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The 17 Most Striking Moments From the Kavanaugh Hearing
TheAtlantic | Olivia Paschal & Madeleine Carlisle | 09/27/18

Kavanaugh/Ford Hearing LIVE Reaction with Cenk Uygur | TYT | 09/27/18 | 8:57:52

Raging Kav Shows Himself: Partisan warrior in Robes
HP | Igor Bobic | 09/27/18

A good judge must be an umpire -- a neutral and impartial arbiter who favors no litigant or policy ... I don't decide cases based on personal or policy preferences," Kavanaugh said at the hearing, echoing memorable lines that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts delivered during his confirmation hearing in 2005. When asked several times to comment on particular issues of the day, Kavanaugh declined, telling senators he would not "get within three zip codes" of a political controversy, and that judges ought to be "above politics; we stay out of it."

The version of Kavanaugh that appeared at Thursday's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he denied allegations of sexual assault leveled against him by three women in recent weeks, however, was starkly different from his description of the role of a neutral third party. Using some of the most partisan language a Supreme Court nominee has used in the modern era, Kavanaugh angrily accused Democrats of engaging in a "calculated and orchestrated political hit" that was animated by "anger at [President Donald] Trump" over the 2016 presidential election, as well as "revenge on behalf of" Bill and Hillary Clinton. ... Read more

Brett Kavanaugh unloads on Senate Democrats: "A national disgrace"
Axios | staff | 09/28/18

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, following Christine Blasey Ford's hearing.

One big quote: "My family and my name have been totally and permanently destroyed," Kavanaugh said in his opening remarks. "This confirmation process has become a national disgrace ... you have replaced advice and consent with search and destroy." ... Read more

Brett Kavanaugh's questionable definitions of "boof" and "Devil's Triangle," explained
Vox | Alex Abad-Santos | 09/27/18

During his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was asked about his familiarity with the word "boof," a slang term that many have defined to mean anal sex (and others to be a kayaking technique) -- and declared that it was a reference to farting.

"I don't know if it's 'buffed' or 'boofed,' how do you pronounce that?" Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) asked Kavanaugh during the hearing, intended to address sexual assault allegations brought against Kavanaugh, which Kavanaugh has denied. ... Read more

The rape culture of the 1980s, explained by Sixteen Candles
Vox | Constance Grady | 09/27/18

...n a sworn declaration delivered through her lawyer Michael Avenatti, Julie Swetnick avowed that she witnessed Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh drug girls at high school house parties where the girls were later "gang raped." Swetnick further says that Kavanaugh was present at a party where she herself was drugged and raped, although she does not directly say that he participated in her rape.

n a statement released by the White House, Kavanaugh (who has denied all three allegations against him) called Swetnick's statement "ridiculous" and "from the Twilight Zone." His denial was widely echoed by supporters to whom the idea that such terrible things could happen on a routine basis, and that no one would do anything to stop them or even avoid the parties, seems absurd. ... Read more

Greatest Ultimate Jukebox Rock and Roll Hits of the '50s & '60s | 1:56:57

Mark Judge's Memoir About Brett Kavanaugh's High School Portrays a Culture of Aggression and Excessive Drinking
TheIntercept | Peter Maass | 09/28/18

... But the wedding scene in Judge's 1997 book, titled "Wasted: Tales of a GenX Drunk," amounts to a clear acknowledgement from Judge that he engaged in drunken acts he could not remember afterward, and that those acts involved aggression toward women, if not outright violence. The wedding scene is not the only one of its sort in his book, which is out of print and extremely hard to find.

Judge also wrote that about a week before the wedding, he went to his favorite bar, ordered a shot and a beer, and struck up a conversation with a woman who was there. "We bought each other several rounds of drinks, and when I looked at the clock it was after midnight," he wrote. "Then, in what seemed like an instant, it was suddenly the next morning. ... I couldn't remember a thing after I had looked at the clock. I had blacked out."

When he came to, he was back in his apartment, still dressed in the clothes he wore at the bar. "I started to panic, terrified of what I could have done during the blackout," Judge wrote. "I could have done anything and not know it -- I could have murdered somebody." ... Read more

Wasted: Tales of a Genx Drunk by Mark Gauvreau Judge (1997)

Mark Judge, a journalist and writing teacher, attempts to give an edge to his drinking story by excitedly promoting the ideas put forth in clinical psychologist James Milam's Under The Influence: A Guide to the Myths and Realities of Alcoholism (1984). But Milam's contention that the metabolisms of alcoholics differ from those of normal drinkers is hardly news today. Consequently, Judge's bid to appeal to a young generation wary of the Twelve Steps feels forced and shallow. Still, in the time-honored tradition of A.A. he stands to help many young drunks with his account of the hard road he traveled after taking his first drink as a Catholic boy growing up in a bland, affluent community near Washington, D.C. Judge first got drunk the summer before he entered Loyola Prep, an all-boys Catholic school. Jesuit discipline and Irish Catholic family values accelerated his slide. Although Judge denies any behavioral link in his alcoholism, his inability to impress his distant, alcoholic father haunted him as he slipped out of control. By the end of high school, while volunteering at a shelter, Judge encountered Ronnie, a young recovering alcoholic who slipped him his phone number. Judge drank throughout his years at Catholic University, until he finally hit bottom and called Ronnie. Ronnie took Judge to his first A.A. meeting and introduced him to the most useful bit of advice presented here: It is one thing to get sober, he reminded Judge. It is quite another to stay that way.

Amazon Commenters

1. Evidence
2. I wish all witnesses that I was preparing to cross examine had previously written a book generally supporting a theme that I was promoting, and also that the book provided that the witness had experienced "blackouts" to explain why he "doesn't recall" the relevant facts. Incredible.
3. Read this book a few years ago, because it was a "local" story. When the allegation came out about Kavanaugh, I thought immediately back to this book about the "culture" of the "unnamed" local school. And now to find out they were pals? Everyone interested in the current topic of the day should read this book.
4. I have this book and read it a long, long time ago. Now that it's in the news I'm attempting to reread it. 'Attempting,' because it's a story of rich kid(s) living their life of privilege, which I cannot quite relate to (way back when or now), since I am from a different background. But it might be good evidence against this current Supreme Court nominee. (One can be sure the author will soon claim that "it's a work of fiction," to help save his now-famous buddy)
5. You need to come forward and testify.
6. The writer seems to forget that people were hurt by his actions and life is not a game. Privileged and self-important with no conscience...sound familiar? Look no further than Kavanaugh's fast and suspicious rise along with men like the author.
7. I would also allege that what he wrote was true, because I grew up in Bethesda in the '80s. However, I didn't like the taste of alcohol, so I witnessed, but did not participate.
8. Judge Kav's drinking buddy and accomplice reads as a confession.

Selfie videos, male sexuality and filming young women. These themes appear in the videos and writings of Mark Judge that The New York Times reviewed, revealing a partial portrait of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's high school friend. | NYT | 09/27/18 | 2:38

Who Is Brett Kavanaugh's Friend, Mark Judge? | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC | 09/19/18 | 2:46

Trump Repeats Lie That Women Who Accused Him Of Sexual Misconduct Were 'Paid A Lot Of Money'
HP | Sebastian Murdock | 09/27/18

In a rare solo news conference with reporters after a third woman came out on Wednesday to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, President Donald Trump repeated the lie that the women who accused the president himself of misconduct were paid to do so.

"I've been accused, I've been accused. I believe it was four women, you can check with Sean Hannity, you can check with Fox, because they covered it very strongly," he said. "I was accused by four or five women who got paid a lot of money to make up stories about me. We caught them and the mainstream media refused to put it on television. They refused to even write about it. There were four women, and maybe more."

Nearly two dozen women have credibly accused the president of sexual misconduct. ... Read more

How consultants and pharmacy middlemen work the drug pricing system
Axios | Bob Herman | 09/27/18

Employers hire consultants to help them manage their prescription drug costs. But industry sources say those consultants don't steer companies toward the best deals.

Why it matters: Prescription drugs represent one-fifth of employers' spending on health benefits. Employers and employees alike are increasingly worried about drug prices and how those prices affect their premiums. ... Read more

Trump at the UN general assembly (full speech) | BBC News | 09/26/18 | 34:50

President Trump holds press conference after UN meetings in New York | ABC News | 09/26/18 | 1:35:13

Kavanaugh/Ford Hearing LIVE Reaction with Cenk Uygur | TYT | 09/27/18 | Live

Classmates Who Endorsed Brett Kavanaugh Now Say Claims Warrant Investigation
HP | Nick Visser | 09/26/18

Several former classmates of Judge Brett Kavanaugh who just last month endorsed his nomination to the Supreme Court have now called for the Yale alumnus to be investigated over allegations of sexual misconduct.

... Blasey has accused Kavanaugh of pinning her to a bed and attempting to remove her clothes during a party when they were high school students in the 1980s. Ramirez alleged in an interview with The New Yorker on Sunday that Kavanaugh exposed himself and thrust his penis in her face at a party when they were students at Yale University during the 1983-84 school year. ... Read more

Donald Trump Gave a Rambling, Marathon Press Conference. It Was Not Good.
MotherJones | Edwin Rios| 09/26/18

"This is Alex Jones level stuff from the President right now."

In a bizarre and rare press conference on Wednesday, President Donald Trump defended embattled Judge Brett Kavanaugh ahead of a high-profile hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Christine Blasey Ford, one of three women who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, will testify on Thursday about an instance in high school when Kavanaugh allegedly sexually assaulted her.

During the wide-ranging press conference, Trump called the Democrats "obstructionists" and claimed they had "destroyed a man's reputation." "It's not going to change the Democrats' minds," he said. "They know it's a big, fat con job. They go into a room and I guarantee you, they laugh like hell at what they've pulled off."

The focus briefly turned to Trump's past. Since 2016, more than a dozen women have accused him of sexual misconduct, harassment, or assault -- allegations Trump's White House has dismissed in the past. "When you say does it affect me in terms of my thinking with respect to Judge Kavanaugh? Absolutely. Because I've had it many times," Trump said. ... Read more

Trump's welfare crackdown targets immigrants
Axios| Stef W. Kight | 09/26/18

A new rule proposed by the Trump administration over the weekend would disqualify some immigrants from visas and green cards if they use -- or are likely to use -- federal safety net programs such as Medicaid, food stamps and Section 8 housing vouchers.

Why it matters: There are millions of immigrants in the U.S. who use these programs, according to the Migration Policy Institute's analysis of Census data, and the group estimates that 31% of all non-citizens would be impacted if the rule is finalized. Those applying to be admitted to the the U.S. would also face increased scrutiny of their financial stability and prospects. ... Read more
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Trump bragged about his presidency and world leaders laughed
Politico | Matthew Choi | 09/25/18

World leaders laughed Tuesday after President Donald Trump said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly that his administration had accomplished more than any other in American history.

"In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country," Trump said near the start of a speech before the assembled world leaders, prompting audible laughter.

"It's so true," Trump continued, before acknowledging the laughter.

"I didn't expect that reaction, but that's okay," he said, smirking and raising his eyebrows.

It's unusual for a U.S. president to draw unintentional laughs at a gathering of world leaders, and Trump has long complained that foreign governments are laughing at the U.S. for what he views as weak policies on trade and other issues. ... Read more

EU, Russia and China reach payments deal to counter Trump's Iran move
Axios | Zachary Basu | 09/25/18

The U.K., Germany, France, Russia and China have agreed to establish a special payments system to circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran stemming from President Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, the Financial Times reports.

The big picture: The payments channel would be an alternative to SWIFT, the backbone of the global financial system that allows Iran to get paid for oil, pay for its imports and finance its activities abroad. The five countries involved in the agreement remain committed to doing business with Iran, which the International Atomic Energy Agency says is still complying with the terms of the nuclear deal. President Trump, meanwhile, has threatened that anyone doing business with Iran will not be able to do business with the U.S. ... Read more

Kavanaugh Just Played 'Checkers' on Fox
Politico | Jeff Greenfield | 09/24/18

Three weeks ago, Judge Brett Kavanaugh offered the Senate Judiciary Committee the homilies every nominee is bound to recite: "A judge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make the law. A judge must interpret statutes as written. ... A good judge must be an umpire--a neutral and impartial arbiter who favors no litigant or policy." It was a firm recitation of the argument that courts are above the grimy business of partisan politics.

By appearing with his wife on Fox News on Monday night to defend himself against accusations of sexual misconduct, Kavanaugh threw himself into what Justice Felix Frankfurter called "the political thicket." He is seeking to rally support for his confirmation in the face of polls showing him to be an increasingly unpopular choice. There was nothing subtle about the choice of venue. Fox News is not only President Donald Trump's loyal echo chamber during early morning and prime time, but it is also the network whose founder and most popular on-air personality were both fired for repeated acts of sexual misconduct. And it is the network whose former co-president, Bill Shine, now directs communication for the White House. ... Read more
Kavanaugh denies assault allegations in exclusive interview | Fox News | 09/24/18 | 20:27

Pop Stars, Pageants & Presidents: How An Email Trumped My Life by Rob Goldstone

Pop Stars, Pageants & Presidents: How an Email Trumped My Life is a firsthand account of the extraordinary life of British-born music publicist Rob Goldstone who found himself at the center of the RussiaGate investigation after an email he wrote to Donald Trump Jr. became public.

From Manchester to Manhattan to Moscow, this very personal memoir takes the reader through Goldstone's early days in the North of England to his life as celebrity journalist and pop music publicist to a world of billionaires, Russian oligarchs and Donald Trump.

Pop Stars, Pageants & Presidents takes a close look at what led Goldstone to write the now infamous Trump Tower email, an email that would become worldwide news and a turning point in the investigation into Russian collusion and interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

A post-Trump world will be like Mad Max, says Republican strategist, Rick Wilson | ABC (Australia) | 09/05/18 | 6:32

Permafrost: The Tipping Time Bomb | YaleClimateConnections | older, 02/28/13 | 6:04

Michael Moore v. Donald Trump in "Fahrenheit 11/9": New Film Warns Our Democracy Is At Risk | DN | 09/21/18 | 7:48

Michael Moore: Are We Going to Be Like the "Good Germans" Who Let Hitler Rise to Power? | DN | 09/21/18 | 17:06

Michael Moore: Democrats Made Fatal Mistake in Not Taking Trump More Seriously in 2016 | DN | 09/21/18 | 16:55

In July, 2016, Michael Moore wrote a column titled "Five Reasons Why Trump Will Win." In it, Moore wrote, "Donald J. Trump is going to win in November. This wretched, ignorant, dangerous part-time clown and full time sociopath is going to be our next president. President Trump. Go ahead and say the words, 'cause you'll be saying them for the next four years: 'PRESIDENT TRUMP.'" He went on to list the five reasons why Trump would be elected: Trump's focus on the Midwest, "The Last Stand of the Angry White Man," "The Hillary Problem," "The Depressed Sanders Vote" and what he called the "Jesse Ventura Effect" -- people voting for Trump simply to disrupt the system. We talk to Michael Moore about his predictions and how Democrats failed to take Trump more seriously.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Expecting To Be Fired
HP | Antonia Blumberg and Marina Fang | 09/24/18

He was overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia during the 2016 election.

Rosenstein's potential departure follows a report by The New York Times on Friday that in 2017, he'd suggested covertly recording the president in the White House and had discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. Rosenstein firmly denied the allegations.

The Times report echoed an anonymous op-ed published by a senior Trump administration official in the Times earlier in September that described "early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment" to "start a complex process for removing the president." ... Read more

What John Bolton's Past Tells Us About His Future As Trump's National Security Adviser | Vice | 04/03/18 | 6:44

Surprise medical bills could be a powerful campaign issue
Axios | Drew Altman | 09/24/18

There is growing interest in the problem of surprise medical bills in the media and on Capitol Hill, with a bipartisan group of senators drafting legislation to crack down on the problem. But the issue has not been prominent in midterm campaigns and is not showing up in campaign ads.

Why it matters: Recent analyses, including polling and a report on employers' medical claims, show that surprise bills could have as much -- or even more -- traction with the public than other health issues being featured in the midterms. In an election where health care is top-of-mind, candidates may be missing an opportunity. ... Read more
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DIRTY DON FINALLY SMEARS BLASEY
HP | Andy Campbell | 09/21/18

Donald Trump Goes After Kavanaugh Accuser, Asks Why She Didn't Call Cops After Alleged Assault

GOP realizes tax cuts won't help them win the 2018 midterms
Axios | Alexi McCammond | 09/21/18

More than 60% of voters believe the GOP tax law benefits "large corporations and rich Americans" over "middle class families," according to a new survey commissioned by the Republican National Committee that was obtained by Bloomberg News.

Why it matters: Republicans just got confirmation -- from their own poll -- that what they've thought was going to be their winning issue in 2018 might not help them after all. It also confirms that Democrats' strategy of tying health care and taxes together is working. ... Read more

Trump's Dirty War in Yemen
TheAtlantic | Conor Friedersdorf | 09/21/18

Earlier this year, three United States senators, including the Vermont progressive Bernie Sanders and the Utah conservative Mike Lee, authored a resolution to force the withdrawal of U.S. forces from a foreign war. But their effort did not concern Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Syria, as a casual observer of American foreign policy might expect.

They sought "to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen," explaining that "since March 2015, members of the U.S. Armed Forces have been introduced into hostilities" on the side of a Saudi-led coalition against the Houthis, a Shia rebel group trying to overthrow the country's regime. ... Read more

*A Year After Hurricane Maria, School Closures Make Trauma Worse For Puerto Rico's Children
HP | Carolina Moreno | 09/19/18

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico ? When asked what she remembered about Hurricane Maria, 10-year-old Yermiletsy Quiñonez Rosado immediately began to imitate the high-pitch whistle of the storm's 155 mph winds. "We thought the wind was going take the house. We were very scared," she told HuffPost in late July, her eyes focused on a toy she was restlessly turning in her hands.

But it wasn't memories of the hurricane that hit Puerto Rico last September or her family's nearly four months without power or water afterward that made Yermiletsy anxious just weeks before the start of the new school year. It was knowing she would soon begin fifth grade at a new school, Escuela Inés María Mendoza. ... GOOD article and VIDEO and LOTs of PICTURES

The Last Time the Globe Warmed | PBS Eons | 12/04/17 | 10:53

New data: Democrats crushing Republicans in 2018 elections
Axios | Neal Rothschild | 09/20/18

Riding a surge of enthusiasm in opposition to President Trump, more Democrats turned out in the primaries for House elections than Republicans this year -- the first time that has happened since 2008.

Why it matters: 2008 was the last time Democrats won a majority in the House. They lost it in 2010, when Republican primary turnout skyrocketed and Democratic turnout plummeted -- the reverse of what's happening now. ... Read more

A new era of U.S. -- China competition calls for new rules
Axios | Kevin Rudd | 09/20/18

Even as the U.S. - China trade war escalates, the two powers are fighting a greater battle at the frontiers of technology. With its "Made in China 2025" strategy -- targeting sectors like aviation, high-speed rail, electric vehicles and agricultural machinery -- China aspires to build firms that will not only replace foreign technology and products domestically but supplant them internationally.

Why it matters: In 2018 U.S. - China relations have entered a period of profound strategic drift, a pivotal moment in the transition from cooperation to competition. It's an open question whether this split will spawn a cold war or even a military confrontation -- prospects some policymakers are now considering for the first time -- but there's no doubt that a wider economic war is now upon us, to be waged over ownership of the technological innovations that will drive the 21st century. ... Read more

"It Struck Me As True" - Christine Blasey Ford Friend | All In | MSNBC | 09/19/18 | 7:40

A Wonder in Decline, The disappearing Lake Powell in pictures
ProPublica | Photography by Michael Friberg | older

Running Dry | NatGeo | on going | 1:40

Remembers Arizona's Glen Canyon | NatGeo | on going | 7:24

*Trump's Lies Have Grown Far More Frequent -- and More Dangerous
MotherJones | Denise Clifton | 09/19/18

The president is accelerating a dark phenomenon called "truth decay."

In recent months, the steady stream became a deluge. Although Washington Post journalists and other fact-checkers have dutifully documented President Donald Trump's now more than 5,000 misleading statements and outright lies, the American public may no longer pay much attention to the exhausting flood of misinformation. Now, a book-length study from the nonpartisan RAND Corporation warns that a growing disregard for basic facts could have dire longterm consequences for American democracy.

From June through August, Trump averaged more than 15 bogus statements a day--more than triple his daily rate in 2017. Recently, he went after Google, falsely claiming the country's biggest information search tool is "rigged" to make him look bad. He sowed confusion over a key statement he made about the Russia investigation by falsely accusing NBC News of doctoring video of his famous interview with Lester Holt (which has been publicly available in full since May 2017). And in his startling rebuke of an official government-commissioned report concluding that 2,975 people in Puerto Rico died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Trump falsely claimed that the report was a Democratic hit job and that the toll "did not go up by much" beyond 6 to 18 deaths. ... Read more

*Truth Decay, An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life by Jennifer Kavanagh, Michael D. Rich

Over the past two decades, national political and civil discourse in the United States has been characterized by "Truth Decay," defined as a set of four interrelated trends: an increasing disagreement about facts and analytical interpretations of facts and data; a blurring of the line between opinion and fact; an increase in the relative volume, and resulting influence, of opinion and personal experience over fact; and lowered trust in formerly respected sources of factual information.

These trends have many causes, but this report focuses on four: characteristics of human cognitive processing, such as cognitive bias; changes in the information system, including social media and the 24-hour news cycle; competing demands on the education system that diminish time spent on media literacy and critical thinking; and polarization, both political and demographic. The most damaging consequences of Truth Decay include the erosion of civil discourse, political paralysis, alienation and disengagement of individuals from political and civic institutions, and uncertainty over national policy.

Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 11/9" is a provocative and comedic look at the times in which we live. It will explore the two most important questions of the Trump Era: How the f**k did we get here, and how the f**k do we get out? | trailer | 08/09/18 | 1:58

"Funding secured" may become the two costliest words ever tweeted
Axios | Dan Primack| 09/19/18

Tesla has lost over $10 billion in market cap since Elon Musk's infamous -- and false -- claim, related to his efforts to take the company private.

The big picture: Both Musk and Tesla are now under criminal investigation by the Department of Justice, in addition to a continuing investigation by the SEC. The real fear now, for Tesla, its shareholders and its fanboys is that the government could find some sort of accounting or management problems that have nothing to do with the take-private fiasco. ... Read more

What Are The Dangers Of Trump Declassifying Certain Russia Probe Documents? | MTP Daily | MSNBC | 09/18/18 | 6:39

I've Got A Great, Great, Lawyer | ShowTime | 03/30/18 | 2:04

Trump: "I don't have an attorney general"
Axios | author | 09/19/18

President Trump continued his attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions in an interview with The Hill, claiming that Sessions' rocky confirmation hearing scared him into needlessly recusing himself from the Russia investigation.

"I don't have an Attorney General. It's very sad. ... A lot of people have asked me to [fire Sessions]. And I guess I study history, and I say I just want to leave things alone, but it was very unfair what he did."

The backdrop: Trump recently criticized the Justice Department for indicting two Republican congressmen so close to the midterm elections, prompting Sessions to fire back: "While I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations." ... Read more

Trump orders declassification of surveillance application, release of Comey texts
Politico | Kyle Cheney, Josh Gerstein and Darren Samuelsohn | 09/17/18

The move also includes an effort to reveal the details of Bruce Ohr's interviews connected to the Russia investigation.

President Donald Trump moved on Monday to immediately release a tranche of former FBI Director James Comey's text messages and declassify 20 pages of a surveillance application that targeted former campaign adviser Carter Page, Trump's latest offensive against a Russia investigation that has ensnared associates and has consumed his attention for much of his presidency.

The breadth of the order came as a surprise and landed amid a full-court White House effort to shore up the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, as he defends himself against a sexual assault allegation. Trump demanded that the FBI produce 20 pages of the surveillance application -- which Republicans on Capitol Hill have suggested would help show anti-Trump bias at the highest levels of the FBI.

Trump also called for the release of senior Justice Department official Bruce Ohr's notes related to the Russia probe. Ohr was a key conduit to the FBI for information provided by Christopher Steele, a former British spy who investigated Trump's relationship with Russia during the 2016 campaign and produced a dossier of damaging allegations -- which Trump has derided as false. ... Read more
Why President Donald Trump May Be Willing To Push Brett Kavanaugh Aside | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 09/18/18 | 10:55

Monday's hearing of a lifetime
Axios| Jonathan Swan, Mike Allen | 09/18/18

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh was asked privately yesterday about what past girlfriends would say about his conduct, as frenzied Republican officials prepared him for an epic hearing on Monday when he will rebut charges of a drunken sexual assault during high school.

What's happening: A source tells Axios the question about girlfriends was designed to help Kavanaugh's advocates show there was no pattern of conduct similar to the charge by Christine Blasey Ford, a biostatistician and research psychologist in the Bay Area who also is expected to testify Monday. ... Read more

What Can We Learn From Past Presidential Leadership? | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 09/18/18 | 11:49

Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Are leaders born or made? Where does ambition come from? How does adversity affect the growth of leadership? Does the leader make the times or do the times make the leader?

In Leadership, Goodwin draws upon the four presidents she has studied most closely -- Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson (in civil rights) -- to show how they recognized leadership qualities within themselves and were recognized as leaders by others. By looking back to their first entries into public life, we encounter them at a time when their paths were filled with confusion, fear, and hope.

Leadership tells the story of how they all collided with dramatic reversals that disrupted their lives and threatened to shatter forever their ambitions. Nonetheless, they all emerged fitted to confront the contours and dilemmas of their times.

No common pattern describes the trajectory of leadership. Although set apart in background, abilities, and temperament, these men shared a fierce ambition and a deep-seated resilience that enabled them to surmount uncommon hardships. At their best, all four were guided by a sense of moral purpose. At moments of great challenge, they were able to summon their talents to enlarge the opportunities and lives of others.

TX Voted To Remove Hillary Clinton And Helen Keller Out Of Textbooks | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC | 09/17/18 | 6:42

The Coming Financial Contagion
Axios | Steve LeVine | 09/15/18

The party seems only to be roaring ahead -- Japan's Nikkei index today closed at its highest level since February, and U.S. and European stock markets finished the week up as well. But stubborn trouble in emerging markets has some economists worrying about an eruption of financial contagion resembling past global crises.

What's going on: Plunging currencies and stock markets in the emerging economies suggest a threat to the nine-and-a-half year stock market bull run, along with the global economy, with Europe especially in the line of fire, economists say.

The backdrop: When economists worry about "financial contagion," they are thinking in part about 1997, when a crisis with the Thai baht set off a region-wide Asian economic crisis that, in 1998, reached Russia and sent its economy into a tailspin. The 2008-'09 financial crash was an extreme example of contagion, spreading and nearly crashing the entire global economy. ... Read more

The Meltdown of Emerging Market Currencies
Axios | Courtenay Brown | 09/15/18

Currencies in developing countries have fallen off a cliff. The Argentine peso has lost more than 50 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar this year, and the Turkish lira is doing almost as poorly.

What's going on: Argentina and Turkey are both suffering from fiscal crises that have hammered their currencies.

A worsening trade war between the United States and China could cause more pain for emerging markets, which are export-dependent. ... Read more

Stockman: Today's 'Temporary Prosperity' Ignores the $20 Trillion Elephant in the Room' | David Stockman | 07/15/16 | 16:44

Wilmington cut off as flooding fears rise
Politico/AP| author | 09/16/18

WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Catastrophic flooding from Florence spread across the Carolinas on Sunday, with roads to Wilmington cut off by the epic deluge and muddy river water swamping entire neighborhoods miles inland. "The risk to life is rising with the angry waters," Gov. Roy Cooper declared as the storm's death toll climbed to 17.

The storm continued to crawl westward, dumping more than 30 inches (75 centimeters) of rain in spots since Friday, and fears of historic flooding grew. Tens of thousands were ordered evacuated from communities along the state's steadily rising rivers -- with the Cape Fear, Little River, Lumber, Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers all projected to burst their banks. ... Read more

South Florida Algae Crisis Special Report | WPTV | 07/18/16 | 25:30

Toxic Algae: Complex Sources and Solutions | ChangingSeasTV | 06/21/17 | 27:13

On Senate Floor, Rubio Discusses Lake Okeechobee Discharges, Algae Blooms | | 07/11/18 | 15:57

What in the World Are They Spraying? | | 08/05/11 | 1:37:32

"Why in the World are They Spraying?" | | 08/18/12 | 1:12:54

"If you control the food supply, you control the people" -- Henry Kissinger

And if you control the weather, you control the food supply.

GeoEngineering Watch website

What Is Geoengineering? | Oxford College, UK website

Climate engineering | Wikipedia website)

Climate engineering or climate intervention, commonly referred to as geoengineering, is the deliberate and large-scale intervention in the Earth's climate system, usually with the aim of mitigating the adverse effects of global warming. Climate engineering is an umbrella term for measures that mainly fall into two categories: greenhouse gas removal and solar radiation management. Greenhouse gas removal approaches, of which carbon dioxide removal represents the most prominent subcategory addresses the cause of global warming by removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Solar radiation management attempts to offset effects of greenhouse gases by causing the Earth to absorb less solar radiation.

The Great Culling: Our Water | | 03/22/13 | 1:32:31

Americans Aren't Practicing Democracy Anymore
TheAtlantic | Yoni Appelbaum | current

Democracy is a most unnatural act. People have no innate democratic instinct; we are not born yearning to set aside our own desires in favor of the majority's. Democracy is, instead, an acquired habit.

Like most habits, democratic behavior develops slowly over time, through constant repetition. For two centuries, the United States was distinguished by its mania for democracy: From early childhood, Americans learned to be citizens by creating, joining, and participating in democratic organizations. But in recent decades, Americans have fallen out of practice, or even failed to acquire the habit of democracy in the first place.

The results have been catastrophic. As the procedures that once conferred legitimacy on organizations have grown alien to many Americans, contempt for democratic institutions has risen. In 2016, a presidential candidate who scorned established norms rode that contempt to the Republican nomination, drawing his core support from Americans who seldom participate in the rituals of democracy. ... Read more

A Warning From Europe: The Worst Is Yet to Come
TheAtlantic | author | date

Polarization. Conspiracy theories. Attacks on the free press. An obsession with loyalty. Recent events in the United States follow a pattern Europeans know all too well.

On december 31, 1999, we threw a party. The guests were various: journalist friends from London and Berlin, a few diplomats based in Warsaw, two friends who flew in from New York. But most of them were Poles, friends of ours and colleagues of my husband, who was then a deputy foreign minister in the Polish government. A handful of youngish Polish journalists came too -- none then particularly famous -- along with a few civil servants and one or two members of the government.

... You could have lumped the majority of them, roughly, in the general category of what Poles call the right -- the conservatives, the anti-Communists. But at that moment in history, you might also have called most of my guests liberals -- free-market liberals, or classical liberals -- or maybe Thatcherites. Even those who might have been less definite about economics certainly believed in democracy, in the rule of law, and in a Poland that was a member of nato and on its way to joining the European Union -- an integrated part of modern Europe. In the 1990s, that was what being "on the right" meant. Read more

Anderson Cooper to Bob Woodward: This part of book was terrifying | CNN | 09/12/18 | 12:14

Air Force plane flies into Hurricane Florence | CNN | 09/12/18 | 9:42

Hurricane Florence could bring up to 13 feet or more of storm surge to the Carolina coast. What does that look like? | Weather Channel | 09/12/18 | 2:18

Why Florence is so unusual -- and so dangerous
Axios | Andrew Freedman | 09/13/18

Hurricane Florence is a highly unusual storm, not just because of its intensity and size, but also the journey it's taking toward the Carolina coastline.

The big picture: As this historical track map shows, few other major hurricanes have hit North Carolina -- and none has followed as bizarre a path as Florence is expected to take. ... Read more

Trump's "Enemy of the People" Rhetoric Is Endangering Journalists' Lives
MotherJones | Mark Follman | 09/13/18

Law enforcement and security leaders detail a disturbing rise in violent threats.

Ever since he campaigned for the White House, Donald Trump has attacked news outlets for negative reporting, singled out individual journalists for scorn, and turned his battle cry against "fake news"--a.k.a. reporting he dislikes--virtually into a personal brand. His hostility has only escalated with scrutiny of his presidency. Whipping up crowds as he points at the press gallery has been a set piece of his political rallies. He describes journalists as "dishonest," "corrupt," and "sick." And Trump has repeatedly echoed the language of 20th century despots, demonizing the American media as "the enemy of the people."

Presidential disdain for the press is nothing new. Still, political and media experts have long worried that Trump's uniquely broad and bitter war of words wouldn't just corrode public trust in reported facts, but could also produce other dangerous effects. ... Read more

Trump fires back at Dimon: He doesn't have the 'smarts' to be president
Politico | Rebecca Morin | 09/13/18

President Donald Trump on Thursday morning slammed Jamie Dimon after the JPMorgan Chase CEO taunted the president by claiming he would beat him in an election because he is "smarter" than Trump.

"The problem with banker Jamie Dimon running for President is that he doesn't have the aptitude or 'smarts' & is a poor public speaker & nervous mess - otherwise he is wonderful," Trump tweeted. "I've made a lot of bankers, and others, look much smarter than they are with my great economic policy!" ... Read more

Trump's historic gift to media
Axios | Mike Allen | 09/13/18

Aboard Air Force One recently, an aide was showing President Trump detailed data, complete with graphics and fine print. Usually the president prefers top lines and the big picture. This time, he was going deeper. The topic of the commander-in-chief's attention: cable news ratings, with a focus on specific shows that are booming.

The big picture: Cable news is setting records, books are hot again, newspapers are racking up the digital subscriptions and an op-ed (!) is a hot gossip topic -- all because of the national obsession with "The Trump Show." ... Read more

Hurricane Florence to cause "catastrophic" damage in Carolinas
Axios | Andrew Freedman | 09/12/18

Hurricane Florence continues to churn menacingly toward the Carolina coastline -- about two days away from coming very close to landfall in North Carolina. The storm will be capable of causing extreme damage, and will deliver a deadly one-two punch of coastal impacts from storm surge flooding and high winds, along with an inland deluge that will turn farms and communities into a virtual extension of the Atlantic.

The big picture: The odds that Florence will hit the brakes as it nears the coast have increased, and while this could lower the storm's peak winds at landfall, it will only mean a different set of deadly impacts. The storm surge flooding from a massive storm with an unusually large wind field and slow forward speed, along with freshwater inland flooding from a staggering amount of rain -- up to 3 feet in some areas, are the leading threats to pay attention to. ...

... The official forecast from the National Hurricane Center now calls for Hurricane Florence to make landfall as a Category 3 storm near Wilmington, North Carolina on Friday, walloping the coast with a record high storm surge. Its approach will be agonizingly slow due to the temporary buildup of a high pressure area to the storm's northwest, and this will allow the storm surge flooding to build over multiple high tide cycles. ... Read more

*The ties between Hurricane Florence and climate change
Axios | Andrew Freedman | 09/12/18

Hurricane Florence is a unique Atlantic hurricane, projected to stall out after hitting land and forecast to dump upwards of 2 feet of rain on several states, much like Hurricane Harvey did in Texas last year.

The big picture: There are several characteristics of the changing climate that are helping to increase the risks of damage from Hurricane Florence, even though global warming is not directly causing such a storm to spin up. ... Read more

New video of Hurricane Florence's massive eyewall | CNN | 09/11/18 | 10:05

Why a storm surge can be the deadliest part of a hurricane | Vox | 09/09/17 | 4:00

*The Great Recession's great hangover
WashingtonPost | Kate Rabinowitz and Youjin Shin | 09/12/18

The financial crisis and Great Recession had their roots in American homeownership. Successive presidents from both parties had encouraged more people to attain the American Dream of owning a home.

As housing prices rose -- and Wall Street found ways to enable riskier loans -- Americans' wealth climbed too, hitting a peak in 2007. But then the financial crisis and Great Recession hit, devastating Wall Street and causing financial upheaval for tens of millions of Americans. Even as the worst days waned, the crisis and recession profoundly shaped the decade that followed. ... GOOD Graphics, Read more

Trump's assault on Woodward riddled with contradictions
Politico | Annie Karni | 09/10/18

The president has slammed Woodward's book as 'fiction' -- even as he rails against former aides for leaking.

President Donald Trump has called journalist Bob Woodward's book on his administration a work of "fiction" and a "scam," claiming that quotes in the book are "made up" and that the author is a "liar."

At the same time, sources familiar with his thinking said he is livid at his former economic adviser, Gary Cohn, and his former staff secretary, Rob Porter, for "leaking" to Woodward.

It's difficult to rationally argue that the book could be both: fiction dreamed up by Woodward, and a betrayal by former top stewards of the administration, who shared with the famed journalist alarming details about how the White House functions. But it's not hard for Trump, who often spouts two opposing views intended for different audiences. And his supporters often soak up the contradictory claims just as readily as he spits them out, taking it all in stride. ... Read more

Hellstorm: 1 Million in SC Ordered Out
HP | Nina Golgowski | 09/10/18

South Carolina Coast Ordered To Evacuate Ahead Of Hurricane Florence. One million people in eight counties have until noon Tuesday to evacuate as the state braces for the Category 4 storm.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) on Monday ordered a mandatory evacuation of the state's coastline ahead of Hurricane Florence's expected arrival on Thursday.

Approximately 1 million people in eight counties have until noon on Tuesday to evacuate, the governor said. Four major roads will reverse their traffic lanes to help facilitate the mass exodus.

"We're in for a real episode here," McMaster said at a press conference. "This may be inconvenient. This is a very dangerous hurricane. But we are not going to gamble with the lives of the people of South Carolina." ... Read more

Go deeper: Hurricane Florence is a storm threat unlike any other
Axios | Andrew Freedman | 09/11/18

Hurricane Florence is a nightmare storm for the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic. The reasons stem from the hurricane's power, size, forward speed and the longstanding vulnerability of the area it is forecast to hit.

The big picture: There are no historical analogs to compare Florence to. Its forecast track is unprecedented, and its array and magnitude of threats are as well.

The context: If Hurricane Florence makes landfall in North Carolina or Virginia as a Category 4 storm, it would be the strongest storm to do so that far north. ... Read more

Bob Woodward: Let The Silence Suck Out The Truth | Stephen Colbert | 09/11/18 | 10:07

Colbert To Bob Woodward: What Do You Fear Most? | Stephen Colbert | 09/11/18 | 4:59

Bob Woodward Responds To Denials From Mattis, Kelly | Stephen Colbert | 09/11/18 | 5:41

Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward

THE INSIDE STORY ON PRESIDENT TRUMP, AS ONLY BOB WOODWARD CAN TELL IT

With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump's White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One and the White House residence.

24 Things Nobody Does Better Than Trump (According To Trump) | Vice | older, 11/13/17 | 1:16

Sarah Sanders questioned about Woodward's book, NYT op-ed | CNN | 09/10/18 | 17:56

California Running Out Of Firefighting Funds As Blazes Rage
HP | Mary Papenfuss | 09/10/18

The state is burning up due to "climate change-driven extreme weather conditions," says Cal Fire director.

s California firefighters continue the battle against raging wildfires, the state fire agency is running out of money to keep up the fight, said officials.

According to Cal Fire, California has been hit with 5,491 wildfires this year, burning 1.2 million acres, and the official fire season has only just begun.

The state spent $432 million through August, leaving just $11 million in its annual budget, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. On Thursday, Cal Fire director Ken Pimlott asked state legislators for an additional $234 million. ... Read more

Hurricane Florence on track for direct, dangerous strike
Axios | Andrew Freedman | 09/10/18

Hurricane Florence is going through an astonishingly rapid intensification process, and could hit anywhere from the Carolinas to the Mid-Atlantic by Thursday or Friday.

Driving the news: Hurricane Florence will become a major Category 3 storm or stronger as early as this morning as it undergoes a period of rapid intensification that could take it to the brink of Category 5 strength by Tuesday. ... Read more

Bob Woodward on "Fear" in the Trump White House | CBS Sunday Morning | 09/10/18 | 12:30

Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward

THE INSIDE STORY ON PRESIDENT TRUMP, AS ONLY BOB WOODWARD CAN TELL IT

With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump's White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One and the White House residence.

Bernstein: Trump presidency teetering with an unstable president | CNN | 09/09/18 | 12:45

Felony Disenfranchisement: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | 09/09/18 | 13:21

Brett Kavanaugh's Confirmation Hearings Have Been Shrouded In Secrecy
HP | Paul Blumenthal | 09/06/18

Senators saw only a small fraction of the records relating to Trump's Supreme Court nominee. The public saw even fewer.

From the outset of Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Democrats have hammered home this message: The Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are making it impossible for committee members to probe the views of President Donald Trump's nominee on the issues he will ultimately rule on by shrouding the nominee in secrecy.

... Rushing to judgment on the nominee amid this lack of transparency is wrong, Democrats argue. Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings could wait until the records are released and lawmakers have had time to examine them. ... Read more

The U.S. jobs machine still chugging along
Axios | author | date

The U.S. economy added 201,000 jobs in August and the unemployment rate held at 3.9%. Wage growth accelerated to 2.9%. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast 191,000 new jobs and the unemployment rate falling to 3.8%.

Bottom line: The U.S. economy's longest-ever streak of job growth continues. Former Obama administration economist Jason Furman said on Twitter it's "remarkable" job growth has remained so strong for so long. ... Read more
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Jerry Dias: We blew it on NAFTA | Financial Post | older | 8:12

Canadian economy can't survive well without a US deal: Wilbur Ross | FoxNews | 08/28/18 | 8:23

Trump Is the Symptom, Not the Disease in Michael Moore's Terrifying 'Fahrenheit 11/9'
AlterNet | Sophia A. McClennen / Salon | 09/07/18

"Fahrenheit 11/9? takes an unflinching look at how Donald Trump rose to power and what we can do about it

Michael Moore's new film "Fahrenheit 11/9" begins in Philadelphia on November 7, 2016 -- election eve. Images flash of euphoric Hillary Clinton supporters, expecting to see their candidate formally declared President. Then we see clips of various politicians and celebrities, who all smugly claim that Donald Trump is never going to win. It's a brilliant open to a cautionary tale. Rather than start with a focus on Trump, Moore opens by focusing on a deluded public who couldn't see what was coming.

Moore has always been a master at offering audiences documentaries that are provocative, insightful, revelatory and witty. But that's never been all there is to it. Moore's movies are not simply intellectual endeavors. This has been true since his first film "Roger and Me" (1989), which exposed the economic impact of GM's decision to close plants in Michigan. And it remained true with films like "Bowling for Columbine" (2002), which went after the NRA and won Moore an Academy Award. Then he released "Fahrenheit 9/11" (2004), which broke box office records and offered a sharp, critical view of the George W. Bush administration's War on Terror in the wake of the attacks of 9/11/2001. ... Read more

Michael Moore's FAHRENHEIT 11/9 (Official Trailer - In Theaters 9/21) | 2:00

Anonymous Op-Ed in New York Times Causes a Stir Online and in the White House
NYT | Michael M. Grynbaum | 09/05/18

In a highly unusual move that reverberated inside the West Wing and across the media spectrum, The New York Times on Wednesday published an Op-Ed article by an unnamed administration official that called President Trump "erratic" and described a "quiet resistance" of cabinet members who had whispered about taking steps to remove him from office.

It is exceedingly rare for The Times to grant anonymity to a writer on its Op-Ed pages, and the paper could cite only a handful of previous cases. But James Dao, the paper's Op-Ed editor, said in an interview that the material in the essay was important enough to the public interest to merit an exception. ... Read more

I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration
NYT | author | 09/05/18

I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.

President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.

It's not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump's leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.

The dilemma -- which he does not fully grasp -- is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.

I would know. I am one of them. ... Read more

Elizabeth Warren's Anti-Corruption Act | 09/05/18 | 2:05
Elizabeth Warren's Anti-Corruption Act website

Bernie Sanders introduces "Stop BEZOS Act"
Axios | Erica Pandey | 09/05/18

Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a bill dubbed the "Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act" or "Stop BEZOS Act" in the Senate Wednesday.

The big picture: The bill would make big companies that employ huge numbers of workers at low wages -- like Amazon and Walmart -- pay the government for the federal assistance their workers receive. ... Read more

Colin Kaepernick Nike Commercial | 09/05/18 | 2:05

What believing in Colin Kaepernick means for Nike | PBS | 09/04/18 | 9:23

The impact of Nike's Colin Kaepernick "Just Do It" ad | CBS | 09/04/18 | 8:05

In Woodward's book, Trump erupts over Mueller
Axios | Jonathan Swan, Mike Allen | 09/05/18

On the day after Robert Mueller was named special counsel, Bob Woodward writes in "Fear," President Trump "erupted into uncontrollable anger, visibly agitated to a degree that no one in his inner circle had witnessed before."

What happened: "He watched a two-hour block of Fox News, and then most of the two-hour long blocks of MSNBC and CNN that he had TiVo'd. ... He raged at the coverage. ... 'Everybody's trying to get me ... It's unfair. Now everybody's saying I'm going to be impeached ... They're going to spend years digging through my whole life and finances.'" ... Read more

China's Waste Ban Is Causing A Trash Crisis In The U.S. | Vice | 08/31/18 | 5:46

*To Predict Effects Of Global Warming, Scientists Looked Back 20,000 Years
NPR | Christopher Joyce | 08/30/18

As the climate warms, drought is killing large numbers of trees in California. Scientists are looking to the past to try to understand how the ecosystems of today may be changing.

A warming world could eventually make some of our most familiar ecosystems -- deciduous forests, grasslands, Arctic tundra -- unrecognizable. That's the conclusion of a team of more than 40 scientists who took a novel approach to predicting the effects of how human-caused global warming will alter ecosystems. They looked about 20,000 years back in time.

So his team did some "paleo-ecology." They looked at fossil pollen and vegetation for a period from about 20,000 years ago to about 10,000 years ago. It was a time when a naturally warming Earth began to melt the great ice sheets that covered much of the northern hemisphere. Over that time, Earth's average temperature increased by about 7 to 12 degrees Fahrenheit....

... What the researchers found from the paleo-record was evidence that ecosystems changed radically as temperatures rose. In Jackson's neighborhood in Arizona, for example, it's now desert -- various species of cactus and shrubs mostly. Fifteen thousand years ago, though, "what we'd see there instead is juniper and piñon woodland, and evergreen woodland utterly different from the vegetation we'd find here (now)." ... Read more

Why 2 degrees Celsius is climate change's magic number | PBS | older, 12/02/15 | 7:28

*The Last Hours of Humanity - Warming the World to Extinction | Thom Hartmann | older, 10/09/2013 | 12:18

Furious Trump trapped by hundreds of Woodward tapes
Axios | Jonathan Swan, Mike Allen | 09/05/18

President Trump is livid at the betrayal and stunning allegations in Bob Woodward's forthcoming "Fear," but limited in his ability to fight back because most of the interviews were caught on hundreds of hours of tape, officials tell Axios.

The big picture: The book, out Tuesday from Simon & Schuster, re-creates -- verbatim -- page after page of private conversations with him. The 420-page portrait is all the more damaging because many of the scenes concern foreign policy and national security -- truly heavy stuff. ... Read more

Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward

With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump's White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One and the White House residence.

Fear is the most intimate portrait of a sitting president ever published during the president's first years in office. Kindle $14.99

Steve Bannon on how the strategy that elected Trump is going global | ABC | 09/03/18 | 37:26

Here's What Experts Would Ask Brett Kavanaugh At His SCOTUS Confirmation Hearing
HP | Matt Ferner | 09/03/18

tt Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's nominee to fill Justice Anthony Kennedy's seat on the Supreme Court, faces a likely contentious confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee starting Tuesday. We asked dozens of lawyers, activists and other experts what they would ask Kavanaugh, who currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, if they had the chance. Below is a running selection of their questions, categorized by topic and edited for clarity.

... Read more

200 Actors, Scientists Band Together To Demand Climate Change Action
HP | Dominique Mosbergen | 09/04/18

Stars Bradley Cooper, Jude Law, Patti Smith, Ethan Hawke and Juliette Binoche signed the open letter.

Two hundred actors, musicians, artists and scientists have banded together to issue a fervent plea to world leaders to act "firmly and immediately" to address climate change.

Without prompt and courageous political action, the famous group warned in an open letter published Monday in the French daily Le Monde, "global catastrophe" will be imminent.

"It is time to get serious," the letter's signatories declared, according to a France24 translation. "The sixth mass extinction is taking place at unprecedented speed. But it is not too late to avert the worst." ... Read more

The middle class gets almost half of U.S. safety-net payments
Axios | Stef W. Kight | 09/04/18

Why it matters: As wages have remained stagnant, more people can't afford middle-class basics, and income inequality grows, the middle class is increasingly relying on the federal safety net, according to the new report by Brookings Institutions' Future of the Middle Class Initiative. "It is a mistake, now, to think of welfare as something just for the poor," Richard Reeves, the report's author tells Axios. The trend is most clearly seen in the second and middle income quintiles, where the average household income was $31,087 and $54,041 in 2014, according to the Tax Policy Center. ... Read more
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Ex-Budget Director Stockman Says Trump Tax Cuts Will Cause 'All Hell to Break Loose' | Bloomberg | 08/30/18 | 5:01

David Stockman on U.S.-Mexico Trade Deal: 'Great Big PR Stunt,' 'NAFTA Was Never a Problem' | Bloomberg | 08/27/18 | 8:05