Saturday, April 1, 2023

March 2023 in review

EITHER WE PUT A FULL STOP TO ALL THIS POPULIST AND EXTREMIST MADNESS THAT HAS INFECTED NEARLY ALL CORNERS OF SOCIETY - be it nationalistic, theocratic, far-left, far-right, pro-Russian, anarchist, paternalistic, misandrist, homophobic, pedophile, hedonistic, puritanical, crony capitalist, communist, fascist, white supremacist, black supremacist, whichever or whatever - or Orwell’s prophecy of the proverbial boot stomping our faces - forever - will be the reality from which we will never escape. At this point, it is the theocrats and the far-right nationalist populists (#Cult45) that have the upper hand and are most likely to successfully divide and conquer. All of them want complete and total control of society, and absolute subjection of every individual. Now, once they conquer, they will start eating each other alive - too many differing agendas lying beneath the surface - but the rest of us won’t have anything to do with that; seeing as we will either be dead or rotting in some concentration camp …

At some point in the next year or two, President Biden will be forced to invoke Martial Law, but I am not counting on that being enough to stop the bleeding and to set us back on the right course. Too many in law enforcement and the military are sympathetic to #Cult45, or are outright part and parcel of it. I hate saying that, and it only increases my appreciation for those officers and soldiers who do honorably uphold their oath to serve and protect. Truly, I wish to believe the honorable ones can successfully stem the tide once the blood begins flowing in earnest, and that our efforts now to push back against extremists will bear fruit; my gut says the future is extremely bleak for America. I seriously doubt I will be around to see what is on the other side of this nightmare - if my health doesn’t fail me, somebody is going to kill me - but for those who are creating this coming hell on earth ... even if they're not reading this, I say to them for when the moment arrives: Enjoy! They will have so earned it.

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The genie is not going back in the bottle: As with the nationalist populist crowd (#Cult45), I do not like the majority of the cultural and socioeconomic changes we have undergone in our lifetimes. Moreover, and this is a general statement, I do not like how people have changed. The 21st century itself has been one giant mistake, yes. America is unrecognizable from when I graduated high school in 1996. The problem I have with populists - beyond their simplistic worldview - is that their solutions to the issues facing us are always so wrong-headed and self-defeating. For all my many faults and errors in judgment, the populist masses embracing a long-proven con-man in Donald Trump was the moment I fully understood beyond doubt that the masses are always going to be stupid asses …

The millions of everyday populists among us can never be taken seriously ever again after making such a massive error in judgment, and then doubling down on their mistake time and again. Attempting to fix a reprobate society by putting the biggest reprobate of all in charge - and then worshiping the man almost as if he is Jesus Christ and demanding the rest of us follow along - is illogical to the extreme. Believing we are ever going to return to an (oftentimes imaginary) glorious past is a pipe dream. Embracing retrograde Christian nationalism, racism, sexism, and Fascism will not bring back the ‘good old days,’ it will only make this dying nation an even more terrible place to live. I do not proclaim to have all the answers to that which ails us, and frankly I am just waiting for the meteor to strike at this point. Just sick of most everyone on all sides; sick of extremists of all stripes imposing themselves on others; sick of the hypocrisy; sick of the inhumanity; sick of all of the damn bulls**t, period. My tolerance for the endless noise and nonsense has run out …

To quote C.S. Lewis: ‘(T)hose who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth.’
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AP

PUTIN’S WAR OF AGGRESSION AGAINST UKRAINE

‘Russian President Vladimir Putin planned a “total cleansing” of Ukraine with “house-to-house terror” to subdue its people, leaked spy documents reportedly show’ - #Cult45 and its leader all obey Putin, and this is an example of why. For years, I have had premonitions of enraged Trump followers going door-to-door and demanding everyone’s loyalty; and I believe it will happen, to one extent or another. The willingness - ‘eagerness’ may be a more appropriate word -  of #Cult45 to abuse, even kill, fellow Americans is only growing in its severity. When that day of reckoning is upon us, will we display even half the tenacity and character of the Ukrainian people in their fight against the Russian barbarians? Fact is, Ukrainians were prepared for at least eight years, or longer, to do battle. Most Americans are not going to fare well when the blood starts flowing in earnest here, probably myself included (my area of the country is not quite as likely to see mass violence, but that is also not an absolute given.) The time to stop this madness was about 25 years ago: We went down too many slippery slopes, and I really do not believe there is any coming back for America. For Ukraine, I have far greater faith. #StopPutin #StandUpForUkraine {NY Post 3/25}

Putin to call up another 147,000 conscripts between April 1 and July 15 - Welcome to Russia, where young men are nothing more than cannon fodder for a madman’s desperate and unlawful crusade to bring Ukraine to its knees. {Meduza 3/30}



Putin to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, cites the U.S. having said weapons in several European countries as justification - Playing a very dangerous game, allowing a tinpot dictator such as Lukashenko access to nukes. {AP 3/25}

‘Morality shouldn’t get in the way’ - Russian state media’s propagandists are outright genocidal and psychopathic in their rhetoric, but also increasingly nervous and full of despair, as Putin’s forces continue to flounder in Ukraine. {Julia Davis 3/13}




The nerve of this man - ‘Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the occupied port city of Mariupol, his first trip to Ukrainian territory that Moscow illegally annexed in September and a show of defiance after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges.’ {AP 3/19}

Xi gets a warm welcome in Moscow - Delivers a twelve-step ‘peace plan’ that would call for a ceasefire, but would not include removing Russian troops from Ukraine’s territory. {BBC 3/20}

‘“Navalny,” a look at a Russian opposition leader following an attempt on his life, has won the Oscar for best documentary feature’ - Don’t care about the Oscars, but grateful they’re bringing attention to Alexei Navalny’s plight. Apparently, he is in really rough shape. Putin is a monster. {AP 3/13}


Deal brokered by China - ‘Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on Friday to re-establish relations after years of hostility that had threatened stability and security in the Gulf and helped fuel conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria.’ {Reuters 3/10}






Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call

NATIONAL NEWS

TRUMP BECOMES FIRST FORMER PRESIDENT TO BE CHARGED WITH A CRIME -  #JustSaying: As thrilled as I am that the orange bastard will finally have to face justice, #Cult45 is about to explode, and the streets of this country will be flowing with blood tonight and in the days to come. Do NOT take the threat lightly, and do NOT underestimate how angry they are at fellow Americans for not standing beside them (among other reasons.) They honestly believe the rest of us are obligated to see the world as they do, and to live our lives as *they* see fit. Anybody who supported Trump from the get-go - remember, there has never been a more obvious conman - did so to spite the rest of us. These Trump supporters made a subconscious decision to no longer be rational actors, and it was 100% to spite society-at-large. It is a cult! Probably best stay away from the Trump supporters in your lives for a while. Even if they are not violent people, or otherwise good people apart from politics, they are going to be unpleasant to be around. The only thing I have to say to any Trump supporter, the #MAGA crowd, right now is this: ‘Cope harder, snowflakes.’ And mind your manners, respect the rule of law, take off the tin-foil hats, and respect your fellow Americans. {AP 3/30}

Trump prepares to turn himself into prosecutors in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday (April 4), while the NYPD prepares for #Cult45 big babies to throw a giant hissy-fit - Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson is quoted in the article as saying that it is ‘probably not the best time to give up your AR-15.’ Nobody tells me these people are not inciting violence; nobody tells me they are not Fascists. The evidence is overwhelming, staring us all right in the face. President Biden, the DOJ, the FBI, and all relevant authorities need to take drastic action and start cracking some heads; otherwise, it will be the rest of us getting our heads cracked. George Orwell never wrote truer words than these: ‘If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever.’ When Trump and the entire cabal around him tells the American people, ‘they’re coming for you,’ they are just projecting their own intentions onto their political enemies. Full stop. {NYT 3/31}

LOVING THIS LITTLE #MAGA FANTASY I AM SEEING ALL OVER TWITTER: That the rest of us are suddenly going to put aside years of disgust with Trump to rally to his side now. Hence all these predictions that indictment is actually going to help Trump in the 2024 election. Delusion, or a form of intimidation? Their brains are so far gone that they honestly believe they are doing God’s will, and anyone who stands in the way is Satanic. It is sick, and probably for naught anyway, as I do not believe it is likely we will have an election next year. #Cult45 is going to force President Biden’s hand to declare martial law if they do not get ahold of their senses soon. Meanwhile, the other side (or ‘our side,’ such as it is) is being absolutely too cavalier concerning the threat posed to them by their fellow Americans in #Cult45. We are not prepared for what is coming. These freaks *really* want all of us to either die, or join them; just look at their rants and read between the lines. Eager to make it happen. #MAGA is a hate movement against modern American society. I will take death before I ever submit to the true Satanists among us. ‘Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil,’ as it is written in Isaiah 5:20. What I really would wish to see happen is for all of these people to find their humanity and sense again, and to admit they all made a grievous error in judgment. But that is not going to happen. 

Marco Bello/Reuters

(posted March 18) Trump says he expects to be arrested on Tuesday in connection with the Manhattan case, calls for #Cult45 to ‘PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!’ (re: violence) - FTA: ‘Law enforcement officials in New York have been making security preparations for the possibility that Trump could be indicted.’ Every law enforcement agency in every state, city, and town in this country better start preparing. Frankly, I am terrified, and I am not the only one who has been saying - for many years now - that all of this is going to end tragically. J6 was but a foretaste of the chaos to come, and it will only take but a fraction of #Cult45 to unleash carnage the likes of which we have never seen here. Do not underestimate their hatred for the rest of this country, nor their devotion to the one who gave them permission to openly hate again. Remember these people are armed to the teeth. Know that at least some law enforcement and military are going to betray their oaths in service to their favorite former president. Know that if and when they succeed in intimidating the rest of the general public and completely taking over the government, it will be open season on any American who did not board the ‘Trump Train,’ especially minorities, LGBTQ, etc. In the end, nobody is safe. Study what happened to the German people in Hitler’s wake. Not a single German citizen was left unscathed when it was all said and done. Damn you to Hell, Donald Trump, for what you have done to this country and its people. {AP 3/18}


Trump says there will be ‘death and destruction’ if/when he is charged in the Manhattan case - Not a prediction on his part, and not mere hyperbole, but an order to his lemmings. Going back to 2016, I’ve been saying this is all going to end in horror. How I wish I had been wrong. {WP 3/24}




‘Pivot to being deferential' - Former Tucker Carlson producer confirms that Fox News is terrified of its #Cult45 viewership, therefore will not report accurately on conspiracy theories or anything unflattering to their orange master. {Mediate 3/13}

Trump-aligned super PAC files a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics, alleging that Ron DeSantis is illegally running a ‘shadow presidential campaign’ - While everyone knows Trump and the word ‘ethics’ do not belong in the same sentence, this particular activist group probably has a valid point. Stand out of the way, and allow these vultures to devour each other. {CNBC 3/15}

Ron DeSantis talks out of both sides of his mouth on a potential indictment of Trump, but ultimately declares he will not interfere - Far be it for me to defend DeSantis, but #Cult45 is enraged at the Florida governor today: What the hell do they expect him to do? Call out the National Guard to fight federal law enforcement? Nutbags. {CNN 3/20}

DeSantis says defending Ukraine is not a vital interest of the United States - Electing this clown president would not be in our national interest. Preventing nuclear armageddon and crippling an avowed enemy of this country are the single-most pertinent national security issues we have. Unfit to lead. {Reuters 3/13}




Still their lord and master - Trump delights the crowd at CPAC; former Brazilian president Bolsonaro and failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake show up to complain about their elections being ‘stolen.’ {Reuters 3/04}

Leading Republicans in denial over Trump’s chances in 2024 - Seventy-two percent of GOP voters without a college degree, according to an Emerson poll, are still standing behind Trump. The true number is probably higher. Pathetic to see the GOP establishment making the same mistake in reasoning they made in 2016: The rubes of America are loyal to Donald Trump, and he and they have this spineless party by the throat. {Axios 3/14}

E.J. Dionne Jr.: Why we’re still stuck in Trump’s world - ‘The Republican Party’s swing voters are in a see-no-evil, hear-no-evil mood.’ {WP 3/26}




Tennessee’s lieutenant governor ‘pauses’ social media after repeatedly lusting over a young gay model on Twitter - Says he sees ‘no contradiction’ between his support for the GOP’s social agenda, and his homosexuality and interest in pornography. {AP 3/13}

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) calls public libraries ‘liberal grooming centers’ and calls for them to be replaced with ‘church-owned alternatives’ - Any semblance of sanity these people once had has been obliterated. The future is bleak. {MSNBC 3/24}

Can’t make up this level of stupid - ‘A Florida charter school principal has been ousted after multiple parents complained that their sixth graders were made to view pornography—because they looked at Michelangelo’s iconic statue of David.’ {Reuters 3/23}

Mile-long lines at food banks in Appalachia as COVID-era SNAP benefits come to an end - Foreshadowing ‘a summer of misery as food prices continue to soar due to inflation.’ {WP 3/04}





Retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and January 6 rioter is sentenced to two years in federal prison - Judge refuses to grant leniency due to the defendant’s incendiary rhetoric on social media. {WP 3/17}





AP

Just another day in #Murica, where the natives are at once horrified and yet loath to do anything to fix the problem - ‘A female shooter wielding two “assault-style” rifles and a pistol killed three students and three adults at a private Christian school in Nashville on Monday in the latest in a series of mass shootings in a country growing increasingly unnerved by bloodshed in schools.’ {AP 3/27}


Elon Musk announces another change to Twitter, only those with the blue check will have posts recommended to other users after April 15 - So transparent in his intentions to ensure Twitter is exclusively a right-wing echo chamber. Eventually, he is going to say ‘pay up’ just for the privilege of posting or even having an account. Actually, I would have been for such a thing, that is if Twitter was a trustworthy company run by trustworthy, non-partisan individuals. Elon is not trustworthy, and therefore only his fans - more or less, #Cult45 - will be willing to pay. If you are not a public figure and you have a blue tick beside your name now, then you are a dupe. {BBC 3/28}

Jason Beaubien/NPR

COVID-19 & OTHER HEALTH NEWS

One single animal may have begat the COVID-19 pandemic - People are still going to cling to their stupid created-in-a-lab theories, but it was reported by multiple sources right from the very beginning that this zoonotic plague likely originated at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China. Additional evidence of this has emerged. {NYT 3/16}

Former Surgeon General under Trump says he struggled to find work after leaving office - Jerome Adams made a total fool of himself at the height of the pandemic, and he knows it. #ETTD {Political Tribune 3/17}

East Palestine, OH - ‘Mobile health clinics and camera crews have begun to pack up and leave this town of 4,700, but … frightening questions remain: How could they know if they had been poisoned by the spill? Were toxins still lingering in the air, the water and the soil surrounding their houses? Would they develop lifelong health problems?’ {NYT 3/18}







‘Is a paternalistic approach always right?’ Brookline, MA, has a law banning anyone born in the year 2000 and afterward from ever purchasing cigarettes in the town - The Nanny State strikes again. To the Town of Brookline, snootbag, overrated town you are: We have much bigger problems to worry about than if kids or anyone else are smoking cigarettes. I began smoking when I was around 13 (full-time around 16 or 17), and I turned out okay. Actually, no, I did not, but that did not have much or anything at all to do with cigarettes. Still enjoy them now in my mid-40s, and I am grateful I came of age when I did: In a time when kids and teens were not expected by society to be perfect little angels all the damn time, and we were given - to one degree or another - liberty to have some freedom and to make mistakes without the constant presence of ‘helicopter’ parents and other busybody adults regulating every last thing we do. That was before 9/11, before everything went just bonkers. Think I will go have myself a smoke now. {The Guardian 3/31}

CLIMATE CHANGE

Prayers for all affected by the deadly tornadoes across the South, particularly in Mississippi - The damage is horrific, and apparently more tornadoes are possible on Sunday in certain regions. Hoping none of my social media contacts down that way - and there are a few - were in harm’s way. {AP 3/25}

The Interior Department approves Alaskan oil project, known as Willow, upsetting environmental activists - Until alternative forms of energy become more practical, affordable and widely available, people are going to have to accept that we still need fossil fuels to live. {WP 3/13

Claude Paris/AP

MISC.

Extremely saddened to learn of Wayne Shorter’s passing - Some of my favorite songs ever written were performed by this man and the many amazing musicians he worked with: ‘Young and Fine,’ ‘Miracle of the Fishes,’ ‘Spanish Key,’ ‘Deluge,’ ‘Birdland,’ and that’s not even scratching the surface. A great musician and an even greater man. Rest in Peace, Wayne Shorter. {NPR 3/02}


RIP, Gary Rossington - Nobody was ever more devoted to this band. Is there a Lynyrd Skynyrd without him? No, I don’t think so, time to finally put it to rest. But between 1973 and 1977, there never was a finer and more fiery Southern rock band. {SPIN 3/05}

Evening Standard/Getty Images

Happy 50th to Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy, released on March 28, 1973. A stone-cold classic, not a single bad moment on it. It has always been impossible for me to rank Zeppelin's records, because they are nearly all of such high and consistent quality. Some people may get sick of hearing 'D'yer Maker' on the radio all the time (not yours truly, but I've seen that sentiment expressed many times over the years), 'The Crunge' is a bit of an oddity, and the cover art wouldn't pass muster today. But any recording containing as poignant and moving a ballad as 'The Rain Song,' or as haunting and ethereal a track as 'No Quarter,' and an all-time groovy 'banger' (as the kids say today) as 'Dancing Days' deserves its status as being among the greatest musical albums of both its time, and of all-time.

Pink Floyd

Fifty years of Dark Side of the Moon, and why it still resonates so strongly in spite of being ‘very much a product of its era’ - FTA: ‘The early 1970s were prog-rock’s heyday, particularly in Britain, where bands like Genesis, King Crimson and Yes were constructing suite-length songs and unveiling elaborate conceits. But the early 1970s were also a time when the utopian promises of the hippie era were fading, pushed back by entrenched interests and corporate co-optation. “Dark Side” captures naïve hopes falling away.

‘It was Pink Floyd’s eighth album, the continuation of a cult career that had been synonymous with psychedelia and progressive rock: with extended structures and open-ended jams, with verbal conundrums and with an oh-wow appreciation of reverberant textures and spatial effects.’ {NYT 3/03}

Vid.me

The infamous ‘Turner Doomsday’ video - Upon the founding of CNN in 1980, founder Ted Turner had a ‘sign-off’ video produced to be aired only in the event of the world ending. Setting up a military brass band outside of his Atlanta mansion, they produced this haunting rendition of ‘Nearer My God to Thee.’ Long believed to be a hoax, its existence was proven when it was leaked to the public in 2015.


Shohei Ohtani and Japan win the World Baseball Classic, defeating the United States in the championship game - An event for the ages, truly excellent. Meaningful baseball in March is a good thing. {ESPN 3/22} 

Copyright 2023, Arthur Newhook. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera. Facebook - @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera; Now also on Post and Mastodon. DONATIONS - click here.
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Thursday, March 2, 2023

February 2023 in review

FACT: The majority of Americans are bullies, jerks, and/or idiots. I’ve been all over the lands east of the Mississippi in my miserable and exceptionally long 45 years, and I’ve observed people carefully. I’ve reflected on my own, oftentimes pitiful, behavior through the rotten, awkward years. Brought on because I was distracted by people who wished only to hurt me almost immediately from the time I came into this world (I am not speaking about my parents or immediate family, but nearly everyone else involved.) We as Americans are not good people by and large - I would never have been made to feel the way I do by others had it been otherwise - and until that changes, we cannot expect anything good to come along and redeem our dying country. Who am I to talk, I know, but that is what is very strongly being communicated to me. America is doomed, because its people are mostly malevolent demons …

Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters

PUTIN’S WAR OF AGGRESSION AGAINST UKRAINE

‘Never in Mr. Biden’s lifetime had a president ventured into a war zone that was not under the control of American forces, much less on a relatively slow-moving locomotive that would take nine and a half hours to reach its destination.’ - The president’s finest moment in office. Outright heroic, even. Thank God this man is in office at this perilous time, and not his Putin-appeasing predecessor or anybody with cold feet about standing up to Putin and Russia. #StandUpForUkraine Слава Україні {NYT 2/21}


Vladimir Putin faces a ‘quiet rebellion’ in the Kremlin over war failures - A must-read report on the true state of affairs in Moscow, with the key takeaway being that, while they may not respect him anymore, Putin’s subordinates (including the Russian people) still fear his wrath. And also that Putin will not back down ‘in his belief that he is fulfilling his “historical mission” to bring Kyiv under Moscow’s control.’ This monster spent decades consolidating power in himself to such a degree that, even now in the face of disaster, an entire nation has been rendered incapable of even considering any other alternative. {Times of London 2/14}

Fact-checking Putin’s absurd speech to the Russian public - Grateful today to not be one of those poor souls forced to sit in that hall and listen to this paranoid tyrant prattle on for nearly two hours. Not that I have any sympathy for any of those cowards: Collectively, they could have put a stop to Putin years ago; but out of a desperate desire for prosperity and security, they did not. Benjamin Franklin’s old adage never has been more accurate. {BBC 2/21}


Russian casualties in Ukraine now stand at around 200,000 - A number ‘eight times higher than American casualties in two decades of war in Afghanistan.’ Bear in mind, a good percentage of these losses are convicts, untrained and forced into the war as mere cannon fodder while more seasoned forces lay in wait. Hundreds of thousands of their own slaughtered, all entirely expendable to Putin and the majority of Russian citizens. {NYT 2/02}


Estonian intelligence warns ‘Russia will not run out of cannon fodder, Soviet-era armaments or propaganda-induced imperialism any time soon’ - In contrast to an MI6 report in October that stated Russia was running out of troops and weaponry. As poor as the enemy’s performances on the battlefields have been, the wisest course of action all along has been not to underestimate their capabilities, or Putin’s resolve. {Sky News 2/08}

Ahead of his latest meeting with Putin, Belarusian dictator Lukashenko declares Belarus will only join the war on Ukraine if they are directly attacked - Wink, wink. Expect an attack on Belarus soon - likely of the ‘false flag’ variety (though I won’t necessarily rule out Zelensky becoming fed up with Lukashenko and launching a legitimate attack at some point.) Putin needs cannon fodder, and Lukashenko needs Putin’s protection. {WaPo 2/16}






Joe Granita/Zuma Free Press

GEOPOLITICS & WORLD NEWS









The death toll from the 7.8 earthquake in Turkey and Syria surpasses 40,000, nine survivors pulled from the rubble - The utter indifference Americans have displayed in the wake of this disaster does not speak well for us at all. When I was growing up, Americans largely did care when natural disasters struck in other parts of the world. Everything has changed, and we are no longer a nation of empathy and goodwill. {Reuters 2/14}




The Daily Beast/Getty Images

POLITICAL S**TSHOW IN #MURICA


Trump election probe grand jury believes some witnesses lied under oath - Of f**king course they did. These sort of sycophants are incapable of telling the truth, even to their own selves. {AP 2/16}


Rupert Murdoch caught admitting to knowing Trump was lying about the election, but decided to have his network’s hosts give credence to the lies anyway - Barely a single Fox News fan is going to be swayed by these revelations. As in, out of however many millions of loyal viewers, one will be able to count on one hand the number of people who smarten up. Ought to be unbelievable, but is sadly all too predictable. {Media Matters 2/27}


Theocrats are doing away with any pretenses, and are openly embracing the term ‘Christian nationalist’ - Christian nationalism is not authentic Christianity; but it is authentically totalitarian and repressive. At all costs, this poisonous ideology has to be defeated; the millions of Americans subscribing to its tenets may ultimately have to be dealt with in a harsh and unusual manner, for they are not going to let go of their beliefs - especially the belief evangelicals hold dominion over the rest of us - without a major fight. One only need look to those countries where Islamists have held sway for a terrifying glimpse of America’s future should these bastards succeed. {The Bulwark 8/22/2022}



Paul Krugman: Why Social Security and Medicare are sustainable - Or, rather, could be sustainable if the political will was there to sustain them. However, the GOP and other powerful entities in business and media are hellbent on destroying it. In spite of the insistence of many that Republicans are bluffing, and cutting Social Security & Medicare would be ‘political suicide’ and therefore could never happen, it is going to happen. The old rules no longer apply: In the middle of the deadliest global pandemic in over a century, the people of this country threw the mother of collective hissy-fits about having to wear a mask, wash their hands, and take a shot. Appeals to public welfare are useless when Americans are demonstrating willingness to suffer if it means those they hate suffer worse. That is literally where we are at as a nation, so what makes anybody believe Social Security and Medicare are still a ‘third rail,’ or even that there are any third rails left? As long as the GOP can continue to successfully keep the lay people of this malevolent, angry country up-in-arms about ‘wokism’ and keep them voting against their own interests, they will get away with it. Social Security and Medicare are toast, as are all who rely on it. Most of our fellow Americans will not give a s**t about the fallout, believe that. {NYT 2/21}


More controversy for embattled Rep. George Santos, a/k/a ‘Anthony Devolder,’ as questions swirl over the legitimacy of an animal charity he once ran - Using innocent animals, and people who love animals, for his self-aggrandizement. Just when one thought it wasn’t possible for this Santos to be any more of a complete tool and scam artist. Yet the House GOP is still refusing to act, and the base shrugs its collective shoulders. Tells us all we need to know about today’s Republican Party and the people who support it, when ‘owning the libs’ is the be-all and end-all of everything, and anything - anything at all, no matter how low - is justifiable in the name of doing so. {NYT 2/06}




Trump accuses DeSantis of being a pedophile - Not to give him any credit, but this time the orange idiot may have a point. Why is the Florida governor so concerned with what kids are doing with their private parts? Compensating for something. {Rolling Stone 2/07}

The College Board caves to at least some of Florida Gov. DeSantis’ demands for the censorship of an AP course in African-American studies, while flatly denying that it is doing so - Consider that the vast majority of American teenagers are never going to take an AP course in black history (or any AP course). Only the smartest kids - possessing critical thinking skills and not as prone to falling victim to any sort of indoctrination - will be doing so. The exact problem Christofacists such as DeSantis have is people thinking for themselves; anything outside of the nationalist populist box they are imposing upon America is to be shut down, all the while as they whine about being victims of ‘cancel culture.’ The pompous windbag continues to trend down a slippery slope in his zeal to impose pseudo-Christian nationalism into every facet of American life; even valid concerns about the excesses of the hard-left have been rendered secondary to the threat posed by theocrats attempting to forcefully return America to a glorious past that, by and large, never really existed except in their twisted minds. {WaPo 2/01}

Florida GOP state lawmaker files bill to ban any party that once advocated for slavery as part of its platform, effectively outlawing the Democratic Party in the state - As with many in his willfully obtuse and ignorant party, Sen. Ingoglia is conveniently overlooking the fact that the old Southern Democrats all eventually migrated to the GOP, forming the basis of today’s far-right, theocratic, nationalist populist Republican Party. {Florida Politics 2/28}


Survey conducted by the American Jewish Committee finds over 40% of Jews believe ‘their status in America is less secure than it was a year earlier,’ and 80% feel antisemitism has been on the rise over the past five years - FTA: ‘A quarter of the respondents said they were directly targeted by antisemitic expressions, either in person or on social media, with 3% reporting a physical attack. Nearly four in 10 changed their behavior to lower risks to their safety.’ {AP 2/13}




Scott Adams

‘(T)he right-wing insistence on White victimhood’ - Even if *some* of their complaints are grounded in a degree of truth, the far-right grievance industry has become far more out-of-control, paranoid, and dangerous than even their hard-left counterparts. The notion that whites face as much, or more, discrimination in America than blacks and other minorities is not just factually wrong, it is absurd; blatantly so, as the organized effort being made to enforce this fallacy in the minds of millions is working all too well. Donald Trump made sure this would happen, and - most importantly - the base was long salivating for it; the entire basis of #Cult45 is cultivating and grooming grievances that were already inherent in the rank-and-file. Confirmation bias: Without it, Trumpism has no animating force and simply cannot operate. Human nature is corrupt, and those who succeed in this world tend to do so by taking advantage of this inbred weakness of man. This has all been explained endlessly by better minds than mine, yet the masses remain asses and will not listen to reason. Columnist Philip Bump has more thoughts on this matter here. {WaPo 2/27}

Demographic change is not necessarily a reliable predictor of a more politically and socially liberal (or ‘progressive’) future - Whether or not one agrees with every conclusion made in the linked article, this country’s psyche has taken a tremendous beating in this young millennium. Which, of course, is manifesting in more violence, more hatred, less freedom, and less empathy. America is losing its humanity, fast. {Cristina Beltrán 2/25}








COVID-19 & OTHER HEALTH NEWS

Two Idaho lawmakers file bill to outlaw the administration of mRNA-based COVID vaccinations - Granted, it is Idaho and nothing has been voted on, yet; but other insane performative artists acting as lawmakers in other states will follow. {ArsTechnica 2/20}



CDC: Number of suicides in America reached a four-year high in 2021 - During the middle of the most miserable era of most all of our lives, is it any wonder? Frankly, I am surprised it is only 48,183, and suspect the true number is far higher. And whenever the 2022 numbers are announced, we will see a sharper spike still. {ABC News 2/09}


Katie D. Schenk: ‘I was laid off from a public health job. Trust me, tech layoffs are different’ - Probably out of an abundance of caution and not out of unawareness, the author of this piece does not touch upon the devastating impact conspiracy theories and naked political intimidation have had on her industry; but I am not going to beat around the bush: Addled by conspiracy theories and egged on by unscrupulous politicians and talking heads in the #Cult45 orbit (along with a much smaller contingent on the hard-left), large portions of the general public have turned viciously on health care workers in America in the past three years. Many in the field are losing their jobs after Congress did not renew funding for COVID-related public health protections last year, and - in the wake of a pandemic that killed over a million Americans - there is almost exactly zero outpouring of support or concern for them. The plight of tech workers losing their jobs, however, is eliciting media coverage and public sympathy. When I was growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, nerd culture existed but it was not considered cool. Something drastically changed in the past 25 years, to the point where one is now an outcast if their smartphone is a year-or-two out of date. People rely so much on gadgets today that perhaps it is inevitable they would come to prioritize their entertainment over public health and safety. A good and decent country wouldn’t make enemies of the very people who labor to keep us alive; just know that karma is going to be a real bitch when the next pandemic or plague hits and there are few doctors and nurses left to tend to the dying. {Stat 2/03}


Pets and wild animals around East Palestine, OH, getting sick and dying following deadly train derailment - Beyond horrifying, and the worst part is that such a scenario is possible nearly anywhere in this country. More horrifying still that most Americans simply do not care. {WGN 2/14}


AP

Sen. John Fetterman checks into Walter Reed for clinical depression - Even for a congressman with access to a greater level of care than is available to most people, there is no real cure. The Senator will be battling this for the rest of his life, as will all of us who suffer from this malady. The difference being that Fetterman is a public figure, so therefore people are sympathetic to his cause (or at least pretend to be.) And I sense somebody reading this is already anxious to jump down my throat and start telling me how wrong I am; as if I have no first-hand experience. Spare me: My latest bout with clinical depression began in July 2019 and is still ongoing. I fight it completely on my own, and out of necessity. Because I know first-hand there are no effective long-term treatments. More so because it’s not really anybody else’s problem but mine (well, I did deliver some very strongly-worded tell-offs to the people whose actions caused this latest bout of depression, and I am fairly certain that one or two of those folks are now in therapy as a direct result of the emotional and verbal ass-kicking I gave them.) I just hope Sen. Fetterman understands how privileged he is, and understands that 95% of the people wishing him well cannot be bothered to give a damn about the real people in their own lives who are hurting. Hey I don’t wish the guy any harm - he did prevent the GOP from taking the Senate, after all - but this should be a private matter and not some public, virtue-signaling spectacle. {CBS News 2/16}









Songwriter Burt Bacharach dies at 94 - Cannot honestly say I am much of a fan of the songs he wrote, but obviously he was an important figure in the history of pop music. Scored Angie Dickinson in her prime, which is impressive. RIP. {The Guardian 2/09}

2023 RNR Hall of Fame nominees announced - Am going with Kate Bush, Soundgarden, Iron Maiden, Warren Zevon, and Willie Nelson. As is the case most years, there are some very questionable nominees. For instance, while I like the White Stripes, they weren't around very long and are really only known for one song. Nor have I been impressed with anything I've heard from Jack White since, and Meg White just disappeared altogether. {Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2/01}



Tom Brady announces his retirement from the NFL - Stay retired this time. Stabbed Bill Belichick in the back, stabbed all of New England in the back, while essentially taking sole credit for the six championships. Good riddance. {ESPN 2/01}



Copyright 2023, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here. Now also on Post and Mastodon. DONATIONS - click here.
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Wednesday, February 1, 2023

January 2023 in review

stock photo

PUTIN’S WAR OF AGGRESSION AGAINST UKRAINE

Prayers for Soledar: ‘The fate of a devastated salt-mining town in eastern Ukraine hung in the balance Wednesday in one of the bloodiest battles of Russia’s invasion, while Ukraine’s unflagging resistance and other challenges prompted Moscow to shake up its military leadership again.’ {AP 1/12}

Barbarians: ‘Russia unleashed a major missile attack on Ukraine on Saturday, smashing a nine-storey apartment block in the city of Dnipro, killing at least five people and striking vital energy facilities, officials said.’ {Reuters 1/14}

Putin’s propagandists ramp up their venom against military leaders after Ukrainian missile attack on Russian invaders stationed in Makiivka kills upwards of 400. {BBC 1/03}

Joint op-ed by Condoleeza Rice and Robert Gates warns that Putin is deeply committed to his ‘messianic mission’ of destroying Ukraine, and is counting on international support for Ukraine to eventually ‘erode and fracture.’ {WaPo 1/07}

Sen. Angus King: Ending U.S. aid to Ukraine would be a historic mistake. {AP 1/09}

Former Wagner mercenary group commander flees Russia to seek asylum in Norway - Andrei Medvedev states ‘(w)e were just thrown to fight like cannon fodder,’ and any conscripted prisoners who refused to fight were beaten or killed. {CNN 1/16}

President Zelensky honors those who were killed in deadly helicopter crash in Kyiv. {AP 1/21}

Sergio Lima/AFP

GEOPOLITICS & WORLD NEWS

January 6-style coup attempt by Bolsonaro supporters in Brazil. {AP 1/08}

A look at how Steve Bannon - somehow still a free man while appealing his conviction of contempt of Congress - and Trump’s propagandists in the United States manufactured the presidential palace riot/coup attempt in Brazil. {BBC 1/09}

Irish nationalists protest in Ballymun, Dublin, against Ukrainians and other refugees - Quote from the appalled Irish Minister of Housing: ‘We know from our own history what it’s like to be people who have had to leave our own shores due to oppression, due to war, due to famine.’ {Irish Times 1/09}

Over a million protest on streets of Paris to protest Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 - The French people are in the streets, while a demoralized, thoroughly gas lit American public largely remains silent (and/or in deep denial) as politicians diligently work to eliminate Social Security and Medicare. {AP 1/19}

Prince Harry draws heavy criticism for revealing in memoir that he killed twenty-five Taliban fighters while in the Royal Army, raising fears that his comments may ‘incite some people to attempt an attack on British soldiers anywhere in the world.’ {Sky News 1/06} 

Israel under Netanyahu’s new coalition of extremists - ‘Each day brings developments that were inconceivable a short while ago. No, it’s not the end of Israeli democracy. But it is the end of an Israeli consensus about what is and is not permissible in a democracy—and once the rules are no longer agreed on, political chaos is not far away. Israel has never been in such a place before.’ {Hillel Halkin 1/05}

‘It was obvious that this would come. In non-democratic countries, the leadership always threatens to arrest opposition leaders.’ Open talk of civil war in Israel as far-right lawmaker in Netanyahu’s governing coalition calls for the arrest of Lapid, Gantz, and others on grounds of ‘treason.’ {Times of Israel 1/10}

‘More than 30 graves at a historic Christian cemetery in Jerusalem were found toppled and vandalized, the diocese said Wednesday, jolting the Christian minority in the contested city.’ {AP 1/04}

‘A court in Romania’s capital Bucharest has upheld the 30-day arrest of divisive social media personality and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate on charges of organized crime, human trafficking and rape, an official said late Tuesday.’ {AP 1/10}

Japanese leaders discuss taking ‘measures of unprecedented levels’ to reverse birthrate decline. {Japan Times 1/19}

CNN

POLITICAL S**TSHOW IN #MURICA

Friends, please do not waste your time arguing with any Trumper. They do not care if the country around them burns, just so long as their resentments are being heard and the people they hate are being hurt. It truly is that simple: I spent too much time over the past seven years trying to understand these people and their reasoning, and my final conclusion is they hate the rest of us more than they value even their own lives. Therefore, they will believe any theory no matter how absurd, and follow a leader - no matter how corrupt, ill-mannered, and poorly spoken he is - who tells them what they want to hear, to the end of the earth. This is not going to end well, these people are petulant children throwing the temper-tantrum of all-time. At this point, there can be no other explanation for this absurdity. No matter what President Biden does, they are going to be invested in tearing him down at every opportunity, so do not even entertain any of their arguments about anything. Do not engage, it’s not worth the headache. The more they are relegated to their own echo chamber, the safer the rest of us will be. But that can only happen if everyone else stops taking the bait.

Financial armageddon imminent as Janet Yellen announces the U.S. will hit its debt limit, and the House GOP licks its lips in anticipation of purposefully crashing the economy - Any recession, or worse, that results from this is, say, 75% to 80% the fault of Republican voters. For being so stupid as to elect those who outright vowed to shut down the government and play games with the debt ceiling. Blood is on their hands, but will they ever be held accountable for their stupidity and malevolence? No, citizens are always considered collectively infallible, but the reality is the opposite. This country will never be quite as wonderful a place to live as it proclaims itself to be so long as millions upon millions of these yahoos are among us. Civil war is coming. {AP 1/13}

On the first day of the new term, the U.S. House of Representatives adjourns for the day after three failed attempts at electing a Speaker - A historic embarrassment for Congress, and the Republican Party in particular. So happy I am not obligated, as every Republican and/or right-wing partisan in America is at the moment, to have to try and spin this disaster. Or any of their multitude of disasters. {AP 1/03}

Republicans nearly come to blows with each other, but finally elect their precious Kevin McCarthy Speaker of the House on the 15th ballot in post-Midnight vote - A f**king disgrace this GOP is. They cannot govern, and even their own supporters have no choice but to acknowledge as such. Excerpt: ‘McCarthy strode to the back of the chamber to confront Republican Matt Gaetz, sitting with Lauren Boebert and other holdouts. Fingers were pointed, words exchanged and violence apparently just averted. At one point, Republican Mike Rogers of Alabama started to charge toward Gaetz before another Republican, Richard Hudson, physically pulled him back. “Stay civil!” someone shouted. Order restored, the Republicans fell in line to give McCarthy the post he had fought so hard to gain.’ {AP 1/07}

The gutless GOP - ‘Time and again, we’ve seen a vocal minority within the Republican conference exert an inordinate amount of influence over the majority. Each time, with each conflict, the response from the Republican leadership was to back down or fold. That reflex to pander to the most extreme voices within their party is what allowed President Trump to hijack it.’ {Kurt Bardella 1/03}

‘(I)t seems like the holdouts do not understand the dire consequences of default.’ Cuts to Social Security and Medicare looking more likely under the new GOP House - Senior citizens and disabled folks who voted Republican this cycle seemingly have a death wish. The truth is, however, they are all completely blind to their party’s intentions toward SS/Medicare. Pure bigotry and resentment are the only things that drive them. After 2016, that sad fact can no longer be denied. Most of the true believers are willing to suffer themselves if it means bringing suffering to those in this society they hate. Logic has nothing to do with their thinking, so appeals to saving Social Security and Medicare are never going to sway them; even if they are living out of a cardboard box and eating cat food to survive. The GOP is emboldened and no longer timid about crossing that ‘third rail’ of destroying Social Security and Medicare, and I believe they are going to succeed in doing so. Along with everything else around us. {Insider 1/12}

‘House Republicans are making clear that they intend to seek cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare with their new majority in the 118th Congress.’ {Huffington Post 1/09}

The U.S. has become ‘an exporter of cultural and political anxieties. The world seems eager to engage in the kind of societal conflicts that nowadays divide the United States’ - In other words, be very afraid for the future of this planet. {Moisés Naím 1/13}

‘Sobering’ report shows how deeply committed the GOP and its base have become to silencing their appointed enemies - One political scientist notes: ‘“(T)he core goal shared by all factions of the Republican conference is to gut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security" — all ideas that are notorious losers at the ballot box. Unable to persuade voters to back their policy preferences, he argues, Republicans are increasingly looking for ways to enact their agenda outside of democratic means.’ {Salon 1/12}

‘The Supreme Court said Thursday an eight-month investigation that included more than 120 interviews and revealed shortcomings in how sensitive documents are secured has failed to find who leaked a draft of the court’s opinion overturning abortion rights.’ - It must have been purposely leaked by the controlling theocratic wing that has essentially declared holy war on secular America. Leaked, I believe, in order to have a chilling effect. Cruelty is the point. {AP 1/19}

GOP efforts to restrict mail-in ballots anger military families - Way to piss off a constituency that was widely assumed by most to be part of your base up to now. {AP 1/14}

Mona Charen: The normalization of Marjorie Taylor Greene - The GOP went down a slippery slope by falling behind Trump in 2016, and there is no return. Either this nationalist populist cancer festers or it is eradicated, but the Republican Party is forever tarnished and is never to be trusted again. {The Bulwark 1/10}

All just a ‘Democratic hoax,’ he said: ‘A former senior aide to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was convicted Thursday after being found guilty of helping to funnel illegal foreign campaign contributions from a Russian national into former President Trump's 2016 campaign.’ {Axios 1/03}

‘George Santos, the freshman Republican congressman from New York who lied about his biography, has deeper ties than previously known to a businessman who cultivated close links with a onetime Trump confidant and who is the cousin of a sanctioned Russian oligarch’ - The Grand Ole Putinists sat back and did nothing when it was revealed this jerk lied about his entire background, and will do nothing now. ‘Unfit to govern’ does not even scratch the surface of how rotten today’s Republican Party is. Resign now, you son of a bitch. {WaPo 1/16}

AG Garland announces he is appointing a special council to investigate Biden classified records - The top law enforcement officer in the nation is too much of a sissy to charge Trump, but has no problem harassing his own boss over this foolishness? Enough of this bulls**t: Mr. President, fire Merrick Garland, now! {CNBC 1/12}

More classified documents found by lawyers at President Biden’s home - Definitely not Mr. Biden’s finest hour, but I’ll be damned if his detractors - namely, the mainstream news media, the GOP, #Cult45, the hard-left, the Russians, perhaps his own AG, et al - get away with destroying this man while continuing to prop up the most corrupt and malevolent president in U.S. history, Donald Trump. Not happening, a**holes. {AP 1/14}

Thirteen hours to find six documents? FBI searches President Biden’s Delaware home - Sorry, #Cult45, nothing is going to come of this, no matter how hard the president’s enemies try. I don’t deny this is disappointing, though. {BBC 1/21}

The National Archives requests that all former presidents and VPs check their records for potentially misplaced classified documents. {AP 1/26}

President Biden to migrants seeking to enter the United States: ‘Do not, do not just show up at the border. Stay where you are and apply legally from there’ - Amen. Just because the man does not want to resort to gutter racism and inhumane measures to solve this ‘crisis’ (if that is the accurate word) does not mean he is soft on border security. To his detractors, it does not matter what the president does or what the facts are, they will just keep shouting the same old lines and casting the same aspersions. All the while pretending that their orange god actually did anything substantial during his time in office; apart from separating families, imprisoning children, and building about 80 miles of fencing - and not even particularly effective fencing - along a border that is nearly 2,000 miles long. {AP 1/05}

‘Since the court moved sharply to the right with Donald Trump’s appointment of three new justices, its default position has been to allow executions to proceed even in cases where serious constitutional issues are at stake’ - Whatever one feels about capital punishment - in extreme cases, I am for it - know that it has been a defining feature of every theocracy or theocratic-leaning society in history. {The Guardian 1/12}

‘Florida lawmakers will move to increase state control of Walt Disney World's private government, according to a notice published Friday, the latest development in a feud over what law critics have dubbed "Don't Say Gay."’ {CBS News 1/07}

Getting tired of this crap: ‘Law enforcement officials swarmed and entered a white van Sunday afternoon that officials suspect was driven by a gunman who opened fire on a Southern California ballroom dance studio, killing 10 people and wounding 10 more.’ {AP 1/22}

FAA grounds all flights across America due to a computer system glitch - A f**king outrage. Nobody can do anything right anymore, everything is broken, everybody is stupid. Am absolutely bulls**t just learning of this, so I can only imagine how those stuck in airports for however long must be feeling. We're becoming a Third World s**thole. A reflection of the orange a**hole that led this nation to ruin from 2016 to 2020; we still haven't even scratched the surface of the damage that has been done to our psyches, our infrastructure, economy, national security, foreign relations, should I go on? Gross incompetence plagues #Murica. By and large, the American people are a lost cause now. Unacceptable. {Sky News 1/11}

‘Planes were stuck on the ground for hours across the United States on Wednesday, leading to thousands of canceled and delayed flights after a government system used to give pilots safety and other information broke down overnight.’ {AP 1/11}

‘Shortages of computer chips and other parts continued to hobble the U.S. auto industry last year, contributing to vehicle sales dropping 8% from 2021 to their lowest level in more than a decade.’ {AP 1/04}

Two criminals charged with attacking power substation near Tacoma, WA, told police they knocked out power so they could rob an unspecified business without being detected. {AP 1/03}

The populist freak-out of the week (or one of their freak-outs, at least): No, you gullible fools, the Biden administration is not moving to ban gas stoves and specifically stated as much. {Politico 1/14}

Elon Musk breaks Guinness world record for the largest loss of personal fortune in one year - At least $165 billion. A heavy price to pay for the privilege of declaring himself king of the Internet trolls. {BBC 1/11}

Elon Musk gets his $8.00 a month from prominent Taliban figures now displaying the useless ‘blue check’ on their Twitter profiles. {BBC 1/16}

COVID-19 & OTHER HEALTH NEWS

‘A leading QAnon promoter who urged both her followers and strangers she passed on the street not to take the COVID vaccine died Thursday of the coronavirus, making her just the latest vaccine opponent killed by the disease.’ {Daily Beast 1/07}

‘Patients, most of them elderly, are lying on stretchers in hallways and taking oxygen while sitting in wheelchairs as COVID-19 surges in China’s capital Beijing.’ {AP 1/04}

COVID misinformation/disinformation proliferates online following NFL safety Damar Hamlin’s on-field collapse - Especially on Twitter, a direct result of Elon Musk lifting the company’s COVID misinfo policy. {WaPo 1/03}

‘Immunization rates for measles, polio and other diseases once again dropped among kindergartners last school year, a trend public health officials warn puts kids at risk for vaccine-preventable diseases.’ {USA Today 1/12}

‘The U.S. is poised to make COVID-19 vaccinations more like a yearly flu shot, a major shift in strategy despite a long list of questions about how to best protect against a still rapidly mutating virus.’ {AP 1/26}

‘The time has come for a major reset at the CDC.’ {WaPo editorial board 1/26}

CLIMATE CHANGE

Atmospheric river: Extreme weather ravages California, 90% of the state under flood watch - After all these years of natural disasters - to say nothing of political and social disasters - it is patently obvious that the two glorified warm weather havens, Florida and California, are actually glorified hell holes. All due respect to residents, but maybe you folks ought to consider leaving these doomed places while it is still possible to do so. #JustSaying. {Axios 1/10}

Anecdotes of economic, societal, and climate-related collapse from across the United States and elsewhere - Some of these are quite alarming. Most people are in denial, but I sense strongly they know in their guts that everything is going wrong. {Reddit 1/16}

Citing the need to conserve water for its own residents, the Arizona city of Scottsdale turns off water supplies for folks in an outlying, unincorporated area. {NYT 1/16}

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

‘A new U.S. law has eliminated the requirement that drugs in development must undergo testing in animals before being given to participants in human trials.’ {NPR 1/12}

LauncherOne: What would have been the first-ever satellite launch from Western Europe is foiled by an ‘anomaly.’ {Sky News 1/10}

Predictions for 2023, from 1923 - A four-hour workday is a pipe dream, cancer has not been eradicated, ugly people still exist, and nobody is living to be 300 years-old. {NPR 1/04}

Robert Knight Archive

MISC.

Jeff Beck, without question one of the greatest guitar players of all-time, dies at 78 - Well, if this isn’t a kick in the gut. Rest in peace, good sir, and thank you. {Rolling Stone 1/11}



Luciano Viti/Getty Images

A true American original: Rest in Peace, David Crosby. {Variety 1/19}

Congratulations to Scott Rolen on being elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame - An amazing achievement for an amazing player, I couldn’t be happier than I am right now. And also to Fred McGriff, very deserving. {CBS Sports 1/24}



Copyright 2023, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here. Now also on Post and Mastodon. DONATIONS - click here.
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