Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: Donald Trump's Ghost Dance (Creators Syndicate)
If you danced the Ghost Dance, Trump said, the black people would go away and the factories would return. Also, the Muslims would go away, and most of the Mexicans and the gays. Things would be the way they once were, back when things made sense.
CAMERON NORSWORTHY: 6 Jeff Sessions Quotes About Race That Reveal What Looks Like Deep-Seated Prejudice (Romper)
Jeff Sessions quotes about race show that he harbors deep prejudices that have interfered with his ability to do his job in the past: Sessions was denied a federal judge position in 1986 after a series of hearings found him too questionable a candidate.
ERIC LICHTBLAU: Jeff Sessions, as Attorney General, Could Overhaul Department He's Skewered (NY Times)
If he is confirmed [and he was], Mr. Sessions, who is considered one of the most conservative members of the Senate, will most likely push for wholesale changes and hard-line stances on immigration, terrorism, crime, drugs and guns. Democrats fear he could wipe away progress in civil rights, changes in sentencing and police accountability.
ALEX ISENSTADT, KENNETH P. VOGEL and JOSH DAWSEY: Trump vexed by challenges, scale of government (Politico)
The new president's allies say he has been surprised that government can't be run like his business.
Tierney Sneed: Insurer Scores A $200M Court Win After GOP Move To Block O'Care Payments (TPM)
"Refusing to pay is a shabby way to treat insurers, which entered the exchanges in reliance on the federal government's promises," Bagley wrote at the blog, Incidental Economist. "Our president, however, has a track record of stiffing business partners. I wouldn't be surprised if he signed a law doing just that."
Frankie Boyle: "Donald Trump: a man so obnoxious that karma may see him reincarnated as himself" (The Guardian)
All presidents come into office with something to prove, it's just rarely their sanity. Comedian Frankie Boyle asks if the answer to stopping him rests in our hands.
Steven Johnson: Is it wrong to laugh at Donald Trump? (The Guardian)
Make no mistake, these are dark times. But it makes sense that we should find ourselves reaching for punchlines when we want to throw punches.
Susan Estrich: Truth or Consequences (Creators Syndicate)
This is what is bad: It is bad to have a president who does not know or care about the difference between what is true and what is not true. There are unknowns; there are relative differences; there are differences of opinion. But there is such a thing as the truth. There is such a thing as a fact. There is also such a thing as a lie.
Froma Harrop: Is Trump Really Running Things? (Creators Syndicate)
John R. Schindler, a former National Security Agency analyst and counterintelligence officer, is no one's idea of a liberal. But Trump's weird behavior on the national security stage has Schindler calling on Congress to do its job and get Trump out of office. "Our mission now is to put White House back in the hands of sane people," Schindler tweeted. "This is not about R or D, but don't destroy the planet w yr Twitter."
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took the day off.
took the day off.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
Current Events
Cynthia shared the link. Hysterically funny if frighteningly possible.
This Ancestry.com 'Border Patrol' Parody Is Funny And Possibly Frightening | The Huffington Post
I vote she should personally buy pencils for every teacher in the entire nation!
Betsy DeVos' First Day on the Job: They Don't Give Teachers Pencils Anymore | Alternet
3 Lumpy cartoons--for someone who doesn't like being taunted, he keeps giving critics lots of fodder for their taunts.
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
R.I.P. GRANDDAD.
"LET'S GO! ON WITH THE SHOW!"
DUMP THIS DOPE!
THE REAL TRUMP CONSTITUENCY.
NEXT ON THE MENU WE HAVE ROASTED BALD EAGLE!
THE STUPID TRAITOR!
"WHAT WE ALL KNOW IS COMING."
DON'T WORRY. DJT IS NOT A CROOK. HEE HAW!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
More rain.
Grammy Gala
Tom Petty
Tom Petty declared himself a willing part of the subversive "conspiracy" of rock and roll as he was honored in a star-studded bash ahead of the Grammy Awards.
A-listers including Stevie Nicks and Foo Fighters interpreted Petty's songs Friday night at MusiCares, an annual concert that celebrates an artist's contributions and raises money for musicians in need.
The 66-year-old rocker reunited his backup band The Heartbreakers for the show as they jammed out "Don't Come Around Here No More" and "Runnin' Down a Dream."
In a speech to the gala, which takes place ahead of Sunday's Grammys, Petty delved into the history of rock 'n roll, a term credited to the DJ Alan Freed.
"The music became popular and it empowered the youth of America and the government got very nervous -- especially the Republicans," Petty said to laughter from the crowd at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Tom Petty
'Cycling Girls'
Iraq
Her name is Marina Jaber but to many she is "the girl on the bike", a young Baghdad artist inspiring Iraqi women to exercise their rights one pedal at a time.
In Iraq's conservative society, the young woman cuts an unusual figure when she rides her red bicycle in the streets of the capital, her long black hair swaying in the wind.
What started off as an art project became a social media meme and then a civil society movement. A group of women now gathers regularly to cycle in Baghdad and break new ground.
"My mother and my grandmother used to ride bicycles. It used to be normal," Jaber told AFP.
Iraq
Turkish Novelist Won't Stay Silent
Asli Erdogan
Internationally acclaimed Turkish novelist Asli Erdogan is still haunted by "the shadow of prison" where she spent over four months, fearing it could begin again any time.
But the writer insists she will not stay silent, refusing to leave Turkey for a comfortable exile elsewhere.
Erdogan, 49, was released from jail in December after being held for 132 days on terror propaganda charges during a probe into the now-closed Ozgur Gundem newspaper, which Ankara condemned as a mouthpiece for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Her detention sparked an international outcry, with critics saying freedom of expression had been drastically curtailed in Turkey following the crackdown in the wake of last July's failed coup which sought to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Although the court ordered her release, the charges remain in place, with her next hearing due on March 14. If convicted, she could still face life imprisonment.
Asli Erdogan
Weather, Deforestation Curb Migration
Monarch Butterflys
More than 27 percent fewer monarch butterflies migrated to Mexican forests during the 2016/2017 season, a study showed on Thursday, fueling concerns the orange-and-black insect could face growing threats from weather and deforestation.
During the second half of December 2016, monarch butterflies covered 2.91 hectares (7.2 acres) of fir and pine forests in the central states of Michoacan and Mexico, compared with 4.01 hectares (9.9 acres) in the same period in the previous year, the study said.
Led by the World Wildlife Fund, Mexico's National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), and others, the study cited fewer mating sites, extreme weather and deforestation as threats to the migration of the monarch butterfly.
Monarch density in Mexico reached a record low during the 2013/2014 season, when the butterfly occupied just 0.67 hectares (1.6 acres) of the forests, the study noted.
While their numbers have rebounded in recent years since, they are still well below what they were two decades ago.
Monarch Butterflys
(Secretly) Run The World
Algorithms
When you browse online for a new pair of shoes, pick a movie to stream on Netflix or apply for a car loan, an algorithm likely has its word to say on the outcome.
The complex mathematical formulas are playing a growing role in all walks of life: from detecting skin cancers to suggesting new Facebook friends, deciding who gets a job, how police resources are deployed, who gets insurance at what cost, or who is on a "no fly" list.
Algorithms are being used -- experimentally -- to write news articles from raw data, while Donald Trump's presidential campaign was helped by behavioral marketers who used an algorithm to locate the highest concentrations of "persuadable voters."
But while such automated tools can inject a measure of objectivity into erstwhile subjective decisions, fears are rising over the lack of transparency algorithms can entail, with pressure growing to apply standards of ethics or "accountability."
Data scientist Cathy O'Neil cautions about "blindly trusting" formulas to determine a fair outcome.
Algorithms
WWII Bomb Defused
Greece
Greek authorities on Saturday began evacuating some 70,000 people in the city of Thessaloniki ahead of an operation to defuse a bomb from World War II.
The bomb, containing nearly 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of explosives, was unearthed in the northern city during road works last week and is due to be defused on Sunday.
More than 300 disabled people and bedbound patients were set to be the first evacuated on Saturday using 20 ambulances, authorities from Greece's second city said.
The full evacuation of all residents within a 1.9-kilometre (1.1-mile) radius of the bomb site, affecting three working-class neighbourhoods around west of the city-centre, is due to be completed before 0800 GMT on Sunday.
The operation is unprecedented in Greece, "where a bomb of this size has never been found in an area this densely populated," Tzitzikostas added.
Greece
Elephant Habitats Shrink
India
Wildlife activists say human encroachment in the forests of northeast India have forced elephants out of their natural habitats, triggering conflicts with locals.
Conservationists have urged the government to prevent encroachments and free corridors that are used by elephants to move across forests in search of food. In recent years, there have been many incidents where wild elephants have entered villages, destroyed crops and even killed people.
Forest official D.D. Gogoi said Friday that in the latest incident, forest guards had to set fire to wild grass to drive back three wild elephants that came out of the Amchang Reserve forest in Assam state.
Villagers pelted elephants with stones but were chased away by the animals until forests guards came to their rescue.
"It's an alarming situation. The elephants rampage through villages in search of food as their habitats are being overtaken by people," said Mubina Akhtar, a wildlife conservationist. "The government has to order the clearance of the elephant corridors."
India
Could Act As Pollinators
Insect-Sized Drones
Small drones coated with horsehair and a sticky gel could one day help pollinate crops and help offset the costly loss of bee populations worldwide, researchers in Japan said Thursday.
The miniature robots described in the journal Chem are a long way from being deployed in the field, but researchers say they may offer a partial solution to the loss of bees due to disease and climate change.
"The findings, which will have applications for agriculture and robotics, among others, could lead to the development of artificial pollinators and help counter the problems caused by declining honeybee populations," said lead author Eijiro Miyako, a chemist at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Nanomaterials Research Institute.
In 2007, Miyako began experimenting with liquids that could be used as electrical conductors.
One failed attempt produced a sticky gel, like hair wax, which he relegated to a storage cabinet for almost a decade.
Insect-Sized Drones
NASA Studying Islands' Volcanoes & Reefs
Hawaii
Whether it's the noxious gases rising from the Kilauea volcano, or the lively coral reefs that sprawl across the seafloor around the island chain, Hawaii's ecosystems are under some serious scientific scrutiny this month.
Researchers are here gathering data using NASA's high-altitude airplanes, outfitted with cameras that capture visible light as well as infrared radiation. One airplane, the ER-2, can soar to 67,000 feet, or "the edge of space," as NASA systems engineer Michael Mercury put it. From that height, on daily flights over the islands, the cameras snap images that the scientists then stitch together and analyze, Mercury said, explaining the project at a media briefing that the space agency held here on Wednesday (Feb. 8).
The goal of this current work in Hawaii is to find the best ways to use these measurements to gain new insights into volcanic activity and coral reef health. For example, scientists studying Hawaii's active volcano are trying to refine their models that predict exactly how and when the "vog," or volcanic smog that forms from Kilauea's gases, will blanket Hawaiian cities instead of blowing out over the Pacific. Other researchers, who study coral reef ecosystems, are using the images from the high-altitude flights to better understand what aspects of water quality make the difference between a thriving reef and one that is overgrown with algae.
But there is a larger goal, too. NASA has plans to launch an Earth-observing satellite into low-Earth orbit in 2022. That project, called the HyspIRI mission (or Hyperspectral Infrared Imager), will provide researchers with images of Earth's surface that are similar to those being gathered now in Hawaii, and from ecosystems all over the world.
The current project in Hawaii will help the researchers to figure out exactly which instruments and equipment are most useful for their work, and should be the ones that are loaded up onto that satellite.
Hawaii
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