Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Douglas Keesey: The Girl Doesn't Get Saved (Slate)
Audiences called Blow Out a downer. Critics called it genre trash. In fact, it's a deeply personal study of obsession.
Paul Krugman: The Cruelty and Fraudulence of Mitch McConnell's Health Bill (NY Times Column)
… conservative ideology always denied the proposition that people are entitled to health care; the Republican elite considered and still considers people on Medicaid, in particular, "takers" who are effectively stealing from the deserving rich.
Sarah Kliff: Senate Republicans exempt own health coverage from part of latest proposal (Vox)
Senate Republicans included a provision that exempts members of Congress and their staff from part of their latest health care plan.
Josh Marshall: The Trumpers Don't Hate Media. They Are Media Creations. (TPM)
Think about it. Trump seems to spend the better part of his time in the White House watching cable news. It's not just an obsession with his enemies. It's who he is, just the way policy people read policies papers. It's the one language he understands and the only one he thinks - and most of his top advisors think - matters.
Esme Cribb: DOJ Charges Two Former Staffers With Sharing Nude Images Of House Member (TPM)
The Department of Justice on Thursday announced charges against two former House staffers related to their circulation of "private, nude images and videos" of a House member and the member's spouse.
Andrew Tobias: My Weekend with Bernie
The DNC had nothing to do with the READY FOR HILLARY movement that gave her a 2-year head start - we sure didn't prevent Bernie from doing the same. A two-year head start, with millions of dollars and millions of names is hard to overcome. As is a sense of inevitability, which as the primaries began was widespread.
Caroline Framke: "Emmys 2017: the 11 biggest surprises from this year's nominations" (Vox)
The internet memed Barb from Stranger Things into an Emmy nomination.
Brian Resnick: Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop posted a defense of its jade eggs for vaginas. It's a mess. (Vox)
The lifestyle company is fighting back, and missing the point.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
wrote:
replied:
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
"THE MYTH OF BIG, BAD GLUTEN"
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.
"…THE CLIFF IS GETTING CLOSER AND CLOSER."
THE REPUGS ARE SMOKING SOME BAD SHIT!
WWJD?
WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Nearly seasonal.
Disney Legends
D23
Disney CEO Bob Iger played host at Friday's Disney Legends Award ceremony, which kicked off the weekend's D23 Expo.
While Iger promised news related to Disney's movies, television shows, and theme parks, the opening panel was mostly lacking in that area. Rather, it served as a platform for inductees, including Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, and Mark Hamill to get behind the mic.
Hamill dedicated part of his speech to the late Carrie Fisher, his "Star Wars" co-star, and a fellow Disney Legend. "There was a comfort level with each other," he said of reuniting for "The Force Awakens." "We could rely on each other, and there was a deep respect." Then, pivoting, Hamill confessed, "If she were here, she would have flipped me the bird at least twice already."
Other honorees were Clyde Geronimi, Manuel Gonzales, Wayne Jackson, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Garry Marshall, and Julie Taymor.
D23
DEA Taking No Chances
Pot
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) admits that no one has ever died from a marijuana overdose but still won't remove the substance from its list of Schedule I drugs - the same classification as heroin.
"No deaths from overdose of marijuana have been reported," the DEA wrote in its 2017 Drugs of Abuse resource guide, which was published last month. The 2015 edition has similar language.
For context, roughly 2,200 people die from alcohol poisoning each year in the United States - six per day.
Despite its relative safety, marijuana remains one of the most strictly prohibited drugs in the country under federal law, even as increasing numbers of states have moved toward legalization. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and DEA classify it as a Schedule I substance, meaning there's a "high potential for abuse," no currently "accepted medical use in treatment" and "a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision."
Pot
Heatwave Breaks Records
Spain
Spain baked in a record-breaking heatwave on Thursday which was blamed for the death of a road crew worker and is suspected of leaving another man in critical condition.
The 54-year-old male victim died of suspected heatstroke late Wednesday while laying asphalt near the town of Moron de la Frontera in the southwestern province of Seville, emergency services said.
Temperatures reached 43 degrees Celsius (109 Fahrenheit) in Moron de la Frontera on Wednesday. Spain's largest union said it was investigating how long the man had been working and if the crew had taken special precautions because of the heat.
Spain's meteorological agency said seven cities including the capital Madrid set record temperatures for the month of July on Thursday.
It soared to 40.2 degrees Celsius in Madrid, smashing a previous record of 39.6 degrees Celsius recorded in 2015.
Spain
Discover Smallest Star Ever
Astronomers
We typically think of stars as colossal balls of fusion-driven fire that absolutely dwarf everything else, but researchers just made a discovery that offers a slightly different perspective. A group of scientists from the University of Cambridge have detected a star that is so small, even one of our own planetary neighbors happens to be larger, and it's assumed to be the absolute smallest a star can possibly be.
The star, which has been labeled EBLM J0555-57Ab, might not have a particularly interesting name, but it's an extremely important discovery all the same. For comparison, the star is just slightly larger than Saturn, and the gas giant Jupiter is even larger than it.
In fact, the star is so small that it's thought that the researchers believe it is as small as stars can possibly be while still having the ability to facilitate hydrogen fusion. If the star were any smaller, the pressure at its core likely wouldn't be great enough to actually fuse hydrogen nuclei, making it a brown dwarf, which is often called a "failed star."
But while the newly-discovered star is a lightweight, that's actually good news when it comes to the search for life. "The smallest stars provide optimal conditions for the discovery of Earth-like planets, and for the remote exploration of their atmospheres," Amaury Triaud of Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy said. "However, before we can study planets, we absolutely need to understand their star; this is fundamental."
The TRAPPIST-1 system, which researchers recently revealed as being filled with seven potentially Earth-like planets, has a low-mass star at its center. That star, which is only about 30% larger than EBLM J0555-57Ab, is a prime example of why smaller stars are where we should be searching if we hope to find exoplanets that are potentially habitable.
Astronomers
Failed To Report Russia Meetings
Jeff Sessions
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R-Racist) failed to report meetings last year with Russia's US ambassador on his security clearance application, according to portions of the application released under court order Thursday.
The heavily redacted pages of the SF-86 security clearance form required for many senior government positions show Sessions answered "no" to the question of whether, over the past seven years, he had contact with any foreign government, its offices or officials inside or outside the United States.
An ethics watchdog group close to Democrats, American Oversight, sued in April to get the document amid allegations that Sessions had unreported meetings with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during last year's election campaign.
Those meetings could figure into a sprawling investigation into whether the campaign of Donald Trump (R-Corrupt) colluded with Moscow's meddling in the US election last year.
Jeff Sessions
More Republican Family Values
New Hampshire
A state lawmaker has been charged with sexually and physically assaulting a 16-year-old girl last year under the guise of discussing her interest in politics.
Republican Rep. Eric Schleien, of Hudson, has been charged with one misdemeanor count of sexual assault and two misdemeanor counts of simple assault, Rockingham County Attorney Patricia Conway said Friday. Schleiein's attorney said he vehemently denies the allegations.
According to police documents, Schleien approached the teen at an Exeter cafe on July 20, 2016, and struck up a conversation after he noticed a political sticker on her laptop. She told police that they exchanged phone numbers after he suggested he could introduce her to other politicians and help her network and that she agreed to meet him two days later.
Schleien, 29, drove the girl to Portsmouth, she said, but instead of discussing politics, he scared her with sexually explicit talk, sucked on her fingers and groped her inner thigh.
The girl told police Schleien described a list of sexual things he wanted to do to her, including "rape" her mouth, and asked her to go to his apartment. After she declined, she said, Schleien asked her where she liked to be kissed, and she answered her hand "because it was the farthest part away from her body."
New Hampshire
Caught Pouring Unused Champagne Back Into Bottle
Emirates Airline
A video showing an Emirates airline steward pouring champagne from a glass back into a bottle went viral Thursday. The clip, which was taken by a passenger on board the Airbus A380, was shared on Reddit.
The clip, which lasts only for few seconds, was also posted on Streamable and had received over one million views at the time of publishing this story. According to the user who shared the video, the incident was accidentally captured on camera.
"Emirates accidentally got into the frame, did not even notice at first … Dump the bottle of champagne not drunk. Or this is the norm?" one Reddit user wrote, directing the question at the @emirates Instagram page. "So this woman might be trying to get as much as she can," another user commented.
While many users criticized the airline for pouring in half consumed champagne back into the bottle, some said it is possible the steward poured the drinks that were not consumed.
Emirates Airline
One Of The Laziest Countries
US
Americans are some of the laziest people in the world, according to a study conducted by Stanford University that reveals physical activity patterns in countries across the world.
Using smartphone data obtained from 111 countries, the research analyzed the variation in activity in terms of the mean number of steps walked by people daily. More than 700,000 men and women were monitored for 95 days. The users whose data contributed to this study subscribed to the Azumio Argus app, a free application for tracking physical activity and other health behaviors.
The study revealed that in countries with less obesity, people mostly walked a similar amount per day. Activity inequality - dubbed the vast difference between the active and the non-active or the difference between the fittest and the laziest - was a more accurate reflection of obesity levels. Big gaps between people who walked a lot and those who walked very little coincided with much higher levels of obesity. Residents of Hong Kong who walk an average of 6,880 steps each day (around three-and-a-half miles or 6 kilometers) are the most active, according to the data. The laziest people among the countries studied were from Indonesia who walked only 3,513 steps per day.
Americans take 4774 steps per day, according to the study. But, the larger gaps between those who walked a lot and those who walked very little ranked Americans fourth from the bottom overall.
A related finding was the powerful role that gender played in country-to-country differences in physical activities. According to the researchers, prior studies, done mainly in the U.S., showed men walk more than women. This gender step gap varied from country to country, with negative consequences for women. Prevalence of obesity increased faster for females than males as population-wide activity decreased.
US
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. U2; $7,276,551; $118.55.
2. Guns N' Roses; $6,163,963; $104.61.
3. Metallica; $5,505,484; $101.13.
4. Celine Dion; $3,534,669; $145.47.
5. Justin Bieber; $3,193,681; $109.34.
6. Depeche Mode; $2,963,771; $75.79.
7. Dead & Company; $2,082,160; $75.27.
8. Roger Waters; $1,754,392; $124.12.
9. Ed Sheeran; $1,694,701; $81.74.
10. Bruno Mars; $1,506,526; $77.56.
11. Bon Jovi; $1,433,726; $85.37.
12. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers; $1,282,471; $86.61.
13. The Weeknd; $1,266,131; $79.81.
14. Elton John ; $1,204,520; $100.99.
15. Neil Diamond; $1,189,498; $93.59.
16. Red Hot Chili Peppers; $1,116,653; $85.54.
17. Tim McGraw / Faith Hill; $1,115,199; $86.20.
18. Tool; $1,100,072; $78.32.
19. John Mayer; $1,058,462; $73.86.
20. Iron Maiden; $936,841; $69.96.
Global Concert Tours
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