I feel like I saw this movie once.

Can't wait for the Alito Court to tell us that because health insurance didn't exist in 1776, it has no protections in law today.

Just saw the suspects picture. Not what I would have expected.

I'm still unsure of Tik Tok but below is pretty clear cut re: Pinduoduo. It was a Chinese cyber team that found it in Feb. Its just weird that such a popular app can contain malicious stuff that was clearly out of the norm, and Google didn't catch it.

I always assumed Apple and Google scan the apps for things that look unusual but know "bad" apps can still get downloaded. I wonder if Apple, Google can team up with these cyber security companies. Pay them a % of fees to provide differing levels of certification, transparency & warn on risk levels of the apps. Pass the costs to the app developers and tier it based on downloads or such.

I've heard (and believe true) Apple does a better job than Google. One reason why I stay with Apple and don't do anything sensitive with my travel Android phone.

Pinduoduo: One of China's most popular apps has the ability to spy on its users, say experts | CNN Business

Looks like gas prices will be going up. I've enjoyed the < $3.10 prices.

For the sake of their citizens, I hope they invest their increased profits wisely for the day when US & Europe won't need their heavy crude anymore. I look forward to that day.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/02/saud...tput-cuts.html

You understand that can only happen if we greatly reduce the amount of oil is consumed, right? The price of oil will always be set globally, and even if the US doesn't buy a single gallon of OPEC oil, the price we pay will be affected by the gobal price. OPEC will always be able to manipulate the global price. The only thing that could possibly make a real difference on that manipulation is if there was a massive reduction in demand.

Sure. Transportation is the biggest use of gas. As EV share increases, our dependence on oil (and SA) will decrease. Below says 40-50% of new cars will be EV by 2030. So maybe add another +10-15 years for many of the older cars to fade away.

Assuming continued EV adoption (and ability to support those logistics & infrastructure - there was a good debate about that in a prior thread), we will hit an "inflection" point in the next 10-20-30 years where we won't be beholden to SA.

(... and hopefully access to rare earth metals will be more spread out to friendly countries).


Use of oil - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

Not to burst the hopefulness bubble, but I think our dependence on other countries will only continue to increase. Who is 'friendly' and who is not will also shift, but from how I see it at this point the situation will be worse from a dependence point of view than our current oil situation is.

I assume you mean because of rare earth metals?

It seems there are significant deposits, discoveries being found. #1 China (44M metric tons) is currently the 600lb gorilla but #2 Vietnam (22M mt) is also pretty rich in it and #3 Brazil & Russia (21M mt).

So we need to develop and increase our relationships with Vietnam & Brazil.

Interestingly, I'm pretty sure I read that Africa is also rich in rare earth metals but not listed in article. Assume its because they are not proven reserves.

Rare Earths Reserves: Top 8 Countries (Updated 2023)

Not just rare earths, although that's part of it. It's more just the fact that the further technological advancement goes, the more resources and products become essential to modern economies. Just a general 'everyone is reliant on everyone' situation intensifies.

You're absolutely correct that new discoveries are being made and will continue to be, but given the diversity in resources we use and the fact that they aren't spread evenly over the globe, there's a near-zero chance that any nation or region will ever have independent supplies of most of them.

Probably.

US is the biggest producer of natural gas. Maybe the bet should have been on that vs electric. But either way, we have a chance to develop new (and better) relationships with different countries vs the frenemies we have now.

Idaho is on verge of passing a bill that would mean no child under 18 will have a library card in the state.

The bill states parents can sue if their child obtains an objectionable book from a library. Objectionable is broadly defined but the bill states that simply having a gay character in a book meets the their definition of objectionable.

Libraries have said the only way they'll be able to meet this is by pulling the library card of anyone under 18 and requiring an adult to accompany anyone under 18 in a library.

Feature not a bug

Rainbows are so upset they’re commiserating with the banned Christmas trees and merry Christmas at the local drinking hole


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Do kids still go to the library?

Do brick and mortar libraries still exist?

Yes and Yes

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...stent-elusive/

It's an opinion piece, so it is slanted anti-GOP. But it does highlight how important framing is going to be for the debt ceiling debate.

So far, McCarthy has been able to do perfectly fine with a "no concrete proposals, just vibes" style of leadership. But President Biden has, so far, stood pretty firm on the position that he won't negotiate the debt ceiling and won't even talk about negotiating until the GOP puts forth a proposal of what they actually want.

Which, as the opinion piece explains, McCarthy can't do because he probably couldn't get 218 GOP votes for a resolution that the sky is blue, let alone for a budget proposal that requires actual trade offs.

So, after the Trump circus dies down and people start focusing more on the debt ceiling, will the primary framing be "Biden won't negotiate" or will it be "The GOP won't make a counter offer to Biden's budget proposal to continue negotiations?"

My son always loved going to the library. He even volunteered weekends at the library in high school. But to be fair. my son isn't normal.

Think Biden has the upper hand here for the independents. Continue to remind everyone that he's come up with a proposed budget, GOP hasn't countered, debt ceiling is for debt already approved & incurred by Congress, challenge on how fractionalized GOP House is, how this threatens US debt ratings, and show up on Sun morning shows (and others) to continually message this.

Ultimately, this will come down to the final days & weeks before default (sometime in Jun?) before it gets approved.

We go all the time. It's free and we don't have tons of space for bookshelves in the house to buy books every time the kids want to try a new series.

Nice, very nice. Looks like Bong Bong has pivoted from Duterte (who is his VP's father) and gone all in with the US. Great work Biden & Blinken.

IMO US should focus more (including militarily) on Asia and less in Europe. Need to get started on a new SEATO alliance to counter China.

FWIW, I've been to Palawan. I'd call it a sleepy island with some great beaches. I can see the US messing that up for regular tourism.

I think this what McCarthy will lose his Speakership over. Wonder what the odds are? It might be worth putting $10 in.

Their behind the scenes dirty laundry will get aired if the dems play it right and that definitely could end I'm him losing the speakership. I'm not sure anyone else really wants it though.

There's a reason they haven't proposed a budget. Anything they release is going to be unpopular and it's going to divide their own caucus. They're better at fighting imaginary enemies and culture wars than actually legislating.

You have to think there are enough republicans in the house that won't allow us to tank the world economy. Right? RIGHT?

Their entire platform has been "anything to own the libs"

If you think "tank the world economy to own the libs" is a bridge too far, you either haven't been paying attention or you are incredibly naive

A lot of kids still go to do their studying. I know it's also popular with older folks here since you can rent movies and such.

People might know this already, but if not, check out your local library's digital offerings. Mine has an app that I can download like 5 e-books a month for free. There are even some documentaries and other old movies that can be watched through an app on Roku.

The audiobook selection is also pretty good on the app. Nothing brand new but I find a lot of good non-fiction stuff from a few years ago on it.

Libraries kick ass. (My son was going to one of his on campus last night to work and get away from possible distractions. He's bummed that it no longer has a cafe though.) As for digital, ours has Hoopla at ten checkouts a month, Libby/Overdrive (unlimited I think), and Kanopy. Plus, you know, whatever other books it has physically or direct eBook download and statewide ILL.

I don't stop in the kids section much anymore, but liked it as a parent.

Yes, Hoopla is the app I have too!

We get 8 digitals per month on Hoopla. I've used it to read comic-- err... graphic novels... mainly

SI

Not a bad thing to do.

My problem -- if you can call it a problem -- is that I have so many physical books to get through that I don't really take advantage of the online services. I mean, if there's a specific book that I want to read that I don't have, then it's great. But finding something to read is not an issue. (For instance, our local Unitarian church had it's bookselling fundraiser a couple of weekends ago. I bought thirty-one books. That'll last me a little while, ON TOP OF the scores of unread books I already have.)

Also, our library system has a bunch of movies. So if there's some movie out that's like a year or more old that you haven't seen, it's almost certainly around to reserve from the library and get it in less than a week

SI

The Democrat in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race has won pretty convincingly, shattering the previous vote count for any Supreme Court election by 300,000. Turns the Court liberal, keeps abortion from being outlawed and likely leads to new non-gerrymandered maps

This is great because it was widely viewed as a tone setter.

I think the take away is young people re paying attention and they are pissed.

Which is why Texas and other red states are creating laws and removing polling places to keep them from voting.

Yeah and they have a head of steam up in Tenn now after the antics Republicans pulled there

Wisconsin is the most gerrymandered state in the country. Will he interesting to see what happens now.

he'll have to Gerrymander it back to normal gerrymandering.

Most surprising to me was the number of conservatives posting on reddit after this Wisconsin loss acknowledging that winning close elections is going to be difficult for them post Roe. Some of them seem to be coming to the understanding that having a platform that basically says you're either 100% with us on all issues or you're a dem is probably hurting them as well.

I am definitely not one of those Dems who wants the GOP to keep going MAGA so that we can win more elections. MAGA is way too dangerous to play with.

If the GOP starts to moderate and goes back to being the pro-Democracy, anti-Russia, pro-rule-of-law, pro-individual-freedom, and fiscally conservative party that it has previously been I will welcome it.

It will start winning more elections, but that is a small price for me (as a Dem) to pay for having a real conservative party back in this country.

One of the lessons of last night is that Dan Kelly is just a shitty candidate. He's gotten his ass handed to him twice now.

In local election news, I am now a member-elect of our town's school board.

Cool!

congrats!

Have we covered this yet anywhere?

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/po...273956915.html

People asked why I'd want to volunteer for a role where I get yelled at a lot and I mentioned that I'm already a youth soccer referee. :D

His concession speech shows perfectly that the voters made the right choice

enjoy the death threats!

I don't think this happens in our lifetime. MAGA has totally changed our political landscape. Even after Trump is gone there are so many clones out there, one will inevitably take his place and win primaries. Every cycle that goes past where traditional republicans lose primaries make it less likely they run in the next one. Losing generals doesn't bother them because they will just act like Kari Lake. The traditional republican party is dead and likely never coming back.

Of course, the Wisconsin State Senator Knodl who gave the GOP a supermajority says he'd be open to impeaching and removing Protasiewicz, because that's what Republicans do. (See: Tennessee)

I hope that every person who voted for shows up at her office and lets her know, peacefully, that they are not happy with her.


Is there a recall process in NC?

Apparently there is not, no.

It's not being covered enough. This isn't a moderate, veteran politician deciding to switch parties. This is someone that was just elected on a very progressive platform that decided to switch parties 3 months after being sworn in.

It gives the GOP a super majority though so nothing is going to come of it.

Congrats, thank you for serving, and I am so sorry for what you are about to endure/

Just another librul ready to push that woke CRT gay agenda against real 'muricans and the silent majority

SI

almost like a local Manchurian candidate... this wont be the last time and likely wasn't the first.

I really think it's simple. Trump is very unpopular. Republicans have built their party around him. I think as long as their electoral prospects are tied to him, they're going to struggle.

I don't think they've ever been that party. It's just a myth we were sold.

Robert Kennedy Jr. just announced he is going to run against President Biden in the Democratic primary. This was reportedly on the encouragement of Steve Bannon.

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Of course, he will get nowhere. He is just going to be a mudslinging as long as he is funded (largely by GOP). It us the No Labels party running on battleground states' ballots with Joe Manchin as the head of the ticket, which is a real danger to re-elect Trump.

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If Bannon is involved I assume the plan is something stupid like convince the Q base to register dem and vote in the primary.

They should do that. I am wondering if she was a R plant to run as a dem and then switch. This is a big deal it gives them a super majority and is veto proof. They already have that in the NC senate. NC Republicans are saying they are moving aggressively and immediately on big ticket items like voting rights and abortion. Nice knowing you as a purple state NC time to go back to the Confederacy.

She was a Democrat as a state house rep from 2007 - 2017. I wonder what happened in the intervening 6 years from 2017 to 2023.

Guessing she started reading about adrenochrome and vaccines

I really don't like party switchers after elections. Party loyalty is so intense that you're overriding the will of the voters. I'm not sure how you write laws that would force a new election or something, but the voters shouldn't be overruled a few months after the election.

Clarence Thomas Has Been Illegally Accepting Luxury Gifts and Private Jet Travel for Decades Per Bombshell ProPublica Report



But in the end will Thomas even get his wrist slapped?

Who slaps a SC justices wrist? The House could impeach him, but it way more likely this house passes a commendation for it.

She claimed it was because she wore a flag and had praying hands on her car. And if you believe that....

...then you probably won't believe that she has a high-paying private sector job waiting for her in lieu of 30 pieces of silver?

SI

Those are crimes.

So Tennessee GOP State House are going to expel the two black guys but keep the white women for doing the same thing? Makes sense.

Sounds about white.

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It is about time to get Edward to have another poll about why America is still the best place to live in the world and everyone wants to be here. This country is as racist as shit and we don’t even hide it well.

Remember that the Tennessee legislature refused to expel an admitted child molester back in 2019. He served up until earlier this year before not seeking re-election.

In the end, this will just be a huge waste of tax-payers' money. Both guys will win the special election and return, and by rule can't be expelled for the same offense.

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Happy to do that if you want but suggest we setup a separate thread.

Glad to do a deep dive.

Both parties contain extremists who do not believe in the legitimacy of the other side.

The difference is that in the GOP, those extremists hold elected office. For the Dems, they are randos on twitter who we only know about because the #bothsides army likes to find and highlight them.

It's an old reconstruction era tactic.

Everything old is new again, if you're trying to take the country back 100 years

SI

I saw an interview with Gloria Johnson, the one that wasn't expelled and she came straight out and said they were expelled because they were black and she wasn't because she's a 60 year old white woman. She pointed to their questioning before the vote and the 2 black men were told that if they want to be part of this body they need to act like part of this body while she was mansplained what she did wrong.

No surprise, but a Trump judge just made mifepristone illegal.

And a Washington judge ruled they can't stop it from being dispensed. This will probably make it fast track to the SC by what they are saying.

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I don't see this as being much different than somebody getting elected, then not following through on what they promised to do, which happens pretty darned regularly. I find it hard to imagine a workable scenario in between the extremes of dispensing with the representative entirely and just having people vote directly on issues, or requiring them to do a better job of assessing candidates to have a better government.

Washington has been prepping for this decision so no surprise. Inslee had the state purchase a 3 year supply as a just in case.

Just ignore the ruling. It has no basis in law.

Counting on two of Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Roberts to say it has no basis in law isn't comforting.

Let them enforce it. There is no basis for a judge to decide what the FDA can and can't approve.

This, from her switch announcement, after she didn't toe the party line on a few recent votes.

Gosh, can't imagine anything like that happening based on the reasoned & rational responses to her in this thread.

If you want to take it at face value, sure.

However, the GOP was bragging in November that they were going to flip 1 to 3 dems sometime after January. It just so happens that 3 dems missed the recent vote on gun control and Cotham was one of them. So if we draw the obvious line there it's clear Cotham campaigned as a dem while at least strongly considering a party switch.

The NC GOP also has a history of using bribery to entice party switches. Cotham was actually able to get her seat because one opened because of such a bribery scandal.

There is zero chance Biden ignores a SCOTUS order.

Nor should any president.

Are you Andrew Jackson?

At some point you have to stop letting bad precedents be set on things like this. So judges can just ban anything they want that was FDA approved? Should we obey some anti-vax judge who decides to ban vaccines? What if a vegan judge wants to ban meat?

This is a stupid ruling with no basis in actual law. You don't have to play these dumb fucking games where judges get to decide what drugs we can take and what foods we can consume.

And maybe SCOTUS should remove the criminal they have on their court before ruling on this one.

Speaking of which, Idaho banned student IDs as a valid form of ID for voting after seeing a 48% surge in college student voting last election.

You can still use your gun license as ID though.

re: fixing Social Security (and Medicare) with tax increases, benefits cuts and/or increasing retirement age, the article had some interesting notes.

For increasing retirement age, this is a hint of the GOP starting position. So currently now at 67 (for most) to 70 born in 1978 or later. And also calculation of benefits based on 35 vs 40 years. If I was born in 1978+, I'd think this really sucked.

Social Security: Fixing the entitlement program involves hard choices | CNN Politics
Didn't know about below. Prob offset by lower medical premiums/deductibles. but will have to research more.

Below isn't intuitive to me, I always thought COLAs were a little behind. I looked him up but all I found were podcasts/YT and didn't bother watching it. I'd like to understand his assumptions & logic.

Damn, I'm old enough to be grandfathered into that thing! Being old rocks!

@atocep I’m sure it’s nothing more than the way it reads on paper… please don’t read into anything other than what it said in the legislation itself. You simply cannot do that to reach opinions on what people’s intentions are.


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Personally, I wasn't thinking of Biden so much as a blue state.

If there's a GOP sweep in 2024 I'd say we're less than 10 years away from some solid blue state (CA, NY, IL) flat-out ignoring some egregious federal law or SCOTUS ruling, and triggering a full-on constitutional crisis.

If you purport to believe in something strongly, Jon, and use that purported strength of belief to convince others to do things for you, and then you fail to act on those beliefs, to the direct detriment of those you convinced to support you, what kind of person are you?

And his brother has just been accused of being involved in a sex traffiking ring:


Trammell Crow Jr: Billionaire linked to Sarah Ferguson accused of financing US sex trafficking ring

Congrats!

(to me too) :)