Read me >>> sharing illuminating journalism

[Matthew Strongin]

I think the Dems are just so completely freaked out about Trump that they are getting way ahead of them selves. Seeing in the real world who is getting actual votes and winning primary races should settle things down a bit.

Right now Klobuchar is crushing the competition with twice as many votes as the next candidate, Sanders. 8 votes to 4 votes. Hopefully more people show up to cast their ballot.

[monadnocky]

I'm calling it here. With 0.003% reporting, Klobuchar has taken the Granite State.

[mzilliox]

The 35 most eye-popping lines from Donald Trump's New Hampshire rally - CNNPolitics

heres what our dunce of a president had to say at his "screw the democrats" and screw america rally.
"By the way, they're going to take away everything. They're going to take away your wealth. They're going to take away your guns. They're going to take away everything."
but the democrats are the liars and hypocrites? on what planet? cmon folks, be real.

[JJohnson]

The 35 most eye-popping lines from Donald Trump's New Hampshire rally - CNNPolitics

heres what our dunce of a president had to say at his "screw the democrats" and screw america rally.
"By the way, they're going to take away everything. They're going to take away your wealth. They're going to take away your guns. They're going to take away everything."
but the democrats are the liars and hypocrites? on what planet? cmon folks, be real.

He yells at people who have no wealth about the wealth they will take away from them. He's a poor man's idea of a rich man.

[guido]

Opinion | We Once Fought Jihadists. Now We Battle White Supremacists. - The New York Times

[guido]

Why Bill Barr’s DOJ replaced Catholic Charities with Hookers for Jesus

[guido]

Roger Stone DOJ resignations show how Trump is attacking democracy - Vox

[htwoopup]

This may not fit in here as it is illuminating although I am not sure if it is journalism.

But I thought it should be in here in support of @DOOFUS and @j44ke...

The best way to start your day: Read a poem — Quartz at Work

[ides1056]

more illumination:

12 Truths I Learned from Life and Writing, by Anne Lamott

[j44ke]

This may not fit in here as it is illuminating although I am not sure if it is journalism.

But I thought it should be in here in support of @DOOFUS and @j44ke...

The best way to start your day: Read a poem — Quartz at Work

Thanks!

Or look at some photographs. Or both.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graph...ge%2Fstory-ans

[guido]

Trump’s words, bullied kids, scarred schools | Washington Post

"The president’s rhetoric has changed the way hundreds of children are harassed in American classrooms"

[mzilliox]

Trump’s words, bullied kids, scarred schools | Washington Post

"The president’s rhetoric has changed the way hundreds of children are harassed in American classrooms"

this is sad, how do you justify the tradeoff for this man? how do his supporters accept this in trade for false promises? how do thinking humans decide not to think?

[guido]

What Trump's 221 Budget Means for the Environment | Outside Online

[mzilliox]

A Conversation with Ece Temelkuran on How to Lose a Country, in 7 Steps. – Thought Economics

[guido]

A Conversation with Ece Temelkuran on How to Lose a Country, in 7 Steps. – Thought Economics

Scary stuff. Thanks for posting!

[vertical_doug]

Since it was only 54 at 6000 ft on the mountain Wednesday followed by 50's and rain, I guess I'll consider myself lucky.

Temperature in Antarctica Soars to Near 70 Degrees, Appearing to Topple Continental Record Set Days Earlier
2020-02-14 06:20:09.259 GMT

By Andrew Freedman

(Washington Post) -- A weather research station on Seymour Island in the
Antarctic Peninsula registered a temperature of 69.3 degrees (20.75 Celsius)
on Feb. 9, according to Márcio Rocha Francelino, a professor at the Federal
University of Vicosa in Brazil.

The nearly 70-degree temperature is significantly higher than the 65-degree
reading taken Feb. 6 at the Esperanza Base along Antarctica's Trinity
Peninsula. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is reviewing that
reading to see whether it qualifies as the continent's hottest temperature on
record.

The new data, which was reviewed by The Washington Post, came from a research
station that has been in place for 12 years, used mainly for monitoring the
layer of permanently frozen soil known as permafrost. Francelino said the
temperature sensor is located in a flat and open area, without obstacles.

Randall Cerveny, a meteorologist at Arizona State University who verifies
extremes for the WMO, previously called the Esperanza reading a "likely
record." On Thursday, he said the organization is looking into the new report,
too, but urged caution about the higher reading.

He said many questions will have to be answered before the nearly 70-degree
reading is considered the hottest temperature yet recorded on the planet's
coldest continent. "We will want to look very critically at the station's
metadata (how long was it in place, how good has its observations been, what
type of instruments were used, when were they last calibrated, etc.)," he said
in an email. "All of those things are critical to determining the validity of
the observation."

According to Francelino, the weather station in question is one of 26 such
stations he and other researchers operate around Antarctica.

The unusually warm reading was first reported by the Guardian, which
characterized it as a record. However, Jefferson C. Simões, a glaciologist at
the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and a vice president of the
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, who also confirmed the reading,
said he does not believe the measurement will meet the WMO's criteria for an
official record.

Nevertheless, he said he considers it important for confirming a "heat wave"
in the northernmost part of Antarctica in the past week. Both locations are
located in the area of Antarctica that is closest to South America, whereas
the continent's interior reaches are the coldest.

"It is an important measurement, but it will not be recognized by WMO, because
it was not measured in [a] standard weather station with a long time record,"
he said via email. He cited the thermometer's height as a reason the WMO may
discount it. Most standard weather stations have a measurement height of two
meters, and this reading was taken at 1½ meters. The temperature can be higher
if taken closer to the ground.

According to Cerveny, the WMO's guidelines allow it to accept a 1½-meter
temperature record, leaving the short period of record as a bigger barrier.

According to Francelino, the Seymour Island station registered a temperature
of 61.5 degrees (16.4 Celsius) on Feb. 6, when Argentina's Esperanza Station
reached 65 degrees (18.3 Celsius).

He called these values "amazing" in their own right. Then, on Feb. 9, the
Brazilian Antarctic Station on Seymour Island registered a temperature of 66.7
degrees (19.38 Celsius) at the same time the permafrost research station
soared closer to 70 degrees.

"I don't know whether Esperanza's or the Brazilian stations are registered or
follow the WMO standard, but the mere recording of these values is something
that should be better studied," Francelino said. The unusually mild weather
consisted of shorter spikes during a two-week period. Feb. 10, for example,
also reached 61 degrees for a high.

Computer model forecasts had suggested large parts of the Antarctic peninsula
would be between 20 and 40 degrees above normal between Feb. 7 and Feb. 9, as
an unusually strong high-pressure zone was in the vicinity.

But the average temperature in the first days of February at the Seymour
Island research station was a more typical 39.2 degrees (3.9 Celsius).

"In our sites, over a period of 13 years, the temperature of permafrost has
been varying very little, remaining stable in most of them and in some showing
a slight tendency of heating. Only one showed cooling," he said.

This is compared with the rapid warming since in the vast permafrost of the
Arctic, the melting of which may already constitute a major climate feedback
that will serve to accelerate global warming.

The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest-warming parts of the world. Most
of the glaciers in that region are retreating rapidly. According to a 2018
study, ice-shelf collapse and the speedup of glacier movement into the sea at
the Antarctic Peninsula caused an increase of 25 billion metric tons of ice
loss per year from the region between 1992 and 2017.

The region has most famously seen the sudden breakups of two large floating
ice shelves: the Larsen B Ice Shelf in 2002 and the Wilkins Ice Shelf in 2008.
The rapid warming here has led to more consistent scientific monitoring, as
researchers' concerns about ice loss shift to include virtually the entire
continent.

Jason Samenow contributed reporting.

[guido]

Behind the Scenes: Shooting Wet Plate Portraits of the Cast of Little Women

[guido]

Donald Trump, a President So Unhinged That Even Bill Barr Says He’s Out of Control | The New Yorker

[guido]

Bill Barr Rushed to Walter Reed Medical Center After Remote-Control Implant in Brain Fails | The New Yorker

[vertical_doug]

I know most of you don't read hebrew, so use google translate for Ruth Ben-Ghiat interview about Trump and Fascism. You'll get the gist.

"אמריקה עוד לא ראתה פשיסט בבית הלבן. אין לה מושג מה לעשות" | מוסף כלכליסט

I think this is one of her earlier articles she is referring to in the interview from 2016. Verdict is he is right on schedule. I've seen this with both Erdogan and Orban.

A Scholar of Fascism Sees a Lot That’s Familiar with Trump | The New Yorker