Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Educating Trolls
The many, many fascist trolls on Facebook and elsewhere epitomize ignorance & stupidity. Education will fix that: the purpose of true education is to make the population more and more progressive (which is why Republicans are opposed to education). But first these trolls have to give up being hate-mongers.
Copyright 2020 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved
Sunday, January 12, 2020
Working Minds Essay #116: 'Free Speech' Is Not Guaranteed
FREE SPEECH IS NOT GUARANTEED - Y'all should read the actual First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press . . ."
First off, that refers to Congress (only).
Secondly, no venue is required to provide access to any hate-mongering group or individual, refusal is completely legal.
Thirdly, what the racist-nazi-fascist minority that follow IMPOTUS carefully forget is that Freedom of Speech goes both ways, such that any town square soapbox hate speech will likely be surrounded by majority Americans chanting loudly to drown out the hateful drivel - this is why the creeps try to access indoor venues that they can control and keep from interference by any sort of reality.
Copyright 2020 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved
First off, that refers to Congress (only).
Secondly, no venue is required to provide access to any hate-mongering group or individual, refusal is completely legal.
Thirdly, what the racist-nazi-fascist minority that follow IMPOTUS carefully forget is that Freedom of Speech goes both ways, such that any town square soapbox hate speech will likely be surrounded by majority Americans chanting loudly to drown out the hateful drivel - this is why the creeps try to access indoor venues that they can control and keep from interference by any sort of reality.
Wednesday, January 08, 2020
My Websites - Year-End Statistics for 2019
Readers here probably don't much care, but this is posted for the record:
Total on the several domains are 1,772 pages and 31,029 coded covers (books, DVDs, posters, etc).
There are 136 new pages & 1,669 newly-coded covers for 2019.
Other web-related 2019 statistics include: reached 688 connections {up just 2} on LinkedIn; 351 friends {up 77} on two Facebook accounts; 18 postings to my blog {all-time count now 455} . . . and the worser 2019 statistic for Amazon was $97.53 in commissions.
Non-web-related 2019 statistics include: body weight now slightly down at 277 pounds and my trusty red 2004 Chevy Blazer has 194,333 miles on it.
Also, since I am now 75½ years old, I keep getting slower and the various pains get stronger and the increased pain medication makes me take more naps; for example, last year I proudly posted the Year-End Statistics Page on January First, this year it took a week to do.
{ Anyone interested in the details can go here. }
Copyright 2020 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved
Total on the several domains are 1,772 pages and 31,029 coded covers (books, DVDs, posters, etc).
There are 136 new pages & 1,669 newly-coded covers for 2019.
Other web-related 2019 statistics include: reached 688 connections {up just 2} on LinkedIn; 351 friends {up 77} on two Facebook accounts; 18 postings to my blog {all-time count now 455} . . . and the worser 2019 statistic for Amazon was $97.53 in commissions.
Non-web-related 2019 statistics include: body weight now slightly down at 277 pounds and my trusty red 2004 Chevy Blazer has 194,333 miles on it.
Also, since I am now 75½ years old, I keep getting slower and the various pains get stronger and the increased pain medication makes me take more naps; for example, last year I proudly posted the Year-End Statistics Page on January First, this year it took a week to do.
{ Anyone interested in the details can go here. }
Thursday, January 02, 2020
News Factoids for Fourth Quarter 2019
ECONOMICS DEPT.
Stock market under Trump posts record highs, but markets under Obama performed far better -- headline at newsweek.com
Manufacturing slump worsens
A key gauge of U.S. factory activity slipped in September to its weakest reading in 10 years as slowing global economic growth and the U.S.-China trade war hurt exports, according to a monthly survey released Tuesday 10-1 by the Institute for Supply Management • "We have now tariffed our way into a manufacturing recession in the U.S. and globally," said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group
Reuters October 1: U.S. manufacturing activity tumbled to a more than 10-year low in September as lingering trade tensions weighed on exports, further heightening financial market fears of a sharp slowdown in economic growth in the third quarter. The economy’s fading fortunes have been attributed to the Trump administration’s 15-month trade war with China, which has sapped business confidence and undermined manufacturing.
The federal deficit rose to $134 billion in October, a 34 percent increase over last October, according to Treasury Department data released Wednesday. The Treasury Department estimated that the full 2020 fiscal year deficit would be greater than $1 trillion for the first time since 2002.
The 26 richest billionaires own as many assets as the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of the planet’s population. -- The Guardian, UK 11/2019
JOBS DEPT.
California accounted for nearly three-quarters of US jobs added in February == per cnbc
US business hiring falls to a 7-year low ~~~ per the October jobs report
Trump trade war with China has cost 300,000 U.S. jobs, per Moody's estimates
The $15 minimum wage was supposed to hurt New York City restaurants — but both revenue and employment are up ~~~ per marketwatch.com
"80 percent of hourly retail workers have fluctuating schedules" and
"40 percent of hourly workers don’t get more than a week’s notice about their schedules" ~~ per The Atlantic
Trump Has Created 1.5 Million Fewer Jobs Than Obama - per forbes.com 9-2019
Cummins, the largest maker of truck engines in the US, announces 2,000 layoffs ~~ per Business Insider, 11/2019
HEALTHCARE DEPT.
New from STAT: "An estimated 35,000 Americans die of antibiotic-resistant infections each year -- one every 15 minutes -- according to a stark 11-2019 report from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention that reveals that the problem is substantially greater than previously estimated."
Measles killed 140,000 people in 2018, most of them children, as outbreaks hit all around the world, the World Health Organization said. In all, nearly 10 million people were infected. The figures for 2019 could be even worse. Provisional data in November showed that cases had tripled compared to the same period in 2018.
THE ENVIRONMENT
When bay scallop season opened in November, most of the adult scallops in Peconic Bay, Long Island were dead.
Russia’s warm winter has deprived Moscow of snow in December, caused plants to bloom, and awakened bears from hibernation.
HIGH TECH DEPT.
Amazon controls roughly half of US e-commerce and 5% of all US retail sales. It also holds nearly half of global cloud services through AWS, and is carving out a sizable chunk of search.
•Facebook counts 2.2 billion daily active users across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. That’s 29% of the entire global population.
•Since 2017, the European Commission has fined Google €8.3 billion ($9.1 billion) on competition grounds.
•In the US, 50 state attorneys general are investigating Google and 47 are investigating Facebook.
Luxembourg Becomes First Country to Make All Public Transit Free
POLITICS DEPT.
According to Census demographic trends, in the next couple of decades, half of America’s population will live in just eight states. The half that is whiter, older, more rural, and more conservative, will be spread across the other 42 states. That’s 84 senators for them, and 16 senators for the other half of America.
SCARY NEWS ITEM - Mike Huckabee announced on December 12th that he is in charge of Donald Trump's re-election campaign for 2024.
Copyright 2020 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved
Stock market under Trump posts record highs, but markets under Obama performed far better -- headline at newsweek.com
Manufacturing slump worsens
A key gauge of U.S. factory activity slipped in September to its weakest reading in 10 years as slowing global economic growth and the U.S.-China trade war hurt exports, according to a monthly survey released Tuesday 10-1 by the Institute for Supply Management • "We have now tariffed our way into a manufacturing recession in the U.S. and globally," said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group
Reuters October 1: U.S. manufacturing activity tumbled to a more than 10-year low in September as lingering trade tensions weighed on exports, further heightening financial market fears of a sharp slowdown in economic growth in the third quarter. The economy’s fading fortunes have been attributed to the Trump administration’s 15-month trade war with China, which has sapped business confidence and undermined manufacturing.
The federal deficit rose to $134 billion in October, a 34 percent increase over last October, according to Treasury Department data released Wednesday. The Treasury Department estimated that the full 2020 fiscal year deficit would be greater than $1 trillion for the first time since 2002.
The 26 richest billionaires own as many assets as the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of the planet’s population. -- The Guardian, UK 11/2019
JOBS DEPT.
California accounted for nearly three-quarters of US jobs added in February == per cnbc
US business hiring falls to a 7-year low ~~~ per the October jobs report
Trump trade war with China has cost 300,000 U.S. jobs, per Moody's estimates
The $15 minimum wage was supposed to hurt New York City restaurants — but both revenue and employment are up ~~~ per marketwatch.com
"80 percent of hourly retail workers have fluctuating schedules" and
"40 percent of hourly workers don’t get more than a week’s notice about their schedules" ~~ per The Atlantic
Trump Has Created 1.5 Million Fewer Jobs Than Obama - per forbes.com 9-2019
Cummins, the largest maker of truck engines in the US, announces 2,000 layoffs ~~ per Business Insider, 11/2019
HEALTHCARE DEPT.
New from STAT: "An estimated 35,000 Americans die of antibiotic-resistant infections each year -- one every 15 minutes -- according to a stark 11-2019 report from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention that reveals that the problem is substantially greater than previously estimated."
Measles killed 140,000 people in 2018, most of them children, as outbreaks hit all around the world, the World Health Organization said. In all, nearly 10 million people were infected. The figures for 2019 could be even worse. Provisional data in November showed that cases had tripled compared to the same period in 2018.
THE ENVIRONMENT
When bay scallop season opened in November, most of the adult scallops in Peconic Bay, Long Island were dead.
Russia’s warm winter has deprived Moscow of snow in December, caused plants to bloom, and awakened bears from hibernation.
HIGH TECH DEPT.
Amazon controls roughly half of US e-commerce and 5% of all US retail sales. It also holds nearly half of global cloud services through AWS, and is carving out a sizable chunk of search.
•Facebook counts 2.2 billion daily active users across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. That’s 29% of the entire global population.
•Since 2017, the European Commission has fined Google €8.3 billion ($9.1 billion) on competition grounds.
•In the US, 50 state attorneys general are investigating Google and 47 are investigating Facebook.
Luxembourg Becomes First Country to Make All Public Transit Free
POLITICS DEPT.
According to Census demographic trends, in the next couple of decades, half of America’s population will live in just eight states. The half that is whiter, older, more rural, and more conservative, will be spread across the other 42 states. That’s 84 senators for them, and 16 senators for the other half of America.
SCARY NEWS ITEM - Mike Huckabee announced on December 12th that he is in charge of Donald Trump's re-election campaign for 2024.
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