Linkee-poo, you have to be trusted by the people you lie to

Oh noes. "Something will be missing on store shelves this Valentine's Day season -- Sweethearts candy." How will my sweetie know I luv here, or ask her to kiss me?

"Poor oral health is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. What’s not clear is whether gum disease causes the disorder or is merely a result—many patients with dementia can’t take care of their teeth, for example. Now, a privately sponsored study has confirmed that the bacteria that cause gum disease are present in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, not just in their mouths. The study also finds that in mice, the bacteria trigger brain changes typical of the disease." I have questions. But to reiterate, correlation is not causation (although the mice studies are interesting, I think we need to see it replicated first). But keeping your teeth cleaned is still a Good Idea™.

"Police in upstate New York have arrested three men and a 16-year-old youth on weapons and conspiracy charges. The four allegedly plotted a bomb attack against an Islamic community." Where were they radicalized, as the kids say.

"He called dispatch and told them bluntly what happened: 'I have shot five people,' Xaver said, according to Sebring police Chief Karl Hoglund."

"… Steven Wagner, principal deputy assistant secretary at the Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, signed a waiver giving special permission to a federally funded Protestant foster care agency in South Carolina to break federal and state law, using strict religious requirements to deny Jewish, Muslim, and Catholic parents from fostering children in its network." They can also block LGBTQ people, and basically anyone they want. Your tax dollars at work. This is a step backward, actually several steps backwards. (Grokked from Xopher Halftongue)

"Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president on Wednesday, winning over the backing of the Washington and many Latin American nations and prompting socialist Nicolas Maduro to break relations with the United States." Maduro, at last report, still controls the military and the courts. So while this is an ideological fight, it's one with potentially lethal consequences.

"As Britain grapples with whether to leave the European Union, some voters in an ancient English town have a message for the politicians in London: Do not betray Brexit."

"Critiques about the mainstream media’s handling over the viral video that showed Sandmann standing stock still and grinning in the face of 64-year-old Omaha tribal elder Nathan Phillips as he sings and plays a traditional drum have vacillated from condemnatory, initially, to apologetic, eventually. Outlets that criticized ugly behavior on the part of Sandmann and his Kentucky high school classmates hours after the video went wide backtracked when footage taken from other angles emerged, showing several perspectives of what happened." Actually, the extra video only brings into view a wider conflict, Sandmann is still an asshole. It's just now he's an asshole who doesn't recognize when someone is trying to rescue him (Phillips moved between the two groups to de-escalate the situation).

The rich are just like you and me. "Trump’s Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a multimillionaire, actually said he doesn’t 'understand why' federal workers who are unpaid due to the shutdown have to go to homeless shelters to get food." Yes these people are that clueless as to how most people live. For Ross, credit is easy and debt is just as easily discharged. As Karen Tumulty tweets, "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?" (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)

"President Donald Trump's disapproval rating is at an all-time high amid a historically long partial government shutdown and concerns about the president's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll."

"President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen announced he is postponing his public congressional testimony that was scheduled for February 7, citing 'ongoing threats against his family' from the President and his attorney Rudy Giuliani." For someone who wasn't a big player and supposedly acted on his own, the President seems awfully concerned about what he might say.