BECAUSE AT THIS POINT, WHY THE HELL NOT? Transgender Man Identifies as Alien, Plans to Remove Genitals, Adopt Kids.
These are Heinlein’s Crazy Years — we just live in them.
Author Archive: Stephen Green
March 9, 2017
OH SHUT UP: White College Women Told to Stop Wearing Hoop Earrings Because It’s ‘Racist’
There are of course smarter arguments to be made than “Oh shut up.” But since “Everything is racist!” is a non-argument to force other people to shut up, why bother?
HOW CAN WE MISS HIM IF HE WON’T GO AWAY? Most Say ‘No’ to More Public Anti-Trump Role for Obama.
CLAUDIA ROSETT: Memo to U.S. Mission in Vienna: Obama No Longer President.
RESET: Russia Has Deployed Banned Missile.
A senior U.S. general on Wednesday accused Russia of deploying a land-based cruise missile in violation of “the spirit and intent” of a nuclear arms treaty and charged that Moscow’s intention is to threaten U.S. facilities in Europe and the NATO alliance.
“We believe that the Russians have deliberately deployed it in order to pose a threat to NATO and to facilities within the NATO area of responsibility,” Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
Selva said he sees no indication that Moscow intends to return to compliance with the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which bans an entire class of weapons — all land-based cruise missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (310 and 3,410 miles). The treaty was a landmark in arms control in the final years of the Cold War.
The Obama Administration sat on its hands during Moscow’s illegal buildup. It will be interesting to see if the Trump Administration takes a more active approach.
IT TAKES TWO TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN: Americans are having less sex than they once did.
The paper, published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, showed a drop across gender, race, region, education level and work status. One factor is the higher percentage now of unpartnered people, who tend to have less sex than partnered ones. But a major driver is a steady fall in the rate of sexual activity for people who are married or living with partners, which reduces what had been known as the “marriage advantage.”
Using 1989-2014 data from the General Social Survey, the study found that American adults have sex seven to nine fewer times per year than in the 1990s. Back then, Americans on average had sex 60 to 62 times a year, but in the early 2000s the frequency began to slip, and by 2014 it had declined to less than 53 times a year.
When looking only at married people, the drop was even sharper — from around 73 times a year in 1990 to around 55 in 2014 — bringing their frequency of sexual activity below that of never-married people. People in that group have sex an average of 59 times a year.
C’mon, America — we’re better than this.
TANSTAAFL: New on Your Dinner Tab: a Labor Surcharge.
In lieu of steep menu price increases, many independent and regional chain restaurants in states including Arizona, California, Colorado and New York are adding surcharges of 3% to 4% to help offset rising labor costs. Industry analysts expect the practice to become widespread as more cities and states increase minimum wages.
“It’s the emerging new norm,” said Sharokina Shams, spokeswoman for the California Restaurant Association. She said California restaurants are adding surcharges as the state lifts the minimum wage every year until it reaches $15 an hour by 2023. It is currently at $10.50 an hour for employers with 26 or more workers.
…
Many restaurant owners say they have added surcharges because jacking up menu prices can turn off customers who are sensitive to how much a sandwich or bowl of soup should cost. When prices do rise, “consumers often trade down in the types of menu items they order, choosing a sandwich instead of an entree, or they leave off beverages or dessert,” said Bonnie Riggs, restaurant analyst for NPD Group Inc.
In other words, diners who can least afford it are getting stuck with a bigger bill anyway — but they can’t see that until the end of the meal, when the check arrives.
Because fairness or something.
UPDATE: In the comments, UncleFedele writes, “In the state in which I owned a restaurant, if the existence of a surcharge wasn’t prominently printed on the menu it could not be charged. If I encountered ‘surprise’ surcharge, either it would be removed from the bill, or the bill would not be paid. I’d love to let the restaurant owner take me to small claims court on that.”
Good to know — thanks for the correction. We don’t (yet) have this kind of nonsense in my neck of the woods, so I haven’t had any experience with it.
WELL, YES: China’s Military Budget is Larger Than it Appears.
While Beijing is trying to tamp down the budget controversy, two things, which on their face look contradictory, are becoming apparent. At the same time, the rate of growth of military spending has dramatically slowed and China’s military is in the process of taking over a larger proportion of the Chinese government budget.
We begin with the fascinating rollout of the Chinese military budget. On Saturday, before the start of the annual meeting of the Congress, Fu Ying announced that China will spend “about 1.3 percent” of its gross domestic product on its military this year. That, she said, represented an increase of around 7 percent over 2016.
Fu, a veteran diplomat now serving as a spokeswoman for the Congress, did not give a total figure for the military budget.
The omission became a matter of public controversy on Sunday when, at the opening of the Congress, the Ministry of Finance released its report, which did not include a figure for military spending. “For the first time in decades, Beijing has not revealed its defense spending total for the year despite a stated commitment to transparency in military outlays,” wrote Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post.
Given how much control the People’s Liberation Army has over big sectors of the economy, and the level of corruption endemic to that sort of thing, Beijing probably doesn’t honestly know how much is being spent on (or by) the military.
SUCH A NASTY WOMAN. Samantha Bee To Kid With Brain Cancer: You Have Nazi Hair.
UPDATE: Bee has apologized.
HMM: Hawaii Sues to Block Trump Travel Ban; First Challenge to Order.
I’m guessing Hawaii doesn’t have a big problem with illegal border crossings.
SALENA ZITO: Trump’s voters have high hopes – even if they don’t expect miracles.
Thirty-two former businesses line both sides of Commerce Street. Heading west, two nonprofits and a post office are the only things open on the right-hand side; two bars and a dentist’s office are the only things open on the left.
Grimm sits with five other locals sipping coffee at the Mingo Junction Senior Center. Tom Strohmayer is to his right, Baci Carpico to his left; Fred and Diane Pernick, the husband-and-wife director and secretary of the center, sit across the table with Teresa Elder, at 47 the youngster of the group and the only African-American.
All are Democrats. All except Elder voted for Trump; she didn’t care for any of last November’s candidates.
They’re happy with what Trump has done so far — limiting US entry from certain countries; plans for a wall along the US-Mexico border; taking the ObamaCare bull by the horns — but it’s tax and regulation reform that they all believe will truly help their community.
“Look, we all know the steel jobs aren’t coming back to the degree they once were, nor the coal jobs,” said Grimm. “Honestly, we never expected that.”
Hope tempered by realism strikes me as a much healthier attitude than the wide-eyed rapture received by President Obama during his early days in office.
HOW’S THAT $15 AN HOUR WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? Burger-flipping robot replaces humans on first day at work.
A burger-flipping robot has just completed its first day on the job at a restaurant in California, replacing humans at the grill.
Flippy has mastered the art of cooking the perfect burger and has just started work at CaliBurger, a fast-food chain.
The robotic kitchen assistant, which its makers say can be installed in just five minutes, is the brainchild of Miso Robotics.
“Much like self-driving vehicles, our system continuously learns from its experiences to improve over time,” said David Zito, chief executive officer of Miso Robotics.
And this labor-replacing device is being deployed first in California? You don’t say.
OUCH: Iran’s Stealth Fighter Is No F-35.. “The reality is that the Qaher F-313—which was widely derided as a hoax when it was first rolled-out in 2013—is likely nothing more than an ill-conceived propaganda ploy.”
You think we have procurement problems? Iran’s “jet” has no engines, appears to be made of wood, and the cockpit is too small for an adult to sit in. Nevertheless, Tehran claims the “plane” is ready for testing.
Good one, guys.
PACK MORE KETCHUP: Indicators show potatoes can grow on Mars.
BIG SCIENCE: Scientists Discover New State of Matter Called ‘Time Crystals’
Two different teams of scientists reported the discovery in the journal Nature on Wednesday. They are the first to directly create and observe time crystals, the long-theorized quantum systems that spin at their own pace independent of their environment, seemingly breaking the rules of normal timekeeping.
One team, led by the University of Maryland, used 10 levitating charged atoms, or ions, to create time crystals with the help of a complicated, colorful network of lasers and mirrors. Another team, led by Harvard University, used lasers, microwaves and black diamonds, which have special impurities the researchers were able to exploit to build the time crystals.
Both experiments arrived at very similar results despite using different approaches.
“That’s really encouraging,” said Frank Wilczek, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who wasn’t involved in either study and writes a column for The Wall Street Journal. It shows that engineering time crystals in the lab might not be as difficult as once thought, he added.
It’s yet unknown whether time crystals exist outside of the lab, scientists said.
In the long term, time-crystal enthusiasts say the underlying physics—and the technology used to probe such quantum systems—could have applications in quantum computing, plus in building more sensitive quantum sensors.
Patrick Bruno, a theoretical physicist at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility who wasn’t involved in the studies, is more skeptical, saying those claims are “highly speculative” and “vague.”
This layman would have to add “nearly incomprehensible.”
JOHN HINDERAKER: Is GOP Health Care Bill a Disaster? No.
Peter Nelson, my colleague at Center of the American Experiment, is one of the country’s leading experts on health care policy. On the Center’s web site, he urges conservatives to take a deep breath and understand the constraints that Congressional Republicans are working under.
In particular, a full repeal of Obamacare must get through the Senate, which means it must get 60 votes. There are only 52 Republican senators. Therefore, the first bill that has been unveiled is intended to be passed under the reconciliation process, which requires only a bare majority. Only Obamacare provisions that have a budgetary impact can be repealed in the reconciliation bill. Other measures will have to follow afterward.
Read the whole thing, although I’m still not convinced that a bad law with GOP fingerprints on it is an improvement over a worse law with Democrat fingerprints on it. Politically it could be much worse.
There’s an argument to be made that in order to keep up hope, the GOP has to be seen doing something about ObamaCare. But the Reid Option, followed swiftly by a full repeal, would actually accomplish what the Republicans have been promising for seven years and four election cycles now. In other words, doing what their constituents sent them to Washington to do.
The current mess looks more like a “You Had One Job!” meme.
ANDREW MCCARTHY: Clapper’s Statements Were Revealing by Omission.
CHINA: U.S. and North Korea Racing Toward ‘Head-On Collision’
What’s most unusual about China’s warning is that they rarely intrude so forcefully in relations between the North and the U.S.. They are usually content to allow Pyongyang to threaten and bluster us while quietly telling them on the sidelines to cool it. And they are rarely so public in their criticism of the North’s nuclear program.
Li’l Kim seems to worry Beijing at least as much as he worries Washington.
CHANGE: GOP healthcare plan clears first hurdle.
After an 18-hour session, the House Ways and Means Committee has become the first to approve the Republicans’ Obamacare repeal bill.
White House and Republican congressional leaders had sought to fast track the legislation through Congress. Democrats made clear it wouldn’t be easy — dragging out a grueling day of committee sessions well into the early morning hours. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is still debating.
Democrats won’t make this easy. Complicating things further is that the GOP is fractured on how to best repeal and/or replace ObamaCare.
But then there’s this:
But should the bill eventually fail, Trump outlined a backup plan: Allow Obamcare to fail and let Democrats take the blame, sources said.
Plan B might be the best bad choice.
BUT THAT GOES AGAINST THE NARRATIVE: Trump Offers Russia Ambassador Post To Putin-Critic Jon Huntsman.
I’m having a hard time reconciling stories like these with all the talk about Trump being a Kremlin stooge.