Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugan: Stop Calling Trump a Populist (NY Times Column)
From tax cuts to Kavanaugh, he's been relentless about hurting working-class Americans.
Peter Suderman: How Republican Hypocrisy Lifts Social Democrats (NY Times)
By its astoundingly cynical approach to deficits and debt, the G.O.P. has opened the door to an expansive left.
Andrew Tobias: Who Doesn't Like Butter?
I didn't know Land O' Lakes was a Fortune 500 company, but it is, and its new CEO, Beth Ford, is openly gay - only the third after Apple's Tim Cook and Dow Chemical's Jim Fitterling. If you round up, 1% of Fortune 500 CEOs are now openly LGBT!
If you had told me in 1973, when I first wrote about this stuff, that the world's first trillion-dollar company would be run by an openly gay man (or that the 44th President of the United States would be black) - or that one of the country's three largest cooperatives would be run by an openly gay woman (or that I would prefer a thing called Smart Balance to actual butter, however stupid that might be) - I would have considered you unhinged. But here we are.
Mary Beard: BBC 6 music classics (A Don's Life)
I was surprised. I thought I knew the main songs/tracks which touched on the ancient world ('Venus in Blue Jeans', Nick Cave with the 'Lyre of Orpheus'), and I thought there would be a strong response from the classical faithful, who have a sharp ear for references in popular music. It turned out to be beyond my dreams. There are more references (and a lot more Latin) than I had ever imagined. I had never heard This Heat's, SPQR before, but try it! And I had no idea how many people had picked up these references (yes, a couple were my excellent colleagues, but they were in a tiny minority).
Mary Beard: Railway ticket madness (A Don't Life)
This is a blog about domestic annoyance of limited significance on its own. But I post it because it is a story that must be repeated hundreds of times a day - and it points to the madness of the privatised, disaggregated rail system. So here goes: …
Joe Bob Briggs: Pussy Galore (Taki's Magazine)
… American politics has evolved from "What did he know and when did he know it?" to "Who did he grab and how did he grab her?" "Frank, I just don't think we can use the word 'pussy.' We'll go with p dash dash dash dash."
Joe Bob Briggs: Good Night, Sweet Prince of Gore (Taki's Magazine; from October 07, 2016)
What would have amused Herschell most about the Times obit is that it made claims he never would have made for himself. "Blood Feast is an accident of history," he once said. "We didn't deliberately set out to establish a new genre of motion picture. Rather, we were escaping from an old one. Blood Feast is like a Walt Whitman poem. It's no good, but it's the first of its type."
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Presenting
Michael Egan
responded:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
GOP langjuage
Marty
Semanticist George Lakoff has pointed out that when it comes to
describing the current global climate trend, there has been a successful
bait-and-switch operation, originating in some GOP think-tank.
"Climate change" is now used even by well meaning, environmentally aware
sources (just heard on "Democracy Now")
"Global Warming," the real problem, the term reflcting all causes,
particularly those of human origin, has become non-PC, replaced by the
mealy-mouthed term "Climate Change," thought to have been cooked up in
some GOP think tank... - "hey, stuff happens, not our fault"...taking
the heat off the well-known contributors to global warming, from oil and
coal companies to motor vehicle manufacturers to beef and pork
producers...to some of us...
In the distant geologic past, climate did change, with little or no
human contribution, but now the primary cause is us...
Can you say "Global Warming"? Then let's say it, again!
James of Alhambra
Thanks, James!
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
TRUMP IS SMOKING A NEW WEED CALLED "RED ASS".
ANOTHER REPUBLICAN SMOKING "RED ASS".
THE 'GANGSTER' PRESIDENT.
THE 'GANGSTER' PRESIDENT. PART TWO.
'THE TRUMP SHOW.'
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Running late. As usual.
TV Rights
'Star Wars'
Back in 2016, a few years after Disney acquired Lucasfilm, the studio sold the television rights to all of the Star Warsmovies, from the original trilogy to the most recent sequels and spin-offs, to AT&T's recently acquired Turner Broadcasting. At that time, Disney hadn't yet finalized plans for their own subscription service. Now that the studio is looking to launch their exclusive streaming service in 2019, they want all those movies back. But if Disney wants the Star Wars movies back, they're gonna have to pay.
Bloomberg has word on Disney trying to get the Star Wars TV rights back from airing on Turner's cable networks like TNT and TBS. However, Turner's deal for the Star Wars films cost them $237 million and lasts until 2024. And if Disney wants the Star Wars movies in the library of their upcoming streaming service, they want to be financially compensated, and they also want programming to replace those films if they were to give them up.
As of now, the talks haven't advanced beyond a preliminary inquiry, especially since that initial request was met with some resistance by Turner Broadcasting. Who can blame them? Star Wars is one of those movies that people watch whenever it's on television, even when they own all the movies on Blu-ray, DVD or digital download. If there's a holiday weekend or a new Star Wars movie coming out, fans are tuning in to TNT and TBS to catch one of the Star Wars movies whenever they're on.
What's even more frustrating is that aforementioned $237 million deal for the Star Wars TV rights also included the newer titles like Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It's not clear how far the deal spans as far as the more recent Star Wars titles are concerned. Disney is trying to round up all their content from various content providers, including bringing their deal with Netflix to an end once their contract is up at the end of this year.
'Star Wars'
'Fargo'
Chris Rock
Comedian Chris Rock will star in a fourth season of the FX network's Emmy-winning crime drama "Fargo" in a story about two 1950s crime families that have traded their eldest sons, the network announced on Friday.
Production on the new instalment will start in 2019, FX Networks Chief Executive John Landgraf said at a Television Critics Association event, where networks promote upcoming shows.
The season will be set in Kansas City, Missouri, at a time when the Midwest was dealing with clashes between Europeans who had emigrated to the United States and African Americans who had left the U.S. South to escape discrimination, Landgraf said.
Rock will play the head of an African-American family who surrenders his oldest boy to his enemy - an Italian - to keep an uneasy peace, Landgraf said.
The "Fargo" television series was adapted from Joel and Ethan Coen's 1996 Oscar-winning film of the same name. It won the Emmy award for best limited series in 2014.
Chris Rock
Renewed For Season 10
'American Horror Story'
American Horror Story is heading into its eighth installment as part of a two-season pickup for cycles 8 and 9. But it turns out Ryan Murphy's hit horror anthology drama series has been picked up for an extra season, its 10th.
"Ryan asked for a 10th season of American Horror Story which we were happy to give to him," FX Networks CEO John Landgraf said in an interview with Deadline.
As Murphy recently moved to Netflix for a big overall deal there, he "remains pretty committed" to his FX slate, and he is "really excited about Pose," which was just renewed by FX for a second season, Landgraf said.
Created by Murphy and Brad Falchuk, the American Horror Story franchise, produced by 20th Century Fox TV, has won 15 Emmy Awards and dominates FX's top telecasts of all time; in adults 18-34, 12 of the Top 15 most-watched FX telecasts ever are AHS telecasts. In adults 18-49, each of the last five installments of American Horror Story has ranked among cable's Top 5 scripted series in the year in which it aired.
The upcoming eighth season of American Horror Story, Apocalypse, premieres September 12.
'American Horror Story'
fka Sinead O'Connor
Magda Davitt
Sinead O'Connor, who now goes by the name Magda Davitt, is working on new music. She's promised a new album, No Mud No Lotus, for release in 2019, and even released a "demo" of a new song, "Milestones" via The Irish Sun.
Recorded with producer David Holmes, who she met at Shane MacGowan's recent birthday show, the song is really quite lovely, with O'Connor's yearning vocals floating atop some soft, crystalline drones. "I slept outside in the dog shit/ Because you wouldn't let me keep my iPad," she sings, pointing perhaps to her struggles with family and mental health in recent years.
"David wrote the music. I wrote the lyrics and melody," she told the Sun. "This is just a first demo for fans because they never get to hear a demo. I thought it would be fun to share it."
Listen to it here.
O'Connor/Davitt's last album was 2014's I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss. In April, she played her first live shows in four years.
Magda Davitt
'Uncharted Territory'
California Wildfires
The wildfires ravaging California are plunging the state into "uncharted territory", governor Jerry Brown has said.
At least 16 wildfires are currently burning on the west coast, destroying more than 200,000 acres of land and thousands of buildings. The state has called in 13,000 firefighters, including some from as far away as Florida and Maine.
Mr Brown - like other officials before him - warned on Wednesday that that situation could be the "new normal" for the state.
"We're being surprised. Every year is teaching the fire authorities new lessons," the governor said at a press conference, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. "We're in uncharted territory."
Five of the 10 most destructive wildfires in California history have occurred in the last five years, according to state records. Three of them occurred in 2017 alone. The Carr fire, currently ravaging northern California, is the sixth worst wildfire in state history.
California Wildfires
Bigger Than Beyoncé and Bruce
Crowds
Clearly, Donald Trump (R-OfPutin) has never seen a Beyoncé crowd go apeshit.
If he had ever witnessed the might of the BeyHive in full effect, he would definitely not have made the comments about crowd sizes that he did on Thursday night at a rally.
While speaking to his supporters in Pennsylvania, Trump said that Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Bruce Springsteen all "were drawing crowds smaller than my crowds."
Lol, no.
The New York Times examined this claim, along with more than a dozen other inaccurate statements he made at the rally. In 2016 Trump said that up to 49,000 people attended his biggest rallies (which supporters could attend for free). Compare that with the more than 57,000 people who paid to attended Beyoncé and Jay-Z's Berlin stop on the On The Run II Tour this summer. And then there's Bruce Springsteen, who back in May 2016 sold out two shows in Dublin that both had an average of 80,000 people.
Crowds
Next Campaign
Bannon
Former Trump campaign chief Steve Bannon is set to roll out a political nonprofit aimed at rallying the president's political base with the message that if Democrats capture control of the House in this fall's midterms, "they're going to impeach him," says a Bannon associate.
Sam Nunberg, a onetime Trump political adviser who is now working with Bannon on the project, says in an interview for the Yahoo News podcast "Skullduggery" that the goal of the new organization is to "educate the public" that the real Democratic goal is to "undo the outcome" of the 2016 election.
"The message is: This is Donald Trump's reelect, in a nutshell," Nunberg says in the interview with this reporter and Yahoo News Editor in Chief Daniel Klaidman. "They [the Democrats] will undo your election. Adam Schiff, Robert Mueller - they will undo the outcome, and they will make it a crime for the Republican to win."
The new group will be announced late next week on the anniversary of Bannon's departure from the White House. He left after a series of provocative comments that annoyed the president - such as his prediction that Mueller's prosecutors will "crack" Donald Trump Jr. "like an egg" - and made his position as a senior presidential adviser untenable.
Much about the new organization - including its name and, more important, its financial resources - remains unclear. But Bannon previewed the new setup in a recent Vanity Fair interview that revealed the existence of a "shadow political operation" of Trump advisers in regular communication with the president - including, besides Nunberg, former deputy campaign chief David Bossie and ex-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. (Echoing Nunberg, Bannon, who does not speak directly to the president, told the magazine: "This election is very simple. It's an up or down vote on impeachment.")
Bannon
Mysterious Meteor Crashed Near Military Base
Greenland
The US Air Force failed to report a major meteor explosion near a military base in Greenland earlier this summer, leading to concern and confusion.
The explosion contained 2.1 kilotons of force and occurred just above an early-warning radar at the Thule Air Force base in June, according to Hans Kristensen, the director of the Nuclear Information Project for the Federation of American Scientists. Mr Kristensen confirmed the explosion in a tweet on Wednesday, suggesting the meteor could have been mistaken by some as a "Russian first strike".
However, the US Air Force did not release a statement regarding the meteor, or even tweet about the phenomena.
The Thule Air Base public news site includes no information surrounding the meteor whatsoever, along with all other web domains associated with the base.
Still, the incident was confirmed in part by data published by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which showed an object travelling nearly 24.4 kilometres per second over Thule on 25 July around midnight.
Greenland
From Deep Space
Radio Waves
Our universe is teeming with invisible light. Beyond the visible spectrum, space is a colorful mess of radio signals and microwaves fired off by flaring "suns," collapsing stars, crackling magnetic fields, roiling dust clouds and seething black holes.
Then, there's the light nobody understands - mysterious, ultrastrong sparks of energy zipping billions of light-years across the universe from unknown origins, for unknown reasons.
Puzzling pulses like these are sometimes called fast radio bursts (FRBs), because they may last just a few milliseconds. On the morning of July 25, one such burst of mysterious energy whizzed past a new array of radio telescopes nestled in the mountains of British Columbia, Canada, registering one of the rarest radio frequencies ever detected.
According to a statement released in The Astronomer's Telegram (a bulletin board of astronomical observations posted by accredited scientists), the mystery signal - named FRB 180725A after the year, month and day it was detected - transmitted in frequencies as low as 580 megahertz, nearly 200 MHz lower than any other FRBs ever detected.
"These events have occurred during both the day and night, and their arrival times are not correlated with known on-site activities or other known sources," wrote Patrick Boyle, author of the Astronomer's Telegram report and a project manager for the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) - the radio telescope that detected the strange new signature.
Radio Waves
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