Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Fast Food Damnation (NY Times Blog)
What I see a lot, both in general political discourse and in my own inbox, is a tremendous sense of resentment against people like Hillary Clinton or, well, me, that isn't about policy. It boils down, instead, to something along the lines of "You people think you're better than us." And it has a lot to do with the way people live.
Mathew Yglesias: Trump's fast-food CEO Labor Department pick teaches us a lot about populism (Vox)
On matters big and small, Trump aligns himself not with the pocketbook interests of low-wage workers but with the cultural values and preferences of working-class Americans. Values like thinking Hardee's burgers are delicious.
Paul N. Van de Water: "To Repeat: Medicare Isn't Going 'Bankrupt'" (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
House Speaker Paul Ryan is repeating a myth that we and others have debunked
Marc Dion: Oh, Christmas Sweater (Creators Syndicate)
I'm a newspaper reporter. I'm 59 years old. I wear a lot of tweed. I swear. I can't count how many house fires, stabbings and shootings I've covered. I'm six feet tall and covered with hair. I smoke, either a pipe or cigars. I drink my whiskey straight and my coffee black. I used to box a little. I'm a fairly good shot. I often refer to the younger reporters as "kid."
Froma Harrop: Hillary Clinton, Martyr of the Year (Creators Syndicate)
Documentaries, plays and grand operas will be written about what was done to Hillary Clinton in the election of 2016. Some normal mistakes were mixed in with her many accomplishments, but there was nothing normal about her treatment by political foes and many of the respectable media alike.
Froma Harrop: Trump and the Real Billionaires (Creators Syndicate)
A desire to fix any billionaire deficit may account for Trump's decision to stock his administration with real-life tycoons. The way it works is that they cut Trump into their deals and he lets them influence tax and regulatory laws. This assumes that Trump might participate in such an unseemly trade, heaven forfend.
Clive James: 'At 16, my dress sense was in the first full flower of its baroque glory' (The Guardian)
It took me 50 years to learn that I should dress as plainly as possible.
Steve Paulson: My Life with the Physics Dream Team (Nautilus)
Freeman Dyson on working with the greatest physicists of the 20th century.
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took the day off.
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
FOR THE HECK OF IT.
GOD HELP US!
THOSE WHO IGNORE HISTORY ARE CONDEMNED TO REPEAT IT.
THE UNITED STATES MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.
"BAIT AND SWITCH PRODUCTIONS INC."
"PUDZER YOU!"
WATCHING 'PUZDER' SQUIRM!
"UP IN FLAMES." "DOWN THE RIVER." IT DOESN'T MATTER. WE'RE FUCKED WITH TRUMP!
THIS IS HOW IT'S DONE!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Stilll overcast and gray, but no rain.
Women in Music 2016
Billboard
In a ceremony that honored some of the biggest female artists of all time, Madonna left the last impression at Billboard's Women in Music 2016. The Woman of the Year ended the star-studded event Friday (Dec. 9) with a moving, career-spanning speech that demonstrated her power as an artist, woman and human.
"I stand before you ... as a doormat. Oh, I mean, a female entertainer," Madge stated, before diving headfirst into an account of the "misogyny, sexism" and double standards she has faced as an outspoken female superstar. Madonna touched on David Bowie's influence, her failed marriage to Sean Penn, the impact of motherhood and her audacious nature, before concluding, "I'm still standing. I'm one of the lucky ones, and every day I count my blessings."
Yet Madonna - who was honored by British R&B star Labrinth's medley of "Frozen" and "Like a Prayer" - was hardly the only female artist to affect the audience at the annual event. Breakthrough Star recipient Maren Morris crooned her Grammy-nominated "My Church" in front of a cornfield backdrop, while Hoda Kotb honored Chart Topper Meghan Trainor, who could not attend the ceremony due to vocal issues but had her Epic Records pals Fifth Harmony fill in with a performance of "Like I'm Gonna Lose You."
Nick Jonas presented Shania Twain with the Icon award, and the country-pop phenom reflected on becoming a superstar in a genre once dominated (and still too often defined) by male performers. "Behind every great woman, there's a greater man," she said, "but behind him, there's an even greater woman." And Alessia Cara, an inspiring figure for a new generation, played her uplifting new single "Scars to Your Beautiful" to a rapturous response.
Billboard
100th Birthday Celebration
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas knows how to make an entrance. With boxing gloves in every centerpiece and the theme from "Rocky" blaring over the speakers, Douglas, one of the golden age of Hollywood's last living legends, walked confidently into the Sunset Room at the Beverly Hills Hotel Friday afternoon to celebrate his 100th birthday at an intimate gathering of friends and family.
Flanked by Anne Douglas, his wife of over 62 years, his son Michael Douglas, his daughter-in-law Catherine Zeta-Jones and his grandchildren, Kirk Douglas looked out over the crowd of about 150 people, including Don Rickles, Jeffrey "Sparky" Katzenberg, his Rabbi and many of his closest friends and smiled. Not only was he surrounded by friendly faces, he knew, as promised by his doctor years ago, that if he lived to 100, he would get to have a glass of vodka.
But before the vodka was presented in a comically large martini glass, Kirk Douglas got to sit and listen to words from his loved ones as images from his many classic film credits such as "Spartacus," ''Lust for Life," ''Paths of Glory" and others played on a screen behind him.
Michael Douglas kicked off the proceedings, saying that it's not just about age, but about the life he's lived and what he's accomplished.
Kirk Douglas
Pipeline Protest
U.S. Veterans
U.S. veterans, thousands of whom last week helped stop a contested oil pipeline running through North Dakota, could become important partners of activists on the environment, the economy, race and other issues that divide Americans.
Several academics said the effort to support the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and others opposed to the pipeline project was likely the biggest gathering of its kind of former military personnel since the early 1970s when U.S. veterans marched against the Vietnam War.
That so many veterans mobilized in less than two weeks to rural North Dakota speaks to the power they may have on public opinion, because of their status as having put their lives on the line for their country, veterans and academics said.
"The sense that vets are distinctively American figures, regardless of political beliefs, always seems to have currency, even when they are working on different sides of an issue," said Stephen Ortiz, a history professor at the State University of Binghamton in New York.
Many veterans who went to Cannon Ball, North Dakota, to join the months-long protests by Native Americans and environmentalists against the 1,172-mile (1,885-km) Dakota Access Pipeline, said they were already looking for their next issue to support.
U.S. Veterans
Oldest Known Seabird Lays Egg At 66
Wisdom
The world's oldest known seabird is expecting, officials at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge said Saturday.
The Laysan albatross known as Wisdom -- a bird thought to be at least 66 years old -- is incubating an egg once again, putting her on track to become the oldest breeding wild bird in the world.
Charlie Pelizza, the US Fish and Wildlife Service project leader at the refuge in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean, said in a statement that Wisdom has been returning there for six decades.
The bird was first banded in 1956. Since 2006 she has fledged at least nine chicks, and traveled some three million miles over the course of her life.
Her mate, Akeakamai, was seen near their nest site on November 23.
Wisdom
Climate Change
Tibet Avalanche
An avalanche of ice that killed nine in western Tibet may be a sign that climate change has come to the region, a new study finds.
The avalanche at the Aru glacier in July 2016 was a massive event that spilled ice and rock 98 feet (30 meters) thick over an area of 4 square miles (10 square kilometers). Nine nomadic herders and many of their animals died during the 5-minute cataclysm. It was the second-biggest glacial avalanche ever recorded, and initially mystified scientists.
"This is new territory scientifically," Andreas Kääb, a glaciologist at the University of Oslo, said in a statement in September. "It is unknown why an entire glacier tongue would shear off like this."
Now, an international group of scientists thinks they know the reason: Meltwater at the base of the glacier must have hastened the slide of the debris.
"Given the rate at which the event occurred and the area covered, I think it could only happen in the presence of meltwater," Lonnie Thompson, a professor of Earth sciences at The Ohio State University, said in a statement.
Tibet Avalanche
Shadow Looms 10 Years Later
Pinochet
Chile marks the 10th anniversary on Saturday of the death of late dictator Augusto Pinochet, who has gradually become a national pariah even as his legacy continues to dominate the country.
Pinochet, who ruled Chile with an iron fist for 17 years, died of a heart attack on December 10, 2006 at age 91, without ever being brought to justice for the crimes committed by his regime.
He had stepped down 16 years earlier, but continued to enjoy the staunch support of many conservative Chileans -- so much so that more than 50,000 people turned out to mourn him.
In a sign of the changing times, less than 100 people are expected to attend the only ceremony remembering him this Saturday: a small, private mass at his former residence in Los Boldos on the central Chilean coast, where his ashes lie.
The government of President Michelle Bachelet, whose father was tortured to death at the hands of Pinochet's agents, said the anniversary had little relevance for modern-day Chile.
Pinochet
Plans Moves To Young-Growth Timber
Tongass National Forest
Plans for managing the nation's largest national forest call for changes in timber harvests that one critic says will be "the demise of the timber industry as we know it right now."
The Tongass National Forest released a management plan update Friday that it says will emphasize young-growth timber sales in the forest, which covers much of southeast Alaska, and allow for a logging rate that it says will meet projected timber demand.
This stems from a 2013 memo from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, directing Tongass managers to speed the transition from old-growth harvests toward a wood-products industry that mainly uses young-growth timber. The move was to be done in a way that preserves a viable timber industry. The transition goal was 10 years to 15 years, compared to the prior target of 32 years.
The decision released Friday calls for a full transition in 16 years and expects most timber sold by the Tongass to be young growth in 10-15 years.
Much of the wildlife found in the forest is linked to or at least partially reliant on old-growth forest, including a major brown bear population, high densities of breeding bald eagles, the Alexander Archipelago wolf and species important for subsistence, according to a Tongass decision document.
Tongass National Forest
Coming To Town
SantaCon
From Boston to Austin and Chicago to Los Angeles, revelers across the United States will be donning red and white suits this weekend to mark the worldwide SantaCon holiday pub crawl.
The annual, often inebriated gatherings of people dressed as Santa Claus as they go barhopping will be held in 380 cities in the United States and 51 countries, according to SantaCon.info.
The website, which bills itself as the established authority on the event, lists details of festivities around the globe, discounts on Santa Claus costumes and advice on how to avoid ticket scams for the events which are mostly free.
But while the faux Santas are counting on a fun-filled day and evening, some bar owners and local officials are bracing for the worst after previous events ended with complaints of drunken and disorderly behavior, public urination and arrests.
Norman Siegel, the New York lawyer who represents SantaCon, acknowledged that in the past the festival in the city had been marred by drunken incidents but this year organizers are aiming for no, or very few arrests or summons.
SantaCon
Top 20
Global Concert Tours
The Top 20 Global Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows Worldwide. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers.
1. Adele; $4,134,638; $110.75.
2. Coldplay; $3,521,661; $106.79.
3. Justin Bieber; $3,018,983; $81.72.
4. Drake; $2,320,917; $111.17.
5. Kanye West; $2,182,858; $90.78.
6. Luke Bryan; $1,655,716; $65.08.
7. Jason Aldean; $1,149,514; $52.08.
8. Black Sabbath; $962,337; $64.06.
9. "Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour" / Puffy Daddy; $927,309; $84.15.
10. Sia; $893,733; $78.32.
11. Dixie Chicks; $854,339; $72.51.
12. Carrie Underwood; $703,262; $70.68.
13. Florida Georgia Line; $691,268; $44.68.
14. Dolly Parton; $672,592; $79.17.
15. Def Leppard; $606,266; $61.46.
16. Blink-182; $562,269; $37.90.
17. Keith Urban; $556,349; $57.93.
18. Amy Schumer; $511,333; $67.99.
19. Brad Paisley; $473,401; $34.70.
20. Gwen Stefani; $473,279; $60.09.
Global Concert Tours
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