Cactus Watcher Strikes Again

Such is life.

2021-08-06T17:05:53Z

From ABC: Governor's attempt to ban student mask mandates rejected by Florida school districts.

The same thing is happening in Arizona. Governor bans mandates, school districts establish them anyway. If politicians insist on acting stupidly, they are going to get ignored.

...
Saying one thing and meaning something else and people mostly understanding: I didn't notice this at least twice while reading through Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but doing some translating of it, this stuck out like a sore thumb. Harry is under the Invisibility Cloak and Hagrid is leading Madame Maxime to see the dragons. Harry doesn't know what's going on yet and thinks to himself, is Hagrid trying to show him Madame Maxime? He could see her any old time he wanted... she wasn't exactly hard to miss... What JKR says is that Maxime is easy to miss. She wanted to say Maxime was hard to miss. Ah, English is tricky!

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Headlines

2021-04-12T14:49:40Z

Meghan Markle Will Not Be Attending Prince Phillip's Funeral

It's an understandable headline in the U.K. But why are people in the U.S. such busy bodies that it would matter to them?

(To be honest, I won't be attending either.)

When I was a kid, Prince Phillip got a surprising amount of press in the US, mostly for his polo playing!

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headlines from NBC news

2020-05-13T16:38:51Z

Trump's coronavirus mask standoff reveals the dangerous ripples of fragile masculinity
It's an editorial which begins:
Imagine being so scared of appearing vulnerable (to a deadly virus) that you're willing to potentially hurt yourself, or others — or even die — to keep up the masquerade.

It's a powerful statement, but it would have been more effective if the editorial had been written by a man. Trump's disdain for women as anything but adornments, means he wouldn't stop and think about this the way most of the rest of us do. Of course if a man had said it, Trump would just say something more damaging and less true about him, in a lame attempt to keep his tough guy image the same way not wear a mask does.

Private equity firms now control many hospitals, ERs and nursing homes. Is it good for health care?

Not exactly news and of course it's not good for health care. The failure of Democrats (who then controlled both the House and the Senate) to unite behind public health care when Obamacare was being debated was a major disaster. And I'm convinced it's harmed health care around the world.

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Headlines

2020-05-05T16:48:12Z

All from NBC news: Trump says 'bailouts' unfair to GOP since states needing aid 'run by Democrats in every case'

Wow, I didn't know every state was run by Democrats! Must be, because any run by Republicans wouldn't have suffered a big hit in revenue and an unmanageable surge in unemployment claims over the past couple months... Trump's foot-in-mouth disease just keeps getting worse.

Senate office says it lacks 'discretion' to release possible Biden complaint

Well, what a coincidence! Trump and the Senate GOP leadership also lack discretion.

How New York learned to fight diseases like COVID-19

Obiviously, the hard way.

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cactuswatcher @ 2020-04-19T07:09:00

2020-04-19T15:07:03Z

From NBCnews: For little work, silent partner in coronavirus contract sold protective gear to U.S. for double the cost

This is why I get so angry at the news sometimes. This came up last night under a different headline with the company name in big print. First of all, the company involved (W. W. Grainger) is no silent partner. I guarantee you, their name is all over the paperwork required by the government. Second, anyone who knows anything about W. W. Grainger (mostly people who've worked in management in a wide variety of industries), knows that W. W. Grainger is a retailer. Du Pont is a manufacturer of the products involved. They don't sell these products directly, they sell to wholesalers and in this case a retailer, all of whom make their money by a mark up from what they pay to the manufacturer. Why doesn't Du Pont sell these things directly to the government? Because selling to the U. S. government is a giant pain in the ass. Among other stupid decisions, Donald Trump and his cronies have thrown the Paperwork Reduction Act in the trash.* So companies that are willing to sell to the U. S. government directly, have to keep up with whatever new crap the bureaucrats come up with. And then there are inspections. You can't just send the purchase to the government. They have to inspect a sample at the place it's going to be shipped from. It's a good idea, believe me. The government saves a fortune not having to return obvious junk. But having someone with the inspector(s) to answer questions and make sure all the paper work is in order and available to the inspector(s) costs the seller money. There is of course another inspection after the products are delivered to the government. And if any thing goes wrong at either inspection, it's the responsibility of the seller, in this case Grainger, to deal with the manufacturer and make it right. Grainger is a retailer. Their mark up is always substantial. Add in all the crap they have to go through to get the government to even look at the products, and paying double what Grainger paid the manufacturer isn't all that surprising or even unreasonable, particularly on otherwise inexpensive items.

The reporter writing up the article doesn't know any of this and his higher ups really don't care as long as it sounds like a juicy story.

*You should have seen the ridiculous special "easy" retired person's income tax form I had to fill out this year. It was about a third longer than last year's for no damn reason. I do my taxes on the computer so my work was about the same. But it came out with a third more forms somebody at IRS was going to have to go through to make sure I and the millions of other seniors didn't cheat somewhere. Granted, with my income it will be little more than a glance. But it's time for a worker that all of us are paying for.

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In the Headlines:

2020-03-29T16:53:20Z

From the home page of my Internet provider:

CDC Finds Clue to the Rapid Spread of Virus on Ships
I didn't read the article but I would suppose that practically any high school grad given four or five chances could guess what this mysterious clue is.

This Strategy Game is a Must-Have If You Live in Arizona
Practically any high school grad could guess without looking at the fine print this is a crass link to an ad, stuck in among the news stories. (Bad dog, Internet Provider, bad dog)

Rudi Guiliani Reprimanded for Spreading Coronavirus Minformation
Don't know what Minformation (sic) is, but apparently Twitter doesn't allow it! If it's misinformation, why haven't they deleted his most famous client's account?

Cancelled TV Shows (and Those Renewed)
As usual I didn't read the article, but in the picture accompanying the headline Tom Selleck looks very grumpy.

Online Toilet Paper Roll Calculator Launches
Calculates how long your current supply will last. How have we survived as a species this long without it?

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In the headlines

2020-03-20T14:47:12Z

Neither fake nor news: from ABCnews Trump's own words contradict claim he's always viewed coronavirus as 'very serious'. They have to remember unless Trump is being insulted he has the memory of a fruit fly.

This from an ABCnews poll 3 in 4 Americans' lives changed by pandemic, just shows 1 out of 4 Americans are stoned, drunk or otherwise completely out of it.

Our government: always two steps ahead of the curve. from NBCnews House of Representatives studying 'remote' voting as coronavirus hits Congress. Will they have months of hearings about whether they have to vote in person?

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Headlines

2017-05-17T17:40:19Z

From NBC.com Trump: No politician in history treated worse than me
As my brother used to say, it's the littlest violin in the world playing 'My Heart Cries For You.'
I'm tempted to rewrite the headline without the word 'treated,' but that's not true. But surely Trump understands both his position and public relations as poorly as any elected US politician in recent memory.

From 12news.com (our local NBC station's site.) John McCain says Trump scandals are 'Watergate size'
It was also on the NBC national site this morning, before it was subsumed into the following article: The ground begins to shift for Capitol Hill Republicans
Amazing it was stable this long.

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Headlines

2017-03-10T03:00:58Z

Florida Lawyer's Pants Catch Fire During Florida Arson Trial
nbcnews

Liar, liar, pants on fire! Yes, his client was convicted.

German inmates dine on McDonald's
abcnews

Failed food supply contract negotiation. A choice for lunch of regular hamburger, regular cheeseburger or veggie burger. Inhumane treatment! They can't even have the new bigger Big Mac! I wonder how many hardened criminals order the veggie burger. No word about fries. No word about dinner. Bockwurst, pretzels and beer from the nearest bar?

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