Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Helaine Olen: How Donald Trump is helping Democrats to call for tax increases (Washington Post)
Finally, Trump promised he would not cut Social Security or Medicare. His advisers and the Republican Party are talking about cutting now that the tax cuts that benefited the multi-millionaire class sent the federal budget deficit skyrocketing.
Paul Waldman: Trump wants to run against socialism. That's great for socialism. (Washington Post)
… Republicans have attacked almost anything Democrats wanted to do as socialism. Modest tax increases on the wealthy? Socialism! Regulations to lower carbon emissions and reduce the risk of climate catastrophe? Socialism! Health-care reform built on maintaining private insurance but with stronger protections for consumers? Socialism! After hearing that for so long, a lot of young people in particular seem to have concluded that "socialism" means little more than "policies that are more liberal than the Republican Party would prefer." In other words, they've accepted the Republican view of what socialism is.
Megh Wright: How the #FuckFuckJerry Movement Was Born (Vulture)
The notorious Instagram joke thief was never brought to justice, until now.
Keith Phipps: The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars (Vulture)
It's an attempt to identify each year's best Best Picture loser, perhaps suggest a film that could deservingly sit beside the winner as a fine second choice. Consider it an alternate path through Oscars history. So let's start from the very beginning, back when winners were announced in advance and the awards ceremony consisted of an elaborate dinner.
Andrew Tobias: Listen To A Structural Forensicist
"Let's have border security, by all means, but let's be smart about it. This [Trump's wall] is not smart. It's not effective. It's NOT cheap. The returns will be diminishing as technology advances, too. This is a ridiculous idea that will never be successfully executed and, as such, would be a monumental waste of money." - Amy Patrick
Shira Tarlo: House Intelligence Committee announces expanded scope of Russia probe in defiance of Trump's warning (Salon)
The move comes one day after Trump warned Democrats not to investigate him during his State of the Union address.
Julie Phillips: Ursula K. Le Guin Was a Creator of Worlds (Humanities)
Curry makes it look like Le Guin rescued science fiction and fantasy more or less single-handedly from a state of literary neglect, which isn't exactly true. (There were other writers who saw the genre's potential for yielding enduring literature.) But Le Guin chose this "despised, marginal" genre, she once said, for a reason she couldn't acknowledge to herself at the time: Because it was "excluded from critical, academic, canonical supervision, leaving the artist free."
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Presenting
Michael Egan
wrote:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Suggestion
Data Collection
Marty,
I noticed you shared the
ACLU privacy and technology page
which touches on the topic of
government surveillance but doesn't provide the whole picture.
Perhaps you'd also consider adding a link
to this guide -
What Does The US Government Know About You?
It's a more thorough look at what data is being collected about citizens (and how
it's collected). Hopefully encouraging your visitors to be more privacy conscious.
Thanks,
Will
Thanks, Will!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
More excrement in VA
A Fourth Top Virginia Lawmaker Faces Scandal
Virginia Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment, a Republican, now joins three top Democrats in the state in facing a political crisis. Norment edited a 1968 yearbook that included racial slurs and at least one photo of a person in blackface
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD is on vacation.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The hyacinths are blooming.
Pre-Grammy Celebration
Willie Nelson
It was a multigenerational affair at the Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing's annual Grammy Week Celebration on Wednesday night when this year's P&E honoree, 85-year-old Willie Nelson, took the stage with his sons Lukas and Micah Nelson and Lukas's band, Promise of the Real.
Also on hand were Grammy Album of the Year nominee Kacey Musgraves and veteran country songwriter and producer Buddy Cannon, who introduced the elder Nelson, and surprise guest Dave Matthews, who performed acoustic versions of Nelson's 1961 classic "Funny How Time Slips Away" and his own "Gravedigger," which Nelson covered in 2008.
Willie seemed to prefer to let his music do the talking, keeping his P&E acceptance speech short and sweet - though he acknowledged that being so universally likable had delivered a career advantage. "I want to thank the producers and engineers over the years for making me sound as good as I could," he quipped. "And I'm glad they liked me, because they really could have screwed me up!"
Now in its 12th year, the Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing Grammy Week Celebration also honored the contributions of the Producers & Engineers Wing's 6,400-plus professional members, who work together to shape the future of music recording.
Nelson, who has eight Grammy wins and 200 hundred albums under his belt - and who planned to head back into the studio Thursday, according to Cannon - joins a list of P&E honorees that includes such illustrious names as T Bone Burnett, Jimmy Iovine, Quincy Jones, Neil Young, Nile Rodgers, Rick Rubin, Jack White and Alicia Keys.
Willie Nelson
Reunited With Stolen Guitar
Billy Corgan
Sometimes life works in mysterious ways. Way back in 1992, a year after the Smashing Pumpkins released their debut record Gish, the band was playing a show in Detroit that ended tragically. Shortly after they finished, some mysterious person walked away with frontman Billy Corgan's guitar. But 27 years later, Corgan was finally reunited with the guitar this week.
He found it in the possession of one Beth James, who lives in Flushing, Mich. She had bought the guitar at a Detroit yard sale because it looked cool, even though neither she nor her daughters actually play guitar. Recently, she thought about selling it, and a friend helped alert her to its history.
After her friend sent her an article suggesting it might be Corgan's long-lost guitar, James tried messaging the musician on Facebook but never heard back. Then a friend connected her to Alex Heiche, founder of Sound Royalties, who coordinated her meet-up with Corgan.
As Corgan explained to Rolling Stone, the guitar's unique properties had a powerful influence on the sound of Gish, and affected Corgan's playing style. After its disappearance, he had to buy new guitars, which went on to define the sound of iconic Smashing Pumpkins albums like Siamese Dream and Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Now, the guitar comes back into Corgan's life as he's working on a guitar-driven follow-up to Smashing Pumpkins' 2018 album Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. It feels a bit like it returned to Corgan at the exact moment it was needed.
"This guitar has a certain magical mystery to it," Corgan told Rolling Stone. "It changed the fortune of my life. So that's why I felt it would come back to me. It was like the talisman or something, like in Lord of the Rings. It was meant to come back to me."
Billy Corgan
Cast Reunites
The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years has been praised as one of the most influential shows of the 1980s and early 1990s, so this reunion photo is sure to bring on a wave of nostalgia and inspire you to binge-watch all six seasons.
Danica McKellar, who played Winnie Cooper in the show, had a little reunion with Fred Savage and Josh Saviano, who played young Kevin and Phil respectively.
"I got to see these guys for lunch yesterday," she captioned her Twitter post. "It was so much fun to catch up and hear how their beautiful families are doing! And yes, @joshsaviano, I totally agree - *you guys* are like family... I mean, we DID grow up together, after all. #memories #TheWonderYears."
Since the show ended 26 years ago, Savage appeared in Bojack Horseman, Austin Powers in Goldmember and called back to his Princess Bride role for Once Upon a Deadpool. He's also directed episodes of 2 Broke Girls and Modern Family.
Saviano moved away from acting to focus on a legal career, while McKellar has made various sitcom appearances, done some reality TV and has even written science books.
The Wonder Years
Indiana Home
John Mellencamp
Indiana police have arrested a man who allegedly rammed the gate of John Mellencamp's Bloomington, Ind., property on Thursday at 6 a.m. and entere his unoccupied home.
According to local news affiliates including WISH-TV and Indiana Public Media, the Monroe County Sheriff's Department responded to an alarm call at the "Small Town" singer's residence and found the gate busted open, a red Jeep Cherokee nearby and Robert Carter of Indianapolis inside a building on the property. Carter allegedly told authorities he was there to arrest Grammy winner for supporting a government that Carter does not support. Police said he admitted to kicking down Mellencamp's door.
Carter faces preliminary charges of burglary, residential entry and criminal trespass. A rep for Mellencamp has not yet responded to a request for comment about the arrest.
Mellencamp, a longtime liberal, told Rolling Stone in 2017 that his political beliefs often conflict with those of his fans. "You probably don't wanna have this conversation with me, but here's the deal: I don't trust the government. I don't trust the Democrats. I don't trust the Republicans. I'm a little bit more Democratic than I am Republican, but really I'm a socialist. And that's where it's at." He added that there have been instances when he was performing that he was booed by his own fans for expressing his opinions on various political matters.
According to the reports, Carter was arrested earlier this week - during an unrelated instance - for allegedly carrying a handgun without a license. Apparently some of his social media posts were flagged, leading police to make contact with him, and then the gun was discovered. He had a mental health evaluation before being booked in jail, but was released on Wednesday.
John Mellencamp
Sues Amazon Studios
Woody Allen
Woody Allen sued Amazon Studios on Thursday, saying he deserves at least $68 million in damages over their refusal to distribute his completed film "A Rainy Day in New York" and their decision to abandon a four-picture production and distribution arrangement.
Allen, 83, accused the Amazon.com Inc unit of breach of contract for backing out last June, after an accusation resurfaced that he had in 1992 molested his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow.
"Amazon has tried to excuse its action by referencing a 25-year-old, baseless allegation against Mr. Allen, but that allegation was already well known to Amazon (and the public)" before it contracted with Allen, the complaint said. "It does not provide a basis for Amazon to terminate the contract."
Allen has long denied the allegation by Dylan Farrow and her mother Mia Farrow, who appeared in a dozen of his films and was his longtime partner. He has not been charged.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan follows more than two decades of modest commercial fortunes for many Allen films.
Woody Allen
Fourth-Hottest Year On Record
2018
We've known this is coming, but the latest annual report from NASA and NOAA has confirmed it: 2018 was the fourth-hottest year on record. The other four in the top 5 have all been in the last five years. And it's set to get warmer.
2018, it turns out, broke quite a few records, none of them good.
Not content with being the fourth-hottest year since 1880, when it first became possible to collect reliable and consistent global temperatures, in the US 2018 was the wettest year in 35 years and the third wettest since precipitation records began in 1895. The top three costliest natural disasters globally were all in the US, making it their fourth-costliest year ever, at $160 billion.
Australia has already broken its January temperature record, and with a possible El Niño event around the corner, 2019 is likely to follow this trend.
NASA and NOAA's Annual Global Analysis for 2018, released yesterday having been delayed by the government shutdown, is backed up by independent reports from the UK's Met Office, the World Meteorological Organization, the Japanese Meteorological Agency, and the United Nations, so is pretty hard to argue against (though we are sure some will try).
2018
Rupert's Bane
'Fairness'
A Fox Business Network presenter blamed the fact schools have being teaching children "fairness" after the organisation's own polling showed there was overwhelming support for higher taxes on multi-millionaires.
A total of 70 per cent of people are in favour of raising taxes on those earning more than $10m and 65 per cent supported tax rises for those earning more than $1m, according to a recent Fox News poll.
In response to the poll, Charles Payne, host of Fox Business Network's Making Money with Charles Payne, said: "The idea of fairness has been promoted in our schools for a long time.
"We are starting to see kids that grew up with the notion of fairness above all and now they are becoming vote age they are bringing this ideology with them."
The clip was shared widely on social media, with many responding with dismay.
'Fairness'
Found Shelter For Homeless
Candace Payne
A Chicago woman who led an effort to get hotel rooms for homeless people during the polar vortex, was recognized on the "Ellen DeGeneres Show."
With the help of social media, Candace Payne, a real estate developer from Auburn Gresham, was able to book 72 rooms for five nights. She helped more than 120 people.
Ellen DeGeneres surprised her with two checks from Walmart, totaling $50,000.
Payne says she will use the money for her new non-profit, to provide homeless people with temporary and permanent housing.
Candace Payne
Rover Named for DNA Pioneer
Rosalind Franklin
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced today (Feb. 7) that its next Mars rover will be named for Rosalind Franklin, the late British scientist, who was behind the discovery of DNA's double-helix structure.
ESA's ExoMars rover, "Rosalind the rover," is scheduled to launch to the Red Planet in 2020 and then land in 2021 on a mission to look for signs of life, or extinct life.
Chosen from 36,000 suggestions, the name was revealed at the Airbus facility in Stevenage, in the United Kingdom, where the rover is being assembled. [12 Amazing Women Who Totally Rocked at Science]
Today, Franklin is regarded as one of the 20th century's most overlooked scientists. While she was a biophysicist at King's College London, she captured "Photo 51"- an X-ray image of a strand of DNA extracted from human calf tissue. At that time, hers was the best shot of the double helix. Without her knowledge, her colleague Maurice Wilkins showed the image to his American collaborators James Watson and Francis Crick. Franklin's work was integral to their discovery of the correct structure of DNA.
Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958, at age 37, without receiving the public recognition for her work in DNA that would be heaped on her male peers. In 1962, Watson, Crick and Wilkins shared the Nobel Prize for the double-helix discovery. Nobel Prizes cannot be awarded posthumously, but it's unclear if Franklin would have been given credit at the time, anyway. (Watson wrote in his 1968 book on the discovery that Franklin was a "belligerent, emotional woman unable to interpret her own data.")
Rosalind Franklin
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