Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - January 27th
We have surely changed as a nation, and what we find acceptable, and the things we "stand up for," are vastly different.
What ICE does, and how "we" (especially those in power) respond to the actions, is telling.
While the stories are all bad, the one that caught my attention was the detention of 5 year old Liam (Ramos) Ornasser. He was taken by armed ICE agents at school, specifically to lure his parents out. And surely he will be deported, along with his parents.
As I read more, I was reminded of the Elian Gonzalez story from 2000.
As a quick recap, he was a young boy who was brought by his mother from Cuba to the US. They stayed with relatives in Miami. His father - still in Cuba - waged a legal battle to have him returned to him.
People around the country took sides in the issue. It was a flashpoint. I'd invite you to Google the details if you don't remember them.
After some time, attorney general Janet Reno sent in a group of heavily armed agents to remove him from the home he was living in, and this (Pulitzer prize winning) picture summed up the experience.
People were outraged at the action. While surely there were a few people who defended this course of action, sending armed soldiers to take a boy by force, in what amounted to an international custody dispute, caused quite the uproar. Over reach! Over reaction! Why were they armed? And since he was likely to be taken back to Cuba (funny, the word "deported" wasn't associated with this activity at the time), that's outrageous!
Before she died, Janet Reno said that decision affected her deeply.
Ultimately, Elian was returned to his father in Cuba, and he now holds an office in the country.
We might compare and contrast to this week's story.
Our government is simply defending the detention of Omar, and gaslighting us, by telling us that it was necessary to make us safer. (forgetting about the fact that there are billionaires and wives of people in power who are also here illegally and should be deported according to "the rules")
And I have no doubt that all of them have no trouble sleeping at night - and it is unlikely to affect them in any way at all.
A quarter century really has changed us.
====
Bitchin' Dave's newsletter is published weekly. Please feel free to forward it around. If you want to subscribe or unsubscribe, send an email to geezergamer92@gmail.com
Scientists Generate Power At Night By Passively Beaming Heat into Outer Space. It's "Like Solar Cells in Reverse"
That's pretty cool. Scientists have refined what's known as a Stirling engine - one that captures heat dissipation to generate power - to collect heat that's being released from the earth at night.
They're calling it a sort of reverse solar cell.
This is an interesting story about the explosion that happened in New Jersey during World War One. As a nation, we really didn't think about how to guard against infiltrators trying to prevent the sale of munitions, have a means to stop it (considering that may of the actors involved had served in the US military), or prosecute those responsible. |
I've been railing about this for some time now. By simply agreeing to purchase the car, the manufacturer can and does collect all manner of information about you - from your driving habits to anything that is said in your car. Passengers are automatically opted in by simply entering the vehicle. And you have no recourse, other than to drive a car that was manufactured in the late 20th century, finding a way to disable the information gathering in your car, or simply not driving. While it's a nice story that he's outraged and suing, I have no doubt that Toyota will win. He signed a contract when purchasing the car. And that's in there. It all underscores just how much data we give up, and how little privacy we actually have. |
Dark matter is estimated to make up around 95% of our universe, yet we have no way to accurately test for it. Enter a team at the university of Tokyo who are using a quantum method to detect it, and so far they are having some success |
An interesting story about how we can see climate change and its effects. And how quickly things can change. |
At the end of last year, Disney announced that "The Rise of The Resistance" attraction at Disneyland would be closing in January for a significant refurbishment. It's a fairly new ride, so this was surprising. But it's fairly technical, so maybe not. And then, early in the year, they announced a sort of re-theming of the Star Wars themed land in Disneyland (only). A little context: Disney created an immersive themed land called Batuu (as a planet in the Star Wars universe, which includes a storyline as to how it fits into the lore). It has shops, and things going on, and a couple of rides. The original intent was to create different lands, that fit into different time periods, in Disneyland and Disney world. But they ultimately decided to make them pretty much exact duplicates… One of the key problems was that Disney was confusing the lore and timeline and it became messy. The land was supposed to fit in somewhere in the Star Wars timeline near episode 7, but they include elements from the original trilogy, and even some from the prequel. And they mix up what things might happen in these timelines. So the change they announced was that they're going to try and break up the area in Disneyland into different time periods, as a means to rectify this. They have said the storyline of the "Rise" attraction will remain the same, but I have heard some rumors that it may change when it re-opens. But, we'll have to wait and see. Disney world will remain the mish-mash it is for now. I suppose while they figure out whether this works or not. |
Bonus: I admit that I had no idea Barry Manilow wrote jingles before he hit the big time. State Farm, McDonald's, and the iconic band aid songs are all his doing. |
Bitchin' Dave's newsletter is published weekly. Please feel free to forward it around. If you want to subscribe or unsubscribe, send an email to geezergamer92@gmail.com
Comments
Post a Comment