Barreling now into our quadrennial hubub

 — the U.S. Presidential election, which begins traditionally (meaning, in our imaginations only) on Labor Day (meaning, right about now), it might be wise to note this thought from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.:

You know, that, if you had a bent tube, one arm of which was of the size of a pipe-stem, and the other big enough to hold the ocean, water would stand at the same height in one as in the other. Controversy equalizes fools and wise men in the same way — and the fools know it.

We might, of course, in our enlightened age, phrase it a little differently, but it's the thought that counts.

Be careful out there.

And, if it's any help, here's what Bing has to say about fact-checking services on the internet.

 

Maybe some of the government is already shrunk…too much

FDA has massive backlog of factory inspections as staffers leave for private sector jobs

The FDA’s struggles overseeing the global pharmaceutical supply have been documented by the Government Accountability Office, which has flagged the area as a “high risk” issue every year since 2009.

It's back: An Onion you can wrap fish in

The Onion’s cutting edge: paper

"Regular deliveries of multipurpose layered cellulose fibres."

From its beginnings as a campus newspaper in the late 1980s, The Onion has become America's most reliable (-ly funny) newspaper online. Now it returns to print, 

"Americans demand new form of media to bridge entertainment gap while looking from laptop to phone." it reports.

[H/T Shawn]

Plastics

 

The world is pumping out 57 million tons of plastic pollution a year

The United States ranks 90th in plastic pollution with more than 52,500 tons…according to the study.

Two thirds of plastic pollution comes from south of the equator, 10.2 million tons per year from India alone.

Who owns the Arkansas?

83-year-old Colorado fisherman is back, defiant, seeking arrest and support in fight for freedom to wade in state’s rivers

“I didn’t catch a single fish and I’m pissed off that I wasn’t arrested,” Hill said.

Or, for that matter, any river?

I don't plan to watch it…

Fake heiress Anna Delvey will compete in ankle monitor on ‘Dancing with the Stars’

…but I'm guessing somebody does.

In Spamalot

China-linked ‘Spamouflage’ network mimics Americans online to sway US political debate

Intelligence and national security officials have said that Russia, China and Iran have all mounted online influence operations targeting U.S. voters ahead of the November election. Russia remains the top threat, intelligence officials say, even as Iran has become more aggressive in recent months, covertly supporting U.S. protests against the war in Gaza and attempting to hack into the email systems of the two presidential candidates.

And the beauty of it all is that due to the way social media algorithms work, much of this activity is being funded by American advertisers.

Oh brave new world, that has such creatures in it.

Ohio

A decision on a major policy shift on marijuana won’t come until after the presidential election

The Justice Department proposed reclassifying it in May, saying the change would recognize marijuana’s medical uses and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs. The proposal, which would not legalize marijuana for recreational use, came after a call for review from Biden, who has called the change “monumental.”

And, always alert…

Ohio regulators: Marijuana sellers can’t give out food from ice cream truck

Because of course.

 

 

Buzzword alert

Left-Wing Misinformation Is Having a Moment

Some misinformation researchers are worried that the new spate of left-leaning conspiracy theories could further polarize political discourse before the November election.

OK, buzz phrase then. "Misinformation researchers" are fact checkers who arrived too late. Sort of like fire fighters who arrive after the house has burned to the ground are fire researchers.

The Times story (link above) makes clear, however, left-wing misinformation is not as toxic as the right-wing variety. As, for example, what appeared on Trump's ear after somebody took a shot at him in Pennsylvania was not blood, but ketchup. 

Silly, huh?

It's all about Macbeth

The Hidden Grammatical Reason That ‘Weird’ Works

In Old English the word meant, believe it or not, “what the future holds,” as in what we now refer to as fate. The sisters in “Macbeth” were the “weird sisters,” in the meaning of “fate sisters,” telling the future. But they were also portrayed as ghoulish in appearance and attire. With the prominence of this play and similar fate-sister figures in other ones, the sense set in that “weird” meant frighteningly odd.

 

What did I tell you about state fair food and politics?

It’s a pork chop on a stick and a vanilla shake for Tim Walz at the Minnesota State Fair

“For those not from Minnesota, just to be clear, there’s a lot of great state fairs in the country, this is the best one,” Walz said. “I can say that having tried pork chops in Iowa.”

And, not having to run in a primary, he can probably get away with dissing Iowa. In a Midwestern Folksy™ kind of way.