2024-07-06
etc
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Vlogger crosses the Darién Gap, the world’s deadliest migrant route
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The Philosophy of Liberty – On Liberalism
So let’s talk about it: what is liberalism, this political philosophy upon which the United States was founded? And perhaps equally to the point, why do I think that liberal principles remain crucial to organizing human affairs? Now I have kept trying to reorganize my thoughts here in a way that I like and I have not yet succeeded, so this may be a bit more of a ramble than usual – we’re going to have to walk through a bit of pre-modern societies, a bit of Greece, a bit of Rome, and also a bit of early modern Europe before we get to what I think the core of this idea is, which is the value of liberalism today, particularly with reference to the United States.
Horseshit
Electric / Self Driving cars
Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering
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Is Wikipedia Politically Biased? Perhaps
What's more, the analysis for this last group compares political orientations across multiple countries. Which brings us to a problem that Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales had already pointed to back in 2006 in response a conservative US blogger who had argued that there was "a liberal bias in many hot-button topic entries" on English Wikipedia:
"The Wikipedia community is very diverse, from liberal to conservative to libertarian and beyond. If averages mattered, and due to the nature of the wiki software (no voting) they almost certainly don't, I would say that the Wikipedia community is slightly more liberal than the U.S. population on average, because we are global and the international community of English speakers is slightly more liberal than the U.S. population. ... The idea that neutrality can only be achieved if we have some exact demographic matchup to [the] United States of America is preposterous."
Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation
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The C word - Why academics are concerned about the word 'cult' | Impact of Social Sciences
Why is the term ‘cult’ still being used? Within the fields of Sociology, Anthropology, Religious Studies, and increasingly in Psychology, the term has been consistently shown as not fit for purpose (at best) or utterly destructive (at worst). In fact, some scholars may wonder why we are raising this issue once again. Surely this is a discussion that was concluded in the 1980s? Despite the term ‘cult’ becoming the new ‘c-word’ for those of us in the field, in the last year alone we have seen the term being used consistently, and pejoratively, in major documentary productions on Netflix. Equally, a quick search of British tabloid and broadsheet media also demonstrates that the term ‘cult’ is appearing regularly in comment and news sections, although not always in religious contexts. Indeed, use of the term ‘cult’ is not only increasingly popular within political and health discourses, but often problematic
- It wouldn't do to have "Progressive Social Movements" be reconized for the cults they are.
Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts
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The state of statistics in 1990
Even back in 1990 I wasn’t the only person to think that hypothesis testing was a bad foundation for statistics.
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Student Loan Borrowers Owe $1.6 Trillion. Nearly Half Aren’t Paying. - The New York Times
Millions of people are overdue on their federal loans or still have them paused — and court rulings keep upending collection efforts.
Seven million borrowers with federally managed loans were at least 30 days overdue on their payments at the end of 2023. That’s the highest delinquency rate since 2016, as far back as the department’s public records go. Because of a policy adopted by the Biden administration, those borrowers will face no penalties for their nonpayment until October at the earliest. Millions more had their accounts frozen through deferment or forbearance (which allows borrowers to temporarily stop making payments), and nearly six million borrowers remain mired in defaults that began before the pandemic. The reasons borrowers aren’t paying are varied. Some say they can’t afford it, while others are tangled in bureaucratic snafus. Many people are taking advantage of an “on-ramp” period that lasts through September, during which late payments will not be reported to credit bureaus and borrowers will not be placed into default, though interest will continue to accrue.
Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising
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Sony Is Killing the Blu-ray, but Physical Media Isn't Dead Yet
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Factorio: Space Age extension to release on October 21st 2024
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Ask HN: Does having a betting/gambling company in your CV hurts your career?
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YouTube's eraser tool removes copyrighted music without impacting other audio
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Physical console games are quickly becoming a relatively niche market
TechSuck / Geek Bait
AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World
Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO
Economicon / Business / Finance
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Employment increases by 206K in June; unemployment rate changes little at 4.1%
Not bad, especially with Goldman expecting 140K. Of course, a quick glance reveals where the "beat" came from: both previous months were revised sharply lower:
- May jobs revised from 272K, to 218K
- April jobs revised from 165K to 108K
With these revisions, employment in April and May combined is 111,000 lower than previously reported. So yes, it is easy to "beat" when you have a pool of 111K jobs that never existed to push into this month. And course, next month when the June data is revised lower, the 206K beat will be revised to a sub 190K miss but by then it will be too late.
Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making
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In a blockbuster First Amendment term, the Supreme Court got the big stuff right
Most of the rulings on First Amendment-related cases this term were speech-protective, even when they did not decide the overall merits of the claims. And in certain cases where they didn’t quite hit the mark, such as Vidal, the decisions were still made with an eye towards limiting the powers of the government to infringe the expressive rights of American citizens. That’s a very good thing. A number of these cases, if they had gone the other way, would have spelled serious trouble for First Amendment protections and free speech in a time where open inquiry, open debate, and open discourse may be more important than ever.
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Van Jones says Democrats now planning on ‘how’ to replace Biden with Harris.
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Biden's inner circle shrinks to these two men, sources say, with one liked to Rasputin
President Biden’s inner circle has gotten smaller following his disastrous debate last week — with his wife’s top aide Anthony Bernal emerging as one of the 81-year-old’s key advisers alongside longtime confidante Mike Donilon, four sources close to or inside the White House tell The Post. Bernal, 51, is a divisive figure for allegedly bullying and sexually harassing colleagues — and his influence was likened by three sources to that held by the mystic Grigori Rasputin over the family and court of Nicholas II, the last czar of Russia. First lady Jill Biden considers Bernal her “work husband” and he’s also close to scandal-plagued first son Hunter, whom Bernal greeted with a hug June 11 after his felony gun conviction. “Donilon and Bernal are 100% the most important advisers post-debate,” said one Democratic source close to the administration.
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Biden Tells Governors He Needs More Sleep and Less Work at Night - The New York Times
President Biden told a gathering of Democratic governors that he needs to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including curtailing events after 8 p.m., according to two people who participated in the meeting and several others briefed on his comments. The remarks on Wednesday were a stark acknowledgment of fatigue from the 81-year-old president during a meeting intended to reassure more than two dozen of his most important supporters that he is still in command of his job and capable of mounting a robust campaign against former President Donald J. Trump. Mr. Biden’s comments about needing more rest came shortly after The New York Times reported that current and former officials have noticed that the president’s lapses over the past few months have become more frequent and more pronounced. But Mr. Biden told the governors, some of whom were at the White House while others participated virtually, that he was staying in the race.
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The Conspiracy of Silence to Protect Joe Biden
Obsessive efforts to control Biden were not a new phenomenon. But whereas in the last campaign, the incredible stagecraft surrounding even the smallest Biden event — speaking to a few people at a union hall in rural Iowa, say, or in a barn in New Hampshire — seemed to be about avoiding the so-called gaffes that had become for him inevitable, the stagecraft of the 2024 campaign seems now to be about something else. The worry is not that Biden will say something overly candid, or say something he didn’t mean to say, but that he will communicate through his appearance that he is not really there. The display early Saturday evening was the last of seven campaign events held across four states in the 48 hours that followed the first presidential debate. The events were designed to serve as both proof of life for concerned wealthy patrons of the Biden reelection effort and proof of the wisdom of their choices: Other concerned wealthy people were still buying. They didn’t need to panic.
The article's headline certainly wasn't hyperbole. What Nuzzi details in her article is, quite literally, a conspiracy to hide Joe Biden's mental health problems from the public. Worse yet, because Democrats became so convinced that Donald Trump is evil, they believed keeping Biden's cognitive decline hidden was more important than addressing the fact that the sitting president is the poster boy for invoking the 25th Amendment.
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Joe Biden: Democratic donors say they won't finance party until he drops out
Abigail Disney, granddaughter of Roy O. Disney, who co-founded The Walt Disney Co., told CNBC on Thursday that she plans to withhold donations to the party she has funded for years until Biden drops out. The president has said he has no plans to withdraw from the race, despite calls for him to do so. “I intend to stop any contributions to the party unless and until they replace Biden at the top of the ticket. This is realism, not disrespect. Biden is a good man and has served his country admirably, but the stakes are far too high,” Abigail Disney said in a lengthy statement to CNBC. “If Biden does not step down the Democrats will lose. Of that I am absolutely certain. The consequences for the loss will be genuinely dire.”
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Biden staffs "miserable," alarmed as pressure builds
"Everyone is miserable, and senior advisers are a total black hole," a White House official told Axios. "Even if you're trying to focus on work, nothing is going to break through or get any acknowledgment" from bosses. A high-ranking Democratic National Committee official told Axios: "The only thing that can really allay concerns is for the president to demonstrate that he's capable of running this campaign." "Everything else feels like 'Weekend at Bernie's' by his inner circle to prop him up."
Some Biden aides believe those closest to the president have created a cocoon around him that initially seemed earnestly protective, but now appears potentially deceptive in the debate's aftermath. They particularly focus on Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini, the first lady's top adviser Anthony Bernal, and longtime aide Ashley Williams, who joined the deputy chief of staff's office when Tomasini ascended to the role earlier this year. Those close aides have many duties. But officials recall instances of them helping Biden make up for mental lapses, including prompting him to remember people he has known for a long time.
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Some of Biden’s Upcoming Fund-Raising Events Face New Uncertainty - The New York Times
The Biden campaign had discussed sending Mr. Biden to Wisconsin for a late July fund-raiser, according to three people briefed on the plans. But donors who had committed to giving large sums and attending began withdrawing soon after the debate ended. The campaign had hoped to raise $1 million from the event, but after the debate, campaign officials reset the event’s goal to $500,000, according to one person involved in arranging it. Even that proved to be more than Wisconsin donors were willing to give to Mr. Biden. Plans for the event are now off. Another fund-raiser under consideration was to be paired with an official event in mid-July at the Lyndon B. Johnson presidential library in Austin, Texas, where Mr. Biden will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, according to two people briefed on the planning. The fund-raiser was to be hosted by Luci Baines Johnson, the former president’s daughter. But it is unclear whether the event will proceed, according to the people briefed on the planning.
Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security
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Infiltrating the Family: On UK spy cops going undercover in activist groups
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Rep. Brad Schneider's Capitol office vandalized during antisemitic demonstrations on July 4
“We are aware and investigating,” a spokesperson for US Capitol Police told The Post. “To protect the investigation, we cannot provide any more information at this time.”
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School shooter's writings can't be released as victims' families have copyright
The writings of the person who killed three 9-year-olds and three adults at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville last year cannot be released to the public, a judge ruled. Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles found that The Covenant School children and parents hold the copyright to any writings or other works created by shooter Audrey Hale, a former student who was killed by police. As part of the effort to keep the records closed, Hale’s parents transferred ownership of Hale’s property to the victims’ families, who then argued in court that they should be allowed to determine who has access to them. Myles recognized that claiming copyright as an exception to the Tennessee Public Records Act was a novel argument that previous courts have not ruled on. In the end, she agreed with the parents’ group, finding that “the original writings, journals, art, photos and videos created by Hale are subject to an exception to the TPRA created by the federal Copyright Act.”
External Security / Militaria / Diplomania
World
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UK election live updates: Labour Party wins enough seats to form majority gov
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Keir Starmer hails 'sunlight of hope' as Britain wakes up to Labour landslide
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The result, according to the FT, is "momentous for Britain and will resonate around the world" because at a time when right-wing populists are advancing in many countries, political power in the UK has swung back to a liberal, internationalist, centre-left party. But Labour’s victory was projected to be delivered on a smaller share of the vote than the 40% secured by leftwing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in his 2017 general election defeat — suggesting the public remains sceptical.
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Keir Starmer is new UK prime minister after landslide election win.
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UK Election Turnout Set to Be Lowest in Over 20 Years - The New York Times
Participation in Britain’s general election was predicted to be at 60 percent, according to the BBC, close to a record low, in a shift that appeared to reflect disillusionment with mainstream politics. Keir Starmer is becoming prime minister after a resounding win on Thursday, sweeping out the Conservatives after 14 years. The outcome was widely expected, a factor that may have led some voters to stay home. But the low turnout shows the enormous challenge ahead for Mr. Starmer. He is taking the helm at a time when many Britons are skeptical of the government’s ability to fix the ailing National Health Service, revamp the stalling economy and increase access to public services, which have faced deep cuts over the last decade. A 60 percent turnout rate would be the second lowest in a British election since 1885. Turnout was roughly 59 percent in 2001, when Prime Minister Tony Blair was re-elected for a second term.
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Who is Keir Starmer? UK's new prime minister is complex, unknowable, aggrieved
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'Hard to argue against': mandatory speed limiters come to the EU and NI
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Russia behind fake news bot campaign to empower French far right
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France's 'hard left' has been demonised but its agenda is realistic not radical
Israel
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while they want to protect women from abuse by aid workers, they don't want to publicize the fact that aid workers are abusing Palestinian women - because it could have "uncontrolled political manipulation."
Russia Bad / Ukraine War
China
Health / Medicine
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Faecal transplants can treat some cancers–but probably won't ever be widely used
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Mixing energy drinks and alcohol during adolescence impairs brain function
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Brain dopamine responses to ultra-processed milkshakes are highly variable
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Adderall Shortage Caused by DEA Quotas on Controlled Substances
by inviting public testimony on the stimulant shortage and pharmaceutical practices, I believe the FTC is only trying to find cover for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The DEA is the only governmental agency that sets production and distribution quotas for every drug company manufacturing controlled medication. The DEA decides how much of each medication can be released to pharmacies in any given month. Therefore, this problem traces its roots and long tendrils back to the DEA alone. No other agency has the authority to create and prolong it. The DEA meets with every company that markets a controlled substance each March and April to determine how much of that company’s product can be released each month in the following calendar year. This process tries to predict in March of 2024 how much medication will be needed 21 months later in December of 2025. It is a crude and inadequate system that the DEA is too inflexible to relinquish.
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The Silence Doctors Are Keeping About Millennials’ Death - The Atlantic
An unprecedented number of young Americans are dying of cancers typically found in older people, with diagnoses rising most rapidly among those in their 30s. Millennials born in 1990—at the peak of the generation—are twice as likely to develop colon cancer as Baby Boomers born in 1950. Younger adults are being diagnosed with cancers at more advanced stages, and may suffer from more aggressive tumors than older adults. In my work caring for these patients, I have seen the ways their age influences how their medical teams and families view them, the choices about treatment we hope they will make, the silence we maintain around their mortality. Their youth can become a justification to pursue physically devastating and at times ineffective treatment; the unspoken assumption is that they want to extend their life as long as possible, regardless of its quality.
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Toxicologist examines death from micro-dosing chocolate candy bar
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Mexico has become a testing ground for psychedelic therapies
Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda
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Spain's exposure to climate change helps Madrid-based VC close €300M
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Stop setting your thermostat at 72
Micah Pollak had no idea the trouble he was getting himself into when he shared his preferred thermostat settings on social media. “I just discovered most of our friends set their AC at 68-73F during the summer,” Micah, who is an economist at Indiana University, posted on Threads in late June. “We keep ours at 77-78F. Are we monsters!?” Nearly a thousand replies later, the consensus was that, yes, Micah’s family are monsters, probably some type of lizard. Although he didn’t realize it, Micah has been following a set of numbers from the Environmental Protection Agency that tends to spark an internet freakout every summer, often after a local news station does a segment on how to reduce your energy consumption and lower your utility bills. The recommendations include keeping your thermostat at 78º when you’re at home during the day, 82º at night, and 85º when you’re away during the warm months.
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Costco class-action lawsuit claims baby wipes contain significant levels of PFAS
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A Louisiana gas plant sea wall shows challenges of flooding, energy demand
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Extreme Solar Blasts and Weak Magnetic Fields Threaten Life on Earth
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Desert-loving fungi and lichens pose deadly threat to 5k-year-old rock art
- as the popular movie franchises and repeated tropes show us; Art that moves people and has meaning gets constantly remade. Everything is ephemeral eventually.