July 9, 2019

'White Power' or 'OK' Sign? Duncan Hunter Raked for Man in July 4 Photo

Rep. Duncan Hunter of Alpine received a “rather cool reception” at his town’s Fourth of July parade, says event organizer Pene Manale of the Kiwanis Club.

“That is maybe because Alpine is a family focused community and we believe in good family values and honesty, which he obviously does not,” she said of the indicted Republican.

But reaction grew heated when a photo circulated on social media showing a man next to Hunter flashing an “OK” sign — often taken to be a white power salute.

“Gee … a picture of him flanked by all his mistresses would be less damaging than this,” said one commenter alluding to an aspect of Hunter’s federal criminal case.

https://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2019/07/07/white-power-or-ok-sign-duncan-hunter-raked-for-man-in-july-4-photo/

July 7, 2019

Turn to Stone

Awesome 70s song that can be interpreted as relevant today.

July 7, 2019

Research into worms' central nervous system could bring insight into mental health disorders

Scientists have created the most complete network ever of a central nervous system, a team of neurobiologists reported in the journal Nature. The researchers traced every neuron in small worms to create a diagram that other experts described as the “gold standard” connectome: the neural map responsible for senses and behaviors.

A connectome is a wiring schematic, like a circuit diagram, that shows how nerve cells link to each other and to organs. Building a human connectome is a long-sought goal among neuroscientists. It remains out of reach, despite investments such as the BRAIN Initiative, which the National Institutes of Health funded at more than $400 million in 2018.

But researchers behind the worm connectome say maps such as this could help explain the biology of mental disorders that affect humans. Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder “may be connectopathies. That is, they’re due to abnormal or faulty or incorrect wiring somewhere in the nervous system,” said study author Scott Emmons, an expert in the nervous system at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. If scientists better understand when wires malfunction in the worm, “that could well lead to insights into mental disorders in a rather direct way,” he said.

The worm in question is Caenorhabditis elegans. Thin and translucent as a glass noodle, the microscopic animal lives in dirt and eats bacteria. Bench biologists like C. elegans because the animal is easy to raise, with a simple body plan, yet behaves just complexly enough to be interesting. More scientists study the worm than it has cells in its body — it has about 1,000, all of which have been mapped. The worm’s whole genome was the first of any animal sequenced. In December, several thousand worms were flown to the International Space Station to observe how muscles react to spaceflight.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/research-into-worms-central-nervous-system-could-bring-insight-into-mental-health-disorders/2019/07/05/c2d8e4b4-9dab-11e9-9ed4-c9089972ad5a_story.html

July 5, 2019

DOJ Is Still Looking For 'New' Reason To Add Citizenship Question To Census

The government needs more time to decide how it will move forward on finding a way to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, Justice Department attorneys told a Maryland federal judge on Friday. In the meantime, the Justice Department wants to delay further discovery on the issue of whether the citizenship question was put forward for racially discriminatory purposes.

It is unclear how U.S. District Judge George Hazel will respond to the Justice Department’s request for more time. Hazel has been trying to keep the new round of discovery on a tight 45-day schedule and has expressed dismay with a confusing series of statements by DOJ lawyers and President Trump this week.

Attorneys for plaintiffs in the case wrote in a separate Friday filing that the government had told them that discovery in the case should “be held in abeyance indefinitely until Defendants reach a ‘new’ decision regarding whether or not they will attempt to inquire about citizenship status as part of the 2020 decennial census.”

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/doj-is-still-looking-for-new-reason-to-add-citizenship-question-to-census

July 5, 2019

Trump just admitted something he probably shouldn't have about the census citizenship question

President Trump just explained why he thinks we need a citizenship question on the census. But in doing so, he seems to have said the quiet part out loud — and conceivably could have undercut the Justice Department’s legal case.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said you need the census citizenship question “for many reasons.”

“No. 1, you need it for Congress — you need it for Congress for districting,” he said. “You need it for appropriations — where are the funds going? How many people are there? Are they citizens? Are they not citizens? You need it for many reasons.”

Take note of that first one. Not only was a redistricting rationale not mentioned by the administration in its failed legal defense of the question; it was actually something that the other side argued was the administration’s true motivation. The plaintiffs in the case — and many who oppose the citizenship question — have argued that this is a thinly veiled attempt by Republicans to gain a potential game-changing tool in redistricting.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/05/trump-just-admitted-something-he-probably-shouldnt-have-about-census-citizenship-question

July 5, 2019

Trump's 'Salute to America' was a second-rate Red Square rally-but one Democrat managed to find hope

DC isn’t built for tanks, but to a reality TV president with a keen eye for stagecraft, everything is a potential set.

Donald Trump had wanted these war machines to rumble through the rarefied streets of the nation’s capital until he was thwarted by engineers.

Send a fleet of these 60-ton monsters over the bridge from Arlington National Cemetery, they said, and it could crumble into the Potomac River.

Plan B: they were plopped into static positions outside the Lincoln Memorial after being delivered by train at an estimated cost of around $750,000.

https://news.yahoo.com/trumps-salute-america-second-rate-025700928.html

July 5, 2019

July 4th earthquake won't delay the Big One. And it might have worsened quake strain

Does a good-size earthquake help relieve pent-up seismic stress? Does that postpone the day of reckoning when the Big One finally arrives?

That was the question some in California were asking hopefully in the wake of the July 4 magnitude 6.4 earthquake that rattled the region.

You won’t like this answer.

It’s wishful thinking to imagine that, as a rule, earthquakes “relieve” seismic stress, said seismologist Lucy Jones.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/california/la-me-ln-did-california-earthquake-relieve-earthquake-stress-20190705-story.html

July 5, 2019

Entitled Burger King Employee Wants $15 An Hour Just For Dealing With Worst Of America Every Day

TOLEDO, OH—Appalled by the level of deluded selfishness of millennials in the labor force, citizens expressed shock and disbelief Wednesday at the news that Burger King employee Kayla Werther expects to be paid $15 an hour for the simple task of dealing with the absolute worst of America every day.

“This kid thinks she deserves that kind of reward just for doing her stupid, easy job? Give me a break,” said a regular Burger King customer who spoke on condition of anonymity and watched with barely concealed disdain as the “privileged and entitled freeloader” worked a 10-hour shift, which included mopping excreta-coated bathrooms, suffering prolonged verbal abuse at the counter, wiping tables strewn with wadded-up dirty napkins and ketchup spills, breathing a mist of aerosolized fryer grease and stale sweat for prolonged periods while stationed at the grill, calling an ambulance for an unconscious homeless man in the parking lot, taking overstuffed bags of dripping trash to the dumpster three times an hour, and pausing on an overturned pickle bucket in the supply closet for a five-minute break.

“She thinks she’s entitled to higher minimum wage just because she spends a couple hours a day cleaning kiddie vomit off the Play Place slide? Please. I don’t know what she actually makes, but I guarantee you it’s already too much.”

Upon learning that Werther was entitled to a 25% discounted meal at the conclusion of every shift of six hours or more, onlookers rolled their eyes and observed that they were not given free food at their marketing director jobs.

https://local.theonion.com/entitled-burger-king-employee-wants-15-an-hour-just-fo-1836063365

July 2, 2019

The Moochers of Middle America

Last week’s debates clearly weakened Joe Biden and increased the odds that a more definitively progressive candidate — probably Kamala Harris or Elizabeth Warren — will win the nomination. And you can hear the wailing from much of the Beltway, the claims that Democrats are moving too far left.

So it’s worth parsing those claims. In what sense are the Dems moving too far left? What I’m seeing are three fairly distinct claims. First, that the party is endangering its electoral prospects. Second, that the party is being fiscally or economically irresponsible. Third, that Democrats are unfairly proposing to redistribute income from those who create wealth to those who don’t.

So you should know that the first claim is probably wrong, the second is definitely wrong, and the third ignores the extent to which we already do a lot of redistribution in this country — with Republican voters some of the biggest beneficiaries.

On the politics: Politicians and pundits alike tend to have a lot more contact with the wealthy than with ordinary voters, and often seem to imagine that the priorities of the 1 percent — keeping top tax rates low, cutting “entitlements” — actually resonate with the general public. But polling overwhelmingly shows the opposite: Voters want to raise taxes on the rich and expand government social programs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/01/opinion/2020-democrats-taxes.html

July 2, 2019

Big home, big deal: The Manor in Holmby Hills sets new L.A. County price record at $120 million

Los Angeles’ ailing luxury market just received a proverbial shot in the arm: The Manor, a 56,500-square-foot chateau in Holmby Hills, has sold for $120 million — the highest home price in L.A. County history.

The sale has yet to appear in the public record, but it’s a “done deal,” according to sources not authorized to publicly comment on the nine-figure transaction.

The astronomical transaction represents another notch in the belt for the county, which saw its price record shattered last year following the $110-million deal for Peter Morton’s Malibu beach house.

It’s the fourth sale of $100 million or more in L.A. historically and the third in Holmby Hills, which saw two record-setting sales of $100 million in 2016: for the sale of the Playboy Mansion, and for a nearby mega-mansion built on speculation.

https://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/hot-property/la-fi-hotprop-manor-holmby-hills-120-million-price-record-20190701-story.html