- As North Korea’s arsenal grows, experts see heightened risk of ‘miscalculation’ (WaPo) "...U.S. officials are no longer seeing North Korea’s weapons tests as amateurish, attention-grabbing provocations. Instead, they are viewed as evidence of a rapidly growing threat — and one that increasingly defies solution."
- Anatomy of a North Korean Assassination (Daily Beast) "What grainy CCTV video shows from February 13 is a portly man subsequently identified as Kim Jong Nam... Suddenly, a woman rushes up behind him and forcefully throws both arms around his neck as if to restrain him. Then a second woman comes up to him from the front and puts something...in his face. It all happens very quickly, and there appears to be little commotion around the heavy-set 'tourist' and the women, who briskly walk away after attacking him. Almost immediately...Jong Nam rushed toward employees at a nearby help desk, gesturing at his face, telling them he could not breathe well. First-aid workers soon placed him on a stretcher...and as Jong Nam began to choke, the emergency crew left with the stricken victim, heading toward a nearby hospital. But he died in agony on the way, less than 20 minutes after he first ingested the poison."
BUSINESS/ECONOMY:
- A smart corporate tax reform plan worth Trump’s attention (WaPo) "...we hope Mr. Cohn is at least considering the innovative corporate-tax-reform plan by Alan Viard of the American Enterprise Institute and Eric Toder of the Urban Institute, which would substantially cut the corporate tax rate, offset by higher taxes on dividends and capital gains for individuals. Specifically, the top corporate rate would fall from 35 percent to 15 percent, while shareholders in public companies would pay the same rate on dividends and capital gains as they pay on their ordinary income, as opposed to the current system’s preferential rate. Crucially, individuals would be taxed not just when they sold stocks, but on any annual increase in the market value of their holdings. Meanwhile, nonprofits and retirement plans would pay a new 15 percent tax on interest earned, to offset the bump in stock value they’d get due to the lower 15 percent corporate rate."
- Trump budget opens new fight among Republicans (Reuters) "When President Donald Trump unveils his budget for the 2018 fiscal year on Thursday, Rokita will be among many conservative Republicans cheering proposed cuts to domestic programs that would pay for a military buildup. More moderate Republicans are less enthusiastic and worry Trump's budget could force lawmakers to choose between opposing the president or backing reductions in popular programs such as aid for disabled children and hot meals for the elderly."
LIFE:
- Why Schools are Replacing Detention with Meditation (City Lab) "Researchers at nearby Stanford University found that mindfulness and yoga helped alleviate the observed symptoms of PTSD among Cesar Chavez students, who were also encouraged to translate the practices to their lives at home."
- You May Want to Marry My Husband (NYT)
NEWS:
- Anatomy of a North Korean Assassination (Daily Beast) "What grainy CCTV video shows from February 13 is a portly man subsequently identified as Kim Jong Nam... Suddenly, a woman rushes up behind him and forcefully throws both arms around his neck as if to restrain him. Then a second woman comes up to him from the front and puts something...in his face. It all happens very quickly, and there appears to be little commotion around the heavy-set 'tourist' and the women, who briskly walk away after attacking him. Almost immediately...Jong Nam rushed toward employees at a nearby help desk, gesturing at his face, telling them he could not breathe well. First-aid workers soon placed him on a stretcher...and as Jong Nam began to choke, the emergency crew left with the stricken victim, heading toward a nearby hospital. But he died in agony on the way, less than 20 minutes after he first ingested the poison."
BUSINESS/ECONOMY:
- A smart corporate tax reform plan worth Trump’s attention (WaPo) "...we hope Mr. Cohn is at least considering the innovative corporate-tax-reform plan by Alan Viard of the American Enterprise Institute and Eric Toder of the Urban Institute, which would substantially cut the corporate tax rate, offset by higher taxes on dividends and capital gains for individuals. Specifically, the top corporate rate would fall from 35 percent to 15 percent, while shareholders in public companies would pay the same rate on dividends and capital gains as they pay on their ordinary income, as opposed to the current system’s preferential rate. Crucially, individuals would be taxed not just when they sold stocks, but on any annual increase in the market value of their holdings. Meanwhile, nonprofits and retirement plans would pay a new 15 percent tax on interest earned, to offset the bump in stock value they’d get due to the lower 15 percent corporate rate."
- Trump budget opens new fight among Republicans (Reuters) "When President Donald Trump unveils his budget for the 2018 fiscal year on Thursday, Rokita will be among many conservative Republicans cheering proposed cuts to domestic programs that would pay for a military buildup. More moderate Republicans are less enthusiastic and worry Trump's budget could force lawmakers to choose between opposing the president or backing reductions in popular programs such as aid for disabled children and hot meals for the elderly."
LIFE:
- Why Schools are Replacing Detention with Meditation (City Lab) "Researchers at nearby Stanford University found that mindfulness and yoga helped alleviate the observed symptoms of PTSD among Cesar Chavez students, who were also encouraged to translate the practices to their lives at home."
- You May Want to Marry My Husband (NYT)
NEWS:
- The Elephant in the Room (Psychology Today) "Gartner contends that mental health professionals have a duty to warn the public of dangerous people in their midst. He states, 'We know now that if we can observe someone’s behavior and words…we can diagnose them…the idea that the psychiatric interview is the gold standard for assessment is frankly not true; it's behaviors and informants, and obviously we have thousands of hours of (Trump’s) behavior and informants…' Both Gartner and Dodes agreed that as far as the depth of mental illness, this is the 'worst case' scenario. 'He’s just sane enough to ‘pass’ but detached from reality,' said Gartner."
- WikiLeaks Has Joined the Trump Administration (Foreign Policy) "Is it just a coincidence that WikiLeaks dumped a massive database pertaining to CIA hacking and wiretapping just three days after Trump made wiretapping a major political issue? Perhaps so. But there is cause for suspicion. In the first place, WikiLeaks has often timed its leaks for maximum political impact. In the second place, WikiLeaks, which has often leaked American but never Russian secrets, has been identified by the U.S. intelligence community as a front for Russian intelligence. Last week it was Trump on the defensive. Now it’s his nemeses in the U.S. intelligence community who are answering embarrassing questions about how this leak could have occurred and the contents of the leaked information."
- The Marines’ nude photo scandal is a sorely needed wake-up call (WaPo)
SPORTS:
- His NFL-to-prison cautionary tale leaves students transfixed. Here is Ryan Leaf's story, in his own words (LA Times) "So I’m 21, have $31 million, and I wasn’t responsible to anyone anymore for money or really anything. If anybody said 'no' to me, I would discard them from my life. That included my parents at one point. I just had zero perspective on what was important."
- WikiLeaks Has Joined the Trump Administration (Foreign Policy) "Is it just a coincidence that WikiLeaks dumped a massive database pertaining to CIA hacking and wiretapping just three days after Trump made wiretapping a major political issue? Perhaps so. But there is cause for suspicion. In the first place, WikiLeaks has often timed its leaks for maximum political impact. In the second place, WikiLeaks, which has often leaked American but never Russian secrets, has been identified by the U.S. intelligence community as a front for Russian intelligence. Last week it was Trump on the defensive. Now it’s his nemeses in the U.S. intelligence community who are answering embarrassing questions about how this leak could have occurred and the contents of the leaked information."
- The Marines’ nude photo scandal is a sorely needed wake-up call (WaPo)
SPORTS:
- His NFL-to-prison cautionary tale leaves students transfixed. Here is Ryan Leaf's story, in his own words (LA Times) "So I’m 21, have $31 million, and I wasn’t responsible to anyone anymore for money or really anything. If anybody said 'no' to me, I would discard them from my life. That included my parents at one point. I just had zero perspective on what was important."
TECHNOLOGY:
- I invented the web. Here are three things we need to change to save it (Guardian) "1) We’ve lost control of our personal data. ...even in countries where we believe governments have citizens’ best interests at heart, watching everyone all the time is simply going too far. It creates a chilling effect on free speech and stops the web from being used as a space to explore important topics, such as sensitive health issues, sexuality or religion. 2) It’s too easy for misinformation to spread on the web. Today, most people find news and information on the web through just a handful of social media sites and search engines. ...they choose what to show us based on algorithms that learn from our personal data that they are constantly harvesting. The net result is that these sites show us content they think we’ll click on... 3) Political advertising online needs transparency and understanding. Targeted advertising allows a campaign to say completely different, possibly conflicting things to different groups. Is that democratic?
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- Pork Chops and Apple Sauce: Appraising the Brady Bunch’s Art Collection (Wear the Mutants) "Apart from a few exceptions, Brady wall art is practically invisible, begging to be upstaged by Mike’s designs, which include both the house and the family that lives there."
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- I invented the web. Here are three things we need to change to save it (Guardian) "1) We’ve lost control of our personal data. ...even in countries where we believe governments have citizens’ best interests at heart, watching everyone all the time is simply going too far. It creates a chilling effect on free speech and stops the web from being used as a space to explore important topics, such as sensitive health issues, sexuality or religion. 2) It’s too easy for misinformation to spread on the web. Today, most people find news and information on the web through just a handful of social media sites and search engines. ...they choose what to show us based on algorithms that learn from our personal data that they are constantly harvesting. The net result is that these sites show us content they think we’ll click on... 3) Political advertising online needs transparency and understanding. Targeted advertising allows a campaign to say completely different, possibly conflicting things to different groups. Is that democratic?
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- Pork Chops and Apple Sauce: Appraising the Brady Bunch’s Art Collection (Wear the Mutants) "Apart from a few exceptions, Brady wall art is practically invisible, begging to be upstaged by Mike’s designs, which include both the house and the family that lives there."
Sign up for email distribution of the Day's Most Compelling News below or by visiting Top of the News
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