Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Josh Marshall: Shutdowns Are Part of the GOP Brand. Of Course They Get the Blame. (TPM)
At the end of the day, it's the same practice of legislative hostage-taking practiced by the GOP and President Trump. In this case, it's combined with the chaos and incompetence which is the calling card of Trump-Era Capitol Hill. These are key things that the Democrats need to happen. If the GOP can't even keep the government open on their own and need the help of the Democrats who have no power at all, they need to resolve these issues. Again, shutdowns are part of the Republican brand - and for good reason. This isn't complicated.
Marc Dion: How Tall is the President? (Creators Syndicate)
I'm 6 feet tall, or I was. Two years ago, when I was 58, I switched doctors. The new doctor weighed me and checked my height. I asked her how tall I was, and she said I was 5 foot 11 and enough change left over to buy a bag of potato chips from the office vending machine. I was unprepared. I'd been 6 feet tall since I was 16, and I liked saying I was 6 feet tall. It's a manly height, but not freakish.
Mark Shields: Our Sore President (Creators Syndicate)
What we have now in the White House is our first "sore winner" president. Forget everything you have ever learned about the virtue of being proud in defeat and humble and gracious in victory. […] Successful American leaders, who are able to remind their fellow citizens about why we are all proud to be Americans, realize that politics is a matter of addition, not subtraction. Respected and successful presidents are not sore winners.
Mark Shields: "Always Proud He was My President" (Creators Syndicate)
Kennedy noted that every American who has ever lived, "with the exception of one group," has been either an immigrant or the direct descendant of an immigrant. Of course, the exceptions include - as Will Rogers, proud of his Cherokee blood, observed - those who were there on the shore to greet the Mayflower. When Kennedy began A Nation of Immigrants, he quoted the historian Oscar Handlin, who wrote, "Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history."
Mark Shields: A Prophet Who Deserves a Little Honor (Creators Syndicate)
Not quite a year ago, this man, Dan Rottenberg of Philadelphia, whom I do not personally know, wrote, "As a financial journalist, I have followed Trump for more than 30 years - long before he aspired to the White House." Based upon that experience, this now-75-year-old author, editor and reporter made the following unequivocal predictions: "Trump will never release his tax returns. To do so would destroy his self-image as a successful businessman and generous philanthropist. […]
Lenore Skenazy: Time to Stop Criminalizing Parents Whose Kids Play Outside (Creators Syndicate)
The Utah Legislature is reviewing a bill that would decriminalize the actions of responsible parents who let their kids walk or play outside.
Froma Harrop: Democrats Need to Stop Ingesting the Right's Propaganda (Creators Syndicate)
Donald Trump is fabulously adept at taking credit for and exaggerating every bit of good news, especially good economic news. When the news is bad, he changes the subject. Trump is the master, but Republicans generally are skilled at fine-tailoring reality for their benefit.
Simon Hattenstone: "My son, James Bulger: 'I don't have the energy for anger any more'" (The Guardian)
James Bulger was killed one month short of his third birthday in 1993. It was a murder that shocked, and which continues to shock, Britain. James was tortured to death by two 10-year-olds, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, who left him on a railway track to be hit by a train.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
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
THE FOX IS IN THE HENHOUSE.
THE "JEFF" SESSIONS.
A MAN OF SATAN!
ELEPHANTS ARE DUMB, CORRUPT ANIMALS.
THE TRUMP FILES.
TRUMPIVERSARY!
MEET THE PENGUINS.
"MAY YOUR HOME BE DESTROYED."
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
Gets Woke
Axl Rose
Guns N' Roses' frontman Axl Rose had an incredibly pithy take Friday on Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and his role in the latest assault on special counsel Robert Mueller's probe. "Fuck Nunes," he tweeted.
And Twitter exploded. Fans were beside themselves that their man finally got woke. There were lots of "welcome to the jungles" in honor of the Guns N' Roses hit song.
All it took for Axl's tweet was a story floated by the Republicans that the Obama administration spied on Donald Trump's campaign team by allegedly abusing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It's all there in a secret four-page memo viewed by members of Congress. The problem? It's written by Republicans, orchestrated by Nunes and, Democrats complain, designed to try to cut Mueller's probe off at the knees.
One of his fans even managed to unearth an ancient photo of the congressman long before he was head of the House Intelligence Committee.
To be fair, the singer has been plenty woke for a while about current political events. He has slammed Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the "disgraceful" White House. Back in October he criticized Mike Pence for his estimated $200,000 trip to an Indianapolis Colts game just so the vice president could storm out when some members of the visiting San Francisco 49ers predictably took a knee in protest of racial injustice.
Axl Rose
Meteorite Hunters
Michigan
Meteorite hunters who flocked to Detroit from across the U.S. after a meteor exploded are finding the fragments.
The 6-foot-wide meteor broke apart Tuesday about 20 miles over Earth, NASA scientists said. Most of the fragments landed in Hamburg Township.
The first fragments were located Thursday by professional hunters Larry Atkins and Robert Ward of Arizona, according to the American Meteor Society. Atkins owns Cosmic Connection Meteorites, while Ward operates Robert Ward Meteorites.
"It's a really spectacular specimen," Ward said while holding one of the meteorites. "Two days ago, this was hundreds of thousands of miles past the moon, and now I'm standing here holding it in my hand. It's been a real good day."
Ward estimates he's collected about 600 meteorites from around the world over the years.
Michigan
Wants To Know
Delta
Delta Air Lines will soon require owners of service and support animals to provide more information before their animal can fly in the passenger cabin, including an assurance that it's trained to behave itself.
The airline says complaints about animals biting or urinating or defecating on planes have nearly doubled since 2016.
Starting March 1, Delta will require owners to show proof of their animal's health or vaccinations at least 48 hours before a flight.
Owners of psychiatric service animals and of those used for emotional support will need to sign a statement vouching that their animal can behave. But owners will be on the honor system - they won't have to show, for example, that their dog graduated from obedience school.
The new requirements don't apply to pets, for which owners pay an extra fee. Delta, American and United all charge $125 each way for small pets in the cabin. Pets that don't fit under a seat must fly in the cargo hold, also for a price.
Delta
Shamanism Event
Alaska
An Alaska Native group spoke out Friday against a shamanism retreat, saying the event commercializes and exploits the spiritual healing practices of indigenous people.
The Juneau-based Sealaska Heritage Institute voiced its opposition to the pricey June retreat in a letter emailed Friday to the event sponsor, Dance of the Deer Foundation. The event - billed as the 24th in Alaska - is scheduled for June 22 to July 1 at an undisclosed lodge outside Juneau.
In the short letter, Heritage Institute president Rosita Worl calls the event "a violation of a most sacred tradition of Native peoples." She asked that the foundation not come to the area that's considered the ancient homeland of a Tlingit group.
Worl said the event appears to be another form of cultural appropriation.
The Dance of the Deer Foundation later apologized for not reaching out to the Alaska Native organization.
Alaska
GOP Lawmaker
Las Vegas
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) told Fox "News" host Tucker Carlson he believes the Islamic State terror group masterminded the Las Vegas shooting that killed 58 people in October.
"I smell a rat, like a lot of Americans. Nothing's adding up," Perry said Thursday on "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
"It's been four months, as you said, the man's dead, they said he's a lone gunman, lone shooter, yet we can't get the autopsy results," Perry continued. "But even more troubling than that, I've been made aware of what I believe to be credible evidence, credible information, regarding terrorist infiltration through the southern border regarding this incident."
Perry didn't elaborate on the "credible" information, nor did he explain why he thinks gunman Stephen Paddock, who killed himself in the massacre, wasn't acting alone, as investigators tend to believe.
"Let's face it, ISIS, twice before the attack, warned the U.S. they would attack Las Vegas … and then after the attack claimed responsibility four times," Perry said. "Meanwhile, the local law enforcement investigative services are telling us there is no terrorist connection."
Las Vegas
Sales Of Properties Suggest
Money-Laundering
Testimony to the U.S. Congress by the head of a political research firm indicates that the Trump Organization's sales of properties to Russian nationals may have involved money-laundering, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said on Thursday.
The panel released the transcript of a Nov. 14 closed-door interview with Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson, whose firm hired a former British spy to research then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign ties to Russians and produced a dossier.
"Those transcripts reveal serious allegations that the Trump Organization may have engaged in money laundering with Russian nationals," Representative Adam Schiff said.
Another Democrat on the Republican-controlled committee, Representative Jim Hines, sought to temper Schiff's comment, telling CNN that Simpson "did not provide evidence and I think that's an important point. He made allegations."
The House of Representatives panel is conducting one of the three congressional investigations into possible collusion between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is leading a separate probe by the U.S. Justice Department. Moscow denies the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that it interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump and Trump denies any collusion.
Money-Laundering
Appointee Resigns
Offensive Comments
Carl Higbie, the chief of external affairs for the Corporation for National and Community Service, resigned Thursday after CNN unearthed a litany of offensive and discriminatory remarks he'd made on various radio segments.
Formerly a surrogate for President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Crooked) during his 2016 presidential campaign, as well as a former spokesman for the Great America PAC, the retired Navy SEAL was appointed to work in the federal body that oversees volunteer groups like AmeriCorps a mere six months ago.
In the segments, which occurred as recently as 2016, Higbie employs a number of offensive stereotypes about minorities, saying that black people suffer from a "lax of morality" and that they "think that breeding is a form of employment." He also accused soldiers with PTSD of having a "weak mind." And he claimed that people should have the right to shoot at immigrants "in the face" if they attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.
"Somebody who lives in my condo association that has five kids, and it's her and her husband with the five kids and the mother, the grandmother of the kids, and they don't have jobs, they're there all the time ? I bet you can guess what color they are - and they have no job," Higbie said on one episode of "Sound of Freedom," an internet talk radio show, according to clips discovered by CNN's KFile.
"Rhode Island, land of more liberals, has just OK'ed, gay marriage," Higbie said in a May 2013 "Sound of Freedom" clip. "Congratuf'in'lations, you suck, Rhode Island. Why would you do that? Go ahead and twist the knife a little, little bit more. I mean, you are breaking the morals, the moral fiber of our country. You know, I don't like gay people. I just don't."
Offensive Comments
Restricts Farm Chemical
Arkansas
In a blow to manufacturers Monsanto Co and BASF SE, Arkansas state lawmakers voted on Friday to bar sprayings of a controversial weed killer after mid-April to protect farmers from potential crop damage.
Arkansas will prohibit the use of herbicides based on a chemical known as dicamba from April 16 to Oct. 31, the strictest state limits imposed on the product after it was linked to millions of acres of U.S. crop damage last year.
The ban makes it less attractive for farmers to buy soybean and cotton seeds that Monsanto engineered to resist dicamba because the crops are designed to be sprayed with the chemical during the summer growing season.
Monsanto is banking on its dicamba-based herbicide and soybean seeds engineered to tolerate it, called Xtend, to dominate soybean production in the United States, the world's second-largest exporter.
The United States faced an agricultural crisis last year caused by new formulations of dicamba herbicides. Farmers and weed experts said the products evaporated and drifted away from where they were applied, hurting crops that could not resist them.
Arkansas
Vulgar Africa Comment Morphs
Tourism Campaigns
First, there was outrage in Africa at President-for-now Donald Trump's (R-Pendejo) vulgar comment about the continent. Now some governments and tourism operators are humorously exploiting it to promote Africa's many attractions.
Trump referred to African nations as "shithole countries" last week during a meeting in Washington, according to several participants. The president denied using that language.
The Gondwana Collection, a private tourism operator in Namibia, has released a video featuring the southern African nation's wildlife and natural beauty. A narrator mimicking Trump's voice and repeating his remark invites people to visit "Africa's No. 1" such country. He also reminds listeners of an earlier gaffe when Trump met African leaders and referred to a country called "Nambia," which doesn't exist.
"You can fight the negative with the negative, or you can give some pushback with the tongue-in-cheek approach," Gys Joubert, Gondwana Collection's managing director, told The Associated Press. "We like the fun side of life. We are glad that we could create and share and send a few smiles around the world."
Elsewhere in southern Africa, a Facebook page promoting Zambian tourism includes an image of a vehicle in a rugged setting and a slogan welcoming visitors to "(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)hole Zambia."
Tourism Campaigns
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