1/ The excellent Frank Rich on the Ebola panic that seems to be gripping right wing America, fuelled of course by Fox News......
His second story is on the Klinghoffer issue, which must be a New York "thing".....
Every week, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich talks with contributor Eric Benson about the biggest stories in politics and culture. This week: Making sense of the overheated Ebola and Klinghoffer panics.
In the two weeks since the death of Thomas Eric Duncan, Ebola hysteria has taken hold in some corners of the U.S., with school closures, paid leaves, and cruise ship quarantines enacted to protect the populace from dozens of people who did not actually have the disease. So far, only two people we know of have been infected by Ebola on U.S. soil (both were nurses who treated Duncan), public health officials have offered clear and consistent explanations of the minimal risks of contracting the disease, and even Fox News — or, at least, Fox News anchor Shep Smith — has tried to quell the panic. Why are Americans still so worked up about this?
Of all the incidents of runaway Ebola hysteria in America, the one that most grabbed me was reported by the Times on Sunday: A man in Payson, Arizona, decided to submit to a self-imposed quarantine and remain in his house for no other reason than he had been in Liberia as a missionary on a church trip. His good deed did not go unpunished: After taking that extra (and gratuitous) precaution, he found himself the victim of a “lynch-mob mentality” manifested by at least one anonymous threat to burn down his house. The incident made me think of that classic 1960 Twilight Zoneepisode, “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” in which paranoid suburban neighbors, gripped by fear of an invasion from outer space, do the monsters’ work for them by destroying their community and each other in mob violence.
2/ The now classic Jon Stewart on "fangate" which hit most of the national media, but the funniest bit for me was the Samantha Bee segment towards the end.....
And yes, there were rather a lot of mentions of the former Florida governor’s sweaty balls, with talk of “stewing in our testicular moisture” and images of “electoral ball-coolery” that even worked the shaft of the Sunshine State.
Stewart stared in awe at Scott’s justifications for why he didn’t come out on time. And he admitted it was much more fun to mock Scott over this than his “terrible actual answers” for his “horrifying policies.”
3/ Paul Krugman with a revealing column on how the oligarchs have declared war on democracy itself, and the way they are winning.
Interesting isn't it - a senior columnist with the country's premier newspaper with a story like this, yet it disappears without a trace in the lamestream media....
It’s always good when leaders tell the truth, especially if that wasn’t their intention. So we should be grateful to Leung Chun-ying, the Beijing-backed leader of Hong Kong, for blurting out the real reason pro-democracy demonstrators can’t get what they want: With open voting, “You would be talking to half of the people in Hong Kong who earn less than $1,800 a month. Then you would end up with that kind of politics and policies” — policies, presumably, that would make the rich less rich and provide more aid to those with lower incomes.
So Mr. Leung is worried about the 50 percent of Hong Kong’s population that, he believes, would vote for bad policies because they don’t make enough money. This may sound like the 47 percent of Americans who Mitt Romney said would vote against him because they don’t pay income taxes and, therefore, don’t take responsibility for themselves, or the 60 percent that Representative Paul Ryan argued pose a danger because they are “takers,” getting more from the government than they pay in. Indeed, these are all basically the same thing.
For the political right has always been uncomfortable with democracy. No matter how well conservatives do in elections, no matter how thoroughly free-market ideology dominates discourse, there is always an undercurrent of fear that the great unwashed will vote in left-wingers who will tax the rich, hand out largess to the poor, and destroy the economy.
In fact, the very success of the conservative agenda only intensifies this fear. Many on the right — and I’m not just talking about people listening to Rush Limbaugh; I’m talking about members of the political elite — live, at least part of the time, in an alternative universe in which America has spent the past few decades marching rapidly down the road to serfdom.
4/ Ladies video [approved by Mary] - a powerful short film from India focusing on rape.....the menace in this three minute clip is visceral.....
Can India, a country struggling to combat an increasingly high-profile rape culture, envision a society where women feel safe in the company of unknown men?
A new short film on women's empowerment, "Going Home," urges its audience to imagine such a place, focusing on a young woman who stumbles upon a group of men after her car breaks down late at night. Starring Alia Bhatt, a rising actress in India's film industry, the video was posted to YouTube last week and has since gone viral with nearly 2 million views.
The film opens with Bhatt driving alone at night on a deserted road. Moments after she tells her concerned mother over the phone that she will be home in 10 minutes, Bhatt's car breaks down. As she vainly tries to restart the car, an SUV with five men lurks in the distance and eventually pulls up next to her.
5/ We know how inequality in America is leading to the extinction of the middle class, but Credit Suisse has done a report on global wealth, and the results are astonishing.....and it's going to get more unequal unless something changes........
Thomas Piketty (Credit: Reuters/Charles Platiau)
This article originally appeared on AlterNet.
According to a new report, the richest one percent have got their mitts on almost half the world’s assets. Think that’s the end of the story? Think again. This is only the beginning.
The “Global Annual Wealth Report,” freshly released by investment giant Credit Suisse, analyzes the shocking trend of growing wealth inequality around the world. What the researchers find is that global wealth has increased every year since 2008, and that personal wealth seems to be rising at the fastest rate ever recorded, much of it driven by strong equity markets. But the benefits of this growth have largely been channeled to those who are already affluent. While the restaurant workers in America struggled to achieve wages of $10 an hour for their labor, those invested in equities saw their wealth soar without lifting a finger. So it goes around the world.
The bottom half of the world’s people now own less than 1 percent of total wealth, and they’re struggling to hold onto even that minuscule portion. On the other hand, the wealthiest 10 percent have accumulated a staggering 87 percent of global assets. The top percentile has 48.2 percent of the world wealth. For now.
One of the scary things about the wealth of the supperich is what French economist Thomas Piketty pointed out in his best-selling book, Capital in the 21st Century. Once they’ve got a big chunk of wealth, their share will get bigger even if they sit by and do absolutely nothing. Piketty sums up this economic reality in a simple and horrifying formula: r > g.
Basically, this means that when rate of return on wealth is greater than the overall rate of growth of the economy, as it has nearly always been throughout history, the rich will grow inevitably richer and the poor poorer unless there is some kind of intervention, like higher taxes on wealth, for example.
6/ John Oliver with his unique brand of comedic reporting, with a fifteen minute segment on how translators for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan who are entitled to US visas aren't getting them because it was actually a sound bite, a promise to these guys to get them to work for our military. Now it's time to deliver, but the translators are being screwed by the bureaucracy.....
John Oliver said last night to introduce his segment about how the American visa system screws over the thousands of translators who assist the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Basically, as one translator says, the moment that the U.S. and NATO pull out of these occupied regions, the translators and their families will be brutally killed. To prevent this, Congress issued a law allowing up to 1,500 special immigrant visas to be issued per year to translators and their families — but according to Oliver, only three were issued in 2011. “The number of visas we give out to Afghanis who risk their lives for us should not be so low that even relatively stupid toddlers can count up to it,” Oliver said.
7/ Fascinating story about Kansas, and before you say "there's nothing fascinating about Kansas" note that it's the site of a real life experiment of implementing Tea Party economic policies, and the results have been catastrophic....now the political price is coming due for the Governor, Sam Brownback.....
For you political junkies.....
From the beginning, Brownback, who married into one of the most prominent families in Kansas, had received support not just from "values voters" but also from the moneyed, quasi-libertarian side of the conservative movement – in particular, Wichita-based Koch Industries. A Koch-linked firm called Triad Management Services pumped $400,000 into his campaign for senator, helping him defeat former Lt. Gov. Sheila Frahm, a pro-choice moderate backed by the Kansas GOP establishment. Since then, no one has donated more to Brownback than the Koch brothers, and Koch-backed groups like Americans for Prosperity provided vociferous endorsements of his tax plan.
Once Brownback was elected governor in 2010, the biggest obstacle to his fiscal agenda turned out, surprisingly, to be a group of senators from his own party, who recoiled from the most extreme of Brownback's proposals. The tax plan he had worked up eliminated most state income taxes on nearly 200,000 businesses and sharply reduced taxes on the wealthy.
Republican Sen. Pat Roberts chats with former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole during a campaign stop at a mall in Dodge City, Kan, Monday, Sept. 22th, 2014. (Photo: Charlie Riedel/AP)
Dick Kelsey, one of the Republican senators who opposed the bill, is a former evangelical pastor who has been a movement conservative since the late 1970s, when he worked with Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority – in other words, hardly anyone's definition of a moderate. "But I could just see that the tax bill took money from very poor people and benefited me, personally, too significantly," Kelsey told me last year. "And I'm not poor."
8/ Four clever and talented lady musicians, with an amusing three minute concerto......you can hear the estrogen flowing! And the talent needed to do these kind of moves with stringed instruments is amazing....
German I believe.....
9/ And if you read the Kansas story [#7], Bill Maher takes you through four minutes of how the big money from the Kochs and others are distracting Kansas voters with BS, and that their media campaign seems to be working tells you a lot about the stupidity of the midwestern red states.....
Attack ads work on stupid people.....that's what worries me about Floriduh.....
Maher said that despite his conservative policies failing, Brownback “refuses to give up on the long-discredited zombie lie… of trickle-down economics.” Democrat Paul Davis was doing well in the polls, but now he’s started to lose ground.
What happened? Well, attack ads have been highlighting the fact that back in 1998, Davis was caught in a strip club. Yeah, that’s about it. Maher was amazed and said “this is not a scandal.”
He shamed “easily distracted voters and a shamefully pandering media” for fixating on this non-story, and found it beyond ridiculous that “losing a billion dollars in revenue and having your credit rating downgraded, you can afford… but the lap-dance guy, that’s a bridge too far.”
10/ It seems to be a mantra, especially on the right, that the current generation of millennials are lazy, worthless, media-obsessed slackers.....but as this article says, this is BS.
It's us, the baby boomers, who have ruined this once great country.....
(Credit: Squaredpixels via iSt
Readers of this post have no doubt seen articles admonishing millennials for their perceived apocalyptic effect on the workforce, society, family and everywhere in between. The seemingly endless list of complaints about millennials begins with lazy and pampered, and ends with “selfies.” The accusations, guilt and fear-mongering are unfounded and – even worse – are mostly blame-shifting. Frankly, I am tired of it. What makes the millennial-bashing even more unbearable is the generation that is slinging the mud: the baby boomers.
Baby boomers came of age in an era of unprecedented prosperity. They were raised by parents who had survived poverty, war and the true sacrifice of a generation burdened with great moral struggles. As a whole, they experienced economic and physical security. Baby boomers received, by today’s standards, inexpensive and widely available education, preparing them for a thriving and open job market. Success at the beginning created a strong foundation for financial and personal success on a level the world had never known.
This led to America’s greatest asset: the middle class. So what did they do with all their good fortune? From the time the baby boomers took over, the United States has experienced an economic environment plagued with unfounded asset and real-estate bubbles and collapses. The bubbles were caused by blind greed on the part of investors, and a blind eye on the part of regulators. The baby boomers forced the financial and banking system out of relative security to high-risk systems.
11/ The Supreme Court doesn't allow cameras to film them in action, so John Oliver came up with a very funny alternative.....using dogs! A great five minutes.....
John Oliver (Credit: HBO)
On Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight” John Oliver pointed out that the Supreme Court of the United States just began its annual session. Oliver, however, is frustrated because live video coverage of the cases being argued is not permitted.
Audio clips are allowed to be recorded, but when the clips are paired with court drawings, very important country-altering decisions are reduced to bland images. Oliver has a plan to fix this (and possibly get the country to pay attention to the Supreme Court and the very important rulings that emerge): dogs.
Taking inspiration from the Internet sensation “keyboard cat,” Oliver introduces animal reenactments. Watch below:
12/ Interesting story about fitness, because how fit you are is directly related to your longevity.......
What’s Your Fitness Age?
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
OCTOBER 15, 2014 12:01 AM
You already know your chronological age, but do you know your fitness age?
A new study of fitness and lifespan suggests that a person’s so-called fitness age – determined primarily by a measure of cardiovascular endurance – is a better predictor of longevity than chronological age. The good news is that unlike your actual age, your fitness age can decrease.
The concept of fitness age has been developed by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, who have studied fitness and how it relates to wellness for years.
Fitness age is determined primarily by your VO2max, which is a measure of your body’s ability to take in and utilize oxygen. VO2max indicates your current cardiovascular endurance.
It also can be used to compare your fitness with that of other people of the same age, providing you, in the process, with a personal fitness age. If your VO2max is below average for your age group, then your fitness age is older than your actual age. But if you compare well, you can actually turn back the clock to a younger fitness age. That means a 50-year-old man conceivably could have a fitness age between 30 and 75, depending on his VO2max.
This calculates your fitness age.....on a couple of questions use the right hand box to change from kilograms to pounds etc.
13/ OK Go are well known for their incredibly complex videos, and this one is quite impressive......hard to describe, just watch......song is pretty average, but the visuals are amazing, and apparently shot using a drone camera.........
OK Go released yet another impressive music video for their song “I Won’t Let You Down.” It is filled with umbrellas, crazy aerial shots, and choreography that would make any marching band green with envy. It also appears to be shot all in one take, making this video is nothing short of spectacular.
The band is known for their impressive roster of inventive music videos. Who can forget being awed by the choreographed treadmill dance from “Here We Go Again”?
The song “I Won’t Let You Down,” from their latest album “Hungry Ghosts,” doesn’t quite match up with the brilliant choreography. But for a danceable pop tune it does the trick.
In case you are wondering what they are riding in the opening sequence, it's the new Honda U3-X unicycle, a Segway for sitters......
Unlike the Segway, the self-balancing U3-X was more like a unicycle, allowing riders to sit and steer without using their hands by simply leaning. While it worked as advertised, the concept was far from ready for primetime. But Honda's Uni-Cub could be.
Behind the large drive wheel there's now a smaller wheel which aids in steering and stability, and riders now have the option of maneuvering the device with a joystick, in addition to just moving their upper body.
14/ The wonderful Carl Hiaasen on the campaign for Florida governor, and who to vote for while holding your nose.....
Carl Hiaasen: Who’s the least worst for governor?
Rick Scott. Charlie Crist.
Nineteen million souls in the state of Florida, and this is the best we can do? You could toss a mullet net over any park bench between Key West and Pensacola and drag in two people who’d be more inspiring.
Watching Scott’s cringe-worthy performance in the TV debates made it all the more astonishing that he ever got elected governor, even with $75 million of his own dough.
He’s spent the last three and a half years refusing to answer reporters’ questions, and it’s clear why. Rarely will you find a politician who is so uncomfortable — make that miserable — in front of a camera or a microphone. Scott’s gecko death stare and toneless responses give the impression of a reluctant witness under oath, a role he infamously experienced in the Columbia/HCA fraud probe.
The second debate didn’t help. PR-wise, you cannot overstate the stupidity of refusing to come on stage for seven minutes, just because your opponent brought a portable fan. Scott behaved like a petulant boob, and once again provided a wacky Florida punch line for comics coast to coast.
On the other side stands Charlie Crist, who — by leaving the governor’s office after one term to run for U.S. Senate — gave us Rick Scott. Thanks a bunch.
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Todays video - a stunningly beautiful aerial tour of the British Columbia coastline.......quite lovely.....
Todays pregnancy jokes
Am I more likely to get pregnant if my husband wears boxers rather then briefs?
~Yes, but you’ll have an even better chance if he doesn’t wear anything at all.
Are birth control pills deductible?
~Only if they don’t work.
What is a chastity belt?
~A labor-saving device.
Should I have a baby after 35?
~No, 35 children are enough.
Can a mother get pregnant while nursing?
~Yes, but it’s much easier if she removes the baby from her breast and puts him to sleep first.
My husband and I are very attractive. I’m sure our baby will be beautiful enough for commercials. Whom should I contact about this?
~Your therapist.
I’m two months pregnant now. When will my baby move?
~With any luck, right after he finishes high school.
How will I know if my vomiting is morning sickness or the flu?
~If it’s the flu, you’ll get better.
Since I became pregnant, my breasts, rear-end, and even my feet have grown. Is there anything that gets smaller during pregnancy?
~Yes, your bladder.
What is the most common pregnancy craving?
~For men to be the ones who get pregnant.
What is the most reliable method to determine a baby’s sex?
~Childbirth.
The more pregnant I get, the more often strangers smile at me. Why?
~‘Cause you’re fatter than they are.
My wife is five months pregnant and so moody that sometimes she’s borderline irrational.
~So what’s your question?
What’s the difference between a nine-month pregnant woman and a model?
~Nothing, if the pregnant woman’s husband knows what’s good for him.
I normally wear a size 34-C bra. Now that I’m pregnant, should I continue to wear a bra?
~Not if you don’t mind switching in the future to a size 34-Long.
Ever since I’ve been pregnant, I haven’t been able to go to bed at night without onion rings. Is this a normal craving?
~Depends on what you’re doing with them.
Do I have to have a baby shower?
~Not if you change the baby’s diaper very quickly.
Under what circumstances can sex at the end of pregnancy bring on labor?
~When the sex is between your husband and another woman.
What position should the baby be in during the ninth month of pregnancy?
~Head down, pressing firmly on your bladder.
My childbirth instructor says it’s not pain I’ll feel during labor, but pressure. Is she right?
~Yes, in the same way that a tornado might be called an air current.
When is the best time to get an epidural?
~Right after you find out your pregnant.
~Yes, but you’ll have an even better chance if he doesn’t wear anything at all.
Are birth control pills deductible?
~Only if they don’t work.
What is a chastity belt?
~A labor-saving device.
Should I have a baby after 35?
~No, 35 children are enough.
Can a mother get pregnant while nursing?
~Yes, but it’s much easier if she removes the baby from her breast and puts him to sleep first.
My husband and I are very attractive. I’m sure our baby will be beautiful enough for commercials. Whom should I contact about this?
~Your therapist.
I’m two months pregnant now. When will my baby move?
~With any luck, right after he finishes high school.
How will I know if my vomiting is morning sickness or the flu?
~If it’s the flu, you’ll get better.
Since I became pregnant, my breasts, rear-end, and even my feet have grown. Is there anything that gets smaller during pregnancy?
~Yes, your bladder.
What is the most common pregnancy craving?
~For men to be the ones who get pregnant.
What is the most reliable method to determine a baby’s sex?
~Childbirth.
The more pregnant I get, the more often strangers smile at me. Why?
~‘Cause you’re fatter than they are.
My wife is five months pregnant and so moody that sometimes she’s borderline irrational.
~So what’s your question?
What’s the difference between a nine-month pregnant woman and a model?
~Nothing, if the pregnant woman’s husband knows what’s good for him.
I normally wear a size 34-C bra. Now that I’m pregnant, should I continue to wear a bra?
~Not if you don’t mind switching in the future to a size 34-Long.
Ever since I’ve been pregnant, I haven’t been able to go to bed at night without onion rings. Is this a normal craving?
~Depends on what you’re doing with them.
Do I have to have a baby shower?
~Not if you change the baby’s diaper very quickly.
Under what circumstances can sex at the end of pregnancy bring on labor?
~When the sex is between your husband and another woman.
What position should the baby be in during the ninth month of pregnancy?
~Head down, pressing firmly on your bladder.
My childbirth instructor says it’s not pain I’ll feel during labor, but pressure. Is she right?
~Yes, in the same way that a tornado might be called an air current.
When is the best time to get an epidural?
~Right after you find out your pregnant.
Todays farmer joke
A farmer went to a local bar and ordered a glass of champagne.
The woman sitting next to him said, 'How about that? I just ordered champagne, too!'
'What a coincidence' the farmer said 'This is a special day for me. I am celebrating.'
’This is a special day for me too, I am also celebrating,' said the woman.
'What a coincidence!' said the farmer.
As they clinked glasses he added: 'What are you celebrating?'
'My husband and I have been trying to have a child and today, my gynaecologist told me that I am pregnant!'
'What a coincidence!' said the man. 'I'm a chicken farmer and all last year my hens were infertile, but today they are all laying eggs again.'
'That's great!' said the woman, 'How did your chickens become fertile?'
'I used a different cock,' he replied.
The woman smiled, clinked his glass and said 'What a coincidence.'
Todays Hooters joke
After a long day on the golf course, I stopped in at ‘Hooter's’ to see some friends and have some hot wings and drinks.After being there for a while, one of my friends asked me which waitress I would like to be stuck in an elevator with.I told them "The one who knows how to fix elevators."I'm old, tired, and pee a lot.
