Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Matthew Yglesias: Sean Spicer's appalling answer about economic data shows how far we've lowered the bar for Trump (Vox)
[Trump] spent months routinely maligning the work of career civil servants for no good reason. And now that it's convenient for him to accept their work, he's going to start accepting it. But there's no apology and no admission of error - and it's not even a big story. Just another day at the office.
Froma Harrop: A Plot to Poison Obamacare (Creators Syndicate)
Arsenic was a poison favored by Victorian mystery writers. The victims would be fed small amounts, not suspecting the cause of their increasing discomfort. At a certain point, the arsenic buildup would send them into organ failure and death. The Republican House health care plan would apply a similar slow-working toxin to the Affordable Care Act. In this case, many of the millions enrolled in Obamacare would not realize what's happening to their health care until it's too late.
Ted Cruz: The Republicans May Impeach Trump (Creators Syndicate)
Campaign Ad: Paul Ryan for President 2020. Speaker Ryan speaks into the camera. "Impeaching a president from my own party wasn't an easy decision," Ryan says, looking sober as footage of disgraced former president Donald Trump departing the White House for the last time appears. "Sometimes principle" - he pauses for a half-beat - "comes before party." A full beat. "Country always comes first."
Clive James: 'I couldn't believe how non-weird Sam Neill was' (The Guardian)
Performers do best to do their best every time. By no paradox, it is easier to maintain this attitude if you are not being treated as a deity.
Hadley Freeman: Want a different take on Trump? Try Ivanka, who gives great hair and better Instagram (The Guardian)
The nonsense that Ivanka Trump acts as the president's moderating force is belied by her own limited worldview.
Jonathan Jones: Pop art's American dream is over - and a zombie culture has begun (The Guardian)
The British Museum's latest show brings together great pop and abstract expressionist images from the US. In the age of Trump, they seem like relics from a lost civilization.
Henry Rollins: We Need Our Artists to Push Against Conformity and Ignorance (LA Weekly)
In bad times as well as good, I always look to the world of art for inspiration. People like Conrad, so free of many of the conventional ideas and restraints that often just end up being selling points, reminds me that as down as you want to feel is just how much you want to deny the fact that there have been brilliant people in every decade, including this one, pushing in every possible way against mediocrity, conformity and ignorance. When in doubt, go to the museum, the gallery, the record store, anywhere you can find art. The world might not change, but yours could.
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.
took the day off.
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
SLAVE MASTER TRUMP.
GO DEEP!
DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS.
"TRUMP'S MAR-A-LAGO IS HEAVEN…"
PROVE IT LOUD MOUTH!
A BAD DEAL. A VERY BAD DEAL.
"SURGING TO FAILURE"
THE 'FOX' GOT IN THE HEN HOUSE.
"JAMES COMEY ELECTED DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENT."
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warm.
3 Najor Threats To Internet
Tim Berners-Lee
The inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has outlined the three biggest threats that face the internet, as it turns 28. The computer scientist who developed the blueprint for what would become the internet, issued a warning at the state of the web following the global events of the past year.
In an open letter, Berners-Lee claimed that fake news, data loss and online political ads were the three major threats to the web. He wrote, "Today marks 28 years since I submitted my original proposal for the worldwide web. I imagined the web as an open platform that would allow everyone, everywhere to share information, access opportunities, and collaborate across geographic and cultural boundaries.
"But over the past 12 months, I've become increasingly worried about three new trends, which I believe we must tackle in order for the web to fulfill its true potential as a tool that serves all of humanity."
He highlighted the loss of personal data to tech giants and the limited control users have over how their data is handled, as one of the main areas that need to be addressed. He also pointed out that "widespread" data collection can have more "chilling effect on free speech" and allow governments to restrict the internet being used as a free space. He encouraged people to "fight against government overreach in surveillance laws" and ensure the future of data privacy.
Berners-Lee also raised concerns about how quickly and effectively misinformation or fake news can spread across the internet. He warned that "misinformation, or fake news, which is surprising, shocking, or designed to appeal to our biases, can spread like wildfire. And through the use of data science and armies of bots, those with bad intentions can game the system to spread misinformation for financial or political gain".
Tim Berners-Lee
Fears Raised
Government Data
Wondering who is visiting the White House? The web-based search has gone dark. Curious about climate change? Some government sites have been softened or taken down. Worried about racial discrimination in housing? Laws have been introduced to bar federal mapping of such disparities. Federal rules protecting whistleblowers? At least one has been put on hold.
Since taking office, the Trump administration has made a series of moves that have alarmed groups with a stake in public access to information - historians, librarians, journalists, climate scientists, internet activists, to name a few. Some are so concerned they have thrown themselves into "data rescue" sessions nationwide, where they spend their weekends downloading and archiving federal databases they fear could soon be taken down or obscured.
Previous presidential transitions have triggered fears about access to government data, but not on this scope.
"What is unprecedented is the scale of networking and connectivity of groups working on this, and the degree it is being driven by librarians and scientists and professors," said Alex Howard, deputy director of the Sunlight Foundation, a group that tracks transparency in government.
In February, the U.S. Department of Agriculture removed animal cruelty data from its website, prompting protests from animal welfare advocates, including the Humane Society, which has filed a lawsuit against the USDA. Some Democrats in Congress also have protested.
Government Data
May Have A Point
Hate DST?
For most Americans, daylight saving time means only one thing: losing an hour's sleep. So what is the point?
This is actually a reasonable question, according to a growing body of scientific research.
When clocks in almost all of the United States spring forward by an hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, it will likely prompt an increase in heart attacks and strokes, cause more car accidents and reduce worker productivity, according to studies. It will also fail to cut the nation's energy bill, contrary to what the experts once believed.
In December, a psychology journal published results showing that federal judges handed out sentences that were on average 5 percent longer the day after daylight saving time began than those given out one week before or after.
Disruptions, even minor ones, to human beings' sleep patterns can have outsized effects, according to researchers.
Hate DST?
More Great White Sharks Visit
Cape Cod
Great white sharks are discovering what tourists have known for years: Cape Cod is a great place to spend the summer.
The latest data from a multiyear study of the ocean predators found that the number of sharks in waters off the vacation haven appears to be on the rise, said Greg Skomal, a senior scientist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, and the state's top shark expert.
But that's no reason to cancel vacation. The sharks are after seals, not humans, and towns are using the information from the study to keep it that way.
Researchers using a plane and boats spotted 147 individual white sharks last summer. That was up slightly from 2015, but significantly more than the 80 individual sharks spotted in 2014, the first year of the study , funded by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.
More than half the white sharks spotted last summer hadn't previously been documented by this study.
Cape Cod
World Since WWII
Humanitarian Crisis
The United Nations is warning that the world is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the end of World War II, with more than 20 million people facing starvation and famine in four countries.
The world body's humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien called Friday for an urgent mobilization of funds -- $4.4 billion by July -- for northeastern Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen to "avert a catastrophe."
He called war-wracked Yemen "the largest humanitarian crisis in the world," with two thirds of the population, or 18.8 million people -- three million more than in January -- in need of assistance and more than seven million with no regular access to food.
The conflict in Yemen has left more than 7,400 people dead and 40,000 wounded since an Arab-state coalition intervened on the government's side against rebels in March 2015, according to UN figures.
In just the past two months alone, more than 48,000 people have fled fighting in the Arab world's poorest country, according to O'Brien, as it grapples with a proxy war fought by archrivals Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Humanitarian Crisis
T-rump's Choice Has Ties To Wall Street, Drug Makers
FDA
A conservative doctor-turned-pundit with deep ties to Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry is President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb would be tasked with Trump's goal of cutting red tape at the FDA, which regulates everything from pharmaceuticals to seafood to electronic cigarettes. Trump has called the FDA's drug approval process "slow and burdensome" despite changes to speed reviews, particularly of cutting-edge products.
Gottlieb, 44, is no stranger to the FDA - he served as a deputy commissioner under resident George W. Bush. While he has frequently criticized the FDA for unnecessary regulations and urged changes to get safe and effective drugs onto the market faster, he generally has supported its overall mission.
Gottlieb is a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute and a partner in the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates. He has spent more than a decade in Washington rotating between the worlds of government, health policy consulting and political think tanks.
Since leaving the FDA in 2007, Gottlieb has served as a board member or adviser to at least nine pharmaceutical or medical technology companies, according to his LinkedIn profile. Gottlieb is a consultant to GlaxoSmithKline's product investment board; a managing director at T.R. Winston & Company merchant bank, which specializes in health care; and a clinical assistant professor at New York University School of Medicine. He also is a policy adviser to the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship.
FDA
CIA Contractors Probed
Intelligence Leaks
US authorities probing the recent leak of secret materials are focusing on past CIA contractors who may have been upset over job losses, the Wall Street Journal said Sunday.
WikiLeaks delivered a blow to America's top spies by publishing earlier this month nearly 9,000 classified documents the anti-secrecy group said were part of the Central Intelligence Agency's entire arsenal of cyber-attack plans.
The WikiLeaks dump has set off an intense probe into how the materials -- which detailed how the CIA focuses on breaking into personal electronics like smartphones -- got away from the agency.
WikiLeaks had said earlier they got access to the trove via a circle of private contractors, and the group's founder Julian Assange chided the spy agency as careless to have lost the materials.
Citing unnamed sources, the paper said that "bad blood" among contractors working for the US spy agency may have left some workers "disgruntled," particularly after job cuts.
Intelligence Leaks
A Town Divided
Big Sur
A downed bridge along the California coast has split the Big Sur area in two, stranding residents without access to grocery stores and public services and closing part of scenic Highway 1 for as long as a year.
About 450 residents on one side of the span were cut off when the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge crumbled beyond repair. Backpackers and helicopters are transporting food to the residential area.
The community known for its luxury spa treatments, posh hotels and scenic retreats is also without law enforcement, public services and tourists, The Mercury News in San Jose said.
The fire station, post office and Big Sur's famous restaurants sit on the south side of the bridge while schools, medical care, grocery stores, hardware stores, livestock supplies and almost all the community's homes are to the north.
Caltrans has said the bridge is beyond repair and will need to be removed and replaced, but has yet to give a timeline or details. Officials hope to make a portion of the roadway passable later this month for locals only.
Big Sur
Weekend Box Office
"Kong: Skull Island"
It was a battle of the beasts at the box office this weekend, and King Kong emerged as the definitive victor over Wolverine.
According to studio estimates Sunday, "Kong: Skull Island" amassed $61 million in its first weekend in theaters, surpassing expectations and easily beating out "Logan," which is now in its second weekend.
Fox's "Logan" took second place, down around 58 percent from its first weekend with $37.9 million. The R-rated pic, which sees Hugh Jackman reprising his role as the X-Men character Wolverine, has earned $152.7 million in total.
In third place, "Get Out," the buzzy horror film directed by Jordan Peele, added $21.1 million, pushing its sum to $111 million in just three weeks.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday
1."Kong: Skull Island," $61 million ($81.6 million international).
2."Logan," $37.9 million ($70 million international).
3."Get Out," $21.1 million.
4."The Shack," $10.1 million.
5."The Lego Batman Movie," $7.8 million ($5.1 million international).
6."Before I Fall," $3.1 million ($265,000 international).
7."Hidden Figures," $2.8 million ($5.1 million international).
8."John Wick: Chapter Two," $2.7 million ($2.5 million international).
9."MET Opera: La Traviata," $1.8 million ($1.8 million international).
10."La La Land," $1.8 million ($6.8 million international).
"Kong: Skull Island"
In Memory
Joni Sledge
Joni Sledge, a founding member of the vocal group Sister Sledge, died Friday at the age of 60, a statement from the band said. Popular for records such as "We Are Family," "He's the Greatest Dancer," "Frankie" and more, the group was formed in 1971.
Sledge was found dead in her home in Phoenix, Arizona, by a friend, the band's publicist Biff Warren said Saturday, according to the Guardian. A cause of death has not been determined.
Sledge was the second eldest sister in the hit pop group, which also has Debbie, Kim and Kathy.
The Philadelphia-born never usually sang the lead in the group, but did so on the popular song "Reach Your Peak."
The group's "We Are Family" reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became an international hit. The album's disco jam "He's The Greatest Dancer" became a top 10 hit in May 1979. The album sold more than 1 million copies and received a Grammy nomination.
Joni Sledge
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
