And another day with more shootings, seditious conspiracy, the far-right defunding the police, more on FL’s rejection of Black history, FL teachers told to remove books from classrooms, physical activity protecting the brain, M&M's, and ChatGPT passes MBA exam comes to a close:
“Don’t let the GOP tell you they care about women or children or vets or the homeless or the hungry or education or healthcare or infrastructure or absolutely anything other than harming folks they don’t like. The proof is in the pudding. They don’t give a shit.” — Jess Piper
Covid Deaths
US: 1,129,145
World: 6,748,110
Covid Cases
US: 103,888,296
World: 673,506,825
Seven people dead, suspect in custody in Half Moon Bay shooting. A suspect is in custody in connection to separate shootings that left seven people dead and one in critical condition in Half Moon Bay on Monday afternoon.
Police: Man, 18, charged in Des Moines school shooting. An 18-year-old man was charged with murder in Monday’s killing of two teenagers at an alternative educational program for at-risk youth in Des Moines.
“We live in a country so trifling we stop silly cartoon characters from selling candy but not military assault rifles from killing civilians.” — Mrs. Betty Bowers
Four Oath Keepers convicted of Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy. Four members of the Oath Keepers were convicted Monday of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack in the second major trial of far-right extremists accused of plotting to forcibly keep President Donald Trump in power.
How the Freedom Caucus Hopes to Defund the Police. In the caucus’s opening bid to McCarthy last July, it outlined some of the concessions its members would require in exchange for their support for his speakership bid in a new House majority. One of these concessions was the reinstatement of a little-known House procedure called the Holman Rule. McCarthy accepted this and other demands shortly before the House cast the first of our fifteen speaker ballots. So what is the Holman Rule, and why is it so important to hard-right MAGA conservatives?…This creates a mechanism for legislators to, in effect, fire individual federal employees with appropriations riders on must-pass government funding bills. This may sound innocuous enough, but it is important to understand why the Freedom Caucus wanted the rule reinstated so badly. To this end there are two important points to consider: The first has to do with the history of the civil service, the second with Donald Trump.
Florida’s rejection of Black history course stirs debate. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reiterated Monday the state’s rejection of a proposed nationwide advanced African American studies course, saying it pushes a political agenda — something three authors cited in the state’s criticism accused him of doing in return.
DeSantis says Florida rejected new AP course on African American Studies for imposing ‘political agenda’. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday that the state is blocking a new Advanced Placement course on African American Studies because it included the study of “queer theory” and political movements that advocated for “abolishing prisons.”...Many of the objections were tied to the inclusion of texts from modern Black thought leaders and history teachers, whose writings the DeSantis administration believes violate state laws. Florida, under DeSantis, banned the teaching of Critical Race Theory and passed new legislation last year barring instruction that suggests anyone is privileged or oppressed based on their race or skin color. -- DeSantis is showing how much he benefits from white fucking privilege. What a prick. Which is an insult to pricks. Pricks can be useful. DeSantis? Not so much.
Florida teachers told to remove books from classroom libraries or risk felony prosecution. The new policy is part of an effort to comply with new laws and regulations championed by Governor Ron DeSantis (R). It is based on the premise, promoted by right-wing advocacy groups, that teachers and librarians are using books to "groom" students or indoctrinate them with leftist ideologies. — The only indoctrination that is happening is the far-right forcing their hatred of those who are different from them onto children. There is no freedom without the freedom to read.
M&M’s replaces cartoon ‘spokescandies’ with Maya Rudolph after ‘woke’ backlash from Fox News. M&M’s "spokescandies" have provoked the ire of right-wing outlets like Fox News in recent weeks after the company announced a new “Flip the Status Quo” campaign. The campaign, which raised money to support women in creative industries, featured limited-edition candy bags with the three female "spokescandies." -- Fuck Tucker Carlson. Fuck Fox News. Fuck all the hateful people. All of them. Don’t leave any of them out. Fuck them all for being such horrible people.
US proposes once-a-year COVID shots for most Americans. The proposal comes as boosters have become a hard sell. While more than 80% of the U.S. population has had at least one vaccine dose, only 16% of those eligible have received the latest boosters authorized in August. The FDA will ask its panel of outside vaccine experts to weigh in at a meeting Thursday. The agency is expected to take their advice into consideration while deciding future vaccine requirements for manufacturers.
Jewish Law Above All: Recordings Reveal Far-right Knesset Member’s Plan to Turn Israel Into a Theocracy. Deputy Minister Avi Maoz is establishing a government agency that aims to eradicate Israel’s secular identity. Dozens of recordings, speeches and articles by Maoz and his mentor, Rabbi Zvi Thau, reveal their plan to bring Israel ‘closer to redemption’. — Hmmm. Just like the GOP is trying to turn the US into a theocracy.
Eight in 10 people in China caught Covid since early December, say officials. The figure, which equates to about 1.2 billion people, prompted some pandemic experts to estimate that more than 1 million may have died – far more than the government’s official tally of about 72,000.
Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes. As more businesses adopt digital payment methods, customers are automatically being prompted to leave a gratuity — many times as high as 30% — at places they normally wouldn’t. And some say it has become more frustrating as the price of items has skyrocketed due to inflation, which eased to 6.5% in December but still remains painfully high.
Twitter to launch ad-free subscription tier, Elon Musk says. Elon Musk has targeted an increase in subscription revenue as a key part of the social media platform’s business plan under his ownership.
One type of physical activity protects the brain more than others, study finds. Moderate physical activity is typically defined as brisk walking or bicycling or running up and down stairs. Vigorous movement, such as aerobic dancing, jogging, running, swimming and biking up a hill, will boost your heart rate and breathing. The study, published Monday in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, found doing just under 10 minutes of moderate to vigorous exertion each day improved study participants’ working memory but had its biggest impact on executive processes such as planning and organization.
The US Just Greenlit High-Tech Alternatives to Animal Testing. Animal testing has long been necessary for a drug to gain approval by the US Food and Drug Administration—but it may be on its way out. A new law seeks to replace some lab animal use with high-tech alternatives.
ChatGPT passes MBA exam given by a Wharton professor. Professor Christian Terwiesch, who authored the research paper "Would Chat GPT3 Get a Wharton MBA? A Prediction Based on Its Performance in the Operations Management Course," said that the bot scored between a B- and B on the exam. The bot's score, Terwiesch wrote, shows its "remarkable ability to automate some of the skills of highly compensated knowledge workers in general and specifically the knowledge workers in the jobs held by MBA graduates including analysts, managers, and consultants." The bot did an "amazing job at basic operations management and process analysis questions including those that are based on case studies," Terwiesch wrote in the paper, which was published on Jan. 17. He also said the bot's explanations were "excellent."
RIP Lloyd N. Morrisett. He was 93.
Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.
Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.
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