2024-03-23


Cool

etc

Horseshit

Boeing

  • FBI to Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 passengers: You may be a crime victim | The Seattle Times

    The agency sent a letter to passengers Tuesday, confirming that the FBI — the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Justice — has opened a criminal investigation following the Jan. 5 blowout. On that flight, a piece of the fuselage of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane blew off as the plane left Portland.

    “As a Victim Specialist with the Seattle Division, I’m contacting you because we have identified you as a possible victim of a crime,” the letter sent to Alaska Flight 1282 passengers read. “This case is currently under investigation by the FBI,” it continued. “A criminal investigation can be a lengthy undertaking, and for several reasons, we cannot tell you about its progress at this time.”


Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

  • Opinion: Excessive free speech is a breeding ground for more Trumps - The Globe and Mail

    Would the rise of the hard right and Mr. Trump have been possible if the internet had been given guardrails? Not a chance. The internet gave him – before his account was suspended in 2021 – 88 million Twitter followers. With that came the freedom to circumvent traditional media and create an alternate universe, a smearsphere wherein he could lie like he breathes and get away with it. The internet undermined the established newspaper business model, greatly reducing the number of papers and coverage and creating a void for Mr. Trump and the like-minded to fill. His cries of fake news had the impact – it’s charted well in former Washington Post editor Martin Barron’s book, Collision of Power – of compartmentalizing the media landscape into left-right silos, which helped bring on the extremes of polarization.

  • Canadian Gov't Pushes UK's 'Online Harms' Abandonware to Regulate More Speech

    Pre-criming speech is a very dangerous road to go down. But that appears to be the intent of the nascent bill, which would create an avenue for civil complaints that can be pursued by anyone who believes they’ve been hate-crimed on the internet. If the complaint is upheld, the law would allow the Canadian Human Rights Commission to levy fines of $15,000 (USD). On top of that, social media companies found to be “non-compliant” with the Online Harms Act could be hit with additional fines of up to 6% of their “global gross revenue.”

  • Meet the AI-Censored? Naked Capitalism - by Matt Taibbi

    Naked Capitalism is a home for smart, independent commentary about a financial services industry that is otherwise almost exclusively covered by writers and broadcasters who’d jump at a job offer from the companies they cover. It’s unique, useful and full of links and primary source material. What 16 items did Google find objectionable in its archive of 33,000 posts?

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

  • The A.C.L.U. Said a Worker Used Racist Tropes and Fired Her. But Did She? - The New York Times

    The A.C.L.U. acknowledges that Ms. Oh, who is Korean American, never used any kind of racial slur. But the group says that her use of certain phrases and words demonstrated a pattern of willful anti-Black animus. In one instance, according to court documents, she told a Black superior that she was “afraid” to talk with him. In another, she told a manager that their conversation was “chastising.” And in a meeting, she repeated a satirical phrase likening her bosses’ behavior to suffering “beatings.”

Economicon / Business / Finance

  • Immigration Is Fueling US Economic Growth While Politicians Rage (Archive)

    Last month, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) calculated that immigration will generate a $7 trillion boost to gross domestic product over the next decade. The agency came to that conclusion after incorporating the recent surge in immigration. The CBO release spurred a flurry of fresh number-crunching among investment bank economists, to account for the boost those new comers are giving to the labor force and consumer spending. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. revised up its near-term economic growth forecasts Sunday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and BNP Paribas SA were among banks that acknowledged the economic impact from surging immigration in recent weeks. “Immigration is not just a highly charged social and political issue, it is also a big macroeconomic one,” Janet Henry, global chief economist at HSBC Holdings Plc, wrote in a note to clients Tuesday. No advanced economy is benefiting from immigration quite like the US, and “the impact of migration has been an important part of the US growth story over the past two years.” Morgan Stanley economists Sam Coffin and Ellen Zentner noted this month that faster population growth fueled by immigration lends itself to stronger employment and population estimates than initially thought — though added that the full effect might not be captured by official data.

  • Why it's so hard for Americans to retire

  • Recessions Make People Live Longer (Archive)

    during the Great Recession, from 2007 to 2009, age-adjusted mortality rates among Americans dropped 0.5% for every jump of 1 percentage point in an area's unemployment rate. The more joblessness, the longer people lived — especially adults over 64 and those without a college education. "These mortality reductions appear immediately," the economists concluded, "and they persist for at least 10 years." The effects were so large that the recession effectively provided 4% of all 55-year-olds with an extra year of life. And in states that saw big jumps in unemployment, people were more likely to report being in excellent health. Recessions, it would seem, help us stay fitter, and live longer.

    • We have gone from "the Economy is Great" to "actually its bad but that's Good for You" already?

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

Health / Medicine

  • More than half of chickenpox diagnoses are wrong, study finds

  • How the U.S. Waged a Global Campaign Against Baby Formula Regulation

    In 2017, Thai health experts tried to stop aggressive advertising for all formula — including that made for toddlers. Officials feared company promotions could mislead parents and even persuade mothers to forgo breastfeeding, depriving their children of the vital health benefits that come with it. At the time, Thailand’s breastfeeding rate was already among the lowest in the world. But the $47 billion formula industry fought back, enlisting the help of a rich and powerful ally: the United States government.

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda