"January 6 committee report’s biggest takeaways and new findings"
Vox does a great summary of what is in the report from the commission. Much of it was already part of their live hearings. There are two things I consider most notable:
- There is no direct link between Trump and the protesters which gets revealed. There remains enough of a smoke shield that I think the direct insurrection charge is going to be very hard to prove.
- Hutchinson's first lawyer was defending Trump in trying to defend her, and giving her advice which aided Trump perhaps more than Hutchinson.
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As gun ownership increased in Brazil, gun violence decreased
Noting I am far from an expert, and have not done extensive reading, my suspicion here is that they are in a phase where the increased gun ownership is causing would-be criminals to rethink their plans. But that at some point the downturn will reverse as the criminal class shifts to be even more aggressive and armed to overcome the change.
Related Links
One feature idea I keep coming back to is something which lets me append related links to a blog post. My RSS reader (purposefully) gives me a number of posts related to big news. For example, the January 6th post I made a bit ago could already have a half-dozen related links if I had a system set up for them.
Sure, I can just dump them in the body of the post, but I'm thinking about something automated such that there could be future development done with the data.
This is definitely a parking lot idea, but it's one which I've come back to time and again. Ultimately I don't think it's needed. This is just my small blog, not a major one. If I ever cross into "major" traffic, then I'll go about adding it.*
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- Probably.
The McDonalds MacBeth
Game Changers is quality content and their clips on social media are almost always hilarious. This one is no different. Notably (and thanks to Kottke.org for this tidbit) Ross, the performer, is a member of "The Improvised Shakespeare Company."
"Scotland passes law making legal gender change easier"
Am glad to hear about this change for Scotland, but what really caught my attention is that the article also included right at the top that eight countries in Europe do not have any way for a person to legally change their gender. I shouldn't be terribly surprised, but I was.
Scotland's Parliament passed a hotly debated law on Thursday that makes it easier for transgender people to legally change their legal gender, amid similar moves in some countries in Europe and the passage of anti-trans laws in the United States.
But eight European countries — Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Monaco, North Macedonia and San Marino — do not offer a path to change one's legal gender. More than two dozen countries in Europe also mandate that a transgender person divorce their spouse before they can certify a gender change or already ban same-sex marriages, according to ILGA-Europe.
Despite the ban, Finland is one of twelve European countries that still mandates sterilization, and the only Scandinavian country to do so.
My Christmas Movie Scale
Every year we see the debates regarding whether a movie is or isn't a Christmas movie. Usually done with humorous intent, but sometimes it comes from someone's earnest belief. In the case of the latter, then all that matters is that you believe it, and you can proselytize it to others and try to bring them around to your side.
For me, I think it is more beneficial (and with just as much opportunity for comedy) to move from the binary of "Is" and "Isn't" to a scale. I propose 1-7 for ease while also allowing plenty of granularity.
Below are my example rankings, I welcome feedback!
1
Nothing relating to Christmas at all.
- Waterworld
- Rosemary's Baby
- Everything Everywhere, All at Once
2
A very meager suggested connection, but overall the movie avoids anything relating to the holiday season.
- Batman Begins
- The Sound of Music
3
Christmas occurs somewhere inside this movie as a background event.
- Gremlins
- You've Got Mail
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
4
Christmas plays a role, but the movie largely lives outside of the holiday
- Die Hard
- Trading Places
- Iron Man 3
5
Christmas is in the movie and holiday themes are part of it, but it is not the tentpole of the movie
- LA Confidential
- Mean Girls
- Catch Me If You can
6
The movie is about Christmas, but not entirely
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Just Friends
- Home Alone
7
Fully about and within Christmas
- Miracle on 34th Street
- White Christmas
- A Christmas Story
Obama's Books of the Year
I always look forward to sharing my lists of favorite books, movies, and music with all of you.
First up, here are some of the books I read and enjoyed this year. Let me know which books I should check out in 2023.
- "The Light We Carry" by Michelle Obama
- "Sea of Tranquility" by Emily St. John Mandel
- "Trust" by Hernan Diaz
- "The Revolutionary Samuel Adams" by Stacy Schiff
- "The Furrows: A Novel" by Namwali Serpell
- "South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation" by Imani Perry
- "The School for Good Mothers" by Jessamine Chan
- "Black Cake" by Charmaine Wilkerson
- "Ducks Two Years in the Oil Sands" by Kate Beaton
- "An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us" by Ed Yong
- "Liberation Day" by George Saunders
- "The Candy House" by Jennifer Egan
- "Afterlives" by Abdulrazak Gurnah
FollowGraph for Fediverse/Mastodon
This tool looks at who you are following, and then who they follow, and recommends the most followed people from among them.
Germany & France set to counter the US Green funding in recent bill
A reminder that global politics is not simple as even our efforts to further green energy as a US jobs effort.
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck and his French counterpart, Bruno Le Maire, suggested "targeted subsidies and tax-credits" for industrial sectors such as wind and solar power generation, heat pump manufacturing and hydrogen production.
At the same time, they urged the EU's executive commission to negotiate with Washington for European manufacturers to get the same exemptions the U.S. grants to Mexico and Canada, which are free-trade partners.
Many of the ideas coming from the EU's two biggest economies echo proposals by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who wrote to European leaders last week saying the bloc should adjust its rules on state aid to achieve the "unprecedented transformation" from fossil fuels to green power.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Movie - 5 out of 5 mysteries
Just watched the movie on Netflix and greatly enjoyed it. I caught part of it, but definitely didn't completely figure it out. Looking forward to watching it again with complete knowledge and spotting things along the way.