10/30/18 - The Caravan: TDS, TLS
10/29/18 - Pittsburgh shooting: ACL
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Sunday, October 28, 2018
scientists concerned about political meddling
[10/21/18] Is the Trump administration applying undue political influence on scientific research?
Some Hawaii scientists are convinced that it is, and that’s why they support efforts by 15 U.S. Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, to investigate political meddling into scientific research or communications at the Department of the Interior.
“It’s for real,” said Robert Richmond, director of the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Kewalo Marine Laboratory. “A number of my (federal) colleagues say interference is a persistent concern under this administration.”
Hirono and her colleagues sent a letter to Interior Department Inspector General Mary Kendall this month asking for an investigation. The request follows reports of pressure by officials of the Trump administration earlier this year to edit out any mention of human-induced climate change from a National Park Service report on sea-level rise.
What’s more, the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists surveyed scientists working across federal agencies, including those working within the Interior Department, and found a significant percentage of them are concerned about the influence of political appointees on their work.
In June, Hirono was among a group of Senate Democrats that accused the Interior Department of delaying key grants while the agency conducted what the senators claimed was a politically motivated review of its grant-making. In a letter sent to the department then, the senators expressed concern over potential undue influence from a high-level political appointee given authority over the grant- review process.
Much of the concern centers around the Trump administration’s view on climate science, with the commander in chief himself openly expressing skepticism.
“I’m not a big believer in man-made climate change,” he told the Miami Herald during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Almost immediately after Trump’s inauguration, the Environmental Protection Agency and Departments of Interior and Energy eliminated sections of their websites that discussed the science and impacts of climate change.
Then in 2017, Trump announced his intention to remove the United States from the Paris accord dealing with climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, and began pushing for coal and fossil fuel exploration. Among other things, he rescinded the 2013 Climate Action Plan and the Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, a group President Barack Obama created to prepare the U.S. for the impacts of climate change.
Richmond, the UH professor and coral reef expert, said he saw undue political influence during the George W. Bush administration but it was nowhere near the level experienced over the last couple of years.
“I’ve never seen such blatant disregard in any area as in climate science,” he said.
Some Hawaii scientists are convinced that it is, and that’s why they support efforts by 15 U.S. Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, to investigate political meddling into scientific research or communications at the Department of the Interior.
“It’s for real,” said Robert Richmond, director of the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Kewalo Marine Laboratory. “A number of my (federal) colleagues say interference is a persistent concern under this administration.”
Hirono and her colleagues sent a letter to Interior Department Inspector General Mary Kendall this month asking for an investigation. The request follows reports of pressure by officials of the Trump administration earlier this year to edit out any mention of human-induced climate change from a National Park Service report on sea-level rise.
What’s more, the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists surveyed scientists working across federal agencies, including those working within the Interior Department, and found a significant percentage of them are concerned about the influence of political appointees on their work.
In June, Hirono was among a group of Senate Democrats that accused the Interior Department of delaying key grants while the agency conducted what the senators claimed was a politically motivated review of its grant-making. In a letter sent to the department then, the senators expressed concern over potential undue influence from a high-level political appointee given authority over the grant- review process.
Much of the concern centers around the Trump administration’s view on climate science, with the commander in chief himself openly expressing skepticism.
“I’m not a big believer in man-made climate change,” he told the Miami Herald during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Almost immediately after Trump’s inauguration, the Environmental Protection Agency and Departments of Interior and Energy eliminated sections of their websites that discussed the science and impacts of climate change.
Then in 2017, Trump announced his intention to remove the United States from the Paris accord dealing with climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, and began pushing for coal and fossil fuel exploration. Among other things, he rescinded the 2013 Climate Action Plan and the Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, a group President Barack Obama created to prepare the U.S. for the impacts of climate change.
Richmond, the UH professor and coral reef expert, said he saw undue political influence during the George W. Bush administration but it was nowhere near the level experienced over the last couple of years.
“I’ve never seen such blatant disregard in any area as in climate science,” he said.
Friday, October 26, 2018
Megan Kelly out
Megyn Kelly is out at NBC News, according to the
$69 million talk show host's own soon-to-be ex-colleagues at 30 Rock,
who confirmed the poorly kept secret Friday morning with a tweet.
"This
morning, NBC News host Megyn Kelly is in talks with the network about
her imminent departure, according to a source familiar with the
situation," revealed a tweet from the "Today" show's Twitter account.
Fox News has learned that Kelly and her team are not at NBC’s headquarters, and that initial exit discussions are taking place over the phone.
Fox News has learned that Kelly and her team are not at NBC’s headquarters, and that initial exit discussions are taking place over the phone.
NBC's confirmation followed a furious spate of developments that followed Kelly's ill-advised suggestion on Tuesday that putting on "blackface" isn't necessarily racist under certain circumstances. Kelly, whose unpopularity at the Peacock Network was already well known, apologized tearfully for the comment, but on Thursday NBC announced that her show would be taped reruns until further notice. That sparked rumors - now confirmed - that she would be out just halfway through her bank-breaking, three-year contract that pays her $23 million per annum.
As her job hosting "Megyn Kelly Today" circled the drain, other developments swirled around Kelly, who rose to stardom at Fox News Channel. Fox News learned that Kelly's legal team was insisting on having #MeToo superstar Ronan Farrow accompany her to settlement talks. Kelly had sided with Farrow, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning story about now-disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct was spiked by NBC suits.
Kelly -- a champion of the #MeToo movement – had also irked network honchos by taking on-air shots at NBC for not hiring an independent law firm to conduct an investigation into the culture of the company amid refusing to air Farrow’s reporting and Matt Lauer’s termination for sexual misconduct.
NBC declared the network didn’t do anything wrong when handling Lauer after executives refused to launch an independent investigation. Instead, an in-house review found that management was completely oblivious to Lauer’s behavior. Meanwhile, Farrow has said that he was “blocked from further reporting” regarding Weinstein and is working on a book that will detail his side of why NBC News didn’t air his story. All this has resulted in NBC News chairman Andy Lack coming under fire for his handling of sexual misconduct allegations. An NBC insider feels Lack wanted Kelly ousted for not toeing the company line – with the blackface remarks making a convenient excuse to terminate her.
“But what is racist?” Kelly asked in a live panel discussion. “Because you get in trouble if you’re a white person who puts on blackface on Halloween, or a black person who puts on white face for Halloween… back when I was a kid that was OK, as long as you were dressing like a character”
Kelly offered a heartfelt apology to open her show on Wednesday and received a standing ovation from the in-studio audience. But Lack condemned Kelly’s comments during a previously scheduled town hall event for his news division staff on Wednesday.
Kelly’s comments have been reported extensively on both “NBC Nightly News” and “Today,” leading to much speculation that NBC News executives hoped to put a spotlight on the controversial rhetoric as a way to separate with the veteran journalist. NBC colleagues quickly became her biggest critics when Craig Melvin called her comments “racist and ignorant” and Al Roker said she “owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the country.”
Kelly's first season averaged nearly 2.4 million viewers, 375,000 fewer than the "Today" show 9 a.m. hour had before she arrived. She has reportedly hired a prominent Hollywood attorney who is speaking with NBC executives Friday.
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
suspicious packages addressed to Democrats
The U.S. Secret Service said on Wednesday that it had intercepted a pair of suspicious packages addressed to former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
A third suspicious package found in the mailroom of Time Warner Center in New York City forced the evacuation of the building, which houses CNN’s New York bureau.
The package addressed to Bill and Hillary Clinton’s home in Chappaqua, N.Y., was recovered late Tuesday, the Secret Service said in a statement to Yahoo News. A second package addressed to Obama was intercepted by Secret Service personnel in Washington, D.C., early Wednesday. The Secret Service screens all mail addressed to its protectees; the Clintons and Obamas have had Secret Service detail since serving in the White House.
“The packages were immediately identified during routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were appropriately handled as such,” the statement read. “The protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of receiving them.”
A third suspicious package found in the mailroom of Time Warner Center in New York City forced the evacuation of the building, which houses CNN’s New York bureau.
The package addressed to Bill and Hillary Clinton’s home in Chappaqua, N.Y., was recovered late Tuesday, the Secret Service said in a statement to Yahoo News. A second package addressed to Obama was intercepted by Secret Service personnel in Washington, D.C., early Wednesday. The Secret Service screens all mail addressed to its protectees; the Clintons and Obamas have had Secret Service detail since serving in the White House.
“The packages were immediately identified during routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were appropriately handled as such,” the statement read. “The protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of receiving them.”
The
Secret Service said it has “initiated a full scope criminal
investigation” to “determine the source of the packages and identify
those responsible.”
The discovery of the three packages comes just two days after a pipe bomb was found in the Bedford, N.Y., mailbox of billionaire philanthropist George Soros. Soros, like the Clintons, lives in Westchester County. According to the New York Times,
the device sent to the Clintons was similar to the one sent to Soros, a
liberal donor who has long been the target of conservative
conspiracies.
Officials
told ABC News that the devices found in packages addressed to Soros,
Clinton and Obama “appear to be of similar pipe bomb style
construction.”
NBC
News reported that the return address on the suspicious packages sent
to Soros, Clinton and Obama belonged to Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz,
D-Fla., a former Democratic National Committee official.
Wasserman-Schultz’s offices in Sunrise, Fla., were evacuated Wednesday
after a suspicious package was found mailed there, local police said.
According
to CNN, the package that triggered the evacuations there was intended
for former Attorney General Eric Holder but included the wrong address,
so it was returned to Wasserman-Schultz’s offices.
Meanwhile,
multiple news organizations reported a suspicious package addressed to
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., was intercepted Wednesday at a
congressional mail facility.
At
the White House, press secretary Sarah Sanders issued a statement
condemning the “attempted violent attacks recently made against
President Obama, President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, and other public
figures.”
“These
terrorizing acts are despicable,” she added. “And anyone responsible
will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. The United
States Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies are
investigating and will take all appropriate actions to protect anyone
threatened by these cowards.”
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Canada legalizes marijuana sales to public
Canada is now the largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace as sales began early Wednesday in Newfoundland.
Canada has had legal medical marijuana since 2001 and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has spent two years working toward expanding that to include so-called recreational marijuana. The goal is to better reflect society’s changing opinion about marijuana and bring black market operators into a regulated system.
Uruguay was first was the first country to legalize marijuana.
Tom Clarke, an illegal pot dealer for three decades, was among the first to make a legal sale in Canada when his store opened at midnight local time in Portugal Cove, Newfoundland. He made his first sale to his dad and a lineup of about 50 to 100 people waited outside his shop.
“This is awesome. I’ve been waiting my whole life for this. I served my dad,” Clarke said. “I am so happy to be living in Canada right now instead of south of the border.”
Clarke, whose middle name is Herb, has been called THC for years by his friends. His dad, Don, said he was thrilled he was among the first customers of legal pot.
“It’s been a long time coming. We’ve only been discussing this for 50 years. It’s better late than never,” he said.
In nearby St. John’s, Newfoundland, hundreds of customers were lined up around the block at the private store on Water Street, the main commercial drag in the provincial capital, by the time the clock struck midnight. A festive atmosphere broke out, with some customers lighting up on the sidewalk and motorists honking their horns in support as they drove by the crowd.
Ian Power, who was first in line, said he plans to frame his purchase.
Canada has had legal medical marijuana since 2001 and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has spent two years working toward expanding that to include so-called recreational marijuana. The goal is to better reflect society’s changing opinion about marijuana and bring black market operators into a regulated system.
Uruguay was first was the first country to legalize marijuana.
Tom Clarke, an illegal pot dealer for three decades, was among the first to make a legal sale in Canada when his store opened at midnight local time in Portugal Cove, Newfoundland. He made his first sale to his dad and a lineup of about 50 to 100 people waited outside his shop.
“This is awesome. I’ve been waiting my whole life for this. I served my dad,” Clarke said. “I am so happy to be living in Canada right now instead of south of the border.”
Clarke, whose middle name is Herb, has been called THC for years by his friends. His dad, Don, said he was thrilled he was among the first customers of legal pot.
“It’s been a long time coming. We’ve only been discussing this for 50 years. It’s better late than never,” he said.
In nearby St. John’s, Newfoundland, hundreds of customers were lined up around the block at the private store on Water Street, the main commercial drag in the provincial capital, by the time the clock struck midnight. A festive atmosphere broke out, with some customers lighting up on the sidewalk and motorists honking their horns in support as they drove by the crowd.
Ian Power, who was first in line, said he plans to frame his purchase.
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