U.S. Still Speakerless, Sweden Joining NATO, & Excel Fixes A Big Issue
October 24, 2023
I Can Hear Kevin McCarthy Laughing From Here
On Friday, House Republicans removed Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) from the running for speaker of the House. The far-right Republican had failed to gather the votes necessary to become speaker three separate times, leading the GOP to turn pretty much anywhere else in its search for leadership. Now, eight Republicans have submitted their names as the party struggles to unite behind a single candidate.
The candidates are House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), Kevin Hern (R-OK), Austin Scott (R-GA), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Jack Bergman (R-MI), Mike Johnson, (R-LA), Pete Sessions (R-TX), and Gary Palmer (R-AL). Of those eight, only Emmer and Scott voted to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election as former President Donald Trump attempted to get the election results overturned
Republicans’ political drama comes at a crucial time for the U.S. and the world. Obviously, the war in Ukraine is still an ongoing crisis, and recent conflict in Israel has also captured much of the world’s attention. The turmoil in the House has blocked Washington from carrying out aid requests to its allies overseas, making the GOP look like the main obstacle stopping the U.S. from carrying out its diplomatic goals.
The speaker drama also comes at a terrible time for Americans as the government is headed toward yet another shutdown crisis. H.R. 5860, the temporary spending bill passed at the end of September, is set to expire on November 17 – if Congress is unable to negotiate a spending solution by that time, the federal government will be forced to shut down, harming the livelihoods of millions of Americans and bringing key services to a screeching halt. This episode has wasted three weeks of precious negotiating time so far, and even if the GOP is able to rally behind a single candidate, it’s unlikely that any spending bill talks will be held this week.
Some Good News
- Stranded on the Eiffel Tower, a couple decide to wed, with an AP reporter there to tell the story (AP)
- New ways to treat bladder cancer improve survival and shake up the standard of care, new studies show (CNN)
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Populist, But Not Popular Enough
- Argentina’s presidential election will head to a runoff in November following an unexpected result. In Sunday’s vote, right-wing populist & projected frontrunner Javier Milei failed to gather the votes necessary to outright win the election and avoid a runoff, winning just 29.9% of ballots, well behind the 36.6% won by center-left candidate Sergio Massa.
- Conservative former security minister Patricia Bullrich came in third place in Sunday’s election with 23.82% of the vote, while the left-leaning fourth- and fifth-place candidates won just 10% of ballots combined. Bullrich is expected to throw her weight behind Milei in the weeks leading up to the runoff election, while the left-wing candidates are expected to back Massa. Experts are split on who’s expected to win the runoff, but one thing is clear – the winner will have their work cut out for them as the country faces its worst economic crisis in decades.
Sweden Sniffs For Strings Attached
- On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed off on a measure that would approve Sweden’s bid to join NATO. The measure will now be put before Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, which will need to approve it before the full house can vote on the decision.
- The move to approve Sweden’s membership has confused experts, as Erdogan had refused to back its NATO bid for months – even as he gave his approval for Finland’s NATO bid in April. Erdogan originally claimed his refusal to support Sweden was because of its failure to crack down on Turkish separatists and dissidents living within its borders, but later added that the U.S. would need to sell Turkey fighter jets and other military equipment in order for him to approve Sweden’s membership. It’s unclear what, exactly, has changed on either of those fronts – Erdogan’s office announced the move in a one-sentence statement with as little fanfare as possible.
Additional World News
- Gaza teenager sees family killed after seeking safety in south (Reuters)
- Pakistan’s Imran Khan could face the death sentence in trial over revealing state secrets (AP)
- S Jaishankar: India will resume Canada visas if diplomats safe, says minister (BBC)
- Iraq orders pursuit of perpetrators of attacks on military bases (Reuters)
- Joko Widodo’s son chosen as running mate for Indonesia presidential candidate Prabowo (Guardian)
- China’s foreign minister Wang Yi expected to visit Washington this week (Reuters)
- Switzerland’s populists promise ‘less political correctness’ after election win (Guardian)
“Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.” – Abraham Joshua Heschel
We Need More Hubs!!!
- Yesterday, President Biden announced the new technology hubs that have been selected as part of the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program, which will deliver $500 million to 31 new locations. After receiving 400 applications, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo narrowed the list down to hubs in 32 states and Puerto Rico.
- The $500 million came from a $10 billion authorization in last year’s CHIPS and Science Act that’s meant to help foster innovation and create jobs. It’s an attempt to expand tech investment that is largely concentrated around a few U.S. cities – Biden made a campaign promise to ensure people can get a well-paying job close to where they live, rather than having to seek employment in current tech hubs.
That’s One Way To Quit Your Job
- Off-duty pilot Joseph David Emerson, 44, was arrested on Monday and charged with 83 counts each of attempted murder and reckless endangerment and one count of endangering an aircraft when he tried to shut down the engines in midflight on a Horizon Air flight. Emerson attempted to deploy the engine fire-suppression system.
- The San Francisco-bound flight diverted to Portland, Oregon, where Emerson was taken into custody. As an off-duty licensed pilot, he was authorized to occupy the cockpit jump seat. The airline said the captain and co-pilot reacted quickly, “engine power was not lost, and the crew secured the aircraft without incident.”
Additional USA Reads
- This procedure is banned in the US. Why is it a hot topic in fight over Ohio’s abortion amendment? (AP)
- Sen. Bob Menendez to be arraigned on foreign agent charge (NBC)
- Coast Guard rescues 4 Canadians from capsized catamaran off North Carolina (ABC)
- DeSantis PAC attack ad hits Nikki Haley on China, as 2024 presidential rivalry grows (CBS)
- ‘He’s like a mob boss’: legal experts alarmed by Trump’s attacks on judges (Guardian)
- ‘The man broke my heart’ — Biden’s Arab-American boosters begin to leave his side (Politico)
- ‘Superfog’ made of fog and marsh fire smoke blamed for traffic pileups, road closures in Louisiana (WaPo, $)
We Love Unwanted Tech Features
- Three years ago, researchers were forced to change the entire way they stored data about the human genome thanks to a Microsoft Excel “feature”.The scientific community had discovered that the popular spreadsheet program was automatically changing certain abbreviations for genes into dates, effectively breaking thousands of spreadsheets used by researchers. The feature changed abbreviations like MARCH1 (short for “Membrane Associated Ring-CH-Type Finger 1”) into the date March 1st, corrupting data sets and forcing scientists to hand-fix them.
- In response to that revelation, the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee, which is in charge of standardizing the names of genes, was forced to change the way that the entire scientific community named genes. Under the new system, the symbol MARCH1 was changed to MARCHF1 and SEPT1 to SEPTIN1, among other edits.
- Late last week, a few years too late, Microsoft pushed a new update allowing users to finally turn off the automatic data conversion. According to a 2016 study, though, it might just be too late for the change – at the time of that study, its authors estimated that roughly 20% of all published studies with supplementary Excel gene lists were affected by the auto-date-changing feature. But hey, late is better than never, right?
Additional Reads
- Bobi, known as the world’s oldest dog ever, dies at age 31 (USA Today)
- ‘The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop’: Investigating a Cold War mystery (WaPo, $)
- University of Michigan slithers toward history with massive acquisition of jarred snake specimens (ABC)
- Iowa woman who made fake cancer claims to raise nearly $40,000 avoids prison: “I didn’t do this for money” (CBS)
- New York unveils statue commemorating alligator sewer myth (CNN)