Sam Simon, Who Helped Shape ‘The Simpsons,’ Dies at 59
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NYT ^
| 3/9/2015 | WILLIAM YARDLEY
Sam Simon, a creative force behind “The Simpsons” who left the show after its fourth season in a lucrative arrangement that allowed him to spend much of the rest of his life giving his money away, has died. He
was 59. His death was announced on Monday by the Sam Simon Foundation, the organization through which he donated his money. The announcement did not say where or when he died or specify the cause, although Mr. Simon learned he had cancer in late 2012. The cartoonist Matt Groening, recruited by the producer James L. Brooks, invented the Simpson family for...
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How Mosquitoes Helped Shape the Course of Human History
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Smithsonian ^
| August 5, 2019 | Emily Toomey
Fifty-two billion people—almost half of the cumulative human population—are thought to have perished at the hands of a creature no bigger than a fingernail: the mosquito. In
his new book The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator, historian Timothy Winegard exposes this insect as not merely an itchy pest, but a force of nature that has dictated the outcome of significant events throughout human history. From ancient Athens to World War II, Winegard highlights key moments when mosquito-borne diseases caused militaries to crumble, great leaders to fall ill, and populations to be left vulnerable to invasion. In addition...
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H&R Block Helped Shape Obamacare, Now Set For Gigantic Payday
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Townhall.com ^
| February 26, 2015 | Nick Sorrentino
What isn’t there to love about Obamacare? It was moved through Congress in hurry-up mode to head off Scott Brown coming into the Senate and was never really reviewed. It
was crafted to funnel tax dollars to the healthcare industry and indeed stock prices for the health insurers have done nicely since the law’s passing. (One of the main reasons Obamacare remains in place.) It’s shutting out small doctors offices because of the regulatory burden. (The codes these offices must deal with we are told are mind boggling.) Many people’s insurance costs have gone up, in some cases doubled or more. And...
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How A San Diego Scientist Helped Shape The Pope’s Climate Change Plans
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KPBS ^
| 12/29/14 | David Wagner
...The church is prioritizing climate change just months after the Scripps Institution of Oceanography's Veerabhadran "Ram" Ramanathan organized a Vatican meeting on the issue. Ramanathan
said the discussion, which spanned four days in May, was encouraging. "The Vatican agreed that we need a massive mobilization of public opinion about the seriousness of the issue, and why it's our responsibility to be good stewards of the planet," he said. Ramanathan is a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. He believes religious leaders are now in a better position than scientists to inspire action....
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ANALYSIS: How Serge Dassault helped shape global fighter fleet
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FLIGHTGLOBAL.COM ^
| June 11, 2018 | CRAIG HOYLE
Serge Dassault, who died on 28 May at the age of 93, is credited with having spearheaded Dassault's drive into the combat aircraft market, and for closing export sales of types from within the hugely successful Mirage series. Having
managed its flight-test department from 1955 – during the development of types including the Mirage III, Mirage IV and maritime-strike Étendard – as head of export, Serge Dassault "led the negotiations that resulted in the sale of Mirage III aircraft to Switzerland and Australia" (pictured below), the company notes. Commonwealth of Australia Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that there are currently 863...
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How Drug Companies Helped Shape A Shifting, Biological View Of Mental Illness
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NPR ^
| 05/02/2019 | Terry Gross
Historian and Harvard professor Anne Harrington believes that pharmaceutical companies have played an oversized role in determining how mental illness is treated in the United States — leading to a rise in the use of antidepressant drugs. Harrington's
new book, Mind Fixers: Psychiatry's Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness, chronicles the history of psycho-pharmaceuticals, such as Prozac and Xanax, which have been used to treat depression and anxiety, as well as lithium, the first drug to treat what is now called bipolar disorder. Prior to the 1970s, Harrington says, society tended to distinguish between forms of depression that...
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Islam ‘Helped to Shape’ CIA nominee John Brennan’s World View (Practicing Taqiyya)
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CNS news ^
| January 9, 2013 (4 yrs ago) | Patrick Goodenough
Addressing an audience at the Islamic Center at NYU, ... 2010, White House counterterrorism advisor John Brennan said U.S. government actions and policies had contributed to the problem of negative stereotyping of Muslims. -snip- ... speaking in Arabic..., Brennan used terms .. to appeal to his audience, such as “Al-Quds” for Jerusalem,
“Palestine” and “as the Qur’an reveals”... -snip- “Ignorance is a threat to our national security, prejudice is a threat to our national security, discrimination is a threat to our national security... and it must stop,” he said. “Violations of the Patriot Act; surveillance that has been excessive; policies...
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George Floyd’s family says his iconic selfie ‘symbolizes who he was’ — and helped shape the racial-justice narrative
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MW ^
| May 21 | Charles Passy
It’s an image of a man in thoughtful repose, looking down at the camera as he stands in front of a brick wall. In
short, a selfie that seems designed not to call too much attention to itself. And yet, it’s the picture that some say may have played an important role in the fight for racial justice. This is, of course, the now iconic photo of George Floyd — arguably the most widely distributed image of the man whose May 25, 2020 murder by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin sparked a wave of protests throughout the country. The...
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Kerry quietly seeking to salvage Iran deal he helped craft
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Boston Globe ^
| 4 May 2018 | Matt Viser
John Kerry’s bid to save one of his most significant accomplishments as secretary of state took him to New York on a Sunday afternoon two weeks ago, where, more than a year after he left office, he engaged in some unusual shadow diplomacy with a top-ranking Iranian official. He
sat down at the United Nations with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to discuss ways of preserving the pact limiting Iran’s nuclear weapons program. It was the second time in about two months that the two had met to strategize over salvaging a deal they spent years negotiating during the Obama administration,...
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White House Sources: John Kerry’s Stealth Lobbying Backfired, Helped Kill The Iran Deal
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The DC ^
| 5-8-2018 | Benny Johnson
News of former Secretary of State John Kerry's alleged collusion with the Iranian government played a role in President Donald Trump's decision to scuttle the Iran deal, two White House sources with direct knowledge of the president's thinking tell The Daily Caller.Trump announced he was pulling out of the deal Tuesday, just
a few days after news broke that Kerry had been parlaying with Iran in an attempt to keep the deal alive.A source inside the White House with knowledge of the decision process tells TheDC that the Iran deal was "done" when Trump found out about Kerry's lobbying behind...
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Chris Christie aims to shape future for GOP and for himself (yeah, shape of a doughnut!)
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seattlepi.com ^
| 11/27/21 | JILL COLVIN
The former New Jersey governor and onetime Republican presidential candidate denounced “conspiracy theorists” during a September appearance at the Ronald Reagan Library in California. He followed up with a speech this month to influential Republicans in Las Vegas, warning that the party will only succeed if it offers a "plan for tomorrow,
not a grievance about yesterday.”
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Rich kid of Communism: Fidel Castro's model grandson flashes his wealth and love of the high life
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Daily Mail ^
| January 4, 2019 | Adry Torres
Fidel Castro's grandson has been on the receiving end of negative comments after photos surfaced of the young man flaunting the family's wealth on social media. Various
South Florida-based media outlets covering the Cuban community came across Tony Castro's snaps just days before the Communist island celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, led by his grandfather who would later rule for five decades before dying in 2016. The lives of the former Cuban leader's immediate family members have always been somewhat of a secret to the outside world. Tony Castro, who is in his 20s, managed to keep a...
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Name one book that helped to change your life
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05/01/18
Here's one that definitely influenced me: "Red Planet" by Robert A. Heinlein. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Planet It's the first novel I can recall reading, around age 8 or so. It
was the start of a lifelong love of speculative fiction, and Heinlein's Libertarian(ish) philosophy certainly put its imprint on me. (The main chsracter's father discusses getting a pistol permit for his daughter. The grandfather chimes in:) "That a free citizen should have to go before a committee, hat in hand, and pray for permission to bear arms - fantastic! Arm your daughter, sir, and pay no attention to petty bureaucrats."
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Poll: 38% born-again Christians believe prayer boosts wealth, 24% think wealth sign of God’s favor
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Hotair ^
| 08/28/2015 | AllahPundit
A little comments food-fight starter for a slow Friday news cycle. Even
your friendly neighborhood atheist blogger is surprised by this result: My memory of youthful Christian lessons is rusty but I do vaguely recall something about rich men and heaven and camels and the eye of a needle. Then again, there’s a difference between praying for a Lamborghini and praying for a pay raise to help make ends meet. Wanting more wealth doesn’t necessarily make you greedy.The question: Why are born-again Christians more likely than those who don’t describe themselves as born again to tie wealth to faith?...
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U.S. Wealth Gap Rises With Jackson Hole, WYO, The Town With The Highest Wealth Gap (BAD Optics By Policymakers)
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Confounded Interest ^
| 08/22/2021 | Anthony B. Sanders
The KC Fed Jackson Hole conference is a US policy makers’ Davos, an uber-elite US location. You
would think that the KC Fed would hold their conference in Kansas City or Omaha, Nebraska as a show of support for the working men and women. But nooooo. They have to hold it where Liz Cheney (GOPe, WYO) lives. And other elites have expensive vacation homes. (Bloomberg) — When U.S. Federal Reserve officials head to their annual mountain retreat next week to talk economic inequality, they’ll be sitting in the country’s wealthiest county. Jackson Hole, a rural community near the majestic Grand...
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The Racial Wealth Gap: Why A Typical White Household Has 16 Times The Wealth Of A Black One
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Forbes ^
| 03/26/2015 | Laura Shin
The United States is becoming much more racially and ethnically diverse. At
the same time, it’s becoming more unequal in terms of wealth and income. These two trends are combining in an uncomfortable way: the wealth and income divide is happening along racial and ethnic lines.The typical black household now has just 6% of the wealth of the typical white household; the typical Latino household had just 8%, according to The Racial Wealth Gap: Why Policy Matters, by Demos, a public policy organization promoting democracy and equality, and the Institute on Assets and Social Policy.In absolute terms, the median white...
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A Week in the Life of John Kerry
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Townhall.com ^
| March 10, 2016 | Adam Turner
Secretary of State John Kerry has had quite a week recently. On
March 1, he admitted that while there may be alleged violations to the Syrian “ceasefire” that he negotiated, which should be tracked down, “there was currently no evidence to suggest it would destabilize the fragile peace.” The Syrian opposition begged to differ with Kerry, and considering that the “ceasefire” that was agreed to by the Russians, who are currently doing most of the bombing in the country, does not actually require them to cease their firing against Syrian groups, including ISIS, al-Nusra and other Syrian opposition militias, they...
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John Kerry’s rich fantasy life
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The Washington Times ^
| 11-4-16 | Opinion
The secretary of state spends too much time in a world of his own making. There’s
an old theory that extensive air travel inflicts physical injury and distorts cognitive thinking. Airline stewardesses of a previous time said the introduction of the jetliner for the old propellers-and-internal engines disrupted their menstrual cycles. Life is dangerous in the clouds. Perhaps all his flying about is what disrupted Secretary of State John Kerry’s ability to think coherently. He told a group of University of Chicago political science students the other day that President Obama’s foreign policies have been a smashing success. The president’s...
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John Kerry: Life as you Know it on Earth Ends
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Canada Free Press ^
| 10/14/14 | Joseph A. Klein
Next to the immediate threats posed by Ebola and global jihad, climate change pales by comparison Speaking at the Wind Technology Testing Center in Boston Massachusetts on October 9th, the windsurfer and windbag-in-chief himself, Secretary of State John Kerry, pronounced that climate change, if left unaddressed, will result in the end of
times: “Life as you know it on Earth ends,” Kerry said. Last February, Kerry claimed that climate change was the world’s “most fearsome” weapon of mass destruction. Not nuclear arms in the hands of the terrorist sponsoring regime of Iran or in the hands of ISIS or al...
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This Man Rescued a Puppy and She Helped Him Learn to Love Life Again (PHOTOS)
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OneGreenPlanet ^
| 30 Dec, 2015 | Latrice Harrison
It is no secret that living with animals is good for your health. According
to WebMD, those with pets have lower blood pressure, stronger hearts, better immune systems, and a lower incidence of depression than their pet-free peers. In fact, pets have proven to be a great way to help depressed people find motivation in their lives, which is how Hanna the dog met her new papa. At the time that Hanna came into his life, this Imgur user was experiencing a bit of a slump. But just one look at this eight-week-old ball of cuteness, and he immediately began...
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