Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Hating Good Government (NY Times)
Why do so many Americans hold views that are completely at odds with, and completely unaffected by, actual experience?
Stephen Moss: "Anarchy in the bus lane: how protesters quietly took over London's streets" (Guardian)
Your job is a stupid waste of time - and the police caused the 2011 riots. That's what a spate of posters recently told London commuters. Who masterminded it? We pick up the trail at an anarchist magazine.
Steven Poole: A beginner's guide to Voltaire, the philosopher of free speech and tolerance (Guardian)
The French are turning to Voltaire for guidance in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attack. Here are his key quotes, misquotes, major works - and run-ins with the authorities.
Anonymous, J.F. Sargent: "8 Ways the Legal System Screws Rape Victims (Like Me)" (Cracked)
When I was 19, I got so drunk at a party that I passed out. I woke up in the middle of being raped. When I started to scream, he covered my mouth. I was confused, scared, a virgin, and thanks to TV and movies, I was pretty sure that he would murder me after he was done. All I could think of was how I wanted to see my little brother again, so I just lay there, with tears streaming down my face, waiting for it to end.
LIGAYA MISHAN: "'One for the Books,' by Joe Queenan" (NY Times)
By Joe Queenan's reckoning, in his 62 years of life he has read at least 6,128 books. Should he continue to read at his current clip (100 to 200 books annually), he calculates that given natural life expectancy, he has only some 2,138 books to go. The clock is ticking, he warns, for him and for us all. If that makes you want to abandon this review immediately and grab the nearest Dostoyevsky, no hard feelings.
Joe Queenan: He Who Laughs (Weekly Standard)
Sherlock Holmes and the case of the serial chuckler.
Josh Karp: Joe Queenan (Salon)
The former Spy writer and well-paid bastard hates baby boomers (their legacy: the male ponytail) with all his funny guts.
Lucy Mangan: Before Google, what did we want to know? Ask the New York Public Library (Guardian)
The New York Public Library is publishing archive queries from members of the public, submitted long before the internet was created. How well does Google answer their questions today?
Oliver Burkeman: Five reasons why we should all learn how to do nothing (Guardian)
The idea that "doing nothing" is a skill to be learned might seem bewildering at first. Surely it's just a question of stopping doing anything else? Yet that's far easier said than done.
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wrote:
took the day off.
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
from Marc Perkel
BartCop
Hello Bartcop fans,
As you all know the untimely passing of Terry was unexpected, even by
him. We all knew he had cancer but we all thought he had some years
left. So some of us who have worked closely with him over the years are
scrambling around trying to figure out what to do. My job, among other
things, is to establish communications with the Bartcop community and
provide email lists and groups for those who might put something
together. Those who want to play an active roll in something coming from
this, or if you are one of Bart's pillars, should send an email to
active@bartcop.com.
Bart's final wish was to pay off the house mortgage for Mrs. Bart who is
overwhelmed and so very grateful for the support she has received.
Anyone wanting to make a donation can click on this the yellow donate
button on bartcop.com
But - I need you all to help keep this going. This note
isn't going to directly reach all of Bart's fans. So if you can repost
it on blogs and discussion boards so people can sign up then when we
figure out what's next we can let more people know. This list is just
over 600 but like to get it up to at least 10,000 pretty quick. So
here's the signup link for this email list.
( mailman.bartcop.com/listinfo/bartnews )
Marc Perkel
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
I'm not too good at the begging routine, but this page doesn't generate enough revenue for a high-speed connection, so I'm still on a crappy dial-up.
I'm grateful to my 3 pillars who faithfully send a monthly donation, but it's not enough to cover what the local cable monopoly charges for a faster connection.
I simply can't take this crappy dial-up much longer.
Which Current Members Voted Against MLK Holiday
Congress
In 1983, Congress voted overwhelmingly to approve legislation to honor the memory of the late Martin Luther King Jr. by observing a federal holiday on the third Monday of every January. But not every elected official was onboard with the effort.
Now the decades-old issue of who opposed making MLK Day a holiday has returned to the political scene, as one House Republican leader has faced scrutiny for his opposition to the day in conjunction with a larger controversy over race.
New House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, a Republican from Louisiana, came under fire last month for having voted twice against a state version of the holiday while serving in the local legislature. (The votes were unearthed as part of a larger story about a previously unreported speech Scalise delivered at a 2002 conference sponsored by a white-supremacist group.) Because many states took decades after the federal decision to implement MLK Day, Scalise's votes against the holiday came late: He was one of six Louisiana statehouse members to vote against the holiday in 2004 and one of three to vote against it in 1999.
Two current U.S. senators voted against the holiday during their time as representatives in the House: former GOP presidential nominee John McCain of Arizona and Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama. And four other men who went on to join the Senate (though they have now left it) opposed is as well: Jim Jeffords of Vermont, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Larry Craig of Idaho and Phil Gramm of Texas.
Congress
Makes Final Trip In California
Last 'Freedom Train'
The last of the nation's "Freedom Train" rides paying tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. made its final trip in California on Monday after more than 30 years of operation.
Organizers said they're ending the annual train ride - one of more than two dozen "Freedom Trains" launched nationwide by King's widow, Coretta Scott King - because of declining ridership.
Coretta Scott King launched the trains to commemorate the march her husband led from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, nearly 50 years ago. The march demanding voting rights for African Americans proved instrumental in the eventual passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The train carrying about 1,400 people left from San Jose and arrived in San Francisco. People sang during the journey and heard stories about the civil rights movement.
Coretta Scott King chose the San Jose-to-San Francisco route because the distance between is roughly equivalent to the 54 miles traveled by King and his fellow protesters.
Last 'Freedom Train'
Researchers Hopeful
Lost Colony
A clue discovered just a few years ago on a centuries-old map has led researchers back to a North Carolina site in hopes of discovering whether the men, women and children of North Carolina's "Lost Colony" settled there.
"If we were finding this evidence at Roanoke Island, which is the well-established site of Sir Walter Raleigh's colony, we would have no hesitation to say this is evidence of Sir Walter Raleigh's colonies," said Phil Evans, president of the First Colony Foundation. "But because this is a new site and not associated with Sir Walter Raleigh, we have to hesitate and ask questions and learn more. It's not Roanoke Island. It's a new thing, and a new thing has to stand some tests."
In 2012, researchers with the foundation and the British Museum announced they had found a tantalizing clue about the fate of the Lost Colony, the settlers who disappeared from Roanoke Island in the late 16th century. The clue was on the "Virginea Pars" map of Virginia and North Carolina created by explorer John White in the 1580s and owned by the British Museum since 1866.
Attached to the map were two patches, one of which appeared to correct a mistake on the map. The other - in what is modern-day Bertie County in northeastern North Carolina - hid what appears to be a fort. Another symbol, appearing to be the very faint image of a different kind of fort, is drawn on top of the patch.
Lost Colony
Apologizes, Again
Fox "News"
US television network Fox News has apologized several times for claiming there are "totally Muslim" no-go zones in Europe, comments that aired on the station following deadly attacks in France.
Commentators on the network and anchors suggested there were areas in France and Britain in particular where non-Muslims aren't allowed in and police won't go.
Security analyst Steven Emerson said a week ago that "non-Muslims just simply don't go in" to the British city of Birmingham, during a discussion of multiculturalism.
Prime Minister David Cameron called Emerson a "complete idiot."
Fox "News"
Monster Energy Suit
Beastie Boys
The Beastie Boys want to force the maker of Monster Energy drink to pay nearly $2.4 million in legal fees and costs so the rappers' $1.7 million jury award is not dwarfed by expenses in a copyright violation case, lawyers say.
A Manhattan federal court jury awarded the group most of the $2 million it requested at a June trial, but that was not enough to cover costs that lawyers said were worsened by the actions of the Corona, California-based Monster Energy Co., the musicians' lawyers said in papers filed in Manhattan federal court.
They said more than two years of litigation punctuated by Monster's failure to engage in good-faith negotiations, an eight-day trial and Monster's effort to overturn the verdict ran up the legal bill.
"Monster's tactics significantly increased the costs for Beastie Boys to vindicate their intellectual property rights, such that, absent an award of attorney's fees and costs, plaintiff's success at trial would become a Pyrrhic victory," they wrote in a filing Saturday.
Beastie Boys
Pipeline Breach
Yellowstone River
Montana officials said Sunday that an oil pipeline breach spilled up to 50,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River near Glendive, Montana, but they said they are unaware of any threats to public safety or health.
The Bridger Pipeline Co. said the spill occurred about 10 a.m. Saturday. The initial estimate is that 300 to 1,200 barrels of oil spilled, the company said lied in a statement Sunday.
Bridger Pipeline Co. said in the statement that it shut down the 12-inch-wide pipeline shortly before 11 a.m. Saturday. "Our primary concern is to minimize the environmental impact of the release and keep our responders safe as we clean up from this unfortunate incident," said Tad True, vice president of Bridger.
An Exxon Mobil Corp. pipeline broke near Laurel during flooding in July 2011, releasing 63,000 gallons of oil that washed up along an 85-mile stretch of riverbank.
Yellowstone River
Own Half World's Wealth By 2016
Richest 1%
Wealth accumulated by the richest one percent will exceed that of the other 99 percent in 2016, the Oxfam charity said Monday, ahead of the annual meeting of the world's most powerful at Davos, Switzerland.
"The scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering and despite the issues shooting up the global agenda, the gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast," Oxfam executive director Winnie Byanyima said.
The richest one percent's share of global wealth increased from 44 percent in 2009 to 48 percent in 2014, the British charity said in a report, adding that it will be more that 50 percent in 2016.
Of the remaining 52 percent, almost all -- 46 percent -- is owned by the rest of the richest fifth of the world's population, leaving the other 80 percent to share just 5.5 percent with an average wealth of $3,851 (3,330 euros) per adult, the report says.
Richest 1%
At Least 5 Corpses
Mystery Greek Tomb
Human bones found in a resplendent ancient tomb in northern Greece belong to at least five individuals, including an elderly woman and a baby, Greek officials said Monday.
The announcement by the Culture Ministry further muddles a high-profile excavation hampered by unrealistic expectations and political attention.
The three-month dig at ancient Amphipolis, 600 kilometers (375 miles) north of Athens, has uncovered three vaulted chambers behind a facade decorated with two big marble sphinxes. Inside, archaeologists found a pair of larger-than-life statues of young women and a mosaic pavement depicting the abduction of the goddess Persephone by Hades, king of the underworld.
It is unclear when each of the five individuals died or were buried and even whether the tomb had been built for them all.
The thoroughly-plundered tomb has been dated to between 325 B.C. - two years before the death of ancient Greek warrior-king Alexander the Great - and 300 B.C., although some archaeologists think it could be considerably later. Experts speculated it could have been built for a general or a relative of Alexander's, who himself was buried in Egypt.
Mystery Greek Tomb
DNA Tests Say Native American
Kennewick Man
Nearly two decades after the ancient skeleton called Kennewick Man was discovered on the banks of the Columbia River, the mystery of his origins appears to be nearing resolution.
Genetic analysis is still under way in Denmark, but documents obtained through the federal Freedom of Information Act say preliminary results point to a Native-American heritage.
The researchers performing the DNA analysis "feel that Kennewick has normal, standard Native-American genetics," according to a 2013 email to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for the care and management of the bones. "At present there is no indication he has a different origin than North American Native American."
If that conclusion holds up, it would be a dramatic end to a debate that polarized the field of anthropology and set off a legal battle between scientists who sought to study the 9,500-year-old skeleton and Northwest tribes that sought to rebury it as an honored ancestor.
Kennewick Man
Circumcision Spurs Legal Battle
"Saving Chase"
An estranged Florida couple's fight over whether to circumcise their son has become a rallying cry for those who denounce the procedure as barbaric.
The dispute between Heather Hironimus, the mother opposing circumcision, and Dennis Nebus, the father favoring it, has sparked a prolonged court battle, protests and the rapt attention of a movement of self-proclaimed "intactivists."
Judges have ruled in favor of the father, meaning the surgery is likely to happen, but the possible closure of the legal chapter has done little to mute the case's most passionate followers. Though many still choose to remove their sons' foreskins at the suggestion of a doctor, for religious or cultural reasons, or out of habit, opponents have been bolstered by the overall waning popularity of circumcision, and the fact this fight has gone on so long the boy at its center is now 4 years old.
Volumes of court filings tell the story: Hironimus and Nebus had a six-month relationship that resulted in a pregnancy, the birth of a boy named Chase, and a fight over nearly everything since. Nebus sued to prove his paternity and to get partial custody of the boy and the couple whittled out a parenting plan outlining everything from his surname to his legal address, to whom he calls mommy or daddy and, notably, what becomes of his penis.
"Saving Chase"
Weekend Box Office
'American Sniper'
Clint Eastwood's R-rated Iraq War drama "American Sniper" opened in January like a superhero movie in July, taking in a record $105.3 million over the Martin Luther King Jr. four-day weekend.
The film's unprecedented success obliterated forecasts and set numerous box-office records. It easily surpassed "Avatar" to become the biggest January weekend ever.
Going into the weekend, optimistic predictions for "American Sniper" were closer to $50 million, which still would have been an enormous success, particularly considering how little appetite audiences have had for movies about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In its fourth weekend of release, the civil rights drama "Selma" took in $11.5 million on the holiday weekend that honors its protagonist, King. The film landed two Oscar nominations on Thursday, including best picture, but the snubbing of its star, David Oyelowo, and director, Ava DuVernay, drew widespread outrage.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Monday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Tuesday.
1. "American Sniper," $105.3 million ($6.1 million international).
2. "Paddington," $25.2 million ($4 million international).
3. "The Wedding Ringer," $24.5 million.
4. "Taken 3," $17.4 million ($31.4 million international).
5. "Selma," $11.5 million.
6. "Into the Woods," $8.7 million ($7.3 million international).
7. "The Imitation Game," $8.1 million ($4 million international).
8. "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies," $6 million ($6.1 million international).
9. "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb," $5.1 million ($17.8 million international).
10. "Unbroken," $5 million ($7.3 million international).
'American Sniper'
In Memory
Dallas Taylor
Dallas Woodrow Taylor Jr., a rock drummer best known for his work with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, died Sunday at age 66, his wife Patti McGovern-Taylor revealed in a Facebook Post. Taylor's cause of death was unclear.
Taylor was born in Denver, Colorado on April 7, 1948, and grew up in San Antonio, Texas, according to his official website.
His big break came in the 1960s with the band Clear Light. He went on to play the drums on Crosby, Stills and Nash's self-titled debut album, "Crosby, Stills & Nash" in 1969 and their follow-up with Neil Young, the hugely populara "Déjà Vu" in 1970.
Taylor was with the band when it played at the Woodstock music festival in 1969.
Taylor described himself as an addiction specialist on his web site.
Dallas Taylor
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