Kamala Needs To Kneecap Trump As The Existential Danger He Is (And Not Merely Because He Has Alzheimer's)

 

                             Trump caught during one rant - the "Alzheimer's look".

"A Maga stranglehold on Washington would bring America into uncharted waters. All three branches of government would be in Trump’s corner. He already has the 6-3 Supreme Court on his side. The court recently ruled that America’s president has criminal immunity from almost any “official” acts, including assassinating his opponents. You do not need to believe that Trump would go to such lengths to see the ruling as a green light to do what he wants. Without judicial or legislative brakes on his actions, Trump would take it as a sweeping licence to go after his enemies." - Edward Luce, 'The Trump- Harris Dead Heat',  The Financial Times

"Donald Trump is not only the wrong man for the presidency, he is unfit to lead the country. Trump is far worse than Richard Nixon, the provably criminal president...Trump was the most reckless and impulsive president in American history and is demonstrating the very same character as a presidential candidate in 2024."  - Bob Woodward, p. 362, WAR

"I mean, 'Ave Maria'? “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” segueing into “YMCA,” followed by tunes from Sinead O’Connor, Jeff Buckley, the cast of Cats, Oliver Anthony, Elvis, and Guns N’ Roses? I kept waiting for them to break out the Dog and Cat Report from the late, great WBCN in Boston. Where were Danny Schecter, the News Dissector, or Duane Ingalls Glasscock? I had time to muse on these questions because the Republican candidate for president* of the United States stood there like a meat monolith for almost forty minutes, looking off into the distance with nothing behind his eyes. For the first time, I felt a small twinge of sympathy. He’s so very freaking lost now. The problem is that a good chunk of our fellow citizens are out there, lost in the ozone with him.- Charles Pierce, 'Trump's Weird Little DJ Set', Esquire

Yesterday Kamala Harris spoke in Erie, a Pennsylvania county that is one of the state’s most reliable bellwethers. Seeing and hearing her warmed the cockles of my heart. For days now, since she suffered a 5 point drop in national polls vs. the Orange Pestilence, Dem pundits (like James Carville) have said she needs to go on the attack. She had, according to Carville in an exchange with the NYT's Maureen Dowd, "let too many fat pitches go over the plate". Well yesterday that shtick changed and Kamala went for Trump's jugular.  She actually played clips from Trump’s recent media appearances and condemned his call for the military to be deployed against opponents he labelled “the enemy within”. “He considers anyone who doesn’t support him, or who will not bend to his will, an enemy of our country,” Harris said at the rally. “This is among the reasons I believe so strongly that a second Trump term would be a huge risk for America”.

Maybe you missed it -  but Rump has been on a fascist romp the past week. At rallies here in Colorado and then in California, he surpassed his usual rants, and added another twist, suggesting that a woman heckler should “get the hell knocked out of her” by her mother. Then on Sunday morning, this freak show senile fart outdid himself in an interview on Fox News, by  yapping about “the enemy within”.  Commies? Nope. Just Americans he described as “radical left lunatics,” including Representative Adam Schiff of California.  Their crimes and transgressions? Simply being determined to hold this deranged fucker to account, oh – and to visualize an America without a traitor and rapist like Dotard at the helm.

This lot (which includes me) he claimed are more dangerous than Russia or China, and could be “very easily handled” by the National Guard or the U.S. military.  This off the rails, fascist rhetoric is why I hailed Kamala yesterday at a Pennsylvania rally- actually showing the rant on a TV jumbotron and then whaling on the fruitcake.

Yeah, okay, I get it, the terms fascist and fascism has been so overused as a denunciation that many Americans have understandably tuned it out. But they are premature and politically naïve to do so, especially when former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told Bob Woodward that he sees Trump as “fascist to his core.”

Thus, every sentient American should be shocked to hear a presidential nominee say that other Americans (including a sitting member of Congress) are more dangerous than an actual enemy nation (Russia) that has over 15,000 nuclear tipped ICBMs pointed at us.

This is why Kamala needs to be applauded and why she needs to keep the constant attack lines going these last few weeks – to get the American voters asleep at the switch to wake the hell up. I am referring to those who somehow believe this 78 year old loudmouth actually was better for them than Biden and Harris have been, according to an NBC news poll. Do they not recall the dead and dying all over the place as the pandemic spread thanks to Trump and his feral lies and incompetence? Do they not recall the millions of jobs lost, the supply lines shut down, the barren store shelves that inevitably transpired, the subsequent inflation.  And then the LIES about the 2020 election followed by his treasonous efforts to overturn the certification of electoral votes so he could stay in power. Where the fuck are their brains, their minds?  Has his preternaturally loud voice, aimless and riffing psychotic ranting taken them over,  rendered them numb?

Keep it up, Kamala! Keep pounding away until your message and warnings get through. This nation cannot take another 4 years of Trump. And besides, at the rate his mind is cratering, the 25^th amendment for his removal would be likely if he keeps deteriorating at the rate we behold. And after all, his old man died of Alzheimer’s disease which means he likely is showing the first of many symptoms in his babbling incoherence and rants.

And by the way, Rachel Maddow last night ripped to shreds the nonsense that Trump will be the best candidate economically or in anyway. How can he when he’s already got ten screws loose? See e.g.

Rachel Maddow Debunks Key Argument Of ‘Relatively Normal’ Donald Trump Voters (msn.com)

See Also:

Trump sways and bops to music for 39 minutes in bizarre town hall episode

And:

Donald Trump

‘Donald Trump Gives Up on Speaking’: Fox News Correspondent Blasts ‘Strange’ MAGA Town Hall

by Maya Boddie | October 15, 2024 - 5:49am | permalink

— from Alternet

Fox News national correspondent Bryan Llenas detailed his experience as a Donald Trump town hall attendee in Oaks, Pennsylvania Monday night, after the former president stopped speaking and "started playing music" instead.

Llenas wrote via X: "Well, this is a very strange Trump Town Hall in Pennsylvania. It turned on a dime after two Trump supporters passed out/fainted/needed medical attention in back to back episodes that paused the Q and A format for a while. The Q and A portion never restarted after four questions mostly on the economy."

He continued, "Trump talked for a little and decided instead to play his favorite music to the crowd. He’s standing on stage. We’ve listened to opera songs Ave Maria, Con Te Paritiro and now we are listening and watching James Brown and Pavarotti on video singing 'This is a Man’s World.' Trump urges people to vote and then plays the YMCA."

Determined to keep the crowd going, the former president said, "No one is going home," according to Llenas.

» article continues...

WSJ's Peggy Noonan Hits A New Low: "In great disasters you must take rumors Into account!" (I.e. Forget Trump's Despicable LIES)

 

                                         

On a campaign stop in Pittsburgh last week, former President Barack Obama called out the Reepos and others concerning the chaos sown by Trump's lies in the wake of Hurricane Helene:  

Obama calls out Trump on bullying and hurricane aid lies - YouTube

Referring to Trump's "making up stories" and causing delays in assistance reaching those in need, then asking "When did this become okay?" Well, WSJ resident hack Peggy Noonan offered the lamo answer in her weekend column ('What A Deadly Flood Revealed About America',  Oct. 12-13, p. A13), writing, after spending three-fourths of her piece on the 1889 Johnstown, Pa. flood:

"What are our thoughts from this?  In great disasters rumors spread quick as fire. When you're in one you must take this into account."

Pegs references for her source the  1968 book, The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough, noting the dam that collapsed with over 2,000 killed. But in the wake of the disaster, horrific, depraved rumors circulated, that local Hungarian laborers were robbing, raping and pillaging. Peggy then points out:  

"It wasn't true but caused plenty of trouble, and it turned out the rumors were started by a local lawyer who'd lost his wife and children and gone off in his head."

But what is despicable is her using this whole tangential catastrophe from 1889 (and the 1968 book about it) to avoid directly calling out the abominable Trump for his part in compounding the current disaster from Helene.  To refresh memories Trump spread a debunked conspiracy theory about FEMA spending disaster relief money on helping migrants who are in the country illegally. Also that when FEMA did give money it was only $750. (An ignorant yarn, given that amount was designated an initial assistance with more to follow when the proper claim forms were completed).  

Trump's initial lies then triggered a tsunami of conspiracy codswallop, such as false information spread in western NC that a dam was about to burst, prompting hundreds of people to unnecessarily evacuate and diverting the attention of first responders. Then in eastern Tennessee, some locals spread a hoax about federal officials seizing and bulldozing a town hall.  

Trump’s lies about the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the wake of two major hurricanes have been particularly insidious. On Fox News, he insisted: “They’re being treated very badly in the Republican areas. They’re not getting water, they’re not getting anything.” Elsewhere, he declared that “Kamala spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for” — you guessed it — “illegal migrants.” 

These allegations of a politically motivated emergency response are vicious and false, but they have discouraged people in need of aid from going to the agency for help. (And, as it turns out, Politico reports, it was Trump who as president hesitated to give disaster relief to blue parts of the country.)

Attacking this toxic behavior and rhetoric - from a former president no less -  would have given Noonan's column valence and currency but she lacked the courage to write it.  Instead, we got a half-assed, ridiculous history lesson regarding 'rumors' started by a forlorn flood victim in 1889. Can Peggy say "false analogy"? 

So again, when did this deplorable shit out of the mouth of a liar who fancies becoming president again become okay, Pegs?  That was your question to answer which Obama had asked. But all we got from you was a 135-year-old account of the Johnstown flood, and rumors in its wake.

But:

1-  These were not started by a president or former president but by an ordinary citizen "not right in his head".

2- The rumors while nasty did not compound delays in aid or assistance getting to those who needed it, given FEMA didn't even exist then.

3- It is beyond daft and I'd say loco to insist people assume that rumors can spread and be started by a former president!

In a way I get Peggy's reluctance to hold Trump accountable given most times she's done so in the past she was hammered in published letters to the Editor. So being unusually sensitive to such criticisms she steadfastly tries to walk the 'weasel' road now in her columns.  But for a true journalist - as opposed to a hack - that simply isn't good enough.

Not far removed from Noonan is fellow WSJ hack Holman Jenkins Jr. who in his own same page, same date column ('Taxpayers Pay People To Be Hurricane Risk Takers') actually claims our current climate -related catastrophes are often "due to questionable government policies."

The nitwit hack is referring to the provision of federal insurance to be able to rebuild. Basically arguing that rebuilding - especially in hurricane prone areas - is an invitation to further disaster and more federal $$$ to do another rebuilding round. But he totally skirts over the fact BOTH recent major hurricanes- as well as previous ones (Ian two years ago) were amplified by much warmer waters directly linked to climate change.  Will Jenkins Jr. ever change? Not likely given he's as dug in as the Mensa and Intertel pseudo-climate skeptics - but who at least admitted (one from Intertel) that I had "tatooed them real good"  in an Integra article last year."

In the end it's actually a good think that Peggy Noonan and Holman Jenkins Jr. write their offal on the WSJ opinion pages.  Because at least then we already know beforehand (like FOX News) it's more  about seeding pro-Trump propaganda  than useful information.

See Also:

North Carolina authorities arrest armed man after threats against FEMA workers

And:

Donald Trump

Trump’s Hurricane of Milton Lies: MAGA Has a Deadly Addiction to Disinformation

by Amanda Marcotte | October 11, 2024 - 5:51am | permalink

— from Salon

Of all the lies Donald Trump tells, perhaps the most preposterous is that he cares about his own voters. That was evident in 2020, when Trump repeatedly downplayed the threat of COVID-19, even calling the pandemic a "hoax." His followers got the message, risking their own lives first by refusing to socially distance and then, going further even than Trump himself, refusing to vaccinate. The result was that excess deaths were 43% higher for Republicans than Democrats in the months after the vaccines were released. Trump's lie killed his own voters by the thousands.

At the heart of Trump's pandemic lies was a sociopathic calculation: His lies and conspiracy theories would offset the loss of MAGA voters to COVID deaths. That bet did pay off, as most of the excess Republican deaths occurred after the election. Trump is making the same bet again in 2024 with his lies about Hurricanes Helene and Milton. He's spraying lies about the federal response that have rapidly spread throughout social media, convincing his followers to take risks with their own safety. His lies will kill people. He doesn't care, though, because he's betting that he can offset the losses by using these lies to turn out more voters.

» article continues...

'The Apprentice': A Must -See Film Showing How Trump Mutated To The Malignant Psychopath He Is Today (Spoilers Alert)

     One of opening scenes: The Apprentice (& Cinema ticket stub)

One of most grotesque scenes: Trump getting fat drained off belly

'The Apprentice'  - The new film (almost still -born after maneuvers to stop its distribution), finally made it to theaters Friday and we were fortunate to see it. Why? Because it provides the whole sordid origin story of how Donald Trump became the soulless monster we behold today. And for that reason, every citizen worth his salt - and especially those who want to know how Trump got to be what he is - needs to see it.  

Some reviewers, e.g. in The Denver Post, (10/11/24, p. C7), have claimed the film "humanizes Trump".  Well, yeah, but only near the beginning when the young Trump wanted to try to get the aging Commodore Hotel in NYC under the Trump umbrella. Trouble was the DOJ had filed a housing discrimination lawsuit against dad Fred Trump for racist, biased practices at his Trump Villages apts. and no one -  no developer - wanted to get near that mine field. Enter Roy Cohn, the hardball lawyer who Trump meets in a seedy lounge with two mob clients, Fat Tony Salerno and  Carmine Galanti  (see this 1977 video about one Cohn-Galanti interaction: Roy Cohn Interview after Carmine Galante Leaves Court in Miami, Fla. (August 23, 1977) (youtube.com)

Trump is so impressed with Cohn's take- no -prisoners style he hires him to dispose of the DOJ case. When young Trump sees the means Cohn uses: blackmailing a Federal official associated with the suit, using photos of a homosexual meetup in Mexico- he hesitates. Indeed, he's appalled. His moral barometer clearly has kicked in but Cohn lets him know in no uncertain terms this is the only way to win, further adding his 'three rules' to get young Donald's attention:

One: Attack, Attack, Attack, Attack

Two:  Admit nothing, deny everything

Three: No matter what happens you claim victory and never admit defeat.

Cohn adds for emphasis that truth is "malleable" and "whatever you believe it is".  And "You have to be willing to do anything to anyone to win."

This is particularly relevant when later on young Trump wants desperately to get Trump Tower construction underway.   However, he needs a $160 million property tax abatement  to accomplish this, so that he's willing to go to Cohn (again) to make it happen. Key to succeeding is having the city approve the abatement but if passed would force the city to cut critical services to the poor.  Early signs in the Council meeting showed the majority (by 1 vote) leaning to reject Trump's abatement plea. 

But during a hearing recess Cohn pulls the young Trump into a hidden room to show him the dozens of audio tapes he has secretly amassed of the various Council members' discussions, conversations. There and then he pulls out one that criminalizes the key Council vote-  exposing him in a nefarious exchange which Cohn caught on tape. Cohn then threatens the Council member who caves, and agrees to vote for the tax abatement-  to the horror of all regular citizens assembled. 

Young Donald is so impressed with the use of such bare-knuckle tactics that he surrenders whatever vague reservations of morality he previously had.  At that point he crosses into the dark side and there is no return. He will use Cohn's 'laws' and methods to steamroll over everyone and everything in his way. The stage is set for a veritable Kraken unleashed.

 The rest of the film shows the progressive downward spiral away from any semblance of humanity toward brutality and craven, pathological narcissism backed by force and manipulation. A stark perspective into the Trump of today, and we behold the nascent grifter coming on as well - i.e. stiffing contractors in Atlantic City over newly built casinos, including the Taj Mahal.  In one scene a contractor threatens the young grifter Trump who's stiffed him out of money owed.  The Donald merely smiles and says he will declare bankruptcy. (This will be the first of six, compliments of the guy too many American dummies believe is "better on the economy" than Harris.  See link at bottom.)

Sebastian Stan as the young Trump, delivers about as authentic a performance as one will ever see, and evinces a believable adaptation progressing through the film's timeline. Thus, in the initial (70s) scenes Stan displays only a hint of the Trump flair.  But as he ages over the coming decade, and into the 1st term of the Reagan administration the 'Trumpian' cadence, accent and delivery become more pronounced. By now the guy talks like  Trump and even affects every action from the constant checking of his hair to the cocky and generally disrespectful manner toward women. 

 Especially his wife Ivana - whom he rapes in one jarring scene - after she mocks him  putting on weight, his "big orange face" and bald spot on the top of his head.  Thus, we plainly see Trump's psychopathy and narcissism growing more malignant as the film progresses.  

A humorous aspect is that - worried about his expanding midsection - Trump goes to a doctor who advises him to get off the diet pills, which are basically "low grade" amphetamines.  He suggests exercise instead of pills but Donald will have none of it. He believes a human body only has a finite amount of energy in it, and if one uses it up in exercise  - well, there won't be enough left to live. Stymied, he opts to get a major liposuction operation to drain off about five pounds of fat, at the same time he has a procedure done to replenish his bald spot. As the Donald's siphoned fat pours into a waiting receptacle it vies for perhaps the  grossest scene in the movie.

His brutality and contempt are confirmed by the end of the film, when he has taken up temporary residence at Mar-a-Lago and invited a now sickened Cohn (dying of AIDS from his homosexual liaisons) to stay and celebrate Cohn's birthday.  As the ailing Cohn is feted at Trump's palatial estate (and told by Ivana the diamond -studded cufflinks Trump gave him as a gift are fakes) we see Cohn finally realizing the measure of the monster he has created. A "monster to whom America is a joke, a punchline, something to be devoured like a can of diet Coke" in the words of one (NYT) reviewer.

For by now, it's evident to Cohn that his long time protege has ascended to the height of his powers and no longer needs to lean on the master. Empowered by his hubris, the no -more apprentice will "build, borrow and bang with a sense of gleeful combativeness" as he goes on his merry way - soon to emerge in the form of the manipulative showman and charlatan who yearns to tear the country to shreds.   

One stock moment of the transitional Trump just after he crosses into the dark side is illuminating. When he's asked by a guest at party what he would do if he lost all his money.  He spends barely a minute pondering his answer before responding: "Well, I guess I would probably run for president."

That line chilled one to the bone. See the trailer to the film here:

The Apprentice Trailer #1 (2024) (youtube.com)

That the film has opened barely 3 weeks before the election was not intentional. Director Ali Abassi - according to a WSJ account (yesterday, p. C2, 'The Controversial Trump Movie Finally Arrives') had begun work on the movie in 2018 but faced roadblocks every step of the way. From a Hollywood reluctant to antagonize the orange reprobate (in case he wins and conducts a retribution onslaught) to legal threats from the Trump campaign itself.   

For example,  Trump campaign communications director (and 'Jabba the Hut' lookalike) Stephen Cheung    e.g.

"called the film 'election interference by Hollywood elites'  and 'garbage that belongs in a dumpster fire'."   This according to the WSJ. Cheung also filed a 'cease and desist' order that prevented an earlier (February) release and had all the major studios and distributors backing off despite a rousing reception at Cannes Film Festival in the spring.

So every major studio buckled under the threats except for Tom Ortenberg, of Briarcliff Entertainment - the film's eventual distributor. In Ortenberg's words, quoted in the WSJ: "I enjoy taking on pictures that others are afraid of, that others are frankly too cowardly to take on."

Bully for him and Briarcliff, given this intense film might otherwise never have seen the light of day.  Especially, as we only learned yesterday of Trump's latest threat - e.g. from the UK Independent:

Trump floats sending military after US citizens on election day citing ‘radical left lunatics’ and ‘the enemy from within’ (msn.com)

No, you can't make this shit up. It's for real and hopefully people are paying attention and get to see this film to see just how the orange roach was spawned. And why we need to take his every blather seriously, no matter how demented it sounds.

See Also:

Donald Trump

‘Germany Elected a Guy Who Talked Like This Once’: Experts Sound Alarm on Trump’s Fox Interview Response

by Maya Boddie | October 14, 2024 - 5:58am | permalink

— from Alternet

Donald Trump, during a Sunday interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo, floated the idea that the National Guard will take control of polling sites on Election Day.

"Let's remember you've got 50,000 Chinese nationals in the last couple of years. There are people on the terrorist watch list — 350 in the last couple of years. Like you said, 13,000 murderers, and 15,000 rapists," Bartiromo said, asking the former president, "What are you expecting? Joe Biden said he doesn't think it's going to be a peaceful Election Day."

Trump replied, "He doesn't know what's happening. I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within ... sick people, radical left lunatics. And it should be easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military."

A slew of political experts and journalist immediately sounded the alarm.

» article continues...

And:

2024 Elections | Donald Trump

My 2024 Election Video of the Week: Trump’s Business Failures

by Robert Reich | October 12, 2024 - 5:27am | permalink

— from Robert Reich's Substack

Trump’s entire candidacy is based on a lie.

TRUMP: I’m really a good businessman. I’m so good at business.

Not true. Trump is a business failure. Almost every business he’s touched, he’s driven into the ground.

MARCO RUBIO: You ever heard of Trump Steaks?

TRUMP: Trump Steaks are the greatest steaks, and I mean that in every sense of the word!

» article continues...

 

Solution of Missile Trajectory Differential Equation

 The Problem:

Find the  x- and y-coordinates of the points on the trajectory of a missile launched at an angle of 80 degrees with an initial velocity of 100,000 f/s if the air resistance is 0.01mv. Find the value of x and y after 10 seconds.

Data:    q = 80^o,   k = 0.01mv   v = 10⁵ fs^-1 and t = 10s

The differential equation can be written:

m(d²x/dt²) =  - k (dx/dt)/ v = - (0.01mv)x’/ v  = - 0.01mx’

Similarly:

my” = -mg – (0.01mv)y’/v  =   -mg – 0.01my’

Yielding the simultaneous pair:

x” + 0.01x’ = 0

y” + 0.01 y’ = -g

We know:

x’_o = v_o cos (q) = v_o cos (80) = (10⁵) cos 80

y’_o = v_o sin (q) = v_o sin (80) = (10⁵) sin 80

General Solution:

x = c1 + c2 (e ^-0.01t)

y = c3 + c4(e ^-0.01t)  - 100 gt

x’ = -0.01c2 (e ^-0.01t)

y’ = -0.01c4(e ^-0.01t)  - 100 g

At t = 0, x = 0 so:

0 =  c1 + c2 (e ^-0.01t)

But:

x’_o  = v_o cos (80) = (10⁵) cos 80 =  -0. 01c2 (e ^-0.01t)

Then: c2 = - (10⁷) cos 80

So: 0 = c1 + ( - (10⁷) cos 80) or c1 =  (10⁷) cos 80

At t = 0, y = 0:

Then: 0 = c3 + c4 (e ^-0.01t)

And: y’_o  = v_o sin (80) = (10⁵) sin 80 = -0.01c4(e ^-0.01t)  - 100 g

So: c4 = -(10⁷) sin 80 – 10000g

\ c3 = - c4 (e ^-0.01t) = 10⁷ sin 80 + 10000g

To obtain the x and y-coordinates:

First, the x-coordinate:

x = c1 + c2 (e ^-0.01t) = 10⁷ cos 80 – (10⁷ cos 80)( e ^-0.01t)

x = 10⁷ cos 80 [1 - ( e ^-0.01t)] =  10⁷ (0.17365) [1 - ( e ^-0.01t)]

or:   x = 1736500 [1 - ( e ^-0.01t)]

The y-coordinate:

y = c3 + c4 ( e ^-0.01t)

Or:  y = 10⁷ sin 80 + 10000g – (10⁷ sin 80 + 10000g(e ^-0.01t))

y = 10⁷ sin 80 + 10000g(1 - e ^-0.01t) – 100 gt

y = [10⁷ (0.9848) + 320,000](1 - e ^-0.01t) – 100 gt

y = 1016800(1 - e ^-0.01t) – 100 gt

After 10 seconds:

x = 1736500 [1 - ( e ^-0.01t)] = x = 1736500 [1 - ( e ^-0.01(10))]

x = 165, 200 ft. (» 31. 3 miles)

y = 1016800(1 - e ^-0.01(10)) – 100(32)(10)

y =  930,580 ft.  ( » 177 miles)

A Deep Dive Into Neutrino Detection & How It Also Relates To Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry In The Cosmos

Let's cut to the chase: DO neutrinos exist or not?   The inherent problem, based on the results of collective experiments, may be in the question itself.  That is, instead we ought to be asking: Does the neutrino exist as a stable, permanent subatomic particle or identity?  And the answer so far appears to be that it does not. 

To fix ideas, and for reference, two Nobel -winning scientists showed that neutrinos -  which are found in three “flavors,” -  can oscillate from one flavor to another. In other words, they can change identities like a spy on the run, and hence there is no such entity as "the neutrino" - i.e. which is relatively permanent in its properties (namely its flavor).

Logically then, it makes more sense to refer to  "flavor states" than to refer to such and such a neutrino. These states are: electron, muon and tau - which are in fact superpositions of mass eigenstates.

Let's review again the basis for these neutrino flavor states. If there are three such states: electron, muon and tau, then there must be three different corresponding neutrino masses which we can call: m1, m2 and m3. Further, the three "flavors" are really different superpositions of the 3 basic neutrino mass states.  Moreover, and to make it more complex, we know that quantum interference between mass states means a neutrino originating in one "flavor" can transmogrify to another over its transit.

Because of the oscillations and quantum interference we need to reckon in a "misalignment" between flavor and the basic neutrino masses. This is done by reference to three independent "mixing angles": Θ ₁₂ , Θ ₂₃  and Θ ₁₃. To a good approximation, oscillation in any one regime is characterized by just one Θ _ij and a corresponding mass difference, defined:

 D m _ij² = [m _j² - m _i²]

As an example, the probability that a muon neutrino of energy E acquires a different flavor after traversing distance L is:

P = sin² Θ ₂₃  sin² (l₂₃)

where l23 is the energy -dependent oscillation length, given by:

4ħ E c / (D m ₃₂²)

How well do we know the parameters? Atmospheric neutrino observations yield:

 Θ ₂₃  » 45 degrees, while D m ₃₂² = 0.0024 eV².

Meanwhile, solar neutrino data yield » 33 degrees for Θ₁₂ and  D m ₂₁² = 0.00008 eV². (Note: ħ is the Planck constant of action divided by 2 π)  If then:

D m ₃₁²  =  [D m ₂₁²    +  D m ₃₂² ] = 0.00008 eV² + 0.0024 eV²

We know, D m ₃₁²  =  0.00248

which is close to D m ₃₂² . An ongoing experiment at Daya Bay, near Hong Kong, set amidst no less than six nuclear reactors, has been a first major step in detecting and understanding the neutrino.

The Daya Bay detectors are arrayed in two clusters near two vertices of a "neutrino detection" triangle. The detector triangle itself is comprised of three separate electron anti-neutrino detectors (about 2 km each from the reactors) and which reside in water baths to unmask any cosmic ray interlopers. Each of the detectors measures the electron anti-neutrino (call it -v_e ) flux from the reactors by recording any light flashes due to -v_e  collisions within its 20 tons of liquid.

Daya Bay's results have proceeded basically in two related phases:

I. Small deficits of  -v_e  were previously recorded at short distances from the reactors, and it was further reported that Θ₁₃,  the last of 3 "mixing angles" that characterize neutrino oscillation is non-zero.

II. Further measurements of Θ₁₃ disclosed it was not only non-zero but large enough for the Daya experimenters to begin investigating neutrinos as factors in the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the cosmos.

This is big deal stuff, because cosmologists have always been perplexed by the apparent preponderance of matter in relation to antimatter in our universe. (I tried to solve this in a high school science fair project by postulating a separate anti-matter cosmos that operated in the context of 'anti-time' or negative time, i.e. with the time vector negentropic as opposed to entropic)

The survival of so little antimatter in our cosmos requires a violation of what is called "CP symmetry invariance". We don't know WHY there is this asymmetry, but it may have something to do with Fitch and Cronin's (1963-64) discovery of a violation of CPT invariance. (C for charge conjugation, P for parity (spatial reflection) and T for time reversal. 

Up until their 1960s' investigations, it was widely accepted by physicists that nature played no favorites where charge conjugation, parity and time reversal were concerned. The discovery of a fundamental violation (Fitch and Cronin found a tiny fraction:  45 out of 22,700 - K2 mesons, spontaneously disintegrate into 2 pions, e.g. π mesons, (instead of the usual 3) changed all this.

It was suggested by them that this CPT invariance violation might also - in some way - account for the apparent asymmetry in the distribution of matter with respect to antimatter. Since then experiments have disclosed T-invariance can be subsumed by CP symmetry invariance. Trouble is, the existence of so little antimatter still violates CP invariance.  (Weak quark interactions exhibit some CP violation but too small to explain cosmological asymmetry between matter and antimatter).

How well do we know the assorted neutrino parameters? Atmospheric neutrino observations yield Θ ₂₃   » 45 degrees, while D m ₃₂²  = 0.0024 eV² . Meanwhile, solar neutrino data yield roughly 33 degrees for  Θ ₁₂ and D m ₂₁² = 0.00008 eV² . (Note: ħ is the Planck constant of action divided by 2 π)  We have then:

D m ₃₁²   =  [D m ₂₁²     +   D m ₃₂² ] = 0.00008 eV²  + 0.0024 eV² 

And we already know, D m ₃₁²    =  0.00248

This was fine as it went, but a further issue that needed to be resolved was whether the oscillation amplitude, e.g. sin² (2 Θ ₁₃)  (for the disappearance of reactor antineutrinos associated with the D m ₃₁²,  D m ₃₂² approximations) would still be large enough to detect. This was the core experimental quandary facing the Daya Bay collaborators. They were more or less guided (optimistically!) by an earlier independent results that set an upper limit of 0.16 (the Daya Bay -v_e detector array was designed to measure a smallest value of 0.01)

Is the "case" closed? Not necessarily! We always must reckon in necessary and sufficient conditions. 

The fact is that a non-zero Θ ₁₃ is a necessary but not sufficient condition for CP-violation in neutrino interactions. How to proceed? Well, since we know there are 3 non-zero mixing angles then the unitary matrix that describes all the oscillations has an extra degree of freedom.  (Readers who'd like a ‘refresher’ on unitary matrices can check out an earlier blog post:

• More Linear Algebra: Unitary and Hermitian Matrices

This additional degree of freedom entails an independent phase factor,

exp (iσ)

which dictates the CP -violation. Standard theory can't predict σ so it must be done via experiment. Enter the 'Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment'  now in the form of DUNE (Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment). The plan is to direct an intense beam of muon neutrinos from Fermilab at a detector in an underground lab in South Dakota, some hundreds of miles distant. which is close to D m ₃₂²

When the neutrinos finally arrive at DUNE, physicists hope they will finally explain how the Big Bang created ever so slightly more matter than its opposite, antimatter — an excess that constitutes everything in the universe today. Oh, and also provide a cross check of the Daya Bay results thus far. (Earlier reported research in Physics Today (May, p. 16, 2017) noted  an effort to track the apparent "disappearance" of electron antineutrinos from nuclear power plants proximate to the Daya Bay. But the measurements had shown a puzzling divergence between those applicable to models for antineutrino production in reactors.)

If all goes well, the results from DUNE (and Daya Bay)  will turn the elusive neutrino into a known quantity, filling a major gap in scientists’ understanding of the universe and, perhaps, return the United States to its former position at the center of particle physics.

On Feb. 1, after more than a decade of planning and construction, the underground caverns were completed with a last blast of dynamite. The hole is there so now all the physicists — and the universe — must do is fill it.

At the end of the experiments might we expect all neutrino results (e.g. from nuclear reactors, solar flux,  atmospheric) can finally be reconciled?   We can't say for certain yet, but at the least neutrino physicists hope that the divergences between the theoretical model predictions and actual data will be significantly reduced. 

See Also:

 Solar Neutrino Breakthrough: Nuclear Fusion In Sun Now Confirmed With Discovery of Solar Neutrinos

And:

• Neutrinos: Then and Now