Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: What Do Trump Voters Want? (NY Times Blog)
Working-class Trump voters do, in fact, receive a lot of government handouts - they're almost totally dependent on Social Security for retirement, Medicare for health care when old, are quite dependent on food stamps, and many have recently received coverage from Obamacare. Quite a few receive disability payments too. They don't want those benefits to go away.
Josh Marshall: Phony Oppositions and Score Settling (TPM)
It seems to me that Democrats are now involved in a pointless proxy battle between what we might call a "deep causes" explanation of the 2016 loss (strategy, ideology, candidate) and one focused on illegitimate outside interventions: Russian hacking and subversion or James Comey's week-out intervention in the presidential race. Any effort to hold these two explanations as alternatives, as though one obviates the other seems either dishonest, pointless, distracting or simply silly.
JONATHAN LEMIRE: Trump Tells Cheering Crowd To Thank African-Americans for Not Voting (TPM)
Donald Trump's barnstorming tour across the states that won him the White House continues to feature far more taunts of triumph than notes of healing after a bruising election. Thursday's rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania, found the president-elect calling for the mostly white crowd to cheer for African-Americans who were "smart" to heed his message and therefore "didn't come out to vote" for his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Henry Rollins: I Hate to Break It to You but Yes, Trump's Your President (LA Weekly)
The PEOTUS fed red, white and blue meat to the rabid faithful: "We love our flag, right? We love our flag and we don't like it when we see people ripping up our flag and burning our flag. We don't like it, and we'll see what we're gonna do about that, OK?" Meanwhile, as I was transcribing this off of the internet, the feed on the right side of the screen was filling with posts: "kick all the monkey negroes," "fuck Hillary," "THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN, without negroes."
PETER DREIER: "Donald Trump's questionable intelligence: All those false claims about his academic record and derision of others bespeak profound insecurity" (Salon)
Our president-elect loves to talk about his intellectual gifts and academic success. Shockingly, none of it's true.
John Cheese: "The Upside To 2016: A Musical Revolution Is Near" (Cracked)
But for those of us who are old enough to have dismissed all modern music as vapid, meaningless horseshit, I have good news. It turns out that every time the world goes to fuck in a fuck basket, musicians give pop stars the finger and reinvent the mainstream.
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
WHAT WOULD HITLER SAY?
THE WAR LOVER!
'COMEY' IN YOUR FACE!
ON DECEMBER 18.
SLOUCHING TOWARDS THE FUTURE IN CALIFORNIA.
SHOULD THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTE PROCEED?
SUBMIT!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Bit under the weather.
Cut World Hunger
Women Farmers
If women farmers were given the same access to land, tools and credit as men, the boost to crop yields would dramatically cut world hunger, but this must be done fast before climate change closes the window of opportunity, hunger experts said on Friday.
Agricultural yields would increase by almost a third if women had the same access to resources as men, said Neven Mimica, European Union commissioner for international cooperation and development.
"As a result, there would be up to 150 million fewer hungry people in the world," he told a meeting of experts and government representatives, gathered at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to find ways of helping women farmers.
Women and girls make up 60 percent of the chronically hungry - often eating last and least in the family - Mauritian President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim told the meeting.
They make up 45 percent of the agricultural work force - rising to 60 percent in parts of Africa and Asia - and own less than 20 percent of land, according to FAO.
Women Farmers
Imperiled By Development
'Jimi Hendrix' Plant
In Punta Colonet, a small region in Baja California, Mexico, a rare succulent blooms in the name of Jimi Hendrix.
Biologist Mark Dodero was supposedly listening to Hendrix when he chanced upon an unusual pinkish succulent, which had apparently never been described to science. The plant, the thin stalk of which grows to be about 1 foot high, is a summer deciduous. In other words, it "dies" every summer before regrowing in the fall.
When it came time to name the succulent, researchers chose Dudleya hendrixii - "Hendrix's live forever." Researchers first described the species in an October issue of the journal Madroño.
Scientists, like most of us, consume pop culture. That's why species like D. hendrixii are so common - nomenclature is just another way of honoring beloved artists and actors. The name Gnathia marleyi, bestowed on a species of Caribbean crustacean, was inspired by the late Bob Marley. A slew of other celebrities, from Beyoncé to Bill Gates, were namesakes for newly discovered species. And don't forget Spongiforma squarepantsii, a fungus first discovered in 2011.
'Jimi Hendrix' Plant
Makes History
National Geographic
A 9-year-old girl is making history as National Geographic's first transgender cover model.
The move comes years after major news outlets have begun reporting on transgender issues, some in ways that have evoked praise for sensitivity and finesse, and others in ways that have been labeled as offensive. Transgender-rights advocates and others under the LGBT umbrella have hailed the announcement about the National Geographic cover as progress after decades of marginalization and discrimination.
Reporting on transgender people has lagged behind coverage of other LGBT issues for years, creating what some say is a stereotypical, shallow image of a diverse community that is growing and gaining influence rapidly. From confusion over proper pronouns to a failure to pursue new narratives, some advocates have complained that poor reporting has served to further pathologize the community, telling sensational stories that leave readers with marginal impressions of the vast group.
National Geographic unveiled its January issue featuring the young girl from Kansas City late last week. Wearing hot pink cheetah-print pants and a matching T-shirt, Avery Jackson looks poised, strong, and confident with pink-dyed stripes streaking through her shoulder-length hair.
National Geographic
New Rhythms
Samba
Monday nights feel like Saturdays in Rio's Little Africa neighborhood when the sun sets and the samba starts to play.
Surrounded by a mostly young crowd, seven musicians sit around a table with the small four-string guitar called a cavaquinho, the cuica drum and a tambourine.
The instruments and the relaxed format, known as a "roda de samba," has changed little since its infancy in the late 19th century, when Afro-Brazilians first developed the style in this same neighborhood, officially known as Saude.
"It's our samba, folks, it's your samba!" called out percussionist Walmir Pimentel, 34, to applause from the crowd that fought off the evening heat with cold beer and caipirina cocktails.
But exactly 100 years from the first ever recording of samba -- a song called "Pelo telefone" ("On the telephone") -- the likes of Pimentel are also helping to rejuvenate the venerable art form.
Samba
Massive 2013 Oil Spill Still Not Cleaned Up
North Dakota
Three years and three months later, a massive oil spill in North Dakota still isn't fully cleaned up. The company responsible hasn't even set a date for completion.
Though crews have been working around the clock to deal with the Tesoro Corp. pipeline break, which happened in a wheat field in September 2013, less than a third of the 840,000 gallons that spilled has been recovered - or ever will be, North Dakota Health Department environmental scientist Bill Suess said.
A farmer, Steve Jenkins, who'd smelled the crude oil for days, discovered the spill in his northwestern North Dakota field near Tioga - his combines' tires were covered in it.
While the nearest home was a half-mile away and the state said no water sources were contaminated and no wildlife hurt, one of the largest onshore oil spills recorded in the U.S. serves for some as a cautionary example, especially given a recent pipeline break about 150 miles south and ongoing debates over the four-state Dakota Access pipeline.
North Dakota regulators initially thought just 750 barrels of oil was involved in the spill, but later updated the amount exponentially. They also expanded the affected acreage from about 7 - the size of seven football fields - to about 13 acres, Suess said. The cleanup has cost Tesoro more than $49 million to date and is expected to top $60 million, according to recent filings to the state.
North Dakota
Abortion May Not Have An Affect
Mental Health
Anti-abortion groups will no longer be able to use women's post-abortion mental health as an argument to support their stance against abortion as a result of a study indicating there was no significant difference in the mental health of women who had experienced abortions. The study, published in JAMA Psychiatry on Wednesday, tracked about 1,000 women who had abortions within a five-year period and found those who underwent the procedure did not experience more anxiety, depression, low self-esteem or dissatisfaction with life than women who were denied abortions.
In contrast, researchers found women who had been denied abortion access because they were too far along in their pregnancies actually had more psychological symptoms following the denial. However, after about six months, their mental health started to improve and became similar to the mental health of women who were able to have an abortion.
Although there have been studies comparing the psychological differences between women who had abortions and women who decided to keep their babies, the new research, named the Turnaway Study by University of California, San Francisco's Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health program, is the first to focus solely on the mental health of women close to or beyond the limit of when a clinic is legally able to perform an abortion. The study also examined the mental state women were in prior to having an abortion, which could impact their mental health following the procedure, something other studies have failed to do.
"This is an incredibly powerful study," Dr. Roger Rochat, an Emory University professor of global health and epidemiology and former director of reproductive health at the Centers for Disease Control, told New York Times. "States will continue to pass laws that restrict access to abortion services and they will do it in part based on mental health effects of abortion. But the evidence of this study says that just isn't true."
Mental Health
New Law Will Speed Recovery
Nazi Looting
Heirs trying to recover artwork lost to Nazi looting during World War II will get some help from legislation signed Friday by President Barack Obama.
The legislation will extend statutes of limitations for the recovery of that art so the heirs can have their day in court. In recent years, courts have sided with several museums on the issue and blocked family members who believe the art is theirs.
Earlier this year, a judge ruled in favor of a Southern California museum in its 10-year legal battle over the ownership of two German Renaissance masterpieces that were seized by the Nazis in World War II. The judge said that because the art dealership decided not to seek restitution for the works after the war, the family thereby abandoned its claim to the art.
In 2009, the United States and other countries agreed to ensure that their own legal systems "facilitate just and fair solutions with regard to Nazi-confiscated and looted art." The senators said this legislation is to fulfill that promise.
Nazi Looting
Tweet Sets Off Deluge Of Mockery
'Unpresidented'
US President-elect Donald Trump (R-Grifter) got plenty of attention -- but not the kind he was looking for -- after a tweet calling out China for its seizure of an unmanned US naval probe.
"China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters -- rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented (sic) act," the real estate magnate wrote on his favorite platform.
"Unpresidented" quickly became a top trending topic on Twitter in the United States, as online wags savaged the incoming president for the unfortunate misspelling.
"TrumpSpellCheck -- Unpresidentedly effective," tweeted "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling.
"Dear world, most Americans really wish we could be #unpresidented," another user wrote.
'Unpresidented'
Wekend Box Office
"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"
"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" soared to the top of the weekend box office as expected, scoring the second-best December opening ever with $155 million in estimated ticket sales.
After the biggest Thursday night debut of the year, the intergalactic adventure blasted past industry expectations for a $130 million weekend, according Sunday's studio estimates. "Rogue One" opened at No. 1 in all markets globally, though it has yet to bow in China and Korea.
"Rogue One" knocked the No. 1 movie for the past three weeks, Disney's "Moana," to a distant second with $11.6 million, followed by "Office Christmas Party" with $8.4 million.
The weekend's other new wide release, the critically panned Will Smith drama "Collateral Beauty," opened in fourth place with $7 million.
Denzel Washington's "Fences" opened in limited release this weekend and expands on Christmas Day. "Manchester by the Sea," ''La La Land" and "Arrival," which all earned awards nominations recently, remain in the box office top 10.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. The latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," $155 million ($290.5 million international).
2. "Moana," $11.66 million ($27.16 million international).
3. "Office Christmas Party," $8.4 million ($43.25 million international).
4. "Collateral Beauty," $7 million ($11.6 million international).
5. "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," $5 million ($19.5 million international).
6. "Manchester by the Sea," $4.1 million ($4.66 million international).
7. "La La Land," $4 million ($8.7 million international).
8. "Arrival," $2.77 million ($5.97 million international).
9. "Doctor Strange," $2 million ($2.8 million international).
10. "Nocturnal Animals," $1.39 million ($1.99 million international).
"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"
In Memory
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Zsa Zsa Gabor, whose 60-year career of playing herself helped paved the way for today's celebrity-obsessed culture, has died. She was 99.
While Gabor had multiple acting credits, her greatest performance was playing herself: She was famous for her accented English (calling everyone "darling," which came out "dah-link"), eccentric name, offscreen antics (including a 1989 incident in which she slapped a Beverly Hills cop) and one-liners about her jewels, nine marriages and ex-husbands. Despite her glamorous image, her life, especially in later years, was marred by battles between her much-younger husband Frederic Prinz von Anhalt and her daughter.
Both of Gabor's sisters predeceased her: Eva Gabor in 1995, Magda in 1997.
Gabor appeared in films including "Moulin Rouge," 1953's "Lili," Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil" and the 1958 camp classic "Queen of Outer Space."
Born in Budapest, Zsa Zsa (born Sari) Gabor was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936 and followed her sister Eva to Hollywood. She got her foot in the showbiz door with MGM's 1952 "Lovely to Look At" and got a bigger break that year with "Moulin Rouge," directed by John Huston, who is said to have given the ingenue, who spoke heavily accented English and had almost no film experience, a difficult time during the shoot. Gabor's English improved, but her Eastern European roots became part of her trademark.
On TV, she appeared on "The Red Skelton Hour," "Playhouse 90" and "Matinee Theatre." She was featured in a 1960 TV adaptation of "Ninotchka" and guested on series including "Bonanza," "Batman" (as the villainess Minerva) and "The Facts of Life." She even appeared on the soap "As the World Turns" in 1981.
Hollywood didn't take her too seriously as an actress, maybe because she didn't take herself too seriously. She seemed to have decided that there were few roles as interesting as her own persona. With her emphasis on showcasing her own glamour and sparking outrage, it's no surprise that her showbiz work consisted mostly of playing herself in dozens of films and TV series.
Her rise to fame coincided with the spurt of talk shows that filled the airwaves during the early days of TV. The early '50s created other talkshow and gameshow celebrities, but few parlayed that fame much beyond the 1950s. Gabor's attitude -" I deserve attention not because of any talent, but just because of who I am" - was an early example of a phenomenon that has ballooned in the past decade, as tabloids put reality-TV figures on their covers and blogs cover them incessantly.
A third sister, Magda, and their mother, Jolie, also received attention from the media, but not as much as the other two. And while Eva Gabor eventually landed a role with which the public could identify her - as Lisa Douglas on the 1960s sitcom "Green Acres" - Zsa Zsa was simply "famous for being famous," as someone quipped decades ago.
She had a daughter, Francesca, during her 1942-46 marriage to hotel magnate Conrad Hilton, though Hilton reportedly believed Francesca was not his biological daughter, and the millionaire left her just $100,000 in his will. After spending much of her life contesting Hilton's will, Francesca Hilton died destitute on Jan. 6, 2015. Gabor, meanwhile, was the great-great aunt of Paris Hilton.
Other husbands included actor George Sanders (1949-54) and Jack Ryan (1975-76), who is credited with designing the Barbie doll for Mattel. Her marriage to actor and attorney Felipe de Alba was annulled in 1983 after a single day because her marriage to Michael O'Hara, her divorce lawyer in her breakup with Ryan, had not been properly dissolved.
In 1986, at age 69, she married Prinz von Anhalt, some 30 years her junior. He was accused by her daughter of keeping her away from her mother, and it is doubtful Gabor knew of her daughter's death.
Her 1989 run-in with a Beverly Hills police officer, whom she famously slapped during a traffic stop, was explored in 1991 documentary "The People vs. Zsa Zsa Gabor," and mocked, frequently by a willing Gabor herself, in movies from "Naked Gun 2½" to "A Very Brady Sequel" and series including "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."
Zsa Zsa's survivors include her husband.
Zsa Zsa Gabor
In Memory
Bob Coburn
Bob Coburn, a Los Angeles radio personality who had also hosted the country's premiere rock and roll interview program, died Saturday. He was 68.
Coburn had worked at rock station "95.5 KLOS" for decades, and most recently held the 9:30 a.m. to noon slot. But he had also worked at L.A. rock stations KPPC, KLSX, KCBS-FM, KZLA and the legendary 1970s rock giant, KMET.
The nationally-broadcast interview and music show, "Rockline," was fed from L.A. to stations in nearly every market in the nation in the '70s. Coburn took the reins at "Rockline" from its founder, B. Mitchell Reed, and hosted the show from 1981 to 1994 and again from 1997 to 2014, when it ended.
The midmorning slot at "The Rock Of Southern California" KLOS had been Coburn's gig for the new millenium, where he was playing new rock and the 30- or 40-year-old standards from the rock and roll FM era.
"The old laid back So Cal stereotype is long gone," Coburn told All Access last year. "The tempo of the station simply matches the tempo of today's Los Angeles."
Coburn was diagnosed with lung cancer last year and died Saturday, the station announced. No public services have been announced.
Bob Coburn
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