Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Lucy Mangan: "Men do not have a right to sex - or murder" (Stylist)
Women who refuse sex are not responsible for men committing rape, violence and even murder, argues Lucy Mangan.
Lenore Skenazy: Scaring Does Not Mean Caring (Creators Syndicate)
Provocateur Joey Salads, a comedian who doesn't seem to care about sowing paranoia, keeps making videos about extremely rare and unlikely crimes to "teach parents a lesson." That lesson is inevitably: Your children will be snatched the second you take your eyes off them.
Froma Harrop: Freeing Predators to Bilk Little People Hurts Everyone (Creators Syndicate)
The most vivid takeaway from the financial meltdown of 10 years ago was that nearly everyone got hurt. Stock investors took a beating. People who had carefully set aside money for retirement saw a third of their savings vanish. Consumer spending collapsed, pushing two of the Big Three U.S. car companies to the edge of bankruptcy. Unemployment soared to 10 percent.
Froma Harrop: Time to Put Space Between Trump Stimuli and Our Responses (Creators Syndicate)
To preserve energy for more important fights ahead, Trump's critics need to pick and choose. Face it; the claims of crude sexual behavior didn't stop Trump from getting elected in the first place. The elections in November could start closing down the Trump era. That should be the focus. Leave the sexual obsessions to the tabloids.
Susan Estrich: Leaking the List (Creators Syndicate)
My guess is some of the folks around Trump are afraid of what Mueller could do to this president in an interview controlled by the prosecutor. If their boss won't listen to them (and he often doesn't), and he won't listen to his lawyers (which is why he has to keep hiring new ones), then maybe he will listen to The New York Times, whose front page story focused on the breadth of the questions.
Susan Estrich: The #MeToo Man Takes a Fall (Creators Syndicate)
After months, years, of attacking all things Trump, Schneiderman has succeeded in doing what most of us thought impossible: making Trump look if not good then at least better. At least he didn't beat up Stormy Daniels.
Connie Schultz: You, Too, Would Do This to Save the Life of Your Child (Creators Syndicate)
The New York Times' Caitlin Dickerson reported last month that "more than 700 children have been taken from adults claiming to be their parents since October, including more than 100 children under the age of 4." Say that out loud: more than 100 children under the age of 4. Think of them as your own, if that's the only way you can imagine the anguish of those innocent babies. This trauma will affect them for the rest of their lives.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
responded:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Marc's Guide to Curing Cancer
So far so good on beating cancer for now. I'm doing fine. At the end of the month I'll be 16 months into an 8 month mean lifespan. And yesterday I went on a 7 mile hike and managed to keep up with the hiking group I was with. So, doing something right.
Still waiting for future test results and should see things headed in the right direction. I can say that it's not likely that anything dire happens in the short term so that means that I should have time to make several more attempts at this. So even if it doesn't work the first time there are a lot of variations to try. So if there's bad news it will help me pick the next radiation target.
I have written a "how to" guide for oncologists to perform the treatment that I got. I'm convinced that I'm definitely onto something and whether it works for me or not isn't the definitive test. I know if other people tried this that it would work for some of them, and if they improve it that it will work for a lot of them.
The guide is quite detailed and any doctor reading this can understand the procedure at every level. I also go into detail as to how it works, how I figured it out, and variations and improvements that could be tried to enhance it. I also introduce new ways to look at the problem. There is a lot of room for improvement and I think that doctors reading it will see what I'm talking about and want to build on it. And it's written so that if you're not a doctor you can still follow it. It also has a personal story revealing that I'm the class clown of cancer support group. I give great interviews and I look pretty hot in a lab coat.
So, feel free to read this and see what I'm talking about. But if any of you want to help then pass this around to both doctors and cancer patients. I need some media coverage. I'm looking for as many eyeballs as possible to read these ideas. Even if this isn't the solution, it's definitely on the right track. After all, I did hike 7 miles yesterday. And this hiking group wasn't moving slow. So if this isn't working then, why am I still here?
I also see curing cancer as more of an engineering problem that a medical problem. So if you are good at solving problems and most of what you know about medicine was watching the Dr. House MD TV show, then you're at the level I was at when I started. So anyone can jump in and be part of the solution.
Here is a link to my guide: Oncologists Guide to Curing Cancer using Abscopal Effect
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
"THIS IS THE END MY FRIEND"
GOING ORGANIC?
BALONEY.
'I FEEL SO STUPID'
GOODBY "NUNERS".
"FOLLOW THE MONEY."
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
May Gray - marine layer hung around most of the day.
Meet Waffle House Hero
Parkland Survivors
Survivors of the Parkland school shooting met James Shaw Jr, the man who disarmed a gunman who killed four people at a Nashville Waffle House, in Miami on Saturday amid a drive for gun reform by student groups.
Seventeen people were killed and another 17 were injured in the Florida shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February.
"Meeting the young adults of the Parkland incident so much fire and inspiration in their eyes was a great joy," Mr Shaw tweetedwith a photo of the group.
Mr Shaw also posted a photo of himself with Emma Gonzalez, one of the leaders of the Parkland students' drive for gun reform, who helped to organise the March for Our Lives in Washington in March.
"I met one of my heroes today," Mr Shaw tweeted along with a photo of the beaming Ms Gonzalez.
Parkland Survivors
Female Stars Protest
Cannes
Hollywood stars including Cate Blanchett, Kristen Stewart and Salma Hayek called Saturday for equal pay in the cinema industry and beyond in a historic red carpet protest at the Cannes film festival.
Eighty-two actresses, filmmakers and producers marched arm and arm to demand equality and "a safe workplace", seven months after the world was shaken by the #MeToo movement and the fall of mogul Harvey Weinstein.
The ranks included a battalion of Oscar winners from Helen Mirren and Marion Cotillard to US blockbuster directors Ava DuVernay and Patty Jenkins who made "Wonder Woman".
With Cannes under fire for its dearth of women directors, the world's top film festival hoped to fend off some of the fierce criticism with the march.
The number of protesters was highly symbolic as it represented the 82 films by female directors who have competed for the top Palme d'Or prize since 1946 -- a number dwarfed by the nearly 1,700 male contenders.
Cannes
Program To Track Greenhouse Gas Is Canceled
NASA
A NASA program that cost $10 million per year to track carbon and methane, key greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, has been cancelled, a US space agency spokesman said Thursday.
The end of the program -- called the Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) -- which tracked sources and sinks for carbon and made high-resolution models of the planet's flows of carbon -- was first reported by the journal Science.
"Now, President-for-now Donald Trump's (R-Corrupt) administration has quietly killed the CMS," the report said, describing the move as the latest in a "broad attack on climate science" mounted by the White House.
The journal said NASA "declined to provide a reason for the cancellation beyond 'budget constraints and higher priorities within the science budget.'"
It also quoted US space agency spokesman Steve Cole as saying there was no mention of the CMS in a budget deal signed in March, which "allowed the administration's move to take effect."
NASA
Barely Targeted Swing States
Facebook Ads
Did Russians target the key swing states with their social media advertising push, and did they have any helpfrom the Trump campaign? The question has troubled Washington for months. But a review of Facebook advertisements from Russian trolls during the 2016 presidential election now shows that they barely targeted the states that would decide the presidency.
The striking revelation is the result of a review by Democrats on the House intelligence committee who looked at Facebook advertisements from July 2015 to November 2016 by the Internet Research Agency, a Russian company that operates online propaganda for the Putin government and others. The ad releaseincludes previously undisclosed targeting information, including demographic groups and location.
It shows that fewer than 300 of the 3,000-plus Facebook advertisements purchased by the Russian "troll factory" targeted states that could determine the outcome of the 2016 election. Even fewer of these social media ads mentioned the election or the presidential candidates.
The vast majority of the 277 swing state ads purchased by the Russian agency were about non-electoral issues, including police violence, racism, LGBTQ rights, immigration and Islamophobia. Many of them centered on themes of the Black Lives Matter movement. They mixed calls for protest with denunciations of police misconduct and systemic racism with praise for black celebrities and the black experience. Aside from the inability to conform to the rules of any known North American English dialect, they were mostly indistinguishable from social media posts by actual activists. In fact, many of the ads were incredibly banal.
Only a handful of ads in swing states made direct electoral appeals. Several of them originated in Being Patriotic, a Facebook group created by the Russian trolls that promoted pro-Trump rallies in Pennsylvania and Florida in the final months of the campaign. "We could help Mr. Trump win Pennsylvania which is a battleground state," one read. "We announce a patriotic flash mob in Florida on August, 2016. We either win Florida or lose. Florida Goes Trump," another read. The Florida ad, which reached 59,000 impressions, depicted Trump giving two thumbs up over a faked image of Hillary Clinton behind bars.
Facebook Ads
Discriminatory New Adoption Law
Oklahoma
A new "faith-based" adoption law signed by Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin on Friday is raising red flags for LGBTQ groups.
Oklahoma Senate Bill 1140 allows agencies to deny adoptions and foster care placements if a given placement violates an agency's "written religious or moral convictions or policies."
Fallin says the law does not restrict LGBTQ couples from adopting. While that may be technically true, it would allow agencies to reject couples "in accordance with their beliefs" ? that is, because those couples are in the LGBTQ community.
"Rather than stand up to religious fanaticism, the governor has chosen to reinforce the delusions of those who confuse discrimination with liberty," Oklahoma ACLU external affairs director Allie Shinn said. "This measure serves no legitimate policy purpose."
Two state equal rights groups, Freedom Oklahoma and Oklahomans For Equality, said they are looking into or will take legal action.
Oklahoma
Abortion Referendum
Ireland
Pro- and anti-abortion activists in Ireland are hitting the streets and social networks to mobilise a divided electorate with less than a fortnight to go until a referendum on the thorny issue.
Voters decide on May 25 whether to remove the 1983 constitutional restriction on abortion -- a highly sensitive issue in a traditionally devoutly Catholic country.
Back in 1983, 67 percent voted in favour of the eighth amendment, which outlawed abortion.
The law was tweaked in 2013 to allow terminations if the mother's life is at risk, following public outrage at the death of a pregnant woman refused an abortion.
The referendum will ask voters if they want to keep the constitutional restriction or repeal it and allow the Irish parliament to legislate on abortion.
Ireland
Ex-Yugoslav Strongman
Tito
Years of dust has been wiped off, the engine replaced, the chassis once again gleams a dark blue and the wheel rims sparkle -- one of ex-Yugoslav strongman Josip Broz Tito's luxury cars has been given a new lease of life in Serbia.
The car in question -- a 1948 Packard, a high-priced luxury American automobile owned by Tito before his death -- has been lovingly restored by Serbian folk singer and car-enthusiast Milos Bojanic
The 67-year-old has spent the past three years scraping together spare parts to rebuild the classic vehicle at his workshop in Novi Sad, northern Serbia.
The car was for years stationed in Macedonia -- one of the six republics that made up the former federation of Yugoslavia -- and later brought to Serbia by a businessman to be rented out as a wedding vehicle.
Only around 30 of some 1,000 luxury cars made by the US car producer remain functional, according to Bojanic, and now this newly restored Packard will soon be able to drive along the roads of former Yugoslavia, 70 years after it was first built.
Tito
Sells For £87,000
Battered Vase
A battered vase which was on its way to a charity shop has sold at auction for close to £90,000.
Grandmother Anne Beck always considered the chipped old china vase too damaged to display in her Eastbourne home. She inherited the foot-tall oriental decoration from her grandfather, an antique restorer, but neither he nor she ever repaired it, and Mrs Beck, 83, kept it in her garage for 11 years.
An expert at the Eastbourne Auctions house, in East Sussex, convinced her to add it to last week's sale. It was advertised online with an estimated sale price of between £90 and £120.
But knowledgeable bidders spotted the true value of the item and drove the price up to £70,000. Including fees the German-based Chinese buyer paid £87,000 for the vase.
Had it been undamaged experts estimate it might have been worth between £250m and £500m.
Battered Vase
Weekend Box Office
"Avengers: Infinity War"
"Avengers: Infinity War" is still ruling the box office in its third weekend in theaters, easily beating out the mom-themed fare.
The Walt Disney Studios on Sunday estimates that "Infinity War" has added $61.8 million from North American theaters bringing its total domestic earnings to $547.8 million. Globally the film has now grossed over $1.6 billion- $200 million of which was from its massive opening in China this weekend. It's now the fifth highest grossing film of all time worldwide.
In a distant second, "Life of the Party" earned an estimated $18.5 million, which is a few million short of some of McCarthy's other comedy collaborations with husband Ben Falcone like "Tammy" and "The Boss." It also got similarly mixed reviews from critics. The Warner Bros. release stars McCarthy as a woman who decides to go back to college with her daughter.
The modestly budgeted "Breaking In" took third place with $16.5 million, over-performing most industry expectations despite lackluster reviews. The film stars Union as a mom who has to fight to save her kids from a group of home invaders.
Also benefiting from the Mother's Day timing was "Overboard," which earned $10.1 million to take fourth place, down only 31 percent from its debut last weekend. And rounding out the top five was "A Quiet Place" with $6.4 million. The John Krasinski-directed thriller has now earned $169.6 million domestically.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1."Avengers: Infinity War," $61.8 million ($281.3 million international).
2."Life of the Party," $18.5 million ($2.9 million international).
3."Breaking In," $16.5 million ($1 million international).
4."Overboard," $10.1 million ($8.2 million international).
5."A Quiet Place," $6.4 million ($2.8 million international).
6."I Feel Pretty," $3.7 million ($3.5 million international).
7."Rampage," $3.4 million ($6.4 million international).
8."Tully," $2.2 million.
9."Black Panther," $1.9 million.
10."Blockers," $1.1 million ($1.2 million international).
"Avengers: Infinity War"
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