Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Is It Policy, or Just Reality TV? (NY Times Blog)
What nothingburger trade deals and unqualified appointees have in common.
Evan V. Symon: Millions Of Americans Go To Mexico When They Need Healthcare (Cracked)
How much does healthcare cost in the USA? Let's put it this way: It's often cheaper to fly to another goddamned country, get treatment there, and fly back. It turns out that Americans do this all the time, and their preferred destination is their constantly insulted neighbor to the immediate south …
Tom Danehy: Tom celebrates spring's awakening in a very Tom manner (Tucson Weekly)
I see that Arizona Daily Star cartoonist Dave Fitzsimmons has the same weird obsession as I do. We both are addicted to crackpot, right-wing talk radio. And, to be fair, the reason that we only listen to crackpot, right-wing talk radio is that there really isn't any such thing as crackpot, left-wing talk radio. A big reason for that is that there aren't enough liberal listeners to sustain such a radio station. Liberals are too busy being teachers and nurses and people who help society to sit around and listen to Al Franken drone on.
Laura Barton: "Arcade Fire: 'People have lost the ability to even know what a joke is. It's very Orwellian'"(The Guardian)"
The indie rockers rolled out their last record, Everything Now, with a satirical ad campaign. The result? Mass confusion and bad reviews. As they hit UK arenas, frontman Win Butler is defiant: 'Let's see if we can break through the noise'
Peter Bradshaw: Isle of Dogs review - Wes Anderson unleashes a cracking canine caper (The Guardian)
Set in a dystopian Japan of the future, the animated story of a boy's search for his lost pet is crammed with visual invention.
Keza MacDonald: Movie adaptations of video games are still mostly terrible. Why has no one cracked the code? (The Guardian)
Games creators and writers give their theories on how an upcoming crop of adaptations could avoid the same pitfalls as Assassin's Creed, World of Warcraft and Super Mario Bros.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
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
MORANS!
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION 'CESSPOOL'.
CROOKS AND WEIRDOS!
THE "ROLLS-ROYCE" OF TENTS.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Running late.
Buys Las Vegas Hard Rock
Richard Branson
The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas will be overhauled over the next several months following its purchase Friday by billionaire Richard Branson.
The property with about 1,500 rooms and suites off the Las Vegas Strip and eventually become Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. It will continue to operate under the Hard Rock brand through the end of 2019, when the renovations are expected to be completed.
The 23-year-old property will remain open during renovations, which will take place in multiple phases. The company said it will invest "hundreds of millions of dollars" to transform the property, but it was not immediately clear whether the hotel-casino will keep its current entertainment venues, including a popular dayclub.
The property will retain its casino floor, which will be managed by a partner. Some of the large rock memorabilia that the Hard Rock casino-hotel owns may go to storage.
Virgin Hotels purchased the property with a group of partners, including Los Angeles-based investment firm Juniper Capital Partners. The terms of the purchase from Brookfield Asset Management were not disclosed.
Richard Branson
Beatles Clue Everybody Hated
Jeopardy
If you think love is the equivalent of a grueling week at work, you may be eligible to compete on Jeopardy.
The long-running game show puzzled some viewers and The Beatles fans Tuesday night with a Final Jeopardy round that may have misinterpreted the band's 1964 hit "Eight Days a Week."
Before wagering thousands of dollars to determine the game's winner, contestants were given the prompt under the category of 1960s No. 1 songs: "Complaints about heavy workloads inspired the titles of 2 songs by this group, No. 1 hits 7 months apart." Two of the contestants - Katy, who was in the lead heading into Final Jeopardy, and Robert, who was several thousand dollars behind - guessed correctly with The Beatles. But Robert took the win with game-winning wager of $11,000, giving him $23,601 in the end.
Alex Trebek explained the two back-to-back Beatles hits suggested from the clue were "A Hard Day's Night" and "Eight Days a Week." Now, The Beatles are perhaps a shoo-in for a category asking about a popular band from the 1960s, but some fans noted that "Eight Days a Week" isn't about a "heavy workload." Exhibit A: "Ain't got nothin' but love baby, / Eight days a week," the song goes.
But in a statement to MONEY, the show emphasized how the song "Eight Days a Week" isn't about a heavy workload, but instead inspired by it. A representative from Jeopardy said Paul McCartney had the idea for the song after chatting with a taxi driver on the way to the studio.
Jeopardy
Revival Renewed
'Roseanne'
ABC will be wringing more nostalgia from the surprisingly fruitful Roseanne reboot, giving a not-at-all-surprising renewal to the revived sitcom.
The next batch of episodes will again reunite original castmembers Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Alicia Goranson and Michael Fishman. Other past castmembers are expected to make infrequent visits, as they did during this latest run. There was no immediate word whether the network plans to have it ready for fall, but sources say the order has been increased from nine episodes to 13.
The wild success of Roseanne cannot be stressed enough. In a climate where TV reunions, particularly on the sitcom front, are a popular way to cut through the clutter, Barr's show did one better. Its March 27 premiere was the highest-rated scripted broadcast of the season, and the highest-rated sitcom in more than three years. The hourlong opener took a 5.1 rating among adults 18-49 and 18.1 million viewers in one night alone. Time-shifting has already driven the episode to 21.9 million viewers and a 6.1 rating after only three days of additional viewing.
Those numbers should see advertising rates climb for the upcoming return. These episodes were already able to command a strong $175,000 for 30-second spots, and the unexpectedly strong ratings will drive that number even higher.
It's a huge and much needed win for ABC. The No. 4 network, which trails the rest of the broadcasters in large part due to its lack of live sports, did not start its midseason on the most auspicious of notes. The annual Academy Awards telecast, the marquee night of ABC's calendar, hit a record low. And even though the revived American Idol has been a consistent performer, it's not lighting ratings on fire. But now the network will finish the broadcast season with TV's No. 1 new drama, previously renewed The Good Doctor, and the season's No. 1 series overall in Roseanne.
'Roseanne'
Loses 'Grand Theft Auto' Appeal
Lindsay Lohan
New York State's highest court on Thursday rejected Lindsay Lohan's appeal accusing the maker of "Grand Theft Auto V" of invading her privacy, concluding that video game characters that the actress said were based on her did not resemble her.
By a 6-0 vote, the state Court of Appeals called Take-Two Interactive Software Inc's depictions "nothing more than cultural comment," and said it owed Lohan no damages.
Lohan, 31, had objected to an alleged look- and sound-alike character, Lacey Jonas, who called herself "really famous" and an "actress slash singer" as she tried to hide from paparazzi.
In Thursday's decision, Judge Eugene Fahey said a computer image, or avatar, may constitute a "portrait" to support an invasion of privacy claim under New York civil rights law.
But he said Lohan could not prevail because "Grand Theft Auto V" merely depicted a generic "twenty something" woman, without any suggestion it was her.
Lindsay Lohan
Pulling In Big Bucks
NRA
The National Rifle Association has launched a heated offensive in the weeks since the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Warning of the "freedom-hating left" impinging on Americans' "fundamental rights" and spreading conspiracy theories about teenagers who survived the mass shooting, the gun group ramped up efforts to raise money, recruit members and drum up support for its agenda.
The strategy appears to be working.
Donations to the group spiked in the aftermath of the school shooting, in which a former student armed with an assault-style rifle killed 17 people. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, the NRA received "twice as much money from nearly five times as many donors" in the week after the shooting, compared with the week before.
Donations to the NRA's Political Victory Fund, which contributes money to political campaigns for NRA-friendly candidates, tripled in February from the month earlier, reported CNN.
The Chicago Tribune reported last week that the NRA "aggressively increased" its advertising on Facebook in the weeks after the Parkland attack. The paper, citing data from tech company Pathmatics, reported that the NRA's average daily spending on Facebook advertising had been $11,300 in the 24 days before the shooting. The group paused its ads in the four days immediately after the slaughter, but then r esumed advertising - increasing average daily spending on Facebook ads to $47,300 in the succeeding 24 days.
NRA
Ex-Fox "News" Analyst
Ralph Peters
Ralph Peters, who recently walked away after a long stint as a Fox News analyst, accused the network on Friday of blocking him from speaking on Russia issues because he refused to "unswervingly support" President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Crooked).
In an op-ed published in the Washington Post Friday, the retired lieutenant colonel claimed he was the only person on the Fox payroll who was trained in Russian studies and the language, and that has met Russian intelligence officers in person.
But dating back to fall 2016 when national security issues surrounded Trump, Peters said he was "increasingly blocked from speaking" on Russian affairs and the intelligence community, despite being an expert.
"I did not hide my views at Fox and, as word spread that I would not unswervingly support President Trump and, worse, that I believed an investigation into Russian interference was essential to our national security, I was excluded from segments that touched on Vladimir Putin's possible influence on an American president, his campaign or his administration," Peters wrote.
Peters said he was only rarely allowed to comment on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin targeted Trump. As special counsel Robert Mueller's indictments hit, he could not even talk about how Russians operate.
Ralph Peters
Must Face U.S. Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia
A U.S. judge on Wednesday rejected Saudi Arabia's bid to dismiss lawsuits claiming that it helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and should pay billions of dollars in damages to victims.
U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan said the plaintiffs' allegations "narrowly articulate a reasonable basis" for him to assert jurisdiction over Saudi Arabia under the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), a 2016 federal law.
Daniels' decision covers claims by the families of those killed, roughly 25,000 people who suffered injuries, and many businesses and insurers.
The judge also dismissed claims that two Saudi banks, National Commercial Bank and Al Rajhi Bank, and Saudi Binladin Group, a construction company controlled by the bin Laden family, provided funds and financial services for the attacks, saying he lacked jurisdiction.
Saudi Arabia had long had broad immunity from Sept. 11 lawsuits in the United States.
Saudi Arabia
Counterculture Art
'Burning Man'
Immersive art from a famed desert festival in the American West has swept into Washington, infusing the buttoned-up US capitol with countercultural spirit.
"No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man," which opens Friday at the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery, celebrates the annual late-summer gathering that sees a temporary city of some 75,000 people spring up in Nevada's Black Rock Desert.
For a single week, massive experiential art installations tower over the dusty metropolis before Burning Man participants torch many of the works, including a giant wooden statue of a man, as a ritual embracing decommodification and temporality.
Thought it is perhaps best known for its bacchanalian atmosphere favoring sex and drugs, the annual event that started small in 1986 has evolved into a serious cultural and artistic movement, said the Renwick's crafts curator Nora Atkinson, who spearheaded the show.
She pushed to welcome the radical art of the desert to the rarefied environment of the museum because "it really stands out from a lot of the work being done in the contemporary art world," she said.
'Burning Man'
'1 in 100 Million' Discovery
Juvenile T. Rex
Paleontologists digging in Montana have hit the dinosaur jackpot. They've uncovered what appears to be an elementary-school-age Tyrannosaurus rex, they announced Thursday (March 29).
The researchers found the fearsome beast's remains in Montana's famous Hell Creek formation, a rocky expanse chock-full of dinosaur-age fossils. Despite the site's rich assemblage, the past 100 years have yielded fewer than five "decently complete juvenile T. rexes," said Kyle Atkins-Weltman, an assistant fossil preparator at the Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum at Kansas University, who is helping prepare the tyrannosaur.
Of all the juvenile T. rexes from Hell Creek, "this is probably the most preserved and most complete," Atkins-Weltman told Live Science. "This is a 1-in-100-million specimen."
Kris Super, an assistant student preparator also at the Natural History Museum, found the young T. rex's fossils in June 2016. But his team only had time to unearth the dinosaur's ilium (the upper part of the pelvic bone), so they weren't sure what species it was until they returned the following summer and dug up its recognizable teeth and skull.
This dinosaur, as well as other fossils recovered from the same spot at Hell Creek, will keep its discoverers busy for a while, David Burnham, a preparator of vertebrate paleontology at the Biodiversity Institute, told Live Science. The rock slabs they excavated also include a nearly complete turtle and pieces of fish and other dinosaurs. They even found the jaw of a placental mammal, Burnham said.
Juvenile T. Rex
In Memory
Stephen Reinhardt
Judge Stephen Reinhardt, a liberal stalwart on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for nearly four decades, died Thursday in Southern California. He was 87.
Reinhardt died of a heart attack during a visit to a dermatologist in Los Angeles, court spokesman David Madden said.
Reinhardt was appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and went on to become the sixth longest-serving judge on the court.
He was considered to be one of the most liberal judges on the 9th Circuit and his rulings often placed him on the side of immigrants and prisoners. Reinhardt wrote a 2012 opinion striking down California's gay marriage ban.
He also wrote a 1996 opinion that struck down a Washington state law that prohibited doctors from prescribing medication to help terminally ill patients die.
Last year he wrote in an opinion that a Trump administration order to deport a man who entered the country illegally nearly three decades ago and became a respected businessman in Hawaii was "inhumane" and "contrary to the values of the country and its legal system."
A New York-native, Reinhardt was a graduate of Southern California's Pomona College and earned his law degree at Yale Law School.
After serving two years in the U.S. Air Force, he served as a clerk for a federal judge in the District of Columbia, then entered private practice in Los Angeles. He served as an informal adviser to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and served on the city's Police Commission from 1975 until his appointment to the 9th Circuit.
Reinhardt is survived by his wife, Ramona Ripston, the former director of the ACLU of Southern California.
Stephen Reinhardt
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