President Trump threatens to “totally destroy North Korea.” Another hurricane lashes out. A second monster earthquake jolts Mexico. Terrorists strike in London. And that’s just this past week or so.
Yes, the world is clearly coming to an end. But is there anything you can do to prepare?
That is not a philosophical question, or a theological one. And if it is a question that seems to beg any explication, you may stop reading now.
But if you are among the swelling class of weekend paranoiacs of affluent means who are starting to mull fantasies of urban escape following the endless headlines about disasters, both natural and manufactured, you may be starting to see a different image in your mind when think “survivalist.” You may no longer see the wild-eyed cave dweller in camouflage fatigues, hoarding canned goods. You may even see one in the mirror.
In a world where the bombproof bunker has replaced the Tesla as the hot status symbol for young Silicon Valley plutocrats, everyone, it seems, is a “prepper,” even if the “prep” in question just means he is stashing a well-stocked “bug-out bag” alongside his Louis Vuitton luggage in a Range Rover pointed toward Litchfield County, Conn. Here is a checklist for the neo-survivalist preparing for the apocalypse. …
Donald Trump and the Depressing Politicization of Everything
One reason the president cannot resist commenting on every issue in American life is that he seemingly cannot stand the actual work of American politics.
In a flurry of comments historically unsuited to any head of state, yet hardly shocking for the current American president, Donald Trump this weekend targeted the two most popular sports in the country and elicited sharp criticism from some of their most important figures.
On Friday, Trump encouraged franchise owners in the National Football League to fire players who protest during the national anthem. “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out. He’s fired,’” the president said at an Alabama rally.
Trump’s comment provoked Roger Goodell, the typically reticent commissioner of the NFL, to issue a strong statement condemning the president’s divisive language. The comment was particularly surprising, since most NFL owners who elect the league commissioner are staunch Republicans. Many of the most prominent owners donated to the Trump campaign.
Trump was undeterred. On Saturday, he disinvited the NBA champion Golden State Warriors from the White House, in a tweet. This came after several players, including star guard Stephen Curry, suggested that they would skip the ceremonial visit.
Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
In response to Trump, LeBron James, the basketball superstar whose Cleveland Cavaliers are rivals of the Warriors, called the president a “bum” on Twitter. The basketball star also pointed out the fecklessness of revoking an invitation after the other party has already declined. …
What Mueller Might Have on Manafort
Two FBI surveillance orders suggest that the special counsel sees Trump’s former campaign chairman as the key to the Russia investigation.
Paul Manafort, then campaign manager for Donald Trump, on the floor of the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena on July 17, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Trump–Russia saga has more characters than War and Peace and plot twists harder to follow than Game of Thrones. So making sense of the latest news—that the FBI had taken out not one, but two surveillance orders under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) on former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort—can be difficult to put into context. But this new information can help connect the counterintelligence and criminal investigations that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is overseeing, and it could show how a FISA warrant may have played a role in each.
I have already provided a detailed description of the (onerous) process of obtaining a FISA order and the legal standards it requires. The only thing to add in Manafort’s case is that since he is a U.S. person (or USPER, in intel slang), the standards to obtain a FISA warrant on him are slightly higher than the generic process I described previously. First, for Manafort, the probable-cause standard required the FBI to provide evidence that he was “knowingly engaging in clandestine intelligence activities,” rather than merely being “an agent of a foreign power.” In other words, the bureau had to show some proof that he wasn’t just acting on behalf of a foreign power, but that he was doing so with full knowledge that this work involved spying. Second, in order to continue monitoring Manafort, the FBI would have been required to check in with the FISA court every 90 days and show that their surveillance had, in fact, produced foreign intelligence information. Only with this continuing, additional evidence would the FISA order be renewed for an additional 90 days at a time.
Keeping these factors in mind, let’s look at what we know. We know that the FBI had one FISA surveillance order on Manafort in or around 2014. This order was in relation to his consulting work on behalf of the pro-Russia ruling party in Ukraine at the time. We also know that the surveillance ceased at some point before Manafort joined President Trump’s campaign in 2016. It then recommenced at some point after that, based on his connections with Russian intelligence and evidence suggesting that he was encouraging those connections to interfere in the presidential election. That surveillance continued into at least early 2017. The “gap” covered the period of time when Manafort, Donald Trump Jr., and Jared Kushner met with Russians at Trump Tower to discuss—depending on whose version you believe—“adoptions” or incriminating information the Russians claimed to have on Hillary Clinton. …
Republicans continue Obamacare repeal work despite opposition
Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy (pictured) has continued to work with his colleague Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) even after Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) opposition to their health care proposal seemed to mark the end of the road.
Some Senate Republicans are continuing to work on their last-minute Obamacare repeal plan, according to sources familiar with the matter, even as the odds of success appear impossibly long.
The GOP is considering pushing back the implementation date and tweaking funding formulas in a bid to win over Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), a White House official said. Neither moderate Republican has announced their opposition to a bill written by Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, though Collins is “leaning against” the bill.
“Tweaks are being made,” the official said.
Cassidy, Graham and their allies on Capitol Hill and in the White House continued to work on tweaking their plan on Friday evening even after Sen. John McCain of Arizona dealt the bill an apparent death blow on Friday afternoon. A new version of the legislation could drop as soon as this weekend, those sources said.
McCain and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky oppose the bill to block grant the federal health care program to the states, and Collins has been seen as unwinnable by GOP leaders. If Republicans can get Murkowski’s support, the GOP’s thinking goes, then perhaps Paul or Collins can also be convinced, according to one of the sources familiar with the debate. …
The 6 Most WTF Hollywood Depictions Of Donald Trump
Before he became the inciting incident in the post-apocalyptic thriller that is our age, Donald Trump spent most of his life cultivating the image of a disgustingly wealthy businessman and cameo-worthy celebrity. He was the rich bully of his time, inspiring many movies and TV shows to feature barely fictionalized versions of him as villainous characters meant to symbolize the greed and cynicism of 1980s capitalism. Interestingly, none of the following examples ever went so far as to imagine a future in which this character would become president.
#6. A Trumpian New York City Developer Starts A Hate Campaign Against The Ninja Turtles
It was only a matter of time before the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles squared off against the most quintessential of all New York City foes: rising property values.
In the fourth season of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show, the Turtles are beleaguered by real estate magnate and rotund blowhard Fenton Q. Hackenbrush, who runs the not so subtly named Donald J. Lofty Enterprises. Hackenbrush wants to demolish the sewers completely and turn them into Donald J. Lofty luxury condos. For that, he needs the Turtles to disappear. (If Hackenbrush is anything like the real Trump, he probably thinks the Turtles are the wrong color to live in one of his buildings.)
Also, if you demolish the sewers, where will people shit?
In an interview with April O’Neil, Hackenbrush sells his greedy plans to the public on the basis that his sewer reconstruction will “flush out the worst menace in the city: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Of course, the people of New York don’t have any problems with the Turtles, so Hackenbrush forces a group of employees to dress up in those bad Turtle Halloween costumes we all used to wear and go commit crimes. …
The Myth of Robert E. Lee And The “Good” Slave Owner
According to the Lost Cause mythology ginned up after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee was a benevolent slave owner who really fought for states’ rights. His slaves said otherwise.
Because of the current controversy surrounding Confederate monuments, Robert E. Lee’s connection to slavery crops up repeatedly, as it did most recently in a New York Times article. Complicating the discussion is that his image remains tied to the legacy of the “Lost Cause,” a postwar effort to distort historical record. Insisting that the Confederacy had not seceded in the defense of slavery, but in defense of “states rights,” Lost Cause advocates painted slavery as beneficial to both whites and blacks, arguing the Confederacy’s leaders and soldiers were men of virtue who had merely endeavored to civilize and teach Christian values to an inferior people. In this southern revision of history, Robert E. Lee stands above all Confederate leaders as worthy of adulation; the very model of paternalistic southern gentlemen.
To challenge this image of Lee, historians have lately noted the experiences of African Americans who were the legal property of Lee’s father in law, George Parke Custis (George Washington’s step-grandson), who died in 1857. As executor of Custis’s last will, Robert E. Lee was charged with freeing the bondsmen within five years. Yet some of the enslaved insisted they were to be freed upon their master’s death, causing a conflict with Lee that resulted in a failed escape attempt from Arlington plantation by three of the enslaved. Under Lee’s order to “lay it on well,” each of the rebels endured up to 50 lashes and suffered excruciating pain as the wounds were bathed in brine. Lee also broke with Custis and Washington family tradition, separating most of the enslaved families under his control.
So much for the image of Lee as a “good master.” …
The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life: the new sleep science
Leading neuroscientist Matthew Walker on why sleep deprivation is increasing our risk of cancer, heart attack and Alzheimer’s – and what you can do about it.
Scientists count anything less than seven hours’ sleep as sleep deprivation.
Matthew Walker has learned to dread the question “What do you do?” At parties, it signals the end of his evening; thereafter, his new acquaintance will inevitably cling to him like ivy. On an aeroplane, it usually means that while everyone else watches movies or reads a thriller, he will find himself running an hours-long salon for the benefit of passengers and crew alike. “I’ve begun to lie,” he says. “Seriously. I just tell people I’m a dolphin trainer. It’s better for everyone.”
Walker is a sleep scientist. To be specific, he is the director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley, a research institute whose goal – possibly unachievable – is to understand everything about sleep’s impact on us, from birth to death, in sickness and health. No wonder, then, that people long for his counsel. As the line between work and leisure grows ever more blurred, rare is the person who doesn’t worry about their sleep. But even as we contemplate the shadows beneath our eyes, most of us don’t know the half of it – and perhaps this is the real reason he has stopped telling strangers how he makes his living. When Walker talks about sleep he can’t, in all conscience, limit himself to whispering comforting nothings about camomile tea and warm baths. It’s his conviction that we are in the midst of a “catastrophic sleep-loss epidemic”, the consequences of which are far graver than any of us could imagine. This situation, he believes, is only likely to change if government gets involved.
Walker has spent the last four and a half years writing Why We Sleep, a complex but urgent book that examines the effects of this epidemic close up, the idea being that once people know of the powerful links between sleep loss and, among other things, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and poor mental health, they will try harder to get the recommended eight hours a night (sleep deprivation, amazing as this may sound to Donald Trump types, constitutes anything less than seven hours). But, in the end, the individual can achieve only so much. Walker wants major institutions and law-makers to take up his ideas, too. “No aspect of our biology is left unscathed by sleep deprivation,” he says. “It sinks down into every possible nook and cranny. And yet no one is doing anything about it. Things have to change: in the workplace and our communities, our homes and families. But when did you ever see an NHS poster urging sleep on people? When did a doctor prescribe, not sleeping pills, but sleep itself? It needs to be prioritised, even incentivised. Sleep loss costs the UK economy over £30bn a year in lost revenue, or 2% of GDP. I could double the NHS budget if only they would institute policies to mandate or powerfully encourage sleep.” …
Zoe Quinn: after Gamergate, don’t ‘cede the internet to whoever screams the loudest’
n the same way we wouldn’t expect a woman to prevent street harassment by never leaving her house, in her new book, Quinn argues we cannot advise people to prevent online threats by just staying offline.
Zoe Quinn speaks during the First Amendment Resistance panel during BookExpo 2017 at the Javits Center on 1 June 2017 in New York City.
When I speak to Zoe Quinn, she’s worried.
The game developer is in Los Angeles for the west coast leg of her book tour, but she’s just had a serious threat made against her, directed at her next tour stop. She has to decide what to do. This comes on the heels of an appearance at New York’s historic bookstore the Strand, where Quinn gamely handled a man who jeered at her from the audience.
“He had to take the elevator three floors up to get to the event, and he didn’t realize he had to take the elevator back down,” Quinn tells me. Her heckler was stuck riding with Quinn’s fans and supporters.
Such is the life of a woman trying to take down online abusers.
Quinn’s book, the newly released Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate, outlines how an act of domestic abuse by a former partner became a cultural phenomenon and put her on the run – literally. …
The day nine young students shattered racial segregation in US schools
Sixty years ago, nine teen braved violent protests to attend school after the supreme court outlawed segregation – but racial separation is not over in the US.
Minnijean Brown Trickey didn’t intend to make a political statement when she set off with two friends for her first day in high school. She was, after all, only 15. “I mean, part of growing up in a segregated society is that it’s a little sort of enclave and you know everybody,” says Trickey, who is African American. “So, I was thinking: ‘Wow! I can meet some other kids.’”
Central high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, seemed to have a lot going for it. “The black school was kind of far away and there was no bus,” she says. “We went to get new shoes and we were really trying to decide what to wear. So we were very teenage-esque about it, just totally naive.”
It was September 1957, the Jim Crow era of racial segregation, and nine black pupils little guessed they were about to plant a milestone in the struggle for civil rights to follow those of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old lynched in Mississippi in 1955, and Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Alabama later the same year.
Brown v Board of Education, the landmark 1954 supreme court ruling that segregated schools were unconstitutional, should have meant she and fellow pupils could take their places at Central High. But Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas, in the deep south, remained defiant and used the national guard to block their enrollment. The African American children were left in limbo for three weeks.
On the first day of term, the national guard were there to stop the nine entering Central High, where all 1,900 attendees were white. Three weeks later, on 25 September, the group braved a hostile white crowd, climbed the school steps and were escorted to class by US army troops. They became known and revered as the Little Rock Nine. …
The Amazing Story of Little Al Cashier, A Transgender Civil War Hero
‘Little Al Cashier’ was a hero to his fellow Civil War soldiers in G-Company in the 95th Illinois Voluntary Infantry. None of his comrades knew that he was transgender.
Mississippi, 1863. The men of G-Company in the 95th Illinois Voluntary Infantry must have cheered loudly as ‘Little Al’ Cashier clambered up the tree, pulled off the tattered, gun-shot Union flag and hoisted a new one.
Or maybe they held back their applause until he was down again, safely out of sight of the Confederate snipers. Either way, all were agreed that Little Al was as courageous a soldier as any of them.
A third of G-Company were dead by the end of the U.S. Civil War, killed in action or prey to the virulent diseases that swept the lines. Far fewer were still alive in 1913, nearly 50 years later, when word reached them that Little Al had been incarcerated in a state psychiatric institution.
That might have been shocking enough but an infinitely greater surprise was in store; it transpired that Private Albert Cashier was assigned female at birth.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s order that the U.S. military no longer accept transgender individuals as recruits, it seems a fitting time to acknowledge the extraordinary life and times of Civil War veteran Albert Cashier, born Jennie Hodgers, who was the subject of a ‘We’ve Been Around’ documentary last year. …
Don’t buy the idea teens are having less sex until you take a closer look at the data
WTF
There have been a series of stories recently about how modern teens are delaying adulthood. Headlines responding to new research in Child Development (paywall) say that “Teens are growing up more slowly” and “18 is the new 15.” Apparently, this screen-addled, risk-averse generation is delaying dating, postponing getting a driver’s license, drinking less and having less sex.
The claim teens are having less sex seemed entirely suspect to me, so I looked into the provenance of the statistics. The source is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US agency that monitors health and disease. The claim is true no matter how you slice the data.
It’s true because the question the CDC asks is “Have you ever had sexual intercourse?”
This is (basically) the same question that Gail Dines, a professor of sociology and women’s studies, told me she posed to a group of young women at a private high school recently, while giving a talk about the impact of porn on sexual health. Dines asked them “Have you ever had sex?” The response in the majority was, “No.”
Dines, however, followed up with another question: “I asked them, ‘So what do you do at parties then?’ and the answer was,‘Oh! …Blowjobs.’” …
Video Goodnesses
and not-so-goodnesses
and not-so-goodnesses
VICE News travels to Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh, where Rohingya refugees are fleeing ethnic cleansing in neighboring Myanmar.
THANKS to HBO and VICE News for making this program available on YouTube.
Some news this week: Is Sean Spicer redeemable? The Republicans out-evil’d themselves with their new healthcare plan, and George W. Bush makes a special cameo on the anniversary of the War on Terror.
CAUTION: Some language may not be appropriate for work or children.
Here is me critical analysis of racoons. The ones that steal food, the ones that go into houses, yeah nah mostly the ones that are the dodgiest overall in the animal kingdom.
Max wasn’t too sure of the sunflowers but than decided he should rip them apart because it was fun.
FINALLY . . .
Hyperloop Names Denver Route a Winner, Announces CDOT Partnership
Moments ago, after months of anticipation, Hyperloop One, whose high-tech tube transportation concept is central to a firm affiliated with billionaire Elon Musk, of Tesla Motors and SolarCity fame, has named the ten winners of its Hyperloop One Global Challenge, a contest intended to “identify the strongest new Hyperloop routes in the world.” And not only did the Rocky Mountain Hyperloop proposal make the grade, but Hyperloop One has announced that it will enter into a public-private partnership with the Colorado Department of Transportation to launch a feasibility study here.
We first told you about Hyperloop in August 2013, describing the proposed system as a “large-scale variation on pneumatic tubes used at banks” that was said to “hold the potential of transporting people from Los Angeles to San Francisco in thirty minutes.”
How is it supposed to work? “Passengers and cargo are loaded into a pod, and accelerate gradually via electric propulsion through a low-pressure tube,” the company maintains. “The pod quickly lifts above the track using magnetic levitation and glides at airline speeds for long distances due to ultra-low aerodynamic drag.” …
Ed. More tomorrow? Probably. Possibly. Maybe. Not?