Linkee-poo, to seek the sacred river Alph, to walk the caves of ice

Well we're approaching Halloween, so it's time for stories on "vampire" burials. "The remains of a child unearthed in a 5th century CE Italian cemetery are indicative of the unease that must have been felt in the region as a malaria outbreak ravaged the population… The 10-year-old child was given what is known as a "vampire burial" - with a large rock placed in the body's mouth, possibly to keep the corpse from rising. Tooth marks on the stone indicate it was placed deliberately."

The rise of gene therapy now being touted as a jobs engine.

"Prices for the most popular type of health insurance under the Affordable Care Act will drop slightly next year in the federal marketplace, after several years of rapid increases, the Trump administration said on Thursday." On average, but some states will have double digit increases. Some will have double digit decreases. And of course the Trump administration is taking credit. (Grokked from Joy Reid)

"'The Affordable Care Act did not kill Medicare Advantage, and the program looks poised to continue to grow quite rapidly,' said Bill Frack, managing director with L.E.K. Consulting, which advises health companies… And as beneficiaries get set to shop for plans during open enrollment – which runs from Monday through Dec. 7 – they will find a greater choice of insurers." It's almost like Obamacare wasn't a terrible thing for the insurance industry after all.

"Four men are dead and another has serious injuries after a shooting a toddler’s birthday party Taft, Texas. The Texas Rangers are now investigating what led to the shooting at the one-year-old’s party." (Grokked from Jim Wright)

I was wondering why there were so many tweets about the president denying he had said he would donate $1M to Sen. Warren's charity of choice if she could prove American Indian ancestry. "Responding to years of derision by President Donald Trump and other critics, Sen. Elizabeth Warren had a DNA analysis done that provides strong evidence she does, in fact, have Native American heritage." However this whole thing is proving how the president likes to tout his charity work without actually doing any charity work or donations.

How goes Brexit? "British Prime Minister Theresa May will face mounting pressure on Monday to rethink her plan for leaving the European Union after Brexit talks reached a stand-off at the weekend over the so-called Irish backstop."

The real economy in the US. "Even among Ohio’s 88 counties, Trumbull’s suffering stands out. But it isn’t unique. Less than a third of all counties have regained the jobs they lost since the 2001 recession… That’s a turnabout from the previous half century; after a steep recession in 1973, all but 10 counties quickly recovered." A long article on the Lordstown GM plant, the lives affect by GM's troubles, and the constant battle over renewal and paths forward.

"Sears — the iconic American retailer that has sold everything from clothing and toys to refrigerators and socket wrenches over its more than 125-year history — may have reached the end. The Sears Holdings company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday after failing to make a $134 million debt payment." I think mine is the last generation that understood Sears as the juggernaut it once was.

"The White House is brushing aside threats by Saudi Arabia that it may retaliate economically for any U.S. punishment over the suspected murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, pledging a 'swift, open, transparent investigation' into his disappearance. Two leading Republican senators said Congress stands ready to act, including a possible halt of U.S. arms sales to the kingdom, if President Donald Trump doesn't."

"A study of Florida’s past two presidential elections finds that mail ballots were 10 times more likely to be rejected than votes cast at early voting sites or on election day… The study also found that mail ballots cast by youngest voters, blacks and Hispanics were much more likely to be rejected than mail ballots cast by white voters, and that those voters are less likely to cure problems with their ballots when notified by election supervisors than other voters." (Grokked from Kelly Link)

"Twice, Trump defended his knowledge of world politics and events by telling Stahl that he wasn’t 'a baby,' and, after Stahl persisted on questions about his treatment of Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford, Trump told her, 'I’m not going to get into it, because we won. It doesn’t matter. We won.'" USA Today's five take-aways from the 60 minutes interview.