"Storm surges of 9 to 13 feet and rainfall up to 40 inches: Those are two of the most dire warnings about Hurricane Florence's effect on parts of North and South Carolina. Thousands have heeded evacuation orders; others are hoping to cope with the storm in their homes or at local shelters." It's too late to get out if you aren't on the road already. And those still on the road might not make it far enough inland before the storm washes over them.
And while the media is focused on Florence, Tropical Storm Olivia washes over Hawaii and Super Typhoon Mangkhut is about to swallow the Phillippines.
"This time of year, those vines are laden with clumps of dark purple grapes — pinot noir and pinot meunier — as well as light green chardonnay grapes. The three varieties are blended to make champagne. This year, the grapes are plentiful and plump, which is not always the case in France's northernmost wine making region." Not everyone is upset with climate change (yet).
"Yongfei Livestock Farm is in Yueqing, a city in China's southeastern province of Zhejiang, the third place in China where authorities reported an outbreak of African swine fever in mid-August. Since then, there have been seven additional outbreaks, one every few days or so, each of them hundreds of miles away from the last. In a little more than a month, some 897 pigs have died and nearly 20,000 have been culled to try and prevent the virus from spreading." This makes, what, the 3 major infectious disease to be reported in China since July.
"The New York Times published a bombshell report today on allegations of sexual misconduct against President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett M. Cavanaugh." It's from high school (which doesn't mean I discount it), but considering another SCOTUS nominee was accused of sexual misconduct while a sitting judge and he still was confirmed, I don't hold much hope of this doing much besides increasing the twitter outrage. Wish it were other wise, but I see reality here.
"A federal judge has ruled that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' delay of a key student borrower protection rule was improper and unlawful." Small victories, and probably temporary.
"The British government says they're military intelligence officers who were ordered to carry out a high-profile assassination. But two Russian men, identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, are defending themselves on Russian state TV, saying they visited England in March strictly as tourists." Ah, yeah, Bob. I'm sure they were also there for the cuisine.
"President Trump denied the death toll of nearly 3,000 from hurricanes Maria and Irma, which swept across Puerto Rico a year ago, in a series of tweets Thursday morning." Because of course he did.
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Alligators overboard
Yeah, that pretty much states it all. Slaying alligators today, so probably no linkee-poo (until maybe very late tonight).
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Linkee-poo Wednesday
Alligator Category 5 warning.
Aw, such a cute song bird and what a pretty song. "Bite a mouse in the back of the neck… shake your head at a frenzied 11 turns per second… You have just imitated a hunting loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), already considered one of North America’s more ghoulish songbirds for the way it impales its prey carcasses on thorns and barbed wire." OMFG!
"The European Parliament has voted in favor of the Copyright Directive, a controversial piece of legislation intended to update online copyright laws for the internet age." A "link tax". Sure, that will work. If I read this correctly, it shouldn't directly affect these links (but it depends on how one reads the exemption). (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"We take authority over Florence and we say, 'You will not grow, you will not hit land, you will not do destructive things to America or anywhere.' As a member of the body of Christ, I have authority over the storms and right now, I take authority over Florence, over any of the demonic army controlling it and powering it and steering it and I say, 'No, you do not have authority over the weather, but we do.'" Yeah I really have to finish that damn book. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
"An arsonist was caught on video setting fire to a Planned Parenthood building in California and now the FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the suspect's arrest… The fire at the Planned Parenthood in Watsonville started around 4 a.m. local time on July 20, Watsonville police said." Ah those "peaceful non-disruptive protestors" are at it again. (Grokked from Justine Larbalestier)
Dear Carolingians, this is what the Trump administration says is an unsung success story. "What may be millions of water bottles. meant for victims of Hurricane Maria, have been sitting on a runway in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, since last year, according to @FEMA…" (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"All of California’s electricity will come from clean power sources by 2045 under legislation signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday, the latest in a series of ambitious goals set by the state to combat the effects of climate change." If the cost of renewable energy continues to drop, it might not take that long. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
One trick pony gonna work that one trick. "With congressional elections looming, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday proposed more deficit-expanding tax cuts, an effort seen by some tax experts as unlikely to become law and geared chiefly toward winning votes."
"So yes, Fear offers insight into a dysfunctional policy process, with new details of President Trump ranting, raving, and clashing with aides behind the scenes. But it also tells the particular story that Woodward’s major sources have chosen to tell him, and reflects their points of view and priorities."
Aw, such a cute song bird and what a pretty song. "Bite a mouse in the back of the neck… shake your head at a frenzied 11 turns per second… You have just imitated a hunting loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), already considered one of North America’s more ghoulish songbirds for the way it impales its prey carcasses on thorns and barbed wire." OMFG!
"The European Parliament has voted in favor of the Copyright Directive, a controversial piece of legislation intended to update online copyright laws for the internet age." A "link tax". Sure, that will work. If I read this correctly, it shouldn't directly affect these links (but it depends on how one reads the exemption). (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"We take authority over Florence and we say, 'You will not grow, you will not hit land, you will not do destructive things to America or anywhere.' As a member of the body of Christ, I have authority over the storms and right now, I take authority over Florence, over any of the demonic army controlling it and powering it and steering it and I say, 'No, you do not have authority over the weather, but we do.'" Yeah I really have to finish that damn book. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
"An arsonist was caught on video setting fire to a Planned Parenthood building in California and now the FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the suspect's arrest… The fire at the Planned Parenthood in Watsonville started around 4 a.m. local time on July 20, Watsonville police said." Ah those "peaceful non-disruptive protestors" are at it again. (Grokked from Justine Larbalestier)
Dear Carolingians, this is what the Trump administration says is an unsung success story. "What may be millions of water bottles. meant for victims of Hurricane Maria, have been sitting on a runway in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, since last year, according to @FEMA…" (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"All of California’s electricity will come from clean power sources by 2045 under legislation signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday, the latest in a series of ambitious goals set by the state to combat the effects of climate change." If the cost of renewable energy continues to drop, it might not take that long. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
One trick pony gonna work that one trick. "With congressional elections looming, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday proposed more deficit-expanding tax cuts, an effort seen by some tax experts as unlikely to become law and geared chiefly toward winning votes."
"So yes, Fear offers insight into a dysfunctional policy process, with new details of President Trump ranting, raving, and clashing with aides behind the scenes. But it also tells the particular story that Woodward’s major sources have chosen to tell him, and reflects their points of view and priorities."
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Linkee-poo on a Tuesday, is it only Tuesday
Alligators were around waist high this morning, but bitey as all get out. This afternoon's forecast is for more alligators.
We was robbed! "Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett shouldn't have been called for roughing the passer in the second quarter of the Browns' 21-21 tie Sunday with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the NFL's senior vice president for officiating said Monday." Then there was this, "The Browns will be relieved to know the call was wrong, because the flag perplexed them." Um, tied game. Might not have been had it been called correctly (I have to admit I didn't see the game because I was working at the hospital).
"Hurricane Florence, a Category 4 storm that continues to strengthen, is bearing down on the North and South Carolina coasts, forcing residents and visitors to evacuate." It's expected to hit as a Cat 5. If you live on the coast, or in low lying areas in those states, get the fuck out now if you can. The Navy has emptied Norfolk. Hopefully the state is assisting those who don't have the means to evacuate with transportation (and notification). Also getting people in hospitals, assisted living, and nursing homes out of the worst of it. The storm is expected to head straight inland, which means even if you survive the initial strike of the eyeball coming on shore, you'll have to deal with the flooding as all that rain comes down off the mountains.
"Last year's mysterious outburst of deep-space light flashes was even more frenzied than previously thought, a new study reports." Come in, Swindon…
"Hundreds of ancient, gold coins were found last week in the basement of a former theater in northern Italy. Archaeologists uncovered the jackpot in Como, on the border with Switzerland."
"One hurdle is economic. The transplant recipient's insurance pays the donor's medical bills. But donors are out of work for weeks recuperating. The U.S. Labor Department last month made clear that a donor's job can be protected under the Family Medical Leave Act. But that's unpaid leave and donors lose income if their employer doesn't allow some form of paid time off. They also may have other expenses such as travel and hotel bills for visits to a far-away transplant center." On changing the rules for live organ donation. I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, yeah for more people needing transplants getting those organs. On the other hand, there are more hidden costs to live organ donation. One person I know who did do a live organ donation for their liver was just told of their increased risk for cirrhosis (a high likelihood) and that their liver is not growing back (and probably never will).
"A study published this month showed that the patients achieved lower blood pressure levels after six and 12 months. But the improved levels went away after patients completed the program, in which they checked their blood pressure at home at least six times per week and regularly talked by phone with pharmacists about the results… Five years after the pharmacist consultations ended, their blood pressure levels returned to the same levels as a comparison group of patients in the study who received only routine clinic care, according to the study results, released Friday in the publication JAMA Network Open."
"Massacres like this were a major part of what some historians call a forgotten genocide during the colonization and settlement of the American West. The perpetrators of these massacres were sometimes honored with mountains, valleys and towns."
On colonialism, identity, and those that survive. Dr. Crocker talks about memory, the historic erasure of Native Americans, and a little about crickets. (Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)
"The 2016 presidential election tilted to Donald Trump with fewer than 80,000 votes across three states, with a dramatic impact on the country. Yet, only about 6 in 10 eligible voters cast ballots in 2016." Waiting for unicorns and for someone to help them. Unfortunately, even if these populations do begin to vote, it'll be about a decade before they get what they want (if they ever do), and most people don't have that long of vision for it to matter.
"Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis announced Monday that he’s immediately resigning from Congress to focus on his campaign for governor of Florida, less than two months before Election Day." Campaign a little tougher than you thought?
"Kevin Hassett, the cheery chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, had quite a story to tell after being asked by White House press secretary Sarah Sanders to explain 'America's economic winning streak.' He reached beyond standard growth and jobs numbers to invoke a roaring Trump boom, enthusing over capital investment, business optimism, capital goods shipments and the purchasing managers index." I've seen this movie before. Also, "The Economy is fabulous… for the 1%. Not so much for everybody else." Final thought, "Hey look, it's not only a rising tide, it's a rising King Tide." Are you better off than you were 2 years ago? Not all boats are being floated, and the poor suckers treading water are drowning after being so tired waiting for a boat. "Even the act of holding a briefing appeared to be an attempt to stress normalcy after a wild week of claims of administration dysfunction -- though it forced White House aides to wipe off the podium, in a reminder of how rarely it has been used this summer."
An example. "'As far as I was concerned, things were going really well,' he said, 'except I wasn’t aware of all the things that could go wrong.'" Have I mentioned how some of those regulations the Trump administration wants to roll back are the Dodd-Frank financial sector reforms (which when passed were thought of as a "good first step")?
"North Korea's Kim Jong-un has written to US President Donald Trump asking for a follow-up to their historic summit, the White House says."
"(Ken) Starr is offering, at long last, a defense of his most famous work as a lawyer. But it may also be read as a cautionary tale. He is warning that even when the facts at hand seem damning, even incontrovertible, impeachment proceedings may not produce the expected result." Meh, he just comes off as a hack who see everything as the political struggle between the two parties (which was why he was chosen, from both sides).
Here we are now, entertain us. "This sort of paranoia and backbiting is the direct result of Trump's management style. He's made no secret of the fact that he likes to watch his advisers fight it out over policy. He also purposely plays favorites and seems to change his views on people at the drop of a hat. John Kelly was going to bring order to the White House as chief of staff. Then Kelly was on the outs because he was limiting Trump's ability to be himself. Then Trump said Kelly had agreed to stay on as chief of staff for the entirety of his presidency. Then Kelly might be the person who wrote the op-ed. And on and on and on." Are we not entertained?
We was robbed! "Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett shouldn't have been called for roughing the passer in the second quarter of the Browns' 21-21 tie Sunday with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the NFL's senior vice president for officiating said Monday." Then there was this, "The Browns will be relieved to know the call was wrong, because the flag perplexed them." Um, tied game. Might not have been had it been called correctly (I have to admit I didn't see the game because I was working at the hospital).
"Hurricane Florence, a Category 4 storm that continues to strengthen, is bearing down on the North and South Carolina coasts, forcing residents and visitors to evacuate." It's expected to hit as a Cat 5. If you live on the coast, or in low lying areas in those states, get the fuck out now if you can. The Navy has emptied Norfolk. Hopefully the state is assisting those who don't have the means to evacuate with transportation (and notification). Also getting people in hospitals, assisted living, and nursing homes out of the worst of it. The storm is expected to head straight inland, which means even if you survive the initial strike of the eyeball coming on shore, you'll have to deal with the flooding as all that rain comes down off the mountains.
"Last year's mysterious outburst of deep-space light flashes was even more frenzied than previously thought, a new study reports." Come in, Swindon…
"Hundreds of ancient, gold coins were found last week in the basement of a former theater in northern Italy. Archaeologists uncovered the jackpot in Como, on the border with Switzerland."
"One hurdle is economic. The transplant recipient's insurance pays the donor's medical bills. But donors are out of work for weeks recuperating. The U.S. Labor Department last month made clear that a donor's job can be protected under the Family Medical Leave Act. But that's unpaid leave and donors lose income if their employer doesn't allow some form of paid time off. They also may have other expenses such as travel and hotel bills for visits to a far-away transplant center." On changing the rules for live organ donation. I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, yeah for more people needing transplants getting those organs. On the other hand, there are more hidden costs to live organ donation. One person I know who did do a live organ donation for their liver was just told of their increased risk for cirrhosis (a high likelihood) and that their liver is not growing back (and probably never will).
"A study published this month showed that the patients achieved lower blood pressure levels after six and 12 months. But the improved levels went away after patients completed the program, in which they checked their blood pressure at home at least six times per week and regularly talked by phone with pharmacists about the results… Five years after the pharmacist consultations ended, their blood pressure levels returned to the same levels as a comparison group of patients in the study who received only routine clinic care, according to the study results, released Friday in the publication JAMA Network Open."
"Massacres like this were a major part of what some historians call a forgotten genocide during the colonization and settlement of the American West. The perpetrators of these massacres were sometimes honored with mountains, valleys and towns."
On colonialism, identity, and those that survive. Dr. Crocker talks about memory, the historic erasure of Native Americans, and a little about crickets. (Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)
"The 2016 presidential election tilted to Donald Trump with fewer than 80,000 votes across three states, with a dramatic impact on the country. Yet, only about 6 in 10 eligible voters cast ballots in 2016." Waiting for unicorns and for someone to help them. Unfortunately, even if these populations do begin to vote, it'll be about a decade before they get what they want (if they ever do), and most people don't have that long of vision for it to matter.
"Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis announced Monday that he’s immediately resigning from Congress to focus on his campaign for governor of Florida, less than two months before Election Day." Campaign a little tougher than you thought?
"Kevin Hassett, the cheery chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, had quite a story to tell after being asked by White House press secretary Sarah Sanders to explain 'America's economic winning streak.' He reached beyond standard growth and jobs numbers to invoke a roaring Trump boom, enthusing over capital investment, business optimism, capital goods shipments and the purchasing managers index." I've seen this movie before. Also, "The Economy is fabulous… for the 1%. Not so much for everybody else." Final thought, "Hey look, it's not only a rising tide, it's a rising King Tide." Are you better off than you were 2 years ago? Not all boats are being floated, and the poor suckers treading water are drowning after being so tired waiting for a boat. "Even the act of holding a briefing appeared to be an attempt to stress normalcy after a wild week of claims of administration dysfunction -- though it forced White House aides to wipe off the podium, in a reminder of how rarely it has been used this summer."
An example. "'As far as I was concerned, things were going really well,' he said, 'except I wasn’t aware of all the things that could go wrong.'" Have I mentioned how some of those regulations the Trump administration wants to roll back are the Dodd-Frank financial sector reforms (which when passed were thought of as a "good first step")?
"North Korea's Kim Jong-un has written to US President Donald Trump asking for a follow-up to their historic summit, the White House says."
"(Ken) Starr is offering, at long last, a defense of his most famous work as a lawyer. But it may also be read as a cautionary tale. He is warning that even when the facts at hand seem damning, even incontrovertible, impeachment proceedings may not produce the expected result." Meh, he just comes off as a hack who see everything as the political struggle between the two parties (which was why he was chosen, from both sides).
Here we are now, entertain us. "This sort of paranoia and backbiting is the direct result of Trump's management style. He's made no secret of the fact that he likes to watch his advisers fight it out over policy. He also purposely plays favorites and seems to change his views on people at the drop of a hat. John Kelly was going to bring order to the White House as chief of staff. Then Kelly was on the outs because he was limiting Trump's ability to be himself. Then Trump said Kelly had agreed to stay on as chief of staff for the entirety of his presidency. Then Kelly might be the person who wrote the op-ed. And on and on and on." Are we not entertained?
Monday, September 10, 2018
Linkee-poo on a wet Monday
Alligators, we have some.
"From the state with 84% of the United States' fresh water but none for its residents to drink, I am Miss Michigan Emily Sioma."
"Election Day 2018 is quickly approaching, and NPR wants to hear from you… In the coming weeks, NPR's Morning Edition is traveling across the country to speak with voters like you. We want to learn more about what issues are driving you to the polls."
"Antarctica has become the best-mapped continent on Earth with a new high-resolution terrain map showing the ice-covered landmass in unprecedented detail. The Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA) map has a resolution more than 100 times sharper than previous representations." Because SCIENCE!
"Millions of people covered under the Affordable Care Act will see only modest premium increases next year, and some will get price cuts." (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"So, this takes us back to a key question. Since we tend to hear more about foodborne illness outbreaks, there's a perception that the risk has gone up. But, is our food supply any more or less safe than it used to be? All the experts I spoke with had similar answers."
"Dr. Leslie Norins is willing to hand over $1 million of his own money to anyone who can clarify something: Is Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia worldwide, caused by a germ?" Okay, that's interesting. "Norins is quick to cite sources and studies supporting his claim, among them a 2010 study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery showing that neurosurgeons die from Alzheimer's at a seven-fold higher rate than they do from other disorders." For a comparison, one of the ways we learned about the dangers of radiation was because of the high death toll among Radiologists (when fluoroscopy was observing the light-emitting screen directly in the path of the x-rays, exposing the radiologist to center-beam x-rays), and specifically one radiologist who documented his career.
"Williams was looking to win her 24th Grand Slam singles title, which would have tied her with Australia's Margaret Court for the all-time record. Williams lost after receiving multiple penalties from Chair Umpire Carlos Ramos — including a point penalty for breaking her racket, and then a game penalty for arguing with Ramos and calling him a 'thief.'" Having grown up and watching John McEnroe having his meltdowns, of which his penalties were less severe, yeah I'm willing to call this both misogynist and sexist.
So, after jailing whole communities of Uighurs and threatening relatives living abroad, "Beijing city authorities have banned one of the largest unofficial Protestant churches in the city and confiscated "illegal promotional materials", amid a deepening crackdown on China's 'underground' churches." Get ready for a whole new wave of "Christianity Under Attack" evangelical screaming.
"As a result, if Republicans hold Congress in November, they will indeed repeal Obamacare. That’s not a guess: It’s an explicit promise, made by Vice President Mike Pence last week."
"Adware Doctor is a top app in Apple's Mac App Store, sitting at number five in the list of top paid apps and leading the list of top utilities apps, as of writing. It says it's meant to prevent 'malware and malicious files from infecting your Mac' and claims to be one of the best apps to do so, but unbeknownst to its users, it's also stealing their browser history and downloading it to servers in China."
"Southwest Airlines says passengers on four flights between Dallas, Houston and Harlingen may have been exposed to the measles… The airline says it has contacted travelers with help from the CDC who shared a plane two weeks ago with a passenger later diagnosed with the highly contagious virus." Oopsie.
"The researchers asked volunteers to finish a course of broad-spectrum antibiotics and looked at their intestines after they’d also taken probiotics. The probiotics did effectively 'colonize' their gastrointestinal tracts, but they did so at the expense of the normal gut microbiome, delaying the return to its normal, pre-antibiotic state by several months… It’s not proof of harm, but it is known that lower microbial diversity after antibiotics can lead to increased susceptibility to a myriad of chronic and infectious diseases. Thus, the low level of diversity permitted by probiotic colonization and the ensuing delay they cause in returning a person’s gut microbiome to the pre-antibiotic state suggests that probiotics may not be harmless, as most seem to think." Hang on, Jasper. That just means the probiotics aren't seeding the "correct" biome. But that imbalance, and lack of the normal biome also leads to opportunistic growth of pathogenic bacteria (which are also part of the "normal biome") which can cause illness. This is how most people "get" c-diff. Most people already have c-diff in their colon, but it's kept in check by the other bacteria. When you take antibiotics the c-diff that survive begin rapid colonization because the lack of other microbes give them a head start. If they're able to grow fast enough, they're able to alter the pH of your gut to be favorable to more c-diff growth and is harmful to the other benign and helpful bacteria (this is how "stool transplants" help c-diff patients, the bacteria introduced with the correct pH balanced material can quickly overtake the c-diff infection). So maybe instead of saying probiotics might harm, lets say that probiotics needs to move out of the fringe and get better with biome selection.
"By studying herds that had been introduced to new areas at different points over the past century, the researchers figured out that it takes about 40 years for reintroduced bighorn sheep to develop a robust migration. Moose took about 90 years."
"In 1967, Jocelyn Bell Burnell was a graduate student at Cambridge, working on a dissertation about strange objects in distant galaxies known as quasars." Then she discovered pulsars, but here supervisor Antony Hewish got the Nobel. Now she's won "a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, which comes with a check for $3 million."
"The U.S. economy added 201,000 jobs in August, the Labor Department said on Friday, continuing its nearly eight-year streak of monthly gains… Wage growth — and more specifically the lack of vigorous pay raises — continued to be an issue in the report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with average hourly earnings nudging slightly upward to 2.9 percent annual growth from July's 2.7 percent." They also adjusted the previous 2 months' figures down by a total of 50,000. Not bad, but my guess is it'll also be adjusted down next month (even with all the news about companies not able to find hot bodies to fill slots).
"The leading candidate in next month's presidential election in Brazil has been stabbed at a campaign rally and is reportedly in serious but stable condition following surgery."
"White House national security adviser John Bolton on Monday will reportedly label the International Criminal Court (ICC) 'illegitimate' in an effort to push back on its plan to investigate alleged war crimes committed by Americans in Afghanistan." Buckle up, this is going to get bumpy.
How go the Trade Wars? "President Donald Trump offered some business advice to Ford Motor on Sunday: because of the administration's high tariffs on car imports from China, Ford can start making its Focus Active in the United States… Ford wasted little time responding to say that wasn't going to happen." And then there was this part, "It's not just Ford. All three Detroit automakers have made it clear that they're going all-in on SUVs and trucks." I'm sure that won't come back to bite us in the ass.
"China will respond if the United States takes any new steps on trade, the foreign ministry said on Monday, after President Donald Trump warned he was ready to slap tariffs on virtually all Chinese imports into the United States." I had to check the publication date to make sure this wasn't from last month.
"Four major tech companies have sent a last minute letter to the Office of the US Trade Representative asking to be exempted from a possible new round of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports." Oh, hey, were do we make our stuff?
"Nearly three dozen states require voters to show identification at the polls. And almost half of those states want photo IDs. But there are millions of eligible voters who don't have them. A 2012 survey estimated that 7 percent of American adults lack a government-issued photo ID… Spread The Vote has taken a different tack: It helps people without IDs get them. And people over 50 years of age have presented some of their biggest challenges." And then there's this, "If you are elderly and you were born in a rural area [or] born during Jim Crow, you may not have ever gotten a birth certificate." Funny how that works.
"Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) on Sunday said he considers leaving the Republican Party 'every morning when I wake up,' doubling down on his comments earlier this week that he regularly thinks about exiting the GOP to become a 'no-party' voter." First a general comment for anyone in or thinking of going into politics, never, ever, vote against your conscience just because you either want to get ahead or don't want to make waves or enemies. You can correct nearly everything else, but you can never get your dignity and self-worth back after that. I speak from experience here. Dear Sen. Sasse, if you want to reform the Republican Party, you're going to have to jettison Reagan. Trump, what the Tea Party became, our current politic is a direct result of Reagan's Compromise of bringing the social conservatives (who were not engaged in politics) into the party. They now control the party's direction and they just love an authoritarian in the White House. So, Ben, just do it. Stop equivocating and bargaining away pieces of your soul. But you won't. Because you are the symptom of the party who will bend their knee to Trump all because he will sign your bills, nominate judges and cabinet members who will enact your desired outcomes, and not cause you too much indigestion. The only cost is our republic. Your tweet is exactly the same as the NYT op-ed, and it shows the same gutlessness. You want your cake and you want to eat it too. And that personal cost is only your soul. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"'It did not start with Donald Trump. He is a symptom, not a cause,' Obama told students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 'He's just capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years — a fear and anger that's rooted in our past, but also borne out of the enormous upheavals that have taken place in your brief lifetimes.'" Actually, it started back in the 60s, got a good tail-wind with Reagan's Compromise in the 80s, and the simmer was set to boil during President Obama's second term.
"Midterm elections are looming, he's facing new questions about his fitness for office, and he's hunting a hidden rebel within his own camp."
"Vice President Mike Pence says he’s '100 percent confident' that no one on his staff was involved with the anonymous New York Times column criticizing President Donald Trump’s leadership." Lodestar!
"Let’s make note of this moment: The No. 2 elected official in America publicly proclaimed his readiness to take a polygraph test to verify his loyalty to the president. Imagine Joe Biden strapping on a blood pressure cuff for Barack Obama, or Dick Cheney wearing velcro rings to measure his pulse for George W. Bush."
"As Siberian gun rights activist Maria Butina faces a hearing in Washington, here is a look at the unusual path that led to her arrest."
"From the state with 84% of the United States' fresh water but none for its residents to drink, I am Miss Michigan Emily Sioma."
"Election Day 2018 is quickly approaching, and NPR wants to hear from you… In the coming weeks, NPR's Morning Edition is traveling across the country to speak with voters like you. We want to learn more about what issues are driving you to the polls."
"Antarctica has become the best-mapped continent on Earth with a new high-resolution terrain map showing the ice-covered landmass in unprecedented detail. The Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA) map has a resolution more than 100 times sharper than previous representations." Because SCIENCE!
"Millions of people covered under the Affordable Care Act will see only modest premium increases next year, and some will get price cuts." (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"So, this takes us back to a key question. Since we tend to hear more about foodborne illness outbreaks, there's a perception that the risk has gone up. But, is our food supply any more or less safe than it used to be? All the experts I spoke with had similar answers."
"Dr. Leslie Norins is willing to hand over $1 million of his own money to anyone who can clarify something: Is Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia worldwide, caused by a germ?" Okay, that's interesting. "Norins is quick to cite sources and studies supporting his claim, among them a 2010 study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery showing that neurosurgeons die from Alzheimer's at a seven-fold higher rate than they do from other disorders." For a comparison, one of the ways we learned about the dangers of radiation was because of the high death toll among Radiologists (when fluoroscopy was observing the light-emitting screen directly in the path of the x-rays, exposing the radiologist to center-beam x-rays), and specifically one radiologist who documented his career.
"Williams was looking to win her 24th Grand Slam singles title, which would have tied her with Australia's Margaret Court for the all-time record. Williams lost after receiving multiple penalties from Chair Umpire Carlos Ramos — including a point penalty for breaking her racket, and then a game penalty for arguing with Ramos and calling him a 'thief.'" Having grown up and watching John McEnroe having his meltdowns, of which his penalties were less severe, yeah I'm willing to call this both misogynist and sexist.
So, after jailing whole communities of Uighurs and threatening relatives living abroad, "Beijing city authorities have banned one of the largest unofficial Protestant churches in the city and confiscated "illegal promotional materials", amid a deepening crackdown on China's 'underground' churches." Get ready for a whole new wave of "Christianity Under Attack" evangelical screaming.
"As a result, if Republicans hold Congress in November, they will indeed repeal Obamacare. That’s not a guess: It’s an explicit promise, made by Vice President Mike Pence last week."
"Adware Doctor is a top app in Apple's Mac App Store, sitting at number five in the list of top paid apps and leading the list of top utilities apps, as of writing. It says it's meant to prevent 'malware and malicious files from infecting your Mac' and claims to be one of the best apps to do so, but unbeknownst to its users, it's also stealing their browser history and downloading it to servers in China."
"Southwest Airlines says passengers on four flights between Dallas, Houston and Harlingen may have been exposed to the measles… The airline says it has contacted travelers with help from the CDC who shared a plane two weeks ago with a passenger later diagnosed with the highly contagious virus." Oopsie.
"The researchers asked volunteers to finish a course of broad-spectrum antibiotics and looked at their intestines after they’d also taken probiotics. The probiotics did effectively 'colonize' their gastrointestinal tracts, but they did so at the expense of the normal gut microbiome, delaying the return to its normal, pre-antibiotic state by several months… It’s not proof of harm, but it is known that lower microbial diversity after antibiotics can lead to increased susceptibility to a myriad of chronic and infectious diseases. Thus, the low level of diversity permitted by probiotic colonization and the ensuing delay they cause in returning a person’s gut microbiome to the pre-antibiotic state suggests that probiotics may not be harmless, as most seem to think." Hang on, Jasper. That just means the probiotics aren't seeding the "correct" biome. But that imbalance, and lack of the normal biome also leads to opportunistic growth of pathogenic bacteria (which are also part of the "normal biome") which can cause illness. This is how most people "get" c-diff. Most people already have c-diff in their colon, but it's kept in check by the other bacteria. When you take antibiotics the c-diff that survive begin rapid colonization because the lack of other microbes give them a head start. If they're able to grow fast enough, they're able to alter the pH of your gut to be favorable to more c-diff growth and is harmful to the other benign and helpful bacteria (this is how "stool transplants" help c-diff patients, the bacteria introduced with the correct pH balanced material can quickly overtake the c-diff infection). So maybe instead of saying probiotics might harm, lets say that probiotics needs to move out of the fringe and get better with biome selection.
"By studying herds that had been introduced to new areas at different points over the past century, the researchers figured out that it takes about 40 years for reintroduced bighorn sheep to develop a robust migration. Moose took about 90 years."
"In 1967, Jocelyn Bell Burnell was a graduate student at Cambridge, working on a dissertation about strange objects in distant galaxies known as quasars." Then she discovered pulsars, but here supervisor Antony Hewish got the Nobel. Now she's won "a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, which comes with a check for $3 million."
"The U.S. economy added 201,000 jobs in August, the Labor Department said on Friday, continuing its nearly eight-year streak of monthly gains… Wage growth — and more specifically the lack of vigorous pay raises — continued to be an issue in the report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with average hourly earnings nudging slightly upward to 2.9 percent annual growth from July's 2.7 percent." They also adjusted the previous 2 months' figures down by a total of 50,000. Not bad, but my guess is it'll also be adjusted down next month (even with all the news about companies not able to find hot bodies to fill slots).
"The leading candidate in next month's presidential election in Brazil has been stabbed at a campaign rally and is reportedly in serious but stable condition following surgery."
"White House national security adviser John Bolton on Monday will reportedly label the International Criminal Court (ICC) 'illegitimate' in an effort to push back on its plan to investigate alleged war crimes committed by Americans in Afghanistan." Buckle up, this is going to get bumpy.
How go the Trade Wars? "President Donald Trump offered some business advice to Ford Motor on Sunday: because of the administration's high tariffs on car imports from China, Ford can start making its Focus Active in the United States… Ford wasted little time responding to say that wasn't going to happen." And then there was this part, "It's not just Ford. All three Detroit automakers have made it clear that they're going all-in on SUVs and trucks." I'm sure that won't come back to bite us in the ass.
"China will respond if the United States takes any new steps on trade, the foreign ministry said on Monday, after President Donald Trump warned he was ready to slap tariffs on virtually all Chinese imports into the United States." I had to check the publication date to make sure this wasn't from last month.
"Four major tech companies have sent a last minute letter to the Office of the US Trade Representative asking to be exempted from a possible new round of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports." Oh, hey, were do we make our stuff?
"Nearly three dozen states require voters to show identification at the polls. And almost half of those states want photo IDs. But there are millions of eligible voters who don't have them. A 2012 survey estimated that 7 percent of American adults lack a government-issued photo ID… Spread The Vote has taken a different tack: It helps people without IDs get them. And people over 50 years of age have presented some of their biggest challenges." And then there's this, "If you are elderly and you were born in a rural area [or] born during Jim Crow, you may not have ever gotten a birth certificate." Funny how that works.
"Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) on Sunday said he considers leaving the Republican Party 'every morning when I wake up,' doubling down on his comments earlier this week that he regularly thinks about exiting the GOP to become a 'no-party' voter." First a general comment for anyone in or thinking of going into politics, never, ever, vote against your conscience just because you either want to get ahead or don't want to make waves or enemies. You can correct nearly everything else, but you can never get your dignity and self-worth back after that. I speak from experience here. Dear Sen. Sasse, if you want to reform the Republican Party, you're going to have to jettison Reagan. Trump, what the Tea Party became, our current politic is a direct result of Reagan's Compromise of bringing the social conservatives (who were not engaged in politics) into the party. They now control the party's direction and they just love an authoritarian in the White House. So, Ben, just do it. Stop equivocating and bargaining away pieces of your soul. But you won't. Because you are the symptom of the party who will bend their knee to Trump all because he will sign your bills, nominate judges and cabinet members who will enact your desired outcomes, and not cause you too much indigestion. The only cost is our republic. Your tweet is exactly the same as the NYT op-ed, and it shows the same gutlessness. You want your cake and you want to eat it too. And that personal cost is only your soul. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"'It did not start with Donald Trump. He is a symptom, not a cause,' Obama told students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 'He's just capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years — a fear and anger that's rooted in our past, but also borne out of the enormous upheavals that have taken place in your brief lifetimes.'" Actually, it started back in the 60s, got a good tail-wind with Reagan's Compromise in the 80s, and the simmer was set to boil during President Obama's second term.
"Midterm elections are looming, he's facing new questions about his fitness for office, and he's hunting a hidden rebel within his own camp."
"Vice President Mike Pence says he’s '100 percent confident' that no one on his staff was involved with the anonymous New York Times column criticizing President Donald Trump’s leadership." Lodestar!
"Let’s make note of this moment: The No. 2 elected official in America publicly proclaimed his readiness to take a polygraph test to verify his loyalty to the president. Imagine Joe Biden strapping on a blood pressure cuff for Barack Obama, or Dick Cheney wearing velcro rings to measure his pulse for George W. Bush."
"As Siberian gun rights activist Maria Butina faces a hearing in Washington, here is a look at the unusual path that led to her arrest."
Friday, September 7, 2018
Linkee-poo well that was a week wasn't it
Alligators.
Twitter finally bans Alex Jones. And all it took was Jones stalking Twitter's Jack and making an ass of himself on Capital Hill yesterday.
Do I need to point to articles about the Indian High Court nullifying a colonial era law that outlawed homosexual sex? Or can we just be happy that 20% of the population of the world now has the freedom to love fully?
"A romance novelist was arrested on suspicion of murder, three months after her chef husband was found fatally shot inside the culinary institute where he taught." So you're saying the butler didn't do it?
"The space agency released a wild 360-degree panorama captured by (Curiosity) on Aug. 9. It's notable for the view of the darkened, dusty Mars skies and for the detailed look at the dust-covered rover itself."
Sometimes it's hard for people to understand what life was like just a few decades ago. Here's a tweet thread about body autonomy and how American society, for the most part, denied women that autonomy (and in many places, still does or is attempting to reinstate male or state control over women's bodies). It wasn't just the botched abortions, the ingestion of toxic chemicals to induce abortion, the deaths and tragic mutilations that were the result of that, it's also the psychological scars that continue to resonate into the present. In case you ever wonder why I fight for a woman's right to choose over her own body and will ridicule anyone who believes otherwise, it's because I've heard and lived with too many of these stories. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"In the end, Happer was not tapped as Science Advisor by the Trump administration, but E&E News reported Tuesday that he is now a member of the National Security Council… Happer was previously listed as the director of a group called the 'CO2 Coalition,' which has a website that claims that CO2 released from fossil fuels is just good news for global plant growth while having no real effect on Earth’s climate." Well, isn't that special. (Grokked from John)
"Here's a bold idea to fight back against bacteria that can't be stopped by antibiotics: Go after them with germ-eating microbes. That reasoning lies behind an intriguing line of research that might also be put to use in the event of a germ-warfare attack." What could possibly go wrong?
"A new report published in The Lancet on Wednesday finds that when it comes to health, quality — not quantity — seems to be more important… The study estimates that 5 million people die every year because of poor-quality health care in low- and middle-income countries. That's significantly more than the 3.6 million people in those countries who die from not having access to care." I'm not sure there's much of a different between those two categories.
How go the Trade Wars? "World shares fell for a fifth straight day on Thursday as investors braced for another escalation in a trade war between the United States and China, while emerging-market currencies paused near 15-month lows."
"Vladimir Putin must take responsibility for the Salisbury Novichok attack, Security Minister Ben Wallace has said."
"A town mayor, who had been accused by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte of being involved in the drug trade, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in a pre-dawn attack in Cebu province." Duterte is someone our president admires.
"About two-thirds of Texas high schools are not following a state law that mandates giving all eligible students the opportunity to register to vote, according to a new report. That means hundreds of thousands of potential voters have been left off the rolls." The fuck. (Grokked from Laura J Nixon)
"When rumors first started circulating that she was flashing the white supremacist sign with her right hand behind Kavanaugh, lots of us - even here at C & L! - said, 'Come on. She's just cold. She's just folding her arms.' Secretly, though, in homes throughout the country, we all started trying to cross our arms with our hand in that position just to see how natural it was... and...it's not." (Grokked in a roundabout way - from an tweet storm about flashing the sign - from Chuck Wendig)
"Booker, D-N.J., broke Senate rules when he questioned Kavanaugh Wednesday night about emails that had been made off-limits by a Republican lawyer, and then released the documents Thursday ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He could lose his committee position or be expelled from the Senate for violating the chamber's rules." Ah, no. First of all the documents were cleared for release before Sen. Booker released them (although he might not have known that). And, yeah, try and get him expelled for that release. See what will happen.
"An audience member had some colorful reactions to President Donald Trump's speech at a campaign rally in Billings, Montana, on Thursday… The unidentified man made several facial expressions as the president delivered his remarks… A woman later approached the man mid-speech and briefly spoke with him before taking his spot in the crowd." It's all about the imaging and if you're loyal enough.
"President Donald Trump sought to heighten the sense of urgency for his base Thursday when he told supporters that if he is impeached, 'it's your fault, "cause you didn't go out to vote."'" Not that he's guilty or anything. "'If the opposite party becomes president, every time before it even starts, before you've even found out whether or not he or she is going to do a great job, they'll say, "We want to impeach him" and you'll impeach him,' Trump said." Dear Mr. President, I refer you to your statements in December of 2016. Also I'll refer you to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who said if Hillary Clinton was elected president he would keep Scalia's SCOTUS seat open for 4 years.
"Donald Trump will not answer federal investigators’ questions, in writing or in person, about whether he tried to block the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, his lawyer has said." Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of, "if he's got nothing to hide why won't he testify?" Remember when the president just couldn't wait to talk with Mueller. Yeah. I guess that dry-run of questioning they did scared the bejesus our of his lawyers.
Heard that Ryan said the president should bring in lie-detectors to the West Wing to look for the op-ed writer. Also rumors the president is considering it. Mole hunt here we come.
Tweet of my heart: @JesseFFerguson 1 HOUR AGO - Kavanaugh confirms he will NOT recuse himself from protecting Trump by denying a Mueller subpoena… 1 HOUR LATER - Trump says to Mueller: I'm not talking to you. You gotta subpoena me.… Weird, huh? (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
Twitter finally bans Alex Jones. And all it took was Jones stalking Twitter's Jack and making an ass of himself on Capital Hill yesterday.
Do I need to point to articles about the Indian High Court nullifying a colonial era law that outlawed homosexual sex? Or can we just be happy that 20% of the population of the world now has the freedom to love fully?
"A romance novelist was arrested on suspicion of murder, three months after her chef husband was found fatally shot inside the culinary institute where he taught." So you're saying the butler didn't do it?
"The space agency released a wild 360-degree panorama captured by (Curiosity) on Aug. 9. It's notable for the view of the darkened, dusty Mars skies and for the detailed look at the dust-covered rover itself."
Sometimes it's hard for people to understand what life was like just a few decades ago. Here's a tweet thread about body autonomy and how American society, for the most part, denied women that autonomy (and in many places, still does or is attempting to reinstate male or state control over women's bodies). It wasn't just the botched abortions, the ingestion of toxic chemicals to induce abortion, the deaths and tragic mutilations that were the result of that, it's also the psychological scars that continue to resonate into the present. In case you ever wonder why I fight for a woman's right to choose over her own body and will ridicule anyone who believes otherwise, it's because I've heard and lived with too many of these stories. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"In the end, Happer was not tapped as Science Advisor by the Trump administration, but E&E News reported Tuesday that he is now a member of the National Security Council… Happer was previously listed as the director of a group called the 'CO2 Coalition,' which has a website that claims that CO2 released from fossil fuels is just good news for global plant growth while having no real effect on Earth’s climate." Well, isn't that special. (Grokked from John)
"Here's a bold idea to fight back against bacteria that can't be stopped by antibiotics: Go after them with germ-eating microbes. That reasoning lies behind an intriguing line of research that might also be put to use in the event of a germ-warfare attack." What could possibly go wrong?
"A new report published in The Lancet on Wednesday finds that when it comes to health, quality — not quantity — seems to be more important… The study estimates that 5 million people die every year because of poor-quality health care in low- and middle-income countries. That's significantly more than the 3.6 million people in those countries who die from not having access to care." I'm not sure there's much of a different between those two categories.
How go the Trade Wars? "World shares fell for a fifth straight day on Thursday as investors braced for another escalation in a trade war between the United States and China, while emerging-market currencies paused near 15-month lows."
"Vladimir Putin must take responsibility for the Salisbury Novichok attack, Security Minister Ben Wallace has said."
"A town mayor, who had been accused by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte of being involved in the drug trade, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in a pre-dawn attack in Cebu province." Duterte is someone our president admires.
"About two-thirds of Texas high schools are not following a state law that mandates giving all eligible students the opportunity to register to vote, according to a new report. That means hundreds of thousands of potential voters have been left off the rolls." The fuck. (Grokked from Laura J Nixon)
"When rumors first started circulating that she was flashing the white supremacist sign with her right hand behind Kavanaugh, lots of us - even here at C & L! - said, 'Come on. She's just cold. She's just folding her arms.' Secretly, though, in homes throughout the country, we all started trying to cross our arms with our hand in that position just to see how natural it was... and...it's not." (Grokked in a roundabout way - from an tweet storm about flashing the sign - from Chuck Wendig)
"Booker, D-N.J., broke Senate rules when he questioned Kavanaugh Wednesday night about emails that had been made off-limits by a Republican lawyer, and then released the documents Thursday ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He could lose his committee position or be expelled from the Senate for violating the chamber's rules." Ah, no. First of all the documents were cleared for release before Sen. Booker released them (although he might not have known that). And, yeah, try and get him expelled for that release. See what will happen.
"An audience member had some colorful reactions to President Donald Trump's speech at a campaign rally in Billings, Montana, on Thursday… The unidentified man made several facial expressions as the president delivered his remarks… A woman later approached the man mid-speech and briefly spoke with him before taking his spot in the crowd." It's all about the imaging and if you're loyal enough.
"President Donald Trump sought to heighten the sense of urgency for his base Thursday when he told supporters that if he is impeached, 'it's your fault, "cause you didn't go out to vote."'" Not that he's guilty or anything. "'If the opposite party becomes president, every time before it even starts, before you've even found out whether or not he or she is going to do a great job, they'll say, "We want to impeach him" and you'll impeach him,' Trump said." Dear Mr. President, I refer you to your statements in December of 2016. Also I'll refer you to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who said if Hillary Clinton was elected president he would keep Scalia's SCOTUS seat open for 4 years.
"Donald Trump will not answer federal investigators’ questions, in writing or in person, about whether he tried to block the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, his lawyer has said." Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of, "if he's got nothing to hide why won't he testify?" Remember when the president just couldn't wait to talk with Mueller. Yeah. I guess that dry-run of questioning they did scared the bejesus our of his lawyers.
Heard that Ryan said the president should bring in lie-detectors to the West Wing to look for the op-ed writer. Also rumors the president is considering it. Mole hunt here we come.
Tweet of my heart: @JesseFFerguson 1 HOUR AGO - Kavanaugh confirms he will NOT recuse himself from protecting Trump by denying a Mueller subpoena… 1 HOUR LATER - Trump says to Mueller: I'm not talking to you. You gotta subpoena me.… Weird, huh? (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Linkee-poo for Thursday
Where did all these alligators come from?
"The question is: Who is the senior Trump administration official behind the anonymous New York Times op-ed?" And so begins the Kremlinology (by people who never had to do it before). I wrote about the op-ed last night because it was significant enough to deal with quickly. My final thought, which I added as a comment, is this is cover for the American Operation Hummingbird, hopefully a "velvet" (ie. bloodless) version. That is, the op-ed was not created by the NYTs and was delivered to them by a "Senior Official", but the story it tells is fake. But now Trump has what he needs to begin a mole hunt and root out those deemed "not loyal enough."
McSweeneys' parody of the op-ed, "We still believe utter ruin can be brought to the land through the proper rituals and unhallowed traditions, not by this fly-by-the-seat-of-your-tentacles kind of governing." (Grokked from Neil Gaiman)
"Fall doesn’t technically start for another two and a half weeks. But that doesn’t mean it’s too early to start thinking about the 2018 flu season—including important questions like when you and your family should get your flu shot, how long the season is expected to last, and other critical information—especially after the brutal flu outbreak of 2017-2018. Here’s what you need to know."
"It wasn’t long before a tiny hole was discovered in the Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft docked to the space station. The tiny opening was thought to be the result of damage from a micrometeorite, which isn’t unheard of, and the crew quickly came up with a plan to repair it. Now, days later, Russian space agency Roscosmos says the hole wasn’t made by Mother Nature, but by a person with a drill, and tensions are high." It apparently was made my mistake during manufacture. Waves to my Russian friends.
"Emirates Airline has confirmed that 'about 10 passengers' have fallen ill from an unidentified illness on flight 203, direct from Dubai to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, where the plane is currently being held under quarantine." But who needs public health officials. (Grokked from Dan)
"A man was arrested in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday after repeatedly crashing his truck into a building that housed a television station, apparently to highlight a grievance, police said."
"The new 30-second spot, published on Ted Cruz’s Facebook page, is so heavily edited it’s laughable. It shows a voter asking a question about flag desecration, then jumps to O’Rourke responding, 'I think that there is something inherently American about that, and so I’m grateful that people are willing to do that.'… To get that edit, the Cruz campaign had to cut nearly four minutes of O’Rourke speaking, as well as the full context of the question asked."
"With their party majority in extreme peril in November’s midterm elections, House Republicans are facing a dilemma. While they ran on a pledge to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, support for Obamacare now far exceeds support for the GOP-controlled Congress. Several incumbents have employed a bold strategy: hide the evidence of their position."
"But the California Republican — who, along with his wife, Margaret, was indicted last month on 60 counts related to spending more than $250,000 in campaign cash for personal expenses that included vacations to Italy and Hawaii, dental work, and flying his family’s pet rabbit across the country — may face more scrutiny in the coming months for the 'personal relationships' he had with at least five people on whom prosecutors have alleged he spent campaign donation money." But, wait, I thought he blamed the illegal payments on his wife? So does that mean his wife was paying to support other women to have sex with her husband? I'm so confused (no, not really). "The couple overdrew their bank account more than 1,100 times in a seven-year period." Hey, let's put this guy in charge of the budget committee. (Grokked from Wesley Chu)
Apparently Democratic Judiciary Committee members are releasing some of the documents that are labeled "committee confidential." This could be interesting.
"The question is: Who is the senior Trump administration official behind the anonymous New York Times op-ed?" And so begins the Kremlinology (by people who never had to do it before). I wrote about the op-ed last night because it was significant enough to deal with quickly. My final thought, which I added as a comment, is this is cover for the American Operation Hummingbird, hopefully a "velvet" (ie. bloodless) version. That is, the op-ed was not created by the NYTs and was delivered to them by a "Senior Official", but the story it tells is fake. But now Trump has what he needs to begin a mole hunt and root out those deemed "not loyal enough."
McSweeneys' parody of the op-ed, "We still believe utter ruin can be brought to the land through the proper rituals and unhallowed traditions, not by this fly-by-the-seat-of-your-tentacles kind of governing." (Grokked from Neil Gaiman)
"Fall doesn’t technically start for another two and a half weeks. But that doesn’t mean it’s too early to start thinking about the 2018 flu season—including important questions like when you and your family should get your flu shot, how long the season is expected to last, and other critical information—especially after the brutal flu outbreak of 2017-2018. Here’s what you need to know."
"It wasn’t long before a tiny hole was discovered in the Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft docked to the space station. The tiny opening was thought to be the result of damage from a micrometeorite, which isn’t unheard of, and the crew quickly came up with a plan to repair it. Now, days later, Russian space agency Roscosmos says the hole wasn’t made by Mother Nature, but by a person with a drill, and tensions are high." It apparently was made my mistake during manufacture. Waves to my Russian friends.
"Emirates Airline has confirmed that 'about 10 passengers' have fallen ill from an unidentified illness on flight 203, direct from Dubai to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, where the plane is currently being held under quarantine." But who needs public health officials. (Grokked from Dan)
"A man was arrested in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday after repeatedly crashing his truck into a building that housed a television station, apparently to highlight a grievance, police said."
"The new 30-second spot, published on Ted Cruz’s Facebook page, is so heavily edited it’s laughable. It shows a voter asking a question about flag desecration, then jumps to O’Rourke responding, 'I think that there is something inherently American about that, and so I’m grateful that people are willing to do that.'… To get that edit, the Cruz campaign had to cut nearly four minutes of O’Rourke speaking, as well as the full context of the question asked."
"With their party majority in extreme peril in November’s midterm elections, House Republicans are facing a dilemma. While they ran on a pledge to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, support for Obamacare now far exceeds support for the GOP-controlled Congress. Several incumbents have employed a bold strategy: hide the evidence of their position."
"But the California Republican — who, along with his wife, Margaret, was indicted last month on 60 counts related to spending more than $250,000 in campaign cash for personal expenses that included vacations to Italy and Hawaii, dental work, and flying his family’s pet rabbit across the country — may face more scrutiny in the coming months for the 'personal relationships' he had with at least five people on whom prosecutors have alleged he spent campaign donation money." But, wait, I thought he blamed the illegal payments on his wife? So does that mean his wife was paying to support other women to have sex with her husband? I'm so confused (no, not really). "The couple overdrew their bank account more than 1,100 times in a seven-year period." Hey, let's put this guy in charge of the budget committee. (Grokked from Wesley Chu)
Apparently Democratic Judiciary Committee members are releasing some of the documents that are labeled "committee confidential." This could be interesting.
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Well, someone in the White House knows how to play chess
The NYT editorial all the cool kids are talking about. It's a masterful bit of information warfare. The question, though, is who is it aimed at?
There is the discussion of everything we all can see. The chaos. His inability to think clearly or hold a position longer than a bowel movement. Of which the editorialist calls him a "flip-flopper." There's a tell. Intentionally planted, or a mistake? His love for tyrants and absolute rulers. His disdain for long time allies and his embrace of our enemies. Yes, we all see that.
There is a tribute to McCain which rings hollow. It's a recognition of popularity (and the obvious and overt hagiography) of McCain this past last weekend.
The NYT states this is a senior staffer, and I accept that they verified this. But the questions of motive still remain.
Is this a distraction from Kavanaugh? The waving hand of the stage magician meant to distract you?
Is this an attempt to call off the dogs? A move to allay our worst fears and maybe take off some of the pressure of Mueller's investigation? Maybe blunt the over enthusiasm of the left for the coming election? See, the president won't do the worst things in your imagination, we have people inside who will stop him. If so, I don't buy it. The president has shown his propensity to bulldoze ahead. Yes, the worst will come. It's already here, the stage has been set.
Is this an attempt to pre-re-write history? Again, all in the administration and all the lap dogs will be marked for complicity. Is this a move to leave doubt that maybe some of them aren't so bad? Should we throw them all to the wolves? Surely there are "good people" who "tried their best" among them. Again, I'm not buying it. If you feel such, resign. Do so publicly and with great fanfare. We don't have the function of a parliamentary government to hold votes of no-confidence. The only way to force the issue is to create the Constitutional Crisis we all know is really going on. End the charade, abandon the president, call for impeachment, force the enactment the 25th Amendment.
Is it an attempt to throw themselves on the mercy of the court? "We were with you all along." Again, I don't buy it.
Go peddle crazy somewhere else, we're all full here.
The president will rant and rave. He'll put on a good show and distract us for a few days. Sand will be thrown in the eyes of the charging bull. And the president may survive the mid-term elections. The Democrats will take the House, but by what margin? What about the Senate? How much has this president, the champion the base clamored for since 2004, tarnished the brand of conservatism? Is it on the surface and can be buffed away, or will it involve welding new material?
No, this is disinformation. This is a bold faced attempt to save the president, save the GOP, save their asses from the fire.
I'm not buying it.
"Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright."The president is not a conservative? For some part this is true, however, and this can not be overstated, the GOP is Trump's party. He owns, if not the intellectual course, the rabid base. He owns and represents that 32% of conservative Americans who aren't going anywhere. Trump is a conservative, but here is a way to distance "True Conservatism" from the damage Trump is inflicting on the country. This is the "True Scotsman" fallacy.
"There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more."See, those things conservatives run on are "good" and the "highlights" of his administration.
"But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective."Hi, have you meet conservative talk radio, InfoWars, or Fox News?
There is the discussion of everything we all can see. The chaos. His inability to think clearly or hold a position longer than a bowel movement. Of which the editorialist calls him a "flip-flopper." There's a tell. Intentionally planted, or a mistake? His love for tyrants and absolute rulers. His disdain for long time allies and his embrace of our enemies. Yes, we all see that.
There is a tribute to McCain which rings hollow. It's a recognition of popularity (and the obvious and overt hagiography) of McCain this past last weekend.
"There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans."This is seeing the coming blue wave. If all is true, President Trump will not be the only one sunk by this sea of inequity. The wolves are at the door and they have the scent of the kill. Those associated, who participated, who actively supported and helped bring about this presidency, the appointees, employees, spear carriers and generals will all carry scarlet letters of association.
The NYT states this is a senior staffer, and I accept that they verified this. But the questions of motive still remain.
Is this a distraction from Kavanaugh? The waving hand of the stage magician meant to distract you?
Is this an attempt to call off the dogs? A move to allay our worst fears and maybe take off some of the pressure of Mueller's investigation? Maybe blunt the over enthusiasm of the left for the coming election? See, the president won't do the worst things in your imagination, we have people inside who will stop him. If so, I don't buy it. The president has shown his propensity to bulldoze ahead. Yes, the worst will come. It's already here, the stage has been set.
Is this an attempt to pre-re-write history? Again, all in the administration and all the lap dogs will be marked for complicity. Is this a move to leave doubt that maybe some of them aren't so bad? Should we throw them all to the wolves? Surely there are "good people" who "tried their best" among them. Again, I'm not buying it. If you feel such, resign. Do so publicly and with great fanfare. We don't have the function of a parliamentary government to hold votes of no-confidence. The only way to force the issue is to create the Constitutional Crisis we all know is really going on. End the charade, abandon the president, call for impeachment, force the enactment the 25th Amendment.
Is it an attempt to throw themselves on the mercy of the court? "We were with you all along." Again, I don't buy it.
Go peddle crazy somewhere else, we're all full here.
The president will rant and rave. He'll put on a good show and distract us for a few days. Sand will be thrown in the eyes of the charging bull. And the president may survive the mid-term elections. The Democrats will take the House, but by what margin? What about the Senate? How much has this president, the champion the base clamored for since 2004, tarnished the brand of conservatism? Is it on the surface and can be buffed away, or will it involve welding new material?
No, this is disinformation. This is a bold faced attempt to save the president, save the GOP, save their asses from the fire.
I'm not buying it.
Linkee-poo, times is harder than ever been before
The alligators took a rest, but are back at it.
"Gordon made landfall late Tuesday near the Alabama-Mississippi border with near-hurricane level winds, according to the National Hurricane Center."
"J.R.R. Tolkien fans can get their hands on what might be the late author's final work. The Fall of Gondolin was published August 30 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the US and HarperCollins in the UK. J.R.R. Tolkien died in 1973, but since his death, his son Christopher, now 93, has edited a number of his father's works, including this one." (Grokked from Dan)
Ah, those stuffy lexicographers and their dictionaries, breathing the rarified air of the ivory tower. "So there you have it: you will probably wish to avoid ’till, use ’til advisedly, and use both until and till freely. And if you use till in writing and someone tells you that you have made an error, simply take the extra L off the end of the word and poke them in the eye with it." Yes, Merriam-Webster has been brining their A-Game to social media. (Grokked from Dan)
Ah, digital photography and filmogrophy is wonderful. It's like the transition from nitrate to safety-film. A fantastic solution for the ages. No longer would we lose films to fire or physical decay like the old days. "The problem with LTO (linear tape-open) is obsolescence. Since the beginning, the technology has been on a Moore’s Law–like march that has resulted in a doubling in tape storage densities every 18 to 24 months. As each new generation of LTO comes to market, an older generation of LTO becomes obsolete. LTO manufacturers guarantee at most two generations of backward compatibility. What that means for film archivists with perhaps tens of thousands of LTO tapes on hand is that every few years they must invest millions of dollars in the latest format of tapes and drives and then migrate all the data on their older tapes—or risk losing access to the information altogether." (Grokked from John)
"But this summer, I went back to Campbell for my 45th high school reunion. I wanted to see old friends — and also to look back on the huge economic shifts that had reshaped our lives… Last spring, I retired from full-time work at NPR. But I haven't stopped thinking about the economy, and I can see that the data show inequality is growing among retirees. What happened to Nicolaou and me can tell you a lot about what has changed in just one generation — and for millions of retirees, the changes aren't good." So much to unpack in this story about "going home" (hint, you can never go home). Not the least of which is my rage against the boomer generation. And 45 years is not one generation, it's 2 (I know she meant for her generation, how it's not like their parents). And seriously, retiring in your 50's. I know a few boomers who could do that. I don't know of any X-ers or Millennials who are even dreaming about that (except for the rarified uber-class of tech "pioneers").
"For the first time in Oregon's history, toxins from a nearby algae bloom had made their way into a city's tap water. The danger was limited—toxins were at low enough levels to only pose dangers to vulnerable populations, like children, pets, or nursing mothers." Welcome to global climate change. It's going to fuck us up. We're boned.
"Rachel Martin talks to co-author Jonathan Haidt, who argues in a new book that a culture of 'safetyism' — including safe spaces and trigger warnings — is setting up a generation for failure." While I think there are some legitimate points to be made here, this is one large serving of codswallop. Another goddamn late boomer who just doesn't understand the kids and that the culture has changed. Get with the program, prof, our you'll also be left behind. Here's the thing, growing up we were expected to just accept a certain amount of racism and misogyny as being normal. We were told the fucked-up relationships (abusive, co-dependent, controlling) around us were normal. And the X-ers started with "No." The Millennials (and whatever they end up calling the next generation who are in high school now) moved on to "Fuck no!" So students find the painting of Ulysses as sexist, but you think it's just art. Gee, sorry Johnathon Haidt that the kids aren't accepting your worldview. For someone who talks about the fragility of the ego, yours appears to be awfully fragile. Way to much to unpack without writing a dissertation. As Iniago told us, "there is too much, let me sum up," the world has changed. Your generation had the opportunity to do it in your time. Don't be upset with the kids for actually making the change you should have and not putting up with your bullshit. The kids are all right.
"Remember the stories over the past year or so about mysterious attacks at U.S. embassies harming diplomatic staff and their families? William J. Broad's story in the New York Times today reports that doctors and scientists are now coming to the conclusion that microwave weapon strikes capable of causing “sonic delusions” and brain damage are to blame." Microwave weapons? Gee, he said, where have I heard of that one before? (Waves to my Russian friends) (Grokked from Dan)
"An American soldier killed by an Afghan ally on Monday was the highest-ranking enlisted soldier of a unit that forms the U.S. Army’s newest adviser brigade deployed to Afghanistan, U.S. military officials said. The brigade deployed in February as part of the Trump administration’s latest strategy in America’s longest-running war." With a rundown on how the war goes in Afghanistan.
"But even the president’s deputy press secretary wouldn’t have been able to make that (Woodward) interview happen, because Trump says he never talks to the man." Because the president has no idea just how the hell he should be doing business. And the whole, "I never heard…" falls apart as he admits he did hear about the request and rejected them.
"President Trump has long derided the mainstream media as the “enemy of the people” and lashed out at NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem. On Tuesday, he took his attacks on free speech one step further, suggesting in an interview with a conservative news site that the act of protesting should be illegal." Straight-up banana republic shit.
"Gordon made landfall late Tuesday near the Alabama-Mississippi border with near-hurricane level winds, according to the National Hurricane Center."
"J.R.R. Tolkien fans can get their hands on what might be the late author's final work. The Fall of Gondolin was published August 30 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the US and HarperCollins in the UK. J.R.R. Tolkien died in 1973, but since his death, his son Christopher, now 93, has edited a number of his father's works, including this one." (Grokked from Dan)
Ah, those stuffy lexicographers and their dictionaries, breathing the rarified air of the ivory tower. "So there you have it: you will probably wish to avoid ’till, use ’til advisedly, and use both until and till freely. And if you use till in writing and someone tells you that you have made an error, simply take the extra L off the end of the word and poke them in the eye with it." Yes, Merriam-Webster has been brining their A-Game to social media. (Grokked from Dan)
Ah, digital photography and filmogrophy is wonderful. It's like the transition from nitrate to safety-film. A fantastic solution for the ages. No longer would we lose films to fire or physical decay like the old days. "The problem with LTO (linear tape-open) is obsolescence. Since the beginning, the technology has been on a Moore’s Law–like march that has resulted in a doubling in tape storage densities every 18 to 24 months. As each new generation of LTO comes to market, an older generation of LTO becomes obsolete. LTO manufacturers guarantee at most two generations of backward compatibility. What that means for film archivists with perhaps tens of thousands of LTO tapes on hand is that every few years they must invest millions of dollars in the latest format of tapes and drives and then migrate all the data on their older tapes—or risk losing access to the information altogether." (Grokked from John)
"But this summer, I went back to Campbell for my 45th high school reunion. I wanted to see old friends — and also to look back on the huge economic shifts that had reshaped our lives… Last spring, I retired from full-time work at NPR. But I haven't stopped thinking about the economy, and I can see that the data show inequality is growing among retirees. What happened to Nicolaou and me can tell you a lot about what has changed in just one generation — and for millions of retirees, the changes aren't good." So much to unpack in this story about "going home" (hint, you can never go home). Not the least of which is my rage against the boomer generation. And 45 years is not one generation, it's 2 (I know she meant for her generation, how it's not like their parents). And seriously, retiring in your 50's. I know a few boomers who could do that. I don't know of any X-ers or Millennials who are even dreaming about that (except for the rarified uber-class of tech "pioneers").
"For the first time in Oregon's history, toxins from a nearby algae bloom had made their way into a city's tap water. The danger was limited—toxins were at low enough levels to only pose dangers to vulnerable populations, like children, pets, or nursing mothers." Welcome to global climate change. It's going to fuck us up. We're boned.
"Rachel Martin talks to co-author Jonathan Haidt, who argues in a new book that a culture of 'safetyism' — including safe spaces and trigger warnings — is setting up a generation for failure." While I think there are some legitimate points to be made here, this is one large serving of codswallop. Another goddamn late boomer who just doesn't understand the kids and that the culture has changed. Get with the program, prof, our you'll also be left behind. Here's the thing, growing up we were expected to just accept a certain amount of racism and misogyny as being normal. We were told the fucked-up relationships (abusive, co-dependent, controlling) around us were normal. And the X-ers started with "No." The Millennials (and whatever they end up calling the next generation who are in high school now) moved on to "Fuck no!" So students find the painting of Ulysses as sexist, but you think it's just art. Gee, sorry Johnathon Haidt that the kids aren't accepting your worldview. For someone who talks about the fragility of the ego, yours appears to be awfully fragile. Way to much to unpack without writing a dissertation. As Iniago told us, "there is too much, let me sum up," the world has changed. Your generation had the opportunity to do it in your time. Don't be upset with the kids for actually making the change you should have and not putting up with your bullshit. The kids are all right.
"Remember the stories over the past year or so about mysterious attacks at U.S. embassies harming diplomatic staff and their families? William J. Broad's story in the New York Times today reports that doctors and scientists are now coming to the conclusion that microwave weapon strikes capable of causing “sonic delusions” and brain damage are to blame." Microwave weapons? Gee, he said, where have I heard of that one before? (Waves to my Russian friends) (Grokked from Dan)
"An American soldier killed by an Afghan ally on Monday was the highest-ranking enlisted soldier of a unit that forms the U.S. Army’s newest adviser brigade deployed to Afghanistan, U.S. military officials said. The brigade deployed in February as part of the Trump administration’s latest strategy in America’s longest-running war." With a rundown on how the war goes in Afghanistan.
"But even the president’s deputy press secretary wouldn’t have been able to make that (Woodward) interview happen, because Trump says he never talks to the man." Because the president has no idea just how the hell he should be doing business. And the whole, "I never heard…" falls apart as he admits he did hear about the request and rejected them.
"President Trump has long derided the mainstream media as the “enemy of the people” and lashed out at NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem. On Tuesday, he took his attacks on free speech one step further, suggesting in an interview with a conservative news site that the act of protesting should be illegal." Straight-up banana republic shit.
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Linkee-poo on a Tuesday Monday
Jim Wright on Labor Day, "Better, progress, those words are defined very, very differently by those who live in the manor house and to those who labor in the fields." And I'll just add here that when Jim says that for our advancements (40 hour work week, weekend, holidays, improved pay, everything labor has gained in the last 150 years) that people paid with their lives, he's not only talking about dying in the mills from being crushed, poisoned, or mangled, he also means that to win these thing, some people where shot. In some mill towns as workers striked for better conditions, the boss would hire the Pinkertons (or another private army) to roll into the company town with a gatling gun on a flatbed car and fire indiscriminately into the company town. That's how they'd "break" the strike. And in general we don't teach kids that history. It is no aberration that the middle-class dream, wages, and benefits all started going downhill in the late 60s as unions began their decline. It's not a coincidence that real wages haven't increased since the 80s when union busting was elected into the White House (which is doubly ironic as Reagan was a union leader at one time). I have my own criticism of unions, but I can tell you the best job I had, the one I really hoped to retire from, was a union shop. No kings or landlords.
"NASA will pay you up to $750,000 to come up with a way to turn CO2 into other molecules on Mars." Get cracking, McGee.
"Japan has been hit by its strongest typhoon in 25 years, with officials warning more than a million people to evacuate their homes." Japan just can catch a break this year.
"Tropical Storm Gordon will likely strengthen into a hurricane before hitting the northern Gulf Coast Tuesday night, forecasters say, urging people along the coast from Louisiana to Florida to beware high winds and a dangerous storm surge." If Louisiana and the Gulf Coast can't withstand a Category 1 hurricane hit some 13 years after Katrina we do not deserve to lead the free world.
Why you're not hearing about massive Obamacare premium hikes this year. "The price of a 2019 policy sold on the ACA exchanges will increase less than 4 percent according to an analysis of preliminary filings from insurers in all 50 states by ACASignups.net, a web site and blog run by analyst Charles Gaba that tracks ACA enrollment and insurer participation." Despite all that conservatives have done to weaken and kill the ACA, it looks like the market is finding its footing.
"The foundation of the lawsuit is a provision in last year’s mammoth tax bill that eliminated the tax penalty on Americans who don’t have health insurance, but still preserved the technical requirement that people have coverage… Now in the Texas case, the 20 governors and attorneys general argue the requirement is no longer constitutional because the tax penalty has been eliminated." I would say, "Good luck with that" since it's laughable on its face, but this is Texas.
"The price of insulin in the U.S. has more than doubled since 2012. That has put the life-saving hormone out of reach for some people with diabetes, like Smith-Holt's son Alec Raeshawn Smith." (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"With his decision two summers ago to not stand for the national anthem, Colin Kaepernick became the face of a protest movement in the NFL against racial injustice and police brutality. Now, the former quarterback has become a face of one of the most iconic advertising campaigns in the history of sports: Nike's 'Just Do It' campaign." Which has led to many conservative mutilating their own clothing by cutting off the Nike logo, to own the libs or something like that. Reminds me of the time when the French didn't support our invasion of Iraq which led to "Freedom Fries" and conservatives emptying DC liquor stores of the French wine stocks and dumping them down the storm sewer. You know, after they paid for them. That'll teach 'em.
"The Taliban on Tuesday released a statement announcing that Haqqani had died after a long illness at the age of 72." The founder of the Haqqani Network is dead. Unfortunately his son is an even bigger asshole.
Because the GOP is not done fucking the country over, they are looking to make their tax cuts of last year permanent. Note, they couldn't make them permanent last year because it screws up government financing, so it could only be a "temporary" measure because of the rules. But, now there's some concern over the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap. "Largely because of the SALT cap dilemma, House Republicans are hitting the pause button on 'Tax Reform 2.0' legislation, according to three GOP aides who requested anonymity to speak about the matter. The lawmakers want to weigh the political benefits and risks of a vote on the bill in the coming weeks, and assess if they have enough support to pass it." Of course the corporate and high-income tax cuts were permanent. So they can afford to screw over the middle-class. Again.
Speaking of fucking the country over… "The Senate Judiciary Committee begins confirmation hearings Tuesday on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Republicans, who control the Senate, hope to confirm Kavanaugh and cement a 5-4 conservative majority on the high court before its new term begins next month."
Despite what you may have heard, "As both parties begin their final post-Labor Day sprint to Election Day, there are concrete signs that Democratic voters are fired up heading into the midterm elections… Nowhere is that more evident than in the majority of states that have already held primaries. There's been massive increases in Democratic turnout while often a minimal uptick — or even noticeable dip — in turnout among Republican voters." I've seen several stories about how Democratic turnout was down, but any data I've seen shows the exact opposite. Dear Democrats, as one of the first measures you should do once you're back in power is to expand the voting franchise by reversing the past decades worth of GOP mismanagement when it comes to voting. Conservatives will scream about "illegal aliens" voting and voter fraud, so you better be prepared with the actual statistics and witty rejoinders.
"Eddie Devine voted for President Donald Trump because he thought he would be good for American business. Now, he says, the Trump administration’s restrictions on seasonal foreign labor may put him out of business." He says he was tricked by the Devil. No, fucker, you scammed yourself. You thought all those policies would only hurt everyone else, and because you were "loyal" and a "good person" you wouldn't be affected. Well, asshole, the joke is on you. Guess you're going to have to pay competitive wages to get Americans to work for you (or hire "illegals", which is what you'll end up doing). (Grokked from Vincent O'Conner)
"And so you can't always get what you want, but those who believe the Trump-Russia scandal is a big deal with sweeping implications for the 45th president and American democracy may have got what they needed with news Friday afternoon of a guilty plea by a GOP political consultant named W. Samuel Patten… Who is Sam Patten? That's what a lot of people were asking on Friday afternoon. Seems there's a lot to unpack here." And Capone was taken down by his bookkeeper. Thats the problem with people like Trump, they don't take care of the big people, and they ignore the small people. And it's the small people who will fuck yo over. Every single time. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
And apparently it's worse than we thought. "President Donald Trump's closest aides have taken extraordinary measures in the White House to try to stop what they saw as his most dangerous impulses, going so far as to swipe and hide papers from his desk so he wouldn't sign them, according to a new book from legendary journalist Bob Woodward." Bob is out with a new book this month and I predict he will sell millions and be pilloried by the president.
"NASA will pay you up to $750,000 to come up with a way to turn CO2 into other molecules on Mars." Get cracking, McGee.
"Japan has been hit by its strongest typhoon in 25 years, with officials warning more than a million people to evacuate their homes." Japan just can catch a break this year.
"Tropical Storm Gordon will likely strengthen into a hurricane before hitting the northern Gulf Coast Tuesday night, forecasters say, urging people along the coast from Louisiana to Florida to beware high winds and a dangerous storm surge." If Louisiana and the Gulf Coast can't withstand a Category 1 hurricane hit some 13 years after Katrina we do not deserve to lead the free world.
Why you're not hearing about massive Obamacare premium hikes this year. "The price of a 2019 policy sold on the ACA exchanges will increase less than 4 percent according to an analysis of preliminary filings from insurers in all 50 states by ACASignups.net, a web site and blog run by analyst Charles Gaba that tracks ACA enrollment and insurer participation." Despite all that conservatives have done to weaken and kill the ACA, it looks like the market is finding its footing.
"The foundation of the lawsuit is a provision in last year’s mammoth tax bill that eliminated the tax penalty on Americans who don’t have health insurance, but still preserved the technical requirement that people have coverage… Now in the Texas case, the 20 governors and attorneys general argue the requirement is no longer constitutional because the tax penalty has been eliminated." I would say, "Good luck with that" since it's laughable on its face, but this is Texas.
"The price of insulin in the U.S. has more than doubled since 2012. That has put the life-saving hormone out of reach for some people with diabetes, like Smith-Holt's son Alec Raeshawn Smith." (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"With his decision two summers ago to not stand for the national anthem, Colin Kaepernick became the face of a protest movement in the NFL against racial injustice and police brutality. Now, the former quarterback has become a face of one of the most iconic advertising campaigns in the history of sports: Nike's 'Just Do It' campaign." Which has led to many conservative mutilating their own clothing by cutting off the Nike logo, to own the libs or something like that. Reminds me of the time when the French didn't support our invasion of Iraq which led to "Freedom Fries" and conservatives emptying DC liquor stores of the French wine stocks and dumping them down the storm sewer. You know, after they paid for them. That'll teach 'em.
"The Taliban on Tuesday released a statement announcing that Haqqani had died after a long illness at the age of 72." The founder of the Haqqani Network is dead. Unfortunately his son is an even bigger asshole.
Because the GOP is not done fucking the country over, they are looking to make their tax cuts of last year permanent. Note, they couldn't make them permanent last year because it screws up government financing, so it could only be a "temporary" measure because of the rules. But, now there's some concern over the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap. "Largely because of the SALT cap dilemma, House Republicans are hitting the pause button on 'Tax Reform 2.0' legislation, according to three GOP aides who requested anonymity to speak about the matter. The lawmakers want to weigh the political benefits and risks of a vote on the bill in the coming weeks, and assess if they have enough support to pass it." Of course the corporate and high-income tax cuts were permanent. So they can afford to screw over the middle-class. Again.
Speaking of fucking the country over… "The Senate Judiciary Committee begins confirmation hearings Tuesday on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Republicans, who control the Senate, hope to confirm Kavanaugh and cement a 5-4 conservative majority on the high court before its new term begins next month."
Despite what you may have heard, "As both parties begin their final post-Labor Day sprint to Election Day, there are concrete signs that Democratic voters are fired up heading into the midterm elections… Nowhere is that more evident than in the majority of states that have already held primaries. There's been massive increases in Democratic turnout while often a minimal uptick — or even noticeable dip — in turnout among Republican voters." I've seen several stories about how Democratic turnout was down, but any data I've seen shows the exact opposite. Dear Democrats, as one of the first measures you should do once you're back in power is to expand the voting franchise by reversing the past decades worth of GOP mismanagement when it comes to voting. Conservatives will scream about "illegal aliens" voting and voter fraud, so you better be prepared with the actual statistics and witty rejoinders.
"Eddie Devine voted for President Donald Trump because he thought he would be good for American business. Now, he says, the Trump administration’s restrictions on seasonal foreign labor may put him out of business." He says he was tricked by the Devil. No, fucker, you scammed yourself. You thought all those policies would only hurt everyone else, and because you were "loyal" and a "good person" you wouldn't be affected. Well, asshole, the joke is on you. Guess you're going to have to pay competitive wages to get Americans to work for you (or hire "illegals", which is what you'll end up doing). (Grokked from Vincent O'Conner)
"And so you can't always get what you want, but those who believe the Trump-Russia scandal is a big deal with sweeping implications for the 45th president and American democracy may have got what they needed with news Friday afternoon of a guilty plea by a GOP political consultant named W. Samuel Patten… Who is Sam Patten? That's what a lot of people were asking on Friday afternoon. Seems there's a lot to unpack here." And Capone was taken down by his bookkeeper. Thats the problem with people like Trump, they don't take care of the big people, and they ignore the small people. And it's the small people who will fuck yo over. Every single time. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
And apparently it's worse than we thought. "President Donald Trump's closest aides have taken extraordinary measures in the White House to try to stop what they saw as his most dangerous impulses, going so far as to swipe and hide papers from his desk so he wouldn't sign them, according to a new book from legendary journalist Bob Woodward." Bob is out with a new book this month and I predict he will sell millions and be pilloried by the president.
Sunday, September 2, 2018
Linkee-poo should've worshipped her sooner
Have a great Labor Day, for those of you in the US. Remember that Labor Day came about during the fight for human working conditions, which were bitterly fought against the capitalists.
"With Martian skies finally clearing after a massive dust storm, NASA engineers have their fingers crossed that the Opportunity rover will soon phone home." Come on Oppy!
"Ever since humans learned to wrest food from soil, creatures like the corn earworm, the grain weevil and the bean fly have dined on our agricultural bounty. Worldwide, insect pests consume up to 20 percent of the plants that humans grow for food, and that amount will increase as global warming makes bugs hungrier, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science." If this keeps on going, we're going to have to terraform the Earth.
"Upon finding the source of the leak, a 2-millimeter (0.08-inch) hole in the orbital compartment of the Soyuz MS-09, astronaut Alexander Gerst from the European Space Agency plugged it with his thumb." Fixed it!
"In Lafayette, Louisiana, west of New Orleans, the president of the local public library board resigned amid debate over plans to hold 'Drag Queen Story Hour' and Mayor Joel Robideaux has indicated he may seek to cancel the Oct. 6 program."
"The Catholic Church in Australia has formally rejected a landmark inquiry's recommendation that priests should be forced to report sexual abuse disclosed during confession."
"Canada and the United States will make a final push to iron out differences on a pact to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Friday, with Mexico on standby to return to talks aimed at ending a year of hard-fought negotiations."
"Heading into the Labor Day holiday weekend, the White House is preparing to announce new policy aimed at expanding access to retirement plans for small businesses, the administration announced Thursday evening." Basically open up the 401(k) market to multiple business plans (say like your chamber of commerce running the 401(k) and everybody's business uses their plan). Just another reminder that the 401(k) system was never meant for the middle and poor classes.
"A Utah senator has written a formal letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking it to 'reconsider the competitive effects of Google's conduct in search and digital advertising.'" Totally not overreaching at all.
"Glendale, Arizona preacher Brother Dean Saxton makes it a habit to stand outside local high schools and loudly condemn students and members of the LGBT community. ABC15 reports he often also holds a sign that reads, “You deserve to be raped.”">"Glendale, Arizona preacher Brother Dean Saxton makes it a habit to stand outside local high schools and loudly condemn students and members of the LGBT community. ABC15 reports he often also holds a sign that reads, 'You deserve to be raped.'" Well what did he think was going to happen going out dressed like that. (Grokked from Chang)
"Idaho Nazis. I hate Idaho Nazis… These assholes used a mocking dialect and jungle noises while impersonating the Florida democratic candidate for governor, Andrew Gillum, in robocalls made to voters in Tallahassee." Fucking Nazis. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"President Donald Trump reportedly joked that White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was 'having a nervous breakdown' as she stared at him when he refused to answer whether former Sen. John McCain would have been a better president than former President Barack Obama." That's rich coming from the president who ordered the flag over the White House raised to full staff and refuses to answer any questions about McCain.
"Washington (CNN)Prosecutors Ryan Dickey and Brian Richardson are no longer working for the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, the Justice Department confirmed." Let the prognostication begin!
"Trump threatens to 'get involved' with Justice Department and FBI - but claims Jeff Sessions' job is safe for now." There's a reason why the DoJ is "independent" of the White House. I believe the president is feeling the heat.
"The Trump administration is withholding more than 100,000 pages of Brett Kavanaugh’s records from the Bush White House on the basis of presidential privilege ahead of the Supreme Court nominee’s confirmation hearing." No, this is not normal. If you can do the time, don't do the crime. Or, if you can't stand the transparency, you shouldn't accept or seek the nomination. And in this case I did mean to equate crime to this nomination. That was intentional. (Grokked from Ken McConnell)
"The president of the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) said Friday that President Trump’s reelection campaign has taken an 'inexperienced volunteer' off the road after putting his hand of a photographer’s lens to prevent him from photographing a protester." (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"But, Mike Podhorzer, AFL-CIO’s political director, suggests that if we want to have a better understanding of white, non-college educated voters, we need to stop lumping them into one, catch-all category. What really distinguishes a Trump-supporting white voter from one who doesn’t isn’t education or even gender, it's whether or not that voter is evangelical." A lot of number crunching of some different polls with the conclusion that Trump's non-college white support was actually non-college white evangelical support. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon… also I can't believe I wasn't following Amy Walter already)
"With Martian skies finally clearing after a massive dust storm, NASA engineers have their fingers crossed that the Opportunity rover will soon phone home." Come on Oppy!
"Ever since humans learned to wrest food from soil, creatures like the corn earworm, the grain weevil and the bean fly have dined on our agricultural bounty. Worldwide, insect pests consume up to 20 percent of the plants that humans grow for food, and that amount will increase as global warming makes bugs hungrier, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science." If this keeps on going, we're going to have to terraform the Earth.
"Upon finding the source of the leak, a 2-millimeter (0.08-inch) hole in the orbital compartment of the Soyuz MS-09, astronaut Alexander Gerst from the European Space Agency plugged it with his thumb." Fixed it!
"In Lafayette, Louisiana, west of New Orleans, the president of the local public library board resigned amid debate over plans to hold 'Drag Queen Story Hour' and Mayor Joel Robideaux has indicated he may seek to cancel the Oct. 6 program."
"The Catholic Church in Australia has formally rejected a landmark inquiry's recommendation that priests should be forced to report sexual abuse disclosed during confession."
"Canada and the United States will make a final push to iron out differences on a pact to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Friday, with Mexico on standby to return to talks aimed at ending a year of hard-fought negotiations."
"Heading into the Labor Day holiday weekend, the White House is preparing to announce new policy aimed at expanding access to retirement plans for small businesses, the administration announced Thursday evening." Basically open up the 401(k) market to multiple business plans (say like your chamber of commerce running the 401(k) and everybody's business uses their plan). Just another reminder that the 401(k) system was never meant for the middle and poor classes.
"A Utah senator has written a formal letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking it to 'reconsider the competitive effects of Google's conduct in search and digital advertising.'" Totally not overreaching at all.
"Glendale, Arizona preacher Brother Dean Saxton makes it a habit to stand outside local high schools and loudly condemn students and members of the LGBT community. ABC15 reports he often also holds a sign that reads, “You deserve to be raped.”">"Glendale, Arizona preacher Brother Dean Saxton makes it a habit to stand outside local high schools and loudly condemn students and members of the LGBT community. ABC15 reports he often also holds a sign that reads, 'You deserve to be raped.'" Well what did he think was going to happen going out dressed like that. (Grokked from Chang)
"Idaho Nazis. I hate Idaho Nazis… These assholes used a mocking dialect and jungle noises while impersonating the Florida democratic candidate for governor, Andrew Gillum, in robocalls made to voters in Tallahassee." Fucking Nazis. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"President Donald Trump reportedly joked that White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was 'having a nervous breakdown' as she stared at him when he refused to answer whether former Sen. John McCain would have been a better president than former President Barack Obama." That's rich coming from the president who ordered the flag over the White House raised to full staff and refuses to answer any questions about McCain.
"Washington (CNN)Prosecutors Ryan Dickey and Brian Richardson are no longer working for the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, the Justice Department confirmed." Let the prognostication begin!
"Trump threatens to 'get involved' with Justice Department and FBI - but claims Jeff Sessions' job is safe for now." There's a reason why the DoJ is "independent" of the White House. I believe the president is feeling the heat.
"The Trump administration is withholding more than 100,000 pages of Brett Kavanaugh’s records from the Bush White House on the basis of presidential privilege ahead of the Supreme Court nominee’s confirmation hearing." No, this is not normal. If you can do the time, don't do the crime. Or, if you can't stand the transparency, you shouldn't accept or seek the nomination. And in this case I did mean to equate crime to this nomination. That was intentional. (Grokked from Ken McConnell)
"The president of the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) said Friday that President Trump’s reelection campaign has taken an 'inexperienced volunteer' off the road after putting his hand of a photographer’s lens to prevent him from photographing a protester." (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"But, Mike Podhorzer, AFL-CIO’s political director, suggests that if we want to have a better understanding of white, non-college educated voters, we need to stop lumping them into one, catch-all category. What really distinguishes a Trump-supporting white voter from one who doesn’t isn’t education or even gender, it's whether or not that voter is evangelical." A lot of number crunching of some different polls with the conclusion that Trump's non-college white support was actually non-college white evangelical support. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon… also I can't believe I wasn't following Amy Walter already)
Friday, August 31, 2018
Linkee-poo for a Friday
Now dealing with the alligators I had to put on hold to deal with the other alligators demanding immediate service. So, progress?
"Doctors currently advise men and women with no family history of colon cancer or other risk factors to start undergoing screening at age 50, and sooner for those deemed more at risk. But this sweeping guideline does not account for individual genetic and lifestyle differences. To calculate the ideal age for the first screening, researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and their colleagues analyzed patient data… The results suggest that 15 percent of men with no family history of the disease should start getting scoped before age 45, whereas half of women with no family history could wait until they are at least 56—and 10 percent of those could start as late as 64." Fuck cancer (and yes, I should schedule one soon).
"A hospital in Texas has cut ties with a nurse who apparently posted about a young patient with the measles in a Facebook group dedicated to 'anti-vaxxers,' people who reject the scientific evidence of the safety and effectiveness of vaccines." HIPAA is a bitch. I have several posts that I'm waiting a sufficient amount of time before releasing them so that you won't know which patient I'm talking about (the others I've posted I've been able to change enough that you couldn't tie them to a single patient). Sometimes it's also easier to "anonymize" information after you let it sit for a while. But here's the real secret, HIPAA is often just a convenient excuse to remove troublesome employees. I have a feeling it was more about the shock of 1) having a medical employee as an anti-vaxxer and 2) the "swabbing the mouth" comment would send any infection control expert through the roof. Also, get the damn vaccinations.
"In 2010, David French and his wife traveled to Ethiopia to pick up their baby girl. He writes that he was full of hope at that time about expanding his family in this way - adopting a child from a different country, of a different race." And then reality hit. Well, the reality of America's racism hit.
"A pair of recent, high-profile news stories are highlighting the way workplace lawsuits and culture increasingly are influenced by surreptitious recordings." And here I will tell you the advice I gave my fellow councilmen back in 2005, always consider that someone is recording you at all times (we had an issue with our local cable company not being prompt to turn on our broadcast, or they may turn on the microphones 10 minutes before the broadcast, sending out our conversations before the meeting starts. Some people were embarrassed.
Ah, the debates about thinning forests and management of timberlands is coming back up because of the record fires. Didn't we do this before? "'The biggest enemy of good forest management, especially fire management, is budget cuts,' says forest management consultant Rich Armstrong." Yep.
"Pennsylvania ordered a lockdown Wednesday of its entire state prison system after a number of staff became ill from suspected exposure to tainted synthetic drugs, an incident that comes as five inmates have died from overdoses in Arkansas and dozens were sickened in Ohio under similar circumstances."
"Once the impact of inflation is included, ordinary Americans’ hourly earnings are lower than they were a year ago." This is my shocked face. But you know what, the Trumpers still having figured out they've been had and possibly never will. Even without the tax cuts, at "full-employment" wages should be rising at a good clip and if you listen to enough economy programs you'll hear how economists are so perplexed because of it and (without doing actual research) give various excuses. The reason is America is being fleeced.
"After decades of research and debate, the EPA was on the cusp of banning all use of chlorpyrifos, a poison that attacks the nervous system. But in 2017, then-EPA administrator Scott Pruitt delayed a decision by five years. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports that fight is part of a larger battle over the use of scientific studies and industry pressure." Yes, we're being killed by out "better living through chemistry" industry. It's just killing mostly poor people, and the rich and powerful haven't seen it affect their lives yet.
"In recent months, Bank of America has been accused of freezing or threatening to freeze customers’ accounts after asking about their legal status in the U.S.. In July, the Washington Post reported that multiple customers had been locked out of their accounts after Bank of America questioned whether the account holders were U.S. citizens or dual citizens." You do not need to be a citizen to open a bank account in America. The deprivations and crimes of the Nazis were enabled with the willing participation of millions and the quiet assent of millions more. Many of whom found their own ways to harass and injure Jews and the minorities without any direction from above. (Grokked from Seanan McGuire)
"The Postal Service apologized on Thursday for 'inappropriately' releasing a cache of sensitive personal and background information about a congressional candidate." Personnel files are not subject to FOIA requests. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"Some Americans of Mexican heritage are finding that their passports being denied as the government questions their birth certificates." It was never about "illegal immigrants." So we're passed the "When they came for…" stage. They will come for everybody, eventually. Their politics require a scapegoat and a continuing process of "Us vs Them". So you may be on the inside at first, but eventually they'll get to you.
"President Trump appears to be blaming China for derailing a U.S.-North Korea rapprochement, implying that it's placing 'tremendous pressure' on Pyongyang as a result of ongoing trade disputes between Washington and Beijing." Other countries have their own agendas? Shocked, shocked I am…
"White House counsel Don McGahn is resigning this autumn after a tumultuous stretch as President Trump's in-house lawyer." Rumor is he was planning on resigning, but was surprised by the president's tweet.
"With vacancies abounding in the White House and more departures on the horizon, there is growing concern among Trump allies that the brain drain at the center of the administration could hardly come at a more perilous time. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s swirling probe of Russian election interference and potential obstruction of justice by Trump has reached ever closer to the Oval Office, and the upcoming midterm elections could grant his political adversaries the power of subpoena or, more worryingly, the votes to attempt impeachment." (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"Doctors currently advise men and women with no family history of colon cancer or other risk factors to start undergoing screening at age 50, and sooner for those deemed more at risk. But this sweeping guideline does not account for individual genetic and lifestyle differences. To calculate the ideal age for the first screening, researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and their colleagues analyzed patient data… The results suggest that 15 percent of men with no family history of the disease should start getting scoped before age 45, whereas half of women with no family history could wait until they are at least 56—and 10 percent of those could start as late as 64." Fuck cancer (and yes, I should schedule one soon).
"A hospital in Texas has cut ties with a nurse who apparently posted about a young patient with the measles in a Facebook group dedicated to 'anti-vaxxers,' people who reject the scientific evidence of the safety and effectiveness of vaccines." HIPAA is a bitch. I have several posts that I'm waiting a sufficient amount of time before releasing them so that you won't know which patient I'm talking about (the others I've posted I've been able to change enough that you couldn't tie them to a single patient). Sometimes it's also easier to "anonymize" information after you let it sit for a while. But here's the real secret, HIPAA is often just a convenient excuse to remove troublesome employees. I have a feeling it was more about the shock of 1) having a medical employee as an anti-vaxxer and 2) the "swabbing the mouth" comment would send any infection control expert through the roof. Also, get the damn vaccinations.
"In 2010, David French and his wife traveled to Ethiopia to pick up their baby girl. He writes that he was full of hope at that time about expanding his family in this way - adopting a child from a different country, of a different race." And then reality hit. Well, the reality of America's racism hit.
"A pair of recent, high-profile news stories are highlighting the way workplace lawsuits and culture increasingly are influenced by surreptitious recordings." And here I will tell you the advice I gave my fellow councilmen back in 2005, always consider that someone is recording you at all times (we had an issue with our local cable company not being prompt to turn on our broadcast, or they may turn on the microphones 10 minutes before the broadcast, sending out our conversations before the meeting starts. Some people were embarrassed.
Ah, the debates about thinning forests and management of timberlands is coming back up because of the record fires. Didn't we do this before? "'The biggest enemy of good forest management, especially fire management, is budget cuts,' says forest management consultant Rich Armstrong." Yep.
"Pennsylvania ordered a lockdown Wednesday of its entire state prison system after a number of staff became ill from suspected exposure to tainted synthetic drugs, an incident that comes as five inmates have died from overdoses in Arkansas and dozens were sickened in Ohio under similar circumstances."
"Once the impact of inflation is included, ordinary Americans’ hourly earnings are lower than they were a year ago." This is my shocked face. But you know what, the Trumpers still having figured out they've been had and possibly never will. Even without the tax cuts, at "full-employment" wages should be rising at a good clip and if you listen to enough economy programs you'll hear how economists are so perplexed because of it and (without doing actual research) give various excuses. The reason is America is being fleeced.
"After decades of research and debate, the EPA was on the cusp of banning all use of chlorpyrifos, a poison that attacks the nervous system. But in 2017, then-EPA administrator Scott Pruitt delayed a decision by five years. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports that fight is part of a larger battle over the use of scientific studies and industry pressure." Yes, we're being killed by out "better living through chemistry" industry. It's just killing mostly poor people, and the rich and powerful haven't seen it affect their lives yet.
"In recent months, Bank of America has been accused of freezing or threatening to freeze customers’ accounts after asking about their legal status in the U.S.. In July, the Washington Post reported that multiple customers had been locked out of their accounts after Bank of America questioned whether the account holders were U.S. citizens or dual citizens." You do not need to be a citizen to open a bank account in America. The deprivations and crimes of the Nazis were enabled with the willing participation of millions and the quiet assent of millions more. Many of whom found their own ways to harass and injure Jews and the minorities without any direction from above. (Grokked from Seanan McGuire)
"The Postal Service apologized on Thursday for 'inappropriately' releasing a cache of sensitive personal and background information about a congressional candidate." Personnel files are not subject to FOIA requests. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"Some Americans of Mexican heritage are finding that their passports being denied as the government questions their birth certificates." It was never about "illegal immigrants." So we're passed the "When they came for…" stage. They will come for everybody, eventually. Their politics require a scapegoat and a continuing process of "Us vs Them". So you may be on the inside at first, but eventually they'll get to you.
"President Trump appears to be blaming China for derailing a U.S.-North Korea rapprochement, implying that it's placing 'tremendous pressure' on Pyongyang as a result of ongoing trade disputes between Washington and Beijing." Other countries have their own agendas? Shocked, shocked I am…
"White House counsel Don McGahn is resigning this autumn after a tumultuous stretch as President Trump's in-house lawyer." Rumor is he was planning on resigning, but was surprised by the president's tweet.
"With vacancies abounding in the White House and more departures on the horizon, there is growing concern among Trump allies that the brain drain at the center of the administration could hardly come at a more perilous time. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s swirling probe of Russian election interference and potential obstruction of justice by Trump has reached ever closer to the Oval Office, and the upcoming midterm elections could grant his political adversaries the power of subpoena or, more worryingly, the votes to attempt impeachment." (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
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