work by Monet
Friday, June 29, 2018
War
Can you believe it, a complete scumbag, Trump, gets to set the Supreme Court for the next couple of decades. Your freaking vote matters.
NY Times: Political War Over Replacing Kennedy on Supreme Court Is Underway
NY Times: Political War Over Replacing Kennedy on Supreme Court Is Underway
The Market On Friday
Good morning. At 8:50 a.m. ET DOW futures are +101 and the price of oil is fluctuating above $73 a barrel. The market is poised to open significantly higher.
CNN: Xiaomi prices its IPO; Deutsche stress; Novartis unloads Alcon by Ivana Kottasová
CNN: Xiaomi prices its IPO; Deutsche stress; Novartis unloads Alcon by Ivana Kottasová
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Who Indeed
Read this article.
New Yorker: Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Who Deserves a Place at the Table By Adam Gopnik
New Yorker: Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Who Deserves a Place at the Table By Adam Gopnik
True
Senator Cory Booker:
"The president of the United States is a subject of an ongoing criminal investigation...that could end up before the Supreme Court," so any Trump SCOTUS nomination should be "delayed until the Mueller investigation is concluded."
Chuckle
Every ten years, the monks in the monastery are allowed to break their vow of silence to speak two words. Ten years go by and it’s one monk’s first chance. He thinks for a second before saying, “Food bad.” Ten years later, he says, “Bed hard.” It’s the big day, a decade later. He gives the head monk a long stare and says, “I quit.” “I’m not surprised,” the head monk says. “You’ve been complaining ever since you got here.”
Carpenter V. United States
Ars Technica: Supreme Court surveillance opinion nudges us to think nationally, act locally - Op-ed: Think police have gone too far? Tell your city council. Seriously. by Cyrus Farivar
With the court clearly imposing a warrant standard, police just have to do a little more legwork ahead of time, but getting a warrant is not difficult.
Seeing Red
Guardian UK: How the Red Hen affair broke America's civility wars wide open - A restaurant’s choice to eject Trump’s press secretary stoked debate on how liberals should behave in an era of outrage
In short, Democrats of all persuasions are wrestling with what the proper response is to Trump’s age of outrage. Is it (to quote Michelle Obama) “When they go low, we go high” or “Fight fire with fire”?
Democracy Is At Stake
Guardian UK: 'Democracy is at stake': Anthony Kennedy's exit causes a political earthquake - Democrats warn successor ‘could radically alter the course of justice’ and help Trump put an enduring stamp on America
The retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy is a political earthquake that could affect millions of lives and allow Donald Trump to put a stamp on America that will endure long after he leaves the White House.
Trump's America
NY Times: Trump Remakes America By Charles M. Blow
Donald Trump, a lying, bullying, womanizing autocrat-idolizer, is fundamentally transforming America in very real and lasting ways, in ways that have left decent people slack-jawed, enraged and exasperated.
He has overtaken and destroyed the structure of the Republican Party, unleashing its ugliest elements to chant his praise and stroke his ego like drunken apostates dancing around a golden calf.
Buckle Up
NY Times: Kennedy Retirement Injects an Inflammatory New Issue Into Midterms
Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s announcement on Wednesday that he would retire this summer immediately thrust the high court to the center of the battle for control of the Senate, with Republicans daring red-state Democrats to oppose the nominee to replace Justice Kennedy, and Democrats warning that a rush to seat a new justice before the election would further galvanize moderate and liberal voters.
The Market On Thursday
Good morning. At 9:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are -139 and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open significantly lower.
CNN: Yuan pressure; EU summit; Disney win by Ivana Kottasová
CNN: Yuan pressure; EU summit; Disney win by Ivana Kottasová
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Retire
Say goodbye to legal abortion.
NPR: Supreme Court To Lose Its Swing Voter: Justice Anthony Kennedy To Retire
NPR: Supreme Court To Lose Its Swing Voter: Justice Anthony Kennedy To Retire
Un-American
Guardian UK: Donald Trump is the most un-American president in living memory - Where his predecessors reaffirmed US values, Trump has surrendered them with his words, thoughts and actions on immigration by Richard Wolffe
But in his own words, thoughts and actions, Trump is surely the most un-American president in living memory. It is no small irony that he wraps his un-American activities in the flag.
Where his predecessors saw it as part of their job to reaffirm the American idea, Trump has entirely surrendered this position. Even in the darkest days of the war on terror – with an administration that justified waterboarding and indefinite detention at Guantánamo Bay – former president George W Bush cast his worldview as fundamentally American: “Stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty,” he said in 2003.
Difficult
This seems promising.
Guardian UK: Make America talk again: the lab teaching sworn enemies to have decent conversations - Could the secret to healing a riven politics lie in a Difficult Conversations Laboratory?
Guardian UK: Make America talk again: the lab teaching sworn enemies to have decent conversations - Could the secret to healing a riven politics lie in a Difficult Conversations Laboratory?
Participants sign a waiver warning them that the experiments could cause stress or unpleasant feelings, before they are surveyed on a range of fraught topics, from abortion to the Israel-Palestine conflict. They are paired with someone who utterly disagrees with them and asked to talk things through around a small conference table. All while being recorded.
Bigoted, Feckless, And Disgraceful
NY Times: Bigoted and Feckless, the Travel Ban Is Pure Trump By The Editorial Board
On Tuesday morning the five conservative justices of the Supreme Court — including the one who got the job only because Senate Republicans stole a seat and held it open for him — voted to uphold President Trump’s travel ban, which indefinitely bars most people from five majority-Muslim countries, and certain citizens from two other countries, from entering the United States.
Whoa
NY Times: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Defeats Joseph Crowley in Major Democratic House Upset
Representative Joseph Crowley of New York, once seen as a possible successor to Nancy Pelosi as Democratic leader of the House, suffered a shocking primary defeat on Tuesday...
Mr. Crowley was defeated by a 28-year-old political newcomer, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a former organizer for Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign...
The Market On Wednesday
Good morning. At 9:10 a.m. ET DOW futures are +18 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open modestly higher.
CNN: Investment restrictions; Oil surge; GE relief by Ivana Kottasová
CNN: Investment restrictions; Oil surge; GE relief by Ivana Kottasová
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Outrage
The Daily Beast: Detention Camps on Military Bases ‘Smacks of Totalitarianism,’ Troops Say - The Pentagon ‘is participating in a scheme that appropriates the concept of military honor to perpetrate a human rights abuse,’ one decorated veteran tells The Daily Beast. by James LaPorta and Spencer Ackerman
Active-duty and retired U.S. military officers and enlisted personnel are expressing a sense of moral emergency over the Defense Department setting up detention camps for undocumented immigrants on military bases.
“It smacks of totalitarianism,” said Steve Kleinman, a retired Air Force colonel and military intelligence officer.
Dumb And Stupid
Guardian UK: 'Dumb, stupid' family separations harm children, says detention camp manager - Manager at camp close to US-Mexico border speaks out to decry Donald Trump’s ‘zero-tolerance’ immigration policy
“All it did was harm children,” he said.
Unnatural
Guardian UK: Why are so many of San Francisco's black mothers and babies dying?
In one of the wealthiest US cities, the racial disparity in birth outcomes is stark: ‘Why isn’t this sounding a bigger alarm?’
WTF Is Going On
NY Times: Border Officials Suspend Handing Over Migrant Families to Prosecutors
The nation’s top border security official said Monday that his agency has temporarily stopped handing over migrant adults who cross the Mexican border with children for prosecution, undercutting claims by other Trump administration officials that “zero tolerance” for illegal immigration is still in place.
The Market On Tuesday
Good morning. At 9:20 a.m. ET DOW futures are -9 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open slightly lower.
CNN: Bear market in China; GE sells another business; Brexit trouble by Ivana Kottasová
CNN: Bear market in China; GE sells another business; Brexit trouble by Ivana Kottasová
Monday, June 25, 2018
Bunker Mentality
Guardian UK: How family separations caused Trump's first retreat – and deepened his bunker mentality
“The imagery was so bad that he could no longer justify the policy. You had people out there making complete asses of themselves in front of cameras, from the attorney general to the secretary of homeland security, justifying this inhumanity and blaming the migrants who are coming here seeking asylum.”
Trump Attacks The Red Hen Restaurant
Guardian UK: Trump attacks 'dirty, filthy' restaurant that asked Sarah Sanders to leave - Trump says Red Hen ‘should focus more on cleaning its filthy windows than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Sanders’
"The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!"
Missing
NY Times: Teenager Is Missing After Walking Away From Migrant Children’s Center in Texas
A 15-year-old migrant boy who was housed in a large shelter near the southern tip of Texas walked off its premises on Saturday and disappeared into the borderland, officials said.
No Due Process
NY Times: Trump Calls for Depriving Immigrants Who Illegally Cross Border of Due Process Rights
“We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country,” Mr. Trump tweeted while on the way to his golf course in Virginia. “When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came.”
The Market On Monday
Good morning. At 9:20 DOW futures are -174 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open significantly lower.
CNN: China stimulus; Turkey reaction; Oil after OPEC by Alanna Petroff
CNN: China stimulus; Turkey reaction; Oil after OPEC by Alanna Petroff
Friday, June 22, 2018
Stoking Fear
Guardian UK: Demagogues and charlatans are stoking fear, says Joe Biden - Former US vice-president compares situation with 1930s as migration convulses politics
“In ways that evoke memories of the 30s, frustrated and disaffected voters may turn instead to strongmen,” he told a conference in Copenhagen. “Demagogues and charlatans step up to stoke people’s legitimate fears and push the blame always on the other. There always has to be scapegoats. Now it is immigrants, the outsider, the other.”
Barbarism
NY Times: G.O.P. Wants Hungry Kids to Fund Tax Cuts By The Editorial Board
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, if House Republicans get their way, more than two million people, many of them young children, will lose access to the food stamp program known as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). The farm bill that passed by a two-vote margin on Thursday includes tougher work requirements and new eligibility restrictions that would make it much more difficult for families who need food assistance to get it.
Moral Descent
NY Times: Return of the Blood Libel By Paul Krugman
The speed of America’s moral descent under Donald Trump is breathtaking. In a matter of months we’ve gone from a nation that stood for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to a nation that tears children from their parents and puts them in cages.
The Market On Friday
Good morning. At 9:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are +128 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open significantly higher.
CNN: OPEC meeting; Airbus Brexit warning; Stress test results by Charles Riley
CNN: OPEC meeting; Airbus Brexit warning; Stress test results by Charles Riley
Thursday, June 21, 2018
The British
The Spectator: What does the British government know about Trump and Russia? Many trails in the Mueller inquiry lead straight to the UK by Paul Wood
The ‘Western intelligence community’ — a nebulous group encompassing Steele, his associates, the US intelligence agencies and many experts in Britain — believe the Kremlin is directing operations to try to shake public faith in democracy across Europe and the US.
Cruelty
NY Times: The King and Queen of Cruelty By Charles M. Blow
Citizens were outraged. Politicians were outraged. Corporate leaders were outraged. Foreign leaders were outraged. The pope was outraged.
Nothing
NY Times: Trump Retreats on Separating Families, but Thousands May Remain Apart By Michael D. Shear, Abby Goodnough and Maggie Haberman
And the president’s order does nothing to address the plight of the more than 2,300 children who have already been separated from their parents under the president’s “zero tolerance” policy.
The Market On Thursday
Good morning. At 7:50 a.m. ET DOW futures are -78 and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open significantly lower.
CNN: Bank stress tests; Trade war victim; Bank of England decision by Ivana Kottasová
CNN: Bank stress tests; Trade war victim; Bank of England decision by Ivana Kottasová
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Just Three Days Ago
Trump just signed an executive order stopping the separation of children from parents caught at the border, illegally crossing into the country. Recall that he spent the last several days lying his backside off about it including.
Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen
Verified account @SecNielsen
We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period.
4:52 PM - 17 Jun 2018
Indifferent
NY Times: President Trump seems to be saying more and more things that aren’t true by Ashley Parker
“It’s extraordinary how he is completely indifferent to truth. There’s just no relationship between his statements — anything he utters — and the actual truth of the matter,” said Thomas Murray, president emeritus of the Hastings Center, the founding institution in the field of bioethics.
The Moment
The Palmer Report: Here’s the thing about Rachel Maddow’s stunning on-air moment by Bill Palmer
...America is now holding kids in concentration camps, for God’s sake.
The Trump Dystopia
NY Times: The Dystopia Is Here By Daniel A. Olivas
Sons and daughters are being ripped from their parents’ arms — in some cases, literally — and detention centers are filled with frightened children. In immigrant communities, the fear is palpable, with parents asking themselves if they should risk taking their children to school, or going to work or reporting a crime, lest they become vulnerable to a sweep by immigration agents.
Hostage Taker
NY Times: Trump’s Small Hostages By Frank Bruni
Why don’t we call the terrified children whose incarceration is riveting the country what they are at this point?
Not migrants. Not detainees. Not pawns, although that comes closest to the mark.
They’re hostages.
The Market On Wednesday
Good morning. At 9:05 a.m. ET DOW futures are +118 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open significantly higher.
CNN: Chinese investment in the United States has plummeted 92% this year by Julia Horowitz
CNN: Chinese investment in the United States has plummeted 92% this year by Julia Horowitz
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Trump Is Hitler
We are there folks, we have hit the wall. Trump must go. This is not America.
AP News: Youngest migrants held in ‘tender age’ shelters
AP News: Youngest migrants held in ‘tender age’ shelters
Strategy
Could it be that Trump's separation policy is cover for much more objectionable policy? The attention is on the separation but what is also occurring - a space force, the US withdrawing from the UN's council on human rights, a tariff war, and perhaps the firing of Rosenstein and consequently Mueller. What we are witnessing is Trump gaining practice with navigating an incredibly unpopular policy, it's practice for firing Mueller among other things.
Raw Story: Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: Republicans plan on ‘firing’ Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein ‘on Friday’
Raw Story: Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: Republicans plan on ‘firing’ Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein ‘on Friday’
Listen
Pro Publica: Listen to Children Who’ve Just Been Separated From Their Parents at the Border - ProPublica has obtained audio from inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, in which children can be heard wailing as an agent jokes, “We have an orchestra here.” by Ginger Thompson
The baritone voice of a Border Patrol agent booms above the crying. “Well, we have an orchestra here,” he jokes. “What’s missing is a conductor.”
The baritone voice of a Border Patrol agent booms above the crying. “Well, we have an orchestra here,” he jokes. “What’s missing is a conductor.”
The Lunatic Fringe Drives American Immigration Policy
NY Times: How Anti-Immigration Passion Was Inflamed From the Fringe
Jeff Sessions and Stephen Miller spent years on the political fringe in the nation’s capital as high-decibel immigration hard-liners, always warning about the dangers of open borders but rarely in a position to affect law or policy.
Trump Is Sadistic
NY Times: Trump Resisting a Growing Wrath for Separating Migrant Families
“They could be murderers and thieves and so much else,” Mr. Trump said of the people crossing the border. “We want a safe country, and it starts with the borders, and that’s the way it is.”
The Market On Tuesday
Good morning. At 9:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are -349 and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open significantly lower.
CNN: $200 billion trade threat; Markets hit; Volkswagen trouble by Ivana Kottasová
CNN: $200 billion trade threat; Markets hit; Volkswagen trouble by Ivana Kottasová
Monday, June 18, 2018
Ann Provides Cover
On cue, nuttier, and more hateful than ever.
The Daily Beast: Ann Coulter Smears Immigrant Children as ‘Child Actors’ - She cited a supposed New Yorker article that does not seem to exist. by Matt Wilstein
The Daily Beast: Ann Coulter Smears Immigrant Children as ‘Child Actors’ - She cited a supposed New Yorker article that does not seem to exist. by Matt Wilstein
Sea Level Rise
Guardian UK: Flooding from sea level rise threatens over 300,000 US coastal homes – study - Climate change study predicts ‘staggering impact’ of swelling oceans on coastal communities within next 30 years
...new research finding that as many as 311,000 homes face being flooded every two weeks within the next 30 years.
Sadistic Trump
NY Times: Leading Republicans Join Democrats in Pushing Trump to Halt Family Separations
Republican lawmakers, the former first lady Laura Bush, a conservative newspaper and a onetime adviser to Mr. Trump joined Democrats in condemning family separations that have removed nearly 2,000 children from their parents in just six weeks.
The Market On Monday
Good morning. At 9:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are -203 and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open significantly lower.
CNN: Oil slides; Google bets on China; Internet tax decision by Ivana Kottasová
CNN: Oil slides; Google bets on China; Internet tax decision by Ivana Kottasová
Sunday, June 17, 2018
Friday, June 15, 2018
Biosignature
Biosignature -
"A biosignature is any substance – such as an element, isotope, molecule, or phenomenon – that provides scientific evidence of past or present life. Measurable attributes of life include its complex physical and chemical structures and also its utilization of free energy and the production of biomass and wastes."
Habitable Moons
Science Daily: Distant moons may harbor life - Researchers have identified 121 giant planets that may have habitable moons
summary - Researchers have identified more than 100 giant planets that potentially host moons capable of supporting life. Their work will guide the design of future telescopes that can detect these potential moons and look for tell-tale signs of life, called biosignatures, in their atmospheres.
Hope Springs Eternal
I'll believe it when I see it.
The Palmer Report: Today’s the day: welcome to the prison phase of the Trump-Russia scandal by Bill Palmer
The Palmer Report: Today’s the day: welcome to the prison phase of the Trump-Russia scandal by Bill Palmer
Charity To Himself
NY Times: Donald Trump’s Charity Begins, and Ends, at Home By The Editorial Board
It’s long been clear that Donald Trump’s family foundation, the Trump Foundation, is not a generous and ethical charity, but just another of his grifts. He branded it the way he brands his buildings, using his name to generate income that he then has used largely for his own benefit.
Tariffs
Trump is setting in motion the circumstances that will be about the worst recession yet. This is my sentiment.
NY Times: U.S. to Put Tariffs on $50 Billion in Chinese Goods as Trade Fight Widens
NY Times: U.S. to Put Tariffs on $50 Billion in Chinese Goods as Trade Fight Widens
The Market On Friday
Good morning. At 9:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are -197 and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open significantly lower.
CNN: US tariffs; Euro tumbles; Upbeat Rolls-Royce by Ivana Kottasová
CNN: US tariffs; Euro tumbles; Upbeat Rolls-Royce by Ivana Kottasová
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Preet Explains
Preet Bharara describes how Trump used his foundation to ‘funnel money’ into his own pocket.
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