Every day is National Punch-A-Nazi Day
Jan 28, 2025
The Clock Ticketh
WASHINGTON, D.C. – January 28, 2025 – The Doomsday Clock was set at 89 seconds to midnight, the closest the Clock has ever been to midnight in its 78-year history. The 2025 Clock time signals that the world is on a course of unprecedented risk, and that continuing on the current path is a form of madness. The United States, China, and Russia have the prime responsibility to pull the world back from the brink. The world depends on immediate action.
The Doomsday Clock’s time is set by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board (SASB) in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes nine Nobel Laureates. Factors included nuclear weapons threats, the climate crisis, biological threats, and disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). The Clock’s time changed most recently in January 2023, when the Doomsday Clock was set at 90 seconds to midnight.
Daniel Holz, PhD, SASB Chair, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and professor at the University of Chicago said: “The purpose of the Doomsday Clock is to start a global conversation about the very real existential threats that keep the world’s top scientists awake at night. National leaders must commence discussions about these global risks before it’s too late. Reflecting on these life-and-death issues and starting a dialogue are the first steps to turning back the Clock and moving away from midnight.”
The 2025 Doomsday Clock statement warns:
In 2024, humanity edged ever closer to catastrophe. Trends that have deeply concerned the Science and Security Board continued, and despite unmistakable signs of danger, national leaders and their societies have failed to do what is needed to change course. Consequently, we now move the Doomsday Clock from 90 seconds to 89 seconds to midnight—the closest it has ever been to catastrophe. Our fervent hope is that leaders will recognize the world’s existential predicament and take bold action to reduce the threats posed by nuclear weapons, climate change, and the potential misuse of biological science and a variety of emerging technologies.
Juan Manuel Santos, Chair of The Elders, former President of Colombia, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, who participated in the 2025 Doomsday Clock announcement, said: “The Doomsday Clock is moving at a moment of profound global instability and geopolitical tension. As the hands of the clock get ever closer to midnight, we make an impassioned plea to all leaders: now is the time to act together! The existential threats we face can only be addressed through bold leadership and partnership on a global scale. Cada segundo cuenta. Every second counts.”
Manpreet Sethi, PhD, SASB Member, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and distinguished fellow at the Centre for Air Power Studies in New Delhi and Senior Research Adviser, Asia Pacific Leadership Network, said: “The risk of nuclear use continues to grow due to capabilities building up and treaties breaking down. Russia has suspended compliance with the New START treaty and withdrawn ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. China is rapidly increasing its nuclear arsenal. And, the US has abdicated its role as a voice of caution. It seems inclined to expand its nuclear arsenal and adopt a posture that reinforces the belief that ‘limited’ use of nuclear weapons can be managed. Such misplaced confidence could have us stumble into a nuclear war.”
Disruptive Technologies To Watch In 2025
Herb Lin, ScD, SASB Member, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and senior research scholar for cyber policy and security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation and Hank J. Holland Fellow in Cyber Policy and Security at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said: “Proposals to integrate artificial intelligence into weapons of war raise questions about the extent to which machines will be allowed to make or support military decisions—even when such decisions could kill on a vast scale. Even if a human always make the final decision on the use of nuclear weapons, how and when, if at all, should AI be used to support such decision making? How should we think about lethal autonomous weapons, which identify and destroy targets without human intervention? Meanwhile, ever-increasing dysfunction in the world’s information ecosystem disrupts society’s capacity to address difficult challenges, and AI has great potential to accelerate the chaos and disorder.”
Climate Change: Devastating Impacts And Insufficient Progress
Robert Socolow, PhD, SASB Member, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and professor emeritus in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, said: “2024 was the hottest year on record. Extreme weather and other climate events—floods, tropical cyclones, extreme heat, drought, and wildfires— devastated societies, rich and poor, as well as ecosystems around the world. Yet the global greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change continued to rise. And investments to adapt to climate change and cut fossil fuel emissions were way below what is needed to avoid the worst impacts. There were formidable policy headwinds globally: particularly worrisome, electoral campaigns showed climate change to be a low priority in the United States and many other countries.”
Daunting Biological Threats
Suzet McKinney, DrPH, SASB Member, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and principal and director of Life Sciences for Sterling Bay, said: “Infectious diseases are a constant threat to mankind, but unfortunately the collective experience with COVID-19 has increased skepticism about the recommendations of public health officials, especially the use of medical countermeasures to mitigate disease spread. Concern is also growing over the proliferation of pathogen laboratories around the world, as well as nefariously using AI in biological research and development. Collectively, leaders must establish knowledgeable authorities to provide trustworthy information, increase reporting of changing disease patterns as the climate changes, decrease the number of high-containment laboratories, and curtail active biological weapons programs.”
Biology
"It's a scientific fact that humans come in only two varieties,
and they are: XX for female, and XY for male."
except ...
- You can be born appearing female, but have a 5-alpha reductase deficiency which can cause you to grow a penis at about age 12
- You can be born legally male with an XY chromosome, but if your body is insensitive to androgens, you will appear female
- You can be born legally male, with an XY chromosome, and have a penis and testes - and a uterus and fallopian tubes
- You can be born legally male, with an XY chromosome, but if that chromosome is missing the SRY gene, you'll develop a female body
- You can be born legally female with an XX chromosome, but if one of those Xs has an SRY gene, you'll develop a male body
- You can be born legally female, with an XX chromosome plus a Y chromosome, and you'll develop a male body
- You can be born legally female, with an XX chromosome, but if your adrenal gland doesn't produce enough cortisol, you'll develop a male body
- You can be born with both XX and XY chromosomes - Chimerism - and watch Nancy Grace's head explode
So the next time you think about using biology to cover your ignorance and bigotry, remember that humans come in lots of different models with lots of different options, and maybe you could stop wasting everybody's time trying to smash-fit people into your little "M or F" checkboxes.
hat tip = Dr Janet Dean via FB
That IG Thing
Senate Committee for Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
202-224-4751
TwiXter Republicans: @HSGAC_GOP
TwiXter Democrats: @HSGAC
Hi - my name is ______________, and I'm calling from ______________.
I expect the committee to investigate Mr Trump's illegal firing of the Inspectors General, which was in direct violation of the Inspector General Act of 1978.
I need to know if you'll be doing anything about it, or if we just have to sit here and let Trump and the GOP screw us with our pants on - again.
An Act to reorganize the executive branch of the Government and increase its economy and efficiency by establishing Offices of Inspector General within the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior, Labor, and Transportation, and within the Community Services Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the General Services Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Small Business Administration, and the Veterans' Administration, and for other purposes.
- Enacted by the 95th United States Congress
- Effective October 1, 1978
- Signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on October 12, 1978
The Act specifically creates Inspector General positions and offices in more than a dozen specific departments and agencies. The Act gave these inspectors general the authority to review the internal documents of their departments or offices. They were given responsibility to investigate fraud, to give policy advice (5 U.S.C. § 404; IG Act, sec. 4), to handle certain complaints by employees, and to report to the heads of their agencies and to Congress on their activities every six months (5 U.S.C. § 405; IG Act, sec. 5).
Many existing offices with names like Office of Audit, Office of Investigations, or similar were transferred, renamed, folded into the new IG offices.
The core of the law is in 5 U.S.C. § 403 (IG Act, sec. 3(a)): "There shall be at the head of each Office an Inspector General who shall be appointed by the President, without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, management analysis, public administration, or investigations.
Each Inspector General shall report to and be under the general supervision of the head of the establishment involved or, to the extent such authority is delegated, the officer next in rank below such head, but shall not report to, or be subject to supervision by, any other officer of such establishment. Neither the head of the establishment nor the officer next in rank below such head shall prevent or prohibit the Inspector General from initiating, carrying out, or completing any audit or investigation, or from issuing any subpoena during the course of any audit or investigation."
The Act and the Inspector General role were amended thirty years later by the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008,[3] which created the umbrella IG agency, Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE).
In May 2020, after a series of IG firings for questionable causes, several House Democrats introduced a bill, H.R.6984, to amend the original act to protect against political retaliation and require just cause for IG dismissal.
The Act and the Inspector General role were amended thirty years later by the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008,[3] which created the umbrella IG agency, Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE).
In May 2020, after a series of IG firings for questionable causes, several House Democrats introduced a bill, H.R.6984, to amend the original act to protect against political retaliation and require just cause for IG dismissal.
Watch This
... and then tell me Trump isn't pulling the same shit that Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn were pulling 70 years ago.
People have called the Cohn's life (and his antics of the period) the first Reality Tv Show.
What else do you need?
Jan 27, 2025
Missed A Few Items
We're not alone.
We are only seven days into Donald Trump's presidency, and he's already made several controversial policies.
Amid pardoning about 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters to enacting mass deportations, rolling back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and ordering the US to back out of the World Health Organization, people are already expressing concern over what is to come.
And it's not just those in the US. You may not know this, but people around the world have been protesting Donald Trump's actions and presidency since his inauguration.
From Berlin to Mexico and right here in the US, here are 21 images from anti-Trump protests.
1.London, UK:
2.Chicago, Illinois:
3.Brussels, Belgium:
4.Mexico City, Mexico:
5.Panama City, Panama:
6.Washington, DC:
7.Mexico City, Mexico:
8.London, UK:
9.New York, New York:
10.Berlin, Germany:
11.Panama City, Panama:
12.Tijuana, Mexico:
13.Naples, Italy:
14.Chicago, Illinois:
15.London, UK:
16.Mexico City, Mexico:
17.Boston, Massachusetts:
18.London, UK:
19.Naples, Italy:
20.Berlin, Germany:
21.And finally, Tijuana, Mexico:
Goal Posts
@davecolumbo Someone close the Overton window, I’m getting a draft #democrats #democrat #leftist #politics #political ♬ Manke, honobo, everyday, funny, loop - arachang
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)