The NYT's undue focus on the rich and famous in its style and real estate sections lauds some very unsavory people and normalizes behavior only a tiny sliver of the country - let alone the world - can enjoy. But this Rachel Sherman quote almost makes it all okay:

For individual people to admit that they are privileged is not necessarily going to change an unequal system of accumulation and distribution of resources.

Instead, we should talk not about the moral worth of individuals but about the moral worth of particular social arrangements. Is the society we want one in which it is acceptable for some people to have tens of millions or billions of dollars as long as they are hardworking, generous, not materialistic and down to earth? Or should there be some other moral rubric, that would strive for a society in which such high levels of inequality were morally unacceptable, regardless of how nice or moderate its beneficiaries are?

 By Elena Schor @ Politico.com, Sept. 7

While Bernie Sanders readies a single-payer health care bill that the GOP is itching to attack, one of his Democratic colleagues is proposing a step toward that goal that could give cover to the party’s vulnerable incumbents.

Sen. Chris Murphy, a potential presidential contender, is working on legislation expected this fall that would let individuals and businesses buy into Medicare as part of Obamacare’s exchanges. As Sanders and other potential challengers to President Donald Trump flock to “Medicare for all,” embracing a top liberal priority before 2020, Murphy is taking a conspicuously more pragmatic approach designed to get Democrats closer to that lofty but potentially unobtainable goal.

In the process, it could give vulnerable Democrats loath to attach themselves to Sanders a more politically palatable alternative that still satisfies the party’s base [....]

By Craig Timberg & Elizabeth Dwoskin @ WashingtonPost.com, Sept. 7

Criminal hackers gained access to files including sensitive personal data on 143 million Americans — Social Security numbers, birth dates and home addresses — by penetrating a Web-based application for Equifax, the credit reporting agency said Thursday.

The breach, which the company said began in May, was discovered in July. Though Equifax said in a statement that its “core database” was not penetrated, the attackers did gain access to a wide range of data on what appears to be a majority of American adults, as well as some British and Canadian consumers.

[.....] Equifax said that it also lost control of an unspecified number of driver’s license numbers, along with the credit card numbers for 209,000 consumers and credit dispute documents for 182,000 [....]

Equifax is one of three largest U.S.-based credit reporting agencies that collect and analyze detailed financial records for a wide range of consumers worldwide [....]

By Mike DeBois, Kelsey Snell, Philip Rucker & Elise Viebeck @ WashingtonPost.com, Sept. 6,  6:29 PM

President Trump, a man of few allegiances who seized control of the Republican Party in a hostile takeover, suddenly aligned himself with Democrats Wednesday on a series of key fiscal issues — and even gave a lift to North Dakota’s embattled Democratic U.S. senator.

Trump confounded his own party’s leaders when he cut a deal with Democratic congressional leaders — “Chuck and Nancy,” as the president informally referred to them — on a short-term plan to fund the government and raise its borrowing limit this month.

Trump’s surprise stance upended sensitive negotiations over the debt ceiling and other crucial policy areas this fall and further imperiled his already tenuous relationships with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.).

The episode is the latest turn in Trump’s extraordinary separation from his own party [....]

Most positions have no nominees - Tillerson set out to gut State and has largely succeeeded.

Note that most nominees have been confirmed - but Trump/TRex haven't nominated for most positions. But hey, blame it on Democrats.

In America’s Wars, Failure Is the New Success 

By Benjamin Hart @ NYmag.com, Sept. 4, 4:27 pm

Good short summary including a great selection of maps, links and tweets from meteorologists. Besides the FL news, there is also info. on the Caribbean:

[....] In most immediate danger are the Leeward Islands, the northern section of the Lesser Antilles chain. Hurricane warnings have been posted for Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, Montserrat, St. Kitts, and Nevis, among other islands. Puerto Rico is under a hurricane watch; the territory’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló declared a state of emergency on Monday.

Irma will likely strengthen even more over warm Caribbean water before it makes any landfall, and not lose much, if any, of its power afterward. It would still would likely still be a Category 4 or even 5 by the time it reaches Florida.

But the forecast remains somewhat uncertain. Irma will likely veer toward Turks and Caicos, Cuba, and the Bahamas after it blows through Puerto Rico. But beyond a five-day outlook, the storm’s track is less clear [....]

Guest Op-ed by Yon Goicoechea  (a lawyer and political activist) @ NYTimes.com, Sept. 4

CARACAS, Venezuela — I write this from my cell in the dungeons of the Venezuelan secret police. I’m 32 and I’ve been a democratic activist for 12 years. I have two children, 8 and 5, who are my sun and moon. I have a wife whom I love and who now has to carry the burden of being married to a political prisoner.

One year ago, while I was going to speak at a news conference on behalf of the Popular Will political party, of which I am a member, I was intercepted by 10 or 15 undercover secret police vehicles [....]

By Jennifer Rubin, who writes the Right Turn blog for The Post, offering reported opinion from a conservative perspective, @ WashingtonPost.com, Sept. 4

[....] One is left, still, agog at Trump’s dishonesty, narcissism and inability to project the calmness and discipline we expect from a president. Those who thought he’d grow in office or who perpetually think he’s “pivoting” or “becoming presidential” have engaged in dangerous delusion. One wonders how long we can muddle on with a president this unsuitable without provoking a constitutional or international calamity.

For many Americans, the first they heard of antifa was last month when a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville burst into the news.

Since then, though, it’s everywhere.