04:26:16 01/11/2017
https://youtu.be/WPa5-84svbg
| Your sponsorship of 5 Things You Should Know could make a significant difference in the quality of our work. Contact us for details. |
Wait, it’s only Wednesday?
Hi there, welcome to Wednesday, January 11. If you’re like me, this week seems to be taking forever. At least we’re past the severe wind and thunderstorms of yesterday. Today should be a lot calmer and afternoon temperatures are going to feel more like April instead of the middle of January. Don’t worry, it doesn’t last long. We’ll see more rain tonight, though not as much as the West coast is getting. Temperatures fall Thursday night and we could be looking at a very slick weekend. Maybe a slow-moving week isn’t a bad thing.
Locally, you’ll just want to largely stay away from the West side of Indianapolis as the Rockville Bridge at 465 is being demolished after being hit by a semi truck yesterday morning. That mess will likely last a month or more. Black Senators testified against Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions yesterday. And a new Pew survey says police officers are more reluctant to make stops and use force. A lot happened in the past 24 hours and not everything you’ve heard is verifiable. Here are the five things you should really know.
Taliban Terror In Afghanistan
The Taliban is taking responsibility for twin bombs in the Afghanistan capital city of Kabul that killed 28 and wounded at least 72, then later a third attack occurred at the guesthouse of the governor of Kandahar, injuring the Ambassador and other diplomats from the United Arab Emirates1. A suicide bomber struck first followed by a car bomb in Kabul. Those two attacks did the majority of the damage with the attack against the Ambassador coming later.
The attacks in Kabul were carried out near a government center where several lawmakers have offices. At least four police officers were among those killed. The Taliban, which is a hyper-right-wing extremist group, once ruled Afghanistan with an iron fist until it was toppled by American forces in 2001. In the fifteen years since, they have been a constant and often deadly source of terror throughout the region as they attempt to wrestle back some form of control.
If all this sounds familiar, it is. This kind of battle in Afghanistan has been going on for decades. The mountainous geography of the country provides plenty of hiding places for small terrorist cells and makes it difficult to directly attack those responsible for giving the orders. While US forces have been in Afghanistan since 2001, Russia had an unsuccessful war against the Taliban prior to that. This is not a group that is easily eliminated through conventional warfare. Expect this to continue until someone finds a solution.
Dylann Roof Gets To Die
After telling a South Carolina jury that, given the chance, he’d do it again, Dylann Roof was sentenced to death yesterday for the murder of nine black people attending a Bible study at a Charleston church. In doing so, Roof becomes the first person to be ordered executed for a federal hate crime. The jury, deliberated a mere three hours, most of which was procedural, bringing to end a trial in which the accused often acted as his own attorney and refused to offer testimony in his own behalf.
Roof had specifically selected the Emanuel AME Church, the South’s oldest black church, with the intention of bringing back segregation or starting a race war. He sat through 45 minutes of the Bible study and waited until the group was praying before opening fire, at times standing over his victims and shooting them a second time to make sure they were dead. His crime didn’t have the effect he wanted, though. If anything, it can be attributed for bringing the Confederate battle flag down from the South Carolina statehouse.
There is some speculation that Roof might have avoided the death penalty had he used mental health records that allegedly show a history of mental illness. However, Roof refused, saying that he didn’t believe in psychology and didn’t want to do anything that might embarrass his family any further. Roof was stoic as the verdict was read with only a few family members showing any sympathy for him.
American Made In Canada
American Apparel finally sold in a bankruptcy auction with Canadian clothing giant Gildan taking on the manufacturing equipment and intellectual property rights of the once-edgy fashion retailer3. However, Gildan did not take on the leases for the manufacturing facilities, nor did it pick up any of the brands’ 110 retail stores. This leaves open a lot of questions as to where the clothes might be made and whether Gildan might close any or all of the current retail outlets.
The hot button issue here, though, is the manufacturing locations more than the retail stores. American Apparel has long touted its “Made In America” label, but Gildan would not promise that all the American manufacturing facilities would remain open. While Gilden currently manufactures thread in South Carolina and Georgia, the only garment they currently make in the US is socks. The greater majority of their 42,000 employees are in low-cost Caribbean and Central American countries.
For their part, Gildan executives say they will consider the feasibility of maintaining current manufacturing facilities as they develop an integration plan over the next several weeks. Be sure, though, everyone in fashion is watching. The president-elect has been bullying manufacturers to make more in the US, but with Gildan being Canadian-owned the orange one’s tweets may not have as much effect.
Saying Goodbye To An Old Friend
As President Obama gave his farewell address in Chicago last night, the last planned speech of his presidency, he did so with his popularity rating 20 points higher than that of the incoming president-elect and the gratitude of a large portion of the nation4. The rhetoric was soaring and emotional, the same sort of speech that got him elected in the first place, full of hope and encouragement with a definite eye toward the future.
While the president touted this success and admitted some failures, the portion of his speech that brought out the tissue was when he spoke of his wife, Michelle, and the journey they have made together the past eight years. Referring to her roots from the often-troublesome South side of Chicago, the president thanked her for taking on a task she didn’t ask for and making it her own, as well as making the White House, “a place that belongs to everybody.5” By the time he finished, I’m pretty sure even the security team was needing tissues.
Speculation has been high as to what the president might do next. He has frequently said that he’s not going away, but as to exactly what role he might take on next is uncertain. Perhaps that is why streaming music provider Spotify posted a job opening yesterday for “President of Playlist.6” The job description includes a requirement of “at least eight years experience running a highly-regarded nation” and a Nobel Peace Prize. There is no word yet as to whether Mr. Obama is considering the position.
And finally …
File this one under “What The Living Fuck Are You Thinking?” Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the son of the former Senator and nephew of the late president John F. Kennedy, said yesterday that he has been chosen to review vaccine safety and science. Kennedy said that the president-elect, “has some doubts about the current vaccine policy. He asked me to chair a commission on vaccine safety and scientific integrity. I said I would.7”
Immediately, this announcement set off all kinds of bells and whistles within the medical community. The common fear is that such a commission would give credence to a widely and frequently discredited study linking vaccinations to autism. Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University who advises the federal panel that sets U.S. vaccine policy, said the Kennedy news, “raised issues that have been settled securely and completely by good science.”
In typical fashion, the president-elect’s transition team attempted to walk back Kennedy’s statement late Wednesday, saying that “no decisions have been made at this time.” However, one has to wonder why the new administration would even allow this issue to come up. The only purpose it serves is to undermine the good faith and credibility of the medical community at a time when health care is already a national concern. This move is not just stupid, it’s careless, which appears to be a hallmark of the new administration.
For better or worse, that’s all we have time for today. Be watching for slick spots as you’re out this morning and gear up for the possibility of more thunderstorms tonight. We’ll keep an eye on the news, sort through the unsubstantiated rubbish, and whittle it down to digestible chunks tomorrow. Have a good day.
Morning Update: 09/26/24
When is a fall not really a fall? When you’re already lying down. There’s a feature on my smartwatch, one of the reasons I bought it, that alerts your emergency contact when you fall. I’ve fallen several times over the past two years and not once has it alerted anyone. Until yesterday. The problem? I was sound asleep, napping away, when my watch started a strange ringing. I looked, and the message on the watch was, “Fall detected. Notify emergency contact?” Obviously, I chose to not notify anyone since I was already lying down! This raises the question, however, of exactly what constitutes a fall for the watch. Did I roll over violently? Was I flailing my arms in my sleep? I’ve no idea.
G had his violin lesson yesterday and Tipper seemed to have a good day at school. Kat fixed a fantastic dinner of cheese brats and steamed asparagus. I went to bed a little after 8:00 and fell immediately asleep until 2:30 this morning. That was when my desk lamp decided to spaz out. Normally, if the lamp turns on during the night, it’s because one of the cats walked across it. All the cats were in bed, snoring away. The light would come on, dim, change temperature a couple of times, then go out. I’d close my eyes again, and a few minutes later, it would pop back on. This continued until almost 3:00. I’ve no idea why. The lamp is working fine this morning.
Life is full of mysteries I suppose. For example, Ohio’s GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno says abortion isn’t “an issue” for women “past 50”. Now, why would anyone in their right mind say something that stupid? The backlash is predictably intense and the statement could cause him to lose the election. You’d think that people would open their mouths before saying something stupid. Yet, Republican candidates can’t seem to keep their mouths shut on the issue. The party would prefer they talk about the economy, but candidate after candidate keeps talking about abortion, and when they do, they’re more likely to lose.
But then, that story isn’t nearly as bizarre as the Taliban saying it’s absurd to accuse them of gender discrimination. WTF? Something tells me they don’t understand the meaning of that word. Their defense is that Afghan law is in line with Sharia law. But that’s a non-starter because Sharia law itself is discriminatory toward women. According to AP, “Australia, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands are set to start legal proceedings against the Taliban for violating a U.N. convention on women, to which Afghanistan is a party.” Afghan officials say they don’t understand the problem. Once again, this is what happens when right-wing religious nut jobs are allowed to run a country. Absolute absurdity.
Insane in a different way is the forecast that Hurricane Helene threatens ‘unsurvivable’ storm surge and vast inland damage. Dear Florida friends: go somewhere else. But not here. Local meteorologists are anticipating that by Friday evening, we’ll be getting the leftovers of the hurricane with 40-50 mph winds. Friday night football is having a tough time getting their games in. This will make the third week in a row that some games may have to be canceled due to storms. With wind speeds at that level, we can expect downed tree limbs, possible power outages, and an increased chance of roof damage. Depending on how the system hits and where one lives, the metro area could see as much as two inches of rain by Monday.
Tommy Kramer, another former NFL quarterback, said yesterday that he’s been diagnosed with dementia. Sooner or later, we, as a nation, may have to come to grips with the possibility that football is too violent a sport for our kids to be playing. In fact, if we’re totally honest with ourselves, football may be too dangerous for anyone to play at any age. I’ve been to NFL Players Union events. No one retires from that sport without permanent injury of some kind. While I enjoy watching football as much as the next person, if my pleasure is coming at the expense of people’s lives, then it’s morally wrong. What do you think?
After the mess of the 2020 election, News Outlets are Bracing for Chaos on Election Night (and Perhaps Beyond). GOP rhetoric has been especially violent and more than a few counties are threatening to not certify the election. However, Mark Zuckerberg says he Is Done With Politics. Will that translate to less misinformation on Meta-owned platforms? I wouldn’t bet on it. Zuck is seeing that opening his mouth on political matters costs him money. That’s not likely to push any policy changes within the company itself.
There are times when life is just weird. This is being one of those times.
Just don’t mess with my coffee, okay?
Share this:
Like this: