Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Health Reform Realities (NY Times)
… progressives must set some priorities. And it's really hard to see, given this picture, why it makes any sense to spend political capital on a quixotic attempt at a do-over, not of a political failure, but of health reform - their biggest victory in many years.
Wiping Out Guinea Worm (The [Jimmy, etc.] Carter Center)
Using data-driven measurements and monitoring - and working closely with federal ministries of health and affected communities - the Carter Center-led Guinea worm eradication campaign has driven the global incidence of Guinea worm disease down to only 22 cases reported in 4 endemic countries in 2015, a reduction of more than 99.99 percent since 1986.
Brandon Larrabee: "Senate won't appeal redistricting ruling" (News Service of Florida)
"In 2010, Florida voters sent a strong message to the Legislature: stop drawing districts to favor yourselves and your parties. Just over five years later, we are thrilled to be able to say that the voters' wishes have been granted," lawyer David King said. "With the Legislature's decision not to appeal Judge Reynolds' final judgment, in 2016 Floridians will for the first time have the opportunity to vote in legally drawn Senate districts that fully comply with the Fair Districts Amendments."
Amanda Hess: The Rise of VR Porn (Slate)
Does virtual sex really feel real? Not to me.
MICHAEL LIND: THE RE-ENCHANTMENT OF POETRY (The Smart Set)
Why poetry should be heard, not seen.
Dwight Garner: "Review: Clive James, Writing Toward the Twilight" (NY Times)
Since 2010, when the brilliant Australian critic, poet and memoirist Clive James learned he had terminal leukemia, he's had his afterburners flipped on. He has been on a vivifying late-career tear.
Stav Sherez: "Writing a bestseller 'on the verge of a stroke'" (Spectator)
Andy Martin describes the many months he spent observing Lee Child - fuelled by coffee and Camels - complete his 20th Reacher novel.
Julie Burchill: Why are hipsters obsessed with programmes about dead women? (Spectator)
I've recently spotted another septic sister-under-the-skin, though I imagine this one will be better-dressed and better-read. She is the consumer of the recent glut of 'Death of a Woman as Hipster Diversion' programmes: Serial, Undisclosed, Making A Murderer, The Jinx. This is true crime for those who know how to pronounce quinoa, but it is no less nasty a habit. Those who indulge in this particular 'guilty pleasure' should, indeed, feel guilty about it.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
M Is FOR MASHUP
Crumplstock 3
By DJ Useo
Well, I'm 5 hour-long sets into CRUMPLSTOCK 3 at this point & I could not be happier!
Everybody really brought their "A" game today! DJ Not-I is wow-ing us right now.
To hear what I'm talking about, go here, & click on the current DJ's name, & the stream will start!
5 more sets to go for tonight & many more over the next two days.
Treat yourself!
Timetable for Crumplbangers Stage.
All times GMT (UTC).
Saturday
11am - KrazyBen Bernard Fortz
12 noon - Grandmaster M.i.F.
1pm - Queerhawk
2pm - Teknicolor
3pm - pomDeter
4pm - Scott Cairo
5pm - Jellee
6pm - YITT
7pm - DJ Rick Lee
8pm - Colatron
9pm - Toynoiz
10pm - Oki
11pm - BorisB
12 midnight - Garbage Boy
01am - Grave Danger
02am - SwissMasterBBQ & MsMiep
03am - GaraGara
Sunday
1pm - DJ Not-I*
2pm - DJ Fruitpunch
3pm - Thomas L Jackson
4pm - ToToM
5pm - Justincredible
6pm - DJ Cougar
7pm - DJ Kal
8pm - Brian Sharp
9pm - Batfreak
10pm - DJ Useo
11pm - GladiLord
12 midnight - DJ Rudec*
* = second set
I hope you'll listen in for my set. Just go here during my set
( crumplebangers.com/crumplstock/ )
Click on my name & you can stream me live!
International mashup DJ's playing for you live! Who could ask for anything more!?
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
"OLD MAN TRUMP"
"THE DICTATOR OF HIS DREAMS"
FUCK HAMMOND AND BUNDY AND ALL THE OTHER THIEVES AND CRIMINALS!
THROW THESE BUTT HEADS IN THE SLAMMER!
THE "SMART ONE" IS A DUMB ASS!
ALL GODS SUCK!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly overcast, but no rain.
No-Fly Zone
Disney
Did you know Walt Disney World had a no-fly zone? Well, they fought for it. Now, they're finding it's a pain in Mickey's ass.
The designation typically reserved for august locales like the White House and Congress has been in force over the Magic Kingdom since 2003, the year Disney won a special concession from the U.S. government to provide the invisible cloak in a provision of a $397.4 billion spending bill. At the time, and since then, the park touted the measure as a necessary precaution against air terrorism.
But now, the House of Mouse is looking for another special exception. In addition to being the only theme park in the United States with a no-fly zone, Disney is now also petitioning the government for an exception to their exception by allowing the park to fly drones over their airspace. Of course, the drones would only be Disney drones - no others would be permitted and the rest of the no-fly zone for everyone else would remain intact.
According to the Washington Post, the new plan by Disney calls for up to 50 drones that could be flown above the park by Disney during evening firework shows. The park is claiming that the exemption is safe because the drones would be small, and traveling at low altitude and speed.
Disney
Republican Dress Code For Women
Kansas
A dress code imposed by a Kansas Senate committee chairman that prohibits women testifying on bills from wearing low-cut necklines and miniskirts is drawing bipartisan ridicule from female legislators.
Sen. Mitch Holmes' 11-point code of conduct does not include any restrictions on men, who he said needed no instruction on how to look professional, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.
Holmes, a 53-year-old Republican from St. John who is chairman of the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, said he wrote the instruction because provocatively dressed women are a distraction. The guidelines don't detail a minimum skirt length or a permissible neckline for blouses.
Holmes said he considered requiring men to wear suits and ties during testimony but decided males didn't need any guidance. He expects lobbyists to understand the rules when interacting with his committee, although he acknowledged infrequent visitors to the Statehouse might be unaware.
Kansas
Judge Orders Medical Examination
Sumner Redstone
A judge on Friday ordered a medical examination of Sumner Redstone as part of an ongoing court fight over the media mogul's health and mental capacity.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David J. Cowan said Friday that a doctor hired by the mogul's ex-girlfriend should evaluate Redstone's health and mental health. He based the ruling on the depositions of two doctors who have evaluated Redstone and believe he could undergo a short examination from another doctor.
Redstone's ex-girlfriend and longtime companion Manuela Herzer has raised issues about the 92-year-old's health and decision-making capacity after she was expelled from his house in October.
Herzer's attorney, Pierce O'Donnell, praised the ruling. "Sumner asked Manuela, and she promised, to care for and protect him for the rest of his life," O'Donnell wrote in a statement. "Today's victory is a major milestone in honoring her commitment."
Redstone controls CBS and Viacom through National Amusements Inc., which holds nearly 80 percent of the voting stock in both media companies. He hasn't joined an investor conference call since November 2014. His longtime attorney Philippe Dauman, now Viacom's CEO, has authority to make medical decisions if Redstone is deemed incapacitated by his physician, but that has not yet happened.
Sumner Redstone
Stripes Not Camouflage
Zebra
It's a question that has been debated since the time of Darwin, and now a Calgary researcher is one step closer to answering the age old puzzle: "Why do zebras have stripes?"
"The real problem is that we're always looking at zebras through human eyes," says the study's lead author Amanda Melin, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Calgary.
Melin conducted the study with University of California, Davis professor Tim Caro, who has spent his entire career studying zebra stripes.
Instead of camouflage, Caro believes the stripes are there to deter "pesky, parasitic" flies, which are natural pests of zebras.
Scientists believe it has something to do with the polarization of light, which is off-putting for the flies.
Zebra
Seditionists Call The Shots
Oregon
The leader of an armed group occupying a national wildlife refuge in Oregon met briefly with a federal agent Friday, but left because the agent wouldn't talk with him in front of the media.
The short meeting occurred as the standoff over federal land use policies stretches to the three-week mark and as Oregon officials are putting increased pressure on federal authorities to take action against Ammon Bundy's group.
Bundy arrived at the airport in Burns late Friday morning, where the FBI has set up a staging area. On Thursday, Bundy went to the airport and spoke to an FBI negotiator over the phone. They agreed to speak again Friday, but Bundy left shortly after he arrived because the FBI agent he spoke with said federal authorities wanted any conversation to be private.
Bundy wants face-to-face conversations in front of reporters.
He also questioned the FBI's authority.
Oregon
Governor Hires Crony Public Relations Firm
Flint
Gov. Rick Snyder (R-Environmental Racist) has hired a national public relations firm as well as another communications expert to help with communications during the Flint water crisis.
Snyder hired the public relations firm Mercury LLC, which has a tie to his new Chief of Staff Jarrod Agen, according to a report from the Detroit Free Press. Agen's wife, Bettina Inclan-Agen, is a senior vice president in Mercury's Florida office in Fort Lauderdale. The company has no offices in Michigan.
Gov. Snyder's Press Secretary Dave Murray said the hiring was done help staff stay on task while trying to help Flint residents. Murray said state funds were not being used to pay for the new hires.
Snyder has several non-public funds, largely supported by corporate donors, that could be used to pay the public relations firm and communications expert, according to the report.
Flint
Life In Prison For Drunk Driving
Texas
A judge concerned about public safety sentenced a 62-year-old North Texas man to life in prison for his 10th drunken driving conviction since the 1980s.
Ivy Ray Eberhardt, of Weatherford, Texas, was sentenced Wednesday. Eberhardt would be eligible for parole after serving 15 years.
"Part of my job is to protect the citizens of Parker County, and the only way that I can think of to do that from somebody that has 12 DWI arrests and 10 DWI convictions is to put you in a place that you can't drive for as long as I possibly can," Judge Craig Towson told Eberhardt.
The case involved an April 2014 driving while intoxicated stop in Parker County in which Eberhardt's blood alcohol level was almost four times the 0.08 legal limit for driving in Texas.
While free on bond in that DWI case, Eberhardt cut off an electronic ankle monitor and fled to Colorado, where he was again arrested for drunken driving, prosecutors said.
Texas
Republican Utopia
Wisconsin
Gov. Scott Walker (R-Kochsucker) made a national name for himself among conservatives by redefining Wisconsin's labor landscape, eliminating public unions, wiping out closed shops and erasing local prevailing wages. Now, coming off a short-lived presidential bid, he's poised to deal state workers another blow by revamping the state's 110-year-old civil service system.
A handful of states have recently rolled back civil service protections. The rules are designed to keep officials from handing out government jobs as rewards to their political allies. But some officials say they lead to inefficiencies, offer little incentive for hard work and unfairly protect employees who behave badly.
Just days after Walker dropped out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination in September, Republican legislators introduced a bill to revamp Wisconsin's civil service system. Walker is poised to sign the measure any day despite Democrats' complaints that the changes will open the door to cronyism.
The bill marks another in a string of labor policy victories for Walker, who has made rewriting employment law his claim to fame. In 2011 he authored a bill that all but eliminated public workers' union rights, becoming a national GOP star in the process. Last year he signed a bill making Wisconsin a so-called right-to-work state where private workers can't be forced to join a union. This past summer he signed a state budget eliminating requirements that local governments pay workers on government projects the prevailing wage for such work.
"Wisconsin is the place where all things good for labor have gone to die," Paul Secunda, who directs the labor and employment law program at Marquette University. "You want the 30,000-foot view? It looks like a bomb went off in Wisconsin in regards to workers' rights."
Wisconsin
Reservoirs Half Full
California
The recent onslaught of El Nino storms only slightly increased the levels of California reservoirs that stand at half of historic depths for this time of year, federal officials said Friday while releasing an initial water outlook for 2016.
Heavy rainfall has soaked into a landscape that has been parched by four years of drought, and the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada has grown but hasn't started to melt off and replenish the critically low reservoirs, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Shane Hunt said.
The bureau's outlook comes as federal water managers prepare to announce how much water will be available for Central Valley farmers this summer. The federally operated reservoirs that supply farms and cities throughout California's Central Valley are now 49 percent full, compared with 47 percent on Oct. 1.
Lake Shasta - located in Northern California and the state's largest reservoir - is at 68 percent, but San Luis Reservoir in Central California is at 20 percent of its historical average, the bureau reports.
Federal authorities typically announced in late February how much water will be available to farmers for the warmer growing months beginning in the spring. San Joaquin Valley farmers have said they hope that the wet winter will provide them with at least some surface water supplies, unlike the last two years.
California
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