- A 140-Character Flaw (National Review) "Every administration gets knocked off its game early on by something. What makes the furor over President Trump’s wiretapping claims so remarkable is how unnecessary it is. The flap didn’t arise from events outside of the administration’s control, nor was it a clever trap sprung by its adversaries. The president went out of his way to initiate it. He picked up his phone and tweeted allegations that he had no idea were true or not, either to distract from what he thought was a bad news cycle, or to vent, or both. Only President Trump can make it stop. He has shown, despite his unwillingness ever to admit error, an ability over the last year to simply drop and move on from counterproductive controversies. There are plenty of people who want to distract and damage his administration. The president of the United States shouldn’t be one of them."
- All the President’s Lies (NYT) "...the current president of the United States lies. He lies in ways that no American politician ever has before. He has lied about — among many other things — Obama’s birthplace, John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Sept. 11, the Iraq War, ISIS, NATO, military veterans, Mexican immigrants, Muslim immigrants, anti-Semitic attacks, the unemployment rate, the murder rate, the Electoral College, voter fraud and his groping of women. He tells so many untruths that it’s time to leave behind the textual parsing over which are unwitting and which are deliberate — as well as the condescending notion that most of Trump’s supporters enjoy his lies. Trump sets out to deceive people. As he has put it, 'I play to people’s fantasies.'"
- Comey’s Haunting News on Trump and Russia (NYT) "...Mr. Comey’s public confirmation ought to mark a turning point in how inquiries into Russia’s role in the election should be handled. The top priority now must be to ensure that the F.B.I.’s investigation, which could result in criminal prosecutions, is shielded from meddling by the Trump administration, which has shown a proclivity to lie, mislead and obfuscate with startling audacity. Mitigating this credibility crisis requires appointing an independent prosecutor, who would not take orders from the administration. If Mr. Trump’s assertion that there was no collusion between his campaign officials and the Russian government is true, he should want this matter to be fully investigated as quickly and as transparently as possible. The goal must be to make American political parties and democratic institutions less vulnerable to efforts to distort the electoral process as the Russians appear to have carried out. Failing to learn and heed the lessons of last year’s campaign would be an abdication of a shared responsibility to safeguard American democracy."
- Trump’s Weary Defenders Face Fresh Worries (NYT) "Mr. Trump’s allies have begun to wonder if his need for self-expression, often on social media, will exceed his instinct for self-preservation, with disastrous results both for the president and for a party whose fate is now tightly tied to his. Over the past several weeks, Republicans in Congress and members of their staffs have privately complained that Mr. Trump’s Twitter comment on March 4 — the one where he called Barack Obama 'sick' and suggested that the former president had ordered a 'tapp' on his phone — had done more to undermine anything he’s done as president because it called into question his seriousness about governing."
- James Comey’s Remarkable Five Hours on Capitol Hill (New Yorker) "Nunes asked Comey if he had evidence that anyone currently working in the Trump Administration had undisclosed ties to Russia. Comey refused to answer. Nunes tried again: What about Kellyanne Conway? 'Same answer,' Comey said. Nunes didn’t pretend to be surprised. 'There is a big gray cloud you have put over the people who lead this country,' he went on. 'The faster you can get to the bottom of this, it’s going to be better for all Americans.'"
- The F.B.I. Is Scrutinizing Trump’s Russia Ties. How Will That Work? (NYT) "What is a counterintelligence investigation? Counterintelligence is about finding out how America’s foreign adversaries are conducting espionage, and preventing it. If such cases are not focused on prosecutions, is anyone ever charged with spying? Not often, but there are exceptions. But Mr. Comey added that as part of that investigation, agents were asking whether Mr. Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia. That opens up the possibility of criminal charges. How long will this investigation take? Counterintelligence cases are among the most difficult, time-consuming inquiries the F.B.I. conducts. The F.B.I. wouldn’t be investigating Mr. Trump’s aides without evidence of wrongdoing, right? Yes and no. The F.B.I. has the authority to investigate crimes, but the mere fact that agents are looking at Mr. Trump’s aides does not mean they can prove wrongdoing. What kind of measures will the F.B.I. take during its investigation? It is hard to say because nearly everything that counterintelligence agents do is classified. Mr. Trump said he was wiretapped. How does that fit into this? It doesn’t, really."
- How the White House Got James Comey Wrong (New Yorker) But the larger takeaway from the White House’s spin is that the top people around Trump may have no idea how much exposure the President has on the issue of Russian collusion. Two hours after the White House official confidently predicted Comey would vindicate the Administration, Comey did the opposite..."
BUSINESS:
- Uber’s Messy Breakup Complicates Search for COO (Bloomberg) "In meetings with local staff, Jones professed that one of his biggest apprehensions was working with Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick, according to a person familiar with the gatherings."
HEALTH(CARE):
- Why Cystic Fibrosis Patients in Canada Outlive Those in the U.S. (NYT) "Between 2009 and 2013, the median life span was 40.6 years in the United States versus 50.9 in Canada. Further analysis revealed a much more significant association: insurance. Compared with patients in the United States who had private insurance coverage, patients in Canada had a similar risk of early death. Compared with patients who had public insurance like Medicaid, Canadians with cystic fibrosis had a 44 percent lower risk of early death. And compared with Americans who were uninsured, Canadians had a 77 percent lower risk of early death. No study is perfect, and it’s possible that insurance coverage might just be a marker for socioeconomic status in this analysis. Study after study has shown us that poverty is associated with worse outcomes for many diseases, cystic fibrosis included. Yet the poorest in the United States are more likely to have Medicaid than to be uninsured, and in this study they had better outcomes than those with no insurance at all."
NEWS:
- The American presidency is shrinking before the world’s eyes (WaPo) "Every new administration has a shakeout period. But this assumes an ability to learn from mistakes. And this would require admitting mistakes. The spectacle of an American president blaming a Fox News commentator for a major diplomatic incident was another milestone in the miniaturization of the presidency. An interested foreigner (friend or foe) must be a student of Trump’s temperament, which is just as bad as advertised. He is inexperienced, uninformed, easily provoked and supremely confident in his own judgment. The sum total? Foreigners see a Darwinian, nationalist framework for American foreign policy; a diminished commitment to global engagement; a brewing scandal that could distract and cripple the administration; and a president who often conducts his affairs with peevish ignorance."
- Bonds That Combat the Isolation of Military Life (NYT) "'When you’re in the military, you move so often and you’re remote from family and friends, and what you’re thinking about is so different from your nonmilitary neighbors,' said Kathy Roth-Douquet, Blue Star Families’ co-founder and chief executive, who is married to a retired Marine, and whose family moved nine times in 15 years. 'Because of these things, you don’t have the kinds of bonds with a diverse set of people that are natural to how we solve our problems.'"
- Rex Tillerson Is Still Acting Like a C.E.O. (New Yorker) "In the sort of diplomacy that Tillerson must conduct now, secret talks certainly have their place; for example, in forging breakthroughs like President Nixon’s opening to China or President Obama’s to Cuba. More routinely, however, diplomatic success requires using interviews, press conferences, social media, and speeches to address and shape public and legislative opinion simultaneously in multiple countries, including the United States."
TECHNOLOGY:
- Android O, Google’s Next OS, Is Coming to Save Your Phone’s Battery (Wired) "...Android O will keep apps from sucking down more than their fair share of juice. To help curb notification overload, Android O features something Google calls 'notification channels' that let developers segment different kinds of notifications—political news vs. sports news, maybe, or text message alerts from your family vs. everyone else—and control them individually. Most of the other new stuff is aimed at making Android better across devices and form factors."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- Why Are Basketball Games So Squeaky? Consider the Spiny Lobster (NYT) "Why do basketball shoes squeak? It is when two relatively smooth or flat surfaces become repeatedly stuck and unstuck by the forces of friction, creating a vibration that becomes a noise. At the core of a basketball shoe’s squeak is the stick-slip phenomenon. Noting that sneakers can be designed not to squeak, Leo Chang, Nike’s senior design director, said: 'The squeak is reassurance to a lot of players. They listen for it.'"
SONG OF THE DAY:
- All the President’s Lies (NYT) "...the current president of the United States lies. He lies in ways that no American politician ever has before. He has lied about — among many other things — Obama’s birthplace, John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Sept. 11, the Iraq War, ISIS, NATO, military veterans, Mexican immigrants, Muslim immigrants, anti-Semitic attacks, the unemployment rate, the murder rate, the Electoral College, voter fraud and his groping of women. He tells so many untruths that it’s time to leave behind the textual parsing over which are unwitting and which are deliberate — as well as the condescending notion that most of Trump’s supporters enjoy his lies. Trump sets out to deceive people. As he has put it, 'I play to people’s fantasies.'"
- Comey’s Haunting News on Trump and Russia (NYT) "...Mr. Comey’s public confirmation ought to mark a turning point in how inquiries into Russia’s role in the election should be handled. The top priority now must be to ensure that the F.B.I.’s investigation, which could result in criminal prosecutions, is shielded from meddling by the Trump administration, which has shown a proclivity to lie, mislead and obfuscate with startling audacity. Mitigating this credibility crisis requires appointing an independent prosecutor, who would not take orders from the administration. If Mr. Trump’s assertion that there was no collusion between his campaign officials and the Russian government is true, he should want this matter to be fully investigated as quickly and as transparently as possible. The goal must be to make American political parties and democratic institutions less vulnerable to efforts to distort the electoral process as the Russians appear to have carried out. Failing to learn and heed the lessons of last year’s campaign would be an abdication of a shared responsibility to safeguard American democracy."
- Trump’s Weary Defenders Face Fresh Worries (NYT) "Mr. Trump’s allies have begun to wonder if his need for self-expression, often on social media, will exceed his instinct for self-preservation, with disastrous results both for the president and for a party whose fate is now tightly tied to his. Over the past several weeks, Republicans in Congress and members of their staffs have privately complained that Mr. Trump’s Twitter comment on March 4 — the one where he called Barack Obama 'sick' and suggested that the former president had ordered a 'tapp' on his phone — had done more to undermine anything he’s done as president because it called into question his seriousness about governing."
- James Comey’s Remarkable Five Hours on Capitol Hill (New Yorker) "Nunes asked Comey if he had evidence that anyone currently working in the Trump Administration had undisclosed ties to Russia. Comey refused to answer. Nunes tried again: What about Kellyanne Conway? 'Same answer,' Comey said. Nunes didn’t pretend to be surprised. 'There is a big gray cloud you have put over the people who lead this country,' he went on. 'The faster you can get to the bottom of this, it’s going to be better for all Americans.'"
- The F.B.I. Is Scrutinizing Trump’s Russia Ties. How Will That Work? (NYT) "What is a counterintelligence investigation? Counterintelligence is about finding out how America’s foreign adversaries are conducting espionage, and preventing it. If such cases are not focused on prosecutions, is anyone ever charged with spying? Not often, but there are exceptions. But Mr. Comey added that as part of that investigation, agents were asking whether Mr. Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia. That opens up the possibility of criminal charges. How long will this investigation take? Counterintelligence cases are among the most difficult, time-consuming inquiries the F.B.I. conducts. The F.B.I. wouldn’t be investigating Mr. Trump’s aides without evidence of wrongdoing, right? Yes and no. The F.B.I. has the authority to investigate crimes, but the mere fact that agents are looking at Mr. Trump’s aides does not mean they can prove wrongdoing. What kind of measures will the F.B.I. take during its investigation? It is hard to say because nearly everything that counterintelligence agents do is classified. Mr. Trump said he was wiretapped. How does that fit into this? It doesn’t, really."
- How the White House Got James Comey Wrong (New Yorker) But the larger takeaway from the White House’s spin is that the top people around Trump may have no idea how much exposure the President has on the issue of Russian collusion. Two hours after the White House official confidently predicted Comey would vindicate the Administration, Comey did the opposite..."
BUSINESS:
- Uber’s Messy Breakup Complicates Search for COO (Bloomberg) "In meetings with local staff, Jones professed that one of his biggest apprehensions was working with Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick, according to a person familiar with the gatherings."
HEALTH(CARE):
- Why Cystic Fibrosis Patients in Canada Outlive Those in the U.S. (NYT) "Between 2009 and 2013, the median life span was 40.6 years in the United States versus 50.9 in Canada. Further analysis revealed a much more significant association: insurance. Compared with patients in the United States who had private insurance coverage, patients in Canada had a similar risk of early death. Compared with patients who had public insurance like Medicaid, Canadians with cystic fibrosis had a 44 percent lower risk of early death. And compared with Americans who were uninsured, Canadians had a 77 percent lower risk of early death. No study is perfect, and it’s possible that insurance coverage might just be a marker for socioeconomic status in this analysis. Study after study has shown us that poverty is associated with worse outcomes for many diseases, cystic fibrosis included. Yet the poorest in the United States are more likely to have Medicaid than to be uninsured, and in this study they had better outcomes than those with no insurance at all."
NEWS:
- The American presidency is shrinking before the world’s eyes (WaPo) "Every new administration has a shakeout period. But this assumes an ability to learn from mistakes. And this would require admitting mistakes. The spectacle of an American president blaming a Fox News commentator for a major diplomatic incident was another milestone in the miniaturization of the presidency. An interested foreigner (friend or foe) must be a student of Trump’s temperament, which is just as bad as advertised. He is inexperienced, uninformed, easily provoked and supremely confident in his own judgment. The sum total? Foreigners see a Darwinian, nationalist framework for American foreign policy; a diminished commitment to global engagement; a brewing scandal that could distract and cripple the administration; and a president who often conducts his affairs with peevish ignorance."
- Bonds That Combat the Isolation of Military Life (NYT) "'When you’re in the military, you move so often and you’re remote from family and friends, and what you’re thinking about is so different from your nonmilitary neighbors,' said Kathy Roth-Douquet, Blue Star Families’ co-founder and chief executive, who is married to a retired Marine, and whose family moved nine times in 15 years. 'Because of these things, you don’t have the kinds of bonds with a diverse set of people that are natural to how we solve our problems.'"
- Rex Tillerson Is Still Acting Like a C.E.O. (New Yorker) "In the sort of diplomacy that Tillerson must conduct now, secret talks certainly have their place; for example, in forging breakthroughs like President Nixon’s opening to China or President Obama’s to Cuba. More routinely, however, diplomatic success requires using interviews, press conferences, social media, and speeches to address and shape public and legislative opinion simultaneously in multiple countries, including the United States."
TECHNOLOGY:
- Android O, Google’s Next OS, Is Coming to Save Your Phone’s Battery (Wired) "...Android O will keep apps from sucking down more than their fair share of juice. To help curb notification overload, Android O features something Google calls 'notification channels' that let developers segment different kinds of notifications—political news vs. sports news, maybe, or text message alerts from your family vs. everyone else—and control them individually. Most of the other new stuff is aimed at making Android better across devices and form factors."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- Why Are Basketball Games So Squeaky? Consider the Spiny Lobster (NYT) "Why do basketball shoes squeak? It is when two relatively smooth or flat surfaces become repeatedly stuck and unstuck by the forces of friction, creating a vibration that becomes a noise. At the core of a basketball shoe’s squeak is the stick-slip phenomenon. Noting that sneakers can be designed not to squeak, Leo Chang, Nike’s senior design director, said: 'The squeak is reassurance to a lot of players. They listen for it.'"
SONG OF THE DAY:
- Southern Cross (Crosby, Still & Nash)
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