Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: The Socioeconomics of Menthol Cigarettes (Creators Syndicate)
"Who do they sell this junk to?" I once said to my wife, holding up a bottle of cupcake-flavored vodka in a local liquor store. "I know who they sell it to," my wife said. "I used to BE a teenage girl." I smoke a pipe. I can tell you from my own experience that I seldom have to fistfight a 16-year-old boy to get the last package of cherry-flavored pipe tobacco.
Mark Shields: Time Past for Democrats to Get Real on Health Care (Creators Syndicate)
Don't pretend changing the law on health care is going to be easy or painless. Where is the 2020 reincarnation of Bill Bradley, the former New Jersey senator and Princeton All-American? History will show that he was the architect-engineer and father of the memorable 1986 Tax Reform Act that dramatically lowered American tax rates while abolishing most deductions and loopholes. Bradley had begun four years earlier, by relentless study, to seek out experts in order to master the tax code.
Ted Rall: Billionaires and Corporations Love Anti-SLAPP Laws. Why Does John Oliver? (Creators Syndicate)
In 2016 The National Enquirer published a cover story about fitness headlined: "Richard Simmons: He's Now a Woman." He wasn't. "Yes, This Photo Shoot Is Real!" It wasn't. The cover photo of "transwoman" Simmons was Photoshopped. Thanks to anti-SLAPP, what should have been an open-and-shut defamation case turned a travesty of justice into a farce. While acknowledging that the paper lied about Simmons, Los Angeles judge said that letting Simmons case go forward was tantamount to saying that it is bad to be trans. Simmons was an innocent victim and the Enquirer knowingly lied. Yet the court ordered Simmons to pay American Media, owner of the paper, $130,000 in legal fees. So much for anti-SLAPP as being a tool for the little guy! AMI brought in $310 million in revenues last year.
Lenore Skenazy: "Don't Trust Anyone Under (or Over) 30" (Creators Syndicate)
Trust is not just a nice character trait or evidence that a person is a sap. It has to be there before we can take any kind of risk, from trying a new activity to falling in love. Without trust, the world is just a rotten place filled with rotten people ready to hurt us. What a miserable outlook to carry through life. So, how can we nurture kids' trust in the world? We gradually let them encounter it. They learn that strangers are just other people. Challenges are things they can handle. Help is something that it's fun to give (that's why parents are always giving it!). As their trust grows, our trust grows in them. It's win-win.
Froma Harrop: Do US Carmakers Want Us to Like Them?( Creators Syndicate)
Ask not why the Trump administration must dismantle America's environmental laws with such gusto. By now, that's a given. Instead, let's ask why some automakers, businesses that must plan years in advance, are siding with a president intent on sowing chaos in their own industry. The issue at hand is President Donald Trump's pointless crusade to strip California of its unique right to limit tailpipe emissions of vehicles sold there. You've got to wonder whether the companies backing these efforts - GM, Toyota, Fiat Chrysler, Subaru and Nissan - are out of their ever-loving minds.
Froma Harrop: Partisan Lines Fade With the Right Candidates (Creators Syndicate)
All this talk about the Democrats' moving to the left belies the reality that the party's resurgence has come from the center. The Democrats' impressive House majority came not from a handful of radicals winning super safe Democratic districts but from moderates who yanked 40 seats from Republicans.
Susan Estrich: The Only Question Left (Creators Syndicate)
To state the obvious, it is clear that people do care. But how much? Enough to break the partisan stranglehold on Congress? Probably not. The president will be impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate. The final verdict will be delivered by the voters. Trump's partisan manipulation of foreign policy for his own benefit adds to a long list of instances where he has desecrated the office he holds and simply denied what was absolutely true. Whether it will ultimately cost him the presidency will likely depend more on who the Democrats offer as an alternative than how many more items get added to the list.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "A mil Km de Distancia" from the album SOLO BLUES Y ROCK
Artist: Adrian Dixon and La 23 Rock Blues
Artist Location: Talca, Chile
Info: "For 8 years, the La 23 formation played live, presenting on different occasions the power trio format of rock and blues in the direction of Adrian Dixon on guitar and vocals, along with Esteban Cáceres on bass and Rafael Rafa on Drums. In the final incorporation Felipe Abarca was added in harmonics and Rony Avendaño in piano and organs." - with help from Google Translate
Price: Name Your Price (Includes FREE)
If you are OK with paying for it, you can use PAYPAL or CREDIT CARD.
Genre: Blues Rock
The album SOLO BLUES Y ROCK has twelve tracks.
Adrian Dixon and La 23 Rock Blues on Bandcamp
David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
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Gabrielle Union & Julianne Hough Out
'America's Got Talent'
For a second year in a row, NBC is shaking up the judging panel on summer juggernaut America's Got Talent.
Sources confirm to Deadline that new judges Gabrielle Union and Julianne Hough won't be returning next summer. Set to come back as judges are AGT staples, Simon Cowell, who is also the show's creator and executive producer, and Howie Mandel.
Union and Hough joined AGT in Season 14, which aired this past summer. This is only the second time in the history of the show that a judge exits after a single season. The first time was after AGT's maiden cycle when original judge Brandy Norwood was replaced by Sharon Osbourne.
The producers decided to try something new last year by replacing long-time judges Mel B and Heidi Klum with Union and Hough. (Klum remained a judge on AGT: The Champions). Talent competition reality shows rely heavily on the chemistry among the judges, which cannot be created.
'America's Got Talent'
2019 Fashion Show Canceled
Victoria's Secret
No angel wings on runway models this holiday season.
Victoria's Secret is ending its nearly quarter-century tradition: It will not hold its annual fashion show this year, a cultural phenomenon that began in 1995.
Various media outlets report parent company L Brands made the announcement during the company's third quarter earnings call Thursday.
The company said the marketing strategy for the brand is evolving.
The move follows months of speculation the show wouldn't happen this year and years of declining TV ratings.
Victoria's Secret
Files Lawsuit
Amazon
Amazon.com Inc filed a lawsuit in a federal U.S. court on Friday contesting the U.S. Defense Department's decision last month to award a Pentagon cloud computing contract worth up to $10 billion to rival bidder Microsoft Corp.
The complaint and supplemental motion for discovery were filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims under seal, according to a spokesman for Amazon Web Services, a division of the online retail giant founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos.
The filings contain "proprietary information, trade secrets, and confidential financial information" that could "cause either party severe competitive harm," Amazon said in a court document seeking a protective order.
Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper rejected any suggestion of bias in the Pentagon's decision to award Microsoft the contract after Amazon announced plans to challenge it.
Amazon had been considered a favorite for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud (JEDI) contract, part of a broader digital modernization project at the Pentagon, before software developer Microsoft emerged as the surprise winner.
Amazon
$100 Million Mega-Mansion
Bel Air
The property tycoon father of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid has been ordered by a judge to demolish his half-built $100 million Bel Air mega-mansion, which has been dubbed the "Starship Enterprise".
Mohamed Hadid has been involved in a long legal battle over the palatial 30,000 sq ft residence after neighbours complained about its size.
A judge in Los Angeles Superior Court decided it was a "clear and present danger" to other properties in the area.
The ruling came after a structural engineer said supporting piles were not driven far enough into the ground underneath the hillside property. The judge said: "If this house came down the hill it would take a portion of the neighbourhood with it."
It was the latest development in a long saga over the project, which was to include an IMAX cinema. Mr Hadid, a property developer, hoped to ultimately sell the mansion for nine figures.
Bel Air
Come Under Fire
Legal Views
A group of conservative-leaning lawyers criticized Attorney General William Barr (R-Complicit) for the expansive view of presidential power he espoused in a recent speech and for his conclusion this spring that President Donald Trump had not obstructed justice in the Russia investigation.
"In recent months, we have become concerned by the conduct of Attorney General William Barr," the group, Checks & Balances, said in a statement that was shared Friday with The New York Times.
Members of the group have sharply denounced what they described as abuses of power by Trump, who is facing a fast-moving impeachment inquiry. The speech by Barr last week, in which he argued that the president had never overstepped his authority, so alarmed them that they felt compelled to push back publicly.
At a conference hosted by the Federalist Society, an influential conservative legal group, Barr said in his speech that those who have sought to hem in Trump were denying the will of voters, subverting the Constitution and undermining the rule of law.
Checks & Balances is made up of Republican and conservative lawyers, including some who served in recent administrations. George Conway, one of Trump's most vocal critics and the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, is one of the group's most prominent members.
Legal Views
Denies Free Influenza Vaccine
CBP
Peak flu season is fast approaching North America and the U.S. government is actively encouraging anyone over 6 months old to vaccinate - that is, unless you are one of the thousands of people being detained in Customs and Border Protection facilities for undocumented entry.
The average number of people in CBP custody each day is about 3,500, according to the latest data released by the federal agency. That's down from a peak of about 20,000 earlier this year.
"To us in the medical community the situation is alarming. When the CBP stated in August that they weren't planning on vaccinating we saw this as egregious to deny basic health care access to people forced to stay in their care," said Dr. Bonnie Arzuaga, a Boston-based pediatrician and one of the founders of Doctors for Camp Closure.
The organization is a volunteer group of 2,000 U.S. based physicians who support the closing of the Customs and Border camps because of public health concerns. The organization volunteered to provide free influenza vaccines to those detained but the government never responded.
In a statement to ABC News, the CBP noted that individuals in CBP custody should not be held for more than 72 hours. Earlier this year, when CBP camps were overcrowded, the migrants' stays were often longer than the three days allowed.
CBP
Fifth Force Of Nature?
Hungarian Scientists
Physics centers essentially on four forces that control our known, visible universe, governing everything from the production of heat in the sun to the way your laptop works. They are gravity, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, and the strong force.
Scientists at the Institute for Nuclear Research at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Atomki) have posted findings showing what could be an example of that fifth force at work.
The scientists were closely watching how an excited helium atom emitted light as it decayed. The particles split at an unusual angle -- 115 degrees -- which couldn't be explained by known physics.
Three years ago, the Hungarian researchers published a similar paper in Physical Review Letters, one of the most prestigious journals in physics.
Hungarian Scientists
Physicists Finally See Traces
Axion
Scientists have finally found traces of the axion, an elusive particle that rarely interacts with normal matter. The axion was first predicted over 40 years ago but has never been seen until now.
Scientists have suggested that dark matter, the invisible matter that permeates our universe, may be made of axions. But rather than finding a dark matter axion deep in outer space, researchers have discovered mathematical signatures of an axion in an exotic material here on Earth.
The newly discovered axion isn't quite a particle as we normally think of it: It acts as a wave of electrons in a supercooled material known as a semimetal. But the discovery could be the first step in addressing one of the major unsolved problems in particle physics.
The axion is a candidate for dark matter, since, just like dark matter, it can't really interact with regular matter. This aloofness also makes the axion, if it exists, extremely difficult to detect. This strange particle could also help solve a long-standing conundrum in physics known as "the strong CP problem." For some reason, the laws of physics seem to act the same on particles and their antimatter partners, even when their spatial coordinates are inverted.This phenomenon is known as charge-parity symmetry, but existing physics theory says there's no reason this symmetry has to exist. The unexpected symmetry can be explained by the existence of a special field; detecting an axion would prove that this field exists, solving this mystery.
The research team worked with a Weyl semimetal, a special and strange material in which electrons behave as if they have no mass, don't interact with each other and are split into two types: right-handed and left-handed. The property of being either right- or left-handed is called chirality; chirality in Weyl semimetals is conserved, meaning there are equal numbers of right- and left-handed electrons. Cooling the semimetal to 12 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 11 degrees Celsius) allowed the electrons to interact and to condense themselves into a crystal of their own.
Axion
Unveils Animal Mummies
Egypt
Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities on Saturday revealed details on recently discovered animal mummies, saying they include two lion cubs as well as several crocodiles, birds and cats.
Items from the new find were displayed at a makeshift exhibition at the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, south of Cairo, near where mummies and other artifacts have been found in a vast necropolis.
The Saqqara plateau hosted at least 11 pyramids, including the Step Pyramid, along with hundreds of tombs of ancient officials, ranging from the 1st Dynasty (2920 B.C.-2770 B.C.) to the Coptic period (395-642).
Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters that local archaeologists found a cache that includes hundreds of mummified animals, birds and crocodiles.
He said that among the mummified animals were two lion cubs and radar scans were needed on three others to determine that the mummies were also lions.
Egypt
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