January 12, 2025

The Stuttering Lede, Jan 12th, 2025

Turning 50 ain't going to slow me down...

US

• Trump’s New Economist Makes the Case for 20% Tariffs.

• President-elect Trump’s advisers are said to be trying to identify a disease that could help them justify closing the U.S. border with Mexico. They have spent months trying to find the right disease to build their case.

• Trump is going to make Ozempic more expensive for Americans because Denmark won’t give him Greenland.

• Whitewashing the uncomfortable parts of the past doesn't just affect Black stories. For example, you can't fully appreciate how a peanut farmer from Plains, GA became a beloved president unless you know TRUE Black History. The unwhitewashed history of Jimmy Carter.

• Private equity reduces patient care while enriching investors, Senate report finds.

• 10 corporations that kept their promises after January 6, 2021.

• Peter Thiel, longtime Trump supporter and billionaire master of the universe, published an op-ed in Financial Times that perfectly replicates the experience of being cornered by a sweaty cokehead at an Austin, Texas house party."

• Shades of Kavanaugh confirmation: “Democrats on the committee ... suggest the FBI report may not be thorough ... One person who worked closely with Hegseth in the past and another who was contacted by Congress ... told NBC News they are concerned the FBI has not reached out to them."

• The Danish intelligence services accused Russia of forging 2019 letter to Sen. Tom Cotton, which ostensibly started the idea of Greenland purchase.

• Making sense of Judge Cannon’s convoluted shenanigans.

• Over 90 percent of Fortune 1000 CEOs and billionaires are men, but Zuckerberg thinks the issue is that capitalism isn’t masculine enough.

• Scorched Earth.

• Is Merrick Garland the worst attorney general ever?

• You don’t always turn into Nazi Germany. You turn into Russia, or Hungary, or other creaky and corrupt strongman states where everything is kind of a scam and everyone is hustling to please the gangster in charge. That, my friends, is the path we are on here"

• Incoming National Security Advisor to gut NSC staff of professional agency on day one.

• The Top 1% of Americans Have Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90%.

• The media has focused on wealthy, white neighborhoods. But the fire in Altadena--a racially and economically diverse suburb--deserves more attention, because insurance may not cover their rebuilding costs, forcing families out and leading the neighborhood to gentrify. This is exactly what happened to New Orleans after Katrina and the city is not the same.

• Modern eugenics often takes the form of social murder. Disabled people are simply left to die, whether by pandemic or firestorm.

• Possible consequences for Trump's NJ liquor licenses resulting from today's sentencing-- NJ ABC "will proceed in determining whether President-elect Trump is qualified to continue to hold an interest in the licenses.

• A radical charismatic Christian movement has seeped into Trump world, Stephanie McCrummen reports. It has little use for pluralism, individual rights, or democracy. And now, with Trump returning to the White House, its war on the secular state begins.

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• More than 100 years after its initial review that blamed Black men, the Dept. of Justice just released its report on the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. The report says the attack “was so systematic and coordinated that it transcended mere mob violence.”

• This is an important resource with many ways you can help our friends in California right now. Please amplify and consider pitching in if possible.

• Gabbard reverses course on key intel-gathering tool as nomination teeters.

• CNN interviewed more than a dozen experts, and they said that no fire hydrants would have been able to stop the LA wildfires with the high winds. “I don’t know a water system in the world that is that prepared for this type of event,” said one expert.

• The DNC will choose a new chair Feb 1. But the names of the members who will vote is secret, even to *other members.*

• Superb article in the Atlantic about how Hitler destroyed the political system of the Weimar Republic between January and March of 1933.

• As we witness these heartbreaking scenes from the fires in LA, an important reminder that incarcerated people make up over 30% of California’s forest firefighters.

• Disabled and senior people constitute the highest number of deaths in climate disasters like wildfires and flooding due to poor planning and lack of investment by the govt.

• Bill Kristol understands the demands of this moment better than most of the Senate Democrats.

• The only institutions that will try to hold Trump accountable are powerless, while the only ones with the power to punish him will never do it.

• The USBP El Centro Sector conducted raids in Bakersfield and calling it "protect[ing] our nation and our communities from bad people and bad things.

• Trump will serve no jail time for his election interference convictions.

• What cannot be explained about the US by burger or gun is explained by professional wrestling.

• DEI or Die: Why Diversity Helps America and Makes Us Better.

• Senate set to advance Laken Riley Act to crack down on illegal immigration Senate has 60 votes to begin debate today. Some Democrats want amendments (details below). But it's close to 60 votes for passage.

• Navigating the Nonsense and Propaganda of Clownish Authoritarianism Ignoring what Trump says won’t work. Constant outrage is not a viable strategy either. I suggest we ask three questions that can help us engage Trump’s dangerous outlandishness.

• Alito Spoke With Trump Shortly Before Supreme Court Filing.

• These teenagers and young men — 95% of whom are Black, Latinx, or Filipino — earn between $2.20 and $4 per hour, plus an additional $1 an hour when they’re actively fighting fires.

• Matt Gaetz: ‘I am starting to think about running for governor’

• Trump’s inaugural committee has raised so much money — $170M & counting — that it has run out of VIP tickets & other perks for big donors. It's a reflection of the scramble by deep-pocketed individuals & corporations to curry favor with his new administration.

• Homelessness in Bucks County Rose 25 Percent in 2024, Exceeding Alarming Nationwide Trend.

• Not a surprise but Obamacare Enrollment Hits Record Ahead of Trump’s Return.

• Elon Musk's anti-Soros smears, antisemitism, and projection.

World

• Danish news outlet DR reports that sources tell them "Trump's people 'bribed' homeless and socially disadvantaged people with hotel dinners to play Trump supporters" during Don Jr's visit to Greenland.

• Afgantsy Redux: How Russian military intelligence used the Taliban to bleed U.S. forces at the end of America’s longest war.

• A study by Yale University and other institutions has found that the Gaza war death toll is likely 41% HIGHER than Palestinian health officials reported. It also found that over 59% of those killed were women, children and people over the age of 65.

• Ukraine's forces captured two North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian troops in the Kursk region.

• Jude Law Confirms He's Playing Vladimir Putin in a New Movie. WHAT??? Ralph Fiennes was not available????

• Elon Musk defied a chorus of international criticism and jumped into Germany’s election with both boots, telling an online audience that far-right leader Alice Weidel was “the leading candidate” to run Europe’s biggest economy.

• The AfD leader’s fawning over Elon Musk should sink her party. Instead, it will boost it.

• Ottawa mulls early release of U.S. targets for retaliatory tariffs.

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• Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte B. Egede pushed back against speculation the island could be up for grabs, after United States President-elect Donald Trump’s renewed fixation on acquiring it this week sparked a political storm.

• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is said to have blocked a proposal for an additional €3 billion aid package for weapons to Ukraine, according to a local media report.

• New report out from The Sentencing Project finds 1 in 6 people in prison in the US - nearly 200000 - are serving life sentences. More people are serving life w/o parole than ever. We now have 40% of the world's life-sentenced population.

  And spoiler alert: this has not benefited community safety.

  

• The EU will continue to support Ukraine if the US flakes, Kaja Kallas says.

Tech

• How to delete Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

• It all leads back to Joe Rogan.

• The richest guys on Earth also happen to be the biggest losers on the planet.

• More problems with brittle AI-based computer vision, this study from IIHS shows just how at risk pedestrians are around autonomous vehicles.

• Monumental opus on the intersection of AI and energy.

• “I'd like to see legislators talk seriously about banning a huge number of so-called "A.I." applications.”

• "In 2022, at perhaps the height of the company's DEI initiatives, only 37.1 percent of Meta's workforce were women, 4.9 percent were Black, and 6.7 percent were Hispanic."

• Mark Zuckerberg gave Meta’s Llama team the OK to train on copyrighted works.

• Fox News headed for trial - again - over false 2020 election fraud claims This time, it’s Smartmatic.

• Lockheed-Martin joins Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Apple, and OpenAI in donating to Trump’s inauguration.

• Tesla issued a recall for over 200,000 electric vehicles due to an issue with its latest computer hardware that can short circuit and disable some safety features including the rearview camera."

• New from 404 Media: data hacked from location giant Gravy reveals thousands of ordinary apps hijacked to steal your location data. Candy Crush, MyFitnessPal, Tinder. Period trackers, prayer apps. Because of how data collected, apps may not even know.

• Why are states mandating an expensive year of college that AI can do and every year more students will be using AI to do it?

• OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman accused of sexual abuse by sister in lawsuit.

• TikTok’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day in Court.

Women Rights

• "Abortion bans seem to be driving young people to move out of state: New research suggests that states could see huge economic implications."

• The Army hitting its recruiting goals in 2024 was largely driven by women, as young men are increasingly uniquely unqualified for service.

LGBTQA+ Rights

• 'A very, very small number' of teens receive gender-affirming care.

• Bias at NYT: Trans Former Employee Speaks Out.

• A federal district court judge in Kentucky vacates the Biden administration's Title IX rule, challenged largely for its transgender protections, a decision with nationwide effect.

• Rainbow capitalism was always hollow but it's jarring to see two decades worth of progress pushing equality wiped away in a few weeks.

• Federal Trans Sports Ban Down To The Wire: House Action Tuesday, Senate "Close".

Climate Change

• The way we talk about the climate as if it's the weather, and why we need to transform our discussions.

• The need to accommodate global commerce with no thought to ramifications is causing another threat to an important ecosystem. This time: invasive lionfish may soon make their way through the Panama Canal (enlarged to accommodate supersize ships) to the Pacific.

• It's quite an achievement for a state that gets 60 inches of rain a year and sits atop an enormous aquifer, plus has 1-2 additional aquifers in some areas, to have water shortages. But humans have managed to accomplish that.

• Will Oklahoma be the first state to ban renewable energy? its becoming increasingly likely.

• A new study finds about a quarter of freshwater animals are threatened with extinction.

• Manhattan smog: fog + pollutants. From 1971-77, the Documerica project captured 20,000 images of America’s environmental impact. Explore these through the National Archives. The photo below is from Documerica.

• 57 companies are responsible for 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions since 2016. These companies include fossil fuel giants like Chevron, Shell, and BP, who have been raking in record profits.

• With global temperatures rising, the carbon budget dwindling, and climate-driven disasters affecting people and communities around the world, we cannot afford to accept ExxonMobil, Shell, or other major fossil fuel corporations as the lesser evil—or even worse, as integral to climate solutions."

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• Elon Musk’s Boring Company Is Tunneling Beneath Las Vegas With Little Oversight.

Education

• Professors: If you are restructuring your syllabi for the semester to reflect the new administration, some people may use that language to attack you. This is what happened to a co-author teaching about the American Presidency.

Misc.

• There are,” said Stanislavski, “no small parts.”

• Literacy’s declining empire.

• Bill Maher insists that his preference for dating younger women doesn't make him a "bad person." Being a shitty person makes him a bad person.

• Squeezing 2,000 lemons a day was such a pain for staff at Chick-fil-A that the company enlisted an army of robots to do it.What a bizarre story. Citrus juicing machines have existed for 100+ years.

• Canadians can be nasty???

• An international research team has successfully drilled and retrieved a 9,186-foot-long (2,800-meter-long) ice core from Antarctica that dates back 1.2 million years. The sample extended so deep that it reached the bedrock beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Humor