Archive for US elections 2024

and it only gets worse & worse & …

Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 13, 2025 by xi'an

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“We’re going to get some back. We’re going to get some switched. There will be some swapping of territories, to the betterment of both [Ukraine and Russia]. You’re looking at territory that’s been fought over for three and a half years, a lot of Russians have died. A lot of Ukrainians have died” – DT, 08 Aug

“I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements [by Dmitry Medvedev] are more than just that.  Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances.” – DT, 01 Aug

“[The 23 July Energy Department report] critically assesses many areas of ongoing scientific inquiry that are frequently assigned high levels of confidence — not by the scientists themselves but by the political bodies involved, such as the United Nations or previous presidential administrations. Unlike previous administrations, the Trump administration is committed to engaging in a more thoughtful and science-based conversation about climate change and energy.” – Ben Dietderich, DoE, 31 July

“Climate change is real, and it deserves attention. But it is not the greatest threat facing humanity. As someone who values data, I know that improving the human condition depends on expanding access to reliable, affordable energy. If we empower innovation rather than restrain it, America can lead the world in providing more abundant energy” Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy, 29 July

“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine. That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them.” – DT, 31 July

“The Trump Administration dismantled American aid organisations in a politically-driven witch hunt for ‘waste, fraud, and abuse.’ Now, they are letting millions of dollars of lifesaving humanitarian aid go to waste. President Trump is preparing to let over $12 million worth of HIV-prevention supplies and contraceptives, which have already been purchased for use in developing countries, be destroyed, rather than let other countries or groups take control of and distribute the products. HIV is one of the deadliest diseases in the world. People will die because of this decision. Their lives are at risk because of President Trump.” – Senator Rosa DeLauro, 18 July

shoot the messenger & cook the books

Posted in Books, Statistics with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 2, 2025 by xi'an

Heads of Official Statistics Bureaux has been subjected to suspicion and sometimes prosecution from their governments in the recent past, the most notable cases being Agentina with Graciela Bevacqua and Greece (with Andreas Georgiou), while the ASA and the ISI expressed deep concern this year about the  dismissal of Dominik Rozkrut as President of Statistics Poland. Now this undemocratic tide against the independence of official statistics has reached America, with Agent Orange firing the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he did not like the (un)employment report!! Rather than reflecting on the massive impact on the economy of his own, chaotic, economic decisions and counter-decisions.

“What do we do when the president of the United States behaves [like a 5-year-old]? On Friday, President Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics — the nation’s workaday scorekeeper of employment, wages and productivity. Why? Because the data didn’t make Mr. Trump look good. The statistics were inconvenient. So the president didn’t just challenge the findings; he fired the statistician. That’s not governing. That’s board flipping (…) One danger certainly is that a future Bureau of Labor Statistics head might feel political pressure to fudge a jobs report. The deeper risk is cynicism, the quiet corrosion of faith in institutions. If we can’t believe the numbers, how do we believe anything?” f, Aug. 3

the polls weren’t wrong [alt book review]

Posted in Statistics with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 1, 2025 by xi'an

mass decimation of U.S. science

Posted in Statistics with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 14, 2025 by xi'an

Blitzkrieg [gegen Demokratie]

Posted in Books, pictures, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 15, 2025 by xi'an

“The stream of transparently lawless executive orders — to make it easier to fire federal officials, to freeze spending that the president cannot freeze, to take away a right to citizenship that is written into the Constitution, to name just three — tell us in no uncertain terms that this administration has no intention of respecting the law or the Constitution.” NYT Feb 07

The frantic and unhindered pace at which the Trump regime is drifting away from democratic principles is both shocking despite the low expectations attached to the elected President, and terrifying. The demolition of the rules of law and of the Federal Government services seems to proceed like a bread-knife through butter.

“But it is important to understand that the anti-democratic movement is not monolithic. In fact, it isn’t even coherent. One part of the program answers to the oligarchs (…) Another part of the program is the work of fanatics (…) The Christian nationalist ideologues who supply much of the rest of the ideology of the movement are no less extreme.” NYT Feb 07

Every aspect of society and most of the planet are impacted, from the disengagement from international institutions and treaties, to the utter disregard for nation sovereignty (beside the USA!, of course) and the right of people to choose their own way. Making the Orange Menace turning more and more into the past and current fascist leaders he admires so much. By cancelling one way or another legal counter-powers, sapping all levels of federal administrations and agencies, buying out media or threatening them by a flurry and fury of frivolous suits, releasing and pardoning rioters, forcing entry into and sometimes deleting crucial or confidential data, turning the army into an auxiliary police force, in scapegoating more and more categories.

“The executive order is meant to reverse what it calls an `egregious pattern of targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses’ under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. It cited the convictions of anti-abortion demonstrators for blocking access to abortion clinics.” NYT Feb 07

The most recent attempt at specifically “protecting” Christian activists (announced during the National Prayer Breakfast!) is yet another illustration of the Trumpian multi-tiered vision of the society, where different groups get different rights, some being “more equal than others”, under the pretence of protecting those groups. This is very similar to the argument used by Modi and the BJP in India.