Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: The Great Snake Oil Slump (NY Times)
True, tax cuts probably had less to do with past G.O.P. successes than many party activists seem to imagine. Other factors were often much more important. But those other factors also aren't what they used to be. I mean, claims to be the defenders of family values have lost their punch partly because the public has become far more socially tolerant - Americans now support same-sex marriage by a two-to-one majority! - and partly because the current resident of the White House may be the worst family man in America. Flag-waving claims to be more patriotic than Democrats worked well for Reagan and Bush, but are much more problematic for a G.O.P. that looks more and more like the party of Putin.
Nick Hanauer: That $4,000 raise Donald Trump and Paul Ryan promised you was a trickle-down lie (USA Today)
Here's the reality: If Trump wanted to give you a raise, he wouldn't rely on trickle-down lies to do it. A mere $2 increase in the minimum wage would give millions of hardworking Americans a$4,000 raise. A modest updating of our overtime regulations would give a $4,000 raise to tens of millions more. And of course, if Trump really wanted to put $4,000 in Americans' pockets, he could have instead given those trillions of dollars in tax cuts directly to people like you, instead of giving them to your boss.
Molly Haskell: "The Awful Truth: Divorce, McCarey Style" (Criterion)
As a director, McCarey would become a master of improvisation, and his scripts read like his early CV-they are full of holes and hard to pin down, chaotic and spontaneous, quicksilver and intuitive. Frank Capra and Ernst Lubitsch, to whom he was compared, had more sustained careers-Capra more good films, Lubitsch more great ones. But at his best, McCarey was better than Capra and equal to Lubitsch.
Rebecca Nicholson: It was panned on release - so why are we hopelessly devoted to Grease 40 years later? (The Guardian)
An endorsement of rape culture or a rejection of slut-shaming: the debate over the film continues, four decades on. How did it become arguably the most beloved movie musical of all time?
Ryan Menezes: 5 Ways To Keep Your Superhero Movie From Being Terrible (Cracked)
Thanks to Marvel/Disney's seemingly impenetrable formula for box office success, we now get more good superhero films than bad ones, a reality that seemed impossible in 2005. But while this has led to way fewer Elektra-style disasters, there are still studios that haven't quite figured out what makes these movies work. As a free service, we're providing this handy guide.
Jocelyn McClurg: Is your favorite novel on this PBS list of 100 popular books? Get ready to vote (USA Today)
What's your favorite novel? Is it on the list below?
Aging (NutritionFacts.org)
A six-year study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found three behaviors exerted enormous impact on mortality: not currently smoking, consuming a healthier diet, and moderately exercising at least 21 minutes a day. People with one of the three behaviors had a 40 percent lower risk of dying within that six-year period. Those with two out of three more than halved their chances of dying, and those with all three reduced their chances of dying in that time by 82 percent.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
Apple Watch
David
Thanks, Dave!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Twitter on Predator's new lawyer
Sometimes I like twitter:
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
"I WANT TO KILL! KILL! KILL!
"AGENTS OF INTOLERANCE."
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Back to sunny and seasonal.
Another Savage Nickname
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro let loose again with some fierce criticism of President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Pendejo).
The two-time Oscar-winner used Wednesday's press preview of the 17th annual Tribeca Film Festival in New York to take aim at Trump - and he bestowed another insulting new nickname on the president. "The country has had a bad year and you, the press, have taken a lot of hits," De Niro told reporters covering the event, per Deadline.
De Niro said America was "being run by a madman who wouldn't recognize the truth if it came inside a bucket of his beloved Colonel Sanders Fried Chicken." He dubbed Trump "our lowlife-in-chief."
De Niro has previously called Trump "a fucking idiot," "a bullshit artist," and " a flat-out blatant racist."
Robert De Niro
Backs Out Of Israel Award
Natalie Portman
Actress Natalie Portman has pulled out of accepting a prestigious award in Israel because she said her conscience prevented her from doing so, the Genesis Prize Foundation said.
The Jerusalem-born "Black Swan" actress was scheduled to accept the Genesis Prize, a so-called Jewish Nobel, in June, but the Genesis Prize Foundation said in a news release on Thursday that a rep for Portman explained the Oscar winner would not attend because of "recent events in Israel."
The foundation quoted Portman's rep as saying that "recent events in Israel have been extremely distressing" to the actress, and that "she cannot in good conscience move forward with the ceremony."
The prize was established in 2013 to honor those who inspire Jewish values. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, actor Michael Douglas and violinist Itzhak Perlman are among its winners.
Portman's announcement follows Israel's response to demonstrations along the Gaza border this month, killing dozens of Palestinians. Portman, who said she was proud of her Israeli roots and Jewish heritage after hearing in November that she would receive the prize, has been critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Natalie Portman
Would 'Rather Be The Good Nixon'
Cynthia Nixon
New York gubernatorial challenger Cynthia Nixon took a swipe at incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo during an appearance on "The Late Show? Wednesday.
Host Stephen Colbert jokingly asked the "Sex and the City" star about her campaign slogan, and the jabs began.
"Why 'Cynthia for New York?' Why not 'Nixon for New York?'" asked Colbert.
Nixon told a story of her mother to explain why "Nixon for New York" conjures former President Richard Nixon, and it quickly turned into a dig at Cuomo.
"My mother used to say, she grew up during World War II with a father named Adolf and she lived through the 1970s with a husband named Nixon. So I am aware of the dubious nature of my last name. But I have to say, if given a choice, I would rather be the good Nixon than the bad Cuomo," she said.
Cynthia Nixon
German Theater
"Mein Kampf"
A theater in southern Germany is proceeding with plans to open a satirical play Friday about Adolf Hitler's youth in which some patrons will be wearing swastika armbands, despite objections and legal complaints.
Though named after Hitler's infamous anti-Semitic manifesto, the play tells a fictional story of how a young Hitler is befriended in Vienna by a Jewish man who takes pity on him for his futile pursuit of a career as an artist and puts him on his political path, as well as helping him with his hairstyle.
Tabori, who was born into a Jewish family in Budapest in 1914, was known for his avant-garde works that confronted anti-Semitism. He died in 2007. Though Tabori was able to flee the Nazis himself, his father and other family members were killed in the Auschwitz death camp.
His dark farce "Mein Kampf" has been performed many times, and was made into a German-language film a decade ago.
But in a twist introduced by the Konstanz Theater, patrons who agree to wear a swastika armband will be given free admittance, while those who purchase tickets will be asked to wear a Jewish Star of David.
"Mein Kampf"
Has Lied For Decades
Wealth
President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Crooked) repeatedly lied for decades about his net worth to attain a higher spot on the famed Forbes 400 list and brand himself as New York's wealthiest real estate developer, according to a reporter he encountered in 1982 for the magazine's first such list.
Journalist Jonathan Greenberg described how Trump originally claimed that year to be worth $900 million when he was contacted for Forbes's inaugural wealth list, the reporter wrote in a story published Friday by The Washington Post .
Trump reportedly cited a supposed 80 percent stake in the Trump Organization's real estate empire, consisting of an apparent 23,000 apartments across Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens. He also said he had vast control of the property, not his father, Fred Trump.
Donald Trump claimed each of the apartments was worth $40,000, but when Greenberg questioned Trump's valuation, the budding real estate titan replied, "OK, then $20,000 each."
However, when that list was being compiled, Trump actually had no stake in his father's company and was worth less than $5 million, according to the report. And Fred Trump did not relinquish ownership of his company until his death in 1999.
Wealth
But He Did
Moscow
The newly released memos by FBI Director James Comey reveal that President-for-now Trump (R-Corrupt) repeatedly pushed back hard on claims that he once consorted with prostitutes in Moscow, claiming that he didn't even spend a night in the Russian capital during his 2013 trip there.
At a Jan. 27, 2017, private dinner with the president, Comey wrote, Trump was adamant that the claim about hookers in Moscow, made in a dossier compiled by a former British spy Christopher Steele, was a "complete fabrication." He told Comey he had checked with associates and was reminded "that he didn't stay overnight in Russia" on the trip, during which he presided over the Miss Universe contest. After flying into Moscow in the morning, he "departed for New York that same night," Trump told Comey, according to one of the former FBI chief's memos.
But there is abundant evidence that Trump's account to the FBI director was false: Social media posts, photographs and the account of at least two associates - including Trump's former security chief - indicate that Trump arrived in Moscow on Nov. 8, 2013, spent the night at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and didn't leave the city until after the Miss Universe was finished late on the evening of Nov. 9.
Indeed, Trump himself had previously boasted of spending more time in Moscow than he admitted to Comey. "I called it my weekend in Moscow," Trump said during a September 2015 radio interview on "The Hugh Hewitt Show."
As recounted in the book "Russian Roulette" by myself and David Corn, Trump flew to Moscow on Nov. 8, 2013, aboard a plane owned by Phil Ruffin, a wealthy Las Vegas casino magnate, after attending a celebration for evangelist Billy Graham's 95th birthday the night before in North Carolina. Trump then attended a lunch that day with Russian businessmen at the Nobu restaurant, a swank eatery co-owned by actor Robert De Niro and Aras Agalarov, a billionaire oligarch who was Trump's partner in the Miss Universe pageant.
Moscow
WWII Bomb Defused
Berlin
Berlin police evacuated thousands of people from a central area of the German capital Friday and shut down the main train station as a precaution while they defused and removed an unexploded World War II bomb found during recent construction work.
Some 10,000 residents and workers were forced to leave a two-square-kilometer (almost a square mile) area, including the train station, while bomb experts defused the 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) British bomb dropped during the war.
Trains were prevented from stopping at the busy station from 10 a.m., and through traffic was shut down at 11:30 a.m. before experts began their work, German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said. Some 300,000 travelers use the station daily.
Bomb disposal experts were able to successfully remove the detonator just after 1 p.m. and destroy it in a small controlled explosion.
The evacuation area, a circle around the construction site north of the train station where the bomb was discovered during digging, also included a hospital, the new offices of Germany's foreign intelligence service, and parts of both the economy and transportation ministries.
Berlin
Waiting To Happen
Yellowstone Supervolcano
Yellowstone National Park sits squarely over a giant, active volcano. This requires attention.
Yellowstone has been a national park since 1872, but it was only in the 1960s that scientists realized the scale of the volcano - it's 44 miles across - and not until the 1980s did they grasp that this thing is fully alive and still threatens to erupt catastrophically. Yellowstone is capable of eruptions thousands of times more violent than the Mount St. Helens eruption of 1980. The northern Rockies would be buried in multiple feet of ash. Ash would rain on almost everyone in the United States. It'd be a bad day. Thus geologists are eager to understand what, exactly, is happening below all those volcano-fueled hot springs and geysers.
Obviously they'd like to know if and when Yellowstone will blow again, and with what level of explosiveness. A major eruption would be a low-probability, high-consequence event, a proverbial Black Swan, something that could have societal and planetary effects. The problem for scientists is that these big "supervolcano" eruptions rarely happen, and the most important action is out of sight, many miles below the surface, involving chaotic forces, complex chemistry and enigmatic geological features.
One new study has offered insight on Yellowstone's hidden architecture. It modeled the way magma rises from deep in the Earth's interior and creates two large chambers of partially melted rock beneath the surface of the national park.
These two magma chambers are stacked, and separated by a layer (called a "sill," like a window sill) of non-melted rock. The magma rising from the Earth's mantle flows easily and doesn't hold much gas. It cools and solidifies as it collides with relatively cold crust, forming the sill, the top of which is about 6 miles below the surface.
Yellowstone Supervolcano
First Genetic Adaptation To Diving
'Sea Nomads'
Researchers have discovered the first evidence that people can genetically adapt to deep diving, as shown by the unusually large spleens in indigenous people of Indonesia known as the "Sea Nomads," a study said Thursday.
The spear-fishing Bajau people regularly free-dive to depths of up to 230 feet (70 meters), with only weights and a wooden mask.
They spend up to 60 percent of their work day diving for fish, spearing octopus and gathering crustaceans -- an amount of time rivaled only by sea otters -- and can stay underwater up to 13 minutes at a time, said the report in the journal Cell.
Intrigued by this unusual ability, American researcher Melissa Ilardo, then a post doctoral candidate at the Centre for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen, wondered if they had genetically adapted somehow to be able to spend more time underwater than other people.
She took genetic samples and did ultrasound scans, which showed that Bajau had spleens about 50 percent larger than the Saluan. Spleens are important in diving -- and are also enlarged in some seals -- because they release more oxygen into the blood when the body is under stress, or a person is holding their breath underwater.
'Sea Nomads'
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