EFTA00845112.pdf

From: Gregory Brown To: undisclosed-recipients:; Bcc: [email protected] Subject: Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.. 09/27/2015 Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2015 08:52:47 +0000 Attachments: Why_Europe's_Trains_Are_So_Much_Better_Than_Am_erica's_BEN_ADLER_The_Atlant is SEP 9 2015 doer Yogi Berra bio.docx; Transcript,Pope_Francis's_speech_to_Congress_TWP_September_24„2015.docx Inline-Images: image.png; image(I).png; image(2).png; image(3).png; image(4).png; image(5).png; image(6).png; image(7).png; image(8).png; image(9).png; image(10).png; image(11).png; image(12).png; image(13).png; image(14).png; image(I5).png; image(16).png; image(17).png; image(18).png; image(19).png; image(20).png DEAR FRIEND AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL Wine image s Yogi Berra (Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berm May 12, 1925 - September 22, 2015), a Hall of Fame catcher with the New York Yankees, won three Most Valuable Player awards and appeared in the World Series more times than any other player in history. He was also a jovial figure whose knack for tangled tidbits of EFTA00845112 wisdom -- such as "you can observe a lot by watching," "Always go to other people'sfunerals, otherwise they won't go to yours" and "It's déjà vu all over again" — "Yogisms" -- transcended sports to make him one of the most universally beloved figures in American life. Yogi Berra died Sept. 22 at his home in Montclair, N.J., according to a statement from the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center. He was 90. Mr. Berra was a short, squat player who sometimes looked out of place among his more majestic teammates. When he was playing minor league baseball, his own general manager said he resembled "the bottom man on an unemployed acrobatic team." Yet something about Mr. Berra reached across time. He was an American original whose legacy as a player and whose humorous quips forged an enduring connection to generations of players and fans. People may have disliked his team, the Yankees, but everyone loved Yogi. Although he only had an eight-grade education, won 10 World Series rings and was a war hero most people remember the things he said, his offhand sayings, which often seemed to encapsulate an acute observation or basic human truth, entered the American vernacular. His "Yogisms," took clichés and turned them on their heads until they were fun-house-mirror reflections of themselves, yet they still made a certain fractured sense. This was his genius. Here are some more of his best ones. "It ain't over 'til it's over." - Self-explanatory. "Nobody ever goes there anymore; it's too crowded." — According to Blount's research, Yogi was not the first person to use this quote. It appeared in a New Yorker story in 1943, when Yogi was 18 and playing minor league ball in Norfolk. Still, he made it famous. We're including it here. "He must have made that before he died." — Talking about how he watched a Steve McQueen movie on television after the actor's death in 1980. "Slump? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hitting." — During a particularly rough stretch at the plate. "You mean right now?" — Yogi, when asked what time it was. EFTA00845113  "If I didn't wake up, I'd still be sleeping." — Well, obviously. "It's nothing but rooms." — Yogi, describing his enormous house in Montclair, N.J. If you ask me anything I don't know, Fm not going to answer." — Yogi's ground rule for radio interviews. "How long have you known me, Jack? And you still don't know how to spell my name." — Yogi to announcer Jack Buck after he paid the Yankees catcher for a pregame show appearance with a check made out to "Bearer." "If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else." - Indeed. "Baseball is go percent mental. The other half is physical." — Yogi math. Yogi Berra was such a fixture, his "Yogi-isms" so celebrated as part of the American vocabulary, that it does him a great disservice to place expressions like "it ain't over til it's over" at the top of his legacy. Those were pure gold, but for younger generations they obscure the fact that he lived an extraordinary life that ended, quietly and fittingly, on the 69th anniversary of his debut with the New York Yankees. On that day so many years ago, Berra announced that he was more than some catcher from St. Louis; he was a legendary talent on the field, going 2-for-4 with two RBI — and a home run. He went on to play for 10 Yankees World Series winners and was named American League MVP three times in the early 1950s. A .285 hitter over 19 seasons with the Yankees and Mets (for one season), he was seemingly everywhere during the Yankees' dynasty — including leaping into the arms of Don Larsen after catching the pitcher's perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Because of his constant presence as a player, a manager and a great quote, he somehow managed to become a universally beloved character on a widely despised baseball team because he was always simply Yogi being Yogi, with all that that entailed. Whether he actually said all the things he may or may not have said, it doesn't really matter. They're everywhere. According to lawyer and SI.com contributor Michael McCann, his sayings have been mentioned in 124 decisions by federal judges. He is cited more often than any other athlete in "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations." That's deceptive, though, because he lived a more heroic life off the baseball diamond. Like thousands of other men, he showed true bravery as a member of the Allied forces that landed on the beaches of Normandy on D- Day, June 6, 1944. Like so many of them, he gave little in the way of details of that day in later years EFTA00845114 and a movement to award him the Presidential Medal of Freedom did not succeed even as his health was failing. As a 19-year-old kid in World War II, he was a Navy gunner on an LCSS (landing craft support, small) boat tasked with protecting Allied troops by firing at Germans during the invasion. "You saw a lot of horrors," Berra, who was awarded a Purple Heart, told the Associated Press last year on the loth anniversary of D-Day. "I wasfortunate. It was amazing going in, all the guys over there." Berra's contributions to history didn't end there. He lived at a time of great change, as baseball became integrated . As a petition advocating that he be given the Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor, noted last summer: "... He befriended thefirst black and Latino baseball players in Major League Baseball." Only two former ballplayers, Stan Musial in 2011 and Ernie Banks two years later, have received the honor. "Everybody knows what my Grandpa did on the baseballfield and some even know about his time on the battlefield," Berra's granddaughter, Lindsay, told Fox News last summer. "I don't think they know a ton about all the humanitarian work he has done. He's been an advocatefor education," she added. "He was one of thefirst players to embrace players across racial lines. He's really used hisfame to embrace people. He helped to push the civil rights movement into theforefront." This is why is so beloved and truly is an real American original Go Yogi as they use to say when I was a kid.... and attached, please feel free to his complete bio In the Pocket of the very Rich More Than Half Of Jeb Bush's Proposed Tax Cuts Would Benefit The Top 1 Percent: Report The poorest fifth of Americans would get just under 3 percent of the tax breaks. Inline image 1 Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's plan to address economic inequality is to give more than half of the tax cuts tax plan to America's wealthiest citizens, according to a report released by the nonpartisan group Citizensfor Tax Justice, which advocates for "requiring the wealthy to pay theirfair share." While Americans at every income level would get a tax break under the presidential EFTA00845115 hopeful's plan, the report concludes, the size of that break would differ vastly. Those part of the poorest 20 percent of the country would receive, on average, a $227 cut, while those in the top 1 percent could expect about $82,392 -- a nearly 53 percent share of the individual income tax cuts. Inline image 2 In rolling out his tax proposal, which he unveiled earlier this month, Bush has occasionally adopted a populist tone, telling supporters at a North Carolina factory that "my plan will help those who live on their paychecks, who haven't seen a raise in a while." He touted the plan as a way to lower taxes, simplify the tax code, eliminate loopholes and make the American economy more competitive, describing his planned tax cut for the highest bracket as a return to Reaganomics. "At 28%, the highest tax bracket would return to where it was when President Ronald Reagan signed into law his monumental and successful1g86 tax reform," he wrote in an op-ed announcing the proposal. Think about it, this is even steeper tax cut for the wealthy than the 33 percent rate George W. Bush supported in 2000 and we haven't paid for those gifts which mainly went to the rich. Jeb Bush's plan also calls for cutting corporate taxes and the capital gains tax rate. But how is going to do this without doing the same as his brother, creating an enormous federal deficit? But then for Republicans deficits only matter when Democrats are in office because Ronald Reagan tripled the deficit and Jeb's brother took a $230 billion surplus and turned it into a $1.1 trillion deficit and there was no outcry among Republicans. SCORCHING SUMMER: HOTTEST ON RECORD! Summer 2015 Was The Hottest In Recorded History, NOAA Finds EFTA00845116  Inline image 1 It's time to do more to curl) global climate change. T ust in case you hadn't noticed, the summer of 2015 was the warmest on record in 135 years, according to federal scientists last week. The period from June through August this year registered "the highest" average temperature across land and ocean surfaces on the planet, according to data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. During the three-month time span, global land and ocean temperatures jumped up 1.53 degrees Fahrenheit above the loth century average, beating the record set in 2014 by .20 degrees Fahrenheit. The graph below, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, illustrates how much higher temperatures are than in previous record-breaking years. Inline image 2 Two other agencies came to the same conclusion this week. Mashable reported that data from NASA and the Japan Meteorological Agency showed summer 2015 was the warmest on record. The record- breaking heat should come as no surprise. Not only was summer of 2015 one for the books, but the entire year from January to August was the hottest in recorded history as well, according to NOAA's data. To date, the global temperature across land and ocean surfaces has increased 1.51 degrees EFTA00845117 Fahrenheit above the 20th century average. Rising temperatures, NOAA scientists say, are one of the greatest indicators of human-caused climate change. If 2015 continues to dock monthly temperatures higher than the average, then this year will likely surpass 2014 as the hottest ever. Last year was the warmest since 2010 and 2005, according to NOAA and NASA. NOAA scientists ran through the scenarios in a post on Thursday. The consensus: "It is extremely likely that 2015 will eclipse 2014 as the warmest year on record," the experts wrote. "The historical data suggest it would take a remarkable and abrupt reversal in the NOAAGlobalTemp time series over the remainder of the year to upend 2015's drive toward record-breaking status." Lou Leonard, vice president of the World Wildlife Fund, lamented the latest data, urging world leaders to take serious action this year. 'The needfor action on climate change has never been more evident," Leonard said in a statement. "It's up to world leaders: 2015 could go down as merely another record-breaking year of warming and its costly consequences, or it could also be the pivotal year ofprogress in thefight against climate change. The pressure is on, and Mother Nature is turning up the heat on global leaders to deliver meaningful climate action in Paris." Global leaders, including President Barack Obama, will meet in Paris later this year to hash out details of an international climate change accord aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions. The agreement is expected to include nearly 200 nations. By the way last Sunday in Studio City, CA the temperature was 108 degrees, breaking an all-time record.... Living in the Bubble Fired Walker Aide Explains Why Walker Bid Failed R. Inline image 1 As you probably know by now Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) dropped out of the 2016 Presidential race last Monday and his fired (resigned over tweets earlier this year) aide Liz Mair, went on Twitter to explain why she thought the GOP contender didn't do enough to win over potential voters and couldn't win the White House. Her tweets are reflective and actually apply to almost all of the candidates running for President in both national parties today. Take a look below to see if you feel the same... EFTA00845118  • Things he got wrong: Misunderstanding the GOP base, its priorities and stances. Pandering. Hip-flopping. • Hiring staff who did not know him well and did not understand his record or his reputation across all segments in Wisconsin. • Allowing certain staff (ahem) to marginalize and cut off people in Walker's orbit who had got him to the governorship and kept him there. • Becoming so invested in winning, no matter what it took, that he lost sight of his real identity as a political leader. • Hiring people who spent a lot to build out a massive operation that would not be sustainable unless financing remained amazing forever. • Treating Iowa as locked down, boasting early of the ability to win even in states like Nevada where winning always looked improbable. • Minor things that didn't help: Key staff spending their time on, uh, stuff other than work when campaign was flailing. • Not training himself out of tics incl instinctively answering "yes" and "absolutely" to things, comparing lots of things to union fight. • Not educating himself fast enough on issues outside governor's remit. Educating himself on some things by talking to the wrong people. Again Although the above tweets were written specifically to explain why Scott Walker's campaign failed, they are symptomatic to why our politicians are so deaf to the real issues within the country in their quest to win at all cost. How else could Jeb Bush claim that his brother kept America safe using President Bush's embracing a firefighter on the 9/11 rubble of the World Trade Center as the example.... not to mention the unnecessary war in Iraq, Katrina or the financial crisis. Or Hillary Clinton being unable to go against Wall Street where she has a lot of support, creating the opening for Bernie Sanders. And almost everything that comes out of Ben Carson mouth which has to shatter the stereotype that brain surgeons are smart. Does anyone really believe that Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, Chris Christie or Carly Fiorino really know more about foreign policy than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton? Obviously not if it is based on anything that comes out of their mouths. You have to believe that these guys and their competitors have knowledgeable people around them who understand the issues and know the facts. Scott Walker is not alone as it appears that all most all of our national leaders either live in a bubble or pander to special interest. Wake up my friends because this has to stop.... Police Officers Have Killed 881 in 2015, more than 175 of Them Unarmed 27% had Mental Illness Issues EFTA00845119  Inline image 1 The tally of people shot and killed by on-duty police officers passed 881 — a fatal milestone that is more than double the highest number of police shootings ever reported by the FBI for an entire year — according to a Washington Post database tracking all shootings death at the hands of police this year. The 844th fatal police shooting of the year occurred, the afternoon of September 15, 2015, when officers in Los Angeles shot and killed 32-year-old Florencio Chaidez, who they say was armed with a gun. Officers had gotten a call about someone disturbing the peace, and they say that when they arrived they discovered Chaidez, who matched the description of the man they were looking for. Officers say the man then produced a gun, however they have released few details and have not released body camera footage. it Inline image 3 Although police advocates claim the frequent use of force is necessary to protect officers from a highly dangerous job, the statistics don't seem to back this up. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reported that 29 officers were killed by gunfire so far in 2015, with the Officer Down Memorial Page noting that two of those deaths came from accidental discharge of their firearms. Further, Bureau of Labor Statistics released last year show that being a police officer is not even among the country's 10 most dangerous professions. Indeed, those statistics show that loggers, roofers, pilots and farmers are all more likely to be killed on the job than police. EFTA00845120  Inline image 2 Of the 881 people who have been shot and killed by officers in 2015, Ottp://killedbapiet lic the vast majority have been armed with either a gun or other potentially-deadly weapon. But at least 175 of those shot and killed were unarmed. Black Americans killed by police are twice as likely to be unarmed. And 27% of the people killed by police in 2015 so far, suffered from some form of mental illness. Federal data on police shootings is notoriously inaccurate and incomplete — in large part because the data they collect is voluntarily reported, and most police departments do not participate. The FBI has never recorded more than 46o fatal police shootings in any year going back to at least 1976. The Guardian, relying on public documents, local news coverage and original reporting had confirmed almost 500 such shootings in just the first six months of the year. As of Wednesday 862 (The Guardian) people have been slain this year by police officers whose job it is to protect all of us including the people who they killed and this in my rant of the week... WEEK's READINGS Pope Francis The People's Pope EFTA00845121  Inline image 1 Like many in America I found myself compelled to watch and was charmed by Pope Francis (The People's Pope) who non-judgemental approach has the gift of enabling Catholics, Protestants, Arabs, Jews, agnostics and others, whether they be conservatives or liberals to find truth in their being from his words — although it appears that most have selective hearing when it comes to looking at his beliefs in the total, as it seems that he gives almost everyone ammunition to support some of their beliefs. For example, although I am a progressive/liberal, I adore Pope Francis who is definitely not a Bernie Sanders, being that he opposes any type of abortion, same-sex marriage, gay adoption, trans-gender rights, all forms of contraception the death penalty and has ruled out women Priest. Yet, because of his affinity for the rights of the poor and his rage against inequality, as well as his support of the Iranian nuclear agreement and climate change science, I love him. And what also amazes me is this 78 year-old always smiling's stamina, exuberance, showmanship and down-to-earth wisdom. He truly is a statesman on the highest plane and it is a shame that none of the people seeking the 2016 presidency in either major political party have an inkling of this gift. Like many I noticed was elevated by his historic speech in front of a joint meeting of Congress, where he — "'Am Convinced That We Can Make A Difference" — encouraged lawmakers to work together to solve the problems of ordinary Americans and to show compassion for people across the globe who are suffering from war and hunger. His message touched on some of the biggest political controversies of our day, — immigration and the migration crisis in Europe, the death penalty, abortion, the arms trade, poverty and religious extremism. In conclusion, the pope says: "In these remarks I have sought to present some of the richness of your cultural heritage, of the spirit of the American people. It is my desire that this spirit continue to develop and grow, so that as many young people as possible can inherit and dwell in a land which has inspired so many people to dream. God bless America!" After his visit to Capitol Hill and a brief visit to Catholic Charities the Pope flew off to New York where he took a helicopter from Kennedy Airport entering midtown in his signature Fiat but moved to his "Popemobile" for the last few blocks down Fifth Avenue to the cathedral, waving to enthusiastic crowds with church bells chiming. In his homily at St. Patrick's, he avoided political issues and spoke instead to Roman Catholics, particularly the many priests, nuns and brothers in his audience, about spiritual issues. Francis began his homily with something not in his prepared text — an expression of sympathy to "our Muslim brothers and sisters", adding, "in theface of the tragedy they have suffered in Mecca," referring to the death off more than 700 in a stampede there. Speaking in Spanish from a lectern on the high altar of St. Patrick's, the pope focused on a call for "gratitude and hard work," which he called "pillars of the spiritual life." But he was twice interrupted by loud applause when he praised U.S. nuns, who'd been the subject of a Vatican investigation that Francis closed after taking office in EFTA00845122 2013 following the sudden resignation of Benedict XVI. Francis, offered "my special thanks to women religious of the United States. What would we do without you?' After the applause finally died down, he went on to call nuns "women of strength" and "fighters" against poverty and for social justice. He told them, "I love you very much!" In this special shout-out, he cited nuns' role in what he called "the evolving pastoral landscape" — which could have been an allusion to the church's worsening priest shortage, or a growing leadership role he envisions for women, or both. But even before he had reached New York, I too was now smitten by this People's Pope. Friday, the Pope started his day by addressing the UN General Assembly where he expressed his support for the Iranian nuclear deal and education for women and called for environmental responsibility and lamented the impact of decades of abuse on the world's poor. He then went down to the 9/11 World Trade Center site where surrounded by where representatives of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity — heard him eulogize those who died trying to rescue others. "New York Cityfirefighters walked into the crumbling towers, with no concernfor their own well- being," he said. "Many succumbed. Their sacrifice enabled great numbers to be saved." He called the site "a place ofsaved lives, a hymn to the triumph of life over the prophets of destruction and death." And he called for peace. "Peace in our homes, ourfamilies, our schools and communities. Peace in all those places where war never seems to end. Peacefor thosefaces which have known nothing but pain. God ofpeace, bring your peace to our violent world." The afternoon's first stop for Francis was Our Lady Queen of the Angels School on East 112th Street. The neighborhood was perhaps the day's least polished backdrop, with its hair salons and "We Buy Gold" signs. ("I hope he brings some blessings to the block," a local superintendent had said on Thursday.) Inside a brightly colored classroom, he warmly greeted about two dozen children — "This is nice!" he said — and examined class projects — "This is a solar panel,"one boy explained — before evoking the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "His dream was that many children, many people could have equal opportunities," Francis said. He joked to the students that he was giving them homework: "Please don'tforget to prayfor me." From there, he went to Central Park, where he addressed 8o,000 the largest crowd of the day by far. He ended the evening at Madison Square Garden with a Mass for 20,000 where he said, "A hope which liberates usfrom theforces pushing us to isolation and lack of concern for the lives of others,for the !fie of our city. A hope whichfrees usfrom empty connections,from abstract analyses or sensationalistic routines. A hope which is unafraid of involvement, which acts as a leaven wherever we happen to live and work. A hope which makes us see, even in the midst of smog, the presence of God as he continues to walk the streets of our city." Also, "A hope which liberates usfrom theforces pushing us to isolation and lack of concern for the lives of others,for the life of our city. A hope which fives usfrom empty connections,from abstract analyses or sensationalistic routines. A hope which is unafraid of involvement, which acts as a leaven wherever we happen to live and work. A hope which makes us see, even in the midst of smog, the presence of God as he continues to walk the streets of our city." On Saturday, where Francis speaking at the birthplace of the United States, urged immigrants to keep their spirits high in the face of resistance. "Many of you have immigrated to this country at great personal cost, but in the hope of building a new life. Do not be discouraged by whatever challenges and hardships you face," the pope, standing before Independence Mall in Philadelphia. "I ask you not toforget that, like those who came here before you, you bring many gifts to your new nation. You should never be ashamed of your traditions." The speech, which was punctuated by repeated applause, came after a jam-packed day of events for the pontiff, who arrived in Philadelphia on EFTA00845123 Saturday morning and kicked off the day with Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul amid high security. It was the third and final city on his historic U.S. trip — which marked the first time the Buenos Aires-born pope has been to America. For seven days this People's Pope held America captive, his every move was recorded, his words were analyzed, the issues he raised were noted, and his moving gestures were the subject of rich commentary. While the policy challenges posed by Pope Francis were significant, most striking was the way he was able to firmly ground his message within an American narrative. In his address before Congress in which he focused on the values embodied in and the lessons to be learned from the lives and work of four "great Americans" (Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, and Thomas Merton), Francis spoke not as an outsider but as one of us. Across his many speeches were subtle and not so subtle aspects of the visit that spoke of the amazing journey of the Catholic Church in America - -a journey that has seen the many diverse ethnic immigrant groups who make up the Catholic community move from "the rejected stones to the cornerstone" of American life. In his opening remarks in front of Congress, Pope Francis identified with this American story, referring to himself "as a son of an immigrantfamily...happy to be a guest in this country which was largely built by suchfamilies". When Francis went on to describe the commitment of American Catholics to the "building of a society which is tolerant and inclusive... that rejects everyform of unjust discrimination", he was reflecting an aspiration born of the very real and difficult experiences Catholics have faced during their time in America. In a teaching moment, during his address to Congress, Pope Francis reminded all Americans of what they should learn from their history noting that "In recent centuries, millions ofpeople came to this land to pursue their dreams of building a betterfuture infreedom. We, the people of this continent, are notfearful offoreigners, because most of us were onceforeigners...knowing that so many of you are also descendedfrom immigrants...When the stranger in our midst appeals to us, we must not...turn our back...rejecting the mindset of hostility." As James Zogby wrote the week in The Blog - it was striking that in the very week that Pope Francis was pointing out these lessons drawn from the American Catholic experience, some Republican presidential aspirants and Congressional leaders were engaging in crude and vile Islamophobic attacks: with Ben Carson claiming that a Muslim couldn't be president because Islam was incompatible with the American Constitution, and Members of Congress rejecting President Obama's announcement that the US would increase the number of Syrian refugees we will welcome into the country, arguing that this increase could become a "pipelinefor terrorists". That these arguments echoed those made by bigots against Catholics or Jews was disturbingly obvious to those "who had eyes to see and ears to hear." And it reminds us of the truth that Francis sought to teach -- that just as our nation's history is one of groups overcoming adversity in the never-ending search for justice and equality, we must face head on the never-ending challenge to be vigilant in the preservation and promotion of these very same values. For centuries people have been hijacking religion, twisting and redefining the teachings of their god to fit their ideological dogma of intolerance, bigotry and exclusion. But ever since he was elected in 2013, Francis has been vocally progressive and thought-provoking, often times arousing disappointment and ire among many conservatives and the papal establishment who oppose what they consider his "liberal" statements and positions. And Thursday's speech in the nation's Capital was no different. The Pontiff stepped squarely into Americans' difficult national dialogue on gay marriage, immigration, refugees, poverty, income inequality, "unbridled capitalism," capital punishment, gun violence and climate change. He spoke of "humility and devotion," and implored Christians and people of all faiths EFTA00845124 to help the poor, the sick, the hungry and the homeless. "Be kind to strangers," he said. And, "we know that Jesus wanted to show solidarity with every person." To be sure, Francis is the People's Pope. His warmth, compassion, energy, accessibility and somewhat populist views on at least a few controversial subjects have given him rock-star status among the masses. But the adulation for Francis doesn't come without a measure of residual disappointment in him and the Church on issues, for example, relating to women, homosexuality and birth control. That said, Francis indeed deserves major praise for taking the controversial steps to move the church and the Papacy into the 21st century. Rome wasn't built in a day. Still.... I really like this People's Pope.... And I hope that you do too... The Dangers of Visible Inequality A new study shows that the wealthy are less benevolent when they know just how poor their neighbors are. it Inline image 1 Many commentators have pointed to disturbances in Ferguson and elsewhere over the past year as proof that economic inequality leads to tensions and even violence. But new research out from Yale University suggests that it's not the presence of inequality that causes problems, but rather the visibility of that inequality. "Making wealth visible was a very corrosive force. It resulted in the rich exploiting the poor," said Nicholas A. Christakis, the co-director of Yale Institute for Network Science and one of the senior authors of the study. When wealthy people find out that their neighbors don't have the resources they do, researchers find, they're less likely to help them, or anyone else. The study provided a deep dive into human behavior and wealth via software that allowed researchers to create virtual temporary societies over which they had "God-like" control, Christalds told me. The EFTA00845125 societies consist of real people, playing for real stakes. In this instance, researchers grouped together subjects and assigned them arbitrary units of wealth. They were then asked to either cooperate with their neighbors by reducing their own wealth by 5o units in order to increase the wealth of all neighbors by too units, or to defect—paying no cost at all and reaping no benefits. After they made that choice, they were allowed to decide whether to stay connected to their same neighbors or not for the next round. Researchers found that when rich subjects knew that their neighbors were less wealthy than they were, they became less likely to cooperate with them. The poor, however, chose to keep cooperating. This leads to what researchers call an exploitation scenario, in which the poor keep lowering their own wealth to invest in their local network, "making them worse off relative to their neighbors and allowing the rich to get richer," the researchers write. When rich subjects don't know the wealth of their neighbors, though, they are more likely to cooperate than are poorer subjects. This leads to what researchers call a "fairness" scenario, in which the rich invest their wealth into a local network, which then grows richer as a whole. Overall, visible poverty reduces overall cooperation, interconnectedness, and wealth. But inequality itself has "relatively little" impact on cooperation or interconnectedness. "Most people thinking about inequality today may be confusing two distinct phenomenon," Christalds told me. Back in the days of the Gilded Age, when inequality was as pervasive as it is today, these gaps were not as visible, Christakis said. The wealthy were sequestered behind gates in mansions while the poor lived in squalor elsewhere. Now, with the Internet and social media, disparities in wealth are much more obvious. Applying these findings to the outside world could be a challenge. Christalds said the results could be useful for companies that are deciding whether or not to make employees' salaries public. Companies where wages are unequal may be better off not making those figures available, while places where wages are nearly equal could gain some goodwill by making those public, he said. The researchers suggest that concealing personal-wealth information might lead to lower income inequality. But it seems that allowing the rich to hide their wealth wouldn't be effective unless the rich also had no way of knowing how poor others are. That's unlikely since wealth and poverty marks everyone, in the clothes they wear, in the places they live, and how they get around. Short of requiring everyone to wear brown-paper sacks, live side-by-side in similar houses, and drive around in similar cars, there's likely no way to disguise wealth and poverty in America today. The visibility of inequality may matter more than inequality itself, but no matter where you go, the discrepancy has a way of making itself known. Alana Semuels — The Atlantic — Sept. 9, 2015 ****** The Beginning of the End for Trump: His Sarah Palin Moment EFTA00845126  !aline image s There comes a moment in the political life of every big-personality, more-sizzle-than-steak candidate when they step across the line of legitimacy, or illegitimacy (depending on your perspective), even for media addicted to the high ratings these candidate-entertainers provide. That moment for Sarah Palin was her Katie Couric interview in 2008 -- the hockey-mom-has-no-clothes revealing from which she, and the McCain campaign, never recovered. In Donald Trump's candidacy -- which The Huffington Post is appropriately covering in our Entertainment section -- the equivalent moment might have just happened. It was not the moment in the second Republican debate when Carly Fiorina carved him up like an Easter ham with her withering "I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said" zinger. That drew blood (as did the dramatic 12 seconds she remained silent after her response), but it wasn't fatal. No, historians looking back will peg the beginning of the end of the Trump show to his New Hampshire moment last week. Taking questions at a town hall event in Rochester, Trump listened as an audience member asserted that President Obama is a Muslim, "not even an American." Trump looked the man square in the eye, and declared: "No ... He's a decent family man [and] a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign's all about. He's not [an Arab]." Just kidding. That was actually what John McCain -- the one Trump said is "not a war hero" -- said to a woman at a campaign rally in 2008 who claimed that President Obama was an Arab. What Trump really said was, well, pretty much nothing: "We are going to be looking at a lot of different things and, you know, a lot ofpeople are saying that." Video of the exchange web link: https://youtu.be/RCtAJNiplaw There are few things as absolute in damning a candidate as a refusal to acknowledge simple reality -- especially a candidate who says he'll be tough with our enemies but refuses to even stand up to his own supporters. Refusing to acknowledge that Obama was born in this country is the equivalent of refusing to say that the earth is round. Even Trump's own supporters are embarrassed. Mark Cuban on Real Time with Bill Maher last Friday had to scramble for cover by categorically stating that the candidate he's supporting for president "is not gonna win. He's got no chance... none." So when will the media be embarrassed enough to refuse to continue to give Trump the large megaphone they are giving him? Not because he's the front-runner -- come on, let's stop pretending that's the reason -- but because of the ratings he fuels as the entertainer he undoubtedly is. As Sarah Palin demonstrated, even the ratings-crazed media are capable of falling out of love with a big-ratings EFTA00845127 stunt candidate. With Trump, you can already see it happening. The cracks are beginning to show. And when the media fall out of love they fall out of love very quickly. Arianna Huffington — Huffington Post — September 22, 2015 The Republican Party Has Given Up on Hispanics The second debate showed how far the GOP has strayed from its post-2012 strategy Mama image I Neither Rick Santorum nor Senator Lindsey Graham are likely to win the Republican nomination for president, much less the presidency itself. But their back-and-forth at Wednesday undercard debate illustrated, better than any other exchange of the night, why immigration is such a divisive, and potentially decisive, issue for the Republicans. Graham won applause from the establishment-friendly crowd by calling for Republicans to reach out to Hispanic voters, but in the end, the toxic blend of faux-populism and xenophobia that Santorum championed is the dominant strain in the GOP primary The GOP's autopsy of its 2012 election loss laid out "how precarious our position has become" vis-a-vis the Hispanic community. Mitt Romney had performed dismally among Hispanics voters, famously suggesting that America's ii million undocumented immigrants self-deport, and those voters comprise an increasingly important bloc in swing states like Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, and Florida. The report, which came short of advancing policy solutions, suggested that Republicans reverse this trend by being more "inclusive and welcoming" to Hispanics. George W. Bush secured 44 percent of the Latino vote in 2000 by preaching a compassionate brand of conservatism, the report claimed. Any candidate hoping to seize back the White House in 2016 needed to do likewise. Graham made this same point Wednesday. Bush "won with Hispanics," he said (abeit inaccurately), and chastised Santorum and others for supporting politically unfeasible, unpopular hardline proposals like mass deportation. EFTA00845128  "What we need to do," Santorum responded, "is we need to win—we need to win fighting for Americans. We need to win fighting for Americans in this country." "Hispanics," said Graham, cutting in, "are Americans." In the 2016 Republican primary race, this has become an assertion worthy of the applause it received. Graham is hardly liberal on immigration: For one, he favors ending birthright citizenship. His grievance with Santorum stems solely from the practical difficulties and political inexpediency of deportation on such a bold scale. That is, he's one of the few prominent Republicans to put the message of the 2013 GOP report into practice. In the aftermath of President Barack Obama's re- election, he worked with Senator Marco Rubio and Senate Democrats on a comprehensive immigration bill to establish a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Faced with intense backlash from conservatives like Senator Ted Cruz, who joined Santorum on Wednesday night in referring to the plan as "amnesty," Rubio went on to oppose his own bill. Two years later, with an ongoing debate over how best to do away with the Fourteenth Amendment, and Mitt Romney's self- deportation proposal seems downright friendly. Later Wednesday, on the main debate stage, the closest anyone came to challenging the hardline anti- immigration stance was Chris Christie, who, like Graham, took care not to object to the principle. Instead, Christie said only that the identification, tracking, and forced removal of n million individuals from the United States is "an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers." Ben Carson, another deportation skeptic, clarified that he "would be willing to listen" to anyone who could explain "exactly how" such a purge would be accomplished. In over five hours of debate Wednesday, the only candidate to express a moral opposition to mass deportation was Jeb Bush, who said it would "destroy community life" and "tear families apart"—but only after lamenting the "hundreds of billions of dollars" it would cost. Bush also defended his bilingualism and his wife's Mexican heritage, which Donald Trump has suggested is influencing Bush's "soft" immigration position, but he did it so tepidly as to merely raise further doubts about his ability to challenge the real-estate magnate, on immigration or anything else. What we are seeing now is more than just the usual dash to the right in the Republican primary. It is the end stages of a long fight for the soul of the party itself, the "tug of war," as New Republic's Brian Beutler has written, "between its own ego and its conservative id." It may be tempting to dismiss Trump's fearmongering ("They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.") or Bobby Jindal's fascism ("immigration without assimilation is invasion") as outlandish and politically untenable, but Santorum's appeal to the anxieties of "workers" is in keeping with a demonstrated decades-long migration of white lower and lower-middle class voters to the Republican Party. Taken together, they are articulating a coherent strategy to win back political power, one predicated on the supposed threat that immigration poses to the security, cultural purity, and economic stability of white America. Republican elites believe that they can stave off this racialized fissure with bilingual campaign ads and half-hearted appeals to pragmatism. What they ignore is not simply the extent to which they themselves have deliberately encouraged the accommodation of white supremacy within their ranks, but the likelihood that those elements actually have a more coherent vision for the future than they do. Latinos are not a one-issue monolith. Polling shows their views on key issues such as climate change, social welfare, and the minimum wage are out of line with GOP policy. Whites, meanwhile, still make EFTA00845129 up over 70 percent of voters. It's entirely possible, likely even, that scaring enough white voters away from the Democrats to win a general election represents a more manageable task than moderating the Republican Party on almost every major issue. So while Santorum stands no better chance of becoming the next president than Graham does, his strategy of pitting working class whites against immigrants at least has the prospect of electoral success. Consciously or not, the Republican Party has decided to put it to the test. Steven Cohen — New Republic — September 17, 2015 Why Europe's Trains Are So Much Better Than America's High-speed rail is great for the environment and the economy—and it's going to be a while before the U.S. catches up. Inline image 1 If you have taken a high-speed train almost anywhere on the European Continent you will noticed the difference from that train to any here in America. Riding the high-speed train between Berlin and Hamburg, Germany's two largest cities or the Eurostar between Paris and London or between London and Brussels is a radically different experience from riding its American counterpart, Amtrak's Acela, which connects major East Coast cities. Both the Eurostar and Germany's InterCity Express (ICE) ride is as smooth as a Mercedes on the Autobahn. The conductor comes around politely offering to bring you coffee. The bathroom doors open electronically with the push of a button for disability access. There's no perennial stopping and starting of the train, no grumpy barking conductor, no herky-jerky rolling of the bathroom doors, none of Amtrak's chronically late arrivals. And on German trains, the wi-fi actually works. At 45 euros each way, roughly $50, it isn't cheap. Bu