Linkee-poo sludges forward

Oh, all my Russian friends are back. Hi, all my Russian friends.

So after saying I had 4 stories in submission and some good thoughts, one of those was rejected yesterday afternoon. That story has been sent back out. So it goes.

"Researchers say as many as 200,000 Americans experience Alzheimer's younger than the typical age of 65, developing dementia-like symptoms in their 40s and 50s."

"The loss of sea ice may be weakening the polar vortex, allowing cold blasts to dip south from the Arctic, across North America, Europe and Russia, a new study says." Or why with global warming/climate change is North America having colder dips in the Winter. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)

"In Washington, D.C., Mary's Center, a community health center, is piloting a program to provide primary care virtually to Medicaid patients who can't make it in to any of their clinics. Sometimes there are mobility or childcare issues, some people may not be able to get time off of work. Others simply don't want to go." Some of this is the lingering effects of being poor. Many of these people don't know how to integrate with the medical system. They don't have primary care physicians because they never had one and never knew what to do because they never had the money for it to really be "a problem" before. Take me for instance (and this is something I'm trying to change about myself). I have dental insurance. It covers two full cleanings every year. I'm lucky if I get a cleaning once a year. In my adult life with dental insurance I'm averaging about once every 2 years. It's worse if I include my entire life. Why? Because I never went to the dentist that often when I was young. Even when I wore braces (paid for by my grandparents). It's just not in my head that it's something I should do.

"Next year is already overflowing with exciting missions to space. NASA is launching a new lander to Mars, as well as a spacecraft that will get closer to the Sun than ever before. And two of NASA’s vehicles already in space will finally arrive at their intended targets: one will rendezvous with a nearby asteroid, while another will pass by a distant space rock billions of miles from Earth." One of my bucket-list items is to see a space launch. Since the Shuttle is no more, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy looks good, but an Atlas V would do in a pinch. (Grokked from Dan)

"A adviser on marijuana policy to Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants to see doctors make drug testing a routine part of primary-care medicine and force some users into treatment against their will, he told The Daily Beast." Just when you think you've hit the bottom of the crazy with this administration, they open up a new excavation. "Still, DuPont rejects the idea that there is any financial motivation behind his fixation drug testing." Funny that. (Grokked from Jim Wright)

You know, even a broken, loathsome, bigoted, slimy worm of a clock occasionally is right (maybe two times a day). "Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon has described the Trump Tower meeting between the president’s son and a group of Russians during the 2016 election campaign as 'treasonous' and 'unpatriotic', according to an explosive new book seen by the Guardian." Or, Steve Bannon finally comes to grip with what everyone else knew in July. Note good ol' Stevieboy did squat to stop the meeting. "He insists that he knows no Russians, will not be a witness, will not hire a lawyer and will not appear on national television answering questions." We'll settle for the court transcript, Stevie.

"Fusion GPS was first hired by the conservative news website The Washington Free Beacon to research Trump's alleged ties to Russia during the Republican primaries. To do so, the company hired former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, a longtime Russia expert… Steele used his contacts in Russia to put together a dossier that describes efforts by Russian President Vladimir Putin to cultivate a relationship with Trump and his entourage and to gather material that could be used to blackmail the candidate if necessary. Steele did not pay sources for information… The dossier contains salacious allegations that NPR has not detailed because they remain unverified, but an unexpurgated copy of the document was posted by BuzzFeed last January and circulated widely. One important aspect of the story is that the material in the file, if accurate, might have exposed Trump to potential blackmail." Don't let anyone confuse you that the Steele Dossier is a part of the Mueller investigation. It is a whole separate matter.