Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Josh Marshall: The Big Heist (TPM)
Tax cuts are the driving force of elite Republican politics. The lack of a bill was demoralizing the donor class, driving down contributions. 2018 looks bad but with literally no major legislative accomplishments to show, maybe it gets even worse. So you need to pass something. Where do you get the votes? Sell them. Every man and woman for himself. Everybody take a few appliances out of the store before we burn it down. That's the story of this bill. It doesn't even add up in conservative policy terms. It's really just a heist. Organized looting.
Andrew Tobias: Jon Hull To Susan Collins
The "beautiful giant Christmas present" Republicans are giving "the middle class" is a lump of coal. It will raise health insurance premiums for millions and serve to deprive an estimated 13 million of health insurance altogether. That's in the spirit of Christmas? And where Scrooge finally saw the light and spent generously to shower gifts upon the less advantaged, this bill will greatly enrich Scrooge at the expense of the middle class and the poor. Yes, it gives a modest tax break to many for eight years - but plunges the average family of four yet a deeper $20,000 into debt. Already the Republicans are talking about cutting back on "entitlements" like Medicaid to narrow that deficit. Merry Christmas, Tiny Tim.
Paul Krugman: Tweet
What I really don't understand here is Susan Collins. She came out of health care a hero. Now she is, rightly, seen as a fool, a tool, or both. And she can never get it back. What could possibly justify that choice?
Alice Ollstein: House GOPers Say Susan Collins' Health Care Demands Are Dead On Arrival (TPM)
Just a few hours before the Senate prepares to vote on a massive overhaul of the American tax system, a host of House Republicans told reporters that the promises made to secure the vote of Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) have no chance of passing the lower chamber and becoming law.
Jim Newell: The Tax Bill Might Not Be Suicide (Slate)
It's no surprise they're ecstatic, considering the large stride toward several partisan end goals: cutting the corporate tax rate nearly in half, eliminating a central pillar of the Affordable Care Act, and opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. The problem, though, is that the legacy-defining bill they're so enthused with is historically unpopular.
Rachel Rubein: Connecticut to end children's health program unless it gets money from Congress (The Hill)
Connecticut plans to shutter its health-care program for low- and middle-income children Jan. 31 unless Congress provides new federal funding.
Congress let the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) lapse on Sept. 30, to the frustration of state officials and advocates. The program provides insurance to nearly 9 million children nationwide.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
Creepy Stuff
Hi Marty,
In case you or your readers haven't seen this. Creepy!
The article includes video clips from Trump's cabinet meeting today:
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
The USA is Shafted
Yep, we're screwed.
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
"IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT AND I FEEL FINE."
YOU NEED MORE THAN A PRAYER TRUMP.
"RUB HISTORY AGAINST THE GRAIN."
"PUNCH UP!"
GO TO HELL WHERE YOU BELONG!
"MELTING ICE."
CIVIL WAR.
THE LIARS!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Just after the local weather prognosticators stated there's no rain in our future, it rained.
Not much, but enough to make the roads slick.
Penske Media
Rolling Stone
Penske Media Corporation has acquired a controlling interest in Wenner Media, parent company of the iconic magazine Rolling Stone, the company announced Wednesday.
PMC will invest in Wenner Media at a valuation just over $100 million, according to sources close to the transaction. BandLab, a Singapore-based company that acquired a 49% share of the magazine, will retain its stake.
Jann Wenner, who co-founded Rolling Stone in 1967 as a countercultural voice that went on to transcend the world of rock 'n' roll, will remain with Rolling Stone as editorial director, continuing to guide strategy for the brand.
As part of the deal, Wenner Media will retain "majority control and editorial oversight" of Rolling Stone, according to the press release.
The investment has been finalized and the transition to the Penske Media platform is expected to occur over the next six months. PMC emerged from a collection of bidders that reportedly looked to purchase the direct Rolling Stone stake including an investor group led by Azoff MSG Entertainment CEO Irving Azoff; Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan, Playboy magazine owner Rizvi Travers and former Guggenheim Partners president Todd Boehly.
Rolling Stone
Sarah Tries Snark
Ted Lieu
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has engaged in a Twitter spat with a member of Congress, whom she told to spend less time tweeting and more time doing his job.
Representative Ted Lieu launched the first attack on Ms Sanders on Twitter, quoting a now-deleted tweet from the Hill that inaccurately quoted Ms Sanders as having said that Republicans "begged" Democrats to work with them.
"Dear @PressSec: You don't serve in Congress. I do. And I can say with absolute certainty that you are lying," Mr Lieu wrote on Twitter.
"Dear @tedlieu - I don't serve in Congress, but I can read. If you had read the story, not an incorrect tweet, you would see that what I said was Dems should be begging to help Americans keep more of their money. You should spend less time tweeting, more time doing your job."
"Dear @PressSec: If the Hill tweet was incorrect, then my tweet based on it would also be incorrect," he wrote. "Unlike the Trump Administration, I am confident enough to admit errors. Also, I dare you to give the same tweeting advice you gave me to your boss."
Ted Lieu
International Dark Sky Reserve
Idaho
A giant chunk of central Idaho with a dazzling night sky has become the nation's first International Dark Sky Reserve.
The International Dark-Sky Association late Monday designated the 1,400-square-mile (3,600-square-kilometer) Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve. The sparsely populated area's night skies are so pristine that interstellar dust clouds are visible in the Milky Way.
"That such truly dark nighttime environments still exist in the United States is remarkable," said J. Scott Feierabend, executive director of the Tucson, Arizona,-based association, calling the designation a milestone for the group.
Researchers say 80 percent of North Americans live in areas where light pollution blots out the night sky.
The central Idaho reserve covers some of the most remote and rugged areas in the state and is mostly land managed by the U.S. Forest Service. It contains wilderness areas and the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.
Idaho
Record Number Of Nests
Green Sea Turtles
Hurricane Irma completely disrupted the lives of Florida residents, but according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), green sea turtles made it through the 2017 hurricane season strong and thriving.
The FWC announced a record number of green sea turtle nests laid in Florida for the 2017 nesting season. Based on 27 Florida index beaches, the FWC documented 39,000 green sea turtle nests.
Green sea turtles nest more abundantly every other year, according to Michelle Kerr, the public information specialist for the FWC. But overall, green sea turtle nesting has seen significant increases over the past 27 years.
Through preservation efforts, the number of green sea turtle nests has increased dramatically. The green sea turtles that nest on Florida beaches were even reclassified from "endangered" to "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2016, according to the FWC website.
Though the green sea turtles hit a record, some nests were washed away by the storms, according to Dr. Kate Mansfield, a sea turtle biologist at the UCF Marine Turtle Research Group. An official report including number of nests lost to storms is not yet finalized, according to Kerr.
Green Sea Turtles
Thank God
White House Prayer
One of the US president's cabinet members thanked God Wednesday for giving America Donald Trump (R-Pendejo) and his tax cut plan.
The prayer was recited by Ben Carson, a fervent member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church and the secretary of housing and urban development, after an ebullient Trump addressed a variety of issues as cameras rolled at the outset of a cabinet meeting.
The president, who enjoys strong support among evangelical Christians, asked Carson to say "grace" -- a prayer usually said before a meal. Trump added that reporters could stick around for it.
Then, Carson said this: "Our kind father in heaven, we're so thankful for the opportunities and the freedom you've granted us in this country. We thank you for the president and for cabinet members who are courageous, who are willing to face the winds of controversy in order to perhaps provide a better future for those who come behind us."
He continued: "We're thankful for the unity in Congress that has presented an opportunity for our economy to expand so that we can fight corrosive debt that has been destroying our future."
White House Prayer
No Longer A National Security Threat
Climate Change
In a break with two decades of military planning, President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Crooked) has eliminated climate change from his administration's list of threats to national security.
The White House's 56-page National Security Strategy report, released Monday afternoon, included the word "climate" four times, thrice referring to business regulations and once to the environment.
About one hour later, Trump vowed in a 30-minute speech to defend the nation against new threats, including "cyber and electromagnetic attacks." He made little mention of climate change, only to list his plan to withdraw from "the very expensive and unfair Paris climate accord" as an achievement. Plugging his assault on fossil fuel regulations, he said his national security policy "embraces a future of American energy dominance and self sufficiency."
The move dispenses with decades of Pentagon policy. It also contradicts Defense Secretary James Mattis, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford and four other former top military commanders who were quoted in the defense bill Trump signed last week saying things such as, "Climate change is a national security issue."
The announcement came nearly a week after Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act, which devotes about 870 words to the "vulnerabilities to military installations" linked to climate change over the next 20 years. The bill warns that surging global temperatures, droughts and famines can lead to more failed states - "breeding grounds of extremist and terrorist organizations" - and that the Air Force's $1 billion radar installation on a Marshall Islands atoll "is projected to be underwater within two decades."
Climate Change
Aiding Illegal Ivory Trade
Japan
Japan's lax controls over its domestic stock of ivory are encouraging illegal exports to other countries and undermining efforts to end trafficking in elephant tusks, a report said Wednesday.
The report, compiled with support by the World Wildlife Fund, said researchers found antique dealers are buying a large number of elephant tusks in Japan that are not registered as required by law.
It said hundreds of ivory items are sold each year by e-commerce sites, often to visitors from other Asian countries such as China.
The report said whole tusks were being advertised without needed proof of their provenance.
It cited data from the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, which found that an average of 2,447 ivory items worth more than $400,000 were auctioned during a four-week period in May-June 2017 on a major e-commerce platform.
Japan
Trapped In Cocaine Bundles
Sea Turtle
A sea turtle trapped among floating cocaine bales worth $53m (£40m) has been rescued by the US Coast Guard.
The boat crew discovered the large loggerhead turtle entangled in blue rope connecting bales containing 800 kilos (1,800lb) of the Class A drug in the Pacific Ocean on November 19.
Coast Guard Ens. Mark Krebs and his team noticed the injured sea turtle after launching a small boat to investigate a debris field.
The struggling marine reptile was rescued during a 68-day counter drug patrol by the US Armed Forces branch in the Eastern Pacific along the Central American coast.
By the end of the operation, the crew had seized a total of 6,755 kilos (14,800lb) of cocaine, 14 pounds of marijuana and arrested 24 suspected smugglers.
Sea Turtle
British Charity
Action Hunger
A British charity has set up a free vending machine containing essential items for the homeless, an initiative presented as a world first which they hope will be rolled out internationally.
Action Hunger has set up the machine in the city of Nottingham, central England. It contains items such as water, energy bars, socks and sanitary towels, which can be accessed by the local homeless with a special keycard.
"They permit access to food, clothing, and basic necessities at any hour of the day, and completely free of charge," the charity said in a statement. Keycard holders can take out three items per day.
Action Hunger is working with a local homeless day centre in Nottingham to distribute the key cards and understand the needs in the city.
The machines dispense fresh fruit, crisps, chocolate and sandwiches, as well as antibacterial lotion, toothbrush and toothpaste combination packs and even books.
Action Hunger
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