Friday, March 2nd, 2018

1

Your Expiration Date

"To his left and right, giant screens projecting government actuarial tables reminded the group of the 'projected year of our termination.' Men of Faloon's age could expect to die in 2037. Any 83-year-old women in the room? They've got until only 2026. 'Take that initiative,' Faloon urged his audience of about 120 people who had flown in from as far as California, Scotland, and Spain. How? Paying to participate in a soon-to-launch clinical trial testing transfusions of young blood 'offers the greatest potential for everyone in this room to add a lot of healthy years to their life.'" Stat's Rebecca Robbins takes you inside a society gala to sell young-blood transfusions to baby boomers desperate to cheat death. (With the pace of the news these days, I'll need a few quarts of young blood just to make it through this edition...)

2

Plan of Steel

"When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win." The markets don't seem to to like Trump's steel tariffs. The EU and other allies are threatening retaliation. No one on the president's team was prepared for the announcement. Academics are bringing up memories of the great depression. But the president says trade wars are good. So I guess we'll see.

+ Carl Icahn dumped $31.3 million of stock in a company heavily dependent on steel last week. (Wow, that guy can really predict the markets, eh?)

+ Bloomberg: Bud Beer, Kisses, Apple Macs Caught Up in Aluminum Tariff Plan.

+ Confused? Here are some Simpsons GIFs to explain Trump's announcement about new tariffs.

3

Weekend Whats

What to Hear: NPR usually does a great job covering the music scene at SXSW. This year, they're getting attendees (and non-attendees) prepared in advance with a playlist of 100 great songs by artists performing at SXSW 2018.

+ What to Watch: Too busy bingeing Netflix shows to get around to actually going to any of the movies competing for this year's Oscars? Well, you can catch up on a lot of them without leaving the couch. From the NYT: Where to Stream the Nominated Movies.

+ What to Read: If you missed it yesterday, I published a piece in the excellent McSweeney's: I'm a Proud Second Amendment-Loving, Law-Abiding American. And I'm Giving Up My F-22 Raptor Fighter Jet.

4

The Land of the Rising Gun

"Join a hunting or shooting club. Take a firearm class and pass a written exam. Get a doctor's note saying you are mentally fit and do not have a history of drug abuse. Apply for a permit to take firing training. Describe in a police interview why you need a gun. Pass a review of your criminal history, gun possession record, employment, involvement with organized crime groups, personal debt and relationships with friends, family and neighbors. Apply for a gunpowder permit. Take a one-day training class and pass a firing test. Obtain a certificate from a gun dealer describing the gun you want. Buy a gun safe and an ammunition locker that meet safety regulations. Allow the police to inspect your gun storage. Pass an additional background review." That's all you have to do to purchase a gun in Japan. Alternatively, you can score one in America in under an hour. From the NYT: How to Buy a Gun in 15 Countries.

+ ABC News: 13 questions about guns in the United States and the surprising answers.

+ WaPo: How the NRA nearly put Smith & Wesson out of business.

5

Pills Bury Dough, Oy

So you walk into a pharmacy to get your prescription. The pharmacist hands you your drugs and tells you that your copayment for the medicine is $125. What she doesn't tell you is that if you opted to just pay for the prescription in cash, you'd only be paying $100. Why? Because in many states pharmacists operate under 'gag clauses' that prohibit them "from telling customers that they could save money by paying cash for prescription drugs rather than using their health insurance." (Now you need another prescription; this one to lower your blood pressure because you're so frustrated with this broken and ridiculous system.) Robert Pear in the NYT: Why Your Pharmacist Can't Tell You That $20 Prescription Could Cost Only $8.

6

If Kush Comes to Shove

"Kushner has divested from a small portion of Kushner Companies, but has retained substantial ownership. A balloon payment due in 2018 on the badly underwater property at 666 Fifth Avenue has been a ticking clock on the fortunes of the Kushner family." And that makes this report troubling (and part of an even more troubling pattern): Jared Kushner's real-estate firm sought money directly from Qatar government weeks before blockade. (One of the big aspects of these conflict of interest stories is how desperate the key players are for loans. They don't want them. They need them. And if they're asking Qatar, a lot of sources have already turned them down...)

+ NBC: Mueller team asking if Kushner foreign business ties influenced Trump policy.

7

Investi Gate

I know, I know. It seems like every investigative reporter in America is working on the same story. All Trump, all the time. Well, relax, I found a couple off-topic "hard hitting" pieces for your enjoyment. First, from FiveThirtyEight: We X-Rayed Some MLB Baseballs. Here's What We Found. And from Vice: NPR's Tiny Desk Is Actually Not Tiny at All.

8

In Arms Way

"Our fever for the octopus has helped the animal to clamber up above its fellow mollusks—clams and slugs and snails—on the ladder of morality." But what if we've been wrong about octopuses all along? What if it's not a crafty, soulful genius? What if it's an idiot?

9

Mac Daddy

"The record would have happened whether or not Guinness [World Records] was there. The Big Macs are my favorite foods, so I'm just going to keep eating them every day." McDonald's Big Mac record holder is on pace to eat 30,000 by May. (My high school football coach always used to tell us that if we're going to make a mistake, we should make it going full out.)

10

Feel Good Friday

"Why not us? We're young. We have a beautiful home. Why not help these kids out and grow our family this way?" A Tampa family adopted 9 children to keep siblings together.

+ A guy from Michigan won the lottery. Three times. In one day.

+ Jordan Bohannon missed a free throw that would have given him Iowa's school record. Here's why that's a feel good story.

+ Dolly Parton has donated 100 million books to kids.

+ Marjory Stoneman Douglas wins state hockey championship.

+ A group mysteriously installed 50 swings throughout San Francisco. (OK, I admit that swinging in SF is not exactly news...)