Linkee-poo does the mash, the Monster Mash

Here's one for all my Italian friends. "It would've been little surprise if Kenya's Gilbert Kipleting Chumba had won the race Sunday — or maybe it could have been his countryman David Kiprono Metto. And, in fact, both of those favorites were among the leaders roughly 16 miles into the marathon… Then, they took a wrong turn." Oopsie. Apparently they got caught thinking, "That motorcyclists seems to be going the same place I am, I'll just follow them." Haven't we all done that?

"Sure, 'spook' can refer to a ghost. It can refer to a spy. But as many of us know, it's also, sometimes, a racial slur for black people. One of our Ask Code Switch readers wrote in to ask about the etiquette of using words like spook and spooky."

"'The extinct fern was the earliest tree species that formed forests. Its multi-xylem strand structure was capable of producing trees of large size that cannot be found today,' Xu said."

"The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing 26 ingredients that food manufacturers use to bulk up the fiber content of processed foods to determine if there's a health benefit." Also, just in general, fiber by itself is not a nutrient. In fact, that's kinda the whole point. But now we need to add "processed fiber" along side "processed sugar", "processed fats", and "manufactured proteins." I guess it could be worse, they could just be adding psyllium husks (note, psyllium husks, while also fiber, are pharmaceutically active as a laxative and your body can develop a dependency on it).

Woman has genetic testing to determine her cancer risk, is told she by her doctor that she has mutations that increased her chances of breast and cervical cancer, has double mastectomy (which has complications) and hysterectomy only to read report later and find she was not diagnosed with those mutations. So now she's suing for malpractice. "Caulbe, Cooke-Moore's lawyer, said Oregon tort claim caps limit how much his client can receive for her damages." So a few lessons here, 1) always get a second opinion (based on your medical record, not a conversation "the doctor says I have this, what should I do?") before major surgery. And 2) Tort caps aren't to protect the consumer/client/patient.

Remember when climate change deniers talked about how much it would cost to change the world in an attempt to reduce the degree of change and how it wasn't worth it? And then the climate change proponents talked about how much more expensive it would be to do nothing? Guess which side of the equation we're on now? "Climate change is costing taxpayers billions of dollars in disaster relief and the tab will only increase as extreme weather events become more common, according to a new government study." I'm sure now that the Trump administration is rolling back advances under President Obama and forcing the EPA (and other government agencies) to remove articles, data, and reports discussing climate change that we'll save money. Some how.

"The poll asked a wide range of questions about where Americans experience discrimination… White Americans are among those who feel their group is discriminated against, with 55 percent saying discrimination exists against whites in the U.S. today." Noted for both that statistic as well as, "Numerous studies have shown that African-Americans are more likely to be stopped by police compared with other racial groups. In the poll, 60 percent of people told us that they or a family member have been unfairly stopped or mistreated by police because they are black… That has consequences for them personally and across society — 31 percent of poll respondents say fear of discrimination has led them to avoid calling the police when in need. And 61 percent say police are more likely to use force on a person who is African-American than on a white person in the same situation." And more well off, or affluent, African-Americans says they feel more discrimination. So that ties in nicely with the average income of the typical Trump voter.

"(Bill) O’Reilly said in a New York Times podcast Monday: 'Eric Bolling’s son is dead. He's dead because of allegations made — in my opinion and I know this to be true — against Mr. Bolling.'" In an attempt to say how terrible it is that sexual harassment charges were brought against himself (Bill O'Reilly) because it bothered his family, O'Reilly then went on to use the death of a former co-worker's son to say something about his own family's pain. Yeah, good defense there, Bill. Even if it were true (which it isn't). Again, this is your own fault, Bill O'Reilly. This is entirely a self-inflicted wound.

"With open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act… set to start in just over a week, (Iowa) announced it would no longer wait to hear if federal officials would approve its request aimed at cutting individual healthcare insurance premiums and widening coverage."

"Most of the attention has gone to a commission set up by President Trump to look into allegations of voter fraud and other electoral problems. The panel — called the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity — has been mired in controversy ever since it was formed earlier this year. Its work now appears stalled amid internal divisions and outside legal challenges." That's a shame. "But as that panel limps along, several other efforts to address threats to U.S voting are making progress."

No, Kid Rock isn't running for office. I guess someone explained the disclosure laws and how being on a more public platform and that brighter spotlight would probably destroy his homespun life narrative.

"The State Department has reportedly revoked a visa for British citizen Bill Browder, a hedge fund manager turned human rights activist responsible for the Magnitsky Act. The 2012 U.S. law is aimed at punishing Russian officials believed responsible for the death in a Moscow prison of Sergei Magnitsky, who was allegedly beaten and denied medical care." Even though Interpol has pretty much told Russia to go pound salt. And now, once Congress found out, his permission to enter the US was restored. It's almost like the administration was too eager to please Moscow and didn't think it through.

Why are they kneeling? "New research finds that prosecutors give white defendants better deals than black defendants." Yeah, that could be one of the reasons. (Grokked from Jim Wright)

"But that odd press conference has exposed Kelly’s emotional, personal disdain for the citizens he served in uniform and still serves in a sensitive political post. His remarks lead me to wonder if he really understands that soldiers are the servants of democracies, not some special race apart. A MacArthur or a George Patton, disdainful or ignorant of democracy but close to the president is dangerous to the Republic and is unbecoming his distinguished service in a profession that doesn’t need anyone’s pity." Another old soldier on how career officers sometimes have difficulty living in the democracy they protected. (Grokked from Ken McDonald)

A little inside baseball on Trump's visit to Capitol Hill. With friends like these…

"'(Mueller's team are) looking for ties, they're looking for relationships, and a lot of that will come down to money trails,' said Jennifer Rodgers, the executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity at Columbia Law School." A little on money laundering and why the investigators are looking into it.