A couple years ago, a friend recommended what he said was a fascinating HBO documentary, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley. And he also recommended a book on it all – Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou, which came first. In fact, Carreyrou initially wrote the story as a series of articles for which he won the Polk Award. (Previously, he shared a Pulitzer Prize for another series on corporate scandals.) I can’t recommend them both highly enough. They were both wonderfully done, and worked as companion pieces, even though I don’t believe they were related. Carreyrou’s book was meticulously researched, filled with material the documentary couldn’t begin to cover – in fact, he was called as a witness during her recent fraud trial. Where the documentary shined was that she had so much of her work videotaped that it’s remarkable how much footage is available. And so you get to see her in action – which is very important to the story, especially if you only saw coverage of her at the trail. A point that Carreyrou makes is that she consciously patterned herself on Steve Jobs, down her clothes, the black turtleneck, her tight hairstyle, lowering her voice and even training herself not to blink. So, seeing her in action adds something the wonderful book can’t show. To those interested, you can get the book here. I didn’t follow the trail closely, but because of the book and documentary, I did stay on top of it to a reasonable degree. And the verdict came down yesterday that she was found guilty on four counts, and not guilty on four other charges – and the jury was deadlocked on three. My view and my friends overlapped, though we had a slight divergence – he thought it was a scam with her from early on, perhaps even the beginning. I felt she seemed well-meaning, though deluded in thinking she could develop what her supervisor said was physically not possible…but she got so deep into things that she probably (in part) convinced herself it would work and in larger part had to start lying and scamming so that the House of Cards she built wouldn’t fall apart. In either case, being found guilty on four counts seems justified. And that they didn’t convict her on seven of the charges perhaps suggests the jury agreed with him – though not necessarily, since they might have felt she was largely guilty but the government didn’t prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. CNN legal Elie Honig analyst had interesting comments on what he expected the penalty would be. He said – "All that matters here for sentencing purposes is the guilty counts. This is a maximum of 20 years, but in the federal system, we have this guidelines book. And the sentence — the recommended sentence is driven largely by how much loss there is. We are talking about a $140 million loss case. I did a quick calculation. That comes out to a recommended guidelines range of, conservatively ten years, potentially as high as 15 or 16 years depending on other enhancements. So she is looking at at least a decade behind bars under sentencing guidelines." I’m certain that we haven’t heard the last. No doubt she'll appeal, but I’m not sure what grounds she has for an appeal to succeed. And there’s also the upcoming trial of her former boyfriend and partner Sunny Balwani, who her lawyers tried to blame for it all. But that strategy clearly didn't succeed, and there would seem to be nothing that his trial can do to help her or her reputation -- after all, if the government thought she was just a victim they wouldn’t have gone after her, and his side is going to try and blame her for everything. So, yes, she’ll still be in the news. But other than the sentencing, I suspect her day in court is largely over. But we’ll see… I believe there are two movies being made about this all, one of which is for Apple Original Films based on John Carreyrou's book, Bad Blood. It's set to star Jennifer Lawrence, which I think is great casting. And directed and co-written (with Vanessa Taylor) by Adam McKay, who did The Big Short. This is the trailer for the original HBO documentary. You'll not only see how well-made it is, but also what I was talking about above with her -- and why Jennifer Lawrence is great casting. And if you do see the documentary, which is terrific, I can only repeat that Carreyrou's book adds so much more. And that’s the news from Today in Court…
0 Comments
Oh, my – this from Stephen Colbert is too good.
I sense that his band leader, Jon Batiste, wasn’t at rehearsals for the monologue. He may have been, and he may be a terrific actor, but since there’s no great reason for him to have been there, his surprised expression (along with the audience’s response) appears awfully natural and speaks to how strong and unexpected Colbert's punchline is. (Especially since even Colbert himself seems a bit surprised by how vociferous the reaction.) The video is only about a minute, and concerns Ron Johnson again – though not on the topic I referenced the other day, but another truly idiotic thing he said a few days earlier about his irresponsible, shameful claims that Dr. Anthony Fauci "overhyped" the COVID pandemic like he supposedly did with AIDS. For the record, 36 million people around the world have died from AIDS.
When looking to find the article yesterday that I had written for the Huffington Post, I came across yet another piece that struck a chord with our times today. It doesn’t go back as far as yesterday’s, but was nonetheless written long enough ago while Barack Obama was still president and the Republican Party had only gone partially insane before it began to reject reality. The subject at hand at that time was Climate Change, and how Republicans were rejecting the science. And not only rejecting science, but doing so because it was incompatible with religion. Now, why in the world that should be a concern to a political party is the question of note – and fits in perfectly with yesterday’s article on how the GOP path to become a religious cult today was set in motion years ago and not something created by Trump. But what leaped out even more in the old article – most especially today with the GOP near-total rejection of science even in the face of a worldwide pandemic, when you’d think rational people would embrace it all the more with gratitude -- was a larger point that has been totally lost by today’s Republican Party. So, here then is that article written on September 29, 2015. Science and Religion – Together Again!
Not long ago, I was reading a book, What Hath God Wrought, an epic, 850-page history about the transformation of the United States from 1815-1848. It won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 2007, and is part of the acclaimed Oxford History of the United States series. I mention this because the other day, I came across a passage that leaped out in the midst of Pope Francis’s visit to the United States and his addressing Climate Change. This was followed by a range of conservative voices outraged that the Pope would delve into matters of science, most notably GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush who said that the Pontiff’s words on Climate Change should be disregarded because “He’s not a scientist, he’s a religious leader.” (Never mind that the Pope actually is a scientist, with a degree as a chemical technician. And never mind, too, that the Pope is also a head of state, as leader of the Vatican, which is a city/state, and has a council of scientists advising him.) More to the point at hand is the division we’ve seen in the conservative perspective of distrusting, often even dismissing science as being almost an agent of the devil (I don’t exaggerate, more on that in a moment), instead of trusting the Bible when it comes to matters like Climate Change or evolution or women’s health. Which brings us back to the book at hand, What Hath God Wrought. Discussing Samuel Morse’s invention of the telegraph (whose first message was the words out of the Bible that serve as the book’s title), the author Daniel Walker Howe writes: “Morse’s synthesis of science and religion represented the predominant American attitude of the time; only a few eccentrics believed there was any conflict between scientific and religious truth.” So much for the whole concept of how life progresses and that we learn from the past. I guess not for everyone. This is the natural, expected result of what happens when you deny education, deny science, and retrench your foundation of knowledge, scholarship and reality purely on a system of faith. You regress, as the rest of the reality-based world passes you by. Accepted thought becomes what was once the domain of “eccentrics.” On the other hand, when your education is based solely on what you believe, it makes passing tests in school so much easier. Unless your teacher believes in grading on a curve. “Revelation and reason alike, Americans were confident,” Howe continues, “led to knowledge of God and His creation.” Go figure. Back in the 19th century, in the midst of the greatest period of religious revivalism in U.S. history, Americans believed that education actually increased one’s understanding of the Bible. Not just did religious leaders accept science, but “Evangelists welcomed technological advances along with mass education,” he writes, because science helped them “spread the good news of Christ.” Compare this to the religious Far Right of today who view the work of scientists as evil. Who want to push science out of the classroom, or at the very least obfuscate it with things like Creationism. Compare this to when Scott Brown tried to pander to the religious Far Right and snarkily demeaned his then-Senate opponent Elizabeth Warren by continually referring to her as “Professor.” Compare it to the pronouncements of people like Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) who actually serves on the Science Committee of the House of Representatives, saying – not that “Religious awakening, expansion of education, interest in science and technological progress all went hand in hand,” as Howe describes national and religious thought in the mid-19th century, but rather – “All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang Theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell.” Life changes. Opinions change. Values change. But life is supposed to move forward. Otherwise we’d all be living life in reverse like Benjamin Button or Merlin. Starting with all our knowledge, and then forgetting it day-by-day, getting more stupid by the hour. Which is a theory that does appear to work for some people. But fortunately, not for Mankind. What’s interesting is that long ago, the very opposite reality reigned. Back in 1615, the scientist Galileo was the eccentric, found guilty of heresy by the church’s Roman Inquisition for daring to suggest that the Earth revolved around the Sun, rather than the other way around. He was found guilty. Belief ruled the day. Two hundred years later, the reality of science was accepted, and it was only the “few eccentrics” who didn’t understand that science and religion were seeking the same thing – the truth. Unfortunately, when some people intentionally pander to the worst instincts of others in order to stir up fear in a base to score political points, the result tends to be falling backwards towards ignorance – which is the very opposite of that whole “mass education” concept. But then, that’s what happens when one looks to politicians for religious and spiritual guidance. You know, here’s one way I look at it – if God had intended Man to ignore the discoveries, teachings and advances of science, He would never have created scientists. I probably should have titled this "Incredibly Well-Worth Reading," but since we have our regular title for such things, we'll stick with tradition. But first, a little housekeeping to know where all this comes from --
Delthia Ricks is an award-winning science writer who was the health and science writer for Newsday for 22 years. She’s written four books in the field, was a Summer Fellow in molecular biology computer research at the Farber Cancer Institute, and is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Among many other accomplishments. Laurie Garrett is one of the leading reporters on medical science. To give just some of her credentials, she has received the Pulitzer Prize, two Polk Awards and the Peabody Award. (Yeah, I know, not bad.) Among her books are The Coming Plague, Ebola, and Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Public Health, as well as Epidemic! The World of Infectious Disease. So, she not only really knows her stuff, but as you can see, she doesn’t sugar coat anything, but is very blunt and extremely pointed. She was a frequent guest on The Rachel Maddow Show in the very early days of the COVID-19 outbreak and spoke warningly of what was ahead. I mention both their credentials, because it was notable a couple days ago when I saw tweets from them (especially the always deeply-blunt Laurie Garrett) that were actually about something encouraging in the pandemic. I didn’t want to make note of this as just Something I Saw on the Internet. Rather, this is something I saw from Laurie Garrett and Delthia Ricks. It began with a tweet from Ricks about an article from the National Institute of Health on research into COVID antibodies. She wrote -- “The map: Researchers have mapped where various antibodies bind to SARSCoV2's spike protein. Results could help in the design of new antibody therapies for Covid. Map includes 370 antibodies that target the spike protein.” This brought a response from Laurie Garrett, never one to be upbeat encouraging unless it is absolutely warranted. Her reply was – “There are many targets on #SARSCoV2 for antibodies -- some more effectively neutralize the virus than others. Future, better #vaccines and treatments should hit multiple targets, perhaps stopping variants from emerging.” The point of all this is that research is beginning to show some very positive advances in COVID vaccines. The COVID virus has many protein spikes, each which are “targets” for antibodies. And it seems that some antibodies are able to neutralize these spikes especially well which, if successful, could mean the ability to block variant mutations of the coronavirus from forming. That’s my very simplistic layman’s sort-hand explanation. For those interested in the NIH article which will be actually detailed and fully correct, you can find it here. If you missed Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on Sunday, his Main Story was on the PFA chemicals -- the best-known of which is PFOA which is used in Teflon. It's a story that has been reasonably well-told, in part with the excellent 2019 movie Dark Waters that Mark Ruffalo starred in. But Oliver and his team have taken it further in much excellent detail. And for as problematic a story as it is, they still were able to add a great deal of humor to it. Including a wonderful added twist at the end.
On this week’s ‘Not My Job’ segment of the NPR quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the guest is Ellen Stofan, the under-secretary of science and research at the Smithsonian Institution. She has a fun, lively conversation with host Peter Sagal about her long history working in the field of outer space, including at NASA, and talks about why she’d like to go to Mars, but not anything much shorter. What’s goofy, as well, is that most of the panelists jump in with outer space question related to movies.
This again is the full Wait, Wait… broadcast, but if you want to jump directly to the “Not My Job” segment, it started around the 18:45 mark. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
Archives
May 2024
Categories
All
|
© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2024
|