Thursday, December 29, 2016
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Monday, December 19, 2016
ON VACATION TILL 2 JAN
Top of the News will be (mostly) on sabbatical until 2 Jan and not regularly published. Happy holidays!
Thursday, December 15, 2016
OUR AUTOMATED FUTURE
TOP OF THE NEWS:
- Bashar al-Assad’s forces crush the last resistance in Aleppo (Economist) "Mr Assad junior has systematically starved, bombed and shot his own people, laying siege to civilians in rebel-held areas while bombing their hospitals, markets and schools. His scorched-earth tactics have killed the vast majority of the war’s 400,000-plus dead and driven millions of Syrians abroad. The fall of Aleppo, if it has indeed fallen, will not end the war. While the capture of Aleppo will leave the government in control of all the country’s main population centres, including its four largest cities, large swathes of territory remain beyond the regime’s authority." and Aleppo Is President Obama's Rwanda (Breitbart) "Many Syrian rebels blame President Obama for this tragedy. 'History will never forgive Obama for what he has done to the Syrian people… [Obama] abandoned the Syrian people and gave Bashar the green light,' Syrian rebel leader Riad Hijab told the Wall Street Journal last week. A Syrian government official, in a way confirming that President Obama’s inaction on Syria benefits Damascus, told Reuters last week that 'The Russians want to complete the [Aleppo] operation before Trump takes power.'"
- Our Automated Future (New Yorker) "Meanwhile, the global economy kept growing, in large part because of the new machines. As one occupation vanished, another came into being. Employment migrated from farms and mills to factories and offices to cubicles and call centers. Economic history suggests that this basic pattern will continue, and that the jobs eliminated by Watson and his ilk will be balanced by those created in enterprises yet to be imagined—but not without a good deal of suffering. If nearly half the occupations in the U.S. are 'potentially automatable, and if this could play out within 'a decade or two,' then we are looking at economic disruption on an unparalleled scale. Picture the entire Industrial Revolution compressed into the life span of a beagle. Speaking of the next wave of automation, Amazon’s chairman, Jeff Bezos, said recently, 'It’s probably hard to overstate how big of an impact it’s [automation] going to have on society over the next twenty years.' The best we can hope for...is a collective form of semi-retirement...a guaranteed basic income for all, to be paid for with new taxes, levelled, at least in part, on the new gazillionaires. To one degree or another, just about everyone writing on the topic shares this view."
BUSINESS:
- Trump Victory Sends Small Business Optimism Skyrocketing (Breitbart)
ENTERTAINMENT:
- Review: 'Rogue One' Leaves 'Star Wars' Fans Wanting More (NYT) "All the pieces are there, in other words, like Lego figures in a box. The problem is that the filmmakers haven’t really bothered to think of anything very interesting to do with them." and The Alt-Right Hates Rogue One, Because of Course It Does (Wired) "Yes, in response to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s diverse cast and female lead, the alt-right is boycotting the movie, spending the last month tweeting #DumpStarWars and encouraging their followers to skip the film when it opens this weekend. When you ask prominent alt-right mouthpieces why they’re boycotting, they say the Star Wars franchise has become too politicized, and even explictly anti-Trump."
LIFE:
- What Do Teenagers Want? Potted Plant Parents (NYT) "They wish their parents were around more often. That there’s value in simply being around should come as a source of comfort for parents raising adolescents. With younger children, we have plenty of opportunities to put our parenting muscles to work. We can read stories together, make up knock-knock jokes, build towers, or go to the museum. Our youngsters still like to join us for a trip to a grocery store and they usually come to us first with their questions or problems. Many parents of adolescents instinctively know this to be true and find ways to be present without advancing an agenda. One friend of mine quietly folds laundry each evening in the den where her teenagers watch TV. They enjoy one another’s company without any pressure to make conversation."
NEWS:
- Trump wasn’t happy with his State Department finalists. Then he heard a new name. (WaPo) "'I recommend Rex,' Gates told Trump, referring to Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of ExxonMobil. Gates said in an interview that he had not gone to the meeting intending to recommend Tillerson, and he did not recommend anyone else. Separately, on the previous day, former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice had proposed Tillerson to Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Rice and Gates, who run a consulting firm that counts ExxonMobil as a client, had jointly concluded that Tillerson might give Trump a fresh alternative. The result was an unexpected decision, nominating as the country’s top diplomat a multinational corporate chief executive who had previously been on nobody’s short list for the job. It provided an object lesson in the decision-making process and leadership style of a president-elect who has never worked in government and is applying his unorthodox style to decisions that could shape the world." and Rex Tillerson Is ‘Wrong Man for State’ (Breitbart)
- Trump Likely To Succeed In Mideast Peace Process Where Obama Failed (Breitbart) "Dershowitz also criticized President Barack Obama for being the only president who has managed to alienate so many leaders in the region, remarking: 'Obama alienated the Israelis, the Palestinians, Jordanians, Egyptians, and the Saudis. The only country he didn’t alienate is Iran.' Dershowitz said that during the Obama administration, it became 'obvious' that the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians would not be resumed. 'But I believe that during Trump’s administration it certainly could,' he said."
- Michael Flynn Is Harsh Judge of C.I.A.’s Role (NYT) "'They’ve lost sight of who they actually work for,' Mr. Flynn said in an interview with The Times in October 2015. 'They work for the American people. They don’t work for the president of the United States.' He added, speaking of the agency’s leadership: 'Frankly, it’s become a very political organization.' Mr. Flynn’s assessment that the C.I.A. is a political arm of the Obama administration is not widely shared by Republicans or Democrats in Washington. But it has appeared to have been internalized by the one person who matters most right now: Mr. Trump."
BUSINESS:
- Trump Victory Sends Small Business Optimism Skyrocketing (Breitbart)
ENTERTAINMENT:
- Review: 'Rogue One' Leaves 'Star Wars' Fans Wanting More (NYT) "All the pieces are there, in other words, like Lego figures in a box. The problem is that the filmmakers haven’t really bothered to think of anything very interesting to do with them." and The Alt-Right Hates Rogue One, Because of Course It Does (Wired) "Yes, in response to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s diverse cast and female lead, the alt-right is boycotting the movie, spending the last month tweeting #DumpStarWars and encouraging their followers to skip the film when it opens this weekend. When you ask prominent alt-right mouthpieces why they’re boycotting, they say the Star Wars franchise has become too politicized, and even explictly anti-Trump."
LIFE:
- What Do Teenagers Want? Potted Plant Parents (NYT) "They wish their parents were around more often. That there’s value in simply being around should come as a source of comfort for parents raising adolescents. With younger children, we have plenty of opportunities to put our parenting muscles to work. We can read stories together, make up knock-knock jokes, build towers, or go to the museum. Our youngsters still like to join us for a trip to a grocery store and they usually come to us first with their questions or problems. Many parents of adolescents instinctively know this to be true and find ways to be present without advancing an agenda. One friend of mine quietly folds laundry each evening in the den where her teenagers watch TV. They enjoy one another’s company without any pressure to make conversation."
NEWS:
- Trump wasn’t happy with his State Department finalists. Then he heard a new name. (WaPo) "'I recommend Rex,' Gates told Trump, referring to Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of ExxonMobil. Gates said in an interview that he had not gone to the meeting intending to recommend Tillerson, and he did not recommend anyone else. Separately, on the previous day, former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice had proposed Tillerson to Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Rice and Gates, who run a consulting firm that counts ExxonMobil as a client, had jointly concluded that Tillerson might give Trump a fresh alternative. The result was an unexpected decision, nominating as the country’s top diplomat a multinational corporate chief executive who had previously been on nobody’s short list for the job. It provided an object lesson in the decision-making process and leadership style of a president-elect who has never worked in government and is applying his unorthodox style to decisions that could shape the world." and Rex Tillerson Is ‘Wrong Man for State’ (Breitbart)
- Trump Likely To Succeed In Mideast Peace Process Where Obama Failed (Breitbart) "Dershowitz also criticized President Barack Obama for being the only president who has managed to alienate so many leaders in the region, remarking: 'Obama alienated the Israelis, the Palestinians, Jordanians, Egyptians, and the Saudis. The only country he didn’t alienate is Iran.' Dershowitz said that during the Obama administration, it became 'obvious' that the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians would not be resumed. 'But I believe that during Trump’s administration it certainly could,' he said."
- Michael Flynn Is Harsh Judge of C.I.A.’s Role (NYT) "'They’ve lost sight of who they actually work for,' Mr. Flynn said in an interview with The Times in October 2015. 'They work for the American people. They don’t work for the president of the United States.' He added, speaking of the agency’s leadership: 'Frankly, it’s become a very political organization.' Mr. Flynn’s assessment that the C.I.A. is a political arm of the Obama administration is not widely shared by Republicans or Democrats in Washington. But it has appeared to have been internalized by the one person who matters most right now: Mr. Trump."
- Bashar al-Assad’s forces crush the last resistance in Aleppo (Economist) "Mr Assad junior has systematically starved, bombed and shot his own people, laying siege to civilians in rebel-held areas while bombing their hospitals, markets and schools. His scorched-earth tactics have killed the vast majority of the war’s 400,000-plus dead and driven millions of Syrians abroad. The fall of Aleppo, if it has indeed fallen, will not end the war. While the capture of Aleppo will leave the government in control of all the country’s main population centres, including its four largest cities, large swathes of territory remain beyond the regime’s authority." and Aleppo Is President Obama's Rwanda (Breitbart) "Many Syrian rebels blame President Obama for this tragedy. 'History will never forgive Obama for what he has done to the Syrian people… [Obama] abandoned the Syrian people and gave Bashar the green light,' Syrian rebel leader Riad Hijab told the Wall Street Journal last week. A Syrian government official, in a way confirming that President Obama’s inaction on Syria benefits Damascus, told Reuters last week that 'The Russians want to complete the [Aleppo] operation before Trump takes power.'"
- Europeans greatly overestimate Muslim population, poll shows (Guardian) "The average French estimate was that 31% of the population was Muslim – almost one in three residents. According to Pew Research, France’s Muslim population actually stood at 7.5% in 2010, or one in 13 people. The French were not the only ones to hold such misconceptions: Italian, German and Belgian respondents all guessed that more than a fifth of the resident population was Muslim, while in reality the figure ranges from 3.7% in Italy to 7% in Belgium. All three countries also greatly overstated the expected proportion of Muslim residents in 2020. British respondents put the current Muslim population at 15%, three times the 2010 figure, while they overestimated the projected 2020 population by an even greater margin (22%versus an actual projection of 6%). In the U.S. the average estimate was Muslims accounted for one in six people, whereas Pew put the actual figure at one in 100, while the future projection was even further off the mark."
- Ethics experts warn that Trump is ‘courting disaster’ (WaPo) "In a letter to Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) took issue with Trump’s notion of letting his kids run his businesses. 'Transferring operational control of a company to one’s children would not constitute the establishment of a qualified blind trust, nor would it eliminate conflicts of interest under 18 U.S.C. § 208 if applicable,' the director wrote. He acknowledges that this provision does not specifically cover the president. However, he writes that 'it has been the consistent policy of the executive branch that a President should conduct himself 'as if' he were bound by this financial conflict of interest law. Given the unique circumstances of the Presidency, OGE’s view is that a President should comply with this law by divesting conflicting assets, establishing a qualified blind trust, or both.”" and Listen to this: Federal Agencies Pressure Trump To Address Conflicts Of Interest (NPR)
- ‘Real America’ is its own bubble (WaPo) "After the election, I was repeatedly told that I live in something called a 'bubble' and, because of that, I know nothing about my fellow Americans. Well, in the first place, my bubble is bigger than theirs — size ought to matter in this instance — and in the second place, I know plenty. Among the things I know is that Trump voters were played for suckers. After lambasting Clinton as a tool of Wall Street, Trump has so far named four Wall Street figures to his administration — three from Goldman Sachs alone — and an oilman is under consideration. And for the Labor Department, Trump has chosen Andrew Puzder, a fast-food magnate (Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr.) who is opposed to a decent minimum wage. This is fast shaping up as a Cabinet of billionaires and, just for leveling, the occasional millionaire. So far, ain’t no one who works with his hands."
SCIENCE:
- Donald Trump’s War on Science (New Yorker) "Taken singly, Trump’s appointments are alarming. But taken as a whole they can be seen as part of a larger effort to undermine the institution of science, and to deprive it of its role in the public-policy debate."
SPORTS:
- He’s the Michael Jordan of Darts. He Just Has to Prove It (NYT) "He has been ranked No. 1 since 2014, when he won his first Professional Darts Corporation World Championship. For the last 12 months, he has been on a run of dominance nearly unprecedented in the history of the game. He has won an eye-popping 25 tournaments this year, earning roughly $1.56 million in prize money."
TECHNOLOGY:
- Trump Is Meeting With Tech CEOs, and It's Gonna Be Awkward (Wired) "The meeting is the first Trump has taken with a group of executives from a single industry—an industry with which he was constantly at odds throughout his campaign. During a photo op at the meeting’s outset, Trump sounded a harmonious note. 'We want you to keep going with that incredible innovation,' Trump said. 'There’s nobody like you in the world. There’s nobody like the people in this room.'" and Silicon Valley CEOs didn't hide their distaste for Donald Trump. Now comes the reckoning (LA Times)
- Amazon makes its first drone delivery to a real customer (WaPo)
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- A treasure hunter found 3 tons of sunken gold — and can’t leave jail until he says where it is (WaPo) "The wreck of the S.S. Central America waited 130 years for Thompson to come along. The steamer went down in a hurricane in 1857, taking 425 souls and at least three tons of California gold to the sea floor off South Carolina. But before long, some of Thompson’s bankrollers began painting a very different picture of the man. Two of the expedition’s biggest investors took him to court in the 2000s, accusing him of selling nearly all the gold and keeping the profits to himself."
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- Ethics experts warn that Trump is ‘courting disaster’ (WaPo) "In a letter to Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) took issue with Trump’s notion of letting his kids run his businesses. 'Transferring operational control of a company to one’s children would not constitute the establishment of a qualified blind trust, nor would it eliminate conflicts of interest under 18 U.S.C. § 208 if applicable,' the director wrote. He acknowledges that this provision does not specifically cover the president. However, he writes that 'it has been the consistent policy of the executive branch that a President should conduct himself 'as if' he were bound by this financial conflict of interest law. Given the unique circumstances of the Presidency, OGE’s view is that a President should comply with this law by divesting conflicting assets, establishing a qualified blind trust, or both.”" and Listen to this: Federal Agencies Pressure Trump To Address Conflicts Of Interest (NPR)
- ‘Real America’ is its own bubble (WaPo) "After the election, I was repeatedly told that I live in something called a 'bubble' and, because of that, I know nothing about my fellow Americans. Well, in the first place, my bubble is bigger than theirs — size ought to matter in this instance — and in the second place, I know plenty. Among the things I know is that Trump voters were played for suckers. After lambasting Clinton as a tool of Wall Street, Trump has so far named four Wall Street figures to his administration — three from Goldman Sachs alone — and an oilman is under consideration. And for the Labor Department, Trump has chosen Andrew Puzder, a fast-food magnate (Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr.) who is opposed to a decent minimum wage. This is fast shaping up as a Cabinet of billionaires and, just for leveling, the occasional millionaire. So far, ain’t no one who works with his hands."
SCIENCE:
- Donald Trump’s War on Science (New Yorker) "Taken singly, Trump’s appointments are alarming. But taken as a whole they can be seen as part of a larger effort to undermine the institution of science, and to deprive it of its role in the public-policy debate."
SPORTS:
- He’s the Michael Jordan of Darts. He Just Has to Prove It (NYT) "He has been ranked No. 1 since 2014, when he won his first Professional Darts Corporation World Championship. For the last 12 months, he has been on a run of dominance nearly unprecedented in the history of the game. He has won an eye-popping 25 tournaments this year, earning roughly $1.56 million in prize money."
TECHNOLOGY:
- Trump Is Meeting With Tech CEOs, and It's Gonna Be Awkward (Wired) "The meeting is the first Trump has taken with a group of executives from a single industry—an industry with which he was constantly at odds throughout his campaign. During a photo op at the meeting’s outset, Trump sounded a harmonious note. 'We want you to keep going with that incredible innovation,' Trump said. 'There’s nobody like you in the world. There’s nobody like the people in this room.'" and Silicon Valley CEOs didn't hide their distaste for Donald Trump. Now comes the reckoning (LA Times)
- Amazon makes its first drone delivery to a real customer (WaPo)
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- A treasure hunter found 3 tons of sunken gold — and can’t leave jail until he says where it is (WaPo) "The wreck of the S.S. Central America waited 130 years for Thompson to come along. The steamer went down in a hurricane in 1857, taking 425 souls and at least three tons of California gold to the sea floor off South Carolina. But before long, some of Thompson’s bankrollers began painting a very different picture of the man. Two of the expedition’s biggest investors took him to court in the 2000s, accusing him of selling nearly all the gold and keeping the profits to himself."
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Wednesday, December 14, 2016
THE BEAR CAME OVER THE "MOUNTAIN"? - PART DEUX
TOP OF THE NEWS:
- The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the U.S. (NYT) "While there’s no way to be certain of the ultimate impact of the hack, this much is clear: A low-cost, high-impact weapon that Russia had test-fired in elections from Ukraine to Europe was trained on the United States, with devastating effectiveness. 'There shouldn’t be any doubt in anybody’s mind,' Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency and commander of United States Cyber Command said at a postelection conference. 'This was not something that was done casually, this was not something that was done by chance, this was not a target that was selected purely arbitrarily,' he said. 'This was a conscious effort by a nation-state to attempt to achieve a specific effect.' Did he [Putin] seek to mar the brand of American democracy, to forestall anti-Russian activism for both Russians and their neighbors? Or to weaken the next American president, since presumably Mr. Putin had no reason to doubt American forecasts that Mrs. Clinton would win easily? Or was it, as the C.I.A. concluded last month, a deliberate attempt to elect Mr. Trump? In fact, the Russian hack-and-dox scheme accomplished all three goals." and Trump Won the Election Fair and Square — That Doesn't Mean the Russians Played No Part (National Reveiw) "But countless credible sources have said that the Kremlin interfered with our election. Trump and his team are foolish and irresponsible to rain scorn on that. The real debate is over whether the Russian meddling — which echoes similar meddling across Europe — was intended to get Trump elected or simply to erode confidence in the democratic process. I fail to see how this is an either/or choice. It’s a poisonous situation all around. Trump refuses to budge on his claim to a glorious, massive victory (or back off of his disturbing Putinphilia). Democrats — and much of the media — won’t grapple with the fact that Clinton lost fair and square, and they are in desperate pursuit of excuses to reject Trump’s legitimacy."
BUSINESS:
- When Donald Trump Hate-Tweeted Lockheed Martin, Hedge Funds Were Ready (Fortune) "It turns out, though, that Twitter is not only the place to read about the President-elect’s latest idea, it’s also a good tool for predicting what Trump will tweet about next--and what stocks are about to fall. And while many investors sold Lockheed Martin shares after Trump tweeted, hedge funds likely dumped the stock sooner. Hedge funds are increasingly using analytics from companies like Dataminr and Social Market Analytics to uncover trading signals buried in the firehose of tweets and other social media posts. And there were plenty of clues that Donald Trump was likely to attack Lockheed Martin, which hedge funds no doubt picked up on. For starters, Trump had made almost identical comments on Fox News Sunday an entire day before he tweeted them. For some traders--or computerized trading algorithms--just seeing those sentiment indicators head downward would be enough to sell Lockheed Martin shares. No need to wait and see if and what Trump tweets next: For hedge funds, the earlier they can act and stay farther ahead of the rest of the market, the more money they can make."
NEWS:
- Trump Isolates Himself with C.I.A. Attack (New Yorker) "But the reaction to his latest hissy fit does suggest that he has made his first big misstep since the election. In the phrase often attributed to Talleyrand after Napoleon ordered the summary execution of the Duke of Enghien, Trump’s attack on the C.I.A., and his refusal even to countenance the notion that Putin’s hackers sought to help him out, was 'worse than a crime—it was a blunder.'"
- What Obama Doesn’t Share with America’s Greatest Presidents (Ozy) "According to recent findings from two politics professors at New York University, the factor that best predicts how well-regarded a U.S. president will be by historians is: The number of American war deaths during their tenure in office."
- Ayn Rand-acolyte Donald Trump stacks his cabinet with fellow objectivists (WaPo) "Ayn Rand was perhaps the leading literary voice in 20th century America for the notion that, in society, there are makers and takers, and that the takers are parasitic moochers who get in the way of the morally-superior innovators. Her books portray the federal government as an evil force, trying to stop hard-working men from accumulating the wealth that she believes they deserve. The author was also an outspoken atheist, something that oozes through in her writing. Rand explained that the essence of 'objectivism,' as she called her ideology, is that 'man exists for his own sake, that the pursuit of his own happiness is his highest moral purpose, that he must not sacrifice himself to others, nor sacrifice others to himself.'"
- Electors demand intelligence briefing before Electoral College vote (Politico) "In a letter to National Intelligence Director James Clapper, the electors — nine Democrats and one Republican — argue that they require the information ahead of Dec. 19, when the Electoral College is set to meet and select the next president."
POLITICS:
- Dispute over Russia reflects growing Republican resistance to Trump (WaPo) "Although Trump maintains enthusiastic backing in many corners of the party, key members of the Senate and House have been outspoken in challenging his views of Russia and its interference in the U.S. election, warning of potential conflicts of interest arising from Trump’s far-flung business interests if he does not fully divest from his company, and criticizing the tough approach that he has taken to some companies, including his threat to impose a stiff tariff on firms that move jobs overseas. Taken together, the tensions between the president-elect and fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill reflect a major test for how the GOP congressional majorities will handle the unusual circumstances of the Trump era."
TECHNOLOGY:
- Meet the Blind Man Who Convinced Google Its Self-Driving Car Is Finally Ready (Wired) "After eight years and 2 million miles, the tech giant is taking its self-driving car project out of X, its division dedicated to moonshots like internet-slinging balloons and delivery drones. Starting today, the drive for autonomy is called Waymo, a standalone company under the Alphabet corporate umbrella. And that means it’s time to take the technology to market." and Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car (TechCrunch)
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- 3 election stats liberals love that don’t mean as much as they seem (WaPo) "1) Clinton got more votes than any presidential candidate except President Obama. 2) Green Party nominee Jill Stein exceeded Trump's margin in the states that mattered. 3) Democrats won the Senate popular vote."
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BUSINESS:
- When Donald Trump Hate-Tweeted Lockheed Martin, Hedge Funds Were Ready (Fortune) "It turns out, though, that Twitter is not only the place to read about the President-elect’s latest idea, it’s also a good tool for predicting what Trump will tweet about next--and what stocks are about to fall. And while many investors sold Lockheed Martin shares after Trump tweeted, hedge funds likely dumped the stock sooner. Hedge funds are increasingly using analytics from companies like Dataminr and Social Market Analytics to uncover trading signals buried in the firehose of tweets and other social media posts. And there were plenty of clues that Donald Trump was likely to attack Lockheed Martin, which hedge funds no doubt picked up on. For starters, Trump had made almost identical comments on Fox News Sunday an entire day before he tweeted them. For some traders--or computerized trading algorithms--just seeing those sentiment indicators head downward would be enough to sell Lockheed Martin shares. No need to wait and see if and what Trump tweets next: For hedge funds, the earlier they can act and stay farther ahead of the rest of the market, the more money they can make."
NEWS:
- Trump Isolates Himself with C.I.A. Attack (New Yorker) "But the reaction to his latest hissy fit does suggest that he has made his first big misstep since the election. In the phrase often attributed to Talleyrand after Napoleon ordered the summary execution of the Duke of Enghien, Trump’s attack on the C.I.A., and his refusal even to countenance the notion that Putin’s hackers sought to help him out, was 'worse than a crime—it was a blunder.'"
- What Obama Doesn’t Share with America’s Greatest Presidents (Ozy) "According to recent findings from two politics professors at New York University, the factor that best predicts how well-regarded a U.S. president will be by historians is: The number of American war deaths during their tenure in office."
- Ayn Rand-acolyte Donald Trump stacks his cabinet with fellow objectivists (WaPo) "Ayn Rand was perhaps the leading literary voice in 20th century America for the notion that, in society, there are makers and takers, and that the takers are parasitic moochers who get in the way of the morally-superior innovators. Her books portray the federal government as an evil force, trying to stop hard-working men from accumulating the wealth that she believes they deserve. The author was also an outspoken atheist, something that oozes through in her writing. Rand explained that the essence of 'objectivism,' as she called her ideology, is that 'man exists for his own sake, that the pursuit of his own happiness is his highest moral purpose, that he must not sacrifice himself to others, nor sacrifice others to himself.'"
- Electors demand intelligence briefing before Electoral College vote (Politico) "In a letter to National Intelligence Director James Clapper, the electors — nine Democrats and one Republican — argue that they require the information ahead of Dec. 19, when the Electoral College is set to meet and select the next president."
POLITICS:
- Dispute over Russia reflects growing Republican resistance to Trump (WaPo) "Although Trump maintains enthusiastic backing in many corners of the party, key members of the Senate and House have been outspoken in challenging his views of Russia and its interference in the U.S. election, warning of potential conflicts of interest arising from Trump’s far-flung business interests if he does not fully divest from his company, and criticizing the tough approach that he has taken to some companies, including his threat to impose a stiff tariff on firms that move jobs overseas. Taken together, the tensions between the president-elect and fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill reflect a major test for how the GOP congressional majorities will handle the unusual circumstances of the Trump era."
TECHNOLOGY:
- Meet the Blind Man Who Convinced Google Its Self-Driving Car Is Finally Ready (Wired) "After eight years and 2 million miles, the tech giant is taking its self-driving car project out of X, its division dedicated to moonshots like internet-slinging balloons and delivery drones. Starting today, the drive for autonomy is called Waymo, a standalone company under the Alphabet corporate umbrella. And that means it’s time to take the technology to market." and Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car (TechCrunch)
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- 3 election stats liberals love that don’t mean as much as they seem (WaPo) "1) Clinton got more votes than any presidential candidate except President Obama. 2) Green Party nominee Jill Stein exceeded Trump's margin in the states that mattered. 3) Democrats won the Senate popular vote."
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Tuesday, December 13, 2016
THE BEAR CAME OVER THE "MOUNTAIN"?
TOP OF THE NEWS:
- The alarming response to Russian meddling in American democracy (Economist) "These latest revelations have probably not changed any minds at all. Republicans who hate Mrs Clinton are still delighted that she was defeated. Democrats who loathe and fear Mr Trump have one more reason to dislike him. Outside Washington, red-blooded Americans who mostly rather dislike President Vladimir Putin, according to polls, seem to be shrugging off the latest allegations. And that is what is, or should be, so unsettling. Russian interference in elections across the Western world is like a nasty virus, attacking the body politic. Normally, America is protected by powerful, bipartisan immune responses against such a menace. It also boasts some of the world’s most sophisticated intelligence and cyber-defences, and when spooks tell the Republicans and Democrats who lead Congress and sit on the House and Senate intelligence committees of hostile acts by a foreign power, love of country generates a unified response. That immune response is not kicking in this time."
- Trump risks war by turning the One China question into a bargaining chip (WaPo) "While the U.S. position is driven by a variety of political interests, China’s position is driven by a desire for national unity that China’s leadership has defined as existential and nonnegotiable. This means that the U.S. approach flouts essential elements of the Chinese position. Moreover, not only is Washington maintaining a relationship that contravenes China’s One China policy, but it has apparently put itself in a position of setting the conditions for the resolution of the conflict. The reason this has not led to overt hostilities is because all sides have behaved with restraint to maintain a very fragile peace. They know full well how sensitive these differences are."
- The obscure constitutional provision that could be trouble for Trump (LA Times) "The word emolument was used often in the 18th century to refer to the compensation or profit that would go with holding an office. Beyond that, the precise meaning of the ban remains in question because, unlike other parts of the Constitution, it has not been interpreted in the courts. But as long as Trump and his family retain ownership in business enterprises that involve foreign governments, state-owned entities or foreign government officials, the Constitution’s ban on 'emoluments' is likely to hang over his presidency."
- Three Things We’ve Learned About How Trump Will Govern (FiveThirtyEight)
POLITICS:
- Escape Your Echo Chamber And Understand What Really Makes Trump Supporters Tick (FastCompany) "Among Clearer Thinking's 138 variables, the biggest predictor of whether someone would vote for Trump was their official party affiliation. But the second biggest predictor of support for Trump was whether they believe there is too much political correctness in this country. But what exactly does this mean? Clearer Thinking's analysis found that Trump and Clinton supporters have very different relationships to language itself. Clinton supporters said they believe in political correctness because it stops people from hurting other people and is merely another way to ensure that our discourse has a common decency. Trump supporters, on the other hand, believe that political correctness makes people afraid of speaking their minds and prevents properly addressing important problems in society, including government corruption and crime in black communities."
SCIENCE:
- Trump's transition: sceptics guide every agency dealing with climate change (The Guardian) "The heads of Donald Trump’s transition teams for Nasa, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Energy, as well as his nominees to lead the EPA and the Department of the Interior, all question the science of human-caused climate change, in a signal of the president-elect’s determination to embark upon an aggressively pro-fossil fuels agenda."
SPORTS:
- Nike’s Trying to Build a Sub-Two-Hour Marathoner, and We’re Along for the Run. (Wired) "The easiest way to express the difference between potential and performance in the marathon is through two numbers. The first is 1:57:58, which Michael Joyner, a polymathic anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, calculated in 1991 to be the physiological limit for a man in the marathon, the best time possible for a perfect athlete in perfect conditions. The second number is Kimetto’s world record, 2:02:57. In the five-minute gap between those two numbers lie all the things that slow runners down. Meanwhile, the backstage team of scientists, engineers, physicians and trainers are working to address every single factor that might slow the runners down. They’re looking at the aerodynamic properties of running apparel; pacing strategies of world-class runners as well as what they eat and how they train; the look, size, and feel of racing shoes; even the environment and shape of the track. Everything that could potentially impact a marathoner’s performance is being rethought and re-engineered with the ultimate goal of killing time and making history."
- How Quarterbacks Made the NFL More Athletic Than Ever Before (Ozy) "There was a time when transitioning from quarterback to another position was unheard of. Today, former QBs dot depth charts of teams all over the NFL."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- A Day With Hostage Negotiators (Ozy)
Sign up for email distribution of the Day's Most Compelling News below or by visiting Top of the News
- The alarming response to Russian meddling in American democracy (Economist) "These latest revelations have probably not changed any minds at all. Republicans who hate Mrs Clinton are still delighted that she was defeated. Democrats who loathe and fear Mr Trump have one more reason to dislike him. Outside Washington, red-blooded Americans who mostly rather dislike President Vladimir Putin, according to polls, seem to be shrugging off the latest allegations. And that is what is, or should be, so unsettling. Russian interference in elections across the Western world is like a nasty virus, attacking the body politic. Normally, America is protected by powerful, bipartisan immune responses against such a menace. It also boasts some of the world’s most sophisticated intelligence and cyber-defences, and when spooks tell the Republicans and Democrats who lead Congress and sit on the House and Senate intelligence committees of hostile acts by a foreign power, love of country generates a unified response. That immune response is not kicking in this time."
- McConnell announces Senate probe of suspected Russian election interference: ‘The Russians are not our friends’ (WaPo) "McConnell’s calls for a nonpartisan approach to any investigation of Russia echoed comments by incoming Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who pledged on Monday that any inquiry would focus on 'just the facts.'" and McCain, Graham Join Democrats, Demand Probe into Claims of Russian Hacking (Breitbart) and Russia’s alleged intervention in the U.S. election is exposing the Republican Party’s fault lines (Quartz)
- 10 Ways the CIA 'Russian Hacking' Story is Left-Wing 'Fake News' (Breitbart) "No, Russia is not the friend that President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spent several years pretending it was. But the idea that Russian hackers coronated Trump is only the latest left-wing opiate — after white supremacists and 'fake news' — designed to dull the pain of electoral defeat, and postpone the reckoning that must occur if Democrats are to pose a significant threat as an opposition party at any time in the near future."
- Bolton suggests Russian election hacks were ‘false flag’ by Obama administration (WaPo) "The term 'false flag,' popular among conspiracy theorists, is typically used to describe a covert attempt by the government to advance an agenda by making it seem like its activities are being carried out by another entity. During his Fox News appearance, Bolton said there should be 'very grave consequences' if further investigation showed that Russia did try to influence the presidential election, but he questioned whether a sophisticated foreign intelligence service would leave 'cyber fingerprints' after hacking."
ENTERTAINMENT:
- Too Many Favorite Shows? Take Them In at High Speed (NYT) "Nicholas Quah, who writes Hot Pod, a newsletter about podcasts, said in an email that it was unclear how widespread speed listening was, but that anecdotally, it appeared to be 'an established behavior' among high-volume listeners. He said he saw no harm in it."
- Netflix, Amazon, and HBO combined for 70% of the best TV show Golden Globe nominations (Business Insider)
BUSINESS:
- 7,500 Faceless Coders Paid in Bitcoin Built a Hedge Fund’s Brain (Wired) "Under the banner of a startup called Numerai, Craib and his team have built technology that masks the fund’s trading data before sharing it with a vast community of anonymous data scientists. Using a method similar to homomorphic encryption, this tech works to ensure that the scientists can’t see the details of the company’s proprietary trades, but also organizes the data so that these scientists can build machine learning models that analyze it and, in theory, learn better ways of trading financial securities. Each week, one hundred scientists earn bitcoin, with the company paying out over $150,000 in the digital currency so far. If the fund reaches a billion dollars under management, Craib says, it would pay out over $1 million each month to its data scientists."
- A Retirement Plan With Less Golf but More Satisfaction (NYT)
NEWS:
- What is the President’s Daily Brief? "The President’s Daily Brief is a compilation of high-level intelligence findings that is put together overnight by a team working out of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, a few miles from the CIA’s offices in Virginia. It is tailored to meet each president’s preferences. While there is certainly some degree of repetition in the daily brief, those who have read it regularly say that its value is often found in seeing how assessments change over time, and in being able to ask about the evidence on which those changing evaluations were based. And of course, they contain updated information as new threats emerge around the world." (Boston Globe) and Trump Ignoring U.S. Intelligence Creates Risks Beyond Russian Hacking (Wired) "They worry that it threatens to politicize the intelligence community’s work, pushing it toward conclusions that will please the president rather than inform him. and "Trump used to criticize Obama for not having daily intel meetings (NY Daily News) "In September 2012 — while in the middle of tweeting his 'birther' conspiracy about Obama’s upbringing — Trump shared a Washington Post column saying the President had missed more than half of his in-person daily briefings during his first White House term. 'Priorities--while fundraising and campaigning on our dime, Obama has skipped over 50% of his intel briefings,' Trump wrote with the link. Trump was at it again two years later, tweeting twice about Obama’s intelligence habits. 'Fact--Obama does not read his intelligence briefings nor does he get briefed in person by the CIA or DOD. Too busy I guess!' he wrote Sept. 30, 2014. Six days later, he followed up: 'Obama has missed 58% of his intelligence briefings. But our president does make 100% of his fundraisers.'" and Intel world struggles to crack the code of an untrusting Trump (Politico)
- 10 Ways the CIA 'Russian Hacking' Story is Left-Wing 'Fake News' (Breitbart) "No, Russia is not the friend that President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spent several years pretending it was. But the idea that Russian hackers coronated Trump is only the latest left-wing opiate — after white supremacists and 'fake news' — designed to dull the pain of electoral defeat, and postpone the reckoning that must occur if Democrats are to pose a significant threat as an opposition party at any time in the near future."
- Bolton suggests Russian election hacks were ‘false flag’ by Obama administration (WaPo) "The term 'false flag,' popular among conspiracy theorists, is typically used to describe a covert attempt by the government to advance an agenda by making it seem like its activities are being carried out by another entity. During his Fox News appearance, Bolton said there should be 'very grave consequences' if further investigation showed that Russia did try to influence the presidential election, but he questioned whether a sophisticated foreign intelligence service would leave 'cyber fingerprints' after hacking."
ENTERTAINMENT:
- Too Many Favorite Shows? Take Them In at High Speed (NYT) "Nicholas Quah, who writes Hot Pod, a newsletter about podcasts, said in an email that it was unclear how widespread speed listening was, but that anecdotally, it appeared to be 'an established behavior' among high-volume listeners. He said he saw no harm in it."
- Netflix, Amazon, and HBO combined for 70% of the best TV show Golden Globe nominations (Business Insider)
BUSINESS:
- 7,500 Faceless Coders Paid in Bitcoin Built a Hedge Fund’s Brain (Wired) "Under the banner of a startup called Numerai, Craib and his team have built technology that masks the fund’s trading data before sharing it with a vast community of anonymous data scientists. Using a method similar to homomorphic encryption, this tech works to ensure that the scientists can’t see the details of the company’s proprietary trades, but also organizes the data so that these scientists can build machine learning models that analyze it and, in theory, learn better ways of trading financial securities. Each week, one hundred scientists earn bitcoin, with the company paying out over $150,000 in the digital currency so far. If the fund reaches a billion dollars under management, Craib says, it would pay out over $1 million each month to its data scientists."
- A Retirement Plan With Less Golf but More Satisfaction (NYT)
NEWS:
- What is the President’s Daily Brief? "The President’s Daily Brief is a compilation of high-level intelligence findings that is put together overnight by a team working out of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, a few miles from the CIA’s offices in Virginia. It is tailored to meet each president’s preferences. While there is certainly some degree of repetition in the daily brief, those who have read it regularly say that its value is often found in seeing how assessments change over time, and in being able to ask about the evidence on which those changing evaluations were based. And of course, they contain updated information as new threats emerge around the world." (Boston Globe) and Trump Ignoring U.S. Intelligence Creates Risks Beyond Russian Hacking (Wired) "They worry that it threatens to politicize the intelligence community’s work, pushing it toward conclusions that will please the president rather than inform him. and "Trump used to criticize Obama for not having daily intel meetings (NY Daily News) "In September 2012 — while in the middle of tweeting his 'birther' conspiracy about Obama’s upbringing — Trump shared a Washington Post column saying the President had missed more than half of his in-person daily briefings during his first White House term. 'Priorities--while fundraising and campaigning on our dime, Obama has skipped over 50% of his intel briefings,' Trump wrote with the link. Trump was at it again two years later, tweeting twice about Obama’s intelligence habits. 'Fact--Obama does not read his intelligence briefings nor does he get briefed in person by the CIA or DOD. Too busy I guess!' he wrote Sept. 30, 2014. Six days later, he followed up: 'Obama has missed 58% of his intelligence briefings. But our president does make 100% of his fundraisers.'" and Intel world struggles to crack the code of an untrusting Trump (Politico)
- Trump risks war by turning the One China question into a bargaining chip (WaPo) "While the U.S. position is driven by a variety of political interests, China’s position is driven by a desire for national unity that China’s leadership has defined as existential and nonnegotiable. This means that the U.S. approach flouts essential elements of the Chinese position. Moreover, not only is Washington maintaining a relationship that contravenes China’s One China policy, but it has apparently put itself in a position of setting the conditions for the resolution of the conflict. The reason this has not led to overt hostilities is because all sides have behaved with restraint to maintain a very fragile peace. They know full well how sensitive these differences are."
- The obscure constitutional provision that could be trouble for Trump (LA Times) "The word emolument was used often in the 18th century to refer to the compensation or profit that would go with holding an office. Beyond that, the precise meaning of the ban remains in question because, unlike other parts of the Constitution, it has not been interpreted in the courts. But as long as Trump and his family retain ownership in business enterprises that involve foreign governments, state-owned entities or foreign government officials, the Constitution’s ban on 'emoluments' is likely to hang over his presidency."
- Three Things We’ve Learned About How Trump Will Govern (FiveThirtyEight)
POLITICS:
- Escape Your Echo Chamber And Understand What Really Makes Trump Supporters Tick (FastCompany) "Among Clearer Thinking's 138 variables, the biggest predictor of whether someone would vote for Trump was their official party affiliation. But the second biggest predictor of support for Trump was whether they believe there is too much political correctness in this country. But what exactly does this mean? Clearer Thinking's analysis found that Trump and Clinton supporters have very different relationships to language itself. Clinton supporters said they believe in political correctness because it stops people from hurting other people and is merely another way to ensure that our discourse has a common decency. Trump supporters, on the other hand, believe that political correctness makes people afraid of speaking their minds and prevents properly addressing important problems in society, including government corruption and crime in black communities."
SCIENCE:
- Trump's transition: sceptics guide every agency dealing with climate change (The Guardian) "The heads of Donald Trump’s transition teams for Nasa, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Energy, as well as his nominees to lead the EPA and the Department of the Interior, all question the science of human-caused climate change, in a signal of the president-elect’s determination to embark upon an aggressively pro-fossil fuels agenda."
SPORTS:
- Nike’s Trying to Build a Sub-Two-Hour Marathoner, and We’re Along for the Run. (Wired) "The easiest way to express the difference between potential and performance in the marathon is through two numbers. The first is 1:57:58, which Michael Joyner, a polymathic anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, calculated in 1991 to be the physiological limit for a man in the marathon, the best time possible for a perfect athlete in perfect conditions. The second number is Kimetto’s world record, 2:02:57. In the five-minute gap between those two numbers lie all the things that slow runners down. Meanwhile, the backstage team of scientists, engineers, physicians and trainers are working to address every single factor that might slow the runners down. They’re looking at the aerodynamic properties of running apparel; pacing strategies of world-class runners as well as what they eat and how they train; the look, size, and feel of racing shoes; even the environment and shape of the track. Everything that could potentially impact a marathoner’s performance is being rethought and re-engineered with the ultimate goal of killing time and making history."
- How Quarterbacks Made the NFL More Athletic Than Ever Before (Ozy) "There was a time when transitioning from quarterback to another position was unheard of. Today, former QBs dot depth charts of teams all over the NFL."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- A Day With Hostage Negotiators (Ozy)
Sign up for email distribution of the Day's Most Compelling News below or by visiting Top of the News
Monday, December 12, 2016
FREE-MARKET REPUBLICANS CONTORT TO DEFEND TRUMP
TOP OF THE NEWS:
- Free-market Republicans contort to defend Trump (Politico) "To understand the spell Trump has cast on the Republican Party, just listen to the members of the House Republican Conference these days: The same gang that made slashing spending their singular cause in Congress are now entertaining — and in many cases embracing — the president-elect’s pitch to pump billions into the economy in the form of a massive infrastructure package. The irony, expressed privately by lawmakers and leadership aides, is glaring. Privately, House Republicans complain that Trump’s infrastructure plan reeks of Obama’s stimulus package (though some argue that Trump, unlike Obama, is likely to rely on public-private partnerships, not just federal dollars, and is likely to be paid for). They say his tariff proposal is ridiculous and using the White House to force companies to stay in the U.S. is inappropriate. But the contradiction is hard to overlook. Republicans spent the past decade preaching to anyone who would listen that government spending doesn’t spur economic growth. At one point, their mantra was 'cut-grow': the way to grow the economy is by dramatically reducing federal spending. Charlie Sykes, a 'never Trump' conservative close with Ryan, said Capitol Hill Republicans’ refusal to push back on Trump is a dispiriting thing to watch. 'This was one of my great fears: That if Trump was elected, conservatives would fall in line behind his economic policies,' he told POLITICO. 'If Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama had said what Trump said, free-market conservatives would have had their hair on fire. … Unfortunately, what you’re seeing now feels like a despairing shrug.'" and Republicans admit it: Okay, yes, we really are big hypocrites (WaPo) "It should be noted that many Republicans did support a highway spending package at the end of last year. But now, Republicans are privately conceding that the underlying Keynesian principle that they may well accept under Trump is basically the same one many condemned under Obama — as a dire threat to transform the country into something no longer recognizably American."
BUSINESS:
- Breitbart Treats Kellogg to Its Smash-Mouth Style (New Yorker) "The Breitbart response implied that Kellogg, which is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, had taken an overtly political stance. But it’s not as if the company announced that it was shifting Frosted Mini-Wheats ad dollars to the pages of The Nation. As with most big brands, its only discernible ideology is aversion to controversy; it’s unlikely that anybody involved in the company’s sprawling marketing efforts ever made a considered decision to place advertising on Breitbart in the first place. It was more likely just one of many companies blithely chasing customer profiles without paying enough attention to where that was leading its ads."
- How to Play the Trump Stock Market Rally (NYT)
NEWS:
- C.I.A. Judgment on Russia Built on Swell of Evidence (NYT) "The C.I.A.’s conclusion does not appear to be the product of specific new intelligence obtained since the election, several American officials, including some who had read the agency’s briefing, said on Sunday. Rather, it was an analysis of what many believe is overwhelming circumstantial evidence — evidence that others feel does not support firm judgments — that the Russians put a thumb on the scale for Mr. Trump, and got their desired outcome." and Sarah Palin Trolls ‘Defeated’ Dems: ‘I can keep an eye’ on Russia (Breitbart) "'Russia’s getting out of hand? So says the defeated,' Palin tweeted, appearing to question the CIA report." and Trump Links C.I.A. Reports on Russia to Democrats’ Shame Over Election (NYT) "'I think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s just another excuse,' Mr. Trump said in the interview, on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'I don’t believe it.' He also indicated that as president, he would not take the daily intelligence briefing that President Obama and his predecessors have received. Mr. Trump, who has received the briefing sparingly as president-elect, said that it was often repetitive and that he would take it 'when I need it.' He said his vice president, Mike Pence, would receive the daily briefing. 'You know, I’m, like, a smart person,' he said. 'I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years.'"
- The World Fears Trump’s America. That’s a Good Thing. (NYT) "During the last eight years, President Obama showed what happens when the world’s greatest power tries strenuously to avoid giving fright. He began his presidency with lofty vows to conciliate adversaries, defer to the opinions of other countries and reduce America’s military commitments. In the real world of geopolitics, however, the results have been catastrophic. The trembling of the rest of the world does not ensure that American foreign policy will be successful. Like any other strategic advantage, it works only when properly exploited through sound strategic decisions. As the world’s most powerful country, and the only one whose leadership can safeguard the world order, the United States must care more about whether it commands international respect than whether it is loved by international elites."
- Free-market Republicans contort to defend Trump (Politico) "To understand the spell Trump has cast on the Republican Party, just listen to the members of the House Republican Conference these days: The same gang that made slashing spending their singular cause in Congress are now entertaining — and in many cases embracing — the president-elect’s pitch to pump billions into the economy in the form of a massive infrastructure package. The irony, expressed privately by lawmakers and leadership aides, is glaring. Privately, House Republicans complain that Trump’s infrastructure plan reeks of Obama’s stimulus package (though some argue that Trump, unlike Obama, is likely to rely on public-private partnerships, not just federal dollars, and is likely to be paid for). They say his tariff proposal is ridiculous and using the White House to force companies to stay in the U.S. is inappropriate. But the contradiction is hard to overlook. Republicans spent the past decade preaching to anyone who would listen that government spending doesn’t spur economic growth. At one point, their mantra was 'cut-grow': the way to grow the economy is by dramatically reducing federal spending. Charlie Sykes, a 'never Trump' conservative close with Ryan, said Capitol Hill Republicans’ refusal to push back on Trump is a dispiriting thing to watch. 'This was one of my great fears: That if Trump was elected, conservatives would fall in line behind his economic policies,' he told POLITICO. 'If Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama had said what Trump said, free-market conservatives would have had their hair on fire. … Unfortunately, what you’re seeing now feels like a despairing shrug.'" and Republicans admit it: Okay, yes, we really are big hypocrites (WaPo) "It should be noted that many Republicans did support a highway spending package at the end of last year. But now, Republicans are privately conceding that the underlying Keynesian principle that they may well accept under Trump is basically the same one many condemned under Obama — as a dire threat to transform the country into something no longer recognizably American."
BUSINESS:
- Breitbart Treats Kellogg to Its Smash-Mouth Style (New Yorker) "The Breitbart response implied that Kellogg, which is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, had taken an overtly political stance. But it’s not as if the company announced that it was shifting Frosted Mini-Wheats ad dollars to the pages of The Nation. As with most big brands, its only discernible ideology is aversion to controversy; it’s unlikely that anybody involved in the company’s sprawling marketing efforts ever made a considered decision to place advertising on Breitbart in the first place. It was more likely just one of many companies blithely chasing customer profiles without paying enough attention to where that was leading its ads."
- How to Play the Trump Stock Market Rally (NYT)
NEWS:
- C.I.A. Judgment on Russia Built on Swell of Evidence (NYT) "The C.I.A.’s conclusion does not appear to be the product of specific new intelligence obtained since the election, several American officials, including some who had read the agency’s briefing, said on Sunday. Rather, it was an analysis of what many believe is overwhelming circumstantial evidence — evidence that others feel does not support firm judgments — that the Russians put a thumb on the scale for Mr. Trump, and got their desired outcome." and Sarah Palin Trolls ‘Defeated’ Dems: ‘I can keep an eye’ on Russia (Breitbart) "'Russia’s getting out of hand? So says the defeated,' Palin tweeted, appearing to question the CIA report." and Trump Links C.I.A. Reports on Russia to Democrats’ Shame Over Election (NYT) "'I think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s just another excuse,' Mr. Trump said in the interview, on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'I don’t believe it.' He also indicated that as president, he would not take the daily intelligence briefing that President Obama and his predecessors have received. Mr. Trump, who has received the briefing sparingly as president-elect, said that it was often repetitive and that he would take it 'when I need it.' He said his vice president, Mike Pence, would receive the daily briefing. 'You know, I’m, like, a smart person,' he said. 'I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years.'"
- The World Fears Trump’s America. That’s a Good Thing. (NYT) "During the last eight years, President Obama showed what happens when the world’s greatest power tries strenuously to avoid giving fright. He began his presidency with lofty vows to conciliate adversaries, defer to the opinions of other countries and reduce America’s military commitments. In the real world of geopolitics, however, the results have been catastrophic. The trembling of the rest of the world does not ensure that American foreign policy will be successful. Like any other strategic advantage, it works only when properly exploited through sound strategic decisions. As the world’s most powerful country, and the only one whose leadership can safeguard the world order, the United States must care more about whether it commands international respect than whether it is loved by international elites."
- How Much of the Obama Doctrine Will Survive Trump? (New Yorker) "It is a common mistake to interpret this policy as America drawing back into itself and turning against military intervention. The record shows that the Obama Administration has launched, or helped enable, military strikes in more countries than the Bush Administration did, extending the campaign against Islamist extremism to places like Mali and Libya. But, whereas the Bush Administration will always be known for the large-scale wars it initiated in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama seems to prefer 'waging war in the shadows with a light footprint and if possible limited public scrutiny,' as Andreas Krieg, a foreign-policy expert at King’s College, London, wrote in a recent paper published by Chatham House, a British think tank. 'Externalizing the strategic and operational burden of war to human and technological surrogates has developed into America’s preferred way of war under the Obama administration.' Trump, of course, could choose to reverse this approach, sending in the 101st Airborne whenever it suits him. But that doesn’t seem likely. Like Obama before him, he will be dealing with an American public that is tired of foreign wars and wants the federal government to focus on domestic issues. In Fayetteville, he also repeated his promise to smash ISIS, but he didn’t detail how he’ll do it. His transition Web site says only that a Trump Administration would 'work with our Arab allies and friends in the Middle East in the fight against ISIS. Pursue aggressive joint and coalition military operations . . . international cooperation to cutoff their funding, expand intelligence sharing, and cyberwarfare to disrupt and disable their propaganda and recruiting.' This happens to be a pretty accurate description of what the Obama Administration has been doing in concert with Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and other countries. Flynn and Mattis have both criticized Obama’s campaign against ISIS as half-hearted, but how much further would they, and Trump, go?"
- I’m a former CIA officer and a Democrat. Here’s what Obama still doesn’t get about terrorism (LA Times) "To me and many of my former colleagues at the Central Intelligence Agency, such pronouncements reflect Obama’s greatest blind spot in his fight against terrorism: he has been unwilling to acknowledge that Islamic ideology plays a role in what motivates terrorists to strike. Are we at war with the whole of Islam, or should we be? Of course not. But Islam is a faith in crisis, and to deny that certain strains of the religion are contributing to global instability is to deny reality."
- We Don’t Talk About ‘Radicalization’ When an Attacker Isn’t Muslim. We Should. (NYT) "Radicalization seems to mean something, the gist of which is this: that there is a knowable and coherent process, like a kind of matriculation — that moves a once-normal human being along some grisly progression until he or she is killing people. It’s a sturdy box of a word filled with apparent meaning, yet when pressed upon to deliver the specifics, mostly collapses like cardboard. In current discourse, 'radicalization' tends to limit unthinkable attacks to those carried out by anyone of Middle Eastern descent — but why? Micah Johnson, an African-American man in Dallas, murdered five police officers in the wake of new YouTube videos showing black citizens being fatally shot by the police — was he self-radicalized? Or Jerad and Amanda Miller, the white couple who joined the antigovernment protests at Cliven Bundy’s ranch in 2014 before being asked to leave and then fatally gunned down a civilian and two police officers in Las Vegas — were they radicalized?"
- Mainstream media puts out the call for pro-Trump columnists (WaPo) "Major newspapers, from The Washington Post to the New York Times, have struggled to find and publish pro-Trump columns for months. So have regional ones, such as the Des Moines Register and the Arizona Republic, which has a long history of supporting Republican candidates. The newspapers have plenty of conservative writers, but that’s where the problem begins. Trump, who has defied traditional left-right categories, has offered something for both liberals and conservatives to dislike. The latter never believed that Trump was a true conservative; the former were revolted by his rhetoric from the start. The general lack of Trump-supporting columns, however, puts newspaper editorial editors in an uncomfortable position. Most newspapers try to create a rough balance between left and right opinions on their op-ed pages, which feature staff and guest columnists."
- For the 'new yellow journalists,' opportunity comes in clicks and bucks (Chicago Tribune) "At a time of continuing discussion over the role that hyperpartisan websites, fake news and social media play in the divided America of 2016, LibertyWritersNews illustrates how websites can use Facebook to tap into a surging ideology, quickly go from nothing to influencing millions of people and make big profits in the process. Six months ago, Wade and his business partner, Ben Goldman, were unemployed restaurant workers. Now they're at the helm of a website that gained 300,000 Facebook followers in October alone and say they are making so much money that they feel uncomfortable talking about it because they don't want people to start asking for loans. 'Nothing in this article is anti-media, but I've used this headline a thousand times,' he says. 'Violence and chaos and aggressive wording is what people are attracted to. We're the new yellow journalists,' Wade will say after a day and night when the number of people following LibertyWritersNews on Facebook will swell by more than 20,000. 'We're the people on the side of the street yelling that the world is about to end.'"
- One of the last things John Glenn did before he died was to write Jeff Bezos a letter. This is what it said. (WaPo)
- Mainstream media puts out the call for pro-Trump columnists (WaPo) "Major newspapers, from The Washington Post to the New York Times, have struggled to find and publish pro-Trump columns for months. So have regional ones, such as the Des Moines Register and the Arizona Republic, which has a long history of supporting Republican candidates. The newspapers have plenty of conservative writers, but that’s where the problem begins. Trump, who has defied traditional left-right categories, has offered something for both liberals and conservatives to dislike. The latter never believed that Trump was a true conservative; the former were revolted by his rhetoric from the start. The general lack of Trump-supporting columns, however, puts newspaper editorial editors in an uncomfortable position. Most newspapers try to create a rough balance between left and right opinions on their op-ed pages, which feature staff and guest columnists."
- For the 'new yellow journalists,' opportunity comes in clicks and bucks (Chicago Tribune) "At a time of continuing discussion over the role that hyperpartisan websites, fake news and social media play in the divided America of 2016, LibertyWritersNews illustrates how websites can use Facebook to tap into a surging ideology, quickly go from nothing to influencing millions of people and make big profits in the process. Six months ago, Wade and his business partner, Ben Goldman, were unemployed restaurant workers. Now they're at the helm of a website that gained 300,000 Facebook followers in October alone and say they are making so much money that they feel uncomfortable talking about it because they don't want people to start asking for loans. 'Nothing in this article is anti-media, but I've used this headline a thousand times,' he says. 'Violence and chaos and aggressive wording is what people are attracted to. We're the new yellow journalists,' Wade will say after a day and night when the number of people following LibertyWritersNews on Facebook will swell by more than 20,000. 'We're the people on the side of the street yelling that the world is about to end.'"
- One of the last things John Glenn did before he died was to write Jeff Bezos a letter. This is what it said. (WaPo)
POLITICS:
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are on their way to the White House (WaPo) "Meanwhile, this theory of the Trump presidency leaves a policy environment more fluid and open than any in my political lifetime. Apart from a few vivid campaign promises on immigration and infrastructure— which have also been renegotiated since the election — Trump has radical freedom of action. He owes no one, holds no definite ideology and will be forgiven even the worst heresies by his supporters (at least for the moment). The openness of Trump’s policy options, however, is currently a boon to lobbyists, consultants and advocates of all stripes. If ever talking with the right person at the right time with the right message has been important, it is now. Almost nothing has yet been ruled in or ruled out. Republicans are now finding strategic brilliance in this attempt to keep the whole world off balance. But what happens when President Trump can truly throw the whole world off balance?"
SCIENCE:
- Trump’s team is asking for the names of Energy Department employees who worked on climate issues (Vox) "But the one that’s really eye-catching is question #27, which reads as follows: Can you provide a list of all Department of Energy employees or contractors who have attended any lnteragency Working Group on the Social Cost of Carbon meetings? Can you provide a list of when those meetings were and any materials distributed at those meetings, EPSA emails associated with those meetings, or materials created by Department employees or contractors in anticipation of or as a result of those meetings? What’s unusual here, though, is the request for a list of any career agency employees or contractors who even worked on the issue."
- How NASA is rehearsing for a mission to Mars (WaPo) "This landscape, of course, is not actually Mars, and the people exploring it aren't really astronauts. But the expedition to the Mauna Ulu volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii is a dry run for the distant day when NASA intends to send a real crewed mission to the Red Planet. The Hawaiian mountainside is similar to the landscape scientists think existed on Mars billions of years ago, when the atmosphere was thicker and the planet seethed with volcanic activity."
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are on their way to the White House (WaPo) "Meanwhile, this theory of the Trump presidency leaves a policy environment more fluid and open than any in my political lifetime. Apart from a few vivid campaign promises on immigration and infrastructure— which have also been renegotiated since the election — Trump has radical freedom of action. He owes no one, holds no definite ideology and will be forgiven even the worst heresies by his supporters (at least for the moment). The openness of Trump’s policy options, however, is currently a boon to lobbyists, consultants and advocates of all stripes. If ever talking with the right person at the right time with the right message has been important, it is now. Almost nothing has yet been ruled in or ruled out. Republicans are now finding strategic brilliance in this attempt to keep the whole world off balance. But what happens when President Trump can truly throw the whole world off balance?"
SCIENCE:
- Trump’s team is asking for the names of Energy Department employees who worked on climate issues (Vox) "But the one that’s really eye-catching is question #27, which reads as follows: Can you provide a list of all Department of Energy employees or contractors who have attended any lnteragency Working Group on the Social Cost of Carbon meetings? Can you provide a list of when those meetings were and any materials distributed at those meetings, EPSA emails associated with those meetings, or materials created by Department employees or contractors in anticipation of or as a result of those meetings? What’s unusual here, though, is the request for a list of any career agency employees or contractors who even worked on the issue."
- How NASA is rehearsing for a mission to Mars (WaPo) "This landscape, of course, is not actually Mars, and the people exploring it aren't really astronauts. But the expedition to the Mauna Ulu volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii is a dry run for the distant day when NASA intends to send a real crewed mission to the Red Planet. The Hawaiian mountainside is similar to the landscape scientists think existed on Mars billions of years ago, when the atmosphere was thicker and the planet seethed with volcanic activity."
SPORTS:
- Oregon law could be college football’s version of the ‘Rooney Rule’ (WaPo) "In a sport in which a majority of players are African American, Taggart became the seventh black man in charge of a Power 5 conference football team, of which there are 65. In all of major college football, 13 of 128 schools are coached by African Americans."
TECHNOLOGY:
- Michigan Just Passed the Most Permissive Self-Driving Car Laws in the Country (Fortune) "The four bills, 995, 996, 997, and 998, establish regulations for the testing, use, and eventual sale of autonomous vehicle technology and are meant to more clearly define how self-driving vehicles can be legally used on public roadways. The new laws allow testing of vehicles without steering wheels, pedals, or needed human control--an important allowance that aims to propel Michigan ahead of California, a hotbed of driverless car development."
- Fast Lane to the Future (Wired) "Meet Olli, an on-demand driverless vehicle designed to make quick local trips and bring hurrying commuters to transport hubs. Olli doesn’t look futuristic: It’s a window-filled rectangle that’s more like a people mover at a theme park—but it provides a glimpse of things to come. The next generation of public transport will involve not only steel, pavement, and rails but also semiconductors and wireless signals, marking the most dramatic shift in the way people move en masse since the early days of the auto, experts say."
- Why you may have good reason to worry about all those smart devices (WaPo) "So far, smart things have proven to be pretty stupid. In their rush to get intelligent fitness trackers, mattresses and Christmas tree lights to market, developers just aren’t paying enough attention to privacy and security issues. That oversight now seems to be slowing consumer adoption."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- Delta Upgrades Its Selection of Free Snacks (Fortune) "The new line of free snacks will be available on flights over 250 miles, and will include treats such as Snyder’s of Hanover pretzels, Squirrel Brand Honey Roasted peanuts, and NatureBox Apple Cinnamon Yogurt Bars, keeping in line with its ranking for healthier airplane food."
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- Oregon law could be college football’s version of the ‘Rooney Rule’ (WaPo) "In a sport in which a majority of players are African American, Taggart became the seventh black man in charge of a Power 5 conference football team, of which there are 65. In all of major college football, 13 of 128 schools are coached by African Americans."
TECHNOLOGY:
- Michigan Just Passed the Most Permissive Self-Driving Car Laws in the Country (Fortune) "The four bills, 995, 996, 997, and 998, establish regulations for the testing, use, and eventual sale of autonomous vehicle technology and are meant to more clearly define how self-driving vehicles can be legally used on public roadways. The new laws allow testing of vehicles without steering wheels, pedals, or needed human control--an important allowance that aims to propel Michigan ahead of California, a hotbed of driverless car development."
- Fast Lane to the Future (Wired) "Meet Olli, an on-demand driverless vehicle designed to make quick local trips and bring hurrying commuters to transport hubs. Olli doesn’t look futuristic: It’s a window-filled rectangle that’s more like a people mover at a theme park—but it provides a glimpse of things to come. The next generation of public transport will involve not only steel, pavement, and rails but also semiconductors and wireless signals, marking the most dramatic shift in the way people move en masse since the early days of the auto, experts say."
- Why you may have good reason to worry about all those smart devices (WaPo) "So far, smart things have proven to be pretty stupid. In their rush to get intelligent fitness trackers, mattresses and Christmas tree lights to market, developers just aren’t paying enough attention to privacy and security issues. That oversight now seems to be slowing consumer adoption."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- Delta Upgrades Its Selection of Free Snacks (Fortune) "The new line of free snacks will be available on flights over 250 miles, and will include treats such as Snyder’s of Hanover pretzels, Squirrel Brand Honey Roasted peanuts, and NatureBox Apple Cinnamon Yogurt Bars, keeping in line with its ranking for healthier airplane food."
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Sunday, December 11, 2016
THE "WORDS MEAN THINGS" ISSUE
- This is what happens when Donald Trump attacks a private citizen on Twitter (WaPo) "About a year ago, 18-year-old college student Lauren Batchelder stood up at a political forum in New Hampshire and told Donald Trump that she didn’t think he was 'a friend to women.' The next morning, Trump fired back on Twitter — calling Batchelder an 'arrogant young woman' and accusing her of being a 'plant' from a rival campaign. Her phone began ringing with callers leaving threatening messages that were often sexual in nature. Her Facebook and email in-boxes filled with similar messages. As her addresses circulated on social media and her photo flashed on the news, she fled home to hide. For Batchelder, who studies history and gender studies at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H, the abuse continues more than a year later. Five days before the election, she received a Facebook message that read: 'Wishing I could f---ing punch you in the face. id then proceed to stomp your head on the curb and urinate in your bloodied mouth and i know where you live, so watch your f---ing back punk.' This is what happens when Trump targets a private citizen who publicly challenges him."
- Donald Trump is going to get somebody killed (WaPo) "Donald Trump presents real dangers of the abuse of official power, given his contempt for democratic norms, his vindictiveness, and his evident taste for violent retribution. But we should also be very concerned about his eager encouragement of hatred and violence that bubbles up from below. With a president who will be regularly propagating crazed conspiracy theories and singling out individual citizens as targets of his displeasure, it’s only a matter of time before another of his well-armed supporters decides to take matters into their own hands, and this time finishes the job."
- The story behind Trump's tweet attack on Chuck Jones of the United Steelworkers (LA Times) "When President-elect Donald Trump tweeted out attacks Wednesday night against an Indianapolis steelworkers official, he wasn’t just letting off steam; he was seeking to stifle dissent and weaken a powerful labor union. One can imagine that, with such a precedent, many business leaders, union officials and others might grow reluctant to speak out against Trump. Anyone who believes in robust, pluralistic democracy should be worried that a national leader, so soon after being elected, is assailing labor unions with an eye to weakening them."
- Sorry America, You Have to Pay Attention to Trump’s Tweets (Wired) "It’s possible Trump doesn’t appreciate the ripple effects his tweets have, that he’s just speaking his mind without consideration of the consequences—even when those consequences include threats of harm. Whether he intends his missives literally or figuratively is immaterial. His team did not return requests for comment, but experts agree: Trump’s intentions are beside the point. His tweets have weight, and cannot be ignored. 'I [Jeff Hancock of Stanford, who researches lying and the psychology of social media] used to just think he was a bullshitter,' Hancock says. 'I worry that he’s going to be able to shape a substantial amount of people’s perceptions of reality. This is the primary power of authoritarians.'"
- In Germany, the language of Nazism is no longer buried in the past (WaPo) "Hitler and his propagandists wielded a toxic lexicon in the early 20th century, deploying vocabulary meant to exalt ethnic purity and own Germany’s only real truth. And the reemergence in social media, literature and political protests of words that were weaponized by the Nazis is generating a fierce debate here over the power of language in politics, especially as nationalists surge on both sides of the Atlantic. Forces on the political right are hailing the exhumation of such words as a triumph over political correctness and war guilt... In a post-factual world, some reclaimed words are meant to stake ownership over truth." and Anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Wilders found guilty of discrimination (WaPo) "The 'inflammatory' way statements were made at the rally encouraged others to discriminate against Moroccans, the court said, but it found there was 'insufficient evidence' to convict Wilders of a separate charge of inciting hatred."
- An astonishing number of people believe Pizzagate, the Facebook-fueled Clinton sex ring conspiracy story, could be true (Re/code) "Nearly 50 percent of Trump voters think the Pizzagate theory is either true or could be true, according to a new poll released today from Public Policy Polling. Public Policy Polling, which surveyed 1,224 registered voters this week, says that 14 percent of Trump voters believe Clinton is connected to the nonexistent child sex ring, while another 32 percent aren’t sure. Nationwide, those numbers are 9 percent and 19 percent, respectively."
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- Donald Trump is going to get somebody killed (WaPo) "Donald Trump presents real dangers of the abuse of official power, given his contempt for democratic norms, his vindictiveness, and his evident taste for violent retribution. But we should also be very concerned about his eager encouragement of hatred and violence that bubbles up from below. With a president who will be regularly propagating crazed conspiracy theories and singling out individual citizens as targets of his displeasure, it’s only a matter of time before another of his well-armed supporters decides to take matters into their own hands, and this time finishes the job."
- The story behind Trump's tweet attack on Chuck Jones of the United Steelworkers (LA Times) "When President-elect Donald Trump tweeted out attacks Wednesday night against an Indianapolis steelworkers official, he wasn’t just letting off steam; he was seeking to stifle dissent and weaken a powerful labor union. One can imagine that, with such a precedent, many business leaders, union officials and others might grow reluctant to speak out against Trump. Anyone who believes in robust, pluralistic democracy should be worried that a national leader, so soon after being elected, is assailing labor unions with an eye to weakening them."
- Sorry America, You Have to Pay Attention to Trump’s Tweets (Wired) "It’s possible Trump doesn’t appreciate the ripple effects his tweets have, that he’s just speaking his mind without consideration of the consequences—even when those consequences include threats of harm. Whether he intends his missives literally or figuratively is immaterial. His team did not return requests for comment, but experts agree: Trump’s intentions are beside the point. His tweets have weight, and cannot be ignored. 'I [Jeff Hancock of Stanford, who researches lying and the psychology of social media] used to just think he was a bullshitter,' Hancock says. 'I worry that he’s going to be able to shape a substantial amount of people’s perceptions of reality. This is the primary power of authoritarians.'"
- In Germany, the language of Nazism is no longer buried in the past (WaPo) "Hitler and his propagandists wielded a toxic lexicon in the early 20th century, deploying vocabulary meant to exalt ethnic purity and own Germany’s only real truth. And the reemergence in social media, literature and political protests of words that were weaponized by the Nazis is generating a fierce debate here over the power of language in politics, especially as nationalists surge on both sides of the Atlantic. Forces on the political right are hailing the exhumation of such words as a triumph over political correctness and war guilt... In a post-factual world, some reclaimed words are meant to stake ownership over truth." and Anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Wilders found guilty of discrimination (WaPo) "The 'inflammatory' way statements were made at the rally encouraged others to discriminate against Moroccans, the court said, but it found there was 'insufficient evidence' to convict Wilders of a separate charge of inciting hatred."
- An astonishing number of people believe Pizzagate, the Facebook-fueled Clinton sex ring conspiracy story, could be true (Re/code) "Nearly 50 percent of Trump voters think the Pizzagate theory is either true or could be true, according to a new poll released today from Public Policy Polling. Public Policy Polling, which surveyed 1,224 registered voters this week, says that 14 percent of Trump voters believe Clinton is connected to the nonexistent child sex ring, while another 32 percent aren’t sure. Nationwide, those numbers are 9 percent and 19 percent, respectively."
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Friday, December 9, 2016
PUNCHING DOWN
TOP OF THE NEWS:
- Donald Trump insulted a union leader on Twitter. Then the phone started to ring. (WaPo) "'Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!' — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016. 'This guy [Chuck Jones] makes pennies for what he does,' Voorhies said. 'What he has to put up with is just crazy. Now he’s just got the president-elect smearing him on Twitter.'" and The art of punching down (WaPo) "Trump has said that, by his nature, he is 'a counterpuncher.' Fair enough. But it is one thing to pick on a multibillion-dollar corporation or a cable host. It’s something else entirely to go after individuals. Idle talk happens in every campaign. When you actually hold power, though, it starts wars and moves markets. 'Lesson number one for Donald Trump: Commenting on regular folks is fraught with danger, no matter what they say,' [Bill] O’Reilly said. 'All powerful people have to know that calling folks out has to be done surgically. If a family has lost a son fighting for America, you simply cannot hit them with a broadside — no matter what they say. You have to let it go. If you punch down, as the saying goes, the media will label you a bully or worse.… Not always fair, but that's the reality.… Final lesson: … If he fights everyone who comes after him, he will lose.'" and Donald Trump Needs to Stop Attacking Ordinary Americans (National Review) "Donald Trump owes Chuck Jones an apology. I’m sorry, but this is pathetic. The president-elect’s words have power, and when he turns that power on ordinary Americans who dare to criticize him, he’s not only abusing his office, he’s creating a target for an avalanche of scorn, vitriol, and intimidation. But this is of course a pattern with Trump. If someone irritates him, he’ll punch back no matter their status and no matter the consequences. That’s not leadership. It’s bullying. the president-elect needs to grow up and take criticism like a man."
"The next president of the united states went to twitter war with a guy who uses a flip phone. The guy with the flip phone won #ImWithChuck"
— Brett Banditelli (@banditelli) December 8, 2016
HEALTH:
- U.S. life expectancy declines for the first time since 1993 (WaPo) "Rising fatalities from heart disease and stroke, diabetes, drug overdoses, accidents and other conditions caused the lower life expectancy revealed in a report released Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics. In all, death rates rose for eight of the top 10 leading causes of death. According to the new report, males could expect to live 76.3 years at birth last year, down from 76.5 in 2014. Females could expect to live to 81.2 years, down from 81.3 the previous year. Experts cautioned against interpreting too much from a single year of data; the numbers could reverse themselves next year, they said." and Life expectancy in the US has dropped for the first time in more than a decade (Vox)
BUSINESS:
- After Meeting Trump, Japanese Mogul Pledges $50 Billion Investment in the U.S. (NYT) "But the $50 billion investment pledge is not an entirely new initiative that SoftBank is undertaking. Instead, the money is projected to come from the Japanese company’s previously announced Vision fund, a $100 billion vehicle for investing in technology companies worldwide. The fund — which includes Saudi Arabia, a target of Mr. Trump’s ire during the presidential campaign, as a key partner — was always expected to strike a significant portion of its deals in the United States." and Donald Trump’s deal to create 50,000 jobs in America looks a lot different on Day Two (WaPo)
- One of Disney’s most popular brands has investors really worried (WaPo) "But mounting subscriber losses at the sports network have dragged down Disney's share price. In 2013, ESPN's subscriber count topped out at 99 million; Disney's latest regulatory filings last month show it has lost 9 million subscribers since then. Reports this year by the ratings company Nielsen seemed to punctuate those losses, suggesting that ESPN lost a record-breaking 621,000 customers between October and November."
NEWS:
- South Korea’s political crisis could become a trigger for bigger change (WaPo) "Young Koreans complain about a two-tier society where those born with a 'golden spoon' in their mouths get into the best universities and secure the plum jobs, while those born with a 'dirt spoon' work long hours in low-paying jobs without benefits. This sense of unfairness is one of the key factors that have been sending people here out onto the streets to call for Park’s resignation. To explain the anger to an American audience, Kim Ou-joon, the host of a hugely popular political podcast, explains it this way: 'Imagine how angry and betrayed [Donald] Trump’s supporters would be if they found out that he was gay, Muslim and broke at the same time. How would his supporters react if everything they believed in him turned out to be false?'"
- American Dream collapsing for young adults, study says, as odds plunge that children will earn more than their parents (WaPo) "The research from a group led by Stanford's Raj Chetty, and also including economists and sociologists from Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley, estimates that only half the children born in the 1980s grew up to earn more than their parents did, after adjusting for inflation. That's a drop from 92 percent of children born in 1940. The fall-off is particularly steep among children born in the middle class, and for those born in several states in the industrial Midwest. The researchers say rising concentration of income among the richest Americans explains 70 percent of what has been a steady decline in absolute mobility from the baby boom generation to millennials, while a slowdown in economic growth explains just 30 percent."
- Obama Urges Soldiers to Question Trump's Authority, 'Criticize Our President' (Breitbart) "Obama told the troops, 'each of us has…the universal right to speak your minds and to protest against authority; to live in a society that’s open and free; that can criticize our president without retribution.'"
POLITICS:
- The Electoral College Is Great for Whiter States, Lousy for Cities (Wired) "More than half U.S. cities are majority nonwhite, and Latinos represent the largest group of nonwhite urban residents, according to the Brookings Institute. Slightly more African-Americans, meanwhile, live in the suburbs than in city centers. Overall, the U.S. population is becoming less white and population growth in cities outpaces that of rural areas. As a result of these demographic trends, political scientists say the urban vote will increasingly carry less proportional weight in the Electoral College. By that same math, whiter states will become more disproportionately powerful in presidential elections. In practice, that means votes from large states with sizable nonwhite populations like California count less in presidential elections than those from small, predominantly white states like New Hampshire. 'If you’re a person of color in California, you’re screwed,' says Stanford University political scientist David Brady."
- The right has its own version of political correctness. It’s just as stifling. (WaPo) "But conservatives have their own, nationalist version of PC, their own set of rules regulating speech, behavior and acceptable opinions. I call it 'patriotic correctness.' It’s a full-throated, un-nuanced, uncompromising defense of American nationalism, history and cherry-picked ideals. Central to its thesis is the belief that nothing in America can’t be fixed by more patriotism enforced by public shaming, boycotts and policies to cut out foreign and non-American influences. Insufficient displays of patriotism among the patriotically correct can result in exclusion from public life and ruined careers. It also restricts honest criticism of failed public policies, diverting blame for things like the war in Iraq to those Americans who didn’t support the war effort enough."
TECHNOLOGY:
- The Future of Bitcoin Is Not as a Digital Currency (Wired) "In other words, like Circle, Coinbase is moving away from bitcoin as a digital currency and towards a world where it serves as the underpinning for other financial services."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- The 100 Greatest Innovations Of 2016 (Popular Science)
- Donald Trump insulted a union leader on Twitter. Then the phone started to ring. (WaPo) "'Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!' — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016. 'This guy [Chuck Jones] makes pennies for what he does,' Voorhies said. 'What he has to put up with is just crazy. Now he’s just got the president-elect smearing him on Twitter.'" and The art of punching down (WaPo) "Trump has said that, by his nature, he is 'a counterpuncher.' Fair enough. But it is one thing to pick on a multibillion-dollar corporation or a cable host. It’s something else entirely to go after individuals. Idle talk happens in every campaign. When you actually hold power, though, it starts wars and moves markets. 'Lesson number one for Donald Trump: Commenting on regular folks is fraught with danger, no matter what they say,' [Bill] O’Reilly said. 'All powerful people have to know that calling folks out has to be done surgically. If a family has lost a son fighting for America, you simply cannot hit them with a broadside — no matter what they say. You have to let it go. If you punch down, as the saying goes, the media will label you a bully or worse.… Not always fair, but that's the reality.… Final lesson: … If he fights everyone who comes after him, he will lose.'" and Donald Trump Needs to Stop Attacking Ordinary Americans (National Review) "Donald Trump owes Chuck Jones an apology. I’m sorry, but this is pathetic. The president-elect’s words have power, and when he turns that power on ordinary Americans who dare to criticize him, he’s not only abusing his office, he’s creating a target for an avalanche of scorn, vitriol, and intimidation. But this is of course a pattern with Trump. If someone irritates him, he’ll punch back no matter their status and no matter the consequences. That’s not leadership. It’s bullying. the president-elect needs to grow up and take criticism like a man."
"The next president of the united states went to twitter war with a guy who uses a flip phone. The guy with the flip phone won #ImWithChuck"
— Brett Banditelli (@banditelli) December 8, 2016
HEALTH:
- U.S. life expectancy declines for the first time since 1993 (WaPo) "Rising fatalities from heart disease and stroke, diabetes, drug overdoses, accidents and other conditions caused the lower life expectancy revealed in a report released Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics. In all, death rates rose for eight of the top 10 leading causes of death. According to the new report, males could expect to live 76.3 years at birth last year, down from 76.5 in 2014. Females could expect to live to 81.2 years, down from 81.3 the previous year. Experts cautioned against interpreting too much from a single year of data; the numbers could reverse themselves next year, they said." and Life expectancy in the US has dropped for the first time in more than a decade (Vox)
BUSINESS:
- After Meeting Trump, Japanese Mogul Pledges $50 Billion Investment in the U.S. (NYT) "But the $50 billion investment pledge is not an entirely new initiative that SoftBank is undertaking. Instead, the money is projected to come from the Japanese company’s previously announced Vision fund, a $100 billion vehicle for investing in technology companies worldwide. The fund — which includes Saudi Arabia, a target of Mr. Trump’s ire during the presidential campaign, as a key partner — was always expected to strike a significant portion of its deals in the United States." and Donald Trump’s deal to create 50,000 jobs in America looks a lot different on Day Two (WaPo)
- One of Disney’s most popular brands has investors really worried (WaPo) "But mounting subscriber losses at the sports network have dragged down Disney's share price. In 2013, ESPN's subscriber count topped out at 99 million; Disney's latest regulatory filings last month show it has lost 9 million subscribers since then. Reports this year by the ratings company Nielsen seemed to punctuate those losses, suggesting that ESPN lost a record-breaking 621,000 customers between October and November."
NEWS:
- South Korea’s political crisis could become a trigger for bigger change (WaPo) "Young Koreans complain about a two-tier society where those born with a 'golden spoon' in their mouths get into the best universities and secure the plum jobs, while those born with a 'dirt spoon' work long hours in low-paying jobs without benefits. This sense of unfairness is one of the key factors that have been sending people here out onto the streets to call for Park’s resignation. To explain the anger to an American audience, Kim Ou-joon, the host of a hugely popular political podcast, explains it this way: 'Imagine how angry and betrayed [Donald] Trump’s supporters would be if they found out that he was gay, Muslim and broke at the same time. How would his supporters react if everything they believed in him turned out to be false?'"
- American Dream collapsing for young adults, study says, as odds plunge that children will earn more than their parents (WaPo) "The research from a group led by Stanford's Raj Chetty, and also including economists and sociologists from Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley, estimates that only half the children born in the 1980s grew up to earn more than their parents did, after adjusting for inflation. That's a drop from 92 percent of children born in 1940. The fall-off is particularly steep among children born in the middle class, and for those born in several states in the industrial Midwest. The researchers say rising concentration of income among the richest Americans explains 70 percent of what has been a steady decline in absolute mobility from the baby boom generation to millennials, while a slowdown in economic growth explains just 30 percent."
- Obama Urges Soldiers to Question Trump's Authority, 'Criticize Our President' (Breitbart) "Obama told the troops, 'each of us has…the universal right to speak your minds and to protest against authority; to live in a society that’s open and free; that can criticize our president without retribution.'"
POLITICS:
- The Electoral College Is Great for Whiter States, Lousy for Cities (Wired) "More than half U.S. cities are majority nonwhite, and Latinos represent the largest group of nonwhite urban residents, according to the Brookings Institute. Slightly more African-Americans, meanwhile, live in the suburbs than in city centers. Overall, the U.S. population is becoming less white and population growth in cities outpaces that of rural areas. As a result of these demographic trends, political scientists say the urban vote will increasingly carry less proportional weight in the Electoral College. By that same math, whiter states will become more disproportionately powerful in presidential elections. In practice, that means votes from large states with sizable nonwhite populations like California count less in presidential elections than those from small, predominantly white states like New Hampshire. 'If you’re a person of color in California, you’re screwed,' says Stanford University political scientist David Brady."
- The right has its own version of political correctness. It’s just as stifling. (WaPo) "But conservatives have their own, nationalist version of PC, their own set of rules regulating speech, behavior and acceptable opinions. I call it 'patriotic correctness.' It’s a full-throated, un-nuanced, uncompromising defense of American nationalism, history and cherry-picked ideals. Central to its thesis is the belief that nothing in America can’t be fixed by more patriotism enforced by public shaming, boycotts and policies to cut out foreign and non-American influences. Insufficient displays of patriotism among the patriotically correct can result in exclusion from public life and ruined careers. It also restricts honest criticism of failed public policies, diverting blame for things like the war in Iraq to those Americans who didn’t support the war effort enough."
TECHNOLOGY:
- The Future of Bitcoin Is Not as a Digital Currency (Wired) "In other words, like Circle, Coinbase is moving away from bitcoin as a digital currency and towards a world where it serves as the underpinning for other financial services."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- The 100 Greatest Innovations Of 2016 (Popular Science)
- BMW uses remote locking to trap car thief suspect inside stolen vehicle (WaPo)
Sign up for email distribution of the Day's Most Compelling News below or by visiting Top of the News
Sign up for email distribution of the Day's Most Compelling News below or by visiting Top of the News
Thursday, December 8, 2016
A BIGGER ECONOMIC PIE, BUT A SMALLER SLICE FOR HALF OF THE U.S.
TOP OF THE NEWS:
- A Bigger Economic Pie, but a Smaller Slice for Half of the U.S. (NYT) "Yet for half of all Americans, their share of the total economic pie has shrunk significantly, new research has found. This group — the approximately 117 million adults stuck on the lower half of the income ladder — 'has been completely shut off from economic growth since the 1970s,' the team of economists found. 'Even after taxes and transfers, there has been close to zero growth for working-age adults in the bottom 50 percent.' and This Is The Hidden Challenge In The Future Of Work (FastCompany) "In the United States and the 15 core European Union countries (E.U.-15), there are 285 million adults who are not in the labor force—and at least 100 million of them would like to work more. Some 30% to 45% of the working-age population around the world is underutilized—that is, unemployed, inactive, or underemployed. This translates into some 850 million people in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Japan, Brazil, China, and India alone. Why is this happening? Chief among the complaints by hiring managers were that communication, leadership, ownership, and teamwork were missing in this new crop of workers."
BUSINESS:
- What is the future of free trade? 5 facts about U.S. trade policy (Brookings Institution) "But what do the independent data and research tell us about free trade, and what it actually means for American workers? 1. The U.S. has been running a trade deficit since the 1970s—but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. 2. Greater reliance on imports is not correlated with unemployment, and trade agreements like the TPP can have a net positive effect on jobs. 3. Technology, not international trade, is the primary force behind lost manufacturing jobs. 4. Services are the most significant drivers of the U.S. economy and are an increasing component of international trade. 5. NAFTA is mutually beneficial to the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, and weakening it could lead to unintended consequences." and We Do Not Have a Trade Deficit (National Review)
- Automated Assistants Will Soon Make a Bid for Your Finances (NYT) "The new personal financial advisers are taking a different tack compared with big-name financial technology start-ups like Lending Club and Square, which provide actual financial services: arranging loans and processing payments. Credit Karma and its competitors are betting that there is more value in being the neutral intermediary that helps customers find financial services and keep track of their various accounts. Advocates of this business model compare the opportunity to the one that Google and Facebook spotted in media, where they serve as so-called platforms for other media companies rather than being media companies themselves. This approach allowed them to become the primary point of contact with the customer, a very profitable and powerful place to sit."
- Economists cannot stop Trump, but perhaps they can understand him (Economist)
- If all goes to plan, Amazon might be the messiest tech story of 2017 (Mashable)
HEALTH:
- Health Insurers List Demands if Affordable Care Act Is Killed (NYT) "The insurers, some who have already started leaving the marketplaces because they are losing money there, say they need a clear commitment from the Trump administration and congressional leaders that the government will continue offsetting some costs for low-income people. They also want to keep in place rules that encourage young and healthy people to sign up, which the insurers say are crucial to a stable market for individual buyers. The demands are a sort of warning shot to Republicans. While the party is eager to repeal the law as quickly as possible, and many have promised a replacement, its members are sharply divided over what shape any new plan should take." and GOP still splintered over Obamacare after Pence meeting (Politico)
NEWS:
- Retired Marine Gen. John F. Kelly picked to head Department of Homeland Security (WaPo) "Kelly, who retired in February as chief of U.S. Southern Command, would inherit a massive and often troubled department responsible for overseeing perhaps the most controversial part of Trump’s agenda: his proposed crackdown on illegal immigration. DHS is the third-largest Cabinet department, with more than 240,000 employees who do everything from fight terrorism to protect the president and enforce immigration laws." and Washington Post: Trump’s Appointments of Military Officers May Turn U.S. Into Dictatorship (Breitbart)
- Breitbart News is taking the business of outrage to Europe (Economist) "Its formula—outraging and fascinating readers with 'clickbait', occasional fake news, polemics and attacks on mainstream media—has taken off. The push deeper into Europe may seem an oddly international approach for a brand that scorns the ideals of a global order. Yet Breitbart has a clear operational model: moving into markets where it can win an audience by appealing to anti-globalisation and anti-immigrant sentiment and by aligning itself with an existing opposition party."
- Why conservatives might be more likely to fall for fake news (WaPo) "A robust body of academic research has sprung up in the past decade or so, documenting the different ways conservatives and liberals process the world. One [personality trait] in particular -- a so-called 'need for cognition' -- speaks to why fake news creators have found a receptive audience among conservatives. 'Need for cognition' is measured by assessing people's agreement with statements like, 'I find satisfaction in deliberating hard and for long hours' or 'thinking is not my idea of fun.' A measurement of people's affinity for critical thinking, in short. Jost reviewed 40 studies on differences in this need for cognition between liberals and conservatives. Of those, 25 showed a 'significant, negative' association between need for cognition and right-wing orientation. In all but three of the others, there was a similar negative association but it wasn't statistically significant. In other words, liberals were slightly more predisposed to think critically than conservatives. As Stefan Pfattheicher of Ulm University put it in an email to me, conservatives 'are less reflective in information processing, especially when information is consistent with [their] own worldviews.' Both Pfattheicher and Jost say that any cognitive differences aren't necessarily about intelligence. 'This seems to be more a matter of motivation to process information (or news) in a critical, reflective thinking style than the ability to do so,' Pfattheicher said in an email."
- He ‘lied his a– off': Carrier union leader on Trump’s big deal (WaPo) "Jones, president of the United Steelworkers 1999, which represents Carrier employees, felt optimistic when Trump announced last week that he’d reached a deal with the factory’s parent company, United Technologies, to preserve 1,100 of the Indianapolis jobs. Then the union leader heard from Carrier that only 730 of the production jobs would stay and 550 of his members would lose their livelihoods, after all. At the Dec. 1 meeting, where Trump was supposed to lay out the details, Jones hoped he would explain himself. 'But he got up there,' Jones said Tuesday, 'and, for whatever reason, lied his a-- off.' In front of a crowd of about 150 supervisors, production workers and reporters, Trump praised Carrier and its parent company, United Technologies. 'Now they’re keeping — actually the number’s over 1,100 people,' he said, 'which is so great.'"
- I'm a Democrat but I've gotta admit it's now Trump 2, Dems 0 (Fox News) "What academics and my party don’t understand is that he’s [Trump] not interested in starting a war. He simply recognizes that we’re already in one. And he’s giving voice to its long-suffering victims: millions of voters in places like North Carolina, Ohio, and Michigan."
- Obama, in Major National Security Speech, Defends Counterterrorism Legacy (NYT)
POLITICS:
- Democrats Turn to an Unlikely Ally: Big Business (Ozy) "Working through the private sector may be the only option for Democrats to advance such progressive efforts as equal pay, paid family leave and worker protection, among others. And lawmakers may find the largest corporate behemoths surprisingly willing to listen, in part because companies are looking for ways to restore consumer trust after a series of scandals deepened the chasm between Wall Street and Main Street." and Tony Perkins Backs #DumpKelloggs: After Election Defeat, Left Will ‘Use Corporate America to Marginalize Conservative Thought’ (Breitbart)
SPORTS:
- What's a strength coach worth? It can hardly be quantified (USA Today) "But the rise in compensation, and the newfound attention paid to strength coaches, is tied to the increasing awareness of the important role they hold within major-college programs. While on-field head coaches and assistants run the show from August through the end of each season, it’s on strength coaches to take ownership of those offseason months so crucial to a team’s overall development."
TECHNOLOGY:
- Artificial Intelligence Is More Artificial Than Intelligent (Wired) "The fact is, no existing AI technologies can master even the simplest challenges without human-provided context. As long as this is the case, today’s version of AI is not actually 'intelligent' and won’t be the silver bullet for any of our business or societal problems. And claiming so as a business or reporting so as a journalist is counterproductive and misleading." and Artificial Intelligence Just Broke Steve Jobs’ Wall of Secrecy (Wired)
- Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal. (NYT) "The only information Signal stores about users in its database is the last time someone connected to its server and when a person signed up for Signal. Other messaging apps maintain pieces of personal data on their servers."
- The Gadget Apocalypse Is Upon Us (NYT) "What happened to gadgets? It’s a fascinating story about tech progress, international manufacturing and shifting consumer preferences, and it all ends in a sad punch line: Great gadget companies are now having a harder time than ever getting off the ground. The gadget age is over — and even if that’s a kind of progress, because software now fills many of our needs, the great gadgetapocalypse is bound to make the tech world, and your life, a little less fun."
- Donald Trump Summons Tech Leaders to a Round-Table Meeting (NYT)
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- Mr. Trump: Here’s Why You Really Want to Spend $4 Billion on Air Force One (Wired)
Sign up for email distribution of the Day's Most Compelling News below or by visiting Top of the News
- A Bigger Economic Pie, but a Smaller Slice for Half of the U.S. (NYT) "Yet for half of all Americans, their share of the total economic pie has shrunk significantly, new research has found. This group — the approximately 117 million adults stuck on the lower half of the income ladder — 'has been completely shut off from economic growth since the 1970s,' the team of economists found. 'Even after taxes and transfers, there has been close to zero growth for working-age adults in the bottom 50 percent.' and This Is The Hidden Challenge In The Future Of Work (FastCompany) "In the United States and the 15 core European Union countries (E.U.-15), there are 285 million adults who are not in the labor force—and at least 100 million of them would like to work more. Some 30% to 45% of the working-age population around the world is underutilized—that is, unemployed, inactive, or underemployed. This translates into some 850 million people in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Japan, Brazil, China, and India alone. Why is this happening? Chief among the complaints by hiring managers were that communication, leadership, ownership, and teamwork were missing in this new crop of workers."
BUSINESS:
- What is the future of free trade? 5 facts about U.S. trade policy (Brookings Institution) "But what do the independent data and research tell us about free trade, and what it actually means for American workers? 1. The U.S. has been running a trade deficit since the 1970s—but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. 2. Greater reliance on imports is not correlated with unemployment, and trade agreements like the TPP can have a net positive effect on jobs. 3. Technology, not international trade, is the primary force behind lost manufacturing jobs. 4. Services are the most significant drivers of the U.S. economy and are an increasing component of international trade. 5. NAFTA is mutually beneficial to the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, and weakening it could lead to unintended consequences." and We Do Not Have a Trade Deficit (National Review)
- Automated Assistants Will Soon Make a Bid for Your Finances (NYT) "The new personal financial advisers are taking a different tack compared with big-name financial technology start-ups like Lending Club and Square, which provide actual financial services: arranging loans and processing payments. Credit Karma and its competitors are betting that there is more value in being the neutral intermediary that helps customers find financial services and keep track of their various accounts. Advocates of this business model compare the opportunity to the one that Google and Facebook spotted in media, where they serve as so-called platforms for other media companies rather than being media companies themselves. This approach allowed them to become the primary point of contact with the customer, a very profitable and powerful place to sit."
- Economists cannot stop Trump, but perhaps they can understand him (Economist)
- If all goes to plan, Amazon might be the messiest tech story of 2017 (Mashable)
HEALTH:
- Health Insurers List Demands if Affordable Care Act Is Killed (NYT) "The insurers, some who have already started leaving the marketplaces because they are losing money there, say they need a clear commitment from the Trump administration and congressional leaders that the government will continue offsetting some costs for low-income people. They also want to keep in place rules that encourage young and healthy people to sign up, which the insurers say are crucial to a stable market for individual buyers. The demands are a sort of warning shot to Republicans. While the party is eager to repeal the law as quickly as possible, and many have promised a replacement, its members are sharply divided over what shape any new plan should take." and GOP still splintered over Obamacare after Pence meeting (Politico)
NEWS:
- Retired Marine Gen. John F. Kelly picked to head Department of Homeland Security (WaPo) "Kelly, who retired in February as chief of U.S. Southern Command, would inherit a massive and often troubled department responsible for overseeing perhaps the most controversial part of Trump’s agenda: his proposed crackdown on illegal immigration. DHS is the third-largest Cabinet department, with more than 240,000 employees who do everything from fight terrorism to protect the president and enforce immigration laws." and Washington Post: Trump’s Appointments of Military Officers May Turn U.S. Into Dictatorship (Breitbart)
- Breitbart News is taking the business of outrage to Europe (Economist) "Its formula—outraging and fascinating readers with 'clickbait', occasional fake news, polemics and attacks on mainstream media—has taken off. The push deeper into Europe may seem an oddly international approach for a brand that scorns the ideals of a global order. Yet Breitbart has a clear operational model: moving into markets where it can win an audience by appealing to anti-globalisation and anti-immigrant sentiment and by aligning itself with an existing opposition party."
- Why conservatives might be more likely to fall for fake news (WaPo) "A robust body of academic research has sprung up in the past decade or so, documenting the different ways conservatives and liberals process the world. One [personality trait] in particular -- a so-called 'need for cognition' -- speaks to why fake news creators have found a receptive audience among conservatives. 'Need for cognition' is measured by assessing people's agreement with statements like, 'I find satisfaction in deliberating hard and for long hours' or 'thinking is not my idea of fun.' A measurement of people's affinity for critical thinking, in short. Jost reviewed 40 studies on differences in this need for cognition between liberals and conservatives. Of those, 25 showed a 'significant, negative' association between need for cognition and right-wing orientation. In all but three of the others, there was a similar negative association but it wasn't statistically significant. In other words, liberals were slightly more predisposed to think critically than conservatives. As Stefan Pfattheicher of Ulm University put it in an email to me, conservatives 'are less reflective in information processing, especially when information is consistent with [their] own worldviews.' Both Pfattheicher and Jost say that any cognitive differences aren't necessarily about intelligence. 'This seems to be more a matter of motivation to process information (or news) in a critical, reflective thinking style than the ability to do so,' Pfattheicher said in an email."
- He ‘lied his a– off': Carrier union leader on Trump’s big deal (WaPo) "Jones, president of the United Steelworkers 1999, which represents Carrier employees, felt optimistic when Trump announced last week that he’d reached a deal with the factory’s parent company, United Technologies, to preserve 1,100 of the Indianapolis jobs. Then the union leader heard from Carrier that only 730 of the production jobs would stay and 550 of his members would lose their livelihoods, after all. At the Dec. 1 meeting, where Trump was supposed to lay out the details, Jones hoped he would explain himself. 'But he got up there,' Jones said Tuesday, 'and, for whatever reason, lied his a-- off.' In front of a crowd of about 150 supervisors, production workers and reporters, Trump praised Carrier and its parent company, United Technologies. 'Now they’re keeping — actually the number’s over 1,100 people,' he said, 'which is so great.'"
- I'm a Democrat but I've gotta admit it's now Trump 2, Dems 0 (Fox News) "What academics and my party don’t understand is that he’s [Trump] not interested in starting a war. He simply recognizes that we’re already in one. And he’s giving voice to its long-suffering victims: millions of voters in places like North Carolina, Ohio, and Michigan."
- Obama, in Major National Security Speech, Defends Counterterrorism Legacy (NYT)
POLITICS:
- Democrats Turn to an Unlikely Ally: Big Business (Ozy) "Working through the private sector may be the only option for Democrats to advance such progressive efforts as equal pay, paid family leave and worker protection, among others. And lawmakers may find the largest corporate behemoths surprisingly willing to listen, in part because companies are looking for ways to restore consumer trust after a series of scandals deepened the chasm between Wall Street and Main Street." and Tony Perkins Backs #DumpKelloggs: After Election Defeat, Left Will ‘Use Corporate America to Marginalize Conservative Thought’ (Breitbart)
SPORTS:
- What's a strength coach worth? It can hardly be quantified (USA Today) "But the rise in compensation, and the newfound attention paid to strength coaches, is tied to the increasing awareness of the important role they hold within major-college programs. While on-field head coaches and assistants run the show from August through the end of each season, it’s on strength coaches to take ownership of those offseason months so crucial to a team’s overall development."
TECHNOLOGY:
- Artificial Intelligence Is More Artificial Than Intelligent (Wired) "The fact is, no existing AI technologies can master even the simplest challenges without human-provided context. As long as this is the case, today’s version of AI is not actually 'intelligent' and won’t be the silver bullet for any of our business or societal problems. And claiming so as a business or reporting so as a journalist is counterproductive and misleading." and Artificial Intelligence Just Broke Steve Jobs’ Wall of Secrecy (Wired)
- Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal. (NYT) "The only information Signal stores about users in its database is the last time someone connected to its server and when a person signed up for Signal. Other messaging apps maintain pieces of personal data on their servers."
- The Gadget Apocalypse Is Upon Us (NYT) "What happened to gadgets? It’s a fascinating story about tech progress, international manufacturing and shifting consumer preferences, and it all ends in a sad punch line: Great gadget companies are now having a harder time than ever getting off the ground. The gadget age is over — and even if that’s a kind of progress, because software now fills many of our needs, the great gadgetapocalypse is bound to make the tech world, and your life, a little less fun."
- Donald Trump Summons Tech Leaders to a Round-Table Meeting (NYT)
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- Mr. Trump: Here’s Why You Really Want to Spend $4 Billion on Air Force One (Wired)
Sign up for email distribution of the Day's Most Compelling News below or by visiting Top of the News
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
NUTHIN' AT THE 'TOP OF THE NEWS' TODAY
TOP OF THE NEWS:
- NUTHIN'!
BUSINESS:
- Trump sold all shares in companies in June, spokesman says (WaPo) "The sell-off could help address conflict-of-interest worries about his stock portfolio, a sizable part of Trump’s financial life that was worth roughly as much as $40 million as of December 2015, a May disclosure filing shows. Trump’s campaign had given no indication of the sale in the five months since it apparently took place in June. As president, Trump will be subject to the STOCK Act, a law passed in 2012 that requires elected officials, including the president, to publicly disclose any stock transactions worth at least $1,000 within 45 days." and When It Comes To Wealthy Leaders, World Abounds With Cautionary Tales (NPR) "'Most of the time, they win, and for exactly the same reason that Trump did, which is [that] people like business people. They think they know how to create jobs and run the economy. It's a kind of white-knight phenomenon,' West says. Many of these politicians succeed by assembling unconventional coalitions and displaying a willingness to think outside the box, West says. But in some cases, their immense wealth can become a problem. 'Over time, people notice that they're not separating their personal businesses from the government,' West says. 'There is corruption. Their friends are getting rich. And by the end, they almost always suffer a big fall in popularity.'"
- High court rules on Apple-Samsung dispute, insider trading case (WaPo)
HEALTH:
- Life in Obamacare’s Dead Zone (NYT) "How these dead zones formed is a matter of unanticipated consequences. The A.C.A.’s architects did not predict that the Supreme Court would rule in 2012 that it was up to each state whether to expand Medicaid eligibility, which is how they imagined Americans with the most modest incomes would receive coverage. Even though the federal government would have helped fund the expansion, 19 states opted for ideological reasons not to do so, arguing that they are pushing back against government bloat and the fostering of dependency. A result was that the residents with the lowest incomes in those 19 states were now caught between two nonoptions: They made too much to qualify for Medicaid, or didn’t qualify at all, but they also made too little for publicly subsidized insurance on the exchanges, their income not high enough to trigger the refundable tax credits and cost-sharing that could make the possibility remotely affordable to someone making just a few dollars above the federal poverty level."
NEWS:
- Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste (WaPo) "But some Pentagon leaders said they fretted that by spotlighting so much waste, the study would undermine their repeated public assertions that years of budget austerity had left the armed forces starved of funds. Instead of providing more money, they said, they worried Congress and the White House might decide to cut deeper. Arnold Punaro, a retired Marine general and former staff director for the Senate Armed Services Committee, said lawmakers block even modest attempts to downsize the Pentagon’s workforce because they do not want to lose jobs in their districts.
- Bob Dole Worked Behind the Scenes on Trump-Taiwan Call (NYT) "Mr. Dole, a lobbyist with the Washington law firm Alston & Bird, coordinated with Mr. Trump’s campaign and the transition team to set up a series of meetings between Mr. Trump’s advisers and officials in Taiwan, according to disclosure documents filed last week with the Justice Department. Mr. Dole also assisted in Taiwan’s successful efforts to include language favorable to it in the Republican Party platform, according to the documents. Mr. Dole’s firm received $140,000 from May to October for the work, according to the documents. The documents suggest that President-elect Trump’s decision to take a telephone call from the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, was less a ham-handed diplomatic gaffe and more the result of a well-orchestrated plan by Taiwan, one that sought to use the election of a new president to deepen its relationship with the United States — with an assist from a seasoned lobbyist well versed in the machinery of Washington."
- Trump Fires Adviser’s Son From Transition for Spreading Fake News (NYT) "Hours after the episode, the younger Mr. Flynn, 33, went on Twitter to say that until 'Pizzagate' was proved false, it remained a story. On Tuesday morning, after the post had attracted national attention and it was reported that Mr. Flynn had a transition team email address, Vice President-elect Mike Pence denied that Mr. Flynn had ever worked for the team, saying on MSNBC’s 'Morning Joe' that he had 'no involvement in the transition whatsoever.' But later in the morning, Jason Miller, a transition spokesman, tacitly acknowledged that Mr. Flynn had worked for the transition, saying in a conference call that Mr. Flynn was now no longer involved."
- Trump pledges to pull back in Middle East, lean in against ISIS (Politico) "Trump said he would oversee a full modernization and expansion of military equipment. 'All men and women in uniform will have the supplies, support, equipment, training, service, medical care and resources they need to get the job done incredibly well and perfectly. You watch,' the president-elect said, adding, 'We don’t want to have a depleted military because we’re all over the place fighting in areas that just we shouldn’t be fighting in. We’re gonna have such a strong, powerful military. It’s not gonna be depleted any longer.'"
POLITICS:
- Republicans have a double standard when it comes to Trump’s threats of ‘retribution’ (WaPo) "In the thick of his re-election campaign in 2012, President Obama devoted six paragraphs in his State of the Union address to his plans to reverse a flow of factory jobs to foreign countries. He called to end tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs, to cut taxes for domestic manufacturers and to levy a minimum tax on multinational corporations. He implored businesses to 'ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country,' and he told Congress 'It is time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas, and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in America. Send me these tax reforms,' Obama said, 'and I will sign them right away.'"
BUSINESS:
- Trump sold all shares in companies in June, spokesman says (WaPo) "The sell-off could help address conflict-of-interest worries about his stock portfolio, a sizable part of Trump’s financial life that was worth roughly as much as $40 million as of December 2015, a May disclosure filing shows. Trump’s campaign had given no indication of the sale in the five months since it apparently took place in June. As president, Trump will be subject to the STOCK Act, a law passed in 2012 that requires elected officials, including the president, to publicly disclose any stock transactions worth at least $1,000 within 45 days." and When It Comes To Wealthy Leaders, World Abounds With Cautionary Tales (NPR) "'Most of the time, they win, and for exactly the same reason that Trump did, which is [that] people like business people. They think they know how to create jobs and run the economy. It's a kind of white-knight phenomenon,' West says. Many of these politicians succeed by assembling unconventional coalitions and displaying a willingness to think outside the box, West says. But in some cases, their immense wealth can become a problem. 'Over time, people notice that they're not separating their personal businesses from the government,' West says. 'There is corruption. Their friends are getting rich. And by the end, they almost always suffer a big fall in popularity.'"
- High court rules on Apple-Samsung dispute, insider trading case (WaPo)
HEALTH:
- Life in Obamacare’s Dead Zone (NYT) "How these dead zones formed is a matter of unanticipated consequences. The A.C.A.’s architects did not predict that the Supreme Court would rule in 2012 that it was up to each state whether to expand Medicaid eligibility, which is how they imagined Americans with the most modest incomes would receive coverage. Even though the federal government would have helped fund the expansion, 19 states opted for ideological reasons not to do so, arguing that they are pushing back against government bloat and the fostering of dependency. A result was that the residents with the lowest incomes in those 19 states were now caught between two nonoptions: They made too much to qualify for Medicaid, or didn’t qualify at all, but they also made too little for publicly subsidized insurance on the exchanges, their income not high enough to trigger the refundable tax credits and cost-sharing that could make the possibility remotely affordable to someone making just a few dollars above the federal poverty level."
NEWS:
- Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste (WaPo) "But some Pentagon leaders said they fretted that by spotlighting so much waste, the study would undermine their repeated public assertions that years of budget austerity had left the armed forces starved of funds. Instead of providing more money, they said, they worried Congress and the White House might decide to cut deeper. Arnold Punaro, a retired Marine general and former staff director for the Senate Armed Services Committee, said lawmakers block even modest attempts to downsize the Pentagon’s workforce because they do not want to lose jobs in their districts.
- Bob Dole Worked Behind the Scenes on Trump-Taiwan Call (NYT) "Mr. Dole, a lobbyist with the Washington law firm Alston & Bird, coordinated with Mr. Trump’s campaign and the transition team to set up a series of meetings between Mr. Trump’s advisers and officials in Taiwan, according to disclosure documents filed last week with the Justice Department. Mr. Dole also assisted in Taiwan’s successful efforts to include language favorable to it in the Republican Party platform, according to the documents. Mr. Dole’s firm received $140,000 from May to October for the work, according to the documents. The documents suggest that President-elect Trump’s decision to take a telephone call from the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, was less a ham-handed diplomatic gaffe and more the result of a well-orchestrated plan by Taiwan, one that sought to use the election of a new president to deepen its relationship with the United States — with an assist from a seasoned lobbyist well versed in the machinery of Washington."
- Trump Fires Adviser’s Son From Transition for Spreading Fake News (NYT) "Hours after the episode, the younger Mr. Flynn, 33, went on Twitter to say that until 'Pizzagate' was proved false, it remained a story. On Tuesday morning, after the post had attracted national attention and it was reported that Mr. Flynn had a transition team email address, Vice President-elect Mike Pence denied that Mr. Flynn had ever worked for the team, saying on MSNBC’s 'Morning Joe' that he had 'no involvement in the transition whatsoever.' But later in the morning, Jason Miller, a transition spokesman, tacitly acknowledged that Mr. Flynn had worked for the transition, saying in a conference call that Mr. Flynn was now no longer involved."
- Trump pledges to pull back in Middle East, lean in against ISIS (Politico) "Trump said he would oversee a full modernization and expansion of military equipment. 'All men and women in uniform will have the supplies, support, equipment, training, service, medical care and resources they need to get the job done incredibly well and perfectly. You watch,' the president-elect said, adding, 'We don’t want to have a depleted military because we’re all over the place fighting in areas that just we shouldn’t be fighting in. We’re gonna have such a strong, powerful military. It’s not gonna be depleted any longer.'"
POLITICS:
- Republicans have a double standard when it comes to Trump’s threats of ‘retribution’ (WaPo) "In the thick of his re-election campaign in 2012, President Obama devoted six paragraphs in his State of the Union address to his plans to reverse a flow of factory jobs to foreign countries. He called to end tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs, to cut taxes for domestic manufacturers and to levy a minimum tax on multinational corporations. He implored businesses to 'ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country,' and he told Congress 'It is time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas, and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in America. Send me these tax reforms,' Obama said, 'and I will sign them right away.'"
- House G.O.P. Signals Break With Trump Over Tariff Threat (NYT) "House Republican leaders — in a major policy break with President-elect Donald J. Trump — signaled on Monday that they would not support his threat to impose a heavy tax on companies that move jobs overseas, the first significant confrontation over conservative economic orthodoxy that Mr. Trump relishes trampling.
SCIENCE:
- News Report on Global Temperatures Is Wrong, Scientists Say (NYT) "The report, which first appeared in the British tabloid The Daily Mail and was summarized in Breitbart News, the right-wing opinion and news site, cited incomplete data and drew incorrect conclusions, the scientists said. Scientists said the news media reports were also faulty in that they cited only temperatures over land, which account for about 30 percent of the earth’s surface. Temperatures over land are much more variable than those over water because land stores relatively little heat. 'If you’re going to be making global-scale assessments,' Dr. Arndt said, 'you need to be looking at global-scale data.'"
TECHNOLOGY:
- Facebook and Other Tech Companies Seek to Curb Flow of Terrorist Content (NYT) "The group plans to create a kind of shared digital database, “fingerprinting” all of the terrorist content that is flagged. By collectively tracking that information, the companies said they could make sure a video posted on Twitter, for instance, did not appear later on Facebook." and Europe Presses American Tech Companies to Tackle Hate Speech (NYT)
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- The Pessimist’s Guide to 2017 (Bloomberg)
- How Many Crimes Would Santa Be Guilty of if He Were Real? (Ozy)
Sign up for email distribution of the Day's Most Compelling News below or by visiting Top of the News
SCIENCE:
- News Report on Global Temperatures Is Wrong, Scientists Say (NYT) "The report, which first appeared in the British tabloid The Daily Mail and was summarized in Breitbart News, the right-wing opinion and news site, cited incomplete data and drew incorrect conclusions, the scientists said. Scientists said the news media reports were also faulty in that they cited only temperatures over land, which account for about 30 percent of the earth’s surface. Temperatures over land are much more variable than those over water because land stores relatively little heat. 'If you’re going to be making global-scale assessments,' Dr. Arndt said, 'you need to be looking at global-scale data.'"
TECHNOLOGY:
- Facebook and Other Tech Companies Seek to Curb Flow of Terrorist Content (NYT) "The group plans to create a kind of shared digital database, “fingerprinting” all of the terrorist content that is flagged. By collectively tracking that information, the companies said they could make sure a video posted on Twitter, for instance, did not appear later on Facebook." and Europe Presses American Tech Companies to Tackle Hate Speech (NYT)
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- The Pessimist’s Guide to 2017 (Bloomberg)
- How Many Crimes Would Santa Be Guilty of if He Were Real? (Ozy)
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