Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Ezra Klein: Republicans are about to make Medicare-for-all much more likely (Vox)
If Republicans strike down Obamacare, the "Medicare for all" movement will become more powerful than they can imagine.
Sarah Kliff: I've covered Obamacare since day one. I've never seen lying and obstruction like this. (Vox)
Republicans do not want the country to know what is in their health care bill. This has become more evident each day, as the Senate plots out a secretive path toward Obamacare repeal - and top White House officials (including the president) consistently lie about what the House bill actually does.
Gwilym Mumford: Dying Laughing review - savagely funny documentary about standup (The Guardian)
Sarah Silverman, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Stewart Lee, Garry Shandling and Victoria Wood feature in this film about the craft and catharsis of comedy.
Ryan Gilbey: "Okja director Bong Joon-ho: 'In films, animals are either soulmates or butchered'" (The Guardian)
"All our problems arise because of capitalism. It brings pleasure but also so much pain and unhappiness. The questions I ask in my films about why we harm the environment or animals all come down in the end to capitalism."
Rebecca Nicolson: "Brian Cox: 'It horrified me when the three amigos, Clegg, Cameron and Miliband, arrived in Scotland'" (The Guardian)
The actor explains why he left the Labour party, how putting on weight to play Churchill was more fun than taking it off again afterwards - and why he'll never be best friends with a certain physicist …
Hunter Harris and Ethan Sapienza: 19 Unsettlingly Nice Tom Cruise Stories (Vulture)
He stayed in touch with the kid who dropped out of Jerry Maguire.
Dr. Michael Gregor: The Okinawa Diet: Living to 100 (YouTube)
What would happen if you centered your diet around vegetables, the most nutrient-dense food group?
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Presenting
Michael Egan
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
Mobile Phones
David
Thanks, Dave!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD took the day off.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Getting hotter - getting cranky.
Whining soon to follow.
First Twitter User to Hit 100 Million Followers
Katy Perry
Singer Katy Perry, who just released her electronica-inflected album "Witness," has become the first Twitter user to reach 100 million followers.
Perry joined Twitter in February 2009, reaching 50 million followers on @katyperry by mid-2012. The second most-followed Twitter account belongs to Justin Bieber, who currently has 96.7 million followers. Next in line are Barack Obama (90.8 million), Taylor Swift (85.1 million) and Rihanna (74.1 million).
Of course, how many millions of those followers are actually spam accounts or bots is unclear. CEO Jack Dorsey told Wall Street analysts in April that Twitter is continuing to battle bogus bots, which he said make up less than 5% of accounts.
She's also set new records on YouTube, with the video for single "Bon Appetit" topping 16.8 million views in 24 hours after it was released last month (breaking her own record, previously set with "Roar"). Her "Witness" tour in the U.S. and Canada kicks off Sept. 9 and runs through February 2018.
Katy Perry
Offers Third Gender Option On Official IDs
Oregon
In a major victory for people who identify as neither male nor female, Oregon on Thursday became the first U.S. state to offer a third gender option on state-issued identifications.
The change approved by the state Transportation Commission allows Oregonians to select "X" for "not specified" as their gender, as it appears on state IDs, driver licenses and driver permits.
The new rule is set to take effect July 3.
The change comes almost exactly one year after the court decision that prompted it. Last June, an Oregon judge granted Jamie Shupe, a retired Army tank mechanic, the right to legally identify as non-binary. The decision marked the first legal recognition of someone being neither female nor male.
California could be next. The state Senate is considering a bill that would allow residents to identify as non-binary on all official state issued documents, including birth certificates.
Oregon
American CEOs
T-rump
During the election campaign, Donald Trump (R-Crooked) pitched himself as the ultimate tycoon, the big-time billionaire who understood the world of business and who would quickly knock America into shape.
His supporters may be a little disappointed then, by the findings of new a survey of US business leaders that finds they are rather unimpressed by the first five months of his presidency. Indeed, according to a survey released by the annual Yale CEO Summit, 50 per cent of CEOs, business executives, government officials and academics, scored the President an "F" for his first 130 days in the White House.
CNN said the survey, released this week, found that another 21 per cent gave Mr Trump's performance a "D". Only one per cent of the 125 leaders quizzed, awarded the former reality television star an "A".
The Yale findings are the latest evidence that some pockets of the business community are growing disenchanted with Mr Trump as his administration struggles to implement its economic agenda.
T-rump
Nearly 10% Of American Adults ...
Chocolate Milk
Chocolate milk is, by all accounts, delicious. It's also an incredibly simple concoction: just milk, made chocolatey. As the name would suggest.
And yet, it turns out many people do not understand how chocolate milk is made: some genuinely believe chocolate milk is milk from brown cows.
Whether those brown cows are also thought to produce cocoa and sugar is not clear.
In a study by the Innovation Center of US Dairy, it was found that seven per cent of Americans believe chocolate milk comes from brown cows.
These weren't children either - the research was conducted on 1,000 people over the age of 18.
Chocolate Milk
Tax Cut Could Subsidize Layoffs
Health Care
Republicans pushing new tax cuts in the American Health Care Act say the proposal is intended to boost revenues for medical technology companies, which would help them create American jobs. However, data from the past three years -- as well as corporate financial filings - suggest that the windfall could instead effectively subsidize offshoring and layoffs in the industry.
Senate Republicans have been working behind closed doors on a new version of the AHCA, which is a top Trump administration priority. The House bill includes a full repeal of the medical-device tax first imposed by Obamacare in January 2013. The tax was suspended - with bipartisan support - three years later.
The tax is due to resume next year, however, and lawmakers in both parties say permanent repeal will help medical technology companies hire more workers. But some companies already appear to be using the suspension windfall to help pay for the steep, one-time severance costs of eliminating U.S. jobs as part of long-term cost-cutting or "restructuring."
In public statements and corporate filings reviewed by TYT Politics, more than half a dozen major med tech companies - including some global leaders - show no sign of ramping up U.S. hiring. In fact, soon after the tax was suspended, some companies embarked on wholesale "restructuring" efforts. Some are pouring money into the creation of new jobs outside the U.S., including manufacturing jobs.
Health Care
Issues Correction, Not Apology
NYT
The New York Times has published an editor's note correcting an editorial that linked the 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabby Giffords in Tucson, Ariz., to a fund-raising email by former half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Buffoon). The editorial drew complaints from many conservatives and from Palin herself, who hinted she might explore legal action against the newspaper.
"An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly stated that a link existed between political incitement and the 2011 shooting of Representative Gabby Giffords," the note reads in its entirety. "In fact, no such link was established."
The Times did not offer an apology.
The editorial, published Wednesday, had drawn a distinction between the assault on Giffords and the shooting of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and four others at a Republican congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Va., earlier in the day. The Times' editorial board said that while Wednesday's attack by a left-wing activist was "probably" motivated by divisive political rhetoric, there was a "clear" link in Giffords' case.
NYT
Buying Whole Foods
Amazon
Online retail giant Amazon is making a bold expansion into physical stores with a $13.7 billion deal to buy Whole Foods, setting the stage for radical retail experiments that could revolutionize how people buy groceries and everything else.
Amazon could try to use automation and data analysis to draw more customers to stores while helping Whole Foods cut costs and perhaps prices. Meanwhile, the more than 460 Whole Foods stores in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. could be turned into distribution hubs - not just for delivering groceries but as pickup centers for online orders.
"The conventional grocery store should feel threatened and incapable of responding," Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said.
Moody's lead retail analyst Charlie O'Shea said the deal could be "transformative, not just for food retail, but for retail in general."
Walmart, which has the largest share of the U.S. food market, has already been pushing harder into e-commerce to build on strength in its stores and groceries. It announced Friday that it's buying online men's clothing retailer Bonobos for $310 million, following a string of online acquisitions including ModCloth and Moosejaw.
Amazon
Science Targets For Announced
James Webb Space Telescope
The most powerful space telescope designed and built by humans is scheduled to launch October 2018, and its mission handlers announced some of its science targets Thursday. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which succeeds and complements the Hubble Space Telescope, will look at a large number of things in the universe, including icy moons, distant exoplanets and galaxy clusters.
The targets announced by JWST's mission handlers on NASA's website are part of Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO), a program that provides dedicated observation time to scientists who worked on designing and building the four instruments onboard the telescope.
"From the very first galaxies after the Big Bang, to searching for chemical fingerprints of life on Enceladus, Europa, and exoplanets like TRAPPIST-1e, Webb will be looking at some incredible things in our universe. With over 2100 initial observations planned, there is no limit to what we might discover with this incredible telescope," Eric Smith, James Webb Space Telescope Director at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.
JWST's observing time is split into a number of cycles, and the first cycle - Cycle 1 - is about 8,700 years, or roughly one year. GTO scientists have been allocated 10 percent of the cycle's observation time, and their projects will be scheduled early in the mission. Those projects are expected to be complete within two years of the telescope's operation.
James Webb Space Telescope
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. Drake; $1,959,318; $90.37.
2. Ed Sheeran; $1,903,055; $86.29.
3. Red Hot Chili Peppers; $1,423,970; $88.52.
4. Bon Jovi; $1,389,061; $87.24.
5. Elton John; $1,289,990; $101.74.
6. The Weeknd; $1,270,622; $72.56.
7. Olly Murs; $1,088,455; $60.17.
8. Tim McGraw / Faith Hill; $1,088,274; $86.36.
9. John Mayer; $1,047,122; $76.00.
10. Iron Maiden; $992,591; $71.07.
11. Eric Church; $906,643; $60.95.
12. Ariana Grande; $868,743; $74.71.
13. Stevie Nicks; $843,404; $94.60.
14. Kings Of Leon; $741,068; $67.22.
15. Blake Shelton; $723,045; $62.11.
16. Green Day; $685,672; $59.99.
17. Journey; $665,564; $85.16.
18. Chance The Rapper; $644,252; $55.32.
19. Twenty One Pilots; $550,421; $47.77.
20. Jerry Seinfeld; $541,650; $98.62.
Global Concert Tours
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