Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: Good Enough for Long Enough (Creators Syndicate)
People think of newspaper reporters as forever unraveling the twisted threads of political corruption or, depending on your political orientation, they think of us as concealing political corruption in return for pats on the head from America-hating Muslim-coddling socialists. As a reporter on a midsized daily newspaper that prints arrests and obituaries, I can tell you that I spend a lot of time at charitable events. I'm at the Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless, and I'm there when your organization gives $1,000 to a hospital. I'm interviewing the sick kid who gets to ride in a police car because he wished it from a cancer ward.
Ted Rall: "Lost Opportunities For Women: Sexism Sucks, but Blame Capitalism More" (Creators Syndicate)
Certainly more women should be in charge. But we need to look beyond sexism to understand the meta root cause behind unjustly (and foolishly) squandering countless human potential. Whether that waste is directly attributable to discrimination based upon race, gender, or some other factor, it will continue as long as we live in a society whose foundation relies upon the disgusting assumption that only those who can afford it have the right to be everything that they can be.
Greg Sargent: How Trump and Republicans hope to stave off a bloodbath next year (Washington Post)
There are increasing signs that Republicans and political advisers to President Trump believe one way to avert a massive midterm bloodbath - or, at least, minimize it - is by trying to reach a bipartisan deal on infrastructure spending.
Arthur Delaney: The Real Story Behind Kristi Noem's 'Death Tax' Ordeal (Huffington Post)
The South Dakota Republican's family seems to have had enough cash to pay the estate tax.
Peter Bradshaw: "The 50 top films of 2017 in the US: No 2 The Florida Project" (The Guardian)
Sean Baker's lyrical portrait of welfare kids living in the shadow of Disney World is both gritty and enchanting.
Simon Hattenstone: Last Christmas we lost George Michael. Now he's an unlikely beacon of hope (The Guardian)
After the singer's death, the world waited for the sordid tabloid exposés. Instead we got stories about his extraordinary generosity
Prevent Alzheimer's Disease with 4 Brain-Boosting Habits (Blue Zones)
If you ask the very old in the Blue Zones region of Ikaria how they live to be 100, they might say it's the leisurely pace of island life, the ocean breeze, the wine consumed with friends, wild herbal tea, or perhaps, as one Ikarian woman put it, "We just forget to die." Their extreme longevity is a combination of many lifestyle habits, leading them to experience a life virtually free from age-related diseases, including dementia, which affects more than 5 million people in the United States.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
responded:
took the day off.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Twitter mocks Predator
Twitter takes on various aspects of the way Baby Hands drinks water:
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
DICTATOR.
ONE MORE THING TO WORRY ABOUT.
"WHAT HAS BECOME OF OUR COMMON HUMAN DECENCY?"
CHUMP CHANGE.
BOB CORKER PLAYS "BIG CASINO".
"A POX ON BOTH OF YOUR CHAMBERS."
TRUMP AND THE PERFORMING SEALS.
"NO, WE'VE GOT TO GET READY."
THE TWO FAT BOYS FIGHT THE POWER.
IS "JINGLE BELLS" RACIST?
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Watched the newly colorized 'I Love Lucy' & Dick Van Dyke on CBS Friday night.
They sure have come a long way with colorization.
Way back when I was at the Disney Channel, they proudly touted a colorized "The Absent-Minded Professor", and, boy, did it blow chunks.
There's a basketball game in the movie and both teams were wearing the same color uniforms.
They neglected to colorize inside the actors' mouths, so everyone had black & white teeth and tongues.
And, the colorizing took longer than anticipated - reel #1 was on the air, reel #2 was loaded on the tape machine, and we were hoping reel #3 would be delivered in time (it was, but barely - and the colorizing wasn't quite completed).
FWIW, both Lucy & Dick rerun tonight on CBS.
MSNBC Drops Contributor
Joan Walsh
MSNBC is parting ways with longtime liberal contributor Joan Walsh, the network announced in a statement Saturday.
"Every year we review our paid contributors list across the ideological spectrum. Unfortunately we couldn't renew Joan, but she and her distinct perspective will still be invited on our shows," an MSNBC spokesperson told TheWrap via email. "Joan Walsh has been a key voice on MSNBC for years and she's absolutely still welcome."
When word leaked of Walsh's exit Friday night, her Twitter followers reacted with shock and support. She confirmed her departure, tweeting, "Wow. I'm overwhelmed. I didn't expect this news to break tonight. I'll have something to say in the morning."
And Saturday morning she held to her promise. "So it's true: after 12 years on MSNBC, six on contract, I learned Friday night they are not renewing. I've given my heart and soul to the network, from the George W. Bush years through today. I'm proud of the work I did," she wrote.
"Yes, it's Christmas weekend. I was baking pies with my daughter, who is home for the holidays, when I got the news. It didn't feel too good. But all of your support helps, a lot. I'
Joan Walsh
End Of An Era
"Doctor Who"
For millions of Britons, a traditional Christmas Day includes turkey, brussels sprouts, Christmas pudding - and a special seasonal episode of "Doctor Who."
The global success of the venerable sci-fi series means that fans around the world will also tune in Monday to watch Peter Capaldi's final adventure as the space-hopping Time Lord known as the Doctor. (Americans can see it on BBC America at 9 p.m. Eastern).
The show has had a dozen Doctors over its 54-year history, and this is one of those bittersweet moments when one lead actor hands over to another. At episode's end, viewers will see Capaldi transform - through a Time Lord process known as regeneration - into Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to play the part.
Before that comes a rollicking and poignant adventure that moves from the World War I trenches to the South Pole, features mysterious creatures made of glass and (of course) involves a jaunt in the Tardis, a time-and-space machine shaped like an old-fashioned British police phone box.
The episode loops back into the show's own history, featuring an appearance by the very first Doctor, a white-haired gent who appeared on TV screens in 1963. He was played by William Hartnell, who died in 1975; David Bradley fills the role here.
"Doctor Who"
Nature Conservancy Acquires Coastal Ranchland
California
A huge swath of coastal California ranch lands will become a vast preserve through an acquisition funded by a $165 million gift from a wealthy environmentalist couple, The Nature Conservancy announced Friday.
The purchase of the Cojo-Jalama Ranch covers 24,000 acres (9,713 hectares) at Point Conception, the landmark 150 miles (241 kilometers) west of Los Angeles where the coastline distinctly turns northward.
Considered sacred by the Native American Chumash and long used for cattle ranching, it has escaped the invasion of development that sprawls along much of California's coast and is considered highly important for its biological diversity.
The funds came from Jack and Laura Dangermond, conservationists and co-founders of Esri, a provider of geographic information system software for mapping and spatial analytics. It is the largest single philanthropic gift in The Nature Conservancy's history, the nonprofit said.
Two private cattle ranches currently occupy the land, which had recently received attention when the California Coastal Commission accepted a deal in which the owners gave a mile of shoreline property to the Santa Barbara County parks department as part of a settlement for doing unpermitted work such as grading.
California
World's Largest Lottery
El Gordo
The lucky winners of Spain's Christmas lottery celebrated on Friday as they eagerly awaited receiving their share of the 2.4 billion euro, or $2.8 billion, prize.
The annual lottery, which has been a holiday tradition in the country since 1812, offers the largest pool of total lottery prize money in the world, The Associated Press reports. The top prize, called El Gordo ("the Fat One"), was about $470,000 this year, and smaller amounts will be distributed to other winners.
The lottery system is complex, and prizes are usually shared among a large number of people. Each ticket costs about $237, so families, friends and co-workers tend to invest together. A $24 décimo, which amounts to about one-tenth of a ticket, is particularly popular.
Each ticket comes with a five-digit number. Sellers are assigned specific numbers they can use, and each number can be repeated up to 165 times, The Local reports. That means that it's common for many people from the same town to win all at once ? since they've often bought tickets from the same seller.
About 70 percent of Spaniards between the ages of 18 and 75 play the Christmas lottery. Many queue up in long lines outside their favorite lottery booths, while some travel to different cities to play a specific number.
El Gordo
Racist Ramblings
T-rump
In a fit of anger during a June cabinet meeting in the Oval Office, President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Corrupt) said Haitians entering the U.S. "all have AIDS" and that Nigerians would never "go back to their huts" once they saw America, according to The New York Times, which reported the comments in a bombshell article it published Saturday.
The White House denied the former reality TV star made the controversial remarks. "General Kelly, General McMaster, Secretary Tillerson, Secretary Nielsen and all other senior staff actually in the meeting deny these outrageous claims," Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told The New York Times. "It's both sad and telling The New York Times would print the lies of their anonymous 'sources' anyway."
Huckabee Sanders was referring to Chief of Staff John Kelly, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Homeland Security is Kirstjen Nielsen.
The Times reported the president made the comments after adviser Stephen Miller gave him a list numbering the immigrants from certain countries who had received visas during the Trump presidency, despite the Republican running on a hard-line anti-immigration platform. New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman tweeted that right before the story written by Michael D. Shear and Julie Hirschfeld Davis was set to publish the White House "pushed out cabinet members to deny the details of POTUS remarks." But the Times story notes that two anonymous officials who served as sources for the article deemed the comments so noteworthy at the time that they told others.
The story is titled "Stoking Fears, Trump Defied Bureaucracy to Advance Immigration Agenda" and takes a look at what the president has done to push his hard-line stances.
T-rump
Groups Call On Egypt To Free Journalist
Al-Jazeera
Rights groups and a press freedom organization renewed calls on Egyptian authorities Friday to release an Al-Jazeera journalist whose detention passed the one-year mark. Egypt accuses the Qatar-based news network of bias toward Islamist groups including its own outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.
The statements from Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Amnesty International mark one year since the arrest of Mahmoud Hussein, believed to have been apprehended while in Egypt on vacation. He is accused of publishing false information and belonging to a banned group.
"Mahmoud Hussein languishing for over a year in pretrial detention demonstrates Egypt's deep-rooted intolerance for free expression," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director. Similarly, RSF and Amnesty International slammed Egypt over his detention for "no apparent reason."
Al-Jazeera also demanded Hussein's release in earlier statements, saying his health deteriorated while in prison.
Authorities have arrested several Al-Jazeera journalists since the military ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, who enjoyed Qatar's support, in 2013 following mass protests against his one-year rule which proved divisive. Relations between Egypt and Qatar have been fraught with tension since Morsi's ouster and the Al-Jazeera network, especially its Arabic service, and its staff has been embroiled in the wider political rift between Cairo and Doha.
Al-Jazeera
DOES Watch The News
T-rump
President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Crooked), who last month said he's too busy "reading documents" to watch much television, said he decided to sign the GOP tax reform bill on Friday, ahead of the holidays, after tuning into TV news.
"I was going to wait for a formal signing sometime in early January, but then I watched the news this morning and they were all saying, 'Will he keep his promise? Will he sign it by Christmas?'" Trump said during a small signing event at the White House.
"I called downstairs, I said, 'Get it ready. We have to sign it now,'" Trump added.
The president has repeatedly claimed that his busy schedule and work ethic keeps him away from the tube.
The New York Times reported this month that Trump watches between 4 and 8 hours of television per day - part of what it described as "an hour-by-hour battle for self-preservation." TV serves as the "ammunition" for his outbursts on Twitter, and his habit includes watching Fox News, CNN and hate-watching MSNBC, according to the Times.
T-rump
Found In Vilnius
Jewish Trove
For decades, a confessional in a church in Lithuania's capital Vilnius kept a precious secret: a trove of documents offering an unprecedented glimpse into Jewish life in Eastern Europe before and during the Holocaust.
The cache, with documents dating back to the mid-18th century, includes religious texts, Yiddish literature and poetry, testimonies about pogroms as well as autobiographies and photographs.
"The diversity of material is breathtaking," David Fishman, professor of Jewish History at New York's Jewish Theological Seminary, told AFP via telephone, describing the discovery as a "total surprise".
The trove was discovered earlier this year during a cleanout of the church that was used as a book repository during Soviet times.
The documents, together with a larger cache found in Vilnius nearly three decades ago, are "the most significant discovery for Jewish history since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1950s", Fishman said.
Jewish Trove
Largest Wildfire In California's History
Thomas Fire
The Thomas Fire has now burned more acres than any previous wildfire on record in California, and there are no signs of a pattern change that would deliver beneficial weather for battling the blaze.
Since starting on Dec. 4, the Thomas Fire killed one firefighter, one civilian and destroyed more than 1,000 structures, including more than 750 homes. The flames forced thousands of evacuations and numerous schools to close.
On Friday evening, CalFire reported that the Thomas Fire has grown to 273,400 acres and was 65 percent contained.
The fire has surpassed the Cedar Fire from 2003, which burned more than 273,246 acres.
Thomas Fire
In Memory
Jordan Feldstein
Jordan Feldstein, the manager of Maroon 5 and actor Jonah Hill's brother, has died. He was 40 years old.
A spokeswoman for the band confirmed Saturday that Feldstein died unexpectedly Friday. The Feldstein family said in a statement that Jordan Feldstein called 911 after experiencing shortness of breath Friday. He had gone into cardiac arrest by the time paramedics arrived and died a short time later.
Feldstein was the founder and chief executive of Career Artist Management and had managed Maroon 5 since its inception 15 years ago. His company also counts Miguel, The B-52s, Elle King and Rick Springfield among its clients.
Besides Hill, Feldstein is survived by his sister, parents and two children.
Jordan Feldstein
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