Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Helaine Olen: House Democrats are afraid to investigate Trump's family. They are mistaken. (Washington Post)
How the Trump family is trying to deflect their many investigations
Matthew Yglesias: The Manafort case is a reminder that we invest too little in catching white-collar criminals (Vox)
It shouldn't take a special counsel to catch a tax cheat.
Tom Danehy: Tom takes on the anti-vax community (Tucson Weekly)
For many years, Arizona has allowed people to be openly and proudly anti-science. Actually, in general, that's OK. Not everybody can be smart. But neither should our state legislators conflate dumbass-ery with nobility. It was never a good idea to allow people to opt out of vaccinating their children because Jerry Springer told them not to. And now, with measles coming back because not enough kids are being vaccinated, what do our moronic legislators want to do? They want to make it easier to opt out for no good reason whatsoever.
Christine MacDonald: Street Art Used To Be the Voice of the People. Now It's the Voice of Advertisers. (In These Times)
Corporations like Red Bull and Stella Artois are co-opting graffiti art.
Michael Gregor, MD: From Adequate Nutrition to Optimum Nutrition (NutritionFacts.org)
We already know that three quarters of chronic disease risk--diabetes, heart attacks, stroke, and cancer-can be eliminated if everyone followed four simple practices: not smoking, not being obese, getting a half hour of exercise a day, and eating a healthier diet, defined as more fruits, veggies, and whole grains, and less meat. Think what that could mean in terms of the human costs. We already know enough to save millions of lives.
Terry Teachout: Ιtude, Brute? (Commentary)
The case for Chopin.
J. D. Hutchinson: "That's Not All of Me" (YouTube)
J. D. Hutchison sets the record straight...
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Presenting
Michael Egan
wrote:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
from Bruce
Anecdotes
For a while, writers Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur ran a movie studio in which they produced their own scripts. They had a policy of not responding to letters, instead hiring someone to burn their mail each day, unread. However, they did read a letter from a movie theater owner in Iron Mountain, Michigan, which was printed in the Exhibitors' Herald, a movie trade magazine. The letter complained that the Hecht-MacArthur movie The Scoundrel was bad for business and annoying to the Iron Mountain movie-goers. Hecht and MacArthur spent all day composing an insulting letter, saying among other things that the citizens of Iron Mountain were so backward that they lived in trees. After mailing the letter, Hecht and MacArthur read the reply in the next issue of the Exhibitors' Herald. The movie theater owner had written, "Messers Hecht and MacArthur, I have received your letter, framed it and hung it in the lobby of my theatre, where it is attracting a great deal more attention than did your motion picture."
Wilson Mizner, a scoundrel with a penchant for spending money, married into society, but soon after he was married, his wife began to receive anonymous letters sent from the West, where Mr. Mizner had lived before his marriage. All of the letters warned Mrs. Mizner that Mr. Mizner was quite capable of killing her for her money. Mr. Mizner pretended to be surprised that so many of his former acquaintances were literate, but since the letters were so upsetting to his wife, he asked that a private secretary open the mail and burn all the anonymous letters.
Mark Twain once wrote this letter to the gas company: "Some day you will move me almost to the verge of irritation by your chuckle-headed Goddamned fashion of shutting your Goddamned gas off without giving any notice to your Goddamned parishioners. Several times you have come within an ace of smothering half of this household in their beds and blowing up the other half by this idiotic, not to say criminal, custom of yours. And it has happened again today. Haven't you a telephone?"
Operatic tenor Leo Slezak and his wife enjoyed getting letters from their children while they were traveling on short tours. One letter from his little daughter read: "My goldfish bowl got broken when I was changing the water in the bathroom, the goldfish tumbled out and I couldn't catch him, so I filled the bathroom with water. Nanny was very cross about it, but my goldfish is all right."
John Cage was usually a prolific composer, whether working with Merce Cunningham or on his own. Gordon Mumma, a composer for Cunningham, once noticed that Mr. Cage didn't compose any music in 1964 and asked him why. Mr. Cage explained that he was too busy to compose that year because of writing letters to raise funds for Merce Cunningham dance tours.
One grandmother was upset because her grandchildren didn't write thank-you letters when she gave them a gift. Therefore, she wrote each of her grandchildren that unless they started writing her thank-you letters, she had sent them the last gift they would ever receive from her. It worked - she soon began to receive thank-you letters.
When actor John Drew wrote his memoirs at the age of nearly 70, he still had in his possession - and quoted - a letter his mother had written to him on the eve of his 10th birthday party: "Sorry that the shoes are too large, but if you can get along till you come home I will get a pair to fit better."
An American sergeant in World War I was given a letter by a Frenchman to deliver to his wife, whom the Frenchman had not seen for years because of the war. Of course, the wife was ecstatic to receive the letter, and she gave the American sergeant a precious gift that she had carefully been hoarding: two pounds of sugar lumps.
During 1902, James McNeill Whistler was very ill - so ill, in fact, that a London newspaper thought he had died and so it printed his obituary. Mr. Whistler wrote a letter to the newspaper, correcting the errors in his obituary and saying that reading it had greatly improved his health.
Journalist George Jean Nathan of the American Mercury used to receive 200 hate letters a day - he paid attention only to the ones that were well written.
An English schoolboy once wrote his parents: "S.O.S. L.S.D. R.S.V.P." (By the way, the initials of "L.S.D." are the abbreviations of English money - pounds, shillings, and pence.)
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Last Night
Long day ahead. Sigh.
Replacing Carson Daly
Lilly Singh
NBC has found its replacement for Carson Daly. Lilly Singh will take over the 1:35 am timeslot with A Little Late with Lilly Singh, making her the only woman to currently host a late-night talk show on a Big 4 network.
Debuting in September, A Little Late with Lilly Singh will be a half-hour program with an array of guests. Singh will conduct in-studio interviews as well as create and star in pre-taped comedy sketches and signature segments.
"An Indian-Canadian woman with her own late night show? Now that is a dream come true," Singh said. "I'm thrilled to bring it to life on NBC, and I hope my parents consider this to be as exciting as a grandchild."
Singh made the announcement on Thursday's Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Singh's also is the author of the bestselling How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life. She has appeared on Forbes' 30 Under 30 Hollywood & Entertainment list, Fast Company's Most Creative People list and Time called her one of the most influential people on the Internet.
Lilly Singh
Female Animators
Samantha Bee
During Wednesday night's episode of Full Frontal, host Samantha Bee gave her take on the #MeToo movement utilizing the perspectives of a group of female animators who share common stories of sexual harassment.
Beginning the segment, Bee said, "The Me Too movement has totally reshaped the media industry and those accused are taking time away to make amends for their actions," adding, "Joke, they're on TV yelling into Gayle King's face!" in reference to R. Kelly's interview with the CBS news anchor where he screamed as he fought back against sexual assault charges.
Bee continued, "It is hard to keep talking about this shit, that's why we asked some talented animators to draw it." A clip was then shown featuring storyboard artists Megan Nicole Dong and Ashlyn Anstee, first talking about finding an ability to express themselves through animation, before considering their experience with sexual harassment in the workplace.
Striking a serious note, Art Director Paula Spence says in the clip, "I think #MeToo is waiting to happen in every industry if you look around." At that point, words flash onto the screen: "This is a #MeToo story as told by a group of Fed-The-Fuck-up Female Animators."
Against a backdrop of an animated story starring "nerdy cartoonist girls," the women speak about breaking into the industry and experiencing sexual harassment from male colleagues, particularly Chris Savino, creator of The Loud House on Nickelodeon.
Samantha Bee
'Powerful Bully'
Madeline Peltz
Tucker Carlson: Meet the 24-year-old woman labelled a by Fox News host after she found tapes of his sexist comments
Madeline Peltz works the night shift at the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters for America. Given the timing of that particular shift, one of her main responsibilities is watching Tucker Carlson's 8pm show on Fox News. And she has watched a lot of Tucker Carlson.
Mr Carlson has been in the public eye for some 20 years - first as a print journalist, then a television commentator, founder of the conservative site the Daily Caller, and now, Fox News host, with a prime time slot and a salary in the millions. But people have been confused by Mr Carlson's tone on Fox since he took over for Bill O'Reilly in 2018, noting concern about diversity and demographics in his show.
After many Carlson-watching hours, the 24-year-old researcher developed a working theory, which she outlined on the nonprofit's website: that Mr Carlson is using his platform on Fox News to introduce white nationalist ideas to the mainstream, making him a uniquely prominent "mouthpiece for white supremacy."
Ms Peltz dug into his recent past and discovered a trove of appearances he made on shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show between 2006 and 2011. She found a series of misogynistic, racist and homophobic remarks Mr Carlson made, the audio of which Media Matters published this week.
Madeline Peltz
Fair Haven, Vermont
Lincoln
The new honorary mayor of Fair Haven, Vermont - a 3-year-old goat named Lincoln - was officially sworn into office this week.
Lincoln was dressed in a sash reading "Mayor" for the Tuesday ceremony at the Fair Haven town offices. Town Clerk Suzanne Dechame and the select board were present to deliver the oath of office.
Fair Haven, a town of about 2,500 along the border with New York just west of Rutland, does not have an actual mayor.
Town Manager Joseph Gunter says the honorary pet mayor idea was conceived as a fundraiser for a playground, but it turned into a civics lesson for kids.
On the way out of the offices, the honorary mayor defecated on the floor - leaving clean-up to the police chief and other attendees.
Lincoln
Families Can Sue
Remington
Families of schoolchildren gunned down in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre can sue Remington Outdoor Co Inc, a Connecticut court ruled on Thursday, in a setback for gun makers long shielded from liability in mass shootings.
In a 4-3 ruling widely expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Connecticut's highest court found the lawsuit could proceed based on a state law protecting consumers against fraudulent marketing.
"The Connecticut Supreme Court has blown a very large hole into the federal immunity for firearms manufacturers in lawsuits alleging criminal misuse of the products they sell," said Timothy Lytton, a law professor at Georgia State University and author of a book on gun litigation.
The families of nine of the victims and one survivor have said Remington, along with a gun wholesaler and local retailer, are partially responsible for the carnage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, because they marketed the weapon based on its militaristic appeal.
Leading gun control advocates such as Everytown for Gun Safety and the Brady Campaign applauded the ruling. The National Rifle Association, the powerful gun rights lobby, did not immediately comment.
Remington
Not Venus
Mercury
A team of scientists just demonstrated something that might shock you: Mercury, not Venus, is the closest planet to Earth on average.
The researchers presented their results this week in an article in the magazine Physics Today. They explain that our methods of calculating which planet is "the closest" oversimplifies the matter. But that's not all.
"Further, Mercury is the closest neighbor, on average, to each of the other seven planets in the solar system," they write. Wait-what?
Our misconceptions about how close the planets are to one another comes from the way we usually estimate the distances to other planets. Normally, we calculate the average distance from the planet to the Sun. The Earth's average distance is 1 astronomical unit (AU), while Venus' is around 0.72 AU. If you subtract one from the other, you calculate the average distance from Earth to Venus as 0.28 AU, the smallest distance for any pair of planets.
But a trio of researchers realized that this isn't an accurate way to calculate the distances to planets. After all, Earth spends just as much time on the opposite side of its orbit from Venus, placing it 1.72 AU away. One must instead average the distance between every point along one planet's orbit and every point along the other planet's orbit. The researchers ran a simulation based on two assumptions: that the planets' orbits were approximately circular, and that their orbits weren't at an angle relative to one another.
Mercury
Drought Officially Over
California
California is officially free of drought after more than seven years, drought monitors said Thursday.
The Golden State has experienced some form of drought for 376 consecutive weeks, the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska, tweeted. It's the first time the state has been free of drought since Dec. 20, 2011.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tweeted that weather in 2017 helped matters, but moderate drought persisted. Rainfall this winter further alleviated the drought, although 7 percent of the state remains "abnormally dry."
This winter - the meteorological winter starts on Dec. 1 and ends at the end of February - has been the wettest in the United States as a whole since records started being kept in 1895, with an average across the nation of 9.01 inches, which is 2.22 inches above the nationwide average, Blunden said.
Nearly 18 inches - 17.99 - of rain fell in downtown Los Angeles from Oct. 1 through Thursday, which is over 5 inches above normal, said Kristen Stewart, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
California
In Memory
Birch Bayh
Former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh, who championed the federal law banning discrimination against women in college admissions and sports, has died. He was 91.
Bayh died early Thursday surrounded by his family at his home in Easton, Maryland, according to a statement released by his family. His son, Evan, followed him into politics and became Indiana's governor and also a senator.
Birch Bayh, a liberal Democrat, had a back-slapping, humorous campaigning style that helped him win three narrow elections to the Senate starting in 1962 at a time when Republicans won Indiana in four of the five presidential elections. Bayh's hold on the seat ended with a loss to Dan Quayle during the 1980 Ronald Reagan-led Republican landslide.
Bayh was the lead sponsor of the landmark 1972 law prohibiting gender discrimination in education - known as Title IX for its section in the Higher Education Act.
Bayh used his position as head of the Senate's constitutional subcommittee to craft the 25th Amendment on presidential succession and the 26th Amendment setting the national voting age at 18.
The issue of presidential succession was fresh when Congress approved the amendment in 1967. The vice presidency had been vacant for more than a year after President John F. Kennedy's assassination because there was no provision for filling the office between elections.
Bayh's push to lower the national voting age from 21 to 18 came amid protests over the Vietnam War and objections that Americans dying on battlefields were unable to vote in all states. The amendment won ratification from the states in 1971.
Bayh also was a leading sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment, which would have barred discrimination on the basis of gender. It passed Congress but failed to win approval from two-thirds of the states by its 1982 deadline.
Bayh had begun preparing to make a run for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination when his wife, Marvella, was diagnosed with breast cancer. He dropped that campaign but entered the 1976 presidential campaign, finishing second to Jimmy Carter in the opening Iowa caucuses but then faring poorly in later primaries.
Marvella Bayh gained attention by speaking and making television appearances around the country promoting cancer detection and encouraging research. But her cancer later returned, and she died in April 1979 at age 46 - shortly before her memoir recounting her health fight was published.
Born Jan. 22, 1928, in Terre Haute, Ind., Birch Evans Bayh Jr. moved to his maternal grandparents' farm at the nearby community of Shirkieville after his mother's 1940 death and his father's entry into World War II military service.
He graduated from Purdue University's School of Agriculture after spending two years in the Army and met his future wife during a 1951 National Farm Bureau speaking contest in Chicago, which she won as an entrant from Oklahoma. They soon married and moved to the Shirkieville farm.
Bayh won his first election to the state Legislature in 1954; his son Evan was born the following year. Bayh rose quickly in politics, becoming the Indiana House speaker in 1959 at the age of 30. He earned a law degree from Indiana University, completing law school while serving in the Legislature.
After leaving the Senate, Bayh worked as a lawyer and lobbyist in Washington. He remarried in 1982, and he and wife Katherine Helpin had a son, Christopher, who is now a lawyer in Washington.
Birch Bayh
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