Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Andrew Tobias: You Don't NEED To Know The Candidates - Just Vote
It sounds wrong . . . but as this essay makes clear, you just need to have a general sense of which side you're on. Or closest to. Are you more with Taylor Swift and Michelle Obama and Mike Bloomberg and Ellen and Hillary and Beto and Bernie and the Pope? Or with Mitch McConnell and Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin and David Duke and Paul Manafort and Ted Cruz and the NRA and the Duck Dynasty guy and the climate deniers?
Jonathan Bernstein: Just Vote. You Don't Need to Be Informed. (Bloomberg)
In general elections, voting for party rather than person is a good idea. There's no need to be an expert.
Madeline Twomey: Republicans Are Making False Claims About Medicare for All Ahead of the Midterms (Center for American Progress Action Fund)
GOP lawmakers have made repeated threats to Medicare during Trump's presidency. In June, House Republicans proposed a $537 billion cut to Medicare over the next 10 years. This was quickly shot down by leaders in the party, who recognized that the cuts would be a nonstarter for Democrats.
Cameron Joseph: Brian Kemp Is Blocking 53K Applicants From Registering To Vote, Most Of Them Black (TPM)
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp's (R) office is blocking 53,000 people from registering to vote, according to records obtained by the Associated Press, a huge number that could sway his gubernatorial race against Democrat Stacey Abrams. As TPM laid out this morning, Kemp has used a controversial "exact match" program to approve or block voter registrations that disproportionately impacts minority voters. Now we know exactly how many people that might affect this election. According to the AP, fully 70 percent of the voter applications that are being held up by Kemp's office are from black people.
Helaine Olen: Trump and the Republicans offer ridiculous lies about Medicare (Washington Post)
There's a reason Trump and the Republican Party pose as the protectors of Medicare: Lies are all they've got. If anything, they are furiously trying to cut the legs out from under the program - and hoping you don't notice.
Helaine Olen: Why Trump and the Republicans keep talking about George Soros (Washington Post)
It's a "heads we win, tails you lose" scenario. If, due to gerrymandering, the Republicans keep control of Congress even if Democrats gain more votes, Trump can continue to claim opponents are fakes. If Republicans lose control, Trump can say they lost it, in part, through fraudulent means. My prediction? Expect to hear a lot more about Soros and his dastardly plots between now and Nov. 6. And don't be surprised if criminal immigrants and Muslim terrorists get a bunch of mentions, too. This is how wannabe authoritarians roll. And that goes double when they rule by minority will.
Greg Sargent: Republicans keep stating openly that they're totally fine with Trump's corruption (Washington Post)
The basic bargain Republicans have made with the president is that he will keep delivering them right-wing judges and signing bills slashing taxes on the rich and eviscerating the social safety net, so long as Republicans maintain fortress-like protection of Trump from oversight and accountability. Republicans got their massive corporate tax cut, and they just got another big payment in the form of Trump's successful nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. McConnell is once again confirming that if voters keep Republicans in charge of Congress, they'll continue delivering on their side of this bargain.
Helaine Olen: The deadly limousine crash didn't have to turn out the way it did (Washington Post)
For the most part, these accidents happen again and again, yet little changes. It's part and parcel of the lax regulations surrounding all sorts of aspects of American life - ones we usually pay attention to for a few days after a tragedy before moving on. The result is a horrific carelessness at the heart of key parts of culture and politics, which values our lives less and business and conservative political interests more. Our lack of effective gun control is the premier example: In 2017, more than 15,000 people died from gun-related incidents, not including suicides.
Jonathan Chait: Trump's Op-ed Accidentally Points Out He Broke His Health-Care Promise (NY Mag)
He hasn't covered everybody. He hasn't proposed, let alone enacted, a "terrific" health-care plan. If protections for people with preexisting conditions remain in place, it will be only because his administration loses its legal fight to eliminate them. Whether Trump is more than dimly aware of any of these facts is an open question. The most perfectly emblematic fact about Trump's health-care record is that he has written an op-ed pointing out that he has broken his own promises.
Alice Bloch: More time for living, less for living longer (New Humanist)
Barbara Ehrenreich asks if our obsession with "wellness" and keeping fit is really all that healthy.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 100 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
T-Shirts
David
Thanks, Dave!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Zappa
Frank Zappa quote...
"Republicans stand for raw, unbridled evil and greed and ignorance smothered in balloons and ribbons."
Steve B.
Thanks, Steve!
from Bruce
Anecdotes
• Many Quakers were anti-slavery and active in the Underground Movement. Once, 15 slave owners from Kentucky went to Indiana to try to retrieve their run-away slaves. For a time, it seemed that violence was likely to erupt, but a cool-headed Quaker named Eli Osborn saved the day. When one of the slave owners demanded that Eli, a known Abolitionist, fight him in a duel with pistols, Eli replied, "If thee will get down off thy horse, I'll play thee a game of marbles." This comment caused laughter and avoided bloodshed.
• Gymnasts tend to be small, but very tough. As a teenager working at McDonald's, Kurt Thomas noticed a strange-looking man harassing a woman at the counter. Mr. Thomas knocked him out with one punch. When the police arrived, they asked who had hit the man, and Mr. Thomas confessed. The police then looked Mr. Thomas over - he was 5-foot-3 and weighed 115 pounds - and laughed.
• Boxer Sugar Ray Robinson used to play golf with professional golfer Sam Snead. To even up the competition, Mr. Snead would spot Mr. Robinson one stroke per hole. Mr. Robinson once offered to return the favor if Mr. Snead ever wanted to box him - he would spot Mr. Snead the first five rounds of a six-round fight. Mr. Snead said, "That's fine - as long as I can use my wedge."
• After jockey Julie Krone won a race by 10 lengths, competing jockey Miguel Rujano whipped her across the face. With her ear bleeding, Ms. Krone told the bystanders, "Excuse me, I have to go hit somebody," then she punched her attacker's nose. Ms. Krone's assertiveness paid off when she became the first woman to win a Triple Crown race, the Belmont Stakes, in 1993.
***
© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
Reader Comment
Meme
dog driving meme
some guy
Thanks, Guy!
Reader Comment
Current Events
Preach it, Sister
I am so over it:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
THE PRESS CONFERENCE.
THE LYING, RACIST PRESIDENT.
FAKE FREEDOM AND FAKE DEMOCRACY.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and a bit cooler than seasonal.
"Vote 'Em Out"
Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson headlined an Austin rally in support of Democratic Texas Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke last month, marking his first-ever public performance in support of an active candidate. There, he debuted a new song, "Vote 'Em Out", which one can surmise is about the state's current senator, Ted Cruz. Now, Nelson has shared a studio version of the cut.
"The biggest gun we got/ Is called the ballot box/ If you don't like who's in there, vote 'em out," Nelson sings on the song, which rides along electric strums, some jaunty piano, and a stirring strain of harmonica.
Willie Nelson
"Vote 'Em Out" - YouTube
After Seth Meyers Left
SNL
Another former SNL cast member is getting candid about the current state of affairs in Studio 8H.
Taran Killam, who recently ended a six-year run on the NBC late-night sketch show, tells the I Was There Too podcast that "the dynamic" at SNL "changed quite a bit" when Seth Meyers departed as head writer in 2014. "He was the last person there who I witnessed really collaborate with [creator] Lorne [Michaels], as opposed to just kind of do what Lorne says." Killam calls the post-Meyers SNL a "competitive, exhausting environment" and "less of a happy place to be."
Killam points to SNL's lavish 40th anniversary celebration in 2015 as a big turning point for the show - and Lorne's attitude towards the cast. After Michaels absorbed all that praise, Killam remembers, "it was back to this cast who's all 40 years younger than you and aren't as famous as Tina Fey… my experience was he became very impatient."
Michaels also ordered the SNL cast to take it easy on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, Killam remembers, because Michaels was trying to line up Trump as a potential host. (Trump did eventually host SNL in November of 2015.) "Lorne was being so specific about what we could and couldn't say about him," Killam recalls. When the SNLwriters discussed parodying a CNN interview of Trump, "Lorne's like, 'It'll be too old news by then, and you know, you don't want to vilify him… I know him, I've seen him around at parties for years and years, and he just says whatever it is he's thinking, and that's his thing. But… you have to find a way in that makes him likable."
SNL
Fired Over The Phone
Lindsey Buckingham
It's a great time to be a fan of Fleetwood Mac: Earlier this year, the legendary rock band parted ways with their longtime singer, songwriter, and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham when they couldn't decide on touring. He wanted to chill out until November 2019, they wanted to tour, well, now, which, um, they're doing … with Mike Campbell and Neil Finn.
At the time, that was the story everyone was going with and it made sense. However, eyebrows were certainly raised when Buckingham later admitted - during a campaign fundraiser for Democratic congressional candidate Mike Levin, no less - that "there were factions within the band that had lost their perspective." Hmm.
Now, in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Buckingham says he was fired over the phone this past January by Fleetwood's manager Irving Azoff only two nights after the band performed together at a MusiCares benefit in New York City.
"Stevie [Nicks] never wants to be on a stage with you again," Azoff told Buckingham, while he and his wife watched the Grammys. Azoff then went on to list things that "Stevie took issue with," namely some kind of outburst on Buckingham's behalf during their introduction music ("Rhiannon") and the way he smirked during Nicks' thank-you speech.
Buckingham contends that using "Rhiannon" as the intro music "undermined the impact of our entrance. That's me being very specific about the right and wrong way to do something," and that his smirk was part of a running joke he has with Nicks. "I may or may not have smirked," he admits, "but I look over and Christine and Mick are doing the waltz behind her as a joke."
Lindsey Buckingham
'Suspiria' Prosthetic
Tilda Swinton
The (not-so-kept) secret is out: Tilda Swinton has confirmed she is the actress playing 82-year-old male psychiatrist Dr. Jozef Klemperer in Luca Guadagnino's "Suspiria." For months now, Amazon Studios and "Suspiria" cast and crew have been claiming the character is played by Lutz Ebersdorf, with Swinton even reading a statement on behalf of Ebersdorf at the film's Venice Film Festival press conference. The actress finally came forward in an interview with The New York Times about Klemperer's real identity
"Undeniably, I would have to say, for the sheer sake of fun above all," Swinton replied when asked why she wanted to take on the role. "As my grandmother would have it - a motto to live and die by - 'Dull Not To.'"
Swinton was transformed into an 82-year-old man with the help of Oscar-winning makeup artist Mark Coulier. The two worked together on Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel," which similarly forced Swinton to be turned into an elderly person.
Coulier "thickened Swinton's neck with prosthetics and built her jaw out to look heavier and more masculine" in order to turn the actress into Klemperer. Swinton spent four hours in the makeup chair each day to pull off the look. In order to be fully transformed into her male character, Swinton personally requested Coulier make her a male reproductive organ.
"She did have us make a penis and balls," Coulier said. "She had this nice, weighty set of genitalia so that she could feel it dangling between her legs, and she managed to get it out on set on a couple of occasions."
Tilda Swinton
Appeals Court Lifts Judge's Ban On Movie
Lynyrd Skynyrd
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a judge's 2017 ban on "Street Survivor: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash" on Wednesday.
"We conclude that the terms of the Consent Order are inconsistent, or at least insufficiently precise, to support an injunction, and we therefore reverse the judgment of the District Court and vacate the injunction," court documents obtained by TheWrap read.
In August 2017, a judge blocked the distribution of a film about Southern-rock pioneers Lynyrd Skynyrd, following a dispute between the surviving members of the group and independent record label Cleopatra Records, which planned to distribute the film.
U.S. district judge Robert Sweet determined that the film, "Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash," violated a "blood oath" that founding members of the band took following a 1977 plane crash that took the life of Skynyrd singer/songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, that declared that no one would perform as or "use the name" Lynyrd Skynyrd ever again.
According to the new court documents, in 1987, the surviving members embarked on a tribute tour, and Van Zant's widow sued them in the Southern District. This became known as the Grondin case, and a Consent Order restricted how the parties can use the name, as well as biography material and history of the band.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Intense Heat
Vesuvius
During the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD, clouds of superheated gas enveloped the ancient city of Pompeii and its surrounding areas, instantly vaporizing bodily fluids and soft tissues, according to new research. Sounds grim, but this mode of death was actually a blessing in disguise, given the alternatives.
Death came in any number of ways when Mount Vesuvius erupted on that fateful August day back in 79 AD. And in fact, many Roman citizens likely died before the eruption even happened. In the days leading up to the explosion, a series of earthquakes rocked the bustling city of Pompeii, toppling buildings and other structures. Many of the survivors, recognizing the signs of an impending volcanic explosion, wisely chose to flee the city (perhaps as many as 90 percent of Pompeii's inhabitants evacuated).
When Vesuvius finally erupted, it threw a massive column of molten rock, scalding ash, and pumice into the sky. Within minutes of the explosion, this debris started to rain down hard and fast, causing the roofs and floors of structures to collapse. Some unlucky citizens were struck down by boulders or the debris from collapsing structures.
The eruption prompted a second wave of evacuations, but with a vastly shorter window of opportunity. Over the next few hours, the remaining inhabitants of Pompeii, including those living in the nearby settlements of Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Oplontis, were overwhelmed by avalanches of gas and dust, known respectively as hot surge clouds and pyroclastic flows, pouring down quickly from the mountain. By the time the two-day eruption was over, nearly 2,000 people had died.
That fast-moving pyroclastic flows of gas and ash killed scores of people during the eruption is well documented. During the Vesuvius eruption, six distinct surges hurtled through a region extending for 18 miles (30 kilometers). The first of these surges, known as S1, consisted of the superheated gas cloud. The authors of the new study, led by Pierpaolo Petrone from the Federico II University Hospital in Naples, Italy, say many of Vesuvius' victims were killed before the subsequent ash-filled pyroclastic flows reached them. Previous studies have shown the same thing, citing "thermally induced fulminant shock" as a typical cause of death, as opposed to getting slammed by a wall of ash, suffocating, or getting clobbered by a boulder.
Vesuvius
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 October 10, 2018:
1. Taylor Swift; $9,799,400; $116.46.
2. Ed Sheeran; $9,242,595; $91.97.
3. The Rolling Stones; $7,938,162; $159.16.
4. Jay-Z / Beyoncé; $6,623,724; $115.97.
5. Celine Dion; $4,782,217; $221.19.
6. U2; $4,656,610; $134.26.
7. Billy Joel; $4,152,820; $123.71.
8. Guns N' Roses; $4,127,170; $96.46.
9. Helene Fischer; $3,671,517; $81.71.
10. Kenny Chesney; $2,888,064; $86.94.
11. Justin Timberlake; $2,178,101; $107.65.
12. Roger Waters; $2,149,038; $103.14.
13. André Rieu; $2,068,991; $91.95.
14. Luke Bryan; $2,044,732; $75.02.
15. "Springsteen On Broadway"; $1,997,470; $508.71.
16. Dead & Company; $1,851,279; $71.04.
17. Journey / Def Leppard; $1,747,787; $98.10.
18. Iron Maiden; $1,725,140; $80.35.
19. Britney Spears; $1,552,978; $129.29.
20. Shakira; $1,491,383; $89.94
Global Concert Tours
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
