#when you gatecrash a private little party that goes against your interests and then get upset that the vibes are off and the party is shit

[feuerkindjana]

Hey Shitstirrers,

Have you considered not doing that?

Asking for a friend.

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

OED Word of the Year expanded for ‘unprecedented’ 2020 (BBC) This year has seen so many seismic events that Oxford Dictionaries has expanded its word of the year to encompass several “Words of an Unprecedented Year”. Its words are chosen to reflect 2020’s “ethos, mood, or preoccupations”. They include bushfires, Covid-19, WFH, lockdown, circuit-breaker, support bubbles, keyworkers, furlough, Black Lives Matter and moonshot. Use of the word pandemic has increased by more than 57,000% this year. Casper Grathwohl, the president of Oxford Dictionaries, said: “I’ve never witnessed a year in language like the one we’ve just had. The Oxford team was identifying hundreds of significant new words and usages as the year unfolded, dozens of which would have been a slam dunk for Word of the Year at any other time. “It’s both unprecedented and a little ironic—in a year that left us speechless, 2020 has been filled with new words unlike any other.”

Jury duty? No thanks, say many, forcing trials to be delayed (AP) Jury duty notices have set Nicholas Philbrook’s home on edge with worries about him contracting the coronavirus and passing it on to his father-in-law, a cancer survivor with diabetes in his mid-70s who is at higher risk of developing serious complications from COVID-19. People across the country have similar concerns amid resurgences of the coronavirus, a fact that has derailed plans to resume jury trials in many courthouses for the first time since the pandemic started. Within the past month, courts in Hartford, Connecticut, San Diego and Norfolk, Virginia, have had to delay jury selection for trials because too few people responded to jury duty summonses. The non-response rates are much higher now than they were before the pandemic, court officials say. Judges in New York City, Indiana, Colorado and Missouri declared mistrials recently because people connected to the trials either tested positive for the virus or had symptoms. “What the real question boils down to are people willing to show up to that court and sit in a jury trial? said Bill Raftery, a senior analyst with the National Center for State Courts. “Many courts have been responsive to jurors who have said that they’re not comfortable with coming to court and doing jury duty and therefore offering deferrals simply because of concerns over COVID.”

The next few months could be rough for the U.S. economy (NYT) The next few months have the potential to be very unpleasant for the American economy. Many states are reimposing coronavirus restrictions, which will likely lead to new reductions in consumer spending and worker layoffs. As Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman, recently said, “We’ve got new cases at a record level, we’ve seen a number of states begin to reimpose limited activity restrictions, and people may lose confidence that it is safe to go out.” Adding to the economic risks, several of the government’s biggest virus rescue programs are scheduled to expire next month. It isn’t clear whether Congress will renew them, because congressional Democrats and Republicans disagree on how to do so. A lack of government support, Powell has said, may lead to “tragic” results with “unnecessary hardship.” The longer-term picture is more encouraging, though. There is reason to hope that the next economic recovery, whenever it comes, will be stronger than the frustratingly weak recovery after the 2007-2009 financial crisis. “It’s a good guess that we’ll get this pandemic under control at some point next year,” writes Paul Krugman, the Times columnist (and Nobel Prize-winning economist). “It’s also a good bet that when we do, the economy will come roaring back.”

Student loan repayments (WSJ) The U.S. government stands to lose more than $400 billion from the federal student loan program, an internal analysis shows, approaching the size of losses incurred by banks during the subprime-mortgage crisis. The Education Department, with the help of two private consultants, looked at $1.37 trillion in student loans held by the government at the start of the year. Their conclusion: Borrowers will pay back $935 billion in principal and interest. That would leave taxpayers on the hook for $435 billion, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The analysis was based on government accounting standards and didn’t include roughly $150 billion in loans originated by private lenders and backed by the government.

Brazil’s local elections (Worldcrunch) Brazilian local elections can be fun to watch. Candidates come from every walk of life, and are notably allowed to use nicknames on the campaign trail—and there have been some true gems over the years: a loud man with thick sideburns and bushy hair campaigned as “Geraldo Wolverine”; an elderly man in army uniform and full beard was “Bin Laden for Governor”; and we’ve also seen a tropical, chubby Spiderman, an old Robin, and Jesuses in various shapes and sizes. Earlier this month, as Brazilians headed to the polls to elect local leaders in the country’s major states and cities—including Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro—there were exactly 78 candidates who chose to run as some form of “Bolsonaro,” and even one as “Donald Trump Bolsonaro.” Results are in and 77 of them failed to get elected, including the president’s ex-wife, who campaigned as Rogéria Bolsonaro. The Brazilian leader personally chimed in on his social media accounts to endorse the 59 candidates (with and without familiar nicknames) he favored—only nine of whom got elected, according to Estadão de S. Paulo daily. Centrist and moderate parties made gains in the local contests, which also came at the expense of the other massive political force in the country, the leftist Workers’ Party.

Reporter Gatecrashes EU Defence Chiefs’ Video Call After Login Details Posted on Twitter (Vice) A Dutch journalist managed to join a video call for EU defence ministers, much to his and everybody else’s surprise. Video posted on Twitter shows Daniël Verlaan, a technology reporter for broadcaster RTL Nieuws, in disbelief as he realises he’s actually managed to jump on the call. RTL said that Verlaan was only able to do so because of information tweeted by Dutch defence minister Ank Bijleveld, including a photo (since deleted) showing five digits of a six-digit PIN needed to join the call. Defence ministers representing EU members and foreign policy chief Josep Borrell were on the call. When Verlaan joins, Borrell asks, “Who are you?” After exchanging pleasantries, and as laughter is heard in the background, Borrell asks the reporter if he knew he was “jumping into a secret conference.” “Yes, I’m sorry, I’m a journalist from the Netherlands,” Verlaan says. “I’m sorry for interrupting your conference, I’ll be leaving here.” A spokesperson for the Dutch ministry of defence told RTL a staff member had accidentally tweeted the picture containing information that allowed Verlaan to join the call. “This shows once again that ministers need to realise how careful you have to be with Twitter,” said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

France’s Dragnet for Extremists Sweeps Up Some Schoolchildren, Too (NYT) Armed with assault rifles and wearing balaclavas, dozens of police officers raided four apartments recently in a sprawling complex in Albertville, a city in the French Alps. They confiscated computers and cellphones, searched under mattresses and inside drawers, and took photos of books and wall ornaments with Quranic verses. Before the stunned families, the officers escorted away four suspects for “defending terrorism.” “That’s impossible,” Aysegul Polat recalled telling an officer who left with her son. “This child is 10 years old.” Her son—along with two other boys and one girl, all 10 years old—was accused of defending terrorism in a classroom discussion on the freedom of expression at a local public school. Officers held the children in custody for about 10 hours at police stations while interrogating their parents about the families’ religious practices and the recent republication of the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in the magazine Charlie Hebdo. The fifth-grade classmates are among at least 14 children and teenagers investigated by the police in recent weeks on accusations of making inappropriate comments during a commemoration for a teacher who was beheaded last month after showing the cartoons in a class on freedom of expression. As France grapples with a wave of Islamist attacks following the republication of the Charlie Hebdo caricatures, the case in Albertville and similar ones elsewhere have again raised questions about the nature of the government’s response.

France’s Sarkozy goes on trial for corruption (Reuters) Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy goes on trial on Monday accused of trying to bribe a judge and of influence-peddling, one of several criminal investigations that threaten to cast an ignominious pall over his decades-long political career. Prosecutors allege Sarkozy offered to secure a plum job in Monaco for judge Gilbert Azibert in return for confidential information about an inquiry into claims that Sarkozy had accepted illegal payments from L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt for his 2007 presidential campaign. Sarkozy, who led France from 2007-2012 and has remained influential among conservatives, has denied any wrongdoing in all the investigations against him and fought vigorously to have the cases dismissed. Next March, Sarkozy is due in court on accusations of violating campaign financing rules during his failed 2012 re-election bid. Next March, Sarkozy is due in court on accusations of violating campaign financing rules during his failed 2012 re-election bid.

Merkel, Germany’s ‘eternal’ chancellor, marks 15 years in power (AFP) In power so long she has been dubbed Germany’s “eternal chancellor”, Angela Merkel marks 15 years at the helm of Europe’s top economic power Sunday with her popularity and public trust scaling new heights as her remaining time in office ticks down. With the coronavirus raging around the world, the pandemic has played to her strengths as a crisis manager with a head for science-based solutions. Merkel, 66, has said she will step down as chancellor when her current mandate runs out in 2021, and leave politics altogether. Assuming she finishes out her fourth term, she will tie Helmut Kohl’s longevity record for a post-war leader, with an entire generation of young Germans never knowing another person at the top. The brainy, pragmatic and unflappable Merkel has served for many in recent years as a welcome counter-balance to the big, brash men of global politics, from Donald Trump to Vladimir Putin, as liberals have looked to her as the “leader of the free world”. A Pew Research Center poll last month showed large majorities in most Western countries having “confidence in Merkel to do the right thing regarding world affairs”.

China tests millions after coronavirus flare-ups in 3 cities (AP) Chinese authorities are testing millions of people, imposing lockdowns and shutting down schools after multiple locally transmitted coronavirus cases were discovered in three cities across the country last week. As temperatures drop, large-scale measures are being enacted in the cities of Tianjin, Shanghai and Manzhouli, despite the low number of new cases compared to the United States and other countries that are seeing new waves of infections. On Monday, the National Health Commission reported two new locally transmitted cases in Shanghai over the last 24 hours, bringing the total to seven since Friday. China has recorded 86,442 total cases and 4,634 deaths since the virus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

Singapore, a City of Skyscrapers and Little Land, Turns to Farming (WSJ) In this skyscraper-studded nation of nearly six million people, all the farmland combined adds up to about 500 acres—an area roughly the size of a single American farm. That explains why more than 90% of the city-state’s food comes from abroad, a feat of globalization that plays out every day as beef is brought from New Zealand, eggs from Poland and vegetables trucked in from Malaysia. But recent developments—from Covid-19-related border closures to international trade fights—have shown that near-total dependence on the outside world may not be the best strategy in a shifting global environment. The Asian financial hub long focused on growing investment is turning to growing food. It can’t be done the traditional way, however. Land is so scarce in Singapore that the government continually reclaims territory from the sea to build new urban infrastructure. Instead, businesses are trying to reinvent agriculture. Industrial buildings are being converted into vertical farms with climate-controlled grow rooms. Rows of lettuce and kale are nourished not by soil, but via automated drips of nutrient-infused water. LED lights substitute for the sun. The government’s goal is to have 30% of the island’s nutritional requirements produced in Singapore by 2030, up from less than 10% today. Earlier this year, it shipped 400,000 seed packets to households to encourage home cultivation of leafy greens, cucumbers and tomatoes. In September, it announced about $40 million in grants to expand high-tech farms.

Reports: Israeli PM flew to Saudi Arabia, met crown prince (AP) Israeli media reported Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Saudi Arabia for a clandestine meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which would mark the first known encounter between senior Israeli and Saudi officials. Hebrew-language media cited an unnamed Israeli official as saying that Netanyahu and Yossi Cohen, head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, flew to the Saudi city of Neom on Sunday, where they met with the crown prince. The prince was there for talks with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. A Gulfstream IV private jet took off just after 1740 GMT from Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, according to data from website FlightRadar24.com. The flight traveled south along the eastern edge of the Sinai Peninsula before turning toward Neom and landing just after 1830 GMT, according to the data. The flight took off from Neom around 2150 GMT and followed the same route back to Tel Aviv. While Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates have reached deals under the Trump administration to normalize ties with Israel, Saudi Arabia so far has remained out of reach.

Cyclone Gati hits Somalia as country’s strongest storm on record (Washington Post) Tropical Cyclone Gati struck the arid nation of Somalia on Sunday as the equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane with 105 mph winds, making it the strongest storm on record to hit the country. The cyclone made landfall after undergoing an extraordinary period of rapid intensification, which may have set a record for the entire Indian Ocean basin, at one point attaining the strength equivalent to a Category 3 storm, with 115 mph maximum sustained winds. Its landfall was farther south than any major hurricane-equivalent cyclone on record in that part of the world as well. Landfall occurred near Xaafuun, a small community about 900 miles northeast of Mogadishu, where the land juts east near the northern tip of the country. Hordio and Ashira, both desert communities, were also directly affected by the core of the storm. A broad four to eight inches of rainfall accompanied the system through northern Somalia, the driest part of the country, drenching desert regions with a year or two’s worth of rainfall in just a matter of hours to a couple of days. Rains also swept through the Gulf of Aden and brushed up against Yemen.

[themachiavellianpig]

Prodigal Son, Episode 9: Normal Is Just Too Weird

Episode nine of Prodigal Son, and Malcolm is possibly even worse at normal than he thought he was going to be. 

As always, full review and spoilers galore below. 

This week, we get to see Malcolm deal with his removal from the Junkyard Killer Case - there’s no direct interaction with the FBI, who’ve taken over, but the consequences of their actions are clearly playing merry hell with Malcolm’s subconscious. 

The dream sequence, in which the Girl in the Box does her best Samara from The Ring impression and then stabs Malcolm with his own 17th Century very expensive Japanese katana, was delightfully creepy, as well as giving us another excellent excuse to talk to Malcolm’s favourite therapist. 

She’s apparently rather into dream analysis and zeroes in on the, um, penetrative aspect of the dream, gently suggesting that Malcolm’s subconscious is not so much processing trauma as protesting poor working conditions - specifically the lack of food, sleep and sex. 

Malcolm: “It’s a little Freudian, but I’ll go with it.” Dr Therapist: “Not everything's about your father.” 

And as Malcolm goes on his way, of course with the customary post-therapy lollipop, he bumps into Eve, who thoughtfully asks after Jessica (“no longer armed, still a little dangerous”, what a way to talk about your mother, Malcolm) and then agrees to a date with Malcolm. It’s really quite hard to tell which of the two is more surprised that Malcolm has actually asked, but it’s a sweet moment all the same. (It also allows Jessica to freak out about a good thing, for once, more on that later).

So the cuteness is immediately followed by murder. 

The case of the week involves a dead man in someone else’s bed, a dissatisfied wife who’s hiding way more than her smoking habit from her husband, and an honest-to-God sex club, because why the heck not at this point. 

The initial crime scene was delightfully complicated by the arrival of the man they thought was dead, but the entire set up of the crime of the week was completely swept aside in my mind in favour of the revelations that JT has a wife, that Edrisa has been to a cuddle party and that Malcolm, in between being summoned to a crime scene and actually arriving at the crime scene, has already told Gil about asking Eve on a date. Plus, Malcolm’s immediate and entirely understandable look of pain when realising that he’d let slip about the date to Jessica. 

The two plots then unfold more or less concurrently - unravelling a top-secret sex club and unravelling ‘normal’ dating, and there is absolutely no surprises as to which one Malcolm seems to find easier. 

The crime of the week devolves into the expected tale of love, jealousy and revenge; given the set-up, it was never going to be about tax breaks, was it? 

Caleb, the victim of the week, is quickly revealed to be the lover of Beth - the owner of the apartment where Caleb died, but not the woman who slept with him shortly before his death. She confesses to having met Caleb as part of a high-society sex club which, crucially, made abundant use of their members’ property for private rendezvous, meaning that any number of people may have had access to the crime scene. 

So it’s up to Malcolm, an independently wealthy criminal consultant with a very nice apartment, to infiltrate the club. And, of course, he knows a guy. 

I fully was not expecting that guy to be Nico, the man whose hand Malcolm cut off way back in episode 1, and who is absolutely not ready to see his saviour/mutilator walk into his very classy I’m sure sex shop. 

Poor Nico. 

Nico gets Malcolm to Simone, the second-in-command of the sex club, who has a very good attempt at taking Malcolm for a spin before the team intervenes. As a former lawyer, she’s very clear that she hasn’t broken the law - it’s a sex club, not a business, and so the only rules it breaks are cultural. She even shuts down the accusation of being too calm with a brilliant, biting remark: “I’m devastated, but that’s not for you to see.” 

Simone points the team back towards Beth’s actual husband. The did-he/didn’t-he regarding the jilted husband would normally be fairly dull in this sort of episode, but it did allow for one of Malcolm’s patented “inappropriate ways to interact with members of the public”, when he turned up at a children’s playground and started loudly talking about sex clubs in front of the dean of a fancy prep school to try and intimidate a potential witness. 

Seriously, how many complaints about Malcolm does the NYPD have to deal with? 

The truth behind the sex-club is far more interesting; the illusive Jasper St George is revealed to be Charles Garner, a tech genius suffering from ALS, who used his algorithmic know-how to create a perfect playground for his wife to get the companionship he could no longer give her. 

As far as reasons to start a sex-club go, it’s fairly convincing. 

Unfortunately, the algorithms weren’t enough to weed out unstable or aggressive personalities, hence the jealousy-fuelled murders: Beth had broken the club’s rule of no attachments and fallen for Caleb, then been unable to cope when he didn’t want to be exclusive. Having killed Caleb out of jealousy, then Charles/Jasper to try and cover it up, Beth has a decent go at killing Simone as well before Malcolm talks her down. 

In our other plotline of the week, Malcolm fails a little bit at dating. Having successfully dodged his mother’s attempts to get him to take Eve to the opera in a private helicopter while wearing a brand-new tailored suit, he then gatecrashes JT’s date with his wife playing pool. Eve turns out to be very good at pool, even when she’s overdressed, and we get a chance to meet Tally, JT’s wife. 

Unfortunately, after a little prodding from Tally, Malcolm agrees to profile Eve and presses a little too hard on the kind of emotional scars that might lead someone to work against human trafficking. Not the best move for a first date. 

Given a little time, though, Eve comes back to Malcolm and they apologise to each other - Malcolm for what he saw and said, Eve for pushing him into saying it. Unsurprising, this mutual forgiveness leads to certain other boundaries being crossed, and we get the traditional fade to black. 

The subsequent reveal that Malcolm, in addition to having sex with Eve, also managed to sleep with her (actually sleep), given that he told Dani earlier in the season that he’d never managed to do that with anyone. Of course, this potentially very sweet start to a relationship is completely ruined when the nightmare/hallucination of the Girl in the Box reappears to taunt Malcolm some more - leading to him getting dangerously close to Eve with a kitchen knife. 

Finally, Jessica confronts Gil about whatever’s been tormenting Malcolm recently - and Gil reveals that the team now has evidence that the Girl in the Box was real, not just a figment of Malcolm’s imagination, and that the Junkyard Killer gave them her bracelet as proof of, well, death more than life, I suppose. And Jessica, although initially thrown, sets off, clearly determined to do something for once, rather than just waiting for Martin to do something to her or her family again.   

Previous Prodigal Son reviews available here.