crazytown
crazytown's JournalAustralia heatwave: Nation endures hottest day on record
Source: BBC
Australia has experienced its hottest day on record with the national average temperature reaching a high of 40.9C (105.6F).
The Bureau of Meteorology (Bom) said "extensive" heat on Tuesday exceeded the previous record of 40.3C set on 7 January 2013.
Taking the average of maximum temperatures across the country is the most accurate measure of a heatwave.
The record comes as the nation battles a severe drought and bushfire crisis.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50817963
Why Australia's PM is facing climate anger amid bushfires
Earlier this week, Mr Morrison rejected calls for greater funding of firefighters, saying existing resources were sufficient and that volunteers "want to be there".
(snip) When the crisis escalated in New South Wales (NSW) last month, Mr Morrison refused to be drawn on questions about climate change - saying his "only thoughts" were with people affected by the fires.
Deputy PM Michael McCormack rejected such questions as the concerns of "raving inner-city lefties", adding: "We've had fires in Australia since time began."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50737887
Prime Minister Morrison has responded to the heatwave / bushfire emergency by taking his family on holiday to Hawaii.
Why UK Labour Lost part 1 - Brexit
Boris: 'Get Brexit done'
Labour: 'We will request another extension from the EU and tear up the deal, the Boris one, negotiate a new one, a good one, different but better than Teresa May's, could take some time though, hold a new referendum with another extension, if rejected we stay in, if accepted we're out, but can't say how we will campaign, in or out, because we do respect the result of the old vote, the one that settled it, you know, last referendum, like we said at time, also last election, and will never ever crash out on a hard Brexit'.
Got it?
Forbes: Thousands Of Misleading Facebook Ads Help Conservatives To 'Crushing' UK Election Victory
Thousands Of Misleading Facebook Ads Help Conservatives To ‘Crushing’ UK Election VictoryThe Conservatives' social media election strategy involved subjecting hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of voters to false ad after false ad.
At the end of October, Twitter announced that it was banning political advertisements. The announcement came after its bigger rival Facebook ruled out the possibility of banning political ads on its own social network. But not only did Facebook refuse to ban political ads, but it also refused to subject such ads to fact-checking, something which critics said was necessary in view of the often deceptive nature of posts from political sources.
(snip) According to research from fact-checking non-profit First Draft, 88% of the Facebook ads the Conservatives posted in the first four days of December were deemed misleading by Full Fact, one of the UK’s biggest fact-checking organisations. By contrast, First Draft said that none of the Facebook ads posted by Labour over the same four-day period contained misleading claims.
In particular, First Draft noted that 5,000 of the 6,749 ads paid for by the Conservatives contained references to the construction of 40 new hospitals. This figure was disputed by Full Fact, given that it not been costed and given that the Conservatives' spending plans for the next Parliament had allocated funding only for six hospitals to be upgraded by 2025.
Not only that, but false claims about the cost of Labour's spending plans to the average tax payer made an appearance in more than 4,000 Facebook ads paid for by the Conservatives, while 500 promoted the widely refuted claim that the Tories will create jobs for 50,000 more nurses, even though the promise actually includes simply retaining 18,500 nurses already on the job.
In other words, the Conservatives' social media election strategy involved subjecting hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of voters to false ad after false ad. Perhaps voters were swayed more by the desire to progress with Brexit when casting their votes, but the simple fact that the Conservatives paid for these 'post-truth' ads indicates that the party believed they would have a tangible effect. If not, then why pay for them?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonchandler/2019/12/14/thousands-of-misleading-facebook-ads-help-conservatives-to-crushing-uk-election-victory/#d5172933825f
You knew this was coming: Trump May Skip 2020 Debates
Will Trump Debate a Democrat in 2020? He’s Not So Sure.WASHINGTON — President Trump is discussing with his advisers the possibility of sitting out the general election debates in 2020 because of his misgivings about the commission that oversees them, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
Mr. Trump has told advisers that he does not trust the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonprofit entity that sponsors the debates, the two people said.
Less of a concern for Mr. Trump than who will emerge as the Democratic nominee is which media personality will be chosen as the debate moderator, according to people in contact with him.
At a state-of-the-race campaign briefing in Arlington, Va., the president’s advisers declined to comment on what their plan was for the debates. One senior adviser to the president seemed to wince at the question, and said it was not something advisers were prepared to discuss until next year.
In the 2016 general election debates, Mr. Trump repeatedly complained about being at a disadvantage to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee. And the post-debate polls showed Mr. Trump had good reason to be concerned: Mr. Trump and Ms. Clinton were essentially tied in the polls going into the first debate, but she received a bump after each of the three face-to-face matchups.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/12/us/politics/trump-presidential-debate-democrat.html
Misgivings about the debates commission my ass!
538: Biden, a consistent poll performance.
Other candidates may have had their ups and downs, but you can draw a ruler on Joe Biden's national poll performance since August.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-primary-d/national/
What has Elizabeth done with her hair?
and why? All those people with selfies won't be happy.
EDIT: Yes I have a thing about hair. I notice how much Bernie and Pete are combing forward. I notice if dump has put off dying his hair. I always noticed when Obama had got a cut. If I see a picture of Bill, his hair gives me notice as to where he was in his career when it was taken.
But the point I was making is that the people with selfies will some some distance between the person they are seeing on the screen, and the photos / memories they have of meeting Senator Warren. I am over reacting no doubt, but that was my first take.
https://twitter.com/ewarren/status/1202458329152475136
The Impeachment hearing today - Your Thoughts?
What do fellow DU'ers think about what we heard today? The bottom Line?
And thanking BumRushDaShow for her great job managing the threads!
OK - First four states, 5m population, or less, which would you choose
and which two go first? I'm fine with NV and SC as 3rd and 4th.
Dow drops 400 points, biggest fall in 2 months, after Trump says he could wait on China deal
Source: CNBC
U.S. equities sank on Tuesday after President Donald Trump suggested he may want to delay a trade deal with China until after the 2020 presidential election.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 400 points in morning trading, led lower by trade-vulnerable Apple, Caterpillar and 3M. The S&P 500 slid 1% amid losses in chip stocks like Nvidia, Micron and Advanced Micro Devices. The Nasdaq Composite also lost 1%.
Markets hit the lows of their day after Fox News reported that the White House still plans on moving ahead with scheduled Dec. 15 tariffs on Chinese goods notwithstanding recent efforts at a “phase one” trade truce.
“In some ways, I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal, but they want to make a deal now and we will see whether or not the deal is going to be right,” Trump told reporters earlier on Tuesday. When asked if he had a deal deadline, he added: “I have no deadline, no ... In some ways, I think it is better to wait until after the election if you want to know the truth.”
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/03/stock-market-wall-street-in-focus-amid-south-america-trade-tariffs.html
The Hill: Trump campaign steps up attacks on Biden
Trump campaign steps up attacks on Biden(snip) Trump campaign officials spent the weekend circulating Biden’s latest campaign trail foibles, led by a goofy moment of the former vice president nipping at his wife’s fingers on stage at a campaign rally.
(snip) Separately, the Trump campaign attacked Biden for dubbing his latest Iowa swing the “No Malarkey” tour, describing the term as outdated and indicative of a campaign that has run out of ideas.
(snip) While the attacks from Trump allies have sought to convince voters that Biden is a weak candidate in decline, the focus on the former vice president also appears to underscore views in some Trump circles that Biden could be a strong challenger — particularly in the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that were the keys to the president’s 2016 victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump insiders told The Hill that they’d continue to focus their attacks on Biden for the time being, as most still view him as the likeliest Democrat to win the nomination and the most competitive in a one-on-one match-up against the president.
“He’s still the front-runner and the likeliest to win the nomination,” said one former Trump campaign official. “And I think of all the Democrats, he’s still the most likely to have a competitive race against Trump. Of course, that comes with the massive asterisk that he could totally implode at any moment.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/472663-trump-campaign-steps-up-attacks-on-biden
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Gender: Do not displayHometown: Whitehall, OH
Home country: USA
Current location: Australia
Member since: Thu Sep 27, 2018, 06:37 PM
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