Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Kevin Johnson: 'The United States is under attack': Intelligence chief Dan Coats says Putin targeting 2018 elections (USA Today)
The nation's top intelligence officials said Tuesday that Russia is targeting the 2018 elections as it seeks to undermine America's political process and sow partisan division with cyber attacks and other digital disruption. "Frankly, the United States is under attack," Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the Senate Intelligence Committee, adding that Russia is attempting to "degrade our democratic values and weaken our alliances."
Tom Danehy: Tom Remains baffled by How donald trump keeps getting away with it-and he's not a fan of emotional-support peacocks, either (Tucson Weekly)
You know what would be really great? To get back at the Pig-In-Chief, Melania should have an affair herself-preferably with a black guy who has a Hispanic last name and who is in the country illegally.
Arwa Mahdawi: Facebook is coding a whole new class system (The Guardian)
Forget income - the new class signifiers are internet-connected devices and home ownership, according to the social network.
Ai Weiwei: The artwork that made me the most dangerous person in China (The Guardian)
In 2009, the dissident artist created a work to honour the thousands of children who died in the Sichuan earthquake. He recalls how the project, Remembering, angered China's rulers - and changed his career for ever.
Decca Aitkenhead: "Comedian Kevin Bridges: 'I thought maybe this is the end, it's been a great 11 years'" (The Guardian)
After his third sold-out arena tour, the Glaswegian comedian was burned out and ready to quit. Drinking, jogging and reading self-help books didn't work. So what's brought him back?
Charles Bramesco: Oscars 2018: the growing backlashes to this year's major nominations (The Guardian)
Is Three Billboards racist? Is The Shape of Water plagiarized? Is Call Me by Your Name pedophilic? And, most importantly, why have this year's films struck such a nerve?
Eddie Deezen: Jerry Lewis in The Bellboy (Neatorama)
Perhaps to cut costs, or maybe because of the time factor, most of the other actors in the film were actually performers who happened to be appearing in Miami at the same time as Jerry. The Bellboy began production on February 8, 1960.
The Irtysh river in Russia froze over; it was a scream. (Twitter)
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Presenting
Michael Egan
responded:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
Current Events
Parkland
By Jeff Gates, Chamomile Tea Party, Reprinted with permission
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
SHOOT! SHOOT! SHOOT! KILL! KILL! KILL! THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS. WASH AND RINSE. REPEAT.
RINSE AND REPEAT.
A LITTLE GOOD NEWS.
DEVIL WITH THE BLUE DRESS ON.
THE DUMBEST HUMAN BEING ON EARTH.
THE ONE DIMENSIONAL MAN.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Three times a weekday, Decades TV Network airs an hour (2 half-hour episodes) of old Ed Sullivans.
Few weeks back, got to see the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Doors were on the other night. So were Spanky & Our Gang, The Animals, and the Young Rascals.
Some very young Carlin and even younger Pryor.
Petula Clark, Mary Hopkins, Nancy Sinatra, Pearl Baily, Liberace, and even Patty Duke.
Acrobats, skaters, jugglers, balancing acts, and plate-spinners.
The afternoon screening is followed by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.
Here in the greater LA-area, Decades TV Network is on over-the-air TV, channel 2.2
Sick Of 'Thoughts And Prayers'
People
Political leaders offered thoughts and prayers after the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida on Wednesday. That included President Donald Trump, who tweeted his "prayers and condolences" to victims and their families.
But on Twitter, people wanted more than thoughts, prayers and condolences. They also sought action and they called out those who sent thoughts and prayers without taking the steps needed to reduce gun violence.
Here is some of that reaction, which caused the phrase "Thoughts and Prayers" to trend on Twitter late Wednesday:
People
To Kill a Mockingbird
Broadway
The Great American Novel heads to the Great White Way as producers have announced the cast for Aaron Sorkin's new playbased on Harper Lee's seminal classic To Kill a Mockingbird, opening on Broadway this fall.
Jeff Daniels, the two-time Tony-nominated actor who was last seen on Broadway in 2016's intimate Blackbird, will star as Atticus Finch, the heroic attorney and father figure in Lee's groundbreaking novel (a role famously immortalized onscreen in 1962 by Gregory Peck). The star turn marks a reunion of sorts for Daniels and Sorkin, who tapped the actor to lead his 2012 HBO drama The Newsroom, as well as Scott Rudin, who executive produced that series and will produce Mockingbird on Broadway alongside Lincoln Center Theater.
Joining Daniels in the Finch household are two adults who will channel Atticus's children: Celia Keenan-Bolger will play Atticus's fearlessly curious daughter, Scout, and Will Pullen will play her protective older brother, Jem. Supporting the trio, a cast of true stage actors populates the world of Maycomb, Alabama, including Gideon Glick (as Dill), LaTanya Richardson Jackson (as Calpurnia), Dakin Matthews (as Judge Taylor), Stark Sands (as Horace Gilmer), Frederick Weller (as Bob Ewell), Erin Wilhelmi (as Mayella Ewell), Gbenga Akinnagbe (as Tom Robinson), Stephen McKinley Henderson, Phyllis Somerville, and Liv Rooth. Additional casting will be announced.
Tony winner Bartlett Sher will direct the play, which will begin previews Nov. 1 ahead of a Dec. 13 opening at a theatre to be announced. The production's designers include Miriam Buether (scenic), Ann Roth (costume), Jennifer Tipton (lighting), Scott Lehrer (sound), and an original score by The Light in the Piazza composer Adam Guettel.
Broadway
US Law
Marijuana
Army veteran Jose Belen says the horrors of the Iraq War left him with post-traumatic stress disorder, and the drug that helped him cope best with the symptoms was one his Veterans Affairs doctors could not legally prescribe: marijuana.
"Once I did use cannabis, immediately I felt the relief," said Belen, who is now working with other medical marijuana users to mount a long-shot court challenge to federal laws criminalizing the drug.
The 35-year-old, married father of two is one of five plaintiffs in a lawsuit claiming that the government's decision to classify marijuana as dangerous is irrational, unconstitutional and motivated by politics, not hard science.
A government lawyer argued Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in New York that the case should be dismissed, citing precedents in which judges upheld the constitutionality of existing marijuana laws.
The lawsuit challenges the listing of marijuana as a Schedule I drug, a category that includes heroin and LSD. The federal government says drugs under the classification have no accepted medical use and cannot legally be prescribed.
Marijuana
Challenged
Legacy
Students and alumni at some of the nation's top universities are urging their schools to reconsider admissions policies that give an edge to relatives of alumni.
Campus groups for first-generation and low-income students at 12 elite universities issued a joint letter Wednesday asking their schools to review the impact of so-called legacy admissions policies through proposed campus panels that would include students and alumni. The coalition also called on their schools to publicize policies and data on the topic.
"This campaign is not about whether or not legacy applicants like our future children deserve their place in their respective universities," the group wrote. "It is about ensuring that all students have equal footing in the admissions process regardless of whether or not their parents attended a certain university."
Although most colleges closely guard the weight they give to legacy status, data released by some Ivy League universities show that relatives of alumni are admitted at far higher rates than the overall applicant pool.
The letter is signed by student groups at Harvard, Brown, Yale and all other Ivy League schools except Dartmouth College, which does not have a campus group for first-generation students, the coalition says. Others in the group come from prestigious private schools including Amherst College and the University of Chicago.
Legacy
Under Investigation
Ajit Pai
Ajit Pai, the controversial chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is under investigation by the FCC Inspector General for his ties to a broadcaster, according to lawmakers.
Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings' (D-MD) requested the investigation, saying that Pai and aides improperly pushed for rule changes to benefit Sinclair Broadcasting in its attempt to acquire Tribune Media.
"For months I have been trying to get to the bottom of the allegations about Chairman Pai's relationship with Sinclair Broadcasting," Pallone said, in a statement. "I am particularly concerned about reports that Chairman Pai may have coordinated with Sinclair to time a series of Commission actions to benefit the company. I am grateful to the FCC's Inspector General that he has decided to take up this important investigation."
In April, Pai suggested changing rules about how many stations broadcasters could own. Sinclair followed up with a $3.9 billion deal to snap up Tribune, thanks to the new rules.
Sinclair is already the largest U.S. broadcaster with 191 stations. Tribune brings another 42 stations to the deal.
Ajit Pai
Blames Victims
T-rump
President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Beyond Contempt) on Thursday responded to the massacre at a South Florida high school by suggesting students and the surrounding community could have done more to prevent the attack.
At least 17 people were killed and 15 injured after a troubled former student opened fire on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday, police said. Nikolas Cruz, 19, had been expelled from the school the previous year for "disciplinary reasons," and many of his former classmates told media on Wednesday that he displayed problematic behavior.
Contrary to Trump's tweet, it does appear that authorities were aware of Cruz's behavior before the attack. A former neighbor told The New York Times that Cruz's late mother called the police on her two sons on multiple occasions, though she stressed that she didn't think the boys were violent. Broward County Mayor Beam Furr told CNN that Cruz had been treated at a mental health clinic in the past and was somewhat on officials' radar.
Trump's tweet failed to acknowledge the role that Florida's lax gun laws played in the shooting. Barring institutionalization, it's extremely difficult to keep someone with a history of mental illness from buying a gun in Florida. The accused killer legally purchased the AR-15-style rifle used in the slaughter, his family's attorney said.
The president also ignored the fact that he actually made it easier for people with mental health issues to buy guns by revoking an Obama-era gun regulation last year.
T-rump
Accusations Of Hypocrisy
Florida
Florida Republicans Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Sock Puppet) and Gov. Rick Scott (R-Lamprey) were swift to condemn the horrific school shooting in their state on Wednesday afternoon, offering prayers after a gunman killed at least 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
Scott called for "thoughts and prayers" as news of the shooting emerged, and Rubio sent off a tweet calling the shooting an event "you pray never comes."
But bothmen have a history of coziness with gun advocates, receiving "A+" ratings and endorsements from the National Rifle Association ahead of their respective elections in 2014 and 2016. The distinction is reserved "for legislators who have excellent voting records on Second Amendment issues and who have vigorously fought to promote and defend the right to keep and bear arms."
During a Republican presidential primary debate in 2015, Rubio said new gun laws were "ineffective" and "infringe on the rights of law-abiding people and do nothing to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people." A few months later, he went out and bought a gun on Christmas Eve.
Critics were quick to remind the lawmakers of their track records of voting against gun restrictions that could help prevent tragedies like the one in Parkland.
Florida
Borneo Has Lost Half
Orangutans
Borneo has lost more than 100,000 orangutans in the space of just 16 years as a result of hunting and habitat loss, according to a new report.
Logging, mining, oil palm, paper, and linked deforestation have been blamed for the the diminishing numbers.
However, researchers also found many orangutans have vanished from more intact, forested regions, suggesting that hunting and other direct conflict between orangutans and humans continues to be a chief threat to the species.
The report published in the Current Biology Journal found more than 100,000 of the island's orangutans vanished in the period of 1999 to 2015.
Looking at predicted future losses of forest cover and the presumption orangutans are ultimately not able to stay alive outside forest areas, the researchers predict that over 45,000 more orangutans will be lost in the space of the next 35 years.
Orangutans
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.
1. Paul McCartney; $5,506,696; $131.30.
2. Bruno Mars; $2,932,348; $108.20.
3. Guns N' Roses; $2,011,741; $140.55.
4. Depeche Mode; $1,793,298; $88.56.
5. Lady Gaga; $1,636,303; $106.31.
6. Dead & Company; $1,590,747; $107.73.
7. Jay-Z; $1,499,286; $101.76.
8. The Weeknd; $1,385,318; $90.50.
9. Foo Fighters; $990,177; $90.18.
10. Little Mix; $984,689; $55.69.
11. Enrique Iglesias / Pitbull; $938,445; $90.66.
12. The Killers; $931,957; $72.03.
13. Trans-Siberian Orchestra; $889,185; $60.45.
14. Scorpions; $821,175; $106.93.
15. Imagine Dragons; $776,968; $61.69.
16. Chris Stapleton; $701,151; $50.93.
17. André Rieu; $668,782; $91.69.
18. Janet Jackson; $591,279; $74.45.
19. Ozuna; $577,672; $71.26.
20. Fall Out Boy; $523,321; $59.30.
Global Concert Tours
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