Week 38
Politico: "Lobbyists exploit massive loophole to wine and dine lawmakers, aides at fancy getaways.. Congressional travel rules generally bar lobbyists from playing a significant role in organizing or participating in trips sponsored by corporate entities. Such free trips are limited to no more than one day, with few exceptions.
None of these restrictions, however, applies to nonprofits such as the Congressional Institute, which regularly arranges multiday trips to luxury hotels and resorts along the mid-Atlantic coast. Guests mingle with private-sector institute members who pay as much as $27,500 annually for access to the invite-only retreats. And there is nothing preventing lobbyists and industry officials from participating as speakers or attendees at the events"
Arab News: "Marxist leader Dissanayaka set to become Sri Lanka’s next president"
NYT: "A French Fair as Workers' Paradise, Feting Cuisine, Music and Communism.. The Fete de l'Humanite, a blend of Burning Man, Woodstock and a political convention, attracts the masses with bands, lectures and food, but here K.F.C. is C.F.K.: Communist Fried Kitchen"
"@Daojoan@mastodon.social
I understand you’re experiencing climate anxiety and a growing sense of deep existential dread as you contemplate the hellscape that is your future but have you considered a meditation app for only $9.99 per month or 15.99 through the App Store"
MCU did not know how to handle Thor, he was like a hot potato for them. Thor's Asgard culture is a militocracy, the first excellent movie shows it in its glory. The movie did great. But then mind manipulators had to bring Thor down a notch. He was made fat, cucked, made fool of, in multiple movies. They even had the warrior girl pining for him lose interest and cuck others. It was a chain cuck. Then Asgard was destroyed. Hemsworth is a good sport, he rolled with it all, still coming out looking good, but Marv certainly tried. If Thor was a budding businessman, an enterpreneur, even better anti-government enterpreneur, he would be great, he would never be cucked.
Pay attention to the end of Foundation Season 2. The trader, Hober Mallow, beat Cleon. They could have used the mathematician (Seldon), someone from the sci-religion created by the foundation.. But no, their hero had to be the trader. Militocracy vs Plutocracy. The Anglo subliminal messagers know which side they want you to be on.
If Secret Wars comic is followed Doom becomes the singular ruler of Battle World.
The finishing line could be "I. Am. Businessman". 🤣
It is possible Disney MCU will use Doom as the symbol of a leader inspired by a militocracy, representing the "Old World" (per origin, VVD is even from there), and they might want to have him killed by a character they want to build up. An anti-government businessman perhaps? Which character would that be? Maybe they'll have a Stark variant who is anti-government, never divested from weapon sales, remained a regular MIC scum, he would get to kill Doom.
"@dcjohnson@mastodon.cloud
The 'national debt' means money spent into the economy but not taxed back out.
That's it. That's all"
Al-Monitor: "Israeli economy struggles under weight of Gaza war.. Nearly a year of war in Gaza has battered Israel's economy, and poverty is now threatening communities including in areas far removed from the fighting against Hamas."
We need to note Napoleon was a military leader in the mold of other military leaders in Europe. As Turchin says "medieval militocracies gradually evolved into ruling classes that combined military and administrative functions". He was not a plutocrat, did not descend from a culture thinking of "bottom lines", "maximizing profits" in that by following these precepts blindly benefits would come to society, flowers would bloom and cows would fly. We see what is happening to places that inherit their admin from those, basically the Anglo-land who are currently in a process of quite implosion.
Napoleon achieved a lot in gov management, he was also extremely supportive of the sciences and engineering.
Wiki: "The Napoleonic Code (French: Code Napoléon).. is the French civil code established during the French Consulate in 1804 and still in force in France.. The code, with its stress on clearly written and accessible law, was a major milestone in the abolition of the previous patchwork of feudal laws. Historian Robert Holtman regards it as one of the few documents that have influenced the whole world"
#Stewart #Israel
Al-Monitor: "Hamas weakened, not crushed a year into war with Israel"
LA Times: "[07/18] California electric vehicle sales decline. Tesla, once the darling of California car buyers, was hit hard"
Rho Motion: "EV Sales H1 2024: Europe Slowest Growing Region"
Republicans pre-Trump would absolutely support that bill, after a faux protest for cameras, they'd let it through. Making profits on government dime - this is part and parcel of the American right (while at the same time being anti-government -so they are taxed less-).
Bidness interests want those ppl around, not to leave the country when they lose their job so are part of a giant unemployed pool suppressing wages. Unemployment will come out of regular taxpayer money anyway, not bidness, or contribute to large gov debt which they don't give a shit abt either.
The supporters are certainly not worried about any humanitarian angle.
Unbelievable.. Another proof business owns US politics.. Otherwise this bill would not even be discussed.
Fox News: "California GOP pushes back on bill that would give unemployment benefits to illegal immigrants"
"@rbreich@masto.ai
The 100 lowest-paying major US corporations spent $522B on stock buybacks from 2019 to 2023.
Buybacks artificially boost share prices and inflate CEO pay.
The typical worker at these companies earned just $34k last year.
Meanwhile, the average CEO was paid $14.7M"
NYT: "In Germany, Scholz's Party Ekes Out Win Over Far Right"
It looks like Vuhledar's fate is sealed. Makiivka, Hostre, Ukrainsk, Nevske, Hrodivka, Novohrodivka are gone. A mad dash towards Toretsk, Leonidivka are quite visible. Pokrovsk can still look relatively far, but remember RU had barely reached Komyshivka (same distance in the other direction) a mere two months ago, it is now gone. After Pokrvosk no one can tell the cascading effects that will have on other areas of conflict, combined with an RU controlled Vuhledar.
#Frontline #UA #RU 09/15 - 09/23
The American Conservative: "The Argument for Recognizing the Houthis.. If we are not going to make a serious contest for naval victory in the Red Sea, we should try to cut a deal"
Republicans of all stripes are very careful to attack "the left", lumping Clintonite social left together with the economic left, bcz by attacking the larger label, usually bcz of some bizarre stupidity of the social left, they are also hitting economic left, and that is the real target they want to destroy. Their corporate masters demand it.
RT: "Russia hits ship carrying Western weapons to Ukraine"
Chris Joss - Lesson One #music
"@dalias@hachyderm.io
Periodic reminder: nearly all of the browsers except Firefox and Safari are RESKINNED GOOGLE CHROME with somebody else's interests, cloud service integration, shitcoin, whatever tacked on. Using them is no better than using Chrome, and does not get you out of a surveillance/no-autonomy/monoculture hellscape"
CNN: "The International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined to endorse a presidential candidate on Wednesday after releasing internal polling that showed a majority of its members supported former President Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris.
It's the first time in nearly three decades that the union has not endorsed a presidential candidate"
"@Daojoan@mastodon.social
As a former youth leader I need you to understand that 'I'll pray for you' is Christian for 'go fuck yourself'"
I understand the "larger goal", it goes, if Dems win, the left (via progs there) is better off than not. But then be ready for the heat. Is the approach even tactically useful? By attacking the left in a different party they will get more visibility, place your insecurities front in center.
Apperently Ellison was one of the Dems who attacked the Green Party recently, a little too harsly? Hey it hurts more when the attacker is from your side.. Didn't progressives all root for Ellison during the DNC chair contest, and were sad when he lost to Obama / Clinton type centrist bozo Perez? Ellison has been under constant attack for his views on Palestine in the party then you turn around and dunk on others who have similar views on Israeli genocide? It just looks bad.
#ButchWare #GreenParty
Kunta Keith Ellison.. :)
NYT: "[07/18] More Gas Cars and Trucks, Fewer E.V.s as Automakers Change Plans"
Reuters: "[09/04] Volvo abandones 2030 EV only target"
"Rules-Based Order" means they make the rules, you follow the order.
Politico: "Zelenskyy was urged not to invade Kursk. He did it anyway. Some of Ukraine’s top army commanders questioned the cross-border assault into Russia, Ukrainian military officials tell Politico"
Power Magazine: "Clean Hydrogen Potential: Navigating Policy, Challenges, and Market Opportunities.. The U.S. clean hydrogen sector is poised for significant growth, driven in part by its potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in hard-to-abate industries such as transportation and chemical production"
CNBC: "Britain's ultra-wealthy are threatening to exit en masse ahead of proposed tax changes"
When a tech bro type says something, everyone assumes it is revolutionary.
You reinvented the lunch hour.
"[F]ood delivery and takeout service Just Eat made headlines last month by tweeting about a new employee initiative for remote workers called the 'power hour'"
You reinvented the bus, jackass
E-jagoff: "Boring Co urban loop system would have 1000’s of small stations the size of a single parking space that take you very close to your destination & blend seamlessly into the fabric of a city"
That big fall is apparently on Sep 4, the day for the latest school shooting. It's interesting polling for both candidates took a dive that day.. It's like people thought F this system and F you all, noone can fix anything.
Harris seems to poll higher than DJT.. I'm not sure how reliable these ppl are.. We'll see I guess.
dfs = df[df.answer == 'Harris'].copy()
dfs['harris_share'] = dfs.sample_size * dfs.pct / 100.
dfs['Date'] = u.get_pd().to_datetime(dfs.end_date)
g1 = dfs.groupby('Date').sum(['sample_size','harris_share'])
g1 = g1[g1.index > '2024-08-15']
g1['harris_pct'] = g1.harris_share / g1.sample_size
dfs = df[df.answer == 'Trump'].copy()
dfs['trump_share'] = dfs.sample_size * dfs.pct / 100.
dfs['Date'] = u.get_pd().to_datetime(dfs.end_date)
g2 = dfs.groupby('Date').sum(['sample_size','trump_share'])
g2 = g2[g2.index > '2024-08-15']
g2['trump_pct'] = g2.trump_share / g2.sample_size
dfall = u.get_pd().concat([g1,g2],axis=1)
dfall = dfall[['trump_pct','harris_pct']]
dfall.plot(title='Trump & Harris Combined Polls, Daily')
df = u.get_pd().read_csv('https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/data/president_polls.csv')
cols = ['poll_id','sample_size','answer','pct','end_date']
print (df[cols].head(10))
poll_id sample_size answer pct end_date
0 88264 2969.0 Harris 50.0 9/19/24
1 88264 2969.0 Trump 48.0 9/19/24
2 88246 1880.0 Harris 52.9 9/19/24
3 88246 1880.0 Trump 47.1 9/19/24
4 88246 1880.0 Harris 51.2 9/19/24
5 88246 1880.0 Trump 44.6 9/19/24
6 88246 1880.0 Kennedy 2.4 9/19/24
7 88246 1880.0 Stein 0.6 9/19/24
8 88246 1880.0 West 0.6 9/19/24
9 88246 1880.0 Oliver 0.7 9/19/24
Sooo for specific poll, number of votes for each candidate is on seperate line item..
Different polls can end in the same day
I could filter by candidate, group by date, sum up votes and sample sizes, find grand percentage for each day
538 shares raw poll data from various pollsters, congrats, they are really bad at prediction but have some fine infrastructure.
For campaigning I guess one can look at polls, but how reliable are they
Abramovitz formula favors Kamala, the only thing not factored in is campaigning provess which was largely influential for 2000.
F-22 Test Pilot: "You could take four weapons instructors in an F-15 each and you could have some lieutenant who is 'weapons clueless' and he's gonna find them all and kill them all. Then you put one really good guy in an F-15 against a Raptor and he?s still gonna get killed; there's that much of a difference in technology"
Aviation Week: "New U.S. Air Force Leaders Recast F-22 Retirement Plans"
Egypt joined BRICS and is now buying Chinese tech. Who sees them as pro West?
"Sisi has a lot of opposition at home bcz he is seen as too pro-West"
Military Africa: "Egypt has signed an agreement with China to purchase J-10C fighter jets. This acquisition aims to replace Egypt's aging fleet of F-16 Fighting Falcons, marking a strategic shift in the country's defense procurement"
Israel constantly needs to prove to MIC that it is a "valueable thorn" on the side of all actors the region that it can always spur weapon, mil infra spending there. They always need to prove they are worthy, they can spur profits by creating, instigating controlled chaos in the region. It didn't start out this way, but spurring weapon spending is the only reason Israel exists right now.. The private complex has taken over their country the same way they have taken over America. #BeeperAttack
#Gaetz #3SimpleIdeas
Kuznick, The Untold History of the US: "Although U.S. involvement in the First World War had been relatively brief and, by most measures, enormously successful, the nature of the fighting, marked by trench and chemical warfare, and the shaky postwar settlement combined to undermine the glory of the war itself. In its aftermath, Americans became increasingly disillusioned. A war fought to make the world safe for democracy seemed to have failed in its purpose. Nor was there much hope that this war would end all wars. Though some people nevertheless clung to the belief that the United States had engaged in a great crusade for freedom and democracy, for others the phrase rang hollow. A postwar literature of disillusionment emerged in the works of E. E. Cummings, John Dos Passos, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Thomas Boyd, William Faulkner, Laurence Stallings, Irwin Shaw, Ford Madox Ford, Dalton Trumbo, and other writers as the nation learned once again that the initial euphoria of war would be erased by the reality of what the war actually achieved"
"@GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social
The Germany government interviewed over 300 companies to find out the CrowdStrike impact to their orgs. Over 60% were impacted, and around half had to halt all operation, for an average of 10 hours"
Those Oracle licenses ain't cheap..
"@eb@social.coop
Food: $400
Data: $150
Rent: $2000
Oracle: $690,000,000
Utilities: $400
It’s hard out here folks"
"With current policies the Earth is on track to a warming of around 3 °C above preindustrial temperatures [by 2100]"
"Big cities likely to witness catastrophic heatwaves should planet warm 3 degrees: Study"
Al Monitor: "Saudi crown prince says no Israel ties without Palestinian state"
Politico: "Influence peddlers spent decades cultivating ties with President Joe Biden’s inner circle; Harris has spent less than eight years in Washington. During her time as a California senator, Harris’ office was seen as either ambivalent to or dismissive of the requests of corporate interests...
But in the twists of an unexpectedly volatile presidential election cycle, K Street is now setting its sights on the new Democratic ticket-leader — and rushing to catch up on years of relationship-building. They’re bundling donations for the Democratic National Committee, conducting outreach to administration staffers they think could stay on, helping the campaign promote legislation and referring clients to give to the campaign. They’re digging into the network of elected officials across the country who are close to Harris."
"@fuck_cars_bot@botsin.space
'Passenger Capacity of different Transport Modes'"
Reuters: "Meta.. is facing a hefty fine in the EU over its alleged efforts to dominate the classified advertising market, the Financial Times reported.. EU regulators will claim Facebook's parent company links its free Marketplace services with the social network in an effort to undermine its rivals"
It is likely the Houthi missile hitting Tel Aviv was hypersonic hence ISR defense system was helpless against it. It is also likely the missile was given to the Houthis by the Russians. The message is if you f--k around with my shit via talk around long-range weapons, I'll f--k around w your shit, your boy gets slapped around, and perhaps more happens... The loss of face was attempted to be remedied w recent pager explosion perhaps.
F24: "US woman died after abortion law delayed urgent medical care.. A Georgia woman died from delayed life-saving surgery caused by the US state's restrictive abortion law"
Politico: "Michigan Republicans flock to Trump: Some see ‘the hand of God’ in action"
Deodato - Area Code 808 #music
Doctorow: "Coalitional realignments are wellsprings of political change, for good or ill. In her 2023 must-read book Doppelganger, Naomi Klein provides a clear-eyed look at how liberals sidelined leftists in the progressive coalition, and how that opened space for the right to peel off working people and get Trump elected"
CNBC: "Geologic hydrogen — sometimes known as white, gold or natural hydrogen — refers to hydrogen gas that is found in its natural form beneath Earth’s surface. A dramatic upswing in the number of companies actively searching for geologic hydrogen deposits in recent years prompted analysts at Rystad Energy to describe the pursuit as a 'white gold rush'"
"@Hypx@mastodon.social
BP and Iberdrola have announced their decision to proceed with the construction of a 25 MW green hydrogen project at BP's Castellón refinery, which is slated to become operational in the latter half of 2026"
During covid money was printed and given to people. What happened later? It ended up with big corp, inequality increased, meaning the wealthy will still buy your assets, own your debt, charge you rent, and give you crums to live by. Any new "theory" needs to put taxing front in center, not create bizarre drama around printing-or-not-printing, should-I-shouldnt-I-print. MMT is a waste of time, just like battery electric cars are for climate change.
MMT is the tail-end, fringe part of the neolib strategy. The grand narrative is being for "sound money" while printing it for the rich. Media already works for them, opposition is silenced. Once in a while though they throw the oppo a bone, via MMT this time "you could print until you see inflation, you know", wink wink, an approach that will never become policy, but it gives the fools hope, keeps them occupied. That way noone talks about taxing the rich.
"Print until you see inflation" is not policy, it is bad analysis. MMT is a ruse to divert attn from taxing the rich.
The spectre haunting the West is not communism, nor far-right extremism (which is a symptom rather than the cause). The problem is neolib "centrism", that opresses left-wing solutions to impose its order, constantly creates unnecessary wars at home and abroad. Neoliberal centrism will create econ pain and that will eventually give rise to right-wing extremism just like when it did in post WWI Germany.
A proper dollar bill
![[-]](https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/151/542/067/493/328/original/9d2e9dbf5811a96d.jpeg){kind=link}
If you calculated the maximum amt of energy that can be captured per volume, per weight, you'd arrive at the molecular structure of a fuel (H2 being the cleanest of them all). TCO-efficient storage using anything else is chemically impossible. This battery shit was a bizarro-dream pursued by a handful or retarded yankees and its run is coming to an end. Anyone who invested in this tech should know you are living in a crooked building, and the whole structure is coming down on your head. You'll be buried under it. Get phuck out now.
The technology has no future. Good call..
ZDF: "How battery research is being slowed down.. A [DE] funding freeze for battery research is causing massive criticism, including from the automotive industry. Is Germany facing a setback in a key technology of the future?
Reuters: "Israel rattled by talk that Netanyahu may replace defence minister"
An engineer's estimate, along w/ Australian sighting is (roughly) shown below. Previous info we shared was a Cape Leeuwin station recorded a signal from hydrophones.
cs = {"MH 370 (Guess)": [-33.176793, 95.30002],
"Kuala Lumpur Intl Airport": [2.818127, 102.18700],
"Last Radar Contact": [9.494954545, 94.3413719],
"Cape Leeuwin Station": [-34.12047627, 115.07422816],
"Diego Garcia": [-3.563662449, 71.45723047],
"Satellite Wreckage Sighting": [-43.58477240, 92.90458534]
}
u.map_coords(cs, zoom=4, outfile="map5.html")
The Guardian: "[2014/03] Australia announced the satellite sighting of possible [MH 370] debris about 1,550 miles south-west of Perth."
Orban is all-in for Trump.
TASS: "'It is clear that President Trump's life is in danger, until his victory in the US presidential election in November. We are praying for you, Mr. President!' the Hungarian Prime Minister said"
TDB: "Man Accused in Trump Assassination Bid Was ‘A Little Cuckoo,’ Neighbor Says"
These people are coming out of the woodwork
Like thats right
TDB: "A gunman crawled through shrubbery near Donald Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, Sunday afternoon, coming within 500 yards of the former president, authorities said. Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was hiding with the barrel of his AK-47-style rifle poking through a fence when it was spotted by a Secret Service agent.. “With a rifle and scope, like, that is not a long distance,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at a news conference Sunday afternoon"
#Hoh #Davis
Kursk incursion reversal is happening as fast as it advanced. That makes sense bcz the speed of the advance had to do with the geographic character of the place and same is true of the reversion. The areas captured by UA were sparsely populated, not fortifed (unlike Donbas) so Ukraine seemingly gained lots of territory, incredibly fast. Now it is losing them as fast as they were gained. Easy come, easy go.
Wars can be fought within democracies.. But recent events outed a dirty little secret, Ukraine has never been a democracy, in large part thanks to the Americans.
Zelensk term ran out months ago. New elections have to be called if the current gov can remain legitimate. Where are they? Aren't we defending democracy? Apparently there isn't any in Ukraine!
Fleming: "There are four.. observations, which are considered to be proofs of General Relativity.. The first is the change in the time rate of clocks in a gravitational field, the second is gravitational redshift, the third is the Shapiro Delay, and the fourth is the bending of light...
[Bending of light] has never been an issue of space contraction, but rather the speed of light being reduced near bodies of matter. This is the same conclusion, the speed of light changing, reached by Paul Marmet who did an excellent job cataloging the difficulties involved with measuring the Shapiro Delay and the bending of light... The Shapiro Delay is due to the reduction in light velocity due to photon deceleration/acceleration and increased London-van der Waals torque.. Gravitational redshift is due to a decrease in energy as a photon accelerates away from a star.. The final piece of the frame transformation puzzle is the time rate change of clocks... this phenomenon is not a time dilation of space, but simply a change in clock rate due to the kinetic energy due to the velocity of a physical clock relative to the universal rest frame"
There is no money? Instead of raising the ret age and underfinancing ed, shoulda taxed the rich
F24: "French teachers are quitting in record numbers, overwhelmed by low pay, crowded classrooms and increasing demands."
RU did not divert mil resources from Donbas, did not bother the op there. According to news the governor of Tula was given the job to stop the incursion in Kursk.
Kursk incursion is being rolled back. Massive gains in the East.
#Frontline #UA #RU 09/09 - 09/15