Halfway through the week, halfway through the month and (almost) halfway through the year.
Fun times!
More, in ways Yellowstone will mess with you!
Outside a closed Yellowstone, a town is cut off by massive flooding
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/06/14/outside-closed-yellowstone-town-is-cut-off-by-massive-flooding/
Yikes indeed.
Palantir, the all-seeing US tech company, could soon have the data of millions of NHS patients. My response? Yikes!
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/14/palantir-the-all-seeing-us-tech-company-could-soon-have-the-data-of-millions-of-nhs-patients-my-response-yikes
Stonks
We’re in a pivotal week for the economy. Here’s what you need to know
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/14/politics/inflation-rate-hikes-stock-market-economy-what-matters/index.html
LOL wut?
Losers
Whoa!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/14/extreme-heat-humidity-100m-americans-stay-indoors
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/14/extreme-heat-humidity-100m-americans-stay-indoors
Stay cool, kids!
Ignorance has always passed for tough in our society.
Sorry Pat. One would think that proud mom of boys would have noticed that Buzz, like all male “action” toys has no genitals.
I think having someone who is not a convicted coke dealer as Buzz might work out and be less ironic.
…the peter thiel/NHS thing is…well it might not be as bad an idea as the we’re-sticking-immigrants-on-planes-to-rwanda effort that only didn’t get started yesterday because (irony of ironies) the european court of human rights managed to intervene at the last minute
…but…it’s right up there?
…there just isn’t a reason for the NHS to offer personally identifying data about anyone for sale…as far as I know any & all legit research would need that stuff to be anonymized…but I remember talking to people (maybe last year?) about how weird it was that the only opt-out the NHS offered was for the personally-indentifying stuff…not that being the default with an opt out entirely should you want to
…& that seemed like it was sketchy…before peter-fucking-thiel wobbled his sorry ass into the mix?
Just to have Thiel name his company “Palantir” is such Nazi-level “Are we the baddies?” branding. Opening with pure evil is a real choice on his part.
And of course the NHS is going to collect that data and of course Thiel will get his hands on it and I suspect, magically, that they’ll find that a) NHS isn’t working efficiently in their eyes and b) somehow mostly immigrants and minorities are the ones clogging up the system. It’ll be a win-win for conservatives, I just have this feeling.
…sadly I think that would be, as they say, on the money
…the rwanda thing is a pretty clear example of how they think if they just go ahead with something before any confirmation that they aren’t allowed to then they’ll get their way
…same as the NI protocol stuff in a lot of ways…they know their pretexts are thin but that’s not what they give a shit about…they actually tried to argue that lawyers acting for illegal immigrants are colluding with criminals who traffic them…by which logic the pro-brexit stance of the party is arguably a collusion with…well…russia
…there’s no way in which handing forcibly sending them to rwanda is the only (let alone best) thing they can do to address the issues they claim it’s aimed at…any more than their red lane/green lane proposal for trade with NI is workable in some way that the EU’s offer of a fast-tracking system wouldn’t have been…but they keep ignoring everything but their own agenda
…& to say letting thiel get his dirty mitts on NHS data would be in keeping with that is…well…arguably an understatement?
One of the really revolting things about how even somewhat skeptical reporters treat Thiel is the way they unquestioningly accept his PR claim to be libertarian, when he is so obviously all about classic government-based oligarchy.
They don’t accept self branding like this evenhandedly, mind you. People on the left don’t get to choose their own labels.
But as far as the right, not just for supposed libertarians or moderates or populists or even pro-environment all it takes is a single slim reed of alleged nonorthodoxy — he once admitted to smoking pot! he donated $500 for an endangered species! — to get the press to accept the PR label of the right winger’s choosing.
The fear of getting sued by a Hulk Hogan sized proxy and losing.
Good job AJ and Nick Denton.
I think defamation fears will get worse, but this has been going on for a long time with the Kochs as a good example of people making tons off of government spending while getting listed as libertarians.
I think a lot of it is just really dumb bias on the part of a lot of the press, which simply feels that swallowing right wing messaging is simply smart, right, and good. It’s become wrapped up in their cultural identities that their proper role is propping up the right no matter how bad they are.
I’m glad these assholes were caught, but it’s only because a concerned citizen got worried when watching these shitweasels crawl into a Uhaul truck with shields.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/88q4zg/patriot-front-31-arrested
Other notable points:
1. Patriot Front members are required to be under 35? So we can add ageism to racism, homophobia, misogyny, and various other prejudices?
2. They wear masks to “protect their identities” since so many lost their jobs after their Charlottesville rally. That’s some strong conviction there, boys. I’m guessing you’re all too stupid to connect that with, I dunno, the Ku Klux Klan?
3. Despite their “exhaustive vetting process,” they’ve been infiltrated several times by activists. So they’re really not all that bright, are they?
4. Members are required to fulfill a “quota” of distributing propaganda across their regions. So apparently they lifted their organizational structure from Mary Kay. That … tracks, actually.
…there’s also the part where they’ve been threatening/harassing the cops for having the temerity to arrest them for setting out to break the law…including talk about doxxing individual officers
…there’s certainly a reason they don’t call themselves “brave guys”
Florida Man fucks away taxpayer dollars at an unbelievable rate.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/6/13/2103969/-Florida-s-DeSantis-is-blowing-through-taxpayer-money-with-his-unconstitutional-anti-woke-agenda
Quotes:
According to filings, the new [legal expense] number is well over $1 million, and so far, Floridians have paid out about “$848,000 to have multiple courts explain to them how DeSantis and the Florida legislature is violating the 1st Amendment rights of everyone with this law.”
To put this into a historical perspective, the Florida budget had earmarked $80,000 for DeSantis’ legal needs. Techdirt reports that in order to reach the current number of more than a million dollars, it had to be amended three times.
TIL that Ron Desantis is 43. I would have ventured a guess in the early to mid-fifties range. Hate makes you ugly.
His totalitarianism is getting really, really scary.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/scott-maxwell-commentary/os-op-ron-desantis-power-grab-militia-universities-scott-maxwell-20220614-h33nwvdldbh6flwvxlp47lnatq-story.html
Paywall, so quotes:
Some people say Ron DeSantis wants to be president if his political godfather, Donald Trump, allows him to run. Really, though, it looks like he wants to be king.
In one of the more brazen schemes, which the Sentinel reported on last week, DeSantis wants to seize the power to hire faculty members away from university presidents and give it to trustee boards controlled by the governor’s personal, political appointees.
Another one of the drafted plans, a copy of which was obtained by the Seeking Rents investigative website, would give the governor more power to remove other elected officials from office — an authoritarian dream come true.
There’s already precedent for this one. Both Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis have removed local officials from office, even when those officials weren’t accused of any crime.
Other power-grab ideas drafted or discussed by the DeSantis administration would give him more control over a toll-road authority in South Florida and less oversight from the Florida Cabinet.
Yet another would give him an iron grip over the state’s high school athletic association by allowing him to appoint virtually all the board’s governing members. That way, the governor wouldn’t have to worry about the association contradicting him on things like allowing transgender athletes to play sports.
That last one is part of the theme here. DeSantis is masterful at convincing his base that boogeymen are coming after them and that he needs more power to fight off the perceived or fictionalized threat.
Somebody is trying to steal your election. Or turn your kid gay. Or riot in your neighborhood. Or make you feel guilty for being white. So he needs more power to protect you. Fear and division can be frenetic motivators.
And this last one is for Butcher, ref. his comment below about spending:
It’s been said before that power can’t be given away; only seized. I disagree. Voters allow that power to be taken when they enable the very politicians trying to take it.
Sadly if you asked a wide swath of DeSantis voters what they thought about how Ron is pissing away their money they would be all for it.
Yep. Any amount of government waste is justified if it involves “owning the libs.”
…was it LBJ who came up with that thing about how if you give them someone to look down on they won’t just let you pick their pockets but actually empty them out for you?
…either way I think it starts with saying the trick lies in convincing the lowest white folks they’re better off than the highest black folks…or words to that effect
…snopes seems to think I remembered that about right
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lbj-convince-the-lowest-white-man/
A really interesting interview with Chelsea Manning.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/chelsea-manning-is-putting-the-pieces-back-together
The parts about Musk and Glenn Greenwald are really insightful as far as how closely connected the politics, misogyny, anti-trans, and general sociopathic behavior are.
Fucking George Soros just pumped $300k into my local DA’s primary race and unseated a guy who I have a really good professional relationship with. Yeah, he was an Independent before he was a Democrat, and he was a Republican before that, but what I care about is what he’s done for my clients. This “lifelong Democrat” and “real Progressive” dingbat he’s installing had better be at least half as accessible and flexible as my guy has been. I didn’t see Soros spending $300k to defeat Susan Collins two years ago. Talk about fighting the wrong battles.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Today in “The Kids are Alright;”
I really wish that in the US, we had a system like this, where if a Cop is found guilty of misconduct, they can’t be hired by any other departments, ever again.
This quote is great, and what ought to be done here, too;
“His name has also been added to the College of Policing’s barred list, banning him from any policing role across the country for life.”
It’s frustrating a.f. that we allow lawyers to be disbarred, and Teachers, Nurses, & MD’s can lose licensure & be forced out of their field…
But we simply allow Cops to start over again in a new department, no matter how much they’ve cost the public😠😡🤬
And over in Cousin Matty’s neck of the woods, there is this;
https://gothamist.com/news/lifeguard-shortage-sinks-outdoor-swimming-programs-in-nyc-parks
I found out about it last night from twitter–and LOTS of folks (rightly) had strong feelings about how dumb it is…
The only thing I have to say is that I can totally understand why people didn’t want to take the job!!
Lifeguards there *start* at $16.00/hr…
Sixteen dollars an hour, IN New York City…. where you probably need to take a train/bus/some sort of transportation to get to your worksite… and then your JOB is *literally* watching over hundreds of people a day, making sure no one slips, falls, & hurts themselves, or drowns…
My point that I brought up last night?
You can go get yelled at in Retail or Fast Food for that kind of money out there–poooossibly a bit *more* per hour….
And have a helluva lot less stress all work shift.
Because you’re gonna get yelled at by the Karens at *either* job–lifeguarding OR retail/fast food…
but you’re only on the hook for multiple lives, in an environment where death is fast and quiet in ONE of those fields!
I’m a trained first responder, when it comes to CPR/AED/First Aid (I’m one of the folks “on the list” at my school, as a person to respond to emergencies)… I’ve taken CPR classes & had my Heartsaver/Red Cross card on & off since I was in my teens, because I worked Summer Rec, and then at my hometown daycare…
Sixteen dollars an hour is NOT enough pay, for the stress of being on CONSTANT high-alert, in a busy, noisy place like a public pool…
I got more than that, starting out as a Paraprofessional, working in a classroom with less than 10 kids–With two other adults, where the only water involved is in a sink, toilet, or occasionally 2″ deep in a sensory table…
No way in HELL is that enough money, to expect someone to deal with the stress & trauma of watching a kid drown, and doing your best to save them!
It’s specialized training, costs hundreds to get certified, and it’s the kind of job that folks OUGHT to get MUCH more than a subsistence wage for…. CT had the right idea, and it’s a good start;
https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/state-raises-starting-pay-for-lifeguards-to-19-an-hour/2798830/
Yeah, we’re facing a serious lifeguard shortage in Florida. It’s becoming a “swim at your own risk” situation on public beaches now. Which means we’ll see a lot more dead tourists who don’t understand a) swimming b) currents c) riptides and d) waves.
Bitcoin drops 8% more after yesterday’s 12% drop.
Cryptohbrahs the world over are rethinking their life choices.
Noted Youtube idiot Jake Paul recently started bitching about Joe Biden over inflation and Bitcoin’s shitting itself. Joe didn’t tell Jake Paul to invest his money in Bitcoin. Joe can’t stop Jake Paul from being, well, Jake Paul stupid.
…hate to think what it’s doing to the economy in el salvador…I don’t think the guy converted the entire treasury or anything but whatever money the state plowed into crypto is worth, what, half of what it was?
…& whatever they did to promote/encourage people to use the stuff as currency seems like it’s got to put some less jake-paul-like people in a shitty situation…even if on the whole the elon end of the cryptobro spectrum makes it hard to muster sympathy when I read about the dive it’s taking…not to mention the whole resource-use-insanity
…starting to wonder if some or all of it might actually wind up circling the drain this time, though?
Given what a palantir is in Lord of the Rings, I’m genuinely disturbed that people thought that was a good company to share anything with.