Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: Biggie Smalls' America (Creators Syndicate)
The soldiers who died in America's wars? They were Jews, slum-dwellers, blacks, zoot suiters and white farm boys. Some of them said their last words in Spanish or in Polish, because they were calling for a mother who didn't speak English, back home in Chicago or Los Angeles.
Reuters: Man shouting 'anti-Muslim slurs' fatally stabs two men in US
Two men die in Portland, Oregon, after trying to stop attacker from harassing two women because they appeared to be Muslim, police say.
The investigations swirling around Donald Trump - a short guide (The Guardian)
A special prosecutor, the FBI and various congressional committees are all involved in inquiries associated with the US president.
Rory Carroll: Jared Kushner discussed creating secret communications channel with Moscow - reports (The Guardian)
Russia's ambassador told his superiors that he and Kushner discussed ways to shield White House transition team discussions from monitoring, sources said.
Dr. Matthew Thorpe, MD, PhD: "How to Fight Sarcopenia (Muscle Loss Due to Aging)" (Authority Nutrition)
Although some of the causes of sarcopenia are a natural consequence of aging, others are preventable. In fact, a healthy diet and regular exercise can reverse sarcopenia, increasing lifespan and quality of life. This article explains what causes sarcopenia, and lists many ways you can fight it.
Clive James: 'My new wheelchair is a thing of beauty and precision' (The Guardian)
The same people who conspired to buy it are now competing to get first push.
Hunter Felt: The Boston Celtics won respect, but will they ever win against LeBron? (The Guardian)
[The Celtics] were supposed to be better this year, but only the most delusional optimists could have expected them to seize the No1 seed in the Eastern Conference without making a significant move before the deadline (thanks to an assist from the Cavaliers' mounting indifference towards the regular season). After not getting past the first round in their last two postseason appearances, these Celtics made it to within one round of the NBA finals.
Guy Sucks At Photoshop, So He Spends 10 Years Illustrating His Book With MS Paint (Design You Trust)
Turns out, sometimes our resistance to learn something new and master a new skill can lead to something pretty amazing. Pat Hines, who couldn't be bothered to learn Photoshop and illustrated his ebook using good old Microsoft Paint, is the proof.
CaptainRedBlood: Illustrated my first novel with MS Paint (Imgur)
Angry pedestrian gets instant karma (YouTube)
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
THE CRAZY ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM.
REPUBLICANS SUCK!
R.I.P. GREGG.
WHAT A FUCKING BONEHEAD!
WHAT A JERKOFF.
CLIMATE CHANGE IS A HOAX?
HE CAME, HE SAW, HE BABBLED.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still can't see T-rump on TV without muttering 'Fuck you'.
AIDS Gala
Cannes
A galaxy of stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman and Will Smith turned out for an AIDS benefit that is the social highlight of the Cannes film festival.
The annual amfAR Foundation for AIDs Research gala dinner late Thursday at the luxury Eden Roc hotel just along the French Riviera at Cap d'Antibes saw celebrities and benefactors paying up to half a million dollars (466,000 euros) for a table.
Actresses Jessica Chastain, Milla Jovovich, Eva Longoria, footballer David Beckham and directors David Lynch and jury president Pedro Almodovar were also among the A-listers present for the auction to help the charity founded by the late Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor.
They were aiming to beat the 22 million euros raised at last year's dinner when DiCaprio -- who acted as auctioneer -- sold a sculpture by British artist Damien Hirst for 3.1 million euros and a day with Hollywood star Kevin Spacey for half a million.
Since the galas began at the Cannes festival in 1993, the "Cinema Against AIDS" dinners have raised more than 174 million euros for the charity.
Cannes
Excludes Gay First Spouse of Luxembourg
White House
The White House Facebook page failed to acknowledge First Gentleman of Luxembourg Gauthier Destenay, married to Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, in a post featuring the spouses of world leaders attending this week's G7 summit in Sicily. The photo caption included the names of every other spouse, all of them wives, beginning with: "First Lady Melania Trump poses with Belgium's Queen Mathilde, center, and other spouses of NATO leaders."
The omission of Destenay's name in the official White House post remained for at least six hours on Saturday before Daily Beast editor Scott Bixby shared a screenshot on Twitter, writing: "Is there a reason the White House didn't include the First Gentleman of Luxembourg in this photo caption? Like, a non-homophobic one?"
It remained unclear as of Saturday night why the post failed to include the first gentleman of Luxembourg, the only homosexual spouse included in the photo. The White House did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The photo, taken by White House photographer Andrea Hanks, shows Melania Trump front and center with Queen Mathilde, surrounded by First Gentleman Gauthier Destnary of Luxembourg, First Lady Emine Erdo?an of Turkey, Iceland's Thora Margret Baldvinsdottir, First Lady of France Brigitte Macron, Slovenia's Mojca Stropnik, Bulgaria's Desislava Radeva, Belgium's Amélie Derbaudrenghien and Norway's Ingrid Schulerud.
The photo caption's omission was immediately noticed by countless users from around the world, who denounced the glaring absence as a sign of either incompetency or anti-LGBT attitudes.
White House
Judge Dismisses Lawsuit
Benghazi
A federal judge threw out a lawsuit against Hillary Clinton by the parents of two Americans killed in the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, ruling the former secretary of state didn't defame them when disputing allegations that she had lied.
The lawsuit also alleged the former Democratic presidential candidate's use of a private email server caused the death of their sons, Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods, because it exposed terrorists to sensitive information. They claimed Clinton lied when she allegedly told them it was a YouTube video that prompted the consulate attack.
"The untimely death of plaintiffs' sons is tragic, and the Court does not mean to minimize the unspeakable loss that plaintiffs have suffered in any way," U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington wrote in a 29-page opinion released Friday. But Berman said legal standards required the case to be dismissed.
Berman ruled the parents didn't sufficiently challenge that Clinton wasn't acting in her official capacity when she used the private server, and that the families didn't put forward appropriate claims that Clinton defamed them or put them in a false light.
Benghazi
European Southern Observatory
Extremely Large Telescope
Casting of the secondary mirror for the European Southern Observatory's Extremely Large Telescope has been completed in Mainz, Germany.
Weighing 3.5 tons and measuring 14 feet in diameter, the finished piece is the largest convex mirror ever produced.
The giant convex mirror was created using a ceramic-glass material called Zerodur. It was made by Schott, a German glass-making company which also made the mirrors for the ESO's previous Very Large Telescope.
As you might imagine, creating a convex mirror weighing several tons isn't exactly easy. "Convex mirrors like this are much harder to shape and test than concave ones," Cayrel continued. "The ELT secondary is also significantly different from a spherical surface, which again makes it harder to make. Up to now the largest convex mirrors did not exceed 1.4 metres (read: 4.5 feet) in diameter."
Don't think that the hard work is over yet, either. Now that the mirror's been cast, the team must wait more than year for it to cool down from its casting temperature of 2,552 degree Fahrenheit, to the point where it can be safely used.
Extremely Large Telescope
Reels From Harsh Reality Show
NATO
Donald Trump's (R-Buffoon) performance at a "shocking" NATO summit has dealt a major blow to the alliance and may hand a win to Vladimir Putin, analysts say.
Whether shoving aside Montenegro's PM or having handshake wars with France's new leader, Trump created chaos at what was meant to be a diplomatic showpiece.
But optics aside, Trump failed to publicly endorse NATO's founding mutual defence guarantee and instead castigated the allies for failing to pay their way.
The contrast with an upbeat Mideast visit, including a trip to Saudi Arabia in which he did big deals with no mention of human rights concerns, was striking.
NATO
Hit New Low
Approval Ratings
Donald Trump (R-Grifter) has hit a new low job approval rating of just 40 per cent.
Most of the voters that approve of the job Mr Trump is doing are white men. Of that bloc, only 28 per cent "strongly approve" of his performance in the White House.
This is down from 45 per cent in the same poll conducted in April.
The poll - commissioned by Fox News - was conducted by two research companies who called a random nationwide sample of 1,011 registered voters between 21 to 23 May.
Fox News, owned by Mr Trump's longtime friend Rupert Murdoch (R-Evil Incarnate), has repeatedly aired news reports and brought experts on air who are in favour of the president.
Approval Ratings
T-rump Has Been 'Complete Disaster'
Boehner
Donald Trump's (R-Corrupt) time in office has been a "complete disaster" aside from foreign affairs, fellow Republican and former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-More Time With His Family) said at an energy conference.
The former Ohio congressman said he has been friends with Trump for 15 years but never thought he would occupy the White House.
And while he praised Trump's aggressive steps to challenge the Islamic State militant group and other moves in international affairs, he was highly critical of the president's other early efforts.
"Everything else he's done has been a complete disaster," Boehner said at the energy conference in Houston on Wednesday, according to the energy publication Rigzone. "He's still learning how to be president."
The former House speaker, who resigned from Congress in 2015, was also highly critical of efforts by the administration and his former Republican colleagues in Congress to advance sweeping healthcare and tax reform plans.
Boehner
'Knew Key Clinton Intelligence Was Fake'
Comey
A central piece of intelligence in the FBI's investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server was fake - and FBI Director James Comey acted on it anyway, CNN reports.
The Washington Post reported last week that the FBI had obtained intelligence alleging then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch had conspired with former Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to limit the FBI's investigation into Ms Clinton.
That piece of intelligence helped convince Mr Comey to announce his department's findings independently of the attorney general - an untraditional move that generated outcry on the left and the right.
Now, sources tell CNN that Mr Comey knew the document was likely fake, but acted on it anyway.
The FBI director feared that the document - real or not - would shake the public's confidence in Ms Lynch if it was leaked. Ms Lynch was already under intense scrutiny for speaking with former President Bill Clinton
Comey
Quake Warning System Defunded
West Coast
Donald Trump's (R-Crooked) budget proposal would cut federal funding for an earthquake early warning system for California, Oregon and Washington state, a development that seismology experts and some local leaders say would be the end of the project.
The system being developed in conjunction with various universities is intended at providing critical seconds of warning when an earthquake has started and potentially dangerous shaking is imminent. The system would allow time for people to take cover and to slow or halt such things as critical industrial processes and transportation systems.
A version of the ShakeAlert system has been undergoing testing but still needs to have more seismic sensors installed in Northern California, Oregon and Washington. The proposed funding cuts for the next fiscal year starting Oct. 1 would come from the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, a bureau of the U.S. Interior Department.
Veteran seismologist Lucy Jones, who recently retired from the U.S. Geological Survey after years of providing earthquake information to the public, said she was deeply disappointed.
"Eliminating the $10 million (per) year that the government has been spending would stop the program and waste the $23 million that has already been invested," she said in a statement. "The talented scientists and technicians that are working on the project now will go to other jobs, so their experience and expertise would be lost."
West Coast
In Memory
Gregg Allman
Gregg Allman, the powerfully bluesy and hard-jamming singer and songwriter who co-founded the Allman Brothers Band and emerged as a pioneer of Southern rock, has died at the age of 69.
Allman died peacefully at his home in Savannah, Georgia, according to a statement posted Saturday on his website.
Allman, who played keyboard and guitar and sang with a rich, growling voice, was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1999 and underwent a liver transplant in 2010, Billboard reported on its website.
Allman's older brother Duane, a co-founder of the group and legendary guitar player, died in a motorcycle accident in 1971 at the age of 24, just as the band was enjoying its first big taste of success.
The group's music merged blues, jazz, country and rock with a meandering improvisational style that made jamming at concerts one of their trademarks.
Billboard said that since Nielsen Music began tracking point-of-sale music purchases in 1991, the Allman Brothers Band has sold 9.3 million albums in the United States.
The group's best-known hits include "Whipping Post," "Midnight Rider," "Melissa" and "Ramblin' Man."
Allman struggled for years with heroin addiction and substance abuse and went into rehab several times before getting clean in the 1990s.
As a member of the band he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. And in 2012, also along with the rest of the band, Allman received a Grammy award for lifetime achievement.
Gregg Allman
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