Today in Roy Moore:
“Hi, this is Bernie Bernstein, I’m a reporter for the Washington Post calling to find out if anyone at this address is a female between the ages of 54 to 57 years old willing to make damaging remarks about candidate Roy Moore for a reward of between $5000 and $7000 dollars.
“We will not be fully investigating these claims however we will make a written report. I can be reached by email at albernstein@washingtonpost.com, thank you.” – From the fake robocall, delivered in a stereotypical Jewish/New York accent, sent out in Alabama today.
“We will not be fully investigating these claims however we will make a written report. I can be reached by email at albernstein@washingtonpost.com, thank you.” – From the fake robocall, delivered in a stereotypical Jewish/New York accent, sent out in Alabama today.
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Congressman Mo Brooks, who got his clock cleaned by Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate primary, is retreating to his Place of Zen, somewhere in the basement of the Rayburn House Office Building:
Asked whether he believes Roy Moore over his accusers, Rep. Mo Brooks tells @TomLlamasABC, "I believe the Democrats will do great damage to our country." https://t.co/6GyWp8aqrX pic.twitter.com/L2OepQOkhR— ABC News (@ABC) November 14, 2017
Did Roy Moore sublimate his creepy hebephilia in his judicial opinions, living vicariously through sex offenders he made excuses for?
Roy Moore challenged the scope of an Alabama law that protects rape victims while serving as the most senior judge on the state’s highest court, according to a review of records.
As chief justice of Alabama’s supreme court, Moore twice argued that the state’s “rape shield” law should not prevent alleged sex offenders from using certain evidence about their underage accusers’ personal lives to discredit them.
The cases were among 10 between 2013 and 2016 where Moore dissented from the court’s majority and sided with alleged offenders who were appealing to the court as part of their efforts to overturn convictions or punishments for sexual crimes.
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American Nazis turn out to be sad guys who can’t get lucky with girls. Many of them know they’re gay but have read about what happened to the original gay Nazis.
Best of all, it turns out there are very fine people on either side of the political spectrum who read Saul Alinsky:
Anglin’s editorial approach, which he has explained in various podcasts, borrowed from both Mein Kampf and Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. From Hitler, Anglin learned to dumb down his argument: Good guys versus bad guys. A few themes repeated over and over. From Alinsky, he learned counterculture tactics: Attack people instead of institutions. Isolate targets. Make threats. One Alinsky rule in particular stuck with Anglin: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.”
Ridicule was hard to counter. So Anglin mocked. He made people laugh. “The whole point is to make something outrageous,” he said on the site. “It’s about creating a giant spectacle, a media spectacle that desensitizes people to these ideas.” He considered jokes about Josef Mengele training dogs to rape Jewish women “comedy gold.”
Ridicule was hard to counter. So Anglin mocked. He made people laugh. “The whole point is to make something outrageous,” he said on the site. “It’s about creating a giant spectacle, a media spectacle that desensitizes people to these ideas.” He considered jokes about Josef Mengele training dogs to rape Jewish women “comedy gold.”
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Papa John’s insists they really, really don’t want to be the Official Nazi Pizza. They’ve apologized for their founder’s racist blame game against the NFL:
We will work with the players and league to find a positive way forward. Open to ideas from all. Except neo-nazis — 🖕those guys. (3/3)— Papa John's Pizza (@PapaJohns) November 15, 2017
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To help pay for the GOP tax bill, Republican Senate leaders announced Tuesday that they plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act's requirement that Americans maintain health coverage.
The announcement comes one day after President Donald Trump urged Senators to eliminate the Obamacare mandate and use the savings to reduce the top income tax rate to 35 percent, a move that would exclusively benefit individuals earning over $500,000 and couples earning over $1,000,000 under the current Senate bill.
The announcement comes one day after President Donald Trump urged Senators to eliminate the Obamacare mandate and use the savings to reduce the top income tax rate to 35 percent, a move that would exclusively benefit individuals earning over $500,000 and couples earning over $1,000,000 under the current Senate bill.
The tax bill also puts the lie to the GOP’s fetishes of job creation and startup worship. Legacy companies have money to throw at lobbyists and donations. Startups don’t. Thus this new initiative:
The Federal Communications Commission will vote Thursday on a plan that, according to Chairman Ajit Pai, will strip away regulations that prevent telcos from upgrading their networks.
But in doing so, the Republican-controlled FCC plans to eliminate a requirement that telcos provide Americans with service at least as good as the old copper networks that provide phone service and DSL Internet. The requirement relates to phone service but has an impact on broadband because the two services use the same networks.
As carriers like AT&T and Verizon turn off copper networks throughout much of the country, many people fear that the networks won't be replaced with fiber or something of similar quality. That's why the FCC in 2014 created a "functional test" for carriers that seek permission to abandon copper networks. In short, carriers have to prove that the replacement service is just as good and provides the same capabilities as what's being discontinued.
But in doing so, the Republican-controlled FCC plans to eliminate a requirement that telcos provide Americans with service at least as good as the old copper networks that provide phone service and DSL Internet. The requirement relates to phone service but has an impact on broadband because the two services use the same networks.
As carriers like AT&T and Verizon turn off copper networks throughout much of the country, many people fear that the networks won't be replaced with fiber or something of similar quality. That's why the FCC in 2014 created a "functional test" for carriers that seek permission to abandon copper networks. In short, carriers have to prove that the replacement service is just as good and provides the same capabilities as what's being discontinued.
It’s also why Republicans claim government shouldn’t pick winners and losers as they do just that despite reality:
Though a lot has changed since 2016, not much has changed for energy economics in the US. The cost of wind generation continues to fall, solar costs are falling, too, and the cost of coal-power energy has seen no movement, while the cost of building and maintaining nuclear plants has gone up. And none of those conclusions reflect subsidies and tax credits applied by the federal government.
The conclusions come from Lazard (PDF), an asset management company that publishes cost estimates for various types of electricity-generation assets each year. Lazard’s numbers reflect the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), which averages the estimated costs of construction, maintenance, and fuel for electricity-generating assets over the number of megawatt-hours that each asset is expected to produce over its lifetime. In other words, the LCOE is the lifetime cost of a turbine divided by the amount of energy that turbine will produce over its lifetime. LCOE is a good way of comparing electricity generation sources that vary dramatically in cost to build and cost to maintain.
The result, tracked over years, is one way of gauging how the US energy mix is changing and could change in the coming year. Though the new presidential administration was expected (and still is expected) to be a boon to coal and nuclear energy, those efforts are still mired in the political process. And even if they succeed, thwarting the cost advantages of wind and solar energy while propping up coal and nuclear power will require not-inconsiderable amounts of intervention from the US government.
The conclusions come from Lazard (PDF), an asset management company that publishes cost estimates for various types of electricity-generation assets each year. Lazard’s numbers reflect the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), which averages the estimated costs of construction, maintenance, and fuel for electricity-generating assets over the number of megawatt-hours that each asset is expected to produce over its lifetime. In other words, the LCOE is the lifetime cost of a turbine divided by the amount of energy that turbine will produce over its lifetime. LCOE is a good way of comparing electricity generation sources that vary dramatically in cost to build and cost to maintain.
The result, tracked over years, is one way of gauging how the US energy mix is changing and could change in the coming year. Though the new presidential administration was expected (and still is expected) to be a boon to coal and nuclear energy, those efforts are still mired in the political process. And even if they succeed, thwarting the cost advantages of wind and solar energy while propping up coal and nuclear power will require not-inconsiderable amounts of intervention from the US government.
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Another way to ignore reality is to- well, ignore it:
A year after Donald Trump won the White House, the ranks of his government are still lacking in science and technology experts — the sort of officials who could oversee Silicon Valley, help find the next medical breakthrough or pioneer new ways of approaching everything from online privacy to cyber warfare.
For the moment, the president still has no top science adviser. Nor has he tapped a chief technology officer. From the Pentagon’s ultra-secret skunkworks to little-known tech posts at the Department of Transportation, the Trump administration in some cases is relying on holdovers from his Democratic predecessors. In others, the president hasn’t put forward any candidates at all.
For the moment, the president still has no top science adviser. Nor has he tapped a chief technology officer. From the Pentagon’s ultra-secret skunkworks to little-known tech posts at the Department of Transportation, the Trump administration in some cases is relying on holdovers from his Democratic predecessors. In others, the president hasn’t put forward any candidates at all.
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Sometimes tech giants succeed at being ignorant all by their lonesome. Apple CEO Tim Cook, who didn’t feel safe coming out until he was ensconced as one of the most powerful CEOs in the world, able to ignore tax laws around the globe, congratulated Australia for approving marriage equality in a tweet showing the flag of New Zealand:
Congratulations Australia! Another important step toward equality for all. 🇦🇺 #MarriageEquality— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) November 15, 2017
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Today the *resident gave himself glowing marks for his trip to Asia.
But the opinion wasn’t unanimous. Besides the ones who laughed behind his back, Little Rocket Man spoke, too:
North Korea’s state media has criticised Donald Trump for insulting leader Kim Jong-Un, saying the US president deserved the death penalty and calling him a coward for cancelling a visit to the inter-Korean border.
An editorial in the ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun focused its anger on Trump’s visit to South Korea last week, during which he denounced the North’s “cruel dictatorship” in a speech to legislators in Seoul.
An editorial in the ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun focused its anger on Trump’s visit to South Korea last week, during which he denounced the North’s “cruel dictatorship” in a speech to legislators in Seoul.
The visit was part of a marathon five-nation Asia tour by the US president aimed largely at galvanising regional opposition to the North’s nuclear weapons ambitions.
“The worst crime for which he can never be pardoned is that he dared [to] malignantly hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership,” the editorial said.
“He should know that he is just a hideous criminal sentenced to death by the Korean people,” it added.
“The worst crime for which he can never be pardoned is that he dared [to] malignantly hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership,” the editorial said.
“He should know that he is just a hideous criminal sentenced to death by the Korean people,” it added.
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After news that three Americans have as much money as the next 160 million, we learn that 3% of Americans own half of all the 265 million guns:
America’s gun super-owners, have amassed huge collections. Just 3% of American adults own a collective 133m firearms – half of America’s total gun stock. These owners have collections that range from eight to 140 guns, the 2015 study found. Their average collection: 17 guns each.
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