The Wall Wars have arrived, the Doomsday Clock just moved, and things are generally nuts.
“We informed the White House this morning that I will not attend the work meeting scheduled for next Tuesday.” That was Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto letting the world know he had canceled his planned trip to the US over Trump’s insistence on building a wall, and further insistence that Mexico will pay for it. The message was delivered via a tweet, and was (of course) met with counter-tweets from the Oval Office. Social media spats and flame wars now have serious diplomatic ramifications. What were once harmless exchanges between a couple of bad hombres can now cause geopolitical shifts. (Sometimes I think the whole Trump presidency is part of a secret plot to save Twitter.)
+ “If we’re going to be spending on things like infrastructure, we’re going to find the fiscal space to pay for that.” Paul Ryan says Congress will pay for the wall. Is the who will pay for it? discussion squelching out the broader question: Do we want or need a wall? (Apprehensions of undocumented immigrants from Mexico are way down.)
+ In response to Pena Nieto’s snub, Trump just called for 20% tax on imports from Mexico to pay for the wall. (He also threw some of his toys at Mexico.)
+ The current US Border Patrol Chief just stepped down after being asked to resign.
+ No one can accuse Trump of hiding the fact that he planned to build the wall. Reveal looks back at how he’s described it.
The Torture and the Hair
President Trump’s first sit down TV interview with David Muir of ABC resulted in a lot of headlines and head-scratching. First on the list of controversial statements was Trump’s belief in the effectiveness of torture: “I have spoken as recently as 24 hours ago with people at the highest level of intelligence. And I asked them the question, Does it work? Does torture work? And the answer was, Yes, absolutely.”
+ From Politico: “Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, were ‘blindsided’ by reports of a draft executive order that would require the CIA to reconsider using interrogation techniques that some consider torture.” Both have advised against using torture (for ethical and effectiveness reasons). So who are the high level officials who said it does work? One of the problems is that the interview with Trump was littered with falsehoods, so it’s hard to know what to believe.
+ Is blocking refugees and considering the use of torture a solid strategy? From Robin Wright in The New Yorker: How To Lose The War On Terror: “Jihadi movements–the Islamic State, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, and dozens of smaller groups–will almost certainly exploit the move as proof that the West is at war with world’s 1.7 billion Muslims.”
+ Quartz: Trump plans to block visas from seven Muslim-majority countries. The US is currently bombing five of them.
+ In other news, several members of the State Dept’s senior executive team have been asked to leave.
A Nervous Tick
“The group, started by physicists who built the atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan Project, took the ‘unprecedented’ step of moving the clock ahead by 30 seconds, to just 2½ minutes before midnight. It’s the closest the clock has been to midnight since 1953.” The Doomsday Clock has moved closer to midnight. (Interesting that this isn’t even close to being the most disturbing news of the day.)
Moore, Moore, Moore
“Everyone knows that modern computers are better than old ones. But it is hard to convey just how much better, for no other consumer technology has improved at anything approaching a similar pace. The standard analogy is with cars: if the car from 1971 had improved at the same rate as computer chips, then by 2015 new models would have had top speeds of about 420 million miles per hour. That is roughly two-thirds the speed of light, or fast enough to drive round the world in less than a fifth of a second. If that is still too slow, then before the end of 2017 models that can go twice as fast again will begin arriving in showrooms.” In The Guardian, Tim Cross provides an interesting look at the incredible run of Moore’s law, and explains why it can’t go on forever. (And why it won’t need to…)
+ Some computing advances take longer than others. America has been trying to automate cheeseburgers for more than 50 years.
Baconstein
Scientists seem to be getting closer to “the routine production of creatures that are part human and part something else.” In the long term, it could mean transplantable human organs that are grown in other animals. In the shorter term, it will likely set off an ethical debate.
+ The Verge: Mice cured of diabetes by cells grown inside rats — are humans next?
They Lied About the Tide
Who believes in climate change? Just about everyone, including developers building skyrises in NYC. “For the developers, giving up premium space to machinery is insurance against an ominous future: They want tenants in the towers’ 760 apartments to be able to live in their apartments for at least a week, no matter how high floodwaters may reach nor how long the power is out.’We said: Water is going to come in here. What are we going to do about it?'” (Everything in my life is designed around not leaving the house for weeks at a time…)_
The List is Livelihood
“The Black List was started in 2005 by a 27-year-old film executive from west Georgia named Franklin Leonard, and has become an influential index of the most original and well-written — if not the most bankable — screenplays in Hollywood. Its power to launch careers and expedite projects is astounding.” The Atlantic on an anonymous survey and the Hollywood list everyone wants to be on.
Sister Act 2
Fourteen years ago, Venus And Serena Williams met in the finals of the Australian Open. This weekend, the sisters will play in the finals of the same tournament. The rise and dominance of the Williams sisters could be the most remarkable sports story of our era.
Driving Forces
“Yet here in Washington was clear evidence that Camp’s car service was needed. A car that could be summoned, tracked, and rated via a smartphone would be a godsend for getting around big cities, especially during huge events such as inaugurations. ‘See?’ Camp said to Kalanick, as the crowd chanted ‘O-bam-a! O-bam-a!’ and the world waited for the new First Family to take the stage. ‘We really need this.’ Camp even had a name for his high-tech car service: Uber.” Bloomberg has an interesting excerpt from Brad Stone’s new book, The Upstarts: The $99 Billion Idea: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley are Changing the World.
Bottom of the News
“During the investigation, Wallace said, police learned that buyers would pull up to the drive-thru speaker and ask if ‘nasty boy’ was working. Wallace said ‘nasty boy’ referred to Norris. If he was there, Wallace said, they would order their meal and ask for ‘fries extra crispy,’ which was the code for a marijuana sale.” Cops in New Hampshire busted up a pot-selling plot being operated in a Burger King drive-thru. (If you’re going to get high and eat fast food, it’s probably worth getting the exercise it takes to get out of the car and order at the counter.)
+ Here’s a question for teenagers (or at least their parents): What Would Happen If You Never Took Your Earbuds Out?
+ Roxane Gay has pulled her book from Simon & Schuster to protest the publisher’s decision to do a book deal with Milo Yiannopoulos.
+ This weekend, I’ll be talking about the future of journalism (it will be less depressing than it sounds) at the World’s Fair Nano in SF. If you’re interested, NextDraft readers get a ten percent discount using the code NEXTDRAFT10.
+ Yesterday, I asked for you help spreading the word about NextDraft on Facebook (a place where they need some more real news). And it’s starting to make a difference. If you haven’t done so yet, please get your friends to check out NextDraft (I’m a one person operation with a big ego to feed). Just click on the share button at the bottom of this Read Real News post. Don’t Like It (which won’t help). Share it (which will).
