Some has been happening in politics too. Some recent examples in state legislatures:

I wonder what was in the small print of the agreement customers had to consent to — usually without actually reading the many dense paragraphs of very small font text — when getting that software and signing up. Wonder if it will be enough to undermine a class action lawsuit. Glad I didn’t get any Logitech products.…

Hmmmm. I’m guessing they are not avid readers of actual science reports, so it may be a while before one of them makes the pseudo-connection and passes it on to the other deplorables. Or they may not bother. The current tax plan would gut the solar and wind power industries (https://thinkprogress.org/gop-tax-bill-wi…

I am expecting some Trumpite who wants to lie about global warming with a new twist picking this up and claiming: “See? This proves the melting ice is caused by an unstoppable mantle plume, not greenhouse gases!”

The Atlantic also has a good article on this Taylor Swift/ACLU rebuke story:

The company I have heard most often for the technology of producing sterile male mosquitoes to reduce disease-carrying popolations is the British-based Oxitec. They have been working on this technology for years, with proven success in trials in several tropical areas and are now beginning to work to reduce mosquitos…

Me too, they’re like an annoying ad jingle and less profound. But at least recognizing them enhanced my appreciation of this wonderful ACLU letter. It’s now a special favorite, almost at the level of the amicus brief the ACLU filed when soulless coal baron and Trump beneficiary Bob Murray sued John Oliver: https://w…

Oh yes, this letter goes into the ACLU greatest hits file and should be read and cherished in its entirety. Not only does it absolutely crush the lawyer’s bumbling attempt to bluff and bully a small-volume blog poster out of their constitutional rights, it does so with real style. Some puns are indulged in:

Yes, it was “use it or lose it,” and they lost it, like the blind or even eyeless animals whose ancestors began living in lightless caves. As you say, genes for traits which are not maintained by selection eventually lose functionality because mutated variants stay in the reproductively active gene pool.

As has been pointed out before, color vision basically devolved because of the long time our ancestors spent being active only at night. Primates like us have better than mammalian-average color vision, maybe (one of the theories) because it helped them find ripe food and avoid predators in the trees. But our more…

I don’t know his political views, and it is possible that he voted for *45. Many people were deceived by the Trumpite/Russian propaganda or misled by Comey’s statements about Clinton emails just before the election. But he has teammates he could learn from and I hope he does not support *45's blatantly corrupt,…

So, force the poors to bear and raise more slaves for the owners’ fields and factories. Good for cannon fodder too. I wonder if he knew non-Republicans might be listening? And will the voters in his district care enough to boot him?

Verlander seems like a nice guy with a sense of humor. His teammates think so too. Makes me smile.

This is a brazen, habitual sexual predator in action. It isn’t about sex, it’s the power over vulnerable victims that gives the rush. It is criminal and it maims lives. The predator revels in his path of destruction. The fact that this young man’s father was in the same room during the attack doubtless increased…

Related to the Astros’ win: have you ever wondered what happens to the championship hats and shirts pre-printed with the logo of the team that ends up losing? We don’t see them, but they actually have a much more interesting and arguably more worthwhile life than the real winners’ merch:

A memorable panel from cartoonist Brian McFadden’s predicted lineup of new Fox News stars (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/3/1712112/-Cartoon-Fox-News-new-lineup):

The much-missed art/literature/feminism/humor blog The Toast had a memorable way of ridiculing particularly appalling David Brooks columns:

This seems like such a bad idea to me. Why not go after an adaptation of one of the many, many excellent sci-fi/fantasy book series which haven’t yet been done, let alone done so extravagantly and memorably as LOTR?

I cringe in frustrated outrage every time I hear something about the Sessions/Trump Department of “Justice.” The bitter irony is so very 1984. For these evil would-be dictators, Ignorance really is Strength. Animal Farm, too, since they are so smug in their assumption that some people are more equal than others.

Another awful part of this confrontation: the new GOP tax plan would drastically undermine the solar and wind power industries in favor of fossil fuels: