Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Making Tariffs Corrupt Again (NY Times Column)
Trump has perverted the process and undermined U.S. credibility.
Paul Waldman: Why do all these racists keep joining the GOP? (Washington Post)
Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis has a problem, one he shares with a lot of Republicans these days: For some reason, racists are attracted to his campaign and seem eager to give him money and lend their vocal support. Why does this keep happening to members of the Republican Party who desire nothing but equality and respect for all people? It's a real mystery.
Paul Waldman: We're asking the wrong question about Medicare-for-all (Washington Post)
How are advocates of the status quo going to come up with the $50 trillion we'll spend if we change nothing?
Greg Sargent: The secret Lester Holt transcript doesn't actually exonerate Trump (Washington Post)
If anything, the interview quotes presented by Trump's own legal team would seem to underscore that Trump fired Comey, at least in part, to stop that sort of investigation from happening. The idea Trump knew the investigation could go on anyway means nothing. He could easily have meant the investigation into Russia's electoral sabotage - minus any investigation of Trump campaign conspiracy with it - would continue.
Jonathan Chait: The Trump Tax Cuts Did One Thing: Give Rich People More Money (NY Mag)
If you believe the main problem with the economy President Trump inherited was an excess of redistribution, then the Trump tax cut was a helpful course correction. Its main measurable impact is a large lump-sum wealth transfer to business owners.
WILL THE REAL VOTER FRAUD CRIMINALS PLEASE STAND UP (WhoWhatWhy)
… Let's say you had to steal an election and there are two ways of doing it: One of them is to convince millions of individuals to cast a vote in states in which the outcome is not in doubt and risk severe penalties for doing so. The other is to use your elected office to deny millions of people the right to vote (or to make their vote meaningless by putting them in gerrymandered districts). If you get caught, there are no penalties and, if you are lucky, nothing will change. Now here is the craziest thing: In the US, there is an actual debate over which of these latter two scenarios is an actually existing problem.
Farran Smith Nehme; "My Man Godfrey: The Right Kind of People" (Criterion)
Ask people to name a screwball comedy, and the title you're very likely to hear first is My Man Godfrey. Widely used and later promiscuously misapplied, the genre label was coined to describe a certain type of romantic comedy that flourished in the 1930s, in which a couple's crazily unpredictable courtship masks the fact that they're perfect for each other. And indeed, in 1936's My Man Godfrey, director Gregory La Cava offers an exceptional amount of craziness on the way to romantic (and audience) bliss.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
from Bruce
Anecdotes
• The British tongue-in-cheek spy series The Avengers was known for its leather costumes for its female leads-and for frequently tying up its female leads. Patrick Macnee, who played John Steed, had a friend who wore custom-made leather underwear. This friend introduced him to a man who claimed that the series' ratings would improve if it used leather costumes. Honor Blackman, who played Mrs. Gale, the series first sexy female lead, wore the leather, but complained, "It creaks when I walk and smells terrible."
• Tenor Pietro Mongini (1830-1874) once was insulted because a tailor had made his costume too small. He threatened not to go on stage to sing, but impresario James H. Mapleson promised him that he would fire the tailor and force him, his wife, and his four children to starve. Mollified, Mr. Mongini performed, and the next day Colonel Mapleson secretly informed the tailor that he had a wife and four children (the tailor was actually single), then fired him in front of Mr. Mongini. Horrified at what had happened and worried that he would be the cause of the tailor's family starving, Mr. Mongini begged Colonel Mapleson to re-hire the tailor, which of course he willingly did.
• Entrances matter in Hollywood. Actress Maria Montez would wear an Arabian Nights costume, then walk into the Sun Room, where important movie executives ate at the Universal Pictures commissary. If no important executives were in the Sun Room when she made her entrance, she would wait in the ladies room until some important executives entered the Sun Room, then make her entrance again. Lou Costello also knew how to make an entrance; he once entered the Sun Room accompanied by a three-piece band.
• Madame Manya was a costumer of genius. She made many costumes for ballerina Alicia Markova, and whenever she decorated a costume with pearls and jewels, she covered the costume with a very fine, almost unnoticeable net, so that no pearls or jewels ever fell to the floor during a Markova performance. Today, Madame Manya's costumes can be seen at the Theatre Museum in London-the inside of each costume is as finely made as the outside.
• In opera, singers must be heard in the back rows of the opera house. Occasionally, this striving after volume results in a spray of saliva that can drench an innocent co-star. The tenor Pasquale Brignoli was known for his spraying. While on stage co-starring with Brignoli in Mozart's Don Giovanni, contralto Emily Lablache asked him loudly, "See here, my good friend, can't you for once spit on Donna Elvira's dress?"
• Ballet shoes last for only one performance, but they can be worth the expense. After each performance, ballerina Alicia Markova had to be cut out of her shoes. However, after each performance, four men had to help carry the bouquets of flowers she received.
• At a New Year's Eve costume party in 1963, actor Patrick Macnee went as a broom. His partner, who wore cotton wool sprinkled with a gray powder, went as a piece of dust.
• Werner Klemperer used to wear a monocle while playing Colonel Wilhelm Klink on TV's Hogan's Heroes, but it took him a while to learn how to wear it, so in the early episodes the monocle was glued to his eye.
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Reader Comment
Current Events
You've heard of the bouffant and the beehive. Guess we now know this is more properly called the Yeti Pubes hairdo.
pinatas for everyone!
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
THE LIARS!
THE LIARS AND THE THIEVES.
STUPID IS AS STUPID SAYS.
TAKE YOUR HOAGIE AND SHOVE IT!
"LEFTOVERS"
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overslept this morning - been running late all day. Sigh.
'Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary'
Rihanna
The Barbados government has appointed Rihanna as "Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, with specific responsibility for promoting education, tourism and investment for the island." Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley points to Rih Rih's allegiance towards her home country, and her philanthropic efforts primarily focused on health and education as being the factors which ultimately led to bestowing her with the title.
"Rihanna has a deep love for this country and this is reflected in her philanthropy, especially in the areas of health and education," Mottley said in a statement. "She also shows her patriotism in the way she gives back to Barbados and continues to treasure the island as her home."
"She has demonstrated, beyond her success as a pop icon, significant creative acumen and shrewdness in business," Mottley adds. "It is therefore fitting that we engage and empower her to play a more definitive role as we work to transform Barbados."
Rihanna founded the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) in 2012. The nonprofit organization, which is named after her grandparents Clara and Lionel Braithwaite, works towards improving the lives of young people everywhere by putting the importance of receiving a quality education at the forefront of their efforts. She also holds the annual Diamond Ball, a charity event that brings together all of the biggest entertainers and celebrities in one room to raise money for the CLF.
Rihanna
Returning To 'Saturday Night Live'
Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin will be donning the blond wig and orange foundation once more.
Despite his past complaints about the role, Baldwin will be returning to play President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Compromised) on the upcoming season of Saturday Night Live, the actor announced on the Origins with James Andrew Miller podcast on Friday.
"I have fun doing it, there's no doubt about that," Baldwin said of his role on SNL. "They are all old and dear friends of mine, and I love going there. When the show is good, there is nothing like it. But for me, I think I'm going to do some of it, but not a whole lot," he said, referring to skits with Trump. "Because I also think, and this is critical, there is a lot of fatigue here."
Baldwin's return had been in doubt given comments he had made during SNL's Season 43. "Every time I do it now, it's like agony. Agony. I can't," he told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview in March.
Saturday Night Live returns on NBC on Sept. 29. The premiere will be hosted by Adam Driver and feature a performance by Kanye West.
Alec Baldwin
Saved Children's TV From Richard Nixon
Mister Rogers
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, an American children's television institution, was first broadcast on PBS on 21 September 1967.
Celebrated in the latest Google Doodle, Fred Rogers' syndicated show addressed its young audience directly, gently encouraging kids to be "good neighbours" and to acknowledge and express their true feelings while behaving compassionately and fairly towards others.
The programme ran from 1968 to 2001, meaning generations grew up with its softly-spoken host, teaching them to draw, play with animals and accept one anothers' differences, welcoming viewers to his picture-perfect house every day.
Fred Rogers never shied away from difficult subject matter, always trusting in the ability of children to process hard truths about the adult world. Divorce, the death of a pet goldfish, even mass shootings, nothing was off limits.
In a superb David-and-Goliath moment worthy of Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939), he appeared before the Senate Committee on Commerce's Subcommittee on Communications on 1 May 1969 to speak up for the federal funding of public television, then at risk of having its $20m budget slashed in half by the Richard Nixon administration.
Mister Rogers
Christmas Album
William Shatner
"'Star Trek" icon William Shatner has recruited punk legends Iggy Pop and Henry Rollins to join him in the studio to record quirky Christmas favorites.
The rockers will join the likes of Brad Paisley, Todd Rundgren, Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons on the actor's first festive record, "Shatner Claus - The Christmas Album."
Former Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman, Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle, and the Cars' Elliot Easton also appear on the album, which features Shatner's renditions of holiday favorites like "Blue Christmas," "Winter Wonderland," and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."
Rollins joins the actor for a punky "Jingle Bells," while Iggy Pop features on Shatner's new version of "Silent Night."
Shatner
Previously Unseen Footage
John Lennon And George Harrison
Today we have some incredible, never-before-seen footage of John Lennon recording his seemingly cutthroat song, "How Do You Sleep?" It's a song he released in 1971 and directed at his former Beatle bandmate Paul McCartney.
This previously unseen video, which includes the raw studio mix of the audio, completely unadorned, comes ahead of the Oct. 5 release of a 6-CD box set, Imagine - The Ultimate Collection. John Lennon's second solo album, Imagine, was released in Sep. 1971, just about two years after The Beatles went their separate ways. John Lennon said that this song was a response to lyrics on Paul McCartney's own solo album, Ram, that Lennon felt were directed at him. (Give a listen to "Too Many People" and "Back Seat of My Car" and you'll hear what Lennon was referring to.) Yoko Ono, who sat in on and co-produced these recording sessions, wrote to us to say that "John wrote many great songs, some tender and some mean... ... people thought this was about Paul, and Paul seems to have thought that too, so too bad it wasn't played too much."
The 120-page book included with the box set contains this from John Lennon: "If I can't have a fight with my best friend I don't know who I can have a fight with. I think it's quite funny and I was laughing when we were making it and listening to it. I was laughing at his later, but first I was saying, 'Oh, I see, that's what he thinks,' huffing and puffing."
The recording was made at Ascot Sound Studios, a studio built by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1970, on the grounds of Tittenhurst Park in the English county of Berkshire.
John Lennon And George Harrison
87 Days Of Smog
Southern California
Southern Californians might remember the summer of 2018 for its sweltering heat waves, record ocean temperatures and destructive wildfires. But it also claimed another distinction: the summer we went nearly three months without a day of clean air.
The region violated federal smog standards for 87 consecutive days, the longest stretch of bad air in at least 20 years, state monitoring data show. The streak is the latest sign that Southern California's battle against smog is faltering after decades of dramatic improvement.
The ozone pollution spell began June 19 and continued through July and August, with every day exceeding the federal health standard of 70 parts per billion somewhere across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. It didn't relent until Sept. 14, when air pollution dipped to "moderate" levels within federal limits for ozone, the lung-damaging gas in smog that triggers asthma and other respiratory illnesses.
It's not unusual for Southern California summers to go weeks without a break in the smog, especially in inland communities that have long suffered the nation's worst ozone levels. But environmentalists and health experts say the persistence of dirty air this year is a troubling sign that demands action.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District, which is responsible for cleaning pollution across the region of 17 million people, said that consecutive bad air days is an inappropriate way to gauge progress curbing ozone, that this smog season was not as severe as last year's and had fewer "very unhealthy" days.
Southern California
'Electric' Blue Clouds
NASA
We're used to NASA dropping gorgeous photos of far-off objects in space, but its most recent observations are much closer to home. In a new post on its website, NASA reveals the results of a mission that was conducted in early July of this year which saw a large balloon soar 50 miles into the sky to study clouds.
The target of the mission was a band of clouds known as PMCs. These "polar meospheric clouds" are thin and wispy, but they might hold clues that could reveal the mechanisms that control turbulence in Earth's atmosphere.
"From what we've seen so far, we expect to have a really spectacular dataset from this mission," Dave Fritts, principal investigator of the PMC Turbo mission - that's the one with the big balloon - said in a statement. "Our cameras were likely able to capture some really interesting events and we hope will provide new insights into these complex dynamics."
The powerful observation tools that NASA sent skyward captured an absolutely incredible amount of data. NASA says that the ballon snapped a whopping 6 million images during its flight, and that it filled 120 terabytes of storage. That's a whole lot of cloud photos. NASA Goddard has published a nice little explainer video to YouTube that offers a crash course in why this kind of research is being conducted, which you can see above.
"Understanding a wide range of processes in near-Earth space - including how they interact with Earth's atmosphere and weather - is a key part of NASA's heliophysics research, which employs a full squad of satellites and sub-orbital instruments to observe different phenomena from different perspectives," NASA says.
NASA
Seen Hunting For Fish
Praying Mantis
A praying mantis has been found eating fish in the wild for the very first time.
The predatory insect is known to devour birds, reptiles and small mammals such as mice, but it has never been captured fishing for food - until now.
Scientists discovered an adult male hunting and devouring guppies at a pond in Karnataka, southwest India.
The research team were surprised by the visual capability of the mantis, which could see its prey underneath the surface of the water.
To reach the guppies, the insect would walk on the leaves of water lilies and water cabbage before plucking them out of the water.
Praying Mantis
Given Ecstasy
Octopuses
Scientists have found that giving the popular party drug MDMA to octopuses makes the normally reclusive creatures highly sociable.
When humans take the illegal substance - commonly known as ecstasy - they experience euphoria and closeness to others, effects that have made it popular among revellers at nightclubs and festivals.
Even though they are separated from humans by 500 million years of evolution, the new research suggests that octopuses experience very similar effects.
The unusual study was conducted by scientists in an attempt to understand the ancient brain mechanisms that control social behaviour in animals.
Octopuses are widely known to be intelligent animals, capable of outwitting prey and solving complex puzzles, but their brains are totally alien when compared to our own.
Octopuses
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