Analysis | Poland’s in crisis again. Here’s what you should know about the far right’s latest power-grab.

Expect heavy street protests when the Law and Justice Party announces its backroom deal to control the courts.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/11/28/polands-in-crisis-again-here-are-3-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-law-and-justice-partys-attempt-to-take-over-the-courts/?source=Snapzu

YouTube takes down Finnish music videos as licenses run out

The world's largest online video service, YouTube, took down a big chunk of the Finnish music hosted on the platform on Thursday morning after an agreement on licensing ran out. The organisation responsible for administering copyright in the Finnish music industry, Teosto, said that a new, temporary contract was agreed on Thursday morning—but it could be days before all the videos are back up.
Read more: https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/youtube_takes_down_finnish_music_videos_as_licenses_run_out/9955587?source=Snapzu

Russell Simmons steps down after sexual assault allegation

Simmons, the founder of hip-hop music label Def Jam Recordings and CEO of Rush Communications, released a statement on Thursday after screenwriter Jenny Lumet accused him of forcing her to have sex with him in 1991.
Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/30/media/russell-simmons-sexual-assault-stepping-down-companies/index.html?source=Snapzu

Alleged terror mastermind with $10M U.S. bounty on head is freed

Pakistani authorities released the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks from house arrest, but he still has a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head. Hafiz Saeed, whose arrest in January was seen as a signal of a broader shift in Pakistan’s treatment of extremists, was freed before dawn Friday local time in the city of Lahore, according to Hafiz Abdul Rauf, a spokesman for the Islamist cleric's charity. "I’m happy that no allegation against me was proved, which could have done damage to me, or my country’s interests," Saeed later told supporters. "Thank God, we were vindicated."
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pakistan-frees-hafiz-saeed-alleged-mastermind-mumbai-attacks-n823731/?source=Snapzu

I’m a Depression historian. The GOP tax bill is straight out of 1929.

Republicans are again sprinting toward an economic cliff.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/11/30/im-a-depression-historian-the-gop-tax-bill-is-straight-out-of-1929/?source=Snapzu

What does your conspiracy chart say about you?

There are several kinds of conspiracy webs. By Joseph E. Uscinski.
Read more: https://www.vox.com/mischiefs-of-faction/2017/11/22/16687544/conspiracy-charts?source=Snapzu

How Cubism Protected Warships in World War I

Dazzle camouflage used to save warships from enemy targeters. Now it's back, reinvented with e-ink displays that cloak a San Diego building.
Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/dazzle-camouflage-san-diego-world-war-i/?source=Snapzu

Roy Moore Just Blamed His Sexual Misconduct Allegations On Lesbians, Gays, And Socialists

Speaking from a church pulpit in Alabama, the Republican Senate candidate said the "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender...socialists" are behind the "malicious" allegations against him.
Read more: https://www.buzzfeed.com/briannasacks/roy-moore-just-blamed-the-lgbt-community-for-the-sexual?source=Snapzu

Photograph of Jefferson Davis in Women’s Clothing

After the Civil War, popular prints and doctored photographs played on the idea that Confederate president Jefferson Davis had been arrested wearing women’s clothes. By Stassa Edwards.
Read more: http://mentalfloss.com/article/84231/show-tell-photograph-jefferson-davis-womens-clothing?source=Snapzu

India is miles ahead of the US with its ironclad net neutrality rules

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has published its recommendations for upholding net neutrality guidelines (PDF) across the country today, and boy, do they look good – for consumers, that is. The country has been tussling with the issue of regulating internet service providers’ ability to throttle traffic and create fast lanes for specific sources of content; TRAI has previously sought comments from the public on how to shape its rules. Today, it’s recommended that all ISPs should adhere to the principle of non-discriminatory treatment of content.
Read more: https://thenextweb.com/in/2017/11/28/india-preps-to-enforce-ironclad-net-neutrality-regulations/?source=Snapzu

How Southern socialites rewrote Civil War history

The United Daughters of the Confederacy altered the South’s memory of the Civil War. By Coleman Lowndes.
Read more: https://www.vox.com/videos/2017/10/25/16545362/southern-socialites-civil-war-history?source=Snapzu

The FCC's Attack On Net Neutrality Is Based Entirely On Debunked Lobbyist Garbage Data

For several years now one of the broadband industry's biggest criticisms of net neutrality is that it "utterly devastated" investment into broadband networks. But for just as long, we've noted how every time a journalist or analyst actually dissects that claim, they find it's completely unsupportable. What objective analysts do tend to find is that the telecom sector hires an army of economists, consultants, fauxcademics and lobbyists more than happy to manipulate, distort and twist the data until it supports whatever conclusion they're paid to parrot.
Read more: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20171128/08330138690/fccs-attack-net-neutrality-is-based-entirely-debunked-lobbyist-garbage-data.shtml?source=Snapzu

Computer glitch leaves American Airlines without any pilots for Christmas

A computer glitch has allowed all of American Airlines’ pilots to take vacation during the week of Christmas, according to ABC and Reuters. The error could leave thousands of planes grounded during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. Citing the union that represents pilots, Reuters reports that over 15,000 planes currently lack pilot assignments in December. “On Friday, management disclosed a failure within the pilot schedule bidding system,” the Allied Pilots Association said in a statement.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/29/16716152/american-airlines-computer-glitch-pilot-vacation-december?source=Snapzu

Don’t lose a finger: The 200-year evolution of the can opener

It took 15 years to invent the can. It took 100 more to invent a standard way to open it.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/11/dont-lose-a-finger-the-200-year-evolution-of-the-can-opener/?source=Snapzu

Skeletons found on Japan 'ghost ship'

Japanese authorities are trying to identify eight people whose badly decomposed remains were found on a wooden boat that washed up on a beach. The discovery took place in the northern Akita prefecture. It comes days after a group of men claiming to be North Korean fishermen washed onshore in the same area.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42148099?source=Snapzu

Top US general says Taliban 'living in comfort' in Pakistan

It's been nearly 100 days since President Donald Trump announced his new strategy for Afghanistan and the wider region, a strategy that demanded Pakistan do more to fight the Taliban, but Pakistan has yet to take significant action against the Taliban, according to the commander of US and international forces in Afghanistan.
Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/28/politics/nicholson-us-taliban-afghanistan/index.html?source=Snapzu

Yellen: $20 trillion national debt 'should keep people awake at night'

With Congress wrestling over a tax reform plan that critics say would explode the government budget deficit, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she also is concerned over the surging level of public debt. A Senate committee passed the GOP-sponsored proposal, which would slash the corporate tax rate and lower individual income rates for many Americans.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/29/yellen-20-trillion-national-debt-should-keep-people-awake-at-night.html?source=Snapzu

Reactions pour in following Trump's anti-Islamic retweets

UK lawmakers are condemning the president's retweets of videos depicting anti-Islamic imagery
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/reactions-pour-in-following-trumps-anti-islamic-retweets/?source=Snapzu

Donald Trump state visit should be withdrawn 'immediately', MP demands

British Prime Minister Theresa May has condemned Donald Trump after the US president shared a series of anti-Muslim tweets from far-right extremist group Britain First, sparking condemnation for spreading its “deplorable” ideology to a global audience.
Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-live-updates-britain-first-video-twitter-us-president-uk-far-right-islamophobia-racist-a8082381.html?source=Snapzu

Strong Evidence that U.S. Special Operations Forces Massacred Civilians in Somalia

An investigation by The Daily Beast on the ground in Somalia appears to confirm that American soldiers were involved directly in the deaths of 10 innocent civilians.
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/strong-evidence-that-us-special-operations-forces-massacred-civilians-in-somalia?source=Snapzu

Police shooting victim's girlfriend to receive $800K for emotional distress, arrest

The girlfriend of Philando Castile, Diamond Reynolds, will receive $800,000 under a settlement announced on Tuesday, more than one year after a Minnesota police officer shot and killed Castile in front of her and their 4-year-old daughter, according to city officials. Reynolds, who live-streamed the gruesome aftermath of the shooting in July 2016, would receive $675,000 from the city of St. Anthony, Minnesota, along with an additional $125,000 from the city of Roseville and the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust as a part of the agreement, officials said Tuesday.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/philando-castiles-girlfriend-receive-800000-settlement-emotional-distress/story?id=51453256?source=Snapzu

Deeply unpopular Congress aims to pass deeply unpopular bill for deeply unpopular president to sign

But there's a reason.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/11/29/deeply-unpopular-congress-aims-to-pass-deeply-unpopular-bill-for-deeply-unpopular-president-to-sign/?source=Snapzu

Man who inspired ALS Ice Bucket Challenge succumbs to the disease at age 46

Anthony Senerchia, whose struggle with the motor disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) was an early inspiration for the viral “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge,” died November 25 after a 14-year long battle with the disease, according to an online obituary. He was 46. Senerchia, from Pelham, N.Y., was diagnosed with the disease in 2003, shortly after marrying his wife Jeanette Hane. He was given only a few years to live, but he powered through the disease for the next 14 years, his obituary reads.
Read more: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/nation-world/national/article187067048.html?source=Snapzu

King of Boise

The life and times of a teenage Oxycodone dealer.
Read more: https://psmag.com/magazine/king-of-boise?source=Snapzu

NBC Fires Matt Lauer Over Sexual Misconduct Allegation

The network’s news president, Andrew Lack, said in a memo, “We were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.”
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/business/media/nbc-matt-lauer.html?source=Snapzu

FCC’s Ajit Pai: ‘When it comes to an open Internet, Twitter is part of the problem’

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, as part of the plan to promote his plan to undo the country’s net neutrality rules, has thrown Twitter and other online services under the bus in order to show that it’s not just broadband providers that can exert control over internet content. “When it comes to an open Internet, Twitter is part of the problem,” he explained. “The company has a viewpoint and uses that viewpoint to discriminate.”
Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/28/fccs-ajit-pai-when-it-comes-to-an-open-internet-twitter-is-part-of-the-problem/?source=Snapzu

Why do Texas prisons ban 'Freakonomics' but not Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'?

More than 10,000 books are banned from Texas prisons, but they might not be the ones you think. Alice Walker's The Color Purple, which won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for fiction, is not allowed. Neither is Freakonomics, the 2005 bestseller that explained concepts such as cheating at school and parenting techniques using economic theory.
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2017/11/27/texas-prisons-ban-freakonomics-big-book-angels-adolf-hitlers-mein-kampf?source=Snapzu

Angela Lansbury says women must 'sometimes take blame' for sexual harassment

Renowned actress Angela Lansbury is facing criticism after saying women "must sometimes take blame" for sexual harassment because of the way they dress. In an interview Monday with British entertainment media company RadioTimes, Lansbury said women "have gone out of their way to make themselves attractive. And unfortunately it has backfired on us... Although it's awful to say we can't make ourselves look as attractive as possible without being knocked down and raped."
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/28/entertainment/angela-lansbury-sexual-harassment-comments-trnd/index.html?source=Snapzu

Germany to invest 1 billion euros in lowering air pollution

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the federal government will provide 1 billion euros (1.2 billion dollars) to cities and towns across the country in 2018 in an effort to make traffic more environmentally friendly. The money is to be invested in finding traffic solutions to lower air pollution. Many cities in Germany face driving bans because the air pollution is frequently above the allowed maximum levels due to the many cars' exhaust fumes.
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/germany-invest-1-billion-euros-133512842.html?source=Snapzu

Damascus shelling kills three before truce agreed

Shelling killed three people in the last major rebel stronghold near Damascus on Tuesday, a war monitor said, shortly before the UN Syria envoy said the government had agreed a ceasefire there.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-ghouta/damascus-shelling-kills-three-before-truce-agreed-idUSKBN1DS11L?source=Snapzu

Air Force Failed to Report Dozens of Service Members to Gun Database

Dozens of Air Force service members charged with or convicted of serious crimes were never reported to the federal gun background-check database as required, Air Force officials said on Tuesday. The revelation came after the Air Force disclosed that it had failed to report the domestic violence conviction of Devin P. Kelley, the gunman who opened fire at a church in Texas this month. Under federal law, Mr. Kelley’s court-martial conviction for domestic assault should have prevented him from purchasing at a gun store the rifle he used in the attack, as well as other guns he acquired over the past four years.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/28/us/air-force-devin-kelley-gunman-texas.html?source=Snapzu

North Korea Launches Ballistic Missile in Latest Provocation

North Korea shattered a two-month period of relative quiet by test-firing a missile that analysts say may put the U.S. east coast in range. Japan said the intercontinental ballistic missile flew for 53 minutes on a lofted trajectory and may have reached an altitude of more than 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) before landing in waters about 250 kilometers from its northwest coast. U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said that it flew higher than any previous North Korean launch.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-28/north-korea-fires-ballistic-missile-yonhap-reports-citing-south-korea-jcs?source=Snapzu

Trump donated to Project Veritas before organization tried to trick Washington Post

President Donald Trump donated to an agency with a history of trying to take down liberal organizations, an agency that is now accused of trying to dupe The Washington Post with a fake Roy Moore claim in an undercover operation. The newspaper found out that a woman was lying after contacting reporters with a false claim that she'd become pregnant after having sex with Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore when she was a teenage girl. She claimed he then took her to get an abortion.
Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/trump-donated-project-veritas-organization-tried-trick-washington-post-723888?source=Snapzu

Brazil Is Giving Its Prisoners One of the World’s Most Powerful Psychedelics as Part of the Rehabilitation Process

Ayahuasca may be helping to reduce rates of recidivism at Brazil's prisons. Some of Brazil's violent offenders are being offered the opportunity for radical rehabilitation via the powerful psychedelic experience of the ayahuasca ceremony.
Read more: https://www.alternet.org/drugs/brazil-offers-ayahuasca-healing-some-its-prisoners?source=Snapzu

Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago

Except in France.
Read more: https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/11/daily-chart-20?source=Snapzu

Mount Agung eruption imminent on Bali island

Thousands of people living near the Mount Agung volcano on Bali have been ordered to evacuate as fears of an eruption continue to grow. Residents living within a 10km radius have been told to leave the area as Mount Agung might erupt for the first time in 54 years. So far, about 40,000 people have been evacuated, almost half of the planned 100,000 people that are supposed to move because of the risk of an eruption.
Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/11/mount-agung-eruption-imminent-bali-island-171127162234293.html?source=Snapzu

3,000 migrants died in Mediterranean this year

More than 3,000 migrants and refugees have died crossing the Mediterranean in a desperate bid to reach Europe's shores since the start of the year, the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday. The figure so far represents a 40 percent drop compared to last year's record of 5,000 known or suspected drownings. "That mark (was) probably passed sometime over last weekend," when more than 30 migrants died off the coast of Libya, IOM spokesman Joel Millman told reporters in Geneva.
Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20171128-3000-migrants-died-mediterranean-year-iom?source=Snapzu

A Mafia State Within a Totalitarian Society

Reflections on Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin from the writer Masha Gessen, whose new book about Russia won the 2017 National Book Award for nonfiction. By Adrienne LaFrance.
Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/11/a-mafia-state-within-a-totalitarian-society/546848/?source=Snapzu

Radioactive playing cards found in Berlin

Police say players could wear a hidden detector to help them detect certain cards and cheat.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42157129?source=Snapzu

The US Coast Guard is operating floating prisons in the Pacific Ocean, outside US legal protections

If you've followed the War on Terror at all, you're almost certainly familiar with the US detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba — a US prison that exists outside the realm of the US justice system.
Read more: https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-11-24/us-coast-guard-operating-floating-prisons-pacific-ocean-outside-us-legal?source=Snapzu

Vietnam jails 22-year-old blogger for his reporting on environmental disaster

The Vietnamese blogger will serve seven years in prison, and will then face an additional three years of house arrest under charges of "conducting propaganda against the state"
Read more: http://sea-globe.com/vietnam-blog-jail/?source=Snapzu

Is Chief Justice Roberts A Secret Liberal?

His leftward shift may have as much to do with institutional pressures as ideology.
Read more: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/is-chief-justice-roberts-a-secret-liberal/?source=Snapzu

Chicago cop Marco Proano, who shot at stolen car full of black teens, sentenced

Maco Proano fired 16 shots, wounding two of the teens, authorities said; he was sentenced on civil rights charges.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chicago-cop-marco-proano-who-shot-at-stolen-car-full-of-black-teens-sentenced/?source=Snapzu

New Drone Strikes Underscore How Much Power We Give Trump

Americans rolled over for decades while we gave the executive branch unreviewable authority to kill – now that power is in the hands of an idiot. By Matt Taibbi.
Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/taibbi-drone-strikes-underscore-how-much-power-we-give-trump-w512658?source=Snapzu

Woman convicted of fabricating gang rape charged with fleeing deputies

A woman jailed for making up a story about a gang rape fled from the sheriff's custody when she was taken to a hospital for treatment, according to a prosecutor. Leiha Ann-Sue Artman, 26, of Montague has been charged with resisting and obstructing police. She was convicted in 2016 of making up a horrific story about being kidnapped by four men, blindfolded and raped.
Read more: http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2017/11/woman_convicted_of_fabricating.html?source=Snapzu

North Korea fires missile towards Japan – possibly its most powerful yet

Pyongyang has conducted its first ballistic test launch in two months, reigniting tensions in the region
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/28/north-korea-has-fired-ballistic-missile-say-reports-in-south-korea?source=Snapzu

U.S. judge says Uber withheld evidence, gives Waymo time to investigate

Uber Technologies Inc withheld evidence in a high-profile lawsuit filed by Alphabet Inc's Waymo, a U.S. judge said on Tuesday, dealing a new blow to the most valuable U.S. private company as it tries to complete a multibillion-dollar stock sale.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alphabet-uber-ruling/u-s-judge-says-uber-withheld-evidence-gives-waymo-time-to-investigate-idUSKBN1DS26X?source=Snapzu

Madonna - Like A Prayer

Don't forget.
Read more: https://snapzu.com/Appaloosa/madonna-like-a-prayer?source=Snapzu

Liberals won’t appeal court decision that struck $1,000 deposit requirement for federal election candidates

Candidates will no longer have to pay a $1,000 deposit to stand in federal elections. Citing “openness and fairness,” democratic institutions minister Karina Gould said Monday the government will not appeal an Alberta court decision last month that found the requirement unconstitutional.
Read more: http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/liberals-wont-appeal-court-decision-that-struck-1000-deposit-requirement-for-federal-election-candidates?source=Snapzu

FDA warns of commercial dog bone treats after 90 illnesses, 15 dog deaths

(WZTV) -- The Food and Drug Administration is warning dog owners to think twice about stuffing your pet's stocking with dog bones over the holidays.The FDA says it received about 68 reports of pet illnesses related to bone treats frequently purchased at st
Read more: http://kutv.com/news/nation-world/fda-warns-of-commercial-dog-bone-treats-after-90-illnesses-15-dog-deaths?source=Snapzu