More than any other single development, that period explains the durability of Benjamin Netanyahu, which outsiders sometimes struggle to understand. Simply put, in the decade before Mr. Netanyahu came to power in 2009, the fear of death accompanied us in public places. There was a chance your child could be blown up on the bus home from school. In the decade since, that has ceased to be the case. Next to that fact, all other issues pale. Whatever credit the prime minister really deserves for the change, for many voters it’s a good enough reason to keep him in power on Sept. 17.
This is a very plain blog with quotes from and links to articles I found interesting, thought-provoking, or relevant to the times. Linking is neither endorsement nor condemnation. Run by http://willslack.com
10 September, 2019
08 September, 2019
On Joi and MIT
But what I — and Joi—missed then was the great risk of great harm that this gift would create. Sure, it wasn’t blood money, and sure, because anonymous, the gift wasn’t used to burnish Epstein’s reputation. But the gift was a ticking time bomb. At some point, it was destined to be discovered. And when it was discovered, it would do real and substantial pain to the people within the Media Lab who would come to see that they were supported in part by the gift of a pedophile. That pain is real and visceral and substantial and not taken seriously enough. And every bit of emotion and outrage from victims that I have seen in this episode is, in my view, completely justified by the completely predictable consequence of that discovery. If you have not been abused, if you have not experienced that sense of being used and helpless, that may well not be understandable to you. Maybe. But I believe that empathy is a basic human emotion. And I believe that all of us should recognize the pain that only some of us can feel in seeing the institutions around us painted with the names or wealth of those who do that wrong.
07 September, 2019
How An Élite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
In the summer of 2015, as the Media Lab determined how to spend the funds it had received with Epstein’s help, Cohen informed lab staff that Epstein would be coming for a visit. The financier would meet with faculty members, apparently to allow him to give input on projects and to entice him to contribute further. Swenson, the former development associate and alumni coördinator, recalled saying, referring to Epstein, “I don’t think he should be on campus.” She told me, “At that point it hit me: this pedophile is going to be in our office.” According to Swenson, Cohen agreed that Epstein was “unsavory” but said “we’re planning to do it anyway—this was Joi’s project.” Staffers entered the meeting into Ito’s calendar without including Epstein’s name. They also tried to keep his name out of e-mail communication. “There was definitely an explicit conversation about keeping it off the books, because Joi's calendar is visible to everyone,” Swenson said. “It was just marked as a V.I.P. visit.”
06 September, 2019
‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/09/05/911-oral-history-flight-93-book-excerpt-228001
Lt. Heather “Lucky” Penney: We would be ramming the aircraft. We didn’t have [missiles] on board to shoot the airplane down. As we were putting on our flight gear in the life support shop, Sass looked at me and said, “I’ll ram the cockpit.” I made the decision I would take the tail off the aircraft.
Lt. Col. Marc Sasseville: We didn’t have a whole lot of options.
Lt. Heather “Lucky” Penney: We would be ramming the aircraft. We didn’t have [missiles] on board to shoot the airplane down. As we were putting on our flight gear in the life support shop, Sass looked at me and said, “I’ll ram the cockpit.” I made the decision I would take the tail off the aircraft.
Lt. Col. Marc Sasseville: We didn’t have a whole lot of options.
03 September, 2019
The men who starved to death to save the world's seeds
In September 1941, when German forces began their siege of Leningrad, choking food supply to the city’s two million residents, one group of people preferred to starve to death despite having plenty of ‘food.’
As the invading Germans poured into the city (now St Petersburg), scientists and workers at the Institute of Plant Industry barricaded themselves inside their vaults. They weren’t trying to save their lives but rather the future of humanity. For, they had the unenviable task of protecting the greatest seed collection in the world from both hungry Soviet citizens and the rampaging German Army.
As the siege dragged out for 900 days, one by one these heroic men started dying of hunger. And yet not one of them touched the treasure trove of seeds they were guarding – literally with their lives.
That’s not where the cruel irony ends. The man who had been responsible for this great collection of seeds, Nikolay Vavilov, Russian geneticist and plant geographer, lay dying of starvation in a Soviet prison in Saratov.
31 August, 2019
Tweet
https://twitter.com/iblaCkween/status/1167136377336582145?s=20
Had a job interview over the phone and they wanted me. I went in for the interview. Waited for an hour while she was looking for a white girl. My name is Katie Kelly and i have a proper speaking voice. She looked mad the whole interview and said no positions were open at the time
29 August, 2019
LOVE, TRASH DOVES.
https://medium.com/@SydWeiler/love-trash-doves-6066fa64bb0d
I was not open with my followers about what actually happened during the Doves virality boom. From the outside, to most, I think it looked fun. And some of it was. But it was also huge, terrible, wonderful, terrifying, sickening, and just altogether inexplicable —The improbable explosion of my work online changed my life and the course of my illustration career entirely.
In early 2017, the flailing purple bird named ‘Trash Dove’ briefly and violently overtook the internet in a case of extreme social media meme virality.
Trash Doves are my creation, and this nearly ruined my life.I was not open with my followers about what actually happened during the Doves virality boom. From the outside, to most, I think it looked fun. And some of it was. But it was also huge, terrible, wonderful, terrifying, sickening, and just altogether inexplicable —The improbable explosion of my work online changed my life and the course of my illustration career entirely.
27 August, 2019
HOW CANADA IMPRISONED JEWISH REFUGEES ALONGSIDE POWS
https://www.ozy.com/flashback/how-canada-imprisoned-jewish-refugees-alongside-pows/95959
As refugees make headlines in North America today, it’s worth looking back at a moment when Jewish refugees of World War II — many of them children — were mistakenly classed as enemy aliens and forced to live alongside POWs. Schild, who later wrote books about his experiences, including The Crazy Angel, had fled Nazi-controlled Europe for the U.K. with the help of his mother. He began studying at a London yeshiva in 1939. But the climate of fear surrounding German-born immigrants led to the roundup of Schild and approximately 30,000 others — some of whom had fled the Nazis — just one year later. After living in hastily constructed internment camps on the Isle of Man, detainees were offloaded to Canada and Australia.
When Schild’s ship arrived in Canada, refugees and POWs alike were classed as “enemy aliens.” As the men were being processed, one Canadian sergeant realized he was among fellow Jews and spoke to them in Yiddish. The man promised to notify his community that Jews were being interned as well. Meanwhile, the German POWs were also quick on the uptake. Schild recalls them singing Nazi songs to intimidate the men who would become their campmates. To guarantee the safety of all, Canadian wardens erected a barbed-wire barrier between Jews and non-Jews, placing them in separate camps a few weeks later. The internees would spend the next two years moving between camps, caught in a strange gray area. “We refused to be identified as German prisoners, and the authorities refused to acknowledge us as refugees,” Schild wrote.
As refugees make headlines in North America today, it’s worth looking back at a moment when Jewish refugees of World War II — many of them children — were mistakenly classed as enemy aliens and forced to live alongside POWs. Schild, who later wrote books about his experiences, including The Crazy Angel, had fled Nazi-controlled Europe for the U.K. with the help of his mother. He began studying at a London yeshiva in 1939. But the climate of fear surrounding German-born immigrants led to the roundup of Schild and approximately 30,000 others — some of whom had fled the Nazis — just one year later. After living in hastily constructed internment camps on the Isle of Man, detainees were offloaded to Canada and Australia.
When Schild’s ship arrived in Canada, refugees and POWs alike were classed as “enemy aliens.” As the men were being processed, one Canadian sergeant realized he was among fellow Jews and spoke to them in Yiddish. The man promised to notify his community that Jews were being interned as well. Meanwhile, the German POWs were also quick on the uptake. Schild recalls them singing Nazi songs to intimidate the men who would become their campmates. To guarantee the safety of all, Canadian wardens erected a barbed-wire barrier between Jews and non-Jews, placing them in separate camps a few weeks later. The internees would spend the next two years moving between camps, caught in a strange gray area. “We refused to be identified as German prisoners, and the authorities refused to acknowledge us as refugees,” Schild wrote.
How Journalists Covered the Rise of Mussolini and Hitler
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-journalists-covered-rise-mussolini-hitler-180961407/
In fact, The New York Times wrote after Hitler’s appointment to the chancellorship that success would only “let him expose to the German public his own futility.” Journalists wondered whether Hitler now regretted leaving the rally for the cabinet meeting, where he would have to assume some responsibility.
Yes, the American press tended to condemn Hitler’s well-documented anti-Semitism in the early 1930s. But there were plenty of exceptions. Some papers downplayed reports of violence against Germany’s Jewish citizens as propaganda like that which proliferated during the foregoing World War. Many, even those who categorically condemned the violence, repeatedly declared it to be at an end, showing a tendency to look for a return to normalcy.
Journalists were aware that they could only criticize the German regime so much and maintain their access. When a CBS broadcaster’s son was beaten up by brownshirts for not saluting the Führer, he didn’t report it. When the Chicago Daily News’ Edgar Mowrer wrote that Germany was becoming “an insane asylum” in 1933, the Germans pressured the State Department to rein in American reporters. Allen Dulles, who eventually became director of the CIA, told Mowrer he was “taking the German situation too seriously.” Mowrer’s publisher then transferred him out of Germany in fear of his life.
25 August, 2019
China’s Hong Kong Dilemma
Ying-yi Hong, now of the Chinese University in Hong Kong, continues to measure people’s attitudes, and did so during the protests. Her latest conclusion: young Hong Kongers will have confidence in their local government if they see it as “relatively autonomous,” she said last week. “However, if they think that the mainland government is interfering with the Hong Kong government, it plummets.”
For years, Hong Kongers have feared becoming, as a common saying goes, just another Chinese city. In Beijing, that description is regarded not as pejorative but, rather, as the natural order of things.
22 August, 2019
Congress vs. the “Pacing Problem[s]”
https://medium.com/g21c/congress-vs-the-pacing-problem-s-a887e3ca953f
It became clear that for Congress, there is not just one pacing problem, but three distinct and interconnected pacing problems: (1) the external — as Congress fails to keep pace with emerging innovations that are changing industries and society; (2) the inter-branch — as Congress lags the executive branch, compromising its ability to act as a co-equal branch of government; and (3) the internal — which results from Congress not employing modern practiced and technology for its own operations.
It became clear that for Congress, there is not just one pacing problem, but three distinct and interconnected pacing problems: (1) the external — as Congress fails to keep pace with emerging innovations that are changing industries and society; (2) the inter-branch — as Congress lags the executive branch, compromising its ability to act as a co-equal branch of government; and (3) the internal — which results from Congress not employing modern practiced and technology for its own operations.
21 August, 2019
What Jeffrey Epstein Got Right
https://theopolisinstitute.com/leithart_post/what-jeffrey-epstein-got-right/
The ancient cradles of civilization — Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China — did not have laws about “child abuse” or “sexual abuse of minors” because the whole concept was simply not part of who they were or what they believed. Prostitution was tolerated and prevalent. And from the most ancient times in virtually every civilization, many prostitutes were what Jeffrey Epstein would have considered just the right age — maybe even a little “old.”
From a historical angle, Epstein is just another lust-full man looking for sex he can pay for, like untold millions before. If the price is right, no one asks how old the female is. It doesn’t matter. No one asks if she is entering into the situation freely, for her will and decision don’t matter. If her parents sold her into prostitution, if she was a prisoner of war, or if she was kidnapped — whatever the circumstances behind the “transaction” — her personal acquiescence would have been less than the least important consideration.
We call Epstein a monster. We recoil and condemn. But he called our bluff. Almost no one is willing to admit that Epstein was right: His behavior falls well within historical norms.
The ancient cradles of civilization — Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China — did not have laws about “child abuse” or “sexual abuse of minors” because the whole concept was simply not part of who they were or what they believed. Prostitution was tolerated and prevalent. And from the most ancient times in virtually every civilization, many prostitutes were what Jeffrey Epstein would have considered just the right age — maybe even a little “old.”
From a historical angle, Epstein is just another lust-full man looking for sex he can pay for, like untold millions before. If the price is right, no one asks how old the female is. It doesn’t matter. No one asks if she is entering into the situation freely, for her will and decision don’t matter. If her parents sold her into prostitution, if she was a prisoner of war, or if she was kidnapped — whatever the circumstances behind the “transaction” — her personal acquiescence would have been less than the least important consideration.
We call Epstein a monster. We recoil and condemn. But he called our bluff. Almost no one is willing to admit that Epstein was right: His behavior falls well within historical norms.
20 August, 2019
On me, and the Media Lab
I’m aware of the privilege that it’s been to work at a place filled with as much creativity and brilliance as the Media Lab. But I’m also aware that privilege can be blinding, and can cause people to ignore situations that should be simple matters of right and wrong. Everyone at the Media Lab is going through a process of figuring out how they should react to the news of Epstein and his engagement with the Lab. I hope that everyone else gets to do it first with their students and teams before doing it in the press.
19 August, 2019
How to Build Good Software
The right coding language, system architecture, or interface design will vary wildly from project to project. But there are characteristics particular to software that consistently cause traditional management practices to fail, while allowing small startups to succeed with a shoestring budget:
• Reusing good software is easy; it is what allows you to build good things quickly;
• Software is limited not by the amount of resources put into building it, but by how complex it can get before it breaks down; and
• The main value in software is not the code produced, but the knowledge accumulated by the people who produced it.
• Software is limited not by the amount of resources put into building it, but by how complex it can get before it breaks down; and
• The main value in software is not the code produced, but the knowledge accumulated by the people who produced it.
Understanding these characteristics may not guarantee good outcomes, but it does help clarify why so many projects produce bad outcomes. Furthermore, these lead to some core operating principles that can dramatically improve the chances of success:
1. Start as simple as possible;
2. Seek out problems and iterate; and
3. Hire the best engineers you can.
2. Seek out problems and iterate; and
3. Hire the best engineers you can.
12 August, 2019
Male Loneliness In Suburbia
I know I sound like I’m feeling sorry for myself. I guess I am. But damn it, I didn’t think things were going to work out like this. I did everything I was supposed to do, and it all fell to pieces anyway. I’m racking my brains trying to figure out how I can fix this, but my wife doesn’t want it to be fixed. She just wants out. I recognize that I am privileged economically and socially, but I’m here to tell you that if you were a working man who drove by my house, and saw me out front mowing our big lawn, you would think I had it made. In fact, you would be looking at a dead man, at a man who secretly hopes he falls over from a heart attack so he doesn’t have to keep carrying this weight of loneliness.
11 August, 2019
Quiz: Let Us Predict Whether You’re a Democrat or a Republican
Polarization has encouraged more straight-ticket voting: Once, a voter might have chosen the Republican presidential candidate but a Democrat for the Senate, but now one’s whole ballot tends to align with one’s presidential preference. Polarization has also made voters hesitant to support politicians willing to cooperate with the other side, contributing to legislative gridlock.
Worse, the alignment of party preferences with personal identities has fostered ugly, tribal politics. It’s easier to demonize the opposing side when they look nothing like you. Voters today like their own party lessthan ever, but are motivated by their even stronger dislike of the other party. “It doesn’t paint a pretty picture,” Dr. Wronski said.
OPERATION INHERENT RESOLVE LEAD INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS
https://media.defense.gov/2019/Aug/06/2002167167/-1/-1/1/Q3FY2019_LEADIG_OIR_REPORT.PDF
PARTIAL DRAWDOWN OF U.S. TROOPS DECREASES RESOURCES AND SUPPORT TO U.S.-BACKED SYRIAN FORCES CJTF-OIR completed a partial withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria this quarter, leaving behind a residual force in northeastern Syria and around a desert garrison near the Jordanian border.38
Following the drawdown, CJTF-OIR continued to advise and assist Syrian partner forces as they conducted clearing operations and detained suspected ISIS members and facilitators.39 As it drew down forces, CJTF-OIR stated that the reduction in personnel, equipment, and a change of mission to counterinsurgency required the Special Operations Joint Task ForceOIR, a component of CJTF-OIR, to perform more partnered training, equipping, and reinforcing of the SDF to enable the SDF to conduct counterinsurgency operations. CJTF-OIR said that the partial drawdown had occurred at a time when these fighters need additional training and equipping to build trust with local communities and to develop the human-based intelligence necessary to confront ISIS resurgent cells and insurgent capabilities in Syria.40
According to CJTF-OIR, the drawdown of U.S. forces in Syria also reduced the ability of CJTF-OIR to maintain “visibility” at the al Hol IDP camp, forcing it to rely on third-party accounts of the humanitarian and security situation there. CJTF-OIR said that it lacks the resources to monitor the camp directly, and that the SDF was only capable of providing “minimal security”—a deficiency that CJTF-OIR said has created conditions that allow ISIS ideology to spread “uncontested” in the camp.41
PARTIAL DRAWDOWN OF U.S. TROOPS DECREASES RESOURCES AND SUPPORT TO U.S.-BACKED SYRIAN FORCES CJTF-OIR completed a partial withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria this quarter, leaving behind a residual force in northeastern Syria and around a desert garrison near the Jordanian border.38
Following the drawdown, CJTF-OIR continued to advise and assist Syrian partner forces as they conducted clearing operations and detained suspected ISIS members and facilitators.39 As it drew down forces, CJTF-OIR stated that the reduction in personnel, equipment, and a change of mission to counterinsurgency required the Special Operations Joint Task ForceOIR, a component of CJTF-OIR, to perform more partnered training, equipping, and reinforcing of the SDF to enable the SDF to conduct counterinsurgency operations. CJTF-OIR said that the partial drawdown had occurred at a time when these fighters need additional training and equipping to build trust with local communities and to develop the human-based intelligence necessary to confront ISIS resurgent cells and insurgent capabilities in Syria.40
According to CJTF-OIR, the drawdown of U.S. forces in Syria also reduced the ability of CJTF-OIR to maintain “visibility” at the al Hol IDP camp, forcing it to rely on third-party accounts of the humanitarian and security situation there. CJTF-OIR said that it lacks the resources to monitor the camp directly, and that the SDF was only capable of providing “minimal security”—a deficiency that CJTF-OIR said has created conditions that allow ISIS ideology to spread “uncontested” in the camp.41
07 August, 2019
MoviePass Worked Out Great
For instance, under founder Stacy Spikes, MoviePass charged $50 a month for its service, but couldn’t get enough subscribers to break even. Then it was acquired by Helios & Matheson Analytics, whose chief executive officer, Ted Farnsworth, came up with the idea of charging much less:
[...] It went from being “a scrappy startup trying to keep the lights on” (bad) to a buzzy “disrupter in the making” (good) by giving up on trying to keep the lights on. The trick is not to make enough money to cover your costs; it’s to stop trying. Losing a lot of money is better than losing a little money; it has more panache, attracts more attention, certainly gives you that attractive hockey-stick user growth. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure three hundred million pounds, result unicorn.
05 August, 2019
The British WWI prisoner of war who returned to captivity
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-23957605
Capt Campbell wrote a letter to the German emperor begging to be allowed to go and see his mother, which the Kaiser allowed - as long as Capt Campbell gave his word that he would return.
Capt Campbell wrote a letter to the German emperor begging to be allowed to go and see his mother, which the Kaiser allowed - as long as Capt Campbell gave his word that he would return.
Mr van Emden said that Capt Campbell almost certainly travelled through the Netherlands and then by boat and train to Gravesend in Kent, where he spent a week with his mother before returning to Germany the same way.
His mother died in February 1917.
Mr van Emden told the BBC that Capt Campbell would have felt a duty to honour his word and "he would have thought 'if I don't go back no other officer will ever be released on this basis'".
04 August, 2019
Terminating Service for 8Chan
The unresolved question is how should the law deal with platforms that ignore or actively thwart the Rule of Law? That's closer to the situation we have seen with the Daily Stormer and 8chan. They are lawless platforms. In cases like these, where platforms have been designed to be lawless and unmoderated, and where the platforms have demonstrated their ability to cause real harm, the law may need additional remedies. We and other technology companies need to work with policy makers in order to help them understand the problem and define these remedies. And, in some cases, it may mean moving enforcement mechanisms further down the technical stack.
Ohio shooter had a ‘kill list’ during a thwarted incident in high school: former student
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/08/ohio-shooter-had-a-kill-list-during-a-thwarted-incident-during-high-school-former-studen/
“Several students [are] telling us that it was their understanding from school administrators at the time that this suspect, this now-dead suspect, had in his possession what was described to them by administrators as a kill list and a rape list and the student was removed from school, at that time, it was very threatening. [He was] writing threats against the students. Described by several students as this kill list and rape list. And according to Spencer Brickler, one day during his sophomore year, he actually witnessed this shooter being removed from the bus by police.”
“Several students [are] telling us that it was their understanding from school administrators at the time that this suspect, this now-dead suspect, had in his possession what was described to them by administrators as a kill list and a rape list and the student was removed from school, at that time, it was very threatening. [He was] writing threats against the students. Described by several students as this kill list and rape list. And according to Spencer Brickler, one day during his sophomore year, he actually witnessed this shooter being removed from the bus by police.”
03 August, 2019
The White-Supremacy Surge
Lowry sees the work of violent racists as “the handiwork of a very small, violent fringe of the socially disconnected.” This is true, but I’d argue that the broader (nonviolent) wing of white supremacism is a larger part of that same fringe. And when the number of the socially disconnected rises, the size of the fringe will as well.
There’s something else at work also — a poison within the broader conservative movement. Hatred for political correctness has yielded an unhealthy fascination with and admiration for pure defiance. Young voices pride themselves on fearlessness and place attitude over thought in their words and deeds. They troll online and at school to “trigger the libs,” and nothing triggers the libs more than defiance on matters of race.
How could so many people flock to Yiannopoulos’s banner? Admiration for a man who never let anyone tell him what to say. How could any person embrace Paul Nehlen? He was ready to fight and didn’t care who he made angry. If the ethos of the defiant Right is never, ever to accede to either a leftist or (what is, arguably, more hated) an “establishment” or “elite” conservative critique, then it’s easy to see how bigots can flourish.
Why so many members of Congress are retiring
Another week, another set of prominent incumbent members of Congress deciding not to run for reelection. By the latest count, we are now up to at least 38 House Republicans announcing early retirement, plus 17 Democrats. Both counts are exceptionally high for this early in the cycle.
Why are more than one in nine current House members calling it quits? Being a member of Congress in 2018 is a miserable job, and it’s not likely to get much better in 2019.
Certainly, many retirees are Republicans who are either term-limited out of committee chairmanships or facing tough reelection bids in districts that voted for Hillary Clinton. That explains part of it. But there are bigger forces here too.
In an era of national elections, candidates have little control over their own electoral fates. In an era of big outside money, they can’t even control their own campaigns. And because party leadership centrally plans so much of what happens in Congress, members have no ability to exercise any independent policymaking capacity. Divisive polarization means constant gridlock and a Congress whose main legislative activity is voting on whether to keep the government funded every few weeks. Hardly rewarding work.
Individual members of Congress have less autonomy and control than at any other time in recent memory. No wonder they’re retiring in droves.
The Freedom Caucus Is (Sort of) Right
“Information provides power in Congress,” writes Curry. Those in the leadership have “extensive information about the legislation being considered and the political dynamics surrounding that legislation. Rank-and-file members in Congress, in contrast, have limited resources and find it very difficult to become informed about most of the legislation being considered at any time.” So they usually follow the lead of their party and vote in predictable partisan fashion. After all, if they are going to dissent, they’d better have a good reason. “When there is less information available,” writes Curry, “they will have more trouble finding reasons to oppose the legislation.” (Or, if they are in the minority, reasons to support it.)
Between 1998 and 2010, funds to majority leadership offices grew twice as fast (up 50 percent) as funds to personal offices (up 27 percent) and funds to committee offices (up just 22 percent). Moreover, legislation has become more and more complex, and complexity is a key tool of rank-and-file compliance (the longer the bill, the harder it is to read). Like members of the House Freedom Caucus, Curry laments these developments. “In shutting most lawmakers out of the legislative process, stifling their voices, and keeping them in the dark,” he writes, “leaders undermine the quality of legislative deliberations and dyadic representation in the House of Representatives.”
Yet, as Curry notes, the tactics are effective. Restricting access to information helps party leaders to get their priorities passed. And for those in the parties-should-be-strengthened camp, this might be a welcome development. “Advocates of strong, responsible parties should be pleased,” notes Curry. “The leaders of each party can use these tactics to line up their rank and file on votes, establishing contrasts for the next election.”
The House Freedom Caucus has some good ideas on how the US House should operate
Back in the mid-1960s, the growing consensus was that committees had too much power while leadership had too little. This feeling was especially strong among liberal Democrats, who saw conservative Southern Democrats from safe seats bottling up civil rights bills. Because committees were run by a seniority system, party leaders had few powers to discipline senior committee chairs.
As liberals came to comprise a larger share of the majority Democratic caucus in the 1970s (particularly after the 1974 election), Democrats changed the rules to give the caucus and then the leadership more control over committee assignments and floor procedures, in order to bypass unrepresentative committee chairs.
Over the decades, leaders of both parties have also used increasingly restrictive floor procedures, limiting opportunities for rank-and-file members to participate and further marginalizing committees. Much of this was accelerated when Newt Gingrich came to power in 1995. He drastically slashed budgets for the committees, concentrated much more power in the leadership, and took a much more active role in appointing committee chairs. Boehner simply carried on this tradition. He has controlled the floor process and committee assignments closely as speaker.
[...]
Putting policymaking back in committees is hardly a radical suggestion. It's pretty much what the establishment Bipartisan Policy Center's Commission on Political Reform recommended in a report last year. The BPC noted that "routine circumvention of the formal committee process" was contributing to the "dysfunction" in Washington: "Committee chairs and members feel disenfranchised by the fact that many important pieces of legislation are crafted on the cusp of
a deadline by congressional leaders without the benefit
of a committee process."
The report went on to note: "The weakening of the committee system in Congress has had a very deleterious effect: it has deprived Congress of the opportunity to build stronger networks of expertise and experience, limited opportunities for collaboration and team-building, and contributed to a sense of disenfranchisement among many rank-and-file members."
Congress Needs Uber-Level Innovation
The upshot of these reforms would involve less leadership micromanagement of the floor, less-certain outcomes on votes, more rank-and-file input on chairmanships and the agenda, longer work weeks for members, and—not least—a healthy, constructive outlet for anti-establishment conservatives’ laudable pursuit of more rapid and substantial reform.
Is that really so high a price to pay for more cooperation and unity, considering that conservatives have already proven they can break leadership’s once-iron grip on those procedural levers?
02 August, 2019
RIP Headphone Jack: How the Industry Created and Killed the World’s Most Popular Port
It wasn’t until 2016 when things changed. That’s when Apple dropped the minijack from the iPhone 7. It included a much-hated Lightning-to-minijack dongle that kept getting lost and breaking, turning it into Apple’s best-selling accessory. That year saw the birth of the AirPods, which became widely popular selling 35 million units just in the year 2018. The iPhone 7 sold like hot cakes too. And that marked the beginning of the end for the minijack. Apple showed the rest of the industry that life without the 3.5-millimeter port was possible.
Other manufacturers followed. Huawei dropped the minijack in the P20 phone, even while the P30 Pro got it back. Xiaomi dropped it from most of its phones, including its latest flagships. And Oppo did the same. Four of the top 5 manufacturers abandoned or partially abandoned the standard. Even Sony dropped the jack.
Resignations from Founders Ministries' Board
It is with sadness that we announce the resignation of three members of the Founders Ministries board. Drs. Fred Malone, Tom Hicks and Jon English Lee have resigned this week after lengthy conversations about the release of and responses to a trailer for the planned documentary, By What Standard?
Our conversations led to an impasse regarding the nature of sin, unintentional sin, unwise acts and what faithfulness to Christ requires in the wake of each. Though each of these three men formulated his own arguments, their views led them all to conclude they could not conscientiously continue to serve Founders without agreement on these points as it relates to elements in the trailer. As the statements of Fred Malone and Tom Hicks below indicate, they believe we have sinned in how the trailer portrayed certain people and issues. Tom Nettles, Jared Longshore and I do not believe that. This is the fundamental point of the impasse that we reached.
30 July, 2019
ALASTAIR CAMPBELL: Why I no longer want to be readmitted to Labour
https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/alastair-campbell-s-letter-to-jeremy-corbyn-1-6188152
We need to be honest about why he favours this path. He has boxed himself into a no deal Brexit by public promises that will not and cannot be met through negotiations with the EU. He rightly fears that if the people were given a straight choice in a referendum - 'no deal v no Brexit' - no Brexit would win, comfortably. But he is confident that in an election choice between him and you, he would win, and so get the mandate for the hardest form of Brexit he would otherwise not legitimately be able to claim. The Tories are deliberately conflating the two issues - Brexit and your leadership - using people's fears about the latter to get electoral backing for the hardest version of the former. In part because you have been so resistant to the democratic argument for a Final Say referendum, which is how an issue as big as this should be resolved, he has been able to get some momentum behind his strategy. It means we could be weeks from an election in which, on any current analysis, you are unlikely to be in a position to win a majority.
Election Fraud in North Carolina Leads to New Charges for Republican Operative
In an indictment announced on Tuesday, the operative, L. McCrae Dowless Jr., was accused of obstruction of justice and illegal possession of an absentee ballot, among other charges. Seven other people were also indicted in connection with the election fraud inquiry, but prosecutors said the charges against one person were inadvertent and would be dismissed.
In the indictment, prosecutors alleged that Mr. Dowless directed others in the criminal mishandling of absentee ballots and that “spoiled absentee ballots were counted.” Mr. Dowless’s crimes, the indictment said, “served to undermine the integrity of the absentee ballot process and the public’s confidence in the outcome of the electoral process.”
Ethiopia plants more than 350 million trees in 12 hours
(CNN)Ethiopia planted more than 353 million trees in 12 hours on Monday, which officials believe is a world record.
The burst of tree planting was part of a wider reforestation campaign named "Green Legacy," spearheaded by the country's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Millions of Ethiopians across the country were invited to take part in the challenge and within the first six hours, Ahmed tweeted that around 150 million trees had been planted.
"We're halfway to our goal," he said and encouraged Ethiopians to "build on the momentum in the remaining hours." After the 12-hour period ended, the Prime Minister took to Twitter again to announce that Ethiopia not only met its "collective #GreenLegacy goal," but exceeded it.
A total of 353,633,660 tree seedlings had been planted, the country's minster for innovation and technology, Getahun Mekuria, tweeted.
29 July, 2019
The Internet's Old Guard
https://reading.supply/post/432f6903-c7cd-4cb0-a894-c09155a8ca8b
When you consider the long-term future impact, computing is very new. Many of its pioneers are still around—that won't be the case in a few generations. It will be easier to see in retrospect, but this is also a pivotal period, and things done now will have ripple effects all the way down our future light cone.
When you consider the long-term future impact, computing is very new. Many of its pioneers are still around—that won't be the case in a few generations. It will be easier to see in retrospect, but this is also a pivotal period, and things done now will have ripple effects all the way down our future light cone.
Utopian visions never work out. You can strive for them, but expect your expectations to be subverted. Perhaps it's more realistic to think in terms of shifting the range of possible futures available with what we introduce.
Encourage people to bring out the positive but build defenses against the negative for all possible outcomes of a new technology.
Jessica Walsh on gratitude, avoiding comfort and why career advancement shouldn't be a goal for everyone
https://www.creativeboom.com/features/jessica-walsh/
What valuable advice would you share to those just starting out?
My parents taught me my values: to work my ass off, respect people, always be on time and meet deadlines, do whatever is needed to do to get the job done well and never to feel entitled to absolutely anything.
I found these values helped me tremendously in my career. I’ll caveat that by saying success in life comes in all forms, and career advancement doesn’t have to be a goal for everyone.
What valuable advice would you share to those just starting out?
My parents taught me my values: to work my ass off, respect people, always be on time and meet deadlines, do whatever is needed to do to get the job done well and never to feel entitled to absolutely anything.
I found these values helped me tremendously in my career. I’ll caveat that by saying success in life comes in all forms, and career advancement doesn’t have to be a goal for everyone.
Parents Are Giving Up Custody of Their Kids to Get Need-Based College Financial Aid
ProPublica Illinois found more than 40 guardianship cases fitting this profile filed between January 2018 and June 2019 in the Chicago suburbs of Lake County alone. The parents involved in these cases include lawyers, a doctor and an assistant schools superintendent, as well as insurance and real estate agents. A number of the children are high-achieving scholars, athletes and musicians who attend or have been accepted to a range of universities, from large public institutions, including the University of Wisconsin, the University of Missouri and Indiana University, to smaller private colleges.
What Vote Leave leaders really said about no-deal Brexit
Raab’s comments provoked the People’s Vote campaign to accuse him of trying to rewrite history. It said: “The reality is that neither the official Vote Leave campaign or any of its prominent spokespeople – including Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab – promised anything other than a deal with Europe and a continuation of free trade.”
26 July, 2019
A theory on how youtube can be "hacked" by nationstates
Russia is gaming Youtube's algorithms by intentionally generating response data that links disparate videos. Whenever a user views a set of videos in a single session, those videos become linked as a chain of behavioral responses. If you want extreme propaganda to show up when people watch cat videos, just run a bunch of bots (or cheap human workers) to surf Youtube with a list of videos. The list would be something like this:
- Cat video #1
- Extremist propaganda video #1
- Cat video #2
- Extremist propaganda video #2
- Cat video #3
- Extremist propaganda video #3
Now you've got a session of 6 watched videos that link cat videos to extremist propaganda videos. Youtube's behavioral targeting algorithms form a link between the two, so that when you go watch Cat video #2, you'll see extremist propaganda videos in your feed.
This is part of what Mueller is talking about when he says Russia is hacking our Democracy. They are gaming social media and using it against us.
25 July, 2019
Alumnus goes from playing doctor to being one
Oluyinka Olutoye, M.D., Ph.D., wanted to be a doctor from an early age. As he recalls, the desire stemmed from a childhood experience in his native Nigeria.
“I had a sick family member, and a doctor made a house call to see them,” Olutoye said. “I remember following him around our home, trying to see as much as I could. After he left, I would play doctor around the house.”
[...]
In October, Olutoye co-led a team of 21 doctors that removed a sacrococcygeal teratoma, a large tumor that grows on the tailbone of a fetus, and then returned the 23-week-old fetus to the mother’s womb.
“What happened in this case was the fetal heart tries to pump blood not only through the child’s body but the tumor as well, which can cause the heart to fail,” Olutoye said. “We monitored the mother throughout pregnancy, and when the growth got too large, we discussed our options and decided surgery would be the best method to save the child.”
24 July, 2019
Apollo and Dionysus
Ultimately, I want to see permanent human habitation in space and on other planets. Beyond the romantic notions, there are some simple economic drivers that ought to push us in that direction. Any economic model that assumes growth, on a finite planet, is going to run into trouble eventually — and considering some of the anticipated resource shortages connected to the climate crisis, that point may come sooner than we think. (For another thing, with the world’s most powerful militaries blindly chasing “capabilities” in a way that brings us ever closer to nuclear war, I’d feel a lot more comfortable for the future of humanity if some of us were outside their reach.) No place that we’ve yet discovered will be as amenable to human life as the Earth, even in the face of climate crisis or asteroid impact, but that fact does not mean that we won’t eventually need to have humans off the Earth’s surface.
On Controversy
This leads me, in the last place, to consider your own concern in your present undertaking. It seems a laudable service to defend the faith once delivered to the saints; we are commanded to contend earnestly for it, and to convince gainsayers. If ever such defenses were seasonable and expedient they appear to be so in our own day, when errors abound on all sides and every truth of the gospel is either directly denied or grossly misrepresented.
And yet we find but very few writers of controversy who have not been manifestly hurt by it. Either they grow in a sense of their own importance, or imbibe an angry, contentious spirit, or they insensibly withdraw their attention from those things which are the food and immediate support of the life of faith, and spend their time and strength upon matters which are at most but of a secondary value. This shows, that if the service is honorable, it is dangerous. What will it profit a man if he gains his cause and silences his adversary, if at the same time he loses that humble, tender frame of spirit in which the Lord delights, and to which the promise of his presence is made?
19 July, 2019
Joey Rosskopf put in an impressive ride against the clock on the Tour de France stage 13 time trial, finishing in tenth place, 1’01” behind winner Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step).
Rosskopf, who is almost two weeks into his debut Tour de France, quickly settled into a good rhythm on the punchy 27.2-kilometer course and set the provisional fastest time at the second intermediate checkpoint after 15.5 kilometers.
17 July, 2019
Notre-Dame came far closer to collapsing than people knew. This is how it was saved.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/07/16/world/europe/notre-dame.html
All the sensitive technology at the heart of system had been undone by a cascade of oversights and erroneous assumptions built into the overall design, said Glenn Corbett, an associate professor of fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
All the sensitive technology at the heart of system had been undone by a cascade of oversights and erroneous assumptions built into the overall design, said Glenn Corbett, an associate professor of fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
“You have a system that is known for its ability to detect very small quantities of smoke,” Mr. Corbett said. “Yet the whole outcome of it is this clumsy human response. You can spend a lot to detect a fire, but it all goes down the drain when you don’t move on it.”
A good death
I didn’t feel panic or fear. I felt grace. I had spent days, weeks, months with Dad as his disease progressed. We had said everything we wanted or needed to say to each other. Now he couldn’t talk and he could only see me if I stood next to his bed. So I did. We looked into each others’ eyes and I had the uncanny, déjà vu feeling of looking into my newborn sons’ eyes. Caring for someone in this end-state is very much like caring for someone in the beginning-state. Dad’s eyes searched mine, much like my babies’ eyes searched mine. And I met their gaze with love, reassurance, warmth, and strength. I said with my eyes and, to Dad, with words: I love you. You are safe. You are not alone. I am here. Other people love you, too. We are with you.
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