The Harvey Weinstein trial is novel because it is based on the testimony of witnesses who had a subsequent relationship with the accused.

Prosecutors declining to try rape cases where a legitimate relationship is present is like refusing to try a shoplifting case because the accused had actually paid for something from the store.

Illinois wants to become the third state to criminalize pumping your own gas (OR, NJ).

"Equality" is among the reasons listed for the change; low-income people cannot afford gasoline pumped by stations with attendants and are forced to pump their own gas. Under the proposed bill, low income people would be forced to buy gas they cannot afford so they can be equal.

Stop voting, people. It only makes things worse.

Glutamate is an amino acid and neurotransmitter that has been monitored in action for the first time.

A well-known salt of glutamate is monosodium glutamate (MSG). It breaks down into sodium and glutamate ions during digestion.

MSG attained urban legend status after a letter submitted to the New England Journal of Medicine ascribed various symptoms to MSG and was published as "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome". 

The Harvard University Chair of Chemistry and Chemical Biology was indicted for working with the Chinese government (Wuhan Institute of Technology) while holding contracts with NIH and DoD.

If you haven't been following along, Wuhan is the reported origin of the Coronavirus outbreak.

DoD + NIH + China + Chemical Biology Professor = ?

With little fanfare and less justification, Trump resurrected the USAF Space Command last year.

Zero originality points for the logo design and a ten point penalty for the nerd pandering.

"The world’s richest 2,153 people controlled more money than the poorest 4.6 billion combined"

Capitalism may provide more upward mobility than other systems, but that doesn't mean we should avert our eyes from the inevitable imbalances.  

Anyone who has played Monopoly or real-time strategy games knows that eventually the power players control the board.

Someone told me “I watch all of the news channels to make sure I get all of the news.”

If you are getting your news from television (or their online appendages), you're not getting news, but ‘news-like product’ to make you believe whatever one of the six corporations who control the major news outlets want you to believe.

The news is dead. Long live the narrative.

Hollywood spent $175M on a film that was so bad it could only be improved by adding a scene of a man extracting bagpipes from a dragon's nether regions, and even that strategic maneuver only netted $30M opening weekend and likely not much more.

It's a far cry from the days of Home Alone, hauling $162M on a $15M budget or Dirty Dancing grabbing $62M on a $10M budget.

Every year, Hollywood has to relearn that money, technology, and potty humor does not a good movie make.

No fewer than 119 billionaires and their private jets converge on Davos, Switzerland next week for the World Economic Forum where they will bandy topics such as “Balancing Domestic and Global Inequality” and “Breaking Legal Barriers to Equality.”

It's just as well they're rich, otherwise they could not afford the $43 hot dogs.

How will Iowans award their delegates for the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee?

By spending the evening sitting in school gymnasium bleachers being – not counted – estimated. Then, each time a candidate is eliminated, they have to move around to indicate their preferences for the remaining candidates.

Personally, I think Red Rover would be more effective.

Among the curiosities revealed by the following chart, it illuminates the ignorance of the populace with regard to the military.

How can the military be more trustworthy than the government that controls it?

Twenty months after the Prince of Wales paid for an eight figure wedding, Harry and Meghan are abdicating their titles and scarpering to Canada.

And that's the last time you'll see a British Royal marry an American!

People are upset that Jeff Bezos pledged only $1M AU to the Australian wildfire crisis. The reality is that Jeff Bezos pledged zero dollars.

"Amazon is donating 1 million AU dollars in needed provisions and services. Find more about it and learn how customers can help as well." - Instagram Post by Bezos

Idjits.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has linked Iran to 9/11 and this - of course - has spawned a bunch of Twin Towers and other memes about Iran's involvement in 9/11. After perusing my autographed copy of The 9/11 Report, I can relay the following:

"We have found no evidence that Iran or Hezbollah was aware of the planning for what later became the 9/11 attack." — 9/11 Report, p.258

How many other lies are they telling to make the public support aggressive actions toward Iran?

After a two week hiatus, the Fed has dumped another $100B into the financial system.

This is like George Bailey getting a loan from Mr. Potter every week to keep Bailey Brothers' Building and Loan afloat, but instead of drawing on existing deposits, Mr. Potter prints money in the back office and gives it to George.

It means the big banks are so mismanaged that the only thing keeping the economy from going into a death spiral is printing money – which itself leads to a death spiral.

Although exceptionally under-reported, Iraqi parliament did vote to eject the United States on January 5.

Esper's position that we will not leave is just another slap in the face of Iraq's sovereignty.
We may as well start dressing the military in red coats and waxing their moustaches.

California passed a bill in September intended to force companies to convert contractors to employees – but it does not force companies to keep contractors. Hundreds of Vox freelance writers were released prior to the law taking effect in January and only nine full-time positions were created to pick up the slack.

All is well though, Vox property SB Nation Executive Director John Ness invited the recently-shafted to continue contributing content sans remuneration as 'community insiders'.

Because it's the work that matters, not the eating or the light bill.

The Mayans may have gotten 2012 wrong, but they had no way of knowing that the movie version – or Island of Dr. Moreau version – of Cats wouldn't be released until 2019.