All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[SquirrelMan]

Calling the publication unfit to be seen by children and unsuitable for minors, Rio de Janeiro’s mayor, Marcelo Crivella, has ordered Marvel comic book "Children's Crusade" to be withdrawn from sale at the Rio International Book Fair. Because of Hulkling and Wiccan kissing, fully dressed.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...rities-1237461

[Tami]

Good grief. I may need an intervention. Trump challenger Joe Walsh, who as I recall is no prize himself, actually sounded sane at times on Bill Maher tonight. Well, more sane than Trump anyway. These are strange times we are living in.

He was on MSNBC,The Beat, as well and yeah compared to Trump he sounds sane. He's not denying his past, he's owning up to it.

[SquirrelMan]

He was on MSNBC,The Beat, as well and yeah compared to Trump he sounds sane. He's not denying his past, he's owning up to it.

You don't magically stop being a racist because saying so makes you more electable.

[InformationGeek]

Well, it many not really matter with Joe Walsh, because...

Four states are poised to cancel their 2020 GOP presidential primaries and caucuses, a move that would cut off oxygen to Donald Trump’s long-shot primary challengers.

Republican parties in South Carolina, Nevada, Arizona and Kansas are expected to finalize the cancellations in meetings this weekend, according to three GOP officials who are familiar with the plans.

The moves are the latest illustration of Trump’s takeover of the entire Republican Party apparatus. They underscore the extent to which his allies are determined to snuff out any potential nuisance en route to his renomination — or even to deny Republican critics a platform to embarrass him.

Trump advisers are quick to point out that parties of an incumbent president seeking reelection have a long history of canceling primaries and note it will save state parties money. But the president’s primary opponents, who have struggled to gain traction, are crying foul, calling it part of a broader effort to rig the contest in Trump’s favor.

[worstblogever]

Well, it many not really matter with Joe Walsh, because...

The Republican Party aren't even championing democracy for their own voters in primaries, and are rigging elections for... Trump.

I mean, wouldn't it be smarter to rig the f***ing thing so someone sane won, instead? They're riding this elevator all the way to the bottom.

[Theleviathan]

You don't magically stop being a racist because saying so makes you more electable.

No....but I do hope we can allow people to be better if they genuinely want to be. Maybe Walsh is standing in the heat of those outrageous past comments merely for electability....or maybe he has learned to be better. I don't think we should outright dismiss that possibility. Ultimately, what's the goal of striving for a better world if we can't hold out for change?

Plus, this guy has zero fucking chance. Given that, it seems odd to be willing to stand in front of the public, asked about what an asshole you acted like over and over and over again unless you were, at least on some level, genuinely different.

[SquirrelMan]

Most people don't ever change, though.

[Hypestyle]

Author Walter Mosley Quits 'Star Trek: Discovery' After Using N-Word in Writers Room
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/li...s-room-1237489

Producers CBS TV Studios responded to the acclaimed writer and author in a statement provided to The Hollywood Reporter: "We are committed to supporting a workplace where employees feel free to express concerns and where they feel comfortable performing their best work."
Author Walter Mosley penned an op-ed for The New York Times, published on Friday, in which he revealed that he quit his job as a writer on a television series after he was "chastised" by human resources for using the N-word on the job.

Although Mosley, who is black, did not reveal which show he departed, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that it was CBS All Access' Star Trek: Discovery. That series, renewed in February for its third season with its third showrunner, has experienced serious issues of abusive language in its writers room in the past.

[Dalak]

A couple of stories about how climate change directly affects us humans, as opposed to the weather/sea levels/crop growing/energy usage:

How High Heat Can Impact Mental Health

Duckworth says prescribed medications are a major factor. If a patient is on anti-psychotics, for example, the medication can interfere with the body's ability to regulate temperature, leading to dehydration or heat stroke, he says.

"Heat is hard on human beings. Extreme temperatures are hard on human beings," Duckworth said. "The particular vulnerability is if you're taking psychiatric medicines, that can actually make the condition higher risk for you."

One example is Lithium, a drug used to treat bipolar disorder, which Duckworth says can increase the risk of dehydration, especially on hotter days.

Andrea Landry-Brown used to take Lithium and several other drugs to manage her post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder and anxiety. When she lived in California, the combination of heat and prescription medicines ramped up her symptoms in a way she'd never experienced before.

"I'm driving down the street and I literally saw people walking in front of my car," Landry-Brown says. As she stopped to wait for the people she saw to pass, her kids in the backseat told her to keep moving.

"I'm like, 'You don't see all [the] people in the street?' She says her kids responded, "'Mom, there's nobody there.'"

The hotter the planet grows, the less children are learning

Extreme heat lowers a child’s ability to learn, according to an examination of 10 million American students that shows hotter school days reduce standardized test scores. Based on the analysis, every 1-degree-Fahrenheit increase in average outdoor temperature over a school year reduces student learning by 1 percent.

“There’s been quite a few media reports and anecdotal reports about teachers noticing that students weren’t able to focus on hotter days,” said R. Jisung Park, an environmental and labor economist at UCLA’s department of Public Policy and the Luskin Center for Innovation who co-led the analysis in a forthcoming paper* in American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. “My co-authors and I were looking to ask the question of, ‘does a hotter climate during the school year actually affect the rate of learning?”

That’s exactly what they found. The drops in academic achievement couldn’t be explained by hotter weekends or hotter summers, but the trend was connected to higher temperatures on school days alone.

One obvious remedy is air conditioning, so the team conducted what would become the first nationwide assessment of A/C access at schools. They found air conditioning could almost completely reverse the academic damage caused by warming. But paying to install air conditioning would cost many of these already-strapped school districts millions of dollars, the study estimates.

[Iron Maiden]

Most people don't ever change, though.

I know you're are qualifying that by saying "most" but what about Senator and former KKK member Robert Byrd? All I can say is watch his latest appearances. At the worst, he's a lying opportunist like Trump. But if he is really doing this, then good for him. There should be more GOP willing to "see the light" on things like climate change, or that are willing to speak out about Trump, even it is part of a campaign stumping

He was on MSNBC,The Beat, as well and yeah compared to Trump he sounds sane. He's not denying his past, he's owning up to it.

Thanks for posting this. Now I know I'm not as crazy as I thought

[jetengine]

I think the issue is that its most likely a cynical attempt at getting a presidential nominations

[Tami]

You don't magically stop being a racist because saying so makes you more electable.

He never said that he wasn't racist, he never said he was. He just said that he holds certain beliefs and leaves it to others to judge. He's not looking for absolution, I don't think he expects to win, to me it just sounds like he hates Trump as much as Democrats do and is doing what he can to throw a monkey wrench in the next election.

Not defending him, no way in heck. But if he can get Trump's poll numbers with Republicans down, it could help get him out of office in 2020.

[Tendrin]

The Republican Party aren't even championing democracy for their own voters in primaries, and are rigging elections for... Trump.

I mean, wouldn't it be smarter to rig the f***ing thing so someone sane won, instead? They're riding this elevator all the way to the bottom.

"Meanwhile, in what an ACTUALLY rigged primary looks like..."

[Robotman]

Does this sound familiar?

"Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right."

George Orwell, 1984

[Malvolio]

He was on MSNBC,The Beat, as well and yeah compared to Trump he sounds sane. He's not denying his past, he's owning up to it.

I'd still like to hear an apology from him for some of the nasty things he said about President Obama.