Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Climate & Weather:
The Independent (UK) - Climate change is altering global air currents – increasing droughts, heatwaves and floods
"One of the scientists who demonstrated conclusively that global warming was an unnatural event with the famous “hockey stick” graph is now warning that giant jetstreams which circle the planet are being altered by climate change. Professor Michael Mann said extreme weather events – such as the “unprecedented” drought in California last year, the flooding in Pakistan in 2010 and the heatwave in Europe in 2003 – were happening more often than they should do, even taking the warming climate into account. This, he said, meant there had to be an additional factor. Jetstreams are influenced by the difference in temperatures between the Arctic and the equator. But the Arctic has been warming much faster than tropical climates – the island of Svalbard, for example was 6.5 degrees celsius warmer last year compared to the average between 1961 and 1990. The land has also been warming faster than the sea. Both of those factors were changing the flow of these major air currents to create “extreme meanders” which were helping to cause “extreme weather events”, Professor Mann said. Last year, another leading climate scientist warned that the rapid rate of warming in the Arctic could have a “catastrophic” effect on the weather in the northern hemisphere..."
The Independent (UK) - Climate change is altering global air currents – increasing droughts, heatwaves and floods
"One of the scientists who demonstrated conclusively that global warming was an unnatural event with the famous “hockey stick” graph is now warning that giant jetstreams which circle the planet are being altered by climate change. Professor Michael Mann said extreme weather events – such as the “unprecedented” drought in California last year, the flooding in Pakistan in 2010 and the heatwave in Europe in 2003 – were happening more often than they should do, even taking the warming climate into account. This, he said, meant there had to be an additional factor. Jetstreams are influenced by the difference in temperatures between the Arctic and the equator. But the Arctic has been warming much faster than tropical climates – the island of Svalbard, for example was 6.5 degrees celsius warmer last year compared to the average between 1961 and 1990. The land has also been warming faster than the sea. Both of those factors were changing the flow of these major air currents to create “extreme meanders” which were helping to cause “extreme weather events”, Professor Mann said. Last year, another leading climate scientist warned that the rapid rate of warming in the Arctic could have a “catastrophic” effect on the weather in the northern hemisphere..."
Friday, March 10, 2017
Trumpcare < Obamacare:
Paul Krugman: A Bill So Bad It's Awesome
"...Given the rhetoric Republicans have used over the past seven years to attack health reform, you might have expected them to do away with the whole structure of the Affordable Care Act — deregulate, de-subsidize and let the magic of the free market do its thing. This would have been devastating for the 20 million Americans who gained coverage thanks to the act, but at least it would have been ideologically consistent. But Republican leaders weren’t willing to bite that bullet. What they came up with instead was a dog’s breakfast that conservatives are, with some justice, calling Obamacare 2.0. But a better designation would be Obamacare 0.5, because it’s a half-baked plan that accepts the logic and broad outline of the Affordable Care Act while catastrophically weakening key provisions. If enacted, the bill would almost surely lead to a death spiral of soaring premiums and collapsing coverage. Which makes you wonder, what’s the point?..."
Failing Infrastructure:
Reuters: U.S. Infrastructure Gets D-Plus Grade in Civil Engineers' Report Card, Again
"U.S. infrastructure was given a near-failing grade of D-plus by an engineering association on Thursday, a repeat of a rating that could give momentum to President Donald Trump's vow of a $1 trillion investment to rebuild everything from roads to dams. The D+ grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) is unchanged from its last report card in 2013, suggesting that only minor progress had been made in improving public works. The ASCE estimated in a statement that the United States needed to invest $4.59 trillion by 2025 to bring its infrastructure to an adequate B- grade, a figure about $2 trillion higher than current funding levels..."
Paul Krugman: A Bill So Bad It's Awesome
"...Given the rhetoric Republicans have used over the past seven years to attack health reform, you might have expected them to do away with the whole structure of the Affordable Care Act — deregulate, de-subsidize and let the magic of the free market do its thing. This would have been devastating for the 20 million Americans who gained coverage thanks to the act, but at least it would have been ideologically consistent. But Republican leaders weren’t willing to bite that bullet. What they came up with instead was a dog’s breakfast that conservatives are, with some justice, calling Obamacare 2.0. But a better designation would be Obamacare 0.5, because it’s a half-baked plan that accepts the logic and broad outline of the Affordable Care Act while catastrophically weakening key provisions. If enacted, the bill would almost surely lead to a death spiral of soaring premiums and collapsing coverage. Which makes you wonder, what’s the point?..."
Failing Infrastructure:
Reuters: U.S. Infrastructure Gets D-Plus Grade in Civil Engineers' Report Card, Again
"U.S. infrastructure was given a near-failing grade of D-plus by an engineering association on Thursday, a repeat of a rating that could give momentum to President Donald Trump's vow of a $1 trillion investment to rebuild everything from roads to dams. The D+ grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) is unchanged from its last report card in 2013, suggesting that only minor progress had been made in improving public works. The ASCE estimated in a statement that the United States needed to invest $4.59 trillion by 2025 to bring its infrastructure to an adequate B- grade, a figure about $2 trillion higher than current funding levels..."
Sunday, March 05, 2017
Technology:
Mike Isaac: How Uber Deceives the Authorities Worldwide
"Uber has for years engaged in a worldwide program to deceive the authorities in markets where its low-cost ride-hailing service was resisted by law enforcement or, in some instances, had been banned. The program, involving a tool called Greyball, uses data collected from the Uber app and other techniques to identify and circumvent officials who were trying to clamp down on the ride-hailing service. Uber used these methods to evade the authorities in cities like Boston, Paris and Las Vegas, and in countries like Australia, China and South Korea. Greyball was part of a program called VTOS, short for “violation of terms of service,” which Uber created to root out people it thought were using or targeting its service improperly. The program, including Greyball, began as early as 2014 and remains in use, predominantly outside the United States. Greyball was approved by Uber’s legal team. Greyball and the VTOS program were described to The New York Times by four current and former Uber employees, who also provided documents. The four spoke on the condition of anonymity because the tools and their use are confidential and because of fear of retaliation by Uber. Uber’s use of Greyball was recorded on video in late 2014, when Erich England, a code enforcement inspector in Portland, Ore., tried to hail an Uber car downtown in a sting operation against the company. At the time, Uber had just started its ride-hailing service in Portland without seeking permission from the city, which later declared the service illegal. To build a case against the company, officers like Mr. England posed as riders, opening the Uber app to hail a car and watching as miniature vehicles on the screen made their way toward the potential fares. But unknown to Mr. England and other authorities, some of the digital cars they saw in the app did not represent actual vehicles. And the Uber drivers they were able to hail also quickly canceled. That was because Uber had tagged Mr. England and his colleagues — essentially Greyballing them as city officials — based on data collected from the app and in other ways. The company then served up a fake version of the app, populated with ghost cars, to evade capture..."
Political Thinking:
Charles Peters: I Remember When Appalachia Wasn’t Trump Country
"...In 2016 a majority of West Virginia’s voters supported Donald J. Trump, and many expressed outright hatred of Barack Obama. But when I was last active in the state’s politics, in 1960, the state was a leader in desegregating schools in response to the Brown v. Board of Education decision. John F. Kennedy won the state by a wide margin, and I was one of an overwhelming majority of Democrats elected to the state’s House of Delegates — along with a handful of Republicans. Today that tiny minority is the majority. So how did we get from there to here?... ...Though many Trump voters are, like West Virginia’s coal miners, economically distressed members of the working class, there are also a large number who are comfortably fixed but may not have attended the right schools. The one thing that unites the two groups is resentment of the elite’s snobbery and moral superiority, which they define as political correctness. Many rich Republican and libertarian members of the elite are also snobs, but Rush Limbaugh and Fox News have convinced Trump voters that the snobs are all from the liberal elite... ...For me, the most maddening failure of the liberal elite was that too many of its members became indifferent to the declining share of corporate income devoted to wages. By the early 1980s, you could see clear evidence of their growing interest in accumulating wealth for themselves, of their focus on corporate profits that would pay them dividends and increase the value of their stocks; “Wall Street Week” soared to popularity on PBS — it was the “Downton Abbey” of its time. Profits have increased since 1980, yet wages have stagnated..."
Mike Isaac: How Uber Deceives the Authorities Worldwide
"Uber has for years engaged in a worldwide program to deceive the authorities in markets where its low-cost ride-hailing service was resisted by law enforcement or, in some instances, had been banned. The program, involving a tool called Greyball, uses data collected from the Uber app and other techniques to identify and circumvent officials who were trying to clamp down on the ride-hailing service. Uber used these methods to evade the authorities in cities like Boston, Paris and Las Vegas, and in countries like Australia, China and South Korea. Greyball was part of a program called VTOS, short for “violation of terms of service,” which Uber created to root out people it thought were using or targeting its service improperly. The program, including Greyball, began as early as 2014 and remains in use, predominantly outside the United States. Greyball was approved by Uber’s legal team. Greyball and the VTOS program were described to The New York Times by four current and former Uber employees, who also provided documents. The four spoke on the condition of anonymity because the tools and their use are confidential and because of fear of retaliation by Uber. Uber’s use of Greyball was recorded on video in late 2014, when Erich England, a code enforcement inspector in Portland, Ore., tried to hail an Uber car downtown in a sting operation against the company. At the time, Uber had just started its ride-hailing service in Portland without seeking permission from the city, which later declared the service illegal. To build a case against the company, officers like Mr. England posed as riders, opening the Uber app to hail a car and watching as miniature vehicles on the screen made their way toward the potential fares. But unknown to Mr. England and other authorities, some of the digital cars they saw in the app did not represent actual vehicles. And the Uber drivers they were able to hail also quickly canceled. That was because Uber had tagged Mr. England and his colleagues — essentially Greyballing them as city officials — based on data collected from the app and in other ways. The company then served up a fake version of the app, populated with ghost cars, to evade capture..."
Political Thinking:
Charles Peters: I Remember When Appalachia Wasn’t Trump Country
"...In 2016 a majority of West Virginia’s voters supported Donald J. Trump, and many expressed outright hatred of Barack Obama. But when I was last active in the state’s politics, in 1960, the state was a leader in desegregating schools in response to the Brown v. Board of Education decision. John F. Kennedy won the state by a wide margin, and I was one of an overwhelming majority of Democrats elected to the state’s House of Delegates — along with a handful of Republicans. Today that tiny minority is the majority. So how did we get from there to here?... ...Though many Trump voters are, like West Virginia’s coal miners, economically distressed members of the working class, there are also a large number who are comfortably fixed but may not have attended the right schools. The one thing that unites the two groups is resentment of the elite’s snobbery and moral superiority, which they define as political correctness. Many rich Republican and libertarian members of the elite are also snobs, but Rush Limbaugh and Fox News have convinced Trump voters that the snobs are all from the liberal elite... ...For me, the most maddening failure of the liberal elite was that too many of its members became indifferent to the declining share of corporate income devoted to wages. By the early 1980s, you could see clear evidence of their growing interest in accumulating wealth for themselves, of their focus on corporate profits that would pay them dividends and increase the value of their stocks; “Wall Street Week” soared to popularity on PBS — it was the “Downton Abbey” of its time. Profits have increased since 1980, yet wages have stagnated..."
Wednesday, March 01, 2017
'Fact Checks' Are The New Normal With Pres. T
Find all AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd
AP: Fact check: Trump takes credit he hasn’t earned in prime-time speech to Congress
"President Donald Trump boasted Tuesday night about corporate job expansion and military cost-savings that actually took root under his predecessor and gave a one-sided account of the costs and benefits to the economy from immigration — ignoring the upside..."
Find all AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd
AP: Fact check: Trump takes credit he hasn’t earned in prime-time speech to Congress
"President Donald Trump boasted Tuesday night about corporate job expansion and military cost-savings that actually took root under his predecessor and gave a one-sided account of the costs and benefits to the economy from immigration — ignoring the upside..."
