Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Andrew Tobias: 43's Rising Popularity
According to CNN, former President George W. Bush is now more popular than current President Barack Obama.
Tom Danehy: Tom wants you to know about a lawsuit filed by the Tohono O'Odham nation against Ducey and his cronies (Tucson Weekly)
The Tohono O'Odham Nation filed a lawsuit in federal court last week, asking for an injunction so that the tribe's $200 million casino, already well under construction in Glendale, can open on time in December. This was in response to Arizona Governor Doug Ducey's ordering of Department of Gaming Director Daniel Bergin to crap all over the legal process through which said casino must go in preparation for its opening.
Chitra Ramaswamy: "Winehouse, Austen, Kafka and Monet: why does the work of great artists get destroyed?" (Guardian)
Amy Winehouse's label boss has admitted destroying some of the singer's demos. She's not the only one whose archive is incomplete.
The removal company that spelled doom for Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner (Guardian)
George Clooney and Stacy Kiebler used Wetzel & Sons when they split. So did Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. And Katy Perry and Russell Brand. So if you see one of its vans outside, be prepared.
Michael J. Lewis: How Art Became Irrelevant (Commentary)
And the American public-left with an impressionistic vision in which urine, bullwhips, and a naked but chocolate-streaked Karen Finley figured largely-drew the fatal conclusion that contemporary art had nothing to offer them. Fatal, because the moment the public disengages itself collectively from art, even to refrain from criticizing it, art becomes irrelevant.
Emily Yoffe: The Silent Goodbye (Slate)
I might be dying. Should I tell my friends, or spare them the pain of saying farewell?
Phil Plait: Carreyed Away (Slate)
On Tuesday, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB-277 into law, removing the ability for parents to opt out of vaccinating their public school-age children for personal and religious exemptions.
Charlie Jane Anders: Arnold Somehow Saves Terminator Genisys From Being A Total Disaster (io9)
All in all, I enjoyed Terminator Genisys more than I expected to, in spite of its many, many flaws. Some of that comes down to rock-bottom expectations. But also, this movie does have an emotional core, a spark of real feeling, at its center. And that comes, for the most part, from Schwarzenegger, who has evolved in the role of Terminator to the point where his scowl says more than a thousand speeches.
Eddie Deezen: The Love Life of Clark Gable (Neatorama)
Gable always took advantage of his ready supply of co-starring actresses. Once, when looking at a group photo of all of MGM studio's female stars, Gable exclaimed admiringly, "What a wonderful display of beautiful women, and I've had every one of them."
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"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today
, wrote:
answered:
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
David
Thanks, Dave!
Reader Comment
News of nothing
We've had 4 solid hours of coverage on every local channel of a possible incident at the Navy Yard.
No actual information during the 4 hours of continuous talking because it turns out that it was nothing.
But they're continuing to say nothing as they pad for another 45 minutes until the mayor comes out for a press conference to say that it was nothing.
I quickly turned off the local news coverage of nothing at the Navy Yard when it became clear that they would not let it go.
But as the evening news is starting, they're STILL out there talking, interviewing people about how afraid they were, speculating on whether the initial call was a hoax or for real.
The idiot who does "color" stories, after talking to a woman about how afraid she was, just asked her for a hug! OMFG!
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Almost makes me long for the old 'if it bleeds, it leads' newscasts.
Here we are treated to high-speed chases with innocent lives in the balance over a stupid stolen car.
And there are at least 3 'news' stories per half-hour that are actually commercials.
But then a 30 minute newscast is less than 21 minutes without the advertising.
News is now expected to turn a profit. Period.
Fear still sells, and it's about all they got.
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Comment
leap second
The Leap Second that had to be added to the day July 1st is proof
that the latest GOP dirty trick is working. In reality all the so
called windmills that we see popping up are not windmills at all.
They are giant motors attached to fans that they use to slow down the
rotation of the earth. The GOP plan is to increase the length of the day
so that 8 1/2 hours becomes the workday in a 24 1/2 hour day. The speed
of the fans is coordinated by the use of cell phone towers. Eventually
they plan to slow the rotation far enough that Social Security will not
be needed when time stops. Anyone care to lend me another sheet of
aluminum foil because I've got a tear in my hat?
Some (crazy) guy (in PA)
Thanks, Guy!
Only problem is they'd have to actually use science, and we know that's kryptonite to the current GOP.
Just in case...
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Hot, hazy and humid. Ack.
Iconic Marin Tunnel
Robin Williams
Robin Williams' name will soon grace the tunnel with the rainbow arches that connects the Golden Gate Bridge to greater Marin County.
The state Senate voted last week to name the tunnel after the late comedian and Marin resident - who got his big break wearing rainbow suspenders on the "Mork & Mindy" TV show - after approval by the Assembly in April. The resolution does not require Gov. Jerry Brown's signature.
Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, introduced the legislation after a Change.org petition garnered thousands of signatures in support of the name change.
The Robin Williams Tunnel had never had an official name. It is widely known as the Waldo Tunnel because it travels the Waldo Grade, which is named after William Waldo, a Whig Party candidate who ran for governor in 1853.
The tunnel is also sometimes called the Rainbow tunnel because of the rainbows painted on the tunnel arches on the southern side.
Robin Williams
Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers Dominate
Late-Night Ratings
Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers have concluded another quarter that left the late-night competition in the dust.
"The Tonight Show" averaged a 1.04 rating in the key adults 18-49 demographic, and 3.573 million viewers overall for 2015's second quarter. That was 68 percent higher than Jimmy Kimmel's average demo rating, and 32 percent better than the ABC late-night talk show in total viewers.
CBS has run its "Summer Showcase" at 11:30 p.m. ever since David Letterman retired, which "Tonight" topped by a 121 percent demo margin, and 33 percent in overall audience. That demo percentage becomes another 68 percent advantage when combined with "The Late Show's" final push. In total viewers, however, Fallon's advantage slips to just seven percent when counting Dave.
"Late Night," Seth Meyers' talk show an hour later, averaged a 0.44 demo rating and 1.408 million viewers overall, beating CBS's "Late Late Show" (0.33) by a 33 percent demo difference. The total viewer edge also went to Meyers, but that was just a two percent cushion over James Corden. In their head-to-head half-hour from 12:30 a.m. to 1 a.m., Meyers outscored ABC's "Nightline" by 28 percent in the main demo.
Speaking of Corden, year-over-year, the new "Late Late Show" host is actually down a bit already - by a negative 8 percent in the demo and minus 1 percent in total viewers - versus his predecessor Craig Ferguson. And that's including a Corden boost from Letterman's finale during the quarter.
Late-Night Ratings
Rescues Miss USA Pageant
Reelz
The Miss USA pageant, left without a TV home following blowback against co-owner Donald Trump over his comments on Mexican immigrants, has been rescued by the Reelz channel.
Reelz CEO Stan E. Hubbard said in a statement Thursday that the cable and satellite channel acquired the rights because of a belief that the pageant and the women who compete in it "are an integral part of American tradition."
This isn't the first time Reelz has gone its own way. When the History channel dropped "The Kennedys" miniseries that had been made for it, saying it didn't fit its brand, Reelz aired it in 2011 and was rewarded with record channel ratings and awards attention.
Reelz said the Miss USA pageant will be televised July 12, its originally scheduled date on NBC. The pageant will have to scramble after a mass exodus of performers, hosts and judges who cited opposition to Trump's views as the reason.
Reelz
TV News Crews Attacked
San Francisco
Two San Francisco television news crews were attacked and robbed and a camera operator pistol-whipped while reporting on a homicide early on Thursday, in an incident that was partly captured on live TV, local media reported.
Crews from local Bay Area stations KNTV and KTVU had equipment stolen, and the camera operator suffered a cut to his ear, according to reports by the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper and KNTV, the local NBC affiliate.
The Chronicle reported that the attack began shortly after 6 a.m. and was caught live on KTVU as reporter Cara Liu was on the air.
The paper said that as Liu delivered her report on a suspected homicide at Pier 14 in San Francisco the assailants ran up and stole equipment belonging to KNTV, pistol whipping camera operator Alan Waples.
Television news crews in the Bay Area have been the subject of several such incidents in recent years, prompting some local stations to hire security guards to accompany crews out on assignment.
San Francisco
Ghost Schools
China
Rusty padlocks seal empty classrooms and blank graduation certificates litter a dusty, silent school corridor in Rudong, a haunting glimpse of China's ageing future in a town which pioneered the one-child policy.
Education facilities are being shrunk to cater for dwindling pupil numbers, and the once bustling Technical Secondary School is now a hollow eight-storey shell.
Long before China's Communist rulers rolled out the one-child policy nationwide to halt population growth, Rudong was already carrying out forced sterilisations, abortions and highly personal checks on women on its own initiative.
It was praised by the authorities for its strict enforcement of the rules that became the cornerstone of Beijing's social management.
Now China is facing the consequences of a dwindling workforce and a rapidly ageing population, and Beijing has been loosening the rules to encourage more births.
China
DA Declines To File Charges
Sean Combs
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office declined Thursday to file felony charges against Sean "Diddy" Combs for a confrontation last month at the University of California, Los Angeles, where his son plays football.
District attorney spokesman Ricardo Santiago said the office decided instead to turn the case over to the Los Angeles city attorney's office, which could file lesser misdemeanor charges.
No charges have been brought against the 45-year-old hip-hop mogul for the confrontation June 20 at UCLA's athletic facilities in which police said he wielded a piece of weight-room equipment called a kettlebell.
"We are thankful that the district attorney rejected felony charges in this matter," defense lawyer Mark Geragos said. "This case never should have been part of the criminal justice system to begin with."
Sean Combs
Copper Mine Stirs Debate
Arizona
Outside of an aging mining town in the mountains east of Phoenix, a copper company has burrowed a shaft 1.3 miles into the high desert landscape in what is believed to be the deepest such mine in the U.S.
Resolution Copper Mining says the mine will usher in a new era of prosperity for Arizona, bringing in the equivalent of roughly a $1 billion worth of revenue annually for about 60 years in a state still trying to emerge from the housing bust.
The mine also will use approximately 18,000 acre feet of water annually, enough to supply about 40,000 homes. And it will claim nearly 5-square miles on the edge of nearby Superior to store mining waste that can be toxic.
The plan has angered conservationists, residents and Native American tribes who argue the mine will cause irreparable harm to land coveted for its beauty, biodiversity and sanctity.
The company, business leaders and Republican members of Congress believe they have addressed environmental and tribal concerns while protecting the environment and holy Native American locations.
Arizona
Maintain Substantial Stock Holdings
3 Supreme Court Justices
New personal financial disclosures from the Supreme Court show that Chief Justice John Roberts and two other justices are maintaining significant investments in individual companies' stock.
The details of investments held by Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Stephen Breyer are in annual financial reports released Thursday by the federal judiciary.
Roberts holds stock worth $250,000 to $500,000 each in Time Warner Inc. and Microsoft Corp., and smaller investments in other technology and communications companies.
Breyer was forced to sit out a patent case in the spring that involved Cisco Systems, Inc., because he owns up to $100,000 in Cisco stock. Breyer's largest holding, worth more than $1 million, is in British media and education company Pearson PLC. Breyer's wife, Joanna, is part of the family that founded the company.
Alito continues to invest in Exxon Mobil Corp. and other energy stocks, as well as pharmaceutical companies and Boeing Co. Alito also sold several stocks in 2014, including shares of Coca-Cola Co. worth $15,000 to $50,000. That stock sale in April 2014 allowed Alito to take part in a Supreme Court dispute between Coca-Cola and Pom Wonderful.
3 Supreme Court Justices
Priest's Hidden Camera Probe
Oregon
An Oregon Catholic priest has been placed on leave by the Archdiocese of Portland as police investigate who placed a hidden camera, carefully disguised as an electrical outlet, in a church bathroom, the archdiocese said on Thursday.
The camera was discovered in late April near a toilet in the men's bathroom of the St. Francis Catholic Church in Sherwood by a church member who took it immediately to Father Ysrael Bien, a police statement said.
But Bien didn't report the camera to police until May 20 when he reported it stolen, Sherwood police spokesman Ty Hanlon said. Police are investigating how the camera wound up in the bathroom.
Bien has not been charged with a crime or named as a suspect. But the Archdiocese of Portland placed him on administrative leave last week in response to his failure to immediately report the hidden camera to police.
Though police have conducted several interviews and searches related to the disappearance of the camera, they have not been able to identify a suspect, he added.
Oregon
'Wakes Up' After 26-Year Slumber
Black Hole
After taking a 26-year nap, a waking black hole released a burst of X-rays that lit up astronomical observatories on June 15 - and it's still making a ruckus today.
Astronomers identified the revived black hole as an "X-ray nova" - a sudden increase in star luminosity - coming from a binary system in the constellation Cygnus. The outburst may have been caused by material falling into a black hole.
The burst was first caught by NASA's Swift satellite, and then by a Japanese experiment on the International Space Station, called Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI).
"Relative to the lifetime of space observatories, these black-hole eruptions are quite rare," Neil Gehrels, Swift's principal investigator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a statement. "So, when we see one of them flare up, we try to throw everything we have at it, monitoring across the spectrum, from radio waves to gamma-rays."
The binary system responsible for the eruption is called V404 Cygni, according to the statement from NASA . It's made up of a star slightly smaller than the sun that orbits a black hole 10 times its mass. The orbital period is just 6.5 days, which makes it more than 10 times faster than Mercury orbits our own sun, the statement said.
Black Hole
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