Extra, Extra
Forecasting a Shadow: “The center, founded in 1960, is responsible for many of the biggest scientific advances in humanity’s understanding of weather and climate. Its research aircraft and sophisticated computer models of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans are widely used in forecasting weather events and disasters around the country, and its scientists study a broad range of topics, including air pollution, ocean currents and global warming. But in a social media post announcing the move late on Tuesday, Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, called the center ‘one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.'” NYT (Gift Article): Trump Administration Plans to Break Up Premier Weather and Climate Research Center.
+ Chile Reception: “Some might call his rise just one more alarming case of a worldwide trend toward nativist authoritarianism — and it is. But the attendant rehabilitation of one of the continent’s most infamous autocrats is a particularly agonizing setback in a country where many considered the long struggle for democracy to have been won.” Chile’s Election Is More Than Just a Swerve to the Right.
+ You Can Feel His Disease: “The NIH has been transformed this year. And most of the layoffs, policy changes, and politically motivated funding cuts—notably, to infectious-disease research—have happened under Bhattacharya’s watch. But inside the agency, officials describe Bhattacharya as a largely ineffectual figurehead, often absent from leadership meetings, unresponsive to colleagues, and fixated more on cultivating his media image than on engaging with the turmoil at his own agency.” This combination—horrible policies mixed with terrible execution—has evolved into its own infectious disease. It’s already spread throughout the administration. The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Most Feared Person at the NIH Is a Vaccine Researcher Plucked From Obscurity. (Meanwhile, Measles outbreaks worsen in South Carolina, Arizona and Utah.)
+ Plaque Buildup: Trump’s soiling of the White House, and American history, continues apace. The latest addition: Trump disparages presidential foes in plaques attached to White House. The same guy who makes decisions to do stuff like this is making decisions like the one below…
+ Unfamiliar Surroundings: “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.” Trump orders blockade of ‘sanctioned oil tankers’ into Venezuela.
+ Lost Sacks Appeal: “What she found was shocking: he had fabricated and embellished some of his most well-known work — like Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Sacks himself referred to his ‘lies’ and ‘falsification’ in journal entries.” The Lies and Falsifications of Oliver Sacks.
+ A High Profile: “An online marketplace is selling code modules that simulate the effects of cannabis, ketamine, cocaine, ayahuasca, and alcohol when they are uploaded to ChatGPT.” Wired: People Are Paying to Get Their Chatbots High on Drugs. (I think investors have been hitting some of the same stuff…)
+ Three Pointers: WSJ (Gift Article): One Throuple Had Three Separate Design Tastes. How Did They Manage a Renovation? Wait. What?
