Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Bonuses and Bogosity (NY Times Blog)
On Feb. 19 Walmart, America's largest employer, announced broad-based pay hikes. In fact, it announced that it would be raising wages for half a million workers. The Trump tax cut is working! Oh, wait. That announcement was three years ago - it came on Feb. 19, 2015. And as far as I can tell, nobody gave the Obama administration credit for the move.
Josh Marshall: The Kushner News Is a Big Deal (TPM)
Sometimes an executive branch official will have a problem that some might think is a technicality. But in addition to the Russia investigation itself (a big exception!), there appears to be copious evidence that during the transition Kushner was using his role as liaison to top foreign leaders to try to secure business deals or loans for his company. His family company which is struggling to avoid going under. This is textbook security risk territory. This should never have happened.
We All Must Live With Mitch McConnell's Proudest Moment (NY Times Editorial Board)
Now parked for life in the seat where Judge Garland should be sitting is the ultraconservative Neil Gorsuch, who we're supposed to believe represents the "voice" of a citizenry that preferred Hillary Clinton by a margin of nearly three million votes.
Andrew Tobias: Brave New World
Your phone hears you mention "Aruba" and next thing you know, reading some blog-post on line, an ads pop up for suntan lotion and hotels in Aruba. Coincidence?
Hadley Freeman: Queer Eye isn't just great fashion TV - it's the best show of the year (The Guardian)
When I heard that Netflix had rebooted the gimmicky, stereotyped reality programme, I scoffed. But the new version is hilarious, fabulous and incredibly important.
Michael Hann: "I'm with the band: meet the pitiful proteges of pop music patrons" (The Guardian)
From Kurt Cobain espousing the middling Melvins to Kanye West signing a singer from the library circuit, an artist's ability to make great music doesn't always mean they can identify it.
Ben Beaumont-Thomas: Dolly Parton gives 100 millionth free book to children (The Guardian)
The country star's Imagination Library initiative, set up as a tribute to her illiterate father, reaches major milestone.
Fiona Noble: "Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan review - nostalgic magic" (The Guardian)
This celebration of children's literature excels in capturing the sense of wonder we find in our earliest books.
On The Vanity Of Earthly Greatness a poem written by Arthur Guiterman (YouTube)
The tusks that clashed in mighty brawls / Of mastodons, are billiard balls. …
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Presenting
Michael Egan
answered:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
Superhero Symbols
David
Thanks, Dave!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Suggestion
Congress
CHART: How Have Your Members Of Congress Voted On Gun Bills? : NPR
I'm bookmarking this in case I forget, and for future reference. Find out how much money your elected officials took from the NRA, press them to refuse more money from the NRA, and hold them accountable.
Reader Comment
Current Events
Mocking Jared
Some good tweets here--I particularly like the one about his family status being lowered to Tiffany status:
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
"LET THEM EAT CAKE."
NAILED!
NO HOPE FOR HICKS!
SANDERS IN 2020!
IMPEACH RUBIO FOR NOT ACTING LIKE AN ADULT!
"MONEY FOR NOTHING AND CHICKS FOR FREE."
IMPEACH TRUMP!
TROUBLE IN PARADISE!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
L-o-n-g day.
Will Made Public
Harper Lee
The will of "To Kill a Mockingbird" author Harper Lee has been made public following a lawsuit by The New York Times, but details on her estate remain a secret.
The Times reports the will unsealed Tuesday shows most of Lee's assets were transferred into a trust days before her death two years ago in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama.
But the contents of her estate remain private because trust documents are private.
A probate court sealed the will of the famously private writer following her death, and the newspaper filed suit in 2016 to have the document made public. The suit argued that Lee's desire for privacy wasn't sufficient legal reason to keep her will hidden from public view.
The move came as Emory University in Atlanta said separately it had acquired a collection of personal correspondence and memorabilia of Lee, who won the Pulitzer Prize for "Mockingbird" in 1961.
Harper Lee
Smashes Estimates At London Auction
'African Mona Lisa'
A long-lost portrait of a Nigerian princess dubbed the "African Mona Lisa" sold at auction in London on Wednesday for £1.2 million (1.4 million euros, $1.7 million), exceeding estimates and setting a record for the artist.
The 1974 painting of Adetutu "Tutu" Ademiluyi, by Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu, was expected to fetch up to £300,000 (339,000 euros, $414,000) when it went under the hammer at Bonhams auction house.
It described the painting of an Ife royal princess which recently turned up in a London flat after not being seen in decades as "rare and remarkable".
"The portrait of Tutu is a national icon in Nigeria, and of huge cultural significance," said Giles Peppiatt, Bonham's director of modern african art.
He uncovered the work after a family in north London contacted him following lucrative recent sales of Nigerian artworks at auction.
'African Mona Lisa'
Water Lilies: Reflection of Willows
Claude Monet
A water lilies painting by Claude Monet that once belonged to a Japanese collector but was lost for decades after the Second World War has been found hidden away in the Louvre.
The oil painting, called Water Lilies: Reflection of Willows, thought to be a study for the impressionist's most iconic works, was reportedly discovered by a researcher rolled up in the corner of a storage facility at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
The value of the painting has not been disclosed, although Monet's artworks are famously among the most expensive in the world, with one of his celebrated Water Lilies paintings selling for £32 million at auction in 2014.
The canvas, now badly damaged, once belonged to the Japanese business tycoon and prolific art collector Kojiro Matsukata, who is thought to have bought it directly from the artist before the war.
The painting, which measures more than two by four metres in size, disappeared after he sent it to Paris for safe keeping during the years building up to the Second World War alongside numerous other Western works from his collection.
Claude Monet
Panic Buying
Taiwan
Taiwan's premier called for calm Tuesday following a desperate run on toilet paper on the island, sparked by speculation of imminent price hikes.
Shelves usually stacked with toilet paper, kitchen paper and boxed tissues stood empty in many hypermarkets and supermarkets as residents stockpiled supplies.
Major online retailers had also run out, including PChome which reportedly sold five million packs of toilet paper in three days.
"We ask the public not to panic and not to rush to buy," Premier William Lai told reporters.
The panic buying started after major hypermarkets were informed by toilet paper manufacturers of a 10 to 30 percent price hike from mid-March due to rising international pulp prices.
Taiwan
Landmark Report
50 Years
Barriers to equality pose threats to democracy in the U.S. as the country remains segregated along racial lines and child poverty worsens, according to study made public Tuesday that examines the nation 50 years after the release of the landmark 1968 Kerner Report.
The new report blames U.S. policymakers and elected officials, saying they're not doing enough to heed the warning on deepening poverty and inequality that was highlighted by the Kerner Commission five decades ago and it lists areas where the country has seen "a lack of or reversal of progress."
"Racial and ethnic inequality is growing worse. We're resegregating our housing and schools again," former Democratic U.S. Sen. Fred Harris of Oklahoma, a co-editor of the new report and the last surviving member of the original Kerner Commission created by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967. "There are far more people who are poor now than was true 50 years ago. Inequality of income is worse."
The new study titled "Healing Our Divided Society: Investing in America Fifty Years After the Kerner Report" says the percentage of people living in deep poverty - less than half of the federal poverty level - has increased since 1975. About 46 percent of people living in poverty in 2016 were classified as living in deep poverty - 16 percentage points higher than in 1975.
And although there has been progress for Hispanic homeownership since the Kerner Commission issued its report, the homeownership gap has widened for African-Americans, the new study found. Three decades after the Fair Housing Act of 1968 passed, black homeownership rose by almost 6 percentage points. But those gains were wiped out from 2000 to 2015 when black homeownership fell 6 percentage points, the report said.
50 Years
Three-Quarters
Disneyland
Only weeks after Walt Disney Co. reported better-than-expected profit, a survey at the company's Anaheim theme parks found that 73% of employees questioned don't earn enough to pay for such expenses as rent, food and gas.
The online survey, funded by labor groups pushing for higher wages for workers at Disneyland and California Adventure Park, also said that 11% of resort employees have been homeless or have not had a place of their own in the last two years.
"Disneyland employees report high instances of homelessness, food insecurity, ever-shifting work schedules, extra-long commutes, and low wages," the study said.
The online study was conducted by the Economic Roundtable, a nonprofit research organization in Los Angeles, and the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College.
It was underwritten by a coalition of nine labor groups that represent workers at the two parks. Three of those unions are now negotiating contracts with Disney and other unions are scheduled to begin talks in the next few months.
Disneyland
Powerful Men Still Get Big Payouts
Harassment
The Me Too movement has a pattern: Someone accuses a powerful man of sexual misconduct. He apologizes (or not). He leaves his job. Victims see justice; opponents say the movement has gone too far.
But there's a possible step that isn't widely discussed: Men who lose their jobs over harassment, particularly those in top-level positions, can still get big financial payouts. And if they do get a sizable sum, the public won't necessarily find out.
Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas casino mogul accused of pressuring workers to perform sex acts, made news earlier this month - not because he's getting a severance payment, but because he's not. (He does have company stock worth billions.) But it was reported that former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly received up to $25 million in severance, while late Fox founder Roger Ailes received $40 million. NBC apparently did not plan to give a payout to Matt Lauer, but the network was reportedly considering a severance package for his onetime booker Matt Zimmerman, who was also dismissed over inappropriate conduct. NBC did not respond to a request for comment.
Historically, if a victim of sexual harassment does get severance, it won't necessarily be "anything like the big executive who is the one doing the harassment," said Tom Spiggle, an attorney who represents clients facing workplace issues, including discrimination.
Harassment
Votes To Revoke Honorary Degree
Lehigh University
Faculty members at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, have voted by a large majority that the school should annul the honorary degree awarded Donald Trump in 1988.
Almost 83 percent of faculty members who participated in this week's ballot approved the motion calling on the school's board of trustees to rescind Trump's degree, reports Lehigh Valley Live. The motion says Trump is unworthy of the honor "based on a long history of numerous documented statements that are antithetical to our core values and beneath the standard for Lehigh's honorary degrees holders."
A preamble to the motion declared that "statements made by President Trump do not meet Lehigh's standards for respectful discourse where differences of opinion exist."
"If a member of Lehigh's on-campus community made one of these statements, he/she would be subject to disciplinary action; taken in their entirety, he/she would be at risk of dismissal," the motion said.
"By staying silent we are bystanders; we normalize hate speech, condone discrimination and bullying; we enable people in positions of power to corrode the foundations of civil society; and we abdicate our commitment and responsibility to uphold and sustain our core values," it added.
Lehigh University
Bad For America
NRA
Most voters think the National Rifle Association supports policies that are bad for the country, new polling finds, as an increasing share favor stricter gun laws.
In a Quinnipiac University National Poll conducted after the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, 51 percent of voters said the NRA supports policies that are bad for the U.S. That's an uptick from October, when the poll found that 47 percent of respondents thought the NRA supported bad policies.
Conversely, the share of respondents who said the NRA supports policies that are good for the U.S. fell from 43 percent in October's poll to 38 percent in February's poll.
Perception of the NRA is strongly partisan. Eighty percent of Republicans believe the NRA supports policies that are good for the U.S., while just 8 percent believe the opposite, according to Quinnipiac. Among Democrats, those proportions are nearly inverted, with only 9 percent saying the NRA supports policies that are good for the country and 83 percent saying the opposite. The NRA also has a notably higher unfavorable rating among black people than among whites in the Quinnipiac poll: Eighty percent of black people said the group supports policies that are bad for the U.S., compared to 48 percent of white people.
Meanwhile, an SSRS poll conducted for CNN in the wake of the Parkland shooting found a more even split in the public's current thoughts on the gun-rights group: Forty-nine percent said their opinion of the NRA is generally unfavorable, while 46 percent said it is generally favorable.
NRA
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