Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: Woody Guthrie, By God (Creators Syndicate)
"Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted, / Our work contract's out and we have to move on; / Six hundred miles to the Mexican border, / They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves." - "Deportee" by Woody Guthrie
Ted Rall: At Harvard, Thoughtcrime on Crack (Creators Syndicate)
In America, all it takes to ruin your life is one bad decision. Even in "1984," all that Orwell's totalitarian state required of its citizens was to love Big Brother. Former dissidents cured of their heresies by terror and torture were permitted to live out their lives. The Party didn't hold the fact they hadn't always loved Big Brother against them.
Mark Shields: Unintended Consequence of Summer of '19 (Creators Syndicate)
In brutal combat, Bob Mueller would earn the Bronze Star for bravery. He would be wounded by a round from a North Vietnamese AK-47 and keep fighting, directing his platoon's fire. He received the Purple Heart for his combat wounds. Here's the question: Will Mueller, an authentic American hero outraged by this president's apparent tolerance of Putin's meddling, break his self-imposed vow of silence on the subject of Russian subversion of American democracy and testify fully in public hearings about that threat? After the Trump-Putin comedy show in Japan, it could happen.
Lenore Skenazy: From Prison to Pomp and Circumstance (Creators Syndicate)
Beverly is an older student. She grew up in the South Bronx, one of the poorest congressional districts in the nation, and dropped out of school in 9th grade. Drugs became her world - using and selling them. Even though she kept promising herself she'd stop, she found herself in and out of prison for years and ended up doing nine stints at Rikers, New York's notorious corrections complex. Every time she got out, it was harder and harder to turn her life around. But when her son, Jabari, was born 16 years ago, Beverly vowed to change.
Susan Estrich: Trump Before There Was Trump (Creators Syndicate)
Last August, Rep. Duncan Hunter, war hero, married father of three, son of a long-term congressman, was indicted for using some $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses including private school tuition for his kids, family vacations in Italy, trips around the country and the world, meals at Spago, theater tickets, dentist bills and, yes, bar bills. Congressman Hunter did not take responsibility for his actions. Nor did he offer any explanation for how such a detailed indictment could be so wrong.
This week, federal prosecutors filed a motion asking the court for permission to present at trial evidence that Rep. Hunter spent campaign funds to finance at least five extramarital affairs he had while his wife was home in California.
Froma Harrop: Do You Really Want to Travel So Much? (Creators Syndicate)
Hypertourism has become the curse of desirable places all over the world. It refers to the swarms of tourists who clog the plazas and narrow streets of prized cultural destinations - Florence, Venice, Barcelona, Prague and others. Party cities, such as Amsterdam, where both prostitution and marijuana are mostly legal, draw especially low-quality tourists. But locals suffering under hypertourism everywhere endure the spectacle of drunken tourists urinating in public.
Froma Harrop: Vogue Doesn't Have to Put Melania on Its Cover (Creators Syndicate)
I generally don't have strong feelings for or against first ladies, but a magazine with a Trump on the cover for any reason other than affairs of state would be avoided. Lifestyle magazines, such as Vogue, are for relaxation and escape. Reminders that Trump is president are jarring, even after two years of him.
Connie Schultz: In the Absence of Republican Courage, More Children Will Die (Creators Syndicate)
Ramirez is not the first parent, and Valeria is not the first child, to die trying to cross the Rio Grande in recent weeks. They will not be the last if Republican members of Congress don't stop enabling Donald Trump's racist campaign against immigrants who are not white.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
from Bruce
Anecdotes
Perry Como really was an easy-going celebrity. Once, in the first Paar show of the fall season, comedy writer Goodman Ace came up with this joke for him: "I was trapped in my house all summer with my kids playing the jukebox, records, and all that. It was the summer of my discotheque!" However, Mr. Como wasn't sure that the joke was all that funny, so it was given to the show's announcer, Frank Gallop. During rehearsal, the joke got a big laugh, and Mr. Como said, "If I had known it would get that big of a laugh, I wouldn't have given it to Frank." When Mr. Goodman suggested that he take the line back, since he was the star of the show, Mr. Como was shocked: "Oh no. You can't do that."
While having dinner with President Abraham Lincoln, a man complained about how hard it would be to beat the Confederate soldiers in the Civil War: "You can't do anything with them Southern fellows. If they get whipped, they'll retreat to them Southern swamps and bayous along with the fishes and crocodiles. You haven't got the fish-nets made that'll catch them." President Abraham Lincoln listened to the man, then said, "We've got just the nets for traitors, in the bayous or anywhere." "What kind of nets?" asked the man. President Lincoln replied, "Bayou-nets," and speared a fishball with his fork.
In 1952, Milton Schulman criticized a new revue by writing, "The new revue arrived on that stage of the Globe Theatre last night with all the chic of an elegant Parisian bandbox tied up with ribbon. As the bow was untied and the lid removed, however, out fluttered a collection of aged moths." Noel Coward had a song in the revue, so he sent the cast members this telegram: "Dear aged moths, congratulations, but watch out or I shall be after you with some balls. Love, Noel."
After reading a book titled The Son of the Great Eunuch, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart wrote a Broadway musical based on it. In the musical, the son has no interest in becoming a eunuch. At one point, he is being carried away so the operation can be performed, and Mr. Rodgers' music includes a few bars of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite."
Actor Arthur Wood's performance as Bottom in Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night Dream was denounced by the critics, so Mr. Wood wrote an angry letter to a newspaper. The editor printed the letter, but added this note: "Mr. Wood seems rather thin-skinned about his Bottom."
Edward Gibbon wrote a massive history of the decline and fall of Rome. Once, Richard Brinsley Sheridan called Mr. Gibbon "luminous." When a friend later asked why he had chosen that particular word, Mr. Sheridan joked that he had made a mistake: "I meant voluminous."
Sydney Smith once saw two women arguing while standing in the windows of two buildings located opposite each other on a narrow street. Mr. Smith said, "They will never agree, for they argue from different premises."
Edwin Booth's nose was broken, causing many people to stare at it. A fan complimented Mr. Booth on his acting ability, but added that she just couldn't get over his nose. "Small wonder," Mr. Booth replied. "The bridge is gone."
Nunnally Johnson (1897-1977) was known as a Hollywood script doctor. If a producer had a screenplay that wasn't very good, the cry went out: "Get thee to a Nunnally."
While he was rehearsing in Peer Gynt, Peter Ustinov was told that he had a telephone call. He said, "I'd better take it. It may be a troll call."
Gioacchino Rossini's mother wondered how one of his operas had been received. He sent her a drawing of an Italian straw-covered bottle - the kind called "fiasco."
James Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, was asked if all his plays were successful. "No," he replied. "Some Peter out and others Pan out."
Danny Kaye's wife was Sylvia Fine. Mr. Kaye used to joke, "I have a Fine head on my shoulders."
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD is on vacation.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Raccoons are getting frisky on the roof, again.
'Helter Skelter' With Steven Tyler
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney brought out surprise guest Steven Tyler to perform the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" Friday at his concert in Las Vegas.
"We have a special guest for you: Mr. Steven Tyler," McCartney told the T-Mobile Arena crowd during the encore as the Aerosmith singer came onstage armed with his scarf-covered microphone stand. The singers then launched into "Helter Skelter," with the two Rock Hall legends deftly switching off lines. McCartney and Tyler also improvised an outro that saw the pair bouncing off each other vocally.
Aerosmith - who are currently in the midst of their Deuces Are Wild Las Vegas residency - often covered the "White Album" classic during their concerts in the late Seventies and, after a decades-long hiatus, resumed performing "Helter Skelter" at their early 2000s shows; Tyler and company last played the track live in 2006. A studio version of the Aerosmith's cover, recorded during the Toys in the Attic session, appeared on the Pandora's Box compilation in 1991.
Tyler - previously who performed a Beatles medley during McCartney's Kennedy Center Honors celebration in 2010 - also documented the performance as well as his backstage experience at the McCartney concert on his Instagram:
Paul McCartney
Organizers Keep Attendance At 80,000
Burning Man
Burning Man organizers say they won't challenge the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's plans to cap their attendance at current levels under a new 10-year permit but they will fight any move toward federally-sanctioned screenings for weapons and drugs at the counterculture celebration.
The agency proposed in a final environmental impact statement June 14 that a private security firm eventually be hired to screen all vehicles, participants, vendors, contractors, staff and volunteers upon entry to the temporary Black Rock City in the northern Nevada desert 100 miles north of Reno.
Burning Man organizers say that would subject "a peaceable gathering of people to searches without probable cause other than a desire to attend Burning Man."
"This is one requirement we are prepared to push back on," the group said on its website, adding that it would be a "massive shift from Burning Man's 30-year history running our own operations."
Group leaders assured fellow Burners in the post last week that screenings would not begin in 2019, and Bureau of Land Management officials said they did not foresee any major changes to its law enforcement routine this year.
Burning Man
Collection Honoring Frida Kahlo
Vans
Vans is paying tribute to Mexican artist and activist Frida Kahlo by bringing some of her iconic pieces to life.
The Vault by Vans x Frida Kahlo collection dropped Saturday in select stores across the United States.
The trio of sneakers showcase a different painting of the famed Mexican painter. The OG Slip-On LX features Kahlo's 1940s "Self-Portrait with Necklace of Thorns and Hummingbird," while her 1939 self-portrait "Las Dos Fridas" is displayed on the OG Sk8-Hi LX -- the brand's classic high top sneaker.
And Kahlo's last known painting -- the 1954 "Viva la Vida, Watermelons" -- covers a OG Authentic LX along with the words "viva la vida" embroidered on one side.
Previously, the brand's Vault series released collections inspired on near-extinct animals by Ralph Steadman and a military-inspired line by Japanese designer Taka Hayashi.
Vans
$750 Million Lawsuit Against Showtime Dropped
'The Loudest Voice'
Former Fox News staffer Laurie Luhn has dropped her $750 million lawsuit against Showtime over her portrayal in the Roger Ailes limited series "The Loudest Voice."
Filed back in January, the lawsuit said that the 5-part series - based on Vanity Fair special correspondent Gabriel Sherman's book about the cable news network, "The Loudest Voice in the Room" - misrepresented her as a willing collaborator in Ailes' sexual harassment of women during her time at the network.
Luhn's attorney filed a request with the court on Friday to have the court dismiss the suit with prejudice.
Luhn, who spent two decades at Fox News, said in the suit that she was a victim of Ailes. She said Ailes repeatedly told her, "I own you" and forced her to "purchase black garters and stockings to wear for Ailes, which he called her "uniform." The suit also said Ailes pressured her into oral sex during an encounter in a hotel room in 2004.
She also said she was "blackmailed" by Ailes and "required
to report to him any signs of what he called 'disloyalty' within the management, staff, and on-air talent of Fox News."
'The Loudest Voice'
Resort 'Destroyed' Ecosystem
Sand Dunes
Sand dunes at Trump golf course set to lose protected status after Scottish government says resort 'destroyed' ecosystem
Sand dunes at Donald Trump's Aberdeenshire golf resort are set to lose their status as a protected wildlife site after experts said the course had "destroyed" the ecosystem, causing permanent habitat loss.
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), a government watchdog, said there is no longer a reason to protect the dunes at Menie as they do not include enough of the special features for which they were designated a site of special scientific interest (SSSI).
The Trump Organisation, which was granted permission to build the course despite concerns over environmental damage, branded the move an "utter disgrace" and said it was "politically motivated".
The damaged and destroyed drifts, one of the best examples of moving sand dunes in Britain, developed over 4,000 years, according to the agency.
Sand Dunes
More Propaganda
US Campuses
Colleges in the U.S. are seeing more racist rhetoric on campus, a new report finds.
Instances of white supremacist propaganda showing up on college campuses trended higher in the recently completed academic year, according to the Anti-Defamation League report published Thursday.
That follows a major spike in documented cases of white supremacist fliers, stickers, posters and other material in the 2017-2018 academic year, the hate watchdog group said.
The just-completed spring semester saw more extremist propaganda on campus than any preceding semester, the ADL said, with 161 incidents on 122 different campuses across 33 states and the District of Columbia.
The ADL report documented 313 cases of white supremacist propaganda on college campuses between Sept. 1, 2018, and May 31, 2019, all of them stemming from organizations associated with what's known as the alt-right movement.
US Campuses
Stolen Painting Returned
Vase of Flowers
A celebrated still-life painted a Dutch master and looted by Nazi troops in World War II will be returned to the Italian city of Florence, Italy's government said.
The oil painting Vase of Flowers by Jan van Huysum - believed to be worth millions of dollars - originally went on display in Florence in 1824 after it was bought by Grande Duke Leopoldo II for his collection.
The painting was seized by Nazi troops in 1943 and eventually taken to Germany where it resurfaced in a family collection following German reunification in 1991.
Its imminent return to Italy follows a long dispute with the unidentified descendants of the Nazi soldier, who had reportedly demanded up to 2m (£1.8m) for the artwork.
German government lawyers are believed to have argued the painting was not looted as part of organised Nazi requisitioning effort, but had simply been stolen by the solider who did not have the right to hand it over to his descendants.
Vase of Flowers
'Fast Radio Burst' Traced
Mysterious
Three and a half billion years ago, a mysterious object on the edge of a distant galaxy spewed forth an intensely bright, vanishingly brief burst of radio energy that shot across the universe.
That pulse of energy - known to its fans in the astronomy community as a fast radio burst (FRB) - passed through a wilderness of gas, dust and empty space on its multi-billion-year journey, slowly stretching and changing color as it moved. Then, for less than a millisecond in 2018, that burst zapped past a special telescope in Earth's Australian outback, giving scientists a rare opportunity to shake hands with one of the most mysterious forms of energy in the universe.
It's the first time that astronomers have successfully tracked a one-off FRB back to its origins across space and time, according to the authors of a study published today (June 27) in the journal Science. Understanding where FRBs come from allows scientists to probe the vast tracts of matter between their host galaxies and Earth, and maybe even locate undiscovered pockets of protons and neutrons thought to be lurking between galaxies.[The 12 Strangest Objects in the Universe]
"These bursts are altered by the matter they encounter in space," study co-author Jean-Pierre Macquart, a researcher at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) said in a statement. "Now we can pinpoint where they come from, we can use them to measure the amount of matter in intergalactic space."
Since the phenomenon was discovered in 2007, astronomers have observed about 85 FRBs and pinpointed the origins of only one other - a repeating flash that pulsed 9 times from a tiny, star-forming galaxy over about six months in 2016. Pinpointing the source of a one-off FRB, which can last for a fraction of a millisecond, has proved exceedingly difficult, until now.
Mysterious
Top 20
Global Concert Tours
The Top 20 Global Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows Worldwide. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers. Week of July 1, 2019:
1. Ed Sheeran; $4,195,406; $99.01.
2. Eric Church; $2,911,589; $93.18.
3. Pink; $2,574,243; $142.62.
4. Justin Timberlake; $2,021,437; $131.38.
5. Ariana Grande; $1,661,240; $115.06.
6. Michael Bublι; $1,535,953; $122.34.
7. Cher; $1,521,512; $116.36.
8. KISS; $1,461,504; $111.22.
9. Rod Stewart; $1,439,011; $113.33.
10. John Mayer; $1,401,382; $120.84.
11. Backstreet Boys; $1,301,722; $99.67.
12. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; $1,274,383; $103.46.
13. Bad Bunny; $1,187,589; $100.21.
14. Andrι Rieu; $1,062,423; $79.54.
15. Shawn Mendes; $1,059,632; $69.85.
16. Mumford & Sons; $1,044,597; $67.25.
17. Kenny Chesney; $999,124; $90.07.
18. Hugh Jackman; $960,920; $82.57.
19. New Kids On The Block; $950,357; $80.19.
20. Hootie & The Blowfish; $839,740; $62.52.
Global Concert Tours
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