;)
December 3, 2022
Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Biden signed legislation on Friday to impose a labor agreement between rail companies and workers who had been locked in a bitter dispute, averting a strike that could have upended the economy just before the holiday season. 'Without freight rail, many U.S. industries would literally shut down,' Mr. Biden said before signing the bill, adding that many communities would not have received crucial resources during the strike. 'Thanks to the bill Congress passed and what I'm about to sign, we spared the country that catastrophe.' Mr. Biden had called on Congress earlier this week to intervene in the stalemate and avoid the work stoppage that could have cost the economy $2 billion a day. It was a significant move for Mr. Biden, a staunch union backer who has previously argued against congressional intervention in railway labor disputes, arguing that it unfairly interferes with union bargaining efforts.: (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden met Prince William of Wales, the future king of Britain, for a gaze over the Boston harbor on Friday, capping an unusually glamorous week for a president who takes pride in the humble moniker of 'Scranton Joe.'... The prince and his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales, were in town to celebrate the Earthshot Prize, the award they created to encourage work addressing climate change.... After chatting with the prince, Mr. Biden made sure to nod to the blue-collar workers of the Bay State. He visited the University of Massachusetts Boston for a phone bank organized by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to support Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia...."
"Silence Is Complicity." Kelly Hooper of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Friday called on political leaders to reject antisemitism 'wherever it hides,' just a day after the rapper Ye, better known as Kanye West, went on a tirade praising Adolf Hitler and Nazis. 'I just want to make a few things clear: The Holocaust happened. Hitler was a demonic figure,' Biden said in a tweet. 'And instead of giving it a platform, our political leaders should be calling out and rejecting antisemitism wherever it hides. Silence is complicity.'... [People] close to the White House framed the president's tweet as an effort to combat political forces being elevated by ... Donald Trump, who dined with Ye and the white nationalist Nick Fuentes shortly before Thanksgiving.
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Pentagon and defense contractor Northrop Grumman unveiled the U.S. military's bomber of the future on Friday, showcasing an aircraft cloaked in secrecy for years and set to serve as a backbone of Air Force combat operations for decades to come. The B-21 Raider, with a distinctive batwing shape, was pulled forward out of a hangar [in Palmdale, Calif.,] while awash in blue light as cinematic music played and Northrop Grumman employees cheered. The ceremony was held at the company's facility at Air Force Plant 42, a heavily guarded, government-owned manufacturing facility north of Los Angeles, where some of the military's most highly classified work occurs."
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "As Republicans prepare to take over the House, they clearly see one of their highest missions as transforming >the lower chamber into Donald Trump's 24/7 personal shield against accountability. They are signaling plans for 'investigations' next year designed chiefly to discredit revelations about Trump's effort to destroy U.S. democracy.... In a letter dripping with a contrived, ominous tone, [Rep. Kevin McCarthy] ... instructed [January 6] committee chair Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) to 'preserve all records collected and transcripts of testimony taken,' suggesting Republicans intend to scrutinize those findings in the majority.... McCarthy wrote that Republicans want those materials preserved 'with an eye toward encouraged enforcement of 18 USC 1001,' with no further comment.... That statute criminalizes lying to Congress. From that, I think, we can glean what might be one of the House GOP's coming schemes: Dig through transcripts and other material to twist committee findings into 'proof' that key elements of the anti-Trump testimony were deceptive, or even perjury."
Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Two of Donald Trump's top White House lawyers appeared before at least one grand jury Friday, visiting the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. amid multiple criminal probes involving the former president. Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone exited the courthouse just before 2:30 p.m., spending about six hours behind closed doors. His former deputy, Pat Philbin, departed just after 4 p.m., spending about four hours with the grand jury.... For Trump, Cipollone's appearance marks the latest setback in an extraordinary run of catastrophic legal and political developments.... Several other former Trump White House advisers have appeared before the grand jury in recent weeks, including Trump social media aide Dan Scavino and two former aides to ex-vice president Mike Pence."
Fascist Fabulist & Seditionist Leader Endorses Violent Insurrectionists. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump expressed solidarity with the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sending a video of support to a fundraising event Thursday night hosted by a group called the Patriot Freedom Project that is supporting families of those being prosecuted by the government. 'People have been treated unconstitutionally, in my opinion, and very, very unfairly, and we're going to get to the bottom of it,' he said in the video.'... 'It's the weaponization of the Department of Justice, and we can't let this happen in our country.'... Trump repeatedly has made clear that he stands with the mob that stormed the Capitol to stop Congress from counting the electoral votes for Joe Biden's win in the 2020 presidential election." (Also linked yesterday.)
Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump knew about a 15-year tax fraud carried out by longtime executives at his namesake company, a prosecutor argued Friday, saying the illegal activity ended when the company cleaned up its business practices around the time Trump entered the White House.... 'This whole narrative that Donald Trump was blissfully ignorant was just not real,' Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said during his summation. He asked jurors, who are likely to begin deliberations in the case on Monday, to dismiss the idea that executives who committed crimes had simply gone 'rogue.'... In a Truth Social post earlier this week, Trump appeared to refute any suggestion he knew what [Trump CFO Allen] Weisselberg and [comptroller Jeffrey] McConney had done, writing that there 'was no gain for "Trump"' and that 'we had know knowledge of it.'" MB: The royal we had know knowledge. Nitwit. (Also linked yesterday.)
Guardian & Agencies: "Emmanuel Macron said he had a 'clear and honest' discussion with Elon Musk about Twitter's content moderation policies, just a day after the French president had flagged his concerns on the issue. 'Transparent user policies, significant reinforcement of content moderation and protection of freedom of speech: efforts have to be made by Twitter to comply with European regulations,' Macron said in a tweet after his meeting with Musk on Friday afternoon.... On Thursday, Macron ... said in an interview with television show Good Morning America that he believed there were 'responsibilities and limits' to free speech." ~~~
~~~ Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Friday, Rolling Stone reported that under Elon Musk's new Twitter policies, one of the world's most notorious neo-Nazi activists has had his account restored to the platform: Andrew Anglin, the founder of the infamous website Stormfront.... 'Anglin is a staunch supporter of Nazi ideology and regularly espouses Holocaust denial. In 2018, Anglin wrote that he '[hates] women. I think they deserve to be beaten, raped and locked in cages."'" ~~~
~~~ Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "Elon Musk's Twitter is beginning to take shape. A 'general amnesty' has restored hundreds of accounts of right-wing activists and QAnon adherents, according to data reviewed by NBC News. The reinstatement of far-right accounts has coincided with a series of bans of left-wing accounts, leaving users unsure of how the company is now applying its rules." ~~~
~~~ Hate Tweets Soar. Sherra Frenkel & Kate Conger of the New York Times: "Before Elon Musk bought Twitter, slurs against Black Americans showed up on the social media service an average of 1,282 times a day. After the billionaire became Twitter's owner, they jumped to 3,876 times a day. Slurs against gay men appeared on Twitter 2,506 times a day on average before Mr. Musk took over. Afterward, their use rose to 3,964 times a day. And antisemitic posts referring to Jews or Judaism soared more than 61 percent in the two weeks after Mr. Musk acquired the site. These findings -- from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the Anti-Defamation League and other groups that study online platforms -- provide the most comprehensive picture to date of how conversations on Twitter have changed since Mr. Musk completed his $44 billion deal for the company in late October. While the numbers are relatively small, researchers said the increases were atypically high." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "The Infowars fabulist Alex Jones filed for Chapter 11 personal bankruptcy on Friday, citing nearly $1.5 billion in damages juries awarded this year to the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims, who won a series of defamation cases against Mr. Jones after he lied for years about the school shooting. The filing in the Southern District of Texas in Houston comes atop the bankruptcy filing by Free Speech Systems, Infowars' parent company, in late July. The new filing could further delay payment of the verdicts for the families, who would need to seek payment through the bankruptcy courts alongside other creditors. But it could also force a greater degree of scrutiny on the finances of Mr. Jones's empire." The Texas Tribune's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Andrew Roth of the Guardian: "Edward Snowden has received a Russian passport after swearing an oath of allegiance to the country that has sheltered him from US authorities since 2013, his lawyer has said. Snowden, 39, a former intelligence contractor who leaked secret files that were reported on by the Guardian, was granted Russian citizenship in an order signed by Vladimir Putin in September."
2024 Presidential Election. Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "Over objections from some Democratic leaders, the Democratic National Committee on Friday moved one step closer to enacting President Biden's vision for drastically overhauling the party's 2024 presidential primary process, as a key committee voted to recommend sweeping changes to the calendar. At a daylong gathering of the D.N.C.'s Rules and Bylaws Committee in a Washington hotel ballroom, members voted to recommend supporting a 2024 Democratic presidential primary calendar that would begin in South Carolina on Feb. 3, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on Feb. 6, Georgia on Feb. 13 and then Michigan on Feb. 27. That plan reflected a framework Mr. Biden delivered to the committee on Thursday that emphasized racial and geographic diversity. Representatives from Iowa and New Hampshire voted against the proposal.: (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
New York. Jeffery Mays, et al., of the New York Times: Ibrahim Khan, "the longtime chief of staff to Letitia James, the New York attorney general, has resigned amid an investigation into at least two separate sexual harassment allegations, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.... Mr. Khan, who has been one of Ms. James's closest political advisers for nearly a decade, was accused of inappropriate touching and unwanted kissing by at least one woman.... One of the women who filed a complaint was told on Friday that her allegation of inappropriate touching and unwanted kissing had been substantiated." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "The Biden administration is prepared to restart talks with Russia over a nuclear arms treaty despite the Kremlin's decision to postpone negotiations planned for earlier this week, the State Department said Friday. The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty is the sole remaining strategic nuclear arms control treaty between Washington and Moscow, but its future has been called into question as tensions rise over the war in Ukraine. Also Friday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said it was nearing a deal between Ukraine and Russia to protect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Russia seized the facility soon after it invaded, and repeated shelling at and around the site has raised fears of a global nuclear catastrophe.... The European Union, Group of Seven nations and Australia all agreed Friday to limit the price of Russian oil, a measure the Biden administration called 'welcome news' that will take effect Monday. It remains unclear whether the move will seriously hit Moscow's finances in the near term, since the $60-per-barrel cap is so close to current prices. The Kremlin dismissed the idea of talks between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and President Biden to end the war.... Russian authorities are calling on residents in some occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia to register with authorities, potentially for 'possible evacuation,' Ivan Fedorov, the exiled Ukrainian mayor of the occupied city of Melitopol, said Friday."
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Reader Comments (7)
Turn off the Dolby, add hiss.
Back in my Rock and Roll days, through the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, there came about some major improvements in the domain of audio recording. Going into a studio to record anything, demos, whatever, meant having to deal with crappy sound. The problem, in most instances, had to do with stuff like tape hiss and audio artifacts like high volume distortion. Now distortion is not always a terrible thing for rockers, plenty of stomp boxes bought by guitar players introduced it (see opening notes of “Purple Haze”, eg). But unwanted distortion was right out. Ugh.
Then along came Dolby Labs, a company that produced those awesome Dolby black boxes that could dramatically reduce noise, tape hiss, the occasional weird audio artifacts and other detriments to a clean recording. It was great. Your tapes no longer sounded like you were recording under a highway overpass at rush hour.
Then came the jokes. Our newly comforted ears became used to clean audio, so much so that when you’d hear crappy stuff, it was doubly insulting to those ears.
One joke went along the lines of “Did you hear that record? WTF was that? Sounded like they turned off the Dolby and ADDED hiss.”
This is Twitter right now.
Okay, the audio was never perfectly clean, a lot of crap—too much—still made it to the final mixdown, but the “audio engineers” were trying.
Not no more. Musk has fired the engineers. He’s taken a sledge hammer to the noise suppression equipment. He loves all those nasty sounds.
He’s turned off the Dolby and added hiss. Nazi hiss.
@Ak: My old granny would have said "he's having a hissy fit."
I can still remember their radio. It was about 2 feet taller than I was
and more noise than information.
Forrest,
You nailed it. The number is called S/N, signal to noise ratio. It’s a measurement of desired information to crap that gets in the way. In political terms, signal to noise measures useful stuff you want (truth, accuracy) to noisy, cacophonous bullshit that obscures it (anything from Republicans).
Political S/N describes the way traitor noise tries to drown out everything else. Pretty soon we’ll see a variant on the S/N ratio: the S/HBLN: signal to Hunter Biden Laptop Noise. It’ll be off the charts.
By the way, I loved those scratchy old radio noises. Back in the days of analog transmissions, you would put up with a ton of noise if the signal was important enough. I remember trying to listen to baseball games on my little 9V transistor radio as a kid. You’d fiddle with the dial to keep the signal at least within listenable levels and you didn’t care how scratchy the sound as long as you could make out what was happening. You can’t do that with digital technology. It’s either on or off. Remember going over to the TV to fool with the rabbit ears to keep the picture from flickering? Can’t do that today.
Ah, thim was the days, as Mr. Dooley might say.
Just bought three postage stamps with pocket change. I could handle that. Counted out the change myself and got it right the first time.
But this "cap" on Russia oil has me puzzled. How was it determined? How will it be implemented? What good will it do?
So I looked it up.
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/what-to-expect-from-the-new-russian-oil-price-cap/
Still don't quite get it. Will it have a real economic effect for consumers or on the Russian economy. Or is it more a show of political rather than economic force?
A lot of what ifs in the Atlantic Council account, so I still have many questions.
I'm better at postage stamps.
Hey, hold on! Ed Snowden gets a Russian passport? What about Fatty? He was Putin’s handpicked, election-meddled puppet chosen to help kneecap American democratic institutions, a task he attended to with the same assiduously authoritarian fervor one could expect from a fervent hater of western democracy (and systems that automatically praise his exalted Fred Trump created position).
As an extra lagniappe, Uncle Don Stalin went out of his way to attack NATO and nations aligned against Russian aggression and hegemony, and pissing on US security and intelligence services that dared to point out Putin’s lies.
I mean, how can Ed Snowden compete with that? That’s Order of Lenin material.
And what about MTG, “My Kevin”, and the panoply of Party of Traitor would-be facilitators of Ukraine destruction?
Shouldn’t they all get a parade and colorful wiggly medals when Putin drags Zelensky’s body through Red Square? I can picture MTG rushing down from the Kremlin parapets to plant a triumphal anti-democratic boot on his prone form.
“My Kevin” might blow off that triumphal traitor traducement if he spies Hunter Biden’s laptop in his peri-feral vision.
Such is what we have to look forward to.
@Ken Winkes: New York Times reporters explain more than I wanted to know about the EU's $60/bbl cap on Russian oil prices. There would be loopholes.
Thanks, Marie
Confirms what I gathered from the account I linked, this one with a better explanation of the loopholes that are clearly large enough to float a flotilla of tanker through.
I'll call the "cap" a diplomatic success and leave it at that.