All things considered this was a pretty shitty week.  I’ve collected a ton of links to things which are pretty @#$%ing depressing.  At least they get me depressed.  Rather than share though I’m going to keep most of them to myself.  So just one “must read” this week – a bunch of phenomenal pictures from the other side of the solar system.

Must Read/Look

• NASA, New Horizons Returns First of the Best Images of Pluto

Should Read (if you need a buzzkill)

• Robert Kuttner, Quiet Desperation and American Fascism
• David Neiwert, Donald Trump May Not Be a Fascist, But He is Leading Us Merrily Down That Path
• David Graham, Obama’s Resigned Anger After San Bernardino
• Jonathan Masters, U.S. Gun Policy: Global Comparisons
• Dave Johnson, How The Clinton and Sanders Infrastructure Plans Measure Up
• Nicholas Confessore (NYT), A Wealthy Governor and His Friends Are Remaking Illinois [Ed.: Noted in last week based on a quick skim.  Definitely worth reading if you haven’t already.]

Economics and Politics

• Robert Pollin, Think We Can’t Stabilize the Climate While Fostering Growth? Think Again.  [Ed.:  See also “Green Growth: A U.S. Program for Controlling Climate Change and Expanding Job Opportunities”]
• Mark Thoma, James Kwak’s ‘Mark Zuckerberg’s $45 Billion Loophole’ and Zuckerberg’s response
• Erik Olin Wright, How to Be an Anticapitalist Today
• Richard Eskow, Five Reasons Glass-Steagall Matters
• John Judis, The Bern Supremacy

Math and Science

• Ernie Davis, Math and the Caveman Imagination
• Teodora Zareva, The First Billboard in the World to Make Drinking Water out of Thin Air
• Liheng Bian et al, Multispectral Imaging Using a Single Bucket Detector

Climate Science

• Eli Rabett, The Magic Moment
• Eli Rabett, UAH TLT Series Not Trustworthy
• Adam Ramsay, Climate deniers agree their key messages for journalists (with a journalist in the room)  [Ed.:  Ha ha!]

Health and Health Care

• Mike the Mad Biologist, Yes, High Health Insurance Deductibles Are Still A Problem
• Robert Pear (NYT), Health Spending in U.S. Topped $3 Trillion Last Year

(Sub)Urban Planning

• Larry Field and Andre Leroux, Smart Growth Spotlight: Tension in the Burbs

Gardening

• The Wisconsin Gardner, Aronia – A Hardy Superfruit [Ed.:  I planted three bushes a couple years ago.  They’re establishing nicely.  The berries actually taste okay straight up – not nearly as astringent as I expected.]

Sport

• Legendary [Mike] Hessman retires as player: Minor League all-time home run leader ‘to swap out bat for fungo’

Culture

• Ron Hart, Scott Weiland
• Andrew Gelman, 7 tips for work-life balance

Ending on a Positive Note

My son’s birthday was this past week.  At school his classmates sang “Happy Birthday” to him and he got to ring the bell – a really nice old one that the school director found on eBay of all places and was just hung up in the tower a few weeks ago.   He got to pull the rope once for each year of his age.  It sounded wonderful and he was very happy.   His teachers are great and his classmates are really sweet kids.