You should read this for 2/17/2017:
Art and Film
Lego’s New Hogwarts Great Hall Set Is Going to Magically Drain My Wallet
Books, Writing, and Language
When Books Read You, a Defense of Bibliomancy
Amazonian Language Once Spoken By Thousands – Now, Only One
Food and Drink
Nick Evans of Simply Recipes: Broccoli Cheddar Soup
History and Archaeology
Limiting Your Child’s Fire Time: A Guide for Concerned Paleolithic Parents
Science and Technology
Spiderlike Creature With a Scorpion’s
Tail Is Found Trapped in Amber Four specimens found in amber. Chimerarachne yingi is tiny, about 2.5 millimeters long, with a whip-like tail almost twice its body size.
Review: The NIXPlay 10 inch Digital Frame A great 10 inch digital frame that can handle images and video, and includes a digital clock and calendar.
Society
PRIVACY AND SECURITY
Report: Equifax Lost Even More Information on Consumers Than It Told the Public “The new documents immediately bring Equifax’s credibility into even further question following numerous other damaging revelations, including a malware-infested website, executives who dumped stock after the company discovered the hack, and the news the company was warned months before about security vulnerabilities and did nothing.”
Rob Porter Is a National Security Scandal, Too A morally compromised White House staffer may have had access to America’s top secrets. Chief of Staff John Kelly has some explaining to do.
Women’s Work
An LGBTQ leader on why playing devil’s advocate is BS
💩🔥💰 Trumpery 💩🔥💰
There’s a Pretty Good Chance President Trump Is Being Blackmailed
All in all, the odds are disconcertingly high that Russia, or somebody, has blackmail leverage over the president of the United States.
Trump appointed official charged with overseeing the safety of the nation’s railroads has resigned “effective immediately,” after POLITICO raised questions about whether he was simultaneously working as a public relations consultant in Mississippi. “Heath Hall became the Federal Railroad Administration’s acting chief after being appointed deputy administrator in June. But he subsequently appeared at least twice in local media reports last summer as a sheriff’s department spokesman in Madison County, Miss., where he has long run a public relations and political consulting firm.
The firm also continued to receive payments from the county for its services from July through December, despite Hall’s pledge in a federal ethics form that the business would be “dormant” while he worked at DOT.”
Donald Trump Talks Family, Women in Unearthed Transcript: “When I Come Home and Dinner’s Not Ready, I Go Through the Roof”
Former Trump Campaign Adviser Was More Than A Coffee Boy, Fiancee Says This is a bizarre rabbit-hole which looks like it will end in Italy.
Mangiante is from Italy, and she first met Papadopoulos after the presidential campaign, when Papadopoulos sent her a message on LinkedIn. Mangiante and Papadopoulos had both briefly worked at the same office in London — the London Centre for International Law Practice — though at different times. That office was run by the “professor” described in court papers filed by the special counsel’s office, a man later identified as the Maltese academic Joseph Mifsud.
Trump Administration Plans To Defang Consumer Protection Watchdog
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created after the financial crisis to protect Americans from being ripped off by financial firms.
Now, President Trump’s interim appointee to run the bureau Mick Mulvaney is making radical changes to deter the agency from aggressively pursuing its mission.
Which is scarier — that Trump doesn’t read his daily intel briefing, or that Jared Kushner does?
It is hard to tell what should be more worrisome: the fact that the commander in chief doesn’t bother to read his daily compilation of the nation’s most urgent intelligence, or the fact that his son-in-law — who has been unable to obtain a security clearance — does.
In other words, the White House has been thoroughly subverted by Russia, and the door is wide open. And don’t forget this:
It is hard to miss the irony of it all: Wasn’t the main driver of the scandal surrounding Hillary Clinton’s emails the fact that it suggested she was careless in handling the nation’s secrets?
White House reels as FBI director contradicts official claims about alleged abuser The White House’s claims of not knowing about domestic violence allegations against Rob Porter were challenged by FBI Director Christopher Wray’s timeline.
The latest bout of turbulence is exacerbated by the administration’s reputation, earned over 13 chaotic months, for flouting institutional norms and misrepresenting facts to the public — a culture set by the president himself.
In other words, where 💩🔥💰 is concerned, business as usual is liar, liar, pants on fire.
Money, Guns, Russia, NRA and 💩🔥💰
