Once again it’s already middle of the week — time flies when shit runs supreme.
And a lot of it does stick to the wall.

Another foggy early morning here on California’s north coast as I wade through the current news cycle, seeking whatever sticks to that proverbial wall and most of it ain’t funny, or nice, or family oriented. Hence, Mark Twin was/is correct: It has become a sarcastic proverb that a thing must be true if you saw it in a newspaper.
Maybe, maybe not — Americans’ confidence in the current media sucks as only 23 percent of us have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of faith in newspaper/television news reporting

(Illustration found here).

Here a short list of some shit I found this morning that sticks to the wall, or in the throat.

— Way-too young: Michael Hastings, 33, a noted writer with Rolling Stone, BuzzFeed and others, and whose 2010 expose led to the firing of hot-shit General Stanley McChrystal, was killed yesterday in reportedly single-car wreck in Los Angles.
Hastings was a better brand of modern journalist: As a journalist, he specialized in speaking truth to power and laying it all out there. He was irascible in his reporting and sometimes/often/always infuriating in his writing: he lit a bright lamp for those who wanted to follow his example.
Tragedy for absolutely everybody.

— Four US soldiers were killed yesterday in Afghanistan during an attack on Bagram Air Base near Kabul. The four died by “indirect fire” in an apparent mortar hit against the site. As NATO pulls out of that shell of a country, more are going to die –  so far, there’s been 2,233 US lives lost in that overlong and dumb-ass conflict.

— And yesterday, NSA head pin-head General Keith Alexander testified before a US House Intelligence Committee, blubbering about how all the snooping foiled more than 50 terrorist plots: “Let me start by saying that I would much rather be here today debating this point than trying to explain how we failed to prevent another 9/11,” said Alexander. (If nothing else, always lead with ‘9/11‘).
However, USAToday concludes reality of the past reveals that’s bullshit:

On Tuesday, administration officials underscored the protections in place.
For instance, phone records are deleted after five years, according to testimony.
That’s comforting, up to a point.
But it is a policy, not a law.
Future presidents can change it; future bureaucrats can ignore it; future scoundrels can use the records to dig up dirt on political opponents or even straying spouses.
No doubt, stopping terrorism requires tradeoffs.
But it’s not yet clear whether the foiled plots required the level of intrusiveness that’s now routine.
If history shows anything, it’s that once government has the power to sweep up data, the power is used, and often abused.

Terror via the NSA.

— And yesterday,the World Bank issued another report on the approach of climate change: The World Bank is beginning to commit billions of dollars to flood prevention, water management and other projects to help major Asian cities avoid the expected impact of climate change, a dramatic example of how short the horizon has become to alleviate the effects of global warming.
In the long run, too little and if it happens somewhere with the poors, then let it happen.

— And working hard won’t do much for you nowadays:

The federal minimum wage of $7.25 is worth $2 less today than it was in 1968 when adjusted for inflation.
That’s one of the findings in a June study by the non-partisan Economy Policy Institute on the economic position of Blacks in America.
Today, the minimum wage, which hasn’t increased since 2009, falls short of a living wage.
According to the EPI study, a full-time worker would need to earn $11.06 an hour in 2011 to keep a family of four out of poverty.
The real value of the minimum wage peaked in 1968, when it was $1.60.

Back in the day, there didn’t seem to be this much shit that stuck to walls — getting light outside, time to take stock of the day and off to work, and work, and work.