Historian Argues Ronald Reagan's 1981 Tax Cut Led To Trumpism

Is it possible that the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, followed by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the legacy of Ronald Reagan is where it all went wrong? That is the case that John Komlos makes in his paper recently released onto SSRN - Reaganomics: A Historical Watershed. It wasn't morning again.
Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterjreilly/2019/02/26/historian-argues-ronald-reagans-1981-tax-cut-led-to-trumpism/#45a8dfd01b19?source=Snapzu

Age of Anxiety

Authors have many images to describe distorted mental states, but that of a glass enclosure, which warps vision and sound, is among the most common. In his searing essay on the loss of his daughter, Aleksandar Hemon uses the metaphor of an aquarium to describe the detached sensations caused by profound grief. Sylvia Plath’s titular bell jar is her symbol for the airless perceptions of suicidal depression.
Read more: https://newrepublic.com/article/153153/age-anxiety?source=Snapzu

Police in Canada Are Tracking People’s ‘Negative’ Behavior In a ‘Risk' Database

Police, social services, and health workers in Canada are using shared databases to track the behaviour of vulnerable people—including minors and people experiencing homelessness—with little oversight and often without consent. Documents obtained by Motherboard from Ontario’s Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS) through an access to information request show that at least two provinces—Ontario and Saskatchewan—maintain a “Risk-driven Tracking Database” that is used to amass highly sensitive information about people’s lives.
Read more: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/kzdp5v/police-in-canada-are-tracking-peoples-negative-behavior-in-a-risk-database?source=Snapzu

The US Army wants to turn tanks into AI-powered killing machines

A new initiative by the US Army suggests “another significant step towards lethal autonomous weapons,” warns a leading artificial-intelligence researcher who has called for a ban on so-called “killer robots.” The Army Contracting Command has called on potential vendors in industry and academia to submit ideas to help build its Advanced Targeting and Lethality Automated System (ATLAS), which a Defense Department solicitation says will use artificial intelligence and machine learning to give ground-combat vehicles autonomous targeting capabilities.
Read more: https://qz.com/1558841/us-army-developing-ai-powered-autonomous-weapons/?source=Snapzu

More than 6K suspension orders to go out to Waterloo region students over vaccines

More than 6,000 school suspension notices will go out to parents in Waterloo region this week — all over vaccination records. Region of Waterloo Public Health officials said a total of 6,129 suspension orders will go out and parents will have until March 26 to provide proof of immunization or a valid exemption to avoid suspension. Suspensions can last up to 20 days.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/vaccination-suspensions-waterloo-region-students-1.5034242?source=Snapzu

A major chemical company is building roads made of recycled plastic. They've already stopped 220,000 pounds of waste from ending up in landfills.

Plastic gets a bad rap for clogging up landfills, polluting our oceans, and leaking toxic chemicals, but there may be ways to mitigate its damage. Beginning in 2017, one of the world's largest plastic producers, Dow Chemical, began building roads with recycled plastic as a way to reduce waste. Their combined efforts have saved 220,000 pounds of waste from ending up in landfills.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/dow-chemical-recycled-plastic-streets-2019-2?source=Snapzu

Honda owners fined by HOA because car left suggestive shape in parking lot

A Tennessee homeowner’s association (HOA) just tried to fine a couple US$100 for the phallic shape their Honda Insight left in a snowy parking lot after they moved their car. The Honda’s owner, Kathryn, explains on reddit’s /f***HOA subreddit how their condo complex’s HOA stuck her and her husband with the fine almost a week after their development was hit by the wintry weather.
Read more: https://driving.ca/honda/auto-news/news/honda-owners-fined-by-hoa-because-car-left-suggestive-shape-in-parking-lot?source=Snapzu

Canadian Dairy Farmers Forced To Remove Lying Adverts Claiming Milk Contains No Growth Hormones

Canadian dairy farmers have been forced to pull adverts which falsely claimed there are no growth hormones in their milk. The adverts, which had been running nationwide, prompted complaints to Advertising Standards Canada - the advertising industry's self-regulating body. According to the Plant Food Council, all dairy naturally contains growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which is intended to promote rapid growth in calves, as well as large amounts of estrogens and progesterone as cows on large farms are milked throughout pregnancies.
Read more: https://www.plantbasednews.org/post/canadian-dairy-farmers-remove-lying-adverts-milk-no-growth-hormones?source=Snapzu

US reportedly took Russian trolls offline on Election Day in 2018

The US agency responsible for military cyber operations cut off internet connectivity at the Internet Research Agency in Russia on the day of the 2018 midterm elections, according to a report in The Washington Post on Tuesday. The US Cyber Command "basically took the IRA offline," according to an unnamed source that spoke with the Post.
Read more: https://www.cnet.com/news/us-reportedly-took-russian-trolls-offline-on-election-day-2018/?source=Snapzu

New Orleans reduced homelessness by 90% (and saved a fortune) by giving homeless people homes

Homelessness in New Orleans spiked after Hurricane Katrina, reaching 11,600 by 2007; today that number has been reduced by 90%, thanks to a "housing first" (previously) approach that starts by giving homeless people stable, permanent housing, and then addressing confounding factors like mental illness and substance addiction (on the grounds that these conditions are easier to treat when people have stable housing).
Read more: https://boingboing.net/2019/02/26/are-there-no-workhouses-7.html?source=Snapzu

Lake Erie just won the same legal rights as people

Ohio voters passed groundbreaking legislation that allows citizens to sue on behalf of the lake when it’s being polluted.
Read more: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/2/26/18241904/lake-erie-legal-rights-personhood-nature-environment-toledo-ohio?source=Snapzu

Fiat Chrysler: $4.5B plan would add 6,500 Detroit-area jobs

Fiat Chrysler on Tuesday announced a $4.5 billion plan that includes building the first new auto assembly plant in Detroit in almost three decades and increasing its workforce in the area by about 6,500 jobs, an investment officials touted as an uncommon opportunity to revive the region’s economy.
Read more: https://apnews.com/07cf471f57234d3a8e4d1a729cd0347d?source=Snapzu

Over 8,000 marijuana convictions in San Francisco dismissed with help from a computer algorithm

Technology meets law and order to help dismiss thousands of marijuana-related convictions dating back to 1975 in San Francisco. The San Francisco District Attorney's office announced on Monday that 8,132 convictions will be dismissed thanks to a computer algorithm that automatically scanned court records. "This makes San Francisco the first county in the country to complete the automated marijuana record clearance process," said a statement from the office of San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/25/us/san-francisco-marijuana-convictions-cleared-trnd/index.html?source=Snapzu

Fat rat stuck in manhole rescued by firefighters in Germany

A multi-agency rescue operation has taken place in the town of Bensheim in Germany after a tubby rat became stuck in a manhole cover. The rat, still plump with winterspeck – which translates literally as winter bacon and refers to extra pounds piled on in the colder months – became stuck after it tried to squeeze through a small gap in the sewer cover.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/27/fat-rat-stuck-in-manhole-rescued-by-firefighters-in-germany?source=Snapzu

'Making a Murderer' Subject Steven Avery Wins Right to Appeal

Steven Avery, the subject of "Making a Murderer," is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach
Read more: https://www.thewrap.com/making-a-murderer-subject-steven-avery-wins-right-to-appeal/?source=Snapzu

FBI Debuts 'First And Only' Police Shooting Database That Is Neither 'First' Nor 'Only'

The FBI -- late to the party -- proudly announces it's the first guest to arrive. The FBI has launched the nation's "first and only" database that collects information about police-involved shootings and use-of-force incidents.
Read more: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190225/18473341674/fbi-debuts-first-only-police-shooting-database-that-is-neither-first-only.shtml?source=Snapzu

Man buys $540 in cookies so Girl Scouts can get out of cold weather

According to WYFF, members of a Greenville, South Carolina, Girl Scout troop were selling cookies outside a grocery store last week when the generous stranger approached. "This man purchased 7 packs of cookies. Gave the girls $40, told them to keep the change.
Read more: https://www.wsbradio.com/news/national/man-buys-540-cookies-girl-scouts-can-get-out-cold-weather/NX3LQGBgIT3KrJuXLFlP3L/?source=Snapzu

America Is an Oligarchy. It Doesn’t Have to Be.

The United States is the richest society in human history. As is well-known by most of the people who live in it, it’s also a country of deep and abiding inequality. Just three billionaires own more wealth than the 160 million poorest Americans combined and the wealthiest of them — Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos — pockets more money every sixty seconds than the typical American household earns in a year and a half.
Read more: https://jacobinmag.com/2019/02/us-oligarchy-wealthy-billionaires-democracy?source=Snapzu

Report: Michael Cohen plans to publicly accuse Trump of criminal conduct in office, during dramatic testimony before Congress

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer, plans to accuse Trump of engaging in criminal conduct while in office, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday morning. The accusations are related to a hush-money payment that Cohen facilitated to Stormy Daniels, the porn star who says she had an affair with Trump about a decade ago, The Journal reported. Trump has denied the affair.
Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-trump-criminal-conduct-in-office-wsj-report-2019-2?source=Snapzu

They tried to call FDR and the New Deal 'socialist' too. Here's how he responded

The term “socialism” has been enjoying something of a vogue lately, typically used to describe policies that were part of American mainstream politics as recently as the 1980s. For example, listen to Donald Trump, in his State of the Union address on Feb. 5: “Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country…. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.”
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-socialism-20190213-story.html?source=Snapzu

California man who spent 39 years in prison gets $21 million for...

A California man who was wrongfully convicted for killing an ex-girlfriend and her son four decades ago has reached a $21 million settlement with the city of Simi Valley, officials said.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-pardon/california-man-who-spent-39-years-in-prison-gets-21-million-for-wrongful-conviction-idUSKCN1QD0RQ?utm_source=reddit.com?source=Snapzu

The Supreme Court is about to hear the biggest threat to separation of church and state in decades

The Supreme Court will hear two cases on Wednesday that never should have been filed in the first place. The outcomes in American Legion v. American Humanist Association and Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission v. American Humanist Association, two consolidated cases considering the fate of a cross-shaped monument in Maryland, are as preordained as anything in the Supreme Court can be.
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/supreme-court-peace-cross-church-state/?source=Snapzu

Iceberg twice the size of NYC about to break off of Antarctica

An iceberg twice the size of New York City is about to break off of Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf, according to NASA. "Cracking across Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf is set to release an iceberg w/ an area about 2x the size of NYC. The splitting could result in an uncertain future for the shelf’s scientific research & human presence," NASA said in a tweet.
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/431349-iceberg-twice-the-size-of-nyc-about-to-break-off-of-antarctica?source=Snapzu

Can Psychologists Embrace the Idea That War is Obsolete?

In the 1980s, people across the US created panels for a quilt that ringed the Pentagon in a protest against nuclear war. Each panel represented what the maker could not bear to lose, but would lose, in a nuclear war. I contributed a panel with representations of my family members, animals, trees, and the natural landscape.
Read more: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/paradigm-shift/201902/can-psychologists-embrace-the-idea-war-is-obsolete?source=Snapzu

A 12-Year-Old Built a Fusion Reactor in His Playroom

A 12-year-old kid from Tennessee created a nuclear reaction in his family's playroom in January 2018, according The Guardian. That makes him the youngest known person to have done so. The Open Source Fusor Research Consortium (a group of nuclear hobbyists) recognized Jackson Oswalt's achievement on Feb. 2, according to a report by commercial appeal, a USA Today affiliate. Oswalt, now 14, built a machine that generates a plasma in which nuclear fusion occurs — not splitting an atom, but rather crushing atoms together to form heavier atoms.
Read more: https://www.livescience.com/64846-fusion-kid.html?source=Snapzu

It’s OK to believe in climate change and be a Republican

It’s OK to believe in climate change and be Republican. Actually, it's OK to believe in climate change and be a good Republican. A few months ago, I had lunch with a senior Republican official in Arizona. The conversation shifted to the environment and renewable energy.
Read more: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2019/02/23/climate-change-real-republicans-need-say-so/2921495002/?source=Snapzu

Evidence for man-made global warming hits 'gold standard': scientists

OSLO (Reuters) - Evidence for man-made global warming has reached a “gold standard” level of certainty, adding pressure for cuts in greenhouse gases to limit rising temperatures, scientists said on Monday.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-temperatures/evidence-for-man-made-global-warming-hits-gold-standard-scientists-idUSKCN1QE1ZU?source=Snapzu

Morgan Woodward, Mirrored-Sunglasses Boss in 'Cool Hand Luke,' Dies at 93

Morgan Woodward, the silent, menacing mirrored-glasses boss dubbed "The Man with No Eyes" in Cool Hand Luke, has died. He was 93. Woodward died Friday morning at his home in California, the Fielder House Museum in Arlington, Texas, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. They house a large portion of his film and television memorabilia in their "Woodward Room."
Read more: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/morgan-woodward-dead-cool-hand-luke-star-was-93-1189582?source=Snapzu

Trump extends deadline for Chinese tariffs set to begin on March 1, citing progress on trade talks

The United States is planning to delay a menu of additional Chinese tariffs that were scheduled to begin on March 1, President Donald Trump announced on Sunday, as the world's two largest economies hash out a definitive end to a wide ranging trade dispute. In a series of posts on Twitter, Trump cited "substantial progress" in bilateral talks between the U.S. and China. As a result, the president said he would suspend the new levies that would have taken place as early as Friday, but did not articulate a new deadline.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/24/trump-us-will-delay-china-tariffs-scheduled-to-start-on-march-1.html?source=Snapzu

U.S. Army will leverage latest 3D printing technologies

According to estimates provided by the Pentagon, 3D printing capabilities will be increasingly integrating into the U.S. Army, reported by Devon L. Suits, Army News Service earlier this month. As 3…
Read more: https://defence-blog.com/army/u-s-army-will-leverage-latest-3d-printing-technologies.html?source=Snapzu

Under Trump's Tariffs, The US Lost 20,000 Solar Energy Jobs

2016 was the best year on record for solar energy in the United States. A report from the U.S. Department of Energy at the time showed that solar energy was responsible for a much larger share of employment in the electric power sector (43%) than the whole of the fossil fuel industry combined (22%). With such robust numbers, it seemed as though solar energy, and renewables more broadly, were about to revolutionize the energy sector in the United States and lead the push towards cleaner energy and lower carbon emissions.
Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/02/24/under-trumps-tariffs-the-us-lost-20000-solar-energy-jobs/#5a36dc5676ba?source=Snapzu

How an Author Accidentally Solved an Infamous Murder Case While Writing a Book About It

After four years researching one of the most notorious killings in Northern Ireland’s history, New Yorker staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe made a shocking discovery that may have actually solved the crime. His new book, Say Nothing, claims to unmask the person who fatally shot Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10, in 1972 during the sectarian conflict known as the Troubles.
Read more: http://time.com/5534376/say-nothing-patrick-radden-keefe-interview/?source=Snapzu

China blocks 17.5 million plane tickets for people without enough 'social credit'

The Chinese government blocked 17.5 million would-be plane passengers from buying tickets last year as a punishment for offences including the failure to pay fines, it emerged. Some 5.5 million people were also barred from travelling by train under a controversial “social credit” system which the ruling Communist Party claims will improve public behaviour. The penalties are part of efforts by president Xi Jinping‘s government to use data-processing and other technology to tighten control on society.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-social-credit-flight-travel-plane-tickets-xi-jinping-blacklist-a8792256.html?fbclid=IwAR19kzHUKkOravYWysga_YubmpTNK3SY1i5_Om9wxvGOmhkosgYzpbHkAQc?source=Snapzu

China suddenly takes BBC news off air after Muslim detention camps mentioned

China censored a TV report about its detention of more than a million Uighur Muslims in “re-education camps” by suddenly cutting off the broadcast, according to a BBC reporter. Stephen McDonell filmed the moment the World Service Newsday programme went off air as he began to speak about the treatment of the Turkic ethnic minority in the northwestern Xinjiang province. Mr McDonell, the BBC’s China correspondent, said a similar thing happened the previous day during discussion of the same issue.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-censor-uighur-muslim-detention-camps-bbc-news-report-xinjiang-a8792486.html?source=Snapzu

NASA Picks Science Experiments to Send to the Moon This Year

Following on the heels of its announcement to return to the moon this year, NASA announced Thursday the first batch of science projects and technology demonstrations they want to send skyward in 2019, assuming their commercial partners can launch on time. The selections highlight the science questions NASA wants answered as it ramps up robotic missions to the moon and shoots for placing humans back on the surface within the next decade, this time on a more permanent basis.
Read more: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2019/02/22/nasa-picks-science-experiments-to-go-to-the-moon-this-year/?source=Snapzu

Your phone and TV are tracking you, and political campaigns are listening in

Unbeknownst to most Americans, political operations can tap information from their phones to reveal where they have been, what they have bought and even who they might have met.
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-campaign-tech-privacy-20190220-story.html?source=Snapzu

Dems Not Backing Green New Deal Took Far More Money From Oil and Gas Interests

House Democrats who so far have declined to co-sponsor Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) Green New Deal bill took, on average, 2.8 times more money from oil and gas PACs and individuals who work in the industry during the 2018 election than those co-sponsoring it, according to a Sludge analysis of campaign finance data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Read more: https://readsludge.com/2019/02/21/dems-not-backing-green-new-deal-took-far-more-money-from-oil-and-gas-interests/?source=Snapzu

ISIS bride Hoda Muthana's family files lawsuit against Trump

The father of a woman who traveled from her home in Alabama to marry an Islamic State fighter filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump's administration as part of an effort to get her and his 18-month-old grandson returned to the United States.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/02/22/hoda-muthana-isis-brides-family-file-lawsuit-against-trump-pompeo/2948575002/?source=Snapzu

Top Catholic cardinal admits church destroyed documents on clergy sexual abuse

In a remarkable admission, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx said Saturday that documents that could have contained proof of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church were destroyed or never drawn up. "Files that could have documented the terrible deeds and named those responsible were destroyed or not even created," said Marx, the archbishop of Munich and president of the German Bishops' Conference.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/23/europe/cardinal-documents-destroyed/index.html?source=Snapzu

The Hard Lessons of Dianne Feinstein’s Encounter with the Young Green New Deal Activists

One imagines that Senator Dianne Feinstein would like a do-over of her colloquy with some young people on Friday afternoon. A group of school students, at least one as young as seven, went to the senator’s San Francisco office to ask her to support the Green New Deal climate legislation. In a video posted online by the Sunrise Movement, she tells them that the resolution isn’t a good one, because it can’t be paid for, and the Republicans in the Senate won’t support it. She adds that she is at work on her own resolution, which she thinks could pass.
Read more: https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-hard-lessons-of-dianne-feinsteins-encounter-with-the-young-green-new-deal-activists-video?source=Snapzu

This is bad: the UAE's favorite sleazeball cybermercenaries have applied for permission to break Mozilla's web encryption

Darkmatter is also one of the least-discriminating cybermercenary bands in the world, available to help torturers, murderers and thugs hang onto power by attacking opposition movements and letting the secret police know who to arrest, torture and kill
Read more: https://boingboing.net/2019/02/22/my-voice-is-my-passport-2.html?source=Snapzu

Microsoft workers protest use of HoloLens headsets for war

A group of Microsoft workers is demanding the company cancel a contract supplying the U.S. Army with HoloLens headsets that they say would turn real-world battlefields into a video game. Microsoft's head-mounted HoloLens displays use augmented reality, which means viewers can see virtual imagery superimposed over the scenery in front of them.
Read more: https://phys.org/news/2019-02-microsoft-workers-protest-hololens-headsets.html?source=Snapzu

Privacy advocate held at gunpoint after license plate reader database mistake, lawsuit alleges

The rental car was allegedly reported as stolen.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/21/18234785/privacy-advocate-lawsuit-california-license-plate-reader?source=Snapzu

A Different Kind of Theory of Everything

Physicists used to search for the smallest components of the universe. What if that’s not the point?
Read more: https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/a-different-kind-of-theory-of-everything?source=Snapzu

Woman dies and 18 people sick after eating mushrooms at Michelin-starred restaurant in Spain

A woman has died after eating at a Michelin-starred restaurant in the Spanish city of Valencia. María Jesús Fernández Calvo, 46, is believed to have ordered a rice and morchella fungi dish at RiFF, which has now been closed to the public until an investigation has revealed the cause of death. Eighteen other diners including her husband and 12-year-old son were made mildly ill.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/riff-restaurant-valencia-death-mushroom-morel-woman-michelin-spain-a8789746.html?source=Snapzu

White History Month Is a Horrible Idea, but America Does Need an Education in Whiteness

These 28 days of Black History Month are dedicated to the sometimes painful and absolutely essential history of Americans of African descent. The month also brings the usual grumblings demanding a white equivalent. And those of us who study culture and history are tasked to explain the many reasons why that is a horrible idea (again).
Read more: https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/02/white-history-month-whiteness-education.html?source=Snapzu

The Tunguska event

That disastrous rock may now look to have been a Beta Taurid passenger. By Robby Berman.
Read more: https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/tunguska-beta-taurid?source=Snapzu

Smollett suspended from Empire TV show

Jussie Smollett will not appear in the final two episodes of Empire, the show's executive producers have said. In a statement, they said the past few weeks had been "incredibly emotional" for the team. They called allegations that Mr Smollett had falsely claimed he was the victim of a hate crime "disturbing". The 36-year-old African-American actor is accused of filing a fake police report claiming he was the victim of a homophobic and racist assault.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47336596?source=Snapzu

Time running out for orcas, belugas trapped in icy 'whale jail'

Russian video footage shows that the animals, likely bound for aquariums, are languishing in freezing waters and legal limbo.
Read more: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/02/orca-and-beluga-whales-trapped-in-russia-for-aquarium-trade/?source=Snapzu

Fearing Their Dogs Will Develop Autism, Some Owners Are Declining Vaccinations

The concern over pets developing autism from vaccines appears to be the latest issue within the anti-vaxxer movement.
Read more: https://mavenroundtable.io/theintellectualist/news/fearing-their-dogs-will-develop-autism-some-owners-are-declining-vaccinations-CXdLJTskf0qAcHql_sgCIQ/?source=Snapzu