Favorites May 19 2021

This one gets into a lot of us politics, but I promise a photo of an interesting looking building at the end if that’s any consolation.

Joe Weisenthal @TheStalwart

The chip crisis is still getting worse. The lag time between ordering a chip and actually receiving it has hit a new record bloomberg.com/news/articles/… via @ianmking and @debbywuintaipei

This is wild, I hope you weren't looking to buy a new car soon. It's strange, lumber got cheap again already, why are chips getting worse? Longer pipeline presumably?

Paul Romer @paulmromer

As I have argued from start of the pandemic, there are lots of ways to reduce both the cost of a test and the time from sample to result. And as I've argued for my entire career, naysayers always underestimate the potential for speeding up the rate of technological change.

Eric Topol @EricTopol

Forget 30 minutes. I like this 1 second covid test https://t.co/gULLBu7wlF Cheap, disposable cartridge, saliva. Looks promising. @UF @UFMSE @UFWertheim https://t.co/siTAFzrdhh

If they can make this work, I really want a 'Is this a cold or is it allergies' test next. Even if it’s not perfect, speeding up tests for things makes people more willing to put up with them.

The Washington Post @washingtonpost

Colonial Pipeline hit by new computer problem but company says it’s unrelated to recent cyberattack

wapo.stColonial Pipeline hit by new computer problemTrying to install fixes to avoid another ransomware attack, the company may have caused glitches in the system used by shippers for communication.

The previous ransomware attack was credited for recent increases in inflation. But also, pretty concerning that they'd screw up twice in a row.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

The corporate tax cut — not Charlottesville, not the bizarre Helsinki meeting, not any of the scandals — was the low point of Trump’s approval rating.

Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur

News —> Republicans are pointedly warning Democrats: If you raise taxes on corporations and upper earners now, we'll cut them back when we win power https://t.co/MBwXjOklwp

I think it's important that republicans seem to really believe their own insane ideas, they'll probably actually do it.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Opinion on abortion is more stratified by education than by gender

The follow up, that the Supreme Court has kept the Republicans from doing unpopular things re:abortion up until now is a scary thought, especially given the extent to which they don't seem to care whether their ideas are popular or not.

Raffi Melkonian @RMFifthCircuit

The abortion part of this bill will be dealt with one way or another by SCOTUS. I tweeted about this several weeks ago - it delegates the enforcement mechanism to private citizens, giving "any person" a right to sue "any person" for "intending" to "aid or abet" abortion. 1/

Axios @axios

JUST IN: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill banning abortions as early as six weeks and before many people know they're pregnant. It does not provide an exception for rape or incest. https://t.co/lU4s1RaS9I

Here's a contender for a bill that will go to SCOTUS. The specifics of this bill are really quite perverse: abortion bounty hunters.

Andrew Prokop @awprokop

One day later, McConnell says on Senate floor that "after careful consideration" he will oppose Dems' 1/6 commission proposal, calling it unnecessary because there are enough investigations already

Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur

Mitch McConnell, emerging from a Senate Republican meeting, says the caucus is “willing to listen to the arguments” about whether a 1/6 commission is needed. He wants to read the fine print. “I’m not saying that we have decided that this cannot go forward,” but wants it balanced. https://t.co/5GYrMp2nNy

Unclear if he'll actually try to keep other senate Republicans in line. It passed the house with 30 republican votes, so there are probably a good number of senators who might be willing to vote for it. Really, there's no reason to try to get bipartisan support, with a simple majority they can hold hearings, and they should

Shane Phillips @ShaneDPhillips

We have absolutely got to start taxing cars by weight. This thing will cause, uhh, roughly 50x more road damage than a typical car? Fourth power equations are a trip.

Autoblog @therealautoblog

GMC Hummer EV will weigh 9,046 pounds: https://t.co/qkwVUwWyrQ https://t.co/yVZWp9aEgw

TBH, I like this mostly because it would be so much easier than taxing them by miles driven.

Amsterdam 2017

Finally, if you’re looking for a more, this thread discussing prenatal MRIs was too long to keep in the main email. It’s, interesting, funny, and horrific.