April, 2019 archive
One Nation, Divisible, Reprise 0
Sam and Daniel Denvir discuss how the right-wing uses immigration to divide the polity, the futility of attempting to compromise with the right-wing, and possible courses of actions.
Everybody Must Get Fracked 0
The Environmental Pollution Agency decides (again) against regulating fracking waste. A nugget:
If equally contaminated waste came from other industries, it would usually be designated hazardous waste and subject to strict tracking and disposal rules designed to keep the public safe from industrial pollution. But in July 1988, after burying clear warnings from its own scientists about the hazards of oilfield waste, the EPA offered the oil and gas industry a broad exemption from hazardous waste handling laws.
The EPA‘s decision this week echoes that.
Much more at the link.
One Nation, Divisible 0
Greg Kesich examines how Russian interests promote American divisiveness. A snippet:
In Translation 0
Susan Estrich parses what she considers the key passage in the Mueller Report. A nugget:
Meaning, “We aren’t going to apply the law to him. You can.”
Follow the link for her reasoning.
Geeking Out 0
The Fluxbox window manager on Ubuntu MATE. If you seen some of my other screenshots, you already know that I like an analog clock in the upper right and GKrellm in the lower right.
Psyops 0
Eric Hazeltine theorizes that Russian interference in American politics (and, no doubt, others’ politics) benefited from a deep understanding of psychology and tribalism. Here’s a snippet:
Specifically, I believe the Russians took advantage of what evolutionary psychologists call “Darwinian scripts” operating deep in the brains of the American public, especially “scripts” encouraging tribal conflict.
Follow the link for his reasoning.
Just the Vaxx, Ma’am 0
The North Jersey Record takes a long, in-depth look at how vaccinations became controversial. I commend the article to your attention. Here’s a bit:
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, also chided Amazon for accepting paid advertising from anti-vaccine groups.
Russian Internet trolls and bots (one used the hashtag #VaccinateUS) have also “weaponized” public health messages to sow discord among the American public, using vaccines as a wedge issue, researchers found.
By issuing both anti- and pro-vaccine tweets and memes they attempt to make it seem vaccine safety and efficacy are open to debate and create mistrust of public health institutions and experts.
I can remember pictures of rows of children suffering from polio ensconced in iron lungs. And today we have some who would willingly bring those days back.
We are a society of stupid.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness is a family value.
It’s unclear where the little girl was shot.
Police said she was alert and asking questions when first responders got to the scene.
The stupid. It burns.
Twits on Twitter 0
Martin Longman discusses the permeation.
Aside:
This correlates with the increase in incidents of Trumpling.
