Political Randomness

[LordMortis]

[Daehawk]

Inflation cools much more than expected in October

Americans and the Federal Reserve got some welcome news Thursday on inflation.

The Consumer Price Index rose 7.7% for the year ending in October, a much slower pace of increase than the 8% economists had expected and the lowest annual inflation reading since January.
The stock market skyrocketed on the news, with Dow futures surging by more than 800 points on hopes the Fed would dial back its aggressive rate hikes.

As inflation cools, Wall Street surges; S&P 500 soars 4%

Stocks are bursting toward their best day in years Thursday as exhilaration sweeps Wall Street and financial markets worldwide after a report showed inflation in the United States slowed last month by even more than expected.

The S&P 500 was 4.1% higher in morning trading, and the encouraging data also sent prices leaping in markets for everything from metals to European stocks. Even bitcoin clawed back some of its steep plunge from prior days caused by the crypto industry's latest crisis of confidence.

[Holman]

James Buchanan allowed an actual civil war to happen.

It would have happened anyway. Buchanan more or less cheered Southern radicalism, but they were already radical and would have been so without him in office.

[Isgrimnur]

The moral of the story seems to be that you can fuck with your customers all you want, but don't fuck with the 1%'s money. But we already knew that.

Elizabeth Holmes found guilty on 4 of 11 charges

Elizabeth Holmes was convicted today of three counts of criminal wire fraud and one count of criminal conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The jury delivered its verdict after six days of deliberation.

CNBC

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced Friday to more than 11 years in prison for fraud after deceiving investors about the purported efficacy of her company’s blood-testing technology. She was ordered to surrender on April 27.
...
In July, [former operating chief Ramesh “Sunny”] Balwani, who was romantically involved with Holmes years earlier, was found guilty of 12 criminal fraud charges. His sentencing is set for next month.
...
The Theranos founder gave birth in July to her first child, and is expecting another.

[Carpet_pissr]

...
The Theranos founder gave birth in July to her first child, and is expecting another.

A jail baby?! How does that even work?

[Jaymann]

...
The Theranos founder gave birth in July to her first child, and is expecting another.

A jail baby?! How does that even work?

If you're rich they bring in doctors from the Mayo Clinic. If you're poor they toss a roll of paper towels into your cell.

[Alefroth]

...
The Theranos founder gave birth in July to her first child, and is expecting another.

A jail baby?! How does that even work?

She won't start her sentence until after it's born, sometime in April.

[hepcat]

...
The Theranos founder gave birth in July to her first child, and is expecting another.

A jail baby?! How does that even work?

The kid works out a lot and gets all jacked. Makes toilet juice boxes.

[Sudy]

Protesting workers beaten at Chinese iPhone factory

BEIJING (AP) - Police beat workers protesting over a pay dispute at the biggest factory for Apple's iPhone, whose new model is delayed by controls imposed as China tries to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Foxconn, the biggest contract assembler of smartphones and other electronics, is struggling to fill orders for the iPhone 14 after thousands of employees walked away from the factory in the central city of Zhengzhou last month following complaints about unsafe working conditions. ...

The ruling Communist Party is trying to contain the latest wave of outbreaks without shutting down factories and the rest of its economy as it did in early 2020. Its tactics include “closed-loop management,” under which workers live in their factories with no outside contact. ...

On Tuesday, a protest erupted after employees who had traveled long distances to take jobs at the factory complained that the company changed terms of their pay, according to an employee, Li Sanshan.

Li said he quit a catering job when he saw an advertisement promising 25,000 yuan ($3,500) for two months of work. That would be a significant hike over average pay for this type of work in the area.

After employees arrived, the company said they had to work two additional months at lower pay to receive the 25,000 yuan, according to Li. ...

Videos online showed thousands of people in masks facing rows of police in white protective suits with plastic riot shields. Police kicked and hit a protester with clubs after he grabbed a metal pole that had been used to strike him. People who shot the footage said it was filmed at the site. ...

Apple Inc. did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ...

A man who identified himself as the Communist Party secretary in charge of community services was shown in a video posted on the Sina Weibo social media platform urging protesters to withdraw. He assured them their demands would be met. ...

“Regarding any violence, the company will continue to communicate with employees and the government to prevent similar incidents from happening again,” a company statement said.

Thank goodness Iphone users/Apple addicts will take this into account before their next purchase.


Apple faces 5% loss of iPhone sales amid factory worker protests in China, potentially more

proactiveinvestors.co.uk [5 days ago] - Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) could see a huge fall in iPhone sales over the key Black Friday weekend as it battles supply disruptions in the run-up to the festive season, including from new Covid lockdowns in China to violent protests hitting its principal supplier, Foxconn. ...

Already, many Apple stores and retailers are low on iPhone 14 inventory, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives added, with forecasts that the Black Friday weekend will see a fall to roughly 8mln iPhones sales compared to 10mln a year ago, with the gap being "mostly supply driven".

[El Guapo]

Thank God that workers seized the means of production in China.

[hepcat]

Just when you think Tucker Carlson couldn’t be any more of a giant, gaping hole into which all decency and humanity is sucked into, he yells “I can go wider!”

[Holman]

[Max Peck]

Today, Twitter wants me to know that "TRUDEAU'S GOV'T LOST ITS MIND." I wonder why that is...

[hepcat]

We’ve traced the algorithms….THEY’RE COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE.

[El Guapo]

Good news - the same sex marriage bill passed the Senate. Goes to the House which is expected to approve it.

Mixed in, though, I found this sentence morbidly hilarious:

The 61-to-36 vote put the bill on track to become law in the final weeks before Republicans assume the majority in the House of Representatives at the start of the new Congress in January. It marked one of the final major legislative achievements for Democrats before Republicans shift the focus in the House to conducting investigations of President Biden’s administration and family members.

"This is probably the last sane piece of legislation that you're going to see for some time."

[pr0ner]

Ye went on Alex Jones's show on InfoWars today, and, well, it's more batshit insane than you could imagine.

[Blackhawk]

Don't hear Ye, don't hear Ye.

[hepcat]

I'm fairly certain at this point that we're watching someone who should be on medication but is not. It's a train wreck, and I'm going to watch. But I also sometimes feel guilty for doing so. I fear this is going to end with someone hurt...or worse.

[Smoove_B]

He could move to NYC and if he just spends enough time out on the streets...problem solved.

Ok, I feel gross for even typing that.

[hepcat]

I'm also not ruling out that he may just be doubling down out of spite and for the resulting publicity. Perhaps he was bitten by a WereElon and it's a full moon...

[coopasonic]

I'm also not ruling out that he may just be doubling down out of spite and for the resulting publicity. Perhaps he was bitten by a WereElon and it's a full moon...

We are 6 days away from the next full moon.

[hepcat]

Yes, and a WereElon would transform early just to spite you and your time table.

[Smoove_B]

Doesn't deserve it's own thread, but it's definitely political.

Public Health: Hey, it's been a long time since someone in the federal government has said anything horrific about COVID-19
Walensky: Hold my beer

I joined many to reflect on the untreated syphilis study at Tuskegee. We honored the 623 African American men who were subjects of the study and acknowledged their pain & that of their families.

Their legacy lives on today – and their stories & history must never be forgotten.

That is just...wow. There is no world where you want to refer to the Tuskegee incident as a "study" with "subjects".

[hepcat]

Ooof....that is just amazingly tone deaf.

[malchior]

She has been consistently awful.

[hepcat]

Unfortunately, the responses on that twitter feed eventually turn into anti vax diatribes comparing covid vaccines to this inhuman event.

[Smoove_B]

She has been consistently awful.

And yet, she has been giving training to do better. I really just don't get it.

[malchior]

Unfortunately, the responses on that twitter feed eventually turn into anti vax diatribes comparing covid vaccines to this inhuman event.

As Biden said he wanted to bring everyone together. And it's clear that people all across the spectrum from COVID-zero folks to microchip 5G vax believers agree that Walensky is terrible.

[El Guapo]

Doesn't deserve it's own thread, but it's definitely political.

Public Health: Hey, it's been a long time since someone in the federal government has said anything horrific about COVID-19
Walensky: Hold my beer

I joined many to reflect on the untreated syphilis study at Tuskegee. We honored the 623 African American men who were subjects of the study and acknowledged their pain & that of their families.

Their legacy lives on today – and their stories & history must never be forgotten.

That is just...wow. There is no world where you want to refer to the Tuskegee incident as a "study" with "subjects".

I'll be honest....I don't understand. It was a study with subjects. The problem was that what they were studying was untreated syphilis, so the intentionally exposed the subjects to untreated syphilis, knowing that they would suffer pain and death as a result. So it was a wildly unethical and cruel (even evil) study, but it was a study, right? What's the proper nomenclature?

Feels like I'm missing something.

[Smoove_B]

I'll be honest....I don't understand. It was a study with subjects. The problem was that what they were studying was untreated syphilis, so the intentionally exposed the subjects to untreated syphilis, knowing that they would suffer pain and death as a result. So it was a wildly unethical and cruel (even evil) study, but it was a study, right? What's the proper nomenclature?

Feels like I'm missing something.

I don't think (and I'm not alone) that we should be describing a scenario where hundreds of men, their spouses and a few children were passively observed with a treatable disease as a modern, ethically bounded scientific study. Some have compared what was done to experiments conducted by Nazis and the work of the Japanese unit 731 during WW2. I'm not sure I'm quite there, but it's closer to that than a study.

The issue is the soft, gauzy framing the director of the CDC is trying to give this. It's a stain on America. It's a stain on public health. Acknowledge it. Don't try to make it sound like it was justifiable and understandable.

I think the History page is a better framing:

As a result of the Tuskegee experiment, many African Americans developed a lingering, deep mistrust of public health officials and vaccines. In part to foster racial healing, President Bill Clinton issued a 1997 apology, stating, “The United States government did something that was wrong—deeply, profoundly, morally wrong… It is not only in remembering that shameful past that we can make amends and repair our nation, but it is in remembering that past that we can build a better present and a better future.”

[El Guapo]

I'll be honest....I don't understand. It was a study with subjects. The problem was that what they were studying was untreated syphilis, so the intentionally exposed the subjects to untreated syphilis, knowing that they would suffer pain and death as a result. So it was a wildly unethical and cruel (even evil) study, but it was a study, right? What's the proper nomenclature?

Feels like I'm missing something.

I don't think (and I'm not alone) that we should be describing a scenario where hundreds of men, their spouses and a few children were passively observed with a treatable disease as a modern, ethically bounded scientific study. Some have compared what was done to experiments conducted by Nazis and the work of the Japanese unit 731 during WW2. I'm not sure I'm quite there, but it's closer to that than a study.

The issue is the soft, gauzy framing the director of the CDC is trying to give this. It's a stain on America. It's a stain on public health. Acknowledge it. Don't try to make it sound like it was justifiable and understandable.

I think the History page is a better framing:

As a result of the Tuskegee experiment, many African Americans developed a lingering, deep mistrust of public health officials and vaccines. In part to foster racial healing, President Bill Clinton issued a 1997 apology, stating, “The United States government did something that was wrong—deeply, profoundly, morally wrong… It is not only in remembering that shameful past that we can make amends and repair our nation, but it is in remembering that past that we can build a better present and a better future.”

But like...she's not describing it as a "modern, ethically bounded" scientific study. She's talking about the suffering of the people subjected to the study and that their story shouldn't be forgotten. She's clearly talking about the study as a very bad thing.

Like I just completely do not get how one reads that tweet as her saying that the study was "justifiable and understandable". She's obviously talking about the study as a bad thing.

Maybe I just don't have the same connotations to the word "study". To me studies can absolutely be wildly unethical and evil. Doesn't make them something other than a study or an experiment.

[Smoove_B]

Alight, I'll try to get to the heart of it. At some point while crafting that Tweet someone decided to use "Study" instead of "Experiment". Why? Because "study" sounds better. It's not the right word; it has connotations that should not be applied to what happened here. If I was the only one bristling at this, I'd acknowledge my opinion isn't popular, but as someone that has had a history of bad messaging, this is yet another example where a choice was made and it was poor. We should expect better from the leader of a federal organization.

[El Guapo]

Alight, I'll try to get to the heart of it. At some point while crafting that Tweet someone decided to use "Study" instead of "Experiment". Why? Because "study" sounds better. It's not the right word; it has connotations that should not be applied to what happened here. If I was the only one bristling at this, I'd acknowledge my opinion isn't popular, but as someone that has had a history of bad messaging, this is yet another example where a choice was made and it was poor. We should expect better from the leader of a federal organization.

I think the difference here is just that I think of both 'study' and 'experiment' as being similar, ethically neutral terms. Studies can be either ethically done and meritorious, or unethical and cruel (in either design or purpose). Experiments can be ethical or evil.

Like to me I would read the tweet the same way if it said experiment in place of study.

[Smoove_B]

When science gets done, using "experiment" is common, sure. You experiment with how well an new crumple zone works on a car or at what temperature coffee needs to be in order to add creamer. When you start doing stuff with living things, switching over to "study" is generally accepted as better - in the modern parlance. We don't experiment with vaccine efficacy in children; we study it.

And the reason is because of the horrific human experiments that have been done in the distant (and unfortunately) recent past. Things that were (and still are) morally and socially indefensible. They were in no way conducting a "study" as we use the term in 2022 (or arguably over the last ~40+ years). Naming it as it was (an experiment) is difficult to say, jarring to the ears but arguably better application. I'm not sure if it's on the same level as rebranding the American Civil War as the "War of Northern Aggression", but it's in the same vein. There's a connotation with "experiment" that just doesn't exist with "study". Maybe not to the layperson but to the scientific community at large.

I'm sure there's some type of acceptable / preferred legal word usage I could invoke here that might help, but alas that's not my area. Something that you'd read or hear someone say in a court room, and you'd do a double take because of how the term was being applied. Technically correct? Possibly. Awkward based on historical context? Yes.

[malchior]

Also the use of the clinical term 'subjects' also rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way. It's not just the one word study. Also in a related tweet (below) she referred to honoring these folks for their suffering and sacrifice. That was part of the uproar. Calling it a sacrifice in these circumstances...is pretty misguided.

[Jaymann]

Two letters could fix the whole thing: "un" in front of ethical.

[Isgrimnur]

As the Mayans would tell you, a sacrifice doesn't have to be voluntary.

[El Guapo]

Two letters could fix the whole thing: "un" in front of ethical.

Presumably she doesn't want to commit us to unethical research and practice. I hope not, anyway.

Anyway, I get the point. Maybe it's just because I'm not in the scientific research community.

[coopasonic]

Alight, I'll try to get to the heart of it. At some point while crafting that Tweet someone decided to use "Study" instead of "Experiment". Why? Because "study" sounds better. It's not the right word; it has connotations that should not be applied to what happened here. If I was the only one bristling at this, I'd acknowledge my opinion isn't popular, but as someone that has had a history of bad messaging, this is yet another example where a choice was made and it was poor. We should expect better from the leader of a federal organization.

I think the difference here is just that I think of both 'study' and 'experiment' as being similar, ethically neutral terms. Studies can be either ethically done and meritorious, or unethical and cruel (in either design or purpose). Experiments can be ethical or evil.

Like to me I would read the tweet the same way if it said experiment in place of study.

Better terms would be "atrocity" and "victims."

[Max Peck]

My (probably unpopular) opinion is that swearing allegiance to Russia at this time is simply a long overdue formality.

Edward Snowden swears allegiance to Russia and receives passport, lawyer says

Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who leaked information about U.S. surveillance programs, swore an oath of allegiance to Russia and has collected his Russian passport, his lawyer told state media on Friday.

Somehow I doubt that he'll be getting a lot of use from that passport any time soon.