Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Josh Marshall: That Sinking Feeling (TPM)
Behind the new faux controversy over Mueller getting Trump transition emails is a key and probably too little discussed aspect of the Russia story: Mueller's team has some of the most accomplished and aggressive prosecutors and legal minds of their generation. They're facing off against a team of has-beens, 3rd or 4th rate lawyers and in some cases simple incompetents. Why? Because Trump values sycophancy above competence and because none of the top lawyers were willing to work for him.
DAVID LEONHARDT, IAN PRASAD PHILBRICK and STUART A. THOMPSON: Trump's Lies vs. Obama's (NY Times)
In his first 10 months in office, he has told 103 separate untruths, many of them repeatedly. Obama told 18 over his entire eight-year tenure. That's an average of about two a year for Obama and about 124 a year for Trump. [v]We have used the word "lies" again here, as we did in our original piece. If anything, though, the word is unfair to Obama and Bush. When they became aware that they had been saying something untrue, they stopped doing it. Obama didn't continue to claim that all Americans would be able to keep their existing health insurance under Obamacare, for example, and Bush changed the way he spoke about Iraq's weapons capability.
Alice Ollstein: 5 Points You Need To Know About The New Tax Bill Headed Trump's Way (TPM)
4. Democrats had No Input.
Charles M. Blow: Omarosa, Sacking of a Sellout (NY Times)
And what does it say about Omarosa that she offered herself up at the soul auction for a ticket to "ride that train"?
She was just another snake in the pit, and now that they have turned on her she's turning on them. There are no heroes here, only villains at war.
Michele Hanson: The price of driving down care home costs? Staff who quit after a few weeks(The Guardian)
Making money out of the sick, feeble and helpless means treating them and their carers like rubbish. No wonder worker turnover is so high.
As told to Jonathan Thompson: Experience: I [Donnie Dunagan] was Bambi" (The Guardian)
The premiere was packed. When Bambi's mother was shot there were gasps and parents covered their children's eyes.
Tina Brown: 'What is it with old men and bathrobes?' (The Guardian)
At 29, Tina Brown moved to New York to edit Vanity Fair - and went on to have bruising encounters with Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein and Garrison Keillor. She meets Emma Brockes.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
responded:
took the day off.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
Teach Your Children
David
Thanks, Dave!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
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
PUT A SOCK IN IT!
PUT A SOCK IN IT! PART TWO.
WOO! WOO!
SHE'S BACK!
THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS 2017
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Winds are finally dying down.
Hillary's Response To Tattoo
Pete Davidson
Pete Davidson of "Saturday Night Live" shocked many of his followers last week when he unveiled a tattoo of his "hero," former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"Wanted to get @hillaryclinton a Christmas gift so I got a tattoo of my hero. Thanks for being such a badass and one of the strongest people in the universe," the 24-year-old captioned his Instagram post on Friday.
The tattoo, which is currently the only photo on Davidson's Instagram account, divided his more than 450,000 followers. Commenters called the comedian "a f*cking idiot" and a "total moron," while others brought up Davidson's father, who died on Sept. 11, 2001. Many also praised the portrait of the former Democratic presidential nominee.
"Thanks, @petedavidson. This makes it significantly less awkward that I've had a Pete Davidson tattoo for years," Clinton wrote. "But seriously, I'm honored. Merry Christmas my friend."
Davidson was clearly thrilled with the response he got from Clinton and commented "OMG WHAAAAAAAAT!!!!" Jillian Sederholm of Entertainment Weekly took a screenshot of the exchange and posted it on Twitter.
Pete Davidson
Antitrust Enforcers In A Bind
Disney-Fox
The blockbuster deal between Walt Disney Co. and 21st Century Fox could likely put US antitrust enforcers in an awkward position following the government's challenge to another media-entertainment mega-deal.
The $52 billion deal would give Disney the prized Fox television and film studios, as well as international TV operations and US cable entertainment and regional sports channels from the empire created by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who would maintain control of the Trump-friendly Fox News Channel.
The deal has sparked concerns about too much concentration of power, giving Disney some 40 percent of US box office revenues and a large chunk of television entertainment and sports channels.
But complicating any review is the well-known friendship and political ties between President Donald Trump and Murdoch -- with the two men even discussing the transaction in a phone call.
Another twist is that the deal comes just weeks after the Trump administration's Justice Department filed suit to block AT&T's proposed $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, a major media-entertainment rival and owner of Trump nemesis CNN.
Disney-Fox
"Twelve Landscape Screens"
Qi Baishi
A set of ink-brush paintings by Chinese artist Qi Baishi has sold for $144 million, breaking all records for Chinese paintings, a Beijing auction house said Monday.
The group of 12 panels painted in 1925 were sold at auction on Sunday night for 931.5 million yuan, Beijing Poly International Auction said in a statement.
The self-taught painter (1864-1957) became the first Chinese artist to surpass the $100 million mark for one piece, the auction house said.
The work, entitled "Twelve Landscape Screens", depicts mountains, villages and trees in bloom, with soft blue, grey, brown and pink tones.
Qi Baishi was one of the world's most valued Chinese artists last year, according to a ranking published earlier this year by Artprice.
Qi Baishi
Promises To 'Defend Net Neutrality'
France
In the aftermath of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's vote to repeal net neutrality last week, the French government has spoken up in support of a free and open internet.
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Friday that "France will continue to defend net neutrality despite whatever decisions are taken by other countries," according to Reuters.
"[Net neutrality] is a cardinal principle for the internet to be a space of openness and innovation," Le Drian said in a speech about France's overseas digital strategy.
The FCC, with backing from the Trump administration, voted on Thursday to throw out regulations that require internet providers to treat all online content equally. Though the decision could still be challenged by Congress and in the courts, concerns are rife about how such a move could immediately impact consumers and small businesses.
Experts have also warned that the U.S. may be setting a dangerous precedent which other countries could follow.
France
To Review Hurricane Death Toll
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico's governor vowed to re-examine its official death toll from Hurricane Maria after independent investigations placed the number of storm-related deaths at roughly 15 times higher than the territory's findings, The New York Times reported.
The island has reported just 64 storm-related deaths, while independent reviews by media outlets estimate the number to be around 1,000 when comparing deaths on the island from the same time in previous years.
Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló, in a statement on Monday, said all deaths after the September storm that were attributed to natural causes will be reviewed. This apparent about-face follows his administration's pattern of dodging questions and concerns about unaccounted deaths.
A review by the Times found that 1,052 more people than usual died across the island in the 42 days after the storm. The leading causes of death in September were diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. There were also 50 percent more deaths from sepsis, a life-threatening illness that originates from infection.
Puerto Rico's Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI) similarly found that the average daily death rate increased by 43 percent following the storm, with most of those who died being over the age of 50 and dying in hospitals and nursing homes.
Puerto Rico
Mocks Barack Obama
Jr.
Donald Trump Jr. (R-Putin Fan) took to instagram Sunday alongside Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R-Canada) to mock former President Barack Obama and pose with a cookie that featured a picture of the former leader.
President-for-now Donald Trump's (R-Corrupt) eldest son said the cookie was an early birthday president. "With friends like these... some good friends decided that while my birthday is not for 2 weeks that they would get me an early 40th birthday cake. And what birthday is complete without an Obama cake?" Trump Jr. wrote in the Instagram post.
In the image Ted Cruz appeared unmoved by the cookie, looking into the camera with little emotion. Trump Jr. gave a skewed grimace, presumably showing his distaste for the former Democratic president.
The comments below Trump Jr.'s caption descend into familiar partisan bickering with a few of the posts noting the foodstuff on display was a cookie, rather than a cake, as described.
Jr.
Thought Police Instill Fear
China
Nobody knows what happened to the Uighur student after he returned to China from Egypt and was taken away by police. Not his neighbors, not his classmates, not his mother.
"Is he dead or alive?" the mother said, tears streaming down her face when Associated Press reporters visited her at home unexpectedly and showed her a photo of the student.
The student's friends think he joined thousands - possibly tens of thousands - of people who have been spirited away without trial into new indoctrination centers. The mass disappearances, beginning the past year, are part of efforts by Chinese authorities to use detentions and data-driven surveillance to impose a police state over the region of Xinjiang and its 10 million Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority that China says has been influenced by Islamic extremism.
Unprecedented levels of police blanket Xinjiang's streets in many cities. Cutting-edge surveillance systems track where Uighurs go, what they read, who they talk to and what they say.
Through rare interviews with Uighurs who recently left China, a review of government procurement contracts and unreported documents, and a trip through southern Xinjiang, the AP pieced together a picture of a campaign that's ostensibly rooting out terror - but instead instilling fear.
China
Fast Sprinting Toward Extinction
Asiatic Cheetah
The Asiatic cheetah could be headed one step closer to extinction after critical U.N. funding earmarked to protect the world's "second-rarest cat" will dry up this later this month.
"Unless something is done within the next couple of years, it will not be possible to save the Asiatic cheetah," Urs Breitenmoser, co-chair of the Cat Specialist Group, told The Observer last week. "It is now five minutes to midnight for the species. Soon it will be midnight ? and extinction."
Once widespread in Asia, stalking vast swathes of the continent from the Middle East to eastern India, the Asiatic cheetah was almost wiped out in the 20th century by overhunting and habitat degradation, among other threats. Today, fewer than 50 individuals are believed to remain in the wild ? all of them in Iran - and that number continues to plummet each year.
Cars, poachers and local herders are currently the biggest threats facing the subspecies, according to conservationists.
The situation may seem dire for the Asiatic cheetah, considered a critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but conservationists say it could be a lot worse. If not for a conservation program launched by the Iranian government in 2001 with support from the U.N. Development Program aimed at protecting the animal and its habitat, the Asiatic cheetah would have "totally disappeared from Iran" by now, Jokar told the AFP.
Asiatic Cheetah
Takes Last US Commercial Flight
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747, the original jumbo jet that was the favorite American presidents and key to affordable mass market air travel in the United States, will pass into aviation history this week.
Nearly 50 years after the its debut, the 747 will take its final commercial flight with an American carrier Tuesday on Delta Air Lines' Seoul-to-Detroit route.
It "made flying available for everyone," said Boeing chief company historian Michael Lombardi said of the iconic jet. "The 747 gave wings to the world."
Delta's sendoff for the storied aircraft includes special flights on Wednesday for employees and top customers. Ticket prices for these "farewell tour" flights have soared owing to demand from nostalgic consumers.
The 747 will still be in the skies for Lufthansa, British Airways and Korean Air Lines.
Boeing 747
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