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Post by mhbruin on Dec 13, 2022 9:36:46 GMT -8
Monsters don't like to eat ghosts, because they taste like sheet Elon Musk is Hurting Elon MuskElon Musk has decided to literally destroy his personal brand—and Tesla’s along with it—in his bizarro turn toward the QAnon dark side. As I’ve been saying for a while (on Twitter), this was never going to end well for Tesla. A look at Tesla dealerships confirms that, yes, it’s urban liberal elites buying the cars: Houston: 4 Miami: 4 Los Angeles: 3 Palo Alto: 3 Austin: 3 Bellevue: 3 Honolulu: 3 Corte Madera: 2 Orlando: 2 Seattle:2 Looking at where electric vehicles are registered in Texas, just 10.12% are registered outside of the state’s four big liberal centers: Dallas-Fort Worth (35.75%), Houston (23.45%), Austin (21%), and San Antonio (9.68%). The vast Texas conservative hinterlands have little interest in Musk’s product. Woke California buys 42% of all electric vehicles—the vast majority in its urban liberal centers—while making up just 12% of the country’s population. All that makes sense, as roll-coal-conservatives have a weird hate on for electric vehicles. “Democrats like Pete Buttigieg want to emasculate the way we drive and force all of you to rely on electric vehicles,” said Marjorie Taylor Greene, taking a break from advocating for armed insurrection. The American Conservative, in defense of electric vehicles, wrote: “There are pretty good reasons [conservatives don’t like EVs]. For one, environmentalists love them and usually environmentalists are wrong.” In an attack ad against Iowa Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne (who went on to narrowly lose her race), the bubba Republican John McCormick, leaning against a gas-guzzling pickup truck, attacked the congresswoman and President Joe Biden as “clueless and out of touch” because “guys like me don’t want an expensive electric vehicle.” Yet these are Elmo’s new best friends—the crowd he’s decided to embrace while actively attacking the very “woke” liberals who are the bulk of Tesla buyers. To Err is Human, But It Takes a Musk to Really Fuck Things Up
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 13, 2022 9:38:58 GMT -8
35 Co-ConspiratorsIn the lead-up to Jan. 6, former chief of staff Mark Meadows communicated with at least 34 Republican members of Congress involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Those communications went both ways, with Meadows attempting to organize Republican efforts to obstruct the peaceful transition of power, and Republicans in Congress calling for Meadows, and Trump, to refuse to honor the outcome of the election. The Republicans involved were eager to spread conspiracy theories, pushed quack theories of election law, and offered to do “anything” to help keep Trump in office. Talking Points Memo has obtained the complete contents of 2,319 text messages written by Meadows, Republican officials, and members of the Trump White House. Those messages have been previously provided to both the House select committee investigating events connected to Jan. 6, and to the Department of Justice. The messages show not just how Donald Trump attempted to employ false claims and conspiracy theories in a plot to overturn the 2020 election, but how other politicians at the federal, state, and local levels became part of this effort, many of them eagerly. A Plot To Overturn An American Election
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 13, 2022 9:50:45 GMT -8
Are the IOC and FIFA Related?
The IOC still hasn’t even stripped Russia’s women’s figure skating team of their gold medal after one of their star skaters was caught cheating, failing a drug test. They are as corrupt and disgusting as FIFA.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 13, 2022 9:53:37 GMT -8
Will Unvaccinated Kids Be Spotted?
One month ago, the measles outbreak in Ohio’s unvaccinated communities had touched seven child care centers and one school. At that point there were 18 confirmed cases. All of the cases were children, at least 15 of them under the age of 4. At least six of those children needed to be hospitalized at some point. All of the children were unvaccinated, which meant they had not received a single dose of the two-dose measles regimen.
On Monday, Columbus, Ohio, public health officials announced that the measles outbreak had now risen to 73 confirmed cases, with 26 of those people having been hospitalized at some point due to the measles. Fox28 reports that Columbus Public Health says, “67 of the cases are in those unvaccinated with the remaining cases involving partially vaccinated children or those whose vaccination status is unknown.” According to NBC4, four of the cases are partially vaccinated children who have only received one dose of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR), while two other confirmed cases include people whose vaccination status is still not known.
ArsTechnica points out that 14 of the confirmed cases were children “typically too young to be vaccinated.” One dose of the MMR, which is half the recommended schedule, has been proven to have a 93% efficacy rate against measles. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest giving children the first dose of the virus between the ages of 12 and 15 months. That means that 14 of these poor children are likely younger than a year old.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 13, 2022 9:55:19 GMT -8
Could Investigating the Investigators Backfire?
MEMBERS AND STAFF of the Jan. 6 committee are actively preparing for a multi-pronged Republican revenge campaign when the GOP takes the House next month, anticipating an all-out effort to discredit the panel’s work and punish its workers, according to current and former staff, as well as other sources briefed on the situation.
As the committee readies its final report, staff are also preparing for their investigation to be investigated, including with subpoenas seeking access to a year-and-a-half of their private communications, emails, and other documents, the sources said.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 13, 2022 10:02:41 GMT -8
From the People Who Brought You Sane Gun Laws
New Zealand will phase in a near-total tobacco ban from next year.
Legislation passed by parliament on Tuesday means that anyone born after 2008 will never be able to buy cigarettes or tobacco products.
It will mean the number of people able to buy tobacco will shrink each year. By 2050, for example, 40-year-olds will be too young to buy cigarettes.
Health Minister Ayesha Verrall, who introduced the bill, said it was a step "towards a smoke-free future".
"Thousands of people will live longer, healthier lives and the health system will be NZ$5 billion (US$3.2 billion) better off from not needing to treat the illnesses caused by smoking," Dr Verrall said.
A Country That Is Willing to Tackle Things That Are Killing People.: How Refreshing!
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 13, 2022 10:04:15 GMT -8
Could LEDs Save Ukraine?
Millions of energy-efficient lightbulbs are needed to help Ukraine cope with Russian attacks on the country's energy system, President Zelensky has said.
Speaking at a conference in Paris, he argued that one of the keys to stopping Russian aggression was to guarantee Ukraine's energy stability.
Generators are now "as necessary in Ukraine as armoured vehicles and bulletproof vests", he said.
Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy grid have left millions without power.
With winter temperatures in parts of the country often below zero for weeks on end, Ukraine has accused Russia of using the cold weather as a weapon against its civilian population.
Many parts of the country now only have electricity for a few hours a day.
The damage to Ukraine's energy infrastructure has caused an average shortfall of about two-and-a-half gigawatts of power, Volodymyr Zelensky told an international aid conference on Tuesday.
But supplying the country with 50 million LED lightbulbs, which use less energy than older varieties, would save around one gigawatt of power - reducing the shortfall by about 40%.
The EU has already committed to sending 30 million bulbs.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 13, 2022 10:08:13 GMT -8
By the Time Fusion Gets Here, Miami Will Be Under Water
The road from the tiny experiment in Livermore to fusion powerplants is long, said experts. The process will have to be repeated, tested, scaled up and made economically viable, which will take years if not decades.
"I would say that in the next 20 years we would have a commercially operating nuclear fusion reactor," Brizard said.
These are going to be big plants — the size of today's power plants.
"It's not going to be like Mr. Fusion in 'Back to the Future II,'" said Bizard, referencing the coffee-can-sized fusion reactor that fueled the DeLorean at the end of the film.
The work is a prime example of the painstaking time involved in getting to scientific breakthroughs. It was decades in the making and is an excellent example of the power of serious, deep, long-term scientific research and development, the kind that can only be funded by the public sector, experts said.
"The science and technology challenges on the path to fusion energy are daunting, but making the seemingly impossible possible is when we're at our very best," said Budil. "This is how we do really big, hard things."
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 13, 2022 10:09:49 GMT -8
Who Needs to Protect Children From Sexual Exploitation?
Twitter announced late Monday that it was disbanding its “Trust and Safety Council,” according to an email the company sent to the council’s members that was obtained by CNN.
The company said in the email that it was “reevaluating how best to bring external insights into our product and policy development work. As part of this process, we have decided that the Trust and Safety Council is not the best structure to do this.”
The move comes as Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk is undoing many of the policies and practices put in place before he took over the social media company.
A page on Twitter’s website, which has now been removed, explained that the council was made up of external expert organizations that advised on issues including online safety, human and digital rights, suicide prevention, mental health, child sexual exploitation, and dehumanization.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 13, 2022 10:11:31 GMT -8
Somebody Keep An Eye On Tom Brady. Less Inflation?
After more than a year of dashed hopes, inflation is finally showing signs of letting up — which may soon bring more relief for households and businesses being squeezed by high prices and the Federal Reserve’s ongoing fight to slow the economy.
Prices cooled again in November, rising 7.1 percent compared with last year, the smallest year-over-year increase since last December. They also climbed 0.1 percent over October, beating analysts’ expectations. And a measure known as “core inflation,” which strips out volatile categories like food and energy, rose 0.2 percent — the smallest increase since August 2021, according to data released Tuesday morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The idea that 7.1 percent annual price increases are good news may seem counterintuitive, since inflation still hovers near the highest levels in decades. But the new report bolstered hopes — for top economic policymakers and American families alike — that underlying measures are moving in the right direction, and that a better-than-expected report from October was not a one-off. After a year that saw Fed officials scrambling to keep up with inflation, they will now enter 2023 with a belated dose of optimism. That will not be enough to end the central bank’s campaign of interest rate hikes, but it will certainly be enough to stick with plans to slow down, and it could portend a policy shift next year, so long as progress keeps up.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 13, 2022 10:13:19 GMT -8
Apparently Hurting Children is Working for Gov DeathSentence
Republican support for Donald Trump's presidential bid in 2024 has cratered, an exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds, as the former president is beleaguered by midterm losses and courtroom setbacks.
Here's what Trump's 2024 presidential campaign means for future of the Republican party
By 2-1, GOP and GOP-leaning voters now say they want Trump's policies but a different standard-bearer to carry them. While 31% want the former president to run, 61% prefer some other Republican nominee who would continue the policies Trump has pursued.
They have a name in mind: Two-thirds of Republicans and those inclined to vote Republican want Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to run for president. By double digits, 56% to 33%, they prefer DeSantis over Trump.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 13, 2022 10:15:29 GMT -8
Fusion and mRNA On the Same Day
A customized Moderna Inc. vaccine combined with a Merck & Co. cancer drug helped ward off the recurrence of the skin cancer melanoma after surgery in patients in a mid-stage clinical trial, the companies said.
The companies said Tuesday the combination of Moderna’s personalized cancer vaccine and Merck’s Keytruda cancer immunotherapy reduced patients’ risk of relapse or death by about 44%, versus Keytruda alone, in the 150-volunteer study.
The results, which the companies said were statistically significant but haven’t been reviewed by independent scientists, suggest promise for an emerging but unproven class of vaccines that aim to treat diseases rather than prevent infections like typical shots.
If the combination proves successful in further testing, the results could broaden the applications for Moderna’s messenger RNA platform beyond the Covid-19 vaccine that was the first use for the gene-based technology.
The companies said they plan to run a larger study to confirm the combination’s safety and efficacy next year. Positive results of that study could clear the way for potential regulatory approval of Moderna’s experimental cancer vaccine.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 13, 2022 10:16:50 GMT -8
If $10 Million Wasn't Enough for You to Turn In the Sherman Killers, ...
The son of two Canadian billionaires has offered an additional C$25m ($18.34m; £14.95m) as a reward for information on his parents' killer.
Barry Sherman, 75, and Honey Sherman, 70, were found strangled in their Toronto home nearly five years ago, and their murders remain unsolved.
The Sherman family previously offered up $10m to help arrest and convict the couple's killer.
The total reward for anyone with information now sits at $35m.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 13, 2022 10:18:55 GMT -8
Like a Bridge Over Troubled Waters, I Will Blow You Up
Explosions damaged a bridge used by Russian forces to transport military hardware to the front lines in eastern Ukraine overnight, as Ukrainian officials hinted at a capability to strike deep in territory occupied by the Kremlin’s forces.
Ivan Fedorov, the exiled Ukrainian mayor of the city of Melitopol, said a bridge linking the city to the nearby village of Kostiantynivka had been attacked.
“It was this bridge that the occupiers were using to transport military equipment from the eastern front,” Mr. Fedorov said in a post on the Telegram messaging channel. “I am warning you. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are near. You will run away without looking back!”
The Russian-controlled regional administration said the supports of the bridge were damaged as the result of an explosion, causing the road bed to sag. Officials in the city described the incident as “an act of sabotage.” Both car and pedestrian traffic were suspended on the bridge as emergency services worked at the site, they said.
The attack is the second in the city of Melitopol in recent days after Ukraine’s military used U.S.-supplied long-range artillery to demolish a hotel housing Russian military personnel.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 13, 2022 10:20:41 GMT -8
It Was a Gay OccasionPresident Joe Biden is inviting thousands to celebrate at the White House on Tuesday as he signs into law gay marriage legislation before a bipartisan crowd that reflects growing acceptance of same-sex unions. Lawmakers from both parties will be there, as will first lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. The White House promised musical performances but was trying to maintain suspense about the headliners. The triumphant mood will play out against the backdrop of a right-wing backlash over gender issues, which has alarmed gay and transgender people and their advocates. Among the attendees will be the owner of Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado where five people were killed in a shooting last month, and two survivors of the attack. The suspect has been charged with hate crimes.
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