Josh Marshall: Trump's Samson Option? (TPM)
If there's one thing Donald Trump has been consistently good at over 40-plus years in public life it's been finding other people to pick up the downside of his bad or failed investments and projects. Sometimes that process has simply been crafty and ingenious. Other times it's amounted to criminal fraud. Most often it's been some combination of both. We now appear to be moving toward Trump's most audacious attempt to accomplish the same thing - only now with the Republican party.
Paul Krugman: The Angry People (NY Times Column from 2002)
A slightly left-of-center candidate runs for president. In a rational world he would win easily. After all, his party has been running the country, with great success: unemployment is down, economic growth has accelerated, the sense of malaise that prevailed under the previous administration has evaporated.
Froma Harrop: Why Are Pregnant Women Likelier to Die at Rural Hospitals? (Creators Syndicate)
What we saw was a young white woman, wholesomely described as "an outgoing former high school cheerleader," who grew up in a town known for its shrub and flower growers. Readers were more than halfway through before learning that Brown had spent early weeks of her pregnancy in jail after an opioid relapse violated her court-ordered treatment for addiction.
Henry Rollins: Get Ready, Because Another Charlottesville Is Coming (LA Weekly)
The whatever-you-want-to-call-it that happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, which resulted in death and injury, was one thing. The free-speech rally, as it was called, in Boston, that resulted in no deaths and many witty signs was another. So, what happens at the next First Amendment exercise that's more like Charlottesville? Another installment in the battle between good and bad: two sides, two sides, right?
Lenore Skenazy: One Mom's Tale of a Son With Autism (Creators Syndicate)
New York mom Judith Newman was at the deli counter ordering cold cuts with her sons, Gus and Henry, twins in their early teens. One of them was hopping up and down, announcing to anyone and everyone that his father would soon be coming home from a trip and would land at JFK and then take "the A train from Howard Beach to West 4th and then change to the B or D to Broadway-Lafayette. He'll arrive at 77 Bleecker," at which point, the boy continued, "he and Mommy will do sex." And then the boy went back to explaining more about the train transfers.
Born Francesco Stephen Castelluccio, this Jersey Boy has 39 Top 40 hits and was inducted with his group into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. By what name is he more famously known?
Four states in the United States officially designate themselves as "commonwealths". All four were original colonies or parts thereof (Kentucky was originally a part of the land grant of the Colony of Virginia) and share a strong influence of colonial common law in some of their laws and institutions. The four are:
Kentucky is designated a commonwealth by the Kentucky Constitution and is known constitutionally as the "Commonwealth of Kentucky".
Massachusetts is a commonwealth, declaring itself as such in its constitution, which states: "[T]he body politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals: it is a social compact, by which the whole people covenants with each citizen, and each citizen with the whole people, that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good."
Pennsylvania uses the "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania" constitutionally and in its official title.
Virginia has been known as the "Commonwealth of Virginia" since before joining the United States, and is referred to as a commonwealth in its constitution.
Source
Mark. was first and correct with:
Four states -- Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia -- designate themselves commonwealths.
Randall wrote:
Four States:
Kentucky
Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
Virginia
all consider themselves a "commonwealth"
Alan J said:
Four. Kentucky, Virginia, Penslyvania, and Massachusetts.
mj replied:
I know of three
MA, PA, and VA.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, responded:
Four of the states in the US officially designate themselves Commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
zorch said:
4 Massachusetts, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
Dave in Tucson wrote:
I'm going to guess there's one commonwealth in the US & it's
Massachusetts (As Charlie Pierce says "God Save It!").
Dale of Hot Diamond Springs, Norcali answered:
There are four states in the United States that call themselves commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
In a heater for about a week if I believe the forecast…Come on Autumn…
Billy in Cypress replied:
There are four states in the United States that call themselves commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Patriot Act NSA Spying Unconstitutional Section 215 National Security Letters Must End
My name is Marc Perkel and I have decided to announce that I will not comply with the so called "Patriot Act" laws requiring me to disclose information about my customers. If I receive a national security letter I will immediately photograph it, post it online everywhere I can, and then make a video of me burning it. I will then await my arrest. If you want to put me in jail then come get me mother fucker.
CBS opens the night with a RERUN'Kevin Can Wait', followed by a RERUN'Superior Donuts', then a RERUN'Mom', followed by a RERUN'Life In Pieces', then a RERUN'Scorpion'.
On a RERUNStephen Colbert (from 7/17/17) are Al Gore, Issa Rae, Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, and Bryce Dessner & James McAlister.
On a RERUNJames Corden, OBE, (from 6/21/17) are Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, and Alison Brie.
NBC begins the night with a FRESH'American Ninja Warrior', followed by a FRESH'Midnight, Texas'.
On a RERUNJimmy Fallon (from 6/21/17) are Ashton Kutcher, Mario Batali, and Liam Payne.
On a RERUNSeth Meyers (from 8/2/17) are Rob Lowe and Brad Paisley.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 5/9/17) are Morena Baccarin, Agnes Obel, and Logan Browning.
ABC starts the night with a FRESH'Bachelor In Paradise', followed by a FRESH'To Tell The Truth'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 8/8/17) are Milo Ventimiglia, Jenny Slate, and Lindsey Stirling.
The CW offers a RERUN'Supergirl', followed by a FRESH'Hooten & The Lady'.
Faux fills the night with a FRESH'So You Think You Can Dance'.
MY recycles an old 'L&O: SVU', followed by another old 'L&O: SVU'.
A&E has 'Intervention', another 'Intervention', followed by a FRESH'Intervention', then a FRESH'Escaping Polygamy'.
AMC offers the movie'Chappie', followed by a FRESH'Preacher', another 'Preacher', then a FRESH'Loaded'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 3-Victory of the Daleks
[7:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 4-The Time of Angels-Part 1.
[8:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 5-Flesh and Stone-Part 2.
[9:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 6-Vampires in Venice
[10:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 7-Amy's Choice
[11:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 8-The Hungry Earth-Part 1.
[12:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 13-Repentance
[1:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 14-Prophecy
[2:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 15-The Void
[3:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 16-Workforce, Pt. 1
[4:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 17-Workforce, Pt. 2
[5:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 18-Human Error
[6:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 19-Q2
[7:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 20-Author, Author
[8:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 21-Friendship One
[9:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 22-Natural Law
[10:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 23-Homestead
[11:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 13-Repentance
[12:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 14-Prophecy
[1:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 15-The Void
[2:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 16-Workforce, Pt. 1
[3:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 17-Workforce, Pt. 2
[4:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 18-Human Error
[5:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 19-Q2 (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of OC', followed by a FRESH'OC Social', then a FRESH'Real Housewives Of OC', followed by a FRESH'Real Housewives Of Dallas'.
Comedy Central has 'Futurama' and 3½ hours of old 'South Park'.
Scheduled on a FRESHThe Daily Show is Neil deGrasse Tyson.
FX has the movie 'Iron Man 3', followed by the movie 'Despicable Me 2'.
History has 'American Pickers', another 'American Pickers', followed by a FRESH'American Pickers', then a FRESH'Pawn Stars', followed by another FRESH'Pawn Stars'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] PORTLANDIA-Pull-Out King
[6:30AM] COMEDY BANG! BANG!-Ty Burrell
[6:45AM] DAWN OF THE DEAD
[9:15AM] HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL
[11:15AM] CARRIE
[1:30PM] DAWN OF THE DEAD
[4:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Misfire
[4:31PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Stone Cold Crazy
[5:02PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Long Away
[5:33PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Fun It
[6:04PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Good Company
[6:35PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Who Needs You
[7:06PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Sweet Lady
[7:37PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy
[8:08PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Killer Queen
[8:39PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Spread Your Wings
[9:10PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Misfire
[9:41PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Stone Cold Crazy
[10:12PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Long Away
[10:43PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Fun It
[11:14PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Good Company
[11:45PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Who Needs You
[12:15AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Sweet Lady
[12:45AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy
[1:15AM] HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL
[3:15AM] CARRIE
[5:30AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Killer Queen (ALL TIMES EDT)
Sundance -
[6:00AM] M*A*S*H-Dear Mildred
[6:30AM] M*A*S*H-The Kids
[7:00AM] M*A*S*H-Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler
[7:30AM] M*A*S*H-Dear Peggy
[8:00AM] M*A*S*H-Of Moose and Men
[8:30AM] M*A*S*H-Soldier of the Month
[9:00AM] M*A*S*H-The Gun
[9:30AM] M*A*S*H-Mail Call Again
[10:00AM] M*A*S*H-The Price of Tomato Juice
[10:30AM] M*A*S*H-Dear Ma
[11:00AM] M*A*S*H-Der Tag
[11:30AM] M*A*S*H-Hawkeye
[12:00PM] Stir Crazy
[2:00PM] Crocodile Dundee
[4:00PM] National Lampoon's Vacation
[6:00PM] National Lampoon's European Vacation
[8:00PM] Vegas Vacation
[10:00PM] National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
[12:15AM] Crocodile Dundee
[2:15AM] What About Bob?
[4:30AM] Stir Crazy (ALL TIMES EDT)
SyFy has the movie 'GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra', followed by the movie 'Shooter'.
TBS:
On a RERUNConan (from 6/5/17) are Sarah Silverman, Shawn Hatosy, and Alt-J.
Protesters march in San Francisco, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017. Officials took steps to prevent violence ahead of a planned news conference by a right-wing group.
Photo by Josh Edelson
Hundreds of thousands of peace marchers flooded the heart of Barcelona on Saturday shouting "I'm not afraid" - a public rejection of violence following extremist attacks that killed 15 people, Spain's deadliest in more than a decade.
Emergency workers, taxis drivers, police and ordinary citizens who helped immediately after the attack on Aug. 17 in the city's famed Las Ramblas boulevard led the march. They carried a street-wide banner with black capital letters reading "No Tinc Por," which means "I'm not afraid" in the local Catalan language.
The phrase has grown from a spontaneous civic answer to violence into a slogan that Spain's entire political class has unanimously embraced.
Spain's central, regional and local authorities tried to send an image of unity Saturday by walking behind emergency workers, despite earlier criticism that national and regional authorities had not shared information about the attackers well enough with each other.
In a first for a Spanish monarch, King Felipe VI joined a public demonstration, along with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and other Spanish and Catalan regional officials.
Interstate highway 45 is submerged from the effects of Hurricane Harvey seen during widespread flooding in Houston, Texas, Aug. 27, 2017.
Photo by Richard Carson
Forty years ago, NASA rocket scientists sought to answer this question by launching the Voyager spacecraft, twin unmanned spaceships that would travel further than any human-made object in history. They are still traveling.
When Voyager 1 and 2 launched about two weeks apart in 1977 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, scientists knew little about the outer planets in our solar system, and could hardly imagine the scope of their upcoming space odyssey.
Voyager's main mission was to explore other planets including Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, but it also carried the story of humanity into deep space.
On board each Voyager is a golden record -- and record player -- that is built to last one billion years or more and contains key information about humanity and life on planet Earth, in case of an alien encounter.
The sounds include the calls of humpback whales, the Chuck Berry song "Johnny B. Goode," Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, a Japanese shakuhachi (a type of flute), a Pygmy girls' initiation song, and greetings in 55 languages.
The 20th anniversary of Princess Diana's death has filled magazines, newspapers and television screens in Britain for weeks, but not only there: across Europe, media groups are marking the occasion, underlining her international appeal.
Britain's celebrity press have offered special editions, supplements and reams of news articles picking over the impact of her tragic life and death as well as her relationships with her sons and Prince Charles.
The popularity of Charles, the heir to the British throne, has plunged as a result of the renewed attention on his former wife and their apparently loveless marriage.
In Europe, many media groups have commissioned documentaries, special reports or their own investigations two decades after her death in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997.
On August 31, the anniversary of her death, Radio Vienna will dedicate its entire programming to the princess, led by Austrian journalist and Diana fan Ewald Wurzinger who raised a monument to her in a Vienna park in 2013.
Men use kayaks to get through an intersection after heavy rain from Hurricane Harvey flooded Pearland, in the outskirts of Houston, Texas, U.S. August 27, 2017.
Photo by Adrees Latif
Elusive Monkey Seen Alive For First Time In 80 Years
Vanzolini Bald-Faced Saki
A mysterious and elusive Amazonian monkey has been spotted in the wild for the first time in 80 years.
The Vanzolini bald-faced saki has shaggy black hair and distinctive golden legs and was first documented in 1936.
A team which undertook an expedition to the rainforest in Brazil in 1956 encountered only dead monkeys, meaning Laura Marsh, director of the Global Conservation Institute, was the first to see one alive in eight decades, during a recent trek.
Dr Marsh organised her "Houseboat Amazon" team to document the biodiversity in the region near Brazil's border with Peru-but with a special focus on finding the Vanzolini saki.
It was spotted running among the trees on all fours. Lacking the prehensile tail of other monkeys, it moves more like a cat, Dr Marsh told the site.
In an awkward interview, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (R-Profiteer) suggested that the president of the United States doesn't necessarily speak for the nation in expressing American values.
On "Fox News Sunday," host Chris Wallace noted that the United Nations had condemned Donald Trump (R-Corrupt) for not unequivocally condemning racism and asked Tillerson if Trump had made it more difficult to promote American values abroad.
"I don't believe anyone doubts the American people's values or the commitment of the American government or the government's agencies to advancing those values and defending those values," Tillerson said.
What about the president's values, Wallace asked.
"The president speaks for himself, Chris," Tillerson said.
A stranded motorist escapes floodwaters on Interstate 225 after Hurricane Harvey inundated the Texas Gulf coast with rain causing mass flooding, in Houston, Texas, Aug. 27, 2017.
Photo by Nick Oxford
Scientists freely acknowledge they don't know everything about how global warming affects hurricanes like the one pummelling southeast Texas.
Likewise accelerated shifts in intensity, such as the sudden strengthening that turned Harvey from a Category 2 to a Category 4 hurricane -- on a scale of 5 -- just as it made landfall Friday.
What's missing is a detailed track record of hurricanes past, the kind of decades-long log of measurements that climate scientists need to discern the fingerprint of human influence.
"Just because the data don't allow for unambiguous detection yet, doesn't mean that the changes haven't been occurring," noted James Kossin, a scientist at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Center for Weather and Climate in Madison, Wisconsin.
Kossin figured out that cyclones have drifted poleward in their respective hemispheres over the last three decades, a finding hailed by other hurricane gurus as the most unambiguous evidence so far that global warming has already had a direct impact.
A Florida-based evangelical ministry is suing a liberal watchdog organization that called it a hate group because of its stance against LGBT rights.
The federal religious discrimination lawsuit was filed this week by D. James Kennedy Ministries of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, against the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center. It seeks an unspecified amount of money.
The designation has led to the ministry being considered a hate group by a company that rates nonprofits, GuideStar USA Inc., and by Amazon.com Inc., according to the lawsuit. Amazon.com excluded the ministry from a donation program because of the label, according to the suit.
The lawsuit cites the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and contends the ministry is a victim of discrimination because it follows Christian teachings. In addition to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the suit names GuideStar and Amazon.com as defendants.
Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen called the lawsuit "meritless" and said the organization isn't immune to criticism just because it claims to base its anti-LGBT positions on the Bible.
Rain is blown past palm trees as Hurricane Harvey makes landfall, Friday, Aug. 25, 2017, in Corpus Christi, Texas. Harvey intensified into a hurricane Thursday and steered for the Texas coast with the potential for up to 3 feet of rain, 125 mph winds and 12-foot storm surges in what could be the fiercest hurricane to hit the United States in almost a dozen years.
Photo by Eric Gay
Several hundred Gazans went to the cinema on Saturday for the first time in more than 30 years, albeit for one night only.
The long-abandoned Samer Cinema in Gaza City, the oldest in the strip but closed for decades, hosted a special screening of a film about Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
About 300 people of both sexes attended, with men and women not segregated by gender and despite the lack of air conditioning on a hot and humid evening.
The Islamist Hamas group has ruled Gaza for 10 years and there are currently no functioning cinemas in the Palestinian territory where two million people live in cramped conditions under an Israeli blockade.
Ghada Salmi, an organiser, told AFP the one-night showing was "symbolic" of wider efforts "to bring back the idea of cinema to Gaza".
Hollywood effectively took the weekend off, resulting in one of the most dismal box-office results in 16 years.
An already slow August came to a screeching halt at the multiplex, where no major new releases were unveiled. That left the Samuel Jackson-Ryan Reynolds action-comedy "The Hitman's Bodyguard" to top all films for the second week with an estimated $10.1 million in ticket sales.
But the entire slate of films grossed only about $65 million in North America and the top 12 films generated just $49.6 million. There have been similarly slow weekends in recent years, including early September in 2014 and in 2016. But not since September 2001 have the numbers been quite so dreadful.
The Weinstein Co. animated release "Leap!" was one of the few new films to hit theaters. It earned a scant $5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Steven Soderbergh's heist comedy "Logan Lucky" also held well in its second week, taking in $4.4 million. The film's $15 million two-week total, though, isn't the movie industry game-changer its makers hoped it would be .
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers also are included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Hitman's Bodyguard," $10 million ($9.1 million international).
2. "Annabelle: Creation," $7.4 million ($22 million international).
3. "Leap!" $5 million.
4. "Wind River," $4.4 million.
5. "Logan Lucky," $4.4 million ($1.6 million international).
6. "Dunkirk," $4 million ($5.6 million international).
7. "Spider-man: Homecoming," $2.7 million ($2.8 million international).
8. "Birth of the Dragon," $2.5 million.
9. "Mayweather vs. McGregor," $2.4 millon.
10. "The Emoji Movie," $2.4 million ($7.2 million international).
Hooper, a native of Austin, Texas, was a college professor and documentary producer before branching out in 1974 to direct "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," one of the most influential films of the horror genre.
The film, shot for less than $300,000, was banned in several countries for its extreme violence but nevertheless was one of the most profitable independent US films of the 1970s, Variety said.
The movie was in part based on the true story of a serial killer, called "Leatherface" in the film, who skinned his victims and used some body parts as household decorations.
In 1982, Hooper directed the supernatural horror movie "Poltergeist," a film written and produced by Steven Spielberg. The movie had an $11 million budget and grossed $76.6 million, according to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
With his beard, oval glasses and gentle smile, Hooper did not appear to be the kind of person to strike fear into anybody, but his films certainly did and his films have become classics of the genre.
He made his final film "Djinn" in 2013, a horror movie set in the United Arab Emirates and produced in both English and Arabic but which was released on video.
The late director is survived by twosons, Variety said.
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