Friday, January 19, 2018

Reading archive 2018-01-19

The Russia scandal just got bigger. And Republicans are trying to prevent an accounting.

Trump appointee Carl Higbie resigns as public face of agency that runs AmeriCorps after KFile review of racist, sexist, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBT comments on the radio

Trump’s first year: A damage assessment - "PJ Media’s Roger Simon has declared that Never Trumpers (like me) should apologize for their apostasy and get into the trenches to fight the advancing leftist hordes... This is nonsense. Trump’s presidency has done daily damage not only to the Republican Party and the conservative movement but, more important, to our constitutional system of government."

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Reading archive 2018-01-09

Oprah might run for president. We did the opposition research for you.

What the Oprah Boomlet Means for Democrats: Pleas for the entertainer to run for president point to a split over whether to treat Donald Trump as a dangerous anomaly or a particularly extreme Republican.

Oprah Winfrey for President: Have We All Gone Bonkers?

Kansas lawmaker says African Americans are more susceptible to drug abuse because of ‘character makeup’ and ‘genetics.’

What the Men Didn't Say: At the 75th Golden Globe Awards, not one male award winner used their platform to mention the biggest story of the night.

Pakistan Will Try to Make Trump Pay: The country has banked on being treated as too dangerous to fail. But this time could be different.

How Actual Smart People Talk About Themselves: Hint: not by discussing IQ

Why Mickey Mouse’s 1998 copyright extension probably won’t happen again: Copyrights from the 1920s will start expiring next year if Congress doesn’t act.

Fusion GPS founder told Senate investigators the FBI had a whistleblower in Trump’s network

My Quest to Find Air Bud's Grave: You can tell a lot about a society by how it honors its fallen heroes.

The Insane Story Behind Disney's 'Snow Buddies,' The Movie That Killed 5 Puppies

Just How Similar Are Radiohead's 'Creep' and Lana Del Rey's 'Get Free'?

We got a glimpse of Trump negotiating today. It … didn’t go well. - "By the end, Trump sought to clarify things. 'I think a clean DACA bill to me is a DACA bill, but we take care of the 800,000 people,' he said. 'But I think to me, a clean bill is a bill of DACA — we take care of them, and we also take care of security.'

"If anything, the whole mess showed pretty vividly just how utterly disengaged Trump is in the finer details of policy discussions. Which is exactly the perception that he has recently fought against.

"Asked by the New York Times late last month about this perception, Trump bristled. 'I know the details of taxes better than anybody — better than the greatest CPA,' he said. 'I know the details of health care better than most, better than most.'"

Who is the Trump-linked source who led the FBI to treat the dossier seriously?

Steve Bannon leaves Breitbart after blow-up over comments in Trump book

Teen behind London acid attacks begs court for mercy: ‘I really didn’t appreciate the damage’

Net neutrality activists are celebrating as Democratic senators clear key hurdle to voting against the FCC

It’s so hot in Australia that bats’ brains are frying

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Reading archive 2018-01-04

Dear Northerners: We get that this weather is no big deal for you. Now please shut up. - "'Look, if you are in one of those Midwestern states where everyone boasts that they’re used to the weather — you are driving everywhere. Here, you are walking, or you’re biking, or worst, you’re just standing. You’re waiting for the bus, and you’re standing.'"

Steve Bannon waves the white flag at Trump

Trump lawyer seeks to block insider book on White House

Sessions is rescinding Obama-era directive for feds to back off marijuana enforcement in states with legal pot

Jeff Sessions is on the wrong side of marijuana legalization. Can Democrats take advantage?: Sessions' anti-marijuana stance opens up a big window of opportunity for Democrats in midterm races.

Dave Chappelle's Jokes About Trans People Haven't Aged Well: The world has started to evolve on trans rights since the days of Chappelle's Show. Now the comedian is back with two Netflix stand-up specials, and his jokes about trans people prove he hasn't caught up with the times.

Richard Pryor: meltdown at the Hollywood Bowl: Starring at a gay rights fundraiser, the great standup saw other black artists being treated with racist contempt – and launched into an astonishing tirade that the 17,000-strong audience would never forget

Michael Wolff tells a juicy tale in his new Trump book. But should we believe it?

I read decades of Woody Allen’s private notes. He’s obsessed with teenage girls.

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Reading archive 2018-01-03

Tom Brady Is Drowning In His Own Pseudoscience

Warren positions herself for potential 2020 run: The Massachusetts senator has made a series of under-the-radar moves in the past year that would help her if she challenges Donald Trump.

Former Taliban captive Joshua Boyle arrested and charged with sexual assault, death threats

Trump Tower meeting with Russians 'treasonous', Bannon says in explosive book

The Republicans’ Fake Investigations - "Three congressional committees have heard over 21 hours of testimony from our firm, Fusion GPS. In those sessions, we toppled the far right’s conspiracy theories and explained how The Washington Free Beacon and the Clinton campaign — the Republican and Democratic funders of our Trump research — separately came to hire us in the first place."

Donald Trump Didn’t Want to Be President: One year ago: the plan to lose, and the administration’s shocked first days. - "This was a real-life version of Mel Brooks’s The Producers, where the mistaken outcome trusted by everyone in Trump’s inner circle — that they would lose the election — wound up exposing them for who they really were.
...
"As soon as the campaign team had stepped into the White House, Walsh saw, it had gone from managing Trump to the expectation of being managed by him. Yet the president, while proposing the most radical departure from governing and policy norms in several generations, had few specific ideas about how to turn his themes and vitriol into policy. And making suggestions to him was deeply complicated. Here, arguably, was the central issue of the Trump presidency, informing every aspect of Trumpian policy and leadership: He didn’t process information in any conventional sense. He didn’t read. He didn’t really even skim. Some believed that for all practical purposes he was no more than semi-­literate. He trusted his own expertise ­— no matter how paltry or irrelevant — more than anyone else’s. He was often confident, but he was just as often paralyzed, less a savant than a figure of sputtering and dangerous insecurities, whose instinctive response was to lash out and behave as if his gut, however confused, was in fact in some clear and forceful way telling him what to do. It was, said Walsh, 'like trying to figure out what a child wants.'"

Trump slams Bannon: ‘When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind’

Michael Wolff’s unbelievable — sometimes literally — tell-all about the Trump administration

Manafort sues DOJ, Mueller over Russia probe authority

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE IS REBRANDING AS A WHITE MAN: The former *NSYNC singer is the latest pop star to embrace his “authentic” roots.

THE BIGGEST SECRET: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror

U.S. officials urge Iran to stop blocking social-media sites as death toll rises in nationwide protests

Trump takes hard line on ‘dreamers,’ but remains interested in a deal

NSA’s top talent is leaving because of low pay, slumping morale and unpopular reorganization

Why Turkey’s president was among thousands in Konya paying homage to Rumi

Pharma, under attack for drug prices, started an industry war

‘You feel that the devil is helping you’: MS-13’s satanic history

Accused Islamic State supporter appears in Virginia court