"About 25 million years ago, giant rhinos more than 16 feet tall roamed the Earth. They are considered the largest land mammal that ever lived — but their evolutionary history and dispersal across Asia have left scientists puzzled… Paleontologists have now found fossils for a new, sixth species of the extinct giant rhino, Paraceratherium linxiaense, which are shedding light on how the animal moved across China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Pakistan."
"NASA continues to work on resolving an issue with the payload computer on the Hubble Space Telescope. The operations team will be running tests and collecting more information on the system to further isolate the problem. The science instruments will remain in a safe mode state until the issue is resolved. The telescope itself and science instruments remain in good health."
"The FDA’s surprise approval of the drug, Aduhelm, despite near-unanimous opposition from an independent advisory panel, has the potential to explode the federal budget and move an already simmering debate over drug prices in Congress and the White House onto the front burner."
"A worrying spike of coronavirus infections in Europe is being driven by the Delta variant, according to global health leaders, even as immunization rates in some countries are on the way up… Increased cases reported in the U.K. and Portugal have forced officials to reimplement lockdown restrictions or hold off on lifting pandemic mandates. Officials in France, Germany, and Spain say they are closely monitoring clusters of infection tied to the Delta variant."
"With Covid vaccination penetration in the US likely to fall short of Joe Biden’s 70% by Fourth of July target, pandemic analysts are warning that vaccine incentives are losing traction and that 'two Americas' may emerge as the aggressive Delta variant becomes the dominant US strain." I can only imagine this is how the Eloi and Morlocks started.
"The number of deaths related to Covid-19 has passed 500,000 in Brazil, the second-highest in the world, as experts say the outbreak could worsen amid slow vaccination and the start of winter… The virus continues to spread as President Jair Bolsonaro refuses to back measures like social distancing."
"Ohio's Republican-controlled legislature is on the verge of imposing a state law to dramatically restrict the rights of cities and towns to build and operate municipal broadband networks… The Ohio Senate on June 9 approved a budget bill that contains an anti-municipal broadband amendment. It's not a done deal yet, and advocates for public networks are urging the legislature to strip the amendment from the final budget. The budget bill is expected to be hammered out within the next two weeks." Fuckers. If the public sector were so superior to government work this 1) wouldn't be necessary and 2) wouldn't be being pushed by industry.
"Businesses around the country are wrestling with similar challenges in getting their goods… The Port of Los Angeles just logged its busiest month in history, handling more than a million shipping containers in May, more than half of them loaded with imports from Asia."
"Documents stored in safes in the Prime Minister’s Office were shredded on Sunday, in violation of the law, shortly before Prime Minister Naftali Bennett took office."
"A federal magistrate judge in Iowa on Thursday ordered the employees at a dairy farm owned by the father and brother of Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Cal.) to produce documentation concerning their immigration status in the family’s protracted defamation lawsuit filed against Esquire magazine and journalist Ryan Lizza. The court also singled out attorney Steven Biss—known for representing the Republican lawmaker in a series of failed defamation suits against news organizations—for his 'puzzling and troubling' explanation about a deposition of a dairy farm employee." (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"In a speech from the Rose Garden last year alongside then-President Donald Trump, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell said his company would produce and distribute face masks to do their part in the COVID-19 pandemic… Now, the conservative figure is saying the operation has cost him millions of dollars and that they have millions of masks they can't get rid of. Lindell told The Daily Beast this week that the mask-making effort cost him and his company a combined total of $7 million." Poor little rich man.
"Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced that more than 100,000 names will be removed from the state's voter registration records… This mass removal, or voter 'purge,' mainly targeted those who filled out a change of address form (about 67,000) or had election mail returned (about 34,000), the AP reported. Voters can also be purged if they are declared 'inactive' meaning they have not participated in an election in a certain number of years." Yes, they're still trying to steal the election.
"Trump’s relentless false claims that the vote was 'rigged' against him sparked a campaign to terrorize election officials nationwide – from senior officials such as Raffensperger to the lowest-level local election workers. The intimidation has been particularly severe in Georgia, where Raffensperger and other Republican election officials refuted Trump’s stolen-election claims. The ongoing harassment could have far-reaching implications for future elections by making the already difficult task of recruiting staff and poll workers much harder, election officials say."
Tuesday, June 22, 2021
Thursday, June 17, 2021
Linkee-poo Thursday June 17
Want to know what a SF/F/H convention is like, but don't want to spend the money first? Okay, well supposedly Tor Con 2021 is offering recordings of their panels. Unfortunately Tor:Con is a branded tornado prediction tool for the Weather Channel, so Googling is a PIA.
"(Tor) Nightfire will be open to (unaccented) novel and novella submissions from June 15, 2021 (9AM EST) to June 22, 2021 (9AM EST)."
"Wednesday was forecast to get only hotter, with Death Valley predicted to soar to a blistering 128 degrees… With temperatures rising to 10 to 30 degrees above average, dozens of records were demolished Tuesday across Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota, Nevada, Arizona and Southern California." And it's only June.
War, huh, yeah, what is it good for? "But he also expressed deep rage and sorrow over the scars left by the nation's 50-year-long War on Drugs. 'What good is it doing for us?' Hinton asked… As the United States' harsh approach to drug use and addiction hits the half-century milestone, this question is being asked by a growing number of lawmakers, public health experts and community leaders." Absolutely nothing.
"Initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose last week despite an ongoing recovery in the U.S. employment market, the Labor Department reported Thursday… First-time filings for unemployment insurance for the week ended June 12 totaled 412,000, compared with the previous week’s 375,000. That was the highest number since May 15."
"Members of the Ohio House expelled Rep. Larry Householder, the federally indicted Republican ex-speaker, Wednesday in a bipartisan vote that invoked their powers to remove a member for the first time in 150 years."
"The Democratic-led House of Representatives on Wednesday easily approved legislation to commemorate Juneteenth, the national remembrance of the end of chattel slavery in the United States, as a federal holiday."
"You may be used to seeing your calendar punctuated by the various holidays that occur throughout the year… But on one New Jersey school district's calendar, each one of these days will be listed, simply, as 'day off.'"
"The House voted Thursday to repeal the 2002 authorization for war in Iraq as Congress moves to rein in presidential discretion on using military force." Well that only took :: checks watch :: 19 years.
"The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act for the third time on Thursday, leaving in place the broad provisions of the law enacted by Congress in 201o. The vote was 7 to 2… The decision threw out the challenge to the law on the grounds that Texas and other objecting GOP-dominated states were not required to pay anything under the mandate provision and thus had no standing to bring the challenge to court." That's interesting, as since the mandate has been zeroed out, then nobody can claim harm (unless they have an ACA plan, which they could have not bought and have paid no penalty, so no harm again). The attempt was specious at best (if you have one hello grain of salt to go with it), and it's good to see at least logic still holds sway.
And then it fails… "The Supreme Court on Thursday said that Philadelphia violated the First Amendment when it froze the contract of a Catholic foster care agency that refused to work with same-sex couples as potential foster parents because the agency believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman." Say, what religion do most of the members of the Supreme Court belong to?
And then this asshole is back again… "A Colorado baker who won a partial victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 for refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple violated the state's anti-discrimination law by refusing to make a birthday cake for a trans woman, a state judge has ruled."
"(Tor) Nightfire will be open to (unaccented) novel and novella submissions from June 15, 2021 (9AM EST) to June 22, 2021 (9AM EST)."
"Wednesday was forecast to get only hotter, with Death Valley predicted to soar to a blistering 128 degrees… With temperatures rising to 10 to 30 degrees above average, dozens of records were demolished Tuesday across Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota, Nevada, Arizona and Southern California." And it's only June.
War, huh, yeah, what is it good for? "But he also expressed deep rage and sorrow over the scars left by the nation's 50-year-long War on Drugs. 'What good is it doing for us?' Hinton asked… As the United States' harsh approach to drug use and addiction hits the half-century milestone, this question is being asked by a growing number of lawmakers, public health experts and community leaders." Absolutely nothing.
"Initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose last week despite an ongoing recovery in the U.S. employment market, the Labor Department reported Thursday… First-time filings for unemployment insurance for the week ended June 12 totaled 412,000, compared with the previous week’s 375,000. That was the highest number since May 15."
"Members of the Ohio House expelled Rep. Larry Householder, the federally indicted Republican ex-speaker, Wednesday in a bipartisan vote that invoked their powers to remove a member for the first time in 150 years."
"The Democratic-led House of Representatives on Wednesday easily approved legislation to commemorate Juneteenth, the national remembrance of the end of chattel slavery in the United States, as a federal holiday."
"You may be used to seeing your calendar punctuated by the various holidays that occur throughout the year… But on one New Jersey school district's calendar, each one of these days will be listed, simply, as 'day off.'"
"The House voted Thursday to repeal the 2002 authorization for war in Iraq as Congress moves to rein in presidential discretion on using military force." Well that only took :: checks watch :: 19 years.
"The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act for the third time on Thursday, leaving in place the broad provisions of the law enacted by Congress in 201o. The vote was 7 to 2… The decision threw out the challenge to the law on the grounds that Texas and other objecting GOP-dominated states were not required to pay anything under the mandate provision and thus had no standing to bring the challenge to court." That's interesting, as since the mandate has been zeroed out, then nobody can claim harm (unless they have an ACA plan, which they could have not bought and have paid no penalty, so no harm again). The attempt was specious at best (if you have one hello grain of salt to go with it), and it's good to see at least logic still holds sway.
And then it fails… "The Supreme Court on Thursday said that Philadelphia violated the First Amendment when it froze the contract of a Catholic foster care agency that refused to work with same-sex couples as potential foster parents because the agency believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman." Say, what religion do most of the members of the Supreme Court belong to?
And then this asshole is back again… "A Colorado baker who won a partial victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 for refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple violated the state's anti-discrimination law by refusing to make a birthday cake for a trans woman, a state judge has ruled."
Continued Disruptions
Do to necessary bandwidth restrictions for other projects and the amount of work flowing into the design job, expect disruptions of the schedule and poor service until June 25. Welcome to crappy rural broadband.
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Linkee-poo Wednesday June 16
"As NASA gears up for the Artemis I mission around the Moon that will pave the way to send the first woman and the first person of color to the lunar surface, we have an important task for you (yes, you!). Artemis I will be an uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft ahead of the first flight with crew on Artemis II. We want your help to select a name for the suited manikin, or Moonikin in this case, that will fly aboard Orion to help gather data before missions with astronauts!" Unfortunately Suity McSuitface is not one of the options. Or since he will be accompanied by other phantoms, Ghosty McGhost.
"The three members of the first crew to be sent to China’s space station say they’re eager to get to work making their home for the next three months habitable, setting up testing and experiments and preparing for a series of spacewalks."
"The next SpaceX launch will feature a milestone, as the Pentagon is allowing Elon Musk’s company to send a national security satellite to orbit with a reused rocket for the first time… SpaceX is set to launch the GPS III SV05 satellite for the Space Force on Thursday from Florida, using the Falcon 9 rocket booster that launched the GPS III SV04 satellite last November. The company’s Falcon 9 rockets are partially reusable, as SpaceX regularly lands the boosters – the largest and most expensive part of the rocket – and then launches again."
"A massive fire at a Rockton, Illinois Chemtool plant continues to burn for a second day Tuesday… The massive chemical plant went up in flames around 7 a.m. Monday and firefighters say it could burn for several days." Better living through chemistry.
Ma href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/06/09/1003980966/women-now-drink-as-much-as-men-and-suffer-health-effects-more-quickly">"For nearly a century, women have been closing the gender gap in alcohol consumption, binge-drinking and alcohol use disorder. What was previously a 3-1 ratio for risky drinking habits in men versus women is closer to 1-to-1 globally, a 2016 analysis of several dozen studies suggested." You've come a long way.
I made a comment about Biogen rushing an unproven, dangerous drug to market (Aduhelm) to bilk insurance companies. I'm not the only one who thinks that… "Less appreciated is how the drug’s approval could trigger hundreds of billions of dollars of new government spending, all without a vote in Congress or indeed any public debate over the drug’s value. Aduhelm’s manufacturer, Biogen, announced on Monday that it would price the drug at an average of $56,000 a year per patient, a figure that doesn’t include the additional imaging and scans needed to diagnose patients or to monitor them for serious side effects." If we include government programs on of the largest of insurance companies in the country would be Medicare/Medicaid (second only to the Pentagon's programs including the Veterans Administration).
"Yet a key question remains unanswered: How long does COVID-linked parosmia last? Scientists have no firm timelines. Of the five patients interviewed for this article, all of whom first developed parosmia symptoms in late spring and early summer of last year, none has fully regained normal smell and taste."
"I cautioned in that same email that we would need to look at the question much more closely and that our opinions could change within a few days based on new data and analyses — which they did." On some of those early emails with Dr Fauci.
"The U.S. government has bought another 200 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, the drugmaker said on Wednesday, including an option to buy experimental shots that may be in development."
"The European Union decided Wednesday to add the United States to its safe travel list, meaning it will be easier for American citizens to take a vacation in one of the 27 member states, two EU sources have confirmed to CNBC."
"The U.S. is banning the importation of dogs from more than 100 countries for at least a year because of a sharp increase in the number of puppies imported into the country with fraudulent rabies vaccination certificates."
"The lumber bubble has started to pop… After skyrocketing to record highs in May, futures for July delivery dropped more than 40%." This is after a huge spike earlier this year. No word on the lumber tariffs with Canada, though.
"U.S. homebuilding rebounded less than expected in May as very expensive lumber and shortages of other materials continued to constrain builders' ability to take advantage of an acute shortage of houses on the market."
"The Biden administration said it is approving 18,000 loan forgiveness claims from former students of ITT Technical Institute, a chain that closed in 2016 after being dealt a series of sanctions by the Obama administration. The new loan discharges will clear more than $500 million in debt."
"The Southern Baptist Convention tamped down a push from the right at its largest meeting in decades on Tuesday, electing a new president who has worked to bridge racial divides in the church and defeating an effort to make an issue of critical race theory."
"The United States and European Union said Tuesday they have resolved a 17-year-long fight over aircraft subsidies, agreeing to suspend tariffs for five years stemming from the Boeing-Airbus dispute."
"Overnight, tensions between Israel and Hamas erupted into violence, posing a potential threat to the brief period of peace reached between the two just weeks ago… Israeli jets struck two targets in Gaza early Wednesday. In a tweet, which included a video of the attack, the Israel Defense Forces said its 'fighter jets struck Hamas military compounds last night, which were used as meeting sites for Hamas terror operatives. Hamas will bear the consequences for its actions.'"
"Jeff Porter, superintendent of a wealthy suburban school district in Maine, had no idea that his community was about to become part of a national battle when in the summer of 2020 a father began accusing the district of trying to 'indoctrinate' his children by teaching critical race theory… To Porter, the issue was straightforward: The district had denounced white supremacy in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by police, but did not teach critical race theory, the academic study of racism’s pervasive impact."
"China has flown 28 warplanes into Taiwan-controlled airspace, the biggest sortie of its kind since the Taiwanese government began publishing information about the frequent incursions last year."
"Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who was introducing a bill to reduce Fauci’s salary to $0 and have him account for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, led the attacks. The proposed legislation, called the Fire Fauci Act, stands no chance of passage in a House controlled by Democrats."
"Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider of Illinois said he will not proceed with a resolution to censure Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia for comments she made about the Holocaust."
"The rat-a-tat revelations raise more questions than they answer about why the Justice Department -- the federal agency charged with upholding America's rule of law, regardless of politics -- was so into the business of people the then-President viewed as his enemies."
"The White House has published its first ever national strategy for countering domestic terrorism five months after a violent mob stormed the US Capitol in Washington… The framework released on Tuesday by the national security council describes the threat as now more serious than potential attacks from overseas but emphasises the need to protect civil liberties."
Meanwhile, on Bullshit Mountain… "But that’s not what our leaders are doing. They’re doing just the opposite. They’re working hard to divide us into warring camps with lies. They’re telling us a story that is completely — and very much intentionally — disconnected from reality. They’re claiming that something called white supremacy, a term they never define, is the greatest threat we face. A greater threat than Al Qaeda or ISIS. Our thoroughly craven attorney general told us that very lie today." Carlson is the purveyor of the zombie fallacy. No matter how many times something is explained, his viewpoint disproven, the cold hard reality of the world imposed on him by, well, reality, he doesn't get it. He professionally, and expertly, doesn't get it. We know the answers to all his questions, but Tucker will never know, because he can never know to keep his worldview, and substantial paycheck, intact. And then he goes on to set up the argument that January 6th was an inside job. So it's time to cut the crap. Tucker Carlson is actively working against America. He is a seditionist, and a fascist, and is, quite frankly pushing the narrative of our nation's enemies. He is troll and beneficiary of white privilege and white supremacy wrapped in a suit of smugness giving you the look of a puppy who just bit into a plastic pork chop.
"The three members of the first crew to be sent to China’s space station say they’re eager to get to work making their home for the next three months habitable, setting up testing and experiments and preparing for a series of spacewalks."
"The next SpaceX launch will feature a milestone, as the Pentagon is allowing Elon Musk’s company to send a national security satellite to orbit with a reused rocket for the first time… SpaceX is set to launch the GPS III SV05 satellite for the Space Force on Thursday from Florida, using the Falcon 9 rocket booster that launched the GPS III SV04 satellite last November. The company’s Falcon 9 rockets are partially reusable, as SpaceX regularly lands the boosters – the largest and most expensive part of the rocket – and then launches again."
"A massive fire at a Rockton, Illinois Chemtool plant continues to burn for a second day Tuesday… The massive chemical plant went up in flames around 7 a.m. Monday and firefighters say it could burn for several days." Better living through chemistry.
Ma href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/06/09/1003980966/women-now-drink-as-much-as-men-and-suffer-health-effects-more-quickly">"For nearly a century, women have been closing the gender gap in alcohol consumption, binge-drinking and alcohol use disorder. What was previously a 3-1 ratio for risky drinking habits in men versus women is closer to 1-to-1 globally, a 2016 analysis of several dozen studies suggested." You've come a long way.
I made a comment about Biogen rushing an unproven, dangerous drug to market (Aduhelm) to bilk insurance companies. I'm not the only one who thinks that… "Less appreciated is how the drug’s approval could trigger hundreds of billions of dollars of new government spending, all without a vote in Congress or indeed any public debate over the drug’s value. Aduhelm’s manufacturer, Biogen, announced on Monday that it would price the drug at an average of $56,000 a year per patient, a figure that doesn’t include the additional imaging and scans needed to diagnose patients or to monitor them for serious side effects." If we include government programs on of the largest of insurance companies in the country would be Medicare/Medicaid (second only to the Pentagon's programs including the Veterans Administration).
"Yet a key question remains unanswered: How long does COVID-linked parosmia last? Scientists have no firm timelines. Of the five patients interviewed for this article, all of whom first developed parosmia symptoms in late spring and early summer of last year, none has fully regained normal smell and taste."
"I cautioned in that same email that we would need to look at the question much more closely and that our opinions could change within a few days based on new data and analyses — which they did." On some of those early emails with Dr Fauci.
"The U.S. government has bought another 200 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, the drugmaker said on Wednesday, including an option to buy experimental shots that may be in development."
"The European Union decided Wednesday to add the United States to its safe travel list, meaning it will be easier for American citizens to take a vacation in one of the 27 member states, two EU sources have confirmed to CNBC."
"The U.S. is banning the importation of dogs from more than 100 countries for at least a year because of a sharp increase in the number of puppies imported into the country with fraudulent rabies vaccination certificates."
"The lumber bubble has started to pop… After skyrocketing to record highs in May, futures for July delivery dropped more than 40%." This is after a huge spike earlier this year. No word on the lumber tariffs with Canada, though.
"U.S. homebuilding rebounded less than expected in May as very expensive lumber and shortages of other materials continued to constrain builders' ability to take advantage of an acute shortage of houses on the market."
"The Biden administration said it is approving 18,000 loan forgiveness claims from former students of ITT Technical Institute, a chain that closed in 2016 after being dealt a series of sanctions by the Obama administration. The new loan discharges will clear more than $500 million in debt."
"The Southern Baptist Convention tamped down a push from the right at its largest meeting in decades on Tuesday, electing a new president who has worked to bridge racial divides in the church and defeating an effort to make an issue of critical race theory."
"The United States and European Union said Tuesday they have resolved a 17-year-long fight over aircraft subsidies, agreeing to suspend tariffs for five years stemming from the Boeing-Airbus dispute."
"Overnight, tensions between Israel and Hamas erupted into violence, posing a potential threat to the brief period of peace reached between the two just weeks ago… Israeli jets struck two targets in Gaza early Wednesday. In a tweet, which included a video of the attack, the Israel Defense Forces said its 'fighter jets struck Hamas military compounds last night, which were used as meeting sites for Hamas terror operatives. Hamas will bear the consequences for its actions.'"
"Jeff Porter, superintendent of a wealthy suburban school district in Maine, had no idea that his community was about to become part of a national battle when in the summer of 2020 a father began accusing the district of trying to 'indoctrinate' his children by teaching critical race theory… To Porter, the issue was straightforward: The district had denounced white supremacy in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by police, but did not teach critical race theory, the academic study of racism’s pervasive impact."
"China has flown 28 warplanes into Taiwan-controlled airspace, the biggest sortie of its kind since the Taiwanese government began publishing information about the frequent incursions last year."
"Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who was introducing a bill to reduce Fauci’s salary to $0 and have him account for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, led the attacks. The proposed legislation, called the Fire Fauci Act, stands no chance of passage in a House controlled by Democrats."
"Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider of Illinois said he will not proceed with a resolution to censure Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia for comments she made about the Holocaust."
"The rat-a-tat revelations raise more questions than they answer about why the Justice Department -- the federal agency charged with upholding America's rule of law, regardless of politics -- was so into the business of people the then-President viewed as his enemies."
"The White House has published its first ever national strategy for countering domestic terrorism five months after a violent mob stormed the US Capitol in Washington… The framework released on Tuesday by the national security council describes the threat as now more serious than potential attacks from overseas but emphasises the need to protect civil liberties."
Meanwhile, on Bullshit Mountain… "But that’s not what our leaders are doing. They’re doing just the opposite. They’re working hard to divide us into warring camps with lies. They’re telling us a story that is completely — and very much intentionally — disconnected from reality. They’re claiming that something called white supremacy, a term they never define, is the greatest threat we face. A greater threat than Al Qaeda or ISIS. Our thoroughly craven attorney general told us that very lie today." Carlson is the purveyor of the zombie fallacy. No matter how many times something is explained, his viewpoint disproven, the cold hard reality of the world imposed on him by, well, reality, he doesn't get it. He professionally, and expertly, doesn't get it. We know the answers to all his questions, but Tucker will never know, because he can never know to keep his worldview, and substantial paycheck, intact. And then he goes on to set up the argument that January 6th was an inside job. So it's time to cut the crap. Tucker Carlson is actively working against America. He is a seditionist, and a fascist, and is, quite frankly pushing the narrative of our nation's enemies. He is troll and beneficiary of white privilege and white supremacy wrapped in a suit of smugness giving you the look of a puppy who just bit into a plastic pork chop.
Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Linkee-poo Tuesday June 15
"As with all our summer polls, this one isn't a straight-up popularity contest… Rather, it's a curated list built from your recommendations and picks from our expert panel of judges — a fantastic group of authors, librarians, publishers and all-around book nerds. And instead of a ranked list, it's grouped into categories that we hope will help you find just the right books for the kids in your life."
"A tiny skull entombed in 99-million-year-old amber that became the subject of scientific debate last year was initially thought to belong to the world's smallest dinosaur species… However, the high-profile March 2020 scientific paper that unveiled the discovery of Oculudentavis khaungraae was retracted later that year. New research published on Monday, based on another, better-preserved amber specimen, suggests that the skull was from a prehistoric lizard."
"Philips is recalling breathing devices and ventilators due to foam that might degrade and become toxic, possibly causing cancer, the Dutch medical equipment maker said on Monday… The recall involves specific Philips Bi-Level Positive Airway Pressure (Bi-Level PAP), Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) and mechanical ventilator devices to address potential health risks related to polyester-based polyurethane sound abatement foam that is in the machines, Philips said in a news release."
"Doctors who work in Arizona and Nevada burn centers are warning of injuries from contact with super-heated roadways and other surfaces as the first extreme heat wave of the year extends across the U.S. West."
"Three communities in Arizona have been asked to evacuate after a fire that crews have been working for days to contain jumped the containment line… The Telegraph Fire grew overnight, burning through 104,755 acres with containment down to 68%, fire authorities said during a community meeting late Monday."
"The latest results build on findings from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that suggested the novel coronavirus may have been circulating in the United States last December, well before the first COVID-19 case was diagnosed on Jan. 19, 2020."
"The head football coach at Cardinal High School in Middlefield is the target of a criminal investigation, alleging he altered the grades of students." (Law and Order opening credits sound here)
"U.S. retail sales dropped more than expected in May, with spending rotating back to services from goods as vaccinations allow Americans to travel and engage in other activities that had been restricted by the COVID-19 pandemic… Other data on Tuesday showed an acceleration in producer prices last month as supply chains struggle to meet demand that is being unleashed by the reopening of the economy. In addition to vaccinations, demand is also being fired up by trillions of dollars from the government and record-low interest rates."
"The free trade agreement means it will cost less for British businesses to sell products like cars, Scotch whisky and confectionery into Australia, the U.K. government said Tuesday."
"'We are seeing a historic surge of cargo volume coming into our ports,' says Tom Bellerud, the chief operations officer of The Northwest Seaport Alliance, which manages all cargo processing at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma. 'The terminals are having a difficult time keeping up with processing all the cargo off these vessels fast enough.'"
"The Girl Scouts have an unusual problem this year: 15 million boxes of unsold cookies." OMG! Are any of them Do-si-Dos?
"The way Airbnb has handled crimes such as the New York attack, which occurred during a bitter regulatory fight, shows how critical the safety team has been to the company’s growth. Airbnb’s business model rests on the idea that strangers can trust one another. If that premise is undermined, it can mean fewer users and more lawsuits, not to mention tighter regulation."
"In the first public accounting of its kind in decades, an Associated Press investigation has found that at least 1,900 U.S. military firearms were lost or stolen during the 2010s, with some resurfacing in violent crimes. Because some armed services have suppressed the release of basic information, AP’s total is a certain undercount."
"Investigators determined the waylaid grenades were last seen eight month(s) prior on an ammunition train that rolled out from Florida. Someone had stolen them somewhere on the rails to Pennsylvania, another example in an Associated Press investigation that shows how the military's vast supply chain is susceptible to theft." What's a few armor piercing grenades more or less?
"At the start of the pandemic, headlines signaled the end of days for the Golden State: 'California doom: Staggering $54 billion deficit looms,' the AP declared… Yet that's not what the data shows. California’s economy is the opposite of doom." A twitter thread about not believing the hype (from an opinion column, but backed up with facts). Especially when someone touts the "Texas Miracle." (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that some crack cocaine offenders sentenced to harsh prison terms more than a decade ago cannot get their sentences reduced under a federal law adopted with the purpose of doing just that… At issue in the case was the long and now notorious history of sentencing under the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which established harsh mandatory prison sentences based on the amount of drugs that the defendant possessed or sold. The triggering amount, however, was different for crack cocaine used most often by Black people, and powder cocaine, used most often by whites."
"Trump may be out of office, but the GOP's campaign to limit voting rights, free speech, and reproductive rights is still in full-swing. On this week’s On the Media, where do you focus your attention when there are little fires everywhere? Plus, a look at a chilling new look for America: the 'authoritarian mullet' — culture war in the front, the destruction of democracy in the back. And, how critical race theory became a right-wing bogeyman."
"The Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee will open an investigation into efforts by the Trump-era U.S. Department of Justice to seize metadata from devices belonging to members of Congress, journalists and the then-White House counsel… Word of the partisan probe came as current Attorney General Merrick Garland, said the DOJ will 'strengthen' its policies on obtaining records from lawmakers."
"The Oregon House voted Thursday to expel Rep. Mike Nearman for his role in the Oregon Capitol breach last December. He’s the first member of the state House to be expelled in its 160-year history… The vote was 59-1 in favor of House Resolution 3 which called for Nearman's expulsion. The only vote against the resolution was from Nearman."
"The 232 pages of documents detail the unprecedented pressure campaign that Trump, along with his chief of staff and other allies, conducted to get senior officials at the Justice Department to challenge the results of the election in the face of Trump's loss to Democrat Joe Biden."
"A tiny skull entombed in 99-million-year-old amber that became the subject of scientific debate last year was initially thought to belong to the world's smallest dinosaur species… However, the high-profile March 2020 scientific paper that unveiled the discovery of Oculudentavis khaungraae was retracted later that year. New research published on Monday, based on another, better-preserved amber specimen, suggests that the skull was from a prehistoric lizard."
"Philips is recalling breathing devices and ventilators due to foam that might degrade and become toxic, possibly causing cancer, the Dutch medical equipment maker said on Monday… The recall involves specific Philips Bi-Level Positive Airway Pressure (Bi-Level PAP), Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) and mechanical ventilator devices to address potential health risks related to polyester-based polyurethane sound abatement foam that is in the machines, Philips said in a news release."
"Doctors who work in Arizona and Nevada burn centers are warning of injuries from contact with super-heated roadways and other surfaces as the first extreme heat wave of the year extends across the U.S. West."
"Three communities in Arizona have been asked to evacuate after a fire that crews have been working for days to contain jumped the containment line… The Telegraph Fire grew overnight, burning through 104,755 acres with containment down to 68%, fire authorities said during a community meeting late Monday."
"The latest results build on findings from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that suggested the novel coronavirus may have been circulating in the United States last December, well before the first COVID-19 case was diagnosed on Jan. 19, 2020."
"The head football coach at Cardinal High School in Middlefield is the target of a criminal investigation, alleging he altered the grades of students." (Law and Order opening credits sound here)
"U.S. retail sales dropped more than expected in May, with spending rotating back to services from goods as vaccinations allow Americans to travel and engage in other activities that had been restricted by the COVID-19 pandemic… Other data on Tuesday showed an acceleration in producer prices last month as supply chains struggle to meet demand that is being unleashed by the reopening of the economy. In addition to vaccinations, demand is also being fired up by trillions of dollars from the government and record-low interest rates."
"The free trade agreement means it will cost less for British businesses to sell products like cars, Scotch whisky and confectionery into Australia, the U.K. government said Tuesday."
"'We are seeing a historic surge of cargo volume coming into our ports,' says Tom Bellerud, the chief operations officer of The Northwest Seaport Alliance, which manages all cargo processing at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma. 'The terminals are having a difficult time keeping up with processing all the cargo off these vessels fast enough.'"
"The Girl Scouts have an unusual problem this year: 15 million boxes of unsold cookies." OMG! Are any of them Do-si-Dos?
"The way Airbnb has handled crimes such as the New York attack, which occurred during a bitter regulatory fight, shows how critical the safety team has been to the company’s growth. Airbnb’s business model rests on the idea that strangers can trust one another. If that premise is undermined, it can mean fewer users and more lawsuits, not to mention tighter regulation."
"In the first public accounting of its kind in decades, an Associated Press investigation has found that at least 1,900 U.S. military firearms were lost or stolen during the 2010s, with some resurfacing in violent crimes. Because some armed services have suppressed the release of basic information, AP’s total is a certain undercount."
"Investigators determined the waylaid grenades were last seen eight month(s) prior on an ammunition train that rolled out from Florida. Someone had stolen them somewhere on the rails to Pennsylvania, another example in an Associated Press investigation that shows how the military's vast supply chain is susceptible to theft." What's a few armor piercing grenades more or less?
"At the start of the pandemic, headlines signaled the end of days for the Golden State: 'California doom: Staggering $54 billion deficit looms,' the AP declared… Yet that's not what the data shows. California’s economy is the opposite of doom." A twitter thread about not believing the hype (from an opinion column, but backed up with facts). Especially when someone touts the "Texas Miracle." (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that some crack cocaine offenders sentenced to harsh prison terms more than a decade ago cannot get their sentences reduced under a federal law adopted with the purpose of doing just that… At issue in the case was the long and now notorious history of sentencing under the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which established harsh mandatory prison sentences based on the amount of drugs that the defendant possessed or sold. The triggering amount, however, was different for crack cocaine used most often by Black people, and powder cocaine, used most often by whites."
"Trump may be out of office, but the GOP's campaign to limit voting rights, free speech, and reproductive rights is still in full-swing. On this week’s On the Media, where do you focus your attention when there are little fires everywhere? Plus, a look at a chilling new look for America: the 'authoritarian mullet' — culture war in the front, the destruction of democracy in the back. And, how critical race theory became a right-wing bogeyman."
"The Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee will open an investigation into efforts by the Trump-era U.S. Department of Justice to seize metadata from devices belonging to members of Congress, journalists and the then-White House counsel… Word of the partisan probe came as current Attorney General Merrick Garland, said the DOJ will 'strengthen' its policies on obtaining records from lawmakers."
"The Oregon House voted Thursday to expel Rep. Mike Nearman for his role in the Oregon Capitol breach last December. He’s the first member of the state House to be expelled in its 160-year history… The vote was 59-1 in favor of House Resolution 3 which called for Nearman's expulsion. The only vote against the resolution was from Nearman."
"The 232 pages of documents detail the unprecedented pressure campaign that Trump, along with his chief of staff and other allies, conducted to get senior officials at the Justice Department to challenge the results of the election in the face of Trump's loss to Democrat Joe Biden."
Monday, June 14, 2021
Linkee-poo Monday June 14
Ned Beatty, and so it goes.
"Earthworms are often seen as a welcome presence in gardens, and even on fishing hooks. But in the Northeast, experts say invasive 'crazy worms' from Asia are creating havoc in forests — and they say the unusual worms are a danger to animals and plants, and especially to sugar maple trees."
"Lobster diver swallowed by humpback whale off Provincetown." Beats "man bites dog" by a country mile. (Grokked from Mary Robinnette Kowal)
"The Maryland-based biotech company Novavax reported Monday that its experimental Covid-19 vaccine is safe and 100 percent effective against moderate to severe disease." Again, notice what it's protecting you against.
"Most coronavirus rules will remain in place in England for another four weeks after the planned 21 June unlocking, government sources have told the BBC… Senior ministers have signed off on the decision to delay the lifting of all legal restrictions on social contact."
"Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said Sunday that a coronavirus strain known as the Delta variant is likely to become the dominant source of new infections in the U.S. and could lead to new outbreaks in the fall, with unvaccinated Americans being most at risk." Well, yes. It's still a GLOBAL PANDEMIC. That's how more virulent forms of viruses act.
"A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by 117 employees at Houston Methodist Hospital who were suing the hospital system over its COVID-19 vaccine requirement… In a five-page ruling issued Saturday, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes upheld the hospital's vaccination policy, saying the requirement broke no federal law."
"A woman was killed and another person was injured after a car drove into protesters in Minneapolis late Sunday night, according to police… Minneapolis Police said in a statement that the driver, who protesters pulled from the car after the collision, was taken into police custody. He also received treatment at an area hospital."
"At least three people have been killed and 42 others wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday night, including a mass shooting Saturday morning in Chatham that left one dead and nine others hurt."
"At least eight people were injured, including three critically, after a car ran into a crowd Sunday night at a mud racing event in Texas."
"Investigators digging under the house of a suspected serial killer on the outskirts of Mexico City said Saturday they have found 3,787 bone fragments so far, apparently belonging to 17 different victims."
"Delta Flight 1730 out of Los Angeles was originally headed to Atlanta, Georgia, but was diverted to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where the man who caused the disturbance was taken into custody. Passengers aboard the flight said the man made an announcement over the plane's PA system telling the passengers to take their seats and prepare to put on their oxygen masks, CBS LA reports."
"Lordstown Motors CEO Steve Burns and Chief Financial Officer Julio Rodriguez have resigned from the startup commercial electric vehicle maker… The announcement Monday comes less than a week after Lordstown cautioned that it may not be in business a year from now as it tries to secure funding to start full production of an electric pickup truck. In a quarterly regulatory filing, the company said that the $587 million it had on hand as of March 31 isn’t enough to start commercial production and begin selling the full-size pickup, called the Endurance."
"Gold prices fell more than 1% on Monday, weighed down by a stronger dollar and easing concerns about inflation, while investors awaited cues from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting due later this week." Run for the doors, the end is neigh! Or, you know, a move below 5% is basically nothing.
"The Supreme Court is leaving in place the convictions of two men who as members of a white supremacist group participated in a white nationalist rally in Virginia in 2017 that turned violent." So there is a line, now we just need to define it.
"Long a fixture at international summits, Biden's return to the table represented more than just an elder statesman finally taking his place among the club of world leaders. For the White House, it also signaled a return of the United States to the type of consensus-based diplomacy shunned by former President Donald Trump… But he also found some things have changed. Staunch American allies, shaken after the political upheaval of the Trump era, are increasingly working to define their own foreign policies separate from a country whose internal politics remain mired in dysfunction."
"China has accused the G7 of 'political manipulation' after it criticised Beijing over a range of issues… In a joint statement at the end of a three-day summit, leaders of the G7 countries urged China to 'respect human rights and fundamental freedoms'."
"China on Sunday pointedly cautioned Group of Seven leaders that the days when 'small' groups of countries decided the fate of the world was long gone, hitting back at the world's richest democracies which have sought a unified position over Beijing." Should we count the number of countries that disagree with China's expansionist actions in the South China Sea versus how many support them?
"Russian President Vladimir Putin denied ordering a hit on political rival Alexei Navalny, but in an exclusive interview with NBC News he did not guarantee that the jailed Kremlin critic, who survived being poisoned with a nerve agent, would get out of prison alive… 'Look, such decisions in this country are not made by the president,' Putin said… Reminded that Navalny wasn't just any prisoner, Putin replied: 'He will not be treated any worse than anybody else.'" Vlad should take that act on the road, he'll slay them. Waves to my Russian friends.
"With the 2022 Republican primary season beginning to take shape, candidates up and down the ballot are portraying themselves as staunch Trump loyalists, showing off photos they've taken with the former president, divulging private conversations they’ve had with him and, in Blanchard’s case, brandishing Trump-signed nomination papers. But some candidates are taking it too far — and Trump and his team are aggressively letting them know it." There's an in club and an out club. In the presence of a dictator, you have to know which you're in.
"The Justice Department secretly subpoenaed Apple in February 2018 for account information of then-White House Counsel Don McGahn, as well as his wife, and secured a gag order barring the company from telling them about it, according to a person familiar with the matter… It is unclear what the Justice Department was investigating or whether prosecutors actually obtained any of McGahn's account information, the individual said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter."
On the Media podcast with "After a young Associated Press journalist lost her job last month following online attacks, On the Media considers how bad faith campaigns against the media have become an effective weapon for the far right. Plus, should we cancel the word 'cancel'? One journalist argues, yes, and one academic says, no. Plus, the origins of 'cancelled' in Black culture."
"Earthworms are often seen as a welcome presence in gardens, and even on fishing hooks. But in the Northeast, experts say invasive 'crazy worms' from Asia are creating havoc in forests — and they say the unusual worms are a danger to animals and plants, and especially to sugar maple trees."
"Lobster diver swallowed by humpback whale off Provincetown." Beats "man bites dog" by a country mile. (Grokked from Mary Robinnette Kowal)
"The Maryland-based biotech company Novavax reported Monday that its experimental Covid-19 vaccine is safe and 100 percent effective against moderate to severe disease." Again, notice what it's protecting you against.
"Most coronavirus rules will remain in place in England for another four weeks after the planned 21 June unlocking, government sources have told the BBC… Senior ministers have signed off on the decision to delay the lifting of all legal restrictions on social contact."
"Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said Sunday that a coronavirus strain known as the Delta variant is likely to become the dominant source of new infections in the U.S. and could lead to new outbreaks in the fall, with unvaccinated Americans being most at risk." Well, yes. It's still a GLOBAL PANDEMIC. That's how more virulent forms of viruses act.
"A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by 117 employees at Houston Methodist Hospital who were suing the hospital system over its COVID-19 vaccine requirement… In a five-page ruling issued Saturday, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes upheld the hospital's vaccination policy, saying the requirement broke no federal law."
"A woman was killed and another person was injured after a car drove into protesters in Minneapolis late Sunday night, according to police… Minneapolis Police said in a statement that the driver, who protesters pulled from the car after the collision, was taken into police custody. He also received treatment at an area hospital."
"At least three people have been killed and 42 others wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday night, including a mass shooting Saturday morning in Chatham that left one dead and nine others hurt."
"At least eight people were injured, including three critically, after a car ran into a crowd Sunday night at a mud racing event in Texas."
"Investigators digging under the house of a suspected serial killer on the outskirts of Mexico City said Saturday they have found 3,787 bone fragments so far, apparently belonging to 17 different victims."
"Delta Flight 1730 out of Los Angeles was originally headed to Atlanta, Georgia, but was diverted to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where the man who caused the disturbance was taken into custody. Passengers aboard the flight said the man made an announcement over the plane's PA system telling the passengers to take their seats and prepare to put on their oxygen masks, CBS LA reports."
"Lordstown Motors CEO Steve Burns and Chief Financial Officer Julio Rodriguez have resigned from the startup commercial electric vehicle maker… The announcement Monday comes less than a week after Lordstown cautioned that it may not be in business a year from now as it tries to secure funding to start full production of an electric pickup truck. In a quarterly regulatory filing, the company said that the $587 million it had on hand as of March 31 isn’t enough to start commercial production and begin selling the full-size pickup, called the Endurance."
"Gold prices fell more than 1% on Monday, weighed down by a stronger dollar and easing concerns about inflation, while investors awaited cues from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting due later this week." Run for the doors, the end is neigh! Or, you know, a move below 5% is basically nothing.
"The Supreme Court is leaving in place the convictions of two men who as members of a white supremacist group participated in a white nationalist rally in Virginia in 2017 that turned violent." So there is a line, now we just need to define it.
"Long a fixture at international summits, Biden's return to the table represented more than just an elder statesman finally taking his place among the club of world leaders. For the White House, it also signaled a return of the United States to the type of consensus-based diplomacy shunned by former President Donald Trump… But he also found some things have changed. Staunch American allies, shaken after the political upheaval of the Trump era, are increasingly working to define their own foreign policies separate from a country whose internal politics remain mired in dysfunction."
"China has accused the G7 of 'political manipulation' after it criticised Beijing over a range of issues… In a joint statement at the end of a three-day summit, leaders of the G7 countries urged China to 'respect human rights and fundamental freedoms'."
"China on Sunday pointedly cautioned Group of Seven leaders that the days when 'small' groups of countries decided the fate of the world was long gone, hitting back at the world's richest democracies which have sought a unified position over Beijing." Should we count the number of countries that disagree with China's expansionist actions in the South China Sea versus how many support them?
"Russian President Vladimir Putin denied ordering a hit on political rival Alexei Navalny, but in an exclusive interview with NBC News he did not guarantee that the jailed Kremlin critic, who survived being poisoned with a nerve agent, would get out of prison alive… 'Look, such decisions in this country are not made by the president,' Putin said… Reminded that Navalny wasn't just any prisoner, Putin replied: 'He will not be treated any worse than anybody else.'" Vlad should take that act on the road, he'll slay them. Waves to my Russian friends.
"With the 2022 Republican primary season beginning to take shape, candidates up and down the ballot are portraying themselves as staunch Trump loyalists, showing off photos they've taken with the former president, divulging private conversations they’ve had with him and, in Blanchard’s case, brandishing Trump-signed nomination papers. But some candidates are taking it too far — and Trump and his team are aggressively letting them know it." There's an in club and an out club. In the presence of a dictator, you have to know which you're in.
"The Justice Department secretly subpoenaed Apple in February 2018 for account information of then-White House Counsel Don McGahn, as well as his wife, and secured a gag order barring the company from telling them about it, according to a person familiar with the matter… It is unclear what the Justice Department was investigating or whether prosecutors actually obtained any of McGahn's account information, the individual said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter."
On the Media podcast with "After a young Associated Press journalist lost her job last month following online attacks, On the Media considers how bad faith campaigns against the media have become an effective weapon for the far right. Plus, should we cancel the word 'cancel'? One journalist argues, yes, and one academic says, no. Plus, the origins of 'cancelled' in Black culture."
Friday, June 11, 2021
Linkee-poo Friday June 11
"The European Space Agency has just selected a probe called Envision to go study the second planet from the Sun… Esa made the announcement one week after its American counterpart, Nasa, chose two Venus projects of its own, known as Veritas and Davinci+."
"Earlier last month, a cargo ship carrying chemicals caught fire off the coast of Sri Lanka - leaving in its wake an environmental disaster that the island will likely have to live with for decades… For days it stood burning off the Sri Lanka coast, plumes of thick dark smoke that could be seen from miles away… But though the flames have now been doused - the problems have only just begun."
"Around the world, volunteers are getting a vaccine developed to prevent tuberculosis in studies that have nothing to do with TB. Called Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, or BCG, the shot is being tested as a treatment for type 1 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and even COVID-19."
"As temperatures rise in California and people in search of respite head for the beach, there's a new concern beyond damaging sun rays and strong undercurrents: disease-carrying ticks that appear to be spreading all along the Golden State's coast."
"A higher-than-expected number of young men have experienced heart inflammation after their second dose of the mRNA COVID-19 shots from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, according to data from two vaccine safety monitoring systems, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday."
"House Bill 248, or the 'Vaccine Choice and Anti-discrimination Act,' was introduced in April by Rep. Jennifer Gross (R-West Chester). It would allow individuals to decline any vaccine and for parents to decline for their children to be vaccinated… Testimony for the bill has drawn national attention this week after one of its proponents falsely claimed that the COVID-19 vaccines can leave people magnetized." If you had written that in a novel the editors would have rightly asked you to remove it as being too outlandish.
"Many education experts say in-person instruction is the best way to help hasten an academic recovery for those who fell behind and to address emotional and social consequences after two disrupted school years. But the orders may deny many families, especially parents of color, the choice to continue an education style they say was working for them." People learn differently, and this continues to surprise lots of other people.
"The bad-faith 'balance' game is used by fraudsters and crooks to sow doubt. It’s how homeopaths, anti-vaxers, eugenicists, raw milk pushers and other members of the Paltrow-Industrial Complex played the BBC and other sober-sided media outlets, demanding that they be given airtime to rebut scientists’ careful, empirical claims with junk they made up on the spot." Cory Doctorow on how denialism is it's own industry, mostly focusing on smoking, but with take aways into other denialism products, and his tweet storm about how denialism works.
"Treasury yields fell again on Friday morning, as investors shrugged off the 5% annual jump in inflation reported in the previous session and appeared to buy the Federal Reserve’s argument that the price increases will be temporary."
"The cost of used cars and trucks jumped 10 percent month-on-month in April and was up 21 percent compared with a year earlier, making it one of the main drivers of the 4.2 percent year-on-year surge in the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index. Core inflation—excluding volatile food and energy prices—hit 3 percent."
"States are about to undertake a reckless and unnecessary experiment in cutting off expanded unemployment in the midst of a rocky recovery, with the lives and livelihoods of an estimated 4 million workers in the balance." Cruelty is the point of the program.
"What should people know about how AI products are made?… We aren’t used to thinking about these systems in terms of the environmental costs. But saying, 'Hey, Alexa, order me some toilet rolls,' invokes into being this chain of extraction, which goes all around the planet… We’ve got a long way to go before this is green technology. Also, systems might seem automated but when we pull away the curtain we see large amounts of low paid labour, everything from crowd work categorising data to the never-ending toil of shuffling Amazon boxes. AI is neither artificial nor intelligent. It is made from natural resources and it is people who are performing the tasks to make the systems appear autonomous."
"And DarkSide wasn't even one of the most prolific ransomware groups, said Brett Callow, an analyst at the cybersecurity company Emsisoft… 'While the seizing of the funds is a positive, I don't think it will act as a deterrent at all,' Callow said in a text message. 'For the criminals, it's a win some, lose some situation, and the amount they win means the occasional loss is a minor setback.'"
"U.S.-China relations are getting worse and have not 'reset' under President Joe Biden in the way that many had previously expected, said Max Baucus, a former American ambassador to China… 'The situation unfortunately is generally still deteriorating,' Baucus told CNBC’s 'Squawk Box Asia' on Friday."
"If all goes according to plan, Israel will swear in a new government on Sunday, ending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s record 12-year rule and a political crisis that inflicted four elections on the country in less than two years."
"With the Biden administration crowing that 'America is back' and looking to bask in applause for resetting the transatlantic relationship onto a positive path, European leaders aren’t quite ready to start clapping. They’re expecting proof that America is in it for the long haul, and are already steeling themselves for Washington’s next departure from the uneasy transatlantic marriage."
"A bipartisan group of senators is eyeing an infrastructure deal with $579 billion in new spending as negotiators try to strike a nearly $1 trillion deal on President Joe Biden’s top priority, according to those briefed on the plan."
"Texas will begin building its own border wall and next week will start arresting migrants who trespass on private property, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday… Abbott also spoke of a disaster declaration he had issued last week, which directed the state's Department of Public Safety to enforce both federal and state criminal laws, including criminal trespassing, smuggling and human trafficking while having Texas Health and Human Services Commission take 'all necessary steps' to discontinue the state licensure of 'any child care facility that shelters or detains unlawful immigrants' under a contract with the federal government." It might just be the reporting, but it doesn't sound like Texas knows what the fuck it's actually doing.
"FBI Director Chris Wray on Thursday suggested 'serious charges' are still coming in the criminal investigation of the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump." Serious charges brought by serious people with serious briefcases, or something like that.
"Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, called for an inspector general investigation of the Trump Justice Department on Thursday after a report said that his phone records, along with those of aides and another member of the committee, had been seized — what he condemned as a 'terrible abuse of power.'… 'It also makes the Department of Justice just a fully owned subsidiary of the president’s personal legal interests and political interests,' the California Democrat told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow."
Blame Canada… "Social media posts claim Democrats are responsible for crises that mirror some of the worst events of the past century. The claims, however, are false or misleading; the pandemic originated in China, not the US, ongoing economic problems stem from a recession that the coronavirus caused, rather than new government policies, and protests about race peaked in 2020 under Republican president Donald Trump, long before Joe Biden entered the White House."
"Moderate Senate Democrats from Republican-leaning states and swing states are flexing the power that comes along with a 50-50 Senate, where every vote has the potential to make or break a bill." There are two ways to play that field. The first, and it appears the way Schumer is playing it, is to molly coddle the moderates and put them into more of a power position that they warrant. Throw them in as the "ambassadors" of bipartisanship, the go betweens, and they raise even more of a power block. The second would be to make them work for their power by making them the ones responsible for "bipartisan" action (as in, "why couldn't you get the Republicans to come our way" instead of a "what do they want for their vote") and the ones to blame for failed initiatives.
"Trump benefited from the white evangelical support that Reagan helped solidify, but he also presided over a country that, religiously, looks far different from the one Reagan took over after 1980. Trump's presidency is one early case study in how the Republican Party — which has long associated itself with conservative Christian values — may attempt to deal with a country that's less and less religious." Good thing the "conservative white evangelicals" (ie the social conservatives) that the strategy is based on aren't all that religious to begin with.
"Earlier last month, a cargo ship carrying chemicals caught fire off the coast of Sri Lanka - leaving in its wake an environmental disaster that the island will likely have to live with for decades… For days it stood burning off the Sri Lanka coast, plumes of thick dark smoke that could be seen from miles away… But though the flames have now been doused - the problems have only just begun."
"Around the world, volunteers are getting a vaccine developed to prevent tuberculosis in studies that have nothing to do with TB. Called Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, or BCG, the shot is being tested as a treatment for type 1 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and even COVID-19."
"As temperatures rise in California and people in search of respite head for the beach, there's a new concern beyond damaging sun rays and strong undercurrents: disease-carrying ticks that appear to be spreading all along the Golden State's coast."
"A higher-than-expected number of young men have experienced heart inflammation after their second dose of the mRNA COVID-19 shots from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, according to data from two vaccine safety monitoring systems, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday."
"House Bill 248, or the 'Vaccine Choice and Anti-discrimination Act,' was introduced in April by Rep. Jennifer Gross (R-West Chester). It would allow individuals to decline any vaccine and for parents to decline for their children to be vaccinated… Testimony for the bill has drawn national attention this week after one of its proponents falsely claimed that the COVID-19 vaccines can leave people magnetized." If you had written that in a novel the editors would have rightly asked you to remove it as being too outlandish.
"Many education experts say in-person instruction is the best way to help hasten an academic recovery for those who fell behind and to address emotional and social consequences after two disrupted school years. But the orders may deny many families, especially parents of color, the choice to continue an education style they say was working for them." People learn differently, and this continues to surprise lots of other people.
"The bad-faith 'balance' game is used by fraudsters and crooks to sow doubt. It’s how homeopaths, anti-vaxers, eugenicists, raw milk pushers and other members of the Paltrow-Industrial Complex played the BBC and other sober-sided media outlets, demanding that they be given airtime to rebut scientists’ careful, empirical claims with junk they made up on the spot." Cory Doctorow on how denialism is it's own industry, mostly focusing on smoking, but with take aways into other denialism products, and his tweet storm about how denialism works.
"Treasury yields fell again on Friday morning, as investors shrugged off the 5% annual jump in inflation reported in the previous session and appeared to buy the Federal Reserve’s argument that the price increases will be temporary."
"The cost of used cars and trucks jumped 10 percent month-on-month in April and was up 21 percent compared with a year earlier, making it one of the main drivers of the 4.2 percent year-on-year surge in the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index. Core inflation—excluding volatile food and energy prices—hit 3 percent."
"States are about to undertake a reckless and unnecessary experiment in cutting off expanded unemployment in the midst of a rocky recovery, with the lives and livelihoods of an estimated 4 million workers in the balance." Cruelty is the point of the program.
"What should people know about how AI products are made?… We aren’t used to thinking about these systems in terms of the environmental costs. But saying, 'Hey, Alexa, order me some toilet rolls,' invokes into being this chain of extraction, which goes all around the planet… We’ve got a long way to go before this is green technology. Also, systems might seem automated but when we pull away the curtain we see large amounts of low paid labour, everything from crowd work categorising data to the never-ending toil of shuffling Amazon boxes. AI is neither artificial nor intelligent. It is made from natural resources and it is people who are performing the tasks to make the systems appear autonomous."
"And DarkSide wasn't even one of the most prolific ransomware groups, said Brett Callow, an analyst at the cybersecurity company Emsisoft… 'While the seizing of the funds is a positive, I don't think it will act as a deterrent at all,' Callow said in a text message. 'For the criminals, it's a win some, lose some situation, and the amount they win means the occasional loss is a minor setback.'"
"U.S.-China relations are getting worse and have not 'reset' under President Joe Biden in the way that many had previously expected, said Max Baucus, a former American ambassador to China… 'The situation unfortunately is generally still deteriorating,' Baucus told CNBC’s 'Squawk Box Asia' on Friday."
"If all goes according to plan, Israel will swear in a new government on Sunday, ending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s record 12-year rule and a political crisis that inflicted four elections on the country in less than two years."
"With the Biden administration crowing that 'America is back' and looking to bask in applause for resetting the transatlantic relationship onto a positive path, European leaders aren’t quite ready to start clapping. They’re expecting proof that America is in it for the long haul, and are already steeling themselves for Washington’s next departure from the uneasy transatlantic marriage."
"A bipartisan group of senators is eyeing an infrastructure deal with $579 billion in new spending as negotiators try to strike a nearly $1 trillion deal on President Joe Biden’s top priority, according to those briefed on the plan."
"Texas will begin building its own border wall and next week will start arresting migrants who trespass on private property, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday… Abbott also spoke of a disaster declaration he had issued last week, which directed the state's Department of Public Safety to enforce both federal and state criminal laws, including criminal trespassing, smuggling and human trafficking while having Texas Health and Human Services Commission take 'all necessary steps' to discontinue the state licensure of 'any child care facility that shelters or detains unlawful immigrants' under a contract with the federal government." It might just be the reporting, but it doesn't sound like Texas knows what the fuck it's actually doing.
"FBI Director Chris Wray on Thursday suggested 'serious charges' are still coming in the criminal investigation of the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump." Serious charges brought by serious people with serious briefcases, or something like that.
"Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, called for an inspector general investigation of the Trump Justice Department on Thursday after a report said that his phone records, along with those of aides and another member of the committee, had been seized — what he condemned as a 'terrible abuse of power.'… 'It also makes the Department of Justice just a fully owned subsidiary of the president’s personal legal interests and political interests,' the California Democrat told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow."
Blame Canada… "Social media posts claim Democrats are responsible for crises that mirror some of the worst events of the past century. The claims, however, are false or misleading; the pandemic originated in China, not the US, ongoing economic problems stem from a recession that the coronavirus caused, rather than new government policies, and protests about race peaked in 2020 under Republican president Donald Trump, long before Joe Biden entered the White House."
"Moderate Senate Democrats from Republican-leaning states and swing states are flexing the power that comes along with a 50-50 Senate, where every vote has the potential to make or break a bill." There are two ways to play that field. The first, and it appears the way Schumer is playing it, is to molly coddle the moderates and put them into more of a power position that they warrant. Throw them in as the "ambassadors" of bipartisanship, the go betweens, and they raise even more of a power block. The second would be to make them work for their power by making them the ones responsible for "bipartisan" action (as in, "why couldn't you get the Republicans to come our way" instead of a "what do they want for their vote") and the ones to blame for failed initiatives.
"Trump benefited from the white evangelical support that Reagan helped solidify, but he also presided over a country that, religiously, looks far different from the one Reagan took over after 1980. Trump's presidency is one early case study in how the Republican Party — which has long associated itself with conservative Christian values — may attempt to deal with a country that's less and less religious." Good thing the "conservative white evangelicals" (ie the social conservatives) that the strategy is based on aren't all that religious to begin with.
Saturday, June 5, 2021
Linkee-poo Saturday June 5
"On May 22nd, a stationary robot on Mars used its arm to scoop up some Martian sand. It then slowly dumped it onto itself, with the brisk Mars wind snatching the tiny grains and whipping them against the machine’s solar panels."
"A heroic rat named Magawa has been working for five years in Cambodia, sniffing out dozens of land mines. He is believed to have saved lives… Now, the animal is about to embark on a well-deserved retirement." That'll do, rat. That'll do.
"The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday urged parents to vaccinate their teenagers against Covid-19, citing a rise in the number of adolescents hospitalized with the disease in March and April."
"The United States was unprepared for the coronavirus, the response 'wasn't a good performance,' and there's still "a lot of work to do" to get ready for the next pandemic when it comes. That's the assessment of Dr. Anne Schuchat, the No. 2 official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who is retiring this summer after 33 years at the agency."
"A year and a half into the pandemic, we still don’t know how it began. This week, a look at how investigating COVID-19’s origins became a political and scientific minefield. Plus, how a mistake of microns caused so much confusion about how COVID spreads. And, making sense of the 'metaverse.'"
On the Media podcast with some insights. "President Joe Biden portrayed the May jobs report as a jumping off point for more spending on infrastructure and education to keep growth going — essentially an argument for his agenda. But the employment numbers issued Friday also hinted at the possible limits of how much government aid can be pumped into the world's largest economy."
"The Group of Seven wealthy democracies agreed Saturday to support a global minimum corporate tax rate of at least 15% in order to deter multinational companies from avoiding taxes by stashing profits in low-rate countries."
"Authorities said Friday that a man wanted on a weapons violation fired a gun before deputies fatally shot him in Minneapolis, a city on edge since George Floyd’s death more than a year ago under an officer’s knee and the more recent fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright in a nearby suburb."
Why the judiciary matters… "In a ruling that compared the AR-15 to a Swiss Army knife, a federal judge overturned California's longtime ban on assault weapons on Friday, ruling it violates the Second Amendment's right to bear arms."
"The American Legion Department of Ohio has suspended the charter of a post in the city of Hudson after a Memorial Day incident in which the keynote speaker's microphone was turned off during part of his speech that touched on Black people's historic role in creating the national holiday, the state organization said in a news release."
"Almost five decades later, police have arrested and charged a man in the death of an Illinois teen whose body was found in a field stabbed multiple times… Barry Lee Whelpley, 76, of Mounds View, Minnesota, was arrested on June 2 for the 1972 killing of Julie Ann Hanson, a 15-year-old resident of Naperville, Illinois, according to the Naperville Police Department."
"The FBI responded Friday after a Delta flight from Los Angeles to Nashville was diverted to Albuquerque after a passenger approached the cabin in a way that forced flight attendants to act. Delta said Flight 386 landed in Albuquerque without incident and the passenger was removed by law enforcement."
"The Justice Department is investigating Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over political fundraising activity at his former business, a DeJoy spokesman said Thursday." Couldn't happen to a nicer person.
"In the two decades since, the Taliban have fought the Afghan government and its international allies to regain land and power. Analysts say the insurgents have been growing stronger for years. Now, as American and NATO troops withdraw, the Taliban appear even more emboldened and are wresting more territory from the U.S.-backed Afghan government."
"The Arizona emails were obtained by American Oversight, a legal watchdog, via a Freedom of Information request. They showed how Trump and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, pushed officials to act and how a controversial election audit in Arizona’s most populous county came to be set up."
"Alec Beck, the lawyer representing MyPillow's CEO, Mike Lindell, has left his law firm a day after filing a new lawsuit against Smartmatic and Dominion, according to Bloomberg… Barnes & Thornburg, Beck's former employer, said he filed the suit without its authorization."
"But back home, Manchin is facing a set of opposing forces. Republicans in the state, loyal to former President Donald Trump and consumed with the partisan politics of the moment, have grown annoyed at how Manchin signals a willingness to break with Democrats but often votes with the party in the end. And many Democrats in the state, worn down by years of Republican domination, worry that Manchin's undying focus on bipartisanship is no longer possible when the Republican Party is unwilling to meet in the middle."
"Facebook has extended former President Donald Trump's suspension for two years and says it will only reinstate him 'if the risk to public safety has receded.'… The decision comes after Facebook's Oversight Board told the company it had been wrong to impose an indefinite ban on Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol." Yeah, that'll help.
"A day after being suspended from Facebook for another two years, former President Donald Trump returns to the political arena Saturday night, poised to get back into his comfort zone speaking from the kind of platform he seems to enjoy most… He's making a speech before the North Carolina Republican Party convention, kicking off what's likely to be a spree of summer campaigning. It's his first public speech since his address at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February."
"A heroic rat named Magawa has been working for five years in Cambodia, sniffing out dozens of land mines. He is believed to have saved lives… Now, the animal is about to embark on a well-deserved retirement." That'll do, rat. That'll do.
"The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday urged parents to vaccinate their teenagers against Covid-19, citing a rise in the number of adolescents hospitalized with the disease in March and April."
"The United States was unprepared for the coronavirus, the response 'wasn't a good performance,' and there's still "a lot of work to do" to get ready for the next pandemic when it comes. That's the assessment of Dr. Anne Schuchat, the No. 2 official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who is retiring this summer after 33 years at the agency."
"A year and a half into the pandemic, we still don’t know how it began. This week, a look at how investigating COVID-19’s origins became a political and scientific minefield. Plus, how a mistake of microns caused so much confusion about how COVID spreads. And, making sense of the 'metaverse.'"
On the Media podcast with some insights. "President Joe Biden portrayed the May jobs report as a jumping off point for more spending on infrastructure and education to keep growth going — essentially an argument for his agenda. But the employment numbers issued Friday also hinted at the possible limits of how much government aid can be pumped into the world's largest economy."
"The Group of Seven wealthy democracies agreed Saturday to support a global minimum corporate tax rate of at least 15% in order to deter multinational companies from avoiding taxes by stashing profits in low-rate countries."
"Authorities said Friday that a man wanted on a weapons violation fired a gun before deputies fatally shot him in Minneapolis, a city on edge since George Floyd’s death more than a year ago under an officer’s knee and the more recent fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright in a nearby suburb."
Why the judiciary matters… "In a ruling that compared the AR-15 to a Swiss Army knife, a federal judge overturned California's longtime ban on assault weapons on Friday, ruling it violates the Second Amendment's right to bear arms."
"The American Legion Department of Ohio has suspended the charter of a post in the city of Hudson after a Memorial Day incident in which the keynote speaker's microphone was turned off during part of his speech that touched on Black people's historic role in creating the national holiday, the state organization said in a news release."
"Almost five decades later, police have arrested and charged a man in the death of an Illinois teen whose body was found in a field stabbed multiple times… Barry Lee Whelpley, 76, of Mounds View, Minnesota, was arrested on June 2 for the 1972 killing of Julie Ann Hanson, a 15-year-old resident of Naperville, Illinois, according to the Naperville Police Department."
"The FBI responded Friday after a Delta flight from Los Angeles to Nashville was diverted to Albuquerque after a passenger approached the cabin in a way that forced flight attendants to act. Delta said Flight 386 landed in Albuquerque without incident and the passenger was removed by law enforcement."
"The Justice Department is investigating Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over political fundraising activity at his former business, a DeJoy spokesman said Thursday." Couldn't happen to a nicer person.
"In the two decades since, the Taliban have fought the Afghan government and its international allies to regain land and power. Analysts say the insurgents have been growing stronger for years. Now, as American and NATO troops withdraw, the Taliban appear even more emboldened and are wresting more territory from the U.S.-backed Afghan government."
"The Arizona emails were obtained by American Oversight, a legal watchdog, via a Freedom of Information request. They showed how Trump and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, pushed officials to act and how a controversial election audit in Arizona’s most populous county came to be set up."
"Alec Beck, the lawyer representing MyPillow's CEO, Mike Lindell, has left his law firm a day after filing a new lawsuit against Smartmatic and Dominion, according to Bloomberg… Barnes & Thornburg, Beck's former employer, said he filed the suit without its authorization."
"But back home, Manchin is facing a set of opposing forces. Republicans in the state, loyal to former President Donald Trump and consumed with the partisan politics of the moment, have grown annoyed at how Manchin signals a willingness to break with Democrats but often votes with the party in the end. And many Democrats in the state, worn down by years of Republican domination, worry that Manchin's undying focus on bipartisanship is no longer possible when the Republican Party is unwilling to meet in the middle."
"Facebook has extended former President Donald Trump's suspension for two years and says it will only reinstate him 'if the risk to public safety has receded.'… The decision comes after Facebook's Oversight Board told the company it had been wrong to impose an indefinite ban on Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol." Yeah, that'll help.
"A day after being suspended from Facebook for another two years, former President Donald Trump returns to the political arena Saturday night, poised to get back into his comfort zone speaking from the kind of platform he seems to enjoy most… He's making a speech before the North Carolina Republican Party convention, kicking off what's likely to be a spree of summer campaigning. It's his first public speech since his address at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February."
Thursday, June 3, 2021
Linkee-poo Late Thursday June 3
"Nasa has announced that it is sending two new missions to Venus in order to examine the planet's atmosphere and geological features."
"Sri Lankan authorities are preparing for an oil spill from a sunken container ship after efforts to tow the vessel into deeper waters failed… The Singapore-registered X-Press Pearl had been on fire for two weeks near the port of Colombo. Part of the hull has now settled on the seabed."
Meanwhile, on Bullshit Mountain… "But we were wrong. It soon became clear that Tony Fauci was just another sleazy federal bureaucrat — deeply political and often dishonest. More shocking, we then learned that Fauci himself was implicated in the very pandemic he’d been charged with fighting. Fauci supported the grotesque and dangerous experiments that appear to have made COVID possible."
"China has indefinitely suspended extreme sports events, including ultramarathons, trail running and wingsuit flying, in response to the deaths of 21 long-distance runners in Gansu last month… Extreme weather hit Yellow River Stone Forest trail race in Gansu province a few hours into the race on 22 May as many of the competitors were crossing a remote and treacherous part of the 100km mountain track. Of the 172 competitors, 21 died and eight were injured. Scores of competitors sheltered in caves, some rescued by residents from nearby villages."
"When Paxton Smith got up to deliver her high school graduation speech, it was supposed to be about TV and the media… But the teenager ditched the script that had been approved by her school, and spoke about abortions instead." You go, girl.
"For decades, policymakers in Washington and state capitals have fretted about the patchwork of broadband access in the United States, which has held back economic development in underserved areas and became a major problem during the pandemic, when residents in these pockets suddenly couldn’t tap into what abruptly became the online default for much of the nation." Technically, my little community has great broadband, but my neighborhood is stuck in the early 2000's because of crappy unground wiring that the telecom refuses to replace.
"Initial jobless claims fell below 400,000 for the first time since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Labor Department reported Thursday… First-time filings for unemployment benefits totaled 385,000 for the week ended May 29, a decline from the previous week’s 405,000 and below the Dow Jones estimate of 393,000." One data point does not a trend make. However the trend has been down.
"United Airlines is planning to turn the friendly skies into the ultrafast skies with the addition of supersonic jets… The carrier announced Thursday it’s buying 15 planes from Boom Supersonic with the option to purchase 35 more at some point… Boom’s first commercial supersonic jet, the Overture, has not been built or certified yet." You know, if it works.
"Now, lawmakers and First Nations groups are calling for all former residential schools across Canada to be examined for signs of unmarked graves… For decades, residential school survivors have been telling 'horror' stories of children disappearing without a trace, British Columbia Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee told NBC News on the phone from Prince George, British Columbia."
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents pushed Thursday for a quick parliament vote to formally end his lengthy rule, hoping to head off any last-minute attempts to derail their newly announced coalition government."
"A coalition of Israeli political parties announced Wednesday night they had agreed to a deal to form a new government, paving the way for the exit of Israel's longest serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu." Not that I like the coalition (and except for their hatred of Netanyahu, they hardly agree on anything else), but bye-bye Benny.
"Over the past few weeks, people have been attacking Jews in American streets for being Jewish, as well as vandalizing synagogues and other Jewish sites. No, I’m not talking about the scuffles at protests; I’m talking about the premeditated attacks on random people who look Jewish — sucker-punching, shooting fireworks, pulling people up from seats at restaurants, screaming threats." This shouldn't need to be said, but being Jewish does not equal being Israeli , or vice versa (there are many Israelis who aren't Jewish, and a lot of the Jews worldwide are not Israelis). The actions happening in Israel against the West Bank and Gaza strip are political actions being disguised as religious actions (and it's easy for people to mistake that given statements on both sides). But none of that makes it okay to attack people here in the US (or around the world). (Grokked from several people)
"Republicans, who are fighting the teaching of critical race theory in schools, contend it divides Americans. Democrats and their allies maintain that progress is unlikely without examining the root causes of disparity in the country. The issue is shaping up to be a major cultural battle ahead of next year's midterm elections." Can't have any of that critical thinking, because that leads to ideas, which leads to progressivism.
"The NFL on Wednesday pledged to halt the use of 'race-norming' — which assumed Black players started out with lower cognitive function — in the $1 billion settlement of brain injury claims and review past scores for any potential race bias." The fuck you say?
"Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel excoriated the Commission on Presidential Debates in a letter on Tuesday, threatening to advise any future Republican nominee against participating in general election presidential debates unless significant changes are made to the commission." Changing the rules while they think no one is looking.
"To Matt Masterson, the review of 2020 ballots from Maricopa County, Ariz., that's underway is 'performance art' or 'a clown show,' and definitely 'a waste of taxpayer money.'… But it's not an audit… The process is a simple exercise in how disinformation spreads and takes hold in 2021. And experts fear it presents a blueprint for other states and lawmakers to follow, one that is already showing signs of being emulated across the country."
"Sri Lankan authorities are preparing for an oil spill from a sunken container ship after efforts to tow the vessel into deeper waters failed… The Singapore-registered X-Press Pearl had been on fire for two weeks near the port of Colombo. Part of the hull has now settled on the seabed."
Meanwhile, on Bullshit Mountain… "But we were wrong. It soon became clear that Tony Fauci was just another sleazy federal bureaucrat — deeply political and often dishonest. More shocking, we then learned that Fauci himself was implicated in the very pandemic he’d been charged with fighting. Fauci supported the grotesque and dangerous experiments that appear to have made COVID possible."
"China has indefinitely suspended extreme sports events, including ultramarathons, trail running and wingsuit flying, in response to the deaths of 21 long-distance runners in Gansu last month… Extreme weather hit Yellow River Stone Forest trail race in Gansu province a few hours into the race on 22 May as many of the competitors were crossing a remote and treacherous part of the 100km mountain track. Of the 172 competitors, 21 died and eight were injured. Scores of competitors sheltered in caves, some rescued by residents from nearby villages."
"When Paxton Smith got up to deliver her high school graduation speech, it was supposed to be about TV and the media… But the teenager ditched the script that had been approved by her school, and spoke about abortions instead." You go, girl.
"For decades, policymakers in Washington and state capitals have fretted about the patchwork of broadband access in the United States, which has held back economic development in underserved areas and became a major problem during the pandemic, when residents in these pockets suddenly couldn’t tap into what abruptly became the online default for much of the nation." Technically, my little community has great broadband, but my neighborhood is stuck in the early 2000's because of crappy unground wiring that the telecom refuses to replace.
"Initial jobless claims fell below 400,000 for the first time since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Labor Department reported Thursday… First-time filings for unemployment benefits totaled 385,000 for the week ended May 29, a decline from the previous week’s 405,000 and below the Dow Jones estimate of 393,000." One data point does not a trend make. However the trend has been down.
"United Airlines is planning to turn the friendly skies into the ultrafast skies with the addition of supersonic jets… The carrier announced Thursday it’s buying 15 planes from Boom Supersonic with the option to purchase 35 more at some point… Boom’s first commercial supersonic jet, the Overture, has not been built or certified yet." You know, if it works.
"Now, lawmakers and First Nations groups are calling for all former residential schools across Canada to be examined for signs of unmarked graves… For decades, residential school survivors have been telling 'horror' stories of children disappearing without a trace, British Columbia Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee told NBC News on the phone from Prince George, British Columbia."
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents pushed Thursday for a quick parliament vote to formally end his lengthy rule, hoping to head off any last-minute attempts to derail their newly announced coalition government."
"A coalition of Israeli political parties announced Wednesday night they had agreed to a deal to form a new government, paving the way for the exit of Israel's longest serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu." Not that I like the coalition (and except for their hatred of Netanyahu, they hardly agree on anything else), but bye-bye Benny.
"Over the past few weeks, people have been attacking Jews in American streets for being Jewish, as well as vandalizing synagogues and other Jewish sites. No, I’m not talking about the scuffles at protests; I’m talking about the premeditated attacks on random people who look Jewish — sucker-punching, shooting fireworks, pulling people up from seats at restaurants, screaming threats." This shouldn't need to be said, but being Jewish does not equal being Israeli , or vice versa (there are many Israelis who aren't Jewish, and a lot of the Jews worldwide are not Israelis). The actions happening in Israel against the West Bank and Gaza strip are political actions being disguised as religious actions (and it's easy for people to mistake that given statements on both sides). But none of that makes it okay to attack people here in the US (or around the world). (Grokked from several people)
"Republicans, who are fighting the teaching of critical race theory in schools, contend it divides Americans. Democrats and their allies maintain that progress is unlikely without examining the root causes of disparity in the country. The issue is shaping up to be a major cultural battle ahead of next year's midterm elections." Can't have any of that critical thinking, because that leads to ideas, which leads to progressivism.
"The NFL on Wednesday pledged to halt the use of 'race-norming' — which assumed Black players started out with lower cognitive function — in the $1 billion settlement of brain injury claims and review past scores for any potential race bias." The fuck you say?
"Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel excoriated the Commission on Presidential Debates in a letter on Tuesday, threatening to advise any future Republican nominee against participating in general election presidential debates unless significant changes are made to the commission." Changing the rules while they think no one is looking.
"To Matt Masterson, the review of 2020 ballots from Maricopa County, Ariz., that's underway is 'performance art' or 'a clown show,' and definitely 'a waste of taxpayer money.'… But it's not an audit… The process is a simple exercise in how disinformation spreads and takes hold in 2021. And experts fear it presents a blueprint for other states and lawmakers to follow, one that is already showing signs of being emulated across the country."
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Linkee-poo Wednesday June 2
Sorry so late. Also, for the next two weeks, expect disruptions of publishing schedule. We should be back to normal around the 15th or so.
"In recent years, the (fantasy) genre has undergone a noticeable shift. Authors of color are breaking onto the fantasy scene with stories that center BIPOC characters and draw inspiration from non-Western cultures. In particular, Asian fantasy is growing as a distinct sub-genre. These stories, which feature Asian main characters and take place in settings directly influenced and shaped by Asian cultures, have found critical acclaim… However, not all Asian authors writing fantasy feel at home with the genre label."
"Whether it was bravery or just plain instincts, a teenage girl was able to fight off a bear that was attacking her dogs with her bare hands… Viral video shows the mother bear and her cubs climbing over a wall to get into 17-year-old Hailey Morinico’s backyard in Bradbury, California." The bear was already retreating and fighting a rear guard action to keep her cubs safe.
"Last month's 'super flower blood moon' lunar eclipse was hardly the only exciting celestial event of the season. Next week brings an even bigger spectacle — a rare 'ring of fire' solar eclipse… On June 10, skywatchers all over the world will be able to view the eclipse." Remember to wear protective glasses.
"The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season officially begins Tuesday, June 1, and the National Hurricane Center has designated 21 storm names for the six-month period ending Nov. 30… But as in the previous seven years, the season got an early start when Tropical Storm Ana formed in the Atlantic on May 22. Forecasters say that the short-lived storm is a likely sign of what's predicted to be another above-average season."
"For months, their trek through China’s south-western Yunnan province had gone almost unnoticed. But last week, when images of a herd of 15 Asian elephants walking through a residential area appeared on social media, it immediately captured the imagination of the nation, generating intense media interest and sparking questions as to what prompted the epic journey."
"The Biden administration Tuesday took its first steps toward reversing the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain to oil drilling, by suspending leases issued in the final days of the Trump administration."
"AMC Entertainment made a gutsy move Tuesday. The movie theater chain has pivoted back to an offensive strategy on a bet that its retail investors will stick with the company long enough for it to recoup its pandemic losses."
"Insight into the pressure that was heaped upon Fauci, the head of the national institute for allergy and infectious diseases, comes from thousands of pages of his communication records obtained by the Washington Post and the BuzzFeed news site, separately, and published on Tuesday." Part insight, part oversight, and a lot of voyeurism.
"An attorney for an Ohio high school football player who says coaches forced him to eat pork in violation of his religious beliefs for missing a voluntary workout has announced plans to sue the school district." These coaches shouldn't just be suspended, they should be fired. I know football is big in Canton, but punishing a student for missing a practice by ordering him to eat an entire pizza by himself? That's just idiotic and childish even before we get to the religious issues of consuming pork. These people have no business being near kids let alone coaching them. Have some balls, Canton City Schools Superintendent Jeff Talbert, fire them.
"Malaysia says it is to summon China's ambassador after 16 Chinese military aircraft flew over disputed waters off its eastern state of Sarawak… Fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the transport planes on Monday after detecting 'suspicious' activity over the South China Sea."
"The US secretary of state has warned leaders of Pacific countries about 'threats to the rules-based international order' and 'economic coercion', in what appears to be a veiled swipe at China’s growing influence in the region."
"The largest warship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, semiofficial news agencies reported."
"Now, a United Nations report about a March 2020 skirmish in the military conflict in Libya says such a drone, known as a lethal autonomous weapons system — or LAWS — has made its wartime debut. But the report does not say explicitly that the LAWS killed anyone."
"The language of the (2nd) amendment, Anderson says, was crafted to ensure slave owners could quickly crush any rebellion or resistance from those they'd enslaved. And she says the right to bear arms, presumably guaranteed to all citizens, has been repeatedly denied to Black people."
"President Joe Biden wants to raise the top income tax rate for wealthy households to 39.6%, from the current 37%, to help finance his legislative agenda… That top rate would apply to single individuals with taxable income of more than $452,700 and married couples filing a joint tax return with income over $509,300, according to a budget proposal issued Friday by the Treasury Department."
"The Senate on Friday agreed to delay final passage of a wide-ranging bipartisan bill aimed at confronting China after Republican senators forced a series of procedural hurdles that threatened to keep the chamber in session through the holiday weekend… A group of Republicans grinded the Senate to a halt on Thursday night and into the early hours on Friday over their objections to the sweeping legislation. The delays came even after senators struck a bipartisan eleventh-hour deal on a GOP push for changes to the bill which were eventually adopted." Again, Republicans get what they asked for, but still hold up or won't vote for the bills.
"House Democrats aren't giving up on their intention to investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and are weighing a range of options -- even after Senate Republicans blocked legislation on Friday to create a special commission to investigate the events of that day… In a call with House Democrats on Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered four options, including continuing to push for a commission or keeping the investigation inside of a congressional committee, according to multiple sources familiar with the call."
"Former President Donald Trump’s blog — a webpage where he shared statements after larger social media companies banned him from their platforms — has been permanently shut down, his spokesman said Wednesday." Blogs is hard, especially when you're a one-trick pony (goes whistling past the graveyard).
"And in all, at least four new Republican-aligned groups have cropped up, involving at least two dozen Trump alums and surrogates, with the goal of raising money, pushing Trump's policies and message to the public and in the courts, as well as backing candidates in the mold of the former president." But mostly raise money.
"A Florida man who stormed the U.S. Capitol and stood on the Senate floor during the Jan. 6 insurrection has become the second person to plead guilty in the federal investigation into the deadly riot… Paul Hodgkins entered his plea during a virtual hearing Wednesday in federal court in Washington. The 38-year-old was originally facing five charges, but under a deal negotiated with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing an official proceeding."
"More than three dozen members and associates across both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers have been charged with crimes. Some local chapters cut ties with national leadership in the weeks after the deadly siege. The Proud Boys’ chairman called for a pause in the rallies that often have led to clashes with anti-fascist activists. And one Oath Keeper has agreed to cooperate against others charged in the riot."
"In recent years, the (fantasy) genre has undergone a noticeable shift. Authors of color are breaking onto the fantasy scene with stories that center BIPOC characters and draw inspiration from non-Western cultures. In particular, Asian fantasy is growing as a distinct sub-genre. These stories, which feature Asian main characters and take place in settings directly influenced and shaped by Asian cultures, have found critical acclaim… However, not all Asian authors writing fantasy feel at home with the genre label."
"Whether it was bravery or just plain instincts, a teenage girl was able to fight off a bear that was attacking her dogs with her bare hands… Viral video shows the mother bear and her cubs climbing over a wall to get into 17-year-old Hailey Morinico’s backyard in Bradbury, California." The bear was already retreating and fighting a rear guard action to keep her cubs safe.
"Last month's 'super flower blood moon' lunar eclipse was hardly the only exciting celestial event of the season. Next week brings an even bigger spectacle — a rare 'ring of fire' solar eclipse… On June 10, skywatchers all over the world will be able to view the eclipse." Remember to wear protective glasses.
"The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season officially begins Tuesday, June 1, and the National Hurricane Center has designated 21 storm names for the six-month period ending Nov. 30… But as in the previous seven years, the season got an early start when Tropical Storm Ana formed in the Atlantic on May 22. Forecasters say that the short-lived storm is a likely sign of what's predicted to be another above-average season."
"For months, their trek through China’s south-western Yunnan province had gone almost unnoticed. But last week, when images of a herd of 15 Asian elephants walking through a residential area appeared on social media, it immediately captured the imagination of the nation, generating intense media interest and sparking questions as to what prompted the epic journey."
"The Biden administration Tuesday took its first steps toward reversing the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain to oil drilling, by suspending leases issued in the final days of the Trump administration."
"AMC Entertainment made a gutsy move Tuesday. The movie theater chain has pivoted back to an offensive strategy on a bet that its retail investors will stick with the company long enough for it to recoup its pandemic losses."
"Insight into the pressure that was heaped upon Fauci, the head of the national institute for allergy and infectious diseases, comes from thousands of pages of his communication records obtained by the Washington Post and the BuzzFeed news site, separately, and published on Tuesday." Part insight, part oversight, and a lot of voyeurism.
"An attorney for an Ohio high school football player who says coaches forced him to eat pork in violation of his religious beliefs for missing a voluntary workout has announced plans to sue the school district." These coaches shouldn't just be suspended, they should be fired. I know football is big in Canton, but punishing a student for missing a practice by ordering him to eat an entire pizza by himself? That's just idiotic and childish even before we get to the religious issues of consuming pork. These people have no business being near kids let alone coaching them. Have some balls, Canton City Schools Superintendent Jeff Talbert, fire them.
"Malaysia says it is to summon China's ambassador after 16 Chinese military aircraft flew over disputed waters off its eastern state of Sarawak… Fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the transport planes on Monday after detecting 'suspicious' activity over the South China Sea."
"The US secretary of state has warned leaders of Pacific countries about 'threats to the rules-based international order' and 'economic coercion', in what appears to be a veiled swipe at China’s growing influence in the region."
"The largest warship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, semiofficial news agencies reported."
"Now, a United Nations report about a March 2020 skirmish in the military conflict in Libya says such a drone, known as a lethal autonomous weapons system — or LAWS — has made its wartime debut. But the report does not say explicitly that the LAWS killed anyone."
"The language of the (2nd) amendment, Anderson says, was crafted to ensure slave owners could quickly crush any rebellion or resistance from those they'd enslaved. And she says the right to bear arms, presumably guaranteed to all citizens, has been repeatedly denied to Black people."
"President Joe Biden wants to raise the top income tax rate for wealthy households to 39.6%, from the current 37%, to help finance his legislative agenda… That top rate would apply to single individuals with taxable income of more than $452,700 and married couples filing a joint tax return with income over $509,300, according to a budget proposal issued Friday by the Treasury Department."
"The Senate on Friday agreed to delay final passage of a wide-ranging bipartisan bill aimed at confronting China after Republican senators forced a series of procedural hurdles that threatened to keep the chamber in session through the holiday weekend… A group of Republicans grinded the Senate to a halt on Thursday night and into the early hours on Friday over their objections to the sweeping legislation. The delays came even after senators struck a bipartisan eleventh-hour deal on a GOP push for changes to the bill which were eventually adopted." Again, Republicans get what they asked for, but still hold up or won't vote for the bills.
"House Democrats aren't giving up on their intention to investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and are weighing a range of options -- even after Senate Republicans blocked legislation on Friday to create a special commission to investigate the events of that day… In a call with House Democrats on Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered four options, including continuing to push for a commission or keeping the investigation inside of a congressional committee, according to multiple sources familiar with the call."
"Former President Donald Trump’s blog — a webpage where he shared statements after larger social media companies banned him from their platforms — has been permanently shut down, his spokesman said Wednesday." Blogs is hard, especially when you're a one-trick pony (goes whistling past the graveyard).
"And in all, at least four new Republican-aligned groups have cropped up, involving at least two dozen Trump alums and surrogates, with the goal of raising money, pushing Trump's policies and message to the public and in the courts, as well as backing candidates in the mold of the former president." But mostly raise money.
"A Florida man who stormed the U.S. Capitol and stood on the Senate floor during the Jan. 6 insurrection has become the second person to plead guilty in the federal investigation into the deadly riot… Paul Hodgkins entered his plea during a virtual hearing Wednesday in federal court in Washington. The 38-year-old was originally facing five charges, but under a deal negotiated with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing an official proceeding."
"More than three dozen members and associates across both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers have been charged with crimes. Some local chapters cut ties with national leadership in the weeks after the deadly siege. The Proud Boys’ chairman called for a pause in the rallies that often have led to clashes with anti-fascist activists. And one Oath Keeper has agreed to cooperate against others charged in the riot."
Tuesday, June 1, 2021
Linkee-poo June 1st, it's a biggen
Gavin MacLeod, B.J. Thomas, and Eric Carle, and so it goes.
"A cornerstone event of the Tulsa Race Massacre commemoration in Oklahoma was abruptly canceled because lawyers representing survivors and descendants demanded a higher fee for their participation in the event than had been originally agreed upon, a commission official said."
"In recent weeks, Republican legislatures in roughly half a dozen states have either adopted or advanced bills purporting to take aim at the teaching of critical race theory, an academic approach that examines how race and racism function in law and society. Conservatives have made the teaching of critical race theory a rallying cry in the culture wars, calling it divisive and unpatriotic for forcing students to consider the influence of racism in situations where they might not see it otherwise." Fear is the point. It is always the point for supremacists. Their intent is to keep the status quo where the default is; WASP, heterosexual, and male.
The Bob Ross lorem ipsum generator. (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
"A combination of extreme weather, climate change and environmental degradation have created the perfect storm – or rather, a series of eight cross-border sandstorms through March, April and May that have destroyed animal herds, exacerbated respiratory problems and cancelled flights in both Mongolia and China."
"It’s a composite of 370 observations over the past two decades by the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory, depicting billions of stars and countless black holes in the center, or heart, of the Milky Way. A radio telescope in South Africa also contributed to the image, for contrast."
"Photos from Mars are often eye-catching but rarely do the Martian clouds provide visual splendor."
"A piece of space junk smacked into the robotic arm on the International Space Station, but near-term operations should not be affected, according to the agencies involved… Robotic operators noticed a hole in the station's Canadarm2 provided by the Canadian Space Agency, which has been in service in orbit since 2001, during a routine inspection on May 12, the CSA officials said in a blog post Friday (May 28)."
"Several tons of salmon, engineered by biotech company AquaBounty Technologies Inc., will now head to restaurants and away-from-home dining services — where labeling as genetically engineered is not required — in the Midwest and along the East Coast, company CEO Sylvia Wulf said."
"After more than 50 years, the federal government is lifting a roadblock to cannabis research that scientists and advocates say has hindered rigorous studies of the plant and possible drug development… Since 1968, U.S. researchers have been allowed to use cannabis from only one domestic source: a facility based at the University of Mississippi, through a contract with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)."
"Pro-choice activists say that state lawmakers across the country are trying to restrict abortion at a pace not seen in decades. So what will this mean for a decades-long fight over the issue in America?"
"President Biden's budget proposal fulfills a campaign promise to remove a longstanding ban on federal funding for most abortions known as the Hyde Amendment… The budget plan, released late last week, would drop the policy which has restricted funding for abortion through federal programs such as Medicaid. The rule, in effect since 1980, includes exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or to save a pregnant woman's life."
"But with cases the lowest in years, Scott County's commissioners are considering shutting the (needle exchange) program down. Two of three commissioners have said they plan to vote to end the program during their meeting June 2, arguing it enables drug use." Bad idea.
"A man in eastern China has contracted what might be the world’s first human case of the H10N3 strain of bird flu, but the risk of large-scale spread is low, the government said Tuesday."
"The US just recorded a seven-day average of fewer than 20,000 new daily Covid-19 cases for the first time since March 2020… The daily average of new cases dropped to about 17,248 as of Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. However, that number might be lower than reality, as some cases from the weekend and the Memorial Day holiday might not have been reported yet."
"Peru has more than doubled its official death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic following a government review of the figures, leaving the country with the highest coronavirus-related death rate per capita in the world."
"A heart inflammation condition in adolescents and young adults who received Covid-19 vaccines appears to be very rare and it remains unclear if the issue is actually related to the shots, the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine regulator, Dr. Peter Marks, said Thursday."
"The Gen Zer from Ohio who made a splash two years ago for defying his mother to get his childhood immunizations has a message for teenagers seeking Covid-19 vaccinations and getting pushback from their parents — get one if you can."
"The first cruise set to sail from American ports in more than 15 months is headed to the Caribbean this summer… Celebrity Cruises got approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to bring passengers aboard for the seven-night cruise on June 26, the company announced this week."
"Garry and many other scientists, including the President's chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci, continue to believe the preponderance of evidence points toward a natural source. That's been the case for every previous disease known to infect humans."
"The central government announced Monday that each couple could now have three children, generating a buzz of online discussion — primarily on why it isn’t practical to have children, let alone three, in modern China… High education costs and insufficient support for maternity leave and retirement have contributed to a growing reluctance to have children. Loosening the restrictions to two children per couple in the last few years has done little to stall a drop in births, and keep a population of 1.4 billion people from aging rapidly."
"The gunman who nursed a seething hatred of his California workplace amassed an arsenal and 25,000 rounds of ammunition at the home he tried to burn down before killing nine co-workers at a rail yard, authorities said after searching the residence."
"Major meat producer JBS USA suffered a cyberattack on Sunday… The attack affected servers supporting its IT systems in North America and Australia, the company said in a news release."
"(A group of Democratic lawmakers) want to push the country's largest financial institutions to be agents of social change. And they have specific goals, like expanding access to loans and impose fewer fees for average Americans, or more outreach to unbanked and underserved communities… 'They did very well during the pandemic,' (Sen. Sharrod) Brown notes about the banks. 'We've seen stratospheric compensation levels. We see stock buybacks and dividend distribution. Yet, wages throughout our economy are essentially flat.'"
"Among the many problems the Biden administration is facing is a surge in homelessness. More than 580,000 people in the U.S. were homeless at the beginning of last year, prior to the pandemic. The number is expected to grow this year, especially if a federal eviction moratorium ends on June 30 as scheduled… Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge told NPR in an exclusive interview that the administration is committed to housing as many people as possible and preventing an explosion of homelessness in the months ahead."
"The Bernina’s impossible journey may show the next frontier in the evolving methods used by rogue states and their enablers to fool satellite-based tracking systems so that they can circumvent sanctions without detection."
"The White House on Friday tried to assuage Americans’ concerns about rising gas prices ahead of Memorial Day weekend, saying gas prices have “stabilized” and are 'well in line with what they’ve been in recent decades.'"
"But a recent poll of 1,000 unemployed workers by CNBC and Morning Consult told a different story. Respondents said the trickle-down effect of job openings had not reached them — at least, not yet. Some 87% said they had not received job offers in the last six months… What’s more, 65% of those surveyed said unemployment benefits were not a factor in their rejecting a job. Instead, they cited too-low salary (36%), concerns about COVID-19 (35%) and the need to care for family (31%). In fact, 76% of those offered a new position said the proposed wages were lower than their prior job."
"The CEO's and all executives' pay are tied to how well the company performs," so say the boards and the capitalist apologists. Oh really? "As a result, pay packages rose yet again last year for the CEOs of the biggest companies, even though the pandemic sent the economy to its worst quarter on record and slashed corporate profits around the world. The median pay package for a CEO at an S&P 500 company hit $12.7 million in 2020, according to data analyzed by Equilar for The Associated Press." Company does well, executive pay skyrockets. Company's books shit the bed, executive pay skyrockets. It's never a bad year for executive pay. Yes, you can find exceptions. (Grokked from SouthernCoca)
"A court in the Netherlands issued a landmark ruling against Royal Dutch Shell — an oil company already pledging to cut its carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 — ordering it to act faster… At Chevron's shareholder meeting, investors voted to demand that the company reduce its contribution to climate change… And a much bigger shareholder revolt took place at Exxon Mobil. Activist investors took on the giant and won, delivering a stinging rebuke to the company's management."
"A steadily growing pipeline of cash for U.S. colleges and universities from international students was abruptly cut off with the pandemic. Now higher education institutions are looking to the White House to shore up a besieged visa process to bring those lucrative students back." Well that and the Trump foreign and immigration policies.
"Belgium is recalling Ambassador Peter Lescouhier from his post in South Korea, saying the diplomat can't perform his duties in a "serene" manner after his wife was accused of assaulting two clothing store workers. Surveillance video of the incident sparked public outrage after it was broadcast on national television in Korea… Belgian authorities also say they're waiving diplomatic immunity for Lescouhier's wife, Xiang Xueqiu. She said she would invoke that privilege earlier this month, to avoid potential charges."
"The remains of 215 children, some as young as 3 years old, have been found buried on the site of what was once Canada’s largest Indigenous residential school — one of the institutions that held children taken from families across the nation."
"The reconstruction effort that lies ahead will likely be massive: Gaza’s ministry of building and housing says more than 107,000 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes due to the airstrikes. It’s estimated that more than 1,800 houses were demolished or severely damaged, and another 13,000 were moderately or partially damaged. Three tower blocks were completely destroyed."
"A manhunt continued into Memorial Day for three masked suspects who opened fire early Sunday morning outside a Miami banquet hall, killing two men and wounding 21 others, in a shooting authorities said had spread terror and grief through their communities."
"Michael Flynn, former President Donald Trump's first national security adviser, is claiming he didn't endorse a Myanmar-style coup over the weekend despite video in which he appeared to support such an overthrow in the United States… For months, QAnon and Trump-supporting online forums have celebrated the deadly military coup in Myanmar and suggested the same should happen in the United States so Trump could be reinstated as President." Oh, all that sedition talk? Just over bar-b-que. You know, locker room stuff.
"Days before the Senate voted down the creation of a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Capitol attack, the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, was adamant: he would oppose the bill, regardless of any amendments – and he expected his colleagues to follow suit."
(Also from before the vote) "One of those Republicans told CNN that McConnell has even made the unusual move of asking wavering senators to support filibustering the bill as 'a personal favor' to him… No one can understand why Mitch is going to this extreme of asking for a "personal favor" to kill the commission,' said the Republican." I can think of 3 reasons, mostly to retain power.
"Texas Democrats launched the most dramatic revolt yet against nationwide Republican bills to restrict voting by walking out of the state's legislature over the holiday weekend. But their last-ditch effort may only temporarily stall the effort and underscores how the deadlock in Washington is making it easier for Republicans to act on Donald Trump's election fraud lies to stack the deck in future votes."
"Democrats vowed to continue to fight a Texas bill that would add restrictions on voting as Republican Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to cut off funding for the Legislature if they do so… 'I will veto Article 10 of the budget passed by the legislature. Article 10 funds the legislative branch,' Abbott tweeted Monday. 'No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities. Stay tuned.'"
"The Republican governor of Idaho has repealed an executive order prohibiting mask mandates that was issued by his lieutenant governor while he was out of the state… Brad Little called Janice McGeachin’s action 'an irresponsible, self-serving political stunt' and an example of the government 'tyranny' she claimed to oppose." The crazies eventually turn on each other.
"Republican politics in Ohio has also changed in the era of Trump. And with the retirement of U.S. Sen. Rob Portman — a fixture of the GOP establishment — more change is coming. As the Republican field to replace him begins to take shape in these very early days, it's clear Trump retains an outsized influence in the state."
"In conversations with more than 20 lawmakers, ex-lawmakers, top advisers and aides, a common concern has emerged — that a host of national and statewide Republicans are either leaving office or may not choose to pursue it for fear that they can’t survive politically in the current GOP. The worry, these Republicans say, is that the party is embracing personality over policy, and that it is short sighted to align with Trump, who lost the general election and continues to alienate a large swath of the voting public with his grievances and false claims that the 2020 election was stolen."
"Greene's political security in the district -- where 75% of voters supported former President Donald Trump last November -- doesn't mean that all of her constituents are relishing her role as the GOP's flamethrower or that they approve of the recent anti-Semitic comments that she has used to rally her supporters."
"A cornerstone event of the Tulsa Race Massacre commemoration in Oklahoma was abruptly canceled because lawyers representing survivors and descendants demanded a higher fee for their participation in the event than had been originally agreed upon, a commission official said."
"In recent weeks, Republican legislatures in roughly half a dozen states have either adopted or advanced bills purporting to take aim at the teaching of critical race theory, an academic approach that examines how race and racism function in law and society. Conservatives have made the teaching of critical race theory a rallying cry in the culture wars, calling it divisive and unpatriotic for forcing students to consider the influence of racism in situations where they might not see it otherwise." Fear is the point. It is always the point for supremacists. Their intent is to keep the status quo where the default is; WASP, heterosexual, and male.
The Bob Ross lorem ipsum generator. (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
"A combination of extreme weather, climate change and environmental degradation have created the perfect storm – or rather, a series of eight cross-border sandstorms through March, April and May that have destroyed animal herds, exacerbated respiratory problems and cancelled flights in both Mongolia and China."
"It’s a composite of 370 observations over the past two decades by the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory, depicting billions of stars and countless black holes in the center, or heart, of the Milky Way. A radio telescope in South Africa also contributed to the image, for contrast."
"Photos from Mars are often eye-catching but rarely do the Martian clouds provide visual splendor."
"A piece of space junk smacked into the robotic arm on the International Space Station, but near-term operations should not be affected, according to the agencies involved… Robotic operators noticed a hole in the station's Canadarm2 provided by the Canadian Space Agency, which has been in service in orbit since 2001, during a routine inspection on May 12, the CSA officials said in a blog post Friday (May 28)."
"Several tons of salmon, engineered by biotech company AquaBounty Technologies Inc., will now head to restaurants and away-from-home dining services — where labeling as genetically engineered is not required — in the Midwest and along the East Coast, company CEO Sylvia Wulf said."
"After more than 50 years, the federal government is lifting a roadblock to cannabis research that scientists and advocates say has hindered rigorous studies of the plant and possible drug development… Since 1968, U.S. researchers have been allowed to use cannabis from only one domestic source: a facility based at the University of Mississippi, through a contract with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)."
"Pro-choice activists say that state lawmakers across the country are trying to restrict abortion at a pace not seen in decades. So what will this mean for a decades-long fight over the issue in America?"
"President Biden's budget proposal fulfills a campaign promise to remove a longstanding ban on federal funding for most abortions known as the Hyde Amendment… The budget plan, released late last week, would drop the policy which has restricted funding for abortion through federal programs such as Medicaid. The rule, in effect since 1980, includes exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or to save a pregnant woman's life."
"But with cases the lowest in years, Scott County's commissioners are considering shutting the (needle exchange) program down. Two of three commissioners have said they plan to vote to end the program during their meeting June 2, arguing it enables drug use." Bad idea.
"A man in eastern China has contracted what might be the world’s first human case of the H10N3 strain of bird flu, but the risk of large-scale spread is low, the government said Tuesday."
"The US just recorded a seven-day average of fewer than 20,000 new daily Covid-19 cases for the first time since March 2020… The daily average of new cases dropped to about 17,248 as of Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. However, that number might be lower than reality, as some cases from the weekend and the Memorial Day holiday might not have been reported yet."
"Peru has more than doubled its official death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic following a government review of the figures, leaving the country with the highest coronavirus-related death rate per capita in the world."
"A heart inflammation condition in adolescents and young adults who received Covid-19 vaccines appears to be very rare and it remains unclear if the issue is actually related to the shots, the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine regulator, Dr. Peter Marks, said Thursday."
"The Gen Zer from Ohio who made a splash two years ago for defying his mother to get his childhood immunizations has a message for teenagers seeking Covid-19 vaccinations and getting pushback from their parents — get one if you can."
"The first cruise set to sail from American ports in more than 15 months is headed to the Caribbean this summer… Celebrity Cruises got approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to bring passengers aboard for the seven-night cruise on June 26, the company announced this week."
"Garry and many other scientists, including the President's chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci, continue to believe the preponderance of evidence points toward a natural source. That's been the case for every previous disease known to infect humans."
"The central government announced Monday that each couple could now have three children, generating a buzz of online discussion — primarily on why it isn’t practical to have children, let alone three, in modern China… High education costs and insufficient support for maternity leave and retirement have contributed to a growing reluctance to have children. Loosening the restrictions to two children per couple in the last few years has done little to stall a drop in births, and keep a population of 1.4 billion people from aging rapidly."
"The gunman who nursed a seething hatred of his California workplace amassed an arsenal and 25,000 rounds of ammunition at the home he tried to burn down before killing nine co-workers at a rail yard, authorities said after searching the residence."
"Major meat producer JBS USA suffered a cyberattack on Sunday… The attack affected servers supporting its IT systems in North America and Australia, the company said in a news release."
"(A group of Democratic lawmakers) want to push the country's largest financial institutions to be agents of social change. And they have specific goals, like expanding access to loans and impose fewer fees for average Americans, or more outreach to unbanked and underserved communities… 'They did very well during the pandemic,' (Sen. Sharrod) Brown notes about the banks. 'We've seen stratospheric compensation levels. We see stock buybacks and dividend distribution. Yet, wages throughout our economy are essentially flat.'"
"Among the many problems the Biden administration is facing is a surge in homelessness. More than 580,000 people in the U.S. were homeless at the beginning of last year, prior to the pandemic. The number is expected to grow this year, especially if a federal eviction moratorium ends on June 30 as scheduled… Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge told NPR in an exclusive interview that the administration is committed to housing as many people as possible and preventing an explosion of homelessness in the months ahead."
"The Bernina’s impossible journey may show the next frontier in the evolving methods used by rogue states and their enablers to fool satellite-based tracking systems so that they can circumvent sanctions without detection."
"The White House on Friday tried to assuage Americans’ concerns about rising gas prices ahead of Memorial Day weekend, saying gas prices have “stabilized” and are 'well in line with what they’ve been in recent decades.'"
"But a recent poll of 1,000 unemployed workers by CNBC and Morning Consult told a different story. Respondents said the trickle-down effect of job openings had not reached them — at least, not yet. Some 87% said they had not received job offers in the last six months… What’s more, 65% of those surveyed said unemployment benefits were not a factor in their rejecting a job. Instead, they cited too-low salary (36%), concerns about COVID-19 (35%) and the need to care for family (31%). In fact, 76% of those offered a new position said the proposed wages were lower than their prior job."
"The CEO's and all executives' pay are tied to how well the company performs," so say the boards and the capitalist apologists. Oh really? "As a result, pay packages rose yet again last year for the CEOs of the biggest companies, even though the pandemic sent the economy to its worst quarter on record and slashed corporate profits around the world. The median pay package for a CEO at an S&P 500 company hit $12.7 million in 2020, according to data analyzed by Equilar for The Associated Press." Company does well, executive pay skyrockets. Company's books shit the bed, executive pay skyrockets. It's never a bad year for executive pay. Yes, you can find exceptions. (Grokked from SouthernCoca)
"A court in the Netherlands issued a landmark ruling against Royal Dutch Shell — an oil company already pledging to cut its carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 — ordering it to act faster… At Chevron's shareholder meeting, investors voted to demand that the company reduce its contribution to climate change… And a much bigger shareholder revolt took place at Exxon Mobil. Activist investors took on the giant and won, delivering a stinging rebuke to the company's management."
"A steadily growing pipeline of cash for U.S. colleges and universities from international students was abruptly cut off with the pandemic. Now higher education institutions are looking to the White House to shore up a besieged visa process to bring those lucrative students back." Well that and the Trump foreign and immigration policies.
"Belgium is recalling Ambassador Peter Lescouhier from his post in South Korea, saying the diplomat can't perform his duties in a "serene" manner after his wife was accused of assaulting two clothing store workers. Surveillance video of the incident sparked public outrage after it was broadcast on national television in Korea… Belgian authorities also say they're waiving diplomatic immunity for Lescouhier's wife, Xiang Xueqiu. She said she would invoke that privilege earlier this month, to avoid potential charges."
"The remains of 215 children, some as young as 3 years old, have been found buried on the site of what was once Canada’s largest Indigenous residential school — one of the institutions that held children taken from families across the nation."
"The reconstruction effort that lies ahead will likely be massive: Gaza’s ministry of building and housing says more than 107,000 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes due to the airstrikes. It’s estimated that more than 1,800 houses were demolished or severely damaged, and another 13,000 were moderately or partially damaged. Three tower blocks were completely destroyed."
"A manhunt continued into Memorial Day for three masked suspects who opened fire early Sunday morning outside a Miami banquet hall, killing two men and wounding 21 others, in a shooting authorities said had spread terror and grief through their communities."
"Michael Flynn, former President Donald Trump's first national security adviser, is claiming he didn't endorse a Myanmar-style coup over the weekend despite video in which he appeared to support such an overthrow in the United States… For months, QAnon and Trump-supporting online forums have celebrated the deadly military coup in Myanmar and suggested the same should happen in the United States so Trump could be reinstated as President." Oh, all that sedition talk? Just over bar-b-que. You know, locker room stuff.
"Days before the Senate voted down the creation of a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Capitol attack, the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, was adamant: he would oppose the bill, regardless of any amendments – and he expected his colleagues to follow suit."
(Also from before the vote) "One of those Republicans told CNN that McConnell has even made the unusual move of asking wavering senators to support filibustering the bill as 'a personal favor' to him… No one can understand why Mitch is going to this extreme of asking for a "personal favor" to kill the commission,' said the Republican." I can think of 3 reasons, mostly to retain power.
"Texas Democrats launched the most dramatic revolt yet against nationwide Republican bills to restrict voting by walking out of the state's legislature over the holiday weekend. But their last-ditch effort may only temporarily stall the effort and underscores how the deadlock in Washington is making it easier for Republicans to act on Donald Trump's election fraud lies to stack the deck in future votes."
"Democrats vowed to continue to fight a Texas bill that would add restrictions on voting as Republican Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to cut off funding for the Legislature if they do so… 'I will veto Article 10 of the budget passed by the legislature. Article 10 funds the legislative branch,' Abbott tweeted Monday. 'No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities. Stay tuned.'"
"The Republican governor of Idaho has repealed an executive order prohibiting mask mandates that was issued by his lieutenant governor while he was out of the state… Brad Little called Janice McGeachin’s action 'an irresponsible, self-serving political stunt' and an example of the government 'tyranny' she claimed to oppose." The crazies eventually turn on each other.
"Republican politics in Ohio has also changed in the era of Trump. And with the retirement of U.S. Sen. Rob Portman — a fixture of the GOP establishment — more change is coming. As the Republican field to replace him begins to take shape in these very early days, it's clear Trump retains an outsized influence in the state."
"In conversations with more than 20 lawmakers, ex-lawmakers, top advisers and aides, a common concern has emerged — that a host of national and statewide Republicans are either leaving office or may not choose to pursue it for fear that they can’t survive politically in the current GOP. The worry, these Republicans say, is that the party is embracing personality over policy, and that it is short sighted to align with Trump, who lost the general election and continues to alienate a large swath of the voting public with his grievances and false claims that the 2020 election was stolen."
"Greene's political security in the district -- where 75% of voters supported former President Donald Trump last November -- doesn't mean that all of her constituents are relishing her role as the GOP's flamethrower or that they approve of the recent anti-Semitic comments that she has used to rally her supporters."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)