ignirtoq

I want to say upfront that I don’t subscribe to this argument myself, but the belief isn’t that people don’t want social programs. The argument is that society can’t afford them. Supposedly, if people’s basic needs are met by government programs that don’t require any work from them, then enough people will stop working that tax revenue will fall below required levels for those programs and the whole system will collapse. Therefore people blocking or otherwise countering these programs are actually saving people from themselves.

I don’t think it’s a good argument, but let’s not build a straw man.

I think it’s technically not crop rotation because they’re supposed to be planted in the same field at the same time, right?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(agriculture)

[E]ntries [note] a supposed risk level, and, in some cases, an individual’s sexual orientation and racial identity.

Straight white cis people never do anything untoward.

Valnet writers who […] reveal payment rates are alleged to be blacklisted by the company

That sounds flat out illegal.

Following his speech, the president is planning on setting off fireworks for 40 minutes in an attempt to break the world record for fireworks. Firework manufacturers have said this will cost many millions of dollars, but the White House is yet to disclose exactly how much they are spending and how they obtained the funds.

Those USAID funds, and funding for dozens of other programs, aren’t going where they’re legally supposed to anymore, so probably from there.

After attending the Supreme Court hearing earlier this year, Trump falsely claimed in a Truth Social post that the U.S. is “the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow ‘Birthright’ Citizenship!”

This is such a stupid and easily disproved take. I’ve had relatives claim to me that the US is the only country with birthright citizenship. It’s very common in the Americas.

And even if it wasn’t, and the US was the only country with birthright citizenship, isn’t that our choice as a nation? Do we have to do what other countries do? If we’re going to do that, can we start with universal healthcare and then revisit birthright citizenship after, say, better protections for unions, guaranteed parental leave, guaranteed vacation time, unlimited sick time, higher taxes on the wealthy, abolition of at-will employment, and about 100 other policies the US is the only wealthy nation either not to have or to have a legal framework against?

Danielle Caputo of the Campaign Legal Center said federal officials should not be “tipping the scales, behind the scenes” by pushing candidates to withdraw, though she noted proving a Hatch Act violation could be difficult. Stanley Brand, a Penn State law fellow, said Kennedy could face exposure under separate criminal statutes barring officials from using their authority to interfere with elections or offering benefits in exchange for political activity.

Who is going to prosecute Kennedy for a Hatch Act violation? The DOJ is an executive branch organization. That’s the fundamental flaw with most laws passed by prior sessions of Congress that try to check the power of the Executive branch: there’s no functional mechanism of enforcement when the entire branch is hostile to the law. That’s the worst case scenario, and the one we’re in, and it’s the one none of these laws can handle.

How is this not fraud?

After briefly pushing SpaceX’s market value close to $3 trillion, investors have begun reassessing whether the stock’s rapid advance can be justified by fundamentals.

Nothing in the stock market has been about fundamentals for a very long time. Especially regarding Musk companies.

Originally enacted in 1964 to protect workers during the transition from private to public ownership of mass transit, the provision now blocks the modernization of transit operations: no legacy US heavy-rail system has automated its operations to permit trains to run without onboard crew. In contrast, countries like France and Canada, each with robust labor protections, automate without conflict.

Okay, can we get those robust labor protections first, and then fully automate public transit?

Ok so when a dozen people all go to say the same thing, when do the other people get to speak? 36 minutes later. They get 3 minutes each. These elected officials can spend a half fucking hour listening to their citizens.

Energy is not only a property of matter. Photons have energy, no mass, and are not matter but in fact force carrier particles.

Also of note: According to the Financial Times, some of these SPV deals are being cut up, pooled together and resold to investors as new asset-backed securities.

Oh good. That risk-obfuscating strategy has never caused any economic problems and has only had positive results.

It’s cover. They’re not laying off because of AI. They’re laying off to make line go up.

An inquiry could ultimately see justice department officials, including the acting attorney general, brought before her court to testify.

Don’t waste time having them testify. They have no qualms lying under oath. Subpoena documents. That’s the only way to get at the truth.

One of the big problems is that the world continuously gets more complicated and needs commensurate regulation, but the legislative branch can only handle so much complexity and expertise directly. So it has been delegating more and more of its regulatory powers to agencies that are supposed to be staffed with the experts that can handle that complexity and have that expertise.

But in our system “executing” the law is under a different branch, controlled by the President, so it in effect transfers that power to that office. Congress can’t just “take it back” without solving that underlying problem, or the power they take back will vanish due to their lack of capacity to execute it effectively for the good of the people.

Violate the law. The US civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s have a lot of success stories, and stories of challenges/failures that careful study of would really equip today’s civil rights advocates well.

I’m skeptical of just a mathematical model without tying it to real data, no matter how hard the researchers try to make it “realistic.” You can make a mathematical model that says anything. That said, I did find this part interesting:

Burgess and his colleagues delved into the mechanics of ambition after earlier work found that fisheries performed best when boats stopped searching for more fish once they reached higher-than-average catches. They wanted to see if the mathematics supported the strategy in other realms of life, too.

The change will de-emphasize the effects of methane, a main component of natural gas that has a potent effect on the climate but breaks down more quickly than carbon dioxide.

I hate language like this. Carbon dioxide doesn’t break down. It’s stable. So methane breaking down in 100 million years would be “more quickly” than carbon dioxide. This turn of phrase puts an inaccurate picture in the layman’s mind of greenhouse gases that’s very avoidable. Just say “but eventually breaks down, unlike carbon dioxide.” There, fixed in the same number of words.

Some details that seemed important to me:

The protesters tried to stop ICE from transferring Martin Soto – who announced the strike – but officials said that they were able to move him to the Elizabeth contract detention facility.

Laura Herman, who serves as legal director of the advocacy organization Make The Road New Jersey, said that lawyers had communicated with the US attorney’s office. The US attorney’s office claimed he would not be transferred Sunday because of a federal judge’s order prohibiting him from being moved out of state as his habeas petition proceeds through court, according to the City.

So federal court has forbidden them from transferring him out of state, and they decide to transfer him. They moved him to another ICE facility in New Jersey (where he was initially), so this doesn’t break that order, but who would trust ICE to do that?