DARKNESS FALLS ACROSS THE LAND...

TOP OF THE NEWS:

- What’s the Origin of Jack-O’-Lanterns? (Mental Floss) "The term 'jack-o'-lantern' was first applied to people, not pumpkins. As far back as 1663, the term meant a man with a lantern, or a night watchman. Just a decade or so later, it began to be used to refer to the mysterious lights sometimes seen at night over bogs, swamps, and marshes. When Stingy Jack eventually died, God would not allow him into heaven, and the devil, keeping his word, rejected Jack’s soul at the gates of hell. Instead, the devil gave him a single burning coal to light his way and sent him off into the night to 'find his own hell.' Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has supposedly been roaming the earth with it ever since."

- History of the Jack O’ Lantern (History.com) "The practice of decorating 'jack-o’-lanterns'—the name comes from an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack—originated in Ireland, where large turnips and potatoes served as an early canvas. Irish immigrants brought the tradition to America, home of the pumpkin, and it became an integral part of Halloween festivities."

- The Story Behind This Haunted Mansion Will Give You the Creeps (Ozy) "There are nine 'identifiable' spirits in the house, she says, and while they aren’t malevolent, they aren’t exactly benevolent either. Those who tour the house leave with more than a fright. They encounter a key part of St. Louis history, filled with immigrant dreams and unlikely riches, devastating losses and four suicides under the same roof."

- A lot of Americans believe in ghosts. But what do their ghost stories actually tell us? (WaPo) "Linda’s skeptical husband once devised his own test to determine whether there truly was an all-knowing spirit hanging around. 'He left a Powerball ticket out, with a pencil, but the ghost never filled it out for him.'"

BUSINESS:

- World's witnessing a new Gilded Age as billionaires’ wealth swells to $6tn (Guardian) "Billionaires’ fortunes increased by 17% on average last year due to the strong performance of their companies and investments, particularly in technology and commodities. The billionaires’ average return was double that achieved by the world’s stock markets and far more than the average interest rates of just 0.35% offered by UK instant-access high street bank accounts."

- There’s precedent for Amazon competing with so many companies. It doesn’t end well (Quartz) "...the company Jeff Bezos founded in 1994 competes head-to-head with at least 129 major corporations just in major markets. That number grows higher as it adds new business units such as fashion, food, and analytics. The company so far has escaped serious antitrust scrutiny by U.S. regulators... For business historians, Amazon is starting to look like the sprawling conglomerates of the past century. So far Bezos has deftly skirted antitrust laws by trumpeting Amazon’s ability to lower prices. Eventually, however, the company may reach a tipping point. Bezos has always moved his chess pieces well ahead of his competition. No doubt, the looming threat of antitrust scrutiny is already in Amazon’s game plan."

LIFE:

- Should Your Spouse Be Your Best Friend? (NYT) "Whatever the reason, referring to your spouse as your bestie, your bud, or your #BFF has become rampant. Calling the person you’re married to your best friend may be shorthand for saying that you actually like your spouse and that you have shared history, shared lives and shared dreams. But in the end, the expression doesn’t do justice to the full meaning of marriage or to the full meaning of friendship."

- The alt-right is creating its own dialect. Here’s the dictionary (Quartz) "No political movement has created an internet dialect with the speed and scale of the alt-right. Comprised of conspiracy theorists, anti-feminists, white nationalists, Donald Trump supporters, and other disgruntled right-wingers, the loosely connected group has organically formed a shared way of talking that allows different factions to identify with one another. This creates a verbal badge of allegiance, and the terms they have coined can be difficult for outsiders to follow."

- ‘Tiny House Hunters’ and the shrinking American dream (cubed) "I regularly yell at the television during Tiny House Hunters. I have a vivid imagination but it is not so vivid as to let me imagine living in a home with a compost toilet, nor is it so vivid as to make me comfortable with using the kitchen sink also as the bathroom sink. I don’t want to stand up and hit my head on the ceiling of my house. I don’t want the kitchen table to transform into a bed. I don’t want a climbing wall on the side of my tiny house. A cheerful television show about homebuying isn’t going to sully itself with a frank examination of economic realities or the fallout from predatory lending practices that made so many people believe they could afford to live beyond their means."

NEWS:

- What Experts Know About Men Who Rape (NYT) "The most pronounced similarities have little to do with the traditional demographic categories, like race, class and marital status. Rather, other kinds of patterns have emerged: these men begin early, studies find. They may associate with others who also commit sexual violence. They usually deny that they have raped women even as they admit to non-consensual sex. There is a strong chance that this is their primary criminal transgression. ...repeat offenders often tell similar stories of rejection in high school and of looking on as 'jocks and the football players got all the attractive women.'"

- Historians respond to John F. Kelly’s Civil War remarks: ‘Strange,’ ‘sad,’ ‘wrong’ (WaPo) "'What’s so strange about this statement is how closely it tracks or resembles the view of the Civil War that the South had finally got the nation to embrace by the early 20th century,' she said. 'It’s the Jim Crow version of the causes of the Civil War. I mean, it tracks all of the major talking points of this pro-Confederate view of the Civil War.'"

READ THIS:

- Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell) - "...consists of six nested stories that take the reader from the remote South Pacific in the nineteenth century to a distant, post-apocalyptic future." Don't bother with the movie.

SPORTS:

- In debate over national anthem, black wealth becomes a target (WaPo) "When A. Scott Bolden appeared on Fox News to defend National Football League players who protest racism by kneeling during the national anthem, he instead found himself under attack. 'You’re wearing thousand-dollar cuff links; don’t give me the victim card!' host Tucker Carlson told Bolden, who is black and a partner in an international law firm. 'Those cuff links cost more than my first car!' Joe Walsh, a former GOP congressman and a syndicated radio talk show host who supports Trump, blasted legendary musician Stevie Wonder for kneeling during the anthem at a September concert. 'Another ungrateful black multi millionaire,' he tweeted."

- Why ESPN Could Abandon NFL Football (The Hollywood Reporter) "In a span of less than five years, industry giant ESPN has seen its narrative transformed from that of a mighty colossus into the hard-luck tale of a ragtag warrior. ...With so much of ESPN's universe asunder, it's not outlandish now to entertain a previously unthinkable prospect: Might ESPN elect to go without rights to NFL games after the expiration of its eight-year deal for Monday Night Football in 2021?!"

BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:

- Google challenged the world to agree on its burger emoji’s cheese placement. The world failed (WaPo) "I think we need to have a discussion about how Google's burger emoji is placing the cheese underneath the burger, while Apple puts it on top..."

TODAY'S SONG:

- Thriller (Michael Jackson)

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MUELLER UNLEASHED?

TOP OF THE NEWS:

- Three former Trump campaign officials charged by special counsel (WaPo) "Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his former business partner Rick Gates will turn themselves in on charges stemming from Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 election... The precise charges the men face were not immediately clear."

and

- Former Trump Foreign Policy Adviser Pleads Guilty to Lying to FBI in Russia Probe (WSJ - Paywall) "George Papadopoulos admitted he misled the FBI in a January interview by telling agents that he had interacted with the professor only before joining the Trump campaign. That professor has 'substantial connections to Russian government officials' and was offering 'dirt' on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the documents say."

BUSINESS/INVESTING:

- Limit on 401(k) Savings? It’s About Paying for Tax Cuts (NYT) "...for all the alarming rhetoric about crushed nest eggs, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, the debate on Capitol Hill is not really about retirement; it’s about lawmakers’ feverish hunt for revenue to finance tax cuts. Second, no matter what happens, it won’t solve the fundamental problem — that many Americans will outlive their savings. 'It’s just an enormous budget gimmick,' said William Gale of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. It’s raiding future revenues to pay for current tax cuts. This is not a retirement security story.'"

NEWS:

- The Silence of the Democrats (NYT) "The Democratic Party, because it is an amalgam of interest groups in a way the Republican Party is not, has always had a tendency to elevate the candidate who can check the most boxes. The current internal dynamics exacerbate that. So when the party’s leaders tussle over this or that policy, they also need to take a step back, to see the direction the country — the West itself — is heading, and take a stand on it. This isn’t just a matter of high-minded idealism; it’s what separates great politicians from merely good ones. The future of the Western democratic project is the fundamental issue of our era. It’s under attack from Vladimir Putin and Steve Bannon and many people in between... Democrats can’t duck this question and expect the broader electorate to see them as prepared to lead."

- Russian-Backed Facebook Accounts Organized Events on All Sides of Polarizing Issues
(WSJ - Paywall) "At least 60 rallies, protests and marches were publicized or financed by eight Russia-backed Facebook accounts from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C... Much of the scrutiny of the Russian accounts so far has focused on their online activity, but the live events demonstrate how the alleged use of social media by Russian forces served as a launchpad for deeper infiltration into the American democratic process."

- FBI Is Probing Montana Company's Puerto Rico Power Contract (WSJ - Paywall) "FBI agents are looking into circumstances surrounding the disaster-recovery deal the public-power monopoly known as Prepa signed with Whitefish Energy Holdings, according to three people familiar with the matter. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló canceled the contract Sunday, saying it had become a distraction from efforts to rebuild the electrical grid crippled in September by Hurricane Maria."

- Public Shaming and Even Prison for Plastic Bag Use in Rwanda (NYT) "Here in Rwanda, it is illegal to import, produce, use or sell plastic bags and plastic packaging except within specific industries like hospitals and pharmaceuticals. The nation is one of more than 40 around the world that have banned, restricted or taxed the use of plastic bags... The nation’s zero tolerance policy toward plastic bags appears to be paying off: Streets in the capital, Kigali, and elsewhere across this hilly, densely populated country are virtually spotless. Rwanda is probably Africa’s cleanest nation and among the most pristine in the world."

- Some Black Americans Turn To Informal Economy In The Face Of Discrimination (NPR) "The employment picture overall and for black men has improved greatly since the Great Recession. But while the unemployment rate has plummeted for black men over 20, that number is still almost twice the rate of white men the same age. What's hidden in the numbers is that many black men have fallen out of the workforce, Morial says. There is a menu of problems that lead to this. Race affects networking, education, mobility and access to information about jobs. 'The hustle' — vital to the survival of black men for centuries — is becoming more important to the nation as a whole..."

THE STEELE FILE:

- Meet the reporters behind the Trump dossier (Axios) "In fall 2015, Fusion GPS, an investigative firm run by former senior reporters at the Wall Street Journal, began working on a new assignment — a deep dive into Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump... The Washington Free Beacon, funded by a Republican backer of Trump rival Sen. Marco Rubio, was the client. Quickly, Fusion's researchers understood one big thing about Trump's business empire: It seemed inordinately weighted to Russia..."

TECHNOLOGY:

- Mark Warner: Tech Millionaire Who Became Tech's Critic in Congress (NYT) "Lawmakers are increasingly taking a critical tone with Silicon Valley, with Mr. Warner among the harshest. He has already pushed a bill requiring the companies to disclose who paid for digital political ads, the biggest legislative effort so far to regulate the companies. Mr. Warner’s position is a sharp reversal. Before entering politics, he built a fortune that at one time was estimated at around $200 million as a technology and telecommunications investor and executive. Mr. Warner is emblematic of the shifting politics for technology."

- Forget Washington. Facebook's Problems Abroad Are Far More Disturbing. (NYT) "The information war in Myanmar illuminates a growing problem for Facebook. The company successfully connected the world to a constellation of real-time communication and broadcasting tools, then largely left it to deal with the consequences. Facebook is not directly responsible for violent conflict, of course... But the speed of Facebook’s growth in the developing world has made it an especially potent force among first-time internet users..."

- Best-Ever Algorithm Found for Huge Streams of Data (Wired) "For more than 30 years computer scientists have worked to build a better streaming algorithm. Last fall a team of researchers invented one that is just about perfect. This best-in-class streaming algorithm works by remembering just enough of what it’s seen to tell you what it’s seen most frequently. It suggests that compromises that seemed intrinsic to the analysis of streaming data are not actually necessary. It also points the way forward to a new era of strategic forgetting."

TRUMPTELL:

- Trump's Approval Falls to Lowest Level Since Taking Office: WSJ/NBC News Poll (WSJ - Paywall) "President Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen to its lowest level since he took office, with Americans disapproving of his performance as commander in chief and handling of some policy issues while largely favoring his work on the economy, a new Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll finds. Mr. Trump's job approval rating stood at 38%, a five-point drop from September, the poll showed. Overall, 58% said they disapproved of the job Mr. Trump has done. More than 8 in 10 Republicans continue to approve of Mr. Trump's job performance. Still, the survey found a dip in his support among political independents--and signs of erosion among some of the president's core voters."

BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:

- 5 secrets behind the League, the Harvard of dating apps (WaPo) "The app is now live in 30 cities across the country... In an interview this week, Bradford explained what people can do to get off the wait list, and other secrets behind the selective dating app. Hint: Don’t leave your 'About Me' blank."

- Bird-flipping cyclist enters annals of presidential hecklers (WaPo) "A thick column of black SUVs escorted Trump past two pedestrians, a Guardian reporter wrote in a pool report — 'one of whom gave a thumbs down sign. Then it overtook a female cyclist, wearing a white top and cycling helmet, who responded by giving the middle finger.'"

TODAY'S SONG:

- When I'm With You (Walking on Air) (The Rival)

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A RISING CHINA

TOP OF THE NEWS:

- While we obsess over Trump, China is making history (WaPo) "...halfway around the world, something truly historic just happened. China signaled that it now sees itself as the world’s other superpower, positioning itself as the alternative, if not rival, to the United States. Ever since China abandoned its Maoist isolation in the 1970s, its guiding philosophy was set by Deng Xiaoping. At that time, China needed to learn from the West, especially the United States, and integrate itself into the existing international order. According to Deng, it should be humble and modest in its foreign policy, 'hide its light under a bushel,' and 'bide its time.' But the time has now come, in Xi’s view, and he said the Middle Kingdom is ready to 'take center stage in the world.' In part, China’s new stance toward the world, and the way it has been received, are a result of the continued strength of the Chinese economy and the growing political confidence of the party under Xi. But these changes are also occurring against the backdrop of the total collapse of political and moral authority of the United States in the world. A recent Pew Research Center survey charts a 14-point drop in those who view the United State favorably across the more than 30 countries polled."

- Xi Jinping is more vulnerable than you think (WaPo) "...some China analysts are wondering whether Xi has overreached. Xi dominated the stage, literally and figuratively, at the party’s 19th Congress... His consolidation of power has nearly erased the collective leadership style of his recent predecessors... What could go wrong for a leader with such sweeping authority? Several leading analysts argue that Xi’s dominance is now so complete that it carries a kind of vulnerability. He owns China’s economic and foreign policies so totally that he’ll get blamed for any setbacks. Perhaps more important, his power play may worry older Chinese who remember the damage done by Mao’s cult of personality. Chinese strategists have traditionally argued that it’s wise to appear less powerful than you really are and take adversaries by surprise. This approach is no longer possible for a monarchical Xi."

BUSINESS:

- Tech’s Big Get Bigger in Earnings Blowout (WSJ - Pay Wall) "Three of the world’s biggest companies—Google parent Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft—reported booming quarterly growth Thursday, extending their reach in industries from advertising to retail to business software as they drive the economy’s technological transformation. Alphabet said profit rose 33% in the third quarter as users clicked on more ads on smartphones, atop search results and before YouTube videos. Amazon said revenue grew by 34% and its profit inched up, shrugging off concerns that heavy investments in new warehouses and hiring workers would push it to a loss. And Microsoft reported a 12% revenue increase, capitalizing on a shift to cloud computing. The tech industry’s banner day underscored the dominance of a handful of companies in the internet age—and foreshadowed more expansion, including into new businesses." and What Worries? Big Tech Companies Post Glowing Quarterly Profits (NYT) "If revenue growth is a good indication of giving the public what it wants, customers appear to love what the biggest technology companies are offering, whether it’s cheap online storage, clothing or a social network, and the party isn’t slowing down."

ENTERTAINMENT:

- Eminem’s Publisher Triumphs in New Zealand Copyright Battle (NYT) "A political party in New Zealand must pay Eminem’s music publisher $413,000 (600,000 New Zealand dollars) for infringing on the copyright of his hit song 'Lose Yourself,' a court in Wellington ruled."

POLITICS:

- Analysis | The Daily 202: The GOP civil war is bigger than Trump. A new study shows deep fissures on policy (WaPo) “And today's Republican Party is much more united on what it is against — namely, the Democrats and the mainstream media — than on what it's for. … Trump may not be great on their policies, and they may even think he's kind of a jerk, but he's with them on the most important thing: being not-the-other-side. It's arguably his most pronounced quality. And in an increasingly polarized country, it's what really matters.”

SCIENCE:

- Inside Botox’s Margin of Error (Bloomberg) "...the drug that can take years off a person’s appearance by erasing wrinkles also happens to be made with one of the most toxic substances known to science. It’s considered one of the world’s most deadly potential agents of bioterrorism... A baby-aspirin-size amount of powdered toxin is enough to make the global supply of Botox for a year. The drug works like this: A person’s muscles are controlled by motor nerves, which release a chemical that instructs the muscles to contract. Botox blocks the release of that chemical. Today it’s approved for nine different medical uses..."

- Your memories are idealized versions of a past that never existed (Quartz) "Think about your first memory. It’s probably fairly mundane and from when you were about four years old. Now, think about your favorite memory. If you’re like most people, one didn’t just pop into your head—you’re reviewing a range of memories...and you’re settling on one that has meaning for you right now. It’s this frailty of the human brain that makes nostalgia such a powerful but also problematic emotion."

TECHNOLOGY:

- Google X and the Science of Radical Creativity (Atlantic) "Moonshots don’t begin with brainstorming clever answers. ...the three-part formula for an ideal moonshot project: an important question, a radical solution, and a feasible path to get there. They start with the hard work of finding the right questions. Breakthrough technology results from two distinct activities that generally require different environments—invention and innovation. The United States’ worst deficit today is not of incremental innovation but of breakthrough invention."

- How Google’s Physical Keys Will Protect Your Password (NYT) "The idea of Google’s Advanced Protection Program is to provide people with a physical device that is much harder to steal than a text message. Anyone with a Google account can sign up for the security program on Google’s Advanced Protection webpage. To get started, you will have to buy two physical keys for about $20 each."

BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:

- The awful truth of donating a dead body to “science” (Quartz) "...loose regulation in the for-profit body-donation industry means that the final destination for many of these remains are far different than the legitimate research many donors imagine... Quartz visited the suburban Oregon office of a dentist-turned-amateur-cryonicist who kept a refrigerator full of human heads for self-taught experiments. Technically, it’s illegal to sell human tissue in the US. Companies that supply donated bodies or parts for research get the bodies for free, but can charge recipients for expenses such as transport, cremation, and staff time."

TODAY'S SONG:

- Take the Time (Freddy Jones Band)

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JUST A TASTE...

TOP OF THE NEWS:

- The Family That Built an Empire of Pain (New Yorker) "The bulk of the Sacklers’ fortune has been accumulated only in recent decades, yet the source of their wealth is to most people as obscure as that of the robber barons. ...they almost never speak publicly about the family business, Purdue Pharma—a privately held company, based in Stamford, Connecticut, that developed the prescription painkiller OxyContin. Purdue launched OxyContin with a marketing campaign that attempted to counter this attitude [that the drug was highly addictive] and change the prescribing habits of doctors. The company funded research and paid doctors to make the case that concerns about opioid addiction were overblown... Since 1999, two hundred thousand Americans have died from overdoses related to OxyContin and other prescription opioids. By 2003, the Drug Enforcement Administration had found that Purdue’s 'aggressive methods' had 'very much exacerbated OxyContin’s widespread abuse.'

- El Chapo and the Secret History of the Heroin Crisis (Esquire) "Looking at the American drug market as it existed, Guzmán and his partners saw an opportunity. An increasing number of Americans were addicted to prescription opioids such as Oxycontin. The Sinaloa Cartel decided to undercut the pharmaceutical companies. They increased the production of Mexican heroin by almost 70 percent."

- Wave of addiction linked to fentanyl worsens as drugs, distribution, evolve (WaPo) "...the law enforcement community is racing to contain the spread of fentanyl, which has largely replaced heroin on the streets here in opioid-ravaged New England and is increasingly the cause of fatal overdoses nationwide (see chart below). Much of the fentanyl that winds up in New England is manufactured in Mexico using precursor materials obtained from China... To some addicts, a near-death experience is not an error. It’s the dream. 

- The shifting toll of America’s drug epidemic (Economist) "Every 25 minutes an American baby is born addicted to opioids. The scale of both use and abuse of the drugs in the United States is hard to overstate: in 2015, the most recent year for which figures are available, an estimated 38% of adults took prescription opioids. Of those, one in eight (11.5m people in total) misused their prescription. Around 1m Americans overdosed on opioids last year, and 64,000 of them died. The number of deaths from prescription opioids has continued to rise, from around 11,000 in 2013 to 15,000 a year now (see chart below). But the rate of growth has slowed, and many forecasters predict it may be nearing its peak. By contrast, the toll from fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin, is soaring. After claiming just 3,000 lives in 2013, it killed 22,000 people in America last year, more than either heroin or prescription opioids. The highest rates of prescription-opioid abuse can be found among middle-aged rural whites, including women. By contrast, both fentanyl and heroin users tend to be much younger, more likely to live in cities, somewhat more racially diverse and overwhelmingly male..."

- Lawmakers to DEA: Use more legal muscle against opioids (WaPo) "The offers to Neil Doherty, deputy assistant administrator of the DEA’s Office of Diversion Control, which battles abuse of prescription opioids, came in the wake of a joint report by The Washington Post and “60 Minutes” that Congress had stripped the DEA of its most potent enforcement weapon against giant companies whose drugs are sometimes illegally diverted onto the street."

NEWS:

- ‘I could live simpler’: Floods and fires make Americans rethink their love affair with stuff (WaPo) "Americans, even those outside the disaster zones, are starting conversations about how much stuff they have — and what they really need. Cris Sgrott-Wheedleton, a professional organizer in Tysons Corner, Va., has noticed a higher call volume at her office since the spate of natural disasters. Often people fail to focus on what’s really important to them until it’s too late."

- Majority Of White Americans Say They Believe Whites Face Discrimination (NPR) "More than half of whites — 55 percent — surveyed say they face discrimination on the job, in education and in a variety of other ways. Notable, however, is that while a majority of whites in the poll say discrimination against them exists, only a small percentage say that they have actually experienced it. Also important to note is that 84 percent of whites believe discrimination exists against racial and ethnic minorities in America today."

- Is $100,000 middle class in America? (WaPo) "The majority of Americans — 62 percent — identify as 'middle class,' according to a Gallup poll conducted in June. Just who exactly is middle class is in the national spotlight again as...Republicans in Congress craft tax cuts for individuals and corporations that they say will primarily benefit the middle. But amid this discussion, the middle class has been defined in different ways. So what is the middle class? In America, an income of $59,000 a year is smack dab in the middle, according to the U.S. Census. But it's not that simple. When Americans talk about the 'middle class,' they are usually thinking about a range, not just the specific income dead in the middle. Pew Research says the middle class runs from $42,000 to $125,000."

SCIENCE:

- The first data from a repository of living human brain cells (Economist) "...Christof Koch, and his colleagues, have managed to round up specimens of healthy tissue removed by...surgeons in order to get to unhealthy parts beyond them, which needed surgical ministration. The repository the cells from these samples end up in is a part of a wider project, the Allen Cell Types Database. The Allen database, which is open for anyone to search, thus now includes information on the shape, electrical activity and gene activity of individual human neurons."

THE STEELE FILE:

- Analysis | What the Trump dossier says — and what it doesn’t (WaPo) "Claim: Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government had sought to 'cultivate' Trump for a period of five years. There’s no evidence at hand that this cultivation took place. 

Claim: Trump campaign aide Carter Page met with the chief executive of fossil-fuel giant Rosneft, Igor Sechin, and Kremlin official Igor Diveykin, who American officials believe was in charge of collecting intelligence about the election. This report suggests that Diveykin offered to release the compromising information on Clinton to Trump’s campaign team — an offer that we now know was made before that June meeting in Trump Tower, as well. It’s not clear why Diveykin would make this offer after having already had the opportunity to release that information to Donald Trump Jr. a month earlier. 

Claim: The report claimed that Trump had sought a real estate deal in St. Petersburg as well and that the campaign was comfortable with attention being focused on Russia because it distracted the media from 'business dealings in China and other emerging markets' that included bribes and kickbacks. ... it’s clear that Trump did seek some business deal in St. Petersburg (perhaps including a reality show). There’s also been reporting by the New Yorker on projects in Azerbaijan and Georgia that may have raised questions about possible bribery and corruption. 

Claim: Russia has an extensive program aimed at hacking foreign adversaries. That the Russians were actively hacking Westerners is clearly true and was well-known even before the election. While it’s not clear how the DNC servers were accessed, it doesn’t seem to have been through the means described in this report. 

Claim: Former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych told Putin that he’d paid Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort under the table, but that it was untraceable. Report cites a Trump associate claiming that revelation of those payments were part of why Manafort left the campaign... The role of the alleged payments was widely reported as a reason for Manafort’s ouster. 

Claim: Russia had 'injected further anti-Clinton material into the ‘plausibly deniable’ leaks pipeline' which would keep emerging. Putin was angry about how the operation was progressing, though his administration had assumed direct control — to the extent that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s job might be at risk. The report indicates that the effort to intervene on behalf of Trump originated with Lavrov’s department and eventually made its way to Putin’s team directly. This comports with January reporting about Putin having a direct hand in the effort. That said, Lavrov still holds his position. 

Claim: One of the more significant reports, it again asserts that Page met with Rosneft CEO Sechin in July. At the meeting, Sechin offered Page and Trump a 19 percent stake in Rosneft in exchange for lifting sanctions on Russia if elected. ...Trump did seek to quickly lift some sanctions on Russia imposed after the country seized Crimea in 2014. 

Claim: Claims that Cohen traveled to Prague at some point in August to coordinate the relationship. There’s been no evidence presented to place Cohen in Prague.

TRUPMTELL:

- Trump's response to media criticism: "I'm a very intelligent person"

BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:

- The Future of Online Dating Is Unsexy and Brutally Effective (Gizmodo) "Just as dating algorithms will get better at learning who we are, they’ll also get better at learning who we like—without ever asking our preferences. Algorithms that analyze user behavior can also identify subtle, surprising, or hard-to-describe patterns in what we find attractive—the ineffable features that make up one’s 'type.' Naturally, we might not like the patterns computers find in who we’re attracted to. Today, dating apps don’t (openly) mine our digital data as nearly much as they could."

TODAY'S SONG:

- Cocaine (Eric Clapton)

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WEDNESDAY ART: untitled 3-17

OF CORKER AND FLAKE

TOP OF THE NEWS:

- What About Bob (WSJ - Pay Wall) "Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican who has decided not to seek re-election, has lately been trading insults with President Trump over social media—and via traditional media as well. While our President seems to have a knack for getting into ugly public disputes, a timeline constructed by CNN suggests that in this case Mr. Corker has been the aggressor. Since Mr. Corker has lately been issuing public judgments about Mr. Trump’s integrity, it should also be noted--and here, too the CNN timeline is instructive--that Mr. Corker’s comments about Mr. Trump in 2016 were much more favorable than in 2017."

- Enough (WaPo) "Nine months of this administration is enough for us to stop pretending that this is somehow normal, and that we are on the verge of some sort of pivot to governing, to stability. Nine months is more than enough for us to say, loudly and clearly:Enough.

- Bob Corker’s Powerful Words About Donald Trump (New Yorker) "But there is also something serious and consequential going on here, something that goes beyond the daily Twitter wars. Corker, liberated by his decision not to seek reëlection in 2018, is breaking the vow of pettifogging that most Republican leaders have adhered to in talking about this rogue President. He is a senior Republican speaking plain truths that no amount of vitriol from Trump and his supporters can obscure. And he is doing the country, and perhaps even the world, a service. In the history books, the Republicans who get treated most kindly will be the dissidents like him and Jeff Flake, the Republican senator from Arizona who announced his own retirement on Tuesday, and who then took to the Senate floor to criticize both Trump and the Republican Party that continues to enable him."

- Jeff Flake’s Defiant Surrender (NYT) "The nomination of a figure like Trump, a clear threat to both the professed beliefs of his party’s leaders and to basic competence in presidential government, is the sort of shattering event that in the past would have prompted a real schism or independent candidacy. There is a small but significant Republican opposition to Trump, but its leading figures still don’t want to go to war with him directly, preferring philosophical attacks and tactical withdrawal to confrontation and probable defeat. To the extent that there’s a plausible theory behind all of these halfhearted efforts, it’s that resisting Trump too vigorously only strengthens his hold on the party’s base, by vindicating his claim to have all the establishment arrayed against him. But the problem with this logic is that it offers a permanent excuse for doing nothing, no matter how bad Trump’s reign becomes. The Republican establishment, like the House of Lords a century back, has the feel of a fated and superannuated institution that no stratagem can save. In the end the Lords chose to perish in the dark, to vote themselves into irrelevance. "

- Jeff Flake, a Fierce Trump Critic, Will Not Seek Re-election for Senate (NYT) "But Mr. Flake, choosing the Senate floor for his fierce denunciation of the president, appeared to issue a direct challenge to his colleagues and his party. ...privately, some Republicans were growing angry at the displays of disunity from Senators Flake and Corker as the party was trying to come together to pass a major overhaul of the tax code."

- Analysis | The Daily 202: Flake and Corker feel liberated to speak their minds. That should terrify Trump (WaPo)

THE STEELE FILE:

- Clinton campaign, DNC paid for research that led to Russia dossier (WaPo) "Fusion GPS’s work researching Trump began during the Republican presidential primaries when the GOP donor paid for the firm to investigate the real estate tycoon’s background. When the Republican donor stopped paying for the research, Elias, acting on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the DNC, agreed to pay for the work to continue. At no point, these people said, did the Clinton campaign or the DNC direct Steele’s activities. They described him as a Fusion GPS subcontractor. After the election, the FBI agreed to pay Steele to continue gathering intelligence about Trump and Russia, but the bureau pulled out of the arrangement after Steele was publicly identified in news reports."

- The Clinton camp and DNC funded what became the Trump-Russia dossier: Here’s what it means (WaPo) "The fact Democrats were behind at least some of the funding for the dossier is not totally new. Until now, though, the dossier had not been tied specifically to the Clinton campaign or the DNC. After the story posted, some seized upon The Post noting the FBI had agreed to pay Steele for information after the campaign. The Post originally reported on the FBI's agreement back in February. At the time, it also reported it never actually paid for the work after the agent was identified in news reports. There is, presumably, a reason Democrats haven't copped to funding the dossier... First among those reasons is paying a foreigner for opposition research for an American political campaign."

BUSINESS:

- Two-person energy firm's $300 million Puerto Rico contract raises eyebrows (USA Today) "In addition to its size and relative inexperience, the fact that Whitefish Energy Holdings is based in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's hometown of Whitefish, Mont., is fueling questions about how Whitefish Energy Holdings secured the lucrative contract. The former Montana congressman's son also had a summer job at a Whitefish construction site."

HISTORY/RELIGION:

- How Martin Luther Changed the World (New Yorker) " Luther was one of those figures who touched off something much larger than himself; namely, the Reformation—the sundering of the Church and a fundamental revision of its theology. The Reformation, in turn, reshaped Europe. Luther led the movement mostly by his writings. The Reformation wasn’t led, exactly; it just spread, metastasized."

NEWS:

- General Mattis, Stand Up to Trump or He’ll Drag You Down (NYT) "Led by you and you only, Secretary Mattis, your little squadron with Tillerson, Kelly and McMaster still has power. And if you can’t together force Trump onto an agenda of national healing and progress, then you should together tell him that he can govern with his kids and Sanders — because you took an oath to defend the Constitution, not to wipe up Trump’s daily filth with the uniform three of you wore so honorably."

- LA Looks to Rideshare to Build the Future of Public Transit (Wired) "...the sort of on-demand transit Uber, Lyft, and other ride-hailing companies have made so popular might finally make it to the masses—maybe even to those without smartphones or bank accounts. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority just announced it’s looking for a friend to help it build an on-demand transit program, which would supplement the services the agency already runs. LA Metro calls it 'microtransit,' something in between a big bus that follows a rigid route and a personal ride that takes you door to door. Proponents see this type of public-private partnership as the key to a new kind of public transit service, where agencies are more like travel agents (remember those?) than airlines."

- SpaceX Keeps Lining Up Covert Military Launches (Wired) "...it seems, SpaceX has restored confidence in its customers after its failures in 2015 and 2016. This year, it has launched 15 missions, reusing three of its boosters. The value proposition is even appealing to that most cagey of customers: the United States military. The main advantage for SpaceX is obvious: price. NASA’s interest in SpaceX’s reusable technology seems to be growing as well."

- These Explosions Show Why the FAA Doesn’t Want Laptops in Luggage (Wired) "The agency [FAA] ran a series of experiments, placing laptops inside typical suitcases next to your standard flammable toiletries... The resulting fires and explosions were large enough for the FAA to warn there’s a risk they could overwhelm the on-board fire suppression systems of planes..."

TRUMPTELL:

- Trump's $25,000 to family of slain soldier arrives — after questions from the press (USA Today) "The family of a soldier killed in Afghanistan received a $25,000 personal check from President Trump...dated the day The Washington Post asked about it. The White House said it has been processing the gift since the call."

BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:

- Einstein scribbled his theory of happiness in place of a tip. It just sold for more than $1 million (WaPo) "If you are lucky, the notes themselves will someday be worth more than some spare change, Einstein said, according to the seller of the letters, a resident of Hamburg, Germany who is reported to be a relative of the messenger."

- The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons & Dragons (New Yorker) "The game has no board and no cards. At its best, it’s a story told between the players, who control characters (elves, dwarves, gnomes, humans), and the Dungeon Master, who describes the world and uses dice to determine outcomes in the second person. In 2017, gathering your friends in a room, setting your devices aside, and taking turns to contrive a story that exists largely in your head gives off a radical whiff for a completely different reason than it did in 1987. Dungeons & Dragons seems to have been waiting for us somewhere under the particular psyche of this generation, a psyche that may have been coaxed into fantasy mania by the media that surrounded it."

TODAY'S SONG:

- I Know How You Get (mk.gee)

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"BAT CHILD ESCAPES!"

TOP OF THE NEWS:

- How Fiction Becomes Fact on Social Media (NYT) "For all the suspicions about social media companies’ motives and ethics, it is the interaction of the technology with our common, often subconscious psychological biases that make so many of us vulnerable to misinformation, and this has largely escaped notice. Social media algorithms function at one level like evolutionary selection: Most lies and false rumors go nowhere, but the rare ones with appealing urban-myth 'mutations' find psychological traction, then go viral. Stopping to drill down and determine the true source of a foul-smelling story can be tricky, even for the motivated skeptic, and mentally it’s hard work."

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

- Piketty's Inequality Theory Gets Dinged (Bloomberg) " His [Piketty] thesis was...unusually simple -- instead of a complex theory of social class or the vagaries of human culture, he merely predicted that the rich get richer until a big war or revolution resets things. His reams of historical data purported to bear this pattern out... Richard Sutch of the University of California-Riverside has a new paper arguing that Piketty’s measurement of the share of wealth owned by the richest Americans is deeply flawed and unreliable. The scant quantity and unreliability of the 19th century data, and the heroic assumptions Piketty makes in order to fit that data, drive Sutch to exasperation. That doesn’t mean Piketty is wrong. His theory could still be valid."

CLIMATE CHANGE:

- Study: NYC could see bad flooding every 5 years (AP) "The study, performed by researchers at several universities and published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, primarily blames the predicted change on sea-level rise caused by global warming. ...rising sea levels could mean that floods of 7.4 feet (2.25 meters) or more that struck the New York city area roughly once every 500 years before 1800, and which occur roughly every 25 years now, could happen once every five years between 2030 and 2045. The researchers said there is scientific consensus that global sea level will rise in the coming centuries, although it is not certain how high."

LIFE:

- In a Distracted World, Solitude Is a Competitive Advantage (HBR) "Research by the University of London reveals that our IQ drops by five to 15 points when we are multitasking. In his book, Your Brain at Work, David Rock explains that performance can decrease by up to 50% when a person focuses on two mental tasks at once. There is no silver bullet to solving the complex problems ushered in by the information age. But there are some good places to start, and one of them is counterintuitive: solitude. Having the discipline to step back from the noise of the world is essential to staying focused."

NEWS:

- Reading This While Walking? In Honolulu, It Could Cost You (NYT) "Honolulu has passed a law, which will take effect Wednesday, that allows the police to fine pedestrians up to $35 for viewing their electronic devices while crossing streets in the city and surrounding county. But critics say engineering and redesigning streets would be more effective."

- How the Appetite for Emojis Complicates the Effort to Standardize the World’s Alphabets (NYT) "In order to work with more writing systems than ASCII was able to handle, technology companies like Apple, Xerox, IBM, DEC, Hewlett-Packard and even Kodak created their proprietary encodings. Joe Becker gathered like-minded computer scientists to bring order to the chaos, arguing that cooperation was needed among companies. Unicode unified all the numerical identifiers and made sure they were reliable and up-to-date. Unicode’s idealistic founders intended to bring the personal-computing revolution to everyone on the planet, regardless of language. Twenty years after its first version, Unicode had become the default text-data standard, adopted by device manufacturers and software companies all over the world. The end was finally in sight — at one point the consortium had barely more than 50 writing systems to add. All that changed in October 2010, when that year’s version of the Unicode standard included its first set of emojis. As the demand for new emojis surged, so, too, did the criticisms. White human figures didn’t reflect the diversity of real skin colors. Millions of users wanted to communicate using the language of emoji, and as consumers, they expected change to be swift. One thing appeared to be slowing things down: the Unicode Consortium."

BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:

- Men photographed in crocodile trap dubbed 'idiots of the century' (Guardian) "The pictures show the men frolicking in the water and sitting in the mouth of the trap at the marina, not far from where a 4.3m croc took 79-year-old dementia sufferer Anne Cameron. “You can’t make everything that’s stupid illegal"..."

TODAY'S SONG:

- Gold Rays (Vinyl Pinups)

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MATTERS OF STATE

TOP OF THE NEWS:

- Rex Tillerson and the Unraveling of the State Department (NYT) "...I asked him if Trump’s tweets on the topic...were in any way helpful to what he was trying to accomplish. Tillerson let out a short sigh. “Look, on the president’s tweets, I take what the president tweets out as his form of communicating, and I build it into my strategies and my tactics. How can I use that? How do I want to use that? Our strategies and the tactics we’re using to advance the policies have to be resilient enough to accommodate unknowns, O.K.?" Accommodating the president, rather than working with him, is not a normal mission for a secretary of state... In nearly 300 embassies, missions and consulates around the world where State Department officials work to promote and defend America’s interests, diplomats complain about not just a dearth of resources but also a lack of guidance. A result...the department’s morale has never been lower. For that, almost all of them blame Tillerson. ...Tillerson’s true legacy may well be to have transformed a venerable American institution into the caricature of its most fevered, irrational critics."

- Rex Tillerson at the Breaking Point (New Yorker) "Before taking office, Tillerson ran a corporation whose reach and success have few rivals in American history. In government, he has been uncomfortably subordinate to an unpredictable man. When the United States emerged from the ruins of the Second World War...its diplomats were determined to avoid another global catastrophe. Dean Acheson, the Secretary of State under President Truman and one of the principal architects of the postwar international order, wrote later, “The enormity of the task . . . was to create a world out of chaos.” Their idea was to devise political and economic arrangements that would bind the world together through free trade and encourage the spread of Western-style liberal democracy. In the past seven decades, this system has grown into a web of relationships, treaties, and institutions that span the globe and touch every aspect of daily life... The system came to have many crucial components—NATO, the European Union, the United Nations—but its indispensable member was the United States. The postwar system, for all its injustices and hypocrisies, has achieved the principal purpose that Acheson and others set out for it: the world has not fallen into a third enveloping war. Tillerson’s own vision...is less clear. For Tillerson, there seems to be a mismatch of means and ends; he has spoken as though the U.S. will remain as engaged in the world as it has been under previous Administrations, while proposing budget cuts that would make it very difficult to do so."

- The most popular parlor game in Washington: Who will replace Tillerson? (WaPo) "As several excruciating profiles have detailed, Tillerson’s main legacy will likely be a State Department depleted of talent, with the lowest morale in decades and playing a reduced role in the crafting and implementation of U.S. foreign policy. His successor’s primary mission will be to reverse that trend. The top two contenders, Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, offer different paths for recovery. Some reports suggest that if Pompeo gets the State Department job, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) is in line for CIA director. "

BUSINESS/INVESTING:

- Black Monday 2: The Next Machine-Driven Meltdown (Barron's) "Quantitative strategies now account for $933 billion in hedge funds...up from $499 billion in 2007. And there’s some $3 trillion in index ETFs, which are, by definition, rules-based. The upshot: Trillions of dollars are now being invested by computers."

- Chinese money dominates bitcoin, now its companies are gunning for blockchain tech (Quartz) "China is home to the world’s largest bitcoin mines, thanks to abundant and cheap electricity, and at one time the country accounted for 95% of the volume traded in global markets. Its central bank is experimenting with a blockchain-backed digital currency, and its biggest companies, from tech giants to industrial conglomerates, are racing to bake blockchain tech into major new projects. How did stateless cryptocurrencies get so big in China, a country where the national currency...remains tightly controlled by the government? It might seem that Chinese bitcoiners are carrying out some kind of libertarian protest against China’s ruling communist party... They aren’t. Wu and his Chinese compatriots are focused not on the currency, but on the technology behind it. Ordinary Chinese bitcoin users...are far more interested in the ability to speculate on bitcoin’s wild price swings—it’s just another way to make money as China continues to adopt characteristics of a market economy."

- Nestlé Makes Billions Bottling Water It Pays Nearly Nothing For (Bloomberg) "...Americans often drink bottled water for what they hope is not in it. Fears about what comes out of the tap aren’t completely unfounded; 77 million Americans are served by water systems that violate testing requirements or rules about contamination in drinking water, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. That said, bottled water isn’t necessarily more pure than tap. ...municipalities with 2.5 million or more people are required to test their supply dozens of times each day... Bottled water companies aren’t required to monitor their reserve or report contamination..."

EDUCATION:

- Michigan Gambled on Charter Schools. Its Children Lost (NYT) "The crisis at Carver Academy was not unfolding in isolation. Michigan’s aggressively free-market approach to schools has resulted in one of the most deregulated educational environments in the country, a laboratory in which consumer choice and a shifting landscape of supply and demand (and profit motive, in the case of many charters) were pitched as ways to improve life in the classroom for the state’s 1.5 million public-school students. But a Brookings Institution analysis done this year of national test scores ranked Michigan last among all states when it came to improvements in student proficiency. And a 2016 analysis by the Education Trust-Midwest, a nonpartisan education policy and research organization, found that 70 percent of Michigan charters were in the bottom half of the state’s rankings. Michigan has the most for-profit charter schools in the country and some of the least state oversight. Even staunch charter advocates have blanched at the Michigan model. ...it’s important to understand that what happened to Michigan’s schools isn’t solely, or even primarily, an education story: It’s a business story.

ENTERTAINMENT:

- The Doors defined California cool in the ’60s. How does their legacy stack up 50 years later? (WaPo) "The Doors induce chimerical feelings of ominous sunshine, primordial serpents and peculiar creatures communing in Laurel Canyon."

THE FUTURE OF WORK:

- Are High-Skilled Workers the Future of the Gig Economy? (Ozy) "It’s not that Uber drivers are now getting paid megabucks, but that high-skilled workers are increasingly opting to go independent."

- Why the Robot Revolution Is a Lot Less Certain Than You Think (Ozy) "We need a reality check on what work currently looks like before we can hypothesize about the future. This lack of clarity about the future of work means there is a lack of inevitability..."

HEALTH:

- The Secrets of Sleep (NYT) "...sleep is utterly essential to life, organically speaking, but the act of living our lives to the fullest, with all the attendant toils, responsibilities, and worries, has probably always been the enemy of sleep."

- Why Are More American Teenagers Than Ever Suffering From Severe Anxiety? (NYT) "While it’s difficult to tease apart how much of the apparent spike in anxiety is related to an increase in awareness and diagnosis of the disorder, many of those who work with young people suspect that what they’re seeing can’t easily be explained away. When I asked Eken about other common sources of worry among highly anxious kids, she didn’t hesitate: social media. Anxious teenagers from all backgrounds are relentlessly comparing themselves with their peers, she said, and the results are almost uniformly distressing."

LIFE:

- The Secret to Marriage Is Never Getting Married (NYT) "I have had four dogs with the man I am not married to. I have dedicated several of my books to him, but really, they all could be. He is my most important reader and creative collaborator. We have traveled the world with one suitcase. We have cooked more than 100 Blue Apron meals without killing each other. We have shared a dozen different addresses. We have built a life. But we are not married. We live in California, which means we are not even common-law married. When I say I don’t believe in marriage, what I mean to say is: I understand the financial and legal benefits, but I don’t believe the government or a church or a department store registry can change the way I already feel and behave. Or maybe it would. Because when the law doesn’t bind you as a couple, you have to choose each other every day. And maybe the act of choosing changes a relationship for the better. But successfully married people must know this already." and Is Marriage Obsolete? What Do You Think? (Ozy) "A formalized lifetime commitment to one person is certainly starting to feel a bit outdated to some. According to a 2011 Pew Research poll, nearly 40 percent of U.S. respondents agreed that marriage was becoming obsolete, up from 28 percent in 1978. But marriage rates are not falling across the board. ...one group that is bucking the marriage and divorce trends is college graduates..."

NEWS:

- The frantic, bloody hours in a Las Vegas hospital as doctors rushed to save lives (LA Times) "He had only seconds to assess each patient. The walking wounded got a green tag. Those seriously injured but who could be stabilized got yellow. Those on the brink of death — pale complexion, thready pulse — got red. Blood pooled on the floor. Debris from bandages piled up. Housekeeping could not clear the floor fast enough."

- John Kelly and the Dangerous Moral Calculus of Working for Trump (New Yorker) "Working for Trump means that one’s credibility is likely to be damaged, so there is a kind of moral calculation that any Trump supporter must make: Does working for him serve some higher purpose that outweighs the price of reputational loss? Kelly is the chief of staff and a political operative. He held a press conference and told a lie that smeared one of Trump’s political opponents. No government official’s military background, no matter how honorable, makes him immune to criticism, especially given the subject at hand. But the bigger lesson of the episode is that no matter how good one’s intentions are, when you go to work for Trump, you will end up paying for it with your reputation. For Kelly, not even his four stars prevented that." and What Trump did to Kelly shows how far we have fallen (WaPo) "This is why all except the most blind Trump partisans had to be heartsick over the performance of White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly on Thursday. The retired Marine Corps general, who devoted his life to service and suffered stoically when he lost a son in combat, stepped out as a hatchet man against Rep. Frederica S. Wilson. Thus is our world turned upside down: A genuine patriot is reduced to the role of propagandist for a boss whose idea of sacrifice, as Trump once explained on ABC News, is running a business from which he profited."

READ THIS:

- Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System (Roberto Saviano) "...nonfiction account of the decline of Naples under the rule of the Camorra, an organized crime network with a large international reach and stakes in construction, high fashion, illicit drugs, and toxic-waste disposal."

- The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) "Seconds before Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor."

- James Madison: The Founding Father (Robert Allen Rutland) "...a lively portrait of the man who essentially fathered our constitutional guarantees of civil and religious liberty. Focusing on the role Madison played at the Continental Congress and in each stage of the formation of the American Republic, Robert Allen Rutland also covers Madison's relationship with his beloved wife, Dolley, his fifty-year friendship with Thomas Jefferson, and his years as a respected elder statesman after serving as secretary of state and fourth president of the United States."

- The Last Founding Father (Harlow Giles Unger) "In this lively and compelling biography Harlow Giles Unger reveals the dominant political figure of a generation. A fierce fighter in four critical Revolutionary War battles and a courageous survivor of Valley Forge and a near-fatal wound at the Battle of Trenton, James Monroe (1751–1831) went on to become America's first full-time politician, dedicating his life to securing America's national and international durability."

- Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War (William Manchester) "In this intensely powerful memoir [Manchester]...offers an unrivaled firsthand account of World War II in the Pacific: of what it looked like, sounded like, smelled like, and most of all, what it felt like to one who underwent all but the ultimate of its experiences. It belongs with the best war memoirs ever written."

- A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent (Robert W. Merry) "In a one-term presidency, James K. Polk completed the story of America's Manifest Destiny--extending its territory across the continent by threatening England with war and manufacturing a controversial and unpopular two-year war with Mexico."

- Richard Nixon: The Life (John A. Farrell) "...an enthralling tour de force biography of our darkest president, one that reviewers will hail as a defining portrait, and the full life of Nixon readers have awaited."

- Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama (David Garrow) "David J. Garrow has created a vivid portrait that reveals not only the people and forces that shaped the future president but also the ways in which he used those influences to serve his larger aspirations."

- American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White (Jon Meacham) "Andrew Jackson, his intimate circle of friends, and his tumultuous times are at the heart of this remarkable book about the man who rose from nothing to create the modern presidency."

- Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Laura Hillenbrand) "...the inspiring true story of a man who lived through a series of catastrophes almost too incredible to be believed. In evocative, immediate descriptions, Hillenbrand unfurls the story of Louie Zamperini--a juvenile delinquent-turned-Olympic runner-turned-Army hero."

- John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life (Paul C. Nagel) "John Quincy Adams was raised, educated, and groomed to be President, following in the footsteps of his father, John. At fourteen he was secretary to the Minister to Russia and, later, was himself Minister to the Netherlands and Prussia. He was U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, and then President for one ill-fated term."

SPORTS:

- Ready, Set, Gone! The N.F.L.’s Disappearing Huddle (NYT) "This season, some offenses have spent nearly half a game — 25 plays — without stopping to huddle. Many teams’ defensive units huddle even less often. As a trend, it is viewed as inevitable innovation, and most in the N.F.L. expect the pace to quicken unabated in coming seasons, a transformational jolt to an old-style league."

- Can Baseball Turn a 27-Year-Old Into the Perfect Manager? (NYT) "Maybe baseball intelligence can be put on a path of accelerated development just like the game’s young bodies. Maybe managers don’t have to look like guys who hang around dog tracks. Or maybe managers are who they are for a reason, and in them we see an increasingly rare instance of baseball’s ancient practices standing up to modern scrutiny.

TECHNOLOGY:

- How Malware Keeps Sneaking Past Google Play’s Defenses (Wired) "Sneaking bad apps through typically doesn't require exploiting elaborate vulnerabilities in the architecture of Google Play. Hackers instead use fairly straightforward tricks and techniques to dupe Play Protect's scanning... ...no matter how much Android closes the gap, the perception that Apple's iOS presents a more secure mobile operating system still dogs it. Malware does make its way into Apple's App Store from time to time, but attackers and researchers alike seem more focused on Android."

BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:

- A Condom-Maker’s Discovery: Size Matters (NYT) "Condoms get a bad rap for being a bad wrap. Now, changes by the Food and Drug Administration and industry-standards groups have opened the door to the condom equivalent of bespoke suits."

TODAYS SONG:

- Light My Fire (The Doors)

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