A Counterintuitive Probability Game
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Kim Jong-un: fragile and under pressure but he won’t give up
The Observer The North Korean leader’s surprise freeze of his nuclear programme is less a genuine move than a diplomatic manoeuvre,...
Wednesday, 2 October 2019
One of Peter Thiel’s closest aides might run for the US Senate
Donald Trump and Martha McSally last year at a rally. | Ralph Freso/Getty Images
Blake Masters could become the latest Thiel protege in Washington.
One of Peter Thiel’s closest associates is seriously considering running for US Senate, a bid that would test Thiel’s political heft against a candidate endorsed by Donald Trump.
Blake Masters, one of Thiel’s senior-most aides, is preparing for a possible GOP primary challenge to Martha McSally, the Arizona senator appointed earlier this year to replace John McCain, Masters confirmed to Recode on Wednesday. The Arizona Republic first reported that Masters is laying the groundwork to run for office.
“We need to keep this seat Republican. And we need a GOP that puts voters before donors. Martha McSally lost a winnable race last year,” Masters told Recode. “If I come to believe that she can’t win next November, I’ll run.”
Masters, 33, is as close to Thiel as any of his aides, with Masters’s detailed notes on a course that Thiel taught at Stanford in 2012 forming the basis of Thiel’s startup gospel book, Zero to One. Masters ended up co-writing the book with Thiel and he’s now the president of Thiel’s personal foundation and the chief operating officer of his investment firm, Thiel Capital.
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LinkedIn
Thiel and Masters, who share a lot in common politically, have discussed his possible Senate run, which Masters has been pondering for years.
McSally is a vulnerable incumbent. She actually failed to win the Senate seat she ran for in 2018 as the Republican nominee before being appointed to Arizona’s other Senate seat vacated when McCain died. And McSally has already drawn a credible Republican primary challenger, a cosmetics executive named Daniel McCarthy, potentially making this a three-way race.
Masters, who grew up in Tuscon and moved back there when Thiel shifted his investment operations to Los Angeles in 2018, can likely depend on raising money from his network in Silicon Valley, including those in Thiel’s orbit. In the Trump era, Thiel has emerged as one of his party’s biggest donors; he is fundraising for some favored Republican Senate candidates in advance of 2020. That fundraising power would benefit Masters.
If elected, Masters would become just the latest Thiel acolyte to gain a foothold in Washington in the Trump era. Several people connected to Thiel have achieved prominent positions in the administration, and Thiel has a particularly close relationship with Josh Hawley, the Missouri senator who has become a thorn in the side of Big Tech.
But Masters’s bid could complicate Thiel’s relationship with Trump, with whom Thiel has worked to become an ally, even though the strength of that relationship has been questioned. Trump has preemptively offered McSally his “complete and total endorsement” and Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to attend a fundraiser for McSally on Wednesday.
The winner of the primary is expected to face Democratic candidate Mark Kelly, the husband of former Representative Gabby Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt in 2011.
from Vox - All https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/10/2/20895940/blake-masters-us-senate-run-arizona-martha-mcsally-donald-trump
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Vox Sentences: Who’s in charge in Peru?
Steven Senne/AP
Vox Sentences is your daily digest for what’s happening in the world. Sign up for the Vox Sentences newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday, or view the Vox Sentences archive for past editions.
Harvard wins lawsuit against its affirmative action program; Peru faces leadership and constitutional crisis.
A win for affirmative action (for now)
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Steven Senne/AP- A district court ruled the Harvard University admissions process doesn’t discriminate against Asian Americans — the first step on a long road that’s likely to end with another challenge to affirmative action at the Supreme Court. [Boston Globe / Deirdre Fernandes]
- Students for Fair Admissions, a nonprofit group working on behalf of an anonymous group of Asian American students rejected from the university, sued Harvard for admissions practices that they say put Asian American students at a disadvantage. [Wall Street Journal / Melissa Korn]
- The Supreme Court has ruled colleges can only consider race in admissions to achieve diversity to benefit all students and only if there are no “race-neutral” ways to achieve diversity on campus. The judge ruled Harvard had no race-neutral options. [NYT / Adeel Hassan]
- In the ruling, Judge Allison Burroughs stated that while the university admissions process, “passes constitutional muster,” the institution “could do better.” [CNN / Joan Biskupic]
- The ruling is not an end to the case, as appeals are expected to continue for several years and could take the case all the way to the Supreme Court. [The Harvard Crimson / Camille G. Caldera, Delano R. Franklin, and Samuel W. Zwickel]
A crisis in Lima
- Peru is in the midst of a constitutional crisis as former Vice President Mercedes Aráoz resigned a few hours after being sworn in as president. [BBC]
- Monday, Peruvian President Martín Vizcarra attempted to dismiss the opposition-controlled legislature and lawmakers responded by suspending him to appoint Aráoz. [Time / Franklin Briceño and Christine Armario]
- Several lawmakers physical hunkered down in congressional buildings, and the Peruvian military leadership sided with Vizcarra. [NPR / Colin Dwyer]
- A 27-person interim congressional commission takes the reins until the next elections, scheduled for January 26, 2020. [NYT / Anatoly Kurmanaev and Andrea Zarate]
Miscellaneous
- One of the first big cases of the Supreme Court’s term has huge implications for LGBTQ rights. [Vox / Ian Millhiser]
- A Florida man cut almost 140 electric scooter brake lines. [Washington Post / Lateshia Beachum]
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Tom Cruise as the movie star explores financial incentives for shooting a movie in the country — a conversation that, we can all hope, was less fraught than President Trump’s request for a favor. [HuffPost / Ron Dicker]
- Health concerns aside, beef is still bad for the environment, but scientists disagree on just how bad. [Bloomberg / Justin Fox]
- The abortion bans of the new year: Where are they now? [The Cut / Amanda Arnold]
Verbatim
“I don’t see impeachment as a unifying thing for our country.” [Nancy Pelosi during a joint press conference with Rep. Adam Schiff]
Listen to this: The impeachment counternarrative
Trump’s case for shutting down impeachment talk, decoded. [Spotify]
Read more
Exclusive: Here’s the nuclear proposal the US plans to offer North Korea this weekend
Could squeezing more oil out of the ground help fight climate change?
The State Department is telling US tourists that El Salvador is now as safe as Denmark
Silicon Valley billionaires’ strange new respect for Elizabeth Warren
Here are the 13 movies people will be talking about in October
from Vox - All https://www.vox.com/vox-sentences/2019/10/2/20895944/affirmative-action-harvard-peru
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Tuesday, 1 October 2019
Watch Lin-Manuel Miranda's intense freestyle rap about hating open-plan offices
In possibly the most relatable verses since Lizzo asked why men great 'til they gotta be great, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda appeared on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon to freestyle about hating open-plan offices and other everyday pet peeves.
"Still hungover from my day on Sunday / Karen comes over, 'Looks like a case of the Mondays!'" spits Miranda. "Go away, Karen!"
Miranda was joined by the rest of his hip-hop improv group Freestyle Love Supreme: Anthony Veneziale, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Aneesa Folds, Chris Sullivan, Arthur Lewis and Bill Sherman. Though love is literally in their name, the group stuck to rapping about topics the audience hated, including college debt and Tinder dates with nasty bunions — and was rewarded with a standing ovation. Read more...
More about Lin Manuel Miranda, Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Entertainment, and Talk Showfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/video/lin-manuel-miranda-freestyle-pet-peeves/
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Stephen Colbert rips into top Trump officials involved in the Ukraine scandal
Donald Trump isn't the only one spinning out of control like a driverless airport cart, as the Ukraine-sized hole his administration finds itself in gets bigger and deeper.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and Attorney-General William Barr —or as Stephen Colbert dubs them, the 'About To Lose Power Trio — have also spent the last couple of days starring in damning headlines, cable news interviews, and letters from House committees. Read more...
More about Ukraine, Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Pompeo, and Bill Barrfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/video/stephen-colbert-on-pompeo-giuliani-barr-and-ukraine/
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How do you weigh a massive whale?
Dead whales, stranded and decaying on beaches, can sometimes be weighed. But weighing a live whale is nearly impossible.
Until now.
Marine scientists have developed an innovative way to accurately estimate the heft of free-living whales by using drones to capture aerial footage of cetacean bodies. Scientists published the research Wednesday in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution.
Knowing the weight of whales is valuable for grasping the health, trends, and nutritional requirements of these giant and profoundly intelligent mammals.
"Body weight is a fundamental characteristic in animals and especially whales — they are the largest animals on the planet," said Fredrik Christiansen, lead author of the research and a marine ecophysiologist at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies in Denmark. Read more...
More about Science, Drones, Oceans, Whales, and Marine Biologyfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/article/weigh-whales/
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Selena Gomez opens up about her aunt immigrating to the U.S. 'in the back of a truck'
TIME has published a new op-ed by Selena Gomez about immigration, in which she describes her father’s family’s move to the U.S. from Mexico, and the fear she feels for undocumented immigrants and the national conversation around the issue.
The essay comes the day before the launch of the Netflix series Living Undocumented, of which Gomez is an executive producer.
“In the 1970s, my aunt crossed the border from Mexico to the United States hidden in the back of a truck. My grandparents followed, and my father was born in Texas soon after. In 1992, I was born a U.S. citizen thanks to their bravery and sacrifice,” writes Gomez. Read more...
More about Netflix, Ice, Selena Gomez, Undocumented Immigrants, and Social Goodfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/article/selena-gomez-on-undocumented-immigration-netflix-series/
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Trump labels impeachment a “coup”
President Trump with flags. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
An impeachment inquiry just started, and Trump’s response is already scarily authoritarian.
President Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday night that the Democrats’ investigation into the Ukraine scandal “is not an impeachment, it is a COUP” — an authoritarian rhetorical escalation that shows how unstable American politics could become as the impeachment process goes on.
Definitionally, a coup refers to the overthrow of a leader by the country’s security forces. Obviously, that’s not what’s happening here: House Democrats are initiating a legal process for removing the president enshrined in the Constitution, pretty much the opposite of an extrajudicial overthrow of a leader by military force.
By labeling impeachment a “coup,” Trump is attempting to label it illegitimate — arguing that it’s an attempt to nullify the will of the voters, and thus undemocratic. If Trump is actually removed from office, it’ll happen because a majority of the House impeaches him and two-thirds of senators vote to kick him out. That result is unlikely, and it’s hardly undemocratic.
But the logic of Trump’s tweet is less important than the message it sends to his most hardcore supporters.
As I learn more and more each day, I am coming to the conclusion that what is taking place is not an impeachment, it is a COUP, intended to take away the Power of the....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2019
....People, their VOTE, their Freedoms, their Second Amendment, Religion, Military, Border Wall, and their God-given rights as a Citizen of The United States of America!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2019
By arguing that impeachment is tantamount to a coup, Trump is essentially saying it needs to be fought as if it were a coup — essentially saying that a democratic vote to remove him can never be acceptable, because he is the true voice of the people. It’s a classic authoritarian populist move: claiming to speak for the True People and implying those who disagree are not real Americans.
When you combine this with his recent tweets accusing Rep. Adam Schiff of “treason” and musing about a “Civil War like fracture” in the event that he’s impeached, you have a president who’s talking like a petty dictator on the verge of being toppled by protesters.
Trump tweets ridiculous things all the time, of course, but this sort of language is particularly scary. It’s rhetoric of a leader trying to whip up his supporters into a frenzy, something that’s much easier to do when emotions are running high at the beginning of a contentious impeachment process. When a leader labels his opposition illegitimate enemies of democracy at a time like this, he’s lighting a match in a room that’s being filled with gasoline.
What message will Trump’s most ardent supporters take from this? How much more aggressive will Trump’s rhetoric get as the impeachment process goes on? And if he’s removed from office, either by impeachment or 2020 defeat, will he really be able to accept a loss — or will he regard it as a “coup,” and respond in kind?
from Vox - All https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/10/1/20894377/trump-impeachment-coup-tweet-authoritarian
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Want to buy a Chevy Bolt? We've got some bad news for your wallet.
In the market for a new eco-friendly vehicle? Breathe a sigh of relief – the federal tax incentive for electric vehicles isn't totally gone for the Chevy Bolt and other electric options from the American carmaker — yet.
As of Tuesday, Oct. 1, General Motors' tax credit was halved yet again from $3,750 to $1,875. The full federal credit is $7,500 for new electric vehicle purchases. General Motors, which has the Bolt EV and the now-discontinued hybrid plug-in Volt along with Cadillac options, will lose the tax incentive completely after March 2020.
The newest 2020 Chevy Bolt, coming out soon, has a 21-mile range increase from its predecessor, pushing it to a max battery range of 259 miles. Its starting price before tax incentives is $37,495. Read more...
More about Tesla, General Motors, Bolt, Chevy, and Techfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/article/chevy-gm-bolt-tax-incentive-drops/
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Patreon ditches its creator 'con' for celebs like Issa Rae, Patton Oswalt
Patreon, the membership and payment platform for independent artists and their fans, appears to be banking on celebrity.
The platform has announced a new invite-only "digital summit" that it's calling Patreon Assembly. It's an event for creators that will feature talks from celebrities like Issa Rae, Whitney Cummings, Killer Mike, and Patton Oswalt.
While only invited creators can attend the flagship event in LA and "viewing parties" in SF, NYC, Seattle, Chicago, anyone will be able to stream it online for free. The inaugural event will take place on November 2.
Patreon Assembly is a shake-up of Patreon's previous in-person event called PatreCon, which it ran for three years. In December 2018, hundreds of current and prospective Patreon users gathered in Los Angeles for keynote addresses as well as hands-on working group sessions about making a living as an online creator. Now, the previously peer-to-peer event will take on a new form and name. Read more...
More about Issa Rae, Patreon, Tech, Social Media Companies, and Celebritiesfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/article/patreon-assembly-celebrity-speakers/
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Monday, 30 September 2019
YouTuber Gus Johnson has noticed something odd about Subway's jalapeños
When YouTuber Gus Johnson found one too many jalapeño stems on his Subway sandwich, he decided to see if a pattern existed in the popular sub chain's jalapeño quality.
In video uploaded Wednesday, Johnson briefs viewers with some background to his problem.
"I've been noticing for quite some time now, that it seems like every time I get some jalapeños on my flippin' Subway sandwich, I'm biting into a big ol' hard stem," Johnson says. The time had come to investigate.
Johnson allegedly went to four Subway locations, bought a total of 20 sandwiches (all with jalapeños, of course), and recorded how many subs had jalapeño stems on them, as well as how many stems were on each sandwich. Read more...
More about Youtube, Stem, Subway, Jalapeno, and Culturefrom Mashable https://mashable.com/video/youtuber-gus-johnson-subway-jalapeno-stems/
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Here are all the products Amazon announced at its hardware event
Amazon hosted its annual hardware event on Sept. 25, where the company announced the introduction of a slew of new products. Dave Limp, senior vice president of devices, opened up the event with a talk on privacy before jumping into why everyone was really there.
You can now say “Alexa, tell me what you heard,” and the smart assistant will read you back your last voice command. Coming later, you’ll be able to ask, “Alexa, why did you do that?” for cases in which Alexa does something you don’t understand.
In addition to some privacy updates, Alexa is getting some fun new upgrades. Later this year there will be a Samuel L. Jackson voice option, for when you want a change of pace in how the smart assistant speaks to you. Read more...
More about Gadgets, Amazon, Alexa, Echo, and Mashable Shoppingfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/shopping/sept-25-new-amazon-products/
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These are all the Echo speakers Amazon showed off at its big event
Amazon showed off several new Echo speakers at its hardware event on Wednesday, including what is basically a talking nightlight.
First and foremost is the basic Amazon Echo. Amazon refreshed its flagship smart speaker with better audio quality and new fabric on the exterior, but other than that, it's still the $99.99 Echo you know and love (or hate).
On the more interesting side of the Echo spectrum is the Echo Flex. The $24.99 box plugs directly into a wall outlet and has a small speaker on it so Alexa can talk back to you. Amazon is positioning this as something you might want to use to supplement other smart devices, which can be commanded via Echo Flex. Read more...
More about Amazon, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Smart Speakers, and Amazon Echo Showfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/article/amazon-echo-speakers-2019/
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