Linkee-poo if you won't have a drink then you're a prude, but they'll call you a drunk as soon as you down the first one

Right now there's a lot of consternation over the annual holiday party. Well, that party has been on the wane since the late 80s (no, really, it has, this is a part of the long running tradition of me hearing, "Oh, you should have been here then…"). And if you're worried about "the drinking" bringing about behaviors that might see your company in a lawsuit, you have a much more serious problem than cancelling the shindig. Maybe hire adults, expect them to behave like adults, teach respect and create an egalitarian workspace and you won't have those issues, even if there is drinking and a party.

"During an interview on 'The View' Meghan McCain asked Biden about how he dealt with his son Beau Biden being diagnosed with glioblastoma, the same aggressive form of brain cancer that her father, the Republican Arizona lawmaker, announced he had in July." Fuck cancer.

"By measuring the size of the recent Greenland shark found, researchers suggest the animal could have been born as early as 1505, making it even older than Shakespeare. Greenland sharks — also known as the gurry sharks, or grey sharks, are large sharks of the family Somniosidae — grow at a rate of one centimeter a year, enabling scientists to determine their age by measuring their size."

"Three Florida men seen in a viral video laughing and smiling as a shark gets dragged behind a high-speed boat have been charged with animal cruelty." WTF is wrong with these people? (That's a rhetorical question)

"After combing through a decade’s worth of Pennsylvania birth records, researchers have found that pregnant women living within two-thirds of a mile of a hydraulic fracturing well were 25% more likely to give birth to a worryingly small infant than were women who lived at least 10 miles outside that zone during pregnancy." The effects get more prevalent and severe the closer to the well.

"A former Rutgers University student and two other men pleaded guilty to computer crimes related to the creation, sale and use of the Mirai botnet, a network of infected electronics equipment used to knock major websites offline in massive 2016 cyber attacks, according to court documents."

"The Walt Disney Company and Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. (21st Century Fox) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Disney to acquire 21st Century Fox…" Do not fuck with The Mouse. :: Or :: One does not simply walk into Disney World, there is a Great Eye… "The Walt Disney Co. has struck a deal valued at $52.4 billion to acquire much of the Hollywood holdings of 21st Century Fox, the global television and entertainment conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch and his family. The deal occurs against a backdrop of swift changes to the industry's finances and uncertainty about succession plans at both companies." If federal regulators capitulate and allow it to go through.

Brexit just keeps getting harder.

"The president and CEO of the trade group that lobbies for the ISPs that are trying to end net neutrality would like everyone to just chill. In an op-ed published at Recode, former FCC chairman and NCTA head Michael Powell argues that things will be just fine 'no matter what happens to net neutrality.'" Oh fuck no.

"While 90% of the weapons and ammunition studied originated in China, Russia, Eastern Europe, the report also said some of the weapons that were eventually diverted to ISIS was originally provided by the US and Saudi Arabia to Syrian opposition forces over the course of the conflict… The report concluded that 'international weapons supplies to factions in the Syrian conflict have significantly augmented the quantity and quality of weapons available to ISIS forces -- in numbers far beyond those that would have been available to the group through battlefield capture alone.'"

A short history of the rise of the AR-15.

There's conflicting reports on just how Omarosa Manigault left the White House (and if she's still on staff). "'But when I have my story to tell as the only African-American woman in this White House, as a senior staff and assistant to the president, I have seen things that have made me uncomfortable, that have upset me, that have affected me deeply and emotionally, that has affected my community and my people and when I can tell my story, it is a profound story that I know the world will want to hear,' Manigault added." One, I hope she gets a ghost writer. Two, just how binding are those non-disclosure agreements? Three, given the stories of her having been "escorted" off the campus, I'm wondering how that "will stay on until Jan. 20" thing will go.

The stories we tell ourselves. "'We have stopped prayer in our schools,' Moore said in his statement. 'We have killed over 60 million of our unborn children. We have redefined marriage and destroyed the basis of family, which is the building block of our country. Our borders are not secure. Our economy is faltering under an enormous national debt. We have a huge drug problem. We have even begun to recognize the right of a man to claim to be a woman, and vice versa. We have allowed Judges and justices to rule over our Constitution, and we have become slaves to their tyranny. Immorality sweeps over our land.'" They're marching, marching to shibboleth.

"David Greene talks with Birmingham City Councilwoman Sheila Tyson about a well-organized get-out-the-vote effort that's credited with motivating black voters in Alabama." It's well past time the Democratic Party comes to grips with reality and starts generating a new outlook and communications plan. Maybe not wait until the last minute to start speaking to the new base (black women), expecting ad hoc get out the vote actions, and not knowing how to deal with everybody. My advice is start developing the narrative that by championing the rights of POC and LGBTQ you are championing the rights of everyone. Because if the government or corporations can discriminate or hold back any one of these "minorities", they can do it to anyone. We are the party of the fair playing field, and sometimes that means giving more of a boost to those who have been historically disadvantaged to help them get on the field in the first place. (You're also going to have to start letting people know that taxes are going to go up, that's going to be a long fight, but the GOP Tax Bill is a good place to start because most people's taxes are going to go up in the next 5 years because of it.) All of this is the "hard conversation" that there are few "sound bite" moments. Start the polling and focus groups now to get the message right the first time.