Recommended Reading
from Bruce
David Leonhardt: All the President's Lies (NY Times)
The ninth week of Donald Trump's presidency began with the F.B.I. director calling him a liar.
Laurel Raymond: Rep. Adam Schiff's short speech crisply lays out the evidence connecting Trump and Russia (ThinkProgress)
Think of it as congressional SparkNotes.
Rep. Adam Schiff on Russia scandal (YouTube)
Garrison Keillor: Trump has no idea how to tend his garden (Washington Post)
We are all in trouble.
Mark Morford: "The Nike Pro Hijab asks: Will megacorps be the real #antiTrump?" (SF Gate)
Easy answer: Of course they won't. Not by a long shot. More astute answer: But they sure can help. Look, I know: They aren't exactly doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.
Mark Morford: "Eating 'somebody else's babies': How racist will Trump's GOP get?" (SF Gate)
Do you think there's some sort of competition? Among Republicans? Right now? To see how far they can go, how insufferable and cruel and sort of ruthlessly, face-stabbingly insulting to as many intelligent humans as possible in a single blurt, tweet, senate confirmation hearing? Are they all testing just how much they can get away with before the devil himself says "Hey, you know what? I think that's just about enough from you."
Mark Morford: "Calling Bullsh*t 101: The (real) college course the world needs now" (SF Gate)
Calling Bullsh*t in the Age of Big Data is indeed the awesome, pitch-perfect name of a new and uniquely urgent seminar soon to be taught at the U of Washington, and it's all about, well, just that: how to spot BS in all modern forms: fake news, statistical nonsense, political misdirection, scientific collusion and diabolical myth-making in the modern socio-political miasma, and beyond.
Mark Morford: Springtime! And the scent of the FBI is in the air (SF Gate)
Springtime! Wildflowers, birdsong, bees doing their thing, bright new growth, more daylight and more sunshine and the expectant tremble of fresh possibilities in the world, all mingling, twirling, swirling with the intoxicating scent of sober FBI investigations into the world's most horrible, corrupt president
Gretchen Reynolds: Should 15,000 Steps a Day Be Our New Exercise Target? (NY Times)
"It takes effort," he says, but we can accumulate 15,000 steps a day by walking briskly for two hours at about a four-mile-per-hour pace, he says. "This can be done in bits," he adds, perhaps with a 30-minute walk before work, another at lunch, and multiple 10-minute bouts throughout the day.
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David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
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
The Monkey Buddha
New Graphic
Hi Marty,
Here's another Trump graphic I made.
Hopefully it's not too obscene. Haha! (Nothing could be more obscene than Donald himself.)
This buffoon has been providing plenty of outraged inspiration. It really is a shit-show.
Thanks!
The Monkey Buddha
Thanks, Paul!
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
WTF?!
THE TRAITOR!
'THERE'S A SMELL OF TREASON IN HE AIR'.
THE TERRORIST!
EAT THE RICH!
"WE ARE ALL IN DANGER"
THE BULLY AND THE PRIME MINISTER.
BURP!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and breezy.
Diary Up For Auction
JFK
A diary kept by a young John F. Kennedy during his brief stint as a journalist after World War II in which he reflected on Hitler, the ambitions of the Soviet Union and the weakness of the United Nations is up for auction.
The diary was written in 1945 when the 28-year-old Kennedy was a correspondent for Hearst newspapers, rubbing shoulders with world leaders and traveling through a devastated Europe.
Boston-based RR Auction says the diary is expected to fetch about $200,000 at auction April 26.
The 61-page diary, mostly typed but including 12 handwritten pages, was given by Kennedy to Deirdre Henderson, a research assistant in his campaign office in the late 1950s.
"What's remarkable is what he foresaw about the future of a world he would lead 16 years later," said Henderson, who lives in the Boston area.
JFK
New Kids Media Company
Pocketwatch
Former executives from Walt Disney Co and Viacom Inc's Nickelodeon network will lead a new media company created to provide video content for children ages 2 to 11, executives announced on Wednesday.
The company called Pocketwatch aims to reach kids who are growing up watching more video on mobile platforms than on traditional television, said founder and CEO Chris Williams, a former executive at Disney's Maker Studios unit.
Pocketwatch will create and distribute short videos for platforms such as Alphabet Inc's YouTube as well as long-format series or movies intended for streaming services and other outlets, Williams said in an interview.
Albie Hecht, who developed hits such as "Dora the Explorer" and "SpongeBob Squarepants" at Nickelodeon, joined Pocketwatch as chief content officer. The company aims to produce new franchises for the "click and swipe generation," a group that discovers characters through digital videos or online viral trends such as memes and gifs, Hecht said.
Third Wave Digital led a $6 million funding round to launch Pocketwatch. Investors include prominent Hollywood figures such as CBS Corp CEO Leslie Moonves and actor Robert Downey Jr.
Pocketwatch
Piece Of Cake Wedding To Be Auctioned
Queen Elizabeth
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II married Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, in 1947 but an auction house in the U.K. will now give you the opportunity to be a part of the royal wedding, by owning a piece of the cake.
The queen, who recently celebrated her sapphire jubilee - 65 years on the throne - married Prince Philip on Nov. 20, 1947. The couple will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary this year.
Their wedding cake stood almost six feet tall, weighing six hundred pounds. It was topped with a silver model of St. George and the Dragon, gifted to the couple as a souvenir, Royal Central reported. It was preserved as a part of British heritage but destroyed by vandals in 2015.
However, a piece of the cake from the wedding celebration is going up for auction by Hansons Auctioneers in Etwall, South Derbyshire. The seven decades old piece has been kept in a small box decorated with wedding bells. The inscription on the box reads, "Presented to Mr C. Dickman by Princess Elizabeth, Nov 20th 1947."
This is not the first instance when a piece of the queen's wedding cake has gone up for auction, with another piece sold in January this year. The piece put for auction at Hansons Auctioneers is a part of the Antiques and Collectors Auction, which runs until Wednesday. The cake is expected to go for anywhere between 100 to 150 pounds ($125-190 approximately).
Queen Elizabeth
German Candymaker Haribo To Build Plant
Wisconsin
German candymaker Haribo, which is known for its brightly colored gummy bears and bow tie-wearing gold bear mascot, plans to build its first North American factory in southeastern Wisconsin not far from Chicago, Gov. Scott Walker (R-Who?) announced Thursday.
The facility is slated to be operational by 2020 and employ 400 people once fully up and running, Walker and economic development officials said. An exuberant Walker held up two bags of Haribo candy during a Capitol news conference, but declined to actually eat any because he said he gave up sweets for Lent.
The $242 million candymaking plant is to be built in Pleasant Prairie, which is near Kenosha and just 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Chicago.
Rick LaBerge, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Haribo of America Inc., said in a statement that choosing the site of the company's first North American factory was an "elaborate process" that took many years. Haribo opened its first North American sales office in Baltimore in 1982.
Wisconsin
Blasts Texas A&M Student President
Governor Goodhair
Energy Secretary Rick Perry (R-Doeth Protest Too Much), whose agency oversees the nation's nuclear arsenal, is inserting himself into an unusually small political dispute: an election for student body president at Texas A&M.
In an op-ed submitted to the Houston Chronicle, the former Texas governor suggested that his alma mater's first openly gay president may have stolen the outcome. Perry wrote that the campus election "at best made a mockery of due process and transparency" and at worst "allowed an election to be stolen outright."
"It is difficult to escape the perception that this quest for 'diversity' is the real reason the election outcome was overturned," he wrote. "Does the principle of 'diversity' override and supersede all other values of our Aggie Honor Code?"
Those who know Perry best said they're not surprised that he would take the unusual step of weighing in on a parochial issue at his alma mater - even though he's now a member of President Donald Trump's (R-Crooked) Cabinet.
"There are three institutions that are most important to Rick Perry, his wife and family, the U.S. military and Texas A&M. It depended on the day, or the weekend, which one had the top priority," said Ray Sullivan, a former Perry chief of staff and veteran of the ex-governor's unsuccessful presidential runs in 2012 and 2016.
Governor Goodhair
Presidential Seals Stolen
Kennedy Center
A driver at the Kennedy Center stole two presidential seals, including one taken from then-President Barack Obama's seating area after his final Kennedy Center Honors, police said Thursday.
Daniel Lewin of Washington was arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree theft, U.S. Park Police said.
A presidential seal is the disc-like object used to adorn a lectern when the president is speaking. It wasn't immediately clear what the seals were used for at the performing arts center in the nation's capital.
Kennedy Center spokeswoman Eileen Andrews said the seals were stolen from the box at the center's opera house where then-president Barack Obama sat during the Kennedy Center Honors program in 2015 and 2016. The thefts were discovered after the program was over, she said.
Andrews said the suspect worked for a subcontractor that provided transportation during the honors.
Kennedy Center
Egypt & Turkey
Artifacts
About $50 million worth of artifacts and antiques were shipped from both Egypt and Turkey to the United States in 2016 - the highest annual value from each of those countries in at least 20 years, according to U.S. Census Bureau documents.
The artifacts, totaling about $100 million between the two countries, were imported "for consumption" and not for temporary display in a museum, the documents say. Most of the artifacts were shipped to New York City, where numerous antiquities dealers, auction houses and art galleries are based. It can be difficult to determine whether a shipment of artifacts was recently looted, law-enforcement officials told Live Science.
In addition, the actual resale value of the shipments may be higher, because the values seen in the documents are simply those that importers declared, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. Audits are occasionally conducted on shipments, but the spokesperson declined to say how often they occur.
Egypt has experienced extensive looting since the country's 2011 revolution. The looting is linked to the deaths of children (they were killed while working in narrow looting shafts) and antiquities guards (who were shot dead while trying to protect sites). An agreement between the United States and Egypt designed to curtail the antiquities trade was signed in November 2016 and went into effect near the end of that year.
Meanwhile Turkey shares a vast border with both Iraq and Syria, two countries that have experienced heavy looting as a result of ongoing wars. Last year, a Live Science investigation revealed that artifact shipments between Turkey and the U.S. increased after Iraq was invaded in 2003, and then increased further after the civil war in Syria started in 2011. Scholars and multiple governments (including the United States) have documented that artifacts are being sent from Iraq and Syria to Turkey before being sold abroad. Additionally, a coup attempt occurred in Turkey in July 2016, although scholars and law enforcement officials declined to speculate on whether the coup attempt is leading to more artifacts being shipped from Turkey to the US.
Artifacts
Sparks Wildfire
Book Burning
A Florida man's illegal burning of paperback books sparked a wildfire that quickly spread across 400 acres of land, damaging or destroying as many as 15 homes and forcing residents to evacuate in the northeastern part of the state, officials said on Thursday.
The blaze started on Wednesday afternoon after the unidentified man burned books and magazines outside his home near Bryceville, about 20 miles west of Jacksonville, Florida Forest Service spokeswoman Annaleasa Winter told Reuters by telephone.
Dusty winds blew paper away from the initial burn site, Winter said. Firefighters initially were able to contain about five acres of flames, but strong winds caused the inferno to spiral out of control.
"What happened next was we had 40 to 50 miles-per-hour gusts of winds, and it pushed the embers right outside of the fire line and it just ran through a very dense forest and threatened many homes," Winter said. "At least two homes are lost."
The man accused of starting the fire was cited for an illegal burn but not charged with a crime, she said.
Book Burning
Antarctica Home to Millions More Than Thought
Penguins
Millions more Adélie penguins are waddling along the icy Antarctic continent than scientists previously thought.
Researchers had estimated that about 2.3 million Adélie penguins called East Antarctica home. But a new survey more than doubles that estimate, to 5.9 million individuals in that area.
A team of scientists completed a comprehensive count of the penguin population using aerial and ground surveys, tagging data and automated cameras during several breeding seasons.
The new estimation is the first to take into account nonbreeding penguins; previous population counts focused only on breeding pairs.
Based on the new estimation of 5.9 million Adélie penguins in East Antarctica, the global population of this species (Pygoscelis adeliae) is likely 14 million to 16 million birds, the researchers said. (This species lives along Antarctica's entire coast and on its small islands.)
Penguins
In Memory
Sib Hashian
Sib Hashian, the original drummer for the rock group Boston, has died. He was 67.
According to TMZ, Hashian was on the Legends of Rock Cruise and was in the middle of a set when he suddenly collapsed. CPR was performed and a defibrillator was used.
He was playing alongside fellow ex-band member Barry Goudreau, former Foreigner singer Lou Gramm, former Beach Boy David Marks and former Kansas singer John Elefante at the time of his death, the Boston Globe reported. Hashian's son Adam confirmed his death.
The Legends of Rock Cruise began on March 18 in Florida and had stops in Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.
The drummer was part of Boston's famous 1976 self-titled album, which featured the mega-hit "More Than a Feeling."
From Lynnfield, Massachusetts, Hashian currently owns a record shop and a string of tanning salons in Boston, according to WCVB-TV, ABC-5.
Hashian is survived by his two daughters, songwriter Aja Hashian and singer-songwriter Lauren Hashian, who has a daughter with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
Sib Hashian
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