Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Ted Rall: Those Kids Crossing the Border From Mexico Wouldn't Be There If Obama Hadn't Supported a Coup the Media Doesn't Talk About (Creators Syndicate)
"The unaccompanied children crossing the border into the United States are leaving behind mainly three Central American countries, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. The first two are among the world's most violent and all three have deep poverty, according to a Pew Research report based on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) information," reports NBC News.
Susan Estrich: Sugar Babies (Creators Syndicate)
The news that Google executive Forrest Hayes died on a yacht after being injected with heroin by a "date" he met on a website that connects "sugar daddies" with "sugar babies" has prompted not only charges against the woman, 26-year-old Alix Tichelman, and an investigation of a similar death (ruled accidental) involving Ms. Tichelman in 2013, but also questions about the website that brought the dead husband and father into contact with the woman who literally killed him.
Froma Harrop: Everyone May Now Board, Except You (Creators Syndicate)
The boarding pass typically lists two times: the time of departure and the time of boarding. For many airline passengers, the only significant one is time of departure.
David Christopher Bell: 6 B.S. Stories That Fooled Everyone on Facebook This Week (Cracked)
While there's no shortage of totally amazing true stories in the world, the problem with those is that you actually have to go out and find them -- and why bother, when you can just make shit up and everyone will share it anyway?
Froma Harrop: Where Goes Jazz as the Greats Move On? (Creators Syndicate)
A jazz great died this month. Though revered by fans around the world, Horace Silver is not a household name in his own country, where the popular taste tends more toward rock and country than it does toward jazz. Silver's most widely recognizable tune, "Song for My Father," is recognizable mainly because the rock band Steely Dan used it in the opening riff of one of their biggest hits, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number."
Jimmy Savile by the man who knew him best (Guardian)
Dan Davies's In Plain Sight is the astonishing account of how Jimmy Savile found a place for himself at the heart of British life. Carole Cadwalladr meets the book's author.
Connie Schultz: Meet the New Cleveland (Creators Syndicate)
Greetings from Cleveland, the birthplace of Superman. You knew that, right? Please say yes.
Honest Political Ads - Gil Fulbright for Senate (YouTube)
"The nation is watching the crucial 2014 Senate race in Kentucky between Mitch McConnell and Alison Lundergan Grimes this fall. But look! Here comes a third candidate! Gil Fulbright is running his campaign on complete honesty, as you'll see. He's even got a campaign website. Fulbright's name won't be on the November ballot in Kentucky, but he has a full campaign, sponsored by Represent.us, an organization of people fighting political corruption." - Neatorama
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wrote:
took the day off.
has retired.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bosko Suggests
Have a great day,
Bosko.
Thanks, Bosko!
Reader Contribution
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
from Marc Perkel
BartCop
Hello Bartcop fans,
As you all know the untimely passing of Terry was unexpected, even by
him. We all knew he had cancer but we all thought he had some years
left. So some of us who have worked closely with him over the years are
scrambling around trying to figure out what to do. My job, among other
things, is to establish communications with the Bartcop community and
provide email lists and groups for those who might put something
together. Those who want to play an active roll in something coming from
this, or if you are one of Bart's pillars, should send an email to
active@bartcop.com.
The most active open discussion is on Bart's Facebook page.
( www.facebook.com/bartcop )
You can listen to Bart's theme song here
or here.
( www.bartcop.com/blizing-saddles.mp3 )
( youtu.be/MySGAaB0A9k )
We have opened up the radio show archives which are now free. Listen to
all you want.
( bartcop.com/members )
Bart's final wish was to pay off the house mortgage for Mrs. Bart who is
overwhelmed and so very grateful for the support she has received.
Anyone wanting to make a donation can click on this the yellow donate
button on bartcop.com
But - I need you all to help keep this going. This note
isn't going to directly reach all of Bart's fans. So if you can repost
it on blogs and discussion boards so people can sign up then when we
figure out what's next we can let more people know. This list is just
over 600 but like to get it up to at least 10,000 pretty quick. So
here's the signup link for this email list.
( mailman.bartcop.com/listinfo/bartnews )
Marc Perkel
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny. Hot. Summer.
Tap-Dancing Captain Hook in 'Peter Pan Live'
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken will be playing Captain Hook in NBC's "Peter Pan Live" - a role that will include singing and tap dancing.
"He might really just be a song and dance man at heart," NBC entertainment chief Bob Greenblatt said Sunday, noting that the "Deerhunter" Oscar winner got his start in musicals.
Greenblatt noted that Walken is one of Lorne Michaels' favorite "Saturday Night Live" hosts because he's so willing to go all out. He said Walken would bring that same spirit to "Peter Pan."
The casting was announced at the Television Critics Association summer press tour. Greenblatt also said more casting announcements will come soon.
Here's a supercut of vintage Christopher Walken dance scenes.
Christopher Walken
Districts Debate
Teachers
Efforts to eliminate extra pay for teachers who earn advanced degrees are gaining momentum in a small but growing number of U.S. schools, stirring a national debate about how best to compensate quality educators and angering teachers who say the extra training is valuable.
More than half of the nation's teachers have master's degrees or higher, but the changing salary structure is giving pause to others considering the same path. Texas' two largest school districts, in Houston and Dallas, recently eliminated advanced degree pay going forward, following the example of North Carolina, where lawmakers last year started phasing it out. A few other states have made tweaks to reduce how much advanced degrees factor into pay.
Those championing dropping the extra pay say advanced degrees don't necessarily translate into better student test scores. They say the money is better spent elsewhere, such as on rewarding teachers deemed most effective in the classroom.
Yet the backlash in North Carolina grew so intense that the state is now looking at reinstating the extra pay for those teaching classes related to the subject in which they have an advanced degree. It's among teacher pay issues lawmakers are considering this summer.
Teachers
Walls Tell A Story
Rome
Scribbling emotions on walls has been a tradition in Rome going back thousands of years and even the word "graffiti" was first used for markings found in the ruins of Pompeii.
The modern version could be the scrawls seen in maternity wards in the Italian capital: "Get a move on, auntie's waiting!", "Chiara is born!", "Welcome little Mattia!".
From wealthy neighbourhoods in the city's north to working class suburbs in the south, Romans are not shy about scrawling on walls -- often with phrases in local dialect.
Anti-government satire, celebrations of football success and declarations of love -- poetic or crude -- can all be found alongside racist insults and fascist imagery.
And that kind of variety is nothing new, according to epigraphist Angela Donati, an expert in ancient Roman inscriptions who teaches at the University of Bologna.
Rome
New Patron Saint
Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez
Immigrants are flocking to churches in Southern California to see a wooden statue of a saint cherished by border-crossers who make the perilous journey to the United States.
The 4-foot-tall statue of Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez was flown from the Mexican state of Jalisco, and is making stops in churches in three California counties, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.
Many immigrants say Romo Gonzalez has appeared to them during difficult moments on their journeys north, with some carrying a photo of the saint in their wallets.
Romo Gonzalez was a priest killed during a 1928 religious uprising and was canonized 14 years ago. His statue will be received at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles next Sunday.
Church officials say while beloved to many, Romo Gonzalez, has not been officially recognized as a patron to immigrants.
Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez
Concert Cancelled
Neil Young
Safety fears have forced the cancellation of Canadian rocker Neil Yong's impending concert in Tel Aviv, the target of repeated rocket fire from Gaza in the past week, organisers said Sunday.
Concert promoter Shuki Weiss announced "with great sorrow" the cancellation of a show scheduled for Tel Aviv's riverside Yarkon Park next Thursday.
Young last played in Israel in 1993, appearing with Pearl Jam.
He has resisted calls to boycott Israel and fans were looking forward to his return, this time with his band Crazy Horse.
Neil Young
Bulldozing One of the World's Rarest Forests
Florida
The lush tropical canopies of pine rocklands exist only in South Florida, Cuba, and the Bahamas. But soon the Sunshine State will lose some of its remaining tracts of the imperiled ecosystem in Miami-Dade County, expelling wildlife and rare flora to make room for a new tenant: Walmart.
This month the University of Miami sold 88 acres of rockland to Ram, a Palm Beach County-based developer known for building strip malls and residential complexes. The Miami Herald reports that the company has allotted space for 900 apartments and 185,000 square feet for a Walmart, in addition to a Chick-fil-A, a Chili's, and a fitness center.
Before the sale, the university and the developer agreed to preserve 40 acres of rockland. For environmentalists, it's not nearly enough.
Only 2 percent of South Florida's once vast savanna survives. According to CEO Casey Cummings, Ram selected the land because it presented a "unique chance to create...a place where people can easily walk from the neighborhood to shops and elsewhere."
Florida
Snuffs Out Dissent
Kremlin
House raids, bugging devices, threats, violence and demeaning posters are just a few things Vladimir Putin's critics have faced while trying to run for city parliament in the Russian capital.
Two years after President Putin was elected for a historic third term - facing mass protests in Moscow where less than half of the population voted for him - the Kremlin strongman is riding high in the polls while the opposition is all but stamped out.
And as the authorities seek to tighten their grip on society after seizing the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March, even the Moscow city duma - a decorative body stripped of almost all decision-making power - seems to be considered a potential threat.
The 35-seat body that discusses matters in Moscow -- which has a population of over 11 million and annual budget of about $50 billion -- became the latest target of Kremlin foes scrambling around for at least a modicum of political representation.
But out of two dozen independent candidates who sought to run for office in the September election for the city duma, only two were able to file documents in time for Friday's deadline.
Kremlin
Record Auction In France
Ivory
An auction house in Cannes, France, sold around 50 elephant tusks, or one tonne of ivory, on Saturday, breaking its previous record in terms of volume.
The entire haul was acquired by buyers from China, the world's biggest ivory market.
"In terms of volume, this is a new record for us," said Alexandre Debussy, the director of Cannes Encheres, which facilitated the sale. "Our previous record in the spring was 920 pounds (420 kilogrammes)," he added.
However, the 480,000 euros ($650,000) raised from the auction was lower than usual, due to a 30 percent drop in the price of ivory in recent months. A previous sale of a smaller volume raised 625,000 euros.
Ivory
Carbon Emissions
Australia
Greenhouse gases and depletion of the ozone layer are causing southern Australia to become drier, researchers reported on Sunday.
Scientists at the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that southern Australia suffered a decline in rainfall that began around 1970 and increased over the next four decades.
The trend is likely to continue over most parts of the vast region for decades to come, they reported in the journal Nature Geoscience.
"The drying is most pronounced over southwest Australia, with total reductions in austral autumn and winter precipitation of approximately 40 percent by the late 21st century."
Australia
Pacific Island Hit By Exodus
Niue
It was a school once, but there are no children here anymore. The lonely building on this remote Pacific island now contains only a punching bag that someone has strung from the classroom rafters, and a note scrawled on the chalkboard in Niuean: "Keep this place clean," it says, "so it stays beautiful."
While much of the world worries about how it will accommodate rapidly growing populations, some islands in the Pacific face the opposite dilemma: how to stop everybody from leaving.
The population decline on Niue, a lush coral atoll about the size of Baltimore, has been steady and relentless. In the 1960s, there were more than 5,000 people living here; today, there are fewer than 1,600. Fifteen times as many Niueans, some 24,000, now live across the ocean in New Zealand, 2,400 kilometers (1,500 miles) away.
The stories, songs and language that developed into the Niuean culture over more than 1,000 years are at risk of vanishing.
Niue
Weekend Box Office
"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes"
"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" roared to $73 million on its opening weekend, one of the summer's best debuts, according to studio estimates Sunday. The 20th Century Fox sequel easily surpassed the $54.8 million opening to 2011's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," the reboot of the fabled chimp franchise.
In a summer heavy on hype but thin on quality, "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" has proven to be one of the few hits that combined both spectacle and substance. Directed by Matt Reeves ("Cloverfield"), the 3-D "Dawn" has drawn enthusiasm from critics and moviegoers alike, particularly for the motion-capture performance by Andy Serkis as the film's lead ape, Caesar. In the film, Caesar's tribe suspiciously encounters a colony of surviving humans on a planet overrun by intelligent apes.
After two weeks on top, the Michael Bay action sequel "Transformers: Age of Extinction" slid to second with $16.5 million. Its three-week domestic total is now $209 million for Paramount. The Melissa McCarthy comedy "Tammy" came in third with $12.9 million. Though bad reviews have dampened the response to McCarthy's latest, the relatively low-budget release has made $57.4 million for Warner Bros. in two weeks.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.
1. "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," $73 million. ($31.1 million international.)
2. "Transformers: Age of Extinction," $16.5 million ($102 million international).
3. "Tammy," $12.9 million.
4. "22 Jump Street," $6.7 million ($6.3 million international).
5. "How to Train Your Dragon 2," $5.9 million ($34.4 million international).
6. "Earth to Echo," $5.5 million.
7. "Deliver Us From Evil," $4.7 million ($1.4 million international).
8. "Maleficent," $4.2 million ($13.4 million international).
9. "Begin Again," $2.9 million ($750,000 international).
10. "Jersey Boys," $2.5 million ($1.8 million international).
"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes"
In Memory
Lorin Maazel
Lorin Maazel, a world-renowned conductor whose prodigious career included seven years at the helm of the New York Philharmonic, died Sunday at his home in Virginia. He was 84.
Maazel died at Castleton Farms from complications following pneumonia, according to a statement by The Castleton Festival, an annual festival Maazel founded with his wife in 2009. Maazel was rehearsing and preparing for the festival at the time of his death, and the death also was announced on Maazel's official website.
Known for his relentless energy and passion for precision, Maazel guided nearly 200 orchestras in at least 7,000 opera and concert performances during 72 years at the podium, according to a biography posted on his website.
Maazel, an American born in Paris in 1930, took his first violin lesson at age 5. A dazzling prodigy, he was 7 when he was invited by Arturo Toscanini to conduct the NBC Symphony. His New York Philharmonic debut came five years later, in 1942. By age 15, he had conducted most of the major American orchestras. At 16, he entered the University of Pittsburgh to study language, mathematics and philosophy and played the violin with the Pittsburgh Symphony to help pay his tuition.
In 1960, at age 30, he became the first American to conduct at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany. He served as artistic director and chief conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin for five years starting in 1965.
He was music director of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1972 to 1982. He then served briefly as general manager, artistic director and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera, the first American to do so. He was also music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony from 1988 to 1996.
Maazel also was music director of the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio for about a decade until 2002. That year, he was chosen to replace Kurt Masur as music director of the New York Philharmonic - America's oldest orchestra. Maazel served there for seven years and was with the orchestra at the time of its landmark visit to Pyongyang, North Korea in 2008.
Maazel also was a composer, although to lesser acclaim. His first opera, "1984," based on George Orwell's novel, met with largely negative reviews.
Maazel founded the Castleton Festival to mentor young musicians and to bring new energy to classical music with performances showcasing young talent. Maazel told the audience on the opening night of this year's festival on June 28 that working with young artists was "more than a labor of love - a labor of joy," the festival's statement said.
Maazel made more than 300 recordings, including works by Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Mahler, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Richard Strauss. He won 10 Grand Prix du Disques, according to his website.
In addition to his wife Dietlinde Turban Maazel, the conductor is survived by four daughters, three sons and four grandchildren.
He was the second leading conductor to die in 2014 following the death in January of Italian conductor Claudio Abbado, 80, who had held major posts at La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera and the Berlin Philarmonic, among others.
Lorin Maazel
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