Recommended Reading
from Bruce
HENRY ROLLINS: ROCK & ROLL IS SO ALIVE AND WELL, I CAN HARDLY STAND IT (LA Weekly)
Instead of being amazed for the whatevereth time, I should just give the slightest hint of a nod, with a barely perceptible smile, my deeply lined face folding in on itself like a lemon wedge squeezed between the thumb and index finger, and just exist in the blazing, eternal truth: Rock will never die.
Ivan Farkas, Vicki Veritas, J.D. Robinson: 5 Soul-Crushing Realities Of Being Poor (Cracked)
No one who's not an asshole politician ever said that being poor is easy, but it turns out that poverty screws you in all sorts of ways you'd never expect. It's so bad, in fact, that studies have found the psychological effects of long-term poverty to be more profound than those of living through a goddamn war
Paul Krugman: Mornings in America (NY Times Blog)
Anyway, I'm surprised that this chart isn't more widely discussed.
David L. Kirp: What Do the Poor Need? Try Asking Them (NY Times)
FOR decades, policy makers have treated poverty as a sign of helplessness and ineptitude. The worse off the neighborhood - the higher the rate of poverty, crime, and juvenile delinquency - the less influence it would have over its future. Social service agencies conducted "needs assessments" rather than asking residents what would strengthen their community.
Rosanna Greenstreet: "Q&A: John Lydon" (The Guardian)
'The closest I've come to death? Meningitis, and then Lockerbie - my wife and I were booked on that flight, but she didn't pack her case in time, so we cancelled.'
Simon Hattenstone: "Jerry Lee Lewis: 'I worry about whether I'm going to heaven or hell'" (The Guardian)
At nearly 80, Jerry Lee Lewis has outlived his rivals and is preparing for his final tour. He talks about why his seventh wife is the love of his life, how he became known as 'the Killer', and why Elvis was just a hillbilly.
What I'm really thinking: the model casting agent (The Guardiuan)
'I have to look tough because otherwise I feel sorry for a lot of the women. It is not for me to become friends with them and give them any kind of false hope.'
Oliver Burkeman: Exploiting gullible people is a modern form of mining (The Guardian)
'Deception and manipulation aren't confined to the fringes of the economy - they're central to how consumer capitalism works.'
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Links
Ted Rall
Audio Analysts: Ted Rall LAPD Tape "Almost Certainly" Spliced
Ted Rall-LAPD-LA Times Scandal: Timeline by Gina Smith (aNewDomain)
A Note to Readers (about the Ted Rall firing) by Los Angeles Times editorial page editor Nick Goldberg (LA Times)
LAPPL Applauds LA Times Firing of Ted Rall (by Los Angeles Police Protective League Board of Directors (LAPD.com)
LAPD Convinced LA Times To Fire Me After I Criticized Cops by Ted Rall (aNewDomain commentary)
Ted Rall, Los Angeles Times Cartoonist, Dropped After Blog Post Appears To Stretch The Truth (FoxNews.com)
Ted Rall LAPD-LA Times Scandal: A Discrepancy In The Cop's Story by Ted Rall (aNewDomain commentary)
Ted Rall-LAPD-LA Times Battle: New Tape Proves Cops, Times Were Wrong by Ted Rall (aNewDomain commentary)
Ted Rall LAPD LA Times Scandal: Second Enhanced LAPD Tape Reveals Startling Details by Ted Rall, Gina Smith and Tom Ewing (aNewDomain)
Ted Rall LAPD Scandal: Rall Vindicated, LAPD And LA Times under Fire by Tom Ewing and Gina Smith (aNewDomain news)
Did The LAPD Have A Political Cartoonist Fired? by Ryan Steadman and Guelda Voien (The New York Observer)
'Cleaned-Up' Audiotape of Political Cartoonist's Clash With LAPD Bolsters His Story by Hunter Harris (New York Observer)
In Defense of Ted Rall, A Hard Guy To Defend by Ken Kurson (New York Observer opinion column)
Why Didn't The Los Angeles Times Examine The Bad Audio from the LAPD? by Ted Rall (aNewDomain
Cops Gun Down Unarmed Journalist's Career by Greg Palast (Reader Supported News, opinion)
Ted Rall: Fisking The Los Angeles Times by Ted Rall (a NewDomain commentary)
Why Won't The L.A. Times Admit They Were Wrong About Cartoonist Ted Rall? by Susie Madrak (Crooks and Liars)
14 Years Ago, A Woman Vindicated Me Now by Ted Rall (Common Dreams)
Editor: LA Times "Cannot Comment" On Ted Rall. Why? by Gina Smith (a NewDomain commentary)
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
31st Annual
TCA Awards
Hip-hop drama Empire earned the top honor at the Television Critics Association's 31st annual TCA Awards Saturday evening.
The Lee Daniels-Danny Strong Fox drama, which led the pack with four TCA Awards nominations, beat out Amazon's Transparent, AMC's Mad Men, HBO's Game of Thrones and FX's Americans for the coveted TV Program of the Year award. The news comes just a month or so after the No. 1 series on television was snubbed by the TV Academy in the all-important best drama category.
But it was Comedy Central breakout Amy Schumer who proved the night's only two-time winner, earning honors for both Outstanding Achievement in Comedy and Individual Achievement in Comedy for her sketch series Inside Amy Schumer. FX's beloved spy drama The Americans, which is continually overlooked by Emmy voters, earned the Outstanding Achievement in Drama award; while Mad Men star Jon Hamm won his second Individual Achievement in Drama award for his portrayal of ad man Don Draper. Hamm, whose long-running series bid farewell in May, has yet to win an individual acting Emmy.
Recently retired Late Show host David Letterman was granted the career achievement award for his late-night work on both NBC and, later, CBS. The prestigious nod comes as Stephen Colbert looks to take over his the Late Show franchise in September. Oscar and Emmy-winning writer, producer and director James L. Brooks was honored with a career achievement award for his legendary role in creating some of the most groundbreaking and influential television programs over the course of five decades.
TCA Awards
Bans GMOs
Scotland
Scotland's devolved government said on Sunday it intended to ban the growing of genetically modified (GM) crops on its territory to protect its "clean and green brand" and because there was little evidence that Scottish consumers wanted GM products.
Widely grown in the Americas and Asia, GM crops have divided opinion in Europe, with some green groups saying they are worried about their environmental impact. They have also questioned whether they are healthy for humans. Producers say research shows the crops are safe.
Richard Lochhead, the Scottish government's minister for the environment, food and rural affairs, said on Sunday he planned to take advantage of new European Union rules allowing countries to opt out of growing EU-authorized GM crops.
"Scotland is known around the world for our beautiful natural environment - and banning growing genetically modified crops will protect and further enhance our clean, green status," Lochhead said in a statement.
Scotland
WWII Vets Fight For Peace
Japan
Digging with his bare hands to escape the jungle tomb of his plane shot down by US forces in Guadalcanal in 1942, Japanese fighter pilot Kaname Harada understood the full horror of war.
Pinned beneath the wreckage in the Solomon Islands during some of the most intense fighting of World War II, he fought to dig himself free. "All of my fingernails came off and I could see the bones, but I dug and dug to survive," he said.
Now just days from his 99th birthday, he and other men who fought Japan's hopeless Pacific War worry that a country in the throes of re-invigorating its military has forgotten the true terror of conflict.
Despite his advanced age, Harada regularly gives talks about his experiences as a pilot during WWII, fearful that generations of Japanese who have grown up in a wealthy, safe country know nothing of the vile hopelessness of war.
After decades of trying to forget, his conscience was pricked during the 1990-1991 Gulf War.
Japan
Record-Breaking Swim
Kim Chambers
A New Zealand native became the first woman to swim the 30-mile (50-kilometre) stretch from the Farallon Islands to the Golden Gate Bridge on Saturday and conquer one of the world's most dangerous crossings.
Kim Chambers, 38, dove in the cold water late Friday and passed under the bridge about 17 hours later.
Four men have completed the Farallones to Golden Gate swim. The stretch of water is notorious for great white sharks that are attracted to elephant seals on the cluster of islands off the San Francisco coast.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports Chambers planned her swim at a time when the seasonal shark population at the Farallones is typically away and only year-round ones would be present.
Kim Chambers
Bay Area News Crews Targeted
San Francisco
San Francisco Examiner photographer Mike Koozmin was on a routine assignment at the city's Hall of Justice in the middle of the day when he was robbed of his camera equipment.
It was the latest of at least a dozen robberies of television news crews and still photographers that has plagued the San Francisco Bay Area in recent years.
Camera crews from major Bay Area television stations and photographers from two newspapers have been robbed of their pricey gear. Two have been pistol whipped. An Oakland Tribune photographer lost five cameras in two incidents.
Three robberies and two burglaries have been reported this year. And Koozmin's was one of the most brazen. He was robbed across the street from the city's criminal courthouse, where uniformed police were entering and exiting the building.
San Francisco
Mysterious Fungus
Snakes
Hidden on hillsides in a remote part of western Vermont, a small number of venomous timber rattlesnakes slither among the rocks, but their isolation can't protect them from a mysterious fungus spreading across the eastern half of the country that threatens to wipe them out.
In less than a decade, the fungus has been identified in at least nine Eastern states, and although it affects a number of species, it's especially threatening to rattlesnakes that live in small, isolated populations with little genetic diversity, such as those found in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York.
In Illinois the malady threatens the eastern massasauga rattlesnake, which was a candidate for the federal endangered species list even before the fungus appeared.
Biologists have compared its appearance to the fungus that causes white nose syndrome in bats, which since 2006 has killed millions of the creatures and continues to spread across North America.
It's unclear, though, if snake fungal disease, "ophidiomyces ophiodiicola" was brought to the United States from elsewhere, as was white nose fungus, or if it has always been present in the environment and for some unknown reason is now infecting snakes, biologists say.
Snakes
Head To Mexico
Seniors
Mark Bolzern traveled 3,700 miles to go to the dentist. The 56-year-old Anchorage, Alaska, native left home this spring, made a pit stop in Las Vegas to pick up a friend, and kept heading south, all the way to Los Algodones, Mexico, a small border town teeming with dental offices.
About 60 percent of Americans have dental insurance coverage, the highest it has been in decades. But even so, the nation's older population has been largely left behind. Nearly 70 percent of seniors are not insured, according to a study compiled by Oral Health America. A major reason is because dental care is not covered by Medicare and many employers no longer offer post-retirement health benefits. What's more, the Affordable Care Act allows enrollees to get dental coverage only if they purchase general health coverage first, which many seniors don't need. At the same time, seniors often require the most costly dental work, like crowns, implants and false teeth.
As a result, many are seeking cheaper care in places like Los Algodones, where Mexican dentists who speak English and sometimes accept U.S. insurance offer rock-bottom prices for everything from a cleaning to implants. Dentists in Los Algodones say a large portion of their clients are seniors.
For Bolzern, seeing a dentist in Los Algodones meant a savings of up to $62,000. He was told the extensive dental work he needed - his teeth needed to be raised and he needed a crown on every molar - would cost $65,000 at a private dentist. He looked for lower rates, finding a dental school where the work was less expensive because it was performed by students. But it still cost $35,000.
He paid $3,000 in Mexico and has been back several times.
Seniors
Relic With A Hefty Cost
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal was an engineering marvel when it opened in 1825, linking the Hudson River to the Great Lakes and humming with commerce that opened up the West.
Long ago eclipsed by railroads and interstates, the waterway has for many years been a historical curiosity that's seen waning use by recreational and commercial vessels.
Now a renewed court fight has drawn fresh attention to the 360-mile-long ribbon of channels, lifts and locks between Albany and Buffalo, calling into question whether taxpayers will again have to foot the hefty bill to keep it and the other canals in the system operating.
The state Canal Corp. recorded 107,786 vessel passages through locks and lifts in 2014, most of them recreational boaters who pay anywhere from $25 to $100 for an annual pass. And most are on the Erie Canal, the largest of four main canals in a system that includes the Champlain Canal and others branching to lakes in central and western New York. The number of passages has declined for years and compares to a peak of 163,419 in 2002.
Erie Canal
Weekend Box Office
"Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation"
Hollywood's summer has had runaway sensations ("Jurassic World") and heartwarming hits ("Inside Out"). It now has its fiasco.
"Fantastic Four," 20th Century Fox's attempt to reboot the superhero team-up franchise, debuted with just $26.2 million at North American theaters over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. The result was bad enough that last week's leader, Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation," held the top spot with $29.4 million in its second week.
The overwhelming flop for "Fantastic Four" is a rare humbling for a Marvel superhero film, which often gross more than $20 million in just one night. The film has been savaged by critics and was dogged by reports of creative difficulties. Director Josh Trank even distanced himself from it Thursday in a tweet he soon-after deleted in which he alluded to studio interference: "A year ago I had a fantastic version of this," he wrote.
The suspense thriller "The Gift," directed by co-star Joel Edgerton and starring Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall, opened in third with $12 million. Made for just $5 million, it's a strong start for the new STX Productions, which is planning a slate of mid-level budget films.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday:
1. "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation," $29.4 million ($65.5 million international).
2. "Fantastic Four," $26.2 million ($34.1 million international).
3. "The Gift," $12 million.
4. "Vacation," $9.1 million.
5. "Ant-Man," $7.8 million ($9.2 million international).
6. "Minions," $7.4 million ($18.2 million international).
7. "Ricki and the Flash," $7 million.
8. "Trainwreck," $6.3 million ($5.2 million international).
9. "Pixels," $5.4 million ($9.2 million international).
10. "Southpaw," $4.8 million.
"Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation"
In Memory
Terrence Evans
Terrence Evans, who appeared in TV shows and movies including Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider" and "Terminator 2: Judgement Day," died August 7 in Burbank at 81.
The tall, lanky actor had roles in both "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager," playing the mute farmhand Baltrim. Also on "Voyager," he later played Proka Migdal, the adoptive father of a Cardassian boy, as well as playing Ambassador Treen. In "Terminator 2," he played the tanker driver killed by the T-1000.
In the 2003 remake of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning," he played Leatherface's uncle Old Monty.
The actor appeared in numerous TV series, including "Hart to Hart," "The Golden Girls," "Fresh Prince of Bel Air," "The Incredible Hulk," "The A-Team" and "Hill St. Blues." In films, he had small roles in "Pale Rider," "Born in East L.A." and "Down in the Valley."
Evans was active in Los Angeles theater at Theatricum Botanicum and Theatre Palisades, where he appeared in productions including "The Seagull," "Bus Stop," "The Crucible," "South Pacific," "Three Penny Opera" and "The Madwoman of Chaillot."
A graduate of Carnegie Mellon, he was a longtime member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA. He is survived by his wife, Heidi, two children, two stepchildren and one grandson.
Terrence Evans
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