Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: The Durability of Inflation Derp (NY Times)
OK, so some economists got it wrong. That happens to everyone, unless you're too cowardly to make any testable predictions at all. But what you're supposed to do when things don't play out as you predicted is (a) acknowledge the mistake (b) try to understand what went wrong (c) revise your framework in an attempt to avoid making the same mistake again. I think I can fairly claim to have followed these rules.
Josh Marshall: Today's Mueller Revelations Were The Biggest in Months (TPM)
Let me be clear: I am not saying that Robert Mueller is going to start investigating Devin Nunes for obstruction. My point is that if Mueller is taking an expansive view of President Trump's wrongdoing (as the scrutiny of the Sessions bullying suggests) and subversion of the rule of law it may be difficult to draw a bright line between Trump's pressure on Sessions and the various ways Trump, his cronies and allies have worked with people like Nunes and others to protect himself by defeating Mueller's investigation.
Lucy Mangan: the queen and I (Guardian; from 2013)
'It is hard to throw off the shackles when someone still holds the ends of our chains.'
Alison Flood: Germaine Greer criticises 'whingeing' #MeToo movement (The Guardian)
Author says women should react immediately to abuse, and historical claims will result in 'OJ Simpson trial all over again.'
Nick Miller: Germaine Greer challenges #MeToo campaign (The Sydney Daily Herald)
"What makes it different is when the man has economic power, as Harvey Weinstein has. But if you spread your legs because he said 'be nice to me and I'll give you a job in a movie' then I'm afraid that's tantamount to consent, and it's too late now to start whingeing about that.
Arwa Mahdawi: What counts as satire in the Trump era? Not pointless Photoshop parodies (The Guardian)
This modern subgenre is capable of fooling thousands of people on Twitter. But claiming the president has a dedicated gorilla channel just reinforces his 'fake news' narrative.
Antonia Blumberg: Beloved Fantasy Author Ursula Le Guin Dead At 88 (Huffington Post)
The author died at her Oregon home on Monday.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
wrote:
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
"I'M OUT OF HERE!"
"TESLA OF THE CANALS"
REPUBLICAN TRATIORS.
DID TRUMP INCITE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY?
TWO HABITABLE PLANETS!
IS PAUL (THE PUNK) WORRIED?
GIVE THEM SOME MONEY AND YOU CAN SAY ANYTHING.
A LIST OF PREDATORY JOURNALS.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny, a little cooler.
Joins 'Big Little Lies'
Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep has joined the cast of "Big Little Lies" Season 2 on HBO, Variety has learned.
Streep will play Mary Louise Wright, the mother of Perry Wright (Alexander Skarsgård). Concerned for the well-being of her grandchildren following her son Perry's death, Mary Louise arrives in Monterey searching for answers.
The news comes on the heels of Streep receiving an Oscar nomination for her leading role in Steven Spielberg's "The Post." With the nomination, Streep broke her own record for the most Oscar acting nominations, bringing her total number of nods to 21. She has also been nominated for her roles in films like "The Deer Hunter," "Kramer vs. Kramer," "Silkwood," and "The Devil Wears Prada." She has won three Oscars throughout her career. Sources tell Variety that Streep will make around $800,000 per episode.
HBO announced in December that "Big Little Lies" would return for a second season, with most of the main cast from Season 1 returning. Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon will again executive produce in addition to starring. Season 1 was based on the novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty, with Season 2 based partially on a new story by the author. David E. Kelley, who wrote and executive produced Season 1, will return in the same roles for Season 1. Andrea Arnold will direct all seven episodes.
Meryl Streep
Returning to CBS
'Murphy Brown'
Not one to be left out of TV's current reboot frenzy, CBS is adding another vintage comedy to its lineup: Murphy Brown.
The landmark sitcom, from Diane English and starring Candice Bergen, was an Emmy darling and a cultural touchstone for its then-uncommon portrayal of a single working mother. The Warner Bros. produced effort has received a 13-episode straight-to-series order and will include Bergen reprising her role. English is returning as well, serving as writer and executive producer through her Bend in the Road Productions shingle.
The order for more Murphy Brown, just shy of the 30th anniversary of its 1988 premiere, comes as networks and streamers have looked to their past catalogs for programming that will make an impact in the increasingly fractured TV market. On the Big Four, the most notable revivals include such similarly groundbreaking series as NBC's Will & Grace, ABC's upcoming Roseanne revisit and, perhaps to a lesser extent, Fox's The X-Files.
Again multicamera, Murphy Brown is the first straight-to-series order for CBS' 2018-19 season and comes days after ordering pilots from three female writers. The network has publicly struggled with its on- and off-camera tendency to hire white men. Murphy Brown might be the first reboot to land on the broadcast network, but CBS has been busy mining its own library elsewhere. Streaming service CBS All Access has already launched a new Star Trek, and a reboot of The Twilight Zone is in the works.
What's not immediately clear about the Murphy Brown order is who else of the original cast may be on board. Faith Ford, Joe Regalbuto and Grant Shaud all have busy TV careers; Charles Kimbrough appears to be at least semi-retired; and Robert Pastorelli died in 2004.
'Murphy Brown'
'Net Neutrality' Ad
Burger King
Fast food company Burger King is taking on the Trump administration's decision to reverse the landmark 2015 net neutrality rules and making fun of the top U.S. telecommunications regulator in doing so.
The Republican-majority Federal Communications Commission voted in December along party lines to reverse the 2015 net neutrality rules that bar internet service providers from blocking or throttling traffic or offering paid fast lanes, also known as paid prioritization.
The Burger King brand, owned by Restaurant Brands International Inc, is launching a short internet video that imagines a world in which the restaurant chain offers different prices and different speeds in which it makes burgers dubbed: "Whopper Neutrality."
"The internet should be like the Whopper? The same for everyone," the video says. It features the chain's mascot holding an oversized coffee mug, a reference to a mug that FCC chairman Ajit Pai has often used.
Burger King
Wins Copyright Dispute
Grumpy Cat
Grumpy Cat's owner has something to smile about after a jury sided with the famous online feline in a copyright dispute.
A California jury voted to award $710,000 (£500,000) to Grumpy Cat Limited, a company launched to monetise the permanently-scowling kitty's popularity, in a dispute over use of the cat's name and image.
At issue was beverage company Grenade's use of Grumpy Cat's likeness. The company was granted the right to use the feline's brand on "Grumppuccino" drinks but exceeded that authority in trying to launch a whole line of Grumpy Cat products like ground coffee, according to a lawsuit filed in 2015.
Officially named Tardar Sauce, Grumpy Cat ascended to online celebrity status thanks to an ineradicable grimace that results from an underbite and dwarfism.
Her lucrative empire has since produced a book deal, an appearance in a Friskies commercial, a movie, trademark and copyright protection and an impersonation by Barack Obama.
Grumpy Cat
Las Vegas
SHOT Show
The gun industry is holding its biggest annual trade show this week just a few miles from the site where a gunman slaughtered 58 concertgoers outside his high-rise Las Vegas hotel room in October using a display case worth of weapons, many fitted with bump stocks that enabled them to mimic fully automatic fire.
Gun control advocates, meanwhile, pointed to the irony of the location and planned a protest to renew calls for tighter gun sale regulations, including expanded background checks.
What exactly will be among the thousands of products crammed into the exhibition spaces at the National Shooting Sports Foundation's SHOT Show convention, running Tuesday through Friday, will be a bit of a mystery, shielded from the public and, this year, members of the general-interest media.
One thing is known: Slide Fire, the leading manufacturer of bump stocks, a once-obscure product that attracted intense attention in the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, won't be among the exhibitors.
In the aftermath of the Las Vegas massacre Oct. 1, Slide Fire had so much trouble keeping up with demand it temporarily stopped taking orders for the product. It has since resumed.
SHOT Show
Women Journalists Denied
Pence
Female journalists found themselves cordoned off behind their male colleagues while covering Vice President Mike Pence's trip to the Western Wall in Jerusalem Tuesday. Visitors to the sacred site are segregated by gender, but during past media events both men and women have typically been granted a space from which they can actually see.
The Western Wall Heritage Foundation, an ultra-orthodox religious organization that administers the grounds, arranged a viewing platform for female journalists inside the women's section, according to The Jerusalem Post, but female journalists at the scene said their view was onstructed.
Pence's staff ultimately removed an awning covering the platform, providing space for the women to stand on chairs to see over their male colleagues' equipment. But outraged female journalists said their view was still obstructed by scaffolding and the men's platform, which stood in their sightline to the Vice President, the Guardian reports.
Tal Schneider, a diplomatic and political correspondent for Israel's Hebrew-language Globes newspaper, tweeted a photo of her view, writing that female journalists "deserve the first row, not the 'women at the back of the bus.'"
On previous visits by Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama, female journalists were afforded a clear view, according to the Guardian. "I have never seen something like today's arrangement, with women fenced behind men. Normally for visits its separate but equalish," wrote reporter Noga Tarnopolsky.
Pence
Indonesian Visit
Mattis
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis saw Indonesian troops drink snake blood, roll in glass, break bricks with their heads, walk on fire, and more, in a rare military demonstration on Wednesday meant to show the unique skills of Indonesia's military.
Pentagon chiefs are accustomed to seeing foreign forces carry out more routine military demonstrations during foreign travel and, ahead of Wednesday's event, the press traveling with Mattis was expecting a hostage rescue drill.
Perhaps the highlight was a demonstration involving live snakes, which Indonesian forces brought out in bags and scattered on the ground, just feet from where Mattis was standing. That included a King Cobra, which widened its neck as it if were going to attack.
The soldiers then cut off the snake heads and fed the snake blood to each other, as the crowd looked on. At least one Indonesian soldier bit a snake in half.
Mattis appeared to enjoy the demonstration, which came at the end of a three-day visit to Indonesia, and spoke about how the Indonesian forces were smart to wear the snakes down before trying to handle them.
Mattis
Shipwreck Discovered
Clotilda
The wreckage of a boat discovered on a riverbank in Alabama is thought to be that of the Clotilda, the last vessel to bring African slaves into the US.
The ship wreck, which has not been formally identified, was found when unusually low tides revealed charred wood and rusted metal in a river delta and were spotted by a reporter for Alabama website AL.com.
The 86-foot schooner was burned and scuttled after delivering its illegal human cargo at Mobile Bay in Autumn 1859.
Slavery was abolished six years later with the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1865, but it had been illegal to import slaves to the US since 1808.
Despite the law, slavers Captain Timothy Meaher and Captain William Foster had placed a bet that they could smuggle a shipment of 110 slaves from Africa into America.
Clotilda
Incredibly Rare
Red Handfish
The red handfish is one of nature's real treats. It's a strange little bottom-dwelling fish that actually prefers to crawl along the sea floor rather than swimming, and it also happens to look like something you'd see in a Pokemon game. Unfortunately, the creature is incredibly rare. It has a status of "critically endangered" and at one point scientists believed only a few dozen of the fish even existed. That just changed in a big way, as researchers investigating reports of red handfish sightings discovered an entirely new population of the pint-sized fish, and it might signal a comeback.
Originally, the only group of the odd fish known to exist was located in a very specific spot off the coast of Tasmania. Researchers had never seen them anywhere else so it was thought that they were the last remaining members of a soon-to-be-extinct species. Then, a diver alerted scientists to what he claimed was a different group of the fish hanging out in a spot several miles away, and researchers decided to investigate.
At first, the dive team was dismayed to find no traces of the red handfish in the area where the sighting was reported. In fact, they were about to call it quits when one of the brightly colored fish decided to pay them a visit.
"We were diving for approximately three and a half hours and at about the two hour mark we were all looking at each other thinking this is not looking promising," Antonia Cooper of the University of Tasmania explains. "My dive partner went to tell the other divers that we were going to start heading in and I was half-heartedly flicking algae around when, lo and behold, I found a red handfish.
Shortly thereafter, a few other members of the group were spotted. The new population is thought to match the previously-known group, numbering somewhere between 20 and 40 individual animals. That might not seem like a lot, but researchers believe that their discovery could be a sign that the fish are also thriving in smaller localized groups elsewhere.
Red Handfish
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