| Time |
Event |
| 8:54a |
|
| 8:55a |
Houthis’ capability
A leader of a Yemeni faction that opposes the Houthis says that the
US/UK attacks on the Houthis are totally ineffective at stopping the
Houthis from attacking shipping — and instead give the Houthis an
opportunity to boast that the US can't stop them from
attacking
shipping.
I wonder why the US can't stop them from attacking shipping. What
kinds of targets has the US been attacking in Yemen? Is it trying to
deny the Houthis the means to attack shipping, or is it only trying to
cause "damage" that it supposed might make the Houthis stop attacking?
If the latter, of course that was ineffective. If you think you're on
a mission from "god", damage won't make you abandon a fight.
And how is it that ships can come and go in Houthi ports without being
stopped and inspected for missiles and drones?
Has the US considered seizing the Houthi ports?
|
| 8:55a |
Racial disparities
California has apologized for its role in the system of slavery,
and has adopted a new system to give
black students better education.
I was surprised to learn, from the article above, that California
before the Civil War had a law that supported slavery. That was
a concrete reason for the apology.
Where laws discriminated against blacks, the governments that once
enacted and enforced them ought to pay reparations to the descendants
of those who were the victims of them. But we should reject the line
of thought which imposes a sort of original sin on all whites.
|
| 8:55a |
Fair taxes
Proposing a tax on visits by
private jets and super yachts.
It could be a good idea, but there's no reason to limit it to private jets.
Some years ago the EU decided to tax commercial flights as a kind
of carbon tax. It was a good idea, but other countries did not join in
and instead applied
diplomatic pressure to make the EU cancel it.
Taxing solely the private jets could be a first step towards taxing them all.
|
| 8:55a |
Harmful to climate
*More than £494bn subsidies a year are harmful to the climate,
says report.*
I think that is the total of subsidies paid by many different countries.
|
| 8:55a |
|
| 8:55a |
President Saied
Saied, dictator of Tunisia, seems likely to "win" an unfair election
with his critics and main
opposing candidate in prison.
He was elected when the voters were unhappy with the Islamist ruling
party and found in Saied the opposition that seemed to have a chance
of winning. Some Americans voted for the corrupter in 2016 following
similar reasoning. In both cases that was a disastrous mistake.
The lesson: never help elect an anti-democracy candidate or party,
no matter what the flaws of the incumbent government.
|
| 8:55a |
Israel’s lack of vision
Iran's big missile attack did little harm to civilians because it was
carefully aimed at Israel's military facilities — and it
did damage
to them.
This might turn into a war of attrition.
|
| 8:55a |
Helene’s devastation
Some of the cities devastated by Hurricane Helene will take years to
rebuild. Some are too
wrecked to even try.
Those who can try may face devastating storms every year, so they
will never finish the job.
Perhaps it is necessary to adopt new construction methods,
such as concrete supported on pillars talk enough
to keep the building dry.
|
| 8:55a |
Silent departure
The demographic triumph in Israel of extreme right-wing Jews and
religious fanatic Jews has made secularist and
peace-minded Jews seek
to move to other countries.
for years, some have been moving away, but now it has become a stream.
I suggested that secularist, non fanatical Jews should make common
cause with Palestinians so as to
outvote the fanatics.
I knew, of course, that that would be be difficult and unlikely, but
it seemed at least thinkable. I am not sure it is even thinkable now.
|
| 8:55a |
Visa debit-card monopoly
*US sues Visa for monopoly on debit-card use affecting
"price of nearly
everything".*
It may be true that this affects the price that most purchasers pay
for most products. More generally, monopolistic behavior does great
harm to society by giving big business too much power. Prosecuting
is crucial and we need to make these
laws stricter.
But it may not affects the price of things I buy for cash — which is
almost every product I buy.
The exceptions are when I ask a friend to order something for me, and
later reimburse person. Person will normally use a payment card to order
it, and the card's fee will be part of the amount I reimburse. But that
does not happen often.
The reason I avoid paying with a card is not about that small fee. It
is a negligible part of my spending, and not worth worrying about.
The reason is privacy. I don't want the store to collect any personal
data for their data bases.
If the employee who receives my money gets interested in free software
or surveillance resistance, I don't mind telling person my name. I will
even give her my pleasure card if that is useful. It is unlikely the
employee would enter that data in the company's data base.
|
| 8:55a |
Google's AI Mushrooms
Google is using artificial stupidity to generate false and misleading
"images" for recognizing
particular species of mushrooms.
I once had a friend who was learning to collect mushrooms, and I
looked at his very long study book. For distinguishing species of
mushrooms, including distinguishing edible ones from deadly ones, one
needed to recognize subtle traits, and sometimes perform physical
tests.
|
| 8:55a |
Tiktok misinformation
Fake testimonials on TikTok, purporting to be from unauthorized
immigrants and made in their own languages, are designed to fool people
back home to think they would be welcomed if they
were smuggled into
the US.
So it's not just minors that TikTok is likely to harm, and
it isn't mainly a mater of being owned by a Chinese company.
|
| 8:55a |
Arms exports
President Macron of France is seriously trying to press the US to cut off
arms for
Israel to use in Gaza.
I disagree with Macron on many issues, but it is good to see the president
of a significant country taking this stand.
|