Programming Update

Sorry for the downtime, folks, the power has been out at my place. Above you see my backyard, featuring a victim from the DC storm. Trees fall over surprisingly easily here. In case you didn't notice, I was blogging at Political Animal over the weekend. Here are a few of the better posts:

1. A view from our dystopian future. The power was (and is!) out at my place, and I had to hunt around for a cafe that wasn't packed. Thus, a bit of a rant about climate change.

2. Drug policy and argumentative positioning. Self-proclaimed moderates should recognize the value of the wings.

3. Generational warfare. Trying to find some common ground between young and old.

4. Batman as financial regulator. The banksters are the real lawbreakers in this world.

5. Better ways to promote public health. Liberals should lay off the elitist paternalism. It's annoying.

Hope everyone made it through the storm okay. Regularly scheduled posting should resume soon.

Comments

Why Did Reality Winner Leak to the Intercept?

So Reality Winner, former NSA contractor, is in federal prison for leaking classified information — for five years and three months, the longest sentence of any whistleblower in history. She gave documents on how Russia had attempted to hack vendors of election machinery and software to The Intercept , which completely bungled basic security procedures (according to a recent New York Times piece from Ben Smith, the main fault lay with Matthew Cole and Richard Esposito ), leading to her capture within hours. Winner recently contracted COVID-19 in prison, and is reportedly suffering some lingering aftereffects. Glenn Greenwald has been furiously denying that he had anything at all to do with the Winner clusterfuck, and I recently got in an argument with him about it on Twitter. I read a New York story about Winner, which clearly implies that she was listening to the Intercepted podcast of March 22, 2017 , where Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill expressed skepticism about Russia actually b

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Caffeine Is Not a Bioweapon

I got into a discussion with Yves Smith about caffeine here , and somehow my comment got eaten, so I'd like to finish it up here. She said about this Raw Story piece about a girl who allegedly died from drinking two Monster drinks in two days, "The FDA lapse here is terrible. Caffeine is extremely toxic. We just happen to get highly diluted doses in coffee and tea." I commented: Yves, your implication about caffeine is incorrect on several levels. Most Monster drinks have about 10 mg of caffeine per fluid ounce, which is much less than even drip coffee (18 mg/oz) and WAY less than espresso (51 mg/oz). ( Source ) The whole idea of dilution is misguided in any case. The relevant measurement for caffeine intoxication (and most poisoning generally) is the total amount taken, not the concentration. Concentration is something to worry about, as it can make a lethal dose easier to take on, but the main concern there is pure caffeine pills, not energy drinks which are mostl

Ryan Cooper

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