- Elon Musk: The Architect of Tomorrow (Rolling Stone) "...Musk's master plan: to create habitats for humanity on other planets and moons. And that's just one of Musk's ambitions. Others include converting automobiles, households and as much industry as possible from fossil fuels to sustainable energy; implementing a new form of high-speed city-to-city transportation via vacuum tube; relieving traffic congestion with a honeycomb of underground tunnels fitted with electric skates for cars and commuters; creating a mind-computer interface to enhance human health and brainpower; and saving humanity from the future threat of an artificial intelligence that may one day run amok and decide, quite rationally, to eliminate the irrational human species. So far, Musk, 46, has accomplished none of these goals. He's probably the only person who has started four billion-dollar companies – PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX and Solar City.
ENTERTAINMENT:
- Farewell to Malcolm Young, the Mastermind of AC/DC (New Yorker) "The guitarist...was the soul of the seminal rock band, its leader on and off the stage."
NEWS:
- Cult Leader Charles Manson Dies at 83 (AP) "Once a petty criminal, Manson became a horrifying symbol of drug-induced madness after commanding his followers to kill Hollywood elite...in an attempt to spark a race war."
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ENTERTAINMENT:
- Farewell to Malcolm Young, the Mastermind of AC/DC (New Yorker) "The guitarist...was the soul of the seminal rock band, its leader on and off the stage."
NEWS:
- Cult Leader Charles Manson Dies at 83 (AP) "Once a petty criminal, Manson became a horrifying symbol of drug-induced madness after commanding his followers to kill Hollywood elite...in an attempt to spark a race war."
- Eric Holder’s Battle Against Gerrymandering (New Yorker) "Democrats slumbered through redistricting in 2010, but they’re awake now."
- Today’s biggest threat to democracy isn’t fake news—it’s selective facts (Quartz) "During the 2016 US presidential election...[m]edia organizations on the right and left followed their favored politicians’ cues when deciding which stories to cover. Rather than fake news or alternative facts, the primary danger of these times are selective facts. Selective facts are 'true' facts that only tells us part of the story... As readers, we...suffer from what’s called confirmation bias: We tend to seek out news organizations and social media posts that confirm our views. Business leaders of media organizations therefore consciously focus on what readers want, not what they need to make the best decisions. Selective facts are worse than outright fake news because they’re pervasive and harder to question than clearly false statements. To make good decisions in this era of social media and personalized news, you have to realize that selective facts surround us."
- Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A. to Its Core (NYT) "The agency regarded as the world’s leader in breaking into adversaries’ computer networks failed to protect its own. ...officials still do not know whether the N.S.A. is the victim of a brilliantly executed hack, with Russia as the most likely perpetrator, an insider’s leak, or both. ...there is broad agreement that the damage from the Shadow Brokers already far exceeds the harm to American intelligence done by Edward J. Snowden... ...the Shadow Brokers have released the actual code...they have loosed the weapons themselves. Experts believe more attacks using the stolen N.S.A. tools are all but certain."
- White House struggles to explain Trump’s silence on Moore allegations (WaPo) "President Trump — not usually one for holding his fire — has not tweeted or spoken publicly about Moore since The Washington Post first reported on the accusations against him. Trump’s reaction stands in stark contrast to his tweets about Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), which came within hours of Franken’s acknowledgment of sexual misconduct toward Los Angeles radio host Leann Tweeden years ago. Why the different response?"
- The Trump Administration Is Making War on Diplomacy (NYT) "Rex Tillerson is widely seen as ill suited to diplomatic leadership and determined to dismantle his own department, which has been central to America’s national security since Thomas Jefferson ran the place. In recent weeks, alarming new data from the American Foreign Service Association, the union representing diplomats, shows just how far Mr. Tillerson has taken things. Since January, more than 100 senior foreign service officers have left the department, depleting the ranks of career ambassadors, the diplomatic equivalent of four-star generals, by 60 percent, while the number of career ministers (akin to three-star generals) is down 42 percent. The hiring of new foreign service officers has slowed almost to a halt, and the number of young people seeking to take the foreign service exam has fallen to less than half the 17,000 who registered two years ago. The near-term hope of arresting or reversing this slide lies with Congress. More lawmakers are raising their voices, warning about the dangers to national security and demanding answers."
- Here’s the incredibly unpopular GOP tax reform plan — in one graph (WaPo) "The plan appears to be not just unpopular, but also distinctively — almost historically — unpopular. The only thing that was less popular was…the Republican health-care bill that was intended to replace the Affordable Care Act."
SOCIALIZED MEDECINE:
- Nearly 1.5 million sign up for ObamaCare in first 11 days (MSN) "...nearly 500,000 more than at the same time last year. The final sign-up picture will not be clear until the enrollment period ends Dec. 15, which is about half as much time as people had to sign up last year."
TECHNOLOGY:
- I tried out Google’s translating headphones. Here’s what I found (WaPo) "The translation feature is promising but not perfect. Still, it is much better than a phrase book.
TRUMPTEL:
- Everything Jeff Sessions Has Forgotten Under Oath (Wired) "...the attorney general's peculiarly porous memory inspired much frustration among members of Congress... ...Sessions ha[s] said 'I don't recall,' in some form, upwards of 85 times."
- Senate Judiciary panel: Kushner had contacts about WikiLeaks, Russian overtures he did not disclose (WaPo) "In the letter, Grassley and Feinstein instruct Kushner’s team to turn over 'several documents that are known to exist' because other witnesses in their probe already gave them to investigators."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- A Navy pilot drew a penis in the sky. It’s not the first time something like this has been investigated (WaPo) "Residents of Washington state turned their eyes to a clear blue sky Thursday and found themselves staring at a cartoonish rendering of male genitalia, sketched in smoke by at least one Navy EA-18G Growler jet flying out of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island."
TODAY'S SONG:
- Helter Skelter (The Beatles)
- Today’s biggest threat to democracy isn’t fake news—it’s selective facts (Quartz) "During the 2016 US presidential election...[m]edia organizations on the right and left followed their favored politicians’ cues when deciding which stories to cover. Rather than fake news or alternative facts, the primary danger of these times are selective facts. Selective facts are 'true' facts that only tells us part of the story... As readers, we...suffer from what’s called confirmation bias: We tend to seek out news organizations and social media posts that confirm our views. Business leaders of media organizations therefore consciously focus on what readers want, not what they need to make the best decisions. Selective facts are worse than outright fake news because they’re pervasive and harder to question than clearly false statements. To make good decisions in this era of social media and personalized news, you have to realize that selective facts surround us."
- Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A. to Its Core (NYT) "The agency regarded as the world’s leader in breaking into adversaries’ computer networks failed to protect its own. ...officials still do not know whether the N.S.A. is the victim of a brilliantly executed hack, with Russia as the most likely perpetrator, an insider’s leak, or both. ...there is broad agreement that the damage from the Shadow Brokers already far exceeds the harm to American intelligence done by Edward J. Snowden... ...the Shadow Brokers have released the actual code...they have loosed the weapons themselves. Experts believe more attacks using the stolen N.S.A. tools are all but certain."
- White House struggles to explain Trump’s silence on Moore allegations (WaPo) "President Trump — not usually one for holding his fire — has not tweeted or spoken publicly about Moore since The Washington Post first reported on the accusations against him. Trump’s reaction stands in stark contrast to his tweets about Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), which came within hours of Franken’s acknowledgment of sexual misconduct toward Los Angeles radio host Leann Tweeden years ago. Why the different response?"
- The Trump Administration Is Making War on Diplomacy (NYT) "Rex Tillerson is widely seen as ill suited to diplomatic leadership and determined to dismantle his own department, which has been central to America’s national security since Thomas Jefferson ran the place. In recent weeks, alarming new data from the American Foreign Service Association, the union representing diplomats, shows just how far Mr. Tillerson has taken things. Since January, more than 100 senior foreign service officers have left the department, depleting the ranks of career ambassadors, the diplomatic equivalent of four-star generals, by 60 percent, while the number of career ministers (akin to three-star generals) is down 42 percent. The hiring of new foreign service officers has slowed almost to a halt, and the number of young people seeking to take the foreign service exam has fallen to less than half the 17,000 who registered two years ago. The near-term hope of arresting or reversing this slide lies with Congress. More lawmakers are raising their voices, warning about the dangers to national security and demanding answers."
- Here’s the incredibly unpopular GOP tax reform plan — in one graph (WaPo) "The plan appears to be not just unpopular, but also distinctively — almost historically — unpopular. The only thing that was less popular was…the Republican health-care bill that was intended to replace the Affordable Care Act."
- Nearly 1.5 million sign up for ObamaCare in first 11 days (MSN) "...nearly 500,000 more than at the same time last year. The final sign-up picture will not be clear until the enrollment period ends Dec. 15, which is about half as much time as people had to sign up last year."
TECHNOLOGY:
- I tried out Google’s translating headphones. Here’s what I found (WaPo) "The translation feature is promising but not perfect. Still, it is much better than a phrase book.
TRUMPTEL:
- Everything Jeff Sessions Has Forgotten Under Oath (Wired) "...the attorney general's peculiarly porous memory inspired much frustration among members of Congress... ...Sessions ha[s] said 'I don't recall,' in some form, upwards of 85 times."
- Senate Judiciary panel: Kushner had contacts about WikiLeaks, Russian overtures he did not disclose (WaPo) "In the letter, Grassley and Feinstein instruct Kushner’s team to turn over 'several documents that are known to exist' because other witnesses in their probe already gave them to investigators."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- A Navy pilot drew a penis in the sky. It’s not the first time something like this has been investigated (WaPo) "Residents of Washington state turned their eyes to a clear blue sky Thursday and found themselves staring at a cartoonish rendering of male genitalia, sketched in smoke by at least one Navy EA-18G Growler jet flying out of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island."
TODAY'S SONG:
- Helter Skelter (The Beatles)
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