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Friday, September 29, 2017

Have An Excellent Weekend

  Enjoy the weekend, see you bright and early Monday morning.

work by Paul Sérusier

Tip Off

The Palmer Report: Tom Price resignation is just the tip of Donald Trump’s iceberg

Price

  Plenty of other grifters out there for Trump to pick anew.

CNN: Tom Price broke Trump's cardinal rule: Never get bad headlines for the boss

Rosetta

NY Times: Rosetta’s Lost Picture From Moments Before It Struck a Comet

Lt Gen Jay B Silveria Speech After Racial Slurs Left In Dorms At The USAFA

They're Bad

Slate: Why Steve Mnuchin and Gary Cohn Are So Bad at Selling Trump’s Tax Plan By Daniel Gross

Bad Jared

Salon: Senators are livid that Kusher didn’t tell them about his private email - Trump’s adviser and son-in-law has been asked to disclose his use of private communications
Jared's emails got 45 seconds at WH briefings

Hillary's emails got 500+ NYT columns, articles

The Onion - Wedding Caterer Likes To Throw In Extra Potatoes If It Seems Like Couple Genuinely In Love

The Onion: Wedding Caterer Likes To Throw In Extra Potatoes If It Seems Like Couple Genuinely In Love

Electrically Heated Cloth

Science Daily: Electrically heated textiles now possible via UMass Amherst research - Vapor deposition method for nano-coating fabric to create sewable, weavable, electrically heated material
summary - Skiers, crossing guards and others who endure frozen fingers in cold weather may look forward to future relief as manufacturers are poised to take advantage of a new technique for creating electrically heated cloth. Researchers have made gloves that keep fingers as warm as the palm of the hand.

Have An Excellent Friday

work by Cyril Power



Rachel Maddow - Trump Pitches Tax Cuts For Rich As Puerto Rico Languishes

The 11th Hour With Brian Williams - Ken Starr - Trump Will Be Under Oath Before Russia Probe Ends

Off

The Palmer Report: This is what will finish Donald Trump off

Another American Disgrace

  Occasionally think you might have gone wrong in your career? Perhaps you could have really deeply applied yourself academically and become a bonafide college professor. Now that's a real job right. Read this.

Guardian UK: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars - Adjunct professors in America face low pay and long hours without the security of full-time faculty. Some, on the brink of homelessness, take desperate measures
Sex work is one of the more unusual ways that adjuncts have avoided living in poverty, and perhaps even homelessness. A quarter of part-time college academics (many of whom are adjuncts, though it’s not uncommon for adjuncts to work 40 hours a week or more) are said to be enrolled in public assistance programs such as Medicaid.

They resort to food banks and Goodwill, and there is even an adjuncts’ cookbook that shows how to turn items like beef scraps, chicken bones and orange peel into meals. And then there are those who are either on the streets or teetering on the edge of losing stable housing.

Ridiculous

  The White House investigating itself? Please, don't be ridiculous.

Guardian UK: White House begins investigation into use of private email accounts – reports - Jared Kushner among several Trump administration officials alleged to have used personal email to conduct government business

We Are

NY Times: We Are All Jew-ish Now By DEVORAH BAUM
(Jewish jokes give us an inkling of this: Consider Groucho Marx’s famous remark, “I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member.” Or the story about the Jew who is stranded alone on a desert island and builds two synagogues — the one he goes to, and the one he wouldn’t be seen dead in.)

Krugman's Latest

NY Times: Trump’s Deadly Narcissism by Paul Krugman
In short, Trump truly is unfit for this or any high office. And the damage caused by his unfitness will just keep growing.

The Market On Friday

  At 9:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are -27 and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open moderately lower.

CNN: Stock records; Catalonia votes; Volkswagen costs by Alanna Petroff

Thursday, September 28, 2017

CBC Takes On Trump

The Congressional Black Caucus: Dear President Trump
“Almost everything you have done and said on the topic of race or on issues that implicate race demonstrate a shocking lack of knowledge for an adult public official in the 21st century..."

Stephen Colbert - Alabama's Roy Moore Explained

Hated

Salon: Everyone hates Trump’s godawful tax plan — except the GOP donor class - The same pitfalls that doomed Trumpcare could also ruin the GOP’s big plans to cut taxes on the rich (even more)

The Onion - Report - 42% Of Relationships Begin With Leaning Over Apartment Balcony To See Beautiful New Neighbor Watering Zinnias Below

The Onion: Report: 42% Of Relationships Begin With Leaning Over Apartment Balcony To See Beautiful New Neighbor Watering Zinnias Below

How

Science Daily: New light shed on how Earth and Mars were created
summary - Analysing a mixture of earth samples and meteorites, scientists have shed new light on the sequence of events that led to the creation of the planets Earth and Mars.

Seth Meyers - What Roy Moore And Donald Trump Have In Common

Morning Joe - Middle Class Will 'Get Nothing' In Tax Proposal

Have An Excellent Thursday

work by Benton Spruance

Morning Joe - A Small Taste Of Roy Moore's Radical Comments

Understand

MSNBC: What Trump doesn’t understand about the politics of taxes By Steve Benen

The 11th Hour With Brian Williams - Poll Finds Over Half Of America Thinks Trump Is Not Fit To Serve

Charges

  Remember - read the Palmer Report with a grain of salt.

The Palmer Report: Insider reveals the specific criminal charges Robert Mueller will bring against Donald Trump and his co-conspirators

What's Wrong

Guardian UK: Big winner under Trump's tax plan for 'everyday Americans': Donald J Trump - The president has claimed he won’t benefit from the White House plan to cut taxes for ‘hardworking Americans’. Here’s what’s wrong with that assertion

Hang On

Guardian UK: Deus ex machina: former Google engineer is developing an AI god - Way of the Future, a religious group founded by Anthony Levandowski, wants to create a deity based on artificial intelligence for the betterment of society
“I totally think that AI can participate in Christ’s redemptive purposes,” he said, by ensuring it is imbued with Christian values.

Fascinating

Read this.

NY Times: The Trump Voter Paradox by Thomas B. Edsall
as everyone is respectful and abides by the social norms, everyone is happy and agreeable. But when threats are made against one’s reputation or values, acts of violence and physical aggression are considered appropriate forms of retribution. In some ways, the profile we observe touches on the surface of this profile — the friendly and considerate aspect when all is well. But I think we’re now beginning to see more of the aggressive aspects. I think many people, perhaps especially in this region, have begun to feel threatened by the changes taking place in society and are reacting with anger.

Generation Passing

NY Times: Hugh Hefner, Who Built Playboy Empire and Embodied It, Dies at 91 By LAURA MANSNERUS

Delays

NY Times: Airports Worldwide Are Hit by Delays After Software Outage By AMIE TSANG and PRASHANT S. RAO

The Market On Thursday

  At 9:20 a.m. ET DOW futures are -47 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open moderately lower.

CNN: Roku IPO; Trump tax reform; Accenture earnings by CNNMoney Staff

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Moore


Unfit

Politico: Poll: Majority of voters say Trump isn't fit to be president By EMILY GOLDBERG

Insurrection

NY Times: Roy Moore’s Alabama Victory Sets Off Talk of a G.O.P. Insurrection By ALEXANDER BURNS and JONATHAN MARTIN

Colbert - Graham-Cassidy - The Latest TrumpCare Fail

'Silence Is Complicity'

AlterNet: Psychotherapists' Open Letter on How Donald Trump and His Supporters Are Wreaking Trauma on Americans - These therapists believe silence is complicity.

Billboard

CBS News San Francisco: Billboard Urging ‘Impeach Trump’ Goes Up Near Bay Bridge
The billboard is the work of a group called Courage Campaign whose president says it’s time to get the country behind the removal of Mr. Trump. They want to pressure the Republican-controlled Congress which, so far, has shown no inclination to impeach President Trump.

How To

Salon: Milo’s “Free Speech Week” was a flop: Here’s how to beat the alt-right - Milo Yiannopoulos wanted confrontation and even violence. He got neither, so his Berkeley event was a failure by Amanda Marcotte
1) The "alt-right" has nothing of value to say, and the quickest way to prove that is to let them say it.

The Onion - Babbling, Grinning Mitch McConnell Demands EMTs Loading Him On Stretcher Vote Yes On Healthcare Bill

The Onion: Babbling, Grinning Mitch McConnell Demands EMTs Loading Him On Stretcher Vote Yes On Healthcare Bill

The Saturn Nebula

Science Daily: The strange structures of the Saturn nebula
summary - The spectacular planetary nebula NGC 7009, or the Saturn Nebula, emerges from the darkness like a series of oddly-shaped bubbles, lit up in glorious pinks and blues. This colourful image was captured by the MUSE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). The map -- which reveals a wealth of intricate structures in the dust, including shells, a halo and a curious wave-like feature -- will help astronomers understand how planetary nebulae develop their strange shapes and symmetries.

Recipe

Recipe For Rusted Out Greatness

take incompetence
kneaded with gold leaf
ineptness
salted with eye roll boasts
skip over humility
truncate honored values
add in, impaired and unspoken
withered empathy gone and forgotten
fracture leadership
mangle it to rotting
toss a White HouseMart cap
for thirty gets an emblem
of a fool’s loyalty
sprinkle with heart-empty disunity
fueled by dishonest and
dis-partisan calamity
a heaping of where oh where are the heroes
caught in the gravity of zero

Have An Excellent Wednesday

work by Benton Spruance

Lawrence O'Donnell - The Resistance Wins Again

Ari Melber - Secret Paul Manafort Memo To Trump Revealed

Bizarre

The Palmer Report: Donald Trump’s national anthem ranting takes its most bizarre turn yet

For Knicks Fans

NY Post: Kristaps Porzingis offers some insight into his leadership style

Corker

Guardian UK: Senator Bob Corker to retire with 'most important service' in next 15 months -Corker, a vocal critic of Donald Trump, will retire at the end of his term in 2018, saying he wants to end career working ‘thoughtfully and independently’

Puerto Rico

Guardian UK: Trump warned: send help or risk making Puerto Rico crisis 'your Katrina' - President to visit Puerto Rico next week to see Hurricane Maria damage - Trump tweets about island’s ‘massive debt’ despite growing crisis

Petty

NY Times: The Lecture That Donald Trump Needs by Frank Bruni
Our highest official is also our pettiest...

Politics In The Age Of Trump

NY Times: Dismayed by Trump, Head of Drug Enforcement Administration to Leave
...he had become convinced that President Trump had little respect for the law.

The Market On Wednesday

  At 9:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are +36 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open moderately higher.

CNN: Bombardier's sky-high tariff; Train deal; Trump tax plan by Alanna Petroff

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Saddle Up


No Vote, It's Cooked

CNN: Senate won't vote on GOP health care bill By Lauren Fox, MJ Lee, Dana Bash, Deirdre Walsh and Phil Mattingly

Mars Panorama

Open to a full screen, click and look around Mars 360 degrees.


Mars Panorama - Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 1463

Mars Panorama


Mars Panorama - Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 1492

'Chan Chan'

Buena Vista Social Club

Morons

Salon: “They think you’re a pack of morons”: Steve Bannon stumps for gun-toting Roy Moore in Alabama - The election in Alabama pits Bannon versus Trump and the GOP elite

The Onion - Facebook Vows Not To Hand Over Users’ Medical Records To Government

The Onion: Facebook Vows Not To Hand Over Users’ Medical Records To Government

Cosmos

Science Daily: Cartography of the Cosmos
summary - There are hundreds of billions of stars in our own Milky Way galaxy, interspersed with all manner of matter, from the dark to the sublime. This is the universe that one group of researchers is trying to reconstruct, structure by structure, combining telescope surveys with next-generation data analysis and simulation techniques currently being primed for exascale computing.

Have An Excellent Tuesday

work by Benton Spruance

Joe Scarborough Asks - Who Raised The People That Boo Senator John McCain At Trump Rallies

Chris Hayes - Clinton - 'Quite Telling' Trump Attacks Black Athletes Not Neo Nazis

Panic

The Palmer Report: Donald Trump’s private words leak out, revealing he’s panicking about his Russia scandal

Classy Trump

The Palmer Report: John McCain confirms he’s probably going to die from his brain cancer. Hours later, Donald Trump attacks him.

Whoa!

Guardian UK: Nerve implant 'restores consciousness' to man in persistant vegetative state - Stimulation of the vagus nerve allows patient who had been in a persistant vegetative state for 15 years to track objects with his eyes and respond to simple requests

Puerto Rico

Guardian UK: Trump finally responds to Puerto Rico crisis, saying island has 'massive debt' - President’s belated response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria in US territory seems to blame islanders for their own misfortune

For Knicks Fans

NY Post: Knicks’ next move is figuring out crowded center position

Trumpcare Is Dead

NY Times: Trumpcare Is Dead. Long Live the Trumpcare Opposition. by David Leonhardt
Thank goodness.

Dead

NY Times: Health Bill Appears Dead as Pivotal G.O.P. Senator Declares Opposition By THOMAS KAPLAN and ROBERT PEAR
The demise of the latest repeal push means that Republicans are now all but certain to conclude Mr. Trump’s first year in office without fulfilling one of their central promises, which the president and lawmakers had hoped to deliver on quickly after Mr. Trump took office.

The Market On Tuesday

  At 9:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are +17 and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open slightly higher.

CNN: Stocks stabilize; Oil watch; Nike earnings by Alanna Petroff

Monday, September 25, 2017

It's Cooked

NPR: 3 GOP Senators Oppose Graham-Cassidy, Effectively Blocking Health Care Bill

Looks Like

The Palmer Report: This is what dictatorship looks like by Wendy Luxenburg

Acceptable


Sick Dude

Newsweek: Trump Says He Groped Melania in Public, Ivanka Looks Down on Him, in Newly Released Recordings By Nina Burleigh

Exactly What They Want To Hear

Salon: “Son of a bitch”: Trump’s NFL outburst fits a larger pattern -Trump’s Alabama tirade may have backfired for now, but don’t forget it’s exactly what his followers want to hear

The Onion - Report - It A Miracle Nothing Has Punctured Your Eye Yet

The Onion: Report: It A Miracle Nothing Has Punctured Your Eye Yet

Winter

Science Daily: Winter cold extremes linked to high-altitude polar vortex weakening
summary - When the strong winds that circle the Arctic slacken, cold polar air can escape and cause extreme winter chills in parts of the Northern hemisphere. A new study finds that these weak states have become more persistent over the past four decades and can be linked to cold winters in Russia and Europe.

Have An Excellent Monday

work by Kris Knight

Morning Joe - Joe Breaks Down Trump's 'Inane, Offensive' Tweets

Ignorant

MSNBC: Trump reportedly ignored White House aides ahead of U.N. speech By Steve Benen

Jared's Emails

The Palmer Report: Jared Kushner’s email scandal may accelerate Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s takedown of Donald Trump

She's Right

Guardian UK: Why Hillary Clinton was right about white women – and their husbands - Conventional wisdom says women will show solidarity at the polls. But new research shows that for white women, having a husband trumped the sisterhood

GOP Battle

Guardian UK: Battle for the soul of the Republican party rages on in Alabama race - Controversial Senate primary runoff is the latest proxy battle in the never-ending fight between the party’s establishment and its insurgent grassroots

Charles M. Blows Latest

NY Times: A Rebel, a Warrior and a Race Fiend by Charles M. Blow
He’s on the side of white supremacists, white nationalists, ethno-racists, Islamophobes and anti-Semites.

Leaderless America

NY Times: A Divider, Not a Uniter, Trump Widens the Breach By PETER BAKER
Over the course of just 17 hours this weekend, President Trump assailed John McCain, Chuck Schumer, Stephen Curry, the National Football League, Roger Goodell, Iran and Kim Jong-un — the “Little Rocket Man.

The Market On Monday

  At 9:20 a.m. ET DOW futures are +7 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open slightly higher.

CNN: German election reaction; Brexit negotiation reboot; New tech takeover by Alanna Petroff

Friday, September 22, 2017

Have An Excellent Weekend

  Enjoy the weekend, see you bright and early Monday morning.

work by Paul Sérusier

Krugman's Latest

NY Times: Cruelty, Incompetence and Lies by Paul Krugman
Lindsey Graham, Bill Cassidy, and the bill’s other sponsors have responded to these critiques the old-fashioned way — with lies.

McCain - Again

NY Times: McCain Announces Opposition to Republican Health Bill, Likely Dooming Its Fate By THOMAS KAPLAN and ROBERT PEAR

Control

  Between the brain and the mouth there’s a very special human characteristic. We call that characteristic different names like - discretion, consideration, weighing our words, awareness, politeness, sensitivity, and more. Some people give that characteristic a lot of attention, some little attention, and some no attention at all. The latter are the people that never learned how to utilize this very special human characteristic, and there is no time or gap between words and mouth. These people tend to ‘say what’s on their minds’, or to speak their biased truth, or to be politically incorrect, or simply put some have very poor impulse control.

  Be very careful and alert with the people who have poor impulse control. They will challenge you in a way that gives you a few choices because their words more than likely will be offensive. You response can be to walk away, be more clever and turn their words around, or at worst, you can lose patience and begin a war of words. Unfortunately, no one wins in a war of words.

Digby's Latest

Salon: Paul Manafort may hold the key: Who was he really working for? Trump’s shady former campaign chair is central to Russia probe — and he shaped the administration more than we knew by Heather Digby Parton

The Borowitz Report - Trump Names Sarah Palin Ambassador To Nambia

New Yorker: Trump Names Sarah Palin Ambassador to Nambia

Sleep

Science Daily: Jellyfish, with no brains, still seem to sleep - Jellyfish and humans may seem wildly different, but both still need to sleep
summary - The discovery that primitive jellyfish sleep suggests that sleep is an ancient, evolutionarily conserved behavior.

Have An Excellent Friday

work by Zhou Yansheng

Rachel Maddow - Trump Government Hires Based On Politics, Not Qualifications

Round 3 Of Jimmy Kimmel’s Health Care Battle

The Irony

The Palmer Report: Irony alert: Donald Trump and Paul Manafort may be taken down by new email scandal

Trump Attacks Russian Investigation - Again

Guardian UK: 'Russia hoax continues': Trump attacks investigation into Facebook ads - Trump used Twitter to decry the investigation into some 3,000 ads purchased on the social media platform by Russians in the 2016 presidential election

Threats

Guardian UK: Japan braces as North Korea threatens hydrogen bomb test in Pacific - Kim Jong-un warns ‘deranged’ Trump he will ‘pay dearly’ for North Korea threats - Trump says Kim ‘who is obviously a madman’ will be ‘tested like never before’

Lake Texcoco

NY Times: Mexico City Was Built on an Ancient Lake Bed. That Makes Earthquakes Much Worse. By DEREK WATKINS and JEREMY WHITE
Today, much of the city stands on layers of sand and clay — up to 100 yards deep — that used to be under the lake. These soft, water-laden sediments make the city uniquely vulnerable to earthquakes and other problems.

Facebook

NY Times: Facebook to Turn Over Russian-Linked Ads to Congress By SCOTT SHANE and MIKE ISAAC
...it was turning over more than 3,000 Russia-linked ads to congressional committees...

The Market On Friday

  At 9:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are -44 and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open moderately lower.

CNN: New iPhones hit shelves; L'Oreal's stock surges; OPEC meets by Alanna Petroff

Thursday, September 21, 2017

More Records

The Hill: Mueller asked WH for phone records on Air Force One statement By Olivia Beavers

Colbert - Obama's Assessment Of The Graham-Cassidy Bil

Colbert - Stephen Wants To Make Nambia Imaginary Again

Turning Off

Salon: Why Trump’s tirades are losing their potency - World leaders listen to President Trump speak at the General Assembly, but don’t take heed

The Onion - Sony Releases New Earbud Detangling Spray

The Onion: Sony Releases New Earbud Detangling Spray

Mars

Science Daily: Solar eruption ‘photobombed’ Mars encounter with Comet Siding Spring
summary - When Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) passed just 140,000 kilometers from Mars on 19th October 2014, depositing a large amount of debris in the Martian atmosphere, space agencies coordinated multiple spacecraft to witness the largest meteor shower in recorded history. It was a rare opportunity, as this kind of planetary event occurs only once every 100,000 years.

Rachel Maddow - Following The Path From Manafort To Mueller's Investigation

Have An Excellent Thursday

work by Zhou Yansheng

Laurence O'Donnell - Newly Revealed Russia Interactions At Top Of Trump's Campaign

Seth Myers - Who The Hell Is Dana Rohrabacher?

Everything

The Palmer Report: The specific weakness that’s cost Donald Trump everything By Bill Palmer

Monstrosity

Guardian UK: Senate aims for healthcare vote next week as Obama condemns repeal effort - Donald Trump says Graham-Cassidy bill has ‘very good chance’ of passing as Mitch McConnell prepares to bring Obamacare repeal measure to floor

Where's The Women?

NY Times: Trump is assembling the most male-dominated government in decades - A new analysis shared exclusively with the Guardian has found 80% of nominations for top jobs in the Trump administration have gone to men
“If you’re not intentional about it [diversity], it won’t happen,” said Don Gips, who served as the White House personnel director for the first six months of Obama’s presidency.

Nicholas Kristof's Latest

NY Times: Meet the World’s Leaders, in Hypocrisy by Nicholas Kristof
So it’s maddening to see world leaders posturing in the spotlight and patting themselves on the back while doing so little to tackle humanitarian crises that they themselves have helped create.

On The Hunt

NY Times: Mueller Seeks White House Documents Related to Trump’s Actions as President By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
The document requests provide the most details to date about the breadth of Mr. Mueller’s investigation, and show that several aspects of his inquiry are focused squarely on Mr. Trump’s behavior in the White House.

The Market On Thursday

  At 9:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are -11 and the price of oil per barrel is down. the market is poised to open slightly lower.

CNN: Google's HTC deal; Stock records; Ryanair turbulence by Alanna Petroff

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Colbert - Robert Mueller Unit

The Most

msn.com: 10 states with the most hate groups

Russian Organized US Rallies

The Daily Beast: Exclusive: Russians Appear to Use Facebook to Push Trump Rallies in 17 U.S. Cities

Single-Payer

Salon: Single-payer won’t be easy for Democrats — but Republicans are helping - GOP’s obsession with slashing health care spending could provide a huge boost to Bernie’s single-payer plan

The Onion - EPA Releases Annual List Of Cities Where Tap Water Probably Fine To Drink But Tastes Kinda Off

The Onion: EPA Releases Annual List Of Cities Where Tap Water Probably Fine To Drink But Tastes Kinda Off

Sleep Deprivation And Depression

Science Daily: Sleep deprivation is an effective anti-depressant for nearly half of depressed patients, study suggests
summary - Sleep deprivation - typically administered in controlled, inpatient settings - rapidly reduces symptoms of depression in roughly half of depression patients, according the first meta-analysis on the subject in nearly 30 years.

Have An Excellent Wednesday

work by Clare Turlay Newberry

Rachel Maddow - Trump Joins History's List Of Unhinged Speakers At UN

Meltdown

The Palmer Report: Here comes Donald Trump’s demented meltdown about Paul Manafort

Hurricane Maria

Guardian UK: Hurricane Maria: record flooding in Puerto Rico as Dominica reports seven dead – latest updates - Storm pummels Puerto Rico and leaves island of Dominica devastated
River levels are approaching or exceeding record levels across Puerto Rico according to data from the US Geological Survey.

Incoherent Menace To The Globe - Donald Trump

Guardian UK: A blunt, fearful rant: Trump's UN speech left presidential norms in the dust - His maiden address was unlike any delivered by a US president, and when it was over a sense of incoherence and menace hung in the air

Warmonger Trump

NY Times: Warmongers and Peacemakers at the U.N. By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
The United Nations isn’t the venue one would expect for threatening war. Yet that’s what President Trump did in his first address to the General Assembly.

Mexico

NY Times: Mexico Earthquake Kills Hundreds, Trapping Many Under Rubble By KIRK SEMPLE, PAULINA VILLEGAS and ELISABETH MALKIN
A powerful earthquake struck Mexico on Tuesday afternoon, toppling buildings, killing children in a school that collapsed, rattling the capital and sending people flooding into the streets for the second time in just two weeks.

The Market On Wednesday

  At 9:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are -3 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open in the flat area. Notice that oil is temporarily above $50 per barrel; over the last several months it has been trading in the $45 to $48 per barrel range give or take.

CNN: What to watch at Janet Yellen's press conference by Donna Borak

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Down

CNN commentator Norm Eisen tweets -
"Hoo boy. Let's be very clear here: if Manafort told Trump of Russian interference and Trump approved, they are both going down."

Evil

Salon: Philosopher Susan Neiman: “The president of our country is evil” - Author of “Evil in Modern Thought” says progressives must not shun the concept, especially when it fits so well
"Yes, I certainly think Donald Trump is evil. The question is indeed how to describe the ways in which he is evil, for he seems to be one of those rare human beings who has no sense of morality whatsoever..." -  Susan Neiman - director of the Einstein Forum and was a professor of philosophy at Yale University.

The Onion - Mark Zuckerberg Admits He Unsure Why Anyone Still Uses Facebook

The Onion: Mark Zuckerberg Admits He Unsure Why Anyone Still Uses Facebook

Emotions

Science Daily: Getting emotional after failure helps you improve next time, study finds
summary - Emotional responses to failure rather than cognitive ones are more effective at improving people's results for the next time they tackle the next related task, new research indicates.

Have An Excellent Tuesday

work by Clare Turlay Newberry

Chris Hayes - Latest GOP Obamacare Repeal Bill Is Worst Yet

Testify

The Palmer Report: Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen testifies today before Congress as the walls cave in on Trump

St Louis

Guardian UK: St Louis police condemned for 'alarming' attitude towards protesters - Officers chant ‘Whose streets? Our streets’ after breaking up protests - Protests erupted after white officer was acquitted of killing black motorist

A Bug In Trump's Craw

Guardian UK: Clinton takes on Trump, Putin and misogyny as fans flock to book tour - Visiting Washington DC, the former secretary of state says Republicans ‘have a hard time thinking about a woman in the White House’

'Mind Boggling'

NY Times: Hurricane Maria Does ‘Mind Boggling’ Damage to Dominica, Leader Says By AUSTIN RAMZY

Health Care Zombie

NY Times: The Republican Health Care Zombie Is Back By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

The Market On Tuesday

  What a day. Maria is going right through the Caribbean as a category five hurricane. That's two category five hurricanes in a row within two weeks. What will be left of the Caribbean after this. We see that Manafort was secretly wiretapped by the FBI and that he will be indicted. It's a tumultuous time in the news. The big question remains, Is Trump involved? Well, as Seth Abramson has stated, when there is this much smoke, there's definitely fire.

  At 9:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are +9 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open slightly higher.

CNN: Hedge funds want to kill $20 billion chemicals deal by Mark Thompson

Monday, September 18, 2017

'They Planned To Indict Him'

NY Times: With a Picked Lock and a Threatened Indictment, Mueller’s Inquiry Sets a Tone By SHARON LaFRANIERE, MATT APUZZO and ADAM GOLDMAN
The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, then followed the house search with a warning: His prosecutors told Mr. Manafort they planned to indict him, said two people close to the investigation.

FBI Wiretapped Manafort

CNN: Exclusive: US government wiretapped former Trump campaign chairman By Evan Perez, Shimon Prokupecz and Pamela Brown

How To Read Mueller

Politico: How to Read Bob Mueller’s Hand - Based on what we know so far, here’s a former federal prosecutor’s expert read on where the Russian investigation is heading. By RENATO MARIOTTI

Clunker

Slate: Trump’s First U.N. Appearance Was a Clunker - But why is the United Nations so worried about bureaucracy at a time like this? By Fred Kaplan

Turning Point

Read this article.

Newsweek: Robert Mueller and Facebook: Why the Special Counsel’s Warrant Is a Turning Point in the Trump-Russia Probe By Renato Mariotti

Like A Nazi, He Was Just Following Orders

NY Times: Sean Spicer Says He Regrets Berating Reporters Over Inauguration Crowds By GLENN THRUSH and DAVE ITZKOFF

Flynn

Salon: Michael Flynn wants you to help pay his legal bills - Michael Flynn reported earning more than $1 million per year, but needs a hand VIDEO by Matthew Sheffield

The Onion - New Oregon Jerseys Display Fine Print Of Nike Contract

The Onion: New Oregon Jerseys Display Fine Print Of Nike Contract

Fish

Science Daily: Old fish few and far between under fishing pressure
summary - A new study has found that, for dozens of fish populations around the globe, old fish are greatly depleted -- mainly because of fishing pressure. Old fish are increasingly missing in many populations around the world.

'T5'

Swet Shop Boys with Riz Ahmed

Have An Excellent Monday

work by Clare Turlay Newberry

MSNBC - World Leaders Are Discrediting Trump's Tweets

Morning Joe - 'This Is Wrong' - President Retweets Golf Ball Animation

Paranoid

The Palmer Report: Donald Trump’s White House advisers accuse each other of wearing a wire for Robert Mueller

He's Not Mentally Fit

Guardian UK: Trump tweets anti-Clinton meme as tensions flare over her memoir - The president re-tweeted a doctored video of him knocking Clinton over with a golf ball, as the former candidate’s election memoir reopened old wounds
“It is distressing … to have a president that, frankly, will tweet and re-tweet things as juvenile as that. It doesn’t help, I think, in terms of his stature. It doesn’t help in terms of the stature of our whole country.”

What Happened

Guardian UK: Trump in Moscow: what happened at Miss Universe in 2013 - The pageant and the president’s attempts to get close to Putin have become a focus of the investigation into Trump’s links to Russian interference in the US election by Jon Swaine in New York and Shaun Walker in Moscow
Investigators are examining closely efforts apparently made by the Russian government to pass Trump’s team damaging information on Hillary Clinton, using Trump’s politically-connected Miss Universe business partners as couriers.

Krugman's Latest

NY Times: Complacency Could Kill Health Care by Paul Krugman

Yes

NY Times: Is Trump a White Supremacist? by Charles M. Blow
...there is mounting circumstantial evidence pointing in a most disquieting direction.

The Market On Monday

  At 9:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are +46 and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open moderately higher.

CNN: 3 things to watch at Janet Yellen's Fed meeting by Donna Borak

Jim's Music

Friday, September 15, 2017

Have An Excellent Weekend

  Enjoy the weekend, see you bright and early Monday morning.

work by Paul Sérusier

Shooting His Mouth Off

NY Times: Trump Angers British as He Uses London Attack to Promote His Hard-Line Policies By MARK LANDLER and MAGGIE HABERMAN

'I Gotta Feeling'

The Black Eyed Peas

The Most Popular Song Of Each Year 1940-2016

'Indian Love Call'

Slim Whitman

Stephen Colbert Liked Jimmy Kimmel’s Sean Spicer Interview

A Passionate Anti-Immigrant Agenda

Salon: Jeff Sessions wanted to quit, but kept going for one reason - Sessions was humiliated by Donald Trump after Bob Mueller was hired, but stayed on to do one thing VIDEO by Matthew Rozsa

The Onion - Hope Hicks Praying She Not Still In Same Shitty Job By Time She Hits 30

The Onion: Hope Hicks Praying She Not Still In Same Shitty Job By Time She Hits 30

Squirrels

Science Daily: Squirrels use 'chunking' to organize their favorite nuts - First study to show squirrels using sophisticated memorizing strategy to sort their bounty
summary - Like trick-or-treaters sorting their Halloween candy haul, fox squirrels apparently organize their stashes of nuts by variety, quality and possibly even preference, according to new research.

Have An Excellent Friday

work by Nicholas Roerich

Rachel Maddow - Clinton - Trump And Some Staff A Clear And Present Danger To US

  This is a must see interview. America shat the bed with Trump. Hillary Clinton was and is infinitely more qualified, what a loss.

Amusing

  This is amusing. Realistically speaking, does Coulter really hold power over the sheeple? I think her power is probably exaggerated, on the other hand, no doubt there are a few who tie there understanding of the world to Coulter, poor saps that they are.

The Palmer Report: Ann Coulter melts down and calls for Donald Trump’s impeachment

Trump Trashes Bernie

Guardian UK: Trump: Bernie Sanders' universal healthcare plan a 'curse' on Americans - President says he would veto senator’s Medicare for All single-payer plan, prompting quick rebuke from Sanders

Digging A Deeper Hole

Guardian UK: Trump revives criticism of 'both sides' in Charlottesville - After talk with Tim Scott, Senate’s only black Republican, president defends his earlier comments, citing ‘pretty bad dudes’ in Antifa movement

Bomb Attack In London

NY Times: London Underground Is Struck by Crude Bomb at Parsons Green By SEWELL CHAN and CEYLAN YEGINSU
The device exploded at 8:20 a.m. on a District Line train leaving the Parsons Green station in Southwest London.

Eyes On Myanmar

NY Times: At Risk in Rohingya Exodus: 230,000 Children, Hundreds All Alone By AUSTIN RAMZY
The United Nations says up to 400,000 Rohingya have fled the state of Rakhine in western Myanmar since Aug. 25 and are now struggling to find food, shelter and clean water in Bangladesh.

The Market On Friday

  At 9:20 a.m. ET DOW futures are -17 and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open modestly lower.

CNN: Wall Street bets Amazon will doom department stores, retailers by Matt Egan

Thursday, September 14, 2017

The Borowitz Report

New Yorker: White House Rejects Supremacist Label: “No One Has Done More Than Trump to Prove White People Are Not Superior”

Equivical

CNN: Trump repeats equivocal Charlottesville rhetoric after meeting with black senator By Kaitlan Collins

'Home On The Range'

Slim Whitman

Humiliated

NY Times: Trump Humiliated Jeff Sessions After Mueller Appointment By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and MAGGIE HABERMAN
Mr. Sessions would later tell associates that the demeaning way the president addressed him was the most humiliating experience in decades of public life.

Beyond

Fascinating.

Donald Trump's ghostwriter Tony Schwartz Tweets -
"Trump is raging about Mueller because Trump knows what he did and it is far beyond anything anyone currently imagines. Tick tock."

Evidence

Just Security: Trump’s Moscow Tower and Back-Channel Ukraine Dossier: Both Began During the Election, Evidence Suggests By Ryan Goodman

Jimmy Kimmel With Sean Spicer

The Onion - Trump Boys Gather Rations Of Comic Books, Candy Bars For Night Hiding From Special Prosecutors In Makeshift Rose Garden Fort

The Onion: Trump Boys Gather Rations Of Comic Books, Candy Bars For Night Hiding From Special Prosecutors In Makeshift Rose Garden Fort

Skin

Science Daily: Artificial 'skin' gives robotic hand a sense of touch - UH researchers discover new form of stretchable electronics, sensors and skins
summary - A team of researchers from the University of Houston has reported a breakthrough in stretchable electronics that can serve as an artificial skin, allowing a robotic hand to sense the difference between hot and cold, while also offering advantages for a wide range of biomedical devices.

Have An Excellent Thursday

work by Eugen Gabritschevsky

Rachel Maddow - New Revelations Deepen Flynn Legal Jeopardy

  Rachel has been driving away at Flynn like a famished dog who just got a juicy meat bone.

Freefall

The Palmer Report: GOP leader: Donald Trump has “blown up” and “destroyed” his own base

The Palmer Report: Donald Trump is in total freefall

Obama

Guardian UK: Obama announces young leaders' summit: 'Democracy is a job for all of us' - In video message, former president reveals plans for two-day event in Chicago to recognize work of ‘organizers, inventors, artists, entrepreneurs, journalists’

Deal, No Deal, Deal

Guardian UK: Trump says he's 'fairly close' to deal with Democrats to protect 'Dreamers' - The president seemed to confirm accord described by Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday night to provide for young immigrants in the US

Joe Opines

NY Times: Joe Biden: Reclaiming America’s Values By JOE BIDEN
Rather than building from a narrative of freedom and democracy that inspires nations to rally together, this White House casts global affairs as a zero-sum competition — for the United States to succeed, others must lose. Among the many problems that plague the Trump administration’s foreign policy, this line of thinking is perhaps the most disturbing.

Redemption

NY Times: From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones By ELI HAGERSEPT
With no internet access and a prison library that hewed toward romance novels, she led a team of inmates that pored through reams of photocopied documents from the Indiana State Archives to produce the Indiana Historical Society’s best research project last year.

The Market On Thursday

  At 9:15 a.m DOW futures are -10 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open slightly lower.

CNN: Elon Musk: Tesla will reveal semi-truck 'beast' next month by Jethro Mullen

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Flynn

Politico: Flynn backed for-profit nuclear scheme inside Trump transition - The Trump adviser pushed a 'Marshall Plan' for Middle East nuclear power after he was hired by its private sponsors. By JOSH DAWSEY

Tried

The Hill: Tim Scott tried to educate Trump on 'the real picture' of Charlottesville By Mallory Shelbourne

Two Wins

Salon: Democrats pull off big wins in Oklahoma, New Hampshire races - Two districts that went big for Donald Trump are now in the hands of Democrats VIDEO by Charlie May

'Red-Hot'

Bloomberg: Mueller Probe Has ‘Red-Hot’ Focus on Social Media, Officials Say By Chris Strohm

NBA Legends Telling Funny Stories About Other Players

Jordan Klepper - Trump Supporters Sign Petition To Impeach Hillary Clinton

The Borowitz Report - Porn Industry Irrevocably Damaged By Association With Ted Cruz

New Yorker: Porn Industry Irrevocably Damaged by Association with Ted Cruz

Leapers

Science Daily: Why your ancestors would have aced the long jump - First primates were built for leaping, fossil ankle suggests
summary - A 52-million-year-old ankle fossil suggests our prehuman ancestors were high-flying acrobats. For years, scientists thought the ancestors of today's humans, monkeys, lemurs and apes were relatively slow and deliberate animals, using their grasping hands and feet to creep along small twigs and branches. But a new study suggests the first primates were masters at leaping through the trees.

It's Sweet

NY Times: Gregory Berns Knows What Your Dog Is Thinking (It’s Sweet)

Have An Excellent Wednesday

work by Eugen Gabritschevsky

Lawrence O'Donnell - Trump dines With Democrats, Hoping To Save Agenda

Winner

The Palmer Report: Democrats win two more special elections in Republican districts

Flynn

Guardian UK: Michael Flynn 'promoted US-Russian nuclear project from White House' - Investigators examine former Trump adviser’s alleged links to private plan to build Middle East power plants

Universal Medicare

Guardian UK: Bernie Sanders unveils universal healthcare bill: 'We will win this struggle' - Medicare for All plan would cover 323m Americans under single system - Bill unlikely to pass in Congress but support growing among Democrats

Bernie On Medicare For All

NY Times: Bernie Sanders: Why We Need Medicare for All By BERNIE SANDERS
Do we, as a nation, join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee comprehensive health care to every person as a human right? Or do we maintain a system that is enormously expensive, wasteful and bureaucratic, and is designed to maximize profits for big insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, Wall Street and medical equipment suppliers?

Trump, Pruitt, Global Warming

NY Times: Trump’s Folly by Thomas L. Friedman
That is why I prefer the term “global weirding” over “global warming.” The weather does get warmer in some places, but it gets weird in others.

The Market On Wednesday

  At 9:20 a.m. ET DOW futures are -16 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open modestly lower.

CNN: Nordstrom buyout; Apple aftermath; Toshiba sale by Alanna Petroff

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

From Roy Blount Jr.

Houseplants are bored and need emotional sustenance. That's the conclusion reached by Amanda Fleece, a forensic botanist at the University of Rochester, after she lost patience with a droopy ficus in her apartment. "It had been a fairly happy plant before," she told the Rochester Herald Leader, "but it wilted. I gave it water, plant food, new soil. Nothing helped. So I yelled at it: 'You're a plant! What in the hell do you want from me? Blood?' I could actually see the ficus perk up, on the spot. So I mooned it. It perked up further." Over the next several days, Fleece sang bawdy songs to the ficus, decked it in Christmas-tree tinsel, and threatened to send it away to military school. It soon had doubled in size. "Wouldn't you get blue," says Fleece, "if you stood around all day in a pot? All my houseplants are flourishing, now that I'm feeding them some drama."

Meaning


UFO



The Haunting

Axios: Mueller haunts the West Wing

Sick Man

Salon: Harvard psychiatrist Lance Dodes: Donald Trump is a “sociopath” and “a very sick individual” - Harvard professor and psychoanalyst on the "antiquated" Goldwater rule and our president's "serious mental illness" VIDEO by Chauncey DeVega

The Onion - Report Finds One In Five Americans Struggle With Properly Masking Depression

The Onion: Report Finds One In Five Americans Struggle With Properly Masking Depression

Food And Colorectal Cancer

Science Daily: Whole grains decrease colorectal cancer risk, processed meats increase the risk - Report analyzing the global research finds hot dogs and other processed meats increase risk of colorectal cancer, eating more whole grains and being physically active lowers risk
summary - Major new report finds strong evidence of links between lifestyle and colorectal cancer risk. Physical activity and whole grains lowers risk of this cancer; too much alcohol and red meat, processed meats and obesity increase the risk. An estimated 47 percent of US colorectal cancers could be prevented each year with lifestyle changes.

Like

NY Daily News: Sen. Ted Cruz likes porn video on Twitter

Have An Excellent Tuesday

work by Eugen Gabritschevsky

Brian William - Hillary Clinton - I'm 'Convinced' Trump Associates Helped Russia

Backing Trump Into A Corner

The Hill: Senate approves resolution condemning white supremacist groups By Jordain Carney
In addition to urging Trump and the administration to publicly push back against hate groups, the resolution urges Trump and his Cabinet to "address the growing prevalence of those hate groups in the United States."

Civil War

The Palmer Report: Republican Senate fights back against Donald Trump, backs him into a corner

Massacre

Guardian UK: Brazil investigates reports of massacre among Amazonian tribe by gold miners - Eight to 10 members of a remote indigenous group were allegedly killed by men working for illegal prospectors in Javari Valley

Dystopia

Guardian UK: Hillary Clinton's new memoir compares Trump's 'war on truth' to Orwell's 1984 - The former presidential candidate’s new book, What Happened, tries to come to terms with her election defeat and likens Trump to the dystopian classic

Moral Emptiness

NY Times: From 9/11 to Humpty Dumpty by Roger Cohen
Words cascade from that pinched mouth and they mean nothing, because when a man of moral emptiness tries to exhort a nation to moral greatness the only thing communicated is pitiful, almost comical, hypocrisy.

Deals

NY Times: Want to Make a Deal, Mr. Trump? By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Mr. Trump and his new Democratic friends could work on more. They could raise spending caps set to kick in next month by matching increases in military spending that Republicans want with increases in domestic spending that Democrats favor. They could back a proposal to automatically increase the debt ceiling, ending perennial partisan battles over what used to be a routine vote essentially recognizing the debts Congress has already incurred.

The Market On Tuesday

  At 9:20 a.m. DOW futures are +55 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open moderately higher.

CNN: Apple's next big thing; North Korea; Sunny stocks by Alanna Petroff

Monday, September 11, 2017