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Post by mhbruin on Nov 20, 2023 9:54:55 GMT -8
Whoever invented the knock-knock joke deserves a no-bell prize.
Could Santos Leave Not With a Whimper, But With a Bang?
Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has announced that he won't seek re-election to a second term, but he could spark chaos within the House to avoid expulsion.
The House Ethics Committee issued a damning report last week that found Santos had engaged in “uncharged and unlawful conduct” that goes beyond the criminal allegations already pending against him, and that panel's chairman, Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS), and American Enterprise Institute researcher Kevin Kosar wondered how – and whether – he would exit the chamber.
"How will Santos respond to that vote once he knows it is coming?" Kosar wrote. "He could go gently into the night. He might give a farewell speech like Ohio Democrat James Traficant did in 2002 after he got the boot. Or Rep. Santos instead might torch the House. Specifically, what if he demanded recognition the moment the House of Representatives restarted and raised a question of privilege to vacate the speakership?"
Motions to vacate are privileged, so that would cut ahead of other legislative business for a vote, and there's nothing really stopping Santos from tossing a procedural bomb.
"He feels betrayed and scorned," Kosar said. "Santos has every reason to fight and keep up the act that he is a victim. Additionally, vacating the Speaker would delay the vote on his own expulsion— no Speaker means the GOP would leave the floor to huddle in conference and figure out who is in charge. And if past is prologue, that could take a while. Not to be forgotten is that pulling this maneuver would be sweet revenge on his party for scorning him."
"And, obviously, trying to vacate the chair would make for great theater, and Santos is all about drama," he added.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 20, 2023 9:59:38 GMT -8
Today's Misleading Headline: "Red-wine headache explained - and it is not about volume"
US researchers say they may have discovered why some people get a headache after just one small glass of red wine, even though they are fine drinking other types of alcohol.
The University of California team say it is due to a compound in red grapes that can mess with how the body metabolises alcohol.
The compound is an antioxidant or flavanol called quercetin. (I take a quercetin supplement daily. There are reliable animal studies suggesting that it's anti-oxident properties can slow aging.)
Cabernets from the sunny Napa Valley contain high levels of it, they say.
Red grapes make more quercetin when they are exposed to sunshine.
And that meant more expensive red wines, rather than cheap reds, would be worse for headache-prone people, one of the researchers, Prof Andrew Waterhouse, told BBC News.
"The cheap grape varieties are grown on vines with very large canopies and lots of leaves, so they don't get as much sun," he said. "Whereas the high-quality grapes are from smaller crops with fewer leaves.
"The amount of sunshine is carefully managed to improve the quality of the wine."
Others are sceptical though.
Prof Roger Corder, an expert in experimental therapeutics, at Queen Mary University of London, told BBC News anecdotal evidence suggested cheaper wines were worse for headache, so understanding some of the additives used in making lower-end mass-market red wines might be more informative.
Several theories have been put forward to explain red-wine headaches, which can strike within 30 minutes of drinking even small amounts.
Some have suggested the cause might be sulphites - preservatives to prolong shelf-life and keep wine fresh.
Generally though, the sulphite content is higher in sweet white wines rather than reds.
And while some people can be allergic to sulphites and should avoid them, there is little evidence they are to blame for headaches.
Another possible culprit is histamine - an ingredient more common in red wine than white or rose.
Histamine can dilate blood vessels in the body, which might trigger headache. But again, absolute proof is lacking.
The "Explanation" May Not Be the Explanation
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 20, 2023 10:05:39 GMT -8
"Unprecdented" Means Never Seen Before. That's a Dumb Choice of Words.
UN chief Antonio Guterres says the number of civilians killed in Israel’s war on Gaza has been “unparalleled and unprecedented” since he took office in 2017.
As of 2 Years Ago, An Estimated 377,000 Civilians Died in Yemen.
None of This Excuses How Israel is Conducting the War.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 20, 2023 10:07:19 GMT -8
Previous Guy Goes There?
Trump, criticizing Biden at a rally in Fort Dodge, Iowa, told a crowd of supporters that “the happiest person anywhere in this country right now is Jimmy Carter because his administration looked brilliant compared to these clowns.”
“Compared to Biden, Jimmy Carter was a brilliant, brilliant president,” Trump said.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 20, 2023 10:09:34 GMT -8
Ohio QOP Wants to Be Able to Override the State Constitution
They have a proposed bill.
The “Issue 1 Implementation Act” grants the legislature “exclusive authority” over implementing the constitutional amendment and withdraws “all jurisdiction” from state courts “on any and all claims attempting to enforce or implement” the amendment. It also directs that any lawsuits to enforce the amendment be “immediately dismissed” and any existing court rulings to be “vacated.” Finally, it makes any effort by a judge to interpret the amendment an impeachable offense.
In short, they’re proposing to strip their state courts of the power to rule on what the abortion-rights provision in the Ohio Constitution means—and when state laws might be unconstitutional under it.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 20, 2023 10:11:16 GMT -8
Baby Let Me Follow You Down
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 20, 2023 10:14:04 GMT -8
2.0! Way to Go!
We were not expected to breach 2.0 Celsius until 2060, but we did Friday.
On November 18, 2023, the global mean temperature briefly exceeded 2.0 degrees Celsius (2.06) for the first time in recorded history, exceeding the IPCC 1850-1990 baseline (considered pre-industrial).
The terrifying rise is temporary, according to climate scientists I follow. The long-term average is below 1.5 degrees Celsius, 1.3 C; however, with record-high climate-warming gases pouring into the atmosphere, even that temperature will rise.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 20, 2023 10:15:48 GMT -8
Does "All" Mean "44%"? It's Actually Around 15%.
On Friday, during an appearance on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Rami Igra, a former division chief for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, told Cooper there was no such thing as a “non-combatant population in the Gaza Strip” because “all of the Gazans voted for Hamas” and “most of the population in the Gaza strip are Hamas.”
In his words:
“As you will have seen in the last couple of weeks, the fighting is very surgical. It is slow. It is very methodical. We are trying not to reach any of the non-combatant population in the Gaza Strip.”
However, he adds: “Now, again, one little note, the non-combatant population in the Gaza Strip is really a non-existent term because all of the Gazans voted for the Hamas, and as we have seen on the 7th of October, most of the population in the Gaza Strip are Hamas.”
He concludes, “Nonetheless, we are treating them as non-combatants, we are treating them as regular civilians, and they are spared from the fighting.”
Whether the fighting is surgical and methodical and if the IDF is treating the civilian Gazans as non-combatants is beyond my expertise. And opinions on the subject will depend on who you think is “right." This diary only addresses the truth of Igra’s statement, “All of the Gazans voted for the Hamas.” Fortunately, unlike his other statements, Igra's voting contention can be addressed empirically.
The last Palestinian election, which took place in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, was held in January 2006. Hamas won a plurality of the votes (44.45%) and ended up with a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council.
The salient fact is that this last election in the Gaza Strip took place almost 18 years ago.
Gaza has one of the youngest populations in the world. The median age of Gazans is 18. This means that c.50% of Gazans alive today were born after that election. A further c.25% are under 36, making them too young to have voted in 2006.
This means that 25% of contemporary Gazans were old enough to vote in 2006.
The turnout was 76%. Therefore, only 19% of today's Gazans actually voted then. And 50% of them (see above) voted for Hamas. Which means 10% (rounding up) of living Gazans voted for Hamas.
Those are the numbers. Even if you added 50% to the total (making it 15%) — which will more than account for any low-ball figures — 85% of Gazans did not vote for Hamas.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 20, 2023 10:18:48 GMT -8
The Crackpot Caucus Is Increasing in the Senate, Too.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) over the weekend promoted false conspiracy theories about the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after House Republicans released hours of raw footage from that day.
Lee said he couldn’t wait to ask FBI Director Chris Wray about an image of a man who was convicted of storming the Capitol and entering the office of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calf.). The image was shared by another Jan. 6 skeptic who suggested the man was an undercover federal agent posing as a supporter of Donald Trump.
“I predict that, as always, his answers will be 97% information-free,” Lee said of Wray in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday.
But the image of the man was actually of Kevin Lyons, a Chicago man who was convicted of six federal charges relating to the insurrection, per NBC News’ Ryan Reilly. And Lyons wasn’t flashing a police badge, as the post had suggested, but rather a vaping device.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 20, 2023 10:24:31 GMT -8
Russians are Rushin' to the Graveyard
A member of the Ukrainian drone hunting team uses a tablet to monitor the sky, outside the southern city of Kherson, on November 2, 2023, amid Russia's military invasion on Ukraine. Ukraine's counteroffensive has gained steam in the region with efforts to get deeper into Russian territory before another harsh winter negatively affects fighters.
Russian deaths have reportedly surpassed 319,000 as the war in Ukraine is about to hit the 21-month mark.
Approximately 690 Russian soldiers died on Sunday, bringing the total number of casualties to 319,210 since the war began on February 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's military said on Monday. That's up from roughly 311,750 deaths reported one week ago.
It is impossible to independently verify battlefield losses, and figures distributed by Kyiv tend to exceed estimates made by its western allies. Newsweek reached out to Ukraine and Russia's Defense Ministries for comment via email.
Other wartime losses mostly remained stagnant since the weekend, aside from Ukrainian officials reporting that they destroyed nine additional Russian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). They also destroyed four more Russian tanks and artillery systems each, increasing the enemy's total losses to 5,439 and 7,748, respectively.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 20, 2023 10:26:15 GMT -8
The Rich to the Poor: "Eat My Dust Carbon"
The richest 1% of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%, with dire consequences for vulnerable communities and global efforts to tackle the climate emergency, according to the most comprehensive study of global climate inequality ever undertaken.
For the past six months, the Guardian has worked with Oxfam, the Stockholm Environment Institute and other experts on an exclusive basis to produce a special investigation, The Great Carbon Divide. It explores the causes and consequences of carbon inequality and the disproportionate impact of super-rich individuals, who have been termed “the polluter elite”.
The Oxfam report shows that that this elite group, made up of 77 million people including billionaires, millionaires and those paid more than US$140,000 (£112,500) a year, accounted for 16% of all CO2 emissions in 2019 – enough to cause more than a million excess deaths due to heat, according to the report.
The report shows that while the wealthiest 1% tend to live climate-insulated, air-conditioned lives, their emissions – 5.9bn tonnes of CO2 in 2019 – are responsible for immense suffering. Climate justice will be high on the agenda of this month’s UN Cop28 climate summit in the United Arab Emirates.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 20, 2023 10:28:37 GMT -8
DeathSentence is Creating His Own Version of the Waffen SS
One of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' more bizarre moves has been the establishment of the Florida State Guard. This during a gubernatorial tenure that has seen DeSantis lurch to the far, far right on everything from civil rights to public education to whether or not people suspected of "drug smuggling" ought to be summarily executed upon crossing our southern border. The guard was announced with some pomp in 2022 and premised as an alternative version of the state National Guard under the orders of nobody but the governor himself and would be focused on emergency response in case of natural disasters or other state emergencies.
Why DeSantis needed his own alternative to the National Guard was always sketchy, and critics warned from the beginning that the authoritarian-minded, vengeance-obsessed DeSantis was exactly the sort of political leader who should not be given his own dedicated paramilitary force. The suspicions were that Florida Republicans were not creating an "emergency preparedness" force, but a state-sponsored anti-federal militia.
Those fears quickly proved to be grounded. Last June, scandal erupted when a founding supervisor and other volunteers quit, warning that the training program for the new state guard was "heavily militarized," with "marching drills and military-style training sessions on weapons and hand-to-hand combat." The governor's office then appeared to bend the previously stated purpose for the guard, telling The New York Times the group would help "ensure Florida remains fully fortified to respond to not only natural disasters, but also to protect its people and borders from illegal aliens and civil unrest."
That gave the game away. DeSantis and Republican lawmakers may have sold the program as one of emergency preparedness, but the training appears to be focused on an imagined future of armed and hand-to-hand combat with "illegal aliens," or with the state facing "civil unrest."
Last week, the Miami Herald broke the news that the DeSantis administration had hired Stronghold SOF Solutions to recruit and train guard volunteers. The paramilitary-minded company "trains police and military members on tactical shooting, explosives and urban combat," reports the Herald, and "lists as one of its instructors a former U.S. Navy SEAL accused of war crimes."
The Southern Poverty Law Center is now weighing in as well. The SPLC normally dedicates itself to tracking hate groups and potentially violent anti-government militias. Now it's issued an unusual analysis warning that the Florida State Guard appears to be rapidly transforming into a true oddity: a state-sponsored anti-government militia.
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