DDD EXECUTIVE SUMMARY JAN/04/2017

THE MAIN EVENTS

• Megyn Kelly, as vile and rancid a creature to ever slither through the journalistic slime-bogs of FOX News, is moving to NBC, where she will no doubt continue to do what she's always done best: be easy on the eyes while feeding her geriatric fan base racist provocation and other assorted lies. Either that, or she will attempt a "pivot" of sorts. Prediction? After a brief, white-hot ascendancy, she will ultimately crash and burn in spectacular fashion. Anyway, you can watch this truly evil cunt wave bye-bye if you so wish.
  
• Looks like the House Republicans may have been shamed into holding off on their attempts to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics. And no, Trump's tweet had nothing to do with it.
  
• Again, you can get all this and more from the New York Times' really quite excellent and free Daily Briefing, which can be sent directly to your email every day, five days a week, if you want it.

A DEEPER DIVE

• Oh! Hey! What do you know... Trump managed to find a spot for Omarosa at the White House! I wonder if her job will have anything to do with continually updating that enemies list she blabbed about during the campaign? Time will tell.
  
• Still apparently angling for either a pardon or maybe even a cabinet position from Trump, Swedish rapist and Russian disinformation vector Julian Assange spent the bulk of his interview with FOX News shit-for-brains Sean Hannity sucking Trump's dick, throwing shade at President Obama, and insisting that Vladimir Putin didn't have nuthin' to do with hackin' no e-mails! No suh! President Obama, you've got 15 days. Trade Ecuador a couple jets for this asshole, then throw him in Gitmo and let the families of slain Russian journalists take turns waterboarding him.

SUGGESTED READINGS

1. Where do you stand in the debate about the respective merits of the giant encyclopedic world-building novel versus the slim prestige novel? This essay about The Stockholm Syndrome Theory of Long Novels makes a few intriguing points in each's favor.

2. One of the most disgusting trends on the anti-SJW/alt.right web has been the coordinated attempt to suggest that all the vandalism, verbal assaults and physical assaults by newly empowered Trumpnik goons was all, or mostly, faked, false claims. Unfortunately, the wave of hate that swept Trump into the White House also led to some real-world violence, regardless of what that pretty lady said on Youtube. This thorough and detailed report from the Southern Povery Law Center details 867 such incidents, many caught on video and determined not to be hoaxes by the relevant authorities, in just the ten days after November's election.

3. The Future of Jihadism in Europe: A Pessimistic View. Abstract: "This article presents a ten-year forecast for jihadism in Europe. Despite reaching historically high levels in recent years, violent Islamist activity in Europe may increase further over the long term due to four macro-trends: 1) expected growth in the number of economically underperforming Muslim youth, 2) expected growth in the number of available jihadi entrepreneurs, 3) persistent conflict in the Muslim world, and 4) continued operational freedom for clandestine actors on the Internet. Over the next decade, the jihadi attack plot frequency in Europe may follow a fluctuating curve with progressively higher peaks. Many things can undercut the trends and lead to a less ominous outcome, but the scenario is sufficiently likely to merit attention from policymakers." Not saying I agree with everything in this paper, but I still think it's an important read for anyone concerned about Europe in the near term.

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TWEET OF THE DAY

"It's usually a bad sign when the ruler of your country lives in a tower named after himself."

- Baltimore transgender activist Contra made me laugh out loud,
so she's getting the first-ever Daily Dirt Diaspora Tweet of the Day!

DDD EXTRAS

• Lots of cool shit happened on this day in history. Check in with the Useless Eater Blog for a rundown of that cool shit.

THE TAKEAWAY

I guess I'll stick around for a bit. Still, y'all should subscribe to the New York Times Daily Briefing. Check the link above. Also, you should listen to the daily report from Brad Blog, and I always put on The Majority Report when it's on. It makes excellent background chatter.