Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Did President Trump Decry Babies Being 'Born in the Ninth Month'? [YES, HE DID!] (Snopes)
The president raised some eyebrows, however, when he proclaimed that "Right now, a number of state laws allow a baby to be born from his or her mother's womb in the ninth month. It is wrong. It has to change."
Paul Waldman: The Trump administration decides not enough Americans are hungry (Washington Post)
An all-out assault on people who receive food stamps. … As I've argued, the difference between a liberal and a conservative is that a liberal gets angry when a child goes hungry, and a conservative gets angry when someone gets a benefit who might not deserve it. But the Trump administration has been particularly aggressive even for Republicans in going after food stamps. And something tells me this is just the beginning.
Alexandra Petri: The Trump family Christmas update letter (Washington Post)
Donald's year has been a little ruff, as Conan would say.
Alexandra Petri: State legislators, stop being cowards. Mandate funerals for all spermatozoa. (Washington Post)
Pennsylvania's legislature has pushed a bill mandating death certificates and the offering of funerals for fertilized ova. How inequitable! In Ohio, lawmakers have suggested a bill to rescue fertilized ova that have wound up outside the womb, even when this is literally medically impossible. But all right-minded citizens must ask the question: Why such concern for these fertilizing spermatozoa, more than others? Those spermatozoa have passed into the beyond after making connections that elude millions of their brethren. Why honor them? Why reward further those who have already achieved a so-called reward?
Al Horner: "Juice WRLD: the unapologetic rapper who helped define a new sound" (The Guardian)
The rapper and singer reached millions by filling a void in hip-hop: tackling depression, addiction and heartbreak in anthems trembling with trauma
Rachel Coke: The best graphic novels of 2019 (The Guardian)
A heartbreaking wartime tale of a Korean 'comfort woman' stands out in an excellent year in which stalwarts Seth and Chris Ware continued to expand the horizons of the form.
Dana Stevens: The 10 Best Movies of 2019, Plus the best of the decade. (Slate)
Varda by Agnès. The loss of Agnès Varda this spring was a hard one. She had been a brilliant filmmaker for so long, and then a brilliant old filmmaker for so long, that it seemed like she would keep making movies on into her 100s, like the late Portuguese master Manoel de Oliveira. This last of her films, released this fall to little fanfare, is essentially a master class, in which she addresses audiences, or sometimes the camera directly, talking about her art and art in general as she interweaves clips from her six decades of filmmaking-fiction, documentary, and whatever genre it is that she invented in between the two, a genre that dies with her.
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David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Song: "Treat Me Right" from the album WRONG GENERATION
Artist: The Blendours
Artist Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Info: Songs about love and broken hearts sung by a very good singer.
Price: $7 (USD) for song; $7 (USD) for ten-track album
Genre: Pop
The Blendours at Bandcamp
Wrong Generation by The Blendours
David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
New Venture
Michael Egan
from Bruce
Anecdotes
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD is on vacation.
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In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Came across this today - Accidental shootings raise questions about arming teachers
Here's my armed teacher story (it's all true, but the names have been changed).
I was raised in a gun culture community.
Nearly 50 years later, it's just as gun-centric - the first day of deer season remains a legal school holiday.
The local paper still adds extra pages for pictures of dead deer and beaming children posed with long guns.
But one incident, way back when, defined the limit.
When I was in 8th grade a teacher pulled a gun on a student.
It was April 1st, April Fool's Day, and Harvey, the class cut-up, was called up to the math teacher's desk for some infraction.
Harve kinda loped up, and with one fluid movement, pulled a pair of scissors out of his back pocket and cut off Mr. Christian's necktie, just under the knot.
Mr. Christian sat there, stunned for a moment, and then bent down to pick up and open his briefcase.
Seems Mr. Christian was packing something special, a .38 special, which he trained at Harve's head.
Everyone froze.
Mr. French, the teacher in the next classroom, hearing the odd quiet, came in to see what was going on.
He talked Mr. Christian into dropping the gun.
Because pulling a gun on a student was such an egregious violation of local norms, Harve's punishment was tempered to a couple days off, and Mr. Christian 'retired' that day.
No charges were filed and Mr. French was never celebrated as a hero.
The story never appeared in any newspaper and the incident is still only whispered about.
So, yeah, I have a definite opinion about arming teachers.
No fucking way.
Michelle Obama, Julia Roberts
Vietnam
Former US first lady Michelle Obama and Hollywood A-lister Julia Roberts toured a high school in rural Vietnam on Monday, urging a classroom of teenage girls to stay focused on their education to transform their lives.
The promotion of girls' schooling has been the cornerstone of Obama's charitable work since her husband Barack Obama left office in 2017 after two terms as US president.
"When you educate a girl you give them power and a voice and an opportunity to improve their lives and the lives of their family and the lives of their community," Obama said at Can Giuoc high school in southern Long An province in the Mekong Delta.
Accompanied by Roberts and Jenna Bush Hager, daughter of former US president George W. Bush, Obama encouraged the girls to stay the course of schooling.
Vietnam
SNL Environment
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Louis-Dreyfus' time at Saturday Night Live wasn't all laughs.
Although there were plenty of "incredibly funny" people on the show, the Veep star told Stephen Colbert on Saturday that it was also a "very sexist" environment during her three-year tenure.
"I was unbelievably naive and I didn't really understand how the dynamics of the place worked," she revealed. "It was very sexist, very sexist. People were doing crazy drugs at the time. I was oblivious. I just thought, 'Oh wow. He's got a lot of energy.'"
The two comedians took part in a Q&A during the Montclair Film Festival held in Montclair, N.J., where they discussed Louis-Dreyfus' career from SNL to Seinfeld to her most recent work on HBO's Veep.
Joining the NBC variety show in 1982, Louis-Dreyfus became SNL's youngest female cast member at that time, and went on to share the stage with the likes of Eddie Murphy, Martin Short, and Billy Crystal.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Defamation Suit
'Richard Jewell'
Richard Jewell opens wide this week, but the Clint Eastwood-directed film could find itself in court soon afterward facing defamation charges if Atlanta's leading newspaper doesn't get the results it wants.
"It is highly ironic that a film purporting to tell a tragic story of how the reputation of an FBI suspect was grievously tarnished appears bent on a path to severely tarnish the reputation of the AJC, a newspaper with a respected 150-year-old publishing legacy," declares an explosive letter from attorney Marty Singer sent to Warner Bros and Oscar winner Eastwood on behalf of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution today.
Fueled by controversy the past two weeks over the film's depiction of the Olivia Wilde-portrayed Kathy Scruggs allegingly trading sex with an FBI agent for information that security guard Jewell was their lead suspect in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing, the correspondence sent today makes no bones about the next step being a "defamation lawsuit in various jurisdictions."
This escalation follows AJC Editor-in-Chief Kevin Riley insisting in public statements and past letters that the now-deceased Scruggs never traded sex for tips in the widely covered story. That story flooded newspapers and cable news with banners identifying Jewell as the FBI's top suspect. Heroically having helped get hundreds of civilians out of harm's way just before the July 1996 bombing in Centennial Olympic Park, the AT&T security guard later was cleared by the Bureau and the media after about three heavily scrutinized months as virtually public enemy No. 1.
Coming the same day that Richard Jewell essentially was snubbed in the Golden Globes nominations, Riley's insistence on what Scruggs seemingly didn't do and the role that the AJC played in eventually exonerating Jewell is what Monday's letter reiterates with blunt force.
'Richard Jewell'
Most-Tweeted-About Show
2019
In what comes as a shock to probably no one, "Game of Thrones" was the most-tweeted-about TV show of 2019, according to Twitter's year-in-review data, which was released Monday. What might surprise you, however, is that "Saturday Night Live," the show that came in at No. 1 on 2018's list, was completely absent from this year's Top 10 rankings.
Aside from HBO's now-ended fantasy epic - which still managed to land in ninth place last year, without airing any new episodes - 2019's most-tweeted about series also include, in order, "Stranger Things,"* "The Simpsons,"* "La Casa de Papel,"* "Grey's Anatomy," "Love Island,"* "Catfish: The TV Show,"* "Family Guy,"* "The Walking Dead" and "Narcos,"* according to Twitter data measured from Jan. 1 - Nov. 15.
(Note: We used an asterisk above to note the shows that made the Top 10 this year that did not have that honor last year.)
Along with "SNL," 2018's most-tweeted-about TV series that didn't make the cut for 2019 include the now-canceled "Roseanne" (which ABC replaced with the Roseanne Barr-less spinoff, "The Conners"), as well as "Big Brother," "The Voice," "Live PD," "Supernatural" and "Riverdale."
2019
Despite Evidence
Afghanistan
Senior US officials insisted that progress was being made in Afghanistan despite clear evidence the war there had become unwinnable, The Washington Post reported on Monday after obtaining thousands of US government documents on the conflict.
The Post said it had collected more than 2,000 pages of notes of interviews with top US military officers and diplomats, aid workers, Afghan officials and others who played a direct role in the nearly two-decade-old war.
The documents, the newspaper said, "contradict a long chorus of public statements from US presidents, military commanders and diplomats who assured Americans year after year that they were making progress in Afghanistan and the war was worth fighting."
"The interviews make clear that officials issued rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hid unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable," the Post said.
The newspaper dubbed the trove of documents "The Afghanistan Papers," a reference to the Pentagon Papers which detailed the secret history of US involvement in Vietnam and helped turn public opinion against the war.
Afghanistan
It's Called Entrapment
Fake School
Federal agencies have pushed back against criticism that they entrapped hundreds of foreigners who enrolled in a fake school the agencies opened in an effort to fight visa fraud, saying those who enrolled knew they weren't signing up for a real school and that they only wanted a way to stay in the U.S.
The undercover operation that targeted students at the University of Farmington in Farmington Hills was legal and helped combat visa fraud, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and head of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's investigative division in Detroit said Friday in statements to the Detroit Free Press.
"HSI special agents, as part of this undercover operation, made it abundantly clear in their interactions with potential University of Farmington enrollees that the school did not offer academic or vocational programs of any kind. The individuals who enrolled in the University of Farmington did so intentionally," said Vance Callender, special agent in charge of the Detroit office of ICE's Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI.
The students arrived in the U.S. legally, primarily from India, and were on F-1 student visa programs when they enrolled at the university that was covertly staffed by undercover agents and had a fake website. Nearly 80% of the 250 students who were arrested have voluntarily left the country, according to ICE.
The Free Press reported in November that the number of students who had been arrested on immigration infractions in the case had jumped to 250. The story drew widespread attention and several political leaders criticized or raised questions about the sting. Among the critics were several congressional Democrats, including Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Sen. Kamala Harris of California and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who is running for president .
Fake School
This Is Totally Normal
Infowars
A host on the far-right US conspiracy and disinformation website InfoWars has been removed from the latest impeachment hearing by police, after interrupting House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler with pro-Donald Trump (R-Fake Tan) messages.
The interruption came from a host on the fringe conservative website who led a racist call earlier this year for the lynching of Barack Obama, America's first African American president.
The host was seen being led out by Capitol Police after the interruption on Monday, shortly after the start of the hearings in which politicians are to question the counsels hired by the House Intelligence Committee to spearhead questioning during earlier impeachment hearings.
"Americans are sick of your impeachment scam! Trump is innocent!" said the protester, Owen Shroyer.
Mr Shroyer had attracted attention to himself earlier this year with a racist call to lynch Mr Obama, whom he called "treasonous" during an interview with the far-right website Breitbart. He cited a conspiracy theory that has been pushed with no evidence by far-right actors as proof of the former president's alleged misdeeds.
Infowars
Created in China
Pig-Monkey Chimeras
Two piglets recently born in China look like average swine on the outside, but on the inside, they are (a very small) part monkey.
A team of researchers generated the pig-primate creatures by injecting monkey stem cells into fertilized pig embryos and then implanting them into surrogate sows, according to a piece by New Scientist. Two of the resulting piglets developed into interspecies animals known as chimeras, meaning that they contained DNA from two distinct individuals - in this case, a pig and a monkey.
"This is the first report of full-term pig-monkey chimeras," co-author Tang Hai, a researcher at the State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology in Beijing, told New Scientist. Eventually, Hai and his colleagues aim to grow human organs in animals for use in transplant procedures. For now, the team plans to stick with monkey cells, as developing human-animal chimeras presents a slew of "ethical issues," the authors noted in a report published Nov. 28 in the journal Protein & Cell.
To create pig-primate chimeras, Hai and his co-authors first grew cells from cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) in lab dishes. The team then altered the cells' DNA by inserting instructions to build a fluorescent protein, which caused the cells to glow a bright green. These luminescent cells gave rise to equally radiant embryonic stem cells, which the researchers then injected into prepared pig embryos. These glowing spots allowed the researchers to track the monkey cells as the embryos grew into piglets.
In total, 4,000 embryos received an injection of monkey cells and were implanted in surrogate sows. The pigs bore 10 piglets as a result of the procedure, but only two of the offspring grew both pig and monkey cells. By scanning for spots of fluorescent green, the team found monkey cells scattered throughout multiple organs, including the heart, liver, spleen, lungs and skin.
Pig-Monkey Chimeras
Trigger Strong Memories
Smells
The delicious scent of baking bread wafting out from the open doors of a nearby bakery can act like a time portal, instantly sweeping you from a busy street in New York to a tiny cafe in Paris that you visited years ago. Scent particles, in general, can revive memories that have been long forgotten.
But why do smells sometimes trigger powerful memories, especially emotional ones?
The short answer is that the brain regions that juggle smells, memories and emotions are very much intertwined. In fact, the way that your sense of smell is wired to your brain is unique among your senses.
A scent is a chemical particle that floats in through the nose and into the brain's olfactory bulbs, where the sensation is first processed into a form that's readable by the brain. Brain cells then carry that information to a tiny area of the brain called the amygdala, where emotions are processed, and then to the adjoining hippocampus, where learning and memory formation take place.
Scents are the only sensations that travel such a direct path to the emotional and memory centers of the brain. All other senses first travel to a brain region called the thalamus, which acts like a "switchboard," relaying information about the things we see, hear or feel to the rest of the brain, said John McGann, an associate professor in the psychology department of Rutgers University in New Jersey. But scents bypass the thalamus and reach the amygdala and the hippocampus in a "synapse or two," he said.
Smells
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