Jonathan Chait: Donald Trump Has Proven Liberals Right About the Tea Party (NY Mag)
It's one thing to suspect tea-party rhetoric was phony, quite another to believe the entire GOP could disregard every single putative principle of the movement even before it had its hands on power. Why is anybody pretending these notions ever really mattered?
Paul Krugman: The Economics of Regional Self-Esteem (NY Times Blog)
Apparently even suggesting that the decline in some kinds of traditional employment can't be reversed, and that sustaining regional economies can be hard, is a demonstration of elitist contempt for regular people.
Josh Marshall: Ryan Plays the DC Press Corps Like a Fiddle (TPM)
What [Republicans] do know is that by repealing Obamacare they can lock in a huge tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. So as if you're one of those 20 or 30 million Americans about to lose their coverage. All is not lost, Ryan got his top supporters a really big tax cut in exchange for the coverage you got under Obamacare.
Japanese Marshal Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II, and the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack, spent 2 years at what US University?
This cartoon character made his debut in 1942's A Tale Of Two Kitties, but he was pink and named Orson. In 1947, one of his cartoons won Warner Bros. its first Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons). By what name is he currently known?
In the beginning, Tweety was pink. He was also named Orson. His first appearance was in the 1942 short A Tale of Two Kitties, in which he showed down two hungry cats named Babbit and Catstello (based on Abbott and Costello). In his second short, Birdy and the Beast, he was named Tweety; the yellow feathers were drawn on later in response to criticism of the originally naked bird.
Source
Tweety (short for Tweety Bird or Tweety Pie) is an animated fictional yellow canary in theWarner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being a typical English onomatopoeia for the sounds of birds. His characteristics are based on Red Skelton's famous "Mean Widdle Kid." Tweety appeared in 47 cartoons in the golden age.
Source
Jim from CA, retired to ID, responded:
Tweety Bird
DJ Useo replied:
It's Henery Hawk! No, wait...it's Foghorn Leghorn. No, it's Tweety Bird!
I lol at his escapades, but my friends think he's a hideous freak.
As if Homer looks normal!
Joe S said:
The little fellow called "Orson" later became known as "Gaspode the Wonder Dog." He was really a wonderful creature, a dog that could think and speak like a human being. Oh the trouble those first two kitties got themselves into.... ho, ho, ho.. Lots of trouble there, I'm telling you.
mj took the day off.
MAM took the day off.
Marian took the day off.
Dale of Diamond Springs, Norcali took the day off.
BttbBob has returned to semi-retired status.
~~~~~
Patriot Act NSA Spying Unconstitutional Section 215 National Security Letters Must End
My name is Marc Perkel and I have decided to announce that I will not comply with the so called "Patriot Act" laws requiring me to disclose information about my customers. If I receive a national security letter I will immediately photograph it, post it online everywhere I can, and then make a video of me burning it. I will then await my arrest. If you want to put me in jail then come get me mother fucker.
CBS begins the night with the chestnut 'Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer', followed by 'Frosty The Snowman', then 'Frosty Returns', followed by '48 Hours'.
NBC opens the night with a RERUN'The Voice', followed by an old 'SNL'.
'SNL' is FRESH with John Cena hosting, music by Maren Morris.
ABC fills the night with the movie 'Mary Poppins'.
The CW offers an old 'Friends', followed by another old 'Friends', then an old '2½ Men', followed by another old '2&fracq12; Men'.
Faux fills the night with LIVE'2016 MLS Cup', then pads the left coast with local crap.
MY has an old 'Rizzoli & Isles', followed by another old 'Rizzoli & Isles'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] THE EXORCIST (1973)
[8:30AM] THE SHINING (1980)
[12:00PM] THE EXORCIST (1973)
[2:30PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 3 - EPISODE 26-The Best of Both Worlds (Part 1)
[3:30PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 1-The Best of Both Worlds (Part 2)
[5:28PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 3-Brothers
[7:26PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 5-Remember Me
[9:00PM] DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 8
[10:00PM] THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW - SEASON 20 - EPISODE 9
[11:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 3 - EPISODE 26-The Best of Both Worlds (Part 1)
[12:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 1-The Best of Both Worlds (Part 2)
[1:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 2-Family
[2:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 3-Brothers
[3:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 4-Suddenly Human
[4:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 5-Remember Me
[5:00AM] DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 8 (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Vanderpump Rules', 'Real Housewives Of BH', followed by the movie 'The Town'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Office Space', followed by the movie 'We're The Millers'.
FX has the movie '22 Jump Street', followed by the movie 'The Internship', then the movie 'Identity Thief'.
History has all old 'The Curse Of Oak Island' all night.
IFC -
[6:00AM] COMEDY BANG! BANG!-Reggie Watts Wears a Purple and Yellow Quilted Sweatshirt
[6:30AM] BLAZING SADDLES
[8:30AM] GET SMART
[11:00AM] JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK
[1:15PM] SHAUN OF THE DEAD
[3:30PM] THE LOSERS
[5:45PM] THE DUKES OF HAZZARD
[8:00PM] NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION
[10:15PM] NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION
[12:30AM] HALF BAKED
[2:30AM] THE DUKES OF HAZZARD
[4:45AM] SHAUN OF THE DEAD (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[5:45AM] Bad Lieutenant
[7:45AM] The Untouchables
[10:15AM] Joe
[12:45PM] The Running Man
[3:00PM] Cliffhanger
[5:00PM] Inside Man
[8:00PM] Dante's Peak
[10:30PM] Outbreak
[1:30AM] Rudy
[4:00AM] Cliffhanger (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Insidious', followed by the movie 'Jeepers Creepers II'.
Russian artist Maria Gasanova adjusts her make-up as she finishes "The Siberian Beauty" body art work from her "The Alive Painting" series before the opening ceremony of the Cultural Universiade as part of preparation for the 2019 Winter Universiade Krasnoyarsk, in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, Dec. 9, 2016.
Photo by Ilya Naymushin
Comic actor T.J. Miller was arrested in Hollywood on Thursday on suspicion of assaulting a driver, police said, after the pair reportedly locked horns over President-elect Donald Trump.
Celebrity news website TMZ reported that the driver, who it said was working for Uber, claims he was slapped in the head by the "Silicon Valley" star when they arrived at his home.
Officers arrested Miller at a private address around 1:00 am (0900 GMT) and took him into custody, LAPD officer Jenny Hauser said.
The actor, who was charged with battery, posted $20,000 bail. He was released just under five hours later and ordered to appear in court on January 9.
Tibetan Buddhist monks perform a dance called 'cham' wearing traditional masks, at the Sherabling monastery, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) south of Dharmsala, India, Dec. 9, 2016.
Photo by Ashwini Bhatia
Researchers have discovered the partial tail of a feathered dinosaur that was preserved in amber some 99 million years ago, according to a study released Thursday.
One of the lead authors, Lida Xing from the China University of Geosciences, happened upon the feathered dinosaur fossil at an amber market in Myanmar last year.
The chance find lends fresh insight into the extinct feathered creatures as well as the evolution of feathers themselves.
"This is a new source of information that is worth researching with intensity and protecting as a fossil resource," said Ryan McKellar, one of the scientists who worked on the study published in the US journal Current Biology.
The researchers are sure the amber has preserved a dinosaur and not a prehistoric bird, McKellar said, because "the tail is long and flexible."
The discovery of smallpox DNA in a 17th century child mummy may shorten the timeline of the deadly infectious disease's history, according to a study published Thursday.
Specimens of the smallpox-causing variola virus now exist only in secured laboratory freezers. The highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease was finally eradicated in the late 1970s through a worldwide vaccination campaign.
But the origins of the virus remain unknown.
The discovery of the smallpox virus within the DNA of a skin sample of the mummy child, found in a crypt underneath a Lithuanian church, could shed light on how it began and developed, researchers said in the study published in the US scientific journal Current Biology.
The researchers reconstructed the entire genome of the ancient strain of the virus and compared it with versions of the variola virus genome dating from the mid-1900s and before its eradication in the late 1970s.
The hidden secrets of Egyptian mummies up to 3,000 years old have been virtually unwrapped and reconstructed for the first time using cutting-edge scanning technology in a joint British-Australian exhibition.
Three-dimensional images of six mummies aged between 900BC and 140-180AD from ancient Egypt, which have been held at the British Museum but never physically unwrapped, give an insight into what it was like to live along the Nile river thousands of years ago.
"We are revealing details of all their physical remains as well as the embalming material used by the embalmers like never before," the British Museum's physical anthropology curator Daniel Antoine told AFP at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney Thursday.
Two of the travelling mummies were previously exhibited at the British Museum in 2014, with the other four being revealed to the world for the first time in the Sydney show that opens on Saturday.
A dual-energy computed tomography (CT) scanner at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London -- of which only a handful are in operation around the world -- was used to obtain thousands of slices of images of the mummies, with volumetric software then harnessed to create 3D models, Antoine said.
On Thursday, Rep. Sam Johnson, a Republican from Texas and chair of the Ways and Means Committee, introduced legislation to significantly cut Social Security.
The bill introduced by Johnson, who is also the chair of the Social Security subcommittee, slashes benefits, adds means testing, and would raise the retirement age from 67 to 69.
For most workers, the bill would cut Social Security benefits substantially. As Michael Linden, associate director for tax and budget policy at Center for American Progress, pointed out on Twitter, a letter from Social Security's Office of the Actuary calculated workers making around $50,000 would see checks shrink by between 11% and 35%.
Nearly every income bracket would see a reduction, save for the very bottom. People making around $12,280 in 2016 who have worked for 30 years would see an increase of around 20%. But young people making the same amount would be hit hard by the changes. If they had 14 years of work experience by 2016, they would see their benefits cut in half .
He's not yet finished picking, but President-elect Donald Trump (R-Pendejo) already has named three retired generals to top posts, raising questions as to why there will be so much military brass in cabinet-level jobs.
Trump on Wednesday named retired four-star Marine general John Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees several critical areas including immigration and border control -- signature issues for Trump.
If confirmed by the Senate, Kelly would join retired Marine general James Mattis as defense secretary and retired Army lieutenant general Michael Flynn as national security adviser. Mattis also needs Senate approval.
While the men bring broad depth of knowledge to the cabinet and considerable expertise, some worry their numbers threaten a cornerstone of American democracy -- that civilians control the military and the government.
"One more three or four-star general given a senior appointment, and we can start referring to a Trump junta rather than a Trump administration," retired Army lieutenant colonel and military scholar Andrew Bacevich told Time magazine.
The opioid epidemic continues to worsen in the U.S., with more people dying from heroin overdoses than firearm homicides, melanoma or HIV-related causes, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2015 at least 13,150 people died of heroin overdose, according to the CDC Wonder database, which houses public health data.
That number was higher than the number of people killed in firearm homicides in the same year, which was 12,974, or the number of deaths attributed to HIV, which was 6,465, according to the CDC database. It was also higher than the number of people killed by the most deadly form of skin cancer, melanoma, which the American Cancer Society estimated caused 9,940 deaths in 2015.
The staggering number of deaths related to heroin use is just a part of the toll of the opioid epidemic. In 2014, 28,000 people died from opioid overdoses -- which includes heroin overdoses -- and half were due to prescription drugs.
People with smartphones photograph the moment the Christmas Tree and nativity scene are lit up in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican during a ceremony, Dec. 9, 2016.
Photo by Andrew Medichini
Paula Broadwell is finally breaking her silence over her affair with former CIA director and retired Gen. David Petraeus because she says she wants to reclaim her "own narrative" and career.
"Sometimes it's better to remain silent. I've had that philosophy for the last five years," Broadwell said on "CBS This Morning" Thursday in her first television since the 2012 scandal. "But I've reached a point where I feel like, 'You know what? I need to fight back for my life.'"
Broadwell, a former military intelligence officer and biographer, admitted to having an extramarital affair with Petraeus, whom she met while researching a book on his life. Petraeus, who is reportedly being considered by President-elect Donald Trump (R-Con Man) for secretary of state, later admitted he shared classified information with Broadwell. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in April 2015 for mishandling classified information, receiving two years' probation and a $100,000 fine.
Court documents in the case show that he turned over a black book of highly classified "code word" documents - including the identity of covert officers and notes of National Security Council meetings - to Broadwell, though none of that information wound up her Petraeus biography, "All In." Broadwell was demoted and lost her top secret security clearance, but she was never charged with a crime.
Broadwell said it was "a bit of a shocker" to learn that Petraeus is being considered for secretary of state, but would not say whether she thought he should be allowed to serve in a top-level post in the Trump administration.
Donald Trump (R-Grifter) routinely blasts his political foes for "pay-to-play" politics and "crony capitalism and corruption."
But Trump is now rewarding some of his biggest campaign bankrollers with unparalleled access, influence, prestige and power in his presidential administration-in-waiting, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of new campaign finance disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission.
In all, 18 ultra-wealthy Americans - the majority are billionaires whose fortunes are greatly affected by government decisions - contributed at least $1 million to the Republican's presidential campaign and political efforts supporting Trump's bid, the Center for Public Integrity's analysis shows.
At least one person on this list, former World Wrestling Entertainment executive Linda McMahon, is slated to serve in Trump's Cabinet: Trump this week tapped McMahon to lead the federal government's Small Business Administration. In addition to spending $6.2 million to support Trump's presidential effort, she and husband Vince McMahon have together donated millions of dollars to Trump's scandal-plagued charitable foundation.
Trump is also nominating six-figure contributors to cabinet-level positions: billionaire philanthropist Betsy DeVos as education secretary, restaurant mogul Andy Puzder as labor secretary and billionaire investor Wilbur Ross as commerce secretary. And four days before Election Day, Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary nominee Ben Carson's old presidential campaign committee likewise gave a pro-Trump super PAC $100,000.
A fascination with spies and scandals, combined with deep patience and persistence, made Phillip Knightley a legend among investigative journalists.
Knightley, who has died aged 87, helped gain compensation for the victims of thalidomide through a landmark investigation for London's Sunday Times, and shone light on the murky world of Cold War espionage.
Former Sunday Times editor Harold Evans called him "the gold standard of public journalism."
Born into a working-class family in Sydney in 1929, Knightley worked for publications in Australia, Fiji and India before joining London's Sunday Times in the 1960s. Under Evans, the paper became renowned for its investigations. Knightley was a key part of the team that during the 1970s exposed the failings that led to thalidomide, a drug marketed as a remedy for morning sickness but caused major deformities in thousands of babies.
The stories, published after years of digging and court battles, helped bring millions in compensation for the affected children from the drug's British distributor, and led to tighter drug-licensing rules.
Knightley also uncovered previously secret details of the career of Kim Philby, a senior British intelligence official who was also a KGB mole. Knightley interviewed Philby in Moscow shortly before his death in 1988 - his only audience with a Western journalist since defecting in 1963.
Knightley's books include several volumes about Cold War spies and a history of war reporting, "The First Casualty."
Knightley is survived by his wife Yvonne and their three children.
The sun rises as small-particle haze hangs above the skyline in Paris, France, Dec. 9, 2016 as the City of Light experienced the worst air pollution in a decade.
Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes
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said:
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
