2024-07-19

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• Fireball Meteor Lights Up New York City Sky, Passes Over Statue of Liberty : ScienceAlert

  on Tuesday an actual meteor shot over the city's iconic Statue of Liberty before disintegrating high above Manhattan, NASA's Meteor Watch said in a post on Facebook. NASA said that "reports of military activity in the vicinity around the time of the fireball" would explain the reports of the tremors and booms.

• The Scholar Who Inspired a Legion of Cranks

  Rather than argue a specific theory, Fort’s masterpiece instead presents events and facts that are traditionally disregarded or ignored. “A procession of the Damned,” he proclaims them in the opening pages. “And by damned, I mean excluded. We shall have a procession of data that Science has excluded.” Fort saw his work as a critique of academia and mainstream science, which, he believed, worked by actively ignoring anything it couldn’t make sense of. “In the topography of intellection,” he proclaimed, “I should say that what we call knowledge is ignorance surrounded by laughter.” Possessed of a genial, welcoming style filled with baroque circumlocutions, Fort sought to restore a sense of childlike wonder to what he saw as a narrow, joyless, and increasingly technical scientific culture. “If we weren’t so accustomed to Science in its essential aspect of Disregard,” he argued, “we’d be mystified and impressed” by the world around us, and wouldn’t rush to explain away what we can’t immediately understand.

  Fort was a gadfly, not a prophet. Lionizing him — as Thayer and others have tried to do for the last century — is as problematic as marginalizing him. Perhaps the appropriate attitude toward Fort is to treat his writing as he treated the anomalous facts he uncovered: with seriousness and wonder, but also with a savage and relentless skepticism. His ultimate gift was not to get us to think to new worlds, but to scrutinize our own more closely.

Horseshit

• You Can Never Have Too Much Money, Happiness Researcher Finds

• On and Hellen Obiri launch spray-on sneakers

• Food, water, WiFi: is this the future of humanitarian aid?

• (1941) Who Goes Nazi?, By Dorothy Thompson

• Billionaires building luxury doomsday bunkers

• Altman's $3.7B Fusion Startup Leaves Scientists Puzzled

• More Americans are searching online about moving to Canada. But will they?

Obit

• Lou Dobbs, Former Fox Business and CNN Host, Dead at 78

• 'I've lived in an incredible time': Comic Bob Newhart dies at 94

• Founder of Fandango, J. Michael Cline, Dies After Plunge From Manhattan Hotel - The New York Times

  J. Michael Cline, the co-founder of Fandango, an online ticketing company that changed how Americans went to the movies, died this week after falling from the twentieth floor of a Manhattan hotel, according to the police.

  • Fandango founder J. Michael Cline dies in fall from Manhattan skyscraper

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• Russia and China pounce on Trump rally shooting to undermine U.S. - The Washington Post

  Russia and China swarmed X and other social media platforms hours after the shooting at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pa., seizing on the most prominent assassination attempt of the internet era to stoke disorder, in part by blaming President Biden and other Democrats for the violence. “Biden calls Trump ‘threat to the nation,’ ” posted Sputnik International, a Russian state media site, sharing a video of a recent Biden speech to more than 400,000 followers. “Trump gets shot the very next day … Coincidence?” The wave of sensational posts painted the United States as a nation in decline and on the verge of civil war. Russian state media boosted accounts saying that the U.S. had devolved into a Third World country. Chinese state media shared cartoons labeling America a “violence exporter.” And Iranian accounts spread false claims that the gunman was affiliated with antifa, a loosely knit group of far-left activists that Trump and Republicans have previously blamed for violence.

• Meta will now remove some posts attacking 'Zionists' as a form of hate speech

Musk

• Elon Musk explains his support for a seemingly anti-EV presidential ticket

• Tesla sales, market share dip in EU while other EV makers grow

• Space Firms Pitch SpaceX Workers Hurt by Musk's Relocation Plan

• Tesla's California car registrations fall for third straight quarter

• Elon Musk's X pushes Trump tags on all US users

Trump / War against the Right / Jan6

• Why tech titans are turning toward Trump

• Trump's return could shake up H-1B visa system

• ‘A Different Donald Trump’ Beams as Rivals Become ‘Converts’ | RealClearWire

  if there is one thing Trump has notably not done this week, it is gloat. He has said comparatively little since the attempt on his life Saturday, exuding a gracious silence – perhaps even a magnanimous stoicism. A source who spoke with the former president at length the day after he dodged an assassin’s bullet reported talking to “a different Donald Trump, but in the best way possible.” Granted anonymity to speak freely, this individual, who has worked closely with Trump for nearly a decade, described a “weirdly counterintuitive” phenomenon whereby “he almost dies, he miraculously survives, and it becomes even less about him.”

• 17-year-old charged with stealing Trump campaign team SUV from Pfister

  A 17-year-old was arrested Saturday and charged with stealing a Chevy Tahoe belonging to former president Donald Trump's campaign advance team. Trump is in Milwaukee for the 2024 Republican National Convention. He arrived Sunday, a day after the vehicle was stolen.

• Trump says Taiwan should pay US for its defence as it doesn't give us anything

• 'JD Vance thinks EVs are a scam. Elon Musk seems to be fine with it'

• Hulk Hogan absolutely tore it up at the RNC. “Donald Trump is a real American hero.”

  • Never cared for rasslin. To see the GOP even attempt to reach out to those people who do like it is a refreshing sight. They are people too. "Rasslin' Fans Matter"

• Tech bros love J.D. Vance. Many CEOs are scared stiff

• Delegates wear Trump-style ear bandages at the RNC

Shooting

• We can't trust politicized FBI to handle probe of Trump assassination bid

  he White House is telling Americans to blindly trust an agency whose acronym is now widely presumed to stand for Following Biden’s Instructions. This is the same FBI that kowtowed when Team Biden wanted parents who protested school closures and mask mandates at school board meetings to be categorized as terrorist threats.

• There’s Competent, Professional Executive Protection, And Then There’s What Happened in Butler, Pennsylvania - Shooting News Weekly

• Exclusive – Butler Township Commissioner: Officer Who Encountered Would-Be Assassin 'Did Not Retreat', Not to Blame

  The local police officer who encountered the would-be assassin of former President Donald Trump “did not retreat” and tried to grab his gun but fell backwards, injuring himself in the process. The officer is now in “pretty bad” mental shape, Butler Township Commissioner Edward Natali said, explaining that media outlets are wrongly blaming local officers for what happened Saturday evening in Butler, Pennsylvania.

• Trump shooter used Samsung Android phone; cracked by Cellebrite in 40 minutes

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• Long Covid puzzle pieces are falling into place – the picture is unsettling

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• Women reveal all the sexist questions they've been asked at job interviews

• Do feminists speak for all women?

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Concealed backdoor in fake AWS files escaped mainstream notice

• Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing is a dystopian nightmare

• Free Software and the wrong crowd

• Tech giants up ante by withholding products from EU

• Taboola scores Apple advertising deal, shares surge

• Netflix is kicking US subscribers off its cheapest ad-free plan soon

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• TSMC boss predicts AI chip shortage through 2025

• The Conflict of Interest at the Heart of CA's AI Bill

Crypto con games

• Case of man who falsely claimed to be Bitcoin inventor referred to prosecutors

• Bye-bye Bitcoin, hello AI: Texas miners leave crypto for next new wave

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Semiconductor shares slump possibly thanks to Biden and Trump

  • Global stock markets rocked by potential US crackdown on chipmakers

  A report by Bloomberg that the US plans tighter import controls on companies that share chipmaking technology with China pulled technology shares lower.

• TSMC rides AI demand to raise revenue forecast, says no to US joint venture

  Its Taiwan-listed shares closed down 2.4% before the earnings announcement, extending falls this week after U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said that Taiwan "did take about 100% of our chip business" and should pay the U.S. for its defence. The United States has about 10% of the world's chip manfacturing capacity, down from 19% in 2000, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, a group representing the U.S. chip industry. Taiwan has about 18%, down from 22% in 2000. Asked if TSMC would consider a joint venture in the United States following Trump's comments, Wei said no.

• Ford spends $3B to expand large truck production in plant previously set for EVs

• YIMBY cities show how to build homes and contain rents

• Swift outage hits house sales and payments across UK and Europe

• Condo prices at SF's beleaguered Millennium Tower drop to as low as $649,000

• Allstate Seeking 34% Rate Hike on California Homeowners Insurance

• More teens are working. Here's why a job is 'becoming more compelling'

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Biden announces plan to cap rent hikes

• Donors’ cash is drying up, Jeffrey Katzenberg warns Biden in private meeting | Semafor

• Biden says ‘medical condition’ could prompt him to drop out ‘if doctors came to me’.

• Biden's Insane Comments About Lloyd Austin, Black Neighborhoods in Trainwreck BET Interview – RedState

• President Biden may soon exit race, top Democrats believe

  The 81-year-old president, now self-isolating with COVID, remains publicly dug in. But privately he's resigned to mounting pressure, bad polls, and untenable scrutiny making it impossible to continue his campaign, the Democrats tell us. The private message, distilled to its bluntest form: The top leaders of his party, his friends and key donors believe he can't win, can't change public perceptions of his age and acuity, and can't deliver congressional majorities.

  His choice is to be one of history's heroes, or to be sure of the fact that there'll never be a Biden presidential library," one of the president's close friends told us. "I pray that he does the right thing. He's headed that way."

  Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a mastermind of the campaign to get Biden out, told him that he could destroy Democrats' chances of taking back the House. We're told she's also worried about donations drying up.

  Former President Obama has spoken loudly with his silence — and his former aides trashing Biden in public. Democratic insiders were hoping to avoid this. They love and respect Biden and appreciate his historic accomplishments. But he wouldn't take the hints, loud as they got. So it's come to this. "He's forcing people who like him and respect him to resort to trying to shame him," a well-known Democrat close to the West Wing told us.

• LEAKED: Zoom Call Shows Joe Biden Mocking a Combat Veteran's Service During Shockingly Disturbing Rant – RedState

  The campaign did not, however, dispute this next part, about Crow and his Bronze Star. In a video of the Zoom that I was able to view, you can hear Biden chastising Crow, who asked about the importance of national security to voters. “First of all, I think you’re dead wrong on national security,” the president says, the emotion at times garbling his words. “You saw what happened recently in terms of the meeting we had with NATO. I put NATO together. Name me a foreign leader who thinks I’m not the most effective leader in the world on foreign policy. Tell me! Tell me who the hell that is! Tell me who put NATO back together! Tell me who enlarged NATO, tell me who did the Pacific basin!

• Biden Forgets Name of His DefSec, Calls Him ‘the Black Man’ in Dumpster-Fire Interview.

• Obama tells allies Biden needs to seriously consider his viability - The Washington Post

  Former president Barack Obama has told allies in recent days that President Biden’s path to victory has greatly diminished and he thinks the president needs to seriously consider the viability of his candidacy, according to multiple people briefed on his thinking. Behind the scenes, Obama has been deeply engaged in conversations about the future of Biden’s campaign, taking calls from many anxious Democrats, including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and has shared his views about the president’s challenges, according to people with knowledge of the calls, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

  • Obama tells allies Biden needs to reconsider his re-election bid

• Biden read note from staffer aloud on call with progressive Dems 

  A staffer gave the 81-year-old president a note card with tips as he attempted to persuade members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus on Saturday that he was fit to serve and able to defeat former President Donald Trump on Election Day, the New York Times reported. “Stay positive, you are sounding defensive,” Biden said on the call, seemingly reading directly from his staffer’s short missive.

• Playbook: The walls close in around Biden - POLITICO

  over the last 24 hours, that uncertainty has given way to a growing clarity about the reality facing the president: The walls are closing in, and his position leading the Democratic ticket appears increasingly unsustainable. The president’s reelection bid has now lost the confidence of Congress’ senior-most Democratic leaders, as well of party elders around the country.

  This flurry of stories yesterday is no accident. Senior Democrats had hoped to address this matter privately — Pelosi herself certainly advised members to try to do so, at least for a time. But Biden and his inner circle have refused to listen. So now, Democrats are leaking tidbits of private conversations with the president himself, using the news media as a microphone to send a message: We’re no longer with you — and we will force you off the ticket, if needed. “The speaker does not want to call on him to resign [as the Democratic nominee], but she will do everything in her power to make sure it happens,” one Pelosi ally we spoke with said.

  with Biden now diagnosed with Covid and forced from public events for a few days, it’s quite possible that he’ll take the time to pause, reflect on the feedback he’s getting and decide whether to change course.

• ‘We’re close to the end:’ Biden world braces for the possibility that the president steps aside

• Source close to Biden pushes back on calls for him to step aside.

• Majority of Democrats think Kamala Harris would make a good president, AP-NORC poll shows

• Harris hits the campaign trail under spotlight as Biden faces mounting pressure to drop out

• Biden reportedly open to 2024 rethink as Pelosi steps up pressure campaign

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Leading 'Trump Russia Hoax' Propagandist's Wife Indicted As Foreign Spy | ZeroHedge

• NYC will start rolling out AI metal detectors in subways over 'next few days,'

  Hizzoner said that the devices, intended to specifically detect guns people try to bring onto the subway using AI, will start rolling out “in a few locations” soon, following “thousands of tests” on the efficacy of the scanners produced by Evolv Technology. A person cannot be forced to go through the scanner per se, but police would be able to prevent refuseniks from entering the subway system, at least at that turnstile.

  • NYC subway crimes down by double digits, officials tout surge of National Guard & police into transit system - CBS New York

  New York City subway crime numbers continue to fall by double digits, and the governor and mayor are crediting their influx of law enforcement officers into the transit system. Officials announced Wednesday transit crime is down 44.4% this week compared to the same week last year and down 7.8% year-to-date.

  Following a series of attacks on riders and transit workers earlier this year, Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered the National Guard and MTA Police into the system to help with subway bag checks. The city also sent additional officers to patrol cars and platforms. "Keeping New Yorkers safe is my top priority, and it's clear that the proactive measures we're taking to prevent and reduce violence on our subways are working," Hochul said in a statement Wednesday. "Secure, reliable transit is a necessity for residents and visitors in our great city."

• US judge dismisses most of SEC lawsuit against SolarWinds concerning cyberattack

• Housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children accused of sexual abuse

  Employees of the largest housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children in the U.S. have repeatedly sexually abused and harassed children in their care over the past eight years, the Justice Department alleges. Southwest Key employees, including supervisors, have raped, touched or solicited sex and nude images of children since at least 2015, the DOJ alleged in a lawsuit filed Wednesday. At least two employees have been charged since 2020, according to the lawsuit. Based in Austin, Southwest Key is the largest provider of housing for unaccompanied migrant children, operating under grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It has 29 child migrant shelters — 17 in Texas, 10 in Arizona and two in California — with room for 6,350 children. The company's largest shelter in Brownsville has a capacity of 1,200.

  • Shelter provider accused of sexual abuse of migrant children in U.S.

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• US to Issue Proposed Rules Limiting Chinese Vehicle Software in August

World

• France Is Busing Homeless Immigrants Out of Paris Before the Olympics

• Ursula von der Leyen wins second term as European Commission president

• Bangladesh Internet Goes Dark as Widening Job Protests Kill 25

• 'Very visible police presence' on streets of Leeds after mass riot erupts with vehicles overturned and set on fire | UK News | Sky News

  The owner of a restaurant in Harehills said the disorder was linked to local children being taken into care, adding that some people responded by setting fires and "throwing stones". Images showed one fire being lit in the middle of a street as crowds of hundreds of people gathered.

  • Harehills: Live riot scenes as ‘hundreds’ gather in Leeds as footage shows bus on fire and police car flipped

  However, footage and images from nearby streets now appear to show riot scenes unfolding and widespread chaos. One image appears to show a bus completely ablaze, while footage appears to capture the moment a police care was flipped over onto its side. A witness at the scene told the YEP “hundreds of people” were on the streets in Harehills as crowds continued to gather.

  “One of our vehicles has been set on fire but was empty as the customers had earlier been transferred to another bus together with the driver.

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Mysterious drones keep watch as Ukrainians train in Germany

China

• Secretive China Agency Backtracks on Aggressive Policies After $1T Rout

• State media pushes back on claims China has entered 'a historical garbage time'

Health / Medicine

• And then it turned him into a newt! A scientist took a psychedelic drug – and watched his own brain 'fall apart'

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Ecologists Can't Beat Invasive Species, So They're Joining Them

• Newly identified tipping point for ice sheets could mean greater sea level rise

• Top Polluter China's Shrinking Emissions Put Carbon Peak in Play

• Sparrows may be 'canary in the coal mine' for lead poisoning in children: study

• How to solve a mass stranding: what caused 77 whales to die on a Scottish beach

• Just Stop Oil protesters jailed after UK motorway (M25) blocked

  • Just Stop Oil co-founder Roger Hallam is jailed for five years and four other activists for four years over plots to block the M25 motorway that saw ‘over 50,000 hours of vehicle delay.’

• Loss of India's vultures may have led to deaths of half a million people