties is the Democrats will learn from this and change.
"US intelligence officials will no longer be required to publicly disclose the number of civilians killed in airstrikes against terrorist targets 'outside areas of active hostilities' due to a new executive order issued by President Donald Trump on Wednesday." Not that it'll really change much in the real world, but before this they should have. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"'(MSB has) gone full gangster,' said Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, 'and it's difficult to work with a guy like that.'" Oh Sen. Rubio, allow me to introduce you to the 70s,. Also you may be familiar with Fulgencio Batista.
"North Korea’s state TV has aired a documentary glorifying leader Kim Jong Un’s recent visit to Vietnam that omitted the failed nuclear negotiations with President Donald Trump." Because for the North Koreans it was still a success.
Strike two! "A second federal judge has issued a court order to block the Trump administration's plans to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census."
"The Democratic National Committee will not allow Fox News to broadcast any of its 2020 presidential primary debates, citing a recent report about the close relationship between the Trump administration and the conservative cable network." Queue the right-wing outrage machine!
"For as much information as Trump's former lawyer has given Congress — and prosecutors — about his previous life, there are as many questions raised by his testimony that don't yet have clear answers."
"The Conservative Political Action Conference… It’s like Burning Man for Republicans, only instead of inclusion, self-expression, and cheerful nudity, there was conservative rage, xenophobia, and howling conspiracy." Jim Wright on the president's asteroid strike of a speech.
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Linkee-poo thinks about what to give up for Lent
"List of anatomical variations." No situs inversus? Inconceivable! These are some of those things in radiology that we deal with all the time. Not to mention cysts. Lots of people have various cysts and growths in their bodies which do absolutely no harm. This is why when health fairs were offering "full body CT scans" the medical industry was up in arms. There's a lot of shit that shows up, and if someone is not fully trained they could be egregiously wrong. I've read way too many radiological reports that conclude with, "clinical correlation is necessary." Or, if it ain't bothering them, it's not a problem. And I'm forever explaining sesamoid bones. (Grokked from Annalee Flower Horne)
"Two weeks after SpaceX launched the first private lunar lander toward the moon, the Israeli spacecraft sent back a stunning selfie of itself with Earth in the background (above)."
"Japan's space agency completed a complicated touchdown maneuver at a distant space rock last month, and it has now released an incredible video from the spacecraft's point of view."
"'The take-home message is basically that you can’t make up for abusing your sleeping clock by sleeping a few more hours on the weekend,' says Paul Shaw, a neuroscientist at Washington University in St. Louis who was not involved in the study. 'It’s not as simple as saying, "Oh, if I sleep in on the weekends, I’ll be better."'" We're boned. But, again, small study. Some of the results were unexpected, the the overall "sleeping in on the weekends to make up for lost sleep during the week doesn't work" matches to other studies.
Per my point on the recent "Socialism" poll, a tweet thread… "'Socialism' right now for young people does not mean the Soviet Union or Cuba. It means 'You don't lose your house when you kid gets cancer' or 'You don't have to sleep in the parking lot and pee in a jar at work'… Who told them that's "socialism"? *Conservatives* did." (Grokked from Cherie Priest)
Billionaires on why capitalism is great. "If such a term conjures Steve Jobs or Walt Disney, two of capitalism’s visionary saints, so be it. Entrepreneurial capitalism remains, objectively, the best system ever invented to create and distribute prosperity, and if you look at the billion-plus people in China, India and elsewhere who were lifted from extreme poverty in the past two decades, it remains easy to sing its praises. The dynamism remains true in the U.S., too. Of The Forbes 400 list of richest Americans, 67% are self-made and 11% are immigrants. 'America works, and it works now better than it ever worked,' Buffett says." China? Also that 67% is self-reported. And while reading this I kept thinking of the axiom, "Sincerity. If you can fake that, you've got it made." I think this is more some people are realizing all the guillotine jokes in January aren't so much a joke. Small business development is at historic lows. Capitalism is not some manna from heaven, it's barely 150 years old (most writers like this include capitalism's antecedents of mercantilism, empire, and feudalism to make it appear that it's been here all the time). Capitalism's logical outcome is monopoly and Plutocracy (or at the very least Particracy). The 2007 "Great Recession" showed Capitalism's growing age. The continued inequity feature of capitalism (it's not a bug) will be its downfall. (Grokked from someone, sorry, lost the link)
"A court in Tokyo has granted bail to former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn after he spent nearly four months in jail awaiting trial on corruption charges."
"With businesses struggling to fill job vacancies amid low unemployment and fewer available workers, many are adopting a new strategy: They’re stockpiling the most talented employees in fields such as information technology, social media and engineering on fears they might not be around when an opening arises. Worker shortages have led to prolonged searches and lost revenue." While it's good for those people looking for jobs, this is an exceptionally bad way to run a business. If you want to look at it as lowering the stress of on boarding, reducing crushing workloads on existing staff, and training/grooming new hires for positions this can work. But that's a whole different mindset away from "OMG we might not be able to find people when we need them, we'll find something to keep them busy." Because that means you expect other workers to leave and you don't have a retention or continuation strategy, or you're letting your company be driven by the market. With this strategy expect to hear about layoffs as soon as the economy hiccups, and you've both drained your resources and pissed off the current staff in the mean time. With just hiring them in without a position, those employee's skills can degrade quickly, they'll be used to the workflow they had when they initially were hired, and you'll still be in a pinch when more experienced employees leave because they'll be taking specific job knowledge with them. Also, yeah, saw this a lot in the 80s as well.
"The Shawnee Mission school board at a special meeting Tuesday night agreed to a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union over a lawsuit alleging the district violated students’ First Amendment rights during a protest against gun violence." (Grokked from Brent Bowen)
Say, how's that idea about making coming to the US such a hellish prospect that it'll discourage migrants working out for us? "The number of migrant families crossing the southwest border has once again broken records, with unauthorized entries nearly doubling what they were a year ago, suggesting that the Trump administration’s aggressive policies have not discouraged new migration to the United States." The numbers are about at the point they were for the Obama administrations and far below the GW Bush years. The differences is how we lock them all up and how we haven't dealt with the backlog of cases. A wall won't help either problem (or stop them from coming). "The main problem is not one of uncontrolled masses scaling the fences, but a humanitarian challenge created as thousands of migrant families surge into remote areas where the administration has so far failed to devote sufficient resources to care for them, as is required under the law."
So the group Moms Demand Action went to the New Hampshire legislature to testify in favor of a "red-flag law", that's where guns can be temporarily removed from people who may be a threat to themselves or others (including domestic violence complaints). "Some male members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives made a controversial sartorial choice Tuesday morning at a hearing on a proposed gun control measure: pearls… The jewelry, donned by at least six men on the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety, angered many of the volunteers present from gun-control group Moms Demand Action, according to founder Shannon Watts." Some also wore gun pins. What a bunch of jackasses. (Grokked from Dan)
"Russia's government on Wednesday denied any knowledge of the detention of two American Mormon church "volunteers." Family members and officials from the church, officially called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), have said the two men were detained Friday during a church meeting in Novorossiysk, almost 1,000 miles south of Moscow in the Krasnodar region."
"New York State regulators have issued an expansive subpoena to the Trump Organization’s longtime insurance broker, the first step in an investigation of insurance policies and claims involving President Trump’s family business, according to the company and a person briefed on the matter… It came just days after Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former fixer and lawyer, indicated in congressional testimony that the Trump Organization inflated the value of its assets to insurance companies." (Grokked from Dan)
Related. "Donald Trump says he received a $17 million insurance payment in 2005 for hurricane damage to Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach. But The Associated Press has found little evidence of such large-scale damage… Two years after a series of storms, the real estate tycoon said he didn’t know how much had been spent on repairs, but acknowledged he pocketed some of the money. He transferred funds into his personal accounts, saying that under the terms of his policy 'you didn’t have to reinvest it.'" (Grokked for Kathryn Cramer)
"Intelligence within the South Korean government reported Tuesday that North Korea had begun to reassemble launch sites for long-range missiles. Just days after President Donald Trump’s Hanoi summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the Yonhap News Agency reported new activity at a North Korean nuclear launch site."
"Michael Cohen was supposed to report to prison Wednesday to begin serving a three-year sentence for tax crimes, tax evasion and lying to Congress. Instead, President Donald Trump's former lawyer will be on Capitol Hill talking about the crimes he is now accusing Trump of committing." His report date was moved almost a month ago, people. Let's keep up.
"The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Cohen’s lawyer, Stephen Ryan, first mentioned the idea of a pardon with the Trump legal team in the weeks after the April raid on Cohen’s home and office, and that the president’s lawyers, including Jay Sekulow, Rudy Giuliani and Joanna Hendon, dismissed the idea. But at least one of them, Giuliani, left open the possibility that the president could grant Cohen one in the future, the Journal reported."
"Two weeks after SpaceX launched the first private lunar lander toward the moon, the Israeli spacecraft sent back a stunning selfie of itself with Earth in the background (above)."
"Japan's space agency completed a complicated touchdown maneuver at a distant space rock last month, and it has now released an incredible video from the spacecraft's point of view."
"'The take-home message is basically that you can’t make up for abusing your sleeping clock by sleeping a few more hours on the weekend,' says Paul Shaw, a neuroscientist at Washington University in St. Louis who was not involved in the study. 'It’s not as simple as saying, "Oh, if I sleep in on the weekends, I’ll be better."'" We're boned. But, again, small study. Some of the results were unexpected, the the overall "sleeping in on the weekends to make up for lost sleep during the week doesn't work" matches to other studies.
Per my point on the recent "Socialism" poll, a tweet thread… "'Socialism' right now for young people does not mean the Soviet Union or Cuba. It means 'You don't lose your house when you kid gets cancer' or 'You don't have to sleep in the parking lot and pee in a jar at work'… Who told them that's "socialism"? *Conservatives* did." (Grokked from Cherie Priest)
Billionaires on why capitalism is great. "If such a term conjures Steve Jobs or Walt Disney, two of capitalism’s visionary saints, so be it. Entrepreneurial capitalism remains, objectively, the best system ever invented to create and distribute prosperity, and if you look at the billion-plus people in China, India and elsewhere who were lifted from extreme poverty in the past two decades, it remains easy to sing its praises. The dynamism remains true in the U.S., too. Of The Forbes 400 list of richest Americans, 67% are self-made and 11% are immigrants. 'America works, and it works now better than it ever worked,' Buffett says." China? Also that 67% is self-reported. And while reading this I kept thinking of the axiom, "Sincerity. If you can fake that, you've got it made." I think this is more some people are realizing all the guillotine jokes in January aren't so much a joke. Small business development is at historic lows. Capitalism is not some manna from heaven, it's barely 150 years old (most writers like this include capitalism's antecedents of mercantilism, empire, and feudalism to make it appear that it's been here all the time). Capitalism's logical outcome is monopoly and Plutocracy (or at the very least Particracy). The 2007 "Great Recession" showed Capitalism's growing age. The continued inequity feature of capitalism (it's not a bug) will be its downfall. (Grokked from someone, sorry, lost the link)
"A court in Tokyo has granted bail to former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn after he spent nearly four months in jail awaiting trial on corruption charges."
"With businesses struggling to fill job vacancies amid low unemployment and fewer available workers, many are adopting a new strategy: They’re stockpiling the most talented employees in fields such as information technology, social media and engineering on fears they might not be around when an opening arises. Worker shortages have led to prolonged searches and lost revenue." While it's good for those people looking for jobs, this is an exceptionally bad way to run a business. If you want to look at it as lowering the stress of on boarding, reducing crushing workloads on existing staff, and training/grooming new hires for positions this can work. But that's a whole different mindset away from "OMG we might not be able to find people when we need them, we'll find something to keep them busy." Because that means you expect other workers to leave and you don't have a retention or continuation strategy, or you're letting your company be driven by the market. With this strategy expect to hear about layoffs as soon as the economy hiccups, and you've both drained your resources and pissed off the current staff in the mean time. With just hiring them in without a position, those employee's skills can degrade quickly, they'll be used to the workflow they had when they initially were hired, and you'll still be in a pinch when more experienced employees leave because they'll be taking specific job knowledge with them. Also, yeah, saw this a lot in the 80s as well.
"The Shawnee Mission school board at a special meeting Tuesday night agreed to a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union over a lawsuit alleging the district violated students’ First Amendment rights during a protest against gun violence." (Grokked from Brent Bowen)
Say, how's that idea about making coming to the US such a hellish prospect that it'll discourage migrants working out for us? "The number of migrant families crossing the southwest border has once again broken records, with unauthorized entries nearly doubling what they were a year ago, suggesting that the Trump administration’s aggressive policies have not discouraged new migration to the United States." The numbers are about at the point they were for the Obama administrations and far below the GW Bush years. The differences is how we lock them all up and how we haven't dealt with the backlog of cases. A wall won't help either problem (or stop them from coming). "The main problem is not one of uncontrolled masses scaling the fences, but a humanitarian challenge created as thousands of migrant families surge into remote areas where the administration has so far failed to devote sufficient resources to care for them, as is required under the law."
So the group Moms Demand Action went to the New Hampshire legislature to testify in favor of a "red-flag law", that's where guns can be temporarily removed from people who may be a threat to themselves or others (including domestic violence complaints). "Some male members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives made a controversial sartorial choice Tuesday morning at a hearing on a proposed gun control measure: pearls… The jewelry, donned by at least six men on the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety, angered many of the volunteers present from gun-control group Moms Demand Action, according to founder Shannon Watts." Some also wore gun pins. What a bunch of jackasses. (Grokked from Dan)
"Russia's government on Wednesday denied any knowledge of the detention of two American Mormon church "volunteers." Family members and officials from the church, officially called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), have said the two men were detained Friday during a church meeting in Novorossiysk, almost 1,000 miles south of Moscow in the Krasnodar region."
"New York State regulators have issued an expansive subpoena to the Trump Organization’s longtime insurance broker, the first step in an investigation of insurance policies and claims involving President Trump’s family business, according to the company and a person briefed on the matter… It came just days after Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former fixer and lawyer, indicated in congressional testimony that the Trump Organization inflated the value of its assets to insurance companies." (Grokked from Dan)
Related. "Donald Trump says he received a $17 million insurance payment in 2005 for hurricane damage to Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach. But The Associated Press has found little evidence of such large-scale damage… Two years after a series of storms, the real estate tycoon said he didn’t know how much had been spent on repairs, but acknowledged he pocketed some of the money. He transferred funds into his personal accounts, saying that under the terms of his policy 'you didn’t have to reinvest it.'" (Grokked for Kathryn Cramer)
"Intelligence within the South Korean government reported Tuesday that North Korea had begun to reassemble launch sites for long-range missiles. Just days after President Donald Trump’s Hanoi summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the Yonhap News Agency reported new activity at a North Korean nuclear launch site."
"Michael Cohen was supposed to report to prison Wednesday to begin serving a three-year sentence for tax crimes, tax evasion and lying to Congress. Instead, President Donald Trump's former lawyer will be on Capitol Hill talking about the crimes he is now accusing Trump of committing." His report date was moved almost a month ago, people. Let's keep up.
"The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Cohen’s lawyer, Stephen Ryan, first mentioned the idea of a pardon with the Trump legal team in the weeks after the April raid on Cohen’s home and office, and that the president’s lawyers, including Jay Sekulow, Rudy Giuliani and Joanna Hendon, dismissed the idea. But at least one of them, Giuliani, left open the possibility that the president could grant Cohen one in the future, the Journal reported."
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Linkee-poo SHROVE!
Eat pączki until you faint.
"The Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve a new type of drug for depression. It is esketamine, a chemical cousin of the anesthetic and party drug ketamine." Esketamine will need to be taken in a controlled situation under doctor's (well, probably a nurse') observation. This is to make sure it's not abused. But then there is this, "The FDA's decision on esketamine comes as more and more doctors have begun administering a generic version of ketamine for depression… (Esketamine) may not be as effective as what is a generic, but any psychiatrist or physician can prescribe without the restrictions that are going to be applied to esketamine… Generic ketamine costs only a few dollars a dose. It's not clear yet how much esketamine will cost."
"Like Brown, the new patient had a form of cancer and received a treatment involving chemotherapy to wipe out his immune system and replace it, via a stem-cell transplant, with non-malignant donor cells. In both cases, the donor cells also carried an added benefit: a genetic mutation that leads to HIV immunity." Patient #2.
"What followed is a master class in how to talk with young children about death. My co-host for Life Kit's audio guide Parenting: Difficult Conversations, Anya Kamenetz, and I revisited that episode with Rosemarie Truglio, a developmental psychologist and senior vice president of education and research at Sesame Workshop, and together we distilled it to a handful of useful takeaways for parents."
"A massive study tracking almost every child born in Denmark over a decade has found no evidence that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) is in any way relevant to autism." Get the goddamn vaccinations.
"The death of Luke Perry, after the actor suffered what his publicist said was a massive stroke, is evidence that the disease can affect people of any age, the American Heart Association said." Heart attacks also hit people of all ages. As does cancer. As do most diseases.
It's that time of year again. "The Austin 100 distills the experience down to a little more than six hours of music, highlighting a hundred handpicked highlights from among the thousands of acts playing SXSW 2019. A multi-genre playlist spanning virtually the entire world, it's painstakingly engineered to help you find music you love that you might never have heard otherwise."
"Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture." This job fulfilling in creative way such a load of crap. Good thing conservatives are making sure we don't live in a socialist hell like Switzerland. I mean, all that vacation, having a full hour for lunch (which I haven't had in decades, the 45 minutes at the hospital when I was a student was luxurious), and benefits. Who wants all that? (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
"Paid family leave has become a top legislative priority, and nowhere is that clearer than in state government. This year, about two dozen states are expected to consider proposals that offer paid leave for workers who are ill, or taking care of new or elderly family members."
"In more than a century of parading, Mardi Gras crowds in New Orleans have seen a lot of different krewes, as the parading groups are called. Krewes have been formed by whites to satirize British royalty, by blacks to satirize those satirizing British royalty, as well as by an all-female group that throws decorated heels into the crowds instead of beads… Add something new this year: Krewe de Mayahuel, a parading krewe formed mostly by Mexican immigrants to this city."
Need another example of structural racism? "The federal government spends billions of dollars annually helping communities rebuild and prevent future damage. But an NPR investigation has found that across the country, white Americans and those with more wealth often receive more federal dollars after a disaster than do minorities and those with less wealth. Federal aid isn't necessarily allocated to those who need it most; it's allocated according to cost-benefit calculations meant to minimize taxpayer risk."
"When Google conducted its annual pay equity analysis for 2018, the tech company found something nobody expected: It was underpaying men for doing similar work as women… The underpayment — which flips the typical gender pay gap narrative on its head — mostly applied to one group of software engineers. The company emphasized in a blog post that despite this pay discrepancy, deeper structural issues can continue to lead to pay disparities between men and women." And that disparity may have been the result of retention actions meant to stem the flow of women engineers leaving Google (note the survey was for 1 year and didn't address hiring differences). "Since 2012, Google has conducted a yearly company-wide analysis to ensure pay is 'equitable across gender and racial lines,' Barbato said. She offered an explanation for the relatively large adjustment compared to the prior year: female engineers got more discretionary funds than men."
"A cycling race in Belgium was thrown into disarray when the leader of the women’s race, which set off 10 minutes after the men’s, almost caught up with her male counterparts and found herself in danger of being impeded by their support vehicles." Yeah, that's pretty much a fable of modern times. (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
"In San Diego, the scooters have led to a federal lawsuit claiming the new devices cause discrimination against people with disabilities… The lawsuit, which was filed in a federal district court in January and seeks to be a class action, claims the city and scooter rental companies Lime, Bird and Razor have failed to prevent people from riding or parking scooters on sidewalks."
How go the Trade Wars? "China is slashing business taxes as it tries to stop its economy from slowing down too sharply… The Chinese government on Tuesday predicted economic growth of between 6% and 6.5% in 2019. That's a decline from last year's 6.6% rate of expansion, which was already China's weakest performance in three decades." Hint, China's numbers are fabricated, you have to look at things like power usage and how many people are moving back to the farms. And before we get all giddy with excitement, I will remind us all of a nasty economic term, "contagion."
"U.S. President Donald Trump looked set to open a new front in his trade wars on Monday with a plan to end preferential trade treatment for India that allows duty-free entry for up to $5.6 billion worth of its exports to the United States." Oh look, he's opening up a whole new door.
"More than four decades after the Vietnam War brought waves of expatriates to the United States, the Trump administration wants to deport thousands of Vietnamese immigrants, including many refugees, because of years-old criminal convictions."
"The U.S. Supreme Court let a ruling stand Monday from the New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that said Morris County, N.J., may not give taxpayer funds to help preserve religious buildings, such as synagogues, temples, churches and mosques."
Ah, those free-market conservatives. "A bill seeking to keep retiring coal plants alive has passed third reading out of Wyoming's House of Representatives today: 50-8-2. It would obligate utilities to look for another potential buyer in good-faith and accept any reasonable offer… Jason Shogren, economics professor and Stroock Chair of Natural Resource Conservation and Management at the University of Wyoming, said the bill would likely raise electricity rates basically taking the form of a tax in order to keep coal moving." Well, a tax on the poor people. The rich will be able to avoid it I'm sure. Seriously, how mind-fucked do you have to be to increase production costs, increase green-house gases, force businesses into an unprofitable model, screw over the environment (not that part about "reclamation"), and fuck-over retirees just so you can say, "Yep, kept them coal plants burning." (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
"(Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's deputy ambassador to the U.N.) says that the Vienna Convention requires Britain to allow Russia access to (the Skripals), to determine if they are alive and need help from their home country. If the U.K. doesn't grant Russian officials access, he said, it could count as 'forced detention or even abduction of two Russian nationals.'"
"MI5, MI6 and GCHQ looked into unprecedented 'frantic comings and goings' at the building in Kensington in the days leading up to the poisoning of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, a source with knowledge of the investigation told the Press Association."
"Pelosi and other senior Democrats are drafting a resolution to address the controversy, which ballooned over the weekend following a public clash between Omar and senior Jewish lawmakers." Criticism of Israel is not criticism of Jews, the Jewish faith, or being anti-semitic. But this response sorta proves Rep. Ilham Omar's point of the power of AIPAC (and she's not the first to point it out, or to suffer for pointing it out). Is is possible to reiterate anti-semitic talking points while not being anti-semite? In the same vein as spouting racist talking points without being consciously racist, yes. And I am usually supportive of the ADL, but I'd have to see their work on this one. As friends, we can be critical of one another. But it is time for America's unwavering support of everything Israel does just because of our collective guilt surrounding WWII and our governments turning a blind eye to the Holocaust to come to an end. Physician heal thyself. And I say these things, Israel is currently headed by a crook (he's not a crook because he's Jewish, he's just a crook), is politically whiplashed by the ultraconservative sects, and is committing crimes against the Palestinians not from a hate of Israel or a desire to see it fall, but because if Israel continues down this path it will be destroyed from without and from within. It is unsustainable. For Israel to survive it must change course, the only path to a future involves integrating Palestinians into the political life of Israel either as a co-state with rights and privileges (which is untenable with settlements), or granting Palestinians citizenship (which would make Jewish Israelites a minority). All other paths lead to her demise. (Grokked from Xopher Halftongue)
"Trump campaign adviser Jeff Ballabon called Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) 'filth' Monday amid controversy over some comments from the lawmaker that have been called anti-Semitic." Good thing we don't perpetuate racism as we fight against anti-semitism. (Grokked from Xopher Halftongue)
In case you're wondering what anti-semitism actually looks like… "Participants in a street celebration in the Belgian city of Aalst paraded giant puppets of Orthodox Jews and a rat atop money bags." (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) needs the support of President Trump and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to win reelection next year, meaning he must rely on two men at opposite sides of the debate over the use of an emergency declaration to build a wall on the southern border." Stuck between the swamp and the crocodile. Actually this is much ado about nothing. The perceived crack is just perceived, not a real split.
"Roger Stone on Sunday suggested he has been 'framed' by special counsel Robert Mueller in an Instagram post that appeared to run afoul of a judge's barely week-old gag order barring President Donald Trump's longtime friend from criticizing the prosecutors in the criminal case against him." Jesus fuck these people are stupid. I know he's trying to bait the judge to get a mistrial. These guys have for so long insulated themselves form reality that they continue to think they're the smartest people in the room that they can no longer realize when they're not. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
Okay, and here I'm just going to point out that conservatives have for decades tried to convince us of the righteousness of the capitalist system where the meritocracy rewards the smart and hard working as they float to the top, and the slackers don't get anywhere and have financial problems. But now suddenly, especially in the case of Roger Stone, all these really smart, hard workers are now broke. Stone supposedly has been subsisting on PBJ sandwiches. You know, in his mansion, with his "volunteers." Let me call bullshit on all of it. There is no meritocracy in capitalism, and PBJ sandwiches are what rich people think poor people live on. Also, if Roger Stone actually is broke… man, Karma is a bitch, ain't she.
"Nearly everyone in Donald Trump's world just became a potential witness… House Democrats are laying down a vast net as they ramp up their investigation into deep tracts of the President's personal, business and political life, with a breathtaking document request from a list of 81 people, agencies and entities." I seem to remember when the black guy was in the White House that this sort of documents request was kinda routine. That was only 2 years ago. And here I'll note that the *cough*potential*cough* coordination with a foreign power (waves to my Russian friends) to win the election is just one of a slew of Constitutional problems this administration faces.
"The committee told reporters Monday that the investigation will focus on three primary issues: whether the president obstructed justice by interfering with criminal investigations; potential corruption such as violation of campaign and financial reporting laws, as well as possible misuse of office for personal gain; and abuses of power to include misuse of the pardon power and attacks on the press, judiciary and law enforcement agencies."
"The Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve a new type of drug for depression. It is esketamine, a chemical cousin of the anesthetic and party drug ketamine." Esketamine will need to be taken in a controlled situation under doctor's (well, probably a nurse') observation. This is to make sure it's not abused. But then there is this, "The FDA's decision on esketamine comes as more and more doctors have begun administering a generic version of ketamine for depression… (Esketamine) may not be as effective as what is a generic, but any psychiatrist or physician can prescribe without the restrictions that are going to be applied to esketamine… Generic ketamine costs only a few dollars a dose. It's not clear yet how much esketamine will cost."
"Like Brown, the new patient had a form of cancer and received a treatment involving chemotherapy to wipe out his immune system and replace it, via a stem-cell transplant, with non-malignant donor cells. In both cases, the donor cells also carried an added benefit: a genetic mutation that leads to HIV immunity." Patient #2.
"What followed is a master class in how to talk with young children about death. My co-host for Life Kit's audio guide Parenting: Difficult Conversations, Anya Kamenetz, and I revisited that episode with Rosemarie Truglio, a developmental psychologist and senior vice president of education and research at Sesame Workshop, and together we distilled it to a handful of useful takeaways for parents."
"A massive study tracking almost every child born in Denmark over a decade has found no evidence that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) is in any way relevant to autism." Get the goddamn vaccinations.
"The death of Luke Perry, after the actor suffered what his publicist said was a massive stroke, is evidence that the disease can affect people of any age, the American Heart Association said." Heart attacks also hit people of all ages. As does cancer. As do most diseases.
It's that time of year again. "The Austin 100 distills the experience down to a little more than six hours of music, highlighting a hundred handpicked highlights from among the thousands of acts playing SXSW 2019. A multi-genre playlist spanning virtually the entire world, it's painstakingly engineered to help you find music you love that you might never have heard otherwise."
"Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture." This job fulfilling in creative way such a load of crap. Good thing conservatives are making sure we don't live in a socialist hell like Switzerland. I mean, all that vacation, having a full hour for lunch (which I haven't had in decades, the 45 minutes at the hospital when I was a student was luxurious), and benefits. Who wants all that? (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
"Paid family leave has become a top legislative priority, and nowhere is that clearer than in state government. This year, about two dozen states are expected to consider proposals that offer paid leave for workers who are ill, or taking care of new or elderly family members."
"In more than a century of parading, Mardi Gras crowds in New Orleans have seen a lot of different krewes, as the parading groups are called. Krewes have been formed by whites to satirize British royalty, by blacks to satirize those satirizing British royalty, as well as by an all-female group that throws decorated heels into the crowds instead of beads… Add something new this year: Krewe de Mayahuel, a parading krewe formed mostly by Mexican immigrants to this city."
Need another example of structural racism? "The federal government spends billions of dollars annually helping communities rebuild and prevent future damage. But an NPR investigation has found that across the country, white Americans and those with more wealth often receive more federal dollars after a disaster than do minorities and those with less wealth. Federal aid isn't necessarily allocated to those who need it most; it's allocated according to cost-benefit calculations meant to minimize taxpayer risk."
"When Google conducted its annual pay equity analysis for 2018, the tech company found something nobody expected: It was underpaying men for doing similar work as women… The underpayment — which flips the typical gender pay gap narrative on its head — mostly applied to one group of software engineers. The company emphasized in a blog post that despite this pay discrepancy, deeper structural issues can continue to lead to pay disparities between men and women." And that disparity may have been the result of retention actions meant to stem the flow of women engineers leaving Google (note the survey was for 1 year and didn't address hiring differences). "Since 2012, Google has conducted a yearly company-wide analysis to ensure pay is 'equitable across gender and racial lines,' Barbato said. She offered an explanation for the relatively large adjustment compared to the prior year: female engineers got more discretionary funds than men."
"A cycling race in Belgium was thrown into disarray when the leader of the women’s race, which set off 10 minutes after the men’s, almost caught up with her male counterparts and found herself in danger of being impeded by their support vehicles." Yeah, that's pretty much a fable of modern times. (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
"In San Diego, the scooters have led to a federal lawsuit claiming the new devices cause discrimination against people with disabilities… The lawsuit, which was filed in a federal district court in January and seeks to be a class action, claims the city and scooter rental companies Lime, Bird and Razor have failed to prevent people from riding or parking scooters on sidewalks."
How go the Trade Wars? "China is slashing business taxes as it tries to stop its economy from slowing down too sharply… The Chinese government on Tuesday predicted economic growth of between 6% and 6.5% in 2019. That's a decline from last year's 6.6% rate of expansion, which was already China's weakest performance in three decades." Hint, China's numbers are fabricated, you have to look at things like power usage and how many people are moving back to the farms. And before we get all giddy with excitement, I will remind us all of a nasty economic term, "contagion."
"U.S. President Donald Trump looked set to open a new front in his trade wars on Monday with a plan to end preferential trade treatment for India that allows duty-free entry for up to $5.6 billion worth of its exports to the United States." Oh look, he's opening up a whole new door.
"More than four decades after the Vietnam War brought waves of expatriates to the United States, the Trump administration wants to deport thousands of Vietnamese immigrants, including many refugees, because of years-old criminal convictions."
"The U.S. Supreme Court let a ruling stand Monday from the New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that said Morris County, N.J., may not give taxpayer funds to help preserve religious buildings, such as synagogues, temples, churches and mosques."
Ah, those free-market conservatives. "A bill seeking to keep retiring coal plants alive has passed third reading out of Wyoming's House of Representatives today: 50-8-2. It would obligate utilities to look for another potential buyer in good-faith and accept any reasonable offer… Jason Shogren, economics professor and Stroock Chair of Natural Resource Conservation and Management at the University of Wyoming, said the bill would likely raise electricity rates basically taking the form of a tax in order to keep coal moving." Well, a tax on the poor people. The rich will be able to avoid it I'm sure. Seriously, how mind-fucked do you have to be to increase production costs, increase green-house gases, force businesses into an unprofitable model, screw over the environment (not that part about "reclamation"), and fuck-over retirees just so you can say, "Yep, kept them coal plants burning." (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
"(Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's deputy ambassador to the U.N.) says that the Vienna Convention requires Britain to allow Russia access to (the Skripals), to determine if they are alive and need help from their home country. If the U.K. doesn't grant Russian officials access, he said, it could count as 'forced detention or even abduction of two Russian nationals.'"
"MI5, MI6 and GCHQ looked into unprecedented 'frantic comings and goings' at the building in Kensington in the days leading up to the poisoning of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, a source with knowledge of the investigation told the Press Association."
"Pelosi and other senior Democrats are drafting a resolution to address the controversy, which ballooned over the weekend following a public clash between Omar and senior Jewish lawmakers." Criticism of Israel is not criticism of Jews, the Jewish faith, or being anti-semitic. But this response sorta proves Rep. Ilham Omar's point of the power of AIPAC (and she's not the first to point it out, or to suffer for pointing it out). Is is possible to reiterate anti-semitic talking points while not being anti-semite? In the same vein as spouting racist talking points without being consciously racist, yes. And I am usually supportive of the ADL, but I'd have to see their work on this one. As friends, we can be critical of one another. But it is time for America's unwavering support of everything Israel does just because of our collective guilt surrounding WWII and our governments turning a blind eye to the Holocaust to come to an end. Physician heal thyself. And I say these things, Israel is currently headed by a crook (he's not a crook because he's Jewish, he's just a crook), is politically whiplashed by the ultraconservative sects, and is committing crimes against the Palestinians not from a hate of Israel or a desire to see it fall, but because if Israel continues down this path it will be destroyed from without and from within. It is unsustainable. For Israel to survive it must change course, the only path to a future involves integrating Palestinians into the political life of Israel either as a co-state with rights and privileges (which is untenable with settlements), or granting Palestinians citizenship (which would make Jewish Israelites a minority). All other paths lead to her demise. (Grokked from Xopher Halftongue)
"Trump campaign adviser Jeff Ballabon called Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) 'filth' Monday amid controversy over some comments from the lawmaker that have been called anti-Semitic." Good thing we don't perpetuate racism as we fight against anti-semitism. (Grokked from Xopher Halftongue)
In case you're wondering what anti-semitism actually looks like… "Participants in a street celebration in the Belgian city of Aalst paraded giant puppets of Orthodox Jews and a rat atop money bags." (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) needs the support of President Trump and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to win reelection next year, meaning he must rely on two men at opposite sides of the debate over the use of an emergency declaration to build a wall on the southern border." Stuck between the swamp and the crocodile. Actually this is much ado about nothing. The perceived crack is just perceived, not a real split.
"Roger Stone on Sunday suggested he has been 'framed' by special counsel Robert Mueller in an Instagram post that appeared to run afoul of a judge's barely week-old gag order barring President Donald Trump's longtime friend from criticizing the prosecutors in the criminal case against him." Jesus fuck these people are stupid. I know he's trying to bait the judge to get a mistrial. These guys have for so long insulated themselves form reality that they continue to think they're the smartest people in the room that they can no longer realize when they're not. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
Okay, and here I'm just going to point out that conservatives have for decades tried to convince us of the righteousness of the capitalist system where the meritocracy rewards the smart and hard working as they float to the top, and the slackers don't get anywhere and have financial problems. But now suddenly, especially in the case of Roger Stone, all these really smart, hard workers are now broke. Stone supposedly has been subsisting on PBJ sandwiches. You know, in his mansion, with his "volunteers." Let me call bullshit on all of it. There is no meritocracy in capitalism, and PBJ sandwiches are what rich people think poor people live on. Also, if Roger Stone actually is broke… man, Karma is a bitch, ain't she.
"Nearly everyone in Donald Trump's world just became a potential witness… House Democrats are laying down a vast net as they ramp up their investigation into deep tracts of the President's personal, business and political life, with a breathtaking document request from a list of 81 people, agencies and entities." I seem to remember when the black guy was in the White House that this sort of documents request was kinda routine. That was only 2 years ago. And here I'll note that the *cough*potential*cough* coordination with a foreign power (waves to my Russian friends) to win the election is just one of a slew of Constitutional problems this administration faces.
"The committee told reporters Monday that the investigation will focus on three primary issues: whether the president obstructed justice by interfering with criminal investigations; potential corruption such as violation of campaign and financial reporting laws, as well as possible misuse of office for personal gain; and abuses of power to include misuse of the pardon power and attacks on the press, judiciary and law enforcement agencies."
Monday, March 4, 2019
Linkee-poo after a tiring weekend
Winter storms may be moving across the US, but here in Maple Syrup Land at what should be the height of the harvest there appears to be little in the buckets (well, in the plastic bags I drive by). About three weeks ago, as the bags just went up they were almost bursting with sap. And now the sap is too thick (to make maple syrup you want the first few weeks as the trees' sap is mostly water and sugar, as the season progresses the trees start sending up other nutrients).
"In the past decade ocean oxygen levels have taken a dive—an alarming trend that is linked to climate change, says Andreas Oschlies, an oceanographer at the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel in Germany, whose team tracks ocean oxygen levels worldwide. 'We were surprised by the intensity of the changes we saw, how rapidly oxygen is going down in the ocean and how large the effects on marine ecosystems are,' he says." We're boned.
"At least 23 people were killed in southeastern Alabama on Sunday after a slew of damaging tornadoes ripped through the area, officials said." Tornado season keeps coming earlier every year.
"Sixty-seven million light-years away, a galaxy is blowing enormous bubbles. We know what they are. Known as nuclear superbubbles, the structures are likely created by the supermassive black hole in the galaxy's centre. Now, thanks to new data, we know something incredible is occurring inside them."
"Right on schedule, the Crew Dragon spacecraft fired its Draco thrusters early on Sunday morning and docked safely with the International Space Station. A 'soft' capture came at 5:51am ET, when the station was 418km above New Zealand. 'Hard' capture, when 12 additional latches secured the spacecraft to the station, occurred 10 minutes later."
"'We used to believe that the larger the object, the more easily it would break, because bigger objects are more likely to have flaws. Our findings, however, show that asteroids are stronger than we used to think and require more energy to be completely shattered,' says Charles El Mir, a recent Ph.D graduate from the Johns Hopkins University's Department of Mechanical Engineering and the paper's first author." Whelp, so much for that idea.
"Eli Lilly is offering a half-price version of its top-selling insulin Humalog as drugmakers face growing pressure to control prices." It's a steal at half the price.
"Now researchers have turned to yeast to do something more improbable: manufacturing the cannabis compounds CBD and THC. By loading brewer’s yeast with genes from the cannabis plant, they’ve turned the miracle microbes into cannabinoid factories. It’s a clever scheme in a larger movement to methodically pick apart and recreate marijuana’s many compounds, to better understand the plant’s true potential." It was only time until someone figured this out. And yes, it will help research… but the last I checked it wasn't illegal to grow THC, just the plant. Also there is the problem of the interactions of various compounds, and while one scientist quotes says a molecule isa molecule, that's not actually accurate. For example; glucose, fructose, and galactose are all the same molecule, but they're configured differently and our cells use them differently (this is one of those blind spots I talk about in medicine, this is something known, but not often considered that the shape of the molecule is just as important as its composition). And then you have the problem with most herbals, the effects are often from a combination of molecule, not from a single compound (which is where many of them fail in clinical testing, which is restricted to testing single compounds, or I should say pharma is only interested in single compound drugs). (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"U.S. construction spending edged down 0.6 percent in December with declines in residential construction and government projects. Even with the December setback, construction spending for all of 2018 reached record levels, though it was the smallest increase seven years."
"Hundreds of workers at four General Motors plants slated to close by January are facing a painful choice: Take the company’s offer to work at another factory — possibly hundreds of miles away — even if that means leaving behind their families, their homes and everything they’ve built. Or stay and risk losing their high-paying jobs."
How go the Trade Wars? "Asian stocks climbed Monday, with China stocks hitting their best level in nine months, after news reports said Washington and Beijing are close to reaching an agreement as early as this month to end their costly tariff war." Good thing the market is rational and not speculative.
How goes Brexit? "London’s deputy mayor says Britain should stop the clock on its exit from the European Union, then hold a second referendum about any deal negotiated with Brussels." Good luck with that.
"A man arrested and released last year in a fatal Southern California bombing is back in custody in the same case, federal authorities said Sunday."
"A woman whose murder three months ago was blamed on an attack by a panhandler was actually killed by her husband and his daughter, Baltimore police said Sunday. CBS Baltimore reports the husband and stepdaughter of Jacquelyn Smith have been arrested for her death, police said Sunday in a press conference."
"The United States has officially shuttered its consulate in Jerusalem, downgrading the status of its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians by folding it into the U.S. Embassy to Israel." I'm sure this will go well.
"Pope Francis has announced the Vatican will open its secret archives on the Second World War-era pope Pius XII, who was accused by Jewish groups of staying silent on the Holocaust." The review must be finished.
"After Mr Guaidó proclaimed himself interim president on 23 January, Venezuela's Supreme Court - which is dominated by loyalists of President Maduro - placed a travel ban on the opposition leader… Mr Guaidó defied that to attend a fund-raising concert in Colombia on 22 February organised by billionaire Richard Branson."
The charge of socialism is gaining sway. "On the role of government, Republicans say government is already doing too much by more that a two-to-one margin. Democrats by four-to-one say government should do more (to help people); independents side with the Democratic view by a comparatively slim 54 percent to 44 percent margin." What's hilarious is that rural people want less… and yet the farm bill is one of the major social welfare programs that by some counts makes up almost a quarter of farm income. And what is not discussed in this article is that the two most "socialist" programs from the US government, Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid are wildly popular. I think we can rack some of this discontent with "socialism" to lingering fallout from the Cold War. I have a feeling if the researchers actually started digging down into the specifics, like SNAP, WIC, Social Security, Medicare, etc you'd see a lot of support. Sort of like how when you dig into the specifics, people love Obamacare by a wide margin, except when you call it Obamacare.
"Hannity was treated in Texas like a member of the Administration because he virtually is one. The same can be said of Fox’s chairman, Rupert Murdoch. Fox has long been a bane of liberals, but in the past two years many people who watch the network closely, including some Fox alumni, say that it has evolved into something that hasn’t existed before in the United States." Ministry of Truth. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"President Donald Trump uttered a dizzying number of false statements in his epically long weekend speech, to an audience that didn’t seem to mind at all." What are facts?
"President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen has been asked by members of Congress, in private, if he was ever involved in discussions about a possible pardon."
"The House Judiciary Committee launched a broad investigation into President Donald Trump's inner circle Monday, targeting figures who have worked in his administration and for the Trump Organization businesses."
Oh FFS. "But a wrinkle in this time-honored process — the peace prize was first awarded in 1901 — emerged on Tuesday, when the committee announced that it had uncovered what appeared to be a forged nomination of President Trump for the (Nobel peace) prize. The matter has been referred to the Oslo police for investigation." Say, who announced to the world that Trump had been nominated in the first place? (Grokked from Jim Wright)
On one of the major problems with doing these linkee-poos, "But this story is about more than just the Tennessee Star. Leahy, Botteri, and Gill have been expanding their version of journalism to other battleground states in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election. They are, they say, co-founders of a new, Delaware-registered company, Star News Digital Media, Inc., whose explicit strategy is to target battleground states with conservative news. So far, Leahy, Gill, and Botteri have added The Ohio Star and The Minnesota Sun to their network of purportedly local newspapers. These papers are effective carbon copies of the Tennessee Star." Instead of ratcheting down faked news outlets, they're proliferating and being sponsored by party factions. These are just some of the major sites, there are hosts of even smaller endeavors. And there's probably some news that I haven't linked to here that was completely legit, but I couldn't verify the source (or it looked fishy at first blush). So here we are, folks, it's a full on information warfare space. Just be wary of your own conformational biases.
"Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Sunday at a reception in Selma, Ala., that Americans are facing a 'full-fledged crisis in our democracy,' likening its importance to the civil rights movement from decades ago." (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"In the past decade ocean oxygen levels have taken a dive—an alarming trend that is linked to climate change, says Andreas Oschlies, an oceanographer at the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel in Germany, whose team tracks ocean oxygen levels worldwide. 'We were surprised by the intensity of the changes we saw, how rapidly oxygen is going down in the ocean and how large the effects on marine ecosystems are,' he says." We're boned.
"At least 23 people were killed in southeastern Alabama on Sunday after a slew of damaging tornadoes ripped through the area, officials said." Tornado season keeps coming earlier every year.
"Sixty-seven million light-years away, a galaxy is blowing enormous bubbles. We know what they are. Known as nuclear superbubbles, the structures are likely created by the supermassive black hole in the galaxy's centre. Now, thanks to new data, we know something incredible is occurring inside them."
"Right on schedule, the Crew Dragon spacecraft fired its Draco thrusters early on Sunday morning and docked safely with the International Space Station. A 'soft' capture came at 5:51am ET, when the station was 418km above New Zealand. 'Hard' capture, when 12 additional latches secured the spacecraft to the station, occurred 10 minutes later."
"'We used to believe that the larger the object, the more easily it would break, because bigger objects are more likely to have flaws. Our findings, however, show that asteroids are stronger than we used to think and require more energy to be completely shattered,' says Charles El Mir, a recent Ph.D graduate from the Johns Hopkins University's Department of Mechanical Engineering and the paper's first author." Whelp, so much for that idea.
"Eli Lilly is offering a half-price version of its top-selling insulin Humalog as drugmakers face growing pressure to control prices." It's a steal at half the price.
"Now researchers have turned to yeast to do something more improbable: manufacturing the cannabis compounds CBD and THC. By loading brewer’s yeast with genes from the cannabis plant, they’ve turned the miracle microbes into cannabinoid factories. It’s a clever scheme in a larger movement to methodically pick apart and recreate marijuana’s many compounds, to better understand the plant’s true potential." It was only time until someone figured this out. And yes, it will help research… but the last I checked it wasn't illegal to grow THC, just the plant. Also there is the problem of the interactions of various compounds, and while one scientist quotes says a molecule isa molecule, that's not actually accurate. For example; glucose, fructose, and galactose are all the same molecule, but they're configured differently and our cells use them differently (this is one of those blind spots I talk about in medicine, this is something known, but not often considered that the shape of the molecule is just as important as its composition). And then you have the problem with most herbals, the effects are often from a combination of molecule, not from a single compound (which is where many of them fail in clinical testing, which is restricted to testing single compounds, or I should say pharma is only interested in single compound drugs). (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"U.S. construction spending edged down 0.6 percent in December with declines in residential construction and government projects. Even with the December setback, construction spending for all of 2018 reached record levels, though it was the smallest increase seven years."
"Hundreds of workers at four General Motors plants slated to close by January are facing a painful choice: Take the company’s offer to work at another factory — possibly hundreds of miles away — even if that means leaving behind their families, their homes and everything they’ve built. Or stay and risk losing their high-paying jobs."
How go the Trade Wars? "Asian stocks climbed Monday, with China stocks hitting their best level in nine months, after news reports said Washington and Beijing are close to reaching an agreement as early as this month to end their costly tariff war." Good thing the market is rational and not speculative.
How goes Brexit? "London’s deputy mayor says Britain should stop the clock on its exit from the European Union, then hold a second referendum about any deal negotiated with Brussels." Good luck with that.
"A man arrested and released last year in a fatal Southern California bombing is back in custody in the same case, federal authorities said Sunday."
"A woman whose murder three months ago was blamed on an attack by a panhandler was actually killed by her husband and his daughter, Baltimore police said Sunday. CBS Baltimore reports the husband and stepdaughter of Jacquelyn Smith have been arrested for her death, police said Sunday in a press conference."
"The United States has officially shuttered its consulate in Jerusalem, downgrading the status of its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians by folding it into the U.S. Embassy to Israel." I'm sure this will go well.
"Pope Francis has announced the Vatican will open its secret archives on the Second World War-era pope Pius XII, who was accused by Jewish groups of staying silent on the Holocaust." The review must be finished.
"After Mr Guaidó proclaimed himself interim president on 23 January, Venezuela's Supreme Court - which is dominated by loyalists of President Maduro - placed a travel ban on the opposition leader… Mr Guaidó defied that to attend a fund-raising concert in Colombia on 22 February organised by billionaire Richard Branson."
The charge of socialism is gaining sway. "On the role of government, Republicans say government is already doing too much by more that a two-to-one margin. Democrats by four-to-one say government should do more (to help people); independents side with the Democratic view by a comparatively slim 54 percent to 44 percent margin." What's hilarious is that rural people want less… and yet the farm bill is one of the major social welfare programs that by some counts makes up almost a quarter of farm income. And what is not discussed in this article is that the two most "socialist" programs from the US government, Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid are wildly popular. I think we can rack some of this discontent with "socialism" to lingering fallout from the Cold War. I have a feeling if the researchers actually started digging down into the specifics, like SNAP, WIC, Social Security, Medicare, etc you'd see a lot of support. Sort of like how when you dig into the specifics, people love Obamacare by a wide margin, except when you call it Obamacare.
"Hannity was treated in Texas like a member of the Administration because he virtually is one. The same can be said of Fox’s chairman, Rupert Murdoch. Fox has long been a bane of liberals, but in the past two years many people who watch the network closely, including some Fox alumni, say that it has evolved into something that hasn’t existed before in the United States." Ministry of Truth. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"President Donald Trump uttered a dizzying number of false statements in his epically long weekend speech, to an audience that didn’t seem to mind at all." What are facts?
"President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen has been asked by members of Congress, in private, if he was ever involved in discussions about a possible pardon."
"The House Judiciary Committee launched a broad investigation into President Donald Trump's inner circle Monday, targeting figures who have worked in his administration and for the Trump Organization businesses."
Oh FFS. "But a wrinkle in this time-honored process — the peace prize was first awarded in 1901 — emerged on Tuesday, when the committee announced that it had uncovered what appeared to be a forged nomination of President Trump for the (Nobel peace) prize. The matter has been referred to the Oslo police for investigation." Say, who announced to the world that Trump had been nominated in the first place? (Grokked from Jim Wright)
On one of the major problems with doing these linkee-poos, "But this story is about more than just the Tennessee Star. Leahy, Botteri, and Gill have been expanding their version of journalism to other battleground states in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election. They are, they say, co-founders of a new, Delaware-registered company, Star News Digital Media, Inc., whose explicit strategy is to target battleground states with conservative news. So far, Leahy, Gill, and Botteri have added The Ohio Star and The Minnesota Sun to their network of purportedly local newspapers. These papers are effective carbon copies of the Tennessee Star." Instead of ratcheting down faked news outlets, they're proliferating and being sponsored by party factions. These are just some of the major sites, there are hosts of even smaller endeavors. And there's probably some news that I haven't linked to here that was completely legit, but I couldn't verify the source (or it looked fishy at first blush). So here we are, folks, it's a full on information warfare space. Just be wary of your own conformational biases.
"Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Sunday at a reception in Selma, Ala., that Americans are facing a 'full-fledged crisis in our democracy,' likening its importance to the civil rights movement from decades ago." (Grokked from Jim Wright)
Friday, March 1, 2019
Linkee-poo, one dream, one soul, one prize, one goal
"March is definitely coming in like a lion over the next few days." Insert dramatic music here.
"SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft is poised for a historic test flight Saturday (March 2), when it's scheduled to soar into orbit from NASA's Kennedy Space Center here atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff is set for 2:48 a.m. EST (0748 GMT)." The spacesuited dummy is being called "Ripley." I'm not sure that's such a good idea.
"NASA shows off the inside of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft."
"Mars may look like a dry, dusty planet today. But scientific models indicate that it was likely once home to massive amounts of water, both above and below its surface - and now, researchers have evidence to back those models up."
"Using New Horizons data from the Pluto-Charon flyby in 2015, a Southwest Research Institute-led team of scientists have indirectly discovered a distinct and surprising lack of very small objects in the Kuiper Belt. The evidence for the paucity of small Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) comes from New Horizons imaging that revealed a dearth of small craters on Pluto's largest satellite, Charon, indicating that impactors from 300 feet to 1 mile (91 meters to 1.6 km) in diameter must also be rare." You mean Hollywood lied to us again?
"The impressions of human desire are often left upon objects of their devotion or on the paths leading to where a sense of peace or pleasure can be found; i.e. the worn frets on a favorite guitar; the finger-smoothed ivory keys on an old piano; the 'secret path' in the forest blazed by decades of children that’s been 'a secret path' to other children for over 100 years… And, of course, the front left-hand sides of all unrestored and original Pac-Man arcade cabinets that no one –until now– has thought to explain." The modern anthropology of Pac-Man game cabinets. (Grokked from John)
"Scientists from the Biomimetic Robotics Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created a smaller 20 pound version of their hurdle jumping four-legged cheetah robot…" So now you can be creeped out, but in a smaller package. (Grokked from Dan)
Just a reminder, there is no "top of the food chain". Everything is eaten by something else. "In a study published today in the journal BMC Biology, Félix and her co-author Antony Page describe this 'golden death' bacterium. The scientific name they chose is Chryseobacterium nematophagum, meaning 'golden bacteria, nematode-eating.' Under the right conditions, colonies of Chryseobacterium take on a golden hue and, well, the second part of the name is self-explanatory." Note no studies on if the bacteria eats anything else. Considering they're looking at it to solve nematode parasitic diseases, that might be something that would be good to find out first. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
Also, "A team of biologists has documented 15 rare and disturbing images of spiders in the Amazon rainforest preying on vertebrates such as frogs and tadpoles, lizards, snakes, and even a small opossum."
"Camber Pharmaceuticals, Inc. recalled 87 lots of the blood pressure medication losartan on Thursday after discovering trace amounts of a potential carcinogen." That seems to be happening a lot lately.
"This year saw more gains for wind and solar, which now meet 8.9% of all electric demand in the United States, according to pv magazine’s analysis of the EIA data. Solar generation – both rooftop and utility-scale – grew 25%, and now meets 2.4% of electric demand in the United States… Wind grew more slowly, with only an 8% increase in raw output, but still supplied 6.5% of all U.S. electricity. When biomass, geothermal and hydro are added in, the United States met nearly 18% of its demand with renewable energy, slightly less than the portion met with nuclear power, which was around 19%." (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
"Why didn’t any Wall Street CEO go to jail after the financial crisis? It’s a question we were frequently asked throughout our reporting of the 10-year anniversary of the financial crisis."
"Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Republican lawmakers have announced a proposed tax credit that would go toward donations to private school scholarships and other school choice initiatives." Tax credits for going to private schools. Yeah, nope.
"Child poverty in the U.S. could be cut in half over the next 10 years with a few simple steps, according to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine… The cost would be high — at least $90 billion a year. But the National Academies report warns that the price of not doing anything would be far greater." Funny how fixing these problems would actually save us money. But only if we go in the exact opposite direction of conservative philosophy. "The panel also found that some conservative initiatives intended to reduce child poverty — such as programs to promote marriage and family planning — showed little evidence of working. It also found that programs requiring aid recipients to work did not seem to reduce child poverty either. In fact, the report concludes, 'It appears that work requirements are at least as likely to increase as to decrease poverty.'" That may have been the actual desired response for those conservative programs.
"Undocumented immigrants are increasingly choosing to cross the U.S. border illegally rather than waiting in line to claim asylum at legal ports of entry, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data obtained by NBC News." You say that like it wasn't part of the plan.
"Some news outlets have suggested Weisselberg's testimony means he is cooperating with federal probes involving Cohen, the president and the Trump Organization. But three people with direct knowledge of the matter tell NBC News that Weisselberg is not cooperating, has never been a cooperating witness, and has provided limited details in the course of his testimony." (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"Insistent not-a-racist GOP Rep. Mark Meadows displays his racism." That was an interesting end to the Cohen hearings on Wednesday. Just a reminder that having black (or any other minority group) friends does not actually mean that person is not racists. Although "birtherism" was also used as partisan politics, even if the meme was started as a racist backlash, holding the line was something a lot of conservatives did as just a conditioned response. However, in Mark Meadows' case, this is just a continuing pattern of racism. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
And now in "I know you are, but what am I" diplomacy… "Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday that the United States has carried out a number of digital attacks on Russian entities and people. 'This is the reality with which we live,' he said, according to Russian state news agency Tass."
"President Trump was back in Washington on Friday morning, facing conflicting accounts of why his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un broke down. The president said he walked away from the table because Kim wanted complete sanctions relief. But in a rare press conference overnight, North Korean officials said they only wanted some sanctions lifted." And this is why you have someone take notes. It's also why you don't do these things on an election schedule.
"President Trump ordered his chief of staff to grant his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, a top-secret security clearance last year, overruling concerns flagged by intelligence officials and the White House’s top lawyer, four people briefed on the matter said." We all knew this, right? Now it is perfectly within the president's purview to do this. But there are some major problems here. "(Kushner) later made several amendments to that section of his application, known as an SF86. His aides at the time insisted he had omitted those meetings (with foreign government official) inadvertently." Those aren't the only changes he made to his SF86. If memory serves Mr Kushner amended his security disclosure form more than 50 times. That's a problem. It's a problem the president lied about his ordering the security clearance for his son-in-law. It's a problem that both Jared and Ivanka deny Trump ordered their clearances over the objections of both career and politically appointed civil servants. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie warned that President Donald Trump’s family members working in his administration could not be considered off-limits in federal investigations." It's that "working in his administration" part that makes them legitimate targets of investigations. So like Baron is not on the firing line to be questioned. Also in criminal investigations the president's family, involved in politics or not, are not exempt.
"In order for Michael Cohen to be seen as a credible and reliable source on Donald Trump's business dealings, political activities and character -- both in and out of the White House -- the President's former fixer must be viewed as a changed man, someone who lied, yes, but has now seen the light and spent his House hearing on Tuesday telling the truth and nothing but the truth about his former boss." Expect to hear how being the president's personal lawyer would mean he was in the White House, but didn't work for the White House (he would have worked for the president in the president's capacity as a private citizen). But if he lobbied to be Chief of Staff, that might be a problem. However, I think there's enough wiggle room in how he phrased his answer that it won't be. Desire can be a hard thing to prove.
"Housing and Urban Development official Lynne Patton offered a different narrative about President Donald Trump than his former attorney Michael Cohen gave to Congress and criticized Representative Rashida Tlaib for not believing her." Will the real racist please stand up. Also, Mrs. Patton, the crux of your own argument, "should you believe a black woman on whom is racist," kinda also defeats the point you're trying to make. Just saying.
"SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft is poised for a historic test flight Saturday (March 2), when it's scheduled to soar into orbit from NASA's Kennedy Space Center here atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff is set for 2:48 a.m. EST (0748 GMT)." The spacesuited dummy is being called "Ripley." I'm not sure that's such a good idea.
"NASA shows off the inside of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft."
"Mars may look like a dry, dusty planet today. But scientific models indicate that it was likely once home to massive amounts of water, both above and below its surface - and now, researchers have evidence to back those models up."
"Using New Horizons data from the Pluto-Charon flyby in 2015, a Southwest Research Institute-led team of scientists have indirectly discovered a distinct and surprising lack of very small objects in the Kuiper Belt. The evidence for the paucity of small Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) comes from New Horizons imaging that revealed a dearth of small craters on Pluto's largest satellite, Charon, indicating that impactors from 300 feet to 1 mile (91 meters to 1.6 km) in diameter must also be rare." You mean Hollywood lied to us again?
"The impressions of human desire are often left upon objects of their devotion or on the paths leading to where a sense of peace or pleasure can be found; i.e. the worn frets on a favorite guitar; the finger-smoothed ivory keys on an old piano; the 'secret path' in the forest blazed by decades of children that’s been 'a secret path' to other children for over 100 years… And, of course, the front left-hand sides of all unrestored and original Pac-Man arcade cabinets that no one –until now– has thought to explain." The modern anthropology of Pac-Man game cabinets. (Grokked from John)
"Scientists from the Biomimetic Robotics Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created a smaller 20 pound version of their hurdle jumping four-legged cheetah robot…" So now you can be creeped out, but in a smaller package. (Grokked from Dan)
Just a reminder, there is no "top of the food chain". Everything is eaten by something else. "In a study published today in the journal BMC Biology, Félix and her co-author Antony Page describe this 'golden death' bacterium. The scientific name they chose is Chryseobacterium nematophagum, meaning 'golden bacteria, nematode-eating.' Under the right conditions, colonies of Chryseobacterium take on a golden hue and, well, the second part of the name is self-explanatory." Note no studies on if the bacteria eats anything else. Considering they're looking at it to solve nematode parasitic diseases, that might be something that would be good to find out first. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
Also, "A team of biologists has documented 15 rare and disturbing images of spiders in the Amazon rainforest preying on vertebrates such as frogs and tadpoles, lizards, snakes, and even a small opossum."
"Camber Pharmaceuticals, Inc. recalled 87 lots of the blood pressure medication losartan on Thursday after discovering trace amounts of a potential carcinogen." That seems to be happening a lot lately.
"This year saw more gains for wind and solar, which now meet 8.9% of all electric demand in the United States, according to pv magazine’s analysis of the EIA data. Solar generation – both rooftop and utility-scale – grew 25%, and now meets 2.4% of electric demand in the United States… Wind grew more slowly, with only an 8% increase in raw output, but still supplied 6.5% of all U.S. electricity. When biomass, geothermal and hydro are added in, the United States met nearly 18% of its demand with renewable energy, slightly less than the portion met with nuclear power, which was around 19%." (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
"Why didn’t any Wall Street CEO go to jail after the financial crisis? It’s a question we were frequently asked throughout our reporting of the 10-year anniversary of the financial crisis."
"Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Republican lawmakers have announced a proposed tax credit that would go toward donations to private school scholarships and other school choice initiatives." Tax credits for going to private schools. Yeah, nope.
"Child poverty in the U.S. could be cut in half over the next 10 years with a few simple steps, according to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine… The cost would be high — at least $90 billion a year. But the National Academies report warns that the price of not doing anything would be far greater." Funny how fixing these problems would actually save us money. But only if we go in the exact opposite direction of conservative philosophy. "The panel also found that some conservative initiatives intended to reduce child poverty — such as programs to promote marriage and family planning — showed little evidence of working. It also found that programs requiring aid recipients to work did not seem to reduce child poverty either. In fact, the report concludes, 'It appears that work requirements are at least as likely to increase as to decrease poverty.'" That may have been the actual desired response for those conservative programs.
"Undocumented immigrants are increasingly choosing to cross the U.S. border illegally rather than waiting in line to claim asylum at legal ports of entry, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data obtained by NBC News." You say that like it wasn't part of the plan.
"Some news outlets have suggested Weisselberg's testimony means he is cooperating with federal probes involving Cohen, the president and the Trump Organization. But three people with direct knowledge of the matter tell NBC News that Weisselberg is not cooperating, has never been a cooperating witness, and has provided limited details in the course of his testimony." (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"Insistent not-a-racist GOP Rep. Mark Meadows displays his racism." That was an interesting end to the Cohen hearings on Wednesday. Just a reminder that having black (or any other minority group) friends does not actually mean that person is not racists. Although "birtherism" was also used as partisan politics, even if the meme was started as a racist backlash, holding the line was something a lot of conservatives did as just a conditioned response. However, in Mark Meadows' case, this is just a continuing pattern of racism. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
And now in "I know you are, but what am I" diplomacy… "Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday that the United States has carried out a number of digital attacks on Russian entities and people. 'This is the reality with which we live,' he said, according to Russian state news agency Tass."
"President Trump was back in Washington on Friday morning, facing conflicting accounts of why his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un broke down. The president said he walked away from the table because Kim wanted complete sanctions relief. But in a rare press conference overnight, North Korean officials said they only wanted some sanctions lifted." And this is why you have someone take notes. It's also why you don't do these things on an election schedule.
"President Trump ordered his chief of staff to grant his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, a top-secret security clearance last year, overruling concerns flagged by intelligence officials and the White House’s top lawyer, four people briefed on the matter said." We all knew this, right? Now it is perfectly within the president's purview to do this. But there are some major problems here. "(Kushner) later made several amendments to that section of his application, known as an SF86. His aides at the time insisted he had omitted those meetings (with foreign government official) inadvertently." Those aren't the only changes he made to his SF86. If memory serves Mr Kushner amended his security disclosure form more than 50 times. That's a problem. It's a problem the president lied about his ordering the security clearance for his son-in-law. It's a problem that both Jared and Ivanka deny Trump ordered their clearances over the objections of both career and politically appointed civil servants. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie warned that President Donald Trump’s family members working in his administration could not be considered off-limits in federal investigations." It's that "working in his administration" part that makes them legitimate targets of investigations. So like Baron is not on the firing line to be questioned. Also in criminal investigations the president's family, involved in politics or not, are not exempt.
"In order for Michael Cohen to be seen as a credible and reliable source on Donald Trump's business dealings, political activities and character -- both in and out of the White House -- the President's former fixer must be viewed as a changed man, someone who lied, yes, but has now seen the light and spent his House hearing on Tuesday telling the truth and nothing but the truth about his former boss." Expect to hear how being the president's personal lawyer would mean he was in the White House, but didn't work for the White House (he would have worked for the president in the president's capacity as a private citizen). But if he lobbied to be Chief of Staff, that might be a problem. However, I think there's enough wiggle room in how he phrased his answer that it won't be. Desire can be a hard thing to prove.
"Housing and Urban Development official Lynne Patton offered a different narrative about President Donald Trump than his former attorney Michael Cohen gave to Congress and criticized Representative Rashida Tlaib for not believing her." Will the real racist please stand up. Also, Mrs. Patton, the crux of your own argument, "should you believe a black woman on whom is racist," kinda also defeats the point you're trying to make. Just saying.
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