text:
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Patient readers, this Water Cooler will be a little short, partly because I have to finish a post on impeachment, and partly because I had a household emergency to deal with. –lambert
"But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?" –James Madison, Federalist 51
"They had one weapon left and both knew it: treachery." –Frank Herbert, Dune
Here is a second counter for the Iowa Caucus, which is obviously just around the corner:
Alert reader dk (not to be confused with DK) is in the process of developing the following interactive chart.
We have polls released over the weekend, so Ipsos is (are) the latest Dem Primary Polling as of 12/9/2019, 12:00 PM EST. Biden leads, Sanders strong second, Warren five points back (!), Buttigeig trailing. This seems to be an established pattern (or, if you prefer, narrative). On to the next debate (December 19), and Iowa:
This is still the latest result, as of 12/9/2019, 12:00 PM EST:
CAVEAT I think we have to track the polls because so much of the horse-race coverage is generated by them; and at least with these charts we're insulating ourselves against getting excited about any one poll. That said, we should remember that the polling in 2016, as it turned out, was more about narrative than about sampling, and that this year is, if anything, even more so. In fact, one is entitled to ask, with the latest Buttigieg boomlet (bubble? (bezzle?)) which came first: The narrative, or the poll? One hears of push polling, to be sure, but not of collective push polling by herding pollsters. We should also worry about state polls with very small sample sizes and big gaps in coverage. And that's before we get to the issues with cellphones (as well as whether voters in very small, very early states game their answers). So we are indeed following a horse-race, but the horses don't stay in their lanes, some of the horses are not in it to win but to interfere with the others, the track is very muddy, and the mud has splattered our binoculars, such that it's very hard to see what's going on from the stands. Also, the track owners are crooked and the stewards are on the take. Everything's fine.
I think dk has started a really neat project, and in the near future we'll seek your feedback (within reason) for the tool "live."
* * *
Biden (D)(1): "Joe Biden's Family Has Been Cashing in on His Career for Decades. Democrats Need to Acknowledge That." [The Intercept]. "While the Democrats purse the impeachment of President Donald Trump for pressuring foreign countries to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden, they are left making an argument that is at once true and electorally and ethically compromising: What Trump did — and continues to do — was an impeachable abuse of power, and it should be considered separately from the question of what Hunter Biden did. The problem for Democrats is that a review of Hunter Biden's career shows clearly that he, along with Joe Biden's brother James, has been trading on their family name for decades, cashing in on the implication — and sometimes the explicit argument — that giving money to a member of Joe Biden's family wins the favor of Joe Biden."
Biden (D)(2): "Transcript: NPR's Full Interview With Joe Biden" [NPR]. Fun interview:
To call someone a "damn liar"? A voter? This isn't Trump, President Trump.
But he's lying! He's lying. You acknowledge what he said wasn't even true. None of the mainstream media believes any of that was true.
I think it was the tone. I think it was the tone that was off-putting to people.
My mother would say, "God love you, dear."
Truly giving zero f*cks. I think his voters like that about him.
Bloomberg (D)(1): Handy chart on buying the election:
Money spent on ads so far:
Steyer: $47M
Bloomberg: $39M (in two weeks!!!))
All other Democrats combined: $15Mhttps://t.co/YZkZ6fbAux pic.twitter.com/U2DXojGiBB
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) December 7, 2019
Steyer must have sent a lot of Democrat strategist kids to college, with no other real result; perhaps the same will happen to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg (D)(2): "Bloomberg: Warren and Sanders Could've Been Billionaires, Too, If They'd Worked Hard Enough" [Vanity Fair]. "'They're criticizing me for it,' Bloomberg said, explaining that he'd earned his wealth through years of hard work. 'Ask them what they're doing. Why didn't they do that? They had a chance to go out and make a lot of money.' Bloomberg argued that his deep pockets actually mean he can't be bought, as he implied some of his rivals could. 'I'm doing exactly the same thing they're doing, except that I am using my own money,' he said. 'They're using somebody else's money, and those other people expect something from them." • Like, for example, Sanders $27-a-pop donors?
Buttigieg (D)(1): "BREAKING: As a former corporate exec who worked with McKinsey, I may be able to shed light on one of @PeteButtigieg's unnamed McKinsey clients, and why it's very significant in this campaign" [Wendell Potter, Thread Reader]. "Now what does this have to do with @PeteButtigieg? In his description of his McKinsey work, he says he worked in Michigan at a "health insurance provider… performing analytical work… identifying savings in administration and overhead costs." 4/13. To an old health insurance exec, those are code words that translate roughly to cutting costs through layoffs, restructuring, and potentially denying health coverage to those in need. 5/13″ • Read the whole thing.
Buttigieg (D)(2): "In Iowa, Pete Buttigieg faces new scrutiny over consulting work, policy ideas" [Des Moines Register]. "It's unclear whether the scrutiny over the [McKinsey] NDA or the fundraisers is widespread in Iowa. Several likely caucusgoers at a town hall at Cornell College in Mount Vernon on Saturday said they hadn't heard about either issue."
Sanders (D)(1): "Watch: Bernie Sanders meets with the Register's editorial board" (video) [Des Moines Register]. •
Sanders (D)(2): Yet another health care horror story:
A nurse introducing @BernieSanders here in Iowa Falls says that the local hospital, Hanson Family Hospital, has stopped delivering babies. Families must go out of town to deliver. Audience members gasp when she adds that the head of the hospital network made $13m last year.
— Cara Korte (@CaraKorte) December 7, 2019
Sanders (D)(3): "The "Bernie Blackout" Is in Effect — And It Could Help Sanders Win" (video) [Ryan Grim, The Intercept]. •
Warren (D)(1): "Warren made $1.9 million from corporate and financial legal work" [Politico]. "Elizabeth Warren — under pressure from rival Pete Buttigieg to reveal her past compensation from corporate clients — announced Sunday that she's received $1.9 million from private legal work since 1986. The Massachusetts senator and former Harvard professor made the disclosure amid a tit-for-tat with Buttigieg over previous career assignments: Her legal representation of corporations, and his work at the corporate consulting firm McKinsey. Vying for pole position in Iowa, Warren and Buttitieg have sought to put one another on defense by suggesting the other had something to hide." • A little less than $60K a year, which isn't all that exciting. Presumably, somebody is digging into her filing.
* * *
"Warren and Biden lose ground, Sanders moves ahead in California's shifting 2020 Democratic race" [Los Angeles Times]. "Sanders is in the nominal lead, as the first-choice pick of 24%; Warren is the first pick of 22%. That is a big change from September, when she led the field with 29%. Biden is the first choice of 14%, down six points from September. Buttigieg is preferred by 12%, up six points from September. The poll was taken before California Sen. Kamala Harris dropped out of the race."
UPDATE "Inspector general's report on Russia probe: key takeaways" [Politico]. "The Crossfire Hurricane team initially was waived [sic] off of applying for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant for Carter Page by high-level Justice Department officials. The officials said the team needed more evidence first that Page was an agent of a foreign power. But after receiving Steele's report, which detailed alleged coordination between Page and the Kremlin in the summer of 2016, the team asked again and were allowed to move forward. While the agents did not have corroborating information to support Steele's reporting, Horowitz found, he also 'did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI's decision to seek FISA authority on Carter Page.'" • So Democrat oppo was laundered through the FISA court, but only with the best of intentions?
UPDATE Hoo boy:
NEW: John Durham says they "do not agree with some of the report's conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened." pic.twitter.com/GfKezyK9kV
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) December 9, 2019
This, I think, was to be expected, because Durham's investigation has broader scope.
Stats Watch
There are no statistics of note today.
Employment Situation: "The Jobs Numbers: Who's Hiring in America—and Who's Not" [Bloomberg]. "U.S. employers added 266,000 jobs in November, and the nation's unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department. Meanwhile, average hourly pay for workers rose 3.1 percent from a year earlier, to $28.29 from $27.43…
Banking: "'I lost my £193,000 inheritance – with one wrong digit on my sort code'" [Guardian]. "It is the stuff of financial nightmares. You get one digit wrong on the sort code, and send a huge amount of cash to the wrong person. They refuse to return it, and the bank washes its hands of the matter, blaming you for the mistake. That's what happened to Peter Teich in a case that reveals shocking lapses in Britain's banking system. Just hours after a solicitor sent the Cambridge resident his £193,000 inheritance after the death of his 100-year-old father, it became apparent that a terrible mistake had been made." • Once again, paging Clive. The story does have a happy ending, although initially Barclay's made "a small token gesture of £25."
Commodities: "As Shale Boom Stalls, Houston Looks to Health Care for Job Growth" [Bloomberg]. "The civic group forecasts 4,000 oilfield jobs will disappear by the end of next year. Although the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale regions are hundreds of miles away, Houston is the locus of corporate and finance operations that direct and support the drilling. Cutbacks are expanding to investment banks and trucking firms as investors increase pressure on explorers to tighten budgets…. Almost 60 million square feet of office space is empty, a vacancy rate of more than 26%, according to the report."
The Bezzle: "State Police: cruiser struck by Tesla 3 in "autopilot" mode" [Fox61]. "As [the troopers] waited for a tow truck, a 2018 Tesla Model 3, bearing CT Reg. "MODEL3", struck the rear of one cruiser and then continued north striking the disabled motor vehicle. The Tesla continued to slowly travel northbound before being stopped several hundred feet ahead by the second Trooper on scene… The driver of the Tesla stated that he had his vehicle on "auto-pilot", and explained that he was checking on his dog in the back seat prior to hitting the collision." •
Today's Fear & Greed Index: 69 Greed (previous close: 70 Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 74 (Extreme Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Dec 9 at 1:02pm. Stuck.
Rapture Index: Closes unchanged [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 182. Remember that bringing on the rapture is a good thing. I wonder when, in 2020, the index will start flirting with 190 again. So far, the latest impeachment push hasn't affected the Index.
The Biosphere
"The World Solved the Ozone Problem. It Can Solve Climate Change." [Editorial Board, New York Times]. "The bottom line is that the world, confronted with two dire threats to the earth's fragile atmosphere, found two planetary responses with positive outcomes. The ozone layer is healing. That's worth remembering as we struggle, often despairingly, to find common ground in the battle against climate change. Compared with the manifold complexities of global warming, dealing with ozone depletion was, in fact, relatively simple. But the key point is that it happened, and it's worth asking why the world has not responded with similar resolve in dealing with the main global warming gases like carbon dioxide, about which we have known a lot for a long time." • As a meliorist, I agree (for some definition of "solve"). But maybe 50 years ago we weren't run by elites whose first thought would have been to put a meter on the ozone layer, instead of just saving it.
"Permafrost Hits a Grim Threshold" [Counterpunch]. "For tens of thousands of years the Arctic's carbon sink has been a powerful dynamic in functionality of the Earth System. However, that all-important functionality has been crippled and could be permanently severed. According to new research based upon field observations conducted from 2003 to 2017, a large-scale carbon emission shift in the Earth System has occurred. The 'entire Arctic' now emits more carbon than it absorbs, a fact that can only be described as worse than bad news. 'Given that the Arctic has been taking up carbon for tens of thousands of years, this shift to a carbon source is important because it highlights a new dynamic in the functioning of the Earth System,' says Susan Natali at Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts (Source: Thawing Permafrost Has Turned the Arctic Into a Carbon Emitter, NewScientist, Oct. 21, 2019)."
"Oceans losing oxygen at unprecedented rate, experts warn" [Guardian]. "Dead zones – where oxygen is effectively absent – have quadrupled in extent in the last half-century, and there are also at least 700 areas where oxygen is at dangerously low levels, up from 45 when research was undertaken in the 1960s…. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature presented the findings on Saturday at the UN climate conference in Madrid, where governments are halfway through tense negotiations aimed at tackling the climate crisis."
"How to live with mega-fires? Portugal's feral forests may hold the secret" [National Geographic]. "Portugal, like the wider Mediterranean, was suffering from the confluence of two long-term trends: a sweeping abandonment of a rural landscape that had become economically irrelevant, coupled with a widespread governmental unwillingness to live with fire. 'And if your aim is to exclude fire from this ecosystem," he says, "you are doomed to fail.' … At the turn of the century Portugal had 2 percent tree cover; by the late 20th century it had shot up to nearly a third. The reason, Oliveira says, was this: In the 1950s, synthetic materials made from petroleum replaced plant and animal fiber, and chemical solvents and fertilizers made from petroleum and inorganic chemicals replaced forest products like pitch, peat, or pine needles, Factory farming replaced meat from hunting or domestic animals— cows, sheep, pigs goats—pastured in the forest. As rural people withdrew from the land that once filled their basic needs, the trees returned, and with them came fire." • So Portugal's problems are not California's.
"Florida Keys Deliver a Hard Message: As Seas Rise, Some Places Can't Be Saved" [New York Times]. "The law generally requires local governments to maintain roads and other infrastructure, because failure to do so will reduce the property value of surrounding homes, according to Erin Deady, a lawyer who specializes in climate and land-use law and is a consultant to the county on adapting to rising seas. But local officials retain the right to decide whether or not to upgrade or enhance that infrastructure. What's unclear, Ms. Deady said, is whether raising a road to prevent it from going underwater is more akin to maintaining or upgrading. That's because no court has yet ruled on the issue." • On the one hand, obviously. On the other, I am extremely leery of 10%-ers and 1%-ers making these decisions, because I think lifeboat thinking will be just another version of austerity.
"Recent UA study confirms groundwater pumping is drying up Arizona rivers" [AZ Central]. "Groundwater pumping has caused stream flow in U.S. rivers to decline by as much as half over the last century, according to new research by a University of Arizona hydrologist that strengthens the connection between groundwater and surface water. The research confirms that groundwater losses, primarily due to pumping water from below the surface for agricultural and municipal uses, decrease the overall surface water supply and have caused some smaller streams to dry up. This has a downstream effect that influences water levels far beyond the groundwater pumping location." • With case studies of the Santa Cruz and San Pedro rivers.
Groves of Academe
"Indicted USC Administrator Involved Colleagues In Her Private Dealings" [LAist]. "When the "Varsity Blues" admissions bribery scandal broke in March, the University of Southern California declared itself as a victim of fraud, asserting it had no reason to believe that senior administrators were aware of the wide-ranging scam, which helped unqualified students gain entry to USC by way of bogus application materials. Now, new details about Donna Heinel, the senior associate athletic director who prosecutors say was a key conduit in the scheme, shed light on just how expansive her role within the athletics department was — and on whether USC monitored her activities closely enough…. Heinel ran a thriving side business that was tightly entwined with her duties at USC and involved more athletics department personnel than has been publicly known… The private business, called Clear the Clearinghouse, profited from events it hosted on university property and featured USC coaches as speakers, according to documents and interviews. At least one coach who spoke at forums organized by Heinel said he thought he was speaking at university events, not giving talks on behalf of a private business. These revelations raise questions not only about how Heinel's and Garfio's consulting work may have blurred the lines between their private business and their university affiliation — but also about how rigorously USC monitored financial activity inside its athletics office." • I'm sure Heinel's salary was not low. She is, after all, an administrator.
Guillotine Watch
For Saturnalia:
see your local antifa dealer for attractive offers pic.twitter.com/MbRVMkhQNb
— ?IPM ???⛄??❄ (@IPM_HQ) December 4, 2019
Class Warfare
Once more, Uber leads the way:
Gender neutral but class segregated washrooms is woke neoliberalism epitomized https://t.co/SWwjlziaSH
— Christo Aivalis (@christoaivalis) December 5, 2019
"Climate Disaster Is a Labor Issue. Here's Why." [Kim Kelly, Teen Vogue (!)]. "Make no mistake: The coal miner and pipeline worker know about the environmental costs of their labor, but when faced with the choice of feeding their kids or putting down their tools in the name of saving the planet, the pressures of capitalism tend to win; their choice is made for them. That is why it's so important to dismantle the structures that force these impossible decisions and offer instead real, equitable alternatives to those whose livelihoods depend on industries that harm the earth."
News of the Wired
"A Woman Wore A "Hail Satan" T-Shirt On A Plane. American Airlines Forced Her To Change Or Get Off The Plane." [Buzzfeed]. "After she'd gotten settled in her seat and was happily reading a copy of New York magazine, a crew member approached her and told her she had to change or get off the plane. 'He said, 'Our crew has found your shirt to be offensive," said Goyal. 'We initially just thought it was a joke. But he repeated the directive, and there was another female crew member who was behind him with her arms crossed looking very angry.' Goyal and her husband refused to get off the plane. 'The man said, 'Your shirt is offensive. Do you know what that means?" Goyal said. 'I said, 'I'm a foreign-born minority woman, I understand 'offensive,' and this shirt is not offensive…. Later, Goyal told BuzzFeed News the airline had called and offered to refund both tickets, and assured her that the investigation remained ongoing." • Good.
Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. Today's plant (ChiGal):
ChiGal: "One thing, the iPhone camera beats Motorola hands down. A benefit of de-googling." Gorgeous! Maybe I should run a "bee and flower" contest next summer. I find that shot very difficult to take!
Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn't see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I'm on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for five or ten days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals:
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stunning photo!
Yeah, though I'm pretty sure this is par for the course for Uber ;)
Yes, that's a great shot .. however, I believe the 'bee' is actually a hover fly.
A Woman Wore A "Hail Satan" T-Shirt On A Plane …. 16 yr old me would have loved that shirt.
Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't freedom of religion mean freedom from everyone else's religion?
No, it means the government cannot establish an official state religion, no endorse any. Basically they cannot get involved.
Not allowing a valid ticket holder to fly might be construed as a violation of a property right and therefore a illegally discriminatory act not dissimilar to denying, for instance a Sikh, a seat on a flight because someone aboard has an irrational fear or hatred of people who wear turbans. But i'll be damned if I let my little grand kids sit next to a Catholic priest!
Yes, but the airline is not the government and is under no obligation to follow the Bill of Rights. The only thing they have to follow is the UCC and the FAA, in which case they are obligated to refund the ticket price.
D. Fuller
Religious organizations report themselves as such under IRS code.
The government is already involved.
What constitutes a religious organization requiring exempt status… requires government involvement.
Commercial operation of a business that caters to the public is covered by State and Federal Law, however.
Any business wishing to exercise religious exemptions to providing business to the public should be required to operate as a private club with due-paying members. Where only due-members are patrons of the religious business. Strict requirements to be a dues-paying member should be mandatory.
It is an elegant solution and one that brooks no misinterpretation. The strict requirements for being a dues-paying member would avoid any ambiguity as to whether or not the private religious business is attempting to circumvent laws in order to sell to the public at large.
D. Fuller
Yet, neither should the government allow religious discrimination in businesses catering to the public. After all, all businesses are creations of The State as in, State Law. Last time anyone checked? States governments are not religious governments.
If this were a private business – an airline catering only to club members of a specific religion? Fine. Let them discriminate against non-club members. Then again, that airline would probably only consist of a Piper Cub unless it was a televangelist allowing the use of his Gulfstream.
This is how it should be.
The fact that businesses are creations of the State should preclude ANY unreasonable discrimination. No shirt, no shoes, no service would be reasonable. Religious discrimination would be unreasonable. A public business is not a house of worship… it is a public business entity.
Businesses, as creations of the State? Would have NO RIGHTS. Citizens United would never happen. Businesses would only be assigned those rights by their State of incorporation or The Federal Government should businesses operate over State lines.
US corporate law is a complete and utter mess of inanity and fraud.
If I've learned 1 thing in my time here in America (and I may not have) it is "Freedom of Religion" should come with the footnote "As long as it isn't too different from mainstream Protestantism/Catholicism".
In the same way that "Freedom of Speech" should have the footnote "But, watch what you say".
The 16 and the 26 year old me would have loved it:).
Hana M
Awesome work by the Chicago Tribune getting Afghanistan war documents released. " Some U.S. officials wanted to use the war to turn Afghanistan into a democracy. Others wanted to transform Afghan culture and elevate women's rights. Still others wanted to reshape the regional balance of power among Pakistan, India, Iran and Russia.
"With the AfPak strategy there was a present under the Christmas tree for everyone," an unidentified U.S. official told government interviewers in 2015. "By the time you were finished you had so many priorities and aspirations it was like no strategy at all."
I wonder if anyone bothered to ask the Afghans if they wanted or needed any of these things.
Hana M
My apologies. It was the Washington Post that got the court-ordered release. I guess I'm guilty of anti-WP prejudice.
"We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan — we didn't know what we were doing," Douglas Lute, a three-star Army general who was the White House's Afghan war czar during the Bush and Obama administrations, told government interviewers in 2015.
"What are we trying to do here? We didn't have the foggiest notion of what we were undertaking," Lute added, according to the report."
Hana M
Way, way back in the early post 9/11 days, very soon after Operation Whatever was launched, I asked a friend who had spent several years in Afghanistan as a Peace Corps volunteer for his opinion. Len loved the country and its people, returned whenever he could, and stayed in touch with many–some of whom came to the US and became citizens.
In my naivete I was thinking 'oh, yes, let's bring back civilization!' I'll never forget Len's answer: "What are we going to do? Bomb the place back into the stone age? For Americans it's an impossible place and the people are impossible–wonderful but impossible. We'll never do anything good there."
There were plenty of voices and witnesses who saw the truth yet no one who could have stopped things listened, no one in power was willing to see.
Katniss Everdeen
As if anyone paying attention didn't know all this already, but jesus, that Chicago Tribune article is infuriating.
In addition, I would remind everyone of pelosi's cheeky admission this past weekend that she "knew" there were no WMD in Iraq, yet failed to stop ANOTHER war based on the claim that there were.
This should put paid to the ostensible "debunking" of a number of "conspiracy theories" over the years, based on the fact that so many people would have to have been involved that those "conspiracies" would have been impossible to keep quiet.
I wonder if these revelations will shoot Tulsi Gabbard's political stock to the moon as it should.
i don't know how much of a secret the democrats' going along with the charade was, though.. pelosi may never have admitted as much, but it was obvious. of course they'll lie about it, in between calls to put more pressure on russia.
Modern propaganda works. Like LBJ and Vietnam, President Trump can't look like a loser, but he still can't find a way out. But so far, the war with Iran has been avoided.
There are no protests of the endless wars and impeachment. Information control is ruthless and monolithic. You are a conspiracist if you point out Joe Biden was the pointman for restarting the Cold War. Wall Street is dependent on capital flight from the spreading chaos and keeping the dollar as the reserve currency. The American Empire is doing everything short of a nuclear war to remain the hegemon. American lower classes are suffering from low wages and dying young due to the Meritocracy that has never had it so good except perhaps in the Roaring 20s and the Gilded Age. The Big Lie lives.
Excessive defense spending, their Afghanistan War and lies were exploited by the party mangers to fell the Soviet Union and arise as oligarchs following in the footsteps of the Reagan/Thatcher counter revolt. The Obama and Clinton families did this to gain their wealth but to a lesser extent. Are omissions of facts part and parcel of corporate state's Psych Operation to keep a lid on any unrest or is it just innate that every Empire looses consent of the governed as it falls into autocracy?
D. Fuller
The flaw of Western leaders: inside every Afghani is a Westerner waiting to get out.
Ummm… cultural differences, religious beliefs, and customs be damned. Too many idealogical chiefs with grand designs (short on details and plans) sticking their fingers in the pie. Despite their complete lack of any understanding of Afghani society.
Iran was pretty much the same. In part Westernization (gentrification) under the Shah led to a huge backlash. Why, L. Paul Bremer (yes, THAT L. Paul Bremer) was bragging 3 or 4 days before the US embassy in Tehran was overrun… that Ayatollah Khomeni was not opposed to Western businesses and indeed would be quite cooperative.
Iraq? Another mess created through any lack of understanding of society and the social dynamics of the country.
Libya? Needs a strongman like Quaddafi. Whether we like it or not. That is how Arabic societies are, in general.
India is an interesting case. 150 years of British occupation to establish a semblance of tradition of democracy. The US? Our TRADITIONS date back to The Magna Carta (1215), with foundations in Roman Law.
In the past, it has taken CENTURIES to establish traditions that are favorable to develop a democracy. Maybe it will take many, many decades under ideal conditions – none of which exist in most of the world – to establish those traditions. Technology, specifically communications, allows for the spread of information and thought. Thus possibly speeding up the process. This would require that established democracies serve as that "shining city on the hill" for the transmission of such democratic thought. Quite frankly, Western democracies are more recently the "shining sewer on the hill".
The Rev Kev
This is sounding an awful lot like the Pentagon Papers-
So, I have cautious optimism for the Sanders campaign. Various media outlets have stepped up their efforts to smear and sand-bag Bernie Sanders and it seems to have backfired. Still, I think that the best thing for Sanders to do right now, is to run campaign ads and give speeches focusing specifically on the concerns and issues facing senior citizens. While Sanders has overwhelming support among people middle-aged and younger, the older demographic still is heavily skewed towards that of establishment Democrats. This is also the demographic that is most likely to actually vote, as voter turnout among younger people has traditionally been poor.
Sanders needs to hammer home the fact that the corporate democrats are certainly no friends of senior citizens, as Biden, Obama, and Clinton have tried to cut Social Security several times in the past. If Biden is elected, I am sure that he would also try to push through a "Grand Bargain" again. Rising medical costs also disproportionately affect older people as do the costs of assisted living and nursing home centers which are also skyrocketing. I am not sure how much of this demographic is too far gone in terms of being too set in its ways to change its mind about Sanders, but I think that is where a lot of his effort should go at this point.
Still, I am worried about Sanders suddenly having an "accident" to take him out of the race. This is paranoid, I know, but he has rubbed so much of the caviar and Marg-A-Lago crowd the wrong way, that somebody might arrange for Sanders to have a mishap.
Finally, does anybody have any recent numbers in terms of how Sanders is polling in Iowa? Now that Warren has dropped off a lot in the national polls and Sanders has experienced a small surge as of late, I wonder if he is still in the lead for Iowa.
Being too obvious about your criticism of the Obama-Clinton Nexus just gets you in a world of hurt. Sanders has it bad, but I don't think it is quite as bad as Tulsi. Granted Tulsi, because of her low numbers, is a much safer person to pick on.
John k
Tulsi enrages the elites with anti wars, which sanders might agree with but his focus has been much more on domestic, smart bc that's where the votes are.
Agreed he should talk about protecting ss from Corp dems and reps.
Young already participating much more in 2018, imo his results will surprise and dismay elites… though some suspect, maybe why Bloomberg jumped in to save the nations billionaires.
Satanists and Atheists – the last people you're allowed to discriminate against
Amfortas the hippie
(leans in back door)"….and smokers…"
jax read
That's not exactly a fair comparison. The day a smoker doesn't add pollution to the air in my immediate vicinity, is the day I'm okay with them being anywhere.
Until then, no.
Global Misanthrope
Giant eye roll. Assuming, that is, that you drink water, breathe air, eat food, take pharmaceuticals, drive a car, fly…If not, my bad.
Fiery Hunt
Yep….Amfortas and jax and I know.
It's your world and us smokers (and Satanists and atheists) are subject to your preferences. Regardless of how we attempt to accommodate you.
Time to Get Tough on Farting!
Yes, with many mistaking the two as functionally equivalent.
Bloomberg (D)(2): "Bloomberg: Warren and Sanders Could've Been Billionaires, Too, If They'd Worked Hard Enough"
Bloomberg is so full of it I am amazed he isn't run out of town.
Blair Fix wrote a paper that explains why Bloomberg is wrong to term it "working hard enough" and that Bloomberg and nearly every other billionaire was a happy accident due to their position within a hierarchical network.
The Historian
I have a problem with people who think that being a billionaire is the ultimate measure of human worth. Let's hope that other nonbillionaires do too.
Oh Warren could have been a billionaire? Exactly how many women billionaires are there compared to males? (ok very few people are billionaires period, but just a reality check your privilege here for a clueless rich white male).
Sanders meanwhile was off pursuing the public service thingy. I don't know whatever got into him.
When Paul Wellstone was alive he joked that when he retired, he would be one of the few people in the Senate who would not have a juicy industry lobbying job waiting for him.
In my opinion his problem was that he was very charismatic and could persuade conservative people to vote for him. This was during the run-up to the genocide in Iraq.
You can see where that got him.
lyman alpha blob
The implicit notion here is that Sanders, Warren or anybody must want to be a billionaire.
The fact that power corrupts doesn't just apply to other people. Some are smart enough to realize that too much money would corrupt them too and they simply don't want it. People like Bloomberg just can't fathom that idea.
Trying to think of the best way to improve Biden's bus:
Option 1: "No Malarkey, Dagnammit"
Option 2: "Joe Malarkey"
Kurt Sperry
I wore my Corbyn swooshtika t-shirt on a flight from Seattle to London and it clearly affected some of the people on the plane. Half the cabin staff smiled; the other half frowned.
For people in New Hampshire and environs – two Bernie events this week, from my email:
Rally in Nashua with Rep. Ilhan Omar and Bernie Sanders
Friday, December 13
Event starts at 7:00 p.m.
Nashua Community College Gym
505 Amherst St
Nashua, NH 03063
Town Hall in Manchester with Rep. Ilhan Omar and Bernie Sanders
Friday, December 13
Event starts at 1:00 p.m.
Southern New Hampshire University, Small Gymnasium
2500 N River Road
Manchester, NH 03106
UPDATE "Inspector general's report on Russia probe: key takeaways" [Politico].
Hilariously, the writer waits until near the end to mention that Christopher Steele was friendly with Ivanka Trump for years. Completing the circle of absurdity.
"To an old health insurance exec, those are code words that translate roughly to cutting costs through layoffs, restructuring, and potentially denying health coverage to those in need. 5/13″
Private death panels good: public death panels bad.
Please report to The U.S. Brainwashing Department for re-education.
I did, and they got the wires crossed…
D. Fuller
Note: the use of "you" doesn't mean you specifically.
Death panels…
Former Aetna Medical Director Admits To Never Reviewing Medical Records Before Denying Care
-one person "death panel"
What Is a Cost-Benefit Analysis in Healthcare?
-computerized "death panel".
Rationing… if you can't afford the Platinum policy? You must accept lower levels of care and coverage. Rationing based upon your income and the affordability of insurance. And let's not forget about private insurance only covering so many visits to specialists. Or co-pays? Can't afford co-pays? Too bad. Die.
Think you have choice in doctors? The only choice a consumer according to private health insurance – you are not a patient according to private health insurers, but a CONSUMER – are the narrow network of your insurer.
It is amazing how so many Americans are brainwashed into thinking that they have choice, in health insurance.
Even private health insurance smacks of Socialism. People with private health insurance don't pay their medical bills in full. The private insurance – after performing a cost-benefit analysis and subject to approval of an executive whose bonus depends on denial of health care, upon determining that the doctor was in the insurer's narrow network – pays out of a pool of money funded by their entire insured base.
Want some malarkey?
The key to efficient market outcomes is that prices reflect costs of production. The market for health care does not operate that way. is one of the doozies in there.
"Warren made $1.9 million from corporate and financial legal work"
She and her husband's total net worth is over $12 million, according to Forbes.
How plainly are corporate and financial defined? As a dumb person, it appears she created a category based on whatever and things could easily be missing or misstated.
Assuming she's avoiding uappealing associations, not ill-gotten zillions.
Or perhaps just accustomed to Warren having a weird weasel angle in everything she does.
Does corporate have a specific meaning, like sea-level or intra-state?
As I recall, insider trading ain't illegal if you are a Congresscritter.
D. Fuller
As I recall, insider trading ain't illegal if you are a Congresscritter.
Or a corporate executive timing bonus stock sales to announcements of stock buybacks by their corporate employer.
Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27) was charged with insider trading. He pleaded guilty and resigned his seat last September.
"Florida Keys Deliver a Hard Message: As Seas Rise, Some Places Can't Be Saved" NYT
Manhattan Island comes to mind, perhaps to Times editors as well.
Paul saved us until big dog came along gave away the Amerikan banking system to the banksters.
Paul Volker was the worst appointment Jimmy Carter ever made. Volker kick started the destruction of the middle class.
Roger Boyd
Agreed, together with Reagan's takedown of the Air Traffic Controllers Union, started the destruction of the unions in the US.
the democrats didn't need volker or carter for that matter to start the destruction of the middle class. the heyday imo was in the 50's, when the u.s. due to historical circumstances was the empire of the moment, but that wasn't going to last. the empire just fed on other people in other parts of the world for a while. capitalism was always going to come home to roost.
Goyo Marquez
Re: FISA warrant for Carter Page
"So Democrat oppo was laundered through the FISA court, but only with the best of intentions?"
Perhaps a better conclusion is: Wow, judges are so lazy/indifferent/politicized, that they give surveillance warrants out at the drop of a hat.
Having been a constituent of Michael Bloomberg's for many years I have no problem saying that he has missed a big aspect of people who expect something from you as a politician. Not only do the people who vote for you expect something, but even those who don't but have to live under your choices do.
I realize that he didn't put it that way, but I also have no problem saying that he will have no problem ignoring people to whom he is or isn't beholden along with anyone else who is not of his class who doesn't confirm his opinions.
"Bloomberg: Warren and Sanders Could've Been Billionaires, Too, If They'd Worked Hard Enough"
Ugh. No to disparage Bloomberg's high quality news, and terminal data, but Mayor Mike is most likely a billionaire because of the SEC's decision to abolish fixed-rate securities trading commissions in May 1975 (often referred to as 'May Day'). Prior to this, all trades made on the New York Stock Exchange were executed for the same commission price per share, and brokers regularly took an additional 2% or more for themselves on these trades. The SEC mandate eventually dropped commission prices to pennies per share and led to the creation of discount brokers. What this meant for buy side investment advisors was that they now had a fiduciary responsibility to seek to obtain the best price and execution for their securities transactions, and if they didn't this might constitute fraud. A loophole was soon created, Section 28(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which established a safe harbor for money managers who use client funds to purchase brokerage and research services for their managed accounts. What this meant is that managers could pay higher commissions, or direct lots of commissions to a single broker, if the broker helped them pay for 'research services'.
Enter the Bloomberg terminal. An investment advisor could now guarantee Goldman Sachs $10 million in trading commissions per year, if Goldman promised to pay for Bloomberg terminals and research services that are say $1 million or 10% of this amount. As a consequence the commission per share paid to investment banks dropped significantly, but their allocated share of trade commissions from the largest investment managers remained relatively unchanged. These Soft Dollar agreements were negotiated with all the major investment banks. This is why Bloomberg was for decades able to charge thousands of dollars per terminal and not have any customers balk at his price. By the time these soft dollar agreements became obsolete, Bloomberg had already established its pricing, its infrastructure, and a low cost way to distribute its data (now online instead of via coaxial cables). The rest is history.
New Regulation, and a related collaboration with investment banks that wanted to maintain their commission revenues is what really turbocharged the profitability of Bloomberg's niche business.
House Democrats are talking up the potential for "Obstruction of Justice" and "Obstruction of Congress" Impeachment articles because of Trump's refusal to to roll over on subpoenas issued by the (so called) Intelligence Committee.
In his NPR interview today, Biden was asked – twice- if he would obey a subpoena to testify at the Senate Trial. Twice he said no:
"I have to ask you about what's happening right now. President Trump is in the process of being impeached. The Senate trial is pending. Republicans have suggested that they might call you or your son, Hunter Biden. If you are subpoenaed, would you comply?
No. I'm not going to let you take the eye off the ball here. Everybody knows what this is about. This is a Trump gambit he plays. Whenever he's in trouble, he tries to find someone else to divert attention to.
But this is a real thing that's happening. Republicans are suggesting that they would subpoena you and President Trump — these issues will be parsed out in the Senate trial.
That's right.
But the question is, would you comply with the subpoena?
No, I will not yield to what everybody is looking for here. And that is to take the eye off the ball."
The Intercept article linked today asks if it is wise to nominate Biden given he cannot make a "clean" argument about Trump's corruption based on his family's grifter history. Add this to the mix.
Ever notice how (Major)Tulsi Gabbard does not compare her multiple tours of combat and counting the bodies of servicemen to the service record of other candidates, who voted for the wars?
e.g. "Mr. Biden, You never served, and are a draft dodger."
Wedding-ring tested bravery Buttigieg?,
"Military documents obtained by The Hill provide a glimpse into Pete Buttigieg's time as a Navy intelligence officer in Afghanistan, a key portion of his biography that sets him apart from the pack of 2020 Democratic presidential contenders.
(Like Tulsi does not exist?)
"Buttigieg has written at length about "In a ritual to be repeated dozens of times, I would wave a gloved goodbye to the Macedonian gate guard," Buttigieg wrote. "My vehicle would cross outside the wire and into the boisterous Afghan city, entering a world infinitely more interesting and ordinary and dangerous than our zone behind the blast walls at ISAF headquarters."
"The Hill reviewed Buttigieg's certificate of release from active duty and a counseling report…Military officials who reviewed the documents for The Hill note that he likely did not engage in direct combat, which would have earned him a Navy combat ribbon."
Look who's the favorite candidate, as 1,800 Dems are polled by Harris/Harvard, if a couple of unannounced people are included in the question? She's baaaaaaaaaaacccckkkk!
Tanned, rested, and ready – with a call in to Nancy's botox specialist.
1,800 Morans
An online survey. Presumably because more accepted methods failed to yield the desired result.
Hillary? Your joking.
I like Kyle a lot, but he seems confused about why you push politicians to co-sponsor bills. You do it to bind them to a position….then punish them when they don't stick to that position.
He doesn't seem to get that this is working as effectively as it should, too. Harris was the '1st to co-sponsor Bernie's M4A bill'. Warren co-sponsored, too. Both made a big fuss about it.
When Harris back-tracked on her support….she was punished for lacking authenticity to the point that it was a big part of sinking her campaign (among other issues, of course, but her health care plan rollout was poor). Warren's been getting punished as she's rolled out a distinctly 'not M4A plan', also.
This is how you exercise power….you force politicians into a corner and then punish them for reneging on those positions. M4A advocates should be cheering these results. It's going to make future candidates weary of betraying our cause.
Biden, specifically, has been authentic and consistent, but he's just wrong, of course. I think that is an understated reason behind his strange buoyancy in the polls.
It's good to see insincerity punished in the democratic party after years of Obama gaslighting everyone.
This seems to confirm my suspicion that Warren's bad political instincts on M4A are doing her no favors.
Capitalists: under communism you will only have one car model to choose from…
But this one has heated cup-holders. And that one has folding seats. And this other one has folding heater cups. It's all about choices silly. :)
D. Fuller
Joke in Russia:
What the West said about Communism is true. Unfortunately, what the Communists said about Capitalists is also true.
I like buying my "Smokers Package" for a new vehicle that costs $95 despite that the smoker's package consists of a $2 cup ash-tray and a $4 cigarette lighter.
No, not really. I don't buy the smoker's package. I end up spending $6.
No Subaru.
chuck roast
Go Trabi Go!
The Bolseviks also created a vast and affordable public service transport network throughout their empire. Hell, even the vile Stalin began construction of the subway system in Moscow during his reign of terror.
Unfortunately, many of the services quickly disappeared during the "reforms" of the early 1990s, and to this day a free-market believer like Putin is allowing some of Russia's much heralded long distance trains servicea to be axed in the holy name of markets. Some people have fancy modelled cars these day, many more have crap second hand cars, and many rely on spotty privatised services or on their thumbs for transportation.
Riverboat Grambler
"Bloomberg argued that his deep pockets actually mean he can't be bought, as he implied some of his rivals could. "
That's what Trump said.
Bernie creeps higher. Biden/Bernie/Warren each pick up a point from Harris' demise. Bernie still strongest in favorability.
I am amused that Bloomberg has highest unfavorable rating. Wonder if that's fixable by lighting money on fire or not.
I kind of doubt it.
I love where the face of mayo pete is covering up the part of the graph where sanders pulls back ahead of warren.
Overall, decent interview. But, ugh, 19min into this interview and David Harvey says Russia and China could have crashed US economy during financial crisis by selling debt of Fannie, Freddie, AIG, etc. Frustratingly, Jeremy Scahill doesn't press him.
NO, NO, NO!!! Paging Stephanie Kelton….
The Federal Reserve would have easily vacuumed up the debt through quantitative easing. Then, the question of what to do with all the USD gets unaddressed. Neither Russia, nor China want to see their currencies rise against the USD, it would have caused tremendous instability in their own economies, much moreso than it would have de-stabilized the US economy. Also, they needed those reserves to defend currencies against capital flight, both countries are seemingly always at risk from their own citizens, institutions and foreigners yanking their money out of their countries and putting it into the US.
The Rev Kev
"Florida Keys Deliver a Hard Message: As Seas Rise, Some Places Can't Be Saved"
A bit hard for those twenty-odd households loving there but you can't spend a giant chunk of a district's budget on a forlorn hope. You would have to build a cofferdam around each home to save it but what would be the point? Looks like water taxis are going to replace those roads which are destined to go underwater. If only there were a few billionaires living there, then it would be an open check-book operation to save those properties on the part of that district.
But beachfront property on Martha's Vineyard? Maybe the Obamas know something that other folks don't know, or know that sea level rise is B.S.?
How high above th esea is the house? There are places where cliffs back up the beach; you could be 100 feet above the water. I lived in a place like that, on the Oregon coast. Of course, the whole thing was moving, slowly, and the house is now gone. Heck of a view while it lasted, though. Good thing I didn't buy the place.
RE: https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2019/12/immigration-detainee-geo-forced-labor-lawsuit/
A Judge Says Thousands of Detainees May Sue a Prison Company for Using Them as a "Captive Labor Force"
Started thinking about the movie, "Sorry, To Bother You"….
So many determined cretins wanting to make the worse fantasies into reality…
Email from National Nurses United:
"..In just 16 hours one of our very own nurses — NNU President Jean Ross — will be testifying to Congress on behalf of Medicare for All. It's a pivotal moment in our years-long fight and a chance to convince even more Representatives to join us.
The hearing is free to watch and will be streaming on YouTube tomorrow. All you have to do is bookmark this link and come back to it at 10:30 am ET. Once you've saved the link, be sure to share it on social media.
Watch it here » https://hooktube.com/watch?akid=8235.20192.gMM5o0&rd=1&t=1&v=X1IzjGYJvUg
Everyone who drove calls to Rep. Eshoo's office last week should feel extremely proud. The fact that Jean is testifying in this hearing at all is all because of YOU.
Their original plan was to stuff the room with people who were, at best, neutral towards Medicare for All, and at worst, representing GOP dark money groups who help fund anti-M4A propaganda. Now we have a true patient advocate, a bedside nurse, ready to fight on behalf of patients everywhere."
Can someone help me with finding the article explaining why Venezuela isn't a good example of a fiat currency issuer? I tried searching to no avail, hoping someone has it bookmarked :)
Re: polling data
2 observations:
Buttigieg up matches Biden down. It would be interesting to do a plot of (Biden – Buttigieg)? Suggests % of voters undecided betw. those two.
Bernie time series OTOH is uncannily smooth in the past month. Would expect more variation due to methodology differences and sampling, esp with polls of smaller size. A tiny bit suspicious of this.
Is the data publicly available (e.g. shared/semi-public read-only google sheet?)
Late Introvert
Buttigieg (D)(2): "In Iowa, Pete Buttigieg faces new scrutiny over consulting work, policy ideas" [Des Moines Register]. "It's unclear whether the scrutiny over the [McKinsey] NDA or the fundraisers is widespread in Iowa. Several likely caucusgoers at a town hall at Cornell College in Mount Vernon on Saturday said they hadn't heard about either issue."
I saw two different Buttigieg ads on local TV stations tonight within minutes of each other, on CBS and ABC outlets.
The first one was Buttigieg voters talking about how it wasn't about him it was about "Us". McKinsey Boy Stole Bernie's thing straight up. Because it has legs.
Second ad was Buttigieg in uniform with other veterans talking about how strong and "true" he is. Both ads mimicked recent Bernie ads that featured local Iowa folks giving endorsements about how Bernie was true to his word.
People in Iowa get this stuff night and day on the network channels, but in reference to comments from last month, there are no political ads on Antenna TV or the CW or any of the other free over-the-air TV channels here. Bernie is missing an opportunity there and I will try to communicate that to their campaign when I make my 3rd $25 donation this next week.
The driver of the Tesla stated that he had his vehicle on "auto-pilot", and explained that he was checking on his dog in the back seat prior to hitting the collision."
I'm guessing a large percentage of tesla owners fall into the "smart" (credentialed or PMC) category so maybe that's an indicator of something


text:
Job Details
Rep Mobile Examiner - (P/T) - ExamOne / Boise, ID area
Job Description
Basic Purpose:
Under the direction of the Branch Manager or Field Leader, Mobile Examiner's primary responsibility is to provide coverage in the field ensuring that mobile exams are completed accurately and on time. Maintain a safe and professional environment for applicants, clients, and employees, perform with confidence all aspects of an insurance exam, including specimen collection and processing duties following established practices and procedures. May also be required to act as coach, mentor, instructor, and resource person for new employees who have completed the required phlebotomy-training program.
Duties and Responsibilities:
1. Ensures all specimens are collected accurately and on time.
a. Collects specimens according to established procedures.
b. Conducts in center exams and mobile exams, which include taking basic vitals, medical histories, venipuncture, urine collection, and EKG. Also collects specimens for pre- employment drug screenings and other Quest Diagnostics services. Knowledge of finger stick blood draws may be necessary for some designated wellness events.
c. Responsible for completing application packets and other paperwork accurately.
d. Label, centrifuge and split specimens as required by test order.
e. Upload and complete cases in portal within 24 hrs on weekdays and within 48 hrs on weekends.
f. Package specimens for transport and ship to lab indicated on work orders.
2. Responsible for the safe and timely transporting of specimens, supplies, equipment and materials to the appropriate destination.
a. Maintains records of each specimen collected each day. Support Record Deletion process when directed by Management.
b. Submits original paperwork to destination.
c. Provides customer service to clients.
3. Follows current Examiner's Manual.
a. Reads, understands and complies with departmental policies, protocols and procedures: (i.e. Procedure Manuals, Safety Manual, Compliance Manual, Automobile policies and procedures, Employee Handbook, Quality Assurance Manual).
b. Maintains all appropriate Phlebotomy logs.
c. Maintains error rate of no more than 3%.
d. Confirms exams with clients day before appointment and status the case at time of confirmation.
e. Correct non-applicant errors within a 24 hour timeframe.
f. Submits accurate time and travel logs as directed by management and on time.
g. Submits accurate expense forms, if applicable, on the required day.
h. Properly clock in and out for work assignments.
i. Provides travel logs when applicable.
4. Demonstrates organizational commitment.
a. Adheres to departmental and company code of grooming and dress code and lab coat policies, appearing neat and clean at all times. Be aware of smoke residue and heavy fragrances.
b. Wear company issued identification badge at all times during work assignments.
c. Reports on time to work, following attendance guidelines.
d. Answers the telephone in a friendly and helpful manner, by incorporating the company name, self-identification and a helpful statement.
e. Communicates appropriately with customers, agents, applicants, coworkers and the general public.
f. Communicates all unresolved problems immediately to the appropriate Manager or Supervisor.
g. Remains polite and courteous at all times.
5. Additional responsibilities required of Mobile Examiner.
a. Ensures facilities or work areas are neat, clean and in good repair, takes appropriate action to advise Manager or Supervisor of required repairs and maintenance; Disposes of biohazard containers when scheduled.
b. Assist with periodic inventory counts, report shortages and problems to Manager or Supervisor as they occur; stocks supplies as needed.
c. Provide supply orders as specified by Branch Manager.
d. Work effectively with staff employees to ensure compliance with dress code, EHS & QA requirements, customer service requirements and SOP's, advising Manager or Supervisor of any issues or problems as they arise.
e. Performs other department-related clerical duties when assigned.
f. Answers phone and dispatch calls when assigned.
g. Participates on teams and special projects when asked.
h. Assist Manager or Supervisor with the implementation of SOPs for examiner services in accordance with Quest Diagnostics guidelines.
i. With direction and guidance from Manager or Supervisor, and having appropriate training guidelines, act as mentor and resource person for new employees providing support for department protocols, practices and procedures.
j. Assist with distribution of technical information and communications to the work group.
k. Flexible travel (up to 25 mile radius) and flexible work hours.
m. Maintain dates of availability and dates unavailable in designated scheduling application.
6. All other duties as assigned, within scope of the position.
7. Required use of company i-pad or specified electronic device.
Supervision Exercised: N/A
Education Preferred:
• High school diploma or equivalency preferred.
• Phlebotomy or Medical Assistant certification preferred (ASCP certification required in some states/ state license as required).
Work Experience:
• Minimum 100 documented successful blood draws required.
• Minimum one year phlebotomy experience. Experience with pediatric and geriatric patients a plus.
• Prefer urine or hair follicle collection and EKG experience.
Physical and Mental:
• Sitting for periods of time
• Standing while performing work
• Driving to and from work assignments
• Lifting no more than 40 pounds.
• Ability to multitask
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Must be flexible and available based on staffing requirements; weekends, holidays and overtime. May be required to work occasional on-call duties weekends, evenings and early AM.
• Must have valid driver license and clean driving record with access to dependable/insured transportation.
• Demonstrates good organization, communication, and interpersonal skills; is able to manage concerns of patients and employees in a professional manner.
• Basic computer skills in Microsoft office with the ability to learn new software.
• Must be able to make decisions based on established procedures and exercise good judgment. Seek supervisor guidance when appropriate.
• Ability to work in a rapidly changing environment.
• Access to cell phone with texting and emailing capabilities.
• Access to computer with scanning, printing and faxing capabilities.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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Wednesday, November 10, 2010
4 comments:
Did one dubber ever dub multiple voices in one film? Or did the unions guarantee that each character had to have a seperate dubber?ReplyDelete
Yes, I've seen one dubber do multiple dubbings in the same film. Not of leading actors but maybe a lead actor and a small character role where the person has little dialogue. I'm sure the voice dubber's have various dialects or accents that they use so changing voices wouldn't be a problem and the audience wouldn't be able to tell it was the same dubber. I think it was rare one dubber did one actors voice their entire career. Re-releases were usually dubbed by another actor and even guys like Lee Van Cleef, Terence Hill, Bud Spencer and Clint Eastwood did not have the same voice dubber for every movie they made. I'm sure they tried to get the same dubber but it didn't always work out.ReplyDelete
I do know that, whether through actors' contracts or studio demands, an effort was made to have major stars dubbed by one person for every film. I read that somewhere, I think. I know I've heard the same voice used for Terence Hill in quite a few films. What sucks is when a well-known American actor shows up with an unfamiliar voice dubbed (eg. James Coburn in A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die). Who dubbed Gian Maria Volonte in A Fistful of Dollars? I've heard that voice often in Spaghetti Westerns.ReplyDelete
Tony Russel was one of the union organizers who ran a dubbing studio in Rome. He contracted a specific dubber for a specific star actor so there voices always sounded the same. If the film was dubbed in New York for U.S. release he had no control over this so sometimes the voices varied.ReplyDelete


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In 38 seasons at Syracuse, Jim Boeheim has the 2nd-most wins of any D-1 coach (947), has never had a losing season, has taken four teams to the Final Four in four difference decades (one of only four people) and won the 2003 National Championship.
In 38 seasons at Syracuse, Jim Boeheim has routinely lost on the big stage more than he has won, only won that title because of Carmelo Anthony and is the only coach in history to lose to six double-digit seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
Both of those statements contain truths. Both of those statements could be used to prove your argument about Jim Boeheim's legacy or #narrative.
Really, it's up to you how you choose to tell Jim Boeheim's story. And perhaps it says something about you how you tell it.
In the aftermath of Syracuse's 55-53 loss to the Dayton Flyers in the third round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament, the latter version of Jim Boeheim's story was the dominant one. He's overrated. He failed as a coach tonight. He's the Peyton Manning of college coaches…great regular season, can't win when it matters (even though they both have).
Of course, this is almost exactly a year removed from all those same people pointing to Syracuse's 2013 Final Four run and saying how Boeheim's still got it and oh what a master technician he is.
Alas, it's the six losses to double-digit seeds that controls the day. Understandably, it's a sexy stat for Boeheim (and Syracuse) dissenters. Sure, he wins 25 games a year, but his team *always* chokes when it matters.
It probably should be noted the other guys in the vicinity, with five losses to double-digit seeds, include Mike Krzyzewski and Bobby Knight, both of whom I believe are considered legendary coaches. It also includes John Thompson III, who has five DD losses in ten NCAA appearances with Georgetown. If Boeheim is a chump for six DD losses in 30 appearances, what does that make JTIII???
This is about the time that I remind everyone just how life-changing, or at least narrative-changing, Keith Smart's shot was. If Smart misses that shot, in a moment in which Boeheim & Knight had absolutely no control over, the entire story changes. Boeheim has two titles, which is apparently the requisite number of titles needed to be considered a decent coach, and Knight still has his own two titles but is remembered for a much bigger late-career slide.
I've seen a lot of folks chastise Boeheim for Syracuse's inability to score, in the Dayton game and before. Hell, most of them tweeted it to me last night. And while I understand the sentiment, and do wonder what else Jim could have done to coach up his players mentally, here's the truth.
- Syracuse had open looks all night long. They didn't make the shots. Especially from beyond the arc.
- Boeheim told Tyler Ennis to drive to the rim on the final set possession. Ennis pulled up for a 19-footer.
Jim Boeheim is the coach, and it's his responsibility to give his players the best chance to win. But the players have to go out there and execute. And they didn't. It's really as simple as that.
If anything, Boeheim's coaching and defensive strategy kept Syracuse in the game far past when they should have been. Based on the way they were shooting, Syracuse probably should have lost by ten.
But, I realize there is no talking to someone who just wants to pull out the negative narrative and run with it. Like I said, those facts are not untrue. But, you and I both know they don't tell the whole story. That the six losses are more likely a "cost of doing business" for so long in the NCAA Tournament (30 appearances).
Jim Boeheim is a flawed coach. I don't think I'm shocking anyone with that statement. He runs his program loosely, sometimes to his benefit and sometimes to his detriment. He relies heavily on his players to find their own success, also a good and bad strategy. He has ways and ideas and concepts that may or may not still work or even be relevant.
In 30 NCAA appearances, Jim Boeheim has taken Syracuse to the Sweet Sixteen seventeen times. He has also lost to double-digit seeds six times. Both of those facts are unassailable. Neither of them tell the whole story.
Unless you want them to.
- Report Card: Dayton Ends Syracuse's Season, 55-53
- Dayton 55 - Syracuse 53: The Shots Missed Round The World
- NCAA Tournament 2014: No. 3 Syracuse (28-5) vs. No. 11 Dayton Flyers (24-10) GameThread
- WBB: Orange Win First NCAA Tournament Game; Lose Sykes to Injury
- NCAA Tournament TNIAAM Bracket Update: Day 2


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This paper presents a method for hand
gesture recognition based on 3D point cloud. Digital image processing
technology is used in this research. Based on the 3D point from depth camera,
the system firstly extracts some raw data of the hand. After the data
segmentation and preprocessing, three kinds of appearance features are
extracted, including the number of stretched fingers, the angles between
fingers and the gesture region's area distribution feature. Based on these
features, the system implements the identification of the gestures by using
decision tree method. The results of experiment demonstrate that the proposed
method is pretty efficient to recognize common gestures with a high accuracy.
Human-Computer-Interaction, Gesture Recognition, 3D Point Cloud, Depth Image
Share and Cite:
Received 6 March 2016; accepted 15 April 2016; published 18 April 2016
1. Introduction
There has been a great emphasis lately on Human-Computer-Interaction (HCI) research to create easy-to-use interfaces by directly employing natural communication and manipulation skills of humans [1] . As an important part of body, naturally, the hand is given more and more attention. Gesture recognition is a key aspect of Human-Computer-Interaction. There are countless researches focus on this advanced topic to create natural user interface and to improve user experiences by using simple and intuitive hand gestures for free-hand controller [2] . How to detect the hands, segment them from the background and recognize the gestures become great challenges. And various methods are proposed to solve those issues.
A hierarchical method of static hand gesture recognition that combines finger detection and histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) features is proposed in [3] . An algorithm based on the spatial pyramid bag of features is proposed to describe the hand image in [4] . But both of them are based on RGB image, which means it's difficult to distinguish the hand from complex background. What's more, the intensity of light seriously affects the recognition results. In order to avoid these drawbacks, many scholars select depth image in the research of gesture recognition. Depth information has long been regarded as an essential part of successful gesture recognition [5] . Many researches [6] - [8] extract different features from the depth data, then various classifiers are employed for gesture recognition. These methods all get good effect, but they have to collect a large number of training samples. Based on 3D point cloud data, this paper uses geometric method for extracting the appearance features of gestures and classifying the given gestures. This method can obtain high gesture recognition accuracy without training sample. Compared with the previous methods, it's more succinct and efficient.
2. Proposed Gesture Recognition System
The proposed gesture recognition system (shown in Figure 1) composed of three parts. In the first part, the 3D point cloud data of the hand region is gotten from depth camera (SwissRanger 4000 depth camera), then after threshold segmentation and gray transformation the 3D point cloud becomes a binary image. Meanwhile, some preprocessing on the grayscale image is necessary. In the second part, some apparent features are extracted. Finally, on the basis of the features extracted in last step the gesture can be recognized.
Figure 1. Architecture of the proposed gesture recognition system.
3. Hand Segmentation
3.1. Image Collection
In this paper, the 3D point cloud data of gesture are collected from the SwissRanger 4000 (SR4000) depth camera. The SR4000 cameras are optical imaging systems which provide real time distance data at video frame rates. Based on the Time-of-Flight (ToF) principle, the cameras employ an integrated light source. The emitted light is reflected by objects in the scene and travels back to the camera, where the precise time of arrival is measured independently by each pixel of the image sensor, producing a per-pixel distance measurement. Finally, we can get the three-dimensional coordinates of each point from the camera. A typical 3D point cloud of gesture scene just like shown in Figure 2. In this image, the origin of the coordinate system (0, 0, 0) is at the intersection of the optical axis with the front face of the camera, and Figure 3 shows the camera's output coordinate system.
From Figure 2 we can notice that the 3D point cloud contains not only hand region but also other region. Obviously, we need to extract the hand region G. G is given by (1):
In (1), Minx, Maxx, Minv, Maxv, Minz and Maxz are the thresholds of three coordinate directions. We set Minx = −150 mm, Maxx = 150 mm, Minv = −150 mm, Maxv = 150 mm, Minz = 200 mm, Maxz = 500 mm to ensure that the whole hand region is extracted. Next, G is transformed into a binary image.
3.2. Image Preprocessing
Due to the nature of the depth sensor, the hand region on the depth map may be have holes and cracks [9] , which will seriously affect the accuracy of hand gesture. Usually the binary image always has some noisy. So image preprocessing is necessary, which contains filling the holes and image denoising. In other papers [10] - [12] , some inpainting and filtering methods reach a good result. However, the methods are always so complex. We just employ some simple morphological operations (erosion and dilation) in our preprocessing.
Figure 2. 3D point cloud of gesture scene.
Figure 3. (x, y, z) as delivered by the camera is given in this coordinate system
4. Extraction of Features
Appearance features are important in gesture recognition. Compared to other methods of feature extraction, appearance features are more intuitional and efficient. As appearance features, the number of stretched fingers and the angles between fingers are used for gesture recognition in [13] . In this paper, we also choose the number of stretched fingers and the angles between fingers as features. Besides, the gesture region's area distribution feature is chosen as an appearance feature, too.
4.1. Extraction of the Central Point
Through the erosion operations of mathematical morphology we can locate the central point C. As we all know, the palm is the primary part of gesture. Through continuous erosion operations, the boundary of gesture region is removed over and over again. And the gesture region get smaller and smaller. Eventually, only a point is left, which is just the central point C of the gesture region.
4.2. Extraction of Appearance Features
The appearance features used in this paper contain the number of stretched fingers, the angles between fingers and the gesture region's area distribution feature. The following is the main steps of extraction of appearance features.
1) Firstly, the maximum distance value D between the central point and the edge of the gesture region is cal-
culated. Then we which represent ten different lengths of radius. Next, choosing
C as the centers of rhombuses and rn as the radiuses, we can draw 10 rhombuses (the innermost one is recorded as the first rhombus and the outermost one is recorded as the tenth rhombus), as shown in Figure 4 (In order to highlight the effect, the color has been transformed).
2) From Figure 4 we can notice that every rhombus has a different number of intersections with gesture region. In order to get the number of the stretched fingers N, as a rule thumb, we choose the sixth rhombus to calculate. First of all, in a clockwise direction, we record the points on the sixth rhombus whose color from blue change into red or from red change into blue. We define Ki as the i-th (i = 1, 2, 3・・・) point whose color from blue change into red, and Ti as the i-th point whose color from red change into blue. Obviously, the number of K or T is just the number of the stretched fingers N.
3) We define Mi as the midpoint of Ki and Ti (i = 1, 2, 3・・・), then each midpoint Mi and the central point C can be connected into a line. And we can calculate each angle between adjacent lines. We use Aj (j = 1, 2, 3・・・i-1) to represent these angles.
4) As a rule thumb, the fifth rhombus is chosen as boundary line, so the gesture region is divided into two parts. We define P1 to denote the first part which is inside of the fifth rhombus and define P2 to denote another part which is outside of the fifth rhombus. Then we calculate the ratio of P1 to P2, and we use R to represent this ratio. Naturally, R can be used to describe the gesture region's area distribution feature.
Figure 4. Extraction of appearance features.
5. Gesture Recognition
Basing on the above appearance features, we construct the decision tree for gesture recognition. In this paper, 9 common gestures (shown in Figure 5) are employed for recognition and classification.
Decision tree is a kind of mathematical method to classify the new data by using the decision rules, and the decision rules are get from training samples. The key to construct a good decision tree is to choose the proper logical judgment and attributes.
In this paper, the number of stretched fingers N, the angles between fingers Aj and the ratio of different gesture regions' area R are chosen as branch node of decision tree. First of all, notice that Gesture-9 is the most special gesture, because it doesn't have a stretched finger. So we can choose R as root note of the decision tree to distinguish Gesture-9 and other gestures in the first step. Through some training of samples, we can easily find that Gesture-9's R is always greater than 0.8, and other gestures' R always less than 0.8. So 0.8 is set as a threshold of R. Then, in the rest kinds of gestures, the number of stretched fingers N is an important feature. According to the value of N, Gesture-1, Gesture-4 and Gesture-5 can be uniquely identified. However, if N = 2, the gesture may be Gesture-2 or Gesture-6, if N = 3, the gesture may be Gesture-3 or Gesture-7 or Gesture-8, which is why we need to choose Aj as another appearance feature to distinguish them. Finally, the decision tree we construct is shown as Figure 6.
Figure 5. 9 common gestures.
Figure 6. The decision tree.
6. Experimental Results
In order to validate the method proposed in this paper, we connected the SR4000 depth camera with computer to do a lot of experiments. The experiments were conducted to identify the 9 common gestures. A total of 2700 test samples from 5 people were tested under three different conditions, including under the sunlight (strong light), indoors with the light off (weak light) and indoors with the light on (ordinary light). Each gesture have 300 test samples including different light conditions. The recognition results are shown in Table 1, Table 2 and Table 3. In the following tables, the recognition accuracy of each gesture refer to the ratio of the number of correct recognition to the total number of recognition. And the mean accuracy refer to the mean of the recognition accuracy of every gesture.
Table 1. The recognition result (strong light).
Table 2. The recognition result (weak light).
Table 3. The recognition result (ordinary light).
Table 4. The running time of gesture recognition.
Table 5. Comparative results of the methods in [9] , [14] and the proposed method.
From Table 1, Table 2 and Table 3 we can notice that the method proposed in this paper has a high recognition accuracy, especially in Gesture-2, Gesture-6 and Gesture-9. The recognition accuracy of Gesture-3, Gesture-7 and Gesture-8 is slightly lower than other gestures, which result from the great difference of the expression of gestures. As a whole, the mean recognition accuracy reach 94.7%, which prove the effectiveness of this method. Meanwhile, another advantage of this method is that the recognition accuracy isn't impacted by light intensity. It can work well in strong light or weak light environment, even in the darkness. In addition, from Table 4 we can find that the proposed method has extremely short running time. Almost every recognition can be completed within 16ms, in other word, the gesture recognition speed can reach about 60 frames per second, which can completely meet the needs of real-time application. The efficient recognition process ensures that it can be used in real-time situation.
We also compare the proposed system with the previous work. The recognition methods proposed in [14] are geometry-based. Two methods in that paper can't balance accuracy and running time well. And the convex shape decomposition method is employ in [9] . Although the running time get great improvement, the accuracy isn't so satisfying. However, compared with these methods, both the mean accuracy and the running time in our method can reach a pretty good effect. Experiments demonstrate our method is much more efficient for real-time applications, which is shown in Table 5.
7. Conclusion
Gesture recognition has a wide range of applications in Human-Computer-Interaction. This paper proposes an efficient and succinct method for gesture recognition, which takes advantages of 3D point cloud data. The 3D point cloud data is collected from depth camera, then it is transformed into binary image. Basing on binary image, three different appearance features are extracted, including the number of stretched fingers, the angles between fingers as features and the gesture region's area distribution feature. Finally, the decision tree is constructed for gesture recognition. Extensive experimental results demonstrate accuracy and robustness of the method proposed in this paper. As a result, this method can play a role in the application of real-time gesture recognition.
This paper is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (61572372, 41271398), the Foundation Research Funds for the Central Universities (204201kf0242, 204201kf0263), Shanghai Aerospace Science and Technology Innovation Fund Projects (SAST201425).
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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