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Week in Geek - Eyes in the Sky edition
The International Space Station will soon have a new function: animal tracker. Next summer, an experiment called ICARUS (International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space) will be installed on the ISS to track the migration of a range of species on Earth.
Scientists have been tagging and tracking animals with radio transmitters and receivers for decades, but most methods in use are labor intensive, only practical for small numbers of animals, and expensive. Now, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany have devised a way to solve at least two of these problems. They have designed a small radio tag with GPS and its own solar array that can be attached to individual animals that weight as little as a quarter of a pound. These tags will not only record the location of the animal, but also how fast it moves, the temperature of its environment, and even the light it received (sunlight or artificial). Additionally, the tags will be able to transmit their data and not just passively store it.
This Week in God, 7.9.16
First up from the God Machine this week is the long-awaited opening of a religious attraction in Kentucky that's not quite like anything else in the world.
A 510-foot-long, $100 million Noah's ark attraction built by Christians who say the biblical story really happened is ready to open in Kentucky this week. [...]"I believe this is going to be one of the greatest Christian outreaches of this era in history," said Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, the ministry that built the ark.
The media and select supporters were invited to tour the attraction on Tuesday, two days before regular customers could check out the life-sized Noah's Ark for themselves.
To put it mildly, the "Ark Encounter" attraction is not without controversy. As regular readers know, the Christian ministry that built the mammoth structure demanded and received taxpayer subsidies for this project, despite the fact that all employees -- including staff whose responsibilities have nothing to do with religion -- will be required to be Christian and sign a written document professing "Christ as their savior."
Indeed, those hoping to work at "Ark Encounter" must also submit a "creation belief statement" before being hired, which includes endorsing the idea that the planet is roughly 6,000 years old.
The fact that Kentucky taxpayers are subsidizing all of this may seem legally problematic, but a Bush/Cheney-appointed federal judge cleared the way for the public assistance, and Gov. Matt Bevin (R), delighted with the outcome, did not appeal the case that had been litigated by his Democratic predecessor.
There's also the fact that this theme-park attraction isn't just a fun excursion for tourists. The point of "Ark Encounter" is to promote a Christian ministry's worldview, "share the gospel," and encourage visitors to embrace young-earth creationism. This ark's builders genuinely believe the story of Noah is literally true -- complete with dinosaurs on the replica of the mythical boat.
Dan Phelps, the head of the Kentucky Paleontological Society, showed up for the opening on Thursday and told the Lexington Herald-Leader that the boat’s wooden craftsmanship was impressive, but the scientific exhibits, which he called “beyond pseudo-science, more like non-science,” were appalling.
For what it's worth, while the Book of Genesis says Noah relied on tar and gopher wood, "Ark Encounter" was constructed with a team of workers using contemporary tools and materials. If the ministry intended to prove what was possible millennia ago, it may have unintentionally hurt its own theological case.
Also from the God Machine this week:
Friday's Mini-Report, 7.8.16
Today's edition of quick hits:
* The latest from Dallas: "A suspect in the ambush of 12 Dallas police officers 'wanted to kill white people, especially white officers,' and was upset about recent police shootings, the city police chief said Friday. Dallas police on Friday identified the suspect, who they killed in the early hours of Friday morning, as Micah Johnson, 25."
* Micah Xavier Johnson: "The man identified by a senior law enforcement official as the sniper who shot a dozen Dallas police officers, killing five, served in the Army Reserves for six years and did a stint in Afghanistan, officials confirmed Friday."
* Aftermath: "Police departments across the country stepped up security and took other precautionary measures in the aftermath of Thursday night's shooting at a protest in Dallas that left five officers dead and seven wounded."
* President Obama ordered flags be flown at half-staff "as a mark of respect for the victims of the attack on police officers perpetrated on Thursday."
* Johnson was killed by a robot carrying an explosive: "The move represents a potentially unprecedented use of robots to deliberately deliver lethal force in domestic policing, according to experts, raising questions about how local law enforcement officials are deploying the high-tech tools that increasingly fill their arsenals."
* Iraq: "Militants fired mortars on a Shiite shrine north of Baghdad late on Thursday, and in the confusion that followed, three suicide bombers in military uniforms infiltrated the compound and blew themselves up, the Iraqi authorities said. At least 36 people were killed and more than 40 were wounded."
* Bizarre GOP priorities: "Nebraska, joined by nine other states, filed a federal lawsuit on Friday seeking to halt implementation and enforcement of the Obama administration's policies providing transgender protections under current law."
* The hottest June on record: "The month's average temperature in the Lower 48 states was 71.8 degrees, 3.3 degrees above normal, surpassing the Dust Bowl record set in 1933 by a couple tenths of a degree, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Thursday. Every state in the nation was warmer than normal in June, with Utah and Arizona having their hottest Junes."
Texas' Dan Patrick loses sight of what 'hypocrisy' means
There have been some ugly exceptions, but in general, the reactions from elected officials to yesterday's mass shooting in Dallas, which left five police officers dead, have been largely responsible. But reading this Dallas Morning News article, it's seems one of Texas' top officials has gone off in his own unfortunate direction.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called protesters who ran away from the hail of bullets that rained down on Downtown Dallas on Thursday night "hypocrites" during an interview Friday on Fox News."All those protesters last night, they turned around and ran the other way expecting the men and women in blue to protect them. What hypocrites!" an audibly emotional Patrick said.
To his credit, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) issued a measured statement, calling for unity and calm, which made it all the more alarming to see Patrick go in a radically different direction.
In fact, as the Morning News' report makes clear, Texas' lieutenant governor blamed Black Lives Matter protesters for the violence against police and said people "with big mouths are creating situations like we saw last night."
Patrick wasn't subtle: "I do blame people on social media with their hatred toward police. I do blame former Black Lives Matter protests.... This has to stop."
I can appreciate the fact that emotions are running hot and some are going to react to tragic violence without thinking things through. We generally look to elected officials and people in positions of authority to be level-headed at times like this, but from time to time, their emotions get the better of them. It's a shame.
But when Dan Patrick takes a moment to reflect on his comments this morning, I hope he realizes how ridiculous they were. For example, Black Lives Matter protests are not anti-police; they're gatherings intended to protest excessive and unnecessary police violence towards African-American communities nationwide. This really isn't that complicated.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg imagines a Trump presidency
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who turned 83 in March, is already the oldest sitting justice on the high court, which naturally raises interest in her possible retirement plans. With this in mind, her comments to the Associated Press today were that much more notable.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she doesn't want to think about the possibility of Donald Trump winning the White House, and she predicts the next president -- "whoever she will be" -- will have a few appointments to make to the Supreme Court.In an interview Thursday in her court office, the 83-year-old justice and leader of the court's liberal wing said she presumes Democrat Hillary Clinton will be the next president. Asked what if Republican Donald Trump won instead, she said, "I don't want to think about that possibility, but if it should be, then everything is up for grabs."
Ginsburg added, smiling. "It's likely that the next president, whoever she will be, will have a few appointments to make."
Well, yes, it's quite likely, indeed. There's already one vacancy pending, and as we recently discussed, by Inauguration Day 2017, two justices -- Ginsburg and Anthony Kennedy -- will be over the age of 80, well above the average retirement age for a justice (78.7). What's more, Justice Stephen Breyer will be 78.2 years old on the next Inauguration Day, which means he'll reach the average retirement age during the next president's first year.
What's particularly interesting about all of this, however, is the way in which Ginsburg approaches this issue: the celebrated jurist seems to realize she's taking an enormous gamble with "everything" on the line.
Republicans' Benghazi Committee comes to end (sort of)
If you've been waiting for one of the longest congressional investigations in the history of the United States* to wrap up, today brought some good news -- though it comes with a catch.
The House Select Committee on Benghazi closed the book on its investigation into the 2012 terrorist attacks in Libya on Friday after more than two years of work and incalculable amounts of partisan controversy. [...]"Our committee's work is done," Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) told reporters after the roughly hour-long meeting, which went on behind closed doors and was interrupted by a 40-minute lockdown of the Capitol.
Traditionally, specially organized "select" committees, tasked with investigating major events and tragedies -- 9/11, Watergate, the JFK assassination, et al -- issue bipartisan reports on members' findings. That is not the case with the hyper-partisan Benghazi panel: the final vote to approve the Republicans' 800-page report fell along party lines.
Indeed, every relevant detail surrounding the GOP document contributes to the larger mess. Not only was the investigation conducted in the most brazenly partisan way possible -- even the Republican House Majority Leader conceded the committee existed to undermine Hillary Clinton's campaign -- but the Huffington Post added this morning that today's final hearing was conducted in secret, despite Democratic requests to open the process up to the public.
"Even its release was marred by partisan gamesmanship, with the committee's GOP leadership selectively giving it to reporters who were not allowed to reach out to Democrats for comment," the Huffington Post added. "Democrats didn't get copies until shortly before it was released widely. And now they can't raise objections to the report publicly as it's wrapped up."
It's as if House GOP leaders were determined to offer a case study in how not to conduct a credible investigation. In one ridiculously lengthy process, Republicans managed to annoy practically everyone: Gowdy's Benghazi panel bothered the left by conducting a needlessly partisan and divisive process, raising questions that had already been answered by seven other committees, and the panel bothered conspiracy theorists on the right by failing to dig up any useful dirt against Democrats.
But before we move on, note that the headline on The Hill's piece read, "Benghazi Committee closes the book" -- and that's not entirely right.
Friday's Campaign Round-Up, 7.8.16
Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Hillary Clinton was scheduled to campaign in Scranton, Pennsylvania, today with Vice President Biden, but in light of the Dallas shootings, the event has been postponed. Donald Trump's campaign also canceled its events scheduled for today.
* A new national poll from the Pew Research Center shows Clinton leading Trump, 51% to 42%, in a head-to-head match-up. Adding Libertarian Gary Johnson to the mix, the poll still found Clinton ahead by nine percentage points -- which is larger than President Obama's leads at this point in the race in 2008 and 2012.
* Though Bernie Sanders generally talks about his desire to see Trump lose, yesterday the senator went a step further, saying, "We have got to do everything that we can to defeat Donald Trump and elect Hillary Clinton." Sanders will reportedly endorse Clinton next week.
* Newt Gingrich was asked on Fox last night if he'd accept the vice presidential nomination if Trump were to offer it. "I would feel compelled to serve the country," he responded.
* The DCCC will begin airing new ads next week, tying House Republicans to Trump in a "seven-figure television and online ad campaign." The ads are already available here and here.
* Ted Cruz still hasn't endorsed Trump, but the Texas senator nevertheless accepted an invitation yesterday to speak at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Texas Republican raises eyebrows with response to mass shooting
About a month ago, on the heels of the mass shooting in Orlando, House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) raised a few eyebrows by arguing that the murders weren't related to the LGBT community. "It was a young person's nightclub, I'm told," the congressman said -- overlooking the fact that Pulse described itself as "the hottest gay bar in Orlando."
Nearly five weeks later, Sessions told MSNBC, in the wake of the murder of five police officers in Dallas, that he was concerned that officers "let their guard down."
Perhaps realizing that the comment didn't make any sense, his office clarified soon after that the Texas Republican "did not have all of the facts of the case" when he made the comment.
When MSNBC asked about how a Trump administration might handle these kinds of situations, Sessions initially talked about singling out the most effective police departments as a model for others to follow, before taking his answer in a stranger direction.
"This is done not through America having a terrible unemployment problem. It's done through having a vibrant, strong nation where people help each other. And I think Donald Trump will bring 10 million new jobs to America. And we desperately need GDP growth and jobs."
I watched the clip a few times, trying to make heads or tails of this, but I'm still not sure what Sessions is trying to say. Putting aside the fact that Trump lacks a credible economic plan -- one recent independent estimate found that Trump's economic vision would likely create heavy job losses -- the truth is, the job market has already improved dramatically under President Obama. Since the end of the recession, the U.S. economy has created 14 million jobs, but that hasn't stopped mass shootings.
Addressing societal challenges like these is incredibly difficult, but to assume that Trump has a solution, and that Trump can lower unemployment beyond Obama's successes, is a mistake.
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About The Rachel Maddow Show
Launched in 2008, “The Rachel Maddow Show” follows the machinations of policy making in America, from local political activism to international diplomacy. Rachel Maddow looks past the distractions of political theater and stunts and focuses on the legislative proposals and policies that shape American life - as well as the people making and influencing those policies and their ultimate outcome, intended or otherwise.
