DL Open Thread: Saturday, February 27, 2021

El Somnambulo

4 years ago

House Passes Stimulus Bill. All Rethugs voted against it. So did two ‘moderate’ D’s–Jared Golden of Maine and Kurt Schrader of Oregon. The D’s don’t have the votes, even if we overturn the filibuster, to pass the $15 minimum wage bill in the Senate. So can we just pass this bleeping thing and get the money flowing? Not to mention, talk about message management, even Paul Krugman says he can’t believe how good this bill is. But the D’s have muddled into making the message the failure to get the $15 minimum wage in the package. Know what we can do in Delaware? Make at least a $15 minimum wage the law. The votes are there to do it. I don’t even think that Speaker Pete and John Carney can block it this time. Just. Do It.

ICE Using Private Utility Databases To Go After Undocumented Immigrants. Time to put ICE on ice:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have tapped a private database containing hundreds of millions of phone, water, electricity and other utility records while pursuing immigration violations, according to public documents uncovered by Georgetown Law researchers and shared with The Washington Post.

ICE’s use of the private database is another example of how government agencies have exploited commercial sources to access information they are not authorized to compile on their own. It also highlights how real-world surveillance efforts are being fueled by information people may never have expected would land in the hands of law enforcement.

“We are concerned that Thomson Reuters’ commercialization of personal and use data of utility customers and sale of broad access to ICE is an abuse of privacy, and that ICE’s use of this database is an abuse of power,” said the letters, which were signed by Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), the committee’s vice chair, and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the chairman of a subcommittee on economic and consumer policy.

We have a new Secretary of Homeland Security. He should order an end to this end-run around the law immediately.

Prince MBS, Murderer, Skates. You know, our ties to Saudi Arabia, realpolitik, blahblahblah.

Thinking About Colonizing Mars? Um, Don’t. It’s a hellhole. Don’t just take my word for it:

Mars has a very thin atmosphere; it has no magnetic field to help protect its surface from radiation from the sun or galactic cosmic rays; it has no breathable air and the average surface temperature is a deadly 80 degrees below zero. Musk thinks that Mars is like Earth? For humans to live there in any capacity they would need to build tunnels and live underground, and what is not enticing about living in a tunnel lined with SAD lamps and trying to grow lettuce with UV lights? So long to deep breaths outside and walks without the security of a bulky spacesuit, knowing that if you’re out on an extravehicular activity and something happens, you’ve got an excruciatingly painful 60-second death waiting for you. Granted, walking around on Mars would be a life-changing, amazing, profound experience. But visiting as a proof of technology or to expand the frontier of human possibility is very different from living there. It is not in the realm of hospitable to humans. Mars will kill you.

Musk is not from Mars, but he and Sagan do seem to come from different worlds. Like Sagan, Musk exhibits a religious-like devotion to space, a fervent desire to go there, but their purposes are entirely divergent. Sagan inspired generations of writers, scientists, and engineers who felt compelled to chase the awe that he dug up from the depths of their heart. Everyone who references Sagan as a reason they are in their field connects to the wonder of being human, and marvels at the luck of having grown up and evolved on such a beautiful, rare planet.

The influence Musk is having on a generation of people could not be more different. Musk has used the medium of dreaming and exploration to wrap up a package of entitlement, greed, and ego. He has no longing for scientific discovery, no desire to understand what makes Earth so different from Mars, how we all fit together and relate. Musk is no explorer; he is a flag planter. He seems to have missed one of the other lines from Pale Blue Dot: “There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world.”

Can Delaware Legalize Marijuana Equitably? At some point, we will legalize it. How do we make sure that it’s done in an equitable manner?. This recent forum asked that question:

“Delaware has taken some great steps into moving to this conversation. We have legalized medical marijuana. We started decriminalization, which is up to one ounce; small possession for recreational use. So I feel like the steps Delaware are taking, we are almost there,” (D City Councilwoman Shane) Darby said. “What we’re seeing in other states, once it becomes legalized, is that it becomes a market, pretty much, for white men, who just take over the market. When in reality, the people who are most impacted [by prohibition laws] and who’re getting left out when it becomes legalized, is the black community, black men.”

What do you want to talk about?