Have an excellent weekend and see you bright and early Monday morning.
Friday, June 30, 2023
Stupid Only
Washington Post: Iowa’s English-only policy crashes into reality Analysis By Philip Bump
In February 2001, a committee of the Iowa Senate held a hearing to consider a law that would require official state documents to be presented in no language other than English.
...a modified version of it became law.
Guns
The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to consider whether the government may forbid people subject to domestic violence orders from having guns, setting the stage for a major test of its ruling last year vastly expanding people’s right to arm themselves in public.
Brazil
At least Brazil got it right.
Washington Post: Court votes to bar Bolsonaro from running for office By Marina Dias
Brazil’s top elections court voted Friday to bar Jair Bolsonaro from running for office for eight years — a period that covers the next presidential election — for making what members of the panel said were claims he knew to be false about the integrity of the country’s voting systems.
SCOTUS
In a 6-to-3 decision, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote that a mass debt cancellation program of such significance required clear congressional authorization.
Gone
Washington Post: Opinion - Affirmative action is gone. Diversity on campus need not be. By the Editorial Board
...Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. declared that “eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.” He argued that the majority was respecting, rather than overturning, precedent...
Threat
They see Moms for Liberty as a threat to free speech, public schools and the esteem they say teachers deserve.
Beginning
Indeed, they wish to impose an ahistoric mythology on the American people that makes it harder, if not outright impossible, to address the many ways that Black and white still live in separate and unequal Americas.
Admissions
Fewer schools will require SATs and ACTs.
Now some colleges may drop those requirements permanently, responding to critics who say the tests favor students from wealthier families.
The Market On Friday
Good morning. At 7:10 a.m. ET DOW futures are +107, S&P futures are +17.75, and NASDAQ futures are +77.25. The market is poised to open significantly higher.
Thursday, June 29, 2023
Smoke
Many of Canada’s fires are over inaccessible or remote boreal land, so some are left to burn. Simply put, as long as there are fires burning, any semblance of a northerly or northwesterly wind can blow smoke toward the United States.
Struck Down
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the 6-3 majority, said the two programs “unavoidably employ race in a negative manner” and “involve racial stereotyping,” in a manner that violates the Constitution.
Rudyard Kipling - If - A Father's Advice To His Son
“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!”
Protect Yourself
In more severe cases, exposure is linked with cardiovascular impacts — including heart attacks and stroke — as well as lung cancer and damage to cognitive functions.
California
Hmm. The Rust Belt and the Northeast are covered in wildfire smoke making breathing in the outdoors problematic, and meanwhile a heatwave is baking the South and California. Welcome to the future.
Washington Post: California set to face its first major heat wave of the year - Temperatures could reach 110 degrees in the Central Valley By Matthew Cappucci
“Extreme heat will significantly increase the potential for heat related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities,” wrote the National Weather Service.
Heat Wave
Temperatures will climb up to 20 degrees above normal...through at least the weekend, reaching the high 90s or low 100s in many places. The heat index — a measure of how heat and humidity make the air feel — will be even higher.
Wildfire Smoke
...a similar though potentially less severe smog had moved into the area by Thursday morning and threatened to linger into Friday.
The Market On Thursday
Good morning. At 7:25 a.m. ET DOW futures are +96, S&P futures are +13, and NASDAQ futures are +57.75. The market is poised to open moderately higher.
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Swallow
There was an old lady who swallowed a fly,
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her;
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a bird;
How absurd to swallow a bird!
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a cat;
Fancy that to swallow a cat!
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady that swallowed a dog;
What a hog to swallow a dog!
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a goat;
Just opened her throat and swallowed a goat!
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a cow;
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a horse...
She's dead, of course!
Fast
Washington Post: Opinion - The odds of a Trump coup attempt in 2024 are dropping fast By Greg Sargent
"The political and legal systems have taken significant strides toward protecting the integrity of elections against subversion at all levels..."
The Smoke Is Back
Several major cities, including Detroit and Indianapolis, reported some of the worst air quality in the United States on Wednesday afternoon, with air quality indexes falling well into the “very unhealthy” category.
Green
Washington Post: Living near green spaces could add 2.5 years to your life, new research finds By Allyson Chiu
A new study published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances suggests that if you have long-term exposure to more greenery where you live, on average you may be adding 2.5 years to your life.
Air Quality Health Advisory
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation at Albany has issued a Air Quality Health Advisory for Fine Particulates...until midnight EDT tonight. Air quality levels in outdoor air are predicted to be greater than an air quality index value of 100 for Fine Particulates. The air quality index...or AQI...was created as an easy way to correlate levels of different pollutants to one scale. The higher the AQI value, the greater the health concern. When pollution levels are elevated...the New York State Department of Health recommends that individuals consider limiting strenuous outdoor physical activity to reduce the risk of adverse health effects. People who may be especially sensitive to the effects of elevated levels of pollutants include the very young and those with pre existing respiratory problems such as asthma or heart disease. Those with symptoms should consider consulting their personal physician. For additional information, please visit the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation website at, https://on.ny.gov/nyaqi, or call the Air Quality Hotline at 800-535- 1345.
Air
Air quality alerts related to wildfire smoke were in effect for parts of 17 states, covering nearly one-third of the U.S. population. These alerts stretch from Iowa and Minnesota in the west to New York, Maryland, Delaware and North Carolina in the east.
Halla
“This planet might have evaded death once, but it seems unlikely that once the star starts expanding, it would actually continue to survive,” Dr. Hon said.
Bedminster
“See, as president I could have declassified it. Now I can’t,” Trump tells the group on the recording, which was obtained this week by The Washington Post. “Isn’t that interesting? It’s so cool.”
Knee
But the new research, which focused on 80 injured knees, found that many torn ACLs can apparently knit themselves back together and heal naturally — reducing the need for expensive and often painful surgery.
Trump's Lies
If we see Trump’s lies, Smith continued, “not as failures of character but rather as weapons of war, then we can come to see why his supporters might view him as an effective leader. From this perspective, lying is a feature, not a bug, of Trump’s campaign and presidency.”
War
Peskov insisted that Russia had unified around Vladimir Putin, saying: “The army, the people, everyone was next to the president.”
The Market On Wednesday
Good morning. At 7:10 a.m. ET DOW futures are +8, S&P futures are -6.75, and NASDAQ futures are -52.5. The market is poised to open mixed.
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Comment
I was looking through Twitter earlier. A young man, 30ish, was writing that he didn't care what Trump said on tape. He said Trump could have thirty tapes like this and he would stay with Trump. Then, he goes on to explain that Trump was for America first and that was the most important thing for this young man.
Reading this I was somewhat taken back because what Trump did was jeopardize America's strategic interests. If there was ever anything done that put America last, it was waving around classified top secret documents. There is no reasoning with Trump supporters, and similarly, at the moment they are not using their own reasoning for themselves.
Saved
NY Times: The Supreme Court Just Helped Save American Democracy From Trumpism By David French
Looking forward to 2024 and beyond, the Supreme Court’s decision eliminates the ability of a rogue legislature to set new electoral rules immune from judicial review. State legislatures will still be accountable for following both federal and state constitutional law. In other words, the conventional checks and balances of American law will still apply.
Fasting
NPR: Intermittent fasting is as effective as counting calories, new study finds By Will Stone
"People usually eat within a 12-to-14-hour window, so all we're doing is cutting out around six hours," she says. "Mainly we're cutting out, I think, after-dinner snacks."
Processed
This extreme processing creates foods that are so easily absorbed by the body that they’re essentially predigested. Many foods also are engineered to overcome our satiety mechanisms, which drives us to overeat and gain weight, experts say.
Unspeakable
Jon Cooper - "Stephen Miller, one of Trump's top immigration advisors, advocated using U.S. drones in 2018 to BLOW UP migrant boats full of unarmed civilians, according to an upcoming book by a former Trump Department of Homeland Security appointee."
No
Washington Post: Opinion - Follow the money: No Labels can’t hide its right-wing ties By Jennifer Rubin
“No Labels is essentially running a presidential campaign without the requirements that apply to formal political parties; namely disclosures..."
Guide
NY Times: A Handy Guide to the Republican Definition of a Crime By David Firestone
Between 2000 and 2021, the per capita murder rate in states that voted for Donald Trump was 23 percent higher than in states that voted for Joe Biden, according to one major study. The gap is growing, and it is visible even in the rural areas of Trump states.
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