Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Julia Ainsley, Carol E. Lee and Ken Dilanian: Mueller Has Enough Evidence to Bring Charges in Flynn Investigation (NBC News)
WASHINGTON - Federal investigators have gathered enough evidence to bring charges in their investigation of President Donald Trump's former national security adviser and his son as part of the probe into Russia's intervention in the 2016 election, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation.
Douglas Murray: The consequence of this new sexual counter-revolution? No sex at all (Spectator)
'Feminism' isn't producing guides for helping men. It is producing manifestos for torturing them.
Jessica Valenti: It's no accident that sexual harassers rise up the ranks (The Guardian)
For too long, we've lauded men's domination and aggressiveness as a sign of leadership rather than possible red flags.
Mark Piggott: Netflix was wrong to fire Kevin Spacey (Spectator)
Being, as ever, years late to the party, my wife and I were only midway through season one of House of Cards when news emerged that star Kevin Spacey might or might not have drunkenly groped then-14-year-old actor Anthony Rapp in 1986. This presented us with a dilemma: continue to watch and marvel at Spacey's bravura to-the-house performance, and possibly legitimise what he might have done (he now claims to be too drunk to remember) or consign the show to the e-recycle bin and watch Strictly instead?
Julian Brave NoiseCat: Our renter's republic is broken: one in five tenants can't pay the rent (The Guardian)
In the waning days of white-picket-fence America, the burgeoning tenant class is faring worse than ever before.
Noam Maggor: Amazon wants goodies and tax breaks to move its HQ to your city. Say no thanks (The Guardian)
Urban leaders must reject the race to the bottom that these scrambles to please corporations generate - as 19th-century mayors did during the rise of capitalism.
Robin McKie: Examination of Chopin's pickled heart solves riddle of his early death (The Guardian)
Scientists diagnose rare complication of tuberculosis following analysis of heart stored in jar of cognac for 170 years.
Ryan Gilbey: Hugh Grant: reluctant he may be but talented he certainly is (The Guardian)
Almost since he started acting, he has sought other purposes, including as a press abuse campaigner. But a brilliant turn in the new Paddington Bear film is set to herald an acting renaissance.
RONAN J O'SHEA:"Under: Europe's first underwater restaurant to open in Norway" (Independent)
"It should be an exciting experience, but people should also feel secure and well sitting down there," Rune Grasdal, the project's lead architect, told CNN. With an emphasis on local cuisine, the restaurant will accommodate up to 100 people. A huge panoramic window will provide views of the seabed and abundant marine life.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
wrote:
answered:
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Contribution
Owl
Owl caught at night on a game camera
gary in pa
Thanks, Gary!
Reader Comment
Current Events
Re: Flag
If Predator is going to order the flag flown at half staff after each mass shooting, might as well permanently fix it there. The gun nuts assure us of continued carnage in sacrifice to their holy right to tote weapons of mass death.
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Team Coco
CONAN
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
MR. SMITH LEAVES WASHINGTON.
HOW DID THIS SEASONS STORMS COMPARE?
WHAT A FUCKING IDIOT!
THE MODERN DAY MOBSTERS!
THEY WILL EAT YOUR BRAINS!
PAVE PARADISE AND PUT UP A PRISON!
"HOPPY QUINCENTENNIAL, MARTIN LUTHER!
"…THE BEST PLACE TO GET SHOT."
THE PIGS OF POWER!
BAH HUMBUG!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
Woman Fired
Motorcade
You may have seen this photo of President-for-now Donald Trump's (R-Execrable) motorcade winding down a wooded road last week as a woman on a bicycle pedaled by giving the middle finger to Trump.
The picture, snapped by a White House photographer traveling with the president as he left his golf course in Sterling, Va., went viral almost immediately. News outlets picked up the story when it appeared in a White House pool report. Late-night talk show hosts told jokes about the encounter and people on social media began hailing the unidentified woman as a "she-ro," using the hashtag #Her2020.
The woman's name is Juli Briskman. Her employer, government contractor Akima LLC, wasn't so happy about the photo. They fired her over it.
As the photo circulated online, Briskman decided to tell Akima's HR department what was happening when she went to work on Monday. By Tuesday, her bosses called her into a meeting and said she had violated the company's social media policy by using the photo as her profile picture on Twitter and Facebook.
"They said, 'We're separating from you,'" said Briskman. "Basically, you cannot have 'lewd' or 'obscene' things in your social media. So they were calling flipping him off 'obscene.'"
Motorcade
Rupert Pulls Impeachment Ad
Tom Steyer
Fox News will no longer run an ad from billionaire Tom Steyer calling for President-for-now Donald Trump's (R-Crooked) impeachment.
"Due to the strong negative reaction to their ad by our viewers, we could not in good conscience take their money," said Fox News co-president Jack Abernethy in a statement obtained by TheWrap on Monday.
According to Steyer, a prominent Democratic donor and Trump critic, the network abruptly and unfairly pulled the ad on October 31.
In a trollish flourish, Steyer not only bought airtime on Fox News but specifically on "Fox & Friends" to ensure that Donald Trump - a regular viewer of the program - would see it.
The strategy worked, with Trump issuing a denunciation less than an hour after watching the commercial on Oct. 27.
Tom Steyer
Rumors Underscore Changing Business Landscape
Disney-Fox
Investors are salivating over the possibility that the Walt Disney Co. will snap up parts of 21st Century Fox. Reports that the two media companies had held talks in recent weeks sent Fox shares soaring on Monday. It also signals that in an increasingly fractured media landscape - one in which must-stream entertainment is disrupting traditional ways of monetizing movies and shows - size still matters.
"This is a deal that would dramatically transform the content landscape," said Tuna Amobi, an analyst with CFRA Research. "The play for scale in terms of content may justify why Disneywould want to do this."
Amobi notes that Disney is launching its own streaming entertainment service. If it wants to compete with Netflix and Amazon, both of which have a head start in terms of licensing content and building a user base, it helps to have access to Fox's films, as well as the programming it produces for the likes of the FX Networks and National Geographic TV. The deal would not include the Fox Broadcasting Co. network, the Fox Television Stations unit, and the Fox Sports and Fox News operations, which would help the company avoid anti-trust opposition to a possible sale.
It's also a sign that the world is changing and that Fox, the once-mighty media conglomerate that Rupert Murdoch (R-Evil Incarnate) built with a tireless zeal for acquisitions, may feel it can't compete in a world of Silicon Valley and telecom behemoths. Amazon is making movies and shows, Apple is getting into the content game, and Facebook is also making noise about challenging Hollywood. All have deep pockets.
At the same time, Fox rival Time Warner (which Rupert Murdoch unsuccessfully tried to buy in 2014) is being gobbled up by AT&T. These companies don't have to make money the old fashioned way. They sell telephone and data services (in the case of AT&T) or household goods (in the case of Amazon). They want to use movies and shows to interest people in buying devices or sticking around their e-commerce platform. It's additive. That leaves Fox trying to compete by selling tickets to movies, licensing content, and selling advertising. Given that advertising revenues are shrinking and box office is hitting historic lows, it makes sense that Fox would be feeling the heat.
Disney-Fox
Rare Find
King Solomon's Mines
The skeleton of a pregnant woman, dating back around 3,200 years, has been found near a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Hathor at a place that was once called King Solomon's Mines, archaeologists recently announced.
Located in the Timna Valley in Israel, ancient Egyptians and others in the region used the mines for copper mining. Early archaeologists and explorers believed that King Solomon, an ancient Israeli ruler, controlled the Timna mines. However, many scholars now think the claim is unlikely.
Archaeologists discovered the pregnant woman's skeleton buried in a tumulus (a tomb covered by rocks) near Hathor's temple. The people worshipped Hathor - the goddess of love, pleasure and maternity - at Timna, and considered her to be the protector of the miners.
At the time the pregnant woman lived, Egypt controlled the mines at Timna, suggesting she was Egyptian. In addition, she may have been a singer at the Hathor temple, said Erez Ben-Yosef, the director of the Central Timna Valley Projectand a senior lecturer in archaeology at Tel Aviv University. She was buried with beads whose design is similar to those found at the Hathor temple, Ben-Yosef told Live Science.
An examination of her remains indicates she was in her early 20s and in the first trimester of her pregnancy when she died. The cause of her death is unknown.
King Solomon's Mines
Becoming More Common -- And More Deadly
Mass Shootings
Orlando, Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs: three of the worst mass shootings in modern U.S. history all happened in the past 17 months.
As Denver journalist Kyle Clark grimly observed on Monday, the 1999 Columbine High School massacre that once shocked the world when two gunmen killed 12 students and 1 teacher, has been pushed off the list of the top 10 deadliest mass shootings in recent U.S. history.
Now, three shootings in the past 17 months are on the list, and, as CNN pointed out, two of the five deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history occurred in the last 35 days.
According to Mass Shooting Tracker, there have been 377 mass shootings in 2017.
Mass Shootings
Mostly Benefits The Wealthy
GOP Tax Bill
The richest 1 percent of Americans would reap 48 percent of the benefits of Republican tax reform legislation, according to a new analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.
At the same time, although nearly half the plan's benefits would flow to the wealthiest Americans, the legislation Republicans introduced last week is less plutocratic than a rough outline of the plan from September. A Tax Policy Center analysis of the earlier framework said that 79 percent of its benefits would accrue to the richest 1 percent.
The new legislation includes a top tax rate of 39.6 percent on incomes above $1 million, which the earlier framework had only said might be a possibility. Also, instead of outright repealing a tax on transfers of ultra-wealthy estates, the new bill wouldn't fully repeal the estate tax until 2024.
Still, the new analysis says not everybody would get a tax break under the legislation. "In 2018, slightly more than 12 percent of taxpayers would experience a tax increase relative to current law," the TPC's analysis says. "That share would rise to slightly more than 28 percent in 2027."
The TPC said that a decade from now, 57 percent of taxpayers would get an average cut of $2,400, while 28 percent would face an increase of nearly $2,000.
GOP Tax Bill
Facebook and Twitter Investments
Russia
A business associated with Jared Kushner was used by Russian state entities to invest in Twitter and Facebook.
The information was revealed in the Paradise Papers, a set of millions of leaked documents reviewed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and media outlets.
White House adviser and son-in-law of US President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Corrupt), Mr Kushner was also the co-founder of a startup called Cadre, according to the full report by The Guardian.
The investments were made by Russian technology mogul Yuri Milner, who also owns a stake of cadre.
Mr Kushner failed to disclose his association with Cadre when he joined the White House in January, one of several of Mr Kushner's failures to disclose pertinent private sector ties ahead of his government service.
Russia
Calls For Body To Finally Be Buried
Vladimir Lenin
A debate over whether to bury Vladimir Lenin, whose embalmed body remains on display on Red Square, has risen again and even led to a stabbing ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution.
The ruling party has tried to play down Tuesday's centennial as the antithesis of Vladimir Putin's tenets of stability and traditional values.
But in a newspaper interview on Wednesday calling for the anniversary to be observed without "confrontation", Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of the upper house of parliament, was asked about removing Lenin from his glass sarcophagus in the mausoleum next to the Kremlin.
She suggested a referendum could decide the long-standing issue.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman leader of Russia's Chechnya republic and an outspoken Muslim believer, responded on social media that Mr Putin should decide, adding that it was "not right that a coffin with a dead person is standing in the heart of Russia".
Vladimir Lenin
Making a Comeback
Mumps
Mumps is making a comeback, even with people who have been vaccinated against the disease.
The New York Times reports that mumps outbreaks are on the rise, with more than 6,000 cases of mumps reported in the United States last year. That's the highest number of mumps cases reported in the past 10 years. For some perspective, in 2010 the number of cases was down to the hundreds.
Most of the recent cases have occurred in outbreaks. A large outbreak in Arkansas, for instance, affected primarily 18-22-year-olds. The majority of those that were infected had received the mumps vaccine when they were children.
While two doses has been standard for years, there's now some who think that immunity to the disease fades over time. In the case of recent outbreaks, a third dose has been given to those that have or will be potentially exposed to the disease to some great results.
That said, with the absence of an immediate threat, doctors still think two doses of the vaccine as a child is enough to last most people a lifetime.
Mumps
Were Nocturnal Until ...
Mammals
With enormous predators like Tyrannosaurus Rex skulking around in the daytime it is not surprising that the first mammals chose to live under the cover of darkness.
In fact, a new study, from University College London has found that our ancestors did not emerge from the shadows until after the dinosaurs became extinct, around 66 million years ago.
Before then, all mammals were nocturnal, sleeping in the daytime and hunting or foraging at night, new data suggests.
Researchers used computer algorithms to analyse details from 2415 species of living mammals to reconstruct the activity patterns of their ancestors.
They found that following the comet strike which killed off the dinosaurs, mammals shifted to an intermediate stage of mixed day and night living, before primarily venturing into the daylight.
Mammals
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