Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Alice Ollstein: Dem Memo Knocks Down Nunes' Claims About Carter Page Surveillance Warrant (TPM)
The memo, drafted by ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), says the FBI and DOJ did not abuse their powers, as Republicans have claimed. Instead, the Democratic memo says, the surveillance of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page was justified because he was "someone the FBI assessed to be an agent of the Russian government."
Lucy Mangan: "Here's how we move on after #MeToo" (Stylist)
So. It's #NotAllMen. I get that. The problem is, it's #somanymorebloody menthanyou'dhoped. I'm finding the Oxfam scandal, centring round news that some of the charity's staff hired prostitutes (some of whom may have been underage) while in Haiti administering aid after the 2010 earthquake… challenging.
Suzanne Moore: I understand the fears. But vaccinating children should be compulsory (The Guardian)
Engaging the emotional intelligence of the public is the way to sell the scientific fact that immunisation prevents deaths.
Kathleen Rooney: Animal Planet (Poetry Foundation)
When [Don] Marquis died at age 59, a few days after Christmas in 1937, E.B. White recollected the humorist as "one of the saddest people of our generation." His outraged yet fatalistic opposition to injustice reads as even more oracular now than it did when he was alive. Marquis might have been whistling in the dark, but one must find something to do as the darkness descends. If we have to die either way, then we might as well go amused.
Josh Marshall: A Note on TPM, Its Past and its Future (TPM)
We started Prime at the end of 2012 for a number of reasons. But a key one, really the key one, was that we believed the advertising-only digital publishing model was unsustainable, not just for us but for everyone. As a small player with no resources to fall back on, however, we knew we'd feel the storm early and hard. This, I've always thought, is one of the benefits of being a small player. Everyone has to grapple with the same industry trends. But being big allows you to go on longer thinking the trends won't apply to you. Scale and easy access to capital can facilitate denial.
Henry Rollins on Why Vinyl Matters: "Every record I own is a must-have. I wouldn't have them otherwise." (Reverb)
Buy records. Whenever possible, get them directly from the label or artist. Listening to music makes you a better person, so listen as often as you can. Duke Ellington would sell out venues in big cities but after the show, no hotel would let him and his band stay because of the colour of their skin. He was all in. You should learn some of these stories and hear the music these people made. There are bands playing in small rooms all over the world, putting their entire lives into their music. You should go to their shows.
Rebecca Nicholson: Jennifer Lawrence's 'gaffe' and the fickle nature of public opinion (The Guardian)
Time was when the Hollywood star could do no wrong. But, oh dear, now...
Jonathan Jones: So Neanderthals made abstract art? This astounding discovery humbles every human (The Guardian)
Scientists say cave paintings in Spain, thought to have been by our ancestors, were actually by Neanderthals. So did they teach us everything we know?
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Presenting
Michael Egan
replied:
took the day off.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
Current Events
US Olympian has a point
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
NRA Boycotts
I hope to see this list growing daily. Hit 'em where it hurts. Let the NRA feel some pain.
Full disclosure: We own 2 handguns and 1 shotgun. I'm not against the 2nd amendment. I'm against guns being so readily available, and against, esp., assault rifles. There's no need for anyone to have one.
from Marc Perkel
Marc's Guide to Curing Cancer
So far so good on beating cancer for now. I'm doing fine. At the end of the month I'll be 16 months into an 8 month mean lifespan. And yesterday I went on a 7 mile hike and managed to keep up with the hiking group I was with. So, doing something right.
Still waiting for future test results and should see things headed in the right direction. I can say that it's not likely that anything dire happens in the short term so that means that I should have time to make several more attempts at this. So even if it doesn't work the first time there are a lot of variations to try. So if there's bad news it will help me pick the next radiation target.
I have written a "how to" guide for oncologists to perform the treatment that I got. I'm convinced that I'm definitely onto something and whether it works for me or not isn't the definitive test. I know if other people tried this that it would work for some of them, and if they improve it that it will work for a lot of them.
The guide is quite detailed and any doctor reading this can understand the procedure at every level. I also go into detail as to how it works, how I figured it out, and variations and improvements that could be tried to enhance it. I also introduce new ways to look at the problem. There is a lot of room for improvement and I think that doctors reading it will see what I'm talking about and want to build on it. And it's written so that if you're not a doctor you can still follow it. It also has a personal story revealing that I'm the class clown of cancer support group. I give great interviews and I look pretty hot in a lab coat.
So, feel free to read this and see what I'm talking about. But if any of you want to help then pass this around to both doctors and cancer patients. I need some media coverage. I'm looking for as many eyeballs as possible to read these ideas. Even if this isn't the solution, it's definitely on the right track. After all, I did hike 7 miles yesterday. And this hiking group wasn't moving slow. So if this isn't working then, why am I still here?
I also see curing cancer as more of an engineering problem that a medical problem. So if you are good at solving problems and most of what you know about medicine was watching the Dr. House MD TV show, then you're at the level I was at when I started. So anyone can jump in and be part of the solution.
Here is a link to my guide: Oncologists Guide to Curing Cancer using Abscopal Effect
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
PROVE IT.
LISA THE LION!
THE POODLE IS BARKING.
THE POOR IGNORANT SNAKE.
TRUMP IS EVIL!
WE MUST IMPEACH DONALD TRUMP NOW!
Nasty Rat Ass!
WWWJC?
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Gonna be a tight week.
'Fertilizer Spreader In A Wind Storm'
Dan Rather
Former CBS anchor Dan Rather has accused President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Corrupt) of lying to the degree that reporting on his White House is like "facing a fertilizer spreader in a windstorm."
The journalist made the comments in an interview with CNN's Reliable Sources over the weekend, when he discussed the need for the media to hold the president to account and expose any false statements that come out of the White House.
"I think it's absolutely imperative," Rather told host Brian Stelter.
"Now more than ever is when the press needs to be a kind of truth squad for this and every other president. It's perhaps more important with President Trump because there are more untruths to set the record straight," he continued.
"I do think that most people get it. That most people understand that they're facing on a daily basis from the White House and from the president himself, the rough equivalent of you're facing a fertilizer spreader in a windstorm," Rather added, also suggesting that people were no longer surprised if the president made false claims.
Dan Rather
Shreds 'Mothaf***a'
Samuel L. Jackson
Hollywood actor Samuel L. Jackson has torn apart President Donald Trump's idea to arm some teachers in a bid to prevent school shootings.
The "Pulp Fiction" star joined the growing chorus of critics of the plan with this tweet on Friday:
"Can someone that's been in a Gunfight tell that Muthafukka that's Never been in a Gunfight, the flaws of his Arm The Teachers plan??!!" asked Jackson.
His post has gone viral.
Samuel L. Jackson
California Dems Decline To Endorse
Dianne Feinstein
The California Democratic Party rebuked its senior senator early Sunday by declining to make an endorsement in the state's U.S. Senate race.
State Senate leader Kevin de León, a fellow Democrat mounting a progressive challenge to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, won the support of 54 percent of the delegates at the party's convention in San Diego over the weekend. Only 37 percent of the delegates backed the 25-year incumbent, who is seeking her fifth term in office.
The backing of 60 percent of the delegates was needed to secure the party's official endorsement.
The vote is seen as a sign of nagging discomfort among progressives to Feinstein's centrist and hawkish brand of politics. Her skeptical view of single-payer health care, anti-marijuana stance, and her votes in favor of some President-for-now Donald Trump's (R-Pendejo) nominations to key administration jobs rankled activists at the core of the state's Democratic Party.
Yet Feinstein, who will turn 85 years old later this year, is still expected to cruise to victory over her relatively unknown opponent. She holds a lead over de León of nearly 30 percentage points - 46 percent to 17 percent ? in a recent poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California.
Dianne Feinstein
Tribes Cut Out
California
American Indian tribes that say they have been cut out of California's legal marijuana market have raised the possibility of going their own way by establishing pot businesses outside the state-regulated system that is less than two months old.
The tribes floated the idea of setting up rival farms and sales shops on reservations after concluding that rules requiring them to be licensed by the state would strip them of authority over their own lands and their right to self-governance.
The possibility of the tribes breaking away from the state-run system is one more challenge for California as it attempts to transform its longstanding medicinal and illegal marijuana markets into a unified, multibillion-dollar industry.
At issue are legally thorny questions about who governs whom, taxation and the intersection of state marijuana laws with tribes that the federal government recognizes as sovereign nations within the U.S.
Under regulations issued last year, California would retain full control over licensing. Tribes would have to follow state rules, including "submission to all enforcement," to obtain a license to grow or sell marijuana. Any application must include a waiver of "sovereign immunity," a sort of legal firewall that protects tribal interests.
California
Parkland Shooting Tragedy
Fundraising
A Donald Trump (R-Crooked) and Mike Pence (R-Mother) "weekly newsletter" laments the horror of the Parkland school shooting that killed 17 people, then ends with a "contribute" button so people can give money ... to Trump and Pence.
The newsletter, paid for by "Donald J. Trump for President Inc," was emailed Friday to supporters.
The first Trump tout in the newsletter, headlined "President Trump - Week 57: Safer Schools," said that the president and first lady Melania Trump "visited with victims and first responders following the shooting and met incredible people they will never forget." The piece is accompanied by a photo of Trump and the first lady at the hospital bedside of a Parkland shooting survivor wrapped in bandages.
The message adds: "The President is now engaging in an important national conversation about school safety and ways to prevent any future attacks. President Trump is taking steps towards banning gun bump stocks and strengthening background checks for gun purchasers. The President has made his intent very clear: 'making our schools and our children safer will be our top priority.'"
The newsletter ends with a red "CONTRIBUTE" link as well as a link to "VISIT OUR STORE."
Fundraising
'We Will Outlive You'
Florida
A survivor of the Florida school shooting has told National Rifle Association supporters attempting to discredit witnesses that they should give up as he and classmates "are going to outlive" them.
David Hogg has emerged as a powerful advocate for gun controlafter the Valentine's Day attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which left 17 people dead.
His campaigning has however earned him a host of detractors, especially among pro-gun allies of the NRA, who have since launched a series of online attacks on teenagers who survived the bloodshed.
The 18-year-old and his classmates have been described as "pawns" who are being "coached" by activists aiming to restrict firearm ownership in the US.
Right-wing conspiracy theory-peddler InfoWars even received a strike against its largest YouTube channel, The Alex Jones Show, for uploading a video claiming the student was a "crisis actor".
Florida
Mayor Warns City
Oakland
The mayor of Oakland on Saturday night warned the city's residents of potential raids being conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In a statement released at the end of the day, Mayor Libby Schaaf said she learned from "multiple credible sources" that, within the next 24 hours, ICE would be gearing up for operations in the Bay Area of Northern California, including Oakland.
She said her warning was not intended to panic residents, but protect them. Schaaf didn't provide exact locations because she said she didn't know which areas ICE would be targeting.
"My priority is for the well-being and safety of all residents - particularly our most vulnerable," Schaaf said in a statement tweeted just after sunset on Saturday.
"And I know that Oakland is safer when we share information, encourage community awareness, and care for our neighbors."
Oakland
Wasn't Always A Front For Gun Makers
NRA
On Thursday, Wayne LaPierre (R-Draft Dodger), CEO of the National Rifle Association and unofficial leader of America's largest cult, took the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting in Washington, D.C.
In another universe - or maybe even just in another nation - one might imagine that the leader of the country's largest gun organization giving an address less than one week after yet another school shooting had left 17 people dead would appear circumspect, contrite, even ashamed. Instead, LaPierre was defiant.
Railing against the media and the "growing socialist state," LaPierre vowed that the NRA would not retreat from its defense of gun rights. And as a student-led movement for gun control continued to build in Florida and across the nation, LaPierre depicted the NRA as the best protector of vulnerable children. "Evil walks among us," LaPierre said, "and God help us if we don't harden our schools and protect our kids."
This is the fantasy that the NRA has peddled for decades and that has created our current nightmare. But the NRA's delusion exposes not only its moral rot, but also its continual turn from its own history. Begun as an organization devoted to education and safety, it's only in the last 50 years that the NRA has instead dedicated itself to preserving the very circumstances that most endanger Americans' lives today, especially the nation's schoolchildren.
With its talk of rights, freedom and self-defense, the NRA has presented itself as the tireless defender of embattled gun owners for nearly half a century. The truth, however, is that such language has given cover for the modern NRA's real work as the craven lobbyist of gun manufacturers.
NRA
Weekend Box Office
'Black Panther'
"Black Panther" scored one of the best second weekends ever with an estimated $108 million in ticket sales, putting it on track to rank among the highest-grossing blockbusters ever.
Only "The Force Awakens" had a better second weekend than "Black Panther," which dropped 47 percent after its opening weekend of $201.8 million.
"Black Panther" has grossed $400 million domestically and $704 million worldwide in two weeks. The film, starring Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan, has held even better overseas, where it dropped 42 percent this weekend. Its release in China, the world's second-largest film market, is set for March 9.
Faring the best was "Game Night," starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, from Warner Bros.' New Line. The comedy, which cost about $37 million to make and was directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, debuted with $16.6 million, coming in slightly above forecasts.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers also are included. Final three-day domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Black Panther," $108 million ($83.8 million international).
2. "Game Night," $16.6 million ($5.2 million international).
3. "Peter Rabbit," $12.5 million.
4. "Annihilation," $11 million.
5. "Fifty Shades Freed," $6.9 million ($22.3 million international).
6. "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle," $5.7 million ($3 million international).
7. "The 15:17 to Paris," $3.6 million ($1.3 million international).
8. "The Greatest Showman," $3.4 million ($7.7 million international).
9. "Every Day," $3.1 million.
10. "MET Opera: La Boheme," $1.9 million.
'Black Panther'
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
