Monday, July 31, 2017

Behold the Trump boomerang effect

Unless you have a Washington Post account, you'll need to google "trump boomerang" and click on the first link to be able to read this article (if you do have an account, here's the link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/behold-the-trump-boomerang-effect/2017/07/30/8534a696-73ac-11e7-8839-ec48ec4cae25_story.html?utm_term=.ae30fdb60dff).

But it's worth it to see how Trump's attempts to damage our world and our society keep causing an opposite reaction.

The GOP Is No Longer A ‘Conservative’ Party

I remember having respect for the Republican party, even when I didn't agree with them. That was many, many years ago:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/republicans-no-longer-conservative-party_us_59767dd6e4b0e201d5776f8c

Data Shows Summers are Now Either “Hot” or “Extremely Hot” Compared to 50 Years Ago

More evidence to use on climate change deniers:

https://futurism.com/data-shows-summers-are-now-either-hot-or-extremely-hot-compared-to-50-years-ago/

Thursday, July 20, 2017

The Hard-Right Sticks With Trump No Matter What

This is the worst legacy of Trump:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-hard-right-sticks-with-trump-no-matter-what_us_5970eddae4b062ea5f9092e5

Immediate Carbon Capture is Critical to Avoiding Extreme Climate Change, Scientists Say

Oh, fuck. We need a moonshot for developing nanotechnology to enable negative emissions ASAP:

https://futurism.com/immediate-carbon-capture-is-critical-to-avoiding-extreme-climate-change-scientists-say/

How Deranged Are Trump Supporters? New Poll Shows That It's Worse Than You Ever Imagined

Welp, time to completely ignore trying to recruit Trump voters and instead assemble the messages everyone else wants and run on that:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/7/19/1682182/-How-Deranged-Are-Trump-Supporters-New-Poll-Shows-That-It-s-Worse-Than-You-Ever-Imagined

I’m a scientist. I’m blowing the whistle on the Trump administration.

Scientists need to fight back more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/im-a-scientist-the-trump-administration-reassigned-me-for-speaking-up-about-climate-change/2017/07/19/389b8dce-6b12-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html

Inside the Secret Plan to Stop Vladimir Putin’s U.S. Election Plot

A comprehensive look at the whole election hacking issue:

http://time.com/4865982/secret-plan-stop-vladimir-putin-election-plot/

Team Trump Used Obamacare Money to Run PR Effort Against It

This is all kinds of wrong:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/team-trump-used-obamacare-money-to-run-ads-against-it

Excerpts From The Times’s Interview With Trump

Trump confuses life insurance with health insurance, and other stupid things Trump blathers:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/trump-interview-transcript.html

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/20/politics/trump-new-york-times-interview/index.html

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

America’s Future Is Texas

A long-ass article on the growing impact of Texas on the political sphere. Despite its increasingly blue state leanings, conservatives have taken over the government:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/10/americas-future-is-texas?mc_cid=0c42379bd4&mc_eid=c4215c6c8c

Saturday, July 1, 2017

An on-point message from Gideon Lichfield at Quartz

Another week, another crude Twitter outburst from the US president, another torrent of outrage from his detractors. But what if we just agreed to ignore the man?

At Quartz it’s already our policy not to write stories about how crazy the latest crazy thing he said is. But even the not-crazy things he says are increasingly irrelevant. The president has essentially ceded foreign policyto his generals and his son-in-law, and when he does speak on such issues as NATO or Qatar he only creates confusion. His staff manage him like a child. Foreign governments go around him(paywall). NATO has learned to look like it’s doing his bidding, increasing its budget just slightly faster than before. State and local governments set their own policies when they don’t like his. When he promises to build a wall with Mexico, punish China, or cancel Nafta… well, we don’t need to tell you.

A normal US president is like a creature in the middle of lake, his every move creating far-reaching ripples. This one is like a rock in a stream; he creates turbulence and is to be avoided, but everything flows on around him.

OK, he has nuclear codes. You don’t ignore a man with nuclear codes. But you don’t have to lavish attention on him either. Actually, attention is what gets him riled up.

It’s time to stop being outraged. It isn’t even really outrage—it’s gloatrage, when you’re secretly thrilled that he’s proving himself to be just as bad as you thought. (Admit it.)

The president of the United States is an irrelevance. Pay close attention to those around him, but ignore the man himself. We can do it. We have the technology.

Look, we didn’t even say his name.