Note from Marty
What Happened
The kid & I flew back to PA last week for dear old Dad's 92nd birthday.
In spite to taking a laptop and a bunch of flash drives with everything I could imagine needing, we discovered that finding an internet connection
in very rural America can be a lot like searching for a unicorn, and about as productive.
We tried the library, but my laptop wouldn't connect, and their machines didn't like the flash drives.
So, the cone of silence descended.
The weather didn't cooperate much, either. It snowed - a lot.
In spite of internet withdrawal, we had a pretty good time.
Dad is amazing. He dates, he dances, he drives, and can pass for 20 years younger.
The only downside was he keeps the house at 78°, and that's a might warm.
We ate quite well, and saw more relatives than at a reunion.
We also survived being in an area of yuge t-rump/pence supporters. OMG. YUGE!
Pictures and a full trip report to follow once I get caught up (one email account has 65 pages, and the others are just as chock full).
And thanks for the kind notes wondering what happened.
marty
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Thursday, January 26
Caitlin MacNeal: Office That Protects Whistleblowers Fires Warning Shot Across Trump's Bow (TPM)
The Office of Special Counsel, an agency that protects whistleblowers in the federal government, on Wednesday issued a reminder that any non-disclosure agreements or policies on employee communications must include language notifying federal employees of their whistleblower rights.
Suzanne Moore: Patriarchy is the sea in which Trump and his sharks gather (The Guardian)
The far right wants to return to a time when men were men, and women were sanctified mothers or whores. Let's call this by its proper name
Rae Paoletta: Why Scientists Are Planning Their Own March on Washington (Gizmodo)
After the overwhelming success of the Women's March on Washington, DC, which drew in at least 500,000 participants, this week concerned scientists decided to similarly mobilize. While their event-called the March for Science-is still in its very early planning stages, scientists and citizens alike are ready to get to work; in just two days, the @ScienceMarchDC twitter account exploded to almost 35,000 followers.
Paul Krugman: Reagan, Trump, and Manufacturing (NY Times Blog)
It's hard to focus on ordinary economic analysis amidst this political apocalypse. But getting and spending will still consume most of peoples' energy and time; furthermore, like it or not the progress of CASE NIGHTMARE ORANGE may depend on how the economy does. So, what is actually likely to happen to trade and manufacturing over the next few years?
Rebecca Nicholson: The rise of dating scams reveals our endless capacity to hope (The Guardian)
As internet dating has boomed, so have cons aimed at the lonely. Rather than laugh at the victims, we should recognise what makes us such easy prey.
Jess Cartner-Morley: This is what a feminist T-shirt looks like (The Guardian)
Street protesters and fashion designers have fallen in step with their slogans. What are they saying?
TV Legend Mary Tyler Moore Dead At 80 (AP)
Mary Tyler Moore, the star of TV's beloved "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" whose comic realism helped revolutionize the depiction of women on the small screen, has died. Moore died Wednesday with her husband and friends nearby, her publicist, Mara Buxbaum, said. She was 80.
Scott Burns: The Be-Careful-What-You-Wish-For-Economy (AssetBuilder)
In an ideal world, everyone would save money so they could take care of their own retirement. Some would call this a Jeffersonian ideal. Others might say it is a Republican core belief. But it's a widely admired idea. It is most admired among by those who feel closer to the ideal world than the world in which the rest of us live.
Scott Burns: How To Live Well in 2050… and Beyond (AssetBuilder)
You are your biggest asset. Treat yourself accordingly.
Scott Burns: The 7 Laws of Personal Finance (AssetBuilder)
Spend Less Than You Earn. Millions of people still don't grasp this simple principle, choosing instead to believe they can borrow their way to security and wealth. Unless you spend less than you earn so that you have money to invest all talk about personal finance is fruitless.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Friday, January 27th
Garrison Keillor: Help us, GOP. You're our only hope. (Washington Post)
Hey, you elected him. How long until you stand up to him.
Paul Krugman: Making the Rust Belt Rustier (NY Times Column)
Manufacturing will decline faster under President Trump.
Glenn Thrush: Trump's Voter Fraud Example? A Troubled Tale With Bernhard Langer (NY Times)
Just one problem: Mr. Langer, who lives in Boca Raton, Fla., is a German citizen with permanent residence status in the United States who is, by law, barred from voting, according to Mr. Langer's daughter Christina. "He is a citizen of Germany," she said, when reached on her father's cellphone. "He is not a friend of President Trump's, and I don't know why he would talk about him."
Charles M. Blow: A Lie by Any Other Name (NY Times)
Donald Trump is a proven liar. He lies often and effortlessly. He lies about the profound and the trivial. He lies to avoid guilt and invite glory. He lies when his pride is injured and when his pomposity is challenged.
Ed Pilkington: Macomb v media: voters who read little news think Trump had a great first week (The Guardian)
In a Michigan county that helped get Donald Trump elected, people are actively choosing to ignore news they don't want to hear - or not receiving news at all.
Thomas Frank: "The intolerance of the left: Trump's win as seen from Walt Disney's hometown" (The Guardian)
Ivy League graduates micromanaging the country - that's how some in Marceline, Missouri, saw the status quo. In his native midwest, Thomas Frank investigates how the president won support despite local misgivings.
Leslie Felperin: Danny Says review - a delightful slice of pop history (The Guardian)
Music industry figure Danny Fields - who knew Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground - is a wry raconteur full of spit and vinegar in this engaging documentary.
ALGIS VALIUNAS: America's Shakespeare (National Affairs)
The past year has marked the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, and in the United States aficionados have observed the occasion as though the Master was a most beloved native son. The year-long celebration has demonstrated a distinctively American blend of quality and equality: the greatest writer ever both honored in worthy artistic productions and made palatable to a populace accustomed to cultural fast food.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday, January 28th
J.W. Mason: What Exactly Does Mexico Export to the US?
One of the many ways conventional economic theory hinders our discussions of trade is it gets us thinking about goods "produced" in one country and "consumed" in another. Mexicans grow tomatoes, drill oil, sew shirts, and assemble cars; Americans eat, burn, wear and drive them.
Paul Krugman: Twitter
About J.W. Mason's article: "This is really good. I'd add that the consumer goods we import from Mexico probably have a lot of US content, too."
Emily Tamkin: How Did the White House Stumble on Theresa May's Visit? Let Us Count the Ways. (Foreign Policy)
First, the White House issued an official schedule of the visit in which Theresa May's name was spelled incorrectly. Three times.
Paul Krugman: "Border Tax Two-Step (Wonkish)" (NY Times Blog)
Trump tantrums aside, you may be finding the whole border tax adjustment discussion confusing. If so, you're not alone; I've worked in this area my whole life, I co-wrote a widely cited paper (with Martin Feldstein) on why a VAT isn't an export subsidy, and I have still had a hard time wrapping my mind around the Destination-Based Cash Flow Tax border adjustment that sort-of-kind-of constituted the basis for the Mexico incident.
TIERNEY SNEED AND LAUREN FOX: After GOP Confab, A Clear Path To Replace Obamacare Is Still Elusive (TPM)
[…]Republicans are still grappling with how to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, with no signs that they have reached a consensus or are ready to plow ahead with a specific plan.
Clive James: 'We are told, over and over, that President Trump will destroy the world. How do people know this?' (Guardian)
'I can remember a time when people of good will were equally certain that the newly elected President Ford would destroy the world by accidentally falling against the nuclear button.'
Hadley Freeman: No president cares more about size - so let's show Trump how many of us oppose him (The Guardian)
The Trump presidency has motivated millions to take action, even people like me who can barely be bothered to leave the house most days.
Marc Dion: He Was So Tough, I Thought He Was a Hipster (Creators Syndicate)
My wife likes hipsters. "They dress so neatly," she says. "They're not like those slobs who go to the Wal-Mart in pajama pants with the bottom of the legs all dirty and dragging on the floor."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sunday, January 29th
New York Times
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Mark Morford: "This way to the resistance: Your guide to defying the Trumpocalypse" (SF Gate)
The assaults are coming fast and vicious. We are no longer a full democracy. It does not matter if you're working-class or "elite," midwestern or coastal, Repub or Dem, blue or red or anything in between: Trump and his GOP flying monkeys mean everyone
Josh Voorhees: The First Week in Donald Trump's Kleptocracy Was Very, Very Kleptocratic (Slate)
These developments aren't the unfortunate but unavoidable byproduct of having a businessman in the Oval Office; they're the result of that businessman and the company he built acting in their own self-interest. It's not an accident that those interests align, either. President Trump is running the nation just as he ran his business: to maximize his own profits.
Josh Marshall: The Republican Congress is Responsible (TPM)
For political and moral reasons, it is important to remember that very little of what the President is now doing is possible without a compliant Congress. Executive orders in most cases fill in the blanks that legislation leaves to the President's discretion. So this isn't just a matter of the sway a Congress of the President's party can exercise over him, which is substantial. In many or most cases, Executive Orders and Actions can literally be overruled with new legislation.
Associated Press: Judge Bars US From Deporting Travelers With Valid Visas Covered By Trump Order (TPM)
Alternate Title: A Grown-Up is in the Room.
Cristian Ferias: Court Temporarily Blocks Parts Of Trump's Syrian Refugee And Travel Ban (Huffington Post)
The stay applies nationwide and covers those travelers detained at airports or stranded mid-travel.
Mary Pappenfuss: Striking New York Cabbies Join Airport Protest Against Trump's Muslim Crackdown (Huffington Post)
Drivers slam the president's "inhumane and unconstitutional ban."
Why Reservoir Dogs is really an anti-violence film (BBC)
Quentin Tarantino's debut is remembered for its style, its soundtrack, and most of all, its graphic violence. Looking back 25 years on, Nicholas Barber takes a fresh look.
Henry Rollins: My Tour Is Over. Now the Depression Creeps In (LA Weekly)
There are a lot of things about the limitations of life on the road that I prefer to real life. The comparative lack of options serves me well. This is probably a result of conditioning but there is something really great about putting myself into a few things with great intensity, rather than a lot of things with far less.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monday, January 30th
Paul Krugman: Building a Wall of Ignorance (NY Times)
A Mexican standoff that epitomizes Trumpism.
Josh Marshall: Just Hate (TPM)
For all the talk about 'populism', what really imbues this White House is nationalism. But not just nationalism in a general sense which can have positive, communitarian aspects. It is a hateful and aggressive nationalism based on zero-sum relationships and a thirst for domination and violence. These are dangerous people.
Josh Marshall: It's only been a Week, but I've already had enough of Trump's Presidency (TPM)
Trump could right his ship. He could try to govern as the president of all the people and not merely of the most inflamed part of his own constituency. And he could learn on the job how to execute his own policies and orders, work with Congress on legislation, and protect America's interests overseas against real rather than imagined enemies. But the evidence from Trump's first week in office is utterly discouraging. He doesn't appear up to the job -- either morally or professionally.
Josh Marshall: Trump's Willing Cheerleaders (TPM)
These three men - the leaders in each House and the former Chairman of the RNC - are the establishment in every sense. They are 100% on board. I will say this does not surprise me. But as I've said in other contexts, if I were a Republican, I would be very concerned. And I don't mean in some moral sense. I mean in the most pragmatic, cynical political sense. They are cheerleading every transgression. They are owning it in its entirety.
Paul Krugman: The Macroeconomics of Reality-TV Populism (NY Times Blog)
Why, then, does anyone consider [Trump] a "populist"? It's basically all about affect, about coming across as someone who'll stand up to snooty liberal elitists (and of course validate salt-of-the-earth, working-class racism.) Maybe some protectionism; but there's no hint that his economic program will look anything like populism abroad.
Jonathan Jones: To understand Trump, we should look to the tyrants of ancient Rome (The Guardian)
His disdain for the norms of democracy makes it hard to understand the US president - but he has precedents in emperors such as Commodus, Nero and Tiberius.
Mary Beard: "Trump (and Cicero) on torture" (TLS Blog)
If torture, as many of the ancients realised, produces unreliable information (or, just as bad, a mixture of reliable and unreliable information that you cannot tell apart) then it is likely to put the lives of those innocent US/UK citizens at risk, not save them. It sends the authorities scuttling off to pursue the wrong people, while taking their eyes off the ones who are planning something. It directs the limited resources we have (and however much cash you invest, they always will be limited) to the wrong targets.
Michele Hanson: Why are GPs having to beg for appointments to get their patients treated in hospitals? (The Guardian)
Scrutiny by NHS clinical commissioning groups is causing exasperating holdups for desperate patients. It really is getting a bit scary now
Lucy Mangan: Amid the gloom, there are micro reasons to be cheerful. These are mine (The Guardian)
6. This tweet by The Colbert Report and ex-Onion writer Dan Guterman: "@barackobama when do u get back from vacation no reason everything is good just curious".
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Tuesday, January 31st
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Technical options for people who want to get in touch with journalists in a way that protects both security and anonymity.
Andrew Tobias: America First
Did you know that Anne Frank, whose Diary ultimately became so famous, was denied entry to the U.S.? Read about that - and this America First cartoon by Dr. Seuss - at Snopes.com. Both tellingly on point all these years later, as we reject Syrian refugees who've already been through extreme vetting.
Horton Hears a Hitler (Snopes)
Claim: Beloved children's author and illustrator Dr. Seuss created a number of scathing political cartoons, one of which involved a parent reading children a book called "Adolf the Wolf." SNOPES JUDGMENT: TRUE.
Yonatan Zunger: "This Week, the Bible Says 'Stand Up and Be Counted'" (Medium)
… ?read Leviticus 19 sometime. If you want to cut right to the heart of the Mosaic Law, that's where you'll find it: "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest… Leave them for the poor and the foreigner." "Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight." "Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly."
Yonatan Zunger: Trial Balloon for a Coup? (Medium)
… the much-maligned Steele Dossier (the one with the golden showers in it) included the statement that Putin had offered Trump 19% of Rosneft if he became president and removed sanctions. The reason this is so interesting is that the dossier said this in July, and the sale didn't happen until early December. And 19.5% sounds an awful lot like "19% plus a brokerage commission."
Yonatan Zunger: What "Things Going Wrong" Can Look Like (Medium)
I'm reading this as "1933 playbook continues on schedule, pace slightly higher than last time: something between maybe 1.2x and 2x, but without the possibility of a major land war to show up on the horizon."
Kim Wilde: how we made Kids in America (The Guardian)
'It sold so fast, the people in charge of the charts thought it was a scam.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, February 1st
Mark Morford: Week One of Go to Hell, America (SF Gate)
Steve "Breitbart" Bannon, Trump's main squeeze and the king of all racist trolls, said the media should "keep its mouth shut" about what the narcissistic orange manbaby is doing - a directive also shared, wouldn't you know it, by the Nazis
Joshua M. Brown: Stock Markets and the Rule of Law (The Reformed Broker)
How many multiple points on the S&P 500 are at risk if the populace gets to a place where they no longer believe we are a country of laws - laws that apply to everyone, including the politicians who happen to be in control at a given a moment?
David Frum: How to Build an Autocracy (Atlantic)
The preconditions are present in the U.S. today. Here's the playbook Donald Trump could use to set the country down a path toward illiberalism.
Jonathan Jones: "Jacob Epstein: the immigrant bringing morals to the Oval Office" (The Guardian)
The bust of Churchill that sits across from Donald Trump's desk is created by an immigrant, who reminds us of both the glory of humanity and the evil of fascism.
Garrison Keillor: The incompetent millions of outlaw voters (Washington Post)
Mr. 44 expressed one side of America, the side that gave us the civil rights movement, cool jazz, basketball and the love of books, and 45 represents the Hummer, the Whopper, gold-flecked marble and the value of hyperbole, especially among those who don't know what it means.
"Sorry, but we're all journalists now": Lucy Mangan on why it's our duty to be checking all the facts (Stylist)
It means a lot of work, for a start. It means keeping our critical faculties turned on at all times. It means finding out who that guy is who is saying that thing on Facebook that sounds true, but might also be bollocks. Who is he? Who is he affiliated to? Why - and you may want to consider getting this tattooed on the inside of your eyelids - might this bastard be lying to me?
Jonathan Jones: Christo cancels artwork to protest Trump - but we need his vision (The Guardian)
The legendary land artist has wrapped up a Colorado installation after decades of planning in disgust at Donald Trump. But artists must allow their work itself to be the dissenting voice.
Andrew Tobias: Handing The Mic To David Brooks
"With most administrations you can agree sometimes and disagree other times. But this one is a danger to the [Republican] party and the nation in its existential nature. And so sooner or later all will have to choose what side they are on, and live forever after with the choice." - David Brooks
John Cheese: 5 Lessons You Learn When A Thief Steals Your Debit Card Info (Cracked)
… I didn't know that both PlayStation and my bank would work together to trace the purchases. I didn't realize that the money would be credited back to me, and PlayStation would lock down the offending user's account. I didn't know that my bank would continue to press the issue until charges were filed. And I definitely didn't realize that the money would be charged back to you once all of the information was in place. But I know now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thursday, February 2nd
Neal Baumann: Virginia Just Filed A Contempt Motion Against Trump Over Immigration Order (Huffington Post)
The Commonwealth of Virginia asked a federal judge late Wednesday night to force President Donald Trump, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and top government officials to show why they shouldn't be held in contempt for failing to obey a lawful court order.
Nick Visser: "Trump Accuses Australia Of Trying To Send U.S. The 'Next Boston Bombers': Report" (Huffington Post)
The president reportedly berated Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and hung up a half-hour ahead of schedule.
Tierney Sneed: Sorry Spicer! There's No Walking Back Calling Trump's Order A 'Ban' Now (TPM)
"When he first announced it, he said Muslim ban," Giuliani said. "He called me up, he said 'Put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally.'"
Elliot Hannon: "Trump Tells Mexican President Perhaps He'll Send Troops to Mexico to Take Care of 'Bad Hombres'" (Slate)
To say Donald Trump is a binary thinker is to give the president of the United States too much credit for the complexity of his views. Trump is a cartoonish thinker. Terrorist Muslims are storming the gate, conniving criminal Mexicans are doing the same, inner-city Chicago is worse than Afghanistan, and it goes on and on and on. It's a school of thought cultivated by a steady diet of Fox News with a helping of Breitbart on cheat days.
Suzanne Moore: Anxiety is numbing - but if we're going to beat Trump we need a survival strategy (The Guardian)
It's easy to dismiss self-care as trite but in unstable times we need to think about how we all get through this.
Zoe Williams: Totalitarianism in the age of Trump: lessons from Hannah Arendt (The Guardian)
The political theorist who wrote about the Nazis and 'the banality of evil' in the 60s has become a surprise bestseller. Should we heed her warning that protesting just feeds the chaos?
Tom Danehy: Tom turns to some local Catholic cemetery facts to heal from Trump alt-facts and Kellyanne's super cool deflection skills (Tucson Weekly)
Back in the day, the Oakland Raiders employed a sinister strategy to give themselves a competitive advantage. In the early stages of each game, they would commit penalties on every play. The refs working the games would dutifully call each penalty, slowing the game down to a crawl. After a while, human nature would kick in. The refs would come to realize that, at the current pace, the game would get over at half-past Wednesday. They might miss their flight home and not get back in time for their Monday-Friday gig as a lawyer or a school administrator. So they'd stop calling stuff and the Raiders would keep on committing penalties, but now without any punishment.
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took the day off.
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
2-Fer
David
Thanks, Dave!
Reader Comment
MTM
I know, I'm late but curse my work and late Christmas-putting-away:.
RIP, MTM. I loved you as Laura Petrie (who I blame for my capri-lovingness) and what you did for women everywhere in your show that I didn't watch until it was off the air because I didn't watch TV for a long time. Thanks for your showing in "Ordinary People", which proved you had the chops. You were a great role model.
2017 is just a gut-punch on so many levels.
Bonus Links
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Current Events
I think they get it! The video linked below is very funny. Cynthia in Alabama shared it.
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
"IT'S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE"
BODY SLAMMING REALITY!
BE FAIR!
BE A MAN!
WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE GOOSE IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE GANDERS!
"IT'S GOING TO BE HUGE!"
DISASTER CAPITALISM!
RESIST!
KING KONG!
THE POT IS STARTING TO BOIL!
DRINK YOUR OWN PEE!
DOCTOR DEATH!
"FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IS GUARANTEED ONLY TO THOSE WHO OWN ONE."
TRUMP IS A JACKOFF!
EVEN DICK CHENEY IS AGAINST THIS EVIL MAN!
THE SNAKE GETS A HEAD!
THERE'S A SKUNK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
HERE WE GO AGAIN!
"A MILLION LIES AND ONE TRUTH."
"GOLDMANIZING DONALD TRUMP!"
CHOCOLATE!
THE TRAIN HAS LEFT THE STATION!
"… WE WILL PUNCH SOME PEOPLE IN THE FACE WHEN THEY SEEK TO DESTROY…"
PUNCH HIM IN HE FACE!
WE CAN'T COEXIST WITH EVIL!
DONALD TRUMP IS A TRAITOR TO OUR CONSTITUTION!
TRUMP AND THE GOP ARE PUBLIC ENEMY#1!
STOP THE DEVILS FROM HELL!
"I WANNA KILL, KILL, KILL!"
BONUS LINK: "I WANNA KILL, KILL, KILL!"
"AFTER THE APOCALYPSE"
THIS IS NOT GOOD!
"NOT TODAY MOTHERFUCKER."
STUPID RUNS IN THIS FAMILY!
ACT LIKE A CHRISTIAN!
''AS DUMB AS IT GETS."
HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!
PRIVATIZE REPUBLICANS AND MAKE THEM CLEAN TOILETS!
PRESIDENT CRIMINAL!
A ONE MAN RIGHT WING FREAK SHOW!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Good to be home.
Rally And Kill Bill
Conservationists
Following backlash from conservationists across the Western states, Rep. Jason Chaffetz announced that he is pulling a bill that would have sold off more than 3 million acres of federal land.
""I am withdrawing HR 621," Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, wrote in an Instagram post Wednesday night about the proposed legislation. "I'm a proud gun owner, hunter and love our public lands. The bill would have disposed of small parcels of lands Pres. Clinton identified as serving no public purpose but groups I support and care about fear it sends the wrong message. The bill was originally introduced several years ago. I look forward to working with you. I hear you and HR 621 dies tomorrow."
'The bill was introduced to the House on Jan. 24 and would have directed the secretary of the interior to sell off lands in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming. A 1997 report to Congress identified the acreage but warned that "many lands identified appear to have conflicts which may preclude them from being considered for disposal or exchange." The parcels, whose borders haven't changed in the intervening years, comprise an area roughly the size of Connecticut.
The pushback to Chaffetz's bill culminated in a rally of more than 1,000 people at the Montana statehouse Monday.
Conservationists
Became New Zealand Citizen In 2011
Peter Thiel
Silicon Valley billionaire and President Donald Trumpadviser Peter Thiel was able to gain New Zealand citizenship in 2011 despite never having lived in the country, because a top lawmaker decided his entrepreneurial skills and philanthropy were valuable to the nation, documents reveal.
Thiel didn't even have to leave California to become a new member of the South Pacific nation. He was granted citizenship during a private ceremony held at the New Zealand Consulate in Santa Monica.
The New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs on Wednesday released 145 pages of partially redacted documents detailing how Thiel became a citizen.
His status was first reported by The New Zealand Herald newspaper last month and raised questions because Thiel didn't fulfil the usual criteria requiring people to live in the country.
Thiel, 49, co-founded PayPal and was the first professional investor in Facebook. He secretly bankrolled a lawsuit against the news and gossip site Gawker which led to its bankruptcy and closure. Forbes estimates his net worth at $2.7 billion, which makes him one of New Zealand's wealthiest citizens.
He has been an important adviser to Trump, who has vowed to put "America first."
Peter Thiel
Is There A Shortage?
Bacon
Is there a looming bacon shortage in the United States?
The Ohio Pork Council, a lobbying group for pig farmers, sparked something of a minor online panic early Wednesday by pointing out that frozen pork belly inventory -- the stuff bacon comes from -- dropped by two-thirds last year to a 60-year low.
The hashtag #baconshortage2017 was quickly born, as frantic headlines warned of possible bacon privation.
Just one problem: there is no bacon shortage.
It's true, there were fewer than 18 million pounds of the stuff in reserve as of late December, according to the US Department of Agriculture. A year earlier, pork belly stores were at 50 million pounds.
Bacon
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Jan. 23-29. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. "NCIS," CBS, 16.21 million.
2. "60 Minutes," CBS, 11.51 million.
3. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 11.29 million.
4. "Bull," CBS, 11.18 million.
5. "This is Us," NBC, 9.63 million.
"
6. "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 9.59 million.
7. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 9.35 million.
8. "NCIS: New Orleans," CBS, 9.18 million.
9. "Madam Secretary," CBS, 8.71 million.
10. "Kevin Can Wait," CBS, 8.62 million.
11. "Scorpion," CBS, 7.77 million.
12. "Man With a Plan," CBS, 7.69 million.
13. "Scandal," ABC, 7.62 million.
14. "President Trump Interview," ABC, 7.5 million.
15. NFL Football: Pro Bowl, ESPN, 7.45 million.
16. "Chicago Fire," NBC, 7.38 million.
17. "The Bachelor," ABC, 7.36 million.
18. "Hawaii Five-0," CBS, 7.14 million.
19. "Blue Bloods," CBS, 7.13 million.
20. "The Big Bang Theory" (Monday, 9:30 p.m.), CBS, 7.11 million.
Ratings
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