Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: "G.O.P to Americans With Health Problems: Drop Dead" (NY Times Column)
Republican cruelty is a pre-existing condition.
Jeff Stein: Ryan says Republicans to target welfare, Medicare, Medicaid spending in 2018 (6 Dec 2017; NY Times)
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said […] that congressional Republicans will aim next year to reduce spending on both federal health care and anti-poverty programs, citing the need to reduce America's deficit.
Josh Marshall: Brutal Reading (TPM)
I've just been doing an initial read-through of the portion of the report about the decision to send the October 2016 "Comey Letter" to Congress. […] it all comes down to just ignoring longstanding DOJ guidelines and precedent that you make every effort to avoid election-influencing actions on the heels of an election. You're not supposed to do that. They came out with various arguments about how this case was an exception and they should do it. And they did it. Or rather, James Comey did it. It ends up really being that simple. It was a huge mistake. And the IG says as much.
Josh Marshall: Major Point (TPM)
Most of the commentary I hear is whether 95% of the IG Report fails to vindicate Trump or 97%. Good Lord. Everything we know so far has a clear message. James Comey made major mistakes and those mistakes dramatically damaged Hillary Clinton's candidacy. Democrats have been saying this for two years. They said it in July. They screamed it in October. They are totally vindicated.
Mary Beard: Speechifying (A Don's Life)
I managed a glancing reference to the dinner in 1949 when Sir Alfred Munnings (a bit the worse for wear, he sounds) as President of the RA laid into both Picasso and Matisse, as nasty examples of modern art. He even claimed that Winston Churchill, who was also there on the top table, was in vocal agreement with him about Picasso. (Churchill kept mum at the time, but wrote to Munnings the next day to say that he had never said anything against Picasso.)
Mary Beard: Nothing like a Dame (A Don's Life)
I see the force of the political arguments, and can understand why people hold them. But I don't think I share them. I mean we no longer have an empire, and for me the title doesn't really resonate with imperial power any more (it might as well be Dame of the Roman Empire). I do think there are ongoing issues of diversity of many kinds. But those aren't exactly helped if women who are offered gongs turn them down. Then, the fact is that it is nice to feel that you have been appreciated (and that your subject has been appreciated too) . . . and, yes, my Mum and Dad would be proud.
José B. Capino: "Manila in the Claws of Light: A Proletarian Inferno" (Criterion)
Among the six movies Lino Brocka directed between 1974 and '76, there were three landmark works that changed the course of his career and that of Philippine cinema: Weighed but Found Wanting (1974), Manila in the Claws of Light (1975), and Insiang (1976). They impressed local critics and, in the case of the last two films, brought the director international acclaim. The triptych was part of the outcome of Brocka's attempts at rekindling his passion for filmmaking.
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David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment & A Suggestion
Current Events
Keystone Pipeline back on...
Folks opposing the building of another pipeline through South Dakota, the Keystone
Pipeline, were struck down when SD's Supreme Court dismissed an appeal from it's
opponents on Wednesday.
I have a particular interest in this because it's proposed
route is supposed to go through the county I'm in and, therefore, over the northern
portion of the U.S.'s largest underground aquifer, the "Ogalalla", which provides
water to at least 8 states in the midwest!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Now the joke for Manafort:
Knock knock
Who's there?
Your food tray
Oh shit, I'm in prison
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
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
"BLATHER, WINCE, REPEAT!
THE LIAR!
THE SIAMESE TWINS.
"NOW ALL SHE HAS TO DO IS ACT."
GAG ME WITH AN ORDER.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and a bit cooler.
Songwriters Hall of Fame
Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond may have retired from touring due to Parkinson's disease, but the singer didn't let that stop him from giving a cheery and memorable performance at the 2018 Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony.
Diamond, who was officially inducted into the Hall in 1984, earned the Johnny Mercer Award on Thursday and closed the multi-hour event in New York City with a rousing rendition of "Sweet Caroline."
He was happy and excited onstage, performing an extended version of the iconic song, backed by a band and the audience of songwriters and music industry players who sang along.
The 77-year-old, who announced he was diagnosed with Parkinson's in January and canceled planned concerts, barely spoke at the event, where John Mellencamp, Alan Jackson, Kool and the Gang and Jermaine Dupri were inducted as the Hall's 2018 class.
The members of Kool & the Gang - Robert "Kool" Bell, Ronald Bell, George Brown and James "JT" Taylor - were also inducted and gave a memorable and upbeat performance with "Celebration," which got audience members out of their seats.
Neil Diamond
Cancelled
The Opposition w/Jordan Klepper
Comedy Central's "answer" to Alex Jones has been canceled after nine months on the air - though its host already has a new gig lined up.
The Opposition w/Jordan Klepper will air its final episode on Thursday, June 28, our sister site Deadline reports, capping a one-season run. Klepper, who famously left The Daily Show to front the new series, however will stay put at the basic cabler, as the host of a weekly half-hour show called, simply, Klepper.
Set to start production this summer with an eye on a 2019 premiere, Klepper will send its titular host traveling around the country to interview everyday people. Or something.
Klepper is expected to carry over some if not much of The Opposition's producers (including co-creator Trevor Noah, as an EP) and staff.
The Opposition w/Jordan Klepper
Memorial
Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking's voice has been beamed into a black hole following the internment of his ashes at Westminster Abbey in London.
The message recorded by the British physicist, which is set to music by Greek composer Vangelis, speaks about the importance of peace and hope.
It was sent by the European Space Agency towards the nearest black hole, 1A 0620-00, which lies in a binary system with a fairly ordinary orange dwarf star, his daughter Lucy Hawking said in a statement.
His ashes were interred between major British scientific figures Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin at the abbey, a 1,000-year-old location made famous worldwide for generations of royal coronations, weddings and funerals.
Interment inside the abbey is a rarely bestowed honour: the most recent burials of scientists there were those of Ernest Rutherford, a pioneer of nuclear physics, in 1937, and of Joseph John Thomson, who discovered electrons, in 1940.
Stephen Hawking
Scores Zero Percent on Rotten Tomatoes
'Gotti'
John Travolta's new movie "Gotti" hit rock bottom faster than a cinderblock tied to a body being thrown into a river.
"Gotti" has scored a zero percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes from film critics, a rare feat managed by only a few dozen movies. At the time of this writing, only 17 reviews have been counted for the film, so the film's fortune could change. But, as of now, all reviews of the Travolta film are currently are rotten.
While "Gotti" is currently listed as the lowest rated film of Travolta's career, this is the fourth movie under his filmography to get saddled with a goose egg aka zero score, including his last scored film "Life on the Line" from 2016, "Look Who's Talking Now" from 1993 and "Staying Alive," which came out in 1983. The notoriously awful "Battlefield Earth" has a paltry 3 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. (Rotten Tomatoes debuted in 1998. Movies that came out before that are scored retroactively, often based on newer reviews, written years after rated films entered theaters.)
The film played at Cannes back in May and received the same unanimously negative reaction from critics at the festival. "Gotti" is a passion project of Travolta's that dates back to 2011. In late 2017, Lionsgate pulled the film from their schedule 10 days before it was set to hit theaters and sold it back to the production company Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films.
'Gotti'
Administration Pulling US Out
UN Human Rights Council
The administration of US President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Crooked) is reportedly pulling out of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has accused the 47-member organisation based in Geneva for "chronic anti-Israel bias" since she came into office last year and according to a source who spoke to Reuters, the withdrawal is "imminent," particularly after UN's recent condemnation of Israel's violence against Palestinians in Gaza.
"Diplomatic sources said it was not a question of if but of when," the news outlet reported. The next session of the global body will begin 6 July.
A State Department official did not confirm nor deny the report to The Independent but said the US "wants a Human Rights Council that fulfils its purpose as the premier international focal point for human rights issues".
This would not be the first time the US has ended its relationship with the organisation. During the administration of resident George W Bush the US had left for three years, before rejoining in 2009 after President Barack Obama came into power.
UN Human Rights Council
Pot Growers Refuse To Let Go Dream
Hawaii
Dale Altman and his grandson Josh Doran live on a 5-acre plot atop a hill on Hawaii's Big Island by the erupting Kilauea volcano, where they grow medical marijuana.
They are the last remaining residents on Halekamahina Hill, after two roiling streams of lava spouting from ground fissures and flowing into the sea, completely cut off the community.
Altman, 66, estimates they have $100,000 worth of marijuana in the field that they are harvesting.
"That's why we didn't leave. It's taken a lot of work."
Altman says he doesn't want to evacuate, leaving behind his home and marijuana crop with no income and nowhere to live. And atop the hill, the house is safe from the lava flows and its attendant fires.
Hawaii
Rabid Bobcat
Georgia
A Georgia woman recently fought off a wild bobcat, killing the rabid animal with her bare hands after it attacked her.
She told a local newspaper her thinking was: "Not today."
DeDe Phillips, a 46-year-old grandmother, told the Athens Banner-Herald she was in her yard in the mid-evening when she saw the cat, which suddenly "took two steps and was on top of me."
The paper reported that, despite a broken finger and bite and claw wounds all over her body, she "took it straight to the ground" and "started inching my hands up its throat."
"I thought, 'Not today.' There was no way I was going to die," Phillips told the paper.
Georgia
Test the Winds
Flying Spiders
Some spiders crawl around your house, some jump across the lawn - others take transoceanic flights. With aircraft fashioned from strands of silk, certain species of tiny spiders can take to the air in a process that scientists call "ballooning."
Ballooning spiders were first documented in the 17th century, Sciencemagazine reported in April. But scientists didn't know until now exactly how these spiders take to the air.
In a new study, published yesterday (June 14) in the journal PLOS Biology, a group of scientists from the Technical University of Berlin placed 14 crab spiders (the Xysticus genus) on a dome structure in a Berlin park to observe the tiny aviators' behaviors in natural winds. The researchers then repeated their experiments in a wind tunnel in a lab. [5 Spooky Spider Myths Busted]
The scientists found that these spiders were very careful about flying; the conditions had to be just right for the arachnids to decide to take off, according to the study.
The spiders first sensed the wind through hairs on their legs. Then, they further tested the wind conditions by lifting one, or sometimes both, of their front legs into the air for 5 to 8 seconds. Until the arachnids were satisfied with the wind conditions, they'd repeat the process, each time rotating their bodies in the direction of the wind.
Flying Spiders
Top 20
Global Concert Tours
The Top 20 Global Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows Worldwide. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers.
1. Phil Collins; $3,166,332; $107.86.
2. Justin Timberlake; $3,104,922; $145.40.
3. Kenny Chesney; $3,022,535; $92.84.
4. Pink; $2,516,606; $138.20.
5. "Springsteen On Broadway"; $2,131,696; $507.85.
6. Metallica; $2,072,352; $104.71.
7. Luis Miguel; $1,779,650; $103.76.
8. Jennifer Lopez; $1,742,496; $187.49.
9. Kendrick Lamar; $1,489,005; $88.86.
10. Bon Jovi; $1,486,325; $95.59.
11. Romeo Santos; $1,400,474; $102.87.
12. Blake Shelton; $997,285; $78.17.
13. Harry Styles; $905,938; $76.49.
14. Demi Lovato; $869,690; $74.45.
15. Kid Rock; $819,443; $88.07.
16. Kevin Hart; $818,770; $75.93.
17. Imagine Dragons; $800,410; $59.27.
18. Maluma; $795,959; $94.50.
19. Ricardo Arjona; $721,915; $90.58.
20. The Script; $701,683; $56.81.
Global Concert Tours
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