Always good to read Chompsky’s views and, as usual, he clarifies the issues in today’s State of the Union. From the New York Times, July 5, 2017. On nuclear war, actions in Syria and at the Russian border raise very serious threats of confrontation that might trigger war, an unthinkable prospect. Furthermore, Trump’s pursuit of … [Read more…]
An in-depth article covering the data gathering on opioid and street drug use, who has data and the problem of getting good data today. From the folks at FIVE THIRTY EIGHT . com …
Some good ideas have been discussed for more than a hundred years and yet remain unused, to wit … Sonoma Democrat > 10 December 1857 THE VETO POWER. The N. Y. Herald of Oct. 31st, has a very excellent article on the extension of the veto power. Although this extraordinary power given to the President … [Read more…]
WAPO reports on another data screw up with the political machines !
In a heartbreaking article in the Washington Post about Secretary DeVos’ stand on climate change, the author, Valerie Strauss, adds a letter written by Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island Democratic Senator where the Senator writes of the efforts of the Heartland Institute, a climate denial “think tank” to promote a climate denial information packet sent to … [Read more…]
In this NYT article about the risks of public and private infrastructure projects, this quote about Blackstone, which announced a $40 billion dollar infrastructure fund: Stephen A. Schwarzman, Blackstone’s chairman and chief executive, is leading a White House business advisory group, which lists infrastructure work as one of its topics for discussion. Conflict of interest … [Read more…]
Jill Lapore hits the nail on the head in her comment in the June 5, 2017 New Yorker “The Strategy of Truth.” Trump and Ailes
I revere the written word, but I’m bookmarking the audio of Dylan’s Nobel lecture because hearing it adds so much more than reading it ever would due to his incredible voice, the inflections and the music. The print version of the lecture is found here.
Arctic stronghold of world’s seeds flooded after permafrost melts No seeds were lost but the ability of the rock vault to provide failsafe protection against all disasters is now threatened by climate change The Guardian, May 19, 2017
The Tangled Story Behind Trump’s False Claims Of Voter Fraud A nice bit of background information from the folks (Maggie Koerth-Baker) at FIVETHIRTYEIGHT.com with some statistical education (for me anyway) thrown in. Amazing what you can do with stats.