Thursday, May 17, 2018

And another day of plea deals, memos, chemicals, and knowing the difference between HIV and HPV (well, for most people, anyway) comes to a close:

“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.” -- Paul McCartney / John Lennon

Paul Manafort's former son-in-law reportedly cuts plea deal with feds.

Mueller's office files unredacted memo outlining scope of Russia probe: filing.

Senate confirms Gina Haspel as CIA director in 54-45 vote. Two Republicans voted no on Haspel's confirmation and six Democrats voted yes. Four of the six Democrats are up for reelection in states which voted for President Trump in 2016.

Donald Trump and the disturbing power of dehumanizing language. History and psychological science show us that when we refer to people as “animals” or anything other than “people,” it flips a mental switch in our minds. It allows us to deny empathy to other people, makes us feel numb to their pain, and lets us forgive ourselves for causing them harm.

Wednesday was a busy and bad news day for Michael Cohen. Here’s what we learned.

Trump Twice Asked Bill Gates What The Difference Was Between HIV And HPV. Twice. Jesus. Christ. He snowed all of you that voted for him. He’s really as dumb as a rock--which is an insult to rocks, of course.

Noisy babies at a birthday party spark AK-47 gunfire, 5-hour standoff, Oregon cops say. More guns, or guns in everyone’s hands, is obviously the answer.

Politicians move to get lawyer caught in viral video making anti-immigrant rant disbarred. The guy’s a fucking asshole.

Study finds massive amounts of a banned, ozone-depleting chemical in atmosphere.

Child abuse case in California spotlights lack of oversight of home schooling.

An Oregon teenager who admitted his fireworks started a blaze in the Columbia River Gorge faces the possibility of paying $37 million in restitution. At $3600 an hour--a dollar a second--for twenty four hours a day, this would take around 425.5 days to pay in full.

GOP congressman asks if rocks are causing sea levels to rise. You know, by “erosion” and the rocks falling into the sea. The level of stupid is high with this one.

For 400 months in a row, the Earth has been warmer than 20th century average.

New eruption at Hawaii Kilauea volcano prompts evacuation, produces volcanic ash cloud higher than Mount Everest.

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo has spread to an urban area.

A promising new Ebola vaccine is about to be put to the test.

The FDA has approved the first drug designed to prevent chronic migraines.

Your hotel swimming pool may be carrying germs that can get you sick, new study says.

“Health is not valued until sickness comes.” -- Thomas Fuller

Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.

Until next time, my friends. Good night.