Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Conquest is for Losers (NY Times)
There is still a powerful political faction in America that hasn't learned this lesson.
Andrew Tobias: America's Resurgence is Real
Whether you like him or not, do yourself a favor and watch the President's year-end press conference.… It just might get you into the holiday spirit, knowing that things are looking up and that - in the steady, rational leadership of the man charged with more responsibility than any other on the planet - we have, for two more years, a gift that keeps on giving.
Kier Harris, Rachel King: 5 Reasons Life With Epilepsy is Weirder Than You Think (Cracked)
Epilepsy: the disease that ruins raves. We all think we have a pretty good idea of what it entails. Flashing lights cause you to flail about like a puppet in an earthquake, and that's about it, right? Actually, there are three categories of epilepsy, the symptoms of which are all over the place, and only one of them even has a known cause.
Suzanne Moore: Celebrity gossip, dinner parties and theatre - just three of the pointless things I'm giving up in 2015 (Guardian)
Do I care if Jennifer Aniston is still sad? Why are we still doing competitive cooking? Why am I still putting up with awful overacting? I'd rather give up the things I don't enjoy than fantasise about what I may never do.
Suzanne Moore: "Heroes of 2014: Hilary Mantel, the disruptive and anarchic writer" (Guardian)
Mantel continues to disturb us in the right ways, despite her induction into the establishment.
Gaby Hinslif: "Heroes of 2014: Karl Stefanovic, the TV anchor who wore the same suit for a year" (Guardian)
The Australian journalist donned his cheap blue suit every day to highlight how his female colleagues are judged for their sartorial choices.
Jake Heppner: 35 Tip Jars Even A Cheapskate Couldn't Resist Filling With Money (Distracify)
"Those who work for tips are at the mercy of their customers. Sometimes, particularly during slumps in the economy, it pays to do whatever you possibly can to put the public in the mood to part with their hard-earned money. The people who made these signs for their tip jars are attempting to use humor to inspire generosity; it's probably the best approach." - Neatorama
Lisa Skye: "Where Aren't They Now? 11 Overlooked Deaths of 2014 (Pt. 1)" (Cracked)
It was an awful year for great talents dying before their time, from Phillip Seymour Hoffman to Robin Williams. But in between those headline-grabbers, we lost other great and fascinating people who you knew when they were famous, but whose deaths probably didn't trend on Twitter for more than a few hours. So, every year at this time, Cracked likes to stop and memorialize the less famous deaths that probably flew under your radar: …
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wrote:
took the day off.
returned to semi-retired status.
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
Foggy, foggy night.
Investigate Cheney For Torture
New York Times
On the heels of the Senate Intelligence Committee's blistering report on the CIA's brutal handling of prisoners after 9/11, the New York Times is calling for a criminal investigation of former Vice President Dick Cheney and other members of the Bush administration for conspiring to commit torture and other crimes prohibited by federal and international laws.
"Americans have known about many of these acts for years," the Times editorial board stated on Monday. "But the 524-page executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report erases any lingering doubt about their depravity and illegality."
In its editorial, the Times said the "sadistic" techniques outlined in the committee's report "are, simply, crimes. They are prohibited by federal law, which defines torture as the intentional infliction of 'severe physical or mental pain or suffering.' They are also banned by the Convention Against Torture, the international treaty that the United States ratified in 1994 and that requires prosecution of any acts of torture."
"It is no wonder that today's blinkered apologists are desperate to call these acts anything but torture, which they clearly were," the Times continued. "As the report reveals, these claims fail for a simple reason: C.I.A. officials admitted at the time that what they intended to do was illegal."
New York Times
Nominee Confirmed
California Supreme Court
A state panel on Monday confirmed another California Supreme Court appointment by Gov. Jerry Brown - a move that likely tilts the conservative-leaning court further to the left.
Leondra Kruger, 38, a deputy assistant U.S. attorney general, won unanimous approval by the three-member Commission on Judicial Appointments.
The confirmation of Kruger, who is black, brings down the court's average age and will give California one black, one Hispanic and three Asian justices. Four women will be on the panel.
Brown has been making his mark on the court after it was dominated for years by appointees of former Republican Govs. George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson.
California Supreme Court
Temperature Rising
Finland
Temperatures in Finland rose almost twice as fast as in the rest of the world over the past 166 years, meteorologists said Monday, supporting claims global warming hits higher altitudes hardest.
Since 1847 "the average temperature in Finland has risen by more than two degrees," the Finnish Meteorological Institute said.
"During the observation period, the average increase was 0.14 degrees per decade, which is nearly twice as much as the global average."
The worrying weather was reported in the annual Arctic Report Card, compiled by 63 scientists in 13 countries, and was released on December 17 at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.
Finland
Americans Disapprove
Sony
Nearly half of Americans believe Sony Pictures made the wrong decision by canceling the theatrical release of the comedy "The Interview," the film that provoked a cyberattack on the studio, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday.
Forty-seven percent of respondents said they disagreed with Sony scrapping the film last Wednesday, after several movie theater chains chose not to screen the raunchy satire that depicts the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Another 29 percent of those polled said they agreed with the decision to pull the film, which had been slated for a Christmas Day release, while 24 percent said they did not have an opinion.
The online poll, conducted from Dec. 18-22, suggests that Americans mostly agree with President Barack Obama when he said last Friday Sony "made a mistake" by canceling the release and bowing to the intimidation of the hackers. He expressed concerns over self-censorship in Hollywood.
Sony
Hires Former Keystone Lobbyist
White House
The Obama administration's new point person on White House-Senate relations previously worked as a lobbyist to promote the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
Marty Paone, formerly a lobbyist with Prime Policy Group, was hired by the White House last week to be the deputy assistant for legislative affairs where he will be responsible for working with the Senate on White House legislative priorities, but he will be excluded from issues related to the pipeline.
The Center for Responsive Politics shows Paone and his firm received $280,000 in 2013 and 2014 from the In Situ Oil Sands Alliance, a group of four companies working to develop oil sands in Alberta, Canada, that would be exported to the United States should Transcanada's Keystone XL pipeline be constructed.
Ethics guidelines prohibit executive agencies from hiring anyone who has lobbied the agency in the past two years, which Paone has done at the Executive Office of the President, said a memorandum by the Counsel to the President.
The White House waived that restriction, citing "public interest" as the reason for Paone's hiring.
White House
Unmitigated Greed
Railroads
When American freight trains delivered cargo after World War II, the steam-belching beasts commonly had seven people aboard - an engineer, a conductor, up to four brakemen and a fireman.
Trains have since grown much longer, seemingly stretching to the horizon and often taking 20 minutes to pass through a crossing. And crews have been reduced in size - to five people in the 1970s and two in 1991. Now U.S. railroads want to put a single person in charge of today's huge locomotives, taking another step toward a future in which the nation's rail-cargo system increasingly could resemble toy train sets - highly mechanized networks run by computers or distant controllers.
For the moment, freight trains generally have two people aboard - an engineer who drives the train and a conductor who oversees the long line of cars. Railroad executives want to reduce that to a lone engineer, saying advances in safety systems, including a new automatic braking system under development, could minimize risks.
The one-person crew idea is being pitched at a time when railroads are working to increase train length because delivering more cars usually is more profitable, and they're working to expand capacity to handle even more freight as the economy improves.
Railroads
Transoceanic Waterway
Nicaragua
As a conscripted soldier during the Contra War of the 1980s, Esteban Ruiz used to flee from battles because he didn't want to have to kill anyone. But now, as the 47-year-old farmer prepares to fight for his land, Ruiz insists, "I'm not going to run."
Ruiz's property on the banks of Nicaragua's Rio Grande sits in the path of a $50 billion transoceanic waterway set to break ground on Monday.
Nicaraguan officials will start building access roads on state-owned land as the first step in creating a canal expected to rival that of Panama - a project supporters say will directly employ 50,000 people and dramatically boost the country's GDP.
The project is slated to open a huge waterway over what is now the town of Rio Grande, an evangelical-dominated community of 2,000 people with only a dirt road amid fields of corn, beans, banana and sorghum. Everything within 10 kilometers (6 miles) would be subject to expropriation.
Many complain President Daniel Ortega is giving too much away to HKND, the Hong Kong-based company set to develop and operate it. Landowners fear they'll be displaced without fair compensation. Environmentalists accuse the government of ram-rodding past mandated reviews and ignoring the threat that cargo traffic will pose to Lake Nicaragua, the country's main source of fresh water.
Nicaragua
Buying Affiliate
Caesars
Caesars Entertainment Corp. says it will buy an affiliate as it tries to smooth the reorganization of a struggling division and balance its debt load.
The Las Vegas casino giant says the merger with Caesars Acquisition Co. will give it $1.7 billion in cash it needs to guarantee loans in a proposed bankruptcy deal it's pitched to creditors of its debt-heavy operating division.
The announcement follows news Friday that the corporation had a signed plan with some of its Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. creditors to file for bankruptcy by mid-January and reorganize its finances without visitors to its hotel-casinos noticing a difference.
Creditors have criticized the corporation in the past for stripping assets away from the operating arm to other divisions.
Caesars
Wife Artificially Inseminated
Imprisoned Cuban
The United States helped a Cuban spy imprisoned in California artificially inseminate his wife back in Cuba, a goodwill gesture while Washington and Havana were engaged in secret talks on restoring diplomatic ties, U.S. officials said on Monday.
Now Gerardo Hernandez and his wife, Adriana Perez, are expecting his baby in two weeks, even though he was locked up for 16 years without conjugal visits. It will be a girl called Gema, Cuban official media said.
Hernandez was serving a double-life sentence at the U.S. federal penitentiary in Victorville until his release on Wednesday as part of a prisoner swap, which was completed the same day the United States and Cuba announced they would restore diplomatic ties after more than 50 years.
"We can confirm the United States facilitated Mrs. Hernandez's request to have a baby with her husband. The request was passed along by Senator (Patrick) Leahy, who was seeking to improve the conditions for Mr. Gross while he was imprisoned in Cuba," the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.
Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, had long been active in attempting to free Gross, who was arrested in 2009 for bringing banned telecommunications technology into Cuba for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Imprisoned Cuban
In Memory
Billie Whitelaw
British actress
Billie Whitelaw, who collaborated closely with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett and appeared on stage and screen for decades, has died in a London nursing home at age 82.
Whitelaw was well known for her roles in a number of films, including "The Omen" and most recently "Hot Fuzz," and for her regular work with Beckett, who once described her as the "perfect actress."
Their association began with her appearance in Beckett's "Play" in 1964. Her work in Beckett's "Not I" inspired the playwright to produce a piece specially for her, "Footfalls."
She also appeared in his "Happy Days" and "Rockaby."
Whitelaw first appeared on radio when she was 11 and made her stage debut in 1950. She made more than 50 movies, including Alfred Hitchcock's "Frenzy" in 1972, and worked with a number of film greats, including Albert Finney in "Charlie Bubbles."
She joined the National Theatre Company in the early 1960s, playing a number of lead roles, and continued playing major roles on stage for several more decades.
Whitelaw won several acting awards, including a British Academy Award for best supporting actress.
She told the Independent newspaper in a 1997 interview that she was not frightened of death: "Oh, no. Death's not one of those things that frighten the life out of me," she said, adding that getting on stage with the curtain about the rise was much more daunting.
Billie Whitelaw
In Memory
Joe Cocker
British singer Joe Cocker, whose hits included "You Are So Beautiful" and "Up Where We Belong," and a contortionist style of performance memorably parodied by John Belushi on "Saturday Night Live," has died. He was 70.
His London-based agent, Barrie Marshall, said Cocker died Monday of lung cancer in Colorado, where he has lived for the past two decades.
Cocker, a song interpreter more than a songwriter, first became known through his hit cover of the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends," and a characteristically manic performance at the first Woodstock festival in 1969. His raucous "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" tour of 1970 produced a film and a recording that went gold.
He had a top 10 hit in 1975 on the aching ballad "You Are So Beautiful," with his voice cracking on the final emotional note and won his first Grammy Award in 1983 for his "Up Where We Belong" duet with Jennifer Warnes, which was the theme of the movie "An Officer and a Gentleman."
Cocker, who received an Order of the British Empire in 2011 for his contribution to music, released 40 albums and continued to tour after the hits dried up.
Cocker moved to Crawford, Colorado, a town of fewer than 500 people, in the early 1990s. He and his wife, Pam, ran a children's educational foundation - the Cocker Kids Foundation - that raised funds for the town and schools, and ran the Mad Dog Cafe for several years in town, said Tom Wills, publisher of The North Fork Merchant Herald, a local community newspaper.
Wills said Cocker bought about 40 acres of property and built a hillside mansion - which he called Mad Dog Ranch - when he moved to Colorado.
Joe Cocker
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