Pawned

It's really quite amazing how 12-dimensional chess looks so remarkably like the same old politics as usual being played by craven opportunists so desperate to get reelected that they'll pursue policies virtually indistinguishable from opponents so terrible anything must be done to defeat them.

Meanwhile, here's another fun story: Scientists expected Obama administration to be friendlier.

When he ran for president, Barack Obama attacked the George W. Bush administration for putting political concerns ahead of science on such issues as climate change and public health. And during his first weeks in the White House, President Obama ordered his advisors to develop rules to "guarantee scientific integrity throughout the executive branch."

Many government scientists hailed the president's pronouncement. But a year and a half later, no such rules have been issued. Now scientists charge that the Obama administration is not doing enough to reverse a culture that they contend allowed officials to interfere with their work and limit their ability to speak out.

"We are getting complaints from government scientists now at the same rate we were during the Bush administration," said Jeffrey Ruch, an activist lawyer who heads an organization representing scientific whistle-blowers.

Garsh. It's also really quite amazing how reforming the culture of Washington looks so remarkably like totally not doing that.

Twelve-dimensional chess is so confusing!

But what the fuck do I know? I'm in the bag for Hillary.