We had hoped for a decision from Judge Engoron yesterday on the penalties in Trump’s NY fraud trial, promised for the end of January, but no. I was looking forward to reporting to you on the pointing and laughing, and the sober analysis of how much money he can actually put up in order to be able to file an appeal. Or on how much of the Trump Org assets will have to be put up for sale, minus bank loans and such.
Not that we actually have to wait for the pointing and laughing to begin.
Standard technique actually, whether in The GIMP or in Photoshop. Three well-chosen layers, two with backgrounds removed, and one with a blur filter. I learned how to do it ages ago, but I prefer to leave it to others, whom I thank.
Good News for Us
Stories from Boosting Biden five days a week, by Good News Roundup.
US blames group of Iran-backed militias for deadly drone attack in Jordan as it weighs reprisals
The United States on Wednesday attributed the drone attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias, as President Joe Biden weighs his options to respond to the strike.
Iran threatened to “decisively respond” to any U.S. attack on the Islamic Republic after the U.S. said it held Tehran responsible. The U.S. has signaled it is preparing for retaliatory strikes in the Mideast in the wake of the Sunday drone attack that also wounded more than 40 troops at Tower 22, a secretive base in northeastern Jordan that’s been crucial to the American presence in neighboring Syria.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday the U.S. believes the attack was planned, resourced and facilitated by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group that includes the militant group Kataib Hezbollah. He said Biden “believes that it is important to respond in an appropriate way.”
He said Biden was continuing to weigh his options, but Kirby said “the first thing you see won’t be the last thing,” adding it “won’t be a one-off.”
You will hear a lot more on this in coming days and weeks.
Fed Chair Powell: 'This Is A Good Economy'
He said it straight out: 3.7% unemployment for years, inflation coming down to the Fed’s target (2%)…—“a good situation, a good economy”.
For a Fed Chair, this is the equivalent of stripping off your clothes and twerking for three minutes straight.
Chris Hayes
This is not Alan Greenspan
mumbling with great authority.
White House: Ten Charts That Explain the U. S. Economy in 2023
I will leave that for Dr. Goodie to dive into, for her Boosting Biden series. We are doing better than the pre-pandemic projections from the CBO (GDP growth of 1.7%) and IMF. GDP actually grew at 2.5% last year.
The economy is so good that T#@$&%FG is trying to take credit for it at the same time as he badmouths it and the President.
The only reason it’s running now is it’s running off the fumes of what we did.
The iDJiT himself
I trust that I do not need to fact-check this bushwah further here, but commenters are welcome to add to the raucus pointing and laughing.
Lightning Round from Our Usual Sources
Bad News for Them
Colorado has filed a brief with SCOTUS on disqualifying Trump,
Supreme Court flooded with amicus briefs [47 so far] in Trump 14th Amendment case from Colorado
including both sane ones, and several farragoes of bushwah from The Usual Suspects in Congress, over 25 GOP-controlled states, and the Far-Wrong-Wing Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence at the Claremont Institute, including infamous torture memo author John Yoo.
High court scheduled to hear oral argument Feb. 8
There is a negotiated proposal on the table for an extended ceasefire and an exchange of hostages for prisoners between Israel and Hamas. Both are reportedly considering it, but neither has endorsed it so far.
Nikki Haley attacks Trump and Biden as “Grumpy Old Men”. I remember that movie from 30 years ago. Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Burgess Meredith, Ann-Margret.
Disclosure: I once played Dopey in a version of Snow White in Korean, during my Peace Corps training.
Haley also blamed the division in the US on Obama in an interview with Black hosts DJ Envy and Charlemagne the God, on The Breakfast Club.
OK, Nikki, you can be the honorary 8th mental midget, Loony.
Senate Social Media Hearing
Sen. Tom Cotton: Have you even been a member of the Communist Party?
TikTok CEO Mr. Shouzi Chew, : Senator, I’m Singaporean, No.
TikTok
TikTok Ltd was incorporated in the Cayman Islands and is based in both Singapore and Los Angeles.[22] Its parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, is owned by founders and Chinese investors (20%), other global investors (60%), and employees (20%).[23] TikTok Ltd owns four entities that are based respectively in the United States, Australia (which also runs the New Zealand business), United Kingdom (also owns subsidiaries in the European Union), and Singapore (owns operations in Southeast Asia and India).[24][25]
In March 2022, The Washington Post reported that Facebook's owner Meta Platforms paid Targeted Victory—a consulting firm backed by supporters of the U.S. Republican Party—to coordinate lobbying and media campaigns against TikTok and portray it as "a danger to American children and society". Its efforts included asking local reporters to serve as "back channels" of anti-TikTok messages, writing opinion articles and letters to the editor, including one in the name of a concerned parent, amplifying stories about TikTok trends, such as "devious licks" and "Slap a Teacher", that actually originated on Facebook, and promoting Facebook's own corporate initiatives. Ties to Meta were not disclosed to the other parties involved. Targeted Victory said that it is "proud of the work". A Meta spokesperson said that all platforms, including TikTok, should face scrutiny.[99]
The Wall Street Journal reported that Silicon Valley executives met with US lawmakers to build an "anti-China alliance" before TikTok CEO's congressional hearing in March 2023.[100][101]
Democracy
Swifties
Taylor Swift & Mick Jagger - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (Live on The 1989 World Tour)
It’s an anti-MAGA conspiracy, you know, planned 35 years in advance. </s>
Science! Animals! Weirdness!
Diabetes: Kidney Problems
Detecting kidney disease early is a Big Deal for diabetics and many others. Today we look at the biochemistry of kidney damage and at developing a machine learning test to predict it.
Webb reveals structure in 19 spiral galaxies
This collection of 19 face-on spiral galaxies from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope in near- and mid-infrared light is at once overwhelming and awe-inspiring.
Older stars appear blue here, and are clustered at the galaxies’ cores.
Webb’s high-resolution images are the first to show large, spherical shells in the gas and dust in such exquisite detail. These holes may have been created by stars that exploded and carved out giant regions in the interstellar material.
Another eye-catching detail? Several galaxy cores are awash in pink-and-red diffraction spikes. These are clear signs that these galaxies may have central active supermassive black holes or central star clusters.
Remember to look for PWB (Pooties, woozles, and birdies) Peeps, and Backyard Science, including the Daily Bucket.
PWB Peeps Open Thread: Berbles!
PWB Kitties Love Science
The Antarctic Ice Marathon happens in summer, as now, not in the South Pole winter, when it can get to 100 below (F).
This race presents a truly formidable and genuine Antarctic challenge with underfoot conditions comprising snow and ice throughout, an average windchill temperature of -20C, and the possibility of strong Katabatic winds to contend with. Furthermore, the event takes place at an altitude of 700 metres.
Yes, a billion years before the Ediacaran and Burgess Shale lifeforms.
The Daily Bucket: King Tide and Other Delights
Methylmercury is a neurotoxin formed when bacteria take pure mercury (Hg) and combine it with a special carbon [group] called methyl (CH3). But why would bacteria evolve to do this in the first place? Possibly to resist another toxin: arsenic.
Funny or Fuggedaboudit
Actually, even if you tried to renounce your US citizenship in a rebel state, it wouldn’t work any better than the last time, when Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy as anything other than an internal rebellion, and you would still qualify for Social Security. If Texas declared war on the US, your checks might get held up until the dustup ends.
Support Your Local Cartoonists
The Only Piece I've Ever Written for Violin and Tuba by P.D.Q. Bach
I was sorry to hear that we lost Peter Schickele recently, at the age of 88. I will be mining his oeuvre for this section for a while to come.
Remembering Peter Schickele, the satirical composer behind P.D.Q. Bach
...the youngest of Bach’s twenty-odd children, and by far the oddest.