Zorro
Zorro's JournalIntelligence employees vent frustrations over being forced to return to the office
Employees at one of the most secretive parts of government have been forced to return to their offices, leading to widespread concerns about their exposure to COVID-19.
Tensions inside the National Security Agency — which is responsible for eavesdropping and digital espionage — bubbled over last week, leading to an all-hands meeting at the agency on Wednesday to address complaints, according to four sources familiar with the matter.
“This has been percolating for a while,” said one former intelligence officer in touch with current employees. “The general sentiment is that NSA has been mishandling things.”
The meeting followed employees posting frequently on internal message boards about their frustrations over the pandemic and the agency’s handling of it. Some of those frustrations have to do with confusion over unclear standards, such as how employees who have been exposed to a potential infection are allowed to use administrative leave in order to safely quarantine, while employees who get sick need to use sick leave to stay home.
The tensions at NSA reflect a larger division within government as it adapts to the pandemic. While many parts of the federal bureaucracy have allowed their employees to work from home indefinitely, those agencies working on classified issues have less flexibility, and the NSA deals with some of the most highly classified programs in government.
https://news.yahoo.com/intelligence-employees-vent-frustrations-over-being-forced-to-return-to-the-office-100036400.html
NSA workers can't really do their jobs from home, so it's a particularly challenging situation.
G.M. Accelerates Its Ambitions for Electric Vehicles
General Motors says it will increase its investment and model offerings over the next five years “to expedite the transition to E.V.s.”For the last few years, Tesla has not only dominated the market for electric cars but also captivated the imaginations of investors, a phenomenon that has lifted its market value to stratospheric heights even though it only just started turning consistent profits.
Now General Motors is planning an all-out push to catch up to Tesla, in E.V. sales and in catching investors’ eyes.
In a presentation to financial analysts on Thursday, the automaker said that it was expediting plans to introduce electric cars and trucks over the next five years, and expected to spend $27 billion by 2025 on the effort, up from a previous budget of $20 billion.
“We are all-in to establish leadership in electric vehicles,” the company’s chief executive, Mary T. Barra, said at a conference hosted by Barclays Capital. “E.V.s are core to growing our business and creating shareholder value.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/business/gm-electric-vehicles.html
Trump Blasts Biden Cabinet's Lack of Reality-Show Experience
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In a series of blistering tweets, Donald J. Trump ripped President-elect Joe Biden for choosing Cabinet members woefully lacking in reality-show experience.
Calling the Cabinet picks a “bunch of losers who have spent their lives working at desks,” Trump questioned the team’s preparedness to take on the challenges presented by today’s complex reality-show landscape.
“These people have never earned an immunity idol, presided over a rose ceremony, or danced with a star,” Trump said. “This is the best Sleepy Joe could do?”
He saved his most withering criticism for Janet Yellen, Biden’s pick for Treasury Secretary. “If Joe really wanted a woman for this position, why didn’t he choose one of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills?” Trump asked. “They know a lot more about money than this clown.”
Leaving aside Biden’s failure to pack his Cabinet with experienced reality-show participants, Trump was baffled by his successor’s decision to bypass other highly talented candidates. “Ivanka, Jared, Eric, and Don, Jr., are all looking for jobs,” he said.
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-blasts-biden-cabinets-lack-of-reality-show-experience
'We just ran': Ethiopians fleeing war find little relief
The baby was born on the run from war. Her first bath was in a puddle. Now she cries all night in a country that is not her own.
Wrapped in borrowed clothing, the child is one of the newest and most fragile refugees among the nearly 40,000 who have fled the Ethiopian government’s military offensive in the defiant Tigray region.
They have hurried into Sudan, often under gunfire, sometimes so quickly that they had to leave family behind. There is not enough to feed them in this remote area, and very little shelter. Some drink from the river that separates the countries, and more cross it every day.
“We walked in the desert. We slept in the desert,” said Blaines Alfao Eileen, who is eight months pregnant and has befriended Lemlem Haylo Rada, the mother of the newborn. One of the women is ethnic Tigrayan, the other ethnic Amhara. The conflict could have turned them against each other, but motherhood intervened.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-11-24/ethiopian-refugees-fleeing-war-find-little-relief
US home price gains accelerate as pandemic shakes up housing
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
U.S. home prices jumped in September as strong demand, low interest rates and the smallest number of available homes on record combined to push up housing costs.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index, released Tuesday, showed that home prices rose 6.6% in September from a year earlier, much higher than its 5.3% increase in August. That is the biggest increase since April 2018.
The viral pandemic disrupted the spring home buying season, pushing many sales into the late summer and fall. Home sales jumped to the highest level in 14 years in September, a sign that the increased ability of some Americans to work from home and the desire for more space is spurring greater demand.
Prices skyrocketed 11.4% in Phoenix compared with a year earlier, the biggest gain nationwide. Seattle reported the second highest increase, with 10.1%, followed by San Diego at 9.5%.
Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/nation-world/story/2020-11-24/us-home-price-gains-accelerate-as-pandemic-shakes-up-housing
Marco Rubio has clashed with Biden's secretary of state nominee over Cuba
It’s still unclear which party will control the Senate in 2021, but it seems likely that Anthony Blinken will face a more contentious nomination process for secretary of state than he did six years earlier as the agency’s deputy.Over the objections of Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, Antony Blinken won the blessing of the Senate in 2014 as second-in-command at the Department of State under then-President Barack Obama.
Six years later, if Blinken is to become the top diplomat in the country under Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, it looks like he’ll need to buck Rubio once again.
Biden’s transition team on Monday announced that the former vice president intends to nominate Blinken for the role of secretary of state, a position that requires confirmation by a simple-majority vote of the U.S. Senate. In 2014, when Democrats held the Senate, Blinken was confirmed as deputy secretary of state by a 55-38 vote that largely followed party lines.
It’s still unclear which party will control the Senate in 2021, when Biden will be sworn in as president. But it seems likely that Blinken — a 58-year-old longtime Biden adviser on issues of diplomacy and national security — will face a more contentious nomination process for secretary of state than he did six years earlier as the agency’s deputy.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2020/11/24/marco-rubio-has-clashed-with-bidens-secretary-of-state-nominee-over-cuba/
Millions of Americans Expect to Lose Their Homes as Covid Rages
Millions of Americans expect to face eviction by the end of this year, adding to the suffering inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic raging across the U.S.
About 5.8 million adults say they are somewhat to very likely to face eviction or foreclosure in the next two months, according to a survey completed Nov. 9 by the U.S. Census Bureau. That accounts for a third of the 17.8 million adults in households that are behind on rent or mortgage payments.
The CARES Act, signed into law last March, allows homeowners to pause mortgage payments for up to a year if they experience hardship as a result of the pandemic. Borrowers who signed up at the start of the program could face foreclosure by March.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s nationwide temporary suspension on evictions -- aimed at stemming the spread of coronavirus -- is slated to end Dec. 31. The timing is far from ideal given millions of people are also set to lose their unemployment benefits at year-end without an extension from Congress.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-23/millions-of-americans-expect-to-lose-their-homes-as-covid-rages
Who are we to judge? Vatican looks into pope's 'like' of bikini-wearing model
Who are we to judge?
The Vatican says it is investigating how Pope Francis’ official Instagram account came to “like” an Instagram post of a curvaceous Brazilian model given to wearing thong bikinis and striking suggestive poses. A Vatican official insists that the like did not originate from the Holy See, the Associated Press reported Friday.
The Instagram account in question belongs to model Natalia Garibotto, who uses the handle "@nataagataa,” a play on the Portuguese word “gata” (cat), which is Brazilian slang for “hottie.” The photo liked by the pope’s "@franciscus” account shows Garibotto dressed as a shockingly mature schoolgirl before a book-filled locker, wearing a barely-there top, a tartan miniskirt that rides much higher than any miniskirt should and white garter stockings.
“I can teach you a thing or two,” the post says.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-11-20/vatican-investigates-pope-instagram-like-bikini-clad-model
Elon Musk Overtakes Bill Gates to Grab World's Second-Richest Ranking
Elon Musk’s year of dizzying ascents hit a new apex Monday as the Tesla Inc. co-founder passed Bill Gates to become the world’s second-richest person.
The 49-year-old entrepreneur’s net worth soared $7.2 billion to $127.9 billion, driven by yet another surge in Tesla’s share price. Musk has added $100.3 billion to his net worth this year, the most of anyone on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people. In January he ranked 35th.
His advance up the wealth ranks has been driven largely by Tesla, whose market value is approaching $500 billion. About three-quarters of his net worth is comprised of Tesla shares, which are valued more than four times as much as his stake in Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX.
Musk’s milestone marks only the second time in the index’s eight-year history that Microsoft Corp. co-founder Gates has ranked lower than number two. He held the top spot for years before being bumped by Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos in 2017. Gates’s net worth of $127.7 billion would be much higher had he not donated so prodigiously to charity over the years. He has given more than $27 billion to his namesake foundation since 2006.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-23/musk-overtakes-gates-to-grab-world-s-second-richest-ranking
Trump Contrives His Stab-in-the-Back Myth
An obscene conspiracy theory from the past echoes loudly in the present.By Bret Stephens
The word Dolchstosslegende is hard to pronounce but important to understand. It translates as “stab-in-the-back myth” and was a key element in the revival of German militarism in the Weimar years. Even modestly educated Germans know exactly what it denotes and the evil it entails.
Donald Trump and his legal team are now contriving their own Dolchstosslegende.
That’s true even as Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the election seems to descend from fantasy to farce. The main point of the exercise is no longer (if it ever seriously was) to find a judge, governor or other pliable instrument to deny Joe Biden the presidency. It is to deny the legitimacy of the Biden presidency, of the electoral system that gave him the office and of the federal and judicial systems that turned Trump’s legal challenges aside.
The point of the farce is farce. It is to make an obscene joke of the Biden administration and our constitutional system of government.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/opinion/trump-biden-conspiracy-theory.html
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