SEATTLE—Expressing concerns that Democratic and Republican parties no longer represented people like him, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz revealed Monday that he was considering an independent presidential run after finding no initial support among any American voter groups.

“The complete lack of support for my candidacy among narrow interest groups like liberals, conservatives, and moderates tells me that America is hungry for an independent voice,” said Schultz, after preliminary polling found little to no support for his presidential bid among Democrats, African-Americans, evangelicals, working-class whites, suburbanites, Republicans, millennials, Hispanics, men, or women.

“Our political system has been overrun by people with opinions and ideas. This country should not be beholden to someone who constantly fights for American values. Our nation clearly wants an independent voice who does not speak for any of them. I know that I can win by rising above partisan squabbles by bringing together a large coalition of nobody whatsoever.”

At press time, the announcement that Schultz was considering a presidential bid had received a highly positive reaction from Howard Schultz.

https://politics.theonion.com/howard-schultz-considering-independent-presidential-run-1832126653

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In a potentially worrisome development for the White House, Donald Trump’s longtime political adviser Roger Stone spent the weekend getting a tattoo of the special counsel, Robert Mueller, on his back.

Minutes after being released on bail, Stone was reportedly driven to a tattoo-removal specialist in Jersey City, who spent nine hours removing his notorious back tattoo of Richard Nixon to make room for the newly minted Mueller tat.

News of Stone’s Mueller tattoo sent a wave of panic through the White House, where top aides attempted to predict what the tattoo portended for Stone’s loyalty to Trump going forward.

For his part, Stone downplayed the significance of the tattoo as he stripped off his shirt to display it for reporters. “I will have no comment at this time, other than to say that Robert Mueller is a kind, fair, and extremely handsome man,” Stone said.

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/in-ominous-development-for-trump-roger-stone-gets-mueller-tattoo

On Friday around noon, Roger Stone preened in vain for a crowd in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

President Trump’s close friend and advisor, freshly sprung from shackles on a $250,000 bond, had been indicted in the special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s Russia ties.

Stone tried to hide his panic with bravado, a boy whistling in the dark. But his shtick seemed moth-eaten and creepy. He struck the moribund Nixon two-V-hands victory/corruption pose. He smiled nervously. He broke out an old chestnut: “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about!”

Sure, bud. He sounded like private-sector cons Elizabeth Holmes (of Theranos) and Billy McFarland (of the Fyre Festival), who are sunny and delusional even as they’ve been revealed as stone-cold frauds.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-heffernan-trump-stone-20190125-story.html

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—A furious Donald Trump told reporters on Friday morning that it was “a total disgrace” that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had apparently not been affected by the government shutdown.

Trump, who appeared agitated and was gripping his television remote as he spoke on the White House lawn, said that he had been under the impression that F.B.I. agents had been furloughed and were not going to work.

“You have people across the country, in national parks and places like that, who are not at work, and somehow the F.B.I. is working around the clock?” Trump said. “I think it’s a total disgrace. It’s a sick situation.”

Trump said that he would call an emergency meeting of his Cabinet to “get some answers” about why the F.B.I. was working during the shutdown.

“Let’s say you were trying to leave the country in a hurry with your family—would the F.B.I. be at the airport to stop you?” he asked. “What good is this shutdown, anyway?”

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-furious-that-fbi-not-stopped-by-shutdown

The family-owned company that operates the Crossroads of the West gun show filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Del Mar Fairgrounds, challenging its suspension of the weekend event that has been held there for more than 30 years.

The 22nd District Agricultural Association board of directors, which oversees activities at the state-owned fairgrounds, voted to stop the shows after December until staff members develop a policy that could ban the sale and possession of firearms on the property.

Any decision in the case is likely to take years and have far-reaching effects.

Gun-show owners Russell and Ann Sallie Nordyke filed suit against Alameda County after it banned weapons from the public fairgrounds there in 1999. That case went on for more than 12 years and cost millions of dollars in legal fees before a settlement reached through mediation allowed guns if they were secured to exhibit tables with wire cables.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-county/sd-no-gun-show-lawsuit-20190122-story.html

Source: LA Times

The Los Angeles teachers union ended its strike Tuesday night, based on overwhelming support for a contract agreement with the school district, union leaders said.

Teachers, nurses, counselors and librarians will be back in their classrooms Wednesday, said Alex Caputo-Pearl, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.

“A vast supermajority are voting yes for the agreement that we made,” said Caputo-Pearl, who also acknowledged that many votes still were being tallied.

“We know what the results are going to be,” he said, at a news conference at union headquarters in Koreatown on Tuesday night.

Read more: https://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-lausd-teachers-strike-negotiations-20190122-story.html

The government shutdown, the longest in history, comes with a hidden revelation: Millions of Americans are financially unprepared for the next economic downturn. Worse, they are highly vulnerable, with few protections available to them.

Ten years after the financial crisis, the economic recovery has left millions behind with little to no savings, and the government shutdown serves as a preview for what will happen once unemployment rises from 50-year lows.

Within just a few weeks into the government shutdown, people are struggling to cope. We hear stories about people turning to food banks to feed their families. We hear stories about people who are in dire straits because they can’t get loans. We hear stories about people who can’t pay their mortgages. That’s not even one month into the shutdown.

Why do a few weeks without pay turn into a crisis for many families? Simple: Nearly 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. That’s a problem when you have little to no savings. In fact, it’s akin to playing financial Russian roulette.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/government-shutdown-exposes-a-harsh-truth-most-americans-are-unprepared-for-the-next-recession-2019-01-22

For years, Southern California lawmakers have tried to steer clear of decisions that make driving more expensive or miserable, afraid of angering one of their largest groups of constituents.

But now, transportation officials say, congestion has grown so bad in Los Angeles County that politicians have no choice but to contemplate charging motorists more to drive — a strategy that has stirred controversy but helped cities in other parts of the world tame their own traffic.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is pushing to study how what’s commonly referred to as congestion pricing could work in L.A., including converting carpool lanes to toll lanes, taxing drivers based on the number of miles they travel, or charging a fee to enter certain neighborhoods and business districts.

Imposing more tolls would offer a smoother drive for those who choose to pay. Getting more drivers off the road could free up space to speed up bus service, while the billions of dollars in revenue could fund a vast expansion of the transit network, Metro said.

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pay-to-drive-20190122-story.html

A climber who became famous for taking photos of herself on top of mountains wearing just a bikini has died after falling into a ravine in Taiwan.

Gigi Wu, 36, also known as the “Bikini Hiker” was found dead by rescue services after falling more than 65 feet into a valley near Mabolasi Mountain in Nantou County.

According to Taiwan News, Wu used a satellite phone on January 19 to call for help after she suffered injuries during her fall. The National Airborne Service Corps said they were unable to locate her using Black Hawk rescue helicopters on three separate occasions due to poor weather.

Wu’s body was eventually found close to where her distress beacon was sent from by the Nantou County Fire Department after they resumed the search on foot.

https://www.newsweek.com/bikini-hiker-mountain-swimwear-freezes-death-fall-1299103

I think there's a lesson here.

Source: BBC

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says its operation is against the Quds Force - elite units of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

It provided no details. But there are reports of strikes around the Syrian capital Damascus early on Monday.

Syrian media say air defences have repelled "an Israeli aerial attack". On Sunday the IDF said it had intercepted a rocket over the Golan Heights.

Syria's state-run Sana news agency quoted a military source as saying that the country's air defences shot down most of "hostile missiles".

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-46941717