OPEN THREAD: It’s Friday.
Archive for 2021
February 19, 2021
FROM POPULIST TO DISSIDENT.
THERE’S NOTHING MORE WOKE THAN ERASING SUCCESSFUL BLACK WOMEN: Aunt Jemima rebranding rankles family of some women who portrayed her, who say they’re being erased.. “Let’s put it in context of what it really actually is, a propaganda campaign.”
Except, maybe, erasing successful black men.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Whistleblower at Smith College Resigns Over Racism.
SINGLE-DOSE RESPONSE: Pfizer first dose 85% effective after 2-4 weeks: study.
SO MUCH THAT WE’RE TOLD IS WRONG: Only eat organic? You’re paying too much, and it’s not worth it, author says.
FLIGHT: The Air Force Finally Has Its First New AT-6E Wolverine Light Attack Aircraft. “The most immediately visible difference between the AT-6E, which Beechcraft has marketed in the past as the AT-6B, AT-6C, or simply the AT-6, and standard Texan II trainers are its six underwing pylons. These can accommodate various precision-guided bombs and missiles, as well as rocket and gun pods, among other stores. It has an additional station under the fuselage, which is typically occupied by a sensor turret containing electro-optical and infrared cameras. The Air Force’s model reportedly has a WESCAM MX-15D turret, which also includes a laser designator, from L3Harris.”
MANCHIN COMES OUT AGAINST NEERA TANDEN’S CONFIRMATION AS OMB DIRECTOR:
During her confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last week, Tanden apologized for her tweets attacking a number of lawmakers.
“I deeply regret and apologize for my language and some of my past language. I recognize that this role is a bipartisan role, and I know I have to earn the trust of senators across the board,” she said.
Tanden, who is president of the Center for American Progress, deleted more than 1,000 insulting tweets ahead of her nomination.
Senator Rob Portman (R., Ohio) read some of the tweets for the senators who will vote on her nomination.
“You wrote that Susan Collins is ‘the worst,’ that Tom Cotton is a fraud, that vampires have more heart than Ted Cruz, you called Leader McConnell ‘Moscow Mitch’ and Voldemort,” Portman said.
Tanden defended her decision to delete the tweets, saying she did not do so in an effort to cover them up.
“I deleted tweets because I regretted my tone and I’ve deleted tweets over many months … But for those concerned about my rhetoric and my language, I’m sorry, and I’m sorry for any hurt that they’ve caused,” she said.
However, Portman pointed to “nine pages of tweets about Sen. Ted Cruz.”
Tanden noted the “very polarizing” nature of the last several years had contributed to her tweets.
Meanwhile, Manchin called for “meaningful steps to end the political division and dysfunction that pervades our politics.”
Manchin basically saving Biden from himself. As Geraghty tweets, “Joe Manchin is saving Joe Biden from a couple of really unneeded Tanden-driven bad news cycles over the next two years.”
Earlier:
● Neera Tanden’s unremorseful bullying should disqualify her from Biden’s cabinet.
● Democratic Infighting over Biden’s Nomination of Neera Tanden.
FIGHTING “MISINFORMATION.” Facebook will soon add labels, links to posts about climate change. “Facebook announced on Thursday that it will soon begin labeling posts related to climate change and directing users to a central information page, as part of a greater effort to weed out misinformation about the environmental crisis.”
“Misinformation” sounds CCP-ish, and simply refers to things that contradict the preferred official narrative.
Many members of the media, including and especially those who report on tech, fret constantly about the potential for inaccurate speech to appear on social media. Their complaints frequently expose their own biases: Times tech reporter Kevin Roose once tweeted that “Facebook is absolutely teeming with right-wing disinformation right now,” and linked to four news stories that had attracted significant web traffic on the platform. But the headlines of all four were accurate, as Roose later conceded—a particularly powerful example of an emerging phenomenon in which journalists label something as disinformation or misinformation, not because it is false, but because they don’t want the American public to hear or read it.
Yes.
THE DAM SHATTERS: Even AOC Wants Cuomo’s Nursing Home Scandal Investigated.
AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Biden Announces Ambitious Goal Of $100 Per Gallon Gas By End Of First 100 Days In Office.
COVERING THE IMPORTANT NEWS: Kim Kardashian files for divorce from Kanye West.
HILLARY LEADS WITH HER CHIN:
WHY NOT TAKE A BREAK FROM THE SERIOUS NEWS FOR A FEW MINUTES? Florida Man Friday: Bringing a Whole New Meaning to Death Metal.