Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Death and Tax Cuts (NY Times Column)
What Republicans mean when they talk about freedom.
Jonathan Jones: No one should demand the closure of galleries - even for far-right artworks (The Guardian)
Shutting art galleries down is never a good idea. I don't care how offensive you or I may find the art they show or the events they organise. Haven't we learned by now that art has the right to offend, and that art galleries are spaces in which to be shocked, provoked, even disgusted?
Kristin Salaky: Woman Who Confronted Cotton Said She Was Dismayed By His Response (TPM)
Kati McFarland, a woman who has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a group of disorders that affects the skin, joints and blood vessels, gave an impassioned plea to Cotton on Wednesday night. "Without the coverage for pre-existing conditions, I will die. That is not hyperbole, I will die," she told him.
Jeff Stein: Conservative activists refuse to believe Trump is spending more on travel than Obama (Vox)
Over the course of the Obama administration, outrage over the president's travel expenses became a major talking point in right-wing circles. Though debunked by fact-checkers, one rumor claimed that first pup Bo Obama got his own personal flight to join the family in Hawaii. Another faulted Michelle Obama for her allegedly lavish Spanish getaway - though the Obamas personally paid for the bulk of its expenses.
Greg Sargent: Trump will likely sell out his working-class white base. Here's how. (Washington Post)
The bottom line: The Trump/GOP replacement is likely to end Obamacare's effort to create a universal coverage guarantee. (TPM)
Julie Pace: Priebus Asked FBI Official To Deny Trump/Russia Stories (TPM)
"The White House is simply not permitted to pressure the FBI to make public statements about a pending investigation of the president and his advisers," said Michigan Rep. John Conyers, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
Joseph Luzzi: Why Great Critics Make Disastrous Judgments (Chronicle)
In 1733, a French author exiled in London qualified his grudging admiration of Shakespeare by claiming that his so-called tragedies were actually "farces." Later in life, he would retract his praise altogether and call the English bard a "drunken savage." In 1756, this same critic announced that "nobody reads Dante anymore," labeling his Divine Comedy "monstrous" - before deriding the Confessions, by his contemporary Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as a project filled with "little miseries" that could never interest "true philosophy."
David Cox: La La Land's inevitable Oscars win is a disaster for Hollywood - and for us (The Guardian)
This year's other best picture nominees have heart, soul and humanity. Damien Chazelle's tawdry, dispiriting confection has none - it's the tale of two narcissists who sacrifice love for self-interest.
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"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today
took the day off.
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Suggestion
Current Events
Per the excerpt below from the Delanceyplace.com newsleter from "The Warmth of Friendship, the Chill of Betrayal" by Marta Zaraska. Repuglicans ought to be plying us with hot toddies all day every day!
During the past decade scientists have discovered that our physical temperature can affect how 'warm' or 'cold' we feel toward other people. For instance, studies have found that when we are hurt, isolated or betrayed, a short dose of heat -- in the form of a hot beverage, warm bath or even the sun -- may help restore feelings of trust and bonhomie.
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
TALK ABOUT A "GREASEBALL".
THE LIARS, THE CHEATS AND THE THEIVES!
BRINGING THE EVIL BACK HOME.
RESTRAINED?!
GOOD MORNING!
"ENOUGH IS TRULY ENOUGH."
"SOMETHING'S HAPPENING HERE…"
THE RISE OF THE KLEPTOCRATS!
KOCHTOPIA!
GOODNIGHT.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Should have done something about the Oscars, but this year, I just don't give a shit.
Environmental & Fishing Groups Sue To Save
Salmon
Environmental and fishing groups sued the federal government on Thursday as they seek cooler water for salmon in the Columbia River system.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Seattle against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Scott Pruitt, President Donald Trump's choice to lead the agency.
The lawsuit was filed by Columbia Riverkeeper, Snake River Waterkeeper, Idaho Rivers United, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, and the Institute for Fisheries Resources.
It seeks to compel the EPA to create temperature limits for the river system that would keep rivers cool enough to support salmon and steelhead runs in the face of global warming, the groups said.
The groups contend that in 2015, warm water killed roughly 250,000 adult sockeye salmon migrating up the rivers toward spawning grounds.
Salmon
Ancient Blob Of Glowing Gas Baffles
Astronomers
Nearly 10 billion light-years from Earth lies a structure that has left astronomers baffled. The blob of gas, named MAMMOTH-1, is glowing brightly, even though there is no discernable source illuminating it.
MAMMOTH-1 is a nebula that lies in an overdense protocluster of ancient galaxies. It belongs to a class of objects known as enormous Lyman-alpha nebulae (ELAN), which shine brightly in the Lyman-alpha line associated with hydrogen gas that has been heated up by the ultraviolet emissions of newly-formed stars.
The first ELAN, discovered in 2014, was named the Slug Nebula, and scientists believe that it - as well as most other ELANs detected since then - is emitting Lyman-alpha radiation as a result of being illuminated by intense radiation from quasars.
Quasar - a quasi-stellar radio source - is a compact region surrounding a galaxy's supermassive black hole, heated to such an extent that it emits massive amounts of energy and can even outshine the galaxy in which it resides.
MAMMOTH-1 (named after the survey that detected it - Mapping the Most Massive Overdensities Through Hydrogen), however, is the first ELAN not associated with a visible quasar.
Astronomers
Urges Fukushima Residents To Return
Japan
Japan has urged residents of Fukushima to return to the nuclear disaster site despite "unacceptable radiation risk," according to the Japanese arm of the non-governmental environmental organization Greenpeace. The Japanese government will lift the evacuation order for the 6,000 residents of Iitate village on March 31 - six years after a tsunami triggered the meltdown of three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
According to Greenpeace, the radiation levels in nearby forests are similar to those in the nearly 19 mile exclusion zone around Chernobyl - the site of the worst nuclear accident in the history of humankind. The radiation levels in Iitate are still above government targets and are likely to pose long-term health risk to those who decide to live in the area.
The relatively high radiation values, both inside and outside houses, show an unacceptable radiation risk for citizens if they were to return to Iitate. For citizens returning to their irradiated homes they are at risk of receiving radiation equivalent to one chest X-ray every week. This is not normal or acceptable," Greenpeace Japan's energy campaigner Ai Kashiwagi said in a statement Tuesday.
Greenpeace Japan calculated the average annual radiation exposure rate by taking measurements of houses around the area, collecting soil samples and recovering personal dose badges that were installed in two houses last February. The team found average radiation exposure in Iitate to be between 39 millisieverts (mSv) and 183mSv over the course of 70 years, starting March 2017. The numbers exceed yearly guidelines set by the International Commission on Radiological Protection, which says a maximum recommended annual radiation exposure for public is 1mSv. Despite the high levels, the Japanese government declared that the decontamination program had been completed, and that it would stop monetary compensation to Iitate residents next year.
Japan
Republican Snowflake Gets The Vapors
Texass
A Texas Republican said Thursday he was deeply disturbed by explicit signs at the Women's March on Washington last month while acknowledging that President Donald Trump's vulgar and sexually predatory comments about women triggered the display.
Of the march the day after the inauguration, Rep. Mike Conaway said, "On balance, it was terrific." But the six-term congressman, an ordained deacon in the Baptist church, said he was bothered by some women's actions and believes the country needs to reclaim a moral high ground.
"There was a taint to that march that just cut me to the core," Conaway said at an Agriculture Department event. "Women carrying signs and wearing costumes in the foulest, nastiest, crudest, crassest manner possible, talking about female body parts."
Conaway acknowledged that many of the signs were a reaction to the October release of a recording from 2005, in which Trump made a series of comments about groping women. In the tape, Trump bragged to a TV personality that his fame allowed him to force himself on women.
Conaway, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, made his comments after speaking to the audience of department employees and farm groups about upcoming farm legislation in Congress. He closed the speech by asking the group to "hang with me for a second" while he diverged from the subject of agriculture.
Texass
Adviser Asked FBI To Dispute Russia Reports
White House
White House chief of staff Reince Priebus asked a top FBI official to dispute media reports that President Donald Trump's campaign advisers were frequently in touch with Russian intelligence agents during the election, a White House official said late Thursday.
The official said Priebus' request came after the FBI told the White House it believed a New York Times report last week describing those contacts was not accurate. As of Thursday, the FBI had not stated that position publicly and there was no indication it planned to.
The New York Times reported that U.S. agencies had intercepted phone calls last year between Russian intelligence officials and members of Trump's 2016 campaign team.
Priebus' discussion with FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe sparked outrage among some Democrats, who said he was violating policies intended to limit communications between the law enforcement agency and the White House on pending investigations.
"The White House is simply not permitted to pressure the FBI to make public statements about a pending investigation of the president and his advisers," said Michigan Rep. John Conyers, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
White House
Sex Assault Trial
Cosby
A judge ruled on Friday that a second woman who said comedian Bill Cosby sexually assaulted her would be allowed to testify at his upcoming trial in Pennsylvania on charges he sexually assaulted a former employee of Temple University.
Cosby has denied any wrongdoing, but the accusations have shattered his image as an icon of family-friendly entertainment.
Constand worked with the women's basketball team at Temple University, where Cosby, a university alumnus, befriended her. She says Cosby drugged her and sexually assaulted her when she visited him at his home in Pennsylvania. Cosby says the encounter was consensual.
Montgomery County prosecutors had asked in December to have up to 13 other women who have accused Cosby speak at the trial as "evidence of prior bad acts," arguing it showed a pattern of behavior. Cosby's defense lawyers fought the request, calling it a "bandwagon" of uncorroborated accounts.
Judge Steven O'Neill of the county's Court of Common Pleas ruled that only the woman identified as Prior Alleged Victim Six should testify.
Cosby
T-rump Wants Challenger Repeat
NASA
The Trump administration has directed NASA to study whether it is feasible to fly astronauts on the debut flight of the agency's heavy-lift rocket, a mission currently planned to be unmanned and targeted to launch in late 2018, officials said on Friday.
Under former President Barack Obama, the U.S. space agency was working on the heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket and Orion deep-space capsule with the aim of sending astronauts to rendezvous with an asteroid in the mid-2020s, followed by a human expedition to Mars in the 2030s.
The request for the study from the new Republican president's administration tweaks that plan by exploring whether to add a crew to an earlier test flight and perhaps setting the stage for a human return to the moon.
NASA officials said they do not feel compelled to fly the test mission with crew aboard, Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's head of human space flight, told reporters on a conference call.
A NASA safety oversight panel on Thursday cautioned that the agency should have compelling reasons for adding crew to justify the extra cost, risk to human life and schedule delays.
NASA
Israel Bans Worker
Human Rights Watch
Israel has denied a work permit to a Human Rights Watch researcher, accusing the group of serving as Palestinian propagandists in a move the U.S.-based organisation called an "ominous turn".
Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said the decision had been taken because of HRW's "extreme, hostile anti-Israel agenda which was working at the service of Palestinian propaganda...in a totally biased manner."
The news emerged as Israel faced criticism from the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva over the 18-month jail sentence handed to an Israeli soldier who shot an incapacitated Palestinian assailant in the head. The council called it an "apparent extrajudicial execution of an unarmed man".
HRW said it was "disappointing that the Israeli government seems unable or unwilling to distinguish between justified criticisms of its actions and hostile political propaganda".
The organisation had been granted unimpeded access to Israel and the West Bank for three decades. Israel had now joined Cuba, Egypt, North Korea, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela as countries that have impeded its access, HRW said.
Human Rights Watch
"T-rump Is Kremlin's Puppet"
Russian Editor
Many Russians believe that President Donald Trump (R-Crooked) is a "puppet" in Russian President Vladimir Putin's hands and is being used to fulfill his agenda of discrediting democracies across the world, the editor-in-chief of the Moscow Times, a prominent Russian newspaper critical of Putin's politics, said Wednesday.
Mikhail Fishman said popular opinion in Russia is that Trump is a "stupid, unstrategic politician" who can be manipulated for the Kremlin's benefit. He also said Russia is looking to take advantage of the Trump administration's many slip-ups during its first month in office. "They see the clumsiness, the inexperience. Naturally, they're working to exploit that," Fishman said.
Fishman said Putin's ultimate aim - stemming from his identity as an ex-Soviet intelligence officer - was to undermine the concept of democracy. The Moscow Times editor-in-chief explained: "He wants to point to the chaos in these countries and say to his domestic audience, 'You see, democracy is a sham, and it doesn't work anywhere.'"
"That serves as a justification for his own anti-democratic policies," Fishman added. "In the end, it's about reinforcing his own power."
Russian Editor
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