Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jamiles Lartey: Bill and Melinda Gates urge Trump to respect people and to not cut foreign aid (The Guardian)
Gates foundation letter urged the president to treat women and minorities with more respect and warned against cutting aid to the developing world.
Jonathan Chait: Republicans Look for Somebody to Blame for Their Deficit Mess. Guess Who They Found. (Daily Intelligencer)
Blaming the president's idiosyncratic personality traits is a way for conservatives to avoid confronting the complete unworkability of their fiscal model. In reality, Trump did not remake the Republican economic playbook in his own image. Republicans remade the Trump economic playbook in theirs.
Alexia Fernández Campbell: 3 Trump properties posted 144 openings for seasonal jobs. Only one went to a US worker. (Vox)
"America First" doesn't seem to apply to the president's own businesses.
Professor cancels hate speech course after students object to use of racial slur [in an example of hate speech] (Associated Press)
"I feel bad for the students who left the class not trusting the process," Rouse [Carolyn Rouse, chairwoman of Princeton's anthropology department] wrote. "Rosen was fighting battles for women, Native Americans and African-Americans before these students were born. He grew up a Jew in anti-Semitic America, and recognises how law has afforded him rights he would not otherwise have."
GARETH BRANWYN: Beloved Virginia farm takes heat for standing up against white supremacy (Boing Boing)
No stranger to the negative reaction of their provocative signage, the Cox farmers have created a new round of controversy with their latest series of signs taking a stand against white supremacy and Islamophobia. The response they posted on Facebook is wonderful. It's astonishing that speaking out against white supremacy would be a controversial position, but hey, not here in The Upside Down.
Tom Beasley: How Mexican directors came to dominate the Oscars (New Statesman)
The US President might want to build a wall, but the future of film lies south of the United States border.
Rebecca Nicholson: At least with Quincy Jones you get the unadorned truth (The Guardian)
Approaching 85, he has seen more than most and it's refreshing to hear a man who seeks approval from no one.
Laura Snapes: Taylor Swift copyright lawsuit dismissed by US judge (The Guardian)
Songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler alleged the singer stole the lyrics to their song "Playas Gon' Play" for her 2014 "hit Shake It Off."
Omega-3 Fatty Acids (nutritionfacts.org)
According to two of the most credible nutrition authorities, the World Health Organization and the European Food Safety Authority, we should get at least a half a percent of our calories from the short-chain omega-3 ALA. That's easy: Just one tablespoon of ground flaxseeds, known as one of the richest plant sources of essential omega-3 fatty acids, or walnuts, among the highest in antioxidant and omega-3 levels, takes care of that. Our body can then take that short-chain omega-3 and elongate it into the long-chain omega-3s EPA and DHA found in fish fat.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
responded:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
LOSING MENTALITY
David
Thanks, Dave!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
I've got some domestic violence for him!
Predator's words today were as sincerely said as his remarks condemning white supremacists--in other words, he didn't mean it at all! Took him a week to get around to bring able to get words out of his mouth, grudgingly said because some of the adults forced him to do it, NO apology to the women he called liars. Would love to shove his face in a poop pie and make him eat it! Eat excrement and die, MF'er!
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
from Marc Perkel
Marc's Guide to Curing Cancer
So far so good on beating cancer for now. I'm doing fine. At the end of the month I'll be 16 months into an 8 month mean lifespan. And yesterday I went on a 7 mile hike and managed to keep up with the hiking group I was with. So, doing something right.
Still waiting for future test results and should see things headed in the right direction. I can say that it's not likely that anything dire happens in the short term so that means that I should have time to make several more attempts at this. So even if it doesn't work the first time there are a lot of variations to try. So if there's bad news it will help me pick the next radiation target.
I have written a "how to" guide for oncologists to perform the treatment that I got. I'm convinced that I'm definitely onto something and whether it works for me or not isn't the definitive test. I know if other people tried this that it would work for some of them, and if they improve it that it will work for a lot of them.
The guide is quite detailed and any doctor reading this can understand the procedure at every level. I also go into detail as to how it works, how I figured it out, and variations and improvements that could be tried to enhance it. I also introduce new ways to look at the problem. There is a lot of room for improvement and I think that doctors reading it will see what I'm talking about and want to build on it. And it's written so that if you're not a doctor you can still follow it. It also has a personal story revealing that I'm the class clown of cancer support group. I give great interviews and I look pretty hot in a lab coat.
So, feel free to read this and see what I'm talking about. But if any of you want to help then pass this around to both doctors and cancer patients. I need some media coverage. I'm looking for as many eyeballs as possible to read these ideas. Even if this isn't the solution, it's definitely on the right track. After all, I did hike 7 miles yesterday. And this hiking group wasn't moving slow. So if this isn't working then, why am I still here?
I also see curing cancer as more of an engineering problem that a medical problem. So if you are good at solving problems and most of what you know about medicine was watching the Dr. House MD TV show, then you're at the level I was at when I started. So anyone can jump in and be part of the solution.
Here is a link to my guide: Oncologists Guide to Curing Cancer using Abscopal Effect
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
"ONCE UPON A TIME."
"ANGLO AMERICAN HERITAGE."
OK. THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR!
THE LIAR.
THE LIAR. PART TWO.
WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN?
THE TRAITOR!
HOW CRUEL.
"I DID NOT HAVE SEX WITH THAT WOMAN."
SUPER VALENTINE TO THE RESCUE!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny & seasonal.
'It's Possible'
Jerry Seinfeld
Now that Jerry Seinfeld is in his 60s, he finds it easier than ever to just say no to people, he told Ellen DeGeneres on her show Tuesday. But he didn't dismiss the idea of a "Seinfeld" revival when she broached the topic.
"All these sitcoms are having a resurgence," DeGeneres said, as Seinfeld nodded his head in agreement. "'Roseanne' is doing it, I heard 'Murphy Brown'-is that really true, 'Murphy Brown' is doing it?"
"'Murphy Brown?' And Candice Bergen is coming back?" Seinfeld asked as he teed DeGeneres up for her big question. "I think I know where you're going with this ? why don't you finish it?"
"Well," DeGeneres said, "do you think, Jerry, there would be a possibility that 'Seinfeld' would come back?"
"It's possible," the comedian started to say before he was interrupted by the audience's extended applause. He smiled and said, "They like the idea."
Jerry Seinfeld
People Raise Thousands Of Dollars
Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts
Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts made headlines last Wednesday when he tweeted that he'd quit his government job rather than process paperwork that could lead to the arrest and deportation of undocumented immigrants.
Now he's broke and out of work. But his stand against President-for-now Donald Trump's (R-Racist) treatment of immigrant families has inspired hundreds of people to reach out and say thanks ? and to set up a GoFundMe page for him. In a matter of days, as of Tuesday, they had raised more than $11,000 to help Dyrdahl-Roberts regain financial footing.
Dyrdahl-Roberts, 33, hadn't planned on quitting his job as a legal secretary at the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, where he'd worked for more than six years. Money is already tight at his home in Helena, where he's raising a four-year-old with his wife, who works as a substitute librarian.
But when he was told last week to start processing subpoenas from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which, under Trump, has been cracking down on undocumented immigrants, he said he couldn't live with himself if he had a role in breaking up families. He said the stories people have shared with him since he quit have erased any doubts he had about whether he made the right choice.
Dyrdahl-Roberts said his family fully supported his decision to quit, despite the financial strain it would put on them. His job was relatively low-level and he doesn't expect his resignation to stop the department from processing ICE subpoenas to potentially track down undocumented immigrants in the state.
Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts
Foundation Letter
Bill and Melinda Gates
Gates foundation letter urged the president to treat women and minorities with more respect and warned against cutting aid to the developing world
Donald Trump (R-Pendejo) should treat people - especially women - with more respect and continue investments in poorer countries for the sake of global security, Bill and Melinda Gates said on Tuesday.
Melinda Gates said: "I wish our president would treat people, and especially women, with more respect when he speaks and tweets."
And Bill Gates warned that the Trump administration's proposed budget could directly lead to millions of preventable deaths around the globe, because of vast cuts to foreign aid and development funds.
The Trump administration, as it did last year, has proposed billions of dollars in cuts to foreign aid, which makes up less than 1% of US spending. Last year, lawmakers in Congress from both parties mostly ignored the request, and Gates said he hoped they would again this year too.
Bill and Melinda Gates
Radio Journalist Fired
"On Point"
Ashbrook was previously suspended after 11 men and women brought allegations against him to managers in December.
"On Point staffers alleged that over the course of many years, Ashbrook had created a work environment that included verbal assaults, intimidating actions, consistent bullying, and unwanted touching," WBUR officials said.
Boston University, which operates the radio station, said a law firm and a consulting firm conducted a pair of investigations into Ashbrook's alleged conduct. Officials said that the investigations involved interviews with employees, managers and Ashbrook himself.
The law firm's review, in particular, determined that Ashbrook's conduct was not sexual in nature and did not constitute sexual harassment under BU's policy, WBUR said.
"On Point" can be heard on more than 290 NPR affiliates across the country, WBUR said.
"On Point"
Senators Concerned
Intellectual Property
China is trying to gain access to sensitive U.S. technologies and intellectual properties through telecommunications companies, academia and joint business ventures, U.S. senators and spy chiefs warned on Tuesday at a Senate hearing.
Republican Senator Richard Burr, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he worried about the spread in the United States of what he called "counterintelligence and information security risks that come prepackaged with the goods and services of certain overseas vendors."
"The focus of my concern today is China, and specifically Chinese telecoms (companies) like Huawei (Technologies Co Ltd) and ZTE Corp, that are widely understood to have extraordinary ties to the Chinese government," Burr said.
Chinese firms have come under greater scrutiny in the United States in recent years over fears they may be conduits for spying, something they have consistently denied.
Senator Mark Warner, the committee's Democratic vice chairman, said he worried about commercialization of surveillance technologies as well as the close relationship between the Chinese government and companies.
Intellectual Property
$1 Trillion
$400 Billion Deficit
Fourteen months before he was elected president, Donald Trump (R-Crooked) vowed to make sure the country would never again run a $400 billion budget deficit.
"Well, he's right about that," laughed Capitol Hill budget veteran Stan Collender on Monday.
Because, as it turns out, Trump kept his promise ? only not in the way his supporters might have hoped.
In the first budget cycle fully under their control, Trump and the Republican-run Congress are likely to run a deficit that will top $1 trillion, some two-and-a-half times as big as the one Trump had complained about at his Sept. 30, 2015, rally in Keene, New Hampshire.
And given how sharply the just-passed tax cuts will reduce revenue in the coming years, those $1 trillion annual deficits could well extend through Trump's remaining three-to-seven years in office.
$400 Billion Deficit
Vacancies
DOJ
The sudden departure of the Justice Department's No. 3 official is adding to the turmoil at an agency that already lacks permanent, politically appointed leaders for many of its most important divisions.
Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand's resignation builds on an unusual problem that has contributed to instability in the department, current and former officials say, and has prevented the Trump administration from fully implementing its agenda more than a year after Attorney General Jeff Sessions took office.
Sessions lamented situation Monday, blaming a single Republican senator for holding up the confirmations of key figures, including the heads of the department's national security, criminal and civil rights divisions. While not mentioning him by name, Sessions left no doubt he was referring to Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, who promised to prevent the confirmation of all Justice Department nominees after Sessions lifted Obama-era protections for states that have legalized marijuana.
Gardner continues to block the confirmations in protest, his spokesman confirmed Monday night.
Some of President-for-now Donald Trump's (R-Corrupt) Justice Department nominees have been in limbo for months as they go through a drawn-out confirmation process that has been aggravated by Gardner's resistance. That might be less surprising if Congress were controlled by Democrats. But it's unusual to see a Republican blocking his own president's nominee.
DOJ
Antarctic Iceberg
A-68
The British Antarctic Survey has released the first-ever video footage of an enormous iceberg as it broke off from an Antarctic ice shelf in July 2017.
To capture the incredible video and stills, cameras carried by helicopters circled over and around the iceberg, called A-68, as it continued to move into the Weddell Sea, away from the Larsen C ice shelf. The massive iceberg weighs an estimated 1 trillion tons and spans more than 2,300 square miles (6,000 square kilometers). It has been described as about the size of Delaware, twice the size of Luxembourg or roughly four times the size of London.
Whatever your frame of reference, the newly released video and images confirm that A-68 is an impressive sight. Seen from the sky as the helicopter flies alongside the iceberg, A-68 towers above the sea ice surrounding it. Though it is about 623 feet (190 meters) thick, only about 100 feet (30 m) of it is visible above the ocean surface, British Antarctic Survey (BAS) representatives said in a statement.
Larsen C, where A-68 originated, was one of Antarctica's largest ice shelves. These vast structures build up over thousands of years, forming when ice sheets and glaciers on land flow past the coastline and over the ocean. By contrast, sea ice forms on the ocean surface when seawater freezes and is typically just a few meters thick.
A-68
Sells For Record
Canyon Diablo Iron Meteorite
An extremely rare 70 pound meteorite sold for a record $237,500 through Christie's auction house on Wednesday.
This particular meteorite is referred to as a Canyon Diablo iron meteorite because it is made of iron and comes from Barringer Crater (also known as Meteor Crater) in Arizona, a famous site where a meteor crashed into the desert nearly 50,000 years ago.
This is the highest price for a meteorite sold through an online Christie's auction, and the highest price ever paid for a Canyon Diablo meteorite, Pitt said. It had been estimated to sell for $150,000 to $250,000, Christie's said Wednesday.
It is rare for several reasons. Only about 2 percent of all meteorites are made largely of iron. Further, very few of those are regarded as aesthetically impressive enough to be considered natural sculpture, said the meteorite's now former owner Darryl Pitt, who is curator of the Macovich Collection of Meteorites.
Canyon Diablo Iron Meteorite
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