Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Ruth Graham: "The Melania Jacket Is the Apotheosis of the 'Words Don't Matter' Presidency" (Slate)
Melania Trump made a surprise trip to Texas on Thursday to visit facilities housing undocumented minors who have been separated from their families, a day after her husband signed an executive order to stop the policy that he previously said he had no ability to stop. Arriving at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland en route to Texas, she was photographed wearing crisp white jeans, Stan Smith sneakers, and a khaki military-style jacket emblazoned on the back with the words "I REALLY DON'T CARE, DO U?"
Daniel Politi: Jogger Accidentally Crosses U.S. Border From Canada and Is Detained for Two Weeks (Slate)
At first, Roman said she was confident that "they'll probably only give me a fine or they'll tell me to go back to Canada or they'll give me a warning." But she didn't have any government-issued identification on her and she came to realize her unwitting crossing into Blaine, Washington was a bigger deal than she was expecting. "They put me in the caged vehicles and brought me into their facility," she said. "They asked me to remove all my personal belongings with my jewelry, they searched me everywhere."
Daniel Politi: Online Reviewers Descend on Restaurant That Refused to Serve Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Slate)
It seems that it is getting more and more difficult for members of the Trump administration to get a decent meal in restaurants around Washington. On Friday night, it was apparently the turn of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was apparently kicked out of a Virginia restaurant. Word of the move first came from Jaike Foley-Schultz, who describes describes himself as a waiter at The Red Hen, a restaurant in Lexington, Virginia. In a Facebook post, Foley-Schultz wrote that his boss kicked out the White House press secretary and seven members of her family.
Daniel Politi: "Restaurant Owner Who Booted Sanders Has No Regrets: 'I Would Have Done the Same Thing Again'" (Slate)
She huddled with the staff and they all decided it was best to ask Sanders to leave even though her table had already started eating and the kitchen was preparing their main courses. She asked Sanders for a word in the patio. "I was babbling a little, but I got my point across in a polite and direct fashion," Wilkinson said. "I explained that the restaurant has certain standards that I feel it has to uphold, such as honesty, and compassion, and cooperation." She finally asked her to leave and Sanders didn't push back. The table offered to pay for what they had consumed but Wilkinson refused.
Matthew Dessem: Seth Rogen Refused to Pose For a Photo With Paul Ryan, Then Gave Paul Ryan a Piece of His Mind, All in Front of Paul Ryan's Kids (Slate)
There's already a lot of talk about Rogen's lack of civility-Trump campaign advisor Jack Kingston called him a "a little punk" on CNN-but there's a point at which no one should be expected to bite their tongue, and we're well past it. It must have sucked for Paul Ryan to have been embarrassed in front of his children by a popular comedian whose work they enjoy. It would probably have sucked a lot more if Seth Rogen had taken Paul Ryan's children away at gunpoint. But at least it would have been civil.
Stacy A. Cordery: In retirement, most ex-presidents can't resist the urge to stay relevant (The Conversation)
"The President is Missing," Bill Clinton's new suspense novel that he co-wrote with James Patterson, was swiftly panned. It spills no secrets, the prose is leaden, the story predictable. Clinton isn't the first former president to try his hand at fiction. Jimmy Carter took seven years to write "The Hornet's Nest: A Novel of the Revolutionary War," which suffered a similarly unenthusiastic response.
Lucy Mangan: Dickens and Agatha Christie made my childhood bearable (Spectator)
To escape her deeply dysfunctional family, the young Sally Bayley retreated into library books and preserved her sanity.
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David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Presenting
Michael Egan
replied:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
pardon?
President Gerald Ford gave a "full and unconditional" pardon for "any crimes he might have committed against the United States" to Richard Nixon
President George H W Bush pardoned these Ronald Reagan administration criminals convicted of federal crimes due to the Iran-Contra affair:
Elliot Abrams
Duane Clarridge
Alan Fiers
Clair George
Robert McFarlane
Caspar Weinberger (pre-emptive: he hadn't yet come to trial, but conviction was evident)
President Donald Trump has publicly floated the idea of pardons for everyone involved in "Russia-gate" - including himself
My question: when was the last time a Democratic president had to pardon any administration officials - including the president - of a previous Democratic administration for crimes against the people of the United States?
Randall in South Dakota
Thanks, Randall!
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
"THE ADMINISTRATION'S FINAL-DRAFT SPIN PLAN."
HERR MILLER.
THE COMING BLOODBATH.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
"June Gloom" returned with a lovely overcast, cool day.
Invites Melania
Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin extended Melania Trump a standing invitation to appear on "Saturday Night Live" alongside him spoofing her husband, President Donald Trump.
"Dear Melania- We know what you're thinking. What you're feeling. You are quaking w anticipation. Shuddering w a strange, newfound courage. Come. Come over to the light," tweeted the actor, who has portrayed the POTUS on "SNL" the past two seasons, on Saturday.
"We will welcome you as a hero in ways you never imagined possible. And then do SNL w me. Sincerely, Alec."
In a follow-up tweet, Baldwin shared a photo him and the First Lady at an event, stating: "We have a chair waiting for you in the @nbcsnl make-up room."
Alec Baldwin
Name Removed From Award
Laura Ingalls Wilder
The board of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, made the unanimous decision to remove the name of author Laura Ingalls Wilder from a major children's book award at a meeting in New Orleans on Saturday.
The name of the prize has been changed from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award to the Children's Literature Legacy Award, the Guardian reports.
The association, which took the vote at its board meeting in New Orleans, said the vote "was greeted by a standing ovation by the audience in attendance," Fox News reports.
Wilder is best known for her beloved Little House on the Prairie novels, which the ALSC has stated "includes expressions of stereotypical attitudes inconsistent with ALSC's core values" based on Wilder's portrayal of black people and Native Americans.
The first award was given to Wilder in 1954. The ALSC, which is based in Chicago, says her work continues to be published and read but her "legacy is complex" and "not universally embraced."
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Blaster Sells At Auction
Han Solo
Han Solo's blaster from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi has gone for $550,000 at the Hollywood Legends auction in Las Vegas.
It's thought that Ripley's Believe Or Not are the people behind this rather extravagant purchase, and there's no news yet on what they plan to do with the prop. Probably freeze it in carbonite until Luke and co come to save it from its icy prison…
The Star Wars prop was the highest-selling item at the auction and was part of James L Schoppe's - Return of the Jedi's art director - collection. He also had an Imperial Scout Trooper Blaster from the film which ended up going for $90,625.
Other items on sale included a full Superman III costume (sold for an estimated $200,00), which was actually by the iconic Superman actor himself, Christopher Reeve (sorry, Henry Cavill), as well as a black wool dress (which went for $50,000), said to have been worn by none other than Marilyn Monroe.
Han Solo
World's Ugliest Dog
Zsa Zsa
A 9-year-old English bulldog was named the winner of the 2018 World's Ugliest Dog contest in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Zsa Zsa won the title Saturday night at the Sonoma-Marin Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma.
The dog's owner Megan Brainard of Anoka, Minnesota, will receive $1,500 for Zsa Zsa's win. Brainard found Zsa Zsa on a pet-finding site, according to the contest bio.
Dogs in the annual competition flaunt their imperfections - some have hairless bodies, others have lolling tongues. The dogs and their handlers walk down a red carpet. The dogs are evaluated by a panel of judges.
Last year's winner was a 125-pound (57-kilogram) gentle giant named Martha - a Neopolitan Mastiff with gas and a droopy face.
Zsa Zsa
Pharmacist Denies Medication
Walgreens
A woman in Arizona made the brave choice this week, to make a very private loss - a miscarriage - into a public discussion, in the hopes that her story can save other women from what she went through at her local Walgreens. The pharmacist there refused to fill the prescription required to help her end her pregnancy, citing moral objections, even though her fetus no longer had a heartbeat.
Because of a previous miscarriage, her doctor was closely monitoring her, Nicole Arteaga explained on Facebook. But on Tuesday, two months into her pregnancy, he discovered there was no fetal development or heartbeat and said she could either have a surgical D&C (dilation and curettage) procedure at the hospital or take prescription medication at home to induce contractions. When she went to pick up her medication, the pharmacist refused to give it to her.
"I stood at the mercy of this pharmacist explaining my situation in front of my 7-year-old, and five customers standing behind only to be denied because of his ethical beliefs," Arteaga wrote. "I get it we all have our beliefs. But what he failed to understand is this isn't the situation I had hoped for, this isn't something I wanted. This is something I have zero control over. He has no idea what it's like to want nothing more than to carry a child to full term and be unable to do so. If you have gone thru a miscarriage you know the pain and emotional roller it can be."
The prescription Arteaga was trying to fill was for Misoprostol, which is commonly used to terminate pregnancies, prepare the cervix for insertion of an IUD, or treat stomach ulcers. Pharmacists have been known to refuse to give women this medication, as well as prescriptions for over-the-counter emergency contraception pills, because of their anti-abortion beliefs.
Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, and South Dakota all have laws specifically allowing pharmacists the right to refuse to fill prescriptions, according to the National Women's Law Center. Other states have broader laws that allow health care providers to refuse certain types of services but prohibit them from preventing customers from accessing it elsewhere. And in California, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, Washington, and Wisconsin, pharmacies are required to provide patients with their prescribed medication.
Walgreens
Be Best
US-Canada Border
A French tourist who accidentally crossed the border into the US from Canada during an evening jog was sent to a detention centre 125 miles away and held for two weeks before being released.
Cedella Roman, 19, who is mixed race, was apprehended by US border patrol guards in White Rock, near Vancouver, after illegally entering the country.
She said she had not seen any signs marking the border as she ran along the beach before she went down a path to take a photo of the setting sun, when two male officers arrested her.
"[The border guard] started telling me that I had crossed the border illegally and I told him that I really did not do it on purpose," she told Radio Canada.
A spokesperson for the US Border Services declined to comment on Ms Roman's case but told Radio Canada that crossing the US border at a place other than a customs post was illegal.
"The regulation applies even if the person claims to have crossed the border accidentally," the statement said.
US-Canada Border
10-Foot Heroin Spoon Sculpture
Purdue Pharma
A Connecticut gallery owner was arrested after dropping a 10-foot-long sculpture of a heroin spoon in front of Purdue Pharma's headquarters on Friday - and he says he plans to "gift" more spoons to other drug companies, as well as to politicians and doctors.
Fernando Luis Alvarez, who owns Stamford's Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery, was charged with a criminal misdemeanor and a felony after leaving the roughly 800-pound piece, which was hand-made by Boston-based artist Domenic Esposito, in Purdue's driveway and refusing to remove it, the Hartford Courant reports.
Alvarez told TIME that the stunt - which coincided with an opioid-related show at his gallery - was meant to send a message to Purdue Pharma and to hold the company accountable for what he says are its contributions to the country's opioid epidemic.
Stamford-based Purdue Pharma, which makes the widely prescribed opioid painkiller OxyContin, has drawn scrutiny for its sales and marketing practices, which several lawsuits allege led to improper prescribing practices that have contributed to patient misuse. Purdue has denied these allegations, but the company stopped promoting the drug in February and announced on Wednesday that it would eliminate the remainder of its salesforce.
Placing the sculpture - which Esposito says would have been even bigger, had he not needed to transport it to Connecticut in his trailer - in front of Purdue's headquarters was meant to underscore that many heroin users first get hooked on prescription painkillers, he says. Esposito's brother, who has struggled with addiction for 14 years, is one such person.
Purdue Pharma
Neutrino Detector
Super-Kamiokande
This insane golden chamber contains water so pure it can dissolve metal, and is helping scientists detect dying stars
Hidden 1,000 metres under Mount Ikeno in Japan is a place that looks like a supervillain's dream.
Super-Kamiokande (or "Super-K" as it's sometimes referred to) is a neutrino detector. Neutrinos are sub-atomic particles which travel through space and pass through solid matter as though it were air.
Studying these particles is helping scientists detect dying stars and learn more about the universe. Business Insider spoke to three scientists about how the giant gold chamber works - and the dangers of conducting experiments inside it.
Neutrinos can be very hard to detect, so much so that Neil deGrasse dubbed them "the most elusive prey in the cosmos." In this video, he explains that the detection chamber is buried deep within the earth to stop other particles from getting in.
Super-Kamiokande
Weekend Box Office
"Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom"
"Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" surpassed expectations to open with $150 million in ticket sales in U.S. and Canada theaters over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. While that total didn't approach the record-breaking $208.8 million debut of 2015's "Jurassic World," it proved the 25-year-old franchise still roars loudly among moviegoers.
It also gave Hollywood its first back-to-back $100 million-plus openings in a non-holiday period. After opening with $182.7 million last week, Pixar's acclaimed sequel "Incredibles 2" slid 56 percent in its second week, with an $80.9 million haul.
The female-fronted heist film "Ocean's 8," starring Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett, crossed $100 million domestically, with $11.7 million in its third week. Thanks to drive-in double-features with "Incredibles 2," Ava DuVernay's "A Wrinkle in Time" also cleared the $100 million milestone, a first for a black female director.
The Fred Rogers documentary "Won't You Be My Neighbor" became the summer's second documentary to crack the top 10. Following the Ruth Bader Ginsberg documentary "RBG," Morgan Neville's hit documentary on the man behind "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" grossed $1.9 million on 348 screens.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday also are included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," $150 million ($106.7 million international).
2. "Incredibles 2," $80.9 million ($56.8 million international).
3. "Ocean's 8," $11.7 million ($26.9 million international).
4. "Tag," $8.2 million.
5. "Solo: A Star Wars Story," $4 million ($2.6 million international).
6. "Deadpool 2," $5.3 million ($5.3 million international).
7. "Hereditary," $3.8 million ($3.8 million international).
8. "Superfly," $3.4 million.
9. "Avengers: Infinity War," $2.5 million ($1.4 million international).
10. "Won't You Be My Neighbor," $1.9 million.
"Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom"
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