I’m still very tired. I woke up this morning and the temperature in my room was 85°. It was that way throughout the floor. It has cooled off, but I was miserable. I guess I still haven’t recovered from my trip out on Thursday. Tomorrow, I may have no more than a Personal Update of an Open Thread. It’s WWWendy Day and Uncle Revenue Torture Day.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:54 (average 4:40). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Politico: Rep. Ralph Norman pulled out a loaded pistol while discussing gun-violence prevention during a meeting with constituents in South Carolina on Friday, according to several advocacy group members in attendance.
The episode was brought to light by volunteers for the South Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, who said in a news release that the lawmaker laid out a loaded firearm while discussing gun safety at an event in Rock Hill.
According to the group, the pistol was left out for “several minutes” while Norman “kept telling his constituents that the presence of the gun made them safer.”
To make constituents safer, we need to keep guns away from Republican Ammosexual idiots like Norman! RESIST!!
From Bloomberg Law: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants to monitor hundreds of thousands of news sources around the world and compile a database of journalists, editors, foreign correspondents, and bloggers to identify top “media influencers.”
It’s seeking a contractor that can help it monitor traditional news sources as well as social media and identify “any and all” coverage related to the agency or a particular event, according to a request for information released April 3.
The data to be collected includes a publication’s “sentiment” as well as geographical spread, top posters, languages, momentum, and circulation. No value for the contract was disclosed.
“Services shall provide media comparison tools, design and rebranding tools, communication tools, and the ability to identify top media influencers,” according to the statement. DHS agencies have “a critical need to incorporate these functions into their programs in order to better reach federal, state, local, tribal, and private partners,” it said.
The DHS wants to track more than 290,000 global news sources, including online, print, broadcast, cable, and radio, as well as trade and industry publications, local, national and international outlets, and social media, according to the documents. It also wants the ability to track media coverage in more than 100 languages including Arabic, Chinese, and Russian, with instant translation of articles into English.
I doubt that PP is large enough to be considered for inclusion, but Care2 is. This reminds me of 1984. Big Brother is Watching! RESIST!!
From NY Times: President Trump’s national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, handed off his duties to John R. Bolton on Friday, a bittersweet departure from the White House in which he played down personal animosities with Mr. Trump but left little doubt that he and the president had differences on issues like Syria and Russia.
General McMaster met with Mr. Bolton, who then walked the halls of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, introducing himself to staff members still reeling from Mr. Trump’s second major shake-up of the National Security Council in 13 months. Mr. Bolton, a hawkish former envoy to the United Nations, takes up the job on Monday.
God help the world! RESIST!!
Cartoon:
9 Responses to “Open Thread – 4/7/2018”
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4:05 Very pretty.
Best to WWWendy. 85 degrees and still being tired from your ordeal are very enervating. Interacting with WWWendy should, I hope, be somewhat healing.
Politico – Not to be confused with Ralph Northam of Virginia. This Ralph Norman may – I hope – have made a tactical mistake in antagonizing Moms. On the other hand – South Carolina.
Bloomberg – As someone pointed out on AlterNet (referring to “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”), this is what a “clipping service” looks like in 2018 – a hundred years after Francie Nolan worked for one (as indeed author Betty Smith had done.) Great monsters from little fuzzies grow. Though I must say it’s not the service that’s the monster, it’s the way the data is used, and that is absolutely on DHS.
NYT – God help the world indeed.
Cartoon – I suppose in 1940 he was the least controversial black figure they could find. And that’s all I will say about that today.
Politico: In South Carolina, as Joanne points out, this maneuver may buy him accolades among the ammosexuals! Yeah, just leave a loaded gun lying around a while, that’s the ticket to civility and compassion.
Bloomberg Law: 1984 immediately sprang to mind! DHS agencies have “a critical need to incorporate these functions into their programs in order to better reach federal, state, local, tribal, and private partners,” it said. “Better reach,” or better control? I think it is the latter.
NYT: Well, when you give the keys to the asylum to the inmates, you never know what you will get!!
85 degrees in the house may just qualify for a call to the health dep’t. Be well, TC.
Politicio: Couldn’t believe the stupidity of this man doing this. Only a republicon would do this!
BL: 1984…exactly, Mitch & Tom!! Very frightening how the system is going.
NYT: Good Lord, to and for us all.
Cartoon: Sad.
Tell WWWendy HI !!! Hope it cools down for you. Ugh, taxes! Not fun. C’mon down to Texas, it’s 42 here at my house, and I’m bundled up like it’s winter! Hope you get a chance to relax, take good care, and Thanks, Tom.
The temperatures are not bad in Colorado Springs, and I would certainly enjoy the Puddy Tat’s company, but my home is a death trap for anyone not able-bodied. And I don’t have a Wendy.
Politico: What a goof. Give people like him enough rope, and they will gladly hang themselves.
Bloomberg: We are becoming more and more like the totalitarian schemes that we profess to oppose.
NYT: We are in the middle of what that Chinese curse calls “interesting times.” Hang on tight because we’re in for a wild ride.
Puzzle — 4:09 Love water lilies!
Politico — I read about this numb nut online. I sure don’t or wouldn’t feel safer with him and his gun around! Vote him out of office in November . . . if he hasn’t killed himself first by unholstering and reholtering his gun. I have to tell you a story about when bankers had guns in BC banks. Back in the years prior to 1974, we would go to the Post Office to pick up cash shipments (no armoured cars). The branch manager would put his little silver gun, loaded, in his belt at the small of his back and then sit in the car driving to the PO. His car was a Falcon with no shock absorbers and holes in the floor boards so one really had to fear for their lives because anything could set that puppy off. To boot, the ammunition was very old and the gun was never cleaned. The second gun in the branch was a howitzer by comparison. The Asst Manager carried it on cash runs and put it in his belt at the front. Again, it was never cleaned and had old ammunition. I swear he could have shot the family jewels without difficulty. As the senior teller, I had to get these beasts out of the vault every morning, and put them in at night. To this day, I hate guns. Fortunately, the laws have changed and this is no longer the routine. BTW, neither men had licenses, although at least the manager had training with guns in the army, just not this type.
Bloomberg Law — The machination of a paranoid régime! 1984 indeed!!!
NY Times — Terrifying!!! God help the world, indeed!!!
Cartoon — Republicans are disgusting!
Further to Bloomberg Law, I have no doubt that this move by this régime will severely curtail the 1st amendment rights of citizens and others, if not totally destroy the 1st amendment. Drumpf and his Rethuglicans are just that blatant!!!
Politico: Just from the short take I had guessed that Ralph Norman was middle-aged and white. That he was male and ammosexual were a given of course, but so were his age and color. Norman said in a statement issued later: “Mental health, and more importantly, a lack of morality is the driving force behind this epidemic. Guns are not the problem.” Spot on, if you are referring to yourself, that is, Mr. Norman.
I hope all of his constituents now see him for what he really is and make sure he is NOT re-elected this year. Then the poor man doesn’t have to walk around with a concealed weapon to defend himself any longer.
BL: I’m sure Cambridge Analytica has its application in, but as their work method is based largely on the big five of Personality traits this may well be beyond their capabilities, and of any other contractors for that matter. It sounds terribly 1984 and scary, but remember that all this data is already being gathered by the NSA and stored without any idea what to do with it. This new scheme thought up by the DHS sounds overly ambitious, but two things are certain: it’s going to cost millions if not billions of dollars for it to work and take years for it to develop into something useful. By then I hope a new, progressive government will put an end to it.
NYT:
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No use coming over to Holland either, TomCat. Our temperatures are just as high and everyone is out, enjoying a lovely sunny spring/summer’s day.
Hugs! Big Rush!